A storage box is provided for the safe-keeping of fabricated or semi-fabricated semiconductor wafers. This wafer storage box allows the wafers to be tightly secured in position when held in the storage box for storage or shipping without the possibility of breaking the wafers as in the prior art. The wafer storage box includes a receptacle member having a first piece of soft material such as anti-static sponge on the inside thereof, a holding member which is accommodated in the receptacle member, and a covering member having a second piece of soft material such as anti-static sponge on the inside thereof. When the covering member is mounted on the receptacle member, the first and second pieces of anti-static sponge are disposed on opposite sides of the holding member, thus pressing against the wafers to secure them in position in the storage box. The use of the anti-static sponge for securing purposes prevents the wafers from breaking into pieces, as otherwise occasionally occurs when using clasping pieces as seen in the prior art.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductors, and more particularly, to the structure of a storage box used to hold a batch of semiconductor wafers, whether fabricated or semi-fabricated, therein for storing or shipping the wafers.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional storage box for semiconductor wafers. As shown, the conventional wafer storage box includes three main parts: a covering member 10, a holding member 40, and a receptacle member 50. The receptacle member 50 is made from anti-static plastics and has a bottom and four upright sides without a top to define an empty interior that can be used to accommodate the holding member 40 therein. The holding member 40 is an integrally formed member including two oppositely arranged wall portions 42 linked by a beam portion 44 on the side, with each of the wall portions 42 being further formed with a row of parallel-spaced separators (each being a flat plate) 32 to define a plurality of parallel slots 22.
The covering member 10 has a top and four upright sides without a bottom to define an empty interior slightly larger in dimensions than the receptacle member 50 so that the four upright sides of the receptacle member 50 can be fitted snugly therein when the covering member 10 is used to cover the receptacle member 50. Further, the covering member 10 is provided with two rows of oppositely arranged and parallel-spaced clasping pieces 20, 30 on the inner face 12 of the top. Each neighboring pair of the clasping pieces 20, 30 define a slot therebetween to clasp one wafer (not shown) in position.
In use, the first step is to place the holding member 40 in the receptacle member 50. Then, each of the wafers is inserted into one of the slots 22 defined by the separators 32 on the wall portions 42 of the holding member 40. Finally, the covering member 10 is mounted on the receptacle member 50, with the clasping pieces 20, 30 on the inside of the covering member 10 securely clasping the wafers held in the holding member 40.
One drawback to the foregoing storage box structure, however, is that, in the case that any pair of the clasping pieces 20, 30 on the covering member 10 are not aligned precisely with the corresponding slots 22 on the holding member 40, the wafers held therein may be smashed to pieces when the technician is trying to mount the covering member 10 on the receptacle member 50.


A device to device (D2D) user equipment and a base station are provided. The D2D user equipment includes a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver receives a wireless signal having a hybrid access channel carrying a D2D hybrid access map. The processor is electrically connected to the transceiver retrieves the D2D hybrid access map from the hybrid access channel. The D2D hybrid access map indicates a D2D resource block. A first D2D user equipment transmits a D2D hybrid access request to a second D2D user equipment via the D2D resource block and the second D2D user equipment transmits a D2D hybrid access response to the first D2D user equipment via the D2D resource block. Accordingly, the first D2D user equipment and the second D2D user equipment perform D2D data transmission according to the D2D data transmission information carried in the D2D hybrid access response.

In recent years, as the wireless communication technologies become matured, a lot of wireless network systems have been derived and put into use in various circumstances. In the public safety network architecture, emergency communication services (e.g., calling the police, the fire station, or the ambulance) or inter-group communication services shall be provided, so there is a need for direct communication between adjacent UEs to make the communication therebetween more efficient. However, the direct communication must be accomplished through specific UEs and a specific frequency band.
Currently, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE) network is experiencing the rapidest development and UEs adopting the 3GPP LTE network are widely used in daily communications. In the 3GPP LTE network, data transmissions between the UEs must be performed by using a base station and a core network as intermediates, so the data transmission must be done within the signal coverage of the base station and via the allocated resources. A UE not located within the signal coverage of the base station is unable to get a resource allocation and, therefore, is unable to communicate with other UEs. Additionally, the current 3GPP LTE network does not provide the service of direct communication between UEs, so the UEs of the current 3GPP LTE network cannot be applied in the public safety network.
Accordingly, an urgent need exists in the art to provide a device to device (D2D) transmission mechanism capable of modifying the current 3GPP LTE network to extend the application thereof to the public safety network so that direct communications between the UEs can be achieved without affecting signal transmissions of the original 3GPP LTE network.

Device to device user equipment and base station


A radio frequency LDMOS device, wherein the drift region includes a first injection region and a second injection region; the first injection region situated between a second lateral surface of a polysilicon gate and a second lateral surface of a first Faraday shielding layer; the second injection region situated between the second lateral surface of the first Faraday shielding layer and the drain region and encloses the drain region; the second lateral surface of the second Faraday shielding layer is a surface of a side near the drain region, the maximum electric field strength of the drift region on the bottom of the second lateral surface of the second Faraday shielding layer is regulated via regulation of the doping concentration of the second injection region; the doping concentration of the first injection region is higher than the second injection region.

Radio frequency laterally diffused metal oxide transistors (RF LDMOS) are widely employed in the domain of high power radio frequency transmission for base stations and radio and television transmission. They adopt power arrays and synthesis of multi chips to attain a power output of over 500 w. Hence, a major aspect for improving product properties is to increase the power density per gate width. While with a higher power density, the gate width required for a single chip (unit cell) power will be relatively low, and hence the parasitic capacitance of the overall device will be reduced, and the other radio frequency properties of the device, such as efficiency and gains, will be elevated.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a radio frequency LDMOS device of the prior art, exemplified with an N type device, which comprises: a P type heavily doped, that is, a P+ doped silicon substrate 101, the doping concentration thereof being greater than 1 e20−3; a P type lightly doped silicon epilayer 102, the doping concentration and width thereof being dependent on the working voltage of the drain of the device, the higher the working voltage of the drain, the lower the doping concentration of the silicon epilayer 102, and the greater the width; an N type drift region, formed on the silicon epilayer 102; a P type doped body region 104; a gate media layer 107 and a polysilicon gate 108; an N type heavily doped, that is, an N+ heavily doped source region 105 and drain region 106; a P+ region 112 formed in the body region 104 and leading forth a grid electrode from the body region 104; a first shielding media layer 109a and a first Faraday shielding layer (G-shield) 110a covering on a step of a lateral surface of the drain side of the polysilicon gate 108; a second shielding media layer 109b and a second Faraday shielding layer 110b covering on a step of the first shielding media layer 109a; a deep contact hole 111, which is composed of a metal, such as tungsten, filled in a deep trench sinker passing through the source region 105, the body region 104, and the silicon epilayer 102 and entering into the silicon substrate 101, and which electrically connects the source region 105, the body region 104, the silicon epilayer 102 and the silicon substrate 101.
The device as is shown on FIG. 1 adopts a double layer Faraday ring, that is, the Faraday shielding layers 1101 and 110b, is applicable for a device with 50 v bias voltage, and requires a breakdown voltage exceeding 110 v. The Faraday shielding layer functions as a field plate, reduces the electric field intensity, and increases the breakdown voltage of the device, in addition to reducing the parasitic capacitance between the drain and the gate. As can be inferred from FIG. 1, the electric field on the bottom of the double layer Faraday shielding layer will be subdued. For an evenly doped drift region 103 of the prior art, increased impact ionization takes place in the drift region 103 approximate to the peripheral of the second Faraday shielding layer 110b, and as the electric field is unevenly distributed, the comparatively strong electric field and comparatively increased impact ionization at this location will reduce the breakdown voltage of the overall device. A breakdown voltage exceeding 110 v can only be realized in the prior art via reduction of doping concentration of the drift region 103, that is, the drift region 103 is relatively lightly doped, leading to a weaker saturation current of the device, and hence a correspond lower power density, due to a strong correlation between the power density and the saturation current.

Radio frequency LDMOS device and a fabrication method therefor

Shanghai Huahong Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation


Sockeye salmon growth hormone genes Types 1 and 2, and sockeye histone and metallothionein gene promoters have been isolated and sequenced. Terminator sequences for the growth hormone gene have been found. Vectors containing these promoter and terminator sequences (and intermediate sequences) have been prepared and used to transform fish egg cells. Transformed fish egg cells have been grown into transgenic fish. In the case of inserted full-length growth hormone gene, both accelerated growth and early smoltification were observed. An aspect found beneficial is to combine homologous fish metallothionein or histone gene promoter with fish gene, preferably growth hormone gene, terminator in the same vector, for preparing transgenic fish.

Growth stimulation in animals is expected on the basis of GH protein injection experiments. It has been recognized that the insertion of growth hormone (GH) genes into fish to form transgenic fish should lead to increased growth for such fish. Using mammalian or viral promoters and mammalian GH genes some success was achieved forming transgenic fish in the prior art. However expression of the GH gene was inconsistent and increase in growth was very limited.
The solution to this problem of adequate expression of the transgenes appears to be the identification and thorough characterization of suitable homologous fish promoters for gene transfer involving fish species. "Homologous" is used herein to mean relating to the same fish genus or family. Only a handful of fish promoters have been analyzed for their transcriptional activity using a fish tissue culture or transgenic system. They include the promoters from carp beta-actin; Xiphophorus MT and Xmrk proto-oncogene and oncogene; ocean pout, wolffish, sea raven and winter flounder anti-freeze protein; yellowtail alpha-globin; rainbow trout MT-B; and chinook salmon prolactin. There is clearly a need to increase the pool of well-characterized regulatory DNA sequences that are suitable for gene transfer in fish.
In patent application PCT/CA92/00109, C. L. Hew et al. (published as WO 92/16618 Oct. 1, 1992) there are described gene sequences derived from ocean pout anti-freeze gene promoter and other fish gene sequences including chinook salmon GH gene. Gene transfer of this GH gene to form transgenic Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is disclosed. Some evidence is presented in this reference for increased growth rate and earlier smolting for the transgenic Atlantic salmon. Further aspects of this work are described in S. J. Du et al. Bio/Technol. Vol. 10 pp. 176-181 (1992).
Transgenic fish vectors which consist of the carp .beta.-actin or the rainbow trout metallothionein (MT) promoters and the gilthead seabream GH cDNA are described in B. Cavari et al. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry Vol. 11 No. 1-6 pp. 345-352 (1993). In the above referenced studies all or part of the construct was derived from non-homologous genus of fish.
For the highest assurance of acceptance by regulatory authorities and the public, transgenic fish should have all inserted DNA sequences derived from the same fish genus or family.
In order to increase the commercial potential for the application of transgenics to the aquaculture of Salmonidae, it would be significant to provide promoters, vectors and vector-gene constructs homologous to the family Salmonidae.

Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, as respresented by the Minister of The Department of Fisheries and Oceans


The disclosure relates to multi-station conveying equipment which comprises a driving device, a conveyance coupling device and a station combination device, wherein the station combining device includes a plurality of conveying station mechanisms arranged side by side in proper order corresponding to a plurality of stations, wherein each conveying station mechanism is suitable for placing and supporting a material frame; the driving device can drive the plurality of material frames on the plurality of conveying station mechanisms to synchronously move through the conveyance coupling device; and the conveyance coupling device comprises at least one set of drawstring shifting fork mechanism. The driving device drives the drawstring shifting fork mechanism to reciprocate, and drives the material frame to move forward simultaneously. The electric system and the mechanical system in the existing conveying mechanism are simplified, the manufacturing cost and the energy consumption of the equipment are reduced, fault points are reduced.

In the casting production process of the aluminum alloy parts, the castings after heat treatment need surface crack detection, which generally uses fluorescence detecting equipment to nondestructively detect the surface of the castings. During fluorescence detection, a casting is placed in a standard material frame, the casting is respectively subjected to a plurality of stations such as infiltration (the casting is soaked in fluorescent liquid), dripping, soaking, spraying and drying, stays at the stations for an equal time, and finally enters a darkroom, so that an operator uses a purple light lamp to detect the surfaces of the workpiece one by one. A driving mechanism is needed to execute the conveyance of the material frame between each station. The existing driving mechanism consists of a drive motor and a sprocket chain mechanism, wherein each station is equipped with the drive motor and the sprocket chain mechanism, and each station is independently driven. The existing driving mechanism has the disadvantages of high equipment manufacturing cost, high equipment energy consumption, relatively complex electric control and mechanical systems, and multiple equipment fault points. In addition, the independent driving mechanism adopts a one-by-one feeding mode, namely, when the material frame moves forwards, the material frame needs to wait for the material frame of the previous station to move out and then move forwards, otherwise, the problem that the phenomenon such as material frame slipping or being blocked leads to stacking and dislocation of two material frames will happen. The mode of feeding one by one leads to the beat to be prolonged, so that the work efficiency of equipment is reduced.


A device (10) for processing used light bulbs containing gases and powdered coatings in order to separate the gases and coatings from the bulb housing materials. The device (10) includes a screw-type auger (44)journaled within an elongated inclined cylindrical housing (20) which performs the fracturing and separating actions assisted by a vacuum filtration system (14). The invention comprises a specially-shaped fin configuration for the auger (44) to create additional turbulence within the cylindrical housing (20) to ensure that any hazardous vapors or coatings are fully removed from the glass housing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the recycling or reclamation of used light bulbs. More particularly, this invention relates to a system for recycling or reclamation of used glass light bulbs of the type containing toxic gases or other toxic substances by crushing the bulbs and separating the toxic substances from the resulting crushed glass.
2. Description of Related Art
Fluorescent light bulbs are formed from sealed tubular glass housings which contain a volume of gas, such as mercury or other light-conductive medium. Often, the interior surface of the glass housing is coated with a layer of phosphor powder which aids in the uniform distribution of light within the tubular housing. The gas and the powdered coating often comprise toxic materials.
To dispose of used fluorescent light bulbs, it has become customary to crush them into small pieces. However, during the fracture process, toxic materials may escape to the environment or remain coated to the glass housing during subsequent disposal. It is desirable to separate the toxic materials in or on the tubular housing to a sufficient degree to allow the crushed glass to be recycled or disposed free of toxic or hazardous materials, and to separately capture the hazardous substances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,773 to Perry, issued Feb. 14, 1995, discloses a device in which the fractured glass particles of a fluorescent bulb are continuously mixed in surface contact with each other to abrade phosphors from the surfaces of the glass particles. The small phosphor particles are air-stripped from the fractured glass particulates in a separate stripping chamber. Machines such as that disclosed in the Perry '773 patent have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the recovery of fluorescent light bulbs. But there remains a need for further improved efficiencies in the separation of glass particulates, powder coatings and vapors included therein. Further, lamp recycling machines are often large, stationary objects which require that any bulbs to be recycled must be sent to the location of the machine, often at large expense because the bulbs must be sent as hazardous materials due to their content.

Lamp recycling apparatus and method for doing the same


A system comprising a hemispherical array antenna having a plurality of antenna elements comprising a set of baseline antenna elements arranged in a first 360° circular antenna array, a set of upper antenna elements arranged in a second 360° circular antenna array and latitudinally aligned with the baseline antenna elements, and a set of lower antenna elements arranged in a third 360° circular antenna array and latitudinally aligned with the baseline antenna elements. The system includes a fleet base station including a plurality of non-shared receiver channels coupled to and dedicated to a particular antenna element. The base station is configured to provide 360° of transmission/reception from horizon to zenith using the antenna elements for command and control fleet communications to and from mobile devices and to provide secondary radar functions using the fleet communications to track the mobile devices based on received signal characteristics received at the antenna elements.

Embodiments relate to system and method for fleet command and control communications with secondary radar functionality using a 360° multi-beam hemispherical array.
Mobile devices such as drones, unmanned aircraft vehicles, unmanned airborne vehicles or the like, rely on two-way communications for command and control with a wireless base station. However, these two-way communications may deteriorate from the flight of the mobile devices such that communications may be temporarily lost. Even if the communication link between a mobile device and a command and control base station are not lost, messages between the mobile device and base station may be corrupted as a result of signal interference. Corrupted messages may require retransmission which can waste time for the delivery of critical messages if the mobile device is tasked for a critical mission, for example.

System and method for fleet command and control communications with secondary radar functionality using 360° multi-beam hemispherical array


Data representing video content is distributed over a passive optical network (PON) on virtual channels that are assigned to television (TV) channels as subscribers request the TV channels and de-assigned from TV channels when subscribers are no longer viewing them. Associating and de-associating TV channels with virtual channels can be performed with very low latency by using a near-physical layer protocol, such as the Physical Layer Operation Administration and Maintenance (PLOAM) protocol.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to delivery of Internet Protocol (IP) video content via a network from a source, such as a broadcaster, to users, such as subscribers to a broadcast service and, more specifically, to delivery of IP video content via a passive optical network (PON).
2. Description of the Related Art
Most digital telecommunications networks (i.e., networks that facilitate the communication of data, voice, video, etc., between parties or between a content distribution service and subscribers) typically comprise active components, such as repeaters, relays and other such devices that consume power, in the path between an exchange and a subscriber. In addition to requiring power, active components are subject to failure and performance degradation over time, and may require significant periodic maintenance. The passive optical network (PON) has been developed to overcome some of the deficiencies. The essence of a PON is that, but for the (active) electronic equipment at the exchange or central office end of the PON and subscriber end of the PON, the PON comprises nothing but optical fiber and passive components. A single fiber can run from the central office to a passive splitter located near a group of subscribers, such as a neighborhood or office complex, and individual fibers can run from the splitter to individual subscribers.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are two standards-making bodies currently developing PON standards. The ITU has adopted the recommendations of the Full Service Access Networks (FSAN) organization, including G983.x, a specification for Broadband PON (BPON), also referred to as "APON," a reference to the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) data transmission protocol, and G984.x, a specification for Gigabit PON (GPON). These standards and recommendations are well-known to persons skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
In accordance with these standards, a PON comprises an optical line terminator (OLT) that is typically located at the central office and a number of optical network terminals (ONTs) (also known as optical network units (ONUs), each located at the subscriber's premises (e.g., home, office building, etc.), with optical fiber and splitters between the OLT and ONTs. In the downstream direction, i.e., data transmitted from the OLT (e.g., located at the exchange) to an ONT (e.g., located at a subscriber's premises), the data units (e.g., ATM data packets) are broadcast from the OLT to all of the ONTs on the PON, and an ONT can select the data to receive by matching the address embedded in the data units to a previously provisioned or learned address. In other words, an ONT only "listens" to data units having a matching address. Thus, the OLT can transmit data to a particular or selected ONT by addressing it to that ONT. In the upstream direction, i.e., data transmitted from an ONT to the OLT, the data units are time-domain multiplexed.
Interest has been expressed in using PONs to distribute compressed digital video (e.g., MPEG-encoded television (TV) content) to subscribers in the manner of a conventional, i.e., copper wire-based, digital cable television system, and in using Internet Protocol (IP) as the transmission protocol so that video delivery can be integrated efficiently with other digital services offered to the subscribers. The most straightforward scheme that has been considered involves broadcasting all available TV channels to all ONTs on the PON in a manner analogous to that in which a conventional cable TV system broadcasts the offered television channels to its subscribers, but it was recognized that bandwidth limitations would prohibit such a solution. To conserve bandwidth, other solutions that are more akin to multicast than broadcast have been proposed. Multicasting refers generally to distributing data to a defined group, and IP multicasting is a term that has been used to refer to distributing data to a group defined by a single IP address. The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is a well-known standard for IP multicasting.
The proposals for multicasting television channels using IP over PONs have involved creating connections between the OLT and ONTs in response to subscribers' requests to view television channels (e.g., by the subscriber entering a channel on a set-top box using a remote control). In many instances, "provisioning" prior to the time the system is actually used by subscribers is needed to provide an association between each IP TV channel and one of the connections that is to carry that TV channel.
An ONT can have several user ports, each of which can be connected to a compatible set-top box, computer or other device. For example, a subscriber can connect a set-top box and television located in one room of a home to one port and connect another set-top box and television located in another room to another port, so that several family members can watch television simultaneously.
When a subscriber requests to view a TV channel, the ONT at the subscriber's premises will attempt to service the request (locally) by providing the TV channel if at least one other user on the same ONT has been viewing the TV channel or, if no others have been viewing it, will request the TV channel from the OLT. The connections set up between the OLT and ONT to convey that the TV channel is being set up use the ONT Management and Control Interface (OMCI). OMCI is a service-level protocol that specifies the managed entities of a protocol-independent Management Information Base (MIB) that models the exchange of information between the OLT and an ONT. In addition, OMCI covers the ONT management and control channel protocol and the messages that are exchanged between the OLT and ONT for provisioning and setting up services at the ONT. The term "service-level" in this context refers to a high-level protocol, in contrast with the other, lower-level protocols, that the ONT protocol stack comprises. As well understood by persons skilled in the art to which the invention relates, a protocol stack is a group or suite of software elements, each itself defined by a protocol, that interact or communicate with each other in conformance with the networking protocol to which they collectively relate. The lowest-level protocol always relates to physical interaction with the hardware and typically has a very basic interface to the next-highest layer. OMCI, a service-level protocol, is near the top of the ONT protocol stack, while other layers of the ONT protocol stack, such as the Transmission Convergence (TC) layer, are near the bottom of the stack, near the hardware interface.
The OMCI message enables the OLT to set up a connection through which the data is delivered from the OLT to the subscriber's ONT. The ONT, in turn, delivers the data to a set-top box, which decodes the video signal and provides the decoded signal to a television set. The subscriber (user) operates the set-top box in the manner that is common in digital cable television systems, using a remote control to change TV channels, request video-on-demand, and so forth. When a subscriber requests a different TV channel or otherwise requests to drop the channel (e.g., turns off the set-top box), the virtual channel that was set up by the OLT to carry that TV channel to be dropped is deleted using OMCI.
The above-described mechanism for multicasting TV channels using IP over a PON suffers from deficiencies that include long channel setup latency. In other words, the time interval between the subscriber inputting the channel request and the subscriber's ONT beginning to receive the requested television channel is annoyingly long, perhaps on the order of several seconds. The long channel setup latency is due to the use of OMCI messaging between the OLT and ONT. Because OMCI is a service-level, i.e., high-level, protocol, it necessitates communication of several messages and acknowledgements between the OLT and ONT, thereby taking considerable time to set up a virtual channel. It may also involve operator provisioning to associate TV channels and virtual channels prior to operational deployment. It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and system for delivering IP video over a PON network that not only conserves bandwidth but that also does not suffer from excessive channel setup latency. The present invention addresses these problems and deficiencies and others in the manner described below.

Internet protocol video delivery in passive optical networks


The present invention relates to a device for determining information relating to a suspected occluding structure. It is described to provide (210) a spectral resolving unit with at least one broadband radiation. The at least one broadband radiation comprises a first broadband radiation acquired from a region of interest within a vascular structure. An occluding structure is suspected to be located within the region of interest and wherein the first broadband radiation is associated with the suspected occluding structure. At least one spectrally resolved data set is determined (220) on the basis of the at least one broadband radiation, wherein the at least one spectrally resolved data set comprises a first spectrally resolved data set determined on the basis of the first broadband radiation. A processing unit is provided (230) with the at least one spectrally resolved data set on the basis of the at least one broadband radiation. The processing unit determines (240) information relating to the suspected occluding structure, comprising utilisation of the first spectrally resolved data set.

The general background of this invention is blood clots, and the providing of information in support of thrombectomy. Thrombectomy, that is the physical removal of blood clots, has been shown to be superior to thrombolysis in treating acute strokes. This has led to a "boom" in thrombectomy devices. Currently there are at least 4 different devices widely available, including the Merci Retriever from Stryker, the Penumbra series of aspiration thrombectomy devices from Penumbra, and the next-generation stent-retrieval devices Trevo Pro and Trevo ProVue from Stryker and Solitaire FR from Covidien. In 2014 in the US alone 13500 thrombectomy procedures were performed with an expected compound annual growth rate of 11%. In about 33% of procedures a second thrombectomy device is used.
However, first time right is critical in thrombectomy, because the time window for treatment is short. Choosing the wrong treatment device can necessitate a second attempt to remove the blood clot, thereby lengthening the procedure time. Each attempt can take 5-10 min. Also choosing the wrong device, necessitating a subsequent different device to be used during the procedure increases costs substantially (average sales price of a thrombectomy device is 4660 US$ in 2014). Also, choosing the wrong device can increase complication rates.
WO2015/074045A2 relates to medical devices, such as catheters, that have imaging and therapeutic agent delivery capabilities. It is described that the therapeutic catheters allow a surgeon to image biological tissues, such as thrombus, prior to delivering therapeutic agents to the tissues, and then re-image the tissue after the procedure to gauge the success of the procedure. It is described that detailed characterization of the biological tissues with, e.g., spectral analysis, is facilitated thereby providing insight into the composition of the tissues and helping to determine the amount of treatment that is appropriate.
US2008/300493A1 describes devices and related methods for detecting blood clots in a blood vessel. An optical microprobe is configured to illuminate a blood vessel with electromagnetic radiation corresponding to the near-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The optical microprobe has a pair of fiber optic strands configured for transmission spectroscopy to obtain the absorption spectrum generated by the components within the blood vessel. Because blood clots generate a detectable and unique spectrum, the presence or absence of the blood clot is determined by examining the blood vessel absorption spectrum. A specially-designed holder is configured to stably position the optical microprobe relative to the blood vessel and is used to facilitate precise blood clot detection along a length of blood vessel.
US2004/111016A1 describes methods for the detection of inflammation associated with vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque to prevent heart attack and stroke. The methods are also applicable to detection of infection, cancer, wounds or auto-immune disease in the body. Certain embodiments of the methods provide a way of predicting the level of vulnerability of an atherosclerotic plaque to rupture or thrombus formation by assessing via fiber optic NIR spectrophotometry the status of two or more parameters associated with inflamed atherosclerotic plaque in a vessel of a living patient. From these measurements such conditions as low pH, hypoxia, low glucose, oxidative stress or compounds abundant in vulnerable plaque such as oxidized LDL cholesterol and oxidized metabolites of NO, significant active macrophage population, thin plaque cap, as well as senescence and/or apoptosis of smooth muscle or endothelial cells are determined with the assistance of a suitably programmed microprocessor. By considering together the status of some or all of these conditions with respect to successive sites along a vessel wall, particular plaques which are at significant risk of rupturing or thrombosing can be distinguished from "normal" vessel wall and from "intermediate" and relatively stable or "lower risk" plaques; Sites having more of the indicator conditions would be considered most in need of prompt intervention, and certain combinations of parameter levels would be suggestive of relatively stable plaque. Also described is a multi-parameter catheter and analytical processing assembly for use in the methods.
EP243098A1 relates to a blood vessel inner wall analyzing apparatus provided with a structure for more accurately analyzing components of substances adhered to the inner walls of blood vessels. A blood vessel inner wall analyzing apparatus is provided with illuminating means, detecting means and analyzing means. The illuminating means illuminates a light component in a measurement wavelength range of 1957 nm to 2713 nm onto a measured position from an end surface of a light illuminating fiber inserted into a carotid artery. The detecting means receives a light component from a measured position through an end surface of a light receiving fiber within the carotid artery. The light component to be detected is a light component in a detection wavelength range which extends 15 nm on both short and long sides of the selected center wavelength, with each one or more center wavelengths being selected from a wavelength group comprised of specific wavelengths respectively in the measurement wavelength range. The analyzing means analyzes for the presence or absence of substances differing from blood by using intensity information on the detected light component.
However, there is a continued need to support the neuro interventionalist's choice of the correct thrombectomy device to use in a procedure.

Device for determining information relating to a suspected occluding object


A shock indicator is described comprising (A) a base having a first side and a second side; (B) an indicator associated with the first side of the base, the indicator comprising a plurality of indicator subparts, the subparts comprising solid material arranged (i) in a first configuration when the shock indicator is in a first state prior to a shock event, and (ii) in a second configuration when the shock indicator is in a second state following a shock event; and (C) means associated with the second side of the base for attachment of the shock indicator to a surface. A method of manufacture is also provided.

Shock indicators are devices that may be applied to other devices within any of a variety of different industries. Shock indicators are useful in detecting significant vibration or mechanical shock experienced by an associated device such as an electronic device, including hand held electronic devices. Cellular phones, personal digital assistants, hand held computers, battery chargers, small electric appliances, digital cameras (e.g., video and still cameras) are exemplary of devices that may be used in association with a shock indicator. Shock indicators may be placed on the electronic device in a suitable manner, either on the outer surfaces of the device or on an internal surface such as adjacent electronic components within the device, in the battery compartment or the like. If the electronic device experiences a severe shock as may occur if the device is dropped onto a hard surface from a significant height, the shock indicator should be activated to thereafter indicate the occurrence of the shock. Such information could be useful to a manufacturer and/or a service organization charged with repair or replacement of the device.
The vibration or shock history of an electronic device can be important. For example, recent developments in electronic equipment and components have provided a technological revolution in display technology. Previous monochrome displays made of polymeric film and the like have been relatively forgiving when mistreated or otherwise subjected to conditions of extreme handling (e.g., dropping or other shock inducing events). More recent developments in color displays have not yet evolved to such a level of durability. Many color systems still require glass panels which may be damaged when dropped or otherwise subjected to a shock force.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a shock indicator that can be affixed to or otherwise associated with a device, such as an electronic device including a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, a hand held computer and the like. It would be especially desirable to provide such a shock indicator device in a construction that allows for activation of the indicator when an associated apparatus or device experiences a significant shock event, regardless of the direction of the force.


A supporting structure is mounted on a hand body facing a circumferential edge of a substrate from below the substrate to support the substrate. First and second guiding members are mounted on the hand body, and having guiding surfaces in contact with an imaginary cylinder having an axis aligned with a reference axis of the hand body. First and second movable members are capable of moving in an imaginary plane perpendicular to the reference axis and are disposed on the radially outer-side of the circumferential edge of the substrate so as to face the circumferential edge. A driving unit simultaneously displaces the first and second movable members in the imaginary plane. The first and second guiding members and the first and second movable members are spaced apart on the circumference of the imaginary cylinder at intervals greater than the length of the arc of a segment in a substrate holding state.

A robot hand for holding a disk-shaped semiconductor wafer is a known substrate holding device. The robot hand is joined to an end part of a robot arm included in an articulated robot and is used as an end effector. The robot hand located at a sending position by the robot arm holds a wafer and carries the wafer to a receiving position.
A first known robot hand disclosed in, for example, JP 2000-183133 A holds a wafer seated thereon by suction. A second known robot hand disclosed in, for example, JP 2002-520860 A supports a wafer seated thereon by holding the wafer by the three edge parts thereof.


A vehicle terminal installed in a vehicle and communicating with an external server, and a location-based content sharing system including the same are provided. The vehicle terminal includes a GPS receiving unit configured to receive location information regarding a location at which the vehicle is positioned, a wireless communication unit configured to receive information regarding a predetermined region and content corresponding to the predetermined region from the external server, a controller configured to determine whether the vehicle enters the predetermined region by using the location information, and reproduce the content corresponding to the predetermined region when the vehicle enters the predetermined region, and an output unit configured to output the reproduced content.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle terminal installed in a vehicle and performing communication with an external server and a location-based content sharing system including the same.
Description of the Related Art
A vehicle terminal may refer to a terminal installed in a vehicle. Vehicle terminals may include terminals used in a car navigation system, a vehicle television (TV), a telematics system, and the like. Vehicle terminals generally include a display device to provide required visual information to users.
As functions become more diversified, vehicle terminals can support more complicated functions such as capturing images or video, playing games, receiving broadcast signals, and the like, in addition to a navigation function or a function of reproducing music or video files. By comprehensively and collectively implementing such functions, vehicle terminals may be embodied in the form of a multimedia player or device. Also, in order to support and increase the functionality of vehicle terminals, software and hardware improvements, as well as changes and improvements in the structural components which form vehicle terminals may be considered.
On the strength of such improvements, a location-based service may be added to vehicle terminals. A location-based service refers to a service that transmits a user location to an external server and share relevant information by combining a global positioning system (GPS) installed in a vehicle terminal and a social networking service (SNS). The location-based service may include a service that provides a location and information between users (i.e., acquaintances) through vehicle terminals, a service that allows a user to search only information within a few kilometer radius on the basis of a user location, and a service that may search a store, a restaurant, and the like, around the user and evaluate it, and the like.

Vehicle terminal and location-based content sharing system having the same


A method for atom-based closed-loop control includes exciting atoms of a gas into one or more Rydberg states, applying one or more signal processing functions to the one or more Rydberg states, and regulating a characteristic of the applied one or more signal processing functions based on, at least in part, a response of the one or more Rydberg states to the one or more signal processing functions. A system for internal quantum-state-space interferometry includes an atomic receiver, an interferometric pathway, and a detector. The interferometer includes an atomic vapor with first atomic states and second atomic states. The interferometric pathway from RF phases between the first and second atomic states is closed by a quantum-state-space. The detector is configured to detect a readout of an interferometric signal. Embodiments include atom-based automatic level control, baseband processors, phase-locked loops, voltage transducers, raster RF imagers and waveform analyzers.

Sensors and measurement devices for electromagnetic (EM) radiation rely primarily on antenna technology. However, traditional antenna and/or solid-state technology imposes fundamental limits on the achievable accuracy, precision, and performance of EM probes and detectors. Atom-based quantum sensor technologies can achieve capabilities beyond traditional sensor technologies. In quantum physics, a Rydberg atom is an excited atom with one or more loosely bound electrons having a high principal quantum number that exhibits large polarizabilities and electric dipole moments. Atom-based quantum sensors utilizing individual atoms in highly-excited Rydberg states can provide improved sensing, measurement, and imaging for EM radiation measurement, communications, and/or information processing.

Atom-based closed-loop control for electromagnetic radiation measurement, communications, and information processing


The present invention relates to a motor vehicle trailer, particularly for transporting two-wheeled vehicles, a drawbar of which is connected to a wheel axle by means of a lockable revolving joint or link joint. The revolving joint or link joint allows the drawbar to be pivoted with respect to the wheel axle in a pivot plane which is aligned substantially in parallel to said wheel axle. A hitch coupling member is mounted directly to the wheel axle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor vehicle trailer, particularly for transporting motorized two-wheeled vehicles such as motorbikes, mopeds, motor scooters, etc.
2. Discussion of the Background
Motor vehicle trailers of this kind usually have one single axle onto which a drawbar is welded so as to be torsionally stiff and deflection resistant. At the end of the drawbar a coupling head is provided, which is engageable with a correspondingly shaped hitch ball on the rear end of a motor vehicle and can be locked there. Trailer superstructures are fastened on the axle so loads which shall be transported by means of such trailers are automatically placed such that the center of gravity thereof substantially lies above the trailer axle in order to minimize the load on the coupling piece mounted on the motor vehicle. This trailer concept already results from the respective legal provisions which only permit a maximum dead load of about 50 kg presently on the hitch ball. Furthermore, the maximum speed allowed to be driven with such trailers is limited by the law to 80 km/h at present.
Accordingly, the above-mentioned provisions result in several disadvantages when using motor vehicle trailers.
If loads are transported from one place to another by means of such a motor vehicle trailer, the motor vehicle driver is also forced to drive at the maximum admissible speed of 80 km/h when returning with the unloaded trailer. Besides, he has to accept all inconvenience regarding the capacity of maneuvering and handling the motor vehicle, which occur due to the coupled empty trailer.


A thermal decoy system contains electro-resistive fabric which warms the air within a polymer envelope transmissive to infrared radiation. The thermal decoy system thereby produces a thermal signature comparable to that of a human, which will preemptively trigger passive-infrared sensors, thereby neutralizing such sensors' capability to detect nearby persons.

Passive-infrared sensors are intended to detect the presence of a person or other warm-blooded animal by means of the long-wave infrared (thermal) radiation emitted by the body. This detection capability may be used for adverse purposes. The present invention is intended to preemptively trigger a passive-infrared sensor, thereby neutralizing the sensor's capability to detect persons in the vicinity.

System for preemptively defeating passive-infrared sensors


A redox flow battery. A metal-ligand coordination compound including an aromatic ligand that contains an electron withdrawing group is used as the catholyte and/or the anolyte so that a redox flow battery having high energy density and excellent charge/discharge efficiency may be provided.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to redox flow batteries, and more particularly, to redox flow batteries having high energy densities and charge/discharge efficiencies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Secondary batteries are high-efficiency storage systems and are used in various applications from small mobile phones to middle and large power storage units. In particular, the secondary battery is used as the main component in semiconductor and liquid crystal applications, audio and video applications, and information communication applications such as mobile phones and laptops and, recently, as power sources in hybrid electric vehicles.
Such power storage systems are required to have stable energy supply and high energy conversion efficiency. Recently, there has been interest in redox flow batteries as secondary batteries having high output power and high durability that are most suitable for large-sized power storage systems.
Unlike other batteries, the active materials in the redox flow battery exist as ions in an aqueous solution state instead of a solid state, and the redox flow battery operates by a mechanism that stores and generates electric energy due to oxidation/reduction reactions of the ions in the positive and negative electrodes.
That is, the redox flow battery contains an electrolyte (solution) state, in which the active materials of the electrode are dissolved in a solvent. When a battery including a catholyte (electrolyte adjacent to the cathode in an electrochemical cell) and an anolyte (electrolyte adjacent to the anode in an electrochemical cell), each having different oxidation numbers, is charged, an oxidation reaction and a reduction reaction occur in the positive electrode and the negative electrode, respectively. The electromotive force (EMF) of the battery is determined by the difference in the standard electrode potential)(E° of the redox couple forming the catholyte and the anolyte. On the other hand, where the electrolyte is supplied from an electrolyte tank by a pump, then the redox flow battery has both the advantage of a general battery that has rapid oxidation and reduction reaction speeds on the surfaces of the positive electrode and the negative electrode and the advantage of a fuel cell that has high output power.


The movement of a part of human body, e.g. a limb, is monitored. The movement includes N iterated rotations in a plane. A sensing device is fixed to the limb and provides data indicative of the limb movement. These data are processed to generate a rotation signal. Then, portions of the rotation signal corresponding to each movement iteration are identified. To this purpose, a plurality of null-velocity instants is identified, wherein the angular velocity of the sensing device is null. Then, each null-velocity instant is classified as a candidate start/end time or a candidate peak time. Then, a start time, end time and peak time for each iteration are determined as a combination of two candidate start/end times and a candidate peak time that fulfils certain conditions on the values of the rotation signal in correspondence of candidate start/end times and candidate peak times.

As known, motor difficulties (such as slowness and/or interruptions in the execution of some movements, tremors and rigidity) are amongst the main symptoms of many neurodegenerative diseases, such as the Parkinson's disease. Nowadays, the pathology severity of the Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients is typically tested and evaluated through simple functional tasks/exercises, universally accepted as a standard by the neurologists' community. Every task is properly evaluated by using a discrete scale, the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), whose ratings range from 0 (when the task is performed normally) to 4 (when the pathology is so severe that the PD patient is not able to perform the task). Provided that PD patients typically suffer from motion impairments, a section of UPDRS focuses specifically on the evaluation of motor tasks.
One of these standard motor tasks is the so-called Leg Agility task. Generally, for executing this task, the patient is asked to sit on a chair with a rigid backrest and armrests. The patient should keep both his/her feet on the floor comfortably. The patient is then asked to repeatedly lift up a foot as high and as fast as possible and then pull it down. Ten movement iterations per leg are generally required to accomplish the task.
Typically, the patient executes the motor tasks (including the Leg Agility task) in clinic or hospital scenarios. In particular, the patient performs the tasks at the presence of an examiner (e.g. a neurologist or specialized personnel) who observes the patient and, based on her/his personal perception and experience, provides a subjective evaluation of the patient's motor skills and then assigns an UPDRS score thereto.
Techniques are also known which provide an objective, quantitative evaluation of the movements of a person.
In particular, B. Najafi et al. "Measurement of stand-sit and sit-stand transitions using a miniature gyroscope and its application in fall risk evaluation in the elderly", IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering, Vol. 49, No. 8, pp. 843-851, Aug. 2002, describes a method for evaluating postural transitions, in particular for measuring the time of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit transitions and their duration using a miniature gyroscope attached to the chest of the patient and a portable recorder placed on the waist. The method is based on the discrete wavelets transform and provides three parameters: average and standard deviation of transition duration and occurrence of abnormal successive transitions (number of attempts to have a successful transition).
K. Aminian et. al. "Spatio-temporal parameters of gait measured by an ambulatory system using miniature gyroscopes", Journal of Biomechanics, Vol. 35, No. 5, pp. 689-699, May 2002 describes an ambulatory system for estimation of spatio-temporal parameters during long periods of walking, which uses a gyroscope attached to the shank of the user. This method is based on wavelets analysis to compute the values of temporal gait parameters from the angular velocity of the lower limbs. Based on a mechanical model, the medio-lateral rotation of the lower limbs during stance and swing, the stride length and velocity are estimated by integration of the angular velocity.

System and method for monitoring the movement of a part of a human body


An electric power system has an air compressor unit with a reservoir tank, an air powered motor and an electric generator. The air compressor unit has an air compressor that provides compressed air to the reservoir tank. The air compressor is driven by an electric motor. The air powered motor is driven by compressed air from the reservoir tank. The air powered motor provides rotary power to an input shaft of the electric generator, wherein the generator produces electrical power. The system can be mounted onto a mobile platform for ease of transport. Also, storage batteries can be connected to the electric output of the generator. The output of the batteries can be connected to the electric motor of the air compressor unit.

Electric power for residential and commercial use is typically produced by large generators in electric power plants. These generators are commonly driven by fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources. Fossil fuels include oil, natural gas and coal. Power plants utilizing these fossil fuels produce air pollution and greenhouse gases. Power plants utilizing nuclear fuels produce radioactive wastes. Storage of these wastes is highly controversial. Small portable electric generators are driven by internal combustion engines. These engines also produce air pollution due to the exhaust gases from the combustion.
Because these energy sources produce air pollution and storage problems, it is desired to develop a system for eliminating or at least minimizing reliance on such energy sources.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system that produces electrical energy without producing air or environmental pollution.


Pattern data comprising N=8 words, where one word comprises m=3 bits, delivered in parallel from a pattern memory 2 is input to a parallel/serial conversion circuit 3. The circuit 3 can be switched between a serial output mode (MC="0") in which data for one word per pin is serially delivered every test cycle and a parallel-serial output mode in which parallel data for n-2 words per pin (m.times.n bits) are serially delivered every test cycle in response to a mode control signal MC.

The invention relates to a test pattern generator circuit for IC testing equipment.
A testing equipment for a semiconductor integrated circuit (hereafter simply referred to as IC) includes a test pattern generator which generates a test pattern and an expected value pattern, applies the test pattern to an IC, which is a device under test (DUT), the response of which is compared against the expected value pattern to determine if if they are equal, and a result of such determination is saved in a memory. In a conventional test pattern generator circuit, the number of bits generated for the test pattern per tester channel remains constant. Accordingly, if it is desired to generate a variety of waveforms and corresponding expected value patterns or to achieve a test at a high rate, there has been a need to use a "pin multiplex" or to increase the number of bits per tester channel.
The term "pin multiplex" refers to the function of connecting two tester channel data to one pin of a device under test (DUT) in order to generate a more complicated test waveform or to perform a test at a high rate. FIG. 3 shows an odd-numbered and an even-numbered channel testing circuit CH(2i+1), CH(2i+2) which are adjacent to each other among a plurality of channel testing circuits. As shown, an odd-numbered channel testing circuit CH(2i+1) and an even-numbered channel testing circuit CH(2i+2), which are adjacent to each other, are normally used in combination. Each channel testing circuit CH includes a pattern memory 2 which stores test patterns and expected value patterns. The pattern memory 2 in each channel stores data for one mega-words where one word comprises three bits, for example.
In a normal mode which does not implement "pin multiplex", a mode signal MUX is set to "0" to disable an AND gate 13 and to cause a selector 14 to select an input to its B terminal to be delivered to its output. As shown at row B in FIG. 4, the pattern memory 2 of a respective channel delivers eight word data W1-W8 or a total of twenty-four bits in parallel, which are then converted in a parallel/serial conversion circuit 3 into a stream of parallel-by-bit and serial-by-word data W1-W8, as illustrated at row C in FIG. 4, for input to a formatter 4. The combination of the pattern memory 2 and the parallel/serial conversion circuit 3 forms a test pattern generator circuit 20. A rate signal RATE, as shown at row A in FIG. 4, is applied to a terminal 1 from a rate signal generator 10, and a timing generator circuit 5 generates timing data which is referenced to the timing of the rate signal and which is used in the formatter 4 to produce test waveforms V1-V8 (see row D in FIG. 4) and expected value data E1-E8 for eight cycles. The test waveform is applied, is with a delay of one test cycle, to one of input/output pins, Pm, of DUT 9 through an OR gate 6, a driver 7 and an input/output terminal 8 while the expected value data is applied to a digital compare circuit 11.
A response waveform which is delivered from the DUT 9 to the input/output pin Pm is input through the input/output terminal 8 to a comparator 15 where it is compared against a reference level to determine its digital value, which is then fed to the digital compare circuit 11 to be compared against the expected value data from the formatter 4. If the occurrence of a disagreement (fail) is found, it is recorded in a fail data memory 12.
During the pin multiplex mode, the mode signal MUX is set to "1", whereby the AND gate 13 is disabled and the selector 14 selects an input to its A terminal or an output from the comparator 15 of an odd-numbered channel.
In the pin multiplex mode, the parallel/serial conversion circuit 3 of an odd-numbered channel testing circuit CH(2i+1) delivers each of serial data W1-W8 during a first half of a corresponding test cycle, as shown at row C in FIG. 5. On the other hand, the parallel/serial conversion circuit 3 of an even-numbered channel testing circuit CH(2i+2) delivers each of serial data W1'-W8' during a second half of a corresponding test cycle, as shown at row F in FIG. 5. Outputs W1-W8 and W1'-W8' from the parallel/serial conversion circuits 3 of the respective channels are input to respective formatters 4 where test waveforms V1-V8 and V1'-V8' are produced on the basis of the timing data, for example, with a delay of one test cycle, and are fed to the OR gates 6 of the odd-numbered channels to be applied to the input/output pins Pm through the drivers.
It is to be noted that in the pin multiplex mode, the input/output terminals 8' of the even-numbered channels are not connected to any input/output pin of DUT 9.
The connection of a hardware for two channels with a single pin on the DUT in this manner enables a complicated test waveform to be produced. Also, the application of an odd-numbered channel test waveform during a first half of one test period and of an even-numbered channel test waveform during a second half of the test period, both to a common pin Pm, enables a testing operation to be performed at a frequency higher than the fundamental tester frequency or a higher rate test.
An alternative approach to the pin multiplex operation comprises increasing the number of bits per word generated by the test pattern generator circuit, from normal three bits to four or five bits per word.
It is recognized that the pin multiplex technique which has been employed heretofore in order to achieve a variety of test waveforms/expected values or a higher rate test exhibits a disadvantage that the number of effective channels of the tester is reduced because two channels of the tester resource are used for one pin of DUT. It may be inappropriate depending on the number of pins on a device and the channel arrangement of the tester.
In addition, the conventional approach of increasing the number of bits for one word/pin which defines the test waveform for one test cycle from the test pattern generator circuit requires an increased memory capacity, causing a cost increase of the tester. Furthermore, where the generation of simple waveforms expected values or a low rate of operation is sufficient for purpose of the test, which is applicable in most instances, the increase in the number of bits is nothing more than the redundancy, wastefully increasing the demand on the user.

Test pattern generator circuit for IC testing equipment


Proteases having mitogenic activity isolated from the genus Carica are provided. In particular the proteases are cysteine proteases isolated from Carica candamarcensis. In addition, the recombinant forms of the protease, including fragments and mutants with substantial homology are provided. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions useful for treating wounds that include the disclosed proteases with mitogenic activity. A method of treating wounds is provided using the disclosed proteases.

The skin is an important organ for homeostasis and host defense against foreign invaders. Specifically, it acts as the body's first line of defense against infection. Accordingly, it is important that lesions or wounds in the skin be rapidly closed to prevent infection. Some types of wounds, however, are resistant to healing under normal physiological conditions.
The process of wound healing involves a complex system of local and remote (systemic) resources. For example, amino acids and sugars are needed as substrates for collagen and proteoglycan synthesis. Migration of fibroblasts and epithelial/endothelial cells during the wound healing process places additional systemic demands on a subject during the wound healing process. Wounded tissues have unique nutritional needs and physiological features. Lymphocyte participation in wound healing has been demonstrated. Alteration in the hosts T-cell dependent immune response has also been shown to influence wound healing. Cyclosporine and anti T-cell antibodies, both of which interfere with T-cell function, abrogate wound healing. Similarly, macrophages and their products are also involved in wound healing. Increased circulation usually results in rapid delivery of monocytes and PMN's to the wound site. This in turn results in the elimination of bacterial contamination of the wound due to nonspecific killing mechanisms and also enhances the rate of wound healing. These various cell types are synthesized by the bone marrow.
While wound healing is typically an efficient and natural process that normally requires no special treatment, chronic non-healing wounds can occur. In the chronic cases, there is some underlying factor preventing healing and intervention is often necessary to complete the healing process. For example, pressure sores are initially acute wounds caused by ischaemic death of tissue due to excessive pressure and will usually heal readily when pressure is relieved and the blood supply restored. Often times it is difficult to resolve these causative factors and chronic wounds can develop. Most of these chronic wounds are characterized by the accumulation of devitalized tissue and cellular exudates at the outer surface. These products result from a restriction of nutrients to the damaged epithelium and form either a dry, hard eschar or, as in the case of deep moist wounds, a slough that frequently hardens on the outside with exposure to the air. The accumulation of these products in the wound bed is generally regarded to prevent or delay granulation and epithelialisation. The removal of this tissue by a process termed debridement is therefore thought to facilitate healing.
Debridement can be accomplished by both mechanical and non-mechanical methods. The mechanical methods require the physical elimination of the devitalized tissue from the healthy, but this difficult and often results in the aggravation of the wound. There are various non-mechanical debridement methods that include enzymes, hydrogels and chemical formulations. While various methods of debridement exist, there is no proven reliability of any particular method of debridement with respect to a particular wound. In particular, use of proteolytic enzymes in the early debridment (digestion and separation) of eschar tissues, such as in burn wounds, decubitus ulcers, pressure necroses and bed sores has been researched, e.g., streptokinase, trypsin and papain.
There remains a need for isolating and providing an agent that acts as an effective promoter of wound healing.


In the event that function names contained when one of the scripts describing objects processed within each predetermined processing unit in the web application is defined as a script of interest and the script of interest is converted to internal code are not common with function names contained when the scripts describing the remaining objects are converted to internal code, the internal code of said script of interest is cached.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of script caching in web applications and an information processing device utilizing the same.
2. Related Art
Systems have been employed in which a scripted web application is downloaded from a server and a client analyzes and executes the script. In such systems, it is necessary to download the script used to write the application by connecting the client to the Internet or another network, which can increase the communications load on the network. In addition, it is necessary for the client to analyze the script each time it is downloaded, which can increase the client's processing burden.
Thus, a script caching technology has been disclosed in which a management script is embedded in an HTML file of a web page, and, if an executable script is present in the client's storage area when the web page is loaded, it is read from said storage area and executed. Otherwise, a script is acquired from a server and executed (Patent Citation 1).

Script caching method and information processing device utilizing the same


An Ethernet-PON integrates broadcast/communication through time division multiplexing, which provides users with high-speed, high-volume communication data and high-quality, real-time digital broadcast/image data. An OLT performs a switching operation on a plurality of digital broadcast/image data received from an external broadcaster according to respective broadcast/image selection information from users, time-division-multiplexes the data into a broadcast/image signal, multiplexes the signal and communication data from an IP network into a frame, and electro-optically converts the frame and transmits to the frame to ONTs through an optical splitter. Each ONT receives and photoelectrically converts the signal from the OLT, and performs frame & time-slot demultiplexing to output the entire received communication signals and broadcast/image information contained in a time-slot assigned to the ONT to a corresponding user. The ONT receives a communication signal and broadcast/image selection information from the user, and outputs them to the OLT through the splitter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical transmission. More particularly, the present invention relates to an Ethernet passive optical network (Ethernet-PON) for providing high-volume, high-speed data services and real-time broadcast/image services to subscribers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data transfer rates above 100 Mb/s are required to provide efficient high-volume, high-speed data services and real-time digital broadcast/image services to subscribers. However, for current network systems including those using a cable modem or xDSL to provide the high-volume it is impossible to achieve high-speed data services and real-time digital broadcast/image services since the systems have transfer rates of no more than 50 Mb/s. Thus, there has been a great deal of research in the area of providing a high-speed transmission network capable of providing high-volume, high-speed data services and real-time digital broadcast/image services. An optical network has been proposed as a potential solution for providing the backbone of such a high-speed transmission network. In particular, a passive optical network (PON) is attracting attention as an economically sound way to implement the optical network. There are various PONs, such as a PON based on Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM-PON), a PON based on Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM-PON) and a PON based on Ethernet (Ethernet-PON or EPON). An EPON-based FTTH (Fiber To The Home) system has been proposed and developed as a system capable of enabling high-speed optical transmission to general residences.
In general, the Ethernet-PON has been developed basically in order to accommodate communication data signals in an Ethernet network. Data transmission in the Ethernet-PON is performed in a manner such that Gigabit Ethernet signals are transmitted at 1.25 Gb/s from an optical line terminal (OLT) to an optical network terminations (ONTs) at a wavelength of 1550 nm, whereas Gigabit Ethernet signals are transmitted at 1.25 Gb/s from the ONTs to the OLT at a wavelength of 1310 nm. As a demand for broadcast services through the optical network increases, there is also an increased need to allow the Ethernet-PON to accommodate broadcast signals. To meet the need, an overlay broadcast accommodation system has been proposed in which broadcast signals are transmitted to the ONTs through a different wavelength for broadcast signals from the wavelength for communication data, as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a general Ethernet-PON for integrating broadcast and communication functions. As shown in FIG. 1, the Ethernet-PON for integrating broadcast and communication includes an OLT (Optical Line Terminal) 100, a plurality of ONTs (Optical Network Terminals) 200-1 to 200-N, and a passive optical splitter 118. In addition, there are also optical cables for connecting the OLT 100 with the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N. The OLT 100 is a subsystem positioned between a service node and users, which receives broadcast and communication signals transmitted from broadcast and communication providers, and combines them into an optical signal after electro-optical conversion, and then subsequently transmits the optical signal. The ONTs 200-1 to 200-N are user-side devices for transferring information received from the OLT 100 to users.
In a more detailed explanation, the OLT 100 optically converts a broadcast signal received from a broadcast network through (optical/electrical) O/E and E/O (electric/optical) converters 115 and 116, and then transmits the converted signal after optically amplifying it through an EDFA (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) 117. On the other hand, the OLT 100 receives communication data from an IP (Internet Protocol) network through an IP router 111, and processes it into an optical signal through an E-PON OLT function processor 112, and then transmits it through a transmitter 113. In addition, the OLT 100 receives data from the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N, and transmits it to the IP network through the IP router 111.
The ONTs 200-1 to 200-N receive broadcast signals through broadcast receivers 119-1 to 119-N, and transfer them to users through broadcast STBs (SetTop Box) 122-1 to 122-N. In addition, the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N receive communication data through receivers 120-1 to 120-N, and transfer it to users through E-PON ONT function processors 123-1 to 123-N.
Moreover, the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N receive communication data sent from users through the E-PON ONT function processors 123-1 to 123-N, and transmit it to the OLT 100 through the burst-mode transmitters 121-1 to 121-N.
In such a conventional Ethernet-PON system for accommodating broadcast signals as shown in FIG. 1, there is a requirement to provide the EDFA 117, a high-priced optical amplifier for broadcast signal amplification, in order to transfer analog broadcast signals from the OLT 100 to the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N. It should also be noted that even when the conventional Ethernet-PON system accommodates only digital broadcast signals no other signals such as analog broadcast signals, the E-PON system must be provided with the high-priced EDFA 117 if there are a large number of digital broadcast channels.
Further, since all broadcast channels are transmitted to each of the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N, it is also required that in order to receive the transmitted broadcast signals, the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N to include a high spec, high cost optical receiver, which has high reception sensitivity and excellent noise characteristics.
In the future, it is expected that users will demand not only digital broadcast services but also high-quality, real-time digital image services. However, there is still difficulty for the conventional Ethernet-PON to accommodate the high-quality, real-time digital image signals.
Moreover, there has been no suggestion as to how to transmit specific broadcast information from the ONTs 200-1 to 200-N to the OLT 100, in the conventional Ethernet-PON system, and it is thus difficult to implement bi-directional broadcasting functions that will be required in the future on conventional Ethernet-PON.

Ethernet passive optical network for integrating broadcast and communication based on time division multiplexing scheme

Maetan-Dong, Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon-Si, Gyeonggi-Do


Apparatus for recompleting an oil and/or gas well includes a primary tubing hanger, and primary well tubing hung from the hanger within the well, and a communication/hanger nipple, located below the primary tubing hanger, which is suitable for receiving and locating a coiled tubing hanger. The communication/hanger nipple is run into the well as part of the initial completion in any situation where there is a potential requirement for a coiled tubing completion later in the life of the well but plays no part in the normal primary production operation of the well. However, should production fail for any reason, requiring coiled tubing recompletion, the communication/hanger nipple is available to support the coiled tubing and provide communication to the subsurface equipment without the necessity of modifying the primary tubing hanger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for recompleting a well and, more particularly, to recompleting a well using coiled tubing.
2. Description of Related Art
Once an oil or gas well has been drilled, the oil or gas is generally produced from the well by introducing into the borehole well tubing which is of smaller diameter than the borehole, together with associated production equipment to deliver the oil or gas upwardly through the well tubing to the surface. The well tubing normally comprises interconnected rigid threaded sections of pipe hung from a tubing hanger positioned at the upper end of the borehole.
In the course of production, however, it may happen that it becomes no longer possible to continue production from the well with the existing apparatus. This may be due, for example, to failure in some part of the production equipment or it may happen that the downhole pressure may fall to an extent whereby it becomes impossible to deliver the oil or gas upwardly through the existing well tubing.
In the past such failure of production made it necessary to kill the well and to remove, and repair or replace, the entire production installation, which was a lengthy and costly operation and which could also result in damage to the well. It has therefore been proposed, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,166, to recomplete a failed well by passing coiled tubing down through the primary well tubing, together with the equipment and accessories necessary for allowing oil or gas to continue to be delivered to the surface through the coiled tubing.
Coiled tubing is a continuous flexible pipe wound on a reel and which can be unreeled as it is passed down the borehole. The tubing is normally of small diameter compared to normal production well tubing, and may have a diameter of only 1-11/2 inches. The advantage of using coiled tubing for well recompletion is that it does not require the well to be killed and also avoids the costly removal and replacement of the primary well tubing and associated production equipment.
However, as previously mentioned, the primary production tubing for a well is normally supported at the upper end of the well by a tubing hanger, and where coiled tubing is subsequently employed for recompletion the coiled tubing also requires to be supported in similar fashion. In addition, the arrangement for supporting the coiled tubing may require to permit communication to subsurface equipment, such as a subsurface safety valve. At present coiled tubing completions which require communication to subsurface equipment must be hung off in a modified tubing hanger. However, modifying the existing tubing hanger to support the coiled tubing in a manner to provide communication to subsurface equipment is currently an expensive operation, and there is therefore a requirement for a simpler and less expensive system for supporting the coiled tubing completion assembly.

Apparatus and method for recompleting wells with coiled tubing


The invention relates to a modularly constructed plug connector comprising at least one plug module which can be plugged into a housing module and can be latched in the housing module, wherein the plug module and the housing module are in each case formed for receiving contact elements, and wherein the plug module has a locking arrangement at least at one outer side by means of which contact elements which are arranged in the plug module and/or in the housing module can be locked.

The benefit of the filing date of DE Patent Application 10006890.1 filed Feb. 16, 2000 is claimed.
The invention relates to a modularly constructed plug connector.
The problem (object) of the invention is to create a modularly constructed plug connector which is as simple and reliable to handle as possible.
The plug connector of the present invention has at least one plug module which can be plugged into a housing module and which can be latched in the housing module, wherein the plug module and the housing module are in each case formed for receiving contact elements, and wherein the plug module has a locking arrangement at least at one outer side by means of which contact elements which are arranged in the plug module and/or in the housing module can be locked.
In accordance with the invention no separate constructional element is required for locking the contact elements since the locking takes place through the plug module itself. Through this a space saving and nevertheless reliable locking of the contact elements is achieved.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the locking arrangement is arranged in such a manner that contact elements of the housing module which are not completely located in a desired position can be pushed into the desired position through the plugging in of the plug module. Through this a particularly simple handling is achieved without impairing the reliability of the plug connector since the correct seating of the contact elements in the housing module is automatically provided for during the plugging in of the plug module.
In a further preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention at least one section of the locking arrangement is arranged at least at one pivotal flap of the plug module. The movability of the flap can be used in an advantageous manner for an additional locking function for contact elements of the plug module.
In this it is preferred when at least one section for contact elements of the housing module and at least one section for contact elements of the plug module are formed at the flap, with the two sections projecting in opposite directions from the flap. Thus for example an outwardly projecting section can be used for the locking of contact elements which are arranged in the housing module, whereas contact elements which can be introduced into the plug module when the flap is pivoted upwards can be locked by a section which protrudes into the plug module when the flap is pivoted downwards.
In accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the invention the housing module is provided with coding sections, past which at least a part of the locking arrangement of a fitting plug module can be moved during the plugging in and which prevent the plugging in of a wrong plug module. In this the locking arrangement thus serves at the same time as a coding for the plug module, through which unintentional combinations of plug modules and housing modules are reliably prevented in a simple way.
The invention also relates to a plugging system consisting of housing modules and plug modules which can be plugged together pair-wise to form a plug connector in accordance with the invention, with each housing module being provided with coding sections, past which at least a part of the locking arrangement of a fitting plug module can be moved during the plugging in and which prevent the plugging in of a wrong plug module.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are also set forth in the subordinate claims, the description and the drawings.


In a self-servo writing mode, parameters such as a moving amount of a head, a time delay and the like are measured and detected by using preservo information recorded beforehand on, for instance, an outermost periphery of a disk. In accordance with the detected parameters, the head is positioned in a predetermined radial position on the disk and virtual servo information and servo information are written. Then, in accordance with at least either the virtual servo information or the servo information, the head is positioned in a next predetermined radial position and the virtual servo information and the servo information are written. After writing on a full surface of the disk is completed, a normal mode is switched ON and writing/reading of data via the head can be performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive of a sector servo system for positioning and controlling a head at a target position on a disk, in accordance with servo information recorded in the disk, and, in particular, to a disk drive having a self-servo writing function of efficiently recording high density and high quality servo information in the disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a compact hard disk drive (HDD), servo areas (servo sectors) in which servo information is recorded are arranged at predetermined intervals on a disk. The servo information is read and reproduced by means of a head during data accessing. Based on this reproduced servo information the head is positioned and controlled at a target position (a target track). The servo information is usually written in a predetermined area on the disk by a device used exclusively for writing servo information (hereinafter called a servo writer) during the process of assembling the HDD.
FIG. 1A shows a state where the servo writer is set in the disk drive. The servo writer comprises a clamper (not shown in the drawing) fixing the casing 20 of the HDD, a fixed head 21 for reading/writing a reference signal, a driving plate 22 for positioning the head 2 of the HDD on an arbitrary position of the disk and a driving pin 24 for bringing the driving plate 22 into contact with a carriage arm 23. It further comprises a stepping motor 26 for driving the driving plate 22, a rack and pinion 27 for converting linear displacement generated by the stepping motor 26 into rotational displacement, an encoder 28 for detecting an amount of motion of the driving plate 22, a cable 30 for sending signals to and receiving signals from the disk drive to actuate the spindle motor 13, voice coil motor (VCM) 12 and head amplifier 29 of the HDD, a driving system control circuit, and a servo information recording/reproducing system control circuit (not shown in the drawing).
The HDD is fixed on the clamper (not shown in the drawing) so that the rotational centers of the driving plate 22, the rack and pinion 27 and the encoder 28 can be coincident with that of the carriage arm 23. The fixed head 21 for a reference signal is fixed to the outside of the HDD so as to be positioned at an arbitrary position other than a data area on a disk 1. This fixed head 21 detects a timing for writing servo information in accordance with the reference signal recorded in the disk 1. The reference signal is recorded typically in an area different from a track in which the servo information is written (a track used for normal recording/reproducing) in order to prevent overwriting produced by writing the servo information in the disk 1.
The driving pin 24, which contacts a portion of the carriage arm 23 allows the head 2 on an HDD main body to freely move to an arbitrary position on the disk 1, by rotating the driving plate 22. The driving pin 24 is brought into contact with a portion of the carriage arm 23. This portion of the arm 23 indicates the head placed oppositely to the disk 1, as shown in FIG. 1A, when a top cover 34 of the HDD is opened, or as shown in FIG. 1B when the driving pin 24 is inserted through a notched window 35 provided on a part of the top cover 34.
FIG. 1C is a fragmentary expanded view showing a positional relationship between the carriage arm 23 and the driving pin 24. To determine the position of contact between the driving pin 24 and the carriage arm 23, it is necessary to position the head 2 very accurately at an arbitrary position on the disk 1. For this reason, a contact position, where the amount of a positional shift from the tip of the head 2 is smallest, is on the carriage arm 23 which is more rigid than the head 2 and a suspension 25.
FIG. 1B shows an HDD using a servo writer of a conventional type. In this HDD, the driving pin 24 and the fixed head 21 are inserted respectively through the notched windows 35 and 36. The notched window 35 for the driving pin 24 is formed on the upper part of the top cover 34 and the notched window 36 for the fixed head 21 for a reference signal is formed on the side surface part thereof. In other words, to use the servo writer of a conventional type, it is necessary to form notched windows in predetermined positions on the casing portion of the HDD. These notched windows are kept open even during normal use of the HDD and thus may cause a deterioration in rigidity of the HDD casing or incursion of dust into it.
An explanation will now be given of the processing of servo information writing when the above-described conventional servo writer is used by referring to FIGS. 1A to 2.
First, a power is supplied to the servo writer, and a current is supplied via the cable 30 to the spindle motor 13, the head amplifier 29 and the VCM 12 of the HDD. Driven with the power supplied, the VCM 12 generates a force, moving the head 2 and the carriage 23 in the inner peripheral direction of the disk 1.
The fixed head 21 for reading/writing a reference signal writes only the number according to HDD specifications of reference signals SC generated from a reference signal generation circuit (not shown). Located away from the data area, the fixed head 21 is positioned at a predetermined position on the outer peripheral side of the disk 1. It not only adjusts the number of reference signals SC to be written, but also continues writing until a phase of each reference, signal SC and a phase of writing start/end of the reference signal SC coincide with each other within a predetermined allowable range.
The stepping motor 26 driven in accordance with a supplied power locates the head 2 and the carriage arm 23 on a track provided on the outermost periphery of the data area. In the meantime, as described above, the VCM 12 generates a force, moving the head 2 and the carriage arm 23 in the inner peripheral direction of the disk 1. Thus, by controlling the forces applied in opposing directions, in particular by controlling a force generated by the stepping motor 26, the head 2 can be positioned at a predetermined position on the disk 1. In this case, the encoder 28 monitors the position of the head 2. The head 2 writes signals from the outer periphery to the inner periphery of the disk 1. Alternatively, the head 2 may write signals in the reverse direction. In this case, however, forces must be generated so that the VCM moves the head 2 and the carriage arm 23 in the outer peripheral direction and the stepping motor 26 moves these in the inner peripheral direction. Also, contact positions between the carriage arm 23 and the driving pin 24 are caused to be opposite between the inner and outer peripheral sides of the disk 1.
When the positioning of the head 2 is completed, for instance as shown in FIG. 2, by means of the mechanism and the function described above, the reference signals SC read by the fixed head 21 are counted by an address counter 37, based on index signals (not shown in the drawing). The reference signals SC are then converted into address codes in a pattern memory 38 which stores the servo information beforehand in a host computer (not shown). Proper addresses on the pattern memory 38 are thereby selected. Servo information SD corresponding to the selected addresses is written in the disk 1 and a sector SS is formed. This processing is repeatedly performed for the tracks in which servo information is to be written and then writing of the servo information SD in the disk 1 is completed.
When this method for writing servo information is used, however, one servo writer is occupied just for completing writing of the servo information SD of one HDD. Therefore, a plurality of servo writers are required to simultaneously perform writing of bits of servo information SD of a plurality of HDDs, or one servo writer must write the servo information SD of all HDDs must be written one-by-one, spending a long time. This leads to a big reduction in HDD productivity. Furthermore, a very clean environment is needed in order to avert incursion of dust caused by opening the above-described notched window provided on a part of the HDD or the top cover.
Excitation generated by driving of the stepping motor 26 or the rack and pinion 27 imposes an influence on the positioning of the head 2 via a contact position between the driving pin 24 and the carriage arm 23. A rotational vibration component produced by rotating of the spindle motor 13 also affects positioning of the head 2. As a result, the head 2 may record a vibration component during the writing of the servo writer in the servo information SD. If the positioning of the head is controlled by using the servo information including such a vibration component, the positioning accuracy will naturally decline.
This is because the driving pin 24 for positioning the head 2 contacts only the carriage arm 23 and cannot directly control positioning of the head 2 for writing the servo information SC in the disk 1. This is also because rigidity of the servo writer cannot be increased in an unlimited manner or made completely uniform by eliminating variance, characteristics of HDDs and compatibility with the servo writer, so long as the HDD is fixed with the servo writer. These problems arise as long as the conventional method for writing the servo information in the disk 1 by using the servo writer is employed even when, for instance, high rigidity of a single servo writer or a single HDD casing is realized.
As described above, when the servo information is written by the servo writer, a great deterioration occurs in the quality of the servo information because of a vibration component produced by the servo writer, positioning accuracy of the head positioning control unit of the servo writer, a rotational vibration component produced by the rotation of the HDD spindle motor, a vibration component produced by shaking of the casing of the HDD main body by means of an exciting force of the rotation of the spindle motor, etc.
In recent years, efforts have been made to improve a track density in order to increase the capacity of a compact HDD. However, if a high track density is to realized, there will be greater effects on a track pitch from a vibration by the servo writer itself, the accuracy of the head-positioning control unit, an exciting force produced by an interaction between the head positioning control unit and an HDD main body and the like. These will then cause a decline in a quality of the servo information.
In an effort to solve these problems, consideration has been given to a development of a highly rigid servo writer producing fewer vibrations by providing a highly accurate positioning control mechanism. The manufacturing cost of such a mechanism and a servo writer, however, is very high. A servo writer must be developed for each kind of HDD machine, even an environment for performing writing of servo information must also be developed and, thus, productivity is low.

Disk drive of a sector servo system for positioning and controlling a head at a target position on a disk