A processor system is disclosed wherein said processor system is adapted to communicate over at least one one-wire network utilizing one-wire communications protocol. For the embodiment of the invention in which the processor system acts as a network master, the processor system includes a master UART especially configured to control communications over such network according to one-wire protocol. For the embodiment of the invention in which the processor communicates over two one-wire networks, the processor system includes a first UART which acts as a slave and a second UART which acts as a master.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to microprocessor related circuitry. More specifically, this application relates to universal asynchronous receiver/transmitters (UARTs) that operate in conjunction with microprocessors. The UARTs of exemplary embodiments of the present invention incorporate one-wire bus technology and protocol which was developed by the Dallas Semiconductor Corporation. More specifically still, the present invention includes a one-wire UART design operating in conjunction with a microprocessor that is for use in an access control system, such as a locking mechanism. The locking mechanism can be networked.
2. Description of Related Art
Many microprocessor based circuits must communicate via data buses to other electronic devices. A universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) is used in many circumstances to enable a microprocessor to receive and send data from and to other electronic devices. A UART translates parallel or serial data from one type of data line to a data format that can be understood by a microprocessor. The bus and microprocessor may be operating at different clock rates or via different protocols. The UART may operate with singular or dual clocks for receive and transmit and be able to perform data receives/transmits in either asynchronous or synchronous modes.
Various corporations create UARTs for parallel buses and multiple wire serial buses, such as RS232 and I.sup.2 C buses. To date there is no UART capable of operating on a single wire bus. In particular, there is a need for a UART that can operate in conjunction with a microprocessor and a one-wire bus.

Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) slave device containing an identifier for communication on a one-wire bus


A semiconductor device comprises a substrate and quantum dots, wherein a peak emission of the quantum dots has a FWHM of less than 20 meV when the semiconductor is measured at a temperature of 4 Kelvin.

A quantum dot (QD) is a tiny speck of matter so small that it is effectively concentrated into a single point (i.e., zero dimensional). As a result, the particles inside it that carry electricity (electrons and holes) are trapped or constrained and have well-defined energy levels according to the laws of quantum theory. Typically, QDs are crystals a few nanometers wide, so they are a few dozen atoms across and contain anything from perhaps a hundred to a few thousand atoms. QDs are made from a semiconductor such as silicon and although they're crystals, they behave more like individual atoms.
QDs may be controlled precisely to have wide applications in the real world. As a general background, if an atom is given energy, it can be excited (i.e., boost an electron inside it to a higher energy level). When the electron returns to a lower level, the atom emits a photon of light with the same energy that the atom originally absorbed. The color (i.e., wavelength and frequency) of light an atom emits depends on what the atom is because of the way their energy levels are arranged. Generally speaking, different atoms give out different colors of light. This is because the energy levels in atoms have set values (i.e., they are quantized).
QDs do the same, as they also have quantized energy levels. However, QDs made from the same material will give out different colors of light depending on how big they are. A small QD has a bigger band gap, which, roughly speaking, is the minimum energy it takes to free electrons so they'll carry electricity through a material, so it takes more energy to excite it. Because the frequency of emitted light is proportional to the energy, smaller QDs with higher energy produce higher frequencies and lower wavelengths. Larger QDs have more spaced energy levels and thus produce lower frequencies and higher wavelengths.
As a result, the biggest QDs produce the highest wavelengths (and shortest frequencies), while the smallest QDs make shorter wavelengths (and higher frequencies). This generally means that big QDs produce red light and small QDs produce blue, while medium-sized QDs produce green light (and other colors too).
In recent time, the fabrication of self-assembled QDs has been intensively investigated because of their potential for novel optoelectronic device applications, such as lasers, solar cell and light-emitting diodes. Indeed, the optoelectronic properties of QDs are strongly associated with their physical properties such as size, composition, strain and shape which determine the confinement potential of the electrons and holes. Thus, the growth mechanisms for fabricating active quantum nanostructures are becoming important.
Among various growth techniques, the most common approach is Stranski-Krastanov (SK) growth mode that is based on self-assembled mechanism and typically used in lattice mismatched systems, such as InAs/GaAs systems. In the SK growth, a thin film of semiconductor is grown on a semiconductor substrate, generating a lattice mismatch at the interface of the two materials. During the epitaxial growth, the interlayer mismatch strain is partially relaxed and three-dimensional structures are then formed. However, the morphology and composition of QDs will be significantly changed during the deposition of a capping layer, which make it difficult to achieve the designed properties. Furthermore, this technique was not available in lattice-matched system such as GaAs/AlGaAs systems due to the absence of strain.
An alternative and promising technique for fabricating strain-free GaAs/AlGaAs QDs is droplet epitaxy (DE) growth mode which is first demonstrated by Koguchi and Ishige in 1993. In comparison with SK technique, DE technique can be used in both lattice-mismatched and lattice-matched systems and thus have high design flexibility. In the case of GaAs QDs, numerous metallic Ga droplets are first formed on the substrate in the absence of As4 flux. Droplets are subsequently crystallized through exposure to an As4 flux for the formation of GaAs QDs. Ga droplets are usually formed at low temperature (˜300° C.) in order to maintain their original morphology. However, such low temperature often causes degradation of crystalline and optical qualities during the deposition of AlGaAs capping layer. Moreover, this low-temperature surrounding also strongly influences the formation of GaAs materials while incorporating Carbon dopants.
It has been demonstrated that the intensity of As4 flux and crystallization temperature will determine the final morphology. For example, generally GaAs QDs are not Carbon-doped and are formed at low temperature (around 100° C.-200° C.) with an As4 fluxes of 10−4-10−5 Torr at the crystallization step. Single, double or multiple quantum rings (QRs) are generated under the As4 flux of 10−6-10−7 Torr at the growth temperature between 200° C.-450° C. at the crystallization step. The holed nanostructures are grown at higher crystallization temperature (T=450° C.-620° C.).
A series of previous studies have been demonstrated that the experimental conditions can determine the final structures. However, some drawbacks are still existed. In case of GaAs QDs formation, Ga droplets are formed at low temperature in order to maintain their original morphology. Such low temperature growth process often causes degradation of crystalline and optical qualities during the deposition of AlGaAs capping layer. Therefore, more works are necessary for the fabrication of high-quality QDs.
In addition, recombination between confined electrons and photo-excited holes bound to acceptor impurities has a number of advantages for the study of novel physical phenomena in semiconductor nanostructures. Since bound-hole energy is very well defined, photoluminescence (PL) is a direct measurement of the energy spectrum of the electronic states, and localization of the hole relaxes k-conservation rules such that the entire electronic density of states can be investigated. This technique was used very successfully to probe the physics of two-dimensional (2D) electron system, leading to optical investigation of Landau levels, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, the fractional quantum Hall effect and Wigner crystallization. However, it is believed that there is no equivalent work involving zero-dimensional (quantum-dot) structures.
Therefore, there is a need for a new zero-dimensional electron device consists of highly-uniform Carbon-doped GaAs and/or a highly-uniform GaAs and the methods of making the same. This new zero-dimensional electron device has broad applications in the semiconductor field including QD lasers, solar cell, light-emitting diodes, single photon sources for quantum cryptography, quantum bits, and quantum logical elements.

Zero-dimensional electron devices and methods of fabricating the same


Disclosed herein are ortho aryl substituted bisphenol monomers that exhibit a lower binding energy to estradiol related receptors. The monomers are provided by the condensation of a ketone and phenol in the presence of an acid catalyst.

Bisphenol based monomers are widely used precursors in the production of polycarbonate materials. Development of alternatives to existing polycarbonates, polyesters and polyestercarbonates that maintain properties (high transparency and good melt stability) of the corresponding polymers are of great interest in the plastics industry and for the manufacturing industry. To achieve this, a suitable monomer for polymerization reactions is necessary to produce a polymer with the necessary properties.
Further, monomers or oligomers used in making the polycarbonate materials may not proceed to completion in some instances, thus leading to the presence of unreacted residual monomers or oligomers in the polymeric material. Additionally, when subjected to certain conditions, the polymeric materials can undergo degradation reactions, such as hydrolytic or thermolytic degradation, resulting in the formation of hydrolysis and/or thermolysis degradants or reaction products. In some aspects, the resulting degradants can correspond chemically to the monomeric starting materials initially used to manufacture polymeric materials. The presence of residual monomers, either as residues of polymerization or through degradation by thermal or hydrolytic means, is an area of growing regulatory concern.
This concern has led to extensive research to find suitable alternative monomers for polycarbonate materials whose residual monomers or degradation products exhibit desirable characteristics. Desirable characteristics of such degradants include, among other, extremely low, or even no estradiol related receptor (ERR) binding activity.
Accordingly, there is a need for polymeric materials which, if having or generating residual monomers, comprise such monomers that have very low, or nondetectable, biological activity, for instance having extremely low or no binding activity compared to estradiol in the estradiol related receptors (ERR) e.g., ERR-α and/or ERR-β.

Synthesis of 2,2-bis(3-phenyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) propane (PHP)


The reaction of the disulphided oil, as obtained from the caustic wash of liquefied petroleum gas, with 2,3,8,9,13,14-hexathia-5,6,11,12 -tetraazatricyclo [8.2.1.14,7]tetradeca-4,6,10,12-tetraene was carried out in one pot and one step to yield a corrosion inhibiting composition comprising predominantly of 2,5-bis(methyldithio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole, 2-methylthio-5-ethylthio-1,3,4-thiadiazole and 2,5-bis(ethyldithio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole, for application in fuels, lubes and greases. (I)

It is well known that various derivatives of 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole are useful lubricant, grease and fuel additives for inhibition of copper activity, i.e., corrosion or staining. Many patents have been issued on various derivatives of 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole. Amongst various derivatives of 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole, the bisulfides are preferred as corrosion inhibitors/metal passivator additives for lubricants, greases and fuels. These disulfides react with large quantities of sulfur or active sulfur compounds to give compounds, which are non-corrosive to metals, especially copper and silver. Their capacity to react with sulfur is large, as 2,5-bis (dodecyldithio)-1,3,4-thiadiazole is able to react with 16 gram atoms of sulphur and the resulting product is a non-corrosive in modified EMD silver strip test. Thus 2,5-dimercapto thiadiazole disulfides have the ability to act as "sulfur sink".
U.S. Pat. No. 3,087,932 discloses a method of making 2,5-bis( alkyldisulphide)-1,3,4-thiadiazole. This process involves the reaction of hydrogen peroxide with 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole or its alkyl metal salt and alkyl mercaptan.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,387 describes metal deactivators derived from 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole by reaction with sulfur halide and an olefin to form an intermediate, which is then treated with sodium or potassium salt of thiadiazole. More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,706 describes the preparation of metal deactivator by reacting olefin, sulfur dichloride and 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole in a single step.
Other method of making these disulphides of thiadiazole involves reaction of chloromercaptan with 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole or formation of 2,5-dimercapto thiadiazole dichloride and subsequent reaction with mercaptans. This latter reaction is specially preferred in view of the high temperature stability of the dichlorides than alkyl sulfenyl chlorides. These methods have been reviewed by Ellis K Fields in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol. 49, 1957, p. 1361 to 1364; which is incorporated herein as reference.
As can be seen from the above description of the prior-art, the metal deactivator/corrosive inhibiting additives from 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole have been prepared either by reaction of thiadiazole with alkyl mercaptans or by using olefins and sulfur dichloride.
The disadvantages of the above processes are:                Alkyl mercaptans are expensive material and the cost of corrosion inhibitor/metal deactivator additives produced by these procedures becomes very high.        Methane thiol and ethane thiol have low boiling point of 6° C. and 35° C. respectively and therefore difficult to handle commercially in bulk.        Methane thiol and ethane thiol have a very strong odour.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,706, during the reaction of thiadiazole with sulfur dichloride and olefin, hydrogen chloride vapours are evolved and the additives contain residual chlorine by introduction of the HCl gas into olefinic unsaturation. This process evolves corrosive HCl gas and the product contains higher amount of chlorine and hence is not advantageous.
Our U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,137 provides a process for preparing a corrosion inhibitor/metal passivator additive for lubricant, grease and fuel applications from waste refinery streams, comprising reacting 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole either in powder form or in solution form in polar organic solvent, with disulphide oil obtained from Merox extraction/caustic wash of the refinery streams.
In order to get good yields, a redox reagent like hydrogen peroxide was used. The subsequent reaction with disulfide oil was carried out in the same vessel and therefore some amount of hydrogen peroxide always remained in the mixture. Since the reaction mixture was refluxed in the latter part of the process, a small amount of sulphones resulted from the oxidation of disulfides. Though these sulphones were subsequently removed during the step of hexane extraction, an additional step was introduced. Thus, by the two step synthesis, we reported the preparation of 2,5-bis(alkyldithio)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles by using the disulfides from waste refinery streams and having an average molecular composition of C5H12S2 to C12H26S2.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Corrosion inhibitor/metal passivator additive composition from waste refinery streams


The embodiments relate to transcoding, cataloging, and extracting metadata about files stored in a storage device. In one embodiment, a crawler runs on the storage device and maintains a database that is stored in the volume with the data that has been cataloged by the crawler. The crawler may discover files of any type and extract associated metadata about the files. The crawler can extract metadata about client interaction with various files, such as edits, play counts, etc. The crawler may discover files of any type and extract associated metadata about the files automatically during a scan or at the request of a client. In one embodiment, the crawler may be responsive to file system events that indicate changes to the file system, such as additions, deletions, or other types of changes. In addition, the crawler may synchronize the database with the file system so that they indicated the same state for a particular file. Furthermore, the crawler may provide notifications to various entities regarding the state of a file.

Today, files comprise content as well as metadata. The metadata provides additional information about the file, such as its format, date and time, etc. Frequently, this metadata can be used by client applications to provide various functions.
Currently, storage devices face several challenges regarding media access programs. Among these are the CPU, memory, and disk usage expenses of the various "crawlers" and the mechanisms for notifying media-related applications (just "applications" hereafter) about changes to the media file population of the disks. "Crawlers" are programs that scan file systems and provide data about the media file population. They may be standalone, or parts (threads, perhaps) of an application.
However, in the known devices and systems, each user computer and client application creates its own proprietary metadata database for the files it accesses. This is inefficient and subject to duplication, errors, etc.

Shared media crawler database method and system


High frequency power diode including a semiconductor wafer having first and second main sides, a first layer of a first conductivity type formed on the first main side, a second layer of a second conductivity type formed on the second main side and a third layer of the second conductivity type formed between the first layer and the second layer. The first layer has a dopant concentration decreasing from 1019 cm−3 or more adjacent to the first main side of the wafer to 1.5·1015 cm−3 or less at an interface of the first layer with the third layer. The second layer has a dopant concentration decreasing from 1019 cm−3 or more adjacent to the second main side of the wafer to 1.5·1015 cm−3 at an interface of the second layer with the third layer and the third layer has a dopant concentration of 1.5·1015 cm−3 or less.

For resistance welding it is known to use welding diodes which are power semiconductor diodes as rectifier diodes. Resistance welding is a technique used for joining sheets of metal. Perhaps the most common application of resistance welding is spot welding in the manufacturing process of car bodies where many of the industrial robots found on assembly lines are spot welders. Resistance welding is a process in which contacting metal surfaces are joined by the heat obtained from resistance to electrical current. Accordingly, a key factor influencing the heat or welding temperature is the electrical current and the length of welding time. Small pools of molten metal are formed at the point of most electrical resistance (the connecting or "faying" surfaces) as a high electrical current in a range of several 1,000 A up to 100,000 A is passed through the metal.
Accordingly, the main feature of a welding diode is a high current capability in the above mentioned range of several 1,000 A up to 100,000 A combined with a low on-state voltage and a very low thermal resistance, while the required reverse voltage is relatively low, usually in the range of 200 V to 600 V.
A known welding diode is shown in cross section in FIG. 1f. It comprises a silicon wafer having a first main side 1 and a second main side 2 opposite to the first main side 1. In the wafer there is formed from its first main side 1 to its second main side 2: a highly doped p-type anode layer 3 adjacent to the first main side 1, a low-doped n-type base layer 4 and a highly doped n-type cathode layer 5 adjacent to the second main side 2 of the wafer. The anode layer 3, the base layer 4 and the cathode layer 5 form a pin diode structure. On the first main side 1 of the wafer there is formed an anode electrode 6 and on the second main side 2 of the wafer there is formed a cathode electrode 7.
In the following the manufacturing process for the known welding diode is described with reference to FIGS. 1a to 1f. The known welding diodes are diffused pin diodes manufactured by diffusion processes which is more cost efficient than manufacturing the welding diode by a more elaborate epitaxy process. Especially the epitaxial growth of an intrinsic or low doped layer of a pin diode structure is a critical and cost intensive process.
In a first process step for manufacturing the known welding diode the p-type dopants aluminium (Al) and boron (B) are diffused into a low-doped n-type silicon wafer 10 from all sides as shown in FIG. 1a. Therein, the diffusion of the p-type dopants Al and B is indicated by arrows. As a result of the first process step a highly doped p-type layer 13 on the first main side 1 of the wafer and another highly doped p-type layer 13′ on the second main side of the wafer are formed as shown in FIG. 1b. The highly doped p-type layers 13 and 13′ are separated by a low-doped n-type layer 14 formed by the material of the wafer 10. Thereafter the highly doped p-type layer 13′ on the second main side 2 is removed by mechanical grinding of the wafer 10 in a second process step to form a thinned wafer having a thickness W1<W0 as shown in FIG. 1c, wherein W0 is the thickness of the wafer 10 before thinning in the second process step.
In a third process step shown in FIG. 1d the relatively thin highly doped n-type cathode layer 5 is formed by diffusion of phosphorous (P) as an n-type dopant into the low-doped n-type layer 14 of the thinned wafer from its second main side 2 while the first main side 1 of the thinned wafer is covered by a silicon oxide barrier layer 19 to prevent the n-type dopant P from diffusing into the highly doped p-type layer 13 during the third process step. In FIG. 1d the diffusion of P into the wafer is indicated by arrows.
After forming the highly doped n-type cathode layer 5 in the third process step, the silicon oxide barrier layer 19 is removed by etching to obtain the device as shown in FIG. 1e with the anode layer 3, the base layer 4 and the cathode layer 5. The last process steps of the known manufacturing method are the step of forming the anode electrode 6 on the anode layer 3 and the step of forming the cathode electrode 7 on the cathode layer 5 to arrive at the known welding diode as shown in FIG. 1f.
In the known manufacturing process for a welding diode there are certain limitations regarding the thickness W2 of the anode layer 3, the thickness W3 of the base layer 4 and the thickness W4 of the cathode layer 5.
The thickness of the first highly doped p-type layer 13 and therefore also the thickness of the anode layer 3 in the final device is limited by the mechanical stability of the wafer due to the fact that the second highly doped p-type layer 18 has to be removed by grinding. The thicker the first highly doped p-type layer 13 is, the thinner the thinned wafer shown in FIG. 1c must be.
Furthermore, the thickness W4 of the cathode layer 5 is mainly limited by the fact that the blocking function of the silicon oxide barrier layer 19 is limited in time. After a certain time the n-type dopant would diffuse also through the silicon oxide barrier layer 19 into the first highly doped p-type layer 13. Another limiting factor for the diffusion depth of the cathode layer 5 is the fact that not only the n-type dopant but also the p-type dopants of the first highly doped p-type layer 13 move and spread by diffusion during the third process step for forming the cathode layer 5.
As a result of the above limitations the known welding diodes have a thickness W3 of the base layer 4 of about 100 μm or more.
In FIG. 2 there is shown the doping profile of a known welding diode, i.e. the dopant concentration from the first main side 1 to the second main side 2 of the wafer. Therein the distance from the wafer surface means the distance from the first main surface of the silicon wafer. There is also shown in FIG. 2 the carrier concentration in the base layer 4 under forward biasing conditions. As a result of high level injection the concentration of electrons n equals the concentration of holes p in the base layer 4 in the welding diode under forward biasing conditions. In FIG. 2 dotted curve 25 represents the carrier concentration n=p without electron irradiation of the known welding diode, and dashed curve 26 represents the carrier concentration n=p after electron irradiation of the known welding diode. Electron irradiation is a known means for reducing carrier lifetime by inducing deep level traps acting as recombination centers in the silicon wafer.
For a low on-state voltage the conductivity and, therefore, also the carrier concentration n=p in the base layer 4 should be as high as possible. However, the high carrier concentration n=p in the base layer 4 also results in a high reverse recovery charge Qrr, which basically corresponds to the area under the curve representing the carrier concentration (i.e. the area under dotted curve 25 or dashed curve 26 in FIG. 2). At high frequencies a high reverse recovery charge Qrr and a high minority carrier lifetime result in high switching losses. In the known welding diode, electron irradiation would reduce the switching losses by reducing both the reverse recovery charge Qrr and the carrier lifetime. However, as can be seen from a comparison of dotted curve 25 and dashed curve 26, the electron irradiation results at the same time in a significantly reduced carrier concentration n=p in the base layer 4 and, therefore, in a significantly increased on-state voltage. As the switching losses are a limiting factor for increasing the operational frequency of a diode, the known welding diodes are not appropriate for frequencies above about 1 kHz.

High frequency power diode and method for manufacturing the same


A shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses which measures a contour shape of an eyeglass element includes: a holder which holds the eyeglass element; a holder swing mechanism which swings the holder around a virtual rotational axis which is set outside of the shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses; a measuring element which traces a surface of the eyeglass element; a driver which drives the measuring element; a position detector which detects a position of the measuring element; and a controlling-calculating section which controls the driver and obtains and processes position information of the measuring element by the position detector, wherein, in a state of holding the eyeglass element by the holder, the controlling-calculating section controls the driver to slide the measuring element on the surface of the eyeglass element, so that the measuring element traces a three-dimensional shape of the eyeglass element and the three-dimensional shape of eyeglass element is obtained based on information of a driving state of the driver and the position information of the measuring element by the position detector.

This invention relates to a shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses which measures a lens shape of a lens for eyeglasses or an inner circumferential contour shape of a lens frame of eyeglasses.
A shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses for measuring a contour shape of a pair of lens frames comprising an eyeglass frame, for example, is disclosed in Japanese patent publication number H07-290348 or H07-285057.
The shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses has a holder which holds an eyeglass frame, a turning section which turns the holder around a rotating shaft provided in the shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses, a measuring element which traces a groove portion formed inside of the pair of lens frames of the eyeglass frame, a driver which drives the measuring element, a position detector which detects a position of the measuring element, and a controlling-calculating section which controls the driver and obtains and processes position information of the measuring element by the position detector.
In the shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses, in a state where the eyeglass frame is held by the holder, the controlling-calculating section controls the turning section such that a lens frame which is measured is in approximately a horizontal state when measuring, and controls the driver such that the measuring element slides on the groove portion of the lens frame, and thereby a three-dimensional shape of the lens frame is traced by the measuring element and the three-dimensional shape of the lens frame is obtained based on information of a driving state of the driver and position information of the measuring element by the position detector.
However, in the above shape measuring apparatuses for eyeglasses, a turning angle by the turning section is approximately 20 degrees at most. Therefore, it is difficult to measure the shape of an eyeglass frame which is highly-curved such as wraparound eyeglasses worn by athletes, for example.
Moreover, it is difficult for the shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses to accurately measure a contour shape of the eyeglass frame which exceeds a base curve of 8, therefore a distance between geometric centers of each lens frame of the eyeglass frame is not obtained.
In addition, an eyeglass frame generally has a first lens frame and a second lens frame at the right and left, and a bridge which connects the first and the second lens frames. The eyeglass frame is manufactured symmetrically centering on the center of the bridge.
However, actual shapes and sizes of a first lens and a second lens which respectively fit in the first lens frame and the second lens frame are often slightly different from each other. If shape measuring data of one lens (for example, the first lens) is used for a fabrication of the other lens (for example, the second lens), these lenses do not often smoothly fit in the lens frames.
In a case as described above, an adjustment by hand is needed afterward, that is, an additional fabrication is needed. In some cases where the adjustment does not work properly and so on, there is a possibility that a new fabrication is needed.

Shape measuring apparatus for eyeglasses


A system, method and computer program product are provided for detecting encoded shellcode. In use, network traffic that is encoded is identified. Further, it is determined whether the network traffic that is encoded includes shellcode.

Increasingly, computer systems have needed to protect themselves against undesirable code. Such undesirable computer code has generally taken the form of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, and so forth. The damage and/or inconvenience capable of being incurred by these types of undesirable code has ranged from mild interference with a program, such as the display of an unwanted political message in a dialog box, to the complete destruction of contents on a hard drive, and even the theft of personal information.
Propagators of such undesirable code have developed numerous modes of inflicting unwanted results. For example, shellcode is sometimes used for such purposes. Shellcode is an assembly language program which traditionally executes a shell on certain operating systems and may be used as an exploit payload, providing an attacker with access to a system.
Many mechanisms have been created in order to provide the much needed protection from such shellcode-related attacks. Examples of such mechanisms include intrusion detection/prevention systems, firewalls, etc. While these mechanisms are typically effective in terms of identifying patterns in network traffic that are indicative of shellcode-related attacks, such pattern matching techniques are complicated and inaccurate when the shellcode is encoded (e.g. utilizing UTF-8/16/32, HTML encoding, etc.). This is primarily the result of numerous permutation/combinations that need to be detected due to such encoding.
There is thus a need for overcoming these and/or other problems associated with the prior art.

System, method and computer program product for detecting encoded shellcode in network traffic


A hoisting apparatus (10) for use at a manhole (1), comprising a supporting mast and a jib crane (14) connected at an angle to an upper end portion (16) of the supporting mast (12). The jib crane (14) has a front member (18) pointing upwardly and extending on one side of the supporting mast (12) and a rear member (20) having a rear end section (22) extending on another side of the supporting mast (12). A linking rod (24) is connecting the rear member of the jib crane (14) to the supporting mast (12). The apparatus further comprises a winch mechanism (30) mounted onto the jib crane (14) and having a cable (32) cooperating with the front member (18) of the jib crane (14) for hoisting an object from the manhole (1). In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus comprise a security fence (40) for surrounding at least partially the manhole (1) and preventing accidental entry therein, the supporting mast (12) being part of the fence.

Manholes provide access to confined spaces or underground structures such as a sewer, boiler, drain or other similar structures. Often, people have to go into such confined spaces, with or without working material. They usually go into and come out of the manhole by means of a long ladder and a protective fence is usually erected around the opening of the manhole in order to prevent people that may pass thereby from falling into the manhole.
People working in manholes occasionally get seriously injured and, as a result thereof, require to be evacuated as quickly and as safely as possible from the manhole in order to be attended by a professional, such as a doctor and the like. The above-mentioned type of manhole-ladder assembly does not enable to quickly, easily, and safely evacuate an injured person from the manhole.
To that effect, tripod hoisting devices have already been developed for attaching a person entering a manhole so that he or she can be recovered in the event of any difficulties. These hoisting devices are also used for lowering and raising the working material necessary for the persons working in confined spaces. These tripod hoists are however cumbersome and once installed over the manhole, they interfere with persons or equipment being passed over the manhole. Examples of these prior art tripod hoists are given in the following US patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,523; U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,679; U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,076.
Also known in the art are the hoisting apparatuses disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,070 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,489 that are both designed to be secured to a manhole guardrail. These apparatuses are however also cumbersome and, as for the tripod hoists, they extend right over the manhole once installed, thereby interfering with persons or equipment being passed over the manhole. They are thus not very practical for an easy and rapid use.
There is also U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,439 which discloses a hoist apparatus comprising a swivel arm connected to a base member mountable over a manhole. The swivel arm is composed of a vertical post portion and a jib portion. The jib portion is rigidly connected to the post portion and extends upwardly and outwardly therefrom at an angle to the horizontal. A winch is mounted to the post. One drawback with this hoist apparatus is that it is fragile and not suitable for hoisting very heavy persons or objects. It has been shown that the joint connecting the jib portion to the post is not sufficient to resist to the flexion caused by the load hanging at the extremity of the jib portion.
Thus, there is still a need for a hoisting apparatus which would be easily and quickly mountable in the vicinity of a manhole while allowing also to lift very heavy objects or persons without interfering with persons or equipment being passed over the manhole.


Disclosed is a transfer device and a method for transferring a plurality of first tire components from a first container and a plurality of second tire components from a second container to a servicer, wherein the transfer device includes a first station and a second station for receiving the first container and the second container, respectively, wherein the first station and the second station are arranged side-by-side in a lateral direction, wherein the transfer device further includes a base and a take-out member that is mounted to said base and that is movable with respect to the base towards the first station and the second station for picking-up and taking-out one of the first tire components from the first container at the first station and for picking-up and taking-out one of the second tire components from the second container at the second station, respectively.

The invention relates to a transfer device and a method for transferring tire components from a container to a servicer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,330 A discloses a belt-shaped member taking-out and transfer apparatus to take belt-shaped members one by one from a container having a plurality of shelves vertically stacked, and transferring them to a server of a tire building machine. The apparatus includes a lifter supporting thereon the container and intermittently raising and lowering the container. When the container is empty, the lifter lowers the container to a lower limit position. Thereafter, the empty container is removed from the lifter by means of a fork lift truck or the like and replaced by a full container.
During the exchange of the empty container for full container, the transfer of belt-shaped members to the server is temporarily interrupted and waiting for the operator to act. This significantly impacts the operating efficiency of the known belt-shaped taking-out and transfer apparatus, as well as any stations downstream of said apparatus.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer device and a method for transferring tire components from a container to a servicer, wherein the efficiency of the transfer of tire components to the servicer can be improved.

Transfer device and method for transferring tire components from a container to a servicer


The present invention relates to the novel use (anti-inflammatory activity) of Ramalin isolated from the Antarctic lichen Ramalina terebrata, and more specifically to a pharmaceutical composition containing Ramalin as an active ingredient. Ramalin of the invention is a compound derived from natural material, has no toxicity or side effects, and inhibits the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the transcription stage to significantly inhibit the production of nitric oxide (NO) that is a key mediator of inflammatory responses. In addition, it inhibits the activation of the inflammatory mediator NF-κB, inhibits p38 MAPK, ERK1/2 and JNK signaling pathways, and inhibits the expression of the LPS receptor TLR4, suggesting that Ramalin has an excellent anti-inflammatory effect. Thus, the composition containing Ramalin can be effectively used to fundamentally treat or prevent inflammatory diseases or immune diseases and to relieve or alleviate the symptoms of the diseases.

Inflammatory responses are defensive responses which are caused by various factors such as infection with pathogens or injury of tissue in the body and perform initial protective action to limit damage to infected or injured areas. In most cases, such inflammatory responses lead to the removal of pathogenic factors and the induction of adaptive immunity by the components of innate immunity (Hawiger J., Innate Immunity and Inflammation: A Transcriptional Paradigm. Immunologic Research. 23, pp. 99-109, 2001). Rubors, tumors, calors, dolors and the like, known to be accompanied by inflammation, are the results of continuous inflammatory responses, such as an increase in local blood flow and a decrease in local blood flow rate, which result from vasodilation caused by the action of inflammatory mediators and cytokines in the area of inflammation, an increase in the release of plasma components from blood vessels, which results from an increase in the permeability of blood vessels, an increase in the release of immune cells from blood vessels, which results from the adhesion of blood vessel endothelial cells to circulating immune cells, and an increase in migration to an infected area by chemotaxis (Gallo R L, Murakami M, Takaaki O, Zaiou M., Biology and clinical relevance of naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides. J. Allergy. Clin. Immunol. 110, pp. 823-831. 2002; Graeme B. Ryan, M B, and Guido M., Acute Inflammation. American Journal of Pathology. 86(1), pp. 185-274, 1977). In addition, inflammation-related vasodilation and an increase in the permeability of blood vessels are also attributable to histamines which are produced in some cells in response to tissue injury, and low-molecular-weight peptide kinins which are present in an inactivated state in blood and activated by tissue injury (Yamaki K, Thorlacius H, Xie X, Lindbom L, Hedqvist P, Raud J., Characteristics of histamineinduced leukocyte rolling in the undisturbed microcirculation of the rat mesentry. British J. Pharmacol. 123, pp. 390-399, 1998; Brocklehurst W E, Role of Kinins and Prostaglandins in Inflammation. Proc. Roy. Soc. Med. 64, pp. 4-6, 1971).
Generally, an acute inflammatory response occurs rapidly, is maintained for a short time and is accompanied by a systemic response known as the acute-phase response. Meanwhile, chronic inflammation can result continuous immune activation in connection with some diseases such as infection or autoimmune diseases, and the accumulation and activation of macrophages is the hallmark of chronic inflammation (Huang A L, Vita J A, Effects of Systemic Inflammation on Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilation. Trends, Cardiovasc. Med. 16, p. 1520, 2006). However, continuous chronic inflammatory responses can cause serious damage to host cells or tissue.
Inflammatory responses at the site of infection are initiated by the response of macrophages to pathogens. It is known that reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species (e.g., NO), which are produced by macrophages activated by pathogens, inflammatory mediators such as prostaglandins and leukotrienes, and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8, are involved in inflammatory responses (Renauld J C, New insights into the role of cytokines in asthma. J. Clin. Pathol. 54, pp. 577-589, 2001; Blake G J, Ridker P M, Tumour necrosis factor-α, inflammatory biomarkers, and atherogenesis. Eur. Heart J. 23, pp. 345347, 2002). The activation of NF-κB that is a transcriptional factor of genes related to the production of inflammatory mediators is very important in the inflammation-related action of macrophages. It was reported that inflammation-related genes, including inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS2), cyclooxygenase (COX-2), TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8 and the like, are transcribed by NF-κB in macrophages.
Nitric oxide (NO) is produced from L-arginine by nitric oxide synthase (hereinafter referred to as NOS) in the macrophages of the human body (Kerwin, J. F. et al., J. Med. Chem., 38:4343, 1995). The NOS of the human body has three NOS isomers, including endothelial constitutive NOS (hereinafter referred to as ecNOS), neuronal constitutive NOS (hereinafter referred to as ncNOS) and inducible NOS (hereinafter referred to as iNOS). Among them, ecNOS and ncNOS are expressed in endothelial cells and neuronal cells, respectively, and dependent on calcium and calmodulin, whereas iNOS is highly expressed in various cells only when the cells are activated by lipopolysaccharide (hereinafter referred to as LPS) present in the cell membrane of pathogenic bacteria, cytokines such as IL-1 and TNF-α, and immune stimulants such as radiation, and iNOS is not dependent on calcium and calmodulin. NO functions as a defense against tumor cells and pathogenic bacteria at high concentration, and a low concentration of NO produced in blood vessel endothelial cells functions to regulate blood pressure, and NO produced in neuronal cells performs various physiological responses related to neurotransmitter function, learning, memory and the like. Constitutive NOS (cNOS) plays an important role in maintaining the homeostasis of the human body, and NO produced by ecNOS acts in the blood vessel system to inhibit vasodilation and platelet adhesion or aggregation, and NO produced by ncNOS acts in the nerve system to increase long-term memory or acts as a neurotransmitter to cause melancholia and is involved in the mobility of the digestive tract or the erection of the penis.
On the other hand, NO produced by iNOS expression induced by specific cytokines or LPS is involved in inflammatory expression or host defense mechanisms. The transcriptional factor NF-κB is activated in macrophages by the stimulation of endotoxin to induce iNOS expression, thereby increasing the production of NO (Butler, A. R., Chemistry & Industry, 16:828, 1995). It is known that when the expression of iNOS is induced by external stimulation of LPS, inflammation inducers radiation or the like, a large amount of NO is produced continuously for 4-6 hours to cause inflammatory responses in the human body. In the case of rats, large amounts of iNOS mRNA and protein are expressed in macrophages by external stimulation, and NO synthesized by the expression performs antimicrobial action and antitumor action. However, it is known that when NO is produced in excessively large amounts, it causes inflammatory responses, such as arthritis and septicemia, tissue graft rejection, immune diseases such as autoimmune diseases and diabetes, and the death of neuronal cells.
Thus, iNOS activity inhibitors have high potential as agents for treating such diseases, and from this viewpoint, compounds that inhibit NO production caused by iNOS can be used as agents for treating various inflammatory diseases in the human body. Studies on materials that inhibit the production of NO have been conducted mainly on the development of materials that specifically inhibit the enzymatic activity of iNOS. Specifically, studies have been conducted on the development of derivatives of the precursor L-arginine, derivatives of L-citrulline, derivatives of amino guanidine, derivatives of isothiourea, etc., (Babu, B. R. B. and Griffith O. W., Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 2:491, 1998).
However, the regulation of expression of iNOS in the transcription stage in inflammatory responses is very important in determining the production of NO, and thus there is a need for the development of drugs related to the regulation of NF-κB activity by phosphorylation of IkB which is an inhibitor of the transcriptional factor NF-κB in macrophages, or drugs related to Akt, ERK, c-jun- and p38-MAPK signaling pathways which are related to the regulation of NF-κB activity.
Lichens are similar to non-flowering plants and are the symbiotic association of fungi (mycobionts) with algae and/or cyanobacteria (photobionts). The fungi in lichens form thalli or lichen substrates containing typical secondary metabolites (Ahmadjin V., The lichen symbiosis, Wiley, New York, pp. 1-6, 1993). It is difficult to obtain sufficient amounts of natural lichen samples, and technology of cultivating large amounts of lichens is not known. For this reason, studies on lichens were relatively insufficient compared to studies on higher plants. As the tissue culture method, mass-production method and biological analysis method for lichens have been improved, studies thereon have been actively conducted (Behera, B. C. et al., Lebensm. Wiss. Technol., 39:805, 2006). Compounds having various biological activities (including cytotoxicity, antifungal, antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities), including fatty acids, depsides, depsidones, dibenzofurans, diterpenes, anthraquinones, naphtoquinones, usninic acid, pulvinic acids, xanthones and epidithiopiperazinediones, were isolated from lichens (Muller, K., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 56:9-16, 2001).
Ramalina terebrata is a lichen that grows naturally in the Antarctic King George Island and can be easily collected from the King George Island. During studies on the Antarctic lichen Ramalina terebrata, the present inventors previously isolated the novel compound Ramalin having excellent antioxidant activity (Korean Patent Application No. 2008-111021). However, there has been no report that Ramalin has anti-inflammatory activity.
Accordingly, the present inventors have examined the cellular immunity inhibitory activity of Ramalin by conducting comparative experiments in vitro and in vivo in order to determine the effect of Ramalin on the LPS-induced production of NO in mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells, and as a result, have found that Ramalin has the effect of inhibiting inflammatory responses. More specifically, the present inventors have found that Ramalin of the present invention inhibited the mRNA expression of iNOS to significantly inhibit the production of NO, inhibited the activation of NF-κB, inhibited p38 MAPK, ERK1/2 and JNK signaling pathways, inhibited the expression of the LPS receptor TLR4, and showed excellent anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory effects in in vivo experiments, thereby completing the present invention.

Pharmaceutical composition for the prevention or treatment of inflammatory diseases or immune diseases containing ramalin

KOREA OCEAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE


A blood lancet is disclosed having a lancet needle with a sharpened lancet tip. The lancet tip is covered before use. The lancet tip end of the lancet needle extends through a slidable proximal needle piece while the opposite end of the lancet needle is immovably embedded in a distal needle piece. The distal needle piece is connected to the proximal needle piece through a pair of opposed normally bowed flexible arms. A rigid sheath surrounds the lancet needle between the distal needle piece and the proximal needle piece. The sheath is rigidly attached to either the distal or proximal needle piece at one end and is frangibly connected to the proximal or distal needle piece, respectively, at its other end. The sheath precisely positions the proximal needle piece relative to the distal needle piece. A removable cap covers the lancet tip. In use, the cap is removed. After picking the user's skin with the lancet tip, the bowed flexible arms are pinched towards each other which pushes the proximal needle piece into a position over and enclosing the lancet tip. The flexible arms each have an arrow shaped protrusion or catch that engages a correspondingly shaped receptacle on the distal needle piece to lock the proximal needle piece in position over the lancet tip.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to lancets and more particularly to a blood lancet with a protective movable cover for the lancet tip that is lockable into a tip covering position.
2. Description of Related Art
Many patient illnesses, such as diabetes, require the patient to take a small sample of blood for analysis purposes. Typically, this blood sample is obtained by pricking the patient's skin so that a drop of blood is produced. The patient's skin is typically pricked by means of a lancet. Originally these lancets consisted of a sharp pointed object that was manually pushed through the patient's skin creating a small wound through which the blood drop would flow.
A problem with such lancets is that the sharp lancet tip, after piercing the patient's skin, is exposed and therefore able to accidentally reprick the patient or others. For this reason, lancets having caps that cover the exposed lancet tip before use have been developed. In these devices, the cap may be replaced over the lancet tip after use to prevent inadvertent contact with the sharpened lancet tip. Examples of such devices are U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,689 issued to J. L. Higgins on Dec. 19, 1967; U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,633 issued to D. R. Hufnagle on Jan. 13, 1987; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,548 issued to H. Enstrom on Dec. 15, 1987.
A problem with these devices is that, although the lancet tip is covered by the cap when it is in place, the lancet tip is exposed if the cap is inadvertently dislodged from its protective place. Consequently, it is desirable to produce a lancet having a lancet tip that is not exposed after use and that may not be inadvertently exposed after use.
Another approach to preventing accidental contact with the sharpened lancet tip has been to bias the lancet tip in a non-exposed position before and after use. The bias is usually accomplished by means of a spring. When the patient desires to draw a sample of blood, the bias of the lancet tip is overcome thereby exposing the lancet tip which contacts the patient's skin so that a drop of blood may be drawn. Thereafter, the bias moves the needle into a retracted position. Examples of this type of blood lancet are U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,239 issued to J. W. Mausteller on Aug. 29, 1967; U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,456, U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,856, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,565, issued to Cornell et al. on Apr. 12, 1983, Mar. 12, 1985, and Apr. 8, 1986 respectively; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,676,244 and 4,738,261 issued to H. Enstrom on Jun. 30, 1987 and Apr. 19, 1988, respectively; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,724 issued to R. L. Nieto et al. on Dec. 11, 1990.
A problem with this type of device is that the devices are relatively complicated and difficult to manufacture. In view of this, it is desirable to produce a lancet that is relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture.
Another problem with these devices is that, although the lancet tip is retracted before and after use, after use, the lancet tip may inadvertently be re-exposed by inadvertently overcoming the bias holding the lancet tip in the retracted position. When the lancet tip is re-exposed, inadvertent contact may occur. This is a situation to be avoided.
Additionally, recent medical research has found that for many purposes, blood sampled from a patient's capillaries is desired. Typically, capillary blood is obtained from skin tissue near the skin's surface. Consequently, it is desirable to limit the depth of penetration of a lancet tip into a patient's skin in order to obtain capillary blood instead of arterial or venous blood that issues from lancet tip pricks that penetrate deeper into the patient's skin.
The thickness of a patient's skin varies due to factors such as age, health and the presence of callouses. As a result, each patient has a minimum lancet tip penetration depth necessary, at the point where a lancet prick is to be taken, to penetrate the skin sufficiently to allow an adequate amount of blood to be collected. Medical studies have shown that it is desirable to minimize the depth of penetration of a lancet tip into a patient's skin in order to minimize the pain or discomfort caused by the lancet prick. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a lancet that applies the lancet tip to penetrate the skin to the minimum lancet tip penetration depth so that an adequate amount of blood can be collected but also prevents the lancet tip from penetrating the skin further than this minimum penetration depth in order to minimize the pain or discomfort of the lancet tip prick.


A microprocessor controls at least one of a first communication circuit and a second communication circuit such that a first input/output process and a second input/output process are executed in parallel. The first input/output process includes a process outputting output data from a first transfer buffer, through the first communication circuit, to a first instrument in a PLC system bus, and a process inputting input data from the first instrument, through the first communication circuit, to the first transfer buffer. The second input/output process includes a process outputting output data from a second transfer buffer, through the second communication circuit, to a second instrument in a field network, and a process inputting input data from the second instrument, through the second communication circuit, to the second transfer buffer.

A PLC is configured, for example, by a plurality of units such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) unit that includes a microprocessor executing a control program, or an I/O (Input/Output) unit that manages signal input from an exterior switch or sensor and signal output to an exterior relay or actuator. The PLC executes a control operation while transferring data among these units through a PLC system bus and/or field network for each execution cycle of the control program.
For example, Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-29809) discloses a configuration in which a CPU unit of a PLC performs communication in order to transfer I/O data through an I/O bus (PLC system bus) between local I/O units, and also performs communication in order to transfer I/O data through a network (field network) between remote I/O slaves. Input/output between the local I/O units and input/output between the remote I/O slaves is performed in parallel. In the CPU unit, the I/O data is stored in a data memory. An arbiter is included which controls access to the data memory. In order to transfer the I/O data through the I/O bus, a PLC command executor accesses the data memory through the arbiter. Communication through the I/O bus is performed by the PLC command executor using an I/O bus I/F portion. In order to transfer the I/O data through the network, a remote I/O master accesses the data memory through the arbiter. Moreover, the data memory is also accessed when the PLC command executor executes a command (control program). In other words, the data memory is used as a shared memory and, while being mediated by the arbiter, identical data memory is accessed for data transfer through the I/O bus, data transfer through the network, and execution of the control program.

CPU of PLC, system program for PLC, and recording medium storing system program for PLC


In the liquid crystal display device, a transparent area is formed in a part of the color filter layer which opposes the reflective electrode. A part of the transparent area opposes a part of the structure formed to make liquid crystal molecules incline. The structure and the transparent area are configured to keep a ratio constant, the ratio being a ratio between a size of the transparent area's part opposing the structure's part and a size of the rest of the transparent area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device capable of preventing a reflectance and a white balance value from shifting.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a semi-transmissive type liquid crystal display device, which has transmissive display areas and reflective display areas, is used in a mobile information device such as a mobile phone and a mobile music player.
The transmissive display areas enable the device to display an image using a light from a backlight. The reflective display areas enable the device to display an image using an ambient light. Therefore, the device is good in visibility not depending on the brightness of the environment.
A kind of the device called a multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) liquid crystal display device has domains in the each area, inclination of liquid crystal molecules being different in the each domain.
To form the domains, protuberances are formed on electrodes for example. To compensate both decrease in transmittance of light caused by the protuberances and decrease in reflectance caused by the decrease in transmittance, transparent areas are formed in color filter layers, a part of the each transparent area opposing a part of the corresponding protuberance. Thus, a desirable reflectance is obtained.
In addition, by making the each transparent area's size and position correspond to the color of the color filter layer in which the transparent area is formed, a desirable white balance value is obtained.
However, when manufacturing the device, if a relative position between the protuberance and the transparent area varies, the reflectance and the white balance value may shift.

Liquid crystal display device capable of preventing reflectance and white balance value from shifting

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd.


Information obtained through a network and information distributed from a package medium are mixedly displayed. A package medium 3 has a URL (Universal Resource Locator) and information for converting a directory structure in the package medium. A terminal has information for managing correspondence between data of a received electronic mail 6 and a URL of the data. The URL is used for designating data. When the designated URL exists in the terminal, data is read from the terminal. When the designated URL exists in the package medium, data is read from the package medium. The read data is mixedly displayed on one screen.

The present invention relates to a technique for reading data from a WWW (World Wide Web) server or a package medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM and displaying the read data by using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).
As software for accessing data of a WWW server or a package medium by using the HTML, there are Netscape Navigator of Netscape Communications Corporation (U.S.A.), Internet Explorer of Microsoft Corporation (U.S.A.), and the like.
Since the software as mentioned above gathers all information including image data through a network, when a line having slow communication speed such as a telephone line is used, there is a problem that a communication time is long.
When data of a large quantity such as animation is sent by using an electronic mail, since the quantity of the mail is large, there are problems such that a storage is burdened and it takes a lot of time to transfer the data.
Further, the software has a problem such that when data is read from the package medium, a hyper link (link expressed by using HTML) leading to another package medium cannot be performed.
As a multimedia information recording system interactively corresponding to an operation of the user, at present, there is a video-CD which is described in a magazine "Nikkei Electronics" (Nov. 8, 1993). According to the video-CD, video data such as a moving image and a still image and audio data such as music and effect sounds is recorded in a CD-ROM and reproduction control data as information for reproducing and controlling the video data and the audio data in correspondence to the operation of the user is also recorded. By recording the reproduction control data, the video-CD realizes a reproduction interactively with the user. A file system according to the ISO9660 standard is defined as a recording system of the CD-ROM and the video-CD is a personal computer corresponding to the file system. The video-CD can be easily reproduced by a personal computer having a reproducing means of the video data (according to the MPEG standard).
In addition, an information recording and reproducing system called a WWW (World Wide Web) of the internet is famous as a system for interactively reproducing the multimedia data via a network.
FIG. 27 shows a construction of an interactive video recording and reproducing system which has been already proposed by the applicant of the present invention.
In FIG. 27, an optical disk medium 101 has the following regions. That is, the optical disk medium 101 is constructed by: a disk identifying information recording region 102 in which an identifier for specifying the recording contents of the disk is recorded; an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) information recording region 103 in which a file in the HTML format that defines association between a document and multimedia data or association between documents is recorded; a multimedia data recording region 104; and an executable program recording region 105 in which an executable program for making a specific reproducing apparatus operative is recorded. For example, a CD-ROM or the like is used as the optical disk medium 101.
In addition to an optical disk reproducing means, an interactive video reproducing means 106 for reproducing the optical disk medium 101 has a communication means for communicating with an interactive video transmitting means 108 via a communication medium 107. Further, the interactive video reproducing means 106 communicates with an internet server 110 which can be connected via the interactive video transmitting means 108 and the internet 109.
The interactive video transmitting means 108 communicates with the interactive video reproducing means 106 via the communication medium 107 and sends proper HTML data in response to a URL(Univeral Resource Locator) requested by the interactive video reproducing means 106. Such an interactive video transmitting means 108 is generally called a WWW server or the like. If the communication medium 107 is a medium which can transmit the URL and HTML data, a combination of a telephone line and the PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol), a combination of Ethernet and the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), and other systems can be also used.
According to an interactive video recording and reproducing system described above, data recorded in the optical disk medium 101, which is obtained via communication means is reproduced.
FIG. 28 shows an example of a structure of a directory in the optical disk medium 101. The directory structure is recorded by using the ISO9660 standard (standard regarding a disk structure of a CD-ROM). FIG. 28 shows a tree structure of a logical hierarchy of the directory. When a name shown in a knot in the tree structure is a directory name, it is shown in brackets (<and >). If it is a file name, it is shown without brackets. For example, <ROOT> denotes a root directory including some sub-directories and DISKID indicates a file.
Files names in the optical disk medium 101 will be described by partitioning directories with slashes (/) hereinafter. With respect to <ROOT>, the directory name is omitted. For example, <ROOT>-<WWW>-<HTML>-INDEX.HTM is described as /WWW/HTML/INDEX.HTM.
The disk identifying information recording region 102, HTML information recording region 103, multimedia data recording region 104, and executable program recording region 105 shown in FIG. 27 correspond to regions 201, 202, 203, and 204 surrounded by dotted lines in FIG. 28, respectively.
In the disk identifying information recording region 201, a file having a name of DISKID is recorded. In this file, information specifying the disk from disks of different kinds, such as the maker of the disk, recording contents of the disk, and title of the disk is recorded.
In the HTML information recording region 202, a file in the HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format which is widely used in the WWW (World Wide Web) of the internet (in the diagram, files each having an extension of HTM in the <HTML> directory) is recorded. HTML intends to describe the association between a document and multimedia data or the association between documents. HTML defines here the association between the file (document) recorded in the HTML information recording region 202 and the multimedia data recorded in the multimedia data recording region 203, the association between an HTML file and multimedia data obtained via the communication medium 107, and the like.
In the multimedia data recording region 203, still image data (in the diagram, files each having an extension of GIF in the <GIF> directory), moving image data (in the diagram, files each having an extension of DAT in the <MPEG> directory), audio data (not shown), and the like are recorded. In the diagram, multimedia data is recorded in both of the <ROOT>-<WWW> directory and the <ROOT>-<APPEND> directory. A file recorded in the former one of <WWW> is referred to from a file in the HTML format (file having the extension of HTM) recorded in the HTML information recording region 202. On the contrary, the file recorded in the latter one of <APPEND> is not referred to.
An executable program for acquiring and reproducing data recorded in the optical disk medium 101 and data obtained through the communication medium 107 is recorded in the executable program recording region 204. In the diagram, a program file (/PCAP/WWWVIEW.EXE in the diagram) is recorded in a directory having a name of <PCAP>. In a file (in a diagram, it is shown as /AUTORUN.INF) which is directly recorded in the root directory, a program activating procedure (executable program name, name of a file to be reproduced first by a program, and the like) is recorded. In the diagram, it is assumed that /PCAP/WWWVIEW.EXE is defined as an executable program and /WWW/HTML/INDEX.HTM is defined as a file to be reproduced first among items to be recorded in the program activating procedure.
FIG. 29 shows association of multimedia data using the interactive video recording system. In the diagram, data in a region 301 surrounded by a dotted line is data recorded in the optical disk medium 101. Data in a region 302 is data recorded in the interactive video transmitting means 108. Data in a region 303 is data recorded in the internet server 110.
As a file to be reproduced first, WWW/HTML/INDEX.HTM is selected according to the program activating procedure shown in FIG. 28. As the reproducing contents of INDEX.HTM, it is defined to refer to a still image /WWW/GIF/MENU001.GIF recorded in the optical disk medium 101 in addition to a text display and the like. /WWW/HTML/PAGE.HTM is also defined in INDEX.HTM as an association to other documents. Reference to the multimedia data and a transition to the HTML file are performed by a description called a tag of HTML.
When the association from INDEX.HTM to PAGE.HTM is selected in order to move to the reproduction file, in a manner similar to the reproduction of INDEX.HTM, reproduction of a text or multimedia data and transition to another document are performed according to the definition of PAGE.HTM. In the diagram, a still image file of /WWW/GIF/MENU0002.GIF and a moving image file of /WWW/MPEG/VIDEO001.DAT are referred to as multimedia data. A file having a name of AD001.HTM recorded in the interactive video transmitting means 108 is defined as a document to be jumped to.
In the contents of AD001.HTM recorded in the interactive video transmitting means 108, as multimedia data to be moved to, the still image file /APPEND/GIF/AD001.GIF recorded in the optical disk medium 101 is defined. As a document to be moved to, a file TOPIC001.HTM in the HTML format recorded in the same interactive video transmitting means 108 is defined. In the contents of TOPIC001.HTM, as multimedia data to be referred to, a moving image file /APPEND/MPEG/AD001.DAT recorded in the optical disk media and a still image file TOPIC001.GIF recorded in the interactive video transmitting means 108 are defined. As a document to be moved to, a file NEWS.HTM in the HTML format recorded in the internet server 110 is defined.
In the contents of NEWS.HTM, it is defined to refer to a still image file NEWS.GIF recorded in the same internet server 110.
Generally, a file in the HTML format has text data, so that a file size is small. Even in the case of obtaining the file via the communication medium 107, it can be obtained in a short communication time. On the contrary, since the multimedia data such as still image and moving image has a large file size, it is difficult to obtain it in a short communication time. In the system, even when the file in the HTML format (AD001.HTM, TOPIC001.HTM) is obtained via the communication medium 107, since the file (AD001.GIF, AD001.DAT) which can be reproduced from the optical disk medium 101 as multimedia data to be referred to from the file is associated, the communication time can be largely reduced.
In the system configuration of the interactive video recording and reproducing system, data obtained from a network is stored in a temporary storing memory in interactive video reproducing means so as to shorten a time accessing the same information. However, the capacity of the temporary storing memory is limited, so that when the memory becomes full, a process for deleting stored data is performed.
It is not necessary to keep connecting the network while data of the optical disk medium is referred to.
Although a command to be transmitted to a network is instantaneously transmitted under the present situation, the command is temporarily stored and when a plurality of commands are gathered, they are transmitted in a lump, thereby enabling the number of probabilities of a communication session to be reduced.
Information displaying method and apparatus for linking and displaying information obtained from both of a CD-ROM and a communication medium are used for sales by mail order or the like, as introduced in a magazine "Nikkei Multimedia" (No. 2, August, 1995). Information of the CD-ROM and information obtained through the communication medium is described in different methods and a communication is executed in cooperation with a communication of a personal computer.
As a language for forming a home page corresponding to a WWW (World Wide Web) server of the internet, for example, there is HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) which is recognized as a standard language with the growing popularity of the WWW. The WWW browser is recognized as software indispensable for accessing to the internet.
In the conventional technique as mentioned above, since data of the CD-ROM and data obtained through the communication medium is formed by peculiar description systems in respective information storing media, there is no compatibility between the systems. Information obtained by communication cannot be used with other information and formation of contents is troublesome. It takes time to receive information due to a problem of an internet connecting environment, so that operability is not good, and the user has to worry about communication costs.
When information on the CD-ROM is displayed by using the WWW browser in a manner similar to a display of information from the communication medium, different from the internet access which is obviously recognized as a communication, it is desirable to notify the user of a fact that the information medium of the present or next display information is the CD-ROM or the communication medium. In addition, there is a desirable function such that transition between information not mutually linked can be easily realized like a case of returning to information on the CD-ROM after Net surfing with the WWW communication.

Package medium system having URL hyper-linked to data in removable storage


A mobile device includes a processor and memory storing instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations. The operations include determining that the mobile device does not meet a camping threshold for a cell of a network, determining that the mobile device is synchronized with the cell, and permitting a limited network communication between the mobile device and the network via the cell. The limited network communication may be limited to text-only communications, emergency communications, or the like.

In some types of networks, such as LTE 3GPP networks, user equipment (UE) may be allowed to attempt accessing the network only if it meets certain minimum cell selection criteria. For example, under current air interface specifications (i.e. LTE 3GPP 36.304), a UE cannot attempt to access a network unless it meets both the level and quality thresholds, qRXlevmin and qQualmin, respectively.

Minimum camping level bypass for limited network communications


A device including a NEMS/MEMS machine(s) and associated electrical circuitry. The circuitry includes at least one transistor, preferably JFET, that is used to: (i) actuate the NEMS/MEMS machine; and/or (ii) receive feedback from the operation of the NEMS/MEMS machine. The transistor (e.g., the JFET) and the NEMS/MEMS machine are monolithically integrated for enhanced signal transduction and signal processing. Monolithic integration is preferred to hybrid integration (e.g., integration using wire bonds, flip chip contact bonds or the like) due to reduce parasitics and mismatches. In one embodiment, the JFET is integrated directly into a MEMS machine, that is in the form of a SOI MEMS cantilever, to form an extra-tight integration between sensing and electronic integration. When a cantilever connected to the JFET is electrostatically actuated, its motion directly affects the current in the JFET through monolithically integrated conduction paths (e.g., traces, vias, etc.). In one embodiment, devices according to the present invention were realized in 2 μm thick SOI cross-wire beams, with a MoSi2 contact metallization for stress minimization and ohmic contact. In this embodiment, the pull-in voltage for the MEMS cantilever was 21V and the pinch-off voltage of the JFET was −19V.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to JFETs, and especially JFETS designed to be suitable for use in helping to control NEMS/MEMS scale machines (herein called "NEMS/MEMS machines," see also, "NEMS/MEMS scale" in the DEFINITIONS section). The present invention further relates to devices which include both the NEMS/MEMS machine and at least some of the circuitry for controlling the operation of the NEMS/MEMS machine (see definition section). These combinations of the NEMS/MEMS machine hardware set and at least a portion of its control circuitry (e.g. a JFET) will sometimes herein be referred to as "NEMS/MEMS devices."
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, conventional SOI-NEMS/MEMS device (see definition of SOI in the DEFINITIONS section) 100, includes: An electronics chip consisting mostly of complementary metal oxide ("CMOS") semiconductor transistors, but active electronic transistors in general, 102; bonded conduction path 112; and NEMS/MEMS chip 113. Electronics chip 102 includes: contact pad/s 104, 110; demodulator/filter/pre-amp/reference module 106; and amplifier 108. NEMS/MEMS chip 113 includes: mechanical springs and masses 114; fingers often used for electrostatic actuation 116; anchor 118; proof mass 119; and contact pads 120. Sub-assembly 114 (including proof mass 119) moves in the directions indicated by arrows D1 and D2: (i) to create an electrical signal; and/or (ii) in response to an electrical signal. This sort of conventional NEMS/MEMS device is part of many commercial products and/or proposed products, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, electrical switches, resonators, timing devices, optical switches, optical gratings, and microfluidic devices. Many commercial NEMS/MEMS devices are made with thicker suspended parts to obtain higher mass and greater sense capacitances. This has been obtained through using SOI wafers and etching them using DRIE processing techniques. Even without SOI substrates, using processes such as SCREAM, high aspect ratio NEMS/MEMS devices are commercially available.
There are two main architectures for electrically connecting the NEMS/MEMS machine and its associated transistors (e.g., field effect transistors, or "FETs," for sensing a motion characteristic (see DEFINITIONS section)). These two main architectures, for electrically connecting transistor and machine are as follows: (i) putting the machine and the transistors respectively on two different chip substrates and electrically connecting them by conduction paths that have "conductor bonding" (see DEFINITIONS section); and (ii) putting the machine and transistor on a common chip substrate so that the machine and transistor are electrically connected to each other using only non-bonded conduction path(s). Architecture (i) will sometimes be referred to herein as the "hybrid technique" (or "hybrid architecture"). Architecture (ii) will sometimes be herein referred to as "monolithic integration." The hybrid technique, where the integrated circuit and NEMS and/or MEMS machine components are fabricated independently and typically wire bonded or flip-chip bonded together, is shown in FIG. 1.
Most commercial MEMS sensor solutions use the hybrid integration process for electrical interface and signal conditioning. The hybrid-technique is often justified as a way to reduce complexity of CMOS integration with NEMS/MEMS. Monolithic integration with a highly complex electronics technology such as multi-level interconnect state-of-art CMOS can be expensive for monolithic integration. This is because, the NEMS/MEMS components often take much larger amount of real-estate on chip compared to the transistors needed for the sensor signal conditioning. Hence, buying a separate few-transistor signal conditioning chip, and bonding to a separate low-complexity NEMS/MEMS chip is often cost-effective. Although the hybrid technique offers the advantage of independent optimization of the integrated circuit and NEMS fabrication process flows, it is conventionally recognized that the cost for assembly and packaging can be higher than the cost of monolithic integration. Previously, various research groups have monolithically integrated MOSFETs into NEMS/MEMS devices for signal transduction. The focus generally has been on monolithic integration with CMOS transistors, assuming that one could integrate the NEMS/MEMS process with conventional state-of-art ultra-miniature CMOS technology. Since the number of transistors needed to obtain effective signal conditioning, co-integration of transistors within the NEMS/MEMS fabrication flow could enable an optimal cost/performance of NEMS/MEMS. Recent work has focused on integrating the MOS structures within NEMS/MEMS, partly owing to the fact that the DC power consumption in MOS transistors can be low due to high Ion/Ioff ratio of devices and very low gate leakage currents. However, MOS devices suffer from higher input referred noise due to the noisy conduction of carriers along the oxide-silicon interface. It has been widely recognized that the flicker noise for MOS transistors is inferior to that of JFET or Junction Field Effect Transistors, also known as Junction Gate Field Effect Transistors.
A NEMS/MEMS device, including a NEMS/MEMS machine and an associated transistor in the form of a JFET, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,205,173 ("Brunson"). In Brunson, the JFET portions of the NEMS/MEMS device are in the form of "wells," which is to say that the doping that creates the constituent regions of the Brunson JFET is accomplished by diffusing dopants into the wafer thickness (that is, in a direction substantially normal to the major surface of the semiconductor layer through which the diffusion occurs. In 173 Brunson, the doped wells forming the Brunson JFET do not extend all the way across the thickness of their semiconductor layer (that is, the wells do not extend from one major surface of the semiconductor, all the way to the opposite major surface. Because of the geometry of the well structures in Brunson, the channel conductance is squeezed (and sometimes pinched off) by depleted zone(s) that expand in the thickness direction of the semiconductor layer to control conduction. In Brunson, NEMS/MEMS were integrated with the JFET transistors monolithically, but the link between transistors and the NEMS/MEMS was purely electrical. The output of the NEMS/MEMS, being capacitive output, was linked to the transistor gates.
The following published documents may also include helpful background information: (i) Oilier, E., Duraffourg, L., Colinet, E., Durand, C., Renaud, D., Royet, A., Renaux, P., Casset, F., Robert, P., "Lateral MOSFET Transistor With Movable Gate for NEMS Devices Compatible With "In-IC" Integration," Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, 2008, NEMS 2008, 3rd IEEE International Conference on, vol., no., pp. 764-769, 6-9 Jan. 2008, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=arnumber=4484439&isnumber=4484266; (ii) U.S. Pat. No. 6,531,331 ("Bennett"); (iii) U.S. Pat. No. 7,615,788 ("Kornegay"); (iv) U.S. Pat. No. 8,012,785 ("Liang"); (v) U.S. Pat. No. 7,989,889 ("Kerr"); (vi) US Patent Publication No. 2011/0101475 ("Parpia"); (vii) US Patent Publication No. 2010/0263997 ("Hilgers"); (viii) US Patent Publication No. 2011/0068374 ("Tan"); (ix) U.S. Pat. No. 7,759,924 (Shekhawat); (x) U.S. Pat. No. 7,868,403 ("Ivanov"); (xi) U.S. Pat. No. 6,797,534 ("Tu"); (xii) US Patent Publication No. 2010/0171569 ("Ionescu"); (xiii) US Patent Publication No. 2010/0314668 ("Ollier"); (xiv) US Patent Publication No. 2011/0026742 ("Huang"); (xv) US Patent Publication No. 2011/0057288 ("Tan"); (xvi) U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,921 ("Tham"); and (xii) Grogg, D., Tsamados, D., Badila, N. D., Ionescu, A. M., "Integration of MOSFET Transistors in MEMS Resonators for Improved Output Detection," Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2007, TRANSDUCERS 2007, International. vol., no., pp. 1709-1712, 10-14 June 2007, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4300481&isnumber=430005 (xviii) US Patent No. US 2011/0024812 A1 ("Weinstein et al"); (xix) US Patent No. US 2008/0001658 A1 ("Mojarradi et al"); (xx) US Patent No. US 2007/0008013 A1 ("Fijany et al"); (xxi) Akarvardar et al. (US application 2007-0008013 A1).
Description of the Related Art Section Disclaimer: To the extent that specific publications are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, these discussions should not be taken as an admission that the discussed publications (for example, published patents) are prior art for patent law purposes. For example, some or all of the discussed publications may not be sufficiently early in time, may not reflect subject matter developed early enough in time and/or may not be sufficiently enabling so as to amount to prior art for patent law purposes. To the extent that specific publications are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, they are all hereby incorporated by reference into this document in their respective entirety(ies).

Structures and methods for electrically and mechanically linked monolithically integrated transistor and NEMS/MEMS device


Disclosed is an article comprising a layer of nonconductive polymeric material comprising a plurality of integral polymer conduit channels containing a substantially transparent conductive material.

As electronic devices become smaller, the requirements for precise electrical connection at extremely fine pitch continue to increase. As an example, semiconductors, such as integrated circuits, are formed on wafers that are then cut into dice or chips that individually may be mounted on substrates. Typically, the substrate has fine electrically conductive circuit lines, and electrical and thermal contact must be made between the substrate and chip. As electronic appliances, such as computers, tape players, televisions, telephones, and other appliances become smaller, thinner, and more portable, the size requirements for semiconductors and the means for providing electrical connection between semiconductors and substrates, or between flexible circuits and rigid printed circuits, become increasingly demanding.
One method for providing electrical conductivity between two electrical elements is through the use of a Z-axis conductive sheet material, such as a Z-axis adhesive. Whether the sheet material is an elastomer or an adhesive, the continuing challenge is to keep pace with the miniaturization in the electronics industry. Z-axis conductivity can be achieved through a number of means, including dispersing conductive particles throughout a binder matrix. Where electrical connection on a very fine pitch is required, the conductive elements may be placed only where the electrodes are located, typically requiring indexing the conductive sheet to the electrodes, or the conductive elements may be placed at such close spacing, relative to the spacing of the electrodes, that indexing is not required. U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,494, (Calhoun et al) is an example of an electrically conductive adhesive tape having conductive particles placed at precise locations, on a fine pitch. The Calhoun et al '494 patent also discusses a number of available options for electrically conductive adhesive tapes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,300 (Ponn) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,037 (Nellis, et al.), teach a dielectric sheet material having a plurality of compressible resilient conductive plugs that extend between the faces of the sheet. The sheet can be placed between circuits to make electrical connection there between. The conductive plugs of Ponn and Nellis are dispersions of conductive particles in a binder material.
Other patents teach orienting magnetic particles dispersed in a binder by applying a magnetic field, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,837 (Ikade, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,037 (King); U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,862 (Hartman); U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,101 (Jin, et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,347 (Dentinni). The distribution of the particles after orientation and curing is sufficiently uniform to be functional for certain applications, but is insufficient for other applications. If the number of particles used in these articles were to be increased in an attempt to reach smaller spacings for finer pitch connections, agglomeration would likely occur thereby causing shorting. Accordingly, there is a need for a fine pitch means of providing electrical interconnection between two surfaces in a precise manner, at an extremely fine pitch.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,962 teaches conductive sheets that are conductive through the thickness but insulating in the lateral directions. While conductive materials are disclosed, they tend to have low light transmission and therefore are not particularly useful in transmission devices such as liquid crystal displays. Further, the conductive materials utilized in this patent are conductive ferromagnetic particles coated in a binder.
One known prior process for preparing chill rollers involves creating a main surface pattern using a mechanical engraving process. The engraving process has many limitations including misalignment causing tool lines in the surface, high price, and lengthy processing. Accordingly, it is desirable to not use mechanical engraving to manufacture chill rollers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,001 (Fleming et al) relates to an exposure process using excimer laser ablation of substrates to improve the uniformity of repeating microstructures on an ablated substrate or to create three-dimensional microstructures on an ablated substrate. This method is difficult to apply to create a master chill roll useful to manufacture complex random three-dimensional structures and is also cost prohibitive.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,974 (Burger) the substrates are made using lithographic processes. This lithographic process is repeated for successive photomasks to generate a three-dimensional relief structure corresponding to the desired lenslet. This procedure to form a master to create three-dimensional features into a plastic film is time consuming and cost prohibitive.
Conductive layers containing electronic conductors such as conjugated conducting polymers, conducting carbon particles, crystalline semiconductor particles, amorphous semiconductive fibrils, and continuous semiconducting thin films can be used more effectively than ionic conductors to dissipate static charge since their electrical conductivity is independent of relative humidity and only slightly influenced by ambient temperature. Of the various types of electronic conductors, electrically conducting metal-containing particles, such as semiconducting metal oxides, are particularly effective when dispersed in suitable polymeric film-forming binders in combination with polymeric non-film-forming particles as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,340,676; 5,466,567; 5,700,623. Binary metal oxides doped with appropriate donor heteroatoms or containing oxygen deficiencies have been disclosed in prior art to be useful in antistatic layers for photographic elements, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,275,103; 4,416,963; 4,495,276; 4,394,441; 4,418,141; 4,431,764; 4,495,276; 4,571,361; 4,999,276; 5,122,445; 5,294,525; 5,382,494; 5,459,021; 5,484,694 and others. Suitable claimed conductive metal oxides include: zinc oxide, titania, tin oxide, alumina, indium oxide, silica, magnesia, zirconia, barium oxide, molybdenum trioxide, tungsten trioxide, and vanadium pentoxide. Preferred doped conductive metal oxide granular particles include antimony-doped tin oxide, fluorine-doped tin oxide, aluminum-doped zinc oxide, and niobium-doped titania. Additional preferred conductive ternary metal oxides disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,995 include zinc antimonate and indium antimonate. Other conductive metal-containing granular particles including metal borides, carbides, nitrides and suicides have been disclosed in Japanese Kokai No. JP 04-055,492.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,077,655; 6,096,491; 6,124,083; 6,162,596; 6,187,522; 6,190,846; and others describe imaging elements, including motion imaging films, containing electrically conductive layers comprising conductive polymers. One such electrically-conductive polymer comprises an electrically conductive 3,4-dialkoxy substituted polythiophene styrene sulfonate complex.

Article comprising conductive conduit channels