The present invention relates to a method for preventing and/or treating coronary atherosclerosis and its related conditions in a subject, comprising administering a prophylactically and/or therapeutically effective amount of plasminogen to the subject, wherein the subject suffers from, is suspected of suffering from coronary atherosclerosis and its related conditions, or has a risk of suffering from coronary atherosclerosis and its related conditions. The present invention further relates to a medicament, a pharmaceutical composition, an article of manufacture, and a kit comprising plasminogen which are useful for preventing and/or treating coronary atherosclerosis and its related conditions in a subject.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the main cause of coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, and peripheral vascular disease. Lipid metabolism disorder is the pathological basis of atherosclerosis, wherein the lesion of affected artery begins from intima, where accumulation of lipids and compound carbohydrates, hemorrhage and thrombosis first appear generally, followed by hyperplasia of fibrous tissue and calcinosis, with gradual metamorphosis and calcification of the arterial medial layer, leading to thickening and hardening of the arterial wall, and stenosis of vascular lumen. The lesion generally involves the large and medium muscular arteries. Once the lesion has developed enough to block the arterial lumen, the tissues or organs supplied by the artery will become ischemic or necrotic.
Atherosclerosis is the common pathological basis of various cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and also the most common disease of cardiovascular system diseases, which seriously endangers human health. The development and progression of atherosclerosis comprises lipid invasion, platelet activation, thrombosis, intimal injury, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) activation, selective matrix metabolism, vascular remodeling, etc. [1] Although through nearly a century of research, many scholars have also proposed different theories about the pathogenesis of AS, such as lipid infiltration theory, macrophage receptor loss theory, smooth muscle mutation theory, injury response theory, inflammatory response theory, hemodynamic theory, and immunological theory, no single theory can fully explain the development and progression of AS. In recent years, a large number of experimental research data at the cellular and molecular level have expanded people's understanding of the normal hemeostasis of endothelial cells, VSMCs, mononuclear macrophages, and platelets, so as to further understand their roles in the formation and pathogenesis of AS.
1. Role of Vascular Endothelial Cell Injury
Studies have found that vascular endothelial dysfunction has been formed long before the appearance of atherosclerotic plaques. Esper et al. [2] reported that endothelial cells can produce a large number of molecules with bidirectional function, which can balance the promoting and inhibiting effects. When endothelial cells lose their ability to maintain such delicate balance, lipids and white blood cells (mainly monocytes and T lymphocytes) would invade the endothelium, triggering an inflammatory response and the formation of fatty streaks. Dysfunction, activation and morphological injury of endothelial cells can trigger changes in monocytes and platelets in blood, and VSMCs at the tunica media of vascular walls to eventually form AS. The specific mechanism is as follows: (1) increased permeability of endothelial cells is the main initial link of AS, and the earliest pathological change of lipids entering the subendothelium of arterial wall [3]; (2) the adhesion of platelets and monocytes is increased, Ott et al. [4] reported that the increased expression of cell adhesion molecules on the surface of a dysfunctional endothelial cell may promote the adhesion of monocytes, thus promoting monocytes containing bacteria to infiltrate into the AS plaques from circulating blood; and (3) a variety of growth factors are secreted, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein 21 (MPC21), fibroblast growth factor, transforming growth factor (TGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), etc., so as to attract monocytes to aggregate and adhere to the endothelium, migrate into the subendothelial space, and ingest a large amount of lipids oxidized under the intima through the mediation of scavenger receptor, CD36 receptor and Fc receptor on the surface to form monocyte-derived foam cells. Boos et al. [3] pointed out that the extent of endothelial injury can be used as a new onset indicator of the pathogenesis and severity of AS to some extent.
2. Role of Platelets
After the injury of arterial endothelial cells, it can promote the adhesion of platelets to the injured endothelial cells, thereby promoting the release of PDGF, leading to the continuous proliferation of myointimal cells, and eventually leading to collagen synthesis and the formation of AS plaques. In the final stage of AS thrombosis, the adhesion, activation and aggregation of platelets can lead to arterial occlusion and secondary ischemia [5]. Platelets interact with endothelial cells and connective tissues, which is important for the development of AS on local vascular walls. The role of platelets in AS is mainly manifested in the following aspects: (1) Endothelial injury in any form can cause a large number of platelets to adhere to and aggregate at the local endothelium, activate the coagulation system, and lead to thrombosis. (2) Secreted and released various active substances, such as PDGF, platelet factor 4, and β-thromboglobulin, have a strong chemotactic effect on VSMCs and monocytes, participate in migration and proliferation of VSMCs and modification of aortic intima, and attract monocytes to adhere to endothelium. Some scholars pointed out that PDGF has chemotactic effect on fibroblasts and promotes the generation of individual antigenic determinants of monocytes, which plays an important role in the formation of AS. (3) Venous endothelial cells can produce nitric oxide and prostacyclin, which are constantly released in the lungs to regulate platelet function.
3. Role of Lipids in the Development and Progression of Atherosclerosis
A large number of studies have demonstrated that the pathological changes of AS are closely related to the blood lipid level, particularly the plasma cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels [6]. Some scholars proposed that the deposition of lipids and fatty acids is an important pathological mechanism of endothelial cell dysfunction and formation of AS. Studies have found that the protein and gene expression of apolipoprotein C1 and apolipoprotein E in arteries with AS plaques is remarkably higher than that in normal arteries, which may be a cause of the formation of AS rather than just a result [7]. It has been recognized that the mechanism of action of hyperlipemia in the pathogenesis of AS, in addition to directly causing endothelial cell injury, is mainly to increase the permeability of endothelial cells, which is related to the oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) to become oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). When ox-LDL passes through the intact endothelium, plasma LDL is transported to the subendothelial space for oxidative modification. LDL induces clearance of macrophages and proliferation of VSMCs at the tunica media to form atheromatous plaques. These changes may ultimately lead to the formation of fatty streaks, fibrous plaques, and/or atheromatous plaques at the arterial intima.
4. Role of Mononuclear Macrophages
Studies have shown that AS plaques contain infiltration of inflammatory response cells including monocytes, monocyte-derived macrophages, macrophages loading ox-LDL (i.e., foam cells), T lymphocytes, etc. [8] The role of mononuclear macrophages in AS can be summarized as follows: (1) phagocytosis: foam cells in the early stage of lesion are mostly derived from monocytes in blood. The latter enters the subendothelium and transforms into macrophages. The specific receptor on surfaces of the macrophages can bind to ox-LDL, thereby the macrophages ingest a large amount of cholesterol and becoming foam cells. (2) Participating in inflammatory response and immune response: the above-mentioned phagocytic process can induce a specific inflammatory response by releasing inflammatory response factors into the extracellular matrix. The infiltration of T lymphocytes can be seen in the lesion of AS, and the fibrous cap of a ruptured AS plaque contains more macrophages than that of a non-ruptured plaque. (3) Participating in proliferation response: when activated, macrophages can release a variety of cytokines and growth factors, which promote the migration and proliferation of VSMCs at the tunica media. Furthermore, macrophages express a variety of metalloproteinases and serine proteases, leading to degradation of extracellular matrix, instability of plaques and even a tendency to rupture [9].
5. Role of VSMCs
After several years of research, it has been recognized that the proliferation of VSMCs at the tunica media and migration of them into the intima and the synthesis of matrix proteins are main links involved in the formation of lesions in the progression of AS, and play an important role in the intima thickening of AS and restenosis [10]. The pathogenesis and progression of AS plaques and restenosis involve complex interactions between vascular wall cells, in which cytokines, inflammatory responses, chemokines and growth factors play an important role. The migrating VSMCs mediate phagocytosis of lipids via the LDL receptor on the surface, forming VSMC-derived foam cells which participate in the formation of lesions. Furthermore, these proliferating VSMCs at the intima can also synthesize collagen, elastin, glycoprotein, etc., and macrophages phagocytize LDL and release free lipids, both of which thicken and harden the diseased intima and promote the formation of sclerotic plaques. In this regard, many efforts have been made to inhibit the accumulation of the above-mentioned cells, and great success has been achieved in restenosis after stenting [11].
Diabetes mellitus is closely related to atherosclerosis, which is manifested by early onset, severe degree and poor prognosis of atherosclerosis in diabetic patients, and atherosclerosis is the main cause of death in diabetic patients.
Clinically, it has been found that the pathological changes of coronary arteries in diabetic patients are substantially characterized by more affected vessels, severe coronary artery stenosis, and more diffuse and severe lesions, and that the mechanism is mostly attributed to abnormal glucose metabolism causing atherosclerosis. With further in-depth research, more results indicate that diabetes mellitus-induced atherosclerosis is not caused by a single factor, but through a variety of pathways and more complex mechanisms to induce and promote the development and progression of atherosclerosis, such as polarization of macrophages, macrophage migration inhibitory factor pathway, advanced glycation end products pathway, scavenger receptor upregulation, insulin resistance, ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) activation, and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) activation pathway. [12]
In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, the polarization of macrophages is out of balance in tissues such as white fat, which is manifested by increased M1-type macrophages. M1-type macrophages mainly secrete TNF-α, IL-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, etc., which exert a pro-inflammatory effect. The above-mentioned cytokines not only induce insulin resistance but also promote atherosclerosis [13].
Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an important factor involved in immune and inflammatory responses. In diabetic patients, increased expression of MIF may be associated with atherosclerosis complicated with diabetes mellitus [14]. The mechanism of inducing atherosclerosis is as follows: (1) MIF make macrophages infiltrate and activated at inflammatory sites, thereby accelerating lipid phagocytosis, and inducing the formation of foam cells. Studies have found that the uptake of oxidized low-density lipoprotein by macrophages up-regulates MIF, and accordingly MIF can increase the uptake of oxidized low-density lipoprotein and promote the formation of foam cells. (2) MIF can activate vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells to express monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 and intercellular adhesion molecule 1, respectively, and increase the chemotactic migration of mononuclear macrophages, thus accelerating atherosclerosis. The use of anti-MIF antibody in various arterial models can weaken the markers for the activation of subendothelial macrophages, foam cells, and macrophages.
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) can promote the development and progression of atherosclerosis in diabetic patients. AGEs, as non-enzymatic glycosylation products of glucose with proteins and lipoproteins in the arterial walls, can bind to the corresponding receptors to accelerate atherosclerosis through the following mechanisms: (1) long-term hyperglycemia can increase the production of AGEs. AGEs can modify proteins, nucleic acids and lipids, increase the production of reactive oxygen species and enhance oxidative stress. AGEs can increase NADPH oxidase activity of neutrophils while increasing the production of oxygen free radicals in neutrophils, and can thus promote vascular oxidative stress, and increase the incidence of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients [15]. (2) AGEs increase the expression of adhesion molecules, and the AGE receptors on the surface of myeloid and non-myeloid cells can increase the expression of vascular adhesion molecule 1, accelerating the atherosclerosis associated with diabetes mellitus [16].
Insulin resistance (IR) means that the sensitivity and responsiveness of tissues targeted by insulin are decreased to exogenous or endogenous insulin. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is generally complicated with insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can accelerate atherosclerosis in diabetes mellitus through the following mechanisms: (1) insulin resistance accelerates macrophage apoptosis: studies have found that the core of atherosclerotic plaques in the progressive stage in diabetic patients is remarkably larger than that in non-diabetic patients [17]. In the atherosclerotic lesions in the progressive stage of diabetes mellitus, apoptosis induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress is remarkably increased due to the insulin resistance of macrophages, promoting the enlargement of plaque core. (2) CX3CL1/CX3CL1 axis activation is found remarkably increased in patients with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, which is positively correlated with accelerated atherosclerosis. Activation of the axis has been found to increase instability of plaques in animal models. Insulin resistance accelerates atherosclerosis by activating the CX3CL1/CX3CL1 axis and inducing apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells [18]. The knockout of vitamin D3 receptor in macrophages promotes insulin resistance and accelerates atherosclerosis [19].
Enhanced endogenous oxidative stress in diabetic patients leads to excessive activation of UPS of macrophages [20]. The excessive activation of UPS promotes the expression and secretion of inflammatory factors (such as vascular cell adhesion factor 1 and intercellular adhesion molecule 1) in diabetes mellitus, causing irreversible injury of vascular endothelial cells and resulting in atherosclerosis [21].
In addition, in diabetic patients, AGEs, angiotensin II, endothelin, inflammation and hyperlipemia state increase the activity of PDGF pathway, and the increased activity of PDGF pathway can promote the inflammatory response. PDGF can up-regulate the expression of connective tissue growth factor, promoting the migration, adhesion and proliferation of endothelial cells and fibroblasts, and thus aggravating the development of atherosclerosis [22].
So far, the drug therapies for atherosclerosis mainly comprise a hypolipidemic drug, an anti-platelet drug, an antihypertensive drug, a vasodilator, a hypoglycemic drug, an anticoagulant drug, and a thrombolytic drug. In the studies, surprisingly, we find that plasminogen can alleviate lipid accumulation and deposition on the arterial walls, reduce fibrous tissue hyperplasia, repair an injury of vascular walls caused by atherosclerosis, and improve an ischemic injury of a tissue or organ caused by atherosclerosis, and related conditions caused by tissue and organ ischemia.

Method for treating coronary atherosclerosis and complications thereof


A second epitaxial layer is grown epitaxially over a first epitaxial layer. The first epitaxial layer includes an epitaxially grown layer and a defect layer. The defect layer is disposed over the epitaxially grown layer and serves as a surface layer of the first epitaxial layer. The defect density of the defect layer is 5×1017 cm−2 or more. Defects penetrating through the defect layer form loops in the second epitaxial layer.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufactured using a substrate including an epitaxial layer, a semiconductor substrate, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor substrate.
Nitride semiconductors such as GaN and AlGaN are used as the substrates of high-voltage semiconductor devices and light-emitting devices. Nitride semiconductor substrates obtained by epitaxially growing a nitride semiconductor layer over a substrate including Si, sapphire, or the like are used for cost reduction purposes. However, the lattice constant of a nitride semiconductor differs from that of the material included in the substrate. Thus, many dislocations occur in the nitride semiconductor layer.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-146605 discloses the following technology. First, a first nitride semiconductor layer is epitaxially grown over a sapphire substrate. Next, ions are implanted into the first nitride semiconductor layer. At this time, ions are implanted to the extent that the first nitride semiconductor layer is not amorphized. Specifically, an implantation acceleration voltage of 20 keV and a dose amount of 1×1013 cm−2 are shown as ion implantation conditions. This Publication states that the ions implanted as described above can terminate dangling bonds made by the dislocations. Subsequently, a second nitride semiconductor layer is epitaxially grown over the first nitride semiconductor layer.

Semiconductor device, semiconductor substrate, method for manufacturing semiconductor device, and method for manufacturing semiconductor substrate


In a current control system for a cylindrical permanent magnet synchronous motor as the drive source of an electric power steering apparatus, proportional gain Kdp and integral gain Kdi of a d-axis current PI control portion 126 are respectively set to K1·Ld and K1·Rd on the basis of d-axis inductance Ld and d-axis resistance Rd of the motor. Further, proportional gain Kqp and integral gain Kqi of a q-axis current PI control portion 128 are respectively set to K2·Lq and K2·Rq on the basis of q-axis inductance Lq and q-axis resistance Rq of the motor (K1 and K2 are optional coefficients). In this case, both of the d-axis resistance Rd and the q-axis resistance Rq have values resulting from adding the external resistance R′ including wiring resistance to the internal resistance R of the motor.

The present invention relates to an electric power steering apparatus for giving steering auxiliary power to the steering mechanism of a vehicle by a cylindrical permanent magnet synchronous motor as a brushless motor and a motor driving apparatus and more particularly to motor current control in such an electric power steering.
Electric power steering apparatus adapted for giving steering auxiliary power to steering mechanisms by driving electric motors in response to steering torque applied by drivers to handles (steering wheels) are used. As the electric motor (drive source) for use in the electric power steering apparatus, the motor with a brush has conventionally been used; however, the brushless motor such as a cylindrical permanent magnet synchronous motor is also employed in recent years in view of not only improving reliability and durability but also decreasing inertia. In the electric power steering apparatus in which the brushless motor is used, feedback control by a sine-wave electric current is performed as described hereunder.
The brushless motor normally essentially includes a rotor as a field system formed with a permanent magnet and a stator formed with a three-phase coil having U, V and W phases. In the drive control portion of the brushless motor, a voltage command value is calculated by proportional integral control operations so that an electric current having a target value that is set in response to steering torque flows through the motor and, based on the voltage command value, a sine wave voltage varying in a sine-wave form in response to the rotating position of the rotor is applied to the motor. The electric power steering apparatus is provided with a current control portion for controlling the motor current. In the current control portion, the voltage and the current as a three-phase AC current with respect to the driving of the motor are normally indicated by a rotary orthogonal coordinate system (called 'd-q coordinates') having a d-axis (also called an 'orthogonal axis') as the direction of magnetic flux of the field system of the rotor and a q-axis (also called an 'abscissa axis') that is perpendicular to the d-axis and leading the d-axis by π/2. With the d-q coordinates, the current made to flow through the motor can be treated as DC composed of a d-axis component and a q-axis component. In this case, the proportional integral control operations on the deviation of a target current value from the current actually flowing through the motor is carried out for each of the d-axis and q-axis components. A proportional gain and an integral gain for use in the proportional integral control operations are set on the basis of the inductance and internal resistance of the motor.
As saliency cannot be bypassed in the case of an embedded magnet synchronous motor, the d-axis quantity and the q-axis quantity of the reactance of the motor are treated separately (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example). When the embedded magnet synchronous motor is used in the electric power steering apparatus, it is necessary to carry out the proportional integral control operations based on the proportional gain and the integral gain differentiated by the d-axis component and the q-axis component of the motor current that should be kept under control.
In the case of a cylindrical permanent magnet synchronous motor, the rotor is a surface magneto structure with d-axis inductance as the d-axis quantity and q-axis inductance as the q-axis quantity of the reactance of the motor being substantially equal. Consequently, in the electric power steering apparatus using cylindrical permanent magnet synchronous motor, the proportional integral control operations is carried out on the assumption that an electrical time constant L/R as the ratio of the inductance L to the internal resistance R of the motor is set to the same value on the d-axis and the q-axis (absence of the saliency). Even in an electric power steering apparatus using a brushless motor having saliency with d-axis inductance different from q-axis inductance, moreover, the saliency can be disregarded because reluctance torque is obviated by controlling the application of voltage to the corresponding motor so that the d-axis component of the current flowing through the motor is reduced to zero.
Non-Patent Document 1
'Designing and Control of Embedded Magnet Synchronous Motor' by Youji Takeda et al 3, first edition, published by K. K. Ohmsha on Oct. 25, 2001
As set forth above, control of the motor current (to put it concretely, the proportional integral control operations for calculating the voltage command value) is performed on the assumption that the d-axis inductance and the q-axis inductance of the motor are equal in the electric power steering apparatus using the cylindrical permanent magnet synchronous motor.
However, it still remains unverified up to the present that the measurement of the d-axis inductance and the q-axis inductance of the motor has strictly been conducted and that the presence or absence of the difference between these factors of inductance has affected frequency characteristics of the current control in the electric power steering apparatus using the cylindrical permanent magnet synchronous motor. The present inventors looked into the foregoing problems and obtained FIG. 6 in the form of a Bode diagram showing the frequency characteristics of the q-axis current and FIG. 7 in the form of a Bode diagram showing the frequency characteristics of the d-axis current, whereby it was ascertained that there was an ignorable difference between the response of the d-axis current and that of q-axis current.


A two component chemiluminescent composition comprising an oxalate component and a peroxide component together with a fluorescer and a catalyst which comprises a magnesium salt of salicylic acid or a substituted salicylic acid such as magnesium salicylate, magnesium-3,5,6-trichlorosalicylate, magnesium-3,5-dichloro-salicylate or magnesium-3-chlorosalicylate. High intensity chemiluminescent light of long duration is instantly produced when the two components are mixed.

Chemiluminescent compositions which produce light upon admixture of two components are well known. The two components are kept separate until light is desired. At the desired time, the two components are mixed and light is produced. The intensity, duration and color of the light will depend on the ingredients of the two components.
The first component is an oxalate component which comprises an oxalate ester and a solvent. The second component is a peroxide component which comprises a peroxide compound and a solvent. The composition also includes a fluorescer which may be present in either component as well as a catalyst which is normally present in the peroxide component.
The prior art discloses the use of Group Ia metal salts as catalysts for the chemiluminescent compositions. Examples of such prior art catalysts include sodium salicylate, sodium-5-halogen salicylates, rubidium acetate, lithium salicylate, lithium-5-t-butyl salicylate, lithium mono-, di- and tri- chloro-salicylates, rubidium acetate, potassium salicylate, tetraalkylammonium salicylates, tetraalkylammonium benzoates, perchlorates, fluoborates, benzoates and the like, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,775,336; 3,749,679, 4,751,616, 4,626,383, and the like.
The prior art catalysts mentioned above suffer from several disadvantages, e.g. The are too "hot", i.e. they produce chemiluminescent light of high intensity but of short duration, the light is of long duration but of low intensity, light of acceptable intensity and duration is produced only at room temperatures or higher, etc. In contradistinction thereto, the catalysts of the present invention readily produce chemiluminescent light of high intensity and long duration at cold temperatures, e.g. as low as -40.degree. C.


The present invention relates to coupling high power optical sources into small diameter optical fibers. In a first embodiment, an optical source is provided to the side of a fiber. The fiber is a single mode fiber, which has a cladding and a core, with a Bragg grating written into the core at a low angle. Light emitted from the optical source is index-match coupled into the cladding by using an index-matched element, and subsequently coupled into the fiber core along its length. Alternatively, the light is launched into an end of a larger diameter fiber with a mode reducing means, e.g. long period grating, therein for directing the light into the small diameter fiber.

Conventional techniques for coupling light into optical fibers introduces the light into the end of the fiber. Unfortunately, this limits the area available for coupling light to what amounts to a point, which is typically less than 10 microns in diameter, for a single-mode fiber. Even in the case of cladding-pumped fibers, the diameter of the cladding is still only on the order of several hundred microns. Moreover, some form of coupling optic, e.g. in the form of a discrete lens or a lens formed onto the end of the fiber, would also be required to couple the laser emission into the fiber.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate end views for existing fiber configurations. The fiber illustrated in FIG. 1A is a small diameter fiber, e.g. a single mode fiber, and includes a core 2 and a cladding 4. The fiber illustrated in FIG. 1B is a double clad fiber, and includes an inner core 6, a secondary core (cladding) 8 and an outer cladding 10.
The index of the core 2, see FIG. 1A, can be stepped with respect to the gladding or graded; however, the light that is coupled into a propagating mode in the fiber must satisfy the total internal reflection criteria of Snell's law. This limits the area over which light can be coupled into the fiber to the approximate size of the core 2. Enlarging the core 2 beyond this limit results in multi-mode propagation.
With reference to FIG. 1B, the larger secondary core 8 is provided for propagating multimode pump light. The small diameter single-mode central core 6 can be doped with atomic gain species, such as erbium. The pump light excites the gain species as it passes back and forth across the central core 6, converting light at the pump wavelength to light at gain species emission wavelength.
Both approaches place significant restrictions on the allowable optics and power levels that can be used. Typically, the damage threshold of the fiber-end surface limits the power that can be couple into the fiber.
The larger size of the multi-mode core 8 allows a relatively larger diode pump array to be end-coupled onto the fiber. However, the pump laser is still limited to the area of the fiber cladding 10, which is typically less than 500 μm in diameter.
Fiber gratings have been available for several years. Conventionally, Side Tape Gratings (STG) and Long Period Gratings (LPG) have been used to couple light out of a fiber. For the STG, the angle at which the radiated light is coupled out of the fiber is: cos [θ(λ)]=1/nclad(λ/Δg Ncos θg−neff(λ)); where,nclad=Cladding Index; neff(λ)=Effective index at wavelength, λ;
θ(λ)=Wavelength dependent angle subtended by light radiated out of the core;
θg=Grating period;
Δg=Tilt of the grating with respect to the propagation direction; and
N=Order of the grating.
While these types of gratings are described as exemplary types of fiber gratings, the function they serve may be generated using other types of induced index change within the fiber to cause coupling of incident light along the length of the fiber to the core of the fiber. An example of such a structure is a regular pattern of notches along the length of the fiber, which, like a grating have a period as described in the above equation.
The approach described above has been used previously as a way to filter or reject unwanted light or to couple light out of a fiber to a power-monitoring device. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a new optical device that can couple light into an optical fiber to achieve higher coupled power.
Conventional fiber lasers, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,897 issued Jun. 6, 1995 to Wyatt et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,710 issued Jun. 25, 1996 to Grubb; U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,644 issued Aug. 19, 1997 to DiGiovanni et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,484 issued Jun. 30, 1998 to Wyatt et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,557 issued Aug. 17, 1999, include a multi-mode optical fiber section disposed between an optical source and a single mode fiber section in an effort to input as much light as possible into the single mode fiber section. Unfortunately, most of the aforementioned references rely on wavelength conversion and forcing light into the cladding of the single mode fiber section before transmission in the core thereof is possible.
Devices requiring wavelength conversions provide limited wavelengths, which are dependent upon the available rare-earth material, while cladding pumped lasers results in considerable attenuation unless specially designed cladding is provided

Coupling high power optical sources to small diameter fibers


The present invention relates to an inner pin base for a three-pole plug. The inner pin base has a round-sectional passageway at a top portion and two channels at two sides of a bottom portion. An upper and a lower rims of the passageway extend backward to form an upper and a lower tongue pieces, respectively, allowing a ground terminal to pass through while a projected portion on a top surface of the lower tongue piece engages with an oval hole at the end of the ground terminal passing therethrough. The channels each has a vertical and slender slot formed at their substantially closed front end, allowing a positive or a negative terminal to pass through. Two parallel stops extend backward from two internal sides of each vertical and slender slot and each has two vertically spaced projected portions inwardly extending toward the slender slot such that the vertically spaced projected portions of the parallel stops engage with recesses formed on the positive and/or the negative terminals when the terminals are separately inserted through the vertical and slender slots. In this manner, the inner pin base allows convenient assembly of the terminals and provides considerable strength to hold the assembled terminals so that the inner pin base along with the assembled terminals may be directly positioned in a mold for injection molding to form a finished three-pole plug.

It is known that three-pole plugs and associated sockets are safe in use and therefore, they are now widely used in the connection of various kinds of electric appliances. FIG. 6 illustrates one of the commonly adopted three-pole plugs of which the inner structure can be clearly seen from the drawing. Such a conventional three-pole plug usually comprises an inner pin base member 6 and an outer protective housing member 7 fitly covering the inner pin base member 6. The inner pin base member 6 has a concave top 61 from an adequate point of there a cotter 62 suitable for engaging with an opening 31 at the end of a round-sectional ground terminal 3 upwardly projects. The inner pin base member 6 further has two side fixing blocks 63 suitable for separately engaging with end recesses 41, 51 of a positive terminal 4 and a negative terminal 5, respectively. The outer protective housing member 7 has two longitudinally extended and upward projected flanges 71 which are suitable for engaging with two corresponding grooves 64 formed at a bottom side of the inner pin base member 6. With the assembly of the outer protective housing member 7 and the inner pin base member 6 by engaging the flanges 71 with the grooves 64, the pre-assembled ground, positive, and negative terminals 3, 4, 5 are firmly fixed in place within the protective housing member 7. The assembled inner pin base member 6 and the outer protective housing member 7 must be wrapped with insulating material through injection molding so as to form the common three-pole plug as shown in FIG. 5.
In a further study of the above-mentioned manufacturing process and the structure of a conventional three-pole plug, it is found that the ground, the positive, and the negative terminals 3, 4, 5 are manually mounted on the inner pin base member 6, and then, the outer protective housing member 7 is manually put over to house the assembled terminals and inner pin base member 6. For an experienced and skilled operator, it might not be so difficult to complete this two-stage assembly, except a longer time is required. However, for an unexperienced operator, such assembly would be not only a time-consuming but also a labor-consuming work. Moreover, the assembled inner pin base member 6 must be housed with a protective housing member 7 which apparently increases the production cost due to additional material used to make the protective housing member 7.


A photograph storage device including a container. A photo rack is slidably received within the container. The photo rack includes a base member. The base member has a plurality of sleeves pivotally secured thereto along a length thereof. Each of the sleeves is dimensioned for holding at least one photograph therein. A cover member slidably couples with the container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photograph storage device and more particularly pertains to storing and protecting photographs with a photograph storage device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of photo albums is known in the prior art. More specifically, photo albums heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of displaying photographs are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,591 to Dorman; U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,919 to Plutsky; U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,097 to Bowman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,903 to Janovsky; U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,072 to Gross; Patent Number EP 0 438 034 A2 to Stancato; and Patent Number WO 93/05964 to Policht.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a photograph storage device for storing and protecting photographs.
In this respect, the photograph storage device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of storing and protecting photographs.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for new and improved photograph storage device which can be used for storing and protecting photographs. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A device for driving a piece of equipment from a driving shaft has a torsional vibration damper and comprises a primary element for connection to the driving shaft and a secondary element for connection to the piece of equipment. A first elastic member surrounds the primary element and an inertia ring surrounds the first elastic member. The secondary element has a rim extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the device, and the rim partly covers the inertia ring. A cylindrical ring is located between the rim and the inertia ring for providing friction and a radial guide bearing. The secondary element has a transverse covering integral with the rim extending radially inwardly toward the longitudinal axis of the driving shaft. A second elastic member is located between the transverse covering and the primary element.

The present invention relates to drive devices having torsional vibration dampers.
More particularly, the present invention relates to devices for driving at least one piece of equipment, from a driving shaft, having a torsional vibration damper for rotating masses, which devices comprise a primary element intended to be fixed to the driving shaft and a secondary element intended to be connected to the said at least one piece of equipment, the said primary element being linked, on the one hand, to an inertia ring via first elastic means and, on the other hand, to the secondary element via second elastic means.
Such drive devices are well known; they are, for example, mounted at the end of the driving shaft of a motor vehicle and permit the rotational driving of one or (more) piece(s) of equipment, such as an alternator, a fan or another piece of equipment. A device of this kind is described, for example, in the document DE-A-4322710.
Such a drive device is provided so that two main functions are fulfilled, namely a damping function and a filtering function.
The damping function dampens the torsional vibrations of the driving shaft, for example the crankshaft of the engine of the vehicle, thanks to the association of the inertia ring and the first elastic means, the properties of which, inertia and elasticity, are determined as a function of the dynamic characteristics of the driving shaft and the moving equipment linked to it.
The filtering function filters the cyclic irregularities of the driving shaft; in the case of a motor-vehicle engine, it is known that these irregularities appear at low speed and that they impair the correct operation of the engine and the mechanical stability of the pieces of equipment driven by the device; this filtering function is fulfilled by the second elastic means which are chosen to have great torsional flexibility, which is calculated while taking into account the pieces of equipment driven by the device.
Such drive devices work well but, as indicated, their structure and therefore their space requirement is dependent, on the one hand, on the driving component, and even [sic] the driving shaft and the moving equipment linked to it, and, on the other hand, on the piece(s) of equipment which is (or are) driven; it is not always possible therefore, for a given application, to dimension them strictly in accordance with the calculations, which therefore impairs the efficiency and the mechanical stability of the components concerned.
The object of the present invention is to overcome these disadvantages and its subject is a drive device which can be adapted rigorously, whatever the application.


A method of precisely mounting a planar optical component on a mounting member includes the step of placing a plurality of balls on the mounting member to precisely define a geometric plane. The planar optical component is then placed against each of the balls on the mounting member such that the planar optical component is along the defined geometric plane on the mounting member. In addition, the planar optical component can also be mounted on the mounting member by first forming a groove in the mounting member. An end of the planar optical component is then shaped to match that of at least one wall of the groove. The planar optical component can then be placed in the groove such that the shaped end of the planar optical component is placed against the wall of the groove.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to fiber optics or photonics modules. More particularly, this invention relates to precisely erect a planar optical component (e.g., a mirror or an optical filter) on a mounting member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical communications systems are widely used for carrying very large amount of information with low error rate and at low cost over great distances. For this reason, considerable development has been done on components of optical communication systems, such as photonics packages or modules. Photonics generally refers to devices that share both electronic and optical attributes. These devices can be laser devices, which generate coherent light in response to an electronic signal, and photo detectors, which generate an electronic signal in response to light.
A typical photonics module such as the photonics module 10 of FIG. 1 uses edge emitting semiconductor lasers and surface detecting photo detectors. As can be seen from FIG. 1, since an edge emitting laser 11 has a relatively wide radiation angle, a lens 12 is typically inserted between the laser 11 and an optical fiber 13 to obtain high optical coupling efficiency. In addition, a lens 17 is typically inserted between the optical fiber 13 and a photo detector 15. The inserted lens 17 improves the optical coupling efficiency between the optical fiber 13 and the photo detector 15. Because the photonics module 10 can function, for example, as a bidirectional module, it may be desirable to insert an optical filter 18 in the photonics module 10 to direct light beams among the three elements 11, 13, and 15 for desired operation.
In making the photonics module 10, the laser 11, the lens 12, the optical filter 18, and the optical fiber 13 must be in precise predetermined alignment with one another. In addition, the optical fiber 13, the optical filter 18, the lens 17, and the photo detector 15 must be in precise predetermined alignment with one another. To achieve this, fixtures and/or mounts are typically needed to hold the components in place and in alignment with one another, as shown in FIG. 2.
As can be seen from FIG. 2, a fixture 21 is used to hold the lens 12 in place and in predetermined alignment with the laser 11 that is also mounted on the fixture 21. This fixture 21 is then coupled to another fixture 22 that holds the optical fiber 13 and the optical filter 18 in place. A third fixture 20 is used to hold the lens 17 in place and in alignment with the photo detector 15. The fixture 20 also mounts and secures the photo detector 15. Because the photo detector 15 is the surface detecting photo detector (as shown in FIG. 2), the photo detector 15 is mounted on the fixture 20 perpendicular to the incoming light, as shown in FIG. 2. The fixture 20 is also coupled to the fixture 22. The alignment of the laser 11, the lenses 12 and 17, the photo detector 15, the optical filter 18, and the optical fiber 13 is achieved by the fixtures 20 through 22.
One disadvantage of such photonics modules or packages is that the fixtures are typically relatively costly to fabricate because they typically require relatively high precision. Another disadvantage is that it is typically time consuming to assemble the photonics modules using the fixtures, thus causing low throughput. In addition, time may also be needed for alignment and adjustment during assembling the photonics modules. This typically hinders mass-production of the photonics modules by operators having a moderate level of skill while maintaining the required alignment criteria. These factors typically limit the cost reduction of the photonics modules.
Prior attempts have been made to mount a number of components (e.g., a laser and a spherical lens) on a single silicon mounting member. However, it is typically difficult to precisely mount a planar optical device such as the optical filter 10 of FIGS. 1-2 on a planar surface of a mounting member using conventional mounting mechanisms because it is difficult to define the three-dimensional location of the planar optical device on the planar surface of the mounting member. In addition, mounting the planar optical device on the planar surface of the mounting member requires active alignment and complex bonding and packaging steps.

Mounting a planar optical component on a mounting member


A method and digital camera avoiding the use of delay lines for block processing within the camera, such as compressing images, demosaicing, or the like. Processing is done for a block comprising a single newly received line, together with previously acquired information. In one preferred embodiment, the block processing is performed for the single line using previous lines as retrieved from the results of previous processing. In another embodiment, the processing results for the current block are determined by the processing results of the previous block together with the newly received line. Saving delay lines provides for lower memory requirements, and enables the production of smaller and lower cost cameras.

Digital cameras and other image processing devices are being used nowadays ubiquitously throughout the world. Their popularity mainly stems from their relatively small size and low cost, which are due to the enabling technology.
A digital camera module usually comprises a sensor for acquiring the raw information, an image signal processing (ISP) unit for converting the raw signal into RGB pixel information ready to be displayed or compressed, and optionally a processing engine such as a compression engine for example to Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format. The sensor is preferably arranged in a matrix-like structure comprising lines and columns of sensor units. In common implementations the ISP unit and processing engine comprise a memory unit that stores the image part which undergoes processing, and a processing unit.
Modern devices store and use up to the last nine or more lines acquired by the sensor, referred to as delay lines, for providing the ISP with the image part for processing, and up to seven or more delay lines for providing the information for JPEG or any other compression engines. Since the image sizes keep increasing, in order to supply the required information to the engines, the memory requirements increase as well. This leads to a situation in which the memory unit constitutes a significant part of the camera module or other image processing engine, and induces increased size and cost.
Some methods exist for reducing the amount of on-chip memory used for the ISP and JPEG engines. One common method is to store the original image in an external memory unit and process the image in thin vertical stripes, for example 256 pixels wide, in order to decrease the length of on-chip delay lines. Thus delay lines constituting of 256 pixels are used and considerable amount of internal memory might be saved. However, this method has at least two limitations. The first limitation is that large external memory unit and memory bandwidth are not always available. Second, writing to and reading from the external memory require additional time, and significantly increase the minimal possible time between taken consecutive images. The time is further increased, since the memory has to be read twice, once for the ISP processing and once for the JPEG compression, if the internal delay lines are to be saved for JPEG compression after being processed.
Thus there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for avoiding the usage of memory for storing delay lines, and thus minimize on-chip memory requirements. The method and apparatus should enable efficient processing of the raw information as captured by the sensor while avoiding the usage of an external memory unit for storing the information, and avoid increase in the size or price of the camera or other image processing device.

Method and apparatus for optimizing memory usage in image processing


The present invention relates to a power supply unit for discharge lamps, comprising a rectifier (3); an oscillator output portion (5); an inductor (1); capacitor (2, 4, 7, 8). And further comprising a sampling resistor (9) and a module (10). It is used to reduce the capacitive impedance at the input end of the circuit, minimizing the components of high-order harmonics produced in the circuit, weakening the high-order harmonics of source current to the degree that they no longer impact the power network.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,887 publicizes a power supply unit for starting fluorescent lamps, which consists of HF filters, a rectification network, push-pull oscillation circuits, series-connected resonance circuits and two groups of parallel-connected diodes. By using HF filters, the unit is intended to eleminate the interference on the power transmission network caused by higher order harmonics produced by capacitors with large capacitance in the voltage regulating circuit in the rectifying network. However, the final results of this type of circuits are not satisfactory.
European Patent EP 0075176 publicizes another power supply unit for discharging lamps, which features almost identical HF filters, rectifying network and resonance circuit, and excitation of the fluorescent lamp by means of a bridge-circuit output, its aim being to avoid phase shift and increase the power factor.
Since in both the above-mentioned circuits capacitors with high capacitance values are used in the voltage regulating circuit of the rectifying network, it is necessary to add a number of HF filters at the input end of the rectifying network. In spite of this, high-order harmonics caused by large the capacitance cannot be completely eliminated. Therefore, the capacitance value of the voltage regulating circuit has to be reduced without affecting the operation of the circuit. The reducing of the capacitance value will result in a significant reduction of the components of high-order harmonics produced by the circuit. The object of the present invention is to reduce the capacitive impedance at the input end of the circuit, increase the matching of the inductive impedance and the capacitive impedance at the input end, thus minimizing the components of high-order harmonics produced by the circuit.
The object of the present invention is to reduce the capacitive impedance at the input end of the circuit, increase the matching of the inductive impedance and the capacitive impedance at the input end, thus minimizing the components of high-order harmonics produced in the circuit, improving the current waveform at the input end to the extent of being near a sinusoidal wave, increasing the power factor and weakening the high-order harmonics of source current to the degree that they no longer impact the power network.
Another object of the present invention is to enable normal operation of a circuit with very lower filtering capacitor and prevent abnormal operation due to lowered capacitance at the input end and poor voltage regulation characteristics by means of an LC network connected ahead rectifying network and filtering, isolating and energy-storage capacitors collocated.
A further object of the present invention is to prohibit the operation when the voltage and current become abnormal at the input end of the power network by means of a protective network connected between the rectifying network and the oscillator output circuit.


There is provided an electron source substrate capable of, even with occurrence of discharge between an anode and an electron-emitting device, avoiding the negative effect on other electron-emitting devices. The electron source substrate has row-directional wiring laid in a row direction; column-directional wiring laid in a column direction so as to intersect with the row-directional wiring; and an electron-emitting device one end of which is coupled to the row-directional wiring, the other end of which is coupled through a resistor element to the column-directional wiring, and to which a predetermined drive voltage is supplied through the wiring, and is configured so that a wiring resistance of the column-directional wiring is higher than a wiring resistance of the row-directional wiring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron source substrate in which a plurality of electron-emitting devices are arranged in a matrix pattern, and display apparatus using it.
2. Related Background Art
As the electron-emitting devices used in the display apparatus of this type, there are two types of devices: thermal electron sources and cold cathode electron sources. The cold cathode electron sources include field emission devices, metal/insulator/metal devices, surface conduction electron-emitting devices (hereinafter referred to as SCE devices), and so on. The SCE devices will be described herein.
The SCE devices are devices making use of the phenomenon in which electrons are emitted when an electric current is allowed to flow through a thin film of a small area formed on a substrate and in parallel to the film surface. FIGS. 19A and 19B show the configuration of the M. Hartwell's device as a typical device configuration of the SCE devices. FIG. 19A is a top plan view of the device and FIG. 19B a side view thereof.
With reference to FIGS. 19A and 19B, this SCE device is constructed in structure in which a pair of device electrodes 142, 143 having the device electrode spacing L and the device electrode length W are formed on a substrate 141 of glass or the like, an electroconductive thin film 144 is formed so as to connect these device electrodes 142, 143, and an electron-emitting region 145 is formed near the center of the electroconductive thin film 144.
Since the SCE devices are simple in structure and easy in production, they are advantageous in permitting a lot of devices to be arrayed over a large area. Therefore, they are readily applicable to the display apparatus and a variety of display apparatus have been proposed heretofore.
The following will briefly describe the structure and operation of an ordinary display apparatus provided with an electron source substrate in which the SCE devices are arranged in a matrix.
FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a portion of a conventional display panel extracted. This display panel is provided with a face plate 159 having a phosphor 150 on a lower surface and a rear plate 151 opposed thereto. In the rear plate 151, a plurality of electron-emitting devices 156 to 158 are formed each in a configuration consisting of a pair of device electrodes 152, 153 and an electroconductive thin film 154 formed so as to connect them and having an electron-emitting region 155 near the center. These electron-emitting devices 156 to 158 are similar to the SCE devices shown in FIGS. 19A and 19B.
In this display panel, when a device voltage Vf of ten and several Volts is placed between the device electrodes 152, 153, electrons are emitted from the lower potential side of each electron-emitting region 155 and part of electrons impinge upon the face plate 159 serving as an anode to which a voltage of several kV is applied, thereby inducing emission of light from the phosphor 150.
For reference, the following provides some of related technologies developed by Assignee, as technologies about the above-stated SCE devices.
Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 09-102271 and No. 2000-251665 detail production of the SCE devices by the ink jet forming method. Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 64-031332 and No. 07-326311 detail examples of the matrix arrangement of the SCE devices. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 08-185818 and No. 09-050757 describe wiring forming methods of the electron source substrate provided with the SCE devices, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-342636 and others detail driving methods. Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 02-247936, No. 02-247937, and No. 07-326283 disclose placement of a resistor element in series to the SCE device in order to enhance uniformity of characteristics of the electron-emitting device.
The display apparatus using the conventional SCE devices described above had the problems as described below, however.
When the conventional display panel shown in FIG. 20 was driven, for example, by applying the device voltage Vf of ten and several Volts between the device electrodes 152, 153 of the electron-emitting device 158 to cause emission of electrons therefrom and accelerating the emitted electrons by the acceleration voltage of several kV, there sometimes occurred a short circuit between the lower potential side and the higher potential side of the electron-emitting device because of adsorbates near the electron-emitting region 155, or discharge due to local degassing, or the like. On that occasion, an over current sometimes flowed through the electron-emitting device 158 to break the electroconductive thin film 154 and the electrodes 152, 153. Furthermore, the gas evolved on that occasion induced discharge between the anode and the electron-emitting region 155 to break the electroconductive thin film 154 and the electrodes 152, 153 and an abnormal voltage was also applied through wiring to the other electron-emitting devices 156, 157 electrically coupled, thereby causing deterioration of these devices. Conventionally, such phenomena posed the problem that nonuniformity of luminance or the like resulted in degradation of quality of displayed images.
If the voltage applied to the anode is increased, discharge will occur between the electron-emitting region of the electron-emitting device and the anode. The number of devices damaged by this discharge tends to increase with increase in the anode voltage. The reason for it is as follows: an abnormal current flowing upon the discharge becomes larger, so as to increase the degree of the damage to the device and increase the abnormal voltage applied to the wiring, thereby increasing the number of devices affected through the wiring. For this reason, it was impossible to adequately increase the anode voltage heretofore, and this was a cause of decrease in the luminance of the display panel.
The problems as described above did not allow the surface conduction electron-emitting devices to be positively applied in industries though they had the advantage of simple device structure.

Electron source substrate and display apparatus using it


A meandered slit antenna is provided. The meandered slit antenna includes: a printed circuit board; an RF module mounted on the printed circuit board to generate a predetermined electric signal; a microstrip feed line connected with the RF module to transmit the predetermined electric signal; and a slot part for radiating an electromagnetic wave induced by the electric signal that is transmitted through the microstrip feed line, the slot part being formed in a meandered shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna having a predetermined meandered slot on a ground plane of an RF module, and more particularly, to a meandered slit antenna that does not require an extra antenna attachment process when manufacturing a module such as an RF remote control.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development of the information communication technology, a wireless communication system has been changed from a system for just transmitting voice data into a system for transmitting various kinds of wideband data such as multimedia data. Furthermore, as the mobility of wireless communication is more emphasized, a wireless communication terminal used in the wireless communication system gradually is getting smaller and lighter.
Additionally, the attention for radio frequency identification (RFID) that plays an important role in ubiquitous technology has been increased. The RFID is a technology with a semiconductor microchip to process data and is a non-contact recognition system to wirelessly transmit and process information on objects and surroundings by attaching each microchip to various kinds of products. The RFID system that appeared at the 1980's is also known as dedicated short range communication (DSRC) or a radio frequency identification system. The RFID includes a scanner, a frequency, and a tag. The RFID system is characteristic of a wireless connection between the scanner and the tag. Also, the RFID can edit and add data to the tag, read a plurality of tags simultaneously, and have a high read rate under the poor condition such as coldness and warmth, humidity, dust, or heat.
Moreover, an antenna produces a radio signal when transmitting an electric signal generated in an electronic circuit into space, or converts a radio signal received from air into an electric signal at an electronic circuit. The former is called a sending antenna and the latter is called a receiving antenna. In a common communication system, the sending antenna plays the receiving antenna at the same time.
Additionally, when an antenna is used for transmission (radiation), various characteristics such as directionality and an operating frequency appear just like when used for reception. Therefore, the receiving antenna, assuming as a sending antenna for convenience of explanation, is used for explaining an operating principle of the antenna.
A dielectric substrate has a predetermined dielectric constant and thickness in a conventional slot antenna used in the RF remote control or the RFID tag. A slot is formed on one side of the dielectric substrate and has an half length of a center frequency wavelength λ for radiation of an electromagnetic field. A microstrip feed line is formed on other side of the dielectric substrate and supplies an electromagnetic energy to the slot.
On the other hand, a conductor line on a printed circuit board (PCB) is used as an antenna in a conventional antenna. However, a meandered antenna uses a conductor line on the PCB as an antenna when a frequency is relatively low. Consequently, it becomes very difficult to embody an antenna with an increase of a capacitive loading effect.
Also, when a conductor is disposed at an upper portion and/or a lower portion of a conventional antenna, there is a problem in that an amount of radiation of an electromagnetic wave decreases because a current canceling effect is influenced by an image current. Specifically, a current is cancelled out by an influence of an image current when the antenna is placed around a conductor such as a multi-layer substrate, a steel product, and a container. Additionally, the antenna uses an induced electric current on a conventional conductive surface, and the image current is caused by the conductive surface around an antenna or a ground plane. Consequently, there is a problem in that an amount of radiation or a frequency varies extremely.
Furthermore, a conventional antenna has a main lobe in a direction perpendicular to a ground plane of the antenna when a remote controller requires a large amount of radiation in a specific direction. Consequently, it is very difficult to radiate in a parallel direction as required.


A polyethylene composition that resists changing color when subjected to ultraviolet light said polyethylene composition comprises:. (a) bis(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl)pentaerythritol diphosphite, in an amount that is at least about 0.001 parts but less than 0.30 parts per 100 parts by weight of said polyethylene; and PA0 (b) zinc stearate, in an amount that is from about 0.1 part 1 part per 100 parts by weight, of said polyethylene.

This invention relates to the field of polyethylene compositions.
Ultraviolet light has a wave length from about 10 to about 400 nanometers. When ultraviolet radiation comes into contact with a polymer, that polymer tends to degrade into a less useful composition.
Recently however, ultraviolet light radiation has been used to cure labels onto plastic articles as well as to cure certain types of printing inks onto plastic articles. The advantages of using ultraviolet light radiation to cure printing ink is that these UV curable printing inks containing very little solvent in them. This promotes fast curing of the printing ink as well as elimination of any fire hazard associated with using a solvent-based liquid ink.
Another advantage of using ultraviolet light radiation is the elimination of the thermal ovens that are usually used in drying solvent based liquid inks. This produces a cost savings as well as an energy savings by not using these thermal ovens. Additionally, due to recent clean air legislation the use of solvent based liquid inks is undesirable since 30 to 60% of a solvent-based liquid ink evaporates into the air.
However, it was recently discovered that while subjecting certain types of polyethylene compositions to high intensity ultraviolet light radiation these compositions discolored. This invention provides a solution to minimize this discoloring phenomenon.


A method for generating bump map data substantially in real time for use in a 3-dimensional computer graphics system. Data is received which defines an area to which a texture is to be applied. Texture data to apply to the area is also received. This data includes surface height data. A set of partially overlapping samples of texture data are then filtered and surface tangent vectors derived therefrom. A bump map surface normal is then derived from the tangent vectors.

In the field of 3D computer graphics, detail is often added to otherwise smooth objects though the use of Bump Mapping, which was introduced by Blinn in his paper "Simulation of Wrinkled Surfaces" (SIGGRAPH 1978, pp 286-292). This operates by perturbing, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, an object's otherwise 'smoothly' varying surface normal vector. Because the surface's normal vector is used when computing the shading of that surface, its modification can give the appearance of bumps. FIG. 1 shows a surface normal being perturbed.
In Blinn's technique, each perturbation is computed by first taking derivates of a bump displacement texture or 'height map' and subsequently applying it to the original surface normal and surface tangent vectors. The height map is a simple array of scalar values that gives the 'vertical' displacement or 'height' of a surface at regular grid points relative to that surface. Typically these are represented by monochromatic image data, e.g. a bitmap, with the brightness of any pixel being representative of the 'height' at that point. Standard texture mapping practices are used to access the height data. The normal perturbations and lighting calculations are done in global or model space. FIG. 8a shows the application of Blinn's method to an 'illuminated' flat surface.
A more 'hardware friendly' method was later developed by Peercy et al ("Efficient Bump Mapping Hardware", SIGGRAPH 1997, pp 303-306, (also U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,424)). This directly stores perturbed surface normals in a texture map, often called a normal map. Unlike Blinn's method, these normals are defined in a local tangential coordinate space, which can be likened to the representation of parts of the earth's surface on a page in an atlas. In Peercy's technique, the lights used for shading are also transformed into this tangential space and thus the shading calculations are also computed locally. This process significantly reduces the number of calculations required when using bump mapping. It has become popular in recent 3D hardware systems and is sometimes known as 'Dot3 bump mapping'.
To minimize the texture memory and, more importantly, memory bandwidth required by this procedure, it is desirable to compress the normal maps. Unfortunately many of the commonly used texture compression schemes are not suitable as they cause a loss of information that, when applied to the special case of normal maps, can cause an unacceptable degradation in image quality. Two methods that are specifically tailored to normal maps, however, are described in our International patent application No. WO9909523—these typically still use 16 bits to represent each surface normal.
This then leaves the task of generating the normal map. One popular method again uses an initial height map, as originally described by Blinn. From that height map, a normal map can then be pre-computed, prior to rendering, by taking the cross product of the local derivative vectors of the height function sampled at regular positions. For cases where texture filtering is required, e.g. those based on the well-known MIP mapping techniques, the height map should be repeatedly down-sampled and the associated normal map regenerated to produce the multiple MIP map levels. Problems can arise, however, when applying the texture filtering techniques, e.g. bilinear or trilinear filtering, to normal maps.
It should be noted that whereas the height map could be of relatively low precision—often as low as, say 8 or even 4 bits per pixel—the normal map may require 16 to 32 bits per pixel. The pre-processing steps of generating and compressing the normal map and the process of using the compressed normal map in 3D rendering are shown in FIG. 2. In the generation phase a height map 2 is used for normal map generation 4. An optional compression step 6 may then be used to produce an output map 8. in the use of the map 8, an optional decompression step is first performed on-the-fly before the map is used by shading calculations 12 to provide pixel data to an output frame buffer 14.
Also well known in the art is the aspect of texture filtering, primarily the application of bilinear or trilinear filtering, the latter as invented by Williams ("Pyramidal Parametrics", Lance Williams, Computer Graphics, Vol. 7, No. 3, July 1983, pp 1-11). Bilinear filtering is briefly discussed below, since trilinear filtering is just the blending of two bilinear operations.
A 2D texture can be considered to be a vector function of 2 variables (U, V). For simplicity in this discussion, we will assume that, for an N×N pixel texture, the values of U and V range from 0 to N. When bilinear filtering is applied, the pixel, or 'texel', values stored in the texture can be considered to be representative of the points in the centres of the respective texels, i.e. at coordinates (i+0.5, j+0.5), where i and j are integers and represent the texel coordinate of the particular texel. This is illustrated in FIG. 3 for texel (i,j), the centre of which is indicated by '20'. At this point in the texture, bilinear filtering will return the colour of that texel. Similarly, sampling at locations '21', '22', and '23' will return the colours of texels (i+1,j),(i,j+1), and (i+1,j+1) respectively. Now consider any sampling location within the square formed by '20', '21', '22', and '23', such as point '24'. Such a point has texture coordinates (us,vs) where i+0.5≦us<i+1.5 and j+0.5≦vs<j+1.5. The texture values for any point in the square will be formed from a bilinear blend of the four surrounding texels.
In particular, the process used in the art will be some simple variation of the following:
                U′:=Us−0.5;// Place stored texel value at centre of texel        V′:=Vs−0.5;        Ui:=floor(U′);        Vi:=floor(V′);        Ublend:=U′−Ui;        Vblend:=V′−Vi;        // Do 2 horizontal linear blends        Colour0:=LinearBlend(Texel(Ui, Vi), Texel(Ui+1, Vi), Ublend);        Colour1:=LinearBlend(Texel(Ui, Vi+1), Texel(Ui+1, Vi+1), Ublend);        // Do 1 vertical linear blend        Result:=LinearBlend(Colour0, Colour1, Vblend);            The Ublend and Vblend values are thus in the range [0 . . . 1), and can be most conveniently represented by a fixed point number of, say, 8 to 16 bits precision.
FIG. 4a shows hardware, typical in the art, that performs the first steps of the above bilinear algorithm. The requested sample position is input, '50', and the positions adjusted by ½ a texel, '51' via a subtraction. The 'floors' of the coordinate values are computed, '52', and these define the texel integer coordinates, '53', for the top left texel of the required set of 4 texels. The values are also subtracted, '54', from previous values to produce the blending factors for the bilinear operation, '55'.
It should be noted that the colours in 3D computer graphics are usually 4-D entities, having Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha (i.e. transparency) components. When the bilinear blending described above is performed, all four components of the various colour values are operated on in parallel. This is shown in the second stage of the bilinear operation in FIG. 4b. The integer texel coordinates computed in '53', are used to access the four neighbouring texels, '60' thru '63'. Each of these has its own Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha components. In the example, there are four (usually identical) bilinear units, '65' thru '68', each of which computes one of the four colour channels using the blend factors, '55'. The individual scalar results are then recombined into the one resulting colour, '69'.
Another known aspect of 3D computer graphics is that of fitting smooth surfaces through or near a set of control points. In particular we are interested in two types known as uniform B-spline and Bezier splines, as described in literature such as "Computer Graphics. Principles and Practice" (Foley et al) or "Curves and Surfaces for CAGD. A practical guide" (Farin).
Of particular interest to this application is the case of a bi-quadratic B-spline which has C1 continuity (i.e. continuous first derivative). A bi-quadratic B-spline also has the property that, for any point on the surface, a sub-grid of 3×3 control points is needed to evaluate that point and/or derivatives at that point. A one-dimensional slice though a section of a quadratic B-spline is shown in FIG. 5. The points, '80', '81', and '82' can be considered to be three adjacent control points in a row of the grid. The region of the curve between '85', and '86' depends only on these three control values (and the neighbouring 6 values in the 3×3 sub-grid in the case of a bi-quadratic surface).
One popular way of evaluating such a curve is to first convert it to the equivalent Bezier representation, i.e. a different set of 3 control points, and then apply the de Casteljau algorithm which uses repeated linear interpolation (see Farin). For the simple case of quadratic curves, this amounts to using a new set of control points which are '88', '81' (i.e., it is re-used), and '89'. Points '88' and '89' are just the mid points of the connecting line segments and could be found by simple averaging.
For the conversion of a bi-quadratic B-spline surface, the 3×3 grid of control points can be replaced by an equivalent set of 3×3 Bezier control points. An example showing the situation for a bi-quadratic surface is shown, in plan form, in FIG. 6. The original 9 B-spline control points, one example of which is shown by '100', are converted into the equivalent Bezier control points, such as '101'. Stating this more precisely, if the grid of 3×3 B-spline points are:
      [                            a                          b                          c                                      d                          e                          f                                      g                          h                          k                      ]     then the equivalent set of Bezier points are computed from:
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                        k                          ′                                                                                ]                                                             =                                                                                [                                                                                1                            2                                                                                1                            2                                                                                0                                                                                0                                                                          1                                                                          0                                                                                0                                                                                1                            2                                                                                1                            2                                                                                ]                                                                          [                                                                                a                                                                          b                                                                          c                                                                                d                                                                          e                                                                          f                                                                                g                                                                          h                                                                          k                                                                                ]                                                                                [                                                                                1                            2                                                                                0                                                                          0                                                                                1                            2                                                                                1                                                                                1                            2                                                                                0                                                                          0                                                                                1                            2                                                                                ]                                                                                =                                                                                [                                                                                a                            +                            b                            +                            d                            +                            e                                                    4                                                                                b                            +                            e                                                    2                                                                                b                            +                            c                            +                            e                            +                            f                                                    4                                                                                d                            +                            e                                                    2                                                                                e                                                                                e                            +                            f                                                    2                                                                                d                            +                            e                            +                            g                            +                            h                                                    4                                                                                e                            +                            h                                                    2                                                                                e                            +                            f                            +                            h                            +                            k                                                    4                                                                                ]                                                                                Equation                                                  1
Referring again to FIG. 6, the region of interest is the central 'square', i.e. a position specified by (u,v), where 0≦u,v≦1. In the case of a bi-quadratic surface, one method based on de Casteljau would be to bi-linearly interpolate sets of 2×2 neighbouring control points, using (u,v) as weights, to produce a new set of 2×2 intermediate control points. One of the four sets of 2×2 intermediate control points is indicated by '102'. These four results are, in turn, bilinearly interpolated, again using the (u,v) weights, to produce the surface point. If tangents to the surface are required, a method such as given by Mann and Rose ("Computing values and derivatives of Bezier and B-spline tensor products", CAGD, Vol 12, February 1995) can be used. For the bi-quadratic case, this can be done by performing additional linear interpolations using the 2×2 intermediate control values. Finally, taking the cross product of these tangents generates the surface normal.
The height map defines 'height' values only at certain sample locations and so a means of computing the height surface at other points is required. In particular, bump mapping requires the surface normal which, in turn, usually implies the need for surface tangents. Blinn points out that the surface height is not actually required and proposes a function that only computes tangents. He notes that in order to avoid discontinuities in the shading, his tangent functions are continuous. Using the 3×3 grid of height samples shown in 6, Blinn's function performs 3 bilinear blends respectively of the top left, top right, and bottom left neighbours, and then computes the differences of the top left and top right result and the top left and bottom left result as part of the tangent generation.
Although Blinn's function results in a continuous normal, its derivative can have discontinuities. Unfortunately, the human visual system is very sensitive to changes in the derivative of image intensity, and so 'artefacts' can be seen. The method also tends to emphasise the underlying grid of the height map, which can be seen in FIG. 8a. (For the sake of comparison, FIG. 8b illustrates the result from a preferred embodiment of the present invention).
Although the introduction of Peercy et al's pre-perturbed normal map method makes bump mapping more practical in real-time hardware, it still requires 'large' texture formats as well as the separate pre-processing step to convert a height map to normal map. The 'large' texture formats consume valuable bandwidth as well as memory and cache storage and, although special normal map compression techniques exist, these formats are still often larger than the original source height map. Also filtering of the normal map may also be problematic.
A further limitation of Peercy et al's technique is that dynamic bump mapping, i.e. where the bump heights are computed frame-by-frame, is far more difficult to achieve. For example, the height values may be generated as the result of a separate rendering pass. The pre-processing step, including generation of the various MIP map levels, may take too much time to allow real-time rendering.
Finally, it is beneficial to use a height function with C2 (or higher) continuity so that the normal interpolation is C1 (or higher). In particular, it is important to have an inexpensive means of producing this function.

Efficient bump mapping using height maps