A method and apparatus for detecting metal extrusion associated with electromigration (EM) under high current density situations within an EM test line by measuring changes in capacitance associated with metal extrusion that occurs in the vicinity of the charge carrying surfaces of one or more capacitors situated in locations of close physical proximity to anticipated sites of metal extrusion on an EM test line are provided. The capacitance of each of the one or more capacitors is measured prior to and then during or after operation of the EM test line so as to detect capacitance changes indicating metal extrusion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to electronic microcircuits and specifically to methods and apparatus for the detection of metal extrusion associated with electromigration in high-current-density settings.
2. Background of the Invention
Metal extrusion arising from electromigration, though known prior to the development of modern integrated circuits in the 1960s, did not present challenges to the design of electronic microcircuitry until metal connectors, or interconnects, became so small that current densities on the order of 106 amps/cm2 were common. Such large current densities cause heating of the metal interconnects, but most of the heat is rapidly conducted away by adjacent thermally conductive substrates and surfaces. Still, such high current densities and component temperatures can induce electromigration processes that can, in turn, adversely affect circuit reliability which is essential to the microelectronics industry wherein products typically must work for more than 10 years. Short service life is useful only in such short-lived applications as missile guidance systems. If the probability of failure of say a transistor is one in a million per year, then failure is a certainty in an IC comprised of a million transistors. And since modern ICs often contain more than 10 million circuit elements, acceptable reliability on the chip level must exceed one chance in a billion over a one-year period.
The physical basis of electromigration of metal atoms in an electrical conductor is related to the momentum exchange between conducting electrons and diffusing metal atoms in high-current situations. At any temperature above 0 K, atomic vibrations occur. These vibrations ("phonons") put a metal atom out of its perfect position about 1013 times each second and disturb the periodic potential, causing electron scattering. The scattering event makes the electron change direction, i.e., undergo acceleration for which there is a corresponding force. After many collisions (another word for the scattering event), the force averages out in the direction of electron flow. The force due to collisions of electrons to metal atoms is called the momentum exchange, which is the same as force. To provide sufficient momentum exchange to cause measurable effects, many electrons must be available to collide with the atoms. This can only happen in metals because many electrons are easily accelerated within an imposed electric field. Also, semiconductors have far fewer electrons and, in a true semiconductor, electromigration does not exist because there are insufficient charge carriers. However, electromigration can occur in semiconductor-like materials, such as silicon when they are so heavily doped as to act as if it were a metal. At dopant levels of around 1%, electromigration has been seen in polycrystalline silicon when the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) is positive. A positive TCR is probably a good definition of a metal.
The greatest momentum exchange occurs only at the sites where it is possible for atoms to move. Simply stated, electrons collide with metal atoms and produce a force in the direction of electron flow (for n-type materials, opposite for p-type materials). In general, the electromigration force is proportional to the current density.
Typically, electromigration-induced metal extrusion occurs at the anode end of an interconnect to which electrons and thus metal atoms flow, causing delamination/cracking in dielectric layers and eventually electrical shorting to adjacent current-carrying lines.
One early solution to the electromigration problem was to use conductors that were resistant to electromigration by alloying the aluminum with up to 4% copper. Due to processing considerations, the amount of copper was decreased to about 0.5%. However, the electromigration problem persists as IC technology is pushed to ever higher component densities. Electromigration is also considered a potential reliability concern in copper interconnects, even though copper is less susceptible to electromigration failure.
In more recent times, a standard method for detecting extrusion failures arising from electromigration has been by the use of "extrusion monitors" that are situated close to (<1 μm) electromigration (EM) test lines. As the extrusion occurs in the EM test line during electromigration stress associated with high current densities, an electrical short or increase in leakage current is expected to occur between the EM test line and the parallel-running extrusion monitor wire or lead. In reality, however, this is often not the case, i.e., metal extrusion can occur without causing electrical contact with the extrusion monitor, and thus extrusion cannot be detected by this leakage current method.
The known prior art relates to general electromigration measurement. The following are some typical examples of relevant patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,377, which describes the wafer-level electromigration' test system, or so-called "SWEAT" test for fast in-line electromigration reliability monitoring. It does not mention detecting extrusion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,974 proposes a chain of metal segments to accurately flag metal failure. This patent does not involve extrusion detection techniques, and thus is not relevant.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,182 ('182) describes a electromigration test system capable of real-time test monitor of metal resistance change as well as metal extrusion during electromigration stress. In other words, the extrusion monitor technique described in '182 is the standard detection method in which leakage current between the EM test line and the extrusion monitor wire is measured. Also, '182 discloses only the equipment to test the traditional structure, and it does not involve new structures or methods that are relevant to the present invention described in detail hereinbelow.

Capacitive monitors for detecting metal extrusion during electromigration


Participants for an in-progress meeting are gathered, preferably by broadcast of instant messaging notifications thereto. Information for people who are invited to a scheduled meeting but are not participating when the meeting begins, as well as for one or more additional people who are mentioned by the current participants of the meeting as desired new invitees to the in-progress meeting, is placed on a participant list. A disambiguation process may be used in cases where it is not clear who was intended in the discussion of a new invitee. Responses to the notifications are collected and used to populate a consolidated joining status window, where this joining status window depicts the joining status of persons on the participant list.

The present invention relates to computer programming, and deals more particularly with gathering participants for a meeting, preferably using instant messaging ("IM") in combination with real-time parsing of an audio stream.
Many business people have multiple meetings scheduled throughout the day, and some key decision makers may find that their time is double-booked or even triple-booked with scheduled meetings. Some people may have recurring meetings on their calendars, where these meetings have a core set of invitees who are always invited, although it may happen that the set of people who actually need to participate in any given meeting varies depending upon factors such as which problems and issues need attention at that particular meeting. Similarly, a meeting that is not recurring may have a list of invited participants, but dynamic factors may change the list of people whose participation is desired when the meeting actually occurs.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A positive displacement sorter apparatus and method includes providing a plurality of interconnected slats defining an endless web, an upper run of the web defining a conveying surface. A plurality of pusher shoes are provided, each moving along at least one of the plurality of slats to laterally displace articles on the conveying surface. Each of the pusher shoes includes a diverting portion extending above the conveying surface. The diverting portion includes a diverting surface and a stop surface. The diverting surface contacts an article and laterally displaces that article. A lifting force is applied by the diverting surface to a portion of the article being diverted. The stop surface limits movement of the article relative to the pusher shoe.

Positive displacement sortation conveyors are known having a main conveying surface and diverter shoes, or pusher shoes, that are generally used to displace articles laterally on the main conveying surface, such as when the articles are to be diverted upon one or more spur conveyor lines typically placed at an angle to the main conveying surface. Such conveyors may include a pair of endless chains or other connecting members and a plurality of members, such as slats, connected at their opposite ends to the chains or connecting members in order to provide a moving conveyor surface. Each slat, or a pair of slats, is fitted with a pusher or diverter shoe mounted in a manner such that the shoe moves laterally across the slat or slats. Movement of the shoe is guided by a guide track beneath the conveying surface. At the loading end of the sortation system, the shoes have a particular orientation with respect to the conveying surface. When an article is to be diverted to a particular spur line, a diverter assembly is actuated to switch shoes adjacent the article onto one or more diagonal tracks causing the effected shoes to glide across the slats to divert the article. Examples of such positive displacement sorters include commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,738,347 and 5,127,510. Other examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,361,247; 5,409,095; and 4,884,677; and European Published Pat. Application Nos. EP 0 602 694 B1 and EP 0 444 734 A1.
As such positive displacement sorters increase in speed in order to handle increasing article, or product, throughput, lateral acceleration of the article by the pusher shoe can have detrimental effects. Such effects include, by way of example, tipping of the article, skewing of the article, ballistic separation of the article from the pusher shoe, and the like.


The present invention is to provide for a process for producing 3-chloromethyl-3-alkyloxetanes from a 1,1-bis(chloromethyl)-1-hydroxymethylalkane or its carboxylate ester through a dehydrogen chloride reaction or a deacid chloride reaction in an aqueous solution or suspension of an alkaline compound. The reaction is conducted, either in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst or an anion exchange resin having an ammonium group, or, while distilling the formed 3-chloromethyl-3-alkyloxetane out azeotropically with water. The invention enables one to produce 3-chloromethyl-3-alkyloxetanes within a shorter period of time and with a higher yield, and thus the process is much advantageous and useful from the industrial points of view.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing 3-chloromethyl-3-alkyloxetanes (referred to as "OXCs", hereinafter). OXCs are oxetane compounds which are capable of being ring-openingly polymerized by themself. Besides, they are useful compounds as intermediates for the production of various oxetane compounds. Thus, the invention belongs to a manufacturing art for chemicals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As for the production of OXCs, a process has been known, in which 1,1-bis(choloromethyl)-1-hydroxymethylpropane or its acetate ester is allowed to react with potassium hydroxide in an alcoholic solvent which may optionally be diluted with water, followed by filtering the isolated inorganic salt off, evaporating the solvent, and vacuum distillation to give 3-choromethyl-3-ethyloxetane. Also, a process has been known, in which the above reaction product is mixed with water to dissolve the inorganic salt, and the mixture is extracted with an organic solvent, followed by evaporation of the organic solvent and vacuum distillation to give 3-chloromethyl-3-ethyloxetane. According to the description of Japanese Patent Publication No. 10342/1964, 3-chloromethyl-3-ethyloxetane can be produced by these processes in 40% to 80% yield.
These processes, however, necessitate a step of filtering the inorganic salt off, or extraction with an organic solvent to obtain the objective product, and also necessitate a step of recovering the alcohol used as the reaction solvent, as well as a step of removing the water formed in the reaction for reuse. Thus, such prior processes are not satisfactory from the commercial points of view.
While, in a process in which the reaction is effected in an aqueous alkali solution, without using any alcoholic solvent, there is no necessity of recovering the alcohol, but this process has some problems in a lower reaction rate as compared with a reaction in an alcoholic solvent, and in needing much more reaction time for a sufficient conversion of the starting material, as well as a lower OXC selectivity.

Process for producing 3-chloromethyl-3-alkyloxetanes


An electrical interconnect includes a contact array having an insulator holding a plurality of contacts. Each of the contacts include a conductive polymer column having first and second opposite contact tips for interconnecting first and second electronic packages, wherein each of the contacts are individually shielded from adjacent ones of the contacts. Optionally, a frame may be provided on the insulator and positioned between each of the contacts, wherein the frame defines a shield concentrically surrounding each of the contacts. The frame may be conductive and non-coplanar with, and parallel to, the insulator, wherein the frame is electrically isolated from the contacts and provides shielding between adjacent ones of the contacts.

The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical interconnects, and more particularly, to electrical interconnects having conductive polymer contacts that are shielded.
The ongoing trend toward smaller, lighter, and higher performance electrical components and higher density electrical circuits has led to the development of surface mount technology in the design of electronic packages, such as circuit boards and/or electronic devices. As is well understood in the art, surface mountable packaging allows for the connection of the package to pads on the surface of the circuit board or device rather than by contacts or pins soldered in plated holes. Surface mount technology allows for an increased component density.
Interconnect devices for these electronic packages using conductive elastomeric members are known. One such interconnect device uses conductive elastomeric columns disposed in holes in a substrate on a predetermined grid array. The assembly is positioned between adjacent electronic packages so as to make conductive contact between conductive pads on the opposing packages. However, these known interconnect devices are susceptible to damage from over compression of the columns. Over-compression can cause stress and/or distortion of the conductive elements resulting from the application of axial compressive forces to the columns.
Accordingly, a need remains for interconnect systems that can accommodate the high component density of certain electronic packages, while maintaining stability and reliability. Additionally, a need remains for interconnect systems that can accommodate the high performance and throughput of certain electronic packages.


A disc-vibration plate assembly for a musical or striking timepiece, including at least one disc rotating about an axis and provided with pins projecting substantially parallel to this axis, and arranged to cooperate with strips comprised in at least one vibration plate of this assembly, each pin including an actuation surface arranged to cooperate with a complementary receiving surface of a corresponding strip and the section of these strips of the vibration plate gradually increases from the shortest strip which is the highest pitched, to the longest strip which is the lowest pitched. The complementary receiving surface includes an end edge, which, at the end of actuation of the strip, is on the same radius as a complementary end edge comprised in the pin.

The striking mechanism of musical watches is generally formed by a vibration plate and a system of actuating the vibration plate strips. The actuation system may be a rotating cylinder, as in most music boxes, or a rotating disc.
This latter solution, with a rotating disc disposed in the plane of the watch, is particularly advantageously because of its limited overall height, but it greatly limits the actuation energy of the strips producing the lowest notes. The melody is consequently not very audible.
Through pins are arranged on the striking disc so as to quickly lift and release each strip of the vibration plate. Two criteria are generally followed for the sizing of the disc-vibration plate system.                all the strips have the same lifting travel, regardless of their length;        the strips are released abruptly to avoid overdamping the bending and the occurrence of noise.
Despite the antiquity of musical timepieces, no guidance exists in the state of the art as regards:                adaptation of the position of the vibration plate strips relative to the striking disc;        the width of the strips and of the actuation pins;        the height of the vibration plate strips;        the height of the actuation pins:        any adaptation between the shape of the inclined plane for lifting the strip by contact with the pin, the shape of the pins and the direction of movement of the pins (which, in a rotating disc, describe a circular orbit).
Consequently, the consumption of torque and thus the mechanical energy of the striking mechanism is generally not optimised:                the take-up of torque is very different for the actuation of high and low notes and may be excessive for actuation of the shortest vibration plate strips, corresponding to the highest pitched notes;        a significant part of the energy may be consumed by producing an improper deformation of the vibration plate strips, particularly a deformation having a torsion or bending contribution in the plane of the watch: as these deformations are overdamped and have an incorrect frequency contribution (dissonance), they result in a net loss of acoustic performance.
Since the loss of energy is proportional to the force and to the torque applied according to the degrees of freedom of these incorrect deformations, and since it depends on the result of multiplication of the spatial deformation generated and the mechanical stress created in the material, this loss of energy may be very significant even if the strips are made rigid so as to greatly reduce improper spatial deformations, since the mechanical stresses then increase.
US Patent Application No 2876670A in the name of DUNCAN discloses a music box disc-vibration plate assembly with strips of constant thickness and of unequal length and width, all within the projection of the disc onto the median plane of the vibration plate plate, which includes, in the solid part thereof on the side of the attachment of the strips, grooves forming resonant cavities.
CH Patent Application No 704670A in the name of BREGUET discloses a disc-vibration plate assembly for a music box with strips all within the projection of the disc onto the median plane of the vibration plate plate, and wherein the height of the control pins of the disc is adapted according to the torque to be transmitted.
CH Patent Application No 405896A in the name of FERNAND discloses a music box vibration plate partially encapsulated in a coating determining the free length of the various strips of which it is formed.
WO Patent Application No 2004/090863 A2 in the name of SEGAN LTD discloses an electronic music generating device, with a memory, magnetic sound generator and a vibration plate.

Optimised striking mechanism disc-vibration plate for a timepiece


Improved laser keratotomy is provided by defining a pocket in a cornea and insertion thereinto of a spatula or cutting blade having thereon reflective or opening means for controlling application of a laser beam to corneal tissue in anterior or posterior pocket walls to control and define areas of ablation of corneal tissue.

The present invention provides advances in corneal laser keratotomy which greatly reduce the risk of major operative and long term complications.
Heretofore, laser keratotomy procedures have often involved relatively extensive procedures with substantial probability of complications. One such procedure, identified as LASIK (an acronym for Laser In Situ Keratomileusis), involves the cutting of a flap over a wide area of the cornea. Because corneal tissue does not heal, when such flap is replaced in position, only an outside layer of ephithelial cells grows over the interface to provide the only means of holding the flap in position. Such layer of cells is only about 6 or 7 cells thick and is the only support that holds the flap in position. In the event that the patient's eye is impacted, rubbed, etc., such flap may break loose, as occurs relatively frequently, requiring further and often serious procedures.
In accordance with the present invention, a slit is made with a sharp blade into the anterior cornea to a predetermined depth. A pocket is defined by separating corneal lamellae by employing a blunt dissector manipulated by the surgeon to define either a straight pocket, with linear edges, or by utilizing a curved dissector, to define an arcuate pocket or arcuate segments, in accordance with the particular needs of a patient.
The pocket in the cornea may also be defined by an automated keratome having a sharp cutting blade or trephine, vibrating at very high rates.
A spatula or glide is inserted into the pocket thus formed. The spatula has thereon means for defining the configuration of laser ablation of the corneal tissue. Reflective or mirror areas on the spatula reflect the laser beam onto the anterior wall of the pocket. In using a spatula with openings defined therein the laser beam passes through such opening or openings for ablation of the posterior wall of the pocket.
The reflective areas or openings may be defined on or in the dissector or the blade of the keratome which remains in the pocket after the pocket is cut. The dissector or keratome blade remains in the pocket during laser ablation.
After the ablation of corneal tissue, the blade or spatula is removed from the pocket, whereupon the walls of the pocket are urged together by normal pressure in the eye, with resultant change in the configuration of the cornea interior surface.

Apparatus and method for corneal keratotomy


A method of performing mass spectrometry includes accumulating, over an accumulation time, ions produced from components eluting from a chromatography column and transferring the accumulated ions to a mass analyzer. During an acquisition, a mass spectrum of detected ions derived from the transferred ions is acquired. An elution profile is obtained from a series of acquired mass spectra including the acquired mass spectrum and a plurality of previously-acquired mass spectra. The elution profile includes a plurality of detection points representing intensity of the detected ions as a function of time. A current signal state of the elution profile is classified based on a subset of detection points included in the plurality of detection points. The accumulation time for a next acquisition of a mass spectrum is set based on the classified current signal state of the elution profile.

A mass spectrometer is a sensitive instrument that may be used to detect, identify, and/or quantify molecules based on their mass-to-charge ratio (m/z). A mass spectrometer generally includes an ion source for generating ions from components included in the sample, a mass analyzer for separating the ions based on their m/z, and an ion detector for detecting the separated ions. The mass spectrometer may be connected to a computer-based software platform that uses data from the ion detector to construct a mass spectrum that shows a relative abundance of each of the detected ions as a function of m/z. The m/z of ions may be used to detect and quantify molecules in simple and complex mixtures. A separation device such as a liquid chromatograph (LC) or gas chromatograph (GC) may be coupled to the mass spectrometer (MS) in a combined system (e.g., LC-MS or GC-MS system) to separate components included in the sample before the components are introduced to the mass spectrometer.
For trapping-type mass analyzers, such as quadrupole ion traps and Orbitrap™ electrostatic trap mass analyzers (manufactured by Thermo Fisher Scientific of Waltham, Mass.), best analytical performance is often achieved when the number of ions analyzed is within a certain target range. Too few ions result in noisy spectra or the need to co-add multiple spectra, while too many ions can result in space-charge effects such as mass shifts, peak broadening, and coalescence. Beam-type instruments, such as time-of-flight (ToF) and quadrupole mass filters, also operate best when the ion flux at their detectors is within a certain range. Both trapping-type and beam-type devices may be used with intermediate ion storage traps that accumulate ions to buffer down-stream processes such as mass analysis, thereby increasing scan speed and instrument sensitivity. These ion storage traps also have limited capacities, where overfilling can lead to deleterious effects, such as mass discrimination and loss of linearity, as the amount of signal detected is no longer linear with ion accumulation time.
Automated gain control (AGC) may be performed to regulate ion population in trapping-type and beam-type devices. In the case of filling a trapping device with a target number of ions, conventional AGC may be performed by using a gate apparatus that either transmits or blocks ions. Using estimates of the ion flux, the gate is opened for a given amount of time to accumulate a target number of ions in the device, after which the gate is closed until the accumulated ions are transferred out of the device. Alternatively, and especially in the case of beam-type devices, attenuation devices or partial gates may be used to regulate the ion flux to a level that does not saturate an analyzer or detector.
In conventional AGC methods, the accumulation time to be used for acquisition of a mass spectrum is estimated based on the ion flux of a prior (most recent) acquisition. However, conventional AGC methods assume that the ion flux will remain constant for the next acquisition, and thus the conventional AGC methods fail to account for the rapidly changing nature of the ion flux (e.g., ion intensity) during LC-MS or GC-MS analyses. As a result, the conventional AGC methods may overshoot the target number of ions while the ion flux is increasing and undershoot the target number of ions while the ion flux is decreasing, both of which may degrade analytical performance. The shortcomings of conventional AGC techniques are exacerbated when the ion flux has a non-Gaussian profile in which the ion flux quickly increases from a baseline level to a peak maximum and then gradually decreases from the peak maximum back to the baseline level. In these situations, the number of ions accumulated while the ion flux is increasing may be much larger than when the ion flux has a Gaussian profile.
One method of addressing these problems uses a conventional AGC scheme while decreasing the time between analytical scans. This brute force approach offers some improvement in ion population regulation accuracy but comes at the cost of efficiency. For example, when the AGC scheme uses dedicated prescans to estimate ion flux, the time used for prescans cannot be used to acquire analytical scans. When the AGC scheme uses a prior analytical scan for ion flux estimation, the analytical scan must be repeated more often, thereby reducing the instrument capacity. Moreover, increasing the sampling rate is not entirely effective except at the limit of small numbers of analytes being assayed.
For at least these reasons, there is a need for improved methods and systems for regulating ion population in mass spectrometry.

Systems and methods of ion population regulation in mass spectrometry


A display device includes a plurality of pixel electrodes, a common electrode disposed from a display area to a peripheral area continuously, a light emitting layer disposed between the plurality of pixel electrodes and the common electrode, and a plurality of auxiliary wirings electrically connecting to the common electrode and located from the display area to the peripheral area continuously. The common electrode includes overlapping areas where the common electrode is in contact with and overlaps the auxiliary wiring in the peripheral area, and includes a thick film portion in at least a portion of the overlapping areas. A thickness of the thick film portion is larger than that of an area other than the overlapping areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a sheet-like, planar display device, a self-luminous element layer (a light emitting layer) intervenes between a pixel electrode and a common electrode, and the self-luminous element layer emits light in response to a current flowing between the pixel electrode and the common electrode. Here, when, for example, the electrical resistance of the common electrode disposed across a plurality of pixels is large, shading (luminance gradient) occurs due to a voltage drop in a display area where an image is displayed. For this reason, it is desired to reduce the electrical resistance of the common electrode.
JP 2010-097925 A discloses a display device in which a spacer is provided on a bank layer disposed between pixels, and a common electrode and an auxiliary wiring are stacked on the spacer to thereby prevent a voltage drop of the common electrode.
Moreover, JP 2006-318910 A discloses a display device in which a plurality of auxiliary wirings linearly extending over a display area and a peripheral area are disposed so as to be parallel to each other.


An article for use with a laptop computing device protects the device during periods of non-use, including transport, while stabilizing the device when positioned on a user's lap. The article provides a base panel having front, rear and two side sections, a lower surface adapted to rest on a user's lap, and an upper surface to receive the bottom surface of the laptop device. The preferred embodiment includes two side panels, each with a storage compartment, which may be dressed over the user's thighs to assist in stabilizing the laptop device during use. Attachment means are preferably provided for securing the side panels to one another across the top surface of the computing device during periods of non-use or transport. Preferably flexible front and rear panels may also be folded over and onto the top surface of the computer in overlapping fashion beneath the secured side panels to create a protective device wrapper in conjunction with surrounding closure means and a carrying handle. When unfolded, the front panel may be draped at least partially over and in front of the user's knees, and the rear panel may be rolled into a palm rest.

It is ironic that laptop computers are often difficult to utilize when positioned on a user's lap. One reason for this is that such devices often have smooth bottom surfaces. In addition, laptop devices such as notebook computers have become increasingly smaller and lighter in weight, causing them to be more subject to physical instability when positioned across a user's thighs. In addition, the flat-panel displays manufactured for use with such devices have become larger, whereas the keyboard-containing base unit has become thinner, causing the overall configuration to become more top-heavy as compared to previous devices, which tend to be heavier and more bulky.
Various carrying cases have been devised for laptop computers. Representative examples may be found in U.S. utility Pat. Nos. 5,105,338; 5,217,119; 5,379,893; 5,494,157; and 5,524,754; and U.S. Design Pat. Nos. 344,074; 346,901; 360,075; 360,978; and 380,612. In all of these examples, the carrying case is primarily intended for stowage and transport, and not for use; that is, the computer must be removed from its carrying case and utilized separately.
Certain more recent patents enable the computer to be used in conjunction with a carrying case, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,903, which provides a suitcase-shaped unit that can to be placed on one's lap, with a cover that is unfolded, and side drawers (75) that may be pulled out. U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,054 resides in a folio carrying case for a notebook computer having front and rear flaps, the former of which may be folded underneath the device to provide a slanted base. U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,004, entitled CONVERTIBLE CARRYING CASE AND WORK PLATFORM FOR SMALL ELECTRONIC DEVICES, includes a neck strap enabling the user of the device to walk and compute at the same time.
In all cases just referenced, however, even those wherein the device may remain in contact with the carrying case during use of the computer, no features are provided for actually stabilizing the overall physical arrangement when positioned on one's lap which, after all, is the very environment wherein these devices are intended to be used. Even in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,054, which includes forward and rearward flaps which may be folded under the device during use, it is clear that these features provide utility only for a desktop, as opposed to a laptop, surface. Accordingly, the need remains for an article of luggage or a carrying case which may remain in contact with a piece of electronic apparatus such as a laptop computer, but which further provides means for stabilizing the configuration on one's lap during use.


A method of carburizing ferrous metal parts that includes the steps of providing a furnace for heating the metal parts and a process chamber, purging the air atmosphere from the process chamber and heating said process chamber to a temperature of at least 1100° F., feeding a gas to the process chamber and a source of air at a constant flow rate to the process chamber, boosting the process chamber by feeding an enriching gas to the process chamber to create a carbon potential of at least 0.5%, and more preferably of at least 1.4%, cleaning the process chamber by decreasing the flow of enriching gas to the process chamber to create a carbon potential of less than about 0.25%, repeating the boosting step after performing said cleaning step, and repeating the cleaning step after performing said boosting step.

Field of Invention
The invention concerns the field of metallurgical heat treating. More particularly, the invention concerns processes for carburizing ferrous metal parts under a controlled atmosphere at elevated temperatures. These processes are commonly referred to as gas carburizing.
Description of Related Art
Carburization is the conventional process for the case hardening of steel. In gas carburizing, the steel is exposed to an atmosphere which contains components capable of transferring carbon to the surface of the metal from which it diffuses into the body of the part. In many carburizing processes, an important constituent of the furnace atmosphere used to carburize metal parts is the carrier gas. A carrier gas serves to provide a furnace with a positive protective atmosphere wherein an enriching gas may be dispersed.
A variety of carrier gases have been employed in carburizing as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,472, but the most common carrier gas is the endothermic (endo) gas derived by partial combustion of natural gas in air. When using endothermic gas, it is usually necessary to add a relatively small quantity of another constituent (i.e., enriching gas), usually natural gas, to the atmosphere to raise the carbon potential of the furnace atmosphere. In most industrial processes, the endo gas is produced using an external generator. However, Barbour U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,306 discloses a device for the internal or in-situ generation of endo gas within the confines of the furnace cavity. The in-situ generator device as shown in the '306 patent is marketed by the Heavy Carbon Co. of Pittsford, Mich. under the trademark ENDOCARB™.
During operation of a furnace, using either an internal or an external generator, the carbon potential of the furnace atmosphere can become too high. When the carbon potential becomes too high it can lead to the excessive formation of carbon on the metal parts being carburized, which can cause the parts to "cement" together, and also the formation of excess carbon in the interior of the furnace ("soot"). In order to lower the carbon potential of a furnace atmosphere, it is a common practice to add air to the process chamber of the furnace. However, when the carbon potential is lowered, the time required to carburize is increased. Thus, it would be very desirable to be able to operate a furnace at a very high carbon potential and avoid the complications of excessive carbon formation or sooting.
Naito et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,051,078 discloses a method of carburization wherein endo gas is generated inside the furnace. However, like many prior art methods, such method leads to uncontrolled sooting when the carbon potential is in excess of about 1.3%.


A memory device includes a high speed port, a low speed port, at least a first memory bank, a first register, and a multiplexer. The at least first memory bank is shared by the high speed port and the low speed port. The first register store information that indicates which one of the ports has permission to access the first memory bank. The multiplexer connects one of the high speed port or the low speed port to the first memory bank, in response to the information stored in the first register.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a memory device, and more particularly, to a memory device capable of communicating with hosts at different speeds, a data communication system using the memory device, and a memory device that communicates with a host at different speeds and manages access to shared memory.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Due to the diversification in application environments of memory devices, and the increasing capacity and speed of memory devices, the data transmission speed and data throughput between hosts, such as memory controllers, and memory devices, continues to increase as well. With increased transmission speed and data throughput rates, it becomes more challenging to ensure the signal integrity of data transmitted and received to and from these memory devices.
In data communication, since data reception and transmission speed influences the topology of connecting hosts with memory devices, a limitation exists in the number of Dual In line Memory Modules (DIMMS) which each channel can support in a system requiring a high capacity memory. In order to remove the limitation, a FB (Fully Buffered)-DIMM structure is adopted.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional memory device 100 including a high speed port interface (HSP I/F) 110.
Referring to FIG. 1, the memory device 100 includes a high speed port interface (HSP I/F) 110, a high speed data communication block 120, an operation setting block 130, and a control logic 140.
The high speed port interface 110 includes a high speed port 111 and a high speed data input/output circuit 112 to perform an interface function of communicating with a host at a high speed. The high speed port 111 is a pin of the memory device 100, and the high speed data input/output circuit 112 performs data synchronization between the host and the high speed data communication block 120.
The high speed data communication block 120 is used for high speed data communication, and includes functional blocks 121, a data interface 122, and a memory cell 123.
The operation setting block 130 includes a Phased Locked Loop (PLL) 131, a temperature sensor 132, and a status register 133, to control the operation of the memory device 100.
The control logic 140 controls the operations of the high speed data communication block 120 and the operation setting block 130. Data can be input to or output from the control logic 140 directly through the high speed port interface 110 or through the high speed port interface 110 and the functional blocks 121.
A memory device for FB-DIMM includes a buffer. In FIG. 1, the high speed port interface 110 corresponds to a buffer. Control signals and data signals used for data communication between a host and the memory device 100 are received or transferred through the buffer 110. In order to improve the performance of a system with a FB-DIMM structure, it is necessary to increase the data reception/transmission speed between the host and the buffer 110, between the buffer 110 and the high speed data communication block 120, and between the control logic 140 and both the high speed data communication block 120 and the operation setting block 130 of the memory device 100.
However, control signals and data signals do not necessarily need to travel at high speeds between the memory device 100 and the host. For example, when data having information regarding operation setting conditions of the memory device 100 is written to or read from a predetermined area of the operation setting block 130 of the memory device 100, the accuracy of the data is more important than the speed at which the data is written or read.
The information regarding the operation setting conditions of the memory device 100 may include operation mode, temperature sensor status, and error flags. Information regarding operation setting conditions of a memory device is essential for memory devices engaged in high speed data communication.
The high speed data communication block 120 includes a plurality of functional blocks for interfacing. For example, the high speed data communication block 120 includes interface functional blocks corresponding to the number of signal lines required for high speed data communication, and interface functional blocks required for receiving or transmitting data from or to the operation setting block 130.
The high speed port interface 110 interfaces with the high speed data communication block 120. This means that there is a dedicated interface for handling the input and output of high speed communications. However, such a dedicated interface occupies a large area on a circuit and can often have a high rate of power consumption. Therefore, it is inefficient in terms of layout size and power consumption to use an interface dedicated to high speed communications to write or read information that does not require high speed communication.
Thus, there is a need for memory devices that can communicate with hosts at different speeds. However, such a host may attempt to access a same memory bank of the memory device at the same time. Thus, there is a further need for a memory device that can communicate with hosts at different speeds while managing access to shared memory.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Memory device communicating with a host at different speeds and managing access to shared memory


An antibody or an antibody fragment is provided that is efficacious for treating allergic diseases in which IgE is involved. A human antibody and a fragment thereof to a receptor (FcεRI) having high affinity to Fc portion of IgE was obtained using phage antibody display technique. The human anti-IgE receptor antibody and a fragment thereof of the invention has an activity to inhibit the binding between IgE and IgE receptor and hence is expected to be useful as a medicament for treating allergic diseases caused by the binding between IgE and IgE receptor.

Fcε receptor I (hereinafter also referred to as "FcεRI"), one of receptors (FcεR) for Fc portion (Fcε) of immunoglobulin E (IgE), has high affinity to IgE. FcεRI is a glycoprotein molecule expressed principally on the cellular membrane of mast cells and basophiles and plays an important role in type I allergic reaction for activation of these cells. Upon crosslinkage of antigen-specific IgE with corresponding multivalent antigens, i.e. allergens, FcεRI aggregates and signal transduction mechanism begins to act to thereby activate mast cells. As a result, a cellular degranulation occurs to thereby release chemical mediators such as histamine and serotonin, inducing novel synthesis and release of leukotrienes, prostaglandins and the like to provoke type I allergic reaction.
Human FcεRI consists of three distinct subunits, i.e. an IgE binding factor α chain, a signal amplifying factor β chain, and a signal transmitting factor Υ chain, forming either a tetramer consisting of each one α and β chains and two Υ chains, or a trimer consisting of one α chain and two Υ chains.
On the surface of the cellular membrane of mast cells and basophiles, tetrameric FcεRI is principally expressed and plays an important role in type I allergic reaction for activation of these cells as described above.
On the cellular membrane of skin Langerhans cells, monocytes, eosinophiles, dendritic cells, and platelets, expression of trimeric FcεRI is principally observed though at a lower level than that of tetrameric FcεRI and is suggested to contribute to antigen display and production of chemical mediators.
It is believed that the a chain alone in FcεRI directly interacts with IgE and its binding region to IgE spans overall the extracellular region of the α chain (Nature, vol. 406 (2000), p. 259).
As for function of FcεRI within the living body, analysis with the α chain-knockout mouse suggested that FcεRI may contribute to protection mechanism from infection with certain parasite. However, a phenotype is not found under normal conditions in the knockout mouse and hence an FcεRI gene is not a gene indispensable to survival in mice.
As described above, interaction between IgE and FcεRI is important for onset of disease in case of allergic diseases. It is also known that FcεRI-expressing cells increase in patient blood. Besides, it is known that expression of FcεRI is enhanced in eosinophiles, monocytes and basophiles in peripheral blood of patients suffering from atopic asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis, suggesting its involvement in onset of diseases.
It is reported that autoantibody against FcεRI α chain occurs in serum from some patients with chronic hives. Thus, activation of FcεRI-expressing cells due to crosslinkage of FcεRI with anti-FcεRI autoantibody has been postulated as a mechanism for onset of disease.

Human type antihuman IgE receptor antibody and fragment

Judicial Foundation the Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Res.


MRI Apparatus for obtaining a spin-echo signal applies a self-refocusing RF pulse with variable delay in the spin-echo signals following application of the RF pulse. The RF pulse is designed using the Shinnar-LeRoux algorithm B.sub.1 (t)=SLR.sup.-1 {A.sub.n (z), B.sub.n (z) } with A.sub.n '(z) substituted for A.sub.n (z).. A.sub.n '(z) is slightly non-minimum phase and equals P(z) A.sub.n (z) where P(z) is a unit amplitude phase function chosen to compensate the phase of B.sub.n (z). The RF pulse can be designed for a specific delay, a specific power constraint, and small tip angle.

This invention relates generally to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy, and more particularly the invention relates to self-refocusing RF excitation pulses with variable refocusing delay for use in MRI and spectroscopy.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-destructive method for the analysis of materials and represents a new approach to medical imaging. It is completely non-invasive and does not involve ionizing radiation. In very general terms, nuclear magnetic moments are excited at specific spin precession frequencies which are proportional to the local magnetic field. The radio-frequency signals resulting from the precession of these spins are received using pickup coils. By manipulating the magnetic fields, an array of signals is provided representing different regions of the volume. These are combined to produce a volumetric image of the nuclear spin density of the body.
Briefly, a strong static magnetic field is employed to line up atoms whose nuclei have an odd number of protons and/or neutrons, that is, have spin angular momentum and a magnetic dipole moment. A second RF magnetic field, applied as a single pulse transverse to the first, is then used to pump energy into these nuclei flipping them over, for example to 90.degree. to 180.degree.. After excitation the nuclei gradually return to alignment with the static field and give up the energy in the form of weak but detectable free induction decay (FID). These FID signals are used by a computer to produce images.
Magnetic field inhomogeneity causes dephasing of nuclear spins after application of an RF excitation. Heretofore, application of a 180.degree. (.pi.) RF pulse has been used to refocus the spins and create a spin echo.
Self-refocusing excitation pulses can be designed to produce a spin echo at the end of the excitation pulse. See for example Geen and Freeman, "Band Selective Radiofrequency Pulses", Journal of Magnetic Resonance 93, pp. 93-141 (1991). Such band selective pulses can be a single suitably shaped amplitude modulated radiofrequency pulse.
A direct method of synthesizing self-refocusing RF excitation pulses has been developed. See Shinnar et al., "The Synthesis of Pulse Sequences Yielding Arbitrary Magnetization Vectors" Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 12, pp. 74-80 (1989) and LeRoux "Exact Synthesis of Radiofrequency Waveforms", Proceedings of Seventh SMRM, pg. 1049, August 1988. The Shinnar-LeRoux (SLR) algorithm reduces RF pulse design to the design of two polynomials A.sub.n (z) and B.sub.n (z) where the magnetization M.sub.xy produced by an N sample RF pulse is: EQU M.sub.xy (X)=2A.sub.n.sup.* (Z)B.sub.n (Z)
where z=
e.sup.i.gamma.G.times.T/N and T is the pulse length.
Pauly, LeRoux, Nishimura and Macovski, "Parameter Relations for the Shinnar-LeRoux Selective Excitation Pulse Design Algorithm", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 1991 presents a design of .pi./2 pulses by choosing B.sub.n (Z) to be a linear phase FIR filter, and A.sub.n (Z) to be the minimum phase polynomial consistent with B.sub.n (Z). This results in a minimum power RF pulse. The RF waveform is the inverse SLR transform EQU B.sub.1 (t)=SLR.sup.-1 {A.sub.n (Z),B.sub.n (Z)}.
A limitation in the known self-refocusing pulse lies in the spin echo occurring only at the end of the RF excitation pulse without a delay, thus eliminating the possibility of applying magnetic gradients prior to reception of the self-refocusing pulse.

Magnetic resonance apparatus employing delayed self-refocusing RF excitation

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior Unversity


The invention relates to a thermoplastic article having a continuous polymeric phase and a discontinuous discrete phase distributed within the continuous phase. The discontinuous phase may be inorganic materials or an organic phase. The volume fraction of the discrete phase at the surface of the article is plus or minus 15% of the concentration of the additive as compared to the concentration of the additive in the bulk of the material (>20 micrometers). The invention also relates an article where the discrete additive forms domains in the surface region—potentially beneficial for gloss reduction or electrical conductivity. The invention finally relates to a process for forming a thermoplastic article with surface additive enhancement, with inclusion of inductive heating of one or more surfaces of the mold to induce the unique distribution.

For use in many applications, polymeric articles are often required to maintain a balance of certain properties—some properties which are dominated by surface characteristics, other which are more defined by the bulk of the material. The use of discrete additive phases in polymer formulations, allows for the altering of properties. Unfortunately, in most polymeric articles, the surface of the material has a very similar composition to the bulk. The discrete phase additive may enhance a property needed at the surface but diminish a property needed in the bulk (or vice versa). For instance, adding inorganic particles to a polymer may increase its surface hardness but does so while sacrificing the bulk ductility or impact resistance.
Differing surface characteristics can be achieved via multi-layer structures or articles. Unfortunately this typically requires additional complexity in manufacturing—added or different tooling (such a multilayer dies for coextrusion) or additional time (multi shot injection molding). Multilayer materials also by definition have an interface—which in many cases in the source of defects.
In many cases, it may also be advantageous for additives to form large domains in the surface region—to achieve properties such as gloss reduction or reduce surface resistivity.
There is a need for an easier and less expensive solution to provide thermoplastic articles with differing surface and bulk composition or larger domains. It is also desired to find a process that can produce these articles using typical tooling with typical production cycle times.
It has surprisingly been found that a structure can be created with a surface composition that differs in the concentration or domain size of the discrete phase from the bulk phase. Processes have been identified that allow for this structure to be formed utilizing injection or compression molding—optionally using inductive heating on one or more sides of the mold.

Polymeric composite articles comprising the heterogeneous surface/bulk distribution of discrete phase


A dynamic formation protocol for a lithium-ion battery cell. An “SEI formation end voltage” is identified, which is the voltage reached during formation at which the SEI layer is substantially formed. Charge rates are selected for the formation, with a first charge current rate to be used until the SEI formation end voltage is reached, and a second charge current rate, faster than the first charge current rate, to be used thereafter the SEI formation end voltage. These charge rates are applied to the cell for at least a first cycle of the dynamic formation process.

A lithium-ion battery is a member of a family of rechargeable battery types in which lithium ions move from the anode to the cathode during discharge and back when charging. Lithium-ion batteries use an intercalated lithium compound as the electrode material.
Chemistry, performance, cost and safety characteristics vary across lithium-ion battery types. Handheld electronics tend to use lithium-ion batteries based on lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), which offers high energy density, but can present safety risks. Other examples are lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese oxide (LMO) and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) batteries, which offer lower energy density but longer lives and better inherent safety in general. Such batteries are widely used for electric tools, medical equipment and other roles. LFP, NMC and LMO cathode-based lithium-ion batteries are leading contenders for automotive applications.
During manufacture of lithium-ion batteries, once assembly of the battery is complete, an initial charging process, referred to as a "formation process", is performed. This formation process provides the first full charge of a lithium-ion battery, and activates the cells before the battery can be used.

Dynamic formation protocol for lithium-ion battery


A method for controlling the transfer of a product stack in a packaging machine is provided, wherein the product stack is built up from a products during a work cycle and is subsequently transferred by means of a transfer apparatus (12) into a cell (18) of a continuously moved conveyor (16) during a transfer cycle. The product stack which is situated in the transfer apparatus and the cell of the conveyor assume a predefined relative position at least at the end of the transfer cycle. There is provision here for the movement speed of the conveyor to be changed in the event of an operationally caused lengthening of the work cycle and a resulting delayed start of the transfer cycle, in such a way that the cell or a following cell of the conveyor assumes the predefined relative position with respect to the product stack at the end of the transfer cycle.

The invention concerns a method for controlling the transfer of a product stack in a packaging machine, wherein the product stack is built up from n products during one work cycle TA, and is subsequently transferred by means of a transfer device into a cell of a continuously moved conveyor during a transfer cycle TT, wherein the product stack that is located in the transfer device and the cell of the conveyor assume a predetermined relative position at least at the end of the transfer cycle TT.
A packaging machine has a plurality of work stations or components that are moved relative to each other in a predetermined relationship with respect to time and space. Some components are thereby moved in cycles, i.e. after a transport movement by a predetermined length, the conveyor belts or chains remain still for a predetermined time period. The clocked movement therefore comprises alternating movement or transport phases and standstill phases.
A packaging machine also has several components or work stations that are driven in a continuous fashion, i.e. have no standstill phases, and are usually moved at a constant speed during normal interference-free operation of the packaging machine.
A packaging machine is described below by way of example, wherein a product to be packed is transported on a supply belt that is driven in a cyclic fashion to a stacking station, in which a product stack of n individual products is built up from successively arriving individual products, e.g. blister strips. As soon as the product stack has reached the predetermined desired number of individual products, it is inserted by a transfer device into a cell of a continuously driven product conveyor of a cartoning machine during a transfer cycle TT. Continuously operating cartoning machines are advantageous compared to intermittently operating cartoning machines, in that they can be operated with higher efficiency and the product stack can be inserted into a folding box in a soft, smooth and thereby interference-free fashion. Moreover, a continuously operating cartoning machine eliminates strong decelerating and accelerating motions, which reduces the risk that the product stack falls over.
The product conveyor of the cartoning machine consists of an endless circumferential conveyor belt or a corresponding conveyor chain, the outer side of which has a plurality of chamber-like cells into each of which one product stack can be inserted. Successive cells have the same separation from each other and are defined by cell walls or boundaries that project past the outer side of the conveyor. During passage of a deflecting roller, the cells open to such an extent that the product stack can be laterally inserted into the opened cell in the running direction of the conveyor at the height of the transport plane. When the deflecting roller has been passed, the cells that have received a product stack close to such an extent that the product stack is reliably grasped by the cell walls and further transported with the conveyor.
During normal operation of the packaging machine, the individual products are continuously supplied in a cyclic fashion to the stacking station, in which a product stack is formed within one work cycle TA. At the end of each work cycle TA, a new product stack is provided, which is transferred by the transfer device to the respectively associated cell of the continuously operating conveyor within one transfer cycle TT. In this fashion, the conveyor can be driven at a constant speed of motion.
During production of the individual products, it may happen that individual products are detected as being faulty and are therefore discarded. This may happen e.g. when a blister strip is not or is not completely filled or has turned out to be improperly sealed or have other faults. When a faulty product is detected, it is removed from the packaging process and upstream of the stacking station, thereby generating a hole in the line of successive products. As a result thereof, it takes four instead of three partial cycles, i.e. one partial cycle more, to build up a product stack that consists of e.g. three products in the stacking station, since one blister strip is missing at one position of the supply belt. In conventional packaging machines, an empty space in the product line that is generated by removing a detected faulty product, is filled with replacement products that are maintained in a storage device in order to prevent such irregularities. This method ensures that a continuous line of individual products arrives at the stacking station, and that the product stack can therefore always be built up within the predetermined work cycle TA.
The intermediate storage of replacement products is, however, very complex in terms of process engineering, and automatic refilling of the product line with replacement products also requires great apparative expense and therefore high costs.
It is the underlying purpose of the invention to provide a method for controlling the transfer of a product stack in a packaging machine that facilitates formation of a product stack and its transfer to a continuously operating conveyor.

Method for controlling the transfer of a product stack in a packaging machine


A processing device is provided that includes a first, second and third precision operation circuit. The processing device further includes a shared, bit-shifting circuit that is communicatively coupled to the first, second and third precision operation circuits. A method is also provided for multiplying a first and second binary number including adding a first exponent value associated with the first binary number to a second exponent value associated with the second binary number and multiplying a first mantissa value associated with the first binary number to a second mantissa value associated with the second binary number. The method includes performing the exponent adding and mantissa multiplying substantially in parallel. The method further includes performing at least one of adding or subtracting a third binary number to the product. Also provided is a computer readable storage device encoded with data for adapting a manufacturing facility to create an apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of this invention relate generally to processors and processing circuits, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for a floating point multiply accumulator (FMAC) multi-precision mantissa aligner.
2. Description of Related Art
Processors and processing circuits have evolved becoming faster and more power intensive. With increased speed and capabilities, processors and processing circuits must be adapted to be run more efficiently and with greater flexibility. As technology for these devices has progressed, there has developed a need for performance and efficiency improvements. However, complexity, power and performance considerations introduce substantial barriers to these improvements. Additionally, circuit area and circuit overhead requirements (e.g., routing and layout) provide barriers to improvements.
Multi-precision mantissa alignment may alleviate or reduce the abovementioned barriers to power reduction, efficiency and flexibility. In modern implementations for FMACs, support for two parallel single-precision operations embedded in a higher precision datapath is not found. State of the art FMACs are thus incapable of improving power usage, overhead, efficiency and flexibility through the use of parallel single-precision operations.

Floating point multiply accumulator multi-precision mantissa aligner


A user designates any one of a plurality of types of key ranges via a key range designating switch and designates, for example via a keyboard, a desired key position to be set as a boundary of the designated key range. In response to such user's operations, an actual key range of the designated key range is determined in accordance with the designated boundary key position, and the keyboard is set in a divided usage state, where the keyboard is usable divided in a plurality of key ranges, on the basis of the determined actual key range. For example, once a left (low-pitch-side) key range is designated, the designated boundary key position defines the upper limit of the left key range, while, once a right (high-pitch-side) key range is designated, the designated boundary key position defines the lower limit of the right key range.

The present invention an electronic musical instrument which can divide a keyboard into a plurality of key ranges and allocate different tone colors to the individual divided key ranges, and a control method for the electronic musical instrument.
Heretofore, there have been known electronic musical instruments which can divide a keyboard into a plurality of key ranges and allocate different tone colors (or tone colors) to the individual divided key ranges. Among such electronic musical instruments is one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2541063, according to which a key code that becomes a split key or split point for dividing the key range of the keyboard is determined in response to a user or human player performing first key depression after turning on a split-mode designating switch, and the key range is divided on the keyboard in such a manner that a key range section equal to and higher in pitch than the split mode is set as a right key range while a key range section equal to and lower in pitch than a pitch one semitone lower than the split key is set as a left key range. Further, according to the disclosure of Japanese Patent No. 2541063, a "main voice" is allocated to the right key range, and a "sub voice" is allocated to the left key range.
In the aforementioned prior-art electronic musical instrument, which one of the left and right key ranges the tone pitch of the key depressed for designating the split point belongs to is determined in advance depending on the model of the electronic musical instrument. Thus, the tone pitch of the key depressed by the user for designating the split point with the intention that the depressed key should be the lowest-pitch tone of the right key range might undesirably become the highest-pitch tone of the left key range, or conversely, the tone pitch of the key depressed by the user intending that the depressed key should be the highest-pitch tone of the left key range might undesirably become the lowest-pitch tone of the right key range.
Further, with the aforementioned prior-art electronic musical instrument, a user's key-range diving operation has to be performed after the user first shifts an operation mode of the electronic musical instrument to a split mode. Further, a user's operating for setting tone colors to the divided key ranges has to be performed after cancellation of the split mode. More specifically, the operation for setting tone colors to the divided key ranges is performed after the operation mode is shifted to a dual mode in the aforementioned prior-art electronic musical instrument, whereas such an operation is performed after the operation mode is shifted to a tone color allocation mode in many other conventionally-known electronic musical instruments. Namely, in the aforementioned conventionally-known electronic musical instrument, there is no linkage between the key-range dividing operation and the operation for setting tone colors to the divided key ranges (i.e., key-range-specific tone color setting operation), and thus, these operations tend to be difficult for a user who is not accustomed to the operations.

Electronic musical instrument and control method therefor


Methods and systems for generating a semantically augmented image are disclosed. An embedding is generated for each object label associated with a segmented input image. For each embedding associated with a respective object label, a similarity score is computed between the embedding associated with the object label and an embedding representing an object class in an object bank storing a plurality of object images. At least one object is selected, the selected object being associated with a respective object image in the object bank, the selected at least one object being from an identified object class that is identified as contextually relevant to at least one object label associated with the segmented input image, based at least on the similarity score. The selected object is added into the segmented input image to generate the augmented image.

In the field of computer vision, a neural network which performs a prediction task on images (e.g., object detection, object classification, semantic segmentation, image classification, etc.) is often trained using a training dataset that includes labeled training images, in a supervised fashion. Successful training of a neural network (e.g., to achieve a desired level of accuracy in the predictions generated by the neural network) typically relies on the availability of training datasets which contain a sufficient amount of representative data. In examples where a deep neural network (DNN) which performs a prediction task for images (e.g., object detection in an image) is trained, accuracy of the trained DNN typically depends on the training dataset used to train the DNN including a sufficient number of labeled images that are representative of the object classes of interest. In many image datasets that have been developed for training DNN which performs object detection, there can be an imbalance in the object classes in the training dataset (e.g., some object classes are overrepresented in the training dataset and/or other object classes are underrepresented in the training dataset). The result is that the DNN is trained using such an imbalanced image dataset may have poor performance with respect to detection of underrepresented object classes in new images input to the DNN during inference. However, collecting images that include objects of the underrepresented object classes and labeling the collected images are typically time consuming and costly (e.g., requiring a human to manually label the collected images).
Various existing techniques have been developed to help improve the accuracy of the trained DNN, including techniques to artificially expand the size (i.e., number of training samples) included in the training dataset. Image augmentation methods are techniques that can be used to artificially expand the size (i.e., number of training images) included in a training dataset used to train a DNN which performs a prediction task for images. Image augmentation methods involve generating modified versions of the original training images included in the training dataset. The training of many modern DNNs involves some form of image augmentation method during the training.
Some existing image augmentations methods rely on geometric or photometric changes (e.g., changing image scale, rotating image, changing image colorization, etc.) to globally modify a training image of the training dataset. However, such existing image augmentation methods do not augment the object-specific information in the training image. Therefore, these existing image augmentation methods cannot mitigate the problem of class imbalance in a training dataset used to train a DNN that performs a prediction task for images.
It would be useful to provide an object-aware method for image augmentation.

Methods and systems for semantic augmentation of images

HUAWEI CLOUD COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.


The surgical instrument includes a shaft having a distal end portion and a proximal end portion; an operative device is disposed on the distal end portion. A hand mechanism has a first handle and a second handle and is disposed on the proximal end portion. Movement of the second handle relative to the first handle actuates the operative device. A ratchet, attached to the second handle, locks the operative device and moves with the second handle. The ratchet is pivotally attached to the second handle and pivots between a locked position and an unlocked position. A biasing device biases the ratchet toward the locked position and a release mechanism for moves the ratchet from the locked position. At least one of the release mechanism and the ratchet has a feature permitting relative movement between the release mechanism and the ratchet.

This invention relates to an endoscopic surgical instrument.
A surgical instrument, such as a clamp or suture retriever, may have jaws, a handle and a ratchet. Operation of the handle opens and closes the instrument's jaws, which are used to hold tissue or retrieve a suture. The ratchet allows the jaws to be locked in position once the ratchet is engaged. Generally, these instruments have a trigger that engages and disengages the ratchet. Consequently, a surgeon using the instrument must perform a two step process to operate the ratchet. First, the jaws of the instrument are opened or closed to a desired position. Second, the ratchet is engaged to lock the jaws in this position. It is desirable to simplify operation of this type of instrument.
Some devices of this type locate the trigger for actuating the ratchet on a finger loop of one of the handles. Hence, to operate the ratchet, a surgeon must move his finger from a position on the back part of the loop to the front part of the loop, where the trigger for the ratchet is located. Accordingly, the surgeon must hold his finger out to release the ratchet and then move the handles to operate the jaw. When closing the jaws of the instrument, the surgeon's hand must close while one of his fingers is held out to keep the ratchet released. This movement is awkward.
Also, the jaws of the instrument may have teeth to grasp tissue or a suture. However, there may be instances where it is desirable to pull on a suture without holding the suture in place. Accordingly, a need exists for a jaw that permits this freedom of movement.


Systems and methods for debris mitigation in an EUV light source for semiconductor processes are disclosed. Pulsed DC electric fields are applied to the path of EUV light to reject ions from the EUV path. The pulsed DC fields are triggered to coincide with the presence of debris in the EUV optical path. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

With feature sizes in semiconductor technologies getting increasingly smaller, the wavelength of light has become a limiting factor in optical processes used in semiconductor processes, including lithography and wafer and mask inspection and metrology. Advanced optical technologies use EUV light (for example, wavelengths in the range of 11 nm to 15 nm and more specifically wavelengths of 13.5 nm) to address issues resulting from increasingly smaller features sizes, and a bright EUV light source free of debris is invaluable in the pursuit of next generation semiconductor processes. One challenging aspect of developing a bright EUV light source is to mitigate debris from the plasma generation process while minimizing the loss of EUV light produced by the plasma.
The generation of EUV radiation useful for these semiconductor processes involves the production of high-temperature plasma, such as laser-produced plasma (LPP), discharge-produced plasma (DPP), and laser-discharge produced plasma (LDP or laser-initiated DPP), which can emit light having the desired wavelengths for advanced optical processes. In LPP, a high energy laser is focused at a source material to ionize the source material, thereby generating high temperature plasma that emits EUV radiation. In DPP, source gas is flown through a system and high powered Z-pinch pulse compression is applied to ionize the source gas and produce high temperature plasma that emits EUV radiation. In LDP, a laser is used to initiate the conditions necessary to perform DPP generation by first vaporizing a source material. Producing plasma using the aforementioned techniques to create a useful EUV light source presents a challenge because the plasma generation process produces debris in the optical path of the EUV light, which causes damage to the EUV optics and diminishes their useful lifetime.
One way to mitigate debris is by means of pressurized gas, other than source type gas used to fuel the discharge, which is injected across the path of EUV light. For example, mitigation has been done by stationary plasma. However, gas alone is not effective on a majority of the debris emitted (ions, particles). Another method to mitigate debris is to apply a DC voltage, magnetic fields and plasma. However, steady state DC and plasma can further energize ions created in the production of EUV light. Their energies can be increased and the damage can be enhanced.
Some methods have been used to mitigate debris from EUV light sources while also providing the gas fuel to the discharge. For example, pressurized gas can be combined with quiescent feed or feed from behind the light source to fuel the plasma. Fuel gas and mitigation gas are separate. A jet is not used for fill but instead background fill that is lightly pumped is used for this purpose. However, to do this extra gas is required in the system. The extra gas reduces the EUV energy along the optical path. Furthermore gases other than the desired source gas in the source gas also degrade the emission.
For the methods discussed above, ions and particles emitted from the generated plasma have to be removed from the path by additional engineering measures that decrease the EUV light transmission. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to develop effective methods and system to achieve debris mitigation and source fueling for EUV light sources that overcome these disadvantages.
It is within this context that aspects of the present disclosure arise.

Advanced debris mitigation of EUV light source


The present invention relates to a new process for creating foam in a process for manufacturing a paper or board product. According to the present invention, certain types of antimicrobial starch is used in the creation of the foam.

Food and food products, including packaged foods and food products, are generally subject to two main problems: microbial contamination and quality deterioration. The primary problem regarding food spoilage in public health is microbial growth. If pathogenic microorganisms are present, then growth of such microorganisms can potentially lead to food-borne outbreaks and significant economic losses. Food-borne diseases cause illness, hospitalizations and deaths. There is thus clearly a need for effective means for preserving food and food products in order to ensure food safety.
Currently, food manufacturers use different technologies, such as heating, to eliminate, retard, or prevent microbial growth. However, effective sanitation depends on the product/process type, and not all currently available technology can deliver an effective reduction of microorganisms. Instead, another level of health problems may be created, or the quality of the treated food may deteriorate. For example, chlorine is and has been widely used as a sanitizer. However, concerns regarding the safety of carcinogenic and toxic byproducts of chlorine, such as chloramines and trihalomethanes, have been raised in recent years. Another example is heat treatment. Even though heat is very efficient in killing bacteria, it also destroys some nutrients, flavors, or textural attributes of food and food products.
Ozone has also been utilized as a means of reducing spoilage microorganisms in food and food products. Its effectiveness is generally compromised, however, by high reactivity and relatively short half-life in air. Ozone decomposition is also accelerated by water, certain organic and inorganic chemicals, the use of higher temperatures and pressures, contact with surfaces, particularly organic surfaces, and by turbulence, ultrasound and UV light. As a consequence, unlike other gases, ozone is not generally suitable for storage for other than short periods of time. The use of gaseous ozone for the treatment of foods also presents certain additional problems, including non-uniform distribution of ozone in certain foods or under certain storage conditions. As a result, the potential exists for overdosing in areas close to an ozone entry location, while those areas remote from the entry location may have limited exposure to an ozone containing gas. A further important consideration in the use of ozone is the generally relatively high cost associated with ozone generation on a commercial scale, including the costs associated with energy and the destruction of off-gas ozone.
To avoid the issues related to microbial contamination and quality deterioration of packaged food, the packaging material and packages used can also play an important role.
A process-related problem is that starch is generally prone to microbial degradation and thereby higher microbial activity in the process water. In particular, during standstill of machinery used in the manufacture of a paper or board product, high microbial growth is common which may lead to reduced strength properties when the broke is re-used in the process.
Foam forming and foam coating are technologies which are increasingly used in the manufacture or surface treatment of paper, paper products and board. By using a foam forming in the wet end of a paper machine and/or foam coating or foam dosing in a size press or coating unit, the amount of solids can be increased and, when used in the wet end of a paper machine, flocculation can be avoided. The benefit of using foam coating or surface sizing with foam is that relatively small amounts can be applied to the surface of the substrate.
One particular issue when using foaming is that surface active chemicals, such as surfactants or tensides, are often required. Typical amounts of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) required to create a foam is from 0.05 to 0.6 g/l in the furnish in a process for manufacturing paper or board. Although beneficial in creating a foam, chemicals such as tensides may also be detrimental in the manufacture of a paper, paperboard, coating or a film. Surfactants typically have negative effects on strength properties since they interfere with the fiber-fiber bonding. Surfactants also negatively influence hydrophobicity. Thus, the presence of surfactants causes problems when producing paper/board grades which need high strength and hydrophobicity, such as liquid packaging boards, food service boards, liner board etc.
In foam forming technique aiming at increasing the bulk of a fibrous sheet, the pulp or furnish is turned into a foamed suspension as it is fed from a headbox to a forming fabric of a paper or board machine. Characteristic for foam forming is that the bulk is typically higher but the tensile index is lower as compared to normal papermaking process. A bulkier structure is more porous, which brings about the lower tensile index. Foam forming requires use of a surfactant, which affects both the dry and the wet tensile strength of the sheet negatively. Such tensile strength loss is believed to be due to the surfactants adsorbing to the fibres and thus hindering hydrogen bonding between the fibres.
The foam forming technique has found use particularly in the making of tissue paper. Otherwise the inferior strength properties as compared to standard wet forming, as well as inferior Scott bond and elastic modulus have deterred use of foam forming for other kinds of papermaking. However, WO2013160553 teaches manufacture of paper or board, in which microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) is blended with pulp of a higher fibre length and turned to a fibrous web by use of foam forming. Especially a middle layer with an increased bulk is thereby produced for a multilayer board. MFC is purposed to build bridges between longer fibres and thereby lend the resulting paper or board an increased strength. The technique is said to be applicable for folding boxboard and several other paper and board products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,914 is directed to the use of a hydrolyzed proteinaceous foam in paper manufacture. The hydrolyzed proteinaceous foam is said to not appreciably affect the degree of sizing of the finished paper sheet.
WO2013160564 A1 is directed to the preparation of a web layer through the steps of i) bringing water, microfibrillated cellulose, hydrophobic size and a heat-sensitive surfactant into a foam, ii) supplying the foam onto a forming fabric, iii) dewatering the foam on the forming fabric by suction to form a web, iv) subjecting the web to drying and v) heating the web to suppress the hydrophilic functionality of the surfactant.
Another approach for utilizing foam in the manufacture of shaped products is described in WO2015036659 A1. According to this reference natural and synthetic fibres are turned to an aqueous foamed suspension, which is fed into a mould and dried to a fibrous product such as a three-dimensional package, with a corresponding shape. By feeding different foamed suspensions at multiple steps the mould can be used to make products having a multilayer wall structure.
There is thus a need for improved products for packaging, particularly products that can help address the issues related to microbial contamination and quality deterioration of packaged food. There is also a need for improved process for the manufacture of such products.

Process for creating a foam utilizing an antimicrobial starch within a process for manufacturing a paper or board product


A method of reproducing a recording medium on which image data is recorded using an MPEG (Moving Picture Coding Expert Group) or the like, the image data including first image data where all image information for one frame of question is compressed and second image data where information on a change in image information for frames before and after the frame of question is compressed, is characterized in that, when a predetermined portion in the image data recorded on the recording medium is reproduced, reproduction is started from a portion on the recording medium where the first image data is recorded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of reproducing a recording medium and an apparatus for reproducing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of reproducing a recording medium by compressing moving picture information, and an apparatus therefor.
2. Background of the Invention
There has been known one of the CD-ROM (CD-Read Only Memory) standards, which is called a video-CD. The video-CD in which audio information as well as moving picture information has been recorded has been put to practical use as a recording medium for a so-called "Karaoke"
In the video-CD, a moving picture signal as well as an audio signal has been compressed and encoded in conformity with the MPEG (Moving Picture Coding Expert Group) standards before being recorded.
In other words, the audio signal and moving picture signal are recorded in the following manner. The audio signal is converted into a digital signal, and then compressed by the compression coding system utilizing an audition psychology characteristic before being recorded. The moving picture signal is converted into a digital signal, and one screen is blocked in a plurality of blocks. Each of the blocks is subjected to discrete cosine transformation (DCT) so that the coding quantity is decreased in accordance with the degree of a change of an image. Codes of short lengths are allocated to the codes which have been subjected to the DCT in accordance with a VLC (Variable Length Code), as they are higher in the frequency of occurrence, so that the coding quantity are reduced as a whole.
In the case of moving picture data, a difference between an actual screen and a screen a change of which is predicted from a past screen and future screen is extracted. Then, the difference thus extracted and the predicted quantity of change are recorded, and the data quantity is also compressed. However, since a demodulated picture cannot be obtained from only data for the difference and the predicted quantity of change, picture data for one screen (1 frame) which is a reference to the data for the difference and the predicted quantity of change is compressed and encoded as it is, without referring to other pictures. In this manner, the reference picture thus compressed and encoded without referring to other pictures is called an "I-picture" (Intra Picture). Other pictures which contain change information for the I-picture is called a "P-picture" (Predicted Picture) or a "B-picture" (Bi-directional Prediction Picture).
The audio signal and moving picture signal are recorded, as shown in FIG. 1, on a disc by a sector unit established by the CD-ROM standards. In other words, in FIG. 1, Symbol V designates a sector (hereinafter referred to a "video sector") of moving picture data which has been compressed and encoded, and A designates a sector (hereinafter referred to an "audio sector") of audio data which has been compressed and encoded. Since the audio data is less than the moving picture data in the quantity of data, it is recorded in the ratio of one audio sector to a plurality of video sectors, as shown in FIG. 1.
As will be described in more detail later, information on a distinction between the audio sector and the video sector, information on an absolute time on a disc, and information on a time when a moving picture or sound is outputted at the time of reproducing (information on a correspondence in a reproducing timing between the moving picture and sound) are recorded on the respective sectors. The reproducing apparatus reproduces each music and a moving picture associated with that music on the basis of those information.
As is apparent from the above description of the compression encoding system for moving picture data, an accurate demodulated picture cannot be obtained without the I-picture. For this reason, when reproduction is started from the halfway position of a certain track (one track corresponds to one music; hereinafter, a sequence of events such as one music will be called one (1) sequence), it is difficult to obtain a accurate reproduced image unless the position of the I-picture is known.
In the format of the video-CD, in order to maintain a given image quality, the I-pictures are arranged in such a manner that one I-picture is necessarily recorded within 2 seconds. However, in the format of the original video-CD (hereinafter referred to as an "old video-CD format"), no information on the position of the I-picture is recorded on a disc. For this reason, the old video-CD format did not facilitate the start of reproduction from the halfway position of a certain track.
Thereafter, in the format of a revised video-CD format (hereinafter, referred to as a "new video-CD format"), a halfway position on a track where an image can be reproduced (hereinafter referred to as an "entry point"), after being converted into time information, is recorded on an area (a first track 1 as will be described later) where information on the number of music on the disc and recording data on the disc is recorded. The entry point is directed to information on the position of the I-picture and enables a picture to be reproduced even at the time of partially reproducing or forward feed reproducing by reproducing while referring to that point.
In the video-CD, data which has been subjected to a compression processing is recorded as the moving picture signal.
That data contains I-picture data which enables one screen to be reproduced by decoding the compression-processed data independently because the data has been subjected to compressing and encoding within one screen as described above, P-picture data which cannot be decoded without use of the I-picture, and B-picture data which cannot be decoded without use of the I-picture data and the P-picture data.
In the normal reproduction, those I-, P- and B-pictures are decoded, respectively, to output the reproduction of the moving picture. In the high-speed reproduction such as FF (fast forward) or REW (rewind), the I-picture data may be extracted discretely from the disc and then displayed.
In the high-speed reproduction, as the practical operation, the I-picture data is searched through the reproducing operation, and then decoded so that the decoded data is continuously outputted to be displayed as it looks like a still picture. Thereafter, a track jump is executed so that an I-picture is searched by executing the reproducing operation again from a jump completion point. Then, after the decoding processing is completed, the present screen is switched to a previous screen so that a picture of the I-picture decoded at this time is outputted to be displayed, and a track jump is executed. The above operation is repeated.
However, in the case where no I-picture could be found at the time of the reproducing operation, the picture of the previous I-picture is caused to be displayed for a long period of time.
For example, because the I-picture cannot be found in the duration where an optical head is scanning between two music on the disc, a picture which has previously been decoded and outputted to be displayed is continuously being displayed. Therefore, the operation is not changed to the high-speed reproducing operation.
Also, if the I-picture is decoded and display is switched immediately when the I-picture has been found, the duration from the start of displaying a certain picture to the start of displaying a next picture, that is, the length of a period of time during which each picture is displayed is dispersed. The shortened or lengthened period of time for displaying each picture makes its visibility very poor as a high-speed reproduced picture.
The above difficulties result in such problems that the visibility of a search screen as well as the usability are lowered.
Moreover, a Karaoke system has been realized which uses a video-CD conforming to the old video-CD format as a recording medium. However, in Japan, in recent years, music programs are reduced from TV programs whereby the entire music is difficult to memorize. Also, the Karaoke houses in which Karaoke systems are installed are increased. The account of loyalty to copyrights is shifted from a music unit system to a time charge system. Thus, the environments surrounding a Karaoke market are changed as a result of which the market has made the following demands for the Karaoke systems.
That is,
1) A user wishes to sing only the characteristic portions of music which is a so-called "impressive" ("Sabi" in Japanese). PA1 2) The user wishes to sing only the first or second part of a poem or to finish with singing of the second part. PA1 3) The user wishes to forwardly feed parts of music irrelevant to singing such as an interlude or a weak phrase for omission.
However, in the reproducing apparatus having the video-CD as a recording medium such as the conventional Karaoke system, there is no means for knowing the position of a specified partial sequence. For this reason, the user is required to search the start and end points of the partial sequence to manipulate the reproducing apparatus so as to realize the specified partial reproduction or omission described in the above items 1) to 3). This is troublesome. In particular, in the case of limiting the position of the partial sequence depending on music, for example, in the case of reproducing only the portion of "Sabi" (impressive), the operator must manipulate the reproducing apparatus at not only the start position of the partial sequence but also the end position of the partial sequence. Thus, the manipulation is troublesome.
As described above, in the old video-CD format, information on the position of the I-picture is not recorded on a disc. For this reason, when starting reproduction from the middle of certain music as in the above items 1) to 3), a moving picture associated with such a situation is difficult to reproduce.
In the new video-CD format, since the position of the I-picture is known as an entry point, the moving picture can be reproduced even from the middle of music. However, in the case of starting reproduction from a specified portion of music as in the above items 1) to 3), it can be specified from which entry point reproduction should be preferably started.

Method and apparatus for performing variable speed reproduction of compressed video data


An antenna beam steering apparatus and method comprising providing an antenna, employing a beam-deflecting lens through which energy passing from and to the antenna is deflected, and rotating the antenna with a single-axis rotator.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to steering of antenna beams.
2. Description of Related Art
It is often desirable to steer an antenna beam over a given area for radar and other applications. This is typically accomplished with a two-axis gimbal to mechanically rotate the antenna or by electronically changing the phases of elements in a phased array antenna. Additional methods, such as using two rotatable lenses that are independently controlled, have also been used. Hybrid mechanical and electronic implementations have also been developed.
The present invention provides a novel mechanism when cost and/or the amount of physical space available for the antenna are a concern.

Antenna beam steering via beam-deflecting lens and single-axis mechanical rotator