A method using a non-transitory processor for providing an application product including receiving an application profile, a key profile, a secure element (SE) profile, and a mobile terminal profile; establishing a link between the received profiles, in which the link is established for assembling the application product; and applying a limitation to the application product, in which the applied limitation determines whether the application product is accessible to a user. A method using a non-transitory processor for data preparation in a Trusted Service Manager (TSM) including receiving data from a service provider, in which the received data is in a Data Grouping Identifier (DGI) format or a raw data format; and processing the data using at least one of a logical data preparation and a physical data preparation.

1. Field
The following description relates to provisioning of virtual card applets on a secure element of a mobile terminal.
2. Discussion of the Background
With the recent advancements of mobile technology, more features have been added to mobile terminals. Addition of applications related to Global Positioning System (GPS) to mobile office products have made mobile terminals commonplace for many consumers. In order to further utilize mobile technology to better cater to consumer's daily requirements, attempts have been made to provide for a mobile financial management system to replace conventional physical wallets. Specifically, this mobile wallet functionality was sought to be realized through provisioning of card issuer's account information directly into a secure element (SE) of the mobile terminal. The SE may be a smart card chip capable of storing multiple applications, including of account specific information that may not be easily accessed by external parties. A mobile wallet application may have the similar composition as the conventional wallet, which may contain payment cards, member cards, transportation cards, and loyalty cards.
Mobile wallet functionality may be further enhanced by provisioning the user financial credential onto mobile terminals equipped with a Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled chipset. Once the user financial credentials have been provisioned onto the SE of the NFC enabled mobile terminal, the provisioned NFC enabled terminal may transfer information or make payments to another NFC compatible device, such as a Point of Sale (POS) terminal, by coming near within a close distance of one another without physically contacting each other. This type of technology is conventionally referred to as "contactless" technology and a payment made with this technology is referred to as "contactless" payment. Despite the numerous benefits that may be available utilizing the described technology, there has been lack of practical solutions to provision sensitive user information to the NFC enabled mobile terminals.
One possible solution for provisioning mobile wallet cards is to perform the provisioning at a secure facility controlled by the mobile wallet card issuer. However, this solution may require users to bring their mobile terminal to the physical mobile wallet card issuer for provisioning. This process has to be repeated for every mobile wallet card the user seeks to provision at different card issuer facility, making the concept of mobile wallet impractical.
In addition, with much focus on mobile commerce, many competing service providers may seek providing their services to the consumers. However, such services may be offered to the consumer without regard to the mobile terminal capabilities or mobile service providers utilized by the consumers. Due to technical or business compatibility, there may be numerous applications that may be inapplicable to the consumer's attributes. Accordingly, consumers are often bombarded with various applications that may be inapplicable to the consumer, making the process more difficult than necessary.

System and method for managing OTA provisioning applications through use of profiles and data preparation


A piston with at least one compression ring, a top end and a longitudinally extending axis for an internal combustion engine. The piston includes at least one compression ring groove defined by first and second spaced lateral surfaces for receiving the at least one compression ring. The first lateral surface is located nearest the top end of the piston. At least one of the first and second surfaces includes a plurality of profiles extending circularly around the axis and having a depth in the range of 0.003 mm to 0.015 mm and a width in the range of 0.02 mm to 0.2 mm.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a piston for an internal combustion engine with a profiled ring groove.
More particularly, this invention relates to a piston where at least one surface of a compression ring groove is provided with profiling extending circularly around the longitudinal piston axis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Internal combustion engines, and specifically Otto-cycle engines are known which have pistons made of light metal alloys. During the initial break-in period of these engines, the groove surfaces can be damaged, particularly in the upper most compression ring groove. In order to prevent excessive wear, these grooves have been surface-coated, which is a costly process.
German patent DE-OS 39 03 722 discloses a piston for an internal combustion engine in which the ring groove is treated in order to prevent the piston ring from sticking to the aluminum alloy of the piston without increasing the amount of gasoline blow-by or oil consumption. At least one of the lower groove surfaces of the uppermost compression ring grooves is subjected to a surface-hardening treatment (anodizing treatment) so that the roughness of the surface is increased. The surface of the piston ring, disposed opposite the hardened surface, is provided with a resin coating which provides excellent adhesive properties. One disadvantage of this method is that the anodizing treatment produces a non-uniform rough surface on the lower groove side, and the piston rings require an additional coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,536 discloses large radial recesses distributed over the circumference of the top surface of the upper compression groove. The combustion gases can exert an intense force on the uppermost piston ring to press it against the lower groove surface.
However, the prior art does not disclose a simple way to prevent damage to the groove surfaces.


A cathode end plate for a breathable fuel cell stack including a first plate including a plurality of first openings and a second plate contacting one side of the first plate and including a plurality of second openings exposing two or more first openings of the plurality of first openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cathode end plate and a breathable fuel cell stack incorporating the cathode end plate.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A fuel cell is defined as a cell for generating direct current by converting the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy. Fuel cells create little environmental pollution and have a high efficiency because fuel and air are supplied from the outside to continuously generate electricity, unlike a conventional cell. Also, since fuel cells continuously generate electricity by means of a chemical reaction rather than combustion of energy sources such as petroleum energy, natural gas and methanol, fuel cells have been highlighted as the future in energy generation.
Fuel cells can be classified into phosphoric acid fuel cells, molten carbonate fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells, polymer electrolyte type fuel cells, alkaline fuel cells, and others based on the electrolytes used. Each type of fuel cell varies based on fuels used, operating temperatures, catalysts and electrolytes, but generally operates by the same basic principles.
The basic concept of the fuel cell can be explained by the movement of electrons generated by chemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen is supplied to an anode electrode, and oxygen is supplied to a cathode electrode. After protons generated from the anode electrode pass through an electrolyte membrane and move to the cathode electrode, they electro-chemically react with the oxygen to generate water. Electrons generated from the anode electrode move to the cathode electrode through an external conductor to generate electricity. Also, heat is generated by the electro-chemical reaction of the anode electrode and the cathode electrode. Direct current from, for example, a direct current electromotor, can be used as the power or it can be converted into indirect current by means of an inverter. The heat generated from the fuel cell generates vapor for reformation or is used for cooling and heating, and otherwise, is discharged as heat.
The following reaction equation 1 represents the overall reaction of the operating principle of the fuel cell.Anode: H2→2H++2e−Cathode: 1/2O2+2H++2e−→H2OOverall: H2+1/2O2→H2O+Current+Heat  [Reaction Equation 1]
Fuel cell stacks can be classified as passive type stacks and active type stacks. In the passive type fuel cell system, air is supplied through natural convection while in the active type fuel cell system, air is forcibly supplied to the stack using an air supply such as an air compressor, an air pump, or the like.
"A plurality of unit cells are generally provided in a stacked arrangement compressed together to form a stack." In the passive type fuel cell system, unit cells are planar, thereby occupying a larger area and making uniform compression of the unit fuel cells difficult. When the compression is not uniform, debris may infiltrate the fuel cell stack or material inside the fuel cell stack may leak, interfering with the effective operation of the fuel cell.
A uniform compression may be achieved when the end plate of the fuel cell stack is relatively thick. However, since the fuel cell stack often involves devices that are relatively thin and small so they can be used in mobile equipment such as a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), or a cellular phone, for example, limitations exist on the thickness of the end plate, and of the fuel cell in general.

Cathode end plate and breathable fuel cell stack using the same


A method of identifying fraud in a telecommunications system, the method including receiving data related to a current call placed from an originating ANI to a terminating ANI, where the received data includes the terminating ANI and a billing number used to place the call. Billing numbers for prior calls to the terminating ANI, if any, and corresponding indicia of the times of the calls are retrieved. A determination is made of whether the number of billing numbers used for the current and prior calls to the terminating ANI over a prior period of time falling within a time interval satisfies a threshold. If the threshold is satisfied, a fraud alert is generated.

1. Technological Field
The invention relates to preventing fraudulent access to a telecommunications system. In particular, the invention relates to identifying fraudulent calls terminating at a particular telephone number (a "terminating automatic number indicator" or "terminating ANI").
2. Description of the Related Art
Fraud costs the telecommunications industry billions of dollars per year. There are many techniques used to perpetrate fraud. The fraud can be as simple as using a stolen credit card to charge a long distance call, or it can involve sophisticated looping techniques, such as repeatedly calling a private PBX system, finding the correct sequence to access an outside line (by trial and error or other hacking techniques) and then placing a costly long distance call through the PBX system. The telecommunications industry is involved in an intensive and ongoing effort to identify different types of fraud and then to develop and implement ways of preventing such fraud.
Fraud is more costly to certain telecommunications companies than others. For example, where a fraudulent call is directed at a company that owns the underlying telecommunications infrastructure, the cost of the call is less than the cost to an independent company that incurs access charges to the owner(s) of the infrastructure supporting the call, even if the call is fraudulent. In either case, however, the cost to the industry is significant.
Particular methods of fraud control and systems for implementing them are known in the industry. Fraud control may be divided conceptually into identifying a call that is likely to be fraudulent and responding after a call is identified as likely to be fraudulent. Methods of identifying calls that are likely to be fraudulent vary from the simple to the sophisticated and are generally directed at a particular type of fraudulent activity. For example, a call is likely to be fraudulent if it is made using a calling card that has been reported stolen by the owner.
A more sophisticated method and system of identifying fraudulent calls is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,354, entitled "Fraud Evaluation And Reporting System and Method Thereof", which is owned by the assignee of the present invention. Fraudulent activity is identified in the '354 patent by monitoring a billing detail record created for each call. In the simple case, where the company's database shows that the billing number being used for a call has been reported lost, stolen, etc., the billing detail record includes a header designating it as a "bad billing number"; the call is then immediately identified as fraudulent and an alert is generated in the system.
The '354 patent is directed to calls that require "special service", that is, which are placed through an operator or an automatic operation support system. Such calls generally require the caller to manually supply the billing number, such as by pressing numbers on a payphone, swiping the magnetic strip on a card through a card reader or speaking with an operator. It may also require the caller to identify the category of billing product (such as credit card, calling card, or pre-paid phone card) for the billing number. The category of the billing product may alternatively be identified by the system by matching all or part of the billing number with billing numbers (or ranges of billing numbers) stored in an identification database, where the stored billing numbers are correlated with the category of billing product. The identification database may also correlate a billing number with the particular type of billing product for the category. For example, where the category of the billing number is identified as a credit card, the identification database may use the billing number to further identify the type of credit card, such as Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc.
The '354 patent also identifies fraudulent activity by monitoring use of a billing number over time. For example, where the number of domestic calls placed within a certain amount of time using the same billing number exceeds a threshold, an alert is generated. International calls are similarly handled, however, the threshold may be adjusted so that fewer calls within the time period generate an alert. In addition, the threshold may be further adjusted for calls to countries where a high percentage of fraudulent calls are directed. The thresholds may also be varied by the billing product. For example, fraudulent activity may be determined to be more likely to occur on a calling card than on a third party call; consequently, the threshold may be set lower for calling card products.
Once a call initiates an alert that the call might be fraudulent, additional activity may be taken to further examine whether the billing number is being used fraudulently, or steps may be taken to prevent further calls using the billing number. In the '354 patent, after an alarm is generated, data for prior calls charged to the billing number are sent to a fraud analyst, who analyzes that data and may determine whether or not to deactivate the card. If the decision is to deactivate the card, the '354 patent describes the analyst as setting a fraud flag.
While monitoring billing numbers and blocking those numbers displaying evidence of fraudulent usage is an important component of fraud prevention, no one technique in itself is sufficient to prevent fraudulent access. Perpetrators of fraud (also referred to herein as "hackers") are persistent and creative and are constantly developing new ways of evading fraud prevention mechanisms. In addition, there is a ready (and relatively inexpensive) supply of stolen billing numbers available to those who are so disposed to obtain and use them. Thus, the fraud detection and prevention techniques that focus on repeated use of a single billing number may not be effective against hackers who have a supply of different billing numbers.
For example, a series of fraudulent calls may be made from a single originating ANI over time. One prominent example of this type of fraudulent activity is when an attempt is made to hack into a private PBX in order to access information or to use the PBX to make a subsequent call. In the latter case, the call to the PBX may be a local or domestic call, which is less likely to attract attention, whereas the subsequent call made from the PBX may be a costly international call. If such calls are made using different billing numbers, then the fraud will not be prevented based on fraud prevention techniques that rely on repeated use of a billing number.
One possible way of preventing this type of fraud would be to monitor the activity of the originating ANI. A fraud alert may be generated if a threshold number of different billing numbers are used to place calls within a certain time interval. The threshold and time interval may be set based on the type of originating ANI. For example, the number of different billing numbers used to place calls at a payphone over the course of an hour will likely be relatively high, since many different people have access to such a phone. By contrast, the number of different billing numbers for calls placed from a private cellular phone would normally be quite low. The fraud alert may be followed by blocking calls from the originating ANI, for example. Such a technique is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/575,469 [COS 99-046] entitled "Fraud Detection Based On Call Attempt Velocity On Originating Number", filed May 22, 2000, and assigned to the assignee of the present application.
Under certain circumstances, however, a hacker may readily avoid the blocking of an originating ANI. For example, the hacker may have a bank of payphones available, and simply move on to the next payphone once the one he is using becomes blocked.
A hacker operating in such a manner, using different billing numbers as well as moving from one phone (originating ANI) to another is often placing calls to the same terminating ANI. The hacker will often be trying to access a private PBX which takes repeated calls in order to achieve the hacker's goal by trial and error. (The "goal" may be determining how to access a database serving the PBX or an outside line of the PBX, so that a subsequent call may be placed through the PBX.)
Thus, it would be desirable to have a system and method for detecting and preventing fraud in a telecommunications system where repeated calls are being made to the same terminating ANI from different originating ANIs using different billing numbers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fraud detection based on call attempt velocity on terminating number


Set forth herein is a preparation of ibuprofen (2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionic acid) in the free acid form that is suitable for topical administration. The topical ibuprofen formulation is prepared by dissolving the free acid form of ibuprofen, or preparing a homogeneous suspension of the free acid form of ibuprofen, in the presence of a pharmaceutically acceptable solvent so as to produce a topical drug formulation compatible with the penetration of 2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionic acid through the skin tissue. Topical formulations of ibuprofen can be based on a pharmaceutically acceptable solvent such as, e.g., a pyrrolidone solvent or dimethylacetamide.

Ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-pyretic agent, is a member of a group of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Past formulations of ibuprofen have chiefly made use of the water-based form (salt form) of ibuprofen. Ibuprofen in its salt form forms the basis of such drug products as Advil® (potassium salt form of ibuprofen). Use of ibuprofen in its free acid form has been limited to formulations intended for oral administration, e.g., Motrin® in tablet and oral suspension. IBU® Ibuprofen Tablets USP (Knoll Laboratories, Mount Olive, N.J.) is supplied in tablets for oral administration.
NSAIDs are highly effective in treating pain and inflammation in joints, muscles and soft tissue, and are generally given orally for a systemic effect. However, some individuals are unable to tolerate oral intake of ibuprofen. For example, ingestion may result in vomiting, thus leading to ineffective dosing. Others are able to ingest ibuprofen but, as a result, develop gastric mucosal lesions. These lesions lead to gastric discomfort and abdominal pain.


Global planarization of a non-planar substrate surface is accomplished using a sacrificial material in conjunction with an etching and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) technique. The sacrificial material has a greater rate of removal relative to the substrate during the CMP process and at a lesser rate relative to the material during the etching process. The use of the sacrificial material enables the etching process to substantially reduce the height of topographic features that occur in the non-planar surface. The CMP process is then performed on the etched material surface to produce a planarized material surface that is substantially free of feature dependent dishing. Such a process is useful for planarizing material layers in fabricating integrated circuit devices as well as for planarizing recessed structures in such devices.

Typical ultra large scale integration (ULSI) and very large scale integration (VLSI) semiconductor chips include arrays of electrical devices having contacts interconnected by patterns of metal strips. The patterns of metal strips in these chips are often multi-layered and separated by layers of an insulating material. During fabrication, it is desirable to produce substantially planar surfaces in forming these layers.
Planar device layers are necessary to facilitate masking and etching procedures. A planar surface provides a critical constant depth of focus across the device for exposing patterns during photolithographic operations to produce sharply focused features in the corresponding layer patterns. In addition, planar surfaces contribute to the formation of device layers having constant thicknesses across a semiconductor wafer. The constant thicknesses of the layers improve the yield of dies cut from the wafer and the reliability of such dies.
Nevertheless, fabrication of planar device surfaces including those having recessed or damascene structures, such as interconnect strips, has presented complications with conventional etch back techniques. Presently, plasma etching or reactive ion etching (RIE) of metals with a resist planarizing medium are used for planarization in fabricating recessed structures. A description of an exemplary RIE process is provided in R. Kraft and S. Prengle, "High-Density Plasma Etching 0.35 Micron Polysilicon Gates", Solid State Technology, pp. 57-60 (August, 1995), which is incorporated by reference herein. However, these techniques tend to suffer from increasingly poor yield as device geometries increasingly become smaller than 0.5 .mu.m.
Another planarization technique is chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). CMP is typically performed by polishing a semiconductor wafer on a rotating platen using a slurry typically composed of fumed silica or alumina suspended in an aqueous-based solution. Exemplary CMP methods are described in R. Jairath et al., "Chemical Mechanical Polishing: Process Manufacturability", Solid State Technology, pp. 71-77 (July, 1994), which is incorporated by reference herein. However, such a polishing process for global planarization of dielectric materials, such as silicon dioxide, or soft metals, such as aluminum and copper, tend to cause "dishing". "Dishing" refers to the excessive removal of material in one or more regions during planarization causing the surface in such regions to be lower relative to surrounding surface regions. In particular, application of a CMP process to structures recessed in a substrate tends to cause dishing of the recessed structure relative to the surrounding substrate surface rather than planarization.
The degree of dishing that occurs during such polishing is strongly topographic feature size dependent. Wide depressed regions in a surface tend to polish faster than narrow depressed regions. As a consequence, wide depressed regions typically experience a higher degree of dishing than narrow depressed regions. Exemplary wide recessed structures include power buses which often have widths greater than 200 .mu.m on the same device layer as signal interconnect strips having widths less than 0.5 .mu.m.
Hard mask materials, such as silicon nitride, that polish at a slower rate than the material of the recessed structures have been deposited over the recessed structures in order to reduce the amount of dishing. Exemplary planarization methods that employ hard masks are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,669, which is incorporated by reference herein. However, such use of hard masks reduces but does not necessarily eliminate dishing. Moreover, the hard mask must polish at a much lower rate during the CMP process than the recessed structure material. Accordingly, the processing time required for such planarization is often much longer than that required by other conventional planarization techniques. As a consequence, this technique tends to significantly increase the overall device fabrication time which is undesirable in the commercial production of large quantities of the devices.
Thus, planarization techniques that limit dishing and device fabrication times is desirable.

Method of global planarization in fabricating integrated circuit devices


An ignition coil for motor vehicles with a single output terminal comprises a body (16) carrying at one of its ends a flexible cap (18) provided with a seat (24) designed to receive an end (10) of a spark plug. The cap (18) comprises a high-voltage terminal (38, 40) electrically connected to the high-voltage winding of the coil and provided with a connection portion designed to receive a terminal (14) of the plug (10). A diode (26) is housed inside said cap (18) and is connected in series between two portions (38, 40) of said high-voltage terminal.

The present invention relates to an ignition coil for motor vehicles, comprising a single output terminal, designed to be mounted directly on the end portion of a corresponding spark plug. Coils of this type comprise a body carrying at one end a flexible cap provided with a seat designed to receive the end of a spark plug. The cap comprises a high-voltage terminal electrically connected to the high-voltage winding of the coil and provided with a connection portion designed to receive a terminal of the plug.
Spark plugs of the type specified above, provided with a diode connected in series between the high-voltage winding and the high-voltage terminal of the coil are known. The use of a high-voltage diode in a single-output coil has the peculiar function of eliminating the overvoltages generated by the oscillations of the primary current at the start of the charging cycle. These overvoltages may cause undesired pre-ignition. In coils of the known type, the high-voltage diode is set inside the coil body.
The aim of the present invention is to provide an ignition coil of the type described above that is simpler from the constructional standpoint, more reliable, and of smaller dimensions than known coils.
According to the present invention the above purpose is achieved by an ignition coil having the characteristics that form the subject of the main claim.


A USB flash memory device connected to a USB bus includes a flash memory module including at least one flash memory, a USB connector for transferring data packets onto the USB bus and receiving the data packets from the USB bus, a USB controller for controlling the USB connector according to the data packets and for controlling storage of data in and retrieval of data from the flash memory module, a display controller for storing memory storage capacity information of the flash memory module in a usage display register, a display window for displaying a value that is based on the content of the usage display register, and a power unit for supplying a power to the USB flash memory device. The USB connector is configured to be coupled to the USB bus. The USB flash memory device further includes a folding portion which is proximal to the USB connector and enables the USB flash memory device to be folded. According to the present invention, data storage information of the USB flash memory device and additional information such as current time and data storage time can be visually determined through the display window, even in cases where the USB flash memory device is not coupled to the host platform. Further, the folding portion of the USB flash memory device enhances space usability and efficiency.

Conventional data storage devices generally fall into two categories. The first category is electronic, solid-state memory devices such as read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). These memory devices are generally fixed within a computer. They are not intended to be removable or portable so that they may be used on different computers to permit the transfer of data from one computer to another computer.
The second category is surface-based data storage devices in which data is stored, typically, on the surface of a disk or tape. Examples of surface storage devices are magnetic disks, CD-ROMs, and USB disks coupled externally to the computer through a mechanical drive mechanism to be installed in, or coupled to, the computer. Accordingly, the magnetic disks or CD-ROMs are removable and portable.
The USB disk includes a flash memory device therein to store real-time data, voice, and audio and video data. An example of the USB disk is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,354. FIG. 1 is a re-creation of FIG. 5 of the above patent and shows a computer host system having a USB flash memory device.
Referring to FIG. 1, a flash memory system 42 includes a host platform 44 for operating a non-volatile USB flash memory storage device. The host platform 44 is connected to a USB flash memory device 46 through a USB cable 48 and is connected to the USB cable 48 through a USB host connector 50. The USB flash memory device 46 is connected to the USB cable 48 through a USB flash device connector 52. The host platform 44 includes a USB host controller 54 for controlling and managing USB transmission on a USB bus. The USB flash memory device 46 has a USB flash memory device controller 56 for controlling the USB flash memory device 46 and for managing the interface with the USB flash memory device 46 and USB bus, the USB flash memory device connector 52, and at least one flash memory module 58. Preferably, the flash memory module 58 includes a flash memory module array in which data is stored.
When the USB flash memory device 46 is coupled to the host platform 44, a standard USB process is established. During the USB process, the host platform 44 configures the arrangement of the USB flash memory device 46 and the data transfer mode with the USB flash memory device 46. During the course of the configuration, the host platform 44 determines the overall storage capacity of the USB flash memory device 46 and determines the remaining, unused, capacity. In this manner, information related to the storage capacity of the USB flash memory device 46 is determined by directly connecting the USB flash memory device 46 to the USB host connector 50 of the host platform 44.
Unfortunately, the above conventional method of perceiving the data storage capacity of the USB flash memory device 46 has disadvantages in that it is required that the computer system of the host platform 44 must be powered up and the USB flash memory device 46 must be connected to the USB host connector 50 for determining storage capacity information of the flash memory device 46.

Folding USB flash memory device for providing memory storage capacity


An isolator decoupler comprising a shaft, a pulley journalled to the shaft, a torsion spring engaged between the pulley and a carrier, the torsion spring loaded in an unwinding direction, the carrier engaged with a first spring ring, the first spring ring engaged in series with a second spring ring, the second spring ring engaged in series with a wrap spring, the wrap spring frictionally engagable with a shaft surface, the first spring ring, the second spring ring and wrap spring each loaded in an unwinding direction, and a sealing member radially expands under acceleration to sealingly engage the pulley, the sealing member engaged with the shaft when not under acceleration.

Diesel engine use for passenger car applications is increasing due to the benefit of better fuel economy. Further, gasoline engines are increasing compression ratios to improve the fuel efficiency. As a result, diesel and gasoline engine accessory drive systems have to overcome the vibrations of greater magnitude from crankshafts due to above mentioned changes in engines.
Due to increased crankshaft vibration plus high acceleration/deceleration rates and high alternator inertia the engine accessory drive system is often experiencing belt chirp noise due to belt slip. This will also reduce the belt operating life.
Crankshaft isolators/decouplers and alternator decouplers/isolators have been widely used for engines with high angular vibration to filter out vibration in engine operation speed range and to also control belt chirp.
Representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 8,534,438 which discloses a decoupler with driven and driving members, a clutch, a torsional vibration damper and a lubricant. The clutch is received in a bore in the driven member and includes a carrier, a wrap spring and at least one spring. The wrap spring is formed of spring wire and has a plurality of coils disposed between a first end, which is received in a groove in the carrier, and a second end. The portion of the wrap spring outside the carrier has an outer circumferential spring surface that is abutted against the inner circumferential surface of the bore. The at least one spring is disposed between the carrier and the driving member to transmit rotary power from the driving member to the carrier. The torsional vibration damper is coupled to the driving member for rotation therewith. The lubricant is disposed on the remaining portion of the wrap spring.
What is needed is an isolating decoupler comprising a sealing member that radially expands under acceleration to sealingly contact the pulley. The present invention meets this need.


A bath includes a water outlet or outlets (5) arranged to in use direct a flow of water from behind onto the upper body of a bather or bathers sitting in the bath and leaning back against the wall (1) of the bath. The upper body water outlet(s) may comprise two spaced water outlets one positioned to direct a water flow onto the left-side upper body of a bather and the other positioned to direct a water flow at the same temperature onto the right-side upper body of the bather.

A standard bath is filled with generally warm water, from taps or a mixer and spout, and is used for bathing.
A spa bath typically incorporates an intake and a number of spa jets positioned in the bath side walls, and piping around the exterior of the bath, through which water is circulated from an intake to the jets in the side walls of the bath by one or more pumps. A spa bath provides the bathes) with a more luxuriant bathing experience.


A decorative article for displaying themes that may be used in decorating, educating, or advertising. The decorative article comprises a base, one or more frontal portions, and one or more flexible branch elements connecting each of the frontal portions to the base. The branch elements suspend the frontal elements in front of the base. Air current or other motion attributed to external forces can induce the frontal elements into a random bouncing motion on the branch elements. The base and the frontal portions have predetermined shapes and are imprinted with predetermined graphical designs. The base, frontal portions and branch elements are created from thin, flexible and preferably transparent plastic material which make the graphical designs viewable from multiple directions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to ornamental articles. More particularly, the invention relates to flexible articles used for advertising, educational, or decorative purposes. The invention has particular utility used as a decoration, display, or advertisement adhered to a smooth surface, especially a glass window or door. However, the invention also may have utility in other applications.
2. Background Information
In the past, various devices have been used as decorations. The known art includes posters, signs, clings, mobiles and point-of-purchase danglers. However, these devices and methods have significant limitations and shortcomings. Specifically, posters, signs and clings are static, two-dimensional graphical articles whose subjects cannot dynamically interrelate either with each other or with a background scene. Furthermore, although two-sided clings are capable of being displayed in two directions, the images of posters and signs are only capable of being displayed in one direction when attached to a smooth, transparent surface such as a glass door or window. Danglers, also known as shelf-talkers, and three-dimensional mobiles also fail to provide subjects that dynamically interrelate with other subjects or with a background scene.
Despite the need in the art for a decorative article which overcomes the disadvantages, shortcomings and limitations of the prior art, none insofar as is known has been developed. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved decorative article which is three-dimensional and aesthetically pleasing from the front and rear. It is a further object of this invention to provide a decorative article that has both a background scene and a foreground, wherein the subjects of the foreground dynamically interrelate with each other and with the subjects and imagery of the background scene in a predetermined arrangement. Additionally, it is an object of this invention to provide a decorative article that is easily manufactured, packaged, distributed, displayed, removed, stored, and re-displayed.


A method for converting a source file system to a target file system while maintaining data integrity is disclosed. Calls to the target file system are used to convert the files in the source file system to files in the target file system. After creating a minimal target file system by placing data structures for the target file system on the disk, the data structures, directories and file data for the source file system are stored in a new file on the target file system. Data associated with the files from the source file system are parsed out of the new file and provided to the target file system to create files on the target file system, thereby completing the conversion.

File systems are primarily concerned with the overall management of files in a computer system. Among other things, file systems generally contain methods for (1) providing for files to be stored, referenced, shared and secured; (2) accessing data stored in files; and (3) maintaining file integrity to ensure that the information in a file remains uncorrupted.
One file system, which is used in the MS-DOS operating system, uses a File Allocation Table (FAT table) to assist in the performance of the above-described functions. This FAT file system requires a large number of sectors at the beginning of the disk for holding FAT meta data structures such as the boot sector, the FAT table and the Root directory. The FAT file system manages files by grouping the sectors or areas on the disk into a finite set of clusters or allocation units. Each cluster is assigned a number, or a FAT entry, which corresponds to its position on the disk.
In practice, a FAT file can be distributed over several clusters which may or may not be contained in the same or consecutive sectors on the disk. To read or access a file, the FAT file system checks the FAT to find all the clusters associated with the file. Conversely, to write or store a new file, the FAT file system checks the FAT to find clusters which are available on the disk. For backup and other purposes, duplicate copies of the FAT table are maintained by the FAT file system (i.e., a primary FAT table and a backup FAT table).
In the FAT file system, clusters are fixed in size and represent the smallest possible storage unit on a disk. Since each file wastes one half of a cluster on average, it is beneficial to keep cluster size small to efficiently conserve disk space. However, in the FAT file system, clusters are only addressable using a 16 bit address, and accordingly, there are a limited number of clusters available. As a result, as the disk size grows, so does the cluster size.
Many other file systems have been developed since the FAT file system. One such system is the OFS file system. OFS differs from the FAT file system in several ways. First, OFS uses only a small number of sectors to hold its primary meta data. Second, OFS uses 32 bits for clusters which allow a large number of clusters. Third, OFS uses a variety of complex data structures allowing "sparse" files (i.e. files in which some sections have holes or contain no data).
As new files systems are developed, users often wish to convert to the newer file systems to take advantage of the new file systems' capabilities. For example, users may wish to convert from the FAT file system to the OFS file system. However, converting from one file system to another is typically a non-trivial procedure which often involves a significant amount of user time and an ever present danger of losing file integrity and data.
Several prior art procedures have been developed to convert files from one file system (a source file system) to another file system (a target file system). One procedure entails 1) backing up the hard disk which contains the source file system, 2) formatting the hard disk with the target file system, and 3) restoring the individual files onto the target file system. While workable, the above procedure has certain drawbacks and deficiencies. A major drawback in the above procedure is that it is time consuming from a user standpoint. Backing up, formatting and restoring an entire hard disk usually requires a substantial amount of user participation and a substantial amount of down-time for the system. Further, this procedure requires an auxiliary backup mechanism to be available, such as a magnetic tape drive with magnetic tape or a floppy disk drive with a set of disks. The latter method of using a floppy disks is not viable to backup large hard disks.
Another procedure entails an on-the-fly-conversion of the file system which converts the file system without requiring the hard disk to be reformatted. This type of conversion has been used to convert files from the FAT file system to Windows NT.TM. NTFS and has also been used to convert files from the OS/2 file system HPFS to Windows NT.TM. NTFS. In this procedure, a conversion program typically analyzes each of the files on the source file system and creates the appropriate target file data structure information, i.e. meta data, for the files. This target file meta information, which includes pointers to all of the individual files in the source file system, is necessary for the target file system to access and maintain the files. After the target file meta information is verified, the boot record is updated to point to the new meta data, thereby completing the conversion of the disk to the target file system.
A major problem associated with on-the-fly conversion methods is that the conversion program must know the detailed intricacies of both the source file system and the target file system. As a result, the conversion programs are typically large and complex, difficult to code and difficult to maintain as changes in the source or target file systems necessitate corresponding changes to the conversion program. If the conversion program does not have all the capabilities of the target file system, the conversion program may not be utilizing all of the benefits of the target file system. Of course, a more serious danger of losing data integrity may also exist.

Method and system of converting data from a source file system to a target file system


An device and method for providing multiple adaptive bit rate (ABR) streams using a single transcoder is disclosed. The device receives a group of content segments for a media channel, and converts, using a transcoder, a first of the content segments from a source format to a first data format, a first time duration for converting the first content segment being less than a second time duration for receiving each group of segments. The converted segment is then sent to a client device. On receiving a request from the device for content segments in a second data format, the device performs an initialization of the transcoder to convert content segments from the source format to the second data format, the initialization being completed during a residual period of time, or “operational gap” produced by a difference between the first time duration and the second time duration.

An adaptive bit rate (ABR) server advertises multiple stream profiles at different bit rates, and uses a separate transcoder for each advertised stream profile. A client may choose a first profile to receive a stream at a first bit rate, but due to network restrictions or processing power later elect to switch to a different profile at a second bit rate. The server will then, beginning with the next segment, use a different transcoder to transcode and provide the stream to the client at the new bit rate. Because live streams are transcoded in real time, latency may be introduced by the change to the new bit rate due to communications with the streaming client, tear down of existing buffers, reallocation of memory, and initiation of the transcoding at the new bit rate. In this regard, the streaming client may include an appropriately sized buffer to accommodate such increases in latency.

Providing multiple ABR streams using a single transcoder


A transmission terminal includes an authentication unit that determines, when the transmission terminal is not connected to a network, whether authentication of a storage medium is confirmed based on authentication information stored in a storage unit and authentication information read from the storage medium, and transmits, when the transmission terminal is connected to the network, an authentication request containing the authentication information read from the storage medium to an authentication device connected to the network, and a maintenance unit that alters maintenance functions executable on the transmission terminal based on whether authentication of the storage medium is confirmed based on the authentication information stored in the storage unit or a notice indicating that authentication of the storage medium is confirmed is received from the authentication device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission terminal to transmit and receive image data and voice data to and from a device connected to the transmission terminal via a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a videoconference system to conduct videoconferences between remote places via communication networks, such as the Internet, is becoming increasingly popular.
Videoconferencing is communication with others using video and audio software and hardware to see and hear each other. To conduct such a videoconference, the videoconference system uses transmission terminals (which may also be referred to as "terminals") which are arranged in a conference room of one of the remote places where persons concerned, such as attendants of the videoconference, are present. Each of the transmission terminals collects voices of the persons concerned, such as discussions in the videoconference, and captures images of the conference room and the persons concerned, converts the voices and the images into digital data, and transmits the digital data to the other party's transmission terminal via a network, such as the Internet. The digital data is received at a transmission terminal of the other party's conference room, and the received data is reproduced and output by a speaker and a display device of the transmission terminal as image data and audio data. In this manner, the videoconference is conducted between the remote places in the conditions closely resembling reality.
In the videoconference system of this kind, all transmission terminals and a video delivery server which participate in a videoconference are connected together. The video delivery server controls distribution of image data and audio data to the respective transmission terminals, and the videoconference may be implemented as a multipoint distribution service.
One of the major problems arising on the transmission terminals in the videoconference system is that image data and voice data are not transmitted correctly. Causes of the problem may include a fault of the transmission terminal hardware, a fault of the transmission lines between the transmission terminals and the video delivery server through the Internet, or a lack of network bandwidth capacity needed for conducting the videoconference.
To perform troubleshooting of each of the transmission terminals, the following methods may be used. A user may check the content of a fault of the transmission terminal concerned by executing a self-diagnosis function of the transmission terminal. A service person may visit the site of a user and check a defective transmission terminal body. If the service person cannot discover a fault of the transmission device on the site, the transmission device may be carried to a service center of a manufacturer and troubleshooting of the defective transmission device may be performed by analysis using a special maintenance tool.
However, from the reasons of security and quality assurance, use of some of maintenance functions for finding out faults of terminal devices is restricted only to authorized service persons. For example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-303215. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-303215 discloses an electronic device where a level of maintenance which is permitted to be conducted is set beforehand. The electronic device includes an authentication unit which authenticates a person who intends to conduct maintenance of the electronic device, and an alteration unit which temporarily allows maintenance in response to an altering instruction if the person who intends to conduct maintenance of the electronic device is authenticated by the authentication unit.
In this connection, there are two authentication methods that are used to authenticate a service person in order to permit the service person to conduct maintenance of a device: online authentication and offline authentication. Online authentication is an authentication method by which service persons are authenticated by a server connected to the device via a network. Offline authentication is an authentication method by which service persons are locally authenticated without using communication via a network.
The security levels at which the two authentication methods are used are different from each other, and it is preferred that the maintenance range permitted for service persons when the offline authentication is used is more limited than that when the online authentication is used. However, in the maintenance of the conventional electronic devices according to the related art including Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-303215, there is no definition or indication of the maintenance range when the offline authentication is used and of the maintenance range when the online authentication is not available.

Transmission terminal, transmission system and recording medium


A measurement apparatus (1) comprising at least one shielded electronic measurement circuit (2) configured to measure and process electrical signals and a user interface (6) used by a user to interact with the electronic measurement circuits (2) of said measurement apparatus (1), wherein the user interface (6) comprises at least one adaptable graphical user interface (6A) projected by a projection unit (7) of said measurement apparatus on one or several projection areas.

There exists a wide variety of different measurement apparatuses used for measuring measurement objects including electronic components, electronic circuits or devices under test, DUT, having a plurality of electronic components. A measurement apparatus can be used for instance to measure technical characteristics of mobile phones or smartphones and can be used to test and/or measure several devices under test, DUT, in parallel. A measurement apparatus can comprise one or more electronic measurement circuits configured to measure and/or process electrical signals. These electronic measurement circuits can also comprise means for generating test signals applied to devices under test, DUT, such as mobile phones. An electronic measurement circuit can comprise interfaces to connect ports of the device under test, DUT, via cables to the respective measurement circuit. Conventional measurement apparatuses comprise a user interface having a display and control components such as knobs or buttons to interact with the measurement apparatus. The display and control components are assembled to form an operating panel of the measurement apparatus. In a conventional measurement apparatus, the arrangement of the control components and/or display units is fixed.
Accordingly, a user interface in a conventional measurement apparatus cannot be arranged flexibly for different measurement objects of interest. For instance, the user interface of a conventional measurement apparatus cannot be configured for different device variants of different measurement object variants, for instance different variants of smartphones to be measured by the measurement apparatus.
A drawback of a conventional measurement apparatus is that if a component of the operating panel of the user interface such as a touchscreen display cannot be procured anymore a redesign of the complete operation panel becomes necessary.
A further disadvantage of a conventional measurement apparatus resides in the fact that the measurement apparatus may be used for a huge variety of different measurement objects but its user interface is fixed and cannot be adjusted to the different needs for performing the different measurement procedures and/or performing measurement procedures for different kinds or variants of measurement objects.
Further, the size of the measurement apparatus is relevant. In particular, at mobile phone production sites, different measurement devices or measurement apparatuses have to be stacked and need to be very compact and small. Moreover, some measurement applications or procedures at very high frequencies do not allow for long measurement cables and thus measurement apparatuses have to be small so that they can be placed more closely to a device under test, DUT.
A further drawback of conventional measurement apparatuses is that conventional user interfaces using display units may be problematic for RF shielding of the electronic measurement circuits located within the housing of the measurement apparatus. Moreover, display units are expensive and are not always needed for certain measurement procedures. Further, for measurement apparatuses used for low production volumes expenses for a design or a display unit of the operating panel of the user interface are comparatively high. A conventional user interface of a measurement apparatus having an integrated display unit cannot be flexibly adapted to specific measurement tasks.

Measurement apparatus with projected user interface


A method of forming a conductive portion in an insulating material. The insulating material includes carbon and at least one other constituent. The method includes exposing the insulating material to ions to preferentially remove the other constituent.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon which in its purest form consists of a sheet, or a small number of stacked sheets, of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Graphene has remarkable material properties, including chemical and mechanical stability, high electron mobility and zero-gap semi-metal characteristics.
Graphene oxide is a variant of graphene which includes carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice and an additional constituent in the form of oxygenated functional groups in its basal and edge planes. These functionalities while allowing the graphene oxide to solubilize in different solvents including water, decreases the electrical conductivity of graphene oxide to the extent that it becomes insulating. Graphene oxide can be synthesized by oxidative exfoliation of graphite
The present inventors consider patterning of graphene oxide and other carbon containing insulating materials to be a potential route to opening bandgaps and for applications in nano-electronics and fabrication of planar micro-super capacitors.
Various reported methods of patterning graphene oxide rely on local thermal reduction to form conducting pathways. One reported method utilizes the heating power of lasers to produce mm scale features. For the purpose of nano-electrics much smaller features are required. Another reported method involves the hot tip of an atomic force microscope to imprint features on the scale of ˜15 nm. This method is technically complicated and requires special modification to commercially available apparatus.
Various embodiments of the invention aim to provide improvements in and for the formation of conductive pathways in insulating materials, or at least to provide an alternative for those concerned with conductive pathways in insulating materials.
It is not admitted that any of the information in this patent specification is common general knowledge, or that the person skilled in the art could be reasonably expected to ascertain or understand it, regard it as relevant or combine it in any way at the priority date.

Forming conductive portions in insulating materials matreials using an ion beam


The present invention is directed to a blanket having at least one snap stick inserted into or onto the blanket to maximize the surface area of the blanket that contacts the user.

There are numerous types of blankets. There are conventional wool, fleece, cotton, flannel, down and electrical thermal blankets. These blankets can be purchased where bedding and/or blankets are sold. These blankets are also referred to as conventional blankets.
Other types of blankets include convective blankets. Since 1992, Gaymar manufactures and sells convective warming blankets to prevent or treat hyper/hypothermia. Gaymar's blankets feature an inflatable quilt-like structure. The blankets attach two sheets of the same amount of flexible, lightweight material around their periphery and at various spots along their surfaces. In operation, heated air flows onto a patient's body from holes in the undersurface of Gaymar's blankets, but the blankets do not form a self-supporting or Quonset hut-like structure. Instead, Gaymar's blankets lie flat when inflated on a flat surface and rest substantially on a patient when in use.
Other blankets receive a fluid and the fluid circulates through and out of the blanket through conduits. Examples of these blankets include and are not limited to Gaymar's DHP 600 Series Hyper/Hypothermia blanket, DHL520 Rapr Round Blanket and T-pads. These blankets are similar to the convective blankets except there are no holes in the undersurface. Instead, the fluid traverses through a path defined by areas where the two sheets are joined together. Once the entire fluid circulates through the path, the fluid is released through an outlet to a conduit. Hereinafter, such blankets are referred to as fluid path blankets.
For this application, the term "blanket" by itself, refers to any of the above-identified blankets. If a particular type of blanket is identified, then that sentence and/or paragraph is limited to that particular blanket design.
A problem with the blankets is that the blankets can not be positioned below the user and simultaneously extend toward the opposite side of the user (that includes sides of the user) without adhesives. Adhesives and tape can occlude the flow of the fluid in the convective and fluid path blankets. Such occlusion can be deleterious to providing the desired thermal energy to certain parts of the opposite side of the user.
Another problem with using tape is that tape does not allow the user to easily reposition the blanket without subjecting the blanket to rips and tears.
Another problem with tape is that some patients have skin reactions to the tape and the adhesive of the tape.
These problems and others are solved by the present invention.


A trigger assembly for an electrical device that includes a main body having a housing within which an electrical switch unit is disposed. The trigger assembly may include a trigger member having an engagement portion that is hingedly connected to the main body so that the trigger member is rotatable about a hinge relative to the main body. The trigger assembly may include an actuator member operably-connected to the trigger member that is movable between an OFF position and an ON position. The trigger assembly may include a lock-off mechanism including a lock-off member that is selectively operable to restrict movement of the trigger member towards the main body and to thereby restrict movement of the actuator member from the OFF position into the ON position, and, to not restrict movement of the trigger member toward the main body.

Electric power tools will often include a trigger member that is squeezed towards a main body of the tool to actuate operation of the tool motor. The tool will also typically include a lock-off mechanism which is a safety mechanism that can be operated to prevent the trigger member from being inadvertently squeezed and the electric device being turned on. With certain lock-off mechanism designs, the lock-off member is rotatably mounted on to the trigger member and is dependent on the trigger device to function properly. Hence if the trigger member is damaged, for instance due to heat stress deformation, operation of the lock-off mechanism may also be compromised so as to pose a risk of harm to the user. Further, the components of existing lock-off mechanisms often tend to be readily exposed to the environment and are thus subject to degradation and wear and tear which may not only cause the lock-off mechanism to fail but is also unsightly to the user.

Lock-off assembly for use in locking-off a trigger of an electrical device


A lehr loader (20) for transferring a line of freshly formed glass containers (C) on a cross-conveyor (XC) transversely of the cross-conveyor into an annealing lehr (L). The lehr loader has a superimposed stack of three carriages (48, 76, 94), an enclosed linear actuator (50) in the form of an enclosed ball screw mechanism with a housing (56) is attached to the frame, and a reversible, co-axial a.c. servo motor (52) is provided to cause reciprocation of the lowermost carriage. An enclosed linear actuator (78) in the form of an enclosed ball screw mechanism with a housing (82) attached to the lowermost carriage (76) and a co-axial reversible, a.c. servo motor (80) is provided to cause reciprocation of the intermediate carriage. An enclosed linear actuator (96) in the form of an enclosed ball screw mechanism with a housing (102) attached to the intermediate carriage (76) and a reversible, a.c. servo motor (98) is provided to cause reciprocation of the uppermost carriage (94).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transfer device for transferring articles disposed in a linear array on a conveyor transversely of the conveyor into an article processing unit. More particularly, this invention relates to a transfer device of the foregoing character for transferring freshly formed glass containers to the upper horizontal surface of a moving conveyor of an annealing lehr, namely, a type of transfer device often called a lehr loader or a stacker.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,488 (Bolin) discloses a lehr loader or stacker having a vertical series of driven carriages, the lowermost of which is supported by a support structure at an elevation above the floor of the plant in which the lehr loader is installed. The lowermost carriage is movable toward an adjacent annealing lehr to advance a linear series of glass containers on a conveyor, described in the reference as a cross-conveyor, positioned between the stacker and the lehr, transversely of the cross-conveyor into the lehr. An intermediate carriage is mounted on the lowermost carriage. The intermediate carriage is movable with the lowermost carriage toward and away from the lehr and is independently movable with respect to the lowermost carriage in a direction parallel to the direction of movement of the cross-conveyor to keep new containers on the cross-conveyor from piling up against a pusher bar carried by a third carriage during the motion of the lowermost carriage toward the lehr. The third carriage, which is the uppermost carriage in the series, is mounted above the intermediate carriage and is movable with the lowermost carriage and the intermediate carriage and is movable in a vertical direction independently of the intermediate carriage and the lowermost carriage to elevate the pusher bar above the tops of incoming containers on the cross-conveyor during the return of the pusher bar to a start position. The motion of each of the carriages of the stacker of the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,488 is actuated by an axially fixed, rotatable screw drive carried by the underlying carriage, or the support structure in the case of drive for the lowermost carriage, and the rotatable screw is rotatable in a nut that is fixed to the drive carriage.
The rotating screw carriage drives of a stacker according to the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,488 have many operating advantages over other lehr loader carriage drive techniques, such as hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders or motors, in that rotating screw drives have higher starting torques and are less jerky and more controllable in their motions. Unfortunately, the environment of a glass container manufacturing facility is quite hostile to rotating screw drives of the type described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,488, due to dust or other particles that may contaminate the nut contacting surfaces of the rotatable screws, or the tendency of the rotatable screws to sling lubricant outwardly when rotating at the speeds of rotation needed for proper operation of a lehr loader, and/or the high temperatures that are inherently present in the operation of a lehr loader. Because of such problems, the inventor of the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,488 subsequently patented a lehr loader that substituted endless belt drives for the rotatable screw drives of the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,488, as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,077 (Bolin). However, the use of endless drives to drive the carriages of a lehr loader introduces other problems into the operation of a lehr loader, such as the inherent low starting torque of such drives and problems encountered in accurately controlling the positions of the movable carriages due to the stretching of belts in a belt-driven system or the backlash between chains and drive sprockets in a chain-driven system.
Other lehr loaders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4.067,434 (Mumford) and 3,184,031 (Dunlap), which were assigned to the assignee of this application or one of its predecessors, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated by reference herein, and in published UK Patent application GB 2174667A.


The present invention provides a dynamic power spectrum management method, a spectrum optimization system, and a client device, which can improve spectrum management. The method includes: calculating, from a tax factor containing user crosstalk information, a water-filling parameter corresponding to the case that total power of each user is below or equal to a threshold of total power of the user; calculating, from the water-filling parameter, power allocated to each user in each sub-carrier until convergence is attained for all users. Correspondingly, the present invention further provides a spectrum optimization system and a client device. In effect, the present invention can improve the spectrum management.

The technology of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a high speed transmission technology in which data is transmitted through a twist pair which is designed for voice transmission, i.e. Unshielded Twist Pair (UDP). The DSL includes the Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), the Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL), the Digital Subscriber Line (IDSL) based upon the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), and the Single-pair High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (SHDSL), etc.
With the increase of frequency bands used for the various digital subscriber line technologies (xDSL), the issue of crosstalk, especially the issue of crosstalk in high frequency bands becomes apparent more and more. As illustrated in FIG. 1, since the frequency division multiplexing is adopted in downlink and uplink channels of xDSL, the near-end crosstalk (NEXT) will not cause much damage to the performance of a system, but the far-end crosstalk (FEXT) will influence the transmission performance of the lines severely. When a plurality of users out of a bundle of cables require fulfillment of an xDSL service, some lines will be of low rate and unstable performance, and even not be fulfilled with required services due to the far-end crosstalk, which ultimately leads to a low line activation ratio of a DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer).
In a communication model in which Discrete Multi-Tone Modulation (DMT) is adopted and K users and N Tones are included, the signal transmission over each Tone can be expressed independently as follows:yn=Hnxn+σn
Normally, the receiving end of each xDSL modem takes interference from other modems as noise, and the data rate achieved by the kth user over the nth Tone can be calculated with the Shannon channel capacity formula as follows:
      b    n    k    =            log      2        (          1      +                                                                                h                n                                  k                  ,                  k                                                                    2                                          s            n            k                                                              ∑                              j                ≠                k                                                                                                                      h                    n                                          k                      ,                      j                                                                                        2                                                          s                n                j                                              +                      σ            k                                )
As can be seen from the above formula, the crosstalk will bring a serious influence upon the transmission capacity of a line, that is, reduce the line rate.
The Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) can be used to reduce the influence of the crosstalk. Specifically, the DSM is intended to reduce the crosstalk by automatically adjusting transmission power over each modem in a network. Particularly in the case of a CO/RT hybrid application, the influence of the crosstalk of a short line upon a long line may be more serious. The object of the DSM is to adjust the transmission power for each modem to achieve a balance between maximizing its rate and reducing influence of its crosstalk upon other modems.
The goal of the DSM is that in the case of total transmission power of each user not exceeding a threshold, value of transmission power of each user in each sub-carrier is adjusted so as to maximize a weighted rate sum of all the users. Consequently, the DSM solution can be expressed mathematically as follows:
      Maximize                                        ∑                  k          =          1                K                                    ω          k                                              ∑                          n              =              1                        N                                          b            n            k                                                  Subject                                                  to                                                                        ∑                          n              =              1                        N                                          S            n            k                              ≤              P        k              ,          ∀      k                  0      ≤                        S          n          k                                                                    ∀          k                      ,    n
Snk denotes the power allocated to the kth user in the nth sub-carrier;
Gnkk denotes a transmission coefficient of the kth subscriber line in the nth sub-carrier;
Gnkj(j≠k) denotes a crosstalk coefficient of the jth user in the nth sub-carrier with respect to the kth user;
Pk denotes a total power threshold of the kth user;
ωk denotes a rate weight coefficient of the kth user;
σ2 denotes noise power;
N denotes the total number of sub-carriers;
K denotes the total number of users.
This solution is a nonlinear constraint optimization solution, in which both the objective function and the constraint condition are non-convex functions of independent variables. Therefore, there is no efficient and complete solution algorithm. Among existing algorithms, OSB (Optimal Spectrum Balancing) and ISB (Iterative Spectrum Balancing) are the most popular ones. These two algorithms each change the original nonlinear constraint optimization problem to a nonlinear unconstraint optimization problem through an introduction of a Lagrange Multiplier. Thus, the above formula is converted into the follows:
      max                      ∑                  k          =          1                K                                                              ω          k                                              ∑                          n              =              1                        N                                                                                b            n            k                                +            ∑              k        =        1            K                                            λ        k                          (                              P            k                    -                                    ∑                              n                =                1                            N                                                                                S              n              k                                      )
λk is a Lagrange Multiplier, and the term
      ∑          k      =      1        K                          λ      k                  (                        P          k                -                              ∑                          n              =              1                        N                                                                                S            n            k                              )      indicates a total power constraint
      (                                        ∑                          n              =              1                        N                                                                                S            n            k                          ≤                  P          k                    ,              ∀        k              )    .
Since Pk is a constant, the above formula is equivalent to the follows:
      max                      ∑                  k          =          1                K                                                              ω          k                                              ∑                          n              =              1                        N                                                                                b            n            k                                -            ∑              k        =        1            K                                            λ        k                                    ∑                      n            =            1                    N                                                                    S          n          k
Thus, it will be sufficient to solve the above formula.
A method for implementing the DSM in the prior art is an Iterative Water-Filling (IWF) algorithm.
This is a greedy algorithm, which only takes into account the influence of snk upon the rate over the kth subscribe line, and if a current subscriber line is not of the kth user, it is assumed that wj=0,λj=0, ∀j≠k. In this way, Jn can be actually simplified as Jn≅Jnkwkbnk−λksnk, because at this time, wj=0,λj=0, ∀j≠k and snj(j≠k) is fixed. For a solution of snk=arg max Jnk, because there is a unique extremum point for Jnk=Wkbnk−λksnk, a solution expression can be derived for the extremum point. The entire algorithm can be iterated continuously in order to solve max Jnk for users over respective Tones until power allocation for all the users does not vary.
The IWF algorithm is less complicated, and can be applicable with relatively large N and K. Moreover, the algorithm is autonomic completely, i.e., users only need to optimize their rates and satisfy their power constraints respectively, and no exchange of data and information between different users or no central manager is needed. Therefore the algorithm can be readily implemented in a real system. However, the IWF is a greedy algorithm, and depends on an initial solution, so it can not ensure an optimal solution or an approximately optimal solution.

Dynamic power spectrum management method, spectrum optimization system and client device


An apparatus and a method synthesize additional information while rendering an object in a 3D-based terminal. A disparity of the additional information is determined with a value that is equal to a disparity of an object or greater than the disparity of the object by a predetermined value in a situation in which the object hidden by the additional information is to be synthesized using a depth buffer. The additional information is overlaid on an image with consideration of the determined disparity of the additional information.

A 3D-based terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention denotes a terminal that may allow an image that has been rendered by a terminal that may output a stereoscopic multiview using a 3D-based technology to be viewed as a disparity-based stereo image.
Recently, a virtual reality system, computer games, and such, are rapidly developing, such that a technology for expressing an object, a terrain, and such, of a real world in terms of three-dimension (3D) using a computer system is being studied and developed.
Generally, a user may feel a 3D effect by viewing, an object in different directions via a left eye and a right eye. Therefore, when a 2D plane display apparatus simultaneously displays two images that reflect a difference between a left eye and a right eye, that is, a disparity, the user feels a relevant image three dimensionally.
Accordingly, the conventional art provides a technique for obtaining two images that reflect the disparity using a virtual camera. That is, a method of generating the disparity in a virtual space via frustum parameter setting of the virtual camera using the virtual camera in a vertex processing operation of a general 3D graphic pipeline, and rendering the disparity according to the conventional pipeline to obtain two images that reflect the disparity has been provided.
Meanwhile, the generally serviced 3D contents overlay various additional information, for example, a user interface (UI) tool bar, subtitles, a chatting window, a popup menu, an interaction information display window, a mouse pointer, and a cursor overlaid for an interface on a personal computer (PC) on an image obtained by rendering a virtual world.
Because the image on which the additional information is to be overlaid is an image that includes a 3D effect, the additional information should be rendered to have a disparity in order to provide a natural stereo image to a user. However, when 3D contents that do not consider 3D conversion are automatically converted, additional information has disparity with no consistency with the disparity of objects forming a scene, or is rendered without disparity. In this situation, because the perspective formed by the disparity of an object output behind the additional information and the disparity of the additional information is not natural in a final image, the unnatural perspective disturbs a 3D effect felt by a user and increases fatigue of the user's eyes. In addition, even when 3D conversion is considered during production of 3D contents, it is difficult to consider the position of the additional information while considering 3D conversion with respect to all scenes in 3D contents where various scenes are generated according to the user's degree of freedom. Accordingly, a restriction condition that limits additional information position and a 3D effect provided to a final image occurs.

Apparatus and method for synthesizing additional information while rendering object in 3D graphic-based terminal


An inspection method is provided for accurate measurement of conductive materials as defects within a silicon oxide film base material embedded in a SOI wafer sample. In the method, the internal state of a sample 2 is inspected by measuring an conductive material within an insulating base material 11 formed upon the sample 2. Ions or electrons are irradiated upon the surface of the inspection region of the base material 11. A surface image is imaged with secondary electrons emitted from the surface 11a and the vicinity of the surface. The inspection region is etched and a surface image is imaged successively with secondary electrons emitted from a surface 11b and from its vicinity, renewed successively at the etched depth. The conductive material within the base material 11 is measured based upon the accumulated surface images.

Generally, a SOI (Silicon On Insulator) wafer with a single crystal silicon (Si) thin film (a SOI layer) upon an insulating silicon oxide (SiO2) layer (a BOX layer) provides high withstand voltage, since a substrate (the sample subjected to inspection) and the SOI layer, which is the device manufacturing layer, are electrically separated from one another; and the SOI wafer has features that the parasitic capacitance is low, and that, along with the anti radiation capability being great, there is no substrate bias effect. Therefore, beneficial effects such as high speed performance, low electrical power consumption, soft error free and the like are anticipated, and as substrates for next generation elements, various developments are being undertaken.
As a representative manufacturing method for a SOI wafer, there are so called bonding wafer technology and a SIMOX (Separation by IMplanted OXygen) technology. The bonding wafer technology forms an oxidized layer upon one or both of two wafers, and adhere the two wafers together intervening the oxide layer, in which the bonding is performed by heat processing the mechanically clamped wafers, and the SOI layer is manufactured by a mirror finish of the bond wafers by grinding and polishing. Since the crystallinity of the SOI layer made by the bonding is equal to that of the bulk silicon wafer, problems of defects and the like are few, and devices formed on the SOI layers have an excellent characteristics.
As a method for evaluating the defect density and the like within the SOI layer of the SOI wafer, there are proposed a method of washing the SOI wafer with an alkali detergent and dipping it into a solution of hydrofluoric acid to enlarge the etch pits due to the defects, and making the evaluation by measurement (for example, refer to Patent Reference No. 1), and a method of, after binding a SOI substrate and a bulk Si wafer, leaving only the surface Si layer upon the side of the bulk Si wafer, then etching the bulk Si wafer from the side of the surface Si layer using a selective etching liquid, and actualizing crystal defects and evaluating them (for example, refer to Patent Reference No. 2), and the like.
Furthermore, in a SIMOX technology, by oxygen ion implantation into a silicon substrate and high temperature heat processing within an Ar (argon)/O2 (oxygen) gas atmosphere, an oxygen super saturated region is converted into a BOX layer (SiO2 is formed by the oxygen ions being implanted into the Si), and SOI layer remains on the BOX layer, then forms a SOI wafer (a SIMOX wafer). In the SIMOX technology, since grinding and polishing as in the bonding wafer technology are not required, a benefit of comparatively simple manufacturing process is obtained.
However, in the SIMOX technology, there is a problem that during formation of the BOX layer within the silicon substrate by high temperature heat processing, a large number of defects are generated as Si parts which are not oxidized escaping from oxygen implantation. As a method of evaluating density of such defects in a BOX layer, an evaluation method is proposed (for example, refer to Patent Reference No. 3), in which, after eliminating the heat oxidized layer with HF liquid, SOI layer is etched with TMAH liquid and the defects within the BOX layer are etched to form etch pits, these etch pits are measured.
A method for defect analysis is known, in which a piece for analysis with a thin film shape is prepared from any part including the BOX layer, and by TEM (transmission electron microscope) observation of the piece, shape and types of defects are analyzed.
The following references are cited by way of example:
Patent Reference No. 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-74493 (FIG. 3)
Patent Reference No. 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-87450 (FIG. 1)
Patent Reference No. 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-31225 (FIG. 1)
However, in an inspection of a SIMOX wafer by the above described method for defect evaluation, since the defects are measured not directly, but indirectly by measuring etch pits originating from the defects, there is a problem in the accuracy of inspection. Moreover, since only those defects are etched which penetrate the BOX layer or contact with the SOI layer, defects positioned within the BOX layer are not etched and cannot be measured. In other words, since the defects distributing three dimensionally within the BOX layer escape from measurement, the accuracy of inspection is deteriorated.
In the above described method of analyzing defects, there is a problem that, since the piece for analysis is processed from any part of the BOX layer, when the defect density is high, the piece for analysis include defects in high probability, but when the defect density is low, the probability that the piece for analysis includes defects is low, and analysis of the defects based on observation of such piece for analysis is remarkably low in efficiency. In the prior art, due to the fact that accurate inspection of the defects has been impossible, or efficient analysis has been impossible, it has been difficult to specify manufacturing conditions for reducing production of defects, and it has been impossible to manufacture a SIMOX wafer of high quality with few defects. As well in a SOI wafer made by a bonding wafer technology, a method of accurate evaluation of defects has not been established.

Inspection method, manufacturing method of piece for analysis, analysis method, analyzer, manufacturing method of SOI wafer, and SOI wafer


A static mixer conduit comprises a longitudinally elongated conduit having tabs that are arranged with respective first edges adjacent the conduit wall and respective opposed second edges that are spaced radially inward from the conduit wall. These tabs are operable as fluid foils so that with fluid flowing through the conduit, greater fluid pressures manifest against the tab's upstream faces relative to reduced fluid pressures against their downstream faces. The resultant pressure difference in the fluid adjacent, respectively, the mutually opposed faces of each of the tabs causes a longitudinal flow of fluid through the conduit over and past each said tab to be redirected. As a result of the redirection, there is introduced a radial cross-flow component to the longitudinal flow of fluid through the conduit. In particular, the mixer further comprises a central body extending generally coaxially along at least a portion of the longitudinal extent of the conduit and defining between the central body's surface and the conduit wall an annular space confining the radial cross-flow. A method is also disclosed that comprises static mixing, over a longitudinal extent of a mixing volume having an annular cross-section, wherein radial cross-stream mixing in a longitudinal fluid flow results from flow-redirecting tabs redirecting a longitudinal fluid flow from an outer, fluid containment boundary surface, across an intervening space having an annular cross-section towards an inner boundary surface.

As a generalization, typical static mixers include fluid redirecting tabs, vanes, baffles, or the like, that are arranged in a fluid conduit and that are typically operable to divide, subdivide, separate adjacent subdivided flows, and then recombine the subdivided flows into a "shuffled" whole, as the fluid passes through that conduit.
In a departure from that more typical approach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,000 discloses a tab arrangement in a fluid conduit that has lower fluid back pressures than are associated with the more typical approach to more typical static mixer designs. In particular, this patented tab arrangement operates by creating radial vortex flow patterns that are generally transverse to the longitudinal flow through the fluid conduit in which these tabs are mounted. This results in a plurality of cross-stream mixing flows that are transverse to the longitudinal flow of the fluid along the length of the conduit. This approach is disclosed as an enhancement over the kind of mixing that would be expected to occur naturally in a conduit under turbulent fluid flow conditions.


A polishing apparatus capable of eliminating a variation in film thickness along a circumferential direction of a substrate, such as a wafer, is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a polishing head including an elastic membrane for pressing the substrate against the polishing surface and a retainer ring arranged so as to surround the substrate, the retainer ring being capable of contacting the polishing surface; a rotating mechanism configured to rotate the polishing head about its own axis; a rotation angle detector configured to detect a rotation angle of the polishing head; and a polishing controller configured to periodically change a polishing condition of the substrate in synchronization with the rotation angle of the polishing head.

With a recent trend toward higher integration and higher density in semiconductor devices, circuit interconnects become finer and finer and the number of levels in multilayer interconnects is increasing. In the fabrication process of the multilayer interconnects with finer circuit, as the number of interconnect levels increases, film coverage of step geometry (or step coverage) is lowered in thin film formation because surface steps grow while following surface irregularities on a lower layer. Therefore, in order to fabricate the multilayer interconnects, it is necessary to improve the step coverage and planarize the surface. It is also necessary to planarize semiconductor device surfaces so that irregularity steps formed thereon fall within a depth of focus in optical lithography. This is because finer optical lithography entails shallower depth of focus.
Accordingly, the planarization of the semiconductor device surfaces is becoming more important in the fabrication process of the semiconductor devices. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is the most important technique in the surface planarization. This chemical mechanical polishing is a process of polishing a wafer by bringing the wafer into sliding contact with a polishing surface of a polishing pad while supplying a polishing liquid containing abrasive grains, such as silica (SiO2), onto the polishing surface.
A polishing apparatus for performing CMP has a polishing table that supports the polishing pad thereon, and a substrate holder, which is called a top ring or a polishing head, for holding a wafer. When the wafer is polished using such a polishing apparatus, the substrate holder holds the wafer and presses it against the polishing surface of the polishing pad at a predetermined pressure, while the polishing table and the substrate holder are moved relative to each other to bring the wafer into sliding contact with the polishing surface to thereby polish a surface of the wafer.
As the types of semiconductor devices have been increasing dramatically in recent years, there has been a demand for polishing films having different film-thickness distributions for devices or CMP processes (e.g., an oxide film polishing process and a metal film polishing process). The reason of this is that each wafer has a different initial film-thickness distribution because a film-forming process, which is performed prior to the CMP process, varies depending on the type of film.
Generally, a wafer is required to have a uniform film-thickness distribution over an entire surface of the wafer. In a case where a wafer has different initial film thicknesses along a radial direction of the wafer, it is possible to control polishing rates (which are also referred to as removal rates) along the radial direction of the wafer by regulating pressures in a plurality of concentric pressure chambers which are formed by an elastic membrane in contact with the wafer, as shown in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2006-324413.
An initial film thickness of a wafer, to be polished, may vary along a circumferential direction of the wafer due to a characteristic of a film-forming device. In particular, the initial film thickness in a peripheral portion of the wafer tends to vary along the circumferential direction. In order to reduce such a variation in the film thickness, there have been proposed several polishing apparatuses. For example, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2002-079454 discloses a polishing apparatus which uses an annular piston divided into several pistons arranged along a circumferential direction of a wafer. Further, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2006-324413 discloses a substrate holder which has a pressure chamber for pressing a retainer ring. This pressure chamber is divided into several chambers arranged along a circumferential direction.
However, these polishing apparatuses use the divided pressing elements arranged along the circumferential direction of the wafer, and therefore the substrate holder entails an extremely complicated structure. Moreover, a pressing force may vary between the divided pressing elements. For example, in the Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2006-324413, there may be a variation in expansion and contraction of the divided pressure chambers. Further, in the Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2002-079454, a sliding resistance, which is generated when each piston is lowered, may vary between the pistons.
In particular, the substrate holder disclosed in the Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2002-079454 has a plurality of divided rigid pistons, which are arranged along the circumferential direction of the wafer and press the wafer. With this structure, the polishing rate of the wafer may be discontinuous in the circumferential direction. Additionally, a variation in flatness of the pistons may result in a variation in polishing rate of the wafer.

Polishing apparatus and polishing method