There is disclosed an electronic instrument worn on the wrist including a case (2) at least a part (4) of which is electrically conductive and in which are housed an electronic module (6) including a printed circuit board (60) and an electric power source (10) for powering the electronic module. The printed circuit board (60) has, at its periphery, a mechanical contact zone with the electrically conductive part (4) of the case (2), and includes a conductive path (65) extending at the periphery of the printed circuit board, over the mechanical contact zone, and establishing an electric contact with the electrically conductive part (4) of the case (2). The electronic instrument further provides an antenna (20) provided with an ground plane (22) where the conductive path (65) electrically connects this ground plane (22) to the electrically conductive path (4) of the case (2), in directions extending substantially in the extension of the ground plane of the antenna (20) in order to increase the reception sensitivity of the latter.

Electronic instruments worn on the wrist taking a form similar to that of a wristwatch are already known. Specific examples of such electronic instruments answering the aforementioned definition are also known.
European Patent No. 1 274 150 A1 proposes, for example, a portable electronic instrument able to take the form of a wristwatch and a part of whose case can be made of an electrically conductive metal material, this electronic instrument also including an antenna for receiving satellite positioning signals. According to this solution, the electronic module does not lie directly in the electrically conductive part of the case, but inside an assembly made of plastic material, the electronic module being supplied with electric power by the electric power source in a conventional manner via conductive contact strips or flanges. It should also be noted that the antenna (a micro-strip—or patch antenna—including a radiating element separated from a ground plane by a dielectric) lies on an element forming a bezel fitted onto the case and made of a dielectric material.
The articles entitled ("GPS Watch—Une montre à quartz analogique équipée d'un récepteur GPS à très faible consommation" (European Chronometry Congress, CEC 2000, Session 7, Communication 19, Geneva, 28 and 29 Sep. 2000) and "GPS Watch—An analogue watch including a very low power GPS receiver" (ION GPS 2000 Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, Sep. 19-22, 2000) in the name of P.-A. Farine and consorts, Asulab S.A., also describe an electric instrument taking the form of a wristwatch including a case in which are housed an electric power source, an electronic module carrying in particular a micro-strip antenna and a satellite positioning receiver, as well as an analogue and digital display device. A part of the case, in this case a back cover-middle part, can also be made of an electrically conductive metal material, a non metal bezel being, however, fitted onto the top part of the instrument above the antenna. Like the solution disclosed in the aforementioned EP Patent No. 1 274 150 A1, the electronic module is powered by the electric power source via conductive contact strips or flanges. According to this solution, it should be noted that the micro-strip antenna lies directly on the printed circuit board of the electronic module where its ground plane is made.
In order to complete this list of the state of the art, European Patent No. 1 134 837 A1, which discloses a portable electronic instrument including a so-called inverted L antenna or inverted F antenna because of its particular profile, should also be cited. The ground plane of this antenna is made on the top face of the printed circuit board of the electronic module. Insofar as the lateral and top parts of the case are made in one piece as illustrated in this document, the configuration of the instrument necessarily requires the use of a dielectric material to make the case in which the electronic module is housed. The electronic module is again powered by the electric power source by conductive contact strips or flanges. It should also be stressed that the electronic instrument has a back cover made of metallic material, which is electrically connected to a determined electric potential, in this case the positive potential of the electric power source. It is mentioned that this electric connection has the advantage of allowing the surface of the antenna ground plane to be increased, in particular via the body of the person wearing the instrument, which leads to increased sensitivity of the antenna.
In the aforementioned examples, it should thus be noted that the electronic module is conventionally powered by the electric power source via a set of conductive contact strips or flanges, electrically connecting the two electric poles of the power source to the sets of conductive supply paths typically made on the printed circuit board of the electronic module.
When one wishes to design an electronic instrument of the aforementioned type and fit it with a case at least part of which is electrically conductive, for example metal, it is known that it is also desirable to fix the electric potential of this conductive part rather than leave it floating. The electric potential of this electrically conductive part is thus often fixed by an electric connection to one of the poles of the electric power source, for example to the ground potential or the other supply potential. This electric connection is achieved either by directly connecting the part concerned to the corresponding pole of the power source, or again via conductive contact strips or flanges. By way of example, the European Patent No. 1 134 837 A1 mentions that the connection of the metal back cover to the positive pole of the electric power source is achieved via contact strips.
The use of conductive contact strips or flanges to ensure the electric connection of the electronic module and/or a part of the case to the electric power source often constitutes a constraint, in particular when the portable instrument is being assembled. It is an object of the present invention to propose a solution simplifying to a certain extent the manufacture of these electric connections as well as the operations for assembling the instrument.
Within the scope of the more specific embodiment wherein the instrument incorporates an antenna fitted with a ground plane, a solution is sought for increasing the sensitivity of the antenna by enlarging its ground plane via a simplified electric connection, the enlargement being located substantially in the plane containing the ground plane of the antenna. Owing to this latter feature, improvement in the sensitivity of the antenna is better in the case of the present invention than in the case of the prior art.

Ground connection of a printed circuit board placed in a wristwatch type electronic device


Conventional many fungicidal compositions have had practical problems such that either a preventive effect or a curing effect is inadequate, the residual effect tends to be inadequate, or the controlling effect against plant diseases tends to be inadequate depending upon the application site, and a fungicidal composition to overcome such problems has been desired. The present invention provides a fungicidal composition containing an acid amide derivative of the formula (I) or a salt thereof, as an active ingredient:

WO2001/60783 and WO2003/27059 disclose that acid amide derivatives having certain chemical structures are useful as active ingredients for pesticides, but there is no disclosure that compounds of the formula (I) given hereinafter, have fungicidal activities. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-420864 by the present applicants, discloses a fungicidal composition containing an acid amide derivative as an active ingredient, but the active ingredient compound of such a composition is different from the compound of the formula (I) given hereinafter.
Conventional many fungicidal compositions have had practical problems such that either a preventive effect or a curing effect is inadequate, the residual effect tends to be inadequate, or the controlling effect against plant diseases tends to be inadequate depending upon the application site. Accordingly, a fungicidal composition to overcome such problems has been desired.

Fungicidal composition containing acid amide derivative

Abstract: wherein A is phenyl which may be substituted, benzyl which may be substituted, naphthyl which may be substituted, heterocyclic ring which may be substituted, fused heterocyclic ring which may be substituted, or the like; B is heterocyclic ring which may be substituted, fused heterocyclic ring which may be substituted, or naphthyl which may be substituted; each of R1 and R2 which are independent of each other, is alkyl, or the like; R3 is hydrogen, or the like; each of W1 and W2 which are independent of each other, is oxygen or sulfur.


A rigid flex printed circuit board wherein the flex section of said board comprises a basestock composite with edges formed by laminating a conductive layer to a flexible insulator layer, the conductor layer containing at least one conductive pathway and the flexible insulator layer comprises fibers dispersed in a matrix polymer. The fibers are oriented with respect to the conductive pathway so that the conductive pathway is substantially non-aligned with said fibers, substantially along an entirety of the conductive pathway in the flex section so as to be flexible.

A review of the prior art which is pertinent to the present invention considers two general areas. The first of these is that prior art which deals with the manufacture of rigid-flex circuit boards. This is followed by a review of the prior art relating to prepreg materials used in the manufacture of laminated structural components.
Techniques for making multilayer rigid flex printed circuit boards are well known in the field. One early example of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,732 assigned to the assignee of the present application. Typically, a rigid flex stacked printed circuit board includes flexible printed circuit cables extending from the periphery of the rigid section or sections. The rigid portions of the flex cables are typically used as sites for electronic components or mechanical hardware. It is important to note that the copper conductor in each plane or layer is fabricated from one continuous sheet of copper foil.
Typically, and as disclosed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,461, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention, in the construction of a multilayer rigid flex circuit board, the initial processing step includes formation of a basestock by laminating two copper sheets to an insulator layer comprising one or two fiberglass sheets impregnated with an adhesive such as an epoxy, commonly referred to as a prepreg. Following lamination, the copper layers can be imaged and etched to provide copper pads and conductors. The exposed copper conductor patterns are then treated to enhance bondability of an epoxy prepreg to the copper. Then, two additional insulator prepreg sheets having cutouts are positioned on both sides of the base stock. A flexible insulator of Kapton (polyimide) covered with a suitable adhesive which provides bonding to copper is positioned on both sides of the cutout section. In addition, the Kapton sheets are slightly longer than the cutout sections in the glass layers to overlap by, for example. 0.050 inch. The sandwich formed by the foregoing sheets is then laminated together to provide a rigid flex board, wherein the Kapton provides excellent flexibility and tear resistance characteristics to the flex section.
Of additional general background interest, attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,444, entitled "Method of Manufacturing a Rigid Flex Printed Circuit Board". In said patent, it is reported the fabrication of multilayer boards with the above referenced materials has led to some persistent problems. First, alignment of circuitry at different layers in the board is critical, and provisions must be made to prevent sliding of any layers in different planes with respect to other planes by more than a tolerance of a few thousandths of an inch. Maintaining registration of the flexible portion has also been a serious problem since the hard board must be cured or laminated by a heat-press process that is likely to cause interlayer slippage as well as thermal dimensional changes. Other problems are encountered due to the thermal expansion of the typically used insulator materials such as acrylic adhesive and the polyimide film utilized in the construction ol the rigid flex boards. Thus, failures occur when the board is subjected to elevated temperatures in thermal stress testing, hot oil solder reflow, and the like.
Another difficulty with the use of dielectric films such as Kapton film in the rigid board area is their absorption of excessive moisture, on the order of up to 3 percent by weight of water. Absorbed moisture in the circuitry with no means of escape, may cause unacceptable delamination in the rigid board area when it volatilizes during fabrication or during subsequent high temperature operation. This effect may be more destructive than simple mismatch of thermal coefficients.
The foregoing problems have in one form or another been addressed in the prior art, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,641; U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,742 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,639. Approaches in addressing one or more of the problems involve such construction techniques as adding pads in non functional layers of the plated through holes, utilizing a curable liquid dielectric for certain layers orf layers; using temporary sheet patches of filler material surrounding(y flex regions during a heat pressing assembly stage to maintain alignment; adding glass fiber reinforcement of the flex layer for strengthening; and finally, a number of other changes or addition to the manufacturing process. However each of these solutions entails additional steps to address any one problem, and may have adverse consequences on another apparently unrelated problem. For example, the switch to acrylic cements and a polyimide flexible film has been largely responsible for moisture absorption and failure of plated through holes in multilayer boards at high temperatures. Reducing the size of the polyimide/acrylic components to limit thermal stress introduces boundary problems where flexible and rigid elements are patched together. Furthermore many of these improvements require more detailed manufacturing steps that can be costly as well as time consuming.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,444, a rigid flex printed circuit board is prepared via a process wherein each circuit layer is punched in the peripheral regions with alignment slots and all layers are assembled without any acrylic bonding in a single hot press operation. More specifically, a central layer is formed of a sheet of epoxy/glass material with top and bottom copper foil layers. This central layer is cured and punched with slots at its edge, of which a portion thereof ultimately provides formation of the flexible portion of the finished board. The slots allow motion along only one of two orthogonal axis, and subsequently the punched layers (with windows for formation of the flexible region) and the central portion are assembled in a single press curing operation in which process-induced motions and realignments are constrained to occur with a small magnitude that varies with the radial position along an alignment rosette centered on the board. A top or final cover layer extends over both the flexible and rigid regions to further assure uniform alignment at all levels during pressure assembly. The '444 patent emphasizes that by using a glass/epoxy layer for the central flexible portion instead of some form of polyimide or other material, an all glass construction is achieved that is free of the major problem of z-axis thermal stresses of the conventional polyimide-glass construction. Furthermore, it is mentioned that on top of the copper layer in the flex section is a cover of insulating material which may be an adhesively bonded plastic film or a coated-on film, such as a conformal cover coat known in the art, suitable of which is a solder mask such as a UV curable flexible solder resist or a heat curable preparation both of which can be applied by a screening operation. This cover material is then described as being cured before assembly with subsequent layers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,742 there is disclosed a rigid flex printed circuit board fabricated by the steps of first forming circuitry components on a rigid flex subassembly including laminated conductive layers on opposite sides of a central insulating layer. This is followed by depositing a liquid precursor of flexible insulating layers over the circuitry components in portions of the printed circuit board subassembly corresponding to the flexible section in the final rigid flex board. The liquid precursor is then cured to form an insulating layer as a protective coating over the circuitry components in the flexible section, which is followed by finally laminating a plurality of components including at least one rigid flex subassembly and rigidizing insulating layers to form a rigid flex printed circuit board.
Attention is next directed to "High Resolution Photoimageable Covercoats for Flex Applications", a paper presented at "Flexcon 95" by W. J. Thatcher and P. M. Banks. As disclosed therein, the product sold under the tradename Imageflex.TM. has become available, and is characterized as a thermal hardening two/pack two component liquid photoimageable flexible soldermask that dries by evaporation to give an aqueous processable film with a gloss or matt finish. It is mentioned therein that Imageflex.TM. has proven suitable in a variety of flexible circuit application. The Imageflex.TM. is said to offer significant advantages for the product of many types of flexible printed circuits, and as an alternative to polyimide coverlay, Imageflex.TM. offers lower cost and higher feature resolution and alignment accuracy. In addition, a photoimageable solder mask is now available from Taiyo, Japan.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/800,844 filed Feb. 14, 1997, entitled "Multilayer Combined Rigid/Flex Printed Circuit Board", and which is assigned to the present assignee, whose teachings and prior art cited therein are incorporated by reference, there is disclosed a multilayer rigid flex printed circuit board wherein the board laminate comprises a basestock composite containing a flexible core, formed by laminating a first conductive layer to a flexible insulator layer, along with a second insulator layer affixed to the basestock, said second insulator layer having a cutout region proximate to the flexible core of the basestock composite to expose a portion of said first conducting layer on said flexible core, and a second conductive layer also having a cutout region proximate to the flexible core of the basestock composite. A photo-imageable soldermask is then applied to said exposed portion of said first conductive layer, and to the second conductive layer, wherein said photoimageable soldermask allows for photo definition of openings upon the conductive layers upon which it is applied.
Finally, attention is also directed to U.S. application Ser. No. 08/702,729, filed Sep. 6, 1996, also assigned to the present assignee, whose teachings and prior art cited therein are incorporated by references which discloses a multilayer rigid flex printed circuit board, wherein the board laminate comprises a double-sided basestock composite, formed by laminating two conducting sheets to an insulating layer, said insulator layer containing a flexible core, a second insulator layer affixed to each side of the basestock. said insulator having a cutout region proximate to the flexible core of the basestock composite, a flexible layer affixed to said cutout regions with an adhesive, wherein said flexible layer contacts the conducting layers and abuts and overlaps a portion of the second insulator layer such that upon stacking of the board laminate a hollow region is produced as between the stacked laminate sections.
Accordingly, as can be seen from the above review of the prior art, in the case of manufacturing, a rigid flex printed circuit board, there has been an on-going effort to develop the most efficient and cost effective manufacturing process to address the various problems in the art, and in particular, the problem of combining dissimilar materials to provide rigid-flex characteristics. In other words, until now, prepreg material has been used almost exclusively for the manufacture of the rigid section, and something other than prepreg, e.g., a polyimide, has been employed for manufacture of the flex section. and as a consequence, a truly low cost rigid-flex circuit has not yet been available to the industry.
Of course, with regards to prepreg material itself, a fair amount of art has been established regarding the use of prepreg material for basic structural applications, well outside the scope of rigid flex circuitry. Nevertheless, and as noted at the outset, a review of such technology is still in order.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,581, there is disclosed a method of shaping elongated composite structures of a resin matrix reinforced with randomly broken fibers oriented in transverse and non-transverse directions with respect to the longitudinal axis of the structure. The formed structure is said to be characterized by the particular orientation of the fibers in the transverse and non-transverse direction after the structure is formed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,312 there is disclosed an apparatus for the manufacture of oriented chopped glass fiber mats from non-conductive fiber feed stock. A preferred embodiment includes the incorporation of a glass fiber mat into a composite by applying a matrix resin to the mat in sufficient quantity to ensure the integrity of the mats. The process for manufacturing non-woven oriented mats is also disclosed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,246 there is disclosed a low-cost, high web integrity fabric that can be economically produced and tailored to provide a variety of different combinations of characteristics and properties for different end uses. The fabric is described as containing continuous filaments, ranging from elastomeric to non-elastic. but elongatable to some minimum extent, for strength and elasticity.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,819 there is disclosed an improved ram extruded composite product. A composite is said to be formed from a phenolic resin, containing carbon fibers of various lengths where each length of fibers are oriented in a pre-selected, pre-determined orientation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,877 there is disclosed a shaped reinforced thermoplastic composite. The composite is formed by forming a prepreg as a plurality of individual sheets or layers which comprises essentially unidirectionally oriented fibers. A lay-up is formed by curing each individual sheet or layer into pieces so that the direction of fiber orientation in each such piece is either parallel to one pair of edges or at angles of 45 degrees to all of the edges.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to advance further over the prior art reviewed above and provide what is considered to be one of the most cost effective routes for the preparation of a rigid flex circuit board containing prepreg, wherein the rigid flex circuit board is of homogenous construction, i.e. the prepreg therein serves as both the rigid and flex section thereof and wherein the prepreg operates in such novel manner as a consequence of selected prepreg fiber positioning and/or orientation with respect to the conductor patterns or pathways designed thereupon.
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to utilize either the positioning and/or orientation of the fibers in the prepreg with respect to the conductor patterns or pathways or to position the conductor patterns and pathways with respect to the fiber orientation in a manner which uniquely provides for the manufacture a rigid flex circuit board, wherein the flexibility of the flex section can itself be adjusted to a desired or targeted level are a consequence of such novel and alternative positioning techniques.

Rigid/flex printed circuit board using angled prepreg


A food carrier having inner and outer walls with insulation therebetween and ledges on the interior walls for receipt of a heated food container. A heating unit is provided which is adapted for placement on the ledges in the same manner as the food containers. The heating unit can be provided with a heating element that can be heated inductively, in an oven, or by other suitable heating. The heating element can be formed of a solid to solid phase change material or a solid to liquid phase change material or other heat retentive compositions or compounds.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention resides within the food service art. In particular, it resides within the food service art wherein containers are utilized for holding food at an elevated temperature to maintain them warmly in a safe environment. Such food holding containers are known as food carriers and can be placed on wheels, provided with handles, and insulated. In particular, this invention resides within the food carrier art wherein a plastic molded container having insulated walls is utilized for holding food on a warm and serviceable basis.
2. Prior Art
The prior art of food service has utilized various food service carriers in numerous forms. It is well known in institutional food service such as for schools, hospitals, restaurants, banquet facilities, and other institutions including fast food service that insulated carriers are utilized.
Such insulated carriers are formed oftentimes of a double walled plastic configuration. The double walled plastic configuration can generally be in the form of a cuboid or rectangular carrier. The carrier oftentimes has a configuration for receiving pans, trays, or other like containers for food to be served at a later point in time while being kept warm in the carrier.
More specifically, it is known to place pans of food or trays of food in carriers and maintain them in a heated state. The maintenance of the food in the carriers at a heated state is generally based upon the insulating properties of the carrier in order to hold the residual heat of the food within the carrier. Such carriers although capable of maintaining food warm for an extended period of time can not rely entirely upon the residual heat of the food alone over extended periods.
This invention supplements the heated food as to the warmth thereof. The supplementary heat is provided by a disk, slab, shelf, or other material holding a highly heat retentive substance or element. Such heat retentive substances are known in the art and will be specified hereinafter in greater detail.
The invention particularly has the feature of being able to place trays on various racks, ledges, or shelving of a food carrier. The trays placed at the various levels of the food carrier can be held on such racks, ledges, or other holders in a separated manner.
Supplementing the heat of the food in the pans, trays, or containers held on the racks is a slab, disk, or shelving like member having a residually heated material therein for retaining the heat in the carrier. With the residually heated supplemental material, the entire carrier can be closed and maintained at an elevated temperature within the carrier for an extended period of time over that which is currently available in the art.
In summation, this invention comprises a food carrier having shelves, ledges, or racks which receive food pans, trays, or other food containers thereon at various levels which can be heated residually by a slab, disk, or shelf having residual heat retention properties that can be moved and oriented within the carrier for extended heating of the carrier with the food therein.
More specifically, the invention incorporates the aspects of a food carrier having insulated walls. The food carrier with the insulated walls has a door for access thereto. The food carrier can be made of a double walled plastic material having insulation therebetween.
Within the food carrier are a plurality of racks, shelves, ledges, or other holding and supporting means in order to support food containers. Such food containers can be in the form of pans, trays, crocks, and other similar items being provided with and without lids.
The food pans or containers are often designed with flanges which can rest or be supported on ledges, racks, or shelving within the heated food carrier. The food containers within the food carrier can be adjusted as to their relative position within the carrier and provided with sufficient space to allow the residually heated slab, disk, or shelf to be placed on the same food container holding racks or ledges for orientation on a variable basis within the food carrier.
The foregoing allows for a variably oriented holding, warming, heating, and carrying of food on a residually heated basis over an extended period of time.


There are provided a light emitting device and an electronic device, which are light, have low consumption power and a low cost. When an organic light emitting material (1204b) is included in the positions between the lattices of a heavy metal complex (1204a) with a lattice structure, the phosphorescence of the organic light emitting material (1204b) in which only fluorescence is generally observed can be promoted. Since the organic EL element obtained thus can utilize phosphorescence, the light emission efficiency is high. Also, since a conventional organic light emitting material can be used, various light emission colors are obtained and the organic EL element can be manufactured at a low cost. A light emitting device and an electronic device are manufactured using such an organic EL element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device using an element (hereinafter referred to as "an organic EL element") which has an anode layer, a cathode layer, and a film (hereinafter referred to as "an organic EL layer") including an organic compound in which an EL (electro luminescence: luminescence produced by applying an electric field) is produced. As the EL in the organic compound, there are light emission (fluorescence) generated in returning from a singlet excitation state to a ground state and light emission (phosphorescence) generated in returning from a triplet excitation state to a ground state. The present invention particularly relates to a light emitting device in which a metal complex, which is capable of forming pores due to a two dimensional or a three dimensional mesh structure, is applied to a light emitting layer and thus light emitting materials are arranged in the pores to promote light emission of phosphorescence. Note that a light emitting device in this specification indicates an image display device or a light emitting device using an organic EL element as a light emitting element. Also, a module in which a TAB (tape automated bonding) tape or a TCP (tape carrier package) is attached to the organic EL element, a module in which a printed wiring board is provided in the end of the TAB tape or the TCP, and a module in which an IC (integrated circuit) is directly mounted on the organic EL element by a COG (chip on glass) method are all included in the light emitting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic EL element is an element which emits light by applying an electric field thereto. According its light emitting mechanism, a voltage is applied to an organic EL layer sandwiched between electrodes and thus an electron injected from a cathode and a hole injected from an anode are recombined in a light emitting center of the organic EL layer to form a molecule with an excitation state (hereinafter referred to as "a molecular exciton") and the molecular exciton releases energy to emit light in returning to a ground state.
In the general organic EL element, the organic EL layer is made from a thin film which is thinner than 1 μm. Also, since the organic EL element itself is a self light emission type, a back light as used in a conventional liquid crystal display is not required. Therefore, it is a great advantage that the organic EL element is manufactured to be extremely thin and light weight.
Also, in the case of the organic EL layer with, for example, about 100 to 200 nm, when the carrier mobility of the organic EL layer is considered, a period from the injection of carriers to the recombination is about several tens of nanoseconds. Even if a process from the recombination to the light emission is included in the period, light emission is carried out within an order of microseconds. Therefore, a very high response speed is one of the characteristics.
Further, since the organic EL element is a carrier injection type light emitting element, it can be driven by a direct current voltage and a noise is hard to cause. With respect to a drive voltage, drive is allowed at an order of several volts by a method of selecting an electrode material in which a carrier injection barrier is lowered, a method of introducing a heterostructure (laminate structure), or the like (Reference 1: C. W. Tang and S. A. VanSlyke. "Organic electroluminescent diodes". Applied Physics Letters, vol. 51 No. 12. 913–915 (1987)). In Reference 1, an alloy of Mg:Ag is used as a cathode and a hetero structure in which a diamine compound and tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum (hereinafter referred to as "Alq3") are laminated is used, and thus direct current low voltage drive is realized.
Because of the above characteristics such as a thin type, light weight, fast response, and direct current low voltage drive, the organic EL element attracts an attention as a next generation flat panel display element. Also, the organic EL element is a self light emission type and has a wide view angle. Thus, its visibility is relatively high and it is considered that the organic EL element is effective as an element used for a display screen of mobile equipment.
Here, as described above, the organic EL is a phenomenon in which light is emitted when the molecular exciton is returned to the ground state, and a singlet excitation state (S*) and a triplet excitation state (T*) are allowed as the excitation state of the molecular exciton produced by the organic compound. Also, it is considered that the statistical Generation ratio in the organic EL element is S*:T*=1:3 (Reference 2: Tetsuo Tsutsui. "The Japan Society of Applied Physics, Organic Molecule and Bioelectronics Division, Third Seminar Text", p.31 (1993)).
However, with respect to a general organic compound, light emission (phosphorescence) from the triplet excitation state (T*) is not observed at a room temperature and only light emission (fluorescence) from the singlet excitation state (S*) is generally observed. This is because the around state of the organic compound is generally the singlet excitation state (So) and thus a transition T*—So becomes a forbidden transition and a transition S*—So becomes an allowed transition.
That is, only the singlet excitation state (S*) generally contributes light emission and this is the same in the case of the organic EL element. Thus, it is assumed that a theoretical limitation of internal quantum efficiency (ratio of photons generated to injected carriers) in the organic EL element is 25% based on evidence of S*:T*=1:3.
Also, all generated light is not emitted to the outside and a part of the light cannot be picked up due to refractive indexes which are inherent to organic EL element constituent materials (organic EL layer material and electrode material) and a substrate material. A ratio of the light picked up toward the outside to the generated light is called light pickup efficiency. It is said that the pickup efficiency in the organic EL element which has a glass substrate is about 20%.
From the above reason, even if all the injected carriers form the molecular excitons, it is said that the theoretical limitation of a ratio of photons finally picked up toward the outside to the number of injected carriers (hereinafter referred to as "external quantum efficiency") is 25%×20%=5%. That is, even if all carriers are recombined, only 5% of the recombined carriers are picked up as light according to calculation.
However, recently, organic EL elements, which are capable of converting energy released in returning from a triplet excitation state (T*) to a ground state (hereinafter referred to as "triplet excitation energy") into light to be emitted, are successively reported and their high light emission efficiencies are noted (Reference 3: D. F. O'Brien, M. A. Baldo. M. E. Thompson and S. R. Forrest, "improved energy transfer in electrophosphorescent devices". Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 74, No. 3 442–444 (1999) and Reference 4: Tetsuo Tsutsui, Moon-Jae Yang, Masayuki Yahiro, Kenji Nakamura, Teruichi Watanabe, Taishi Tsuji, Yoshinori Fukuda, Takeo Wakimoto and Satoshi Miyaguchi. "High Quantum Efficiency in Organic Light-Emitting Devices with Iridium-Complex as a Triplet Emissive Center." Japanese Journal of Applied Physics. Vol. 38. L1502–L1504 (1999)).
In Reference 3, a metal complex with platinum as main metal (hereinafter referred to as "a platinum complex") is used. Also, in Reference 4, a metal complex with iridium as main metal (hereinafter referred to as "an iridium complex") is used. Thus, it can be said that it is a characteristic to introduce a third transition series element as main metal in any metal complex. There is an organic EL element in which the theoretical limitation value of the external quantum efficiency as described above greatly exceeds 5%.
As described in References 3 and 4, with respect to the organic EL element which is capable of converting the triplet excitation energy into light to be emitted, higher external quantum efficiency than a conventional element can be achieved. And, if the external quantum efficiency is increased, a light emission intensity is improved. Thus, it is considered that the organic EL element, which is capable of converting the triplet excitation energy into light to be emitted, has a large share in future developments as a manner for achieving high intensity light emission and high light emission efficiency.
However, since both platinum and iridium are so-called noble metal, the platinum complex and the iridium complex using these metals are expensive and thus it is expected that a cost reduction is hindered in future.
In addition, a color of light which the above iridium complex emits is a green color, that is, a wavelength located in the middle of a visible light region. When the platinum complex is used as a dopant, it emits light of a red color with a relatively high color purity. However, there are the following defects. That is, in the case of the platinum complex with a low concentration, a color purity is decreased since a host material also emits light. In the case of a high concentration, light emission efficiency is reduced because of concentration quench. In other words, high efficiency light emission of a red color and a blue color, which have a high color purity is not obtained from the organic EL element which is capable of converting the triplet excitation energy into light to be emitted.
Therefore, when it is considered that a full color flat panel display is manufactured using light emission colors of red, green, and blue in the future, it is necessary to achieve red color light emission and blue color light emission, which have high external quantum efficiency and a high color purity in the cases of the iridium complex and the platinum complex, using a lower cost material as much as possible.
From such a background, it is desirable that the organic EL element which is capable of converting the triplet excitation energy into light to be emitted, except the organic EL element using the iridium complex or the platinum complex, which already exists, is developed. A most simple method is developing a new organic compound in which light is emitted as phosphorescence at a room temperature. However, a clear molecular design plan is not established until now and is very difficult in many aspects.
Thus, although it is important to develop a new material which emits phosphorescence light, a method of designing a structure of the organic EL layer, in which phosphorescence light emission is promoted, is desirable for light emitting materials used in a conventional organic EL element. This reason is as follows. That is, since various light emission colors have been already obtained in the case of the light emitting materials used in the conventional organic EL element, there is a possibility that various light emission colors are obtained and a large number of low cost materials are present.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Device, related to the means for radiation therapy of malignant and benign neoplasms and certain other diseases, comprise hollow probe 5, source 1 of neutral particle radiation in the form of X-ray or gamma quanta or neutrons, and means of shaping the particle beam of said radiation oriented by the longitudinal axis of the probe. Means of shaping the particle beam is executed in the form of collimator or lens 18 comprising aggregate of curved channels for radiation transmission with a total internal reflection. Said means may be located inside of the probe 5.

At present, treatment with ionizing radiation is widely used not only in the therapy of malignant neoplasms, but benign tumors and a series of inflammatory and other diseases of nonneoplastic nature as well (Aspects of Clinical Dosimetry, Ed. R. V. Stavitskij, Moscow, "MNPI", 2000 [1] (in Russian)).
Devices are known for radiation therapy which comprise X-ray source, oriented for the purpose of directing radiation created with it to the pathological locus area. In order to minimize irradiation of healthy tissues surrounding pathological locus, such devices may comprise several X-ray sources. The irradiation created with them is directed to the pathological locus area from different directions (Radiation Therapy of Malignant Tumors. Guide for Physicians. Ed. Prof. E. S.Kiseleva, Moscow, "Meditsina" Publishing House, 1996 [2] (in Russian)).
Device is also known for radiation therapy comprising several X-ray sources whose radiation, being aimed to the area of pathological locus from different directions, is focused with X-ray lenses (international application PCT/RU 00/00273, WO 01/29845A16 26 Apr. 2001 [3]). Due to the said focusing, radiation from each of the lenses on passing through the healthy tissues has in them lower concentration than in the pathological locus.
More radical way to decrease irradiation of healthy tissues surrounding the pathological locus comprise its irradiation not from outside, but from the inside.
Such a way is realized, in particular, by implantation of a capsule with radioactive material directly into the pathological locus [2]. This method has drawbacks of the necessity of surgical intervention and associated with it difficulty in the control of irradiation duration.
The most close to the device proposed is a known device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,900 [4] (Russian analogue patent No. 2,155,413) and in number of other patents belonging to Photoelectron Corporation. This known device comprise a probe device for introduction directly into the pathological locus or for approaching it. Probe device in said device is a part of X-ray tube. Its anode is situated at the distal end of probe device. Proximal end of probe device adjoins the outlet of means for electronic beam formation, which is directed along the longitudinal axis of the probe device towards anode.
Within the probe of this device vacuum should be maintained (as within any X-ray tube). This fact in combination with the necessity of high voltage supply to the anode situated at distal end of a thin lengthy probe and the necessity to control position of electronic beam make for design complexity of the device. At that, radiation energy is determined substantially by anode material. Impossibility of anode replacement in the evacuated probe results in necessity of having separate device for each radiation energy desired. The same is true for changing spatial radiation pattern by matching the radiotransparency ratio of different portions of the distal probe end. Operation of the device utilizing electronic beam is influenced with external magnetic fields, thus necessitating to make arrangements on corresponding shielding. Realization of the probe as a part of X-ray tube complicates substantially its sterilization. Overcoming of this drawback by providing the probe with removable sheath increases its diameter and is associated with a rise in traumatism on utilization of the device. Therefore, primary field of utilization of said device is treatment of tumors of hollow organs requiring no puncturing and situated in immediate communication with outer environment, such as urinary bladder, rectum, etc. Besides, said device, comprising probe as a constituent part of X-ray tube, is applicable for treatment with X-ray radiation only.

Abstract: On using the device, probe 5 is introduced into the body of patient 11, with its distal end 7 approaching pathological locus 13 or inserted directly into it.

Abstract: For exposure of pathological locus, use is made of radiation of the neutral particles source directly or secondary radiation excited in the target placed in the distal end of the probe or radiation dissipated with this target.

Abstract: Design of the device requires no evacuation of the probe and use of high voltage in the latter, is easily transformed by the probe replacement, in particular, to change its size, to change energy and directional pattern of radiation affecting the pathological locus. Making of the probe removable simplifies its sterilization.


A method for improving the wear resistance of an implant, made of polyethylene, by crosslinking its bearing surface layer, while leaving its non-bearing interior uncrosslinked. Such crosslinking may be achieved by electron-beam irradiation or by chemical crosslinking of the implant or the polyethylene from which the implant is made. The resulting implant or polyethylene may be further treated to remove the residual free radicals (generated by the electron beam crosslinking process); to remove residual chemicals (generated by the chemical crosslinking process); to remove its most oxidized layer; to stabilize its size and shape; to improve, by remelting, its oxidation resistance; and/or to reshape it into the final implant. Also presented are the resulting implant and polyethylene.

The present invention is in the field of medical implants made of polyethylene (PE), in particular, ultrahigh molecular weight PE (UHMWPE) and high molecular weight PE (HMWPE).
Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cUHMWPExe2x80x9d) is commonly used to make prosthetic joints such as artificial hip joints. Wear of acetabular cups of UHMWPE in artificial joints introduces many microscopic wear particles into the surrounding tissues. The reaction to these particles includes inflammation and deterioration of the tissues, particularly the bone to which the prosthesis is anchored. Eventually, the prosthesis becomes painfully loose and must be replaced. It is generally accepted by orthopaedic surgeons and biomaterials scientists that the reaction of tissue to wear debris is the chief cause of long-term failure of such prostheses.
The literature describes numerous attempts to improve the wear resistance of polyethylene (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cPExe2x80x9d) in joint replacements. Grobbelaar et al. [J. Bone and Joint Surgery, 60-B(3): 370-374 (1978)] attempted to improve the cold-flow characteristics of xe2x80x9chigh-densityxe2x80x9d PE prostheses made of Hostalen RCH 1000 C, without sacrificing its low-frictional properties, through a process of radiation crosslinking. Grobbelaar et al., crosslinked the PE using gamma radiation in the presence of crosslinking gases, including acetylene and chlorotrifluoroethylene, or in an inert nitrogen atmosphere. Due to the absorption of the crosslinking gasses, the surface was more crosslinked than the interior of the PE. Nevertheless, because of the high penetration power of gamma radiation, the PE became crosslinked throughout.
To improve the wear resistance of a medical prosthetic device, Farrar, WO 95/21212, used plasma treatment to crosslink its wear surface. This wear surface comprises a plastic material such as UHMWPE. Crosslinking was assumed to have occurred based on the presence of Fourier transform infrared absorption bands at 2890 cmxe2x88x921. Farrar claims his ATR (attenuated total reflection) data imply that he had achieved a penetration depth of 0.5 microns, but the degree of crosslinking is not disclosed.
Streicher, Beta-Gamma 1/89: 34-43, used high penetration gamma radiation or high penetration (i.e., 10 MeV) electron beam radiation to crosslink UHMWPE and high molecular weight PE (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cHMWPExe2x80x9d) specimens throughout their entire thickness. Streicher annealed the gamma irradiated material in a nitrogen atmosphere in order to increase crosslinking and reduce oxidation during long-term storage. Streicher found that the wear of the materials was treater after the crosslinking by electron beam radiation.
Higgins et al (Transactions of the 42nd Ann. Mtg., Orthopaedic Res. Soc., Feb. 19-22, 1996, p. 485) attempted to stabilize UHMWPE against oxidation after high penetration gamma irradiation (which crosslinked their specimens through the entire thickness) by reducing the concentration of free radicals. They used the following post-irradiation treatments: (1) pressurizing in hydrogen at 15 psi for 2 hours, or (2) heating at 50xc2x0 C. for 182 hours. They compared the amount of free radicals remaining in the PE using electron spin resonance (ESR), but they did not assess the impact of these treatments on the mechanical or wear properties of the UHMWPE, nor on the oxidation resistance.
One aspect of the invention presents surface-gradient crosslinked (hereinafter also referred to as xe2x80x9csurface-crosslinkedxe2x80x9d) PE and medical implants (hereinafter abbreviated as xe2x80x9cimplantsxe2x80x9d) having surface-crosslinked PE which are wear resistant. The PE is preferably UHMWPE or HMWPE. Non-limiting examples of the invention are acetabular cups made of surface-crosslinked PE, and surface-crosslinked PE tibial components of knee prostheses. The surface-crosslinked PE and implants may be made by the methods described below.
Another aspect of the invention presents a method for improving the wear resistance of the bearing surface of an implant. The implant or its bearing surface is made of surface-crosslinked PE, the PE is preferably UHMWPE or HMWPE. In one embodiment, the method comprises exposing the implant to an electron beam (the term xe2x80x9celectron beamxe2x80x9d is hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ce-beamxe2x80x9d) radiation with an energy level specifically selected to crosslink the bearing surface of the implant, to improve the wear resistance, only to a depth sufficient such that the crosslinked layer will not be worn through during the life of the patient, while leaving the remainder uncrosslinked, thereby avoiding any reduction in mechanical properties that might otherwise result from crosslinking. Additionally, confining the crosslinking to a thin surface layer facilitates neutralizing residual free radicals caused by irradiation and/or extracting residual chemicals in the case of chemical crosslinking, as described.
In another embodiment of the invention, instead of crosslinking the bearing surface with e-beam radiation, the bearing surface of the implant is crosslinked to a limited depth with a free radical generating chemical, again while leaving the remainder of the implant uncrosslinked for the. reasons mentioned above. The free radical generating chemical is preferably a peroxide.
In both of the above methods, the crosslinking is preferably in the surface layer, gradually decreasing to nearly zero in the interior of the PE.
With e-beam crosslinking, it is preferable that the implant be packaged in a low oxygen atmosphere during irradiation, such as an inert gas (e.g., nitrogen) or a vacuum, in order to minimize oxidation and maximize crosslinking of the surface layer. However, if an implant is e-beam irradiated while in air, the outer layer of the bearing surface may then be removed, e.g., by machining, to eliminate the more oxidized and less crosslinked material. In such a case, the depth of crosslinking penetration of the e-beam can be increased by the appropriate amount to take into account the thickness of the material to be removed.
It is preferable that the surface-crosslinked material be treated to eliminate residual free radicals generated by the e-beam crosslinking process in order to stabilize it against long-term oxidation. This can be achieved by one or more of the following methods: (1) remelting the partially formed cross linked material after crosslinking irradiation but prior to final shaping into the implant. In this case, either the surface destined to be the bearing surface of the implant is remelted, or the whole partially formed crosslinked material is remelted, (2) annealing the partially formed crosslinked material or the final shaped implant, (3) exposing the crosslinked material or implant to pressurized hydrogen and/or (4) treating the crosslinked material or implant using ethylene oxide.
With chemical crosslinking, the implant may be annealed after crosslinking to stabilize its size and shape and/or the implant may be soaked in suitable solvent(s) to extract from the crosslinked surface layer any residual chemicals, resulting from decomposition of the free radical generating chemical, in order to minimize leaching out of such chemicals during in vivo use, and to minimize long-term oxidation of the crosslinked material. The soaking step may be conducted either before or after the annealing step.
In another aspect of the invention, instead of annealing, the chemically crosslinked implant is remelted to stabilize it against long-term oxidation. This can be achieved, e.g., by remelting the partially formed crosslinked material after crosslinking but prior to final shaping into the implant. In this case, either the surface destined to be the bearing surface of the implant is remelted, or the whole partially formed crosslinked material is remelted. If remelting is employed, the implant need not be annealed after crosslinking to stabilize its size and shape, since the remelting would also stabilize the size and shape of the implant. The implant or the partially formed crosslinked material may additionally be soaked in suitable solvent (s), as described above, to extract from the crosslinked surface layer any residual chemicals, either before or after remelting and/or reshaping of the implant.
Another aspect of the invention presents a method of treating a patient in need of an implant. An implant, or an implant with a bearing surface, composed of the surface-crosslinked PE is applied to the body of the patient, e.g., surgically implanted into the patient. The surface-crosslinked PE of the present invention has reduced wear rate. In the preferred embodiment, the bearing surface of the implant is composed of the surface-crosslinked PE. Known surgical methods for introducing an implant into a patient may be used.

Wear resistant surface-gradient crosslinked polyethylene


An area information generating unit generates plural pieces of area information each showing a partial area of a texture image. A polygon information generating unit generates polygon information including plural pieces of vertex information and an area ID. A rendering unit carries out interpolation on the texture coordinates of the vertices of a polygon on an output image to assign texture coordinates to each pixel located inside the polygon, and further acquires area information by referring to the area ID added to the polygon information and converts the texture coordinates assigned to each pixel of the output image in such a way that the texture coordinates fall within the area.

In computer graphics, texture mapping for, in order to improve the power of expression of a polygon mainly used to express a three-dimensional model, assigning a two-dimensional image to the inside of the polygon to draw the polygon is known. When drawing a polygon by using texture mapping, data including the position coordinates of each of vertices within an output image and coordinates within a texture image which are brought into correspondence with each of the vertices (referred to as texture coordinates from here on) are prepared. Then, to each pixel located inside the polygon connecting among the vertices on the output image are assigned texture coordinates which are interpolated from the texture coordinates of the vertices. Finally, a pixel value is extracted from the texture image by using the texture coordinates assigned to above-mentioned each pixel and is copied to the output image, so that an output image in which the inside of the polygon is filled with the same pattern as the texture image is acquired.
In the texture mapping, the texture image can be repeatedly mapped within the polygon by assigning texture coordinates exceeding a range in which the texture image is defined to each vertex. Therefore, when repeatedly drawing an image having an identical pattern within the polygon, because there is no necessity to prepare a texture image in which the pattern is drawn repeatedly, and only one texture image is sufficient to repeatedly draw an image having the single pattern within the polygon, it is known that the data volume can be reduced.
On the other hand, it is known that when mapping different texture images onto a plurality of polygons, respectively, the use of a method of combining the plurality of texture images into a single texture image, and assigning texture coordinates in the single texture image into which the plurality of texture images are combined to each of the vertices of each polygon to draw the texture image makes it possible to draw the single texture image at a higher speed than that when using a method of preparing the plurality of texture images to draw these texture images. However, when using the above-mentioned single texture image into which the plurality of texture images are combined, specifying texture coordinates outside the area where the texture image is defined results in repetitions of mapping of the entire single texture image into which the plurality of texture images are combined onto the polygons, and each yet-to-be-combined texture image, i.e., a part of the single texture image into which the plurality of texture images are combined cannot be repeatedly mapped onto the polygons.
To solve this problem, when computing texture coordinates to be assigned to each pixel within a polygon on an output image, a conventional texture mapping device described in, for example, patent reference 1 adds a process of setting higher-order bits of the texture coordinates to 0 and adding an offset to the texture coordinates to select a rectangular area from a texture image and repeatedly map only this area onto the polygon.


A method for forming a fiber is provided. The method comprises supplying at least one aromatic polyester to a melt processing device and modifying the aromatic polyester with at least one polyether copolymer within the device to form a thermoplastic composition having a melt flow rate that is greater than the melt flow rate of the aromatic polyester. The polyether copolymer contains a repeating unit (A) having the following formula:

Aromatic polyesters, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), are widely used in fiber forming applications. However, attempts to form nonwoven webs from aromatic polyesters have been hindered due to their relatively high melting points, low bond flexibility, and high roughness due to the high glass transition temperature and slow crystallization rate of such polymers. Other polyesters, such as polybutylene succinate (PBS), polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and polycaprolactone (PCL), have a low glass transition temperature and softness characteristic similar to polyethylene. However, these polymers typically possess a small bonding window, which leads to difficulty in forming a nonwoven web from such polymers at high speeds. As such, a need currently exists for aromatic polyester compositions that exhibit good mechanical and physical properties, but which may be readily formed into fibers and nonwoven webs.

Fibers formed from aromatic polyester and polyether copolymer

Abstract: wherein,                x is an integer from 1 to 250,        a the polyether copolymer further containing a repeating unit (B) having the following formula:

Abstract: wherein,                n is an integer from 3 to 20; and        y is an integer from 1 to 150.


An image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit, a temperature sensor, a storage unit, a drive-frequency initial setting unit, a power measuring unit, and a drive-frequency adjusting unit. The fixing unit is configured to perform induction heating using a coil unit. The drive-frequency initial setting unit is configured to establish an initial-setting value for a drive frequency of the coil unit based on the temperature-frequency relationship information stored in the storage unit and on the temperature measured by the temperature sensor immediately before a power activation of the fixing unit. The power measuring unit is configured to measure power consumption of the fixing unit at the drive frequency established by the drive-frequency initial setting unit. The drive-frequency adjusting unit is configured to adjust the drive frequency of the coil unit based on the power consumption measured by the power measuring unit.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
There is provided an image forming apparatus such as a multifunctional peripheral (MFP) that can print a document and an image. In this image forming apparatus, a recording sheet to which a toner image is transferred is heated by a fixing unit to fix the toner so as to perform image formation. As a method for heating this fixing unit, there is a method using induction heating (IH).
Here, as a conventional method of the induction heating, there is known a non-contact power transmission apparatus. The non-contact power transmission apparatus includes an oscillation circuit and performs alternating-current driving of a primary-side winding based on the output of the oscillation circuit to convert the alternate current induced in a secondary-side winding that faces the primary-side winding into a direct current so as to transmit the electric power. In the non-contact power transmission apparatus, the oscillation circuit is constituted by a variable-frequency oscillation circuit with a variable drive frequency, and the input electric power to be supplied from a power supply to the primary-side winding is detected to find the drive frequency at which the input electric power becomes maximum. The oscillation circuit is operated at this drive frequency.

Image forming apparatus ensuring short warm-up time by efficiently heating fixing unit


An approach for triaging injured individuals. The system receives data from one or more mobile computing devices, wherein data comprises a first location associated with an event, video data and audio data and the system analyze the received data. And the system matches one or more medical personnel with one or more injured individual of the event and generates an output list, wherein the output list comprises a second location to transport the injured individual. Furthermore, the system notifies one or more transportation personnel of the second location for transport and notifies one or more personnel at the second location of the arrival of the injured individual.

The present invention relates generally to the field of emergency response systems and methods, and more particularly to leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence) to triage patients based on one or more responder profiles and other factors.
Emergency medical services (EMS) are emergency services which treat illnesses and injuries that require an urgent medical response, providing out-of-hospital treatment and transport to definitive care. For example, EMS could be called to an automobile accident site.
Initially, EMS provides treatment on the scene (e.g., auto accident, etc.) to those in need of urgent medical care. If necessary, they are tasked with transferring the patient/victim to the next point of care. The next point of care could be an emergency department of a hospital. Members of an EMS service are trained in various capacities such as basic first aid and basic life support. Some members are trained with advance life support skills

Triage via machine learning of individuals associated with an event

International Business Machines Corporation


Various methods, systems, and computer program products are disclosed for communicating location-based digital components to a mobile and other devices. A natural language processor component can parse an input audio signal to identify a request and a keyword. A content selector can select digital components based on keyword and request. An audio signal generator component can generate an output signal that includes a selected digital components. An interface can transmit the output signal to cause a client computing device to drive a speaker to generate an acoustic wave corresponding to the output signal prior to occurrence of at least one of the first action and the second action.

Excessive network transmissions, packet-based or otherwise, of network traffic data between computing devices can prevent a computing device from properly processing the network traffic data, completing an operation related to the network traffic data, or timely responding to the network traffic data. The excessive network transmissions of network traffic data can also complicate data routing or degrade the quality of the response if the responding computing device is at or above its processing capacity, which may result in inefficient bandwidth utilization. The control of network transmissions corresponding to content item objects can be complicated by the large number of content item objects that can initiate network transmissions of network traffic data between computing devices. The transmission can be further complicated by the introduction of mobile computing. The location and movement of the mobile computing device can cause the selection of improper content items, the transmission of which can unnecessarily use bandwidth.

Sequence dependent or location based operation processing of protocol based data message transmissions


A handgrip device configured to be removably coupled to a bicycle handlebar. The handgrip device may include a first portion that includes an opening with a center axis. The opening may be configured to receive a portion of a handle that includes a center rotational axis such that the center rotational axis is substantially aligned with the center axis of the first portion. The handgrip device may also include a second portion that is coupled to and fixed with respect to the first portion. The second portion may include a proximal end that is coupled to the first portion and a distal end that may extend away from the proximal end. The second portion may also include a first concaved side coupled between the proximal and distal ends. The first concaved side may face a first direction that is substantially perpendicular to the center axis of the first portion.

Numerous types of bar handgrips have been designed to make gripping a bar more comfortable, to minimize the slippage of the hand on the bar, and/or to increase the ability of a user to hold onto a bar.
For example, padded type handgrips have been developed, generally of open cellular foam material that is placed on a bar to provide some cushioning. One of the problems with such open cellular cushioning material is that the material readily compresses and merely serves as a slight cushioning material that enables a user to more securely grip the bar. In some circumstances, such as when the handgrip is on a bicycle, a handlebar of the bicycle may directly transfer vibration from the bicycle to a biker's hand. As a result, hands of bikers may become quite fatigued from the vibration that is transmitted from the handlebar to the hands.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


Methods and systems for prioritizing content are described. A request for a first content object is received at a caching proxy. A search of an access log of the proxy cache for a portion of the first content object is then performed. The size of the portion of the first content object on the proxy cache is calculated and the normally utilized size of the segment of the first content object is derived. A comparison is then made between the size of the portion of the first content object on the proxy cache and the normally utilized size of the first content object requested.

Before the widespread use of caching in the Internet, an item of content (a content object) requested by a client was likely provided by the original content server (the source of the content object). The content source and the client were typically located at a substantial distance from each other, which often led to slow response times, low bandwidths, high loss rates, and lack of scalability. Response times, bandwidths, and loss rates could also be significantly affected when multiple clients attempted to request an object from the content source at the same time.
Different forms of caching, such as content delivery networks, have helped to overcome some of these problems. Generally, content delivery networks place servers, which may be more specifically referred to as caching proxies, nearer to clients. Content objects can be replicated and cached at each of the caching proxies. Caching of content on caching proxies closer to clients has resulted in a number of improvements, including reduced response times, higher bandwidths, lower loss rates, improved scalability, and reduced requirements for network (backbone) resources.
Content delivery networks work well when the size of the content is relatively small in comparison to the size of the caches. For example, a Web page is generally much less than a megabyte in size. As such, this kind of content can be practically replicated at each caching proxy. Multiple instances of Web content can be stored on each caching proxy without the need for substantial memory resources, or without consuming a significant segment of available memory.
However, caching can be problematic due to the proliferation of multimedia content. Due to the large size of typical multimedia objects, a full-object caching strategy will quickly exhaust the cache space. That is, even a large cache can hold only a few items of multimedia content before getting filled. For example, a video of DVD (digital video disk) quality may be up to 4.7 gigabytes (GB) in size and up to two hours long (based on Moving Picture Expert Group-2 compression). Consequently, a 50 GB cache can hold only about ten DVD-quality videos. Thus, once the cache is filled, it is necessary to begin removing non-active objects from the cache in order to make room for an incoming object.
Presently, prefix caching and segment-based caching are the two techniques typically used to resolve the issue of a full proxy cache. In general, prefix caching works well when most clients access the initial segments of media objects. It also reduces startup latency by immediately serving the cached prefix from the proxy to the client while retrieving subsequent segments from the origin server. However, in prefix caching, the static determination of the prefix size plays a vital role in the system's performance.
In general, segment-based caching methods have been developed for increased flexibility. These methods also cache segments of media objects rather than entire media objects. Typically two types of segmentation strategies are used. The first type uses uniformly sized segments. For example, caching uniformly sized segments of layer-encoded video objects. The second type uses exponentially sized segments. In this strategy, media objects are segmented with increasing lengths; for example, the segment length may double. This strategy is based on the assumption that later segments of media objects are less likely to be accessed. In some cases, a combination of these methods may be utilized. That is, in which constant lengths and exponentially increased lengths are both considered. This type of method also favors the beginning segments of media objects.
However, the prefix and segmentation-based caching methods discussed herein do not address the following considerations. First, a users accesses to media objects typically represent a skewed pattern: most accesses are for a few popular objects, and these objects are likely to be watched in their entirety or near entirety. This is often true for movie content in a virtual office meetings and training videos in a corporation environment. That is, a heuristic segment-based caching strategy with a predefined segment size, exponential or uniform, which always favorably caches the beginning segments of media objects does not account for the fact that most accesses are targeted to a few popular objects.
Second, the access characteristics of media objects are dynamically changing. That is, the media object's popularity and most watched segments may vary with time. For example, some objects may be popular for an initial time period where most users access entire objects. Then, as the time goes on, there may be fewer requests for these objects and there may be fewer user accesses to the later segments of the objects. In this scenario, using a fixed strategy of caching several early segments may not work, since during the initial time period this may overload the network as later segments need to be retrieved frequently; then during the later time, caching all the initial segments may become wasteful of resources. This lack of adaptiveness in the existing proxy caching schemes may render proxy caching to be ineffective.
Accordingly, a more efficient way of caching content objects for end-users is desirable. Embodiments of the present invention provide such an improvement.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method includes generating a first and a second internal clock signal from a clock signal, wherein a first internal clock signal edge of the first internal clock signal and a second internal clock signal edge of the second internal clock signal are generated from a same edge of the clock signal. A first one of the first and the second internal clock edges is used to trigger a first operation on a six-transistor (6T) Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cell of a SRAM array. A second one of the first and the second internal clock edges is used to trigger a second operation on the 6T SRAM cell. The first and the second operations are performed on different ports of the 6T SRAM. The first and the second operations are performed within a same clock cycle of the clock signal.

Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) is widely used in integrated circuits. SRAM cells stores data in latches that are formed of two P-type Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (PMOS) devices and two N-type Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (NMOS) devices. SRAMs have many designs including, for example, Six-Transistor (6T) SRAMs, Eight-Transistor (8T) SRAMs, single-port SRAMs, two-port SRAMs, dual-port SRAMs, and the like. An SRAM may be referred to as a two/dual port SRAM, indicating that the SRAM may be a two-port SRAM or a dual-port SRAM.
Conventionally, 8T SRAMs with two/dual ports are operated with two clock signals, one for read/write operations, and one for write/read operations. The two clock signals are independent from each other. Although the performance of the two/dual portion 8T SRAMs is high due to the fact the that the two clock signals may be tuned independently from each other, the chip area occupied by the two/dual port 8T SRAMs is high. Accordingly, pseudo two-/dual-port 6T SRAMs were designed.
The sizes of the 6T SRAMs are smaller compared to two/dual port 8T SRAMs. For example, the chip area occupied by 8T SRAMs may be 1.5 times the chip area occupied by 6T SRAMs. Due to structure limitations, the 6T SRAMs use one clock signal for both read operations and write operations, wherein the rising edges of the clock signal are used for read operations, and the falling edges of the clock signal are used for write operations, or vice versa.
The performance of the pseudo two/dual port 6T SRAMs, however, is limited. This is because the read operations and the write operations are tied together, and the clock cycle time has to be long enough to accommodate the one of the read and write operations that takes longer time to finish. Hence, it is difficult to tune the performance of pseudo two-/dual port 6T SRAMs.

Simultaneous two/dual port access on 6T SRAM

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A light detecting device includes a first conductivity type semiconductor substrate; an insulating semiconductor window layer disposed on the substrate; a concavity in a region of the window layer and penetrating through the window layer; successively disposed in the concavity, a first conductivity type lower cladding layer, a first conductivity type guide layer of a semiconductor material having a band gap energy smaller that the band gap energies of the lower cladding layer and the window layer, an undoped light absorption layer having a band gap energy smaller than that of the first conductivity type guide layer, and a second conductivity type guide layer having a composition approximately identical to that of the first conductivity type guide layer, edges of the first conductivity type guide layer, the light absorption layer, and the second conductivity type guide layer being exposed at a surface of the window layer; and a layer of an insulating material, covering the edges. The interface between the window layer and the lower cladding layer is a regrowth interface and does not contact the absorption layer. The light detecting device has reduced dark current.

FIGS. 11(a) to 11(c) are cross-sectional views illustrating process steps in a conventional method for fabricating a waveguide type photodiode.
In these figures, reference numeral 1 designates an n type (hereinafter referred to as "n-") InP substrate (wafer) having a surface orientation of (001). An n-InP lower cladding layer 5 having a thickness of 0.5 .mu.m and a carrier concentration of 1.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3 is disposed on the substrate 1. An n-InGaAsP guide layer 6 having a thickness of 0.8 .mu.m and a carrier concentration of 1.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3 is disposed on the lower cladding layer 5, and its composition ratio is 1.4 .mu.m. An undoped InGaAs absorption layer 7 having a thickness of 0.6 .mu.m is disposed on the guide layer 6. A p type (hereinafter referred to as "p-") InGaAsP guide layer 8 having a thickness of 0.8 .mu.m, a carrier concentration of 1.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3, and an optical absorption wavelength of 1.4 .mu.m is disposed on the absorption layer 7. A p-InP upper cladding layer 25 having a thickness of 2 .mu.m and a carrier concentration of 1.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3 is disposed on the guide layer 8. A p-InGaAs contact layer 10a having a thickness of 0.25 .mu.m and a carrier concentration of 1.times.10.sup.19 cm.sup.-3 is disposed on the upper cladding layer 25. Reference numeral 40 designates a mask for selective growth, comprising an insulating film of, for example, SiO.sub.2 (hereinafter referred to as a selective growth mask). Reference numeral 3 designates an Fe (iron) doped InP window layer having a thickness of 4 .mu.m and a dopant (Fe) concentration of 4.times.10.sup.16 cm.sup.-3.
FIG. 12 is a plan view, showing a main step of the fabrication method. In FIG. 12, the same reference numerals as those shown in FIGS. 11(a)-11(c) designate the same or corresponding parts. The cross-sectional views of FIGS. 11(a)-11(c) are taken along a line 11--11 of FIG. 12.
A description is given of the method of fabricating the conventional photodiode. Initially, as shown in FIG. 11(a), the n-InP cladding layer 5, the n-InGaAsP guide layer 6, the InGaAs absorption layer 7, the p-InGaAsP guide layer 8, the p-InP layer 25, and the p-InGaAs contact layer 10a are successively grown on the (001) surface of the n-InP substrate (wafer) 1 by MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition).
Next, as shown in FIG. 11(b), over the entire surface of the grown semiconductor layers, an SiO.sub.2 film (not shown) is deposited by sputtering and patterned by photolithography, forming an SiO.sub.2 selective growth mask 40. The mask shape viewed from the top of the structure is, as shown in FIG. 12, a rectangular area having a width of 10 .mu.m and a length of 20 .mu.m. Using the selective growth mask 40 as a mask for etching, the grown semiconductor layers are etched to a depth of 4.5 .mu.m using a bromine based etchant. Since this etching is isotropic, each semiconductor layer is subjected to side-etching. As a result of the side etching, the area of the InGaAs absorption layer 7, viewed from the top of the structure, becomes approximately 4.times.14 .mu.m.sup.2.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11(c), using the selective growth mask 40, the Fe-doped InP window layer 3 is selectively grown on the side surfaces of the structure formed by the above-mentioned etching, using MOCVD, followed by removal of the SiO.sub.2 selective growth mask 40.
Thereafter, a p side electrode and an n side electrode (not shown) are formed on the surface of the contact layer 10a and the rear surface of the substrate 1, respectively, completing a photodiode.
The operating principle of the photodiode so fabricated will be described. Light incident on a facet of the photodiode perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 1 enters the InGaAs absorption layer 7 through the Fe-doped InP window layer 3, and the light is absorbed in the layer 7. Electrons and holes generated by the optical absorption in the layer 7 are immediately swept by an electric field that is generated by a reverse bias applied to the photodiode, and are taken out as light signals. By decreasing the thickness of the InGaAs absorption layer 7, it is possible to make the photodiode correspond to high frequencies of 40 GHz or more. The InGaAsP guide layers 6 and 8, disposed across the InGaAs absorption layer 7, confine the incident light in a region near the edge of the absorption layer 7 by reflecting the light in the direction perpendicular to the substrate 1, so that the incident light is efficiently transmitted deep into the device, thereby improving the light absorption efficiency.
In a photodiode as shown in FIG. 11(a), where the layers 5 to 10a are simply grown on the substrate 1, a pn junction between the guide layers 6 and 8, through the light absorption layer 7, is exposed at a facet of the device. In this photodiode, since the absorption layer 7 is exposed at the facet, many surface states are generated in a portion of the absorption layer 7 in the vicinity of the facet, and incident light is absorbed by these surface states during the operation of the photodiode. As a result, dark current increases, and a portion in which light is absorbed generates heat. After many hours, dislocations occur due to that portion, resulting in optical deterioration of the photodiode. In addition, since the facet of the photodiode is exposed, the edge of the absorption layer 7 is adversely affected by exterior environments, such as oxidation, leading to deterioration. Consequently, it is impossible to provide a photodiode excellent in reliability.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the conventional photodiode, as shown in FIG. 11(c), the window layer 3 having a band gap energy larger than that of the guide layers 6 and 8 is formed at the facet so that the light responsive part of the photodiode has a window structure. Since the window structure prevents the edge of the absorption layer 7 from being exposed, surface states are reduced, avoiding optical deterioration of the photodiode and deterioration of the absorption layer 7 due to exterior environments. The reason why the window layer 3 is doped with iron is to increase the resistance of the window layer 3 for preventing current leakage. In place of iron, a transition metal, such as cobalt, vanadium, or titanium, may be used. Alternatively, instead of doping with iron, an undoped window layer having a high resistance may be formed.
However, the conventional method of fabricating a light detecting device, such as a photodiode mentioned above, has the following drawbacks. Since the window layer is formed by etching portions of semiconductor layers successively grown on the substrate and then regrowing the window layer in a region produced by the etching, an interface of the grown semiconductor layers and the regrown window layer (hereinafter referred to as a regrowth interface) is exposed, and new surface states are produced on the regrowth interface because the regrowth interface is exposed and contaminated. When surface states are present on a portion of the absorption layer, a depletion region, adjacent to the regrowth interface, light is absorbed by the surface states and dark current is generated during operation. For example, dark current increases by approximately 200 nA. Such dark current usually increases in proportion to the area of the regrowth interface.


A method of providing automatic collision avoidance in a vehicle with a front wheel electric power steering (EPS) system and rear wheel active rear steering (ARS) system and an automatic collision avoidance system are described. The method includes generating a vehicle math model including the control variables, designing a steering control goal as a criterion to determine the control variables, and implementing a model predictive control to solve the steering control goal and determine the control variables. The method also includes providing the control variables to the EPS system and the ARS system to respectively control a front actuator associated with front wheels and a rear actuator associated with rear wheels.

Vehicle systems are increasingly autonomous. Vehicles refer to any mobile platform such as, for example, automobiles, construction equipment, or robots. For example, cruise control systems maintain a driver-selected speed for the vehicle without the driver manually applying the throttle. Adaptive cruise control systems use inputs from radar, camera, or other sensors to not only maintain the driver-selected speed when feasible but also to slow the vehicle based on a slower moving preceding vehicle. Automated parking systems in vehicles control steering to park the vehicle without driver intervention. Vehicle stability systems intervene when a driver performs a severe steering change that may affect vehicle stability. Current systems also include collision avoidance. Object detection that triggers collision avoidance may be accomplished using short or long range radar (or both), cameras with image processing, laser or light detection and ranging (lidar), ultrasound or other known technologies. Generally, sensor fusion (signal processing of outputs from multiple sensors) may be used to decide if a target (obstruction or threat) is real rather than relying on a single sensor. Once the object is detected via one or more sensors, a warning may be provided to the driver or control may be exerted whereby the front wheel steering torque or angle are adjusted to avoid a collision.

Collision avoidance control integrated with electric power steering controller and rear steer