A system and method for replicating a multithreaded application program using a semi-active or passive replication strategy, wherein the application program executes under the control of an operating system having a thread library. The method comprises piggybacking mutex ordering information at the Primary replica onto regular multicast messages specifying the order in which threads in the Primary replica have been granted their claims to mutexes; and receiving the multicast messages at a Backup replica containing the mutex ordering information which determines the order in which threads in the Backup replica are granted mutexes. Thread library interpositioning is preferably utilized to intercept calls to functions in the operating system's thread library, so that the system and method of the invention may be implemented transparently. The invention enforces strong replica consistency without the need to count instructions, add significant messaging overhead, or modify application code.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to software-based fault-tolerant computer systems and, in particular, to multithreaded application programs that are replicated using the leader-follower semi-active and passive replication strategies.
2. Description of Related Art
Fault-tolerant systems are based on entity redundancy (replication) to mask faults and, thus, to provide continuous service to their users. In software fault tolerance, the entities that are replicated are the application programs or parts thereof (processes, objects or components). A fundamental issue in the design and implementation of fault-tolerant systems is that of maintaining the consistency of the states of the replicas.
Distributed systems offer the opportunity for fault tolerance by allowing replicas of the application programs to be hosted on different computers (i.e., in different fault containment regions). In the client-server model of distributed computing, a client invokes a method of a server, typically hosted on a different computer, by receiving a request message containing that method invocation and by receiving a reply message from that server. To render an application fault-tolerant, the server is replicated but the client may also be replicated, particularly in multi-tier and peer-to-peer applications, where a process, object or component acts as both a client and a server.
Fault-tolerant systems support several different replication strategies including semi-active and passive replication, and variations thereof. In both semi-active and passive replication, one of the replicas is distinguished as the Primary replica and the other replicas are called the Backup replicas.
In semi-active replication, all of the replicas of a process, object or component execute each method invoked on the replicas. The Primary replica determines the order in which the methods and other operations are executed and communicates that order to the Backup replicas, which executes the methods and other operations in the same order. If the Primary replica makes a decision regarding a non-deterministic operation (such as the order in which access to a shared resource is granted), it communicates that decision to the Backup replicas which make the same decision. If the Primary replica fails, a Backup replica takes over as the Primary replica and starts making decisions that the other Backup replicas must follow.
In passive replication, only the Primary replica executes the methods invoked on the replicas. The state of the Primary replica (values of its variables or attributes) is checkpointed periodically or on demand, and the messages, methods and other operations after the checkpoint are logged. If the Primary replica fails, a Backup replica takes over as the Primary replica. The checkpoint is loaded into the Backup replica and the messages, methods and other operations after the checkpoint are replayed.
A challenging aspect of replication is to maintain strong replica consistency, as methods are invoked on the replicas and the states of the replicas change dynamically, and as faults occur. Strong replica consistency means that, for each method invocation or operation, for each data access within that method invocation or operation, the replicas obtain the same data values. Moreover, for each result, message sent or request made to other processes, objects or components, the replicas generate the same result, message or request.
Many application programs written in modern programming languages (such as C++, Java, etc.) involve multithreading, which is a source of non-determinism. Unless it is properly handled, non-determinism can lead to inconsistency in the states of the replicas. To maintain strong replica consistency, it is necessary to sanitize or mask such sources of non-determinism, i.e., to render a replicated application program virtually deterministic. A virtually deterministic replicated application program is an application program that exists as two or more replicas and that may involve non-deterministic decisions; however, for those non-deterministic decisions that affect the states of the replicas, the replicas must make the same non-deterministic decisions.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,577,261 and 5,794,034 which are incorporated herein by reference describe the implementation of "process management" functions, such as the claim( ), release( ), suspend( ) and signal( ) functions, which are also used by the current invention. Operations involving those methods are rendered consistent by having each processor claim a global mutex (called GLUPP) before performing any "process management" operation. Once it has acquired the global mutex, the process performs the operation and then distributes the results to the other processors before relinquishing the global mutex.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,002 which is incorporated herein by reference describes how a mutex can be granted to processors, processes, replicas or threads in a distributed system. Each grant of a mutex requires three messages, two messages to claim and grant the mutex and one message to release the mutex. It should be appreciated that this approach requires the communication of multiple additional messages for claiming, granting and releasing a mutex.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,885 which is incorporated herein by reference describes a strategy based on Primary/Backup replication, in which the Primary replica executes the required operations. When the Primary replica performs an I/O operation, the results of the I/O operation are communicated to the Backup replica, so that the Backup replica performs the same operation as the Primary replica. This strategy is directed at maintaining consistency between Primary and Backup replicas only for I/O operations and does not address inconsistency that arises from multithreading.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,802,265 and 5,968,185 which are incorporated herein by reference are related to the TFT system described below and describe a strategy based on the Primary/Backup approach, in which the Primary replica executes the required operations. When the Primary replica performs an asynchronous or non-deterministic operation, it communicates the results of that operation to the Backup replica, so that the Backup performs the same operation as the Primary. The teachings of these patents disclose no mechanism for guaranteeing that a Backup receives such communication before or concurrently with the communication of results by the Primary to an entity external to the system. As a result, the design is exposed to the risk that the Primary might perform actions and communicate results of those actions to clients, and subsequently fail without ensuring that the Backups have received the communication from the Primary about the operating system interactions. It should be appreciated that such a fault can leave a Backup with the obligation of reproducing those actions; however, the Backup replica might lack the necessary information to do so.
The TARGON/32 system (A. Borg, W. Blau, W. Graetsch, F. Herrmann and W. And, Fault tolerance under Unix, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, vol. 7, no. 1, 1989, pp. 1-24, incorporated herein by reference) provides mechanisms for the Unix operating system that ensure consistent processing by multiple replicas of asynchronous operations and signals, such as the claim( ) and release( ) functions. A designated control processor (the Primary) records a checkpoint immediately before it processes an asynchronous operation. If the control processor fails, a Backup processor restarts from the checkpoint and then processes the asynchronous operation immediately thereafter, ensuring that the Backup processes the operation starting from the same state as the control processor.
The Delta-4 system (D. Powell (ed.), Delta-4: A Generic Architecture for Dependable Distributed Computing, Springer-Verlag, 1991, incorporated herein by reference) provides support for non-deterministic application programs that employ semi-active or passive replication. To provide such support, Delta-4 queues interrupts until the application program executes a polling routine in which the replicas synchronize and agree on the interrupts received and the order in which to process them.
The Hypervisor system (T. C. Bressoud and F. B. Schneider, Hypervisor-based fault tolerance, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, vol. 14, no. 1, 1996, pp. 80-107, incorporated herein by reference) and the Transparent Fault Tolerance (TFT) system (T. C. Bressoud, TFT: A software system for application-transparent fault tolerance, Proceedings of the IEEE 28th Fault-Tolerant Computing Symposium, Munich, Germany, June 1998, pp. 128-137, incorporated herein by reference) uses a Primary/Backup approach and aims for transparency to the application and the operating system by utilizing hardware instruction counters to count the instructions executed between two hardware interrupts. The TFT system utilizes object code editing to modify the program code to provide fault tolerance.
Other researchers (J. H. Sly and E. N. Elnozahy, Supporting non-deterministic execution in fault-tolerant systems, Proceedings of the IEEE 26th Fault Tolerant Computing Symposium, Sendai, Japan, June 1996, pp. 250-259, incorporated herein by reference) have introduced a software instruction counter approach, analogous to the hardware instruction counter approach of the Hypervisor system, to count the number of instructions between non-deterministic events in log-based rollback-recovery systems. If a fault occurs, the instruction counts are used to replay the instructions and the non-deterministic events at the same execution points.
Non-preemptive deterministic scheduler strategies also exist that impose a single logical thread of control on the replicas to maintain strong replica consistency (P. Narasimhan, L. E. Moser and P. M. Melliar-Smith, Enforcing determinism for the consistent replication of multithreaded CORBA applications, Proceedings of the IEEE 18th Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems, Lausanne, Switzerland, October 1999, pp. 263-273, incorporated herein by reference). The effect of this strategy is to undo the multithreading that was programmed into the application program.
Transactional Drago (S. Arevalo, R. Jimenez-Peris and M. Patino-Martinez, Deterministic scheduling for transactional multithreaded replicas, Proceedings of the IEEE 19th Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems, Nurnberg, Germany, October 2000, pp. 164-173, incorporated herein by reference) also uses a non-preemptive deterministic scheduler but is configured for use in transaction processing systems.
Therefore, a need exists for systems, software mechanisms, methods, improvements and apparatus for providing strong replica consistency for multithreaded application programs based on semi-active and passive replication that maintain application transparency. The systems, software mechanisms, methods, improvements and apparatus in accordance with the present invention satisfy that need, as well as others, and overcome deficiencies in previously known techniques.

Transparent consistent semi-active and passive replication of multithreaded application programs


An apparatus for repairing steering knuckle (kingpin) bearings includes a table having multiple, adjustable slides for receiving and securing the steering knuckle to the table, a boring bar and cutter, two adjustable bearing supports for receiving and positioning the boring bar along an axis coincident with the axis of the kingpin bearings, a first drive assembly for advancing the boring bar and a second drive assembly for rotating the boring bar. A method of repairing a steering knuckle comprises securing the knuckle to the slides and the slides to the table, utilizing cylindrical centering rings to align the boring bar with the axis of the kingpin bearings, supporting and securing the boring bar on the previously established axis in a pair of bearing supports and rotating and feeding the boring bar and cutter to create new surfaces in the steering knuckle adapted to receive bearing sleeves. Upon installation of both bearing sleeves, the boring bar and drive unit are reinstalled and the inside diameter of the sleeve is bored to the proper size to receive the kingpin.

The most common geometric arrangement for front wheels of trucks and heavy duty motor vehicles comprehends defining left and right converging oblique axes about which the front wheels pivot to steer the vehicle. These axes are defined by a component denominated the kingpin. The kingpin extends between two spaced apart bearing structures extending from a steering knuckle and pivotally couples it to an end of the front axle. The steering knuckle includes a spindle upon which a front tire and wheel are rotatably supported and secured and a flange to which a front brake assembly is mounted. Each end of the front axle includes an eye which receives the kingpin and defines the pivot axis of the steering knuckle. Thrust bearings are disposed between each of the bearing structures and the end of the axle. The steering knuckle also includes an attachment feature to which a component of the steering mechanism, such as the Pittman arm or a tie rod, is attached.
Given the portion of the vehicle weight carried by the front tires, the expected and often exceeded service life of the vehicle and various road hazards, it is not surprising that the kingpin bearings deteriorate, allowing excessive play in the front wheel suspension which slowly renders the steering unsafe and causes excessive tire wear.
Given the direct cost of replacing the steering knuckle wherein frequently only the kingpin bearing surfaces have deteriorated, and the indirect cost related to the vehicle downtime, it is understandable that various repair methods have been proposed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,246, repair of the bearing portion within the axle is described. The axle end or eye is tightly engaged by a fixture which facilitates on-site repair of the axle eye. While this method and apparatus offered a simplified repair process and reduced the cost of repairing axle bearing failures, primarily due to its on-site capability, it did not address how repair of the more frequently worn or damaged bearings in the steering knuckle could be achieved. The present invention is so directed.


Device to block weft yarn associated with a measuring weft feeder for fluid jet looms. The device is located downstream of the outlet yarn guide and/or of the antiballoon device of the feeder, and comprises a single elongated body which includes: an inlet cone and a cylindrical channel crossed by the weft yarn, the common axis of which is the longitudinal axis of the device; a core to block the yarn, movable into a guide perpendicularly to the axis and adapted to penetrate into the channel through an opening thereof; electromagnetic elements acting on the core against a return spring; and a bush associated to the channel, in correspondence of the opening, to form a contrast surface onto which the core engages in order to block the yarn.

As is known, in such feeders, the weft yarn inserted in the loom shed is stopped, after having reached the preset length, by a controlled device usually comprising a movable rod which engages the edge of the drum by penetrating with slack into a hole formed on said drum, the weft yarn stopping against said rod and being braked thereby.
The present invention proposes to solve the problems arising just after the weft yarn has been stopped and, in particular, to provide for an efficient blocking of said yarn just after it has been cut by the appropriate cutting devices of the loom.
It should be remembered that, for the loom cutting devices to correctly perform their function, it is necessary for the weft yarn length extending between the measuring weft feeder and the fabric being woven to be sufficiently tensioned at the moment in which it is being cut; consequently, since just after cutting there is a sudden decrease in weft yarn tension, this causes oscillations on the yarn starting from its cut end and travelling backwards to the point in which the yarn is blocked by the rod of the stopping device on the weft feeder drum. These oscillations may even continue up to involving the yarn turns wound on said drum.
These oscillations, turning on the yarn into strong transversal and longitudinal waves, may cause various inconveniences, such as:
a) Wedging-in of the weft yarn beneath the rod of the stopping device, when this latter is already acting into the drum hole. PA1 b) Ruffling of the yarn turns wound on the drum, with possible overlapping thereof, whereby, during the next weft yarn insertion, the turns will no longer unwind regularly one at a time from the drum, but may be drawn by two or more turns at a time getting entangled at the outlet of the drum.
It is evident that, both in the first case and in the second case, measuring errors might occur, which may in turn cause stopping of the loom, thereby reducing the efficiency of the machine, or else give rise to faults, which are not detected by the loom control devices and will thus deteriorate the quality of the fabric being produced.
To try and overcome the problem mentioned in a), the applicant has already developed in the last years different improvements in the electromagnetic weft yarn stopping units adopted on measuring weft feeders for fluid jet looms: the most interesting solutions are those described and claimed in IT-U-209674, and in the recent EP-363938.
An attempt to solve the problem mentioned in b) had instead been made, always by the applicant, by adopting an additional device mounted in correspondence of the yarn guide eyelet at the outlet of the measuring weft feeder: this solution is described in EP-239055. Nevertheless, said device was not able to fully solve the problem in that, since the weft yarn was not blocked but merely deviated, it was still likely to loosen around the drum.

Device to block weft yarn during cutting on a weft feeder


A charge circuit is composed of a first circuit and a second circuit. Said second circuit is provided at a battery pack in which a secondary battery is comprised. Said first circuit is provided at a charger for charging said secondary battery. Said charge circuit comprises: an output power supply section; a control section configured to control said output power supply section to perform a charging operation; a memory provided at said second circuit and storing a number of charging; and a threshold current setting section. Said control section is configured to, in said charging operation, perform firstly a constant current charging operation, and then perform a constant voltage charging operation, and finish the charging operation when a charging current reaches a charge stop current value. Said threshold current setting section is configured to decrease said charge stop current value along with the increase of said number of charging.

It has been known a battery pack including a rechargeable secondary battery used for a power supply of an electric equipment such as an electric tool, mobile phone or the like. The secondary battery can be charged by an output power supply section in a charger by attaching the battery pack to the charger so as to electrically connect the secondary battery to the output power supply section.
For example, Japanese patent application publication No. 2007-143279A discloses a charge circuit for charging the secondary battery using the output power supply section. A control section of the charge circuit performs a constant current charging operation and a constant voltage charging operation. In the constant current charging operation, the control section keeps a charging current at a substantially constant and gradually increases a charging voltage. In the constant voltage charging operation, the control section keeps the charging voltage at a substantially constant and gradually decreases the charging current. That is, in a charging operation, the control section firstly performs the constant current charging operation, and switches the operation into the constant voltage charging operation upon the charging voltage reaches at a set value (at a threshold voltage) during the constant current charging operation. Upon the charging current reaches a predetermined threshold (charge stop current value) during the constant voltage charging operation, the control section finishes the charging operation as a completion of charging.
The secondary battery of the battery pack deteriorates (for example, internal resistance thereof increases) by repeating the charging/discharging. The deterioration of the second battery affects a charging time of the constant current charging operation and the constant voltage charging operation. For example, the internal resistance of the lithium-ion battery increases along with the repetition of the charging/discharging. In this instance, the charger obtains the charging voltage as a sum of an electromotive force of the battery and a voltage generated by the internal resistance of the battery. Therefore, in case of charging the deteriorated battery (the battery having increased internal resistance), the charging voltage reaches the set value with a smaller electromotive force compared with the case of charging the non-deteriorated battery. As shown in FIG. 8, in case of charging the repeatedly charged battery (refer to FIG. 8B), a time point at which the charging voltage reaches to the set value during the constant voltage charging operation shifts toward earlier timing compared with a case of charging a fresh battery (refer to FIG. 8A) such as a new one. In other words, in case of charging the repeatedly charged battery, the charging time by the constant current charging operation becomes shorter than the case of charging the fresh one. Therefore, in case of charging the repeatedly charged battery (battery at the end of life), the charging operation is switched into the constant voltage charging operation even at a condition where the charge amount by the constant current charging operation is smaller compared with the case of charging the fresh battery (battery at the beginning of life).
Furthermore, because the charge stop current value A10 is constant, the charger finishes the constant voltage charging operation of the deteriorated battery (the battery having increased internal resistance) at a smaller electromotive force compared with the case of charging the fresh battery. Explaining it in other words, considering a charging current curve (refer to "L1" in FIG. 8), a gradient of the charging current curve with respect to the constant voltage charging operation becomes smaller along with the increase of the internal resistance of the battery. Herein, a chargeable amount E10 (refer to FIG. 8) of the secondary battery can be defined by a time integral of the charging current. Then, the actually charging amount E11 by the charging operation is obtained by a time integral of the charging current from the start of charging to a time corresponding to the charge stop current value A10. Then, a region indicated by E12 remains as a non-charging amount by the charging operation. Therefore, because the charge stop current value A10 is constant, a ratio of the non-charging amount E12 with respect to the chargeable amount E10 becomes larger along with the increase of the number of charging (refer to FIGS. 8A, 8B). That is, charge amount of the repeatedly charged battery becomes smaller than that of the fresh battery.

Charge circuit, and battery-charger assemblage with the charge circuit

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


An inter-cluster communication module using the memory access network is provided, including a plurality of clusters, a memory subsystem, a controller and a switch device. When some clusters issue a load instruction and some clusters issue a store instruction of an identical memory address concurrently, the controller controls the switch device which connects the clusters and the memory banks of the memory subsystem, so that the data item is transmitted from the cluster issuing the store instruction to the cluster issuing the load instruction through the switch device, thereby achieving data exchange between the clusters. Herein, the data item is selectively stored in the memory module depending on the address. Furthermore, the data item is also transmitted between the memory and the clusters over the switch device.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an inter-cluster communication module using a memory access network and, in particular, to the inter-cluster communication module using a memory access network for executing data exchange among clusters and data access to the memory.
2. Related Art
Nowadays, the design of a processor usually provides several parallel functional modules therein, so that the processor may process several instructions in parallel. As the number of functional modules increases, it eventually becomes a serious problem in the data exchange and stream among the functional modules.
Initially, the processor is provided a centralized single register file RF to perform the data exchange among functional modules FU, as shown in FIG. 1. Under this architecture, a large amount of registers have to be provided inside the register file RF to maintain the smooth running of programs and the module rate of the functional modules FU. Moreover, the number of the connection ports (i.e. read and write ports) in the register file RF increases linearly with the number of the functional modules FU, to ensure that each functional module FU can obtain data required for operations. In fact, the data have their spatial locality during computations. That is, most of the functional modules exchange data only with their adjacent functional modules. However, it is actually a waste to provide a huge amount of connection ports simply for data exchange that rarely occurs. Therefore, the clustered architecture is developed to solve the problem of poor extensibility of the centralized register file.
In clustered architecture, the functional modules FU, each having one or more functional units, are divided into several clusters 110, 111˜11N. Consequently, the originally centralized register file is also divided into smaller register files RF0, RF1˜RFn, each of which is responsible for the data exchange among the functional modules FU in each of the clusters 110, 111˜11N. The data exchange among the clusters 110, 111˜11N is implemented via some special switch device, i.e. the inter-cluster communication (ICC) network 120. This is illustrated in FIG. 2.
The data exchange among the clusters may be achieved by executing a copy operation. That is, the copy instruction is executed to implement data transmission among the clusters. In this case, the copy instruction is executed using the original functional modules. In other words, the original functional modules FU are added with additional connection ports (i.e. load and store ports) to connect to the register files RF0, RF1 in another cluster 110, 111, as shown in FIG. 3. However, the data exchange among the clusters has to occupy one or several functional modules, such that the operation is not effectively executed. In another case, a specialized functional module cFU with complete connection ports (i.e. the input and output ports) is provided to implement the data exchange, as shown in FIG. 4. Moreover, these ways require the addition of a switch communication network and a controller to perform the switching for data exchange when the number of clusters is large.
Besides, the data exchange among the clusters may be achieved using the way of extended access. Mainly, each of the register files of each cluster is added with an extra read port ER (FIG. 5) or an extra write port EW (FIG. 6), and these extra ports are connected to the functional modules of other clusters. Thus, the functional modules in each cluster have limited abilities in read or write the register files of other clusters. Nonetheless, this way still needs the addition of extra control units so as to detect whether there is any data exchange in the front stage of the pipeline. More a switch device (i.e. a communication network) is required carry out for data exchange.
In the above-mentioned ways, the data exchange is achieved by utilizing additional connection ports. As the number of clusters increases, the complexity of the communication network also increases. Moreover, in pipelined processors using the above methods, the forwarding network, which bypasses variables between the parallel instructions on the fly, has to cross the boundaries of all clusters, and the complexity of the switching network among clusters greatly increases. Otherwise, the functional modules of other clusters have to wait until the functional modules completely write the data into the register files before the operations start. This results in stalls. Moreover, the complicated communication network among the clusters is likely to become a critical path. The speed of the operation may be promoted by increasing the pipeline stages, but the more stages the pipeline has, the more difficult the forwarding thereof becomes.

Inter-cluster communication module using the memory access network

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An apparatus for quenching a metallic material such as steel is provided. The apparatus includes a heating furnace, a liquid metal sodium chamber, a gas cooling chamber, and a liquid metal sodium removal chamber. The heating furnace heats the metallic material to more than 700xc2x0 C. The liquid metal sodium chamber includes liquid metal sodium, and the metallic material is cooled approximately to between 100xc2x0 C. and 250xc2x0 C. The inert gas chamber includes inert gas such as nitrogen or argon, and the metallic material is cooled approximately to room temperature. In the liquid metal sodium removal chamber, the liquid metal sodium remaining on the metallic materials is removed by using vapor, mist, and water.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for quenching a metallic material, and more particularly to a quenching apparatus capable of improving strength, hardness and dimension preciseness of a metallic material such as a mechanical component, and thereby diminishing wear and corrosion of the surface of the metallic material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a quenching method, metallic material may be heated by an electric furnace, a gas furnace, a vacuum furnace, a fire furnace, or an induction furnace and is then cooled by a coolant such as gas, water, oil, or a polymer. The performance of a hardened metallic material depends on atmosphere such as cooling velocity, cooling temperature, or cooling pattern based on velocity and temperature.
In order to increase cooling velocity, the coolant in which a metallic material is soaked is mixed, or the coolant is sprayed on a metallic material from a jet nozzle. Apart from this, molten salt, molten tin, or molten lead, which is not boiled in high temperature, may cool a metallic material rapidly.
It is said that cooling a metallic material uniformly and rapidly is important to improve the characteristics thereof. However, if the temperature exceeds the boiling points of the above-mentioned coolants, these coolants boil and generate a vapor film on a portion of a metallic material. Additionally, the temperature of the portion cannot decrease rapidly. Thereby, processed metallic material has surface areas that have large temperature differences.
Specifically, if a metallic material heated to 800xc2x0 C. is hardened by water, oil, or a polymer, a vapor film is generated on the surface of the metallic material at a temperature more than 550xc2x0 C. This decreases the cooling velocity of the metallic material, because the cooling velocity is developed, according to experiments, when the vapor film vanishes in a low temperature.
Furthermore, a generated vapor film vanishes gradually from edge portions of a metallic material. Thus, vapor films are generated in some portions and are not generated in other portions, and the temperature differences thereof are known to be approximately 200xc2x0 C. to 300xc2x0 C.
According to the temperature differences, thermal shrinkage occurs in the metallic material, and the metallic material deforms, cracks, bends, or distorts. This phenomenon can be seen especially when employing water for quenching.
In order to overcome this problem in the water quenching, gas, oil, or a polymer is usually chosen. However, cooling velocity cannot be increased enough when using gas, and the obtained hardness of a metallic material is relatively low. In the case of using oil or a polymer, deformation, cracking, bending, and distortion are avoided in comparison with the case of using water. However, this improvement is not enough, and the cooling velocity is not increased enough. Further, the residual compressive stress on the surface of a hardened material declines in comparison with the water quenching, and sometimes a residual tensile stress appears, thereby decreasing the fatigue strength.
Molten salt does not generate vapor films. However, the high temperature condition for utilizing molten salt requires effort for quenching, and the handling of molten salt burdens the environment. Similarly, when substituting tin or lead, the process temperature has to be more than the melting point thereof, which also requires effort for quenching, and such a heavy metal is also treated carefully to protect the environmental reason.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances and is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems. In particular, one purpose of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for quenching a metallic material capable of restraining deformation, cracking, bending, and distortion of the metallic material to be hardened, and thereby diminishing wear and corrosion of the metallic material.
Additional purposes and advantages of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in this field from the following description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The present invention provides an apparatus for quenching a metallic material, including: a heater that heats the metallic material; a liquid metal sodium chamber in which a liquid metal sodium is supplied, and the metallic material is cooled to a first temperature in the liquid metal sodium; an inert gas chamber in which an inert gas is supplied, and the metallic material is cooled to a second temperature in the inert gas; and a remover that removes a liquid metal sodium on the metallic material.
The liquid metal sodium may further include a liquid metal sodium potassium or a liquid metal sodium lithium.
The heater may be disposed in a heating furnace. The heating furnace may include a carburization quenching furnace, an induction furnace, or the like. The heater may heat the metallic material approximately to more than 700xc2x0 C.
The first temperature may be approximately 100xc2x0 C, and the second temperature may be room temperature. The first temperature may exist between 100xc2x0 C. and 250xc2x0 C. The first temperature may also exist between 150xc2x0 C. and 200xc2x0 C.
The heater may include a liquid metal sodium or a liquid metal lithium for heating the metallic material.
An inert gas may be supplied to the liquid metal sodium chamber.
The remover may include a liquid metal sodium removal chamber. An inert gas may be supplied to the liquid metal sodium removal chamber.
The remover may include a water. A water may be stored in which the metallic material is soaked for removing the remained liquid metal sodium on the metallic material.
The apparatus may further include a liquid metal sodium circulating line that circulates the liquid metal sodium supplied to the liquid metal sodium chamber. The liquid metal sodium circulating line may include a circulating pump.
The apparatus may further comprise a temperature controller that keeps the temperature of the liquid metal sodium supplied to the liquid metal sodium chamber constant.
The apparatus may further comprise an impurity remover that removes an impurity in the liquid metal sodium supplied to the liquid metal sodium chamber.
The apparatus may further comprise a mixer that mixes the liquid metal sodium supplied in the liquid metal sodium chamber.
The apparatus may further comprise a mixer that mixes the inert gas supplied in the liquid metal sodium removal chamber.
The apparatus may further comprise a mixer that mixes the inert gas supplied in the liquid metal sodium removal chamber.
The apparatus may further comprise a shield that avoids air contacting the liquid metal sodium.
The apparatus may further comprise a transporter that transports the metallic material for the processes.
The present invention also provides an apparatus for quenching a metallic material, including: a heater at a first temperature; a first chamber downstream from the heater and containing a liquid metal sodium at a second temperature lower than the first temperature; a second chamber downstream from the first chamber and containing an inert gas at a third temperature lower than the second temperature; and a liquid metal sodium remover downstream from the second chamber.
The present invention also provides an apparatus for quenching a metallic material, including: a heater for heating the metallic material to a first temperature; a first chamber containing a liquid metal sodium at a second temperature lower than the first temperature for cooling the metallic material heated to the first temperature; a second chamber containing an inert gas at a third temperature lower than the second temperature for cooling the metallic material; and a liquid metal sodium remover for removing a liquid metal sodium from the metallic material.
Further, the present invention also provides a method of quenching a metallic material, including: heating the metallic material to a first temperature; cooling the metallic material in a liquid comprising a liquid metal sodium to a second temperature lower than the first temperature; cooling the metallic material in an inert gas to a third temperature lower than the second temperature; and removing a liquid metal sodium from the metallic material cooled to at least the third temperature.

Apparatus for quenching metallic material


Various toy building blocks, various connecting members and a variety of panels which combine to form a unique system for the creative enjoyment of children of all ages. Various patterns for the blocks would be formed out of a substantially flat semi-rigid material having a uniform thickness. These patterns would be folded by the end user, using fold lines incorporated into the patterns, so as to form blocks. These would include the basic cube and longer blocks that would be some multiple of the basic cube. Also included would be five sided blocks which are one half the size of a basic cube. All of the blocks would have slots at uniformly spaced points which would allow the insertion of connecting pieces which would be formed of a resilient, and therefore slightly compressible, material. These connectors would be slightly thicker than the width of the slots. This would allow for a tight fit which, based on friction, would hold the various blocks together. The blocks would be shipped and distributed in their flat condition and assembled into the three dimensional shapes by the end user. The blocks could be unfolded for storage when not in use. One advantage of the system is that it would allow children to express their creativity on a large scale while eliminating the danger associated with solid, and therefore heavier, blocks of a similar size. The system would allow children of all ages to enjoy many hours of creative fun.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system of toy blocks and accessories which are constructed of a material that would be substantially flat, semi rigid and have a consistent thickness such as cardboard, plastic or foam. Various patterns would be cut out of this material to form the parts of the system that become the blocks and attaching panels. The patterns that become the blocks would be such that various slots are cut in the patterns and these slots would go completely through the patterns. The patterns would also have a series of distinct fold lines which would be manufactured into the patterns. These fold lines would be in the form of sharp creases or partial cuts at the desired locations. By folding the patterns at these fold lines and inserting various extending tabs into the appropriate locations, the patterns fold into the three dimensional entities. The system will also include various pieces which have the function of connecting and holding the plurality of blocks together to form building projects.
There has always been a need for toys that inspire creativity and discovery by the children that play with them. This invention seeks to fulfill that need by allowing children to construct projects out of the various components of the system that would be limited only by their individual imagination. As the child plays with and discovers more about the unique connectability of the blocks and accessories he or she would grow intellectually.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There has always been a need for toys that would keep children amused and occupied for relatively long periods of time. In the art we find many examples of toy building blocks that have attempted to fulfill the needs of the child.
The toy blocks forming the current art fall into two broad groups. The first group includes toy blocks that have the characteristic of being rigidly connectable to each other. The second group comprises the blocks that are stackable without the ability to be rigidly connected to each other.
The first group is characterized by connecting members comprised of two opposing connectors which fit together to hold the blocks rigidly together. Usually these connectors are built into the one piece block and therefore the connectors are not detachable. When the connecting member is not built into the block, it is in the form of a peg designed for insertion into a hole bore into the blocks.
The second group, that is the group without the ability to be rigidly connected together, is comprised of blocks of many sizes and many shapes. They may be solid or hollow and constructed of a variety of materials. The projects built from these blocks are assembled by stacking the blocks on each other. There are various projects which can be built with these blocks, although they all lack the rigidity required by small children. The structures being built have the tendency to collapse and the project under construction must be abandoned.

Universal foldable toy blocks with alignable slots


The present invention relates to a system and method of reliably determining that a cellular phone call has been dropped and then automatically reconnect the call. The invention is applicable for use in telephone systems that have off-premises call hunting algorithms and thereby use separate telephony channels for the inbound and outbound legs of a call.

A not too uncommon problem with cellular phone service is that calls are dropped during a conversation between the calling and called parties. Prior art systems exist, such as Avaya's Digital HotDesk system, (described in the attached Appendix and incorporated herein by reference), that will attempt to reconnect dropped calls for calls that are being controlled by the subscriber's telephony server where this server provides a find-me/follow me feature. With such find me/follow me systems, a call placed to a subscriber's normal phone number is routed to an auxiliary number. That is, by way of example, a call placed to called subscriber's office phone is rerouted to his cell-phone. With the prior art reconnect system, the outbound call (between the server and the called party's cell phone) is monitored in an attempt to identify the occurrence of a cellular cut-off, that is, the loss of the call connection due to network coverage limitations. Typically, this is done by waiting a specified period of time, after the called party has cleared down, while the calling party is still holding onto the call. If the time period is exceeded, the system will automatically place a call back to the called party, and provide a voice message to the calling party (e.g., "Please remain on the line while we attempt to reconnect your call"). If the called party's cellular phone is available and he answers the call, then the calling party and called party are reconnected. Typically such a system will try to reconnect to the called party for a given time period, and if unsuccessful during this period it will then place the calling party into the called party mailbox.
Such a reconnect system, when working properly, has various advantages to both the called and calling parties. From the calling party's prospective, they do not have to redial in the event of a call being lost due to limitations in cellular coverage—they will either be reconnected to the called party or they will be offered a chance to leave a message. The called party knows that the call will be reestablished and waits for this to happen. If it is not, he can later check for a message. If used correctly, such a system eliminates the possible reaction of both parties trying to place a call to each other simultaneously and unavoidably missing each other due to call collision or limited call appearances on their telephony devices.
These prior art reconnect systems suffer from a serious deficiency in that the identification of a cellular cut-off is not always done properly. Such false alarms cause reconnection for calls intended to be terminated. Moreover, such systems encounter problems when a mobile subscriber is involved with a conference call.
The present invention overcomes these problems in the prior art by being able to more accurately determine whether or not a cellular cut-off has occurred. It also permits the reconnect feature to be implemented even when the called party joins a conference call.

System and method for reconnecting dropped cellular phone calls


A method of treating cancer is provided comprising administering an amount of etodolac to a subject afflicted with cancer that is effective to reduce the viability and/or to sensitize the cancer to an anti-cancer agent.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in the United States. CLL involves the cancerous proliferation of lymphocytes. It is most common among older adults; 90 percent of the cases are in people more than 50 years old. It occurs 1–3 times more often among men than among women. The onset of CLL tends to be insidious, with symptoms developing gradually. Because it involves an overproduction of mature, functional lymphocytes, persons with this disorder may survive for years. In contrast, in some, the disorder proceeds very rapidly, and requires immediate treatment. Currently, the adenine deoxynucleosides fludarabine (fludara) and 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2CdA) are the drugs of choice to treat the disease. However, clinical remissions are seldom induced, and patients eventually succumb from their leukemia.
The number of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has increased to the point where they warrant separate classification. In addition to aspirin, the NSAIDs available in the U.S. include meclofenamate sodium, oxyphenbutazone, phenylbutazone, indomethacin, piroxicam, sulindac and tolmetin for the treatment of arthritis; mefenamic acid and zomepirac for analgesia; and ibuprofen, fenoprofen and naproxen for both analgesia and arthritis. Ibuprofen, mefenamic acid and naproxen are used also for the management of dysmenorrhea.
The clinical usefulness of NSAIDs is restricted by a number of adverse effects. Phenylbutazone has been implicated in hepatic necrosis and granulomatous hepatitis; and sulindac, indomethacin, ibuprofen and naproxen with hepatitis and cholestatic hepatitis. Transient increases in serum aminotransferases, especially alanine aminotransferase, have been reported. All of these drugs, including aspirin, inhibit cyclooxygenase, that in turn inhibits synthesis of prostaglandins, which help regulate glomerular filtration and renal sodium and water excretion. Thus, the NSAIDs can cause fluid retention and decrease sodium excretion, followed by hyperkalemia, oliguria and anuria. Moreover, all of these drugs can cause peptic ulceration. See, Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mack Pub. Co., Easton, Pa. (18th ed., 1990) at pages 1115–1122.
There is a large amount of literature on the effect of NSAIDs on cancer, particularly colon cancer. For example, see H. A. Weiss et al., Scand J. Gastroent., 31, 137 (1996) (suppl. 220) and Shiff et al., Exp. Cell Res., 222, 179 (1996). More recently, B. Bellosillo et al., Blood, 92, 1406 (1998) reported that aspirin and salicylate reduced the viability of B-cell CLL cells in vitro, but that indomethacin, ketoralac and NS-398, did not.
C. P. Duffy et al., Eur. J. Cancer, 34, 1250 (1998), reported that the cytotoxicity of certain chemotherapeutic drugs was enhanced when they were combined with certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. The effects observed against human lung cancer cells and human leukemia cells were highly specific and not predictable; i.e., some combinations of NSAID and agent were effective and some were not. The only conclusion drawn was that the effect was not due to the cyclooxygenase inhibitory activity of the NSAID.
The Duffy group filed a PCT application (WO98/18490) on Oct. 24, 1997, directed to a combination of a "substrate for MRP", which can be an anti-cancer drug, and a NSAID that increases the potency of the anti-cancer drug. NSAIDs recited by the claims are acemetacin, indomethacin, sulindac, sulindac sulfide, sulindac sulfone, tolmetin and zomepirac. Naproxen and piroxicam were reported to be inactive.
Therefore, a continuing need exists for methods to control cancers, such as leukemias, and to increase the potency of anti-cancer drugs with relatively non-toxic agents.

Use of etodolac for the treatment of prostate cancer

The Regents of The University of California


A stiffener assembly which provides for improved performance of a movable stage arrangement. Often, it is desired to provide a movable stage arrangement in which a stage moves linearly with respect to a stationary base. In many applications, it is necessary for the stage to move to successive rest positions, with movement of the stage inhibited at each of the reset positions. The stiffener of the present invention allows for controlled movement of a stage along its direction of travel, with the stiffener inhibiting undesired movement when the stage is at a rest position. In one form, a stiffener extends in the direction of travel of the stage, with one end of the stiffener assembly mounted to the stationary base, and the other end urged into frictional contact with the movable stage by a force applicator. As a result, the stiffener is placed in frictional contact with the movable stage. The coupling of the stage to the stiffener is insufficient to impede desired movement of the stage, however undesired movement at rest positions of the stage are avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to movable platform devices, particularly the type in which a movable platform or stage is supported on a stationary member or base. In particular, the invention provides a stiffener which prevents undesirable movement of the stage with respect to the base. Although the present invention is particularly advantageous in extremely high precision stage assemblies, various aspects of the present invention are also applicable to a wide variety of applications in which a controlled sliding movement is utilized.
2. Discussion of the Background
Assemblies in which sliding movement is provided between a first movable member and a second stationary member are well known for a wide variety of applications. Typically, a movable platform will be supported for sliding movement with respect to a stationary member or base. A bearing system including, for example, ball bearings or cross roller bearings provide for sliding support of the movable member with respect to the stationary member or base. Such arrangements can provide linear movement, or compound movement, for example by providing a pair of superposed sliding assemblies with respective movements which are orthogonal to one another. Such single or multi-directional arrangements can be utilized in lathes, drill presses, plotters, or even in seat adjustment mechanisms for a vehicle. Some applications require extremely precise and well controlled movement of the movable member or stage with respect to the stationary member or base. For example, when a movable platform is utilized for controlled movement of a sample which is being examined by a microscope, movement must be extremely precise and controlled, while avoiding undesired movement such as vibrations.
FIG. 1 shows a typical movable stage arrangement in which a stage 4 is supported upon a stage base 7 via ball bearing assembly 5, which includes ball bearings 6. The stage 4 is thus linearly movable with respect to the stage 7 in a direction into and out-of the drawing figure. In addition, controlled movement of the stage with respect to the base is provided by a leadscrew assembly shown generally at 8. The leadscrew is typically assembled upon the stationary stage base, with the leadscrew nut attached to the movable stage top. Rotation of the lead screw thereby controls relative movement between the stage 4 and the base 7. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, such an arrangement can be utilized for controlled movement of a sample 3 being examined by a probe microscope to allow the probe 2 of the microscope 1 to examine the sample 3.
In the context of a scanning probe microscope, the stage is utilized to provide linear travel by moving the stage top to successive new locations, with the stage top hopefully maintaining a fixed position at each stopping point. The sample or specimen may then be inspected, for example by a scanning probe microscope 1 which is mounted above the stage. Typically, bearing arrangements which provide the relative movement between the stage and base are stiff in all possible axes of motion, except for the axis of travel of the stage. However, in the context of an extremely sensitive microscope, even the slightest of vibrations can impose severe difficulties in obtaining satisfactory resolution of the sample being examined. Often, even vibrations from a spoken voice can severely deteriorate the information obtained by the microscope.
Providing high stiffness in holding the stage top in place is thus extremely important. In the case of a scanning probe microscope, the microscope can have a resolution of less than one angstrom. Therefore, the sample and stage must be held rigidly in place such that any vibrations or movement are a small fraction of an angstrom. However, while the prevention of inadvertent movement is essential, any technique utilized for fixing a position should not impede the intended motion of the stage.
FIG. 2 shows one attempt to maintain a fixed rest position of a movable stage, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts to the stage shown in FIG. 1. In the FIG. 2 arrangement, a clamp device 9 is provided at a location adjacent to the movable stage 4. When the stage is moved to a desired rest position, the clamp device 9 is activated such that it engages the movable stage 4 and thus holds the top rigidly in place. The clamp is then moved out of engagement for movement to a next rest position. Such an arrangement suffers from a number of shortcomings. For example, when the clamp is activated, new forces are introduced into the system, and particularly upon the stage. As a result, the stage and/or sample mounted thereon can move, making it extremely difficult to achieve and maintain a precisely desired rest position. The bearings have a finite stiffness, and the new forces introduced by the clamp typically cause microns of undesired motion of the stage top.
In addition, a clamp arrangement also complicates the system, since it requires various components associated with control of the clamp. Typically, the stages are automatically controlled, and the electrical power of an on/off relay must be provided, as well as an automatically controlled coordination of the clamping with the movement of the stage. In addition, the clamp is often piezoelectrically activated, and as such, can require high voltages often between 100-1000 volts. Electrical power utilized with the clamp can also introduce heat into the system which is particularly undesirable in extremely precise operations. In the case of solenoid actuation of the clamp, the amount of undesirable heat generated by the solenoid can be significant.
A further disadvantage of clamp techniques relates to the time required to activate the clamp. Often movable stages are utilized in high throughput operations, and the additional time required to activate the clamp (1) increases the time required for each movement; and (2) does not decrease the "settling time" of the stage. The settling time refers to the amount of time for required oscillations of the stage to cease after the stage has moved to a new rest position.
Clamping arrangement can also be unreliable as a result of the numerous additional components introduced into the movable stage system. In addition, in the case of a piezoelectrically activated clamp, only limited travel of the clamp is obtainable, and therefore particular care must be taken in machining and assembling the stage such that the surface of the movable stage does not move out of the range of the clamp as the stage moves along its length of travel. The clamping surface of the stage must be extremely parallel to the travel axis of the stage.
As an alternative to automatic clamps, manually activated clamps may be utilized, however manual clamping is not practical for automated operations, particularly high output operations. In addition, manual clamps also retain the disadvantageous introduction of transient forces into the system.
In addition, if movement prevention is provided by merely utilizing an extremely stiff leadscrew and nut, as well as the bearings holding the leadscrew, the expense of the stage assembly can increase dramatically, while still yielding less than satisfactory results.
Accordingly, an improved movable stage assembly is desired in which the stage can be successively moved to plural rest positions, with the stage securely positioned at each of the rest positions such that undesired movement (e.g., vibration) at the rest positions is reduced. The movable stage should be capable of moving from one rest position to another, without having the movement impeded by any devices which prevent movement at the rest position. In addition, a device or assembly which prevents undesirable movement of the stage should be inexpensive, preferably requiring no additional power sources or automatic control devices.

Stiffness enhancer for movable stage assembly


A switching unit which switches the sub antenna, which is for performing diversity reception in cooperation with the main antenna for transmission and reception, from functioning as an antenna to functioning as a parasitic element, or from functioning as a parasitic element to functioning as an antenna, is provided; the main antenna and the sub antenna are provided to be spaced a predetermined distance apart so that multiple resonance can be generated by electromagnetic coupling, and the sub antenna is made to function as a parasitic element to generate multiple resonance, widening the frequency band width within which the main antenna can transmit and receive a radio wave.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna device and a radio communication terminal that receive radio wave signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, diversity reception is employed in radio communication terminals including cellular phones. In the diversity reception, a transmitter-receiver antenna element and a receive-only antenna element are connected to a reception device, and signals received by the antenna elements are selected in accordance with the reception electric field intensity, so that, of the signals received by the antenna elements, a signal whose reception electric field intensity is the higher is selected. Or, the signals received by the respective antenna elements are combined.
On the other hand, further downsizing and high-functionalization of radio communication terminals is desired. Thus, it becomes an absolute must, to make the radio communication terminals have antenna elements built-in, while the parts-mounting area becoming smaller.
Accompanied by the downsizing and high-functionalization of radio communication terminals, the downsizing of antenna elements is proceeding.
When the above-mentioned transmitter-receiver antenna element and receive-only antenna element are built in a radio communication terminal, the antenna performance, such as antenna gain and reception sensitivity, tends to be deteriorated due to some circumstances, such as closeness to the peripheral electronic parts and ground (GND) area, and so forth. Further, with the secured areas being insufficient for installing both the antenna elements to be adequately apart from each other, the transmitter-receiver antenna element and the receive-only antenna element are installed to be closer than is necessitated. Such closer installation causes interference between the antenna elements, and the antenna performance thus tends to be deteriorated. Furthermore, there also is a problem that an antenna installed to a radio communication terminal has a narrower receivable frequency bandwidth since such antenna is small.
Accordingly, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2000-31721 discloses a cellular phone in which an electromagnetic shielding is provided between two helical coil elements constituting a diversity antenna and perpendicularly provided on the upper portion of the casing of the cellular phone. In the disclosed structure, this electromagnetic shielding suppresses the mutual interference less and improves the diversity effect. Further, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2000-31721 discloses a method for achieving an electromagnetic coupling in a cellular phone of such structure, in which an additional element, such as a parasitic helical coil element, is provided besides the two helical coil elements, in order to be compatible with bandwidth-widening of frequencies for transmission and reception, or be compatible with multiband, which involves widely separated plural frequencies.
Further, in a portable radio communication terminal disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2004-72605, a first antenna element is built in a first casing, and a second antenna element is built in a second casing that is foldable over the first casing. Then, when the first casing and the second casing are in the opened position, the first antenna element and the second antenna element serve as a diversity antenna, as constituents thereof. Further, when the first casing and the second casing are in a closed position, the second antenna element serves as a parasitic element such that it operates by electromagnetic coupling with the first antenna element, thereby widening the bandwidth of the first antenna element.
However, the structure disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2000-31721 provides additional elements such as an electromagnetic shielding and a parasitic helical coil element, besides two helical coil elements that constitute a diversity antenna. For this reason, there is a problem that the structure of the antenna device becomes complex.
Further, the structure disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No, 2004-72605 include two built-in antenna elements constituting a diversity antenna separately in the foldable two casings. Accordingly, such structure cannot be applied to a radio communication terminal constituted by a single casing, thus not being versatile.
The present invention is made in view of this, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an antenna device which can perform diversity reception and can widen a frequency bandwidth within which the main antenna can transmit and receive a radio wave, and which can be installed on both of a radio communication terminal having one casing and a radio communication terminal having two casings, and to provide a radio communication terminal equipped with the antenna device.

Antenna device and radio communication terminal

Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co., Ltd.


Provided is a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes: a process chamber configured to accommodate a substrate; a substrate holding member configured to hold the substrate in the process chamber; a first gas supply system including a first gas supply hole for supplying a first process gas into the process chamber; a second gas supply system including a second gas supply hole for supplying a second process gas into the process chamber; and a catalyst supply system including a catalyst supply hole for supplying a catalyst into the process chamber, wherein an angle between a first imaginary line connecting a center of the substrate holding member and the first gas supply hole and a second imaginary line connecting the center of the substrate holding member and the catalyst supply hole ranges from 63.5 degrees to 296.5 degrees.

As a method for forming a thin film, such as a silicon oxide film (SiO2) or a silicon nitride film (Si3N4), on a substrate at a low temperature, a method of alternately supplying a process gas (silicon-containing gas or the like) or a reactive gas (oxygen- or nitrogen-containing gas or the like) into a process chamber may be used. In this instance, a method for forming a film at a low temperature of 200° C. or less by supplying a catalyst into the process chamber may be used.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-219500, a SiO2 film forming sequence is disclosed as a typical example of a thin film. In the film forming sequence, a silicon-containing gas and a catalyst are supplied to a substrate accommodated in a process chamber, the silicon-containing gas remaining in the process chamber is removed, an oxygen-containing gas and a catalyst are supplied to the substrate, and then the oxygen-containing gas remaining in the process chamber is removed, thereby forming a SiO2 film on the substrate. Using the film forming sequence as one cycle, the SiO2 film having a desired film thickness may be obtained by repeating the film forming sequence a predetermined number of times.

Substrate processing apparatus, method of manufacturing semiconductor device and program


At a measuring time, when at least one desired measurement category is selected from among a plurality of measurement categories associated with an ultrasonic image, at least one measurement item is selected from among a plurality of measurement items under the selected measurement category. Measurements corresponding to the selected measurement items are made sequentially. A title of those selected measurement items is inserted in a report. Since the title of those not-selected measurement items is not inserted in the report, there never occurs a situation in which the actually measured items and measurement results are buried in a vast number of measurement items, making it difficult to find them. That is, it is possible to minimize the number of pages and, by doing so, easily review the full actual measurement items one at a time on one screen or on one page and simply do this while being scrolled fewer times on a display screen or eye-scanning the pages of the report as required.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic measurement apparatus having the function of, with the use of an ultrasonic image, such as a B mode image (tissue cross-section image), M mode image and doppler mode image, measuring a point-to-point distance for instance, editing a result of measurement and of calculation in report form and displaying and printing it out.
Various apparatuses are known which use an ultrasonic wave for medical application. Their major application is to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing a cross-sectional image of the soft tissue of a living body with the use of the apparatus using an echo of an ultrasonic pulse wave. This type of diagnostic apparatus uses a non-invasive checking method and displays the cross-sectional image of the tissue and has its own unique features advantageous over other diagnostic apparatuses, such as the X-ray diagnostic apparatus, X-ray CT apparatus, MRI apparatus and nuclear-medicine diagnostic apparatus, that is, the features of being capable of real-time display, being compact and inexpensive, being free of X-ray exposure and safer and capable of bloodstream imaging by an ultrasonic doppler method.
For these reasons, such apparatus finds an extensive effective application in the field of the heart, abdomen, mammary glands and urinary organs as well as in the obstetric/gynecologic field. In particular, the heart's beats, as well as the aspect of the fetus's movement, can be obtained on a real-time display by a simple operation of applying an ultrasonic probe to a body surface of a human subject. Further, the apparatus can repeatedly check them more safely and can readily be moved along the bedside in a simpler way.
In view of such various advantages, the apparatus has recently been used not only to measure the sizes of the fetus, lesion, organ, etc., on a tissue's cross-sectional image (B mode) based on the point-to-point distance, circumferential length, area, capacity, etc., as have been practiced in the fields above but also to calculate the inner diameter of the heart's mitral valve and aortic valve and their retracting rate as well as a pressure comparison difference using a doppler mode, left ventricle's diastolic (systolic) volume, stroke volume, cardiac output and ejection fraction. In this way, the number of items to be measured is increased, so that more and more utility is obtained from the apparatus.
Of such ever-increasing measuring items, optional items are selected by the operator and the results of measurements and calculations, together with the titles of the measuring items, can be edited in report form, displayed on a CRT and printed out.
As set out above, a vast number of measuring items have been involved and several tens of pages are required in report form. As a result, in order to search for a specific item or items of measurement results in a report, it is necessary to frequently thumb through pages or effect page scrolling.


A system and method for reproducing audio sound. Audio sound, based on an audio signal, is emitted within a space comprising an audio beamwidth. Modulated ultrasonic sound energy based on a modulated ultrasonic sound signal is emitted in an ultrasonic sound direction within an ultrasonic beamwidth that is less than and within the audio beamwidth. The modulated ultrasonic sound signal is generated such that the emitted modulated ultrasonic sound energy creates an audible cancellation sound with an amplitude substantially equal to an amplitude of the audio sound at a point within the ultrasonic beamwidth so as to combine with and cancel the audio sound at the point by being substantially out of phase with the audio sound along the ultrasonic sound direction.

Audio reproduction systems generally include a loudspeaker that emits audio sounds over a wide angle, or provide headsets or similar devices for more private listening. Audio reproduction systems with a loudspeaker allow many people in an area in front of the speaker to hear the reproduced audio sounds. The physics of loudspeakers limit the directionality that can be achieved, thereby causing loudspeakers to generally emit audio sounds over a large area that can be heard by everyone in that area. An alternative to a loudspeaker that broadcasts sounds over a wide area is for one or a few people to wear a headset such that only the people wearing a headset can hear the audio sound. Using headsets is often inconvenient because each individual is required to wear a headset to hear the audio. Such headsets further often require an electrical connection to the sound source to receive the audio, which adds expense to the system and sometimes inconvenience in their use. Applications that would beneficially use an audio reproduction systems that allow most people in an area to hear emitted audio but precludes one or a few people in that area from hearing that audio are difficult to implement with headsets since most people would require headsets and new arrivals are required to obtain and wear such headsets.
The usefulness of audio reproduction equipment in some applications is able to be enhanced by emitting audio sound over a large area but allowing the emitted sound to be cancelled in selected portions of those areas.

Audio speaker with spatially selective sound cancelling


A titanium oxide composite, a titanium oxide composite manufacturing method, and a super capacitor using the same are provided. The titanium oxide composite is prepared to surround graphene on a surface of titanium oxide granules. One of a granular LixTiyOz and a granular HxTiyOz is selected and thereby used for the granular titanium oxide, the granular LixTiyOz satisfies 1≦x≦4, 1≦y≦5, and 1≦z≦12, and the granular HxTiyOz satisfies 1≦x≦2, 1≦y≦12, and 1≦z≦25.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a titanium oxide composite, a titanium oxide composite manufacturing method, and a super capacitor using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a titanium oxide composite in which an electronic conductivity is enhanced by forming graphene on a surface of granular titanium oxide, a titanium oxide composite manufacturing method, and a hybrid super capacitor using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A super capacitor is used for a large capacity energy storage device and technology for electrode materials is under development in order to increase a density of energy to be stored. In view of the battery performance of the super capacitor, a cathode material may play an important role. Lithium-titanium oxide (LTO) has a structurally stable spinel structure as a cathode active material.
Due to a "zero-strain" characteristic that a volume expansion barely occurs in charging and discharging, LTO may have an advantage such as a high cyclic characteristic. Accordingly, LTO has been currently used as a cathode material having a high output and a long lifespan, for example, an electrode material of an ultra high capacity super capacitor.
Korean Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-0013460 discloses a manufacturing method of LTO including mixing lithium carbonate powers or lithium hydroxide powders with titanium oxide by using the titanium oxide as a sintering precursor; using, as the sintering precursor, a titanium and lithium containing compound from a solution containing both titanium and lithium components; and manufacturing a mixture of titanium compound powders and lithium compound by manufacturing a mixture slurry of titanium compound powders and lithium-containing compound and then depositing the lithium compound through spray drying; and using the mixture as the sintering precursor.
The conventional LTO manufactured according to the disclosure of Korean Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-0013460 has a difficult in fast charging and discharging due to a low electronic conductivity. In addition, a theoretical capacity is about 175 mAh/g and thus, is low.

Titanium oxide composite comprising graphene coating on titanium oxide-based granules, and hybrid super capacitor using the same


For purposes of noise suppression, spectral subtraction filtering is performed in sample-wise fashion in the time domain using a time-domain representation of a spectral subtraction gain function computed in block-wise fashion in the frequency domain. By continuously performing time-domain filtering on a sample by sample basis, the disclosed methods and apparatus avoid block-processing delays associated with frequency-domain based spectral subtraction systems. Consequently, the disclosed methods and apparatus are particularly well suited for applications requiring very short processing delays. In applications where only stationary, low-energy background noise is present, computational complexity is reduced by generating a number of separate spectral subtraction gain functions during an initialization period, each gain function being suitable for one of several predefined classes of input signal (e.g., for one of several predetermined signal energy ranges), and thereafter fixing the several gain functions until the input signal characteristics change.

The present invention relates to communications systems, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for mitigating the effects of disruptive background noise components in communications signals.
Today communications are conducted in a wide variety of potentially disruptive environments, and modern communications solutions are therefore often equipped to compensate for such environments. For example, the microphone in a typical landline or mobile telephone will often pick up not only the voice of the near-end telephone user, but also any surrounding near-end background noise which may be present. This is particularly true in the context of office and automobile handsfree solutions. Since such background noise can be annoying or even intolerable to the far-end user, many of today""s telephones are equipped with noise reduction processors which attempt to suppress the background noise while permitting the speaker""s voice to pass through without distortion. Such noise reduction processors are often based on the well known technique of spectral subtraction in which the spectral content of a noisy speech signal is analyzed, and those frequency components having poor signal-to-noise ratios are attenuated. See, e.g., S. F. Boll, Suppression of Acoustic Noise in Speech using Spectral Subtraction, IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech and Sig. Proc., 27:113-120, 1979.
When implementing a noise reduction processor, it is important to minimize any artifacts or delay which might be introduced, as such artifacts and delay can be as bothersome to the far-end user as is the background noise. Accordingly, the above incorporated patent applications disclose spectral subtraction noise reduction systems which introduce low signal distortion as compared to conventional spectral subtraction techniques. Specifically, pending application Ser. No. 09/084,387 discloses a block-based spectral subtraction noise reduction processor in which signal filtering is carried out in the frequency domain using a reduced-variance, reduced-resolution gain function filter. Advantageously, the order of the gain function is chosen such that the frequency-domain filtering corresponds to a true, non-circular convolution in the time domain, and a phase is added to the gain function so that the gain function is causal. As a result, the disclosed noise reduction processor introduces fewer tonal artifacts and fewer inter-block discontinuities as compared to conventional spectral subtraction techniques. Moreover, pending application Ser. No. 09/084,503 discloses techniques for further reducing the variance of the filter gain function and for thereby further reducing the introduction of tonal artifacts. Specifically, the filter gain function is averaged across blocks, for example in dependence upon a measured discrepancy between the spectral density of the noisy speech signal and the spectral density of the noise alone.
While the frequency-domain spectral subtraction filtering techniques of application Ser. Nos. 09/084,387 and 09/084,503 work particularly well in the context of block-based systems (i.e., systems such as the well known Global System for Mobile Communication, or GSM, in which signals are by definition processed sample-block by sample-block), the block-processing times associated with those techniques may not be suitable for applications requiring extremely short signal processor delays. For example, in wire-phone systems, the maximum tolerable signal delay can be as short as 2 ms (corresponding to 16 samples at the standard 8 kHz telephone sampling rate). Consequently, there is a need for improved methods and apparatus for performing noise reduction by spectral subtraction.
The present invention fulfills the above-described and other needs by providing noise reduction techniques in which spectral subtraction filtering is performed in sample-wise fashion in the time domain using a time-domain representation of a spectral subtraction gain function computed in block-wise fashion in the frequency domain. By continuously performing time-domain filtering on a sample by sample basis, the disclosed methods and apparatus can avoid the block-processing delays associated with frequency-domain based spectral subtraction systems. As a result, the disclosed methods and apparatus are particularly well suited for applications requiring very short processing delays. Moreover, since the spectral subtraction gain function is computed in a block-wise fashion in the frequency domain (e.g., using the techniques of the above incorporated co-pending application Ser. Nos. 09/084,387 and 09/084,503), high quality performance in terms of reduced tonal artifacts and low signal distortion is retained. In applications where only stationary, low-energy background noise is present, computational complexity can be reduced by generating a number of separate spectral subtraction gain functions during an initialization period, each gain function being suitable for one of several predefined classes of input signal (e.g., for one of several predetermined signal energy ranges), and thereafter fixing the several gain functions until the input signal characteristics change.
In an exemplary embodiment, a noise reduction processor includes a time-domain filter configured to convolve a noisy input signal with a time-domain spectral subtraction gain function to provide a noise reduced output signal, a spectral subtraction gain function processor configured to compute a frequency-domain spectral subtraction gain function as a function of the noisy input signal, and a transform processor configured to provide the time-domain spectral subtraction gain function by transforming the frequency-domain spectral subtraction gain function, wherein said spectral subtraction gain function processor selects the frequency-domain spectral subtraction gain function from a number of available spectral subtraction gain functions. For example, the spectral subtraction gain function processor can generate the available spectral subtraction gain functions during an initialization period and then fix the available spectral subtraction gain functions after the initialization period. Consequently, an instantaneous spectral subtraction gain function need not be continually re-computed after initialization.
According to exemplary embodiments, each of the available spectral subtraction gain functions corresponds to one of a number of possible classifications of the noisy input signal. For example, the noisy input signal can be classified as having a measured energy level falling within one of a number of predefined energy-level ranges. Additionally, the available spectral subtraction gain functions can be periodically re-generated after the initialization period, or when a character of a noise component of the noisy input signal changes. A determination as to whether the character of the noise component has changed can be made by measuring an estimate of a spectral content of the noise component (e.g., at pseudo-random intervals).
The above-described and other features and advantages of the invention are explained in detail hereinafter with reference to the illustrative examples shown in the accompanying drawings. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the described embodiments are provided for purposes of illustration and understanding and that numerous equivalent embodiments are contemplated herein.

Signal noise reduction by time-domain spectral subtraction using fixed filters


The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for determining the probability of a pregnancy at a selected point in time. Systems and methods of the invention employ an algorithm that has been trained on a reference set of data from a plurality of women for whom at least one of fertility-associated phenotypic traits, fertility-associated medical interventions, or pregnancy outcomes are known, in which the algorithm accounts for any woman who ceases pregnancy attempts prior to reaching a live birth outcome.

Approximately one in seven couples has difficulty conceiving. Infertility may be due to a single cause in either partner, or a combination of factors (e.g., genetic factors, diseases, or environmental factors) that may prevent a pregnancy from occurring or continuing. Every woman will become infertile in her lifetime due to menopause. On average, egg quality and number begins to decline precipitously at 35. However, a number of women are fertile well into their 40's, while some women experience that decline much earlier in life. Although advanced maternal age (35 and above) is generally associated with poorer fertility outcomes, there is no way of diagnosing egg quality issues in younger women or knowing when a particular woman will start to experience decline in her egg quality or reserve. When a woman seeks medical assistance for difficulty conceiving, she and her partner are advised to undergo a number of diagnostic procedures to ascertain potential causes. Throughout the process, the couple's main question is whether that treatment will result in a baby.
Predicting a couple's probability of achieving a pregnancy that results in a live birth is difficult, and most statistical approaches do not provide an accurate result, generally over-estimating the couple's probability of achieving such a pregnancy. That problem is illustrated with the very common technology of in vitro fertilization (IVF), a process in which egg cells are fertilized outside a woman's womb and then implanted into the womb. Generally, about 52% of couples undergoing IVF do not achieve a pregnancy after a first cycle of treatment, and about 59% of couples undergoing IVF do not achieve a live birth after a first cycle of treatment ("2009 Clinic Summary Report", Society for Reproductive Medicine). Accordingly, many couples will undergo at least one subsequent cycle of IVF, and a percentage of those couples will not achieve a pregnancy or live birth even after numerous IVF cycles.
In IVF, the statistic typically reported to couples is outcome per cycle according to maternal age (cross-sectional reporting). For example, a physician may tell a couple in which the woman is under 35 that they have a 30% to 35% probability of achieving a live birth using IVF, meaning that for each cycle of IVF started, there is a 30% to 35% probability that a live birth will be achieved. That statistic is not accurate because it does not consider the potential need for multiple IVF cycles and the likely difference in success between a first-time patient and one who did not become pregnant in previous attempts. Thus, using this cross-section reporting approach, a physician overestimates a couple's probability of achieving a pregnancy that results in a live birth from IVF.

Systems and methods for determining the probability of a pregnancy at a selected point in time


A method is provided for use in a computer system to describe and obtain arbitrary data relating to a subject. The method provides a meta-language “Generic Object Oriented Description of Structured Data (GDL)” and a Parser. GDL allows a user to organize, define and describe subjects through the use of a schema known as a Template. Templates can be used to define the semantics for each subject element as well as, to define how each element fits into a larger data framework. Through the concept of Inheritance, Templates can be extended and defined to various levels of nesting, while still having a common core of properties. GDL allows the features and attributes of a subject to be quickly and readily extended or modified by altering a source file. A GDL parser provides a structured and hierarchical representation of the information, validation of text-entry semantics and a means to traverse through information obtained from the source file.

Computer operating systems commonly incorporate a feature to communicate system and application information to and from a variety of devices from multiple manufacturers. The growth of the computer industry has engendered a large number of companies who provide both hardware and software peripheral products for the market. In all of these cases, the operating system manufacturer has to ensure the compatibility and the exchange of data within and between the computers on which such hardware and software are installed. To ensure that the multitude of application programs that are executed on a computer system are able to effectively communicate with peripheral devices, the operating system designers have developed interfaces that allow device-independent access. Two such interfaces are a graphics device interface (GDI) and a Generic Printer Definition Language (GPD), both of which were developed specifically to deal with printer devices.
The GDI affects the output data from the application programs by invoking functions which allow access to printing devices in a device-independent manner. GDI provides a uniform interface to the application programs and the output peripheral devices to which the programs send data. Not withstanding this uniform interface, GDI is unable to produce actual printer control commands which are capable of driving each of the multiple models of printer devices available on the market. As such, each individual printer required its own individual printer driver that could implement the various control functions of the respective printers, based upon the standardized output from the GDI. These standard functions included initialization, information, output, attribute, mode and escape sequences. While each of these monolithic drivers provided the necessary interface for each printer, they were typically very large in size. The need for such extensive drivers impacted not only the printer manufacturer and the operating system vendor, but also the individual computer system into which such drivers would be installed. Specifically, the space requirement and resource utilization on a system become unwieldy especially when more than one printer needs to be supported. In addition, the development and coding of these drivers is cumbersome at best. To overcome the problems related to GDI, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool was developed to aid in writing these drivers. This tool included a Generic Printer Characterization (GPC) which was intended to provide an application independent of describing the total functionality and capabilities of one or more printers supplied by a printer Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). GPC has limited capability to describe printer devices and limited extensibility for printer features. This led to the development of a flexible modular architecture of syntax and semantics to be used in printer definitions known as GPD. This definitional language provides better support for more varieties of printers, and improves the output quality, ease of use and performance without the necessity for redesign.
GPD is a text-based printer description file format for creating mini-drivers that run with a single universal driver. Typically there is one GPD file for each printer model with the ability for different printers to also share a GPD file. A GPD file describes all the features on a printer including how to display and invoke these features. A GPD file also contains printer-specific commands and attributes that enable the Universal Driver to generate the correct printer-ready output data.
Although GPD provides support for generic features, custom help, installable options and various types of constraints, it is limited in the fact that it is only directed to printer devices. The support provided in GPD for value dependency allows developers to describe any kind of dependency between printer commands and or attributes. This support, combined with the command parameter specification scheme while useful, are also some of the constraints on wide scale applicability of the language. The Parser for GPD parses data into a single binary format, as such, the Universal Driver need not worry about different binary formats as was the case with GPC revisions and monolithic drivers. The GPD Parser none the less has other drawbacks. For instance, the static (non-extensible) set of Attribute:Value pairs and predefined collections of these pairs (Constructs) that can be used to describe the characteristics of printer devices, require that as new features are added to the printer, new Attribute: Value pairs or Constructs need to be defined and added to the GPD language thereby necessitating changes to the GPD Parser at a programmatic level.
The task of describing the semantics of GPD constructs is complicated by the fact the semantic content is dependent on the context in which the construct occurs. For example an *Options construct that appears within a PaperSize *Feature has different members than an *Options construct that appears within a Resolution *Feature. Indeed, an *Option describing Custom papers is different from an *Option describing system-defined papers and even an *Option describing Letter size paper is different from an *Option describing Legal size paper. This makes a description using a typical Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema impossible. Although XML is a meta-markup language that provides a format for describing structured data by encoding content, semantics and schemata for a wide variety of cases, XML lacks the ability and functionality that allows descriptions to inherit the properties and characteristics of a base description. A description using a template containing many nested Switch/Case dependencies is awkward at best. A way to define relationships between templates using the object oriented concept of Inheritance would yield a simpler and more robust language feature. While this concept is available in object oriented programming languages such as C++, the application of inheritance in these languages is directed and applicable to source code and memory space. In fact, the purpose and use of inheritance in these environments is as a means to polymorphism (the ability to view two or more similar objects through common interface, thus eliminating the need to differentiate between the objects), and reusability of code.
While the concept of easily describing and categorizing groups of data as defined by XML has multiple advantages, it lacks the robustness, ability and structure provided by the notion of inheritance. Multiple individuals cannot easily enhance or grow an XML descriptive or definitional grouping without modifying the underlying grouping, thus creating compatibility problems with any applications or programs that utilized the original data grouping. Similarly, the ability to utilize inheritance within Object Oriented Programs (OOP) such as C++ lacks the ease of use provided by XML. Individuals are forced to defined subjects as combinations of code and memory segments in OOP, which obfuscates the desired simplicity in defining or describing subjects.
Accordingly, there exists a need to avoid the overhead needed to continuously update descriptive languages and Parsers while also providing flexibility in the description or definition of subject data. A meta-language which permits third parties to add any Attribute:Value pairs or Constructs that they desire and to describe the new Attributes using Templates without the requirement of modifying the language or the Parser is needed. The use of Template Inheritance, ensures that extended data formats remain compatible with any applications and utilities that are designed to work with an original data schema. Furthermore, the use of a generic meta-language that is both powerful and easy to use, provides the ability to implement descriptions and definitions for purposes beyond printer description or characterization language.

Method for generic object oriented description of structured data (GDL)