An inexpensive mailing envelope with a window opening to which a decorative image-bearing sheet member is attached. The image-bearing sheet member may be transparent or semi-opaque, partially revealing the contents of the said envelope. The inclusion of a decorative image visible from the outside of the envelope induces mailing recipients to open the envelope and examine the contents inserted therein. The window opening may be placed on the rear panel of the envelope, opposite the panel displaying address information. The image-bearing sheet material may be detachable and may be promoted as a gift.

The present invention relates generally to mailing envelopes, and more particularly to mailing envelopes having one or more windows and having image-bearing sheet members (such as photographic slides or transparencies) mounted in one or more of those windows.
Typically, bulk mail advertisers utilize decorative envelopes in order to capture the addressees' attention and engender their interest in examining the contents of the envelope. Often disinterested addressees simply discard the mailings without even opening them. The need to attract consumer curiosity has led individuals to seek other creative methods to make their envelopes more inviting. One marketing technique could be derived from U.S. Pat. No. 2,256,399, which sets forth a picture-carrying post card. However, the card does not include a conventional mailing envelope pocket permitting the enclosure of articles. Moreover, the picture-carrying slide requires the post card to incorporate a frame in which to carry a lantern slide, which increases the cost of the post card's manufacture. Also, a combination envelope and cardboard picture frame is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,030, but the picture is enclosed within the interior of the envelope, hidden from view. Furthermore, the combination envelope and cardboard picture frame is not adapted to permit the recipient to see, while the envelope remains sealed, both the picture through an envelope window and a portion of the contents of the envelope through the picture. Other envelope marketing techniques incorporate illustrations on the paper surface of the envelope.
Bulk mailing envelopes commonly incorporate windows located at the portion of the envelope where the mailing address is to be displayed. This obviates the need of printing the recipients address on the envelope itself, since the address will instead be printed on materials inserted inside the envelope and situated to display the address in the window. Some mailing envelopes attach a clear or colored transparent plastic to the address display window. Other mailing envelopes incorporate windows covered with clear or colored transparent plastic to reveal other contents inside the envelope, for example, a sweepstakes greeting or number.
While illustrations and display windows are sometimes used to decorate a mailing envelope, the technique of mounting a detachable image-bearing sheet member on an envelope window has not been used.

Mailing envelope incorporating decorative transparency


A speech recognition apparatus which includes a speech recognition section for performing a speech recognition process on an uttered speech with reference to a predetermined statistical language model, based on a series of speech signal of the uttered speech sentence composed of a series of input words. The speech recognition section calculates a functional value of a predetermined erroneous sentence judging function with respect to speech recognition candidates, where the erroneous sentence judging representing a degree of unsuitability for the speech recognition candidates. When the calculated functional value exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the speech recognition section performs the speech recognition process by eliminating a speech recognition candidate corresponding to a calculated functional value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speech recognition apparatus for recognizing speech based on a speech signal of utterance speech with reference to a statistical language model, and in particular, to a speech recognition apparatus equipped with means for removing an erroneous candidate of speech recognition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In continuous speech recognition apparatuses, a statistical language model based on a statistical method which is so called N-gram is widely used (See, for example, a prior art document 1, L. R. Bahl et al., "A Maximum Likelihood Approach to Continuous Speech Recognition", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, pp. 179-190, 1983). In a continuous speech recognition apparatus using an N-gram, improvement in the speech recognition rate is intended by previously training the transition probability, at which a transition is made from preceding N-1 words to the next word, with large-scale training data, and by predicting a word to be next connected with the trained transition probability at the time of speech recognition. Generally speaking, the larger the N grows, the more the prediction accuracy for the next word improves, whereas the number of kinds of word concatenation becomes large, this requires large amounts of training data to obtain reliable transition probabilities. Thus, under the existing circumstances, N is in many cases set to 2(in the case of bi-gram) or 3(in the case of tri-gram) or so for practical use. However, upon analyzing results of continuous speech recognition using the bi-gram of words or tri-gram of words, even if local word concatenations within 2 or 3 words have naturalness, unnatural mis-recognized sentence would frequently be outputted, when viewing the whole sentence. Thus, it is considered that more general language restrictions are necessary.
There have been language models that enable more general restrictions with the use of grammars such as context-free grammar and dependency relationships among words. However, taking into account the structure of natural utterance sentences and the various kinds of dependency relationships, it is difficult to build rules and dependency relationships, while the amount of processings become remarkably larger. On the other hand, a method for solving the ambiguity of syntactic construction by an example-led approach was proposed in a prior art document 2, Eiichiro Sumida et al., "An Example-Led Solution of Ambiguities on Destinations of Prepositive Words and Phrases in English", The Transactions of the Institute of Electronic Information and Communication Engineers of Japan (D-II), J77-D-II, No 3, pp. 557-565, "March 1994" (hereinafter, referred to as a prior art example). The method of this prior art example includes steps of extracting examples from corpus, calculating semantic distances between the expression of an input sentence and examples according to a thesaurus, and selecting such a sentence construction that the final semantic distance is minimized. The effects of this method were also confirmed for equivalent-word decision process or the like (See a prior art document 3, Furuse et al., "transform-led machine translation utilizing empirical knowledge", Transactions of the Information Processing Society of Japan, Vol. 35, No 3, pp. 414-423, March 1994).
However, in the speech recognition apparatuses using the method of the above-mentioned prior art example, there has been such a problem, for example, that inputting a sentence of unnatural construction with respect to trained examples would result in increased distances from any of the examples so that the resulting speech recognition rate would be relatively low.

Speech recognition apparatus equipped with means for removing erroneous candidate of speech recognition

ATR Interpreting Telecommunications Research Laboratories


A system for managing an electronic loan application can include: a loan information pane listing financial information associated with a loan transaction, the financial information including details of the loan transaction and an indicator of a status of an attribute of the loan transaction; an action pane listing upcoming actions associated with the loan transaction; and an assets pane listing assets associated with the loan transaction, the assets pane including: a list with each of the assets, including identification of each of the assets; and a statement pane for a selected asset of the assets, the statement pane listing items associated with a statement for the selected asset, with each of the items including a status indicator and a highlighted excerpt from the statement.

Financial institutions provide loans to customers. Before a loan is issued to a customer, the customer applies for the loan. The loan application process can include a number of stages that must be completed, requirements that must be complied with, and conditions that must be fulfilled, before an applied-for loan is approved or underwritten.

User interfaces for contextual modeling for electronic loan applications


A C-shaped superconducting magnet for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment is disclosed. The magnet includes flux concentrators on opposing sides of the gap, for generating a vertical field therein; the flux concentrators include a plurality of coils, for carrying current in opposing directions, so as to generate an inwardly directed field to compensate for the gap. Injection correctors, each consisting of a horizontal coil, are disposed adjacent the flux concentrators. A flux return body, for example a superconducting solenoid or an iron yoke, provides a return path on the opposite side of the magnet from the gap. Flux deflectors guide return flux in a curved path from the flux return body to the injection correctors. The flux deflectors are constructed to include a superconducting coil which is wound about varying chords (or the full diameter) thereof, so that the induced flux is greater nearer the outside of the flux deflector, compensating for the tendency of the flux to crowd along the inner portion of the curved path. The return flux is thus provided to the injection correctors with sufficient uniformity to be corrected thereby.

In recent years, significant improvements have been made in medical diagnostic instrumentation, particularly as related to the diagnosis of internal injuries and illnesses. In particular, the field of imaging internal organs and tumors in the diagnostic context has progressed dramatically in recent years.
A widely used modern imaging technique is generally referred to as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI utilizes the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) mechanism available from the nuclei of those atoms which are gyromagnetic (i.e., atomic nuclei that have nonzero angular momentum, or nonzero magnetic moment), the most commonly analyzed of which is hydrogen. MRI is accomplished by placing the subject to be imaged, for example a human, into a DC magnetic field of a magnitude ranging from 0.15 Tesla to 2.0 Tesla for polarizing the gyromagnetic nuclei of interest in the subject. A gradient, or sweep, coil is used to produce a gradient magnetic field within the subject, precisely defining the volume within the subject to be imaged at a particular time; modulation of the gradient field allows for sequential imaging of small volumes so that an image of a larger volume can be produced. As is well known in the art, the gradient field, in combination with the DC field, will define a volume in which the atoms will have a common resonant frequency different from atoms outside of the volume. The MRI apparatus also generally includes an oscillator coil that generates an oscillating magnetic field, oriented at an angle relative to the DC field; the frequency of the oscillating field is selected to match the resonant frequency of the atoms of interest in the selected volume. Frequencies of interest in modern MRI are in the radio frequency range. The MRI apparatus also includes a detecting coil in which a current can be induced by the nuclear magnetic dipoles in the volume being imaged.
In operation, as is well known, the magnetic dipole moments of those atoms in the volume which are both gyromagnetic and also resonant at the frequency of the oscillating field are rotated to some angle, for example 90.degree., from their polarized orientation by the resonant RF oscillation. Upon removal of the RF excitation, the voltage induced in the detecting coil is measured over time, with the rate of decay corresponding to the quantity of the atoms of interest in the volume being imaged. Sequencing of the selected volume by modulating the gradient field will thus result in an image of the subject which depends upon the density of the resonant nuclei (e.g., hydrogen) at the volumes therein. MRI according to this technique (and its variations) has been successful in the imaging of soft tissues which are transparent to X-rays, such as internal organs and the like.
Generation of large DC magnetic fields has been a particularly difficult problem in conventional MRI equipment. Firstly, imaging is facilitated by the generation of extremely large fields of on the order of at least 1.5 Tesla, for example. Such large magnetic fields require large coil currents or alternatively larger numbers of turns in the main DC magnet coil, each of which have necessitated the use of superconducting material and accompanying cryogenic systems in the magnets which are both relatively costly items. In addition, the size and weight of the MRI apparatus generally increases with the DC field strength of the magnet, as the weight and size of the magnet will increase with its DC field strength. Some conventional MRI magnets are sufficiently heavy (e.g., on the order of twenty tons) as to limit the installation of the MRI apparatus to a basement or ground floor laboratory.
In addition to these cost factors, an important factor in the design and construction of MRI magnets is the uniformity of the magnetic field within the "gap" into which the subject is to be placed, as the precision of the image depends upon the uniformity of the field at the subject location. It has been observed that magnetic field uniformity becomes increasingly difficult to achieve with increasing field strength.
In combination with these cost and uniformity factors, shielding of stray fields from the DC magnet also becomes of major concern, especially as the fields become very large, as the accuracy of conventional electronic instrumentation is adversely impacted by magnetic fields. Many purchasers of MRI equipment thus demand excellent shielding, as the size and cost of the laboratory into which the MRI apparatus is to be installed will depend not only upon the size of the apparatus itself, but also upon the distance that other instrumentation must be kept from the apparatus (or alternatively the external shielding measures required). Use of superconducting coils to provide such shielding can be effective, but of course dramatically increases the cost of the apparatus. Iron shielding, while avoiding the cost of additional superconducting material, results in much larger and heavier magnets, and also must be designed in a highly precise manner, especially for high fields, so that the iron does not adversely affect the uniformity of the field in the imaging volume.
By way of further background, a superferric shielded magnet and method for constructing the same is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,628, issued Nov. 8, 1988, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,772, both incorporated herein by this reference. A superconducting magnet particularly intended for MRI applications, shielded by the combination of a superferric shield and superconducting shielding coils, is described in copending application Ser. No. 715,552, filed Jun. 14, 1991, also incorporated herein by this reference. In each of these magnets, the bore is cylindrical, with the generated DC magnetic field in a direction parallel with the axis of the cylindrical bore.
By way of further background, MRI equipment utilizing a window frame opening into which the subject is placed are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,370, issued Dec. 13, 1988, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,174, issued May 19, 1987. In these arrangements, an iron yoke is provided into which upper and lower U-shaped non-superconducting coil assemblies are provided for generating a vertical DC magnetic field within its volume. Gradient coils are inserted thereinto (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,370) for selecting the slice of the subject to be imaged.
The cylindrical and window frame magnets described hereinabove have each been widely used in MRI equipment intended for human subjects. However, access to the patient is limited in MRI equipment fabricated according to these shapes, particularly in the case of cardiac patients to whom intravenous tubes and cardiac monitoring equipment must remain connected during the MRI procedure. As MRI is a particularly useful diagnostic tool for cardiac disorders, it is therefore highly desirable to provide an MRI apparatus which can easily receive a human subject and yet provide external access to the subject. In addition, MRI equipment using the cylindrical and window frame magnet designs can result in significant patient anxiety, as these shapes require the head of the patient to be enclosed within the magnet during the MRI of many regions of the body.
By way of still further background, C-shaped magnets for generating DC fields are well known in the field of particle acceleration. A well known example of such magnets are those used in cyclotrons to maintain a centripetal acceleration on the accelerated charged particle(s) traveling between the accelerating dee electrodes. Various pole face designs have been utilized in cyclotron magnets in order to properly focus the path traveled by the particle, especially as it is accelerated by the dee electrodes.
By way of further background, a C-shaped magnet for generating a magnetic field intended for use in NMR equipment is described in international publication WO 90/04258, published Apr. 19, 1990, particularly relative to FIG. 3 therein. In the C-shaped magnet described in this document, an iron yoke is provided to serve as a flux guide. An array of modular solenoids are used to generate the field across the gap; the publication also discloses that the modules can be powered to have different energy densities from one another to maximize the efficiency of the array of modules.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a high field DC magnet intended for MRI equipment which provides easy patient access and which does not require the patient to be enclosed within the magnet during the MRI procedure.
As will be described hereinbelow, a C-shaped magnet according to the invention provides excellent patient access, and can also perform MRI of many parts of the human body without enclosing the head area, thus reducing patient anxiety. However, the C-shape of the magnet theoretically provides poor uniformity of return flux to the field generating coils at the gap area. This poor uniformity results from the natural crowding of magnetic flux near the inner surface of a curved flux path (i.e., at the inner surfaces of the top and bottom of the "C"). As high uniformity of field within the imaging volume (e.g., a sphere of 20 cm diameter) is essential in the MRI context for precise imaging, the improved patient access provided by a C-shaped magnet adversely impacts the uniformity of the field in the gap.
It is therefore a further object of the invention to provide such a magnet which has a high degree of field uniformity in the gap.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a magnet which provides such high field uniformity by correcting for flux crowding in the curved return path.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a magnet which has a high degree of shielding and low fringe fields.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a magnet which can be fabricated at relatively low cost.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following specification in combination with the drawings.

Compact superconducting magnet for magnetic resonance imaging


An individually package structure 10 having an absorbent article 1 folded and packaged in a wrapper, the absorbent article 1 having an absorbent body 5 and a pair of flaps 6 extending laterally outward from the longitudinal side edges of the absorbent body 5. The absorbent body 5 has a skin facing side, a garment facing side, and an absorbent core between the skin facing side and the garment facing side. In the package, the absorbent article 1 has the flaps 5 folded over the skin facing side along respective fold lines LF and has an embossed pattern of depressions 62 formed on and/or near the fold lines.

Absorbent articles with wings or flaps are known. JP-T-5-506799 discloses a sanitary napkin having flaps, which extend outwardly from the longitudinal side margins, folded over the topsheet. This arrangement maintains the topsheet in a sanitary condition and is more convenient to handle. The flaps may be maintained in this folded arrangement by a unitary release strip which bridges the flaps and covers any adhesive used to attach the flaps to an undergarment.
However, when the flaps are opened on use, a wrinkle remains near the fold lines to impair the feel or fit, which can result in leakage.
JP-A-2002-272786 discloses an absorbent article having a pair of wings each formed of a side nonwoven fabric which is fixed to the liquid impermeable backsheet by a linear heat seal along the longitudinal direction. The wings are heat embossed over the area except the base to improve the fixation of the adhesive thereon.
JP-A-2003-284741 discloses an absorbent article with flaps having embossed depressions for stopping liquid flow on their skin facing side. The back side of the flaps has no depressions and thereby provides a sufficient contact area to which an adhesive is applied. As a result, the adhesive is prevented from remaining on an undergarment when the napkin is removed.
JP-A-2003-290277 discloses an absorbent article having flaps that are not to be folded over the outer side of an undergarment. The flaps have depressions for stopping liquid flow on their skin facing side.
These techniques aim to stop liquid flow or to improve fixation of the adhesive onto the side flaps.
There is no related art proposing any structure that involves folding flaps inward (to face the topsheet) without creating folding wrinkles.


The invention provides methods for making naturally appearing dental restorations, compositions of matter used in said methods and articles so formed, the resulting articles being visually life-like dental porcelain restorations formed of porcelain layers at least certain of which are modified to cause light entering a restoration to be internally reflected within the layers of the restoration to produce an opalescence virtually identical to that of natural teeth. Porcelain layers unique to the present dental restorations include colored pigments or chromas selected to replace those chromatic values which are usually absorbed within conventional porcelain restorations, the present restorations therefore transmitting essentially the same high value of light back out of the restorations which initially entered the restorations. The present restorations blend visually with adjacent natural teeth since light exiting both the restorations and the adjacent teeth enter each other and are internally reflected with similar high light values which initially entered the restorations and teeth being transmitted from said restorations and teeth to an observer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the production of dental porcelain restorations which are naturally appearing and relates particularly to dental restorations formed of layers of unique dental porcelains modified to internally handle light within said layers and to transmit back out of a restoration light of a value similar to the light which entered the restoration.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dental restorations have been fabricated for centuries both for cosmetic and practical purposes. Within the last several hundred years, ceramic or porcelain powders have become the standard for forming such restorations. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,097, the disclosure of which is incorporated hereinto by reference, which patent describes the use of porcelain powder by dentists and dental technicians for the build up and shaping of dental appliances such as crowns, bridges, artificial teeth and the like. These porcelain materials take the form of fine powders carried by a liquid binder which allow the formation of a "paste" such that a restoration can be built up and shaped to a desired tooth form. After shaping, the binder is typically removed such as by baking and the porcelain mass is sintered. Present conventional practice usually involves the formation of a porcelain dental restoration such as a crown or bridge on a metal framework which is called a "coping", the coping being covered conventionally by several layers of porcelain in an effort to simulate the appearance of natural teeth. A first layer of porcelain according to conventional practice is applied directly to the coping for the purpose of hiding the coping. This "opaque porcelain layer" is typically lacking any particular chromatic character. A second layer applied to the thus-coated coping is generally referred to as the "body porcelain layer" and exhibits a certain degree of translucence which is intended to be similar to that of the dentine layer of a natural tooth. Conventional practice further provides a third layer on top of the body porcelain layer, referred to as the "incisal porcelain layer", which is intended to approach the translucency of the enamel layer of a natural tooth. The various porcelain layers are typically baked between the layering steps. Pigments are typically provided in one or more of the layers referred to above to provide a color selected by a dental practitioner to be similar to that of the natural teeth or adjacent teeth or restorations present in the patient's mouth. A description of conventional restoration manufacture can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,117, the disclosure of which is incorporated hereinto by reference, this patent also providing a discussion of the formation of restorations on a ceramic base as well as on metal copings. The prior art has further provided porcelain dental restorations having fluorescing agents present in one or more porcelain layers. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,455, the disclosure of which is incorporated hereinto by reference, describes the use of an ultraviolet fluorescing agent in the various layers of a porcelain restoration in an effort to match the appearance of a natural tooth under certain light conditions. Reference is also made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,880,662 and 4,645,454 which describe conventional dental porcelain powders, binders, baking and sintering processes, etc., it being understood that certain of the processes and materials described in these patents can be adapted for use according to the teachings of the present invention. For this reason, the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,880,662 and 4,645,454 are incorporated hereinto by reference.
Conventional practice in the art has heretofore produced somewhat less than satisfactory dental restorations. In fact, prior restorations, while adequate from the practical standpoint of use have failed to produce a warm, naturally appearing restoration which looks "life-like" or "alive". In essence, prior dental restorations including dental porcelain restorations, typically transmit gray or low value light back to an observer. The low value of light transmitted by prior dental porcelain restorations are caused in part by reflection of light off the metal surface of a coping, the light being reflected off the metal surface and going directly through the opaque layers and being thus transmitted by virtually direct reflection through the layers of the restoration. Further, prior dental porcelain restorations absorb high light values, particularly reds, yellows and oranges within the body of the restoration itself, the light being thus transmitted from the restoration being of a low value or a "gray" due to the absence of these absorbed light values. Accordingly, the present invention provides methods of making naturally appearing dental restorations, compositions of matter used in the practice of said methods and articles comprising dental porcelain restorations formed from the methods and compositions of matter, the present dental porcelain restorations being visually life-like due to the provisions of layers of dental porcelains which include pigments or chromas which cause internal handling of light in much the way light is handled internally of a natural tooth to provide an opalescent effect. Further, the present dental porcelain restorations include pigments or chromas which replace those light values, particularly the reds, yellows and oranges, which are typically absorbed by conventional dental porcelain restorations, the light thus transmitted from the present restorations being of a high value similar to light transmitted from a natural tooth. The present invention therefore provides substantial improvement in the art.

Method and compositions for producing life-like dental porcelain restorations and dental porcelain restorations so produced


A lighting device comprising a light emitter positioning element and first and second solid state light emitters positioned on the first light emitter positioning element, at least a first portion of the first light emitter positioning element of a spiral shape. Also, a lighting device comprising first and second solid state light emitters and means for dissipating heat from them. Also, a method of assembling a lighting device, comprising positioning a first light emitter positioning element that comprises a ledge, so that at least a part of it is in contact with a support structure, at least first and second solid state light emitters being on the positioning element, and pressing the positioning element to bring it into contact with the ledge.

There is an ongoing effort to develop systems that are more energy-efficient. A large proportion (some estimates are as high as twenty-five percent) of the electricity generated in the United States each year goes to lighting, a large portion of which is general illumination (e.g., downlights, flood lights, spotlights and other general residential or commercial illumination products). Accordingly, there is an ongoing need to provide lighting that is more energy-efficient.
Solid state light emitters (e.g., light emitting diodes) are receiving much attention due to their energy efficiency. It is well known that incandescent light bulbs are very energy-inefficient light sources—about ninety percent of the electricity they consume is released as heat rather than light. Fluorescent light bulbs are more efficient than incandescent light bulbs (by a factor of about 10) but are still less efficient than solid state light emitters, such as light emitting diodes.
In addition, as compared to the normal lifetimes of solid state light emitters, e.g., light emitting diodes, incandescent light bulbs have relatively short lifetimes, i.e., typically about 750-1000 hours. In comparison, light emitting diodes, for example, have typical lifetimes between 50,000 and 70,000 hours. Fluorescent bulbs have longer lifetimes (e.g., 10,000-20,000 hours) than incandescent lights, but provide less favorable color reproduction. The typical lifetime of conventional fixtures is about 20 years, corresponding to a light-producing device usage of at least about 44,000 hours (based on usage of 6 hours per day for 20 years). Where the light-producing device lifetime of the light emitter is less than the lifetime of the fixture, the need for periodic change-outs is presented. The impact of the need to replace light emitters is particularly pronounced where access is difficult (e.g., vaulted ceilings, bridges, high buildings, highway tunnels) and/or where change-out costs are extremely high.
A challenge with solid state light emitters is that the performance of many solid state light emitters may be reduced when they are subjected to elevated temperatures. A common manufacturer recommendation is that the junction temperature of a light emitting diode (i.e., the temperature of the semiconductor junction of the LED) should not exceed 85 degrees C. if a long lifetime is desired. Various heat sinking schemes have been developed to dissipate at least some of the heat that is generated by the LED. See, for example, Application Note: CLD-APO6.006, entitled Cree® XLamp® YR Family & 4550 LED Reliability, published at cree.com/xlamp, September 2008.
In order to encourage development and deployment of highly energy efficient solid state lighting (SSL) products to replace several of the most common lighting products currently used in the United States, including 60-watt A19 incandescent and PAR 38 halogen incandescent lamps, the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Competition (L Prize™) has been authorized in the Energy Independence and Security. Act of 2007 (EISA). The L Prize is described in "Bright Tomorrow Lighting Competition (L Prize™)", May 28, 2008, Document No. 08NT006643, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if set forth fully herein. The L Prize winner must conform to many product requirements including light output, wattage, color rendering index, correlated color temperature, expected lifetime, dimensions and base type.
In addition, the intensity of light emitted from some solid state light emitters varies based on operating temperature, and the variance in intensity resulting from changes in operating temperature can be more pronounced for solid state light emitters that emit light of one color than for solid state light emitters that emit light of another color. For example, light emitting diodes that emit red light often have a very strong temperature dependence (e.g., AlInGaP light emitting diodes can reduce in optical output by ˜20% when heated up by ˜40 degrees C., that is, approximately −0.5% per degree C.; and blue InGaN+YAG:Ce light emitting diodes can reduce by about −0.15/degree C.). In many lighting devices that include solid state light emitters as light sources (e.g., general illumination devices that emit white light in which the light sources consist of light emitting diodes), a plurality of solid state light emitters are provided that emit light of different colors which, when mixed, are perceived as the desired color for the output light (e.g., white or near-white). The desire to maintain a relatively stable color of light output is therefore an important reason to try to reduce temperature variation of solid state light emitters.
Efforts have been ongoing to develop ways by which solid state light emitters can be used in place of incandescent lights, fluorescent lights and other light-generating devices in a wide variety of applications. In addition, where light emitting diodes (or other solid state light emitters) are already being used, efforts are ongoing to provide solid state light emitters that are improved, e.g., with respect to energy efficiency, color rendering index (CRI Ra), efficacy (lm/W), and/or duration of service.

Solid state lighting device, and method of assembling the same


GPS gyro calibration methods and systems are described. In an embodiment, a ground station can receive antenna position data for a spot beam antenna from a global positioning system (GPS) platform where the antenna position data indicates a boresight direction of the spot beam antenna. GPS-enabled receiver(s) can receive scan signals transmitted via the spot beam antenna of the GPS platform, and the GPS-enabled receivers can determine signal power measurements for each of the scan signals. The ground station can receive the signal power measurements from the GPS-enabled receiver(s) and estimate a pointing error of the spot beam antenna based on the signal power measurements and the antenna position data received from the GPS platform. The ground station can then determine gyro calibration parameters from the estimated pointing error and communicate the gyro calibration parameters to the GPS platform to calibrate for gyro drift errors.

The global positioning system (GPS) is a satellite-based system that is relied upon to provide accurate positioning information to GPS-enabled receivers, especially for military aircraft and weapon systems applications and for civilian aviation. Inaccurate positioning information can result in less accurate GPS-guided weapons which may increase collateral damage as well as a need for an increased number of weapons needed to accomplish a given mission. Additionally, civilian aviation applications rely on GPS positioning information to be highly accurate for aircraft navigation.
A next generation or version of GPS that is being developed is GPS III which has a higher accuracy requirement, yet includes design considerations that may affect this higher accuracy requirement. In particular, GPS III is implemented with a steerable spot beam antenna that is used to transmit high-intensity spot beams of GPS signals. However, the high gain of a spot beam antenna is obtained at the cost of reduced beamwidth, and precision pointing of the narrow beam is needed for the higher accuracy requirements of the GPS III system. As such, the gyros that control the attitude of the GPS satellite need to be calibrated for gyro drift errors.
Gyro measurements are not absolute, but rather relative to some frame of reference. For typical satellite gyros, this frame of reference is a computed inertial frame, where the orientation drifts from a true inertial frame due to various sources such as measurement noise, scale factor error, gyro bias error, and others. In order to provide accurate attitude and rate estimates, the gyros need to be calibrated frequently with a reference attitude sensor.


In an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure, a computer-implemented method includes receiving, at a hardware accelerator, a first instruction to project a first plurality of database rows, where each of the first plurality of database rows has one or more variable-length columns. The first plurality of database rows are projected, by a computer processor, to produce a first plurality of projected rows. This projection is performed at streaming rate.

Various embodiments of this disclosure relate to database management systems and, more particularly, to hardware projection of fixed and variable length columns of database records.
Projection refers to the process of parsing records (i.e., rows) of a database table to select certain fields from the records and arrange them in a specified manner. This is generally performed to report the rearranged fields to an application, or to enable more effective sorting of the records over a sort key that has been arranged as needed in the projection results. In current database management systems (DBMSs), projection is generally performed in software and incurs variable costs on the central processing unit (CPU), depending on the type, length, and position of the columns projected.

Hardware projection of fixed and variable length columns of database tables

International Business Machines Corporation


In moving through a toasting oven, the first and last of a plurality of rows of bread slices to be toasted have their outward sides in heat exchange relationship with metal masses.

This invention relates to a method for making toasted bread slices.
It is a known fact that in the making of toasted bread slices on a commercial scale, tunnel-type ovens are generally employed which are some length and passed through continuously by an endless net-type belt conveyor wherein slices of bread to be toasted are laid in a plurality of adjacent rows which may include up to 38-40 such rows of slices.
The tunnel-type oven is equipped with suitable heaters which are distributed along the oven length and operated to establish, throughout the oven length, a temperature diagram which is pre-set experimentally for optimum toasting of the slices.
Also known is, however, that despite the care and engineering applied to the process, the slices in the first and last rows frequently reveal, on exiting the oven, excess toasting or even peripheral burning which may vary in extent but nearly always result in these having to be discarded.
In consideration of that the slices in the other rows are toasted in full conformity with their commercially applicable standards, and in particular that the slices in the central rows show optimum toasting, it has been thought that the problem was due to the slices in the first and last rows being thermally unprotected by any other slices along their outward sides, being instead exposed to an amount of heat and temperatures which are apparently excessive.
Efforts made to lower the oven temperature, while possibly extending the residence time of the slices to be toasted therein, have yielded negative results, mainly on account of difficulties in effectively controlling the temperatures and the complexity brought about by the provision of additional heating means.
The underlying problem of this invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for making toasted bread slices on a commercial scale, thereby definitely obviating the above-noted technical drawback in a simple and economical way.

Barilla G.E.R. L.LLI - Societa per Azioni


A method for decoding data symbols modulated with a corresponding codeword from a constellation set of codewords expands the constellation set of codewords with a set of basis functions to produce a basis-expanded constellation set and projects projecting a received modulated data symbol onto orthogonal complements of the basis expanded constellation set to obtain a set of distance metric of a generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) for each codeword of the constellation set. The set of basis functions includes a Fourier exponential basis function in a frequency domain, a Legendre polynomial basis function in a time domain, and a Fourier-Legendre product basis function in the frequency domain. The method selects a codeword corresponding to a minimal distance metric or a maximal correlation metric and decodes the data symbol from the received modulated data symbol using the codeword.

In wireless communications, doubly-selective channels are subject to time-varying fading and multi-path delays. Time-varying fading has a specific Doppler power spectrum, causing time-selective channels and inter-carrier interference (ICI). Multi-path delays have a certain delay power spectrum, causing frequency-selective channels and inter-symbol interference (ISI). This is a particular problem in a wideband wireless network with mobile transceivers, e.g. in vehicular communications networks and cellular networks.
Adaptive equalization and pilot symbols are typically used to compensate for ISI and ICI. For example, pilot symbols or training sequences are inserted in packets transmitted to a receiver in order to estimate channel state information (CSI) of wireless links. The estimated CSI is used for equalization of ISI and ICI. However, the pilot symbols inherently reduce the spectral efficiency and data transmission rate, given restricted resources of radio frequency that is suited for mobile communications. Moreover, the pilot symbols are only effective for slow fading channels. In addition, channel estimation to obtain instantaneous CSI is considerably difficult in doubly-selective fading channels due to the presence of both ISI and ICI, even with pilot symbols.
A basis expansion model (BEM) has been used to approximate singly-selective fading channels, i.e., either time-varying or multi-path channels, to realize semi-blind transmissions for mobile wireless communications, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,280,604 B2. The BEM is used in conjunction with an iterative semi-blind equalizer based on an expectation-and-maximization (EM) procedure for joint data detection and CSI estimation. With help of a forward error correction (FEC) code, the BEM can realize quasi non-coherent communications with a small number of pilot symbols without performance degradation. However, that method still relies on pilot symbols to obtain an initial CSI estimation and FEC soft-decision decoding feedbacks, which can make a receiver more complicated.
Differential space-time coding (DSTC) has been used to realize non-coherent communications and to provide diversity gain to be robust against channel fading, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,567,623 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,508,808 B2, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,397,866 B2. The non-coherent communications do not need to use any pilot symbols, and higher spectral efficiency can be maintained because of no communications overhead. DSTC is realized by Grassmannian orthogonal matrix, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,579 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 7,864,876 B2, and US 2002/0163892 A1. However, DSTC does not perform well in fast time-varying channels, where channel coherence time is very short to exploit the orthogonal feature of the Grassmannian matrix. To solve this problem, the BEM and DSTC can be simultaneously used with generalized likelihood-ratio test (GLRT) equalization, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,059,747. With BEM, non-coherent communications can be realized even for fast time-varying fading channels and for high-speed data rate transmissions. This method and system can be extended to doubly-selective fading channels by introducing multi-dimensional BEM, in which two different kinds of basis functions over time and frequency domain are used to deal with doubly-selective fading channels.
However, the BEM itself is susceptive to some hardware imperfections, such as timing offset and carrier offset. For example, the timing and carrier offsets can be caused by hardware impairments, such as inaccuracy of a clock circuit including, e.g., a crystal oscillator. Such offsets are undesired for a number of applications, and can be compensated for by a specially designed synchronization process. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,961,697 B2 describes a method for synchronizing clocks between the receiver and transmitter using pre-defined training sequences in synchronization packets. However, transmission of the synchronization packets causes additional communications overhead, which is an undesirable or even unacceptable for a number of applications.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for non-coherent transmission for doubly-selective channels accounting for timing offset and carrier offset of the transmission without relying on any pilots or training sequences for synchronization and channel estimation.

System and method for communicating data symbols via wireless doubly-selective channels

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


A communication device performs a radio communication in an ultra wideband with the use of the impulse radio system. The communication device includes a receiver. The receiver is equipped with antennas, a correlation circuit, and a CPU. The antennas receive send signals from a transmitter. The correlation circuit detects a synchronization pulse having a longer cycle than a highly redundant data pulse among received signals. The CPU performs a synchronization process based on the synchronization pulse. The CPU establishes a channel based on the synchronization pulse, and selectively changes the antennas according to the received signal. In the case where the receive signal has not been received for a given period of time after the synchronization is established correlation signals is stopped outputting to start a polling signal. The correlation signals are output to obtain correlation of the receive signals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a communication device and communication method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a high-speed wireless transmission technology has been studied and developed, one of which is a method called UWB (Ultra Wide Band). The UWB utilizes at least 20 percent of fractional bandwidth or at least 500 MHz of ultra high bandwidth. The UWB is a wireless communication method that can realize a high-speed data transmission by sending and receiving data that are spread in an extremely high frequency range, at least 500 MHz.
The UWB communicates with the use of a signal train or signal sequence. An information signal is composed of an impulse signal train that has an extremely short cycle of several hundred picoseconds. An occupied frequency range is extremely wide, as compared to the frequency range that is usually used in a wireless LAN. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to establish the synchronization of data and a relative signal so as to obtain correlation of data in an impulse radio system, which transmits ultra short pulses without carriers, among radio communication systems of ultra wideband such as the UWB. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-234691 (hereinafter referred to as Document 1) has been proposed to solve the aforementioned problem as the conventional technique.
The wireless communication system disclosed in Document 1 is equipped with a timing generation device, which transmits a standard pulse signal at certain intervals. A wireless network is established with wireless communication devices, which exist within a range that the standard pulse signal reaches.
The wireless communication system described in Document 1 is equipped with the timing generation device that transmits a standard pulse signal at certain intervals so as to synchronize the standard pulse signal with a transmit and receive circuit. Here, it is to be noted that an additional external device such as the timing generation device is costly.
Besides, there is another problem in that, with the impulse radio system, it is difficult to eliminate the affects caused resulting from noises and also difficult to extract desired signals only, when the signals are received and the data is extracted.

Communication device and communication method


Described herein are systems and methods for marking models for dental aligner fabrication. A method for producing a physical model of teeth including a three-dimensional marking includes receiving a first digital model of teeth in an alignment position and selecting a location for marking a physical model of the teeth in the alignment position with a three-dimensional marking, the physical model to be fabricated based on the first digital model. The method also includes generating a second digital model of the teeth in the alignment position based on the first digital model, the second digital model representing the physical model and including the three-dimensional marking at the marking location, and using a three-dimensional fabrication method to fabricate the physical model including the three-dimensional marking from the second digital model.

The present invention relates generally to fabricating dental aligners. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to marking physical models used to fabricate dental aligners.
A dental impression provides a negative imprint of the teeth and tissues in the mouth. The negative impression may be utilized to produce a physical or digital reproduction of the teeth. Generally, a dental tray having a viscous, thixotropic impression material therein is fit over the dental arches of the patient. The impression material sets to a solid leaving an imprint of the dental structures in the mouth. When removed from the mouth, the impression provides a detailed and stable negative of the teeth. Optionally, the impression is processed using digital scanning methods to create a digital negative of the teeth.
Using the negative, a dental mold can be created from which a dental aligner for realigning teeth can be fabricated. The dental aligners can be fabricated by thermoforming plastic to the positive mold. The dental aligners can be fabricated in a facility that produces aligners for many different patients. As such, a facility may produce a large number of physical models, and tracking and organizing the physical models may be difficult.

Systems and methods for marking models for dental aligner fabrication


A cursor control device includes a main body, a circuit board, a base, a touch support stand, a touch sensor and a knock sensor. The circuit board is disposed within the main body. The base is disposed within the main body and above the circuit board, and includes an elongated slot. The touch support stand is mounted on the base and aligned with the elongated slot. The touch sensor is supported on the touch support stand and electrically connected to the circuit board. In response to a touching action on the touch sensor, a screen scrolling signal is generated. The knock sensor is mounted on the circuit board and under the touch support stand. The knock sensor is triggered when the touch support stand is moved to touch the knock sensor.

Nowadays, computers become essential data processing apparatuses in the digitalized and electronic societies. For helping the user well operate the computer system, the hardware and the software associated with the computer system are developed in views of humanization and user-friendliness. For example, in addition to the basic functions of controlling cursor movement and selecting an item on the option menu, the mouse device (which is also referred as pointing device or cursor control device) has extended functions. For example, the mouse device may have a scroll wheel assembly or a tilt wheel assembly for controlling vertical and horizontal movement of the cursor.
Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic perspective view of a tilt wheel type mouse 10 is illustrated. The tilt wheel type mouse 10 is developed in combination of the wheel button technology and the tilt wheel technology. The tilt wheel assembly 11 of the mouse 10 can be rotated forwardly or backwardly, or tilted toward the left or right side, thereby scrolling the image shown on graphic user interface or the window interface upwardly, downwardly, leftward or rightwards. When the tilt wheel assembly 11 is pressed down, a knock sensor is triggered, so that the functions of a wheel button are enabled. Since the tilt wheel assembly 11 is arranged between a left click button 12 and a right click button 13, the wheel button is also referred as a third click button. Depending on the manufacturer's or the user's design, the functions of the third click button are varied.
For minimization, as shown in FIG. 2, a slim mouse 20 having a touch thin film switch 21 is developed. Since the level of the mouse 21 relative to the desk plane is lower than that of the mouse 10 having the scroll wheel assembly 11, the mouse 20 of FIG. 2 is slimmer and has reduced overall volume.
As known, the touch thin film switch 21 is a thin film array switch implemented by plural electronic components (not shown), which are discretely arranged at regular intervals. By using the user's finger to touch a surface of the touch thin film switch 21, the scrolling direction is determined according to the initial and final touching locations. As a result, the slim mouse 20 has the functions identical to those activated by rotating the scroll wheel assembly.
Unfortunately, although the slim mouse 20 has the touch thin film switch 21 to execute the functions as the conventional scroll wheel assembly, the third click button lacks the mechanism as the knock sensor of the third click button. Therefore, the slim mouse 20 has only a left click button 22 and a right click button 23 but fails to execute the extended functions as the third click button.
In views of the above-described disadvantages resulted from the prior art, the applicant keeps on carving unflaggingly to develop a cursor control device according to the present invention through wholehearted experience and research.


A microporous polyolefin film which comprises 5 to 95 wt. % polyethylene (A) having a viscosity-average molecular weight (Mv) of 2,000,000 or higher, a first-melting-peak signal height as determined by DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) of 3.0 mW/mg or higher, a specific surface area of 0.7 m2/g or larger, and an average particle diameter of 1 to 150 μm and 95 to 5 wt. % polyethylene (B) having an Mw of 10,000 to 200,000, excluding 10,000 and 200,000, wherein the ratio of the Mv of the compound (A) to that of the compound (B), (A)/(B), is 10 or higher, the film as a whole has a molecular weight of 300,000 to 1,500,000, and the film has a fuse temperature of 120 to 140° C., a breaking temperature of 150° C. or higher, and a ratio of the piercing strength at 25° C. to the piercing strength at 140° C. of from 0.01 to 0.25.

A microporous polyolefin film is used for a microfiltration membrane, a separator for a battery, a separator for a capacitor, fuel cell material, or a basic material for a functional membrane in which a functional material is filled in the pores to give rise to a new function. When the microporous polyolefin film is used, among these applications, as a separator for a battery, particularly a separator for a lithium ion battery, it is required to have a high piercing strength and a high elongation modulus so as to prevent internal short circuit due to foreign bodies and the like within the battery and to prevent the separator from elongating in the flow direction when wound up to form a battery.
Furthermore, "fuse effect" and "heat resistance" securing the safety of a battery are demanded as well as general physical properties in a separator for a high capacity battery of recent years. The fuse effect is a mechanism for securing the safety of a battery by allowing the separator to melt and form a film for covering electrodes and shutoff the battery when inside of the battery is overheated by overcharged states and the like. In the case of a polyethylene microporous film, it is known that the fuse temperature, namely the temperature at which the fuse effect develops, is almost around 140° C. From a viewpoint of stopping runaway reaction inside the battery as soon as possible, the better it is supposed, the lower the fuse temperature is.
Furthermore, the separator after fused should maintain its shape and have a function of keeping the insulation between the electrodes. This is heat resistance and can be grasped by dividing into film breakage properties and thermal shrinkage properties. For example, safety evaluation standard of battery, which prescribe storing at 150° C. in an oven for 10 minutes, are provided in "Standard for Lithium Batteries" of U.S. standard UL1642 from the requirement of securing the safety of battery at 150° C. In order to achieve this safety standard, it is desirable to allow the separator to maintain its shape by, after fusing the pores to be filled up, preventing the film breakage at 150° C. or more and reducing thermal shrinkage as much as possible. When short-circuit parts where the electrodes contact with each other are caused in the batter by film breakage, thermal shrinkage, particularly thermal shrinkage in the width direction of the wound-up battery body, the battery becomes non-safe, and therefore a separator excellent in such a heat resistance is strongly demanded.
Coexistence of the film breakage resistance and low heat shrinkability are important, and heat resistance of a separator can be high when both of them are satisfied. High strength and low heat shrinkability and high film breakage resistance and low heat shrinkability are, however, incompatible characteristics.
For example, as for the viewpoint of high strength, techniques of increasing the molecular weight of polyethylene for creating highly oriented molecular state or increasing the draw ratio for achieving orientation are generally known. However, such a simple high molecular orientation may cause a high shrinkage stress in a fused state, and, as a result, lowers heat resistance.
Furthermore, several attempts to improve heat resistance while maintaining high strength are also known. For example, Patent Document 1 proposed a microporous film having a high film breakage resistance by extrusion molding polyolefin and a polymer cross-linkable therewith followed by cross-linking treatment, but, to the contrary, relaxation at a high temperature was slow and accordingly it was inappropriate due to remaining strong shrinkage stress. In addition, there was a problem in productivity because a thermal cross-linking treatment step, which incurs a long period of time, was included. Meanwhile, Patent Document 2 realized high strength by using a polyolefin having a sharp molecular weight distribution, but it was difficult to have low temperature fuse and high short-circuit ability because the contents of ultra-high-molecular-weight ingredients and low molecular weight ingredients are decreased.
Patent Document 3 discloses a microporous film composed of a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 300,000 or less and a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 1,000,000 or more. However, there is no description in Patent Document 3 about necessity of a step for imparting strength to the microporous film to be heat drawn, that is, a step of drawing the sheet under heating before removing a good solvent, and therefore, it is difficult to obtain a highly strong film. Besides, a step of fusing polyethylenes having a large difference in molecular weight needs a significant period of time and lacks in productivity.
Patent Document 4 discloses a microporous film composed of a polyolefin having a molecular weight of 1,000,000 to 15,000,000 and a polyolefin having a molecular weight of 10,000 to less than 500,000. What is specifically disclosed is, however, a microporous film composed of a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 2,000,000 and a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 350,000 with the molecular weight ratio less than 10. In addition, a microporous film of low thermal shrinkage is obtained in the production method of a microporous film by containing a specific heat-treatment step as an essential step. However, thermal shrinkage was not sufficiently prevented only by the heat-treatment step as described for a microporous film comprising a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 200,000 or less.
Similarly, Patent Document 5 discloses a microporous film containing 1% or more of an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene having a molecular weight of 700,000 or more and composed of a polyolefin composition having a molecular weight distribution of 10 to 300. What is specifically disclosed is, however, a composition composed of a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 2,500,000 and a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 240,000, and does not contain a low molecular weight ingredient having a molecular weight of 10,000 to 200,000 which is essential to the present invention and it is insufficient in fuse property and relaxation rate.                [Patent Document 1] JP-A-2001-181435        [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent No. 3,351,940        [Patent Document 3] JP-A-02-21559        [Patent Document 4] JP-A-2003-3006        [Patent Document 5] Japanese Patent No. 2,711,633


The invention relates to a clamping drill chuck including a chuck body (1), a clamping cone (2) that can be rotated coaxially in relation to the chuck body (1) and is axially supported on a jaw holder (3) mounted on the chuck body (1) and in which clamping jaws (4) are guided in guiding slits, said clamping jaws being adjustable, by means of the jaw holder (3), for the clamping and releasing action by a relative rotation between the chuck body (1) and the clamping cone (2). The drill chuck also includes a locking device (9) provided with a toothed ring (6) which is coaxial to the chick axle (5), in addition to a latch mechanism (8) which is mounted on the jaw holder (3) and engages in the toothed ring (6) when subjected to the force of a spring (7).

Such a drill chuck is known from EP 0 017 748 A1 [4,302,021] and has proven itself in practice, especially also for professional use. However, it has been determined in the case of this drill chuck that when it is used problems can occur with the manipulation of the loosening ring and the tightening sleeve that are precisely coordinated with one another and that call into question the effective use of the locking device. In order to open the drill chuck the loosening ring must namely be rotated into the position in which the detent pawl moves out of the ring of gear teeth, whereupon the tightening sleeve can then be rotated in the other rotational sense for opening the holding jaws. In order to close the drill chuck the tightening sleeve must be rotated in the opposite direction and subsequently the loosening ring must again be shifted in the direction opposite the tightening sleeve, to lock in the set clamping force.


An apparatus and method for axially retaining rotor blades on a rotor disk wherein a integral split ring blade retainer is installed in a groove on a rotor disk and compressed to allow installation of rotor blades into slots on the rotor disk and releasing of the split ring blade retainer from compression causes the split ring blade retainer to engage a hook on the rotor blade and the groove on the rotor disk to react axial loads and prevent axial movement of the rotor blade with relation to the rotor disk.

Turbomachinery such as high performance gas turbine engines have a compressor and turbine which each include one or more annular banks or rows of axially spaced fixed stator vanes which are positioned between rows of rotatable rotor blades. Each rotor blade is formed with a rotor tip and airfoil and a dovetail-shaped base or root which mounts within a mating, axial slot formed between adjacent dovetail posts on the rim of the rotor disk. The connection between the dovetail root of the rotor blade and the axial slot between adjacent dovetail posts on the rotor disk prevents radial and tangential movement of each rotor blade relative to the rotor disk.
In order to prevent axial movement of the rotor blades, i.e., along the longitudinal axis of the rotor disk and engine, one or more blade retainers are mounted adjacent the axial slots in the rotor disks. These blade retainers must be secured to the rotor disks strongly enough to resist the forces exerted on it by the dovetails of the rotor blades, and yet must be easily removable in order to replace the rotor blades.
The most common method of securing blade retainers to the rotor disk is by bolting, using bolts and nuts circumferentially spaced about the rotor disk. Although bolts provide a strong connection between the blade retainer and the disk, their use also presents some problems. For example, removal of bolts and nuts for maintenance purposes is time-consuming and the bolts must be carefully torqued in order to avoid overstress at the connection. Additionally, bolt holes formed in the blade retainer and rotor disk create localized concentrated stress areas which reduce the cyclic life of such parts, which is a particular concern in view of the high temperatures and high speeds at which the rotor disk and rotor blades are operated within high performance gas turbine engines, particularly within high and low pressure turbine sections. Additionally, bolt heads and nuts protruding from the disk increase the disturbance of the airflow or windage across the disk, increasing the temperature of the surrounding air and resulting in decreased engine performance.
In order to avoid the problems associated with a bolted blade retainer arrangement many boltless blade retainers have been introduced. Examples of such boltless blade retainers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,523 to Corsmeier, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,981 to Corsmeier, et al., both of which are assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Although such boltless blade retainers have successfully eliminated many of the problems associated with bolted retainer assemblies, some problems remain. Particularly, such assemblies include multiple parts requiring a relatively large amount of machining. In addition to the high cost associated with such machining, maintainability requirements for a hot section component such as rotor blades that require periodic inspection and replacement necessitate an improved mounting arrangement that reduces the complexity and number of parts involved in assembly and disassembly. In addition, a design which reduces the weight of the retainer assembly is desirable.


A liquid chromatograph includes a liquid chromatograph unit that has a pump sending an eluent to a detector and a control unit that controls the liquid to be sent by the pump based on a predetermined time table. The control unit stores an elution response of the liquid chromatograph unit which is obtained when a predetermined command value is input and another elution response which is obtained when the same command value is input to another liquid chromatograph. The time table is converted in the control unit based on the elution response and the other elution response to obtain respective elution profiles. In this manner, even when a measuring method related to another liquid chromatograph is used, it is possible to provide a liquid chromatograph capable of obtaining measurement results which are the same as those obtained when the measuring method is used in the other liquid chromatograph.

An analytical technique using a liquid chromatograph needs to be highly accurate. A measuring method can be exemplified as contents to be set in the liquid chromatograph when a chromatogram is measured. The measuring method can be defined as, for example, the flow rate of an eluent (solvent), the sample injection amount, and the upper limit of the pressure.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for converting a measuring method of a certain device (conventional liquid chromatograph) to a measuring method of another device (ultrahigh velocity liquid chromatograph) with linear velocity (velocity at which a certain component passes through a column) which is higher than that of the device. Further, Patent Literature 1 discloses that the correction value is acquired using data or the like of the column at the time of conversion of the measuring method.


Method and apparatus for adjusting an impedance of a substrate of a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) transistor by providing a bias voltage and connecting a frequency-selective circuit between the substrate and the bias voltage. The frequency-selective circuit is also provided with at least one reactive element, such as an inductive element or a capacitive element, to obtain a certain frequency-response of the frequency-selective circuit and thus adjusts the substrate impedance of the MOS transistor. The method and apparatus are compatible with standard CMOS technology and applicable to RF switches, including T/R switches for processing high-frequency analog signals.

Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) transistors find extensive use in modern integrated circuitry including chips fabricated with the standard Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Depending on the operating conditions or modes of the integrated circuit, the substrate on which the transistors reside may require biasing. In those situations, the prior art teaches to apply a stable reference potential also referred to as DC bias to the substrate to control or enhance the operation of the integrated circuit and/or its transistors. In an integrated circuit, the substrate may be divided into regions that are doped differently. Each region is known as a well or tub, and may have one or more transistors. This is to provide electrical isolation between transistors in different wells. Each well of the substrate may be biased to a different potential.
In the simplest case, the prior art teaches to apply a single DC bias or potential to the substrate at all times. In other cases the prior art teaches selection of the DC potential depending on the change in operation modes or other parameters of the integrated circuitry. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,411 to Tsay et al. teaches a bias circuit to provide a stable substrate reference potential for a variety of operating modes. More specifically, Tsay uses a control circuit to select from among a plurality of substrate bias circuits only one substrate bias circuit to provide the substrate reference potential for a given operation mode. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,305 Tsunoda et al. teach to finely control power consumption of an Large Scale Integrated (LSI) system by using substrate-bias generation circuits for supplying substrate biases independent of each other to functional modules integrated in the system. Tsunoda et al. use a substrate-bias control circuit for controlling the substrate-bias generation circuits. In addition, a storage unit is provided for storing control values to be supplied to the substrate-bias generation circuits. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,752 Kuroda teaches an integrated circuit that biases the semiconductor substrate to achieve power reduction in a stand-by mode based on threshold values. Still more methods and apparatus for controlling the substrate biases in accordance to operation modes of a processor are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,090 to Totsuka et al.
The above prior art references teach to apply one DC bias potential at a time to the substrate as a function of various performance parameters including operation mode and power consumption of an entire integrated circuit or of a large portion or module thereof. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,087 Kunikiyo teaches a semiconductor device with a body bias generation circuit that supplies a body region of an individual PMOS transistor with a body potential. The body potential is applied so that the body region may be reversely biased or not biased relative to the source region in response to an input signal.
Although the above prior art solutions are useful in many situations, new wireless voice and data communication systems capable of delivering megabits of data at a fast rate pose a new set of challenges. A focus of the integrated circuit industry is now on developing highly-integrated, low-cost and low-power circuits for processing radio-frequency (RF) analog signals at frequencies in excess of 1 GHz. In such circuits, low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and power amplifiers (PAs) tend to be integrated on the same chip in the standard CMOS technology. To further increase the integration level, transmit-receive (T/R) switches must be integrated as well.
Unfortunately, performance parameters stand in the way of integrating T/R switches in CMOS circuits operating at high frequencies. Specifically, even with prior art substrate biasing solutions, MOS transistors in modern CMOS technology do not exhibit the linearity and loss performance at the desired frequencies to serve in T/R switches. In fact, the use of MOS transistors in CMOS technology for other low-loss and highly linear RF switches, e.g., RF switches for selecting capacitors for tuning frequency selective circuits such as voltage-controlled-oscillators (VCOs), is also compromised. Therefore, in the case of T/R switches for high-speed wireless applications, the prior art teaches the use of discrete components such as GaAs Field-Effect Transistors (MESFETs) and PIN-type diodes.
Another factor limiting the performance of RF integrated circuits is the substrate resistance of the MOS transistor. In common practice, the substrate resistance of a MOS transistor is minimized to prevent latch-up and improve breakdown voltage. This is achieved by surrounding the transistor with substrate contacts and strapping these with a low-resistance metal that is connected to a proper fixed voltage (such as ground). However, in certain RF transceiver blocks, e.g., LNAs, it is desirable to contemporaneously have as large a substrate resistance for the cascade transistor as possible. Of course, maximizing substrate resistance in these blocks compromises the latch-up immunity predicated on minimized substrate resistance. Furthermore, it is often difficult to increase the substrate resistance of a MOS transistor due to technology constraints.
Hence, what is desired is a MOS transistor with substrate impedance that can be adjusted to match the performance requirements.

Apparatus and method for adjusting the substrate impedance of a MOS transistor

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


Initially, forward prediction reference block data which has been read out from a reference frame memory and retrieval block data which has been read out from a retrieval frame memory are used to detect forward prediction motion vector and its residual by a forward prediction motion detecting circuit to preserve (store) them into a forward prediction motion vector/residual preservation memory. Then, backward prediction reference block data which has been read out from the reference frame memory and retrieval block data which has been read out from the retrieval frame memory are used to detect, by a backward prediction motion detecting circuit, backward prediction motion vector and its residual, and to read out motion vector and its residual which have been preserved (stored) in the forward prediction motion vector/residual preservation memory to carry out encoding by using these motion vectors in both directions.

The MPEG system is encoding system in which DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform), motion compensation prediction and variable length encoding are combined to carry out compression of picture data.
The configuration of a picture encoding apparatus based on the MPEG system is shown in FIG. 1. In this figure, an input terminal T1 is supplied with picture data. This picture data is inputted to a motion vector detecting circuit 1 and a subtracting circuit 2. The motion vector detecting circuit 1 determines, by using inputted picture data, motion vector between current frame and reference frame (e.g., forward frame) to deliver it to a motion compensating circuit 3.
Picture data of reference frame is stored also in a frame memory 4. This picture data is delivered to the motion compensating circuit 3. At the motion compensating circuit 3, motion vector sent from the motion vector detecting circuit 1 is used to carry out motion compensation of picture data sent from the frame memory 4. Output of the motion compensating circuit 3 is sent to the subtracting circuit 2 and an adding circuit 5.
In the subtracting circuit 2, subtractive processing between picture data of current frame delivered from the input terminal T1 and picture data of motion-compensated reference frame which is delivered from the motion compensating circuit 3 is carried out to determine predictive error data to deliver it to a DCT circuit 6. The DCT circuit 6 allows this predictive error data to undergo DCT processing to send it to a quantizer 7. The quantizer 7 quantizes output of the DCT circuit 6 to send it to variable length encoding circuit (not shown).
Output of the quantizer 7 is delivered also to an inverse-quantizer 8, at which it undergoes inverse-quantization processing. Its output undergoes inverse DCT processing at an inverse DCT circuit 9 so that it is restored (reconstructed) into original predictive error data. The predictive error data thus obtained is delivered to the adding circuit 5.
At the adding circuit 5, this predictive error data is added to output data of the motion compensating circuit 3 to determine picture data of current frame. The picture data thus determined is stored into the frame memory 4 as picture data of the next reference frame.
As a method of motion vector detection in such a picture encoding apparatus, block matching method is known. In accordance with the block matching method, picture is divided into small rectangular areas (blocks) to detect motion (motion) every block. As size of the block, there are 8 pixels (lateral direction).times.8 pixels (longitudinal direction) (hereinafter abbreviated as 8.times.8), 16.times.16, etc. The block matching method will now be described with reference to FIG. 2.
In FIG. 2, reference block RB of M.times.N is set within reference frame 41. Moreover, search (test) block SB of the same size as the reference block RB is set within retrieval frame 42. The search block SB is moved circulating within a predetermined search range 43 of .+-.m.times..+-.n with the same position as the reference block RB being as center. Further, the degree of correspondence between reference block RB and search (test) block SB is calculated to allow the search (test) block in which the degree of correspondence is maximum to be matching block to determine motion vector from this matching block.
Namely, in the case where the degree of correspondence between reference block RB and search (test) block SBk located at position shifted by (u, v) from search (test) block SBO located at the same position as the reference block RB is maximum, motion vector of that search (test) block SB is assumed to be (u, v). At this time, search (test) block in which sum total of absolute value differences every pixels or sum total of square of differences every pixels at respective corresponding positions of the reference block RB and search (test) block SB is minimum is assumed to be search (test) block in which the degree of correspondence is maximum.
In the MPEG system, one sequence of moving picture is divided into GOP (Group of Picture) consisting of plural frames (pictures) to carry out encoding. The GOP consists of intraframe encoded pictures (I pictures), interframe encoded pictures (P pictures) predicted from already encoded frame forward in point of time, and interframe encoded pictures (B pictures) predicted from already encoded two frames before and after in point of time.
For example, in FIG. 3, initially, P6 which is P picture is caused to be reference frame and I3 which is I picture is caused to be retrieval frame to carry out motion detection. Then, B4 which is B picture is caused to be reference frame and 13 and P6 are caused to be retrieval frame to carry out motion detection in both directions (bidirectional motion detection). Then, B5 which is B picture is caused to be reference frame and I3 and P6 are caused to be retrieval frame to carry out bidirectional motion detection.
Explanation will now be given in detail with reference to the timing diagram shown in FIG. 4. As an example, the case where current frame B4 is caused to be macro block of reference at time t1 to carry out, at the same time, bidirectional prediction to retrieval frame (retrieval frame 0) I3 of the forward prediction and retrieval frame (retrieval frame 1) P6 of the backward prediction to determine two motion vectors will be described. In this case, transfer of data of reference block is required from current frame B4, and transfer of data of retrieval block is required from two retrieval frames (I3 and P6).
Accordingly, when it is assumed that one pixel is 8 bits, size of reference block is 16.times.16 and the search ranges in horizontal and vertical directions are both .+-.16, data transfer quantity for processing one reference block becomes equal to 38 K bits in total because reference block is 8.times.16.times.16.times.l=2 K bits and retrieval block is 8.times.48.times.48.times.2=36 K bits.
As stated above, in accordance with the conventional motion detection method, in carrying out bidirectional prediction, it was necessary to transfer large quantity of data of retrieval frame. Thus, this was great problem in realization of hardware.
Further, in this picture encoding apparatus, it was necessary to prepare six frame memories in total of MEMORY-0 to MEMORY-5 to hold respective frames only for time periods shown in FIG. 4. Moreover, local decode memories of LOCAL-1 and LOCAL-2 were also required for local decode output. Namely, eight memories in total were required as the conventional picture encoding apparatus.
For example, when input picture B1 is delivered, MEMORY-0 holds B1 until encoding has been completed. With respect to respective B frames, they are similarly held in respective MEMORIES until they are encoded. In this case, I and P frames used as retrieval frame are stored into the respective frame memories until forward and backward motion vectors of respective frames are detected, i.e., for time periods during which those frames are required as retrieval frame for detecting the motion vector.

Picture encoding method and picture encoding apparatus


A semiconductor integrated circuit has an internal circuit to execute a predetermined circuit operation, an input node to which output from the internal circuit is provided, and an output buffer capable of changing its driving ability placed between the input node and a signal outputs pad of the semiconductor integrated circuit. The outfit buffer has transistors connected in parallel for driving an external circuit connected to the signal output pad according to the output from the internal circuit and switching circuits. Each switching circuit switches a signal to be provided to each transistor. The switching state of each switching circuit is set according to the load capacity of the external circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output buffer to drive external circuits connected to the output buffer through output pads of a semiconductor integrated circuit, to a semiconductor integrated circuit incorporating the output buffer and to a driving ability adjustment method for control the driving ability of the output buffer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior technology relating to output buffers, there is a conventional output buffer as shown in FIG.1, for example.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a semiconductor integrated circuit having a conventional output buffer. A signal S11 output from an internal circuit 101 in the semiconductor integrated circuit 100 is provided to an external circuit (not shown) placed out of a package enclosing this semiconductor integrated circuit 100 through an output buffer 102 and an output pad 103.
The conventional output buffer 102 comprises an inverter 110 for inverting the voltage level of the signal S11 transferred from the internal circuit 101. In the conventional output buffer 102, a plurality of inverters such as the inverters 111, 112 and 113 are incorporated between a node N11 as the output side of the inverter 110 and a node N12 connected to the signal output pad 103 through which the output signal S12 is transferred to the external circuit (not shown).
Next, the operation of driving an external circuit (not shown) connected to the conventional output buffer 102 having the above configuration through the signal output pad 103 will be explained.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing signal wave differences between conventional output buffer whose driving abilities are different to each other. FIG. 2A shows a signal wave when the output buffer drives an external circuit including a load capacity Ca. FIG. 2B shows a signal wave when the output buffer having the same driving ability drives an external circuit including a load capacity Cb. In those cases, there is the relationship that Ca<Cb. In both FIGS. 2A and 2B, the reference character Vth designates a threshold voltage level of an input buffer of an external circuit.
As clearly shown in both FIGS. 2A and 2B, the rising time of the signal is different between the two cases because the load capacity is different to each other between those two cases. Accordingly, in order to obtain the most suitable rising time "t", an output buffer having the most required driving ability must be used for the external circuit.
However, in general, it is difficult to know that an output buffer in a semiconductor integrated circuit will be connected to an external circuit having a load capacity when the semiconductor integrated circuit having the output buffer is manufactured. In order to eliminate this problem, during its fabrication process in the prior art, it is assumed that an external circuit having an load capacity will be connected to a semiconductor integrated circuit having an output buffer which can drive this external circuit adequately.
However, there is a following drawback in the conventional output buffer incorporated in the semiconductor integrated circuit.
That is, in the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit, because the driving ability of the conventional output buffer is determined by assuming that a load capacity of an external circuit, connected to the signal output pad 103 in the semiconductor integrated circuit 100, to be driven by the output buffer is a suitable value, there is a case that an external circuit having a load capacity which is smaller than that of the assumed load capacity will be connected to the output buffer. Because the power consumption of the output buffer 102 is increased according to the magnitude of this driving ability, it causes the waste of the power consumption of the semiconductor integrated circuit when the driving ability of the output buffer is unmatched to the load capacity of the external circuit driven by the output buffer.

Output buffer, semiconductor integrated circuit having output buffer and driving ability adjusting method for output buffer


A connector (10) for a substrate has a tubular hood (21) in which at least one mating housing can be fit. The hood (21) is mounted on a surface of a circuit substrate (90). Channels (45, 46) are formed in a bottom wall (22) of the hood (21) and define grooves opening into the hood (21) for preventing the mating housings from being fitted in wrong fit-in concavities (28) of the hood (21). The channels (45, 46) have flat bottom surfaces that contact and extend along the circuit substrate (90) for stably supporting the hood (10) while spacing the bottom wall (22) from the circuit substrate (90).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector for a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-085091 discloses a connector for a substrate. The connector has a square pillar-shaped hood in which a mating housing can be fit. The hood is mounted on the upper surface of the circuit substrate (printed-wiring substrate) and terminal fittings mounted in the hood are connected to conductive paths of the circuit substrate by soldering.
A supporting wall is formed at the rear end of the bottom surface of the hood and extends in the widthwise direction of the hood. A lower surface of the supporting wall contacts the upper surface of the circuit substrate and through-holes are formed at the widthwise ends of the supporting wall. Bolts are passed through the through-holes and are tightened to fix the hood to the circuit substrate.
The bottom surface of the supporting wall of the hood defines a dedicated supporting construction for the connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-142209, and hence there is a required material cost for this supporting construction. The electrical connector industry is very competitive, and excess costs are always a concern. Consideration has been given to omitting the supporting wall so that the entire bottom surface of the hood contacts the circuit substrate. However, the hood is susceptible to thermal effects from the circuit substrate in a high-temperature environment where reflow soldering or the like is used. Consequently there is a fear that the hood may be deformed by thermal expansion and may not be supported stably by the circuit substrate.
The invention has been completed in view of the above-described situation. Therefore an object of the invention is to provide a connector for a substrate without a high production cost for the supporting construction for the circuit substrate while ensuring that a hood of the connector is supported stably by the circuit substrate.

Connector with channels having concave grooves facing into connector and convex support surfaces for mounting on substrate