Techniques are described for remastering shared resources among nodes in a cluster, while minimizing the number of resources that are unavailable for access (“frozen”) during the remastering operation. Only the resources that are being remastered from one node to one or more other nodes are frozen, whereas the other resources that are not being remastered are not frozen and are, therefore, still accessible. For example, in the context of a database cluster, there is no longer a need to freeze the entire database during a reconfiguration remastering operation. Consequently, during the remastering operation requests for access to the resources that are not being remastered can be processed and locks granted thereon.

A "cluster" is the result of "clustering" computing resources together in such a way that they behave like a single resource. Clustering is often used for purposes of parallel processing, load balancing and fault tolerance. One common example of a cluster is a set of computers, or "nodes", that are configured so that they behave like a single computer. Each computer in the cluster has shared access to a set of resources. A resource is, generally, any item that can be shared by the computers in the cluster. A common example of a resource is a block of memory in which information is stored. The block of memory may be part of a node in the cluster or may be external to the cluster, such as a database block.
A cluster comprises multiple nodes that each executes an instance of a server that each facilitates access to a shared set of resources on behalf of clients of the cluster. One example of a cluster is a database cluster. A database cluster comprises multiple nodes that each executes an instance of a database server that each facilitates access to a shared database. Among other functions of database management, a database server governs and facilitates access to the particular database by processing requests by clients to access data in the database.
Typically, resources are assigned to masters, where each master coordinates the sharing of the resources assigned to it. A single node is the master of a given shared resource. A master has a global view of the state of the shared resources that it masters at any given time and acts as a coordinator for access to the shared resource. For example, a master coordinates and is aware of which node is currently granted a lock on the shared resource (and what type of lock) and which nodes are queued to obtain a lock on the shared resource. Typically, the master's global view of the status of a shared resource is embodied in metadata associated with the resource.
Each shared resource is mapped to a master. Various mechanisms may be used to establish the resource-to-master mapping. Techniques for using hash tables to establish the resource-to-master mapping are described in detail, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,396. The techniques described herein are not limited to any particular mechanism for establishing the resource-to-master mapping.
In order to ensure a balanced distribution of shared resource mastership among nodes in a cluster, resources should be remastered when a node membership change causes a reconfiguration in the cluster, such as when a node is added to or removed from a cluster. For example, if a node goes down and needs to be removed from the cluster, the resources that the node was mastering need to be remastered, i.e., the mastership of these resources needs to be redistributed to other nodes in the cluster. Likewise, if a node is added to the cluster, the new node should be assigned some resources to master, from the other nodes in the cluster. Resource remastering generally entails message exchanges among the nodes regarding which resources need to be remastered as a result of the cluster reconfiguration. Once these messages are exchanged and the resources for remastering are agreed upon by the nodes, resource remastering generally entails freezing access operations (e.g., granting locks) on the particular resources being remastered, while transferring the new resource-to-master mapping and transferring the global view of the state of the resources (e.g., metadata) being remastered from the source master node to the target master node. Resource remastering associated with a cluster reconfiguration operation typically results in a better performing system.
However, with past approaches to cluster reconfiguration, while a cluster is being reconfigured, all the shared resources associated with the cluster are left in an inconsistent state until the remastering operation is completed. Lock operations on any of the resources are not allowed while the resources are in this inconsistent state, which lasts until the remastering operation is completed. This constraint results in a total freezing of access to all the shared resources associated with the cluster. In the context of a database cluster, all the resources associated with the database, i.e., the database itself, are frozen during a reconfiguration remastering operation. Hence, there is room for improvement in making resources shared among nodes in a cluster available while the cluster is being reconfigured.

Techniques for achieving higher availability of resources during reconfiguration of a cluster


A robot controller for teaching a robot with high efficiency. The robot controller including command storage unit (21) where a movement command and a work command are stored, command identifying unit (24) for discriminating between the movement and work commands, unit (22) for making/editing a series of work programs or discrete work programs by a combination of the commands, work program storage units (23) where the work programs are stored so as to control the robot according to the stored program, further including a work section identifying unit (25) for identifying a work section of the work program by way of the command identification unit (24) and work section automatic stopping unit (27) for automatically stopping or suspending the execution of the work program at the work section in a standby state when the work section identifying unit (25) identifies the work section during the execution of the work program.

At present, various robots have been put into practice in various fields and are in operation. Almost all the robots are based on a teaching and playback system. In order to cause the robots to carry out movements and commands, it is necessary for a robot operator to prepare work programs by teaching work. Various types of movement commands and work commands are described in the work programs. By selecting and carrying out the work programs after the work programs are prepared, a robot executes a series of movements and works per teaching.
The teaching method of a robot, which is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei-8-19975 stores teaching data with identification numbers attached per work section, wherein editing of a sequence of a work section is enabled.
However, in order to modify the position/posture of a robot, movement conditions and work conditions thereof, it is necessary to change the work programs. However, where a series of work programs include several tens through several hundreds of work points, it is difficult to recognize sections where the robot actually operates, by only checking the movement section and work section in the programs written in terms of a robot language.
In this case, in the prior arts, an operator specifies an appointed section by pressing the operation key for respective teaching positions, one by one, many times regardless of whether it is an air-cut section or work section from the top of work programs, or manually guides the robot to an appointed section while paying sufficient attention so that the robot is not made to collide with fixtures, workpieces, and obstacles such as surrounding facilities. Therefore, a great amount of time and labor are required.
As has been disclosed in the above-described Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei-8-19975, in order to cause the robot to move from a certain teaching point to the next teaching point, it was necessary to cause the robot to reach a target work section by operating a key on the operation panel one by one by using a so-called step feeding means. As in the method described in the above-described Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei-8-19975, in the case of painting in which a plane is a work object, the total number of teaching points is comparatively small, and it is comparatively easy to cause the robot to reach the target work section through step feeding by the operation key. However, in the case of welding in which a complicated space is a work object, since there is a section for preventing an object work and a welding torch from being made to interfere with each other, an approaching section to a commencement position of a welding work section, and a section from the terminating section to the welding torch retreating section are indispensable, remarkably more movement sections other than work sections, than in the case of painting are provided, wherein it is necessary for an operator to repeatedly press the operation key many times in order to guide or lead the robot to an object work section by step feeding. With the method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei-8-19975, the problem cannot be solved. Also, since it is necessary to operate the key many times and attention must be paid to avoid obstacles, there arises a danger that may be brought about due to a lack of attention in the movements of the robot.
On the other hand, in a case where a plurality of work programs are prepared, there may be a case where which program corresponds to an appointed work becomes unclear. In such a case, the robot operator selected a work program, read the work program from the beginning to the end, and confirmed it.
As a method for facilitating confirmation of such a work program description, there is a method that is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei-5-265534.
Hereinafter, taking welding work for instance, a brief description is given of the method with reference to FIG. 14. First, an appointed work program is selected from a list screen describing work programs as shown in FIG. 14(a). When the work program is selected, the screen is changed to a work program display screen, which is shown in FIG. 14(b). The work program display screen displays a part of the description of the work programs shown in FIG. 14(d). An apparatus described in the above-described patent publication is featured in that, by moving the cursor 40 on the work program display screen, a description incidental to one command of the work program is picked up by using a convenience key. For example, in the program shown in FIG. 14(b), when welding is commenced, a welding start command ARCON is given, and at the same time, the first welding conditions file (welding current, welding voltage, etc.,) (which is described as FILE (1)) is designated. At this time, by pressing a convenience key (not illustrated) after moving the cursor 40 to the welding start command ARCON, the screen is changed to a work file display screen as shown in FIG. 14(c1). Similarly, in order to display the fifth welding conditions file shown in FIG. 14(c2), it is necessary to press the convenience key after the cursor 40 is moved to the command position shown in FIG. 14(c2). Thus, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei-5-265534, only information incidental to one command in the work program is picked up and is displayed.
However, in the prior art method for confirming descriptions of work programs, since the work programs are written in terms of movement commands and work commands, which are inherent to a robot controller, there is a problem in that an unskilled operator who is not acquainted with the meanings of the commands that constitute the work programs does not understand what kind of operation is to be carried out under which conditions and by which program.
Simultaneously, in order to understand a work description in the prior art robot controller, it was indispensable that a work program was selected and displayed, and an operator checked the work program from its beginning to its end, retrieved a work command, and confirmed the work conditions. Therefore, in a large work program consisting of several tens of commands, a great amount of time was required to check the contents of a work. Further, in order to check not only the work conditions but also the locus of a robot, there was no way other than actual operation of the robot.
Also, where results of the operation were obtained by executing a plurality of work programs, it was impossible to easily understand to which program the obtained results of the operation belonged or were related.
In addition thereto, where operation information of the work program was managed or controlled, it was necessary to pick up necessary information from the robot controller and for an operator to prepare and edit the work management information. For example, in order to prepare welding work information as shown in, for example, FIG. 15(b), the operator collected work files as shown in FIG. 14(c1) and other information, and prepared and edited the same.


A shower door assembly is disclosed comprising a stationary frame, a movable frame with a through hole, an upper frame, a lower frame, and an adjusting assembly. The adjusting assembly further comprises a fixing block disposed between the stationary frame and the movable frame and received in the stationary frame, the fixing block having a passage with a first rectangular cross-section, and rotating blocks received in the upper frame and the lower frame respectively and having a rotating handle and an adjusting shaft perpendicular to the rotating handle. The end of the adjusting shaft remote from the rotating handle has a second rectangular cross-section with dimensions identical to the first rectangular cross-section, and an engaging element is disposed on at least one surface of the adjusting shaft.

Conventionally, shower doors are always installed by drilling on the stationary frame and movable frames and then using screws to fix them to a wall surface. However, the installation process is very inconvenient to operators and time-consuming. Moreover, the drilling may cause damages or scares to surfaces of the frames made of, for example, aluminum or its alloys, and in extreme cases, the drilling may cause the shower doors destroyed.


Anti-reflective coatings and methods for forming these anti-reflective coatings are disclosed that have a polymer chemistry and optical characteristics suitable for suppressing the light that reflects off a circuit substrate during a photo-lithographic process. These anti-reflective coatings include a phenolic polymer material and an epoxide-containing polymer material that can be combined in a select proportion to form a thermally curable polymeric anti-reflective coating. The select proportions of the combined materials tailors the optical characteristic of the anti-reflective coating to attenuate energy about a select range of wavelengths.

The technical field of this invention is photo-lithography and, in particular, anti-reflective chemical compounds that attenuate light reflected or scattered by conductor surfaces during device fabrication.
Photo-lithography encompasses a variety of photo-chemical processes used to fabricate integrated circuits. As is generally known, an integrated circuit is typically formed from a small silicon wafer, called a substrate, that has incorporated onto its surface a complete electronic circuit. Each complete circuit is a dense and complex matrix of circuit elements including transistors, capacitors, and wires. As integrated circuits become increasingly dense, the incorporated circuit elements must be made increasingly smaller. Presently, photolithographic processes can produce circuit elements with feature dimensions of approximately one-half a micrometer. Achieving more complex and powerful integrated circuits requires a photolithographic process capable of fabricating circuit elements with design features of about one-quarter of a micrometer. A major obstacle to achieving these sub-micrometer design features is the scattered light that reflects off the substrate during photolithography and interferes with the desired exposure profiles.
Reflected light affects the exposure step of the photolithographic process. During the exposure step, a photosensitive film, called a photo-resist, is exposed to actinic radiation. Typically, the exposure is accomplished by radiating the film with light of a select wavelength through a patterned mask. The exposed resist defines the pattern that is transferred to the substrate, and ultimately incorporated into the integrated circuit. A precise exposure regimen is essential to transfer sub-micrometer design features to the resist. The exposure regimen must control the amount of light absorbed in the photo-resist, and the pattern area affected by the radiation. Both the dose delivered and the pattern transferred must be correct to achieve proper control of sub-micrometer circuit element dimensions.
The accuracy of the exposure regimen is adversely affected by light that reflects off the substrate and travels back through the photo-resist. Such reflected light can travel through previously unexposed photo-resist and essentially "rewrite" the pattern that was transferred. Alternatively, reflected light can travel back through the exposed photo-resist and interfere with the incident radiation to vary the dose of radiation that is delivered to the photo-resist. Depending on the resist thickness, the resulting interference may be constructive or destructive, causing the dose necessary to develop the resist to change as a function of resist thickness. Variations in resist thickness of as little as 10 nm can yield a 10 percent change in absorbed dose intensity. This sensitivity to resist thickness is accentuated at the shorter wavelengths which are necessary to achieve sub-micrometer design features. Collectively, the deleterious effects of reflected light are referred to as interference effects. These interference effects manifest themselves as non-vertical resist profiles, line width variations and reflective notching.
Some materials and methods have been proposed for reducing the amount of light that is reflected off substrates and/or underlying circuit elements during resist patterning. One method alters the exposure tool so that the photo-resist is radiated with multiple wavelengths. This method provides some benefit by making the process less sensitive to the constructive or destructive interference of one particular wavelength. However, it does not substantially reduce the amount of light reflected through unexposed photo-resist regions during the exposure step nor are the multiple wavelengths amenable to forming sub-micrometer design features. Furthermore, multiple-wavelength exposures place a great demand for color-corrected optics, and are hence not often used.
An alternative method to minimize the deleterious effects of reflected light is to increase the absorption coefficient of the photo-resist. Essentially, the photo-resist is "dyed" so that it absorbs the wavelength of light used during the exposure step. In this way, the reflected light can be prevented from traveling an extended distance through the photo-resist. However, the dye attenuates the incident light as well as the reflected light. Therefore, the intensity of incident radiation diminishes as it travels through the photo-resist. As such, these dyes necessitate much higher exposure doses than the typical transparent photo-resist. Furthermore, use of these dyed resists can result in underexposure of the bottom region of the photo-resist material and overexposure of the top region. This can again result in unacceptable resist profiles.
To overcome these problems, an alternative method has been suggested involving the application of a first coating of a reflective suppression material on top of the substrate before the photo-resist is applied. This coating reduces the amount of light reflected from the underlying substrate during the photo-resist step. In this way the amount of reflected light is reduced without causing the actinic radiation to be attenuated as it travels through the photo-resist. Exemplary anti-reflective coatings of this type include inorganic materials such as Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3, or TiW. Although these materials are effective at reducing the amount of light reflected from the substrate topography, they are difficult to apply uniformly onto the substrate and difficult to remove after the exposure step. As such, these materials often remain and become incorporated into the device. Since the nature of these materials can be incompatible with the final device, these materials are often unsuitable for general use as anti-reflective coatings.
Anti-reflective coatings formed from organic materials also have been suggested for use in reducing the deleterious effects of reflective light. These organic materials can also be spun onto the surface of the substrate prior to application of the photo-resist material. These materials can include a polymer dye that is absorptive either at a specific wavelength or at a broad range of wavelengths. As in the case of the dyed photo-resist, these coatings work by attenuating the actinic radiation as it passes through the anti-reflective coating. Although these materials are effective at absorbing light over a wide range of wavelengths, they have been found to be largely ineffective at shorter wavelengths of light such as 193 nm. Therefore, these materials are less useful at the wavelengths that produce sub-micrometer design features.
Furthermore, many of these anti-reflective coatings can diffuse into photo-resist materials. These coatings that migrate into the photo-resist material can poison the resist chemistry that occurs during the exposure step. As such, these materials have a deleterious impact on line widths and resist profiles.
At least one research group has proposed anti-reflective coatings for use at 193 nm. In an article entitled, "An Anti-Reflection Coating for Use With PMMA at 193 Nanometers", Yen et al. J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 139, No. 2, February 1992, at pages 616-619, researchers suggest an anti-reflective coating can be developed that is specifically tailored for the 193 nanometer wavelength. However, the materials disclosed within this paper, must be photoactivated in a separate step by radiating the coated substrate with deep UV (260 nanometer) radiation and subsequent annealing. Moreover, it appears that the disclosed anti-reflection coating is adapted for use only with PMA photo-resists. Although the PMMA is a commonly used photo-resist material it is not considered a candidate material for volume production of sub-0.25-micrometer features.
As the properties of photo-resists differ considerably from one type of photo-resist to another, there exists a need for more compatible and more suitable materials and methods for reducing the amount of reflected light that occurs during the photo-lithographic process. In particular, an anti-reflective coating for use at 193 nanometers that is optically compatible with the more complex, multi-component photo-resist materials, and which is substantially insoluble within these photo-resist materials, would overcome a major obstacle to the practicality of 193 nanometer photo-lithography.


A finger actuated pump dispenser employs a first upper hollow vertical cylinder with a first diameter and open upper and lower ends and a second lower hollow vertical cylinder with a second and smaller diameter and a closed lower end with a central opening. The lower end of the first cylinder is joined to an open upper end of the second cylinder. The inner wall of the second cylinder has a horizontal annular recess. A first vertical hollow piston has openings in top and bottom ends and extends slidably above and within the cylinders. The first piston has an enlargement intermediate upper and lower ends peripherally engaging and defining a first unbroken seal with the inner surface of the first cylinder. The first piston has a lower section extending downward from the enlargement to its lower end, the lower section having an outer diameter slightly less than the diameter of the second cylinder. A second vertical piston peripherally engages and defines a second seal with the inner surface of the second cylinder. The second seal is unbroken except when the second piston is aligned with and spaced from the annular recess. A vertical stem is disposed slidably within the first piston and is secured at its lower end to the upper end of the said second piston. The stem is longer than the first piston so that there is always a vertical separation between the lower end of the first piston and the lower end of the stem. A spring extends within the second cylinder between its lower end and the lower end of the second piston.

Pump dispensers for dispensing pharmaceutical products in fluid form must deliver prescribed dosages with high accuracy.
Some pharmaceutical products are formulated as suspensions of particulate matter in fluids or as mixtures of liquids of different densities.
When pharmaceutical pump dispensers are used to dispense such formulations, the solids and similarly the higher density fluids tend to settle to the bottom of the dispenser pump chamber. To prevent improper delivery of the product, the user is instructed to actuate the dispenser several times before use in order to assure proper suspension or proper mixture. However, the user may fail to follow the instructions and the formulation may be delivered improperly, with unpleasant and even dangerous results.
The present invention is directed toward a new type of pharmaceutical dispenser for fluid suspensions or mixtures of fluids of different densities in which a first actuation of the dispenser automatically mixes the precipitate and fluid or fluids of different densities and produces and dispenses a proper fluid suspension or mixture without burdening the user with instructions which may not be followed.

Pharmaceutical pump dispenser for fluid suspensions and fluid mixtures


A computing device may output a graphical keyboard for display. The graphical keyboard may comprise a first and a second subset of keys. The first and second subsets of keys may be arranged to form a first shape and a second shape that enclose a first and a second central area of the graphical keyboard, respectively. No key of the first subset of keys is adjacent to more than two other keys in the first subset of keys. No key of the second subset of keys is adjacent to more than two other keys in the second subset of keys. For each respective letter key in the first and second subsets of keys, the respective letter key is positioned within the graphical keyboard at a location that is generally consistent with a position of a key for the letter a QWERTY-style keyboard.

Some computing devices (e.g., mobile phones, tablet computers) provide a graphical keyboard as part of a graphical user interface for composing text. The graphical keyboard may enable a user of the computing device to enter text using a touchscreen. For instance, a touchscreen may display a graphical keyboard and allow the user to enter data by indicating (e.g., by tapping on) keys displayed at the touchscreen.
Two-thumb typing is becoming a popular text-entry mechanism on touchscreen keyboards. In the two-thumb typing technique, users use their thumbs to tap keys of graphical keyboards that are displayed at the touchscreen.


A well voltage supply cell includes third gate electrode group (including a third gate electrode corresponding to a first gate electrode) located symmetrically to first gate electrode group (including the first gate electrode constituting an access transistor) of a first SRAM cell, fourth gate electrode group (including a fourth gate electrode corresponding to a second gate electrode) located symmetrically to second gate electrode group (including the second gate electrode constituting an access transistor) of a second SRAM cell. a P-type impurity diffusion region located on a P well between the third gate electrode and the fourth gate electrode located opposite to each other, a first N-type impurity diffusion region located on the side of the third gate electrode closer to the first SRAM cell, and a second N-type impurity diffusion region located on the side of the fourth gate electrode closer to the second SRAM cell.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, particularly, to a semiconductor device with an SRAM (static random access memory) cell.
With the proliferation of mobile terminal equipment such as smartphones and the proliferation of in-vehicle microcomputers used for no-idling engines, automotive navigation systems or the like, the importance of SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) for processing high-volume digital signals at high speed is increasing today. Particularly, very high quality is required for in-vehicle microcomputers. Generally, high speed, small area and low power consumption are key features of SRAM.
In an SRAM memory cell array, cells for supplying a voltage to a well (well voltage supply cells) are arranged at specified intervals between memory cells. It is thus desirable that the size of the well voltage supply cells is small as well as the memory cells in order to reduce the area of SRAM.
It is also desirable that the well voltage supply cells are arranged with the same regularity as the surrounding memory cells in order to reduce fluctuations in characteristics and shape of transistors in the respective memory cells and enhance reliability.
It is further desirable to provide multiple power supplies in order to improve the low power consumption and the cell operating margin of the memory cells.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-28401 discloses a typical SRAM.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-305787 discloses SRAM in which stress on an isolation region is reduced.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-373946 discloses SRAM including well voltage supply cells that are arranged with the same regularity as the surrounding memory cells.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-43082 discloses SRAM provided with multiple power supplies.


In a service providing system, a first database holds plural kinds of balloon data, in which each of plural pieces of three-dimensional real space range information and an identifier for identifying the three-dimensional real space range information is related, and a second database holds a service execution file in which each of plural pieces of three-dimensional space region information related to each identifier and service information in each three-dimensional space region are related. An extracting unit extracts, using position on a user terminal and an identifier, a service execution file corresponding to a three-dimensional space region. A service execution processing unit performs an executing process of a service corresponding to service information held in the extracted service execution file. The service system provides various kinds of services information at any time, effectively use the hardware, and limit the access. The user obtains service information available in a wide area.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a server system, a user terminal, and a service providing method and service providing apparatus using the server system and the user terminal suitable for use in an information delivering system using, for example, a portable terminal.
(2) Description of Related Art
With development of mobile communications, contents of services provided from the provider to the users diversify. For example, navigation service and the like are developed. It is said that the final object of the mobile communications is that anyone can communicate with someone at any place at any time. For this purpose, the ubiquitous space has been proposed.
The applicant of this application has proposed an information providing service, wherein the user obtains information about a menu, the degree of crowdedness and the like of a restaurant which is a tenant of a building located within the sight of the user, using a user terminal of the user (refer to, for example, patent document 1). The information providing service system described in the patent document 1 has a user terminal having a positioning function, and a server system holding a database in which a specific region (a restaurant on the ninth floor of the building or the like) in three-dimensional real space and service information (a menu of the restaurant, comments, etc.) defined in a virtual space linked to the specific region are related to each other. When the user points the user terminal to the ninth floor of the building and presses a positioning button (retrieving button), the user terminal positions position information (latitude, longitude, altitude, azimuth, tilt angle and the like) and transmits the positioned position information to the server system. When receiving the position information, the server system transmits plural pieces of service information retrieved on the basis of the position information to the user terminal.
In the database to which the user accesses, a specific space in three-dimensional apace is formed in a virtual space called balloon data (bubble data), and buildings, restaurants, etc. are recreated using the balloon data. The server system uses position information on the user terminal as a tag for retrieval (position information tag) when retrieving service information in the database.
Techniques relating time-space have been proposed (refer to, for example, non-patent document 1). A system described in the non-patent document uses an object called SpaceTag which can be accessed in limited time-space. "SpaceTag" is arbitrary information such as text, picture, voice, program, etc., which is accessible at a specific place and time. The user browses the information, using a terminal for "SpaceTag" having a time-space coordinates line (for example, watch and GPS).
Patent Document: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-132806
Non-patent Document: "SpaceTag: Objects with Spatio-Temporally Limited Access", Interactive System and Software VI, Kindai Kagakusha, pp. 1-10, December 1998, Tarumi, Morishita, Nakao, Kamibayashi.
However, the service by the above system is only offer of information on menu and the like. Additionally, the database uses only position information as a retrieving tag, thus the position information is used as only a tag. Thus, the database is used within a limited range. The database holds a number of pieces of service information, but does not define relationships among the plural pieces of the service information. Accordingly, the above system has a disadvantage that the system cannot provide, at any time, service information having high utility value obtained by uniting plural pieces of service information to the user.
When the user obtains the above service information by retrieving in the database, the retrieval tag (retrieval index) for retrieving in the database is only position information on the user terminal. In order to provide service information that is available by the user in a wide area, it is necessary to widen the area of the position information used as the retrieval tag, which is difficult to be put in practice, and is difficult to effectively use the storing area of the database.
When it is desired to develop various information providing services, there is possibility that an increase in information service causes an increase in information quantity, which further causes lack of the information processing performance of the server system because information about "in which area," "what service," and so forth is not available. Further, since the database holds only information about "accessed/not accessed", there is a problem that there is no way of limiting the number of accesses.

Server system, user terminal, service providing method and service providing system using the server system and the user terminal for providing position-based service to the user terminal


The present invention provides a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, a magnetic recording and reproducing method, and a thin film magnetic head that enable a good contact between elements and a recording medium with a reduced track pitch even if the number of head channels is increased, thereby realizing high recording density and high transfer rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus and a magnetic recording and reproducing method of the helical scan system to be used for writing and reading signals to and from a magnetic tape, and particularly to a thin film magnetic head having a multitrack structure for high density recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
High density recording in a magnetic recording apparatus using a magnetic tape has been achieved by narrowing a track width and increasing the number of channels. Positions of track ends of write heads arranged on a rotary drum are adjusted so that a width of each of write tracks formed on a recording medium is set to a predetermined value. However, it is difficult to precisely set the write track widths due to influences of precision in mounting height of the write heads, run-out of the rotary drum, wow flutter, and the like.
In view of the above, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-229516 discloses a technique of controlling a ratio of a tape feed amount to a rotary drum to be a predetermined value by mounting a read/write head having a plurality of head elements arranged on a rotary drum with predetermined interval. According to this technique, since information is written to or read out from a plurality of tracks at one time, it is possible to perform stable and reliable recording and reproduction without increasing error in track pitch which would be otherwise caused when errors in mounting the head elements are accumulated.

Magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus and method and thin film magnetic head used therein

Abstract: At least one multitrack write head having N (N is an integer of 2 or more) write elements arranged along a track width direction in an integral fashion and at least one multitrack read head having L (L is an integer equal to or more than N) read elements arranged along the track width direction in an integral fashion are formed on the rotary drum. The multitrack write head writes signals to a group of N tracks aligned parallel on the magnetic tape during one rotation of the rotary drum, and the multitrack read head reads the group of N signal tracks by the use of any one of the L read elements.


Disclosed are compounds having non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) covalently linked to a phospholipid moiety via a bridging group. Also disclosed are a process for the synthesis of the compounds, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds and the use thereof for the treatment of diseases and disorders related to inflammatory conditions.

Inflammation is an important aspect of the natural defense process. Inflammation becomes a pathological process, requiring medical intervention, when inflammatory mediators cause excessive damage to the surrounding tissue. Examples of such pathological processes are rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis. Recently, a significant inflammatory component has been found in other types of disease, for example, neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. A common feature of many inflammatory diseases is an elevation in phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity.
PLA2 is the common name for a diverse group of enzymes that specifically hydrolyze the sn-2 bond of glycerophospholipid to release free fatty acids and lysophospholipids. PLA2 is thought to be rate limiting in the release of arachidonic acid. The other product of its reaction, lysophospholipid, is thought to be the precursor of platelet activating factor (PAF). PAF and the arachidonic acid metabolites, eicosanoids, are pro-inflammatory lipid intermediates derived from mobilized cell membrane phospholipids by the action of phospholipase enzymes. PLA2 is thus implicated as having a crucial role in the production of the entire cascade of phospholipid-derived inflammatory mediators.
For persistent inflammation three classes of drugs are widely used, corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and slow acting disease modifying drugs.
Corticosteroids are the most potent and effective agents in controlling inflammatory conditions. Unfortunately, prolonged use of these drugs is associated with side effects. Topical corticosteroid preparations are widely used for inflammatory dermatological conditions and inhaled corticosteroids account for 55% of the asthma market in the United Kingdom. Prednisolone is the most commonly administered corticosteroid in RA, which though possibly affecting the underlying disease process does not provide a cure and is associated with severe side-effects.
NSAIDs relieve the symptoms of inflammation without altering the course of the disease, but they have adverse gastrointestinal and renal side effects. Their main action is inhibition of arachidonate cyclooxygenase (in inflammatory cells the COX2 isoenzyme) and thus inhibiting prostaglandin and thromboxane production.
Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as gold products, auranofin (SKB), chloroquine (Sanofi), sulfasalazine (Pharmacia & Upjohn), cyclosporin (Sandoz (Novartis)) and methotrexate (MTX, APH, Pharmacia & Upjohn) are second-line agents for treatment of RA. In most cases their mode of action is ill defined and the term 'slow-acting' is applied because these agents may take weeks or months to have demonstrable effect. Treatment with DMARDs has to be continued for years. If complete remission is achieved for at least six months, the dosage is gradually reduced and may be stopped altogether. DMARDs appear to decrease radiographic joint damage and improve acute-phase markers in RA but they all have adverse effects.
Diclofenac ([o-[(2,6-dichlorophenyl)amino]phenyl]acetate) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug of the phenylacetic acid class. When given orally the absorption of diclofenac is rapid and complete. It binds extensively to plasma albumin. Substantial concentrations of drug are attained in synovial fluid, which is the proposed site of action of the NSAIDs. Diclofenac is a potent inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis and has also been shown to inhibit interleukin-1 (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), involved in osteoarthritis. Gastrointestinal complications such as ulceration and intolerance are the most common adverse effect of diclofenac. Renal dysfunction and hypersensitivity reactions also occur. Many patients with rheumatic disorders have some degree of renal function impairment and are especially susceptible to the induction of renal failure by NSAIDs.
Other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as salicylates, indomethacin and ibuprofen directly inhibit cyclooxygenase, a key enzyme in the synthesis pathway of prostaglandins. However, since these drugs inhibit early reactions in the arachidonic acid metabolism, they may block the formation of more than one product, hence leading to severe side effects. Indomethacin, for example, may also disrupt calcium flux across membranes, inhibit cAMP-dependent protein kinase and phosphodiesterase.
It would, therefore, be desirable to be able to extend the usefulness of NSAIDs to conditions that do not respond to lower doses of the drugs and to reduce undesirable side effects by their targeting to the diseased cells.
The use of prodrugs to impart desired characteristics such as increased bioavailability or increased site-specificity for known drugs is a recognized concept in the state of the art of pharmaceutical development. The use of various lipids in the preparation of particular types of prodrugs is also known in the background art. However, none of the background art discloses prodrugs comprising NSAIDs that upon activation by intracellular lipases enable preferential accumulation and release of the drug within the diseased cells.
International Patent Application WO 91/16920 discloses phospholipid prodrugs of salicylates and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs wherein the drug is directly linked, without any spacer, to either or both of the glycerol hydroxyls of a phospholipid or to available hydroxyls or amines of phospholipid head groups. These prodrugs, when taken orally, protect the gastric mucosa and release the active principle in the gut via the action of pancreatic enzymes.
In other examples of phospholipid prodrugs, the formulation of the prodrugs into liposomes or other micellar structures is the feature that enables their preferential uptake, for instance by liver cells or by macrophages as in the case of the phospholipid conjugates of antiviral drugs disclosed in International Patent Applications WO 93/00910 and WO 90/00555.
International Patent Application WO 96/22780 discloses compositions comprising nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs non-covalently associated with zwitterionic phospholipids. In contrast, the present invention relates to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs covalently bound to a phospholipid via a spacer group.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,794 discloses a method for delivering drugs selectively to intracellular organelles. The disclosed compounds comprise an antiviral or antineoplastic drug covalently bound to a lipid carrier via a spacer group which may act to modulate drug release at the target site. In contrast to the present invention, the disclosed prodrug is site specific due to the existence of the lipid carrier, and drug release from the lipid conjugate is not a requirement for the drug targeting. In addition, said U.S. patent does not disclose phospholipids as the lipid carriers, nor compounds comprising nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,641 discloses methods of delivering and specifically targeting antigenically-active peptides to cells for the specific production of immunological reactivity against such peptides. In contrast, the present invention does not disclose prodrugs wherein the active ingredients are peptides, though peptides may serve as a spacer between the active drug and the phospholipid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,389 discloses covalent polar lipid-drug conjugates for facilitating the entry of drugs into cells at pharmokinetically useful levels. The rationale for specific activation of the prodrug in that case, are very different from the present invention. The examples of the present invention with phospholipids were not made and with hindsight it is clear that it would be ineffective to synthesize active phospholipid prodrugs if the spacer between the lipid and the drug is less than a specific length of at least 4 carbon atoms, because of unfavorable conditions due to steric hindrance and stereochemical problems.

Phospholipid derivatives of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs


The present invention comprises a disposable hygiene device with a toilet seat with a top and bottom surfaces, where the toilet seat folds for storage before or after use. A receptacle is attached to the bottom surface of the toilet seat. After use, an adhesive on the top surface of the toilet seat is exposed by the removal of a protective layer. The toilet seat may then be folded onto itself to seal the hygiene device for easy disposal. The toilet seat may also include handles or an extension to ease proper orientation and use of the disposable hygiene device. The present invention also includes hygiene stations, preferably portable, that may be used with the disposable hygiene device, hygiene stations that include rotatable, extendable and height adjustable bathroom fixtures, and hygiene stations have a common connection point for inputs and outputs.

Typically, individuals have been restricted to conventional bathrooms in performing hygiene functions, such as using the toilet, washing and or grooming, regardless of their age, physical abilities or mental faculties. However, conventional bathrooms can be problematic for various individuals, such as persons having physical or cognitive disabilities. This is specifically the case for individuals that use mobility assisting devices such as wheelchairs, canes, walkers or the like. As an example, conventional bathroom designs, in both home and institutional environments, may require that an individual in a wheelchair perform a complex 'dance' to perform hygiene tasks including traversing around objects and through doors to get to the bathroom, manipulate the door, transfer themselves from the wheel to the toilet, then again from the toilet to the wheelchair to wash his or her hands, and then reverse their traverse. On top of this, conventional bathroom designs also tend to offer insufficient space to allow a caregiver to assist the individual.
In addition, there are various times and situations where performing hygiene functions is inconvenient or unsanitary. For example, truckers, RV-ers, campers and other travelers may not have ready access to bathrooms. In addition, bathrooms that are available may not be suitable as they are not suitably clean.
As such, there is a need for disposable hygiene devices, portable hygiene stations and integrated hygiene stations that provides greater accessibility to individuals in all places including bathrooms. More particularly, there is a need for hygiene devices and hygiene stations designed to assist individuals and caregivers in the performance of toilet and hygiene tasks.


A method and architecture for improving the usability and manufacturing yield of a microprocessor having a large on-chip n-way set associative cache. The architecture provides a method for working around defects in the portion of the die allocated to the data array of the cache. In particular, by adding a plurality of muxes to a way or ways in the data array of an associative cache having the shorter paths to the access control logic, each way in a bank can be selectively replaced or remapped to the ways with the shorter paths without adding any latency to the system. This selective remapping of separate ways in individual banks of the set associative cache provides a more efficient way to absorb defects and allows more defects to be absorbed in the data array of a set associative cache.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and architecture for absorbing defects and improving the yield of a microprocessor having a large on-chip cache. More particularly, the invention relates to improving the yield of a microprocessor having a large on-chip n-way set associative cache by absorbing or working around defects in the portion of the die allocated to cache.
2. Background of the Invention
In general, when designing microprocessor-based systems, system performance can be enhanced by increasing the random access memory ("RAM") cache available on-chip to the microprocessor. This is because accessing on-chip cache is significantly faster than accessing other off-chip memory, such as single inline memory modules ("SIMMs") or dual inline memory modules ("DIMMs"). So, at the risk of over-simplifying, the more on-chip cache available the better.
The problem is that increasing available on-chip cache results in increasing the die size for the microprocessor. As the size of the die increases, generally the manufacturing yields for the die decrease. In fact, typically the yield goes down exponentially as the die size is increased. This means that it is harder to manufacture large dies that are not defective.
This creates two competing interests in the design of microprocessors. On the one hand, one would like as much cache as possible available on-chip to increase the speed and efficiency of the microprocessor. On the other hand, any increase in the die size will probably result in reduced production yields for the microprocessor. Industry testing has indicated that for up to about 4 megabytes of cache, the return on speed and efficiency is often worth the resultant manufacturing issues. After that cache size, however, there may be diminishing returns. That is, the benefits of the increased cache size may be outweighed by the reduction in manufacturing yields. Ultimately, a general rule would be that one wants as much cache as can fit on the die while maintaining acceptable production yields.
On typical microprocessor dies, then, large areas of the die are allocated to the cache. In fact, the cache typically takes up more physical real estate on the die than anything else. This necessarily means that manufacturing defects in a given microprocessor will often occur in the cache portion of the die since it is the largest physical portion of the die. Accordingly, if there was some way to organize and manage the cache to work around these defects, production yields could be increased. Any method or system that increases the number of defects which a die can absorb while still functioning properly will have a significant yield benefit.
The state of the art currently provides for segmenting the data array of the cache to allow the cache to absorb or "work around" some defects in the data array of the cache. In particular, segmenting the data array of the cache allows for some redundancy and selectivity in the data array that allows the cache to work around some unrepairable defects. For example, by assigning rows and columns to the data array of the cache, row and column redundancy can be used to replace defective rows or columns of the data array. That is, where a particular row or column is found to have an unrepairable defect, it can be replaced with one of the redundant rows or columns that is not defective. Additionally, in a set associative cache where the data array is divided into a plurality of sets or ways, any way found to have a defect can be disabled. This allows an otherwise defective die to still be used, although with a smaller usable cache.
The present invention is directed at a method and architecture for working around defects in a set associative cache, thereby allowing larger on-chip cache while maintaining acceptable manufacturing yields. The present invention can be used in combination with other methods, such as row and column redundancy, to further increase yields.

Method and system for absorbing defects in high performance microprocessor with a large n-way set associative cache

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In the gasification furnace raw material supplying apparatus, the protective gas (36) is jetted toward the fluidized bed (4) formed in the fluidized bed gasification furnace (1) from an end portion on the downstream side (B) of the screw feeder (28) in the raw material supplying direction using the nozzle (42) in the screw shaft (27). In addition, the protective gas (36) is jetted toward the fluidized bed (4) from the periphery of the end portion on the downstream side (B) of the screw feeder (28) in the raw material supplying direction using the nozzles (37) provided at the furnace wall (23) of the fluidized bed gasification furnace (1). As a result, the end portion of the screw shaft (27) on the downstream side (B) in the raw material supplying direction is prevented from being exposed to the bed material which is a component of the fluidized bed (4), and abrasion of the front end portion of the screw can be suppressed.

In a fluidized bed gasification furnace of a twin tower gasification furnace, a high-temperature bed material (silica sand, limestone, or the like) is fluidized using water vapor injected from a bottom portion so as to form a fluidized bed, and solid raw materials, such as coal, biomass, and the like, are supplied to a free board above the fluidized bed in the above state. The solid raw materials are thermally decomposed using combustible gasification gas (H2, CO, a hydrocarbon) of the solid raw materials and not-yet-combusted solid contents, some of the not-yet-combusted solid contents causes an aqueous gasification reaction with water vapor or moisture vaporized from the solid raw materials so as to generate combustible gasification gas (H2 and CO), and some of CO reacts with water vapor, thereby generating CO2 and H2O.
An apparatus for supplying solid raw materials to the fluidized bed gasification furnace is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1. In the raw material supplying apparatus, solid raw materials are supplied using a screw feeder to the inside of a fluidized bed formed in the fluidized bed gasification furnace, and the solid raw materials are brought into sufficient contact with a high-temperature bed material and water vapor.

Gasification furnace raw material supplying apparatus


Construction is achieved that makes it possible to stably and sufficiently increase support rigidity of a column-side bracket with respect to a vehicle-side bracket. The vehicle-side bracket and a locking capsule that is fastened to the column-side bracket are connected with synthetic resin locking pins so as to be able to break away during a secondary collision. Concave sections are formed on the bottom surface of the vehicle-side bracket, and together with one end being connected to small through holes in which the locking pins are located, the other end is open to the external space side. Part of the synthetic resin of the locking pins is exposed to the external space side through these concave sections.

As illustrated in FIG. 42, a steering apparatus for an automobile applies a steering angle to the front wheels by transmitting rotation of the steering wheel 1 to an input shaft 3 of a steering gear unit 2, and pushing or pulling a pair of left and right tie rods 4 as the input shaft 3 rotates. The steering wheel 1 is inserted in the axial direction through a cylindrical shaped steering column 6, and is supported by and fastened to this steering column 6 so as to be able to rotate freely. The front-end section of a steering shaft 5 is connected to the rear-end section of an intermediate shaft 8 by way of a universal joint 7, and the front end of this intermediate shaft 8 is connected to the input shaft 3 by way of a separate universal joint 9. The intermediate shaft 8 is constructed so as to be able to transmit torque, as well as to be able to contract along the entire length due to an impact load, so that during a primary collision of collision accident when an automobile collides with another automobile or the like, regardless of displacement toward the rear of the steering gear unit 2, it is prevented that the steering wheel 1 displaces toward the rear by way of the steering shaft 5 so as to shove or press against the body of the operator.
During a collision accident, a secondary collision occurs after the primary collision when the body of the operator collides with the steering wheel 1. In order to lessen the impact that is applied to the body of the operator during this secondary collision, the steering column 6 is supported by way of a locking capsule 11 and bolts or studs by a vehicle-side bracket 10 that is fastened to the vehicle so that when a large force is applied in the forward direction, the steering column 6 drops away from the vehicle-side bracket 10. Construction for supporting this steering column 6 by the vehicle-side bracket 10 is conventionally known. An example of conventional support construction is disclosed in JP2010-13010(A), and will be explained using FIG. 43 to FIG. 45.
In the construction illustrated in FIG. 43, a tilt mechanism is assembled which allows height adjustment of the steering wheel 1 (see FIG. 42) that is fastened to the portion on the rear-end section of the steering shaft 5 that protruded toward the rear of the steering column 6a. Therefore, the middle section of the steering column 6a is supported by a column-side bracket 13 by way of an adjustment rod 14, and this column-side bracket 13 is supported by the vehicle-side bracket 10 (see FIG. 42) so as to drop away when a large force is applied in the forward direction as illustrated by the arrow in FIG. 43. The column-side bracket 13 is integrally formed by bending a metal plate such as steel plate and comprises a pair of left and right support plate sections 15 that are provided in the up-down direction, a pair of installation plate sections 16 that are provided so as to protrude toward both sides of the steering column 6a from the top end section of the support plate sections 15, and a connecting section (omitted from the figures) that connects together the bottom end edges of the pair of support plate sections 15.
Locking notches 17 are provided in the pair of installation plate sections 16 so as to be open on the rear-end edges of the installation plate sections 16. The shape of these locking notches 17 is a substantially trapezoidal shape wherein the width dimension becomes smaller going toward the front (bottom side). Locking capsules 11 are assembled on the inside of these locking notches 17. These locking capsules 11 are formed by injection molding using synthetic resin, or die-casting using a light alloy, and each locking capsule 17 has locking grooves 18 on the left and right sides. The space between the bottoms of the grooves of these locking grooves 18, in order to match the width of the locking notches 17, becomes narrow going toward the front. In other words, the locking grooves 18 become deeper toward the front.
These locking capsules 11 each are supported by one of the pair of installation plate sections 16 by engaging the locking grooves 18 thereof with portions of the installation plate section 16 located on both sides of the locking notches 17. With small though holes (omitted in the drawings) that are formed in the portions of the installation plate section 16 located on both sides of the locking notches 17 aligned with small through holes 19 that are formed in the locking capsules 11, synthetic resin locking pins that are connecting members are formed by injection molding so as to span through these small through holes. In this state, the pair of locking capsules 11 are supported by the pair of installation plate sections 16 so that they drop away toward the rear only when a large impact load is applied.
As illustrated in FIG. 42, by inserting bolts or studs 12 from the bottom through a through hole 20 that is formed in the center section of the locking capsules 11, the pair of locking capsules 11 are supported by and fastened to the vehicle-side bracket 10. In order for this, screw holes for screwing the bolts or studs 12 into are formed directly in the vehicle-side bracket 10 or nuts are fastened by welding or the like to surface thereof. Each pair of a locking capsule 11 and installation plate section 16 are joined together with somewhat large force and rigidity by engagement of the portions located on both sides of the locking notches 17 and the locking grooves 18, and by the synthetic resin locking pins that span through the small through holes 19. Therefore, during normal operation, the column-side bracket 13 is firmly supported by the vehicle body.
When a strong force in the forward direction is applied to the steering column 6a from the steering wheel 1 during a secondary collision that accompanies a collision accident, the locking pins inside the small through holes 19 shear and the pair of locking capsules 11 come out toward the rear from the pair of locking notches 17. In other words, the installation plate sections 16 displace in the forward direction with the locking capsules remaining in position as is. This allows the steering wheel 1 to displace in the forward direction, which lessens the impact that is applied to the body of the operator who collides with the steering wheel 1.
In the case of the construction illustrated in FIG. 43 to FIG. 45, the column-side bracket 14 is supported at two locations on both the left and right side by the vehicle-side bracket 10. In the case of this construction, releasing the engagement of the pair of left and right engagement section at the same time during a secondary collision is important from the aspect of allowing the steering wheel 1 to displace in smoothly in the forward direction with no inclination. However, tuning in order that engagement of these engagement sections is released at the same time is affected by resistance such as the friction resistance and shear resistance against the release of these engagement sections, and is also affected by unbalance on the left and right of the inertia mass of the portion that displaces in the forward direction together with the steering column 6a, so this tuning work takes time. JP51-121929(A) discloses a structure in which an engagement section between the vehicle-side bracket and locking capsule is provided at only one location in the center section in the width direction in order that the steering column breaks stably away in the forward direction during a secondary collision.
In the case of comprising a tilt mechanism and/or a telescoping mechanism, in order to increase the holding strength for supporting the steering wheel 1 in the adjusted position, JP2007-69821(A) and JP2008-100597(A) disclose a structure in which a friction plate unit is held between the inside surfaces of the pair of support plate sections 15 and the outside surfaces of a pair of supported plate sections on the steering column 6a side in order to increase the friction surface area between the surfaces. More specifically, this friction plate unit comprises one or more first friction plates in which long holes are formed that are aligned with long holes in the up-down direction that are formed in the support plate sections 15 in order for the tilt mechanism, and one or more second friction plates in which long holes are formed that are aligned with long holes in the forward-backward that are formed in the supported plate section on the steering column 6a side for the telescoping mechanism, with these friction plates overlapping each other.

Support apparatus for steering column and manufacturing method thereof


In an approach for collecting and storing photographic metadata, a computer receives a file containing an image. The computer receives photographic metadata from one or more photographic devices. The one or more photographic devices include at least one or more illumination devices. The one or more photographic devices are utilized to create the image. The received photographic metadata includes at least specifications of the one or more photographic devices. The computer stores the received photographic metadata in association with the received file.

Light is the building block of every photograph, and today there are tools that allow artists to shape light creatively. The proper illumination of a subject being photographed is often important in the production of high quality photography, and photographers utilize a wide variety of lighting devices in achieving the desired illumination. Artificial illumination includes direct lighting and indirect lighting, and a variety of light reflectors, flash units, strobes, and other light sources are employed to achieve the desired result. Typically, the light source is stationary with respect to the subject being photographed and the camera, and the intensity of the illumination, the distance of the illuminating devices from the subject, the reflective quality of the subject, the aperture setting of the camera, and the lens to be used, all affect the illumination characteristics with respect to the end result achieved, and photographers often go to great lengths to achieve the desired lighting effect.
Digital cameras are used by a growing number of consumer and professional photographers. These cameras use an image sensor to capture images and digitally process the captured image to produce a digital image file, which is stored in a digital memory. Digital image files originating from a digital camera include the digital images and may also include metadata generated from the digital camera. Image metadata is non-picture information embedded in the digital image file in addition to the actual image data. The metadata can be relevant information fundamental to the camera's function at the time of image capture, such as shutter speed, aperture, focal length, date, time, etc.

Storing photographic metadata for scene reproduction

International Business Machines Corporation


The manufacture of multi-level optical imagers and the resulting imagers are described. Multiple levels of metallization are prepared, each level having a via. The vias are aligned and a material having a higher refractive index than its surrounds is positioned within the vias to form an optical channel. The higher refractive index material may be an optical plug. A lens is mounted at one end of the optical channel and a photoconversion device is mounted at the other end.

The semiconductor industry currently uses different types of semiconductor-based imagers, such as, for example, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imagers, charge coupled devices (CCDs), photodiode arrays, charge injection devices and hybrid focal plane arrays, among others. The above noted examples of semiconductor imagers incorporate solid state pixels that receive an image, from lenses or other light-receiving structures, with sensors and convert that image to electrical signals.
Semiconductor imagers all require at least one level and up to three levels of metallization to connect transistors for the pixels to the circuitry that drives the pixels. The levels of metallization must be properly insulated and are generally within an intralayer dielectric material. An undesirable aspect of incorporating plural levels of metallization is that the light attenuates as the distance between the lens and the sensor increases.

Optical channels for multi-level metal optical imagers


A frangible seal for a fluid path including a frangible seal member secured within a tube defining the fluid path. The frangible seal member having a tubular seal member and a stem extending from the tubular seal member which, upon bending back and forth, breaks away from the seal member thereby to rupture the tubular seal in the fluid path. The tubular seal member and stem are integrally formed of a non-PVC material. The tubular seal member will bond to PVC tubing during steam heating thereof. The tubular seal member and stem are constructed to provide uniform non-reclosable rupturing. The stem includes vanes with spurs that frictionally engage the inner walls of the tube to maintain separation of the stem and ruptured tubular seal member.

The present invention generally relates to frangible seals, i.e. breakable closures, for allowing fluid communication in a sealed conduit. More particularly, the invention relates to a frangible seal for providing fluid communication between a plurality of isolated containers, for example blood bags.
In a variety of applications, it is desirable to separately store components of a mixture for subsequent mixing. The components can be separated and isolated by what hereinafter generically will be referred to as a frangible seal, which is ruptured to provide communication between containers in which the separate components are stored.
Additionally, in the area of blood transfusions, whole blood is rarely used to perform a transfusion. Instead, in order to make an effective use of the blood, it is separated into components and the various components are placed in separate bags.
To this end, there has been provided a so-called multiple bag which is integral, closed and sterile-sealed, and may be manipulated wholly from outside itself and in which a plurality of plastic blood bags are mutually connected by means of connection tubes. Whole blood is collected into a collecting bag and thus, subject to centrifugation thereby to separate the components. However, to prevent unseparated blood from scattering into a connection tube, a rupturable seal is provided.
In another related field, a procedure known as continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis is used to treat End Stage Renal Disease. The continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis procedure is intended to be a patient self-care technique once a catheter is surgically implanted in the patient. In this procedure, a dialysis solution is infused into the peritoneal cavity of the patient. The dialysis solution is stored in a bag that can be connected to the catheter.
In both of these fields, frangible seals and flexible tubes are used to effect communication between the blood bags or the dialysis solution and the catheter, respectively.
In this regard, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,738, there is discussed a mechanism for allowing blood bags to communicate with each other comprising a connection pipe; a connection tube for connecting a first blood bag to a second blood bag, the connection tube being fitted into and secured to the connection pipe having a sealed portion, one end thereof on the side of the second blood bag being fitted into and secured to the connection tube; and a breakable small thickness section formed at the communication pipe between the sealed portion and the secured end thereof. Communication between the first and second bags is rendered effective by breaking the communication pipe at the small thickness portion.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,140, there is disclosed a frangible resealable closure for a flexible tube having hold open means. Valve means in a flexible tube, for example, tubing for connecting blood bags, are provided which comprises a tubular portion having a closed end, and an elongated generally rigid member carried on the exterior of the closed end and positioned within the flexible tube. Frangible means are provided to permit the opening of the closed end by manual manipulation of the elongated member from outside of the flexible tube.
The elongated, rigid member is adapted to fit in sealing relationship within the tubular portion after opening of the closed end, to permit resealing of the valve. The elongated, generally rigid member carries longitudinal vanes to provide flow channels along its length. A pair of the vanes in opposed relationship extend rearwardly of the end of the central portion of the rigid member, and the flexible tube defines a bore portion positioned to receive and resiliently hold the opposed vanes when the frangible means is broken and the rigid member is separated from the tubular portion.
It is discussed that the vanes may be of unequal length. The flexible tube surrounding the rigid member may then define a conical portion, positioned to receive and resiliently hold the longer vanes after the frangible means have been broken and the rigid member separated from the tubular portion.
The elongated, generally rigid member also includes a tapered portion for fitting within the bore of the tubular portion after opening for reclosing the structure again. Thus, the discussed frangible seal also functions as a frangible resealable closure.
However, studs are provided to project outwardly from the elongated, rigid member to prevent the accidental complete insertion of the elongated member into the bore which could render the removal of the member difficult at a later time. The studs bear against the end of the tubular portion when the elongated member is inserted into its proper depth, preventing further insertion.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,247 there is discussed another frangible, resealable closure for a flexible tube.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,049 there is discussed another frangible seal in the form of a break-away valve comprising two parts: a tubular portion with a closed end; and an elongated, generally rigid handle breakably attached to the closed end. The elongated handle has projections which frictionally contact the interior surface of the flexible tube and prevent the elongated handle from moving back into a closed position once the elongated handle has been broken.
The valve may be used in conjunction with tubing and a plastic container of a dialysis solution. The valve is opened by breaking away the elongated, generally rigid handle and moving (i.e., "walking") the rigid handle down the tube by folding the tube back and forth upon itself. The projections of the rigid break-away handle have sufficient frictional contact with the inside of the tube to assure that the handle will not move back into contact with the tubular portion, and the valve will remain open.


One or more embodiments of the invention are directed to deposition apparatuses comprising a grounded top wall, a processing chamber and a plasma source assembly having a conductive hollow cylinder and substantially continuous grounded shield substantially conforming to the shape of the hollow cylinder.

Embodiments of the invention generally relate to deposition apparatus and methods of use. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to deposition apparatus which include a continuous grounded shield positioned outside a plasma source assembly.
Various deposition processes, including physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) are used to deposit metal films such as copper onto semiconductor wafers to form electrical interconnections. In some PVD processes, a high level of D.C. power is applied to a copper target overlying the wafer in the presence of a carrier gas, such as argon. PVD processes typically rely upon a very narrow angular distribution of ion velocity to deposit metal onto sidewalls and floors of high aspect ratio openings in the wafer. The deposition of sufficient material on the sidewalls relative to the amount deposited on the floors of the openings presents a problem. Another problem pertains to avoiding pinch-off of the opening due to faster deposition near the top edge of the opening. As miniaturization of feature sizes has progressed, the aspect ratio (depth/width) of a typical opening has increased, with microelectronic feature sizes having now been reduced to about 22 nanometers. With greater miniaturization, it has become more difficult to achieve minimum deposition thickness on the sidewall for a given deposition thickness on the floor or bottom of each opening.
The increased aspect ratio of the typical opening has been addressed by further narrowing of the ion velocity angular distribution, by increasing the wafer-to-sputter target distance (e.g., to 300 mm or more) and reducing the chamber pressure (e.g., to less than 1 mT). This has given rise to a problem observed in thin film features near the edge of the wafer: At extremely small feature sizes, a portion of each high aspect ratio opening sidewall is shadowed from a major portion of the target because of the greater wafer-to-target gap required to meet the decreasing feature size. This shadowing effect, most pronounced near the wafer edge, makes it difficult if not impossible to reach a minimum deposition thickness on the shadowed portion of the side wall. With further miniaturization, it has seemed a further decrease and chamber pressure (e.g., below 1 mT) and a further increase in wafer-sputter target gap would be required, which would exacerbate the foregoing problems.
Current RF and VHF capacitive source designs utilize asymmetric feed designs. It has been seen that asymmetry of the feed design leads to asymmetry of the electric field at the target surface. This asymmetry at the target or powered electrode invariably results in asymmetry of the deposition or etching of the wafer. Controlling aspect ratios of the feed design is insufficient to negate the asymmetry. The asymmetry, also referred to as "skew", can become a controlling factor. Therefore, to achieve acceptable nonuniformities the skew must be mitigated.

Deposition apparatus and methods to reduce deposition asymmetry


An analog-to-digital converter circuit is disclosed that is capable of converting both positive and negative analog input signals, and that is capable of operating as either an analog-to-digital converter or a digital-to-analog converter. The converter includes a modifying filter, a series of substantially identical converter stages, and a restoring filter. An original reference signal is provided, coupled to a resistor array to provide a stage reference signal to each converter stage that is equivalent to the value of the bit of an N-bit binary word corresponding to that stage. An incoming analog signal is modified to ensure that it is positive before applying it in parallel to the converter stages. Each converter stage compares the modified analog signal to the sum of its own reference signal and the value of all stage reference signals for prior converter stages where the digital output of the stage was a binary "1." When the modified signal is larger than or equal to the stated sum, the converter stage outputs a binary "1", and when the modified signal is smaller than the sum, a binary "0" is output. In digital-to-analog mode, binary inputs to each stage determine the reference signals to be summed in order to produce an analog output. The restoring filter may be used to restore the original incoming analog signal, including its sign.

There are many well-known methods of converting an analog input signal to a series of digital output signals, and of reversing the process to convert a series of digital input signals (a binary word) to an analog output signal. All such methods can be improved upon by reducing the number of components required, by reducing the time needed to convert a sampled signal, or by changing the circuit components so as to reduce component losses and the resulting inaccuracies associated with signal transfer, or by a combination of these methods.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter that requires few components, and is simple and inexpensive to construct.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter that is equally accurate for positive and negative analog input signals.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter that processes signals rapidly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter that produces a digital representation of the input signal without any diode losses.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter constructed from substantially similar stages of circuitry.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter having stages of circuitry that experience no diode losses.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter that processes an input signal without using a clock.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter having N stages that is cascadable.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter wherein the number of required components increases proportionately, not exponentially, with the increase in bit resolution.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide an A/D converter that can also be used as a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter having all of the advantages set forth above.

Method and apparatus for analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog conversion


FPC connector (20) has multiple beam-shaped primary contacts (50) arranged on one side of an opening (30a) in housing (30) and multiple U-shaped secondary contacts (60) arranged along the other side of the opening. A tongue (45) of outer housing (40) together with the contact edge of the FPC (10) is inserted in the U-shaped portions of these U-shaped secondary contacts (60). This results in the forming of electrical contact between contact points (65, 53) of the contacts (60) and the primary contacts (50) with the conductive pads (12, 13) arranged in two rows along the contacting edge of the FPC (10).

Flexible printed cards are finding numerous practical applications ever since it became possible to form multiple parallel conductive pads on one surface or both surfaces of thin flexible insulating cards, for example, by etching.
Compared to individual conductors, flexible printed cards have substantial advantages in connecting components of complicated configurations or units moving relative to each other during operation due to such features as their flexibility, ability to pack a large number of conductive pads on a small area and their thinness.
FPC connectors are used to connect FPCs to conducting pads of circuit boards. FPCs and FPC connectors are finding wide use in consumer electronics and office equipment. In consumer electronics, FPCs are used to apply control signals to such devices as liquid-crystal, plasma and electroluminecence (EL) displays which require an extraordinary large number of conductors. They are also used in high-performance electronic equipment, such as microprocessors, to connect transistor components for the transmission of large volumes of data and control signals. FPCs used for these purposes feature a high density of conductors (up to 0.3 mm pitch) and they are commercially available.
Description of design of conventional FPC connectors can be found, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 3-22869. In this conventional FPC connector, electrical contacts having contact sections in the form of a tuning fork are arranged along a housing opening. A connecting end of an FPC is inserted in the tuning-fork contact sections along with an insulating slider. An electrical connection is made by conductive pads at the FPC connecting end being engaged by contact points of the electrical contacts.
The optimum density for such conventional FPC connectors is of the order of 1 mm pitch between conductive pads, and they can be used with FPCs whose pitch is below 0.5 mm only with considerable difficulties.
In addition, attempts to reduce dimensions of the FPC connector itself result in the compromising of contact springability, thus reducing the reliability of electrical connection.


A seat ramp is provided for effectuating the insertion and removal of vehicle seats. The removal ramp has at least one track member with an arcuate vehicle engagement portion, a surface engagement portion opposite the arcuate vehicle engagement portion, a mid portion integrally formed between the arcuate vehicle engagement portion and the surface engagement portion, and a sleeve attached underneath the track member adjacent to the arcuate vehicle engagement portion. A track retention apparatus is attached to the vehicle and has a cross member that extends through the sleeve of, and is perpendicular to, the track member. Once inserted onto the cross member, the track member is slidable along the cross member. A device is also provided for attaching the track retention apparatus to the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat ramp apparatus for easily effectuating loading and removal of passenger seats.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, ramps have been used on vehicles to effectuate the removal of items such as lawn equipment and wheel chairs. It was not until automatic seat rollers were placed on passenger seats for aiding in moving of the seats toward a vehicle doorway for removal that a roller seat ramp was needed. An example of a vehicle seat assembly with retracting roller seats is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,398 to Aneiros et al which issued Dec. 13, 1994. Current vehicle ramp designs do not provide a ramp with tracks that can be adjusted so that they are different widths apart to allow for the loading and removal of seats that have rollers spaced at differing widths. Moreover, prior ramps do not allow the tracks to slidably move along a center cross member that is disposed between the tracks so that the width between the tracks can be easily adjusted.
Further, prior vehicle ramps have not provided a device for latching the tracks to the vehicle so that they will not slide to one side or fall to the ground. Also lacking in the prior art is an arcuate vehicle engagement portion attached to the ramp tracks that fits over a door trim and molding of the vehicle so that the rollers of the seats do not abut against the door trim or molding during removal.


There has been a problem of causing too large a failure in extrapolated portions due to the multiple linear regression analysis or the 3*3 matrix optimization. An interpolation is performed to find a reduced Lab range and a reduced Lab gamut corresponding to a reduced RGB range and a reduced RGB gamut. The reduced RGB range and the reduced RGB gamut are compressed so that an RGB range and an RGB gamut are fit into an RGB gamut. A magnification ratio α is found for each grid according to relationship between the reduced Lab gamut and a Lab gamut. Then, a magnification ratio for the surface of the reduced Lab range is assumed to be that for the surface of the reduced Lab gamut. The reduced Lab range is enlarged to provide a Lab range. A magnification ratio α′ is found according to the relationship between the surface of the Lab range and the reduced Lab range. When a grid exists in the reduced Lab gamut, the magnification ratio α is used to enlarge the Lab value of the grid and provide the Lab range. When the grid does not exist in the reduced Lab gamut, the grid is enlarged by using the magnification ratio α′ to create an ICC profile.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a profile creation method, a profile creation apparatus, and a medium recording a profile creation program for creating a profile which defines correspondence between a first color space range represented by a device-dependent component coordinate and a second color space range represented by a device-independent component coordinate corresponding to the first color space range.
2. Description of Related Art
There are known such type of apparatuses that determine polynomial coefficients by the multiple linear regression analysis for extrapolation, optimize 3*3 matrices for extrapolation, and create an input chart for the ease of extrapolation. A similar apparatus is known as disclosed in JP-A No. 27272/2002, for example.
The above-mentioned conventional apparatuses cause too large a failure in extrapolated portions due to the multiple linear regression analysis or the 3*3 matrix optimization. Though input charts for easy extrapolation are available, the extrapolation may be forced to use a patch chart that becomes cylindrical in the saturation value space, for example. Charts are limited to such format. In addition, it is very difficult to create an accurate input chart that forms a cylindrical saturation value space.

Profile creation method, profile creation apparatus, and medium recording a profile creation program


A document folder includes an upper sheet, a lower sheet and an elongated folding portion which interconnects the upper and lower sheets. A generally C-shaped clamp has an upper clamping plate, a lower clamping plate and a curved portion which interconnects the upper and lower clamping plates. Two protrusions extend oppositely from the free edge of the lower clamping plate. Two parallel slits are formed in the lower sheet of the document folder adjacent to the folding portion of the document folder. The protrusions of the lower clamping plate of the C-shaped clamp are slidably and respectively received in the slits

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a document folder, more particularly to a document folder which has a clamp to clamp the documents, papers, etc. that are received in the document folder.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, a document folder includes an upper sheet, a lower sheet and a folding portion which interconnects the upper and lower sheets. A generally C-shaped clamp has an upper clamping plate, a lower clamping plate and a curved portion which interconnects the upper and lower clamping plates. The free edges of the upper and lower clamping plates, which are opposed to the curved portion, clamp cooperatively the document folder adjacent to the folding portion of the document folder in order to hold securely the documents, papers, etc., which are received in the document folder. The upper clamping plate of the C-shaped member has a rectangular hole formed therein. The upper sheet of the document folder has an erected hook member integrally formed therewith and that is provided adjacent to the folding portion of the document folder. The hook member hooks into the rectangular hole of the C-shaped clamp so as to position the C-shaped clamp on the document folder. Thus, the C-shaped clamp can slide on the document in order to clamp or release the documents in the document folder. This type of document folder is convenient for holding documents, papers) etc. However, the manufacture of the hook member of the document folder is difficult and troublesome, thereby increasing the manufacturing time to increase correspondingly the manufacturing costs of the document folder.


A system and improved method for managing an individual's job applications and networking processes in a digital, visual manner. In one aspect of the present invention, the platform is realized in the form of a web application with different sections, including one for tracking job applications, one for tracking networking outreach and engagement, and another for seeing tasks from both of those other sections. Data relevant to individual job applications and networking opportunities is stored in each section and displayed in an interactive kanban board-manner to enable them to manipulate their status and stay organized. Additional integrations and features include permitting importing and exporting data to third party servicers, such as job boards, applicant tracking systems, and calendars, and automated movement and prioritization using artificial intelligence/machine learning techniques applied to specific and aggregated data from other users. Machine learning further augments the application by providing additional guidance and data.

In today's competitive landscape, the process for finding a job is laborious, filled with uncertainty, and overwhelming. Candidates frequently must apply to dozens and sometimes hundreds of job postings across many different websites and channels to receive a single invitation to interview. Before receiving an offer, they experience multiple rounds of interviews on the phone, through video-conferencing platforms, or in person, typically without receiving any sort of feedback. As the Internet has increased in scale and commercial importance, the growing visibility of job postings now often results in hundreds of individuals applying and interviewing for positions that will accept only one candidate. This yields significant inefficiency on the part of companies and perhaps more so for jobseekers as they have to juggle more open applications. Further, an increasingly important component of the modern job search is the process of networking, informational interviews, and getting internal referrals and informal recommendations. Organizing this outreach and the status of these processes can also be difficult to manage. Indeed, even keeping in touch with professional and personal connections can be an unstructured, laborious, even overwhelming process that demands more than the human mind can manage.
Presently, there are very few tools to aid individuals in tracking and organizing a job search; there are even fewer to help with conducting job search-related networking. Among the most common tools used include tracking one's job search and networking in a digital spreadsheet program on a computer, using a physical notebook, or using a whiteboard, which usually all lack the cross-system integration with other resources such as online job (availability) boards, applicant tracking systems, digital calendars, and other job-seeking and networking resources. The result is that the jobseeker must juggle multiple websites, tools, and resources and, to keep up-to-date, update all of them so no balls are dropped. This typically leads to additional stress, frustration, actions taken on stale information, and the feeling that the jobseeker is not in control of their own job-seeking process.

Job prospect and applicant information processing