An apparatus for supporting a human or animal body, while selectively cooling weight-bearing areas of the body in order to prevent or reduce damage from ischemia includes a cooling layer that is partitioned into a plurality of zones, and a surface disposed over the cooling layer to support the body. Each zone of the cooling layer is disposed for cooling a respective portion of the surface. Means are provided to selectively operate one or more zones of the plurality of the zones to cool a portion of the surface that receives pressure from a weight-bearing surface of the body being supported.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an apparatus for supporting at least a portion of a human or animal body with cooling localized at or focused on the weight-bearing areas of the portion. The localized, or focused, cooling reduces the risk of damage to the weight-bearing body areas of patients confined to beds or wheelchairs for long periods of time.
The application of pressure to the skin of a patient for a prolonged period of time has been known to cause pressure ulcers or pressure ulcers. The weight-bearing areas of the body surface are exposed to pressures that can easily exceed 100 mmHg (torr.). It has been shown that blood flow ceases in capillaries that are exposed to compressive pressures exceeding 25 torr. Therefore, the weight-bearing areas of the body surface and subcutaneous tissue can be expected to have inadequate blood flow or even a complete lack of blood flow during the time the weight is borne.
Normal cellular metabolism depends on adequate circulation of blood to deliver oxygen, nutrients and to remove waste products. Prolonged interference with the local circulation results in a two-part sequence of events, beginning with ischemia (a severe reduction of blood and oxygen supply to the tissues), and terminating in necrosis (irreversible death of the cells and tissues, resulting in sloughing).
People normally will shift their positions in a chair or get up and walk around to relieve the pressure on their buttocks. People normally will regularly roll over in bed while sleeping to periodically redistribute their weight to a different surface area. This movement is usually in response to pain or discomfort caused by the tissue ischemia of the weight-bearing skin, subcutaneous or deeper tissue. Bed-ridden or wheelchair-ridden patients or patients on operating tables may not be aware of the ischemic pain if they have brain or spinal cord injury, stroke injury, dementia, prolonged surgery under anesthesia, or prolonged sedation and mechanical ventilation. Alternatively, severe illness, neuro-muscular diseases or nervous system injury may prevent patients from moving even if they are aware of the ischemic pain.
The incidence of pressure ulcers in surgical patients varies from 12% to 66% in different studies. Surveys of general hospital patients indicate that 3-4.5% of all patients develop pressure ulcers during hospitalization. Pressure ulcers usually develop near regions of the body which have a bony prominence near the skin. More than 80% of all pressure ulcers occur at the following five locations:
1. Sacro-coccygeal region (high buttocks), supine position.
2. Greater trochanter (low hip), lateral recumbent position.
3. Ischial tuberosity (low buttocks), sitting position.
4. Tuberosity of the calcaneus (heel), supine position.
5. Lateral malleolus (outer ankle), lateral recumbent position.
Surgical and bed ridden patients are not the only patients susceptible to pressure ulcer development. For example, paralyzed patients spend much of their lifetime in a wheelchair. One study indicated that the incidence of pressure ulcers is 21.6% for paraplegics and 23.1% for quadriplegics.
Equipment for pressure ulcer prevention has focused in three areas:
1. Regular turning or movement of the patient to minimize the duration of time that pressure is applied to any give surface area The tissue is allowed time to re-perfuse during the period that the pressure is not applied.
2. Passive support surfaces (cushions, mattresses and pads of all kinds), which may utilize unique or special materials or shapes to minimize the pressure exerted against any given point of the body surface. Many types of materials have been tried including; different types of polymeric foam, polymeric gels, water and air filled bladders.
3. Active support surfaces such as a series of air filled bladders that alternately inflate and deflate to automatically redistribute the pressure.
Considering the high incidence of pressure ulcers despite the availability of these many passive support surfaces (various materials and shapes), it is clear that simply distributing the pressure to a larger surface area, in and of itself, will not effectively prevent pressure ulcers. Although active support surfaces have been used to prevent pressure ulcers, it is clear however that they are very expensive, cumbersome and noisy. Therefore active support surfaces are not likely to be used in the majority of pressure ulcer prevention situations.
Finally, aside from the obvious pain and health risk to the patient (having a chronic infection in a chronic open wound), pressure ulcers are extremely expensive and slow to heal. Healing the average pressure ulcer costs $30,000 to $40,000 and takes about 3 to 6 months. The high incidence of pressure ulcers, the lack of any proven method of preventing pressure ulcers and the extremely high cost of healing a pressure ulcer once it develops, clearly indicates a significant need for a new technology.
It is reasonable to assume that heat should be an important factor in the formation of pressure ulcers. All tissues increase their metabolic rates 7-10% for each 1xc2x0 C. increase in temperature. The increased metabolic rate increases the demand of the cells for oxygen a similar 7-10% for each 1xc2x0 C. increase in temperature. In a patient whose tissue perfusion is already compromised by external pressure or by vascular insufficiency, this increased metabolic demand for oxygen could increase the rate of tissue injury. We hypothesized that this increased metabolic demand was the cause of the frequent xe2x80x9cbumsxe2x80x9d observed after water mattress warming therapy during surgery, despite the relatively low temperatures (39xc2x0-42xc2x0 C.) of the mattresses. These low temperature injuries may result in full thickness skin damage which appears identical to third degree burns resulting from exposure of the skin to high temperatures. While the full thickness damage to the skin is identical to a high temperature thermal injury (xe2x80x9cburnxe2x80x9d), in reality the injury is caused by pressure necrosis which is accelerated due to the increased metabolic rate of the tissue. While this interrelationship between temperature, pressure and tissue ischemia is scientifically logical, it had never been proven prior to our recent experiments.
Further, it is known that hypothermia decreases the cellular metabolic rate and increases the tolerance of cells to periods of inadequate blood flow. This is the reason that patients are cooled during cardiac bypass. We therefore hypothesized that cooling the skin and subcutaneous tissue would effectively prolong the time to injury, in the face of the ischemia caused by an inadequate local blood flow resulting from pressure exerted against that tissue.
To test these hypotheses, we developed a porcine model to investigate pressure ulcer formation. Twelve metal discs were applied to the back of an anesthetized swine. The pressure on the skin under each disc was approximately 100 torr (totally occlusive to blood flow), for a 10 hour period of time. The temperature of the discs was carefully controlled at 25xc2x0 C., 35xc2x0 C., 40xc2x0 C. and 45xc2x0 C. Normal porcine temperature is 38xc2x0 C. (Normal human body temperature is 37xc2x0 C.) The severity of the resultant tissue injuries directly correlated with an increase in temperature. No tissue damage was found under the 25xc2x0 C. discs. Severe damage of the skin, subcutaneous and deep tissues was found under the 45xc2x0 C. discs. The 35xc2x0 and 40xc2x0 C. discs also caused severe damage, but intermediate to the extreme temperatures. The results of this experiment strongly indicate that both of our hypotheses were correct:
1. Even mild heat will accelerate the rate of tissue injury due to pressure induced ischemia
2. Mild cooling will protect tissue from injury due to pressure induced ischemia.
Water mattresses circulating cool or even cold water have been used for decades to cool febrile patients. However, experience shows that the application of cold to widespread surface areas of the body is both extremely uncomfortable and will cause hypothermia and shivering.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,702 discloses a seat structure that cools a portion of the human body that rests against the seat in response to the heat of the body, where the body engages the seat. In order to maximize the sensitivity of the cooler to body heat, the cooler is placed as near as possible to the surface of the seat contacted by the body.
The object of this invention is to provide an article such as a bed mattress, or a chair or wheelchair cushion having a surface for supporting at least a portion of a human or animal body (xe2x80x9cbody portionxe2x80x9d). According to this invention, specific areas of xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d pressure contact of the body portion between the surface and the skin of the body portion (greater than 20-25 torr.) are selectively cooled to remove heat from those specific areas.
In supine or sitting patients, metabolic heat generated by the ischemic tissue is trapped by insulating cushions and raises the tissue temperature. The metabolic heat cannot be internally removed because of the inadequate blood flow and cannot be externally removed because of the thermal insulation characteristics of the padded cushions or mattresses. The metabolism continues (anaerobically) despite the inadequate blood flow and the heat generated by this metabolism continues to accumulate. Our swine studies show that any warming of tissue is clearly harmful and cooling of the tissue below body temperature is beneficial in preventing pressure injury to tissue. Cooling below normal body temperature will be beneficial. Therefore this invention prevents the buildup of naturally generated metabolic body heat in the ischemic tissue. The adjacent body surface areas which are not experiencing high pressure will not be cooled. Because of the minimal blood flow in the areas of high pressure, the cooling effect will be substantially isolated to those tissues and not cause total body hypothermia or discomfort.
Our invention is based upon the critical observation that those areas of the body that are subject to the greatest risk of ischemia in bearing the weight of the body may have cooling selectively applied by an apparatus that is sub-divided or partitioned to into zones, with each zone capable of applying cooling to a weight-bearing surface. According to an optional element, such cooling may be provided by manual selection, or automatically, in response to the pressure exerted on a support surface by a human or animal body. Those areas of the body which exert the greatest pressure against the surface (the weight-bearing areas) are identified either by sight or by measurement of the pressure, and the portions of the surface contacted by the weight-bearing areas are cooled by activation of one or more contiguous cooling zones. The cooling applied to a support surface portion also cools a weight-bearing area that applies pressure to the portion.
The zones can be selected manually by the caregiver. Optionally a pressure sensing means can be provided to sense the contact pressure between the support surface and the skin of the body being supported. When a threshold contact pressure is surpassed, the sensing means activates a means which automatically initiates cooling by way of one or more zones adjacent to portions of the surface where weight-bearing areas are supported.
With greater specificity, our invention is an apparatus that localizes cooling applied to a supported human or animal body by selectively activating cooling zones disposed in alignment with those areas of the body bearing the body""s weight.

Support apparatus with a plurality of thermal zones providing localized cooling


A power generating system wherein a variable speed turbine is mounted on top of a tower or tethered underwater. The reactive component of turbine generated electrical power is corrected automatically through electronic switched power-factor capacitor banks that are divided into sub-system modules coupled to a central turbine park sub-station. The sub-system modules are of a fixed size and are easily adaptable to different turbine generator types, sizes and groupings. By employing SCR switched power factor capacitors grouped in sub-system modules of fixed size, coupled to a central turbine park sub-station, the converter allows fast, real time control of the utility interconnected power line voltage or power factor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electric power-generating devices, such as wind turbines and ocean current turbines, and more particularly to an apparatus for correcting the reactive component of wind or water generated electrical power through electronic switched capacitor banks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wind power and tidal action in the oceans produce mechanical energy that can be captured to make electricity. Because wind and ocean energy is abundant and non-polluting, and are renewable energy sources, efforts are underway to make both wind and ocean energy economically competitive with fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Wind turbines are arrayed on land in rows where wind currents are steady, called wind farms. Tidal turbines are similar to wind turbines and would be arrayed underwater in rows, called tidal turbine farms.
Wind turbines and tidal turbines, when operating with standard induction generators, achieve output power with a lagging current with reference to the voltage. Those wind and tidal turbines with output corrected to unity will also have a lagging current with reference to the voltage at the sub-station or distribution collection point within the wind farm or tidal turbine farm. A load that tends to cause the current to become out of phase with the voltage is called a reactive load. Reactive loads are measured in Volt-Ampere Reactive units (VARs). When the current and voltage are exactly in phase this is called a unity power factor. In order to provide a power factor of unity to a utility power grid, compensation must be provided to pull the current back in phase with the voltage. This compensation must have an ability to select the number of VARs necessary to precisely compensate for the VARs introduced by the turbines and thereby bring the current and voltage in phase. The mathematical relationships between reactive power, apparent power and real power are shown by the following formulas:Apparent Power=Volts×AmperesTrue Power=Volts×Amperes×the cosine of the phase angle between volts and amps.Reactive Power=Volts×Amperes×the sine of the phase angle between volts and amps.
The relationships between apparent, true and reactive power are represented by a standard trigonometric function in FIG. 5.
Utilities and power producers have employed various methods of reactive power compensation for decades. These include correction through the generator at the generation source; correction through the use of synchronous condensers; correction through the use of contactor-switched capacitors; correction through Static VAR Compensators (SVC's); and correction through Static Synchronous Compensators (STATCOMS). These five methods are described below.
Correction Through the Generator at the Generation Source
Through their field exciters, synchronous generators have the ability to provide reactive power. Both automatic and manual controls are available to employ this reactive component to regulate line voltage, provide a fixed power factor or provide a fixed VAR (volt-ampere reactive) load for the distribution grid.
Induction generators, rectified synchronous generators and rectified permanent magnet generators employing solid state power electronics can also provide reactive power for line compensation.
When synchronous generators are corrected through their exciter, or when power electronics are employed with induction generators, the generators themselves must be capable of providing reactive power. This becomes a capital expense as the cost of the generator increases due to the increase in current requirements for the reactive load. Solid state power electronics costs also increase as the reactive load increases.
The response speed of these systems can be quite fast, on the order of ten's of milliseconds. They also offer excellent short-term capacity to help provide stability to the power distribution system.
Correction Through the Use of Synchronous Condensers
All synchronous machines (both motors and generators) are capable of generating reactive power. A synchronous condenser is simply a synchronous motor with its exciter tied to a control system to provide reactive power for a distribution grid. These are often modeled as generators with no prime mover, powered by the grid. As a motor they require real power or about 3% of the machines reactive-power rating. Therefore they are relatively inefficient, have a high capital cost and are expensive to operate and maintain. Despite these drawbacks, they are quite effective in maintaining line stability. Prior to the days of solid state power electronics they were quite popular as a means of reactive compensation for utility grids.
Correction Via Contactor-Switched Capacitors
A common method of reactive support is through mechanical contactor-switched capacitor banks. These are used on many wind farm applications where induction generators are used. Because the induction generator absorbs reactive power, the line voltage will drop as the output power from the wind farm increases (due to wind). Since capacitors generate reactive power without significant real-power losses or operating expense, they are attractive as compensation for induction generator systems.
Capacitor banks are usually stages in steps allowing for line voltage control as the power output of the wind farm changes. The use of contactors limits the switching times to no more then once per cycle, while the capacitors are limited in their re-connection capability due to requirements for discharge prior to re-connection. Contactor-switched capacitor banks are therefore quite slow in response to line voltage changes.
Non-wind farm applications employ both capacitors and inductors (called reactors) to allow for both absorption and generators of reactive power at the utility distribution level.
Capacitor banks do not have the ability to provide short-term generator support during fault or low line voltage conditions. They are also relatively expensive since most are designed for operation at medium and high voltage distribution levels.
Correction Through Static VAR Compensators (SVC's)
A Static VAR (volt-ampere reactive) Compensator or SVC is the name given to the combination of conventional capacitors and inductors with a fast solid state switch. Such systems can provide an automatic means of fast reactive support and line voltage control.
Passive Reactive components do not have the ability to provide short-term generation support during fault or low line voltage situations. They are also expensive since most are designed for operation at medium and high voltages distribution levels.
Correction Through Static Synchronous Compensators (STATCOMS)
The advent of fast, transistor based, power conversion electronics has allowed for the development of a system that synthesizes the reactive nature of both inductors and capacitors. These systems normally employ Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) inverters with DC links that allow not only power factor control but also short-term generation and substantial fault ride-through capability.
Like the SVC, these systems can provide very fast and effective distribution line voltage control. Like the SVC they are also relatively expensive.
In wind farm or tidal turbine farm applications wherein the turbine generators operate at a power factor of unity or less and do not have a method of power factor correction at the generator, there is a drop in the distribution line voltage as the power output of the farm increases due to increased wind speed or water current. Even in those turbines whose full power output is corrected to a unity power factor, a line voltage drop still occurs due to the impedance of the collector system transformers.
What is needed is a fast, real time control of the utility interconnected power line voltage or power factor in wind or water turbine applications where the turbine generators operate at a power factor of unity or less and do not have a method of power factor correction at the generator.
It is also desirable to provide a modular control system that is adaptable to different wind or water turbine generator types, sizes and groupings.

Distributed static var compensation (DSVC) system for wind and water turbine applications


A method of processing an image signal comprising image and depth information is provided. The method is configured to perform segmentation on an image based on depth/disparity information present in the image signal comprising said image, and subsequently inpaint background for correction of the errors in the image around the foreground objects into a region that extends beyond the segment boundary of the foreground object and/or inpaint foreground for correction of errors in the image into a region that extends inside the segment boundary of the foreground object. In this way compression and other artifacts may be reduced.

Inpainting is the process of reconstructing lost or deteriorated parts of images and videos. For instance, in the case of a valuable painting, this task would be carried out by a skilled image restoration artist. In the digital world, inpainting, also known as image interpolation or video interpolation, refers to the application of sophisticated algorithms to recover lost or corrupted parts of the image data.
Creating depth by annotation-and-propagation is the process of drawing a depth map for one image frame in an image sequence, i.e. annotating it, and then utilizing software tracking of the annotated objects to propagate the depth to the next/previous frames in the image sequence. This is a known method of semi-automated depth creation. Estimated depth information, independently of its source, is typically plagued with problems such as real object boundary misalignment.
FIG. 1a illustrates an image comprising an object, in which the depth misalignment with objects is noticeable as indicated by the bright areas protruding at the top and bottom beyond the dark area. FIG. 1a shows the depth component overlaid over luminance. This depth misalignment is due to the fact that a small portion of the foreground object is incorrectly considered background. Generally misalignment occurs between at least two signals/data, such as depth component and video data.
When compressing 2.5D videos utilizing commonly known lossy video compression schemes, artifacts surrounding objects are introduced. 2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) is an informal term used to describe a representation where a 2D image is accompanied by a depth map, which indicates the depth of each element in the 2D image.
Some artifacts caused by video compression are mosquito noise, Gibbs effect and overshoot/undershoot artifacts. FIG. 1b illustrates that halos are created around objects utilizing such lossy video compression schemes. This may occur both in 2D images or 2D videos.
The above-mentioned artifacts will generally result in noticeably decreased image quality, but they will also interfere with any subsequent video processing task, such as multi-view rendering from such a 2.5D representation.
Hence an improved method, processing unit, and computer program product allowing for removal of artifacts around objects caused by video compression, and/or correction of image data, which is misaligned with reference to depth maps when a small portion of the foreground object is incorrectly considered as background would be advantageous.

Use of inpainting techniques for image correction


One embodiment of the present invention provides a method and a system that facilitates structural coverage of a design during a design verification process. During operation, the system receives a hardware description of the design, which contains one or more module instances and a set of structural coverage targets for a set of structures in the design. The system then extracts a control flow, the set of structural coverage targets, and a set of structural coverage metrics for the hardware description, and creates a shadow module with the same control flow as the hardware description. This shadow module contains a set of parallel structures that correspond to the set of structural coverage targets in the control flow of the hardware description and serve as targets for formal methods used to analyze the design. The system also generates a set of cross-module references to link the set of parallel structures in the shadow module with signals from the set of structures in the hardware description. The system then applies a formal verification tool to the design, including the shadow module and the cross-module references in an attempt to achieve the desired structural coverage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the process of verifying a hardware design to ensure that it operates correctly. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for facilitating structural coverage of a design during a design verification process.
2. Related Art
Verification techniques which are presently used to ensure the functional correctness of integrated circuits do not scale with the complexity of circuit designs. For instance, because of the non-linear nature of state machines, increasing the complexity of a design can lead to an exponential increase in the verification complexity. For example, each additional state element in a state machine doubles the size of the state-space to be verified. However, despite increasing verification complexity, design correctness still must be verified to ensure that designs operate correctly.
Design verification techniques attempt to determine whether a design-under-test (DUT) will operate correctly. In particular, commonly-used assertion-based verification techniques operate by sprinkling "monitoring points," or "assertions," throughout the design description in the hope of detecting violations during design simulation. While designers can build assertions and test cases to cover every aspect of the design, this manual process is extremely time-consuming.
To reduce the amount of human time involved in the verification process, many simulation tools attempt to use random input patterns to achieve a target "coverage" for a design. For instance, achieving the target coverage can involve executing a certain percentage of the statements, branch conditions, and/or execution paths in the design. Designers seek to attain "coverage convergence," or a reasonable level of certainty that an acceptable subset of the design has been tested. To minimize the cost of achieving coverage convergence, "formal tools" that incorporate mathematically-based techniques are often used to automatically explore the state space in a formal manner.
While existing assertion-based verification techniques partially automate the verification process, they do so by modifying the hardware description to include assertions, which may cause design changes and/or pollution. Furthermore, while an assertion violation proves that the design is not correct, proving design correctness is intractable, and there is no way to determine a "reasonable" testing timeframe that will flush out most of the design bugs. An additional limitation is that current coverage techniques are implemented using simulation techniques that do not leverage the formal verification techniques typically employed for model checking.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for verifying a design that achieves high levels of structural coverage of the design without the above-described problems.

Facilitating structural coverage of a design during design verification


A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal (LC) panel; front and rear frames sandwiching therebetween the LC panel; a latch structure engaging together the LC panel and one of the front and rear frames. The latch structure includes a convex portion formed on one of the LC panel and the one of the front and rear panels and a concave portion formed on the other of the LC panel and the one of the front and rear frames to receive therein the convex portion, whereby the latch structure allows and restricts movement of the LC panel with respect to the one of the front and rear frames in a first direction normal to the LC panel and in a second direction parallel to the LC panel, respectively.

An LCD device includes an LC panel, a backlight unit that irradiates the LC panel from the rear side, and front and rear frames that sandwich therebetween the LC panel. The rear frame supports the backlight unit and may be referred to as backlight chassis. The front frame is disposed in front of the LC panel, and supports the LC panel between the same and the rear frame.
In the LCD device, there is a risk that dust enters through a gap between the LC panel and the front and rear frames to degrade the image quality of the LCD device. Thus, it is needed to provide a structure that prevents the ingress of dust into the LCD device.
Patent Publication-1 describes an LCD device including the structure for preventing the ingress of dust, wherein an elastic spacer is sandwiched between the LC panel and the rear frame. The spacer is made of a soft, elastic urethane foam etc., and has a front surface in contact with the LC panel and a rear surface in contact with the rear frame.
Patent Publication-2 describes an LCD device including an elastic body that supports the LC panel at the rear side thereof. The elastic body has a pointed top that contacts the LC panel, and deforms due to the weight of the LC panel to thereby clog the gap between the LC panel and the elastic body by the repulsive force thereof.
Patent Publication-3 describes an LCD device that includes an elastic member disposed between the LC panel and a mold body configuring the backlight unit. The elastic member has a rear surface attached onto the backlight unit and a front surface in contact with the LC panel at any time, thereby preventing generation of a gap between the LC panel and the elastic member.
Patent Publication-4 describes an LCD device that includes a groove formed on the rear frame and a spacer received in the groove. The spacer is an elastic member of a ring shape or annular shape and supports the LC panel. The spacer is deformed due to the weight of the LC panel to clog the gap between the LC panel and the elastic member rear frame by the repulsive force thereof.
Patent Publication-5 describes an LCD device that includes a groove on the rear frame and a ring-shaped elastic body received in the groove. The elastic body clogs the gap between the LC panel and the rear frame, and at the same time reduces a shock or vibration transferred to the LC panel.
Patent Publication-6 describes an LCD device that includes an LC panel including top and bottom substrates and a spacer for fixing together the front frame having a narrow width and the LC panel. The spacer is fixed onto the front frame or a marginal space of the bottom substrate that protrudes from the top substrate.
The Patent Publications as recited above include:
Patent Publication-1—JP-2000-19529A;
Patent Publication-2—JP-2005-91971A;
Patent Publication-3—JP-2005-275103A;
Patent Publication-4—JP-1998-206828A;
Patent Publication-5—JP-1997-22000A; and
Patent Publication-6—JP-1999-305206A.
The following is the analysis performed by the present inventor before accomplishment of the present invention. There is no recitation in Patent Publication-1 as to whether or not the elastic body disposed between the LC panel and the rear frame in the LCD device is fixed onto either of the LC panel and rear frame. In this case, if the elastic body is not fixed onto at least one of the LC panel and rear frame, the LCD device is liable to the ingress of dust after the LC panel moves in the direction normal to the LC panel, i.e., screen. On the other hand, if the elastic body is fixed onto both LC panel and rear frame, a stress acting on the LC panel and/or rear frame due to a strain or deformation cannot be relieved, thereby possibly causing the LC panel to generate disturbance of light distribution and have a reduced image quality.
In the LCD devices described in Patent Publications-2 to -4, the elastic body is deformed to contact the LC panel due to the repulsion force of the elastic body. This causes acting of a shock or vibration onto the LCD device, and if the LC panel moves in the direction normal to the screen, a gap is momentarily formed between the elastic body and the LC panel, thereby causing the ingress of dust. Moreover, a distortion of parts during assembly of the parts or a deformation of the parts due to a heat stress, if arises, will also cause the occurrence of a gap between the elastic body and the LC panel. Furthermore, a particular shape of the elastic body for preventing the ingress of dust, if employed as in the LCD device described in Patent Publication-2, will reduce the elasticity or flexibility of the elastic body due to the time degradation, to deform the pointed shape of the elastic body and possibly degrade the dimensional accuracy. In this case, a clearance between the parts may be changed to generate the gap, thereby degrading the performance of preventing the ingress of dust.
Furthermore, the range of variation in the dimensional accuracy of the parts as well as the distortion occurring during assembly of the parts may reduce the clearance between the rear frame and the LC panel or may increase the thickness of the elastic body itself, thereby increasing the load acting on the LC panel from the elastic body. In such a case, the LC panel may generate a disturbance of light distribution to degrade the image quality thereof. Although Patent Publication-4 recites that the spacer is disposed within the groove formed on the rear frame, this groove only assists assembly of the ring-shaped spacer to facilitate assembly of the LCD device.
Although Patent Publication-5 describes a groove formed on the rear frame, it is not disclosed that a shock or vibration is applied onto the LCD device, and that a momentary gap occurs between the LC panel and the elastic body.
The LCD device described in Patent Publication-6 uses the spacer for fixing together the front frame having a narrow width and the LC panel. However, prevention of the ingress of dust onto the front surface or rear surface of the LC panel is not disclosed in this publication. This means the dust will enter the LCD device across the surface of the spacer that is not fixed by adhesive.


Rapid internal cooling of shape memory effect material actuators during cooling portion of thermal cycle by means of embedded micro-heat pipes enables one, two and three dimensional actuators comprised of composite structures with rapid response times. Structures are able to operate in high-temperature environments, have low thermal hysteresis, have improved positional control for robotics applications and enable large scale shape memory effect material actuators with rapid response characteristics.

Thermal actuators are devices that convert thermal energy into mechanical energy by sensing changes in temperature and reacting to these changes by exerting a force or bending moment. This invention relates to the cooling of certain materials termed shape memory effect (SME) materials which are able to remember a previous shape and thereby operate as thermal actuators to generate force or motion.
"Shape memory effect" (SME) is a term that describes the ability of some materials which when deformed relatively easily below a first temperature are able to recover their original shape, while exerting substantial stress, when subsequently heated above a second higher temperature. This property is associated with the appearance and disappearance of a particular crystal structure within the material termed martensite. Martensite is generated by cooling the shape memory effect material below the martensitic finish temperature M.sub.f where it is all martensite. The shape memory effect material is all austenite above the austenitic finish temperature A.sub.f. When deformed while below the martensitic finish temperature and then heated to above the austenitic temperature, the alloy returns to its shape existing before the deformation. This invention is concerned with rapidly cooling actuators fabricated from shape memory effect materials during the cooling portion of the thermal/mechanical cycle, that is, when the actuator is returned from the austenitic state to the martensitic state.
In summary the shape memory effect means that after deforming the shape memory effect material below a first temperature M.sub.f where its structure is martensite, the shape memory material will exert substantial force in recovering, fully or partially, its original shape on subsequent heating over a second higher temperature.
Many metals, plastics and ceramics are known to exhibit the shape memory effect. The extensive list of metal alloys include the copper alloy systems of Cu--Zn, Cu--Al, Cu--Au, Cu--Sn and the many ternary alloys formed from these binary alloy systems by adding a third element. Among others, the alloys of Au--Cd, Ni--Al, Fe--Pt, Ti--Pd, In--Tl, Fe--Pd, Mn--Cu and their ternary alloys, exhibit the shape memory effect. A shape memory effect alloy with exceptional properties is a nickel-titanium alloy known as Nitinol, which is based on equiatomic weights of Ti and Ni. There is also an extensive list of ternary alloys based upon adding a third element to the nickel-titanium binary system. Ni--Ti alloys are able to completely recover from two percent to as high as ten percent of plastic strain, depending on desired fatigue life, by heating above the austenitic finish temperature A.sub.f while yielding forces and/or moments based upon the creation of internal stresses on the order of 100,000 psi.
The use of thermal actuators offers several advantages including high force levels, large movements, small size, multiple actuation modes (linear, bending, torsion and combined), high work performance per unit volume and per unit weight and motion completed in a narrow temperature range. This invention anticipates all of these advantages from an internally cooled shape memory effect material micro-actuator.
The shape memory effect alloys cited above and the multiplicity of additional materials are per se known for their shape memory effect and are included under the scope and spirit of this invention.
The shape memory effect has been applied to a wide variety of applications, many of which make use of its shape recovery mechanism for actuation purposes. Actuators can take many configurations, including but not limited to tensile, cantilever, torsional, helical or combinations thereof.
As an example of SME material actuator operation, typical tensile and cantilever actuators employ a SME material member and a return bias spring mechanically connected in some manner to the SME material device. When such a SME material device is heated, by Joule heating or some other means, the SME material member contracts to perform a work function. The bias spring returns the actuator to its original position after cooling. This invention anticipates this by incorporating the bias spring as an integral part of the microactuator as the resilient component of a composite material in mechanical communication with the shape memory material component.
A second type of actuator, called a differential type, uses two SME material actuators connected in mechanical series whereby heating of one actuator shrinks the combined apparatus in one direction while heating of the second actuator shrinks the apparatus in the opposing direction.
The above embodiments are the uni-directional mode of operation of the SME material actuator wherein the shape memory effect appears only upon heating. The present invention is not limited to this type but is also envisaged to include the bi-directional type wherein the SME material is trained to operate in one, two or three dimensional directions without aid of biasing members. Such training techniques are known in the shape memory effect materials art.
Joule heating, that is passing an electrical current through the SME material member, is the preferred heating choice because Joule heating is relatively uniform throughout the member cross-section. This type of heating causes a rapid temperature rise and therefore a rapid transformation between the martensitic and austenitic crystal forms. This results in a rapid and accurate actuator response. However, this invention envisages other methods of heating including, but not limited to, heating by radiation, conduction or convection.
Current methods of external cooling of a SME material actuator are much slower because heat from the center of the actuator cross-section must diffuse to the surface. This is a relatively slow process. This process is in series with a second mechanism to remove the heat from the surface to the surroundings which has a small heat transfer coefficient at the low temperatures at which SME materials operate. The rate of cooling is limited by the ratio of surface area, as measured by the perimeter of the cross-section, to the volume, as measured by the area of the cross-section of the actuator. This ratio of surface to volume decreases inversely as the diameter of the actuator increases, meaning that the larger the actuator diameter the slower it cools and therefore the slower is the actuator's response. This is exacerbated by the martensitic transformation being diffusion less and progressing so fast that it is essentially adiabatic. Thus the heat of transformation adds to the heat load that must be removed from the center of the actuator through the surface. All of these and other factors combine to limit the rate of cooling of shape memory effect actuators by current cooling methods and therefore lengthen their response times. This is the major reason why useful shape memory effect material actuators are currently limited to small diameters.
Considering all of the above limitations to the current state of the art, it is therefore desirable to cool shape memory effect (SME) material micro-actuators internally using a mechanism capable of transporting large heat fluxes per unit area. This invention relates to using micro-heat pipes as a means of heat removal from the interior of SME material actuators.
Heat pipes are devices that are able to carry very large heat fluxes by utilizing the heat of vaporization of a fluid. A specified amount of fluid is sealed within an elongated enclosure with the heat flux entering through the enclosure wall at one end, termed the evaporator, causing evaporation of the fluid. The resulting vapor phase travels the length of the enclosure via a central vapor space, and condenses on the cooler opposite end of the enclosure where the heat of condensation is removed to the outside through the enclosure wall. The liquid phase is returned to the evaporator end by capillary action via either arteries contained within the enclosure walls or via fine mesh wick structure lining the walls of the enclosure and may be any shape or geometry. Alternatively, the liquid phase can be returned by gravity flow. Gravity flow types of micro-heat pipes are also termed thermosyphons. This invention relates to embedding one or multiple micro-heat pipes in the interior cross-section of shape memory effect material actuators to achieve short actuator response times. A micro-heat pipe may have multiple evaporator and condenser regions whereby adjacent regions of opposite type are in thermal and fluidic communication.
In Cotter's original proposal, "micro" is defined in the art to be a heat pipe small enough that the mean curvature of the vapor-liquid interface is comparable in magnitude to the reciprocal of the hydraulic radius of the total flow channel. In practice, this translates into an enclosure with an internal vapor space channel with an approximate diameter of 100 to 1000 micro-meters.
The temporal response of micro-heat pipes is very fast relative to other forms of cooling. However, it is not as fast as Joule heating. This invention envisages a temporal relationship between Joule heating and micro-heat pipe cooling which serves to minimize heat loss during the heating portion of the SME material actuator thermal cycle. During the heating portion of the thermal cycle the onset of micro-heat pipe operation is delayed which accommodates the time needed to complete the heating portion of the SME material actuator cycle. Once started, after an initial delay, the rate of micro-heat pipe cooling is extremely rapid. Other forms of cooling, for example convective cooling, cause inefficiencies due to the removal of heat by the cooling means during the heating portion of the thermal cycle. The present invention avoids this and thereby avoids expensive means of alternatively turning off the cooling means during the heating portion of the thermal cycle. This is important, for example, in robotics applications where precise locational control is important. Uncertainty in heating or cooling results in uncertainty in robotic location.
Because shape memory effect material actuators currently must be cooled through their exterior surface, the environments into which they may be placed are limited to relatively low temperatures and have relatively high thermal conductivities. They cannot, for instance, be embedded into insulative materials such as advanced composites without suffering severe time response degradation. This is due to the extra time required for heat to dissipate from the actuators during the cooling portion of the shape memory effect material thermal cycle. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,104 to Cincotta et al for such an application to control surfaces in which cooling is inadequate. This invention solves these problems by providing for internal cooling wherein the operation of the SME material actuator becomes indifferent to the environment into which it is placed. Thus this invention relates to rapidly actuated members constructed from composite materials comprising a low thermal conductivity matrix.
Internally cooled SME material micro-actuators embedded into a second material in one, two or three dimensional arrays can serve to change the external shape of the composite body. The second material can be made from an electrically insulative material so that Joule heating may be used to heat the SME micro-actuators. The SME micro-actuators can be trained to assume one shape on heating and another on cooling as is known in the art. Alternatively, a resilient member can be employed to return the composite material to a second shape upon cooling when the shape memory effect material is in its martensitic state. Such a resilient member can be made a part of the SME material micro-actuator or can be the second material into which the SME material micro-actuators are embedded as is envisaged in this invention. Such one, two and three dimensional SME micro-actuator composite structures would be useful for fluid control surfaces, adaptive optic surfaces and robotics.
Currently shape memory actuators cannot operate in an environment with a temperature higher than the austenitic finish temperature A.sub.f, and don't operate well in environmental temperatures above the martensitic finish temperature M.sub.f. Shape memory effect materials have relatively low transformation temperatures, Ni--Ti and Cu--Zn--Al, for example having transformation temperatures between -200.degree.0 C. and +120.degree. C., this severely limits the application of actuators fabricated from currently available shape memory effect materials to low temperature environments. Because the present invention is internally cooled, these limitations can be eliminated by placing a second heat-resisting material around the actuator and cooling it internally. Alternatively, a plurality of SME material micro-actuators containing one or multiple micro-heat pipes can be embedded into a matrix material with the composite structure able to be actuated in one, two or three dimensions while exposed to a high temperature environment.
Additionally, the thermal gradients between the interior and surface of SME material actuators resulting from surface cooling methods leads to increased hysteresis and to the degradation of the SME material's thermal stress fatigue life. Hysteresis is manifest in the temperature difference measured between the temperature at which the transformation of the shape memory material (SME) from austenite to martensite starts upon cooling, termed the M.sub.s temperature, and the temperature at which the reverse transformation from martensite to austenite starts, termed the A.sub.s temperature, on subsequent heating. A large hysteresic temperature difference limits the accuracy of an actuator. A large temperature gradient across the shape memory actuator cross-section leads to thermal stress fatigue and failure. Placing the cooling means in the interior, as does this invention, reduces this temperature gradient and improves the fatigue and hysteresis characteristics.

Rapid shape memory effect micro-actuators


A LOC leadframe-based semiconductor package includes a chip with multiple rows of bonding pads. At least a bus bar is attached to the chip and is disposed between a first row of bonding pads and the fingers of the leads. A plurality of bonding wires electrically connect the first row of bonding pads to the fingers of the leads. The portion of the bus bar attached to the active surface of the chip includes a bent section bent away from the fingers. A long bonding wire electrically connects one of a second row of bonding pads to one of the fingers of the leads by overpassing the bent section. Therefore, the distance between the long bonding wire and the bus bar is increased to avoid electrical short between the long bonding wire and the bus bar and to enhance the quality of electrical connections of the LOC semiconductor package.

A LOC (Lead-On-Chip) package is one kind of semiconductor packages by attaching the leads of a leadframe directly to the active surface of a chip without using die pads of a leadframe under the chip so that the length of the bonding wires from the bonding pads of the chip to the fingers of a leadframe can greatly be reduced leading to higher operation frequencies with lower packaging costs.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a conventional semiconductor package 100 primarily comprises a chip 110, a plurality of first leads 120 and a plurality of second leads 150 of a leadframe, a plurality of bonding wires 141, 142, and 144. The chip 110 has an active surface 111 with a plurality of bonding pads 112 disposed in a single row on the active surface 111. The first leads 120 and the second leads 150 are extended from both corresponding sides of the semiconductor package 100 onto the active surface 111 of the chip 110. The first leads 120 and the second leads 150 are attached to the active surface 111 of the chip 110 by a die-attaching material 160 where the internal leads of the first leads 120 and the internal leads of the second leads 150 inside an encapsulant 170 include a plurality of first fingers 121 and the second fingers 151 for bonding the bonding wires 141 and 142, as shown in FIG. 2. The leadframe further has one or more bus bars 130 attached to the active surface 111 of the chip 110 disposed between the center bonding pads 112 and the fingers 121 of the first leads 120 or/and between the center bonding pads 112 and the fingers 151 of the second leads 150. Normally the bus bars 130 are configured for power or ground connections. As shown in FIG. 2, the bonding wires 141 and 142 have one ends bonded to the center bonding pads 112 of the chip 110 and overpass the bus bar 130 so that the other ends of the bonding wires 141 and 142 are bonded to the first fingers 121 of the first leads 120 and to the second fingers 151 of the second leads 150 respectively to make electrical connections between the chip 110 and the leadframe. At least one bonding wire 144 connects one pad 112A of the center bonding pads 112 to the bus bar 130, which has a shorter length than the one of the bonding wires 141 and 142. The encapsulant 170 encapsulates the chip 110, the internal leads of the leads 120 and 150, the bonding wires 141, 142, and 144. However, due to higher I/O density and miniature of a chip, arranging the center bonding pads in a row will be gradually replaced by multiple rows such as two rows of bonding pads.
Currently, chips with multiple rows of bonding pads packaging into LOC semiconductor packages have lower packaging yields due to different lengths of bonding wires from multiple rows of bonding pads to fingers at one side, especially the lengths of the bonding wires from a farther row of bonding pads overpassing the bus bar to the corresponding fingers become longer leading to lower yields resulting in difficulty in wire-bonding. Moreover, the longer bonding wires will suffer wire sweep during molding with electrical short to the bus bar leading to poor qualities of electrical connections.

Semiconductor package with leads on a chip having multi-row of bonding pads


A method, a system and a product for performing a processing operation with respect to a first data object. The method comprises obtaining a second data object, which comprises a second set of attributes and values thereof different than the first set of attributes and values thereof of the first data object; identifying, in the first and second sets of attributes, a shared attribute, each of which having a corresponding shared value; obtaining a complete list with respect to the shared attribute; and in response to determining that a number of entries in the complete list that comprise the corresponding shared value for each of the at least one shared attribute is exactly one, processing the second data object as part of the processing operation of the first data object; and avoiding processing in the processing operation additional object; whereby reducing an overall processing time and an overall storage required for performing the processing operation.

Nowadays, "big data" is everywhere. From medical research and eHealth using Internet of Things (IoT) devices that continuously aggregate data to the finance sector and stocks prices predictions, using deep learning algorithms (e.g., Recurrent Neural Network (RNN)). The data is being obtained from numerous sources and pre-processing efforts in data preparation, before the data can be used, may be substantial. During pre-processing, the data may be validated. Additionally or alternatively, the data may be filtered to remove superfluous items and erroneous items. In some cases, some attributes may be known to have low correlation with desired attributes and may be filtered out accordingly. Big data techniques, such as utilizing deep learning algorithms, may be applied on the data remaining after the pre-processing is performed, to extract insights.
Resources utilized in analyzing "big data" may be substantive. From computational resources in processing large volumes of data, through storage resources in retaining the data, and to network resources in transmitting the data from one device to another.
Another challenge lies within the domain of storing the data. As the data size is substantive, such as terabytes, petabytes, or more, storing the data is very expensive and fetching relevant data may also be very expensive and time consuming as the data may be saved on remote cloud.


A frequency locked loop, an electronic device, and a frequency generation method are provided. The frequency locked loop includes: a control circuit, configured to judge a size relationship between an input frequency and a feedback frequency to obtain a control signal, and determine a frequency control word according to the control signal, in which the control signal includes a first sub-control signal and a second sub-control signal, the control circuit is configured to generate the first sub-control signal in a case where the input frequency is greater than the feedback frequency, and the control circuit is configured to generate the second sub-control signal different from the first sub-control signal in a case where the input frequency is less than the feedback frequency; and a digital control oscillation circuit, configured to generate and output an output signal having a target frequency according to the frequency control word.

With a rapid development of industry and a rapid popularization of Internet of Things, intelligent devices need to have the characteristics of low power consumption. In the intelligent devices, an integrated circuit intelligent chip can control and process all electronic information. In the integrated circuit intelligent chip, clock signals are used to drive and coordinate the activities of various electronic devices. A reliable clock processing unit is indispensable for the work of the integrated circuit intelligent chip.
At present, phase locked loops are the most widely used clock processing unit in electronic chips. According to design types, the phase locked loops can be divided into an analog phase locked loop, a digital phase locked loop, and a digital-analog hybrid phase locked loop. The analog phase locked loop has the characteristics, such as high precision, fast response, and the like, but the analog phase locked loop has a large circuit volume, a high cost, a long research and development period, and not being easy to be transplanted. A voltage controlled oscillator is difficult to be made into a digital form, so the phase locked loops need to include analog circuits. Based on this case, the digital-to-analog hybrid phase locked loop is currently most widely used. In the digital-analog hybrid phase locked loop, the voltage controlled oscillator takes the form of an analog circuit, while a phase detector, a loop filter, a frequency divider, and other components take the form of digital circuits, which is beneficial to control the circuit and reduce the size of the circuit.

Frequency locked loop, electronic device, and frequency generation method

BEIJING BOE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


A mass analyzer comprising a sample preparation mechanism for preliminarily preparing an analyzing sample, an interface mechanism for preparing the sample into ions after the required preliminary preparation, an ion trapping part and analyzing part for analyzing the ions, and a controller. The ion trapping part and analyzing part is placed in a box portion of the body, while the interface mechanism is arranged on the front top of the box portion of the body. When the cover at the front top is removed, the front, top and right side of the interface mechanism are opened.

The present invention relates to a mass analyzer.
Generally, mass analyzers are divided as a group for liquid chromatography and as a group for gas chromatography, and the analyzers therefor comprise a sample preparation mechanism for preliminarily preparing an analyzing sample, an interface mechanism for preparing the sample into a vapor or ions; an analyzing part for introducing the ions to an ion trapping part under controls of a high frequency electric field through an electrostatic lens and an ion guide and detecting the output ions from the ion trapping part whereby the mass of the sample grains is analyzed, and a controller for giving necessary set-up values individually to these members or controlling these members.
The interface mechanism includes ionizers, known and called as electro-spray ionizer (ESI), atomic pressure chemical ionizer (APCI) or sonic spray ionizer (SSI). These ionizers principally comprise a vaporizer or a nebulizer which works to vaporize or nebulize a sample by purging the sample into the ionizers at a state with a high voltage applied, and an ionizing electrode. Furthermore, these members are heated at about 150 degrees to 400 degrees during use (during operation).
FIG. 20 is a block diagram depicting the whole structure of a mass analyzer; and FIG. 21 is a perspective view depicting the arrangement of the interface mechanism in the mass analyzer. With references to FIGS. 20 and 21, the problems occurring in arranging the interface mechanism according to prior art will be described hereinbelow. In FIG. 20, 100 represents a sample preparation mechanism for preliminarily preparing an analyzing sample, where the sample is preliminarily treated for necessary preparation such as dust removal and the like. 200 represents an interface mechanism to vaporize or ionize the sample. 300 represents an ion trapping part and analyzing part to analyze the ions. 400 represents a controller to give necessary set-up values to such individual members and collect the data of the conditions of the individual members to give control signals. Also, the controller collects the analysis results.
In FIG. 21, the interface mechanism 200 and the ion trapping part and analyzing part 300 are placed in box 1 of the body, but in the figure, practically, only vaporizer 2 or nebulizer 6 (not shown in the figure) and ionizing electrode 3 of the interface mechanism 200, fixing screws 4, 4', vacuum duct 5, and tube 7 are shown, after top plate 17 and the box 1 are cutaway. Although not represented in the figure because of omission, power source cables are connected to the ionizing electrode 3 and the nebulizer 6 of the interface mechanism 200 so as to supply a necessary voltage to them. The sample preparation mechanism 100 and the controller 400 are mounted on a control desk, not shown in the figure, which is placed on the top of top plate 17 or placed adjacent to the box 1 of the body. A sample prepared by means of the sample preparation mechanism 100 is transferred through the tube 7 to the interface mechanism 200 for analysis. Within the box 1 of the body, furthermore, mass analyzing part 300 comprising an electrostatic lens, an ion guide, an ion trap and a detector, not shown in the figure, as well as a vacuum pump, a power source and a control circuit as the auxiliary devices thereof, are placed.


Disclosed is an invention that provides a knowledge management system that supports inquiries of distributed knowledge resources. Those inquiries may be in the form of questions or problem statements presented by a user. Interaction between a user and the knowledge resources is mediated by a collection of cooperative intelligent agents. The cooperative intelligent agents incorporate generalized automated negotiation and distributed inference (i.e., problem-solving) processes. Using those processes in a hierarchical architecture, the invention analyzes input problem statements and organizes the problem statements as sets of tasks. In pursuit of each task, the invention solicits accessible knowledge repositories, represented by knowledge agents, for relevant knowledge, and then analyzes and integrates responses from those knowledge repositories. The invention may then provide the responses to a human user or a using process.

The present invention relates to knowledge computing systems, and more particularly relates to large-scale distributed knowledge systems.
Organizations managing complex operations such as military command and control, medical diagnosis and treatment, and enterprise management have turned to large-scale knowledge systems as a means to effectively capture and maintain their knowledge assets. Those assets are being deployed across distributed computing resources including intranets and the Internet.
The technology supporting such systems has progressed to the point of being able to capture and use knowledge on the order of thousands of knowledge units (algorithms/rules/frames/axioms) to support human-like problem solving. However, until now there has not existed a knowledge management system able to support dynamic distributed problem solving over multiple large-scale and distributed knowledge systems. Such a system must be capable of manipulating and coordinating hundreds of thousands to millions of knowledge units.
One reason for that shortcoming is that typical systems, such as knowledge-based systems, employ inference engines that operate only on knowledge resident in specific knowledge bases that they control directly. For example, database search engines have the capability to manage information finding and retrieval, but they are not capable of retrieving knowledge in general form or combining knowledge retrieved from multiple sources into integrated inference patterns. In contrast, humans perform inference processes that involve widely distributed knowledge of more than one representation type or domain.
In addition, existing systems for performing distributed problem-solving functions typically require human reasoning intervention to bridge gaps in inference sequences, particularly between domain-specific and type-specific automated knowledge processing subsequences. In cases where the human intervention occurs, it usually takes the form of case-specific procedures implemented in software or hardware interfaces.
One example of an existing knowledge processing system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,319 issued to Ahamed, assigned to ATandT Corp., and entitled xe2x80x9cArchitecture for a Computer System Used for Processing Knowledge.xe2x80x9d Ahamed describes a knowledge machine for processing information and evolving knowledge. However, that system is limited because the knowledge stored must be organized in fixed links and in predetermined hierarchies, prior to any query of the knowledge. Moreover, the system described by Ahamed does not incorporate distributed inferencing that combines results of multiples of distinct, as well as overlapping and conflicting knowledge modules. In addition, the system of Ahamed requires centralized control of the allocation of knowledge processing hardware resources and of the execution of the knowledge representation of those hardware resources.
Another example of an existing knowledge processing system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,011 issued to Ahamed et al., assigned to ATandT Corp., and entitled xe2x80x9cNetwork-Based Intelligent Information-Sourcing Arrangement.xe2x80x9d Ahamed et al. describe a system in which knowledge bases are arranged hierarchically in a xe2x80x9cknowledge ring.xe2x80x9d Queries are collected and passed to the knowledge ring. The system restates the question in a way that the knowledge base is integrated, and, upon confirmation, responds to the query. However, that system is limited to the use of static knowledge trees. Any query must match an existing entry in the knowledge dictionary. The system of Ahamed et al. basically locates and retrieves pre-existing data by a search of the static knowledge tree, which is essentially a taxonomy of hierarchically-related subject names.
Yet another example of an existing knowledge processing system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,493 issued to Ahamed et al., assigned to Lucent Technologies, Inc. entitled xe2x80x9cKnowledge Processing System Employing Confidence Levels.xe2x80x9d Ahamed et al. describe a knowledge processing system which processes knowledge in the knowledge domain to generate incremental and integrated conclusions, and in the numerical domain to generate confidence levels. The knowledge processing system iteratively revises solutions to generate an optimal solution based on the confidence levels. However, that system fails to describe dynamic problem solving, but rather builds confidence in pre-existing problem solutions by building databases of previous attempts to solve the same problem. The described system uses pre-determined (non-dynamic) knowledge operations mappings.
Accordingly, a need exists for a knowledge management system for dynamic, distributed problem-solving systems.
The present invention overcomes the problems identified above by providing a knowledge management system that supports inquiries of distributed knowledge resources. Those inquiries may be in the form of questions or problem statements presented by a user. Interaction between a user and the knowledge resources is mediated by a collection of cooperative intelligent agents.
The cooperative intelligent agents incorporate generalized automated negotiation and distributed inference (i.e., problem-solving) processes. Using those processes in a hierarchical architecture, the invention analyzes input problem statements and organizes the problem statements as sets of tasks. In pursuit of each task, the invention solicits accessible knowledge repositories, represented by knowledge agents, for relevant knowledge, and then analyzes and integrates responses from those knowledge repositories. The invention may then provide the responses to a human user or a using process.
The invention adaptively and dynamically synthesizes problem-specific knowledge interfaces and reasoning procedures as the problem-solving process moves forward. The invention extends automated inference capability to make use of a large number of knowledge sources of different types, in different locations, and covering different domains of expertise.
In one aspect, the invention integrates established knowledge-based environments or other software-based knowledge by breaking them down into well-defined, independent xe2x80x9cknowledge modules.xe2x80x9d The knowledge modules contain knowledge and knowledge processing capabilities (e.g., inferencing, database management, algorithms, etc.) for a domain of knowledge. Knowledge modules are independent and may contain overlapping or exclusive knowledge. Each knowledge module is combined with a cooperative intelligent agent to form a unit that facilitates integration with other units. The units allow the system to support cooperative reasoning through distributed inference (and problem-solving) processing. The encapsulation of restricted knowledge content within the units and their well-defined interfaces aids verification. The resulting architecture supports the development of a continuously evolving, distributed knowledge system.
More specifically, the present invention provides a hierarchical knowledge management system having three general layers: a user interface layer, a meta agent layer, and a knowledge agent layer. Each layer in the system includes one or more intelligent agents responsible for one portion of the distributed problem-solving inferencing process. The user interface layer mediates the direct interactions with the user, which affords control of and a window into the system""s activities. The meta agent layer analyzes user queries or problem formulations from the user interface layer, allocates tasks to the knowledge agent layer, resolves conflicts arising from the knowledge agent layer, and consolidates (including fusing and deconflicting) results provided by the knowledge agent layer. The knowledge agent layer provides an interaction mechanism for knowledge modules having associated knowledge agents within the knowledge agent layer. Each agent in the system includes inter-agent abstract communications facilities with the capability to negotiate with each other, conduct joint planning, and to collaborate in the execution of planned tasks.
In addition to the three layers just mentioned, an agent service layer provides services for maintaining a registry of agents in the system, as well as supporting the distributed problem solving. The registry identifies each agent""s capabilities and interests, and contains knowledge about the relationships between them. The meta agent layer and the knowledge agent layer may confer with the agent service layer to identify those other resources capable of furthering the problem-solving process. A matchmaking facility is provided for notifying agents interested in a capability of other agents that provide the capability.
One advantage of the present invention over existing technologies is that inferencing is distributed and cooperative over a distributed environment. In other words, the problem-solving process has been removed from a centrally-located reasoning mechanism and made granular. Rather than relying on a single knowledge-based system to formulate and execute a problem-solving process, inferencing mechanisms are distributed to many, smaller knowledge systems with each having a more clearly defined set of interests and products. Each smaller knowledge system is provided with knowledge processing capabilities for its domain of knowledge. A meta agent is responsible for decomposing a general inquiry into a series of constituent tasks. Each task is formulated based on knowledge of the capabilities of the underlying knowledge systems. By cooperating with each other, the meta agent and knowledge agents at each knowledge system accomplish each task toward solving the global problem.
Another advantage is that a knowledge management system in accordance with the present invention is scalable and modular so it can evolve continuously without a negative impact on previously existing components. Once established knowledge systems are broken down into smaller units with distributed inferencing capability, each of those smaller units may be modified, added, deleted, replaced, or supplemented with additional units having greater processing, knowledge, or inferencing capabilities. This advantage allows the system to evolve as technology develops and knowledge systems become more and more complex.
Yet another advantage is that a knowledge management system in accordance with the present invention is non-monolithic. The distributed nature of the disclosed knowledge management system prevents a single inference engine from dominating the system. Problem-solving processes are conducted in a cooperative manner among many intelligent agents, each having its own realm of expertise.

Knowledge management system for performing dynamic distributed problem solving


A method is provided for producing gears to balance counteracting gravity moment and a torque equilibrator across an elevation range. The method includes assigning a value to summation of pitch radii of the first and second non-circular gears; calculating a torque for both the non-circular gears for an angle within the elevation range; calculating a first pitch radius of the first non-circular gear by the gravity moment and the torsion equilibrator; calculating a second pitch radius of the second non-circular gear from the summation; and fabricating the non-circular gears based on the first and second pitch radii.

The invention relates generally to gear mechanisms. In particular, the invention relates to design of gears to balance counteracting moments from a gravitational cantilever and a torsion equilibrator.
Artillery represents long-range guns, which include platform section that includes a breech loader and aiming mechanism together with a barrel from which to fire ammunition rounds. Due to the cantilevered mass of the barrel, the center of mass and rotation pivot axis can be separated by a distance that imposes torque.

United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with the present invention provide a optimization tool for avoiding an address dependency between tasks in a program. The tool determines whether two or more tasks of the program are dependent on at least one same address, which is associated with a first memory block. When it is determined that the two or more tasks of the program are dependant on the at least one same address, the tool allocates a second memory block and changes a read reference by at least one of the two or more tasks from the first memory block associated with the at least one same address to the second memory block.

One way to speed the execution of a program on a computer or data processing system is to divide its work into multiple threads or tasks and run those tasks concurrently on multiple processors. A general requirement for concurrent execution of two tasks is independence. Two tasks are independent if neither alters a machine state that the other is using. For example, if a first task reads from memory address X then the second task may not write to memory address X. However, a problem arises when the two tasks of a program are coded or programmed to depend on the same memory address X, which often impacts the performance of the program when the two tasks are executed serially or in parallel.
Typically, two tasks may be programmed or compiled to depend on a memory address in one of two ways. First, the two tasks may both be programmed to depend on the value stored in the memory address. For example, two tasks may use a single counter to count instances of a particular event. In that case, every task that operates on the counter depends, for its correct operation, on the value stored in the memory address that holds the counter. Thus, this first form of dependency between two tasks requires that the value be stored by a previous task before a subsequent task is able to correctly update the counter with a new event count.
Second, two tasks may both be programmed or compiled to depend on the memory address but not on the value in the memory address. For example, a particular task may require access to a scratch workspace located at the memory address X for intermediate results but those results may not depend on previous contents of the memory address X.
The two forms of dependence by two tasks on a memory address may be differentiated by observing when the value or contents of a memory address are alive and dead, and the operation that causes the contents to become dead. A value is said to be alive if it may still be used by the program, otherwise it is dead. If a particular value becomes dead as part of an operation that refers to its previous value then that is an example of the first form of dependence. The following code illustrates this:
REAL SCRATCH(N)! Create memory address array as SCRATCHCOMMON SCRATCHDO 10, I = 2, N! Execute "10 loop" SCRATCH(I) = SCRATCH(I−1)/SCRATCH(I)10 END DOPRINT *, SCRATCH! Print the contents of SCRATCHDO 20, I = 1, N! Execute "20 loop" SCRATCH(I) = 0.020 END DO
The "10 loop" task (or tasks if divided for parallel processing) is an example of the first form of dependence. Because the "10 loop" task refers to SCRATCH by name, it depends on the address of SCRATCH. However, the "10 loop" task also refers to a value that was stored in SCRATCH by a previous operation. The "20 loop" task (or tasks if divided for parallel processing) is an example of the second type of dependence. The "20 loop" task cannot proceed until the previous PRINT or WRITE task (e.g., a write of SCRATCH memory address values to an I/O device) is complete. But while the "20 loop" task depends on the availability of the address range referenced by SCRATCH, it does not depend on values contained in that address range. As a result of this second form of dependence, the "20 loop" cannot proceed until the WRITE task no longer depends on the address range referenced by SCRATCH.
A write to or read from to physical I/O devices is generally relatively slow. The low speed of an I/O device is often hidden from a program by copying data from its original location to a buffer in memory and then allowing the program to proceed before the data are committed to physical storage. This breaks the dependency on the address range by moving the data from SCRATCH as fast as it can be moved through memory. However, the large sizes of the data sets in many applications, notably large scientific applications, are often such that the sizes of the buffers is insufficient and the speed of a program is limited by the speed at which the buffer contents can be moved to the physical device.
Another way in which a program could free SCRATCH quickly would be to allocate a local buffer with an application-dependent size that would guarantee that the buffer is large enough to handle the entire SCRATCH array. Such code might look like this:
REAL SCRATCH(N), S2(N)! Create memory address arraysSCRATCH and S2COMMON SCRATCHDO 10, I = 2, N! Execute "10 loop" SCRATCH(I) = SCRATCH(I−1)/SCRATCH(I)10 END DODO 15, I = 1, N! Execute "15 loop" S2(I) = SCRATCH(I)15 END DOPRINT *, SCRATCH ! Print the contents of SCRATCHDO 20, I = 1, N! Execute "20 loop" SCRATCH(I) = 0.020 END DO
Now there is no dependence between the PRINT or WRITE task and the "20 loop" task, so they can be done in parallel. However, this complicates the code and only works well in environments in which there is a spare processor to do the WRITE. In single-processor systems or in systems in which all processors are busy doing other things, which is a common case, loop 15 represents nothing more than extra processing that wastes time and space. Also, if further parallelization is desired then it may become necessary to add still more complexity such as locks or semaphores on S2 to make sure that none of the tasks that wish to use S2 do not conflict with each other. Programs whose data sets are large enough to make it prohibitive to keep S2 around for a long time should also consider dynamically allocating S2, in which case complex code must be written to handle the problems of insufficient memory and all of the other problems arising from dynamic memory allocation.
Therefore, a need has long existed for a method and system that overcome the problems noted above and others previously experienced.

Methods and systems for detecting and avoiding an address dependency between tasks


A liquid discharge apparatus has liquid chambers and nozzles that discharge droplets of liquids contained in the liquid chambers through liquid channels. The liquid discharge apparatus includes a substrate provided with partitions on one face thereof, the liquid chambers and the liquid channels being defined between the partitions. The liquid discharge apparatus further includes a nozzle sheet provided with adhesion-improving layers at least at positions corresponding to the top faces of the partitions and the nozzles for discharging liquid, the nozzle sheet and the top faces of the respective partitions being bonded to each other with the adhesion-improving layers. The liquid discharge apparatus also includes driving elements provided on the face of the substrate at positions corresponding to the liquid chambers, for changing the pressure of the liquid chambers. The liquid discharge apparatus is used as a printer head for ink jet printing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge apparatus, a printer head, and a method for making the liquid discharge apparatus. The liquid discharge apparatus is applicable to, for example, ink jet printers.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional ink jet printer discharges ink droplets through a printer head toward an object such as paper for forming a required-image on the object. The printer head discharges the droplets of the ink contained in a liquid chamber through nozzles by a driving element that causes a change in pressure in the liquid chamber. Examples of known driving elements are heating elements and piezoelectric elements.
Such a printer head is fabricated as follows, for example. A driving element integrated with a drive circuit for driving the driving element is formed on a semiconductor substrate by a semiconductor production process, and a photosensitive resin is applied thereon by spin coating. Partition walls of liquid chambers and liquid channels are formed by photolithography of the photosensitive resin. A sheet provided with nozzles (hereinafter referred to as "nozzle sheet") is formed by electrotyping and is disposed on the substrate.
In this process, the photosensitive resin is maintained at a semicured state. This nozzle sheet is bonded to the top faces of the partitions of the liquid chambers and the liquid channels, and the semicured photosensitive resin is cured by heat for thermocompression bonding of the nozzle sheet. In the present invention, thermocompression bonding from such a semicured state is referred to as "secondary bonding".
In the secondary bonding, the nozzle sheet must be bonded to the semicured resin. Since the semicured resin contains a reduced number of reactive groups, the bonding strength between the nozzle sheet and the top faces of the partitions is insufficient.
When nickel, which is a typical electrotyping material, is used as a material for the nozzle sheet, the nickel nozzle sheet having poor adhesiveness to resin does not satisfactorily adhere to the top faces of the resin partitions.
In the printer head, ink droplets are discharged from the ink chamber by a change in pressure in the ink chamber as described above. If the nozzle sheet is not sufficiently bonded to the top faces of the partitions, such a change in pressure will cause separation of the nozzle sheet from the partitions. The separation of a nozzle sheet results in undesirable vibration of the nozzle face and of meniscus of other nozzles that do not discharge ink. As a result, this poor adhesion of the nozzle sheet significantly deteriorates the quality of the printed image.
If the bonding strength is extremely low, the shape of the nozzle sheet changes with time, and ink penetrates between the nozzle sheet and the substrate. This penetrated ink damages electrical connections and causes separation of the nozzle sheet in a severe state.

Liquid discharge apparatus, printer head, and method for making liquid discharge apparatus


A semiconductor manufacturing equipment has an outer case housing including a lower case extension to support a semiconductor panel. The lower case extension is fixed in position within the outer case housing. An inner case housing having an upper case extension is disposed within the outer case housing in proximity to the lower case extension. A mechanism draws the upper case extension toward the lower case extension and locks the semiconductor panel in place between the upper case extension and lower case extension. The mechanism has a cam assembly disposed above the inner case housing and operatable with a handle to rotate the cam assembly and apply pressure to the inner case housing and upper case extension to lock the semiconductor panel in place between the upper case extension and lower case extension. A spring or other elastic mechanism is disposed under the inner case housing to load the pressure.

Semiconductor devices are commonly found in modern electronic products. Semiconductor devices perform a wide range of functions, such as signal processing, high-speed calculations, transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, controlling electronic devices, photo-electric, and creating visual images for television displays. Semiconductor devices are found in the fields of communications, power conversion, networks, computers, entertainment, and consumer products. Semiconductor devices are also found in military applications, aviation, automotive, industrial controllers, and office equipment.
Semiconductor devices vary in the number and density of electrical components. Discrete semiconductor devices generally contain one type of electrical component, e.g., light emitting diode (LED), small signal transistor, resistor, capacitor, inductor, and power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). Integrated semiconductor devices typically contain hundreds to millions of electrical components. Examples of integrated semiconductor devices include microcontrollers, microprocessors, digital signal processor (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), memory, or other signal processing circuit.
A conventional semiconductor wafer typically contains a plurality of semiconductor die separated by a saw street. Active and passive circuits are formed in a surface of each semiconductor die. An interconnect structure can be formed over the surface of the semiconductor die. The semiconductor wafer is singulated into individual semiconductor die for use in a variety of electronic products. The individual semiconductor die are typically sealed within a package for electrical interconnect, structural support, and environmental protection. The singulated semiconductor die from the wafer are placed on a carrier, also referred to as a substrate strip panel or reconstituted wafer. The strip panel is covered by an encapsulant.
The packaging process sometimes involves application of heat, such as during curing, baking, and molding. FIG. 1a shows strip panel 50 placed in magazine 52 and resting on shelf extensions 54. Strip panel 50 remains in place solely by nature of gravity and static friction, as shown in FIG. 1b. Substrate strip panel 50 has the potential to dislocate from their resting locations if magazine 52 is dropped or subject to other unintended movement. Hence, strip panel 50 is subject to damage during transport of magazine 52. In FIG. 1c, magazine 52 is placed in oven 56 for one or more thermal cycles from heat source 58. The application of heat to strip panel 50 resting on shelf extensions 54 can cause the wafer to move and/or warp. A warped strip panel can damage the semiconductor die and reduce wafer yield.

Semiconductor manufacturing device to securely hold semiconductor panels for transport and manufacturing processes


A lock for preventing theft of an automotive vehicle consists essentially of a support seat, a carrying member, a tightening device, and a lock rod set. The support seat has a bottom seat and a hollow support rod mounted on the bottom seat. The carrying member has a carrying rod which is provided at the bottom end thereof with a receiving portion, a sleeve fastened with the top end of the carrying rod, an arresting block fastened with the midsegment of the carrying rod, and a locking device fastened at the top end of the carrying rod. The tightening device is disposed in the receiving portion of the support rod for fastening the carrying member with the support rod. The lock rod set is fitted into the sleeve and is composed of a lock rod having a shank which is provided at one end thereof with a toothed portion and a hooked block corresponding in location to the arresting block. The shank is further provided at other end thereof with a fastening member. One of the pedals of the automotive vehicle is disabled by the arresting block and the hooked block of the lock.

There are a variety of mechanical devices which are designed to prevent the theft of automotive vehicles. However, there are mainly two kinds of such mechanical devices, which are used to disable the steering wheel or the gear shift of an automotive vehicle. As shown in FIG. 1, a prior art mechanical device 1 is provided at one end thereof with a hook for catching the steering wheel 2, and at other end thereof with a hook for catching the brake pedal 3. Such a prior art mechanical device as described above is lengthy and inconvenient. The device must be used in such a manner that two component parts of a motor vehicle are disabled at the same time.
The conventional lock for disabling the gear shift of an automotive vehicle comprises a base and a rod. The body of the automotive vehicle must be so drilled as to enable the base of the lock to be fastened near the gear shift. The gear shift is disabled by being located between the base and the rod of the lock. The drilling job must be done at the body shop at additional expense, not to mention the trouble that the car owner has to take to make an appointment with the auto body shop for the drilling job.

Lock for preventing theft of automotive vehicle


Systems, methods, and apparatus may perform operations related to delivering wireless information associating to a facility. A message is received from a first mobile device with at least a portion of the message including information associated with a physical location. Based on the message, a facility based on the physical location is identified. The message may be associated with the facility. An indication is received that a second mobile device is proximate to the facility and engaged in a message browsing mode. Based on receiving the indication, the message may be presented to the second mobile device.

The evolvement of mobile technologies has enabled wireless systems to provide a variety of services to mobile users. For example, wireless technologies such as wireless local area network (WLAN) technology and global system for mobile communications (GSM) technology may be used for sending information from one mobile electronic device to another mobile electronic device. The technology evolvement also allows mobile electronic devices, such as cell phones and personal digital assistants, to encompass a variety of features. For example, mobile electronic devices may be used for navigation or to capture live images.

Delivering wireless information associating to a facility


A test apparatus that tests a device under test is provided. The test apparatus includes: a main memory that stores a test data row for testing the device under test; a cache memory that caches the test data row read from the main memory; a pattern generation control section that reads each test data which is not aligned in units of word being a data transfer unit of the main memory and writes the same to cache entries different from each other in the cache memory for each test data; and a pattern generating section that sequentially reads the test data stored of each cache entry in the cache memory and generates a test pattern for testing the device under test.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a test apparatus and an electronic device. Particularly, the present invention relates to a test apparatus that tests a device under test and an electronic device including a test circuit.
2. Related Art
Generally, there may be a case that a test pattern having a predetermined logic pattern is generated and inputted to a device under test in order to test the device under test such as a semiconductor circuit. For example, a test to determine whether the device under test normally operates can be performed by writing a predetermined logic value to a memory region in the device under test and reading the written logic pattern.
A pattern generating section that generates a test pattern based on pattern data and sequence data has been known. The pattern generating section sequentially reads the pattern data and the sequence data stored in the main memory and stores the same in the cache memory.
Here, the following documents have been known as the related art documents of the pattern generating section:
1. International Publication (WO) 2004/109307 brochure
2. International Publication (WO) 1998/23968 brochure
3. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-94724
4. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-78476
The main memory previously stores therein the pattern data and the sequence data set by such as a user before testing a device under test. Data is written to the main memory in units of word having a predetermined bit length. In addition, the data is read from the main memory in units of word. One word includes one instruction data of the sequence data or one pattern of the pattern data. However, it is not necessarily the case that the bit length of the instruction data or the pattern is corresponding to the bit length of a word.
Therefore, there may be an unused bit in each word. Since the main memory stores therein data in units of word, the availability ratio of the main memory could be reduced if there is any unused portion in the storage area thereof. In addition, since the main memory transfers the data in units of word thereby the unused bit included in each word is also transferred, so that the efficiency of transferring data could be reduced.