An inspection system for a vehicle and a method thereof to inspect whether various electronic components mounted inside a completed vehicle may be normally operated, may include a wireless on-board diagnostics device (OBD) which may be mounted in the vehicle entering an inspection process, a plurality of inspection computers, which wirelessly communicates with the wireless OBD, and may be provided for each corresponding inspection step, and a barcode reader which may be provided in the inspection computers, recognizes a barcode of the vehicle, transmits a vehicle information about the vehicle, on which the inspection may be performed, to the inspection computers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection system for a vehicle, and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to an inspection system for a vehicle, which can continuously and automatically inspect whether various electronic components mounted inside a completed vehicle are operated without stopping for an inspection process through wireless communication, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, various sensors and electronic components, such as an air conditioning system and an AV system, for checking an engine state, a traveling state, an acceleration state, and the like, and promoting convenience for a driver or a passenger are mounted in a vehicle, and have been continuously increased.
The electronic components serve as significant factors for promoting user convenience and checking a state of a vehicle, and whether various electronic components mounted in an assembly-completed vehicle are not operated or are erroneously operated needs to be essentially inspected.
Accordingly, in order to inspect the electronic components of the assembly-completed vehicle in the related art, the vehicle is transferred to an inspection process to perform inspection work.
That is, in the related art, in an inspection process of a corresponding electronic component for each step among inspection processes divided into multiple steps in order to inspect the electronic components mounted in the assembly-completed vehicle, a worker directly connects scanner equipment and a corresponding computer to the vehicle, and inspects an operation state and whether an erroneous operation is performed, and another worker repeatedly performs the aforementioned inspection work for a next inspection process and inspects whether the electronic components are normally operated, or are operated.
However, in the inspection system in the related art, a worker needs to connect the scanner equipment to the vehicle and performs the inspection work through the corresponding computer in every inspection process for each step, so that there is a problem in that productivity is degraded due to an increase in a total inspection time.
Further, an inspection history of a corresponding vehicle needs to be managed by separately gathering an inspection result value for each inspection step, so that an inspection history management of the vehicle becomes complicated, and the worker needs to directly manually connect the scanner equipment and the corresponding computer for each step, so that cost is increased due to an increase in manpower consumption.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Inspection system for vehicle and control method thereof


An optical-fiber cable coupler for coupling an optical-fiber cable to an endoscope light source includes a heat conducting member which is in heat conductive contact with the end of a sheath of the light source end of an optical-fiber cable so that thermal energy may be drawn from the sheath to the member and flow to a heat sink during illumination of the cable by the light source. In a first embodiment, the heat conducting member is a finger of a collet which is drawn into contact with the sheath by a collet nut. In a second embodiment, the heat conducting member is a resilient, sheath-supporting finger.

Endoscopic procedures are steadily replacing more traditional invasive surgical procedures in contemporary medical practice. During traditional surgical procedures, incisions are required to be sufficiently large to allow direct visual observation of tissues and organs and to allow manipulation of the tissue and organs by a surgeons hands and traditional surgical tools. During an endoscopic procedure, only very small incisions or punctures are made through which catheters and a small diameter endoscope tube are inserted. Light for illumination, and a return visual image of tissues and organs, are conducted through the tube by optical-fibers. Light for illumination is provided by an endoscope light source and is conducted to the endoscope tube through a light conducting conduit, typically a flexible optical-fibre cable.
Generally, as may be seen in FIG. 1, a light source end of an optical-fibre cable 10 is fitted with a metal sheath 20 having locating shoulder 21. Coupling devices of endoscope light sources of the prior art typically include fitting 14, with port 18 sized to receive sheath 20 in a sliding fit, attached to light source cabinet wall 16. Sheath 20 is inserted into light source port 18 until shoulder 21 contacts cooperating shoulder 12 within fitting 14 and sheath 20 is positioned with sheath end 22 protruding from the back of the fitting. Sheath 20 is retained in this position by tightening set screw 15. In this position, light from a light source lamp is focused by lens 17 upon exposed ends of light conducting fibers of cable 10 at protruding end 22 of cable sheath 20 to provide illumination.
In endoscopic light sources of the prior art, extreme heating of the end portion of the sheath and cable occurs during illumination. Adverse effects of this heating of the cable most notably include discoloration and loss of light conducting efficiency at the end portion of the cable over time. This deterioration in cable performance may result from breakdown and scorching of cable bonding materials and optical fiber coatings of the cable. The light source end of the optical-fibre cable is customarily repolished from time to time in a effort to restore performance until the cable must finally be discarded. Extreme heating of the cable and sheath end may also present a burn hazard to operating-room personnel when a cable is removed from a light source without allowing a sufficient cooling time with the light source lamp turned off.
Heating of the light source cable end occurs for a number of reasons. Less efficient light conducting materials in the cable, including bonding and fiber coating materials, convert impinging light energy into heat energy. Focusing of the lamp beam is not perfect, and, consequently, a portion of the focused beam may impinge upon the opaque sheath wall where it contributes to heating of the end portion of the sheath. Electro-magnetic radiation from the light source lamp outside the visible spectrum may also impinge upon the end portion of the sheath, further contributing to heat build up.
Attempts have been made to reduce heating of the cable end portion but they have proved ineffective or cumbersome. One light source of the prior art has utilized an air pump and nozzle to direct a stream of cooling air upon the cable end. While this method of cooling has proved effective in reducing heating of the cable end and mitigating deterioration of cable performance over time due to heating, it increases the complexity, weight, size and number of mechanical components of the light source apparatus.

Optical-fibre cable coupler for endoscope light source


A method for inter-terminal payment and corresponding devices and computer programs loadable into said devices is disclosed. The method comprises a transfer of financial value from a payment device of a payer (PDPr) to a payment device of a payee (PDPe) with the assistance and the supervision of a trusted third party (TTP). Payment relevant data of the payee is transmitted to the payment device of the payer (PDPr) which triggers the transaction of financial value at the trusted third party (TTP) by a message. The trusted third party (TTP) releases a payment confirmation for the payer and the payee providing a status information on the financial transaction for the payer and the payee, respectively, and sends this information in a confirmation transmission procedure to the payment device of the payer (PDPr) and the payment device of the payee (PDPe), respectively.

Electronic commerce (E-commerce) has gained significant attraction as it provides a way to become independent from cash. To adequately replace cash, three basic services have to be provided by an E-commerce system: retrieving money from a bank account into an electronic purse, paying with the money from the electronic purse, and transferring money from one electronic purse to another electronic purse. The latter service is also known as a peer-to-peer transaction. An electronic purse can be implemented as an electronic payment device like a smart card or a mobile phone.
The public acceptance of E-commerce will further grow if electronic payment mechanisms with services as described above will be further developed to ensure and to enhance security aspects and availability aspects. Security aspects cover all items related to transferring or exchanging of financial value over insecure transaction paths, e.g. open networks like the Internet or fixed or wireless telephone networks, and to prevent an E-commerce system from fraud, e.g. by tampering electronic payment devices or automatic teller machines (ATMs). Availability aspects are aiming for E-commerce systems providing services being accessible from a maximum number of locations and ideally at any time with special emphasis on compatibility, e.g. of the payment services or payment devices. In addition, a status information about the financial transaction should be accessible to all parties involved, ideally immediately after the payment has taken place. Implementation of E-commerce services within a mobile communication network, e.g. the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), is known as mobile E-commerce or M-commerce.
Electronic payment systems known so far provide the functions retrieving money from a bank account and paying. The service of peer-to-peer transactions is implemented into some E-commerce systems already. However, the peer-to-peer transaction functionality imposes strong requirements on the system in order to ensure security and availability and the payment procedure is still very laborious.
A smart card based payment system implementing the concept of an electronic purse with peer-to-peer functionality is Mondex (see http:\\www.mondex.com). The owner of such a card may reload it at an ATM or via phone and later spend the money either in a shop or transfer financial value directly to another Mondex card. As in the case of cash, electronic money can be transferred between an unlimited number of cards. However, the fundamental problem with Mondex-like implementations is that is impossible to trace fraud in the case someone is capable of generating electronic money on a smart card.
An application of E-commerce is home or online banking. It provides a user access to banking functions via a personal computer (PC) or a smartphone with chip card reader connected to the banking server via the Internet or a telecommunication network. Among other two-party applications, e.g. bank account monitoring, electronic payment transactions from a bank account of a payer to a bank account of a payee can be conducted. For this case, the user acting as payer contacts his banking server and provides the bank with data comprising e.g. name, bank identifier and account number of the recipient of the financial transfer and the amount of money to be transferred. The payer activates the payment transaction and after successful verification of the user's authentication, the bank executes the payment transaction and generates a payment confirmation for the payer.
In order to achieve a high level of security and compatibility, common standards for online banking emerge. An example is the Home Banking Computer Interface (HBCI) which is nowadays the de-facto standard for online banking in Germany. The HBCI-based home banking application uses the European Conference of Posts and Telecommunications (CEPT) protocol and Einheitliche Höhere KommunikationsProtokoll (EHKP) as transport frame for transparent data up to 1600 Byte accompanied by Bildschirmtext File Interchange Format (BtxFIF) for data larger than 1600 Byte. For Internet clients, HBCI additionally uses the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP-Port 3000 serves as interface between application and communication. HBCI utilises a data format based on the United Nations Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport (UN/EDIFACT) which is used also for internal data transfer at the banks.
A benefit of HBCI is its high level of end-to-end security even over an open network as the Internet, because the HBCI standard fulfils the requirements of authentication of the user to the user terminal, e.g. by entering a password, mutual authentication of the user terminal and the banking system, non-repudiation of origin, integrity, encryption, and validity check in order to prevent a replay attack. Two different security solutions are offered in HBCI: the first one is a method named DES-DES-Verfahren (DDV) based on a symmetric Data Encryption Standard (DES) method employing a chip card. The second solution is the RSA-DES-Verfahren (RDV) based on an asymmetric Rivest, Shamir and Adleman (RSA) algorithm. In the DDV solution, an electronic context signature is established in detail by first hashing the message via 160-bit cryptographic hash function (RIPEMD-160), followed by a padding of the hash value to a length equalising the next multiple of 8 byte by adding "00", and finally building a retail Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code (CBC-MAC) according to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X9.19 standard using the 2-Key-Triple DES encryption method. In the RDV solution, the electronic signature is established by the same hashing procedure as in DDV. In addition, the hash value is formatted and finally signed via RSA algorithm following International Standards Organization (ISO) 9796:1991 standard. Encryption of the message content is achieved in both security solutions via 2-Key-Triple-DES according to ANSI X3.92 standard using a specific session key. For each message, a new session key is generated dynamically by the sending system. The session key itself is encrypted according to DDV or RDV and accompanies each message. At the receiving party, the authentication takes place by checking the electronic signature with the secret or public key of the sending party according to DDV or RDV, respectively. Validity is achieved via the implementation of a sequence counter in the banking system as well in the user terminal combined with a history function, e.g. a list of previously executed sequences.
Another online or home banking standard is the Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) standard customised for the American market. IFX originates from the Open Financial eXchange (OFX) and Gold standard. In IFX, the data format is eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and transport protocols employed are TCP/IP, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), System Network Architecture (SNA), and XML. Security is ensured via authentication mechanisms on the server and cryptography method is via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Personal Identification Number (PIN).
Beside its major advantages of providing a high degree of availability and security, online banking remains up to now a two-party process because it does not directly involve the payee. This party is generally not informed about a payment transaction nor the status and has to contact its bank for checking if a payment transaction has been conducted. Another drawback is that the time needed for the bank to credit the money to the account of the payee can last up to several days or even more. This long time delay makes this payment method inconvenient for peer-to-peer functionality in E-commerce especially for the payee.
An alternative approach of an electronic purse offering peer-to-peer transactions is provided by paybox (see http:\\www.paybox.de). In this E-commerce payment system, the payer utilises a mobile phone connected to a mobile telephone network to enable financial transactions with a payee, e.g. Internet-merchants, stationary retailers, mobile service providers, and end-consumers. The E-commerce payment system provider is involved in the financial transactions and acts as trusted third party. This system uses existing payment schemes, e.g. payment by direct debit including direct debit authorisation, and combines this method with a confirmation function simultaneously provided to the participants via mobile phone. The handling of payments is carried out by a financial service company, which is accredited to conduct said financial transactions, e.g. a bank. For gaining access to the full set of offered services including peer-to-peer financial transactions, the payer must be fully registered to said E-commerce payment system.
Although the use of a mobile phone as payment device in combination with a mobile communication network and a trusted third party provides a substantial improvement with respect to both, availability and security aspects, such E-commerce payment systems have some limitations: the payer has to call the payment system provider and to manually type in authorisation data and payment relevant data of the payer and the payee necessary to execute the payment transfer. This manual interaction is time consuming and susceptible to errors. Fees are charged by the operator of the mobile network for the complete duration of the mobile connection thus producing high cost per payment transaction. Another, severe shortcoming is the laborious confirmation procedure: for the case, that also the payee is registered to the E-commerce payment system, payment confirmation messages are sent to the payer as well to the payee via the mobile telephone network. For the case the payee is not registered to the E-commerce payment system, the payee must be directly contacted and be informed that the payer wants to send money to him. This is done by the payment system sending a Short Messaging System (SMS) message via the mobile telephone network. For executing the payment transaction, the payee has to contact the E-commerce payment system either via the Internet or via a phone call. This confirmation procedure is tedious and the additional connections further increase the cost per payment.

Method and devices for inter-terminal payments


A flexible hip restraint for patient's recovering from hip surgery having a waist belt, a thigh belt and a plurality of substantially inelastic flexible and adjustable straps connected to the thigh and waist belts for limiting the movement of a patient's thigh to prevent inadvertent dislocation of the femur from the pelvic socket. The straps include a posterior strap extending over the gluteus maximus, a medial strap extending over the greater trochanter and an anterior strap extending along the anterior superior iliac spine of the pelvis.

Various hip surgery techniques are used for repairing or replacing various bone structure in the pelvic and upper thigh regions of the human anatomy. Such surgery normally requires some incision of the muscle and tendon tissue adjacent to the pelvis such that the bone structure surrounded by such tissue may be accessed for replacement and/or repair. The muscle and tendon tissue not only facilitates movement of the skeletal hip structure but also assist in holding the femur or thigh bone within the pelvic socket.
During recovery, the muscle and tendon tissue will be substantially weakened and not completely effective in retaining the femur within the pelvic socket. Accordingly, it is common for patient's recovering from hip surgery to inadvertently move the thigh and dislocate the femur from the pelvic socket. Certain movements of the thigh will not cause dislocation and thus the patient should not be completely immobilized in most circumstances to allow some exercise of the healing muscles and tendons and to accommodate some mobility by the patient. Thigh movements commonly known to cause dislocation of the femur are the exaggerated flexion of the hip (i.e. pivoting the thigh forwardly toward the chest), adduction of the thigh toward the other leg and a combination of flexion and adduction such as crossing one leg over the other.
Several apparatus are available that prevent the movement of the thigh to such potentially damaging positions. Examples of such apparatus are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,941 issued to Rolfes; U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,710 issued to Meyer and U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,678 issued to Cumins et al. Rolfes and Cumins et al disclose a waist engaging member and a thigh engaging member having a rigid bar connected intermediate thereto that secures the thigh relative to the hip. The rigid bar has an adjustable pivotal member connected thereto to permit limited flexion of the hip. The rigid bar in Cumins et al is further designed to bias the thigh laterally and thus restrict adduction thereof. Meyer discloses a waist engaging member and thigh engaging members having a rigid frame fixably connected to the thigh engaging member and pivotally connected to the waist engaging member. The rigid frame is bent such that flexion of the hip will urge the thigh laterally.
Though Rolfes, Meyer and Cumins et al may allegedly limit the motion of the patient's thigh, a patient using the aforestated devices may be unnecessarily restrained by the overly rigid construction of such devices if the patient's hip surgery was minor or the patient is in a late stage of recovery. Even in the early stages of recovery, lighter, less bulky restraints for limiting hip motion would be advantageous to a recovering patient by limiting the weight the patient must carry. More importantly, some of these rigid devices actually promote injury to the patient while the leg is being manipulated to attach or remove the device. Further, the bulky apparatus disclosed in Rolfes, Meyer and Cumins et al would most likely have to be worn over a patient's clothes whereas a lightweight restraint designed to fit close to the patient's body would fit beneath a patient's clothes and thus facilitate a more secure grip of the patient's thigh and waist.


The present invention is directed to a process for the preparation of N-aryl compounds containing at least one unsaturated nitrogen atom, comprising reacting a compound having at least one unsaturated nitrogen atom with an arylating compound in the presence of a base and a transition metal catalyst under reaction conditions effective to form an N-aryl compound containing at least one unsaturated nitrogen atom, wherein the aryl moiety of the N-aryl compound is bonded to the at least one unsaturated nitrogen atom, the transition metal catalyst comprising a Group 8 metal and at least one chelating ligand selected from the group consisting of Group 15-substituted metallocenes, Group 15-substituted arylenes, unsaturated Group 15 heterocycles, Group 15-substituted alkanes, and combinations thereof. The process of the present invention a useful general method of N-arylation for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, polymers, and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a general process for producing N-arylated compounds having at least one unsaturated nitrogen atom, and more particularly to a general process for the formation of N-arylated compounds from azoles or imines, and an arylating compound using a transition metal catalyst.
2. Description of the Art
N-Aryl azoles are important substructures in natural products and industrial chemicals, such as pharmaceuticals, dyes, and agricultural products. N-Aryl azoles such as N-aryl pyrrole, N-aryl carbazole, and N-aryl indole, display a variety of biological activity such as antimicrobial activity (Kamat et al., Ind. J. Chem., 33B:255-259 (1994)), dopamine D-2 and serotonin 5-HT2 antagonist activity (Perrgaard et al., J. Med. Chem. 35:1092-1101 (1992)); analgesic activity (Glamkowski et al., J. Med. Chem. 28:66-73 (1985) and antiallergy activity (Unangst et al., J. Med. Chem. 32:1360-1366 (1989)). N-Aryl imines, on the other hand, are protected anilines (Greene et al., Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis; John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1991) which are useful in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, polymers and oligomers.
It would be advantageous to prepare N-aryl azoles and N-aryl imines from arylating compounds such as aryl halides and/or aryl sulfonates because aryl halides are generally inexpensive and readily available, while aryl sulfonates are easily prepared from phenols. However, to date, methods of producing N-aryl azoles an imines are inefficient or economically unattractive. In one example, the phenylation of azoles with electrophilic aromatic main group compounds produce N-aryl azoles as one of several aryl compounds in the resulting product mixture (Lopez-Alvarado et al., J. Org. Chem. 60:5678 (1995); Barton et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 27:3615-3618 (1986)). Complex purification steps are therefore required to isolate the desired compounds if this production method is used.
In another example, potassium fluoride adsorbed onto alumina mediates arylations of azoles with only electron-poor aryl halides (Smith III et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 37:299-302 (1996)). This method is inefficient with electron-rich aryl halides (e.g., 4-bromo-t-butyl benzene, 3-bromo-methoxy benzene, 2-bromo-toluene) and electron neutral aryl halides (e.g., bromobenzene). Thus, a variety of potentially useful arylating compounds cannot be utilized in this method.
In another example, copper-mediated arylation of azoles was demonstrated to require high temperatures and polar solvents, thus increasing the complexity of the reaction conditions (Khan et al., J. Chem. Soc. C, 85-91 (1970)). In yet another example, N-aryl azoles have been shown to be synthesized from aryl boronic reagents using copper catalysts (Chan et al., Tet. Lett. 39:2933-2936 (1998); Lam et al., Tet. Lett. 39:2941-2944 (1998)).
In view of the above, a need exists for a general and efficient process of synthesizing N-aryl azoles and N-aryl imines from readily available arylating compounds. The discovery and implementation of such a method would simplify the preparation of commercially significant organic N-aryl azoles and N-aryl imines and would enhance the development of novel polymers and pharmacologically active compounds. The present invention is believed to be an answer to that need.

Transition metal-catalyzed process for preparing N-aryl compounds


A method (100, 700, 800) for detecting and eliminating circular routed messages in a telecommunications network includes the steps of receiving a message, and determining a derived destination point code for the received message (102). The derived destination point code is then compared with an originating point code in the message (108). A circular routed message is detected if the derived destination point code is the same as the originating point code. This comparison may be disabled and instead the routing information for routing the message indicated by the derived destination code may be compared with the originating point code (706). Alternatively, the network identifiers indicated by the derived destination point code and the originating point code are compared (806).

The network evolution as a result of the recent telecommunications bill has resulted in the need for global title databases that require complex and precise internetwork coordination to ensure proper delivery of signalling system no. 7 (SS7) signalling connection control part (SCCP) messages such as the unitdata (UDT), unitdata service (UDTS), x-unitdata (XUDT), and x-unitdata service (XUDTS) messages presently defined in ANSI T1.112 titled "Signalling System No. 7 (SS7)--Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP)". This newly added coordination and complexity has increased burden on network administrators and administration systems. Any inaccuracies during the provisioning process of these databases by the network administrators and administration systems can result in an SCCP message routing continuously back and forth (i.e., circular routing) between network elements without ever reaching the intended final destination.
The current SCCP global title translation (GTT) procedure translates information such as dialed digits into an SS7 routing address called a signalling point code. The signalling point code is used to progress the message to the next network element that is to continue to perform SCCP procedures. SCCP message circular routing occurs when one or more GTT databases are incorrectly provisioned resulting in incorrect routing information being returned when the GTT procedure is performed. The incorrect routing information causes each processed message to be routed repeatedly between network elements without reaching its final destination. This continual circular routing condition will continue indefinitely and may lead to network congestion and possible failure within the network.

Apparatus and method for the detection and elimination of circular routed SS7 global title translated messages in a telecommunications network


A method for removing asbestos containing material from an area of a building by creating a containment area substantially surrounding the area of the building where the asbestos containing material is located. Removing and compressing compressible asbestos containing material within the containment area and cutting rigid asbestos containing material into pieces within the containment area. Packaging the compressed and cut asbestos containing material for removal from the containment area. Demolishing block walls within the containment area and grinding pieces of the walls into particles for removal from the containment area. Scraping adhering asbestos containing material from surfaces within the containment area and encapsulating the surfaces from which asbestos containing material has been removed with a lock-down agent.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the removal of contaminate material and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for the removal of asbestos from a building.
2. Prior Art
The prior art discloses a variety of asbestos removal equipment and methods such as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,774,974; 5,021,095; 5,047,089 and 5,067,504. However, the prior art equipment and methods do not provide a systematic and efficient manner for removing asbestos from contaminated buildings. Additionally, the prior art equipment and methods fail to adequately address the problems associated with the disposal of asbestos after it has been removed. The equipment and method of the present invention overcome many of the inadequacies present in the prior art asbestos removal equipment and methods.
A prior art device for removing asbestos is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,103. However, the device disclosed in that patent lacks sufficient versatility to be utilized effectively on a variety of surfaces in different orientations. The apparatus of the present invention overcomes drawbacks of the prior art devices disclosed in that United States patent.

Method of removing asbestos from a building


Systems and methods for determining semantically related terms using an active learning framework such as Transductive Experimental Design are disclosed. Generally, to enhance a keyword suggestion tool, an active learning module trains a model to predict whether a term is relevant to a user. The model is then used to present the user with terms that have been determined to be relevant based on the model so that an online advertisement service provider may more efficiently provide a user with terms that are semantically related to a seed set.

When advertising using an online advertisement service provider such as Yahoo! Search Marketing™, or performing a search using an Internet search engine such as Yahoo!™, users often wish to determine semantically related terms. Two terms, such as words or phrases, are semantically related if the terms are related in meaning in a language or in logic. Obtaining semantically related terms allows advertisers to broaden or focus their online advertisements to relevant potential customers and allows searchers to broaden or focus their Internet searches in order to obtain more relevant search results.
Various systems and methods for determining semantically related terms are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,361; U.S. Pat. Pub No. 2003/0055816 A1, published Mar. 20, 2003; and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/432,266 and 11/432,585, filed May 11, 2006, each of which are assigned to Yahoo! Inc. For example, in some implementations in accordance with U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/432,266 and 11/432,585, a system determines semantically related terms based on web pages that advertisers have associated with various terms during interaction with an advertisement campaign management system of an online advertisement service provider. In other implementations in accordance with U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/432,266 and 11/432,585, a system determines semantically related terms based on terms received at a search engine and a number of times one or more searchers clicked on particular universal resource locators ("URLs") after searching for the received terms.
When implementing systems and methods such as those described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/432,266 and 11/432,585, a user is often presented with an initial set of terms. The user indicates a degree of relevance of one or more terms of the presented set of terms, and the user is then presented with a new set of terms based on the indicated degree of relevance of the terms of the initial set of terms. A user may perform this process multiple times until the user receives a sufficient number of semantically related terms. It would be desirable to develop additional systems and method for determining semantically related terms to reduce the number of times a user repeats the above-described process to receive a sufficient number of semantically related terms.

Method and apparatus using a classifier to determine semantically relevant terms


A heat exchanger which is especially used as an oil cooler in the motor vehicle industry includes interconnected plates. Outwardly closed cavities are embodied between the plates and are alternately supplied with a first or second medium by at least one supply line and one discharge line, and a corresponding medium flows through them. The plates are profiled in such a way that contact points are created between the respective profiles of the plate, and the plates are interconnected in the region of the contact points. The plates are designed such that the current from the first or second medium forming between the plates, from the corresponding supply line to the corresponding discharge line, does not follow a linear path.

Plate heat exchangers, as they are referred to, which are formed from a stack of plates lying next to one another are known. Between the plates, cavities are formed, through which a first and a second medium flow alternately.
As well as use as a cooler, in which case, for example, the first medium is cooling water and the second medium is the working medium to be cooled, the engine oil where an oil cooler/internal combustion engine is concerned, use as an evaporator of a cooling apparatus, such as a vehicle air conditioning system, may also be envisaged, in which case one of the two media is the coolant and the other is the refrigerant.
In this context, it is known that the plates are profiled so that contact points occur between the plates. The plates are fastened to one another in the region of the contact points. Furthermore, on the outside, the plates bear sealingly one against the other, so that the cooling medium or the working medium flows solely through the cavity. The first and the second medium are thus in each case supplied through a corresponding inflow line and discharged via an outflow line. Inflow lines and outflow lines thus in each case serve as collecting lines in which the fluid stream is respectively supplied to and discharged from all the corresponding cavities.
Conventionally, in plate heat exchangers, turbulence-increasing fittings for improving the heat transmission and for surface enlargement are introduced into the fluid ducts and are connected firmly to the heat-exchanging plate. As a result, not only the thermodynamic property of the duct, but also the strength property of the cooler are greatly improved.
One disadvantage of such turbulence plates is that chip formation easily occurs during the production of the passage orifices and may lead to contamination of the medium flowing through. Furthermore, dirt is easily deposited in the region of the turbulence plates. The throughflow of the cavity may thereby be impeded in an undesirable way. Moreover, they constitute an additional component to be produced which makes the heat exchanger more expensive on account of increased production costs and material costs.

Heat exchanger and method for the production thereof


A conduit for the circulation of fluid under pressure comprising a tubular enclosure delimited by a thin wall and fixed on a rigid base slab of molded material. The upper part of the enclosure comprises, in cross-section, at least three thin wall segments, including two lateral segments each extending from a lower side to an upper side, and at least one upper segment closing the enclosure by connecting the upper sides of the lateral segments. Each lateral thin wall segment is joined to a rigid support element of molded material fixed at its base to the corresponding side of the slab and comprising an inner surface conjugate with that of the lateral segment onto which the latter is applied. The inner surface extends from the level of the upper surface of the slab as to a level sufficient to maintain the rigidity of the lateral segment over its entire height.

In general, a wide section conduit is formed by an extended tubular enclosure which may be made of molded material such as concrete or of metal. If the conduit has to resist high internal pressure, it is advantageous for its construction to be in metal as it may then be made of relatively light, easy to handle juxtaposed panels which may be welded together to form a closed tubular casing with, generally, a circular section, and which resists particularly well tensile stress generated by the application of internal pressure.
Forced conduits used in hydroelectric installations are generally made in this way.
However, the conduit must, normally, be laid on the ground, generally using spaced supports and, while it has good resistance properties when subjected to internal pressure, it also has a propensity to distort when there is no pressure, during assembly or even simply in the event of reduced pressure. Such distortion leading to ovalization of the conduit is an impediment, particularly during assembly of the different panels which, in order to avoid such distortion, must normally be mounted on a template of the desired section before being soldered.
The risk of distortion is even higher with very wide sections, for example of several square meters. Tubular components in reinforced concrete can be used which offer the advantage of keeping their shape when laid on the ground and banked, but for wide sections such components are heavy and cumbersome. Also, circular section conduits which simply rest on their lower surface exert considerable localized stress on the ground which may, through a boring effect, lead to differential subsidence and therefore disturbances. Also, it is difficult to form joints between adjacent components that are sufficiently leakproof to withstand very high pressure.
To solve such problems, the inventor has already described, in -FR-A-2,685,304 the construction of mixed conduits made of a metal tubular enclosure having a cross-section that is circular shaped on one part with a substantially level lower part which is applied and fixed on a slab of reinforced or prestressed concrete. In this manner, such a conduit combines the advantages of metal construction and concrete construction since the metal circular part is only subjected to tensile stress and may therefore be made of a relatively thin wall, whereas the lower part is applied to the slab which can be designed to withstand flexion stresses thus generated and which, also, distributes load over a wide surface area which reduces the stresses applied to the ground and risks of subsidence.
-FR-A-2,685,304 describes several particularly advantageous methods of construction.
This type of conduit fully withstands internal stresses exerted, in service, by the fluid transported even under very high pressure. However, it may be also be subjected to external stresses exerted, for example, by the filling under which the conduit is buried or simply by atmospheric pressure when internal pressure is reduced or cut off.
For better resistance against external stresses, -FR-A-2,685,304 proposes giving the conduit a half-round shape. However, the diameter of such a conduit is evidently double the diameter of a circular section conduit for the same flow rate. The conduit passage and consequently the width of the trench in which it is laid are therefore increased.
As indicated in patent FR-A-2,685,304 it is possible in certain cases to approximate a circular section as far as possible to cover a sector of more than 180.degree. whose area, for example, may reach three quadrants, the width of the concrete slab thereby being reduced.
However, by increasing the sector covered by the circular part, the risk of distortion is also increased, especially of the side panels during assembly, so that it is difficult to align these panels for welding, the use of a template being necessary in practice.
Also, this conduit must be placed on dug foundations whose levelling is not very precise. On-site handling and banking operations must be simplified as much as possible.
Also, even when the conduit is in service, mere reduction in internal pressure or even a mere hollowing effect may cause collapse of the metal part under the embankment load.


A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly, a fuel storage reservoir, an air supply unit, a temperature regulator, and a particulates blocking device. The particulates blocking device includes an multi-layer air filtering unit communicated with the air supply unit for blocking unwanted particulates from the air supplied by the air supply unit. The air filtering unit includes a particle filter layer having a plurality of porous gratings formed thereon for allowing molecules which are smaller than a size of the gratings to pass therethrough, and a molecular filler layer having a plurality of filler grains chemically bound together for absorbing a predetermined kinds of molecules so as to block the molecules from entering into the membrane electrode assembly.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell, and more particularly to an electrochemical fuel cell comprising a particulates blocking device which effectively filters and prevents ultra-fine organic particulates from entering into fuel cell, so as to significantly prolong a life span thereof.
2. Description of Related Arts
Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a conventional fuel cell typically comprises a membrane electrode assembly 1, a fuel storage reservoir 2 adapted for storing fuel hydrogen of the fuel cell, a pressure-relief valve 3 connected with the fuel storage reservoir 2 for adjustably releasing hydrogen fuel, an air filter 4 adapted for filtering incoming air, an air compressor 5 connected with the air filter 4 for compressing the in coming air into a predetermined pressure, a water-vapor separator 6, a water tank 7, a water pump 8, a heat exchanger 9, and a hydrogen circulating pump 10.
As a matter of conventional art, the fuel cell is a particular kind of electrochemical energy conversion device which is capable of converting the hydrogen and oxidant into electrical energy. The core part of the fuel cell is the membrane electrode assembly 1 (MEA). The MEA 1 usually comprises a proton exchange membrane sandwiched by two porous sheets made of conductive material such as carbon tissue. At the same time, a layer of catalyst like metal platinum powder, adapted for facilitating the electrochemical reaction, are evenly and granularly provided on two layers of carbon tissue to form two catalytic interfaces. Furthermore, electrically conductible members are provided on two sides of MEA to form a cathode and an anode, in such a manner, electron generated from the electrochemical reaction are capable of being lead out through an electrical circuit.
The anode of the MEA is supplied with fuel, such as hydrogen, for initiating the electrochemical reaction. The fuel is forced through the porous and diffused carbon tissue, and is capable of being deionized on the catalytic interface for the loss of electrons to generate positive ions. Moreover, positive ions are capable of transferably penetrating the proton exchange membrane to reach the cathode. On the other hand, an oxidant-containing gas, such as air, is supplied to the cathode of the MEA. Accordingly, the oxidant-containing gas is able to penetrate the porous and diffused carbon tissue to be ionized for the addition of the electrons to generate negative ions. Finally, the positive ions transferred from the anode will meet the negative ions to form reaction product.
In the electrochemical fuel cells which employ the hydrogen as the fuel and oxygen containing air as the oxidant, the electrochemical reaction on the anode generates hydrogen positive ions (protons). The proton exchange membrane is capable of facilitating the hydrogen positive ions migrate from the anode to the cathode. In addition, the proton exchange member has another function as a separator for blocking hydrogen containing air flow from being directly contacted with the oxygen containing air flow so as to prevent the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen as well as the explosive reaction.
The electrochemical reaction on the cathode side of fuel cell generates negative ions by obtaining the electrons. As a result, the negative ions generated on the cathode side will attract the positive ions transferred from the anode side to form water molecule as reaction product. In the electrochemical fuel cells which utilized the hydrogen as the fuel and oxygen containing air as oxidant, the electrochemical reaction is expressed by the following formula:Anode: H2→2H++2e Cathode: ½O2+2H++2e→H2O
In the typical proton exchanging membrane fuel cell, the MEA is disposed between two electrically conductible electrode plates wherein the contacting interface of each electrode plate at least defines one flowing channel. The flowing channel could be embodied by conventional mechanical method such as pressure casting, punching, and mechanical milling. The electrode plate could be embodied as metal electrode plate or graphite electrode plate. So the flowing channels defined on the electrode plate are capable of directing fuel and oxidant into anode side and cathode side respectively positioned on opposite side of the MEA. For a single fuel cell structure, only one MEA is provided and disposed between an anode plate and a cathode plate. Here, the anode plate and the cathode plate not only are embodied as current-collecting device, but also as a supporting device for securely holding the MEA. The flowing channels defined on the electrode plate are capable of delivering fuel and oxidant to the catalytic interfaces of the anode and cathode, and removing the water discharged from the electrochemical reaction of fuel cell.
To increase the overall power output of the proton exchanging membrane fuel cell, two or more fuel cells are electrically connected in series with a stacked manner or a successive manner to form a fuel cell stack. In such stacked series manner, each electrode plate comprises flowing channels defined on opposite side of plate respectively wherein one side of the electrode plate is applied as an anode plate contacting with the anode interface of a MEA, while another side of the electrode plate is applied as a cathode plate contacting with the cathode interface of an adjacent MEA. That is to say, one side of such electrode plate serve as an anode plate for one cell body and the other side of plate serve as a cathode plate for the adjacent cell. Within the art, this kind of structure is called bipolar plate. However, in the successive series manner, a plurality of single cell bodies are connected successively, wherein a front end unipolar plate and rear end unipolar plate as well as a fastening member are provided to form an overall fuel cell.
It has been practiced in the art to use such fuel cells as power unit for propelling vehicles including four-wheeled motor vehicles and motorcycles and operating other electrically operated machines such as portable generators.
A primary object of the fuel cell power unit for propelling vehicles, ships, and portable generators is to provide an extended and stable service. As a result, to guarantee the stable service, the fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell like hydrogen and oxidants containing air are required to be of a good quality. Nowadays, a common method for supplying quality air and hydrogen to the fuel cell is to equip the fuel cell with an air filter and a hydrogen filter for screening the dust of micron and submicron sizes in the air.
However, there exist adverse factors which affect (shorten) the lifespan of the conventional fuel cell, the main being the existence of dust of micron and submicron sizes, plus the general failure to block those extra small particulates entering into the fuel cell. Moreover, there also exist by a kind of organic oily molecules, which are of ultra-submicron size, suspended and mixed with normal air molecules. This kind of organic oily molecules is capable of penetrating through the most precise filter and enters into the fuel cell. The overall performance of the fuel cell is definitely affected, and the culmination of those ultra small particulates inside the fuel cell would eventually deteriorate the original chemical and physical interaction of all the elements of the fuel cell, thus significantly reducing the lifespan of the conventional fuel cell in question.


A method and system for providing radio frequency auto gain control (RF AGC) for a specific frequency is provided herein. The method includes obtaining a noise measurement (N) and radio frequency level for the specific frequency; scanning a band of frequencies that the specific frequency is part of, and storing a plurality of undesired frequencies; computing a frequency intermodulation up to a predetermined level based on the plurality of undesired frequencies; and in response to the frequency intermodulation being not equal to the specific frequency, performing an iterative process to readjust the RF AGC, the iterative process including a readjustment of the RF AGC based on a noise floor performance.

Electronic devices, such as radios and other receiving electronic systems, are configured to receive signals via radio waves. The radio waves are propagated via different frequencies. Each frequency may correspond to a specific channel or source of information. In a vehicle, the electronic device may be provided with a radio frequency (RF) receiver, and in response to a specific RF being tuned to, the RF receiver may be configured to receive the signal associated with radio waves of the specific RF frequency.
Various digital signal processing (DSP) techniques may be employed by the RF receiver to improve and augment the signal being received. One such element is a radio frequency auto gain control (RF AGC) circuit or device. The RF AGC prevents the received antenna signals from overloading a front-end circuit. An overloading of a front-end circuit is caused by a signal over a specific amount being received at an input end of the RF receiver. The signal may be received from either the intended signal to be received (the frequency being tuned into) or a non-intended signal being received (another frequency).
Conventional RF AGC's address this issue by reducing a gain and/or sensitivity over the whole band. A band is all the available frequencies capable of being tuned into via a RF receiver. By doing this, the overall sensitivity (i.e. the ability to pick up signals) by a RF receiver is reduced. This phenomenon is labeled as desensitization.
This desensitization may cause problems with overall reception. For example, if the RF receiver is tuned into a specific frequency that is relatively weak, the desensitization may cause the signal's strength to reduce to a level that is not acceptable.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example graph 100 explaining phenomena explained above. The x-axis 110 shows an input RF signal strength, and the y-axis 120 shows audio output signal strength. Several signals are shown, such as a signal without RF AGC 130, and a signal with 18 decibels of RF AGC 140. Further, the noise is plotted for both, so the noise is plotted with the signal without RF AGC 150 and the noise for the signal with 18 dB RF AGC 160.
As shown in point 170, the signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio is 48 dB for the case of a signal with RF AGC and 67 dB in the case without RF AGC. This graph 100 illustrates that as the signal gets weaker, the noise floor (i.e. noise signal 160) goes higher. Thus, with a larger SNR, the signal 120 is less likely to provide an effective quality rate required to provide certain services (such as high definition radio).
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a single and dual-tuner receiver 200 according to a conventional implementation. The receiver 200 includes an input stage 210, a digital signal processor (DSP) 220, an audio power amplifier 230, a microcontroller 240, and a speaker 250. Due to this receiver 200 being known in the art, a detailed explanation will be omitted. Essentially, a DSP may implement an improvement of signal strength and quality by including various chipsets dedicated to providing AGC.

Providing for radio frequency auto gain control (RF AGC)


A data processing system includes a plurality of communication links and a plurality of processing units including a local master processing unit. The local master processing unit includes interconnect logic that couples the processing unit to one or more of the plurality of communication links and an originating master coupled to the interconnect logic. The originating master originates an operation by issuing a write-type request on at least one of the one or more communication links, receives from a snooper in the data processing system a destination tag identifying a route to the snooper, and, responsive to receipt of the combined response and the destination tag, initiates a data transfer including a data payload and a data tag identifying the route provided within the destination tag.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to data processing systems and, in particular, to an improved interconnect fabric for data processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) computer system, such as a server computer system, includes multiple processing units all coupled to a system interconnect, which typically comprises one or more address, data and control buses. Coupled to the system interconnect is a system memory, which represents the lowest level of volatile memory in the multiprocessor computer system and which generally is accessible for read and write access by all processing units. In order to reduce access latency to instructions and data residing in the system memory, each processing unit is typically further supported by a respective multi-level cache hierarchy, the lower level(s) of which may be shared by one or more processor cores.
As the clock frequencies at which processing units are capable of operating have risen and system scales have increased, the latency of communication between processing units via the system interconnect has become a critical performance concern. To address this performance concern, various interconnect designs have been proposed and/or implemented that are intended to improve performance and scalability over conventional bused interconnects.

Data processing system, method and interconnect fabric supporting destination data tagging

International Business Machines Corporation


A nucleic acid is provided comprising an expression cassette which includes transcription control sequences of a member of a class of Pol III-transcribed genes in which no transcribed portion of the Pol III gene is required for transcription of the gene. In the expression cassette, the transcribed 5′ hairpin structure of the Pol III gene is deleted. The transcription control sequences are operably linked to a sequence of an EGFR gene in an antisense orientation suitable for decreasing expression of EGFR in the cell when transcribed. Lastly, a method for decreasing expression of EGFR in cells is provided that includes the step of contacting target cells either parenterally or directly into the tumor or tissue adjacent to the tumor cells with the nucleic acid of the present invention.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (HER I) is a member of the tyrosine kinase family (Type 1) of cell surface receptors, for which several peptide ligands have been reported, including epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α), vaccinia growth factor, amphiregulin, and cripto. Ligand binding to EGFR stimulates mitogenesis, and overexpression of EGFR has been associated with increased tumor growth, metastasis, and/or adverse outcome in numerous epithelial cancers, including squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN) (1,2). Many human tumor cells express high levels of EGFR, raising the possibility that receptor-directed therapies may be useful as anticancer strategies. Such treatment has included monoclonal antibodies directed against EGFR (3-6) or fusion proteins/immunotoxins against TGF-α/EGFR using toxins elaborated by Pseudomonas or Diphtheria species (7,8).
EGFR antisense-expression plasmids have been shown to block translation of EGFR messenger RNA (mRNA) and suppress the transforming phenotype of pharyngeal carcinoma (KB) cells in vitro (9). Targeting EGFR via several different approaches, including suppression of EGFR mRNA using anti-sense oligonucleotides, and blocking the function of the mature protein at two sites, the ligand-binding domain and the kinase domain, we previously demonstrated inhibition of proliferation of SCCHN but not normal mucosal squamous epithelial cells (10). Nevertheless, due to the inherent unpredicatbility in antisense technology and the inability to extend in vitro findings to in vivo in antisense therapies, an effective in vivo antisense therapy is desired.

Inhibition of human squamous cell carcinoma growth in vivo by epidermal growth factor receptor antisense RNA transcribed from a Pol III promoter

University of Pittsburgh of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education


A solid spring electrical connector includes an elongated metal bar of sufficient cross sectional area to carry high electrical current loads. The bar is contained in a barrel with terminals of the bar projecting from opposite ends of the barrel. The bar is an integral piece which includes a spring section extending most of the length of the bar. The spring section is formed by axially spaced-apart, parallel, linear, narrow-profile notches of generally uniform width having alternating open ends facing toward opposite sides of the bar progressively along its length. Each notch extends across a major portion of the diameter of the bar thereby forming a resilient spring section in which the metal between adjacent notches forms the equivalent of long narrow flexible beams with alternating pivot points. In an alternate embodiment, electrical connectors adapted for mounting to printed circuit boards include a plurality of spring contacts in a row along the length of the connector. Each spring contact comprises one or more thin, flat, metal pieces with a spring section extending most of the length of each metal piece. The spring contacts are spaced-apart by insulating blocks interleaved between the contacts. The spring section of each flat metal piece includes long, narrow, parallel notches that alternately open to opposite sides of the metal piece. A multi-layer form of each contact includes overlying notched metal pieces positioned face to face with openings of corresponding notches in adjacent pieces facing in alternate directions to control high frequency response.

Resilient contact pins of electrical connectors often include a plunger guided linearly in a slot with a separate compression spring for producing spring-biased travel of the plunger in the slot. Spring probes for electrical test fixtures also include such a separate plunger and spring contained in an outer barrel for use in testing electrical continuity between test points of circuits on a printed circuit board, for example. U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,877 to Kruger et al. discloses a contactor for an electronic tester in which the contactor includes a one-piece resilient contact pin having a guided plunger at one end and a spring section at the other end. The plunger section and spring section are integrally joined and formed from a common sheet metal piece. The particular form of the contactor shown in the Kruger '877 patent would not be useful as an electrical connector for carrying high current loads subjected to constant cycling. The Kruger '877 contactor also would not be useful for high-density spring contacts in a miniaturized connector adapted for mounting to a printed circuit board and also subjected to constant cycling.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the Kruger '877 contactor by providing a solid metal compliant high current carrying electrical connector, and in another form of the invention, by providing solid metal compliant contacts for several forms of miniaturized connectors adapted for mounting to printed circuit boards.
One prior art high current electrical connector commonly used in subway cars, for example, includes a movable plunger biased by a compression spring contained in an outer barrel. The plunger has a drilled cross-hole that receives a copper braid extending along opposite sides of the plunger and through the cross hole. The ends of the braid are soldered to the barrel. The braid is used to carry the high current independently of the spring. There are many disadvantages of this connector including its high cost of parts and assembly. In addition, the spring can take a set from cycling during use, and the braid is subject to fatiguing wear during use.

Solid spring electrical contacts for electrical connectors and probes


A printing system includes a storage unit that associates and stores print job data and post processing job data; a printing unit that prints a code regarding the association on media when an image is printed on the media based on the print job data; a code reading unit that reads the code that is printed on the media; and a post processing unit that selects the post processing job data that is associated from the storage unit based on the read code and performs the post processing with respect to the media based on the selected post processing job data.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing system and a printing method.
2. Related Art
JP-A-2005-250624 discloses a printing system where an image is printed on paper based on print job data and a finishing process (a post processing) such as a stapling process or the like is performed with respect to the paper that the image is printed. The printing system has a configuration such that identifying data that prohibits the finishing process with respect to the banner page is inserted into print job data and the finishing process is performed only on paper on which the image according to an original image data is printed based on the identifying data.
However, as a post processing with respect to a printed material, other than the stapling process, there is a cutting process or the like that cuts out an image that is printed. However, in the post processing and printing, processing speed is different and for example, since the printing takes time for drying or the like, generally, printing is only performed temporarily, the printed material stored and then the post processing is performed.
However, in the above-described related art, when the printed material is removed from a printer or the like after printing and is processed offline, after that, is processed using a post processing machine, since unit for fastening the printed material (a print job) and a post processing job corresponding to the printed material is not present, there is a problem in that an operator may easily make a mistake such that the post processing job is erroneously designated in the post processing and make the printed material defective.


A first precharge circuit precharges a bit line to an equalization voltage during precharging operations and is disabled during charge sharing operations floating the bit line. A second precharge circuit precharges a bit line bar to an equalization voltage during precharging and charge sharing operations. Since the bit line is floated during charge sharing operations, and the bit line bar is continually precharged to an equalization voltage level, variation of the bit line bar voltage level due to a charge coupling between the bit line and the bit line bar during charge sharing is prevented. The difference in a level between the bit line and the bit line bar after the charge sharing can be detected by a sense and amplification circuit.

Semiconductor memory devices such as a dynamic random access memory, include a memory cell array and a bit line pair for transferring data.
Writing data to a specific memory cell in a memory cell array or reading the data from the specific memory cell is performed by transmitting the data in the memory cell to a bit line by charge sharing. The data is then sensed using the difference in potential between the bit line and a bit line bar.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a prior art bit line control circuit. The conventional bit line controlling circuit includes data lines 110 and 120, an equalizing and precharging portion 130, a memory cell array 140 and a sense and amplification portion 150.
The memory cell array 140 includes a plurality of memory cells each connected to the data lines 110 and 120. Each memory cell has a cell transistor and a cell capacitor. The memory cells are accessed by corresponding addresses and store data in the form of charge in a corresponding cell capacitor. A cell transistor is gated by a word line and transmits charge stored in a cell capacitor to a corresponding data line.
The data lines 110 and 120 act as a bit line (BL) and a bit line bar (/BL) with respect to corresponding memory cells. That is, if a memory cell selected for reading information is connected to the data line 110, the data line 110 becomes the bit line (BL) and the data line 120 becomes the bit line bar (/BL). On the other hand, if a memory cell selected for reading information is connected to the data line 120, the data line 120 becomes the bit line (BL) and the data line 110 becomes the bit line bar (/BL).
The equalizing and precharging portion 130 is connected between the data lines 110 and 120, controlled by an equalization control signal PEQ, and precharges the data lines 110 and 120 to equalization voltage VBL for a period of precharging. When the data line acting as the bit line BL shares charges, the equalizing and precharging portion 130 floats the data lines 110 and 120.
The sense and amplification portion 150 is controlled by a sensing control signal PIS, and senses and amplifies the difference in a voltage level between data lines 110 and 120.
Writing data into the memory cell array is performed by searching for the location of a desired memory cell. The location is determined by a combination of addresses applied from an external source. The data input in association with an address is converted into a charge to be stored in a cell capacitor in a designated memory cell. Reading the data is performed by converting the charge stored in the memory cell to a voltage, amplifying the converted voltage, and transmitting the amplified voltage to the outside.
Procedures of reading data stored in a desired memory cell will be described as follows. The data lines 110 and 120 are precharged to equalization voltage VBL by the equalizing and precharging portion 130 for a period of precharging.
When the word line of a cell transistor in a corresponding memory cell is driven by a row address strobe signal RASB, the equalization controlling signal PEQ disables the equalizing and precharging portion 130, floating the precharged data lines 110 and 120.
According to where the desired memory cell is connected, one of the data lines 110 and 120 acts as the bit line. The charge stored in the memory cell is shared until the level of a storage node voltage Vs in the memory cell equals the voltage of the data line acting as the bit line. When the charge sharing operation is completed, the sense and amplification portion 150 senses the difference in potential between the data lines 110 and 120, amplifies the difference and then outputs the result under the control of a sensing control signal PIS.
FIG. 2 is a timing chart of each signal on the bit line control circuit shown in FIG. 1.
An equalizing signal PEQ is active during precharging. After precharging, the equalizing signal PEQ disables the equalizing and precharging portion 130 to float the data lines 110 and 120 precharged to the equalization voltage VBL.
A driving signal PIX is activated driving a word line corresponding to the row address strobe signal RASB. A data line connected to a corresponding memory cell (which is accessed by a driven word line) among the data lines 110 and 120 begins to share charge with the corresponding memory cell (refer to t1 of FIG. 2).
After a predetermined period of time, that is, after the potential of the data line and that of the memory cell are equalized by charge sharing (refer to t2 of FIG. 2), the sensing control signal PIS is activated enabling the sense and amplification portion 150.
In conventional bit line controlling circuits, while the data line acting as the bit line shares charge with a memory cell, the data line acting as the bit line bar floats while being precharged to the equalization voltage VBL. Therefore, during charge sharing from a period of time between t1 and t2 of FIG. 2, a coupling effect occurs between the data line acting as the bit line and that acting as the bit line bar. That is, the voltage level of the data line acting as the bit line varies due to charge sharing with a corresponding memory cell. The voltage level of the data line acting as the bit line bar is also changed. Consequently, the difference in voltage levels between the data lines after charge sharing becomes smaller than a predetermined value which can be accurately sensed by the sense and amplification portion.
Furthermore, as integration of memory cells increase, the time interval between the data lines acting as the bit line and the bit line bar becomes smaller. Embedded memory devices include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) field and a DRAM circuit manufactured on a signal chip. Accordingly, material layers of the data lines acting as the bit line and the bit line bar are replaced by metal layers instead of poly layers employed in the prior art. Thus, the vertical heights of the data lines acting as the bit line and the bit line bar increases increasing coupling capacitance. As a result, coupling effects of the data lines becomes worse, adversely effecting the sensing operation performed by the sense and amplification portion.
FIG. 3 shows the coupling effect occurring between the bit line and the bit line bar, in the conventional bit line controlling circuit of FIG. 1. Here, a vertical axis denotes the level of voltage and a horizontal axis denotes the time. Reference numerals 160 and 170 denote the potential values of the bit line and the bit line bar, respectively. Reference numeral t1 is the time when the charge sharing starts, and reference numeral t2 is the time when the sensing and amplifying operation starts being performed by the sense and amplification portion 150.
Referring to FIG. 3, during precharging, the bit line and the bit line bar are precharged to the equalization voltage VBL before charge sharing. During charge sharing (between t1 and t2), the potential of the bit line changes to VH due to the charge sharing of the bit line with a corresponding memory cell. The potential of the bit line bar is also changed into VHB due to the coupling effect with the bit line. Accordingly, after the time for charge sharing ends, the difference (VH-VHB) in potential between the bit line and the bit line bar becomes smaller than a predetermined value which can be effectively sensed by the sense and amplification portion 150. Thus, accurate data reading is difficult.

Circuit and method for controlling bit line for a semiconductor memory device


Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, systems and method of disconnecting a wireless communication link. For example, a wireless communication device may include a controller to receive placement-related information indicating a change in one or more placement-related attributes of the wireless communication device, during communication over a wireless communication link, and based on the orientation-related information to disconnect the wireless communication link.

Mobile platforms are becoming smaller and smaller, and typically have smaller screens and less Input/Output (IO) ports from generation to generation.
Docking stations are commonly used nowadays to extend the IO port array of the mobile platforms, and provide a convenient means for a mobile platform to hook up to a static variety of peripheral devices ("peripherals"), such as displays, monitors, external storage devices, external Hard Disk Drives (HDD), a mouse, a keyboard, a webcam, communication devices, and the like.
A docking device (also referred to as "docking station") may typically be placed on a table, while being permanently connected to the peripherals, and the user may connect the mobile platform to the docking station ("dock") to utilize the peripherals.
A wireless docking station may be configured to enable a wireless connection of the mobile platform to the wireless docking station. The wireless connection may enable the user to connect the mobile device to the peripheral devices without physically connecting the mobile device to the docking station.
Accordingly, the wireless docking station may provide a convenient and easy to use connection between the mobile platform and the peripheral devices.
However, since the mobile platform is not physically connected to the docking station, movement of the mobile platform can cause unpredictable effects on the wireless communication link between the mobile platform and the docking station.

Apparatus, system and method of disconnecting a wireless communication link


Methods and Apparatuses for generating and distributing a clock signal between components within a semiconductor chip. According to one embodiment of the invention, a clock generator, distributed over an integrated circuit, includes a plurality of cells each coupled to multiple adjacent ones of the plurality of cells by different clock wires; wherein, for each of the plurality of clock wires, the cell on one end generates the rising edge and the cell on the other end generates the falling edge. According to another embodiment of the invention, an integrated circuit includes a distributed clock generator and a plurality of sets of synchronous logic. The distributed clock generator includes a plurality of cells and a plurality of clock wires. The plurality of clock wires each couple together two of said plurality of cells such that said plurality of cells are coupled together in grid. The plurality of cells, responsive to a mixing of previous clock edges produced by at least certain of said plurality of cells, detect when to produce the next clock edge. The plurality of sets of synchronous logic each have a clock input. Each clock input of each of these sets is coupled to a different one of said plurality of clock wires.

1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of generating clock signals for a digital system. More specifically, the invention relates to methods and apparatuses for generating and distributing a clock signal between components within an integrated circuit.
2. Background
FIG. 10 shows what is called a Mealy machine. The Mealy machine reduces computation to an instructive abstraction. The Mealy machine shows that computation is simply the controlled updating of state (state is simply the data that records the progress of a computation) depending on the value of the current state and some inputs.
The Mealy machine illustrates four elements of computing. Most prominent is the computation cloud. In VLSI systems, computation is performed by logic gates constructed from transistors. Next is the state holding element. Traditionally state holding elements are flip-flops, although they could be latches. The third element is the clock that determines when the state holding element updates. Last is the communication represented by the wire from the output of the state holding element to the computation cloud.
The abstraction might lead one to believe that the state of the computer is located, manipulated and updated at a single physical location. Rather the state holding and computation is distributed across a large plane. Communication is not limited to a single wire, but many wires that branch and merge and form long and short channels. These realities do not disturb the model as long as each of the state holding elements receives its update signal at substantially the same time and all of the computation is completed when it is time to update to the next state. Synchronous computing evolved from this model.
Unfortunately the factors that contribute to the speed of computing have changed since the Mealy machine model was adapted. The detail that seems insignificant by the Mealy machine, communication, has grown in importance while the most emphasized property, computation, has diminished. The Mealy machine was introduced when chips were relatively small and communication costs were negligible. Clock cycles were on the order of 50–100 gate delays and slight perturbations in the clock arrival time resulted in error margins that were a fraction of a percent of the clock cycle time.
Transistor mismatches, fabrication imperfections, unstable supplies, and a host of other phenomenon make it very difficult to copy a signal to a multitude of locations over a large chip clocked in the giga-Hertz range to an accuracy that supports the Mealy model. High performance microprocessors have clocks that switch many billions of times per second. The cycle time is typically on the order of 8–10 gate delays. This high speed clock signal is copied through many millimeters of interconnect and is sometimes amplified by 20+ buffers. The skew between two copies of a signal derived through millimeters of interconnect and 20+ buffers begins to approach an 8–10 gate delay cycle time.
The synchronous paradigm is built upon the assumption that clock and data signals have determinative delays. The clock tree assumes that a signal that is buffered through physically separate yet identically designed paths produces identical signals at the end of those paths. Very little certainty exist in modern transistor processes and each new process has even less certainty than the last. Transistors and interconnect of equivalent dimensions will have different delays. These differences are no longer negligible.
Typically, the clock signal is generated at a single source and is distributed through chains of inverters of equal length to the individual latches. It is important that the clock signal arrives at each data latch at nearly the same time, so that operations that take place in one part of a circuit are properly synchronized with operations in other parts of the circuit.
However, it is impossible to match exactly the delay of all paths from the source of the clock signal to the individual latches. Cross-die processing variations and imprecision in the alignment of the fabrication equipment make this impossible. To complicate matters, die sizes are becoming larger, resulting in greater die variations and longer inverter chains, which result in greater path disparities.
As clock speeds increase, these disparities consume an increasingly larger fraction of the clock period. The disparity in the arrival time of a clock signal between latches is called "skew." Note that skew causes uncertainty about the time that data is latched. Furthermore, note that calculations cannot be performed during periods when it is not certain that the data is valid. As clock speeds increase, the skew between latches remains approximately constant. Hence, a smaller fraction of the clock period can be used for calculations.
The traditional method for distributing a clock signal is to use an H-tree topology. A square area of the integrated circuit is divided into quadrants and the centers of each quadrant are connected by an 'H' interconnect topology. Each of the three segments of the 'H' is equal to half the length of the sides of the square integrated circuit. The distance of the path from each prong to the center of the perpendicular segment, or the root, of the 'H' is equivalent. The prongs are called leaves in keeping with the tree image.
An area can be divided into 16 regions by superimposing an 'H' onto a square integrated circuit and then centering four 'H's' half the size of the initial 'H' onto the leaves of the first 'H'. A square integrated circuit can be divided into 4^n regions, for any power of n, by recursively applying this method. A signal applied at the root of the largest 'H' is copied to all the leaves at substantially the same time.
Note that although the path from the root to each leaf is equivalent by design, there will be some disparity between all paths due to physical irregularities and fabrication resolutions. Although each path from the root to the leaves contains interconnect of equivalent length, and gates of equivalent size and number, separate paths are only equal to the resolution of the fabrication equipment. The more the paths from root to leaf diverge, the more skew tends to accumulate.
Note that there will be a place in an H-tree system where two adjacent signals will be derived through maximally different routes through the tree. This is typically where the skew is at a maximum.
Clock skew can be compensated for by adding a timing margin to the clock cycle time. However, this added timing margin can become a significant fraction of the clock period, and can hence limit system performance.
One way to deal with this problem is to divide an integrated circuit into multiple clock domains, where each clock domain operates from an independent clock. This relieves some of the difficulty in copying a signal across a large area of silicon to arrive at separate locations at substantially the same time. However, dividing an integrated circuit into multiple independent clock domains creates problems in synchronizing communications or data transfers between the different clock domains.
Another solution is to provide larger buffers and to use less resistive interconnect in the clock distribution circuitry. This solution uses more power and causes stronger electromagnetic fields to be emitted from the clock net which is seen as noise by other signals. Power consumption and signal noise are both limiting factors for processor performance.

Method and apparatus for a distributed clock generator


An automatic analyzer having a smaller size, allowing a larger number of reagents to be loaded, and having a higher processing capability. Reagent disks are disposed inside and outside a reaction disk. Reagent probes are disposed to be able to suck reagents from the reagent disks and eject the reagents at common positions. A plurality of reagent probes are alternately accessed one by one to each of the reagent disks per cycle. Each reagent probe comprises two arms rotatable independently of each other so that the reagent probe is able to access a plurality of points and interference between the plurality of reagent probes can be avoided. A first reagent and a second reagent can be loaded on each of the reagent disks, and the number of loadable reagents can be increased without enlarging an overall system size. Thus, an automatic analyzer having a shorter cycle time and a higher processing capability can be realized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for automatically analyzing various components of blood, etc., and more particularly to an automatic analyzer capable of loading a larger number of reagents and realizing a higher throughput per unit time.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic analyzer for automatically analyzing living samples, such as blood, and outputting analysis results is essential for carrying out analysis with high efficiency in, e.g., large-, medium- and small-scaled hospitals handling a large number of patients, as well as in a clinic center carrying out analysis under contract with those hospitals and doctor's offices.
In that type of automatic analyzer, it is demanded that the system is more compact, is able to perform more kinds of analysis, and has a higher processing speed. To satisfy those demands, various types of automatic analyzers have been proposed so far. For example, Patent Document 1; JP,A 5-10957 discloses an automatic analyzer comprising two reagent disks capable of loading reagents in concentric arrangement, and reagent probes independently movable corresponding to concentric rows of reagent containers. In other words, Patent Document 1 is intended to increase the number of loadable reagents by arranging two reagent disks in concentric relation, and to avoid a reduction of the processing speed by providing reagent probes to be independently movable corresponding to respective rows of reagent containers.
With that disclosed related art, however, because a plurality of reagent probes accessing the row of reagent containers on one reagent disk are operated to rotate about the same rotary shaft, reagents sucked from reagent containers on the same reagent disk can be dispensed just into a reaction cuvette located on the same dispensing position on a reaction disk. Also, reagents sucked from reagent containers on the different reagent disks can be dispensed only to respective positions on the reaction disk different from each other. Thus, analysis cannot be performed at a high speed in random combinations.
To overcome such a problem, Patent Document 2; JP,A 2004-45112 discloses an automatic analyzer including a reagent dispensing probe and provided with a mechanism capable of reciprocally moving the probe not only along a rail interconnecting a plurality of reagent disks, but also in a direction perpendicular to the rail. In other words, Patent Document 2 is intended to enlarge an area where the reagent dispensing probe is movable, thereby widening an area allowing reagent containers and reaction cuvettes to be accessible therein and increasing the degree of freedom in dispensing operations. Further, the processing speed is increased by providing a plurality of reagent dispensing probes which are reciprocally movable along the rail or providing a plurality of rails.


A process of generating transgenic plants or plant cells transformed on their plastome and being devoid of a selection marker, comprising the following steps: (a) transforming plastids of a plant or plant cell with a DNA comprising: (i) a nucleotide sequence conferring replication of said DNA in a plant cell, (ii) at least one sequence of interest, (iii) sequences flanking said at least one sequence of interest necessary for stable integration of said at least one sequence of interest into the plastid genome, and (iv) a selection marker outside of said sequences flanking said sequence(s) of interest; (b) allowing integration of said at least one sequence of interest into the plastome in the presence of selective pressure; (c) allowing loss of said selection marker sequence by releasing selective pressure; and (d) recovering cells and/or plants being genetically transformed on their plastomes and being devoid of said selection marker.

According to generally accepted knowledge, two classes of cell organelles, i.e. plastids and mitochondria, are derived from initially independent prokaryotes that were taken up into a predecessor of present day eukaryotic cells by separate endosymbiotic events (Gray, 1991). As a consequence, these organelles contain their own DNA, DNA transcripts in the form of messenger RNA, ribosomes, and at least some of the necessary tRNAs that are required for decoding of genetic information (Marechal-Drouard et al., 1991).
While, shortly after endosymbiotic uptake, these organelles were genetically autonomous since they contained all the elements necessary to drive prokaryotic life, this autonomy was reduced during evolution by transfer of genetic information to the cell's nucleus. Nevertheless, their genetic information is of sufficient complexity to make recent cell organelles an attractive target for gene technology. This is particularly the case with plastids, because these organelles still encode about 50% of the proteins required for their main function inside the plant cell, photosynthesis. Plastids also encode their ribosomal RNAs, the majority of their tRNAs and ribosomal proteins. In total, the number of genes in the plastome is in the range of 120 (Palmer, 1991). The vast majority of proteins that are found in plastids are, however, imported from the nuclear/cytosolic genetic compartment.
Plastids Can Be Genetically Transformed
With the development of general molecular cloning technologies, it became soon possible to genetically modify higher plants by transformation. The main emphasis in plant transformation was and still is on nuclear transformation, since the majority of genes, ca. 26.000 in the case of Arabidopsis thaliana, the complete sequence of which was recently published (The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative, 2000), is found in the cell's nucleus. Nuclear transformation was easier to achieve, since biological vectors such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens were available, which could be modified to efficiently enable nuclear transformation (Galvin, 1998). In addition, the nucleus is more directly accessible to foreign nucleic acids, while the organelles are surrounded by two envelope membranes that are, generally speaking, not permeable to macromolecules such as DNA.
A capability of transforming plastids is highly desirable since it could make use of the high gene dosage in these organelles that bears the potential of extremely high expression levels of transgenes. In addition, plastid transformation is attractive because plastid-encoded traits are not pollen transmissible; hence, potential risks of inadvertent transgene escape to wild relatives of transgenic plants are largely reduced. Other potential advantages of plastid transformation include the feasibility of simultaneous expression of multiple genes as a polycistronic unit and the elimination of positional effects and gene silencing that may result following nuclear transformation.
Methods that allow stable transformation of plastids could indeed be developed for higher plants. To date, two different methods are available, i.e. particle bombardment of tissues, in particular leaf tissues (Svab et al., 1990), and treatment of protoplasts with polyethylene glycol (PEG) in the presence of suitable transformation vectors (Koop et al., 1996). Both methods mediate the transfer of plasmid DNA across the two envelope membranes into the organelle's stroma.
Conventional plastid transformation technology is described in Heifetz, 2000 and Koop et al., 1996.
Conventional plastid transformation vectors usually need to serve at least two purposes: (1) introduction of one or more desired foreign genes to be expressed by the genetic machinery of the plastids, and (2) selection of cells containing transformed plastomes by inhibitor selection and/or by screening for a detectable phenotype. Plastid transformation vectors usually contain complete gene cassettes consisting of four operable linked elements: a promoter sequence, a 5′ untranslated region, a coding region, and a 3′ untranslated region.
These cassettes, however, do not make use of the potential to co-express several genes in an operon under the control of a single promotor.
Selection is achieved either by replacing a complete resident plastid gene by a mutant gene, which confers resistance to selection inhibitors (U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,513) or by introducing a complete expression cassette, which leads to enzymatic inactivation of an inhibitor (U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,402). These marker genes that are needed for the selection of transgenic plant cells from a vast background of untransformed cells code for antibiotic or herbicide resistance genes. Examples for plastid resistance genes are aadA conferring resistance to spectinomycin and streptomycin (Svab & Maliga, 1993), or nptII conferring resistance to kanamycin (Carrer et al., 1993). As these marker genes are stably integrated into the genome together with the genes of interest (GOI), they will stay in the homoplastomic transgenic plants although they are not required for GOI function. These remaining marker genes are a main issue of criticism of plant biotechnology as they could theoretically increase antibiotic resistance of pathogens or herbicide resistance of weeds. Construction of a selection system which does not result in a resistance gene in the transgenic plant is, therefore, highly desirable (Iamtham and Day, 2000).
In addition to the two or more gene cassettes, transformation vectors usually contain flanking regions of the insertion site, which are necessary for the stable introduction of engineered sequences into the plastome by two reciprocal homologous recombination events. To this end, chloroplast transformation vectors contain chloroplast genome sequences to serve as homologous flanks. Since the chloroplast genomes of different species differ in their sequences, species-specific transformation vectors have to be used. This requires substantial effort, when cloning transformation vectors, and is in contrast to the situation in nuclear transformation.
In all conventional transformation vectors, the selection marker is flanked by sequences homologous to plastid DNA; therefore, it is stably integrated into the plastome, although it is not needed for the desired function of the sequence(s) of interest. These remaining marker genes could theoretically spread to other organisms by giving a selective advantage. Increased antibiotic resistance in pathogens might cause problems in clinical treatment. Thus, the development of a system which results in transplastomic plants not containing any selection marker is highly desirable. A further advantage of such a system would be the possibility of re-using the same marker gene for subsequent transformations, which is at present difficult due to the limited number of efficient selection markers.
Furthermore, the copy number of any transgene stably integrated into plastome molecules can obviously never exceed the plastome copy number, thus limiting the potential transgene expression level to a certain degree. Consequently, the copy number of the transgene(s) can be further increased when located on an extra-chromosomal element.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,507 discloses a process for introducing a heterologous DNA into a chloroplast whereby the heterologous DNA contains operably linked control elements allowing for expression in the chloroplast. The process according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,507 has not provided long-term maintenance of the heterologous DNA in a plastid. Moreover, the expression of the heterologous DNA in the plastid is insufficient for practical application.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide an efficient and highly versatile process of genetic transformation of plant plastids whereby genetically stable transgenic plants may be produced.
It is another object of the invention to provide a process of genetic transformation of plant plastids, which gives stably transformed plants and allows very high transgene expression levels.
It is another object of the invention to provide a process of genetic transformation of plant plastids, which allows expression of multiple genes of interest (polycistronic expression).
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel process of genetic transformation of plant plastids, which gives transgenic plants not containing a marker gene such as an antibiotic resistance gene.
It is a further object to provide vectors capable of replicating in plant cells, preferably in plastids, whereby the replication frequency of the vector is tuneable.

Process of generating transplastomic plants or plant cells devoid of a selection marker