A system and method of receiving a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) is presented. At a user equipment, a first CSI-RS transmitted from a base station is received. In some implementations, the first CSI-RS is transmitted at a first periodicity using a first set of antenna ports. At the user equipment, a second CSI-RS transmitted from the base station is received. In some implementations, the second CSI-RS is transmitted at a second periodicity using a second set of antenna ports. At least one of the first CSI-RS and the second CSI-RS is used to perform channel measurement.

The present invention relates generally to data transmission in mobile communication systems and more specifically to a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) to support coordinated multi-point network implementations and heterogeneous networks.
As used herein, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" can refer to wireless devices such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld or laptop computers, and similar devices or other User Agents ("UAs") that have telecommunications capabilities. A UE may refer to a mobile, or wireless device. The term "UE" may also refer to devices that have similar capabilities but that are not generally transportable, such as desktop computers, set-top boxes, or network nodes.
In traditional wireless telecommunications systems, transmission equipment in a base station transmits signals throughout a geographical region known as a cell. As technology has evolved, more advanced equipment has been introduced that can provide services that were not possible previously. This advanced equipment might include, for example, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) node B (eNB) rather than a base station or other systems and devices that are more highly evolved than the equivalent equipment in a traditional wireless telecommunications system. Such advanced or next generation equipment may be referred to herein as long-term evolution (LTE) equipment, and a packet-based network that uses such equipment can be referred to as an evolved packet system (EPS). Additional improvements to LTE systems/equipment will eventually result in an LTE advanced (LTE-A) system. As used herein, the phrase "base station" or "access device" will refer to any component, such as a traditional base station or an LTE or LTE-A base station (including eNBs), that can provide a UE with access to other components in a telecommunications system.
In mobile communication systems such as the E-UTRAN, a base station provides radio access to one or more UEs. The base station comprises a packet scheduler for dynamically scheduling downlink traffic data packet transmissions and allocating uplink traffic data packet transmission resources among all the UEs communicating with the base station. The functions of the scheduler include, among others, dividing the available air interface capacity between UEs, deciding the transport channel to be used for each UE's packet data transmissions, and monitoring packet allocation and system load. The scheduler dynamically allocates resources for Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) and Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) data transmissions, and sends scheduling information to the UEs through a scheduling channel.
It is generally desirable to provide a high data rate coverage using signals that have a high Signal to Interference Plus Noise ratio (SINR) for UEs serviced by a base station. Typically, only those UEs that are physically close to a base station can operate with a very high data rate. Also, to provide high data rate coverage over a large geographical area at a satisfactory SINR, a large number of base stations are generally required. As the cost of implementing such a system can be prohibitive, research is being conducted on alternative techniques to provide wide area, high data rate service.
Coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission and reception may be used to increase transmission data rate and/or signal quality in wireless communication networks such as LTE-A networks. Using CoMP, neighboring base stations coordinate to improve the user throughput or signal quality, especially for users at a cell edge. CoMP may be implemented using a combination of base stations such as eNBs, and/or relay nodes (RN) and/or other types of network nodes and/or cells.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a wireless communications network having two eNBs operating in a CoMP transmission and reception configuration. A similar illustration can be applied to a combination of eNBs, RNs and/or cells. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in network coverage area 104, eNBs 106 and 108 are configured to transmit communication signals to UE 110. In network coverage area 104, any collaboration scheme may be used for eNBs 106 and 108. For example, in some CoMP schemes, eNB 106 and eNB 108 may work together to transmit the same signal to UE 110 at the same time. In such a system, the signals transmitted by the base stations combine (i.e., superpose) in the air to provide a stronger signal and thus increase the chance of transmission success. In other CoMP schemes, eNB 106 and eNB 108 transmit different signals to UE 110, which, for example, include different data that is to be communicated to UE 110. By transmitting different portions of the data through different eNBs, the throughput to UE 110 may be increased. The use of CoMP depends on many factors including channel conditions at UE 110, available resources, Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, etc. As such, in some network implementations, in a given node/cell or combination of nodes/cells only a subset of available UEs may be serviced with CoMP transmissions. For example, in FIG. 1, UE 112 is only served by eNB 108.
In LTE-A, CoMP can be used to improve the throughput for cell edge UEs as well as the cell average throughput. There are two primary mechanisms by which CoMP transmissions may be implemented to recognize these improvements. First, CoMP transmissions may provide coordinated scheduling, where data is transmitted to a single UE from one of the available transmission points (e.g., one of the available eNBs in FIG. 1 or one of the available network nodes or cells) and scheduling decisions are coordinated to control, for example, the interference generated in a set of coordinated cells. Secondly, CoMP transmissions may provide joint processing where data is simultaneously transmitted to a single UE from multiple transmission points, for example, to (coherently or non-coherently) improve the received signal quality and/or actively cancel interference for other UEs.
In the case of coordinated scheduling, data is only transmitted by the serving cell, but the scheduling decisions are made with coordination among the neighboring cells. In the case of joint processing CoMP transmission, multiple base stations transmit the data to the same user simultaneously. The UE then jointly processes the transmissions from multiple nodes to achieve a performance gain.
In CoMP implementations, the serving cell may be the cell transmitting Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) assignments (i.e., a single cell). This is analogous to the serving cell of Rel-8. In CoMP, dynamic cell selection involves a PDSCH transmission from one point within the CoMP cooperating set at a first time and in Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming (CS/CB) data is only available at the serving cell (data transmission from that point) but user scheduling/beamforming decisions are made with coordination among cells corresponding to the CoMP cooperating set.
When implementing CoMP, a series of CoMP cell sets may be defined. In a CoMP cooperating set, a set of (geographically separated) points directly or indirectly participate in PDSCH transmission to the UE. The cooperating set may be transparent to the UE. CoMP transmission point(s) are a point or set of points actively transmitting PDSCH to the UE. CoMP transmission point(s) are a subset of the CoMP cooperating set. For joint transmission, the CoMP transmission points are the points in the CoMP cooperating set, but for dynamic cell selection, a single point is the transmission point at each subframe. The transmission point can change dynamically within the CoMP cooperating set. A CoMP measurement set is a set of cells about which channel state/statistical information (CSI) related to their link to the UE is reported. The CoMP measurement set may be the same as the CoMP cooperating set. A Radio Resource Measurement (RRM) measurement set is a set in support of RRM measurements that may be defined in Rel-8 and is, therefore, not CoMP-specific. For Coordinated scheduling/beamforming, the CoMP transmission point may correspond to the "serving cell."
In LTE systems, data is transmitted from an access device to UEs via Resource Blocks (RBs). Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary resource block 50 is illustrated that is comprised of 168 Resource Elements (REs) (see exemplary elements 52) arranged in twelve frequency columns and fourteen time rows as known in the art. Accordingly, each element corresponds to a different time/frequency combination. The combination of elements in each time row are referred to as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. In the illustrated example the first three OFDM symbols (in some cases it may be the first two, first four, etc.) are reserved for PDCCH 56 and are shown in FIG. 2 as gray REs collectively. Various types of data can be communicated in each RE.
LTE systems employ various types of reference signals to facilitate communication between an access device or base station and a UE. A reference signal can be used for several purposes including determining which of several different communication modes should be used to communicate with UEs, channel estimation, coherent demodulation, channel quality measurement, signal strength measurements, etc. Reference signals are generated based on data known to both an access device and a UE, and may also be referred to as pilot, preamble, training signals, or sounding signals. Exemplary reference signals include a cell specific reference signal (CRS) that is sent by a base station to UEs within a cell and is used for channel estimation and channel quality measurement, a UE-specific or dedicated reference signal (DRS) that is sent by a base station to a specific UE within a cell that is used for demodulation of a downlink, a sounding reference signal (SRS) sent by a UE that is used by a base station for channel estimation and channel quality measurement and a demodulation reference signal sent (DM-RS) by a UE that is used by a base station for channel estimation of an uplink transmission from the UE.
In LTE systems, CRSs and DRSs are transmitted by base stations in RB REs. To this end, see FIG. 2 which shows an exemplary CRS (three of which are labeled 52) in vertical, horizontal, left down to right and left up to right hatching for ports 0 through 3 respectively and exemplary DRS in dark REs to the right of the three columns of PDCCH 56, three of which are labeled 54. The reference signals allow any UEs communicating with the access device to determine channel characteristics and to attempt to compensate for poor characteristics. The CRSs are UE-independent (i.e., are not specifically encoded for particular UEs) and, in at least some cases, are included in all RBs. By comparing the received CRS to known reference signals (i.e., known data), a UE can determine channel characteristics (e.g., a channel quality information, etc.). The difference between the known data and the received signal may be indicative of signal attenuation, path-loss differences, etc.
UEs report channel characteristics back to the base station and the base station then modifies its output (i.e., subsequent REs) to compensate for the channel characteristics. To indicate how signal output is modified, the base station transmits a UE-specific DRS to each UE. Here again, DRS data is known at the UE and therefore, by analyzing received DRS the UE can determine how the access device output has been modified and hence obtain information required to demodulate data received in subsequent REs. In FIG. 2, exemplary CRS reference signals are indicated by hatching, DRS signals are indicated by dark REs and non-reference signal elements during which traffic data is transmitted are blank (i.e., white).
Referring again to FIG. 2, to avoid collisions, LTE system DRS 54 are generally allocated to OFDM symbols separate from those occupied by CRS. Furthermore, DRS 54 are generally allocated away from PDCCH 56. In release 8 LTE devices (hereinafter "Rel-8 devices"), for example, DRS of antenna port 5 may be specified for PDSCH demodulation as shown in FIG. 2. In some cases, CRS 52 on antenna ports 0-3 are distributed on all RBs in the system bandwidth, while DRS 54 on antenna port 5, for example, may only be allocated in RBs assigned to a corresponding UE. When a UE is assigned two or more contiguous RBs, DRS 54 allocation may simply be repeated from one RB 50 to the next.
Two new types of reference signals are defined in LTE-A for the purpose of channel estimation for demodulation: channel estimation for channel state information (CSI) measurement and channel quality indicator (CQI) measurement. The first type of RS is a UE-specific RS or UE-RS used for demodulation of the traffic channel assigned to the UE, i.e. the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The UE-RS is also called demodulation RS (DM-RS). The second type of RS is a cell-specific RS used for CSI measurement and CQI measurement. In LTE-A, the LTE Rel-8 common reference signal (CRS) may be retained in non-Multicast/Broadcast over a Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframes to support legacy Rel-8 UEs. In an MBSFN subframe which may be used as a subframe to only support LTE-A UE, CRS may only be retained within the PDCCH region.
In some network implementations, then anticipated CSI-RS overhead is approximately 1/840=0.12% per antenna port (8 antenna ports=0.96%). For example, CSI-RS may be implemented with a time density of 1 symbol every 10 ms per antenna port: 1/140, or a frequency density of 1 subcarrier every 6 subcarriers per antenna port: ⅙. The periodicity of the CSI-RS signal may be adjusted by an integer number of timeframes. For DM-RS the broadcast rate is: Rank 1 transmission—12 REs per RB (same overhead as Rel-8); Rank 2 transmission—12 REs per RB to be confirmed, and Rank 3-8 transmissions—a maximum of 24 REs (total) per RB. Generally, the same REs per antenna port are transmitted for each DM-RS rank.
There are several difficulties associated with current CSI-RS designs. First, to support CoMP multi-cell CSI measurement at the UE, the UE is required to detect the CSI-RS transmitted by neighboring cells with a sufficient level of accuracy. However, because the signal strength received from neighboring cells can be relatively low compared to the signal strength received from the serving cell and the sum of the signal strength received from other neighboring cells, the received SINR of a neighboring cell CSI-RS can be quite low.
Also, existing CSI-RS design focuses on a homogeneous network scenario where only macro cells are deployed. Future networks, however, may be implemented using heterogeneous networks incorporating macro cells overlaid with small cells (also called low power nodes, e.g. femto cell, relay cell, pico cell etc.). In that case, the expected reuse cluster size will need to a much larger than the 6 to 8 cluster size currently specified. Because macro eNBs and small cell eNBs have very different transmit power (the transmit power of a macro eNB is 46 dBm (for 10 MHz bandwidth) whereas the transmit power of a pico eNB, femto eNB and relay node (RN) is 30 dBm, 20 dBm and 30 dBm respectively for 10 MHz bandwidth), the larger transmit power of the macro eNB will lead to severe DL interference experienced by a UE attached to the low power node that is located within the macro eNB coverage. This severe outer-cell interference will be detrimental to the performance of control channels (e.g. PDCCH), data channels (e.g. PDSCH) and RS detection, including CSI-RS detection.
Finally, to support CoMP with higher reuse cluster sizes and multi-antenna configurations, the number of CSI-RS antenna ports will be significant. To limit overhead, a larger periodicity of the CSI-RS may be required. A larger interval between CSI-RS transmissions may negatively affect detection performance of CSI-RS for a higher speed mobile that may, or may not, be in CoMP operation.

Reference signal for a coordinated multi-point network implementation


A molded case circuit breaker of the type containing an electronic trip unit to control an operating mechanism for automatically turning the circuit breaker contacts between ON and OFF conditions under overload conditions and a handle operator for same under quiescent conditions is designed for operation with a motor operator unit. The operating mechanism unit is structured to resist the high impact forces translated to the mechanism by the motor operator unit.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,893 entitled "Molded Case Circuit Breaker Actuator-Accessory Unit" describes the use of an electromagnetic actuator within an actuator-accessory unit to articulate a circuit breaker operating mechanism to separate the circuit breaker contacts upon the occurrence of an overcurrent condition of predetermined magnitude. An electronic trip unit in combination with current transformers are used within so-called "electronic trip" circuit breakers to sense the circuit current and determine when such a tripping function should be inputted to the actuator-accessory unit. The electronic trip unit and actuator-accessory unit replace prior art thermally and magnetically active trip elements which respond to changing circuit current in an analog fashion.
The operating mechanism and latch assembly used within the electronic trip circuit breakers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,174 entitled "Molded Case Circuit Breaker Operating Mechanism" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,263 entitled "Molded Case Circuit Breaker Latch and Operating Mechanism Assembly". The latch assembly within the operating mechanism is found within U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,848 and the cradle operator used within the operating mechanism is found within U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,933.
It has been determined that when the circuit breaker operating mechanism is articulated from a remote location by use of a motor operator, such as that described within U.S. Pat. No. 3,171,920 whereby a mechanical force is applied to the circuit breaker handle operator, the force transmitted to the operating mechanism is far in excess of that required for articulating the operating mechanism and substantially increases the rate at which the operating mechanism responds to drive the circuit breaker contacts between their ON-OFF conditions. The increased response rate could, in turn, adversely affect the life of the components within those operating mechanisms designed mainly for manual operation at a much slower response rate.
Accordingly, one purpose of the invention is to provide a circuit breaker operating mechanism that is capable of responding to the increased operating rates required with remote operating devices without affecting the life of the operating mechanism components absorbing huge impact forces without damage without substantial alteration to the existing operating mechanism design.

Molded case circuit breaker for remote control operations


A golf club head (20) having a body (22) with a front wall (30) with an opening (32) and a striking plate insert (40) is disclosed herein. The striking plate insert (40) has a substrate base layer (40a) and a second layer (40b). The second layer (40b) is preferably composed of a nickel-iron alloy material. The golf club head (20) preferably has a volume between 200 cubic centimeters and 600 cubic centimeters. The golf club head (20) preferably has a mass between 140 grams and 215 grams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club head. More specifically, the present invention relates to a golf club head with a face insert.
2. Description of the Related Art
High performance drivers employ relatively thin, high strength face materials. These faces are either formed into the curved face shape then welded into a driver body component around the face perimeter, or forged into a cup shape and connected to a body by either welding or adhesive bonding at a distance offset from the face of up to 0.75 inch. In a popular embodiment of the sheet-formed face insert driver, the weld between the formed face insert and the investment cast driver body is located on the striking face, a small distance from the face perimeter. It is common practice for the face insert to be of uniform thickness and to design the surrounding driver body component to be of equal thickness. In this way there is continuity of face thickness across the weld.
Most face inserts are composed of a titanium alloy material. Titanium alloys are generally classified into three types depending on the microstructure of the material developed after processing of the material. The three types are alpha alloys, alpha-beta alloys and metastable alloys, and these represent the phases present in the alloy at ambient temperatures. At ambient temperatures, the thermodynamic properties of titanium favors the alpha phase. However, alloying titanium with other elements allows for the high temperature beta phase to be present at ambient temperatures, which creates the alpha-beta and metastable beta microstructures. The metastable phase may be transformed into the alpha phase by heating the alloy to an intermediate elevated temperature, which results in a metastable titanium alloy with increased static strength.
Such high strength metastable titanium alloys have been used as face inserts for drivers with a high coefficient of restitution. However, the heat treatment process compromises the toughness of the material, where toughness is defined as the resistance of the material to fracture under loading. Thus, even heat treated, high strength, metastable titanium alloys have limited application as face inserts due to inferior fracture properties. Thus, there is a need for face inserts composed of titanium alloys with an appropriate microstructure for better fracture properties. This requires a proper balance between strength and toughness (resistance to fracture), without a substantial increae in the costs associated with manufacturing the face insert.
Several patents discloses face inserts. Anderson, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,024,437, 5,094,383, 5,255,918, 5,261,663 and 5,261,664, disclose a golf club head having a full body composed of a cast metal material and a face insert composed of a hot forged metal material.
Viste, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,624, discloses a golf club head with a cast metal body and a forged steel face insert with grooves on the exterior surface and the interior surface of the face insert and having a thickness of 3 mm.
Rogers, U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,236, discloses an iron club head with a formed metal face plate insert fusion bonded to a cast iron body.
Galloway, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,962, discloses a golf club head of a face cup design.
Some alloy materials that have desired inherent properties such as yield strength, tensile strength and hardness often have high densities, which limit the utilization of such materials in golf club heads. However, there is a need for a golf club head with a face insert that has the inherent properties of these materials while allowing for more discretionary mass than conventional face insert golf club heads.


An emitter for an electron-beam projection lithography system includes a photoconductor substrate, an insulating layer formed on a front surface of the photoconductor substrate, a gate electrode layer formed on the insulating layer, and a base electrode layer formed on a rear surface of the photoconductor substrate and formed of a transparent conductive material. In operation of the emitter, a voltage is applied between the base electrode and the gate electrode layer, light is projected onto a portion of the photoconductor substrate to convert the portion of the photoconductor substrate into a conductor such that electrons are emitted only from the partial portion where the light is projected. Since the emitter can partially emit electrons, partial correcting, patterning or repairing of a subject electron-resist can be realized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron-beam projection lithography system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an emitter for an electron-beam projection lithography system, the emitter being capable of emitting electrons only from a selected portion thereof, a manufacturing method thereof, and a method of operating the emitter.
2. Description of the Related Art
In semiconductor manufacturing processes, a variety of lithography systems are used for processing a surface of a substrate into a desired pattern. Optical lithography systems using visible light have been widely employed, but these systems are limited in how narrow a line width they can realize. Accordingly, a next generation lithography (NGL) system, which allows a more finely integrated semiconductor integration circuit with a line width of on the order of nanometers to be realized, has been recently proposed. The NGL system can be divided into an electron-beam projection lithography (EPL) system, an ion projection lithography (IPL) system, an extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) system, a proximity X-ray lithography (PXL) system, as well as others.
The EPL system uses an electron-beam to pattern an electron-resist coated on a subject substrate. An electron beam emitter used in the EPL system can be easily realized, and the construction of the emitter is relatively simple.
In FIG. 1, a cross-sectional view of a conventional electron-beam projection lithography emitter is illustrated. Referring to FIG. 1, an electron-beam projection lithography emitter 10 has a structure where an insulating layer 12 and a gate electrode layer 13 are sequentially stacked on a silicon substrate 11. The insulating layer 12 is formed of a silicon oxide film, and the gate electrode layer 13 is formed of a conductive metal such as aluminum (Al).
The insulating layer 12 of the emitter 10 is patterned into a predetermined pattern including a thin portion and a thick portion. When a voltage is applied between the silicon substrate 11 and the gate electrode layer 13, electrons are emitted through the thin portion of the insulating layer 12 from the silicon substrate 11. The emitted electrons collide with an electron-resist coated on an object substrate to be processed (not shown), facing a top surface of the emitter 10. As a result, the electron-resist is patterned in the same pattern as that of the insulating layer 12.
As described above, since the electrons are emitted through an entire area, the pattern image formed on the emitter 10 is projected onto the object substrate to be processed. Then, after the first patterning throughout the entire area, there may be a need to repair or further pattern a portion of the patterned electron-resist. However, the conventional emitter 10 does not permit such partial electron emission.

Emitter for electron-beam projection lithography system, and method of manufacturing and operating the emitter


An communication system such as a host signal processing modem includes a host computer and a device that is coupled to communication lines and a host processor in the host computer. In a normal operating mode, the device generates periodic interrupts that cause the host processor to execute a software portion of the communication system. The software portion communicates with the device and implements protocols required to maintain communications with a remote system via communication lines. In a wait mode of the device, interrupts from the device to the host processor are suspended and selection logic in the device selects a communication signal such as a ring signal from the telephone lines as an interrupt to the host processor. While in wait mode, a power management system can place the system in a sleep mode because the periodic interrupts are suspended and do not indicate system activity that would prevent use of the sleep mode. However, since an incoming ring signal interrupts the host processor, the HSP communication system can activate and respond to an incoming communication even if the device is in the wait mode when the incoming communication is initiated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computers employing power management systems and particularly to circuits and methods for allowing a computer to enter a power conserving mode while executing a host signal processing modem.
2. Description of Related Art
Host signal processing (HSP) modems reduce the cost of providing modem functions to a computer system by utilizing the processing power of the central processing unit (CPU) of a host computer rather than including a dedicated digital signal processor (DSP) in modem hardware. For example, typical LISP modem hardware includes: an interface for connection to telephone lines; a digital-to-analog converter (DAC); an analog-to-digital converter (ADC); a buffer for temporary storage of samples representing signals transmitted and received on the telephone lines; and an interface for connection to the host computer. During operation with an active connection over the telephone lines, the HSP modem hardware periodically interrupts the host CPU which in response executes HSP modem software. The HSP modem software retrieves received samples from the HSP modem hardware and converts the received samples to data for a communications application. The HSP modem software also retrieves data from the communications application, converts the data into samples representing the signal to be transmitted on the telephone lines, and writes those samples to the HSP modem hardware.
One disadvantage of an HSP modem can arise from the interaction of the HSP modem with a power management system such as often employed to conserve battery power in a portable computer. One type of power management system tracks a computer""s activity and when the computer is inactive for a predetermined period, places the computer in a power-saving (sleep) mode in which the system clock for the central processing unit (CPU) is slowed or stopped. The power management system turns on or increases the frequency of the system clock to place the computer in a normal operating mode when the computer resumes activity. An HSP modem can effectively disable a power management system by maintaining periodic interrupts to the main CPU. The power management system senses the periodic interrupts as system activity and keeps the computer in a normal operating mode. This is appropriate during an active telephone connection because the system is actively processing information and probably should not be in the power-saving mode. But, when there is no active modem connection, the HSP modem and the computer system may not be performing any useful activity, and the computer should be place in power-saving mode to conserve power. The HSP modem can be turned off to stop the periodic interrupts and allow the system to enter sleep mode, but this comes at the cost of losing modem functions. For example, while there is no active connection, the HSP modem may be waiting for a remote device to call in and establish a connection. Turning off the HSP modem disables the ability to handle an incoming call. Accordingly, an HSP modem system is sought that allows a power management system to place a computer in a power-saving mode when there is no active connection and is still able to respond to incoming calls received while in the power-saving mode.
In accordance with the invention, an HSP modem or other HSP communication system includes a device that connects to telephone or other communication lines and is operable in a normal mode and a wait mode. In the normal mode, the device generates periodic interrupts of the host processor; and in response to the periodic interrupts, a host CPU executes software for processing information transferred via the device. In the wait mode, periodic interrupts to the host CPU are suspended but a communication interface such as a DAA (digital/analog adapter) circuit is active and interrupts the host computer for an incoming signal on the communication lines. Accordingly, while in wait mode, the device does not generate periodic interrupt activity, and a power management system can place the host CPU in a power-saving mode while waiting for an incoming communication signal. In response to the incoming signal, the device is switched to the normal mode in which the device generates periodic interrupts to the host CPU for processing information transferred via a newly created modem connection. The interrupts cause the power management system to switch the host CPU back to normal operating mode if the host CPU was operating in power-saving mode. Accordingly, a computer system can be in a power-saving mode while waiting for an incoming ring signal and still respond to the ring signal to establish a modem connection.
One HSP modem system in accordance with the invention is implemented using a multiplexer and an HSP modem integrated circuit (IC). An interrupt signal from the HSP modem IC and a ring signal from DAA circuit provide input signals to the multiplexer. The output terminal of the multiplexer is coupled to an interrupt line of the host processor. To place the HSP modem hardware in the wait mode, the HSP modem IC is shut off or idled and the multiplexer selects the ring signal as an interrupt to the host processor. Shutting off the HSP modem IC halts periodic interrupts to the host processor and allows a power-conservation system to switch the host processor to power-saving mode. In the wait mode, a ring signal interrupts the host processor causing the host processor to execute HSP modem software. The HSP modem software turns on the HSP modem IC and causes the multiplexer to provide the interrupts from the HSP modem IC to the host processor.
HSP modems or communication systems according to embodiments of the invention may also include a time-out counter either in software or in hardware that places the HSP modem hardware in wait mode after a predetermined period with no incoming signal from a communication line and no service request from a communication application. The HSP modem hardware reactivates in response to a ring signal for an incoming call or the host computer writing to the configuration register when the host computer initiates a modem connection.

Wake-up-on-ring power conservation for host signal processing communication system


An electronic device includes a bezel, a door and a resilient component. The bezel includes an accommodating portion and a fixing portion. The accommodating portion has a lateral wall whereon a pivot hole is formed. The fixing portion is disposed on the lateral wall. The door is rotatably disposed on the bezel. The door includes a supporting arm, a pivoting portion and at least one engaging portion. The supporting arm is detachably disposed on the accommodating portion. The pivoting portion passes through the pivot hole. The engaging portion is disposed on the pivoting portion. The resilient component is disposed on the bezel by the fixing portion and presses the pivoting portion. The supporting arm rotates relative to the accommodating portion via the pivoting portion to engage the resilient component with the engaging portion, so as to constrain a relatively rotary angle between the door and the bezel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device with a door capable of rotating relative to a bezel, and more particularly, to an electronic device with rotary positioning function between a door and a bezel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional computer host includes the casing and the decoration panel. A plurality of electronic components is disposed inside the casing. The electronic components are the processor, the motherboard, the memory module, the hard disk, the optical disk driver, the sound card, the graphics card, the network card and so on. Because the hard disk, the sound card, the graphics card and the network card can be designed as detachable mode according to user's demand, so a plurality of openings is formed on a surface of the decoration panel to expose partial structures of the detachable electronic components for convenient repair. However, appearance of the conventional computer host that exposes the electronic components is inartistic and unsafe, such as drawbacks of current leakage, so that the sheltery door is utilized to movably cover the decoration panel to improve the appearance and safety of the product. The conventional sheltery door cannot be positioned when rotating relative to the decoration panel, which results in accident rotation of the sheltery door by external force, and the conventional sheltery door has drawback of inconvenient repair. Assembly strength between the conventional sheltery door and the decoration panel is insufficient, and the conventional sheltery door is separated from the decoration panel easily by unexpected hit. Thus, design of an assembly of the decoration panel and the sheltery door with positioning function and preferred structural strength is an important issue in the related computer industry.

Electronic device with rotary positioning function


An information processing apparatus includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to: determine whether or not a difference between a total of power consumption values of physical or virtual computers and a preset upper-limit value satisfies a certain condition; select, in ascending order of priorities stored in a first storage and set based on details of processing executed by the computers, any of the computers as a target whose power consumption is to be reduced, when the difference satisfies the certain condition; and switch the computer selected to a state in which the power consumption is reduced.

In recent years, computer systems (hereinafter simply referred to as "systems") having a power-capping function for controlling power consumption so that it does not exceed a maximum allowable power value (an upper-limit value) set by users have come into widespread use. In one exemplary form of the power capping, when the power consumption exceeds its upper limit, the operating frequency of a CPU is automatically reduced or the operation mode of memory is switched to a power-saving mode to control the power used by the system so that it is smaller than or equal to the upper-limit value. In another exemplary form, when a duration during which the power consumption exceeds the upper-limit value exceeds a preset maximum allowable time (a guarantee period), the system is forcibly stopped and the power supply is shut off.
The use of the power capping function allows the power consumption to be restricted to a preset range, thus making it possible to systematically control the power consumption.
However, if control based on the power capping is randomly performed, an event that is not preferable in terms of the performance of system operation may occur.
Accordingly, among systems that perform control to reduce the operating frequency of a CPU so that the power consumption is smaller than or equal to the upper limit, one system is adapted to perform control so that the operation frequency decreases by an amount corresponding to the power consumption exceeding the upper-limit value in order to ensure that the operating frequency of the CPU does not decrease excessively.
Another system is also adapted to equally reduce the operating frequencies of all CPUs by dividing the power consumption exceeding the upper-limit value by the number of CPUs. In such a system, however, there is a possibility that the operating frequencies of all the CPUs decrease significantly when the amount of the excessive power consumption increases. Thus, the system performance may decline considerably.
Accordingly, another system is adapted to perform control to monitor loads (for example, usage rates) of components (CPU, memory, and so on) therein so that the power consumptions of the components with lower loads are reduced with higher priorities. More specifically, such a system is adapted so that the operating frequency of a CPU assigned to a component having a low load is reduced with higher priority and the operation mode of memory for a component whose usage rate is low is switched to a power-saving mode with higher priority.
Examples of the related art include Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-233894 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-175788.

Information processing apparatus, control method, and computer-readable recording medium


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may receive a trigger signal indicating that a base station has obtained access to a shared radio frequency spectrum band. The UE may transmit, in response to the trigger signal, a trigger response signal configured to reserve a channel of the shared radio frequency spectrum band for a downlink transmission by the base station, where the trigger response signal is transmitted for a time period extending to a scheduled beginning of the downlink transmission. The UE may receive the downlink transmission after an expiration of the time period and based at least in part on the trigger signal.

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to medium reservation using energy detection and receiver assisted clear channel assessment.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Wireless communication systems may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequency ranges (e.g., 28 GHz, 40 GHz, 60 GHz, etc.). Wireless communications at these frequencies may be associated with increased signal attenuation (e.g., path loss), which may be influenced by various factors, such as temperature, barometric pressure, diffraction, etc. As a result, signal processing techniques, such as beamforming, may be used to coherently combine energy and overcome the path losses at these frequencies. Due to the increased amount of path loss in mmW communication systems, transmissions from the base station and/or the UE may be beamformed. Moreover, a receiving device may use beamforming techniques to configure antenna(s) and/or antenna array(s) such that transmissions are received in a directional manner.
Certain wireless communication systems may operate in a shared or unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band. For example, a base station and/or UE may perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure, a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure, and the like, on channel(s) in order to capture the medium for a transmission. When the LBT procedure is unsuccessful, (e.g., the channel(s) is/are busy), energy is detected on the channel, and the like, the base station and/or UE may perform a backoff procedure where the device waits before attempting to capture the medium again to perform the transmission. Conventional medium capture techniques, however, are inefficient, ineffective, and generally do not provide a mechanism where the channel can be captured and/or reserved for a suitable time period to perform communications. For example, conventional techniques typically require both devices to perform an LBT procedure before transmitting on the medium, which can be inefficient when the devices are performing ongoing wireless communications between themselves (e.g., uplink and downlink communications, or vice versa). Conventional medium capture/reservation techniques are further complicated when the devices are operating in a mmW network, such as where omni-directional or directional LBT procedures can be performed.

Medium reservation using energy detection and receiver assisted clear channel assessment


A silica-based particulate material that may contain less than 5 wt. % of a multivalent cation and a method of preparing such a silica-based particulate material. The silica-based particulate material may be characterized as having a median particle size of at least 20 μm, a BET surface area of at least 90 m2/g, and a pH of at least 9.5; or as having a median particle size of up to 20 μm and a pH of at least 10. The silica-based particulate material may be used to make hydrophobic silica-based particulates, which may be characterized as having a pH of at least 10.5.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to substantially dry, precipitated silica-based particulates, and especially to such particulates wherein the particle size ranges from fine micronized particles to unmilled small beads. The invention also relates to a process for the preparation of such precipitated silica-based particulates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art to use silica-based particulates having larger particle sizes as carriers for organic liquids such as liquid organic additives for rubber. It is also known in the art to use silica-based particulates having smaller particle sizes in defoamer applications.
Silica-based particulates are useful as carriers for organic liquids because the organic liquid may be absorbed by the silica and the combination thereafter handled as a free-flowing powder.
Silica-based particulates have varying capacities for organic liquids. The carrying capacity may be regarded as approximately the maximum amount of organic liquid that may be absorbed by the silica such that the resulting mixture retains the characteristics of a free-flowing powder. As the silica-based particulates absorb an organic liquid, the mixture changes from a free-flowing form to one of a semiplastic agglomeration, with an accompanying increase in viscosity. It will be appreciated that the carrying capacity of a silica for a particular organic liquid depends upon the characteristics and properties of both the silica and the liquid.
Silica-based particulates are commonly employed as carriers of liquid chemicals and resins, which are used in producing rubber articles. For example, Hi-Sil 233 silica, which is commercially available from PPG Industries, Incorporated, is used as a carrier product to absorb a wire adhesion promoter resin referred to as HMMM (hexamethoxymethyl melamine). This resin is commercially available as Cyrez CRA 963 from Cytec Industries, Incorporated and is used in the manufacture of tires.
It is known in the art to use resorcinol with resins such as HMMM in rubber applications. For instance, Cyrez CRA 963 generally requires the use of a donor acceptor, such as resorcinol, to crosslink the resin with the silica in a rubber application. However, there are health and safety concerns associated with the use of resorcinol. U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,070 is directed to a mixture including resorcinol and silica which exhibits limited sublimation behavior with regard to resorcinol. This reference states that the problems and health risks associated with resorcinol are due to the presence of sublimating resorcinol. Thus, the reference discloses the use of resorcinol precondensates to limit the sublimation of resorcinol.
Further, resorcinol-free vulcanizable rubber compositions are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,539 discloses vulcanizable rubber compositions containing uncured rubber, a vulcanizing agent and at least one additive selected from the group consisting of derivatives of melamine, acetoguanamine, benzoguanamine, cyclohexylguanamine and glycoluril monomer and oligomers of these monomers.
Another manner of eliminating resorcinol from vulcanizable rubber compositions has relied on the use of alternative co-reactants. U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,220 describes a vulcanizable rubber composition which comprises a rubber, a filler material, N-(substituted oxymethyl)melamine and at least one of α- or β-naphthol. This reference employs the monohydric phenols, α- or β-naphthol, as methylene acceptors in the resin forming reaction during vulcanization in the absence of resorcinol.
The use of resorcinol-formaldehyde resin to replace resorcinol in vulcanizable rubber compositions is also known. A. Peterson, et. al., "Resorcinol Bonding Systems for Steel Cord Adhesion," Rubber World (August 1984). Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,938 is directed to a vulcanizable rubber composition containing a high imino alkylated triazine resin additive without the use of resorcinol or resorcinol equivalent co-reactants.
Single component resins typically do not require the presence of resorcinol. However, single component resins are generally incompatible with silica particulates. For example, it has been demonstrated that Cyrez CRA 138L (which is commercially available from Cytec Industries, Incorporated) is incompatible with PPG's silica product known commercially as Hi-Sil SC 72C and Rhodia's silica product known commercially as Zeosil 1165. When Cyrez CRA 138L was imbibed in Hi-Sil SC 72C silica and aged, the resin polymerized and formed hard beads. Such hard beads are typically non-dispersible and, therefore, undesirable for use in the process of making rubber products such as tires. In theory, it is believed that the resultant hard beads were due to crosslinking of the single component resin.
As stated above, it is known in the art to use silica-based particulates having smaller particle sizes in defoamer applications. Typically, silica-based particulates used in defoamer applications are hydrophobic, or at least partially hydrophobic precipitated silica. Examples of such hydrophobic and partially hydrophobic precipitated silica particles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,191,122, 4,377,493 and 4,344,858.
Additionally, silica-based particulates often contain multivalent cations, such as calcium, magnesium and aluminum. Nonlimiting examples of such materials include aluminosilicates such as Zeolex 23A, which contains 9 wt. % Al as Al2O3 available from J.M Huber Corporation; and the calcium silicates available as Hubersorb 600, which contains 26 wt. % calcium as CaO, available from J.M Huber Corporation and Sipernat 880, which contains 6 wt. % calcium as CaO available from Degussa AG.
Oftentimes, the multivalent cations can be leached from the silica-based particulates, leading to undesirable interactions between the multivalent cations and the other components of the system or composition to which the silica-based particulates have been added. As a non-limiting example, fatty acid salts of multivalent cations often become insoluble in aqueous systems.
It would be desirable to develop silica particulates that do not require the presence of resorcinol and/or are substantially free of multivalent cations.


The present disclosure relates to a monitoring method, a monitoring system and a control device for a human-body security-inspection device. The monitoring method includes: collecting operation parameters of preset monitoring points in target circuit modules of the human-body security-inspection device; obtaining parameter ranges according to module identifiers of the target circuit modules and monitoring-point identifiers of the preset monitoring points, wherein the parameter ranges are associated with the module identifiers and the monitoring-point identifiers respectively; determining whether the operation parameters are in the parameter ranges respectively, and then determining location information of a fault point according to the module identifiers and the monitoring-point identifiers if any of the operation parameters is not in a corresponding parameter range. Therefore, the present disclosure can quickly locate the position of the fault point, thus it is convenient in the maintenance and test work, and improve the efficiency of the maintenance and test work.

The millimeter wave is a wave with a frequency in a range from 30 GHz to 300 GHz (which has a wavelength in a range from 1 mm to 10 mm). In the practical engineering application, the low frequency of the millimeter wave is generally reduced to 26 GHz. In the electromagnetic spectrum, the frequency of the millimeter wave is between the frequency of the infrared and the frequency of the microwave. In comparison with the infrared, the millimeter wave has the capability of working in all weathers and can be used in the severe environment, such as smoke dust, cloud and mist, etc. In comparison with the microwave, the millimeter wave has the typical advantages of shorter wavelength, wider bandwidth (able to be used widely), and the property of propagating in the atmosphere. In detail, the millimeter wave mainly has the following characteristics: 1. the millimeter wave is with high precision, the millimeter-wave radar is easier to obtain a narrow beam and a large absolute bandwidth, and the millimeter-wave radar system is more resistant to the electronic interference; 2. in the Doppler radar, the millimeter wave has a high Doppler frequency resolution: 3. in the millimeter-wave imaging system, the millimeter wave is sensitive to the shape and the structure of the target object, and has an excellent capability to distinguish metal objects from the background environment, and can achieve images with high resolutions so as to improve the capability of recognizing and detecting the target object; 4. the millimeter wave can penetrate the plasma; 5. in comparison with the infrared laser, the millimeter wave is less affected by the severe natural environments: 6. the millimeter-wave system is small in size and light in weight, and the millimeter-wave circuit is much smaller in size in comparison with the microwave circuit, thereby the millimeter-wave system is easier to be integrated. These unique characteristics make the millimeter wave able to be used widely in various application fields, especially in the non-destructive testing field and the security-inspection field.
The millimeter-wave imaging technology is mainly divided into the active millimeter-wave imaging technology and the passive millimeter-wave imaging technology. The passive millimeter-wave imaging system is advantageous in simple structure and low cost, but is disadvantageous in long imaging time and poor imaging resolution. With the improvement of the millimeter-wave component and the development of the millimeter-wave component technology, the active millimeter-wave imaging technology has begun to attract more and more attentions. The active millimeter-wave imaging technology mainly adopts the active synthetic-aperture imaging technology or the active holographic-imaging technology. The millimeter-wave holographic imaging method is a method derived from the optical holography method. The millimeter-wave holographic imaging method is based on the electromagnetic-wave coherence principle, in which a transmitter emits a highly-stable millimeter-wave signal firstly, then a receiver receives an echo signal reflected by a corresponding one of points of the target object, and performs a coherent process for the echo signal with a highly-coherent reference signal, to extract information of amplitude and phase of the echo signal, such that to obtain the emission characteristic at the target point, and eventually a millimeter-wave image of the target object in the scene may be obtained via a data and image processing method. The millimeter-wave image obtained by the active millimeter-wave holographic-imaging technology has good resolution, and the millimeter-wave holographic-imaging technology may cooperate with the mechanical scanning technology, to greatly shorten the imaging time thereof, and be executed by practice of engineering, thus the millimeter-wave holographic-imaging technology is very suitable for the active millimeter-wave short-range imaging technology.
The current three-dimensional holographic imaging technology on the international are mostly adopting the active millimeter-wave cylindrical array rotary-scanning technology, that is, it adopts millimeter-wave transmitting/receiving antenna modules, which are arranged in an array, to obtain the body scanning information. However, it has too many circuits, such as the receive/transmit antenna modules and the related circuits, and even more than 60 circuit boards. When controlling the human-body security-inspection device, after an upper computer transmits a control signal, it is hard to monitor whether or not each module receives a corresponding control signal or wherein or not each functional module is normal, and can not constantly monitor the working status of each circuit module. Once the human-body security-inspection device breaks down, it needs a very complicated work to repair and test the device, thus it is very inconvenient to maintain, repair and debug the human-body security-inspection device.

Monitoring method, monitoring system and control device for human-body security-inspection device

CHINA COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


Provided is a method for testing an autonomous system of which a virtual image exists, the virtual image including at least one virtual image of an autonomous component including the following steps:

The process of setting up an automated system, e.g. a production system, can be divided in a planning phase for designing the system, an engineering phase for realizing the system, a commissioning phase for installing and testing the system, a production phase where the system goes live, and a maintenance and optimization phase running in parallel to the production phase, where the system is supervised, optimized and occurring faults are fixed.
In industrial manufacturing there is a tendency from traditional, centralized systems to autonomous, distributed systems. Autonomous distributed systems comprise components, e.g. robots, which are not controlled by a central instance and have a certain degree of autonomy for their actions.
Moreover, traditional equipment is used in combination with new technologies such as intelligent robots, CNC machines, 3D printers and other smart devices, which have an interface to a virtual simulation or/and emulation environment. Hence, interaction between the real world and a virtual image thereof can be provided. A term used therefore for these manufacturing systems is Cyber-physical production system.
This virtual, digital copy on the IT platform, where it is running is often referred to as "digital factory".
For planning, testing and operating of these systems a concept can be used where for the real or physical factory there is a virtual, digital copy reflecting certain aspects of a certain component or group of components. This virtual digital copy is sometimes referred to as digital twin.
The underlying idea is to explore or control the behavior of some or all components of the physical factory without having to actually run the procedure on the physical components.
In these autonomous, distributed systems often there is cooperation between the autonomous components, e.g. robots, and human co-workers. However, this bears the danger that not only collision between the autonomous components might occur but also that human co-workers are injured by the autonomous components.
An aspect relates to offer a possibility for an effective testing of an autonomous system, in particular in regard to safety aspects.

Abstract: a) Acquiring of component data providing information in relation to a movement of the at least one virtual image of the autonomous component;

Abstract: b) Creating, in the virtual image, at least one virtual object;

Abstract: c) Generating, in the virtual image, a corpus around the at least one virtual object or/and the virtual image of the at least one component;

Abstract: d) Representing, in the virtual image, a movement of the at least one virtual object or/and the virtual image of the at least one autonomous component;

Abstract: e) Acquiring reaction data in relation to the movement of the at least one virtual object or/and the virtual image;

Abstract: f) Evaluating a feasible course of movement considering the reaction data.


The need for an acidic hard surface cleaning composition which provides further improvements in the maintenance of surface shine, especially on inclined hard surfaces, while also using less thickener is met by formulating the acidic hard surface cleaning composition using a combination of a surface modification polymer and sulfonate hydrotrope.

Limescale deposits are formed due to the fact that tap water contains a certain amount of solubilised ions, which upon water evaporation eventually deposit as salts, such as calcium carbonate on hard surfaces. These visible limescale deposits result in hard deposits around taps, sink holes, and the like, but also splash marks where water has sprayed and then dried. The limescale formation and deposition phenomenon is even more acute in places where water is particularly hard. Acidic liquid compositions for cleaning limescale from hard-surfaces have been disclosed in the art. Such acidic cleaning compositions react with the limescale in order to remove such unsightly deposits. Surface modification polymers, such as polyvinyl pyrrolidone and copolymers thereof, have also been added to acidic cleaners, to improve the beading of water on the treated surface and hence maintain surface shine after subsequent application of water to the treated surface. However, as the beads of water dry, the precipitation of calcium carbonate and other soluble salts leads to splash marks and other water marks on the surface, which reduce surface shine. The acidic hard surface cleaning composition can comprise a thickener to improve the removal of limescale and watermarks on inclined surfaces. On such surfaces, unthickened compositions can dribble down the surface before it has had sufficient time to act on the limescale and other watermarks. Indeed, such compositions can lead to worse surface shine since the limescale deposits are unevenly removed and dribble marks can become evident on the treated surface, especially glass. However, the presence of a thickener, especially at high levels, can slow down limescale removal and also lead to reduced shine from smearing during post-treatment wiping. In addition, thickeners are typically costly ingredients and hence there is a desire to achieve higher viscosities while using less thickener.
Hence, a need remains for acidic hard surface cleaning compositions which provide further improvements in the maintenance of surface shine, especially on inclined hard surfaces, and preferably using less thickener.
WO 93/21296 relates to aqueous liquid bleach composition containing solid, water-insoluble organic peroxyacid, bleach-stable, stilbene fluorescent whitening agent, and polyvinyl pyrrolidone or polyvinyl alcohol.

Liquid acidic hard surface cleaning compositions having improved viscosity


A plastic closure including a base wall having an inner surface, a peripheral skirt extending from the base wall and a liner on the inner surface of the base wall. The liner includes (a) an ethylene vinyl acetate composition, (b) a primary fatty acid amide and (c) a bis-fatty acid amide. Preferably the primary fatty acid amide comprises an oleamide or an erucamide, and the bis-fatty acid amide comprises ethylene-bis-stearamide.

Plastic closures have been commonly made by injection molding or compression molding. In plastic closures made by compression molding as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,210,805, 4,343,754, and 4,418,828, incorporating herein by reference, it is also common to compression mold a sealing liner in place in the closure after the closure has been formed. Such sealing liners may comprise polyvinyl chloride plastic or thermoplastic elastomeric compositions. Polyvinyl chloride has a tendency to overheat during extrusion and further has inherent problems because of the removal torque when the sealing liner is used on a PET container. Thermoplastic polymeric compositions are most expensive and are more difficult to produce in that the compounding necessary results in inconsistent quality and consistency. Futhermore, such compositions produce problems of torque removal of glass containers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,807,772 and 4,845,362 disclose a compression molded liner being made of a blend of polyethylene or polypropylene and thermoplastic elastomeric copolymer so that the liner is removable.
As a result of the problems with both types of compositions, it has been necessary for a user to maintain costly inventories of closures with both types of sealing liners in order to accommodate use with both plastic and glass containers.
In order to produce a satisfactory sealing liner that would be applicable to both plastic and glass containers, it must be necessary to not only formulate the composition but also consistently extrude and cut off charges of the composition for compression molding in apparatus such as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,995,605, 4,080,136 and 4,277,431. The closure must also match other closure requirements including satisfactory removal torques, carbonation retention, and carbonation retention under load and satisfactory functioning on a container when cycled through environmental changes of temperature and humidity.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,984,703 there is disclosed a compression molded plastic closure having a compression molded sealing liner which fulfills the requirements of a carbonated beverage closure and operates satisfactory on both plastic and glass containers.
When a plastic beverage cap has been provided with an ethylene vinyl acetate liner, it has been found that erratic high removal torques have been provided, the erratic high removal torques are not eliminated. Various efforts have been proposed as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,400,094, 3,406,854, and 4,463,116 that utilize lubricants but, as far as the present inventor knows, have been without success.
Among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a plastic closure with a sealing liner that comprise an ethylene vinyl acetate composition and includes other components that provide for uniform removal torques; wherein the closure is useful in cold climate conditions with migration of the lubricant to the surface of the liner; wherein the liner can be compression molded in the plastic closure; or where the liner can be molded and then inserted in the closure.
In accordance with the invention, a plastic closure includes a base wall having an inner surface, a peripheral skirt extending from the base wall and a liner on the inner surface of the base wall. The liner comprises (a) ethylene vinyl acetate composition, (b) a primary fatty acid amide and (c) a bis-fatty acid amide. Preferably the fatty acid amide comprises an oleamide or erucamide, and the bis-fatty acid amide comprises ethylene-bis-stearamide.
The oleamide or erucamide and the bis-fatty acid amide are preferably mixed before introduction into the ethylene vinyl acetate composition. The total amount of fatty acid amide and bis-fatty acid amide to the ethylene vinyl acetate is preferably at about 0.5%-1.5% by weight.
The ratio of fatty acid amide to bis-fatty acid amide is preferably 50:50 by weight but may range between 25:75 or 75:25 by weight.

Plastic closure with compression molded sealing liner


A system receives an information stream comprising the textual information whose semantic content is to be determined, divides the information stream into a series of elements and classifies each element into one of a plurality of predetermined classifications. The system includes a token generator and a token classifier. The token generator receives the textual information stream, parses the stream to identifies the respective elements, identifies for each element one of a plurality of element types, and generates a token identifying the element type for each element. At least some of the tokens also include a pointer pointing to the actual information associated with the element. The token classifier receives the tokens and classifies them in order. In that operation, the token classifier classifies each token in relation to the token's type, classifications for previously-classified tokens and the types of successive tokens, thereby to determine the semantic content of the information associated with the tokens. After the tokens are classified, the information associated therewith can be loaded into a database system according to their classifications, and conventional database tools used to obtain information therefrom.

Digital computer systems have been developed for storing and processing information in a plurality of structured forms. Problems arise, however, when it is desired to process information which can have a variety of structures, such as textual information, to determine its semantic content. Several systems have been developed to enable computers to attempt to process textual information in relatively narrow and limited fields. For example, in some systems, the textual information is scanned to identify key words or their synonyms and their relationships, from which the system attempts to determine the semantic content of the textual information, in response to which the computer may perform some predetermined operation. In other systems, the textual information is parsed using a syntactic grammar, and a parse tree developed. Using the parse tree, the system also attempts to determine the semantic content of the textual information, in response to which the computer may perform some predetermined operation. Both types of systems are generally useful only in connection with textual information of relatively well-defined structure and content, and are difficult and expensive to maintain.

System and method for generating semantic analysis of textual information


The present invention provides methods and kits for identifying a cell that exhibits or is predisposed to exhibiting unregulated growth by detecting hypermethylation of a gene or a regulatory region in at least one gene in the cell. Also provided are methods for diagnosis or prognosis of ovarian cancer in a subject. Also provided are methods of ameliorating ovarian cancer in a subject by administering to the subject an agent that demethylates a hypermethylated gene or regulatory region thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods and kits useful for detecting, diagnosing or evaluating cancer and more specifically to methods and kits for detecting, diagnosing or evaluating ovarian cancer by detecting methylation changes in nucleic acid samples of subjects with a profile of gene markers.
2. Background Information
Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer and the leading cause of death among gynecological cancers worldwide. Approximately 21,650 new cases were detected in 2008 in the United States, leading to approximately 15,520 deaths from this cancer. Seventy percent of patients with ovarian cancer have advanced disease (stage II or IV) at presentation, with a 5-year survival rate of 15 to 20% despite aggressive treatment, while patients presenting with early disease have a survival rate above 90%. The high mortality of ovarian cancer is related to the absence of symptoms in the majority of the cases during the early stages of the disease, and also to the lack of truly sensitive and specific screening techniques. The best studied serum biomarker for ovarian cancer is CA-125, which is elevated in approximately 80% of women with advanced disease, but only 50-60% in patients with early-stage disease.
It has been shown that genetic and epigenetic changes contribute to the development and progression of tumor cells. Epigenetic alterations in promoter methylation and histone acetylation have been associated with cancer-specific expression differences in human malignancies. Methylation has been primarily considered as a mechanism of tumor suppressor gene (TSG) inactivation, and comprehensive whole-genome profiling approaches to promoter hypermethylation have identified multiple novel putative TSGs silenced by promoter hypermethylation.
Understanding the epigenetic changes that lead to cancer progression will help unravel key biologic processes that lead to cancer formation. Thus, there is an imperative need to find new molecular markers that will: a) help determine the risk of developing cancer to consider appropriate preventive interventions; b) help detect cancers early when they are amenable to surgical cure; c) help to predict response of a particular therapy (such as paclitaxel); and d) help to determine the overall outcome of a cancer patient.


The invention is a system and method for deriving a single dimensional representation for a set of points e.g.,minutiae, in image of a two dimensional pattern of lines, e.g. a fingerprint, by creating a one dimensional (string) representation of one or more points (e.g., minutiae) and the respective attributes of each point therein. A landmark point is selected from the two dimensional image, preferably from the set of the points to be represented in single dimension. The relationships of each of the points with reference to the landmark determines a linear order for the points and the attributes associated with each point.

This invention relates to the field of image processing. More specifically, the invention relates to a system and method for processing and matching fingerprint images.
There exist systems for accomplishing automatic authentication or identification of a person using his/her fingerprint. A fingerprint of a person comprises a distinctive and unique ridge pattern structure. For authentication or identification purposes, this ridge pattern structure can be characterized by endings and bifurcations of the individual ridges. These features are popularly known as minutiae.
An example of portion of a fingerprint is shown in FIG. 1A. The minutiae for the fingerprint shown in FIG. 1A are shown in FIG. 1B as being enclosed by xe2x80x9cboxes.xe2x80x9d For example, box 101B shows a bifurcation minutiae of a bifurcated ridge 101A and box 103B shows a ridge ending minutiae of ridge 103A. Note that minutiae on the ridges in fingerprints have directions (also called orientations) 105 associated with them. The direction 113B of a minutiae at a ridge end 103B is the direction in which the end of the ridge points. The direction 111B of a bifurcation minutiae 101B is the direction in which the bifurcated ridge points. Minutiae also have locations which are the positions, with respect to some coordinate system, of the minutiae on the fingerprint.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the steps generally performed by a typical prior art system 200.
In step 210, the image is acquired. This acquisition of the image could either be through a CCD camera and framegrabber interface or through a document scanner communicating with the primary computing equipment.
Once the image is acquired into the computer memory or onto disk, relevant minutia features are extracted (220). Not all of the features thus extracted are reliable; some of the unreliable features are optionally edited or pruned (step 230), e.g., manually. The resultant reliable features are used for matching the fingers (step 240).
The fingerprint feature extraction 220, pruning 230, and matching system 240 constitute the primary backbone 250 of a typical minutiae-based automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS). The matching results are typically verified by a human expert (step 260). The verification may also be performed automatically. The following reference describes examples of the state of the prior art for feature extraction:
Nalini K. Ratha and Shaoyun Chen and Anil K. Jain,
Adaptive flow orientation based feature extraction in fingerprint images, Journal of Pattern Recognition, vol. 28, no. 11, pp. 1657-1672, November, 1995.
This reference is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIG. 3A is a flow chart showing the prior art steps performed by a feature extraction process 220 that are similar to some of the feature extraction methods proposed by Ratha, Jain, and Chen in the article incorporated above.
It is often not desirable to directly use the input fingerprint image for feature extraction. The fingerprint image might need an enhancement or preprocessing before one could further extract minutiae. Typically, a smoothing process is employed to reduce the pixel-wise noise (step 305).
After the preprocessing stages, prior art systems find the directions of the ridge flow (step 310). The next important step in the processing is finding the exact location of the finger in the image. To accomplish this, a process referred to as the foreground/background segmentation (step 315) separates the finger part of the image from the background part of the image. Once the finger part is localized, i.e., segmented to define its location, the next step is to extract the ridges from the finger image (step 320). The ridges thus extracted are thick and might contain some noisy artifacts which do not correspond to any meaningful structures on the finger. These small structures, i.e., the noisy artifacts, can be safely removed and the longer structures are smoothed (step 325). The longer structures are thinned to one-pixel width and then processed to remove any other artifacts using morphological operators (step 330). The locations and orientations of ridge endings and bifurcations are then extracted from the thinned structures (step 335) to obtain the minutiae. In some systems, a xe2x80x9ccleanupxe2x80x9d or postprocessing 340 is performed. Here undesirable minutiae are removed based on certain criteria.
One of the prevalent methods of fingerprint authentication and identification methods is based on minutiae features. These systems need to process the fingerprint images to obtain accurate and reliable minutiae features to effectively determine the identity of a person.
The following reference describes examples of the state of the prior art fingerprint matcher:
N. Ratha, K. Karu, S. Chen and A. K. Jain, A Real-time Matching System for Large Fingerprint Database, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Volume 18, Number 8, pages 799-813, 1996.
This reference is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Given two (input and template) sets of features originating from two fingerprints, the objective of the feature matching system is to determine whether or not the prints represent the same finger. FIG. 3B is a flow chart showing the prior art steps performed by a typical feature matching system 240 that is similar to the feature matching system proposed by Ratha, Karu, Chen, and Jain in the article incorporated above.
A minutiae in the input fingerprint and a minutiae in the template fingerprint are said to be corresponding if they represent the identical minutiae scanned from the same finger. An alignment estimation method based on Generalized Hough Transform (as in above cited Ratha et al. reference) estimates the parameters of the overall rotation, scaling and translation between the features of the input and template fingerprint (350). In step 360 the input fingerprint features are aligned with the template fingerprint using the rotation, translation, and scaling parameters estimated in step 350. In step 370, the aligned features of the input fingerprint features are matched with the features of the template fingerprint features. The matching consists of counting the number of features in the aligned input fingerprint representation for which there exists a corresponding consistent feature in the template fingerprint representation. The verification of a corresponding feature is performed as follows: for each feature in the aligned input fingerprint feature, the matcher determines whether there is a consistent template fingerprint feature in its rectangular neighborhood whose size is predetermined. Normalizer 380 takes the matching score generated by the matcher and computes a normalized matching score. The higher the normalized score, the higher the likelihood that the test and template fingerprints are the scans of the same finger.
Determining whether two representations of a finger extracted from its two impressions, scanned at times possibly separated by a long duration of time, are indeed representing the same finger, is an extremely difficult problem. This difficulty can be attributed to two primary reasons. First, if the test and template representations are indeed matched (also referred to as mated) pairs, the feature correspondence between the test and template minutiae in the two representations is not known. Secondly, the imaging system presents a number of peculiar and challenging situations some of which are unique to the fingerprint image capture scenario:
(i) Inconsistent contact: The act of sensing distorts the finger. Determined by the pressure and contact of the finger on the glass platen, the three-dimensional surface of the finger gets mapped onto the two-dimensional surface of the glass platen. Typically, this mapping function is uncontrolled and results in different inconsistently mapped fingerprint images across the impressions.
(ii) Non-uniform contact: The ridge structure of a finger would be completely captured if ridges of the part of the finger being imaged are in complete optical contact with the glass platen. However, the dryness of the skin, skin disease, sweat, dirt, humidity in the air all confound the situation resulting in a non-ideal contact situation: some parts of the ridges may not come in complete contact with the platen and regions representing some valleys may come in contact with the glass platen. This results in xe2x80x9cnoisyxe2x80x9d low contrast images, leading to either spurious minutiae or missing minutiae.
(iii) Irreproducible contact: Manual labor, accidents etc. inflict injuries to the finger, thereby, changing the ridge structure of the finger either permanently or semi-permanently. This may introduce additional spurious minutiae.
(iv) Feature extraction artifacts: The feature extraction algorithm is imperfect and introduces measurement errors. Various image processing operations might introduce inconsistent biases to perturb the location and orientation estimates of the reported minutiae from their grayscale counterparts.
(vi) The act of sensing itself adds noise to the image. For example, residues are leftover from the previous fingerprint capture. A typical imaging system distorts the image of the object being sensed due to imperfect imaging conditions. In the frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) sensing scheme, for example, there is a geometric distortion because the image plane is not parallel to the glass platen.
In light of the operational environments mentioned above, the design of prior art matching algorithms 240 use models that have one or more of the following constraints or assumptions:
1. The finger may be placed at different locations on the glass platen resulting in a (global) translation of the minutiae from the test representation from those in the template representation.
2. The finger may be placed in different orientations on the glass platen resulting in a (global) rotation of the minutiae from the test representation from that of the template representation.
3. The finger may exert a different (average) downward normal pressure on the glass platen resulting in a (global) spatial scaling of the minutiae from the test representation from those in the template representation. For best matching results, two impressions of a fingerprint obtained by applying different downward normal pressure need to be scaled by an appropriate scaling factor.
4. The finger may exert a different (average) shear force on the glass platen resulting in a (global) shear transformation (characterized by a shear direction and magnitude) of the minutiae from the test representation from those in the template representation.
5. Spurious minutiae may be present in both the template as well as the test representations.
6. Genuine minutiae may be absent in the template or test representations.
7. Minutiae may be locally perturbed from their xe2x80x9ctruexe2x80x9d location and the perturbation may be different for each individual minutiae. (Further, the magnitude of such perturbation is assumed to be small and within a fixed number of pixels.)
8. The individual perturbations among the corresponding minutiae could be relatively large (with respect to ridge spacings) but the perturbations among pairs of the minutiae may be spatially linear. The prior art does not effectively use this information.
9. The individual perturbations among the corresponding minutiae could be relatively large (with respect to ridge spacings) but the perturbations among pairs of the minutiae may be spatially non-linear. The prior art does not recognize or effectively handle this type of situation.
10. Only a (ridge) connectivity preserving transformation could characterize the relationship between the test and template representations.
Prior art matchers 240 relying on one or more of these assumptions have a wide spectrum of behavior. At the one end of the spectrum, the xe2x80x9cEuclideanxe2x80x9d matchers allow only rigid transformations (assumptions 1, 2, and 3) among the test and template representations. At the other extreme, xe2x80x9ctopologicalxe2x80x9d matchers (e.g., Sparrow et al.) may allow the most general transformations including, say, order reversals. (Order reversal means that a set of minutiae in the test representation are in totally different spatial order with respect to their correspondences in the template representation).
The choice of assumptions often represents verification performance trade-offs. Only a highly constrained system (one that obtains exact and high quality fingerprints) or systems that do not have to give very accurate matches may use only a few of the assumptions above. For examples, a number of the matchers in the literature assume similarity transformation (assumptions 1, 2, and 3); they tolerate both spurious minutiae as well as missing genuine minutiae. Alternative prior art systems like xe2x80x9cElasticxe2x80x9d matchers (e.g., Ratha et al) use assumptions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7) accommodate a small bounded local perturbation of minutiae from their true location but cannot handle large displacements of the minutiae from their true locations (assumptions 4 and 8).
FIG. 4 illustrates a typical situation of aligned ridge structures of two fingerprints 401 and 402 scanned from the same finger (also called as a mated pair). The ridges of the 401 print are shown in solid lines and those of 402 are shown as dashed lines. Note that the best alignment in one part (bottom left 410) of the image may result in a large amount of displacements between the corresponding minutiae in the other regions (top middle 420). Consequently, the corresponding minutiae in the two fingerprints in the region 410, e.g., 450 and 460, are relatively closer and the corresponding minutiae in the two fingerprints in the region 420, e.g., 430 and 440, are separated 435 farther apart. In addition, observe that the distortion is non-linear: given distortions (e.g., 435 and 455) at two arbitrary locations on the finger, it is not possible to predict the distortion, e.g. 436, at all the intervening points on the between the respective lines joining the two points. Also, note that typically the spatial relationship of the two minutiae (e.g., 440 is top right of 450 in the fingerprint 401; and 430 is top right of 460 in the print 402) in each finger has remained same despite the large distortion. In our opinion, a good matcher needs to accommodate not only global similarity transformations (assumptions 1, 2, and 3), but also shear transformation (assumption 4), linear (assumption 8) and non-linear (assumption 9) differential distortions. In our experience, assumption 10 is too general a model to characterize the impressions of a finger and its inclusion into the matcher design may compromise efficiency and discriminatory power of the matcher. In addition, the matchers based on such assumptions need to use connectivity information which is notoriously difficult to extract from the fingerprint images of poor quality.
An object of this invention is an improved image processing system.
An object of this invention is a system and method for deriving a string-based representation of an image.
An object of this invention is a system and method for deriving a string-based representation of a fingerprint image.
The invention is a system and method for deriving a single dimensional (one-dimensional) representation for a two-dimensional pattern of lines, e.g. a fingerprint, by creating a one-dimensional (string) representation of one or more points (e.g., minutiae) and the respective attributes of each point therein. A landmark point is selected from the two-dimensional image, preferably from the set of points to be represented in single dimension. The relationships of each of the points with reference to the landmark determines a linear order for the points and the attributes associated with each point. (Note that pattern and fingerprint, line and fingerprint ridges, and points and minutiae will be used interchangably without loss of generality.)

System and method for deriving a string-based representation of a fingerprint image

International Business Machines Corporation


A stereo image capturing device captures a stereo image with a measurement target range in front of a vehicle as an angle of field, and a display device is disposed so as to cover at least part of the measurement target range as seen from the viewpoint position of a driver inside the vehicle. Then a distance measuring section measures the distances to another object in the measurement target range using the stereo image and identifies the object within a predetermined distance as an obstacle, and an image generating section generates a virtual mirror image that allows at least the vehicle and the obstacle to be seen using a reflection by a mirror in a case where the mirror is assumed to be virtually disposed above a location at which the obstacle is seen from the viewpoint position of the driver in the vehicle, and causes the display device to display the virtual mirror image. The present technology can be applied, for example, to in-vehicle image display systems.

In general, an invisible area (hereinafter referred to as a blind spot) is generated for a driver who drives a vehicle because the visual line is blocked by the hood of the vehicle or the like, and therefore it is difficult to grasp the distances from obstacles such as other cars in the blind spot. In the past, various methods (see FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C to be described later) have been developed so that a driver can recognize obstacles in such a blind spot.
For example, PTL 1 proposes a method of creating an output image that resembles a reflected image in the rear-view mirror using an image outside the vehicle on the basis of the detection result of the position of the driver's viewpoint.

Image processing device, image processing method, and image display system for grasping a distance from an obstacle with a smaller visual line shift