The present invention offers methods and apparatus for low-frequency sonic borehole logging with tube waves using discrete frequency measurements. A source transducer emits sonic energy at a location in a borehole of at least one discrete frequency which induces propagation of tube waves in the borehole; sonic energy of the tube waves is received at multiple receiver locations in the borehole, the multiple receiver locations being spaced apart from one another and from the source transducer location; and at each said receiver location, the complex pressure response (amplitude and phase, or real and imaginary parts) of a receiver to the received sonic energy of the tube waves is detected relative to a phase reference. The detected complex pressure response may be processed to determine phase velocity of the tube waves in the borehole as a function of frequency, to determine attenuation of the tube waves in the borehole as a function of frequency and/or to determine attenuation and amplitude as functions of frequency. In addition, tube wave reflection coefficients near fractures, bed boundaries, etc., may be calculated. The tube wave data are useful for permeability correlation, fracture evaluation, rock rigidity studies and other purposes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to logging of low-frequency tube waves in boreholes, and more particularly to logging of tube waves propagated in boreholes by emission of sonic energy at discrete frequencies.
2. Description of Related Art
Emission of broad-band sonic energy in a fluid-filled tube, such as a mud-filled borehole in the earth, induces propagation of sonic waves in a number of modes. These modes include compressional, shear, and tube wave propagation.
Tube waves are a special type of surface waves. Surface waves were first postulated by Lord Rayleigh in 1885. Lord Rayleigh considered the case of a flat plane separating some solid elastic material from a vacuum, and found that the motion of the material near the plane executed a sort of elliptical motion as the surface wave passed. In 1924, R. Stoneley examined the related case in which a second solid is substituted for the vacuum, and discovered a new type of surface wave. In 1948, J. G. Scholte considered the special case when one of the materials was a fluid. The case considered by Scholte is the one of interest with respect to a fluid-filled borehole, although Stoneley's name is more commonly used in describing it.
If Scholte's plane is bent to form a cylinder, the geometry of the borehole is encountered. At very small wavelengths relative to a given borehole diameter, the cylinder will appear to the Stoneley wave as a flat plane. But with longer wavelengths, the Stoneley wave decays very little across the borehole. For example, at an operating frequency of, for example, 10 KHz, the wavelength in the mud is about 6 inches (comparable with a typical oilfield borehole diameter) and the wavelength in the formation surrounding the borehole may be as long as 2 feet. At the very low-frequency limit, the field strength of the Stoneley wave is practically flat across the borehole, since the borehole diameter is very small compared to a wavelength. Under these conditions the Stoneley wave is known as a tube wave. For purposes of the present invention and the disclosure given below, the terms "tube wave" and "Stoneley wave" will be considered synonymous.
Propagation of the tube wave up and down the borehole is believed to be affected by fluid communication between the borehole and the formation. Low-frequency tube waves have found a number of uses in borehole exploration, such as for determining formation permeability, evaluating formation fractures, and understanding rock rigidity and stress. Correlation between tube wave parameters (velocity and attenuation) and formation permeability has been reported in theory and from field data. See, for example, J. E. White, Underground Sound. pp. 139-191, Elsevier, 1983; and D. M. Williams, J. Zemanek, F. A. Angona, C. L. Dennis, and R. L. Caldwell, The Long Spaced Acoustic Logging Tool (Transactions of the SPWLA 25th Annual Logging Symposium, Paper T, 1984). The tube wave has also been used as a fracture indicator. See, for example, K. Hsu, A. Brie, and R. Plumb, A New Method for Fracture Identification Using Sonic Array Tools (Paper presented at the 1985 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, Sep. 22-25, 1985, publication no. SPE 14397). Use of tube wave information to derive the formation shear modulus is also known. See, for example, O. Y. Liu, Stoneley Wave-Derived .DELTA.t Shear Log (Paper presented at the SPWLA Twenty-Fifth Annual Logging Symposium, Jun. 10-13, 1984); and J. L. Stevens and S. M. Day, Shear Velocity Logging in Slow Formation Using the Stoneley Wave (Borehole Geophysics Abstract No. BHG7 of the Extended Abstracts of the Annual Meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, September, 1983).
Traditionally, sonic logging measurements are made in the time domain: a broad-band sonic energy source excites propagation of sonic waves in the borehole, and waveforms detected at an array of receiver locations spaced from the source in the borehole are recorded as functions of time. See, for example, D. M. Williams, J. Zemanek, F. A. Angona, C. L. Dennis, and R. L. Caldwell, The Long Spaced Acoustic Logging Tool (Transactions of the SPWLA 25th Annual Logging Symposium, Paper T, 1984). Tube wave velocity and reflection coefficients at the dominant tube wave frequency can be estimated by waveform stacking techniques, such as semblance or radon transforms.
However, quantitative interpretation and applications of the tube wave data require information about the tube waves in the frequency domain. That is, information such as tube wave velocity dispersion, tube wave attenuation and tube wave reflection coefficients are needed as functions of frequency. To obtain the frequency-dependent information, waveforms recorded in the time domain are transformed into the frequency domain before processing.
Time domain recording has several disadvantages if the frequency domain results are desired. The waveforms must be sampled in small time steps over a long period, resulting in a large set of data to transmit, store, and process. The truncation in time can cause interference in the processing. Also, the signal-to-noise ratio can be quite small for the wide-band transient measurements. The noise problem can be significant for low-frequency data (less than 500 Hz) because of the noises generated by the sonde traveling in the borehole. These problems may be avoided in accordance with the present invention by taking measurements in frequency domain.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,375, issued Jul. 11, 1967 to J. E. White proposes a form of acoustic well logging in which the propagation velocities of compressional, shear, mud and casing waves are determined from the expression velocity=frequency.times.wavelength by employing transmitter and/or receiver tuning techniques to determine the wavelength for a known frequency. A variety of such techniques are disclosed, involving wavelength tuning by varying frequency and/or phase shift. In all the techniques, frequency and/or phase shift is adjusted until an amplitude peak is observed, the frequencies which produce such amplitude peaks are noted, and wave propagation velocity is calculated from the expression given above. In one such technique, the wavelength of the transmitted signal is tuned to a fixed wavelength of the sending and receiving arrays by varying its frequency. In another, the wavelength of the arrays is tuned to a fixed value of the transmitted wavelength by varying the phase shift between adjacent transducer elements. In another, the frequency of the transmitted signal or the phase shift between adjacent receiving transducers, or both, are varied.
The technique of U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,375, although not directed to tube wave logging, would have the disadvantage if used for tube wave logging that insufficient information is gathered to permit derivation of both tube wave velocity and tube wave attenuation as functions of frequency. Furthermore, the disclosed method requires downhole tuning of the frequency and/or the wavelength while acquiring the data. The method is not directly applicable to obtain the frequency dependent characteristics of dispersive waves, such as the tube wave in a borehole.
In another approach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,748, issued Dec. 6, 1983 to R. W. Siegfried, II., proposes a continuous wave sonic logging method in which a continuous sine wave at a single frequency is emitted and received, and a spatial Fourier transform is performed over the receiver array. The resulting spatial frequency component are then used to indicate the velocities of various sonic paths. The logging method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,748 would have several disadvantages for tube wave logging. For example, the method requires a large number of receivers in order to facilitate the spatial Fourier transforms. Further, the disclosed method records the instantaneous values of the received signal; that is, it is recorded in time domain. Therefore, the measurement is subject to noise interferences. No improvement in the signal to noise ratio is realized by the proposed method. Furthermore, the measurement can only be done one frequency at a time (due to the time domain recording). This would require numerous logging runs for the dispersive waves, for which the wave characteristics are functions of frequency. Since the logging time is a costly factor in wire line logging services, the method is not practical for logging dispersive waves.
It is an object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for borehole logging with tube waves in which the aforementioned disadvantages of time-domain recording are avoided.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for borehole logging with tube waves in which the complex pressure response (amplitude and phase, or real and imaginary parts) of tube waves propagated in the borehole is detected for use in determining parameters such as tube wave phase velocity and tube wave attenuation as functions of frequency.

Methods and apparatus for discrete-frequency tube-wave logging of boreholes


A pull tab accessory device for any type of binder but most particularly for a ring binder having multiple rings such as the commonly known "three ring binder". In one embodiment the tab may be an extension of the spine of a book or binder elongated as desired and tapered to form a surface which may be readily grasped by the thumb and fingers of a person. The extension is pliable and deformable to form an angle of ninety degrees with the spine if required. A second embodiment is an elongated flexible member having one or more legs provided with an aperture at one end and with a tab suitable for grasping by the thumb and fingers of a person at the end remote from the aperture. The aperture is shaped in cross-sectional dimension to slide over the lowermost ring of a ring binder.

The present invention relates to binders for containing pages. The invention can serve to assist with any kind of binder such as a book or the like but has particular application to a ring binder and even more particularly to a three ring binder.
One of the difficulties in shelving binders, especially of the three ring variety is in selecting one from a group on a shelf. Part of the problem is in the fact the binders tend to be wedge shaped and therefore do not store well on a shelf. Prior art patents have been granted which result in getting the binder covers to spread into a more rectangular solid. This however makes the extraction of one from the group more difficult especially without disturbing the shelving arrangement.


Relating to the field of video coding, a method and an apparatus for building a motion vector list for motion vector prediction, which solve a problem of building motion vector lists of at least two PUs in a same coding unit in a serial manner, and improve the parallel processing capability. The method includes: obtaining spatial neighboring blocks of a current prediction block, where the current prediction block is located inside a current coding unit; determining available neighboring blocks of the current prediction block according to a partition manner of the current coding unit, where the available neighboring blocks are located outside the current coding unit; and obtaining motion vector predictors from the available neighboring blocks in a preset sequence according to motion vector predictors of the available neighboring blocks, and adding the obtained motion vector predictors to the motion vector list.

An interframe prediction technology in the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) adopts a conventional Motion Compensated Prediction (MCP) method. For motion vector prediction, the HEVC adopts a multiple motion vectors competition method, which improves the accuracy of motion vector prediction, thereby improving the coding compression performance.
The HEVC interframe prediction mode may include, but is not limited to, a Merge mode, a Skip mode, and so on, all of which use the multiple motion vectors competition to perform interframe prediction. A motion vector list is used when motion vector prediction is performed. For the Merge mode and the Skip mode, the motion vector list is allowed to contain at most four spatial motion vector predictors and one temporal motion vector predictor, where the Merge mode and the Skip mode share one motion vector list. A coder selects a best motion vector predictor from the motion vector list as a motion vector predictor of a current Prediction Unit (PU), which may be called a prediction block hereinafter.
A method for building the motion vector list may include:
As shown in FIG. 1, spatial neighboring blocks of the current PU may include: a neighboring block A0 (a bottom-left reference block corresponding to a bottom-left corner position of the current PU), a neighboring block A1 (a left reference block corresponding to the bottom-left corner position of the current PU), a neighboring block B0 (a top-right reference block corresponding to a top-right corner position of the current PU), a neighboring block B1 (a top reference block corresponding to the top-right corner position of the current PU), and a neighboring block B2 (a top-left reference block corresponding to a top-left position of the current PU). A Temporal Motion Vector predictor (TMVP) is a motion vector predictor corresponding to the current PU in time domain.
Firstly, motion vector predictors are successively obtained from the neighboring blocks and the TMVP in a sequence of the neighboring block A1, the neighboring block B1, the neighboring block B0, the neighboring block A0, the neighboring block B2, and the TMVP. Then, the obtained motion vector predictors are added to the motion vector list according to a rule in the HEVC. The specific motion vector list building process is a technology well known by a person skilled in the art, so that details will not be described herein again.
Further, a current Coding Unit (CU), which may be called a coding unit hereinafter, may include at least two PUs, and motion vector lists of the at least two PUs are built in a serial manner.
During the implementation of the above motion vector list building process, it is found that the prior art has at least the following problem: if the current CU includes at least two PUs, and the motion vector lists of the at least two PUs are built in a serial manner, the speed of building the motion vector lists of the at least two PUs in the same CU is slow, thereby reducing the parallel processing capability.

Method and apparatus for building motion vector list for motion vector prediction


The method of the invention enables an application program to recover feature information regarding a managed entity without having any predefined knowledge regarding the managed entity. The method employs a database that is operated by a database management program which includes data structures that define each of plural managed entities and each management interface associated therewith. A "managed entity" is a data structure that lists all "management interfaces" present in a device that is to be utilized by a processor. A "management interface" is a data structure that includes one or more procedures for accessing a device and obtaining information regarding the device and a "proxy management interface" is a data structure that is established to store previously retrieved feature data. All devices with a same feature can be accessed by an identical management interface procedure. Accordingly, an application merely needs to know how to deal with managed entity and management interfaces to obtain either capability or status information regarding a device.

Peripheral systems consist of peripheral devices, peripheral clients and peripheral servers. A peripheral device may include a printer, a scanner, or multi-function devices. A peripheral client is a computer that makes use of the peripheral device. A peripheral server is a computer that makes a peripheral device and its services available to a peripheral client, generally over a network or a communication interconnection.
Managing a peripheral system involves the configuring of peripheral devices, obtaining their status and receiving events from these peripheral devices. The capabilities of peripheral devices vary widely. Communication protocols used for interacting with the devices also vary widely. Software that manages interactions between peripheral clients and peripheral devices must accommodate this variety of capabilities and protocols. Further, vendors constantly ship new models of peripherals, peripheral servers and peripheral clients. Software for managing these changes must be constantly revised to support the new devices and new device features. All of this significantly increases the complexity of software used to manage a peripheral system.
Prior art programs that enabled a peripheral client to access the capabilities of a peripheral device and data regarding functions performed by the peripheral device, have caused such data to be stored in a file associated with an application program running on the peripheral client. For instance, one prior art technique for enabling peripheral clients/peripheral device communication utilized a get/set interface with a collection of objects types. To retrieve information about a peripheral device, the application program would issue a "get" request for a desired object type. In response, peripheral abstraction codes would retrieve the requested information from the peripheral device and send it back to the caller in a data buffer. Likewise, if the application program needed to configure a setting in the peripheral device, it would enter the setting data into a data buffer and issue a set request to an appropriate object type, passing the buffer thereto.
In order for such prior art systems to provide enhanced performance, the results of many of the get and set requests were cached in a database associated with the application program, for future use. If a subsequent request was made for data that had already been previously retrieved and cached, the new request was serviced from the cache in the application (rather than over the network from the device itself). Avoiding additional network traffic provided a significant performance advantage, versus not having the data cached at all.
The prior art solution, to implement the cache model, stored a copy of the data buffer in the application's database, when the object was first requested. Then, if the object was requested again, the copy of the stored buffer was returned to the caller. This function was enabled by simply routing all object requests through the database first.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved procedures for the management of device communications in a peripheral system.
It is another object of this invention to separate peripheral status and capability data from application programs so as to isolate the application programs from change requirements when peripheral devices are added or modified.
It is still another object of this invention to utilize the benefits provided by object-oriented programming languages to enable improved peripheral system management.

Method and apparatus for peripheral system management, using multiple object interfaces


It is determined that there are X uplink control channel resources available for uplink signaling. Each of those X uplink control channel resources are sub-channelized into a plurality of sub-channels that each defines a unique time instant or point in time. For each of Y units of control information there is selected a unique combination of one of the sub-channels and a modulation (X and Y are each integers greater than one). The Y units of control information are sent on the X uplink control channel resources according to the respectively selected combinations. By example the uplink resources may be an ACK/NAK/DTX bit on a PUCCH. In one example the sub-channels are individual slots of a PUCCH. In another example the sub-channels are the reference-signal part and the data part of a single PUCCH slot.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The following abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined as follows:
3GPP third generation partnership project
ACK acknowledge
CC component carrier
CCE control channel element
CM cubic metric
DL downlink (eNB towards UE)
DTX discontinuous transmission
eNB EUTRAN Node B (evolved Node B)
FDD frequency division duplexing
EUTRAN evolved UTRAN (LTE, sometimes termed 3.9G)
CQI channel quality indicator
FDD frequency division duplex
FDMA frequency division multiple access
FDPS frequency domain packet scheduler
HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request
HO handover
LB long block
LTE long term evolution
NAK/NACK not acknowledge or negative acknowledge
Node B base station
PRB physical resource block
PDCCH physical downlink control channel
PDSCH physical downlink shared channel
PUCCH physical uplink control channel
RS reference signal
SC-FDMA single carrier, frequency division multiple access
SU-MIMO single user multiple-input multiple-output
TDD time division duplex
UE user equipment
UL uplink (UE towards eNB)
UTRAN universal terrestrial radio access network
A communication system known as evolved UTRAN (EUTRAN, also referred to as UTRAN-LTE or as E-UTRA) is currently under development within the 3GPP. As presently specified the DL access technique will be orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), and the UL access technique will be SC-FDMA.
One specification of interest is 3GPP TS 36.300, V8.6.0 (2008 September), 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 8), incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
FIG. 1 reproduces FIG. 4.1 of 3GPP TS 36.300, and shows the overall architecture of the E-UTRAN system. The EUTRAN system includes eNBs, providing the EUTRA user plane (packet data convergence protocol PDCP/radio link control RLC/medium access control MAC/physical PHY) and control plane (radio resource control RRC) protocol terminations towards the user equipment UE. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of an X2 interface. The eNBs are also connected by means of an S1 interface to an evolved packet core (EPC), more specifically to a MME (Mobility Management Entity) by means of a S1 MME interface and to a Serving Gateway (S-GW) by means of a S1 interface. The S1 interface supports a many to many relationship between MMEs/S-GWs and eNBs.
While not a limiting environment for these teachings, of particular interest herein is the 3GPP LTE Release 9 (and beyond towards future International Mobile Telecommunications IMT-A systems, such as for example LTE Release 10), referred to herein for convenience simply as Rel-9, or as LTE-Advanced (LTE-A, sometimes termed 4.0G). The current LTE system is Release 8 or Rel-8. Of additional interest herein are deployment scenarios using TDD or FDD mode in a scalable bandwidth manner (of up to, for example, 100 MHz) with a component carrier (CC) aggregation technique. This is shown at FIG. 2, in which there are five adjacent carriers of 20 MHz each to span a LTE-A bandwidth of 100 MHz. FIG. 2 shows some carriers (4 and 5) are compatible with Rel. 8 and therefore accessible by Rel-8 terminals/UEs, while other carriers (1 through 3) are Rel-9 carriers and incompatible with terminals/UEs which operate only under Rel-8 but not Rel-9. Other deployments may find all five carriers Rel-8 compatible, and Release 10 may have a different arrangement of component carrier compatibility. Whether 20 MHz wide or otherwise, each of these adjacent carriers are termed component carriers (CC).
It has been decided that LTE Rel-8 UEs should be able to operate in the LTE-A system. In evolving towards Rel-9, maintaining backwards compatibility with Rel-8 (E-UTRAN) is an important issue. For example, a Rel-8 UE should be able to access a corresponding Rel-9 system, and a Rel-9 UE should be able to access corresponding Rel-8 system, as shown by the arrangement of FIG. 2. Provided that a Rel-8 UE is capable of operating in a scalable system bandwidth of up to 20 MHz (e.g., 10 MHz TDD or 20 MHz TDD) as specified in 3GPP, and that this bandwidth is then scaled up to 100 MHz for Rel-9, the Rel-9 radio system may possibly be structured as a scalable multi-carrier system having at least one Rel-8-compatible carrier.
As can be appreciated, a number of problems can arise in attempting to maintain compatibility between Rel-8 and Rel-9 systems, such as in the uplink control channel design and optimization of that control channel. One requirement of the LTE-A fourth generation (4G) communication network as specified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is the capability for single user multiple-input/multiple-output (SU-MIMO) transmissions, with up to four transmission antennas supported by the LTE-Advanced uplink system.
In Rel-8, the UE transmits control signals to the eNB on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). These control signals include ACK/NAK, channel quality indicators (CQI), and scheduling request (SR) indicators. The PUCCH concept of Rel-8 is being extended to LTE-A. To adapt the PUCCH for LTE-A, certain contributors to the 3GPP discussions have suggested that single-carrier transmission should be the target (or at least one option) whenever possible. This is a challenge especially from ACK/NAK signaling point of view because of the CC-specific HARQ and transport block; there will be multiple ACK/NAK bits per UL subframe.
For example, in document R1-090724 (3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #56, Athens, Greece; 09-13 Feb. 2009; by Nokia Siemens Networks and Nokia, attached to the priority document as Exhibit A), single-carrier properties are maintained by applying Rel-8 TDD principles when signaling multiple ACK/NAK bits per UL subframe. In LTE Rel-8 TDD, in the case of asymmetric DL/UL configuration, the UE has the possibility to report ACK/NAK associated with multiple DL subframes during one UL subframe. The ACK/NAK signaling for multiple DL subframes can be made using either ACK/NAK bundling or an ACK/NAK multiplexing mode.                For the ACK/NAK bundling mode, an AND operation is first performed on the ACK/NAK bits in the time domain to get one bundled ACK/NAK bit (or 2 bits with multi code-word MCW DL transmission), then the bundled bit is modulated and transmitted on the PUCCH channel corresponding to the last detected DL grant.        For the ACK/NAK multiplexing mode, channel selection is used which enables transmission of 2-4 bits via a single PUCCH channel selected from up to 4 PUCCH channels. The selected channel and the used QPSK constellation point are determined based on the ACK/NAK/DTX states for the multiple DL subframes as shown in Table 10.1-2, 10.1-3, and 10.1-4 of 3GPP TS36.213 v850 (attached to the priority document as Exhibit B).
However, as mentioned above it can only support up to 4 ACK/NAK bits via channel selection among 4 existing PUCCH channels. In the case when the Rel-8 TDD solution is applied with two PUCCH Format 1b resources, it can support up to 3 ACK/NAK bits per subframe via channel selection.
Another proposal is at PCT/EP2009/053214, which relates to Improved ACK/NAK Transmission Method in LTE-Advanced, and which can support up to 6 ACK/NAK bits while at the same time avoid the coverage problem. However, this is achieved by using multiple transmission antennas and so is not useful for UEs having only one transmit antenna as many of the Rel-8 UEs would, and likely some early Rel-9 UEs also.
Also relevant to these teachings is US Patent Publication 2008/0310547 A1 (published Dec. 12, 2008) and entitled "Multi-Code Precoding for Sequence Modulation". In at least some embodiments, the multi-code precoding detailed there imposes certain requirements for the occupied PUCCH channels, i.e., that they should have the same or adjacent cyclic shift, in order to achieve the cubic metric benefit. These requirements are similar to those in document R1-082589 ((3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #53bis, Warsaw, Poland; Jun. 30-Jul. 4, 2008; by Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks, attached to the priority document as Exhibit C).
As further background of the PUCCH in Rel-8, there are currently defined seven SC-FDMA symbols (sometimes termed long blocks or LBs) per slot in the PUCCH structure. A sub-frame consists of two slots. One PUCCH channel occupies two consecutive slots (i.e., one sub-frame) with frequency hopping. Part of those LBs are used for reference signals (the RS part, computer searched zero-autocorrelation codes ZAC sequences in Rel-8) for coherent demodulation. The remaining LBs are used for control and/or data transmission (the data part). In LTE Rel-8, one physical resource block PRB consists of 12 subcarriers during seven symbols, and one PRB contains a data part plus a RS part. Two types of code division multiplexing are used on the PUCCH Format 1/1a/b channel both for the data part and the pilot part: cyclic shifts and cover codes. Cyclic shift multiplexing provides nearly complete orthogonality between different cyclic shifts (if the length of cyclic shift is larger than the delay spread of the radio channel). Rel-8 provides up to 12 orthogonal cyclic shifts within one LB. Orthogonal cover codes (e.g., Walsh or discrete Fourier transform DFT spreading) may be used separately for those LBs corresponding to the RS part and those LBs corresponding to the data part. The CQI (PUCCH Format 2/2a/2b) is typically transmitted in Rel-8 without orthogonal covering.
What is needed in the art is an improved way to signal uplink control signals such as ACK/NAK for the case where the UE occupies multiple UL control channel resources (e.g., 2 or more resources) per subframe.

Multiple uplink control channel transmission with reduced cubic metric


An aesthetically pleasing fastener for allowing a desired height of a hem of a pants leg to be maintained and repeatedly changed without compromising structural integrity of the pants leg or having to cooperate with a shoe so as to allow the fastener to be used without a need for a shoe. The aesthetically pleasing fastener includes a clip and a covering. The covering covers the clip. The clip receives the hem of the pants leg and allows the desired height of the hem of the pants leg to be maintained and repeatedly changed without compromising the structural integrity of the pants leg or having to cooperate with a shoe so as to allow the fastener to be used without a need for a shoe, while the covering makes the aesthetically pleasing fastener aesthetically pleasing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fastener for allowing a desired height of a hem of a pants leg to be maintained, and more particularly, the present invention relates to an aesthetically pleasing fastener for allowing a desired height of a hem of a pants leg to be maintained and repeatedly changed without compromising structural integrity of the pants leg or having to cooperate with a shoe so as to allow the fastener to be used without a need for a shoe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As shown in FIG. 1, which is a diagrammatic perspective view of the bottoms of the legs of a pair of pants dragging on the ground, present fashion styles include pants 10 that have a longer length. In particular, extra baggy, long pants 10 have become stylish. When walking while wearing this type of pants 10, it is common for the bottoms 12 of the legs 14 of the pants 10 to get caught under the heels 16 of a person's shoes 18. Besides causing the pants 10 to get dirty from dragging on the ground 19, it is also possible for the bottoms 12 of the legs 14 of the pants 10 to be ripped. Once ripped, it is often necessary to discard the garment.
Thus, there exists a need for an aesthetically pleasing fastener for allowing a desired height of a hem of a pants leg to be maintained and repeatedly changed without compromising structural integrity of the pants leg or having to cooperate with a shoe so as to allow the fastener to be used without a need for a shoe.
Numerous innovations for pants leg related devices have been provided in the prior art. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they each differ in structure and/or operation and/or purpose from the present invention in that they do not teach an aesthetically pleasing fastener for allowing a desired height of a hem of a pants leg to be maintained and repeatedly changed without compromising structural integrity of the pants leg or having to cooperate with a shoe so as to allow the fastener to be used without a need for a shoe.
FOR EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,389 issued to Brown on Jul. 29, 1986 teaches a hem retainer including a strip of flexible material which has a series of first and second engagement portions. At least one of the first engagement portions is engageable with at least one of the second engagement portions to hold the strip of flexible material in a circular configuration. Also taught is a method of forming a cuff on a pants leg or the like, the pants leg having an inside surface, an outside surface, and an opening. The operator first measures the desired length of the pants leg, turns the pants leg inside out, and then turns the excess length of the leg back on the inside surface of the pants leg. The hem retainer is formed into a circular configuration which is then inserted within the pants leg, adjacent the opening, stretching the pants leg around the hem retainer by adjusting the circumference of the hem retainer. The operator can then sew the excess pants length to the inside surface of the pants leg forming a cuff.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,475 issued to Smart on May 2, 1989 teaches a pants leg restraining band which is somewhat like a removable cuff for the lower end of the pants leg. The unit will ordinarily come in pairs, and includes a band, which may be elastic, and which defines spaced, inverted pockets which receive plastic clips to clip onto the pants leg. The band has hook and loop fastener material so that it can be wrapped around the bottom of the pants leg and engaged on itself to peg the pants.
STILL ANOTHER FOR EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,511 issued to Garside on Aug. 4, 1998 teaches a temporary hemming device that includes a flexible member having a first end and a second end and being made of a material which feels comfortable on the skin, and a fastening device for fastening the first end to the second end through a garment. The fastening device includes a first part and a second part. The first part is attached to the first end and the second part is attached to the second end. A method for making a temporary hem includes folding an edge of a garment, placing a temporary hemming device over the folded edge, and affixing the temporary hemming device to make the temporary hem. A temporary hemming device includes a folded edge of a garment and a temporary hemming device securing the folded edge in place.
YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,862 issued to Bunjes on Sep. 16, 2003 teaches a pants hem guard, for attachment to a shoe and having a frame with a U-shaped inner portion and a U-shaped outer portion, and a clip insert attached to the outer portion of the frame. The outer portion has two ends attached to a rear surface of the clip insert. A pair of horizontal members connect the inner and outer portions so that the frame is one continuous piece. The guard is attached to the back portion of a shoe, with the clip insert remaining on the outside of the shoe just above the shoe heel. A pants hem is tucked behind the clip insert and keeps the hem above the shoe heel.
STILL YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,582 issued to Milburn on Mar. 9, 2004 teaches a trouser leg retaining device which is used for maintaining one's trouser legs in the proper position in relation to one's shoes. Included is an elongated elastic strap with a snap fastener device at one end and either a locking clip or an O-ring at the opposite end. The snap fastens onto one's trouser leg while the O-ring fastens onto one's shoe. The elastic strap has an adjuster positioned on it to adjust the length of the strap.
YET STILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 6,829,847 issued to O'Shea et al. on Dec. 14, 2004 teaches a pants cuff protector for use with long pants for holding a cuff of a pants leg away from the ground. The protector includes a first clamping body affixed proximate a wearer's ankle, a second clamping body magnetically attractable to the first clamping body, and optionally a strap therebetween.
It is apparent that numerous innovations for pants leg related devices have been provided in the prior art that are adapted to be used. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described since they do not teach an aesthetically pleasing fastener for allowing a desired height of a hem of a pants leg to be maintained and repeatedly changed without compromising structural integrity of the pants leg or having to cooperate with a shoe so as to allow the fastener to be used without a need for a shoe.


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, and a circuit pattern group comprising at least N (≧2) circuit pattern on the semiconductor substrate, at least one vicinity of end portion among the at least of N circuit patterns including a connection area to electrically connect to a circuit pattern in another circuit pattern group different from the circuit pattern group, the at least N wirings pattern including a circuit pattern N1 and at least one circuit pattern Ni (i≧2) arranged in one direction different from longitudinal direction of the circuit pattern N1, the at least one circuit patterns Ni having larger i being arranged at further position away from the circuit pattern N1, and in terms of a pattern including the connection area among the at least of Ni circuit patterns, the larger the i, the connection area being arranged at a further position in longitudinal direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device comprising a circuit pattern group including metal wire, gate, diffusion, dummy and so on, a method for making a pattern layout of a plurality of circuit patterns in a circuit pattern group, further a method for making a mask pattern based on design data of a semiconductor device, a method for manufacturing a photo mask by using the method for making a mask pattern; a photo mask; a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the photo mask, and a method for making a layout to correct design data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, technologies for manufacturing a semiconductor have been remarkably developed. Currently, a semiconductor device with a minimum processing dimension of 90 nm has been mass-produced. Miniaturization of the semiconductor device is realized by rapid development in the fine pattern forming technology. As a typical fine pattern forming technology, a mask process technology, a lithography process technology, and an etching process technology may be referred.
In an age that a pattern size is very large, a mask comprising a mask pattern which is the same shape as that of a design pattern is made, the mask is set in an aligner, and a pattern is comparatively easily formed on a wafer as designed by transferring the mask pattern onto a resist applied on the wafer.
However, it is difficult to form a pattern on a wafer as designed because a pattern size becomes smaller at present. The reason is that diffraction of exposure light has a large influence on the dimension of a pattern on a wafer, it is difficult to manufacture a mask for forming a fine pattern and a fine pattern on a wafer is difficult with high accuracy.
Correction methods such as called optical proximity correction (OPC), and process proximity correction (PPC) (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 2001-13668, and 2003-17390) is known as a technology to improve the fidelity of a design pattern.
The correction method such as OPC and PPC (hereinafter, both of OPC and PPC will be expressed as PPC) is roughly classified into rule based PPC, and model-based PPC.
The rule based PPC is a method by which a moving amount of an edge forming the design pattern is defined as a rule (table) according to the width of a design pattern, the nearest distance between patterns, and the like, and the optimal moving amount (correction amount) of the edge is acquired according to the rule (table).
On the other hand, in the model-based PPC, the optimal moving amount (correction amount) of the edge is acquired in such a way that the same pattern as a design pattern is formed on a wafer by using a lithography simulator by which the diffracted light intensity distribution of the exposure light can be estimated with high accuracy.
There has been also proposed another correction method for realizing higher accuracy by combining the rule based PPC and the model-based PPC.
Recently, not only PPC (a technology correcting a mask pattern), but also a technology modifying design pattern for improving the process margin, called target mask data processing (MDP) is also proposed.
In the target MDP processing, a specific kind of a pattern which is estimated difficult to be formed on a wafer is corrected in such a way that the specific kind of pattern is easily formed on the wafer.
In the target MDP processing, a final design pattern is changed to a pattern different from an original one made by a designer. Thereby, it is required to promote the target MDP processing after gaining the consent of the designer beforehand on how to change the pattern. Accordingly, operation of the target MDP processing is complex.
It has been difficult in recent years to secure a process margin in lithography process. Thereby, a technology by which the shape of a design pattern is changed in a more complex manner is required for the target MDP processing. However, it is difficult to establish such a technology for changing the pattern.
Incidentally, a NAND type flash memory has been known as one of nonvolatile semiconductor storage device. The NAND type flash memory comprises a memory cell array connecting a plurality of memory cells in series. The memory cell comprises a MOS structure in which a floating gate and a control gate are accumulated. The NAND type flash memory has a merit that it is suitable for high integration.
However, as mentioned above, the development of the lithography process is not good enough to the miniaturization of the semiconductor device, it has been in a situation that higher integration of the NAND type flash memory is difficult. Specifically, the higher integration can not be realized when a conventional circuit pattern layout for the NAND type flash memory (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-64043) is reduced as it is.

Semiconductor device, method for making pattern layout, method for making mask pattern, method for making layout, method for manufacturing photo mask, photo mask, and method for manufacturing semiconductor device


Summary information for documents are stored as entries in a table in a relational database. Each entry includes a unique identifier, value(s) for a set of attributes and rendering information for the corresponding document. A collation order is obtained that defines a sort order for the documents based on the set of attributes. An index is generated based on the collation order and includes the rendering information for each document. In response to a rendering request or other query, a query that uses index-only access for the summary table can be used to obtain the rendering information. Further, a set of marker values can be included to provide efficient navigation of the index. Still further, additional functionality can be included to display the documents in a hierarchical structure. To this extent, the invention can automatically re-categorize data when the child locations of a hierarchical location exceed a specified number and/or link other relational data to a hierarchical location.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to managing and navigating document summary information, and more particularly, to a solution for managing and navigating document summary information for a large number of documents (e.g., the content of the World Wide Web).
2. Background Art
Current solutions for browsing a content source, such as the World Wide Web, that includes a large number of documents provide relatively few organizational options. For example, a search engine may sort summary information for documents (e.g., web pages and other types of accessible files) by the presumed relevance of the entered search term(s). However, the display page for the results of a typical search frequently has a relatively short list of the resulting content. Consequently, the user is required to manually scroll through many display pages of results in order to locate the summary information for documents assigned a lower relevance by the search engine. In order to provide additional information in fewer display pages, a search engine may limit the number of documents at a particular location (e.g., web site) for which summary information is displayed. Further, some browsing solutions provide a taxonomic division and clustering of the documents that can be navigated to limit the searched and/or relevant documents for which summary information will be displayed.
On a smaller scale, numerous solutions effectively collate document summary information. In particular, document summary information is frequently collated into a hierarchy of categories, or the like. Similarly, messages and responses generated as part of a discussion forum or the like can be collated into a hierarchical structure. In either case, the user can selectively "drill down" the hierarchy by selecting a desired category/message (e.g., clicking on a "twisty" control). Further, current solutions frequently purge the collation document summary information that corresponds to a document to which a particular user does not have access privileges.
For example, the Lotus Notes® messaging and groupware software offered by International Business Machines Corp. of Armonk, N.Y. (IBM) can dynamically maintain and present document summary information in various types of user-defined and/or pre-de fined collations. However, current implementations of this type of technology are too inefficient to effectively manage the extremely large numbers of diverse documents that are available over large content sources such as the World Wide Web or the like.
In light of the above, a need exists for an improved solution for managing document summary information. In particular, there exists a need for a solution capable of managing one or more collations of document summary information for documents available from a data source such as the world wide web.

Method, system and program product for managing document summary information

International Business Machines Corporation


An improved multi-reaction zone process provides improved nitrile product quality and yield. In a first reaction zone, 1,3-butadiene is reacted with hydrogen cyanide in the presence of a catalyst to produce pentenenitriles comprising 3-pentenenitrile and 2-methyl-3-butenenitrile. In a second reaction zone, 2-methyl-3-butenenitrile, recovered from the first reaction zone, is isomerized to 3-pentenenitrile. In a third reaction zone, 3-pentenenitrile recovered from the first and second reaction zones is reacted with hydrogen cyanide in the presence of a catalyst and a Lewis acid to produce adiponitrile. Unwanted production and build-up of dinitriles, including methylglutaronitrile, in the first reaction zone for the hydrocyanation of 1,3-butadiene is prevented by limiting the flow of Lewis acid into the first reaction zone.

Adiponitrile (ADN) is a commercially important and versatile intermediate in the industrial production of nylon polyamides useful in forming films, fibers, and molded articles. ADN may be produced by hydrocyanation of 1,3-butadiene (BD) in the presence of transition metal complexes comprising various phosphorus-containing ligands. For example, catalysts comprising zero-valent nickel and monodentate phosphorus-containing ligands are well documented in the prior art; see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,496,215; 3,631,191; 3,655,723 and 3,766,237; and Tolman, C. A., McKinney, R. J., Seidel, W. C., Druliner, J. D., and Stevens, W. R., Advances in Catalysis, 1985, Vol. 33, pages 1-46. Improvements in the hydrocyanation of ethylenically unsaturated compounds with catalysts comprising zero-valent nickel and certain multidentate phosphite ligands are also disclosed; e.g., see: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,512,696; 5,821,378; 5,959,135; 5,981,772; 6,020,516; 6,127,567; and 6,812,352.
3-Pentenenitrile (3PN) may be formed through a series of reactions as illustrated below.

According to abbreviations used herein, BD is 1,3-butadiene, HC≡N is hydrogen cyanide, and 2M3BN is 2-methyl-3-butenenitrile. A method to increase the chemical yield of 3PN from BD hydrocyanation includes the catalytic isomerization of 2M3BN to 3PN (Equation 2 above) in the presence of NiL4 complexes as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,748. Co-products of BD hydrocyanation and 2M3BN isomerization may include 4-pentenenitrile (4PN), 2-pentenenitrile (2PN), 2-methyl-2-butenenitrile (2M2BN), and 2-methylglutaronitrile (MGN).
In the presence of transition metal complexes comprising various phosphorus-containing ligands, dinitriles such as ADN, MGN, and ethylsuccinonitrile (ESN) may be formed by the hydrocyanation of 3PN and 2M3BN, as illustrated in Equations 3 and 4 below. Equation 4 also shows that 2M2BN can be formed when 2M3BN undesirably isomerizes in the presence of a Lewis acid promoter that may be carried over from a pentenenitrile hydrocyanation reaction zone.

The hydrocyanation of activated olefins such as conjugated olefins (e.g., 1,3-butadiene) can proceed at useful rates without the use of a Lewis acid promoter. However, the hydrocyanation of un-activated olefins, such as 3PN, require at least one Lewis acid promoter to obtain industrially useful rates and yields for the production of linear nitriles, such as ADN. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,496,217, 4,874,884, and 5,688,986 disclose the use of Lewis acid promoters for the hydrocyanation of non-conjugated ethylenically unsaturated compounds with nickel catalysts comprising phosphorous-containing ligands.
An integrated process for the production of ADN from BD and HC≡N can comprise BD hydrocyanation, 2M3BN isomerization to produce 3PN, and the hydrocyanation of pentenenitriles, including 3PN, to produce ADN and other dinitriles. Integrated processes are disclosed, for example, in United States Patent Application 2009/0099386 A1.
Disclosed in United States Patent Publication No. 2007/0260086, is a process for the preparation of dinitriles with an aim to provide for the recovery of a catalyst formed by a mixture of mono- and bidentate ligands and to be able to reuse the catalyst thus recovered in the hydrocyanation and/or isomerization stages.
United States Patent Publication No. 2008/0221351 discloses an integrated process for preparing ADN. A first process step includes hydrocyanating BD to produce 3PN over at least one zero-valent nickel catalyst. A second process step of the integrated process involves hydrocyanating 3PN to produce ADN over at least one zero-valent nickel catalyst and at least one Lewis acid. In this integrated process, at least one of the zero-valent nickel catalysts used in one of the process steps is transferred into the other process step.
Pentenenitriles, such as 3-pentenenitrile and 2-methyl-3-butenenitrile, are produced in the reaction of 1,3-butenenitrile with hydrogen cyanide in the presence of a catalyst. However, in this reaction, dinitriles, such as adiponitrile and methylglutaronitrile, are also produced as byproducts. If Lewis acid promoters are present during this reaction of BD with HCN, the production of dinitriles, including methylglutaronitrile, is increased. When unwanted methylglutaronitrile is produced during the course of reacting 1,3-butadiene with HCN, valuable 1,3-butadiene reactant, which would otherwise be converted to wanted adiponitrile, is effectively lost.
3-pentenenitrile and 2-methyl-3-butenenitrile may be separated from catalyst and recovered by distillation. The separated catalyst may be recycled. However, dinitriles are more difficult to separate from catalyst and tend to build up in the catalyst recycle stream. Build-up of dinitriles in a reactor for hydrocyanating 1,3-butadiene may reduce the effective reactor volume, thereby negatively affecting the reaction efficiency. Also, build-up of dinitriles in concentrated catalyst compositions, such as those present in certain distillation column bottoms, may cause catalyst to thermally degrade.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Hinge for fastening a door (12) to a side wall (11) of a piece of furniture, comprising a first element of the hinge (20) fixed to the side wall (11), a second element of the hinge (40) fixed to the door (12) of the piece of furniture, and an intermediate element (60) hinged to the first element of the hinge (20), for allowing the oscillating connection of the first hinge element (20) to the second hinge element (40) to enable the articulation of the door (12) with respect to the side wall (11) of the piece of furniture, the intermediate element (60) being equipped with an adapter (70) suitable for being inserted in a housing (41), incorporated in the second hinge element (40), by means of a linear sliding “drawer-like” movement, the adapter being blocked by the insertion of a tooth (77) on the adapter (70) into a groove (53) and a matching element (54), situated on a lid (52) attached by means of a hinge (48) along the edge of an anchoring plate (50) incorporated inside the second hinge element (40) allowing it to be reversed from a closed position in contact with the anchoring plate (50), to an open position obtained by a rotation around the hinge (48), varying from a few degrees to 90 degrees.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge for furniture.
2. Description of Related Art
In particular, the invention relates to a hinge for furniture including a first element to be fixed to the inside of a side wall of a piece of furniture, a second element to be fixed to a door and an intermediate element, hinged to the first element to enable the reciprocal articulation of the first and second element, so as to allow the opening and closing of the door.
Hinges of this type have been known for some time, as they simplify the assembling and dismantling operations of furniture doors and the necessary regulations for the correct assembly functioning.
A hinge of the above-mentioned type is described in Italian patent application Nr. BS91A0000089.
According to the disclosure of said patent application, a single pin hinge for furniture for fixing a door to a side wall of a piece of furniture, comprises an element fixed on the door, with a portion inserted therein, and an element fixed on the wall of the furniture, equipped with a hinge, the element fixed on said wall having an orientable portion, articulated on the pin of the hinge and connected to the element fixed on the door, when the hinge has been assembled. The orientable portion has an intermediate element, suitable for being inserted into a housing present in the element fixed to the door; a release device is included for blocking the intermediate element, which holds said element once it is inserted in the housing, by means of a rotation around its hinging point and pressure towards the bottom of the housing.
The hinge according to the above invention has the drawback of completely disinserting the part of the hinge fixed to the wall of the furniture from the element fixed to the door, during the dismantling of the door. This means that the operator must sustain the door in the correct position until all the hinges have been released, to prevent the door from falling and to prevent the whole weight of the door from resting on the last hinge to be released.
A second drawback of the hinges described above and so far known, is the necessity of resorting to tools for the disassembling of the hinge.
The general objective of the present invention is to solve the above drawbacks of the known art in a very simple, economical and particularly functional way.
A further objective of the invention, in addition to providing a system capable of safely supporting the door during the assembly and dismantling operations, is to facilitate said operations, above all when there is only one operator.
Also included in the objectives of the present invention is to provide a hinge which, thanks to the particular draft configuration of its insertion elements, allows easy assembly and guarantees an accurate coupling when said elements are in a closed position.
In view of the above objectives, a hinge for furniture has been conceived, according to the present invention, having the characteristics specified in the enclosed claims.


The present invention provides a composition for a gel polymer electrolyte, the composition including: an oligomer represented by Formula 1; an additive; a polymerization initiator; a lithium salt; and a non-aqueous solvent, the additive including at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted phosphate-based compound and a substituted or unsubstituted benzene-based compound, a gel polymer electrolyte prepared using the same, and a lithium secondary battery.

Demands for secondary batteries as an energy source have been significantly increased as technology development of and demands for mobile devices have increased, and among such secondary batteries, lithium secondary batteries having high energy density and voltage have been commercialized and widely used.
A lithium secondary battery is produced by a process in which an electrode assembly is prepared by coating current collectors with a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material to have appropriate thicknesses or forming an active material itself to have a film shape having an appropriate length, and then winding or laminating the resultant product together with an insulating separator, the electrode assembly is put into a can or a container similar thereto, and an electrolyte is then injected into the can or container.
A lithium metal oxide is used as the positive electrode active material, and a lithium metal, a lithium alloy, crystalline or amorphous carbon, or a carbon composite is used as the negative active material. In addition, a liquid electrolyte, particularly, an ion conductive liquid electrolyte in which a salt is dissolved in a non-aqueous organic solvent, has been mainly used, as the electrolyte.
However, recently, as interests in energy storage technologies have been increasingly grown, there is a need to develop a secondary battery which is capable of charging and discharging with compact, light and high-capacity performances, as well as having high-temperature and high-voltage safety.
Meanwhile, when a secondary battery is driven at high temperature under high voltage, an exothermic phenomenon may frequently occur in the lithium secondary battery according to the increase in internal temperature. Thus, there is a problem in that a liquid electrolyte consisting only of an organic solvent and a salt typically has a low high-temperature safety, so once ignition is initiated, combustion occurs spontaneously even if a supply of electric current from the outside is cut off
To solve the problem, there is a need to develop a battery using a gel polymer electrolyte which has high-temperature safety by itself unlike a liquid electrolyte.
(Patent document 1) Korean Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 10-2015-0139827

Composition for gel polymer electrolyte including fluoroalkylene oligomer, lithium salt, and phosphate or boran-based additive, gel polymer electrolyte prepared therefrom, and lithium secondary battery including the gel polymer electrolyte


The invention relates to an electric drive, particularly a windshield wiper drive for vehicles, comprising an electric motor (10) in a crucible-shaped, preferably metal, motor housing (14), a gearbox housing (16) that is attached to the motor housing (14), and an arrangement for the interference suppression of the motor (10). According to the invention, at least one choke coil (46, 48) for the interference suppression of the motor (10) is disposed in the transition region from the motor housing (14) to the gearbox housing (16), wherein in this transition region means (36, 56) are provided in order to shield the filtered coil end (47, 49) projecting into the gearbox housing (16) from the interfering radiation produced by the motor (10).

The invention is based on an electric drive, in particular a windshield wiper drive for vehicles.
DE 102 04 716 A1 already discloses an electric drive whose motor is arranged in a pot-like, metal housing which is combined with a gear mechanism housing. In this drive unit, an insulating base plate in the form of a mount for the motor brushes and further electrical components is situated in the transition region between the motor housing and the gear mechanism housing. Three choke coils for radio interference suppression of the motor are arranged on either side of the base plate, partly in the motor housing, partly in the gear mechanism housing without interference shielding.
Furthermore, DE 39 30 144 C2 discloses integrally forming a flange-like, metal mount for a bearing of the motor shaft on the gear mechanism housing of a windshield wiper drive in the transition region to the motor housing. An apparatus for interference suppression of the motor having two choke coils and three capacitors is arranged completely within the gear mechanism housing. In this case, feed lines to the interference suppression coils extend into the gear mechanism housing and there can emit interfering radiation which they receive in the production region of the interference, in particular through the commutator. In addition, the installation space required for the gear mechanism housing and therefore the overall dimensions of the drive are increased.


The invention relates to a curtain security structure driven by a bead chain, comprising an upper assembler, a lower assembler, and flexible support parts to be assembled correspondingly. A lower rotary wheel of the lower assembler is engaged with an upper rotary wheel of the upper assembler. The two flexible support parts are inserted from the bottom of the lower assembler to assemble the upper and the lower assemblers. An upper bead chain and a lower bead chain are entwined and disposed in upper and lower bead pockets respectively via pockets disposed on struts of the flexible support parts. When children improperly use the curtain security structure and thus are entwined by the lower bead chain and struggle, the lower bead chain, the lower assembler and the flexible support part can simultaneously detach from the upper assembler to prevent the children from being damaged to achieve the safe protection effect.

Field of Invention
This invention relates to a curtain security structure driven by a bead chain. More particularly, this invention relates to a new design for a curtain security structure driven by a bead chain. This curtain security structure can prevent the children from danger and reach an effect of safe protection, as well as thus increase the practical functions thereof to be a novel design.
Description of Related Art
All of the present curtain designs use flexible ropes in the rolling structure of curtains to be the operation medium for facilitating the users to pull the curtains up and down, or in a horizontal direction, to collapse or expand the curtains.
A general curtain structure is mainly wounding a curtain on a shaft connecting to a retractor. A bead chain is disposed on the retractor. The retractor is controlled by pulling the bead chain to drive the retractor rotating forward or backward to control the rise or fall of the curtain. However, the bead chain is an annular body and has a relatively high toughness. Therefore, when a neck of a child, having shallow understanding or in play, is wrapped by a bead chain, accidents can easily occur if the child's struggling is unable to free himself or herself from the bead chain.

Curtain security structure driven by bead chain


A novel channelized, hybrid time- and space-integrating acousto-optic (AO) spectrum analyzer is described. The architecture consists of two acousto-optic cells in a crossed cell configuration. The first acousto-optic cell is a wide bandwidth device that performs space-integrating spectral analysis and channelizes signals according to carrier frequency. The second acousto-optic cell, in conjunction with a modulated source, performs time-integrating spectral analysis of the signal envelope using the chirp algorithm. One possible application of the processor is to determine the carrier frequency and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of received radar signals.

This invention pertains generally to signal processing, and specifically to the analysis of radar and communications signals. More particularly, it is directed to a channelized hybrid acousto-optic signal processor for real time analysis of signals having a high frequency carrier modulated by an envelope signal.
Fine frequency resolution spectral analysis of wide bandwidth signals is a challenging task found in many areas of signal processing. The task becomes even more challenging if the information must be processed in real-time. To perform this task, several acousto-optic architectures utilizing optical technology have been developed in the past. One-dimensional acousto-optic space-integrating architectures can analyze wide bandwidth signals, but the frequency resolution is limited. One-dimensional acousto-optic time-integrating architectures offer increased frequency resolution capability, but smaller bandwidths must be analyzed to obtain this resolution. The prior art discloses a number of combinations of space- and time-integrating processors developed to obtain large time-bandwidth product spectral analysis. The combinations include two-dimensional space-integrating, two-dimensional time-integrating, and two-dimensional hybrid space- and time-integrating processors.
In some applications, the signals of the interest consist of a high frequency carrier modulated by an envelope signal. It is convenient to classify these signals by both the carrier frequency and the spectral characteristics of the envelope signal. For the purpose of this application, the envelope signal will be defined specifically as the instantaneous power in the signal that modulates the high frequency carrier. The frequency resolution for analysis of the carrier frequency can be coarse, but finer resolution is required for the envelope spectrum. The present invention is directed to a novel optical processor that uses two acousto-optic cells in a crossed-cell configuration, developed to perform this type of analysis. Space-integration is used to channelize signals according to carrier frequency and time-integration is used to obtain the spectrum of each envelope signal used to modulate a particular carrier frequency.

Channelized time-and space-integrating acousto-optical processor


An antenna is provided having a relatively wide bandwidth of operation. The antenna may be a printed circuit board dipole antenna having a ladder balun feed network coupled to a ground plane and dipole radiating elements located about one-quarter wavelength from an edge of the ground plane. The ground plane acts as a reflector to increase antenna gain. A plurality of the antennas may be provided in an array configuration with antennas being located in relatively close proximity and being isolated from other antennas in the array. An array of antennas may be used to provide a wireless link in a wireless network utilizing a IEEE 802.1X frequency band.

Printed circuit board, dipole antennas are good functional antennas, but tend to operate in relatively narrow bandwidths. The narrow bandwidth of operation causes printed circuit board, dipole antennas to have limited usefulness in devices required to operate over large bandwidths, such as the IEEE 802.11a frequency band, which is 5.15 to 5.85 GHz. Thus, it would be desirous to construct a printed circuit board, dipole antenna having a wide bandwidth of operation.


Certain example embodiments test an application for security vulnerabilities. Binary and/or source code representations are subjected to static testing. Static testing identifies potential security weaknesses in the application. For each potential security weakness, a corresponding dynamic test set, containing one or more test cases, is generated based on (i) the corresponding potential security weakness, and (ii) lookups to weakness, application context, and attack pattern databases. The weakness database includes different weakness types and descriptions thereof. The attack pattern database includes information about how to generate attacks for the different weakness types. An instance of the application running in a test runtime environment is dynamically tested using the dynamic test cases. The dynamic test results verify whether each potential security weakness is a real vulnerability. The dynamic test results include fewer false-positives than the raw static test results. Verified security weakness of the application are repairable automatically.

The "security by design" software development approach requires that security aspects are considered in all phases of the software development lifecycle. But even when this software development approach is used, software developers and testers typically place a large emphasis on testing software for potential software problems, e.g., using automated testing tools. And when security by design is not strictly adhered to during software development, even more resources may be expended on testing for potential software problems.
Automated testing tools generally have one of two basic types, namely, tools for static testing, and tools for dynamic testing. In general, static testing approaches analyze the source code or binaries of an application and have insight into all possible code execution paths. Unfortunately, however, they tend to rely on many assumptions about "real" code execution environments. Moreover, these approaches generally only identify weaknesses based on these assumptions and do not, for example, have proactive mechanisms to verify the weaknesses in real runtime contexts or seek to remediate found problems.
By contrast, dynamic testing approaches in general analyze running applications in the deployed execution environment. This addresses some of the assumptions that might be made in static testing approaches. Unfortunately, however, dynamic testing approaches typically rely on a long execution time where many possible attack inputs are tried in order to find real vulnerabilities.
One challenge associated with static testing is that the results tend to include many false-positives, and the results typically will need to be manually verified to identify the real vulnerabilities. And if the tests are configured to reduce the number of false-positives, it is typical for some important weaknesses to go undiscovered or unreported. On the other hand, because dynamic testing can take an extremely long time to complete, if there is large number of possible inputs to be tested, and/or if only a small fraction of possible tests are to be executed, many real vulnerabilities may not be found.
Static and dynamic security testing tools have been available for several decades now, and they have been improving over time. For example, static testing tools have improved in terms of achieving lower false-positive rates. This improvement to static testing tools has been achieved by creating and leveraging more sophisticated graph analysis approaches with respect to execution paths, and by incorporating more context information about the code execution environments into the analysis. In addition, improvements have been made to tools that analyze test results to identify false-positives and/or to identify similar issues in an application once one or more other problems have been found. Dynamic security testing tools, on the other hand, have been improving in terms of reducing the time to find relevant issues, e.g., by implementing more complex strategies concerning how to set up and organize the testing sequences.
Nevertheless, it will be appreciated that static security testing still will identify a large number of false-positives that need to be manually assessed, and that dynamic security testing still is unable to ensure that all possible code execution paths and all possible input variants are properly tested for.
Certain example embodiments help address the above-described and/or other concerns. For example, certain example embodiments help improve software security testing tools, improving upon static and dynamic testing approaches, e.g., by reducing false-positive rates, reducing the time needed to obtain good data from an actual deployment environment, automatically repairing detected defects, and/or the like.
One aspect of certain example embodiments relates to the ability to have static and dynamic tests work together with one another to improve security testing tools. For example, certain example embodiments are able to create dynamic tests based on the results of static tests.
Another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to using static tests to identify areas to be focused on from a security perspective, and dynamically adapting code (e.g., including or omitting code sections) in order to help assess the security status of an application.
In certain example embodiments, a method of testing an application for security vulnerabilities is provided. The application has binary and/or source code representations. The method comprises: (a) subjecting the binary and/or source code representations to static testing to generate raw static test results, the raw static test results indicating one or more potential security weaknesses in the application, at least one of the one or more potential security weaknesses being a false-positive; (b) generating, for each potential security weakness, a corresponding dynamic test set, including one or more dynamic test cases, each dynamic test set being generated in dependence on (i) the corresponding potential security weakness, and (ii) lookups to a weakness data set, an application context data set, and an attack pattern data set, wherein the weakness data set includes an enumeration of different weakness types and descriptions thereof, the application context data set includes information specific to the application, and the attack pattern data set includes information about how to generate attacks for the different weakness types enumerated in the weakness data set; (c) subjecting an instance of the application running in a test runtime environment to the generated dynamic test case(s) to generate dynamic test results, the dynamic test results indicating whether each of the one or more potential security weakness is a verified security weakness of the application, the dynamic test results including fewer false-positives than the raw static test results; and (d) outputting a listing of each verified security weakness of the application.
In certain example embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing a program for testing an application for security vulnerabilities is provided. The application has binary and/or source code representations. The program, when executed by a computing system including at least one processor, performs functionality comprising: (a) subjecting the binary and/or source code representations to static testing to generate raw static test results, the raw static test results indicating one or more potential security weaknesses in the application, at least one of the one or more potential security weaknesses being a false-positive; (b) generating, for each potential security weakness, a corresponding dynamic test set, including one or more dynamic test cases, each dynamic test set being generated in dependence on (i) the corresponding potential security weakness, and (ii) lookups to a weakness data set, an application context data set, and an attack pattern data set, wherein the weakness data set includes an enumeration of different weakness types and descriptions thereof, the application context data set includes information specific to the application, and the attack pattern data set includes information about how to generate attacks for the different weakness types enumerated in the weakness data set; (c) subjecting an instance of the application running in a test runtime environment to the generated dynamic test case(s) to generate dynamic test results, the dynamic test results indicating whether each of the one or more potential security weakness is a verified security weakness of the application, the dynamic test results including fewer false positives than the raw static test results; and (d) outputting a listing of each verified security weakness of the application.
In certain example embodiments, a computing system for testing an application for security vulnerabilities is provided. The application has binary and/or source code representations. The computing system comprises at least one processor and a first electronic interface to an instance of the application running in a test runtime environment. The at least one processor is configured to control the computing system to at least: (a) subject the binary and/or source code representations to static testing to generate raw static test results, the raw static test results indicating one or more potential security weaknesses in the application, at least one of the one or more potential security weaknesses being a false-positive; (b) generate, for each potential security weakness, a corresponding dynamic test set, including one or more dynamic test cases, each dynamic test set being generated in dependence on (i) the corresponding potential security weakness, and (ii) lookups to a weakness data set, an application context data set, and an attack pattern data set, wherein the weakness data set includes an enumeration of different weakness types and descriptions thereof, the application context data set includes information specific to the application, and the attack pattern data set includes information about how to generate attacks for the different weakness types enumerated in the weakness data set; (c) subject the instance of the application running in the test runtime environment to the generated dynamic test case(s) to generate dynamic test results, the dynamic test results indicating whether each of the one or more potential security weakness is a verified security weakness of the application, the dynamic test results including fewer false positives than the raw static test results; and (d) output a listing of each verified security weakness of the application.
According to certain example embodiments, the listing of verified security weakness(es) of the application may include, for each verified security weakness, an indication of a location of where in the binary and/or source code representation(s) the respective verified security weakness occurs.
According to certain example embodiments, the binary and/or source code representation(s) of the application may be automatically modified to repair one or more of the verified security weaknesses.
According to certain example embodiments, the raw static test results may indicating one or more potential security weaknesses in the application may each include an identifier for each potential security weakness, a first location of where in the binary and/or source code representation(s) the respective potential security weakness is caused to occur, and/or a second location of where data causing the potential security weakness enters the binary and/or source code representation(s), e.g., with the identifier specifying an entry in the weakness data set.
According to certain example embodiments, each potential security weakness may be assigned a severity score during the generation of the raw static test results; and the binary and/or source code representation(s) of the application may be automatically modified to repair one or more of the verified security weaknesses in an order determined by respective severity scores.
According to certain example embodiments, the binary and/or source code representation(s) of the application may be automatically modified to repair one or more of the verified security weaknesses output in (d), and (a)-(d) may be repeated until no verified security weaknesses result from the dynamic testing.
According to certain example embodiments, each dynamic test case may include at least one attack vector, e.g., with the attack vector(s) being generated using the second location and in connection with the attack pattern data set, and the attack vector(s) being executable against the instance of the application running in the test runtime environment during the dynamic testing.
According to certain example embodiments, dynamic tests may be performed for a plurality of instances of the application running in different test runtime environments, e.g., with dynamic test results being collected for the different instances.
The features, aspects, advantages, and example embodiments described herein may be used separately and/or applied in various combinations to achieve yet further embodiments of this invention.

Systems and/or methods for static-dynamic security testing using a test configurator to identify vulnerabilities and automatically repair defects


A lightweight structural reinforcement spans a space in a structural member. The reinforcement functions as a web and has a metal plate, a layer of foam and a thin, metal reinforcement selectively positioned at the mid-portion of the reinforcement. Unexpanded foam at the end portions of the plate serve as a n adhesive to bond the reinforcement to the structural member being reinforced.

In the automotive industry, there is a need for light-weight, high-strength structural members. Typically, automotive structures such as rails, pillars and the like are hollow to conserve mass while still providing high strength. Although structural members with these desirable characteristics can be readily obtained through the use of various exotic metal alloys, high-strength alloys are generally cost prohibitive in automotive applications.
Although filling the entirety of a section with plastic foam does significantly increase section stiffness (at least when high-density foams are utilized), this technique may also significantly increase mass and thus part weight, which, as stated, is an undesirable feature in most applications. In addition, filling a section entirely with foam can contribute significantly to cost and often creates an unwanted heat sink. Although increasing the metal gauge of a section or adding localized metal reinforcements will increase stiffness, as the metal thickness increases, it is more difficult to form the part due to limitations of metal forming machines.
A number of approaches have been proposed for dealing with the problem of reinforcing hollow sections subjected to buckling loads as alternatives to a high-cost alloys, thick gauge metals and large foam cores. For example, a reinforcement insert for a structural member comprising a precast reinforcement has been proposed wherein the reinforcement is formed of a plurality of pellets containing a thermoset resin and a blowing agent. The precast member is expanded and cured in place in the structural member. A composite tubular door beam reinforced with a syntactic foam core localized at the midspan of the tube has also been described in the art. The resin-based core occupies not more than one-third of the bore of the tube.
Tube-in-tube structures having high stiffness-to-mass ratios have also been proposed in which two nested tubes have a layer of foam disposed in the annulus between the tubes. A local reinforcement in the nature of a foamable resin disposed on a drop-in carrier has also been described. The carrier is placed in the channel of a hollow structural member and the resin is expanded.
Accordingly, low-cost techniques for reinforcing hollow sections without significantly increasing mass are quite desirable. Further, it is also desirable to provide methods of reinforcing existing hollow sections which do not require any fundamental design change to the member. The present invention provides hollow sections which have increased strength with moderate increases in mass, all without the use of large volumes of expensive resins. The present invention further provides a method for reinforcing existing structural parts without redesigning the geometry of the part or adding a laminate to the inside wall.


An acoustical switch is provided for a directional microphone of a hearing aid device. The hearing aid device includes a faceplate having a switch aperture, a front port, and a rear port. The microphone includes a front inlet in communication with the front port within the face plate and a front chamber of the microphone. The microphone further includes two rear inlets in communication with the rear port within the faceplate and a rear chamber of the microphone. The acoustical switch comprises a switch actuator having a body portion and a lever portion. The body portion includes a first closure surface and a second closure surface. The switch actuator is adapted to be disposed within the switch aperture of the face plate of the hearing aid device such that the body portion is disposed adjacent to the inlets of the microphone. The switch actuator s moveable between a first position wherein the first closure surface of the body portion is adapted to cover one of the rear inlets of the microphone, and a second position wherein the second closure surface of the body portion is adapted to cover the other of the rear inlets of the microphone. The body portion includes a side surface having an acoustical resistance associated therewith wherein the acoustical resistance is substantially greater than an acoustical resistance between either of the ports and its respective microphone chamber.

Present hearing aid microphones are typically limited to being optimized for directional sensitivity or omnidirectional sensitivity to sounds that impinge upon the diaphragm of the microphone. The directivity of a microphone is the sensitivity of a microphone to a sound component at different angles of incidence. The microphone is typically optimized to be more sensitive to one component of the sound over the other. However, undesirable noise may occur within the hearing aid when a microphone that is optimized for a given directional component of an impinging sound receives higher levels of sound having other directional components.
Typical hearing aids either include a non-directional or directional hearing aid microphone system. An omnidirectional hearing aid system allows the user to pickup sounds from any direction. When a hearing aid user is trying to carry on a conversation within a crowded room, an omnidirectional hearing aid system does not allow the user to easily differentiate between the voice of the person the user is talking to and background or crowd noise. A directional hearing aid helps the user to hear the voice of the person they are having a conversation with, while reducing the miscellaneous crowd noise present within the room.
A hearing aid that provides selectivity between a directional and an omnidirectional mode will experience a change in sensitivity that is readily apparent when switching between modes. This change in sensitivity can be very uncomfortable to the hearing aid user.
Controllable directivity and sensitivity can help a wearer of a hearing aid to better understand a person speaking directly at the wearer while reducing the level of undesirable noise. Thus, there is a need for a hearing aid device having a microphone that can be acoustically optimized for both directional and omnidirectional sensitivity, depending upon the circumstances presented to the wearer of the hearing aid.

Acoustical switch for a directional microphone


Various embodiments relate to a microbeam radiation therapy (microbeam radiosurgery) system, including: a radiation beam source; a collimator with slits, wherein the collimator only passes a radiation beam from the radiation beam source through the slits; a filtering and limiting system; a source shutoff controller connected to the radiation beam source; and a detector configured to detect events requiring the shutdown of the radiation beam source.

Cancer continues to be one of the foremost health problems. Conventional treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy have been extremely successful in certain cases; in other instances, much less so. Radiation therapy has also exhibited favorable results in many cases, while failing to be completely satisfactory and effective in all instances. An alternative form of radiation therapy, known as microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) or microbeam radiosurgery (MBRS) may be used to treat certain tumors for which the conventional methods have been ineffective.
MBRS differs from conventional radiation therapy by employing multiple parallel fan beams of radiation with a narrow dimension or thickness that may be on the order of 10 micrometers to 200 micrometers. The thickness of the microbeams is dependent upon the capacity of tissue surrounding a beam path to support the recovery of the tissue injured by the beam. It has been found that certain types of cells, notably endothelial cells lining blood vessels, but also oligodendroglial and other supporting cells, have the capacity to migrate over microscopic distances, infiltrating tissue damaged by radiation and reducing tissue necrosis in the beam path. In MBRS, sufficient unirradiated or minimally irradiated microscopic zones remain in the normal tissue, through which the microbeams pass, to allow efficient repair of irradiation-damaged tissue. As a result, MBRS is fundamentally different from other forms of radiation therapy.
In conventional forms of radiation therapy, including the radiosurgical techniques employing multiple convergent beams of gamma radiation, each beam is at least five hundred micrometers wide, so that the biological advantage of rapid repair by migrating or proliferating endothelial cells is minimal or nonexistent. Observations of the regeneration of blood vessels following MBRS indicate that endothelial cells cannot efficiently regenerate damaged blood vessels over distances on the order of more than 100 micrometers (μm). Thus, in view of this knowledge concerning radiation pathology of normal blood vessels, the skilled artisan may select a microbeam thickness as small as 20 μm but not more than 100 μm. Further, the microbeams may include substantially parallel, non-overlapping, planar beams with center-to-center spacing of from about 50 μm to about 500 μm. Also, the beam energies may range from about 30 to several hundred keV. These microbeams result in a dosage profile with peaks and valleys. The radiation dosage in the peaks is large enough to kill the targeted tumor, but also kills healthy cells in the peak dosage areas. The region between the peaks is called the valley region. The minimum radiation dosage in the valleys (i.e., the "nadir" valley dosage) is small enough to prevent clonogenically lethal damage to all potentially reparative cells in the valley dosage areas.
A division of a radiation beam into microbeams and the use of a patient exposure plan that provides non-overlapping beams in the tissue surrounding the target tumor allows the non-target tissue to recover from the radiation injury by migration of regenerating endothelial and other reparative cells of the small blood vessels to the areas in which the endothelial cells have been injured beyond recovery. Therefore, the probability of radiation-induced coagulative necrosis in normal, non-targeted tissue is lowered, which may improve the effectiveness of clinical radiation therapy for deep-seated and/or superficially situated tumors.
Various studies have shown the microbeam tissue-sparing effect for X-ray microbeams. Although other methods and processes are known for radiation therapy, none provides a method for performing radiation therapy while avoiding significant radiation-induced damage to tissues proximal to, distal to, and interspersed with the targeted lesion.
Present radiation therapies often take many days and weeks of treatment to provide enough radiation to a target tumor. On the other hand, MBRS can provide an effectual treatment in single visit. Very high-energy radiation may be used with MBRS that results in the destruction of tumor tissue while allowing for the regeneration of healthy tissue affected by the microbeams.
Further, MBRS provides a method for treating cancerous tumors by using extremely narrow, quasi-parallel X-ray microbeams increasing the precision and accuracy of radiation therapy. MBRS also provides a method of using extremely small microbeams of radiation to unexpectedly produce effective radiation therapy while avoiding significant radiation-induced damage to non-targeted tissues.
A major benefit of MBRS is that the microbeams are so narrow that the vasculature of the tissue and other components of the tissue through which the microbeams pass can repair themselves by the infiltration of endothelial cells and other cells from surrounding unirradiated tissue. Present knowledge indicates that such infiltration can take place only over distances on the order of less than 500 μm and depends on the specific tissue being irradiated. The dimensions of the microbeams and the configuration of the microbeam array are therefore determinable with reference to the susceptibility to irradiation of the target tissue and the surrounding tissue to irradiation and the capacities of the various involved tissues to regenerate.
Because the high-energy beam used in MBRS is very powerful, great care must be used during MBRS treatments. Even brief exposure the full high-energy beam may cause great damage and even lead to death. Further, effective MBRS requires very careful targeting of the microbeams, so any movement, even very small movements, can lead not only to ineffective treatment, but significant damage to the subject. Accordingly, safety protocols and systems must be used to provide safe MBRS treatment to the subject. Also, individuals administering the MBRS treatment must be kept safe, so such safety protocols and systems should be designed to protect them as well.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,247 to Slatkin et al. titled Method for Microbeam Radiation Therapy provides background related to MBRS, and is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Safety methods and apparatus for low dose-rate radiation for medical and veterinary therapies