A method is provided to handle an electronic mail message such that the receiver of the e-mail message can verify the integrity of the message. A request is provided from a sender's side to a service. The request includes information regarding the e-mail message. The service processes at least a portion of the request to generate a result. For example, the service may encrypt the portion of the request, according to a public/private key encryption scheme, to generate a digital signature as the result. The service provides the result to the sender's side. At the sender's side, the result is incorporated into the e-mail message and the result-incorporated message is transmitted via an e-mail system. At the receiver's side, the result-incorporated e-mail message is processed to assess the integrity of the received e-mail message.

The present invention is in the field of electronic mail and, more particularly, is directed to verification, by a receiver of an e-mail message, of the integrity of the received e-mail message.
Electronic mail has become a useful tool in our personal and business lives. Unfortunately, like other useful technologies, it has also become an intrusion. For example, only the most diligent among us are able to avoid scurrilous attempts to sell us nutritional supplements, mortgages, pornography and numerous other "products." More recently, scammers have taken to using "spoof" e-mails in an illegitimate attempt to gain access to our personal information. For example, such scammers have spoofed BestBuy and eBay, attempting to entice unsuspecting users into providing personal information such as social security numbers and credit card numbers. Thus, as useful as e-mail has proven to be in our lives, it can be dangerous to blindly assume that received e-mail is legitimate. However, efforts at minimizing intrusion of technologies often unavoidably diminish the usefulness of the technology whose intrusion we are seeking to minimize.
For example, "spam" catchers typically catch legitimate e-mail messages in addition to spam e-mail messages. Users must carefully scrutinize the caught e-mail messages, lest any of them be legitimate and unintentionally ignored. Also, spoof e-mail messages are more difficult to detect, as they appear in many respects to be legitimate.
There have been a number of attempts to address the concerns with e-mail. One notorious attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,967, to Sundsted. Sundsted has proposed attaching an "electronic stamp" to each e-mail message sent, where the receiver of the e-mail message receives money from the sender. The receiver can determine whether it is "worth it" (from the value of the attached stamp) to read the e-mail and receive the money. Because Sundsted employs "stamps" having monetary value associated with them, there is a practical requirement (which is difficult to achieve) that the system to exchange value be secured against fraud. Furthermore, even if the system to exchange value can be made secure, there is nothing that allows a receiver of e-mail to discriminate between senders from whom it is desirable to receive e-mail and senders from who it is undesirable to receive e-mail apart from the monetary benefit to the receiver who reads e-mail. Perhaps even more significantly, nothing in the electronic stamp allows one to assess the integrity of the e-mail.
In many respects, a proposed system known as "HashCash" is similar to the system described in the Sundsted disclosure. The proposed HashCash system is such that, before an e-mail message is sent, a significant particular math computation must be performed on the sending computer to generate a token. This computation is such that, for example, it would take up to 15 seconds on a standard 1 GHz PC. The token is incorporated into the e-mail message. The receiving computer performs a relatively simple computation to verify that the token is, in fact, the result of the particular a math computation performed on the sending computer. A drawback of HashCash, then, is that anyone who is willing to undergo the computational burden can send e-mail messages unimpeded. That is, like the system described in the Sundsted patent, there is nothing in the token that allows the receiving side to discriminate between senders from whom it is desirable to receive e-mail and senders from whom it is undesirable to receive e-mail, beyond verifying that the sender did, in fact, incur the computational expense to generate the HashCash token. That is, in some sense, HashCash merely substitutes computational expense for the monetary expense of the Sundsted system (albeit there is money or other value received by the e-mail recipient).


A pipeline interlock mechanism which insures the logical integrity of architected control quantities when used to access Domain Storage from Control State. A hardware Domain Interlock (DOMI) is provided to detect the start of execution in Control State of any instruction which modifies architected controls governing the access of Domain storage, and which insures that any subsequent potential access to Domain storage remains interlocked in the D-cycle until the modified controls become valid.

The present invention relates to the field of computers having central processing units (CPU's) that operate in accordance with the IBM ESA/390 architecture and particularly to computers that require synchronization.
Computer architectures, such as the IBM ESA/390 architecture, define a unit of operation (UO) that is used to control the instants when an interruption can be examined and serviced. Interruptions can occur at any point in time; however, they are only examined and serviced during the interrupt processing time (IPT) between the end of one unit of operation and the start of the next unit of operation.
TABLE A depicts the relationship between units of operation and instruction processing time.
TABLE A __________________________________________________________________________ ##STR1## ##STR2## __________________________________________________________________________
Most instructions consist of only one unit of operation. However, long and more complex or repetitive instructions such as MOVE LONG, COMPARE LOGICAL LONG, TEST BLOCK and UPDATE TREE consist of many units of operation.
The unit of operation is needed in large computer systems because of the need for having a reasonable response time for interruptions while avoiding complex instruction processing units. If the interruptions have to be taken at any point in time during the instruction processing time, then the CPU design will be considerably more complex than if the interruptions are only taken at the end of instruction processing time.
ESA/390 architecture computers are controlled in part by a Program Status Word (PSW). The program-status word (PSW) includes the instruction address, condition code, and other information used to control instruction sequencing and to determine the state of the computer. The active or controlling PSW is called the current PSW. It governs the program currently being executed.
The CPU has an interruption capability, which permits the CPU to switch rapidly to another program in response to exception conditions and external stimuli. When an interruption occurs, the CPU places the current PSW in an assigned storage location, called the old-PSW location, for the particular class of interruption. The CPU fetches a new PSW from a second assigned storage location. This new PSW determines the next program to be executed. When it has finished processing the interruption, the interrupting program may reload the old PSW, making it again the current PSW, so that the interrupted program can continue.
The status of the CPU can be changed by loading a new PSW or part of a PSW. Control is switched during an interruption of the CPU by storing the current PSW, so as to preserve the status of the CPU, and then loading a new PSW.
A new or modified PSW becomes active (that is, the information introduced into the current PSW assumes control over the CPU) when the interruption or the execution of an instruction that changes the PSW is completed.
A storage key is associated with each 4K-byte block of storage that is available in the configuration. The storage key has the following format. ##STR3## The bit positions in the storage key are allocated as follows:


An improved epitaxial growth rate varying method for a side surface of a semiconductor pattern capable of controlling a growth rate of a side surface of a semiconductor pattern by controlling the amount of CCl.sub.4 gas supplied when forming an epitaxial layer on a patterned GaAs substrate in a metalorganic chemical deposition method, thus fabricating a desired quantum wire, and which is characterized by controlling a side-surface growth rate of an epitaxial layer in accordance with the CCl.sub.4 doping gas flow rate while an epitaxial layer is formed on a patterned GaAs substrate in a metalorganic chemical deposition method and in achieving a desired substantial flatness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an epitaxial growth rate varying method for a side surface of a patterned semiconductor, and particularly to an improved epitaxial growth rate varying method for a side surface of a semiconductor capable of controlling a growth rate of a side surface of a patterned semiconductor by controlling CCl.sub.4 gas when forming an epitaxial layer on a patterned GaAs substrate in a metalorganic chemical deposition method (hereinafter called an "MOCVD"), thus fabricating a desired quantum wire.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In the industry, a study of an optical device has recently been conducted using compound semiconductor technology. However, very problematic fabrication processes, for example, such as a selective epitaxial technique, have been adopted for fabricating the optical device. However, using the selective epitaxial technique, it is possible to implement a three-dimensional structure of an epitaxial layer with only one growth step without utilization of a complicated device fabrication process. In addition, since a very complicated structure of a device is formed while an epitaxial layer is formed, any damage of a boundary surface during a device fabrication process can be prevented.
Of the above-mentioned epitaxial growth methods, a non-planar growth method is directed to forming a mesa or a V-shaped pattern on a substrate and to growing a desired epitaxial layer. The above-mentioned method has advantages in fabricating a desired device having side surfaces. In addition, it is possible to fabricate a low threshold current laser diode or an optical wave guide with a lower dopant loss.
Recently, a study on fabrication of a quantum wire in the above-mentioned non-planar growth method has been conducted. That is, it was reported that a low threshold current laser diode was fabricated by forming a new moon-shaped quantum wire on a V-shaped groove.
However, when forming a desired structure in the above-mentioned non-planar growth method, the epitaxial thickness, which is related to the vertical direction growth rate of an epitaxial layer, is controlled by the flowing-in amount of a reactive gas or by the time of growth; however, there is no way to control the horizontal direction growth rate (a side surface growth direction of an epitaxial layer).
In the case of MOCVD, it is possible to control the epitaxial layer thickness growth by controlling the Group V/Group III ratio--that is, Group V material amount/Group III material amount-and the growth temperature of the reactive gas. However, a desired performance cannot be achieved. There are no methods at present for controlling the shape and size of the quantum wire when forming a quantum wire on a V-shaped groove since the ratio of horizontal growth rate to vertical growth rate does not exceed 2. Therefore, the growth conditions are disadvantageously subordinated to the inherent growth conditions.

Epitaxial growth rate varying method for side surface of semiconductor pattern

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


An image capturing apparatus having a plurality of executable image blurring correction modes selects an image blurring correction mode to be executed from among the executable image blurring correction modes in accordance with an image capturing situation, and executes the selected image blurring correction mode. The image capturing apparatus has a plurality of display items respectively associated with the image blurring correction modes, and displays the display item corresponding to the image blurring correction mode under execution on a display screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus, and more particularly to an image capturing apparatus having a camera shake correction function and a control method for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image capturing apparatuses equipped with image blurring correction devices (also called camera shake correction devices) for detecting shake of the image capturing apparatuses and driving photographing lenses to correct image blur caused due to the detected shake are known. With regard to image capturing apparatuses having such image blurring correction devices, a camera shake alert display function is known, which is used to make recognition of the on/off state of image blurring correction easy, and to notify of whether or not camera shake based on a camera shake shutter speed limit is occurring. (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-279394)
In recent years, there have been various image blurring correction techniques, such as techniques for correcting not only angle shake but also shift shake, which occurs when the camera undergoes translational movement, and for broadening the anti-vibration range at the wide-angle end side during moving image recording and improving image blurring correction effect on large camera shake caused due to shooting while walking, and the like. Appropriate image blurring correction control is performed upon the functions suitable for an image capturing situation being automatically selected from among several types of image blurring correction functions prepared in advance.
Meanwhile, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-279394 mentioned above, a problem arises in that as for the status of image blurring correction, only information on the on/off state is displayed, and a user cannot recognize which function among those various image blurring correction functions is currently being used.

Image capturing apparatus and control method therefor


A method for generating a link is provided. In this method, a selection of a portion associated with a resource is provided. The portion is identified by a portion identifier. Additionally provided is a link to the resource on a computer network. To generate the link, the portion identifier is embedded into the link.

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the primary way to refer to or address resources on the Internet. Examples of such resources include HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents, image files, video files, and other resources. In general, a URL is a string of characters conforming to a standardized format that refers to resources on the Internet by their location. For example, a URL may include the resource's name (e.g., file name) preceded by a hierarchy of directory names in which the resources are stored.
Currently, to reference a location in a document (e.g., HTML document), the URL provides an anchor identifier that points to a specific location within the document. The anchor identifier follows the server and pathname of the URL and is separated by the crosshatch "#" character. A corresponding anchor is inserted into the specific location in the document. When a Web browser reads a URL with an anchor identifier, the anchor identifier indicates to the client Web browser that it should begin displaying or scrolling the document from the specified location of the anchor.
A limitation associated with the anchor is that the anchor could only point to a specific location in the document. The anchor cannot reference a particular region or portion of the document. Thus, a URL cannot be used to reference a region in the document. Such anchor limitation limits the functionalities of application programs that may need more level of detail when using URLs to point to a document. For example, a user may want to bring attention to a specific region within a Web page and communicate this specific region to other users. One method to bring attention to this specific region is to highlight the specific portion. However, the only way currently to highlight this specific region is to modify the source code of the Web page, and typically, a user cannot modify the source code.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for continuing efforts to improve the reference capabilities of a URL.

Generation of a URL containing a beginning and an ending point of a selected mark-up language document portion


The present invention provides a luminaire component housing which has at least two upwardly opening pockets substantially equal to the heights of the components to be fitted therein. The component housing has a cover which cinches the components into their respective pockets, thereby eliminating the need for metal straps, screws or other traditional hardware to secure components into place.

This invention relates to luminaires. More particularly, this invention relates to a luminaire housing in which a luminaire""s control components are enclosed and held in place without using securing hardware.
Luminaires that include housings for lighting control components are known in the prior art. One type of luminaire utilizes a high intensity discharge (xe2x80x9cHIDxe2x80x9d) light source that is regulated by control components which may include a transformer alone or in combination with other components such as capacitors, ignitors, or other such equipment. These control components may be mounted within the luminaire""s housing, or separate from the luminaire in a dedicated housing. For outdoor use, the control components are usually fitted inside a weatherproof enclosure, and for indoor use, the control components are often enclosed in the housing for safety purposes. If not integral within the luminaire""s housing itself, the control components may sit outboard of the luminaire, attached to, nearby or remote from the luminaire which they control.
Traditionally, a luminaire""s control components have been secured within their housing by screws, rivets, or other fasteners in combination with flanges or clamps integral with the components, and/or metal straps cinched around the components and affixed to the housing with screws. These traditional approaches are simple and worry free until a component needs to be replaced. Malfunctioned control components must be removed from their securing hardware within their housing, and new components must be inserted, often requiring new hardware to secure them properly, in order to prolong the useful life of the housing.
In the time consuming task of fitting a new control component with new hardware in an old luminaire that is still in use, one type of traditional luminaire makes use of a separate housing to enclose each separate component. This poses its own set of problems when a user is forced to repair the light. In this luminaire configuration, unless, without opening each component""s housing, one can determine exactly which component has malfunctioned, the repair time to perform the job of replacing a single burned out component will be increased by time wasted exploring each separate component housing to find the problem.
Another type of traditional luminaire known in the art uses a single housing for multiple components. This type of housing usually has a constant height throughout its interior. In this approach, each of the control components is secured with traditional screws and metal straps to the housing""s interior surface.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a luminaire with a housing which is contoured to suit the heights of the control components fitted therein, that housing having at least two upwardly opening pockets whose heights are substantially equal to the heights of the control components positioned therein in combination with a cover which cinches the components into their respective pockets, thereby eliminating the need for metal straps, screws, or other hardware to secure components into place.
It is a further objective of the present invention to eliminate all unnecessary component securing fasteners, thereby reducing the manufacturing time and lowering the cost of the luminaire.
These and other objectives of the invention are achieved by providing a luminaire comprised of an upper housing which includes at least two upwardly opening control component pockets. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a lower housing has an upwardly extending lamp socket which fits into a recess in the upper housing. The lower housing encloses the luminaire""s lamp. The lower and upper housings are aligned so that the upper housing and the lower housing cinch together with an adjustable fastener, e.g., a bolt and nut assembly. This allows the upper and lower housings to sandwich between them a canopy to which the luminaire is mounted with the lower housing extending beneath that canopy to provide light beneath the canopy.
The upper housing has a cover which is secured to the upper housing""s base. The cover cinches traditional metal control components into their respective pockets, thus eliminating the need for internal hardware to fasten the components into place. Traditional luminaire control components for HID light sources, such as ballasts and transformers having exposed wire coil windings or oval metal-can oil-filled capacitors with wiring terminals, are required by electrical codes to be secured in place with maintained spacings between these electrical parts. The present invention specifically addresses and solves the code requirements for these traditional control components. By cinching these control components into their respective pockets with an easily removable housing cover, the need for further securing hardware is eliminated, thereby reducing costs of manufacturing as well as the cost of maintenance and hardware needed to service malfunctioned luminaires.
Newer luminaire control components for HID light sources that do not need to be clamped in place, but only contained in a housing, also may be used in conjunction with the present invention. Control components such as cylindrical plastic dry-film capacitors or ignitors may not have spacing requirements like their traditional metal counterparts. The height of the plural pockets in the present invention are tailored to specifically suit the larger metal ballasts, capacitors and ignitors, but since the more modern plastic control components are smaller and are only required to be captured in a component housing, they also may be retained, though not clamped tightly, in the housing cavities without the use of screws, straps or other hardware fittings.
Other advantages of the invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill upon review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


The present disclosure provides a fingerprint identification unit. The fingerprint identification unit includes a substrate, a reception layer, a first electrode layer, a transmission layer, a second electrode layer, and a third electrode layer. The reception layer is positioned at one side of the substrate. The first electrode layer is formed on the reception layer. The transmission layer is positioned at another side of the substrate opposite to the reception layer. The second electrode layer and the third electrode layer are formed on two opposite sides of the transmission layer respectively. The reception layer and the transmission layer are made of piezoelectric materials. At least one of the first electrode layer, the second electrode layer, and the third electrode layer is a transparent conductive layer.

Fingerprint identification devices may be classified into an ultrasonic type, an infrared type, a capacitive type, or the like, according to an operational principle thereof. A traditional ultrasonic fingerprint identification device may include a substrate, piezoelectric elements formed on the substrate, and electrodes formed on the piezoelectric elements. However, some particles or bubbles may be generated in the ultrasonic fingerprint identification device during manufacture processes.

Fingerprint identification unit and device


A misfire state discrimination system of an internal combustion engine, which determines the occurrence of misfire under engine operating conditions that make misfire determination possible and counts the number of misfires to compare with a reference value. The misfire state of the engine is discriminated based on the result of comparison. In the system, when the engine operation moves from the conditions that makes the misfire determination possible, the count is saved and is counted up from the count when the engine operation returns to the condition. The saved count is also retained when the engine is stopped. Similarly, the number of combustion during which the determination of misfire occurrence is made is counted and the count is saved. This arrangement enables a rapid and accurate discrimination of the misfire state of the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a misfire state discrimination system of an internal combustion engine, particularly to a misfire state discrimination system of a vehicle internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In discriminating the misfire state of an internal combustion engine, the number of misfires detected during a prescribed number of consecutive ignitions (combustions) is counted and compared with a reference value to discriminate, for example, whether the engine is in a misfire state (has a misfire rate) that degrades the catalyst of the catalytic converter or is in a misfire state that markedly fouls the exhaust gas.
Technologies of this type are taught by, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Nos. Hei 7(1995)-63110, 7(1995)-259632, and 4(1992)-209949. These conventional methods judge a misfire state (misfire rate) by discriminating or determining misfiring from fluctuations in engine speed. Another method taught by Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 5(1993)-164033 discriminates or determines the misfiring by judging based on the secondary voltage of the ignition system whether or not ion current is flowing across the spark plug gaps.
Since catalyst degradation accelerates sharply when the ambient temperature approaches the melting point of the catalyst (and the metal contained in the catalyst carrier), a requirement of a misfire state discrimination system is that it be capable of quickly discriminating a misfire state (misfire rate) resulting in such a temperature so as to prevent rapid catalyst degradation. Moreover, since a misfire rate of only a few percent sharply degrades the composition of the exhaust gas, even minor misfire states (misfire rates) must be discriminated with high accuracy so that corrective measures can be implemented. Rapid and high-accuracy discrimination of internal combustion engine misfire state (misfire rate) requires the number of misfires among an adequate number of firings discriminated for misfire to be determined in a short time period.
On the other hand, misfire discrimination or determination is impossible during many operating states or conditions of an internal combustion engine. For instance, misfire discrimination is impossible when the fuel supply is cut off, when the engine is being driven from the wheel side (during engine braking), during transient operation such as when the engine speed is rising or falling rapidly, and when engine output is being forcibly changed by external factors such as the wheels.
As seen, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Nos. Hei 7-63110, 7-259632 etc. cited above, the prior art responds to the transition of engine operation to one of these states or conditions not allowing misfire discrimination by clearing the parameters calculated up to that time, including the number of ignitions discriminated for misfire, (i.e., by initializing the system).
When operating states or conditions that prevent misfire discrimination occur frequently, such as when the engine speed is repeatedly increased and decreased, therefore, the prior art needs a long time for misfire discrimination and cannot effect the discrimination rapidly and accurately.
An object of this invention is therefore to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks by providing a misfire state discrimination system of an internal combustion engine that, even in cases of frequent occurrence of operating states in which misfire cannot be discriminated or determined, enables a rapid and accurate discrimination of a misfire state upon return to an operating state or condition in which discrimination or determination of misfire is possible.
The conventional technologies discussed above also require a long period of time for misfire discrimination or determination and are incapable of rapid and accurate misfire state discrimination in cases where the engine is started and stopped repeatedly within a short time period.
Another object of the invention is to provide a misfire state discrimination system of an internal combustion engine that enables rapid and accurate discrimination of misfire state even when the engine is started and stopped repeatedly within a short time period.
This invention achieves these objects by providing, in one aspect, a system for discriminating a misfire state of an internal combustion engine, including engine operating condition determining means for determining whether an operation of the engine is under a condition that makes misfire determination possible, misfire determining means for determining whether a misfire has occurred in the engine when the engine operation is under the condition that makes misfire determination possible, combustion counting means for counting a number of combustions of the engine during which said misfire determining means determines whether the misfire has occurred, and misfire counting means for counting a number of misfires determined by said misfire determining means, and misfire state discriminating means for comparing the number of misfires counted by said misfire counting means with a reference value and for discriminating a misfire state of the engine based on a result of the comparison. In the system number saving means is provided for saving at least one of the number of combustions counted by said combustion counting means and the number of misfires counted by said misfire counting means, when the engine operation moves from the condition that makes misfire detection possible.

Misfire state discrimination system of internal combustion engine


The present invention relates to the use of block copolymers produced from OH-functionalized polyolefins and polyesters in adhesives or sealants and to adhesives or sealants containing said block co-polymers.

Polyester polyols and polyether polyols nowadays have many uses as raw materials, one being for production of adhesives and sealants. These adhesives and sealants may, for example, be thermoplastic or reactive hotmelt adhesives, 1K (one-pack) or 2K (two-pack) liquid adhesives, or epoxy systems. For reactive adhesive systems, the polyols are reacted, for example, generally with diisocyanates to give reactive, moisture-curing polymers. The substrates are typically applied as a melt and have an initial strength. The reactive end groups result in a reaction with air humidity, such that the polymer cures further and subsequently can be melted again only with great difficulty, if at all.


A high gain, low signal-to-noise, transimpedance amplifier is prevented from saturation even in the presence of bright sunlight by an offset adjustment circuit utilizing a field effect transistor as a variable resistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electro-optical readers, such as laser scanners and, more particularly, to improved reader performance in ambient light of high intensity during reading of indicia, such as bar code symbols.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bar code readers are known in the prior art for reading various symbologies such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code symbols appearing on a label, or on the surfaces of an article. The bar code symbol itself is a coded pattern of graphic indicia comprised of a series of bars of various widths spaced apart from one another to bound spaces of various widths, the bars and spaces having different light reflecting characteristics. The readers electro-optically transform the graphic indicia into electrical signals, which are decoded into information, typically descriptive of the article or some characteristic thereof. Such information is conventionally represented in digital form and used as an input to a data processing system for applications in point-of-sale processing, inventory control, and the like.
Readers of this general type have been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,121, assigned to the same assignee as the instant application, and may employ a portable laser scanning device held by a user, which is configured to allow the user to aim the device and, more particularly, a scanning laser light beam, at a targeted symbol to be read. In moving laser beam readers known in the art, the laser light beam is focused by a lens or other optical components along a light path as a beam spot on a target that includes the bar code symbol. The moving-beam reader operates by repetitively scanning the beam spot in a scan pattern across the symbol by means of motion of a scanning component, such as a moving scan mirror placed in the path of the light beam. The scanning component may either sweep the beam spot across the symbol and trace a scan line, or a series of scan lines, or another pattern, across the symbol, or scan a field of view of the reader, or both.
Bar code readers also include a sensor or photodetector which detects light reflected or scattered from the symbol. The photodetector or sensor is positioned in the reader in an optical path so that it has a field of view which ensures the capture of a portion of the light which is reflected or scattered off the symbol. The light is detected and converted into an electrical signal. Electronic circuitry and software decode the electrical signal into a digital representation of the data represented by the symbol that has been scanned. For example, the analog electrical signal generated by the photodetector is converted by a digitizer into a pulse width modulated digitized signal, with the widths corresponding to the physical widths of the bars and spaces. Such a digitized signal is then decoded, based on the specific symbology used by the symbol, into a binary representation of the data encoded in the symbol, and subsequently to the information or alphanumeric characters so represented. Such signal processors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,153, assigned to the same assignee as the instant application.
Bar code readers are required to work under variable ambient lighting conditions, including indoor office lighting and outdoor sunlight, both indoor and outdoor lighting ranging from dim to bright. A combination of optical and electrical measures is employed to prevent bright ambient light from overwhelming the reader and preventing a successful decoding and reading of a symbol to be read. Such measures can be optimized for indoor or outdoor lighting at anticipated light intensity levels, but not for both. Thus, performance is sacrificed when a reader is required to work at non-optimized light intensity levels.
One category of reader is termed retro-reflective or retro-collective and refers to the light collection optical system in which a field of view is scanned along with the laser beam. Typically, the scan mirror used to transmit the laser beam to the symbol also collects the light scattered from the symbol and directs the collected light to the sensor. This allows the field of view to be relatively small since it only needs to be large enough to see the focused laser beam spot plus accommodate manufacturing tolerances that tend to move the beam spot out of the center of the field of view.
The scan mirror in a retro-reflective reader needs to be relatively large, since the surface area of the scan mirror determines how much scattered light can be collected. However, a large scan mirror requires more electrical energy to be oscillated during scanning, can cause undesirable vibration when oscillated rapidly, and requires more protection from external shock forces. Even though these factors are undesirable for a handheld reader, most readers employ a retro-reflective system, primarily because such readers are relatively insensitive to different levels of ambient light that the small field of view affords.
Another category of reader is termed non-retro-reflective or non-retro-collective and refers to the light collection optical system in which the field of view is stationary. Typically, the scan mirror is only used to transmit the beam to the symbol, while a separate optical system having a wide, static field of view is employed to collect scattered light. The beam spot is swept in a scan pattern across the symbol, and the field of view must be large enough to allow the sensor to see the entire scan pattern, which may be a single line or a plurality of lines. Hence, the field of view of a non-retro-reflective system is several times larger than in a retro-reflective system, with a proportionate increase in the amount of ambient light collected along with light scattered from the symbol. Hence, it has been difficult to employ a non-retro-reflective system that works well in all ambient lighting conditions.
However, there are clear advantages to using a non-retro-reflective system. The scan mirror can be made very small since it only needs to accommodate the focused beam spot. The small scan mirror is much easier to oscillate without consuming large amounts of electrical power, creates less vibration even at high rates of oscillation, is much easier to shock-proof to prevent damage from external shock forces, and is less expensive as compared to the larger scan mirrors of the retro-reflective systems.
Clearly, it would be advantageous, especially in the case of handheld readers, to take advantage of the benefits of a non-retro-reflective system if the ambient light issues that result from its inherently large field of view could be reduced or eliminated. One step in this direction is to reduce the field of view in a non-retro-reflective system by using a lens to control the vertical dimension of the field of view, and by using the reader's housing to limit the horizontal dimension of the field of view. This enables the reader to work reliably under all anticipated, indoor, artificially illuminated lighting conditions, but there are still compromises that must be made if the reader is to work in direct sunlight, which can be over fifty times brighter than the brightest indoor lighting.
In a typical retro-reflective or non-retro-reflective reader, collection optics collect the laser light scattered from the symbol and concentrate the collected light onto a photodiode acting as the sensor. The collection optics also unavoidably collects ambient light and concentrates it on the photodiode. The photodiode generates an electrical current proportional to the brightness of the total collected light. The current is applied to an input of a transimpedance amplifier operative for generating an output voltage proportional to the current and, in turn, proportional to the brightness of the total collected light. The output voltage increases or decreases in dependence on increases or decreases in the collected light intensity. If the collected light intensity is bright enough, the output voltage will go so high that the amplifier is incapable of going any higher. This is called saturation and, when this happens, the reader will not function because the data signal derived from the symbol will be lost.
For this reason, standard practice, when designing readers that must work in bright sunlight, has been to decrease the gain of the transimpedance amplifier to the point where it will not be driven into saturation even in sunlight. As a result, non-retro-reflective readers, which have large fields of view and collect a lot of ambient light, have had to be designed with lower transimpedance amplifier gains than those in retro-reflective readers whose fields of view are smaller and therefore collect less ambient light. The gain of these transimpedance amplifiers is controlled by a feedback resistor. Reducing the resistance of the feedback resistor reduces the gain, and vice versa.
Unfortunately, reducing the resistance of the feedback resistor reduces the data signal faster than the noise signal such that the signal-to-noise ratio of the output signal of the amplifier becomes worse as the gain is reduced. Since non-retro-reflective readers needed to have lower gains (to prevent saturation) than retro-reflective readers, the non-retro-reflective readers have had poorer signal-to-noise ratios, which degrades their performance even when operating under indoor lighting conditions. Thus, the superior signal-to-noise ratio of retro-reflective readers and the concomitant extended working range are the main reasons for their popularity.
The prior art has proposed in FIGS. 9–11 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,021 preamplifier circuits for processing the output signal from a photodiode. These circuits include components that reduce the resistance of the feedback resistor, thereby reducing the gain and worsening the signal-to-noise ratio, or that introduce shot or white noise from bipolar transistors and diodes which again worsen the signal-to-noise ratio. Hence, such preamplifier circuits are unsatisfactory for enabling the reader to perform reliably under all lighting conditions.

Electro-optical reader with improved performance in high intensity ambient light


An exemplary method includes providing a maximum right ventricular systolic pressure value and corresponding time during a cardiac cycle, providing a left ventricular displacement value for the corresponding time, determining a product of the maximum right ventricular systolic pressure value and the magnitude of the left ventricular displacement value and assessing ventricular synchrony for the cardiac cycle based at least in part on the product. Such a method may include adjusting one or more cardiac pacing parameters based at least in part on the product. Other exemplary methods, devices, systems, etc., are also disclosed.

Clinical studies related to cardiac pacing have shown that an optimal atrio-ventricular delay (e.g., AV delay) and/or an optimal interventricular delay (e.g., VV delay) can improve cardiac performance. While various techniques can assess ventricular synchrony to help determine such delays, these techniques typically require visits to a clinic where echocardiography or other imaging equipment is available. Thus, a need exists for techniques that can assess ventricular synchrony on a more regular basis, optionally without disturbing a patient's schedule. Various exemplary techniques discussed herein aim to meet this need and/or other needs. Further, such techniques may allow for diagnosing patient condition and/or selection or adjusting pacing therapy.


A MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) transistor with a trench-type gate is fabricated with a channel stopping region for forming an asymmetric channel region for reducing short channel effects. For example in fabricating an N-channel MOS transistor, a gate structure is formed within a trench that is within a P-well. A channel stopping region with a P-type dopant is formed to a first side of the trench to completely contain an N-type source junction therein. An N-type drain junction is formed within a LDD region to a second side of the trench, thus forming the asymmetric channel region.

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 2003-0095140, filed on Dec. 23, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more particularly to fabrication of a MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) transistor with a trench-type gate and an asymmetric channel region for minimizing undesired short channel effects.
2. Description of the Related Art
A MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors) is a commonly used device in integrated circuits. Dimensions of integrated circuit devices are desired to be further minimized as known to one of ordinary skill in the art. The channel length of a MOSFET is reduced to deep sub-micron dimensions for enhanced operating speed and current drive capability of the MOSFET.
With such decreased channel length, the depletion regions of the source and drain encroach into the channel resulting in reduction of the effective channel length and the threshold voltage of the MOSFET. Such reduced effective channel length and threshold voltage disadvantageously lead to short channel effects as the gate control function is degraded for the MOSFET.
For preventing such short channel effects, shallow source and drain junctions and a doped region under the channel are formed. The doped region is doped with a dopant having a conductivity that is opposite to that for the source and drain junctions. However, a high electric field is applied for such a MOSFET resulting in hot carrier injection into the gate dielectric which becomes degraded.
For preventing such hot carrier generation, LDD (Lightly Doped Drain) structures are provided. A LDD structure acts as a buffer region with a low dopant concentration toward the channel region from the source/drain junction having higher dopant concentration.
Nevertheless with ever decreasing channel length, even the LDD structures provide limited reduction of short channel effects and hot carrier injection. Furthermore, during operation of the MOS transistor, undesired punch-through may also occur even with such LDD structures.
Because of such disadvantageous effects from a short channel, a MOS transistor is formed with a trench-type gate for lengthening the channel especially for a low area of the MOS transistor. Alternative terms for the trench-type gate are recess-type or groove-type gate.
FIGS. 1A to 1Q are cross-sectional views illustrating the steps of fabricating such a MOS transistor with a trench-type gate according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1A, a first pad oxide layer 12 and a first hard mask layer 14 are sequentially formed on a semiconductor substrate 10. Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, photoresist is deposited on the first hard mask layer 14, and is then patterned to partially expose the hard mask layer 14. Exposed regions of the first hard mask layer 14 are etched away to define an active device region ACT within the semiconductor substrate 10. Thereafter, the photoresist is removed.
Referring to FIGS. 1B and 1C, exposed portions of the first pad oxide layer 12 and the semiconductor substrate 10 are sequentially etched. By thus using the first hard mask layer 14 as an etch mask, a first trench T1 is formed to surround the active device region ACT within the semiconductor substrate 10.
Referring to FIGS. 1C and 1D, an insulating material 16 is formed within the first trench T1. Such insulating material 16 is formed in a thermal oxidation process with the first hard mask layer 14 and the first pad oxide layer 12 being oxidation prevention masks. Thereafter, the first hard mask layer 14 and the first pad oxide layer 12 are removed by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process or an etch back process. After such planarization, a STI (shallow trench isolation) structure 16 is formed to surround the exposed active device region ACT of the semiconductor substrate 10.
Referring to FIGS. 1D and 1E, a P-type dopant is implanted at high energy with relatively low concentration into the semiconductor substrate 10 to form a channel region of the MOS transistor. This channel region is formed substantially into the semiconductor substrate 10, except the STI structure 16, and so does not have a specific reference number in the drawings.
Referring to FIGS. 1E and 1F, a second pad oxide layer 18 and a second hard mask layer 20 are sequentially formed on the semiconductor substrate 10. Referring to FIGS. 1F and 1G, photoresist is deposited and patterned on the second hard mask layer 20 in a photolithography process. Thereafter, exposed portions of the second hard mask layer 20 are etched to pattern the second hard mask layer 20. Next, the photoresist is removed.
Referring to FIGS. 1G and 1H, exposed portions of the second pad oxide layer 18 and the semiconductor substrate 10 are sequentially etched. By thus using the second hard mask layer 20 as an etch mask, a second trench T2 having a predetermined depth is formed within the active device region ACT.
Referring to FIGS. 1H and 1I, the second hard mask layer 20 and the second pad oxide layer 18 are removed to expose surfaces of the semiconductor substrate 10 including the walls of the second trench T2. Referring to FIGS. 1I and 1J, a gate dielectric 22 is formed on any exposed surfaces of the semiconductor substrate 10 including the walls of the second trench T2.
Referring to FIGS. 1J and 1K, a gate electrode 24, a metal layer 26, and an upper gate insulating layer 28 are sequentially deposited. Referring to FIG. 1K, the gate electrode 24 fills the second trench T2.
Referring to FIGS. 1K and 1L, photoresist is deposited and patterned on the upper gate insulating layer 28 to form the gate insulating structure 28, the metal layer 26, and the gate electrode 24 of a gate stack 30 on a gate region G. The portions of the gate insulating material 28, the metal layer 26, and the gate electrode 24 disposed over the source and drain regions S and D and the STI structure 16 are etched away.
Referring to FIGS. 1L and 1M, an N-type dopant is implanted into the source and drain regions S and D of the semiconductor substrate 10 with a relatively low concentration to form LDD (lightly doped drain) regions 32. The gate stack 30 acts as an ion implantation mask in FIG. 1N.
Referring to FIGS. 1M and 1N, a spacer 34 comprised of silicon nitride is formed at sidewalls of each gate stack 30. Referring to FIGS. 1N and 1O, an N-type dopant is implanted into the source and drain regions S and D of the semiconductor substrate 10 with a relatively high concentration to form source and drain junctions 36. The gate stacks 30 and the spacers 34 act as ion implantation masks in FIG. 1O.
Referring to FIGS. 1O and 1P, the portions of the gate dielectric 22 on the source and drain regions S and D are removed. Referring to FIGS. 1P and 1Q, conductive material such as polysilicon doped with N-type dopant is blanket deposited and planarized until the gate insulating structure 28 is exposed to form source and drain electrodes 38 on the source and drain regions S and D, respectively.
Subsequently, a first interlayer insulation layer is deposited, and a portion of the first interlayer insulation layer above the source region S is removed to form a source contact hole. A bit line contact fills the source contact hole to be electrically coupled to the source electrode 38 formed on the source region S.
Thereafter, a second interlayer insulation layer is deposited, and a portion of the first and second interlayer insulation layers above the drain region D is removed to form a drain contact hole. A storage electrode fills the drain contact hole to be electrically coupled to the drain electrode 38 formed on the drain region D. Such a storage electrode is part of a data storage capacitor also having a dielectric layer and a plate electrode when the MOS transistor of FIG. 1Q is for a DRAM (dynamic random access memory) cell. However, the MOS transistor of FIG. 1Q may be used within other types of integrated circuits.
Unfortunately, the prior art MOS transistor formed according to FIGS. 1A to 1Q may still exhibit short channel effects. For example, when the critical dimensions (CD) including the depth of the second trench T2 are reduced, the depth of the source and drain junctions 36 with the relatively higher dopant concentration may not be correspondingly reduced, resulting in increased short channel effects.
In addition, if the depth of the LDD regions 32 approaches the bottom of the second trench T2, the length of the channel is shortened resulting in increased short channel effects. On the other hand, if the depth of the LDD regions 32 is reduced for decreasing short channel effects, the concentration of the N-type impurity is increased in turn resulting in increase of junction leakage current in the drain region D. Such higher junction leakage current in the drain region D degrades the refresh characteristics of the cell capacitor coupled to the drain region D.
Nevertheless, the MOS transistor with the trench-type gate is desired for the lengthened channel to decrease short channel effects. Thus, the MOS transistor with the trench-type gate but without disadvantages of the prior is desired for integrated circuits of high density.

Method of forming asymmetric MOS transistor with a channel stopping region and a trench-type gate


An integrated circuit (IC) test engine can generate a plurality of single cycle test patterns that target a plurality of static single cycle defects of a fabricated IC chip based on an IC design. The IC test engine can also fault simulate the plurality of single cycle test patterns against a plurality of multicycle defects in the IC design, wherein a given single cycle test pattern of the plurality of single cycle test patterns is sim-shifted to enable detection of a given multicycle fault and/or defect of the plurality of multicycle faults and/or defects.

As IC chip complexity increases, meeting the testing requirements for acceptable quality assurance is becoming increasingly difficult. Automated testing involves applying test signals to each manufactured circuit in various patterns designed to detect defects that cause improper circuit behavior. Although most modern integrated circuits comprise a number of interconnected cells selected from a library, early testing schemes assumed that faults occurred only between cell instances, at the cell I/O ports, or elsewhere outside cells altogether. The test patterns generated therefore did not necessarily include those needed to detect circuit faults inside a cell.
ATPG (acronym for both Automatic Test Pattern Generation and Automatic Test Pattern Generator) is an electronic design automation method/technology used to find an input (or test) sequence that, when applied to a digital circuit, enables automatic test equipment to distinguish between the correct circuit behavior and the faulty circuit behavior caused by defects. The generated patterns are used to test semiconductor devices after manufacture, or to assist with determining the cause of failure. The effectiveness of ATPG systems is measured by the number of modeled defects, or faults, detectable and by the number of generated patterns. These metrics generally indicate test quality (higher with more fault detections) and test application time (higher with more patterns). ATPG efficiency is another consideration that is influenced by the fault model under consideration, the type of circuit under test (full scan, synchronous sequential, or asynchronous sequential), the level of abstraction used to represent the circuit under test (gate, register-transfer, switch), and the required test quality.
A defect is an error caused in a device during the manufacturing process. A fault (alternatively referred to as a fault model) is a mathematical description of how a defect alters design behavior. The logic values observed at the device's primary outputs, while applying a test pattern to some device under test (DUT), are called the output of that test pattern. The output of a test pattern, when testing a fault-free device that works exactly as designed, is called the expected output of that test pattern. A fault is said to be detected by a test pattern if the output of that test pattern, when testing a device that has only that one fault, is different than the expected output. The ATPG process for a targeted fault has two phases: fault activation and fault propagation. Fault activation establishes a signal value at the fault model site that is opposite of the value produced by the fault model. Fault propagation moves the resulting signal value, or fault effect, forward by sensitizing a path from the fault site to a primary output and/or an observable scan flop.
A standard cell is a group of transistor and interconnect structures that provides a Boolean logic function (e.g., AND, OR, NOR, NAND, XOR, XNOR, inverters) or a storage function (flipflop or latch). The simplest cells are direct representations of the elemental NAND, NOR and XOR Boolean function, although cells of much greater complexity are commonly used (such as a 2-bit full-adder, or muxed D-input flipflop). The cell's Boolean logic function is called its logical view: functional behavior is captured in the form of a truth table or Boolean algebra equation (for combinational logic), or a state transition table (for sequential logic).
Scan chains are the elements in scan-based designs of IC chips that are used to shift-in and shift-out test data. A scan chain is formed by a number of observable scan flops connected back to back in a chain with the output of one observable scan flop connected to another. The input of a first observable scan flop is connected to the input pin of the chip (called scan-in) from where scan data is fed. The output of the last observable scan flop is connected to the output pin of the chip (called scan-out) which is used to observe or measure the data shifted out. Output pins of the IC chip can be directly observed with automatic test equipment (ATE).
An observable scan flop or observable scan flip-flop (SFF) in a scan chain is a muxed input master-slave based D flip-flop. In other words, an observable scan flop is a D flip-flop that allows its input to come from a data port (D) or from an alternative source, namely, as scan-input (SI) port. A scan enable signal (SE) controls each scan flop. More particularly, if the scan enable signal is asserted (e.g., logical 1), scan flop passes data received at the scan-input (SI) port to an output port (Q) of scan flop. Conversely, if the scan enable signal is de-asserted (e.g., logical 0), scan flop passes data received at the data port (D) to the output port. In this manner, scan flop is employable in a scan chain to test an IC chip, and is employable for functional operation of the IC chip.

Utilizing single cycle ATPG test patterns to detect multicycle cell-aware defects


A method for transmitting data using Nt transmitting antennas over communication channels featuring Ni inputs. The method includes a bit interleaving step including demultiplexing a frame of encoded data bits into a number of bit sequences equal to the predefined number Ni of channel inputs, permutating the bits of each bit sequence produced by the demultiplexing step, forming groups of Nt interleaved bit sequences successively produced by the sequence permutating step, all sequences of a same group being intended to be transmitted through Nt channels allocated to a same bit rank for all transmitting antennas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data in a telecommunication system including at least one transmitter provided with a plurality of transmitting antennas and at least one receiver provided with at least one receiving antenna, which method includes a bit encoding step for generating encoded data bits, a bit interleaving step for permutating said encoded data bits, and a modulation step for producing symbols representative of the permutated bits, each symbol being represented by a predetermined number of bits intended to be transmitted over communication channels established between the transmitting and receiving antennas.
2. Related Art
Telecommunication systems in which a plurality of antennas are used at a receiver end and/or at a transmitter end of a wireless link are called Multiple Input Multiple Output systems (further referred to as MIMO systems). MIMO systems have been shown to offer large transmission capacities compared to those offered by single antenna systems. In particular, MIMO capacity increases linearly with the number of transmitting or receiving antennas, whichever the smallest, for a given Signal-to-Noise Ratio and under favourable uncorrelated channel conditions. MIMO techniques are thus likely to be used in future wireless systems intended to provide large spectral efficiencies or, alternatively, reduce the transmitting power required for obtaining a spectral efficiency equivalent to that which is obtained in current telecommunication systems. Such MIMO techniques will very likely be combined with multi-carrier modulation techniques like OFDM (standing for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) and MC-CDMA (standing for Multi-Carrier-Code Division Multiple Access) techniques, whose use in future wireless systems is also considered.
A particular type of MIMO systems makes use of a Bit Interleaved Coded Modulation technique, further referred to as BICM, according to which the transmitter includes a channel encoder intended to apply an encoding, e.g. by means of a convolutional code or of a turbo code, to uncoded data bits, and to provide an encoded bit stream to an interleaver. This interleaver will then deliver permutated bits, which are to be divided into word sequences intended to be transformed into a series of coded symbols represented each by a plurality of bits, the bits representing a same symbol being intended to be transmitted during a same time interval, called symbol period, by respective transmitting antennas.
Transmitted symbols are to be decoded on the receiver end, which is usually performed in MIMO systems of the BICM type by means of an iterative space-time decoder, which decoder is intended to produce estimates of coded bits constituting the transmitted symbols. The spatial diversity induced by the use of multiple transmitting and receiving antennas eases such a decoding, since this diversity provides a larger amount of information than that which would be provided by a single signal transmitted through a single communication channel.

Method for transmitting uniformly distributed data in a MIMO telecommunication system


The disclosure provides a method and a system for realizing application detection and control in an IP-Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session supporting dual stack. The method includes: a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) informs a Traffic Detection Function (TDF) of an IPv4 address via a TDF session established for the IP-CAN session if a gateway where the PCEF is located or another external network element allocates the IPv4 address according to a request of the UE and the UE accesses a service using the IPv4 address, after the UE establishes the IP-CAN session and accesses a service using an IPv6 address in the IP-CAN session supporting dual stack; and the TDF performs application detection and control on traffic, of which the source address and/or the destination address is/are the IPv4 address, according to an Application Detection and Control (ADC) rule related to the TDF session. With the method of the disclosure, the PCRF will no longer initiate a request for establishing a new TDF session, in this way, the service detection for one same IP-CAN session needs to be reported via one same TDF session only, thus, resources are saved and signalling overhead is reduced.

Since the 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release7 (3GPP Release7) standard system is proposed, the policy and charging function is realized by a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) framework. The PCC framework is a function framework applicable to multiple access technologies, for example, the PCC framework is applicable to a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), an Enhanced Data Rate for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) Evolution (EDGE) radio access network, an Intelligent Wireless Local Area Network (I-WLAN) and an Evolved Packet System (EPS), etc.
The PCC mainly realizes two functions, that is, policy control function and charging function. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a PCC framework in existing Release-11; hereinafter, each logical function entity and the interface function thereof in the PCC framework shown in FIG. 1 are described. As shown in FIG. 1:
Application Function (AF) is configured to provide an access point of service application, wherein network resources used by the service application need to be processed with dynamical policy control. When parameter negotiation is conducted on a service plane, the AF transmits related service information to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). If the service information is consistent with the policy of the PCRF, the PCRF accepts the negotiation; otherwise, the PCRF rejects the negotiation, and provides a service parameter acceptable by the PCRF during feedback; subsequently, the AF returns the parameter to User Equipment (UE), wherein the interface between the AF and the PCRF is an Rx interface.
The PCRF is the core of the PCC and is responsible for establishing policy and charging rules. The PCRF provides network control rules based on a service data flow, wherein the network control includes detection, gating control, Quality of Service (QoS) control of the service data flow, and charging based on the data flow. The PCRF sends the policy and charging rules established by the PCRF itself to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) to execute, meanwhile, the PCRF needs to guarantee the consistency between the rules and the subscription information of a user. The basis for the PCRF to establish the policy and charging rules includes: receiving service related information from the AF, obtaining user subscription information of PCC related to policy control and charging from a Subscription Profile Repository (SPR), and obtaining bearer related network information from the PCEF.
The PCEF generally is located inside a Gate-Way (GW) and is used for enforcing the policy and charging rules established by the PCRF on a bearer plane. The PCEF performs detection on service data flows according to a service data flow filter in the rules sent by the PCRF, thereby enforcing the policy and charging rules established by the PCRF for the service data flow. When a bearer is established, the PCEF allocates resources according to the rules sent by the PCRF and performs gating control according to the information provided by the AF; meanwhile, the PCEF triggers the report of events occurring on a bearer network according to an event subscribed by the PCRF; according to the charging rules sent by the PCRF, the PCEF executes a corresponding service data flow charging operation, wherein the charging can be online charging or offline charging. If in the online charging, the PCEF needs to perform credit management together with an Online Charging System (OCS); if in the offline charging, the PCEF exchanges related charging information with an Offline Charging System (OFCS). The interface between the PCEF and the PCRF is a Gx interface; the interface between the PCEF and the OCS is a Gy interface; and the interface between the PCEF and the OFCS is a Gz interface. The PCEF also can have a Traffic Detection Function (TDF). The PCEF can perform application detection and policy enforcement (for example, gating control, redirection and bandwidth limit) according to local configurations or PCC rules containing an Application Detection and Control (ADC) policy distributed by the PCRF. The PCEF generally is located on a network gateway, such as, a Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN-GW) of EPS, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Gateway Support Node (GGSN), and a Packet Data Gateway (PDG) in an Interworking Wireless Local Area Network (I-WLAN).
The TDF also can be deployed separately; at this time, the TDF is connected with the PCRF through an Sd interface; the TDF can perform application detection and policy enforcement according to an ADC rule preconfigured or distributed by the PCRF.
Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function (BBERF) generally is located in an access network gateway. For example, when UE accesses the EPS through an Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) and Proxy Mobile Internet Protocol version6 (PMIPv6) is applied between a Serving Gateway (S-GW) and a Packet Data Network-Gateway (P-GW), the BBERF exists in the S-GW. When UE accesses the EPS through an untrusted non-3GPP access network, the BBERF also exists in the untrusted non-3GPP access gateway.
The SPR stores the user subscription information of PCC related to policy control and charging. The interface between the SPR and the PCRF is an Sp interface.
The OCS and the PCEF together accomplish the user credit control and management in the online charging mode.
The OFCS and the PCEF together accomplish the charging operation in the offline charging mode.
FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of establishing a TDF session between a TDF and a PCRF in an existing IP-CAN session process, in which the TDF applies a non-requested report mode. As shown in FIG. 2, the process specifically includes the following steps:
Step 201: during the process of UE requesting establishment of an IP-CAN session, a gateway where a PCEF is located receives an IP-CAN session establishment request message, wherein the IP-CAN session establishment request message carries a user Identifier (ID), and a PDN ID of the PDN network which the user requests to access;
Step 202: the PCEF sends a message of indication of IP-CAN session establishment to the PCRF, and makes the message of indication of IP-CAN session establishment carry the user ID, the PDN ID and an IPv6 address prefix allocated for the UE;
Step 203: after determining that there is no subscription information of the user according to the user ID, the PCRF sends a subscription document request to an SPR and makes the subscription document request carry the user ID and the PDN ID;
Step 204: the SPR returns corresponding user subscription information (through a subscription document response) according to the user ID and the PDN ID;
Step 205: the PCRF makes a policy (including establishing PCC rules and event triggers) according to returned user subscription information, network policy, UE access information and the like;
Step 206: the PCRF sends an acknowledge IP-CAN session establishment message to the PCEF and makes the acknowledge IP-CAN session establishment message carry the PCC rules and event triggers;
Step 207: the PCEF installs the policy; the gateway where the PCEF is located returns an IP-CAN session establishment response to the UE and makes the IP-CAN session establishment response carry the IPv6 address prefix;
through the process shown in FIG. 2, the UE can construct an IPv6 address according to the IPv6 address prefix and access a service using the IPv6 address;
Step 208: the TDF finds a new IPv6 address (this IPv6 address is constructed by the UE according to the IPv6 address prefix in Step 207) when detecting traffic which pass through the TDF, then, the TDF sends a TDF session establishment message to the PCRF and makes the TDF session establishment message carry the new IPv6 address; and
Step 209: the PCRF associates the TDF session with the IP-CAN session according to the IPv6 address prefix obtained from the PCEF and the IPv6 address obtained from the TDF, and returns a TDF session establishment acknowledgement message to the TDF; the established TDF session corresponds to the IP-CAN session established by the UE.
Hereafter, the TDF performs application detection and control on uplink traffic, of which the source address is the new IPv6 address, and/or downlink traffic, of which the destination address is the new IPv6 address, according to the preconfigured ADC rule; and the TDF detects an appointed application (marked by Application ID) in the preconfigured application detection policy. The TDF sends an application detection report to the PCRF via the TDF session established in Step 208 and Step 209, carrying the detected Application ID and an optional event trigger which takes Start of application traffic detection and Stop of application traffic detection as a value; if the PCRF subscribes to the event trigger Start of application traffic detection and Stop of application traffic detection with the TDF, the TDF probably would provide Service Data Flow Description for the PCRF. Then, the PCRF makes a policy, makes or updates PCC rules according to the Application ID and the Service Data Flow Description (if reported) reported by the TDF, and provides the policy and rules to the PCEF.
However, the existing technology does not take dual-stack into account, that is, one same IP-CAN session has an IPv4 address and an IPv6 address simultaneously. After the process shown in FIG. 2, if the gateway where the PCEF is located or another external network element further allocates an IPv4 address according to a request from UE and the UE accesses a service using the IPv4 address, at this time, the TDF finds a new IPv4 address, initiates establishment of a TDF session and reports an application detection result to the PCRF via the established TDF session.
This could cause a result that an IP-CAN session has two TDF sessions simultaneously, and the service detection for the same one IP-CAN session needs to be reported via different TDF sessions. Thus, resources are wasted and signalling overhead is increased.
In addition, the standalone TDF supporting solicited application reporting mode will encounter this problem too; at this time, the process of establishing a TDF session, as shown in FIG. 3, includes the following steps:
Step 301: during the process of UE requesting establishment of an IP-CAN session, a gateway where the PCEF is located receives an IP-CAN session establishment request message, wherein the IP-CAN session establishment request message carries a user ID, and a PDN ID of the PDN network which the user requests to access;
Step 302: the PCEF sends a message of indication of IP-CAN session establishment to a PCRF, and makes the message of indication of IP-CAN session establishment carry the user ID, the PDN ID and an IPv6 address prefix allocated for the UE;
Step 303: after determining that there is no subscription information of the user according to the user ID, the PCRF sends a subscription document request to an SPR and makes the subscription document request carry the user ID and the PDN ID;
Step 304: the SPR returns corresponding user subscription information (through a subscription document response) according to the user ID and the PDN ID; the user subscription information includes a user document configuration, instructing to activate application detection and control;
Step 305: the PCRF makes a policy (including establishing PCC rules and optional event triggers) according to returned user subscription information, network policy, UE access information and the like; in this step, since the user subscription information includes the user document configuration, the PCRF also needs to establish an ADC rule, wherein the ADC rule includes: setting an Application ID used for indicating the application needed to be detected by the PCEF, setting an event trigger which takes Start of application traffic detection and Stop of application traffic detection as a value, and setting possible enforcement policy corresponding to each detected application, including gating control, maximum bandwidth and redirection;
Step 306: the PCRF sends a TDF session establishment request to the TDF, and makes the TDF session establishment request message carry the IPv6 address prefix, the ADC rule and the optional event trigger, wherein the event trigger takes Start of application traffic detection and Stop of application traffic detection as a value;
Step 307: the TDF enforces the policy, installs or activates the ADC rule and the event trigger;
Step 308: the TDF returns a TDF session establishment acknowledgement message to the PCRF;
Step 309: the PCRF sends an acknowledge IP-CAN session establishment message to the PCEF, and makes the acknowledge IP-CAN session establishment message carry the PCC rules and the event trigger; and
Step 310: the PCEF installs the policy; the gateway where the PCEF is located returns an IP-CAN session establishment response to the UE, and makes the IP-CAN session establishment response carry the IPv6 address prefix.
Through the process shown in FIG. 3, the UE can construct an IPv6 address according to the IPv6 address prefix, and access a service using the IPv6 address. The established TDF session corresponds to the IP-CAN session established by the UE.
Hereafter, the TDF performs application detection and control on uplink traffic, of which the source address is the IPv6 address (which can be uniquely determined by the TDF according to the IPv6 address prefix obtained from the PCRF), and/or downlink traffic, of which the destination address is the IPv6 address, according to the ADC rule distributed by the PCRF. When the TDF detects an application corresponding to the Application ID and the PCRF subscribes to Start of application traffic detection and Stop of application traffic detection, the TDF sends an application detection report to the PCRF via the TDF session established in Step 306 to Step 308, carrying the detected Application ID and the event trigger which takes Start of application traffic detection as a value; then, the PCRF makes a policy, sets or updates the enforcement policy (for example, gating control, maximum bandwidth and redirection) according to the reported Application ID, establishes or updates PCC rules and provides the rules to the PCEF.
After the process shown in FIG. 3, if the gateway where the PCEF is located or another external network element further allocates an IPv4 address according to a request from the UE, and the UE accesses a service using the IPv4 address, at this time, the TDF finds a traffic of a new IPv4 address when detecting the traffic; since the TDF is not notified to detect the traffic of the IPv4 address and has no corresponding ADC rule used for detecting the service flow, the TDF will not detect the traffic. At this time, the PCRF can initiate a request of establishing a new TDF session, subsequently causing that an IP-CAN session has two TDF sessions simultaneously, and the service detection for the same one IP-CAN session needs to be reported via different TDF sessions. Thus, resources are wasted and signalling overhead is increased.

Method and system for realizing application detection and control in IP-CAN session supporting dual stack


An attenuating phase shifting photomask is formed using attenuating phase shifting composite material combining the optical properties of a first material having a high extinction coefficient and a second material having a high index of refraction. The first material is LaNiO.sub.3 and the second material is either TiO.sub.2 or Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5. The first and second materials are combined to produce composites of either (LaNiO.sub.3).sub.x (TiO.sub.2).sub.1-x or (LaNiO.sub.3).sub.x (Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5).sub.1-x to form attenuating phase shifting blanks and masks. Co-deposition of LaNiO.sub.3 and either TiO.sub.2 or Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 uses rf-magnetron sputtering to form the (LaNiO.sub.3).sub.x (TiO.sub.2).sub.1-x or (LaNiO.sub.3).sub.x (Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5).sub.1-x films on a transparent quartz substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to attenuating phase shifting photomasks and more particularly to the formation of attenuating phase shifting material using a composite of a first material with a high extinction coefficient and a second material with a high index of refraction to achieve desired optical properties. More particularly the first material is LaNiO .sub.3 and the second material is either TiO.sub.2 or Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5.
2. Description of Related Art
As optical lithography advances to smaller spacings and tighter tolerances phase shifting type photomasks are often used to achieve improved tolerances and pattern edge definition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,244 to Yoo describes methods for making phase shifting photomasks using silicon oxide and silicon nitride materials.
The invention described in this patent application uses the optical properties of (LaNiO.sub.3).sub.x (TiO.sub.2).sub.1-x or (LaNiO.sub.3).sub.x (Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5).sub.1-x oxide absorption composite to form attenuating phase shifting blanks and masks for use in photolithographic processes.

Using (LaNiO.sub.3) .sub.X (TiO.sup.2) .sub.1-X and (LaNiO.sub.3) .sub.X (Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5) .sub.1-X oxide absorption composites for attenuating phase shifting blanks and masks

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


An apparatus for determining the distance between the pupils to yield values representative of lenses properly aligned with the patient's pupils when mounted in the sockets of a spectacle frame. The apparatus consists of a calibration device having spaced fixed marking for placement in the plane of lenses, a camera with a zooming arrangement for taking an image of the subject, and a computer for generating parametric values relevant to the lenses to be ground as a function of the distance between the camera and the subject, the position of the zooming device at the time the image is taken, and the size of the image on the focal plane of the camera.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus as a component of a video centering system for determining the distance between pupils for precisely defining parameters relevant to the grinding of lenses to be mounted in the sockets of spectacles or eyeglasses.
2. The Prior Art
It is generally known that video systems are utilized for determining parameters relevant to grinding lenses of spectacles which are based upon producing a video photograph of a patient who is wearing the adjusted or fitted frame of his spectacles.
Thus, German patent specification DE 43 23 384 C2 describes a device for measuring the parameters requisite for conforming optical lenses to the frame of spectacles, particularly the distance between the pupils and the height of a person's pupils relative to the spectacle frame. The device is provided with a camera for taking a photograph of the head of the person wearing the spectacle frame and for adjustment with respect to the head. Furthermore, the device is provided with an electronic imaging unit for defining the parameters from the photograph of the head at a predetermined measured distance between the head and the camera. Within the camera, there is provided a coincidence range finder with an optical system behind the objective of the camera for separating the photograph into four adjacent images or partial images such that the correct measuring distance is obtained if the images or partial images join into a single image.
This device in essence consists of a camera to be aimed by its operator against a customer or patient with a follow-up optical system for determining the predetermined measured distance on the basis of a coincident distance measurement. Such an arrangement suffers from two disadvantages, however: It involves significant technical complexity to be made, and its manner of operation is such that measurement errors cannot be excluded.
German patent specification DE 100 20 005 A1 discloses an apparatus for, and a method of, defining the centering data for mounting lenses into spectacle frames. It utilizes a camera and a centering rider with a light source which compels a patient to look into a previously determined direction. Measurement data are read from a previously established centering foil, and the preferred light source is a laser pointer.
Another arrangement by which measuring the distance between the pupils of a human eye may be carried out digitally, is disclosed by German patent specification DE 100 05 801 A1. It proposes an examination frame for measuring the distance between the pupils of the patient's eyes. The examination frame consists of a lens support, a device for moving the lens support along the frame in the direction of the patient's nose or temple. In addition, the examination frame is provided with a source of electrical current and metal strips through which the current is flowing. By rotating the lens supports, the level of current flowing through the metal conductor is measured, and the distance between the pupils of the eyes of a given patient may be deduced from the measured current.
Such an arrangement may be said to suffer from the drawback that for the necessary corrective calculations, in particular the convergence or inward rotation of the eyes at a short viewing distance, it relies upon a shooting distance between the patient and the recording camera stored in the given systems data. In the event, the corrective calculations can be correct only to the extent that the stored values of shooting distances are adhered to during the exposures.

Apparatus for determining the distance between pupils


Described herein is a method of scanning an image by dividing the excitation and emission spectra requirements of a film (10) containing emissive interlayers (15, 16). The film (10) comprises a film base (11) on which three black-and-white records (12, 13, 14) are formed, each record being sensitive to a different color. The black-and-white records (12, 13, 14) are separated from one another by the emissive interlayers (15, 16). The emission of the interlayers and the film transmission are measured using conventional scanner color analysis.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,308 describes the measurement of luminescence intensities in exposed and processed photographic film by means of a commercial emission spectrometer, utilizing monochromators on both the illumination and detection sides of the instrument.
EP-A-0 610 994, incorporated herein by reference, describes a color photographic system which uses a color photographic system in which fluorescent interlayers are positioned between red-, green- and blue-sensitive recording layer units (without any dye image-forming materials) which form silver images of substantially the same hue. The color records are read out by scanning both the fluorescent and transmission records. The image densities are read from the two fluorescent interlayers by scanning through red and green filters, and the transmission density being scanned separately.
It is well understood that fluorescent or luminescent layers need to be excited at a particular wavelength to stimulate the production of radiation at another wavelength. A scanning process using a densitometer, with an absorption filter placed in the illuminating light path for fluorescent readout, is disclosed therein.


An ultraviolet curable adhesive for use in bonding seams of endless flexible seamed belts, sheets or films, and preferably for use with puzzle cut seams, wherein there is virtually no thickness differential at the seam and the seam has a pull strength of from about 15 to about 50 pounds/inch.

The present invention relates to a puzzle cut seamed belt useful in electrostatographic reproducing apparatus, including digital, image on image and contact electrostatic printing apparatuses. The present belts can be used as fuser belts, pressure belts, intermediate transfer belts, transfuse belts, transport belts, developer belts, photoreceptor belts, and the like. Preferably, the puzzle cut seam is secured via an ultraviolet curable adhesive. Also, preferably, the adhesive is cured via ultraviolet light. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the puzzle cut seam has a pull strength of from about 15 to about 50 pounds/inch.
In a typical electrostatographic reproducing apparatus such as electrophotographic imaging system using a photoreceptor, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member and the latent image is subsequently rendered visible by the application of electroscopic thermoplastic resin particles which are commonly referred to as toner. Generally, the electrostatic latent image is developed by bringing a developer mixture into contact therewith. Toner particles are attracted from the carrier granules to the latent image forming a toner powder image thereon. Alternatively, a liquid developer material may be employed. After the toner particles have been deposited on the photoconductive surface, in image configuration, the developed image is transferred to a receiving copy substrate. The image is subsequently fused to a copy substrate by the application of heat in combination with pressure.
Belts, sheets, films and the like are important to the xerographic process. In addition, belt function is very much affected by the seam of the belt. For example, belts formed according to known butting or overlapping techniques provide a bump or other discontinuity in the belt surface leading to a height differential between adjacent portions of the belt, of 0.010 inches or more depending on the belt thickness. This increased height differential leads to performance failure in many applications. A bump, surface irregularity, or other discontinuity in the seam of the belt may disturb the tuck of the cleaning blade as it makes intimate contact with the photoconductive member surface to effect residual toner and debris removal. This may allow toner to pass under the blade and not be cleaned. Furthermore, seams having differential heights may when subjected to repeated striking by cleaning blades, cause photoconductive member cycling speed disturbance which affects the crucial photoconductive belt motion quality. Moreover, seams with a bump or any morphological defects can facilitate the untransferred, residual toner to be trapped in the sites of seam surface irregularities. The seam of a photoreceptor belt which is repeatedly subjected to the striking action by a cleaning blade under machine functioning conditions has triggered the development of pre-mature seam delamination failure. As a result, both the cleaning life of the blade and the overall service life of the photoreceptor belt can be greatly diminished. In addition, the copy quality of image printout can be degraded. Moreover, such irregularities in seam height provide vibrational noise in xerographic development which disturb the toner image on the belt and degrade resolution and transfer of the toner image to the final copy sheet. This is particularly prevalent in those applications requiring the application of multiple color layers of liquid or dry developer on a photoreceptor belt, which are subsequently transferred to a final copy sheet. In addition, the discontinuity in belt thickness due to the presence of an excessive seam height yields variances of mechanical strength in the belt as well as reducing the fatigue flex life of the seam when cycling over the belt module support rollers. Further, the seam discontinuity or bump in such a belt may result in inaccurate image registration during development, inaccurate belt tracking and overall deterioration of motion quality, as a result of the translating vibrations.
Moreover, belts have been prepared in the past by ultrasonic welding which requires high temperature curing of the material between the seam. Such high temperatures cause spattering of the melted material which forms peaks in the seam area. These peaks result in disturbance of components such as corotron wires in the case of charging a photoreceptor belt. Such high temperatures also tend to disturb the orientations of the photoreceptor material. For example, many photoreceptors comprise biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The high temperatures necessary for curing tend to disturb the orientation of the PET causing a ripple in the seam area. Under machine tension, this ripple is distributed along the length of the belt.
The belts herein comprise ultraviolet curable adhesives. Therefore, there is no need for use of such high temperatures used in ultrasonic welding. Accordingly, the belt material is not disturbed and the ripple effect is reduced or eliminated. Further, by use of ultraviolet curable adhesives, spattering of melted material in the seam area is reduced or eliminated, resulting in a decrease in the disturbance of components with which the belt may come in contact. In addition, by use of the ultraviolet curable adhesives, a strong bond is formed, resulting in a significant increase in pull strength and flex life. Further, the height difference between the puzzle cut seam members and adjacent portions of the belt is reduced to nearly nil, resulting in a smooth seam, increase in flex life of the belt, and little or no ripple effect.
However, currently belt seams using ultraviolet curable adhesives require relatively long cure times, for example, up to about 30 minutes. This increases belt fabrication time, resulting in an inefficiency in belt production.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,707 relates to an endless flexible seamed belt comprising puzzle cut members, and further comprising a bonding between adjacent surfaces by an ultraviolet cured adhesive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,436 relates to an endless flexible seamed belt having puzzle cut seams and wherein the seam is of a substantially uniform thickness as the rest of the belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,193 relates to an endless flexible seamed belt formed comprising puzzle cut members, wherein at least one receptacle has a substantial depth in a portion of the belt material at the belt ends.
Although the above references teach interlocking seams which provide for decreased inherent seam height, increased seam strength, decreased surface roughness at the seam, and increased continuity at the seam, there still exists a need for a seam which has increased seam bonding strength to prevent premature delamination, tearing or rupture. Further, there is a need for an improved belt having a seam which provides a decreased or eliminated ripple effect. In addition, it is desired to provide a seam with virtual nil thickness differential with the main body of the belt, as well as a belt with good tensile and bending flexibility. Moreover, there is a need for a belt which is easily and quickly fabricated.

Puzzle cut seamed belt having ultraviolet curable adhesive seam and methods thereof


According to the principles of the invention, there is provided a system, apparatus, and method for managing media in a multimedia conferencing system according to media roles. Each media stream may be explicitly labeled with a role that describes the function or purpose of the stream, such as “people” or “content.” The labels may be hierarchical, and may include layers for media type, additional media source description, and the like, e.g., “people/presenter” or “people/presenter/video.” A policy manager is provided for managing roles, such that the multimedia conference may be more effectively presented to participants. A token management system may also be provided so that control of the multimedia conference roles can be transferred during the conference.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to the field of multimedia conferencing, and more particularly to the field of role-based media management in a multimedia conferencing system.
2. Description of Related Art
Video conferencing systems are being used in a wide variety of settings to enable effective communication among participants (and audiences) at different geographical sites. Each video conferencing location includes a video camera, a display, a microphone, and a speaker. Each video conferencing location may also be equipped for data collaboration such as file sharing, a collaborative white board, and the like. The media making up a video conference, including audio, video, and data, may be directed through one or more multipoint conference units ("MCU's") that aggregate media streams from the various participants, and that mix and distribute appropriate streams to the participants and the audience. The system may employ one or more gateways to permit conferences that join participants across data networks and telecommunications networks.
Conventional video conferencing systems can provide a platform for a distributed collaborative environment shared by a number of participants. However, as a significant disadvantage, existing systems do not provide any mechanism for a moderator, or individual participants, to select media based on the media's role in the video conference. In current systems, a media source, such as a video source, an audio source, a computer screen, or a data source, has a logical identifier and a type. However, these identifiers provides very little guidance to a moderator or participant with respect to the nature of the source, and only by examining the stream can a determination of the source's role be made. Even this step may provide no indication of the role intended for the stream by its source. This poses particular difficulty in multi-point video conferences, where any number of media streams may be present, and a participant has no mechanism for discerning the role of each stream.
There remains a need for a multimedia conferencing system that permits management of a multimedia conference based upon the role of media streams.

Media role management in a video conferencing network