The present invention features a heated roofing system using standard-size roofing shingles each having a resistive heating element. Each shingle is designed to easily connect to a preassembled, flat electrical power cable having slide-on electrical connectors spaced periodically along its length. The power cable is typically supplied rolled so that as each shingle in a course is attached to a roof, the power cable can be unrolled and each subsequent shingle electrically connected to the cable. A power controller having a temperature sensor and a precipitation sensor controls the flow of electrical energy to the shingles. Because the power cable is flat, it lies well beneath layers of shingles and may be folded at the end of a course so that a single cable may supply power to multiple rows of shingles.

1. Related Patents
This patent application is related to my previously issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,184 for HEATED SERIALLY CONNECTABLE ROOFING SHINGLES, issued Sep. 29, 1998 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrically heated roofing shingles. More particularly, the invention provides an improved way for supplying electrical power to electrically heated roofing shingles which facilitate rapid installation and reliable operation of the shingles.
3. Description of the Prior Art
Buildings having pitched roofs and located in areas of high snowfall are susceptible to damage occurring from accumulated snow or other frozen precipitation on their roofs. Thermal expansion and contraction of ice caused by temperature changes may cause physical damage to the roof surface itself or to underlying structural elements. More importantly, however, is the damage caused by infiltration of water resulting from melting of snow and/or ice which backs up under the snow pack on the building roof behind ice dams near the eves of the building.
It is common in northern regions to attempt to abate these problems by installing heating elements such as heating cables or tapes directly on top of the roof. These solutions have, by and large, been only moderately successful. Several heating devices specifically designed for combating the specific problems facing shingled roofs have also been proposed.
One solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,699,484 for DEICER FOR ROOFS, issued Jan. 11, 1955 to H. L. Michaels. MICHAELS teaches a heating devices intended for installation along the lowest edge of a roof. Unlike the roof heating system of the present invention, the MICHAELS system provides heat only along a narrow band near the edge of the roof. These types of solutions are generally considered ineffectual in preventing ice damage and water infiltration. The inventive system, using heated roofing shingles, provides heat for several courses of shingles up the roof which is very effective in preventing problems caused by ice dams near or at the edge of the roof.
Two patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,343 for MODULAR SYSTEM OF ROOF HEATER SHINGLES, issued Sep. 12, 1972 to Victor B. Norman and U.S. Pat. No. 3,129,316 for HEATING ELEMENT FOR ELIMINATING ICE FROM A ROOF, issued Apr. 14, 1964 to F. N. Glass, et al. teach shingle-like heating elements for installation along the lowest edge of a building roof. While these kinds of solutions typically are more effective than that of MICHAELS, in that they heat a larger surface of the roof, they still fall short of the effectiveness of the inventive system. The system of the present invention allows a varying number of courses of heated shingles to be applied, the number of courses being selected based on the environment, the roof pitch, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,743 for ELECTRICALLY HEATED DEICING SHINGLE, issued Mar. 27, 1952 to J. L. Harrison teaches a conventional style roofing shingle having an embedded resistance heating element. Each shingle must be individually connected to a power line running above and along the long axis of the course of singles. Installation requires that two electrical connections per shingle be made in situ thus requiring a competent, usually licensed electrician as well as a roofer to complete the installation. Because of the environment, each connection is subject to thermal stress which may result in electrical connection failure during the operating lifetime of the roof. The inventive heated roofing system, on the other hand, utilizes high-reliability, slip-on connectors on each shingle adapted to interact with mating connectors on a pre-assembled, flat power cord. The roofer may then both physically install the shingles and easily and competently make the electrical connections between the shingle and the power line.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,184 for HEATED, SERIALLY CONNECTABLE ROOFING SHINGLES, issued Sep. 29, 1998 to the Applicant, teaches heated roofing shingles having electrical connectors disposed on extended tabs at each edge of the shingles. During installation, the connector on the abutted edges of adjacent shingles readily connect to one another thereby establishing a serial connection across the width of the roof. While the system is easy to install and the electrical connections provided have proven to be reliable, the performance of the roof heating varies as the number of shingles in the serial chain varies. The system of the instant invention overcomes this situation by providing a parallel electrical connection to each shingle. The ease of installation is maintained by providing a pre-assembled, flat power cord having slide-on connectors space periodically along its length offering a connection point for each shingle.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is, however, seen to anticipate or suggest the instant invention as claimed.

Heated roofing shingles having an improved electrical interconnection system


A data store and method of storing data is disclosed that comprises: an input for receiving a data value; at least one storage cell comprising: a feedback loop for storing the data value; an output for outputting the stored data value; the feedback loop receiving a higher voltage and a lower voltage as power supply, the data store further comprising: a voltage supply for powering the data store, the voltage supply outputting a high voltage level and a low voltage level; write assist circuitry arranged between the voltage supply and the at least one storage cell, the write assist circuitry being responsive to a pulse signal to provide a discharge path between the high voltage level and a lower voltage level and thereby generate a reduced internal voltage level from the high voltage level for a period dependent on a width of the pulse signal, the reduced internal voltage level being lower than the high voltage level, such that when powered the feedback loop receives the reduced internal voltage level as the higher voltage for a period determined by the pulse width and the high voltage level at other times; and pulse signal generation circuitry for generating said pulse signal.

There is an increasing demand for data storage devices to be constructed which are smaller and consume less power than their predecessor designs, whilst retaining high performance. New technologies are being developed which allow a reduction in size of the individual transistors making up each storage cell. However, as the storage cells decrease in size, the variation in behaviour between individual storage cells tends to increase, and this can adversely affect predictability of operation. This variation in operation of the individual storage cells can give rise to significant failure rates when trying to run the storage devices at high speed to meet the performance requirements. It is often also the case that there is a desire to use a lower power supply voltage for the storage device in order to reduce power consumption, but this can further increase the likelihood of failed operation within individual storage cells. Accordingly, in modern technologies, it is becoming more and more difficult to produce data storage devices such as memory devices where the individual cells have the required stability to ensure effective retention of data (stability sometimes being measured in terms of static noise margin (SNM)), whilst also having required write-ability (WM) to ensure that new data values can be stored in the cells within the time period allowed for a write operation.
Faced with these issues, various assistance mechanisms have been developed which seek to assist individual memory cells in operating correctly when write and read operations are performed on those cells. For example, the article "A 3-GHz 70 Mb SRAM in 65 nm CMOS Technology with Integrated Column-Based Dynamic Power Supply" by K Zhang et al, Intel, published in ISSCC 2005, Session 26, describes a six transistor SRAM cell (often referred to as a 6T SRAM cell) which is stable in all conditions, but requires write assist (WA) circuitry to improve the likelihood of individual cells operating correctly when written to. The write assist circuitry disclosed in this article is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1, and is based on the idea of lowering the supply voltage to an addressed memory cell just prior to the write operation, the lower supply voltage lowering the stability of the memory cell, and therefore making it more easy to write into.
FIG. 1 shows an array of memory cells 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, 250, 252, 254 provided in association with a particular column multiplexer 260 of the memory array. Each row is addressed by a word line 200, 202, and each column has a power supply voltage provided by a supply voltage line 230, 232, 234, 236. As is known in the art, each of the columns also has a pair of bit lines 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224 associated therewith. From an address provided to the memory device, a row and column within the memory device is identified, with the addressed memory cell being the memory cell at the intersection between the identified row and column. For a read operation, the word line 200, 202 associated with the selected row is selected in order to enable a row of cells, and then the column multiplexer 260 outputs to the sense amplifier 270 an indication of the voltages on the pair of bit lines associated with the selected column to allow the sense amplifier to detect the value stored in the addressed memory cell. For a write operation, the word line is enabled in the same manner, and the voltage on one of the pair of bit lines associated with the selected column is then discharged to identify the data value to be stored in the addressed memory cell. In this design multiplexers are provided which can select between a main supply voltage and a specially generated lower column supply voltage provided. Just prior to the write operation, the relevant multiplexer associated with the selected column is driven to select, as the voltage output on the supply voltage line for that column, the reduced column supply voltage.
A problem with the above design is that it requires a dedicated voltage generator to produce the extra reduced column supply, and this either needs to be accommodated within the design of the memory device, or else be provided externally, with additional metal lines being provided to route the voltage supply from that voltage generator. For any change in height or width of the memory device, the capacitances observed on the various column supply voltage lines will change, and this will typically require a redesign or tuning of the voltage generator used to generate the extra column supply voltage, to ensure that the voltage on the column supply voltage line can be reduced sufficiently quickly in the short period of time allowed before the write occurs to the addressed memory cell. Such voltage generators will also be susceptible to temperature and voltage variations, which may require correcting circuits to be added.
In addition to these problems, in memory devices designed for low power applications, the presence of the additional voltage generator leads to significant power consumption since the additional voltage supply must be maintained at all times to enable that supply voltage to be available ahead of any write operation.
Other types of storage cells that also have difficulty switching state are standard latch cells comprising inverters arranged in a feedback loop. FIG. 2 shows an example of such a cell of the prior art, this cell comprising a device for allowing the latch to be consistently written to. This device comprises transistors 310 and 320 which receive the same clock signal as the transmission gate 340, thus when the transmission gate is enabled and the storage latch is open and can receive a value, the inverter 330 is powered down, such that a value can be written to the feedback loop. When the transmission gate is closed, the inverter 330 is powered and the feedback loop stores the value. A disadvantage of this mechanism is that it adds two additional transistors for each storage cell.
It would be desirable to be able to provide a mechanism for enabling a storage cell to be written to consistently without adding too much additional circuitry and without unduly affecting the stability of other neighbouring storage cells.

Assisting write operations to data storage cells


An implantable electrode assembly includes a leading section attached to the distal end of an electrode array. The electrode array has electrodes spaced along its length. Cochleostomies are drilled at both the base and apex of the cochlea. The leading section is inserted through the basal cochleostomy and promoted to the apical cochleostomy. A forward end of the leading section is then pulled through the apical cochleostomy, which causes the electrode array to be pulled into the cochlea. A depth marker on the electrode array indicates complete insertion. The leading section is detached from the electrode array and the electrode array is placed in tension by gently pulling both ends, which tension causes the electrode array to hug the modiolar wall of the cochlea. Wedges may be inserted at both cochleostomies to maintain the electrode array in tension.

The present invention relates to implantable stimulation devices, e.g., cochlear prosthesis used to electrically stimulate the auditory nerve, and more particularly to an electrode array designed to provide focused electrical stimulation along the entire length of the cochlea (i.e., from base to apex,) and a method of insertion of the electrode array into the cochlea providing a snug fit against the modiolus.
Hearing loss, which may be due to many different causes, is generally of two types: conductive and sensorineural. Of these, conductive hearing loss occurs where the normal mechanical pathways for sound to reach the hair cells in the cochlea are impeded, for example, by damage to the ossicles. Conductive hearing loss may often be helped by use of conventional hearing aids, which amplify sound so that acoustic information does reach the cochlea and the hair cells. Some types of conductive hearing loss are also amenable to alleviation by surgical procedures.
In many people who are profoundly deaf, however, the reason for their deafness is sensorineural hearing loss. This type of hearing loss is due to the absence or the destruction of the hair cells in the cochlea which are needed to transduce acoustic signals into auditory nerve impulses. These people are unable to derive any benefit from conventional hearing aid systems, no matter how loud the acoustic stimulus is made, because their mechanisms for transducing sound energy into auditory nerve impulses have been damaged. Thus, in the absence of properly functioning hair cells, there is no way auditory nerve impulses can be generated directly from sounds.
To overcome sensorineural deafness, numerous cochlear implant systemsxe2x80x94or cochlear prosthesisxe2x80x94have been developed which seek to bypass the hair cells in the cochlear by presenting electrical stimulation to the auditory nerve fibers directly, leading to the perception of sound in the brain and an at least partial restoration of hearing function. The common denominator in most of these cochlear prosthesis systems has been the implantation, into the cochlea, of electrodes which are responsive to a suitable external source of electrical stimuli and which electrodes are intended to transmit those stimuli to the ganglion cells and thereby to the auditory nerve fibers.
A cochlear prosthesis operates by direct electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve cells, bypassing the defective cochlear hair cells that normally transduce acoustic energy into electrical activity in such nerve cells. In addition to stimulating the nerve cells, the electronic circuitry and the electrode array of the cochlear prosthesis perform the function of separating the acoustic signal into a number of parallel channels of information, each representing the intensity of a narrow band of frequencies within the acoustic spectrum. Ideally, each channel of information would be conveyed selectively to the subset of auditory nerve cells that normally transmitted information about that frequency band to the brain. Those nerve cells are arranged in an orderly tonotopic sequence, from high frequencies at the basal end of the cochlear spiral to progressively lower frequencies towards the apex, and ideally the entire length of the cochlea would be stimulated to provide a full frequency range of hearing. In practice, this ideal is not achieved because of the anatomy of the cochlea which decreases in diameter from the base to the apex, and exhibits variations between patients. Because of these difficulties, known electrodes can only be promoted to the second turn of the cochlea at best.
Over the past several years, a consensus has generally emerged that the scala tympani, one of the three parallel ducts that, in parallel, make up the spiral-shaped cochlea, provides the best location for implantation of an electrode array used with a cochlear prosthesis. The electrode array to be implanted in this site typically consists of a thin, elongated, flexible carrier containing several longitudinally disposed and separately connected stimulating electrode contacts, perhaps 6-30 in number. Such electrode array is pushed or inserted into the scala tympani duct to a depth of about 20-30 mm via a surgical opening made in the round window at the basal end of the duct. During use, electrical current is passed into the fluids and tissues immediately surrounding the individual electrical contacts in order to create transient potential gradients that, if sufficiently strong, cause the nearby auditory nerve fibers to generate action potentials. The auditory nerve fibers arise from cell bodies located in the spiral ganglion, which lies in the bone, or modiolus, adjacent to the scala tympani on the inside wall of its spiral course. Because the density of electrical current flowing through volume conductors such as tissues and fluids tends to be highest near the electrode contact that is the source of such current, stimulation at one contact site tends to activate selectively those spiral ganglion cells and their auditory nerve fibers that are closest to that contact site. Thus, there is a need for the electrode contacts to be positioned as close to the ganglion cells as possible. This means, in practice, that the electrode array, after implant, should preferably hug the modiolar wall, and that the individual electrode contacts of the electrode array should be positioned on or near that surface of the electrode array which is closest to the modiolar wall.
In order to address the above need, it is known in the art to make an intracochlear electrode array that includes a spiral-shaped resilient carrier which generally has a natural spiral shape so that it better conforms to the shape of the scala tympani. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,647. The ""647 U.S. patent is incorporated herein by reference.
It is also known in the art, as shown in applicant""s prior patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,545,219 and 5,645,585, to construct an electrode carrier from two initially straight members, a rod-like electrode carrier and a flexible rod-like positioning member. As shown in these patents, the two members extend in substantially parallel relation to and closely alongside each other, but are connected to each other only at their respective leading and trailing end regions. After implant, a pushing force is applied to the positioning member so that it is forced to assume an outwardly arched configuration relative to the electrode carrier, thereby forcing the electrode carrier into a close hugging engagement with the modiolus, thereby placing the electrode contacts of the electrodes in as close a juxtaposition to the cells of the spiral ganglion as possible. The ""219 and ""585 U.S. patents are also incorporated herein by reference.
Unfortunately, while the electrode array taught in the above-referenced xe2x88x92219 and ""585 patents has the right idea, i.e., to force the electrode carrier into a close hugging engagement with the modiolus, it does so only through application of an additional pushing force which is applied to an electrode structure after it is already fully inserted into the cochlea. Such additional pushing force may easily cause damage to the delicate scala tympani. Moreover, the entire electrode array may twist during the insertion process, or when the additional pushing force is applied, thereby causing the electrode contacts to twist and/or be forced away from the modiolus, rather than in a hugging relationship therewith.
It is thus seen that improvements are still needed in cochlear electrodes, particularly to provide an electrode array that extends the length of the cochlea and that better assures that the electrode contacts assume a close hugging relationship with the modiolus.
The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing an implantable cochlear electrode array and leading section that permits the electrode array to first be gently promoted through the entire length of the cochlea, thereby providing stimulation of the entire range of nerves, and then permits the electrode array to be gently pulled from both ends to position the electrode array against the modiolus , or the inner wall of the scala tympani, to better stimulate the nerve fibers.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a leading section that may be easily promoted through the entire length of the cochlea. The leading section contains no electrical components and is not a permanent part of the implant. After the leading section is in place it is used to gently pull the electrode array through the cochlea.
It is thus a feature of the present invention to provide a method of positioning the electrode array against the inner wall of the scala tympani. After pulling the electrode array through the scala tympani, the electrode array is positioned by gently pulling from both ends causing the electrode array to hug the inner wall of the scala tympani.
It is a further feature of the invention to provide wedging positioners that are inserted into each cochleostomy to fix the position of the electrode array following the insertion and positioning of the electrode array.
It is another feature of the invention to provide a method of electrode array insertion that advantageously requires only a gentle pulling force to properly position the electrode array, thus minimizing potential damage to the scala tympani.
In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, the electrode array and leading section are manufactured as a single electrode assembly. The forward end of the leading section is inserted through a cochleostomy at the basal end of the cochlea and promoted through the cochlea. The forward end of leading section is then grabbed by a micro hook inserted through a second cochleostomy at the apical end of the cochlea and the forward end is pulled through the second cochleostomy. The leading section is then gently pulled through the second cochleostomy and the electrode array is fed through the first cochleostomy. When the electrode array is in the correct position within the cochlea, the ends of the electrode assembly emerging through the cochleostomies are gently pulled to seat the electrode array against the modiolus (or synonymously against the inner wall of the scala tympani.) Wedges are inserted at each cochleostomy to hold the electrode array in place, and the leading section is severed from the electrode array.
In accordance with an alternate embodiment of the invention, the electrode array and the leading section are separate detachable pieces that connect to form the electrode assembly. Additionally, the alternative leading section has an attaching end with a hoop, and the alternative electrode array has a forward end with a hook.
In the second embodiment the attaching end is fed through the apical cochleostomy. When the attaching end the reaches the basal cochleostomy, it is extracted using a micro hook. Then the hook on the electrode array is attached to the loop on the leading section, and the leading section is withdrawn pulling the electrode array into position within the cochlea. The electrode array is then gently pulled as in the first embodiment to seat the electrode array against the modiolus, i.e., against the inner wall of the scala tympani. Wedges are inserted at each cochleostomy to hold the electrode array in place, and the leading section is detached and discarded.
It is an additional feature that an non-tapered electrode array may be used in accordance with the present invention. When such non-tapered electrode array is used, the insertion process may be from either end of the cochlea.


A memory can be a sum addressed memory (SAM) that receives, for each read access, two address values (e.g. a base address and an offset) having a sum that indicates the entry of the memory to be read (the read entry). A decoder adds the two address value to identify the read entry. Concurrently, a predecode module predecodes the two address values to identify a set of entries (e.g. two different entries) at the memory, whereby the set includes the entry to be read. The predecode module generates a precharge disable signal to terminate precharging at the set of entries which includes the entry to be read. Because the precharge disable signal is based on predecoded address information, it can be generated without waiting for a full decode of the read address entry.

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to processing systems and more particularly to memory access for processing systems.
Description of the Related Art
A processing system typically employs random access memory (RAM) to store data used for processing operations. The memory has a plurality of entries (e.g. rows or lines), whereby each entry includes a set of bit cells to store the individual bits of the entry. In response to a read access request, the processing system can read data from an entry using a read operation having two phases: a precharge phase and an evaluate phase. During the precharge phase, the memory precharges bitlines for the memory bitcells to a defined voltage representing an asserted logic level (e.g. a logic value of "1"). During the evaluate phase, the memory stops precharging of the bitcells of the entry to be read, so that the bitlines connected to the bitcells are each set to a voltage level representing the data stored at their corresponding bit cell.
During the evaluate phase of a read operation, precharging of the bitlines of the entry to be read (referred to for purposes of description as "read bitlines") must be terminated. However, for some types of memories it is necessary to maintain, during the evaluate phase, precharging of bitlines for bitcells that are not the subject of the read operation (referred to for purposes of description as "non-read bitlines"). For example, some memories logically combine bitlines of different memory entries during the evaluate phase in order to output each bit of the data being read. The logical combination is such that it outputs a correct result (i.e. the output of the logical combination correctly represents a bit of the data to be read) if the bitlines for all of the entries that are not being read are maintained at a precharge level. That is, if the bitlines for the entries that are not being read are not kept at the precharge level during the evaluate phase, it substantially increases the likelihood of an error in the data being read. Accordingly, during the evaluate phase it is useful to terminate precharging only for the bitlines of the read bitcells. In some systems, this is done by generating a precharge disable signal by logically ORing (combining using an OR operation) read wordlines of a group of memory entries, including the read entry, together. However, this technique can cause delays in completing the read operation.

Precharge disable using predecoded address


An electronic musical instrument is provided with a voice sensor for detecting a voice uttered by a user, when the user blows into the musical instrument with a voice, a breath sensor for detecting at least one of a blow pressure and a blow volume in a body of the musical instrument, when the user blows into the musical instrument with a voice, and a musical tone controlling unit for controlling generation of a musical tone based on at least one of outputs of the voice sensor and the breath sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a specific performance technique for an electronic musical instrument, and more particularly, to a technique of controlling generation of a tone to be generated by the specific performance technique for the electronic musical instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electronic musical instrument realizing a wind instrument (for instance, a saxophone) by using an electronic technique, a conventional technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2605761, which technique allows a player to use player's blowing intensity and/or strength of biting a mouthpiece of the wind instrument as musical parameters and to give a blowing performance of the wind instrument in accordance with characteristic values of such musical parameters.
Further, another conventional technique employed in the electronic musical instrument is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2712406 and 3389618, which technique detects a position and/or movement of the tongue of the player of the wind instrument (a tonging playing) to control a sound in generation of the wind instrument.
There are several playing techniques for the typical wind instruments, such as the simply blowing into the wind instrument, tonging playing, and a specific performance, that is, the player of the wind instrument utters a voice while he/she is blowing into the wind instrument, thereby generating growling tones.
The conventional technique in the electronic musical instrument does not allow the player to give the specific performance by uttering a voice while he/she is blowing into the wind instrument.
The present invention provides an electronic musical instrument which detects that the player has uttered a voice while he/she is blowing into the wind instrument, and generates tones specific to the wind instrument.

Electronic musical instrument, method of controlling sound generation, and computer readable recording medium


A device is provided with: memory cell array including plurality of first and second memory cells and one or more third memory cells; judging circuit that judges plurality of data values held by selected first and second memory cells of the first and second memory cells, by referring to reference potential corresponding to reference data held by a selected third memory cell; and error detection and correction circuit that detects whether or not there is error in the judged data values of the first and/or second memory cells, with judged data value of the first and second memory cells as error correcting code. When the error detection and correction circuit detects that there is error exceeding error correction capability in the judged data values, control is performed to write reference data to the selected third memory cell.

At present, flash memory is widely used as a non-volatile semiconductor memory device, but with the aim of replacing flash memory, there is progress in the development of various types of semiconductor memory device. These include resistance variable memory cells, where resistance variable elements are used to store information of logic 0 and logic 1 according to resistance value. A representative variable resistance element may be an STT-RAM (Spin Transfer Torque-Random Access Memory) that performs spin injection magnetization reversal writing using a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element, or a Re-RAM (Resistive-Random Access Memory) that uses a metal oxide or the like.
In order to perform sense-amplification of signals read from these resistance variable memory cells, a method using reference cells is generally employed. A reference cell method may be a method of generating a reference signal (reference voltage or reference current) using a memory cell that has an intermediate resistance value between two resistance values respectively corresponding to logic 0 and logic 1, or a method of using two memory cells having resistance values corresponding respectively to logic 0 and logic 1, and generating a reference signal equivalent to an intermediate resistance value thereof.
JP Patent Kokai Publication No. 2009-211742A (Patent Literature 1) discloses an error correction device and an error correction method which, in a case of error exceeding data error correction capability in data that is read from a non-volatile memory, can prevent the addition of further error.
JP Patent Kokai Publication No. 2006-244541A (Patent Literature 2) discloses a semiconductor memory device provided with an error correction circuit that uses ECC (Error Correction Code) corresponding to a sense amplifier of a DRAM. In the semiconductor memory device, when there is an error in sense-amplified data at a stage when a page is open, the error is corrected. Check bit information is then generated at a stage when the page is closed, and rewriting thereof is performed along with data bits.
The following analysis is given from a viewpoint of the present invention.
In a case of using a reference cell method in a semiconductor memory device, in order to reduce a size of the device and save cost, the number of reference cells may be reduced, and one reference cell may be shared by a plurality of sense amplifiers. In such a case, If an error exists in a reference cell, a plurality of data amplified based on the reference cell will have errors too. These errors are problems for a semiconductor device adopting the reference cell.

Semiconductor device and error correction method


Disclosed herein is a micromirror array device that comprises an array of reflective deflectable mirror plates each being associated with one single addressing electrode to be deflected to an ON state angle. A light transmissive electrode is disposed proximate to the mirror plates for deflecting the mirror plates to a non-zero OFF angle. The mirror plates are arranged in the array with a center-to-centre distance of 10.17 microns or less.

In current digital display systems employing spatial light modulators, lamps with intensive luminance but compact size are dominantly used as light sources of the display system. Arc lamps with short arc lengths are a group of such lamps. For example, an arc lamp with the arc length of 0.7 mm or 1.0 mm has a higher brightness than an arc lamp with an arc length of 1.3 mm or 1.6 mm, because the beam produced by smaller arc length lamps can be more easily passed through an optical system.
However, arc lamps in digital display systems prefer spatial light modulators with selected dimensions in favor of high optical efficiencies of the display systems. Specifically, for an arc lamp with a given arc length, it is desired for the spatial light modulator to have a large enough size—if the optical efficiency of the projection system (or more specifically, the optical coupling efficiency, to which the brightness of images produced by the spatial light modulator, of the light source to the array) is not to be degraded. A large spatial light modulator, however, is not cost-effective due to many factors, such as higher costs in manufacturing and optical elements (e.g. condensing and projection lenses). In practical design of the display system and the spatial light modulator, the cost-effectiveness and the optical efficiency need to be balanced—yielding an optimal size of the spatial light modulator.
The diameter of a spatial light modulator is proportional to the pixel pitch (defined as the center-to-center distance between adjacent pixels of the spatial light modulator) for a given resolution (defined as the number of pixels in the spatial light modulator) of the pixel array. Given a spatial light modulator with optimum size, the pixel pitch needs to be reduced if a higher resolution is desired. Because the pixel pitch is a summation of the gap between adjacent pixels and the size of the pixel, reduction of the pixel pitch requires reduction of the gap between adjacent pixels if fill factor (the percentage of reflective area to total array size and measured by a ratio of the pixel size to the pitch) is not to be lost.
However, reducing the pixel pitch (or the pixel size) to gain higher resolution in a spatial light modulator with given size is not a trivial task. For example, many of current micromirror-based spatial light modulators carry micromirrors each having a reflective deflectable mirror plate and two addressing electrodes for deflecting the mirror plates. Reduction the pixel pitch in a micromirror array certainly requires reduction of the pixel size when the gaps between adjacent pixels reach their limits. Reduction of the micromirror device size involves both of reductions of the mirror plate size and the size of the addressing electrodes, as well as the circuitry associated with the addressing electrodes. When the micromirror has two or more addressing electrodes, reducing the size of the addressing electrode becomes more difficult and even impossible with current fabrication technologies. Moreover, interference between the multiple addressing electrodes increases as the sizes and neighboring distances of the multiple addressing electrodes are reduced.
Therefore, what is needed is a spatial light modulator having an array of micromirror devices and a method of making such a spatial light modulator that allows for higher resolutions while maintain the same optimum size.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Micromirror array device with electrostatically deflectable mirror plates


An electron source includes a first electrode, a second electrode, a thermionic element interposed between and electrically isolated from the first electrode and the second electrode, and a guard electrode interposed between and electrically isolated from the first electrode and the second electrode. The thermionic element and the guard electrode may be at substantially the same voltage. Another electron source includes a first electrode, a second electrode, a thermionic element interposed between and electrically isolated from the first electrode and the second electrode, and a thermal expansion component interposed between and electrically isolated from the first electrode and the second electrode. The thermal expansion component may be heated to cause expansion. The heating may be cycled to cause alternating expansion and contraction.

Analytical processes such as mass spectrometry produce information acquired by processing charged species of sample analyte materials. The charged species are produced by ionizing the sample materials. Certain popular techniques for ionizing sample materials utilize a beam of energetic electrons. These techniques include electron ionization or impact (EI) and chemical ionization (CI). EI entails ionizing sample materials by transferring energy from the electrons to sample materials. CI entails ionizing a reagent gas by transferring energy from the electrons, and then ionizing sample materials by reactions with the ionized reagent gas. An electron source that includes a heated thermionic electrode, typically in the form of a filament, may be employed to produce the electron beam. Ion guiding techniques are employed to control the electron beam and focus the beam into an ionization chamber containing the typically gas-phase sample material. The chamber may be external to an ion processing device such as an ion trap or may be within the ion processing device.
The operation of an ion processing device, particularly a pulsed-operation device such as an ion trap, includes periods during which ionization is performed and periods during which ionization is not desired. Electrical circuitry communicates with the thermionic electrode as well as other electrodes utilized to control the electron beam. Depending on the configuration, the electron beam may be gated ON and OFF, adjusted between a HIGH state in which the electrons have sufficient energy to ionize sample material and a LOW state in which their energy is not sufficient to do so, or run continuously with the direction of the beam alternating toward and away from the ionization chamber. In all such configurations, control over and consistency of the electron emission current are desirable. Accordingly, the electrical circuitry associated with the electron source is typically capable of regulating the heating current passing through the thermionic electrode to maintain the total electron current at some constant, predetermined value.
Unfortunately, various components of the electron source are prone to becoming fouled with contaminating material, particularly when operating the CI mode of ionization. The contaminating material may be electrically conductive and thus may engender leakage currents. Leakage currents can cause several problems, including reducing the total emission current intended to be produced by the electron source, increasing electrical and/or photon noise, impairing the function of the emission current regulator and, more generally, impairing the accuracy and effectiveness of the associated ionization source.
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide methods and apparatus that prevent, suppress, reduce, or eliminate leakage currents in electron sources, particular electron sources employed in conjunction with ion sources.

Electron source for ionization with leakage current suppression


The presently disclosed subject matter relates to a fishing reel attached to a fishing rod. The disclosed reel has no spool, but instead includes a canister that stores fishing line in an orderly free state via a crank attached to pinch rollers. The fishing line moves to storage by passing through the pinch rollers into the canister. The line entering storage curls to left or right dependent only on line memory, and stacks against the outer walls and to the rear in an orderly fashion. Further, the line is also capable of being extracted from the canister when the pinch rollers are opened. For example, the inertia of a fishing lure thrown by a fishing rod extracts free line from the canister at the same velocity as the moving lure. As a result, synchronization of the lure and fishing line occurs regardless of wind conditions. The problem of line backlash is eliminated. In addition, the free state of the fishing line eliminates the problem of line twist since the line memory chooses the direction of curl in the canister independently.

The sport of fishing is popular throughout the world. While there are many different makes and models of fishing reels to accommodate the varying needs of fishing enthusiasts, the basic design of most fishing reels includes a spool to store fishing line wound up by the reel. However, there are significant problems with prior art reel designs using a spool. For example, fishing line is fastened to a reel spool by attaching it firmly to the center of the spool with a knot, but knots sometimes come loose, and a fishing line can be lost if untied. Continuing, bait casting reels (where the fishing line comes directly off the spool and straight into the rod line guides) experience line backlash when throwing a lure. It takes a significant amount of practice throwing fishing lines to manage the inertia problem with the lure weight, velocity, wind resistance, and rotational speed of the spool (which is trying to cause the fishing line to move out faster than the lure is traveling, since it slows down in the wind or due to the lure's own resistance to air). With spinning reels, the fishing line curls off the spool end smoothly, but as the line unspools, it is in constant contact with the rim of the front lip of a spool, which causes resistance to forward progress of the lure. Spinning reels also exhibit line twist, resulting from the memory of the fishing line and the excessive line loads that cause the bail to wind and the line to not wind, eventually creating line twist problems which results in line tangles and knots. It would therefore be beneficial to provide an improved fishing reel constructed without a spool to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and eliminate line backlash and line twist.

Universal spool-free fishing reel and methods of making and using the same


A ball forming device and method used in a bonding apparatus, including a bonding arm, a capillary attached to the bonding arm, an electronic flame off prove for forming a ball at the tip of a wire passing through the capillary, and a gas atmosphere forming unit for bringing the vicinity of the tip end of the wire into a gas atmosphere. The gas atmosphere forming unit is made of an inner wall element and an outer wall element with a hollow space section in between. The bonding arm side of the inner wall element has an inside open space which is wider than the portion of the bonding arm where the capillary is attached, and gas ejection ports are formed in the inner wall element. A gas supply pipe is connected to the outer wall element to supply, for instance, a reducing gas into the hollow space section.

The present invention relates to a ball forming device used in a bonding apparatus and to a ball forming method.
Gold wire is commonly used as a bonding wire (merely called, "wire") for connecting between a first bonding point and a second bonding point and for forming bumps. However, in order to reduce manufacturing costs, attempts have been made to use copper wires or aluminum wires. However, these wires cause oxidation to readily occur when forming a ball at a tip end of the wire. So as to prevent oxidations, various structures have been proposed, and Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication Disclosure No. H04 (1992)-28136 B, which is corresponding to Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication Disclosure S60 (1985)-244034 A, for example, discloses a ball forming device that prevents wire oxidation in a wire bonding apparatus.
In the ball forming device of Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication Disclosure No. H04 (1992)-28136 B, a cylindrical cover is provided so that it surrounds the capillary, and a reducing gas or inactive gas is supplied inside this cylindrical cover to bring the vicinity of a tip end of the wire passing through the capillary into a gas atmosphere. A ball is formed at the tip end of the wire by an electric discharge from an electronic flame off prove in this gas atmosphere.
In this ball forming device of Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication Disclosure No. H04 (1992)-28136, though not shown in its drawings, the upper part of the capillary is secured to a bonding arm, and the work to be bonded is pressed against a working platform by a pressing arm that moves up and down, vertically. For this reason, in view of the length (or height) of the capillary, the cylindrical cover needs to have a height that does not interfere with the pressing arm that moves up and down and the thickness of the bonding arm. Generally, the length of the capillary is 11.1 mm, the length by which the capillary is secured to the bonding arm is 4 mm, and the thickness and the distance of the up-and-down motion of the pressing arm is 4.7 mm; accordingly, the height of the cylindrical cover is as thin as approximately 2 mm or so. With such a very thin cylindrical cover, it is very difficult to form a gas atmosphere inside the cylindrical cover. Furthermore, the capillary moves up and down at high speed inside the cylindrical cover, and it also moves in the directions of X and Y axes (or horizontally); accordingly, with such a very thin cylindrical cover, the gas can easily escape. Therefore, in order to make the cylindrical cover long and form a sufficient gas atmosphere inside this cylindrical cover, it is necessary to make the length of the capillary substantially long; however this is difficult to accomplish because when the capillary has a substantial length, then the resonance point of the capillary brought by an ultrasonic wave oscillator tends to change so that smooth ultrasonic transmission is hindered.

Ball forming device in a bonding apparatus and ball forming method


A method for reconstructing an image includes acquiring raw image data during a scan of an area, estimating an image from the raw image data, separating the estimated image into a region of interest (ROI) and a background region, and applying compressed sensing to iteratively update only the ROI and maintain the background region to reconstruct an image.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to acquisition of imaging signal and reconstruction of images from the acquired signals, and more particularly to acquisition and reconstruction of images using compressed sensing techniques.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive diagnostic imaging procedure that uses nuclear magnetization and radio waves to produce internal images of a patient. An MRI scanner contains magnetic coils that create a strong static magnetic field in which the patient is positioned. Certain atoms in a patient's body that were previously randomly-ordered become aligned along the magnetic field. The scanner then sends a series of bursts or pulses of radio frequency (RF) energy through the patient's body part under examination that excite the "ordered" atoms to specific oscillations around the magnetic field. The atoms generate an RF signal during the pulsed oscillations and as the atoms return to their respective alignments. The scanner detects the RF signals by appropriate reception or pick-up coils and uses gradient coils to generate non-homogeneous magnetic fields to enable the signals to be spatially coded in all three spatial directions. The scanner processes the coded signals or data to transform them into a visual representation of the scanned patient's body part. In particular, the scanner samples and digitizes the signals, creates a so-called k-space data matrix filled with the digitized complex values of each signal, and generates for display and/or other usage a corresponding MR image from the k-space data matrix by means of a complex Fourier transform. The MRI scanner acquires three-dimensional image data of the patient's body part for respective "slices" of an area of the body part. The scanner repeats a pre-defined MR image pulse sequence, i.e., the above-described steps for collecting the signals/data, a number of times to collect sufficient data from the excitations to reconstruct the specific image. Ideally, there are little or no variations in the nuclear magnetization during the excitations.
Image acquisition may be performed under time-sensitive conditions to ensure that there is no movement of the subject during the image acquisition process. Thus, image acquisition may be performed while the patient refrains from moving. Often this is requires the patient holding his breath. When the MRI is used to track cardiac motion, acquisition time needs to be quick.
In light of this shortened acquisition time, it may be difficult to acquire data at the Nyquist rate to ensure sufficient sampling for ideal image reconstruction. Accordingly, performing accurate reconstruction with less than an ideal amount of data may be difficult. This difficulty in reconstructing an image under these conditions may be similar to trying to solve for a system of linear equations in which there are more unknown variables then there are equations. In such a case, there may be an infinite number of possible solutions.
Compressed sensing (CS) techniques have been developed to aid in reconstructing a signal using a sampling rate that is below the Nyquist sampling rate. These techniques exploit the observation that most practical signals of interest have sparse representations using a specific transform. Thus, for a given signal, there may exist a particular transform space in which a majority of the transform coefficients are at or near zero. This transform space may be referred to as the sparsity space. As these small coefficients may be assumed to be zero without significant loss of signal quality (the sparseness assumption), signal reconstruction may be approximated by determining only the limited set of large transform coefficients for the sparsity space.
In standard MRI acquisition, oversampling may be performed along a frequency encoding (or readout) direction to avoid aliasing (or wrapping) artifacts. In radial trajectory acquisition, the oversampling may be performed in each "readout" direction of radial spokes. This oversampling is usually not an issue for a modern scanner and does not increase the total reconstruction time. However, for CS reconstruction, it is quite time-costly due to non-linear iterative optimization involved to process the extra oversampled data. The time spent on reconstructing the peripheral background is considered time wasted since in most cases they are zeros or close to zero (e.g., background noise), and will be thrown away at the end of reconstruction.
Thus, there is a need for methods and systems that can improve CS reconstruction.

Compressed sensing using regional sparsity


The navigation device of the present invention has a storage device which stores map data including link data of respective links constituting roads on a map, and statistical data including travel time (moving speed) which is determined by statistical values of traffic information collected in the past, with respect to each of the links. Then, the navigation device uses for each departure time candidate, the map data and the statistical data of collection conditions corresponding to the statuses upon passing each of the route constituting links which constitute the route, so as to obtain the travel time for each of the route constituting links. Thereafter, the travel times of respective route constituting links thus obtained are summed up, and the travel time between the departure position and the destination is obtained.

The present invention relates to a navigation device, and more particularly, to a travel time calculating method and traffic information display technique. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H10-82644 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a technique in which a display configuration of a predetermined road on a map displayed on a display is changed according to the degree of traffic jam, in a navigation device. For example, in the case where the predetermined road is included in a route searched by route search, a portion of the predetermined road included in the route is displayed according to that degree of traffic jam on the road, which is judged by traffic information collected during a predetermined period of time in the past.

Travel time calculating method and traffic information display method for a navigation device


A light-scattering substrate which can be thinned and has improved thermal resistance, a method of manufacturing the same, an organic light-emitting display device including the same, and a method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display device are disclosed. The light-scattering substrate includes a light-scattering layer composed of a plurality of metal nanoparticles which are attached to at least a surface of a substrate. The metal nanoparticles are formed by agglomeration of a metal on the substrate, and show a surface plasmon phenomenon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-scattering substrate, a method of manufacturing the same, an organic light-emitting display device including the same, and a method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a light-scattering substrate which can be thinned and which has improved thermal resistance, a method of manufacturing the same, an organic light-emitting display device including the same, and a method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent trend toward larger displays is increasing interest in a uniformly bright screen, and a key factor in achieving a uniformly bright screen is scattering. Many display devices use a light-scattering sheet or film to effectively utilize a light source.
A light-scattering film causes light incident in a certain direction to spread in various directions. A light-scattering film typically includes a polymer film and light-scattering particles inserted into the polymer film. To achieve light-scattering characteristics, attempts are being continuously made to control the refractive index, the size, and the shape of the light-scattering particles. However, due to the light-scattering particles, the light-scattering film should be formed to a thickness of approximately 5 to 10 μm so as to achieve a desired level of light-scattering characteristics. Thus, it is difficult to thin the light-scattering film. In addition, if the light-scattering film is made of a conventional plastic film having low thermal resistance, its characteristics may deteriorate when the plastic light-scattering film is exposed to a subsequent process for forming thin-film transistors (TFTs) during the manufacturing of a display device.

Light-scattering substrate, method of manufacturing the same, organic light-emitting display device including the same, and method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display device


There is provided an electronic device which includes a display device, a case configured to retain the display device, a stopper disposed between the retained display device and the case, and a component arranged in a space formed by disposing the stopper. Further, there is provided an electronic device which includes a display device, a case including a first space for retaining the display device, the display device being operable to be slid into the first space, a stopper disposed in a second space between the retained display device and the case, and an electronic device arranged in a third space formed by arranging the stopper.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view illustrating a known electronic device. In the stage of manufacture of the known electronic device for fixing the a crystal display module 1 to a case 2, the liquid crystal display module 1 is bent and inserted so that the edges of the liquid crystal display module 1 are placed under retaining portions 3. Since the retaining portions 3 are formed so as to protrude inward from the edges of the case 2, the liquid crystal display module 1 is fitted into the case 2.
However, when the liquid crystal display module is bent, sometimes the liquid crystal display module breaks. There are electronic devices in which a liquid crystal display module may be attached to a case without being bent. For example, there is an electronic device in which a liquid crystal display module is attached to a case by being slid which has been disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-208338.

Electronic device and communication device


According to one embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a light emitting section, a light transmitting section, a wavelength conversion section, a first conductive section, a second conductive section and a sealing section. The light emitting section includes a first major surface, a second major surface opposite from the first major surface, and a first electrode section and a second electrode section formed on the second major surface. The light transmitting section is provided on a side of the first major surface. The wavelength conversion section is provided over the light transmitting section. The wavelength conversion section is formed from a resin mixed with a phosphor, and hardness of the cured resin is set to exceed 10 in Shore D hardness.

Semiconductor light emitting devices emitting high brightness blue light based on Group III nitride semiconductors such as gallium nitride (GaN) are known. According to already proposed techniques, a semiconductor light emitting device emitting blue light can be used to emit white light by combination with a wavelength conversion section including phosphor having wavelength conversion capability. Here, productivity can be improved by integrally forming a plurality of semiconductor light emitting devices and then singulating each semiconductor light emitting device. However, in the case where a wavelength conversion section including phosphor is provided, the phosphor may be detached from the wavelength conversion section when each semiconductor light emitting device is singulated.

Semiconductor light emitting device and method for manufacturing semiconductor light emitting device


The present invention provides a steel part for machine structural use whose fatigue strength and toughness are improved and a manufacturing method thereof. A steel part made of a steel containing, in mass %, C: 0.05 to 0.20%, Si: 0.10 to 1.00%, Mn: 0.75 to 3.00%, P: 0.001 to 0.050%, S: 0.001 to 0.200%, V: exceeding 0.20 to 0.25%, Cr: 0.01 to 1.00%, Al: 0.001 to 0.500%, and N: 0.0080 to 0.0200%, and a balance being composed of Fe and inevitable impurities, in which a steel structure contains a bainite structure having an area ratio of 95% or more, a bainite lath width is 5 μm or less, V carbide having an average grain diameter of not less than 4 nm nor more than 7 nm dispersedly exists in the bainite structure, and an area ratio of V carbide in the bainite structure is 0.18% or more.

Conventionally, in many cases, high strength and high toughness have been given to a machine structure part for an automobile, an industrial machine, and the like in a manner that a steel product such as a bar steel is hot forged into a part shape and then is reheated to be subjected to thermal refining of quenching and tempering. In recent years, in terms of a reduction in manufacturing cost, an omission of a thermal refining process of quenching and tempering has been promoted, and as shown in Patent Document 1 and the like, for example, there has been proposed a non-heat-treated steel to which high strength and high toughness can be given even though it remains being hot-forged. However, that both high fatigue strength and excellent machinability are accomplished is actually to be an obstacle to the application of the high strength and high toughness non-heat-treated steel to a steel part for machine structural use.
Generally, the fatigue strength relies on tensile strength, and as the tensile strength is increased, the fatigue strength is increased. On the other hand, the increase in tensile strength deteriorates the machinability. Many of the steel parts for machine structural use need to be cut after being hot forged, and the cutting cost accounts for most of the manufacturing cost of the part. The deterioration of machinability caused by the increase in tensile strength causes the significant increase in manufacturing cost of the part. Generally, when the tensile strength exceeds 1200 MPa, the machinability deteriorates significantly and the manufacturing cost is increased drastically, and thus it is practically difficult to achieve the high strength in excess of the above strength. Thus, in the parts for machine structural use, the increase in cutting cost caused by the deterioration of machinability is a bottleneck in achieving the high fatigue strength, and a technique of accomplishing both the high fatigue strength and the excellent machinability is required.
As conventional knowledge of securing machinability even though the steel part is high in strength, in Patent Document 2, for example, it has been proposed that a large amount of V is added to a steel, V carbonitride that has precipitated by an aging treatment is attached to a tool surface at the time of machining to protect the tool, which is effective for preventing tool abrasion. However, a large amount of V is needed in order to secure the machinability, and due to the steel being a high alloy, hot ductility is significantly poor. In the case when such a steel is used, there is caused a problem of occurrence of cracking and flaws to occur at the time of casting and flaws at the time of subsequent hot working, namely at the time of hot rolling of a bar steel and hot forging of a part.
As a means of accomplishing both the high fatigue strength and the excellent machinability, it is effective to improve the ratio of the fatigue strength to the tensile strength, namely an endurance ratio (the fatigue strength/the tensile strength). In Patent Document 3, for example, it has been proposed that it is effective to turn a structure mainly composed of bainite to decrease high-carbon martensite island and retained austenite in the structure. However, the endurance ratio is 0.56 or less at the most, there is a limit to increase the strength without deteriorating the machinability, and the fatigue strength and the tensile strength are both low.
Further, in Patent Document 4, for example, it has been proposed that it is effective to turn a structure into a fine ferrite-bainite structure after molding by warm forging in a temperature zone of 800 to 1050° C. and to cause V carbonitride to precipitate by a subsequent aging treatment. Generally, there is shown a tendency for the toughness to decrease when the achievement of high endurance ratio is accomplished, but by the warm forging, the ferrite-bainite structure is made fine, and thereby the toughness is improved. However, in the steel part for machine structural use requiring toughness, the improvement of toughness is small. Further, in the warm forging in the temperature zone of 800 to 1050° C., a forging load is large to thereby decrease the life of a mold significantly, and thus the production is difficult to be performed industrially.
Further, in Patent Documents 5 and 6, for example, there has been proposed a method of increasing strength by causing Ti carbide and V carbide to precipitate in a steel. However, when Ti is contained, Ti turns into nitride at high temperature preferentially to carbide, and thereby coarse Ti nitride is formed, and Ti nitride does not contribute to precipitation strengthening and further significantly decreases an impact value.

Steel part for machine structural use and manufacturing method thereof

NIPPON STEEL AND SUMITOMO METAL CORPORATION


Embodiments of this application provide a bit-forwarding ingress router, a bit-forwarding router, and an OAM test method, and pertain to the field of multicast networks. A first BFR receives an OAM request packet from a BFIR; the first BFR determines, according to the OAM request packet, that a destination BFR corresponding to the OAM request packet is the first BFR; and the first BFR obtains a first OAM response packet according to an ID of the BFIR, and sends the first OAM response packet to the BFIR. According to the method and the apparatus that are provided in the embodiments of this application, a problem that a BFIR cannot diagnose or handle a transmission fault when the fault occurs during transmission of a multicast packet can be resolved, which helps implement connectivity testing by using an OAM packet and enables testing of multiple BFERs.

Bit indexed explicit replication (BIER) is a brand new multicast technology in which transmission of a multicast packet is implemented by using multiple bit-forwarding routers (BFR) provided in a BIER domain.
When a bit-forwarding ingress router (BFIR) in the BIER domain sends a multicast packet to at least one bit-forwarding egress router (BFER) in the BIER domain, the multicast packet is transmitted by encoding identification information corresponding to each BFER into the multicast packet and sending the multicast packet to a corresponding BFER according to the identification information. The BFIR uses a combination of a set identifier (SI) and a bit string as identification information of the at least one BFER.
In the prior art, when a transmission fault occurs during transmission of a multicast packet, a BFIR cannot diagnose or handle the fault.

Bit-forwarding ingress router, bit-forwarding router, and operation, administration and maintenance test method


A liquid-absorbing material composition containing a crosslinking agent (component A), N-vinylcarboxamide copolymer (component B) having a functional group capable of crosslinking with the component A, water (component C), a water-soluble organic solvent (component D) and a plasticizer (component E), a molded liquid-absorbing material prepared from the composition, a method of manufacturing the molded liquid-absorbing material, and uses thereof are provided. The liquid-absorbing material composition has a high flowability, and gives a uniform continuous layer so that it can be directly molded readily into film- or sheet-shaped molded liquid-absorbing material without requiring secondary processing as in the case of conventional water-absorbing polymer. Use of the liquid-absorbing material composition allows manufacture in short time of molded products which are excellent in liquid-absorbing performance that can be utilized as a freshness retaining agent, a moisture-conditioning agent, an agricultural and horticultural water-retaining sheet, a soil improving agent, an anti-dewing agent, sanitary goods, a waste liquid solidifying material, a water preventing sheet, a water running preventing shielding material, a pharmaceutical, a medical tool, a humectant or desiccant.

It is well known that water-absorbing polymers have various utilities and have been used in various applications such as hygienic supplies (sanitary goods, diapers, etc.), agricultural and horticultural equipment (water-retaining agent) and those applications which require water-retaining properties.
As the water-absorbing polymers, various polymers have been known, such as starch-based polymers, poval-based polymers, cellulose-based polymers and the like. Among these, however, secondary products obtained by processing powdery or fibrous materials are efficiently put to practical use. More particularly, in the absence of suitable plasticizers, conventional water-absorbing polymers by themselves have not been able to be molded into the shape of a sheet or the like. For example, powdery materials have to be carried on a fibrous base material such as paper or nonwoven fabric before molding (e.g., Examined Publication No. 6-78402, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-143710, etc.). In such molded products from carried powdery water-absorbing polymer, the water-absorbing sites are water-absorbing polymer which are scattered or dotted in the molded product and, hence, the molded products show only a limited water absorbency and has a low liquid absorbency for ionic and water-soluble organic solvent-containing solutions. Furthermore, the molded products are complicated and costly to manufacture.
To solve the above-described problems, there has been disclosed a method for preparing a film- or fiber-shaped water-absorbing composition using a hydrophilic polymer obtained by copolymerizing carboxyl group-containing monomers (cf., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-103643, and Japanese Patent Application laid-Open No. 56-79122). However, no suitable plasticizer therefor was available and the films obtained were so hard and brittle that they were not put into practical use for some applications. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-103643 discloses a method in which polyvinyl alcohol and a carboxyl group-containing copolymer are used as a hydrophilic polymer and polyhydric alcohol is used as a plasticizer. This method, however, has a problem that the polyvinyl alcohol bleeds out after absorbing the liquid since the polyvinyl alcohol and the alcohol do not have sufficient affinity for each other and the polyvinyl alcohol does not participate in crosslinking. Further, in order to obtain by the technique a liquid (sol form) which is flexible enough to be molded, it is necessary to dilute the composition with water and, as a result, to vaporize the water upon molding, so that the manufacture of a molded product has taken considerable time.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a composition which is free of the problems encountered by the conventional water-absorbing molded products containing a liquid-absorbing polymer in a dispersed state, i.e., a liquid-absorbing material composition which has an improved water absorbency so that every part of the composition can absorb water.
Another object of this invention is to provide a liquid-absorbing material composition that has an elevated liquid-absorbing efficiency for ion-containing water, water-soluble organic solvent-containing liquid or alcohols.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a liquid-absorbing material composition having flexibility so that it can easily be molded into a sheet or the like and an improved gel strength after absorbing a liquid.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a molded product of liquid-absorbing material comprising such a liquid-absorbing material composition crosslinked to have any desired shape and a method for manufacturing such a molded product.
Further, an object of this invention is to provide various uses of such a molded product of liquid-absorbing material.

Liquid-absorbing material composition, molded product therefrom, process for preparing the same and use thereof


An image stabilizing device of the present invention includes: a correction lens holding member 405 to which a correction lens G3 included in an optical system of a camera is fixed; a lens holding member 408 that holds the correction lens holding member so that the correction lens holding member is movable in a rectilinear direction that is an arbitrary direction in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis A of light entering the correction lens G3 and in a rotation direction along an arc in the plane about a rotary shaft A3 substantially parallel to the optical axis A; a driving portion for rectilinear movement 412 that applies a driving force to the correction lens holding member 405 in order to drive the correction lens holding member 405 in the rectilinear direction; and a driving portion for rotation 413 that applies a driving force to the correction lens holding member 405 in order to drive the correction lens holding member 405 in the rotation direction. According to this configuration, it is possible to provide an image stabilizing device that achieves miniaturization, while preventing a deterioration in image stabilizing performance, and a camera including the same.

Recent years have seen the widespread use of a digital camera that uses an imaging element such as a CCD (charge coupled device) or CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensor to convert an optical image into an electric signal and to record the electric signal in a digitized form. In a digital camera configured as above, there is a need not only for increasing the number of pixels of a CCD or CMOS sensor but also for improving the performance of a lens barrel that forms an optical image on such an imaging element. Specifically, there is a need for a lens barrel incorporating a higher-powered zoom lens system.
Meanwhile, in the field of a digital camera, there is a demand for miniaturization of a body in order to improve portability. To this end, there is a need for miniaturization of an imaging apparatus including a lens barrel and an imaging element, which is believed to contribute greatly to miniaturization of the body. In an effort to achieve the above-described miniaturization of an imaging apparatus, a so-called bending optical system has been proposed, which achieves the miniaturization of the apparatus without changing the length of an optical path by bending a zoom lens system at some point along the optical path.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a bending optical system in which an optical path is bent using a reflection mirror. Specifically, a lens barrel disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes on the side of a subject relative to the reflection mirror, a first lens group and a second lens group in this order from the side of the subject, and on the side of an imaging element relative to the reflection mirror, a third lens group and a fourth lens group in this order from the side of the reflection mirror. The first lens group is fixed. The second lens group and the third lens group are movable in an optical axis direction and constitute a zoom lens system in cooperation with each other. The fourth lens group is used for focus adjustment.
Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a bending optical system in which an optical path is bent using a prism. Specifically, a lens barrel disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a lens group on the side of a subject relative to the prism. The lens group is movable between an in-use position and a retracted position in an optical axis direction. Moreover, the prism is movable so that a space for accommodating the lens group is secured when the lens group is in the retracted position.
Furthermore, Patent Document 3 discloses a configuration of a lens group used in a bending optical system.
However, in order to simultaneously meet the rising demands for the realization of a high-power zoom lens system and the achievement of miniaturization, further improvement is required.
Specifically, in each of the configurations disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, respectively, it is difficult to construct a high-power zoom lens system while achieving miniaturization of the apparatus. Moreover, also when adopting the lens configuration disclosed in Patent Document 3, Patent Document 3 is disadvantageous in that it does not disclose any configuration for achieving miniaturization of the apparatus.
Meanwhile, generally, in the case of a miniaturized imaging apparatus or in the case of including a high-power zoom lens system, there is a need for preventing blurring of a photographed image (image blurring) from occurring, which mainly is due to camera shake or the like.
FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view of an image stabilizing device of the prior art (see Patent Document 4). In the image stabilizing device shown in FIG. 18, a second lens group 101 is held by a lens frame 102. The lens frame 102 is supported movably by guide shafts 103 that guide movement in a pitching direction and in a yawing direction. Further, the lens frame 102 is provided with coils 104a and 104b for driving the lens frame 102 in the pitching direction and in the yawing direction, respectively. On a fixed base 105, magnets 106a and 106b are provided so as to be opposed to the coils 104a and 104b, respectively. When the coils 104a and 104b are energized, driving forces are generated in the respective directions. The second lens group 101 is driven in the pitching direction and in the yawing direction by the driving forces generated in the coils 104a and 104b, respectively. The amount of shake of a lens barrel is detected by angular velocity sensors 107a and 107b, and based on a detection signal obtained as a result of the detection, the coils 104a and 104b are energized so that image stabilization is performed.    Patent Document 1: JP 11(1999)-258678 A    Patent Document 2: JP 2003-169236 A    Patent Document 3: JP 2004-102089 A    Patent Document 4: JP 2000-75338 A (FIG. 4)    Patent Document 5: JP 7(1995)-5514 A (FIGS. 6 and 8)


An electrical connector with a cover lockably coupled to a retainer body to prevent inadvertent uncoupling of the cover from the retainer body. The cover and retainer body are locked together by a locking arrangement which includes a locking screw or member, a passageway formed in either the cover or the retainer body for threadedly receiving the locking screw therein, and a recess formed either the cover or the retainer body for receiving the tip of the locking screw therein. In a preferred embodiment, the recess is an arcuate slot with an inclined locking surface which slopes towards the locking screw in the direction of rotation for uncoupling the cover from the retainer body. In another embodiment, the recess is a tubular or cylindrical bore with a pair of locking surfaces.

Electrical connector assemblies of the locking type are well known in the connector industry. Normally, the female portion of such a connector assembly has two or more arcuate, circularly arranged slots, while the male portion has an equal number of arcuate blades which are dimensioned and arranged for insertion into the slots of the female portion by a simple axial movement, and then, via a rotation of one or both of the connector portions the blades can be moved into a position from which they can not be separated by simple axial movement. To accomplish this, one or more of the blades usually has an L-shaped configuration in which the laterally extended portion, or flag, of the blade engages a recess or shelf within the slot of the female portion as a result of the rotation.
The male and female portions typically have a retainer body with either blade contacts or female contacts and a cover releasably coupled onto the retainer body by either two or more screws, or threads formed on the cover and retainer body (screw-on), or a bayonet connection. This screw-on or bayonet connection between the retainer body and the cover presents a unique problem when the male and female portions of the electrical connector assembly are coupled together. In particular, the unlocking motion required to unlock a locking type electrical connector assembly requires a counterclockwise rotation of the cover in the same counterclockwise direction used for coupling the threaded or bayonet-mounted cover from the retainer body. Accordingly, the cover of many prior art electrical connectors occasionally will uncouple from the retainer body during the unlocking rotation of the electrical connector assembly.
The most common way to overcome inadvertent loosening or uncoupling is to provide the cover and the retainer body body with a separate locking latch. However, a separate locking latch increases the manufacturing costs and requires a secondary unlocking action by the user. Another way to overcome inadvertent loosening or uncoupling is to select a thread pitch between the cover and retainer body such that the unscrewing torque for uncoupling the cover from the retainer body is substantially above the blade unlocking torque for uncoupling the male portion from the female portion However this introduces other problems such as the tightening torque exerted by an individual can cause the threads between the cover and the retainer body to self lock. In other words, the cover becomes very difficult to unscrew from the retainer body. Accordingly, the threads between the cover and retainer body typically have a very shallow pitch so that the cover can be removed from the retainer body with very little force.
Examples of various locking connectors are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,396,901 to Tiffany; 3,393,395 to Hubbell; 3,784,961 to Gartland; 3,945,702 to Poliak et al; 4,213,667 to Wittes; and 5,046,961 to Hoffman.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need for a lockable cover for an electrical connector of the locking type which will prevent inadvertent uncoupling of the cover from the retainer body. This addresses this need in the art, along with other needs which will become apparent to those skilled in the art once given this disclosure.


A cat litter packaging article that includes a plastic film packaging member having a rectangular box shaped litter holding cavity that is accessible through a rectangular shaped opening defined by two longer side perimeter edges and two shorter side perimeter edges, the plastic film packaging member having four adhesive coated tying lobes, one tying lobe extending from each corner formed by the intersection of a longer side and a shorter side perimeter edge; and a quantity of cat litter particles positioned within the litter holding cavity; the two shorter perimeter edges being in registration with each other and sealed together with a removable middle side seam tape, each of the four adhesive coated tying lobes being adhesively secured to another one of the four adhesive coated tying lobes, and each of the two longer perimeter edges being folded in half and sealed together with removable left and right side seam tapes to seal the quantity of cat litter particles within the litter holding cavity.

Disposing of used cat litter can be an unpleasant experience for many cat owners. It would be a benefit, therefore, to these cat owners to have a cat litter packaging article that contained a litter box quantity of cat litter and that could be used as a cat litter box liner as well as a sealable disposal bag for disposing of the used cat litter.


An intelligent television is provided that can collect viewer information for use by a rating service.

Nielsen rating service is the penultimate service. Nielsen television ratings are gathered in one of two ways. First, it uses viewer "diaries", in which a target audience self-records its viewing or listening habits. By targeting various demographics, the assembled statistical models provide a rendering of the audiences of any given show, network, and programming hour. Second, it uses a more technologically sophisticated system known as set meters, which are small devices connected to televisions in selected homes. These devices gather the viewing habits of the home and transmit the information nightly to Nielsen through a "Home Unit" connected to a phone line. The technology-based home unit system is meant to allow market researchers to study television viewing habits on a minute-to-minute basis, seeing the exact moment viewers change channels or turn off their TV. In addition to set meters, individual viewer reporting devices, such as people meters, have allowed the company to separate household viewing information into various demographic groups, but so far Nielsen has refused to change its distribution of data of ethnic groups into subgroups, which could give more targeted information to networks and advertisers.
There is some public critique regarding accuracy and potential bias within Nielsen's rating system. Since viewers are aware of being part of the Nielsen sample, it can lead to response bias in recording and viewing habits. Audience counts gathered by the self-reporting diary methodology are sometimes higher than those gathered by the electronic meters which eliminate any response bias. This trend seems to be more common for news programming and popular prime time programming. Also, daytime viewing and late night viewing tend to be under-reported by the diary. Another criticism of the measuring system itself is that it fails the most important criterion of a sample: it is not random in the statistical sense of the word. A small fraction of the population is selected and only those that actually accept are used as the sample size. In many local areas of the 1990s, the difference between a rating that kept a show on the air and one that would cancel it was so small as to be statistically insignificant, and yet the show that just happened to get the higher rating would survive. And yet in 2009 of the 114,500,000 U.S. television households only 25,000 total American households (0.02183% of the total) participated in the Nielsen daily metered system. In addition, the Nielsen ratings one TV per household three perhaps four network model encouraged a strong push for demographic measurements. This caused problems with multiple TV households or households where viewers would enter the simpler codes (usually their child's) raising serious questions to the quality of the demographic data. The situation further deteriorated as the popularity of cable TV expanded the number of viewable networks to the point that the margin of error has increased due to the sampling sizes being too small. Compounding matters is the fact that of the sample data that is collected, advertisers will not pay for time shifted (recorded for replay at a different time) programs, rendering the 'raw' numbers useless. A related criticism of the Nielsen ratings system is its lack of a system for measuring television audiences in environments outside the home, such as college dormitories, transport terminals, bars, jails, and other public places where television is frequently viewed, often by large numbers of people in a common setting. In 2005, Nielsen announced plans to incorporate viewing by away-from-home college students into its sample. Internet TV viewing is another rapidly growing market for which Nielsen Ratings fail to account for viewer impact. Apple iTunes, atomfilms, Hulu, YouTube, and some of the networks' own websites (e.g., ABC.com, CBS.com) provide full-length web-based programming, either subscription-based or ad-supported. Though web sites can already track popularity of a site and the referring page, they can't track viewer demographics. To both track this and expand their market research offerings, Nielsen purchased NetRatings in 2007. However, noted in a February 2012 New York Times article the computer and mobile streams of a show are counted separately from the standard TV versions further degrading the over all quality of the sampling data. As a result there was no way for NBC to tell if there was any overlap between the roughly 111.3 million standard TV viewers and 2.1 million live stream viewers the Super Bowl. After Nielsen took over the contract for producing data on Irish advertising in 2009, agencies said that they were "disastrous" and claimed that the information produced by them is too inaccurate to be trusted by them or their clients.

Method and system for customizing television content


A system includes a non-transitory memory and one or more hardware processors. The hardware processors are configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to perform operations including generating a service mapping illustrating a plurality of discovered configuration items connected to a network and one or more connections between the plurality of discovered configuration items, wherein at least one of the plurality of discovered configuration items comprises a virtual platform server, receiving input data from the generated service mapping associated with the virtual platform server, wherein the input data indicates one or more manual configuration item additions, validating the input data of the one or more manual configuration item additions, update the service mapping to include the one or more manual configuration item additions, generating a specified number of tasks to be performed by the service mapping, and determining an amount of time for the updated service mapping to respond to the set number of tasks.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Computer resources hosted in distributed computing (e.g., cloud-computing) environments may be disparately located with different resources potentially having their own functions, properties, and/or permissions. Such resources may include hardware resources (e.g. computing devices, switches, etc.) and software resources (e.g. database applications). These resources may be used to collect and store data at various times related to a variety of measurable properties, including network, hardware, or database performance properties measured at different times. As networks become more complex, network maintenance and management becomes a more resource intensive task.