An image processing device generates an output image as a color image wherein each pixel has color information, using a first image as a sparsely color sampled image wherein each pixel has monochromatic information obtained by an image sensor which has multiple pixels each photoelectrically converting light of a plurality of colors. The device includes: a simulation unit for generating a second image as an estimated image of the sparsely color sampled image; a comparison unit for comparing the second image with the first image, and generating first information thereof; a converting unit for converting the first information into second information corresponding to the color image; a penalty computing unit for computing the correction amount of the input image; and a correction unit for generating a third image by correcting the input image based on the second information and the correcting amount; this third image being used as an output image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device, method, and program, for generating a color image from a sparsely color sampled image which is acquired by using a single-chip color image sensor, and further relates to an image processing device, method, and program, for performing a demosaicing process including processing such as noise reduction, optical low-pass filter compensation and pixel drop-out processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, single-CCD (charge-coupled device) color image sensors have been widely used in color imaging devices such as digital cameras and compact video cameras. A single-CCD color image sensor includes, on the front face of a solid-state image sensor, a color filter array in which color transmission properties that differ for each pixel are provided in a specified array or a random array. For example, a color filter array such as illustrated in FIG. 4 uses an RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color Bayer pattern in which the color filters with color transmission characteristics corresponding to R, G, B are cyclically ordered every 2×2 pixels at a ratio of R:G:B=1:2:1 (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,065).
The output image of such a single-CCD color image sensor (RAW image) is a so-called color mosaic image in which each pixel only has information about a single color, and therefore as a color imaging device, a demosaicing process which converts the RGB color information (color information) as to the various pixels of this color mosaic image into a color image becomes necessary.
With the demosaicing process, a method which spatially interpolates the color information lacking in various pixels from the surrounding pixels is widely used.
However, with the aforementioned RGB color Bayer pattern, for example, simply interpolating results in the resolution essentially decreasing, because G has only one half of all the pixels and R and B each have only one fourth of all the pixels.
In order to solve this problem, an interpolation method using applicable directional selective smoothing has been proposed, such as a two-directional correlation method (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,655) or an eight-direction edge detecting method (for example, see Chang, Ed. et al., "Color Filter Array Recovery Using a Threshold-based Variable Number of Gradients" Proceedings of SPIE, January, 1999).
On the other hand, a recent trend has been to emphasize not only pixel count, but also color reproducibility and dynamic ranging as capabilities of a digital camera. Thus, a color filter array having color filters of four or more colors may be used (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-284084), or a color filter array having color filters of six or more types of colors may be used by providing variation in magnitude of transmittance even when the chrominance is similar (for example, see U.S. Published patent application No. US 2003-160875AA). Further, in order to suppress color moiré, a technique has been proposed using a random color array in the color filter array or a cycle longer than 2×2 pixels (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-168157).
Further, with iterative restoration in which a decompressed image which is similar to the source image is obtained by repeating interpolation calculations, a method in which inappropriate image restoration which restores up to a bandwidth past the Nyquist frequency can be avoided, by considering the birefringence of the optical low-pass filter which is placed between the photography optical system and the image sensor and by limiting the frequency band of the restored image, has been proposed (see "A Study of Demosaicing With Regard to Characteristics of a Birefringent Optical Low-Pass Filter" by Takashi Komatsu and Takahiro Saito, 2003 Annual Conference, Institute of Image Formation and Television Engineers).
However, the demosaicing processes proposed therein are based on spatial interpolation of same color pixels, and therefore when the number of colors in the color filter is increased, the pixel count for a specified color decreases and spatial resolution degrades and becomes a problem. Further, even with a random color filter array, similar problems can occur because regions wherein pixels of the same color become locally non-dense occur.
Further, the discrepancy of the color permeability characteristics, based on manufacturing error of the color filter array between the pixels of the same pixel color, is manifested as noise.

Image processing device, image processing method and image processing program


Semiconductor devices is provided. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first region and an adjacent second region; a plurality of adjacent first fins in the first region of the semiconductor substrate; a plurality of adjacent second fins in the second region of the semiconductor substrate; a first type of fin sidewall spacers; a second type of fin sidewall spacers; first doped layers formed between adjacent first type of fin sidewall spacers in the first region; and second doped layers formed between adjacent first type of fin sidewall spacers in the second region.

Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors are one of the most important components in modern integrated circuits. The basic structure of an MOS transistor includes a semiconductor substrate, a gate structure on a surface of the semiconductor substrate, and doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate at both sides of the gate structure. The gate structure includes a gate dielectric layer on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a gate electrode layer on a surface of the gate dielectric layer.
With the continuous development of the semiconductor technologies, the control capability of the conventional planar MOS transistor to the channel current is weakened; and a severe leakage current is generated. Fin field-effect transistors (FinFETs) are emerging multi-gate devices. An FinFET often includes a fin protruding from the surface of a semiconductor substrate, a gate structure covering portions of the top surface and sidewall surfaces of the fin, and doped source/drain regions formed in the fin at both sides of the gate structure
However, there is a need to further improve the performance of the semiconductor device consisting of FinFETs. The disclosed methods and semiconductor structures are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems in the art.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corporation


A mount for securing a trolling motor to a watercraft has a base, a main arm, a motor coupling, and a linkage. The motor coupling is configured to rotatably retain the trolling motor. The main arm is pivotally coupled to the base. The linkage is pivotally coupled with the base and the main arm and extends within the main arm to contact the motor coupling for actuating rotation of the motor coupling between a first position when the main arm is in a stowed position, and a second position when the main arm is in a deployed position.

The present invention relates to trolling motors, and more particularly to a mounting device for securing a trolling motor to a watercraft.
Watercraft, especially fishing boats, often employ a trolling motor. The trolling motor may be used to maneuver or to hold the watercraft in position while the vessel operator fishes. Trolling motors may be interconnected with the watercraft via a mount secured to the bow of the vessel. Often conventional bow mounts include a base plate and several movable arms, which are configured to retain the trolling motor and interlock with the base plate. The movable arms are generally configured to pivot between a stowed position, where the trolling motor is on-board the vessel, and a deployed operation position, where the trolling motor extends into the water.
Although many conventional pivoting bow mounts effectively stow and deploy trolling motors, the durability of the multiple pivoting joints used by the movable arms is limited. After a period of use, the joints of the bow mount may loosen and begin to develop play. This joint play causes the bow mount to rattle or make other unpleasant noises during the operation of the watercraft. With many conventional bow mounts, removing the trolling motor from or attaching the trolling motor to the mount also presents some inconvenience for the operator. This process is inconvenient because the conventional bow mount's actuation rope (which is used to lift and rotate the bow mount's movable arms from the stowed or deployed position) runs through the mount's movable arms and through the portion of the mount that is configured to couple with the trolling motor. In this configuration, the actuation rope must be untied from the interior of the bow mount's movable arms before the portion of the mount that couples with the trolling motor can be removed from the remainder of the mount.


An improved geometric propellant loading configuration for high velocity, large or medium caliber projectile ammunition is disclosed. The propellant system includes several mutually contiguous extrudable stick shapes that in concert result in highly efficient use of propellant load space. The system reduces loading, assembling and packing (LAP) labor and overall cost, yet provides a dense pattern to increase propellant load and high perforation to improve burning progressivity over prior stick loads and more reliable and improved ballistic performance.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to the field of sophisticated, high velocity, large or medium caliber projectile ammunition and, more particularly, to an improved geometric propellant loading configuration for such ammunition. The propellant system of the invention includes several mutually contiguous extrudable stick shapes that in concert result in highly efficient use of propellant load space. The system reduces loading, assembling and packing (LAP) labor and overall cost, yet provides a dense pattern to increase propellant load and high perforation to improve burning progressivity over prior stick loads and more reliable and improved ballistic performance.
II. Related Art
The technology of large and medium caliber ordnance generally has evolved into the use of increasingly sophisticated projectiles and firing systems. Smaller diameter projectiles are often used together with discarding sabots that transfer momentum to the projectiles which develop very high velocity (Mach V+) and so very high kinetic energy (KE). The projectiles themselves have also become more aerodynamic and generally employ a plurality of stabilizing fins. These so-called munitions also may contain sophisticated highly sensitive target proximity detection devices which operate precision arming and detonating circuits. In addition to the electronic control and sensing improvements, the construction of the rounds themselves has undergone an evolution that has produced vastly improved capabilities in terms of the effect produced by a single round on a target.
Conventional ammunition of the class described, such as that fired by military tank cannons, are typically breech loaded and electrically activated and fired from within the tank. The projectiles typically are fired electrically using a primer circuit to ignite a primer which, in turn, ignites a main propellant charge by DC voltage from a thermal battery activated by the primer. The projectile may contain electronics activated when firing occurs and which utilize memory storage to operate a preprogrammed target acquisition or proximity system and the arming and detonating devices in the shell during the flight of the shell. Then, it is apparent that large caliber ammunition, with respect to target acquisition, proximity detection, arming and detonating, has become very sophisticated.
While all these developments are interesting and important to the advancement of the art, the success of all ammunition projectiles still depends greatly upon the performance, and reproducibility of the performance of the associated propellant system. A variety of techniques have been tried in order to improve ammunition muzzle velocity by increasing propellant charge density, i.e., increasing the amount of propellant per available cartridge volume unit and/or the progressivity of the burn by providing an ever increasing surface area. These techniques have included utilizing various preformed shapes packed into the cartridge in an effort to increase density while minimizing adverse effects on burning rate. Such techniques have included the use of various sizes of granular extruded (short grain) propellant shapes, perforated stick extruded shapes which are long and cylindrical or hexagonal in external geometry and represent the most commonly used stick shapes. These sticks are commonly provided with 7 or 19 longitudinal perforations (7 P or 19 P).
Several configurations of slab and disk-shaped propellant geometries are illustrated in co-pending application Ser. No. 08/537,882, filed Apr. 10, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,445, issued Jan. 27, 1998, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application, the contents of which are deemed incorporated by reference herein for any purpose. Another configuration is in the form of a rolled sheet of propellant. Bulk liquid propellants have also been used; however, they tend to burn in a non-reproducible manner and, therefore, results have been unpredictable.
FIG. 1 depicts a typical large caliber round, which may be fired from the main turret cannon of a tank or other artillery piece, loaded with propellant of one prior art type. The round is shown generally at 10 at FIG. 1 and includes a base plate section 12 connected with the wall of a cartridge casing and having a generally cylindrical portion 14 and a necked down or tapered upper portion 16. Except for the base plate 12, the shell or cartridge sidewall 14 itself is normally made of a combustible material such as molded nitrocellulose or other such material itself consumed during the firing of the shell. A projectile is shown at 18 with discarding sabot members 20 and 22 which peel away and drop off just after the projectile is discharged from the muzzle of the cannon. A plurality of stabilizing guidance fins (normally six in number) as at 24 are also provided. The nose cone section 26 may contain an electronics package and the warhead section 28 may contain arming and detonating circuitry.
With respect to the firing of the shell, a primer housing shown generally at 30 contains a conductive ignition electrode or primer button (not shown) and stub base 31. The primer housing and stub base are connected with a generally hollow brass or other type metal center-core primer tube 32 which has a plurality of openings as at 34 which access and address the general propellant charge volume 36. The propellant illustrated consists of closely packed, generally uniformly shaped, perforated, granular solid propellant grains 38 (FIG. 1B) perhaps 2 to 3 cm long by about 0.5 cm in diameter.
The shell is normally fired electrically using direct current to ignite the primer in the primer housing and through the primer tube 32, thereby igniting the main propellant 38 via the openings 34. In accordance with an important aspect of performance, i.e., achieving the highest, repeatable muzzle velocity for the projectile, however, it is desirable that the propellant, during the burn, generate gases at an ever increasing rate as the projectile advances along the barrel. Accordingly, a configuration of propellant which creates predictably and ever increasing burn surface area as the burn progresses is very desirable.
The present standard is based on the performance of stick propellant, particularly the round extruded stick shape which has increased shell velocities over earlier propellant loadings. However, a great many relatively small diameter sticks must be used, and the stick propellant has also presented difficulties with respect to achieving high loading density (FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3).
The loading process for a cartridge using stick propellant is also very labor intensive and performance is not optimum because adjacent surfaces of the sticks do not match, as in the case of random placement with granular propellant. The method used to extrude both stick and granular propellant includes pins that create perforations during the process. With sticks of present size (below), this method may create perforation and web inconsistencies which actually reduce the propellant performance.
Repeatability of acceptable or good performance of stick propellant also requires uniformity of the notch or kerf size and web between the kerfs for proper burning. The current processes of extrusion and kerf cutting are rarely able to achieve this so that the sticks must be blended or mixed prior to loading to achieve some uniformity. As a result of mixing the stick propellant, performance is not optimized.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are partial sectional views to illustrate prior art loading geometries for propellant sticks for a 120-MM shell 40 including a projectile 42 with six stabilizing guidance fins 44. Note that, although the slightly larger diameter (.O slashed.=0.657 in. 16.69 MM) sticks 46 of FIG. 2A better fill the outer periphery than the smaller (.O slashed.=0.625 in. 15.88 MM) sticks 48 of FIG. 2B, they leave larger voids about the fins and round sticks cannot accommodate both. Also, the interstitial void area is significant with round sticks in general.
FIG. 3 is a further schematic drawing that illustrates a vertical crossection of a fragment of a similar shell 50 without the baseplate containing projectile 52 with fins 54 and an ignition system as shown at 56. The loading of the cartridge 50 as can be seen from FIG. 3 requires at least eight different sizes or lengths of stick propellant (A-H) and in large quantities. Loading is by necessity labor intensive.
While perforated stick propellant provides configurations that yield high performance burns, as can readily be appreciated from the drawings, the loading of the shell also leaves considerable void space in the load. Perfect loading still leaves about 22% void space not counting perforations or kerf cuts.
Another method utilizing ribbed sheet propellant rolled into cylindrical sections has been tested on smaller caliber ammunition. This method used longitudinal ribs replacing perforations to assist ignition. The rolled method experienced difficulty in conformance to the projectile geometry, poor progressivity, poor flame spread and poor ignition characteristics.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to produce a propellant loading which combines an increased charge load density with highly progressive burning achieved at a lower production cost.
Another object of the invention is to produce a propellant geometric configuration that uses fewer, larger grain shapes.
A further object of the invention is to provide a dense propellant loading geometry that enables convenient and efficient assembly of propellant within a straight or necked-down cartridge.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method of loading a propellant which uses a highly accurate, repeatable geometric shapes capable of sustaining high perforation density.
Other objects and advantages will appear to those skilled in the art in connection with familiarity with the descriptions and accounts of the invention in the following specification and drawings.


An electronic component (10) has an electrically insulating substrate (20) that is encapsulated with an electrically conductive material (15) to provide thermal dissipation for the electronic component (10). The electrically insulating substrate (20) has cavities (21-24) that are either completely filled with an electrically conductive material (15) or are partially filled to provide recesses (26-27) for electronic devices (30,31). The electronic devices (30,31) are electrically coupled to the leads (60-63) of the electronic component (10) using either wire bonds (70) or metallic depositions (55-57).

This invention relates, in general, to electronic components and, more particularly, to modules for mounting electronic components.
Some electronic components are used in high power or high current applications such as controllers for electric motors. Two of the most significant problems associated with these electronic components are the dissipation of heat generated by the electronic components and the protection of the electronic components from the harsh environment common to many high power or high current applications.
One previously known method of dissipating heat generated by electronic components is to mount the electronic components directly to a copper heatsink. Generally, such techniques are costly and introduce reliability problems due to the stress associated with mounting the electronic components to the heatsink.
To protect the electronic components from the harsh environments, an electronic component is formed by combining several electronic devices into a protective module. Typically, the protective module is formed from a complex sequence of molding operations that encapsulates the electronic devices within a combination of dielectric layers, conductive layers, and heat dissipation layers. Due to the complexity of the protective module, it is often very difficult to form reliable electrical connections between the electronic devices within the protective module. Furthermore, the process used to form the protective module is time consuming and costly.
By now it should be appreciated that it would be advantageous to provide an electronic component that not only provides adequate environmental protection and heat dissipating capability, but that is formed in fewer processing steps used to make conventional modules. It would also be advantageous if the process for making the electronic component provided options for forming the internal electrical connections between the electronic devices of the electronic component within the protective module.


A capacitor circuit having improved reliability includes at least first and second capacitors, a first terminal of the first capacitor connecting to a first source providing a first voltage, a first terminal of the second capacitor connecting to a second source providing a second voltage, the first voltage being greater than the second voltage. The capacitor further includes a voltage comparator having a first input for receiving a voltage representative of the first voltage, a second input for receiving a third voltage provided by a third source, and an output for generating a control signal. The control signal is a function of a difference between the voltage representative of the first voltage and the third voltage. A switch is connected to second terminals of the first and second capacitors. The switch is selectively operable in one of at least a first mode and a second mode in response to the control signal, wherein in the first mode the switch is operative to connect the first and second capacitors together in parallel, and in the second mode the switch is operative to connect the first and second capacitors together in series. The first mode is indicative of the voltage representative of the first voltage being less than or about equal to the third voltage, and the second mode is indicative of the voltage representative of the first voltage being greater than the third voltage.

Capacitors are widely used in semiconductor technology. They may be used, for example, for noise decoupling, for blocking direct current, and for charge storage in radio-frequency (RF) and analog applications. Semiconductor capacitors typically take the form of diffusion capacitors, trench capacitors, gate capacitors, and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors. Typically, these devices depend on an insulating layer, frequently silicon dioxide, to form the dielectric between the terminals of the capacitor. Like other layers in a semiconductor device, these dielectric layers are continuously scaled in order to make devices smaller, to increase performance, and to reduce cost of production. As dielectric layers are scaled, especially when scaled faster than the voltage or power supply level, premature punch-through, breakdown, and other dielectric damage is frequently encountered. As a result, obtaining highly-reliable, high-value capacitors becomes increasingly more challenging.
Adding to this challenge is the fact that integrated circuits must frequently be designed to work within a wide range of operating voltages. For example, an integrated circuit may need to work within a power supply voltage range from 1.2 volts to 3.6 volts. This is especially true when a designer wishes that a device be compatible with both modern and older semiconductor technologies.
One way to resolve the problem of voltage-induced dielectric damage in semiconductor capacitors is to simply connect two or more capacitors in series. With this configuration, the voltage drop across any one of the capacitors is reduced and, correspondingly, the reliability of that capacitor is maintained. Nevertheless, maximum total capacitance for a given array of capacitors is achieved by wiring the capacitors in parallel. As a result, it is most advantageous to wire an array of capacitors in parallel when the power supply voltage is low enough that capacitor reliability is not adversely affected. This allows the circuit to have the maximum total capacitance for a given area. Conversely, when the power supply voltage is high enough to adversely affect capacitor reliability, it is usually advantageous to wire the array of capacitors in series to such an extent that reliability is maintained at the cost of reduced total capacitance. Accordingly, in those integrated circuits that are used over a wide range of power supply voltages, it is desirable to be able to selectively and dynamically modify the wiring configuration of capacitors depending upon the level of power supply voltage.

Capacitor reliability for multiple-voltage power supply systems

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a dispensing apparatus for dispensing a multi-component composition such as an oral care composition. The apparatus comprises a plurality of compartments, each containing a respective component of an composition, an orifice communicating with the plurality of compartments, and a common electrical drive mechanism for simultaneously dispensing the respective components from the plurality of compartments through the orifice. The electrical drive mechanism may comprise a single motor. Each compartment may include a respective piston for extruding a respective component of the composition from the apparatus, the pistons of the plurality of compartments being driven by a common gear mechanism coupled to the motor.

It is well known to provide a variety of different dispensers for compositions, such as liquid soaps, toothpastes or gels. For example, liquid soaps, toothpastes or gels may be packaged in deformable tubes or pump dispensers which are operated manually to dispense a desired amount of the composition. Some compositions comprise first and second components which are required to be packaged separately, to avoid any reaction between respective ingredients in the two components prior to use. For example, an oral care composition may comprise a first component comprising sodium bicarbonate and a second component comprising a whitening agent such as hydrogen peroxide. When the oral care composition is dispensed, the two components are intended to be dispensed in a particular volume ratio, and subsequently mixed during use. It is important to try to ensure that the two components are dispensed in the desired volume ratio so as to achieve the desired efficacy, active concentration (when an active is on only one of the two compartments) and avoid material waste.
It is known to package some multi-component compositions in deformable and collapsible tubes. However, it can be difficult for the user to ensure that the required dispensing ratio is repeatably and consistently achieved, due to unequal manual pressure being applied to different portions of the tube and to different flow characteristics of the plural components. Consequently, pump dispensers were developed for such multi-component compositions. Such pump dispensers employ mechanical pressure, pressurised gas or electrical motors to dispense the compositions.
Despite these known containers, there is a need in the art for a dispenser for compositions, such as liquid soap, toothpaste or gel, which can repeatably dispense desired amounts, for example equal amounts by volume, of the individual components of dual-component compositions.
There is also a need in the art for a dispenser for compositions which is easy to use, particularly by children and senior citizens.


A method and apparatus for allocating resources in a base station (BS) in a carrier aggregation (CA) system is provided. The method and apparatus includes configuring a first cell and a second cell for a first user equipment (UE), identifying at least one second subframes of the first cell, the at least one second subframe being associated with feedback information to be received in a first subframe of the first cell, and at least one third subframes of the second cell, determining whether there is a downlink (DL) data transmission in the at least one third subframe of the second cell, and determining to allocate the other frequency resources, which are other than a frequency resource used for transmission of the feedback information in the first subframe, to a second UE, if there is no DL data transmission in the at least one third subframe of the second cell.

Generally, mobile communication systems have been developed to provide voice services while guaranteeing a user's mobility. Such mobile communication systems have gradually expanded their coverage from voice services through data services up to high-speed data services. However, as current mobile communication systems suffer resource shortages and users demand even higher-speed services, development of more advanced mobile communication systems is needed.
For example, long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) is a technology for implementing high-speed packet-based communication having a data rate of a maximum of 1 Gbps. A downlink (DL) refers to a communication link originating from a base station (BS) node B (NB), or an enhanced NB (eNB) to a mobile station (MS) or a user equipment (UE), and an uplink (UL) refers to a communication link originating from a UE to a BS. The UL carries data signals including information content, control signals providing information associated with the transmission of DL signals, and reference signals (RSs). The DL also carries data signals, control signals, and RSs.
DL data signals are transmitted through physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and UL data signals are transmitted through physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs). The DL control signals may be broadcast or transmitted to a UE in a particular state. UE-specific control channels may be used to provide scheduling assignments (SAs) for PDSCH reception or PUSCH transmission. SAs are transmitted from a BS to respective UEs through respective physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) by using DL control information (DCI) formats. The PDCCH may convey a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) response with respect to the PUSCH. UL control signals may be transmitted on the PUSCH together with data, or may be transmitted through a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). UL control signals may include at least one of the HARQ response with respect to the PDSCH and other feedback information.
The LTE-A considers carrier aggregation (CA) of multiple cells to support a higher data rate. The multiple cells may include one primary cell (Pcell) and at least one secondary cell (Scell), and a feedback generated for each cell may be transferred only to the Pcell.
Thus, a need exists for a technique for scheduling resources of a BS for multiple cells without affecting system performance in a communication system such as a CA communication system using multiple frequency bands.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Method and apparatus for allocating resources in carrier aggregation system


A system and method for effectively implementing an optimized language model for speech recognition includes initial language models each created by combining source models according to selectable interpolation coefficients that define proportional relationships for combining the source models. A rescoring module iteratively utilizes the initial language models to process input development data for calculating word-error rates that each correspond to a different one of the initial language models. An optimized language model is then selected from the initial language models by identifying an optimal word-error rate from among the foregoing word-error rates. The speech recognizer may then utilize the optimized language model for effectively performing various speech recognition procedures.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic speech recognition systems, and relates more particularly to a system and method for effectively implementing an optimized language model for speech recognition.
2. Description of the Background Art
Implementing robust and effective techniques for system users to interface with electronic devices is a significant consideration of system designers and manufacturers. Voice-controlled operation of electronic devices may often provide a desirable interface for system users to control and interact with electronic devices. For example, voice-controlled operation of an electronic device could allow a user to perform other tasks simultaneously, or may be advantageous in certain types of operating environments. In addition, hands-free operation of electronic devices may also be desirable for users who have physical limitations or other special requirements.
Hands-free operation of electronic devices can be implemented in various types of speech-activated electronic devices. Speech-activated electronic devices advantageously allow users to interface with electronic devices in situations where it would be inconvenient or potentially hazardous to utilize a traditional input device. However, effectively implementing such speech recognition systems creates substantial challenges for system designers.
For example, enhanced demands for increased system functionality and performance typically require more system processing power and require additional hardware resources. An increase in processing or hardware requirements typically results in a corresponding detrimental economic impact due to increased production costs and operational inefficiencies.
Furthermore, enhanced system capability to perform various advanced operations provides additional benefits to a system user, but may also place increased demands on the control and management of various system components. Therefore, for at least the foregoing reasons, implementing a robust and effective method for a system user to interface with electronic devices through speech recognition remains a significant consideration of system designers and manufacturers.

System and method for effectively implementing an optimized language model for speech recognition


A signal is received containing a block of multiple symbols, each symbol containing information bits spread by a spreading sequence of chips. Each spreading sequence is determined by a channelization sequence and a first or second complex-valued scrambling sequence of chips. Each block is processed using a set of spreading sequences using correlations between pairs of spreading sequences in the set. Spreading sequence correlation values between each pair are manipulated and stored in lookup tables. A lookup table address is determined using a first set of reduced basic scrambling bits to retrieve correlation values. The first set of reduced basic scrambling bits is based on manipulation of one set of the basic scrambling bits that reduces a number of bits included in the determined address to less than a number of binary values in the one set of basic scrambling bits. The one set of basic scrambling bits is used to construct one of the first and second complex-valued scrambling sequences. The retrieved correlation values may be used in mitigating spreading sequence correlation interference between spreading sequences in the set.

For code division multiple access (CDMA) systems where spreading codes or sequences are used to separate data symbols from each other, from control channels and from symbols to/from other users, advanced non-linear receivers using joint detection, such as sphere decoders, assisted maximum likelihood detection (AMLD), multi-stage group detection (MSGD) etc., or symbol-level interference cancellation (IC) require the computation of spreading code correlations to achieve better performance than linear receivers. However, for wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and similar systems, the spreading sequence correlations are symbol-dependent since the scrambling sequence is symbol-dependent. For example, two spreading sequences of spreading factor 16 have one set of correlation values for one symbol period, but another set of correlation values for the next symbol period. Because the correlations change from symbol to symbol, online correlation computation is very demanding. Moreover, the scrambling codes are often long, e.g., for a WCDMA system 10 milliseconds (or 38400 chips long), which also means that precomputed correlations of the spreading sequences require large amounts of memory to store such large number of correlations.
What is needed then is an efficient way to store and provide spreading sequence correlations.

Efficient generation of spreading sequence correlations using lookup tables


The invention relates to a frame section (10) for a framework (1) of a rack, switchgear cabinet, or table system (30) and to a framework, switchgear cabinet, or table system comprising a frame section of this type. The section provides a wide range of mounting options with a simple construction by consisting of a support section and a conduit (20) housed therein, with several busbars (21) that are embedded in insulation (22) in the conduit and which run in the longitudinal direction of the support section and are accessible from a longitudinal side of the frame

A frame section of this type is designed for constructing a framework for a rack, switchgear cabinet, or table arrangement, especially as open or closed hollow structures having supporting structures or attachments for achieving the required bearing capacity. Such frameworks are disposed with openings and/or struts in order to provide a plurality of mounting possibilities within the interior of the switchgear cabinet and also in order to attain the necessary sealing for a switchgear cabinet against outside climatic conditions or electromagnetic interference. Frame sections can be coupled together in a framework assembly configured from these sections. A frame section of this type and the framework assembly configured therefrom is known from DE 33 44 598 A1, DE 44 39 551 A1 and DE 196 47 814 A1. Such a framework, switchgear cabinet, or table arrangement often supports different types of electrical devices such as devices for information technology. In such cases, conduits are positioned above the framework and the switchgear cabinet and cables are guided or—particularly with higher requirements of electric current—electrical current distributing busbars are supported, by means of appropriate retaining elements.
It is the intention of certain embodiments of the present invention to provide a frame section as well as a framework which allows improved mounting options with reduced assembly effort.


An ultrasonic instrument comprises an ultrasonic transducer, an acoustic waveguide, and an ultrasonic blade. The blade includes a pair of obliquely extending edges. The obliquely extending edges diverge away from the longitudinal axis of the waveguide and away from each other along respective paths extending distally in relation to the waveguide. A distal portion of the blade is wider than a proximal portion of the blade along a plane. The blade further includes a curved distal edge and several laterally presented surfaces. The laterally presented surfaces may provide combinations of concave and convex curvatures. The laterally presented surfaces may be angled and/or curved along one or more orthogonal planes associated with the longitudinal axis of the waveguide.

A variety of surgical instruments include an end effector having a blade element that vibrates at ultrasonic frequencies to cut and/or seal tissue (e.g., by denaturing proteins in tissue cells). These instruments include one or more piezoelectric elements that convert electrical power into ultrasonic vibrations, which are communicated along an acoustic waveguide to the blade element. The precision of cutting and coagulation may be controlled by the operator's technique and adjusting the power level, blade edge angle, tissue traction, and blade pressure.
Examples of ultrasonic surgical instruments include the HARMONIC ACE® Ultrasonic Shears, the HARMONIC WAVE® Ultrasonic Shears, the HARMONIC FOCUS® Ultrasonic Shears, and the HARMONIC SYNERGY® Ultrasonic Blades, all by Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio. Further examples of such devices and related concepts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,055, entitled "Clamp Coagulator/Cutting System for Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments," issued Jun. 21, 1994, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,873, entitled "Ultrasonic Clamp Coagulator Apparatus Having Improved Clamp Mechanism," issued Feb. 23, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,510, entitled "Ultrasonic Clamp Coagulator Apparatus Having Improved Clamp Arm Pivot Mount," issued Nov. 9, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,981, entitled "Method of Balancing Asymmetric Ultrasonic Surgical Blades," issued Sep. 4, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,400, entitled "Curved Ultrasonic Blade having a Trapezoidal Cross Section," issued Oct. 30, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,811, entitled "Blades with Functional Balance Asymmetries for use with Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments," issued Dec. 4, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,423,082, entitled "Ultrasonic Surgical Blade with Improved Cutting and Coagulation Features," issued Jul. 23, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,773,444, entitled "Blades with Functional Balance Asymmetries for Use with Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments," issued Aug. 10, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,524, entitled "Robotic Surgical Tool with Ultrasound Cauterizing and Cutting Instrument," issued Aug. 31, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,057,498, entitled "Ultrasonic Surgical Instrument Blades," issued Nov. 15, 2011, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Still further examples of ultrasonic surgical instruments are disclosed in U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0079874, entitled "Tissue Pad for Use with an Ultrasonic Surgical Instrument," published Apr. 13, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0191713, entitled "Ultrasonic Device for Cutting and Coagulating," published Aug. 16, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0282333, entitled "Ultrasonic Waveguide and Blade," published Dec. 6, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0200940, entitled "Ultrasonic Device for Cutting and Coagulating," published. Aug. 21, 2008, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0234710, entitled "Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments," published Sep. 25, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,911,460, issued Dec. 16, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0105750, entitled "Ergonomic Surgical Instruments," published Apr. 23, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,623,027, issued Jan. 7, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0069940, entitled "Ultrasonic Device for Fingertip Control," published Mar. 18, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,023,071, issued May 5, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. Pub. No. 2011/0015660, entitled "Rotating Transducer Mount for Ultrasonic Surgical instruments," published Jan. 20, 2011 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,461,744, issued Jun. 11, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0029546, entitled "Ultrasonic Surgical Instrument Blades," published Feb. 2, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,591,536, issued Nov. 26, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Some ultrasonic surgical instruments may include a cordless transducer such as that disclosed in U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0112687, entitled "Recharge System for Medical Devices," published May 10, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,381,058, issued Jul. 5, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0116265, entitled "Surgical instrument with Charging Devices," published May 10, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and/or U.S. Pat. App. No. 61/410,603, filed Nov. 5, 2010, entitled "Energy-Based Surgical Instruments," the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Additionally, some ultrasonic surgical instruments may include an articulating shaft section. Examples of such ultrasonic surgical instruments are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/538,588, filed Jun. 29, 2012, entitled "Surgical Instruments with Articulating Shafts," now U.S. Pat. No. 9,393,037, issued Jul. 19, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/657,553, filed. Oct. 22, 2012, entitled "Flexible Harmonic Waveguides/Blades for Surgical Instruments." now U.S. Pat. No. 9,095,367, issued Aug. 4, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The shape of an ultrasonic blade used in an ultrasonic surgical instrument may influence or define at least four aspects of the instrument. These aspects may include the visibility of the blade and its relative position in the surgical field; the ability of the blade to access or approach targeted tissue; the manner in which ultrasonic energy is coupled to tissue for cutting and coagulation; and the manner in which tissue can be manipulated with the ultrasonically inactive blade. It may be desirable to provide an ultrasonic blade that tends to optimize at least these four aspects of the instrument.
Some conventional ultrasonic blades may be optimized for use on soft tissues. When some such ultrasonic blades encounter a continuum of tissue that ranges from relatively soft tissue (e.g., viscera, etc.) to relatively tough tissue (e.g., cartilage, etc.), the ultrasonic blade may preferentially cut the soft tissues. When the ultrasonic blade encounters relatively tough or hard tissue, the ultrasonic may tend to deflect away from the relatively tough or hard tissue, continuing along the path of least resistance through the relatively soft tissue. While such performance may be preferred for dissecting between planes of tissue, such performance may make it difficult to use ultrasonic blade to intentionally cut through relatively tough or hard tissue (e.g., cartilage, etc.).
In some surgical settings, a surgeon may use a Cobb elevator instrument in conjunction with a bovie monopolar electrocautery device to expose the dorsal spine of a patient. In particular, the surgeon may use the Cobb elevator to provide a combination of blunt and sharp dissection, prying and scraping to expose and clean the surface of the bone of all soft tissue. The surgeon may use the bovie device to control hemostasis and cut/burn through tougher tissues such as tendon attachments to bone. In some such procedures, a goal may be to provide a clean bone surface, in order to facilitate hardware placement (e.g., rods, screws, etc.) and/or fusion of selected bones.
While several surgical instruments and systems have been made and used, it is believed that no one prior to the inventors has made or used the invention described in the appended claims.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the technology may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present technology, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the technology; it being understood, however, that this technology is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A radiator structure for a two-wheeled vehicle includes a radiator main body having a front surface positioned to face a running direction, and a radiator grill having a mesh part which is positioned in front of the radiator main body to cover the radiator main body. The radiator grill is positioned behind a front wheel of the two-wheeled vehicle and has a mud guard portion which fills in the mesh part in a region SWF onto which the front wheel is projected as viewed from the front.

The present invention relates to a radiator structure for a two-wheeled vehicle.
Traditionally, a radiator structure for a two-wheeled vehicle has been well-known (see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 7-055292) in which a louver is installed on the front surface of a radiator main body (of a radiator, a main body portion that fulfills a function of cooling engine cooling water). A vehicle to which the technique described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 7-055292 is applied is an irregular ground traveling vehicle. Such a vehicle has a more sufficient space for positioning the radiator than a two-wheeled vehicle. Thus, in the technique described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 7-055292, the radiator is positioned above a front wheel (away from the ground).

Radiator structure for two-wheeled vehicle


An expandable downhole tool is disclosed that employs naturally occurring organic matter as the expandable material. The expandable material is located within an enclosure formed in part by an impermeable element, which may form a hydraulic seal, and a permeable membrane that permits fluids present in the wellbore to pass and interact with the organic matter. The heat and fluids present within the wellbore may cause the expandable matter to swell, and thus causing the enclosure to swell and possibly form a hydraulic seal against a wellbore or inner annulus. The expandable tool may be used as packer, plug, or other downhole tool, among others. Methods of manufacturing and using such tools are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packers, packing elements, and other downhole tools that employ an expandable element to isolate various sections of a well bore drilled in the earth from other sections of the well bore. In particular, a packer may include naturally occurring organic matter that may expand when exposed to the heat or liquids present in a wellbore. Methods of using and manufacturing such tools are also disclosed.
2. State of the Art
During the process of drilling a well, the well bore typically encounters a variety of rock formations, or stratigraphic layers. These stratigraphic layers typically include different constituent components such as minerals and fluids, including gases and liquids, of varying types. The different gases and liquids, however, typically segregate by density, with the least dense fluids (including gases) located higher within a particular rock formation. Typically, it is desirable to keep the different fluids present in a given stratigraphic layer physically separate while pumping from the well. Additionally, it is typically desirable to keep fluids and gases present in a first stratigraphic layer physically separate from the gases and fluids that are present in a second stratigraphic layer.
For example, FIG. 4 illustrates a two dimensional view of a first formation 405 that includes water, a second formation 410 that is an impermeable formation, such as shale, and a third formation 415 that includes hydrocarbons that are encountered by a well bore 425. The first formation 405 is at a relatively lower hydrostatic pressure as compared to the hydrostatic pressure present in the third, deeper formation 415, the second, impermeable formation 410 preventing the less dense (as compared to water) hydrocarbons present in the third formation 415 from migrating upwards into the first formation 405. If the formations 405 and 415 are not physically isolated from each other in some manner, whether by the formation 410 initially or a packer 10, and a path, such as a well bore 425, exists along which formation fluids 420 can flow, the fluids 420 at the higher hydrostatic pressure in the third formation 415 would flow from the third formation 415 into the lower pressure first formation 405, thereby contaminating the water present in the first formation 405. To prevent this, production tubing 430 is connected to a packer 10 that is positioned at a depth above or within the third formation 415. An impermeable element 22 provides a hydraulic seal against the formation 415, preventing formation fluids 420 present in the formation 415 from flowing around the packer and into the first formation 405 at the lower hydrostatic pressure. Instead, the formation fluids 420 flow through a conduit 21 (seen in FIGS. 2-3) of the packer 10 and into the production tubing 430 and onto the surface for processing.
Packers are used in a variety of applications, including wellbore stimulation and testing, protecting casing from the corrosive fluids that the well produces, holding treatment and kill fluids, and other applications known in the art. Packers typically include several components, including a sealing device, a setting or holding device, and, a conduit to permit the passage of fluids between the isolated zones in a controlled manner. The sealing element is expanded to isolate the annulus of an upper section of a well bore from a lower section. Packers are used in a variety of settings in which it is desirable to isolate different sections of the well bore from each other. These sections include, but not limited to, different sections of casing and production tubing set within the well bore, between casing and an unlined borehole, and separate sections of an unlined borehole, among others.
Packers are typically positioned in a wellbore by using a wireline, drill pipe, tubulars, or coiled tubing that is connected to the packer to deliver the packer to a desired depth in the well bore. Once the packer reaches a desired depth, one of a variety of mechanisms known in the art is employed to set the packer, which involves expanding a sealing element until it contacts the side of the well bore or casing, thereby isolating the section of well bore or casing above the sealing element from the section below the sealing element. A typical sealing element of a packer includes an elastomeric element located between upper and lower retaining rings, with the sealing element compressed to radially expand outwardly until it contacts the casing or borehole wall. Another common design for a sealing element is to pump a fluid, such as a gas or a liquid, into a bladder located within an elastomeric element, the fluid causing the elastomeric element to expand. Yet another known method employs elastomers that swell in the presence of hydrocarbons to create a seal.
Several shortcomings exist, however, in existing packers. Most of the methods of setting and expanding packers require the intervention of an operator at the surface, which increases the complexity of the setting operation. Further, packers that rely on mechanical or hydraulic interventions increase the risk of mechanical or hydraulic failure of the packer, both at the surface and downhole, as well as increasing the time and the cost of using the packer. In addition, the elastomers used in many packers are susceptible to corrosion and deterioration when exposed to the heat and fluids present in a wellbore, which may lead to a loss of an effective hydraulic seal, which could require a costly intervention or work-over to remedy.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a packer that operates with a minimal amount of intervention once it is positioned in the well.

Expandable downhole tools and methods of using and manufacturing same


In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a replacement heads-up display system for a vehicle flat-screen display system. The flat-screen display system including flat-screen display electronics which is connectable to a flat-screen display input connector for providing flat-screen display input signals therethrough. The flat-screen display electronics is sized and configured to be received by a flat-screen display bay formed in a vehicle control panel. The flat-screen display is attachable to a flat-screen display bezel which is attachable to the vehicle control panel. The replacement heads-up display system is provided with heads-up display electronics which is configured to mechanically and electrically interface with the flat-screen input connector. The heads-up display electronics is formed to receive and transmute the flat-screen input signals to heads-up display signals. The heads-up display electronics is sized and configured to be received by the flat-screen display bay. There is further provided a replacement bezel which is configured to replace the flat-screen bezel and is attachable to the vehicle control panel. There is further provided a heads-up display which is in electrical communication with the heads-up display electronics and is attachable to the replacement bezel. There is further provided heads-up display controls which are electrically connectable with the heads-up display electronics and are mechanically mountable to the the replacement bezel.

Aircraft display systems are well known. Typical aircraft display systems are commonly located at a main instrument control panel of an aircraft cockpit, and typically utilize a flat-screen to effect the display of desired information. Such flat-screen displays include those based upon a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid plasma, and the like.
Typically, information, such as moving map display, radar information, weather information, targeting and fire control information, and flight parameter symbology is displayed upon the flat-screen of a temporary display system.
As those skilled in the art will appreciate, however, there is a trend in modern aircraft design to incorporate heads-up displays, so as to mitigate the need for the pilot and/or other crew members to look down at the control panel in order to read the desired information. Head-up displays for use in aircraft are well known. Generally an aircraft head-up display is an optical display apparatus for projection symbology of vital flight parameters into the pilot's field of view while the pilot is sitting in the normal "heads-up" position looking out a forward portion of the windscreen in a conventional manner. A heads-up display integrates outside visual cues with internally generated images conveying aircraft performance data to assist the pilot in a variety of conditions. Such a system can provide useful and important information respecting the aircraft without requiring the pilot to divert his attention from outside the aircraft, refocus on an instrument panel, and then redirect his attention to the outside world. It will be appreciated that this is particularly important in combat situations, wherein the loss of view, even for a very short period of time, may be catastrophic. An example of an early heads-up display system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,148 to Ellis and is incorporated herein by reference.
According to contemporary methodology, however, the incorporation of a heads-up display must typically be performed when the aircraft is first designed. The design and installation of after-market heads-up displays frequently require extensive, complex and costly modification to the aircraft control panel. Such after market installation of a heads-up display may also be a risky endeavor, since the possibility of damaging nearby instruments and/or electronics is substantial.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide a heads-up display system for integration into an aircraft control panel, which may be retro-fitted therein with minimal expense and effort, while further mitigating the likelihood of damaging the aircraft.


The present invention provides a virus-like particle (VLP) comprising i) a polypeptide comprising a polypeptide of interest (POI) and at least a particle-associating portion of a large envelope (L) polypeptide of an avian hepadnavirus or a functional derivative or homolog thereof, and ii) a small envelope (S) polypeptide of an avian hepadnavirus or a functional derivative or homolog thereof. By introducing one or more POIs into the L polypeptide, the POI is translocated along with L into a particle structure made up primarily of S polypeptide. The present invention furthermore provides methods for producing a recombinant virus-like particle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to virus-like particles (VLPs) for use in delivering a polypeptide of interest to a subject and to nucleic acid molecules encoding same. In particular, the present invention takes advantage of features of avian hepadnavirus particles to generate stable recombinant VLPs which are useful in the delivery to a subject of a polypeptide of interest. The polypeptide of interest may comprise one or more antigens capable of eliciting an immune response. The VLPs comprising the polypeptide of interest are useful for delivery of an antigen to the immune system of a subject or in the presentation of epitopes for the detection of antibodies in in vitro assays. The present invention extends, inter alia, to plasmids, cells, kits and methods which are useful in the generation, production, delivery and monitoring of the instant VLPs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bibliographic details of the publications referred to by author in this specification are collected at the end of the description.
Reference herein to prior art, including any one or more prior art documents, is not to be taken as an acknowledgment, or suggestion, that said prior art is part of the state of the art.
The hepadnaviruses are a family of enveloped DNA viruses. Assembly of mammalian hepadnaviruses, such as hepatitis B virus, is complex and mature virions are formed by the interaction of preformed cytoplasmic core particles with pre-assembled surface proteins on the host endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. Following interaction with appropriate portions of envelope proteins, the nucleocapsids bud into the lumen of the ER along with a 1000-fold excess of empty, subviral particles (SVPs) and assembly is completed in an intermediate, pre-Golgi compartment (as reviewed by Nassal, M., Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 214:297-337, 1996).
In many studies, virus-like particles (VLPs), which lack nucleocapsids, have proven to be promising candidate vaccines since they: (i) are non-infectious and therefore safe to produce and use, (ii) are more immunogenic than subunit vaccines because they provide the necessary spatial structure for display of epitopes, and (iii) elicit humoral, cell-mediated and importantly, mucosal immunity (Krueger, et al., Biol. Chem. 380:275-276, 1999).
A recent example of a successful VLP vaccine, currently in clinical trials, is the recombinant papillomavirus major capsid protein (L1) VLP, which prevents infection by inducing a strong neutralizing antibody response (Frazer, Virus Research, 89:271-274, 2002).
The hepatitis B virus (HBV) subviral particle (HBsAg-S) has been viewed as a candidate to produce recombinant VLPs. Several studies have examined which domains are suitable for insertion of foreign epitopes (Bruss et al., EMBO J., 13:2273-2279, 1994., 1994; Delpeyroux et al, J. Mol. Biol. 195:343-350,1987), including N terminal fusion of the preS domain (Prange, et al, J. Gen. Virol. 76:2131-2140, 1995).
Most recently, particles carrying small, 35 amino acid insertions of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) hypervariable region 1 of the E2 envelope protein into the exposed 'a' determinant in the second hydrophilic loop have successfully elicited antibody responses (Netter, et al, J. Virol. 75:2130-2141, 2001). Notably, there have been limitations to the size of the inserts tolerated for particle stability and a loss of immune reactivity to the 'a' determinant of HBsAg when particles were produced in a mammalian cell system (Prange et al, 1995, supra; Bruss et al, J. Virol. 65:3813-3820, 1991).
Particle instability with large fusions has recently been overcome with a Dengue virus/HBsAg fusion by expression in yeast (Bisht, et al, J. Biotechnology. 99:97-110, 2002).
However, in all these cases, in order to assemble chimeric particles, the recombinant S protein must assemble with wild type S subunits. These extended S chains present a difficulty for inclusion in the tight envelope lattice formed by the HBsAg (which excludes L) and so their number is limited, and consequently the immune response generated to the foreign epitopes is low.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved VLPs which efficiently incorporate polypeptides of interest.

Viral vectors expressing fusion of viral large envelope protein and protein of interest


The invention concerns a microscope having a power and data transfer system between a microscope body (1) and an external control device or peripheral device (2, 13). According to the present invention, the power line (4) and data line (7) are laid physically together and are of integrated configuration, thus implementing a lightweight connection comprising few individual cables.

A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to surgical microscopes, and more particularly to an improved configurations for linking a microscope body to an external power supply, control device, and light source.
B. Description of the Prior Art
A xe2x80x9csurgical microscopexe2x80x9d for the purposes of the invention is understood to be a microscope that is movable with respect to an object and thus possesses a certain flexibility in terms of any connections to external devices. Such microscopes are very often used in surgical operations. Such microscopes are often also used for industrial or commercial applications.
Such microscopes often have an integrated illumination system in which the light source is built into the microscope. Often, however, the light source is remotely located so as to minimize heating, weight, and housing dimensions in the region of the microscope body. With such external accessories, the light is directed through a light guide from the external light source to the microscope body, and through the latter onto the surgical field.
In addition, such microscopesxe2x80x94and video cameras incorporated into themxe2x80x94are often equipped with control elements, for example remotely controllable displacement mechanisms or actuators which comprise on the one hand electrical drive systems but also, on the other hand, sensors or the like whose signals are analyzed in external control systems or circuits.
Such microscopes are often located on the extension arms of stands, while the external devices and control systems are housed in the column region of the stand.
The connection between the external devices and the microscope body or the terminals located thereon is accomplished via flexible lines such as light guides, electrical cables, electronic data lines, etc. As a rule there are numerous such lines, which in many applications are a hindrance. In some cases they interfere with visibility, are heavy, result in jamming and limitations of movement, and moreover look untidy. In addition, they are susceptible to malfunction or can cause failures by being damaged. In the field of surgical microscopy, they result in increased surface areas which thus make the overall structure more susceptible to soiling.
The assignee of the present application has already taken initial steps intended to remedy this unfavorable situation. Assignee""s OH stand had provided, between stand arms, a flexible hose through which all the various cables were pulled. This hose was relatively bulky and inflexible, however, and did not make optimum use of space since it had to be made sufficiently large for subsequent installation of an undetermined number of cables, even if not all the cables were pulled through. The dead weight of the hose moreover increased the weight of the stand arms in question.
It is thus the object of the invention to implement the connection between the external devices and the microscope body in as lightweight, easily movable, and retrofittable a fashion as possible, and with as few cables as possible.
The present invention, as broadly defined, achieves this principal object on the basis of a physical size reduction and simultaneous weight reduction. Further improved or developed ways of achieving the object, with greater integration and greater advantages over the existing art, are evident from the various embodiments described herein.
A preferred configuration of a cable according to the present invention, which optionally can also be used independently of the invention, is coaxially multi-layered, one of the layers, but preferably the core of the cable, being configured as a mirror optical system or fiber optical system or as a liquid light guide, while at least two layers are configured as an at least two-pole power cable. Preferably connected to the light-guide portion of such a cable are electro-optical converters for the transfer of control, sensor, and video signals, while the power supply is connected to the power portion.
Further improvements and details of the invention are evident from the drawings, which depict exemplary embodiments according to the present invention.


A backpack styled luggage item having an extendable handle and a pair of wheels. The shoulder straps of the backpack are tethered to the extendable handle such that extension of the handle lifts the shoulder straps up and against the luggage to allow safe transport on the wheels. In a further feature, a movable flap is provided to cover and pad the wheels while the luggage is carried.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to backpack style luggage, and more particularly to apparatus for facilitating its conversion to wheeled luggage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art backpack style luggage is typically carried by means of straps arranged to hang on one's shoulders; but with heavy packs, it is desireable to have an alternative means of transport. Nevertheless, apparatus has not previously been available for efficiently transporting this luggage in a wheeled manner, aside from simply placing the luggage in a cart.


A network device includes a data structure and an ager. The data structure includes a group of positions. One or more of the positions are associated with at least one item. The ager is configured to sequentially analyze each position of the group of positions, and recycle, at each analyzed position, any item associated with the analyzed position.

A typical communications network includes a lot of different types of network devices. For example, a typical communications network may include host devices, which act as the source or destination of a particular communication session, routers and/or switches, which act to forward communication session traffic toward their appropriate destinations, and security devices, which provide, for example, firewall or other security functionality.
A network device may store a separate communication session data structure for each communication session handled by the network device. The data structures may store current state information for the communication sessions. Typically, each communication session data structure may include a timer that indicates the lifetime of the communication session. At a predetermined interval (e.g., every second), an ager may scan each communication session data structure and decrease the associated timer in those instances when a new packet has not been received for that communication session. If a new packet has been received for a communication session, the ager may reset the timer for that communication session (e.g., reset the timer to its maximum value for that communication session). If a timer has expired (e.g., counted down from its maximum value to zero) for a particular communication session, the ager may recycle the corresponding communication session.
Therefore, during each time interval, the ager scans the data structures for all ongoing communication sessions. During this scanning process, processing of data packets may be blocked. Since network devices may handle thousands of ongoing communication sessions at one time, the ager may scan thousands of communication sessions during each time interval, decreasing throughput and consuming a large amount of processing power of the network device.


The disclosure discloses a method for traffic limitation by a leaky bucket, including that: during traffic-limitation of a group of packets sharing a same leaky bucket and having separate weighted priorities, the overall leaky bucket is divided into multiple sub-buckets according to priority parameters of the packets including a number of the weighted priorities and ratios between the weighted priorities; after packet information is received, parameters relevant to traffic-limitation by a leaky bucket is acquired; a total number of tokens to be added to the overall leaky bucket is calculated; token-addition is performed on the sub-buckets according to a state of the overall leaky bucket after addition of the total number of tokens and the weighted priorities corresponding to the sub-buckets; a packet is forwarded, or discarded, or marked according to a length of the packet and a number of tokens in a sub-bucket corresponding to a weighted priority, wherein in performing token-addition on the sub-buckets, after token-addition is performed on all the sub-buckets, any overrunning token is allocated to another sub-bucket not overrun with tokens. The disclosure further discloses a device for traffic limitation by a leaky bucket. With the disclosure, it is possible to limit packet traffic flexibly according to weighted priorities and improve resource utilization.

In an existing data network, a burst of packet traffic often leads to network congestion. To avoid such network congestion and improve the Quality of Traffic (QoS) of the data network, the packet traffic needs to be limited at a receiver. If the rate of a packet is lower than a specified rate, the packet is received normally. If the rate of the packet exceeds the specified rate, the packet is discarded or marked.
With a method widely adopted at present, the packet traffic is limited by a leaky bucket, and common leaky-bucket-based standards include RFC(Request for Comments) 2697 and RFC2698, i.e. single-rate three-color dual buckets and two-rate three-color dual buckets. FIG. 1 shows the principle of traffic limitation by a leaky bucket in an RFC standard, which specifically includes that: tokens are filled into a leaky bucket continuously according to a specified rate until the leaky bucket is overrrun. When a packet arrives, the length of the packet is compared with the number of tokens in the leaky bucket. If there are enough tokens in the leaky bucket, the packet is allowed to pass. and a number of tokens corresponding to the length of the packet is taken away from the leaky bucket. If there are not enough tokens in the leaky bucket, the packet is discarded or marked.
It can be seen that although the packet traffic can be limited using RFC2697 and RFC2698, QoSs for packets with different priorities cannot be distinguished during the traffic-limitation, leading to low flexibility in an existing method for limiting the packet traffic, which is disadvantageous for improving QoS and user experience of a data network.

Method and device for leaky bucket speed-limitation


This pertains to the technical field of lubricants, and particularly relates to a composition for preparing a wear-resistant drilling fluid lubricant, a preparation method of the wear-resistant drilling fluid lubricant and a drilling fluid. Vegetable oil, nanometer calcium borate, an ether compound and an amine compound may be used as raw materials to prepare drilling fluid lubricant with excellent abrasion resistance by reasonably controlling dosages of the raw materials. The lubricant provided can improve wear resistance, lubricating property, and high temperature resistance of bentonite slurry and water-based drilling fluid.

The highly deviated wells, horizontal wells and ultra-deep wells have been increasingly widespread along with upgrading of the oil & gas drilling and production technology in China in recent years, however, the problems in regard to high friction resistance/torque, well trajector and drill column optimization design, annular space rock-carrying and borehole cleaning, borehole stability, well trajectory control and the like are increasingly prominent following the continuous enhancement of exploration and development of the extended reach wells, the horizontal wells, the deep wells and the ultra-deep wells. The friction resistance problem is the most outstanding problem in the drilling operation of the extended reach horizontal well, and the control degree of the friction resistance directly influences the extension length of the extended reach horizontal well. If the torque and the friction resistance are large in the drilling process, the abrasion of a drilling tool is prone to accelerate, the power consumption of drilling equipment is increased, the friction between a drill pipe and a casing is intensified, it even causes drilling safety accidents such as broken drilling rod, adhesion sticking, penetration and leakage of the casing due to friction of the drill pipe, as a result, the key point of the successful drilling of the extended reach horizontal well resides in reduction of the friction resistance and the torque.
Although the existing wear-resistant drilling fluid lubricant sold on the market produces a desirable extreme pressure lubrication effect, its friction resistance and torque reduction effects in practical application are unsatisfactory. For example, the Chinese invention patent CN103571441A provides a wear-resistant drag reducer for drilling fluid and preparation method thereof, a formula of the wear-resistant drag reducer is prepared from the following main raw materials: vegetable oil acid, cotton seed oil, sulfur powder, diethanol amine and kerosene; the auxiliary raw materials comprise tributyl phosphate, organic soil and T323 extreme pressure anti-wear reagent; the reduction rate of the wear loss of bentonite sample slurry may reach 64%-65%, the reduction rate of the wear loss of weighted sample slurry reaches 53%-58%, the wear-resistant effects are not ideal.

Composition for preparing anti-wear lubricant for drilling fluid and preparation method of anti-wear lubricant for drilling fluid and drilling fluid

CNPC RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


There is disclosed a method for detecting clogging of air feed pipes, comprising air feed pipes (15), each having an outlet (13) for jetting air into a granulation section (1), and jetting nozzles (13), each situated at the center of the air outlet of a said air feed pipe for jetting a liquid of a molten raw material (e.g. molten urea), wherein, in jetting the liquid of the molten raw material from the jetting nozzles into the granulation section to carry out granulation,. (a) an orifice section (14) is provided at a lower part of each of the air feed pipes (15), a section for taking up orifice rear pressure (16) is provided in each air feed pipe and is located downstream of the orifice section, and a section for taking up orifice forward pressure (17) is provided upstream of the orifice section, and PA1 (b) the pressure difference between the orifice forward pressure and the orifice rear pressure is measured, to detect clogging of the air feed pipes based on an abnormality in the pressure difference regarding the air feed pipes. There is also disclosed a granulation method, comprising monitoring the pressure difference by the above method, stopping the feed of a liquid of a molten raw material to the air feed pipe whose pressure difference is abnormal, and compensating the amount corresponding to the stoppage with the remaining function. The detection method is a method capable of detecting accurately a malfunction related to jetting of air in the granulation of urea or the like. Further, the granulation method is a granulation method wherein, accurately, in response to the occurrence of a malfunction related to the jetting of air, the feed of a raw material liquid to the malfunctioned section is stopped, and the raw material liquid to be fed to the jet nozzles having other normal air outlets is suitably increased, thereby allowing continuous operation, with the productivity before the occurrence of the malfunction kept.

As the granulation method in a granulation step of forming granules, for example, of urea, and as the method of coating granules, many proposals have been made. For example, the applicant of the present application has proposed a method disclosed in JP-B ("JP-B" means examined Japanese patent publication) No. 63729/1992 as a method for processing large particles of urea. A case of this granulation method is described using a granulator illustrated in FIG. 4, by way of example.
FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a granulator. In this figure, seed crystals of urea are fed into a granulation section 1 through a feed port 2. Molten urea liquid is sprayed at a prescribed angle from nozzles 3 into the granulation section 1. As a result, the above seed crystals of urea are subjected to the spray of molten urea in the granulation section 1 and grow in granule diameter. The grown urea 7 is whirled up into a space 6 by currents for jetting from multiple air feed pipes 5 branched from a lower feed port 4, and the urea 7 is allowed to drop into a space 8. Meanwhile, a fluid for the fluidization is fed from an upper feed port 9, to keep the grown granular urea 7 on a bottom bed 10 in a fluidized state in the space 8, so that the granular urea is fluidized to occupy throughout the space 8 over the nozzles 3. This movement is repeated, and finally the granular urea is discharged from a discharge port 11.
However, in this granulator, sometimes, due to some reason during the continuous operation, the molten urea jetted from the nozzles 3 provided on a line 12, or the grown granular urea 7, adheres to some of outlets 13 of the air feed pipes 5, to prevent the air from being jetted out and to clog the outlets. As a result of the occurrence of the malfunctioned section, the fluidized state in the space 8 becomes turbulent, the granulation

Method for detecting clogging and granulation method


A circuit (50) and method are presented to provide positive biasing voltages to an MR head (18) in a mass data storage device (10). The circuit (50) includes upper (56) and lower (62) driver transistors to respectively bias respective opposite ends of the MR head (18) with positive voltages. A feedback circuit (58,60,74,84) controls a lower voltage (63) of the positive voltages to be a value as close as possible to a saturation voltage of the lower driver transistor (62), without causing the lower transistor (62) to saturate. Since the MR head (18) is connected between the upper (56) and lower (62) driver transistors, maintaining the lower voltage (63) just above the saturation voltage of the lower driver transistor (62) reduces the common mode voltage across the MR head (18) to a minimum value.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates in one aspect to improvements in electrical power supplies and power supply techniques, and more particularly, to improvements in electrical power supplies and techniques to supply differential positive voltages to loads with reduced common mode voltages. This invention relates in another aspect to improvements in mass data storage devices and methods for operating same using the improved positive differential voltage power supply.
2. Relevant Background
Although this invention is described in the environment of mass data storage devices, it should be noted that the application of the invention has broader applications. In particular, the invention may be used in any application in which a positive only supply voltage is required. Still more particularly, in many differential amplifier or differential architecture applications, usually both positive and negative supply voltages are required to properly bias the amplifier. If positive only voltages are supplied, in the past, the common mode voltage (the average of the differential input voltages) was unacceptably high. If the common mode voltage is too high, in the mass data storage device environment, spikes and other undesirable signal aberrations may occur.
Mass data storage devices include tape drives, as well as hard disk drives that have one or more spinning magnetic disks or platters onto which data is recorded for storage and subsequent retrieval. Hard disk drives may be used in many applications, including personal computers, set top boxes, video and television applications, audio applications, or some mix thereof. Applications for hard disk drives still being developed, and are expected to further increase in the future.
Mass data storage devices may also include optical disks in which the optical properties of a spinning disk are locally varied to provide a reflectivity gradient that can be detected by a laser transducer head, or the like. Optical disks may be used, for example, to contain data, music, or other information.
In some mass data storage devices magneto-resistive heads are employed. A magneto-resistive head is a data transducer that changes resistance when it is exposed to changes in magnetic fields in proximity to the head. A bias voltage is applied to the head, usually by a differential amplifier, and, ideally, the common mode voltage is set at or near ground, or zero volts. However, in the past, this has not been practically achievable.
What is needed, therefore, is a circuit and technique for providing a differential, positive only power supply that can be used, for example, to bias an MR head of a mass data storage device, with a common mode voltage is set at or near ground, or zero volts.
In light of the above, it is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a circuit and method for providing a positive voltage supply to a preamplifier.
It is an advantage of the invention that the circuit and method presented eliminate the need for an expensive negative voltage regulator.
It is another advantage of the invention that common mode head bias in mass data storage device implementations can be kept at relatively low levels.
It is another advantage of the invention that a positive only power supply that can be provided, for example, to bias an MR head of a mass data storage device, with a common mode voltage is set at or near ground, or zero volts.
According to a broad aspect of the invention, a circuit is presented to provide positive biasing voltages to a biased element, such as an MR head in a mass data storage device, or the like. The circuit includes upper and lower driver transistors to respectively bias respective opposite ends of the biased element with positive voltages. A feedback circuit controls a lower voltage of the positive voltages to be a value as close as possible to a saturation voltage of the lower driver transistor, without causing the lower transistor to saturate.
According to another broad aspect of the invention, circuit is presented to provide positive biasing voltages to a biased element. The circuit includes a differential amplifier having first and second driver transistors connected in series on respective opposite sides of the biased element between a positive voltage supply and a ground potential. An upper current mirror circuit is connected such that the first driver transistor mirrors a fixed drive current through the biased element. A lower mirror circuit is connected such that the second driver transistor mirrors a variable reference current therethrough. A feedback circuit is connected to control the variable reference current to maintain voltages across the second transistor that are just above a saturation voltage thereof.
According to yet another broad aspect of the invention, a circuit is presented to provide positive biasing voltages to a biased element. The circuit includes means for biasing the biased element. The means for biasing the biased element includes first and second switching means connected in series on respective opposite sides of the biased element between a positive voltage supply and a ground potential and means for mirroring a fixed drive current through the biased element. Means are provided for mirroring a variable reference current in a second switching means. Feedback means are connected to control the variable reference current to maintain voltages across the second switching means that are just above a saturation voltage of the second switching means.
According to still another broad aspect of the invention, a mass data storage device is provided. The mass data storage device includes an MR head and a differential amplifier having first and second driver transistors connected in series on respective opposite sides of the MR head between a positive voltage supply and a ground potential. An upper current mirror circuit is connected such that the first driver transistor mirrors a fixed drive current through the biased element. A lower mirror circuit is connected such that the second driver transistor mirrors a variable reference current therethrough. A feedback circuit is connected to control the variable reference current to maintain voltages across the second transistor that are just above a saturation voltage thereof.
According to yet another broad aspect of the invention, a method is presented for providing positive biasing voltages to a biased element. The method includes biasing respective opposite ends of the biased element with positive voltages, and feeding back a lower voltage of the positive voltages maintain a the lower voltage at a value as close as possible to a saturation voltage of a transistor for biasing the biased element, without causing the transistor to saturate.

Supply and method for providing differential positive supply voltages to a load with reduced common mode voltages


A solid-state imaging apparatus includes a phase difference detection pixel including a photoelectric conversion section that is formed on a semiconductor substrate and configured to photoelectrically convert incident light, a waveguide configured to guide the incident light to the photoelectric conversion section, and a light-shielding section that is formed in vicinity of an opening of the waveguide and configured to shield a part of the incident light that enters the waveguide.

The present technology relates to a solid-state imaging apparatus and an electronic apparatus and more particularly to a solid-state imaging apparatus and an electronic apparatus that can improve easiness of fabrication and a distance measuring accuracy.
A digital camera with a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) type solid-state imaging apparatus, which is provided with a distance detecting function for auto focus (AF) is, for example, known in the related art.
Specifically, there is proposed a technique in which a single on-chip lens and a plurality of photoelectric conversion sections are provided in some pixels of a solid-state imaging apparatus, to thereby provide a function of detecting a distance by a phase difference method (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-314062 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1).
There is also proposed a technique in which, in a distance measuring pixel including a single on-chip lens and a plurality of photoelectric conversion sections, a main waveguide equivalent to a typical imaging pixel is provided on a side of the on-chip lens and sub-waveguides as many as the number of photoelectric conversion sections are provided on a side of the photoelectric conversion sections (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-151215 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 2). With such a structure, it is possible to reliably guide light from the on-chip lens to the photoelectric conversion sections and to improve a distance measuring accuracy.
Further, there is generally known a technique in which, in a distance measuring pixel, light that enters a photoelectric conversion section is shielded by a light-shielding film provided above the photoelectric conversion section and the distance is detected by a phase difference method.

Solid-state imaging apparatus and electronic apparatus


Shallow trench isolation structures in a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same. The method include steps hereinafter. A substrate is provided with a pad oxide layer and a first patterned photoresist layer thereon. A first trench is formed in the substrate corresponding to the first patterned photoresist layer. A first dielectric layer is deposited in the first trench and on the substrate. A second patterned photoresist layer is provided to form an opening in the first dielectric layer and a second trench in the substrate corresponding to the second patterned photoresist layer. A second dielectric layer is deposited covering the first trench and the second trench in the substrate and the first dielectric layer on the substrate. The second dielectric layer is removing by chemical-mechanical polishing until the first dielectric layer is exposed. The first dielectric layer on the substrate selectively is removed.

The integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing technology have been moving forward as the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET's) become smaller and smaller to improve the performances such as increased switching speed, lowered power consumption and higher level of integration. In view of device isolation, shallow trench isolation (STI) technology has advantages over the conventional local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) technology. For example, STI technology shrinks the surface area needed to isolate transistors while offering superior latch-up immunity, smaller channel-width encroachment and better planarity.
However, STI technology encounters many challenges. For example, chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) with different pattern densities may result in over-polishing to cause dishing in the trench in the low pattern density region. As a result, open circuits occur due to collapse or breaks in the metal interconnects.
To overcome the problems due to dishing with STI technology, U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,605 provides a method using an additional oxide-reduction etching step performed prior to chemical-mechanical processing so as to reduce the polishing time to prevent dishing for shallow trench isolation processing.
In the present invention, provided are shallow trench isolation structures in a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the shallow trench isolation structures by depositing a high-k material layer in a trench with a larger surface area to improve surface planarity of the semiconductor device.

Shallow trench isolation structures in semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same