Methods, computer program products, and systems are presented. The method computer program products, and systems can include, for instance: assigning resources of a K-tier resource pool to a certain job residing in a job queue, wherein the certain job residing in the job queue features job coupling characterized by an independent job and a dependent job which for completion depends on an output of the independent job, wherein the K-tier resource pool includes at least one foreground virtual machine (VM) having a first central processing unit (CPU) priority and at least one background virtual machine (VM) having a second CPU priority, wherein the first CPU priority is higher than the second CPU priority, wherein the assigning resources of the K-tier resource pool to the certain job includes assigning one or more foreground VM to the independent job and assigning one or more background VM to the dependent job.

In a computing environment scheduling is the process by which jobs are provided access to resources such as virtual machines running on computing nodes providing by physical computing nodes. Scheduling can be performed in a manner to provide load balancing and sharing of system resources. A scheduler can allocate jobs residing in a job queue to computing environment resources. A job queue can contain jobs to be processed. Users can submit requests to the job queue for processing. A scheduler can arrange jobs into an appropriate sequence and can assign resources to a job. Schedulers can schedule jobs in dependence on a variety of parameters, e.g. resource utilization, response time, waiting time, throughput, turnaround time, fault tolerance, and energy consumption.
According to a first come first serve (FCFS) scheduling algorithm, jobs can be processed in an order of arrival. If there are sufficient nodes available to run a job, the nodes are assigned and the job is started. Otherwise, a next job residing in a queue waits for a currently running job to terminate. According to a backfilling scheduling scheme, small jobs can be scheduled ahead of larger jobs in a queue so that they can be run on computing nodes that would otherwise remain idle. Various additional scheduling algorithms in use can include, e.g. easy backfilling, gang scheduling, migration gang scheduling, paired gang scheduling.
Data structures have been employed for improving operation of computer system. A data structure refers to an organization of data in a computer environment for improved computer system operation. Data structure types include containers, lists, stacks, queues, tables and graphs. Data structures have been employed for improved computer system operation e.g. in terms of algorithm efficiency, memory usage efficiency, maintainability, and reliability.
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to intelligence exhibited by machines. Artificial intelligence (AI) research includes search and mathematical optimization, neural networks and probability. Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions involve features derived from research in a variety of different science and technology disciplines ranging from computer science, mathematics, psychology, linguistics, statistics, and neuroscience.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


An airborne, gas, or liquid particle sensor with a pulse discriminator. The pulse discriminator provides greater qualification of signals associated with detected particulate signals.

Particle counters have been used for decades in manufacturing or industrial applications to measure particulate quantities in air, gases or liquids. Typically such counters would also bin particulates by size. These size bins vary by application and often by instrument. A particle counter has at least one size channel and popular counters can have 6 or more channels. Typically these size channels discriminate pulses based on the pulse height of the incoming signal. The pulse height refers to the peak voltage of the signal. These systems provide a go/no-go qualification for an incoming pulse, typically they are implemented in hardware and provide a simple gate function such that pulses below a minimum duration are excluded from counting. The intent is to reject noise, typically at the most sensitive resolution where the signal-to-noise ratio is the poorest. Therefore, was is needed is a system and method that allows for more accurate measurements of particles.

Pulse discriminator for particle counter


The present application and the resultant patent provide a turbine nozzle for a gas turbine engine. The turbine nozzle may include a first nozzle vane, a second nozzle vane, and a platform connecting the first nozzle vane and the second nozzle vane. The platform may include a first cooling passage and a separate second cooling passage defined therein. The first cooling passage may be configured to direct a first flow of cooling fluid in a first direction, and the second cooling passage may be configured to direct a second flow of cooling fluid in a second direction substantially opposite the first direction. The present application and the resultant patent further provide a method for cooling a turbine nozzle of a gas turbine engine.

In a gas turbine engine, hot combustion gases generally flow from one or more combustors through a transition piece and along a hot gas path. A number of turbine stages typically may be disposed in series along the hot gas path so that the combustion gases flow through first-stage nozzles and buckets and subsequently through nozzles and buckets of later stages of the turbine. In this manner, the nozzles may direct the combustion gases toward the respective buckets, causing the buckets to rotate and drive a load, such as an electrical generator and the like. The combustion gases may be contained by circumferential shrouds surrounding the buckets, which also may aid in directing the combustion gases along the hot gas path. In this manner, the turbine nozzles, buckets, and shrouds may be subjected to high temperatures resulting from the combustion gases flowing along the hot gas path, which may result in the formation of hot spots and high thermal stresses in these components. Because the efficiency of a gas turbine engine is dependent on its operating temperatures, there is an ongoing demand for components positioned within and along the hot gas path, such as turbine nozzles, buckets, and shrouds, to be capable of withstanding increasingly higher temperatures without deterioration, failure, or decrease in useful life.
Certain turbine nozzles, particularly those of middle and later turbine stages, may include a one or more passages or cavities defined within the nozzles for cooling purposes. For example, cooling passages may be defined within the inner platform, the outer platform, and/or the vane of a turbine nozzle, depending on the specific cooling needs of the nozzle, as may vary from stage to stage of the turbine. According to certain configurations, the cooling passages may be defined near a hot gas path surface of the turbine nozzle. In this manner, the cooling passages may transport a cooling fluid, such as compressor bleed air, through the turbine nozzle for exchanging heat in order to maintain the temperature of the region near the hot gas path surface within an acceptable range. Based on a desire to maximize the region of cooling coverage, the cooling passages may be long and may have a complex shape, such as a winding or serpentine shape, including a number of turns or bends. Long cooling passages having a complex shape, however, may be challenging and costly to manufacture, and also may result in an undesirable pressure drop along the cooling passages. Moreover, the heat transfer performance of such cooling passages may vary significantly, and thus optimizing the cooling passages for the applicable turbine stage may be particularly challenging.
There is thus a desire for an improved turbine nozzle including a cooling passage configuration for cooling the turbine nozzle at high operating temperatures. Specifically, such a cooling passage configuration should maximize the region of cooling coverage while minimizing the length and complexity of the cooling passages. In this manner, such a cooling passage configuration should minimize the cost and complexity of manufacturing the turbine nozzle, and also should minimize the pressure drop along the cooling passages. Moreover, such a cooling passage configuration should minimize variation of the heat transfer performance of the cooling passages, and thus should ease optimization of the cooling passages for the applicable turbine stage.

Turbine nozzle and method for cooling a turbine nozzle of a gas turbine engine


According to the present invention, an information processing apparatus which has a recognition function for recognizing connected peripheral devices and can make the connected peripheral devices available, comprises a holding unit adapted to hold the upper limit of device drivers to be installed, and an install controlling unit adapted to install device drivers by the upper limit held by the holding unit when device drivers corresponding to peripheral devices recognized by the recognition function are installed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a program and a method for managing device drivers of an information processing apparatus connected to a network, for example, an information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As networks such as the Internet or a home network expand, an interactive device such as a PDA or a cellular phone, an image processing apparatus such as a scanner, a printer, a copying machine, a digital camera or the like, for example, are network compatible. Various devices such as home electronic appliances such as a television, an air conditioner, a refrigerator and the like have also become network compatible. Accordingly, various protocols or architectures for providing functions of managing a network device to improve convenience in using a network compatible device and improve simplicity of management have been proposed (see Patent Documents 1, 2). The provided functions include an automatic setup of application software, utility software, an operating system and the like for searching a network device for providing a service or controlling a network device, for example.
Automating management of a network device has also been tried. For example, Microsoft Corporation has been promoting development of the UPnP (Registered trademark), and the WSD: Web Services for Devices (WS-Discovery/WS-MetadataExchange). That is for realizing so-called plug-and-play to make a device available just by connecting the device to a network. BMLinks (registered trademark) promoted by Japan Business Machine and the Information System Industries Association (JBMIA), Rendezvous supported by OS X developed by Apple Computer Inc. are also known.
A technique for presenting to a user the presence of right to use, recommendation or the like which is a criterion for selecting a printer by listing the searched printers when many printers are searched at searching of a network compatible printer has also been proposed (Patent Document 3).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2004-038956.
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-362594.
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-149362.
As plug and play has begun to prevail in network devices, however, the convenience is improved but harmful effects also occur. One of the harmful effects is that a driver or an application program of a network device is installed without regard for user's needs.
Particularly, it is assumed that a handheld computer or the like is connected to an environment where a great number of printers are connected on a network such as in a large office or the like. In such a case, each time a plug and play function works and a network device running on the network is found, a driver or an application program of the network device are installed. That impractically wastes computer hardware resources of, and memory resources in particular. In addition, when "print" is selected from the application program, a great number of printers are enumerated as available devices, undermining convenience of a user.
Limiting devices to be enumerated by using the technique described in Patent Document 3 also causes problems. For example, it is assumed that a handheld computer or the like is connected to an environment where a great number of printers are connected on a network in a large office or the like and a driver corresponding to three devices are installed as mentioned above. In such a case, user restriction information on the necessary three devices must be set as "available" and user restriction information on each of the remaining devices needs be set as "unavailable". That may lower the working efficiency.

Program and method for managing device driver and information processing apparatus


The disclosed embodiments relate generally to herbal smoking blends and methods for preparing and using herbal smoking blends, and relate more particularly to herbal smoking blends having terpenoids added thereto. In one aspect, a method of preparing an herbal smoking blend comprises providing a smoking herb preparation. The method additionally comprises providing a terpenoid solution comprising a terpenoid. The terpenoid solution may be added to the smoking herb preparation to, for example, provide a smoking herb preparation that achieves a desired effect on a consumer of the preparation.

Field
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to herbal smoking blends and methods for preparing and using herbal smoking blends, and more particularly to herbal smoking blends having terpenoids added thereto.
Description of the Related Art
The smoking of various herbs can provide physiological and/or psychological effects, some of which can provide therapeutic benefits. For example, cannabis, also known as marijuana, is an herb that can be smoked for recreational purposes or therapeutic purposes, such as to treat nausea, pain, muscle spasticity, and loss of appetite, among other conditions. It has been observed that different herbs, including different species, different strains, or different varieties of an herb can have different therapeutic effects. Consequently, different species, strains, or varieties of herbs have been cultivated to achieve desired effects. Such cultivation, however, can be time-consuming, can limit the availability herbs with a desired effect, and may be cost-prohibitive for rare or difficult to cultivate plants.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for methods of providing smoking herbs with desired effects.


The presence of a radio frequency signature (88) on a cut sheet of print media (28) is detected by a radio frequency interrogating device (94) to determine it's relative left/right position on the print media (28). Either the leading edge (124) or trailing edge (126) of the print media (28) is detected by one or more print media sensors (86, 90). A print controller (24) can note the time (t1) when print media is detected and cause the radio frequency interrogating device (94) to detect the radio frequency signature (88) at a time (t2) when the print media has reached a predetermined point along the print media pathway (110). The position of the radio frequency signature (88) on the print media (28) can be calculated using the time differential (t2-t1) and the known angular displacement of the radio frequency interrogating device (94).

Inkjet and laser printers have become commonplace equipment in most workplace and home computing environments. Today, many printers are multi-functional assemblies capable of printing on a large array of print media such as, for example, letterhead, envelopes and labels. A recent innovation in the printing industry involves the manufacturing of print media with embedded radio frequency signatures such as is possible with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag. These tags, sometimes called "Smart Labels", may be used with a variety of existing printing methods and the embedded tags may be programmed with information that is of use to the user.
Such print media generally comprises a backing material (sometimes referred to as the "web") upon which a label is applied, with a RFID tag sandwiched between the label and the backing. There may be one or more labels on the web and the sheet as presented may be part label and part plain paper. Typically, there is a desired orientation of the media to be fed through the printer that will ensure the printed image aligns as intended with the labels and/or tags on the media sheet.
In some cases, there may be more than one tag arrayed across the width of the media. In other cases, the position of a tag across the width of the media may be used to indicate when the media is mis-fed, and therefore allow the user to take some form of corrective action. For these reasons and others, it is desirable for the printing device to be able to determine the relative location of each tag on the media sheet in the horizontal direction.

Apparatus and methods of detecting relative position of RF signature on print media


A control unit receives a sensor output and performs signal processing on the sensor output to produce an internal signal. The control unit produces internal data by adding time data to an internal signal and transmits the internal data to an in-vehicle network. A diagnostic unit receives the internal data from the in-vehicle network and stores the internal data in an internal data storing device. The diagnostic unit also receives a measurement signal produced based on the sensor output. The diagnostic unit produces external data by adding time data containing time at which the second timer resets a time count when an ignition switch is closed and stores the external data. The diagnostic unit reproduces the internal data and the external data and extracts the internal signal and the measurement signal. The diagnostic unit displays or stores the internal signal and the measurement signal according to the time data.

In a vehicular control unit, signals inside the control unit are used for diagnosing operation and functions of the control unit. However, such signals are difficult to take out of the control unit because the control unit is generally installed in a hard-to-reach location. Interior parts, surrounding devices, and brackets and stays that hold the control unit need to be removed to reach the control unit in many vehicles.
Furthermore, control signals or information signals are dramatically increased according to an increase in demand for improvements in vehicles in terms of intelligence and safety. As a result, harness assembly becomes complicated and a diameter of a bundle of the harnesses becomes large. The removal of the control unit requires a large number of man-hours due to the complicated harness assembly.
A diagnostic system or a development support system, such as a failure diagnosis device proposed in JP-A-2002-301997, is directly connected to an internal network of a vehicle. An additional signal line or harness is not required for transferring signals or data between the diagnostic system and the control unit.
Communication between the diagnostic system or the development support system, that is, an external system, and the control unit is often interrupted due to busy traffic in a communication line. Moreover, it may be interrupted due to transmission of signals or data related to driving control of the vehicle depending on priority or urgency. In such a condition, a difference between a sensor output received by the control unit and an actual sensor output is not precisely determined. Furthermore, internal communication cannot be examined in real time even when detailed investigation of operation and function of the control device is required.


The invention relates to the display technical field, and discloses an electroluminescence device and a production process of the same, and a display apparatus. The electroluminescence device comprises a first electrode and a second electrode disposed oppositely, and a light-emitting layer situated between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the light-emitting layer comprises: nanowires of a first conducting type, which are situated on the first electrode and distributed in an array; a covering layer of a second conducting type, which covers the nanowires and is electrically connected to the second electrode. In the technical solution of the invention, since the nanowire has a diameter of only a few dozens of nanometers, which is much less than the wavelength of the emitted light, the light can pass through it and go out directly, substantially without the problem of refraction. Therefore, most of the light emitted from the light-emitting diodes can be taken out, and thereby the luminescence efficiency of the electroluminescence device is greatly improved, and thereby the luminance is improved.

Liquid crystal displays (abbr. LCD) are widely used as flat panel display equipments. Because they do not use any autoluminescence element, they need additional luminescence elements, for example, a backlight. Therefore, the thickness of a liquid crystal display is relatively large, and it is relatively hard to simplify the structure thereof. The active matrix organic light-emitting diode (abbr. OLED) is a new display technology developed in recent years. It uses an autoluminescence element, so it overcomes the above-mentioned problems in LCD, and does not need a backlight and has a relatively simple structure. However, there are relatively few organic materials applicable in OLED, and these organic materials are susceptible to moisture. Therefore, they have strict requirements on the vacuum deposition process. In order to overcome the above-mentioned restriction, some polymer materials have been used, and it has been found that other methods, for example, the ink-jet method, the laser induced thermal imaging method, or the like, can be used for producing OLED. However, methods and elements meeting the above-mentioned demands are not applied in practice. Hence, as compared with organic light-emitting diodes, inorganic semiconductor luminescence has rather a better prospect in applications.
Currently, concerning the inorganic light-emitting diodes, either for gallium nitride (GaN) emitting blue-green light or for aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP) emitting red-yellow light, the inner light-emitting layer in the light-emitting diode element thereof has very high luminescence efficiency. However, due to the problem that materials in each of the inner layers of the light-emitting diode refract and absorb light, the actual external output efficiency of light of the light-emitting diode element is not high, and a majority of the light cannot be taken out. Therefore, the existing inorganic light-emitting diodes have relatively low luminescence efficiency and relatively low luminance.

Electroluminescence device, a production process of the same and a display apparatus

Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A well logging method and apparatus are disclosed for determining borehole corrected formation resistivity, borehole diameter, and downhole borehole fluid (mud) resistivity with improved accuracy. A logging device in the borehole transmits electromagnetic energy from a transmitter, which energy is received at receivers on the logging device. The phase and amplitude of the received energy are measured at the receivers and a phase shift, phase average, and attenuation are associated with the transmitter-to-receivers spacing. The process is then repeated for a plurality of further transmitters having different spacings from the receivers. A formation and borehole model having model values of borehole corrected formation resistivity, borehole diameter, and borehole fluid resistivity is generated. Values of borehole corrected formation resistivity, borehole diameter, and borehole fluid resistivity that would produce a model phase shift, phase average and attenuation corresponding to the measured values of these parameters are then determined.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of well logging and, more particularly, to well logging techniques and apparatus for determining formation properties, such as borehole compensated resistivity, and also for determining borehole diameter and borehole fluid resistivity with improved accuracy. The invention has general application in the well logging art, but is especially useful in measurement-while-drilling.
2. Description of the Related Art
A commonly used technique for evaluating formations surrounding an earth borehole is resistivity logging. Porous formations having high resistivity generally indicate the presence of hydrocarbons, while porous formations with low resistivity are generally water saturated. However, the region immediately surrounding the borehole can be invaded by borehole fluid or mud filtrate and have a different resistivity than the virgin formation. If a resistivity logging device has only one radial depth of investigation, there is limited ability to measure resistivity of all zones of interest, and there may be difficulty in determining if the measured resistivity represents the invaded zone, the virgin zone, or some combination of the two zones. However, if the resistivity logging device has multiple radial depths of investigation, there is greater flexibility. In addition to the advantage of having, for example, a shallow measurement and a deep measurement individually, the combination of the two can provide additional information such as the extent of invasion. It is also possible to combine two or more measurements, for example a shallow measurement and a deeper measurement, to compute a better extimate of the true formation resistivity. Another related factor, to be discussed further below, is the effect of the borehole itself on measurements.
Wireline resistivity logging tools have long been provided with two or more radial depths of investigation. Conventional wireline resistivity logging tools typically achieve two depths of investigation by using a short and a long vertical array of electrodes or coils. In general, a long vertical array provides a greater radial depth of investigation than does a short vertical array. More recently, as will be discussed below, measurement-while-drilling tools have been provided with multiple radial depths of investigation.
A type of well logging which is of interest herein is so-called electromagnetic propagation logging, which can be used to measure the resistivity of the formation surrounding a borehole. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,551,797 describes a technique wherein electromagnetic energy is transmitted into the formation, and energy which returns to the borehole is measured at a receiver pair to determine the attenuation and/or the phase shift of the electromagnetic energy propagating in the formation. More than one vertical spacing between a transmitter and different receiver pairs may be used to obtain different radial depths of investigation. For example, a receiver pair relatively close to the transmitter can be used to obtain attenuation and/or phase shift information from which the properties of the invaded zone are determined, and measurements of the attenuation and/or phase shift from a receiver pair relatively far from the transmitter can be used to obtain the properties of the deeper uninvaded formations. Either attenuation or phase shift can be used to determine a bulk value of the electromagnetic skin depth for the formation, with the bulk conductivity then being determinable from the electromagnetic skin depth.
Various other techniques also exist in the art for utilizing multiple transmitters and/or receivers to investigate resistivity at different depths of investigation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,112 there is disclosed a logging apparatus for determining the resistivity of formations at two different radial depths of investigation using signals received at a single receiver pair. The resistivity of formations at a relatively shallow depth of investigation around the receiver pair is determined as a function of the phase shift measured at the receiver pair, and the resistivity of formations at a relatively deep depth of investigation around the receiver pair is determined as a function of the attenuation measured at the receiver pair. The apparatus is particularly advantageous for measurement-while-drilling, where it is desirable to obtain resistivity at multiple depths of investigation while minimizing the length and complexity of the logging device. The '112 Patent also discloses a so-called borehole compensated embodiment, where the receiver pair is located between and equally spaced from, a pair of transmitting antennas that can be alternately energized. The signals received at the receiver pair can be averaged to obtain borehole compensated signals; i.e., signals from which (1) drift of electronic components, and (2) borehole rugosity, have been reduced or removed by cancellation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,112 also discloses that the phase shift imbalance (the difference in phase shift for upward and downward propagating signals) and/or the attenuation imbalance (the difference in attenuation for upward and downward propagating signals) can be used in obtaining a differential borehole caliper and, in some circumstances, a borehole caliper. The '112 Patent further indicates that a mathematical model could be used to relate the phase shift imbalance and the amplitude imbalance to the change in borehole diameter, and that, for example, the specific geometry of the tool, the size and shape of the borehole, and the properties of the mud and formation can be included in the mathematical model and in a look-up table. The '112 Patent also observes that a caliper look-up table can also be generated by performing an experiment wherein the phase shift imbalance and the attenuation imbalance are measured as a tool is moved through a borehole with a stepped diameter.
One or more additional transmitters can be added to the type of logging device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,112, at different spacing(s), to attain further depths of investigation. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,343, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, there is disclosed a logging apparatus that can be utilized in measurement-while-drilling, and which has three or more transmitting antennas and a pair of receiving antennas. In one disclosed embodiment of the '343 Patent, there are five transmitters; that is, fifth, third, first, second, and fourth transmitting antennas longitudinally spaced on a logging device in the recited sequence. A pair of longitudinally spaced receiving antennas are located between the first and second transmitting antennas. The fifth, third, first, second, and fourth transmitting antennas are spaced from the midpoint between the receiver pair by fifth, third, first, second, and fourth distances, respectively, and each of the fifth, third, first, second, and fourth distances are different. The transmitting antennas can be individually energized, and the configuration can provide the advantages of borehole compensation without the need for having, for each transmitter to receiver pair spacing, an "equal and opposite" transmitter with the same spacing on the other side of the receiver pair.
The geometry of the borehole and the properties of the borehole fluid (also called mud herein) can be important in the determination of formation resistivity, since correction should be made for the effect of the borehole fluid on the electromagnetic energy being used to measure formation properties. The mud resistivity can generally be measured uphole with good accuracy, but the downhole mud resistivity can be affected by various factors including temperature and mixing of the mud with formation fluids. The extent of such mixing in a given zone may or may not be estimable from local geological knowledge. The borehole geometry may also be roughly approximated from the drill bit size, but can vary substantially in different types of formations.
In wireline applications it may be practical to obtain a measure of borehole geometry with a caliper tool and/or to sample or otherwise measure downhole borehole fluid. In logging-while-drilling, however, these types of measurements are not readily available. Also, the types of computed differential caliper or computed caliper presently known can be improved upon.
It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an improved well logging technique and apparatus, that can be used in logging-while-drilling, for determining downhole borehole fluid resistivity, borehole diameter, and borehole corrected formation resistivity of formations surrounding an earth borehole, and for generating logs thereof.

Well logging method and apparatus for determining downhole Borehole fluid resistivity, borehole diameter, and borehole corrected formation resistivity


An air-conditioning system for a building includes a hot water distribution circuit, a cold water distribution circuit, and several terminal air conditioning units. Each of the terminal air conditioning units includes a fan blowing air in a space of the building, a heating coil connected to the hot water distribution circuit and/or a cooling coil connected to the cold water distribution circuit. At least one ambient temperature control system allows to control heating power of the heating coils and cooling power of the cooling coils. The system further includes a calorific energy management system with a heat pump for transferring calorific energy: a) from the cold water distribution system to the hot water distribution system; b) from the cold water distribution system to atmosphere; and c) from the atmosphere to the hot water distribution system. The calorific energy management system can manage the calorific energy transfers with a three level control system to optimize energy consumption.

Modern buildings generally have large areas of glass and a wide range of internal temperature requirements, with both internally- and externally-generated heat loads. This diversity necessitates zone temperature control and high levels of air purity in order to ensure adequate comfort levels even with high occupation densities of people and equipment. Internally generated heat loads contribute to a large extent to the total cooling load or the total heating load. The main internal heat sources being electrical and electronic equipment and high illumination densities.
Localised climate control becomes necessary in large open-plan areas where individual workstations or equipment positions may require different temperatures. It is becoming more and more common to find people and equipment in the same office, requiring variation in thermal provision both in terms of Watts per square meter and seasonal changes. High-technology areas, such as computer rooms and control rooms, normally require air conditioning even during the winter since the heat produced by the equipment normally exceeds natural heat loss. There is therefore the need for a heating and air conditioning system which can effectively control conditions in the building and which has the flexibility to adapt to the range of needs over the various areas and in different seasons. Independent systems are normally used for the climate control of different areas, excluding the possibility of synergy and of intelligent control. There may be simultaneous demand for heating and cooling, each managed independently with significant energy wastage.
Furthermore, modern buildings have to be designed so as to enable a high flexibility of space configuration and occupation. It follows that space configuration and occupation can change many times over the life of a building and it is therefore important to ensure that air-condition systems can be easily adapted to such changes.


A gear inspection apparatus includes: a measurement unit which has a probe installed to be movable forward and rearward relative to a work gear rotatably mounted on a frame, and measures a dimension of the work gear, which rotates, by a measurement ball provided at a tip of the probe; a drive unit which is installed on the frame so as to be connected to the measurement unit and moves the probe forward and rearward; and a controller which receives a displacement measurement value related to a position of the probe which is measured by the measurement unit, and converts the displacement measurement value into a digital value.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In general, a gear is a rotational motion and rotational power transmission means and is used for various types of mechanical devices. There are various types of gears such as a spur gear, a helical gear, and a bevel gear.
A tooth surface of the gear is precisely processed in order to reduce or prevent abrasion, a loss of power transmission, and the occurrence of noise and vibration. Therefore, the gear having the completely processed tooth surface needs to be inspected to determine whether the tooth surface has defects and deficiency.
There are a dimension inspection method and a vibration inspection method as a method of inspecting the gear.
The dimension inspection method uses a three-dimensional measurer to measure whether the tooth surface of the gear is processed within a tolerance range.
That is, the dimension inspection method is a size measurement method that allows a master gear to mesh with a work gear, which is a measurement target, and measures an over ball diameter (OBD), run-out, nicks, and the like of the work gear based on the amount of change in straight distance which occurs when the master gear rotates.
Further, the vibration inspection method (vibration test) is a method which measures vibration signals that occurs when the master gear meshes with the work gear and rotates, and inspects processing quality by using a difference in frequency properties between the measured vibration signals.
However, we have discovered that the aforementioned gear inspection methods in the related art have drawbacks in that an operator needs to perform the measurements, while directly and manually rotating the work gear, which is the measurement target, and the dimension inspection and the vibration inspection need to be performed in different processes.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding the background of the present disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Gear inspection apparatus and gear inspection method using the same


A bypass is provided between the hot air pipes carrying heated air from a furnace and a cold air pipe carrying the return air to the furnace. A certain percentage of the air thus is bypassed. A scented pellet is provided in the bypass and is heated when the air is heated, and thereby evaporates a scent into the air. (It will evaporate scent when the air is cold, also.) Passage of the scent to the cold air pipe insures that it is heated again by the combustion chamber of the furnace, and the scent thereby is fairly evaporated and spread through the heating system.

For many people it is not sufficient to clean a house. The house must also smell good. Placing individual scent sources around the house may not suffice. There may be no air flow to help move the scent, and there may be no air flow from one room to another. Furthermore, the scent may not be augmented nor aided in emission by heat.
There are small devices that can be placed around the house in various locations to emit scents. This incurs refilling the scent emitting devices on a periodic scheme. This requires the frequent scampering of the housekeeper about the house to refill the devices.
So far, to the best of my knowledge there is no central device that can be added to a heating system for placing a scent emitting device at a central and sole location. Furthermore, the scent emitting devices cannot be shut off at any time.


A system and method for providing two-way optical communications between a first location and at least one secondary location, wherein there is no light source available at the secondary location. In the system and method, the first location and the secondary locations are optically coupled by an optical fiber network. A laser light source is located at the first location and produces a first light signal that is transmitted to the secondary locations over the optical fiber network. At the secondary locations a portion of the first light signal is altered by selectively modulating the signal frequency. As a result, a second light signal is produced without the need of a second light source. The second light signal is then sent back to the first location over the optical fiber network where it can be isolated and interpreted as a data transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to two-way optical fiber communication systems where data can be exchanged between a central location and at least one remote location. More particularly, the present invention relates to two-way optical fiber communication systems that use only a single laser light source to establish the two-way communications between the central location and at least one remote location.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many applications that utilize an optical fiber network to establish two-way optical communications between a host digital terminal (HDT) at a central location and an optical network unit (ONU) at a remote location. Typically, communications from the HDT to the ONU are considered downstream communications, while communications from the ONU to the HDT are considered upstream communications. An example of such a two way optical communication would be a television cable supplier that offers a pay-per-view movie service via an optical fiber network. The cable supplier may list the movies available over the optical fiber network. The customers, via their cable boxes, may then interact with the cable supplier over the optical fiber network to select a particular movie.
At present, two-way optical communications between two locations requires that each location use its own light source for generating the optical carrier that carries the information to be transmitted. Light sources are expensive, making such optical communication systems economically impractical for many applications.
N. J. Frigo et al. have proposed in a paper entitled "RITE-Net: A Passive Optical Network Architecture Based On The Remote Interrogation of Terminal Equipment", OFC'94, San Jose, Calif., Paper No. KD8, pp.43-45, and in a paper entitled "Wavelength-Division Multiplexed Passive Optical Network with Cost-Shared Components", IEEE Photonic Technology Letters, Vol. 6, pp. 1365-1367, 1994, an optically-passive access system. The disclosure of these papers has the HDT at a central location connected to a remote location by two optical fibers. However, in the disclosed systems only the HDT has a light source, which it uses to transmit a signal to a remote location on one of the fibers. The remote location reflects some of the light it receives to the second fiber, whereby the second fiber carries the second signal back to the HDT. The modulation used in both directions of transmission is identical, in that the absence of light stands for one of the two binary symbols used (1 or 0) and the presence of light indicates the second binary symbol (0 or 1). Because of the identical modulation, reflections result in significant interference, thereby imposing constraints on system design.
Nevertheless, such prior art systems are attractive in that they have the potential of reducing costs and can be used in different system configurations that allow sharing of some of the fiber between the HDT and the remote locations.
One way of reducing system costs is to use a single fiber for both directions of transmission. This implies a need for a transmission plan in which upstream reception is insensitive to reflections of the downstream signal by using different modulation schemes in the two directions of transmission.

Two-way optical fiber communication system having a single light source


Methods and apparatus for detecting abusive language are disclosed. In one embodiment, a set of character N-grams is ascertained for a set of text. Feature values for a plurality of features of the set of text are determined, based, at least in part, on the set of character N-grams. A computer-generated model is applied to the feature values for the plurality of features to generate a score for the set of text, where the model includes a plurality of weights, each of the weights corresponding to one of the features. It may then be determined whether the set of text includes abusive language based, at least in part, on the score.

The present disclosure relates generally to computer implemented methods and apparatus for detecting abusive language. More particularly, the disclosure relates to detecting abusive language using character N-gram features.
The rise of online communities over the last ten years, in various forms such as message boards, twitter, discussion forums, etc., have allowed people from disparate backgrounds to connect in ways that would not have been possible before. However, the ease of communication online has made it possible for both anonymous and non-anonymous posters to hurl insults, bully, and threaten through the use of profanity and hate speech, all of which can be framed as "abusive language."
A number of methods exist for detecting abusive language. For example, detection of abusive language can be handled effectively through blacklists that identify specific words or phrases as abusive language. As another example, regular expressions may be used to identify language patterns that are correlated with abusive language. Unfortunately, users become familiar with these methods and find ways to evade the detection of abusive language.

Detecting abusive language using character N-gram features


A method for charging a battery pack for an electric vehicle charges at a preselected maximum charging current until the battery pack voltage reaches a reference voltage level. The battery pack is then charged while maintaining the reference voltage until the charging current decreases to a first reference current level. Charging continues at the first reference current level until a time rate of change of the battery pack voltage reaches a first reference time rate of change. The battery pack voltage is determined and whenever the battery pack voltage is less than a decision voltage reference level, the battery pack is further charged at a second reference current level until the time rate of change of the battery pack voltage reaches a second reference value. A manually initiated pack recovery charge routine is also provided to address new battery pack installations.

The invention relates generally to battery charging methods. More specifically, the invention concerns a charging method for the battery pack of an electric vehicle.
A known charging method for the batteries of electric vehicles utilizes three basic steps. The first step, with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 1, charges the battery pack to full power until a reference voltage (which may be temperature compensated) is reached, as shown in steps 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110 of FIG. 1.
In a second step, charging continues holding the voltage at the reference voltage as the charging current decreases over time, as seen in steps 112, 114, 116 of FIG. 1.
In a third step, charging is carried out at a constant current with charging complete determined as a function of a time value determined by the time spent in the first two steps, as seen from steps 118, 120, 122, 124 and 126 of FIG. 1.
This known method performs satisfactorily when the vehicle batteries are in daily use, but is unacceptable for long periods (e.g., two weeks or more) of vehicle non-use. Furthermore, the known method has no capability for recovering a vehicular battery pack from a deep discharge.
Therefore, there is seen to be need in the art for a vehicular battery charging method capable of maintaining a desired vehicle operating range, increasing battery pack life and recovering from a long non-usage period or deep discharge.


Aspects of the invention provide a screen or the like that enables a bright, homogeneous projection image to be observed in a wide range across an area where viewers are present. A screen having a micro-lens array formed of a plurality of micro-lens elements each having a first surface having a curvature and a second surface of an almost planar shape through which incident light that comes incident on the first surface can be transmitted.

1. Field of Invention
Aspects of the invention can relate to a screen and a projector, and more particularly to techniques for a screen using a micro-lens array.
2. Description of Related Art
Related art micro-lens arrays can be used in a screen to form a projection image through transmission or reflection of projection light from a projector. The related art micro-lens array can include a plurality of micro-lens elements. Each micro-lens element forming the micro-lens array allows projection light to travel in a direction to the viewers by refracting the projection light in a predetermined direction. Hence, by providing the micro-lens array to the screen, it is possible to secure a satisfactory field of view by improving light utilization. A technique, for example, in JP-A-2003-29344 is a technique for a screen using the micro-lens array.

Screen having micro-lens array and projector


A pocket-hole drilling apparatus for drilling pocket-holes in a workpiece is disclosed. In one embodiment, an initiation switch actuates clamping the workpiece and the movement of a drilling module to cut a pocket-hole. The drilling module has a motor and a step-drill mounted thereon, which is slidably mounted on a guide module. The axis of the drilling module movement intersects work surface. In another embodiment, a movable fence provides the adjustability of pocket-hole depth. In yet another embodiment, two actuator tips are disposed in a fence to prevent the drilling of a pocket-hole through the sidewall of a workpiece. In still another embodiment, a short stroke clamping actuator is used to prevent human finger injury. In still another embodiment, a blower or an ejector pump is used to remove wood chips, wherein the blower is either attached to a drilling motor or to a separate blower motor; the ejector pump is mounted near the drill guide. In still another embodiment, two pocket-drills are slidably mounted on a block so as to drill two pocket-holes and to adjust pocket-hole spacing. In still another embodiment, a mounting structure is disposed either underneath or above the work surface to mount drilling module(s) so as to drill multiple pocket-holes into a wide workpiece at one setup. In still another embodiment, a drill guide forms a clearance for the cutting edges of the step-drill to minimize wear on the edges. In a further embodiment, an actuator provides both clamping and drilling movements, wherein the actuator is an electric motor or a hand lever.

Two wood workpieces are sometimes fastened together by means of a pocket joint. A pocket joint is a pocket-hole in the first piece, with a screw in the pocket-hole extending into the second workpiece. A pocket-hole is one that is made at an angle in the first piece of wood, entering from one surface and exiting out of the edge-wall. Usually the pocket is sufficiently large to fully contain the head of the screw so that when the screw is recessed in the hole, it is not exposed.
Generally, pocket-holes have been generated by pocket-hole jigs with a portable drill motor or by pocket-hole drilling machines that take advantage of speed and easy setup. The commercially available pocket-hole drilling machines require a foot switch to start a cycle. Furthermore, these drilling machines do not allow a user to adjust the vertical location or depth of a pocket-hole on a workpiece according to its thickness.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a machine with flexibility to drill pocket-holes in a speedy and efficient manner with one or more of the following features: 1) the ability to start and finish a cycle without a foot or hand operated switch; 2) an adjustable fence; 3) improved clamping; 4) the ability to remove wood chips; 5) the ability to adjust the spacing between two pocket-holes; 6) the ability to drill plural pocket-holes simultaneously in a wider workpiece; 7) the ability to drill plural pocket-holes and dowel-holes simultaneously in a wide board that is to be joined to a side panel; 8) a radial clearance in the drill guide to extend the life of a step-drill, and 9) use of a lever or a secondary electric motor to eliminate use of compressed air.


A tool for assembling parts to be connected to each other includes, a body for rotating a first end and a second end of a bolt, and a holder attaching to the body for holding a fastener against rotation and in alignment with the second end of the bolt. The fastener does not rotate while rotatably receiving the second end of the bolt.

A gas turbine engine has several modules. The first module, in terms of axial flow path, is the compressor section. Ambient air enters the engine through the compressor section. The compressor section pressurizes the air.
The second module is the combustion section. The combustion section introduces fuel to the air previously compressed by the compressor section. The combustion section then ignites the mixture.
The third module is the turbine section. The turbine section extracts energy from the exhaust produce by the compressor section. The turbine section is coupled to the compressor section so that the exhaust drives the compressor.
Finally, the air exits the engine as thrust.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of part of a gas turbine engine 210. The drawing shows a first module, such as a compressor section 211, adjacent a second module, such as a combustion section 213. The cases of these sections 211, 213 have corresponding flanges 215, 217 which abut and define a joint 219.
Fasteners, such as 12-point bolts 221 and nuts 223, extend through aligned openings in the flanges 215, 217 to seal the joint 219. FIG. 1 displays the conventional method of tightening the bolts 221 and nuts 223. The typical method requires the operator first to manipulate both a manual wrench W and a pneumatic impact wrench I. The manual wrench W engages the nut 223 and the pneumatic wrench I engages the bolt 221. After actuating the impact wrench I, the operator prevents rotation of the nut 223 by applying torque to the wrench W. As the bolt 221 and nut 223 tighten, the operator must apply an increasing amount of torque to the wrench W. The operator replaces the impact wrench I with another manual wrench W to provide the final torque to the fasteners. Now, the operator must apply torque to both manual wrenches W.
Loosening the bolts 221 and nuts 223 is similar. The operator engages the nut 223 with the wrench W and the bolt 221 with the second manual wrench W. The operator applies torque to both manual wrenches to loosen the fasteners slightly. Then operator then replaces the second manual wrench W with the impact wrench I. The operator then actuates the impact wrench I to remove the loosened bolt 221. The operator applies the greatest amount of torque to the wrench W during initial loosening of the fasteners. As the bolt 221 and the nut 223 loosen further, the operator can apply a decreasing amount of torque to the wrench W.
The operator must apply a typical torque of between approximately 30 and approximately 1000 in-lbs. Since the joint 19 may have up to 160 pairs of bolts 221 and nuts 223, the possibility of operator fatigue does exist. Since the engine 210 may have at least four joints 219, the possibility of fatigue becomes even more apparent.

Prehensile anti-torque and simultaneous support for power tool


A system includes a first bus, a second bus, a first battery that includes a first plurality of cells, and a second battery that includes a second plurality of cells, wherein the second battery is connected to the second bus. A first converter connects the high-voltage battery to the first bus. A second converter connects the first bus to the second bus. A controller is configured to control operation of the first converter and the second converter.

Electric systems typically include various auxiliary components and systems that have different power and redundancy requirements. A primary battery pack may be used to supply power to components that have high power requirements, and an auxiliary battery pack may be used to supply power to components that have low power requirements.


A molded food product is disclosed. The molded food product includes at least one type of a legume butter or nut butter or seed butter, at least one thickening agent, and a plant-derived wax.

Peanut butter and various tree nut butters are enjoyed by consumers and have a variety of uses. One of the most common ways such butters are consumed is by simply scooping and eating the product directly out of the container with a spoon. Many people enjoy combining peanut butter with jams, jellies, or preserves in the preparation of sandwiches. Peanut butter is also used as a spread and eaten with crackers, fruits (e.g. bananas), and vegetables (e.g. celery). Peanut butter is also used in a multitude of baking and cooking applications. The characteristics which contribute to the wide variety of uses for peanut butter include its flavor, its high protein content and other nutritional properties, as well as its suitability for consumption either alone or in combination with a variety of other foods.
Consumers also enjoy eating snack bars. These snack bars are typically composed of ingredients such as cereal, granola, grains, and nuts. The snack bars can also include other ingredients such as confectionary products, fruits, and peanut butter. Consumers enjoy eating snack bars because they are portable and provide a convenient way to snack.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide peanut butter and various other butters made from ground legumes or ground nuts or ground seeds in the form of a molded food product, such as a snack bar.


A pulse generator electrical circuit capable of operating as both a clock-based pulse generator and a delay-based pulse generator while minimizing the limitations of these two types of pulse generators is disclosed. When the pulse generator operates in “delay mode,” the smallest output pulse width possible corresponds to the minimum set point delay between the two delay circuits. The largest possible output pulse width corresponds to the difference between the maximum and minimum of the delay circuits. When the pulse generator operates in “clock mode,” the output of one of the delay circuits is blocked so that the output of the gate depends solely on the output of other delay circuit. This limits the lower pulse width interval to that of the retimer clock, but allows for an arbitrarily long (wide) pulse.

There are a variety of device applications that require the generation of electrical pulses. Electrical pulses are typically generated by electrical circuits called "pulse generators". Pulse generators are used, for example, to create the timing signals necessary to coordinate the logic operations of a microprocessor. Pulse generators generally fall into two categories: clock based and delay based.
Clock-based pulse generators are generally capable of generating arbitrarily long pulses. However, the minimum time interval between pulses is limited by the clock period.
Delay-based pulse generators rely on the time delay incurred by passing signals through a device or set of devices. The time delay is based on the transition time or difference in transition time of signals. The disadvantages of this type of pulse generator include that the maximum delay that can be obtained is limited, and the timing jitter increases with the delay or pulse width.
There are some device applications that would benefit from a pulse generator that has the advantages of each of the above-mentioned pulse generators while minimizing their respective disadvantages.
One such application is quantum key distribution (QKD). The general principles of quantum cryptography were first set forth by Bennett and Brassard in their article "Quantum Cryptography: Public key distribution and coin tossing," Proceedings of the International Conference on Computers, Systems and Signal Processing, Bangalore, India, 1984, pp. 175–179 (IEEE, New York, 1984). Specific QKD systems are described in publications by C. H. Bennett et al entitled "Experimental Quantum Cryptography," and C. H. Bennett entitled "Quantum Cryptography Using Any Two Non-Orthogonal States", Phys. Rev. Lett. 68 3121 (1992), as well as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,410 to Bennett (the '410 patent). The general process for performing QKD is described in the book by Bouwmeester et al., "The Physics of Quantum Information," Springer-Verlag 2001, in Section 2.3, pages 27–33.
Generally, in QKD weak light pulses (e.g., less than one photon per pulse on average according to Poissonian statistics) need to be emitted and detected with high precision. This requires generating precise synchronization and gating pulses for the system. The above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art pulse generators make them inefficient and impractical to use for a commercially viable QKD system. For example, one pulse generation mode for generating long (e.g., on the order of microseconds) pulses is required for setting up and calibrating the system, while another pulse generation mode is required for generating pulses on the order of 500 ps when operating the system. While two different types of pulse generators could be used to generate the two types of pulses, this option is expensive and adds complexity to the system.


There is provided a light emitting device highly resistant to the environment, and having good heat resistance, light resistance and gas barrier property, and a method for producing same. With the light emitting device, a substrate 2 and interconnect patterns 5A, 5B formed on the surface thereof are covered with an acrylic resin primer 10 having better gas barrier property than a silicone resin sealing resin part 3. Light resistance is ensured by the silicone resin sealing resin portion 3 and the gas barrier property can be ensured by the acrylic resin primer 10.

In 1990's, blue LEDs were developed and marketed, and white LEDs in combination with YAG (yttrium-aluminum-garnet) fluorophor that emits yellow light at high efficiency upon reception of light from the blue LED chip were also developed. In response to this, development directed toward stabler chromaticity of white color or higher brightness has been being advanced in view of applications and progresses for general lighting using LEDs and backlight light sources of LEDs for TV use. A large challenge in making such development is to improve the thermal resistance and light resistance of the sealing resin for sealing the LED chip.
White LEDs have a problem of deterioration of peripheral members due to blue light, which is emitted from the LED chip in use and which is short in wavelength and large in energy. When epoxy resin is used as the sealing resin, there occur such deteriorations as discoloring of the sealing resin due to the short wavelength and large energy of the emission of the LED chip, so that high-brightness light emission cannot be maintained for long time. As sealing resins that can meet the desire for that long-time high-brightness light emission, silicone-based resins have been being in use.
However, silicone-based resins, although excellent in light resistance, are poor at gas barrier property in not a few cases. Poor gas barrier property of the sealing resin causes occurrence of condensations at the interface between the sealing resin and the substrate or package due to permeation of steam as an example, leading to deteriorations or short-circuits of interconnect patterns or chip electrodes. Also, while sealing resins for vehicle use need to have corrosive-gas resistance, poor gas barrier property of the sealing resin causes occurrence of deteriorations or short-circuits of the interconnect patterns or chip electrodes, as in the case of condensations, making it impossible to satisfy the reliability.
Meanwhile, some silicone-based resins are denatured with resins of good gas barrier property, but those are lowered in light resistance. Under the current circumstances, it is quite difficult to find out an optimum sealing resin.
Besides, since silicone-based resins are so weak in adhesion that heat generation of the chip or the like causes resin peeling to occur at interfaces with peripheral members due to differences in coefficient of thermal expansion. This leads to characteristic deteriorations as a light emitting device such as degradation of light-emission brightness.
Thus, as it stands, even adopting silicone-based resins can hardly meet the desires for thermal resistance, light resistance and gas barrier property.
In this connection, Patent Literature 1 (JP 2004-339450 A) discloses an LED package for improving the light resistance of the sealing resin. This LED package, including an opening portion composed of a bottom face and a side wall, is integrally formed from formation resin so that the bottom face of the opening portion has end portions of a positive external electrode and a negative external electrode exposed with specified distances, respectively. It is also described that in this LED package, a primer layer is provided on the LED package surface before providing mold resin (sealing resin). Further, in this LED package, used as the primer layer are primer compositions characterized by including acrylic polymers, silanol condensation catalysts, silane coupling agent and/or epoxy group-containing compounds as an essential component in a solution. As a result of this, peeling after the light resistance test is suppressed, and the bonding reliability between the LED package and the sealing resin is improved.
In the prior art shown above, although improvement of the adhesion property during the thermal resistance test and the light resistance test by the primer layer is fulfilled, yet improvement of the gas barrier property is not disclosed.

Light emitting device and method for producing same


A novel, scaleable and improved process for preparing pentostatin and its analogs is disclosed. The method comprises the diastereospecific synthesis of the nucleobase from commercially available L-Dialkyl tartarates.

Pentostatin and coformycin are tight-binding naturally occurring inhibitors of Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) with a Ki of 2.5×10−12 M and 1.0×10−11 M, respectively (Drug of the future, vol. 15, No. 7, 1990). As expected, Pentostatin greatly enhances the antiviral activity of vidarabine (Ara-A) (Sloan, B. J.; J. K. Kielty & F. A. Miller, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 284:60-80, 1977.) In later studies, Pentostatin has been found to be effective against chronic lymphocytic leukemia (Kef ford, R. F. & R. M. Fox, Br. J. Haemto. 50: 627-636, 1982; Ho. A. D.; J. Thaler, P. Stryckmans, B. Coiffier, M. Luciani, P. Sonneveld, K. Lechner, S. Rodenhuis, R. Zittoun, J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 82: 1416-1420, 1990) and hairy cell leukemia (O'Dwyer, P. J.; S. Marsoni, M. T. Alonso, & R. E. Wittes, Cancer Treatment Symp. 2: 1-5, 1984; Spiers, A. S. D.; J. C. Ruckdeschel & J. Horton; Scand. J. Haematol, 32: 130-134 1984). Indeed, Pentostatin (Nipent) is now an approved and highly effective agent for the treatment of interferon-refractory hairy cell leukemia (Drug of the future, vol. 15, No. 7, 1990; Cassileth, P. J.; B. Chuvart, A. S. D. Spiers, D E. P. Harrington, F. J. Commings, R. S. Nieman, J. M. Bennett & M. J. O'Connell: J. Clin. Oncol.; 0.9: 243-246, 1991.) Coformycins analogs have attracted more attention in recent years because the inhibitors of AMPDA (Adenosine monophosphate deaminase) may present site- and event-specific drugs that could prevent or attenuate ischemic tissue damage resulting from a stroke or a heart attack (Erion, Mark D.; S. R. Kasibhata, B. C. Bookser, P. D. Van Poelje, M. Rami Reddy, H. E. Gruber & J U. R. Appleman: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 121, 308-319, 1990.)
Two additional analogs with similar activity have been isolated and characterized. They are the 2′-chloro-2′-deoxy compound adechlorine and a carbocyclic analog adecypenol (Tanaka, H.; T. Kawakami, Z. B. Yang, K. Komiyama, S. J. Omura: J. Antibiot., 42, 1722, 1989; Omura, S; H. Tanaka, N. Imamura: J. Antibiot. 39; 309, 1986.)

Due to a wide range of therapeutic applications of coformycins, one can expect demand for the production of these drugs to increase from 500-1000 g/year to multiple kilograms per year.
Pentostatin is currently being produced commercially by large-scale isolation from the fermentation beer of streptomyces antibiticus NRRL 3238 according the procedure that was developed by Showalter-McDonnell-Edmunds at Park-Davis Pharmaceutical, Warner-Lambert Co. (Dion, H. W.; P. W. K. Woo & A. Ryder, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 284; 21-29, 1977; Woo. P. W. K.; H. W. Dion. S. M. Lang, L. F. Dahl & L. J. Durham, J. Heterocycl. Chem. 11: 641-645, 1974.) The fermentation produces other UV-absorbing contaminations. The major contaminant is the (8S)-isomer (1.1%). 2′-deoxyguanosine is another minor component originally identified in the fermentation beer (Showalter H. D. H., Bunge, R. H., French, J. C., Hurley, T. P., Leeds, R. L., Leya, R., McDonnell, P. D., Edmunds, C. R., J. Antibiotics, 45, 1914-1918, 1992)
Warner-Lambert researchers were also the first to report the complete synthesis of Pentostatin. Their synthetic route is shown in scheme (I).
The earlier synthesis contained total 11 steps and overall yield of 1.6% (Baker, D. C.; S. R. Putt, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 101, 6127-6128, 1979). This involved the synthesis of a five-and seven-membered fused heterocyclic ring aglycone, followed by low-yield glycosylation and reduction of the ketone functionality to produce the 8-R and 8-S isomers. In the following years the Warner-Lambert researchers modified the glycosylation step and obtained 51% of the desired isomer (beta-isomer) and made improvements on other steps. However, the isolation of Pentostatin from the fermentation beer remains to be the only viable preparative method (Chan, E.; S. R. Putt, H. D. H. Showalter, & D. C. Baker, J. Org. Chem. 47: 3457-3464, 1982; Showalter, H. D. H.; S. R. Putt, P. E. Borondy & J. L. Shillis, J. Med. Chem. 26: 1478-1482, 1983).
Other schemes have been reported in the literature. Ohno et al. focus their work on the photo-assisted ring-expansion of nebularine and produced the coformycin in overall yield of 30%. Thier scheme, depicted below, is short and exclusively produces the desired 8-R stereoisomers (Ohno, M.; N. Yagisawa, S. Shibahara, S. Kondo, K. Maeda & H. Umwzawa, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 97, 4326-4327, 1975). However, experiments indicate that the scheme is not applicable to the corresponding deoxy isomer and a much lower yield and extensive decomposition is observed.

A few years later, another method was reported by Rappoport's laboratory at the Berkeley (Truong, T. V. T. & H. Rapoport, J. Org. Chem.: 58, 6090-6096, 1993). As a starting material they used L-vinylglycine which was prepared in three steps from L-methionine methyl ester hydrochloride with a 60% yield (Carrasco, M.; R. J. Jones, S. Kamel, T. Truong, & H. Rapoport; Org. Synth. 70: 29-34, 1991). The exchange of the CBZ protective group with the BOC group was found to be important for separation of syn- and anti-epoxide by flash chromatography (Truong, T. V. T. & H. Rapoport, J. Org. Chem.: 58, 6090-6096, 1993).
As the above scheme shows, using L-vinylglycine as a chiral starting material, the Berkeley researchers have achieved a high yield stereo- and regiospecific synthesis of various protected, enantiomerically pure Pentostatin aglycone. However, none of the intermediates are commercially available and the total 16 synthetic steps make this protocol less desirable for the large-scale production of Pentostatin.
Other synthetic methods reported by Hosmane (Hong, M., Hosmane, R. S., Nucleosides & Nucleotides, 16, 1053-1057, 1997) are represented below:
A synthesis by Montgomery (Thomas, H. J.; J. M. Riordan & J. A. Montgomery, Nucleosides & Nucleotides, 5: 431-439, 1986) is represented below:
These two methods are not desirable for scale-up because they involve either glycosylation with a moderate beta/alpha [β/α] ratio or generation of the C8-hydroxy with the correct stereochemistry at a very late stage of the synthesis, which results in appreciable loss of yield (usually about 40%, see the above scheme).
There are also several reasons for finding an alternative synthetic route to the current enzymatic process of producing Pentostatin.
The major steps used in the original isolation of Pentostatin involved a carbon adsorption/desorption procedure followed by chromatography on Darco G-60 and then on Sephadex G-10. The course of the fractionation was monitored by testing fractions for their ability to inhibit the deamination of adenosine by ADA. Repeated re-crystallization of the product from the final, most active chromatographic fractions afforded less than 8 g of Pentostatin from 9,500 liters of beer. The low yield and considerable labor involved in isolating Pentostatin using this procedure are not practical for the production of kilogram lots of the drug. An alternative process, coupled with a rapid HPLC method for assaying Pentostatin, was later developed. The improved process yielded 648.5 g of >99.7% pure Pentostatin from 50,000 liter of fermentation beer. However, the scale-up difficulties, the number of contaminants and the labor involved remained to be challenging to tackle. Other processes more or less yield the same amounts of the active drug using other fermentation and purification procedures (Kusakabe, H; K. Kodma, H. Machida, Y. Midorikawa, A. Kuninanka & H. Yoshino; Jap. Kokai, 52128292, 1977; JP 5230991, 1977; Omura, S.; H. Tanaka & N. Imamura.: 2′-deoxycoformycin by actinomadura; Jap. 61289896, 1986.).
The enzymatic process, apart from involving considerable labor, suffers from the fact that it still is a biochemical process and several nucleoside contaminations are produced during the fermentation. This poses the challenge to identify and remove them efficiently from the final product. Identified nucleoside contaminations are: coformycin, Ara A, deoxyguanosine, the (8S)-isomer, 8-ketodeoxy- and 8-keto-coformycin (Hanvey, J. C.; E. S. Hawkins, D. C. Baker, R. J. Suhadolink, Biochemistry, 27: 5790-5795 (1988). Separation of these contaminates requires special techniques and expertise. For example a recent patent describes the efficient separation of coformycin, formycin A and isoformycin using CG-50 column and a special elution procedure for separation of coformycin from nucleosides occurring with it (see Fr Pat. 2383966, 1978).
There is a demand for much higher quantities of Pentostatin (Bookser, B. C.; S. Rao Kasibhatla, J. R. Appelman & M. D. Erion, J. Med. Chem. 43: 1495-1507, 2000) and current methods do not comfortably produce such amounts. Thus, a practical, scalable, concise and free from hard-to-separate contaminants that could produce Pentostatin at a competitive price is most desirable at this time. None of the reported synthetic schemes can satisfy all of these requirements.

Process for the production of pentostatin aglycone and pentostatin


A fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer, wherein the method provides a substrate having a first polysilicon layer already formed thereon. An interpoly dielectric layer is then formed on the first polysilicon layer, wherein the interpoly dielectric layer is formed using an argon gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma, a krypton gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma, an argon gas/oxygen gas plasma or a krypton gas/oxygen gas plasma. After this, a second polysilicon layer is formed on the interpoly dielectric layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fabrication method for a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer.
2. Background of the Invention
Flash memory is an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) that is widely used in computer and microprocessor systems for permanently storing information that are repeatedly read, written or erased. Moreover, flash memory can retain information even when power is interrupted. Flash memory is a type of non-volatile memory (NVM), which is small in size, faster in reading/programming speed and consumes less power and energy. Since the erasure of information for a flash memory is accomplished xe2x80x9cblock-by-blockxe2x80x9d, the operational speed is also faster.
FIGS. 1A to 1C are schematic diagrams in cross-sectional views illustrating the fabrication of a flash memory device according to the prior art.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a substrate 100 is provided, wherein a tunnel oxide layer 102 is formed on the substrate 100. A patterned polysilicon layer 104, serving as a floating gate, is formed on the tunnel oxide layer 102. A buried drain region 106 is then formed in the substrate 100 beside the side of the polysilicon layer 104.
Referring to FIGS. 1B to 1C, a dielectric layer 108 is formed on the substrate 100. After this, another polysilicon layer 110, serving as the control gate, is formed on the dielectric layer 108 that is on the polysilicon layer 104.
The dielectric layer 108 is formed by, for example, a thermal process. The thermal process is conducted at a temperature of about 900 degrees Celsius in an oxygen environment to induce a reaction between the oxygen molecules and the silicon atoms of the polysilicon layer 104 to form an oxide type of dielectric layer 108. However, the surface of the dielectric layer 108 formed by the conventional thermal process is rough. A rough surface would cause a current leakage between the two polysilicon layers 104, 110. Moreover, the dielectric layer 108 that is formed by the conventional thermal process is at a temperature of about 900 degrees Celsius. Under such a high temperature, the dopants of the buried drain region 106 in the substrate 100 would diffuse into the tunnel oxide layer 102, causing a current leakage.
Additionally, in the conventional approach, in order to increase the sustainability to high electric field, a silicon oxide-silicon nitride-silicon oxide (ONO) stacked layer or an silicon oxide-silicon nitride (ON) stacked layer is used as the interpoly dielectric layer 108 for the flash memory device. However, forming the ONO stacked layer or the ON stacked layer requires multiple process steps greatly increases the complexity of the manufacturing process.
The present invention provides a fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer, wherein an interpoly dielectric layer having a rough surface formed by the conventional thermal process is prevented.
The present invention also provides a fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer, wherein the problem encountered in forming an interpoly dielectric layer that can sustains a higher electric field as in the prior art is prevented.
The prevent invention further provides a fabrication method for a flash memory device, wherein the diffusion of dopants from the buried drain in the substrate to the tunnel oxide layer due to the high temperature in forming the interpoly dielectric layer is prevented.
The present invention additionally provides a fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer of a flash memory device in which current leakage is reduced to increase the reliability of the device.
The present invention provides a fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer, wherein the method provides a substrate having a first polysilicon layer already formed thereon. An interpoly dielectric layer is then formed on the first polysilicon layer. The interpoly dielectric layer is formed under a temperature of about 400 degrees Celsius, using an argon gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma, a krypton gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma, an argon gas/oxygen gas plasma or a krypton gas/oxygen gas plasma. The composition ratio of argon gas to oxygen gas to ammonia gas in the argon gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma is 96.5:3:0.5. The composition ratio of krypton gas to oxygen gas to ammonia gas in the krypton gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma is about 96.5:3:0.5. The composition ratio of argon gas to oxygen gas in the argon gas/oxygen gas plasma is 97:3. The composition ratio of krypton gas to oxygen gas in the krypton gas/oxygen gas plasma is 97:3.
The present invention provides a fabrication method for a flash memory device. This method provides a substrate, and a tunnel oxide layer is formed on the surface of the substrate. A patterned first polysilicon layer is then formed on the tunnel oxide layer as the floating gate. A buried drain region is the formed in the substrate beside the first polysilicon layer. A dielectric layer is then formed on the first polysilicon layer as the interpoly dielectric layer, wherein the dielectric layer is formed at a temperature of about 400 degrees Celsius using an argon gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma, a krypton gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma, an argon gas/oxygen gas plasma or a krypton gas/oxygen gas plasma. The composition ratio of argon gas to oxygen gas to ammonia gas in the argon gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma is 96.5:3:0.5. The composition ratio of krypton gas to oxygen gas to ammonia gas in the krypton gas/oxygen gas/ammonia gas plasma is about 96.5:3:0.5. The composition ratio of argon gas to oxygen gas in the argon gas/oxygen gas plasma is 97:3. The composition ratio of krypton gas to oxygen gas in the krypton gas/oxygen gas plasma is 97:3. A second polysilicon layer is then formed on the dielectric layer as the control gate.
In accordance of the fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer of the present invention, the oxygen ions in the plasma exhibits no lattice orientation dependency, the interpoly dielectric layer is thus more uniformly formed.
According to the fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer of the present invention, the oxygen ions in the plasma is smaller in size and thus diffuse faster through the polyoxide growing film to react with the silicon atoms to form the interpoly dielectric layer. The growing of the inter-poly dielectric layer to the desired thickness can thus be faster and at a lower temperature.
According to the present invention, only a single process step is required to obtain an interpoly dielectric layer that is sustainable to high electric field. The complexity of the manufacturing process is thereby reduced.
According to the fabrication method for a flash memory device of the present invention, the interpoly dielectric layer is formed at a temperature of about only 400 degrees Celsius. A diffusion of dopants from the buried doped drain in the substrate to the tunnel oxide layer is thus obviated.
The interpoly dielectric layer of a flash memory device formed according to the present invention reduces the occurrences of a current leakage to increase the reliability of a device.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Fabrication method for an interpoly dielectric layer


A composite cloth includes a fabric sheet and a film unit. The fabric sheet has bottom and top surfaces and a plurality of micropores extending through the bottom and top surfaces. The film unit includes bottom and top cover films respectively disposed on the bottom and top surfaces of the fabric sheet. Each of the first and second cover films includes opposite film bottom and top surfaces, and a plurality of film sections connected to each other. Each of the film section includes a pair of longitudinal trough portions, a pair of transverse trough portions connected between the longitudinal trough portions, and a crest portion surrounded by and protruding from the longitudinal and transverse trough portions.

Conventional monolayer fabrics, such as woven fabrics composed of interlaced warp and weft yarns, have a plurality of pores among the warp and weft yarns. Since air freely permeates through the pores, the conventional monolayer fabrics have a poor warmth retention property. For fulfilling consumers' requirements for clothing that provides warmth, a multi-layered fabric made by stacking a plurality of the monolayer fabrics are proposed, in which pores of one of the monolayer fabrics are misaligned with pores of the adjacent monolayer fabrics. By way of misaligned arrangement of the pores of the monolayer fabrics, air permeation through the pores of the multi-layered fabric is hindered. However, this multi-layered fabric has problems such as excessive thickness, excessive weight, and poor softness, which need to be overcome.


The invention concerns a method of manufacturing paper or board, the paper or board obtained by the method, and a method of producing a tray from the board. In a fibrous stock for papermaking is incorporated an amount of polymer coated fibrous particles, which even have a foaming agent such as moisture contained therein. A web is formed from the fibrous stock on a forming fabric of a paper or board machine, followed by pressing and drying to a finished paper or board. As the paper or board is sufficiently heated the foaming agent within the particles evaporates, causing expansion and foaming of the polymer coating, which adds to malleability of the board as it is moulded into a shaped article such as a board tray. The invention even covers production of doubly coated fibrous particles for use in said methods, the inner coating layer being of a foamable polymer with a higher melt flow rate and the outer coating layer being of a non-foaming polymer of a lower melt flow rate.

The invention concerns a method of manufacturing paper or board, as well as the paper or board obtainable thereby. Furthermore, the invention includes a method of manufacturing a board article, such as a plate or tray, and a method of producing polymer coated particles to be used for making the paper or board.
Production of fibrous board articles such as plates, trays and the like containers comprises a deep drawing or vacuum moulding step by use of a mould having a recess or cavity corresponding to the shape of the article. Usually the procedure generates wrinkles or corrugations in the corners of a rectangular article or along the entire periphery when the article has a rounded, usually circular or oval shape. However, various techniques have been developed to diminish or avoid wrinkling and improve mouldability of the board used for the articles.
Known approaches for avoiding wrinkling include a multistep moulding technique producing stepped side walls of a tray as described in WO 2013/140034 A1, and moulding tools specifically designed to allow free forming of the tray side walls as described in WO 2015/063643 A1.
A different approach is increasing malleability of the board used for moulded articles such as trays. For the purpose there exists a multilayer board having a polymer layer sandwiched between two fibrous board layers. The intermediate polymer layer is aimed to improve mouldability of the multilayer board by allowing the two board layers to slide in relation to each other at the moulding step. However, such mouldability is rather limited while the manufacturing cost of the multilayer material is high.
WO 2014/080084 proposes foam forming of a fibrous web, which is impregnated with polymer and can be turned to moulded articles. The foam-formed polymer-impregnated material is said to have improved elongation particularly in thermoformation. However, subjecting the web to subsequent impregnation impractically burdens the process with an additional working step.
In WO 2008/113887 there is described a specific technique for preventing a hot drink enjoyed from a disposable board cup from burning the fingers of the user. The teaching is to dope the fibre-based stock used for making the board with a polymer such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), which ends up in the dried board produced in the board machine. When the board is heated, the polymer melts and water vapour bubbles penetrate it, rendering the board porous. Pore-generating heating can be applied to the board or first to the cup made from it. The gas-filled pores work as a heat insulation between the fingers and the hot liquid in the cup.

Methods for making paper or board, a board tray and pulp particles coated with foamable polymer for use in the same


Methods and apparatus are disclosed for transferring data to and from the Local Bus of a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) system, to which a first set of high performance devices, including at least one central processor ("CPU"), is attached, and a Remote Bus, to which a second set of relatively lower performance devices is attached, in a manner that does not limit the RISC processor's performance. According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, a RISC architecture is disclosed that includes a novel data transfer controller ("DTC"), or set of DTCs, suitable for performing the aforesaid data transfer function between the high performance Local Bus and one or more Remote Buses to which complete subsystems or peripherals, typically having different (and lower) performance characteristics, are attached. The resulting RISC arthitecture permits commercially available peripherals and subsystems to be used with high performance RISC processors without limiting RISC system performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods and apparatus used for transferring data to and from the Local Bus of a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) system, to which a first set of high performance devices, including at least one central processor ("CPU"), is attached, and a Remote Bus, to which a second set of relatively lower performance devices is attached, in a manner that does not limit the RISC processor's performance. The invention more particularly relates to a RISC architecture that includes a novel data transfer controller ("DTC"), or set of DTCs, suitable for performing the aforesaid data transfer function between the high performance Local Bus and one or more Remote Buses to which complete subsystems or peripherals, typically having different (and lower) performance characteristics, are attached.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods and apparatus for achieving a high performance system interface between a RISC processor and a set of devices, including memory means internal to the RISC system, are described in copending application Ser. No. 012,226, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,990, filed Feb. 19, 1987, assigned to Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. This copending application is hereby incorporated by reference. The novel system interface taught in the copending application includes, according to its preferred embodiment, two 32 bit wide buses referred to as the "Address Bus" and "Data Bus". For the purpose of this application these two buses collectively correspond to the Local Bus.
In order to permit a RISC system to utilize and access a wide array of commercially available peripheral devices that typically operate at lower speeds than a RISC processor, the Local Bus needs to be coupled in some manner to a Remote Bus to which one or more of said peripheral devices are connected. The Remote Bus could also be a complete I/O subsystem with its own processor.
Currently, no devices or methods are known which interconnect and permit data transfers between buses having different performance characteristics (like the aforesaid Local Bus and Remote Bus), while at the same time not appreciably having an affect on the performance of the devices attached to the buses. In addressing this problem it would be a particularly desirable feature to insulate the performance of any high speed processor, e.g., a RISC processor attached to the Local Bus, from the comparatively lower performance of peripherals and/or any I/O subsystem connected to the Remote Bus. Ideally, the bandwidth and latency of accesses on the Local Bus needs to be decoupled from the bandwidth and latency of accesses on the Remote Bus, with concurrency between accesses on both buses.
Another problem to be solved is to provide methods and apparatus which allow I/O port and direct memory access ("DMA") operations to overlap with (i.e., operate in parallel with) devices attached to the Local Bus. Such a parallelism feature would further enhance the performance of the overall system of which the DTC forms a part and more particularly, in a RISC system, would free the RISC processor from having to wait for I/O completion.
I/O controller functions and DMA functions in and of themselves are well known in the prior art. However no combination of these functions are performed by any known methods or apparatus which, (1) interconnect and buffer a high performance RISC system Local Bus and a Remote Bus of the type described hereinbefore; (2) solve the aforementioned problem of interconnecting buses having different performance characteristics and (3 ) provide the parallelism referred to hereinbefore.
Furthermore, no DMA channel by itself is known which supports a bus to bus interface of the type described hereinabove, i.e., a DMA channel which accounts for differing bus characteristics and parallelism versus a DMA channel that only performs straight address sequencing.
Finally, although systems, such as the IBM 370 (a large main frame computer) are known that include a channel controller network with direct memory access features, no prior art is known at the microprocessor level, in particular in combination with a RISC processing system, that provides both DMA and I/O controller functions on a single chip. Such features would be a desirable adjunct to RISC processing systems which themselves are currently being fabricated at the chip level.

Reduced instruction set computer system including apparatus and method for coupling a high performance RISC interface to a peripheral bus having different performance characteristics


A display case having shaped lighted shelves which facilitate the illumination of lighting items placed on the shelves near the front and middle of the shelves. One such shaped shelf has a curved plate or rod attached at the front of the shelf which positions items placed near the front and middle of the shelf a selected distance toward the back of the shelf. As a result, items placed near the front and middle of the shaped shelves are illuminated better by fluorescent lighting tubes, mounted inside the display case near the ends of the shelves, than items placed near the front and middle of unshaped shelves. The display case may have shaped shelves having different degrees of curvature. Alternatively, the display case may have shelves that are shaped and unshaped.

The present invention relates generally to display cases with shelves, and more particularly to display cases having vertical lighting sources near the ends of each shelf.
In the past, a variety of shelves have been used inside display cases for the purpose of displaying different items in supermarkets, or other retail establishments. Items for sale are typically placed on top of the shelves in rows or columns. For example, dairy products in a supermarket may be placed on shelves inside a refrigerated display case with the older dairy products, which need to be sold first, located near the front and middle of the shelves where the products may be easily picked up by customers. However, problems are encountered in illuminating such products.
Products located near the middle of display shelves are difficult to illuminate when vertical, fluorescent tubes located near the ends of the shelves are used to light or illuminate the interior of a display case. In such a case, the products located near the lights receive more illumination than products located near the front and middle of the shelves. As a result, products near the middle of the shelves are improperly illuminated.

Display case with shaped lighted shelves


Systems, methods, and apparatuses are provided to obtain diagnostic information from a storage device. A read command may be transmitted to a storage device, where the read command conforms to a block level storage protocol and is directed to an unused logical unit of storage memory included in the storage device, to an invalid logical block address, and/or to a mode page. The unused logical unit may be a predetermined logical unit of the storage memory that is not allocated by a file system. Diagnostic data may be received from the storage device in response to the read command. The diagnostic data may be information related to operation of the storage device and/or a component of the storage device.

1. Technical Field
This application relates to storage devices and, in particular, to diagnostic information related to storage devices.
2. Related Art
Storage systems do not always operate properly. Determining what is happening inside the storage device may be helpful in identifying a source of a problem. For example, an integrated circuit inside the storage device may be removed from the storage device and analyzed by monitoring signals on hardware pins protruding from the integrated circuit. The signals may indicate what is happening inside the storage device and may help identify the source of the problem.

Obtaining diagnostic information through host interfaces