A brighter active matrix type liquid crystal electro-optical device with a higher contrast, yet having a wider visual angle is realized, said liquid crystal electro-optical device comprises a liquid crystal layer and means for applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer in the direction parallel to the substrate, wherein the liquid crystal layer comprises a liquid crystal material dispersed in a polymer material. Also a liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising a liquid crystal layer disposed on a substrate is included, wherein the transmission mode or the dispersion mode of an incident light is selected by an electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer in the direction parallel to the liquid crystal layer.

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal electro-optical device having excellent electric properties and contrast, and which is capable of realizing a bright and uniform display over the entire image plane.
According to the basic principle for the operation and the display of a liquid crystal electro-optical device, in general, a liquid crystal electro-optical device has such a constitution that an organic material, more specifically, a liquid crystal material, is interposed between a pair of substrates, and the light passing through the liquid crystal material is modulated by changing the intensity of the electric field which is generated by the electrode formed between the pair of substrates. As a result of the modulation, the change is recognized as the change in the quantity of light.
Accordingly, if a specified electric signal is supplied to the electrode, the electric signal can be displayed as a visually observable state. Thus, a desired image can be formed by combining a plurality of electrodes and by then applying an electric signal corresponding to the image data.
The optical modulation in a conventional liquid crystal electro-optical device is realized by applying the electric field perpendicular to the substrate, and then changing the intensity of the electric field to thereby change the alignment direction of the rod-like liquid crystal molecules in the direction parallel to the substrate or in the direction perpendicular to the substrate. In this case, in general, a polarizer sheet must be incorporated into the device to obtain a linearly polarized light from the incident light, because the light is modified by using the optical anisotropy of the liquid crystal material, i.e., one of the characteristics ox a liquid crystal material.
However, in case of a liquid crystal electro-optical device based on the operation principle above, although a normal display state is realized when the display plane is viewed from the direction perpendicular thereto, the display becomes dark and unclear when the display plane is viewed from a direction oblique thereto; in case of a color display, moreover, a decoloring phenomenon occurs.
By considering the relation between the output light from the liquid crystal electro-optical device and the alignment direction of liquid crystal molecules, the phenomenon above can be explained as follows.
In case of employing a constitution as such that the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction perpendicular to the substrate, the molecules are aligned in a direction as such that the major axes thereof are arranged in parallel to each other in displaying an image, but the observed light is a light from the perpendicular plane of randomly positioned liquid crystal molecules.
On comparing the case of viewing the display from the direction perpendicular to the substrate and the case of viewing it from a direction slightly deviated from the direction perpendicular to the substrate in the constitution above, the display as viewed from the latter view point signifies that the display is viewed from a viewpoint slightly tilted with respect to the major axes of the liquid crystal molecules. This indicates that the observation area of the output light greatly differs depending on the direction of viewing the display plane.
Accordingly, the degree of degradation of visual field characteristics of an observer increases with increasing deviation from the direction perpendicular to the display plane.
Furthermore, there is another problem in case of a liquid crystal electro-optical device above. That is, the liquid crystal material is aligned in a specified direction by generally applying a certain alignment treatment to the substrate. However, because a strong alignment force functions in the vicinity of the substrate, the liquid crystal molecules in the vicinity of the substrate maintain the aligned state even when an electric field is applied thereto, or, the change in the aligned state appears far smaller as compared with the liquid crystal molecules positioned in the central portion of the device. Accordingly, the light is scattered in the vicinity of the substrate as to influence the display.
As means for solving the problem above, there is proposed to change the optical characteristics by an operation mode differing from that of a conventional liquid crystal electro-optical device; i.e., the liquid crystal molecules are rotated only in a direction parallel to the substrate. The details are disclosed in JP-B-Sho 63-21907 (the term "JP-B-" as referred herein signifies "an examined published Japanese patent application"). This operation mode is referred herein to as "IPS mode".
A liquid crystal electro-optical device operated by IPS mode is characterized in that the opposing electrode for driving the liquid crystal material, which is provided to the opposing substrate side is disposed on the substrate side on which the pixel electrode is provided. That is, a pixel electrode and an opposing electrode are provided on one of the pair of substrates that are provided faced to each other.
Thus, an electric field is formed between the pair of electrodes formed on a single substrate. The electric field comprises the principal component thereof in the direction parallel to the substrate and the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal molecules are thus rotated inside a plane parallel to the substrate by this electric field. Accordingly, the liquid crystal material, which is an optically uniaxial medium, changes the optical axis by the applied electric field, and the state of light transmitted through the liquid crystal layer is changed by the birefringence effect as to make a display possible.
Thus, as described above, the liquid crystal molecules are never aligned perpendicular to the substrate during the operation under an operation in IPS mode. Accordingly, the problem of visual angle attributed to the perpendicular alignment of the liquid crystal molecules in the operation process can be solved.
In the operation under IPS mode, a switching element such as a thin film transistor is connected to the pixel electrode to realize active matrix drive.
However, a first disadvantage of this constitution. (operation in IPS mode) is the liquid crystal alignment in the dark display state, i.e., the OFF state of electric field. In general, it is preferred that the liquid crystal is uniformly arranged over the entire substrate in the state of turning OFF the electric field.
In practice, however, alignment defects form depending on the state of rubbing, and a uniform alignment over the entire substrate cannot be obtained. Accordingly, a uniform black display cannot be obtained in the practical display of black color. This is a problem which cannot be neglected in making substrates large-sized.
A second disadvantage of the operation in IPS mode is that the intensity distribution of the electric field is non-uniform. In the case of IPS-mode operation in which an electric field is applied in the direction parallel to the substrate to realize a display, the electrode for forming the electric field is provided only on one side of the substrates. The electric field to be applied to the liquid crystal molecules becomes weaker with approaching the opposed substrate, i.e. increasing a distance from the substrate having thereon the electrode.
Accordingly, a uniformity on the entire display cannot be obtained due to the non-uniformity in the rise time.
A third disadvantage of the operation in IPS mode is the low opening ratio (low aperture ratio). In the case of operation in IPS mode, the liquid crystal is controlled by the electric field formed between the pair of electrodes formed on the same plane. Thus, liquid crystal present on the upper side and in the vicinity thereof cannot be controlled. This surely lowers the aperture ratio by the area corresponding to the electrode.
In particular, because bright and dark states in case of the operation in IPS mode are displayed by using the polarization of light, a polarizer sheet is indispensable. The two polarizer sheets that are incorporated in the device further lower the optical transmittance.
A dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device is known as another liquid crystal electro-optical device which overcomes the disadvantage of low optical transmittance attributed to the presence of polarizer sheets. A dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device is characterized in that it requires no polarizer sheets nor molecular alignment.
The constitution of a dispersion type liquid crystal comprises granular or sponge-like nematic, cholesteric, or smectic liquid crystal sustained in a light-transmitting solid phase polymer.
A liquid crystal electro-optical device of this type can be fabricated by dispersing the liquid crystal inside the polymer by encapsulating the liquid crystal, and then forming the polymer as a film or as a thin film on a substrate. Proposed as substances for use in the encapsulation include gelatine, gum arabic, poly(vinyl alcohol), and the like.
Examples of a film or a thin film of a polymer material containing the encapsulated liquid crystal dispersed therein include the following other than those described above. For instance, mentioned are:    (1) a material comprising liquid crystal material dispersed in an epoxy resin;    (2) a material utilizing phase separation of a liquid crystal and a photocurable substance; and    (3) a material comprising a three-dimensionally connected polymer material impregnated with liquid crystal;In the present specification, liquid crystal electro-optical devices represented by those described above are referred to collectively as "dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device".
The operating principle of the above-described dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device is described below. In a dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device, the liquid crystal is randomly oriented without being aligned to a particular direction in case no electric field is applied thereto (state with no electric field). In such a state, the light is scattered because the refractive index of the liquid crystal does not match with that of the polymer surrounding the liquid crystal. Thus, the transmission of light is obstructed as to realize a white opaque state corresponding to the dark state of the liquid crystal electro-optical device.
If an electric field is applied in the perpendicular direction at this instance, the major axes of the liquid crystal molecules align perpendicular to the substrate. Thus, if the refractive index in the direction of major axes of the liquid crystal is adjusted as such that it may match with the refractive index of the polymer resin, a state with uniform refractive index can be realized to prevent light scattering from occurring. In this state, light permeates the liquid crystal layer as to realize the bright state of the liquid crystal electro-optical device.
Thus, light can be utilized effectively in this case because the electro-optical effect is realized without using any polarizer sheets.
However, in a practical dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device, the opacity depends on the degree of light scattering under the state of no applied electric field. Thus, there is a problem that a display with high contrast cannot be realized. Although there is a problem of lightness, a liquid crystal electro-optical device using a polarizer sheet still claims superiority.
Another problem in the dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device is that, in the bright state, the liquid crystal molecules align themselves in such a manner that the major axes thereof become perpendicular to the substrate plane. Similarly, in a dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device again, the problem of visual angle as described above also remains.
As described above, a liquid crystal electro-optical device operating in IPS mode is characterized in that it has a wide viewing angle. However, it has disadvantages in that it has difficulty in increasing the opening ratio (aperture ratio), that the electric field is non-uniform, and that the display plane becomes dark by the use of a polarizer sheet, etc. To increase the opening ratio (aperture ratio), it is required to further introduce the technology of advanced lithography and to improve the liquid crystal material and the like for sustaining the image data.
In contrast to the liquid crystal electro-optical device operating in IPS mode above, a dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device is characterized in that it can effectively utilize light because it can output the incident light as it is without using any polarizer sheets. However, on the other hand, as described above, it has difficulty in realizing an image with high contrast, and, similar to conventional liquid crystal electro-optical devices, it has a disadvantage in that it greatly depends on the visual angle.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


The present invention relates to the use of polymers comprising a block copolymer containing at least one group A and at least one group B in which each group A is a polymeric block built up from an ethylenically unsaturated polymerisable monomer and each group B is a polymeric block built up from an alkylene oxide, alkylene glycol or cyclic ether monomer or a mixture thereof for promoting soil release during laundering of a textile fabric and processes for their preparation. Laundry cleaning compositions comprising such polymers, a method of promoting soil release during laundering of a textile fabric and the use of such polymers in the manufacture of a laundry cleaning composition for effecting soil release from a laundry item form other aspects of the invention.

The term "soil release polymer" is used in the art to cover polymeric materials which assist release of soil from fabrics, e.g. cotton or polyester based fabrics. For example, it is used in relation to polymers which assist release of soil direct from fibres. It is also used to refer to polymers which modify the fibres so that dirt adheres to the polymer-modified fibres rather than to the fibre material itself. Then, when the fabric is washed the next time, the dirt is more easily removed than if it was adhering the fibres. Although not wishing to be bound by any particular theory or explanation, the inventors believe that the soil release polymers utilised in the present invention probably exert their effect mainly by the latter mechanism.
The compounds utilised by the present invention have been found, dependent upon the structure of the compound in question, to deliver a soil release, fabric care and/or other laundry cleaning benefit.
The deposition of a benefit agent onto a substrate, such as a fabric, is well known in the art. In laundry applications typical "benefit agents" include fabric softeners and conditioners, soil release polymers, sunscreens; and the like. Deposition of a benefit agent is used, for example, in fabric treatment processes such as fabric softening to impart desirable properties to the fabric substrate.
Conventionally, the deposition of the benefit agent has had to rely upon the attractive forces between the oppositely charged substrate and the benefit agent. Typically this requires the addition of benefit agents during the rinsing step of a treatment process so as to avoid adverse effects from other charged chemical species present in the treatment compositions. For example, cationic fabric conditioners are incompatible with anionic surfactants in laundry washing compositions.
Such adverse charge considerations can place severe limitations upon the inclusion of benefit agents in compositions where an active component thereof is of an opposite charge to that of the benefit agent. For example, cotton is negatively charged and thus requires a positively charged benefit agent in order for the benefit agent to be substantive to the cotton, i.e. to have an affinity for the cotton so as to absorb onto it. Often the substantivity of the benefit agent is reduced and/or the deposition rate of the material is reduced because of the presence of incompatible charged species in the compositions.
WO-A-97/42285 discloses cotton soil-release polymers comprising a polyamine backbone and quaternary ammonium cationic groups. However, the present applicants have found that, whilst cationic groups give good substantivity to cotton, a high density of cationic positive changes on the polymer gives rise to staining of the fabric.
Thus, there remains a need to obtain soil release in laundry products based on soil-release agents which give better substantivity to cotton and therefore better soil release from cotton fabrics, fewer or no detrimental interactions with LAS or other anionic surfactants, as well as less staining negatives.

Polymers for laundry cleaning compositions

Unilever Home & Personal Care USA, Division of Conopco, Inc.


An air flow mixer structure for a vehicle air conditioning system has a first conduit for a first air flow, a second conduit for a second air flow, an opening between said first and second conduits for merging said first and second air flows in a merging region and a common air channel for said merged air flows, the mixer structure having an air inlet region and an air outlet region opening into said merging region, the structure comprising plural air passages disposed between said inlet region and said outlet region for dividing an air flow at said inlet region into plural air flows at plural said openings into said merging region.

Vehicle air conditioning systems are well known in the art. Such systems conventionally include an air duct, which is selectively connected to the external air or to the interior of the vehicle cabin, a fan for causing the air to flow, and an evaporator unit within the duct for cooling the air. The cold air output from the evaporator unit may be supplied directly to various outlets within the vehicle cabin or some of the cold air may be passed through a heating heat exchanger whose heated air output is mixed with the cold air to provide temperature control of the air output to the cabin. Diversion of the cold air through the heat exchanger is controlled by a so-called "blend door", which in one extreme position causes all of the cold air to flow through the heat exchanger and in the opposite extreme position causes none of the air to flow through the heat exchanger. In intermediate positions different proportions of cold air and heated air can be provided.
As will be seen in FIG. 1, the cold air flow 22 is concentrated on one side of the air duct and the hot air 21 to the other side.
In modern vehicles, there are a number of air outlets into the vehicle cabin and these outlets are connected to the air duct by a corresponding number of output ducts. Two such ducts are shown in FIG. 1. As will be seen with reference to FIG. 1, a first upper duct 41 is disposed on the side of the system which will tend to provide cold air and the second lower duct 42 is disposed on the side of the system which will tend to provide hot air.
It is desirable to be able to provide air outlets which are all at substantially similar temperatures. This may not be possible in the prior art arrangements due to the above-mentioned spatial distribution of air temperature within the air conditioning system.

Mixing device for air conditioning system


A cutting insert for milling operations, such as, face milling, slot milling, plunge milling, and ramping operations. The cutting insert exhibits a combination of favorable cutting edge strength, and unique cutting edge geometry, thus, allowing milling operations at relatively high feed rates. The cutting insert includes at least four cutting edges, wherein at least one of the cutting edges is a convex cutting edge. Certain embodiments of square cutting inserts will have four convex cutting edges which may be connected by nose corners. The convex cutting edge may comprise at least one of a circular arc, a portion of an ellipse, a portion of a parabola, a multi-segment spline curve, a straight line, or combinations of these. Wherein the convex cutting edge comprises a circular arc, the circular arc may have a radius greater than or equal to two times a radius of the largest circle that may be inscribed on the top surface.

Traditional machining methods, which are the principal means of removing metal from workpieces, include chip cutting (such as milling, drilling, turning, broaching, reaming, and tapping) and abrasive machining methods (such as sanding, grinding, and polishing. One such chip cutting process, face milling, may be useful to produce a generally flat surface on a workpiece. A face milling tool or "face mill" is so named because the flat workpiece surface is produced by action of the face of the tool, although the outside diameter or bevel cutting edge removes most of the stock. In a typical application, a milling cutter tool comprising a number of cutting inserts may be driven by a spindle on an axis positioned perpendicular to the surface being milled. ASM Handbook, Volume 16, "Machining" (ASM Intern. 1989) p. 311.
A milling cutter tool produces chips with variable chip thickness. Chip thickness may be used in calculating the maximum load per unit length exerted on the edges of a milling cutting tool. An average chip thickness is typically used in such calculations. Average chip thickness can be calculated and varies with cutting insert lead angle for the same material feed rate. For the example of a substantially square-shaped insert having four identical cutting edges, a larger lead angle produces a larger average chip thickness during machining, while a smaller lead angle produces chips of smaller average thickness. An example of the variation of average chip thickness with lead angle of the insert is shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates a comparison of an identical square-shaped insert machining with lead of angles of 90°, 75°, and 45°. As indicated in the FIG. 1, as the lead angle increases from 45° in FIG. 1(a), to 75° in FIG. 1(b), to 90° in FIG. 1(c), the average chip thickness (hm) increases from 0.71 times the feed per tooth of the holder ("fz"), to 0.97×(fz), to fz. More generally, the chip thickness for a square-shaped cutting insert, or any other insert having a linear cutting edge used in a milling cutter tool, may be calculated using the equation hm=fz×sin(K), where hm is the average chip thickness, and K is the lead angle measured in the manner shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 also indicates that the length of engaged cutting edge when using a 90° lead angle is shortest among those scenarios shown in FIG. 1, while the length of engaged cutting edge is longest when the lead angle is 45°. This means that face milling using a 90° lead angle produces more load, i.e., higher stresses, on the cutting edge per unit length compared with milling using a 45° lead angle, for the same depth of cut. An advantage of reducing load on the cutting edge per unit length is that reduced load allows for employing a higher feed rate per tooth in the milling operation and improved tool life. Thus, to reduce the average load stresses on the engaged cutting edge, it is clearly an advantage to use a smaller lead angle.
Square-shaped cutting inserts are commonly used in face and plunge milling because they are strong, indexable and have multiple cutting edges. Inserts having a substantially square shape or otherwise including four cutting edges are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,951,212 and 5,454,670, U.S. Published Application No. US2002/0098049, Japanese reference No. 08174327, and PCT Publication No. WO96/35538. A common feature of the inserts disclosed in these references is the combination of four straight cutting edges and either a planar or a bevel planar clearance (or relief) surface below each cutting edge.
It is well-known that round-shape inserts, however, have the strongest cutting edge. In addition, round-shaped inserts provide a favorable combination of maximal corner strength, good material removal capacity, mechanical shock resistance, and thermal distribution. As such, round-shaped face milling inserts are often used for the more demanding machining applications, such as those involving difficult-to-cut materials, hard materials, heat resistant materials, titanium, etc. In face milling using a round-shaped cutting insert, the lead angle and the extent of the engaged cutting edge will vary with the depth of cut, as shown in FIG. 2. The average chip thickness produced by a round-shape insert can be approximately calculated by the following equation (I):
                              h          m                =                                            f              z                        R                    ·                                                    R                2                            -                                                (                                      R                    -                    doc                                    )                                2                                                                        (        I        )            where hm is the average chip thickness, fz is the feed per tooth from a milling cutter, R is the radius of the round-shape cutting insert, and doc is the depth of cut. The above equation indicates that when cutting with a round-shaped insert, chip thickness varies with depth of cut. In contrast, when cutting using a square-shaped insert or any insert having a linear cutting edge, chip thickness does not change with changes in the depth of cut if the lead angle remains the same (see FIG. 1).
Furthermore, for the same depth of cut, a larger radius of a round-shaped insert always corresponds to a larger portion of the cutting edge engaging the work piece, as illustrated in FIG. 3, thus, reducing the average stress load per unit length on the cutting edge. This, in turn, allows the use of higher feed rates during face milling without a loss of quality. However, a limitation of a round-shaped cutting insert lies in that the larger the radius, the larger the insert. It is difficult to fully utilize the advantages provided by round-shaped inserts of increasingly larger radius in conventional machining applications due to their size.
Accordingly, to overcome the cutting edge load problems that may be encountered in face milling with large lead angles, there is a need for an improved design of cutting insert that allows for significantly increased feed rates during face milling operations while maintaining the same or longer tool life of the cutting inserts. Also, there is a need for a new cutting insert that is similar to a round-shaped insert in that it exhibits favorable cutting edge strength, but also is similar to a square-shaped insert in that it includes multiple cutting edges, is indexable, and also allows for a high feed rate and favorable wear properties.

Cutting insert for high feed face milling


A power regulator provides current to a processing unit. A clock distribution network provides a clock signal to the processing unit. A level-based droop detector monitors a voltage of the current provided to the processing unit and provides a droop detection signal to the clock distribution network in response to the voltage falling below a first threshold voltage. The clock distribution network decreases a frequency of a clock signal provided to the processing unit in response to receiving the droop detection signal. The level-based droop detector interrupts the droop detection signal that is provided to the clock distribution network in response to the voltage rising above a second threshold voltage. The clock distribution network increases the frequency of the clock signal provided to the processing unit in response to interruption of the droop detection signal.

Processing units consume a variable amount of power depending on the processes that are executing on the processing unit. A processing unit consumes very little power while in the idle state, but power consumption increases rapidly when the processing unit is required to perform an action. For example, the power consumption of a processing unit increases quickly in response to receiving a signal generated by a mouse in response to a user moving the mouse. Power regulators that supply power to the processing unit don't react instantaneously to the change in the current drawn by the processing unit, e.g., due to lags in detecting the increase in power, inductances in the power supply or processing circuits, die parasitics, and the like. The reaction delay at the power regulators causes the voltage supplied to the processing unit to decrease, or droop, relative to a target voltage until the power regulator is able to adjust and supply a higher current at the target voltage. Droops persist for different amounts of time depending on the source of the droop. The first droop is caused by small inductances and lasts for time intervals on the order of nanoseconds (e.g., a few clock cycles), second droops are caused by package inductances and last for time intervals on the order of microseconds, and third droops caused by inductances in the power regulator take milliseconds to resolve.


A liquid crystal display and its driving method are disclosed. Among the pixels driven by the same data driving unit, firstly the pixels of same color are sequentially driven, and then the pixels of other colors are sequentially driven, so that the pixels have almost the same leakage current.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a liquid crystal display and a driving method therefor, and more particularly to a driving sequence with a plurality of pixels being driven by a data driving unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional liquid crystal display, the data driver has a plurality of data driving units, such as N data driving units, where N is a positive integer. Each data driving unit has a sampling maintenance circuit, a shift register and a digital-to-analog converter. The N data driving units are electrically connected to N data lines for respectively outputting pixel voltages to their corresponding data lines, so that the pixel electrically connected to the data line can receive its corresponding pixel voltage. That is, according to the above design, N data driving units are required if the pixel array of liquid crystal display has N column pixels. However, when the trend in design of the liquid crystal display is headed towards large scale such as liquid crystal TV, the scale of the pixel array increases and so does the required number of data driving units. Thus, the data driver needs a large amount of data driving units, further increasing manufacturing costs.
Therefore, how to reduce the manufacturing cost yet maintain the image quality of a large scaled liquid crystal display has become an imminent issue to be resolved.

Liquid crystal display and driving method therefor


A high frequency antenna carrier in vehicle roof cross member is provided. The antenna carrier is configured to extend width-wise across a vehicle roof to provide structural support for the vehicle roof. The antenna carrier has a lower surface, and a plurality of sidewalls that meet at a common upper flange that mates in a face-to-face relationship with the vehicle roof. The sidewalls may be provided with apertures to facilitate a strong signal passage to and from the high frequency antenna through the carrier. The lower surface of the antenna carrier may be provided with apertures that are aligned with the antennas to improve signal strength.

Modem vehicles may include a plethora of antennas, transmitters, receivers, and/or transceivers for various wireless technologies, such as telephone, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Cloud or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS), Remote Key Entry (RKE), telecommunication and Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) operable over one or more frequency bands (e.g., 5G, 4G, 3G, other Long-Term Evolution (LTE) generations, WiFi, AM/FM/Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), and others). The antennas are typically integrated into the rear-view mirror, the front windshield, the rear windshield or window, bumpers or fascia, the dashboard, or above the roof (e.g., a shark fin antenna).

High frequency antenna carrier in vehicle roof cross member


A method and an apparatus for speech signal processing are provided. The method includes: receiving an encoded speech signal sent by a user equipment, where the encoded speech signal includes a first substream, a second substream, and a third substream, and the first substream is attached with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC); performing decoding processing on the first substream, the second substream, and the third substream by adopting a decoding algorithm, where a decoding algorithm that is based on an auxiliary decision of the CRC is adopted to perform decoding processing on the first substream; and sending decoding results of the first substream, the second substream, and the third substream to a base station controller, where the decoding result of the first substream includes a decoded bit stream and a CRC result. Decoding performance of the first substream is improved, and users' higher requirements for the speech quality are met.

In an existing communications system, for example, in a universal mobile telecommunications system (hereinafter referred to as UMTS), speech encoding adopts a large amount of convolutional codes as channel encoding and utilizes a power control mechanism to guarantee its speech quality. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture of a speech encoding process in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, taking a UMTS network as an example, a processing process of an uplink adaptive multi-rate (hereinafter referred to as AMR) speech signal is that, speech encoding of an AMR speech encoder (hereinafter referred to as AMR Speech Encoder) in a user equipment (hereinafter referred to as UE) adopts convolutional codes through a convolutional code encoder (hereinafter referred to as CC Encoder) to perform encoding processing, and AMR speech signals after the encoding of the CC Encoder are sent to a base station (hereinafter referred to as NodeB) through an air interface; a CC decoder (hereinafter referred to as CC Decoder) in the NodeB can decode the AMR speech signals, and the CC Decoder includes two outputs. In one output, a decoded bit stream is sent to a radio network controller (hereinafter referred to as RNC) through an Iub interface, and then is sent by the RNC to an AMR speech decoder (hereinafter referred to as AMR Speech Decoder) in a core network (hereinafter referred to as CN) through an Iu interface. In the other input, a cyclic redundancy check (hereinafter referred to as CRC) check result, that is, a CRC indicator (hereinafter referred to as CRCI), is sent to the RNC through the Iub interface, and the RNC then can send a bad frame indicator (hereinafter referred to as BFI) to the AMR Speech Decoder in the CN through the Iu interface according to the CRCI. The CC Decoder also sends the CRCI to an outer-loop power control module (hereinafter referred to as Outer-Loop Power Control) in the RNC. After receiving the decoded bit stream and the BFI, the AMR Speech Decoder can perform decoding processing; while the Outer-Loop Power Control may adjust a target block error ratio (hereinafter referred to as BLER) according to the CRCI, and send a target signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (hereinafter referred to as Target SINR) to an inner-loop power control module (hereinafter referred to as Inner-Loop Power Control) in the NodeB according to an adjusted BLER. The Inner-Loop Power Control sends a power command (hereinafter referred to as Power Command) to a power transmitter (hereinafter referred to as Power Transmitter) of the UE, according to a measured signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (hereinafter referred to as Measured SINR) and the Target SINR, to adjust transmission power of the UE. FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of processing three substreams in the system architecture which is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, in the prior art, the AMR speech signal may be classified into three substreams, A, B, and C, that is, Class A signal, Class B signal, and Class C signal. Substream A has the strongest influence on the speech quality and is also the most important, after whose data block, a 12-bit CRC is attached. Substreams B and C are relatively less important and the data block is followed with no CRC. The CC Decoder in the NodeB adopts a Viterbi algorithm (hereinafter referred to as VA) decoder, while in a decoding result of the VA decoder, only substream A has the CRCI.
However, during an implementation process of the present invention, the inventor finds that in the prior art the NodeB has a relatively low decoding performance for convolutional codes of substream A, which has a relatively strong influence on the speech quality and fails to meet users' higher requirements for the speech quality.

Method, apparatus, and access network system for speech signal processing


The present application provides a magnetic bead-based nucleic acid extraction apparatus including a well plate, a magnetic attraction mechanism, a position moving mechanism, and an oscillation mechanism, a supporting base, and a fixing base disposed on the supporting base. The magnetic attraction mechanism includes a magnetic bar fixing base and a magnetic bar movably disposed on the magnetic bar fixing base. The position moving mechanism includes a ball screw and a driving motor; two ends of the ball screw are respectively connected to the magnetic bar fixing base and the driving motor. The oscillation mechanism includes a carrier and a main oscillation unit connected to the carrier. The main oscillation unit includes a motor spindle, an eccentric column, and a connecting base.

With the popularization of genetic detection, personalized drug delivery, prenatal diagnosis, and the like, due to the pursuit of high-throughput and automation in all fields of the biological industry nowadays, the limitations of traditional DNA extraction methods are becoming more and more obvious. Since magnetic bead-based nucleic acid extraction can realize automatic extraction, large-scale operation, simple operation and short time-consuming, magnetic bead-based nucleic acid extraction has received more and more attention.
Generally, the extraction step of the magnetic bead-based nucleic acid extraction mainly comprises: (1) lysing; (2) binding; (3) washing; (4) separating. Specifically, the cell or tissue releases the DNA/RNA under the action of the lysate, and surface-modified superparamagnetic silica magnetic nanobeads specifically bind to the released DNA/RNA to form a nucleic acid-magnetic bead complex. A washing liquid is added to the nucleic acid-magnetic bead complex to wash away impurities such as non-specifically adsorbed proteins and the like, and the magnetic beads are separated and enriched, under a condition of magnetic field, from the nucleic acid-magnetic bead complex from which the impurities have been removed, and finally the nucleic acid to be extracted is obtained. During the nucleic acid extraction, homogeneous blending is required in all steps of lysing, washing and separating, so that the apparatus for nucleic acid extraction needs to have an oscillating function.
At present, there are mainly two methods for separating magnetic beads from a sample liquid, one of which is to use the combination of a rod magnet and a disposable outer casing to complete the collection of the magnetic beads. After the magnetic beads have been collected, they are transferred from one reagent into another reagent row by row, thereby completing the extraction of nucleic acids, the other method is to adsorb the magnetic particles in each well of the deep-well plate to a sidewall or a bottom row by row by a magnetic separation device, and inject or transfer a reagent by a pipetting robot arm to complete the treatment of different reagents, and then complete the process of nucleic acid extraction from one sample in a same well.
In the above two methods, the magnetic beads are readily taken away when a waste liquid is removed as the magnetic beads are adsorbed, thereby causing poor controllability of magnetic separation. The magnetic adsorption should be completed row by row, and the sample loading, pipetting, sample homogeneous blending, homogeneous blending in washing, homogeneous blending in separating are not synchronized with the magnetic adsorption, and is completed by transferring to an oscillator by using an plate gripper, thus having a poor time coordination and a high cost.

Magnetic bead-based nucleic acid extraction apparatus and use method


The present invention is directed methods for identifying compounds that have a tissue protective activity using a heteromultimer receptor complex that mediates the tissue protective activities. The complex consists of at least one EPO-R in complex with at least one βc Receptor. These compounds used in the assays to identify tissue protective compounds include, but are not limited to, small molecules and biologics. The compounds identified using these assays can be used to treat various conditions of the central and peripheral nervous systems as well as those of other erythropoietin-responsive or excitable cells, tissues, and organs.

Several lines of evidence suggest that erythropoietin, as a member of the cytokine superfamily, performs important physiologic functions which are mediated through interaction with the erythropoietin receptor (EPO-R). These actions include production of red blood cells, mitogenesis, modulation of calcium influx into smooth muscles and neural cells, and effects on intermediary metabolism.
EPO-R is a 66 kDa protein, and is part of the Type-1 cytokine receptor family. This family includes receptors for interleukin (IL)-IL2, IL3, IL4, IL5, IL6, IL7, IL9, IL11, granulocyte macrophage—colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), Leukaemia Inhibiting Factor (LIF), Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor (CNTF), Thrombopoietin, Growth Hormone and Prolactin. These receptors are grouped together because of the homology of their extracellular domains. The conserved extracellular domain of these receptors has a length of approximately 200 amino acids, which contains four positionally conserved cysteine residues in the amino-terminal region (Cys 294, Cys 283, Cys 248, Cys 238) and a Trp-Ser-X-Trp-Ser motif located proximal to the transmembrane domain. The four cysteines appear to be critical to the maintenance and the structural integrity of the receptors (Murray, 1996, Harpers Biochemistry 24th ed. pp. 524-526, Appilion & Lange, Ltd.; Caravella et al., 1996, Protein: Struct. Funct. Gen. 24:394-401;).
Like many of the receptors within the Type-1 cytokine receptor family, the EPO-R appears to be activated when it is activated by its interaction with EPO. The first EPO-R in the dimer binds to EPO with a high affinity and the second EPO-R then binds to the complex with a low affinity. This dimerization of the EPO-R puts the Jak2 tyrosine kinases associated with EPO-R in close association, inducing their transphosphorylation. This activation leads to the tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins that subsequently activate several different pathways, such as phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase pathway, the Ras/MAP kinase pathway, and the STAT pathway. These pathways trigger the physiological functions mediated by erythropoietin (Kirito et al., 2002, Blood 99:102-110; Livnah et al., 1999, Science 283:987-990; Naranda et al., 2002, Endocrinology 143:2293-2302; Remy et al., 1999, Science 283:990-993; and Yoshimura et al., 1996, The Oncol. 1:337-339).
In addition to forming multimers, many of the members of the type-1 family incorporate one of three different signal transducing receptor components—gp130, beta common (βc receptor), or the gamma subunit of the IL2 receptor (γc receptor)—in to their receptor complexes. For example, the receptor complex for GM-CSF consists of GM-CSF receptor, two βc receptors, and the GM-CSF ligand. The EPO-R has been known to form a complex with the βc receptor (See Yutaka et al., 1995, Bioch. Biophys. Res. Com. 208:1060-1066; Jubinsky et al., 1997, Blood 90:1867-1873; D'Andrea et al., 1998, J. Clin, Invest. 102:1951-1960). However, it has been reported that these complexes failed to result in any physiologically relevant effect (Scott et al., 2000, Blood, 96:1588-1590).
Recently a class of tissue protective cytokines, chemical or genetically modified erythropoietin molecules that demonstrate an enhanced tissue protective activity without any therapeutic erythropoietic effect have been disclosed. (See PCT Application No. PCT/US01/49479, U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/188,905, 10/185,841, and 10/612,665, which are incorporated herein by reference herein in their entirety). These tissue protective cytokines protect, maintain, enhance and/or restore the function and/or viability of erythropoietin-responsive mammalian cells, tissues and organs, which include, but are not limited to, neuronal, retinal, muscle, heart, kidney cells or tissues. For example, these tissue protective cytokines have proven to be particularly effective in protecting against injury resulting from trauma and resulting inflammation to the brain (ischemic stroke, blunt trauma, subarrachnoid hemorrhage), spinal cord (ischemia, blunt force trauma), peripheral nerves (sciatic nerve injury, diabetic neuropathy, carpal tunnel syndrome), retinal (macular edema), and heart (myocardial infarct, chronic heart failure).
Unlike EPO, which binds the classical EPO-R dimer and provides a protective effect, it appears some modified EPO may not modulate the tissue protective activity by the same pathway since some of these tissue protective cytokines do not bind to the EPO-R homodimer. For example, a tissue protective cytokine generated by carbamylating erythropoietin in accordance with the procedure outlined in Example 2(B) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/188,905 does not bind to the dimer EPO-R. (FIG. 1). The failure of the carbamylated tissue protective cytokine to bind to the EPO-R homodimer suggests that an alternative receptor or receptor complex mediates the tissue protective activity of these molecules.
It is towards this alternative receptor or receptor complex and the use of such alternative receptor or receptor complex as a means of screening potential compounds for tissue protective activities, that the present invention is directed.

Tissue protective cytokine receptor complex and assays for identifying tissue protective compounds


According to one embodiment, there is provided a nonaqueous electrolyte battery. The nonaqueous electrolyte battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a nonaqueous electrolyte. The positive electrode includes a positive current collector and a positive electrode material layer formed on the positive electrode current collector. The positive electrode material layer includes a positive electrode active material and a first conductive agent. In a mapping image for the positive electrode material layer, a ratio of an occupancy area of the first conductive agent to an occupancy area of the positive electrode active material is from 1.5 to 5.

When a capacity of a nonaqueous electrolyte battery is increased, it is necessary to use an active material having a high capacity such as a compound having a high Ni content among lithium-containing nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxides, to increase a density of an electrode, and to decrease an amount of auxiliary members in an electrode-mixture.
When the measures described above are carried out, however, though the increase of an energy density can be expected, a crystal structure of the active material is easily deteriorated, an electrical conduction network is insufficiently formed in an electrode-mixture layer to cause deviation in resistance distribution, low porosity of the electrode member layer and high likelihood of deviation in Li ion concentration, thus resulting in occurrence of a risk that long-term properties such as a cycle property is decreased.
It is required, accordingly, to find an electrode structure (a composition, a density, and an existential state of components) having both of a high energy density and an excellent cycle property.


Described embodiments are directed toward prosthetic valves having leaflets of particular shapes that control bending character. In accordance with an embodiment, a prosthetic valve has a plurality of leaflets. Each leaflet includes a central region and two side regions on opposite sides of the central region. The central region is defined by a shape of an isosceles triangle defined by two central region sides, the leaflet base and the leaflet free edge, wherein the two central region sides converge from the leaflet base. Each of the two side regions has a shape of a triangle and each is defined by one of the central region sides, one of the leaflet sides, and the leaflet free edge.

Bioprosthetic valves have been developed that attempt to mimic the function and performance of a native valve. Flexible leaflets are fabricated from biological tissue such as bovine pericardium. In some valve designs the biological tissue is sewn onto a relatively rigid frame that supports the leaflets and provides dimensional stability when implanted. Although bioprosthetic valves can provide excellent hemodynamic and biomechanical performance in the short term, they are prone to calcification and cusp tears, among other failure modes, requiring reoperation and replacement.
Bioprosthetic valves have been developed that attempt to mimic the function and performance of a native valve. Flexible leaflets are fabricated from biological tissue such as bovine pericardium. In some valve designs the biological tissue is sewn onto a relatively rigid frame that supports the leaflets and provides dimensional stability when implanted. Although bioprosthetic valves can provide excellent hemodynamic and biomechanical performance in the short term, they are prone to calcification and cusp tears, among other failure modes, requiring reoperation and replacement.
Attempts have been made to use synthetic materials, such as polyurethane, among others, as a substitute for the biological tissue, to provide a more durable flexible leaflet prosthetic valve, herein referred to as a synthetic leaflet valve (SLV). However, synthetic leaflet valves have not become a valid valve replacement option since they suffer premature failure, due to, among other things, suboptimal design and lack of a durable synthetic material.
The leaflet moves under the influence of fluid pressure. In operation, the leaflets open when the upstream fluid pressure exceeds the downstream fluid pressure and close when the downstream fluid pressure exceeds the upstream fluid pressure. The free edges of the leaflets coapt under the influence of downstream fluid pressure closing the valve to prevent downstream blood from flowing retrograde through the valve.
Valve durability under the repetitive loads of the leaflets opening and closing is dependent, in part, on the load distribution between the leaflet and the frame. Further, substantial load is encountered on the leaflet when in the closed position. Mechanical failure of the leaflet can arise, for example, at the mounting edge, where the flexible leaflet is supported by the relatively rigid frame. The repetitive loads of leaflet opening and closing leads to material failure by fatigue, creep or other mechanism, depending in part on the leaflet material. Mechanical failure at the mounting edge is especially prevalent with synthetic leaflets.
The durability of the valve leaflets is also a function of the character of bending by the leaflet during the opening-closing cycle. Small radius bends, creases and intersecting creases, can produce high stress zones in the leaflet. These high stress zones can cause the formation of holes and tears under repetitive loading.
Bioprosthetic valves may be delivered using surgical or transcatheter techniques. A surgical valve is implanted into a patient using open-heart surgical techniques. The surgical valve is usually manufactured to have a fixed diameter as opposed to a transcatheter valve which is required to attain a range of diameters for access and delivery. The surgical valve is usually provided with a sewing cuff about a perimeter of the valve to allow for suturing to the native tissue orifice.
A preferred shape of synthetic heart valve leaflets has been described many times, but each is different from the others. The various three-dimensional shapes range from spherical or cylindrical to truncated conical intersections with spheres and an "alpharabola".
The shape most often described as preferable is modeled after the native human aortic valve. Though nature dictates the optimum shape for the native tissues to form a heart valve, we have discovered this is not true for synthetic materials; accordingly, the designs specified in the current disclosure are instead intended to place the synthetic materials under a minimized stress condition as compared to those based on copies of the native valve. This is partially accomplished through reduced buckling in the leaflet material.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Geometric control of bending character in prosthetic heart valve leaflets


A method, system, and computer readable medium for organizing, managing, and accessing large quantities of data in a centralized database received from a plurality of non-homogenous data sources. In the method, a specific format is defined for storing the received data in a plurality of data records in the centralized database. A plurality of datasets are created including a definition and a translation for each data item, the plurality of datasets establishing the data that is transferred into or out of the centralized database. The plurality of datasets are stored in the centralized database. A plurality of value tags are created defining a plurality of data formats and database column names to use in importing or exporting data. An inbound interface is created for accepting data from the plurality of non-homogenous data sources wherein the data represent measured values of physical resources. An outbound interface is created for exporting data upon request to an external application.

The present invention relates generally to data management systems and, more particularly, to platform-independent data structures for organizing, managing and accessing large quantities of data received from numerous non-homogeneous data sources.
Various data transfer schemes are known in the art. Two common examples are point-to-point data transfers and radial staging design. Characteristics of a point-to-point data transfer system include no common monitoring of data transfers, limited data reusability, advanced knowledge of both target and source data systems, fast implementation, limited data snapshot (i.e., point in time) capability, and various tracking and auditing mechanisms.
In a radial staging design system, a staging database is designed as a heap. Characteristics of a radial staging data transfer system include multiple data owners, limited standardization, limited snapshot capability, advanced knowledge of both target and source data systems, and advanced knowledge of staging database. The data staging process imports data as either streams or files, transforms the data, and stages the data for loading into data warehouses, data marts or operational data stores. The data staging process is driven by metadata, including business rules. Metadata is used along with administrative tools to guide data extractions, transformations, archiving and loading of data to target data warehouse and data mart schemas.
Such previous solutions cannot handle the complexity of the multiple data sources and volumes of data, especially when dealing with data from legacy applications. Such solutions require a good deal of manual support, constant re-design when business needs change, and an experienced staff to provide daily maintenance. There is a need for an invention that creates a data structure that is sufficiently flexible to eliminate the continual creation of new schema.

System and method for organizing managing and accessing large quantities of data from non-homogenous data sources


A high-pressure fuel pump is disclosed that includes a pump housing with a suction port hole for defining a suction port, a pressure chamber for sucking fuel from the suction port, and a delivery port hole for defining a delivery port delivering fuel pressurized in the pressure chamber. The fuel pump also includes a plunger for pressurizing fuel sucked in the pressure chamber due to reciprocal motion of the plunger. Furthermore, the fuel pump includes a relief valve provided in the suction port hole, wherein the relief valve opens when a delivery pressure of the fuel delivered from the delivery port exceeds a predetermined pressure, thereby reducing the delivery pressure of the fuel.

High-pressure fuel pumps are known for pressurizing fuel sucked in a pressure chamber by reciprocal motion of a plunger, in which, when a fuel delivery pressure is more than a predetermined pressure, a relief valve opens to reduce the fuel delivery pressure. This type of fuel pump is disclosed, for example, in JP-2003-247474A, JP-11-200990A and JP-2004-138062A. However, manufacture of this conventional high-pressure pump provided with such a relief valve can be overly time-consuming.
For example, since an exclusive hole for accommodating the relief valve is formed in a pump housing in JP-2003-247474A, JP-11-200990A and JP-2004-138062A, manufacturing time for forming the accommodating hole of the relief valve increases. In addition, since the relief valve is accommodated in the exclusive hole, it may be required to seal the accommodating hole of the relief valve or a clearance between the accommodating hole and the relief valve with a sealing member or the like in addition to sealing locations other than the accommodation location of the relief valve. This results in an increase in the number of sealing locations of the relief valve, thereby increasing manufacturing time for sealing.
In addition, in fuel pumps with a relief valve in an exclusive hole of a housing (see, e.g., FIG. 2 of JP-11-200990A), the housing is divided into a plurality of housing members for accommodating the relief valve. When the pump housing includes a plurality of the housing members for accommodating the relief valve, a clamping member or the like is used to assemble the housing members with each other, thereby increasing the assembly time of the pump housing.
In addition, for discharging the delivery fuel from the relief valve, a fuel discharge passage is included for communicating a delivery port with a delivery port side of the relief valve. However, it is difficult to form such a fuel discharge passage inside the pump housing. Therefore, manufacturing becomes more difficult and more time consuming.
In addition, when the fuel discharge passage is formed exclusively for discharging the delivery fuel from the relief valve, the manufacture time for forming the fuel discharge passage in the pump housing increases.
In this way, the manufacturing time and the sealing time of the accommodating hole in the relief valve, the assembly time of the pump housing, and the manufacturing time of the fuel discharge passage is significant, and as a result, manufacturing time of the high-pressure fuel pump is significant.
Further, decreasing the size of the conventional high-pressure fuel pump can be difficult.
For instance, in a case of accommodating a relief valve in an exclusive hole, a space for forming the exclusive hole is included in the pump housing, thereby increasing the size of the pump housing. In addition, in a case of sealing a clearance between the exclusive hole of the relief valve and the relief valve with a sealing member such as an O-ring, a location space for the sealing member is included, therefore increasing the size of the pump housing.
Further, in a structure of clamping a plurality of housing members for accommodating the relief valve, a seal dimension in the assembling location of the housing members each other is substantially long, thereby increasing the size of the pump housing.
In view of the above, there remains a need for a high-pressure fuel pump that overcomes the above mentioned problems in the conventional art. The present disclosure addresses this need in the conventional art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art.


An example system includes a bulk steering crystal apparatus having a first lens face and a second concave face. The example bulk steering crystal apparatus further includes a number of steering portions interposed between the first lens face and the second concave face, where each of the steering portions includes a bulk substrate portion including an electro-optical material and a corresponding high-side electrode electrically coupled to the corresponding one of the number of steering portions.

Previously known beam steering systems and methods suffer from a number of drawbacks. Mechanically steered systems have a number of moving parts, manufacturing cost and complexity, and have limitations in the response time of the system to effect a beam steering change. Additionally, mechanical systems suffer from reliability issues related to mechanical failures. Previously known beam steering systems without mechanical steering additionally suffer from a number of drawbacks, including limited steering capability, limited steering efficiency, and high voltage differences occurring within the devices.
Operations of a typical previously known beam steering system are described following. a previously known beam steering system includes a film of optically active material positioned between a ground electrode and discrete electrodes with voltages applied. The voltages start from zero, increase to a designed voltage over a number of electrodes, and then reset to zero. The discrete electrodes are separated by a spacing distance, which may be the same throughout the aperture (i.e., across the entire film). The designed voltage will be V_lambda, or the voltage sufficient to provide one optical path difference (OPD) of one wavelength, and will depend upon the properties of the film and the incident wavelength being steered. The voltages applied between adjacent discrete electrodes will be progressive, depending upon how many discrete electrodes are utilized to progress from zero voltage to the V_lambda, except between reset electrodes. At the reset electrodes, the voltage difference would be approximately V_lambda—with a V_lambda voltage on a last discrete electrode of one progression, and approximately zero voltage on a first discrete electrode of the next progression, with a separation of 2πn before and after reset. The applied electric field is not confined between each discrete electrode and the ground electrode, and further the applied electric field is not parallel outside of the spacing between each discrete electrode and the ground electrode. Accordingly, previously known beam steering systems experience an edge effect and a fringing field causing large steering efficiency losses at the reset position, where the voltage cannot reset sharply to 0V. The distance required to reset to zero is the flyback distance, which can be large in previously known beam steering systems, and can extend across several electrode widths.
Accordingly, improvements in beam steering systems, including systems with limited or no mechanical moving parts, are desirable.

System, method and apparatus for non-mechanical optical and photonic beam steering


The present invention has for its object to provide a planar MOS-controlled thyristor of improved main thyristor turn-ON characteristics and a vertical MOS-controlled thyristor of improved main thyristor turn-ON characteristics and increased integration density. In the planar MOS-controlled thyristor a p-channel MOSFET for turning OFF the main thyristor and an n-channel MOSFET for turning it ON are provided in an integrated form and a channel is provided between the cathode region and a high resistance layer. The current in the channel can be controlled by the base or gate potential through utilization of the J-FET or static induction effect. In the vertical MOS-controlled thyristor a vertical p-channel MOSFET for turning OFF the main thyristor and a vertical n-channel MOSFET for turning it ON are provided in an integrated form and a base layer or channel is provided between the cathode region and a high resistivity layer. The current in the base or channel can be controlled by the base or gate potential through utilization of the base resistance effect, J-FET effect, or static induction effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to a MOS-controlled thyristor of a planar structure wherein p-channel and n-channel MOSFET's have a common gate and a main thyristor is operable by a static induction effect and a MOS-controlled thyristor of a vertical structure wherein vertical p-channel and n-channel MOSFET's have a common gate and a main thyristor is operable by a base resistance effect, JFET effect, or static induction effect.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 15 schematically illustrates the basic construction of a MOS controlled thyristor, which was proposed by Temple of General Electric Co. Reference numeral 1 denotes an anode electrode, 2 an anode region, 3 an n-type buffer layer, 5 a high resistivity layer, 6 a p-type base layer, 7 a first conductivity type layer, 8 a cathode region, 9 a cathode electrode, 10 a MOS gate electrode, and 11 a second conductivity type layer. The second conductivity type layer 11 and the p-type base layer 6 operate also as a main electrode region of a p-channel MOSFET, and a p-MOS channel is formed in the vicinity of the first conductivity type layer 7 as indicated by 7'. Similarly, the first conductivity type layer 7 and the high resistivity layer 5 operate also as a main electrode region of an n-channel MOSFET, and an n-MOS channel is formed in the vicinity of the p-type base layer as indicated by 6'. The MOS gate electrode 10 is common to both of the n-MOSFET and the p-MOSFET. The n.sup.+ -type cathode region, the p-type base layer 6, the n.sup.- -type high resistivity layer 5, the n.sup.+ -type buffer layer 3 and the p.sup.+ -type anode region 2 constitute a main thyristor, which is turned ON and OFF by the application of positive and negative pulse voltages. With the construction of FIG. 15, holes which are carriers stored in the p-type base layer 6 are not drawn out therefrom to an external gate as in a GTO but instead they are short-circuited via the p-channel MOSFET to the second conductivity type layer 11 short-circuited to the cathode electrode 9. What is called a shorted cathode structure is implemented by the p-channel MOSFET between the p-type base layer 6 and the cathode region 8. On the other hand, the n-channel MOSFET functions to turn ON the main thyristor by injecting electrons from the cathode region 8 and the first conductivity type layer 7 into the n.sup.- -type high resistivity layer 5 which serves as a second base layer, through the channel of the n-MOSFET.
FIG. 16 schematically illustrates, in section, the construction of another conventional MOS-controlled thyristor, which was published by a research group of Asea Brown Boveri Inc. This construction is disclosed in F. Bauer et al., "Current-Handling and Switching Performance of MOS-controlled Thyristor (MCT) Structures," IEEE EDL Vol. 12, No. 6, June 1991, for instance. In FIG. 16 the parts corresponding to those in FIG. 15 are identified by the same reference numerals. The illustrated structure differs from FIG. 15 example in that the n-MOSFET is not provided for each channel and in that the n-type buffer layer 3 in FIG. 15 is not provided. This prior art example has its feature in that the p-channel MOSFET for cathode short-circuit use is provided around the cathode region 8 in the wide p-type base layer 6. The FIG. 16 example facilitates the formation of a multichannel structure as compared with the FIG. 15 example but calls for the formation of another n-channel MOSFET for turning ON the main thyristor. FIG. 17 is a sectional view schematically illustrating the structure disclosed in C. Ronsisvalle et al., "HIGH POWER MOS-CONTROLLED-THYRISTOR USING THE PARALLEL CONTACTING TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVICES ON THE SAME WAFER," EPE FIRENZE, 1991, pp. 267-269. The parts corresponding to those in FIGS. 15 and 16 are identified by the same reference numerals. This example has its structural feature in that an n.sup.+ -type region 16 is provided around the p-type base layer 6 to form an n-channel MOSFET in the surface region on the layer 6 at one end thereof.
In the conventional MOS-controlled thyristors of FIGS. 15 through 17, the main thyristor has the same structure as a conventional four-layered thyristor or SCR. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 278119/89 (filed Apr. 30, 1988) there is described a driving method for a MOS-controlled thyristor wherein the main thyristor is formed as a static induction thyristor and a MOS-controlled system is used, and furthermore, it is stated in the gazette that the thyristor is called a MOS-controlled static induction thyristor in the case where its peripheral elements are integrated. The MOS-controlled static induction (SI) thyristor has a high gate current amplification factor, and hence is operable on a small gate signal. In Nishizawa, "SI Thyristors Hold Promise for Improved DC Power Transmission," PCI & Motor 'Con 88, Munich, West Germany 1988, June 6-8, or Nishizawa and Tamamushi, "Recent Development and Future Potential of the Power Static Induction (SI) Devices," Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Power Electronics and Variable-Speed Drives, Vol. 291, pp. 21-24, July 1988 it is described that the MOS-controlled SI thyristor with only a gate capacitor integrated was made by way of trial up to 600V-3A class and operable with only a gate capacitor C.sub.G.
Moreover, an example of a MOS-controlled SI thyristor of the type that only the gate capacitor C.sub.G and/or p-channel MOS transistor for turn OFF use are integrated is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 292770/91 or 292769/91.
It is difficult, however, to sufficiently drive a large-capacity SI thyristor by a gate signal of a transient differential waveform which is applied via the gate capacitor. To turn ON the large-capacity SI thyristor uniformly throughout it, it is necessary that the gate capacitor C.sub.G be provided by forming a gate oxide layer on the gate over the entire area of the wafer surface. The capacitance of the gate capacitor C.sub.G depends virtually on the thickness of the gate oxide layer, but it is hard to form such a thin oxide layer on the gate over the entire area of the wafer surface. It is preferable that the gate capacitor C.sub.G be large in capacitance, since the gate drive signal applied across the gate and cathode, but it is difficult to form the gate capacitor C.sub.G large as compared with the gate-cathode capacitance C.sub.GK. As mentioned above, it has been ascertained that MOS-controlled SI thyristors up to 600V-3A class are operable with only the gate capacitor when it has a small capacitance.
It is therefore desirable to implement a planar MOS-controlled thyristor structure which ensures stable ON-OFF control of a large-capacity thyristor and is easy to manufacture. It is also desirable that the MOS-controlled thyristor be superior to the conventional thyristor in the ratio di/dt for the turn-ON operation, and hence afford reduction of the turn-ON time t.sub.gt.
On the other hand, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), which is inferior to the MOS-controlled thyristor in terms of current capacity but operates similarly under insulated gate control, is superior to the MOS-controlled thyristor in terms of integration density. FIG. 18 is a sectional view schematically illustrating the IGBT structure. Reference numeral 1' indicates a p-type emitter electrode, 8' a p-type collector layer, 9' an IGBT collector electrode, 11' an IGBT emitter electrode, and 17 an IBGT p-type base layer. The other regions 3, 5, 10, 14 and 15 are the same as those in FIG. 17. In FIGS. 15 and 18, reference character L indicates the substantial width of a unit cell. It will be seen that the cell width L of the MOS-controlled thyristor (FIG. 15) is larger than the cell width L of the IGBT (FIG. 18) by the width of a diffused region of the p-type base layer 6. It is considered that the value L is a dimension necessary to implement the unit cell. Assuming that sizing rules for their microfabrication are the same, the value L in FIG. 15 is about 7/5=1.4 times as large as the value L in FIG. 18. To improve the turn-ON characteristic of the MOS-controlled thyristor and reduce its ON-voltage, it is desirable to reduce the unit cell width L and hence increase the integration density.


Global heap allocation technologies in a multi-thread environment, and particularly a method for dynamically adjusting global heap allocation in the multi-thread environment, and more particularly to a method and system for dynamically adjusting global heap allocation by monitoring conflict parameters of the global heap allocation method. Specifically, a method of dynamically adjusting global heap allocation in multi-thread environment, comprising: identifying a global heap allocation method in an application program; judging whether the global heap allocation method is a multi-thread conflict hot point; and using a local stack to allocate memory space requested by the global heap allocation method in response to a “yes” judging result. The method is adapted to purposefully dynamically adjust the intrinsic global heap allocation method in the program according to a real-time running state, reduce the lock contention on the global heap, and effectively improve a resource allocating efficiency and a resource utilization rate.

At present, with the development of computer multi-core technologies, a multi-thread program is applied more and more extensively. There are two major problems with the multi-thread environment: one is resource sharing, namely, a plurality of threads share a physical memory of the same entity; the other is resource synchronization, namely, the multi-thread environment requires the physical memory of the same entity to be accessed by only one thread at the same time. As can be seen from the above, resource sharing and resource synchronization are two requirements which are contradictory to each other. On the premise of ensuring the resource sharing, when the plurality of threads simultaneously request for allocation of the global heap, "lock contention" will occur That is to say, a thread requesting later must wait for being unlocked until the shared memory allocation is completed by a thread that requests earlier, thereby performing memory allocation. If the number of the threads simultaneously requesting for memory allocation is too large, the running speed of the program will drop, thereby causing phenomena such as "breakdown" or even "system crash." FIG. 2A illustrates one example of this situation. As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the threads 1-N need to share the global memory heap. As required by resource synchronization, allocation of the global memory heap can be carried out for only one thread at the same time, and other threads must be in a locked state waiting for synchronization of the memory resource.
There is a technical solution to the above problem in the prior art, as illustrated in FIG. 2B, the shared global memory heap in FIG. 2A is divided into a plurality of sub-heaps Heap1-HeapN, and several threads are allocated for each sub-heap. The technical solution indeed can ease the lock contention to a certain degree, but each of the sub-heaps is allocated with several threads, so the lock contention issue still exists. More importantly, upon division of sub-heaps and allocation of threads, it is impossible to know which threads should be allocated to which sub-heaps so as to achieve the best running effect. Hence, it often occurs that the sub-heap Heap 1 is in an idle state whereas the sub-heap Heap 2 is already in a lock contention state, thereby causing a waste of the memory resource and a lot of memory fragments.

Dynamically adjusting global heap allocation in multi-thread environment

International Business Machines Corporation


Photographic materials, such as films and papers, include a support and coatings on the support. The coatings often contain hardeners which cause gelation cross links in the binder in the coating. The extent to which the cross-links have formed at the time of processing of the film or paper affects the appearance of the image produced by processing. Conventionally the cross-links have been allowed to form with time in normal atmospheric conditions. According to the invention, the formation of the cross links is accelerated to substantial completion by a process including incubating the material at a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the coating and below the melting point of the coating in an atmosphere having a relative humidity which causes a moisture content of the coating of 0.1 to 0.25 for a period of time sufficient to substantially complete the hardening, that is, the formation of the cross-links. Such period of time is less than ten minutes and can, with some materials and conditions, be as short as a minute or less. After the incubation step, the temperature of the coating is reduced below its glass transition temperature, the moisture content is reduced and the coating is then cooled prior to windup of the support with the coating thereon. The incubation and related steps of the invention may be performed after the coating and drying of the material and prior to windup into a roll or they may be performed in a rewind situation. A rewind situation is one in which a support has been coated and the coated support has been dried, cooled and wound up into a roll. The roll is subsequently unwound, operated upon in accordance with the invention and then rewound into a roll. After treatment in accordance with the invention, the roll of photographic material may immediately be tested and certified and passed to further operations in which it is cut into sizes usable by the consumer. Apparatus for performing the invention is also disclosed.

In the photographic manufacturing industry, it has long been known that the molecular structure of coatings using various natural or synthetic water-permeable hydrophylic polymers, such as gelatin, as vehicles or binders is very complex and dependent on the conditions used to dry the coatings. During setting, the coating liquids are cooled so that the coating turns into a semirigid solid, sometimes termed a gel. Gelation of the coating results from the formation of weak physical cross-links, known as van der Waals cross-links, between the gelatin molecules. To obtain the desired physical and photographic properties, these gel cross-links must not be allowed to be destroyed by melting during the subsequent drying process. Such weak cross-links are easily destroyed by raising the temperature during drying. However, when the coating is properly dried, these weak cross-links are still maintained in the material. It is believed that these weak physical cross-links contribute to the physical properties of the material being produced.
A second important structural parameter of the dried gelatin coating is the glass transition temperature (Tg). Below this temperature, the gelatin molecules are quite rigid and subject to very little thermal agitation. The material is said to be in a "glassy" state. Above this temperature, some of the rigidity of the molecules is lost as the molecules become thermally agitated.
Both the temperature at which the physical cross-links are destroyed and the glass transition temperature are highly dependent on the moisture content. Gelatin is a moderately hygroscopic material. Coatings of gelatin which are in equilibrium with an ambient environment may contain as much as 15 percent water. It is known that the gel melting point, Tm, and the glass transition temperature, Tg, at moderately high moisture content are closely related variables. The molecular agitation above the glass transition temperature would be expected to destroy a portion of the weak physical cross-links, and thus degrade the desired molecular structure of the coating which had been produced by drying the coating at low temperature. While investigating the relationship between gel melting point and glass transition temperature at relatively high temperature and moisture content, it has been found that the chemical hardening reaction could be accelerated to a much greater extent than was thought possible based on previous studies of the effect of storage temperature on the rate of the afterhardening reaction. Furthermore, by choosing the proper combination of temperature and moisture content, acceptable gel structure can be maintained.
The polymeric vehicles or binders are customarily cross linked (hardened) by various organic and inorganic compounds such as those described by T. H. James, The Theory of the Photographic Process, which are often termed hardeners. Hardeners are used to control the amount of swelling which occurs in the layers of the photographic material when it is processed in one or several solutions in order to develop the photographic image from the latent image. In some development processes the binders would dissolve in the processing solutions if they were not hardened before processing. Usually hardening of the binders is accomplished by adding the hardeners to one or more of the liquid photographic emulsions or other layers before they are coated onto the support. The cross-linking reaction starts as the coating is being dried and continues for a long period, often months, after coating and drying. Such hardening after drying and over the long term is often referred to as afterhardening. The rate of the afterhardening reaction is dependent on the temperature and moisture content of the material. Often the hardening reaction is not complete when the photographic material is developed after exposure. More importantly, the photographic response of the material is dependent on the degree to which the hardening reaction has progressed at the time the material is processed. For example, the amount of developer which permeates into the coating when the material is immersed in developer solution is dependent on the degree of hardening which has occurred at this time. This, in turn, influences the rate and extent of the reaction between the silver halide crystals and the developing agents. The problems derived from variations in the extent of afterhardening are especially troublesome for testing and certifying the photographic response of the material during manufacture. Often the dried coated materials are held for some months before final testing and certification and release for customer use, to allow a meaningful certification of the photographic response.
Numerous attempts to accelerate the rate of the afterhardening reaction have been made in which more reactive hardening agents are used. While partially successful, highly reactive hardening agents are very difficult to handle during preparation of the liquid emulsion and coating of the prepared emulsion onto the support. Stagnant areas in the emulsion delivery lines and hopper cavities are very prone to become filled with semisolid hardened binder material which is impossible to flush out without dismantling the delivery lines and hoppers. Furthermore, such hardened binder material may become dislodged as slugs or particles during the coating operation and lead to defects in the coated product.
It has been proposed, for example in Japanese laid open to public inspection Patent Applications (Kokai) 62-81636 and 62-81637, to accelerate the hardening reaction by storing the photographic material at a higher temperature. In these laid open patent applications, the coated and dried photographic material is described as being heated to 40.degree. C. before winding at the end of the machine and the wound rolls are held at this temperature during storage before slitting the rolls to widths used by customers. The time required to complete the hardening reaction was reduced to a few days by this process, but it has been found that the degree of hardening obtained is highly variable unless the temperature throughout the length and width of the rolls are very uniform. Such uniformity is very difficult to achieve in practice. Furthermore, hardening could not be further accelerated by increasing the temperature above 40.degree. C. since to do so would physically damage the coatings in the wound roll.
It is to the solution of this problem of slow and highly variable afterhardening that this invention is directed.

Method for manufacturing photographic material


A cathodic protection device enclosing a reference cell and a conductive media and having two coupon assemblies mounted, facing opposing direction, on an exterior surface. The coupon assemblies each have a disc-shaped coupon seated in a coupon jacket and are electrically coupled to a wire. The coupon jacket defines a pocket in a first surface and a groove in a second, opposing surface thereof. The disc-shaped coupon is seated in the pocket and the wire is seated in the groove with the electrical junction therebetween aligned with an aperture connecting the pocket to the groove. A sealing material is used to form a watertight seal between the disc-shaped coupon and the pocket and fills the groove. The device includes a hydrophilic porous member having a first surface in communication with the conductive media and a second surface in communication with an external environment.

Cathodic protection systems are generally in use for corrosion protection of metal structures. Many current cathodic protection devices employ the use of corrosion coupons in order to measure conditions of a particular system, more specifically the corrosivity of tanks and various types of operating equipment. However, these devices are subject to a number of drawbacks, many of which affect the most important objective of the device: providing an accurate measurement of the corrosive nature of a particular environment with respect to a specific type of material.
Various factors relating to both corrosion coupons and cathodic protection devices are relevant in measuring the corrosive nature of a particular environment. With regards to coupons, it is necessary that they are placed in a representative location within the system being monitored such that the location is representative in temperature, pressure, water chemistry, chemical additions, bacterial populations, and solids loading. It is also important that the coupon be electrically isolated from both the cathodic protection device and the system to be monitored in order to prevent galvanic effects that could potentially influence the coupon reading.
The necessary calculation that leads to the measurement of the corrosion rate is based upon the surface area of the coupon. Currently, many of the corrosion coupons in use are in the form of rings, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,264 (Polak), and thus result in poor surface area for control of the calculation leading to the measurement of corrosion. Therefore, it is advantageous to provide a coupon with adequate exposure of surface area for control of this specific calculation.
In order to expose the coupon to the particular environment measured, it is necessary for coupon placement to be on the outside of the housing unit, which contains the reference cell. Means of placing or mounting the coupons on the housing unit have generally included the use of metallic nuts and/or bolts as fasteners, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,760 (Freitas). In addition to using nuts and bolts for fastening the coupons to the device, nuts and bolts are also used in fastening wiring and leads to the coupons. Issues arise, however, when the metallic nuts and bolts begin to corrode themselves. Not only is the life of the device decreased, but the corrosion of the nuts and/or bolts begins to interfere with the readings taken by the coupon to calculate the corrosion measurements. Therefore, alternative means to fasten various components of the device are desirable.
Further, the reference cell housing portion of many prior art devices consists of a porous ceramic vessel, an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,264 (Polak). The porous nature of the ceramic vessel, accompanied with exposure to the outside environment, allows for water from the outside environment to flow through the vessel and into the housing unit. It also allows for penetration of conductive material contained within the housing unit, thus resulting in loss of conductive material to the outside environment. Leakage into the vessel also results when the coupons are not properly sealed within the coupon jacket. Existing methods of sealing the coupon within its housing component result in gaps around the outside of the coupon, thus allowing for water from the outside environment to enter causing further corrosion to the coupon. Therefore, a method of improving the sealing of the coupon within its housing is needed.
Overall, there has not been available to date any device that provides the improvements necessary for providing accurate exposure of coupon surface area, reducing metal galvanic corrosion, eliminating loss of conductive material from within the housing of the device, and sealing and preventing leaks from the housing of the device.

Double coupon reference cell and methods of making same


Disclosed herein is a lens driving mechanism which can achieve simplification of the mechanism and provision of appropriate control relating to a correction against a shake. The lens driving mechanism includes a piezoelectric element that is deformed when energized for applying driving force to the movable block and a charge amount sensor for detecting the amount of charge accumulated in the piezoelectric element. The amount of electric current to be supplied to the piezoelectric element is determined based on the external force, acting upon the movable block, which is estimated based on the difference between the amount of charge injected into or discharged from the piezoelectric element and the amount of charge accumulated in the piezoelectric element and detected by the charge amount sensor when the movable block is moved in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis.

This invention relates to a lens driving mechanism, a lens unit and an image pickup device.
A lens unit wherein an image pickup optical system including a movable lens and a lens driving mechanism for moving the movable lens are disposed in a lens barrel is incorporated not only in video cameras and still cameras but also in various image pickup devices of portable telephone sets and like devices. The movable lens cooperates with a lens holder which holds the movable lens thereon to form a movable block. The movable block is moved by the lens driving mechanism in a direction perpendicularly to the optical axis to a perform correction against a shake.
One of such lens driving mechanisms, as described above, uses a linear actuator formed from a driving coil, a driving magnet and so forth as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-66257.

Lens driving mechanism, lens unit and image pickup device


A coupling for connecting a driving machine part and a driven machine part, such as shafts, wheel hubs or the like, includes an intermediate shaft and articulated lever couplings situated at the ends of the intermediate shaft. Each articulated lever coupling has at least three identical articulated levers, which engage via elastic joints situated at their ends with the intermediate shaft and with the adjacent machine parts to be connected. The axes of the elastic joints of each articulated lever are oriented perpendicularly to an axial plane, the axial plane being parallel to the articulated lever and intersecting the axis of the intermediate shaft and the axes of the machine parts to be connected.

The present invention relates to a coupling for connecting a driving machine part and a driven machine part, e.g., shafts, wheel hubs or the like, from an intermediate shaft and articulated lever couplings situated at the ends of the intermediate shaft, each having at least three identical articulated levers which engage via elastic joints situated at their ends with the intermediate shaft and with the adjacent machine part to be connected.
Couplings of this type are known for permitting an elastic interconnection of shafts for different purposes. These couplings have a high torsional rigidity. They function to compensate for radial and axial misalignment.
German Patent DE 42 05 666 C2, the subject matter of which is incorporated by reference herein, describes such a coupling in which the joints of the articulated lever engage with the intermediate shaft by way of secantially aligned wrist pins and engage by axially aligned wrist pins with a shaft to be connected. These couplings have proven successful. The elastomer bearings mounted on the shafts to be joined undergo mainly cardanic deformation in two axes when the coupling undergoes a deflection. It is therefore necessary to use spherical bearings as elastic elements for these bearings. This limits the radial lifetime of the spherical bearings, which cannot be increased arbitrarily. These bearings also require a considerable installation space.