A fire fighting trainer for use in training fire fighters is provided. The fire fighting trainer includes a structure having a plurality of chambers having concrete or grating floors. Each chamber contains one or a series of real or simulated items, which are chosen from a group of items, such as furniture and fixtures and equipment. The trainer also includes a smoke generating system having a smoke generator having a smoke line with an outlet for each chamber. The trainer also includes a propane gas flame generating system having at least one propane gas pressure controller and a gas line with a burner control and one or more single element or multi-element burners for each chamber. The trainer has a main control panel for regulating the flame generating system and the smoke generating system and for controlling the fire, or fires, and smoke in each chamber. The trainer also has one or more sensor assemblies in each chamber, which senses water, foam, powder and inert gas agent application, and which is connected to the main control panel to sense and report what and where and how an extinguishing material or medium or agent is being used in each chamber during a test of trainees or fire fighters, so that the single fire or spreading fire and smoke can be simultaneously regulated or reset to suit the conditions in the chamber. The trainer includes a combination of individual sensors forming a detector assembly which may include different sensing element types, and also include temperature sensors to monitor heat levels in the chambers.

The prior art fire fighting trainer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,548, issued Jul. 2, 1985. Related patents include U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,872, issued Jan. 8, 1963; U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,908, issued Nov. 10, 1964; U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,147, issued Jun. 24, 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,342, issued Jul. 11, 1972; U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,343, issued Jul. 11, 1972, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,949, issued Jan. 11, 1977 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,396 issued Dec. 1, 1981.
Other related patents include U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,548, issued Jul. 2, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,396, issued Dec. 1, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,872, issued January 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,908, issued November 1964; U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,147, issued June 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,342, issued July 1972; U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,343, issued July 1972; U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,949, issued January 1977; U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,579, issued Nov. 10, 1981; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,397, issued Dec. 1, 1981.
The prior art fire fighting trainer includes a plurality of chambers having respective contents including items chosen from a group of items including furniture and fixtures and equipment, a smoke generating system having a plurality of outlets disposed in the respective chambers, and a flame generating system having a plurality of outlets disposed in the respective chambers, and a control and monitoring system.
One problem with the prior art fire fighting trainer is that there is no way to determine which ones of the extinguishment agents are being used by the fire fighters simultaneously with the testing of the fire fighters.
Another problem is that the trainer is not adapted to simulate a spreading fire. In addition, the commercial gas burners used to produce the flames allow an unacceptable build up of unburned gas when the flames are suppressed with water application.
A third problem is inefficiency of production and distribution of the simulated smoke that is used for safety and to eliminate pollutants.

Fire fighting trainer and apparatus including a flame generating means


The present invention provides AGV systems with automatic recharging and a central processor for control. The central processor monitors the charge states of the AGVs, assigns them to tasks, and can determines when to recharge the AGVs. The central processor can optimize the operation of the AGVs to achieve various objectives which can include, for example, maximizing AGV availability, maximizing battery life, and/or maximizing recharging station utilization. Systems and methods of the invention can maximize the utilization of AGV equipment and minimize the number of AGVs required to accomplish a given set of tasks.

The present invention generally relates to automated guided vehicle systems, and in particular to an automated guided vehicle system with automatic battery recharging stations.
Automatic guided vehicles (AGV) are widely used in a variety of industrial settings, including factories and hospitals. AGVs move automatically from one location to another, generally following a guide wire or track. AGVs are used to transport materials from location to location without requiring a vehicle driver.
Most AGVs are powered by rechargeable batteries. Battery recharging, whether carried out manually or automatically, is a source of disruption and inefficiency in automatic guided vehicle systems.
In a typical manual recharging system, an operator periodically tests the charge state of a vehicle""s battery. If the charge state is found to be low, the battery is removed and placed on a battery charger. Labor costs, untimeliness of testing and recharging, and human error are disadvantages of manual testing.
Automatic recharging systems are also available. In a typical automatic recharging system, the AGVs are equipped with battery monitors. When the battery is low the vehicle returns to a recharging station. The location of the recharging station is either pre-programmed into the AGV or is provided by a remote computer in response to a request from the AGV. A disadvantage of this system is that the recharging operations interfere with the productive operation of the AGVs, resulting in the need for more AGVs and greater space to accommodate the additional AGVs. Therefore, there is an unsatisfied need for an AGV system that provides for automatic recharging of AGVs while maximizing the availability of AGVs for productive use.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The present invention provides AGV systems with automatic recharging and a central processor for control. The central processor monitors the charge states of the AGVs, assigns them to tasks, and can determines when to recharge the AGVs. The central processor can optimize the operation of the AGVs to achieve various objectives which can include, for example, maximizing AGV availability, maximizing battery life, and/or maximizing recharging station utilization. Systems and methods of the invention can maximize the utilization of AGV equipment and minimize the number of AGVs required to accomplish a given set of tasks.
One aspect of the invention provides an automated guided vehicle system comprising a plurality of battery powered guided vehicles, an automatic recharging station for recharging the guided vehicles, and a central processor, wherein the central processor receives task requests, monitors a charge status for the guided vehicles, and selects guided vehicles to perform the tasks.
Another aspect of the invention provides an automated guided vehicle system comprising a plurality of battery powered guided vehicles, means for automatically recharging the vehicles, means for assigning tasks to the vehicles, and means for coordinating automatically recharging the vehicles with assigning tasks to the vehicles.
A further aspect of the invention provides a method of operating a plurality of battery powered guided vehicles comprising using a central processor to assign tasks to the vehicles, monitor a charge status for the vehicles, and control recharging of the vehicles.
The invention extends to features hereinafter fully described and features particularly pointed out in the claims. The following detailed description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative examples of the invention. These examples are indicative of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. Other ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed and other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the invention when consider in conjunction with the drawings.

Automatic battery recharging station for AGVs


The present invention provides compositions and methods for modulating the secretion of transcriptionally regulated proteins from recombinant cells. More particularly, the present invention provides compositions and methods for accelerating the secretion dynamics of human insulin from recombinant cells using nonsense mediated mRNA decay of the preproinsulin mRNA transcript.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is techniques to modulate the dynamics of transcriptionally regulated protein secretion and mRNA stability. These techniques are of particular use for improving the dynamics of insulin secretion, which is a useful tool in cell-based therapies for insulin-dependent diabetes.
2. Background Art
Cell-based therapies for treating insulin-dependent diabetes (IDD) can provide a more physiologic regulation of blood glucose levels in a less invasive fashion than daily insulin injections. Cell sourcing constitutes a critical issue in developing a cell-based therapy for treatment of IDD. Genetic engineering of non-β cells, particularly those of hepatic origin, for glucose-responsive insulin secretion offers significant promise in developing a cell-based therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes. Responsiveness to physiologic stimuli is introduced at the gene transcription level by using promoters up-regulated by glucose and possibly down-regulated by insulin (Thulé, et al., 2000 Gene Ther. 7:205-14; Thulé, P. M. & Liu, J. M., 2000 Gene Ther. 7:1744-52; Lee, et al., 2000 Nature 408:483-8; Barry, et al., 2001 Hum. Gene Ther. 12:131-9; Chen, et al., 2001 Mol. Ther. 3:584-90).
Based on this concept, glucose-regulated insulin expression has been achieved in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rodents (Thulé, P. M. & Liu, J. M., 2000 Gene Ther. 7:1744-52; Lee, et al., 2000 Nature 408:483-8; Barry, et al., 2001 Hum. Gene Ther. 12:131-9; Chen, et al., 2001 Mol. Ther. 3:584-90). A major advantage of these cells is that they are potentially autologous, retrieved as a biopsy from the patient. A disadvantage of these cells is that transcriptionally controlled cells exhibit sluggish secretion dynamics and thus may not be suitable, as such, for achieving normoglycemia in higher diabetic animals and humans. To expedite the dynamics of secretion down-regulation, translation needs to stop soon after transcription has been turned off. Of particular significance is the slow dynamics of secretion down-regulation, which result in the cells secreting insulin long after the stimulus has been removed and treatment with these cells may thus revert diabetes to hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia, a serious pathological condition.
It has been suggested that the prolonged stability of preproinsulin (PPI) mRNA causes the sluggishness of secretion down-regulation (Efrat, S., 1998, Diabetologia 41:1401-9; Dong, H. & Woo, S. L., 2001 Trends Endocrinol. Metab. 12:441-6). Although prior reports on the PPI MRNA half-life in non-β cells are limited, data from normal and transformed β cells strongly indicate that the stability of PPI mRNA is a limiting factor in expediting secretion down-regulation. In isolated primary rat islets, the half-life of PPI mRNA was estimated to be 77 hours under high glucose (17 mM) and 29 hours under low glucose concentration (3.3 mM) (Nielsen, et al., 1985, J. Biol. Chem. 260:13585-9). In βTC-3 insulinomas, there was only marginal PPI mRNA degradation over 24 hours after transcription was stopped (Schuppin, G. T. & Rhodes, C. J., 1996, Biochem. J. 313:259-68), while the half-life of PPI mRNA in RIN-5F insulinomas was found to be 58 hours and 26 hours under high (20 mM) and low (3 mM) glucose concentration, respectively (Nielsen, et al., 1985, J. Biol. Chem. 260:13585-9).
The topic of modulation of mRNA stability is currently under intense investigation (Guhaniyogi, J. & Brewer, G., 2001, Gene 265:11-23; Clayton, C.E., 2002, Embo. J. 21:1881-8; van Hoof, A. & Parker, R., 2002, Curr. Biol. 12:R285-7). Specifically with PPI mRNA, to accelerate the rate of mRNA turnover, the use of anti-sense RNA (Taniguchi, K., et al., 1996, Cell Transplant 5:S55-7) or connecting the insulin gene with the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of some labile mRNAs, such as those encoding cytokines, have been considered (Dong, H. & Woo, S. L., 2001, Trends Endocrinol. Metab. 12:441-6). However, these systems require the use of more than one construct, or have not shown to be entirely successful.
Recently, nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) has received significant attention because of its biological and medical importance (Hentze, M. W. & Kulozik, A. E., 1999, Cell 96:307-10; Wilusz, C. J., Wang, W. and Peltz, S. W., 2001, Genes Dev. 15:2781-5; Byers, P. H., 2002, J. Clin. Invest. 109; 3-6; Maquat, L. E., 2002, Curr. Biol. 12, R196-7). Mutant mRNAs with premature stop codons can be detected by cells via a surveillance mechanism, and are subjected to NMD (Li, S. & Wilkinson, M. F., 1998, Immunity 8,135-41; Pulak, R. & Anderson, P., 1993, Genes Dev. 7, 1885-97). NMD likely evolved in vivo to eliminate erratic mRNAs.
Because of the difficulty in modulating the dynamics of protein secretion in general, and insulin secretion specifically, there is a need in the art for techniques to improve the efficiency and dynamics of protein secretion from a recombinant cell.

Compositions and methods for the acceleration of protein secretion dynamics


An RF transmitter (10) includes a linear predistorter (22) and a nonlinear predistorter (24) which together drive analog transmitter components (14). The linear and nonlinear predistorters (22, 24) are implemented using a collection of adaptive equalizers (30). A feedback signal (20) is developed by downconverting an RF communication signal (16) obtained from the analog components (14). The feedback signal (20) are used in driving tap coefficients (34) for the adaptive equalizers (30′, 30″) in the nonlinear predistorter (24). An intermodulation-product canceller (94) uses signal cancellation to cancel intermodulation products from the feedback signal (20) and generate an intermodulation-neutralized feedback signal (96). The intermodulation-neutralized feedback signal (96) is used along with a modulated convergence factor (43) in driving tap coefficients (34) for the adaptive equalizer (30) in the linear predistorter (22).

RF transmitters that attempt to provide linear amplification may suffer from a variety of signal distortions. In such applications, real-world RF amplifiers fail to provide perfectly linear amplification, causing spectral regrowth to occur. Since modern regulations place strict limitations on the amount of spectral regrowth that may be tolerated, any signal distortion resulting from nonlinear amplification poses a serious problem for RF transmitter designs. In addition, any linear distortion in the transmitted RF communication signal is undesirable because linear distortion must be overcome in a receiver, often by necessitating transmission at greater power levels than would otherwise be required. Linear distortions also complicate the spectral regrowth problem.
A variety of well known RF power amplifier and other analog component design techniques may be employed to ensure that nonlinear amplification and other forms of distortion are held to a minimum. But as such techniques get more exotic, the analog component costs increase, and often increase dramatically. Accordingly, predistortion may be a desirable alternative to the use of exotic and expensive analog components, such as highly linearized RF power amplifiers.
Digital predistortion has been applied to digital communication signals prior to signal processing in analog components to permit the use of less expensive power amplifiers and also to improve the performance of more expensive power amplifiers. Digital predistortion refers to digital processing applied to a communication signal while it is still in its digital form, prior to analog conversion. The digital processing attempts to distort the digital communications signal in precisely the right way so that after inaccuracies are applied by linear amplification and other analog processing, the resulting transmitted RF communications signal exhibits negligible residual distortion. To the extent that amplifier nonlinearity is corrected through digital predistortion, lower-power, less-expensive amplifiers may be used, the amplifiers may be operated at their more-efficient, lower-backoff operating ranges, and spectral regrowth is reduced. And, since the digital predistortion is performed through digital processing, it should be able to implement whatever distortion functions it is instructed to implement in an extremely precise manner and at reasonable cost.
The more effective predistortion techniques obtain knowledge of the way in which analog components distort the communications signal in order to craft the proper predistortion-transfer functions that will compensate for distortion introduced by the analog components. A predistortion technique that is disclosed in the above-listed Related Inventions section hereof uses a collection of adaptive equalizers to determine, implement, and continuously or repeatedly revise such predistortion-transfer functions. One adaptive equalizer filters a baseband communication signal, while other adaptive equalizers filter "basis functions" that are functionally related to the baseband communication signal raised to various powers. Each of the predistortion adaptive equalizers has tap coefficients that define how to predistort the baseband communication signal or basis functions. The tap coefficients are adjusted in response to a feedback signal which provides knowledge about the way in which the analog components are distorting the communication signal at each instant. As a result, feedback loops are formed and tap coefficients are continuously or repeatedly adjusted so that spectral regrowth and linear distortion are minimized.
This prior technique taught that tap coefficients are adjusted through the use of a type of Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm. For the linear adaptive equalizer that filters the baseband communication signal, the LMS algorithm generally identified correlation between the baseband communication signal and an error signal formed in response to the feedback signal. The correlation function was implemented by a long sequence of mathematical multiplications. The sequence of multiplications was integrated, and the integration results were used in forming tap coefficients. The integration operations caused tap coefficients to adjust until steady-state integrator values were reached where distortions in the in-band portion of the communication signal were minimized, and then to track any changes.
But the feedback signal also includes components other than a distorted version of the original baseband communication signal. To the extent that the feedback signal includes noise or other components that do not correlate with the baseband communication signal, the tap coefficients are not affected. But some of the other components are intermodulation products, albeit at low residual levels due to the operation of nonlinear predistortion. And, a portion of the intermodulation products may be slightly correlated to the baseband communication signal because this signal is the source of some of the intermodulation products as it is upconverted and passed through a nonlinear device, such as an imperfectly linear power amplifier. Correlation between the baseband communication signal and such intermodulation products cause tap coefficients to be less accurate then they could be, although any inaccuracy is usually at a very low level.
On some occasions, however, a regenerative feedback loop can potentially form. Generally, tap coefficients in the adaptive equalizer that serves as the linear predistorter may adapt in a direction that can reduce linear distortion, but in so adapting also worsen those correlated intermodulation products that are present at a low level in the feedback signal. When this happens, the adaptive equalizer may be insufficiently effective at reducing linear distortion because of the interference caused by correlated intermodulation products in the tap adjustment algorithm. And, in rare situations, adapting tap coefficients to address linear distortion might possibly worsen those correlated intermodulation products that are present at a low level in the feedback signal to a greater extent than the linear distortion is reduced. In this scenario, an unstable feedback loop would result, causing undesirable distortions to appear in the transmitted RF communication signal.

RF transmitter with predistortion and method therefor


System recognition is performed on devices connected to an identical system without recognizing a device of a different system as a device of the identical system in high-frequency communication. In a device network system, in a state in which a first device group is set in advance as a physically connectable system or in a state in which the first device group is recognized as a physically connectable system, in a case where the first device group or a second device detects occurrence of a state in which the second device outside the system is recognized as belonging to the system, the first device group or the second device causes the second device to leave the system. As a result, a network can be normally maintained even in high-frequency communication.

In an existing multi-air conditioner for a building, an indoor unit/outdoor unit connection line and an inter-system connection line are separately connected, and at the time of recognizing an indoor unit/outdoor unit system, the inter-system connection line is disconnected by a relay to create a state in which only indoor units and outdoor units of an identical system are present in a network, for the purpose of identifying the indoor units and the outdoor units of the identical system.

Network system that facilitates device recognition in a high-frequency communication environment


A laser sight mounting device fastened to the trigger guard of a gun to hold a laser sight. The mounting device includes a mount having a gap defined between an arched block and a L-shaped frame thereof for receiving the trigger guard of a gun, a connecting plate fastened between the arched block and the L-shaped frame to retain the mount to the trigger guard, tightening up screw rods threaded into respective screw holes on the L-shaped frame against the trigger guard and tightened by respective locknuts to fix the mount in position, and a laser holder having a channel fastened to the L-shaped frame by screws and a hollow split cylinder controlled by an adjusting screw for mounting a laser sight.

The present invention relates to a mounting device for detachably mounting a laser sight on a gun, optical instrument, etc.
A variety of laser sights are known and widely used to aid the eyes in lining up a gun, optical instrument, etc. on its objective. Various mounting devices have been disclosed for mounting a laser sight on a gun, optical instrument, etc. However, these laser sight mounting devices are commonly heavy, and complicated to install. If a laser sight is fastened to a gun by a conventional laser sight mounting device, the laser sight mounting device with the laser sight may be shaken to shift upon the discharge of the gun, and heat may be transmitted from the gun barrel to the laser sight, causing damage of the laser diode.


A nebulizer includes an arrangement for forming a mist from a liquid and an arrangement for delivering the mist to a patient. The delivery arrangement includes an air circulation passage having an air inlet and an outlet to the patient, between which the mist that is formed is taken up by a current of air, together with an outlet to the open air. The nebulizer also has an inlet check valve in the air inlet, an outlet check valve in the outlet to the open air and an arrangement for sensing the pressure in the conveyor means, together with an arrangement for delivering an indication or warning signal depending on the value of the signal supplied by the pressure sensing arrangement and for determining at least one indication or warning signal level threshold.

Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a nebulizer for administering to a patent a mist for example containing a drug for treatment of their respiratory passages in particular.
The nebulizer of the invention includes means for forming a mist from a liquid and means for delivering this mist to a patient.


An apparatus and method to encrypt data having hierarchical information are provided. The apparatus includes an N-th layer key generator, which generates an N-th layer key, an (N+1)-th layer key generator, which generates an (N+1)-th layer key by applying the N-th layer key to a predetermined function, an N-th layer data encryptor, which encrypts N-th layer data using the N-th layer key, and an (N+1)-th layer data encryptor, which encrypts (N+1)-th layer data using the (N+1)-th layer key.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method to encrypt data having hierarchical information.
2. Description of the Related Art
With wide spread of digital media data, protection of copyright becomes more important. If the copyright is not appropriately protected, content providers cannot provide adequate service, and consequently, digital media service business cannot be developed. Furthermore, protection of the copyright must be applied to even a small part of the data as well as the entire data. For example, it is necessary to protect a single frame (a still image) of video data. MACROVISION is usually used for the protection of analog data. A method of encrypting the data using codes is usually used for the protection of the digital data. Various encryption algorithms can be used for encryption of the digital data. The encryption algorithm may be a simple one based on a private key and an XOR operation or a complex one based on a single private key (symmetric) or a private or public key pair (asymmetric). At present, symmetric encryption algorithms are generally used for digital media data in terms of complexity, convenience, and security. In symmetric algorithms, a single key or a plurality of keys periodically changing is used to encrypt the entire media data.
Media services have been developed in various ways. For example, a video on demand (VOD) service allows a user to watch or download only a part (several key frames or a 30-second key clip) of a video instead of the entire video. In addition, international standards (for example, a moving picture experts group 7 (MPEG-7)) have been established in order to enable users to watch or download only a part of the video. The international standards include a video content description containing hierarchical structure information of the video. The most important purpose of such standardization is to allow the various media services to be based on standard meta-data specifications.
Hereinafter, problems in conventional technology will be described with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing structures of the encrypted data used in conventional methods of encrypting the media data. The conventional methods of encrypting the media data include a single key encryption 11 and a multi-key encryption 12. In the single key encryption 11, the entire media data or a subset of the media data is encrypted using a single key K. In the multi-key encryption 12, the entire media data or a subset of the media data is encrypted using a plurality of keys K1 and K2. In the multi-key encryption 12, usually, the keys K1 and K2 are periodically or nonperiodically changed. It is usual to put a flag in the media data in order to report a change of a key. Generally, the keys K1 and K2 are not highly related to the media data to be encrypted.
Generally, the media data is encrypted using a symmetric code. Because an asymmetric code requires a much more complex key generation algorithm and a bigger key size than the symmetric code, the asymmetric code is inappropriate for the encryption of the media data requiring fast and a large amount of processing. When a symmetric code is used, the same private key is used for both encryption and decryption.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional apparatus to encrypt the media data. The conventional apparatus to encrypt the media data includes a key generator 21, a key buffer 22, a data encryptor 23, a key encryptor 24, a storage block, and a transmitter 26.
The key generator 21 generates the keys used to encrypt the media data. The key buffer 22 temporarily stores and provides the keys to the data encryptor 23 or the key encryptor 24 when the keys are needed. The data encryptor 23 encrypts the data using the provided keys. The key encryptor 24 encrypts the keys. The storage block 25 stores the encrypted media data and the encrypted keys. The transmitter 26 transmits the encrypted media data and the encrypted keys stored in the storage block 25.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional apparatus for decrypting the media data. The conventional apparatus for decrypting the media data includes a receiver 31, a key decryptor 32, a key buffer, and a data decryptor 34.
The receiver 31 receives the encrypted data and the keys from the transmitter 26 shown in FIG. 2. The key decryptor 32 decrypts the encrypted keys. The key buffers 33 temporarily stores and provides the decrypted keys to the data decryptor 34 when the decrypted keys are needed. The data decryptor 34 decrypts the encrypted data using the keys.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when a symmetric code encryption is used, a server and a client need to share the key for the encryption and the decryption. In media service servers, the media data is encrypted using the single key or the plurality of keys. The key after being encrypted, another key is used for the media encryption. The encrypted media data and the encrypted key are transmitted to the client. The client receives the encrypted media data and the key. Thereafter, the encrypted key is decrypted, and then the encrypted media data is decrypted using the decrypted key.
If a satisfactory environment for digital data service is established, the user can initially order only several key frames of different media data and reproduce the key frames and then order only the media data corresponding to a key frame to the user's taste. For such a scenario, it is necessary to protect the data (i.e., the key frames and key clips). However, the conventional apparatuses shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 do not effectively support a situation in which a part of the data is transmitted and received. In other words, when only the single key is used to encrypt the entire data, the data can be easily hacked. In the meantime, when pa] the plurality of keys are used, a bandwidth or memory space for the key transmission is unnecessarily required.
For example, 1-hour video data can be expressed as a tree structure in which the key frame is defined as a leaf, the entire video data is defined as a root, a key clip is defined as an intermediate node, and a parent is defined as including a child. In the tree structure, the key clip and the key frame are elements representing semantically important parts of the entire video data. The tree structure is stated in the international standard specification such as the MPEG-7. More flexible media services can be provided based on the tree structure. For example, the user may want to watch or download only the key clip including essential key frames instead of the entire video data, or the user may order only several frames of the video data or request a preview composed of several key clips of different video data before deciding to watch or download the entire video data. In this scenario, all of the video data pieces (i.e., the key frames and the key clips) are necessary to be transmitted under protection. However, conventional encryption methods do not satisfactorily support the protection because the encryption methods do not consider the hierarchical information of the video data.
FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a conventional method of encrypting the video data. With development of various types of the media services (for example, VOD) based on the content of the media data and the user's taste, a media data encryption method that can support the various types of media services is required. Conventional encryption methods have the following two problems.
First, the conventional encryption methods are vulnerable to hacking when the single key is used for the encryption. In other words, when the single key is used for the encryption, the same encryption key is used for the key frame, the key clip, and the entire video data. Accordingly, once the encryption key for the key frame or the key clip is received by the user, the entire video data can be decrypted using the received encryption key. Consequently, the media data can be easily hacked.
Second, even if the plurality of keys are used for the encryption, the conventional encryption methods have a problem in that a wide bandwidth is required for key transmission when the encryption is performed without considering hierarchical information of the media data in media services. In other words, when the plurality of keys are used for the encryption, different encryption keys are used for the video data in different layers of a hierarchical structure in order to overcome the problem occurring in the method using the single key, so the wide bandwidth is required. For example, when the video data is structured in three layers, i.e., the key frame, the key clip, and the entire video data, assuming that the data portion of the key frame is referred to as A data, the data portion of the key clip, except the key frame, is referred to as B data, and the data portion of the entire video data except the key frame and the key clip is referred to as C data. Then, the A data can be encrypted using the key K1, the B data can be encrypted using the key K2, and the C data can be encrypted using a key K3. Accordingly, in order to decrypt the key frame, the key K1 is needed. In order to decrypt the key clip, the keys K1 and K2 are needed. In order to decrypt the entire video data, the keys K1, K2, and K3 are needed. In this case, when considering the hierarchical structure of the video data, unnecessary key transmission is performed.

Apparatus and method for hierarchical encryption


Apparatus and method for limiting current in a direct voltage network of a HVDC power distribution system. A direct voltage network is connected to an alternating voltage network through a VSC-converter. At least one parallel connection including a semiconductor switching element is connected in series with the direct voltage network. A surge diverter is connected in parallel with the semiconductor switching element. During a high current condition in the direct voltage network, the switching element is switched off interrupting the current flow which is then diverted through the surge diverter which reduces the current flowing in the direct voltage network. By inserting a plurality of parallel connections, and selectively turning off a number of the semiconductor switching elements, a number of different levels of over current conditions in the direct voltage network may be controlled.

The present invention relates to a plant for transmitting electric power comprising a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and at least one alternating voltage network connected thereto through a station. The station transmits electric power between the direct voltage network and the alternating voltage network, and comprises at least one VSC-converter to convert direct voltage into alternating voltage, and conversely, to convert alternating voltage into direct voltage.
Such a plant has recently been known through the thesis "PWM and Control of Two and Three Level High Power Voltage Source Converters" by Anders Lindberg, Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan, Stockholm, 1995. This publication describes such a plant for transmitting electric power through a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC). Before issuance of this thesis, plants for transmitting electric power through a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current have made use of line-commutated CSC (Current Source Converter) converters in power transmission stations. Since the development of IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor=bipolar transistor having an insulated gate) for high voltage applications, and the suitability of connecting them in series in valves of converters; and since they may easily be turned on and turned off simultaneously; VSC (Voltage Source Converter) converters for forced commutation are now a viable alternative. This type of transmission of electric power between a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current, and alternating voltage networks, offers several important advantages with respect to the use of line-commutated CSCs in HVDC applications. The consumption of active and reactive power may be controlled independently of each other, and there is no risk of commutation failures in the converter and thereby no risk of transmission of commutation failures between different HVDC links, which occur in a line-commutated CSC. Furthermore, there now exists the possibility of feeding a weak alternating voltage network, or a network without generation capability of its own (a dead alternating voltage network). Further advantages also exist.
However, in this new type of plant, having no transformers, there is a requirement to rapidly limit the current in the direct voltage network, and also to quickly interrupt the current, since the alternating voltage network is directly connected to the direct voltage network through the VSC-converter. This may mean that very high currents are suddenly directed into the direct voltage network when for example, a ground fault occurs. It is often not an acceptable solution to arrange mechanical breakers in the direct voltage network, since the breaker may not be tripped in time to avoid damaging high currents.

Method and apparatus for limiting current in a direct voltage network of a power transmission system


A laminated ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic substrate, an internal electrode, and a buffer layer. The ceramic substrate includes a protective layer and a functional layer. The protective layer is disposed on at least one side of the functional layer. The internal electrode is embedded in the functional layer. The buffer layer is embedded in the protective layer and has a different burning shrinkage from the ceramic substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminated ceramic electronic component.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices with laminated ceramic electronic components such as a laminated ceramic capacitor and a laminated ceramic substrate are becoming smaller in size with an attempt to achieve higher performance and greater functionality. In order to keep up with the technology trends, it is also required to improve characteristics and achieve downsizing of the laminated ceramic electronic components by further thinning, multi-layering, and greater density.
The laminated ceramic electronic components generally include a functional layer embedded with an internal electrode and protective layers disposed on both sides of the functional layer. Typically, since no internal electrode is embedded in the protective layer, the protective layer differs from the functional layer in burning shrinkage and thermal expansion coefficient. For instance, it is often the case that the protective layer of the laminated ceramic capacitor has a higher burning shrinkage and a lower thermal expansion coefficient than the functional layer.
The difference in burning shrinkage/thermal expansion coefficient between the functional layer and the protective layer produces a large stress along an interface between them during the process of manufacturing the laminate ceramic electronic components, which tends to cause separation, delamination and cracks. Particularly, there is a problem that cracks tend to be caused by heat treatment (or annealing) or burning with stress remaining therein.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-309039 discloses a technology of preventing delamination and cracks by adjusting the binder content of the protective layer and the difference in burning shrinkage between the functional layer and the protective layer.
However, the technology disclosed in JP 2003-309039 has a problem of complicating the manufacturing process because of the necessity of a plurality of sheets with different binder contents.
In addition, since the stress and physical strain along the interface between the functional layer and the protective layer increase with thinning and multi-layering, the above-mentioned problems are becoming more prominent due to thinning, multi-layering, and greater density of recent laminated ceramic electronic components.


The emotion is to be added to the synthesized speech as the prosodic feature of the language is maintained. In a speech synthesis device 200, a language processor 201 generates a string of pronunciation marks from the text, and a prosodic data generating unit 202 creates prosodic data, expressing the time duration, pitch, sound volume or the like parameters of phonemes, based on the string of pronunciation marks. A constraint information generating unit 203 is fed with the prosodic data and with the string of pronunciation marks to generate the constraint information which limits the changes in the parameters to add the so generated constraint information to the prosodic data. A emotion filter 204, fed with the prosodic data, to which has been added the constraint information, changes the parameters of the prosodic data, within the constraint, responsive to the feeling state information, imparted to it. A waveform generating unit 205 synthesizes the speech waveform based on the prosodic data the parameters of which have been changed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for speech synthesis, program, recording medium for receiving information on the emotion to synthesize the speech, method and apparatus for generating constraint information, and robot apparatus outputting the speech.
2. Description of Related Art
A mechanical apparatus for performing movements simulating the movement of the human being using electrical or magnetic operation is termed a "robot". The robots started to be used widely in this country towards the end of the sixtieth. Most of the robots used were industrial robots, such as manipulators or transporting robots, aimed at automation or unmanned operations in plants.
Recently, developments in practically useful robots, supporting the human life as a partner for the human being, that is supporting human activities in variable aspects of our everyday life, are proceeding. In distinction from the industrial robots, these useful robots have the ability of learning the method for adaptation to the human being with different personality or to variable environments under variable aspects of the human living environment. For example, a pet type robot, simulating the bodily mechanism of animals walking on four feet, such as dogs or cats, or a 'humanoid' robot, designed after the bodily mechanism or movements of the human being walking on two feet, are already put to practical use.
These robots can perform various operations, aimed principally at entertainments, as compared to industrial robots, and hence are sometimes termed entertainment robots. Some of these robot apparatus autonomously operate responsive to the information from outside or to their internal states.
The artificial intelligence (AI), used in these autonomously operating robots, represents artificial realization of intellectual functions, such as inference or judgment. Attempts are also being made to artificially realize the functions, such as emotion or instincts. As an illustration of the acoustic means, among the means of expression of the artificial intelligence to outside, including the visual means, is the use of speech.
For example, in the robot apparatus simulating the human being, such as dogs or cats, the function of appealing the own emotion to the human user using the speech, is effective. The reason is that, even if the user is unable to understand what is said by actual dogs or cats, he or she is able to empirically understand the condition of the dog or cat, and that one of the elements in judgment is the pet's speech. In the case of the human being, the emotion of the person who uttered the speech is judged on the basis of the meaning or contents of the word or the speech uttered.
Among the robot apparatus, now on market, there is known such a one which expresses the auditory emotion by the electronic sound. Specifically, short sound with a high pitch represents happiness, while the slow low sound represents sadness. These electronic sounds are pre-composed and assorted to different emotion classes so as to be used for reproduction based on the subjective turn of mind of the human being. The emotion class is the class of emotion classified under happiness, anger etc. In the customary auditory emotion representation, employing the electronic sound, such points as                (i) monotony;        (ii) repetition of the same expression and        (iii) indefiniteness as to whether or not the power of expression is proper are pointed out as being the principal difference from the emotion expression by the pets, such as dogs or cats, such that further improvement has been desired.
In the specification and drawings of the JP Patent Application 2000-372091, the present Assignee proposed a technique which enables an autonomous robot apparatus to make the auditory emotion expression more proximate to that of the living creatures. In this technique, there is first prepared a table showing certain parameters, such as pitch, time duration and sound volume (intensity) of at least part of phonemes contained in the sentence or the sound array to be synthesized, in association with the emotion, such as happiness or anger. This table is switched, depending on the emotion of the robot, as verified, to execute speech synthesis to produce utterances representing the emotion. By the robot uttering the so generated nonsensical utterances, tuned to emotion representation, the human being is able to be informed of the emotion entertained by the robot, even though the contents of the utterances uttered by the robot are not quite clear.
However, the technique disclosed in the specification and drawings of the JP Patent Application 2000-372091 is premised on the robot making nonsensical utterances. Therefore, various problems are presented if the above technique is applied to a robot apparatus simulating the human being and which has the function of outputting the meaningful synthesized speech of a specific language.
That is, if the emotion is added to the nonsensical utterances, there is no particular constraint, imposed from a specified language to another, as to which portion of the output sound a change is to be made. Thus, the portion of the output sound can be identified on the basis of the probability or the position in the sentence. However, if the same technique is applied to the emotion-synthesis of the meaningful sentence, it is not clear which portion of the sentence to be synthesized is to be modified or how the portion not allowed to be changed is to be determined. As a result, the prosody, inherently essential in imparting the language information, is changed, so that the meaning can hardly be transmitted, or the meaning different from the original meaning is imparted to the listener.
The case of using an approach of changing the pitch is taken as an example for explanation. The Japanese is a language which expresses the accent based on the pitch of speech. In Japanese words, the accent position is determined, such that the accent position as expected by a Japanese native speaker from a given sentence is determined approximately. Therefore, if the pitch of a phoneme is changed using the approach of expressing the emotion by changing the pitch, the risk is high that the resulting synthesized speech imparts an extraneous feeling to the Japanese native speaker.
There is also a possibility that not only an extraneous emotion is transmitted but also the meaning is not transmitted. In the case of a word 'hashi', meaning 'chopstick,' 'bridge' or 'end', the hearer discriminates the 'chopstick,' 'bridge' or 'end' based on whether the sound of 'ha' is higher or lower than the sound 'shi'. Therefore, if, when the emotion is to be expressed based on the relative pitch, the relative pitch of the speech portion essential in the meaning discrimination is changed in the language of the speech being synthesized, the hearer is unable to understand the meaning correctly.
The same holds for the case of using an approach towards changing the time duration. For example, if, in synthesizing the word 'Oka-san' meaning Mr.Oka, the duration of the phoneme 'a' of a sound 'ka' is changed to be longer than the duration of the other phonemes, the hearer may take the output synthesized speech as 'Okaasan' (meaning my mother).
The Japanese is not a language discriminating the meaning based on the relative intensity of the sound and hence changes in the sound intensity scarcely lead to the ambiguous meaning. In a language in which the relative intensity of the sound leads to different meanings, as in English, the relative sound intensity is used to differentiate words of the same spell but of different meanings, and hence there may arise the situation that the meaning is not transmitted correctly. For example, in the case of a word 'present', the stress in the first syllable gives a noun meaning a 'gift', whereas the stress in the second syllable gives a verb meaning 'offer' or 'present oneself'.
If the speech is to be synthesized for a meaningful sentence, seasoned with emotion, there is a risk that, except if control is made so that the prosodic characteristics of the language in question, such as accent positions, duration or loudness, are maintained, the hearer is unable to understand the meaning of the synthesized speech correctly.

Method and apparatus for speech synthesis, program, recording medium, method and apparatus for generating constraint information and robot apparatus


A detecting device includes a sensor support body having a pair of arms, and an optical sensor having a combination of a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit disposed on one and the other of the arms, respectively. A control operation section controls a driving section and, with the arms inserted in a cassette, the sensor support body is moved, thereby performing a scanning operation for scanning the substrate by the optical sensor. The scanning operation is set such that a light beam is related to the substrate while vertically moving at a plurality of scanning positions. The control operation section finds out the presence of absence of the substrate and the position of the front end of the substrate within the cassette on the basis of data obtained from the optical sensor during scanning.

In a semiconductor manufacturing process for a semiconductor device, for example, multiple substrates to be processed (e.g., semiconductor wafer) are accommodated in a cassette while having a gap therebetween in a vertical direction, and are unloaded from the cassette by a transfer robot one by one and transferred to a processing chamber. Meanwhile, prior to this, a detection may be made as to whether or not a substrate is present in the cassette for each support level. As an example of a device for performing such a detection (generally, referred to as a mapping device), there is a conventional substrate detecting device using a transmission type optical sensor (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2000-36528).
FIGS. 9 and 10 are of a plane view and a side view schematically showing the conventional substrate detecting device (mapping device) 20 disclosed in the aforementioned Laid-Open Application No. '528, respectively. The substrate detecting device 20 includes a sensor support body 21 mounted on a substrate transfer robot 30. The sensor support body 21 has a pair of arms 21A and 21B placed spaced apart but extending facing each other in a horizontal plane. Two sets of optical sensors 22 and 23 are disposed between the pair of arms 21A and 21B of the sensor support body 21. The respective optical sensors 22 and 23 are formed of combinations of the light emitting units 22A and 23A and the light receiving units 22B and 23B. The light emitting units 22A and 23A are placed in one end of arm 21A while the receiving units 22B and 23B are placed in an analogous location of arm 21B. One set of the optical sensor 22 is disposed at front ends of the arms 21A and 21B, and the other set of the optical sensor 23 is disposed at inner sides thereof.
In the respective optical sensors 22 and 23, light beams are horizontally irradiated from the light emitting units 22A and 23A to the light receiving units 22B and 23B, and based on transmitted light receiving signals of the light receiving units 22B and 23B, it is determined whether or not there exists a light blocking object (in this case, substrate) in the paths of the light beams. The light beams of the optical sensors 22 and 23 are irradiated in parallel while having a predetermined interval therebetween in the entering direction of the arms 21A and 21B into the cassette C, i.e., forward/backward direction of the cassette C. The front side optical sensor 22 determines whether or not there exists a substrate W, and the alternate side optical sensor 23 detects whether or not the substrate W is protruding from the cassette C by a predetermined distance or more.
For positioning, by inserting the tip ends of the pair of arms 21A and 21B of the sensor support body 21 from a substrate entrance of the front side thereof into the cassette C, a positioning mechanism 24 formed of a linearly moving actuator is installed. A driving mechanism for scanning is installed to scan the light beam along a vertical direction by vertically moving the sensor support body 21 while the pair of arms 21A and 21B are placed in the cassette C. A control operation section is installed to determine the presence or absence of the substrate W at each support level of the cassette C, and to determine a protrusion level thereof by a predetermined distance or more, based on the light receiving signals of the optical sensors 22 and 23 obtained at each scanning position. Since the substrate detecting device 20 is mounted on the transfer robot 30, the driving mechanism for scanning which is capable of vertically moving the sensor support body 21 is also used as an elevation driving section for the transfer robot 30.
In order to carry out substrate detection in the cassette C by the substrate detecting device 20, the sensor support body 21 is moved toward the cassette C by the positioning mechanism 24. Then, the tip ends of the pair of arms 21A and 21B of the sensor support body 21 are placed into the cassette C, so that they are positioned at a reference position ready for substrate detection. Subsequently, by operating the elevation driving section at that stage, the sensor support body 21 is lowered and moved to a lowest support level of the cassette C. Thereafter, the sensor support body 21 is elevated from the lowest support level to a highest support level of the cassette C at a constant speed while operating the optical sensors 22 and 23.
Based on the data of the scanning positions and of the signals of the optical sensors 22 and 23, it can be determined at each support level whether or not there exists a substrate W and the existing substrate W is protruded. From the data on the presence or absence of the substrate W, the controller of the substrate transfer device places a pick (a substrate supporting unit) 25 of a transfer arm end of the transfer robot 30 in the cassette C to unload one by one therefrom the substrates W. More precisely, the pick 25 is inserted only into such locations where substrates W are not protruded and unloads the substrates W from any of such locations.
As mentioned above, the transfer robot for performing the unloading of substrates places a substrate on the pick from the cassette, and then, transfers the substrate to the next position. If the pick is of a type that only rests a substrate on its top face, the substrate may be dropped when the speed of the transfer robot's arm is increased. Thus, a pick with an alternative design which has multiple tapered protrusions disposed on the top surface of the pick main body can be employed for placing thereon the edge of the substrate (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 2002-26108 (FIGS. 5 and 6 thereof)).
FIGS. 11A through 11C show the picks of the transfer arm disclosed in the aforementioned Laid-Open Application No. '108; FIGS. 11A and 11B are a plane view and a side view thereof, respectively, and FIG. 11C is a side view showing an instance where the substrate is incorrectly mounted. As shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, multiple protrusions 41s, each having a tapered surface 41a, on which the outer peripheral edge of the substrate W sits, are protrudingly disposed on the top surface of the pick main body 40 along the outer periphery of the substrate W. In case of using such a pick, the edge placement of the substrate W is restricted by each protrusion 41, so that the substrate W does not slip and fall off from the pick even though the speed of the arm in the transfer robot is increased. Further, by using such a pick, it is possible to correct the misalignment of the substrate W by the tapered protrusions 41. Namely, even though the substrate W is misaligned to a degree, such misalignment of the substrate W can be corrected as the substrate W is placed on the tapered surface 41a of the tapered protrusion 41.
However, when such a pick is used, if the position of the substrate W is misaligned so that its edge sits off the tapered surface 41a, as shown in FIG. 11C, it is possible that the substrate W be placed on top of the protrusion 41.
As for the position of the substrate W in the cassette C, it generally depends on the cassette C type or substrate W setting errors. Therefore, it is difficult to pick up the substrate while matching the center of the substrate with that of the pick all the time. Accordingly, for correcting a misalignment of the substrate, the transfer robot receives the substrate from the cassette, and transfers it to a position correction device called an orienter. After correction the misalignment by the orienter, the transfer robot receives the substrate back and loads it into the processing apparatus.
To increase the transferring speed, it is supposed that a pick capable of preventing a drop is employed, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B. In this case, if the degree of misalignment between the substrate and the pick falls outside a tolerance range, the condition as shown in FIG. 11C results. In that condition shown in FIG. 11C, if the substrate is transferred at a high speed, the substrate falls off from the pick.
Using the conventional substrate detecting device, while it is capable of determining the presence and the protrusion degree within a predetermined range or more of a substrate at each support level, it is unable to detect an exact position of the substrate in forward/backward direction thereof. For example, with respect to the substrate detecting device described in FIG. 9, it detects whether or not there exists a substrate W by using the front side (anterior side) optical sensor 22, and using the rear optical sensor 23, it detects whether or not the substrate W is protruding by a predetermined range or more. In this case, it is impossible to determine the position of the substrate with high accuracy.

Semiconductor processing-purpose substrate detecting method and device, and substrate transfer system


A storage system coupled to host computers, includes: a plurality of disk drives; a plurality of processors, each controlling data reception and data transmission between the host computers and the disk drives; a shared memory for storing control information; and a plurality of shared memory control units provided for a plurality of the processors, respectively for controlling access to the shared memory from the processors. The processor transmits a plurality of first requests to the shared memory control unit that is provided for the processor and transmits a second request. Each first request initiates the access to the shared memory. The shared memory control unit receiving the first requests accesses the shared memory a plurality of times substantially at the same time and returns an access result derived by the access to the shared memory to the processor in response to the second requests.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage system comprising a shared memory for providing access from a plurality of processing units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Large-scale storage systems are known that have a lot of nodes for coupling to upper-level apparatuses such as host computers to provide accessibility to data in any disk drive of the storage system from the host computer. In a storage system including a plurality of processors for increased performance, control information is shared among a plurality of the processors. To share the control information, a memory for storing the control information is shared or accessed by all processors in principle. Japanese laid-open patent application No. 11-232171, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a technology in which an address that has the possibility of being next accessed is predicted. Japanese laid-open patent application No. 2000-347937, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a storin control apparatus in which a processor accesses a shared memory. Japanese laid-open patent application No. 2001-306265, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a disk array control apparatus in which operand data is stored in a register in an external access control unit for controlling external access by the processor. Although each of these systems provides access to the shared memory by all of processors, a further speed-up will be difficult due to restriction such as a distance between the processor and the shared memory. Further, Japanese patent application No. 2005-083036, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a storage system.

Storage system including shared memory and plural disk drives, processors, and shared memory control units


An aspect provides a method, including: accessing, using a processor, a user profile based on user context information, wherein the user context information utilizes user device events; preparing, using the processor, a list of items based on the user profile related to a particular time period organized according to importance based on the user profile; and presenting, using the processor, the list of items related to the particular time period. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Information handling devices ("devices") come in a variety of forms, for example laptop computing devices, tablet computing devices, smart phones, and the like. Such devices are often mobile and carried by a user or otherwise routinely accessed by the user such that the user comes to rely on certain applications, e.g., calendar applications, GPS navigation applications, purchasing or Internet applications, etc. throughout their daily routine.
Certain devices provide applications that attempt to assist the user in organizing their activities. Among these applications are calendar applications that allow a user to make calendar entries, e.g., appointments, and set corresponding reminders for the calendar entries, e.g., reminder notification one hour prior a meeting. Some calendar applications provide a list that is provided, e.g., via email, to the user at the beginning of the day. The list may for example include all calendar appointments for an upcoming period of time, e.g., the day. Thus, the user is apprised of all calendar entries in the morning email such that the user can organize the day's activities and may be periodically reminded of upcoming events, e.g., meeting at a particular time, via an individual reminder linked to that meeting in the calendar application.

Determining trends for a user using contextual data


An evaluation LSI includes a noise generation circuit generating a controlled amount of noise controlled from outside of the LSI, and a delay measurement circuit measuring a signal delay of a delay circuit influenced by the noise. The relationship between the amount of noise and the signal delay is determined. A device-under-test (DUT) LSI includes a functional circuit and a delay circuit having a signal delay influenced by the operation of the functional test. By evaluating the signal delay of the delay circuit in the DUT LSI, the amount of noise therein is estimated based on the determined relationship.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device test method using an evaluation LSI and, more specifically, to a semiconductor device test method of measuring the amount of noise generated in a semiconductor device.
The present invention also relates to technique for testing whether or not the oscillation period of clock signal is within a predetermined range.
2. Description of the Related Art
LSIs have been developing in recent years, to attain a higher-speed operation and a higher integration. This development has involved the problem of erroneous operation due to the internal noise of LSIs. Hence, evaluation of influence of internal noise of LSIs has become more significant. Internal noise of LSIs is conventionally evaluated as follows. Power source pins and ground pins, for example, are formed as monitoring package pins connected to internal pads in the LSI. A probe is used for the monitoring pins, and monitoring is carried out by use of an oscilloscope or the like receiving test result signals from the probe. That is, internal noise of the LSI is evaluated by directly measuring the noise inside the LSI. Also in case of testing oscillation condition of a clock generation circuit, a monitoring pin is provided, and a clock signal is monitored by an oscilloscope or the like.
A technique concerning a semiconductor test device is described in Patent Publication JP-A-2000-97996. FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the clock-period monitoring circuit described in this publication. The clock-period monitoring circuit is used to detect an input clock signal having an oscillation period shorter than a reference period. The delay time of a fixed-delay circuit 52 is set equal to a width of a clock pulse during which the clock signal assumes a H-level. The delay time of a variable-delay circuit 54 is set equal to a value expressed by the reference period minus double the delay time of the fixed-delay circuit. Assume, for example, the case of detecting that pulse width of the clock signal is 4 ns (nanosecond) and the oscillation period of the clock signal has decreased to 24 ns or lower. In this case, the delay time of the fixed-delay circuit 52 is set at 4 ns, and the delay time of the variable-delay circuit 54 is set at (24 ns−4 ns×2)=16 ns.
A flip-flop 51 shifts the output signal 51A thereof to a H-level in synchrony with a pulse of the clock signal. The fixed-delay circuit 52 delays the output signal 51A of the flip-flop 51, and outputs a signal 53A through a gate circuit 53. An AND gate 56 outputs a logical product of the clock signal and the output signal 53A of the fixed-delay circuit 52. The variable-delay circuit 54 further delays the signal 53A output form the fixed-delay circuit 52, and outputs a signal 54A. A clock terminal of the flip-flop 51 is fed with the output signal 54A of the variable-delay circuit 54. When the signal 54A shifts to a H-level, a signal of L-level is then output. The output signal 51A which has thus shifted to a L-level is delayed by the fixed-delay circuit 52, and is further input to one of input terminals of the AND gate 56 through the gate circuit 53.
Consideration will now be taken in the case that two consecutive pulses of the clock signal are input thereto. Upon input of the first pulse, the output signal 51A of the flip-flop 51 shifts to a H-level. This output signal 51A is delayed during a H-level period of the clock signal in the fixed-delay circuit 52. Therefore, both of inputs to the AND gate 56 cannot assume a H-level at a time. The flip-flop 51 outputs the output signal 51A at a L-level after the delay time of the fixed-delay circuit 52 plus the delay time of the variable-delay circuit 54, i.e., the reference period minus the delay time of the fixed-delay circuit 52 is elapsed since the time instant at which the first pulse of the clock signal is input. This output signal 51A is delayed by the fixed-delay circuit 52, and input to one of the input terminals of the AND gate 56. By this operation, the signal 53A input to the one of the input terminals of the AND gate 56 shifts to a L-level after a time period corresponding to the reference period is elapsed since the time instant at which the first pulse of the clock signal is input.
If the period of the clock signal is longer than the reference period, the output signal 53A of the fixed-delay circuit 52 assumes a L-level when the second pulse of the clock signal is input. Thus, both inputs to the AND gate 56 cannot assume a H-level at a time. On the other hand, if the period of the clock signal is shorter than the reference period, the second pulse of the clock signal is input before the signal 53A shifts to a L-level. Therefore, the AND gate 56 outputs a signal at a H-level. According to this operation, the clock-period monitoring circuit 50 outputs a defective-clock detection signal if the period of the clock signal exceeds the period corresponding to the maximum operation frequency in a specific mode of test. The publication JP-A-2000-97996 recites that execution of tests can be prevented by using the clock-period monitoring circuit under the condition that the clock signal input to the semiconductor device being tested (DUT: Device Under Test) exceeds the predetermined value.
In the conventional test method, internal lines are connected to external terminals, and probes are used for the external terminals to measure the noise inside the semiconductor device. However, as LSIs have achieved a higher speed, accurate measurement of noise inside the semiconductor device have become difficult due to various factors such as LSI package noise, accuracy of measurement devices, etc. Also in case of inspecting oscillation condition of a clock generation circuit by providing a monitoring pin, the higher speed causes difficulties in accurate measurement.
There may be considered another method of inputting a reference clock or sampling clock to a semiconductor device, without providing the monitoring pin during testing the clock signal. In this case, however, a problem arises in that the LSI has a complicated structure because circuits for generating those clocks and external connection pins for inputting the clocks to the semiconductor device must be further provided.
In the technique of JP-A-2000-97996, the clock signal input to the semiconductor device is monitored by the clock-period monitoring circuit 50. If the period of the clock signal is shorter than the predetermined period, the failure of the clock signal is detected. In this publication, however, the clock-period monitoring circuit 50 is used to prevent erroneous operation of a semiconductor test device, i.e., the circuit 50 merely detects a state that the period of the clock signal is shorter than the predetermined period. If the period of the clock signal is longer, the failure of the clock signal cannot be detected.

Semiconductor device test method using an evaluation LSI


An ink-jet printing head comprises at least one piezoelectric element block formed with a bore for storing ink and to which an electric voltage is supplied, and an ink supply member for supplying the ink to the bore of the piezoelectric element block. A droplet of ink is ejected from the bore with the aid of mechanical deformation of the piezoelectric element block produced when an electric voltage is supplied to the piezoelectric element block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet printing head and, more particularly, to a printing head of an ink-jet printing device using a piezoelectric element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a conventional ink-jet printing device is provided with a printing head in which an piezoelectric element is used as a drive source, and an ink reservoir for storing ink. The printing head of the printing device comprises an ink chamber for temporarily storing the ink from the ink reservoir, a pressure chamber, and a piezoelectric element. The ink chamber supplies the ink to the pressure chamber, and a droplet of the ink is ejected from the nozzle of the pressure chamber with a pressure change. This pressure change is produced by actuation of the piezoelectric element on the pressure chamber. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 4-163152 published on 1992 discloses a stacked piezoelectric ceramic in which a plurality of piezoelectric ceramic plates is stacked through plane electrodes. A stacked piezoelectric ceramic such as that in Publication No. HEI 4-163152 has been recently used as a piezoelectric element.
In FIG. 1A showing prior art, a piezoelectric element 101 is fixed on a printing head 100 which has a pressure chamber 102. Ink 103 is supplied from an ink chamber (not shown) to the pressure chamber 102. When an electric voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 101, the pressure chamber 102 is constricted by mechanical deformation of the piezoelectric element as shown in FIG. 1B and, consequently, the pressure in the pressure chamber 102 is increased, so that a droplet of ink is forcibly ejected. When actuation of the piezoelectric element 101 is stopped, the piezoelectric element 101 and the pressure chamber 102 are deformed in the opposite direction by inertia, as shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D, and, finally, they return to their original status, as shown in FIG. 1E. The piezoelectric element may be disposed surrounding a jet nozzle duct, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,354.
The conventional printing head, however, has the drawback that the manufacturing cost is high because the pressure chamber or the jet nozzle and piezoelectric element must be manufactured separately and a plurality of piezoelectric elements must be installed individually at predetermined locations on a plurality of pressure chambers.

Ink-jet printing head having pieozoelectric blocks with electrodes on ends perpendicular to axial direction of bores


A clock movement includes a middle body frame defining a first and a second partitions, an upper cover secured, at the first partition, to the middle body frame, and a base cover secured, at the second partition, to the middle body frame. Components for the movement are disposed in the first and second partitions enclosed, respectively. This converts a planar type arrangement of the components into a two-floor type arrangement, with the result of a decrease in diameter of the movement constructed.

The present invention relates to clocks, and in particular to a clock movement which is of such a reduced dimension that it can be employed in locations where a limited dimension is permitted.
A clock movement is one which is to be enclosed in a case to complete a clock, while a watch movement is one which is to be enclosed in a case to form a complete watch. As is known, clock movements are used in timepieces of large dimensions and watch movements are used in watches of comparatively smaller dimensions. Namely, an ordinary clock movement has a dimension of 56 mm.times.56 mm.times.16 mm for a rectangular one and a dimension of 50 mm.times.8 mm for a circular one. Moreover, an ordinary watch movement has a dimension of 30 mm.times.4 mm or below. FIGS. 1 through 9 schematically show a general structure of the above-mentioned movement and a description thereof can be given as follows.
FIGS. 1-3 show a circular alarm clock movement seen from different views, respectively. The movement generally comprises a body 90 of a given diameter, a battery 91, an alarm setting rotor 92, an hour-setting rotor 93, a motor 94, a wheel or gear train 95, and a buzzer 96. FIGS. 4 and 5 show how the movement shown in FIGS. 1-3 is assembled to different kinds of case, respectively. FIG. 4 shows that the movement is assembled to a hole 901 of a rectangular case 900 and FIG. 5 shows that the movement is assembled to a hole 921 of a spherical case 920. FIGS. 6-7 are cross-sections showing interrelationship between the body 90, the alarm setting rotor 92, the hour-setting rotor 93 and the wheel train 95. In particular, FIG. 6 shows how a rotor 97 driven by the motor 94 is arranged within the body 90 to drive, via associated gear or gears, a second wheel 952, a minute wheel 954 and an hour wheel 956. FIG. 6 also shows how the hour-setting rotor 93 is arranged to mesh with the hour wheel 956 and the minute wheel 954. FIG. 7 shows how the alarm setting rotor 92 is arranged within the body 90 to cooperate with an upper wheel 98 which is in mesh with an alarm wheel 958 shown in FIG. 6. The upper wheel 98 in turn engages with a lower wheel 99 which meshes with the hour wheel 956 and can be moved upward and downward to control activation of the buzzer 91. The upward and downward movement of the lower wheel 99 with respect to the upper wheel 98 can be achieved by providing protrusions 982 and recesses 992 thereon, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. It is noted that, as is known in this art, within the body 90 of the movement there is a circuit substrate containing associated electric driving circuits and the like to complete the above-mentioned movement, although it is not specifically described herein.
In FIGS. 6 and 7, if the alarm wheel 958, the upper and lower wheels 98 and 99, the alarm-setting rotor 92, the buzzer 91 and related contact blades are removed, the alarm clock movement simply becomes a clock movement without an alarm function.
In practice, where it is desired that a movement be put into a case having a hole of, for example, 35 mm or below in diameter, only watch movements having a dimension of 30 mm.times.4 mm or below can be used. Since watch movements are more expensive to manufacture than clock movements, it will be a saving of cost if clock movements can be used in this case. This is possible where an increase in thickness of the movement due to a decrease in diameter of the movement is not important in many applied cases.
Applicant has found that the gear train itself does not occupy a large percentage of a total diameter of the movement. It has further been observed that the motor, the battery and the buzzer together consume a large space, and these components, arranged side-by-side with the gear train, contribute to the dimension an ordinary movement now exhibits.

3F, No. 13, Alley 3, Lane 287, Sungsham Rd.


This heat-resistant sintered material has, as an overall composition, a composition including, in terms of % by mass, Cr: 15% to 30%, Ni: 8% to 30%, Si: 2.0% to 6.0%, and C: 0.5% to 2.5% with a remainder being Fe and inevitable impurities, wherein the heat-resistant sintered material has a structure in which hard phases are dispersed in a matrix, the matrix includes Fe, Cr, Ni, and Si, the hard phase includes Fe, Cr, and C, and a porosity is 2.0% or less.

A turbocharger is known which is configured to increase the thermal efficiency of an internal combustion engine by rotating a turbine at a high speed using the energy of exhaust gas in the internal combustion engine, driving a centrifugal compressor using the rotational force of the turbine, and sending compressed air into the engine.
In the turbocharger attached to the internal combustion engine, a nozzle mechanism or a valve mechanism is provided which is configured to divide some of the exhaust gas and to adjust the amount of the exhaust gas flowing into the turbine.
A mechanism component (mechanical part) configured to be installed in the turbocharger such as a bearing, a bush, or the like is always exposed to high-temperature corrosive exhaust gas that is exhausted from the engine. Furthermore, this mechanism component is a movable component and desirably excellent in terms of sliding characteristics as well.
As a sliding component that is exposed to this type of high-temperature corrosive exhaust gas, in the related art, a heat-resistant component consisting of a product made from a molten material or a sintered material of high-Cr cast steel has been used.
As an example of the sliding component that is known in the related art, a sintered alloy is known which has the overall composition including, in terms of % by mass, Cr: 11.75% to 39.98%, Ni: 5.58% to 24.98%, Si: 0.16% to 2.54%, P: 0.1% to 1.5%, and C: 0.58% to 3.62% with a remainder being Fe and inevitable impurities (refers to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2013-057094). This sintered alloy is known to have a metallographic structure in which phases A and phases B are distributed in a macular shape, metal carbides having an average particle diameter of 10 to 50 μm are precipitated in the phase A, metal carbides having an average particle diameter of 10 μm or less are precipitated in the phase B, and an average particle diameter DA of the metal carbides precipitated in the phase A and an average particle diameter DB of the metal carbides precipitated in the phase B adequately achieve DA>DB (refers to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2013-057094).
In addition, a heat-resistant sintered material having a composition containing, in terms of % by mass, Cr: 25% to 50%, Ni: 2% to 25%, and P: 0.2% to 1.2% with a remainder being Fe and inevitable impurities and a structure including a Fe—Cr matrix and hard phases consisting of Cr—Fe alloy grains precipitated in the interior of the Fe—Cr matrix is known (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2016-186109). In this heat-resistant sintered material, it is known that the amount of Cr in the Fe—Cr matrix is 24% to 41% in terms of % by mass, the amount of Cr in the hard phase is 30% to 61% in terms of % by mass, and the effective porosity is 2% or less (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2016-186109).
Furthermore, a sintered member is known in which at least one of a barium compound, a strontium compound, mica, an aluminum silicon complex oxide (composite oxide), and alumina is dispersed as a solid lubricant in either one of an austenitic stainless steel alloy, a martensitic stainless steel alloy, or a ferritic stainless steel alloy which contains 10% to 35% by mass of Cr, and the amount of the solid lubricant is 3% to 50% by volume (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2013-163854).
Examples of characteristics desired for this type of heat-resistant member in the related art including the sintered materials described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2013-057094, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2016-186109 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2013-163854 include wear resistance (self-wear property), salt damage resistance, and the like, and development of a product made from a molten material or sintered material of high-Cr cast steel capable of adequately achieving these requirements is underway.
For example, as a product made from a molten material of ferrite-based high-Cr cast steel, an alloy having a composition represented by Fe-34Cr-2Mo-2Si-1.2C is known, and, as a sintered material of ferrite-based high-Cr cast steel, a sintered alloy having a composition represented by Fe-34Cr-2Mo-2Si-2C is known.
In the related art, among turbo components, a bush that is likely to be exposed to the outside is demanded to have salt damage resistance as well as oxidation resistance and wear resistance.
In contrast, with regard to a dispersion material of Cr carbide of the related art, C and Cr react with each other; and thereby, the Cr carbide is precipitated. Therefore, in the case where a large amount of hard phases are precipitated, the amount of Cr in the matrix decreases, and salt damage resistance and oxidation resistance degrade. In the case where the amount of the hard phases decreases, a decrease in the amount of Cr in the matrix can be prevented, but wear resistance degrades.
Ceramic particles are hard particles having excellent salt damage resistance and oxidation resistance, but have a weak bonding force with the matrix, and there may be a case where the ceramic particle peels off and drops while sliding. Therefore, a heat-resistant sintered material including the ceramic particles is not excellent in terms of wear resistance under a high load. In addition, high-chromium powder that is used for a dispersion material of a high-chromium alloy includes a large amount of chromium, and thus it is difficult to decrease the amount of oxygen during the production of the powder, and a large amount of oxygen is included. Therefore, in order to obtain a dense sintered material, it is necessary to increase the sintering temperature. As a result, the structure becomes coarse, and thus the strength decreases, and wear resistance is unsatisfactory. In addition, there is a concern that a σ phase is generated, and in the case where the σ phase is generated, there is a problem in that the high-chromium powder becomes highly brittle and strength, wear resistance, salt damage resistance, and workability deteriorate.
As described above, in the related art, a material capable of adequately achieving both wear resistance and salt damage resistance while having oxidation resistance is not provided.

Heat-resistant sintered material having excellent high-temperature wear resistance and salt damage resistance and method for producing same


An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising an RF ID tag capable of reporting receiver signal strength indication, wherein the receiver signal strength may be indicated by an a RSSI byte included with an electronic product code (EPC) data packet. The EPC data packet may be in the standard SGTIN-64 EPC data format. Further, the RF ID tag capable of reporting signal strength may enable power control or beam steering.

Although not limited in this respect, radio Frequency Identification (RFID) may refer to technologies that may use radio waves to identify objects. RFID systems may provide non-contact, non-line-of-sight identification. RFID systems may utilize three components, an antenna or coil, a transceiver (with decoder), and a transponder (RF tag) electronically programmed with unique information. However, it is understood that RFID systems may have more or less components based on the use requirements and the present invention is not limited to the RFID system comprising these components.
The antenna may send out radio signals that activate the tag's electronics allowing data to be read and possibly written to the tag's electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). The antenna may be packaged with the transceiver and decoder to become an interrogator, typically called a reader even though it may write to writeable tags as well, although the present invention Is not limited in this respect. RFID tags may be read-only or read/write and may be read or written to through a variety of substances where barcodes or other optically read technologies would be useless. RFID tags may be categorized as either active or passive where passive tags may obtain power from the reader and operate without a separate external power source while an internal battery powers active tags.
Current RFID tags cannot report their local power detected but rather the RFID reader has to rely solely on the tag reflected power for any kind of power control. Further, current tags have no provisions for reporting their individual power level other than an absolute cut-off when there is not enough power to power the tag
Thus, a strong need exists for radio frequency identification tags capable of reporting receiver signal strength indications and for methods of operation therefore.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

Radio frequency identification tags capable of embedding receiver signal strength indications


The present invention provides an mbCRP capable of effectively suppressing complement activity and completely inhibiting generation of intermediates damaging a transplanted tissue during the complement activation. To be more specific, the present invention provides a membrane-bound C1 inhibitor comprising a protein containing a functional domain of a water-soluble C1 inhibitor and an anchor molecule attached to an end and/or an interior of the protein.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-206535, filed Jul. 21, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a membrane-bound complement regulatory protein capable of suppressing an initial reaction of a complement pathway which causes a hyperacute rejection in a subject (donated organ) when organs, tissues or cells are transplanted. The present invention also relates to a nucleic acid molecule encoding the membrane-bound complement regulatory protein and a vector having the nucleic acid molecule. The present invention further relates to a cell, a tissue and an organ having the vector introduced therein. Moreover, the present invention relates to a transgenic animal, particularly, a transgenic swine in which a gene of the membrane-bound complement regulatory protein is introduced.
Organ transplantation is an extremely useful radical treatment and completely differs from a conventional symptomatic treatment. Recently, transplantation of organs such as kidney, cornea, liver, and heart has been frequently and widely performed to recover dysfunction or hypofunction of the organs.
The most significant problem which should be overcome in the organ transplantation is a rejection. In the case of kidney transplantation from human to human, which is one of the most widely performed organ transplantation, a hyperacute rejection occurs within several minutes after transplantation in a case where blood types do not match with each other, with the result that severe propagated thrombosis occurs around the transplanted organ. It has been elucidated that the hyperacute rejection at the time of allotransplantation (the donor and recipient belong to the same species) is caused by activating a complement pathway by binding C1 (a first component of complement) to an immune complex, which consists of a blood type determinant glycogenic antigen of a graft and an antibody against the blood type determinant glycogenic antigen inherently present as a natural antibody in the recipient. In the case of xenotransplantation (the donor and recipient belongs to different species), the rejection would be more serious since all substances not present in the recipient may come to be possible xenotransplantation antigens. Therefore, the rejection is a big problem of preventing clinical application of the xenotransplantation which enables donation of numerous organs.
As described above, the primary issue to be solved in the organ transplantation is to inhibit the hyperacute rejection occurring immediately after transplantation. Since the hyperacute rejection is caused by activating the complement pathway as previously described, if a suppressive substance for the pathway is introduced into the organ to be transplanted in advance, the hyperacute rejection can be inhibited.
Currently, based on the aforementioned idea, several manufacturers actually put production of transgenic swine into practice by introducing genes of endogenous human membrane-bound complement regulatory proteins (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cmbCRPsxe2x80x9d), such as CD 46 (membrane cofactor protein; MCP), CD55 (decay accelerating factor, DAF) and CD59 (HRF 20), and actually apply to the xenotransplantation. The term xe2x80x9ccomplement regulatory protein (hereinafter referred to an xe2x80x9cCRPxe2x80x9d)xe2x80x9d used herein refers to a protein regulating the complement pathway in a living body. Almost all the CRPs including the aforementioned three proteins have a function of regulating a complement activity. Therefore, if an organ of the transgenic animal having the CRP introduced therein is transplanted to a recipient, the complement pathway of the recipient can be suppressed.
Now, referring to FIG. 1, working points of the mbCRPs, namely, CD46, CD55 and CD59 in the compliment pathway will be explained. At first, the working point of CD46 resides in the reaction represented by a reference numeral (3) in FIG. 1. CD 46 functions as a cofactor of factor I in converting C3b and C4b into inactivated forms. C3b is a molecule playing a pivotal role in the complement pathway. More specifically, C3b plays a role in
{circle around (1)} activating a C3 convertase (YC3bBbP in FIG. 1) of an alternative pathway,
{circle around (2)} converting C3 convertases (YC4b2a and YC3bBbP in FIG. 1) into a C5 convertase (YC4b2a3b),
{circle around (3)} mediating binding to a complement receptor type I, CR1, of a blood cell.
On the other hand, the working point of CDS5 resides in the reaction represented by a reference numeral (2) in FIG. 1. More specifically, CD 55 promotes dissociation of C2a* from the C3 convertase C4b2a in the classical complement pathway and simultaneously promotes dissociation of Bb from the C3 convertase YC3bBbP in the alternative complement pathway. The working point of CD59 resides in the reaction represented by a reference numeral (4) in FIG. 1. Different from CD46 and CD55, CD59 does not act on the C3 convertase but inhibits the conversion of C9 to ZC5b-9, which is a final step of the complement pathway.
These three mbCRPs can regulate respective steps of the complement pathway in the working mechanisms mentioned above. In addition, since these three proteins can be maintained with a high density at a rejection site due to the binding onto the membrane, they play an effective role to some extent in suppressing the complement pathway.
However, these mbCRPs have the following problems.
First, it is difficult to express CD46 in a transgenic animal abundantly. In addition, CD46 has a drawback in that it is poor in complement suppressing ability when bounded onto the membrane, compared to the other two factors.
It is known that CD59 regulates complement at the end of a cascade, so that C4, C3, and C5 present in the middle of the cascade are activated to generate anaphylatoxins, C4a, C3a and C5a, respectively, which damage a graft.
On the other hand, even if CD55, which is the most promising regulatory factor, is employed, the reactions up to C4 take place, with the result that C4a is generated and C4b is deposited on a graft.
The present invention has been made to overcome the aforementioned problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an mbCRP capable of effectively repressing a complement pathway and completely inhibiting generation of intermediates damaging a transplanted tissue in the complement pathway.
To be more specific, the present invention provides a membrane-bound C1 inhibitor comprising a protein containing a functional domain of a water-soluble C1 inhibitor and an anchor molecule attached to an end and/or an interior portion of the protein.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.