Methods of encoding and decoding for video data are described for encoding or decoding multi-level significance maps. Distinct context sets may be used for encoding the significant-coefficient flags in different regions of the transform unit. In a fixed case, the regions are defined by coefficient group borders. In one example, the upper-left coefficient group is a first region and the other coefficient groups are a second region. In a dynamic case, the regions are defined by coefficient group borders, but the encoder and decoder dynamically determine in which region each coefficient group belongs. Coefficient groups may be assigned to one region or another based on, for example, whether their respective significant-coefficient-group flags were inferred or not.

Data compression occurs in a number of contexts. It is very commonly used in communications and computer networking to store, transmit, and reproduce information efficiently. It finds particular application in the encoding of images, audio and video. Video presents a significant challenge to data compression because of the large amount of data required for each video frame and the speed with which encoding and decoding often needs to occur. The current state-of-the-art for video encoding is the ITU-T H.264/AVC video coding standard. It defines a number of different profiles for different applications, including the Main profile, Baseline profile and others. A next-generation video encoding standard is currently under development through a joint initiative of MPEG-ITU termed High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). The initiative may eventually result in a video-coding standard commonly referred to as MPEG-H.
There are a number of standards for encoding/decoding images and videos, including H.264, that use block-based coding processes. In these processes, the image or frame is divided into blocks, typically 4×4 or 8×8, and the blocks are spectrally transformed into coefficients, quantized, and entropy encoded. In many cases, the data being transformed is not the actual pixel data, but is residual data following a prediction operation. Predictions can be intra-frame, i.e. block-to-block within the frame/image, or inter-frame, i.e. between frames (also called motion prediction). It is expected that MPEG-H will also have these features.
When spectrally transforming residual data, many of these standards prescribe the use of a discrete cosine transform (DCT) or some variant thereon. The resulting DCT coefficients are then quantized using a quantizer to produce quantized transform domain coefficients, or indices.
The block or matrix of quantized transform domain coefficients (sometimes referred to as a "transform unit") is then entropy encoded using a particular context model. In H.264/AVC and in the current development work for MPEG-H, the quantized transform coefficients are encoded by (a) encoding a last significant coefficient position indicating the location of the last non-zero coefficient in the transform unit, (b) encoding a significance map indicating the positions in the transform unit (other than the last significant coefficient position) that contain non-zero coefficients, (c) encoding the magnitudes of the non-zero coefficients, and (d) encoding the signs of the non-zero coefficients. This encoding of the quantized transform coefficients often occupies 30-80% of the encoded data in the bitstream.
Transform units are typically N×N. Common sizes include 4×4, 8×8, 16×16, and 32×32, although other sizes are possible, including non-square sizes in some embodiments, such as 16×4, 4×16, 8×32 or 32×8. The entropy encoding of the symbols in the significance map is based upon a context model. In the case of 4×4 or 8×8 luma or chroma blocks or transform units (TU), a separate context is associated with each coefficient position in the TU. The encoder and decoder must keep track of and look up a large number of different contexts during the encoding and decoding of the significance map. In the case of larger TUs, the context for encoding a significant flag may depend on the values of neighboring significance flags. For example, the flag may have a context selected from four or five contexts depending on the values of neighboring flags. In some instances, particular flags within a TU or sub-block of a TU may have a context based on position, such as the upper-left (DC) position.
Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components.

Methods and devices for context set selection


A method which is capable of completely separating a plate member with a large area without using a peeling member and eliminating a possibility of permanent deformation on the plate member. A plurality of suction pads are suckingly disposed on a surface of a topmost plate member in a substantially lattice shape. Then, while the topmost plate member is held by the suction pads disposed in a zigzag shape among the suction pads disposed in the substantially lattice shape, the topmost plate member is lifted by the remaining suction pads. Finally, the suction pads holding the topmost plate member are lifted.

In pressing process, a topmost plate member is separated from laminated plate members to be supplied to a press forming machine. It is general to separate the plate members by lifting the topmost plate member by a suction pad. However, the laminated plate members are coated with an oil lubricant having a high viscosity, a rust preventing oil, or the like and are brought into close contact with each other by their own weight. Therefore, it is difficult to completely separate the plate members by such a method and there is a case of simultaneously lifting up a plurality of sheets of plate members. When the plurality of sheets of plate members are taken, the plurality of sheets of plate members are simultaneously supplied to the press forming machine and destroying a die is a concern.
Hence, a method of separating plate members as shown by FIG. 14 is adopted. According to the method, there are used a plurality of pieces of air cylinders 50 each attached with a suction pad 51 at a front end of an output rod 50a. First, the suction pads 51 are arranged substantially in a lattice shape to be adsorbed onto a surface of a laminated topmost plate member W. Next, while pressing the topmost plate member W by the suction pad 51 on a center side of the plate member W, the topmost plate member W is lifted by the remaining suction pad 51. Then, both side edges of the topmost plate member W are rolled up. In the drawing, the air cylinder 50 to be contracted is painted in gray color. Finally, the topmost plate member W is separated by lifting the suction pad 51 on the center side. A method similar thereto is described in Patent Reference 1.
Further, in order to completely separate the plate member W, there is a case of also using the following method. That is, an oil film between the plate members W is removed by lifting the suction pad 51 while blowing air to a gap between the plate members W from a pipe 52. Further, by engaging an end edge of the lifted plate member W by an exfoliating member 53, the plate member W is elastically deformed to promote to separate the plate member W.
Further, there is also proposed a method of forming a gap between plate members by laminating the plate members provided with recesses and projections and lifting the topmost plate member by a suction pad while blowing air from the gap (Patent Reference 2).
Patent Reference 1: JP-A-06-263275
Patent Reference 2: JP-A-04-39225


A composition and a method of use for reducing malsensory agents comprising a component selected from the group consisting of fragrances, flavors, unfragranced carriers and mixtures thereof, with undecylenic acid and/or a derivative thereof, in an amount effective to reduce the malsensory agents and allow release of the component from the composition.

The present invention relates to a composition and method for using the composition to neutralize or reduce malodors and bad tastes. More particularly, the present invention is directed to the use of undecylenic acid, its esters and/or salts, with fragrance and flavor components, and in products containing same to provide for odor neutralization of undesired aromas and tastes while maintaining the effect of the fragrance and flavor components. The composition of the present invention comprises undecylenic acid, its esters and/or salts with desirable fragrances and flavors at such concentrations that scavenging of the desirable volatilized fragrance and flavor components are minimized while maintaining an effective scavenging activity for undesired aromas and tastes. The present invention finds application in a wide variety of products such as, but not limited to, fabric and linen spray, candles, carpet deodorizer, hand sanitizer gels, room sprays and oral care products such as dentrifrices and mouth washes.
Fragrances and flavors are often used to provide sensory aesthetic benefits. Release of a particular fragrance and/or flavor from a composition can serve as a signal that the composition is not fouled or ineffective, or may be associated with particular attributes such as a strength, cleanliness and usefulness. Fragrances and flavors are added to numerous consumer products to provide sensory signals indicating the quality and worth of the product.
The practical use of a composition may be limited due to fouling of the composition with undesirable contaminants, break-down products, or other materials which produce undesired aromas and tastes (xe2x80x9cmalsensory agentsxe2x80x9d). While prevention of the formation of malsensory agents may be deemed preferable, and may be practicable in certain circumstances, such as when antibacterial or antifungal agents are used to reduce the number of microorganisms which excrete malsensory agents, often it is not possible to prevent fouling of a composition used in an environment exposed to malsensory agents.
Undesired aromas and tastes in a composition may be ameliorated by chemical modification of the malsensory agent (e.g., by reacting it with reactant so as to produce a new composition, such as an adduct or further breakdown product which lacks an undesired aroma and/or taste), reducing the release of the malsensory agent from the composition (as by absorption and/or adsorption of the malsensory agent onto another compound such as charcoal or zeolites), reducing the vapor pressure of the malsensory agent (making it less volatile), or by removal of the malsensory agent from the composition (as by solvent extraction). Undesired aromas and tastes may also be ameliorated by judicious use of fragrances and/or flavors in amounts sufficient to mask the malsensory agent.
Numerous compounds, which range from non-descript plant extracts to single and multiple chemical entities, have been touted to reduce the sensory perception of malodors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,005 to Fry et al. discloses the use of chlorophyll to remove the smell from used cat litter, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,727 discloses a deodorant consisting of deodorizing ingredients extracted from plants said to be useful for a wide variety of smells including sulfur and nitrogen compound odors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,986 to Kobayashi et al., discloses compounds useful as deodorants including water-soluble organic polymers having an average molecular weight of at least 100,000.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,207 to Ueda et al. discloses a mixture of an undecylenic acid anhydride with a copper compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,091,511 to Calhoun discloses a salicylic undecylenic acid ester of phenol and p-acetylaminophenol.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,887 to Wolf et al., discloses xcexa9-alkanedicarboxylic acids and moncarboxylie acid-esters of oligoglycerols as useful in reducing body odor, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,165 to Pilosof et al. discloses beta-cyclodextrin as a deodorant.
Among the many compounds said to have deodorizing activity are undecylenic acid and its derivatives. Undecylenic acid (C11H20O3) is a naturally occurring acid found in tears and sweat. It is commonly derived from cracking C18, often derived from castor oil, into C7 and C11 (where C11 is known as undecylenic acid or undecanoic acid).
Undecylenic acid and its derivatives display interesting biological profiles which have been used in such diverse products as pediculicides (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,116) and wild game repellants (to protect against the damage of cropsxe2x80x94See, e.g., DE-A-1,792,467). Initially undecylenic acid was proposed as a deodorizing agent based on its bacteriostat (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,875) and fungistat activities (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,882,868, 3,899,616 and 4,462,981) where bacterial and fungal break-down products are frequently malsensory in nature. Later it was recognized that undecylenic acid, and a number of its derivatives are effective deodorizing agents in and of themselves.
Undecylenic acid has been used as deodorant in several products, including animal litter boxes (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,919 which discloses the use of undecylenic acid in a flexible absorbent pad for use in animal litter boxes). It has also been used in conjunction with other deodorizing agents to enhance deodorization. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,103 discloses undecylenic acid, among many other compounds, to be useful in combination with an aluminometasilicate coated composite to provide an improved deodorant for refrigerators, garbage cans, automobiles, leather insole for shoes, paper diapers, menstrual products and general in-room use.
Ester derivatives of undecylenic acid, in particular, have been found to possess significant deodorizing activity. Polyoxyalkylene and simple alkyl esters of undecylenic acid have been found to be quite useful in the treatment of animal excreta. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,783 discloses the use of polyoxyalkylene esters of undecylenic acid as useful for the deodorization of liquid manures, while U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,511 discloses the use of alkyl and polyoxyalkylene ester derivatives of undecylenic acid at a concentration on the order of 0.01% to 5% by weight as useful in the deodorization of sewage sludges. See also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,947 disclosing the use of undecyleneic acid, its esters and its polyoxyalkylenated esters in conjunction with superphosphates in the deodorization of animal excreta. Such ester derivatives have also found use in the deodorization of paper mill effluents (See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,641), the removal of odors from malodorous animal foodstuffs (See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,090 and EP-0-434-524 which disclose deodorization with an alkyl or polyoxyalkylene ester of undecylenic acid, and its methyl, propyl, hexyl and decyl ester derivatives), and the deodorization of paper products, cardboards and non-woven material, such as found in filters, vacuum cleaner bags, nappies and air freshener diffusers (See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,460). Use of undecylenic acid ester derivatives in conjunction with polyetheresteramide polymers as deodorants is also disclosed in European Patent Application Publication No. 0 596 772.
It is believed that undecylenic acid, and its derivatives, deodorize by forming an extended conjugated system that reduce the vaporization of malsensory agents thereby reducing the density of such agents in the gaseous phase by amounts detectable by the human olfactory receptors. This can be confirmed as shown by a decrease of the density of the agents in the gaseous phase by sophisticated analytical techniques, including gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. It was generally believed that intimate contact created for example, by physical mixing or spraying between the undecylenic acid, or its derivatives, and the malodor producing agent is necessary in order for a reduction in malodor to occur.
The deodorizing action of undecylenic acid and its ester derivatives appears to be independent of the inherent aroma of the particular undecylenic acid derivative. For example, methyl undecylenate, a known carnation base (See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,137,677 and 4,250,001), and ethyl undecylenate, characterized by some as an xe2x80x9cenduring perfume ingredientxe2x80x9d, that is an ingredient that will remain on a fabric or body (as the case may be) throughout any rinse and drying steps (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,500,137, 5,500,138, 5,500,154, 5,531,910, 5,790,404, and 5,849,310), as well as an xe2x80x9calcohol masking xe2x80x9d agent (See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,881), both reduce perception of malodors to a far greater extent than can be associated with any masking of the malodors by any aroma of the respective undecylenate ester.
Application of undecylenic acid derivatives has conventionally been limited to removing odors from non-consumable substances, such as sludges, personal care products, paper products and animal feeds. While many undecylenic acid derivatives are non-toxic, such acids and their derivatives have not been used to reduce mal-tasting flavors in human-consumed foodstuffs and expectorants (such as mouthwashes and dentifrices).
While undecylenate derivatives and their salts are quite effective at reducing malodors, they all suffer from a major disadvantage in that they are thought to scavenge both malodors and desired odors, such as perfumes and flavoring agents, without selectivity.
Therefore, there is a need for a composition and method that makes use of the advantageous malodor neutralizing and retention properties of undecylenic acid, its esters, and salts thereof, without disadvantageously affecting the release of desired aromas and flavors or negatively effecting the end use hedonics of such.
The present invention provides fragrance and flavor compositions containing malsensory agent neutralizing compositions for inclusion in a variety of consumer products. In particular, by pre-mixing the neutralizing composition with the fragrance at a defined ratio, the present invention provides fragrance and flavor compositions that permit enhanced neutralization of malsensory agents while permitting advantageous controlled release of the desired fragrance and/or flavor. The present invention further provides for prolonged release of fragrances, and without any undesirable aromas that may be associated with the undecylenic acid and/or its derivatives.
The composition and method of the present invention reduces undesirable scavenging of fragrances and flavors in products incorporating undecylenic acid, and its derivatives, by pre-mixing the undecylenic acid and/or its derivatives with fragrances and flavor agents in a medium such that the concentration of the undecylenic acid and/or its derivatives is from about 5% to about 50% by weight of the medium for the pre-mix, and then adding the resultant pre-mix medium to products or carriers which are desired to be deodorized or used for deodorization. Pre-mixture of the undecylenic acid and its derivatives with the desired fragrances and flavors at such concentrations has also been found to provide a composition with improved release of the fragrance and/or flavoring agent over time. What is meant herein by a composition with improved release of fragrance and/or flavoring components is a composition using undecylenic acid, and/or its derivatives with fragrance and/or flavor components wherein the release of many of the flavor and/or fragrance components is controlled over a time period that is longer than without the composition. This is most advantageous where greater fragrance longevity is desirable, while minimizing substantial diminution of fragrance or flavor impact or strength.
The present invention also produces the unexpected results where undecylenic acid, and its derivatives, in particular its ester derivatives, are useful for removing odors even in a non-aqueous environment. In particular, the unexpected results are that undecylenic acid, its esters and salts, and other derivatives, remain effective in removing odors even when allowed to volatilize into the air without mechanical assistance (i.e. spraying), or intimate contact. When formulated into a spray product, and directed onto fabric materials, undecylenic acid, and its derivatives, have unexpectedly been found to provide significantly better effectiveness in removing common place odors, such as tobacco smoke smell, feces odors, cooking smells, body odors and feminine odors than commonly used cyclodextrins (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,534,165, 5,714,137, 5,668,097, 5,783,544, 5,942,217, 5,968,404). Particularly improved performance was seen with fragrance compositions for a pre-mix including about 5% to about 50% of undecylenic acid and/or it derivatives, more preferably wherein the pre-mix comprises 10-30% of a mixture of about 60-90% ethyl undecylenate with about 10-40% methyl undecylenate, the balance of the pre-mix containing fragrance and/or flavor component(s). The improved odor neutralizing performance of the pre-mix was also observed when used in a concentration of about 0.5-2.0% by weight in a fabric spray comprising, for example, about 0-40% alcohol, 0.2-10% surfactant, the balance being water. The specific combination of methyl and ethyl undecylenates allowed for the lower odor inherent in the ethyl undecylenate, and the greater efficacy of the methyl component at a low enough level so as to minimize its own solvent-like odor contribution, and obtain optimal malodor neutralization.
The use of compositions containing undecylenic acid and its derivatives in particular, the methyl and ethyl esters thereof, was unexpectedly determined to remove odors from the atmosphere in which such compositions were burned or heated, as in products that can maintain a flame, or products which utilize other dynamic energy sources. In addition, vaporization of the undecylenic acid, and its derivative, in particular the methyl and ethyl esters thereof, into the atmosphere was seen to remove malodors dispersed in such atmosphere even though the undecylenic acid/acid-derivatives were not in direct contact with the source producing the odor.
Particularly useful odor neutralizing agents were found to include undecylenic acid, salts of undecylenic acid (e.g., sodium, calcium and zinc), simple esters of undecylenic acid (e.g., methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl), undecylenate silicone esters, and combinations of undecylenic acid esters.

Fragrance and flavor compositions containing odor neutralizing agents


A dual-purpose sealable food container / building block element comprising an upper portion and a bottom portion, the upper portion being open, characterized in that at least one of the upper portion and the bottom portion is provided with at least one connecting member, such that a plurality of the container/elements are connectable to one another by engaging the connecting members and sliding toward each other along the connecting members, for use of the container/elements as a toy after completing original use as a food container. By assembling a plurality of food containers in the play mode, three-dimensional structures may be created. In order to enable such large constructions to be firm and steady, the connecting members are of the slide type, engageable by insertion of rails at the open ends of sockets and sliding longitudinally into each other, perpendicular to the forces acting on assembled building blocks. This type of connection does not depend on friction as the main holding force, and is not easily separated.

Various containers arranged for connection one to another are known in the prior art of storage systems, for example as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,99,818 to Schankler. The patent discloses an interlocking system of identical modules for storage of microfilm cartridges or boxes, particularly in a carousel arrangement. There is no provision for sealing the front end of the modules.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,601 to Hlinsky et al. discloses an expandable modular storage system for holding slides and cassettes, using screws for interlocking adjacent elements. Modular storage units for useful as furniture items are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,214 to Moore et al. The modular units are each formed from identical hingedly connected rectangular panels.
An interlocking modular display rack system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,745 to Loge et al., featuring a set of open, non-sealable holders for supporting article caddies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,913 to Lee discloses a display and storage assembly using interlocking stackable open bins, designed to be interlocked in a juxtaposed side-by-side relationship.
Other examples of stackable and interlocking containers or boxes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,514,170 to Shewchuk and 3,506,321 to Hampel. Neither of these designs is sealable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,829 to Masser discloses an article-carrying container, which is not sealable.
In the area of food packaging containers, it is known to use open top cup-like containers made out of plastic which are manufactured by the injection or vacuum molding process, and sealed by bonded or folded aluminum foil or by elastic-type plastic covers. These containers are especially useful for such applications as dairy products which usually have short shelf lives. Most containers used today are disposable, having no other use once the original contents are emptied, thus causing a litter problem.
Building block assembly toys are well known and used by children throughout the world, and are available in various shapes and sizes. Many kinds of connecting means are used, most of them of the push-pull variety, with material elasticity and friction as the joining method, exhibiting only modest holding force.
Most building blocks available are small in size, relative to the child's environment. The reason that larger building blocks are not found on the market is that the production, storage and delivery prices for such would exceed the average family's toy budget.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,143 to Gat et al. discloses an assembly toy for joining cylindrical objects.
Using empty containers as toys has been suggested in French Patent No. 2549610, which describes a container such as that mentioned above with a relief of a face or other shape on the bottom for shaping soft materials or cookies, but not suitable as a constructional toy.
Another invention of this type is found in Israeli Patent No. 33024, which describes a bottle with projections and recesses which can be interconnected at many relative positions with the push-pull method of connection. This patent shows good three dimensional construction ability, but the connection is too weak for larger constructions.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a food container with connecting features which permit it to be used as a building block assembly toy after the contents are emptied.
It is another object of the invention to provide building blocks suitable for building large structures, thereby reducing the expenses of buying special assembly toys as well as reducing the litter problem posed by disposable containers.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a food container adequate for building large, complex three-dimensional structures in the play mode, using only empty containers.

Dual-purpose food container/building block element


Some embodiments use proxies on host devices to suppress broadcast traffic in a network. Each host in some embodiments executes one or more virtual machines (VMs). In some embodiments, a proxy operates on each host between each VM and the underlying network. For instance, in some of these embodiments, a VM's proxy operates between the VM and a physical forwarding element executing on the VM's host. The proxy monitors the VM's traffic, and intercepts broadcast packets when it knows how to deal with them. The proxy connects to a set of one or more controllers that provides a directory service that collects and maintains global information of the network. By connecting to the controller cluster, the proxy can obtain information that it can use to resolve broadcast requests. In some embodiments, the connection between the proxy and the controller cluster is encrypted and authenticated, to enhance the security. Also, in some embodiments, the connection is an indirect connection through an agent that executes on the host device and connects the proxies of the host device with the controller cluster.

Some protocols utilize broadcast to perform their functionalities. Examples of such protocols include the address resolution protocol (ARP) and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP). Broadcast traffic is sent to all hosts within a broadcast domain. Accordingly, a broadcast packet usually consumes much more resources than a unicast packet. Previous researches have pointed out that broadcast traffic causes issues like scalability and security. For example, in a network with about 2500 hosts, studies have shown that a host receives 1150 ARP request per second (581 kbps) at peak. The amount of broadcast traffic roughly increases linearly with the number of hosts. Thus, when the host number becomes large, the ARP traffic becomes prohibitively high.
Broadcast traffic can also be easily eavesdropped by any entity in the network. A protocol relying on broadcast traffic is vulnerable to attacks if its design does not consider security carefully. For example, ARP is a trusting protocol and was not designed to cope with malicious hosts. The lack of authentication mechanism makes it vulnerable to ARP poisoning/spoofing. An attacker can build fake ARP replies to compromise hosts' ARP cache, and then perform attacks such as man-in-the-middle, host impersonation, DoS, etc.
These issues also exist in virtual networks, such as virtual layer 2 networks based on VXLAN or NVGRE. These protocols use headers higher than layer 3 to encapsulate packets and can cross layer 3 boundaries, so a virtual network can be created across multiple subnets. A broadcast packet in such a virtual network needs to be sent to all nodes located in different subnets, using layer 3 multicast protocols (e.g., PIM) or unicasts to all hosts.
When the layer 3 multicast is used, the routers need to maintain the state of a multicast group for each virtual network. When the number of multicast groups is large (e.g. VXLAN supports 216 virtual networks), the routers' workload could be very high. A mitigating approach is to share a multicast group among multiple virtual networks, but this approach leads to receipts of unrelated packets and therefore causes performance decrement. Besides, many customers are reluctant to enable multicast in their physical network.
If the unicast approach is used, a host needs to send one copy of a broadcast packet to each host that the virtual network spans, or each VM in a virtual network. For a large virtual layer 2 network, this will consume a lot of resources, including computation resources at the source entity and bandwidth resources at the physical network.
Besides, both multicast and unicast approaches consume not only network resources within a subnet, but also routers among subnets. Therefore, compared with attacks on a physical layer 2 network, a successful DoS attack that floods ARP packets to a virtual layer 2 network can have a large impact.

Proxy methods for suppressing broadcast traffic in a network


Systems and methods are described that permit objects from runtime environments that are incompatible with one another to be co-executed on a computing machine. Depending on which object can service the request, a generic proxy may send the request to the proxy of the particular runtime environment associated with that object. The proxy may call the appropriate methods of the object therein to service the request. Each runtime environment may be isolated from other runtime environments by a container such that catastrophic errors in one runtime environment do not disrupt the execution of objects in another runtime environment. A first object in a first runtime environment may execute methods in a second object in a second runtime environment by invoking a proxy of the second runtime environment to call the methods of the second object.

Objects typically execute in a runtime environment specific to the object's type. Thus, on a particular computing machine, objects from different environments are typically not co-executed to perform a single task. Concerns, such as (1) over duplication of interfaces and (2) issues with catastrophic failures in one runtime environment disrupting another runtime environment, drive developers to construct systems that are built of objects of a single type.

Co-execution of objects from divergent runtime environments


An exemplary positioning device used for moving a workpiece to a targeted position, the positioning device includes: a pulling member, a platform, a guiding member, two opposite positioning members, and a cable. The guiding member is located on the platform. The positioning members are located on the guiding member. The cable connects the pulling member with the two guiding members. The pulling member is capable of pulling the two positioning members to move along the guiding member via the cable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to positioning devices.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In the manufacturing industry, it is frequently necessary to test a workpiece or assemble a plurality of workpieces as a module. Before testing or assembling, it is commonly necessary that the workpiece is positioned on a targeted position.
Generally, positioning the workpiece on the targeted position is performed by a positioning device, such as a centering device. Typically, the centering device includes a platform, a raised platform, four guide rails, four pushing blocks, a plurality of hinges, four connecting shafts, and a motor. The raised platform and the guide rails are located on the platform. The guide rails are positioned around the raised platform. The pushing blocks are on the guide rail. The connecting shafts connect with the motor via the hinges. In use, when the motor is startup, the motor pulls the pushing blocks to move along the guide rail via the connecting shaft, and the pushing blocks push a workpiece placed on the raised platform to move until a centre of the workpiece reaches a centric axis between the four pushing blocks.
However, the connecting shafts are rigid, thus joint structures between the hinges and the connecting shafts are complex. As a result, an arrangement of the above components is prone to being demanding. In addition, if a configuration of the centering device is adjusted, the structures of connecting shafts may need to be changed. Because the connecting shafts are complex, a process of reconstituting the connecting shafts would be involved. Thus adjustment of the centering device is inconvenient.
Therefore, a new positioning device is desired in order to overcome the above-described shortcomings.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A memory module and a related memory system are disclosed. The memory module comprises a semiconductor memory having a data output buffer, a data input buffer, a command/address input buffer and a first termination resistor unit connected to a data bus. The memory module further comprises a second termination resistor unit connected to an internal command/address bus. First and second termination resistor units are preferably of different resistive value and/or type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a memory system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a memory module providing improved signal integrity for signals transmitted via a data bus and a command/address bus. The present invention also relates to a memory system including the foregoing memory module.
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application No. 2004-15592 filed on Mar. 8, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor memory, for example dynamic random access memory (DRAM), is widely used in computer systems such as a personal computers and servers. To improve the performance and capacity of a semiconductor memory, a plurality of semiconductor memories is typically mounted on a memory module and installed in a computer system. A conventional memory module is disclosed, for example, in published U.S. Patent Application ser. No. 2003/0149855.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional memory system. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional memory system 100 includes a memory controller 110, a memory module 120, and termination resistors RT11 and RT12, collectively mounted on a motherboard.
Memory controller 110 transmits a command/address signal to semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn included in memory module 120 through a command/address bus CABUS. The command/address signal controls the data being written to (i.e., "input") or read from (i.e., "output") semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn via a data bus DQBUS.
Memory module 120 includes semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn and a command/address buffer 124. Semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn are connected to data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS, which are system busses connecting memory controller 110. These connections are typically made using a stub, which preferably uses conventional stub series terminated transceiver logic (SSTL).
Command/address buffer 124 buffers the command/address signal transferred through command/address bus CABUS to provide a buffered command/address signal to semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn.
First semiconductor memory DRAM1 comprises a data output buffer 121, a data input buffer 122 and a command/address input buffer 123. Data output buffer 121 buffers internal output data DOUT and transmits buffered internal output data to data bus DQBUS. Data output buffer 121 is also called a data output driver. Data input buffer 122 and command/address input buffer 123 implement pseudo-differential operators. Data input buffer 122 amplifies a voltage difference between input data transmitted through data bus DQBUS and a reference voltage VREF to generate internal input data DIN which is written to memory cells (not shown) of first semiconductor memory DRAM1. The level of reference voltage VREF is preferably half of the power supply voltage level.
Command/address input buffer 123 amplifies a voltage difference between the command/address signal transferred through command/address buffer 124 and the reference voltage VREF to generate an internal command/address signal CAI used for controlling a write or read operation of first semiconductor memory DRAM1.
Semiconductor memories DRAM2 through DRAMn are identical to semiconductor memory DRAM1 and hence descriptions of the configuration and behavior of semiconductor memory DRAM1 given herein apply to semiconductor memories DRAM2 through DRAMn as well.
Termination resistors RT11 and RT12 are constructed in a parallel termination configuration and are supplied with a termination voltage VT1. Termination resistors RT11 and RT12 are respectively connected to the ends of data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS in order to improve the integrity of signals transferred through data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS. Termination resistors a RT11 and RT12 improve the integrity of signals transferred through data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS by preventing signal reflections on the signal lines forming data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS.
Command/address bus CABUS operates at a lower frequency than data bus DQBUS. Accordingly, termination resistor RT12, which prevents reflections of the command/address signal, is located on the motherboard and not on the memory module.
During a read operation performed by data output buffer 121 noise is typically present in reference voltage VREF. This reference voltage is commonly applied to data input buffer 122 and command/address input buffer 123. Thus, an increasing operation speed for semiconductor memory DRAM1 results in an increasing operating speed for data output buffer 121. Where noise is present in the reference voltage VREF, the increasing operating speed of output data buffer 121 produces an undesirable effect in the operation of data input buffer 122 and command/address buffer 123.
Accordingly, separate reference voltages are conventionally applied to data input buffer and command/address buffer 123. A conventional memory system supplying separate reference voltages to a data input buffer and a command/address buffer is shown in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 2, a memory system 200 comprises a memory controller 210, a memory module 220, and termination resistors RT21 and RT22, collectively mounted on a motherboard.
Memory controller 210 transmits a command/address signal to semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn included in memory module 220 through command/address bus CABUS. The command/address signal controls data being written to or read from semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn through data bus DQBUS.
Memory module 220 includes semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn and a command/address buffer 224. Semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn are connected to data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS, which are system busses connecting memory controller 210. These connections are typically made using a stub, which preferably uses conventional stub series terminated transceiver logic (SSTL).
Command/address buffer 224 buffers the command/address signal transferred through command/address bus CABUS to provide a buffered command/address signal to semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn.
First semiconductor memory DRAM1 comprises a data output buffer 221, a data input buffer 222 and a command/address input buffer 223. Data output buffer 221 buffers internal output data DOUT and transmits the buffered internal output data to data bus DQBUS. Data output buffer 221 is also called a data output driver. Data input buffer 222 and command/address input buffer 223 implement pseudo-differential operators. Data input buffer 222 amplifies a voltage difference between input data transmitted through data bus DQBUS and a first reference voltage VREF_DQ to generate internal input data DIN which is written to memory cells (not shown) of first semiconductor memory DRAM1.
Command/address input buffer 223 amplifies a voltage difference between the command/address signal transferred through command/address buffer 224 and a second reference voltage VREF_CA to generate an internal command/address signal CAI used for controlling a write or read operation of first semiconductor memory DRAM1.
The levels of first and second reference voltages VREF_DQ and VREF_CA are preferably half a power supply voltage level when all the semiconductor memories DRAM1 through DRAMn are double data rate synchronous RAMs.
Semiconductor memories DRAM2 through DRAMn are identical to semiconductor memory DRAM1 and hence descriptions of the configuration and behavior of semiconductor memory DRAM1 given herein apply to semiconductor memories DRAM2 through DRAMn as well.
Termination resistors RT21 and RT22 are constructed in a parallel termination configuration and provided with a termination voltage VT2. Termination resistors RT21 and RT22 are respectively connected to the ends of data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS in order to improve the integrity of signals transferred through data bus DQBUS and command/address bus CABUS.
As the operation speed of memory system 200 continually increases, the command/address signal transmitted through command/address bus CABUS increases as well. However, memory system 200 cannot appropriately increase the transmission speed of the command/address signal transmitted through command/address bus CABUS because termination resistor RT22, which is connected to the end of the command/address bus CABUS, is mounted on the motherboard.

Memory module capable of improving the integrity of signals transmitted through a data bus and a command/address bus, and a memory system including the same


The invention provides a diffusion region structure in a semiconductor device wherein the diffusion region is applied with alternating voltages in an operation of the semiconductor device. The structure comprises at least one diffusion region being doped with an impurity of a first conductivity type at a first impurity concentration and also being provided in a semiconductor bulk region doped with an impurity of a second conductivity type at a second impurity concentration lower than the first impurity concentration, and at least a diffusion capacitance reduction layer provided under the diffusion region so as to be in contact with a bottom of the diffusion region. The diffusion capacitance reduction layer may be doped with an impurity of the second conductivity type at a third impurity concentration which is at least lower than the second impurity concentration of the semiconductor bulk region and not lower than zero or may be mode of an insulating material to thereby reduce a capacitance of the diffusion region.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a field effect transistor with source/drain diffusion regions having an extremely small capacitance for high speed and high frequency performances.
The most important issue in design of improved field effect transistors such as MOS field effect transistors would be how tzo achieve a possible scaling down and ensure possible high speed and high frequency performances. The field effect transistors such as MOSFETs have been on being subjected to requirements of a scaling down according to the scaling down law. Namely, a scaling down of the MOS field effect transistor requires a certain increase in impurity concentration of source/drain diffusion regions, for which reason the increase in impurity concentration of the source/drain diffusion regions would be unavoidable for improvements of the semiconductor devices including MOS field effect transistors.
On the other hand, high speed and high frequency performances of the field effect transistors such as MOSFETs may largely depend upon an alternating-current capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions. The capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions may also depend largely upon a p-n junction capacitance which is generated on an interface of the source/drain diffusion regions to a peripheral semiconductor bulk region in which the source/drain diffusion regions are formed. In the normal field effect transistors such as MOSFETs, the source/drain diffusion regions are formed in a surface region of a semiconductor substrate doped with an impurity at a predetermined impurity concentration or in a well region also doped with an impurity at a predetermined impurity concentration. Impurity concentrations of the semiconductor substrate and the well region should be determined to suppress short channel effects or punch through effects. A magnitude of the p-n junction capacitance depends upon impurity concentrations of the source/drain diffusion regions and the peripheral semiconductor regions such as semiconductor substrate and well region formed in the substrate. Low impurity concentrations of both the source/drain regions and the semiconductor peripheral region such as the semiconductor substrate or the well region may cause a small p-n junction capacitance to be generated at an interface of the source/drain diffusion regions to the semiconductor peripheral region. By contrast, high impurity concentrations of both the source/drain regions and the semiconductor peripheral region such as the semiconductor substrate or the well region may cause a large pn junction capacitance to be generated at an interface of the source/drain diffusion regions to the semiconductor peripheral region. A certain reduction in impurity concentration of at least one of the source/drain diffusion regions and the semiconductor peripheral region such as the semiconductor substrate or the well region may lead to a reduction of the p-n junction capacitance.
From the above descriptions, it would be understood that the scaling down of the field effect transistors such as MOSFETs requires, according to the scaling down law, an increase in impurity concentration of the source/drain diffusion regions and further the increase in impurity concentration of the source/drain diffusion regions may lead to an increase in p-n junction capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions thereby a capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions is also increased.
The increased capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions may, however, render it difficult to allow the field effect transistors to exhibit high speed and high frequency performances, for which reason a reduced or low capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions is required to allow the field effect transistor to show the required high sped and high frequency performances. According to the scaling down law, it is difficult to reduce the capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions while the scaling down is required. On the other hand, in view of suppressions of the short channel effects and punch through effects, it is also difficult to largely reduce an impurity concentration of the semiconductor peripheral region such as the semiconductor substrate or the semiconductor well region in which the source/drain diffusion regions are formed.
Under the above circumstances, the scaling down of the field effect transistors such as MOSFETs may prevent the transistors from showing high speed and high frequency performances, for which reasons there have been developed or proposed techniques for reducing the capacitance of the highly doped source/drain diffusion regions.
One of conventional techniques for reducing the capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions is disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 58-2067, which will hereinafter be described with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, field oxide films 20 are selectively formed in a surface of a p-type semiconductor substrate 10. A gate oxide film 61 is selectively formed at a center of the surface of the p-type semiconductor substrate 10 and then a gate electrode 62 is formed on the gate oxide film 61 to thereby form a gate structure 60. The gate electrode may comprise a polysilicon film having a thickness of 0.5 micrometers and being doped with phosphorus. Arsenic is implanted at an implantation energy of 50 KeV into the surface of the p-type semiconductor substrate 10 by using the gate structure 60 and the field oxide films 20 as masks to form n-type source/drain diffusion regions 90.
As illustrated in FIG. 1B, boron is further implanted at a high implantation energy of 300 KeV into the p-type semiconductor substrate 10 by using the gate structure 60 and the field oxide films 20 as masks to form a p-type high impurity concentration region 100 being positioned at a deep level under the source/drain diffusion regions 90 but positioned just under the gate structure 60 so that a channel region between the source/drain diffusion regions 90 is occupied by the p-type high impurity concentration region 100. This may somewhat contribute to prevent the short channel effects and punch through effect. The p-type high impurity concentration diffusion region 100 is spaced apart from bottoms of the source/drain diffusion regions 90. This may contribute to suppress the unnecessary increase in a p-n junction capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions.
Another one of the conventional techniques for reducing the capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions is disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 60-94759 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. An n-type low impurity concentration well region 102 is selectively formed in a p-type semiconductor substrate 10 having a low impurity concentration. Field oxide films 20 are selectively formed in a surface of the substrate 10 to separate the n-type low impurity well region 32 from the surface region of the p-type low impurity concentration semiconductor substrate 10. Gate structures 60 comprising gate oxide films 61 and gate electrodes 62 are formed on a surface of the p-type low impurity concentration semiconductor substrate 10 and the n-type low impurity concentration well region 32. Further, n-type and p-type source/drain diffusion regions 54 and 44 are formed in the surface region of the p-type low impurity concentration semiconductor substrate 10 and the n-type low impurity concentration well region 32 respectively. Further, there is formed a p-type high impurity concentration diffusion region 101 having an impurity concentration in the range of from 1.times.10.sup.13 to 6.times.10.sup.13 atoms/cm.sup.3 which is higher than an impurity concentration of the p-type low impurity concentration semiconductor substrate 10 to thereby allow the control of threshold voltage and suppress of punch through phenomenon. An n-type high impurity concentration diffusion region 102 is also formed having a high impurity concentration in the range of from 1.times.10.sup.15 to 3.times.10.sup.15 atoms/cm.sup.3 which is higher than an impurity concentration of the n-type well region 32 to thereby allow the control of threshold voltage and suppress of punch through phenomenon.
The conventional techniques described above for reducing the capacitance of the source/drain diffusion regions would be to use the low impurity concentrations of the semiconductor substrate or the well region in which the source/drain diffusion regions are formed. Indeed, the above conventional techniques have been useful for the conventional devices, however, not applicable to further improved devices to be subjected to a further scaling down. Further scaling down of the device to be required in the future will surely accompany with further increase in impurity concentration of the source/drain diffusion regions, whereas the device will be required to be improved to show further high speed and high frequency performances. Further decrease in impurity concentration of the semiconductor substrate or the well region, in which the source/drain diffusion regions are formed, may cause serious problems with a certain increase in resistance of the substrate and a certain reduction in resistivity to latch-up phenomenon, in addition a certain increase in noise of the substrate. To suppress those problems, it is impossible to further reduce the impurity concentration of the substrate or the well region.
Under the above circumstances, for the purpose of allowing improvements in high speed and high frequency performances of the device, it have been required to develop a quite novel technique for reducing the capacitance of the highly doped source/drain diffusion regions with keeping the necessary high impurity concentration of the substrate and the well region to settle the above problems.

Field effect transistor with improved source/drain diffusion regions having an extremely small capacitance


The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having protease activity and isolated polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells comprising the polynucleotides as well as methods of producing and using the polypeptides in, e.g., animal feed and detergents.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to isolated polypeptides having protease activity and isolated nucleic acid sequences encoding the proteases. The invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, vectors, and host cells, including plant and animal cells, comprising the nucleic acid sequences, as well as methods for producing and using the proteases, in particular the use of the proteases in animal feed, and detergents.
Background of the Invention
In the use of proteases in animal feed (in vivo), and/or the use of such proteases for treating vegetable proteins (in vitro) it is noted that proteins are essential nutritional factors for animals and humans. Most livestock and human beings get the necessary proteins from vegetable protein sources. Important vegetable protein sources are, e.g., oilseed crops, legumes and cereals.
When soybean meal is included in the feed of mono-gastric animals such as pigs and poultry, a significant proportion of the soybean meal solids is not digested efficiently (the apparent ileal protein digestibility in piglets, growing pigs and poultry such as broilers, laying hens and roosters is only around 80%).
The gastrointestinal tract of animals consists of a series of segments each representing different pH environments. In mono-gastric animals such as pigs and poultry and many fish the stomach exhibits strongly acidic pH as low as pH 1-2, while the intestine exhibit a more neutral pH in the area pH 6-7. Poultry in addition to stomach and intestine also have a crop preceding the stomach, pH in the crop is mostly determined by the feed ingested and hence typically lies in the range pH 4-6. Protein digestion by a protease may occur along the entire digestive tract, given that the protease is active and survives the conditions in the digestive tract. Hence, proteases which are highly acid stable for survival in the gastric environment and at the same time are efficiently active at broad physiological pH of the target animal are especially desirable.
Also, animal feed is often formulated in pelleted form, where steam is applied in the pelleting process. It is therefore also desireable that proteases used in animal feed are capable to remain active after exposure to steam treatment
Polypeptides Having Protease Activity
Polypeptides having protease activity, or proteases, are sometimes also designated peptidases, proteinases, peptide hydrolases, or proteolytic enzymes. Proteases may be of the exo-type that hydrolyse peptides starting at either end thereof, or of the endo-type that act internally in polypeptide chains (endopeptidases). Endopeptidases show activity on N- and C-terminally blocked peptide substrates that are relevant for the specificity of the protease in question.
The term "protease" is defined herein as an enzyme that hydrolyses peptide bonds. This definition of protease also applies to the protease-part of the terms "parent protease" and "protease variant," as used herein. The term "protease" includes any enzyme belonging to the EC 3.4 enzyme group (including each of the thirteen subclasses thereof). The EC number refers to Enzyme Nomenclature 1992 from NC-IUBMB, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif., including supplements 1-5 published in Eur. J. Biochem. 223: 1-5 (1994); Eur. J. Biochem. 232: 1-6 (1995); Eur. J. Biochem. 237: 1-5 (1996); Eur. J. Biochem. 250: 1-6 (1997); and Eur. J. Biochem. 264: 610-650 (1999); respectively. The nomenclature is regularly supplemented and updated; see e.g. the World Wide Web (WWW) at chem.qmw.ac.uk/iubmb/enzyme/index.html.
The proteases of the invention and for use according to the invention are selected from the group consisting of:
(a) proteases belonging to the EC 3.4.21. enzyme group; and/or
(b) Serine proteases of the peptidase family S1, or more specifically S1A;
as described in Biochem. J. 290:205-218 (1993) and in MEROPS protease database, release, 9.4 (the World Wide Web (WWW) at merops.ac.uk). The database is described in Rawlings et al., 2010, MEROPS: the peptidase database. Nucleic Acids Res. 38: D227-D233.
More specifically the proteases of the invention are those that prefer a hydrophobic aromatic aa residue in the P1 position.
For determining whether a given protease is a Serine protease, and a family S1A protease, reference is made to the above Handbook and the principles indicated therein. Such determination can be carried out for all types of proteases, be it naturally occurring or wild-type proteases; or genetically engineered or synthetic proteases.
The peptidases of family S1 contain the catalytic triad His, Asp and Ser in that order. Mutation of any of the amino acids of the catalytic triad will result in loss of enzyme activity. The amino acids of the catalytic triad of the S1 protease 1 from Kribbella solani (SEQ ID NO: 2) and Kribbella aluminosa (SEQ ID NO: 4) are probably positions His-138, Asp-168 and Ser-250.
Protease activity can be measured using any assay, in which a substrate is employed, that includes peptide bonds relevant for the specificity of the protease in question. Assay-pH and assay-temperature are likewise to be adapted to the protease in question. Examples of assay-pH-values are pH 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12. Examples of assay-temperatures are 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 37, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 80, 90, or 95° C. Examples of protease substrates are casein, such as Azurine-Crosslinked Casein (AZCL-casein), or suc-AAPF-pNA. Examples of suitable protease assays are described in the experimental part.


The present invention relates to methods for controlling the migration of unconsolidated particulates in a portion of a subterranean formation, and more particularly, to the using a pressure pulse to enhance the effectiveness of placement of a consolidation fluid in a portion of a subterranean formation. Some methods of the present invention provide methods of treating a subterranean formation comprising injecting a consolidation fluid into the subterranean formation while periodically applying a pressure pulse having a given amplitude and frequency to the consolidation fluid.

The present invention relates to methods for controlling the migration of unconsolidated particulates in a portion of a subterranean formation, and more particularly, to the using a pressure pulse to enhance the effectiveness of placement of a consolidation fluid in a portion of a subterranean formation.
Hydrocarbon wells are often located in unconsolidated portions of a subterranean formation, that is, portions of a subterranean formation that contain particulate matter capable of migrating with produced fluids out of the formation and into a well bore. The presence of particulate matter, such as sand, in produced fluids may be disadvantageous and undesirable in that such particulates may abrade pumping equipment and other producing equipment and may reduce the fluid production capabilities of the producing portions of the subterranean formation. Unconsolidated portions of subterranean formations include those which contain loose particulates that are readily entrained by produced fluids and those wherein the particulates are bonded together with insufficient bond strength to withstand the forces produced by the production of fluids through the zones.
One conventional method used to control formation particulates in unconsolidated formations involves consolidating a portion of a subterranean formation into a hard, permeable mass by applying a curable resin composition to the portion of the subterranean formation. In one example of such a technique, an operator pre-flushes the formation, applies a resin composition, and then applies an after-flush fluid to remove excess resin from the pore spaces of the zones. Such resin consolidation methods are widely used but may be limited by the ability to place the resin through enough of the unconsolidated portion of the formation to adequately control the particulates. Even when the resin compositions are designed with very low viscosities, they are often unable to achieve significant penetration or uniform penetration into the portion of the subterranean formation. Conditions such as variable formation permeability; formation damage in the near-well bore area; debris along the well bore, a perforation tunnel, or a fracture face; and, compaction zones along the well bore, a perforation tunnel, or a fracture face may make uniform placement of resin compositions extremely difficult to achieve. The problems are particularly severe when used to treat long intervals of unconsolidated regions.
In production operations, hydrocarbons may be profitably extracted from the reservoir by a variety of recovery techniques. One such technique is pressure pulse waterflooding. Generally, the combination of a secondary recovery technique, e.g., waterflooding, with the use of pressure pulsing is thought to enable the recovery of up to about 30% to about 45% of the reserves. Pressure pulsing as referred to herein will be understood to mean deliberately varying the fluid pressure in the subterranean reservoir through the application of periodic increases, or "pulses," in the pressure of a fluid being injected into the reservoir. Pressure pulsing has also been performed through the use of a pulse-generating apparatus attached to a well head located above the surface. Pulsing typically occurs either by raising and lowering a string of tubing located within the well bore, or by employing a flutter valve assembly which periodically opens and closes to permit a fluid to be pumped into the well bore.
While such pressure pulsing techniques have been used to enhance water injection for secondary oil recovery, they have not been used to insert resins or formation consolidation type fluids into a formation. The present invention seeks to use the increase flow benefits of pressure pulsing to increase the ability of a resin composition to penetrate a portion of a subterranean formation.

Methods for enhancing treatment fluid placement in a subterranean formation


An imaging apparatus includes an image sensor, an AD conversion unit, a clamp processing unit, and a video signal correction unit. The clamp processing unit is configured to clamp to a black level, an image signal of an effective pixel region or an optical-black region of the image sensor after having been digitally converted by the AD conversion unit, by evaluating a difference from a signal of the optical-black region. The video signal correction unit is configured to calculate signal information of a part or whole of the optical-black region of an image signal of the image sensor; and, independently for each color of the video signal, to calculate correction amount of a video signal using the signal information, and to carry out correction by subtracting calculated correction amount from the image signal before clamping operation performed by the clamp processing unit.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an imaging apparatus and an imaging method and, more particularly, to a technology suitable for use in an imaging apparatus having a clamping function.
Description of the Related Art
Herein below, the prior art will be described. The conventional imaging apparatus includes a lens that causes an incident light to form an image, an image sensor that converts an optical image formed by the lens into an electrical signal, and a signal processing unit that obtains a predetermined image signal by effecting various signal processing, after analog-to-digital (AD) conversion of the electrical signal obtained from the image sensor. Furthermore, the conventional imaging apparatus includes a clamp processing unit for compensating a black level of a video signal after the AD conversion processing. The clamp processing unit implements clamp processing, by using the video signal in an optical-black region shielded from light, of the image sensor.
A dynamic range exists in the clamp processing unit. When a signal of equal to or higher than a certain signal level, or a signal of equal to or lower than the signal level is input into the clamp processing unit, the value will exceed a range within which clamp processing is enabled. As a result, the clamp processing unit may not appropriately perform the clamp processing. When the signal level is amplified by an amplifier circuit at a front stage of the clamp processing unit, because of, for example, high temperature of the image sensor is, and significant dark current shot noise, the video signal may exceed the dynamic range before input of the clamp processing unit. In this case, the imaging apparatus only needs to offset the video signal at the front stage of the clamp processing unit, and to perform processing for causing the video signal to fall within the dynamic range of the clamp processing unit. A technology relating to clamp processing of the imaging apparatus is discussed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-358170.
An imaging apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-358170, based on an average value of signal levels of an optical-black portion of an image sensor in an image signal, corrects the signal level of the image signal. Then, the imaging apparatus subtracts the video signal before the clamp processing, and implements processing for causing the video signal to fall within the dynamic range of the clamp processing unit.
However, in a case where the imaging apparatus, when determining an average value (correction amount), in this manner, calculates an unique correction amount in a mix of four colors (R, Gr, Gb, and B) of sensor output video signal, and subtracts the same correction amount from the entire video signal, the following problems occur. The clamp processing unit is composed of a recursive type filter circuit, and has a certain time constant. Recursive processing requires a time according to the time constant to clamp the entire screen by a video signal of an optical-black region serving as a reference signal.
When the unique correction amount as described above is subtracted from the video signal, difference of video signals for each color after subtraction may becomes large. In a case where the video signal has entered into the clamp processing unit, it requires a time according to the time constant of the recursive type filter, to perform clamping. For this reason, the clamp processing unit may not instantaneously withdraw the video signal to a pedestal level, and there is a problem that a flicker occurs in a portion of the screen failed to withdraw.
Such a phenomenon occurs particularly on the condition under which level difference for each of four colors is likely to occur, such as a case where a gain of the amplifier at the front stage of the clamp processing unit is great, due to a high temperature and a low illuminance. When the time constant of the recursive type filter of the clamp processing is made short, for the purpose of countermeasures against the above-described problem, conversely, adverse effect of erroneous clamping occurs resulting from, for example, dark current and shot noise.
It is, therefore, desirable to enable appropriate clamp processing, even when the video signal which exceeds the dynamic range of the clamp processing has been input, without the need to make short the time constant of the recursive filter of the clamp processing unit.

Imaging apparatus and imaging method using independently corrected color values


According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a search module to search for a wirelessly communicable wireless communication device, a display module to display, as options, a list of wireless communication devices found by the search module, and a connection module to send a connection request to a wireless communication device selected from the list displayed by the display module. The display module includes a first device information presentation module to present, together with an address of each wireless communication device, a full or short device name contained in information which is acquired from each wireless communication device in searching by the search module, and a second device information presentation module to present a full device name acquired by sending a device name acquisition request to a wireless communication device whose full and short device names have not been presented by the first device information presentation module.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a user interface technique suitable for, e.g., a personal computer that can exchange data with peripheral devices by wireless communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various new wireless communication systems for wirelessly connecting electronic devices have been developed. As one such wireless communication system, Bluetooth® is known as a standard for a short-range wireless communication scheme for connection between not only computers but also various electronic devices.
Bluetooth® defines a station discovery function. This station discovery function is a function for discovering new wirelessly communicable devices. It is possible to discover other electronic devices existing within the wirelessly communicable region of a given electronic device by using the station discovery function.
The station discovery function is implemented by a mechanism in which a given electronic device sends a station discovery request (Inquiry) by using a radio signal, and other electronic devices that have received the station discovery request respond to the station discovery request. In this case, the station discovery function is implemented by a process of acquiring, by sending a station discovery request, the addresses of the devices which respond to the request, and that of acquiring, by sending device name acquisition requests (Name Req), the names of the devices which have responded.
In a wireless network using a wireless transmission scheme like Bluetooth®, the following operation is necessary to start communication. That is, a given device needs to search for communicable devices by using the above station discovery function, and then select a device as a communication partner from the found devices. At this time, in conventional device searching processing, the given device acquires the device names of the devices found by the searching processing, and presents (displays in a selectable state) them as connectable devices to a user (see, e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-281041).
Conventionally, however, in the device searching processing executed prior to starting communication, it takes a long time to display the found devices as connectable devices in a selectable state. This degrades usability.

Information processing apparatus, device selection processing method, and program


A method of manufacturing a liquid-discharge-head substrate is provided, which includes a plurality of elements for discharging liquid, and a heating member for heating the liquid-discharge-head substrate, the method including the steps of preparing a substrate having an insulating layer made of an insulating material provided on or above the substrate, providing a conductive layer made of a conductive material, and forming a conductive line being configured to supply current for driving the element and a part of a heating member by using the conductive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid-discharge-head substrate, a method of manufacturing the liquid-discharge-head substrate, and a liquid discharge head.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical thermal type liquid discharge head (hereinafter, also referred to as head) includes a liquid-discharge-head substrate (hereinafter, also referred to as head substrate) having a liquid discharge heater and a conductive layer for electrical connection, and a member having a discharge port which corresponds to the heater and discharges liquid.
In recent years, functions for stabilizing discharge of liquid are added to a head substrate. One of the functions is obtained by a technique of pre-heating the head substrate by a heating member (hereinafter, also referred to as sub-heater) provided at the substrate, in addition to a heating element for liquid discharge (hereinafter, also referred to as heater).
As such a sub-heater, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-005151 discloses a structure in which a heater and a sub-heater are formed of a conductive layer. The sub-heater heats a head substrate to prevent a discharge characteristic from being degraded at a low temperature.
Meanwhile, a head substrate increases in size as the number of heating elements increases. Also, when the number of colors of inks increases, the number of supply ports increases, resulting in the size of the head substrate increasing. Hence, in related art, variation in temperature distribution may likely appear in the head substrate when the head substrate is pre-heated.
When the variation in temperature distribution in the head substrate increases, discharge characteristics such as a discharge amount and a discharge speed of ink droplets may vary among a plurality of nozzles. This may cause density unevenness and disorder of landing points of the ink droplets. Recording quality may be degraded.
In particular, when pre-heating is performed before a recording operation, the temperature of the head substrate has to be quickly increased to a predetermined temperature. Owing to this, power to be applied to the sub-heater is increased. A large temperature gradient may appear in the head substrate between a position close to the sub-heater and a position far from the sub-heater.
In addition, when pre-heating is performed to keep the temperature of the head at a predetermined temperature during a recording operation, a temperature gradient may increase as the temperature of the head substrate is set high. This may degrade recording quality.

Liquid-discharge-head substrate, method of manufacturing the same, and liquid discharge head


A downflow sand filter used for treating wastewater which has degraded in function from its original design is at least in part rejuvenated by flowing air downwardly through the bed during time when flow of wastewater is ceased. The low velocity air flow helps dewater the bed and leads to the removal of accumulated organic material which has clogged the pores of the bed. In accord with different embodiments, air flow is alternated with water flow in particular ways, for instance, so the water flow is sufficient to create ponding or is sufficient to maintain moisture content within the bed.

Different kinds of particulate medium-containing devices have been long used for treatment of wastewater. They include static bed reactors and fluidized bed reactors. Static bed reactors comprise subsets which include trickling filters and depth filters. The systematics of devices varies in the literature; the term packed bed filters is sometimes used to encompass both types of filters; at other times, the term designates depth filters in distinction to trickling filters. Generally, trickling filters employ large size medium, often comprised of specially shaped ceramic and plastic pieces; and they are designed so that air or other gas can easily flow, usually by convection, around the medium, over which wastewater trickles downwardly.
The present invention is concerned with downflow depth filters, often called sand filters, which as the name connotes, comprise fine particulate medium, e.g., common sand. Insanitary engineering terms, sand is typically defined as having a granular medium having particle size between 0.15 and 2 mm. Since the pores between the sand grains are small, sand filters typically are substantially saturated with water during use, and there is negligible convective air flow within the bed.
Sand filters have been long used for removing suspended solids from, or for clarifying wastewater and other liquids, such as wastewater which flows from a septic tank or other source. Typically, a downflow type sand filter comprises a mass of sand, commonly called the sand bed, which has a depth of two to six feet. Water is sprayed or otherwise distributed upon the surface of the bed on a continuous or intermittent basis, and flows through the bed by force of gravity.
A sand filter may be created within a cavity in the natural earth. Sometimes, the wastewater flows through the sand and directly into underlying soil, in which case the device is sometimes called a bottomless depth filter. Often the medium of the filter bed is contained within a concrete, metal or plastic container, and drains at the bottom of the bed collect the water, so it can be flowed elsewhere. Drains may also be used with filters created within a cavity within the earth. Sand filters vary widely in physical size, in particular in surface area. Small cross section filters may be used for domestic and light industrial wastewater. Large filters may be used in municipal treatment plants.
One aspect of sand filter operation is mechanical: suspended solids in the wastewater fetch up in the interstices of the medium, as the water wends its tortuous downward path. Another anticipated effect is biochemical, wherein, as a result of facultative microbiological decomposition, it is anticipated there will be a reduction in Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) of the wastewater, conversion of harmful constituents to more benign forms.
According to wastewater engineering principles, effectiveness of sand filters over time is dependent on proper design and operation. Generally, the biochemistry, volume and frequency of dosing of the inflowing wastewater must correlate with the size and other characteristics of the filter. Frequent maintenance, commonly backwashing, is called for. How such principles are adhered to in practice is always a question. It is known that conventional sand filter beds often present operational problems. A major problem is that a filter becomes clogged or "sluggish" with respect to through-flow of wastewater. That is, the filter tends to progressively becomes less accepting of the design-intended wastewater flow; the apparent hydraulic conductivity is decreased. The water head loss through the filter increases, and by and by a pond of water will appear on the top surface of the bed, even though inflow has not been changed. Ultimately, if no remedial action is taken, the system performance degrades to the point that the system fails to fulfill its intended purpose.
Clogging and associated ponding are normally attributed to an accumulation of solids upon the bed and within the interstices of the bed. Frequently, a layer or mat of foreign matter may be observed on the sand bed surface. Of course, that is not surprising since the bed surface might be expected to act as a primary mechanical strainer of suspended solids. Once a mat starts to form, there is an accelerating trend toward failure.
Various techniques are commonly used to avoid or counter the foregoing kinds of degradation. In one common approach, the bed is backwashed with up-flowing water, sometimes abetted with an upward air scour. The idea of backwashing is to disrupt the medium, so that clogging matter is carried away with the backwash water. In another remedial action, the bed surface is mechanically raked to disrupt the mat. However, raking requires good access to the bed surface, can be distasteful for a worker, and the process can allow portions of the mat to move deeper within the bed. In another approach, the top layer of the medium, or the whole of the medium, can be replaced. While these alternative maintenance activities can be effective, it is found that they often need to be done frequently, can be temporarily disruptive to continued wastewater processing, may not be wholly, effective, or may be costly. Thus, improvements are sought.

Maintaining wastewater-treatment sand filters


A phase change memory device includes a silicon substrate having a cell region and a peripheral region. A first insulation layer is formed in the cell region and includes a plurality of holes. Cell switching elements are formed in the holes of the first insulation layer and heat sinks are formed on the cell switching elements. The heaters are formed on the center of the heat sinks and spacers are formed on the sidewalls. A gate is formed in the peripheral region of the silicon substrate formed of a gate insulation layer, a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, and a hard mask layer. A second insulation layer covers the entire surface of the resultant silicon substrate and exposes the spacers and the heaters and the hard mask layer. Finally, a stack pattern of a phase change layer and a top electrode is formed on the heaters.

The present invention relates to a phase change memory device and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a phase change memory device in which heaters are formed in a self-aligned manner so that the interfaces between the heaters and a phase change layer can be uniformly formed and heat sinks are formed under the heaters so that the amorphous phase of the phase change layer can be stably formed and a method for manufacturing the same.
Generally, memory devices are divided into two categories, i.e., a volatile RAM (random access memory) that loses inputted information when power is interrupted and a non-volatile ROM (read-only memory) that can maintain the stored state of inputted information even when power is interrupted. Examples of the volatile RAM may include a DRAM (dynamic RAM) and an SRAM (static RAM), and an example of the non-volatile ROM may include a flash memory device such as an EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable ROM) can be mentioned.
Although DRAM is an excellent memory device, the DRAM requires a high charge storing capacity. Therefore, it is difficult to accomplish a high level of DRAM integration since the surface area of an electrode must be increased. Further, in the flash memory device, a high operation voltage is required when compared to a power supply voltage due to the fact that two gates are stacked on each other. Therefore, it is difficult to accomplish a high level of flash memory integration since a separate booster circuit is needed to generate a voltage necessary for write and delete operations.
As a result, research has been actively made to develop a novel memory device having a simple configuration and capable of accomplishing a high level of integration while retaining the characteristics of a non-volatile memory device. For example, a phase change memory device has been disclosed in the art. In the phase change memory device, a phase change occurs in a phase change layer interposed between a bottom electrode and a top electrode from a crystalline state to an amorphous state due to current flow between the bottom electrode and the top electrode. The information stored in a cell of the phase change memory is recognized by the medium of a difference in resistance between the crystalline state and the amorphous state.
One of the most important factors that must be considered in developing a phase change memory device is to reduce programming current. Accordingly, recent phase change memory devices adopt vertical PN diodes as cell switching elements in place of NMOS transistors.
While not shown in a drawing, a phase change memory device employing the vertical PN diodes as cell switching elements includes heaters formed so as to decrease the contact area between the heaters and the phase change layer so that current flow from the cell switching elements can be transmitted to the phase change layer through the heaters.
However, it is difficult to uniformly form the heaters and limitations exist in decreasing the size of the heaters. Therefore, an approach is needed for overcoming these difficulties and limitations.
In addition, when reset programming is implemented in the phase change memory device, i.e., when the phase change layer is quenched after being melted, it is necessary to quickly decrease the temperature of the heaters, because heat transfer occurs to the heaters, so that the phase change layer can stably form an amorphous phase and a reset state with high resistance can be produced.
Although most heat is transferred to the heaters after the phase change layer is melted, nucleation occurs in the melted phase change layer when the phase change layer is not quickly cooled. As a result, a problem is caused in that the nucleation causes a decrease in the reset resistance of the amorphous state. Thus, as the reset resistance of the amorphous phase is decreased, the difference between the reset resistance of the amorphous state and the set resistance of the crystalline state is diminished. Accordingly, the sensing margin of the phase change memory device can be adversely decreased.
In particular, the phase change memory device performs a sensing operation using the difference between the reset resistance of the amorphous state and the set resistance of the crystalline state. Therefore, if the reset resistance is decreased, the sensing margin is correspondingly decreased, whereby the durability of the phase change memory device can deteriorate.

Phase change memory device having heat sinks formed under heaters and method for manufacturing the same


Disclosed are methods for obtaining at least one epitope suitable for detecting the presence of an antibody against a tumor associated antigen of a cancer in a sample. Kits, assays, and substrates employing the epitopes of the present invention are disclosed. Also disclosed are epitopes of NY-ESO-1 and XAGE-1b and methods of using thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to tumor associated antigens. In particular, the present invention generally relates to dominant B cell epitopes of tumor associated antigens and methods of making and using thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the last 10 years, molecular identification of tumor associated antigens (TAA) has clearly demonstrated that the human immune system can react with endogenously arising cancer cells. See Van der Bruggen, P, et al. (1991) Science 254(5038):1643-1647. Both the cellular and humoral arms of the human immune system recognize autologous TAA derived from cancer cells. See Rosenberg, S A (2001) Nature 411(6835):380-384; and Old, L J, and Chen, Y T (1998) J Exp Med 187(8):1163-1167. Of particular interest to the serological analysis of human cancers is the identification of TAA recognized by antibodies (Ab) present in the sera of cancer subjects. See Sahin, U, et al. (1997) Curr Opin Immunol 9(5):709-716. SEREX, or the serological analysis of recombinant cDNA expression libraries of human cancers, has been the primary approach to identify TAA based on their recognition by Ab.
Up to now, there are many TAA identified based on recognition by Ab present in subjects' sera. See Scanlan, M J, et al. (2002) Immunol Rev 188(1):22-32. These TAA include targets from many cancer types, such as melanoma, renal cancer, Hodgkin's disease, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, gastric cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and so on. The discovery of these TAA provides molecular details of the humoral immune response to autologous tumors. More importantly, the discovery of these molecules awakens the old hope of finding serological markers for cancer detection, diagnosis, and prognosis. However, most of the SEREX-defined antigens do not or only react with few allogeneic sera.
Unfortunately, investigating Ab responses against a large panel of TAA that covers a wide spectrum of subjects with a particular cancer requires the purification of individual TAA protein, which is expensive and difficult to achieve. Therefore, a need exists for epitopes from TAA for the detection of Ab against TAA.

Dominant B cell epitopes and methods of making and using thereof

The Regents of the University of California


An apparatus and method for processing packets are disclosed. The apparatus for processing packets includes a session processing unit, a parallel processing unit, and a storage unit. The session processing unit divides a packet group, including a plurality of HTTP packets, into a plurality of session files, and then distributes the session files. The parallel processing unit generates metadata and extracts content from each of the distributed session files based on the plurality of session files. The storage unit stores the metadata generated by the parallel processing unit and the content extracted by the parallel processing unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing packets.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus for processing packets is used to monitor malicious actions, such as the propagation of malware or a malicious uniform resource locator (URL). Conventional apparatuses for processing packets, such as Wireshark, TCPDUMP, Network Minor and Kraken, basically provide session information regarding collected network packets.
Network Minor and Kraken provide the function of extracting content with respect to each application, such as FTP, SMTP, POP or HTTP.
In the conventional apparatuses for processing packets, however, the size of a packet group that can be processed at once is limited. In particular, the conventional apparatuses for processing packets do not support the processing of a packet group having a size equal to or larger than 10 Gigabytes. With an increase in the amount of use of the Internet and with the improvement of network performance, there are many cases where a network packet group having a size equal to or larger than 10 Gigabytes is collected per day.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for processing packets, which are capable of supporting the function of processing a large-sized packet group.
As a related technology, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2013-0038975 discloses a method and apparatus for classifying packets.

Apparatus and method for processing packets

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An electrical connector comprises an insulative housing (1) comprising a bottom wall (11) and a locking member (131) extending downwardly from the bottom wall (11), a plurality of contacts (4) received in the insulative housing (1) and a fastening device (3) locked with the insulative housing (1) for fastening the electronic package (2) on the insulative housing (1). Thus even if exert an upwardly force on the electronic package (2), the electronic package (2) can also securely located on the insulative housing (1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector having a fastening device for fastening the electronic package on the insulative.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical connectors are widely used in electrically connecting electronic packages, such as Land Grid Array (LGA) Central Processing Units (CPU), with circuit substrate, such as printed circuit boards (PCB).
Referring to FIG. 4, a conventional LGA type electrical connector (not labeled) is used for electrically connecting a CPU 20 with a PCB 40. The electrical connector comprises an insulative housing 10 with a plurality of contacts (not shown). The insulative housing 10 defines a receiving space (not shown) for receiving the CPU 20. When the CPU 20 is in the work station, it will produce quality of heat. So we usually assemble a radiator 30 on the CPU 20 to emit the heat generated by the CPU 20.
The CPU 20 located on the insulative housing 10 only depend by the force exerted by the insulative housing 10. So, when disassembled the radiator 30, the CPU 20 always be taken out by the radiator 30, thus always destroyed the CPU 20.
In view of the above, a new electrical connector that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired.

Electrical connector assembly with fastening device