In a pump mechanism for ejecting liquid, an upper inside wall of a bell-shaped portion which is formed around a lower end of a first piston constitutes a guide surface inclined upward toward an axial hole of the first piston. The guide surface serves to prevent entrapping of air underneath the upper inside wall of the bell-shaped portion, or in an upper part of a metering chamber and stabilize the amount of liquid measured in each successive spraying action.

This invention relates to a pump mechanism for ejecting liquid which can eject a fixed amount of a given liquid, such as a liquid medicine, at a time in the form of a spray or jet.
Containers for holding a liquid medicine for nose or throat treatment, for instance, are usually provided with a built-in pump mechanism for ejecting the liquid medicine on affected parts of a human body.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, a conventional pump mechanism comprises a stationary cylinder 1 which is mounted at a mouth of a liquid medicine container, a first piston 2 and a second piston 3, both incorporated inside the stationary cylinder 1 in a coaxial configuration. The first piston 2 is slidably installed with its lower bell-shaped portion 2b fitted in a large-diameter portion 1a of the stationary cylinder 1 provided close to its upper end, while the second piston 3 is installed with its upward-directed funnel-shaped portion 3b fitted into a small-diameter portion 1b of the stationary cylinder 1. As the second piston 3 moves up and down, its upper sloping surface 3a closes and opens a stepped axial hole 2c in the first piston 2 from underneath. The second piston 3 is fitted with a tubular nonreturn valve 3d formed of an elastic material, such as rubber, which can close an axial hole 3c connected to an unillustrated intake port from outside.
As the first piston 2 is depressed by pushing an unillustrated operating nozzle unit, a mass of liquid medicine contained in a metering chamber A, which is formed between the bell-shaped portion 2b and funnel-shaped portion 3b, is forced into the axial hole 2c and sprayed through a nozzle chip mounted at an end of the first piston 2 in the direction of an arrow Ka as illustrated in FIG. 5. More specifically, when the first piston 2 is pressed down, the internal pressure of the metering chamber A increases and the second piston 3 is forced downward against an unillustrated spring. Consequently, the axial hole 2c is opened, allowing the liquid medicine to be delivered upward and sprayed through the nozzle chip. In this spraying operation, the liquid medicine contained in the metering chamber A flows into a lower space of the axial hole 2c through slits 2d1 made in a cylindrical guide 2d which extends downward from a lower part inside the bell-shaped portion 2b.
When a pressuring force applied to the first piston 2 is removed, the first piston 2 and second piston 3 return together to their upper positions with the aid of the unillustrated spring, producing a negative pressure inside the metering chamber A. This negative pressure causes another mass of liquid medicine to flow into the metering chamber A through the nonreturn valve 3d. With the pump mechanism thus constructed, it is possible to eject intermittent sprays of liquid medicine onto an affected part by repeatedly pressing the first piston 2.
The aforementioned conventional pump mechanism is usually mounted to the mouth of the liquid medicine container (not shown) by means of a screw cap 4 and a packing 1f.
One problem of the prior art technology described above is that the amount of liquid medicine ejected through the nozzle chip varies each time the first piston 2 is pressed. Since an upper inside surface 2b1 of the bell-shaped portion 2b of the first piston 2 forms a broad horizontal surface which connects to the axial hole 2c, air is likely to be entrapped under the upper inside surface 2b1 and the entrapped air would not easily be released from the internal space of the bell-shaped portion 2b. This is a main reason which causes the amount of liquid medicine measured by the metering chamber A to usually vary each successive press of the first piston 2.


In general, in one aspect, a method includes using the Germanium nanowire as building block for high performance logic, memory and low dimensional quantum effect devices. The Germanium nanowire channel and the SiGe anchoring regions are formed simultaneously through preferential Si oxidation of epitaxial Silicon Germanium epi layer. The placement of the germanium nanowires is accomplished using a Si fin as a template and the germanium nanowire is held on Si substrate through SiGe anchors created by masking the two ends of the fins. High dielectric constant gate oxide and work function metals wrap around the Germanium nanowire for gate-all-around electrostatic channel on/off control, while the Germanium nanowire provides high carrier mobility in the transistor channel region. The germanium nanowire transistors enable high performance, low voltage (low power consumption) operation of logic and memory devices.

Germanium (Ge) nanowires are formed, by Ge confinement method, as high mobility transistor channels to create logic, memory and low dimensional quantum transport devices. The Ge nanowires are integrated on a Silicon (Si) substrate by preferentially oxidizing SiGe epi layers to confine the Ge atoms in core nanowire region, the Ge nanowires are self-aligned using the Si fin as template. The method also include forming wrap around high dielectric constant gate dielectrics, work function metal, gate control lines, and attaching of electrical terminal contacts to the nanowires thereto. As devices continue to scale, the high mobility germanium nanowire devices provide better control of short channel effects such as sub threshold slop and drain induced barrier lowering.

Fabrication of germanium nanowire transistors


Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for compression include decomposing an image into wavelet transform coefficients, applying a first quantizer to the wavelet transform coefficients, and applying a second quantizer to a set of wavelet transform coefficients representing a background of the image. The method can include rounding the wavelet transform coefficients and rounding the wavelet transform coefficients can include rounding to a nearest integer value. The method can include multiplying the set rounded quantized background wavelet transform coefficients by the second quantizer and rounding all wavelet transform coefficients. Rounding all wavelet transform coefficients can include rounding to a nearest integer value.

The present invention relates to image region of interest encoding.
Image compression is minimizing the size in bytes of a graphics file without degrading the quality of the image to an unacceptable level. The reduction in file size allows more images to be stored in a given amount of disk or memory space. It also reduces the time required for images to be sent over the Internet or downloaded from Web pages.
There are several different standards that define the ways in which image files can be compressed. Three common standards, for example, are the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) standard, the JPEG2000 standard and the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) standard.
The JPEG2000 digital image compression standard, for example, allows the compression of an arbitrary region of interest (e.g., foreground) within an image to be compressed at a higher quality than the remainder of the image (e.g., background). The JPEG2000 digital image standard uses the "max shift" method in conjunction with a post compression rate distortion (PCRD) optimization. In the max shift method, an image is first transformed into a wavelet domain and a subset of coefficients that contribute to a foreground are determined. The foreground coefficients are "left shifted" so that the modified foreground coefficients are larger than the largest possible background coefficient.
A decoder can now identify whether a coefficient belongs to the foreground or background by simply looking at its value. The coefficients of the foreground are now very large numbers and hence an error occurring in these coefficients is penalized by a large distortion. The PCRD optimization ensures that these foreground coefficients are included prior to background coefficients, which ensures that a large part of the bit budget is given to the encoding of the foreground coefficients.


A transgenic bacterial host cell that can be used as a screen for novel antibiotics and herbicides is provided. The genome of the transgenic bacterial host cell comprises disruptions in a first endogenous gene in the MEP pathway) and a transgene that functionally replaces the disrupted first gene. In other embodiments, the genome comprises a disruption in a first endogenous gene in the MEP pathway and a second endogenous gene which is located downstream of the first gene in the MEP pathway. A transgene that functionally replaces the disrupted downstream gene is cloned into the host cell. A mini operon containing the essential genes for the MVA pathway may also be cloned into the host cell. The transgenic host cell may be used in a method for screening compounds for antibiotic and herbicidal properties. The agents determined by the screening method may be used to kill bacteria or plants.

When penicillin first became widely available it was a medical miracle. With penicillin, doctors were able to treat disease that was previously untreatable and often lethal. Soon, drug companies were mass-producing penicillin and doctors were giving it to patients frequently.
However, shortly after the start of widespread use of penicillin, bacteria began to appear that were resistant to the antibiotic. The first microbe to become resistant to penicillin was Staphylococcus aureaus. This bacterium is generally part of the harmless resident flora of the human body. However, it can also cause illness such as pneumonia.
Other bacteria began to show resistance to penicillin, and new antibiotics were discovered and introduced. With almost every introduction of a new antibiotic, bacteria have evolved a mechanism to resist the drug. Thus, bacteria have been found that are resistant to methicillin, oxacillin, chloramphenicol, neomycin, terramycin, tetracycline, and cephalosporins. Many bacteria are resistant to a number of types of antibiotics. Moreover, resistant bacteria can transfer the resistance gene to other bacteria—even bacteria of dissimilar species.
Despite the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, researchers have been able to discover new agents to battle the bugs. However, many of these new agents can also be toxic to humans. Moreover, the new agents may kill most of the resident microflora of the gastrointestinal tract, making the patient more susceptible to the invasion of disease causing bacteria.
Vancomycin has been used as the drug of last resort in treating multiple-resistant bacterial strains. However, bacterial strains have been discovered that resist vancomycin, and many medical experts fear that we will be without weapons to fight resistant bacteria.
Similar to the problems facing the treatment of bacterial disease are those associated with herbicidal agents. Herbicidal agents have been used by farmers, gardeners, and others for many years to combat undesirable plants and to increase crop yields. However, as with antibiotics, some plants have developed resistance to these compounds. Additionally, recent environmental regulations have caused some of the most effective herbicides to be discontinued because of potential harm to the environment and humans. Thus, there is a need to provide new herbicidal compounds that are less damaging to the environment and yet effective at killing undesirable plants.
One potential target for finding compounds that are effective antibacterial and/or herbicidal agents is the pathways for the synthesis of isoprenoid compounds. Isoprenoid compounds form a large ubiquitous class of natural products consisting of over 30,000 individual members. They fulfill a wide variety of cellular functions—such as components of cell membranes (sterols), electron transport (ubiquinones), signal transduction (prenylated proteins), photosynthetic pigments (chlorophylls), and cell wall biosynthesis (dolichols)—essential for viability.
Until recently, all isoprenoid compounds were thought to be synthesized from acetyl-CoA by the widely accepted mevalonate (MVA) pathway found in eukaryotes and archaebacteria. Work stimulated by labeling patterns in bacterial hopanoids and ubiquinones inconsistent with their biosynthesis by the MVA pathway led to the discovery of a new independent route to these molecules in many bacteria, green algae, and plants. In the newly discovered pathway, the five carbon atoms in the basic isoprenoid unit are derived from pyruvate and D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (GAP). Pyruvate and GAP are condensed to give 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP).
In addition to serving as a precursor for the biosynthesis of thiamine and pyridoxol, DXP undergoes rearrangement and reduction to form 2-methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP), the first committed intermediate in the MEP pathway for biosynthesis of isoprenoids. MEP is then condensed with CMP to form a cytidine derivative, followed by phosphorylation of the C2 hydroxyl group and elimination of CMP to form a 2,4-cyclic diphosphate. The remaining steps to the fundamental five-carbon isoprenoid building blocks, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), have not been established. For most organisms reported to date, the enzymes in the MEP pathway are encoded by essential single copy genes. The exception is a Streptomyces gram-positive strain, which contains both the MEP and MVA pathways.
DXP synthase (DXPase) lies just before the branch point to the B vitamins and isoprenoids. Genes encoding the enzyme have been cloned from a number of species, including E. coli, Streptomyces sp. strain CL190, Mentha x piperiia, and Capsicum annuum. Disruption of the E. coli dxs gene is lethal. DXPase catalyzes the decarboxylation of pyruvate and the subsequent condensation of the thiamine bound two-carbon intermediate with GAP in a reaction similar to those catalyzed by transketolases. Interestingly, DXPases contain regions with strong homology to the E1 subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenases and to transketolases. Although recombinant forms of the enzyme can use either GAP or D-glyceraldehyde as co-substrates with pyruvate, the phosphorylated form of the deoxy-sugar appears to be the normal intermediate in the pathway.
In light of the foregoing it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide a new method for screening for antibacterial and herbicidal agents. It would be a further advancement if the method produced compounds that were not toxic to humans and had decreased effect on the environment. An additional advancement would be to provide compounds that were effective antibiotics and herbicides. It would also be a significant advancement if an organism could be engineered for use in screening agents for activity against a large number of plants and bacteria. It would be a further advancement if the method could exploit the MEP pathway which is present in plants and eubacteria. Such organisms, compounds, and methods are disclosed and claimed herein.

Antibacterial and herbicidal compounds and system for screening the same


A circuit and method of analog data acquisition synchronization from an analog sensor in multiple channels associated with a USB hub. An analog to digital converter connected to the sensor that is part of a USB device has a time and phase corrected sampling clock that is referenced to a start-of-frame traffic signal with a preconfigured message indicating a time offset or delay seen upstream through a USB port. A plurality of similar devices are autonomously synchronized by the same message for multi-channel data acquisition by a locally generated trigger signal that allows a preset amount of delay set by the message. An accelerometer is a preferred sensor for such multi-channel data acquisition.

Transducers, particularly accelerometers, are used in multi-channel acquisition of test data. In the fields of mechanical machine monitoring, industrial measurement and control, structural monitoring, vehicular testing and monitoring, wind loading, collisions, construction, shock sensing, earth movement, position sensitive manufacturing and assembly, plus many other applications, all require measurement of proper acceleration, usually at multiple locations. Among the most sensitive accelerometers are piezoelectric sensors that are able to translate changing force, particularly impacts, and the resulting mechanical motion or vibration into electrical signals. Another type of accelerometer, perhaps less sensitive, usually manufactured as an integrated circuit, is the MEMS type that consists of a cantilevered beam moving in an enclosure. Two beams in different planes can report two-dimensional motion. The website http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Memsic2125 shows a chip accelerometer with a circuit that includes an analog to digital conversion circuit having two output data leads, X and Y reporting two dimensional accelerometer digital data to a circuit board associated with a computer for collection of serial data. The circuit arrangement, with the accompanying software programming, is suggestive of using a Universal Serial Bus.
The Universal Serial Bus, or USB, is an industry standard serial data communication interface between computers and peripheral devices. The standard does not specify the type of computers nor the peripheral devices, but is generally applicable to any. Since the invention of the standard over 15 years ago, data transfer rates contemplated by the standard have increased significantly, but the general theory of operation has remained the same. In USB communication, a controller in the host computer polls a bus for message traffic in serial format, including traffic from hubs. A USB hub is a device that expands a single USB port associated with a computer into many ports. Hubs can be stacked, one after another in geometric fashion resembling a tree, to gain a needed number of USB ports to a present maximum of 127 ports.
It is often desirable to transmit signals from sensors through USB ports and hubs. Analog signals of one or more sensors will usually go through certain pre-conditioning analog circuitry such as filters and amplifiers, and be converted into digital data by one or more A/D converters. The digital data from the A/D converter will be fed into a processor for further processing, display or storage through a USB port or hub.
When collecting transducer data in multiple channels using multiple USB ports, there is usually a need to synchronize the time of conversion of data for the A/D converters in order to compare and analyze the relationship between signals in each channel. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,412,975 P. Foster recognized the need for multi-channel USB data synchronization. A circuit was invented having a microcontroller for observing USB traffic and decoding from a USB data stream a periodic data structure, such as a clock carrier signal, containing information about a distributed clock frequency and phase. The circuit generated a software interrupt upon receipt of a predefined data packet, such as a start-of-frame (SOF) packet and for passing the software interrupt to the microcontroller. In turn, the microcontroller responds to the software interrupt by generating an output signal adapted to be used as a synchronization reference signal.
What is needed is an autonomous synchronizer for a transducer of accelerometer data that will allow simultaneous data conversion of multiple transducers sharing the same USB tree. The synchronizer must be accurate enough to assure that the multiple A/D converters convert the analog signals to corresponding digital signals simultaneously, particularly for shock and vibration data, but be sufficiently simple to allow integration with the transducer.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Autonomous, multi-channel USB data acquisition transducers


A cleaning disc cartridge capable of concurrently cleaning both a magnetic head of a magneto-optical disc apparatus and an optical lens thereof without causing any error in reading of a signal. A rotating disc is provided on one surface thereof opposite to a magnetic head of the apparatus with a head cleaning member and on the other surface thereof opposite to an objective lens of the apparatus with lens cleaning members. The rotating disc includes a disc body which is provided with an inventory region defined on an inner peripheral side of a lens cleaning member arrangement region, a reproduction-only region defined on an outer peripheral side of the lens cleaning member arrangement region, and an information recording and reproducing region outside the reproduction-only region.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cleaning disc cartridge adapted to remove, from a magnetic head, an optical lens or the like incorporated in an information receiving and reproducing system such as an optical disc apparatus, a magneto-optical disc apparatus or the like, any foreign matter or pollutant such as dust, shavings or the like adhered thereto to clean it and be effectively applicable to cleaning of both an information recording and reproducing apparatus and a reproduction-only apparatus exclusively used for reproduction of information, and more particularly to a cleaning disc cartridge for an optical disc apparatus or an optical-magnetic disc apparatus which includes both a lens cleaning member and a head cleaning member and is applicable to not only an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus including a magnetic head and a lens but an information reproducing apparatus exclusively used for the reproduction.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional cleaning disc cartridge includes a disc-like cleaning sheet formed into the same configuration as a conventional disc such as a magnetic disc or a magneto-optical disc. The cleaning sheet is rotated while being contacted with a magnetic head or a lens, to thereby clean it. The cleaning sheet used for cleaning the magnetic head comprises a disc coated with an abrasive or a water absorbing disc impregnated with a cleaning liquid. A foreign matter adhered to an optical lens incorporated in an optical information recording and reproducing system utilizing laser beams is removed by means of a cleaning disc having a brush provided on one surface thereof to keep the head or lens clean.
Unfortunately, cleaning of an objective lens for an optical pickup and a magnetic head incorporated in an information recording and reproducing system using a magneto-optical disc cartridge must be carried out separately using a cleaning disc member exclusively used for the lens and that a cleaning disc member exclusively used for the head, therefore, the cleaning is highly troublesome. In view of the problem, it would be considered to provide a disc with both a cleaning member for the lens and a cleaning member for the head to concurrently clean the lens and head. However, such arrangement of both cleaning members on the disc adversely affects an inventory region and an information recording and reproducing region defined on the disc to cause an error in reading of a signal. Also, such an approach only permits the cleaning disc to be applicable to an information recording and reproducing apparatus including an objective lens and a magnetic head but fails to permit it to be applicable to a reproduction-only apparatus exclusively used for reproduction of information which includes only an objective lens.
Also, there has been conventionally known a cleaning disc which includes a brush-like cleaning member made of fine fibers bundled and provided on a surface thereof opposite to a pickup lens, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 43386/1989. Also, a cleaning disc of another type is conventionally known in the art which includes a brush-like cleaning member made of a warp of a woven fabric or a weft thereof depending on a direction of mounting of the member on the cleaning disc. Further, a cleaning disc including a brush-like cleaning member formed of cotton, wool or the like embedded on a surface of the disc is likewise known in the art.
Unfortunately, the conventional cleaning discs described above each fail to exhibit satisfactory endurance because the cleaning member or brush readily falls or expands at a tip end thereof in all directions, leading to rapid deterioration in cleaning function. Also, such deformation of the brush is often judged to be abnormality occurring on a surface of the disc and causes fillings thereof to protrude into a region of the disc adjacent to a skip region thereof, leading to a failure in slip operation of a player.
Also, for the purpose of removing any foreign matter or pollutant such as dust or the like adhered to an optical lens incorporated in an information recording and reproducing system of the optical type, a lens cleaner is proposed which includes a disc and a brush provided on one surface of the disc for removing the foreign matter or pollutant. The lens cleaner for the optical disc player or apparatus is not adapted to be used while being received in a cartridge, therefore, it is not required to consider deformation of the brush. However, a cartridge-type lens cleaner wherein a disc mounted thereon with a brush made of nylon fibers is semipermanently housed in a cartridge shell causes the brush to be deformed, to thereby fail to remove a foreign matter or a pollutant such as dust, dew or the like adhered to the optical lens of the optical disc player, resulting in failing to exhibit a satisfactory cleaning function or causing optical performance of the optical disc player to deteriorated. It may be considered that the brush could be formed of a fiber material increased in elasticity or hardness, however, the fiber material substantially abrades an inner surface of a cartridge shell contacted therewith to cause production of white powder with the, resulting cleaning by the brush being highly deteriorated.
Further, a cleaning disc is conventionally proposed which includes a disc body and a cleaning member made of a nonwoven fabric material and applied to a surface of the disc body opposite to a magnetic head of an information recording and reproducing apparatus for cleaning the head, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 102013/1988. Alternatively, the cleaning member may be formed of an abrasive applied to the surface of the disc body, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 60424/1983. The former cleaning member made of a nonwoven fabric exhibits a favorable cleaning function with respect to a plane surface of the head but fails to satisfactorily clean a narrow recess on the head. Also, it fails to be evenly contacted with the head because the non-woven fabric has some roughness inherently formed thereon and causes an adhesive used for the nonwoven fabric to the disc body to be adhered to the head as well, leading to occurrence of an error during operation of the recording and reproducing apparatus. The latter cleaning member made of an abrasive is adapted to abrade the magnetic head, to thereby clean it. Unfortunately, abrasion of the head produces dust, which often leads to damage to the head. Also, when the latter cleaning member is arranged on the disc body which comprises a small-sized magneto-optical disc, the disc is operated in a magneto-optical disc apparatus while being contacted with not a magnetic head but a head holder. Unfortunately, this causes the abrasive of the cleaning member to abrade the head holder, resulting in abrasion of the magnetic head.
In general, a disc cartridge is transported, stored and sold while being kept in a casing. Such a casing conventionally used for this purpose is formed of a transparent material and includes a casing body of a rectangular shape in which a disc cartridge or a disc cassette is received and a cover of a rectangular shape openably or pivotally mounted on the casing body. Also, the conventional casing is provided therein with a plurality of support elements in a manner to be opposite to each other and elastically deformable, resulting in interposedly supporting the cartridge therebetween. A lens cleaner of the disc cartridge type, as described above, causes a disc provided with a brush to be semipermanently received in a cartridge shell, so that the brush is deformed to a degree that prohibits the removal of a foreign matter or pollutant adhered to the lens. In particular, as shown in FIG. 24, when a disc 100 mounted thereon with a brush 102 is held through support elements 104 in the casing 106 while being received in a cartridge shell 108 and kept facing down, a weight of the disc 100 causes the brush 102 to be pressed against an inner bottom surface of the cartridge shell 108, resulting in the brush 102 being subject to deformation such as bending, settling or the like. Thus, the conventional casing for the cleaning disc cartridge substantially fails to permit the cleaning disc to exhibit a satisfactory function as a magneto-optical disc widely and commonly used in an information recording and reproducing apparatus using laser beams.


This is a catheter assembly which may be used in accessing a tissue target within the body, typically a target which is accessible through the vascular system. Central to the invention is the use of a braided metallic reinforcing member, typically of a stainless steel or super-elastic alloy ribbon, situated within the catheter body in such a way to create a catheter section having a thin wall, controlled stiffness, and high resistance to kinking. The distal-most section of the catheter is much more flexible than are other braided catheters of the genre due to choice of braid construction features of that distal-most section. The distal-most braid, and optionally, intermediate braid components are constructed to be more flexible than the more proximal sections due to deletion of ribbons from the braid structure, change of ribbon material, and change of pitch. The various sections include braids which may have a consistent pitch or may vary in pitch along the axis of the catheter or catheter section. The braided ribbon reinforcing member typically is placed between a flexible outer tubing member and an inner tubing member to produce a catheter section which is very flexible but highly kink resistant. The more proximal sections of the catheter assembly are often substantially stiffer than the more distal sections also due to the presence of stiff polymeric tubing or composited materials in the stiffer section.

Catheters are increasingly used to access remote regions of the human body and, in doing so, delivering diagnostic or therapeutic agents to those sites. In particular, catheters which use the circulatory system as the pathway to these treatment sites are especially practical. Catheters are also used to access other regions of the body, e.g., genito-urinary regions, for a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic reasons. One such treatment of diseases of the circulatory system is via angioplasty (PCA). Such a procedure uses catheters having balloons on their distal tips. It is similarly common that those catheters are used to deliver a radio-opaque agent to the site in question prior to the PCA procedure to view the problem prior to treatment.
Often the target which one desires to access by catheter is within a soft tissue such as the liver or the brain. These are difficult sites to reach. The catheter must be introduced through a large artery such as those found in the groin or in the neck and then be passed through ever-narrower regions of the arterial system until the catheter reaches the selected site. Often such pathways will wind back upon themselves in a multi-looped path. These catheters are difficult to design and to utilize in that they must be fairly stiff at their proximal end so to allow the pushing and manipulation of the catheter as it progresses through the body, and yet must be sufficiently flexible at the distal end to allow passage of the catheter tip through the loops and increasingly smaller blood vessels mentioned above and yet at the same time not cause significant trauma to the blood vessel or to the surrounding tissue. Further details on the problems and an early, but yet effective, way of designing a catheter for such a traversal may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,768, to Engelson. These catheters are designed to be used with a guidewire. A guidewire is simply a wire, typically of very sophisticated design, which is the "scout" for the catheter. The catheter fits over and slides along the guidewire as it passes through the vasculature. Said another way, the guidewire is used to select the proper path through the vasculature with the urging of the attending physician and the catheter slides along behind once the proper path is established.
There are other ways of causing a catheter to proceed through the human vasculature to a selected site, but a guidewire-aided catheter is considered to be both quite quick and somewhat more accurate than the other procedures. One such alternative procedure is the use of a flow-directed catheter. These devices often have a small balloon situated on the distal end of the catheter which may be alternately deflated and inflated as the need to select a route for the catheter is encountered.
This invention is an adaptable one and may be used in a variety of catheter formats. The invention utilizes the concept of combining one or more polymeric tubes with a metallic braid comprising ribbons of a super-elastic alloy. The construction technique has the benefit of producing catheter sections having small overall diameters but with exceptional strength, resistance to kinking, and recovery from kinking (even in vivo) should such kinking occur. This catheter may be used in conjunction with a guidewire, but the catheter body may also be used as a flow-directed catheter with the attachment of a balloon or in combination with a specifically flexible tip, as is seen, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,205 to Zenzen et al., the entirety of which is incorporated by reference.
The use of braids in a catheter body is not a novel concept. Typical background patents are discussed below. However, none of these documents have used our concept to produce a catheter which has the physical capabilities of the catheter of this invention.

Soft-tip high performance braided catheter


Provided is an image pickup lens, in which the optical characteristic can be improved and, further, the productivity can be improved through increasing the telecentricity by keeping the distance between the exit pupil and the sensor and effectively correcting the coma aberration and the distortion aberration. A first lens which is a meniscus lens having a positive power with its convex face facing an object side, a diaphragm, and a second lens which is a lens having a positive power with a strong convex face facing an image pickup surface side are provided in order from the object side. The first lens and the second lens are to satisfy the condition represented by following expressions:4×f2≧f1≧f2  (1)1.5×f1≧f2≧0.9×f1  (2)where,                f1: focal length of the whole lens system        f1: focal length of the first lens        f2: focal length of the second lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup lens and particularly, to an image pickup lens comprising two lenses which can be reduced in size and weight while achieving a wider angle of view to be used for an image pickup device utilizing an image pickup element such as a CCD, a CMOS or the like to be mounted on a portable computer, a visual telephone, a cellular phone and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there is a remarkable development in the multimedia industry. For example, there has been an increasing demand for a camera utilizing an image pickup element such as a CCD, a CMOS or the like to be mounted on a portable computer, a visual telephone, a cellular phone and the like. Such camera needs to be mounted on a limited space. Thus, it is desirable that the camera be small in size and light in weight.
Accordingly, an image pickup lens used for such CCD camera is also required to be small and lightweight as well. Conventionally, the so-called one-lens system using a single lens is used as such image pickup lens.
The one-lens system can work sufficiently in the case where it is used for a solid image pickup element referred to as CIF with the resolution of approximately 110,000 pixels. Recently, however, a solid image pickup element referred to as VGA with a high resolution of approximately 300,000 pixels has been investigated for use. In order to sufficiently utilize the resolving power of the solid image pickup element with such high resolution, the conventional one-lens system is not sufficient.
Thus, conventionally, a variety of two-lens systems or three-lens systems, which are superior in regards to optical characteristic compared to the one-lens system, have been proposed.
By using the three-lens system, it is possible to effectively correct each aberration causing the deterioration of the optical characteristic. Therefore, an extremely high optical characteristic can be achieved. However, the three-lens system requires a large number of components. Thus, there raises problems that it is hard to reduce the size, and the manufacturing cost is increased since each component is required to be highly precise.
On the contrary, the two-lens system can achieve higher optical characteristic compared to the one-lens system even though it is not as high as that of the three-lens system. Thus, it can be considered as a small-sized and preferable lens system for a solid image pickup element with high resolution.
As the two-lens system, conventionally, a number of lens systems so-called retrofocus type in which a lens having a negative power and a lens having a positive power are combined have been proposed. With the retrofocus type lens system, it is possible to reduce the number of elements so that the cost can be decreased. However, it is practically impossible to reduce the size as small as that of the one-lens system due to such structure with the long back focus distance.
Further, as other two-lens system, there is a lens system so-called a telephoto type in which a lens having a positive power and a lens having a negative power are combined. However, the telephoto type lens system is originally developed for silver salt photographs so that the back focus distance is too short. Further, there is an issue of telecentricity. Thus, it is practically impossible to use it as the image pickup lens for the solid image pickup element.
Also, conventionally, a two-lens system in which two lenses having positive power are combined has been proposed. Examples of such optical systems are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-181379, No. 7-287164, No. 10-206725, and the like.
However, it is not possible to apply the conventional image pickup lens with two lenses in which two lenses having positive power are combined as it is for the solid image pickup element. The reason is that the lens systems disclosed in any of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application have been developed for silver salt photographs or optical systems such as a copying machine or fax machine. Therefore, the focal length is 20 mm or more, which is notably long. Also, it is an extremely dark lens system with F No. of 4.0 or more.


Water-based chemical indicator inks for ethylene oxide sterilization processes and methods for its use. The chemical indicator ink contains at least one pH indicator dye selected from the group consisting of Bromocresol green, Bromophenol blue, Methyl red, Ethyl orange, and combinations thereof. The pH indicator dye undergoes an irreversible color change when exposed to ethylene oxide vapor in the presence of low-temperature steam, but when exposed to other sterilization processes either does not undergo a color change or undergoes a color change that is different than is obtained when exposed to ethylene oxide.

The present invention relates to ethylene oxide sterilization process indicators and, more particularly, to chemical indicator inks that are designed to undergo an irreversible color change when exposed to ethylene oxide vapor in the presence of low-temperature steam, and to methods for indicating that an article has undergone ethylene oxide sterilization processing.
Biological and medical operations such as hospitals, medical laboratories and other allied health facilities, which often come in contact with microorganisms and other microbiological agents, employ a variety of technology to control both infection and contamination. While compositions such as germicides, antiseptics and bacteriostats are effective in controlling widespread growth of biological contaminants, they do not go as far as to completely eliminate these agents.
Since many of the materials and instruments that are used in modern hospitals must be kept sterile, but cannot withstand the heat and/or moisture encountered in a conventional steam sterilization process, there is a growing trend towards the use of an alkylating agent as the sterilization agent. The most popular sterilization alkylating agent presently employed is ethylene oxide gas, generally in an admixture with an inert gaseous diluant such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, tricloromonofluoromethane, dichlorodifluoromethane, and the like. Ethylene oxide gas can be used as a sporicidal and virucidal agent. Consequently, ethylene oxide sterilization processes are often employed to ensure total eradication of microorganisms.
Since ethylene oxide gas readily diffuses through all of the commonly employed packaging materials and is highly effective in killing microorganisms at temperatures well below those required for heat sterilization techniques, it enables efficient sterilization of many items, particularly those made of thermoplastic materials, which cannot withstand heat sterilization. The process generally involves placing an item in a chamber and subjecting it to ethylene oxide vapor. When used properly, ethylene oxide is not only lethal to all known microorganisms at ordinary temperature, but it is also non-corrosive, readily removed by aeration, easily handled and stored, and has a low toxicity to humans.
Known in the art are methods for indicating that an article has undergone ethylene oxide sterilization. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,998,306 and 3,098,751 teach methods employing water-based and solvent-based chemical indicators, respectively, which undergo an irreversible color change when placed in an ethylene oxide environment. However, the number of color changes available from these indicators is limited. Moreover, the organic solvents employed in some of these chemical indicators present an environmental hazard. Thus, there is a need for chemical indicator inks that exhibit additional color changes upon exposure to ethylene oxide vapor in the presence of low-temperature steam and do not contain high concentrations of volatile organic compounds.

Ethylene oxide sterilization process indicator inks


A vehicle is provided with a panoramic sunroof system. A movable roof panel operates to open and define a panoramic roof opening. In a panoramic open position, the roof panel overlaps at least half of the rear-view window. A split-line of a trunk is defined by the intersection of the roof panel and the trunk lid.

Vehicle roof assemblies are typically mounted on vehicle bodies to enclose interiors of the vehicles. Various types of roof assemblies have been employed. Some roof assemblies include sunroofs which include may be transparent and/or open to allow occupants to look out the roof the vehicle. Typically, sunroofs only cover a portion of the roof assembly. However, panoramic sunroofs, like those described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,922,242 or 7,828,373 may cover substantially the entire roof to allow passengers to look out almost the entire roof of the vehicle as well as adding aesthetic styling to the vehicle.


Embodiments provide systems and methods to optimize the time when to transmit a silencing frame, and hence, improve the overall network throughput and avoid access point transmission rate fall-back mechanism having an avalanche effect during coexistence of dissimilar wireless network technologies. A receiver comprises at least two dissimilar network technology subsystems, at least one subsystem of which is higher priority than at least another of the dissimilar subsystems. In some embodiments, a receiver is able to transmit a silencing frame during a predetermined transmission window within a lower priority technology network interval. In other embodiments, a receiver calculates a predetermined transmission window, the predetermined transmission window to occur within a lower priority technology network interval, and transmits a silencing frame during the predetermined transmission window. In further embodiments, a receiver is able to calculate a transmission window to occur during a lower priority technology network interval, and transmit a silencing frame during the calculated transmission window.

Next-generation mobile devices will be able to access a variety of network technologies including, for example, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks, long term evolution (LTE) mobile telephony networks, personal area networks (PANs), wireless universal serial bus (USB) networks or BLUETOOTH® (BT) technology networks, etc. The various applications have different transmission timing requirements in order to provide a needed quality of service (QoS). Quality of service refers to mechanisms for controlling resource reservation rather than the achieved service quality. QoS is the ability to provide different priority to different applications, users, or data flows, or to guarantee a certain level of performance to a data flow, e.g., guarantee a required bit rate, delay, jitter, packet dropping probably, bit error rate, etc. Quality of service guarantees are important, for example, if the network capacity is insufficient or limited, especially for real-time streaming multimedia applications such as voice over IP, online games and IP-TV, since these delay sensitive applications often require fixed bit rate.
The IEEE802.11 specification provides a quality of service control protocol that enables a service differentiation to be provided for packets. For example, voice and e-mail traffic require different quality of service levels to provide acceptable service quality. In particular, voice packets need to be delivered within strict delay bounds whereas e-mail packets are more delay tolerant.
While increased access to these technologies will benefit users and operators alike, interference among different technologies, particularly onboard a single device, introduces difficulties during concurrent operation of these technologies. For example, and as illustrated in FIG. 1, wireless local area network ("WLAN"; 2.4-2.5 GHz) and other technologies, such as Bluetooth ("BT"; 2.4-2.4835 GHz) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access ("WiMAX"; 2.3-2.4 GHz and 2.5-2.7 GHz), operate at relatively close and, in some cases, overlapping frequency bands with respect to each other—so close, in fact, that the out-of-band emission by either technology may saturate the receiver of the other technology resulting in potential blocking. Therefore, the interference between these two technologies operating in the same device creates challenges on the coexistence of the corresponding wireless interfaces of that device.
As a result, various solutions are needed to enable the competition for resources among the technologies onboard a single device to be less apparent and less inconvenient to users.

Systems and methods for time optimization for silencing wireless devices in coexistence networks


The present invention relates to a read-only disk containing sample data and a reproducing method thereof. According to the present invention full data is encrypted and recorded on a read-only disk with additional non-encrypted sample data, which is a part of the full data, and navigation data used for searching for the sample data is also recorded on the read-only disk. And, when the encrypted data on the read-only disk is requested to be reproduced the sample data found with reference to the navigation data is reproduced instead if there is not an authenticated decryption key Owing to the present invention, a user can confirm easily whether a read-only, disk has encrypted contents he or she wants, which will lead to purchase of its decryption key as a natural result.

In these days, it is expected that on-line multi-media contents selling methods will be widely used. In such on-line selling methods, moving-picture data or audio data are delivered to a buyer's recording medium such as a writable CD or DVD through a data network and are then played back from that recording medium.
The audio data to be provided via a network are called EMD (Electronic Music Distribution) audio data. EMD audio data are provided by a lot content providers. However, the content providers encode END audio data to mutually different formats and a different unique copy-protection keys, namely, encryption keys to EMD audio data as well to prevent unauthorized copy and to protect their copyright.
A decryption key adequate for downloaded EMD audio data must be obtained from a contents provider having provided the EMD audio data before playing the downloaded EMD audio data. The decryption key is used for decrypting EMD audio data encrypted with a corresponding copy-protection key.
Because it is nearly impossible to obtain an adequate decryption key without lawful approval, EMD audio data can be protected against unauthorized copy, thus its copyright can be protected well.
To enjoy such a data protecting advantage, high-quality moving-picture data and/or audio data will be encrypted in general to sell them to buyers through a network. In addition, because of such a data protecting advantage, on-line content selling methods are expected to be spread more and more.
However, as aforementioned, encrypted EMD audio data must require a copy-protection key, namely, a decryption key to be played back. Therefore, a user can not play with a disk device any piece of EMD audio data downloaded onto a writable recording medium before he or she purchases a decryption key. In other words, a user can not confirm at all whether the downloaded EMD audio data are what he or she wants or whether its audio quality is better or not than he or she expected. Consequently, a user hesitates to buy a play-authorizing key, namely, a decryption key for the downloaded EMD audio data.
In the meantime, when a user wants to buy his or her favorite digital song or music, he or she makes web-surfing on Internet to find a web site and then searches the web site for his or her favorite song or music. If found, he or she requests it to be downloaded to a recording medium. Theses procedures take much time and effort, which would impede spread of the on-line selling methods of digital contents.

Read-only recording medium containing sample data and reproducing method thereof


A fingerprint sensing system includes an image sensor, a rate sensor and a sensor circuit. The image sensor includes a linear array of capacitive sensors for capacitive sensing of ridge peaks and ridge valleys of a fingerprint on a swiped finger. The rate sensor senses the speed of the finger as it is swiped across the image sensor. The sensor circuit supplies image drive signals to the image sensor and detects image signals in response to the drive signals. The sensor circuit supplies rate drive signals to the rate sensor and detects rate signals in response to the rate drive signals. The sensor circuit further coordinates the image signals and the rate signals to provide a fingerprint image. The image sensor may be configured as an image pickup plate and multiple image drive plates formed on a substrate, such as a flexible printed circuit board or other flexible substrate which may conform to the shape of the finger.

Electronic fingerprint sensing has received increased attention as a technique for reliable identification of individuals. Electronic fingerprint sensing may be used in stationary equipment, such as security checkpoints, or in portable devices, such as mobile phones and other wireless devices, and smart cards. Accordingly, electronic fingerprint sensing systems are required to be compact, highly reliable and low in cost.
Electronic fingerprint sensing using optical methods is well established. A simple lens-based video camera system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,859 issued Jun. 25, 1985 to Bowles et al. More sophisticated units using holographic elements that project a corrected two-dimensional image onto a CCD imaging device are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,427 issued Apr. 28, 1992 to Yang.
More recently, electronic fingerprint sensors incorporating an array of electrodes to create a contour map of finger ridge capacitances have become popular. U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,056 issued Oct. 5, 1982 Tsikos discloses a sensor that has a two-dimensional row and column array of capacitors, each including a pair of spaced electrodes with sensing electronics, all overlaid with an insulating film. The sensor relies on the finger ridges to deform a pattern in the insulating film, thereby changing the underlying capacitance detected by the electrode array. This approach, however, requires extraordinary resiliency and durability in the polymer insulating film, which is difficult to achieve.
A more direct approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,442 issued Jun. 28, 1994 to Knapp, which discloses a two-dimensional electrode array that forms capacitors between each electrode on the substrate and a grounded finger that is placed in close proximity to the electrode. Thin film transistors located on an insulator are configured as switching elements to scan each row and column in the array. Additional circuitry measures the charging currents for each capacitor in the array as they are scanned, from which the individual capacitances are determined. These values are then used to create a two-dimensional capacitance map of the finger ridge patterns, which closely resembles the physical structure of the finger.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,355 issued Jan. 18, 2000 to Dickinson et al also proposes a two-dimensional matrix of electrodes on a substrate. The electrodes form an array of capacitors to a grounded finger in close proximity. This approach determines the amount of capacitance by placing a fixed voltage on each capacitor in the array and then measuring the time to discharge the capacitor with a constant current source in parallel.
All of the two-dimensional capacitive array approaches have disadvantages. First is the large number of transistor devices that are required to scan and measure the more than ten thousand capacitors in such an array at a 100 micron pitch. Even if the die area could be reduced by smaller device geometries, a large die size of at least 10 mm on a side is required to obtain sufficient contact area. Second is the problem of electrostatic discharge from a charged human body through the finger, breaking down the thin insulator that separates the finger from the sensitive electrodes and destroying the low voltage transistors that operate the array. A third problem is the risk of mechanical damage that is posed by direct physical contact of the finger to an exposed silicon die.
A fingerprint optical input apparatus including a contact image sensor for viewing a moving finger and providing an image is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,259,108 issued Jul. 10, 2001 to Antonelli et al. A linear sensor imaging method and apparatus for capturing an image of an object which moves, at an unknown variable or constant speed, past one or more linear sensor arrays is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,815 issued Dec. 14, 1999 Immega et al.
All of the known prior art electronic fingerprint sensing systems have had one or more disadvantages, including low reliability and high cost. Accordingly, there is a need for new and improved electronic fingerprint sensing systems and methods.

Swiped aperture capacitive fingerprint sensing systems and methods


In an integrated circuit a microwave signal is routed through a selected signal path. Routing is accomplished by switching to determine the signal path. Control signals are applied remotely. The microwave integrated circuit is programmable by virtue of the ability to command selection of a signal path. The signal path is chosen to include or avoid selected “RF functional elements,” i.e., components through which radio frequency signals may be routed. RF functional elements may include, for example, amplifiers, mixers, attenuators, and phase shifters. Aspects of programmability in the integrated circuit include the provision of the functional circuit elements for selectable connection in signal paths, the switching and interconnect technologies used to switch and connect between them, and the arrangement of the functional circuit elements in relationship to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present subject matter relates to a multifunctional microwave programmable integrated circuit or other semiconductor circuit for processing and translating microwave signals.
2. Background
Microwave processing circuits are now embodied in integrated circuits and circuit board devices. One application of growing importance is software defined radio (SDR). Among the many applications of SDR is in orbiting satellites. Space borne backend signal processors are limited by a priori system definition and RF hardware. Microwave circuits in orbit are not reconfigurable. Separate circuits must be provided for radar or communications functionality. Modulation bandwidths are essentially fixed. Different applications may utilize modulation bandwidths of anywhere from KHz to GHz. Another significant parameter is center frequency.
Deploying an apparatus with a wide range of capabilities may be expensive due to the need to use different systems to achieve different functionalities. Alternatively, providing a wide range of capabilities may simply be impossible due to space limitation, power constraints, or impracticality of isolating adjacent circuit boards from each other in a particular apparatus.
Since microwave devices are essentially dedicated, devices cannot be mass-produced to spread non-recurring costs but can be spread over a high number of devices as can be done with field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or Field Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAAs). Mass production keeps the per-unit cost and therefore the price, lower while allowing the user to configure the devices by field programming so that the needs and requirements of a particular application may be addressed. Additional benefits of field programmable IC include reconfigurability to allow the same IC as two different functions in a deployed circuit by reprogramming. Programmability aids in the development of circuits, when compared to fixed ICs, by allowing a shorter redesign cycle time. This occurs because the field programmable unit can usually be reprogrammed in very short time, such as milliseconds to an hour. Building a system on a chip integrated circuit (SOC IC) nominally takes weeks to months.
Field programmability exists at this time in ways that address some applications. With the advent of the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA), hardware reconfigurability has become an achievable goal in many digital and analog system designs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,302, "Configurable electric circuit having configurable logic elements and configurable interconnects," addresses the needs of digital functions and circuit applications. FPGAs take advantage of the fact that many digital logic functional circuits may be resolved into some combination of a limited set of logic gates (such as NAND and NOR gates), memory elements (such as flip-flops) and other digital circuit elements. Although FPGAs can be configured to perform many functions, they are limited in that the overhead required to provide the programmability, which is implemented by the "switches" contained within the IC or SOC, limits the signal and speed performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,487, "Special interconnect for configurable logic array," examines the types of switches used and the number of switches connected to each signal route that determines the extent and type of this limitation. Digital FPGAs available today such as Xilinx® static random access memory (SRAM) FPGAs, Actel anti-fuse FPGAs or Actel® flash/EEPROM FPGAs (as examples) use switch types, interconnect topologies and interconnect materials and structures which effectively limit these devices so that they cannot process and route signals with a frequency greater than 400 MHz. This is due to the delay time and nonlinearity of the switches themselves, the number of switches tied to each signal routing line, the signal loss in the routing and impedance mismatch between consecutive functional blocks, routing lines and switches. The switches employed by today's FPGA manufacturers are not suitable for processing signals in the range of 1 GHz to 100 GHz. Even if the logic element circuits themselves can be manufactured to perform operations on signals at these speeds, the configurable switching fabric still places an upper bound on the frequency of signals that can be routed between them to much lower than 1 GHz.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,070, entitled "Programmable analog array and method for configuring the same," addresses, to some extent, programmability in analog circuits. These too cannot process higher frequency signals. They cannot do so because the basic functional building blocks are not optimized for RF signal processing, the switches used have too much parasitic delay or signal distortion, the placing of functional blocks and routing methodology between them is not optimized or impedance matching is not performed between consecutive elements on the IC.
If a designer wishes to have the benefits of programmability for higher frequency signals, no reasonable solution exists. Equivalent circuits in the high RF, Microwave, and Millimeter-Wave frequency regime have not been developed. The primary challenge in providing programmability for higher speed signals, has been that impedance matching (between circuit elements or between switches) is paramount to achieving high performance. In order to provide correct matching, the required hardware and circuitry ends up being too large to be really used within such ICs. This, by definition, makes circuit hardware realizations physically large and fixed, and therefore not really appropriate for use within an IC. Furthermore, the signal switching and routing problem is magnified by the fact that interconnect circuits must maintain sufficient transmission line characteristics to avoid inter-component reflection problems, and most MMIC processes offer only limited interconnect layering capability.
Development of any new integrated circuit, whether it is intended for digital, analog, or radio frequency applications is an extremely capital-intensive process. It takes a great deal of time, money, and resources to take a concept through the entire design, development, pilot manufacturing and testing processes so that a final, stable, and manufacturable IC results. The nature of such design efforts normally results in an IC that is suited for a very particular situation or application. Its functionality is fixed and locked in at the earliest stages of the design process, and the IC is designed, manufactured and tested to meet that particular function or set of functions. This allows for a high number of these devices to be mass-produced and to eventually reduce the per-unit costs of the ICs down to a reasonable level. The economics of IC manufacturing are such that the non-recurring costs associated with the design and testing of the IC, and laying out of the various masks and tooling which are needed for the manufacturing of it, are very high compared to the per-unit costs associated with the production of each device. Therefore ICs tend to be manufactured with the intent of mass-production, so that the non-recurring costs may be amortized over the many individual units which are eventually made and sold. Additionally, IC designs are then manufactured using a fixed mask set, making the resulting IC also fixed.
The economic constraints within this IC design process result in two distinct phenomena when it comes to the realities of ICs manufacturing and availability: First, ICs are generally designed with some degree of a "widespread use" in mind. In this way, a high number of units may be manufactured and sold, allowing for the per-unit price to be set at reasonable levels (since there are so many units across which to spread the non-recurring costs). An IC that is designed for widespread use may not provide the required functionality for a particular application. Second, any application that might require the design and development of a more "application specific" IC, will have to bear the full burden of very high non-recurring costs across fewer units, causing the per-unit cost (and price) of each IC to be very high.
To resolve this dilemma, the configurable or "field programmable" device type has been developed. The concept of field programmability allows a more generic type of device to be designed and manufactured. This is done is by considering that most functions provided within a given IC (or SOC) are based upon separate "building blocks" or circuits (all on that given IC or SOC) that are then configured, interconnected and subsequently operate in a very particular manner. For example a given IC may be made up of hundreds, or thousands (or more) of separate small circuit elements, all of which are present on the IC, each configured and interconnected to provide the IC with its resultant manner of operation. On a conventional IC, the interconnection scheme is fixed and frozen as a part of the design and manufacturing process. In a field programmable device, this means of interconnection and configuration is not fixed, and to a great extent can be "programmed" using switches after the device is manufactured.
The IC is made with a set of discrete functional "building blocks" of circuitry within it, and these are configured so that their particular means of operation can still be set after the manufacturing is completed. Also, the interconnection of these circuits (again, all within the IC itself) is not fixed, but instead is designed so that the actual connections may (to some extent) also be "programmed" using the field programmable switch. In this way, an IC can be made with all of these building blocks available, and with various means of interconnection provided. After manufacturing, the end user (in the "field") can "program" the device through means of various electrical signals being applied to it so that the exact, resultant configuration of how the circuit elements within the IC operate, and how they are connected to each other, can be done according to the needs of the particular application.
This allows for devices such as this to be mass-produced so that the non-recurring costs can be spread over a high number of devices (which keeps the per-unit cost and therefore the price, lower) while allowing the user to configure the devices (by field programming) so that the needs and requirements of a particular application may be addressed. There are other additional, non-cost benefits of field programmable ICs, which include: reconfiguring the same IC as two different functions in a deployed circuit by reprogramming the IC during the application and aids in the development of circuits, when compared to fixed ICs, by allowing a shorter redesign cycle time. This occurs because the field programmable unit can simply be reprogrammed (normally in very short time, such as milliseconds to an hour) as compared to building an SOC IC (normally taking weeks to months).
Field programmability exists at this time in ways that address some applications. With the advent of the FPGA and FPAA, hardware reconfigurability has become an achievable goal in many digital and analog system designs. Development of an integrated circuit (IC) or system-on-a-chip (SOC) for processing signals in the radio frequency (RF), microwave, and millimeter-wave frequencies usually requires a design and manufacturing approach which warrants that each and every specific IC and SOC be developed with a very specific architecture and application in mind. The innovation described herein allows for the development of a device which can be used in such applications but which is configurable after manufacturing. In this manner, a device can be manufactured which has numerous functional blocks and capabilities built within, but yet whose exact configuration and interconnection of those functions and capabilities is not predetermined at the time of design and manufacture. The user(s) can program the device so that it operates and performs in the manner needed for any given application. Applications include: communication systems; radar systems; sensors; or any microwave subsystem that includes these standard functional components.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,302, "Configurable electric circuit having configurable logic elements and configurable interconnects," addresses the needs of digital functions and circuit applications. FPGAs take advantage of the fact that many digital logic functional circuits may be resolved into some combination of a limited set of logic gates (such as NAND and NOR gates), memory elements (such as flip-flops) and other digital circuit elements. Although FPGAs can be configured to perform many functions, they are limited in that the overhead required to provide the programmability, which is implemented by the "switches" contained within the IC or SOC, limits the signal and speed performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,487 demonstrates that the types of switches used and the number of switches connected to each signal route determines the extent and type of this limitation. Digital FPGAs available today such as Xilinx® static random access memory (SRAM) FPGAs, Actel® anti-fuse FPGAs or Actel flash/EEPROM FPGAs (as examples) use switch types, interconnect topologies and interconnect materials and structures which effectively limits these devices so that they cannot process and route signals with a frequency greater than 400 MHz. This is due to the delay time and nonlinearity of the switches themselves, the number of switches tied to each signal routing line, the signal loss in the routing and impedance mismatch between consecutive functional blocks, routing lines and switches. The switches employed by today's FPGA manufacturers are not suitable for processing signals in the range of 1 GHz to 100 GHz. Even if the logic element circuits themselves can be manufactured to perform operations on signals at these speeds, the configurable switching fabric still places an upper bound on the frequency of signals that can be routed between them to much lower than 1 GHz.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,070, "Programmable analog array and method for configuring the same," addresses, to some extent, programmability in analog circuits. These too cannot process higher frequency signals. They cannot do so because the basic functional building blocks are not optimized for RF signal processing, the switches used have too much parasitic delay or signal distortion, the placing of functional blocks and routing methodology between them is not optimized or impedance matching is not performed between consecutive elements on the IC.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,437 discloses a microwave circuit in which connections of certain elements may be changed. However, existing circuit paths may simply be turned on or off. There is no reconfigurability in the sense of creating signal paths that are new in comparison to a preexisting state. The degree of possible signal routing is limited.
If a designer wishes to have the benefits of programmability for higher frequency signals, no reasonable solution exists. Equivalent circuits in the high RF, Microwave, and Millimeter-Wave frequency regime have not been developed. The primary challenge in providing programmability for higher speed signals, has been that impedance matching (between circuit elements or between switches) is paramount to achieving high performance. In order to provide correct matching, the required hardware and circuitry ends up being too large to be really used within such ICs. This, by definition, makes circuit hardware realizations physically large and fixed, and therefore not really appropriate for use within an IC. Furthermore, the signal switching and routing problem is magnified by the fact that interconnect circuits must maintain sufficient transmission line characteristics to avoid inter-component reflection problems, and most MMIC processes offer only limited interconnect layering capability.

Programmable microwave integrated circuit


The present invention relates to a measurement of radio-frequency signals by a measurement arrangement comprising a radio-frequency lens for mapping a vertex of a reflector to a virtual vertex. Accordingly, measurement of radio-frequency signals may be performed either at the vertex of the reflector or the virtual vertex generated by means of the radio-frequency lens.

Although applicable in principal to any wireless measurement arrangement, the present invention and its underlying problem will be hereinafter described in combination with testing of wireless communication devices.
The use of wireless communication systems for communication between electronic device increases continually with the advance of high-speed wireless data communications.
During development or production of devices for such communication systems it is necessary to thoroughly test the devices for compliance with communication standards and legal regulations.
For this purpose, testing wireless communication devices may comprise analyzing the radio-frequency emissions of the wireless communication devices. In some cases, a communication device may not only emit wireless signals relating to one or more desired frequency or frequency range. Moreover, it may be possible that due to harmonics or any other reasons further unwanted radio-frequency emissions are emitted. Such unwanted radio-frequency emissions may be denoted as a spurious emissions. For example, spurious emissions are discussed in the recommendations for ITU-R SM.329-7.
For measuring spurious emissions when testing wireless devices, it might be desirable to perform a broadband measurement of spurious emissions and a narrow-band measurement of in-band signals of the wireless device.

Measurement arrangement and measurement method


A floral arrangement assembly for efficiently creating a customizable arrangement of flowers and vases. The floral arrangement assembly generally includes a base unit having a plurality of receptacles, a plurality of tubular members removably positioned within the plurality of receptacles, a plurality of vessels positioned within the plurality of tubular members, and a plurality of retainers for securing the plurality of vessels to the plurality of tubular members. The tubular members and vessels are retained in a substantially upright position. The vessels are adapted to receive and retain a plurality of decorative flowers. The assembly may also be used without the base unit in one embodiment or without the vessels and retainers in another embodiment. The tubular members may additionally hold a plurality of decorative objects below the vessels for added décor. Further, a light may be positioned below the tubular members within the base unit for illuminating the assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to flower vases and more specifically it relates to a floral arrangement assembly for efficiently creating a customizable arrangement of flowers and vases.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the related art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such related art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
It is well known that flowers are often cut along the stem and put within a decorative vase for everyday décor, birthdays, gifts, or other holidays and occasions. However, when arranging a plurality of bunches of flowers for purchase, the flowers often appear cluttered, non-memorable, or not as elegant as could otherwise be presented. Also, when displaying flowers, a centerpiece or vase for holding the flowers can often lack a feeling of elegance or beauty. Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved floral arrangement assembly for efficiently creating a customizable arrangement of flowers and vases.


A method and an apparatus are provided which make it possible, when testing chips arranged on a wafer, to be able to test optionally both additional components arranged on horizontal boundary lines and on vertical boundary lines. The additional components arranged on horizontal boundary lines are tested in a first position of the wafer. For testing the additional components arranged on vertical boundary lines, the wafer is rotated about its vertical axis through 90° relative to the first position into a second position. The apparatus comprises a housing and, in the housing, at least one test probe for making contact with an electronic component, a chuck for moving the wafer and a rotatably mounted additional plate operatively connected to the chuck.

The invention relates to a method for testing electronic components in a test apparatus (prober), and to a test apparatus for carrying out the method.
During the production of semiconductor components, firstly a multiplicity of chips are structured on a wafer composed of semiconductor material. Since the chips are generally rectangular, they are arranged in rows and columns on the wafer, such that the chips in each row and in each column have a common boundary line (also referred to as scribe lines or streets) with respect to each adjacent row and column, respectively. Before the chips of the wafer are singulated to form dies, they are subjected to various tests in a prober.
The singulation of the chips to form dies is effected either in a "dicing before grinding" process, in which on the wafer firstly scribing trenches are produced in a sawing process along the boundary lines of all the rows and columns of chips, the depth of said trenches being smaller than the thickness of the wafer, and then the remaining material of the wafer is ground away from the opposite side of the wafer to the scribing trenches, or in a "grinding before dicing" process, in which the wafer is firstly ground away from the passive side down to the desired thickness and then the wafer is sawn through along the boundary lines of all the rows and columns of chips.
In the arrangement of the chips on the wafer, the width of the sawing tool is taken into account, that is to say that the distance between two adjacent chips is chosen to be at least as large as the width of the sawing tool, since the wafer material removed in the sawing process is lost. In other words, the expression boundary line, as used hereinafter, denotes a material strip of finite width arranged between two adjacent chips.
It is known to structure additional components, for example transistors that are typical of the chips arranged on the wafer, on the lost material of the boundary lines and likewise to subject said components to specific tests in the course of the testing of the chips still arranged in the wafer assembly, for example in order to obtain statements about the process state for monitoring purposes. Further applications of the additional components relate to experiments with regard to further design possibilities (device characterization and modelling) and also reliability tests. Whereas in general only the horizontal boundary lines, that is to say the material strips situated between each two rows of chips, have been used hitherto for the additional components, the increased demand for information obtained at said additional components requires the vertical boundary lines, that is to say the material strips situated between each two columns of chips, also to be used as far as possible for the structuring of additional components.
If both the horizontal and the vertical boundary lines are used for the structuring of additional components, it must also be ensured that the additional components can be tested, that is to say that the additional components can be contact-connected by the test probes of a prober used for the testing. Within the prober, the wafer for carrying out the tests is deposited and fixed on a wafer holder, a so-called chuck. Such chucks usually have a drive that enables a translational movement of the wafer receptacle in all three spatial directions and rotational movement about the vertical axis, but the rotation is restricted to a few degrees.
Proceeding from this prior art it is an object of the present invention to specify a method and an apparatus which make it possible to be able to test optionally both the additional components arranged on horizontal boundary lines and the additional components arranged on vertical boundary lines.

Method and apparatus for testing electronic components within horizontal and vertical boundary lines of a wafer


An improved mechanism of vibration-type microphone, particularly relating to one that transmits voice signals by means of direct contact with the human body, comprising mainly of a buffer foam rubber, a microphone carrier, a capacitor microphone, a separating piece and an arc shaped vibration inducing plate that are accommodated in sequence in a main unit composed of a top cover and a bottom cover and connected with a fixing device, wherein at the center of the separating piece is a needle hole, at the center of the arc shaped vibration inducing plate is also a voice passage hole, with its edge inserted in the groove reserved between the top and bottom covers, and is clasped between the separating piece and the vibration membrane on the bottom cover, so the center part of the plate and the vibration membrane on the bottom cover form a minute bag shaped air chamber, so that when the subject invention is worn by a user and in contact with their flesh, and that when the vibration membrane takes up the voice frequency transmitted from the flesh, the arc shaped vibration inducing plate will reduce improper vibrations of voice frequency, meanwhile, the bag shaped air chamber will condense the air molecules that are transmitting the voice frequency, and allow them to pass through the voice passage hole on the arc shaped vibration inducing plate and the needle hole on the separating piece.

The subject invention relates to an improved mechanism of vibration type microphone, particularly to one comprising of a top cover, a buffer foam rubber, a microphone carrier, a capacitor microphone, a separating piece, an arc shaped vibration inducing plate and a bottom cover, whereby said mechanism will receive voice frequency by direct contact with human flesh. Its arc shaped vibration inducing plate will reduce and dampen voice frequency from improper vibrations, and condense the air's molecular energy to transmit the voice frequency, thus achieving the effects of upgrading voice fidelity and clearness.
Conventionally, a regular vibration type microphone involves a fixing device B (a buckle, a band, etc.) which is connected to the main unit A that is attached to a microphone and worn on the user's neck or head, whereby the main unit A is in direct contact with the flesh outside the user's vocal cords or in direct contact with the flesh outside the user's oral cavity, as illustrated in FIG. 1, to directly receive the voice frequency transmitted from the flesh vibration, and transmit the voice frequency vibration to the capacitor microphone in the main unit A. This then converts it into electrical signals. The structure of a conventional vibration type microphone is illustrated in FIG. 2, wherein there is the sequential arrangement of a microphone carrier C, a capacitor microphone D and a foam rubber E inside the main unit A, so when said vibration type microphone is worn on the user's body, the thin vibration membrane F on the bottom of the main unit A is in direct contact with human flesh. In this way, the voice frequency transmitted from the flesh vibration is taken up by the vibration membrane F, before it goes through the foam rubber E to the capacitor microphone D, to be converted into electrical signals. However, such a transmission involves a huge loss of voice energy and the voice tone becomes blurred, therefore, two methods have been adopted to improve a conventional vibration type microphone:
(1) Enhancement of the sensitivity of the capacitor microphone D, so it will receive more minute voice frequency vibrations, but since the microphone of such a model has a very high sensitivity, it will also receive some unwanted sound, such as the hollow sound of air molecules inside the main unit A, or even noise coming from outside. As a result, it lacks the feature of said vibration type microphone that is supposed to insulate outside noises. PA1 (2) Amplification of the received signals by means of an electronic amplifying circuit. However, such a model will also encounter the shortcoming of amplified noise as in the above model. Moreover, its production cost is quite high, its voice frequency is easily altered by the electronic circuit, and its tone control is unsatisfactory.
Meanwhile, the above two conventional models have two common shortcomings: (1) Failure to effectively inhibit the resonance inside the main unit A; (2) Too much change of voice frequency, too much difference as compared with the voice normally emitted from an oral cavity, so the user's voice is often distorted after it is transmitted to the electronic circuit, resulting in difficulty in identifying the speaker's voice. Furthermore, it will emit utterances similar to that emitted from a robot or a voice changer, so the transmission quality of the voice frequency needs to be improved.
In view of the above shortcomings of the conventional vibration type microphone, the subject inventor has conducted much research, based on abundant experience accumulated over several years in the R&D and production of related earphones, microphones and similar products, accompanied by repeated tests and amendments of actual production of samples, and has successfully developed the "improved mechanism of vibration type microphone" that will upgrade volume and voice quality, enhance the voice tone, clearness and fidelity, and effectively remove the shortcomings of conventional models.
To enable better understanding of the structural characteristics and performance, please refer to the following drawings and detailed description.


Disclosed herein are methods and systems that use magnetic complexes in wellbore monitoring. A well monitoring system may comprise magnetic complexes disposed in a subterranean formation, wherein the magnetic complexes each comprise a first magnetic portion, a second magnetic portion, and a spacer portion; and an electromagnetic interrogator, wherein the electromagnetic interrogator comprises an electromagnetic source and an electromagnetic detector.

Natural resources such as gas, oil, and water residing in a subterranean formation or zone may be recovered by drilling a wellbore into the subterranean formation while circulating a drilling fluid in the wellbore. After terminating the circulation of the drilling fluid, a string of pipe (e.g., casing) may be run in the wellbore. The drilling fluid may then be circulated downward through the interior of the pipe and upward through the annulus, which is located between the exterior of the pipe and the walls of the wellbore. Next, primary cementing may be performed whereby a cement slurry is placed in the annulus and permitted to set into a hard mass (i.e., sheath) to thereby attach the string of pipe to the walls of the wellbore and seal the annulus. The pipe may be perforated at certain points to allow the natural resources to flow from the formation into the well. If desired, the surrounding subterranean formation may be fractured to increase permeability and enhance flow from the formation. Secondary recovery techniques may also be used to increase production. An example of a secondary recovery technique may include water flooding in which water may be injected into a subterranean formation by way of a water injection well to displace hydrocarbons to a producing well.
At different periods in the life of the well, it may be desirable to monitor various parameters in situ. By way of example, it may be desirable to monitor flow of water in a water flood operation from the water injection well to the producing well. In cementing, it may be desirable to monitor cement curing, for example, to determine cement set time and reduce wait-on-cement time. Well cementing may also be monitored, for example, to determine the interface between the cement and other well fluids, such as the spacer fluid. In fracturing, it may also be desirable to map fracture dimensions. In situ monitoring may be performed by use of active, embedded sensors placed downhole. However, such embedded sensors can involve drawbacks that make them undesirable for use in a wellbore environment. For example, low-powered (e.g., nanowatt) electronic moisture sensors are available, but have inherent limitations when used downhole. For example, the highly alkali environment in well cement can damage their electronics, and they may be sensitive to electromagnetic noise. Additionally, power must be provided from an internal battery to activate the sensor and transmit data, which increases sensor size and decreases useful life of the sensor.

Chemical sensing using magnetic complexes


A computer system includes processor having dual execution cores and a non-volatile memory that stores an error recovery routine. The processor's execution cores operate in lock step when the processor is in a redundant execution mode, and they operate independently when the processor is in a split execution mode. The error recovery routine is invoked when the processor detects a soft error while operating in the redundant execution mode. The error recovery routine switches the processor to split execution mode. In split mode, each execution core saves uncorrupted processor state data to a designated memory location and updates any corrupted data with corresponding processor state data from the other execution core. The error recovery routine returns the processor to redundant mode, initializes each execution core with the recovered processor state data, and returns control of the processor to the program thread that was executing when the soft error was detected.

This Application is a Continuation of the prior application for "FIRMWARE MECHANISM FOR CORRECTING SOFT ERRORS" filed by Nhon Quach on Dec. 21, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,749 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/469,963).
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to microprocessors and, in particular, to microprocessors capable of operating in high-reliability modes.
2. Background
Soft errors arise when alpha particles or cosmic rays strike an integrated circuit and alter the charges stored on the voltage nodes of the circuit. If the charge alteration is sufficiently large, a voltage representing one logic state may be changed to a voltage representing a different logic state. For example, a voltage representing a logic true state may be altered to a voltage representing a logic false state, and any data that incorporates the logic state will be corrupted.
Soft error rates (SERs) for integrated circuits, such as microprocessors ("processors"), increase as semiconductor process technologies scale to smaller dimensions and lower operating voltages. Smaller process dimensions allow greater device densities to be achieved on the processor die. This increases the likelihood that an alpha particle or cosmic ray will strike one of the processor's voltage nodes. Lower operating voltages mean that smaller charge disruptions are sufficient to alter the logic state represented by the node voltages. Both trends point to higher SERs in the future. Soft errors may be corrected in a processor if they are detected before any corrupted results are used to update the processor's architectural state.
Processors frequently employ parity-based mechanisms to detect data corruption due to soft errors. A parity bit is associated with each block of data when it is stored. The bit is set to one or zero according to whether there is an odd or even number of ones in the data block. When the data block is read out of its storage location, the number of ones in the block is compared with the parity bit. A discrepancy between the values indicates that the data block has been corrupted. Agreement between the values indicates that either no corruption has occurred or two (or four . . . ) bits have been altered. Since the latter events have very low probabilities of occurrence, parity provides a reliable indication of whether data has been corrupted. Error correcting codes (ECCs) are parity-based mechanisms that track additional information for each data block. The additional information allows the corrupted bit(s) to be identified and corrected.
Parity/ECC mechanisms have been applied extensively to caches, memories, and similar data storage arrays. These structures have relatively high densities of data storing nodes and are susceptible to soft errors even at current device dimensions. Their localized array structures make it relatively easy to implement parity/ECC mechanisms. The remaining circuitry on a processor includes data paths, control logic, execution logic and registers ("execution core"). The varied structures of these circuits and their distribution over the processor die make it more difficult to apply parity/ECC mechanisms.
One approach to detecting soft errors in an execution core is to process instructions on duplicate execution cores and compare results determined by each on an instruction by instruction basis ("redundant execution"). For example, one computer system includes two separate processors that may be booted to run in either a symmetric multi-processing ("SMP") mode or a Functional Redundant Check ("FRC") mode. In SMP mode, instruction execution is distributed between the processors to provide higher overall performance than single processor systems. In FRC mode, one processor executes code normally and a second processor executes identical instructions on the same data that is provided to the first processor. If the second processor detects a discrepancy between its operations and those of the first processor, it signals an error. The operating mode can only be switched between SMP and FRC modes by resetting the computer system.
The dual processor approach is costly (in terms of silicon). In addition, the inter-processor signaling through which results are compared is too slow to detect corrupted data before it updates the processors' architectural states. Consequently, this approach is not suitable for correcting the detected soft errors.
Another computer system provides execution redundancy using dual execution cores on a single processor chip. The two execution cores operate in FRC mode, and ECC protected check point registers store information on intermediate states of the processor. When an error is detected in a code segment, the processor implements a micro-code routine to restore the processor to the last uncorrupted processor state, using the check point registers. Control is then returned to the code segment, beginning with the instruction(s) that encountered the error. The error recovery micro-code routine is stored on the processor chip, making it difficult to update or modify. In addition, routines sufficiently flexible to correct a broad range of errors tend to be relatively complex. Micro-code implementations of these routines occupy significant area on the processor die.
The present invention addresses these and other deficiencies of available high reliability computer systems.

Firmwave mechanism for correcting soft errors