A method to produce a veneer element, including defects and dense portions. The method includes providing a substrate, providing a sub-layer, including a binder and coloured filler particles, applying the sub-layer on a first surface of the substrate, applying a veneer layer on the sub-layer, and applying pressure, preferably heat and pressure, to the veneer layer and/or the substrate, thereby forming a veneer element wherein, after pressing, the sub-layer is visible through a defect of the veneer element such as crack, cavity, hole and/or knot of the veneer layer. Also, a veneer element.

Veneer layers may be used as a construction material, for example in the form of plywood. Plywood is formed of several veneer layers being glued together, for example with urea formaldehyde or phenol formaldehyde. The veneer layers are glued to each other in low pressure method in a temperature of about 140° C. and at a pressure about 10 bar. After pressing, the glue is present as a thin layer between the veneer layers. The veneer layers retain their original properties, including swelling and temperature expansion.
Veneer layers may also be used as a surface covering in panels. WO 2015/105455 discloses a building panel having a surface layer comprising a wood veneer and a sub-layer comprising wood fibres and a binder arranged between the surface layer and a wood fibre-based core. In the surface layer, material from the sub-layer extends into the wood veneer.
Veneer is made of wood and is not fully homogeneous in the structure and appearance. A visual appearance of the veneer depends on the type of wood used, the specific cut, the original colour or colouring elements used etc.
For example, there are hard and soft types of wood. Veneer element may be cut in such a way that it has a portion that may be recognized as a defect, both technologically or aesthetically. For example, the veneer may comprise a crack that occurred during cutting the veneer. Or the veneer may comprise a hole, such as a knot hole, thus being a defect naturally occurring the veneer.
Most often such veneers would be considered by the manufacture to be of low quality and go to waste or used for other applications.
Such veneers are not typically used in industry for at least the following reasons. If such wood veneers are glued directly onto the substrate, glue fills in the defects and the wood veneer has a number of spots having the colour of the glue used. Glue colour may be white and not matching the veneer colour, thus being visible as white spots on the surface of the wood veneer. Such an appearance in not aesthetically appealing to the consumer.
There have been attempts to colour the glue or the sub-layer positioned underneath the wood veneer in the building element or panel. However, it has been observed before that the dark colouring substances and in particular pigments are visible in the dense portions of the veneer layer after assembling the veneer layer under heat and pressure. An example of a veneer element comprising a core, a sub-layer and a wood veneer, wherein material from the sub-layer extends into the wood veneer is disclosed in US 2015/197942.
Therefore, there is a need for developing veneer elements, which will be aesthetically appealing to the consumer.
There is a need for providing a veneer element utilizing all types of wood veneers, including wood veneers that may have holes or cracks or other types of macroscopic openings.

Method to produce a veneer element and a veneer element


A nutritional composition comprising a partially hydrolyzed milk protein having a degree of hydrolysis between 15 and 25% and 50 to 1000 nanograms of TGF-β per 100 ml of ready to consume composition and methods for the primary prevention of allergic reactions to newly introduced dietary protein at weaning and the prevention of development of atopic diseases in a young mammal at weaning comprising feeding to the young mammal a therapeutic amount of the composition are disclosed.

Food allergies, of which the first to occur in life is cows' milk allergy, are caused, in most cases, by a reaction to proteins in the food. In the early years of life the immune system is still developing and may fail to develop tolerance to dietary antigens (this may also be described as insufficient induction of oral tolerance). The result is that the baby or child or young animal mounts an exaggerated immune response to the dietary protein and develops an allergic response to it. Food allergies may affect not only humans but also other mammals such as dogs and cats.
Usually, food hypersensitivity develops just after a susceptible baby, child or young animal first encounters a new food containing potential allergens. Apart from its mother's milk, the first dietary proteins generally encountered by human babies at least are cows' milk proteins and, as noted above, cows' milk allergy is the most common food allergy in human babies. It is generally accepted that babies with established cows' milk allergy have an increased risk of developing allergies to other dietary proteins such as egg and cereal proteins. These allergies may manifest themselves clinically as atopic diseases such as atopic dermatitis, eczema and asthma. Even those babies who have successfully developed oral tolerance to cows' milk proteins may subsequently develop allergies to other dietary proteins such as egg and cereal proteins when these are introduced into the diet at weaning.
From a dietary point of view there are only two ways to treat an established allergy—either foods containing the allergen must be avoided altogether, or the foods must be treated to decrease their allergenic potential, for example by extensive hydrolysis. Infant formulas containing extensively hydrolysed cows' milk proteins (peptides consisting of not more than five amino acids) are manufactured for this latter purpose. Similarly it has already been proposed, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,403,142 for example, to prepare petfoods with reduced allergenicity for companion animals where it is suspected that the animal has developed a food allergy. However, exclusion diets have the disadvantages that compliance is low because available foodstuffs are very restricted in the case of avoidance diets and because of poor taste in the case of use of extensively hydrolysed products. Further, there is always a danger that intact allergens will nevertheless be encountered.
Therefore, products have been devised which help to reduce the risk of developing the allergy in the first place, particularly for children thought to be at risk of the same (that is, children having at least one close family member who suffers from an allergy). One example of such products is the infant formulas based on partially hydrolysed whey proteins sold under the trade marks NAN HA1 and NAN HA2. These products have been demonstrated to actively induce oral tolerance to cows' milk proteins. Fritsche et al. (J. Allergy Clin. Immunol, Vol 100, No. 2, pages 266-273, 1997) have shown using animal models that enzymatic hydrolysates of cow's milk proteins with a degree of hydrolysis of 18% were able to induce oral tolerance to intact cow's milk proteins whereas hydrolysates with a degree of hydrolysis of 28% were not. Results of these experiments showed that preventive feeding of rats with such a moderately hydrolysed cow's milk formula, whose allergenicity had been reduced over 100 times as compared to a standard formula, suppressed specific IgE and mediator release from intestinal mast cells, both parameters of an immediate type allergic reaction. This work demonstrated that for cows' milk proteins it is possible to define a degree of enzymatic hydrolysis whereby the capacity of the peptides to induce oral tolerance is maintained whilst their allergenicity is substantially reduced.
Transforming growth factor β, a bioactive peptide found in human milk has been identified as a potential regulator of atopic disease. A meta-analysis has provided evidence for an overall allergy preventing effect of TGF-β in human milk (Gdalevich, 2001). According to Kalliomaki et al (J Allergy Clin. Immunol. 1999 December; 104(6):1251-7), the TGF-beta in colostrum may prevent the development of atopic disease during exclusive breast-feeding and promote specific IgA production in human subjects. Similarly, Oddy et al reported a reduced incidence of wheezing (indicative of respiratory allergy development) in children that had been breast fed for a significant period and had therefore received a high total dose of TGF-β compared to children who had been breast-fed for shorter periods (Oddy et al, J Allergy Clin Immunol). More recently, it has been shown in a rat model that the addition of TGF-β to cows' milk formula reduced allergic sensitisation to cows' milk (Pentilla et al, Pediatr Research 2006).
The period during which young mammals are exclusively milk-fed is relatively short ranging from a few weeks for rats and mice to four to six months for human infants for example. After this period, other foodstuffs containing different dietary proteins are progressively introduced into the diet and the dependence on milk to provide all the nutrients necessary for growth and development is correspondingly reduced in a process commonly called weaning.
Generally, the next dietary protein encountered by young mammals is cereal protein which is introduced at the start of weaning, typically in the form of infant cereals for human infants. Cereal proteins may also provoke allergic reactions when first introduced into the diet of a young mammal even if milk proteins have already been successfully introduced. Thereafter, the young mammal may encounter in rapid succession other dietary proteins including egg, peanut, fish and meat with the risk in each case that an allergic response may result.
However, by comparison with milk proteins, relatively little attention has been paid to the primary prevention of allergic reactions to other dietary proteins such as cereal and egg proteins nor to the possibility of preventing the development of allergic reactions to other antigens such as pollen by means of a dietary intervention. Indeed, this may be an even greater concern given that allergy to cows' milk proteins usually disappears spontaneously between the age of two and five years whereas allergy to cereal and egg proteins for example is generally slower to disappear and may even persist throughout life.
There is, therefore, a need to facilitate the introduction of dietary proteins other than milk proteins into the diet of young mammals at weaning by reducing the risk of development of allergic responses to such proteins as well as a need to reduce the subsequent incidence of atopic diseases whether or not provoked by dietary antigens, particularly in infants at risk of development of allergic responses.


A circuit for activating automobile brake lights. The circuit includes a battery, rear lights, a horn, horn switch, a center brake light flasher, a brake pedal switch, and a dash indicator light. When the horn in activated, the brake lights come on. When the center brake light flasher is activated, the middle brake light comes on. When the brakes are activated, the dash indicator light comes on.

The field of the invention is electrical circuits for activating automobile warning lights, particularly brake lights.
In the prior art, brake lights come on only when the brakes are applied. However, sometimes it is necessary to warn following drivers of hazards or delays ahead before the brakes are applied or in situations where the brakes need not be applied.
Most modern cars have an antilock braking system (ABS). With an ABS, unlike with older braking systems, the driver should not pump the brakes when driving on icy roads (rather he should hold the brake pedal down steadily) because the ABS pumps automatically. However, some drivers who are used to driving with older braking systems may forget that they are not supposed to pump the brakes with the ABS.

Circuit for activating automobile brake lights


A vertically adjustable supporting structure that comprises a link member whose bottom and top portions disposed with a lower end and a top end; a lower hinge having at least one shaft pivoted on the lower end of the link member so as to render the link member rotatably pivoted between the two lower frames of the lower hinge; an upper hinge having at least one shaft pivotally connected on the upper end of the link member so as to render the link member rotatably pivoted between the two upper frames of the upper hinge; at least a coupling assembly having one lower axle wheel and one upper axle wheel disposed between the lower end and the upper end of one side of the link member and between the lower frame and upper frame, respectively, and pivoted on the lower hinge and upper hinge, respectively, with a flexible cord engagingly secured between the lower and upper axle wheels; and at least an idle wheel pivoted on one side of the link member and between the lower and upper axle wheels to be interlacing engaged with the flexible cord and to form a coupling movement, such that the coupling assembly transforms the circular movement of the link member into a rotation for compensating displacement difference of two upper frames without affecting their original angle.

Flat panel displays, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor, LCD TV, or plasma TV, have the advantages of lightweight, thinness, and radiation-free and thus has gradually replaced conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors. Since the LCD or plasma monitor is limited by its visual angle, there is a hinge structure between the monitor and its base such that the angle of elevation of the monitor can be adjusted with respect to the base,
However, this kind of mechanism cannot provide a flat panel display with functions of moving along vertical as well as longitudinal direction. Consequently, the relevant industry has developed a parallel-arranged auxiliary link member to overcome the shortcoming; for example, the ends of two connecting rods are respectively connected to a main hinge and a base hinge disposed on the upper and lower ends of a link member. In the China Patent No CN 1,244,852C, Monitor Improved in a Tilting Structure, authorized on Mar. 8, 2006, corresponding to the U.S. Pat. No. 6,822,857, the parts numbered as 100 and 110, shown in FIG. 5 of the patent, is a pair of parallel-arranged auxiliary link member. In the patent, the pair of auxiliary link members provided on the respective side of the link member, the main hinge, and the base hinge form a four bar linkage mechanism. Consequently, the auxiliary link member transforms the rotating movement of the link member into the tilting movement of a monitor. In other words, when the height of the monitor main body is to be adjusted, the link member is moved upward and downward to tilt the main body of the monitor, only a second and third friction springs (sleeve) connected to the main frame rotate with respect to a third and fourth hinge pin, such that the main body of the monitor maintain its original angle during the movement.
Moreover, the conventional four bar linkage mechanism is installed on one side of the link member and the pair of parallel-arranged auxiliary link member is arranged one on top of the other, leading to a thick link member. On the other hand, it is necessary to wrap around the auxiliary link member, the thickness of the packaging case is thus increased greatly and therefore the supporting structure appears bulky and offensive to the esthetic sensibilities. Further, the four bar linkage mechanism employed for monitors has a critical influence over the entire industry. Consequently, the relevant industries are eager to develop another linking mechanism to replace the four bar linkage mechanism currently dominated the market of the supporting structure of monitors according to the design around principle.

Vertically adjustable supporting structure


A thin film transistor substrate, wherein the moving area of electrons between source and drain electrodes of a thin film transistor (TFT) is minimized, the moving distance of electrons is increased, and the sizes of capacitors defined by a gate electrode together with the respective source and drain electrodes are identical to each other so that an off current generated when the TFT is off can be minimized; a method of manufacturing the thin film transistor substrate; and a mask for manufacturing the thin film transistor substrate. Accordingly, it is possible to minimize an off current induced due to a phenomenon of electron trapping by light.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a thin film transistor substrate, a method of manufacturing the same, and a mask for manufacturing a thin film transistor substrate. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a thin film transistor capable of minimizing an off current of the thin film transistor.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a liquid crystal display (LCD) comprises a thin film transistor substrate on which a pixel electrode, a storage capacitor, a thin film transistor (TFT) for switching each pixel, and the like are formed; a common electrode substrate on which a common electrode and the like are formed; and liquid crystals sealed between the two substrates. In the LCD, a voltage is applied between the two substrates to drive the liquid crystals and to control light transmittance, thereby displaying images.
In such an LCD, a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of source lines are formed on a transparent glass substrate, a TFT is then provided in the intersection of the two lines, and a pixel electrode is formed to be connected to a drain electrode of the TFT.
In the operation of the LCD, if a gate voltage is applied to a gate electrode of the TFT through the gate line, the TFT is turned on. Accordingly, a data signal of a source line connected to a source electrode is applied to the drain electrode and then transmitted to the pixel electrode. The data signal applied to the pixel electrode in such a manner changes an electric field between the pixel electrode and the common electrode.
However, since such a TFT is provided with a region where electrons can be moved between a drain and a source when the TFT is off, an off current is present. Thus, there is a problem in that a residual image may be generated if there is an increase in the off current.

Thin film transistor substrate and method of manufacturing the same and mask for manufacturing thin film transistor substrate


The present invention relates to a method of suppressing malignant conditions, including cancer with complications such like hepatitis and platelet disorder in bleeding, by administering a composition of an extract of Canavalia ensiformis. Also, the invention is nontoxic to the individual and for improving functions of kidney as well as of liver, especially when involved in cancer.

This invention concerns treating one or more disorders or complications in a subject having cancer, whereby the disorder or complication is hepatitis, hemopoietic disorder, platelet disorder, and/or renal disease.
Most chemotherapy for cancer patients will cause greatly damage to important organs so called side effects, which usually include such as hepatitis, hemopoietic deficiency or renal disorders.
Therefore, valid methods for improving functions of organs or in cancer therapy were developed to use a Canavalia ensiformis extract for that purpose effectively.
In the past, a purification of Canavalia ensiformis, concanavalinA (ConA) had been tried in vivo and in vitro. Pure ConA was reported to induce toxic effects such as hepatitis and hemagglutination in vivo. However, neither ConA nor Canavalia ensiformis was proved in vivo to against cancer or complication. This invention was by using a Canavalia ensiformis extract, not a pure ConA, as an alternative to suppress cancer as well as other disorders.

Treating cancer, liver, kidney, platelet and hemopoietic disorder or complication


An apparatus for obtaining an anti-tumour immunologic response by thermotherapy of a treatment lesion covering at least a portion of a tumour is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a heating probe comprising an optical fiber and a cooling catheter. The optical fiber is inserted in the cooling catheter. Further the heating probe has a light emitting area, and the heating probe is interstitially insertable into the tumour of the treatment lesion. The heat probe is internally cooled by a fluid circulating in said catheter. The apparatus further comprises a first thermal sensor member having at least one sensor area. The first thermal sensor member is positionable at a distance from said boundary. The apparatus also comprises a control unit for controlling a power output of said light source based on a measured first temperature.

Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to the field of interstitial thermotherapy of a treatment lesion associated with at least an area of a tumour. More particularly the invention relates a system for controlled heating and destruction of cancer using a heat source. Even more particularly the invention further relates to obtaining an anti-tumour immunologic effect against the treated cancer, i.e. immunostimulating laser thermotherapy.
Description of Prior Art
It is known in the art that a tumour may be destroyed by heat, such as thermotherapy. One of the most common thermotherapy techniques is interstitial laser hyperthermia, which destroys tumours by absorption of light. Early experimental and clinical studies used an Nd-YAG laser and bare end fibres inserted into the centre of a tumour. Most of these lacked adequate control of the tissue effect. Methods to improve lesion size included multi-fibre systems, diffuser type fibres and vascular inflow occlusion. However the standard application of interstitial laser hyperthermia results in evaporisation and carbonisation of tissue and relatively unpredictable tissue damage and lesion size.
Studies from rats and humans have shown that heat treatment of cancer may give rise to an anti-tumour immunologic effect. If the dying tumour cells release uncoagulated tumour antigens, these antigens may produce an immune response when presented to the immune system of the host. Thus, the treated tumour will not only be destroyed but the immune effect will destroy remaining tumour, locally or at distant sites, including lymph nodes. The immunologic effect contributes to the selective tissue damage and the relatively small release of growth factors. The low treatment morbidity gives the possibility to use chemotherapy in a more efficient way since chemotherapy can be started before or at the time of local therapy.
Until now there has been no real way of fully controlling and/or optimize this effect. Thus improved control of heat stimulation to obtaining an immunologic effect would be advantageous and may increase patient safety. Further, an improved control may minimise evaporisation and carbonisation of tissue surrounding the heat source and the adverse effects associated therewith.

Apparatus and method for controlling immunostimulating laser thermotherapy


An image forming apparatus to carry out image forming on a recording medium by adding a specific pattern to image data inputted, having a mask creation section to create a mask area where addition of the specific pattern is prohibited and a control section to carry out image forming in a way that addition of the specific pattern is prohibited in the mask area.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming system.
In recent years, in color multi-function copying machines and color printers, a specific pattern (prosecution patter), which human cannot recognize, is added to an outputted matter so as to prosecute a source of the matter when copying a prohibited document such as a paper currency or a document of value is copied.
On the other hand, the above color image forming apparatuses have been used as digital printing machines in a field of printing a wide variety in small quantity (high-mix low-volume printing), and a system provided with a post-processing apparatus having functions of perforation, stitching, folding and cutting is becoming popularly. (for example, Patent Document 2)    Patent Document 1: Tokkaihei 4-294682    Patent Document 2: Tokkai 2003-95533
In case post-processing is carried out for the outputted matter having the specific pattern, it was found that the following problems occur.
For example, in case a plurality of the outputted matters are stacked and cut, the specific patterns formed in the same position of respective outputted matters forms lines which are noticeable on a cutting surface. Also, for example, in case the plurality of the outputted matters are folded and stacked, the specific patterns formed in the same position of respective outputted matters are connected and forms the line which are noticeable.

Image formation with prevention of tracing pattern from being noticeable on edges of stacked media

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A disk array has storage regions provided to store the management information for each disk volume of the backup data, and an interface is provided through which the management information for each disk volume is read from and written in by an external computer so that the backup data of disk volumes can be associated with the management information. The management information includes backup creation date and time, and content identifier, and it is set from the external computer, and updated according to the operations such as restore and tape copy based on the command from the external computer.

The present invention generally relates to methods for backup of data stored in a computer system, and particularly to a method for backup of data by using the data copying function of a disk array system and its function to acquire frozen images of data (snapshot function), and to a system using this method.
The computer system is now required to always make stable operation and to avoid the situations in which the computer system halts the service because of accident or maintenance. In addition, even if a trouble occurs on the computer system by any possibility, it is necessary to minimize the loss of data within the computer system, and to restore the system to its former state as soon as possible.
In the prior art, data-updating operation is regularly frozen (freezing), and at this time data is copied (backed up) onto a storage medium such as inexpensive magnetic tape. Thus, if some data is lost by a fault, the data is recovered (restored) from the tape, thus full data being kept safe. On the tape are stored not only the data and control information necessary for the computer system, but also information necessary for the management for the data to be backed up by using part of the storage region of the tape.
This management information includes codes for identifying the data contents and the dates on which the backup data was acquired as, for example, described in "File Structure and Labeling of Magnetic Tapes for Information Exchange", 4th Edition, Standard ECMA-13, December, 1985, pp. 7-19. The software (backup software) for controlling the backup and restore processes usually manages the list (catalog) of the produced backup data, and when the externally produced backup data is added and managed, it adds necessary information to the catalog by referring to the management information recorded on the tape.
Recently, use of "on-line backup" has advanced. This on-line backup uses "data mirror function" or "snapshot function" to generate a backup image (snapshot) quickly so that data can be copied onto the tape while a computer system is operating. The data mirror function duplicates data on a plurality of storage regions (disk volumes) and freeze one of the regions as a snapshot of data according to need. The snapshot function saves, at the time of data update, the data to be updated before update and provide a frozen image of the disk volume at a certain time point with both the current disk volume content and the before-update data. These functions are provided in the software on the computers or disk arrays.
The data mirror function is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,295, and the snapshot function in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,152.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


To achieve miniaturization of a resolver apparatus as a system, to obtain the resolver apparatus at a low cost, and to improve failsafe by installing an abnormality detection unit and a self-diagnosis circuit within the R/D converter. According to the present invention, an abnormality detecting method for an R/D converter in a resolver apparatus includes detecting abnormalities of at least the resolver itself (1), a cable wiring (2) through which the resolver (1) and the R/D converter (3) are connected to each other, and the R/D converter (3) itself by an abnormality detection unit (4) provided in the R/D converter (3).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a method of detecting an abnormality of an R/D converter. In particular, the present invention aims at constructing an inexpensive and simple failsafe system by installing an abnormality detection/self-diagnosis function in an R/D converter to integrate abnormality detection means, which is conventionally provided in an external circuit other than a resolver apparatus, with the resolver apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a resolver/digital (R/D) converter for carrying out R/D conversion of a resolver which is conventionally used, for example, there is a method including converting an analog signal into a digital signal. This method is described in JP 3,442,316B and U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,388. In this case, most of the failsafe functions such as detecting various abnormalities rely on an external circuit other than a resolver apparatus (a combination of a resolver with an R/D converter), or a host arithmetic and logic unit such as a microcomputer.
In addition, as for a method including detecting disconnection of a resolver, a method described in JP 2000-131096 A can be given as an example.
Since the conventional resolver apparatus is configured in a manner as described above, it has the following problem existing therein.
That is, since the function such as detecting an abnormality of the R/D converter is not complete, the external circuit other than the resolver apparatus, or the host system such as a microcomputer must be used for the abnormality detecting function for realizing the failsafe. As a result, the conventional resolver apparatus is complicated and expensive.

Method of detecting abnormality of R/D converter


A liquid crystal display is provided, which includes: a first panel including a first signal line, a second signal line intersecting the first signal line, a thin film transistor connected to the first and the second signal lines, and a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor and including a first subpixel electrode having a first voltage and a second subpixel electrode capacitively coupled to the first subpixel electrode and having a second voltage; a second panel including a common electrode facing the pixel electrode and supplied with a common voltage; and a vertically aligned liquid crystal layer that is interposed between the pixel electrode and the common electrode, wherein a steepness of light transmittance as function of a voltage applied the first subpixel electrode with respect to the common voltage is lower than about 20.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is one of the most widely used flat panel displays. An LCD includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed therebetween. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer, which determines orientations of LC molecules in the LC layer to adjust polarization of incident light.
Among the LCDs, a vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD, which aligns LC molecules such that the long axes of the LC molecules are perpendicular to the panels in absence of electric field, is spotlighted because of its high contrast ratio and wide reference viewing angle that is defined as a viewing angle making the contrast ratio equal to 1:10 or as a limit angle for the inversion in luminance between the grays.
The wide viewing angle of the VA mode LCD can be realized by cutouts in the field-generating electrodes and protrusions on the field-generating electrodes. Since the cutouts and the protrusions can determine the tilt directions of the LC molecules, the tilt directions can be distributed into several directions by using the cutouts and the protrusions such that the reference viewing angle is widened.
However, the VA mode LCD has relatively poor lateral visibility compared with front visibility. For example, a patterned VA (PVA) mode LCD having the cutouts shows an image that becomes bright as it goes far from the front, and in the worse case, the luminance difference between high grays vanishes such that the images cannot be perceived.
In addition, the cutouts and the protrusions reduce the aperture ratio. In order to increase the aperture ratio, the size of the pixel electrodes is suggested to be maximized. However, the close distance between the pixel electrodes causes strong lateral electric fields between the pixel electrodes, which dishevels orientations of the LC molecules to yield textures and light leakage, thereby deteriorating display characteristic.

Liquid crystal display having predetermined steepness of light transmittance within a predetermined range on light transmittance gradient for improved visibility


The invention deals with methods for assembly and disassembly, especially suitable for assembly and disassembly by a computer. In relation to assembly, a component (10) is positioned in assembly (70) in accordance with a proposed position. The composent (10) is confirmed as being in its correct spatial position in the assembly (70) by sensing means (38) or (46) capable of sensing spatial relationship and/or connection of the component (10) in relation to the assembly (70). Information regarding the sensed spatial relationship and/or connection is communicated to information processing means. A method for disassembly is also disclosed. The assembly and disassembly methods may require steps to be taken in a chosen sequence. The component (10) itself is also described, as is an improved assembly system which includes the component (10) together with information processing means.

Assembly is a process of joining components, often in an ordered sequence and dictated by a known set of steps. Likewise, disassembly often requires an ordered sequence.
Traditionally, the art of assembly or disassembly depends on a procedure or plan. In the simplest form, the assembly plan may be in the memory of a human assembler. Slightly more complex assemblies may require written instructions. More sophisticated assembly may require a detailed formal protocol, with each step in the assembly mapped out in detail, and using computer programs to control robotic installation.
Whether the assembly is simple, complex or sophisticated, and whether the assembled article is a simple toy, a piece of furniture or an automotive vehicle, for example, it is required that the components and sub-assemblies are in the correct spatial position and have the correct position relative to other components, sub-assemblies and to the assembly itself.

Assembly and disassembly method, system, and component


A method for treating dentinal hypersensitivity by administering a therapeutic amount of an alginate to a hypersensitive tooth.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to formulations for treating hypersensitive teeth and to methods for making and using such formulations.
2. Description of Related Art
Hypersensitive teeth can cause pain and discomfort when subjected to changes in temperature, pressure or chemical action. Exposure of the dentin frequently leads to hypersensitivity. Dentin exposure may occur due to recession of the gums, periodontal disease or improper dental care.
A significant breakthrough in the treatment of hypersensitivity came with U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,483 to Rosenthal. This patent reported that certain strontium compounds, especially strontium chloride, acted as desensitizing agents. Later, U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,006 to Hodosh reported that potassium nitrate could act as a desensitizer, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,186 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,072, both to Kim, reported that potassium chloride and potassium bicarbonate were also satisfactory desensitizers.
Ionic salt desensitizers, such as potassium nitrate and strontium chloride, appear to act by penetrating hypersensitive teeth through "tubules" in the dentin of the tooth. Dentinal tubules are small open tubes in the dentin that facilitate energy and material transfer between the interior and exterior of the tooth. The ionic desensitizers apparently interfere with the operation of the nerve in the tooth, reducing the nerve activity, and thereby reducing the sensitivity of the tooth.
Examples of ionic salts as desensitizers also include U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,221 to Schole et al., issued Oct. 17, 1972. This patent is directed to an early system for desensitizing teeth. The patent is directed to a strontium chelate in dentifrice, tooth powder, or chewing gum form. (A number of ingredients are listed in the toothpaste formulation, including 1% by weight "algin" in two examples. The purpose of the algin is not made clear.)
While the desensitizing properties of ionic desensitizers are excellent, such desensitizers are not "permanent," in that they do not remain in proximity to the tooth nerve forever, and the desensitizer must be reapplied to the tooth continually. In an effort to sustain the administration of an ionic desensitizing salt to the tooth, U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,818 to Merianos et al., issued Feb. 23, 1993, described a strontium salt of a maleic anhydride-methyl vinyl ether copolymer as a desensitizer. The polymer apparently adheres to teeth and releases the strontium over time.
A second class of desensitizing materials has recently been developed. This class of desensitizers acts to occlude or otherwise seal off some or all of the tubules present in the dentin and so reduce material and energy exchange between the interior and exterior of the tooth. These materials may have more or less affinity for the material in the dentin tubule and may exhibit more or less permanence as an occluding agent. Some materials migrate to the tubule quickly and are very prompt in occluding tubules, while other materials take time to develop as occluding agents. The materials may also remain in the tubules for varying amounts of time. Thus, the degree of occlusion of the many tubules found in dentin and the rapidity of the onset and the rate of decline of meaningful occlusion are important aspects of such occluding agents.
An example of an occluding agent is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,031 to Lim et al., issued Dec. 14, 1993. This patent is directed to a tubule occluding desensitizer comprising a polyacrylic acid such as Carbopol.RTM. polymeric materials (B.F. Goodrich). Another tubule occluding composition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,417 to Norfleet et al., issued Dec. 20, 1994. That patent discloses a potassium salt of a synthetic anionic polymer, such as a polycarboxylate.
One important aspect of desensitizing agents, whether ionic salts or tubule occluding agents, is that the agent must not be toxic or otherwise harmful to persons being treated for hypersensitivity. Preferably, a good desensitizing agent should be compatible with other oral care ingredients, such as conventional dentifrice or mouthwash ingredients, so that the agent may be administered in a conjunction with other dental therapies and prophylaxis. The organoleptic qualities of the desensitizing agent should also be pleasant to encourage compliance.
Although alginates have been known for some time as binders in dentifrice applications, we have now discovered that alginate salts are excellent occluding agents and meet all the requirements for a good desensitizing agent.
Alginates are salts of alginic acid, a polysaccharide having a molecular weight of about 240,000 daltons. The polysaccharide is extracted from giant brown seaweed and kelp. Alginic acid has been described as a linear polymer of .beta.-(1-4)-D-mannosyluronic acid and .alpha.-(1-4)-L-gulosyluronic acid residues. The exact proportion of the monomers depends on the source of the polymer. The salts, typically sodium salts, of the acid are used as gelling agents and as thickeners in dentifrice applications and ice cream.
The use of alginate in a dentifrice system is demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,648 to Piechota. Jr., issued Aug. 30, 1983. This patent is directed to a dental creme containing a gel system of xanthan and alginate. The ratio of xanthan and alginate in the system is 1:3 to 3:1 and the system comprises 0.2-5% of the dental creme.
Alginates have also been used in conjunction with anti-caries agents as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,525 to Pera, issued Oct. 4, 1988. That patent is directed to a composition for reducing dental plaque. The essential ingredient of the patent is a calcium ion chelating agent comprising sodium alginate. Although the patent is directed to caries control, the composition may also contain a desensitizing agent such as strontium chloride.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,128 to Lynch et al., issued Aug. 8, 1989, is directed to plaque inhibitory agents in mouthwashes, toothpastes and other oral care systems. These agents are present from about 0.0025% to about 2.000% on a weight to volume basis, and are polysaccharides selected from xanthan gum, gum tragacanth (pectin), guar gum, gum karaya, chondroitin sulfate, polygalacturinic acid, sodium alginate and carrageenans of the kappa/lambda configuration. These ingredients apparently inhibit the coaggregation of bacteria and so inhibit the formation of plaque.
Alginates have been used in dentifice formulations for other purposes as well. The permeability of the enamel surface of teeth was reported in Tung, M. S. and Brown, W. E., "Characterization and Modification of Electrochemical Properties of Teeth," J. Dent. Res. 62(1):60-64 (Jan. 1983). The article reported that the permeability of teeth could be modified by anionic compounds such as phytate and alginate and by cationic compounds such as protamine, polyarginine, and polylysine, or by an alternating coating of these compounds. The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of incipient caries, which was reported to form below the enamel surface.
Another occluding agent is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,662 to Nakashima et al., issued Feb. 24, 1987. This patent is directed to an oral composition for treating dentinal hypersensitivity. The composition contains aluminum and a carboxylate compound which combine to form a composition that occludes the dentin tubules. Among the binders that may be used in a dentifrice containing the occluding compounds are: carrageenan, cellulose derivatives (e.g., sodium carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose, hydroxyalkylcelluloses and sodium carboxymethyl-hydroxyethyl cellulose), alkali metal alginates (e.g., sodium alginate), alginic acid-propylene glycol ester, gums (e.g., xanthan gum, tragacanth gum, karaya gum, and gum arabic), synthetic binders (e.g. polyvinyl alcohol, sodium polyacrylate, carboxy vinyl polymer, and polyvinyl pyrrolidone), and inorganic binders (e.g., gelling silica, gelling aluminum silica, magnesium aluminum silicate (sold under the trade name Veegum), and synthetic hectorite clays such as Laponite (trade name)). The binder is added in an amount of 0.1 to 10% by weight, and preferably 0.2-5% by weight. The only reported example using an alginate, however, used one percent alginate and obtained unacceptable results. (See Example 2 and formulation #4 in Table 5.)
Despite the presence of occluding agents and other desensitizing agents, the search continues for an occluding agent that has the proper mix of desensitizing and organoleptic qualities to provide a meaningful therapy for treatment and relief of hypersensitivity while maintaining a pleasing "mouth-feel" for the therapeutic product. Alginates have not heretofore been recognized as desensitizing agents, even in desensitizing formulations.


There are provided a semiconductor package and a method of manufacturing the same. The semiconductor package according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a substrate having a first device mounted thereon; a first lead frame formed on the substrate; a second lead frame formed to be spaced apart from the substrate; a post formed on the substrate and formed between the first lead frame and the second lead frame; and a molding part formed to surround the substrate and formed to protrude portions of the first and second lead frames, wherein the post includes a body part bonded to the substrate and a protruding part protruded to an exterior of the molding part.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor package and a method of manufacturing the same.
In accordance with an energy efficiency regulation, an interest in power conversion and energy efficiency has been increased. A power semiconductor module has been needed to have properties such as miniaturization, high heat dissipation, high reliability, and the like, in accordance with a demand of a market as well as maximization of power conversion efficiency. As an application of the power semiconductor module is recently diversified, there are various demands for ratings and forms of the power semiconductor module. For example, since a product of 1200V-100 A or less needs to have high insulating characteristic and heat dissipating characteristic rather than low power characteristic, but has a device mounted thereon, having a size significantly smaller than that of large power product, it does not need to adopt a housing structure of high cost in the case in which only a heat dissipating substrate is well selected. Therefore, in order to satisfy the above-mentioned various demands, a development of a power semiconductor module having a new structure obtained by taking account of an electrical connection, a heat dissipating design, a structural design, and the like of the power semiconductor module while securing a power semiconductor device having stabilized characteristics is demanded.

Semiconductor package and method of manufacturing the same


The present invention is directed to tissue-engineering scaffolds containing both a microporous scaffold made from a biocompatible material suitable for use in tissue-engineering scaffolds and a nanofiberous, nanoporous hydrogel formed from a self-assembling peptide, where at least a portion of the hydrogel is disposed within the pores of the microporous scaffold, thus providing tissue-engineering scaffolds having average pore diameters in the nanometer range and that provide both mechanical properties suitable for implantation into a body of a mammal and excellent tissue response once implanted in the body.

Numerous scaffolds have been developed for tissue engineering applications. These scaffolds provide a template on which cells can migrate, divide, secrete new matrix and differentiate. Typical tissue engineering scaffolds are porous and can be categorized as having pores on either a micrometer scale, i.e. microporous, or a nanometer scale, i.e. nanoporous. Scaffolds having pores on a micrometer scale, or having average pore diameter of about 10 to 1000 microns, are composed of a variety of biocompatible materials including metals, ceramics and polymers. Such scaffolds include solid-cast structures, open-pore foams, felts, meshes, nonwovens, woven and knitted constructs. The mechanical and conformational properties can be chosen by composition of the material and the design of the scaffold. Desirable mechanical properties include the ability to be sutured in place and good handling strength.
Composition, design and construction of the scaffold are also important to how tissue responds to the scaffold. The scaffold can be shaped to maximize surface area, to allow adequate diffusion of nutrients and growth factors to cells present in or growing into it. For example, the maximum distance over which adequate diffusion through densely packed cells can occur is in the range of about 100 to 300 microns, under conditions similar to those that occur in the body, wherein nutrients and oxygen diffuse from blood vessels moving into the surrounding tissue. Taking these parameters into consideration, one of skill in the art would configure a scaffold having pores on a micrometer scale as having sufficient surface area for the cells to be nourished by diffusion until new blood vessels interdigitate the implanted scaffold.
Scaffolds having pores on a nanometer scale, e.g. having average pore diameter of about 10 nanometers to 1 micron, are often composed of hydrogels. A hydrogel is a substance formed when a natural or synthetic organic polymer is cross-linked via covalent, ionic or hydrogen bonds to create a three-dimensional open-lattice structure, which entraps water molecules and forms a gel. Examples of materials that can be used to form a hydrogel include polyamides, methylcellulose, collagen, extracellular matrix (ECM), polysaccharides such as alginate, polyphosphazines, polyacrylates which are crosslinked tonically, high molecular weight poly(oxyalkylene ether) block copolymers such as those sold under the tradename PLURONCIS (BASF Corp., Mount Olive, N.J.), nonionic polymerized alkylene oxide compounds such as those sold under the tradename TETRONCIS (BASF Corp., Mount Olive, N.J.), or polyethylene oxide-polypropylene glycol block copolymers which are crosslinked by temperature or pH, respectively.
Hydrogels provide conformable, malleable, or injectable materials for administering cells into a tissue. They do not, however, have mechanical integrity. Synthetic hydrogels can be sterilized and do not have the risk of associated infectious agents. However, most synthetic hydrogels do not mimic the extracellular matrix and therefore do not direct cellular ingrowth or function. Hydrogels of natural extracellular matrix are biocompatible and can mimic the native cellular environment. However, natural hydrogels, unless made from autologous material, may elicit an immune response and may have associated infectious agents. Natural hydrogels, such as EHS mouse sarcoma basement membrane, or fibrin, have a fiber diameter of about 5 to about 10 nanometers, water content of about 80 to about 97 weight percent and average pore diameter of about 50 to about 400 nanometers.
It would be advantageous to provide a tissue engineering scaffold that provides benefits of both microporous and nanoporous scaffolds while avoiding problems associated with certain hydrogel scaffolds as noted above. The present invention provides such an advantage by selectively combining a microporous scaffold and a nanoporous scaffold, resulting in a tissue engineering scaffold possessing mechanical properties necessary for use and unexpected enhanced tissue ingrowth and vascularization.

Tissue-engineering scaffolds containing self-assembled-peptide hydrogels


The present invention relates to a booster circuit of a non-volatile memory requiring a plus or minus high voltage equal to or higher than a power-supply voltage. The present invention can generate a high voltage of approximately 12 V even at a low power-supply voltage equal to or lower than 3 V and generate not only a plus high voltage but also a minus high voltage by the same circuit. Also, by combining a body-controlled type parallel charge pump, which is a booster circuit according to the present invention, with a serial-type charge pump, two types of high voltages can be efficiently generated and a reduction in chip areas can be achieved.

When a non-volatile memory such as a Flash or EEPROM is deleted or written, a tunnel effect, hot electron, or hot hole is used, so that a high voltage of approximately 12 V is required. As a conventional charge-pump type booster circuit which generates a high voltage, a Dicson charge pump diode-connected to a MOS transistor (hereinafter, "transfer MOS") moving electric charges has been generally known and often used because a circuit configuration thereof is very simple. Such a Dicson charge pump is presented and analyzed in "A Dynamic Analysis of the Dicson Charge Pump", IEEE, JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, VOL. 32, No. 8, Aug. 1997. FIGS. 1 and 2 show structural diagrams of the Dicson charge pump. FIG. 1 is a conceptual block diagram disclosed also in the above IEEE document, and FIG. 2 is an example in which buffers in FIG. 1 are replaced by n-type MOSS. In FIG. 2, a drain and gate of the n-type MOS are short-circuited, and a CLK is applied to one side of a capacitance connected to the drain and source. The CLK and a CLKn have a complementary relation, as shown in FIG. 3. When the CLKn is "High" and the CLK is "Low", drain potentials at odd-th stages such as first and third stages are higher than a source potential. Therefore, a drain current flows through the n-type MOSs at the odd-numbered stages, whereby electric charges are charged in odd-th capacitances C1 and C3. Conversely, when the CLK is "High" and the CLKn is "Low", the drain potentials at even-th stages such as second and fourth stages are higher than the source potential. Therefore, a drain current flows through the n-type MOSs at the even-th stages, whereby electric charges are charged move from the odd-th capacitances C1 and C3 to even-th capacitances C2 and C4.
If it is assumed that each threshold voltage of n-type MOS transistors configuring the Dicson charge pump is Vt, an output voltage Vout thereof can be represented by:Vout=(Vcc−Vt)×N+Vcc  (1)                N: number of stages and Vcc: power-supply voltage.However, as approaching an output side, the drain and source voltages of the n-MOS transistor are boosted and, by an substrate effect caused due to an increase in a source-substrate voltage Vsb, a threshold voltage Vt of an NMOS transistor is increased as shown in the following Equation (2):Vt=Vt0+γ(√{square root over (2φf+Vsb)}−√{square root over (2φf)})  (2)        Vt0: Vt at Vsb=0 V, γ: substrate effect coefficient, and φf: Fermi level of substrate.Furthermore, since the Vsb at Vt=Vcc means the maximum voltage of boosted voltages obtained from the equation (2),
                              Vout_max                                (                          =              Vsb                        )                          =                                            (                                                                    Vcc                    -                    Vt0                                    γ                                +                                                      2                                        ϕ                                                                                f                                                              )                        2                    -                      2                        ϕ                                                                          f                                              (        3        )            and therefore the maximum boosted voltage Vout_max can be calculated from the formula (3). FIG. 4 shows calculation values of the power-supply voltage Vcc and the boosted voltage Vout. As seen from FIG. 4, it is understood that in the Dicson charge pump, the boosted voltage Vout_max is determined depending on the power-supply voltage Vcc.
An improved version of Dicson charge pump has also been studied. In a "charge pump circuit device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-308856, the n-type MOSs are separated into a plurality of groups to suppress an increase in the Vt of the n-type MOS due to the substrate effect caused by increasing gradually the substrate voltage.
As the above-described Dicson charge pump that is a conventional technique is boosted, the source-substrate voltage Vsb of the n-type MOS is increased and thereby the threshold voltage Vt of the n-type MOS is increased due to an influence of the substrate effect, so that the maximum value of the boosted voltage is determined. As a result, by a low power-supply voltage equal to or lower than 3 V, a high voltage of approximately 12 V required for deleting or writing the non-volatile memory cannot be generated.
Moreover, even when the "charge pump circuit device", which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-308856 and in which the n-type MOSs are separated into the plurality of groups to suppress an influence of the substrate effect caused by increasing gradually the substrate voltage, is used, there are the n-type MOSs not meeting Vsb=0 V, so that it is impossible to eliminate the substrate effects of all the n-type MOSs.
Also, "Semiconductor charge pump circuit and non-volatile semiconductor storage device" in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-45193 discloses a scheme in which a charge voltage at a stage that precedes the immediately preceding stage is a substrate potential of the n-type MOS, wherein the different voltage values for each stage are set as the substrate potentials of the n-type MOS. However, the Vsb becomes a voltage-amplified value Vga (=Vcc−Vt) for at least one stage, so that the substrate effect is caused.
An object of the present invention is to provide a charge pump circuit having no influence of the substrate effects, and also to provide the charge pump circuit having an efficient circuit configuration and capable of generating a plus or minus high voltage.


Methods and apparatuses for performing automated operations using a high-density robotic cell. An apparatus comprises a first plurality of robotic devices; a second plurality of robotic devices; and a control system. Each of the second plurality of robotic devices is coupled to a single function end effector. The control system controls the second plurality of robotic devices to concurrently perform tasks at a plurality of locations on an assembly, while the first plurality of robotic devices independently maintain a clamp-up at each of the plurality of locations.

Automating certain operations during the assembly of structures may increase assembly accuracy, improve assembly efficiency, and reduce overall assembly. For example, the tasks involved in the joining of two parts may be automated. These tasks may include clamping together the two parts, drilling holes through the two parts, inspecting the drilled holes, and inserting fasteners through the drilled holes.
Currently, some fastener installation operations are automated using robots with multifunction end effectors. A multifunction end effector may be a machine with multiple moving parts that work together to perform the various tasks involved in fastener installation, including clamping, drilling, inspection, and fastener insertion. One or more of these tasks may require that parts be held in place together (e.g., clamped up) in order for a fastener to be installed through the parts. Some currently available systems for maintaining the clamp-up of parts may be more complex and less efficient than desired for performing certain types of assembly operations.
Further, some currently available systems robotic systems and end effectors are larger in size, scale, and complexity, and thus require more volumetric space and maintenance than desired. Accordingly, a lower density of robotic devices than desired may be positioned near each other within a small volumetric space, which may limit the number of operations that can be performed concurrently. Further, the down time required for routine maintenance or repair of multifunction end effectors may be greater than desired, which may, in turn, slow down production rates more than desired. In some cases, the lower density of robotic devices that can be used may result in greater takt times and lower production efficiencies than desired.


A method for monitoring the condition of a battery of a marine propulsion system provides the measuring of a voltage characteristic of the battery, comparing the voltage characteristic to a preselected threshold value, and evaluating the condition of the battery as a function of the relative magnitudes of the voltage characteristic and the threshold value. The voltage characteristic of the battery is measured subsequent to a connection event when a connection relationship between the battery and an electrical load is changed. The electrical load is typically a starter motor which is connected in torque transmitting relation with an internal combustion engine. The voltage characteristic is preferably measured at its minimum value during the inrush current episode immediately prior to cranking the internal combustion engine shaft to start the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a method for monitoring the condition of an electrical storage battery and, more particularly, to a method for determining the level of operability of an electrical storage battery that is connectable in electrical communication with a starter motor associated with an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Batteries are used to provide power in many different systems that are well known to those skilled in the art. In most systems, the battery is periodically checked by measuring the nominal system voltage across the battery terminals with either no load connected to the battery or a constant load connected to the battery. This type of test can identify certain battery failure modes, but is unable to detect many other likely fault conditions relating to the battery.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,771, which issued to Buckley et al. on Aug. 14, 2001, discloses a control system for a marine vessel. The control system incorporates a marine propulsion system that can be attached to a marine vessel and connected in signal communication with a serial communication bus and a controller. A plurality of input devices and output devices are also connected in signal communication with a communication bus and a bus access manager, such as a CAN Kingdom network, is connected in signal communication with the controller to regulate the incorporation of additional devices to the plurality of devices in signal communication with the bus, whereby the controller is connected in signal communication with each of the plurality of devices on the communication bus. The input and output devices can each transmit messages to the serial communication bus for receipt by other devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,912, which issued to Carrier on Jan. 13, 2004, describes a dual-mode non-isolated corded system for transportable cordless power tools. The dual-mode system for inexpensively operating electrically powered double-insulated devices, such as hand-held power tools and appliances is described. A voltage converter includes an inrush current limiter and power conditioner for filtering AC or DC input power. The filtered voltage is chopped by a transformerless buck-derived converter. The chopped voltage is rectified and filtered to provide low-voltage DC power to the drive motor of the powered double-insulated device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,170, which issued to Tamai et al. on Oct. 1, 2002, describes an on-board electric power supply system. A central processing unit captures an on control signal for low-voltage loads in LAN multiplex transmission, controls low-voltage switching devices to be turned on in order to supply a power to the low-voltage loads, and performs a DC supply from a low-voltage battery to the low-voltage loads. In this case, immediately after an on control signal for the low-voltage loads is captured, the CPU controls a voltage converter which is not operating, so as to be activated, thereby performing a DC supply to the low-voltage battery and the low-voltage loads.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,107, which issued to Bang et al. on Sep. 30, 2003, describes a power management system for a portable electronic device. A system for a supplemental power source for a handheld portable electronic device is provided. A super capacitor is connected in parallel to a main battery of the portable electronic device. When the main battery becomes disconnected, the super capacitor is used to power the portable electronic device. The super capacitor is also used to provide compensation for the internal impedance of the main battery and the path impedance between the main battery and the load.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,197, which issued to Roseman et al. on Apr. 22, 1997, describes an active control of battery charging profile by generator control unit. A system for actively controlling the charging profile of a battery uses a software-based generator control unit to control the charging voltage. The voltage may be initially reduced following battery discharge to prevent large current inrush transients. The voltage may then be raised above a normal charging level to increase the battery charging rate. The control system provides better control over battery charging and prevents overheating of the battery and generator and allows the battery to be recharged more quickly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,529, which issued Eiraku et al. on Oct. 19, 1999, describes an electronic apparatus having battery power source. A voltage monitoring circuit detects when the output battery of a power source falls below a predetermined reference voltage. A controller, in response to the monitoring circuit, performs a load operation. In the load operation, a switch in a pseudo-load circuit is operated to connect a dummy load. On the basis of the output voltage of the power source when the dummy load is operable, the controller determines whether to allow further drain on the power supply (e.g. connection of a peripheral device interface). In one embodiment, the pseudo-load circuit has plural dummy loads which can be invoked to determine with which of plural possible loads the power source can be utilized. Also disclosed are both digital and analog methods and circuits for determining utilizable load magnitude by gradually raising power supply capacity. The invention solves numerous problems, including combating an inrush current which can be produced when a card is inserted into an electronic apparatus such as a personal digital assistant.
The patents described above are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in the description of the present invention.
An application note, provided by the International Rectifier Company, which is titled "Programmable Current Sensing High-Side Switch IR3310/11/12", describes reverse battery protection used in conjunction with the switch. Among other subjects, it considers potential damage to various components such as batteries.
In Volume 26 of "Perspective" for the winter of 2000, the College of Engineering of the University of Wisconsin at Madison published an article titled "Research Drives Battery Health." In this article, a research project is described in which various parameters relating to a battery are monitored.
When batteries are used as a power source for a starter of an internal combustion engine, the loss of use of the battery results in the inability to operate the vehicle. If this occurs in an automobile, the operator of the automobile is required to contact a service supplier or other type of assistance to allow the automobile to be repaired or started. When this occurs in a marine vessel, the operator of the marine vessel may be far from land and unable to quickly summon assistance. Therefore, it would be significantly beneficial if a system could be developed which allows battery failure to be predicted in advance so that repair or replacement of the battery can be arranged at the convenience of the marine vessel operator. It would also be significantly beneficial if the condition of the battery could be evaluated without additional equipment and components having to be provided.

Method for monitoring a condition of a battery


The high intensity natural sweetener monatin, an .alpha.-amino acid (1) is synthesized from readily available starting materials. Regiospecific ring opening of epoxide (9) with indole magnesium bromide yields lactone (11). Amination of (11) followed by saponification yields Monatin.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the synthesis of monatin.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The undesirable effects associated with the high consumption of sugar such as obesity and tooth decay have resulted in an intensive search for natural and synthetic substitutes. Although a number of non-nutritive sweeteners have been approved for public consumption, such as saccharin, cyclamate, acesulfame-K and aspartame, none fulfill the requirements of being safe, non-caloric, stable over a wide range of pHs and temperatures with a long shelf-life, and no aftertaste. The concern about long term effects of some of these products has resulted in the search for high intensity sweeteners from natural sources.
There are a number of naturally occurring compounds such as stevioside and glycyrrhizin that are used as sweeteners in Europe and Japan but none have been approved for use as such in the United States. Monatin is a high intensity, low-caloric sweetener that was isolated from the bark of the roots of Schlerochiton ilicifolius, found in the northern Transvaal region of South Africa. Its relative sweetness was determined to be 1400 times that of sucrose. It was found to create highly acceptable blend with other sweeteners such as aspartame in a variety of flavors with or without carbonation. The limited amounts in the dried bark (0.007%) has spurred efforts to develop synthetic methodologies to produce ample supplies of the sweetener and to prepare analogs to assess the relationship between structure and sweetness.
Structural and stereochemical analyses of monatin established it to be (2S,4S) 2-amino-4-carboxy-4-hydroxy-5-(3-indolyl)pentanoic acid 1. There are two reported syntheses of monatin that are retrosynthetically outlined in Scheme 1. the first deals with the preparation of a key keto ester 2 from indole acetic acid and an activated L-aspartate, Holzapfel, C. W.; Olivier, Synth. Commun., 1993, 23, 2511. The second is based upon a 2+3 cycloaddition reaction between indolyl acrylate 6 and formonitrile oxide 7 to form isoxazoline 5 from which monatin is obtained, Holzapfel, C. W.; Bischofberger, K.; Olivier, Synth. Commun., 1994, 38, 7025. Both are multistep routes and suffer from low yields in certain steps.

Synthesis of monatin-A high intensity natural sweetener

The Board of Governors for Higher Education, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations


A synthetic grass implant/marker that serves as a surface mounted visual marker for a feature or device located nearby or underground and has all the features and advantages of such a synthetic grass implant, and that additionally includes an externally mounted RFID and coil antenna mounting device having a cavity in which is mounted an RFID device such as an RFID tag or chip that can programmed with information concerning the feature or device it is marking, and which information can be obtained by utilizing an RFID reader to obtain the stored information from the implant/marker, as well as a coil antenna for the RFID device. Legs on the externally mounted RFID and coil antenna mounting device interconnect with holes located in a top surface of the implant/marker to mate the two pieces together.

Synthetic grass implants for marking grassed or sodded surfaces comprising a body to be set up in the ground and having artificial grass blades protruding above the ground surface, are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 9,147,150, WO 95/12441 and WO02008068296A1, all incorporated herein by reference.
WO 95/12441 discloses an implant/marker comprising a body to sink into the ground, on which are fixed blades of artificial grass. The upper part of the body is installed flush with the ground surface and the lower portion is pointed, its general shape is generally conical. The placement of the implant and its replacement is very easy and does not need to prepare the soil or digging because of its small size. It does not interfere with the traffic of people and vehicles on the marked surface.
The filaments of such devices are usually made from a polymeric material having, after obtaining the desired thickness of the filaments (a few tenths of millimeters to one or two millimeters), the characteristics of rigidity and flexibility to that they are prepared to rest and he bowed to the passage of a user of the land marked without risking injury to the user or damage to the device. Another feature of these devices is that the filaments are resilient and return to their position immediately after the passage of the user.
These devices, originally designed to be implanted on grassy surfaces and guide each tracing land boundaries, such as sports, are proving to be useful for other applications, in particular to provide various marking delineations on the ground. For example locations for campsites, the boundaries of a park or visualizing a path could be achieved by such devices.
Although such prior art implants/markers are very well suited for marking points or even lines in the top surface of grassed areas, they are less useful in marking underground features such as underground electrical lines, underground water, sewer or gas pipes, or other underground or hidden from view features or devices.
Although these prior art markers may provide a visual top surface indication that there is some feature or device located/buried nearby or underneath the marker, the marker does not provide any detailed information such as, for example, what the device or feature is; how deep the device or feature is; how big it is; how long it is; what date it was installed or the like. For such underground or hidden devices or features, it would be advantageous and desirable to have a very detailed information about what the implant/marker is marking.
Prior attempts at incorporating an electronically activatable device such as an RFID tag or the like within the implant/marker have not always been successful. It is sometime difficult to produce an implant/marker that can keep the RFID electronics dry and secure. In addition, an RFID tag that is small enough to be inserted into the center of the implants/markers discussed herein do not have very large antennas and therefore have very limited range.
Accordingly, what is needed is a synthetic grass implant/marker that serves as a surface mounted visual marker for a feature or device located nearby or underground and has all the features and advantages of such a synthetic grass implant, and that additionally includes a device such as an externally attached RFID tag or chip that can programmed with information concerning the feature or device it is marking, and which information can be obtained by utilizing an RFID reader to obtain the stored information from the implant/marker. Such a device should also have a large coil antenna to facilitate the reading and writing of the data to the RFID device.

Radio frequency and near field ID tags with enlarged coil antenna for use with synthetic grass markers


A new Petunia plant particularly distinguished by its trailing, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit, freely branching habit, freely flowering habit, single flowers that are purple-blue in color, and good garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia plant botanically known as Petunia hybrida and referred to by the cultivar name 'Petpuvivi.'
The new Petunia is the product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor in Enkhuizen, Netherlands. The new Petunia cultivar is freely flowering with trailing and spreading plant habit and attractive leaf and flower coloration.
The new Petunia originated from a cross-pollination made by the inventor in July 2001 of a proprietary selection of Petunia hybrida identified as code number 'B1571,' not patented, as the female, or seed parent, with the Petunia hybrida variety 'Petgrabl' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,218), as the male, or pollen parent. The new Petunia was selected as a single plant from the resulting progeny of the cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Enkhuizen, Netherlands in May 2002.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal vegetative cuttings since August 2002, in Enkhuizen, Netherlands has shown that the unique features of this new Petunia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A wave pump activated by a wave energy for conveying a water to a desired place. The wave pump includes a tiltable hollow piston tube having an upper portion and a lower portion. The lower portion is communicated with a submerged pipe and the upper portion extends vertically upward toward a water surface. A piston portion is formed at an outer periphery of the hollow piston tube, and a cylinder which defines a cylinder chamber above the piston portion is fitted over the piston portion such that the cylinder can slide up and down. The cylinder is equipped with a float for moving the cylinder up and down such that a flow of water is generated in the hollow piston tube and submerged pipe.

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a wave pump activated by a wave energy, which is a clean natural energy, in consideration of today's serious problems on the earth such as earth warming, environmental destructions and energy resource shortage. The wave pump is a pump of high efficiency which may be used to feed a water to a raising or cultivation facility from the sea, ocean, lake, moss or pond made by a dam, to feed a sea water for pumped storage power generation, to feed a water for desalination of seawater, to exchange a water in a closed water area with an open sea water for clarification of the closed water area, to circulate an upper water (water near a water surface) and a lower water (water near a bottom of the water) for clarification or to feed a contaminated water to a deep area in a lake, moss or pond where a lot of ditch reeds grow from a bottom of the lake, moss or pond such that the water is purified by respiration of vegetation while the water is flowing through the ditch reeds.
The present invention also relates to a field of securing living aquatic resources such as fishery products and marine plants/algae and water resources such as potable water which are indispensable to human life by water exchanging in a harbor and water purification in an ocean, lake, moss, pond made by a dam and other water sources.


A method for producing a plug, and to a plug. It is provided, in particular, that a plug connector and three plug contact rings are arranged in a casting mold, wherein the plug connector extends along a longitudinal axis and has a contact portion and a fastening portion connected integrally to the contact portion, and wherein a plug housing is formed by introducing a casting material into the casting mold so that the fastening portion is surrounded form-fittingly by the casting material and the contact portion protrudes out from the plug housing at a first end of the plug housing in the direction of the longitudinal axis.

Plugs of this kind are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Publication No. 2010/0210146 and in U.S. Publication No. 2015/0165216. In U.S. Publication No. 2010/0210146, circumferential plug contact rings, for example, are contacted with a cable each, which extends through the plug body, wherein the plug connector by contrast is contacted via a helical conductor, which can extend in a central lumen of the plug connector.
Furthermore, in U.S. Publication No. 2015/0165216 A1 as well, the plug connector is contacted via a conductive core, which is connected to a separate plug connector.
The present invention is directed at overcoming one or more of the above-mentioned problems.

Plug with an over-molded, non-rotatable plug connector and four connectors, in particular an IS4/DF4 plug


A speech training coach includes a communications device having a processor coupled to at least one memory, a transceiver, a speaker, a microphone, and a display screen driven by a display driver controlled by the processor. At least a first portion of a speech collection, speech analysis and speech coaching algorithm (algorithm) is stored in the memory for analyzing speech volume, speech speed, and speech pitch using reference values for each. The microphone for collecting a speaker's voice sample. The algorithm is for in essentially real-time scoring based on the reference values and displaying on the display screen scores for the speech volume, speech speed, and the speech pitch and for displaying an auditory or tactile recommendation for changing one's speech or for providing a favorable speech assessment.

Speech recognition technology is known where a human voice is interfaced to a computing device that receives the speech and then processes the speech with a speech recognition program. In a conventional speech recognition system, an acoustic signal from a speaker received by a microphone is converted to an analog electrical signal that is input into circuitry on a voice circuit board which digitizes the signal.
The computer then generates a spectrogram which, for a series of time intervals, records those frequency ranges at which the sound exists and the intensity of sound in each of those frequency ranges. The spectrogram is a series of spectrographic displays, one for each of a plurality of time intervals which together form an audible sound to be recognized. Each spectrographic display shows the distribution of energy as a function of frequency during the time interval. This method can be used for detecting and providing feedback to the user for correcting mispronunciation by comparing pronunciations against a stored database.


A motor-vehicle door latch has a latch housing formed with a recess open in an acceleration direction the latch is displaced in during a collision and, immediately adjacent the recess, with a blocking formation directed in the direction. A latching element is displaceable on the housing between a position retaining a door bolt and a position releasing the door bolt and a retaining pawl displaceable engageable with the latching element is pivotal on the housing between a retaining position holding the latching element in its retaining position and a freeing position releasing the latching element. An actuating lever pivotal on the housing is engageable with the pawl to move same into the freeing position. The actuating lever extends transversely of the acceleration. An L-shaped blocking lever has a pair of arms and is pivotal on the actuating lever between a nonblocking position with one of the arms aligned generally in the direction with the recess and engageable and the other arm extending transversely of the direction and a blocking position with the one arm aligned in the direction with the blocking formation. The blocking lever when in the blocking position prevents pivoting of the actuating lever into the freeing position. A spring urges the blocking lever into the nonblocking position. This blocking lever is constructed to pivot against the spring into the blocking position on acceleration of the lever in the direction.

A standard motor-vehicle door latch is mounted on a door edge and has a latching fork that can engage around and retain a bolt projecting from a doorpost. A pawl can move between a retaining position engaging the fork and holding it in a position retaining the door bolt and a freeing position allowing the fork to pivot and free the door bolt. This pawl in turn is actuated by at least one actuating lever normally in turn operable by an outside door handle and, in most situations, by an inside door handle.
Typically the actuating lever pivots about an axis that extends horizontally in the vehicle travel direction. Thus in a side-impact collision, the considerable inertia of the actuating lever can cause it to pivot, actuating the pawl and releasing the bolt even if the handle it is connected to does not move, as lost-motion couplings are normally provided to allow the inside and outside handles and actuating elements to work independently. Thus when hit on the side the latch releases and the door can spring open, with the obvious safety problems.
Accordingly British patent 1,413,887 describes a latch having a blocking lever which is connected via a pin directly to the pawl. An extension of the blocking lever engages into a recess of the latch housing so that when the pawl is actuated by means of the actuating lever the blocking lever is similarly raised and then lowered. It is possible in a collision for this blocking lever to fail to block operation of the pawl, in particular if the latch is rusted or dirty. Furthermore the blocking lever can cause the pawl to bend, ruining the latch.
In another system described in German patent 1,678,024 an L-shaped blocking lever is pivoted on the lock housing and can swing, when moved inertially as in a crash, into a position blocking movement of the actuating lever. During normal operation, however, the blocking lever never moves so that it is possible that after a long time it becomes stuck in place, by rust and/or dirt, so that it does not work.
German patent document 195, 11 651 of Hubner shows another system with a hook-type blocking lever pivoted on the housing and engageable with the actuating lever to arrest it in an accident. This arrangement is fairly complex and adds substantial cost to the latch. The same is true for the system shown in German patent 4,117,110 of Claar.


An electrostatic chuck including a body of ceramic material, a pair of electrodes embedded in the body of ceramic material, and two feedthroughs connected to each of the electrodes for receiving DC chucking voltage, RF biasing power, and electric heating current. The electrode structure simultaneously provides biasing, chucking and heating of a wafer that is retained by the chuck.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an electrostatic chuck and, more particularly, this invention relates to an electrostatic chuck containing electrodes that are used for chucking a substrate, biasing a substrate and heating a substrate.
2. Description of the Background Art
Electrostatic chucks are known for electrostatically attracting and retaining a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer during wafer processing such as, for example, by physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and etching. An example of the structure and function of an electrostatic chuck is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,121, entitled METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING A VOLTAGE TO ELECTROSTATIC CHUCK, patented May 26, 1992, Watanabe et al. inventors; this patent is incorporated herein by reference. As taught in this incorporated patent, a pair of electrodes is embedded in a sheet of relatively low resistivity ceramic material, and DC voltage is applied to the electrodes to create an electric field. When a semiconductor wafer is placed on the chuck, the electric field causes charges to accumulate on the backside of the wafer and opposite charges migrate to the surface of the chuck that is supporting the wafer. The oppositely charged surfaces electrostatically attract the semiconductor wafer to the chuck according to the Johnsen-Rahbek effect. Other known electrostatic chucks embed a pair of electrodes in a body of dielectric material to electrostatically attract a semiconductor wafer utilizing a Coulombic effect, i.e., the charges on the backside of the wafer and those on the electrodes attract one another.
In PVD chambers, the electrostatic chuck is typically mounted to a pedestal that is centrally located in the chamber. To RF bias the wafer, RF power is coupled directly to the pedestal, i.e., the pedestal forms a cathode electrode, and the RF power is coupled indirectly through the electrostatic chuck to the semiconductor wafer. As such, RF power losses are experienced due to the indirect coupling of the RF power through the chuck to the semiconductor wafer.
In certain semiconductor wafer processing applications, such as the PVD deposition of titanium on a semiconductor wafer, the semiconductor wafer is advantageously heated to enhance the adhesion of the deposited titanium to the wafer. Typically, a resistive heater is used to supply heat to the wafer. The heater is generally a resistive coil embedded in the ceramic material of the electrostatic chuck, or the heater may be embedded in a plate of stainless steel that is attached to the bottom of the electrostatic chuck. In either case, the heat produced by the heater must couple through the chuck material and the chuck electrode material before reaching the wafer. Such heating from the bottom of the chuck can produce a substantial thermal gradient vertically across the chuck. Furthermore, non-uniform thermal coupling through chuck can produce non-uniform heating of the wafer that results in non-uniform deposition characteristics.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an electrostatic chuck with fewer component parts than prior electrostatic chucks and which provides for DC voltage biasing for electrostatic chucking, RF power biasing and semiconductor wafer heating using a single electrode structure.

Electrostatic chuck having a combination electrode structure for substrate chucking, heating and biasing


A method of producing a patterned magnetic nanostructure is disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate having a non-magnetic single layer or multi layer film that can be converted into a magnetic state by annealing and/or mixing. The method further includes positioning a mask having a desired pattern and resolution associated with the patterned magnetic nanostructure on or over the film. The method additionally includes subjecting the mask-covered substrate to a beam of radiation (focussed or unfocussed) having sufficient energy to locally anneal and/or mix the non-magnetic or weak-magnetic single-layer or multi layer film. Because of the mask effect, only the desired portions of the non-magnetic film are exposed to the beam of radiation. As such, the desired portions of the non-magnetic film are changed from a non-magnetic to a magnetic state to produce an array of magnetic elements in a non-magnetic matrix. The size of each magnetic element is dependent on the resolution of mask.

The present invention relates to nano-scale patterning techniques. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods for directly converting a non-magnetic single layer or multi layer film into a patterned magnetic nanostructure by mask-controlled local phase transition.
Conventionally, a magnetic recording medium for a hard disk is produced by sputter depositing a Co-alloy thin film on a chromium-based underlayer, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,426. The term xe2x80x9cunderlayerxe2x80x9d refers to a layer of thin film, which is deposited below the magnetic layer of a recording medium. The purpose of an underlayer is to provide favorable crystalline growth conditions for the magnetic layer and to achieve many useful recording properties. In the current magnetic recording materials, the underlayers are made of NiAI layer and a Cr layer.
The magnetization vectors written on such disks lie in the plane of the film and are not stable enough at higher densities. Therefore, the current media are not expected to support densities higher than 300 Gb/in2 (see, for example, DATA STORAGE, p. 41-48, Sepetember 1998). Different alternatives such as perpendicular magnetic recording (in which the magnetization vectors of the written bits lie perpendicular to the film and are more stable), or patterned structures of elements (patterned media) are sought for high-density recording media.
Problems with writing on perpendicular medium prevent perpendicular recording from taking off despite its promise of higher densities with respect to longitudinal recording (see, for example, J. MAGN. MAGN. MATER., vol. 209, p. 1-5, 2000). The patterned structures of magnetic nanoelements offer thermal stability, good signal/noise at high densities (media noise determined primarily by lithography) and a huge advantage for tracking, both through built-in patterns and one-pass servowriting.
So far, techniques such as electron or ion beam lithography (see, for example, J. VAC. SCI. TECHNOL. B 12, pa. 3695, 1994), laser interferometry (see, for example, IEEE. TRANS. MAGN. 32, P. 4472, 1996), and nanoimprint lithography (NIL) (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,905) have been employed for producing patterned nanostructures. Patterned nanostructures have also been fabricated using an atomic force microscope or a scanning tunneling microscope (see, for example, J. APPL. PHYS., Vol. 76, P. 6656, 1994). Unfortunately, however, these methods have not been suitable for mass production. With electron (ion) beam lithography, a number of processing steps are typically involved, the production rate is slow, and the cost is high. NIL also involves many processing steps. As such, it is generally believed that there are no viable technologies for fabricating patterned nanostructures, and more particularly patterned arrays, with the dimensions required for the individual elements over an area large enough to contribute to useful memory and with low cost.
In view of the foregoing, it is the aim of the present invention to provide an alternative method of fabricating patterned nanostructures.
The invention relates, in one embodiment, to a method of converting a potentially magnetic material into a magnetic patterned nanostructure by using mask-controlled local phase transition. The term xe2x80x9cpotentially magneticxe2x80x9d generally refers to a non-magnetic state that can be converted into a magnetic state, i.e., the non-magnetic state has the xe2x80x9cpotentialxe2x80x9d to turn into a magnetic state. In most cases, the phase transition is implemented by local annealing and/or mixing of a non-magnetic or weak-magnetic film having a single or multiple layer.
The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a method of producing a patterned magnetic nanostructure. The method includes providing a substrate having a non-magnetic single layer or multi layer film that can be converted into a magnetic state by annealing and/or mixing. The method further includes covering the substrate with a mask having a desired pattern and resolution associated with the patterned magnetic nanostructure. The method also includes transferring the desired pattern from the mask to the film by converting desired portions of the non-magnetic film to a magnetic state via annealing and/or mixing.
The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a method of producing a patterned magnetic nanostructure. The method includes providing a substrate having a single layer or multi layer film that can be converted into a magnetic state by annealing and/or mixing. The method further includes positioning a mask on or over the film. The mask has a desired pattern and resolution associated with the patterned magnetic nanostructure. The method additionally includes subjecting the mask-covered substrate to a beam of radiation having sufficient energy to locally anneal and/or mix the non-magnetic or weak-magnetic single-layer or multi layer film. Because of the mask, only desired portions of the non-magnetic film are exposed to the beam of radiation to produce an array of magnetic elements in a non-magnetic matrix.

Method of magnetically patterning a thin film by mask-controlled local phase transition


A system and method of authenticating fingerprints. A method of authenticating a fingerprint includes comparing a geometric shape of a scanned fingerprint to a corresponding geometric shape of a stored fingerprint. The geometric shape and the corresponding geometric shape are defined by vertices. The vertices are defined by minutiae points, while the vertices are spaced apart from the minutiae points.

Financial institutions are presently investigating the gathering of financial data using wireless communications and a unique private key. In one example, a credit card company is using a wireless transaction system using RFID tags wherein the RFID tag is swiped across a payment scanner. More specifically, a consumer can tap or wave their RFID equipped cell phone at a point of sale (POS) terminal, and an RFID chip then transmits account and payment information to a terminal which is connected to the credit card payment network. The entire process is designed to take only a few seconds.
Critics of the RFID approach are concerned with security problems, particularly with determining who is paying for a transaction. That is, a POS terminal has no way of knowing if the credit card owner is the person using an RFID-equipped cell phone to make the purchase. This lack of authentication can lead to fraudulent purchases.
One way to authenticate transactions is through the use of biometrics, such as, for example, fingerprints, retinal scans, etc. Fingerprints, for example, contain minutiae points, which are defined as unique identification points on a fingerprint where a ridge of the fingerprint joins another ridge or the ridge simply ends. A gathered fingerprint may be compared to a stored fingerprint by comparing the minutiae points using known techniques.
A drawback of such an authentication scheme in a wireless environment, however, is that personal data (e.g., data pertaining to the retinal scan, fingerprint, etc.) is broadcast to any device within range of the wireless communication. For example, a POS terminal and a user's wireless device wirelessly transmit personal data (e.g., regarding the minutiae points of the scanned fingerprint and the saved fingerprint). A third-party device within the range of the transmissions could intercept and store the personal data (e.g., data regarding the minutiae points), which data could be used for identity theft.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

International Business Machines Corporation