A detection circuit includes a differential circuit including a pair of differential transistors configured to receive the input differential signal and a first current source, the pair of the differential transistors having a common output terminal connected to the first current source, a hold capacitor connected between the common output terminal and a reference potential for generating a hold potential, a level sensing circuit configured to sense a voltage level of the input differential signal and output a switching signal, and a switch configured to receive the switching signal and electrically connect the common output terminal and a second current source when the switching signal exceeds a threshold level being lower than the hold potential by a predetermined amount, and electrically disconnect the common output terminal and the second current source when the switching signal stays lower than the threshold level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detection circuit for detecting signal amplitude.
2. Related Background of the Invention
An optical transmitter module used for an optical communication is configured by a light source such as a laser diode, an optical modulator such as an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) or a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), and a modulator driving circuit. In addition, a detection circuit for detecting an amplitude of a driving signal to drive the optical modulator is sometimes added to the modulator driving circuit. With respect to the detection circuit used in the optical transmitter module for high-speed communication of 32 Gbps or 40 Gbps, high-speed detection is required because a communication signal has a high frequency component up to approximately 10 GHz. In addition, in a multi-level modulation method such as pulse amplitude modulation 4 (PAM4) or 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16 QAM), a more precise detection is required as compared with a conventional on-off-keying method.
As an example of the detection circuit, a configuration described in patent document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-215662 described below is known. The amplitude detection circuit includes a peak detection circuit and an averaging circuit, and an amplitude is found as the difference between outputs thereof. The peak detection circuit is mainly configured by an operational amplifier and a peak hold circuit, and when a frequency band of a detection circuit is set to be 10 GHz or more, the detection circuit needs an operational amplifier operational with a frequency greater than 10 GHz. In addition, since an input offset value of the operational amplifier causes an error of a peak detection value, the gain of the operational amplifier is required to be maintained to be high up to a high frequency in order to decrease the error. Here, if an operation speed of the modulator driving circuit is 40 Gbps, an frequency band thereof is approximately 30 GHz. If an operational amplifier with a high gain at 10 GHz or more is used in the peak detection circuit using the same transistors, power consumption thereof increases to a large value of approximately 1/10 to ⅓ of the modulator driving circuit. Therefore, the peak detection circuit described in the patent document 1 described above is not appropriate for peak detection of a signal with a high frequency.
In addition, as another configuration of the amplitude detection circuit, the configuration described in non-patent document 1: "Daniel Kucharski, 'Jitter Considerations in the Design of a 10-Gb/s Automatic Gain Control Amplifier', IEEE Transactions of Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 53, No. 2, February 2005" is known. In the configuration, since a peak detection circuit is configured only by a peak hold circuit, not by any operational amplifier, it is possible to handle a high frequency signal with low power consumption.
In the detection circuit described in the non-patent document 1 described above, an error of a detected amplitude is increased depending on a signal waveform. That is, a ratio of on-time when an input signal is close to a peak value of it with respect to off-time when the input signal is lower away from the peak value becomes small, and thus an error of the detected amplitude tends to be degraded.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve such problems, and to provide a detection circuit for detecting signal amplitude which can accurately detect an amplitude of an input signal with a high frequency.

Detection circuit for detecting signal amplitude


A cushioning apparatus for reducing the impact felt by the fingertips of a typist using a keyboard. A conventional keyboard includes a plurality of keys, each corresponding to at least one character or number, and each having a hard keytop. According to the invention, a pad is attached or applied to each keytop, each pad being substantially softer than the associated hard keytop. Each pad has a flat top surface, with a legend thereon indicating the keytop to which it is attached. Each pad also has a flat bottom surface, with adhesive applied thereto, and a single sheet of release paper removably applied to the adhesive for all the pads, the adhesive being provided for attaching the pad to the respective keytop, or to the top of another pad, to provide additional thickness of padding.

This invention relates to cushioning apparatus, and in particular to such cushioning or shock absorbing apparatus as is used in connection with the keyboard of a computer or electronic typewriter.
With the advent of the information age, more and more people are obtaining and using computers and electronic typewriters, whether at work or at home or both. The main input device for most computers and electronic typewriters in use today is the keyboard, and so the use of keyboards has also increased.
With the increase in the use of keyboards has come an increase in injuries or pain caused by repetitive use of the fingers. This is due at least partly to the fact that, prior to electronic keyboards, keys for mechanical typewriters actuated the typing mechanism by means of springs and levers, and the final impact was that of a lever on a rubber platen. With electronic keyboards, on the other hand, the key bottoms on a hard mechanical stop, increasing the impact to the fingers caused by typing. Moreover, typists using keyboards with computers and electronic typewriters have much less worry about making mistakes because of the ease of later correction. This has the effect of permitting such typists to type faster and for longer periods, increasing the abuse to their hands.
Typists using prior art electronic keyboards have experienced radiating pain, nerve damage, bone damage and arthritis in the joints. Nerve damage is felt through increased sensitivity to heat and cold, as well as radiating pains along the sides of the fingers. Fingertips may also feel like they are burning when they touch the keyboard. Hence there appears to be need in the market for some device or apparatus for reducing the pain caused in some individuals by repetitive keyboard use.
This invention relates to improvements to the devices described above and to solutions to the problems raised or not solved thereby.


Described herein are DNA-nanostructures that can be used in an assay to detect and/or quantify an analyte of interest. Aspects of the DNA-nanostructure can include a single DNA molecule composed of hairpin structural motifs, an anchor recognition moiety, and a signal moiety, where the anchor recognition moiety and the signal moiety are in effective proximity to each other such that the tethered diffusion of the signal molecule can be altered based upon binding status of the anchor recognition moiety. Also described herein are methods of making and using the DNA-nanostructures.

The past decade has attracted a renewed interest in developing electrochemical sensors for quantification of biomarkers and other analytes of interest, owing at least in part to their low cost and adaptability to point-of-care (POC) and point-of-use (POU) setups. This has a potential to significantly impact healthcare and other industries where POU setups are desired. Clinically relevant targets for POC and analytes of interest for POU in other industries can include a range of molecular classes including small molecules (e.g. chemical compounds), mid-size molecules (e.g. nucleic acids and peptides), and macromolecules (e.g. proteins and larger nucleic acids). To quantify through this range of molecular classes, most method development has drifted towards being target focused and has lacked generalizability. As such, there exists an urgent need to develop methods, compounds, reagents, and structures amenable to quantitative readout of multiple classes of clinically and other relevant targets.

Electrochemical detection nanostructure, systems, and uses thereof


A network mediator corresponding to a computing device uses packet filters to restrict network communications. The network mediator includes a set of one or more filters, each filter having parameters that are compared to corresponding parameters of a data packet to be passed through the network mediator. The network mediator determines whether to allow the data packet through based on whether the data packet parameters match any filter parameters. The set of filters can be modified by a remote device, but cannot be modified by the computing device whose communications are being restricted. When a data packet is sent from the computing device, the data packet will include the virtual address which is changed to the network address by the network mediator prior to forwarding the packet on the network, and vice versa. By virtualizing the addresses, the computing device is restricted in accessing other devices over the network.

Computers are becoming increasingly interconnected via a wide range of networks, including both public and private networks, such as local area networks (LANs), the Internet, etc. Although such interconnectivity can lead to a number of benefits, so too can it lead to problems. One predominant problem that can arise is that of security, such as how to keep a computer from accessing other computers it should not be accessing, how to keep other computers from accessing your computer, etc.
One specific area in which these security problems can arise is within "co-location facilities". A co-location facility refers to a complex that can house multiple servers, typically coupled to the Internet. The co-location facility typically provides a reliable Internet connection, a reliable power supply, and proper operating environment. The co-location facility also typically includes multiple secure areas (e.g., cages) into which different companies can situate their servers. The particular company is then responsible for managing the operation of the servers in their server cluster. These multiple servers can then operate together to make information available to client computers via the Internet. Security within such a co-location facility, however, is very important. For example, care should be taken to ensure that servers for one company housed at the facility cannot communicate with servers for a competitor's company that are also housed at the facility.
A "firewall" may be used to provide some security for computers. However, firewalls typically operate to shield the outside world (e.g., the public Internet) from the inside world (e.g., an internal private corporate LAN). Such configurations thus do not prevent intra-LAN communications between different computers within the corporate LAN.
Further firewalls (e.g., software firewalls) could also be installed at each computer to provide security. However, current firewalls are typically designed to prevent other computers from accessing the computer that they are installed on, not restrict the computer's ability to access other computers. Some firewalls, particularly those designed for home users, also employ parental controls. Enabling parental controls allows a user of the computer (e.g., a parent) to restrict the ability of that user or others (e.g., children) to access particular World Wide Web sites on the Internet. However, such firewalls that are installed on a computer are typically managed at the computer itself. Thus, the firewalls are susceptible to being bypassed (or otherwise attacked) by a user of the computer. For example, a user may erase or disable the firewall software, a user may load another operating system that can bypass the firewall, etc. Thus, there still exists a need for improved security among interconnected computers.
The invention described below addresses these disadvantages, using packet filters and network virtualization to restrict network communications.

Using packet filters and network virtualization to restrict network communications


A friction stir welding apparatus includes a rotary tool for friction stir welding, a spindle motor of a rotational driving unit for rotationally driving the rotary tool when the rotary tool is mounted on the rotational driving unit, a servo motor of a press driving unit for pressing the shank of the rotary tool against the surface of a portion to be butt welded when the rotational driving unit is mounted on the press driving unit, a mount bracket for supporting the press driving unit, a pressure sensor for detecting a pressing force exerted on the surface of the portion to be butt welded by the shank, and a control unit for controlling the driving of the servo motor such that the pressing force falls within a predetermined range based on a detection signal sent from the pressure sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a friction stir welding apparatus for softening a portion of a plate-like member which is to be butt welded through friction heat generated by an advancing rotary tool so that the portion being softened is plastically fluidized in the rear of the advancing rotary tool, whereby the portion to be butt welded is allowed to be welded to another member when cooled and solidified.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method and apparatus which are described, respectively, in JP-W-9-508073 and JP-A-10-156557 are conventionally known as a method and apparatus for butt welding a plate-like member of relatively soft aluminum alloy. According to the principle of a friction stir welding method and apparatus of this kind, generally a steel rotary tool which is harder than the plate-like member is moved along a line extending along a portion of the plate-like member which is to be butt welded, that is, which is to be butt joined by welding (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cwelding portionxe2x80x9d) while being rotationally driven so as to soften the welding portion by virtue of friction heat generated by the rotary tool so that the portion being softened is plastically fluidized in the rear of the moving rotary tool, whereby the welding portion is allowed to be welded to another member when cooled and solidified.
In the friction stir welding apparatus as described above, the rotary tool has a shank adapted to be brought into abutment with the surface of the welding portion of the plate-like member and a probe provided in such a manner as to protrude from the shank and be inserted into the welding portion for frictional rotating contact therewith. The rotary tool is formed substantially into a stepped column shape with the shank and the probe. The friction stir welding apparatus having the rotary tool so constructed normally comprises an electric motor for rotationally driving the rotary tool which is mounted thereon with a chuck and a ball screw type positioning mechanism having the electric motor mounted thereon for bringing the shank of the rotary tool into abutment with the surface of the welding portion of the plate-like member.
Incidentally, the positioning mechanism in the conventional friction stir welding apparatus has only a function to simply position the shank of the rotary tool so that the shank is brought into abutment with the surface of the welding portion of the plate-like member. Therefore, in a case where the welding portion of the plate-like member is flat and constant in thickness, the amount of insertion of the probe into the welding portion can be maintained constant. However, in a case where the welding portion is not flat or variable in thickness, the amount of insertion of the probe varies and as a result, it becomes difficult to weld the welding portion stably and accurately.
In addition, in a case where the conventional friction stir welding apparatus is mounted on an arm of a machining robot so as to weld the welding portion of the plate-like member while the probe of the friction stir welding apparatus is being moved linearly along the line of the welding portion by driving the arm, since the arm is generally driven by a plurality of servo motors, the accuracy with which the arm is re-positioned is inconstant, and it becomes difficult for the arm to hold the probe at a position at a desired height. Consequently, in this case, too, the amount of insertion of the probe into the welding portion varies and as a result, it becomes difficult to weld the welding portion stably and accurately.
Thus, an object of the invention is to provide a friction stir welding apparatus which can allow a shank of a rotary tool to follow the surface of a welding portion of a plate-like member even if the surface of the welding portion is irregular and the thickness of the same portion varies to thereby maintain constant the amount of insertion of a probe into the welding portion and which can perform a good welding operation, in particular, when mounted on an arm of a machining robot.
With a view to attaining the object, according to the invention, there is provided a friction stir welding apparatus including: a rotary tool for friction stir welding having a shank adapted to be brought into abutment with the surface of a portion of a plate-like member which is to be butt welded and a probe adapted to be inserted into the portion to be butt welded for frictionally rotating contact therewith; a rotational driving unit on which the rotary tool is mounted, the rotational driving unit rotationally driving the rotary tool; a press driving unit on which the rotational driving unit is mounted, the press driving unit pressing the shank of the rotary tool against the surface of the portion to be butt welded; a mount bracket supporting the press driving unit; a pressure sensor detecting a pressing force exerted on the surface of the portion to be butt welded by the shank of the rotary tool; and a control unit controlling the driving of the press driving unit such that the pressing force falls within a predetermined range based on a detection signal sent from the pressure sensor.
In the friction stir welding apparatus according to the invention, the rotational driving means rotationally drives the rotary tool, and the press driving means inserts the probe of the rotary tool into the welding portion of the plate-like member so that the shank of the rotary tool is pressed against the surface of the welding portion. In this state, when the friction stir welding apparatus moves relative to the plate-like member linearly along the line of the welding portion, the probe of the rotary tool is brought into a frictional rotating contact with the welding portion to thereby soften the same portion by virtue of friction heat generated by the frictional rotating contact, whereby the portion being softened starts to be plastically fluidized in the rear of the moving probe, and the welding portion is butt welded when cooled and solidified.
As this occurs, in the friction stir welding apparatus according to the invention, the pressure sensor detects the pressing force of the shank of the rotary tool relative to the surface of the welding portion of the plate-like member, and the control means controls the driving of the press driving means so that the pressing force of the shank falls within the predetermined range based on the detection signal from the pressure sensor. Consequently, the shank of the rotary tool can follow the surface of the welding portion even if the surface of the welding portion of the plate-like member has irregularities or the same portion varies in thickness, whereby the amount of insertion of the probe into the welding portion can maintain constant.
In the friction stir welding apparatus according to the invention, in a case where the mount bracket is constructed so as to be mounted on an arm of a machining robot, the welding portion can be butt welded by mounting the mount bracket on the arm of the machining robot and driving the arm so that the probe of the rotary tool moves along the welding portion of the plate-like member. As this occurs, since the amount of insertion of the probe of the rotary tool into the welding portion of the plate-like member is maintained constant, even if the accuracy with which the arm of the machining robot is re-positioned is inconstant, the machining robot only has to drive the arm linearly along the line of the welding portion.
In the friction stir welding apparatus according to the invention, in a case where there is provided a mount plate for fixing the rotational driving means to the press driving means for imparting the pressing force to the shank of the rotary tool, the pressure sensor can be held between the mount plate and the rotational driving means. In this case, it is preferable to use a piezoresistant element or a piezoelectric polymer as the pressure sensor.
In addition, in the friction stir welding apparatus according to the invention, while the rotational driving means normally uses an electric motor as a driving source, a hydraulic motor may be used as the driving source. Additionally, while the press driving means can be constituted by a ball screw mechanism adapted to be driven by the electric motor, the press driving means may be constituted by a linear actuator, a pneumatic cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder or the like.


Systems and methods are disclosed for reducing the cost of sending messages over an intermittent network of computing devices via multiple communication channels by creating a first message on a first device, the message intended to be sent to a second device over the network multiple communication channels; applying a first policy to reduce the cost of sending messages over the intermittent network of computing devices, the first policy containing one or more rules to determine whether to send the first message to the second device, each rule being a function of one or more messaging attributes of messages, channels or the system environment; and dynamically updating the first policy by sending a second message to the first device, the second message being a system message that results in the addition, deletion or other modification of the rules contained in the policy to reduce the cost of sending messages over the intermittent network of computing devices.

Nature of the problem—Achieving efficient and transactional messaging between client and server applications over multiple intermittent networks.
Client-Server is an architecture that has long been in use within computing. It became popular with the advent with the Personal Computer (PC), which was used to access data on a central server. The simplest case of this is the File Server configuration where a set of files is stored on the server and accessed by the PC. Novell Netware and Sun's Network File System (NFS) are examples of technologies that were used to share files. Another popular client-server configuration is to have a thick-client application on the PC accessing a database on the server using standards such as Structured Query Language (SQL) and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC).
Tightly coupled client-server architectures indicate that the client requires access to the server to get information. If the server is not available, the client is essentially useless. Much of the client-server computing in use today is tightly coupled. The web browser is an example of a tightly coupled client-server model because it retrieves HTML from web servers. Without access to web servers, there is little that a browser can do.
Loosely coupled clients are independent of the server and access the server only when needed, such as to access or update information. Mail clients like Microsoft Outlook is a good example, where one can read and write emails while not connected to a mail server.
Most client-server computing has been deployed in a Local Area Network (LAN) or other always-on networks, eg. leased lines, dial-up. Therefore, it is not difficult to achieve a high level of reliability. There has not been a compelling need to introduce middleware to improve the reliability. Even so, applications that require transactional-level guarantees will use some kind of Transaction Processing middleware to track, audit and roll back transactions.
In addition, the assumption within a LAN is that there is only one network and that the cost of using it is essentially free. There has not been a requirement to choose among the use of multiple networks. Nor has there been a need to carefully consider the cost of using the network, eg. how many bytes are being sent or how long it is being used.
However, with the advent of wireless networks, this is all changed. Wireless networks are by their very nature intermittent since you are never guaranteed to have a clear signal. And often, there are places where there is no connection at all. Wireless carriers typically charge for usage of their network by the byte, so it becomes important how much bandwidth is being consumed. And there are multiple networks now available to computers, such as wire-line LAN, WiFi (IEEE 802.11b and successors), Wireless Wide Area Networks (GPRS, 1xRTT), Bluetooth and even a serial cable between a PDA cradle and a PC.
Another new issue raised by the use of mobile computers is the management of the devices and assets on those devices. In the current philosophy of network and system management embodied by software such as HP OpenView and CA Unicenter, there is an assumption that network elements or nodes (eg. computers, routers, switches) are always connected to the network and rarely move. It is therefore straightforward to manage the elements using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and deploy or update software on those stationary devices. However, with devices that are mobile, there is a new set of issues. These mobile devices are not always connected and if they are, they may be connected to multiple networks and therefore have multiple IP addresses. They might be shared among a group of users (eg. truck drivers who take any arbitrary handheld computer when the start their rounds). The devices must be secure but not impose a heavy price by slowing performance or sending exponentially larger packets on expensive wireless networks.
It is therefore plain that one cannot simply extend the current networking philosophy to computing on intermittent networks. In order to deploy usable and cost-effective client-server solutions that are mission-critical on intermittent networks, the goals should be transactional guarantee and manageability.
Transactional guarantee means that the system must keep functioning regardless of whether there is connectivity or not. No messages should ever be lost but they should be kept in reliable persistent storage at each step so that they can be recovered should a failure occur in the system such as a power outage. The entire system, consisting of the mobile devices and servers, must always be in a consistent state. Even when a failure occurs, the transaction should be rolled back or otherwise compensated so that there are no conflicts in any application. An example of this is when a transaction is to be committed to two applications; if one succeeds and the other fails, the one that succeeded should be rolled back so that they are both consistent. Only when both have succeeded should the transaction be committed. The system should be performant and not allow a fault to throttle the entire system, ie. cause it to stop working or go into an infinite loop and consume a lot of resources. This can happen when a message is in a queue that is fails to be committed to a target application and continues to retry constantly; this is called a "poison message" and should be immediately taken off the queue and processed differently. It should also be very resilient to faults such as badly formatted messages so that the system does not need to be restarted when responding to problems.
Manageability encompasses security, asset management, software deployment and cost control. Security covers the usual areas of authentication, authorization, encryption and non-repudiation. There are many existing technologies that can meet these requirements.
Mobile devices have additional requirement of remote locking when a device is reported lost or stolen. This can be done by sending a "poison pill" to kill the device and possibly destroy data or revoking the privilege to connect back to the server when it attempts to do so the next time a connection is available. Asset management refers to tracking the devices (eg. who owns it, where is it) and the management of the configurations on the device (eg. network settings, email settings). It is required that these are done set by a central system administrator and done automatically so that the user is not burdened to set up the configuration, which can be a complex and error prone process requiring much support. Another aspect of asset management is the ability to remotely run diagnostic test programs on the device. For example, the administrator might want to schedule the barcode scanner to be test every day and a report sent automatically when there is a connection so that he knows if the device needs to be brought into the office for maintenance. Software deployment is an area that has received a lot of attention because of the high cost of keeping the correct versions and license of software on computers. This problem is compounded for mobile devices that you cannot physically check. Software deployment configurations must be set up by the administrator remotely, whether the device is connected or not. When a device comes on line, it must automatically know which software to update. The administrator must also be able to specify which network to be used for software deployment. For example, use the free WiFi or serial connection to update software and only use the expensive wireless WAN for sending urgent application messages. Backing up data on the device is also a requirement for devices that have substantial disk storage such as laptops. Cost control is a new requirement for wireless devices where it does matter how much bandwidth is being used. Because wireless networks are more expensive, slower and intermittent, it becomes important for an application to determine which messages should be sent on which networks. Urgent and important messages should be sent on any available network. Less urgent and important messages should wait until a cheaper network is available. Other factors might come into play, such as system or network constraints. For example, if a satellite channel is available, only the most urgent and small messages might be sent. If the time is after 5 pm or the battery is low, perhaps the pending messages should be flushed immediately on any available channel.

Efficient transactional messaging between loosely coupled client and server over multiple intermittent networks with policy based routing


Design Data Management uses one copy of common data sets along with a plurality of instances, while continuing to utilize the existing design databases and existing CAD tools. Allowing a minimum amount of user intervention to create and maintain the common data set, Design Data Management employs replicating common data sets into one or more clone data sets. The method preferred provides for replicating and synchronizing one or more data sets with a master data set, comprises providing data design management of a master data set and at least one clone data set, and copying a master physical design data set into one or more physical instances to enable customization of said one or more physical instances. The master data set describes at least one of: a design component, a circuit macro, and a circuit entity, and comprises logical data sets, and it comprise physical design data sets. This permits all existing verification processes that are normally executed against the common data set to also be equally applied to the clones of said data set by way of automatic synchronization between of the common dataset and the clones.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to an improved method of managing design data for an integrated circuit for computers and digital systems and, in particular, to the management of design data associated with many unique physical copies of one logical entity.
2. Description of Background
The need to customize individual physical copies (known as "instances") of a particular building block, or macro, for an integrated circuit is becoming more common as the complexity and performance of those circuits increase. These macros can be as simple as a buffer or IO book, or as complex as an entire microprocessor core, as well as anything in between. There are numerous design requirements that drive the need for customization including, but not limited to; timing, power, physical form factor, physical orientation and circuit performance.
In past generations of digital and computer designs this was rarely a problem, as a conservative design approach could easily accommodate the physical constraints and requirements surrounding all the instances. The simple method of placing multiple identical copies of a macro on an integrated circuit was sufficient to meet the requirements of the design.
As the technologies and designs have evolved, this is becoming increasingly more difficult. For example, the clock speeds of present day microprocessors often require customized timing assertions and solutions not just for macros, but for each instance of every macro. Another example requiring customization is different physical orientation of an instance's copies. Older CMOS technologies accommodated various orientations of CMOS FET gates. However, in current CMOS technologies FET gates are often required to be aligned in one direction across the entire integrated circuit chip. So with a technology that requires FETS to be aligned in parallel, a simple chip floor planning operation like rotating one copy of an instance 90 degrees will require a new physical design for that copy with the gates in the original orientation. Likewise, in floor planning the chip the space available may require that various copies of an instance have different aspect ratios. Again, that requires the creation of unique physical instances. Another example is the tuning of IO book resistors, where there is one functionally all the IO books are identical but physically different resistor values are placed in the books to match the impedance of the line. All these eases require customization of the physical instance.
The data that describes a particular macro are typically stored in a database under the direction of Design Data Manager (DDM) that synchronizes and provides interlocks and accountability for the data. This data may consist of the logical description of the block (created with a tool using VHDL, Verilog, etc.), timing rules, audit status, physical implementation, and other data sets associated with a particular block. Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools use the data to craft an integrated circuit chip. Also the data sets provide information on the history, validity and authenticity of the design.
For the case of a macro that is replicated many times where all physical copies are identical, then the data management is straightforward since all copies can refer to the same master data sets. However in the eases described earlier, where the physical implementation of a copy has been customized then unique data sets that describe that physical implementation must be maintained in the database. Unfortunately many CAD tools and IC design methodologies require a consistent nomenclature of design entities and do not support sharing of data sets across design entities. These restrictions require a complete copy of all data sets for each unique physical copy even though many of the data sets may be identical. For example, the logical (VHDL) description may be the same for all IO books, but there may be hundreds of physical books with different resistor values, creating a need for hundreds of identical entries in the design database.
Historically, the common brute force approach was to make copies of all the data sets for each customized copy being used. This approach is simple and fits in with existing methodologies and data management. However, any logical updates must be replicated across all copies. For one or two copies of one or two logically unique blocks these approach works without much additional overhead. However the need to maintain hundreds or even thousands of copies becomes difficult and unwieldy with a brute force approach.
Another approach is to selectively copy the required data sets (physical design data), while keeping a single copy of the data sets that are common (logical data sets like VHDL data sets). This approach is desirable since it enables the common data to be easily managed, maintained and verified. However, as mentioned before most CAD tools and design methodologies enforce a consistent nomenclature of design entities and prevent the selective approach.
What is needed is a method that allows fi)r maintaining a single copy of data sets with a plurality of instances and yet allows for unique data sets describing the unique features of those instances that works within the framework of existing design databases and with existing CAD tools.

Method for replicating and synchronizing a plurality of physical instances with a logical master

International Business Machines Corporation


Image data corresponding to a plurality of documents placed on a document plate is individually output. In this case, if an inclined document is included in the documents, the document is output after being subjected to inclination correction. However, if a document which does not accept the inclination correction is included, documents other than the document are output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which processes image data and a method for controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when images corresponding to a plurality of documents placed on a document plate are read and processed by a reading device, an inclination correction process of correcting inclinations of documents has been performed (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-163121). Furthermore, in a case where the document inclination correction process is performed, when a document is too inclined to perform correction, an alert is generated so that the document is reset (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-251492).
In a case where the inclination correction process is performed on a plurality of documents as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-163121, if an inclination of a document is too large to correct the inclination as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-251492, an alert is generated so that the document is reset or the process is continued while the correction is not appropriately performed.
However, in the case where the reset of the document is performed as described above, when a document cover of the reading device is opened or closed, the documents may be shifted and one of the documents which was inclined but which at least accepted the inclination correction in the first reading operation may be further inclined so that the inclination correction is not accepted. Furthermore, when the process is to be continued while the correction is not appropriately performed, an unexpected result for a user may be obtained.

Image processing apparatus corresponding to a plurality of documents on a document plate, method for controlling the same, and program


Bimetallic alkoxide compounds useful as source reagents for chemical vapor deposition of ferroelectric ceramics such as lead titanate and lead zirconate, and lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The novel bimetallic alkoxide compounds of the present invention have the formula R.sup.1.sub.x PbM(OR.sup.2).sub.y (OR.sup.3).sub.z (1) or R.sup.1.sub.x PbOM(OR.sup.2).sub.y (OR.sup.3).sub.z (2), wherein M is a Group IVB metal, especially titanium or zirconium, and R.sup.1, R.sup.2, and R.sup.3 are independently selected hydrocarbyls, especially C1-C6 alkyls. In these compounds, lead may be present in the +2 or +4 oxidation states. For compound 1, when lead is in the +2 oxidation state, x may be 0, 1 or 2, y and z range from 0 to 4, and x+y+z=6. When lead is present in the +4 oxidation state, x may range from 0 to 3, y and z range from 0 to 6, and x+y+z=8. For compound 2, when lead is in the +2 oxidation state, x may be 0, 1 or 2, y and z range from 0 to 4, and x+y+z=4. When lead is present in the +4 oxidation state, x may range from 0 to 3, y and z range from 0 to 4, and x+y+z=6. For 1 and 2, R.sup.1, R.sup.2, and R.sup.3 are hydrocarbyl groups such as alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkenyl or aryl. R.sup.1 is preferably methyl, ethyl, propyl, cyclopentadienyl, or methylcyclopentadienyl, and most preferably methyl or ethyl. R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are preferably t-butyl, s-butyl, i-propyl, cyclohexyl, or neopentyl, and most preferably t-butyl or s-butyl.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bimetallic alkoxide compounds useful as source reagents or precursors in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes such as those employed in the fabrication of ferroelectric and other oxide thin films.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ceramic materials have a wide range of useful properties, including optical transparency, semiconductivity, and superconductivity. Ferroelectric ceramic materials are especially interesting because of their high piezoelectric coefficients, high opto-electronic coefficients, high dielectric constants and high pyroelectric constants. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is an attractive ferroelectric capacitor material because of its large spontaneous polarization, low coercive field and high mechanical strength. It has also been well studied because of its extensive use in piezoelectric transducers.
Because of their great potential in microelectronics applications, thin film growth techniques for ferroelectrics such as PZT are required. The primary growth techniques used to deposit high quality ferroelectric thin films have been rf sputtering (Kwak, B. S.; Zhang, K.; Boyd, E. P.; Erbil, A.; Wilkens, B. J. J. Appl. Phys. 1991, 69 767) and metalorganic deposition (MOD). The latter involves thermal decomposition of soluble precursors from a solution phase. The high temperature post annealing procedures required here are unacceptable in actual device manufacture. With sputtering, as-deposited films have high coercive fields and low remnant polarizations and again require high temperature annealing to achieve good FE properties. High temperature annealing steps cannot be used in device processing schemes where the already formed structures would be destroyed by diffusion, for example, in a highly desirable application of ferroelectric thin films, as the dielectric elements in dynamic random access memories.
An alternative technique which has been very successful for semiconductor materials deposition is metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The primary attraction of this technique is the potential for in-situ growth of the ferroelectric perovskite phase. Although more complicated than the MOD process, MOCVD is viewed as the technique that will ultimately be used for PZT device manufacture if the perovskite phase can be formed at temperatures compatible with other device materials (T<450.degree. C.) and without the post anneal step, which is typically greater than 600.degree. C. Preliminary reports on the use of plasma enhanced-MOCVD have indeed described in-situ growth of the perovskite phase below 500.degree. C. Other advantages include the relatively simple scale-up to commercial production volumes as well as the superior step coverage of CVD.
The use of MOCVD for ferroelectric oxides has been limited by the lack of available metalorganic precursors and the toxicity associated with some of them (Brierley, C. J.; Trundle, C.; Considine, L.; Whatmore, R. W.; Ainger, F. W. Ferroelectrics 1989, 91, 181). While metal oxides have been successfully deposited using metal alkoxide precursors as an alternative to alkyls, there are only a few known for lead, and their volatilities are low.
The highest priority issue for MOCVD of complex oxides is control of stoichiometry. The conventional approach for compositional control over a quaternary oxide is to introduce metal-organic precursors to the reactor via three independently controlled manifolds, each requiring accurate control of temperature, pressure, flow rates and precursor concentrations. Besides its complexity, this method makes film stoichiometry highly sensitive to inaccuracies in any of these process variables.
In addition, problems are encountered in the preparation of the oxide ferroelectric materials in thin film form on diamond or other carbon-containing substrates. The methods for preparing these ferroelectric materials are well-known, including chemical vapor deposition, sputtering, and sol-gel processing. Sputtering is a preferred method (see e.g., "Epitaxial Growth and Electrical Properties of Ferroelectric Pb(Zr.sub.0.9 Ti.sub.0.1)O.sub.3 Films by Reactive Sputtering," Japan. J. Appl. Phys. B30, 1034-1037 (1991)). The ferroelectric oxide films are typically sputtered in the presence of oxygen, and thus the diamond substrate is liable to be oxidized. Therefore, a method for applying the films under milder conditions is needed.
While volatile materials for ferroelectrics such as lead titanate and lead zirconate titanate (and related doped analogs) are available, no sources exist which incorporate lead and titanium (or zirconium) in the desired 1:1 ratio directly. Also for the bulk manufacture of these oxides by "sol-gel" techniques and other thin film applications involving spin-on methods, a molecular precursor having a fixed lead-to-titanium(zirconium) ratio is desirable.
In general, lead titanate, lead zirconate and PZT have been made by mixture of separate precursors containing each of the required elements (c.f. Fukui et. al. J. Mater. Res. 1992, 7, 791). No bimetallic molecular species are known which contain lead and zirconium or lead and titanium in a 1:1 ratio. Only a few compounds containing lead and another metal have been previously reported. Mehrotra et. al. (Synth. React. Inorg. Met.-Org. Chem. 1989, 19, 195) reported the compound Pb[Sb(OR).sub.4 ].sub.2. Two reports of compounds that have 1:1 ratios of lead and titanium have appeared. Ramamurthi and Payne (Mat. Res. Soc. Proc. 1990, 180, 79) have proposed a compound that is polymeric, containing lead and titanium in an alkoxide framework. Yamaguchi et. al. (J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 1989, 72, 1660, and references therein) have synthesized PbTiO.sub.2 (OR).sub.2 by reaction of lead acetate and tetrabutoxytitanium. However these substances are not molecular species that contain only one atom of each metal, but rather have more than one empirical formula unit in each molecular formula. In each case, the relatively involatile product is not well defined as to molecular weight and vapor transport properties and is therefore not suitable as a CVD source reagent.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide heterobimetallic source reagents containing two metals in the appropriate stoichiometric ratio required for the preparation of ceramic oxide films. Such reagents are sufficiently volatile to be used in CVD processes and decompose to deposit the desired oxide at temperatures that are low enough to be compatible with semiconductor device materials and processes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide methods of making these heterobimetallic source reagents.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more fully apparent from the ensuing disclosure and appended claims.

Bimetallic alkoxide reagents and method of making the same


Holder anchoring grooves are arranged on the outer periphery of a rotor core so as to extend axially. A holder arm having a substantially T-shaped cross section is fitted to each of the holder anchoring grooves. The holder arm has a main body section, an engaging projection and magnet holding pieces. The engaging projection is engaged with the corresponding one of the holder anchoring grooves. Each of the magnet holding pieces includes a first contact section, a second contact section and a non-contact area. A magnet containing section is defined by the magnet holding pieces that are located vis-à-vis relative to each other of any two adjacently located holder arms and the outer peripheral surface of the rotor core. In the magnet containing sections, a rotor magnet is press fitted and anchored from the shaft direction. Thus, there is provided a magnet fixing structure that can accurately anchor magnets to a rotor core or the like at low cost.

A permanent magnet field system is conventionally used in many small electric motors and electric generators. In this case, a magnet is often rigidly fitted to a stator or a rotor by means of adhesive. After bonding the magnet to the rotor or the stator, a magnet cover is mounted thereon in most cases. For example, many motors being used for electric power steering systems (to be referred to simply as EPS hereinafter) are provided with a magnet cover that is arranged around the rotor magnet in order to prevent the motor from falling into a locked condition when the magnet comes off or becomes broken.
Known methods for rigidly holding a magnet arranged on the outer periphery of a rotor core or a rotary shaft include those adapted to hold it by molding, using a non-magnetic member. For instance, Patent Document 1 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 5-153745) discloses a method of filling a non-magnetic member between magnets by die-casting. According to the Patent Document 1, magnets are rigidly fitted to a rotary shaft by adhesive and subsequently a ferromagnetic member is arranged around each of the magnets. Then, an aluminum die-casting material is filled between the magnets to rigidly secure the magnets onto a rotary shaft. Patent Document 2 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 9-19091) discloses a method of fixing a magnet to the outer periphery of a rotor core by integral molding, using synthetic resin. With the method of the Patent Document 2, the magnet is mechanically fixed to the rotor core without using any adhesive agent so that the time necessary for the fixing operation is reduced.
Patent Document 1: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 5-153745)
Patent Document 2: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 9-19091)
However, the method of rigidly fitting a magnet to a rotor core or the like by means of adhesive is accompanied by the following problems. Firstly, the coefficient of linear expansion of the rotor of such an electric rotary machine varies from component to component so that the magnet rigidly held by adhesive can become broken when it is heated to a high temperature level. The magnet, the multilayer core formed by using silicon steel plates, and the adhesive agent of the electric rotary machine normally show respective coefficients of linear expansion that are different from each other. Thus, they expand to respective extents that are different from each other as the temperature changes. Therefore, as the extent of expansion of the magnet becomes remarkably different from those of the adhesive agent and the multilayer core at high temperatures, the magnet is subjected to tensile force due to the different extents of expansion to consequently give rise to a broken magnet.
Secondly, when the magnet is rigidly held by means of adhesive, the bonding strength can be dispersed according to the bonding conditions and the quantity of the applied adhesive. Additionally, the adhesive agent can easily be degraded in a hot environment. Then, it is difficult to maintain the bonding strength to a desired level and hence the quality of the product may not be guaranteed. Furthermore, it is difficult to accurately bond the magnet. Accordingly, it is difficult to provide products with stable characteristics.
Thirdly, when an adhesive agent is used, the manufacturing cost rises because the cost of the manufacturing facility is high and the number of manufacturing steps is large. A process including steps of washing the surface to be bonded (degreasing), applying adhesive, bonding a magnet, hardening the adhesive (drying) and cooling (to the room temperature) is normally used for rigidly holding a magnet by means of adhesive. Then, a large number of facilities including a washing facility, an adhesive application facility and a hardening facility are required. Additionally, many man-hours are required because the manufacturing process involves a large number of steps, and the cooling step is particularly time consuming. The manufacturing cost rises as the investment for facilities and the number of man-hours increase, and improvements of the problems are called for.
While the Patent Document 2 discloses a magnet fixing method that does not use any adhesive agent, it requires a metal mold for rigidly holding the magnet by molding resin. In other words, the investment for facilities required for using this method may not differ significantly from the investment for facilities necessary for rigidly holding the magnet by adhesive so that the manufacturing cost is also high. Additionally, a specifically devised metal mold is required to hold a magnet at a predetermined position in the metal mold without using adhesive to consequently raise the cost of the metal mold so much.
The object of the present invention is to provide a magnet fixing structure that can accurately fix a magnet to a rotor core or the like at low cost.

Magnet fixing structure for electric rotary machine


A mounting assembly for attachment to a housing comprising a bracket (10) having two side supports (14) separated by a horizontal bottom support (11) and at least one set of spacers (16, 18) having self-retaining means for connecting the spacers to one of the side supports (14) of the bracket (10). A ribbed extension (44) is disposed on an outside of one of the spacers (18) for slideably attaching to the housing (10). The spacers (16, 18) include means for incrementally rotating one of the spacers (18) with respect to the bracket (10) thus incrementally rotating the housing (10) when the housing (10) is attached to the spacers (16, 18).

With an increase in the number of devices that are being removably mounted in vehicles, there is an increase in the demand for simple, yet sturdy, bracket assemblies for mounting such devices. Such devices include radios, CD players, speakers, or any other devices that are desired to be removably mounted in a bracket assembly. Such bracket assemblies need not to be limited to use in a vehicle.
Conventional bracket assemblies include U-shaped brackets with two side supports having apertures for receiving screws. Screws are manually screwed through the side supports into the sides of the device housing. Two hands are needed to attach such devices to the bracket assembly. One hand to hold the device in place in the mounting assembly and another to tighten the screws.
The screws do not reliably hold the device in a desired position in the bracket assembly. If the bracket assembly is used in a vehicle and the vehicle encounters rough driving conditions the desired position of the device is often lost. The screws do not have enough surface area contact nor do the screws provide enough tension with the device to reliably hold the device in the bracket assembly. The screws also tend to scratch and wear the housing of the device so that over time the attachment of the device in the bracket assembly is minimal at best resulting in a malfunctioning bracket assembly. Furthermore, the screws must be constantly manipulated in order to change the orientation of the housing device.
The housing of such a device may include gear teeth for mating with gear teeth on the bracket assembly but a screw is still required for attaching the housing to the bracket assembly. Furthermore, with a separate mating part on the housing device there is the problem that over time the contact is dulled and the teeth wear and there is no longer a sturdy and reliable hold on the housing device. Such gear teeth are often stripped resulting in a housing that drops vertically in a position so that the display is unreadable and the controls are not reachable. This becomes a real problem if the housing device is for a police radio involved in a high speed chase.
The conventional bracket mounting assemblies require screws or other devices to maintain the housing position. The conventional bracket mounting assemblies do not provide both the mechanisms for slideably attaching a housing device to the bracket and for incrementally rotating the housing device on the bracket assembly.


A multipurpose construction device comprised of a frame having a substantially solid rigid body. The frame includes a horizontal lip configured to be inserted beneath a construction panel to lift it upward by applying pressure to a kicker via a user's foot. The frame also includes an uppermost member having first and second segments. The first segment includes a work surface area and the second segment is configured to project downward to form a palm support area to allow users to place their palm thereon when using a rasp. The rasp is coupled to the bottom of the frame. The kicker is comprised of a multifunctional hook-like mechanism that allows a user to lift a drywall panel upward or secure the hook-like mechanism on a belt or the like. The multipurpose construction device also includes plurality of holding units to fixedly store construction tools.

Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard, or gypsum board, is a type of paneling that is commonly used to construct the interior walls and ceilings of houses, offices and other buildings. Drywall is typically made up of an inner core of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper and can be manufactured in various lengths and thicknesses for use in many different applications. To install drywall panels, each panel is cut into desired shapes and sizes and then secured to wall or ceiling structures with nails, glue, screws or other suitable fasteners.
Installing drywall requires several specialized tools to mount and hang the heavy paper-wrapped gypsum sheets. The drywall sheet normally ranges from 4×8 foot sheets to 4×12 foot sheets that must be arranged and held along the support studs that form the frame of the wall or ceiling and then be screwed, nailed or otherwise attached using suitable fasteners to the support studs. Full sheets may be mounted vertically or preferably horizontally along the studs and be cut to the proper dimensions to form the walls and ceiling of a room. Commonly, the sheets are mounted to the studs in an offset alignment to prevent seams from one sheet aligning along the entire length or width of a room.
Installation of drywall generally requires more than one worker to complete, as it is often necessary for one worker to hold a drywall panel in place while a second worker secures the panel to the underlying wall studs or ceiling joists. Requiring more than one worker to install each drywall panel prolongs the time it takes to complete the construction job as other work must be put on hold so that at least two workers can assist each other with the drywall installation. This reduces efficiency which inevitably leads to higher construction costs.
Tools of the prior art used to install drywall sheets may include a blade or utility knife to cut the drywall sheets to the proper dimensions; a hammer to pound nails; a screw and/or nail puller to pull out misaligned screws or remove screws left in the studs after removing the old drywall and wall coverings; a lift support that has an extended flat metallic strip with a tapered point on one end that may be inserted under a drywall sheet and then pivoted on a base leg by stepping on the opposing end of the metallic strip to provide for a sheet to be lifted and held in place for attachment to the studs; and/or a rasp that is configured and required for smoothing edges of the drywall after cutting to have the drywall sheets cleanly fit together along a seam.
An installer of drywall must have a variety of tools readily available to properly and efficiently install drywall sheets to finish the walls and ceilings of a room and/or building. Having to carry a number of different tools to install drywall can be a daunting task since drywall installers could easily lose and/or forget to bring one or more of the necessary tools from one work area to another work area with them which could end up prolonging the task of installing new drywall.
In light of the shortcomings in the prior art, there is clearly a need for a new multipurpose drywall and framing tool that is easy for a user to carry and use which has an assortment of tools for completing most of the common tasks necessary to install construction items such as drywall.

Multipurpose drywall installation and framing tool


A driving circuit of a display device includes a timing controller for combining p first digital data signals (p being a positive integer greater than 1) corresponding to colors for displaying images to generate q second digital data signals and for supplying the q second digital data signals to first to qth data transmission lines (q being a positive integer smaller than p), and a plurality of data driver integrated circuits for processing the q second digital data signals from the timing controller to restore the p first digital data signals, converting the p restored digital data signals into analog data signals, and supplying the analog data signals to a display panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a driving circuit of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and a method for driving the same, in which the number of data transmission lines and size of frequency are optimized.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, various flat panel displays having lighter weight and smaller volume than a cathode ray tube have been developed. Examples of the flat panel displays include a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, a field emission display (FED) device, a plasma display panel (PDP) device, and a light emitting display (LED) device.
In general, an LCD device includes a thin film transistor substrate, a color filter substrate, and a liquid crystal layer therebetween. The thin film transistor substrate includes a plurality of liquid crystal cells arranged in respective regions defined by a plurality of data lines and a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of thin film transistors serving as switching elements formed in the respective liquid crystal cells. The color filter substrate includes a color filter layer. In particular, an LCD device displays desired images by generating an electric field across the liquid crystal layer in accordance with data signals supplied from the data lines, to thereby control light transmittance of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer within the respective liquid crystal cells.
FIG. 1 illustrates an LCD device according to the related art. In FIG. 1, an LCD device includes an LCD panel 110, a timing controller 130, a data driver 140, and a gate driver 150. The LCD panel 110 includes liquid crystal cells defined by n gate lines GL1 . . . GLn and m data lines DL1 . . . DLm. The data driver 140 supplies analog data signals to the data lines DL1 . . . DLm, and the gate driver 150 supplies scan pulses to the gate lines GL1 . . . GLn. The timing controller 130 aligns externally inputted digital data signals RGB to be suitable for driving of the LCD panel 110, supplies the aligned digital data signals Data to the data driver 140, and controls the data driver 140 and the gate driver 150.
In the LCD panel 110, each of the liquid crystal cells includes a thin film transistor TFT serving as a switching element. The thin film transistor supplies data signals from the data lines DL1 . . . DLm to the liquid crystal cells in response to the scan pulses from the gate lines GL1 . . . GLn. The liquid crystal cell includes a common electrodes facing a pixel electrode with a liquid crystal material therebetween. The pixel electrode is connected to the thin film transistor TFT. Therefore, the liquid crystal cell is equivalent to a liquid crystal capacitor Clc. The liquid crystal cell also includes a storage capacitor Cst connected to a previous gate line to maintain the data signals in the liquid crystal capacitor Clc until the next data signals are applied thereto.
The timing controller 130 aligns the externally inputted digital data signals RGB to be suitable for driving of the LCD panel 110 and supplies the aligned digital data signals to the data driver 140. Also, the timing controller 130 generates data control signals DCS and gate control signals GCS using a main clock DCLK, a data enable signal DE, and horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals Hsync and Vsync, which are externally inputted, to control driving of the data driver 140 and the gate driver 150.
Although not shown, the gate driver 150 includes a shift register that sequentially generates scan pulses, i.e., gate high pulses in response to the gate control signals GCS from the timing controller 130. In addition, the gate driver 150 includes a plurality of gate driver integrated circuits having the shift register.
FIG. 2 illustrates a connection structure between the timing controller and the data driver shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the data driver 140 includes a plurality of data driver integrated circuits 242. Each of the data driver integrated circuits 242 receives the digital data signals Data supplied from the data transmission lines 222 and the data control signals DCS supplied from the control signal transmission lines 224. Each of the data driver integrated circuits 242 converts the digital data signals Data aligned from the timing controller 130 into the analog data signals in accordance with the data control signals DCS. Subsequently, the data driver integrated circuits 242 supply the analog data signals to the respective data lines DL1 . . . DLm of the LCD panel 110 (shown in FIG. 1) corresponding to one horizontal line per one horizontal period in which the scan pulses are supplied into the gate lines GL1 . . . GLn. In particular, each of the data driver integrated circuits 242 generates a plurality of gamma voltages having different voltage values corresponding to the number of gray levels of the data signals and selects one gamma voltage as the analog data signal depending on the gray level values of the digital data signals to supply the selected signal to the data lines DL1 . . . DLm.
In addition, the timing controller 130 converts the external digital source data RGB into transistor-transistor logic/complementary metal oxide semiconductor (TTL/CMOS) level depending on a CMOS interface mode and transmits the converted data signals Data to the data driver 140 in one port-to-one port mode or one port-to-two port mode. The timing controller 130 supplies the data signals Data of the TTL/CMOS level to the data transmission lines 222 and at the same time supplies the data control signals DCS to the control signal transmission lines 224.
Each of the data driver integrated circuits 242 is connected to the data transmission lines 222 and the control signal transmission lines 224 in common. Thus, the respective data driver integrated circuits 242 are sequentially driven depending on the data control signals DCS supplied from the control signal transmission lines 224 to receive the data signals from the data transmission lines 222 and convert the received data signals into the analog data signals to supply the converted signals to the respective data lines DL1 to DLm.
However, the aforementioned LCD device according to the related art has several problems. For example, the number of the data transmission lines between the timing controller and the data driver is not optimized, which causes the frequency or the size of the LCD increases greatly. In particular, as the size of the LCD device decreases, the number of the data transmission lines decreases but the frequency of the digital data signals supplied along the data transmission lines increases. On the other hand, as the size of the LCD increases, the number of the data transmission lines increases but the frequency of the digital data signals supplied along the data transmission lines decreases. Therefore, in the LCD device according to the related art, the number of the data transmission lines is not optimized, and its LCD size and the frequency are not balanced.

Driving circuit of liquid crystal display device and method for driving the same


Provided are a complex multifunctional relay system capable of complexly performing an overcurrent blocking function, an arc blocking function, and an earth leakage blocking function by a relay circuit, and a control method therefor. The complex multifunctional relay system includes an AC circuit including a hot line and a neutral line, a power control means connected in parallel to the hot line, insulation differential amplifiers circuit-connected to the hot line and the neutral line through current shunts, a microprocessor connected to the power control means and the insulation differential amplifiers to perform monitoring and control the power supply of the power control means, a first comparator connected to the current shunt and the insulation differential amplifier and connected to the microprocessor so as to check ground fault, and a second comparator connected between the current shunt/the insulation differential amplifier and the microprocessor so as to check arc fault.

In general, when AC power is supplied from a power input terminal to a load such as a motor, a relay is used when control of a circuit operation is required in an electric circuit, and various control functions are individually performed by a relay circuit or a separate electric circuit.
According to the following Patent Documents, technologies for an earth leakage circuit breaker, an overcurrent circuit breaker, and an arc circuit breaker have been disclosed as control functions on an electric circuit, but all these control functions have been made individually to perform respective functions.
In recent years, some devices having a simple combination type of circuit including an earth leakage circuit breaker, an arc circuit breaker and the like have been developed, but since this is merely a simple combination of related two functions, there is a limitation in improving efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a technology capable of complexly implementing various functions by a simple structure.
According to the following Patent Documents, technologies for an earth leakage circuit breaker, an overcurrent circuit breaker, and an arc circuit breaker have been disclosed as control functions on an electric circuit, but all these control functions have been made individually to perform respective functions.
In recent years, some devices having a simple combination type of circuit including an earth leakage circuit breaker, an arc circuit breaker and the like have been developed, but since this is merely a simple combination of related two functions, there is a limitation in improving efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a technology capable of complexly implementing various functions by a simple structure.
(Patent Document 1) KR 10-1995-0020841 A Jul. 26, 1995
(Patent Document 2) KR 10-1998-0026204 A Jul. 15, 1998
(Patent Document 3) KR 10-2009-0065675 A Jun. 23, 2009

Complex multifunctional relay system and control method therefor


A pneumatic vehicle tire comprises a carcass, a tread strip, and a breaker arrangement arranged between the carcass and the tread strip. The breaker arrangment includes at least two breaker plies which have threads or cords which serve as load-carrying members and extend at an angle to the mid-circumferential plane of the tire. A breaker cover surrounds the breaker arrangement at least in the region of the breaker arrangement's axial side edges. The breaker cover has at least one cover ply consisting of threads or cords which extend at least substantially in the circumferential direction of the tire. The breaker cover is formed of a helically wound strip bandage. At least one respective ply separating cushion layer is present in each of the two axial side regions of the breaker arrangement.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic vehicle tire comprising a carcass, a tread strip, and a breaker arrangement arranged between the carcass and the tread strip. The breaker arrangement includes at least two breaker plies which have threads or cords which serve as load-carrying members and extend at an angle to the mid-circumferential plane of the tire. A breaker cover overlies the breaker arrangement at least in the region of the breaker arrangement's axial side edges. The breaker cover has at least one cover or bandage ply including of threads or cords which extend at least substantially in the circumferential direction of the tire.

Pneumatic vehicle tire with breaker ply arrangement cushion layers


Systems and methods for using carry-less multiplication (CLMUL) to implement erasure code are provided. An embodiment method of using CLMUL to implement erasure code includes initiating, with a processor, a first CLMUL call to calculate a first product of a data bit word and a constant, partitioning, with the processor, the first product into a high portion and a low portion, and initiating, with the processor, a second CLMUL call to calculate a second product of the high portion and a hexadecimal number portion, a bit size of the second product less than a bit size of the first product. The second product, or a third product generated by a third CLMUL call, is used to calculate a parity bit. Because the second product or the third product has a number of bits equivalent to the number of bits used by the processor, the erasure codes are more efficiently implemented.

In a distributed storage system, where the failure of an individual storage component may cause part of the stored data to be lost, replication of the stored data is a common technique used to reduce the impact of any storage component failure. Unfortunately, replication of the stored data comes at the cost of increased storage utilization. For example, making two copies of every stored data item will occupy twice as much storage space.
As an alternative to storing data twice, Reed Solomon error correcting codes (a.k.a., parity blocks) were developed to provide equivalent replication protect at a reduced storage usage cost. By way of example, a one (1) byte Reed Solomon error correcting code, which can be computed using a lookup table, may be used by software implementing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) system in an effort to provide data redundancy. However, this solution often comes with a significant performance penalty.

Using carry-less multiplication (CLMUL) to implement erasure code


A quantum well thermoelectric module providing very high conversion of heat energy in to electrical energy. In prefered embodiments the module provides electric power for monitoring, measuring or detecting any of a variety of things (such as temperature, smoke, other pollution, flow, fluid level and vibration) and a transmitter for transmitting information measured or detected. In a preferred embodiment wireless monitor systems are utilized to monitor conditions at various locations aboard a ship and to wirelessly transmit information about those conditions to a central location. Preferably, a finned unit is provided to efficiently transfer heat from a module surface to the environment. A preferred quantum well choice is p type B9C/B4C and n-type Si/SiGe legs. Another preferred choice is n-doped Si/SiGe for the n-legs and p-doped Si/SiGe for the p-legs. At higher temperatures the preferred quantum well legs are alternating layers of silicon and silicon carbide for the n-legs and for the p-legs alternating layers of different stoichiometric forms of B-C.

A well-known use for thermoelectric devices is for the extraction of electric power from waste heat. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,548 discloses a self powered space heater for a truck in which heat energy for the heater is used to power electric components of the heater plus charge a battery. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,163 heat from a stovepipe is used to generate electricity. U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,098 discloses a self-powered furnace. Various types of thermoelectric modules are available. A very reliable thermoelectric module with a gap-less egg-crate design is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,875,098 and 5,856,210. U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,887 discloses a miniature milli-watt thermoelectric module useful in space applications (and special applications on earth) in combination with radioactive heat source. Quantum well very thin layer thermoelectric modules are known. Some are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,096,965, 6,096,964, 5,436,467 and 5,550,387. U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,349 describes an electric generator using a thermoelectric module to generate electric power from the heat of fusion produced by the freezing of a phase change material. All of these patents are assigned to Applicant's employer and they are all incorporated herein by reference.
Workers in the thermoelectric industry have been attempting too improve performance of thermoelectric devices for the past 20-30 years with not much success. Most of the effort has been directed to reducing the lattice thermal conductivity (K) without adversely affecting the electrical conductivity. Experiments with superlattice quantum well materials have been underway for several years. These materials were discussed in an paper by Gottfried H. Dohler which was published in the November 1983 issue of Scientific American. This article presents an excellent discussion of the theory of enhanced electric conduction in superlattices. These superlattices contain alternating conducting and barrier layers and create quantum wells that improve electrical conductivity. These superlattice quantum well materials are crystals grown by depositing semiconductors in layers each layer with a thickness in the range of a few to up to about 100 angstroms. Thus, each layer is only a few atoms thick. (These quantum well materials are also discussed in articles by Hicks, et al and Harman published in Proceedings of 1992 1st National Thermoelectric Cooler Conference Center for Night Vision & Electro Optics, U.S. Army, Fort Belvoir, Va. The articles project theoretically very high ZT values as the layers are made progressively thinner.) The idea being that these materials might provide very great increases in electric conductivity without adversely affecting Seebeck coefficient or the thermal conductivity. Harmon of Lincoln Labs, operated by MIT has claimed to have produced a superlattice of layers of (Bi,Sb) and Pb(Te,Se). He claims that his preliminary measurements suggest ZTs of 3 to 4. FIG. 1 shows theoretical calculated values (Sun et al—1998) of ZT plotted as a function of quantum well width.
Most of the efforts to date with superlattices have involved alloys that are known to be good thermoelectric materials for cooling, many of which are difficult to manufacture as superlattices. FIGS. 1A and 1B herein were FIGS. 3 and 5 of the "467 patent referred to above. A large number of very thin layers (in the '467 patent, about 250,000 layers) together produce a thermoelectric leg 10 about 0.254 cm thick. In the embodiment shown in the figures all the legs are connected electrically in series and otherwise are insulated from each other in an egg-crate type thermoelectric element as shown in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B current flows from the cold side to the hot side through P legs and from the hot side to the cold side through N legs. (Electrons flow in the opposite direction.) These patents disclose superlattice layers comprised of: (1) SiGe as conducting layer and Si as a barrier layer and (2) alternating layers of two different alloys of boron carbide. In the '387 patent Applicants disclose that they had discovered that strain in the layers can have very beneficial effects on thermoelectric properties of the elements disclosed in the '467 patent.
Monitors for collecting and transmitting information from remote locations must have a power source. In some cases power can be supplied a battery, solar cell or an electric power utility source. Batteries have to be replaced periodically. Many locations do not have sunlight and in many locations bringing in power from the power company can be very expensive. Often where the monitor is to be needed in a location where a heat source is available. Many monitors with transmitters require very small amounts of power.
Large engine driven vehicles such as ships of the United States Navy require numerous monitors in location where electric power is not readily available. These vehicles do in many cases have heat sources available where the monitors are needed. A good example is gas turbine equipment providing power for AC&R/HVAC).
What is needed is a better technique for producing very efficiently small amounts of electric power in very isolated locations.

Quantum well thermoelectric power source


To identify relevant action items (that may ultimately be reflected as claims data) for closing an identified gap in care reflected by combinations of disparate claims data records within a claims data store, a task-based interventional system executes rule-based models to determine action items eligible for closing a particular gap in care identified based on criteria associated with one or more programs. The task-based interventional system executes one or more machine-learning models to generate care scores associated with relevant entities associated with the identified gaps in care and generates a task data object comprising data indicative of an action item to close the gap in care together with executable jobs for initiating computer-based workflows to provide data indicative of the gap in care to relevant entities.

Computational evaluations of various action items, particularly as they relate to individual persons, have historically been limited in determining an overall expected effectiveness of communicating and/or otherwise requesting execution of a particular action item. Moreover, workflow systems and/or other computational action item evaluation solutions have historically been incapable of utilizing information regarding an aggregate evaluation of an overall desired goal to determine best action items to take on an individualized basis.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved systems and methods for automatically evaluating and determining appropriate action items for inclusion within one or more workflow systems.

Computer-based systems and methods for action item evaluation and initiation via task data object generation


Compounds having the formula (F-I) below are provided herein:

Lubricants in commercial use today are prepared from a variety of natural and synthetic base stocks admixed with various additive packages and solvents depending upon their intended application. The base stocks typically include mineral oils, polyalpha-olefins (PAO), gas-to-liquid base oils (GTL), silicone oils, phosphate esters, diesters, polyol esters, and the like.
A major trend for passenger car engine oils (PCEOs) is an overall improvement in quality as higher quality base stocks become more readily available. Typically the highest quality PCEO products are formulated with base stocks such as PAOs or GTL stocks.
PAOs and GTL stocks are an important class of lube base stocks with many excellent lubricating properties, including high viscosity index (VI), but may have lower thermal and oxidative stability. Thermal and oxidative stability is important because of a trend requiring smaller sump sizes that may result in more thermal and oxidative stress on the lubricants. Further, performance requirements for lubricants have become more stringent and the demand for longer drain intervals continues to grow.
Sulfur may be incorporated in the base stocks due to its anti-oxidant capabilities. While sulfurized PAO (S-PAO) base stocks can provide improved oxidative stability, improved durability during exposure to high temperatures and overall may extend the life of the lubricant, synthesis of S-PAO bases tocks may introduce a tertiary C—H bond in addition to the sulfur atom. For example, as shown in known scheme A below, under radical initiated conditions, where R may be an alkyl
group or aromatic compound, the sulfur addition follows the well-known "anti-Markovnikov addition," wherein the sulfur atom bonds to the less substituted carbon atom of the double bond from the unhydrogenated PAO oligomer forming a tertiary C—H bond in the S-PAO. This hydrogen atom of the C—H bond may be particularly labile to oxidative cleavage due to low tertiary C—H bond dissociation energy. Thus, such tertiary C—H bond can be prone to oxidative degradation thereby lowering the oxidative stability of the S-PAO.
Therefore, there is a need for S-PAOs with increased thermal and oxidative stability and processes for making S-PAOs, which do not introduce oxidatively labile tertiary C—H bonds. More specifically, there is a need for S-PAOs and methods of preparing the same where the sulfur atom bonds to the more highly substituted carbon atom of the double bond from the unhydrogenated PAO oligomer.

High stability lubricating oil base stocks and processes for preparing the same

Abstract: wherein: R1 is a C1-C5000 alkyl group; R2 is (i) a C4-C30 linear alkyl group or (ii) a C4-C5000 branched alkyl having the formula (F-II) below:

Abstract: wherein R5 and R6 at each occurrence are each independently a hydrogen or a C1-C30 linear alkyl group and n is a positive integer, provided however, among all of R5 and R6, at least one is a C1-C30 linear alkyl group; and R7 is a hydrogen or a C1-C30 linear alkyl group; R3 is hydrogen or a C1-C5000 alkyl group; and R4 is a C1-C50 alkyl group or an aromatic group. Processes for preparing compounds of formula (F-I) as well as base stock and lubricant compositions containing compounds of formula (F-I) are also provided.


A promotional tool and a vehicle used to distribute products, information, gift certificates, prepaid phone cards, and coupons for businesses, corporations, retail establishments, universities, and sales personnel. A customized gift card displays professionally created artwork, logos and graphics that best portray the provider's intent for the overall design. The card is folded, die-cut and glued to receive a multimedia disc, gift certificate, coupon or phone card. A Multimedia Disc is included as a gift with each card. It is a digital medium that contains professionally recorded digital music and a variety of audio, video, and graphic information regarding the provider. It is placed in the card so the label which supports the card's overall design, is in view. A gift certificate, coupon, or a prepaid phone card can be placed in the card for easy accessibility and scanning by a retailer.

(1) Field of Invention
The field of art for which the Multimedia Gift Card pertains to is gift card, multimedia/music compact disc, gift certificates and promotional material.
(2) Description of Prior Art
Music recorded on all types of medium has been sold and given as gifts for many years.
Seasonal and non-seasonal gift cards have also been a primary means to express sentiment and celebrate a multitude of events.
Corporations and businesses have often given small gifts to employees, sales staff and customers which include pens, cups, glasses, bumper stickers, hats, and shirts, usually displaying the company colors, logos, and information. All of these items, when given, are perceived as gifts to the receiver, however; also have immense promotional value for the provider.
Retailers often provide gift certificates for purchase that are usually in the form of a plastic credit card. These gift certificates are usually not packaged to be given as a gift. Most gift cards hang from a piece of cardboard on a display rack previously sold with a single piece of cardboard which sometimes could be folded into a simple card. Retailers relied on displaying individual gift certificates from a single piece of cardboard, paper or plastic. The purchaser in most cases would have to purchase an additional card to send or give the certificate, coupon or prepaid phone card as a gift.
The advent and mass production of the personal computer, reduction in system cost, and increased popularity and accessibility to the internet, has enabled most consumers to own or have access to a computer. The exponential growth and availability of digital quality audio, video and graphics accompanied by the many compression formats and increased storage capacity of digital medium has provided a unique and diverse avenue for promotion by corporations, business, brokers, retailers, and universities.


Systems and methods for providing removable storage tanks in an appliance having a pedestal are disclosed. The systems include a storage container located in the pedestal and configured to house an additive. In addition, a cover may be positioned within the pedestal to secure the container within the pedestal. The methods include manufacturing the pedestal such that when a storage container is placed in the pedestal, the storage container will fit in a predetermined orientation. The storage container may be manufactured such that when the storage container is placed in the pedestal the storage container can be secured in the pedestal with a cover.

Current systems for adding additives (e.g. soap, fabric softener, etc.) to an appliance (e.g. washing machine, dryer, etc.) utilize pumps to force air into a container housing the additive thereby increasing the pressure within the container, use a gravity feed to deliver the additive to the appliance, or use positive displacement pumps to draw the additive from either a rigid or flexible container. Currently, the containers are located inside an appliance cabinet and are not accessible to a user without disassembling the appliance, or are separated from the appliance and taking up additional floor and wall space. For example, if the internal container develops a leak, a homeowner or service person would be required to disassemble the washing machine to replace or repair the container.
Having the containers and other hardware (e.g. pumps, circuitry, and other connections) located inside the appliance cabinet also hinders routine maintenance such as cleaning the containers. In addition, having the containers located inside the appliance cabinet does not allow a user to alter the additive capacity. For example, the homeowner may want to load two gallons of soap and a half a gallon of fabric softener, but if the appliance only has two one-gallon containers, then the homeowner's wishes cannot be accommodated.
Having the above problems in mind, there exist a need for systems and methods for having removable storage tanks that occupy minimal additional space for use in delivering additives to appliances. The systems and methods should facilitate easy access to the containers, and customization based on user preferences, and easy maintenance.

Removable tank for laundry bulk dispenser system


A system and method to warn that a child has been left unattended in the vehicle when the ignition is off. The system includes a sensing device to detect if a child is in the infant seat, an ignition detection device to detect that the ignition is off, a delay timer to provide a certain period of time for the caregiver to remove the child from the car seat or put the child in the infant/booster seat and then to generate an alarm, a speaker to sound the alarm, and a switching assembly to detect when the dome light goes on, or if the dome light is operable.

There have been a number of tragic deaths in which children have mistakenly been left in automobiles after the driver reached a desired destination and left the vehicle. The deaths have usually been caused by a buildup of excess heat or cold within the vehicle during the absence of the driver. Infants, in particular, are susceptible to dehydration when subjected to the elevated temperatures within an enclosed vehicle, and can easily slip into a comatose state. Furthermore, no child should be left unattended in any vehicle for any length of time and for any reason.
One system for preventing children from becoming inadvertently locked within a vehicle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,291. The system utilizes a motion detector to detect the presence of a child or pet within a located vehicle. However, the system fails to protect infants who have been left asleep in their child seats and are not capable of sufficient activity to set off a motion detector. Such infants may continue sleeping and may become dehydrated and comatose without ever waking, and therefore, they may not be detected by a motion detector.
Another system described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,293 provides for a warning system that warns when a child is in an infant seat and the vehicle's ignition has been turned off. However, it would be costly and overly complicated to install because it connects to many of the vehicle's components.
Reference is also given to U.S. Pat. No. 6,922,622 where the use of one or more systems senses the occupancy state and temperature inside the passenger or load space. However, this would not protect infants stranded in their car seats in vehicles during extremely cold temperatures because the system activates when it senses the temperature is above a pre-set minimum.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,132 utilizes a system and method with a wireless tether comprising a detector, transmitter and receiver. An alarm is communicated to the caregiver when the caregiver ventures outside the range of transmission between the transmitter and receiver without having removed the child from the position as sensed by the detector. However, the system does not have an alarm, and the pager could be turned off or not be heard.
Therefore, the present inventors have recognized that there is an unmet need for an affordable, improved and simpler system to save children's lives.
It is an objective of the invention to provide a system that alerts the caregiver when a child is in an infant seat or a booster seat and the car is off.
It is another objective of the invention to support up to two infant/booster seats and to be portable from one infant/booster car seat to another.


A non-aqueous ink composition for inkjet which comprises a pigment, a dispersant, and a non-aqueous solvent is disclosed. The non-aqueous solvent comprises 50 to 90% by weight of a first liquid paraffin, and the balance of a second liquid paraffin, which is characterized in that an average number of carbon atom in the first liquid paraffin is 28 and an average number of carbon atom in the second liquid paraffin ranges from 23 to 27.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a non-aqueous ink composition for inkjet.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a recording apparatus using an inkjet system is widely employed in various fields including not only at home but also in the office and other industrial applications. In the recording apparatus of inkjet system, an aqueous ink, a non-aqueous ink or a UV ink is employed depending on the purpose of use. Among these inks, although the aqueous ink is extensively employed because of its low cost and safety, the ink is accompanied with a problem that the ink cannot be quickly dried as it is applied to a high-speed printing. Moreover, when the aqueous ink is printed on plain paper (PPC paper), the paper is cockled subsequent to the drying of ink, thus generating so-called cockling. Since the UV ink can be quickly cured as soon as UV rays are irradiated, it is suited for use in the printing to non-absorptive media or in high-speed printing. However, it requires a UV irradiation device which is bulky and necessitates large power consumption.
Whereas, when the non-aqueous ink is employed for the printing on plain paper, the droplets of ink delivered from the inkjet head and impinged against a recording paper can be immediately penetrated into the recording paper within a short time. Therefore, the non-aqueous ink is applicable to high-speed printing without necessitating any particular mechanism, thus obtaining excellent printing images without generating cockling. Further, there has been proposed to use liquid paraffin (for example, (Moresco white P-40; Muramatsu Sekiyu Research Institute) as a solvent for the non-aqueous ink. Liquid paraffin is colorless, odorless, safe to human organism and hence suited for use as a solvent for the non-aqueous ink.