A portable heavy wheeled flat based foldable transport cart which includes a transport cart with a shopping bag with multiple pockets therein which is removably affixed to the cart. While weighing only four (4) pounds, the honeycombed toe plate and large heavy wheels enable the cart to carry one hundred sixty (160) pounds of load when the shopping bag is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of transport carts which are used by individuals to transport groceries and other heavy objects such heavy combined cases of charcoal, soft drinks and coolers which when subsequently used are used to retain objects such as sodas and beer which are kept cool by ice.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following fourteen (14) patents and published patent applications are the closest prior art known to the inventor.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 1,554,034 issued to David R. Richie on Sep. 15, 1925 for "Parcel Carrier" (hereafter the "Richie Patent");
2. U.S. Pat. No. 2,514,849 issued to Francis W. Dewing on Jul. 11, 1950 for "Shopping Bag Carrier Cart" (hereafter the "Dewing Patent");
3 U.S. Pat. No. 2,757,935 issued to Antonio Sofia on Aug. 7, 1956 for "Collapsible Shopping Cart" (hereafter the "Sofia Patent");
4. U.S. Pat. No. 3,041,026 issued to Earl F. Wilson on Jun. 26, 1962 for "Sack Cart" (hereafter the "Wilson Patent");
5. U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,786 issued to Ward Olander on Oct. 4, 1966 for "Nestable Shopping Cart" (hereafter the "Olander Patent");
6. U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,521 issued to Frank M. Harding on May 13, 1980 for "Combination Bag Holder and Dolly" (hereafter the "Harding Patent");
7. United States Design Patent No. Des. 352,145 issued to Juan Server Perez on Nov. 1, 1994 for "Shopping Cart" (hereafter the "Perez Design Patent");
8. U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,476 issued to Pieter K. J. DeCoster on Aug. 26, 1997 for "Shopping Bag" (hereafter the "DeCoster Patent");
9. U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,842 issued to Reginald Wayne Hook et al. on Oct. 21, 1997 for "Collapsible Cart" (hereafter the "Hook Patent");
10. U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,183 issued to Robert E. Lensing on Oct. 3, 2000 for "Foldable Cart With Automatic Bag Control" (hereafter the "Lensing Patent");
11. United States Published Patent Application No. 2002/0089134 to Marc Salzberger et al. on Jul. 11, 2002 for "Shopping Bag Cart" (hereafter the "Salzberger Published Patent Application");
12. U.S. Pat. No. 7,914,015 issued to Mary Tompkins on Mar. 29, 2011 for "Wheeled Shopping Tote" (hereafter the "Tompkins Patent");
13. U.S. Pat. No. 8,317,219 issued to Robert S. Bruce on Nov. 27, 2012 for "Wheeled Cart for Transporting Outdoor Equipment" (hereafter the "Bruce Patent");
14. U.S. Pat. No. 8,366,124 issued to Richard Caldwell on Feb. 5, 2013 for "Convertible Beach Cart" (hereafter the "Caldwell Patent").
The Richie Patent discloses a parcel carrier. As illustrated in the figures, the wheels are very thin and cannot support a heavy load. The patent also discloses a base member 15 which is described on Column 2 Lines 40 through 45 as a flat rectangular metal plate having its lateral edges 16 turned up at right angles to its general plane to enable the support to be folded substantially parallel to the side members. The containing item, B, is a bag. The bag is a flexible bag.
The Dewing Patent discloses a shopping bag carrier cart. In the pictures, there is disclosed a metal frame which can be folded over on its side from the figures as illustrated,
The Sophia Patent discloses a collapsible shopping cart. It has a metal frame which is folded over on itself as illustrated in FIG. 4. A wire frame bag is also part of the cart.
The Wilson Patent discloses a sack cart which again has large wheels 16 although looking at them in FIG. 2, the wheels are very thin. There is also a sack which is removably retained to the cart member and is retained by a hanger which is essentially a frame which extends forwardly from the metal shaft of the handle and to which the bag is retained.
The Olander Patent discloses a nestable shopping cart. The concept here is that one cart can be inserted and nested with another almost comparable to the carts seem in an airport, is clearly of a different configuration.
The Harding Patent discloses a combination bag holder and dolly but the bag itself is retained in a different manner from the present invention and the bag is like a laundry bag as opposed to the shopping bag.
The Server Perez Design Patent protects the shape of the object and the way it looks. It issued in 1994 and has expired. It discloses a shopping cart with a triangular shaped retaining member for retaining objects.
The cart has an elongated frame having upper and lower sections which are pivotally coupled together. The frame is adjustable between a deployed position where the upper and lower frame sections are substantially aligned longitudinally and a collapsed position where the upper and lower frame sections are folded together. A pair of wheels are pivotally coupled to the lower section of the frame which fold together when the frame is collapsed. A support arm for suspending a load is pivotally coupled to the frame upper section and is moveable between a horizontal, load-supporting position and a folded position extending alongside the frame. The shopping bags are suspended from a plurality of hooks mounted on the support arm."
It holds a multiplicity of shopping bags but they are each individually tied and do not have pockets and there is no base in which to support the weight of the bags so if the bags are weighted too heavily, they can break unless they are made out of very strong material.
The DeCoster Patent discloses a shopping bag. Specifically, the patent discloses:                "A carrier pack including a shopping bag with a separate cooler bag strap-connected to and stacked with the shopping bag or, alternatively, received within the interior chamber of the shopping bag."
The Hook patent discloses a collapsible cart for transporting a plurality of hand held shopping bags.
The Lensing Patent discloses a foldable cart with automatic bag control. The patent discloses a portable, wheeled cart foldable between stowage and deployed positions automatically captivates and suspends trash bags. A generally U-shaped and inverted main frame extends from a top forming a handle to the lower cart wheels. A companion subframe of generally U-shaped profile is pivoted to the frame. Preferably a foldable platform is provided at the cart base for supporting the trash bag.
The Salzberger Published Patent Application discloses a shopping bag cart. Specifically, the patent application disclose a one time use shopping cart for quick assembly by sales clerks when a customer is unable to hand carry a purchase. Designed for the carrying-slings of today's bags the cart suspends a loaded grocery bag spread eagle from extensions projecting out from the shoulders of the cart's cross arms. A bag can be slung from the front and the back of each cross arm. The larger types of plastic and paper bags with carrying handles in common use can also be accommodated.
The Tompkins Patent discloses a wheeled shopping cart and it discloses a shopping tote including a vertical support structure having one or more hooks for suspending bags therefrom enables carrying of shopping bags and/or boxes in an easy and convenient manner. A platform may be provided for placing of boxed items. The tote may be quickly changed between a compact storage condition and an in-use condition. When in the storage condition, the tote is of a size allowing carrying thereof alone or in a backpack, briefcase or purse.
The Bruce Patent discloses a wheeled cart for transporting outdoor equipment. The patent discloses a rolling cart for transporting items commonly used at outdoor gatherings in a secure and convenient manner. The cart comprises a frame having two or more tires 20, an open-ended bag connected to the frame, and a strap that holds one or more items of equipment against the frame. The strap is positioned near the open end of the bag and is used to cinch equipment that extends outside the bag against the frame.
The Caldwell Patent discloses a convertible beach cart. Specifically, the patent discloses: A preferred embodiment includes a convertible hand truck with three main components: a hand truck body with dual use as a table, a load platform with dual use as an extended surface of the table, and a rack with dual use as support legs for the table.
The present inventor is also the inventor of the Lightweight High Load Capacity Folding Utility Cart With Unique Support Structure And. Ergonomic Handle protected by issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,439,374 issued on May 4, 2013.

Portable cart with removable shopping bag


A liquid crystal panel includes a line extending between a first pixel and a second pixel which are adjacent to each other; a first pixel element portion for the first pixel; and a second pixel element portion for the second pixel. The first pixel element portion is provided on a side with respect to the line where the first pixel is disposed. The second pixel element portion is provided, along with the first pixel element portion, on the side with respect to the line where the first pixel is disposed.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel, and more particularly to a liquid crystal panel that is applicable when adjusting an aperture area of a pixel for the purpose of chromaticity adjustment, for example.
2. Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 11 to 13, plan views showing a structure (layout) of a display region corresponding to four pixels of a TN (Twisted Nematic) mode liquid crystal panel 130T of related art are shown. Here, for the purpose of clarity, FIG. 11 shows a structure where a pixel electrode 152 shown in FIG. 12 is removed, and FIG. 12 shows a structure where a black matrix (BM) 162 shown in FIG. 13 is removed.
In the liquid crystal panel 130T, a pixel P corresponds to an aperture portion of the black matrix 162 and is defined by a shape of the aperture portion. The pixel P is provided between adjacent drain lines 146. Each pixel P of the liquid crystal panel 130T has an identical size. In each region 146B formed between adjacent drain lines 146, a pixel TFT (Thin Film Transistor) 170, a storage capacitor 172, and a pixel electrode 152 for the pixel P are provided.
Referring to FIGS. 15 to 17, plan views showing a structure (layout) of a display region corresponding to four pixels of an FFS (Fringe Field Switching) mode liquid crystal panel 130F of related art are shown. Here, for the purpose of clarity, FIG. 14 shows a structure where a pixel electrode 152 shown in FIG. 15 is removed, FIG. 15 shows a structure where a common electrode 160 shown in FIG. 16 is removed, and FIG. 16 shows a structure where a black matrix (BM) 162 shown in FIG. 17 is removed.
In the liquid crystal panel 130F, the common electrode 160 is provided on an array substrate so as to overlap the pixel electrodes 152. The alignment of the liquid crystal is controlled by an electric field generated via slits of the common electrode 160 between the common electrode 160 and the pixel electrode 152. In the liquid crystal panel 130F, similar to the liquid crystal panel 130T described above, a pixel P is defined by an aperture portion of the black matrix 162 and is provided between adjacent drain lines 146. Each pixel P of the liquid crystal panel 130F has an identical size. Further, in each region 146B formed between adjacent drain lines 146, a pixel TFT 170 for a pixel, a pixel electrode 152, and the common electrode 160 are provided. Also, a color filter is formed in the aperture portion of the black matrix 162.
Techniques for widening the color gamut, in which the region of color reproductivity is increased by four colors, i.e. red (R), green (G), blue (B), and cyan (C), for example, have been known. However, when such a color gamut widening technology is employed, it is often necessary to reduce the aperture area of a pixel of a specific color as to adjust the chromaticity. In such a case, the black matrix of an opposing substrate or the metal line of a TFT substrate is used to shield a portion of the pixel P from light, thereby reducing the pixel aperture area.
FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate the known chromaticity adjustment method described above, wherein FIG. 18A shows a structure prior to chromaticity adjustment, and FIG. 18B shows a structure after chromaticity adjustment. FIGS. 18A and 18B show an example in which the aperture ratio of each pixel before chromaticity adjustment is 60% and the pixel aperture area of a pixel Q for displaying a predetermined color is reduced to a half the aperture area of the adjacent pixel P for the purpose of chromaticity adjustment. In this case, the black matrix or the like is used to thereby set the aperture ratio of the pixel Q to 30%.
There are cases, however, where the brightness of a liquid crystal panel as a whole is reduced by shielding a pixel for the purpose of chromaticity adjustment described above. In the example shown in FIG. 1 8B, the brightness of the liquid crystal panel as a whole is greatly reduced because the aperture ratio of the panel is reduced to 45% after the chromaticity adjustment.

Liquid crystal panel having first and second transistors on the same side with respect to a drain line


The present invention uses a silver/silver chloride composition and ink jet technology in the art of digital printing, especially for use in blood glucose sensors.

There is a need for suitable compositions, for carrying out "printed electronics." "Printable electronics" is the term for newer technology for printing on common structures such as plastics or textile.
"Printed electronics" is the term for a relatively new technology that defines the printing of electronics on common substrates such as paper, plastic, and textile using standard printing processes. This printing preferably utilizes common press equipment in the graphics arts industry, such as screen printing, ink jetting, flexography, gravure, and offset lithography. Instead of printing with graphic arts inks on graphic arts substrates, families of electrically functional electronic inks are used to print on active devices, such as conductor traces. Printed electronics is expected to facilitate widespread and very low-cost electronics useful for applications not typically associated with conventional (i.e., silicon-based) electronics, such as flexible displays, smart labels, animated posters, and active clothing.
The present invention addresses the desire to use digital printing, specifically ink jet technology, for use in a next generation of glucose sensors. To accomplish this, a silver/silver chloride ink formulation that is capable of being ink jetted is needed. Desirable properties of such inks include low temperature curing (80° C. is desired), maintaining conductivity of the cured ink, and flexibility to withstand bending associated with a reel-to-reel process.

Ink jettable silver/silver chloride compositions


A medication discharge assembly useful in patient systems includes a tubular element and a stylet. In a first, closed position, the stylet is seated within the tubular element and may provide a piercing point facilitating insertion of the tubular element to a treatment site. In a second, open position, the stylet is removed from the tubular element, and the tubular element provides a travel pathway for a drug introduced to the tubular element at a proximal connection port for specific interstitial and subcutaneous diffusion and dispersion of medication along the tubular element's length near a distal discharge port through disparate perforations, which may be formed as striations of increasing length nearer the distal discharge port. The stylet in the first position may be oriented to seal this travel pathway. Depth-finding features associated with the tubular element, visually perceptible and particularly useful for placement of the assembly, may be included.

Heretofore, introduction of medication at a preferred site within the body of a patient has been accomplished through delivery structure in either of essentially two forms, namely, injection through a needle or infusion through a catheter. Each of these methodologies has resulted in delivery of medication primarily to a location immediately adjacent to the distal tip of the needle or catheter. After injection through a needle or infusion through a catheter, the medication is absorbed into, or spreads by osmosis to, the tissues immediately adjacent to the discharge orifice of the needle or catheter, or the absorption field, for localized treatment. The medication then in varying degrees migrates with the normal circulatory and other systems of the body until fully metabolized systemically.
As the migrating medication is dispersed, inefficiencies in treatment may result. Significant factors in this context include the particular medication selected and, in part due to the varying size of treatment sites causing pain, the varying number of pain receptors to be blocked from patient to patient. For example, treatment sites that require a more concentrated dosage of a given medication may receive a preferred dosage concentration for a short period of time after which, as the medication is dispersed systemically, the treatment site is supplied a dosage concentration that is lower than that preferred. The dosage concentration must be sustained at a level sufficient to maintain a concentration gradient that reduces or eliminates the pain in the treatment site so long as it is desirable to do so. In some instances, excessive doses have been utilized to compensate for this dispersion effect, inherently resulting in exposure of the treatment site to unnecessary levels of medication. Such exposure not only wastes medication that may be expensive, but may also have a detrimental impact on the surrounding tissue as well as precipitating adverse side effects in other aspects of the patient's systemic physiology.
Another challenge imposed by the foregoing dispersion conundrum involves the rate and frequency of introduction of medication to surgical and general treatment sites. Historically, when a patient has required a medical treatment, it has been necessary for the patient to travel to the facilities of the medical practitioner rendering such treatment. The logistical difficulties of scheduling and commuting have discouraged patients from maintaining an optimal treatment regime. There has been a tendency, where practicable, to increase the dosage of some injected or infused medications, whereby to compensate for less frequent visits. With the onset of the prevalence of patient home treatment systems, this inefficiency is being addressed by the use of portable, patient-operated pumps in accordance with physician-directed protocols.
A technical difficulty exists with respect to the accuracy of the placement of the medicinal delivery orifice relative to the desired treatment site. It has not always been clear how far a needle or catheter should be inserted into a body to optimize the likelihood that the discharge orifice is ideally positioned to deliver medication, within an acceptable degree of precision, to the treatment site. Use of flexible catheters allows for potential migration of the catheter to a range of subdural or intra-cavity positions that may be undesirable, increasing the desirability of a more rigid delivery structure with means for monitoring depth of insertion.
A specific problem associated with infusion drug delivery through plural port catheters (e.g., "soaker catheters") is the inherent differences in the "flow through" characteristics of each of a plurality of discharge orifices. Uniformity in the infusion rate among the plurality of discharge orifices cannot reasonably be expected
Material prior art structures are presently available from such companies as I-Flow Corporation of Lake Forest, Calif., Micor, Inc. of Allison Park, Pa., Cook Medical of Denver, Colo., and Medical Profiles, Inc. of Livonia, Mich. C.R. Bard, Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J., has dealt with soaker catheter technology involving striations but has delivered medicaments to each striation through an individual lumen to achieve uniform flow rates to a plurality of discharge orifices. I-Flow, for example, has designed a Soaker™ Catheter to infuse drugs over an area that is wider than that of point-source catheters, which deliver only at a single, discrete location. The Soaker™ Catheter device is being used intraoperatively primarily for large abdominal and chest incisions to relieve postoperative pain.
Less related but instructive prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,834,001 to Dionne et al., entitled "Methods for Making Immunoisolatory Implantable Vehicles With a Biocompatible Jacket and a Biocompatible Matrix Core"; 5,807,306 to Shapland et al. entitled "Polymer Matrix Drug Delivery Apparatus"; 5,773,577 to Cappello entitled "Products Comprising Substrates Capable of Enzymatic Cross-linking"; and 4,450,150 to Sidman entitled "Biodegradable, Implantable Drug Delivery Depots, and Method for Preparing and Using the Same." These patents teach implantable modules for gradual, time release introduction of medication as one approach to treatment of various conditions over a larger absorption field.
Similarly, remote systems instructive in concept are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,299,885 to Prassas et al. and its progeny 5,474,398 entitled "Stabilized Porous Pipe"; 5,374,138 to Byles entitled "Subsurface Irrigation Apparatus and Method"; 5,368,235 to Drozdoff et al. entitled "Soaker Hose Assembly"; 5,285,968 to McSheehy entitled "Water Distribution Yoke for Tree Cultivation"; and 4,168,799 to Turner entitled "Soaker Hose."
A need remains for an efficient means of introducing medication to a treatment site of a size larger than the absorption field immediately surrounding the discharge orifice of a needle or catheter. The need would be beneficially addressed, at least in part, by provision of a plurality of discharge orifices spaced and positioned relative to each other along a distal portion of a tubular element for optimal dispersion of medication across a range of proximal absorption fields. Such orifices may be beneficially structured and arranged as striations.
A further need exists for a means of ratably introducing medication in increments and at intervals tailored to the optimal demands of any given selected treatment dosage, regime and protocol. Such a means would desirably allow for the patient, relative to his or her measured condition, to influence determination of the timing and nature of such treatment.
A need also exists for a simple means of placing a therapeutic medicinal tubular element with optimal accuracy at a treatment site. A patient diffusion and perfusion system wherein the desired depth of insertion of the tubular element can be determined visually by external viewing of the tubular element itself, thereby enabling facile location of a pain site to be treated, would be desirable.

Apparatus and method for specific interstitial or subcutaneous diffusion and dispersion of medication


An apparatus (10) for implanting geophones (98) includes an implanting device (12) pivotally mounted on the end of a tractor (14) for movement from one predetermined location to another predetermined location for implanting a plurality of geophones (98). The implanting device (12) has a main support frame (16) supporting a vibratory frame (18) which receives a push tube (68) in sliding relation. The lower end of the push tube (68) accepts a geophone (98) for insertion therein. Downward movement of push tube (68) implants the geophone (98) as shown in FIG. 4. To assist in implanting the geophone (98), the vibratory frame (18) and the push tube (68) are vibrated for vibration of the lower end of the push tube (68) during implantation.

Heretofore, an apparatus has been provided for implanting geophones into the earth for the detection of seismic waves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,379 dated Jun. 13, 1989 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,031 dated Apr. 9, 1991 show manually actuated geophone implanting tools. Normally, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,031 a hole is first dug in the earth to receive the geophone at a predetermined location. Then, after properly inserting the geophone within the hole, a spike on the geophone is manually driven into the bottom of the hole for anchoring the geophone. It is time consuming to first dig the holes for the geophones and then to position and anchor the geophones within the holes manually by hammering the geophones into the holes.
It is difficult to obtain manually the precise level and alignment of the geophone when implanted in the earth in order to obtain accurate measurements of the seismic activity. It is desirable in most instances that the geophones be positioned along an accurate vertical axis regardless of the slope of the earth surface. To obtain such an accurate positioning with manual tools is time consuming, and such manual tools sometimes result in a possible error in the desired alignment and positioning.

Method and apparatus for implanting geophones into the earth


Power control in a spread-spectrum communication system takes place by determining origination power of a traffic channel based on a number of active demodulators and pilot channel signal quality (610). Once origination transmit power is determined and call origination takes place, the transmit power is reduced at a first rate when a time is less than a time for all active demodulators to be established (615), otherwise the transmit power is reduced at a second rate (621). After all active demodulators have been acquired power control takes place by receiving a Power Measurement Report Message (PMRM) or a Pilot Strength Measurement Message (PSMM), determining, a signal quality metric existing at the remote unit based on the PMRM or PSMM, and adjusting transmit power based on the signal quality metric (645).

Communication systems are known to employ power control methods that control forward-link transmission energy. Once such communication system employing forward-link power control is a spread-spectrum communication system. Because many forward-link signals in a spread-spectrum system are typically transmitted on the same frequency, a majority of the noise (which is inversely proportional to bit energy per noise+interference density i.e., E.sub.b /N.sub.0) associated with a received signal can be attributed to other forward-link transmissions. The magnitude of this noise is directly related to the received signal power of each of the other forward-link transmissions. Thus it is beneficial for cellular infrastructure equipment (such as a cellular base station) to transmit with a forward-link gain at the lowest level possible that insures acceptable transmission quality.
The current method of controlling forward-link power in a code-division, multiple-access (CDMA) communication system is described in Cellular System Remote unit-Base Station Compatibility Standard of the Electronic Industry A36,283dustry Association Interim Standard 95 (TIA/EIA/IS-95-A). (EIA/TIA can be contacted at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington D.C. 20006). During TIA/EIA/IS-95-A call origination, initial forward-link gain must be set high enough to guarantee an acceptable link. Since the channel between the base station and the remote unit is unknown at the time of origination, the call is originated at a maximum forward-link gain and then powered down accordingly. Because TIA/EIA/IS-95-A forward-link power control is very slow to update (on the order of once every four seconds), the base station can transmit at an unacceptably high forward-link gain for extended periods of time, needlessly contributing to system noise.
Thus a need exists for a method and apparatus for power control in a spread-spectrum communication system that reduces the time a base station transmits at an unacceptably high forward-link gain.

Method and apparatus for power control in a communication system using active demodulators


The present invention is a system and method for transmitting proprietary parameters in a telecommunications network conforming to the ANSI SS7 ISUP Standard. The method includes the steps of identifying proprietary parameters to be transmitted as part of an ISUP SS7 signaling message that includes a network specific Generic Digits parameter and encapsulating those parameters within the network specific Generic Digits parameter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for network switching, and more particularly to efficient routing of communication paths in a telecommunications system.
2. Related Art
A conventional Common Channel Signaling (CCS) telecommunications network comprises three basic components: Customer Premises Equipments (CPEs; for example, a private branch exchange (PBX)), communications busses (also known as links; for example, telephone lines) and nodes (for example, switches). The switches are used to selectively connect the CPEs via the links. A CCS network is characterized by the separation of signaling links and traffic links. Switches in a CCS network establish traffic links between CPEs by exchanging signaling messages via signaling links that specify tasks to be performed on the traffic links. The format of these signaling messages is typically specified by a standard.
One such standard is American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User Part (ISUP), ANSI T1.113 (1995), referred to hereinafter as "the standard". The standard specifies a set of signaling messages that a network must support in order to comply with the standard. Each of these signaling messages must be accompanied by one or more parameters; these parameters are also defined by the standard. The standard also provides for several "spare" parameters. Spare parameters are of two types: "ANSI reserved" and "network specific".
ANSI reserved spare parameters are those that are not currently defined by the standard, but that may be defined by the standard at some future time. Network service providers are free to use the network specific spare parameters to transmit proprietary data to implement proprietary services to supplement those provided by the standard. A service provider will typically offer many proprietary services, and thus will require many spare parameters to implement those services. When a service provider exhausts the network specific spare parameters, he has little recourse but to employ some of the ANSI reserved spare parameters.
However, if a service provider employs an ANSI reserved spare parameter to implement a proprietary feature, and ANSI subsequently redefines that spare parameter, the service provider will no longer be in compliance with the standard. In order to comply with the new standard, the service provider must redefine the proprietary feature to use a different spare parameter. To implement such a parameter change, a service provider must change the call processing software in its network switches. This is an expensive and time-consuming task. Further, if the newly-selected spare parameter is an ANSI reserved spare parameter, it may subsequently be re-assigned. Thus, this solution is not a permanent one. Further, a service provider may require more spare parameters than are available.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for transmitting proprietary data that is independent of the ANSI reserved spare parameter data structure specified by the ANSI standard.

Encapsulation of proprietary protocol information conforming to the ANSI SS7 ISUP standard


A solid-state light source includes a substrate, a solid-state light-emitting chip, a plurality of micro-members and a light-permeable encapsulation. The substrate has a substantially flat surface. The solid-state light-emitting chip is arranged on the substantially flat surface of the substrate and electrically connected to the substrate. The micro-members are arranged on the surface of the substrate and parallel with the solid-state light emitting chip. The light-permeable encapsulation is arranged on the surface of the substrate and covers the solid-state light-emitting chip and the micro-members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solid-state light sources and, particularly, to a light-emitting diode.
2. Description of Related Art
Light-emitting diodes (LED) as a kind of solid-state light sources, have many advantages, such as low power-consumption, long lifespan, small volume, and high luminance, etc., such that they are widely used in backlight modules of liquid crystal displays, light sources of vehicles, and illumination sources, etc. This is disclosed in IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference, entitled "Unique White LED Packaging Systems", which is published in 2003 and incorporated herein by reference.
A typical LED includes a substrate, a LED chip and a resinous encapsulation. The substrate has electrodes arranged thereon, and the LED chip is connected electrically to the electrodes of the substrate. The resinous encapsulation has a light-emitting surface far away from the substrate, and micro-lenses are formed on the light-emitting surface thereof for decreasing the total reflection phenomenon incident on the light-emitting surface and improving the light-emitting ability of the LED.
However, since the micro-lenses are formed on the light-emitting surface of the encapsulation, the size and the distribution of the micro-lenses are difficult to be controlled. Furthermore, the micro-lenses are prone to be destroyed or abraded, such that the light-emitting capability of the LED is still not good.
Therefore, what is needed is providing a solid-state light source, which has an excellent light-emitting ability.


A testing framework extension may be provided. An application comprising a form may be created within a modeling framework. A variable associated with the form may be defined and an application programming interface (API) may be created according to the form. A test case may be efficiently executed without rendering a physical UI using the variable by making at least one call to the API thus exercising (at least one part of) the form logic and a result of executing the test case may be reported to a user.

A test framework extension may be provided. User interface (UI) development, like most software development, often requires rigorous testing prior to release. In conventional systems, testing application logic associated with a user interface requires a great deal of automation overhead in order to simulate a user's actions within the user interface. For example, some situations may involve a separate testing framework designed to interact with the actual UI elements. Such a testing framework exposes an Application Programming Interface (API) to the actual UI elements, and the test code needs to assume the existence of each element, which is often realized by transforming the form definition to get a strongly typed programming model for the test code. Further, logic is often coupled to UI elements, complicating attempts to separately test the UI functionality and the back end business logic. Thus, conventional testing is often slow and error prone, with test cases written against a physically rendered UI rather than the critical logic.

Test framework extension for testing logic on a modeled user interface


A method and apparatus for temperature measurement especially suited for low cost, low power, moderate accuracy implementation. It uses a sensor whose resistance varies in a known manner, either linearly or nonlinearly, with temperature, and produces a digital output which is proportional to the temperature of the sensor. The method is based on performing a zero-crossing time measurement of a step input signal that is double differentiated using two differentiators functioning as respective first and second time constants; one temperature stable, and the other varying with the sensor temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a new method for temperature measurement that provides a direct digital temperature output, and is especially suited for low cost, low power, moderate accuracy implementation. More particularly, it relates to a measurement method for use with a sensor whose resistance or capacitance varies in a known manner with temperature. The measurement circuit is a temperature-to-digital converter which performs a zero-crossing time measurement of a step input signal that has been double differentiated using two time constants.
2. Description of Related Art
Resistive elements such as thermistors, resistive temperature devices and sensistors are routinely used to measure temperature. Two temperature measurement methods widely used with resistive sensors involve either: (1) applying a high precision current and measuring the resultant voltage with an correspondingly high precision voltage-sensitive analog-to-digital converter (ADC); or (2) applying a high precision voltage and measuring the resultant current with an equally precise current-sensitive analog-to-digital converter. Whichever measurement method is used, both require the use of not one but two functional circuit modules with approximately equal precision to produce a digital representation of temperature from the resistance-based temperature sensor. This requirement for two high precision circuit modules is a limitation of the present art heretofore unaddressed.
Temperature monitoring is often performed in situations where it is difficult to environmentally control the measurement electronics. In some automotive applications, for example, measurement electronics are required to function from -40.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. while the sensor temperature may reach combustion levels. Both aviation and oil well drilling present similarly challenging temperature measurement difficulties. Temperature measurement in situations like these where the measurement electronics and sensor temperature vary independently has been difficult. The traditional temperature measurement methods above, which rely on maintaining highly accurate and stable circuit functions over wide temperature ranges, have been at a disadvantage.
We present a new method for temperature measurement whose accuracy relies on the ability to generate an accurate timebase. A timebase function can be easily implemented in a single circuit module. Our method makes possible a moderate accuracy temperature measurement implementation using ASIC technology that can be miniaturized, battery powered, and can result in a very low cost measurement method. It eliminates the aforementioned problems associated with prior methods in that they require more circuit elements that have to be precisely controlled, and such control has been very difficult to achieve over desired temperature ranges.
Therefore, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a new temperature measurement method where the precision of measurement relies on a single high precision component in the form of a robust timebase generator.
A second object is to provide a new temperature measurement method based on the interaction of two time constants.
A third object is to provide a temperature-to-digital converter that gives direct temperature-to-digital conversion, and eliminates temperature-related errors associated with analog-to-digital conversion methods.
A fourth object is to eliminate the need for absolute voltage or current sources required in traditional sensistor, thermistor and resistive temperature device measurement circuits.
A fifth object is to eliminate the need for high gain, temperature-stable amplifiers in temperature measurements based on thermocouple sensors.
A sixth object is to provide a new temperature measurement method that is insensitive to the amplitude or gain of the signal applied to the sensor, thereby eliminating electronics drift problems associated with amplitude or gain instability.
A seventh object is to eliminate dc offset errors associated with electro-static discharge protection structures and other dc currents that become particularly significant at elevated temperatures.
An eighth object is to provide a new temperature measurement method for use with both resistance-based temperature sensors and capacitance-based temperature sensors.
Further and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description contained herein.

Temperature measurement method using temperature coefficient timing for resistive or capacitive sensors

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation


A communications system comprising a processor, a variable oscillator, a radio frequency (RF) quadrature demodulator, a variable capacitor, a continuous-time, sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a frequency divider, all integrated on a single semiconductor chip. The ADC samples the RF quadrature demodulator output. The processor sets the communications system frequency by controlling the oscillator, the frequency divider and the variable capacitor.

Wireless communication devices have become ubiquitous in today's society. Such devices employ a wide variety of integrated circuits (ICs) to support a wide variety of wireless communication standards. These wireless communications standards include Global Systems for Mobile Communication (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), and Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2K) to name a few. The wireless device may be configured to support the various wireless communication standards.
Wireless communication devices have traditionally implemented separate analog circuitry for each wireless communication standard that was supported by the wireless device. For instance, one analog receive path would be dedicated to GSM, a separate analog receive path would be dedicated to WCDMA, another analog receive path would be dedicated to CDMA2K, and yet other analog receive paths would be dedicated to other wireless communication standards. Supporting multiple communication standards in this manner often requires duplicate circuitry for each channel, where each copy of the circuitry is tuned to support different frequency ranges. Such an approach is undesirable for several reasons, especially in the context of portable wireless devices such as cell phones. First, the duplicate circuitry consumes additional battery power, which is a primary concern in portable wireless devices. Second, the duplicate circuitry utilizes additional space within the often-confined space of the portable wireless device. Lastly, once analog circuitry has been configured to support a particular wireless communication standard, the analog circuitry is difficult to reconfigure to support a different communication standard.
Modern integrated circuits (ICs) integrate DSP functionality and analog functionality on the same IC, thereby allowing multiple communication standards to be supported by a single IC. FIG. 1 depicts a direct conversion receiver 10 capable of supporting multiple communication standards. Radio frequency (RF) signals are received by antenna 12 and amplified by a low noise amplifier (LNA) 14. The output of the LNA 14 is provided to an in-phase mixer 16 and to a quadrature mixer 18. A local oscillator (LO) provides a signal to a quadrature signal generator 20. Quadrature signal generator 20 provides the LO signal to mixer 16 and a quadrature version of the LO signal to mixer 18. In this manner, the RF signals may be directly "down-converted" or brought down to the lower frequency baseband signal range without first down converting to an intermediate frequency (IF).
The magnitude of the signal received from antenna 12 varies based upon the distance between system 10 and the transmitter; this variation is sometimes referred to as "dynamic range". In the case of a cellular base station, if a cell phone is close to the base station then the signal strength is large whereas if the cell phone is far away from the base station then the signal strength is weak. In practice, the dynamic range may be on the order of 100 dB or a ratio of 100,000:1.
In order to accommodate such a large dynamic range, variable gain amplifiers (VGAs) 22-25 amplify or attenuate mixed signals from mixers 16 and 18. As well as amplifying desired signals, amplifiers 22-24 also amplify undesired signals. Low pass filters (LPFs) 26 and 28 block undesired signal frequencies. Analog to digital converters (ADCs) 30 and 32 convert the analog baseband signal into a digital signal for further signal processing by digital filters 34 and 36 and digital baseband processor 37. Processor 37 may decode the digital signal according to one of the many supported wireless communications standards.
ADCs 30 and 32 have a range of analog values (both in terms of frequency and magnitude) that they are capable of converting to a digital value. Analog values that are above the upper limit of the magnitude range may saturate the ADC. The VGAs 22-25 strive (under the control of the processor 37) to keep the input to ADCs 30 and 32 within a desired range of analog values that ADCs 30 and 32 are capable of converting to digital values without saturation. ADCs 30 and 32 are driven by a sample clock of frequency Fs. If the sample clock frequency Fs is not more than twice the maximum frequency of the sampled signal (a limit known as the Nyquist frequency), then ADCs 30 and 32 will undesirably generate aliased versions of the converted signals. Accordingly, the LPF 26 and 28 may be designed to limit the signal spectrum to less than half the Nyquist frequency. Alternatively, anti-alias filters may be implemented before ADCs 30 and 32 to limit the frequency range of the sampled analog signal to less than half the Nyquist frequency, thus minimizing the interference introduced by the aliased signals on the desired signal.
Although receiver 10 overcomes some of the disadvantages of the analog signal processing systems mentioned above, it too has drawbacks. First, although processor 37 dynamically adjusts to the various communications standards, dynamically configuring the analog blocks, such as LPFs 26 and 28 and the anti-alias filters, is difficult due to the different filtering and noise requirements of each communication standard. Second, LPFs 26 and 28 as well as the anti-alias filters are integrated on the same die as the other components of system 10, and since LPFs 26 and 28 and the anti-alias filters accommodate multiple communication standards, they may consume a large proportion of the total die size. Indeed, it is not uncommon for a die with a total area of 3 to 4 mm2 to contain a programmable filter that consumes 2 mm2. Third, matching the analog circuitry along the in-phase and quadrature paths can be difficult, particularly when this analog circuitry supports multiple communications standards. Accordingly, a receiver architecture capable of implementing multiple communications standards more efficiently is desirable.

System and method for digital radio receiver