An etching method that uses an etch reactant retained within at least a semi-solid media (120, 220, 224, 230). The etch reactant media is applied to selectively etch a surface layer (106, 218, 222). The etch reactant media may be applied to remove metal shorts (222), smearing and eaves resulting from CMP or in failure analysis for uniform removal of a metal layer (218) without damaging the vias, contact, or underlying structures.

Semiconductor devices typically contain several levels of metal interconnect to connect various elements, such as transistors, capacitors and resistors, to each other. A level of metal interconnect is connected to other levels of metal interconnect through conductive vias. Traditionally, the metal interconnects comprised an aluminum alloy along with barrier layers and the conductive vias comprised tungsten.
However, copper interconnects are replacing the traditional aluminum interconnects. Copper interconnects are being formed using dual damascene processes in which the dielectrics are formed first. A trench is etched in an intrametal dielectric (IMD) for the interconnect lines. A via may be etched in an underlying interlevel dielectric (ILD). The trench and any vias are then both filled with copper using the same process. A barrier layer is deposited followed by a copper seed layer. Electrochemical deposition (ECD) is then used to fill the trench and vias with copper. The ECD process overfills the trench and the excess copper is removed by CMP.
It is sometimes desirable to remove a copper interconnect level without damaging the underlying structure (e.g., the IMD, ILD, vias, contacts). This is typically desired during failure analysis (FA) of a semiconductor device.
Traditional wet etching techniques can not be applied to selectively delayer copper interconnect levels. In older technologies using aluminum interconnects, the vias are typically tungsten plugs which are available to act as an etch stop. (Although, if the tungsten plugs did not hold up the underlying Al would be etched. perhaps loosing the defect.) However, in copper interconnects, the conductive vias comprise the same materials as the interconnect lines (i.e., copper and barrier layers) and therefore cannot serve as an etch stop.
Currently, the only available tools for selective delayering of copper interconnects are parallel polishing and plasma etching. These processes are painstaking and very time consuming. Lapping is a manual process normally. There is no real way to understand how much material has been lapped so the analyst must constantly inspect the sample. The layers are now so thin that the inspection must be performed on an SEM. Loading, inspection and unloading is time consuming. The SEM is a costly tool. Automated lapping procedures are currently difficult to setup. They suffer from the same problem as manual lapping when it comes to inspection of the layers being removed. In addition, there is no etch stop for lapping. Plasma etching does have some laser end point detection but for processed die the endpoint detection is subject to interpretation. An analyst must still inspect the device to see if the correct surface has been removed to the proper depth.

Etching method using an at least semi-solid media


A frame assembly for vehicle passenger seat, including at least one leg unit, including a cantilevered transverse main beam carried by a fore and aft-extending seat leg for being mounted to the floor of the vehicle, a transversely extending front beam positioned forward of the seat leg, a backshell attached to and carried by the transverse main beam, a seat back carried on the backshell, and a seat bottom carried by a perimeter frame mounted on the backshell.

This invention relates to seating and more particularly to a seat frame assembly for a tourist/coach class aircraft seating arrangement. Aircraft seating is typically divided into various classes, for example first class, business class, and coach or tourist class. For each class of seating, an individual passenger is allotted a preselected amount of space (both area and volume). First-class seats provide the most individual space, and also may include features to improve comfort, such as fully reclining sleeper functions. In contrast, the tourist/coach class is provided with a relatively small amount of space, in order to provide the most efficient transportation and lowest cost. For example, the longitudinal space or "pitch" of the seat rows may be as little as 71 cm (28 in.) However, this space limitation in combination with the seat design can create a very ineffective environment for either working (e.g.: on a lap top computer) or sleeping/stretching (lack of comfort). This lack of effectiveness can result in passenger frustration. In addition, passengers sitting in a row directly forward of another passenger can "recline" their seat into the "living space" of the passenger behind, resulting in a lack of harmony between passengers and a phenomenon known as "air rage". The lack of passenger effectiveness and harmony between rows of passengers results in economy class travel being frequently considered as a "bad experience". Modern aircraft are increasingly capable of longer flight segments, thus, the ability to create a more effective environment within economy class travel, allowing passengers to adopt multiple postures such as sleep and creating better harmony between passengers during long flights is increasingly important.
To alleviate discomfort, it is advantageous for a passenger to be able to sit or lie in various positions during a flight as desired without undue encroachment on the space of adjacent passengers. Overall, with longer flight segments, passengers find it necessary to adopt an increasing number of postures and undertake an increasing number of activities. Such activities include but are not limited to, sitting upright, reclining, watching a movie, working on a lap top computer, stretching or slouching, sleeping, and "perching". Unfortunately, conventional coach class seats do not readily accommodate positions other than simple sitting in the upright or reclined positions, and the amount of recline is limited by the above-mentioned seat pitch.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a passenger seating arrangement including a frame assembly that takes advantage of space under and aft of the passenger seat that provides a greater degree of comfort and adjustment that in previous passenger seats, while maintaining each passenger within the area and volume assigned to the particular seat.
It is another object of the invention to provide a frame assembly for a passenger seat that includes a stationary back that does not encroach on an aft-seated passenger;
It is another object of the invention to provide a frame assembly for a passenger seat that includes a stationary back that does not encroach on an aft-seated passenger while permitting a relatively wide range of motion to the seated passenger;
It is another object of the invention to provide a frame assembly for a passenger seat that includes a backshell that permits a limited amount of rocking motion while not encroach on an aft-seated passenger

Frame assembly for vehicle passenger seat


A rectangular compartment for receiving and dispensing pressurized gas cylinders. The compartment, for its use, requires a minimal space both inside and outside the compartment. The compartment contains a tank receiving unit configured to receive multiple tanks arranged in files. The tank receiving unit is pivoted near its center of mass so as to permit easy rotation in place of the tank receiving unit. The compartment is provided with an access door. When the access door is open and the tank receiving unit is rotated outward to receive tanks, the tank receivers in a file project a short distance outside the compartment and are arranged one above the other. When the access door is closed, the tanks are in an upright position and secured in that position by an interlock between the tank receiving unit and the access door.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compartment having pivoting receivers for pressurized tanks.
More specifically, this invention relates to the compartment described above wherein the access to the compartment has a minimal width so as to permit the enclosure to be secured in a cabinet or on a vehicle or the like so as to require a minimum opening width.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pressurized cylinders are used in a variety of applications. Pressurized cylinders are often provided with a compartment for receiving and dispensing them for a number of general reasons. One reason is to provide protection for the cylinders. A second reason is to incorporate the cylinders into an apparatus or piece of equipment. A third reason is to provide containment for a sudden discharge or explosion should there be a malfunction of some sort related to the cylinders.
Pressurized cylinders are placed in compartments in order to achieve a number of utilities. The principal utilities of compartments for pressurized cylinders are; to charge or fill the cylinders, to discharge or dispense gas from the cylinders, or to store the cylinders.
Compartments for pressurized cylinders can be stand alone units, but more frequently, they are incorporated into the structures of work stations, vehicles, air and water craft, or are incorporated into the structures of apparatus.
Heretofore, compartments for receiving pressurized cylinders were specific to their application and were designed for locations and circumstances related to that application.
U S. Pat. No. 5,404,921 to Lamoreaux et al. teaches a Rotary Fill Station for Breathing Apparatus. The station is provided with a fragment containment chamber having a carousel mounted to rotate about a vertical axis for the purpose of moving pressurized cylinders into and out of a fill chamber.
In general, the volume required for the compartment of Lamoreau and other similar prior art compartments is large relative to the volume of the cylinders contained within the compartment. In particular, the width of the front or access area is wide relative to the diameter of a tank contained therein.
It is an object of this invention to provide a general utility chamber for receiving and containing pressurized gas cylinders.
It is further an object of this invention to provide the chamber described above wherein the volume occupied by the chamber is smaller than similar prior art chambers.
More particularly it is an object of this invention to provide the chamber as described above wherein the width of the chamber is minimal.
Still more particularly it is an object of this invention to provide the chamber as described above with a rotating tank receiving unit which extends outward from the access opening when in a position to receive cylinders and the cylinders are received so that they enter the tank receivers one above the other and when the tank receiving unit is rotated into an upright position inside the compartment, the tanks are upright and one behind the other.
Other objects will become obvious from the following specifications, claims and drawings.
A space saving compartment for pressurized tanks, comprising: a rectangular metal compartment having a front, a back, a top, a bottom and two sides and the front is provided with an access door, tank mounts secured to the inside of the sides of the compartment and the tank mounts are positioned below the center of the compartment and closer to the front of the compartment than they are to the back, a tank receiving unit contained within the compartment and the tank receiving unit has a front, a back, a top, a bottom, and two sides and the two sides are provided with pivots projecting laterally outward from the sides to form a horizontal pivot axis and the pivots are pivotably engaged with the tank mounts, a multiplicity of cylindrical tank receivers formed as a part of the tank receiving unit and the tank receivers are open at their tops and the tank receivers have their cylindrical center lines parallel, and the tank receiving unit when rotated about its pivots projects outward from the compartment so that tank receivers in a file are positioned one over the other with their open tops in position to receive tanks, and when the tank receiving unit is rotated about its pivots so that the tanks contained therein are upright, and the compartment door is closed, the width of the compartment is minimal.

Space saving pressurized cylinder receiving compartment


A camera module is disclosed. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the camera module includes a lens barrel, which supports a lens and in which the lens allows a ray of light to be incident at an imaging part, a driver, which moves the lens barrel along an optical axis, a body, which houses the lens barrel, and a buffering part, which is interposed between the lens barrel and the body when the lens barrel collides with the body.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is related to a camera module.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today's mobile terminals, such as mobile phones, PDAs and mobile PCs, not only transmits short-text messages or voice date but also take a photograph and transmit video data. In response to this trend, a camera module is typically installed in today's mobile terminals in order to enable photographing, video data transmission and video chatting.
Some camera modules have an auto-focusing function in order to automatically adjust the lens focus to the film or image sensor. In this case, the lens barrel of the camera module is formed in such a way that the lens barrel moves along the optical axis.
However, since the lens barrel of the camera module moves freely in a direction of the optical axis, the lens barrel may collide with another component, for example, the housing, when an external shock is applied to the camera module, and thus it is possible to damage the lens barrel.


A chute type monomer dispenser is provided in the present disclosure. The chute type monomer dispenser includes a chute dispenser installed to be slanted in a direction of a polymerization apparatus, the chute dispenser is configured to inject a monomer to the polymerization apparatus through an injection pipe having an injection portion having an opening at an upper portion of the chute dispenser; and an injector configured to inject an initiator and a foaming agent to the injection portion.

A super absorbent polymer (SAP) is a synthetic polymer material having a function of absorbing about 500 to 1,000 times its own weight of moisture. Various manufacturers have called it with different names such as a super absorbency material (SAM) and an absorbent gel material (AGM).
The super absorbent polymer started to be practically applied in sanitary products and is currently widely used for water retaining soil for gardening, water stop materials for civil engineering and construction, sheets for raising seedling, fresh-keeping agents for food distribution fields, and materials for poultices, as well as hygiene products such as disposable diapers for children.
As a method for preparing a super absorbent polymer, a reverse phase suspension polymerization method, an aqueous solution polymerization method, and the like have been known.
For example, the reverse phase suspension polymerization method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. S56-161408, S57-158209, S57-198714, and the like. As the aqueous solution polymerization method, a thermal polymerization method of polymerizing a hydrous gel phase polymer while fracturing and cooling the hydrous gel phase polymer in a kneader equipped with a plurality of shafts, a photo-polymerization method of irradiating an aqueous solution having a high concentration with UV rays and the like on a belt to perform polymerization and drying at the same time, and the like have been known.
Meanwhile, in order to obtain a hydrous gel phase polymer having more excellent physical properties, a method using a belt type SAP polymerization apparatus has been currently widely used.
That is, a monomer is fed using a cylindrical dispenser including the belt type SAP polymerization apparatus with a vertical pipe to convey the monomer at a uniform speed and thickness.
Such a cylindrical dispenser includes a main channel through which a monomer is moved and a plurality of discharge channels branched from the main channel and through which the monomer is discharged. Here, in a process in which the monomer is discharged, the monomer may be fed to the belt type SAP polymerization apparatus in a state in which an initiator and a foaming agent are injected together and mixed with the monomer.
However, in the cylindrical dispenser as described above, during the process in which the monomer is discharged through the discharge channel by passing through the main channel, a dead zone where a flow of the monomer is blocked is formed therein to often cause generation of foreign substances. Accordingly, an outlet of the cylindrical dispenser is blocked by the foreign substances, resulting in deterioration of working efficiency and damage of a belt of the belt type SAP polymerization apparatus.


An interior permanent magnet machine having angled slots.

Interior magnet machines have the following characteristics.
First, many interior magnet machines have lower power density than surface mounted magnet machines. The surface area of the magnet is usually reduced when buried, requiring a larger motor or generator to obtain the same output power. The larger size motor or generator can cause packaging or performance problems in the final application.
Second, a trapezoidal air-gap flux distribution is usually generated by a interior magnet rotor. In applications where the winding currents are sinusoidal, the trapezoidal flux distribution results in significant torque ripple. The torque ripple contributes to noise and vibration in the final application. This can be minimized by selection of the correct slot and pole number, but this solution is not always practical.
Third, the abrupt transitions in the rotor flux distribution contribute to cogging torque. Techniques typically used to reduce cogging torque, such as skewing, result in lower power density.
Fourth, interior magnet machines have higher average inductance than surface magnet machines. The higher inductance reduces the power factor of the machine during operation, increasing the complex power (VA) required from the drive to produce a given output torque. Increasing the drive volt-ampere requirement can increase the drive cost if larger power devices must be used.
The output torque of an interior permanent magnet machine is proportional to the back-emf and winding current when the two are in phase. The winding current in a fixed bus voltage system is limited by the back-emf and machine resistance and inductance. A rotor geometry that results in higher back-emf or lower inductance allows the number of turns to be adjusted to obtain minimum current draw. The decrease in current may allow for the use of smaller power devices, reducing system cost.
Prior art solutions for interior magnet machines with power density greater than or equal to surface magnet machines include "V" magnet and spoke magnet designs. The designs can be difficult to magnetize and tend to have high cogging torque.
Prior art solutions for reducing the impact of a trapezoidal rotor flux distribution include machines with distributed windings. Stators with distributed windings tend to be larger than single tooth windings due to the end coils, and may not fit in the package required by some applications. Single tooth windings in which the number of electrical degrees per slot is not equal to 120 or 240 can also be used. The number of practical combinations is limited by the size of the machine.
Prior art solutions for reducing the cogging torque include shaping of the stator and rotor air-gap surfaces and skew. These solutions tend to reduce the power density of the machine.
Prior art solutions for reducing the average inductance of a interior magnet machine include adding slits to the rotor pole cap. These slits are placed perpendicular to the magnet surface in most cases.

Interior magnet machine with non-perpendicular slots


The present invention relates to the use of a liposomal preparation for the manufacture of a pharmaceutical composition and the use of such a composition for the treatment of “triple receptor negative” breast cancer.

The present invention relates to the use of a liposomal preparation for the manufacture of a pharmaceutical composition and the use of such a composition for the treatment of "triple receptor negative" breast cancer.
Today the systemic treatment of breast cancer offers three major different treatment modalities and the applicability of these different treatment options is substantially dependent on the receptor status of the patient (Bernard-Marty et al., 2004). Endocrine and biological therapy requires the presence of the respective receptors on the cancer cells, whereas cytotoxic chemotherapy is independent of those specified receptors.
In patients with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, endocrine therapy or a combination thereof is usually the treatment of choice (Bernard-Marty et al., 2004; Gradishar, 2004). In the presence of estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PgR) response rates of greater than 80% have been observed. In general, postmenopausal patients exhibit higher ER and PgR expression than their premenopausal counterparts.
The gold standard in endocrine therapy has been the selective ER modulator tamoxifen. It inhibits binding of estrogen to the estrogen receptor, thereby disrupting a series of cellular mechanisms that regulate cellular replication. Despite being tolerated well in most cases, tamoxifen is associated to a number of adverse events. Although the drug has a high overall response rate, disease relapse and resistance develop in many patients. The resistance might be related to an altered interaction between tamoxifen and the estrogen receptor.
To overcome resistance, alternative endocrine therapies have been developed that challenge the role of tamoxifen (Bernard-Marty et al., 2004) (Gradishar, 2004). Aromatase inhibitors directly interfere with the biosynthesis of estrogen by inhibiting the enzyme aromatase which converts androstenedione into estradiol. The latest generation of these inhibitors comprises nonsteroidal drugs like letrozol, anastrozol and vostrozol and steroidal drugs like exemestane. The favourable safety and response rates for this class of medicaments has established aromatase inhibitors as the standard endocrine therapy for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in postmenopasal women.
The antiestrogen fulvestrant circumvents resistance issues related to tamoxifen by a different mechanism of action. It binds the ER, thereby inhibiting DNA binding and decreases the ER concentration by promoting the degradation of the ER.
In pre-menopausal ER and PgR positive women, endocrine therapies beside tamoxifen include ovarian ablation by surgery or radiotherapy and luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) analogues (Bernard-Marty et al., 2004). In these patients, the ovaries are the major source of estrogen synthesis and ovarian ablation was the original therapy for breast cancer. To avoid the adverse events of ovaraian ablation by surgery or irradiation, the ovarian function can be suppressed by LHRH analogues. LHRH analogue like goserelin, leuprolide and triptorelin suppress the ovarian estrogen production by down regulation of pituitary release of gonadotropins through their antagonistic action on the GnRH (gonadotropins-releasing hormone) receptors (Prowell and Davidson, 2004).
With growing understanding and intense research in the biology of breast cancer, several new defined targets for antitumour therapy have emerged in the last years. Among those, HER-2/neu has been established as a main target for therapy. The human endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) is amplified and/or overexpressed in approximately 30% of breast cancer tumours (Slamon et al., 1987) and is targeted by the inhibitory antibody trastuzumab. As trastuzumab is one of the few agents that led to an improvement in the overall survival in metastatic breast cancer, HER-2 status evaluation became indispensable for optimal treatment (Bernard-Marty et al., 2004).
Trastuzumab is approved for the second line treatment of metastatic breast cancer for HER-2 positive patients who have received one or more regimes of chemotherapy or for the first line treatment in combination with paclitaxel. Trastuzumab is commonly used until disease progression. It is generally well tolerated with congestive heart failure being the most important side effect. The use of trastuzumab is constantly evaluated in different mono and combination therapies with differing patient populations and dosing schedules.
The receptor status for ER, PgR and HER-2 can be determined by standard immunohistochemical or enzyme based assays (IHC) assays (Chebil et al., 2003; Yamashita et al., 2006) (Schaller et al., 2001). HER-2 status can also be assessed by the detection of gene amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) (Kallioniemi et al., 1992).
Overall, therapies depending on the receptor status of the patient have proven great benefit for the treatment of breast cancer.
Unfortunately about 15% of all breast cancer cases are negative for ER, PgR and HER-2. In these cases prognosis is very poor with an 80% relapse rate and a median survival of only 6 months.
For ER, PgR and HER-2 negative patients, as well as for patients with endocrine therapy resistant disease, chemotherapy is the only therapeutic option. Frequently applied chemotherapeutic drugs in breast cancer are drugs from the anthracycline class, the taxane class and to a lower extent antimetabolites, e.g. capecitabine, gemcitabine, alkylating agents and vinca alkaloids. These drugs are used in two basic applications schemes. The drugs can be applied as single agents in a sequential fashion or they can be used in a combination regime. Of course the two treatment modalities can be combined to some extent.
The anthracyclines, and especially doxorubicine and epirubicine, have been shown to be active agents in the treatment of breast cancer and anthracycline-containing combination regimes are common first line treatments in patients who have not received anthracyclines in an adjuvant setting. Common combination treatment consists for example of doxorubicine/epirubicine plus cyclophospamide, doxorubicin/epirubicin plus cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil, or combinations of anthracyclines and capecitabine or gemcitabine (O'Shaughnessy, 2005).
With the common use of anthracyclines in early stages of breast cancer treatment, the likelihood of anthracycline resistant forms of breast cancer, however, increases (Bernard-Marty et al., 2004).
The introduction of the taxanes paclitaxel and docetaxel into the treatment further improved the management of the disease in first and second line treatment. Paclitaxel has a unique mechanism of action and a broad spectrum of antiproliferative activity because paclitaxel binds to microtubules, promotes tubulin polymerisation and stabilizes the assembled microtubules. As a result, paclitaxel blocks the cell cycle at prophase resulting in an accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase.
Unfortunately, paclitaxel has extreme low solubility in water, which makes it difficult to provide a suitable dosage form. Currently, paclitaxel is formulated and administered in a vehicle containing Cremophor EL (a polyethoxylated castor oil) and ethanol in a 50:50 (vol/vol) ratio. This solution is diluted 1:10 in saline before being administered to humans. However, various severe side reactions, such as hypersensitivity and hypertensive reactions, nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity, for example, have been reported in patients due to Cremophor EL formulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,090, U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,073 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,659 (Rahman et al.) provide a liposomal encapsulated paclitaxel for a method for treating cancer in mammals. These patents disclose a method of administering to the host a pharmaceutical composition of a therapeutically effective amount of liposomes which include a liposome forming material, cardiolipin, and an agent such as paclitaxel, or an antineoplastic derivative of paclitaxel, or a mixture thereof, with a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,283 it has been known that cationic liposomes preferentially target the angiogenic endothelial cells in solid tumours. From the disclosure of WO 2005/0309533 (Teifel et al.) it is known that a treatment with paclitaxel encapsulated in cationic liposomes might proof beneficial in various cancer indications. The document discloses the application of cationic liposomal paclitaxel formulations to humans suffering from melanoma, prostate, pancreatic, gastro-intestinal, colorectal, and breast cancer. The application also describes the use of cationic liposomal paclitaxel formulations in different animal models of pancreatic cancer, uterus sarcoma, colon carcinoma and head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma.
Liposomal formulations are also known for anthraycline drugs. Doxorubicine has been encapsulated in uncharged pegylated or unpegylated liposomes for the treatment of breast cancer. These formulations have been used for the treatment of breast cancer in a first line (Chan et al., 2004) and in a second line (Keller et al., 2004) regime.
In summary most of today's therapeutical options in breast cancer are dependent on the receptor status of the patients. Particularly patients of the triple receptor negative subgroup are not eligible to the highly effective endocrine therapies. The options for chemotherapeutical treatment are limited and a resistance against the existing regimes like the anthracyclines is frequently observed. Consequently there is a high unmet medical need for the development of new therapies in this indication.
Thus, it was the underlying problem of the present invention to provide an improvement in the treatment of triple receptor negative breast cancer, especially for patients who have become refractory to anthracycline treatment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Treatment of triple receptor negative breast cancer


Disclosed is a display device including: a display panel including data lines and gate lines; a touch screen including a plurality of touch screens; a data driving circuit for supplying a data voltage to the data lines; a gate driving circuit for supplying a gate voltage to the gate lines; a touch sensing circuit for applying a driving signal to the touch sensors to sense a change in a voltage or a capacitance value of the touch sensors; and a timing controller for time-dividing a first frame period into a first driving period for sensing the touch sensors and a second driving period for performing display on the display panel, wherein the timing controller performs a control to supply a data voltage to a first area of the first driving period adjacent to a boundary surface between the first driving period and the second driving period.

1. Field of the Invention
An embodiment relates to a display device having a touch sensor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A User Interface (UI) allows a person (user) to communicate with various electric/electronic devices so as to allow the user to easily control the devices as he/she wants. Representative examples of such a UI include a keypad, a keyboard, a mouse, an On-Screen Display (OSD), a remote controller having an infrared-ray communication function or a Radio Frequency (RF) communication function, etc. The UI technology is being developed to increase a user's sensitivity and ease of manipulation. In recent years, the UI is evolving to a touch UI, a voice recognition UI, a 3D UI, etc., and has a tendency of being installed in a portable information device. In order to implement the touch UI, a touch screen is installed in a display element of a home appliance or a portable information device.
Touch sensors constituting the touch screen may be implemented in a capacitive scheme, a resistive scheme, etc. A touch screen using the capacitive scheme has greater durability and a higher visibility than those of a touch screen using the resistive scheme, can perform multi-touch recognition and proximity touch recognition, and thus, is applied to various applications.
A display device including a display element and a touch screen senses a change in a capacitance value of a touch sensor before and after touch (or proximity), so as to determine whether a conductive material comes into contact with (or approaches) the touch screen and a location thereof.
Such a display device is driven according to a time division scheme including a display section and a touch section. However, since a data line of the display device maintains a ground (GND) voltage in the touch section, a data value has very large change at a time point at which the touch section terminates, thereby generating a line dim due to a decrease in the data charging amount.

Display device with data line precharging at boundary between touch driving period and display driving period


Systems and methods are described for enhancing the audio quality of an FM receiver. In embodiments described herein, a stop band noise signal is extracted from an L+R or L−R signal produced by an FM stereo decoder. A channel quality measure is calculated based on the stop band noise signal and is used to control whether a pop suppression technique is applied to the L+R signal. The channel quality measure and the stop band noise signal are also leveraged to perform single-channel noise suppression in the frequency domain on the L−R signal and on the L+R signal. The channel quality measure is also used to control the application of a fast fading compensation process that replaces noisy segments of the L−R and L+R signal with replacement waveforms generated via waveform extrapolation.

In FM broadcasting systems, the Left (L) and Right (R) channels of a stereo audio signal are transmitted as an L+R signal, which carries the "mono" information, and an L−R signal, which carries the "stereo" information. FIG. 1 depicts a typical spectrum of a composite baseband signal used in an FM broadcasting systems. This composite baseband signal is also sometimes referred to as the FM stereo multiplex (MPX) signal. As reflected in FIG. 1, the L+R signal is transmitted as baseband audio in the range of 30 Hz to 15 kHz while the L−R signal is modulated onto a 38 kHz double-sideband suppressed carrier (DSBSC) signal occupying the baseband range of 23 to 53 kHz. As also reflected in FIG. 1, a 19 kHz pilot tone, at half the 38 kHz sub-carrier frequency and with a precise phase relationship to it is also generated. This is transmitted at 8-10% of the overall modulation level and used by a stereo FM receiver to regenerate the 38 kHz sub-carrier with the correct phase. In addition, a 57 kHz sub-carrier (phase locked to the third harmonic of the stereo pilot tone) may be used to carry a low-bandwidth digital Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) signal. The composite baseband signal may further include a DirectBand signal as shown in FIG. 1, as well as other signals that are not shown in FIG. 1. The composite baseband signal is used to modulate the FM transmitter.
A stereo FM receiver will add the L+R signal to the L−R signal to recover the L signal and will subtract the L−R signal from the L+R signal to recover the R signal. It has been observed that the L−R signal has a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is about 20 dB worse than the L+R signal. Thus, as the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) decreases, the higher noise level in the L−R signal dominates the perceived noise in the reconstructed L and R signals. To address this issue, in conventional FM receiver designs, the proportion of the L−R contribution used in reconstructing the L and R signals (or the "weight" placed on the L−R signal when calculating a weighted sum of the L+R and L−R signals) is gradually reduced with decreasing CNR so as to reduce the noise level in the reconstructed L and R signals. This is called "stereo blending," and it achieves a reduced noise level at the price of reduced stereo separation. As the CNR continues to decrease, eventually the FM receiver output effectively collapses to only the L+R, or mono, signal. When the CNR crosses below 12 dB or so, an impulsive type of noise appears in the L+R signal and is perceived as "static." Hence, as the CNR decreases to a relatively low level, the reduced stereo separation, the increased hissing background noise, and the appearance of noise pulses (static) all degrade the perceived audio quality of the FM receiver output signal significantly. Any attempt to address these problems should not involve changing the FM transmitters due to the large installed base of FM receivers in use today.
What is needed, then, is a system or method that can operate in an FM receiver and that can improve the audio quality at low CNRs by enhancing the stereo separation and reducing the hissing background noise and static in the FM receiver output audio signal.
The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

Systems and methods for enhancing audio quality of FM receivers


An apparatus capable of interacting with another device, includes: a module configured to provide a functionality, where the apparatus is configurable to support a second module for providing an additional functionality in order to permit variable functionality by the apparatus. The functionality may relate to an input-function and/or an output function. A method of providing functionality in a variable-function device, includes: removing a functionality from another device that can communicate with the variable-function device; and providing the removed functionality in the variable-function device.

Computers (such as personal computers, notebooks, laptops, palmtops, hand-held processing devices, and/or other types of computing devices) typically show notification items and other graphical items in an area of their display screen. Such notification items include, for example, electronic mail arrival notifications, instant messaging notifications, low battery-power warnings, and/or the like. These notifications can often interrupt the images or items being viewed by the computer user. As a result, these notifications can make the viewing experience of the user less pleasant, particularly if the user is viewing, for example, an entertainment-related image or program on the computer screen or if the user does not wish to be distracted while using the computer. The above-mentioned notification items may also clutter the display screen presentation of the computer, and/or may otherwise confuse or cause an inconvenience to the computer user, particularly if, for example, the computer screen has a small viewing surface area.
In addition, some computer users may place the computer underneath their desks or tables in order to increase the available surface area on their desks or tables. As a result, these computer users will not be able to view any notifications that may occur on the out-of-sight computer display screen or on a computer display screen that has been turned off (if there is a display on the PC itself).
In addition, functionalities in current computers continue to increase. As a result, the base systems of current computers are being burdened (and/or are becoming more complex and expensive) due to the increasing functionalities.
Current computers also integrate extra buttons, additional sensitive or fragile components, infrared (I/R) receivers, and/or other components into the computer bezel. The extra buttons and/or sensitive/fragile components typically result in higher support/service requirements and in increased costs of services for a computer device. Additionally, these additional components in the bezel may increase the manufacturing and design costs for a computer device.
For an I/R receiver integrated in the bezel, the I/R signal from the remote control device must be received in the line-of-sight of the I/R receiver. Thus, an I/R receiver integrated in or attached to the bezel will not be able to receive the I/R signals from a remote control device if, for example, the computer bezel is on the floor or is obstructed by an item on the user's desk.
Therefore, the above-described products typically are limited to particular capabilities and features and suffer from a number of constraints related to high cost, limited functionality, complexity in use, higher service/support requirement, increased manufacturing and design issues, inconvenience for the computer user, and/or other constraints.

Variable-function or multi-function apparatus and methods

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A solid state magnetic memory system and method disposes an array of magnetic media cells in an array on a substrate. In an exemplary embodiment, drive electronics are fabricated into the substrate through conventional CMOS processing in alignment with associated cells of the array. The magnetic media cells each include a magnetic media bit and a magnetoresistive or GMR stack for reading the state of the media bit. Addressing lines are juxtaposed with the media bits to permit programming and erasing of selected ones of the bits. In at least some embodiments, sector erase may be performed.

In the early days of modern computing, magnetic memory was traditionally associated with core memory. Core memory was quickly made obsolete by the advent of semiconductor memory. As a result, more recently magnetic memory has been almost exclusively associated with disk drives. In a disk drive, a platter coated with a magnetic material rotates in proximity to one or more heads. Depending on the electrical signals applied to the heads, the heads function to write to or read from the disk by affecting, or sensing, respectively, the alignment of a portion of the magnetic material on the platter. While this has served many applications well for an extended period, the moving parts and mechanical aspects of disk drives limit their desirability in many applications which may involve impacts or other stresses which might damage the relatively delicate disk drive.
More recently, solid state magnetic devices have been developed which take advantage of the GMR, or giant magnetoresistive, effect. An example of a structure in which the GMR effect may be observed consists of a stack of four magnetic thin films: a free magnetic layer, a nonmagnetic conducting layer, a magnetic pinned layer, and an exchange layer. Magnetic orientation of the pinned layer is fixed and is held in place by the exchange layer. By applying an external magnetic field, the magnetic orientation of the free layer may be changed with respect to the magnetic orientation of the pinned layer, such that two states can exist. These states can therefore represent two logical values. The change in magnetic orientation results in a significant change in the resistance of the metallic layered structure, and that resistance can be sensed to indicate the stored logical value.
The GMR effect has been used in what are referred to as MRAM, or Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory devices. These devices offer some tantalizing benefits over disk drives, because they do not involve any moving parts. A typical MRAM structure is shown in FIG. 1, in which two layers of ferromagnetic material are separated by a thin insulation layer to form a magnetic tunnel junction. The direction of the domains in the bottom layer is fixed, while those in the top layer can switch when a magnetic field is applied. Whether a 1 or 0 is stored depends on whether the two layers' magnetic domains point in the same or opposite directions.
Writing data into the MRAM cell involves applying current to the bit and digit lines. The magnetic fields created by the two currents line up the magnetic domains in the desired direction. In the case of FIG. 1, current from left to right in the bit line 10 and into the page in the digit line 15 align the free ferromagnetic layer 20 in the same direction as the fixed layer 25. An insulator 30 is positioned between the free layer 20 and the fixed layer 25. The directions of the free and fixed layers are as shown by the arrows on the respective layers, although the orientation of the fixed layer could be in either direction. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the layers 20, 25 and 30 form a magnetic tunnel junction.
Reading the cell involves measuring the resistance of the tunnel junction. It is low if the domains in the two layers are parallel, high if they are antiparallel.
In a typical MRAM structure, a low coercivity ferromagnetic material is used for writing, and a GMR stack is used for both reading and writing to the cell. Further, the GMR stack is typically in contact with the metal lines used to provide drive signals, and at least one drive transistor per cell is required. Unfortunately, these characteristics of MRAM devices present some significant challenges to their broad adoption.
For example, one of the challenges involved in the integration of MRAM technology is temperature incompatibility with the CMOS process. Several standard CMOS process steps occur at or above 400° C. However, the magnetoresistive (MR) effect of typical Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) material begins to degrade at temperatures above 300° C. and drops sharply by 400° C. Producing MRAMs using MTJs is a key process challenge since the tunneling dielectric is just about 1.5 nm thick. As a result, the lack of compatibility between the magnetic materials used in MRAM and the temperature management required for CMOS processing makes it difficult to integrate MRAM into existing CMOS processes.
Another limitation of conventional MRAM devices is that the erase process is relatively slow and inefficient. In an MRAM device, the erase process is essentially the reverse of the write process; that is, in order to program an MRAM memory bit, current is passed through the conductive lines in one direction. To erase that MRAM memory bit, current is passed through the same conductive lines in the opposite direction. This essentially limits each erase step to a small sector size, which is undesirable because it is slow and inefficient.
As a result there has been a need for a solid state magnetic memory device which is compatible with CMOS processes. In addition, there has been a need for a solid state magnetic memory device which offers a large difference in the resistance between the parallel and antiparallel states of the memory cell.

Solid state magnetic memory system and method


A biopsy needle for removal of tissue from a patient including an outer tube; an inner tube within the outer tube; and a snare connected to the inner tube and to the outer tube. The outer tube has an outer surface that has a first region that terminates in the distal end and is the distalmost section of the outer tube and a second region adjacent the first region. The first region represents a tip transition region and has a frustoconical shape that is defined by an outer surface area (A) and is defined by a cross-sectional area (Ba) at the interface between the first and second regions in a direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the needle, the interface representing a base of the frustoconical first region, wherein a ratio R=(A)/(Ba) is approximately 1 for a predetermined needle type, such as an 8 gauge needle.

For various medical reasons, such as evaluating the histology and/or pathology of a tissue, it is often necessary for a physician to obtain a sample of a patient's body tissue. In particular, bone marrow is frequently retrieved to study its cellularity and potential infiltration with abnormal cells. The currently available procedures and instruments used for obtaining bone marrow biopsy samples, while not overly complex, almost universally result in excessive patient discomfort and often recover inadequate quantities of biopsy material which sometimes is distorted and/or difficult to interpret. In the standard bone marrow procurement protocol, using currently available instruments, (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,676 to Khosrow Jamshidi), the patient is prepared with a suitable local anesthetic at the posterior superior iliac crest/spine. Then, a relatively narrow needle is inserted to obtain an aspirate of liquid bone marrow material to make slides for examination of cellular morphology and to evaluate the surface immunophenotype of the bone marrow cells with flowcytometry. This portion of the procedure, referred to as the bone marrow aspiration, is generally relatively less painful than the bone marrow biopsy procedure using a conventional biopsy needle. Using newer bone marrow biopsy needles which actively capture specimens, and minimize manipulation of the needle after insertion, the aspirate procedure appears to be more painful than the biopsy procedure.
After the aspirate is obtained, if necessary, a biopsy of the bone marrow is taken. A significantly wider bore needle having an inner diameter that will accommodate a suitable marrow sample is prepared with an inner stylet that extends beyond the distal end of the outer needle. The stylet's distal end may be cut at an angle, with the leading edge sufficiently sharp to pierce tissue and bone. With the stylet in place within the outer needle, the needle is pushed through the outer layers of skin and subcutaneous tissue until the needle tip reaches the surface of the cortical bone. The needle and stylet are then pushed into and through the cortical layer until the tip has penetrated into the bone marrow space.
The stylet is then removed from the proximal end of the needle, which opens up the core of the needle to accommodate entry of bone marrow material for collection and retrieval. The needle is then usually advanced another 1 to 2 centimeters at minimum with a slight twisting motion. Often, the distal end of the needle will also be provided with an angled cut and sharpened leading edge to facilitate cutting and coring the tissue. By providing a slight twisting motion as the needle is advanced, usually with no more than quarter or half turns, an appropriate sample is cored from the marrow tissue and enters the inner passage of the marrow needle.
At this point, the marrow biopsy sample is ready to be removed from the patient, although it is important that the biopsy remain within the needle as the needle is withdrawn to ensure recovery of the specimen. If the biopsy becomes dislodged and falls through the distal end of the biopsy needle, the specimen is irretrievably lost. The procedure is then unsuccessful and must be repeated from the beginning.
Various methods have been utilized by physicians to try to prevent the biopsy specimen from dislodging from the needle. For example, after the needle has entered the bone and fully cored a sample from the marrow, some physicians, will pull the biopsy needle back a few millimeters and then advance it a few millimeters at a different angle than the first insertion. This theoretically will "cut" the biopsy piece at the tip of the needle. Other physicians attempt to dislodge or disrupt the connection between the specimen and the bone by making multiple complete clockwise and counterclockwise rotations of the biopsy needle while within the bone. Some physicians even hit the proximal end of the biopsy needle at its handle in an attempt to mechanically disrupt the connection between the specimen and the additional bone.
As can be plainly realized, these manipulations at the end of the procedure, attempts at ensuring that the specimen remains within the needle, can often produce substantial discomfort and anxiety to the patient. Sometimes when the bone marrow is very soft, as in patients with osteoporosis, almost all of these attempts are futile because the bone structure is so fragile. Conversely, sometimes when the bone marrow is very fibrotic, which occurs in patients with myelofibrotic diseases or in AIDS patients, it is difficult to dislodge the core biopsy, since the bone marrow itself is reinforced by the surrounding tissue. In those cases, the cored biopsy often remains attached to the bone and is not successfully recovered.
Other attempts at designing a more efficient and successful biopsy needle have met with little or no success, for various reasons, including the complexity of the devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,721 to Hallac, discloses a biopsy needle in which an inner tube has a weakened portion represented by strips extending between distal and proximal portions of the inner tube. The distal portion of the inner tube is adhered to an outer tube and will not rotate. Once a biopsy has entered the needle, the proximal portion of the inner tube is rotated, causing the strips to twist together and eventually break off. This twisting motion tends to twist the strips to the tube's center, thus hopefully keeping the biopsy piece proximal of the twisted and broken strips for later removal. This particular biopsy needle is only a disposable device, since the strips are broken or irreversibly warped by deformation during the twisting process. Another disadvantage is the lack of control over the twisting motions or the breakage of the strips. Essentially, the operator is left to twist the inner tube until resistance to that twisting is lost, indicating that the strips have severed. There is also no way of releasing the device's grip on tissue during the procedure, should any problems arise.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,311 to Hasson discloses a biopsy device that includes a pair of inner jaws that can be actuated within the outer needle to "bite off" any biopsy piece that has entered the needle. The disadvantages of this device include multiple small mechanical linkages and parts including pivot pins, which are extremely difficult and expensive to assemble and maintain, in addition to the greatly increased chance of mechanical failure resulting in failure to retrieve an adequate specimen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,398, to Goldenberg et al., discloses a bone marrow biopsy needle that offers improvements over the prior art devices. However, in some applications and patients, greater forces are required to penetrate the bone in order to acquire the sample and these forces can present difficulties for some users and to the integrity of the needle. A force is needed to initially anchor the needle which is the process of penetrating the bone before the needle is advanced further into the bone marrow space. It therefore would be advantageous to construct an improved needle that offers all the advantages of the previous Goldbenberg snarecoil needles yet provides an improved needle construction that makes it easier for the user to initially anchor the needle in the bone and then advance the needle into the bone marrow space.


Multi-carrier transmission is performed without inserting a repetitive signal into guard interval periods. A transmitter provides guard interval periods by using a null signal to save transmission power and prevent the deterioration of the SN ratio. Delayed waves at the head of each received symbol cause high-frequency waves to occur and carriers to interfere with one another. Accordingly, a receiver adds a component following each received symbol to a delayed-wave component at the head of the received symbol. As a result, the delayed-wave component at the head of the received symbol and the added component become continuous in wave form and subcarriers do not interfere with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a radio communication system, a receiver, a receiving method, a transmitter, a transmitting method, and a device for and a method of calculating delay times to perform multi-carrier transmission in a multi-path environment such as a room wherein reflected waves and delayed waves as well as direct waves are propagated. Specifically, this invention relates to a radio communication system, a receiver, a receiving method, a transmitter, a transmitting method, and a device for and a method of calculating delay times to perform multi-carrier transmission by allotting data to be transmitted to carriers of different frequencies in order to cope with delay distortion.
More specifically, this invention relates to a radio communication system, a receiver, a receiving method, a transmitter, a transmitting method, and a device for and a method of calculating delay times to perform multi-carrier transmission by providing guard intervals between symbols to be transmitted in order to prevent interference between symbols. Furthermore, this invention relates to a radio communication system, a receiver, a receiving method, a transmitter, a transmitting method, and a device for and a method of calculating delay times to perform multi-carrier transmission by providing guard interval periods, which do not raise the transmission power, between symbols to be transmitted in order to prevent interference between symbols and among carriers.
2. Description of Related Art
With computers of ever-rising performance, there is a growing tendency for us to connect computers to build LAN's (Local Area Networks) in order to share data, information, and files and exchange data, information, and pieces of mail.
In a conventional LAN, computers are connected with optical-fiber cables, coaxial cables, and twisted-pair cables. Thus, such a conventional LAN requires complicated wiring of such cables; accordingly, it cannot be built easily. Besides, such a conventional LAN is not convenient because the ranges of movement of its component devices are limited by the length of cables.
The wireless LAN has lately attracted considerable attention, wherein components devices such as PC's can be moved relatively easily because they are free of connecting cables.
As the operating speed of wireless LAN's has increased and their costs has lowered recently, the demand for them has increased remarkably. Besides, the introduction of the personal area network (PAN) is considered. The PAN is a small-scale wireless network of electronic devices around us.
If a wireless network is built in a room, there is created a multi-path environment where each receiver receives direct, reflected, and delayed waves at the same time. The multi-path transmission causes delay distortion (frequency-selective fading), which causes errors in communication and interference between symbols.
One of the measures against delay distortion is the multi-carrier transmission system. According to the system, data are allotted to two or more carriers of different frequencies and transmitted; therefore, the bandwidth of each carrier is narrow and, hence, each carrier is less affected by frequency-selective fading.
Adopted in, for example, IEEE 802.11a, one of the wireless LAN standards, is the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system, one of the multi-carrier transmission systems. According to the system, the frequencies of carriers are set so that they will lie at right angles to one another. Serially transmitted signals undergo serial-parallel conversion every symbol period, or cycle, slower than the data-transmission rate and are outputted. The outputted signals are allotted to the carriers. The signals of each carrier undergo amplitude and phase modulation. The signals of the carriers undergo inverse FFT to become signals on the time axis, the carriers lying at right angles to one another on the frequency axis, and are transmitted. Received signals undergo FFT to become signals on the frequency axis. The signals of each carrier undergo demodulation corresponding to the above modulation of signals of said carrier. The signals of the carriers undergo parallel-serial conversion to become serial signals.
According to the OFDM transmission system, the length of symbols can be increased by using two or more subcarriers lying at right angles to one another; therefore, the OFDM transmission system is suitable to multi-path transmission. However, there is the problem that if there are multi-path components, delayed waves interfere with the next symbol, causing interference between symbols. Besides, there occurs interference between subcarriers (interference between carriers), too, deteriorating the characteristics of reception.
On the other hand, there is available a method of providing guard intervals between symbols to be transmitted in order to prevent interference between symbols. Namely, guard signals such as guard intervals or guard bands in accordance with prescribed guard-interval or guard-band size and times are inserted between symbols to be transmitted.
It is also common to repeatedly transmit part of the signal to be transmitted in each guard interval period (see, for example, non-patent literature 1). By inserting a repetitive signal into guard interval periods, multi-path propagation (propagation of waves of multiple reflection) smaller than the size of guard intervals can be absorbed and interference between subcarriers can be prevented. Thus, the fatal deterioration of the quality of reception is prevented. Besides, inserting a repetitive signal into guard intervals brings about advantages such as synchronization of times and periods, or cycles, of symbols. If a repetitive signal is not inserted into guard intervals, the bit-error rate lowers (see, for example, non-patent literature 2).
On the other hand, if a repetitive signal is inserted into guard interval periods, the repetitive signal is removed at a receiver; accordingly, the repetitive signal transmitted does not contribute as signal power at the receiver. Therefore, inserting a repetitive signal causes the electric power necessary for transmission to increase.
Besides, inserting a repetitive signal causes the length of symbols to be transmitted to increase; accordingly, interference among carriers occurs, increasing the electric power necessary for transmission per unit frequency. If the electric power necessary for transmission per unit frequency is restricted by law, the transmission power has to be reduced by the above increment beforehand, causing the signal-noise ratio to deteriorate.
To save electric power, a null signal instead of a repetitive one may be inserted into guard intervals. In this case, the problem of the decline of the bit-error rate can be solved by using, for example, an equalizer (see, for example, non-patent literature 3 and 4). In this case, however, the adoption of an equalizer causes the circuit of the system to become complex and the cost of the system to increase.
[Non-Patent Literature 1]
    "Digital Broadcasting" by M. Shiomi et al. (Ohmsha 1998)[Non-Patent Literature 2]    "On the Use of a Cyclic Extension in OFDM" by R. Morrison et al. (0-7803-7005-8/$10.00 IEEE, 2001)[Non-Patent Literature 3]    "Performance Analysis of a Deterministic Channel Estimator for Block Transmission Systems with Null Guard Intervals" by S. Barbarossa et al.[Non-Patent Literature 4]    "Cyclic Prefixing or Zeor Padding for Wireless Multicarrier Transmissions?" by B. Muquet et al. (IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 50, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2002)

Radio communication system performing multi-carrier transmission, reception device, reception method, transmission device, transmission method, delay time calculation device, and delay time calculation method


A feeding mold including a runner and a gate structure is provided. The runner is adapted to be filled with a liquid-like material. The gate structure includes a storage cavity, a running passage and a filling cavity. The storage cavity communicates with the runner and is adapted to store the liquid-like material filled by the runner. The running passage communicates with the storage cavity. The running passage is adapted to carry the liquid-like material from the storage cavity so as to evenly distribute the liquid-like material. The running passage has a protruding buffering cavity which is located between the storage cavity and the filling cavity and is adapted to change the velocity of the liquid-like material in the running passage, and lower the temperature of the liquid-like material flowed onto a surface of a workpiece.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mold, and in particular, to a feeding mold adapted for an in-mold roller (IMR).
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, many electronic devices, such as notebook computers, tablet PCs, or mobile phones, will add patterns or colors on the surface of a casing, so as to beautify the electronic device. Currently, methods of forming patterns or colors onto a surface of a casing includes methods such as spraying or printing. However, the surface treatment technology of spraying is complicated, and creates pollution. In addition, printing is limited to the chemical properties of the material, and is unable to create better external appearances.
In order to form a better pattern on a casing, a popular method is using an IMR. First, a film including a decorative pattern is disposed in a mold for injection molding. Next, resin is melted and filled in a side of the film, so that the melted resin is combined with the film to form a decorative film. Finally, the decorative film is extracted from the mold. Herein, the IMR process is complete.
However, as the thicknesses of casings gradually become thinner, in order to increase the strength and rigidity of casings, glass fibers are added into the plastic material. However, plastic material containing high glass fiber must be maintained under high temperature with good fluidity, so as to achieve a high gloss of the surface when injection molding. In addition, plastic material containing high glass fiber does not have the effects of bonding wires or floating fibers. Therefore, the injection molding requirements are strict (e.g. high injection speed), and so defects in the external appearance are easily created after the decorative film is combined with the casing.


An authentication method for link protection between an OLT and an ONU newly connected thereto in an EPON, which is implemented in a data link layer to which cryptography is applied. First, an authentication key is distributed to both the OLT and an ONU. The OLT (or ONU) generates first and second random values, generates an authentication request frame containing the random values, and transmits it to the ONU (or OLT). The ONU generates a first hash value according to a hash function using the random values contained in the request frame, and transmits an authentication response frame containing the first hash value to the OLT. The OLT compares the first hash value with a second hash value calculated by it according to the has function using the two random values and an authentication key distributed to it, and transmits an authentication result frame to the ONU.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an authentication method between an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and an Optical Network Unit (ONU) newly connected thereto in an Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON), and more particularly to an authentication method for link protection in the EPON, which can be applied to a data link layer and can support link protection.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a new device attempts to connect to a network, which implements security measures, via a connection point, authentication of the device is performed at the connection point. In order to maintain the security of the network, it is required to check the authenticity of a device newly connecting to the network. The authentication is performed to determine whether or not the device is an authorized entity. After the authentication is performed, cryptography is applied to a link connecting the network connection point and the device based on the authentication information, and then the connection of the device to the secure network is completed so that the device can begin communication via the network.
The authentication is typically performed via an authentication server in the network. The device attempting to connect to the network performs authentication via the authentication server and various authentication protocols. The authentication protocols are typically based on password-based identification, a challenge and response technique, and zero-knowledge proof.
Among the authentication methods, the password-based authentication method is most commonly used. In this method, if a device inputs an ID and a password for its authentication, the authentication server determines whether or not the input ID and password are identical to those stored in the server to determine whether or not the device can access resources requested by the device. The password is secret information of 6 to 8 bytes prescribed between the device and the authentication server. The password must be generated such that it is not easy for attackers to find the password. The password needs to be changed periodically. Typically, the password is transmitted after conversion into a hash value generated by a known hash function. One example of the password-based authentication method uses one-time passwords. This method changes the password each time the device performs authentication. The device sets an initial value x0 as secret information, and calculates xi=h(xi−1) using a known one-way hash function h(xi), where "i" is an integer in the range of "1" to "n". The device transmits the calculated value xn−1 as its password to the authentication server, and the authentication server converts the corresponding password into a hash value to determine whether or not the received value xn−1 corresponds to the ID of the device, and updates the corresponding password stored in the authentication server with the received value xn−1.
The challenge and response technique is a method in which a device provides its own secret information to the server in order to prove to the server that the device is an authorized user of the server. In this technique, if the server generates a random value and sends a challenge message to the device, the device encrypts the challenge message using a shared key, and sends the encrypted challenge message, together with its identification data, to the server. The server searches for and retrieves the challenge message transmitted to the device on the basis of the identification data received from the device, and encrypts the retrieved challenge message using the shared key and compares it with the challenge message received from the device, thereby authenticating the device.
Finally, the zero-knowledge proof technique is a method in which a device informs the server that the device has its own secret information, without exposing any information about the secret information. This technique is based on an interactive proof scheme in which the device and the server exchange a number of messages corresponding to challenges and responses, where the exchanged messages generally depend on random numbers. For example, in the zero-knowledge proof technique, the authentication server initially selects a number n=pq where "p" and "q" are prime numbers, and stores the prime number "p" and "q" and publicizes the number "n". The device selects a secret number "s" relatively prime to "n" and calculates v=s2modn, and then registers the value "v" as its public key in the server. The device again selects a random number "r", and generates a value x=r2modn, and transfers the generated value "x" to the server. The server selects e=0,1 and transmits it to the device. In response to this, the device transmits y=r·semod n to the server. The server then determines whether or not y2=x·v2(mod n). The server accepts the connection of the device to the server if y2=x·v2(mod n), otherwise it rejects the connection.
As described above, most conventional authentication technologies require an authentication server and thus require techniques for communication and management of servers. This indicates that the conventional authentication technologies incur additional costs for implementing a network.
Since the conventional authentication techniques require communication between the authentication server and the device, the authentication techniques are applied to the network layer, which is different from cryptography techniques that are applied to the data link layer. This applied layer difference causes no problem if the device requires authentication but does not require cryptography. However, in most cases, if authentication is completed, the device is given a key that can be used in cryptography and that is provided to the data link layer. Thus, in the conventional authentication methods, an authentication module must control both frames applied to the data link layer and frames applied to the network layer, because there is a need to provide an interface between the layers. This results in high complexity for a communication protocol and a control technique.
In addition, the conventional authentication methods use one-way authentication techniques to authenticate a device newly connected to a network connection point, so that a process for authentication has an asymmetric structure. Thus, a device newly connected to the network may need to have two processes for the next device to be connected to the network. This causes a waste of resources and requires that a key distribution technique necessary for a device to use cryptography be asymmetric, so that one-way feature is also added to key updating, thereby reducing the flexibility of a key management technique.

Authentication method for link protection in Ethernet passive optical network

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Instutute


A system for sensing and measuring the forces acting on the body extremities of individuals is disclosed. The system is intended for use primarily in an aqueous medium, i.e. as an aquatic dynamometer, and includes a pressure indicator for measuring the dynamic forces acting on the body extremities of individuals during their movement in water. The pressure indicator is positioned on a float situated on the surface of the water. An attachment element is mounted on the pressure indicator to detachably connect the indicator and the float to a wall or other fixed part of a water-containing vessel and in a fixed position on the water surface. Alternatively, the pressure indicator may be secured to a mounting plate. An attachment element comprising a pair of gripping plates extending from the mounting plate are configured to detachably grip a stationary portion of the vessel. One or more load cells for sensing the dynamic forces are connected to the pressure indicator. One or more straps are mountable on the body extremities, and the straps are provided with connecting means for detachably joining to the straps to the load cells in the aqueous medium. The system has another intended use for measuring the buoyancy of body extremities, i.e. the static forces acting thereon while floating on or immersed in water, as well as a tertiary use for measuring the static forces acting on those extremities on land, i.e. their weights.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to load sensing and measuring systems, and more particularly to an apparatus for sensing and quantitatively measuring the forces exerted on the body extremities of individuals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Exercise programs designed for use in an aqueous medium are commonly practiced for a wide variety of different purposes. For example, exercise in water is used in physical or occupational therapy for rehabilitation from sports or other injuries, as well as in training programs to maximize the physical conditioning of professional athletes or those other persons (i.e. amateurs) interested in maintaining a desired level of physical fitness. However, use of these programs, i.e. simply exercising in water for rehabilitation or general physical conditioning without objective monitoring of the performed movements, fail to provide a precise indication or measurement of progress to determine the overall effectiveness of a particular program.
Various load sensing and measuring systems have been utilized in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,337 to El Waziri sets forth a load cell having a flexible diaphragm and a plurality of concentric bearing rings positioned on the diaphragm for measuring loads induced by elements of varying dimensions acting on the bearing rings.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,248.937 to Vincent discloses a system for measuring loads in an aqueous medium using load sensors and measuring gauges.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,063 to Krueger illustrates a system for measuring the weight of bulk material in a storage tank using a load cell with a flexible diaphragm (in the bottom of the tank) in fluid connection with a pressure gauge for measuring the weight of the material therein.
As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved load sensing and measuring system which addresses both the problems of ease of use, portability, and effectiveness in construction, and in this respect, the present invention fulfills this need.


A method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin, which involves the steps of. (a) injecting a molten resin of a thermoplastic resin into a cavity provided in a mold composed of a fixed mold member and a movable mold member, PA1 (b) introducing a predetermined amount of a coating material into between the resin in the cavity and the cavity wall after the injection of the molten resin is completed, to allow the resin in the cavity to be compressed with the introduced coating material and/or to allow the movable mold member to move in the mold-opening direction, and PA1 (c) maintaining a molding pressure before the mold releasing at a level higher than 0 kgf/cm.sup.2.

The present invention relates to a method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin, which permits the facile formation of a coating having various functions on the surface of an injection-molded article formed of the thermoplastic resin.
A coating is sometimes formed on the surface of an injection-molded article of a thermoplastic resin for improving the injection-molded article in surface properties. The coating refers, for example, to a coating of a coating composition, a hard-coating, an ultraviolet light-preventing coating or a non-fogging coating. Generally, after an injection-molded article is formed by an injection molding method, there is employed a separate step of forming a coating having various functions on the surface of the injection-molded article. The coating is formed, for example, by spraying a coating material on the molded article or by immersing the molded article in a coating material in a liquid state. As a result, the process for producing an end product whose surface is coated includes additional steps. The above injection-molded article, therefore, has the following problem to overcome. It is required to decrease the number of steps required up to the production of the end product, to decrease the scale of its production facilities, to decrease the processing and treating time and to decrease the production cost.
For compression-molding or injection-molding thermosetting resins such as SMC (sheet molding compound) and BMC (bulk molding compound), there are proposed some methods in which a coating is formed on a product during the molding step. For example, JP-B-55-9291 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,788) discloses a method in which an SMC material is fed into a space between an upper mold member and a lower mold member, these mold members are closed to compression-mold the SMC material, the resultant molded article is spaced from the upper mold member to form a space while the mold members are tightly closed, and a coating material in an amount smaller than the volume of the formed space is introduced into the space formed between the upper mold member and the molded article. In the present specification, the method of introducing a coating material in an amount smaller than the volume of a space formed between a molded article of a resin and a cavity wall will be referred to as "coating material short shot method" hereinafter.
JP-B-4-33252 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,460) discloses a method in which an SMC material is fed into a space between an upper mold member and a lower mold member, these mold members are closed to compression-mold the SMC material, and a coating material is introduced into a boundary between the mold and the resultant molded article at a pressure greatly larger than the pressure generated between the mold and the molded article.
On the other hand, in the method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin, there are proposed some methods in which a coating is formed on the surface of an injection-molded article during its molding step. For example, JP-A-5-301251 discloses a method for injecting a thermoplastic resin into a cavity formed in a mold and then introducing and filling a thermosetting coating material into a space formed of a coating surface of a molded article of the resin and the mold after the mold clamping force is decreased or while the mold clamping force is maintained. In the present specification, the method of introducing and filling a coating material in an amount equivalent to the volume of a space formed between a molded article of a resin and a mold will be referred to as "coating material full shot method" hereinafter.
Further, JP-A-5-318527 discloses a method in which a thermoplastic resin is injected and then an uncured thermosetting resin is introduced into a space formed by the contraction of the thermoplastic resin in a mold and then is cured, to form a molded article of the thermoplastic resin of which the surface is partly coated with the thermosetting resin.
The methods disclosed in JP-B-55-9291 and JPB-4-33252 are very effective for concealing the defects on a molded article surface such as pits and sink marks which are problems in the SMC compression molding. In the compression molding, the mold clamping force applied to a movable mold member is all exerted on a molded article. That is, the equation, ##EQU1## holds. The molding pressure can be therefore easily changed by controlling the mold clamping force, so that a space in the cavity into which a coating material is to be introduced can be uniformly and easily formed by controlling the mold clamping force.
In the method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin, however, a series of molding steps are generally carried out without spacing a mold and in a state in which a predetermined mold clamping force is applied. The mold clamping force is exerted not directly on a molded article but on a mold. In these points, the method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin greatly differs from the method of compression-molding a thermosetting resin. It is therefore difficult to apply the techniques disclosed in JP-B-55-9291 and JP-B-4-33252 to the method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin.
That is, in the method of compression-molding a thermosetting resin such as SMC or the like, disclosed in JP-B-55-9291 and JP-B-4-33252, a compressive force (molding pressure) is always exerted on a molding material by a movable mold member all through the molding and processing steps. For introducing a coating material onto the molded article surface in the mold, therefore, it is required to form a space between the mold and the molding material by opening the mold and releasing the compressive force (molding pressure) caused by a movable mold member (JP-B-55-9291), or it is required to introduce a coating material at a pressure greater than the compressive force (molding pressure) caused by the movable mold member (JP-B-4-33252).
In the method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin, generally, the mold is composed of a fixed mold member and a movable mold member. The fixed mold member is contact with the movable mold member, when the movable mold member is clamped to the fixed mold member before injecting a molten thermoplastic resin into a cavity of the mold. The molten resin is injected into the cavity from an injection cylinder to fill the cavity with the molten resin in a state in which the clamping force applied to the movable mold member is supported by the fixed mold member. The clamping force is applied to the movable mold member for preventing the movable mold member from opening a mold while or after the cavity is filled with the molten resin. That is, the clamping force itself is not a compressive force which is exerted on the molten resin injected into the cavity. In other words, the clamping force does not at all work directly to form (mold) an injection-molded article.
The above state can be expressed by the following equation. ##EQU2## in which P.sub.I is an injection pressure of a molten resin, P.sub.loss is a pressure loss at the time of injecting the molten resin, P.sub.comp is a compressive pressure which an excess of the filled molten resin in the cavity receives under the clamping force, and "projected area of molded article" is an area of the molded article when the molded article is projected to a plane perpendicular to the direction of the clamping force. In the present specification, the molding pressure refers to a pressure which is caused by a resin injected into the cavity and which is exerted on the cavity wall unless otherwise specified. The molding pressure can be measured on the cavity wall corresponding to any position of a molded article.
In the injection molding method, therefore, controlling the clamping force alone is not sufficient for controlling the molding pressure to a desired value. In other words, the space (gap) between the resin in the cavity and the cavity wall, into which a coating material is to be introduced, (such a space will be referred to as "the space" simply, hereinafter in some cases), cannot be uniformly or easily formed by controlling the clamping force alone.
When the technique of introducing a coating material at a pressure greater than the compressive force (molding pressure) caused by a movable mold member, disclosed in JP-B-4-33252, is applied to the technique of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin, it cannot be necessarily expected that the pressure for introducing a coating material is higher than the clamping force so that the coating material can be introduced into the boundary between a molded article and the cavity wall, due to (molding pressure).times.(projected area of molded article).ltoreq.clamping force.
In the techniques disclosed in JP-A-5-301251 and JP-A-5-318527, a thermoplastic resin injected into a cavity shrinks in its cooling and solidification process, thereby forming the space. A coating material is introduced and filled in the resultant space. In other words, the coating material in an amount exceeding the volume of the space is not always introduced into the space. The above techniques are seemingly proper as a technique of forming a coating in the method of injection-molding a thermoplastic resin. However, as already described, there is the relationship of ##EQU3## Meanwhile, for forming the space, the molding pressure is required to be 0 kgf/cm.sup.2. However, even if the cooling of molten resin in the cavity to solidness proceeds to attain P.sub.I =P.sub.loss =0, the molding pressure cannot be brought into 0 kgf/cm.sup.2 so long as the term of P.sub.comp remains. It is therefore not expected that the space is necessarily formed. Further, the formation of the space into which a coating material is to be introduced cannot uniformly or easily carried out by controlling the clamping force.
The molding pressure differs depending upon the form of the cavity, the kind of the molten resin used or the solidifying time (cooling time) of the injected molten resin. It therefore cannot be uniformly said that the space is reliably formed, for example, by spacing the movable mold member from the fixed mold member.
As explained above, the relation between the formation of the space and the decrease amount of the clamping force, or the relation between the formation of the space and the spacing amount of the movable mold member from the fixed mold member, depends upon the magnitude of the term of P.sub.comp. The formation of the space therefore cannot be uniformly or easily carried out by simply controlling the clamping force alone or by determining the amount of the spacing of the movable mold member from the fixed mold member.
Generally, the introduced coating material shrinks in volume. Concerning the molten resin in the cavity, dwell pressure is being applied to the injected molten resin from the injection cylinder side of an injection molding machine to replenish the molten resin into the cavity. Concerning the coating material, generally, after it is introduced into the space, the introduced coating material and the coating material introduction device are in a "relation-broken" state. That is, when the coating material is introduced into the space, pressure is not always exerted on the coating material introduced from the coating material introduction device. As a result, there arise problems in that the gloss of the surface of the coating decreases, that the adhesive ability of the coating to the thermoplastic resin decreases and that the coating is not uniform. For avoiding these problems, the introduced coating material is required to be always pressed to the cavity wall under a predetermined pressure. However, the above JP-A-5-301251 and JP-A-5-318527 are neither disclose nor suggest anything concerning these problems and means to solve them.

Method of injection-molding thermoplastic resins


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a data analysis system that may receive data comprising a plurality of raw data items from one or more data sources, such as a monitoring agent located in a monitored network. The received data may be scored using one or more scoring rules and/or algorithms, with raw data items satisfying a score threshold designated as “data item leads.” Raw data items associated with a data item lead may be searched and displayed to the user via an interactive user interface. The data analysis system may be used to execute searches and additional enrichments against the received raw data items. The data analysis system may group received raw data items based upon shared attribute values. The data analysis system may be used to categorize received data and construct timelines, histograms, and/or other visualizations based upon the various attributes of the raw data items.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally related to analysis and triage of data items, and specifically to analysis and triage of suspected malware-related data items.
Detection of the presence of malware and/or other malicious activity occurring on a network is a highly important, but oftentimes challenging task. Detection of malware and malicious activity is of particular importance to organizations (for example, businesses) that maintain internal networks of computing devices that may be connected to various external networks of computing devices (for example, the Internet) because infection of a single computing device of the internal network may quickly spread to other computing devices of the internal network and may result in significant data loss and/or financial consequences.
Detection of the presence of malware and/or malicious activity on a monitored network may be performed through the examination of activity occurring on a monitored network over time. Previously, determination and identification of malware or malicious activity through the examination of network activity was a labor intensive task. For example, an analyst may have had to pore through numerous tracking logs and other information of the monitored network, manually discern patterns and perform analyses to gain additional context, and compile any information gleaned from such analyses.

Systems and interactive user interfaces for dynamic retrieval, analysis, and triage of data items


An automatic LPG tank insertion apparatus for automobiles has a rotary column provided with a lift body, which has a support arm. A rotating plate is rotatably mounted to the support arm such that yaw, pitch, and roll of the rotating plate can be controlled separately. Clamping devices are mounted on the rotating plate to selectively clamp an LPG tank. A trunk opening area measuring device includes a base unit, a guide shaft, a ruler shaft, and an encoder. Trunk opening sizes and LPG tank dimensions for various vehicle models are stored in a control computer. When vehicle model is input to the control computer, yaw, pitch, and roll of the rotating plate are adjusted so that the LPG tank can be inserted into a vehicle trunk.

Generally, in automobiles using LPG (liquid petroleum gas) as fuel, an LPG tank is installed in the trunk of an automobile.
In the case that the length of the LPG tank is shorter than the length of the opening of the trunk, a worker easily inserts the LPG tank into the trunk using a typical hanger having a wire and a pulley. However, if the length of the LPG tank is longer than the length of the opening of the trunk, because the LPG tank interferes with the edge of the opening of the trunk, there is difficulty in insertion of the LPG tank into the trunk.

Automatic LPG tank insertion apparatus for automobiles


A cable reel or cable reel assembly is provided for storing, deploying, retrieving and transporting a cable assembly (having a cable and connectors). The cable reel includes a central hub and two side flanges constructed, in one embodiment, of composite plastic material having reinforcing material(s). An annular rim and spaced apart spoke sections in each side flange function to provide multiple carrying handles. In a specific embodiment, a secondary hub (and third flange) adjacent the central hub is positioned and disposed within a side periphery defined by the annular rim of one of the side flanges enabling two cable reels to be stacked together such that the annular rims of respective cable reels may be in close or actual contact. In another embodiment, a retractable handle is disposed within the side periphery when in the retracted position.

Prior art cable reel assemblies have been provided for storing and transporting fiber optic and/or electrical cables of substantial length. One well-known cable reel used in most military applications is manufactured by Shane Industries.
Various problems exist with this prior art cable reel, including weight, non-stackability, bulkiness, difficulty in handling, lack of versatility, difficulty of manufacture, etc. Therefore, there exists a need for an improved cable reel assembly that is lower in weight, stackable, less bulky, easy to handle and reel, modifiable, and relatively easy to manufacture.

Fiber optic/electrical cable reel assembly


A device includes first and second inter-engageable parts, each having a longitudinal axis and a connecting face extending substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis. The first part has an engagement formation extending substantially axially and the second part has a receiving formation extending substantially axially, and in which the engagement formation is receivable. The engagement and receiving formations each includes a substantially helicoidal surface extending at least partially around the longitudinal axis of the respective part of the connector, so that rotation of the parts relative to one another about the longitudinal axes, when the parts are substantially co-axially aligned, so that the connecting faces of the parts face one another in a substantially axial direction, causes engagement of the engagement formation with the corresponding receiving formation.

This invention relates to a device which may be used, and hereinafter is described principally in relation to its use, as a connector. However, it will be understood that the device may be used for other purposes, a number of which will be referred to below.
It is known to connect items together by means of connectors or fasteners. Fasteners and connectors including threaded portions are known, for example screws, and screw caps.
A screw includes a body and a generally helicoidal projection which extends radially outwardly of the body, along a length of the body. A screw cap also includes a generally helicoidal projection having a first end and a second end, and which extends generally radially inwardly of the cap. The helicoidal projection of the cap is engageable with a corresponding projection which extends generally radially outwardly from a neck of a bottle (or other item). The helix of the neck of the bottle also has a first end and a second end.
In use, the second end of the helicoidal projection of the cap is positioned adjacent the first end of the helicoidal projection of the neck of the bottle. Relative rotation of the screw cap relative to the neck, about a generally central longitudinal axis, causes inter-engagement of the helicoidal projections. As the cap and the neck are rotated relative to one another, the length of each helicoidal projection which is engaged with the other helicoidal projection increases, until a first end of the helical projection of the cap is adjacent the first end of the helicoidal projection on the neck, and the second end of the helical projection of the cap is adjacent the second end of the helicoidal projection of the neck. An in use upper surface of the helicoidal projection of the cap abuts an in use lower surface of the helicoidal projection of the neck. Inter-engagement of the helical projections inhibits linear movement of the cap relative to the neck in a direction which is parallel to the longitudinal axis.
A disadvantage of known threaded connections is that it is necessary for multiple relative revolutions of the two parts to be carried out in order to achieve a satisfactory connection which inhibits or prevents linear movement in the direction of the central, longitudinal axis.

Device for and method of connecting two items together