A process for the production of an aromatic carboxylic acid comprising contacting in the presence of a catalyst, within a continuous flow reactor, one or more precursors of the aromatic carboxylic acid with an oxidant, such contact being effected with said precursor(s) and the oxidant in an aqueous solvent comprising water under supercritical conditions or near supercritical conditions close to the supercritical point such that said one or more precursors, oxidant and aqueous solvent constitute a substantially single homogeneous phase in the reaction zone, wherein the contact of at least part of said precursor with said oxidant is contemporaneous with contact of said catalyst with at least part of said oxidant.

This invention relates to a process for the production of aromatic carboxylic acids such as terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, trimellitic acid, naphthalene dicarboxylic acid and benzoic acid.
Terephthalic acid, by way of an example, is an important intermediate for the production of polyester polymers which are used typically for fibre production and in the manufacture of bottles. Current state-of-the-art technology for the manufacture of terephthalic acid involves the liquid phase oxidation of paraxylene feedstock using molecular oxygen in a lower (e.g. C2–C6) aliphatic monocarboxylic acid, usually acetic acid, in the presence of a dissolved heavy metal catalyst system usually incorporating a promoter, such as bromine. Acetic acid is particularly useful as the solvent since it is relatively resistant to oxidation and increases the activity of the catalytic pathway. The reaction is carried out in a stirred vessel under elevated temperature and pressure conditions, typically 150 to 250° C. and 6 to 30 bara, respectively, and typically produces terephthalic acid in high yield, e.g. at least 95%.
Generally, however, the terephthalic acid obtained is not sufficiently pure for direct use in polyester production since it contains, as major impurities, partially-oxidised intermediates of terephthalic acid, particularly 4-carboxybenzaldehyde (4-CBA), along with various color-forming precursors and colored impurities. In a conventional process used for the production of terephthalic acid, a substantial proportion of the terephthalic acid tends to precipitate as it forms during the course of the reaction and, although it may be below its solubility limit in the solvent under the prevailing conditions, 4-CBA tends to co-precipitate with the terephthalic acid. This relatively crude terephthalic acid, therefore, has to be processed further to secure terephthalic acid of acceptable quality for use in production of high grade polyester. Such further processing typically comprises dissolving the impure terephthalic acid in water at an elevated temperature to produce a solution which is hydrogenated in the presence of a suitable catalyst, e.g. a noble metal catalyst on a carbon support. This hydrogenation step converts the 4-CBA to para-toluic acid while the various color bodies present in the relatively impure terephthalic acid are converted to colourless products. The purified terephthalic acid is then recovered from solution by a series of crystallisation, solid-liquid separation and drying steps. Because para-toluic acid is considerably more soluble in water than terephthalic acid, the former tends to remain in the aqueous mother liquor following crystallisation and solids-liquid separation. A process involving production of crude terephthalic acid and its subsequent purification by hydrogenation is disclosed in, for example, EP-A-0498591 and EP-A-0502628.
In a continuous process described in WO-A-98/38150, relatively high solvent/precursor ratios are employed, and, accordingly, substantially all of the aromatic carboxylic acid produced can be kept in solution thereby minimising co-precipitation of the reaction intermediates in the course of the reaction. As a result, the intermediates remain available for reaction to the desired aromatic carboxylic acid, and the rate of reaction is enhanced for the intermediates compared with a conventional process. By operating the oxidation reaction in this way, it is possible to reduce the extent of contamination of the aromatic carboxylic acid with any aldehyde produced as an intermediate in the course of the reaction. For instance, as mentioned above, in the case of terephthalic acid production by liquid phase oxidation of paraxylene or other precursor, the reaction results in the production of 4-carboxybenzaldehyde as an intermediate. Co-precipitation of 4-CBA with terephthalic acid is largely avoided since the terephthalic acid is not allowed to precipitate during the reaction, at least not to any substantial extent. Moreover, the conditions necessary to achieve this tend to lead to oxidation of intermediates such as 4-CBA to a greater extent to the desired end product.
Although, the process described in WO-A-98/38150 represents a valuable improvement over the prior art, it involves the use of substantial amounts of organic solvent. Although organic solvents, such as acetic acid, are particularly useful in such oxidation processes for the reasons given above, it would in certain situations be desirable to minimise their use. Such organic solvents are relatively costly and, due to environmental restrictions, may require recovery and recycling Furthermore, a proportion of the organic solvent may be 'lost' due to combustion during the oxidation reaction. A further problem with the use of acetic acid is that it is flammable when mixed with air or oxygen under typical reaction conditions in this system.
A further problem with the use of conventional solvents, such as acetic acid, is the low solubility of the oxidant component therein. Thus, where dioxygen is used as the oxidant, the dioxygen is present predominantly as discrete bubbles in the reaction medium with only a small proportion of the dioxygen dissolving in the solvent. To the extent that the reaction between the precursor and the dioxygen results from the dioxygen diffusing from the bubbles into the bulk liquid, the reaction rate is limited by the low solubility of dioxygen in the solvent.
Holliday R. L. et al (J. Superficial Fluids 12, 1998, 255–260) describe a batch process for the synthesis of, inter alia, aromatic carboxylic acids from alkyl aromatics in a reaction medium of sub-critical water using molecular oxygen as the oxidant. The dielectric constant of water decreases dramatically from a room temperature value of around 80C2/NM2 to a value of 5C2/NM2 as it approaches its critical point (374° C. and 220.9 bara), allowing it to solubilise organic molecules. As a consequence, water then behaves like an organic solvent to the extent that hydrocarbons, e.g. toluene, are completely miscible with the water under supercritical conditions or near supercritical conditions. Dioxygen is also highly soluble in sub- and super-critical water. The process described by Holliday et al was carried out in sealed autoclaves as a batch reaction.
It is an object of this invention to provide an alternative and improved continuous process for the production of an aromatic carboxylic acid, such as terephthalic acid, wherein substantially all of the aromatic carboxylic acid produced, i.e., intermediates and precursors, are maintained in solution during the reaction, and wherein the need to use an organic material, such as aliphatic monocarboxylic acid, as solvent is eliminated. It is a further object of this invention to provide an alternative and improved continuous process for the production of an aromatic carboxylic acid wherein substantially all of the reactants and product are maintained in a common phase during reaction. It is a further object of this invention to provide a continuous process, having good selectivity and high yield, for the production of an aromatic carboxylic acid by the oxidation of a precursor in sub- or super-critical water.
We have now devised a process which overcomes one or more of the problems previously encountered for the use of supercritical water.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Mechanisms to support object-oriented version control operations are provided. A user manipulates and views a project from an object viewpoint and within an object module. The user performs version control operations using object handles. The object handles are resolved to specific file references and the specific file references are used to process legacy version control commands utilizing a legacy version control system in a manner that is transparent to the user.

Collaborative environments are becoming pervasive in the industry. One area of collaboration that is critical to an enterprise is that which is associated with new software development. During software development a variety of different developers can be working on the same or dependent modules at the same time and in entirely different processing environments. A variety of different project life-cycle and version control systems attempt to coordinate project activities in scenarios such as this.
One management and support aspect, which is associated with software project development, is version control. That is, some modules may be in various stages of development, such as: bug fixes, enhancements, lacking certain features, production readiness. Moreover, sometimes an enhancement may have to be rolled back to a prior pre-enhancement version when problems are detected. Thus, a robust version control system is a must in project development environments.
Typically, version control systems are used to coordinate and manage collaboration on projects. The projects often include many sub components, such as coding modules. Under such circumstances, the coding modules are managed by the version control systems exclusively as individual files.
The problem with this approach is that often there is a great deal of inter-file dependency for any particular project. The management of inter-file dependencies is usually not even attempted by traditional version control systems; rather, the users themselves have to manually manage the dependencies when loading, merging, and updating components of the project. This means that the users have to be savvy and skilled in the use of the version control systems. Another compounding issue is that developers may be representing the project in an object model, such that the developers are forced to map and think about the object model in terms of files in order to properly interface and work with the version control systems. Managing complex dependencies at the individual file level can often be overwhelming and nearly impossible from a practical standpoint in a complex coding project; thus, version control may not be embraced because of the deficiencies of version control or may be used with a great deal of effort and time to adapt it to the needs of the project.
Thus, improved mechanisms are needed for improved version-control within a project-based environment.


A stressor structure is formed within a drain region of an access transistor in a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell in a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate without forming any stressor structure in a source region of the DRAM cell. The stressor structure induces a stress gradient within the body region of the access transistor, which induces a greater leakage current at the body-drain junction than at the body-source junction. The body potential of the access transistor has a stronger coupling to the drain voltage than to the source voltage. An asymmetric etch of a gate dielectric cap, application of a planarization material layer, and a non-selective etch of the planarization material layer and the gate dielectric cap can be employed to form the DRAM cell.

The present disclosure relates to a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) structure, and particularly to a DRAM structure including an asymmetric stressor and a method of manufacturing the same.
Generally, low leakage current is desirable in a DRAM cell in order to provide long retention time for the electrical charge stored in a capacitor. However, in the case of a DRAM cell formed on a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, excessively low leakage current can induce a floating body potential problem in which the voltage of the body of an access transistor is not predictable, and thus, the threshold voltage of the access transistor becomes unstable.


A method of making a tampon applicator having four separable components includes forming a barrel having a forward end and a rearward end opposite the forward end, forming a fingergrip having a barrel end and a plunger end, where the fingergrip has an axially extending channel between the barrel end and the plunger end and the plunger end has a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of the barrel end, forming an insertion tip having a first end and a second end, forming a plunger having a forward end, connecting the barrel end of the fingergrip with the rearward end of the barrel, where the barrel end of the fingergrip and the rearward end of the barrel create a continuous surface flush with the barrel when connected, connecting the second end of the insertion tip to the forward end of the barrel, and inserting the forward end of the plunger into the channel of the fingergrip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insertion device, such as a catamenial tampon applicator. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multiple-component tampon applicator formed from at least three distinct and separate components.
2. Description of Related Art
The majority of commercial tampon applicators are of approximately uniform cross-section and are formed from only two components, namely a barrel and a plunger. The fingergrip, if any, is formed as an integral part of the barrel component. Some applicators have a fingergrip and a plunger of a cross-sectional area reduced from that of the applicator barrel. This feature has been found not only to render the tampon applicator more grippable, but it is also more aesthetically preferred.
For current reduced cross-sectional area fingergrip tampon applicators, the tampon pledget must be loaded into the insertion end of the applicator due to the smaller opening at the fingergrip end. Thus, these tampons are restricted to top or insertion end loading. This requires the petals of the applicator, if any, to be post-formed to their final shape after the pledget has been loaded. Post-forming of petals requires the material to be plasticized. Typically, plastic petals are plasticized by heat and are easily shaped by the use of an external forming die.
On the other hand, cardboard petals are more difficult to plasticize and require the additional use of an internal mandrel. Usual methods involve heating the tip to volatize the water (either existing or supplemental moisture), and then forcing the petal into shape using an internal mandrel in conjunction with the external die. The internal mandrel has a cross-sectional area that is approximately the same as the barrel's interior, and consequently would not be able to enter through a reduced cross-sectional fingergrip area. Therefore, the necessity of the internal mandrel to shape the petal tip has thus far precluded the manufacture of a reduced cross-sectional fingergrip area on a cardboard applicator.
Therefore, there is a need for a tampon applicator, and more specifically a cardboard applicator, that can be manufactured such that petal tips can be pre-formed or integrated on the insertion end of the applicator barrel, prior to loading an absorbent pledget, using existing manufacturing processes and equipment.


Embodiments herein provide a method for managing Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) broadcast call between a first MCPTT client and a second MCPTT client in an off-network system. The method includes establishing, by the first MCPTT client, a broadcast call, where the first MCPTT client is transitioned from a first broadcast control state to a second broadcast control state after establishing the broadcast call. Further, the method includes releasing, by the first MCPTT client, the broadcast call, where the first MCPTT client is transitioned from the second broadcast control state to the first broadcast control state after releasing the broadcast call.

A Push too Talk service provides an arbitrated method by which two or more users may engage in a communication. The users request permission to transmit (e.g., traditionally by means of a press of a button). The Mission Critical Push to Talk over LTE (MCPTT) service supports an enhanced PTT service, suitable for mission critical scenarios, based upon 3GPP Evolved Packet System (EPS) services.
The MCPTT Service is intended to support communication between several users (a group call), where each of the user has the ability to gain access to the permission to talk in an arbitrated manner. However, the MCPTT Service also supports Private Calls between pairs of users. The MCPTT Service builds on the existing 3GPP transport communication mechanisms provided by the EPS architectures to establish, maintain, and terminate the actual communication path(s) among the users.
Further, the MCPTT Service also builds upon ProSe service enabler for off-network communications While operating in off-network mode the MCPTT service uses a ProSe E-UTRA direct (UE-to-UE) Communication path (ProSe direct communication path) for transport. The ProSe direct communication path does not traverse the network infrastructure.
In MCPTT off-network scenario, a user may request a broadcast call. The broadcast call is such that no response is expected from terminating end users. The caller initiates the broadcast call and transmits the media. Terminating end users receive the media but are not allowed to transmit. The broadcast call terminates once the caller ends the transmission or terminates the call. Terminating users may choose to join the broadcast call and are allowed to leave an in-progress broadcast call.
The principal object of the embodiments herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for MCPTT broadcast call in an off-network system.
Another object of the embodiments herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for establishing, by a first MCPTT client, a broadcast call, where the first MCPTT client is transitioned from a first broadcast control state to a second broadcast control state after establishing the broadcast call.
Another object of the embodiments herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for releasing, by the first MCPTT client, the broadcast call, where the first MCPTT client is transitioned from the second broadcast control state to the first broadcast control state after releasing the broadcast call.
Yet another object of the embodiments herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for establishing, by a second MCPTT client, the broadcast call with the first MCPTT client, where the second MCPTT client is transitioned from the first broadcast control state to the second broadcast control state after establishing the broadcast call with the first MCPTT client.
Yet another object of the embodiment herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for releasing, by the second MCPTT client, the broadcast call with the first MCPTT client, where the second MCPTT client is transitioned from the second broadcast control state to the first broadcast control state after releasing the broadcast call.
Yet another object of the embodiment herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for determining, by the second MCPTT client, that the second MCPTT client is in the first broadcast control state.
Yet another object of the embodiment herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for receiving, by the second MCPTT client, a group call broadcast message with a call identifier Information Element (IE) different to an in progress broadcast call from the first MCPTT client.
Yet another object of the embodiment herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for determining, by the second MCPTT client, that a second MCPTT user's acknowledgement is required.
Yet another object of the embodiment herein is to provide a mechanism for initiating, by the second MCPTT client, a waiting for user timer.
Yet another object of the embodiment herein is to provide a MCPTT system and method thereof for transitioning, by the second MCPTT client, from the first broadcast control state to a third broadcast control state.

MCPTT system and method thereof for managing MCPTT broadcast call in off-network system


An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the OLED device includes 1) an organic light emitting element configured to emit light, 2) a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer formed over the organic light emitting element and configured to selectively transmit or reflect circularly polarized light and 3) a translucent metal layer formed on the CLC layer and configured to partially transmit and partially reflect incoming light. According to at least one embodiment, the OLED can suppress reflection of external light while minimizing loss of light generated from the organic emission layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. More particularly, it relates to an OLED display with improved display characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Technology
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display includes a plurality of OLEDs each having a hole injection electrode, an organic emission layer, and an electron injection electrode. When the anode and cathode inject holes and electrons into the organic light emitting layer, the OLEDs emit light using energy generated when excitons generated by electron-hole combinations in the organic light emitting layer are dropped from an excitation state to a ground state, and an image is displayed when the excitons are dropped from an excited state to a ground state.
Therefore, the OLED display has self-luminance characteristics and the thickness and weight of the OLED display can be reduced since it does not require a separate light source, unlike a liquid crystal display (LCD). In addition, since the OLED display exhibits high-quality characteristics such as low power consumption, high luminance, a high response speed, etc., it is receiving much attention as a next-generation display device.

Organic light emitting diode display for suppressing reflection of external light


An arrangement for a vehicle roof is provided having a roof element, which can be coupled to a roof body of a motor vehicle and permits a view through the vehicle roof, and a safety device, which is assigned to the roof element and which has a safety element and a drive which is configured to move the safety element relative to the roof body and to transfer same from a first, retracted state, in which the safety element is stowed in a predetermined manner, into a second, extended state, in which the safety element covers a surface portion on a lower side of the roof element in a predetermined manner and opposes penetration of a body through the roof element.

The invention relates to an arrangement for a vehicle roof, and to a vehicle roof for a motor vehicle, which arrangement and vehicle roof both contribute to increased safety for vehicle occupants of the motor vehicle. In addition, the invention relates to a motor vehicle with a vehicle roof and such an arrangement.
Some motor vehicles have vehicle roofs with a cover which is designed, for example, to be displaceable in order to open a roof opening. The cover here is raised, for example, into a ventilation position before it is displaced further to the rear in the opening direction into an open position. Such an arrangement which permits deployment and displacement of a cover is described, for example, in the document DE 102011018151 A1.
Covers or sliding roofs are generally configured in respect of their strength for loads which occur in the driving mode, such that they can withstand vibrations, wind loads, thermal length changes and distortions of existing mechanics. However, covers and sliding roofs are not designed to protect individuals, who are possibly not wearing their seatbelts, from falling through the associated roof opening during an accident, in particular if the motor vehicle overturns.
The invention is therefore based on the object of providing an arrangement for a vehicle roof and a vehicle roof for a motor vehicle, which arrangement and vehicle roof both contribute to increased safety for vehicle occupants of the motor vehicle.
The object is achieved by the features of the independent patent claim. Advantageous developments are specified in the dependent claims.

Arrangement for a vehicle roof, vehicle roof for a motor vehicle, and motor vehicle


A hand protecting cavity ventilation system for an oven is provided. The system includes an air duct, positioned at a top of a cavity of the oven, the air duct having a duct outlet aimed toward a door to the cavity to provide an airflow along an inner surface of the door. The air duct extends downward from the ceiling of the cavity in front of and below a heating element disposed below the ceiling of the cavity. The air duct forms a vertically displaced hand protection portion to act as a barrier in front of the heating element, thereby guarding the heating element when the door of the oven is opened.

Heat is generated by the magnetron and other components of a microwave oven. To cool these components, the oven draws in cool air and blows that air over the components. The oven then blows that same air through the oven cavity to carry away heat and smells produced within the oven cavity. This airflow also allows for condensation to be carried away and out of the oven.

Condensation-managing hand-protecting cavity ventilation system


A kneepad is formed of a shell and a detachable cushioning pad. The shell includes a knee area and a shin area. A non-flowable gel is provided in the cushioning pad. Preferably the gel is indented at the normal pressure point of contact of the patella. The outer surface of the shell is provided with a plurality of ribs surrounding a recessed portion to direct the pressure and shocks from the ground to the outer portions of the knee. The shell may also be provided with a resilient material between the ribs and the inner surface of the shell.

Kneepads are used to protect a user's knees when kneeling on a hard surface, or when extensive kneeling is required on any surface.
Typically, kneepads include a cover or shell designed to rest against the surface and a cushioning pad secured between the shell and the user's knee. Despite such arrangement, the knee, notably the patella, undergoes considerable stress from pressure or shock. While the cushioning pad provides a softer surface, the patella still ultimately bears the weight of the user against the shell, albeit through the compressed cushioning pad.
Kneepads are sometimes also uncomfortable to wear while moving about. The hard shell typically presents an impediment to full extension of the leg, thus requiring the user to remove the kneepad when intending to walk any reasonable distance. Removal of the kneepad may require the inconvenient disengaging of threaded loop fasteners and the like.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a kneepad which minimizes the stress on a user's patella and on the user's knee in general.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a kneepad that does not inhibit a user from walking comfortably.
These and other objects of the invention will be better understood by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows.


The application relates to an electric converter for converting AC or DC input into an electric AC or DC output. A swap circuit with controllable electric switches serves to selectively swap connection of a plurality of DC power banks (DCBs) between an input terminal and an output terminal, thus selectively connecting the DCBs to an electric source or an electric load. The DCBs are formed as series of interconnected submodules (SMs) each having electric energy storage elements (ESEs) and a switching circuit for selectively by-passing or connecting the ESEs. By properly controlling the swap circuit and the switching of the SMs, the converter can be used for DC-AC, DC-DC, AC-DC, or AC-AC conversion, allowing multilevel output.

Efficient electric converters are important, e.g. for converting electric power from renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic elements or wind turbine generators. Such converters should in addition be low cost, compact and with a low weight.
E.g. conversion from a DC voltage from a photovoltaic element to an AC voltage for application to an AC grid typically requires several conversion stages, and thus often leads to a complex and bulky design. The function of converting a DC input voltage to a higher AC output voltage is typically realized using a two-stage conversion, where a DC-DC boost stage is followed by a DC-AC conversion. Two-stage grid connected Photo Voltaic (PV) inverters, e.g. string and micro-inverters, can be considered as typical applications for such architecture.

Flexible and efficient switched string converter


A method, device, and system are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises discovering a failure on a PCI Express interconnect, determining whether a failure override bit has been set to override the standard PCI Express Polling. Compliance state for the failure on the PCI Express interconnect, and if the failure override bit has been set, entering PCI Express Polling. Configuration state if any one lane of the interconnect successfully completes the transmitting and receiving training sequence requirements in PCI Express Polling.Active state.

The PCI Express™ interface protocol, as defined by the PCI Express Base Specification, Revision 1.0a (Apr. 15, 2003), is fast becoming a widely used standard across the computer industry for a high-speed data communication link. Currently, when two devices are interconnected with a multi-lane PCI Express™ link, all the lanes must work correctly for the entire link to work at all. If one or more lanes have a fault, the PCI Express™ Specification directs the devices to enter modes that prevent the entire link from working. The presence of a permanent failure on any of the lanes, such as a disconnected wire in a differential pair, leads to one of the two devices entering the Polling.Compliance state and prevents the link from working. In the Polling.Compliance state the entire link is supposed to transmit compliance patterns which are used to test the electrical eye diagram to see if the transmission circuitry is following the electrical specification. A common failure condition that leads to the transmission of the compliance patterns exists when one receiver lane of a differential pair is completely disconnected. In this case, the device detects a receiver since the receiver detection is performed on transmitter lanes. But the other (farther) device will not detect a receiver on the faulty lane and will not transmit any pattern on that lane and keep it electrically idle. Thus, even though the device detects a receiver on its faulty lane, it will not detect an exit from electrical idle on the faulty lane. Following the PCI-Express™ specification, all lanes of the device should transmit compliance patterns since the link training state machine will go to Polling.Compliance state. An undesirable side effect of this mechanism is that if a single wire of any differential pair is disconnected on the transmit side, the entire PCI Express™ link (including all lanes, not just the faulty lane) will be non-operational. This is a substantial hardware reliability and robustness issue because many end users want fault tolerance against one or more failures such as a single wire disconnect.

Providing high availability in a PCI-Express™ link in the presence of lane faults


Certain embodiments of a method and system for safe and efficient power down and drawing minimal current when a device is not enabled may comprise receiving within a network adapter chip (NAC) a signal that indicates a reduced power mode. Based on this signal, the NAC may control an off-chip voltage source that provides reduced voltage to circuitry within the NAC. The off-chip voltage source, which may comprise a first PNP transistor and a second PNP transistor, may reduce a voltage to a first voltage and a second voltage. The NAC may also reduce current through the off-chip voltage source to approximately zero amperes and an output voltage of the off-chip voltage source to approximately zero volts. The first voltage and/or the second voltage may be fed back to control the output voltage and current of the off-chip voltage source.

It is desirable to be able to completely power down a device when it is not in use or when it is disabled. For example, a notebook computer may have a wired LAN adapter and a wireless LAN adapter installed. When the notebook computer is moved from one location to another, the wireless LAN adapter may be used, for example, when there is no wired LAN available. As a result, the wired LAN adapter may not be needed. Accordingly, the wired LAN adapter may be disabled to reduce power consumption, which conserves battery power.
Some conventional systems may configure the wired LAN adapter to operate in a power down state by disabling clock signals, turning off transceivers, and/or configuring analog devices to operate in a standby state. However, there may still be some current drawn from a power supply. For example, a network adapter device (NAC) may have three primary supply voltages: 1.2V, 2.5V, and 3.3V. When the NAC is configured to operate in the power down state by asserting, for example, a LOW_POWER_MODE pin, the lowest measured current may be, for example, about 27 mA. This may translate to over 100 mW of power consumption during the power down state when the current is regulated down from the 5V supply in the system.
The NAC may derive the other supply voltages of 2.5V and 1.2V from the 3.3V supply voltage. In order to avoid this power drain from the 2.5V and 1.2V supply voltages, as well as from the 3.3V supply voltage, some conventional systems may turn off the 3.3V supply to the NAC. A disadvantage with this approach may be that turning off the 3.3V supply voltage to the NAC may affect long-term reliability of the NAC because it may stress damage the I/O cells in the NAC. This may also lead to leakage current through the non-powered I/O cells to which the NAC may be coupled. The resulting power drain at the system level may be greater than if the 3.3V supply voltage to the NAC was not turned off.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for safe and efficient chip power down drawing minimal current when a device is not enabled


ESD damage caused by connecting devices that have separate grounds, is reduced by equalizing the charge on the first and second device grounds before connecting their signal lines together; but when the grounds are equalized, the transfer of charge between them is sufficiently slowed down so as to avoid harming components within the device receiving the extra charge. In one embodiment, a connector for connection with a complementary connector is provided with an inhibited shell. The inhibited shell is mounted to the connector body for connection with a shell on a complementary connector. The inhibited shell is configured (e.g., with a conductive polymer having a desired resistance) to sufficiently slow down the detrimental transfer of charge between the separate grounds on the connected devices while at the same time allowing them to equalize with one another.

Electrical connectors are used in a wide variety of applications. Some connectors simply transmit power (e.g., from a power source to an appropriate appliance) or signal lines to printed circuit boards, other electronic devices or to other complementary connectors. Other connectors transmit both power and signal lines through the connector interface.
Some electrical connectors also employ various types of shell structures, ground structures or the like to protect or to electrically interact with the transmission lines and their terminals within the connectors. For instance, some connectors are provided with shell structures to protect against electrostatic discharges (ESD) which are generated when the connector comes into contact with another conductive body which may be a complementary mating connector. In essence, the ESD shell is used to dissipate static charges. Connectors also may have shell structures to protect against electromagnetic interference (EMI). In essence, the EMI shell protects the electrical circuitry from externally generated radiated emissions as well as preventing electromagnetic interference from radiating outwardly of the connector. Such shell configurations can work well, especially once a connector is engaged with its complementary connector. Unfortunately, however, in connectors where shells from complementary connectors initially come into contact with each other when their connectors are engaged, it is observed that ESD may continue to damage components in one or both of the connecting devices.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved connector configuration.


The present invention is directed to an improved method, system and apparatus for self-testing an electronic device. A scan latch used in a multi-cycle bus is uniquely operated to generate signal transitions consistent with the normal operating speed of the device. This occurs even when a normal signal transition would not otherwise occur since the multi-cycle bus normally requires a plurality of clock pulses to create such signal transition. The logical states of master and slave clocks associated with test scan logic are used to automatically cause the output of a scan latch to invert its output or switch from its previous state at each rising edge of the slave clock that is not preceded by a master or scan clock. This ensures transitions will appear at the output of the latch consistent with the operating clock speed of the slave clock, and these transitions are detected during an AC test of the device to determine the maximum operation frequency of the device even when the device contains an internal multi-cycle bus.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to electronic testing techniques, and more particularly relates to an improved method and system for electronic self-testing.
2. Description of Related Art
Improvements in manufacturing processes are enabling integrated circuit devices to offer more functionality as the size of individual transistors contained therein get smaller and smaller, thus allowing more transistors to be packaged within an integrated circuit device. As the trend of integrating more functions in a single high performance integrated circuit device (also called a chip) continues, testing of such devices is crucial to ensure a proper functioning device. One test technique is to connect a device under test to an external tester, which applies input stimuli, captures the resulting output, and compares this captured output to an expected output to determine if the device is functioning properly. Rather than using a tester to apply external patterns, an alternate test technique known as Logical built-in self-test (LBIST) uses an embedded pseudo-random pattern generator to generate input values to apply to a device's internal scan chain. A functional cycle (one or more clock pulses) is then run, and the device's response is captured in scannable latches. These captured values can then be scanned out and compressed using a multiple input signature register (MISR) to generate a signature that can be compared with a known good signature see if there were any faults.
LBIST can also be used to test the frequency characteristics of a chip. Data is scanned into the scan latches at the front end of the circuit-under-test. Then, after waiting a few cycles for the scan paths to stabilize, two functional clock cycles are issued back to back. The first functional clock cycle captures the scanned in data, which causes a signal transition to begin propagating through the circuits towards a capture latch's output. This transition occurs when the scanned in data is different from the data at the normal input to the circuit, thus causing a change in state at the output of the circuit and hence a signal transition. That transition is then captured during the second functional clock cycle by other capture latches. If the frequency is too fast, the second functional clock will be issued before the transition can propagate to the capture latch, and a fault will occur and be detected by LBIST. By increasing the frequency until a fault is produced, the highest operational frequency of the circuit can be found.
A chip will normally have various clocks and control methods to test and operate the chip. The master clock is the clock that drives the data input stage of a master-slave flip-flop latch, and the slave clock is the clock that drives the output stage of a master-slave flip-flop latch. The scan clocking scheme is used to scan data into and out of the scan latches.
As chips are getting larger and larger, it sometimes takes multiple cycles for data to get from one part of the chip to another. If a signal is going to take more than one cycle to get to its destination, it must be latched for each cycle. However, due to placement restrictions, timing and area concern, it is often desirable to use non-scan latches for this purpose. Then, during testing, the clocks to these latches are left running to propagate data through to the receiving scannable latch. However, this causes a problem when trying to characterize the frequency of the device during an AC test. Because the latches propagating the data are non-scan, there is no way to produce a transition that can be captured by the latches at the receiving end in one cycle since it takes multiple cycles for data to get from one part of the chip to another. This can be solved by issuing more functional cycles, but that makes diagnosing and isolating the fails much more difficult.
It would thus be desirable to provide an improved way for characterizing the AC operational speed of an electronic device.

Method and apparatus for generating signal transitions used for testing an electronic device

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is a method, system, and program for interfacing with a printer driver. Data and an acknowledgment request is received from the printer driver. The printer driver does not send further data to print until receiving an acknowledgment reply indicating that the transmitted data passed an initial check to improve printer performance. An acknowledgment reply is transmitted to the printer driver in response to the acknowledgment request before completing the initial check of the sent data to cause the printer driver to send further data. Data processing operations are resynchronized in response to detecting an error in the received data. The received data is rasterized and outputted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system and program for responding to an acknowledgment request from a printer driver to improve printer performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
To print an image, a print engine processor, referred to herein as a rasterizer, converts or rasterizes the image in a page description language or vector graphics format to a printer readable bit mapped image indicating a value to print at each pixel of the image. An application program on a host computer generates a data stream and instantiates a printer driver to transmit the data stream to the printer. The printer then rasterizes and prints the data stream. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides the Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS) printer service that converts a data stream to an IPDS compatible format. This IPDS data stream is then sent to the printer to rasterize and output. The IPDS architecture provides specific commands and status requests. The printer driver may use the IPDS commands to control how the printer rasterizes and prints the data stream as well as monitor printer operations. The IPDS data stream may include different data types, such as text, image, graphics, and bar code.
The IPDS architecture provides an extensive acknowledgment protocol at the data-stream level. This acknowledgment protocol helps synchronize host and printer processes, exchange query-reply information, and return detailed exception information. Details of the IPDS architecture and acknowledgment protocol are described in the IBM publication "Intelligent Printer Data Stream Reference", IBM document no. S544-3417-05 (Copyright IBM, 6th ed., 1996), which publication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In prior art IPDS implementations, the printer driver requests acknowledgment (ARQ) from the printer. To return acknowledgment, the printer must complete a syntax check of the received page and return an acknowledgment reply (ACK) in order to receive the next page from the printer driver on the host computer. If the printer receives a command requesting acknowledgment (ARQ), and if this command also requests specific printer information, then the printer sends an ACK that contains page and copy counters and the requested information in the data-field portion of the ACK. The page and copy counters may include a received page counter indicating the number of pages the printer has received from the printer driver and a stacked page counter indicating the number of pages successfully stacked, i.e., printed. Other counters may also be used to track the movement of pages and copies of pages through the printer for queue management and exception recovery. If the printer generates the acknowledge reply (ACK) as a result of detecting an exception, the printer sends a negative acknowledgment (NACK). This exception information is stored in a special data area of the NACK. Page and copy counters are also returned in the data-field portion of the NACK.
One dilema with the current acknowledgment reply protocol is that the printer driver will not provide further pages until receiving a positive acknowledgement reply (ACK). In this way, the printer driver ensures that that all paths of execution are synchronized at the point of last command sent as of the acknowledgment request (ARQ). This means that the printer upon receiving an acknowledgment request (ARQ) is idle between the time that it completes rasterizing a page and receives the next page from the printer driver. Further, the printer cannot rasterize pages in parallel because the printer driver does not provide an additional page for the parallel operation until the acknowledgment reply (ACK) is received.
In the prior art, to avoid idle time, an ACK-INTERVAL is used to instruct the printer driver of how many pages to wait before submitting a next acknowledgment request (ARQ). The ACK-INTERVAL value is specified in terms of pages, e.g., 100, 200, 300, etc. A longer ACK-INTERVAL reduces the idle time because relatively more pages are fed to the printer before the next acknowledgment request. Thus, pages are buffered in the printer waiting to be rasterized. However, because status information is provided less frequently with the longer ACK-INTERVAL, the printer driver must buffer more sent pages because the status information provided in the acknowledgment reply (ACK) is used to determine which previously sent pages no longer need to be buffered. Once a page is successfully printed, the printer driver no longer needs to buffer the data. On the other hand, a smaller ACK-INTERVAL provides more frequent status information thereby allowing the printer driver to remove buffered pages more frequently, which reduces the size of the buffer needed by the printer driver. However, a smaller ACK-INTERVAL increases the frequency of the acknowledgment requests, thereby increasing communication and increasing the number of idle periods at the printer.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved acknowledgment protocol between a printer driver and printer that reduces idle time at the printer and at the same time minimizes the number of pages the printer driver must buffer between acknowledgment replies (ACK).

Method, system, and program for responding to an acknowledgement request from a printer driver


The present invention provides a negative type photosensitive resin composition having high sensitivity, excellent halftone characteristics, capability to form a small tapered pattern shape, and alkali-developability. The negative type photosensitive resin composition includes, as an alkali-soluble resin (A), at least a weakly acidic group-containing resin (A1) and an unsaturated group-containing resin (A2), the weakly acidic group-containing resin (A1) containing an acidic group having an acid dissociation constant in the range of 13.0 to 23.0 in dimethyl sulfoxide, and the unsaturated group-containing resin (A2) containing an ethylenically unsaturated double bond group.

In recent years, many display products, such as mobile phones, tablet PCs, and TV sets, incorporating thin organic electroluminescence (hereinafter abbreviated as "EL") display devices have been developed.
In general, an organic EL display device has a transparent electrode of, for example, indium tin oxide (hereinafter abbreviated as ITO) on the light extraction side of the light emitting element and a metal electrode of, for example, an alloy of magnesium and silver on the other side than the light extraction side of the light emitting element. Furthermore, in order to divide pixels of the light emitting element, an insulating layer called a pixel dividing layer is formed between the transparent electrode layer and the metal electrode layer. After forming the pixel dividing layer, a film of a light emitting material is formed by vapor deposition through a deposition mask to produce a light emitting layer in a region, which will act as a pixel region, where an opening is formed in the pixel dividing layer expose the lower layer which is either a transparent electrode or a metal electrode. The transparent electrode or the metal electrode is normally formed by sputtering, but in order to prevent disconnection of the transparent electrode or the metal electrode formed, the pixel dividing layer is required to have a small-tapered pattern shape.
An organic EL display is a self-luminous element that emits light using energy generated from recombination of electrons injected from the cathode and holes injected from the anode. Therefore, if there exists a substance that inhibits the movement of the electrons or holes or a substance working to form an energy level that inhibits the recombination of the electrons and holes, the luminous efficiency of the light emitting element will deteriorate or the light emitting material will be deactivated, leading to a shortened life of the light emitting element. The pixel dividing layer is formed at a position neighboring to the light emitting element, and accordingly degassing from the pixel dividing layer or an outflow of ion components can cause a decrease in the life of the organic EL display. Therefore, the pixel dividing layer needs to have high heat resistance. A known technique for forming a highly heat resistant pixel dividing layer having a small-tapered cross-sectional pattern is the use of a positive type photosensitive resin composition containing polyimide (see, for example, Patent document 1). To develop positive type photosensitivity, it is necessary to incorporate a naphthoquinone diazide compound, but this compound, contained in the pixel dividing layer, is decomposed by light and/or heat to cause degasification, which can lead to shortening of the life of the light emitting element.
In a common manufacturing process for panels of organic EL display devices, a large glass substrate is used and a plurality of panels are produced from one glass substrate in order to achieve an improved production efficiency. A good method for further improving the production efficiency by shortening of the process time is to reduce the light exposure in the patterning exposure step to decrease the tact time in the patterning exposure step. To achieve this, the photosensitive resin composition used to form a pixel dividing layer is required to have high sensitivity to allow a pattern to be formed under a small light exposure.
When forming a light emitting layer, vapor deposition is performed with a vapor deposition mask held in contact with the pixel dividing layer, and accordingly a large contact area between the pixel dividing layer and the vapor deposition mask can lead to a decrease in the panel production yield due to the formation of particles. In addition, the pixel dividing layer can be damaged by deposits on the vapor deposition mask, possibly resulting in moisture intrudes that cause degradation of the light emitting element. Therefore, a conceivable method to reduce the contact area of the pixel dividing layer is to form a two-tier pixel dividing layer in which the second tier is smaller in size, but this requires a complicated process, leading to an increase in process time or a decrease in the panel production yield. A method proposed for solving these problems is to use a halftone photomask as the photomask form a pattern (see, for example, Patent document 2). This is intended to form a step-shaped pixel dividing layer in a single layer production process so that the contact area with the vapor deposition mask will be decreased without an increase in the process time. To form a step-shaped pixel dividing layer, however, it is necessary to use a positive type photosensitive resin composition containing a naphthoquinone diazide compound, which can cause the problem of degasification as described above.
A technique proposed for forming a pixel dividing layer using a resin composition that contains no naphthoquinone diazide compound is the use of a negative type photosensitive resin composition such as those used for producing color filters for liquid crystal display devices (see, for example, Patent document 3). In general, however, an acrylic resin is used as the negative type photosensitive resin composition, leading to poor heat resistance and resulting in a light emitting element with a decreased reliability. To provide a photosensitive resin composition with an increasing the sensitivity, it is known that the use of a negative type photosensitive is essentially more advantageous than the use of a positive type photosensitive from the viewpoint of the photosensitivity development mechanism. Accordingly, a negative type photosensitive resin composition is generally used to increase the sensitivity. However, since the surface of the film is photo-cured first according to the negative type photosensitivity mechanism, a rectangular or a backward tapered pattern shape tends to be formed while those regions where the exposure is small tend to fail to be photo-cured sufficiently, frequently resulting in the absence of patterns being left after the alkaline development step. Therefore, it is difficult for a negative type photosensitive resin composition to form a step-shaped pixel dividing layer having a sufficient thickness difference between the thick parts and the thin parts even when a halftone photomask is used. A known method for producing a negative photosensitive resin composition with an increased sensitivity is to increase the content of a compound having a plurality of ethylenically unsaturated double bond groups in the molecule, but this can lead to a pattern shape having a rectangular or backward tapered cross section. Thus, there has been a call for a highly sensitive negative type photosensitive resin composition that has excellent characteristics helpful to form a step-shaped pattern in a batch process using a halftone photomask (hereinafter referred to as halftone characteristics) and serves to produce a small-tapered pattern shape.

Negative-type photosensitive resin composition, cured film, display device provided with cured film, and production method therefor


This invention relates to a method of sewing large area sewing material consisting of plural and at least two layers, of which at least one layer is formed of an elastical material, for instance foamed material, wherein said layers are fed to the sewing unit in a superposed relationship and wherein the layer of elastical material is fed to the sewing unit in an unexpanded and preferably bulged condition and is stitched together with the layer formed of non-elastical material. Such a method offers the advantage that the formation of folds in the stitched product is prevented in a simple and inexpensive manner.

Large area material is understood to be for instance mattress fabric that is to be stretched around mattress cores. The sewing material concerned is of the type including at least one layer of a non-elastical material and one layer of an elastical material, for example foamed material, to be stitched together, wherein the stitched seams are arranged according to a predetermined pattern and particularly do not run exclusively in one direction which means that arbitrary sewing patterns are produced such as bias check or check patterns, circular saw or circular patterns and quite arbitrary contours. With sewing material of that kind the problem arises that due to the common drive for all the layers up to the sewing unit the elastical layer is subject to an expansion in the longitudinal or feeding direction. This elastical expansion is caused particularly by the fact that the sewing material, i.e. at least the two layers mentioned above, is drawn towards the pressure foot and into the sewing unit via a support. On this occasion, the tractive forces are transmitted to the sewing material which is stitched after it has passed through the sewing unit and is rolled onto a storage means. Doing this, the layer of elastical material rests either directly or indirectly on the support in front of the pressure foot and needle plate. Due to the friction existing in this area between said support and said layer of elastical material the latter is expanded and is stitched together with the layer of non-elastical material in this expanded condition. When the now stitched material leaves the multiple-needle sewing machine and is either rolled onto the storage means or cut to individual segments, the elastical material will tend to assume its original expansion, i.e. it will shrink again. Due to the shrinking of the elastical material said non-elastical material will form folds that disturb particularly the aesthetic appearance of the article produced from that material, for example a mattress.
Basing on this prior art, it is a problem of the present invention to provide a method and a multiple-needle sewing machine of the type concerned, wherein the formation of folds in the stitched product is prevented in a simple and inexpensive way.

Method and a multiple-needle sewing machine for sewing large area sewing material

Nahmaschinenfabrik Emil Stutznacker GmbH & Co. KG


An embodiment of an apparatus for channel assessment is provided, comprising a radio frequency (RF) unit, a baseband unit and a microprocessor control unit (MCU). The baseband unit coupling to the RF unit directs the RF unit to selectively hop into one of a plurality of available channels in a frequency band using a pseudorandom sequence to receive a plurality of packets via the hopped channel. The MCU coupling to the baseband unit accumulates a measure for the hopped channel according to reception results of the packets and marks the hopped channel as a bad channel when the accumulated measure exceeds a predetermined threshold. The measure represents the inaccuracy extent during packet reception via the hopped channel.

The invention relates to channel assessment, and more particularly, to methods and apparatuses for channel assessment.
Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) is a method of transmitting radio signals by rapidly switching a carrier among multiple frequency channels, using a pseudorandom sequence known to both transmitter and receiver. The overall bandwidth required for frequency hopping is much wider than that required to transmit the same information using only one carrier frequency. However, several frequency channels within a frequency band may encounter interference in environments where other wireless technologies are in use. Accordingly, there is a need for methods and apparatuses that dynamically inspect whether each frequency channel therein is a "good" or "bad" channel for subsequent data or voice transmission.

Methods and apparatuses for channel assessment


A system and method for evaluating workload units in a computer system whereby each workload unit is assigned an impact number representing the number of days that the expiration date of a computer system would be changed if the workload unit were to be added or removed from the system with all other workload units remaining the same. Each workload unit may be assigned a different number for each system in the environment. The inventive system and method simplify the task of combining multidimensional workload measures and incorporate the interaction with other workload units in the system by assessing the impact on both a donor and a recipient computer systems' expiration dates. Thus, the invention provides a more robust way to measure the effect of moving workload units between systems to result in a better allocation of work amongst computer systems in a processing environment.

In the capacity planning process, system parameters, desired service levels, and workload predictions are used to determine when the resources of a computer system will be exceeded and are used to assist in identifying cost-effective remedies to resource shortfalls. "Capacity Planning and Performance Modeling: From Mainframes to Client-Server Systems", by Daniel A. Menasce, Virgilio A. Almeida, and Larry W. Dowdy (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1994) discloses approaches to both the predicting and rectifying of computer resource challenges.
Capacity planning for a set of heterogeneous computer systems presents several problems, as set forth below. As a first challenge, it must be recognized that workloads use multiple resources. Therefore, the effect of workload assignment is not readily predicted or quantified. Second, workload typically grows, and the rate of growth may differ between resources. Third, different computer systems may have different resources, and different resource capacities. These problems can make it difficult to determine how long available resources will last, which computer systems are most at risk for exceeding their resources, how to reallocate resources to alleviate shortages, and how the computer systems will be affected by such reallocations.
Dan Asit and Dinkar Sitaram, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,557, entitled "Online Placement of Video Files Determined by a Function of the Bandwidth to Space Ratio of each of the Storage Devices in a Server Environment", (Jun. 25, 1996) teach one solution for maximizing storage utilization for the placement of videos on storage devices taking into account the expected demand for the video. Asit, et al use the bandwidth space ratio (BSR) to place videos on disks. The BSR of a disk is its bandwidth divided by space. The BSR of a video is the expected demand for the video divided by the space required to store it. Demand may be forecast based on historical usage data and, in their invention, a Video Placement Manager places the videos on the disks to match the BSR of the videos with the BSR of the disk.
Additional references which have sought to predict and manage storage capacity include an article and related patent application of W. G. Pope and Lily Mummert. The article entitled "The Use of Life Expectancy to Manage Notes Domino E-Mail Storage", Proceedings of the Computer Measurement Group, CMG '99, December 1999, and the patent application Ser. No. 09/457,467 entitled "System and Method for Providing Property Histories of Objects and Collections For Determining Device Capacity Based Thereon", which was filed on Dec. 8, 1999, propose a method for projecting device capacity by past history of access to and usage of the relevant information for a single computer system.
In general, the amount of workload on a computing system grows over time. Eventually, workload exceeds the system's capacity causing either unscheduled outages or severe performance degradation which results in increased administrative costs and reduced customer satisfaction. When the server is a member of a group of servers where workload can be moved to some other server in the group, it is desirable to avoid these problems with planned action, as will be addressed by the present invention.
The date when a server's workload exceeds its capacity is called its expiration date. An expiration date is established using the aforementioned methods like life expectancy or capacity space. To provide a quality service, it is necessary to upgrade or offload the server before its expiration date. Usually, there are certain key dates when major changes can be made to a server with minor impact to service. These dates are conventionally associated with holidays, whereby service impact is reduced if servers are upgraded on a key date that precedes the expiration date.
Other resources, such as administrative personnel, are normally in limited supply. This constraint bounds the number of server upgrades that can be performed on any given key date. Thus, it is necessary to distribute the expiration dates of servers to fit within the bounds dictated by these other resources. A system's expiration date can be adjusted by adding or removing workload.
What is needed is a system and method which analyzes the combined expiration dates of a group of systems and adjusts the location of workload to align the expiration dates of systems in the group with key dates in order to fit within the bounds dictated by external resources.
What is additionally needed is to provide a system and method for analyzing the impact of a single workload unit on the capacity of a system.
Another objective of the present invention is to utilize workload unit impact measurements to improve the life expectancies of as many of the processing systems in a processing environment as possible.

System and method to improve service in a group of servers


The present invention provides an equipment for measuring the vertical distance or pitch between a plurality of thin substrates inside a container body, including an optical component to transmit a light beam to a thin substrate in the container body and receive light beam reflected from the thin substrate, a scanning device to drive the optical component to move along vertical direction of the thin substrates for measuring the vertical distance or pitch between the plurality of thin substrates in the container body, and a rotation base to carry and rotate the container body to a plurality of angles for the plurality of thin substrates inside the container body to be measured from different angular positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present field of the invention is related to a measurement equipment for measuring pitch between thin substrates, and more particularly, to a measurement equipment for measuring pitch between thin substrates placed in the interior of container body from a plurality of different angles or different positions with the container body being rotated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The semiconductor wafers are transferred to different stations to apply the various processes in the required equipments. A sealed container is provided for automatic transfer to prevent the pollution from occurring during transferring process. FIG. 1 shows the view of wafer container of the conventional prior art. The wafer container is a front opening unified pod (FOUP) which includes a container body 10 and a door 20. The container body 10 is disposed with a plurality of slots 11 for horizontally supporting a plurality of wafers W, and a front opening 12 is located on a sidewall of the container body 10 for exporting and importing wafers W. Further, the door 20 includes an outer surface 21 and an inner surface 22, wherein the door 20 is joined with the front opening 12 of the container body 10 via inner surface 22 to protect the plurality of wafers W within the container body 10. Moreover, at least a latch hole 23 is disposed on the outer surface 21 of the door 20 for opening or closing the front opening unified pod (FOUP). According to the aforementioned, due to that the wafers are horizontally placed in the container body 10, thus, displacement of wafers W in the container body 10 may occur in the beginning of the process in which wafers are inserted into slots or during the transporting process of wafer container, as shown in Figure in which displaced wafers W′ are in slots of different heights. And such displacement of wafers leads easily to damage of other wafers or split-out of wafers when the door 20 is opened.
Referring then to FIG. 2, which is a view of a wafer displacement detection system of conventional prior art. The wafer displacement detection system 100 includes a base 101, a light-transmitting module 102, and a light-receiving module 103. The aforementioned light-transmitting module 102 and light-receiving module 103 are fixed on top of the base 101 at a distance L to allow the placement of wafer cassette 200. Wafer cassette 200 includes 25 pairs of slots 201 for horizontally supporting 25 wafers W. On two sides 202 of wafer cassette 200 are window holes 203 to allow light beams transmitted by a plurality of light-transmitters 102T on light-transmitting module 102 to pass through and also light beams to be received by a plurality of light-receivers 103R on light-receiving module 103. Therefore, when wafers in wafer cassette 200 are displaced or placed in slots of different heights, light beams transmitted by one of the light-transmitters 102T of light-transmitting module 102 will be shielded by this displaced wafer and thus the corresponding light-receiver 103R is not able to receive the light beam. Although the above-mentioned wafer displacement detection system 100 is able to detect abnormal placement of wafers, yet such design seems no longer to correspond with current front opening unified pod (FOUP). In addition, with the size of wafer getting larger and larger, 12″ or 18″ wafer for example, wafer gravitational sag occurs when wafers are placed in the slots. In other words, the rim of wafers near two sides of slots is higher whereas there is sag or concavity near the central part of wafers. There is an allowable normal range of such sag or concavity; when the degree of sag or concavity exceeds the allowable normal range, wafers crack easily or cause damage to other wafers more easily.
Furthermore, there is also similar problem with LCD; with the size of LCD becomes larger and larger under demand, LCD glass substrates used in the manufacturing process also sags or concaves easily like what is described above. Therefore, a measurement system that is able to perform quantitative measurement on the distance among wafers, LCD glass substrates or other thin substrates (compact disk for example) and the degree of sag or concavity when functioning as support to detect displacement or excessive sag of wafers or thin substrates.

Thin substrate pitch measurement equipment


An artificial reality system can display notifications in various configurations including in a minimized version or a maximized version. The artificial reality system can initially display a minimized version of the notification. Upon identifying a first trigger event, such as the user's gaze resting on the minimized version of the notification or a rotation of a user's wrist, the artificial reality system can change the display of the notification from the minimized version to the maximized version. The artificial reality system can identify a second trigger event, such as the user's gaze not being directed to the maximized version of the notification or a rotation of the wrist in an opposite direction from the first wrist rotation. In response to the second trigger event, the artificial reality system can stop display of the maximized version of the notification.

Various objects in an artificial reality environment are "virtual objects," i.e., representations of objects generated by a computing system that appear in the environment. Virtual objects in an artificial reality environment can be presented to a user by a head-mounted display, a mobile device, a projection system, or another computing system. Some virtual objects can be notifications, such as system notifications, communication notifications, alarms, notifications from running applications, notifications from remote sources, etc. Existing artificial reality systems tend to display notifications over the middle of the display area or in a corner, regardless of the user's actions.
The techniques introduced here may be better understood by referring to the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

Artificial reality notification triggers


A knee prosthesis including a tibial component for mounting to the proximal end of a tibia, and a femoral component for mounting to the distal end of a femur. At least the face surface of the medial condylar portion of the femoral component may be preferably substantially congruent with the face surface of a medial cavity in the upper surface of the tibial component so that substantially complete surface-to-surface contact between the face surface of the medial cavity in the upper surface of the tibial component and the face surface of the medial condylar portion of the femoral component is provided throughout a significant portion of the range of flexion of the knee joint. The tibial component may include a base member, an articular bearing member movably positioned on the upper surface of the base member, and structure for restricting the movement of the lateral portion of the articular bearing member relative to the base member to allow a swinging motion thereof relative to the medial portion of the articular bearing member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an improved knee prosthesis for replacing at least a portion of a knee joint.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
A knee prosthesis for partially or totally replacing a knee joint which has been damaged due to trauma or disease typically includes a femoral component for attachment to the distal end of a femur, and a tibial component for attachment to the proximal end of a tibia. The tibia component often includes a base or tray for being implanted in the tibia, and an insert or meniscal plate on the face of the tray for articulating with the condyles of the femoral component.
Murray et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,696, issued Sep. 30, 1980, discloses a prosthetic knee including a femoral component for being attached to a femur, a tibial base for being attached to a tibia, and an insert or meniscal plate disposed between the distal plateau or face of the femoral component and the proximal plateau or face of the tibial base. The proximal plateau or face of the tibial component has a concave, compoundly curved surface while the distal face of the insert has a convex surface shaped complementary to the proximal plateau or face of the tibial component so as to permit substantially unrestrained relative sliding motion between the proximal plateau or face of the tibial component and the distal face of the insert when the two are biased against each other.
Brooks et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,474, issued Dec. 22, 1987, discloses a knee joint prosthesis including a tibial component with a base for being attached to a tibia, and a removable articulating surface insert that is locked to the tibial base when implanted.
Lacey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,767, issued Jul. 26, 1988, discloses a tibial component of a knee prosthesis that includes a base for being attached to a tibia without bone cement, and a replaceable plateau insert for being non-movably attached to the base by the use of undercut flanges extending upward from the plateau of the base which coact with appropriate grooves in the lower face of the insert.
Jones et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,438, issued Dec. 10, 1991, discloses a prosthetic knee with a tibial prosthesis comprising a baseplate and an articulating surface which pivots on the baseplate about an axis within a medial condylar compartment.
Tuke et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,362, issued Jun. 15, 1993, discloses a knee prosthesis including a femoral component having a medial condyle and a lateral condyle, and a tibial component having a proximal plateau or face with a medial condyle receiving recess and a lateral condyle receiving recess. The medial condyle and medial condyle receiving recess are generally spherical. The lateral condyle receiving recess is in the form of an arcuate groove, and the curvature of the lateral condyle in the sagittal plane is formed about a pair of parallel axes such that as the knee is straightened, the lateral tibial condyle recess is cammed anteriorly, thereby allowing the tibia to rotate medially slightly about its axis as the knee is straightened from a flexed position.
Nothing in the known prior art discloses or suggests the present invention. More specifically, nothing in the known prior art discloses or suggests a knee prosthesis that provide substantially complete surface-to-surface contact between the face surface of a medial cavity in the upper surface of a tibial component and the face surface of a medial condylar portion of a femoral component throughout a significant portion of the range of flexion of the knee joint, or a knee prosthesis with a tibial component that restricts the movement of an articular bearing member thereof on the upper surface of a base member thereof to a pivotal movement about one or more axes extending generally perpendicular to the medial portion of the upper surface of the base member.


Implementations relate to feature mask determination for images. In some implementations, a computer-implemented method to determine a feature mask for an image includes estimating one or more prior regions in the image that define a feature in the image. The method determines superpixels based on multiple pixels of the image similar in color. The method constructs a graph, each node of the graph corresponding to a superpixel, and determines a superpixel score for each superpixel based on a number of pixels of the superpixel. The method determines one or more segmented regions in the image based on applying a graph cut technique to the graph based at least on the superpixel scores, and determines the feature mask based on the segmented regions. The feature mask indicates a degree to which pixels of the image depict the feature. The method modifies the image based on the feature mask.

The popularity and convenience of digital cameras as well as the widespread of use of Internet communications have caused user-produced images such as photographs to become ubiquitous. For example, users of Internet platforms and services such as email, forums, photograph repositories, and network services post images for themselves and others to view. Images can be posted by users to a network service for private viewing (e.g., friends or other small groups of users) and/or public viewing by many users. Images can be edited by users in various ways, e.g., using image editing programs to manually edit images.


Aspects of the technology described herein are directed towards systems, methods, and computer storage media for, among other things, converting a video stream being transmitted in a first streaming protocol to a second streaming protocol without transcoding the content communicated in the video stream. For example, the technology described herein may convert an RTP video stream to a non-RTP video stream without transcoding. The technology described herein extracts a plurality of media content from an RTP package and repackages the extracted content into a non-RTP streaming protocol, such as WebRTC or HLS. Moreover, the technology described herein can provide for the synchronization of video and audio data during conversion.

Video streaming is a staple of a modern life. Video is regularly streamed from mobile devices to a plurality of viewers, as embodied by services such as Facebook Live or Periscope. More traditional video monitoring devices such as baby monitors and surveillance cameras are routine sources for video to streaming clients. Finally, video chatting, whether personal or for business, passes streaming video and audio between at least two users. These are just some of the many ways in which video is streamed from at least one source to at least one viewer.
Substantial numbers of cameras rely on the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) to control how video information is processed. In the past, many web browsers finely permitted plugins to display RTSP video. Claiming various concerns, some web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have defaulted to disallow plugins, inherently limiting a browser-user's ability to view RTSP video. Conventional techniques of converting RTSP to plugin-free protocols such as WebRTC and HLS requires transcoding, a time and resource intensive endeavor.


Disclosed is a polyamide resin composition comprising a melt-kneaded product of (A) a polyamide; (B) a polyphenylene ether; (C) a styrene polymer; and (D) a compound having in a molecule thereof a carbon-to-carbon double bond and at least one functional group selected from a carboxylic acid group, an acid anhydride group, an epoxy group, an amino group and a hydroxyl group, wherein the polyamide (A) is present as a continuous phase in which the polyphenylene ether (B) and the styrene polymer (C) are dispersed individually, independently or in mixture thereof to form a dispersion phase having an average particle diameter of 5 .mu.m or less, and wherein the (B)/(C) weight ratio is from 20/80 to 70/30, and the styrene polymer (C) in the melt-kneaded product has a reduced viscosity of 0.70 dl/g or more. The polyamide resin composition has not only excellent mechanical properties, heat resistance, molding processability, light stability, weatherability and good appearance of a shaped resin article produced therefrom, but also high resistance to a dimensional change and to a lowering of stiffness when exposed to water, and high chemical resistance. The polyamide resin composition is useful for producing various shaped resin articles, such as exterior and interior parts of automobiles, electronic parts, electric parts, civil engineering materials and construction materials.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a polyamide resin composition. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a polyamide resin composition comprising a melt-kneaded product of (A) a polyamide; (B) a polyphenylene ether; (C) a styrene polymer; and (D) a compound having in a molecule thereof a carbon-to-carbon double bond and at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of a carboxylic acid group, an acid anhydride group, an epoxy group, an amino group and a hydroxyl group, wherein the polyamide (A) is present as a continuous phase in which the polyphenylene ether (B) and the styrene polymer (C) are dispersed individually, independently or in mixture thereof to form a dispersion phase having an average particle diameter of 5 .mu.m or less, and wherein the polyphenylene ether (B) and the styrene polymer (C) are present in a specific (B)/(C) weight ratio, and the styrene polymer (C) in the melt-kneaded product has a specific reduced viscosity. The polyamide resin composition of the present invention has various excellent properties, such as excellent mechanical properties, heat resistance, molding processability, light stability and weatherability. Further, the polyamide resin composition of the present invention fully enjoys the advantageous features of a polyamide/polyphenylene ether alloy, namely, high resistance to a dimensional change and to a lowering of stiffness when exposed to water, and high chemical resistance. Therefore, the polyamide resin composition of the present invention is useful for producing various shaped resin articles, such as exterior and interior parts of automobiles, electronic parts, electric parts, civil engineering materials and construction materials.
2. Discussion Of Related Art
Polyphenylene ether resins (hereinafter frequently referred to as "PPE resins") have excellent dimensional stability, electrical properties, heat distortion resistance under a high load, water resistance, etc. The PPE resins are widely utilized in the form of a blend with a styrene polymer for commercial uses. Polyphenylene ether resins, however, have serious disadvantages in that they have poor oil resistance and molding flow properties as compared to other types of resins.
On the other hand, polyamide resins have excellent mechanical strength, oil resistance, heat resistance, etc., and have been utilized in large quantities as one of the most typical engineering plastics. However, polyamide resins have disadvantages in that they are poor in some properties, such as dimensional stability, insusceptibility to moisture absorption, heat distortion resistance under a high load, and impact resistance in the dry state, as compared to other types of resins.
Accordingly, blending of both of these resins (the blending of the resins being conducted so as to be accompanied with reactions therebetween) has been attempted in order to attain effective utilization of the respective excellent properties inherent in these resins and to compensate for the respective disadvantages of these resins. Along with such attempts, various compositions have been proposed and put into practical use.
For example, a resin composition has been proposed which employs a polyamide; a polyphenylene ether; optionally an elastomer; and a copolymer of styrene and an .alpha., .beta.-unsaturated carboxylic acid or an anhydride thereof as a compatibility agent for the polyamide and polyphenylene ether, wherein the polyamide is present as a continuous phase and the polyphenylene ether is present as a dispersion phase (see Examined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 59-33614 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,376). This resin composition is advantageous in that it has the excellent oil resistance inherent in a polyamide and the heat resistance inherent in a polyphenylene ether. However, this resin composition has drawbacks in that it is poor in molding flow properties and light stability thereof and in appearance of a glass fiber-reinforced shaped resin article produced therefrom.
Another resin composition has been proposed which employs, as a compatibility agent for a polyamide and polyphenylene ether, a graft polymer obtained by reacting a polyamide, a polyphenylene ether, and an .alpha., .beta.-unsaturated carboxylic acid or an anhydride thereof to thereby link the polyamide and the polyphenylene ether to each other. This resin composition contains a polyamide; a polyphenylene ether; this compatibility agent; and optionally a rubbery polymer, wherein the polyamide is present as a continuous phase and the polyphenylene ether is present as a dispersion phase (see Examined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 4-28748, U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,397, U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,405, EP 226910, U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,664, EP 269748, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,399). This resin composition is improved with respect to various properties, such as heat resistance and impact resistance. In the above-mentioned publications, it is described that a polystyrene may be incorporated into this resin composition. However, when a polystyrene is incorporated into this resin composition, the impact resistance of the resin composition is drastically lowered, to thereby make it impossible to practically use the resin composition.
As described above, there is no conventional polyamide resin composition which has a good balance of various desired properties, such as excellent mechanical properties, heat resistance, molding flow properties, light stability, good appearance of a shaped article, etc. Therefore, it has been strongly desired to develop a practically useful polyamide resin composition which is free from the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and which has all of the various desired properties simultaneously.


The invention provides a method of registering a cellular phone in a mobile vehicle while in a quiescent mode. Whether timer-based registration is enabled is determined. Whether one of a counter or an interval timer has reached a predetermined threshold is determined based on the timer-based registration determination. The cellular phone is registered during the next wake state when the predetermined threshold has been reached.

The scope of wireless communications to mobile vehicles is steadily growing to include services that may be requested while the vehicle is off or in a quiescent mode. These services include maintenance and diagnostic functions, system updates, vehicle position determination, unlocking of the doors, or vehicle alarm silencing.
While a number of automobiles have been equipped with analog network access devices, the newest vehicles are more likely to be equipped with CDMA-enabled wireless communication and network-access devices. Code division multiple access, or CDMA, is a digital wireless technology that uses a spread-spectrum technique to scatter a radio signal across a wide range of frequencies and provides a greater total call capacity, improved voice quality and fewer dropped calls in wireless carrier systems.
Normally when the ignition of a network-enabled vehicle has been turned off, it is placed into a discontinuous-receive (DRx) mode, a feature used in cellular-phone radio-based applications to put network access devices and other unnecessary electrical components into a quiescent or sleep mode for as much time as possible. This powered-down state minimizes current drain on the battery. To perform a requested function while the ignition of the vehicle is off, the embedded communication device may be awakened after a predetermined time, the desired function performed, and placed back into the sleep mode. The DRx process may limit the amount of time a network access device or telematics unit can be awake during a wake-up period, and may require quiescent modes of prescribed duration during which the in-vehicle cellular may be unable to register. The time period between wake-up operations may vary from ten minutes to several days or more when a vehicle has not been moved or driven.
Even with newer CDMA-enabled hardware, issues may still arise due to the process in which a phone registers each time a network access device powers up and powers down. If CDMA-enabled network access devices in a large number of vehicles continue to follow registration protocols of wireless network carriers with the prescribed frequency, the CDMA system may be unavailable to service calls. A CDMA cellular phone may normally register one to three times per hour, but when it is incorporated into an in-vehicle wireless communication device with a discontinuous-receive mode, the registration interval may increase, for example, to every ten minutes. Where there is a high concentration of parked vehicles such as an airport, stadium or mall parking lot, CDMA-enabled network access devices may be potentially rendered inoperable by a high volume of the devices cycling through the periodic registration procedures implemented in current wireless carrier systems.
A method is needed to mitigate the risk of excessive registration activity on the network of a wireless carrier while still keeping the CDMA-enabled network access device unit registered in the network system. A desirable method would help maintain the availability of CDMA channels for a vehicle to receive a call page and to perform a service request, while maintaining low power consumption at the vehicle. It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a method for registering an in-vehicle communications device in a quiescent vehicle, and to overcome the deficiencies and obstacles described above.

Method and system for registering an in-vehicle cellular phone


A water transfer device can include first and second flow paths separated by a water transfer membrane and a hydrophilic diffusion medium. The hydrophilic diffusion medium is disposed between the water transfer membrane and the first flow path. Water content of a first fluid stream flowing through the first flow path is transferred through the diffusion medium and water transfer membrane and into a second fluid stream flowing through the second flow path. The hydrophilic diffusion medium is operable to absorb liquid water in the first fluid stream and hold the absorbed liquid water in contact with the water transfer membrane. The hydrophilic diffusion medium is also operable to diffuse water vapor in the first fluid stream and transport the water vapor to the water transfer membrane. The water transfer membrane transfers the water in contact therewith to the second fluid stream flowing through second flow path.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present teachings and may not constitute prior art.
The ability to transfer water between fluid streams that are maintained separate from one another can be useful in a variety of applications. By way of example, one such application is in a fuel cell system wherein one or more of the reactant streams are humidified by another fluid stream.
Fuel cells can be operated in a manner that maintains a membrane, such as a proton exchange membrane (PEM), in a humidified state. The humidity level of the membrane can affect the performance of the fuel cells. The membrane can be damaged if operated in a dry condition which can result in immediate failure or reduction of the useful life of the fuel cells. To humidify the membrane, the fuel cells can be operated in a flooded condition during which the humidity level within the fuel cells is greater than 100% and liquid water is formed during the production of electricity.
To further humidify the membrane, the cathode and/or anode reactant gases being supplied to the fuel cells can be humidified in a water transfer device. The water transfer device can receive a cathode effluent, expelled from the fuel cells, which can contain water in a gaseous and/or liquid state. A portion of the water content of the cathode effluent can be transferred to the cathode or anode reactant gas also flowing through the water transfer device. In this manner, the humidity of the cathode or anode reactant gas can be increased before being supplied to the fuel cell.
The water transfer, or water flux, can be facilitated by a water transfer membrane assembly within the water transfer device. Traditional water transfer membrane assemblies facilitate water flux from only the gaseous portion of the water content while the liquid water portion is expelled from the water transfer device along with the associated fluid stream. Expelling liquid water can be a lost resource. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a water transfer device capable of utilizing liquid water to increase water flux. It would be further advantageous to increase the efficiency of the water transfer device. Increased efficiency can advantageously allow the use of a smaller water transfer device to humidify a given fluid stream. Increased efficiency can also advantageously reduce the amount of water lost (unrecovered) from the system within which the water transfer device is utilized.

Water transfer device employing a water buffer to increase water flux


A position estimation system including a first arrangement for providing an image with a known target in a known reference frame. A second arrangement correlates the image with a stored image. The correlation is used to compute an error with respect to a position estimate. In a specific embodiment, the error is referenced with respect to first (x), second (y) and third (z) directions. A target location error is computed with respect to a stored image provided by a target image catalog. The target image catalog includes target geo-locations and digital terrain elevation data. In an illustrative application, the image data is provided by synthetic aperture radar and forward-looking infrared systems. An observation model and a measure noise matrix are Kalman filtered to ascertain a position error in navigation data generated by an integrated inertial navigation and Global Positioning system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inertial navigation and global position. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for improving the GPS counter-jamming performance of inertial navigation systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inertial navigation systems typically use gyroscopes and accelerometers to provide precision vehicular navigation. Unfortunately, inertial navigation accuracy degrades because of instrument calibration errors and other errors. These navigation errors typically grow as a function of time. Independent observations of the vehicle navigation information are needed to bind these navigation errors. Therefore, sensors, other than INS, are needed in order to obtain independent navigation information. Hence, a conventional approach for correcting these errors involves the integration of a Global Position System (GPS) receiver with the inertial navigation system. However, the GPS is vulnerable to jamming which can impede the ability of the GPS system to correct the inertial navigation errors.
Typically, to counter the effects of GPS jamming, designers have endeavored to: 1) improve the accuracy of the inertial navigation system and 2) make the GPS receiver resistant to jamming. However, these approaches are expensive and limited in efficacy.
Hence, a need remains in the art for an effective yet inexpensive system or method for improving the navigation accuracy of integrated inertial navigation and Global Positioning Systems.

System and method for geo-registration with global positioning and inertial navigation