A split tube soil sampling system includes a sample tube having an upper end and a lower end, a drive head attached to the upper end of the sample tube, and a cutting shoe attached to the lower end of the sample tube. The sample tube has a first generally semi cylindrical tube segment comprising a first pair of longitudinal edges, and a second generally semi cylindrical tube segment comprising a second pair of longitudinal edges. The first and second tube segments are configured to be joined together along their respective longitudinal edges to form a cylinder having a through bore. The longitudinal edges of the tube segments have interlocking fingers that are mated together to hold the first and second tube segments together.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for obtaining soil samples from below the surface of the ground. In particular, the present invention relates to split tube soil sampling systems.
Description of the Related Art
Methods and practices for collecting representative subsurface soil samples date back many decades. The collection of soil samples is a necessity in some of the following industries: environmental, geotechnical, mineral exploration, and agricultural.
The basic components of a conventional soil sampling assembly 10 are shown in a cutaway view in FIG. 1, and are briefly described below.
A soil sample tube/barrel 11 is typically a cylindrical tube with a threaded connection to a cutting shoe 12 on one end, and a drive head 13 on the other end. The sample tube or barrel 11 provides the space or container that the soil sample occupies once it is collected. It is noteworthy that the cutting shoe 12, sample tube 11, and drive head 13 are usually manufactured with mating threads so that the entire assembly can be threaded and unthreaded in the field.
The cutting shoe or bit 12 is a separate component with a cutting surface 14 at the leading edge of the sampler. The cutting shoe or bit 12 is the component responsible for cutting through the soil as the soil sampler assembly 10 is driven or advanced through the sample interval. It also protects the sample tube (sampler) 11 from being damaged during advancement through the soil sample interval. The cutting shoe or bit 12 is usually considered a consumable part due to the wear of the cutting edge or leading surface. Cutting shoes or bits 12 have several different configurations suited for driving through a variety of soils ranging from soft soils to very hard rock formations. The cutting surface can utilize many different features, such as sharp cutting edges, cutting teeth, carbide buttons, diamond cutters, and many others.
The drive head or sampler head 13 is a component of the overall soil sampler assembly 10 that allows the sampler to be used with various drill rods, probe rods, center rods, or wire line systems. It serves as an adapter so that a common rod or wire line can be used to lower, drive, and retract the sampler assembly. It is common for the head 13 to feature various features, such as check balls, vent holes, and water or air passages.
The soil sampler assembly can also include soil liners (inside the sample tube), solid point assemblies for driving through unneeded soil intervals, and core catchers or core baskets to retain loose soil samples inside the sampler.
The general use and operation procedure for the conventional soil sampling assembly 10 are illustrated in FIG. 2 and are described as follows:
Soil Sampler Assembly and Advancement into Subsurface (i.e. Soil Sample Collection).
The assembled soil sampler 10 can be connected to a common rod, pipe, or casing, and driven or advanced through the sampling interval (usually 1 meter to 60 inches, but can be shorter or longer), as shown in FIG. 2(a). The means for driving or advancing the soil sampler assembly 10 can be percussion, rotation, vibration, static push, or a combination thereof.
Soil Sampler Assembly Extraction from the Subsurface or Borehole
Once the soil sampler assembly 10 has been advanced through the sampling interval, the soil sample has been collected, and the soil sample is occupying the sample tube 11, the soil sampler assembly 10 can be retracted from the borehole B using the connected, drill rod, probe rod, or wire line. FIG. 2(b) shows the empty borehole B after the soil sampler assembly 10 has been retracted; FIG. 2(c) shows the sampler assembly 10 being reinserted into the borehole B after the first soil sample has been removed; and FIG. 2(d) shows the sampler assembly 10 being advanced through a second sampling interval below the first sampling interval.
Soil Sample Removal from the Soil Sampler Assembly
When the soil sampler assembly is retracted from the borehole to ground surface there are a number of methods for obtaining physical access to the actual soil sample inside the soil sampler assembly. The methods and practices for accessing the soil sample inside the soil sampler assembly range from careful and tedious to quickly and carelessly. The latter usually causing the most disruption and damage to the soil sample. It is considered good practice to minimize the disruption to the soil sample. Some of the methods and practices for gaining access to the soil sample inside the soil sampler are as follows:
Soil Liner
One common method to gain access to the soil sample relies on the use of a liner inside the soil sampler assembly (mentioned above). In this case, the liner simply slides out of the end of the sample tube once the cutting shoe or bit is removed. The liner can then be cut with a special cutter in order to gain physical access to the soil sample. While this method is advantageous due to its efficiency and cleanliness, it comes with a monetary cost (i.e., the cost of the liner), and can be limited to softer soils due to the amount of energy needed to collect samples in hard formations. In these cases, the liner can melt or collapse inside the sample tube, thus impeding access to the soil sample.
Vibratory Extraction
In some applications the soil sample is vibrated out of the sample tube using a vibratory oscillator (sonic). This method does not require a soil liner, and therefore eliminates the cost of the liner and allows soil samples to be collected in harder formations such as rock. However, this can cause significant disturbance to the soil sampler due to the violent nature of vibrating the soil out of the sample tube and re-collecting it in another containment item, such as a plastic bag or tray.
Hydraulic/Pneumatic Extraction
This practice is less common since it requires the use of compressed water or air to "urge" or pump the soil sample out of the soil sample tube. In some cases it is advantageous due to its speed, but it is usually avoided due to the high potential for disturbing and damaging the soil sample. An example of this method is outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,075.
Split Sample Tube/Barrel
This approach relies on the use of a drivable sample tube that can be opened up in order to gain access to the soil sample. It is advantageous since it minimizes disturbance to the soil sample, and it does not require the use of a soil liner (although soil liners can be used with split samplers). Split soil samplers have been on the market for a number of years, an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,155.
In FIGS. 1, 1A, 1B and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,155, an industry standard split sampler is disclosed. It is common in the industry to refer to this design as a "split spoon," and its construction and method of use are outlined in an ASTM standard. The standard split sampler uses a basic "lap" to align the two sample tube halves, and also utilizes a standard drive head and cutting shoe. While this approach is considered an industry standard, it is limited by its significant decrease in strength when manufactured in longer lengths, such as 60 inches. It is usually manufactured in 24 inch lengths, which makes it very inefficient when many soil samples are needed. It is common to collect soil samples for over 50 continuous feet. This can be done more efficiently if longer (e.g., 60 inch) soil samples are collected.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,155 also disclosed a split tube design having a tongue and groove type feature to overcome weaknesses in longer lengths. The tongue and groove construction helps to prevent the sampler assembly from bulging out when driving in hard soils, which is a common problem associated with the "split spoon." It is not clear if this design is indeed an improvement over the "split spoon" design, but it does have some clear disadvantages. The use of a tongue and groove connection on a tubular component requires a very involved manufacturing process. The nature of this type of connection would likely be problematic when sampling in sandy soils where the sand would penetrate the tongue and groove joint and "sand lock" the two halves of the split sampler together.
There is a need in the industry for an improved split tube soil sampling system.


A control for pressurizing a load lock. The control initiates pressurization of the loadlock interior by coupling a source of gas to the loadlock interior. A representative load lock includes a pressure sensor and multiple valves to atmosphere where at least one such valves is a passthrough valve for removal of and insertion of workpieces from and into a load lock interior. A second fast acting valve also opens to atmosphere. A pressure rise inside the loadlock interior is monitored and when the pressure reaches a threshold pressure above atmosphere the fast acting valve is opened to atmosphere. This second fast acting valve is configured to relieve overpressure from the passthrough valve prior to opening of said passthrough valve. Workpiece movement is accomplished with the aid of a robot which reaches into the loadlock interior as it is either depositing workpieces or retrieving them. This system and process minimizes particle contamination of the load lock interior as well as contamination in the region outside the loadlock near the passthrough valve and any scheduled workpieces.

Ion implanters can be used to treat silicon wafers by bombardment of the wafers with an ion beam. One use of such beam treatment is to selectively dope the wafers with impurities of controlled concentration to yield a semiconductor material during fabrication of integrated circuits.
A typical ion implanter includes an ion source, an ion extraction device, a mass analysis device, a beam transport device and a wafer processing device. The ion source generates ions of desired atomic or molecular dopant species. These ions are extracted from the source by an extraction system, typically a set of electrodes that energize and direct the flow of ions from the source. The desired ions are separated from byproducts of the ion source in a mass analysis device, typically a magnetic dipole performing mass dispersion of the extracted ion beam. The beam transport device, typically a vacuum system containing an optical train of focusing devices transports the ion beam to the wafer processing device while maintaining desired optical properties of the ion beam. Finally, semiconductor wafers are implanted in the wafer processing device.
Batch processing ion implanters include a spinning disk support for moving multiple silicon wafers through the ion beam. The ion beam impacts the wafer surface as the support rotates the wafers through the ion beam.
Serial implanters treat one wafer at a time. The wafers are supported in a cassette and are withdrawn one at time and placed on a support. The wafer is then oriented in an implantation orientation so that the ion beam strikes the single wafer. These serial implanters use beam shaping electronics to deflect the beam from its initial trajectory and often are used in conjunction with coordinated wafer support movements to selectively dope or treat the entire wafer surface.
Both batch and serial implanters use load locks to move wafers into and out of an evacuated implant chamber. A generic load lock vent sequence begins by isolating the loadlock interior from vacuum and opening a venting valve to allow gas at a regulated pressure to enter the loadlock chamber. The chamber pressure is monitored until a desired set point is reached and once that set point is reached at or near atmosphere, the gas vent is turned off and the loadlock is opened to atmosphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,978 concerns a system wherein gas is supplied to a first chamber so that the pressure in that chamber is raised to a predetermined level. A communication passage is provided for internally connecting another chamber and the first chamber. When the pressure in the first chamber attains the predetermined level, the gas is allowed to flow from the second chamber into the first chamber through the communication passage. A gas flow can be checked when an open-close door is opened to connect the chambers. Thus, there is no substantial gas flow, so that particles can be prevented from being dislodged.


A new medicine vial holding device for holding a medicine vial so that a user may extract medicine from the vial with a syringe. The inventive device includes a base and a support member which is upwardly extended from the upper surface of the base member. The back portion of a clip member is coupled to the first surface of the support member so that the clip member is positioned towards the top side of the support member. The clip member also has a pair of spaced apart arms adapted to hold a medicine vial therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medicine vial holders and more particularly pertains to a new medicine vial holding device for holding a medicine vial so that a user may extract medicine from the vial with a syringe.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of medicine vial holders is known in the prior art. More specifically, medicine vial holders heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art medicine vial holders include U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,716; U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,744; U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,225; U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,209; U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,769; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 328,216.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new medicine vial holding device. The inventive device includes a base and a support member which is upwardly extended from the upper surface of the base member. The back portion of a clip member is coupled to the first surface of the support member so that the clip member is positioned towards the top side of the support member. The clip member also has a pair of spaced apart arms adapted to hold a medicine vial therebetween.
In these respects, the medicine vial holding device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of holding a medicine vial so that a user may extract medicine from the vial with a syringe.


A power supply capable of reducing loss of large current and high frequency. In an MCM for power supply in which a high-side power MOSFET chip, a low-side power MOSFET chip and a driver IC chip driving them are sealed in one sealing material (a capsulating insulation resin), a wiring length of a wiring DL connecting an output terminal of the driver IC chip to a gate terminal of the low-side power MOSFET chip or a source terminal is made shorter than a wiring length of a wiring DH connecting the output terminal of the driver IC chip to a gate terminal of the high-side power MOSFET chip or a source terminal. Further, the number of the wiring DL is made larger than the number of the wiring DH.

As one example of a semiconductor device having a power supply circuit, there is a DC-DC converter. For example, Published Japanese Translation of a PCT Application No. 2003-528449 (Patent Document 1) discloses a multi-chip module (hereinafter, referred to as MCM) which includes a MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor) gate driver, two power MOSFETs, and a relevant passive element including an input condenser, all of which are installed on a ball grid array substrate, and is packaged in a single chip.
Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-342735 (Patent Document 2) discloses a semiconductor device provided with a power MOS-FET for a high-side switch, a power MOS-FET for a low-side switch, and a driver IC driving the power MOS-FET corresponding to power IC used for a non-isolated DC-DC converter in one package.
Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-217072 (Patent Document 3) discloses an MCM in which a controlling power MOSFET chip, a synchronizing power MOSFET chip electrically connected to the controlling power MOSFET chip in series by a plate-shaped conductor member, and a driver IC chip turning on and off an operation of the chips are sealed in a sealing material.


In the magnet retention channel arrangement for a high speed rotor described in the specification, a rotor has an array of radially projecting, angularly spaced pole pieces and a magnet retention channel arrangement inserted between each adjacent pair of pole pieces. Each magnet retention channel arrangement has ferromagnetic side walls and a nonmagnetic alloy cap and nonmagnetic alloy dovetail feet affixed to opposite edges of the ferromagnetic side walls by welding or by a hot isostatic pressed powder metallurgy technique. The channels contain permanent magnets and the ferromagnetic side walls couple the flux from the magnets to the pole pieces with substantially no magnetic discontinuities and the nonmagnetic alloy cap and nonmagnetic core avoids magnetic shorting.

This invention relates to arrangements for holding magnets on components such as rotors of electrical machines that rotate at high speed.
In conventional permanent magnet electrical machines, magnets are radially retained on a rotor by nonmagnetic caps which are keyed into adjacent pole pieces or by providing angled sides on the magnet which are radially retained by wedged-shaped adjacent laminated pole pieces. Such arrangements, however, do not provide sufficient strength to hold a magnet securely in position when subjected to the radial accelerations encountered in high speed machines. In such arrangements, moreover, the pole pieces are subjected to increased stress as a result of the added radial load of the magnet during high speed operation. Furthermore, when angled sides of a magnet are engaged by wedged-shaped adjacent pole pieces, the radial location of the magnet may change, causing imbalance in the rotor. Also, such magnet support arrangements introduce flux path discontinuities in the dovetails and oblique surfaces of the magnetic components which decreases the efficiency of the machine.
The Iwata U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,908 discloses U-shaped permanent magnet retention channels in which the outer ends of the channel walls have projections to be received in corresponding grooves in adjacent pole pieces and the entire channel is made of a single piece of magnetic material. In the patent to Irie et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,435 permanent magnets are assembled within protective nonmagnetic holders having nonmagnetic metal facings with projections by which they are secured to a non magnetic connecting band. The Kloosterhouse et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,255 shows a permanent magnet mounted in a U-shaped channel having laterally projecting tabs which receive screws for affixing the channel to a rotor.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a magnet retention arrangement for high speed electric machine components which overcomes disadvantages of the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a magnet retention arrangement for high speed machines by which a magnet is securely retained in a rotor operating at high speed without introducing flux path discontinuities.
These and other objects of the invention are attained by providing a bimetallic U-shaped channel which has side walls made of ferromagnetic material to transmit magnetic flux from a magnet within the channel to an adjacent pole piece and a nonmagnetic alloy cap bonded to one edge of each side wall. The side walls of the channel are preferably bonded to the nonmagnetic cap by welding or hot isostatic pressed powder metallurgy techniques and nonmagnetic alloy feet are similarly joined to the opposite edges of the channel walls to secure the channel to the rotor and avoid magnetic shorting and discontinuities. Preferably, the nonmagnetic feet have lateral projections received in corresponding grooves in a nonmagnetic core. One or more permanent magnets are inserted into the magnet retention channel and the assembly is then slidably inserted in the corresponding grooves in the nonmagnetic core. By providing a channel arrangement utilizing such combined magnetic and nonmagnetic channel elements having high strength joints between magnetic and nonmagnetic materials, magnetic flux path discontinuities can be avoided while maximizing magnet retention strength of the channel.

Magnet retention channel arrangement for high speed operation


A controller circuit for a non-volatile memory of one or more memory circuits is described. The controller is connectable by a port with the memory circuits through a bus structure and can operate the memory circuits according to one or more threads. The controller includes a command processing section to issue high level commands for execution in the memory circuits and a memory circuit interface module to issue in sequence by the port to the memory circuits a series of instruction derived from the high level commands. A queue manager on the controller derives the series of instructions from the high level commands. When deriving a series of instruction from a set of high level data access commands, the queue manager can modify the timing for the issuance to the memory circuit interface module of memory circuit check status instructions based upon feedback from the memory circuit interface module and the state of earlier instruction in the series.

This application relates to the operation of re-programmable non-volatile memory systems such as semiconductor flash memory, and, more specifically, to the management of such systems having multiple memory circuits and using multiple threads in the management of the memory circuits.
Solid-state memory capable of nonvolatile storage of charge, particularly in the form of EEPROM and flash EEPROM packaged as a small form factor card, has recently become the storage of choice in a variety of mobile and handheld devices, notably information appliances and consumer electronics products. Unlike RAM (random access memory) that is also solid-state memory, flash memory is non-volatile, and retaining its stored data even after power is turned off. Also, unlike ROM (read only memory), flash memory is rewritable similar to a disk storage device. In spite of the higher cost, flash memory is increasingly being used in mass storage applications. Conventional mass storage, based on rotating magnetic medium such as hard drives and floppy disks, is unsuitable for the mobile and handheld environment. This is because disk drives tend to be bulky, are prone to mechanical failure and have high latency and high power requirements. These undesirable attributes make disk-based storage impractical in most mobile and portable applications. On the other hand, flash memory, both embedded and in the form of a removable card is ideally suited in the mobile and handheld environment because of its small size, low power consumption, high speed and high reliability features.
Flash EEPROM is similar to EEPROM (electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory) in that it is a non-volatile memory that can be erased and have new data written or "programmed" into their memory cells. Both utilize a floating (unconnected) conductive gate, in a field effect transistor structure, positioned over a channel region in a semiconductor substrate, between source and drain regions. A control gate is then provided over the floating gate. The threshold voltage characteristic of the transistor is controlled by the amount of charge that is retained on the floating gate. That is, for a given level of charge on the floating gate, there is a corresponding voltage (threshold) that must be applied to the control gate before the transistor is turned "on" to permit conduction between its source and drain regions. In particular, flash memory such as Flash EEPROM allows entire blocks of memory cells to be erased at the same time.
The floating gate can hold a range of charges and therefore can be programmed to any threshold voltage level within a threshold voltage window. The size of the threshold voltage window is delimited by the minimum and maximum threshold levels of the device, which in turn correspond to the range of the charges that can be programmed onto the floating gate. The threshold window generally depends on the memory device's characteristics, operating conditions and history. Each distinct, resolvable threshold voltage level range within the window may, in principle, be used to designate a definite memory state of the cell.
The transistor serving as a memory cell is typically programmed to a "programmed" state by one of two mechanisms. In "hot electron injection," a high voltage applied to the drain accelerates electrons across the substrate channel region. At the same time a high voltage applied to the control gate pulls the hot electrons through a thin gate dielectric onto the floating gate. In "tunneling injection," a high voltage is applied to the control gate relative to the substrate. In this way, electrons are pulled from the substrate to the intervening floating gate. While the term "program" has been used historically to describe writing to a memory by injecting electrons to an initially erased charge storage unit of the memory cell so as to alter the memory state, it has now been used interchangeable with more common terms such as "write" or "record."
The memory device may be erased by a number of mechanisms. For EEPROM, a memory cell is electrically erasable, by applying a high voltage to the substrate relative to the control gate so as to induce electrons in the floating gate to tunnel through a thin oxide to the substrate channel region (i.e., Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.) Typically, the EEPROM is erasable byte by byte. For flash EEPROM, the memory is electrically erasable either all at once or one or more minimum erasable blocks at a time, where a minimum erasable block may consist of one or more sectors and each sector may store 512 bytes or more of data.
The memory device typically comprises one or more memory chips that may be mounted on a card. Each memory chip comprises an array of memory cells supported by peripheral circuits such as decoders and erase, write and read circuits. The more sophisticated memory devices also come with a controller that performs intelligent and higher level memory operations and interfacing.
There are many commercially successful non-volatile solid-state memory devices being used today. These memory devices may be flash EEPROM or may employ other types of nonvolatile memory cells. Examples of flash memory and systems and methods of manufacturing them are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,070,032, 5,095,344, 5,315,541, 5,343,063, and 5,661,053, 5,313,421 and 6,222,762. In particular, flash memory devices with NAND string structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,315, 5,903,495, 6,046,935. Also nonvolatile memory devices are also manufactured from memory cells with a dielectric layer for storing charge. Instead of the conductive floating gate elements described earlier, a dielectric layer is used. Such memory devices utilizing dielectric storage element have been described by Eitan et al., "NROM: A Novel Localized Trapping, 2-Bit Nonvolatile Memory Cell," IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 21, no. 11, November 2000, pp. 543-545. An ONO dielectric layer extends across the channel between source and drain diffusions. The charge for one data bit is localized in the dielectric layer adjacent to the drain, and the charge for the other data bit is localized in the dielectric layer adjacent to the source. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,768,192 and 6,011,725 disclose a nonvolatile memory cell having a trapping dielectric sandwiched between two silicon dioxide layers. Multi-state data storage is implemented by separately reading the binary states of the spatially separated charge storage regions within the dielectric.
In order to improve read and program performance, multiple charge storage elements or memory transistors in an array are read or programmed in parallel. Thus, a "page" of memory elements are read or programmed together. In existing memory architectures, a row typically contains several interleaved pages or it may constitute one page. All memory elements of a page will be read or programmed together.
In flash memory systems, erase operation may take as much as an order of magnitude longer than read and program operations. Thus, it is desirable to have the erase block of substantial size. In this way, the erase time is amortized over a large aggregate of memory cells.
The nature of flash memory predicates that data must be written to an erased memory location. If data of a certain logical address from a host is to be updated, one way is rewrite the update data in the same physical memory location. That is, the logical to physical address mapping is unchanged. However, this will mean the entire erase block contain that physical location will have to be first erased and then rewritten with the updated data. This method of update is inefficient, as it requires an entire erase block to be erased and rewritten, especially if the data to be updated only occupies a small portion of the erase block. It will also result in a higher frequency of erase recycling of the memory block, which is undesirable in view of the limited endurance of this type of memory device.
Data communicated through external interfaces of host systems, memory systems and other electronic systems are addressed and mapped into the physical locations of a flash memory system. Typically, addresses of data files generated or received by the system are mapped into distinct ranges of a continuous logical address space established for the system in terms of logical blocks of data (hereinafter the "LBA interface"). The extent of the address space is typically sufficient to cover the full range of addresses that the system is capable of handling. In one example, magnetic disk storage drives communicate with computers or other host systems through such a logical address space. This address space has an extent sufficient to address the entire data storage capacity of the disk drive.
Flash memory systems are most commonly provided in the form of a memory card or flash drive that is removably connected with a variety of hosts such as a personal computer, a camera or the like, but may also be embedded within such host systems. When writing data to the memory, the host typically assigns unique logical addresses to sectors, clusters or other units of data within a continuous virtual address space of the memory system. Like a disk operating system (DOS), the host writes data to, and reads data from, addresses within the logical address space of the memory system. A controller within the memory system translates logical addresses received from the host into physical addresses within the memory array, where the data are actually stored, and then keeps track of these address translations. The data storage capacity of the memory system is at least as large as the amount of data that is addressable over the entire logical address space defined for the memory system.
In current commercial flash memory systems, the size of the erase unit has been increased to a block of enough memory cells to store multiple sectors of data. Indeed, many pages of data are stored in one block, and a page may store multiple sectors of data. Further, two or more blocks are often operated together as metablocks, and the pages of such blocks logically linked together as metapages. A page or metapage of data are written and read together, which can include many sectors of data, thus increasing the parallelism of the operation. Along with such large capacity operating units the challenge is to operate them efficiently.
For ease of explanation, unless otherwise specified, it is intended that the term "block" as used herein refer to either the block unit of erase or a multiple block "metablock," depending upon whether metablocks are being used in a specific system. Similarly, reference to a "page" herein may refer to a unit of programming within a single block or a "metapage" within a metablock, depending upon the system configuration.
When the currently prevalent LBA interface to the memory system is used, files generated by a host to which the memory is connected are assigned unique addresses within the logical address space of the interface. The memory system then commonly maps data between the logical address space and pages of the physical blocks of memory. The memory system keeps track of how the logical address space is mapped into the physical memory but the host is unaware of this. The host keeps track of the addresses of its data files within the logical address space but the memory system operates with little or no knowledge of this mapping.
Another problem with managing flash memory system has to do with system control and directory data. The data is produced and accessed during the course of various memory operations. Thus, its efficient handling and ready access will directly impact performance. It would be desirable to maintain this type of data in flash memory because flash memory is meant for storage and is nonvolatile. However, with an intervening file management system between the controller and the flash memory, the data cannot be accessed as directly. Also, system control and directory data tends to be active and fragmented, which is not conducive to storing in a system with large size block erase. Conventionally, this type of data is set up in the controller RAM, thereby allowing direct access by the controller. After the memory device is powered up, a process of initialization enables the flash memory to be scanned in order to compile the necessary system control and directory information to be placed in the controller RAM. This process takes time and requires controller RAM capacity, all the more so with ever increasing flash memory capacity.
In general, there is continuing search to improve the capacity and performance of non-volatile memory systems. In particular, this can include methods to improve the amount and efficiency of parallelism in memory systems.

Adaptive context disbursement for improved performance in non-volatile memory systems


A method for operating a first electronic device is provided. The method includes receiving data from a second electronic device in short-range radio communication. The method also includes detecting a location of the first electronic device. The method further includes determining an execution method of the received data based on at least one of the location of the electronic device and one or more of communication region information of the short-range radio communication of the second electronic device, signal strength of the short-range radio communication in the communication region, and location information of the electronic device.

As multimedia technology and circuit integration technology advance, an electronic device for using various multimedia functions are getting smaller and becomes one of personal necessities. Further, as the electronic device provides a voice communication function using mobile communications and various additional services such as data communication over Internet, video play, audio play, messenger, schedule management, and alarm function, various programs are used for those functions and various input methods are used to use programs installed in the electronic device. Recently, as short-range radio communication technology of the electronic device notably grows, a method for controlling the electronic device using the radio communication is provided.

Method for processing data received and an electronic device thereof


A power storage device includes: a cell; and a controller that: causes the cell to discharge from a full charge capacity to a set capacity that is set in advance, and executes a full charge capacity correction mode including a remaining capacity calculation operation and capacity consumption calculation operation. In the remaining capacity calculation operation, the controller: acquires a first voltage of the cell at the set capacity in response to the cell discharging from the full charge capacity to the set capacity, and calculates an actual remaining capacity of the cell based on the first voltage and one of a plurality of correlations between a voltage of the cell and a cell capacity.

In recent years, a power supply system including a power generation device and a power storage device in addition to a system power supply and being capable of supplying power generated by the power supply system itself to an external load has been developed. This power supply system is arranged in parallel with the system power supply, charges the power storage device with power supplied from the system power supply during the night during which an electric rate is low, and the charged power is supplied from the power storage device to the external load such as a home appliance during the day. This can lead to reduction in an electric bill.
Moreover, the power storage device configured to store the power includes a built-in secondary cell group configured such that multiple secondary cells are connected to each other in series. Since the multiple secondary cells are connected to each other in series, voltage is increased so that greater power can be charged/discharged.
Due to long-time use, a material forming the secondary cell built in the power storage device is deteriorated, and a cell capacity thereof is decreased. When such a cell capacity decrease occurs, a difference between an actual full charge capacity and a full charge capacity upon shipment is caused. In this case, an error is caused in an indication of the capacity monitored by a user, or charging or discharging is not performed according to the actual full charge capacity. In some cases, there is a probability that over-discharging or over-charging occurs. When over-discharging or over-charging occurs, deterioration of the material forming the secondary cell is accelerated and the life of the secondary cell is shortened. Particularly, in the power storage device including the built-in secondary cell group configured such that the multiple secondary cells are connected to each other in series, there is an individual difference among the secondary cells of the secondary cell group. For this reason, over-discharging or over-charging easily occurs in a small-capacity secondary cell.

Power storage device, power storage system, power supply system, and control method for power storage device


A memory device comprises a memory bank comprising a plurality of addressable memory cells, wherein the memory bank is divided into a plurality of segments. Further, the device comprises a cache memory operable for storing a second plurality of data words, wherein each data word of the second plurality of data words is either awaiting write verification associated with the memory bank or is to be re-written into the memory bank. The cache memory is divided into a plurality of primary segments, wherein each primary segment of the cache memory is direct mapped to a corresponding segment of the plurality of segments, wherein each primary segment is sub-divided into a plurality of secondary segments, and wherein each of the plurality of secondary segments comprises at least one counter for tracking a number of entries stored therein.

Magnetoresistive random-access memory ("MRAM") is a non-volatile memory technology that stores data through magnetic storage elements. These magnetic storage elements are two ferromagnetic plates or electrodes that can hold a magnetic field and are separated by a non-magnetic material, such as a non-magnetic metal or insulator. In general, one of the plates has its magnetization pinned (i.e., a "reference layer"), meaning that this layer has a higher coercivity than the other layer and requires a larger magnetic field or spin-polarized current to change the orientation of its magnetization. The second plate is typically referred to as the free layer and its magnetization direction can be changed by a smaller magnetic field or spin-polarized current relative to the reference layer.
MRAM devices store information by changing the orientation of the magnetization of the free layer. In particular, based on whether the free layer is in a parallel or anti-parallel alignment relative to the reference layer, either a "1" or a "0" can be stored in each MRAM cell. Due to the spin-polarized electron tunneling effect, the electrical resistance of the cell changes due to the orientation of the magnetization of the two layers. The cell's resistance will be different for the parallel and anti-parallel states and thus the cell's resistance can be used to distinguish between a "1" and a "0." MRAM devices are generally considered as non-volatile memory devices since they maintain the information even when the power is off. The two plates can be sub-micron in lateral size and the magnetization direction can still be stable with respect to thermal fluctuations.
MRAM devices are considered as the next generation structures for a wide range of memory applications. MRAM products based on spin torque transfer switching are already making its way into large data storage devices. Spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory ("STT-MRAM") has an inherently stochastic write mechanism, wherein bits have certain probability of write failure on any given write cycle. The write failures are most generally random, and have a characteristic failure rate. A high write error rate (WER) may make the memory unreliable. Because STT-MRAM devices may have higher failure rates, the failures need to be recorded so that they may be fixed by, for example, using re-write attempts.
Conventional STT-MRAM memories lack any structures (e.g., registers, cache memories) used to keep track of the errors. Furthermore, in conventional STT-MRAM devices any mechanism used to keep track of errors would not have any safeguards against overflow. In other words, conventional STT-MRAM devices are typically not designed to prevent overflow in structures that may be used to keep track of the errors or even to prevent such structures from filling up too rapidly. Also, conventional STT-MRAM devices would not have any way of managing power consumption by memory modules used to keep track of such errors.
In memory devices, and especially STT-MRAM, methods and systems for verifying and re-writing data words are beneficial. Conventional STT-MRAM memories, however, are not configured to prevent verify (or read) operations from occurring too close in proximity to write operations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Heuristics for selecting subsegments for entry in and entry out operations in an error cache system with coarse and fine grain segments

Integrated Silicon Solution, (Cayman) Inc.


Methods and systems for automatically augmenting an endoscope video for a task based on status data that describes the status of a surgical robot system that was used to at least partially perform the task. The system comprises an event detector and an augmenter. The event detector is configured to: receive the status data; and identify one or more patterns in the status data that indicate an event occurred during the task. The augmenter is configured to receive an endoscope video captured during the task, the endoscope video being time synchronised with the status data; and in response to the event detector identifying a pattern in the status data that indicates an event occurred, automatically augment metadata that forms part of or is associated with the endoscope video with information identifying the event and the time the event occurred with respect to the endoscope video.

It is known to use robots for assisting and performing surgery. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical surgical robot 100 which consists of a base 108, an arm 102, and an instrument 105. The base supports the robot, and is itself attached rigidly to, for example, the operating theatre floor, the operating theatre ceiling or a trolley. The arm extends between the base and the instrument. The arm is articulated by means of multiple flexible joints 103 along its length, which are used to locate the surgical instrument in a desired location relative to the patient. The surgical instrument is attached to the distal end 104 of the robot arm. The surgical instrument penetrates the body of the patient 101 at a port 107 so as to access the surgical site. At its distal end, the instrument comprises an end effector 106 for engaging in a medical procedure.
The surgical robot 100 is controlled remotely by an operator (e.g. surgeon) via an operator console 200 shown in FIG. 2. The operator console 200 may be located in the same room (e.g. operating theatre) as the surgical robot 100 or remotely from it. The operator console 200 comprises input devices 202, 204 for controlling the state of the arm 102 and/or instrument 105 attached thereto. The input devices 202, 204 may be handgrips or hand controllers mounted on parallelogram linkages. A control system converts the movement of the hand controllers into control signals to move the arms joints and/or instrument end effector of a surgical root. The operator console 200 also comprises a display 206. The display 206 is arranged to be visible to a user operating the input devices 202, 204. The display is used to display a video stream of the surgical site (e.g. endoscope video).
Some surgical procedures may require several surgical robots, each one carrying an instrument or other implement which is used concurrently with the others at the surgical site. FIG. 3 illustrates a surgical robot system 300 with multiple robots 302, 304, 306 operating in a common workspace on a patient 308. For example, surgical robots are often used in endoscopic surgery (e.g. laparoscopic surgery), which also may be referred to as minimally invasive surgery. As is known to those of skill in the art, during an endoscopic procedure the surgeon inserts an endoscope through a small incision or natural opening in the body, such as, but not limited to, the mouth or nostrils. An endoscope is a rigid or flexible tube with a tiny camera attached thereto that transmits real-time images to a video monitor (e.g. display 206) that the surgeon uses to help guide his tools through the same incision/opening or through a different incision/opening. The endoscope allows the surgeon to view the relevant area of the body in detail without having to cut open and expose the relevant area. This technique allows the surgeon to see inside the patient's body and operate through a much smaller incision than would otherwise be required for traditional open surgery. Accordingly, in a typical robotic endoscopic surgery there is an endoscope attached to one surgical robot arm and one or more surgical instruments, such as a pair of pincers and/or a scalpel, attached to one or more other surgical robot arms.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example endoscope 400 which is attachable to the end of a robot arm for use in minimally invasive surgery. The endoscope 400 has a distal end 402 for insertion into the surgical site of the patient, and a proximal end 404. The distal end 402 is connected to the proximal end 404 by an elongate shaft 406. The proximal end 404 comprises an interface 408 for engaging the end of the robot arm.
The endoscope 400 has a power source and a light source for illuminating the surgical site. The endoscope 400 also has a data line for extracting the image data from the surgical site. These may all be attached to the proximal end 404 of the endoscope 400 independently and externally of the robot arm, as shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, power is applied through stem 412, image data is extracted through stem 412, and light is applied through light stem 410. In an alternative implementation, any one or more of the light input, power input and data output may be applied/extracted to the endoscope through the robot arm.
The endoscope 400 mounts to the end of the robot arm. The endoscope interface 408 engages a complementary interface of the robot arm. The endoscope 400 is attachable to and detachable from the robot arm via the robot arm and endoscope interfaces. In some cases, the endoscope 400 is operable independently of the robot arm in its detached state. In other words, in these cases the endoscope 400 can be operated manually by a member of the operating room staff when detached from the robot arm.
In addition to the images captured by the endoscope (which may be collectively referred to herein as the endoscope video) being used during surgery, the images captured by the endoscope may be recorded and subsequently used for a variety of purposes such as, but not limited to, learning and/or teaching surgical procedures, and assessing and/or reviewing the performance of the surgeon (by a third party or by the surgeon himself/herself).
One of the advantages of robot assisted surgery over conventional manual surgery is that it permits data to be gathered more easily about how surgical procedures are performed. For example, the motion and/or position of the robot(s) during surgery can be monitored and logged. It would be advantageous to be able to link or otherwise connect the endoscope video with the data generated/collected by, or about, the surgical robot(s) to improve the usefulness of the endoscope video in teaching, performance assessment/review etc.
The embodiments described below are provided by way of example only and are not limiting of implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known surgical robot systems.


An improved low-coherence reflectometer is disclosed for use in measuring Rayleigh backscattering. The invention utilizes an optical amplifier to amplify the backscattered light thereby reducing the measurement times. The preferred optical amplifier is a diode-pumped superfluorescent fiber which acts both as the amplifier and the low-coherence light source. Reductions in signal averaging times of a factor of 100 are achieved by the use of the amplifier.

The increased use of optical components in communication and data processing systems has created an increased need for a method for measuring optical in homogeneities in optical components. For example, in fiber optic based communication systems there is a need to measure splice losses and the location of non-reflecting fiber breaks. Similarly, there is a need for a methodology for characterizing optical components such as silica based optical planar wave guides and LiNbO.sub.3 wave guides.
One method for analyzing in homogeneties in optical fibers is optical time domain reflectometry. In this method, a light pulse is transmitted down the optical fiber and the Rayleigh backscattered light resulting from the interaction of the light pulse with an inhomogeneity in the fiber is measured. The time delay between the incident light pulse and reflected light provides information on the location of the inhomogeneity. The amplitude of the backscatter light signal provides information on the degree of inhomogeneity. In conventional pulsed techniques, the measurement of the backscattered light becomes more difficult as spatial resolution is improved. Higher spatial resolution simultaneously results in lower levels of backscattered light power and increased noise power due to larger receiver bandwidths.
White light interferometry or optical low-coherence reflectometry provides a technique that allows several orders of magnitude improvement in both sensitivity and spatial resolution compared to conventional time domain methods. Spatial resolutions of 20 to 40 microns have been reported using this technique. This resolution is equivalent to the resolution that would be obtained using pulse widths of a few hundred femtoseconds using conventional pulse techniques. For these resolutions, the average backscattered levels for standard telecommunications fibers are of the order of -115 dB. Reflection sensitivities have been limited to values close to the backscattered levels due to the noise intensity of low-coherence optical sources. However, a reflection sensitivity of -136 dB has been demonstrated at a wavelength of 1.3 microns using a high-power superluminescent diode and a balanced detection scheme to minimize the effects of noise [Takada, et al., "Rayleigh Backscattering Measurements of Single-Mode Fibers by Low Coherence Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry With 14 .mu.m Spatial Resolution", Appl. Phys. Lett., 59, p. 143, 1991].
While low-coherence reflectometry provides the resolution and sensitivity to perform the measurements in question, the time needed can be prohibitive because of the low power levels in the backscattered light. To provide adequate signal to noise ratios, long signal averaging times are required. The resultant long measurement times are a major drawback to the use of this type of measurement system.
Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved low-coherence reflectometry measurement apparatus and method.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a low-coherence reflectometry system with substantially reduced measurement times compared to prior art low-coherence reflectometry systems.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

Optical low-coherence reflectometry using optical amplification


A small, low-profile imaging device that obtains imaging signals having similar light intensity distributions for different colored light, even when there is variability in component precision or assembly. The imaging device (101) includes a plurality of lens units (113) each including at least one lens, a plurality of imaging areas corresponding one-to-one with the plurality of lens units, and each having a light receiving surface (123) substantially perpendicular to an optical axis direction of the corresponding lens unit, an imaging signal input unit (133) that receives as input a plurality of imaging signals each output from a different one of the plurality of imaging areas, and an intensity correcting unit (142) that corrects the intensity of each of the plurality of imaging signals, so that the degree of correction changes depending on the position of the imaging area.

A conventional imaging device is disclosed, for example, in JP 2001-78213A. FIG. 50 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the conventional imaging device.
In FIG. 50, an imaging system 9010 is an optical processing system that images light from an object on the imaging surface of an imaging element 9120 via an aperture 9110 and an imaging lens 9100. The aperture 9110 has three circular openings 9110a, 9110b and 9110c. The object light from the openings 9110a, 9110b and 9110c that is incident on a light incidence surface 9100e of the imaging lens 9100 is emitted from three lens units 9100a, 9100b and 9100c of the imaging lens 9110 and forms three object images on the imaging surface of the imaging element 9120. A shading film is formed on a flat portion 9100d of the imaging lens 9100. Three optical filters 9052a, 9052b and 9052c that transmit light of different wavelength ranges are formed on the light incidence surface 9100e of the imaging lens 9100. Three optical filters 9053a, 9053b and 9053c that transmit light of different wavelength ranges are also formed on three imaging areas 9120a, 9120b and 9120c on the imaging element 9120. The optical filters 9052a and 9053a have a spectral transmittance characteristic of mainly transmitting green (marked G), the optical filters 9052b and 9053b have a spectral transmittance characteristic of mainly transmitting red (marked R), and the optical filters 9052c and 9053c have a spectral transmittance characteristic of mainly transmitting blue (marked B). Thus, the imaging areas 9120a, 9120b and 9120c are respectively sensitive to green (G), red (R) and blue (B) light.
With an imaging device such as this having a plurality of imaging lenses, the mutual spacing between the plurality of object images respectively formed by the plurality of imaging lenses on the imaging surface of the imaging element 9120 changes when the distance from the camera module to the object changes.
With the above conventional camera module, the optical axis spacing of the plurality of imaging systems is set such that the mutual spacing between the plurality of object images when the object is at a virtual subject distance D[m] and the mutual spacing between the plurality of object images when the object is at infinity changes by less than twice the pixel pitch of a reference image signal, where D=1.4/(tan θ/2), with the virtual subject distance D[m] as a function of the angle of view θ[°] of the plurality of imaging systems. That is, color shift in the images of an object at infinity can be suppressed to a permissible level, even when the same image processing optimized for capturing an image of an object at a virtual subject distance D[m] is performed on an object at infinity, because the optical axis spacing is set such that the difference in mutual spacing between the two sets of object images on the imaging surface will be less than twice the pixel pitch of a reference signal.
In the conventional imaging device, the optical axes of the three lens units 9100a, 9100b and 9100c of the imaging lens 9100 are disposed so as to pass respectively through the centers of the three circular openings 9110a, 9110b and 9110c of the aperture 9110 and the centers of the imaging areas 9120a, 9120b and 9120c. However, the optical axes of the three lens units 9100a, 9100b and 9100c of the imaging lens 9100 can deviate from the respective centers of the three circular openings 9110a, 9110b and 9110c of the aperture 9110 due to variability in component precision, assembly or the like. A characteristic particular to the lens is that the light intensity around the periphery of the imaging surface of the imaging element 9120 (peripheral brightness) decreases in comparison to the center, although the extent to which peripheral brightness decreases differs when the optical axes of the three lens units 9100a, 9100b and 9100c of the imaging lens 9100 deviate in different directions from the centers of the three circular openings 9110a, 9110b and 9110c of the aperture 9110.
FIG. 51 illustrates the relationship between the aperture, the lens units, and peripheral brightness. In FIG. 51, only the lens 9100, the aperture 9110 and the imaging element 9120 are shown for simplicity. The curves marked G, R and B show the respective light intensities of the colors green, red and blue. Here, the positive sense of the y direction is upwards on the page, as shown in FIG. 51. As in FIG. 51, the peripheral brightness on the imaging surface of the imaging element 9120 decreases symmetrically in the positive and negative senses of the y direction, when the center of the circular opening 9110b coincides with the optical axis of the lens unit 9110b (curved distribution marked R). Thus, the light intensity distribution for red is positively and negatively symmetrical in relation to the y direction. However, when the center of the circular opening 9110a deviates from the optical axis of the lens unit 9100a in the negative sense of the y direction, the peripheral brightness on the imaging surface of the imaging element 9120 decreases to a greater extent in the negative sense of the y direction (curved distribution marked G). Thus, the light intensity distribution for green is pronounced in the positive sense in relation to the y direction. On the other hand, when the center of the circular opening 9110c deviates from the optical axis of the lens unit 9100c in the positive sense of the y direction, due to variability in processing precision of the lends 9100 or the apertures 9110, brightness on the imaging surface of the imaging element 9120 decreases to a greater extent in the positive sense of the y direction (curved distribution marked B). Thus, the light intensity distribution for blue is pronounced in the negative sense in relation to the y direction. Note that when the aperture 9110 and the lens 9100 are made from thermoformed resin, variability as in FIG. 51 can arise from differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion resulting from compositional differences.
FIG. 52 shows the light intensity distributions for the green, red and blue components. The y-axis is shown on the horizontal axis and light intensity is shown on the vertical axis. Where, for example, images of a gray subject are captured and synthesized when the above variability is present, colors (false color) other than the actual colors (gray in the present example) of the subject are produced, such as red in central portions in the y direction, green in positive positions, and blue in negative positions, since the light intensity distribution for red (curve marked R) will be positively and negatively symmetrical in relation to the y direction, the light intensity distribution for green (curve marked G) will be pronounced in the positive sense in relation to the y direction, and the light intensity distribution for blue (curve marked B) will be pronounced in the negative sense in relation to the y direction, as shown in FIG. 52. That is, a conventional imaging device that has a plurality of lens units and receives red, green and blue light of the subject independently in imaging areas corresponding respectively to the lens units produces false colors when the light intensity distribution is biased because of differing light intensities for red, green and blue light.
False colors thus are produced when the light axes of the three lens units 9100a, 9100b and 9100c of the imaging lens 9100 deviate from the respective centers of the circular openings 9110a, 9110b and 9110c of the aperture 9110 due to variability in component precision, assembly or the like.
Note that the above problem does not arise with an imaging device constituted by a single lens unit and a single imaging area, and having an imaging element in which a Bayer array of color filters is disposed in the imaging area (e.g., imaging element is a CCD, and has 3 different color filters red, green and blue disposed in a lattice on the surface of the imaging element, each color filter corresponding to a different photodiode). That is, false colors are not produced even if the lens unit deviates from the center of the aperture and light intensities are biased due to the aforementioned variability in component precision, assembly or the like, because the light intensity distributions for red, green and blue will be similar, since the red, green and blue color filters are disposed in a lattice in proximity to each other, and the red, green and blue light of the subject is received at an imaging area that brings them close together. However, the size and profile of an imaging device constituted by a single lens unit and a single imaging element cannot be reduced because of the long optical length.

Imaging device and manufacturing method thereof


A universally adaptable head light emission apparatus emits light outward from a user's face when implemented to illuminate an area in front of the user. The universally adaptable head light emission apparatus consists of a bridge light assembly, a pair of temple light assemblies, a bridge fastener and a plurality of interchangeable temple fasteners mounted onto a flexible elongated conduit. The universally adaptable head light emission apparatus mounts to safety glasses, prescription glasses, or directly onto the head of a user through the bridge fastener and the plurality of interchangeable fasteners. The bridge fastener and the plurality of interchangeable fasteners are selected depending on the mounting means necessary. The bridge light assembly and the pair of temple light assemblies are powered by a portable power supply to emit light outward from the user.

Working with two hands while in dark areas, in tight spots, under vehicles and odd environments one does not always have access to an illuminating apparatus such as a flashlight, a glow stick, or a head lamp. The present invention is targeted towards occupations and hobbies that require hands on applications. For example handyman, building superintendent, automotive mechanic, construction engineer, machinist, hobbyist, carpenter, and plumber. All of these professions require delicate and precise handiwork under various conditions. One of the main limitations that these professionals face is the lack of proper lighting. When removing small components from the engine underneath a car or installing bamboo based hardwood flooring, one of the most critical aspects is the lighting. Proper lighting ensures that the job is completed with the utmost precision and quality. Not only is proper lighting essential to the quality of the work, it is also a key safety precaution. For instance, a plumber might injure their hand while hammering or drilling due to improper lighting or a carpenter may accidentally cut him or herself when sawing a piece of wood or metal, again because of insufficient lighting. To prevent these situations, most workers use auxiliary lighting devices in the form of a standing or hanging light fixture. These devices are powerful and produce more than enough illumination, but are limited in their mobility and produce unwanted shadows. Head lamps do exist on today's market that are allow for greater mobility, but if the user wears goggles or glasses as well, as the majority of users do, the head lamp interferes and result in need of frequent and cumbersome readjustments.
The present invention seeks to provide a product which provides direct and powerful illumination with the ability to be fastened to a variety of eyewear designs. In addition, the present invention is able to be attached to the forehead of a person without the aid of eyewear frames resulting in an alternative design for a head lamp.

Universal adaptable head light emission apparatus


An assembly for mounting an electronics package to a tire includes an electronics package, a mount with a peripheral flange, and an attachment patch. The electronics package is connected to the mount, which is in contact with the tire. The attachment patch is connected to the mount and includes a central opening that it smaller than the peripheral flange. The attachment patch is further affixed to the tire.

Mounting devices are used to attach objects to a tire, and particularly to an innerliner of a tire. One application is to attach a TMS package to the innerliner of a tire. Various fasteners are used to connect the TMS package to the innerliner, including hook and loop fasteners, threaded connectors, clamps, pins, and snap-fit structures. Such fasteners, however, do not provide a robust and secure connection while maintaining the ability to remove the TMS package.

Attachment mechanism for tire-mounted sensors

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC


Disclosed is an additive manufacture material made from polymers and designed to be biodegradable in a landfill or oceanic environment. The material may be made of bio-based polymers made from caster beans, cellulose, corn, starch, sugarcane, etc., such as nylon 11, bio-based polyethylene, polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanote, polyvinyl acetate, etc., to which is added microorganism, such as a bacteria, an enzyme or other additive to facilitate/accelerate the decomposition of the polymer in an environment where the object made through AM has been disposed, e.g., discarded after useful life. The microorganism or other additives that facilitate/accelerate the decomposition of polymers can also be added to petroleum-based, non bio-based polymers.

Additive manufacturing offers the potential for production of customized parts as well as certain business advantages such as just in time production—thus maximizing performance of a part for a customer or application while at the same time enabling a business to run with limited or no inventory.
However, in the field of polymer additive manufacturing, the same challenges continue to exist with respect to end of life disposal of plastic parts as they do with all traditional plastics. At this time there are no known commercially available environmentally friendly, i.e., biodegradable, materials, such as polymers, available for additive manufacture (AM). AM of the type in point here is very often referred to as 3D printing. The present disclosure is discussed in the context of polymeric powders in particular used in powder bed fusion AM processes, but the invention is considered to be broader in scope, and applicable to other AM processes.

Biodegradable material for additive manufacturing


A conversation may be monitored in real time using a trained machine learning model to identify a desired outcome of a conversation and generate one or more phrases for accomplishing the desired outcome. A confidence score may also be determined for one or more phrases that indicates a likelihood that the one or more phrases may help accomplish the desired outcome of the conversation. In some examples, a confidence score may be based on whether an agent, a caller, or both responded unfavorably to a similar phrase used previously in another conversation. In other examples, a confidence score corresponding to one or more phrases may be based on whether a prior conversation in which one or more similar phrases was used resulted in the desired outcome being accomplished.

In a variety of contexts, customer support functions (e.g., sales, marketing, complaint resolution, informational query) may rely on any of a variety of tools to improve the quality and speed of interactions with customers. For example, agents in a call center may have paper or electronically stored scripts that may be used in phone or text conversations.
One possible drawback of these scripts, however, is that they may be inapt to the situation. Not only may the context of the conversation render a prescribed response ineffective or inappropriate, but circumstances external to the conversation may influence the effectiveness or appropriateness of a scripted response. In other words, a phrase that was previously effective may lose its effectiveness because of circumstances external to the conversation itself. It may be difficult for an agent in a customer support center to evaluate whether a response to a caller is appropriate and will likely be effective quickly enough to match a pace of conversation.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Systems and methods for selecting effective phrases to be presented during a conversation


The present invention is provided with a delay unit for applying a function of a double-pole contact switch and a control function of an activation switch, so as for the contact switch and the activation switch not to operate simultaneously when turned on. Accordingly, when a predetermined time elapses after the double-pole contact switch operates first to prevent an inrush current shock, the activation switch generates a control signal to safely operate an internal circuit such as a central processing device or a control device, so that an electronic product is turned on without an electrical shock or a significant spark. Moreover, if power is cut off by software or the internal circuit is turned off in response to a control signal of the activation switch after an ON button of the electronic product is pressed, the double-pole contact switch is automatically turned off immediately or over a time interval, so that standby power is cut off completely, safely, conveniently, and effectively.

Generally, a transient phenomena, where a current higher than a normal current flows just after power is supplied to a power distributing circuit or an electrical device, occurs, and the transient phenomena is referred to as an inrush current. A hot load current that occurs in the first step of an inrush current occurs at the same time with supplying power, and an amount of the hot load current is several times greater than, or tens times greater than, that of normal current. The hot load current causes deterioration of a quality of the electronic product as well as deterioration of a power distributing device, performance degradation of a power distributing device and protection coordination inability. The hot load current occurring in the first step of the inrush current includes an initial inrush current occurring just after being applied to a line, a magnetizing current in a device, such as a motor of a transformer or the like, having a core, a current for increasing a temperature of an incandescent lamp, etc. intensity of the hot load current is tens times greater than that of a normal current, but a continuous time of the hot load current is very short, such as a several Hz. To decrease an electrical shock of an inrush current impacting on electronic products, negative temperature coefficient thermistor (NTC thermistor) or the like is used, but NTC thermistor cannot perform a function of radiating heat. Also, if heat is not radiated, the NTC thermistor cannot perform an original function, and in this case, because heat is diffused to an ambient space, a space in which other semiconductor components are disposed, is heated, and thus, an embeded environment may be deteriorated.
Generally, in use of electronic products such as home appliances, office machines, industrial machines or the like, it is well known that an energy consumption for standby power is significant. For example, in the case of KOREA, it is well known that an energy consumption for standby power is almost 11% of a total energy consumption in a household each year. If this is expanded to 1.5 million households, energy corresponding to 5.2 trillion won is consumed for standby power each year.
The most effective method for preventing the standby power is to separate a portion (a plug), through which power is inputted from the outside, from electronic products, and that is, the method is to pull the plug out of the socket. However, this method make a user inconvenient, and thus, the method is invalid. Also, a method of using various types of auto or manual multi-outlet power strip including a contact switch is provided; but, in this case, when power is to supplied, switches in the multi-outlet power strip and the electronic products have to be doubly operated.
Korean Patent Registration No 10-0945213 titled "APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OFF STANDBY POWER AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THEREOF" discloses an apparatus for cutting off standby power including a knob switch, a first switching unit, a second switching unit and a control unit. In the related art, when electronic products turn on, an electrical shock or a spark with an inrush current occurs in the electronic products. That is, the related art impacts electrical quality according to an over current and a change of a voltage value by an inrush current when the electronic products turn on, and thus, the electronic products may be impacted or may be broken.
FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram showing a time-current characteristic curve for describing an inrush current.
Referring to FIG. 1, an inrush current tens times greater than a normal current for charging a capacitor occurs when an electronic product turns on. If the inrush current is not controlled or is not prevented, a current demand in a line rapidly changes on a very larger scale than an operation current of root mean square RMS. An excessive current may damage devices, electrical elements and electronic components, such as a fuse, solder joint or the like, or may transform them, and may have various bad influences on them.
Moreover, an asymmetric voltage transferred to a control circuit or various components through a power supply may be a cause of generating a breakdown in main components. A Switching Mode Power Supply SMPS, which is mainly used as a power supply among power supplies converting an alternating current AC to a direct current DC applied to various devices, such as computers, communication devices, home appliances, or the like, has a delay time (for example, 0.5 sec) during a switching process of converting an alternating current to a direct current, and generates a noise and electromagnetic waves.
To solve the limitation in the above-described related art, a present invention is provided based on understanding the inrush current and the power supply.

Switch for preventing inrush current shock and cutting off standby power


A memory card is disclosed resembling a CompactFlash card, but which is compatible with an ExpressCard slot.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate in general to a memory card which may be used in an ExpressCard slot.
2. Description of the Related Art
The strong growth in demand for portable consumer electronics is driving the need for high-capacity storage devices. Non-volatile semiconductor memory devices, such as flash memory storage cards, are becoming widely used to meet the ever-growing demands on digital information storage and exchange. Their portability, versatility and rugged design, along with their high reliability and large storage capacity, have made such memory devices ideal for use in a wide variety of electronic devices, including for example digital cameras, digital music players, video game consoles, PDAs and cellular telephones.
One popular type of flash memory device is the CompactFlash® memory card manufactured by SanDisk Corporation, Milpitas, Calif. While used in a variety of different applications, the CompactFlash memory card has been adopted as the de facto standard in the professional and consumer imaging markets. While there are several reasons why this is so, including the large storage capacity and low cost per megabyte, the form factor of the CompactFlash memory card has proven to be a significant contributing factor. At 43 mm by 36 mm, the card is large enough for easy manipulation, yet small enough for convenient transport and use in current high resolution digital cameras. Professionals and consumers are comfortable with and have grown accustomed to this size memory card.
While the demand for the look and feel of the CompactFlash card is likely to continue, CompactFlash cards use a parallel bus interface which is becoming outdated. In particular, serial bus interfaces have been developed that provide faster data transfer rates and better performance. Accordingly, professionals and consumers are looking for a memory card having the look and feel of a CompactFlash, but with the speed and performance of a serial bus interface.
A few years ago, a coalition of member companies of the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) developed the ExpressCard® peripheral as a new standard for PC card technology. An example of an ExpressCard memory card 20 is shown in prior art FIG. 1. The card 20 fits within an ExpressCard slot 22 in a host device 24, which may be a notebook computer, desktop computer, or various other computing devices. In contrast to older PC cards having a parallel bus interface, ExpressCard technology uses a PCI-Express (PCIe) serial bus interface. The PCIe interface has a simple connector and eliminates the older PC card controller by using direct connections to PCIe and USB ports in the host device. As indicated above, the PCIe interface provides faster transfer rates, better performance and lower cost for the card slot implementations in host systems as compared to older generation PC cards.
Given these advantages, there are compelling technology and business reasons why the popularity of the ExpressCard standard will continue to grow. However, standard ExpressCards come in two sizes: the ExpressCard/34 is 75 mm long by 34 mm wide, and the ExpressCard/54 is 75 mm long by 54 mm wide. Both of these are significantly larger than the CompactFlash card. As such, consumers and professionals who have grown accustomed to the CompactFlash form factor may be slow to adopt the ExpressCard standard. It would therefore be advantageous to provide an adapter which allows a memory card having the size, look and feel of the CompactFlash card to be compatible with the ExpressCard standard.
It is known to provide conventional ejector mechanisms within an ExpressCard slot such as slot 22 of FIG. 1. An older type of ejector mechanism commonly employed with legacy PCMCIA cards and still in use includes an ejector button beside the slot. In order to eject a card seated within a slot, a user depresses the ejector button, which actuates a cantilever that in turn exerts an ejection force on a front surface of the card. (As used herein, the "front" of the card/adapter refers to the portion of the card/adapter inserted first into the slot and located at the rear of the slot when inserted; the "back" of the card/adapter refers to a portion of the card/adapter located at the front opening of the slot when the card/adapter is inserted).
Another type of ejector mechanism commonly used in ExpressCard slots is the so-called "push-push" ejector mechanism. While various configurations are known, in general, a spring loaded, translating pin or tab is provided at the rear and to the side of the slot. When a card is initially inserted, a front portion of the card engages the tab and translates the tab rearward against the force of the spring. At some point during the rearward motion of the tab, an actuator locks the tab in place against the force of the spring, and a frictional force of the card edges within the slot holds the card in the slot. In order to release the card, a force is again exerted by a user against a rear of the card, protruding slightly from the slot. This action again translates the tab rearward and moves the actuator from the locking position to an ejection position where the tab is released. Thereafter, the spring-driven tab ejects the card from the slot, overcoming the frictional force maintaining the card within the slot. Further details relating to an example of a push-push ejector mechanism for use in a memory card slot are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,671 to Su et al., entitled, "Memory Card Connector with a Push-Push Mechanism."
The functions of ejector mechanisms may be incompatible with an adapter for use in a memory card slot. In particular, where an adapter is used in a memory card slot, pushing an ejector button or a memory card within the slot may eject not only the memory card but the adapter as well. This may be inconvenient, in as much as a user may wish an adapter to remain within the card slot while memory cards are inserted into and removed from the slot.


A beat information corrector acquires beat position information including information regarding a point of time when a beat is reproduced, acquires a tempo value indicating a number of beats per unit time in a music piece, and corrects the beat position information of the music piece so that the tempo value of the music piece be a same value as the reference value. A correlation value calculator calculates a correlation value, which indicates a degree of correlation of beat position information between respective music pieces among a plurality of the music pieces, based on the corrected beat position information. A music piece order determiner determines a music piece order as a reproduction order of music pieces, which are to be reproduced successively, so that a product or total sum of the correlation values between the music pieces be at a maximum or an approximate solution thereof.

The present disclosure relates to a music piece order determination device, a music piece order determination method and a music piece order determination program for determining an order of reproducing music pieces.
As one of methods for expressing music, a method called mix reproduction is known. The mix reproduction is a method of not simply reproducing music pieces one by one sequentially from start to end but continuously reproducing the successive music pieces without any interruption while adjusting a reproduction speed of the music pieces, applying effects such as delay and reverb to the music pieces, or inserting sound effects such as scratch.
International Publication WO 2007/066818 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technology for automatically performing the mix reproduction of the music pieces by selecting an appropriate mixing method for the successive music pieces by using metadata in which beats and melody structures of the music pieces are described.

Music piece order determination device, music piece order determination method, and music piece order determination program


A fuel cell system comprising a fuel tank, a stack generating electrical energy using fuel and an oxidizer supplied thereto, and a pressure reducing unit supplying the fuel from a fuel tank to the stack while maintaining the pressure of the stack lower than the atmospheric pressure is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell system, and more particularly, to a fuel supply unit of a fuel cell system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a fuel cell is an electricity generating system directly converting chemical energy into electrical energy through an chemical reaction between oxygen contained in the air and hydrogen contained in hydrocarbon-containing materials such as methanol and natural gas.
Commonly used fuel cells include a phosphate fuel cell, a molten carbonate fuel cell, and the like. Recently, a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been developed as a highly efficient fuel cell.
The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell has an excellent output characteristic, a low operating temperature, and a fast starting and response characteristic compared to other fuel cells. It uses hydrogen obtained by reforming methanol, natural gas, etc. Accordingly, the PEMFC has a wide range of applications such as a mobile power source for vehicles, a distributed power source for the home or buildings, and a small-sized power source for electronic apparatuses.
The aforementioned PEMFC basically comprises a fuel cell main body called a stack, a fuel tank, and a fuel pump supplying fuel to the stack from the fuel tank. When methanol is used as the fuel, such a fuel cell further comprises a reformer which converts the methanol to generate hydrogen.
The stack comprises a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) having an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane integrally formed with the electrodes, and a separator (or a bipolar plate) for electrically connecting the MEAs to each other at the time of stacking a plurality of MEAs.
Alternatively, the a fuel cell can employ a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) scheme which directly supplies liquid-state fuel containing hydrogen to the stack and to generating electricity. The fuel cell employing the DMFC scheme does not require the reformer, unlike the PEMFC.
As the fuel cell system operates, water is generated as a byproduct in a chemical reaction in the stack causing a gas passage to be blocked or a surface thereof to be corroded by the water, which leads to a decrease in efficiency. Hence, the separator needs to have strong corrosion resistance. To prevent the separator from being deteriorated in the conventional fuel cell system, a method of vaporizing the water generated in the stack has been studied. However, research has demonstrated that a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) working at a high temperature of about 600 to 1,000° C. could be developed, but the same result could not be achieved for the PEMFC or the DMFC working at a relatively low temperature of about 60 to 100° C. or from a room temperature to 45° C. Prior to this invention, it has not been possible to reliably prevent the separators, from being damaged due to water generated in the stack in the proposed fuel cell system.


A digital subscriber line modem comprises a first part operable to operate in accordance with a high bandwidth Digital Subscriber Line protocol and a second part operable to operate in accordance with a low bandwidth Digital Subscriber Line protocol, wherein the second part is arranged to operate continuously whilst the first part is arranged to transition into a low power mode, in which less or no data is transmitted or received by the first part, when the demand for bandwidth over the connection falls below a predetermined amount. The modem additionally includes a router which controls the sending of data via the first and second parts as appropriate and controls the aggregation of data received via the two parts. The modem also includes a service splitter for passing signals received from a copper twisted pair forming a communications link via which the modem communicates with another modem to either the first part or the second part as appropriate based on the frequencies of the received signals.

In order to increase bandwidth in data connections provided to subscribers of a telecommunications network operator, such operators are providing greater amounts of optical fiber connections in their access networks (e.g. as in an FTTC architecture). Generally speaking, the shorter the copper pair connection over which a signal is to be transmitted the greater the bandwidth that can be supplied over that connection (because as the connection reduces in length so the frequency at which signals can be successfully transmitted over that connection tends to increase). To take advantage of the higher frequency signals which can be transmitted over relatively short copper pair connections, higher bandwidth DSL standards have been developed. An important such standard is the Very-high-bit Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) standard, the most up-to-date version of which is currently set out in the ITU standard G993.2 and is commonly referred to as VDSL2.
One feature which it would be desirable to include in this standard is a set of one or more low power modes. Such low power modes have already been introduced into the most recent Asynchronous DSL (ADSL) standard (see ITU G992.5—the ADSL 2+ standard). The aim of a low power mode is to enable a DSL connection to substantially reduce the amount of power required by the connection when no or very little data is being transmitted over the line, whilst enabling the connection to automatically and relatively quickly return to its normal high bandwidth mode whenever there is data for transmission over the connection. An ideal low power mode draws very little power when it is in the low power mode but can very quickly re-establish to the normal high bandwidth mode as soon as there is a demand for high bandwidth.

Method and apparatus for providing data and telephony services

BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY


An inkjet nozzle device includes a resistive heater element for ejecting ink droplets through a nozzle opening. The resistive heater element includes: an aluminide layer having a native passivating oxide and a tantalum oxide layer disposed on the native passivating oxide of the aluminide layer. The tantalum oxide layer is a relatively thin layer, which may be deposited using atomic layer deposition.

The Applicant has developed a range of Memjet® inkjet printers as described in, for example, WO2011/143700, WO2011/143699 and WO2009/089567, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference. Memjet® printers employ a stationary pagewidth printhead in combination with a feed mechanism which feeds print media past the printhead in a single pass. Memjet® printers therefore provide much higher printing speeds than conventional scanning inkjet printers.
In order to minimize the amount of silicon, and therefore the cost of pagewidth printheads, the nozzle packing density in each silicon printhead IC needs to be high. A typical Memjet® printhead IC contains 6,400 nozzle devices, which translates to 70,400 nozzle devices in an A4 printhead containing 11 Memjet® printhead ICs.
This high density of nozzle devices poses a thermal management problem: the ejection energy per drop ejected must be low enough to operate in so-called 'self-cooling' mode—that is, the chip temperature equilibrates to a steady state temperature well below the boiling point of the ink via removal of heat by ejected ink droplets.
Conventional inkjet nozzle devices comprise resistive heater elements coated with a number of relatively thick protective layers. These protective layers are necessary to protect the heater element from the harsh environment inside inkjet nozzle chambers. Typically, heater elements are coated with a passivation layer (e.g. silicon dioxide) to protect the heater element from corrosion and a cavitation layer (e.g. tantalum) to protect the heater element from mechanical cavitation forces experienced when a bubble collapses onto the heater element. U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,619 describes a conventional inkjet nozzle device having passivation and cavitation layers.
However, multiple passivation and cavitation layers are incompatible with low-energy 'self-cooling' inkjet nozzle devices. The relatively thick protective layers absorb too much energy and require drive energies which are too high for efficient self-cooling operation.
To some extent, the requirement for a tantalum cavitation layer can be mitigated by ensuring the device vents bubbles through the nozzle aperture instead of the bubbles collapsing onto the heater element. Moreover, durable corrosion-resistant materials, such as titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN), may be employed as heater materials. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,306, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, a naked TiAlN heater element may be employed in direct contact with ink, providing excellent thermal efficiency and no loss of energy into protective layers. TiAlN heater materials have the ability to form a self-passivating, native aluminium oxide coating. The oxide formation is self-limiting in the sense that it prevents further oxide formation and minimizes heater resistance rise. However, the protective oxide is susceptible to attack by other corrosive species present in inks e.g. hydroxyl ions, dyes etc.
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an attractive method for depositing relatively thin protective layers onto heater elements in inkjet nozzle devices in order to improve printhead lifetimes. Thin protective layers (e.g. less than 50 nm thick) have minimal effect on thermal efficiency, enabling low ejection energies and facilitating self-cooling operation.
US2004/0070649 describes deposition of a dielectric passivation layer and a metal cavitation layer onto a resistive heater element using an ALD process.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,025,367 describes an inkjet nozzle device comprising a titanium aluminide heater element having passivating oxide. The heater element is optionally coated with a protective layer of silicon oxide, silicon nitride or silicon carbide by conventional CVD.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,567,909 describes deposition of a laminated stack comprising alternating layers of hafnium oxide and tantalum oxide onto a TiN heater element (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,519) using an ALD process. According to the authors of U.S. Pat. No. 8,567,909, the laminated stack minimizes the effects of so-called pinhole defects through the thin protective layers. Pinhole defects in ALD layers potentially enable penetration of corrosive ions through to the heater element. By employing a stack of alternating materials, alignment of pinhole defects between layers is minimized and, therefore, this type of laminated structure minimizes corrosion. However, a drawback of employing a laminated stack of ALD layers is increased fabrication complexity.
It would be desirable to provide inkjet nozzle devices having improved lifetimes. It would be particularly desirable to provide a self-cooling inkjet nozzle device, which ejects at least one billion droplets over a lifetime of the device and has minimal fabrication complexity.

Inkjet nozzle device having improved lifetime