The present invention describes organic solvent-soluble Diels-Alder adducts of polycyclic aromatic compounds, such as, oligothiophene, perylene, benzo[ghi]perylene, coronene and polyacenes, with variety of dienophiles containing at least one heteroatom and in some cases two heteroatoms bonded to aromatic moiety, such as, thioxomalonates, azodicarboxylates, thialdehyde, acylnitroso and N-sulfinylamides. The Diels-Alder adducts are prepared by a simple, one step cycloaddition reaction of the polycyclic aromatic compounds, such as, pentacene, or other fused aromatic compounds, with heterodienophiles. The Diels-Alder adducts according to the present invention all form soluble adducts with pentacene and can be converted back to pentacene by retro-Diels-Alder reaction at moderate (60–250° C.) temperatures both in bulk, in solution or as thin-films.

Thin-film transistors and other electronic devices using organic semiconductors are emerging as alternatives to established methods using amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) as the semiconductor.
A variety of organic compounds have been proposed and tested as semiconducting materials for TFT devices. For example, among the p-channel (hole transport) materials that have been characterized are thiophene oligomers proposed as organic semiconductor material for TFT in Garnier, F., et al., "Structural basis for high carrier mobility in conjugated oligomers" Synth. Meth., Vol. 45, p. 163 (1991), and phthalocyanines described in Bao, Z., et al., "Organic Filed-effect transistors with high mobility based on copper phthalocyanine" Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 69, p. 3066 (1996). Pentacene, which is a member of poly(acene) compounds has been proposed as an organic semiconductor material in Lin et al. IEEE 54th Annual Device Research Conference, 1996, pages 2136–2139, and Dimitrakopoulos et al., J. Appl. Phys., 80 (4), 1996, pages 2501–2507.
Some soluble organic compounds have also been characterized as organic semiconducting materials. For example poly(3-alkylthiophene) described in Bao, Z., et al., "Soluble and Processable regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) for thin film field-effect transistors application with high mobility" Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 69, page 4108 (1996).
An attractive material would have a high carrier mobility which is close to that of amorphous silicon (0.1–1 cm2.V−1.Sec−1), with a very high on/off ratio (>105). For an organic material to replace amorphous silicon, not only would it have the electrical properties cited above but also it should be processable from solution so that it could become commercially attractive.
Among the organic compounds which have been studied as semiconductors, only regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) is readily soluble in organic solvents and thin films of this compound has been processed from solution for construction of TFTs. The drawback for this compound is that it has relatively low (5×10−2 cm2.V−1.Sec.−1) carrier mobility and even much less satisfactory on/off ratio of less than 100. In addition, because thin films of this polymer are not stable in air and its field-effect characteristics deteriorates on exposure to air, its application as semiconductor becomes less desirable.
The best performance as semiconductor among organic materials to date has been achieved by thin films of pentacene deposited under high vacuum and temperature as reported by Dimitrakopoulos et al., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,946,511; 5,981,970 and 6,207,472 and other publications by Brown et al., J. Appl. Phys. 80(4), 1996, pages 2136–2139 and Dimitrakopoulos et al., J. Appl. Phys. 80 (4), pages 2501–2507.
Recently, thin-film transistors on plastic substrates using evaporated films of pentacene as the p-channel carrier with mobility of 1.7 cm2.V−1.Sec.−1 and an on/off ratio of 108 has been reported by Jakson et al., in Solid State Technology, Vol. 43 (3), 2000, pages 63–77.
Thin films of pentacene are very stable in air and even moderate temperatures and as far as performance is concerned, pentacene is the most attractive organic material to replace amorphous silicon.
The drawback for pentacene is that it is insoluble in common organic solvents and it can only be deposited as thin film by expensive high vacuum and temperature techniques.
There has been very little effort for the synthesis of soluble pentacene derivatives and the only example of soluble pentacene is by Muellen, K. et al., "A soluble pentacene precursor: Synthesis, solid-state conversion into pentacene and application in a field-effect transistor," Adv. Mat. 11 (6), p. 480 (1999), in which a precursor of pentacene is synthesized by a tedious multi-step synthetic approach. The derivative, which is soluble in organic compounds and can be processed from solution, is converted back to pentacene by heating at moderate to high temperature (140–200° C.).
The drawback for using this compound as a pentacene precursor is that due to multi-step synthesis (more than 9 steps), its preparation, especially in large scale is almost impractical. In addition, its conversion to pentacene occurs at a relatively high temperature, which prevents the use of most plastics as substrates.
Thioaldehydes, RCHS, and the more stable thioxoacetate ROCO—CHS have been used in Diels-Alder reactions with variety of dienes as reported by G. Kirby et al., in "Ethyl and methyl thioxoacetates, dienophilic thioaldehydes formed from sulphenyl chlorides by 1,2-elemination," J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans, 1, 1541 (1985).
The adduct of anthracene which is the second member of polyacene with thioxoacetate and its oxidation to less stable S-oxide was reported by G. Kirby et al. in "Generation of a thioaldeyde S-oxide by retro-Diels-Alder reaction", Chem. Commun., 718, 1987. This reaction, shown below, is an example of a Diels-Alder adduct as a precursor of fused aromatic compounds.

Another example of hetero dienophile with one hetero atom are oxomalonates and thioxomalonates (RR′C═O and RR′C═S respectively) as shown by J. Barluenga et al., in "Diels-Alder reaction of unactivated 2-Aza-1,3-dienes with diethyl ketomalonate: A carbon dioxide equivalent" Tetrahedron Lett., Vol. 30, pages 2685–2688, 1989 and G. Kirby et al., in "The transient dienophile and its S-oxide (sulphine) formed by retro Diels-Alder reaction", J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans., 3175, 1990 for oxo- and thioxomalonate respectively. Again, one of the dienes shown to react with this hetero dienophile, is anthracene in which a labile anthracene adduct having carbon-sulfur bond is formed as shown in the following scheme:

Hetero Diels-Alder reactions with dienolphiles having two active heteroatoms have also been used successfully for the preparation of a variety of nitrogen and/or sulfur containing compounds. An example of such dienophiles are acylnitroso (RCO—N═O) compounds which are generated in situ from corresponding hydroxamic acids. An extensive review of Diels-Alder reactions of various dienes with acylnitroso dienophiles has been published by M. Miller et al., in "Development and applications of amino acid derived chiral acylnitroso hetero Diels-Alder reaction", Tetrahedron, Vol. 54, pages 1317–1348, 1998. Again, the use of anthracene or its derivatives has been a prime example in this report as shown in the following scheme:

Other hetero dienophiles with two heteroatoms which have been used in Diels-Alder reactions are those with —N═N— and R—N═S═O functionalities. Examples of dienophiles with nitrogen-nitrogen double bonds are various azodicarboxylates (ROCO—N═N—COOR) and those with nitrogen-sulfur double bonds are N-sulfinyl amines or N-sulfinyl amides (R—N═S═O) or (RCO—N═S═O).
None of the above references describes precursors of polycyclic aromatic compounds that are: (1) Diels-Alder adducts of a polycyclic aromatic compound, such as, pentacene, with a dienophile and (2) highly soluble in common organic solvents.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to synthesize precursors of polycyclic aromatic compounds, such as, pentacene, which are highly soluble in common organic solvents.
Another object of this invention is to provide a precursor of a polycyclic aromatic compound, such as, pentacene, that is convertible in bulk or as thin films back to pentacene in a retro-Diels-Alder reaction at relatively low temperatures.
Still another object of the invention is to devise a simple synthetic approach to the preparation of these compounds, which produces high yields of the compounds and is easily scalable.
Still another object of this invention is to cast thin films of these materials from solution and regenerate thin films of pentacene upon heating the former at low or moderate temperatures.
The present invention provides highly soluble precursors of polycyclic aromatic compounds, such as, pentacene, which are synthesized in one step via the Diels-Alder reaction of polycyclic aromatic compound with a variety of dienophiles having at least one heteroatom in the dienophile moiety.

Hetero diels-alder adducts of pentacene as soluble precursors of pentacene


A litter container assembly particularly suited for accommodating a pot belly pig includes a litter container defining an enclosed area for containing a quantity of animal litter and having a sidewall with an opening formed therein, and an inclined ramp structure attached to the sidewall adjacent to the opening therein and extending therefrom so as to define an entry and exit which leads into and from the enclosed area of the litter container. The ramp structure includes a first ramp inside the container and a second ramp outside the container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to animal litter containers and, more particularly, is concerned with a litter container assembly, particularly suited for pot pelly pigs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of litter containers for certain household pets, such as cats, is a widespread practice. Litter containers make it possible to keep such pets indoors by providing a means by which the pets may eliminate their waste through urination and defecation without the need to go outdoors. Thus, use of litter containers makes it more convenient to keep household pets.
Present litter containers are almost universally designed for household cats. Such litter containers can have relatively high sidewalls since all cats are capable of climbing or jumping in and from the litter containers. An animal which is growing in popularity as a household pet is commonly known as a pot belly pig. Such pigs range from 14 to 17 inches in height and 30 to 90 pounds in weight and have overly short legs.
The conventional litter containers are too small in length and width to comfortably accommodate use by the larger size pot belly pigs. Also, the conventional litter containers are too great in height to permit easy entry and exit by the short-legged pot belly pigs.
Thus, a need exists for improvement of the design of litter containers in order to accommodate use by pot belly pigs.

Litter container having internal and external access ramps


A method and apparatus for foreground detection by designating one of two non-occlusion areas as the foreground area according to results of position matching using two given motion vectors. The detection is performed by matching the position of the current occlusion area in the current frame with one or more positions of a previous occlusion area in a previous frame. The matching operation is based on motion vectors determined for the neighboring areas adjacent to the current occlusion area. The determination of the motion vectors are based on two neighboring frames temporally located before and after the current frame. If the position of the current occlusion area is matched with the previous occlusion area by using one of the motion vectors, the neighboring area corresponding to the motion vector is designated as a foreground area.

Motion estimation is a widely used method for image processing, such as for the prediction or interpolation of moving objects in a predicted or interpolated image. To compute each part of the image, occlusion problem has to be resolved. Besides detecting the occlusion area(s) of the image, the location of the foreground or background area(s) also need be identified so that the reference used to predict the occlusion areas can be determined.
Occlusion areas are parts of scene which are visible in one frame and become invisible in a neighboring frame of multiple consecutive images due to blockage by foreground object(s). Each of the consecutive images can be a picture captured by imaging system or an interpolated image based on captured pictures. For consecutive images captured by a camera, the presence of the occlusion areas is caused by the changing of relative position between the objects and the camera. When parts of the image become invisible, at least a portion of a background object is covered by a foreground object located closer to the camera due to the projection. Vise verse, the foreground object is located more far away from the camera in the scene and parts of the background become uncovered. The parts of the background object which become covered or uncovered are referred as occlusion areas. When the areas become covered or uncovered, the uniquely matched areas in neighboring images cannot be found by motion estimation. Therefore, occlusion problem has to be taken special care, otherwise artifacts may occur in temporal interpolation.
In a conventional method, occlusion detection is based on pixel differences associated with two motion vectors between two consecutive images (U.S. patent Ser. No. 7,995,793). One of the two motion vectors may be zero, which corresponds to a background that is stationary relative to the camera. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of occlusion detection based on two motion vectors between two consecutive frames, Frame (t) and Frame (t+1) captured by an imaging system. Frame (t+δ) is to be temporally interpolated based on Frame (t) and Frame (t+1). Two motion vectors (i.e., MV1 and MV2) are determined to describe the motion between the two frames, where MV1=0 corresponds to zero motion for the background areas.
Frame (t+δ) is formed by projecting Frame (t) to Frame (t+1) according to one of the two motion vectors. For example, area 111 in Frame (t+δ) is formed by projecting area 101 in Frame (t) to area 121 in Frame (t+1) according to motion vector MV1 since good match between area 101 and area 121 can be found using motion vector MV1. Similarly, area 112 in Frame (t+δ) is formed by projecting area 102 in Frame (t) to area 122 in Frame (t+1) according to motion vector MV2 since good match can be found between area 102 and 122 using motion vector MV2. Nevertheless, for area 113 in Frame (t+δ), none of the motion vectors can result in good match between corresponding areas in Frame (t) and Frame (t+1). In other words, the pixel differences are large for corresponding areas in Frame (t) and Frame (t+1) associated with area 113 in Frame (t+δ) regardless which of the two motion vectors is used.
Besides detecting the location of an occlusion area, the reference in the neighboring image should be determined for the prediction of the occlusion area. As the image content in the occlusion area is from the corresponding area to be covered or becoming uncovered, the location of the corresponding area should be identified. The corresponding area newly to be covered or becoming uncovered is adjacent to the background area in the neighboring image used to predict the background area adjacent to the occlusion area in the current frame. Therefore, the location of the corresponding area can be determined indirectly by determining the location of either the foreground area or the background area adjacent to the occlusion area.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of reference blocks used to form each block of an interpolated frame. Frame 210 is interpolated based on neighboring frames 200 and 220. Frames 200 and 220 are two consecutive frames captured by an imaging system. In this example, left objects correspond to background areas and right objects correspond to the foreground areas in frame 200 and frame 220. As shown in FIG. 2, blocks b0 to b7 are located in the background area and blocks b8 to b19 are located in the foreground area of frame 200. Blocks c0 to c5 are located in the background area and blocks c12 to c19 are located in the foreground area of frame 220. Blocks c6 to c11 in frame 220 are located in an area to be covered or becoming uncovered by the foreground area. If the motion estimation is performed from frame 200 to frame 220, blocks c6 to c11 are located in newly uncovered area of frame 220. Otherwise, blocks c6 to c11 are becoming covered if the motion estimation is performed from frame 220 to frame 200. The matched blocks in frame 200 and frame 220 can be found for the interpolation of the blocks in frame 210. The relationship between matched blocks in frame 200 and frame 220 can be determined by using motion estimation techniques. For example, motion vector MVB may be derived for the background area and MVF may be derived for the foreground area as shown by the bidirectional arrows in FIG. 2. Block-based motion estimation may be used and the technique is well known in the art. Therefore the details are not described here. It is noted that the length of each arrow has no relation with the length of any motion vector. In this example, blocks c0, c1, c2, c3, c4 and c5 in frame 220 are matched with blocks b2, b3, b4, b5, b6 and b7 in frame 200, respectively. Similarly, blocks c12, c13, c14, c15, c16, c17, c18 and c19 are matched with blocks b8, b9, b10, b11, b13, b14, and b15, respectively. For the area to be covered or becoming uncovered in frame 220, no block in frame 200 can be matched with blocks c6, c7, c8, c9, c10 and c11.
Frame 210 is interpolated based on frames 200 and 220. Each pair of matched blocks in frame 200 and frame 220 is used as two reference blocks to form one interpolated blocks of frame 210. Blocks in the foreground or the background of the interpolated frame can be formed based on the corresponding two reference blocks in these two neighboring frames. However, occlusion blocks a7, a8 and a9 in frame 210 can only be predicted based on the corresponding area to be covered or becoming uncovered in frame 220 as no matched blocks can be found in frame 200. The occlusion blocks a7, a8 and a9 should be predicted based on blocks c6, c7 and c8, respectively. The relation between occlusion blocks a7, a8 and a9 and the corresponding reference blocks c6, c7 and c8 can be given by motion vector MVOB which is shown by the dashed arrows in FIG. 2. MVOB is same as the motion vector giving the relationship between background areas of frame 210 and frame 220, such as the motion vector representing the relationship from a6 to c5. As shown in FIG. 2, the reference area in frame 220 is adjacent to the background area used to predict the neighboring background area of the occlusion area in frame 310.
In FIG. 2, the size of the motion vector MVB or MVF is just indicative of the matched blocks in frame 200 and frame 220. The motion vector MVOB is indicative of the occlusion blocks and the corresponding reference blocks in frame 210 and frame 220. As is well known in the art of motion estimation, the block matching is performed in two-dimensional space and the motion vector usually consists of horizontal component and vertical component. Each of the blocks corresponds to a two-dimensional pixel array. The one-dimensional drawing in FIG. 2 is used to simplify the illustration. Furthermore, while the blocks ai, bi and ci are drawn aligned vertically, it does not imply that the motion vector size is measured by the block size. For example, FIG. 2 may correspond to the match in the horizontal direction. The horizontal block may correspond to 8 pixels. While block bi is matched with block ci+4 in the foreground area as shown in FIG. 2, it does not necessarily imply the horizontal motion vector is 32 pixels (i.e., 4×8 pixels).
FIG. 3 illustrates another example of reference blocks used to form each block of an interpolated frame. Different from the example shown by FIG. 2, right objects correspond to background areas and left objects correspond to the foreground area in frame 300 and frame 320. Therefore, blocks b0 to b7 are located in the foreground area and blocks b8 to b19 are located in the background area of frame 300. Blocks c0 to c5 are located in the foreground area and blocks c12 to c19 are located in the background area of frame 320.
Frame 310 is interpolated based on the two captured frames 300 and 320. Occlusion blocks a7, a8 and a9 should be predicted based on blocks c9, c10 and c11, respectively. The relationship between occlusion blocks a7, a8 and a9 and blocks c9, c10 and c11 can be given by motion vector MVOB. In this example, MVOB is same as the motion vector giving the relationship between background areas of frame 310 and frame 320, such as the motion vector indicating the relationship from a10 to c12. The reference area used to predict the occlusion blocks in frame 310 corresponds to the area to be covered or becoming uncovered in frame 320. As shown in FIG. 3, the reference area in frame 320 is adjacent to the background area used to predict the neighboring background area of the occlusion area in frame 310. To calculate the occlusion blocks a7, a8 and a9, the location of the reference blocks (blocks c9, c10 and c11) should be determined.
If the location of the background area or the foreground area adjacent to the occlusion area is determined, the location of the area used as reference of the occlusion area can be determined indirectly. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the area used as reference of the occlusion area is to be covered or becoming uncovered by the foreground area. The reference area of the occlusion area is adjacent to the reference area of the neighboring background area of the interpolated frame. The prediction can be performed by using the motion vector indicating the relationship from the neighboring background area in the current frame to the corresponding background area in the reference frame. Therefore, it is desirable to explore a method to determine the background area or the foreground area adjacent to the occlusion area for the prediction of the current image.


A multi-way tree data structure is provided that supports a longest match lookup. Data elements stored therein that have no overlapping prefixes are arranged in a standard B-tree arrangement. Data elements that have overlapping prefixes are arranged within the tree such that a respective one of these prefixes contains the prefixes of all such data elements that succeed it.

The present invention is directed to data structures used for data lookups and, more particularly, to a tree data structure for longest match lookups that is suitable for Internet Protocol network routing applications.
Presently, a switching platform that is seeking to route to a selected IP address looks up the longest match to the desired IP address from IP addresses stored or group of IP addresses in a data table. The table of IP addresses is typically arranged as a digital binary tree structure, namely a data structure having two branches that extend from each record to form respective binary sub-trees. The binary tree structure is traversed in a known manner until the longest match to the desired IP address is located.
The binary tree structure may not efficiently use memory or may not efficiently use processing time. When a large number of IP addresses are stored in the table, the resulting binary tree structure can be of great height and thus require significant time to search the binary tree. As a result, the time required to route to a desired IP address increases significantly with the number of IP addresses stored in the binary tree. Also, two pointers are stored for each IP address, thereby increasing the size of the memory required with each value stored.
Alternatively, a balanced multi-way tree (B-tree) provides a tree of lower height and can be searched more quickly. Specifically, a B-tree is comprised of multiple records where each record includes one or more nodes with each node comprising a key and associated data. Each record of the multi-way tree has M branches, where Mxe2x89xa72. Optimally, the multi-way tree is kept balanced, namely all the leaves of the M tree are kept on the same level, as new IP addresses are added and existing IP addresses are removed. The tree is kept balanced to prevent portions of the tree from being significantly deeper than other portions so that all branches are traversed in substantially the same time.
However, a B-tree is not well suited for a longest match lookup. When the B-tree includes one or more IP addresses whose network prefix, namely the leftmost part of the IP address, is a subset of the network prefix of another IP address, the search may traverse a branch of the tree that contains an IP address that does not include the longest match to the desired IP address and thus the longest match is not found.
It is therefore desirable to provide a multi-way tree structure that provides the advantages of a B-tree and which always enables the longest match to a desired IP address to be located.
The present invention provides a multi-way tree data structure which supports a longest match lookup and wherein data elements stored therein that have no overlapping prefixes are arranged in a standard B-tree arrangement and data elements stored therein that have overlapping prefixes are arranged within the tree such that the prefix of such a data element contains the prefixes of all such data elements that succeed it.
In accordance with the invention, a new data element is inserted into a data structure comprised of a plurality of records that includes at least a root record. Each of the records includes at least one node and includes at least one pointer that points to another of the records or to a null value. The nodes are each capable of storing a respective data element, and each of the data elements and the new data element include a prefix that represents at least one address value and associated data. The prefix includes an address portion and a prefix length portion which defines the number of bits in the prefix. At least a portion of the data structure is arranged substantially as a balanced tree. A node in a respective one of the records having a prefix that is identical to the prefix of the new data element is located, and associated data stored in the node of one of the records is replaced with the associated data of the new data element.
According to another aspect of the invention, a node in a respective record having a prefix that is contained in the prefix of the new data element and that is closest to the root record is located. When the respective record is included in a linked structure that is within the data structure and that is external to but linked to the balanced tree, the new data element is inserted into the linked structure.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a node in a respective record having a prefix that is contained in the prefix of the new data element and that is closest to the root record is located. When the respective record is included in the balanced tree but is pointed to by a pointer extending from a linked structure that is within the data structure and that is external to the balanced tree, the new data element is inserted into the linked structure.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a node in a respective record having a prefix that is contained in the prefix of the new data element and that is closest to the root record is located. When the respective record is included in the balanced tree and is not pointed to by a pointer extending from a linked structure that is within the data structure and that is external to the balanced tree, a new linked structure is inserted at a location within the data structure that immediately precedes the respective record. A pointer that previously pointed to the respective record now point to a first record of the new linked structure, and a pointer extending from a location within the linked structure that is closest to the root record and a pointer extending from a location within the linked structure that is furthest from the root record each point to the respective record. The new data element is inserted into a node within the new linked structure nearest to the root node.
According to a still further aspect of the invention, a node of a leaf record having a prefix that contains the prefix of the new data element is located. A data element stored in the node of the leaf record is replaced by the new data element, and then the data element previously stored in the node of the leaf record is inserted into the data structure as described above.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, a data element is deleted from the data structure. A node in a respective record having the data element is located. When the respective record is included in a linked structure that is within the structure and that is external to but linked to the balanced tree, the data element is removed from the linked structure.
According to yet a still further aspect of the invention, a data element is deleted from the data structure. A node in a respective record having the data element is located. When the respective record is not included in a linked structure, any linked structures within the data structure that have a pointer pointing to the respective record is removed so that a pointer that previously pointed to the linked structure now points to the respective record. The data element is removed from the respective record and, the balanced tree portion of the data structure is rearranged. Any data elements previously stored in the linked structure are reinserted into the data structure, one data element at a time.
Further, according to the invention, a data element is searched for in the data structure. A respective node that stores a data element having a prefix that is a best match to the prefix of the data element is located. The best match is a prefix that represents at least an address value that includes the address portion of the data element and has a maximum length of any other prefixes stored in the data structure that represent one or more address values that includes the address portion of the data element.
Additionally, according to the invention, a data element is searched for in a data structure. A current record is defined to be the root record, and a best match node is defined to be a default node. Starting from a node in the current record that is closest to the root node, a prefix stored at each node in the current record is compared to the prefix of the data element. When a prefix stored at a respective node in the current record contains the prefix of the data element and when a prefix length stored at the respective node in the current record is greater than the prefix stored at the best match node, the best match node is redefined to be the respective node in the current record. Starting from the node in the current record that is closest to the root node, a prefix stored at each node in the current record is compared to the prefix of the data element until a value of the prefix stored at a respective node in the current record exceeds or is equal to a value of the prefix of the data element, and then a record pointed to by a pointer corresponding to the respective node is defined to be the current record, or until the value of the prefix of the data element exceeds a value of a node of the current record that is furthest from the root node, and then a record pointed to by a pointer from the furthest node is defined as the current record. The search is repeated until the current record is a root record or until the prefix of the data element is identical to the prefix stored at the respective node.

Method of and apparatus for generating a tree data structure supporting longest match lookup


A microminiature moving device has disposed on a single-crystal silicon substrate movable elements such as a movable rod and a movable comb electrode that are displaceable in parallel to the substrate surface and stationary parts that are fixedly secured to the single-crystal silicon substrate with an insulating layer sandwiched between. Depressions are formed in the surface regions of the single-crystal silicon substrate where no stationary parts are present and the movable parts are positioned above the depressions. The depressions form gaps large enough to prevent foreign bodies from causing shorts and malfunctioning of the movable parts.

The present invention relates to a microminiature moving device that is fabricated by micromachining technologies including photolithography, etching, etc. and, more particularly, to a microminiature moving device provided with moving parts that are freely displaceable in parallel to the substrate surface.
Microminiature moving devices of this kind include such, for example, as a microminiature optical switch, a microminiature accelerometer, and microminiature relay device. These microminiature moving devices are usually fabricated using a three-layered SOI (Silicon On Insulator) substrate that has an insulating layer sandwiched between a single-crystal silicon layer and a singe-crystal silicon substrate.
FIG. 1 shows, as a prior art example of the microminiature moving device, the optical switch described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,462 (issued Nov. 13, 2001, hereinafter referred to as document 1). FIG. 2 shows a sequence of steps involved in the manufacture of the optical switch disclosed in document 1. Referring first to FIG. 1, the configuration of the optical switch will be described.
In the top surface of a plate-like flat substrate 11, which is an SOI substrate, there are formed crosswise four optical fiber insertion channels 12a to 12d, providing an actuator forming area 11′ defined by the fiber insertion channels 12a and 12b extending at right angles to each other. In the actuator forming area 11′ there is formed a slot 13 extending at an angle of 45° with respect to the fiber insertion channels 12a and 12b, respectively. Disposed in the slot 13 is a movable rod 14.
The movable rod 14 carries at one end thereof a mirror 15, which is initially positioned at the intersection area 16 of the four fiber insertion channels 12a to 12d extending at right angles to one another. The movable rod 14 has coupled to its both sides intermediately thereof support beams 17a and 17b at one end thereof, the other ends of the support beams 17a and 17b being fixed to stationary parts 19a and 19b through leaf-spring-like support elements 18a and 18b, respectively. Similarly, support beams 17c and 17d are each coupled at one end to either side of the other end of the movable rod 14 opposite to its inner end, and the other ends of the support beams 17c and 17d are also fixed to the stationary parts 19a and 19b through leaf-spring-like support elements 18c and 18d, respectively. Thus the leaf-spring-like support elements 18a through 18d allow the movable rod 14 to move lengthwise thereof.
The movable rod 14 is driven by a comb-type electrostatic actuator, which is composed of movable comb electrodes 21a to 21d fixed to the support beams 17a to 17d, respectively, and stationary comb electrodes 22a to 22d fixedly formed in the actuator forming area 11′ so that they are interleaved with the movable comb electrodes 21a to 21d, respectively.
A voltage application between the movable comb electrodes 21a, 21b and the stationary comb electrodes 22a, 22b creates an electrostatic attractive force, driving the movable rode 14 toward the afore-mentioned intersection area 16. On the other hand, a voltage application between the movable comb electrodes 21c, 21d and the stationary comb electrodes 22c, 22d creates an electrostatic attractive force, driving the movable rod 14 away from the intersection area 16. Accordingly, driving the movable rod 14 by the comb-type electrostatic actuator through selective voltage application allows the mirror 15 to be pushed into and pulled out of the intersection area 16.
In the four fiber insertion channels 12a to 12d there are disposed optical fibers 23a to 23d, respectively. With the mirror 15 held at the intersection area 16, light emitted from the optical fiber 23a, for instance, reflects off the mirror 15 and impinges on the optical fiber 23d, and light emitted from the optical fiber 23b also reflects off the mirror 15 and strikes on the optical fiber 23c. With the mirror 15 pulled out of the intersection area 16, the light emitted from the optical fiber 23a is incident on the optical fiber 23c, and the light emitted from the optical fiber 23b is also incident on the optical fiber 23d. In this way, the optical path is switched.
FIG. 2 shows a sequence of steps S1 to S3 involved in the manufacture of the conventional optical switch described above. The manufacture starts with step S1 in which an SOI substrate 30 is prepared which has a silicon dioxide (SiO2) insulating layer 32 sandwiched between a single-crystal silicon layer 33 and a single-crystal silicon substrate 31, which is followed by the formation of a mask 34 of a required pattern over the entire surface area of the single-crystal silicon layer 33 by patterning. Then in step S2 the single-crystal silicon layer 33 is selectively etched away down to the surface of the insulating layer 32 by reactive ion etching (RIE) through the mask 34, leaving the required pattern all over the insulating layer 32.
The thin webs 35 of the single-crystal silicon layer 33 formed in step S2 correspond to such movable elements as the movable rod 14, the mirror 15, the support beams 17a to 17d, the leaf-spring-like support elements 18a to 18d and the movable comb electrodes 21a to 21d in FIG. 1, whereas the thick webs 36 will ultimately form the stationary parts 19a, 19b and other stationary members that are fixed to the single-crystal silicon substrate 31 in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2 the movable elements and the stationary parts are merely exemplified.
Then in step S2 the exposed insulating layer 32 is subjected to wet etching until the insulating layer 32 underlying the thin webs 35 is removed by side etching. As a result, the thin webs 35 are suspended slightly above the single-crystal silicon substrate 31 as indicated by 37 in step S3; that is, the movable elements formed by the thin webs 35 are severed by the selective removal of the insulating layer 32 from the single-crystal silicon substrate 31 so that they are freely displaceable. The thin web 35 of the single-crystal silicon layer 33, which forms the mirror 15, is coated on both sides thereof with reflecting films.
With the manufacturing method shown in FIG. 2, the insulating layer 32 of the SOI substrate 30, which underlies the movable elements formed by the single-crystal silicon layer 33, is etched away to permit displacement of the movable elements.
As described above, the microminiature moving device of the type having movable elements displaceable in parallel to the substrate surface is usually fabricated using the SOI substrate 30, and the intermediate insulating layer 32 is selectively etched away to form the movable elements (thin webs 35) each separated by a slight gap from the underlying single-crystal silicon substrate 31.
Since the intermediate insulating layer 32 of the SOI substrate 30 is typically 3 μm or so at a maximum, however, the gap between the movable elements (thin webs 35) and the single-crystal silicon substrate 31 is so narrow that even the smallest foreign body in the gap will be likely to disturb normal working of the movable elements.
Furthermore, at the same time as the insulating layer 32 underlying the movable elements (thin webs 35) is etched away, the insulating layer 32 underlying the stationary parts (thick webs 36) is also removed by side etching to form between the stationary parts (thick webs 36) and the underlying single-crystal silicon substrate 31 a gap of the same width as that of the side etching of the insulating layer 32 underlying the movable parts (thin webs 35); hence, foreign bodies may sometimes get into the gap, too. In this instance, there is a fear of shorting the single-crystal silicon substrate 31 and the stationary parts (thick webs 36) via the foreign bodies—this may occasionally produce the situation of shorting the stationary parts (thick webs 36) via the foreign bodies and the single-crystal silicon substrate 31.
Accordingly, the conventional microminiature moving device has the defect of accidental shorting and hence malfunction of the two stationary parts that are used as electrodes for voltage application to the comb-type electrostatic actuator.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of making microminiature moving device

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry Limited


A valve alignment tool for correctly aligning the valve box above each shut off valve in the water pipes of a underground water main. The valve alignment tool fits over the square stem nut of the gate valve, and fits in sliding engagement with the valve box to align the bottom of the valve box around the square stem nut of the gate valve. The top of the valve alignment tool protrudes above the surface of the ground and contains a bubble level so that it can be held vertically as the sections the valve box are slid down the outside of the valve alignment tool. When the trench around the underground water main has been filled in, and the top section of the valve box has been put in place, the valve alignment tool is withdrawn.

The construction of underground water mains involves several steps. First trenches are dug to below the frost line for the underground water main, and each of the branches to each building. Next the water pipes are laid in the trenches and are connected together. Both ends of each underground water main are supplied with water, and underground water mains are placed periodically to allow any section to be isolated. At each branch there is also a shut off valve. This arrangement allows the branch, or either side of the main to be isolated.
Multi-part valve boxes are placed above the valve stem to create a channel to the surface, which is capped. When the cap is removed, and a valve wrench is lowered to the valve stem, the valve may be opened or shut from the surface. For the valve wrench to operate the valve, the valve box must be accurately located around the valve stem, and the valve box must be vertical or plumb.
The valve boxes are manually placed on the valve as the trench is being filled in and the dirt is being tamped. The valve box may be inaccurately placed laterally or may be moved, during the filling operation, by the machinery or by the uneven pressure of the untamped earth. The valve box may be inaccurately placed vertically, or bent at a joint, or may be moved during the filling operation. In either case, if the valve boxes are inaccurately placed, the valve wrench cannot turn the valve stem, and the valve box must be dug up and re-set.


A wireless sensor for indicating a physical state within an environment includes a housing defining a hermetically sealed cavity. A structure located within the cavity of the housing has elements providing capacitance, the elements being arranged such that the distance and thereby the capacitance of the structure changes when a physical state of the environment changes. The structure has a resonant frequency based at least in part on the capacitance of the structure when in the presence of a fluctuating electromagnetic field. When the sensor is positioned within an environment and is subjected to a fluctuating electromagnetic field, the resonant frequency indicates the physical state of the environment.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms represent a dilatation and weakening of the abdominal aorta which can lead to aortic rupture and sudden death. Previously, the medical treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms required complicated surgery with an associated high risk of injury to the patient. More recently, endografts (combining stents and grafts into a single device) have been developed that can be inserted through small incisions in the groin. Once in place, these endografts seal off the weakened section of the aorta. The aneurysms can then heal, eliminating the risk of sudden rupture. This less invasive form of treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysms has rapidly become the standard of care for this disease. An example of an endograft device is disclosed in Kornberg, U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,932.
A significant problem with endografts is that, due to inadequate sealing of the graft with the aorta, leaks can develop that allow blood to continue to fill the aneurysmal sac. Left undiscovered, the sac will continue to expand and potentially rupture. To address this situation, patients who have received endograft treatment for their abdominal aortic aneurysms are subjected to complex procedures that rely on injection of contrast agents to visualize the interior of the aneurysm sac. These procedures are expensive, not sensitive, and painful. In addition, they subject the patient to additional risk of injury. See, for example, Baum R A et al., "Aneurysm sac pressure measurements after endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms," The Journal of Vascular Surgery, January 2001, and Schurink G W et al., "Endoleakage after stent-graft treatment of abdominal aneurysm: implications on pressure and imaging—an in vitro study," The Journal of Vascular Surgery, August 1998. These articles provide further confirmation of the problem of endograft leakage and the value of intra-sac pressure measurements for monitoring of this condition.
Thus, there is a need for a method of monitor the pressure within an aneurysm sac that has undergone repair by implantation of an endograft to be able to identify the potential presence of endoleaks. Furthermore, this method should be accurate, reliable, safe, simple to use, inexpensive to manufacture, convenient to implant and comfortable to the patient.
An ideal method of accomplishing all of the above objectives would be to place a device capable of measuring pressure within the aneurysm sac at the time of endograft insertion. By utilizing an external device to display the pressure being measured by the sensor, the physician will obtain an immediate assessment of the success of the endograft at time of the procedure, and outpatient follow-up visits will allow simple monitoring of the success of the endograft implantation.
An example of an implantable pressure sensor designed to monitor pressure increases within an aneurysmal sac is shown in Van Bockel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,156. While some of the above objectives are accomplished, this device has multiple problems that would make its use impractical. For example, the sensor system disclosed in the Van Bockel patent relies on a mechanical sensing element that cannot be practically manufactured in dimensions that would allow for endovascular introduction. In addition, this type of pressure sensor would be subject to many problems in use that would limit its accuracy, stability and reliability. One example would be the interconnection of transponder and sensor as taught by Van Bockel, such interconnection being exposed to body fluids which could disrupt its function. This would impact the device's ability to maintain accurate pressure reading over long periods of time. A fundamental problem with sensors is their tendency to drift over time. A sensor described in the Van Bockel patent would be subject to drift as a result of its failure to seal the pressure sensing circuit from the external environment. Also, by failing to take advantage of specific approaches to electronic component fabrication, allowing for extensive miniaturization, the Van Bockel device requires a complex system for acquiring data from the sensor necessary for the physician to make an accurate determination of intra-aneurysmal pressure.

ST. JUDE MEDICAL LUXEMBOURG HOLDINGS II S.A.R.L. (“SJM LUX II”)


A two-layer retroreflective article construction is enabled that produces higher wide-entrance-angle performance for signs and pavement markings. A single-layer overlay is enabled for existing signs and pavement markers that improve their entrance angle performance. Materials used in the construction of an article or an overlay are transparent to radiation in the range of 400 to 1000 nanometers and utilize TIR (total internal reflection). Minimum performance specifications are proposed that extend sign sheeting retroreflectivity specifications to entrance angles of 60 degrees. An innovative traffic sign design is enabled that increases the positioning performance of safety systems and automated navigation systems.

Retroreflective sheeting is often used in roadway signs and conspicuity garments to increase nighttime visibility. Retroreflective adhesive materials are used as pavement markers and vehicle reflectors. Such retroreflective sheeting and materials typically comprise a layer of transparent material having a substantially smooth front surface, and a rear surface provided with a plurality of retroreflective elements. The most common retroreflective elements are beads or similar spherical elements having a different index of refraction than the transparent material, or retroreflective geometric features, such as a series of trihedral-shaped features referred to as cube corners because of the internal corner that is formed by the three mutually perpendicular flat surfaces of the trihedral structure.
Retroreflectivity is a ratio of the amount of light returned from a surface versus the amount of light hitting that surface. The retroreflective elements in retroreflective sheeting and materials enhance retroreflectivity by utilizing the phenomenon of total internal reflection (TIR). TIR occurs when a propagated wave internally strikes a medium boundary at an angle of incidence relative to a line perpendicular or normal to the boundary where the propagated wave strikes the boundary that is larger than a particular critical angle with respect to the normal to the boundary of that medium. The critical angle is the angle of incidence above which the TIR occurs and is a function of the relative difference between the indices of refraction of the two different materials that define the boundary.
TIR is particularly common as an optical phenomenon, where light waves are involved, but it occurs with many types of waves, such as electromagnetic waves in general or sound waves. When a wave reaches a boundary between different materials with different refractive indices, part of the wave will be partially refracted at the boundary surface and part of the wave will be partially reflected. However, if the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle—the angle of incidence at which light is refracted such that it travels along the boundary—then the wave will not cross the boundary but will instead be totally reflected back internally within that medium. This can only occur when the wave in a medium with a higher refractive index (n1) reaches a boundary with a medium of lower refractive index (n2).
Light beams or waves entering the front surface of a retroreflective sheeting or material are measured according to an entrance angle that, like an angle of incidence, is determined relative to a normal of the surface where the beam or wave enters the surface. Depending upon the entrance angle and the differences in the indices of refraction, the light beams may experience TIR internal to the medium of the retroreflective sheeting or material and are then completely reflected internally within the medium and back out in the direction from which the light beams came. Ideally, such retroreflective sheeting or material should be able to retroreflect light beams entering the front surface not only at low entrance angles that are near zero (i.e. in a direction near normal to the sheeting), but also at high entrance angles. Because the ability to internally reflect light at high entrance angles is dependent on the difference between the indices of refraction of the material forming the retroreflective elements and the material that interfaces with the back surface, many versions of retroreflective sheeting provide an air space behind the retroreflective elements in order to maximize this difference. However, even when such an air space is used, light entering the retroreflective elements beyond a certain critical angle will leak out as partially refracted light, thereby reducing the retroreflectivity of the sheeting. Air spaces behind the reflective base material can also cause problems with durability and with the infusion of foreign, life-reducing materials.
To overcome these shortcomings, retroreflective sheeting has been developed that employs, in lieu of air spaces, a solid backing layer having an index of refraction that is lower than the index of refraction of the material used to form the retroreflective elements. While such sheeting is structurally sounder and stronger than comparable sheeting employing air spaces behind the retroreflective elements, the ability of such sheeting to provide TIR for a broad range of entrance angles is significantly less than that of air-backed articles because the difference in the index of refraction between the material forming the retroreflective elements and the material forming the solid backing layer is less. For example, if the retroreflective elements are cube corners formed from polycarbonate having an index of refraction n=1.59, and the solid backing material is cryolite having an index of refraction of n=1.32, the difference between the indices of refraction is 1.59−1.32=0.27. By contrast, when the backing layer is formed from air having an index of refraction n=1.00, the difference between the indices of refraction is 1.59−1.00=0.59 which is more than twice as much as 0.27.
To increase the critical angle for TIR, materials having an index of refraction lower than cryolite have been used in such retroreflectors. For example, a thin optical film formed from particulate metal oxide such as silicon dioxide or alumina mixed with a binder has been applied as a backing layer to retroreflective sheeting. The resulting backing layer is characterized by nanoporosity and can have an index of refraction as low as 1.10.
Another approach to increase the entrance angle at which a retroreflector exhibits some degree of retroreflectivity is to apply a reflective metallic layer such as vacuum-deposited aluminum to the back surface. In such a structure, when light enters the cube corners, for example, it exhibits specular reflection off of the metallic layer when it reaches the faces of the cube corners, and is retroreflected back toward its source, even when entering at angles beyond the critical angle for TIR in an air-backed structure. In addition to increasing the entrance angle at which the retroreflector exhibits some degree of retroreflectivity, metallization provides a seal over the back surface of the retroreflective elements that prevents TIR-destroying dirt and moisture from lodging on the back surfaces which would in turn degrade or destroy the ability of the retroreflective elements to provide TIR.
Unfortunately, metallization has the disadvantage of reducing the overall retroreflectance of the article. Unlike TIR, for which reflectance is 100%, aluminum has a reflectance of only about 85%. Consequently, the intensity of a retroreflected ray of light that is reflected off of three aluminized faces is reduced to about (85%)3 or roughly 61% of its corresponding TIR intensity.
Illustrative examples of cube corner type retroreflectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,606 (Heenan), U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,706 (Stamm), U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,804 (Rowland), U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,159 (McGrath), U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,600 (Burke), U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,618 (Van Arnam), U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,598 (White), U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,850 (Martens), U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,258 (Hoopman), U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,219 (Appeldorn), U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,428 (Nelson), U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,235 (Smith), U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,846 (Benson), U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,610 (Northey), U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,367 (Benson), U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,527 (Smith), and U.S. Pat. No. 9,703,023 (Smith).
Various attempts have been made to produce retroreflectors that enhance performance and/or improve on the entrance angles at which TIR occurs. U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,810 (Fleming) discloses wrapping the cube corners of a reflective layer within multiple layers of polymer coating material having different indices of refraction. U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,921 (Mimura) discloses specific packing and angular arrangements of cube corners within different zones of a reflective layer to improve entrance angle performance. U.S. Pat. No. 7,784,952 (Yukawa) discloses a sheeting material with improved entrance angle performance produced with embedded glass beads used as a focusing layer for a metal reflective layer on the back side of the focusing layer. U.S. Pat. No. 8,651,720 (Sherman) adds a viscoelastic light guide to some embodiments of retroreflective sheeting. U.S. Pat. No. 9,575,225 (Kim) discloses a step retroreflector for improved entrance angle performance by using a main cube corner with sub-reflective corners on a shared surface to increase performance in the axis orthogonal to the step retroreflector. U.S. Pat. No. 9,651,721 (Chapman) discloses increased entrance angle performance by increasing the difference between the indices of refraction a retroreflective layer and by lowering the index of refraction and providing nanopore structure in a backing material layer. U.S. Pat. No. 9,910,194 (Benton Free) discloses both optically active and inactive regions of the retroreflective sheeting. U.S. Pat. No. 9,971,074 (Chatterjee) discloses the addition of an amorphous polymeric layer between the body layer and the cube corner elements to increase brightness.
Most retroreflective articles used in connection with transportation applications have been optimized for nighttime detection in the visible spectrum, roughly 400-700 nanometers. With the advent of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems), ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control), LDW (Lane Departure Warning) Systems, LKS (Lane Keep Systems), and CAVs (Connected and Automated Vehicles), many automotive deployments are resorting to NIR (Near Infrared) active sensors to perform object sensing and detecting.
Various attempts have been made to enhance and/or provide selective retroreflective articles in different spectral ranges other than the visible spectrum. U.S. Pat. No. 8,496,339 (Nakajima) discloses an optical structure layer and a wavelength selective reflective layer to control the range of wavelength subject to retroreflection. U.S. Pat. No. 8,783,879 (Smith) teaches altering the performance characteristics of a cube corner design by introducing roughness into cube corner faces. U.S. Pat. No. 9,746,591 (Lu) discloses a multilayer retroreflective film that improves structural integrity by using a strengthening layer and buffering sections between retroreflective elements in the retroreflective layer. U.S. Pat. No. 9,964,676 (Nagahama) discloses a wavelength selective retroreflective material that includes a concavo-convex surface with first and second structural elements with different angles for aspects of the cube corners in the retroreflective layer.
Prior art pavement marking materials, and even road signage, can exhibit reduced performance in wet conditions due to varying optical paths for wet and dry conditions. Techniques used to increase performance for wet/dry pavement marking articles, for example, include approaches like adding glass or ceramic beads of different diameters to the article surface to account for varying optical paths for wet and dry conditions. This construction increases the cost of the article and reduces the durability.
In view of the increased requirements for retroreflective articles designed for use with autonomous vehicle machine visions systems, there is a need for new approaches to the design, construction and use of retroreflective articles that can improve both daytime and nighttime performance, can be applicable to both visible and NIR spectrums, and/or can provide more consistent performance in different environmental conditions.

Methods and apparatus for ultrawide entrance angle reflective articles for use with autonomous vehicle machine vision systems


A zipper switch for the DC motor of a ceiling fan has an upper shell and a lower shell. The upper shell is pivotally disposed with an activating disk, an elastic element, and a zipper connected with the activating disk. One side of the activating disk has a connecting part that is disposed with a metal plate. Contacts are formed on both sides of the connecting part. The lower shell accommodates the connecting part. A conductive elastic plate is provided on both sides of the metal plate contacts. The rotation of the activating disk enables the contacts of the metal plate to have instantaneous contacts with the corresponding conductive elastic plates that are connected with wires. An instantaneous electrical current is thus produced.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a zipper switch for the DC motor of a ceiling fan and, in particular, to a zipper switch that switches on a circuit and provides an instantaneous electrical current.
2. Related Art
For an AC ceiling fan, a common trigger method is implemented by continuously providing electricity to start the fan or change the rotation speed thereof. As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, a zipper switch 9 that can continuously provide electricity in the prior art consists mainly of an upper shell 91 and a lower shell 92 connected together. The upper shell 91 has an activating disk 911, a zipper 912, a torque spring 913, and a pressing cover 914. The activating disk 911 and the torque spring 913 are pivotally disposed at the center of the upper shell. The zipper 912 is connected to the activating disk 911. The center on one side of the activating disk 911 is protruded with four pushing parts 9111 with a slant surface. By pulling the zipper 912, one rotates the activating disk 911 with respect to the center of the upper shell 91. The pushing parts 9111 are driven to rotate along the same direction and advance by the distance of one pushing part. On the other hand, when the zipper 912 is released, the torque spring 913 makes the pushing parts 9111 rotate in the opposite direction and back by the distance of one pushing part.
The above-mentioned lower shell 92 has a rotating block 921 and two conductive elastic plates 922. The rotating block 921 is pivotally disposed at the center of the lower shell 921. It has a conductive elastic plate 9211 to form contact points on both sides. The outer side of the rotating block 921 is disposed using four passive parts 9212 corresponding to the pushing parts 9111. The conductive elastic plate 922 is disposed in the vicinity of the rotating block 921. Therefore, the pushing force produced when the pushing parts 9111 rotate forward can push the passive parts 9212, so that the passive parts 9212 rotate one quarter of the circumference along one direction. After first puling and releasing the zipper 912, it is switched a connect mode, as shown in FIG. 5. When the zipper 912 is pulled and released again, it is switched to a disconnect mode, as shown in FIG. 6. This enables the two contact points of the conductive elastic plate 9211 to switch between connect and disconnect modes with the conductive elastic plate 922, producing the On and Off effects.
However, the zipper switch can only be applied to an AC motor. For a DC motor, the trigger method has to be achieved using an instantaneous current. The conventional zipper switch cannot accomplish this goal.

Zipper switch for the DC motor of a ceiling fan


A dynamic type memory used as a video memory achieves high speed access operations, reduction of occupying area of the memory, and a stablization of data holding (retention) characteristics, through the use of an organization dividing plural bit lines of the memory into bit line groups, and selecting one group at a time for connection with a register. A design of a system using the dynamic type memory can be facilitated due to the installation of delay circuits in the memory.

(1) Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a structure of a dynamic type memory applicable to a video memory device and particularly to the structure of a dynamic type memory in which data input/output to and from a memory cell array is carried out via a register. The register converts input or output signals from serial-to-parallel form or parallel-to-serial form.
(2) Description of the prior art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional video memory.
In FIG. 1, numeral 1 denotes each memory cell, numeral 2 denotes a memory cell array (64 Kilobits or 64 KB) constituted by a plurality of the memory cells, numeral 3 denotes a sensing amplifier, numeral 4 denotes a row decoder, and numeral 5 denotes a register for converting a video signal having 256 bits for each horizontal period (H) read from the memory cell array 2 in a bit-parallel form into a bit-serial form.
The video memory shown in FIG. 1 transfers, for example, a 256-bit signal (read via a single word line selected by means of the row decoder 4) to the register 5, which register has a number of bits equal to the number of bit lines, in bit-parallel form, the register 5 outputting the 256-bit signal to an external device from the video memory in the bit-serial form. A high-speed reading of such a serial data is carried out by repetitions of switching the selected one of the word lines. In addition, such a video memory of a dynamic memory cell type is commonly used since it is superior in its high-speed processing capability, high-density integration, and reduced power consumption.
In a case where the video memory shown in FIG. 1 is constituted by the dynamic type memory described above, a holding capability of holding information stored in each memory cell 1 for a period of time more than a constant duration is necessarily required. As a large storage capacity of the memory is advanced along with a higher quality of video images, a higher holding capability is required for each memory cell. It becomes difficult to meet such a higher demand.
A more detailed description of its difficulty in meeting the demand will be made as follows.
That is to say, the video memory shown in FIG. 1 needs to continue to hold a stored signal for a time duration from a time when one of the word lines to access the stored signal in the corresponding memory cell is selected up to a next time when the same word line is selected. The selection of the word lines is carried out in such an order that at first the first word line, secondly the second word line, and finally the 256th word line and in this order one reading of the memory signals is completed. Upon completion of the reading of the stored signal from the 256th word line, the reading is returned to the first word line. The time duration required to hold the stored signal is a product of a cycle time of the serial data, the number of bit lines, and the number of the word lines. Specifically, suppose that the cycle time is 70 nanoseconds (nS) in the case of 64 KB video memory. The time duration described above is 4.6 milliseconds (mS). In the case of 256 KB video memory the time duration amounts to 18 mS. Therefore, it is not easy for all memory cells to hold the stored signals for such a long time duration. This provides the cause of reducing a yield of the video memory products, and a major problem arises due to the strict demand for the memory cells to have the high information holding capabilities.
On the other hand, in the conventional video memory shown in FIG. 1, the capacity of the register 5 which converts the video signal in the bit-parallel form into the bit-serial form needs to be, for example, 256 bits per one horizontal line (1H). Therefore, an occupying area of the register 5 becomes very large so that an area of one semiconductor chip for the dynamic type memory needs accordingly to be large.
Furthermore, the following problem occurs in the conventional video memory shown in FIG. 2.
In FIG. 2, numeral 6 denotes a portion of the video memory, numeral 2 denotes the memory cell array comprising a multiple number of storage elements. Numeral 5i denotes an input shift register for converting the input video signal inputted in the serial form into the parallel signal for one horizontal line (H), the video signal in the parallel form stored in the shift register 5.sub.i being stored in the memory cell array 2. Numeral 5.sub.o denotes the shift register outputting the bit-serial signals with the video signal read from the memory cell array 2 in the bit-parallel mode stored.
Numeral 4 denotes a row decoder, numeral 7 denotes a control circuit which latches external control signals in response to a reference clock pulse externally provided and controls the memory cell array 2 in response to the respective control signals. The control circuit 7 includes a latch portion 8 which latches the control signals and a control portion 9 controlling the memory cell array 2.
Numeral 10 denotes a control unit for controlling the memory 6 externally. Control signals produced on the basis of the reference clock pulse and also the reference clock are supplied to the memory portion 6. Numeral 11 denotes a crystal oscillator, numeral 12 denotes an original oscillator for generating an original oscillating pulse using the crystal oscillator 11. Numeral 13 denotes a clock pulse generator for dividing and shaping the output signal from the original oscillator 12 to generate a reference clock pulse (3.58 (subcarriers).times.4 MHz). Symbols LG 1 to LG n denote logic circuits for providing desired various kinds of control signals from the above-described reference clock pulse. Symbols DL 1 to DL n denote delay circuits for delaying the control signals produced by the logic circuits LG 1 to LG n by a predetermined time. The respective control signals are delayed by means of the delay circuits DL and inputted into the memory portion 6.
The reasons that the control signals are delayed by means of the delay circuits and applied to the memory 6 will be described below.
That is to say, each control signal needs to rise or fall at a timing prescribed according to a set-up time or hold time determined according to characteristics and capabilities of the control circuit 7 of the memory portion 6 with respect to the falling edge (or rising edge) of the reference clock pulse.
For example, to latch the control signals, as shown in FIG. 3, each control signal needs to rise (or fall) prior to, e.g., the rising edge of the reference clock pulse by at least more than set-up time and each control signal needs to be held in the rising state (or falling state) during the hold time after the reference clock pulse rises. However, the control signal derived from each logic circuit LG is synchronized with the rising edge (or falling edge) of the reference clock pulse. The control signal cannot rise (or fall) prior to the rising edge of the rising (or falling) of the reference clock by the set-up time and holds its rising state (or falling state) until the passage of time of the hold time after the reference clock pulse rises (or falls). This is called the requirements of the set-up time and hold time, which must be satisfied. In order to meet the requirements of the set-up time and hold time, an appropriate delay needs to be provided for each control signal. The delay circuits DL 1, DL 2, . . . DL n are installed to provide the delays.
Another major problem arises in the conventional video memory.
The delay time provided for the control signals by means of the above-described delay circuits DL 1, DL 2, . . . , DL n is not dependent on the performance of the control circuit 7 but dependent on the performance of the memory 6. Therefore, the design of the control circuit 7 needs to follow the selection of the memory.
A video equipment manufacturer needs to manufacture logic circuits and/or delay circuits after the selection of one of the video memories manufactured by a semiconductor manufacturer. Therefore, an interval of time from the time when a new product is developed to a time when the new product is sold becomes very long so that it becomes difficult to adapt such a recent trend that a life cycle of a new product becomes shortened.

Dynamic memory with group bit lines and associated bit line group selector


A system and method for a transport independent gaming API for mobile devices. The gaming API allows for a multi-player gaming session between mobile devices where the transport protocol between the mobile devices may be switched transparently to both the user and the game application. The gaming API is switched according to which transport protocol is determined as the optimal protocol for transmitting game data according to specified parameters.

Mobile devices such as pocket PCs, mobile phones, personal data assistants, and the like are continuing to gain functionality as each device merges into the service space provided by the other devices. A user has a choice of functions and activities that may be executed on any one of these devices. In addition to handling voice data, portable computing, and data management, the devices can support a variety of applications such as e-mail, Web browser, note and word processing applications, games, and the like.
As the variety of transport protocols increases for these mobile devices, each of these applications may take on further functionality. In one example, certain games on the mobile devices have emerged to allow a user of the mobile device to play the game against an opponent that is using another mobile device. Certain games may be played between users of mobile devices using e-mail, or played using Short Messaging Service (SMS), and still further games may be played over an infrared connection, or possibly a wired connection. The increased variety of transport protocols for mobile devices is accompanied by an increased variety of games to be played on the mobile devices.

System and method for a transport independent gaming API for mobile devices


A switching mode power supply includes: a power supply unit that comprises a switch that is coupled to a primary coil at a primary side of a transformer for converting an input DC voltage, and that supplies power to a secondary coil and a tertiary coil at a secondary side of the transformer according to an operation of the switch; a switching controller that receives a feedback voltage corresponding to a first voltage generated in the secondary coil at the secondary side of the transformer, and receives a detection signal corresponding to a current flowing to the switch to control an on/off operation of the switch; and a feedback signal generator that receives the first voltage and the switching control signal, samples the first voltage by using first pulse strings, and generates the feedback voltage according to a level of the first voltage sampled by a first pulse in the first pulse strings, wherein a toggling time of the first pulse strings is changed in a first period for sampling the first voltage, and a time for sampling the first voltage is changed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switching mode power supply and a driving method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A switching mode power supply (hereinafter referred to as an "SMPS") is a device that rectifies an input AC voltage to an input DC voltage (DC-link voltage) and then converts the input DC voltage to an output DC voltage having another level. The output DC voltage can be higher or lower than the input DC voltage. An SMPS is often used in battery powered devices such as power electric devices, mobile phones, and laptop computers.
In general, an SMPS can include a transformer, and has a switching transistor at a primary side of a transformer that receives a DC voltage and controls the duty of the switching transistor. An SMPS can use a feedback loop to transfer a voltage or a current of an output unit to the primary side of the transformer, e.g., through an opto-coupler or through a shunt regulator that is coupled to the output side of the transformer. Application of such a feedback loop allows delivery of a regulated output DC voltage through the output unit.
However, since opto-couplers and shunt regulators are expensive and large, it is difficult to highly integrate an SMPS into circuits and contain cost.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Switching mode power supply and driving method thereof


An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a substrate including a display area and a peripheral area surrounding the display area, a plurality of pixels being disposed in the display area, a plurality of first electrodes in the display area, a plurality of stripe-shaped second electrodes in the display area, the second electrodes extending in a first direction and being spaced apart from each other in a second direction crossing the first direction, and each of the plurality of the second electrodes having an uneven thickness along a third direction inside the display area, an intermediate layer between corresponding first and second electrodes, the intermediate layer having a light-emitting layer, and a connection wiring in the peripheral area, the connection wiring electrically connecting the plurality of the second electrodes with each other.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to an organic light-emitting display apparatus, a method of manufacturing the same, and a mask that is used for the manufacturing of the same. More particularly, one or more embodiments relate to an organic light-emitting display apparatus for preventing deterioration of display image quality that may be caused by a voltage drop, a method of manufacturing the same, and a mask that is used for the manufacturing.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes an organic-light emitting diode (OLED), in which an intermediate layer that includes a light-emitting layer is interposed between a pixel electrode and an opposite electrode, in a pixel or a sub-pixel. Such an organic light-emitting display apparatus generally controls whether each pixel emits light or a degree of light emission, via a thin-film transistor (TFT) which is electrically connected to the pixel electrode. The opposite electrode is formed as one body with regard to a plurality of pixels or sub-pixels.

Organic light-emitting display apparatus, method of manufacturing the same, and mask that is used for the manufacturing


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device including a first conductive type impurity region formed by introducing a first conductive type impurities in a first region of a semiconductor region and heating the first region, a second conductive type impurity region formed by introducing a second conductive type impurities in a second region of the semiconductor region and heating the second region, the method including covering the second region with a mask and then introducing the first conductive type impurities in a surface of the first region, removing the mask by a process using gas including oxygen while forming an oxide film on the surface of the first region by the processing using the gas including the oxygen, and introducing the second conductive type impurities in a surface of the second region by using the oxide film as a mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising forming n-type and p-type impurity regions in a semiconductor region.
2. Description of Related Art
A manufacturing process of CMOSFET includes a step of doping n-type impurities into a polycrystalline silicon film to be process into a gate electrode and a step of doping p-type impurities into the polycrystalline silicon film, wherein the n-type impurities are doped into an nMOS forming region of the polycrystalline silicon film and the p-type impurities are doped into a pMOS forming region of the polycrystalline silicon film (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. H02-244629).
However, a joint portion of the nMOS forming region and the pMOS forming region, that is, a portion into which the n-type impurities and the p-type impurities are doped, has been needed to be taken into consideration along with the miniaturization of device. This problem appears more seriously in SRAM highly miniaturized.
The above problem will be explained concretely using FIGS. 16 to 19. FIGS. 16 to 19 are cross-sectional views of a gate process of conventional CMOSFET.
[FIG. 16]
An undoped polycrystalline silicon film 91 to be processed into a gate electrode is formed on an nMOS forming region and a pMOS forming region. The thickness of the polycrystalline silicon film 91 is 100 nm or greater. The polycrystalline silicon film 91 of the pMOS forming region is covered with a first photoresist mask 92. The thickness of the first photoresist mask 92 is 300 nm or greater (typically 600 nm or greater). N-type impurities (here, phosphorus ions) 93 are implanted into the polycrystalline silicon film 91 into the nMOS forming region by ion implantation process using the first photoresist mask 92 as a mask. As a result, an n-type impurities introduced region 94 is formed on a surface of the polycrystalline silicon film 91. The ion implantation process is carried out under conditions that acceleration energy is in a range of 5 to 10 keV, and a dose amount is 3-8×1015 cm−2.
[FIG. 17]
The first photoresist mask 92 is removed by using oxygen plasma ashing, and a liquid mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide solution. The polycrystalline silicon film 91 in the nMOS forming region is covered with a second photoresist mask 95. At that time, misalignment of mask is occurred in lithography step, and displacement between the second photoresist mask 95 and the n-type impurity introduced region 94 is occurred. Typically, the thickness of the second photoresist mask 95 is also 300 nm or greater. If the film thickness is thick, a taper is formed at the pattern edge of a photoresist film which has undergone baking process performed after the exposure process in the lithography step. In the ion implantation step after the lithography step, the taper causes the incident ion distribution to disperse under the photoresist mask 95. FIG. 17 shows a state where the second photoresist mask 95 is shifted rightward. As a result, a surface of left edge 96 of the n-type impurity introduced region 94 is exposed. The cause for the displacement of the second photoresist mask 95 is the misalignment of mask which occurred at the time of exposure performed to the underlying pattern of the semiconductor substrate through a glass mask.
[FIG. 18]
P-type impurities (here, boron ions) 97 are implanted into the polycrystalline silicon film 91 in the pMOS forming region by ion implantation process using the second photoresist mask 95 as a mask. As a result, a p-type impurities introduced region 98 is formed on a surface of the polycrystalline silicon film 91. The ion implantation process is carried out under the conditions that acceleration energy is 2 keV, and a dose amount is 5×1015 cm−2. At that time, since the second photoresist mask 95 is formed such that it is shifted rightward, an n-type and p-type impurities introduced region 99 of high impurity density (>1×1019 cm−3) including phosphorus and boron is formed between the n-type impurities introduced region 94 and the p-type impurities introduced region 98. Typically, the width of the n-type and p-type impurities introduced region 99 is 50 nm or greater.
[FIG. 19]
The second photoresist mask 95 is removed. Phosphorus and boron in the polycrystalline silicon film 91 are diffused by thermal treatment of 1000° C. or higher, and the phosphorus and boron are activated. As a result, three impurity regions, i.e., n-type impurity region 94′, p-type impurity region 98′, and the n-type and p-type impurity region 99′ are formed in the polycrystalline silicon film 91, then the undoped region in the polycrystalline silicon film 91 disappears.
Here, since the width of the n-type and p-type impurity region 99′ is 50 nm or more, it becomes difficult to control a threshold voltage of CMOSFET along with the miniaturization.
To reduce the width of the n-type and p-type impurity region 99′, mask alignment of higher precision is required. For this purpose, it is necessary to enhance the alignment precision of the exposure apparatus. However, much cost is required to develop an exposure apparatus having high alignment precision and thus, cost is increased at the manufacturing stage of devices.
To solve the above problem, there is a method in which a region where n-type impurities 93 are implanted and a region where p-type impurities 97 are implanted are deviated on a mask design so that the n-type impurity introduced region 94 and the p-type impurity introduced region 98 are not superposed on each other. However, this method has a problem that CAD correction work increases in a case of small lot production of many products such as SoC (System on Chip) because circuit pattern differs for each of products. Further, in some cases, it is very difficult to change the design, and a problem that the method cannot cope with the design occurs.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device


The present invention provides a method for inhibiting cytotoxic poisoning of normal cells in a subject which comprises administering to the subject an amount of a Transforming Growth Factor Beta effective to slow the growth of normal cells and thereby inhibit the cytotoxic poisoning of the normal cells in the subject. Typically, administration is topical and initiated prior to anti-neoplastic therapy such as radiation treatment or chemotherapy. The invention is particularly suited for pediatric patients.

Currently, 800,000 patients receive chemotherapy in the United States each year. Myelosuppression and mucositis are common major side effects in conventional chemotherapy and are exacerbated by high dose and/or schedule intensification. As chemotherapeutic dosage has been identified as a major predictor of treatment outcome in a variety of cancer treatment programs, overcoming dose limiting toxicity has become a major goal for oncologists. Thus, to allow intensification of chemotherapy, it will be essential to prevent these unwanted side effects.
Studies have shown that both oral and gastrointestinal toxicity are a major problem in the clinic (Guggenheimer et al., 1977; Lockhart et al., 1981; Sonis et al., 1988; and Sonis & Clark, 1991). This toxicity is very common and has become dose or schedule limiting in both standard and high dose chemotherapy. As improvements are made in management of hematopoietic toxicity, oral toxicity is more frequently dose and schedule limiting. For example, 67% of leukemia/lymphoma patients, 75% of patients receiving bone marrow transplants following therapy, and approximately 20% of breast cancer patients, suffer from oral mucositis. It has been estimated that 40% of chemotherapy patients develop oral complications (Sonis et al., 1978). Many colon cancer patients receiving 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) suffer from oral mucositis.
Chemotherapy agents which cause oral and gastrointestinal mucositis include commonly prescribed agents. Single-agent or combination therapies which result in dose or schedule limiting oral and gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity include, but are not limited to, 5-FU, methotrexate, doxorubicin, Melphalan (see also Table A), and regimens such as the AFM regimen, the CEA regimen and the CAF regimen (Sonis et al., 1990). Cytotoxic agents, such as antiviral agents, also cause mucositis.
Oral mucositis following chemotherapy is a consequence of the high proliferative rate of the normal epithelial cells lining the oral cavity. Chemotherapy-induced mucositis in the oral cavity is largely derived from injury to the basal epithelial cell layer. The epithelial lining of the mouth is generally five cells thick, with the self-renewing stem cell layer located at the base, which itself overlays a fibrous connective tissue matrix. In contrast to skin, most of the epithelium which lines the oral cavity is not highly keratinized, and therefore is able to absorb and elicit a biological response to exogenously added peptide growth factors. The epithelium at the base of the mouth divides most rapidly and is most sensitive to chemotherapy.
The extent of oral mucositis appears dependent on the cycling status of the epithelial cell layer. For example, 90% of pediatric chemotherapy patients (ages 1-20) develop oral mucositis, as compared with 18% of patients over the age of sixty (Sonis et al., 1979). Further, in animal models of oral mucositis, increasing proliferation of the oral epithelium by prior administration of most growth factor (e.g. EGF, TGF-.alpha.) markedly increases the severity of oral mucositis. These positively acting factors are currently being evaluated for wound healing.
Oral mucositis leads to epithelial thinning and ulceration resulting in severe pain, weight loss from failure to eat or drink (often requiring parenteral feeding), infection (bacterial, fungal and viral), fever, nausea and diarrhea. Symptoms peak 7 to 10 days following therapy, and gradually recede over the following two weeks. Another major complication is potentially life-threatening infection due to sepsis. Therefore, methods of preventing oral toxicity would enable escalated schedules and doses of a chemotherapy regimen, resulting in improved patient long term survival for many human cancers, notably breast, lung and testicular cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and neuroblastoma.
Chemotherapy-induced mucositis in the intestinal tract (gastrointestinal mucositis) is also marked and often dose limiting. In the development of the intestinal crypt, primitive stem cells in the proliferative zone at the base of the crypt give rise to more differentiated cell progeny which rapidly migrate to the top of the crypt. These more highly differentiated transitional cells have increasingly less capacity for self renewal and are eventually sloughed off at the top of the crypt. Cell proliferation is restricted to a centrally located band of cells (about ten cell layers deep) within the crypts. Within this band the cells divide rapidly (every ten to fourteen hours) and the product of this division activity matures and moves out of the crypt, onto the villus and is eventually lost within two to three days from the villus tip. Damage to the GI tract increases the risk of sepsis. Thus, like oral mucositis, there is a need to prevent gastrointestinal toxicity. TGF-.beta. is part of a family of multifunctional proteins which modulate, alone or in combination with other molecules, cell proliferation and differentiation. Mature TGF-.beta. is produced from a precursor form, consisting of a pro-region and mature TGF-.beta.. Known isoforms of mature TGF-.beta. are designated TGF-.beta.1, TGF-.beta.2, TGF-.beta.3, TGF-.beta.4, and TGF-.beta.5 (Brunner 1988). Mature TGF-.beta. has been isolated from various species (See EP 105,211 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,977). Across species TGF-.beta.s e.g. murine, bovine, human, and porcine show very little difference in amino acid composition. The expression of TGF-.beta. in both normal and transformed cells, and methods of producing biologically active mature TGF-.beta. from eucaryotic cells have been described (Madisen et al., 1988, Pincher et al., 1985, Assoian et al., 1983, Wrann et al., 1987).
TGF-.alpha. and TGF-.beta. are not homologous structures at the protein level and do not exhibit any sequence conservation at the nucleic acid level. As shown in Table 1 below, their physical and biological properties are also different.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ COMPARISON OF PROPERTIES OF TGF-.alpha. and TGF-.beta. TGF-.alpha. TGF-.beta. ______________________________________ Physical Properties: Quaternary structure monomer dimer Subunit (amino acids) 50 112 Biological Properties: EGF receptor-binding + - Mitogenic activity in + - epithelial cells Arrests cell cycle in - + epithelial cells Stimulates fetal bone and - + collagen production ______________________________________
The ability of growth factors to accelerate healing is well known. Recently, Florine et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,870, issued Apr. 7, 1992, described the use of positively acting growth factors and combinations to aid in the healing of oral mucositis. In contrast, TGF-.beta. is a negative regulator of epithelial cell division.
Myelosuppression has been a major dose-limiting toxicity in cancer chemotherapy, and antiviral therapy, e.g. AZT in AIDS therapy or management, which derives from the high proliferative rate of the hematopoietic compartment. The bone marrow contains a totipotent stem cell population that can give rise to a wide variety of cell types involved in oxygen transport, defense against infection. Granulocyte and neutrophil progenitor cells proliferate rapidly and their mature counterparts live only one to two days in the circulation. Consequently, 10-14 days after initiation of chemotherapy, the granulocyte and neutrophil population fall rapidly to a nadir. A reduction in megakaryocyte and erythroid precursor cell populations are also observed but this is less pronounced due to the longer life of their differentiated progeny. Thus, in many of the conventional protocols, chemotherapy is scheduled to maximize granulocyte/neutrophil recovery and to minimize infection.
Recent animal model data suggest that the ability to reconstitute the mature blood cell types decreases progressively with multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and administration of either G-CSF or GM-CSF accelerates the loss of self renewal capacity (Hornung and Longo, 1992). This phenomenon appears to result from progressive damage to the hematopoietic stem cell population. Although stem cells are normally quiescent, they are induced into active division following the first round of chemotherapy and thus become highly susceptible to the subsequent administration of cytotoxic drugs. Extensive experimentation has clearly demonstrated the phenomenon of stem cell depletion following multiple rounds of chemotherapy in animal models. This loss of hematopoietic renewal was one of the major driving forces behind the development of autologous bone marrow transplantation.
Amento et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,989 issued April 28, 1992 discloses the systemic use of TGF-.beta. for predisposition of mammals to accelerated tissue repair. In contrast the present invention involves a method for inhibiting the cytotoxic poisoning of normal cells by slowing their growth.

Tissue-derived tumor growth inhibitors, methods of preparation and uses thereof


A data management apparatus manages a plurality of data items output by a plurality of communication devices that output data. The data management apparatus includes at least one memory configured to store instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions. The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, include receiving a data acquisition request, including an application identification of an application from the data acquisition apparatus, extracting data output by the application on a communication device corresponding to the application identification included in the data acquisition request, among the plurality of data items received from the plurality of communication devices via a relay apparatus, and transmitting the extracted data to the data acquisition apparatus.

In a portable phone service, a charge amount is determined for each communication terminal that is a unit of a contract for a service. Patent Document 1 discloses technology for determining a charge amount for each subscriber identity module (SIM) attached to a communication terminal making a contract for a service.

Data management apparatus, data management method, and data communication system