The integrated facemask firefighting hood packing system allows a hood to be packed on a facemask. This system reduces the possibility of a hood being in the way of a user when it is not in use.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of safety equipment. Military, Police, Firefighters, Emergency Medical Service, use protective hoods combined with facemasks that protect the head and facilitate breathing in a contaminated environment. The present invention relates to the packing of the hood on the facemask when the protective head gear is not in use.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
To protect the head and neck and facilitate breathing emergency workers, police and military personnel sometimes wear and integrated facemask hood. The hood is mechanically attached to the facemask prior to donning the facemask. Attaching the hood to the facemask prior to donning ensures the interface between the hood and facemask is complete and this configuration also increases the speed at which this safety equipment can be donned. The facemask can be part of a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) which supplies breathing air from a storage container, or the facemask can include a respirator which filters out harmful particulates from the environment to provide safe breathing air. When the integrated facemask and hood are not in use, the hood hangs from the facemask.
This arrangement has a very significant disadvantage. The nature of emergency work most times requires personnel to maneuver into position prior to using the integrated facemask hood. This maneuvering can including crawling through confined spaces, climbing fences, ect. The hood hanging from the facemask causes a snag hazard. The hood can be ripped, disconnected from the facemask, entangled in rescue equipment the worker may be utilizing, easily contaminated and be generally "in the way", thus impeding the progress of the emergency worker and preventing one from successfully completing the objective. Accordingly, a need exists for an integrated facemask hood to be packed in such a way as to reduce the possibility of the hood getting snagged.

Integrated facemask firefighting hood packing system


An integrated circuit includes a cell layer, a first metal layer, a first conductive via, and a second conductive via. The cell layer includes first and second cells, in which the first cell is separated from the second cell by a non-zero distance. The first metal layer includes a first conductive feature and a second conductive feature, the first conductive feature overlaps the first cell and does not overlap the second cell, and the second conductive feature overlaps the second cell and does not overlap the first cell, in which the first conductive feature is aligned with the second conductive feature along lengthwise directions of the first and second conductive features. The first conductive via interconnects the cell layer and the first conductive feature of the first metal layer. The second conductive via interconnects the cell layer and the second conductive feature of the first metal layer.

Computer-aided cell-based design has been developed for designing integrated circuits, e.g., large scale integrated circuits such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). A cell, such as a standard cell, is configured to perform a logic circuit function that has been pre-designed and pre-verified as a building block of an integrated circuit. In a standard cell design, each distinct cell in a library may have geometries of active, gate, and metal levels. Examples of standard cells include an inverter, a NAND gate, a NOR gate, a flip flop, and other logic gate circuits.
Integrated circuit design includes mainly of two steps: placement and routing. During the placement step, the positions and orientations of cells are determined. During the routing step, interconnects or conductive features are added to connect ports of the cells.

Integrated circuit and method of generating integrated circuit layout

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


The invention is a radiation curable coating containing an antimicrobial agent, where upon irradiation with UV light, the radiation curable coating rapidly cures to a polymeric coating. The polymeric coating has durable antimicrobial properties, being especially effective at preventing the growth of Staphylococcus aureaus and Kleibsella pneumoniae on wood flooring and furniture. The major components in the radiation curable coating are a urethane acrylic oligomer, a radiation cure package, an antimicrobial agent, a cross-linking agent, and optionally, an additive package. The radiation curable urethane oligomer is a relatively short chain backbone urethane polymer that is end capped with a radiation curable moiety, where the moiety is an acrylic. The cross-linking agent is one or more monomers used to lower the viscosity and promote cross-linking, and include acrylate esters of mono-, di-, tri-, or tetrafunctional alcohols. The radiation cure package contains at least one photoinitiator.

Polyurethanes are widely used to provide a durable coating on numerous consumer products requiring abrasion resistance, flexibility, and chemical resistance. Polyurethane coating systems are typically fast curing, have good adhesion to a wide variety of substrates, good leveling properties and are excellent film formers. Polyurethane-type coatings may be applied as clear coats with generally transparent or translucent characteristics, thereby making polyurethane coatings ideal for many different applications and, particularly, to enhance and protect the appearance of products, for instance wood paneling and as furniture. Also, polyurethane coatings may be colored to produce coatings that when properly formulated, have good color fastness, while still providing the qualities of substantial abrasion resistance and chemical resistance. Because of their excellent adhesion, polyurethane coatings are often applied directly to the surface of the product, and do not require a primer coat. Many urethane coatings are applied as reactive oligomers, wherein the oligomers are prepolymers that have unreacted isocyanate groups; Typically, prepolymers are reduced or diluted in an aprotic solvent such as an aromatic solvent (i.e. toluene), a ketone (i.e. methyl ethyl ketone), an ester (i.e. butyl acetate), an ether (i.e. tetrahydrofuran), a tertiary amine (i.e. 1-methyl pyrrolidone), or a mixture thereof. Potentially the isocyanate group can react with the substrate, react with ambient moisture, or with an in situ reactant, forming a cross-linked polymer with excellent abrasion resistance. Most urethane coatings applied to wood or simulated wood surfaces cure through reaction with the ambient moisture. The major advantage of a moisture curing system is that the coating has a long pot life. A potential disadvantage is that the isocyanate group can react with additives in the coating having labile protons (i.e. alcohols, carboxylic acids and most amines). Another disadvantage to moisture-cured urethanes is that the cure time of the coating can vary significantly depending on the ambient conditions, and this uncertainty makes it difficult to execute a production schedule. Variable cure times can also affect how much of the coating remains on the surfaces of the substrate, and can necessitate in an additional coating. The major disadvantage to urethane oligomers is that they cure through an isocyanate functional group, and airborne isocyanates are extremely toxic. Typical exposure limits (TLV) are in the parts per billion range, and heated air ovens generally create air borne isocyanates which must be environmentally treated.
A preferable coating is one that has a long pot life, yet could be cured to a highly cross-linked state virtually instantaneously. It would be further preferable if the coating could be cured with very little heat. A further preference is that the coating can be applied at very high solids, with a target of 100% solids, so as to eliminate the removal and disposal of solvent. A most important consideration is that the coatings not cure through an isocyanate group, but via another moiety that is lower in toxicity.
Wood surfaces, such as hardwood flooring, furniture used in office, residential, health care and hospitality environments, and cabinetry are ideally suited for coating with polyurethanes in order to protect the surfaces from abrasion and to provide chemical resistance. Furthermore, synthetic or natural surfaces and ceramics can be enhanced by such a coating.
Furniture and other wood products are under constant exposure to bacteria, fungi and microbes that exist in their respective environments. For example, polyurethane coated flooring, cabinetry, and furniture are particularly susceptible to bacteriological and other microbial development. People and moveable objects, both of which are carriers of bacteria and microbes, account for the majority of microbes on the flooring of heavily trafficked areas. The traffic results in a continual deposit of bacteria and microbes on the floorings, and consequently there develops a "bioburden" which is a continuous source for cross-contamination. Additionally, polyurethane coated cabinetry and surfaces found in bathrooms and kitchens, whether incorporated in domestic settings or commercial settings, produce a bioburden as a consequence of being in contact with contaminated parts of the body. Residual microbes typically remain and continue to populate the coated flooring, cabinetry, furniture, and other surfaces.
The net effect is that there are created a variety of environments which are a constant source of bacterial, fungal or other microbial contamination. Not only are polyurethane coated products contaminated by the bacteria, fungi and microbes in these environments, but these environments also aid in the proliferation of the bacteria, fungi and microbes. The presence of humidity or moisture in these environments is generally conducive to the growth of bacteria, fungi and microbes. Bacteria, fungi and microbes can grow and multiply on the surfaces of the coated products, producing significant levels of contamination, in the form of a bioburden. If left unchecked, the bioburden builds over time.
To counter the presence and growth of microbes on the surface of polyurethane coated products, a disinfectant or sanitizing agent is typically applied to the surface, such as by washing, spraying or wiping. Unfortunately, disinfectants and sanitizing agents are not always properly applied and thus not always completely effective. In any case, topically applied disinfectants and sanitizing agents provide only temporary removal of the microbes on the surface because, as previously mentioned, the associated environment is a source for further contamination. Reapplication of the disinfectant and sanitizing agent is costly, time consuming, non-durable, and therefore only temporarily controls the presence and growth of microbes.
Furthermore, non-thorough cleaning of the polyurethane coated products leaves residual contamination as previously mentioned. Without attention to detail when cleaning the coated products, residual contamination is more likely to exist. Additionally, by applying the disinfectant or other biocide to the surface of the coated product, a residual of the disinfectant or biocide enters the environment and may negatively impact the environment.
What is needed is an antimicrobial agent that can be incorporated, or embedded, into a polymeric coating prior to polymerization, where that antimicrobial agent survives polymerization. In particular, what is needed is an antimicrobial agent incorporated into a polymeric coating that is applied to surfaces, and that is free from toxic effects and is durable over the lifespan of the polymer coating. Further needed is a polymeric coating having at least one antimicrobial agent incorporated in the polymeric coating where the antimicrobial agent will migrate to the surface of the polymeric coating as needed to provide appropriate protection. Further needed is a polymeric coating having antimicrobial properties that may be applied by conventional coating techniques. Further needed is a polymeric coating having antimicrobial compounds or chemicals incorporated in the polymeric coating, wherein the addition of the antimicrobial compounds or chemicals has no deleterious effect on the properties of the coating, so that the mechanical and physical properties remain unaffected.
And further still, it is desired that the coating be applied at substantially 100% solids, and that the coating is a urethane coating or a similar coating having durable antimicrobial properties with good efficacy.
There have been some reported successes in medicinal chemistry of the preparation of antimicrobial film coatings using urethane acrylates in combination with antimicrobial agents. Greff et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,205 discloses a polyvinylpyrrolidone iodine complex (e.g. PVP-I2), which is admixed with a urethane acrylate prepolymer and a photoinitiator system that initiates polymerization in visible light, forming an antimicrobially effective film. The antimicrobially effective film is biocompatible with mammalian skin.
There is some prior art concerned with flooring and other wood or simulated wood surfaces utilizing radiation curable urethane acrylates, such as Ehrhart et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,026, but these coatings are substantially concerned with gloss, wear and stain resistance. Erhart'026 discloses several urethane acrylate oligomers that are suitable for wood coating.
A major manufacturer of urethane acrylic oligomers is Sartomer Technologies Co, Inc., of Exton Pa., and inventors Ceska et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,672, discloses radiation curable coating compositions, where the compositions can be formulated to cure by microwave, UV or electron beam radiation. These forms of radiation are also known to have sterilization properties, and Ceska'672 notes that coatings cured using this technology would be useful for flooring and can (as in canned goods) coatings. Ceska'672 does not teach the utility of adding antimicrobial agents.
Berg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,383, discloses a process for applying a coating to a floor surface and curing that coating with UV radiation. The source of UV radiation is mounted on the front of a self-powered vehicle.


A method and an apparatus for decoding at least one high dynamic range picture from a coded bitstream and a method and corresponding apparatus for coding the bitstream are disclosed. A standard dynamic range picture is decoded from the coded bitstream, a set of pivot points is decoded from the coded bitstream. The set of pivot points is representative of an adjustment function fadj. A predefined color correction function bp_default is selected. An adjusted color correction function badj is determined by 1/badj [γ]=fadj [γ]×(1/bp_default[γ]), where γ is a luminance value. The high dynamic range picture is reconstructed from the decoded standard dynamic range picture and the adjusted color correction function badj.

In the following, a color picture contains several arrays of samples (pixel values) in a specific picture/video format which specifies all information relative to the pixel values of a picture (or a video) and all information which may be used by a display and/or any other device to visualize and/or decode a picture (or video) for example. A color picture comprises at least one component, in the shape of a first array of samples, usually a luma (or luminance) component, and at least one another component, in the shape of at least one other array of samples. Or, equivalently, the same information may also be represented by a set of arrays of color samples (color components), such as the traditional tri-chromatic RGB representation.
A pixel value is represented by a vector of c values, where c is the number of components. Each value of a vector is represented with a number of bits which defines a maximal dynamic range of the pixel values.
Standard-Dynamic-Range pictures (SDR pictures) are color pictures whose luminance values are represented with a limited dynamic usually measured in power of two or f-stops. SDR pictures have a dynamic around 10 fstops, i.e. a ratio 1000 between the brightest pixels and the darkest pixels in the linear domain, and are coded with a limited number of bits (most often 8 or 10 in HDTV (High Definition Television systems) and UHDTV (Ultra-High Definition Television systems) in a non-linear domain, for instance by using the ITU-R BT.709 OETF (Optico-Electrical-Transfer-Function) (Rec. ITU-R BT.709-5, April 2002) or ITU-R BT.2020 OETF (Rec. ITU-R BT.2020-1, June 2014) to reduce the dynamic. This limited non-linear representation does not allow correct rendering of small signal variations, in particular in dark and bright luminance ranges. In High-Dynamic-Range pictures (HDR pictures), the signal dynamic is much higher (up to 20 f-stops, a ratio one million between the brightest pixels and the darkest pixels) and a new non-linear representation is needed in order to maintain a high accuracy of the signal over its entire range. In HDR pictures, raw data are usually represented in floating-point format (either 32-bit or 16-bit for each component, namely float or half-float), the most popular format being openEXR half-float format (16-bit per RGB component, i.e. 48 bits per pixel) or in integers with a long representation, typically at least 16 bits.
A color gamut is a certain complete set of colors. The most common usage refers to a set of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circumstance, such as within a given color space or by a certain output device.
A color gamut is sometimes defined by RGB primaries provided in the CIE1931 color space chromaticity diagram and a white point, as illustrated in FIG. 8.
It is common to define primaries in the so-called CIE1931 color space chromaticity diagram. This is a two dimensional diagram (x,y) defining the colors independently on the luminance component. Any color XYZ is then projected in this diagram thanks to the transform:
         {                                        x            =                          X                              X                +                Y                +                Z                                                                                y            =                          Y                              X                +                Y                +                Z
The z=1−x−y component is also defined but carries no extra information.
A gamut is defined in this diagram by a triangle whose vertices are the set of (x,y) coordinates of the three primaries RGB. The white point W is another given (x,y) point belonging to the triangle, usually close to the triangle center. For example, W can be defined as the center of the triangle.
A color volume is defined by a color space and a dynamic range of the values represented in said color space.
For example, a color gamut is defined by a RGB ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020 color space for UHDTV. An older standard, ITU-R Recommendation BT.709, defines a smaller color gamut for HDTV. In SDR, the dynamic range is defined officially up to 100 nits (candela per square meter) for the color volume in which data are coded, although some display technologies may show brighter pixels.
High Dynamic Range pictures (HDR pictures) are color pictures whose luminance values are represented with a HDR dynamic that is higher than the dynamic of a SDR picture.
As explained extensively in "A Review of RGB Color Spaces" by Danny Pascale, a change of gamut, i.e. a transform that maps the three primaries and the white point from a gamut to another, can be performed by using a 3×3 matrix in linear RGB color space. Also, a change of space from XYZ to RGB is performed by a 3×3 matrix. As a consequence, whatever RGB or XYZ are the color spaces, a change of gamut can be performed by a 3×3 matrix. For example, a gamut change from BT.2020 linear RGB to BT.709 XYZ can be performed by a 3×3 matrix.
The HDR dynamic is not yet defined by a standard but one may expect a dynamic range of up to a few thousands nits. For instance, a HDR color volume is defined by a RGB BT.2020 color space and the values represented in said RGB color space belong to a dynamic range from 0 to 4000 nits. Another example of HDR color volume is defined by a RGB BT.2020 color space and the values represented in said RGB color space belong to a dynamic range from 0 to 1000 nits.
Color-grading a picture (or a video) is a process of altering/enhancing the colors of the picture (or the video). Usually, color-grading a picture involves a change of the color volume (color space and/or dynamic range) or a change of the color gamut relative to this picture. Thus, two different color-graded versions of a same picture are versions of this picture whose values are represented in different color volumes (or color gamuts) or versions of the picture whose at least one of their colors has been altered/enhanced according to different color grades. This may involve user interactions.
For example, in cinematographic production, a picture and a video are captured using tri-chromatic cameras into RGB color values composed of 3 components (Red, Green and Blue). The RGB color values depend on the tri-chromatic characteristics (color primaries) of the sensor. A first color-graded version of the captured picture is then obtained in order to get theatrical renders (using a specific theatrical grade). Typically, the values of the first color-graded version of the captured picture are represented according to a standardized YUV format such as BT.2020 which defines parameter values for UHDTV.
The YUV format is typically performed by applying a non-linear function, so called Optical Electronic Transfer Function (OETF) on the linear RGB components to obtain non-linear components R′G′B′, and then applying a color transform (usually a 3×3 matrix) on the obtained non-linear R′G′B′ components to obtain the three components YUV. The first component Y is a luminance component and the two components U,V are chrominance components.
Then, a Colorist, usually in conjunction with a Director of Photography, performs a control on the color values of the first color-graded version of the captured picture by fine-tuning/tweaking some color values in order to instill an artistic intent.
The known MPEG video coders, such as HEVC standard for example, are not compatible with HDR (High Dynamic Range) video. Furthermore, a lot of displays/terminals are not compatible with the HDR video.
In order to distribute compressed HDR video to a wide variety of displays/terminals and to make it possible to use known video coding tools, such MPEG video coding standards, an HDR video is distributed as an SDR video representative of the HDR with a more limited dynamic range and a set of parameters allowing reconstruct an HDR video from the SDR video. In such a system, the SDR video is compressed using known tools, such as the standard HEVC Main 10 profile.
On the encoding side, the HDR video is first decomposed into an SDR video, such a decomposition delivering a set of parameters suitable to reconstruct at the decoder or at display level an HDR video from the decoded SDR video. Such a set of parameters may be coded with the compressed SDR video, typically in optional syntax messages, such as SEI (Supplemental Enhancement Information) messages for the HEVC standard.
FIG. 3 depicts the HDR to SDR decomposition of an HDR picture. The HDR-to-SDR decomposition process aims at converting an input linear-light 4:4:4 HDR picture, to an SDR compatible version (also in 4:4:4 format). Such a process uses side information such as the mastering display peak luminance, colour primaries, and the colour gamut of the container of the HDR and SDR pictures. Such side information are determined from the characteristics of the picture or of the video. The HDR-to-SDR decomposition process generates an SDR backward compatible version from the input HDR signal, using an invertible process that guarantees a high quality reconstructed HDR signal.
In a step E30, from the input HDR picture and its characteristics (side information), mapping variables are derived. Such a step of mapping parameters derivation delivers a luminance mapping function LUTTM (Look-Up-Table), which allows to map a linear-light luminance value of the HDR picture into an SDR-like luma value.
In a step E31, the luminance signal is then mapped to an SDR luma signal using the luminance mapping variables. That is for each pixel of the input HDR picture, the luminance L is derived from the HDR linar light R, G, B values of the pixel and from the luminance mapping function as:
      L    =                  A        1                          [                                            R                                                          G                                                          B                                      ]              ,with A=[A1 A2 A3]T being the conventional 3×3 R′G′B′-to-Y′CbCr conversion matrix (e.g. BT.2020 or BT.709 depending on the colour space), A1, A2, A3 being 1×3 matrices.
The linear-light luminance L is mapped to an SDR-like luma Ypre0, using the luminance mapping function: Ypre0=LUTTM(L).
In a step E32, a mapping of the colour to derive the chroma components of the SDR signal is applied. The chroma components Upre0, Vpre0 are built as follows:
A pseudo-gammatization using square-root (close to BT.709 OETF) is applied to the RGB values of the pixel
      [                                        R            S                                                            G            S                                                            B            S                                ]    =      [                                        R                                                            G                                                            B                                ]
Then the Upre0 and Vpre0 values are derived as follows
      [                                        U                                          pre                                                                                0                                                                                V                          pre                                                                                0                                            ]    =                    [                                                            A                2                                                                                A                3                                                    ]                          [                                                            R                S                                                                                G                S                                                                                B                S                                                    ]              ×    1024
This step results in a gamut shifting, that is changes in colour hue and saturation compared to the input HDR signal. Such gamut shifting is corrected by a step E34 of colour gamut correction. In step E34, the chroma component values are corrected as follows:
            [                                                  U                              pre                                                                                1                                                                                V                              pre                                                                                1                                                        ]        =                            1                                    b              0                                                  (                              Y                                  pre                                                                                0                                            )                                      ×                  [                                                                      U                                      pre                                                                                0                                                                                V                                      pre                                                                                0                                                                                ]                    =                        1024                                    b              0                                                  (                              Y                                  pre                                                                                0                                            )                                      ×                              [                                                                                A                    2                                                                                A                    3                                                                        ]                                          [                                                                                R                                                                                G                                                                                B                                                                        ]                                ,where A2, A3 are made of the second and third lines of coefficients of the conversion matrix from R′G′B′-to-Y′CbCr, and b0 is a pre-processing colour correction LUT (for Look Up Table).
The luma component is corrected as follows:Ypre1=Ypre0−ν×max(0,a×Upre1+b×Vpre1),                 where a and b are pre-defined parameters and v is a control parameter enabling to control the saturation. The higher the value Y is, the less the picture is satured.
The HDR picture to SDR picture decomposition results in an output SDR picture with pixels arrays Ypre1Upre1Vpre1.
The HDR reconstruction process is the inverse of the HDR-to-SDR decomposition process. FIG. 4 illustrates such an HDR reconstruction process. A decoded SDR picture comprises 3 arrays of pixels SDRy, SDRcb, SDRcr corresponding respectively to the luma and chroma components of the picture. The HDR reconstruction process the following steps for each pixel of the SDR picture.
In a step E40, the values Upost1 and Vpost1 are derived as follows for each pixel (x,y) of the SDR picture:
         {                                                      U                              post                                                                                1                                      =                                                                                SDR                    cb                                                                          [                    x                    ]                                                                                [                  y                  ]                                            -              midSampleVal                                                                                V                              post                                                                                1                                      =                                                                                SDR                    cr                                                                          [                    x                    ]                                                                                [                  y                  ]                                            -              midSampleVal                                          where midSampleVal is a predefined shifting constant.
In a step E41, the value Ypost1 for the pixel (x,y) of the SDR picture is derived as follows:Ypost1=SDRy[x][y]+ν×max(0,a×Upost1+b×Vpost1),where a and b are the same pre-defined parameters and v is a control parameter enabling to control the saturation, as in the decomposition process. Therefore, such parameters should be known to the reconstruction module. They may be part of HDR parameters coded with the compressed SDR picture or are predefined at the decoder.
Such a step may possibly be followed by a clipping to avoid being out of the legacy signal range.
In a step E42, colour correction is performed. In step E42, Upost1 and Vpost1 are modified as follows:
         {                                                      U                              post                                                                                1                                      =                                                            b                  p                                                                  [                                      Y                                          post                                                                                1                                                        ]                                            ×                              U                                  post                                                                                1                                                                                V                              post                                                                                1                                      =                                                            b                  p                                                                  [                                      Y                                          post                                                                                1                                                        ]                                            ×                              V                                  post                                                                                1                                                                        where bp is a post-processing colour correction LUT, that depends directly on the pre-processing colour correction LUTb0.
The post-processing colour correction LUT bp can be determined by:
                                          b            p                                          (            Y            )                          =                                            b              O                                                  (              Y              )                                            K            ×                                          L                                                  (                  Y                  )                                                                                (                  eq          .                                                    1                )                            where K is a constant value, L is the linear-light luminance derived from L=invLUTTM[Y], with invLUTTM being the inverse function of the LUTTM, and Y the luma value of the SDR signal.
In step E43, RGB (HDRR, HDRG, HDRB) values of pixels are reconstructed. In step E43, a value T is derived as:T=k0×Upost1×Vpost1+k1×Upost1×Upost1+k2×Vpost1×Vpost1 where k0, k1, k2 are predefined values depending on the SDR colour gamut. The value S0 is then initialized to 0, and the following applies:                If (T≤1), S0 is set to Sqrt(1−T)        Else, Upost1 and Vpost1 are modified as follows:
         {                                                      U                              post                                                                                1                                      =                                          U                                  post                                                                                1                                                            T                                                                                V                              post                                                                                1                                      =                                          V                                  post                                                                                1                                                            T
The values R1, G1, B1 are derived as follows.
      [                                        R                                                                          1                                                            G                                                                          1                                                            B                                                                          1                                ]    =            M                                    Y            ′                              CbCr                -        to        -                  R                                                              ′G′B′                      ×          [                                                  S                                                                                0                                                                          U                              post                                                                                1                                                                                V                              post                                                                                1                                                        ]                      where MY′CbCr-to-R′G′B′ is the conventional conversion matrix from Y′CbCr to R′G′B′.
In a step E44, the RGB values from the HDR picture are then reconstructed from the SDR RGB values. In step E44, the values R2, G2, B2 are derived from R1, G1, B1 as follows:
         {                                                      R                                                                                2                        =                                          invLUT                                                  [                                      Y                                          post                                                                                1                                                        ]                                            ×              R                                                                                1                                                                                G                                                                                2                        =                                          invLUT                                                  [                                      Y                                          post                                                                                1                                                        ]                                            ×              G                                                                                1                                                                        B2            =                                          invLUT                                                  [                                      Y                                          post                                                                                1                                                        ]                                            ×              B                                                                                1
where invLUT corresponds to the square-root of the inverse look-up-table LUTTM derived from the luma mapping parameters transmitted to the reconstruction module.
And the output samples HDRR, HDRG, HDRB are derived from R2, G2, B2 as follows:
         {                                                      HDR              R                        =                          R                                                                                2                2                                                                                HDR              G                        =                          G                                                                                2                2                                                                                HDR              B                        =                          B                                                                                2                2
A clipping may be applied to limit the range of the output HDR signal.
It can be seen that such decomposition and reconstruction processes use pre-processing and post-processing colour correction functions b0 and bp which are linked by equation (eq. 1).
In order to distribute an SDR video signal representative of a high fidelity HDR video signal, the computation of the pre-processing colour correction b0 is performed at the encoding side by a minimization of a reconstruction error between the RGB SDR signal and the RGB HDR signal. Such a minimization operation is controlled by a saturation parameter (saturation skew) computed for each picture of the video and enables to control the color saturation of the derived SDR signal. Therefore, the pre-processing colour correction function b0, and thus the post-processing colour correction function bp, are dependent from the original HDR pictures of the HDR video. The same derivation process of the post-processing colour correction function bp can not be applied at the decoder side.
Instead, at the decoder side, a set of pre-defined default LUTs bP_default[k], k=1 to N, is used. For instance, one LUT is defined for each triple (container colour gamut, content colour gamut, peak luminance). At the pre-processing side, an adjustment function fadj is built to map as much as possible the LUT bP_default[k] to the real LUT bp, that is such thatbP_cod[Y]=fadj[Y]×bP_default[k][Y]  (eq. 2)is as close as possible to bp[Y] for all Y values, where bp is derived from the pre-processing colour correction function b0 using equation eq. 1.
To limit the coding cost, the function fadj is modeled using pivot points of a piece-wise linear model (PWL). Only these PWL pivot points are coded. At the post-processing step, these points can then be decoded, the function fadj is built and the bP_cod LUT is reconstructed from the default LUT bP_default, which is identified thanks to the coded content characteristics parameters, and fadj by applying equation eq. 2.
The LUT bp has typically a shape close to the function A/Y, A being a constant, and Y being the luminance values, as shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 9 shows an example of LUT bp with a normalized range of Y values. Such a shape leads to a large slope for small Y values. Therefore a small error in fadj for small values of Y may lead to large errors in bp, thus degrading the quality and fidelity reconstruction of the decoded HDR signal. There is thus a need for improving quality of HDR picture reconstructed from a compressed standard dynamic range picture.

Method and apparatus for encoding/decoding a high dynamic range picture into a coded bitstream


A brushless motor comprises a casing including an axle seat with an axle hole, the axle hole having a flange provided therein. An axle tube is engaged on the axle seat and includes a bearing mounted therein for rotatably holding a shaft of a rotor. The shaft includes a distal end that extends beyond an end face of the bearing, the distal end including a neck to thereby define an annular groove. An engaging member mounted in the axle hole of the axle seat and retained in place by the bearing or the axle tube. The engaging member includes a hole having an inner diameter smaller than a diameter of the shaft of the rotor. An inner peripheral wall defining the hole of the engaging member includes a plurality of notches to thereby allow forcible passage of a distal end of the shaft through the hole of the engaging member. The peripheral wall of the hole of the engaging member is located in the annular groove of the shaft after the distal end of the shaft is passed through the hole of the engaging member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing structure for a rotor, and, more particularly, to a rotor of a brushless motor that can be detached and assembled easily.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional brushless motor comprising a casing 90 with an axle seat 91 for mounting an axle tube 92. Mounted around an outer periphery of the axle tube 92 are a circuit board 93 and a stator bobbin 94. The axle tube 92 includes a bearing mounted to an inner periphery thereof for rotatably holding a shaft 96 of a rotor 95. The shaft 96 includes an annular groove 97 for engaging with a C-clip 98.
In assembly, the axle tube 92 is extended through the circuit board 93 and the stator bobbin 94 and then engaged with the axle seat 91 of the casing 90, and the shaft 96 of the rotor 95 is extended through the bearing in the axle tube 92 and then retained in place by means of engaging the C-clip 98 into the annular groove 97 of the shaft 96. Thus, the rotor 95, circuit board 93, and stator bobbin 94 together constitute a brushless motor.
However, as illustrated in FIG. 2, mounting of the C-clip 98 into the annular groove 98 of the distal portion of the shaft 96, so that a side of the C-clip 98 presses against an end face of the bearing, is difficult because the distal portion of the shaft protrudes only slightly beyond the bearing in the axle tube 92. It was found that about 20%xcx9c30% of the brushless motors cannot pass the quality test after assembly, and the rejected brushless motors must be detached and retested and/or have their elements replaced. The first step of detachment is to remove the C-clip 98 from the annular groove 97 of the shaft 96, and the C-clip 98 is thus damaged and cannot be used. In conclusion, detachment and assembly for such a conventional brushless motor is difficult and troublesome, and a C-clip is damaged in each detaching procedure. In addition, the C-clip 98 securely engaged in the annular groove 97 of the shaft 96 rotates together with the shaft 96 and thus generates noise as the C-clip 98 and the bearing would have friction therebetween.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a fixing structure for a rotor to allow easy assembly and detachment and to reduce rotational noise of the rotor.
A brushless motor in accordance with the present invention comprises a casing including an axle seat with an axle hole, the axle hole having a flange provided therein. An axle tube is engaged on the axle seat and includes a bearing mounted therein for rotatably holding a shaft of a rotor. The shaft includes a distal end that extends beyond an end face of the bearing, the distal end including a neck to thereby define an annular groove. An engaging member is mounted in the axle hole of the axle seat and retained in place by the bearing or the axle tube. The engaging member includes a hole having an inner diameter smaller than a diameter of the shaft of the rotor. An inner peripheral wall defining the hole of the engaging member includes a plurality of notches to thereby allow forcible passage of a distal end of the shaft through the hole of the engaging member. The peripheral wall of the hole of the engaging member is located in the annular groove of the shaft after the distal end of the shaft is passed through the hole of the engaging member.
Other objects, specific advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and preferable embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fixing structure for a rotor of a brushless motor

Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co., Ltd.


A semiconductor integrated device is provided with: a die having a body of semiconductor material with a front surface, and an active area arranged at the front surface; and a package having a support element carrying the die at a back surface of the body, and a coating material covering the die. The body includes a mechanical decoupling region, which mechanically decouples the active area from mechanical stresses induced by the package; the mechanical decoupling region is a trench arrangement within the body, which releases the active area from an external frame of the body, designed to absorb the mechanical stresses induced by the package.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor integrated device with mechanically decoupled active area, and to a related manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Related Art
The drift of electrical parameters is a very critical issue affecting semiconductor integrated devices; this drift is commonly due to mechanical deformations (e.g., bending) of the semiconductor die (or dice) within the package of the devices, due to stresses induced by the same package. This issue is especially critical in case of electronic components such as OA (Operational Amplifiers), ADC (Analog to Digital Converters), voltage regulators, or the like, where a desired value of relevant electrical quantities has to be kept accurately stable with time; or in case of micromechanical structures, whose mechanical properties directly affect the performances of the integrated devices.
As it is known, an integrated device includes one or more dice of semiconductor material (e.g., silicon), in which electronic circuits (e.g., an ASIC—Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and/or microelectromechanical structures are made (in the case of MEMS—MicroElectroMechanical Systems), and which are encapsulated in a package, protecting and covering the dice and providing suitable electrical connections to the outside, e.g., for soldering to an external printed circuit board. Common packages are the so called SO or SOIC (Small Outline Integrated Circuit) packages, or the BGA (Ball Grid Arrays) or LGA (Land Grid Array) packages, which offer reduced area occupation and high density of the external electrical contacts.
FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of an integrated device with a SO package, denoted as a whole with 1, provided with a die 2 and a package 3 enclosing the die 2. Die 2 may include a micromechanical detection structure and/or an ASIC including electronic circuits (clearly, the integrated device 1 may also include several dice, arranged in known stacked or side-by-side configurations); in a manner not shown, die 2 includes a body of semiconductor material, including an active portion wherein electronic components or micromechanical structures are formed, and overlying layers of metal and/or dielectric (passivation) materials.
Package 3 includes a die-carrier 4 (usually referred to as "die pad" in similar packaging structures and having a support function for the die 2), having an internal surface 4a to which the die 2 of the integrated device 1 is attached via an adhesive layer 5, e.g., a glue or a tape (usually referred to as "die attach film"), and an external surface 4b, which may also define an external surface of the package 3, or, as in the example shown, be arranged inside the package 3.
A coating and protecting material, generally a mold compound 6, e.g., a resin material, covers and surround the die-carrier 4 and the die 2 (in particular, top and side surfaces thereof, where the die 2 is not attached to the die-carrier 4), protecting the same from the external environment.
Suitable electrical connections in the form of wires 7 (using the so called "wire bonding" technique) electrically connect the die 2 to a lead-frame 8, carrying electrical contacts, so called leads 9, protruding outside the package 3 (and the mold compound 6) for the electrical connection to the outside, e.g., to an external printed circuit board (here not shown).
In particular, the die 2 is subject to mechanical stresses within the package 3, which result from the balancing of forces that the various packaging materials contacting the same die 2 (such as resin, glue, tape, die-pad) apply thereto; accordingly, and due to these mechanical stresses, bending of one or more surfaces of the die 2 may occur. In general, these forces are denoted as package-induced stresses and amount to encapsulation stresses and thermally-induced stresses due to the different thermal expansion coefficients of the various materials within the package.
A proposed solution to cope with this issue involves a suitable selection of the package materials (e.g., resin, die-pad, glue or tape) and their dimensions, and a proper designing of the die, e.g., in terms of the thickness of the semiconductor material. This approach basically amounts to an exercise of optimization, aimed at a joined selection of suitable materials and parameters that do not cause deformations, e.g., bending, of the semiconductor die, e.g., under thermal stresses, or in any case limit the same deformations.
Clearly, this solution is not robust against spreads of the properties of the package materials and dimensions, e.g., due to the packaging process or aging, which may not be taken into account at the design stage.

Semiconductor integrated device with mechanically decoupled active area and related manufacturing process


An environment control apparatus includes an apparatus body, a processing device, and a plurality of temperature adjusting devices. The apparatus body includes a plurality of accommodating chambers each having one of the temperature adjusting devices. Each of the temperature adjusting devices has a heater and a cooler. When a chip testing device carrying a plurality of chips is arranged in one of the accommodating chambers, the chip testing device is supplied with electricity, and the heater and the cooler of the corresponding temperature adjusting device are controlled to operate, the chip testing device performs a testing process on the chips disposed thereon.

A conventional memory chip testing apparatus is provided for testing a large number of memory chips, so that the operation of the conventional memory chip testing apparatus needs to consume a lot of electricity that generates high cost. Therefore, a relevant research and development personnel would only sample a few of the memory chips for testing by the conventional memory chip testing apparatus unless otherwise necessary.
In addition, during a same period of time, the conventional memory chip testing apparatus is only used to perform a predetermined testing process on the same group of memory chips. Accordingly, when two groups of memory chips need to be respectively tested by two different testing processes through the conventional memory chip testing apparatus, the testing of one of the two groups of the memory chips needs to wait for the testing of the other one of the two groups of the memory chips to be completely finished before they can be tested. Therefore, the testing time of the memory chips is too long.


A predictive scanning input system provides predictive selection of individual indicators corresponding to keys on the keyboard to input a previously stored plural word message to a processor and subsequently to an output device. The predictive scanning input system of the present invention allows the user to select only a limited number of keys which can produce a previously stored message involving an initially detected symbol corresponding to a first key which has been operated. The system operates in conjunction with a keyboard containing a plurality of icons or polysemic (many-meaning) symbols to allow a user to access plural word messages or sentences previously stored in the memory thereof, for selective retrieval by the keyboard. The predictive scanning input system, in conjunction with the symbols containing these polysemic symbols or icons, can be adjusted to a user's needs to aid a user in communication through previously stored plural word messages, by actuation of only a limited number of keys further limited by activation of visual indicators of the predictive scanning input system corresponding to each of a plurality of symbol sequences containing an initially detected symbol. This thereby defines to a user a limited number of keys which can produce a stored message involving an initially detected symbol.

The present invention relates to a predictive scanning input system for rapid selection of visual and auditory indicators corresponding to keys on the keyboard, each key corresponding to one of a plurality of symbols. The predictive scanning relates to an input system to be utilized to input information to later be synthesized to produce audible or recorded data. In one preferred embodiment, the system relates to an input system for a linguistic coding system for use by people unable to use their own voices to create either a synthesized speech or synthetic printed messages. The input system is directed toward a system upon which, upon activation of the system upon activation of a first key, a plurality of visual or audible indicators are activated on certain of the remaining keys when they are found to correspond to symbols of a plurality of symbol sequences which may subsequently be formed. Thus, it thereby defines a limited number of keys which can produce a stored message involving that initial input key or a plurality of symbols which begin symbol sequences which can produce a stored message. Therefore, the input message can then be utilized to create synthetic speech or be output to a printing device.
Previously, a system and method for producing synthetic plural word messages was developed by Bruce Baker et al and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,916 to Baker et al and issued on Apr. 28, 1987, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The system is directed to a linguistic coding system and keyboard for the use by people unable to use their own voices. The coding system and associated keyboard may be used to store and access sentences, phrases, phonemes, letters, functions, or any combination thereof. Hereinafter, the generic term "plural word messages" will be used to denote any such stored and accessed entity.
In such a system, the keyboard is coupled to a computer which stores a plurality of plural word messages or sentences in the memory thereof for selective retrieval by the keyboard. The sentences retrieved from the keyboard are fed to a voice synthesizer which converts them through a loudspeaker to produce audible spoken messages. The keyboard utilizes polysemic (many-meaning) symbols, also known as icons, corresponding to respective keys. By designating selected ones of the keys and their associated symbols, selected recorded plural messages may be accessed from the memory.
With the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,916, however, plural word messages in the memory could be retrieved from memory by actuating a combination of designated primary message theme keys and other keys to vary the context of the polysemic symbols. Thus, a plurality of sentences could be selectively generated as a function of polysemic symbols in combination with other symbols. However, if a scanning system is utilized to activate the plurality of keys on the keyboard, it can take an extremely long amount of time to activate each of the switches corresponding to a sequence of symbols needed to access a particular message.
Row-column scanning systems have previously been developed to sequentially access rows and columns of a keyboard. In row-column scanning, each row lights up in succession. When the row is illuminated which contains the key which a user desires to select, a switch is hit. After the user has hit the switch, then each key in succession from left to right in that row lights up. When a desired key is illuminated, the switch is hit again. Thus, each key selection requires two actuations. The first actuation determines the row and the second actuation determines the column. Row-column scanning is usually very slow. The more keys a user must scan through, the longer it takes.

Predictive scanning input system for rapid selection of auditory and visual indicators


The present invention relates to a method of determining a corruption indication of a sequence (100) of encoded data frames distributed over a network, said data frames being encoded according to a predictive block-based encoding technique. Said method comprises the steps of: —decoding the sequence of encoded data frames so as to obtain a sequence of decoded data frames (200), —building a reliability map (210) including binary values based on the decoding step, a binary value being associated with a decoded data item in such a way that the binary value is equal to a first value (1) if its associated data item has not been decoded due to corruption or if said associated data item is predicted with reference to a reference data item that has not been decoded due to corruption, and to a second value (0) otherwise, —computing a corruption metric based on the binary values.

3GPP specifies services to allow distributing multimedia content over mobile networks. The document TS 26.243 defines the PSS (for Packet Switched Streaming) service. This service consists in streaming continuous media such as audio and video using RTP (for Real-time Transport Protocol) over UDP (for User Datagram Protocol) as the transport layer. This transport protocol is not reliable: it does not guarantee that the client will get all the data sent by the server. Therefore the content presented to the end-user may be corrupted and it is important for the service provider to monitor the degree of corruption in order to implement a customer-care policy or to adapt its billing strategy.
In 3GPP PSS Release 6, some metrics are defined in order to report to the service provider the quality of experience (QoE) of the end-user. One of this metric is the corruption duration of a media. For non-predictive coding format, the measure is straightforward since a packet loss exactly results in the corruption of one media access unit (i.e. one elementary element of the media). On the contrary, for predictive coding scheme there is no direct mapping between a packet loss and the corruption effect. Errors propagate across the decoded sequence and it is not easy to know accurately when the decoded media is no longer corrupted. This is particularly true for conventional video coding scheme (MPEG, H263, H264).

Method of determining a corruption indication of a sequence of encoded data frames


Method and system for determining cumulative foreign object characteristics during fabrication of a composite structure. Images of sequential segments of a composite structure may be recorded during placement of the composite structure. The recorded images may be analyzed for detecting foreign objects on the composite structure. Cumulative foreign object characteristics of the foreign objects detected on the composite structure may be determined, and the cumulative foreign object characteristics may be provided to a user.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the fabrication of composite structures and, more particularly, to a method and system for determining cumulative foreign object characteristics during fabrication of a composite structure.
2. Background
Composite structures for aircraft and other applications have been known for many years and can be fabricated in many different ways. One advantageous technique for fabricating composite structures is a fiber and tape placement process. According to conventional techniques, one or more ribbons of a composite resin material, also known as composite strands or tows, are laid down on a substrate by a material placement machine. The substrate may be a tool or mandrel, but may also be one or more underlying layers of composite material that have been previously laid down and compacted.
Conventional placement processes utilize a heat source in conjunction with a compaction roller to apply the ribbon or tow onto the substrate at the nip of the compaction roller. More particularly, the ribbon or tow of composite resin material and the underlying substrate are heated at the nip as the material placement machine moves across the substrate to increase the tackiness of the resin material while the resin material is being subjected to compressive force by the compaction roller to adhere a strip or course of the composite resin material to the substrate.
To form a composite structure, a plurality of courses of the composite material are laid down in a side-by-side manner to form a first layer or ply of composite material. A similar plurality of courses of composite material may then be applied to the surface of the first ply to form a second ply on the first ply. The process is repeated until a desired number of plies have been formed one above another. In this way, a composite structure can be fabricated course-by-course and ply-by-ply until the composite structure is completed.
As the courses of composite material are laid down by the material placement machine, foreign objects and debris (FOD) may accumulate on the surface of the composite structure. FOD may include, for example and without limitation, resin balls, fiber wads, and pieces of backing material.
When FOD occurs during the laying down of a course, it is desirable that the FOD be detected and removed from the surface of the ply being formed before the next ply is formed as the FOD will otherwise become embedded between adjacent plies which may be undesirable. Failure to remove FOD may also result in bulges and other inconsistencies in the final composite structure. It is desirable therefore, to be able to detect the presence of FOD in real time while the courses are being laid down to form a ply so that they may be removed before a subsequent ply is formed.
There are current systems that are able to detect discrete foreign object occurrences so that they may be removed. It would be desirable, however, to also make cumulative determinations with respect to the detection of FOD. For example and without limitation, it would be desirable to make cumulative determinations with respect to the total number of FOD detected during fabrication of a composite structure or with respect to the total number of each of various types of FOD that are detected during fabrication of the structure. Such information may be useful in identifying problem areas with regard to the material placement machine or the overall composite structure fabrication process to enable appropriate adjustments or changes to be made to reduce the occurrence of such foreign objects and for other reasons.


The present invention provides radiation detectors with high detection sensitivity. The radiation detectors according to the present invention each include an Al2O3 substrate, a CaxCoO2 (where 0.15<x<0.55) thin film that is layered on the Al2O3 substrate and that has CoO2 planes that are aligned inclined to the surface of the Al2O3 substrate, a first electrode disposed on the CaxCoO2 thin film, and a second electrode disposed on the CaxCoO2 thin film in a position opposed to the first electrode in the direction in which the CoO2 planes are aligned inclined. The surface of the Al2O3 substrate is an n plane or an S plane.

When a temperature difference is generated between both ends of a thermoelectric conversion material, an electromotive force (a thermal electromotive force) is generated in proportion to the temperature difference. The phenomenon that thermal energy is converted into electrical energy in a thermoelectric conversion material is known as the Seebeck effect. The electromotive force V that is generated is expressed as V=SΔT, where ΔT is a temperature difference and S is the Seebeck coefficient peculiar to the material.
In a thermoelectric conversion material that exhibits isotropic physical properties, the electromotive force generated by the Seebeck effect is generated only in the direction in which the temperature difference has been generated. On the other hand, due to the inclined arrangement of crystal axes, the thermoelectric conversion material that exhibits anisotropy in its electrical transport properties generates an electromotive force in the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the temperature difference has been generated. The electrical transport properties denote the behavior of positive holes and electrons having electric charges that move in a substance. As described above, the phenomenon that due to the inclined arrangement of the crystal axes of the material, an electromotive force is generated in the direction that is different from the direction in which the temperature difference has been generated (a heat flow direction) is referred to as an anisotropic thermoelectric effect or an off-diagonal thermoelectric effect.
FIG. 11 is a diagram of a coordinate system for explaining the anisotropic thermoelectric effect. As shown in FIG. 11, the crystal axes abc of the sample 101 are inclined to the spatial axes xyz. In the sample 101, when a temperature difference ΔTz is applied in the direction along the z axis, an electromotive force Vx is generated in the direction orthogonal to the z axis, i.e. the direction along the x axis. The electromotive force Vx is represented by Formula (1):
                              [                      Mathematical                                                                          Formula                                                                          1                    ]                                                                                V          x                =                              l                          2                            d                                          Δ                                                                                T              z                        ·            Δ                                                                                S            ·            sin                                                                        2                    α                                    (        1        )            where l denotes the width of the sample 101, d denotes the thickness of the sample 101, a denotes the inclination angle of the a-b plane with respect to the surface (the x-y plane) of the sample 101, and ΔS denotes the difference (the difference that occurs due to anisotropy) between the Seebeck coefficient Sc in the c-axis direction and the Seebeck coefficient Sab in the direction of the a-b in-plane.
Conventionally, a radiation detector using an inclined layered thin film of YBa2Cu3O7-d (hereinafter referred to as "YBCO") has been proposed as a radiation detector that utilizes the anisotropic thermoelectric effect (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). The inclined layered thin film denotes a thin film that is layered on a substrate and that has a layered structure in which the crystal axis is inclined to the surface of the substrate and a plurality of inclined layers are layered together. The YBCO thin film has an anisotropic crystal structure in which CuO2 layers having electrical conductivity and Y and BaO layers that have insulation properties are layered alternately along the c-axis direction. When the YBCO thin film is layered (layered inclined) on a suitable substrate surface in such a manner that the c axis is inclined to the substrate surface, a similar system to that shown in FIG. 11 is formed. The CuO2 planes correspond to the a-b planes shown in FIG. 11. When an electromagnetic wave is incident on the surface of the YBCO thin film that has been layered inclined as described above, a temperature difference is generated in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the YBCO thin film. As a result, an electromotive force is generated in the direction parallel to the surface of the YBCO thin film by the anisotropic thermoelectric effect. By reading this electromotive force, the electromagnetic wave that has been incident on the surface of the YBCO thin film can be detected. A radiation detector using the YBCO thin film can detect an electromagnetic wave at a sensitivity of approximately 100 mV/K.
From Formula (1), the electromotive force Vx that is generated by the anisotropic thermoelectric effect is proportional to the difference ΔS that occurs due to anisotropy of the Seebeck coefficient, the aspect ratio 1/d of a sample, and a sine value of sin 2α of an angle that is twice the inclination angle α. In the YBCO thin film, the difference ΔS is smaller than 10 μV/K, and the upper limit that allows the inclination angle α of the CuO2 planes to be maintained at a single angle is limited to approximately 10 to 20° (see, for example, Non-Patent Literature 1 and Non-Patent Literature 2). Accordingly, the radiation detector that includes the YBCO thin film used therein cannot be said to have sufficiently high sensitivity for being used practically. In order to improve the sensitivity of a radiation detector that includes an inclined layered thin film used therein, there are methods in which, for example, a material with a larger difference ΔS is used and the inclination angle α of the thin film is brought close to 45 degrees as much as possible. Since the range of the inclination angle α in the inclined layered thin film depends on the combination of the thin film material and the substrate material on which the thin film material is layered, it is preferable that a suitable substrate material be selected so that the inclination angle α can be controlled widely up to around 45°.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a radiation detector in which a YBCO thin film partially doped with Pr is used. According to Patent Literature 1, the radiation detector has a sensitivity approximately twenty times higher than that of a radiation detector with a non-doped YBCO thin film used therein. It is suggested that the reason for this is because the Seebeck coefficient of the YBCO thin film is increased by Pr doping. However, Non-Patent Literature 3 describes that in a YBCO thin film, the Seebeck coefficient increases in the direction of the a-b in-plane through doping with Pr, but the difference ΔS becomes smaller. Furthermore, Non-Patent Literature 3 describes that the difference ΔS becomes smaller in the Pr doping range employed for the YBCO thin film used for the radiation detector of Patent Literature 1. Non-Patent Literature 3 describes the result of measurement of the response of the Pr-doped YBCO thin film to light irradiation using light with a wavelength (308 nm) that was different from light with a wavelength of 248 nm used in Patent Literature 1. According to this result, the Pr-doped YBCO thin film had a smaller electromotive force that is generated by the anisotropic thermoelectric effect as compared to a non-doped YBCO thin film. As described in Patent Literature 1, the improvement in sensitivity of the radiation detector with the Pr-doped YBCO thin film used therein is probably attributed to an increase in absorption coefficient of the YBCO thin film with respect to light with a wavelength of 248 nm due to Pr doping. Therefore, although the radiation detector of Patent Literature 1 is highly sensitive to light with a wavelength of 248 nm, it cannot be said that the detection sensitivity is improved in other wavelength ranges.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Radiation detector with AL2O3 substrate and radiation detection method


An inhibitive water-based polymer mud system and method for using the system in drilling and in stabilizing wellbores is disclosed for use in water sensitive formations as an alternative to oil-based muds or water-based muds comprising ferro-chrome lignosulfonates. The system comprises a fresh water or salt water base thinned or dispersed with a sulfonated acrylic copolymer having a hybrid/graft lignosulfonate multipolymer structure containing carboxylate and sulfonate functional groups with synthetic polymer side chains covalently linked to a base lignosulfonate material, having a molecular weight in the range of about 1,000 to about 15,000, and having a high anionic charge density. This system is effective and has stable rheology over a broad pH range, even at a near neutral pH of 8.0. The drilling fluids do not contain heavy metals and are rheologically tolerant to contaminants such as cement, anhydrite and sodium and temperatures as high as about 400° F.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling the rheology and/or the viscosity of water based mud systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and compositions for dispersing aqueous based fluids used in well drilling and other well operations in subterranean formations, especially subterranean formations containing oil and/or gas. This invention also relates to a drilling fluid thinner and/or dispersant having improved temperature stability, dispersing properties and "solids contamination" tolerance.
2. Description of Relevant Art
A drilling fluid or mud is a specially designed fluid that is circulated through a wellbore as the wellbore is being drilled to facilitate the drilling operation. The various functions of a drilling fluid include removing drill cuttings or solids from the wellbore, cooling and lubricating the drill bit, aiding in support of the drill pipe and drill bit, and providing a hydrostatic head to maintain the integrity of the wellbore walls and prevent well blowouts. Specific drilling fluid systems are selected to optimize a drilling operation in accordance with the characteristics of a particular geological formation.
For a drilling fluid to perform its functions, it must have certain desirable physical properties. The fluid must have a viscosity that is readily pumpable and easily circulated by pumping at pressures ordinarily employed in drilling operations, without undue pressure differentials. The fluid must be sufficiently thixotropic to suspend the cuttings in the borehole when fluid circulation stops. The fluid must release cuttings from the suspension when agitating in the settling pits. It should preferably form a thin impervious filter cake on the borehole wall to prevent loss of liquid from the drilling fluid by filtration into the formations. Such a filter cake effectively seals the borehole wall to inhibit any tendencies of sloughing, heaving or cave-in of rock into the borehole. The composition of the fluid should also preferably be such that cuttings formed during drilling the borehole can be suspended, assimilated or dissolved in the fluid without affecting physical properties of the drilling fluid.
Most drilling fluids used for drilling in the oil and gas industry are water-based muds. Such muds typically comprise an aqueous base, either of fresh water or brine, and agents or additives for suspension, weight or density, oil-wetting, fluid loss or filtration control, and rheology control. Controlling the viscosity of water based muds or mud systems has traditionally been done with lignosulfonate deflocculants and/or thinners. Such low molecular weight, heavily sulfonated polymers are believed to aid in coating clay edges in the subterranean formation with a lasting or effectively permanent negative charge. Some alkaline material, such as, for example, caustic soda or potash, is typically added to achieve a pH range from about 9.5 to about 10. This pH environment is believed to aid the solubility and activation of the portion(s) of the lignosulfonate molecules that interact with the clay. These portions are believed to be the carboxylate and phenolate groups on the lignosulfonate.
Lignosulfonates are obtained from byproducts of the spent acid process used to separate cellulose from wood in the pulp industry. The pulp industry has begun to turn away from the spent acid process in recent years in favor of another process that does not have a lignosulfonate byproduct. Consequently, the drilling fluid industry has begun efforts to find a substitute for lignosulfonates in drilling fluids. Also, increasingly, there is an interest in and need for deflocculants and/or thinners that can work effectively at lower pH ranges of about 8 to about 8.5, in freshwater and saltwater based muds, and at higher temperatures ranging upwards to about 450° F., while also being environmentally compatible.

Method for dispersing aqueous based drilling fluid for drilling subterranean boreholes


A mount assembly which amplifies a light signal from an optical transmission line and transmits the light signal to another optical transmission line and does not require a highly precise perpendicularity at a connection portion between the optical transmission line and the mount assembly. The mount assembly (100) is obtained by connecting a photo-electro conversion device (10a), spherical semiconductor devices (12a) and (12b) and an electro-photo conversion device (10b) through electrical-connection portions (14) so that a light received by the photo-electro conversion device (10a) is amplified by the spherical semiconductor devices (12a) and (12b) and then emitted from the electro-photo conversion device (10b).

In the field of electronic equipment, such as a cellular phone, a book-size personal computer and a PDA (personal digital assistance) which all require high-speed communication, a production which realizes higher-speed communication is desired to be provided in a smaller, thinner and lighter form. For this reason, miniaturization of the products in this field is rapidly advancing. Further, these products are also required to have higher performance and multifunctionality in addition to a smaller size. In order to meet the requirements, microminiaturization of a semiconductor device has been accelerated and a new structure of the device has been developed while a mounting technique for mounting electronic components has advanced, which results in a significantly higher density and a significantly higher speed in an electronic circuit.
However, there is a limitation to the communication speed of the electronic equipment as long as the electrical signal is conventionally transmitted and received. In this situation, recently, a necessary signal is transmitted and received as a light signal using an optical fiber.
Meanwhile, in a semiconductor field, a spherical semiconductor chip has been proposed and such a chip has been applied and developed in various fields including the high-density semiconductor device field and the medical field. For example, Ball Semiconductor, Inc. (Allen, Tex., US) has proposed that a semiconductor circuit is formed on a surface of a sphere of 1 mm diameter and such a spherical semiconductor circuit is applied in a microminiature electronic equipment such as a card-type electronic equipment (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,776 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,396). Further, various proposals have been made with respect to a technique for connecting the spherical semiconductor devices with each other and a technique for mounting the spherical semiconductor device on a wiring board directly (see Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) Publication Nos. 2000-216335 (FIG. 1) and 2000-349224 (FIG. 2)). Furthermore, a solar cell which employs the spherical semiconductor device has been also proposed (see Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open) Publication No. 2001-185744). These intend to realize a higher speed and a miniaturization of the electronic circuit by using a spherical shape of the semiconductor device.

Mount assembly, optical transmission line and photoelectric circuit board

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A putter head includes a hosel connectable to a club shaft, a frame cooperable with the hosel, and a putter face connected to the frame. The putter face includes a toe portion and a corresponding toe shoulder and a heel portion and a corresponding heel shoulder. The toe shoulder and the heel shoulder define an encasement. Weights are positioned in the encasement respectively adjacent the toe shoulder and the heel shoulder.

The invention relates to a putter head with structural features that serve to improve putter head feel.
The "feel" of a golf club, particularly with respect to putters, is important in selecting clubs for purchase/play. Many component parts of the club and features associated with the club combine to define a club's "feel." Exemplary characteristics include club weight, weight distribution, club head material, vibration absorption, and the like, all of which may affect the feel of the club as it strikes a ball. Other features that are important to golfers include the visual appearance of the club and sometimes even the sound produced when the club strikes a ball.

Putter head with distributive frame and weights


A novel magnetic disc and process for the preparation thereof is disclosed, comprising a nonmagnetic support having thereon a magnetic layer comprising ferromagnetic metal particles and a binder resin containing at least a vinyl chloride copolymer, wherein the crystallite size of the ferromagnetic metal particles as determined by X-ray diffraction method is 300 .ANG. or less, and the ratio .alpha. at the surface of the magnetic layer of the integrated intensity of the Cl-2P spectrum as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to that of the Fe-2P(3/2) spectrum is in the range of from 0.50 to 0.90. In a preferred embodiment, the vinyl chloride copolymer contains at least one polar group selected from the group consisting of --SO.sub.3 M, --OSO.sub.3 M, --PO.sub.3 M.sub.2, and --CO.sub.2 M wherein M represents hydrogen, an alkali metal or ammonium and at least one epoxy ring in the copolymer molecule.

In a coating type magnetic recording medium having a magnetic layer mainly comprising ferromagnetic particles and a binder resin, there is an increased demand for higher density recording. Smoothing of the surface of the magnetic layer is a known technique for providing higher density recording.
However, an enhanced surface smoothness of the magnetic layer causes a rise in the coefficient of friction between the magnetic layer of the running magnetic recording medium and the apparatus system in contact therewith. Damage to the magnetic layer or peeling of the magnetic layer can thereby result in a relatively short period of use.
Floppy discs, in particular, are often used under sever high-temperature conditions such as in durability tests. In such cases, the magnetic layers tend to shed ferromagnetic particles, which may clog the magnetic head.
Furthermore, as an effective means for providing higher density magnetic recording media, ferromagnetic metal particles may be employed.
The use of ferromagnetic metal particles in a floppy disc, however, is disadvantageous in that the magnetic layer tends to become damaged due to the rubbing contact of the magnetic layer with the jacket liner to thereby result in dropout, as opposed to the case where iron oxides are used. This problem is often encountered particularly when floppy discs are used under conditions of relatively high temperature such as 50.degree. to 60.degree. C., or when the temperature periodically fluctuates between low and high values.
For improving the running durability of the magnetic layer, it has been proposed to incorporate an aliphatic acid or an ester of an aliphatic acid and aliphatic alcohol as a lubricant in the magnetic layer to reduce the coefficient of friction thereof with the recording apparatus.
For example, it has been proposed to incorporate a monobasic aliphatic acid having 4 or more carbon atoms such as capric acid, lauric acid and oleic acid as a lubricant in the magnetic layer as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,412. It has also been proposed to incorporate an aliphatic ester of a monobasic aliphatic acid having 12 to 16 carbon atoms such as butyl laurate, lauryl palmitate and butyl myristate and aliphatic alcohol having 3 to 12 carbon atoms as a lubricant in the magnetic layer as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,111. It has further been proposed to incorporate tridecyl stearate as a lubricant in the magnetic layer as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,738.
Moreover, it has been proposed to incorporate a higher aliphatic ester of a higher alcohol having a branched molecular structure as a lubricant in the magnetic layer as disclosed in JP-A-55-157131 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). Furthermore it has been proposed to incorporate isocetyl stearate as a lubricant in the magnetic layer as disclosed in JP-A-59-186130.
The incorporation of the above described lubricants adversely affects the strength of the magnetic layer, although the use thereof is effective in lowering the coefficient of friction. Therefore, the use of the above described lubricants alone does not prevent the magnetic layer from being damaged by contact with the jacket liner.
Moreover, use of a cellulosic resin as a binder resin having a high modulus of elasticity and excellent mechanical strength to thereby improve the linear-abrasion resistance of the magnetic layer is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-56-13519, 62-239316, 58-70424, 58-70425, 56-74833, 60-133527, 62-34326, 62-26628, 59-79428, 57-135439, 56-74832, and 59-188827.
Binder resins based on conventional cellulosic resins including nitrocellulose, however, do not adequately disperse the ferromagnetic particles, such that not only does the resulting magnetic layer have a poor surface property, but the packing density of the ferromagnetic particles cannot be increased to the desired extent. Consequently, the use of conventional cellulosic resins has been ineffective in providing a magnetic recording media having excellent electromagnetic characteristics.
Furthermore, it has been proposed to use a phenoxy resin as a binder resin as disclosed in JP-A-1-106325, 64-39623, 57-36647, and 57-36648. However, even this approach does not adequately improve the running durability of magnetic layer of a magnetic recording medium comprising a ferromagnetic metal powder with respect to the liner of the jacket of a floppy disc.
Moreover, it has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,418 and JP-B-55-15771 to incorporate an abrasive agent (e.g., hard particles), such as corundum, silicon carbide and chromium oxide in the magnetic layer. The term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication". However, this approach does not protect the magnetic layer from being damaged by the liner of the jacket.

Magnetic recording medium in the form of a floppy disc having a magnetic layer with a specified surface feature


Methods and systems for monitoring interesting subjects. A method including: selecting, based on a first collection of interesting subjects, a set of critical nodes including at least one critical node which participates in one or more interesting subjects in the first collection; and monitoring contents posted by the one or more critical nodes in the set so as to find a second collection of interesting subjects. The set of critical nodes which participate in one or more interesting subjects in the first collection of interesting subjects is selected based on the first collection, as objects to be monitored, thereby reducing the number of contents posted by the nodes to be monitored as compared with monitoring all the user nodes, so that interesting subjects such as hot news or hot events can be found in real time with high efficiency and low cost.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to method and system for monitoring interesting subjects, and more specifically, to method and system for monitoring interesting subjects by selecting critical nodes among social networks.
Description of Related Art
With the emergence of social networks such as Twitter, MicroBlog or the like, information sharing and communication among people becomes more and more convenient. People can post new posts, forward or comment posts posted by other people on the social networks so as to share information on news or real-time events and exchange their opinions with other people. It is the that Twitter has more than 500 millions active users and more than about 340 millions tweet posts generated daily. The Sina Weibo (microblog) also has more than 300 millions registered users and about 100 millions microblogs generated daily. Monitoring hot news or events among these posts or microblogs can help decision makers know public opinions, commercial trends, or the like. However, it is hard to monitor interesting subjects such as hot news or events among such huge amount of posts or microblogs. A conventional method for monitoring interesting subjects is performed by retrieving all the posts or microblogs from all the user nodes and performing content processing, such as keyword detection, on all the posts or microblogs to find interesting subjects such as hot news or events. However, such a huge amount of content processing is time consuming and inefficient.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A programmable hardware architecture for machine learning (ML) is proposed, which includes at least a host, a memory, a core, a data streaming engine, a instruction-streaming engine, and an interference engine. The core interprets a plurality of ML commands for a ML operation and/or data received from the host and coordinate activities of the engines based on the data in the received ML commands. The instruction-streaming engine translates the ML commands received from the core and provide a set of programming instructions to the data streaming engine and the inference engines based on the translated parameters. The data steaming engine sends one or more data streams to the inference engine in response to the received programming instructions. The inference engine then processes the data streams received from the data stream engine according to the programming instructions received from the instruction-streaming engine.

Applied Machine Learning (ML) is a booming field that utilizes a cascade of layers of nonlinear processing units and algorithms for feature extraction and transformation with a wide variety of usages and applications. Machine learning typically involves two phases, training, which uses a rich set of training data to train a plurality of machine learning models, and inference, which applies the trained machine learning models to actual applications. Each of the two phases poses a distinct set of requirements for its underlying infrastructures. Various infrastructures may be used, e.g., graphics processing unit (GPU), a central processing unit (CPU), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.
Specifically, the training phase focuses on, as a non-limiting example, GPU or ASIC infrastructures that scale with the trained models and retraining frequency, wherein the key objective of the training phase is to achieve high performance and reduce training time. The inference phase, on the other hand, focuses on infrastructures that scale with the applications, user, and data, and the key objective of the inference phase is to achieve energy (e.g., performance per watt) and capital (e.g., return on investment) efficiency.
ML is usually very computationally and data intensive. Unfortunately, as the input data and model sizes grow, data movement becomes a bottleneck and data processing increases because in order to perform simple processing, three operations or instructions are performed for each data, e.g., load, processing, and store. As the amount of data grows, performing these three operations or instructions becomes burdensome. Moreover, the current computing architecture is not scalable and are not well suited for ML and its applications, since a lot of time goes in loading and storing the data in comparison to processing the data. For non-limiting examples, although a CPU is flexible and may be used for ML, it has low performance efficiencies in ML applications because of it performs loads and stores in a manner that is flexible and applicable to all forms of software. This flexibility causes it to perform extra work in hardware, which reduces its efficiency. Although a graphics Pipeline Unit (GPU) may have a higher performance than a CPU, it is burdened with additional overhead, e.g., Graphics Effects (Gfx), High Performance Computing (HPC), etc. that are not used in ML applications. A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) also has significant overhead, since it needs to support burning in any form of logic or algorithm into the programmable gate arrays. This reduces hardware efficiency for Machine Learning algorithms where the logic that needs to be implemented is a much smaller subset of all forms of logic or algorithm. Moreover, FPGA is low on programmability, since the constraints of fitting a logic or algorithm into available gate capacity of an FPGA (which can vary for different FPGAs) places limits on size, type and scope of the algorithms that can be mapped into FPGA. An Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) may be efficient, but it is not flexible to adapt to the changing algorithms and environment required for ML applications. A need has arisen for a new hardware architecture that is highly efficient, with reduced overhead, while flexible and adaptable to the changing environment and algorithms of ML applications. Moreover, a need has arisen for a new instruction set architecture to reduce the number of instructions required to perform certain tasks, e.g., processing, moving data, loading data, etc.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

Systems and methods for programmable hardware architecture for machine learning