A simulation apparatus and method is provided for simulating complex high speed interconnects for which closed forms of the S-parameter are incorporated. Differential transmission lines are represented in a causal manner analytically using the 4-port S-parameter without concerns of passivity and stability. Difficult discontinuities of interconnect such as differential vias are represented in closed form and the present invention allows those interconnects to be characterized by 4-port S-parameter measurements or simulation. A complete method of combining causal transmission line models with discontinuities in cascade is provided.

High speed interconnects come in two types: single-ended and differential. High speed interconnects find their applications in high speed digital designs at three different levels: on-chip, IC package and PCB assembly. The latter includes cables and connectors that join systems. When a high speed signal passes through lossy interconnects, dispersion becomes visible causing signal degradation and eye closure. High speed interconnects are also reflective because of the discontinuities. The dispersive and reflective nature of the high speed interconnect may be observed at the level of PCB assembly. The higher the data speed, the more impact this nature exerts. High speed interconnects are difficult to model and conventional simulation tools for modeling high speed interconnects do not satisfy causality and are unreliable and inefficient.

Method and apparatus for representing high speed interconnects in closed forms


An improved barrier stack. The barrier stack is made by the process of depositing the polymeric decoupling layer on a substrate; depositing a first inorganic layer on the decoupling layer under a first set of conditions wherein an ion and neutral energy arriving at the substrate is less than about 20 eV so that the first inorganic layer is not a barrier layer, wherein a temperature of the substrate is less than about 150° C.; and depositing a second inorganic layer on the first inorganic layer under a second set of conditions wherein an ion and neutral energy arriving at the substrate is greater than about 50 eV so that the second inorganic layer is a barrier layer. Methods of reducing damage to a polymeric layer in a barrier stack are also described.

The present invention relates generally to multilayer barriers, and more particularly to multilayer barriers stacks having improved properties.
Many devices are subject to degradation caused by permeation of environmental gases or liquids, such as oxygen and water vapor in the atmosphere or chemicals used in the processing of the electronic product. The devices are usually encapsulated in order to prevent degradation.
Various types of encapsulated devices are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,695, entitled "Environmental Barrier Material For Organic Light Emitting Device And Method Of Making," issued Jul. 31, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,522,067, entitled "Environmental Barrier Material For Organic Light Emitting Device And Method Of Making," issued Feb. 18, 2003; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,325, entitled "Environmental Barrier Material For Organic Light Emitting Device And Method Of Making", issued May 27, 2003, all of which are incorporated herein by reference, describe encapsulated organic light emitting devices (OLEDS). U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,652, entitled "Encapsulated Display Devices", issued Jun. 3, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes encapsulated liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), light emitting polymers (LEPs), electronic signage using electrophoretic inks, electroluminescent devices (EDs), and phosphorescent devices. U.S. Pat. No. 6,548,912, entitled "Semiconductor Passivation Using Barrier Coatings," issued Apr. 15, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes encapsulated microelectronic devices, including integrated circuits, charge coupled devices, light emitting diodes, light emitting polymers, organic light emitting devices, metal sensor pads, micro-disk lasers, electrochromic devices, photochromic devices, microelectromechanical systems, and solar cells.
Generally, encapsulated devices can be made by depositing barrier stacks adjacent to one or both sides of the device. The barrier stacks typically include at least one barrier layer and at least one decoupling layer. There could be one decoupling layer and one barrier layer, there could be multiple decoupling layers on one side of one or more barrier layers, or there could be one or more decoupling layers on both sides of one or more barrier layers. The important feature is that the barrier stack has at least one decoupling layer and at least one barrier layer.
One embodiment of an encapsulated display device is shown in FIG. 1. The encapsulated display device 100 includes a substrate 105, a display device 110, and a barrier stack 115. The barrier stack 115 includes a barrier layer 120 and a decoupling layer 125. The barrier stack 115 encapsulates the display device 110, preventing environmental oxygen and water vapor from degrading the display device.
The barrier layers and decoupling layers in the barrier stack can be made of the same material or of a different material. The barrier layers are typically about 100-400 Å thick, and the decoupling layers are typically about 1000-10,000 Å thick.
Although only one barrier stack is shown in FIG. 1, the number of barrier stacks is not limited. The number of barrier stacks needed depends on the level of water vapor and oxygen permeation resistance needed for the particular application. One or two barrier stacks should provide sufficient barrier properties for some applications, while three or four barrier stacks are sufficient for most applications. The most stringent applications may require five or more barrier stacks.
The decoupling layers can be deposited using a vacuum process, such as flash evaporation with in situ polymerization under vacuum, or plasma deposition and polymerization, or atmospheric processes, such as spin coating, ink jet printing, screen printing, or spraying. Suitable materials for the decoupling layer include, but are not limited to, organic polymers, inorganic polymers, organometallic polymers, hybrid organic/inorganic polymer systems, and silicates.
The barrier layers can be deposited using a vacuum process, such as sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), evaporation, sublimation, electron cyclotron resonance-plasma enhanced vapor deposition (ECR-PECVD), and combinations thereof. Suitable barrier materials include, but are not limited to, metals, metal oxides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, metal oxynitrides, metal oxyborides, and combinations thereof.
In general, the deposition of dense layers with suitable barrier properties is achieved by supplying energy to the species impinging on the substrate to form the layer. Such energy may be supplied as thermal energy. In some of the depositions mentioned above, more specifically the energy is supplied by using ionization radiation to increase the ion production in the plasma and/or to increase the number of ions in the evaporated material streams. The ionization radiation may be (UV) light, ion beam, electron beam, and electromagnetic field. The ions so produced are then accelerated to the substrate either by applying a DC or AC bias to the substrate, or by building up a potential difference between the plasma and the substrate.
We have found that some devices encapsulated with multilayer barrier stacks have been damaged by the plasma used in depositing the barrier and/or decoupling layers. Device plasma damage has occurred when a substrate with a plasma sensitive device on it, such as an OLED, is encapsulated with a multi-layer barrier stack in which a plasma based and/or assisted process is used to deposit a barrier layer and/or decoupling layer on the OLED. For example, device plasma damage has occurred when reactively sputtering a barrier layer of AlOx under conditions suitable for achieving barrier properties, sputtering a barrier layer of AlOx onto the top surface of a plasma sensitive device, and/or sputtering a barrier layer of AlOx on a vacuum deposited, acrylate based polymeric layer.
Device plasma damage associated with the use of plasma in the deposition of a barrier layer, a decoupling layer, or another layer on a device essentially has a negative impact on the electrical and/or luminescent characteristics of the encapsulated device. The effects will vary by the type of device, the structure of the device, and the wavelength of the light emitted by the OLED. It is important to note that device plasma damage is dependent on the design of the device to be encapsulated. For example, Olds made by some manufacturers show little to no device plasma damage, while Olds made by other manufacturers show significant device plasma damage under the same deposition conditions. This suggests that there are features within the device that affect its sensitivity to plasma exposure.
One way to detect this type of device plasma damage is to measure the voltage needed to achieve a specified level of luminescence. Another way is to measure the intensity of the luminescence. Device plasma damage results in higher voltage requirements to achieve the same level of luminescence (typically 0.2 to 0.5 V higher for an OLED), and/or lower luminescence.
Although not wishing to be bound by theory, device plasma damage that is observed when a decoupling layer employing plasma, a sputtered AlOx, or another layer employing plasma is formed (deposited) directly on an OLED or other sensitive device is believed to be due to an adverse interaction between the device and one or more components of the plasma, including ions, electrons, neutral species, UV radiation, and high thermal input.
This type of device plasma damage and methods of reducing it are described in application Ser. No. 11/439,474, filed May 23, 2006, entitled Method of Making an Encapsulated Plasma Sensitive Device.
In addition, it is known that plasma treatments can modify the properties of polymers. Several patents disclose the use of plasma treatment to improve properties for a multilayer barrier on a substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,628 discloses plasma treatment of polymeric film substrates and polymeric layers from acrylates deposited using a flash evaporation process as a way to improve properties. U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,466 also discusses plasma treatment of substrates and acrylate layers to improve adhesion. The improvement in adhesion is the result of breaking chemical bonds and creating new chemical species on the surface of the substrate. On the other hand, it is known that, in some cases, plasma and/or radiation exposure degrades the functional properties of polymers (polymer plasma damage).
It would be desirable to eliminate processes which use plasma in manufacturing barrier stacks and/or devices including barrier stacks. However, avoiding such processes is not always possible.
Therefore, there is a need for improved deposition conditions that reduce or eliminate damage to the polymeric decoupling layer, and for multilayer barriers having polymeric decoupling layers with reduced damage.

Multilayer barrier stacks and methods of making multilayer barrier stacks


A system that extends the operational effectiveness of an image reproduction machine without requiring downtime for service by personnel includes a detection subsystem that monitors components of an image reproduction system for detecting a banding defect in the image reproduction system and an automated compensation subsystem for modifying operation of the image reproduction system to compensate for the detected banding defect so that the image reproduction system continues to generate images at an acceptable quality level. The automated compensation subsystem adjusts components and/or data used by image reproduction system to compensate for the identified banding defect without requiring immediate operator or service personnel intervention. This compensation may successfully attenuate the banding defect so that the image reproduction system continues to produce acceptable images without downtime while awaiting service by personnel. The system may also include a diagnostic subsystem for determining causes for a detected banding defect to further enhance the operation of the compensation system or to facilitate a repair action by a person.

Digital image reproduction systems are well-known. These systems typically include a digital document generator that may be coupled to the reproduction system directly or through a computer network. Digital document generators include computers, scanners, or other devices that store or permit a user to define content for a digital document. The digital data are provided to a print engine so the controller of the engine may control the process. The reproduction system also includes a photoreceptor belt or drum that provides a rotating surface for the exposure, development, and transfer of a latent image that corresponds to the digital document.
The latent image exposure begins with the charging of a portion of the photoreceptor belt at a charging station. The charged portion of the belt is advanced through an imaging/exposure station, where the data digital are provided as a signal to a raster output scanner. The raster output scanner selectively discharges the charged portion of the photoreceptor belt to form the latent image in correspondence with the document digital data. Development of the latent image occurs with the advancing of the photoreceptor belt to a development station where toner is attracted to the exposed latent image on the photoreceptor belt. More than one development station may be used for the development of color images so that different color toner materials may be applied to the latent image. Once the latent image is developed, the belt rotates to a transfer station where the toner on the latent image contacts a sheet medium, such as a sheet of paper. Typically, a corona generating device generates a charge on the backside of the sheet medium so the toner particles are attracted to the sheet medium and migrate from the latent image to the sheet medium. A detack unit removes the sheet medium from the photoreceptor belt and the belt moves through a cleaning station to remove the residual toner particles so that portion of the belt may be used for development of another latent image. The sheet medium impregnated with toner particles moves to a fuser station where fuser and pressure rollers permanently fuse the toner particles to the sheet medium. The sheet medium is then directed to a catch tray for the accumulation of sheets bearing the images of the digital documents sent to the reproduction system.
To provide data for the control of this reproduction process, one or more densitometers or enhanced toner area coverage (ETAC) sensors may be provided after the development station(s) to measure the developed mass of toner applied to a unit area, sometimes called developed mass per unit area (DMA), on the photoreceptor belt or drum. The ETAC sensor includes one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) for emitting light at a particular wavelength, which is preferably in the infrared range. The LEDs of the ETAC sensor are oriented at a particular angle with respect to the photoreceptor belt so that the emitted light is reflected by the toner on the photoreceptor belt and one or more photodetectors are located at the reflection angle to receive the light reflected from the photoreceptor belt. Typically, the latent image includes a toner control patch so the emitted light impinges on an area having toner to produce the toner density measurements. The voltage signal generated by a photodetector may be used to determine the DMA for the application of toner to the photoreceptor belt or drum.
The photodetectors are located in the area of reflected light so that one or more of the photodetectors receive specular light reflected from the photoreceptor. Other photodetectors are located so that they receive diffuse light reflected from the applied toner. The photodetectors generate a voltage signal that corresponds to the amount of light received by the photodetector. Thus, the photodetectors provide a specular measurement and a diffuse measurement. The specular measurement refers to light reflected by bare photoreceptor within the toner patch that presents a mirror surface to the emitted light, while the diffuse measurement refers to light reflected by the toner patch that is uneven and diffuses the emitted light from the LEDs. Both signals are important for reproduction control because the specular measurement is self-calibrating with LED intensity variations but saturates at typical solid area masses while the diffuse measurement remains sensitive to toner mass as it increases but is altered by LED intensity variations. Consequently, the specular signal has good signal to noise ratio characteristics for low DMA levels, while the diffuse signal has good signal to noise ratio characteristics for high DMA levels.
A controller for a print engine in a digital reproduction system may use the specular and diffuse measurements received from the ETAC sensors to detect degradation in the quality of the images being reproduced by the system. One commonly encountered image defect is a class of defects known as banding defects. These defects produce lines, streaks, or bands extending across the image. These defects may occur in the direction of the image production process or perpendicular to the process direction. The effects of the defects may appear in images periodically or non-periodically. The banding defects are typically the result of worn or damaged parts, foreign matter, electrical malfunctions, vibrations, or component misalignment in the print engine and associated feed mechanisms and controls.
In published U.S. Patent Application 2003/0142985 entitled Automated Banding Defect Analysis And Repair For Document Processing Systems filed on Jan. 30, 2002, which is commonly owned by the assignee of this patent and the entire disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, a system for detecting banding errors and identifying a remedial service procedure is disclosed. That system uses a number of diagnostic techniques to detect banding errors and identify a cause for the banding error. Some of the remedial measures may be performed by the operator or other on-site personnel, while some remedial measures must be performed by service technicians. By identifying remedial measures that may be performed by an operator or other on-site personnel, downtime is reduced and unnecessary service calls are avoided.
One issue with the analysis and repair system is the cost of repair. That is, the remedial measures identified by the system typically require replacement of parts or adjustment of existing parts. These procedures require some human intervention and some downtime for the reproduction machine. The remedial measures, in some cases, are overkill because the cost of new part may not be warranted since the image defect may be tolerable. Consequently, the analysis and repair system may result in the removal and discarding of reproduction machine parts before they have lost their full operational effectiveness.

Method and system for automatically compensating for diagnosed banding defects prior to the performance of remedial service


A semiconductor memory device includes memory cells, a memory cell array, a first voltage generating circuit, a reference voltage generating circuit, and a first voltage control circuit. Each of the memory cells includes a first MOS transistor comprising a floating gate and a control gate formed on the floating gate. The memory cell array includes the memory cells arranged in a matrix. The first voltage generating circuit generates a first positive voltage. The reference voltage generating circuit generates a first reference voltage. The first voltage control circuit sets the first positive voltage at a voltage value based on the first reference voltage and outputs a resulting second positive voltage. An output impedance of the first voltage control circuit varies depending on the number of bits into which data is simultaneously written. The second positive voltage is used to write and erase data into and from the memory cells.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and a control method for the semiconductor memory device. More particularly, this invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including MOS transistors, each having a floating gate and a control gate.
2. Description of the Related Art
NOR and NAND flash memories have been widely used as nonvolatile semiconductor memories.
In recent years, a flash memory combining the features of both the NOR and the NAND flash memory has been proposed in, for example, Wei-Hua Liu, "A 2-Transistor Source-select (2TS) Flash EEPROM for 1.8-V-Only Application," Non-Volatile Semiconductor Memory Workshop 4.1, 1997. A flash memory of this type has memory cells, each including two MOS transistors (hereinafter, referred to as a 2Tr flash memory).
In the flash memory, to write or erase data, a voltage higher than one from an external power supply is applied to between a word line and a semiconductor substrate (or a drain of a memory cell). Once the data write or erase operation is completed, the potential of a control gate and the semiconductor substrate are reset to, for example, 0V (this is called a reset operation).
However, in the conventional flash memory, a parasitic capacitance is present between the control gate and the semiconductor substrate. Consequently, coupling caused by the parasitic capacitance disadvantageously makes it difficult to perform a quick reset operation.

Semiconductor memory device with MOS transistors each having floating gate and control gate and method of controlling the same


A thermal ink jet printhead is improved by providing a heater resistor which is mechanically isolated from overlying nitride and tantalum layers by growing a thin buffer oxide layer on the surface of the resistor heater layer. The introduction of the buffer oxide layer permits a thinner nitride layer which, in turn, reduces electrical resistance changes which would otherwise be introduced into the resistor arrays by mechanical stress after the nitride layer is deposited.

The invention relates generally to thermal ink jet printing and, more particularly, to printheads with polysilicon resistive heaters provided with improved resistance control.
Thermal ink jet printing is generally a drop-on-demand type of ink jet printing which uses thermal energy to produce a vapor bubble in an ink-filled channel that expels a droplet. A thermal energy generator or heating element, usually a resistor, is located in the channels near the nozzle a predetermined distance therefrom. An ink nucleation process is initiated by individually addressing resistors with short (2-6.mu. second) electrical pulses to momentarily vaporize the ink and form a bubble which expels an ink droplet. As the bubble grows, the ink bulges from the nozzle and is contained by the surface tension of the ink as a meniscus. As the bubble begins to collapse, the ink still in the channel between the nozzle and bubble starts to move towards the collapsing bubble, causing a volumetric contraction of the ink at the nozzle and resulting in the separating of the bulging ink as a droplet. The acceleration of the ink out of the nozzle while the bubble is growing provides the momentum and velocity of the droplet in a substantially straight line direction towards a recording medium, such as paper.
In a prior art printhead 8 of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,063, whose contents are hereby incorporated by reference, and shown in partial cross-section in FIG. 1, a silicon heater substrate 28 has formed on its surface a field oxide layer 39. Polysilicon heater elements 34 are formed followed by a reflowed PSG, thermal oxide composite layer 13, which serves to protect and insulate the heating elements. Layer 13 is masked and etched to produce vias for subsequent interconnection with addressing electrodes 33 and common return electrodes 35. In addition, layer 13 is concurrently removed from the central bubble generating region of the heater element 34. A pyrolytic silicon nitride layer 17 is deposited directly over the heater elements. Layer 17 has a thickness of between 500 .ANG. to 2500 .ANG. and, optimally, about 1500 .ANG.. A tantalum layer 12 of 0.1 to 1.0.mu. thickness is deposited on layer 17. Layer 12 protects the heater element 34 from the corrosive effects of the ink and layer 17 provides electrical isolation. For electrode passivation, a silicon dioxide and/or silicon nitride film 16 is deposited over the entire heater surface followed by a thick insulative polymer layer 18.
Ink in fill channels 20 flows into recess 26 overlying the passivated resistor elements. When the resistor element is pulsed, ink is heated and expelled through nozzle 27 in the printhead front face.
A problem with the prior art fabrication of the type of printhead shown in FIG. 1 is that the nitride layer 17 is typically deposited by a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) process, a process which produces a nitride layer with a high compressive stress of up to 6.times.108 dynes/cm.sup.2. This highly stressed layer applies a mechanical strain to the underlying polysilicon layer 34, resulting in changes in resistivity of the layer due to piezoresistive effects and to redistribution of dopants between the polysilicon grain boundaries and in the crystallite bulk. Since the amount of stress varies between fabrication runs as a function of the total amount of deposition which has been performed in the reactor and with the age and condition of the vacuum system, the increase in the polysilicon resistance also varies making it difficult to fabricate printheads with consistent resistor heater characteristics. The magnitude of this problem increases with increasing heater polysilicon resistance.
Other potential problems with the prior art process are experienced at the "step" areas when the nitride and tantalum layers conform to the slope of the glass oxide composite layer 13. As shown enlarged in FIG. 1, the deposited layers have higher stress at the step edges 40 sometimes causing cracking. The deposited layers also tend to thin out along area 42, which can further encourage cracking. A third potential problem is that the nitride layer 17 could be undercut at areas 44 during the etch process reducing the quality of the seal to layer 13. All three of these mechanisms offer potential leakage paths for the ink to infiltrate the seal over the heater, which results in ink electrochemically attacking the polysilicon resistor element itself and destroying the heater structure, or causing an electrical short circuit and destroying the driver or addressing circuitry.

Thermal inkjet printhead with increased resistance control and method for making the printhead


A memory addressing method by which it is possible to write into, or read out from, a memory a plurality of kinds of image data whose pixel data are transmitted in any of two or more different orders (sequences). In this method, a parameter can be preset in correspondence to the kind of the image data, an address value is calculated for every pixel datum on the basis of the set parameter, and each of the pixel data is written or read out by using the calculated address value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory addressing method in an image data processing apparatus such as a digital copying apparatus or the like and to an apparatus using such a method and, more particularly, to a memory accessing method for efficiently processing image data to be input and output in accordance with a plurality of kinds of arrangement orders in correspondence to each kind and to an apparatus using such a method.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, digital copying apparatuses using various kinds of printing and reading methods have been put into practical use. An image reading unit of the digital copying apparatus or the like outputs pixel data in accordance with the order corresponding to the reading method. Arranging methods of the pixel data which is output from the image reading unit are mainly classified into the following two kinds.
1 FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a serial scan when reading an original. Reference characters A.sub.1 to A.sub.4 denote area widths which are read by an image sensor 101 by a single scan. The image sensor 101 moves from the left side to the right side (H direction) in the diagram, so that a block of A.sub.1 can be read. Then, the image sensor or the original is moved in the direction of V by only a width (width of area which is read by the image sensor) of A.sub.1 and a block of A.sub.2 is read while again moving the image sensor from the left edge in the diagram in the H direction. By sequentially repeating the above operations, an image 301 of the original is read. In the case of reading the image 301 by using the image sensor 101, the whole image 301 is read by serially scanning the areas indicated by reference characters A.sub.1 to A.sub.k (k=4 in the diagram) in the direction indicated by an arrow H in accordance with the order. The pixel data is output in accordance with the reading order. The image data comprising the pixel data which is sent in accordance with such an order is hereinafter, referred to as a "shuttle scan data".
2 FIG. 3B is a diagram for explaining the reading operation of an image scanner 401 having a width B.sub.1. In the image reading apparatus, the image 301 is read by scanning the image scanner 401 once in the direction of an arrow V. Therefore, the image reading apparatus sequentially outputs the pixel data in accordance with the raster scanning order. The image data comprising the pixel data which is sent in accordance with such an order is hereinlater referred to as a "raster scan data".
On the other hand, the order has been also predetermined in accordance with the printing method with the pixel data to be input to a printer unit of a digital copying apparatus or the like. Raster scan data is generally input to the printer unit of, for example, the electrophotographic method. Shuttle scan data is generally input to the printer unit of the method such as a serial dot method, an ink jet method, or the like for executing the printing operation while moving a print head.
On the other hand, the image data from the image reading unit is stored into a memory in order to execute various image processes or to synchronize with the printing operation timing in the printer unit. There is a case where a memory capacity of such a memory is equal to or larger than the capacity of one page of the image data or where it is smaller than one page. In any of the above cases, the pixel data is written into the memory in accordance with the sending order, while the pixel data is output from the memory in accordance with the reading-out order.
Hitherto, an image data processing apparatus of the digital copying apparatus or the like is constructed so as to have only one kind of addressing method when the memory is accessed. That is, in the case where the sending order of the pixel data from the image reading unit is equal to the sending order of the pixel data to be output to the printer unit, the pixel data is written into the memory while sequentially incrementing the address values and is read out of the memory by substantially the same addressing method as that upon writing.
Therefore, even in the case where a printing apparatus of another printing method is connected to the conventional digital copying apparatus and an image which was read by the image reading unit is printed, if the order of the pixel data which is processed by the digital copying apparatus differs from the order of the pixel data to be input to the printing apparatus, such an operation cannot be executed. On the other hand, there is also a similar problem in the case where a reading apparatus of another reading method is connected to the conventional digital copying apparatus and is used.
In recent years, a system in which a computer is connected to a digital copying apparatus and image data which is output from the computer can be printed by the digital copying apparatus has been also put into practical use. However, if the image data which is processed by a digital copying apparatus is the shuttle scan data, since the image data which is output from a computer is ordinarily raster scan data, the computer cannot be connected to the digital copying apparatus. In addition, the digital copying apparatus which handles the shuttle scan data is not suitable for image processes by the CPU and causes a deterioration in processing efficiency.
Such a problem also similarly occurs in a printer, an image scanner, or an image data processing apparatus into/from which image data is input/output as well as the digital copying apparatus. In other words, those apparatuses lack generality because the orders of the pixel data to be input/output cannot be changed.

Image data processing apparatus for difference scanning methods


A heat frame (10) incorporates a mounting frame for mounting multiple circuit boards (38), a heat sink (24), a connector bracket (34), and hinge mounts (12) into one integral component. Heat removed by the heat sink (24) is transferred over the entire heat frame (10) with the aid of a heat pipe (44). Fins 17 dissipate heat through the housing of computer (50) under the display assembly (74). The integral nature of the heat frame (10) reduces assembly and testing costs, as well as providing superior heat transfer and EMI/RFI grounding.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to computers and, more particularly, to a heat frame for use in a portable computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
For many years, the popularity of portable computers has risen as the size and weight of the portable computer has been reduced. Early portable computers were known as "luggable" computers, since they could be transported, but were only slightly smaller and lighter than comparable desktop computers. "Laptop" computers were smaller and lighter, but generally had reduced features and flexibility because most of the circuitry needed to be designed into the laptop motherboard without the option of expansion boards.
"Notebook" computers are significantly smaller and lighter than laptop computers. These computers can be carried easily in a briefcase. Two of the most important considerations in the usability of a notebook are the weight and thickness of the computer. It is very desirable to have a light, thin notebook computer.
One problem in weight and thickness reduction is their effect on cooling the internal components, especially the microprocessor. This is especially problematic with the move to higher frequency microprocessors which generate additional heat. To remove heat from the microprocessor, many prior art designs mount a heat sink opposite the microprocessor on a circuit board. Thermal vias are formed in the circuit board below the microprocessor to draw heat from the microprocessor to the heat sink. The heat sink dissipates heat to the area surrounding the microprocessor, which often causes hot spots to occur in areas of the housing which contact the user. Further, with little air movement within the housing, the heat transfer can be ineffective for high speed microprocessors.
Another option to remove heat is to attach a fan to the microprocessor to draw cool air over the microprocessor. While this technique is used in desktop machines in conjunction with high speed microprocessors, it is generally undesirable in notebook designs because of the additional space required by the fan. Additionally, the fan generates noise and uses additional power, neither of which is desirable in a notebook computer.
Therefore, a need has arisen for a more efficient and cost effective heat transfer mechanism.


A system, article, and method of acoustic signal mixing comprises use of a total pair that is a count of the number of addition coefficients and subtraction coefficients in a mixture configuration and used with a function applied to a frame of acoustic samples to determine an outcome.

Many mobile devices, such as cellular phones or smartphones, have multiple microphones to receive sound waves from speech for example, and to generate audio. Multiple microphones may be used in order to provide spatial audio affects and/or for better quality noise blocking on mobile phones for example. Each microphone is considered its own channel forming its own signal which is combined with other signals to form a single mixed output signal to listen to the sounds on the same device or another audio device receiving the output signal. It is also possible to generate multiple mixed output signals as intermediate signals for purposes of speech or audio enhancement and processing. These systems may provide a number of available alternative output signal combinations to provide different effects or different levels of quality of the signal. The multichannel systems are often processed by using a switch matrix which have high computational costs, especially when performing multiplication. Conventional solutions use tree-based approaches to limit the multiplication operations, but the tree becomes more complex and computationally costly with each branch added. Thus, these tree-based systems are often limited to just a small subset of all possible signal combinations that could be available. Therefore, a signal mixing method and system that provides many different signal combinations with a low computational cost is desired.

Method and system of acoustic signal mixing


A combustor liner for a gas turbine engine, the combustor liner including a panel configured to at least partially define a combustion chamber. The combustor liner further includes a shell configured to mount to the panel and form a gap between the panel and the shell. The panel includes a stud and a plurality of a stand-off pins proximate to the stud defining a cavity therebetween. The shell includes a plurality of angled impingement holes located away from the cavity but extending through the shell at an orientation such that cooling air passing through the angled impingement holes is directed towards the cavity between adjacent stand-off pins and at an acute angle relative to the stud.

Gas turbine engines include compressor sections to compress an airflow, combustor sections that combine the airflow with fuel for combustion and generate exhaust, and turbine sections that convert the exhaust into torque to drive the compressor sections. The combustor sections may include a liner and shell assembly which may include an outer shell and an inner panel. One or more stand-off pin may create a gap between the shell and the panel, and a stud may be used to couple the shell to the panel. It may be desirable to cool the panel and other components of the liner and shell assembly, such as the stud.


A technique for obfuscating code. A list of one-byte instructions for a particular processor is created. Bytes in a function to be obfuscated are randomly selected, and these bytes are replaced with one-byte instructions from the list. A table that identifies the replaced bytes and their original values is inserted into the executable that contains the function. When the function is called, the function is deobfuscated by consulting the table to restore the replaced bytes to their original values.

In some cases, it is desirable to hide the workings of a computer program. Many programs that are designed to perform legitimate functions could easily be modified to serve a malevolent purpose if a hacker could analyze the program and understand its workings. For example, if a program is designed to protect encrypted copyright material by decrypting the material only under conditions permitted by the copyright owner, a hacker could analyze this program and modify it to decrypt the material without restriction. One technique to protect software from this type of attack is to obscure or hide the operation of the software in order to complicate a hacker's attempt to analyze it; this technique is generically referred to as "code obfuscation."
Since machine code completely and deterministically defines what a computer will do, a person with sufficient time and motivation can disassemble the code and discover what the code does and how it works. Code obfuscation is based on the premise that, by making the code more convoluted, less straightforward, or less readable, the time and energy to analyze the code will be increased, thereby frustrating a hacker. There are a number of ways to accomplish this goal. For example, a simple algorithm may be buried within thousands of lines of "diversionary" code—i.e., code that hides the "real" algorithm by performing many computations that ultimately perform no useful result. As another example, code may be scrambled or encrypted, and then triggers may be inserted into the code that cause the code to be unscrambled or decrypted just before it is executed. Various other obfuscation techniques are known.
Existing obfuscation techniques, however, contain various drawbacks. Some obfuscation techniques—most notably, encryption or scrambling of code—telegraph to a potential hacker that the code has been obfuscated: since a disassembler would completely fail to recognize encrypted or scrambled code, the hacker would quickly be able to recognize that the code had been encrypted or scrambled, and could thus focus his attention on looking for the decryption or descrambling trigger. In many cases, it is best to hide the code "in plain sight" by making it look like "real" code. However, existing tools that employ this "plain sight" technique often rely on platform-specific code markers, and thus may be difficult to port from one processor to another.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an obfuscation technique that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.

System and method for obfuscating code using instruction replacement scheme


A heat exchanger comprised of individual plates has flow channels operating in parallel flow or counterflow. The flow channels for a first medium are defined between individual plates forming a pair and for the second medium are defined between the pairs that are arranged to form the heat exchanger stack. In order to distribute the inflowing medium within a short axial inflow area over the entire channel width, the individual plates are provided with guiding projections extending at least from one side of the plate into the respective flow channel. In order to improve the heat exchange efficiency, the individual plates have a profiling in the form of a plurality of individual protrusions arranged over the entire channel width and channel length for creating a flow turbulence in the flow channels.

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger comprised of individual plates with flow channels that can be used in counterflow and parallel flow operation. The flow channels are formed between two plates combined to form a pair and between adjacent ones of the pairs stacked atop one another to form the heat exchanger. The individual plates and the pairs formed from two plates are connected to one another at longitudinal rim portions extending parallel to the main flow direction. The inlets and the outlets of each flow channel are diagonally arranged in the main flow direction. The inlets and outlets of flow channels for one medium are arranged directly atop one another, while the inlets and outlets of the flow channels for the first medium are staggered relative to the inlets and outlets of the flow channels for the second medium by half the height of the pairs.
Heat exchangers of the aforementioned kind comprised of individual plates and having flow channels to be operated in counterflow are known from German patent 41 00 940. They are of an extremely compact construction, provide a high heat exchange efficiency, and can be produced inexpensively even for aggressive media.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the efficiency of the known heat exchangers, while simultaneously reducing their dimensions.

Heat exchanger comprised of individual plates


An antireflective coating composition including a polyester and/or a polyurethane; and a crosslinker selected from the group consisting of tetraamidomethyl ethers.

As deep ultraviolet lithography becomes widely practiced for producing smaller and smaller microcircuits, e.g. 0.20 μm and smaller, anti-reflective coatings have become essential for improved process designs. These materials provide improved resolution and better critical dimension control by minimizing standing waves and reflective interferences from the substrate.
Antireflective coatings applied at the substrate-resist interface are called bottom antireflective coatings. The ones applied at the resist-air interface are called top antireflective coatings.
Organic antireflective coatings typically work by matching refractive index of the film with that of the photoresist. If there is no change in the refractive index at the antireflective coating and resist interface, there will be no reflection. The organic layers may also be designed to absorb light, so that light that penetrates the antireflective coating is absorbed before it reaches the next interface.
Currently, semiconductor manufacturers use both organic and inorganic antireflective coatings. While either of these classes offers some distinct property advantages, the organic materials offer advantageous spin coating characteristics. Since photo resists and low k dielectrics are applied by spin coating, the antireflective coatings are preferably applied by the same methods. The present inventive materials can be applied by the spin coating techniques.


A system and method of wirelessly communicating a camera synchronization from a camera body to a remote device with a wireless camera flash synchronizer that prior to detecting a synchronization signal loads transmit frequency information to a transceiver and automatically switches from a wireless receive mode to a wireless transmit mode after detecting a first signal from a camera that is generated after the activation of a camera trigger.

Synchronization of a camera flash to the acquisition of an image can be done wirelessly between a camera and a remote flash device or other device requiring synchronization. Typically, prior synchronizers require a user to manually switch the device from a receive mode to a transmit mode utilizing a physical switch on the device. The speed demands imposed by cameras require near instantaneous transmission of a synchronization command to the remote device in order for the remote device to synchronize properly with the camera. Thus, synchronizers are typically manually set in the transmit mode to save the time of switching the synchronizer from a receive mode to a transmit mode upon a need to transmit. This type of setting requires a manual input to the synchronizer. One prior synchronizer, the FlashWizard II manufactured by LPA Design of South Burlington, Vt., includes separate radio circuits for transmitting and receiving (e.g., two separate oscillator elements, one for receive and one for transmit, that are both active at the same time). Having separate radio circuits can add to the cost of the synchronizer and increase power consumption.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Wireless camera flash synchronizer system and method


Diorama balls contain a liquid and fine particles not individually visible to the unaided eye. The fine particles exert a “fog-like” effect particularly suitable for marine and aero dioramas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a diorama ball with a fog effect.
2. Background Art
Diorama balls as used herein are hollow glass containers, generally spherical, with a diorama inside, and filled with a liquid. Diorama balls with a snow effect are common at holiday times, and may contain, for example, a snowman, Santa Claus, a Currier and Ives-type scene, etc. The balls also contain water, and white flakes. When the ball is turned upside down or shaken, the white flakes distribute throughout the liquid and fall, resembling snow.


The invention relates to a method for the simultaneous integration of two or more copies of a polynucleotide of interest into the chromosome of a fungal host cell comprising at least two pairs of recognition sequences of a site-specific recombinase, each pair flanking a resident negative selection marker; transformation of the cell with a construct carrying a gene of interest also flanked by the recognition sequences to ensure double-crossover events after transient expression of the recombinase, followed by selection for excision of all negative selection markers from the cell.

A large number of naturally-occurring organisms have been found to produce useful polypeptide products, e.g., enzymes, the large scale production of which is desirable for research and commercial purposes. Once such a polypeptide product has been identified, efforts are often made to develop manufacturing methods having an improved productivity. One widely used method, which is based on recombinant DNA techniques, is to clone a gene encoding the product and insert the gene into a suitable expression system in order to express the product in a suitable host cell, either integrated in the chromosome or as an extrachromosomal entity, under conditions conducive for the expression of the product.
Irrespective of which production method is used, it is normally desirable to increase the production level of a given polypeptide or protein. Thus, efforts are being made to increase the production, e.g. by inserting the gene encoding the product under the control of a strong expression signal, increasing the stability of the transcribed mRNA or by increasing the number of copies of the gene in the production organism in question. This latter approach may be accomplished by inserting the gene into a multicopy plasmid which generally, however, tends to be unstable in the host cell in question, or by integrating multiple copies of the gene into the chromosome of the production organism, an approach which generally is considered more attractive because the stability of the construct tends to be higher.
Construction of host cells has been described, wherein a highly expressed chromosomal gene is replaced with a recognition sequence of a site-specific recombinase to allow subsequent insertion of a single product-encoding polynucleotide into that site by the use of a recombinase recognizing said sequence (EP 1 405 908 A1; ProBioGen AG).
It has been disclosed to insert DNA at a known location in the genome (O'Gorman et al., 1991 Science, 251:1351-55; Baubonis and Sauer, 1993 Nucl. Acids Res., 21:2025-29; Albert et al., 1995 Plant J., 7:649-59). These methods make use of site-specific recombination systems that are freely reversible. These reversible systems include the following: the Cre-lox system from bacteriophage P1 (Baubonis and Sauer, 1993, supra; Albert et al., 1995 Plant J., 7549-59), the FLP-FRT system of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (O'Gorrnan et al., 1991, supra), the R-RS system of Zygosaccharonzyces rouxii (Onouchi et al., 1995 Mol. Gen. Genet. 247: 653-660), a modified Gin-gix system from bacteriophage Mu (Maeser and Kahmann, 1991 Mol. Gen. Genet., 230: 170-76), the beta-recombinase-six system from a Bacillus subtilis plasmid (Diaz et al., 1999 J. Biol. Chem. 274: 6634-6640), and the delta-gamma-res system from the bacterial transposon Tn1000 (Schwikardi and Dorge, 2000 E B S let. 471: 147-150). Cre, FLP, R, Gin, beta-recombinase and gamma-delta are the recombinases, and lox, FRT, RS, gix, six and res the respective recombination sites (reviewed by Sadowslu, 1993 FASEB J., 7:750-67; Ow and Medberry, 1995 Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 14: 239-261). Multiplex Cre/lox recombination permits selective site-specific DNA targeting to both a natural and an engineered site in the yeast genome (Sauer, B. Nucleic Acids Research. 1996, Vol. 24(23): 4608-4613). It has been shown that infection of host cells having a natural attachment site, attB as well as an ectopically introduced attB site, with a derivative of the Streptomyces phage 0031, resulted in the integration of the phage into both attB sites (Smith et al. 2004. Switching the polarity of a bacteriophage integration system. Mol Microbiol 51(6):1719-1728). Multiple copies of a gene can be introduced into a cell comprising multiple attachment sites recognized by the Mx9 integrase using the Mx9 phage transformation system, (WO 2004/018635 A2). The temperal Lactococcal bacteriophage TP901-1 integrase and recognition sequences are well-characterized (Breüner et al. (1990) Novel Organization of Genes Involved in Prophage Excision Identified in the Temperate Lactococcal Bacteriophage TP901-1. J Bacteriol 181(23): 7291-7297; Breüner et al. 2001. Resolvase-like recombination performed by the TP901-1 integrase. Microbiology 147: 2051-2063).
The site-specific recombination systems above have in common the property that a single polypeptide recombinase catalyzes the recombination between two sites of identical or nearly identical sequences. Each recombination site consists of a short asymmetric spacer sequence where strand exchange tales place, flanked by an inverted repeat where recombinases bind. The asymmetry of the spacer sequence gives an orientation to the recombination site, and dictates the outcome of a recombination reaction. Recombination between directly or indirectly oriented sites in cis excises or inverts the intervening DNA, respectively. Recombination between sites in trans causes a reciprocal translocation of two linear DNA molecules, or co-integration if at least one of the two molecules is circular. Since the product-sites generated by recombination are themselves substrates for subsequent recombination, the reaction is freely reversible. In practice, however, excision is essentially irreversible because the probability of an intramolecular interaction, where the two recombination-sites are closely linked, is much higher than an intermolecular interaction between unlinked sites. The corollary is that the DNA molecule inserted into a genomic recombination site will readily excise out.
Methods for the replacement, translocation and stacking of DNA in eukaryotic genomes have been disclosed, where multiple genes may be integrated stepwise (WO 02/08409). The simultaneous genomic integration of multiple copies of a promoterless open reading frame or operon by a site-specific and transiently expressed integrase in a microorganism host cell has previously been shown in a Bacillus host (WO 2006/042548).

Simultaneous site-specific integrations of multiple gene-copies in filamentous fungi


A charger for an item to be charged is described which comprises a base fitting into an automobile beverage holder; a means for securing the base of the beverage holder, a first electrical contact on the base to supply power to the charger; a second electrical contact on the base to supply power to the item to be charged, and a receptacle in the base for holding the item to be charged. In one embodiment of the invention, the top portion of the charger has the receptacle and the first and second electrical contacts, and may be detached from the base for use as a desk charger.

Battery chargers are used in portable electronic systems to charge and sometimes condition secondary batteries. Recently, emphasis on design for chargers of such systems has been on reducing their size and cost and increasing their portability. Consumer cellular telephones, notably those manufactured by Motorola, Inc., have undergone a quantum leap in recent years in their reduction in size and weight. Consumers now expect a commensurate increase in the portability of their associated charging systems. Unfortunately, no charging system for use in an automobile has proven completely satisfactory in terms of portability and convenience to the user. Therefore, there exists a need for an improved battery charger for use in an automobile.


A fluid delivery system having a two fluid reservoirs interconnected by a valved conduit to deliver an amount of fluid from each of a first fluid reservoir and a second reservoir to a user.

A fluid delivery system having two fluid reservoirs interconnected by a valved conduit to selectably deliver an amount of fluid from a first fluid reservoir or a second fluid reservoir to the mouth of a user.
Conventional fluid delivery systems provide a single reservoir to which a mouth piece is fluidicly coupled by a length of flexible tube. Fluid can be drawn from the fluid reservoir through the mouthpiece into the user's mouth.
A substantial problem with conventional fluid delivery systems may be that a single reservoir cannot concurrently contain a first amount of fluid in isolation from a second amount fluid. A single reservoir necessitates either containing only a first amount of fluid or mixing a first liquid and a second liquid in the same reservoir. Alternately, two entire conventional fluid delivery systems can be utilized, or the user can carry both the conventional fluid delivery system and discrete containers containing other fluids.
As an example, a user will carry water in the reservoir of a conventional fluid delivery system. Additionally, the user may want to periodically supplement the water with another beverage such as a sports drink which may assist in hydration and electrolyte replacement. Conventional technology necessitates that the additional beverage be carried by the user in separate containers. This approach comes with a several disadvantages in that the additional containers may add additional weight or volume to be carried by the user, or the user must take time to separately locate and handle the additional containers. Also, once the additional container is opened, typically, the amount of drink must be consumed in the entirety or thrown out. The empty containers must be stowed and carried.
There would be a substantial advantage in resolving the long felt need for a fluid delivery system which allows transport of a first fluid in isolation to a second fluid and by user selection the first fluid or the second fluid can be delivered to the mouth of a user by operation of the fluid delivery system.


A fall arrest safety apparatus with blocking on a rope, comprising:                a rigid body provided with a trunking for housing the rope,        a securing system designed to swivel between a closed position to collaborate with the rope by blocking the latter at the bottom of the trunking in case of a fall, and an open position releasing access to the trunking for fitting or removal of the rope,        and a control device to move said securing system from the closed position to the open position, and vice-versa, wherein the control device comprises a pair of gripping cleats able to be actuated simultaneously to stabilize and lock the securing system in the open position, the two gripping cleats being arranged side by side on a transverse pivot-pin integral to the pivoting securing system.

The invention relates to a fall arrest safety apparatus with blocking on a rope, comprising:                a rigid body provided with a trunking for housing the rope,        a securing system designed to swivel between a closed position to collaborate with the rope by blocking the latter at the bottom of the trunking in case of a fall, and an open position releasing access to the trunking for fitting or removal of the rope,        and a control device to move said securing system from the closed position to the open position, and vice-versa.

Fall arrest safety apparatus with blocking on a rope


Techniques and devices that use polarization rotation and optical interferometry to provide optical spectrum analysis of an optical signal.

This application relates to techniques and optical devices for optical spectrum analysis.
Optical spectrum analysis uses an optical device to process an optical signal and to extract spectral information from the optical signal. For example, such analysis can identify the frequencies or wavelengths of spectral components in the optical signal and signal levels of the spectral components. The result of such analysis is often represented in form of an optical power spectrum of the optical signal which is a measurement of optical power as a function of optical wavelength or frequency for the spectral components in the optical signal within the operating spectral range of the optical device used to process the optical signal.
Apparatus for performing optical spectrum analysis can be in various configurations and is sometime referred to as optical spectrum analyzers or optical spectrometers. Optical diffraction gratings, optical prisms, optical bandpass filters such as tunable Fabry-Perot filters, and optical interferometers such as Michelson interferometers are examples of optical devices that can be used to perform the optical processing of the optical signal in optical spectrum analysis.

Optical spectrum analysis using optical interferometry


A valve apparatus comprises two housings which can be alternatively connected to one another and separated from one another and possesses an orifice. Each housing holds a flap which is pivotable about an axis of rotation and has a disc and a pivot. The flap can be swivelled into a closed position in which it closes the orifice of the relevant housing at the flat mouth surface of the orifice. Each axis of rotation passes through the mouth area of the relevant housing at an acute angle. Each pivot is pivotably mounted in a hole of the relevant housing, which hole completely surrounds said pivot in cross-section, and is sealed from the housing. This gives a stable support and good sealing of the pivots and, in combination with the discs adjacent to one another when the housings are connected together, makes it possible to avoid contamination of the environment by the transferred material and contamination of the latter by materials present in the vicinity of the housing.

1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to apparatus for transferring a flowable, in particular a particulate or possibly liquid or pasty material. This may contain, for example, at least one active ingredient and/or excipient for the formation of a drug.
In the preparation and/or further processing and/or transport of a flowable material, for example consisting of more or less solid particles, it is often necessary to connect a material-delivering apparatus containing the material temporarily to a material-accepting apparatus, i.e. to dock the two apparatuses with one another, to transfer the material from the material-delivering apparatus to the material-accepting apparatus and then to separate the two apparatuses again. For example, a material can be transported by means of a transportable container forming part of a material-delivering apparatus to a material-accepting apparatus which is intended, for example, for processing the material and, for example, is stationary, and can be filled into said material-accepting apparatus, and/or a material prepared and/or processed in a material-delivering apparatus can be transferred to a transportable container serving as a material-accepting apparatus, or a material can be transferred by means of a transportable container into another container. One and the same transportable container may serve as part of a material-accepting apparatus in a first material transfer and subsequently as part of a material-delivering apparatus in a second material transfer. Furthermore, the material-delivering and the material-accepting apparatuses may be formed by two essentially stationary apparatuses, one of which is provided with a movable or adjustable material line which is temporarily connected to the other apparatus for material transfer.
2. Description of the prior art
Known means for such material transfer have, for example, a transportable container which serves for delivery of the material and has a material outlet arranged at its lower end and a container which serves for accepting the material and has a material inlet at its upper end. The material outlet and the material inlet each have a housing whose wall has a vertical pipe connection with a cylindrical inner surface and, at the lower and upper end, respectively, an orifice having a horizontal orifice edge. Starting from disconnected positions in which they are separated from one another, the two containers and the housing can be brought into a connected position in which the two housings abut in abutting regions enclosing the orifices. Each of the two housings holds a closure flap which can be swivelled about a horizontal axis of rotation and has circular disc which can be swivelled alternatively into a closed position or open position for, respectively, closing and opening the passage bounded by the relevant housing. When such a means is used, the flaps in housings present in disconnected positions usually remain in the closed position and are temporarily swivelled into the open position only after connection of the two housings, in order to transfer material contained in one container to the other container.
In many known arrangements of this type, the flaps are arranged in the housings in such a way that the axes of rotation are a distance away from the horizontal orifice of the relevant housing. If the flaps of such means are swivelled back into the closed position after transfer of the material and the two housings are separated from one another, material which adheres to those sections of the inner surfaces of the housing which are located between the orifices and the flaps and to those end surfaces of the flaps which face the orifices can enter the environment. Such contamination of the environment of the means may have serious consequences in the case of materials containing pharmaceutically active and/or toxic substances. Conversely, when the housings are separated from one another, humid air, dust and other contaminating materials from the environment may enter the housing through the orifices in the housing as far as the flaps and may enter the transferred material during a subsequent transfer process and contaminate this material or otherwise damage it.
A coupling and closure means disclosed in German Patent 43 42 962 and intended for transferring a material has two housings with pipe connections and two flaps which have a disc and pivots, projecting away from this and semicircular in cross-section, and which can be swivelled about axes of rotation which lie in the horizontal planes which are defined by the end surfaces of the pipe connections and are at right angles to the axes of the pipe connections. If the two housings with their end surfaces abut one another, the discs of the two flaps are adjacent to one another, the axes of rotation of the two flaps coinciding. The flat end surfaces of the pipe connections are provided with recesses in which are arranged bearing shells which have a semicircular cross-section and into which the pivots of the flaps fit in the closed position.
If the flaps were mounted exclusively in the semicircular bearing shells, the flaps could fall out of the bearing shells when the housings were separated from one another. Additional bearing means not disclosed in German Patent 43 42 962 must therefore be present.
The means disclosed in said German patent also has various disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is that the semicircular recesses and grooves of the two pipe connections, the bearing shells and the flaps must be produced very exactly and in particular must be very exactly aligned during connection of the two pipe connections, to enable the flaps to be swivelled when the housings are connected to one another. This increases the costs for the production of the means and the time required for connecting or coupling the housings. A further disadvantage is that it is difficult and expensive to seal the cavities of the two pipe connections tightly from the environment because of the semicircular recesses and pivots. The seals which are fastened to the pipe connections, seal the flaps in the closed position and prevent swivelling at least when the pipe connections are separated from one another are subjected to severe wear during swivelling of the flaps. In addition, in the case of a means which can be used in practice and possibly sealed at the recesses and pivots by sealing means present in addition to the stated seals, it is probably difficult and time-consuming to separate the flaps from the pipe connections for thorough cleaning of the flaps, of the pipe connections and of the containers connected to these, and thereafter to connect them to said pipe connections again. According to said patent, two pneumatic apparatuses are also present, by means of which the upper pipe connection and parts connected thereto can be lowered and raised during coupling and separation of the two pipe connections. These pneumatic apparatuses increase the production costs and the space required by the means and in addition consume compressed air and hence energy.

Means for transferring a flowable material


A spread spectrum communications system includes: a transmitter having an input information a modulator for generating a spread spectrum signal in accordance with an input information signal together with a pseudonoise clock signal used to generate a first pseudonoise signal formed of a plurality of chips, a switch for switching on and off a locally generated carrier signal of said input information signal in accordance with the spread spectrum signal, a first means for inverting a phase of the spread spectrum signal when the value of the pseudonoise signal is equal to one, a second means for multiplying the inverted-phase spread spectrum signal by the carrier signal so as to produce a transmit signal at an output of the second means, and an output means for outputting the transmit signal from the second means so that the transmit signal is transmitted from the transmitter; and a receiver which receives the transmit signal from the transmitter, the receiver having a detector for obtaining a baseband signal from the transmit signal received at the detector, and a demodulation part for demodulating the baseband signal with a second pseudonoise signal which is generated synchronously with the transmit signal, so as to reproduce the input information signal.

The present invention generally relates to spread spectrum communications, and more particularly to a spread spectrum communications system which uses a spread spectrum signal multiplied with a pseudo noise code sequence for transmitting and receiving a message. This system is applicable to wireless communications such as radio transmission systems, and enables multiple access, increased immunity to noise, and increased resistance to interference.
Generally, a spread spectrum communications system makes use of a sequential noise-like signal structure, for example, pseudo noise codes (hereinafter called pn codes), to spread a normally narrowband information signal over a relatively wide band of frequencies. At the transmitter of the spread spectrum communications system, a spread spectrum (ss) signal in which a carrier multiplied with a pn sequence is modulated in accordance with the information signal is transmitted. The receiver of the system correlates the signals to retrieve the original information. The basic signal characteristics of the spread spectrum communications system include: the carrier of the ss signal is an unpredictable, wideband signal multiplied with a pn code sequence, the bandwidth of the carrier is much wider than the bandwidth of the data modulation; and demodulation is accomplished by correlation of the received wideband signal with a synchronously generated replica of the wideband signal The advantages of the ss communications system include the unpredictability of the wideband signal, the security of the transmitted data signal, and the multiple access capability.
In the prior art, there is a spread spectrum method for data transmission which uses optical transmission for spread spectrum communications. This method is disclosed in "A Study of Optical Transmission in Space Using Spread Spectrum Method" by M. Nakazono et al., a transaction of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) of Japan, pp.39-43, SSTA89-17, August, 1989. In the above mentioned spread spectrum communications method, a spread spectrum (ss) signal in which information is multiplied with pn codes is produced and the ss signal is transmitted by using light as the carrier. If this optical method is applied to a spread spectrum communications system using a radio wave as the carrier, the spread of frequencies of the ss signal is not enough to secure the information, and the spectrum of the ss signal contains the carrier frequency as a very large component of the spectrum.
There is another spread spectrum communications method in the prior art. This method is disclosed in "A Method of Fast Data Transmission For A Spread Spectrum Modem Using a SAW Convolver" by Y. Uchida et al., a transaction of the IEICE of Japan pp.105-111, SSTA90-32, June, 1990. In this spread spectrum communications method, a spread spectrum (ss) signal in which a carrier is switched on and off in accordance with a pn code sequence is modulated in accordance with an information signal, and the thus generated ss signal is transmitted. However, when the ss signal is received at any external receiver of a third party, the received ss signal can easily be demodulated to reproduce the original information with no need of using the pn code sequence because the spectrum thereof contains a very large carrier component. Thus, the security of the information is not available with the above conventional system.


A method and system are presented for producing an output coherent anti-stokes Raman scattering (CARS) signal of a medium. The method comprises generation of a unitary optical excitation pulse that carries a pump photon, a Stokes photon and a probe photon; and inducing a CARS process in the medium by exciting the medium by the at least one such unitary optical excitation pulse.

In coherent nonlinear spectroscopy, the sample is probed by measuring processes of energy exchange between photons interacting with the sample. One of the most common nonlinear spectroscopy methods is coherent anti-stokes Raman scattering (CARS), a coherent four-wave mixing process involving the generation of a coherent vibration in the probed medium. In CARS, three laser photons, a pump photon (ωp) a probe photon (ωpr) and the Stokes photon (ωs), overlap in the medium under investigation. By nonlinear interaction with the molecules a fourth coherent photon (ωAS) with the anti-Stokes frequency ωAS=ωp−ωs+ωpr is generated.
The CARS process can be visualized in a molecular energy level diagram as depicted in FIG. 1, where |i and |β are molecular rovibrational states, and |α and |β are virtual levels. Resonant enhancement of the CARS process occurs when the frequency difference ΩR=ωp−ωs coincides with a vibrational level of the medium.
The CARS process, as a coherent scattering process, has to fulfill a phase matching condition, which is equivalent to momentum conservation of the photons involved. With the wave vectors of the pump photon (kP), the probe photon (kpr) and the Stokes photon (kS), the wave vector of the Raman signal can be obtained bykAS=kpr+(kP−kS) or kP+kpr=kAS+kS.
In general, there are two conventional different techniques utilizing a multi-beam excitation scheme for measuring a CARS spectrum, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,077,719; 4,084,100; 4,405,237; and 4,512,660; and in WO 02/48660.
According to the first technique, the so-called scanning CARS, two narrow bandwidth lasers at ωp and at ωs (having spectral width of the order of the typical linewidth of Raman levels, i.e., 1 cm−1) are tuned over the Raman resonances of the probed species to generate a signal at 2ωp−ωs (in this case ωpr=ωs). The spectral resolution of this technique is mainly determined by the bandwidth of the applied laser sources.
According to the second technique, broadband or multiplex CARS, a broadband Stokes beam (spectral width typical 100-1000 cm−1) can be used to excite several Raman transitions under investigations simultaneously. The use of a narrow band probe and a broadband Stokes beam enables simultaneous measurement of the entire band of the Raman spectrum (see, for example, "Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy," edited by B. Schrader, VCH, Weinheim, 1995). The spectral resolution of this technique is usually achieved by using a monochromator and a multichannel detection system. Thus, one laser shot is utilized to measure the entire CARS spectrum.
Another possibility to obtain multiplex CARS spectra is to use a time-resolved CARS scheme. In this technique, two relatively broadband exciting pulses are used for simultaneously populating several Raman levels. The spectral data is obtained by measuring the interference pattern of the CARS signal from a third, delayed broadband probe pulse (see, for example, an article of Leonhardt et al., published in Chem. Phys. Lett., 1987, V. 133, P. 373).
Coherent Raman processes have become a valuable tool in the past few decades in femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy, as well as in combustion studies and condensed-state spectroscopy. For example, Leonhardt et aL describes in Chem. Phys. Lett. 1987, V. 133, P. 373 the measurements of the energy difference and the lifetimes of two (or more) Raman levels by Fourier-decomposing the quantum beats of the CARS signal using femtosecond pulses. This scheme has been recently used to analyze the energy-level diagram of complex molecules.
CARS has recently become a favorable technique for nonlinear depth-resolved microscopy (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,081; WO 02/06778; and scientific articles Zumbusch et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 1999, V. 82, P. 4142; Hashimoto et al., Opt. Lett., 2000, V. 25, P. 1768; and Volkmer at al., Applied Phys. Lett., 2002, V. 80, P. 1505). CARS microscopy has the potential, for example, for studying live biological specimens while gathering three-dimensional information on their molecular constitution. However, the these CARS microscopes also require two or three narrow-band sources that must be all tightly synchronized and also tunable within the Raman energy range.
It should be appreciated that the signal of CARS (being a result of a nonlinear process) is stronger with short intense pulses. However, the femtosecond CARS techniques suffer from two major difficulties. First, there is an increased strong background signal typically due to the electronic contributions to the third-order susceptibility, both from the sample and from the surrounding medium (i.e., solvent). The second difficulty is associated with a lack of selectivity between neighboring energy levels, due to the large bandwidth of the pulses.
These problems can be solved by coherent quantum control methods. The concept of coherent quantum control of a quantum system is based on the achievement of constructive interference between different quantum paths leading to a desirable outcome, while interfering destructively with paths leading to other outcomes. While schemes of coherent control may involve excitations by continuous waves, most available techniques are also known which involve ultrashort optical pulses. With the recent progress in ultrafast optics, it is now possible to shape ultrashort signals with desired spectral shapes (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,068 assigned to the assignee of the present application).
The inventors of the present invention have recently shown how coherent control techniques can be exploited to improve the CARS spectroscopy employing three femtosecond pulses related to the pump, Stokes and probe beams, respectively. Two approaches have been described for controlling the CARS process. According to the first approach ("Quantum Control of Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Processes" by Oron et al., published in Phys. Rev. A, 2002, V 65, P. 43408), a periodic phase modulation is used to control the population induced by broadband pulses. By shaping both the pump and the Stokes pulses with an appropriate spectral phase function, the nonresonant CARS background has been greatly reduced. This technique also allows for exciting just one out of many vibrational levels, even when all of them are within the spectral bandwidth of the excitation pulses. According to the second approach ("Narrow-Band Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Signals from Broad-Band Pulses" by Oron et al., published in Phys. Rev. Lett., 2002, V. 88, P. 63004), only the probe pulse is shaped, thereby enabling enhancement of the resolution of the measured CARS spectrum. The achieved spectral resolution becomes significantly better than the bandwidth of the readout pulse. In particular, by tailoring the phase of a 100 femtosecond probe pulse, a narrow-band CARS spectroscopy resonant signal has been obtained with a width of less than 15 cm−1, which is an order of magnitude narrower than the CARS signal from an unshaped, transform limited pulse (all frequency components having the same phase).

Coherently controlled nonlinear Raman spectroscopy and microscopy

Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd.


In one aspect of the invention, a rotary impact mill has a milling chamber defined by housing with an inlet, an outlet, and at least one wall. A plurality of impact hammers located within the milling chamber are fastened to and longitudinally disposed along a rotor assembly connected a rotary driving mechanism. At least one of the impact hammers has a body with a first hardness. The impact hammer also has a wear resistant insert bonded to the body, wherein the wear resistant insert comprises a hard surface with a second hardness greater than the first hardness.

Hammermills are often used to reduce the size of solid material. Materials often used in mills include coal, asphalt, cement, limestone, chemical fertilizer, barks, rocks, mineral, and food products. The materials are often feed into an inlet where the material falls into a milling chamber. The milling chamber typically comprises a plurality of impact hammers and may comprise a screen. The impact hammers are typically fastened at a proximal end to a rotary assembly; they are either rigidly fixed to the rotor assembly or the impact hammers may be free-swinging. As the material is feed into the chamber, the rotary assembly rotates bringing the impact hammers into contact with the material. The size reduction on each impact depends on the differential speed between the hammers and material, size of the material, and hardness of the material. If a screen is present, the screen may allow only the desired material particle size to pass to the outside of the chamber to an outlet where the particles can be collected or funneled to another machine where the material may be further processed.
Due to the impact and/or abrasive nature of the material, the impact hammers may wear requiring continual maintenance and down time of the hammermill.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,405,950; 5,938,131; 4,638,747; and U.S. Patent Publication 2004/0129808, all of which are herein incorporated by reference for all that they contain, disclose hammermills which may be compatible with the present invention.


A program rewrite method executed by a computer, the method includes rewriting a program to output a first output group by performing operations for a first variable among a plurality of variables with a plurality of data types; rewriting the program to output a second output group by performing operations for a second variable among the plurality of variables with a plurality of data types; identifying, from the first output group and the second output group, a third output group that satisfied a predetermined criterion as a result of executing the rewritten programs; determining a data type that corresponds to the third output group as a use data type; and outputting a program in which the use data type is set for each of the plurality of variables.

In recent years, approximate computing technology for the purpose of speeding up program execution and reducing power consumption by changing strictness of the precision of program execution results within a range allowed by a user has been proposed. Adjustment of the precision of the approximate computing by reducing the number of bits of a data type used in the operation is one of methods of the AC technology.
In adjusting the precision of the approximate computing, appropriate selection of how much precision is applied to each data (variable) in the program is needed. For example, it is conceivable to try all combinations of the precision for all the data (variables) in the program. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2-165225 and the like are disclosed as related art.

Program rewrite device, storage medium, and program rewrite method


In one embodiment, a method includes identifying when a call to a callee has been initiated by a system. Once the call is identified as being initiated, status information associated with the callee is obtained. The status information is then displayed on the system.

The disclosure relates generally network communications, and more particularly to enhancements for telephonic communications
Phone calls are often placed to parties who are unable to answer the phone calls. For example, a person who is at a theater attending a performance is unlikely to answer a phone call. Unless a caller who wishes to contact the person is aware that the person is unlikely to answer a phone call, the caller is very likely to initiate a phone call to the person. However, if the caller is aware that the person is at a theater, he or she may decide not to initiate a phone call.
A caller who wishes to contact a person using a phone may consult any number of sources of information in an effort to determine whether the person is likely to answer a call, or why the person did not answer a call. As many people maintain status information on social network websites, a caller may wish to check the status of the person on social network websites. By way of example, if a caller sees that the status of a person is listed as "Mary Ellen is going to the theater tonight" on a social network website, the caller may decide not to place a call to the person because he or she is aware that someone at a theater is unlikely to answer a call.

Method and apparatus for displaying a social networking status message on a dialing phone


An accommodating intraocular lens, for use in an eye, is made from flexible, optionally elastic, bio-compatible lens body material surrounding a closed and sealed lens cavity which is filled with bio-compatible optical liquid, optionally a gel. The optical liquid has a refractive index sufficiently high to, in cooperation with the ciliary muscle, focus light, incident on the eye, on the retina, and to provide accommodation. The curvature of the front surface of the lens is deformable, by the pressure expressed by the ciliary body during the accommodative effort, thus to change the radius of curvature of the anterior body member and/or the posterior body member, thus providing smooth focusing, including from far distance in the relaxed state to near distance of less than 50 centimeters in the accommodative state.

This invention relates generally to manufactured intraocular lenses and more particularly to novel accommodating intraocular lenses for implantation in the eye specifically within the capsular bag, or in the ciliary sulcus, of the eye from which the natural lens matrix has been removed. The invention also relates to a novel method of utilizing the intraocular lenses in the eye to provide the patient with lens accommodation capability, responsive to normal accommodative ciliary muscle action.
The human eye has an anterior chamber between the cornea and the iris, and a posterior chamber behind the iris, which contains a natural crystalline lens. A vitreous chamber behind the lens contains vitreous humor. A retina is located to the rear of the vitreous chamber. The crystalline lens of a normal human eye is defined by a crystalline lens matrix, which is enclosed in a lens capsule. The lens capsule is attached about its periphery to the ciliary muscle of the eye by zonules. The lens capsule has elastic, optically clear, anterior and posterior membrane-like walls commonly referred by ophthalmologists as anterior and posterior capsules, respectively. Between the iris and ciliary muscle is an annular crevice-like space called the ciliary sulcus.
The human eye possesses natural accommodation capability. Accommodation refers to an optical function in which the lens can focus naturally, from a far distance, to a relatively near distance e.g. within a few centimeters of the eye. Natural accommodation involves relaxation and constriction of the ciliary muscle, as instructed by the brain, to provide the eye with near and distant vision. This ciliary muscle action is automatic, as instructed by the brain, and shapes the natural crystalline lens to the appropriate optical configuration for focusing, on the retina, the light rays entering the eye from the scene being viewed. It is well known that there is a relentless loss of this near focusing ability in middle age. Such condition can be treated with bi-focal or tri-focal glasses or contact lenses.
The human eye is also subject to a variety of other physiological disorders, which can degrade, or totally destroy, the ability of the eye to function properly. One of the more common of these disorders involves progressive clouding of the natural crystalline lens matrix resulting in the formation of what is commonly referred to as a cataract. It is now common practice to treat a cataract by surgically removing the cataractous human crystalline lens and, in a second step of the same surgical procedure, implanting an artificial intraocular lens in the eye to replace the natural lens.
Thus, if the natural lens becomes cloudy, as with a cataract condition, the natural lens is removed by an extraction procedure which leaves intact, within the eye, the posterior portion of the natural lens capsule, and at least a remnant of the anterior portion of the natural lens capsule. The removed natural lens is replaced with a manufactured intraocular lens. If the replacement lens is a mono-focal lens, the cloudiness may have been effectively treated, but the inability to adjust focal length will not have been treated, whereby glasses or contact lenses are still required for proper vision.
Monofocal lenses focus at one set focal length in front of the eye, for example either at far distance such as greater than 6 meters, or at a lesser distance nearer the eye. The human eye with its own natural lens can change shape, thereby to focus naturally at all such distances, but gradually loses this ability, to change shape, as the natural lens hardens with age. The ability of the natural lens, to change shape as so urged by the contraction of the ciliary muscle, thus to change focal length of the eye, whereby the eye can focus at any of a range of distances, is completely lost after cataract surgery when the manufactured replacement lens is a monofocal lens.
Newer designs of conventional manufactured intraocular lenses offer differing solutions to this problem of loss of accommodation. One such design is a lens which has a single posteriorly placed optic and hinged haptics, which enables the lens to translate forward with the pressure rise in the vitreous chamber, which pressure rise accompanies accommodation as signaled from the brain. The limitation of this design is that the maximum accommodation enabled by lens translation is typically only about 1.5 diopters for a 1 mm anterior translation of the lens. While a 1 mm translation is typical, modest differences in translation capability attend respective different eyes. Thus, actual diopter achievements depend both on the power of the intraocular lens, and the axial length of the eye.
Another relatively newer conventional manufactured intraocular lens design uses two lenses, which are hinged, or otherwise connected, together and implanted inside the natural lens capsular bag. The anterior manufactured lens has e.g. high plus power, while the posterior manufactured lens has a negative power. When the two lenses separate under accommodative tension, the anterior lens moves forward and the posterior lens moves backward, achieving a relatively higher calculated accommodation, which is less dependent on intraocular lens powers and/or axial lengths of the eye.
Yet another conventional intraocular lens design provides multiple lens elements or components in side-by-side relationship, in a single lens body, the respective side-by-side lens elements having different, but fixed, refractive powers.
Still another conventional intraocular lens design provides an intraocular lens which consists of a flexible transparent lens envelope filled with a transparent fluid. The envelope is attached to the ciliary muscle by means of a fastening fringe, which is in turn anchored to the lens envelope. The ciliary muscle acts as it does on the natural lens. Thus, when the ciliary muscle contracts, the lens becomes more spherical, and thus achieves a greater refractory power. When the ciliary muscle elongates, tension is exerted on the envelope, and flattens the envelope, reducing refracting power, which accommodates far vision.

Accommodating intraocular lens and methods of use