Methods of forming integrated circuits having memory cell arrays therein and peripheral circuits therein include the steps of selectively forming more lightly doped source and drain regions for transistors in the memory cell arrays. These more lightly doped source and drain regions are designed to have fewer crystalline defects therein caused by ion implantation, so that storage capacitors coupled thereto have improved refresh characteristics. Preferred methods include the steps of forming a first well region of first conductivity type (e.g., P-type) in a memory cell portion of a semiconductor substrate and a second well region of first conductivity type in a peripheral circuit portion of the semiconductor substrate extending adjacent the memory cell portion. First and second insulated gate electrodes are then formed on the first and second well regions, respectively, using conventional techniques. First dopants of second conductivity type are then implanted at a first dose level into the first and second well regions, using the first and second insulated gate electrodes as an implant mask. These dopants are then diffused to form lightly doped source and drain regions adjacent the first and second insulated gate electrodes. Second dopants of second conductivity type are then selectively implanted at a second dose level, greater than the first dose level, into the second well region using self-alignment techniques. However, these dopants are preferably not implanted into the first well region. These second dopants are then diffused into the second source/drain regions.

As computers and electrical appliances are gradually miniaturized, the performance characteristics of semiconductor devices, such as operational speed or noise margin, become very important considerations in achieving continued miniaturization. Accordingly, embedded memory logic devices have been developed in which functions of a logic device and a memory device are combined. The embedded memory logic device may be composed of a cell array region in which a multitude of memory cells are positioned and a logic circuit region which operates on the information stored in the cell array region. In order to improve the operational speed of embedded memory logic devices, self-aligned silicide (salicide) processing technology has been developed for selectively forming a metal silicide film having low resistivity on a gate electrode and source/drain region of a transistor. Complementary MOS (CMOS) circuits are also widely used for improving power consumption characteristics of a semiconductor device. In this case, when the gate electrodes of the NMOS transistor and PMOS transistor are both doped with N-type impurities, a buried channel is formed in the channel region of the PMOS transistor whereas a surface channel is formed in the channel region of the NMOS transistor. The PMOS transistor in which the buried channel is formed may exhibit severe short-channel characteristics which make it difficult to reduce the channel length as compared with the NMOS transistor. Accordingly, methods have been proposed for improving the short-channel characteristics of PMOS transistors as well as NMOS transistors by doping N-type and P-type impurities into the gate electrodes of the NMOS transistor and PMOS transistor, respectively.
FIGS. 1 through 3 are sectional views for explaining a conventional method for fabricating transistors of an embedded memory logic device, in which reference characters "a" and "b" denote a cell array region and a logic circuit region, respectively.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a step of forming a gate oxide film 9 and a conductive film 11. First, a P-well region and an N-well region 7 are formed over the main surface of a semiconductor substrate 1 using a conventional twin well forming process. Here, the P-well region is divided into a first P-well region 5a and a second P-well region 5b. The first P-well region 5a is formed in a cell array region (a) in which memory cells are formed, and the second P-well region 5b and the N-well region 7 are formed in a logic circuit region (b). Next, an isolation film 3 defining an active region and a field region is formed in a predetermined area of the resultant structure, and a gate oxide film 9 is formed on the active region. Subsequently, an undoped polysilicon film 11 is formed over the entire surface of the resultant structure having the gate oxide film 9 formed therein.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a step of forming first, second and third gate patterns 11a, 11b and 11c, a source/drain region of a cell transistor, and source/drain regions of an NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor of the logic circuit region. In detail, the undoped polysilicon film 11 is patterned to form a first gate pattern 11a on a predetermined area of the gate oxide film 9 formed on the first P-well region 5a. At the same time, second and third gate patterns 11b and 11b are formed on predetermined areas of the gate oxide film 9 formed on the second P-well region 5b and the N-well region 7, respectively. Then, the first and second gate patterns 11a and 11b and the isolation film 3 are used as ion implantation masks and N-type impurities are selectively ion-implanted into the first and second P-well regions 5a and 5b. The implanted N-type impurities are then thermally treated to form a first low-concentration source/drain region 13a and a second low-concentration source/drain region 13b on the surface of the active region in both sides of the first and second gate patterns 11a and 11b, respectively. Here, the first and second low-concentration regions 13a and 13b have doping concentrations in a range from between about 1.0.times.10.sup.17 /cm.sup.3 to 1.0.times.10.sup.18 /cm.sup.3. Next, the third gate pattern 11c and the isolation film 3 are used as ion implantation masks and P-type impurities are selectively ion-implanted into the N-well region 7. A thermal treatment step may also be performed at a predetermined temperature to form a third low-concentration source/drain region 15 on the surface of the active region adjacent both sides of the third gate pattern 11c. Here, the P-type doping concentration in the third low-concentration region may range from about 1.0.times.10.sup.17 /cm.sup.3 to 1.0.times.10.sup.18 /cm.sup.3.
Now, a CVD oxide film is formed over the entire surface of the resultant structure and is anisotropically etched to form spacers 16 at the sidewalls of the first through third gate patterns 11a, 11b and 11c. Next, the spacers 16, the first and second gate patterns 11a and 11b, and the isolation film 3 are used as ion implantation masks and N-type impurities (e.g., arsenic ions) are selectively ion-implanted into the first and second P-well regions 5a and 5b. A thermal treatment step is then performed at a predetermined temperature to form first and second relatively high-concentration source/drain regions 17a and 17b in the first and second low-concentration source/drain regions 13a and 13b. Here, the first and second high-concentration source/drain regions 17a and 17b have a doping concentration in a range from about 1.0.times.10.sup.19 to 1.0.times.10.sup.21 /cm.sup.3. In this case, in order to dope the first and second high-concentration source/drain regions 17a and 17b at a concentration exceeding 1.0.times.10.sup.19 /cm.sup.3, as described above, the arsenic ions typically must be ion-implanted at a high dose of about 1.0.times.10.sup.15 -5.0.times.10.sup.15 ions/cm.sup.2. However, if the arsenic ions are ion-implanted at a high dose level, ion implantation damage may be generated in the first and second high-concentration source/drain regions 17a and 17b. This implant damage may take the form of crystalline defects such as dislocation defects. Unfortunately, such crystalline defects may not be completely eliminated by subsequent thermal treatment steps. Therefore, junction leakage current may increase between the first and second high-concentration source/drain regions 17a and 17b, and the first and second P-well regions 5a and 5b.
After forming the first and second high-concentration source/drain regions 17a and 17b, as shown, the first and second low-concentration source/drain regions 13a and 13b remain under the spacers 16 formed at the sidewalls of the first and second gate patterns 11a and 11b. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the remaining first low-concentration source/drain region 13a and the first high-concentration source/drain region 17a in contact therewith constitute a lightly doped drain (LDD) type source/drain region of the cell transistor in the cell array region (a). Also, the remaining second low-concentration source/drain region 13b and the second high-concentration source/drain region 17b in contact therewith constitute a lightly doped drain (LDD) type source/drain region of the NMOS transistor in the logic circuit region (b).
Subsequently, the spacers 16, the third gate pattern 11c and the isolation film 3 are used as ion implantation masks and P-type impurities are selectively ion-implanted into the N-well region 7. These P-type impurities are then thermally treated to cause the formation of third P-type high-concentration source/drain regions 19 (doped to a concentration of 1.0.times.10.sup.19 .about.1.0.times.10.sup.21 /cm.sup.3) in the third low-concentration source/drain region 15. After forming the third high-concentration source/drain regions 19, as shown, the third low-concentration source/drain regions 15 remain under the spacers 16 formed at the sidewalls of the third gate pattern 11c. Here, the remaining third low-concentration source/drain region 15 and the third high-concentration source/drain region 19 being in contact therewith constitute a lightly doped drain (LDD) type source/drain region of the PMOS transistor in the logic circuit region (b).
FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating a step of forming first through third titanium (Ti) silicide films 21a, 21b and 21c using a salicide process. In more detail, the gate oxide layer 9 is entirely blanket-oxide-etched to expose first through third high-concentration source/drain regions 17a, 17b and 19. In this case, since the thickness of the gate oxide film 9 is much thinner than that of the spacers 16, the height and width of the spacer 16 change little during the etching step. The natural oxide film on the first through third gate patterns 11a, 11b and 11c is also removed to expose the top surface of the first through third gate patterns 11a, 11b and 11c. Subsequently, a Ti film is formed to a thickness of about 200 .ANG. over the resultant structure and is annealed under a nitrogen atmosphere. In such a manner, if the Ti film is annealed, a first Ti silicide film 21a is formed on the first gate pattern 11a and the first high-concentration source/drain regions 17a and at the same time a second Ti silicide film 21b is formed on the second gate pattern 11b and the second high-concentration source/drain regions 17b. Also, a third Ti silicide film 21c is selectively formed on the third gate pattern 11c and on the third high-concentration source/drain regions 19. In this case, the Ti film formed on the spacers 16 and isolation film 3 remains in an unreacted state. Next, the unreacted Ti film is removed to isolate the gate patterns 11a, 11b and 11c from the neighboring source/drain regions. The unreacted Ti film may be removed using a NH.sub.4 OH solution. Alternatively, if tantalum is used as a refractory metal, H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 may be used.
Next, although not shown, an interlayer insulating film is formed on the resultant structure and a bit line connected to the source region (or the drain region) of the cell transistor is formed. Then, a planarized insulating film is formed over the entire surface of the resultant structure where the bit line is formed, and a cell capacitor comprising a storage electrode connected to the drain region (or the source region) of the cell transistor, a dielectric film and a plate electrode, is formed, thereby completing a DRAM cell in the cell array region (a).
According to the aforementioned conventional method of fabricating transistors, crystalline defects occur in the first and second high-concentration source/drain regions and these defects can increase junction leakage current. Therefore, charges stored in the storage electrode of the cell capacitor may be readily depleted through leakages and this may cause malfunction of the semiconductor device. To prevent malfunction, short cycle refresh times may be required to "recharge" the storage electrodes, however, such short cycle refresh times lead to increased power consumption.

Methods of forming integrated circuits having memory cell arrays and peripheral circuits therein


A mounting assembly for mounting a surgical instrument to a base, which facilitates positioning a surgical instrument relative to the surgical site so that only the minimum portion of the instrument is positioned in the free space available around the surgical site. A surgical instrument is also provided which includes a handle, a tool member, and a segmented flexible articulating arm which operatively connects the handle and the tool member. Also provided is an instrumentation kit having a surgical instrument which includes an end effector connecting assembly disposed at the distal end portion of arm articulating arm to facilitate the removal or attachment of and end effector from the distal end of the articulating arm. The surgical instrumentation kit also includes a number of interchangeable surgical tool end effectors each having a uniform connector portion for interchangeable engagement with the end effector connecting assembly of the surgical instrument.

1. Technical Field
The subject disclosure relates to minimally invasive surgical procedures and apparatus, and more particularly to surgical instrumentation for performing surgery associated with the thoracic cavity.
2. Background of Related Art
It is well established that the performance of various types of surgical procedures using less invasive techniques and instrumentation has provided numerous physical benefits to the patient while reducing the overall cost of such procedures. One area, for example, which has experienced a great increase in the performance of less invasive procedures is in the area of heart surgery. In particular, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures have been performed using less invasive techniques with much success.
Access to the patient's thoracic cavity for such procedures in the past was typically achieved by a large longitudinal incision in the chest. This procedure, referred to as a median sternotomy, requires a saw or other cutting instrument to cut the sternum and allow two opposing halves of the rib cages to be spread apart. U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,779 to Bugge discloses a retractor which is designed to grip opposite sternum halves and spread the thoracic cavity apart. The large opening which is created by this technique enables the surgeon to directly visualize the surgical site and perform procedures on the affected organs. However, such procedures that involve large incisions and substantial displacement of the rib cage are often traumatic to the patient with significant attendant risks. The recovery period may be extended and is often painful. Furthermore, patients for whom coronary surgery is indicated may need to forego such surgery due to the risks involved with gaining access to the heart.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,617 to Jako discloses a retractor configured to be held by the surgeon for use in vascular or cardiac surgery to retract and hold ribs apart to allow access to the heart or a lung through an operating window. The retractor includes a rigid frame and a translation frame slidably connected to the rigid frame. Lower and upper blades are rotatably mounted to the rigid frame and the translation frame respectively. Such a "window" approach requires instrumentation that can be inserted into and manipulated within the limited space available in and around the surgical site.
Therefore, a continuing need exists for more versatile and varied surgical instrumentation which facilitates performing surgical procedures in limited access cavities of a patient during less invasive surgical procedures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Provided is a control valve for a variable capacity compressor, the control valve including: a valve body including a crank-chamber port, a discharge port, a suction port, a control channel formed inside the control valve such that the crank-chamber port and the discharge port communicate with each other, and a first bleeding channel formed such that the crank-channel port and the suction port communicate with each other; an operating unit provided in the valve body and including a second bleeding channel communicated from a center area to a side surface of the operating unit; and a driving unit provided in the valve body and connected to the operating unit to enable the operating unit to reciprocally move according to a current applied by an external source.

Generally, swash plate type compressors are widely used as compressors of air conditioning devices for cars, and are classified into various types according to compression methods and structures. Recently, variable capacity compressors that are capable of varying compression capacities are largely used. A capacity of the variable capacity compressor is adjusted by adjusting a gradient of a swatch plate. In other words, the capacity of the variable capacity compressor is reduced as the gradient of the swash plate is reduced by increasing a pressure in a crank chamber when an inflow amount of a refrigerant from a discharge chamber to the crank chamber is increased.
However, when a conventional variable capacity compressor is initially operated after being neglected for a certain period of time, specifically in summer, a pressure in a suction chamber is increased or a pressure in a crank chamber is increased by a liquid refrigerant, thereby delaying an operation of the conventional variable capacity compressor, and thus it is difficult to obtain a quick cooling performance. In addition, an explosion or noise caused by the explosion may be generated when the conventional variable capacity compressor is operated.
Meanwhile, a conventional control valve for a compressor includes a valve body, a driving unit provided in the valve body, and an operating unit provided in the valve body and reciprocally moving by the driving unit.
However, since the valve body and the operating unit of the conventional control valve are formed of a magnetic material, a non-magnetic material is fixed between the valve body and the operating unit so that the operating unit is smoothly reciprocally moved. At this time, it may be difficult to fix the non-magnetic material and fixability of the non-magnetic material may not be satisfactory in the conventional control valve.

Variable capacity compressor having a control valve with channels


A method and system for quantifying the quality of search results from a search engine based on cohesion. The method and system include modeling a set of search engine search results as a cluster and measuring the cohesion of the cluster. In an embodiment, the cohesion of the cluster is the average similarity between the cluster elements to a centroid vector. The centroid vector is the average of the weights of the vectors of the cluster. The similarity between the centroid vector and the cluster's elements is the cosine similarity measure. Each document in the set of search results is represented by a vector where each cell of the vector represents a stemmed word. Each cell has a cell value which is the frequency of the corresponding stemmed word in a document multiplied by a weight that takes into account the location of the stemmed word within the document.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The ultimate goal of any search engine is returning relevant results in response to a query. Generally, upon receiving a query from a user, a search engine searches its index for documents that match the query and then employs a ranking function to order the list of matching documents before presenting the list to the user. How a search engine ranking function decides which documents are the best matches, and what order the results should be shown in, varies widely from one search engine to another. Indeed, tuning a search engine ranking function to return relevant results for every search query is a challenging task. The task is especially challenging for Internet search engines as the numbers of documents and users are large and continuously increasing over time.
As search engines rely upon ranking functions to order results presented to the user, many techniques have been proposed to improve the quality of search engine ranking functions. Recently, however, there has been more attention on the automatic evaluation of the quality of search engine search results. Techniques for automatic evaluation enable, for example, search engines to process difficult queries in different ways, or to ask the user for further disambiguation information.
One approach for assessing search result quality is disclosed in the paper entitled "Web Projections: Learning from Contextual Subgraphs of the Web", by J. Leskovec, S. Dumais, and E. Horvitz, which is published on the Internet at the website for the Sixteenth International World Wide Web Conference, held in Banff, Alberta, Canada, from May 8-12, 2007. The Leskovec, et al. approach uses a supervised learning approach. In a supervised learning approach, a prediction is made as to the quality of search results based on training data. The training data typically consists of pairs of search queries and search results where each pair is labeled with a human-assigned relevance score. The task then, under the supervised learning approach, is to predict, accurately, the quality of search results for a valid search query after having been provided with a number of training examples.
While the supervised learning approach can provide an accurate predication as to the quality of search results, the supervised learning approach suffers from a drawback. Namely, supervised learning requires the creation and labeling of training data. For example, a system in which a typical supervised learning approach is used might require training data comprising thousands of queries, each with a corresponding set of search results and each labeled with a human-assigned relevance score. In the context of Internet search engines, the task of maintaining training data is especially demanding because the numbers of documents and queries are large and continuously increasing over time. Therefore, there is a need to quantify, accurately, the quality of search results without having to maintain training data as required by a supervised learning approach.
Another approach for assessing search result quality is disclosed in the paper entitled "Predicting Query Performance", by S. Cronen-Townsend, Y. Zhou, and W. B. Croft, which is published on the Internet at the website for the Twenty Fifth Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, held in Tampere, Finland, from Aug. 11-15, 2002. Cronen-Townsend et al. employ an unsupervised learning approach. An unsupervised learning approach does not suffer from the drawback of a supervised learning approach in that the unsupervised learning approach does not require the creation and labeling of training data. However, previous unsupervised learning approaches for assessing search result quality required access to the whole document collection that is searchable by the search engine. For example, the Cronen-Townsend et al. approach infers the quality of results by calculating the divergence of the language model of the top ranked documents from the language model of the whole document collection. The task of calculating is especially challenging in the context of Internet search engines where the size of the whole document collection is large and continuously increasing. Therefore, there is a need to assess the quality of search results that does not require access to the entire document collection.
One application of techniques for assessing search result quality is query routing in distributed search systems. Query routing consists of selecting the best search engines that are able to respond to a particular query. In query routing, a broker decides which search engine to send the query to among multiple search engines that may respond to the query. Previous approaches to query routing ranked search engines based on statistics of the terms contained in the query.
For example, one approach for query routing that uses a statistics database, known in the art as CORI, is disclosed in the paper entitled "Searching distributed collections with inference networks", by J. P. Callan, Z. Lu, and W. B. Croft, which was presented at the Eighteenth Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, held in Seattle, Wash., from Jul. 9-13, 1995. For a given query, CORI ranks the source search engines based on df.icf for document collections, where df represents the document frequency in a particular search engine's document collection and icf the inverse of the frequency of the term in all collections.
Another approach that uses term statistics in the document collections is disclosed in the paper entitled "Generalizing Gloss to Vector-Space Databases and Broker Hierarchies", by L. Gravano and H. Garcia Molina, which was presented at the Twenty First International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, from Sep. 11-15, 1995, held in Zurich, Switzerland. Gloss uses term statistics in the collection to infer the rank of sources for a given query. Gloss requires two vectors to estimate the rank: the document frequency of the terms in each collection and the sum of weight of each term over all documents in the collection. Based on these vectors, Gloss proposes two estimators to predict the number of documents in a document collection having a similarity with a query greater than a threshold l. One estimator, Max(l), assumes the highest level of co-occurrence of the query terms in the database documents. The second estimator, Sum(l), assumes the terms in the query do not appear together in any database document.
Both the CORI approach and the Gloss approach do not take into account the search result quality when selecting sources. Source search engines with similar statistics about the query terms have the same importance to the given query. However, as the search engines can employ different ranking functions, the quality of search results can be different. Therefore, there is a need for better source selection for search queries that takes into account the quality of the ranking functions of each search engine.
Another application of techniques for assessing search result quality is the aggregation of search results by a meta-search engine. A meta-search engine or search engine aggregator is a type of search engine that submits user search queries to other search engines and returns the results or portions thereof from each of the other search engines. Meta-search engines enable a user to enter and submit a query once and obtain results from many information sources simultaneously. Current approaches for aggregating search results from multiple search engines do not take into account the quality of the ranking function of each search engine.
Based on the foregoing, it is clearly desirable to quantify the quality of search results without requiring creation and labeling of training data and without requiring access to the whole searchable document collection. It is further desirable to route queries in a manner that takes into account the quality of search results to select source search engines. Finally, it is desirable to aggregate search results from multiple search engines in a manner that takes into account the quality of the ranking functions employed by the search engines.

Method and system for quantifying the quality of search results based on cohesion


A method for forming a UV transmission passivation coating on an integrated circuit, such as EPROM, after completion of the active device and metal routing circuitry comprises depositing a first barrier dielectric layer over the integrated circuit; smoothing out underlying features by applying a layer of flowable dielectric over the first dielectric layer; and depositing a second dielectric layer over the flowable dielectric. Next a photoresist pattern is made over the second dielectric coating, having an opening layer over the at least one conductive pad. A wet etch process is used to remove portions of the second dielectric layer exposed by the opening. A dry etch process is used to remove portions of the remaining layers exposed through the opening, including the remaining portions of the second dielectric layer, the flowable dielectric layer and the first dielectric layer, down to the conductive pad. Finally, the photoresist is removed. The second dielectric layer is composed of a first protective dielectric, such as silicon oxynitride, deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, to protect the flowable dielectric layer from the subsequent wet etch process. The second dielectric layer also includes a top layer deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and comprising phosphorus doped silica to provide a stress buffer, and to prevent penetration of mobile ions to the first dielectric layer. The phosphorus doped silica layer is deposited using both high frequency and low frequency power for plasma formation during the deposition to increase the quality of the layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated circuit passivation structures and processes, and more particularly to a passivation process and structure adapted for UV erase EPROMs.
2. Description of Related Art
An integrated circuit passivation layer coats the device with a protective covering. The protective covering performs a number of functions, including protecting the device from stress which may occur during package molding or otherwise, and protecting the device from contamination and moisture in the environment. Thus, passivation structures should be resistant to thermal and mechanical stress, non-porous to mobile ions which may appear on the surface of the device particularly in moist conditions, and electrical insulating. For some devices, which include UV erase EPROM cells, the passivation layer must also be transmissive to the ultraviolet radiation.
The passivation layer, in addition to providing a protective coating for the device, must be opened over contact pads formed on the device. The contact pads are used for connecting wiring in the package to the metal layers on the integrated circuit. Thus, the passivation process must support a technique for making openings in the passivation layer to expose contact pads.
All of these features have led to significant development in the field of passivation layers for integrated circuits. The following U.S. Patents provide background information for the present invention: U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,622 entitled UV ERASABLE EPROM WITH UV TRANSPARENT SILICON OXYNITRIDE COATING; U.S. Pat. No. 5, 260,236 entitled UV TRANSPARENT OXYNITRIDE DEPOSITION IN SINGLE WAFER PECVD SYSTEM; U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,024 entitled PASSIVATION FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT STRUCTURES; U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,541 entitled METHOD OF FORMING SILICON NITRIDE FILM TRANSPARENT TO ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION AND RESULTING ARTICLE; U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,946 entitled SEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICE HAVING A PASSIVATION LAYER WITH SILICON NITRIDE LAYERS; U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,426 entitled EPROM WITH ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION TRANSPARENT SILICON NITRIDE PASSIVATION LAYER; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,878 entitled PROCESS FOR IMPROVED PLANARIZATION OF THE PASSIVE LAYERS FOR SEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICES.
Notwithstanding substantial development in the art of passivation layers, it is desirable to provide an improved structure. Particularly, it is desirable to provide a passivation structure and process which can completely fill the voids in underlying structures as the design rules for integrated circuits shrink, which provides protection against moisture and mobile ion penetration, which involves a process which does not degrade device reliability, which has high UV light transparency for efficient UV erase of EPROM cells, and which is cost-effective and manufacture worthy.

Integrated circuit passivation process and structure


A method and apparatus are disclosed for using temporary data with a magnetic stripe card to reduce incidents of fraudulent card transactions. A first set of temporary data, valid until an occurrence of an event, is generated and applied to a magnetic stripe area of a magnetic stripe card (“the card”). The card can be used for a first transaction, which is authorized based on a verification that the first set of temporary data is valid, or was valid and is not expired. The transaction is processed based on an account associated with the card. The event occurs, rendering the first data item invalid, and a second set of temporary data is generated and applied to the magnetic stripe area.

Fraud related to payment cards (e.g., credit cards, debit cards and ATM cards) is on the rise and is a significant problem for banks that issue payment cards, merchants that accept payment cards, and customers who obtain and use payment cards to pay for purchases and other financial transactions. Payment card counterfeiters are able to counterfeit a payment card easily given the right information, and that information is often easy to obtain. News media reports of thousands, and even millions, of payment cards being stolen at a time from companies' computer networks are alarmingly common. Criminals can counterfeit a payment card using the stolen payment card information, or they can simply sell the payment card information to others who will counterfeit the payment card. Payment card information can be stolen as simply as by a waiter or waitress at a restaurant surreptitiously swiping a customer's payment card through an unauthorized personal card reader when the customer provides the payment card to pay for a meal. Criminals can use that information to counterfeit a payment card and can use the counterfeit payment card to pay for a fraudulent purchase or other type of financial transaction.

Using temporary data with a magnetic stripe card


A method of calculating trigram path probabilities for an input string of text containing a multi-word-entry (MWE) or a factoid includes tokenizing the input string to create a plurality of parse leaf units (PLUs). A PosColumn is constructed for each word, MWE, factoid and character in the input string of text which has a unique first (Ft) and last (Lt) token pair. TrigramColumns are constructed which define corresponding TrigramNodes each representing a trigram for three PosColumns. Forward and backward trigram path probabilities are calculated for each separate TrigramNode. The sums of all trigram path probabilities through each PLU are then calculated as a function of the forward and backward trigram path probabilities. Systems and computer-readable medium configured to implement the methods are also provided.

The present invention relates to natural language processing. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of parsing natural human language.
In processing natural languages, such as English, Hebrew and Japanese, a parser is typically used in the analysis of sentences. A parser determines, for a sentence, the roles the words play and the interdependencies between those words. A first stage in parsing is breaking the input sentence into words and looking those words up in a lexicon to determine what parts of speech (POS) any word can have. For example the word "brachiate" can only be a verb, the word "sentence" could be a verb or noun, and "still" could be a noun, verb, adverb, as well as other parts of speech. There are also individual words that, when adjacent in a sentence, act as a unit as a different part of speech. For example "kind of" is treated as an adverb in the sentence "I kind of like her." But in the sentence "It is a kind of cabbage," the word "kind" is a noun and the word "of" is a preposition. Similar sets are "sort of," "at least," and "on the other hand." These sets are called Multi-Word-Entries, or MWEs. A parsing system can assign many different types of parts of speech.
In addition, some parsers construct larger units from individual words before doing the syntactic parse. These larger units generally have internal structure that is not syntactic. For example, street addresses, time of day, and proper names all have internal structure that must be dealt with outside of syntax. In the sentence "David Parkinson visited 123 Elm Street at 11:30 AM," the emphasized units ("David Parkinson", "123 Elm Street" and "11:30 AM") can be treated as a larger unit by the grammar component (which is responsible for syntax). These units are called factoids. However, some sentences could have conflicting factoids. For example in the sentence "After 1 second St. Augustine appeared" there are two overlapping factoids: "1 second St." (which could be a street address), and "St. Augustine" (which could be a saint's name.) Other sentences could have items in them that might be incorrectly identified as a factoid if the entire context of the sentence is not considered. For example, in the Sentence "After I saw Henry Nixon walked into the room" we do not want "Henry Nixon" as a factoid.
The speed of a parser is dependent on how many different combinations of words it has to put together before it achieves a parse that spans the input sentence. There are many dead ends it could explore before finding the right way. For example, if it considers a part of speech for a word that does not make sense by building larger structures using it, then all that work is for naught. In a similar vein, if it considered a MWE as a first when it shouldn't have, or a factoid when the individual units are the correct one, then the parsing of that sentence will be slow. In addition, incorrect parses can be produced if the parser considers wrong parts of speech first. If an incorrect parse is generated before the correct one, and the parser decides to stop looking for the correct one, then an incorrect parse will be produced. The accuracy of factoid identification is also an issue. Confidence in whether a span is a factoid is done at two places in the system. When the factoid is constructed, and when the parse completes.
A Hidden Markov Model (HMM) using trigrams is a standard technique to predict which part of speech for each word is the preferred one in a given sentence. However, techniques for determining the parts of speech for MWE's and factoids are needed to improve parser performance. Also needed to improve parser performance are techniques to determine whether larger units, such as MWE's and factoids, should he considered first, or whether their individual pieces should be considered first by the parser.

Method and apparatus for providing improved HMM POS tagger for multi-word entries and factoids


The present invention relates to processes for resolving N-methyl-3(R,S)-hydroxy-3-phenylpropylamine and N,N-dimethyl-3 (R,S) -hydroxy-3-phenylpropylamine with the isomers of mandelic acid and the resulting salts.

The structural formula: ##STR1## represents N-methyl-3 R-(2-methylphenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine when R.sup.r is methyl, and represents N-methyl-3 R-(2-methylthiophenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine, when R.sup.r is methylthio. Both N-methyl-3 R-(2-methylphenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine and N-methyl-3 R-(2-methylthiophenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine act as selective and potent inhibitors of norepinephrine uptake.
Syntheses of N-methyl-3 R-(2-methylphenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,018,895, 4,194,009, 4,314,081 and 4,777,291, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. A synthesis of N-methyl-3 R-(2-methylthiophenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,624, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The structural formula: ##STR2## represents N-methyl-3 R-(4-trifuoromethylphenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine, (R)-fluoxetine.
Syntheses of (R)-fluoxetine, (R)-N-methyl-3-(4-trifluoromethylphenoxy)-3-phenylpropylamine, are known in the art and taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,035.
In known syntheses of these compounds either a mixture comprising both the R and S enantiomers of the desired compound is formed and then the desired enantiomer is separated from the mixture using techniques known in the art or the desired enatiomer is prepared directly from a chiral substrate. It is desirable to develop an alternate process that allows for making of the individual enantiomers directly.


An image forming apparatus that executes processes necessary for image formation in a distributed manner. An image forming module (304) executes a process assigned by a sub master control unit (330) and a slave control unit (331) which are connected to each other by a pair of serial communication buses (380tx, 380rx). The sub master control unit (330) transmits first data for executing a process assigned to the slave control unit (331) via the serial communication bus (380tx). The slave control unit (331) transmits second data to the sub master control unit (330) via the serial communication bus (380rx) in a period during which the slave control unit (331) does not receive the first data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that controls image formation using a first control unit and a second control unit connected to a load.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus using electrophotography includes functions for image formation, such as a conveying function to convey a recording material such as a sheet, an image forming function to generate an image, and a fixing function to fix an image on the recording material. When those functions are controlled by a single central processing unit (CPU), the processing load of the CPU increases, thus making the overall processing slow. In addition, arrangement of wiring from the CPU to a board where an actuator such as a motor is connected becomes complicated. Therefore, it is desired to execute distributed control on the operation of the image forming apparatus by using a plurality of control modules that achieve those functions. Each control module includes a CPU which executes a process for the associated function (hereinafter referred to as "sub CPU").
Serial communication is used for transmission and reception of data between the sub CPUs of a plurality of control modules. Each control module controls a load driver such as a motor driver by using the sub CPU incorporated in the control module. An increase in the number of load drivers which the sub CPU controls increases the data communication traffic in serial communication.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,666 describes an apparatus that changes the communication rate between the upstream direction and the downstream direction in serial communication.
Japanese Patent No. 4748788 describes an apparatus in which a dedicated line is provided to an optional device in addition to the serial transmission lines.
The known structures to achieve serial communication of an image forming apparatus include a structure which uses two lines of a transmission line and a reception line, a structure which uses two lines of a clock line and a transmission/reception line, or which uses three lines of a clock line, a transmission line, and a reception line. Because an image forming apparatus needs to sheets without jamming, a control sequence for controlling sheet conveying is extremely important. In the case of conveying a recording material such as a sheet of paper, it is necessary to first determine the speed of a motor for conveying the recording material, and then start rotating the motor. However, when serial communication for determining the motor speed is not established due to noise or the like and the motor speed is not determined, serial communication for starting the rotation of the motor may be established before the motor speed is determined. In this case, the motor cannot be rotated at the proper speed, and jamming or the like occurs. To cope with this problem, conventionally, after confirmation of reliable establishment of serial communication, the next communication is started every time. Executing serial communication in this way can permit the control sequence to be executed normally, thus ensuring a proper image forming operation. In order to properly execute the control sequence for the image forming operation, as described above, it is important to check whether or not the communication is established.
In addition, in order to properly execute the control sequence for the image forming operation, information needs to be acquired regularly. In order to control transportation of a recording material with high precision, for example, it is necessary to regularly acquire the output result of a sensor which detects the conveying state of the recording material.
In this case, if communication for checking whether or not communication is established to regularly acquire the information is delayed, control on the image forming operation may not be executed properly.

Image forming apparatus and communication method


An input voltage contacted at the input of a contact can be through-connected to an output of the contact or switched off via a movable contactor. In order to determine the switching state of the contact, any drop in the contact voltage between the input and the output is detected. By the detected contact voltage, it can at least be determined whether the input voltage has been through-connected to the output or switched off.

A determination method and an evaluation circuit are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,223. The evaluation circuit is used in electromagnetic switching devices, in particular in contactors and isolating switches, in order to quench arcs that occur during opening of the contact.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,479 discloses a determination method for a switching state of a contact, via which an input voltage which is applied to an input of the contact can be passed on via a moving switching piece to an output of the contact, or can be disconnected from it. In this case, the method determines whether the input voltage is or is not being passed on to the output. The recorded nominal state is indicated.
The prior, not previously published, DE 100 25 276.1, describes a method for determining the switching state of a contact, via which an input voltage which is applied to an input of the contact can be passed on via a moving switching piece to an output of the contact, or can be disconnected from it. In this case as well, a contact voltage which is dropped between the input and the output is recorded, and the recorded contact voltage is used to determine whether the input voltage has or has not been disconnected from the input.

Method for determining the switching state of a contact and evaluation circuit corresponding thereto


A node with local GPS time in an ad-hoc wireless network synchronizes with the network time immediately and slowly pulls the network time to GPS time. However, network nodes may immediately transition to the common GPS time after an island or group head node determines that the transition in network time does not disturb the communication links.

1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to synchronization of nodes within a network. In particular, the present invention pertains to a time-of-day synchronization (TOD) within wireless ad-hoc networks that determines an appropriate time for network nodes to switch to a common GPS time without disruption of existing communication links.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Commercial wireless devices employ clock synchronization techniques for their operation in WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Networks) and WLAN (Wireless Local Area Networks) type networks. Exemplary WPAN type devices include Bluetooth devices designed to support low bandwidth and short distance (e.g., less than ten meters) wireless connections. Bluetooth specifies the protocols to be used by different handheld computing devices in order to communicate and exchange data. For timing purposes, Bluetooth specifies a master/slave clock synchronization mechanism allowing synchronization between neighboring nodes that reside one-hop away from each other within the network.
The IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard specifies two different approaches for time synchronization. One approach accommodates infrastructure-based networks, while the other approach accommodates independent networks. With respect to infrastructure-based networks, IEEE 802.11 provides a master/slave clock synchronization mechanism, where a special fixed node (referred to as an access point (AP)) is used as a master. In an independent network, a mobile node transmits a beacon message at a selected beacon period. Each node receiving the beacon message updates the node clock with the value in the received beacon message in response to the received value being greater than the node current local time. If the received value is less than the node local time, the received value is discarded.
In a tactical environment, Radio Frequency (RF) communications must be protected against major enemy threats including jamming and signal interception. In order to protect against these threats, a modern tactical system constantly changes the transmission frequency (e.g., by frequency hopping (FH), by direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), by both techniques, etc.) and encrypts the transmitted data with a time dependent encryption algorithm. Tactical network nodes must therefore be accurately synchronized in time to communicate. The time synchronization problem is especially difficult in a tactical network due to the volatility of RF links.
An example of a tactical ad-hoc radio system employing a conventional approach to time-of-day (TOD) synchronization includes a Near Term Data Radio (NTDR) system from ITT. This system employs three time-of-day (TOD) message types (e.g., Cold Start, Late Net Entry (LNE) and In-Net) to enable all radios or nodes within the network to synchronize with a common time (e.g., time-of-day). In Cold Start (CS) mode, all radios or nodes within the network use a fixed time (Transmission Security (TRANSEC)). This enables all radios within the network to listen to the Cold Start messages without an initial time (e.g., time-of-day) reference. Upon receiving a Cold Start time-of-day update message, a radio extracts the transmitter time from the message and uses that time to update the node time-of-day. Subsequently, the radio in Cold Start mode enters a Late Net Entry (LNE) mode and selects an LNE time (TRANSEC), which is generally within six minutes from an In-Net time-of-day. A radio dwelling in LNE mode remains in that mode until the radio time-of-day is within twenty milliseconds (20 msec) of the transmitter time. Once this occurs, the radio transitions into an In-Net mode. An In-Net mode message is used for normal message transmission within the network.
The time-of-day synchronization scheme of the Near Term Data Radio (NTDR) system has been modified to satisfy the constrained requirements of a Small Unit Operation (SUO) network. This type of network includes extremely mobile, volatile, power and bandwidth limited operational conditions. The basic functionality of the Cold Start (CS), Late Net Entry (LNE) and In-Net modes of the Near Term Data Radio (NTDR) system are similar to "Isolated", "In Sync", and "Associated" modes employed in the SUO system. Due to the severe timing constraints imposed by the Small Unit Operation (SUO) security features, nodes must establish a common network time before commencing communications. This is accomplished by the time-of-day (TOD) synchronization scheme or protocol. If a node with local Global Positioning System (GPS) time or capability is present, the aggregate network time (e.g., "net time" or non-GPS based network time) must be slowly pulled towards the GPS time in order to facilitate multi-tier operation. However, the time-of-day synchronized nodes constantly lose and regain connectivity with each other in a tactical or ad-hoc environment. In order to solve the problem of fragmented networks, a "flywheel" technique has been proposed to allow nodes to continue to predict, and therefore track, the movement of the network time as adjusted by neighboring nodes. This type of technique or scheme is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0047307 (Yoon et al.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. One of the advantages of the flywheel time-of-day synchronization scheme includes a roaming node with local GPS time being able to synchronize with existing (non-GPS based) network time immediately, and slowly pull the network time toward the GPS based time.
Although the flywheel technique overcomes difficulties encountered with respect to time synchronization within an ad-hoc environment, the technique can stand some improvement. For example, when the network time (e.g., non-GPS based time) differs from the GPS time by one-second, the interval for the network time to reach the GPS based time is in excess of one hour (e.g., 1.33 hours). The time-offset between the network time and the GPS time is unpredictable and depends upon the operational scenario (e.g., the node starting first and/or the node having a local GPS time among the neighboring nodes, the start time of the node, etc.). This potentially long pulling time by the flywheel technique may be unacceptable in the highly mobile, volatile, power and bandwidth limited tactical networks. In an attempt to overcome this problem, a node with local GPS time may flood an LNE message to neighboring nodes directing the nodes to acquire the GPS signal and set node clocks to GPS time immediately. However, the sudden changes of network time may disturb the current communication in the existing network since nodes more than one hop away from a group or island head node may not timely receive information related to the GPS transition and be unaware of when to perform that transition to GPS time.
Further, if a node local clock time is not updated by neighboring nodes with GPS time, drifts in the local clock may accumulate during the long pulling period of the flywheel technique. The accumulated clock drifts during the flywheel pulling interval may cause fragmented networks. For example, a node with a clock drift rate of one part per million (ppm) that updates the node clock via the flywheel technique loses connectivity with the existing network after two-hundred updates since the maximum value for staying within the network time is exceeded (e.g., Δtmax of two-hundred microseconds (200 μsec)).
When two unconnected islands or groups of nodes (e.g., fragmented networks) come within proximity of one another, some of the member nodes within the different islands begin to establish RF neighbor relationships in order to merge. Unless time synchronization is achieved between these neighboring nodes, the merging of the fragmented networks cannot be resolved.
The time synchronization between fragmented networks is very expensive with respect to the hardware/software processing required. For example, an Associated node within the SUO system requires an extra receiver during the pulling period of the flywheel technique in order to monitor reception of an LNE message for resolving fragmented networks for merging. Even if the node receives the LNE message, additional processing or techniques are needed to arrange other nodes and set the node times to the targeted time without interrupting the communication links.
Thus, pulling network time to GPS time by a node with GPS may be problematic in tactical ad-hoc networks due to a potentially long pulling time, accumulated clock drifts and very expensive hardware/software implementation for a merge.

Method and apparatus for time-of-day synchronization between network nodes


According to an embodiment, a non-volatile memory device includes a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, and a resistance change layer provided between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer. The resistance change layer is capable of making a transition between a low-resistance state and a high-resistance state, and includes an oxide containing at least one of hafnium (Hf) and zirconium (Zr), at least one selected from the group consisting of barium (Ba), lanthanum (La), gadolinium (Gd) and lutetium (Lu), and nitrogen (N).

A resistance change memory has large potential for realizing a non-volatile memory device in the next generation. A resistance change film included in the resistance change memory is less likely to be deteriorated even in a highly defined size, and may have an advantage for manufacturing a huge capacity memory.
To enhance a memory characteristic in such a resistance change memory, there is room for improvement. For example, it is desired to make filament-forming easier in the initialization process. Also, it is desired to more stably maintain a changed state of the resistance change film.


A surface interaction sample introduction (SISI) system for mass spectrometers is disclosed that improves sensitivity and reduces chemical background. SISI comprises of a settling chamber with an inlet orifice that ions created by an ionization source enter the MS impinging surface that is located in front of the inlet orifice, thereby the high-speed gas jet entering the settling chamber from the inlet orifice impinges on the impinging surface resealing ions and molecules into the settling chamber. The impinging surface can be one of the settling chamber surfaces or an extra surface placed inside the settling chamber. The impinging surface can be orthogonal or angled with respect to the gas jet. The impinging surface is heated to apply thermal energy to the jet to promote the liberation of ionized particles from attached impurities. The released ions and molecules leave the settling chamber from an outlet port towards a mass spectrometer inlet.

Mass spectrometer (MS) are used to determine a molecular weight and structural information about chemical compounds. Molecules are weighed by ionizing the molecules and measuring the response of their trajectories in a vacuum to electric and magnetic fields. Ions are weighed according to their mass-to-charge (m/z) values. In order to achieve this, a sample that is to be characterized, is ionized and then injected into the mass spectrometer. Atmospheric pressure ionization (API) is a popular method of generating ions at atmosphere and above pressure. API sources are advantageous because they provide a gentle means for ionizing molecules without inducing energy into the internal structures of molecules of interest hence keeping its integrity of the ground sate structure. They also provide ease of use because samples can be introduced at atmospheric conditions. Some common atmospheric pressure ion sources include Electrospray or nebulization assisted Electrospray (ES), Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization (APCI), Atmospheric pressure Photo Ionization (APPI), and Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI), Inductively couple plasma (ICP). These ion sources produce charged particles, such as protonated molecular ions or intact ions. Generally, ionization process is not efficient and unwanted cluster molecule ions are formed as well from analyte species in solution or solid form, in a region which is approximately at atmospheric pressure.
Mass spectrometers generally operate in a vacuum maintained lower than 10−4 Torr depending on the mass analyzer type. Therefore, charged particles must be transported into vacuum for mass analysis. Typically, a portion of the ions created in the API sources are entrained in a bath gas API source chamber and transported into vacuum along with a carrier gas through an orifice into vacuum. Doing this efficiently presents numerous challenges. In addition, API sources produce high chemical background and relatively low sensitivity. This results in a poor signal-to-noise ratio. This is believed to be caused by sampling of impurities attached to analyte ions (for example, cluster molecules, atoms or ions, or other undesired adducts), caused by incomplete desolvation during the API process. Many solvated droplets enter the mass spectrometer and consequently produce a large level of chemical noise across the entire mass range. Additionally, incompletely vaporized droplets linger near the sampling orifice.
The prior art discloses a wide variety of techniques to direct material from the ion source to the MS. Generally, there are numerous pressure regions with appropriate ion guides are introduced for transporting the charged species into the vacuum where mass analyzer is operational. A low-pressure interface is used between the atmospheric ion source and the next pressure region. Gases with molecules and ions first enter the interface through an inlet orifice and then exit the interface through an exit orifice towards the next stage or the MS. The design of the interface is critical for sensitivity and performance of the MS. The shape and the size of the inlet orifice as well as the pressure inside determine the characteristics of the gas. Generally, when mixture of flow of background gas and charged species enter the lower pressure regions, a supersonic expansion, normally refer to as free jet expansion, naturally forms, which has unique characteristics. One of its characteristics is a sever drop in temperature, which causes infusion of the particles. Direct sampling from this free jet expansion has multiple disadvantages namely, formation of clusters and allowing larger species enter the MS device reflecting in lower sensitivity and higher background noise. Additionally, photons and meta-stable neutrals can readily enter the mass analyzer causing false counts when they strike the detector, which is normally situated at the end of the mass analyzer.
A sample introduction system is one of the main components of a mass spectrometer. This interface is used to transport sample ions from an ionization source to the mass spectrometer entrance through a series of differentially pumped vacuum stages. Ion guides or rings are also used to properly direct the ions towards the entrance of the mass spectrometer. Such interfaces are critically important when using an atmospheric pressure ionization (API) source, in which the atmospheric pressure source is connected to the first stage of the vacuum ion guide system. Usually in an expanded jet with complex composition, a complex expansion and shock structure is formed. This results in a poor ion transmission efficiency and significant ion losses during transport from the atmospheric pressure source to the low-pressure ion guide. A large portion of the ion loss occurs during transit through the first vacuum region, where there is a strong gas dynamic effect and less effective droplet desolvation (in the case of atmospheric ionization source) due to the low temperatures caused by the gas flow expansion.
The present system is a new surface interaction sample introduction (SISI) for mass spectrometry. There are basically two main types of atmosphere-to-vacuum interfaces. One is an orifice-based interface, and the other is a heated capillary-based interface. A skimmer and/or an ion guide/funnel usually follows the interface for ion focusing. Other types of interfaces are mainly modifications based on these two types, for example, introducing a heated cone gas (or a heated gas curtain), increasing orifice or capillary numbers, coupling the heated capillary with an orifice interface, etc.
The ion source (not shown) is enclosed in a chamber that is maintained at approximately atmospheric pressure. The ion source can be an electrospray (ESI), ion spray, a MALDI, a corona discharge device, an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) device, an atmospheric pressure photo ionization (APPI), Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) device, or any other known ion source. The pressure difference between the jet and the chamber is usually low enough to result in under-expanded jets. These jets have complex flow structure with a set of diamond shaped expansion waves and shock waves, and zones of silence in the inner parts of the jet to bring the gas pressure to the chamber pressure. The gas flow dynamics in the first vacuum region is of fundamental importance for the transport of ions. In a supersonic nozzle of a mass spectrometer interface, the gas flow expansion downstream of the orifice depends on both the inlet/outlet pressure ratio and the geometry of the nozzle. One of the remarkable characteristics of flow through the orifice interface is a strong flow expansion and ion transport through the Mach disk. These jet flow patterns result in significant ion deceleration. In the zone of silence there is a low frequency gas-ion collision which results in a narrow ion beam and localized decrease in the ion charge density. Downstream of the Mach disk, ions are decelerated and aggregate. The zone of silence is not beneficial for the transmission of highly charged ions of the same mass. The interaction of the flow circulation and the shock wave results in a zone of silence.
In many sample introduction systems, the jet is aimed at the entrance of the MS. This disrupts the expansion waves, and the material inside the wave enters the MS. The issue with these types of systems is that the pressure and temperatures inside the expansion waves becomes very low (in order of several kelvins), which results that the sample enters the MS at very low temperatures. The low temperature basically means that there is very low molecular mobility. These low pressure and temperatures may alter the sample characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,546,750B2, discloses a new sample introduction system in which the jet does not enter the MS directly, the details of which is incorporated in this application. In that patent, the flow goes through several bends causing that the expansion waves are died down before entering the MS. This system, referred to as Hot Source Induced Disolvation (HSID) tends to destroy the free jet expansion. The region of the free expansion is complicated. A skimmer body may also be positioned along the direction allowing ions of mass spectrometer interface to be sampled through orifice along the direction of the flow.
The two common methods of guiding the free expansion until the sampling point are using a ring guide and using an RF ion guide. These have many disadvantages: These include: (i) Clustering, which is due to low temperate. The clustering is combination of different ions and molecules. (ii) High chemical background, which is again because of formation of clusters. Since different molecule masses cluster, it is not possible to recognize the molecule. (iii) Requires frequent cleaning because it is cold and when the material comes out of this zone it sticks to the surfaces since they are so cold. (iv) Large difference from one system to another due to strong dependency of nozzle shape and form to free jet expansion profile. (v) Sever signal fluctuation. Since the MS is sensitive to contamination, any type of contamination of any form, such as clustering, will significantly change MS sensitivity. (iv) photons and meta-stable neutrals readily enter the MS device. In addition, the use of capillary influences the MS signal. The fluid conductance through the capillary can change the MS signal. Smallest variation in the capillary diameter can change the flow conditions and therefore MS signal. There can be a factor of 4 difference in sensitivity.
These are the so called "On Axis" system, where the MS entrance is coaxial in front of the orifice. In these systems the clusters can go through the MS, especially meta stable ones, which are damaging to the MS signal and cause MS problems.
Based on the above discussion, the prior art has the following disadvantages: On-axis sampling causes light and heavy molecules to enter the MS device causing high background noise. Sampling directly from the free jet expansion causing cluster charged species to be form due to the low temperature of expansion and hence high background noise. The free jet expansion is very sensitive to geometry of the sampling orifice. The changes to sampling orifice by contamination has a prominent effect in the expansion profile causing signal instability and fluctuation. Multiple bend in case of HSID, reduce sensitivity due to charge particle are forced to travel within narrow and long tunnels so that they have high probability of striking the surface area of the tunnels and lose their charges
The present device provides a novel interface for atmospheric pressure ionization sources that improves mass spectrometer performance.

Sample introduction system for mass spectrometry


A circuit comprises a measurement resistor in series with a heater, a detector circuit for providing a signal indicative of the current flowing in the resistor, switching devices for controlling the connection of the heater to a voltage source and the connection of the measurement resistor in the supply circuit comprising the source and the heater, and a control unit arranged to drive the switching devices in a manner such that each time the heater is activated, the measurement resistor is kept disconnected from the supply circuit of the heater for a predetermined period of time and the measurement resistor is then connected in the supply circuit of the heater.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to control circuits and, more particularly, to control circuits for heaters with variable resistance associated with sensors for detecting oxygen in exhaust gases.
2. Prior Art
The present O.B.D. II standards for emissions (exhaust gases) require the operating temperature of the lambda probe to be kept within a well-defined range. This requirement cannot be satisfied simply by the selection of the resistance of the heater and/or by automatic compensation thereof.
The functionality of the heater can be monitored by accurate detection of the current passing through the measurement resistor associated with the heater and the functionality of the probe can thus be deduced for a subsequent adjustment operation, if necessary.
In view of the tight tolerances imposed by the O.B.D. II standard, the current measurement has to be particularly accurate but this conflicts with two contrasting requirements relating to the resistance of the measurement resistor.
In fact, because of the high initial current, this resistor has to have a very low resistance. In the steady state, however, when the current is lower, the voltage drop in a measurement resistor with low resistance would be a few mV giving rise to large measurement errors, which also arise because of the offset and drift which are not negligible in comparison with the useful signal.
The use of a measurement resistor with a high resistance, on the other hand, would involve a loss of efficiency of the heater at the stage immediately following activation (a longer time required to reach the steady state) and, in particular, would involve a large power dissipation by the measurement resistor during the initial stage, with obvious problems of size.


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for identifying zones where protections should be installed to prevent people and materials from falling off edges of the building. The system analyzes a building model and building objects completed before a given time, identifies edges of interest for the building objects, determines whether these edges, or their portions, are dangerous, and provides this information to a user.

This specification relates to building information models and computer aided design of buildings, and particularly to detection of dangerous zones in a building under construction that create a risk of workers falling from heights or a risk of falling objects.
Building information management software is often used to prepare a model of a structure, such as a building, while in the design stages and later during construction. The model can include representations of physical elements, such as columns, beams, walls, slabs, and the like that will be included in the structure, and drawings prepared based on such a model can be used in the actual physical construction of the structure. The model may be prepared and edited by various individuals, including architects and structural engineers, for example.

Danger zone detection in building models


The compounds of the present invention are those of structural formula (I) ##STR1## wherein X is oxygen or sulfur. Pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use of the compounds in the treatment of hyperandrogenic conditions are disclosed. In addition, the combination of the compounds with other active agents such as finasteride, minoxidil and retinoic acid or a derivative thereof is disclosed.

Certain undesirable physiological manifestations, such as acne vulgaris, seborrhea, female hirsutism, androgenic alopecia which includes female and male pattern baldness, and benign prostatic hyperplasia, are the result of hyperandrogenic stimulation caused by excessive accumulation of testosterone ("T") or similar androgenic hormones in the metabolic system. Androgenic alopecia is also known as androgenetic alopecia. Early attempts to provide a chemotherapeutic agent to counter the undesirable results of hyperandrogenicity resulted in the discovery of several steroidal antiandrogens having undesirable hormonal activities of their own. The estrogens, for example, not only counteract the effect of the androgens but have a feminizing effect as well. Non-steroidal antiandrogens have also been developed, for example, 4'-nitro-3'-trifluoromethyl-isobutyranilide. See Neri, et al., Endocrinol. 1972, 91 (2). However, these products, though devoid of hormonal effects, compete with all natural androgens for receptor sites, and hence have a tendency to feminize a male host or the male fetus of a female host and/or initiate feed-back effects which would cause hyperstimulation of the testes.
The principal mediator of androgenic activity in some target organs, e.g. the prostate, is 5.alpha.-dihydrotestosterone ("DHT"), formed locally in the target organ by the action of testosterone-5.alpha.-reductase. Inhibitors of testosterone-5.alpha.-reductase will serve to prevent or lessen symptoms of hyperandrogenic stimulation in these organs. See especially U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,584, issued Mar. 22, 1983, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,071, issued Jul. 26, 1988, both assigned to Merck & Co., Inc.
The enzyme 5.alpha.-reductase catalyzes the reduction of testosterone to the more potent androgen, dihydrotestosterone, as shown below: ##STR2##
Finasteride, (17.beta.-(N-tert-butylcarbamoyl)-3-oxo-4-aza-5.alpha.-androst-1-ene-3-one ) as shown below, is a potent inhibitor of the human prostate enzyme. ##STR3## Under the trade name PROSCAR.RTM., finasteride is known to be useful in the treatment of hyperandrogenic conditions; see eg. U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,071. Finasteride is currently prescribed for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a condition afflicting to some degree the majority of men over age 55. Finasteride's utility in the treatment of androgenic alopecia and prostatic carcinoma is also disclosed in the following documents: EP 0 285,382, published Oct. 5, 1988; EP 0 285,383, published Oct. 5, 1988; Canadian Patent no. 1,302,277; and Canadian Patent no. 1,302,276.
There are two isozymes of 5.alpha.-reductase in humans. One isozyme (type 1 or 5.alpha.-reductase 1) predominates in sebaceous glands of facial and skin tissue and is relatively insensitive to finasteride (see, e.g., G. Harris, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 89, pp. 10787-10791 (November 1992)); the other (type 2 or 5.alpha.-reductase 2) predominates in the prostate and is potently inhibited by finasteride.
Since 5.alpha.-reductase and its isozymes convert testosterone to DHT, inhibition of either or both of the isozymes would serve to alleviate the conditions and diseases mediated by DHT. The present invention addresses this by providing novel compounds that are active as inhibitors of 5.alpha.-reductase.


An apparatus and method for controlling a USB operation, whereby the USB operation can be controlled without unplugging a USB cable while maintaining a charge state from a host device. The USB apparatus includes a USB connector to which a USB cable connected to a host device is connected, and a switching unit to switch to one of a first operation mode, in which data communication with the host device is enabled, and a second operation mode, in which an operation depending on a user input is enabled and data communication with the host device is disabled, by controlling power lines and data lines of the USB cable via the USB connector, wherein power can be charged from the host device in both the first operation mode and the second operation mode. Accordingly, a user can switch a USB operation mode without unplugging the USB cable.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method for controlling a Universal Serial Bus (USB) operation and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling a USB operation, whereby the USB operation can be controlled without unplugging a USB cable while maintaining a charge state from a host device.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a Universal Serial Bus (USB) apparatus connected to a host device via a USB cable. A USB apparatus 100 is connected to a host device 150 via a USB cable 130. The USB apparatus 100 includes a USB connector 120 to which the USB cable 130 connected to the host device 150 is connected and a controller 110 including a USB controller (not shown) to determine whether the USB cable 130 is connected to the USB connector 120.
FIG. 2A illustrates the USB cable 130. FIG. 2B illustrates a structure of USB plug pins. The USB cable 130 includes a pair of data lines D+ and D− for transferring a differential signal and a pair of power lines VBUS and GND. The voltage of VBUS is generally around +5 V. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the pins for the power lines VBUS and GND are longer than the pins for the data lines D+ and D−. Thus, when the USB cable 130 is plugged in, power is supplied before the data lines D+ and D− are connected. When the USB cable 130 is unplugged, the data lines D+ and D− are disconnected before the power is cut off so as to prevent damage to the USB apparatus 100.
In order to communicate with the host device 150 using the USB apparatus 100, a user must connect the USB cable 130 to the USB connector 120 and the host device 150. The controller 110 determines that power is input through the USB cable 130 and controls the communication using the data lines D+ and D−. When the user unplugs the USB cable 130, the controller 110 determines that the USB connection is released.
The user must plug or unplug the USB cable 130 into or from the USB apparatus 100 for establishing or discontinuing the USB connection. The USB apparatus 100 cannot be used while the USB connection with the host device 150 is maintained; for example, an application or Audio and/or Video (A/V) data stored in the USB apparatus 100 cannot be executed while the USB connection is maintained.
Typically, a port of the USB apparatus 100 into which the USB cable 130 is plugged is used as a port into which a power adapter is plugged. In order to charge the USB apparatus 100, either the user must plug the power adapter into the USB apparatus 100 after unplugging the USB cable 130 from the USB apparatus 100, or the USB apparatus 100 must forcefully release communication with the host device 150 in a state where the USB cable 130 is connected between the USB apparatus 100 and the host device 150. However, in order to communicate between the USB apparatus 100 and the host device 150 again, the user must either plug the USB cable 130 into the USB apparatus 100 after unplugging the power adapter from the USB apparatus 100 in the former situation, or the user must unplug the USB cable 130 from the USB apparatus 100 and plug the USB cable 130 into the USB apparatus 100 again in the latter situation. In order for the user to use the USB apparatus 100, the user must repeatedly plug and unplug the USB cable 130, resulting in inconvenience of use.

Apparatus and method for controlling USB operation


An image forming apparatus for performing image forming processing of a structured document after analyzing the structured document into a tree structure including a plurality of element blocks includes a controller and an image forming device. The controller is adapted to analyze the structured document input from an inputting unit and to convert the analyzed structured document into image forming data by placing each element block of the plurality of element blocks in a predetermined position. The image forming device is adapted to perform forming an image in accordance with the image forming data prepared by the controller. The controller places the plurality of element blocks in a predetermined order in accordance with respective style specifications, the predetermined order being independent of an order of appearance of the plurality of element blocks. Therefore, the entire layout processing is significantly simplified.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, a computer program, and a computer-readable storage medium. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique suitable for image forming data content delivered via digital broadcasting or data communications, including communications over the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data content written in markup languages, such as an extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML), is interpreted and printed using computers capable of handling large-scale resources. Since such usage is intended to display the content on display units, only a limited area to be displayed is required to be processed, and therefore temporary rendering is repeated.
For a printing system, unlike a display system described above, batch processing in which the overall content is interpreted and then distributed to each page enhances the processing more efficiently in the entire system.
Digital televisions, digital cameras, cellular phones, and the like, have been increasingly using data content written in markup languages. Since these devices have only limited resources (functional capabilities), there is a demand for avoiding a relayout process occurring in the process of conversion of the content to printing data.
Conventional techniques propose that at the time when a formatter formats a structured document in accordance with style data, position information regarding the structured document be conveyed to an additional-information producing unit. The additional-information producing unit associates the position information with each element of the structured document. The associated information and document type are superimposed as additional information on a document image by an additional-information superimposing unit. The document image is then printed by a printing unit. However, the above problem remains unsolved.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method, computer program, and computer-readable storage medium


Improved cryptographic techniques are provided by which a device that performs private key operations (e.g., signatures and/or decryptions), and whose private key operations are protected by a password, is immunized against offline dictionary attacks in case of capture by forcing the device to confirm a password guess with a designated entity or party in order to perform a private key operation, and by which the initiating device may dynamically delegate the password-checking function (i.e., confirmation of the password guess) from the originally designated entity or party to another designated entity or party.

A computing device that performs private key operations, such as signatures and/or decryptions, risks exposure of its private key if captured. While encrypting the private key with a password is common, this provides only marginal protection, since passwords are well-known to be susceptible to offline dictionary attacks. Much recent research has explored techniques for providing better password protections for the private keys on devices that may be captured.
One technique provides for encrypting the private key under a password in a way that prevents the attacker from verifying a successful password guess. This technique is referred to as cryptographic camouflage, see, e.g., D. N. Hoover et al., "Software Smart Cards via Cryptographic Camouflage," 1999 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, pp. 208-215, May 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Another technique provides for forcing the attacker to verify his password guesses at an online server before the use of the private key is enabled, thereby turning an offline attack into an online one that can be detected and stopped. This technique is described in the commonly-assigned U.S. patent application identified as Ser. No. 10/072,331 filed on Feb. 7, 2002, and entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Providing Networked Cryptographic Devices Resilient to Capture," the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. In accordance with this server-based approach, the server may be untrusted (e.g., its compromise does not reduce the security of the device's private key unless the device is also captured) and need not have a prior relationship with the device.
The server-based approach offers certain advantages over the cryptographic camouflage approach, e.g., the server-based approach is compatible with existing infrastructure, whereas cryptographic camouflage requires that public keys be hidden from potential attackers.
However, the server-based approach requires that the device interact with a designated server in order to perform a (and typically each) private key operation. This interaction may become a bottleneck if the designated server is geographically distant and the rate of private key operations is significant.
Thus, there exists a need for techniques which overcome drawbacks associated with the approaches described above and which thereby make networked cryptographic devices more resilient to capture while minimizing or eliminating any potential bottleneck situations.

Methods and apparatus for delegation of cryptographic servers for capture-resilient devices


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer-storage media, for enhanced preparation and integration of data sets. In some implementations, data indicating user input that identifies a first data set that includes streaming data and a second data set that includes non-streaming data is received. The first data set and the second data set are integrated to generate a hybrid data set. The data processing system provides access to the hybrid data set through a (i) non-streaming access channel that provides a periodically-refreshed summary of both the streaming data and the non-streaming data and (ii) a streaming access channel that provides a data stream based on combined data of the first data set and the second data set. One or more application programing interfaces are provided. The one or more application programming interfaces allow at least one client device to access the non-streaming access channel and the streaming access channel.

Increasing amounts of data are generated every day. Many people rely on data from databases and other sources to make decisions in business, government, and other settings. In many cases, data sets are not in the appropriate form necessary to interpret and use the data, and significant operations may be needed to import data sets into an application for use.

Enhanced preparation and integration of data sets


A vehicle steering system including a transmission ratio variable mechanism that has a first shaft connected to a steering member and a second shaft connected to a turning mechanism, coupled coaxially to each other, and a transmission ratio variable mechanism motor disposed coaxially with the first and second shafts for driving the transmission ratio variable mechanism. The transmission ratio variable mechanism motor includes a tubular rotor, and an accommodation space is defined on the inner side in the radial direction of the tubular rotor. At least one of sensors is disposed inside the accommodation space.

A transmission ratio variable mechanism capable of varying a transmission ratio as a ratio of an output rotation angle to an input rotation angle is known (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1 to 5).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H05-105103    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-256087    Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-162124    Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-67284    Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-145067
The transmission ratio variable mechanism includes, for example, as described in paragraph number [0015] of Patent Document 5 described above, a motor as a drive source and a harmonic drive gear as a differential mechanism. A rotation of a steering shaft accompanying a steering operation is superimposed on a rotation of the steering shaft based on the motor driving. Accordingly, the rotation of the steering shaft to be input into a rack and pinion mechanism is accelerated or decelerated so that a transmission ratio between a steering wheel and a turning wheel is altered.
In a motor vehicle steering system including this transmission ratio variable mechanism, it has been demanded to shorten an entire length of the system. An object of the present invention is to satisfy this demand.


A heat shield for an exhaust system of a vehicle includes a resinified spaced layer fabric having at least one inner layer, at least one outer layer, and at least one spacer between the inner layer or layers and the outer layer or layers to form one or more insulative spaces. The heat shield includes an emissivity reducing material. The insulative space is between about one and about eight millimeters thick, to reduce convective heat transfer.

This invention relates to a thermal shield for protecting relatively high-temperature components. It is particularly, but not exclusively, related to a shield for the components of a vehicular internal combustion engine exhaust system.
A vehicle's exhaust system includes the engine's exhaust manifold, a catalytic converter, a muffler, and piping connecting the exhaust manifold to the converter, the converter to the muffler, and the muffler to ambient. For proper operation, the catalytic converter must reach a "light-off" temperature. The catalytic converter operates most effectively above the light-off temperature. Above some maximum operating temperature, however, the catalytic converter may be permanently damaged. The light-off temperature and the operating temperature range vary in accordance with the design of the system, particularly the catalytic converter design. The light-off temperature may typically be on the order of 300.degree. to 400.degree. C. (600.degree. F. to 800.degree. F.); the maximum operating temperature may range from about 600.degree. to 1,200.degree. C. (1,100.degree. F. to 2,200.degree. F.). Causing the converter to reach its operating temperature quickly, without causing it to overheat has been the subject of considerable effort, as reflected for example in Benson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,676, Moore, III, U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,127, Clegg, U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,494, and Bainbridge, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,289, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. These systems involve insulating the piping, the catalytic converter, or other exhaust system components, or heating the catalytic converter with an outside heat source.
The necessarily high temperature of the exhaust system, particularly the exhaust manifold, catalytic converter, and muffler, also creates problems with heat transfer to other components of the vehicle, including under-hood components, the passenger compartment, and rear components such as the trunk and fuel tank. This problem is particularly acute when certain components, such as the fuel tank and the trunk, are formed of plastic materials like polypropylene. Shielding these components from the heat of the catalytic converter is therefore of great importance. Examples of shields developed to protect against damage caused by the high temperature components of a vehicle exhaust system include Atkinson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,790, and Moore, III, U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,524, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A shield for the components of an exhaust system must meet several criteria. It must be sufficiently efficient to provide adequate thermal shielding. It must withstand repeated exposure to high temperatures. It must be strong enough to resist damage from rocks and the like. It must not rattle or produce other noise during operation of the vehicle. It must accommodate differential thermal expansion of its hot inner part and its cooler outer part. It must be compact. Preferably, it should be lightweight, recyclable, and inexpensive to make, install, and maintain. Also preferably, it should promote rapid achievement of the catalytic converter's light off condition but should not allow, or at least should not exacerbate, overheating of the components of the exhaust system. At present, no shield meets these criteria adequately.

Insulative shield, particularly for automotive exhaust components