According to some embodiments of the invention, a method is provided in a radio network node for scheduling data transmission and/or reception. According to the method, the radio network node predicts (530) at least one autonomous gap occurrence in which user equipments served by the radio network node will use autonomously created gaps for acquiring system information from a neighboring base station and during which the UE is not able to receive data from, and/or transmit data to, the radio network node. Furthermore, the radio network node schedules (560) a user equipment for data transmission and/or reception in a time period which does not overlap with any predicted autonomous gap occurrence.

Femto base stations, also called home base stations, have attracted much interest recently in the wireless industry. The standardization process for home base stations is ongoing in 3GPP for Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), Evolved UMTS Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). Furthermore, in both UTRA and E-UTRA, advanced features related to home base stations such as mobility procedures, interference management and control etc are also being introduced. Home base stations are already operational in other technologies such as Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and 3GPP2 CDMA technologies (e.g. CDMA2000 1×RTT and High Rate Packet Data, HRPD).
In legacy UTRAN specifications, four classes of base stations (BS) are defined, namely the wide area BS that serves macro cell deployment, the medium range BS that serves micro cell deployment, the local area BS that serves pico cell deployment and the home base station serving the private localized premises, like a home or an office. In UTRAN, the home BS is also called a home NodeB (HNB). In E-UTRAN specifications three classes of base stations are defined; Wide area BS, local area BS and home base station. In E-UTRAN the home BS is also called a Home eNodeB (HeNB).
A home base station may also be referred to as a home access point, femto base station, femto access point, home NodeB, or home eNodeB. Some particular examples of Home Base Stations are UTRAN FDD/TDD home NodeB, E-UTRAN TDD/FDD home eNB (eNodeB), GSM home base station, CDMA2000 1×home BS, HRPD home BS, or WiMAX home base station. For simplicity and consistency, we will use the term home base station (HBS) in the rest of the disclosure. This term is intended to covers all types of home access points, including but not limited to those mentioned above. It should be understood that a home base station may not only deployed in a private residence, but also in other public or private premises such as shopping malls, office buildings, etc.
Depending on the operator, a Home Base Station may share the carrier with macro, micro or pico base stations, i.e. non home base stations. This may be referred to as a mixed carrier scenario. Alternatively, the HBS may be assigned a carrier which is used only for the operation of home base stations, i.e. a dedicated carrier scenario.
One main difference between a home base station and other base station classes is that a Home Base Station is assumed to be owned by a private subscriber, who has the liberty to install it at any location. Thus, strict network planning is not possible in case of Home Base Station deployment. This is in contrast to other base station classes, which are deployed by an operator according to well-defined principles. The lack of precise network planning of Home Base Stations and their dense deployment may have the following consequences:                High interference towards other base stations, including other home BSs and the surrounding network, e.g. macro base stations.        In case of dense Home BS deployment, the UE may detect, measure and report a large number of cells, which are served by home base stations but are not required for mobility.
Access to a home base station may be under the control of the operator or the owner of the home base station. The access control mechanism for a home BS decides if a given user may or may not connect to that home base station. The selection of the access control mechanism has a large impact on the performance of the overall network, mainly due to its role in the definition of interference. In UTRAN and E-UTRAN, the concept of a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) exists. According to the CSG concept, only a subset of users, defined by the owner of the home base station, are allowed to connect to that particular home base station. Because access to a HBS may be restricted only to certain users, appropriate mobility procedures to prevent unnecessary handovers towards the non-allowed home base stations are specified for UTRAN as well as for E-UTRAN. This implies that before initiating a handover to a neighbor cell, the serving network node may need to know whether the target cell is a CSG cell or not, i.e. whether the target cell is served by a HBS using the CSG concept.
Currently, network deployments with several layers comprising macro base stations, pico base stations, home base stations etc are gaining popularity. In certain areas, coverage from macro layer deployment overlaps with areas covered by micro, pico or femto network deployments. Such a network or deployment is called a heterogeneous network. These heterogeneous network scenarios are expected to become more and more popular as a direct consequence of the proliferation of pico, femto, and home eNBs. In such heterogeneous network deployments, mobility management is becoming an even more challenging task, because it is quite probable that Physical Cell Identities, PCIs, are frequently reused. Hence, a serving node in many cases may have to know whether the target cell belongs to a macro, pico or home base station etc.
Thus, in a scenario with home base stations, as well as in heterogeneous networks, it is beneficial to uniquely determine the identity and/or type of potential target cells. This requires information which is transmitted in the cell's system information. Hence, the user equipment (UE) is expected to acquire system information from surrounding base stations, such as neighboring HBSs, and report this information to the network. One example of system information that the UE may need to acquire is the Cell Global Identifier (CGI), which is a unique identifier of a cell. The CGI or E-UTRAN CGI (ECGI) acquisition is typically performed by the UE in response to an explicit request received from the serving network node. One example scenario where this may occur is when the UE performs neighbor cell measurements on potential target cells for handover, i.e. to support mobility.
As part of the neighbor cell measurement procedure, the UE will send a measurement report containing neighbor cell measurements such as Reference Symbol Received Power (RSRP) and/or Reference Symbol Received Quality (RSRQ) in E-UTRAN, or Common Pilot Channel Received Signal Code Power (CPICH RSCP) and/or Common Pilot channel received energy per chip divided by power spectral density (CPICH Ec/No) in UTRAN. The serving network node typically uses these measurements to determine if the UE would be better served by one of the neighbor cells, i.e. whether to initiate a handover (HO).
The measurement report also comprises the physical cell identity (PCI) of the target cell to the serving network node, e.g. the serving eNodeB in E-UTRAN. The PCI is an identity which identifies the target cell, but it is typically not unique within the network. In current E-UTRAN specifications, for instance, there are only 504 different PCIs defined. This is because the PCI is broadcast at frequent intervals in the cell, so its length is restricted to only a few bytes in order to consume less radio resources. As a consequence, in a large network the same PCI may need to be reused in several cells and is therefore not guaranteed to be unique, or even to uniquely identify the type of the cell. In a dense Home Base Station deployment scenario, the PCIs are more frequently reused, due to the large number of cells and smaller cell sizes.
Therefore, in a situation where the serving network node is not able to derive the necessary information from the PCI, the serving network node may also request the UE to decode and report the Cell Global Identifier (CGI) of the target cell. For example, based on the reported PCI, the network node may suspect that the target cell belongs to a CSG, a Home Base Station or to any similar node as part of the heterogeneous network. In order to prevent a HO command to a non-allowed Home Base Station, e.g. a CSG cell to which the UE does not have access, the serving network node needs to be able to uniquely identify the cell, or at least determine with certainty whether the cell is served by a HBS or not, and in particular whether it is associated with a CSG. However, since the PCI is not unique, the network node cannot establish this based on the PCI alone. The CGI, however, is an identity which is unique in the network, thereby allowing the network to distinguish between macro BSs and home BSs, or to uniquely identify that the reported cell is associated with a CSG. Hence, to confirm its hypothesis that the target cell is served by a HBS, the network may request the UE to decode and report the target cell's CGI or ECGI.
The procedure and the associated requirements for the UE reporting of the target cell's CGI or ECGI are specified in both UTRAN and E-UTRAN. One key aspect of the CGI decoding is that it is performed by the UE during autonomous gaps, which are created by the UE itself. During the autonomous gaps, the UE interrupts its reception and transmission of data in the serving cell. The reason for acquiring the target cell CGI during autonomous gaps is that the typical UE implementation is not capable of simultaneously receiving data from the serving cell and acquiring the target cell's system information, which contains the CGI. Furthermore, the CGI acquisition of an inter-frequency or inter-Radio Access Technology (inter-RAT) target cell requires the UE to switch carrier frequency, which means it cannot communicate with the serving cell at the same time. Hence, the use of autonomous gaps is necessary for acquiring the target cell's CGI. These autonomous gaps are also interchangeably referred to as measurement occasions, because the gaps are the occasions during which the UE measures the CGI of the target cell.
The CGI is sent over a system information block (SIB). In E-UTRAN, the CGI is called E-UTRAN CGI (ECGI), and is transmitted in system information block type 1 (SIB1). However, the acquisition of ECGI requires the UE to first read the master information block (MIB) of the target cell, which is transmitted on the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) with a periodicity of 40 ms. Within the 40 ms period, the PBCH is repeated in every frame. For example, in E-UTRAN, the length of an E-UTRAN frame is 10 ms, and the PBCH will be repeated in every fourth frame. The MIB enables the UE to acquire information such as system frame number (SFN), cell transmission bandwidth etc. Hence, after acquiring the MIB, the UE reads the system information block type 1 (SIB1), which contains the ECGI and is transmitted with a periodicity of 80 ms on DL-SCH. The home eNodeB can be deployed on a shared carrier or on a dedicated carrier as described earlier. Therefore EGCI requirements in E-UTRAN are specified for the following two scenarios:                Intra-frequency ECGI reporting        Inter-frequency ECGI reporting
The UE is required to report the intra-frequency ECGI within about 200 ms, including processing time of the measurement request, after receiving a request from the serving network node, for a target intra-frequency cell provided that the target cell's SINR experienced by the UE is at least −6 dB or higher, and to report an inter-frequency ECGI within about 200 ms, including processing time of the measurement request, provided that the target cell's SINR is at least −4 dB or higher. During the acquisition of the target cell's ECGI on the serving carrier frequency the UE is allowed to create autonomous gaps in the downlink. Those gaps result in interruptions in the UE downlink reception from the serving node, and uplink transmission to the serving node. That is to say, the UE cannot receive signals from or transmit signals to its serving node during an autonomous gap. The duration of the autonomous gap may vary depending upon the UE implementation, but typically comprises 3 sub-frames.
In UTRAN, the CGI is transmitted in the system information block type 3 (SIB3). But in order to read the SIB3 the UE has to first read the MIB. Hence the UE can determine the CGI of a neighbor cell by reading its MIB and system information block type 3 (SIB3), which are sent on the broadcast channel (BCH). The MIB is transmitted every 20 ms. The SIB3 may have different periodicity, which is configured by the network. As compared to E-UTRAN, in UTRAN the target cell's CGI acquisition time is typically much longer, e.g. more than 1 second depending upon the periodicity of the SIB3. Furthermore, due to the autonomous gaps created by the UE to acquire the target cell's CGI, the interruption of the data transmission and reception from the serving cell can be 600 ms or longer.
The concepts of autonomous gaps and CGI/ECGI acquisition are also relevant for self organizing networks (SON). The SON function in E-UTRAN and UTRAN allows the operator to automatically plan and tune the network parameters and network nodes. The conventional method is based on manual tuning, which consumes enormous amounts of time and resources, and requires considerable involvement of work force. Due to network complexity, a large number of system parameters, Inter-Radio Access Technologies (IRAT) etc., it is very attractive to have reliable schemes to perform the test of self organization in the network whenever necessary.
An operator may also add or delete a cell or an entire base station, which may serve multiple cells. Especially new cells are added more frequently during an early phase of network deployment. In the later stages, an operator can still upgrade the network by adding more carriers or more base stations on the same carrier. It can also add cells related to another technology. The network may automatically detect the new cells and their relationship to existing cells in a process referred to as automatic neighbor cell relation (ANR) establishment, which it is part of the self organizing network (SON) functionality. In order to ensure correct establishment of the neighbor cell relation, the serving cell requests the UE to report the CGI of the new target cell, whose PCI is identified and reported to the said serving cell. The CGI acquisition requires the UE to read the target cell's system information and is thus carried out by the UE during autonomous gaps. As in the case of home inbound mobility, the CGI acquisition for ANR purposes also leads to interruption of data from the serving cell.
As explained above, the UE autonomously creates measurement gaps for acquiring the system information of the target cell to decode its CGI in home BS inbound mobility scenarios, for ANR purposes, or in any similar scenario. In other words, the length (L) of the measurement gaps and number (N) of measurement gaps depend upon the UE itself. No signaling or any related information about the autonomous gaps is exchanged between the UE and the serving network node. Since the serving network node is unaware of the exact occasions and number of autonomous gaps created by the UE, it does not know when the UE can be conveniently scheduled without losing data due to the gaps.
One solution to this problem is to not allow the serving network node to schedule the UE during the entire time while the UE is acquiring system information, e.g. decoding the CGI, of a target cell. As mentioned above, this period is about 200 ms in E-UTRAN and may be over one second in UTRAN. Thus, this solution leads to a long interruption in the transmission/reception between the serving cell and the UE while the target cell's CGI decoding is performed. This may cause significant degradation of real time services such as voice.
Another prior art solution is to use an aggressive approach, i.e. to continue scheduling the UE during the period when the UE is acquiring system information from other cells, without any regard for the autonomous gaps. A drawback of this approach is that if the UE receives an uplink grant which coincides with an autonomous gap, the UE will not be able to use the grant. Thus, the associated uplink resources, which could potentially have been assigned to another UE, will be wasted. If a downlink transmission to the UE coincides with an autonomous gap, the UE will not receive the information and retransmission will be required.
The performance degradation resulting from these drawbacks may be significant, in particular in a dense home base station scenario or in heterogeneous networks, where there are many potential target cells for the UE to measure on. It is therefore important to minimize the duration of the data interruption from the serving cell while the UE is acquiring system information, in particular CGI or ECGI.
There is thus a need in the art for improving the performance of wireless communication systems, in particular in a scenario when UEs may need to acquire system information from neighboring cells.

Method and arrangement in a wireless communication system


A dosing device (1) for sprinkling granules (2) comprises upper elements (3) which delineate a storage space (4) for the granules, and lower elements (5) with a portion (6) which forms the bottom (6a) of the storage space and is provided with delivery apertures (7) for the granules. For rapid and even distribution of the granules (2), the delivery apertures (7) are distributed along the whole surface of the portion (6) of said lower elements (5) which forms the bottom (6a) of the storage space (4), and said lower elements comprise a dosing arrangement (8) in the form of a delivery element (9) which surrounds the delivery aperture, runs upwards in the storage space and is provided with an upper inlet aperture (10) and a delivery duct (11), and of a hoodlike element (12) which covers the delivery element, narrows upwards in the storage space, delineates between itself and the delivery element a flow duct (13) and runs to the vicinity of the bottom of the storage space, the section (4a) of the storage space which is situated radially within an imaginary downward extension of the hoodlike element being in communication with the delivery aperture so that granules in that section, upon rapid vertical and/or substantially vertical movements downwards, are guided in by the flow duct to above the inlet aperture of the delivery element in order to be able, via the inlet aperture, to fall through the delivery duct of the delivery element to the delivery aperture.

The present invention relates to a dosing device for sprinkling granules of salt or flavorings or mixtures containing salt and/or flavorings, which dosing device comprises upper elements which delineate at least one storage space for the granules, and lower elements which comprise a portion which forms the bottom of the storage space and is provided with delivery apertures for sprinkling the granules from the dosing device in a downward direction as a result of a rapid vertical and/or substantially vertical movement being applied to the dosing device for each dosing operation. The present invention also relates to a dosing utensil.

Dosing device and dosing utensil for granular material, such as salt


A multiple fold product includes a relatively rigid substrate, such as paperboard, which has upper and lower surfaces. Slots are selectively cut into the substrate at the desired fold locations. The slots divide the substrate into an array of interconnected rectangular sections that are arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns and which are interconnected by tabs. A first transparent, flexible sheet of material is mounted on the upper surface of the substrate. The first sheet of material has selected intelligence reverse printed on its lower surface such that the printed material is interposed between the substrate and the first sheet of material when the first sheet of transparent material is mounted on the substrate. A second transparent, flexible sheet of material is mounted on the lower surface of the substrate. The second sheet of material has selected intelligence reverse printed on its upper surface such that the printed material is interposed between the substrate and the second sheet of material when the second sheet of material is mounted on the substrate. Layers of opaque material interposed between the sheets of material and the substrate.

The present application relates to improvements on current designs for rigid folded products such as game boards, maps and charts.
For many years road maps have been printed on paper which is prefolded into a package of convenient size and shape. Typically such folded packages have been rectangular. In the past several years, laminated maps have been developed which have employed a series of rectangular panels joined together in a side-by-side array, but which are foldable into a rectangular package. Such maps have typically folded into a rectangular package which is substantially greater in size (in plan view) than most folded paper maps distributed in the United States. Further, because of the limitations of their design, available folded laminated maps open to a size which is very much smaller than the size of a typical paper map. That severely limits the size of the area to be displayed, or if not the size, then the scale of the area depicted. That means that the opportunity to display details is hampered. Furthermore, available multi-panel laminated maps, by their construction, are long and narrow.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,063,227 and 5,868,429, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference, describe multiple fold laminated products and a method of making such a product. Folding products according to these patents, have multiple, spaced apart rectangular panels which are arrayed in both horizontal rows and vertical columns. Each panel is made up of a central, relatively stiff, paperboard sheet having upper and lower display surfaces and waterproof, transparent upper and lower outer laminating sheets joining all of the sheets into an integrated product. The upper and lower outer sheets are each integral sheets which extend across the paperboard sheets and across the spaces between them. The panels may display selected intelligence, such as maps, words, graphics, and the like. One limitation of the product that the gaps between the panels result in gaps in the map when it is unfolded and viewed. These gaps remove portions of the printed image, limit the size of the maps, are unsightly and distort the accuracy of the product.
Alternatively, it is known to use a larger sheet of paperboard in lieu of the array of smaller rectangular panels that are employed in the aforementioned patents. In such a design, selected intelligence is printed on one or both sides of the paperboard the paperboard is printed with the desired intelligence. Diecut channels are formed in the board at the locations where the folds are to occur. The printed, diecut paperboard is then laminated on both sides with transparent laminating sheets. An example of this type of construction is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,432, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. This design results problems similar to those described above in connection with the 227 and 429 patents. Namely, the diecut channels in printed paperboard leave gaps in the map (or other intelligence that is printed on the board). As the map gets larger in size it requires more folds and, as a result, the diecut gaps need to be more frequent and wider. The diecut gaps remove portions of the printed image, limit the size of the maps, are unsightly and distort the accuracy of the product.

Multiple fold product and method of making the same


A thrust mount (24) for passing thrust loads between a forward engine frame (16) and an aft engine mount upper fitting (34). The thrust mount includes first and second thrust links (46), (48) interconnected between the engine frame and an evener bar. A central clevis (30) extends forwardly from a forward surface (32) of the upper fitting (34). The central clevis (30) accepts a center portion (36) of the evener bar (38) and secures the evener bar therein using a rotatable connection mechanism (40). A pair of thrust lugs (42) also extends forwardly from the upper fitting. The central clevis is located between the opposed thrust lugs. Each thrust lug (42) includes slots (44) for receiving an evener bar end. The evener bar (38) further includes an aft surface (48) positioned near, though not normally contacting, the upper fitting forward surface (32). The rotatable connection mechanism (40) at the central clevis transfers thrust loads during normal operations. During failure conditions, the thrust lugs (42) are used to transfer thrust loads.

Forward and aft engine mounts are currently used to mount an engine to an aircraft support structure, such as a wing or tail pylon. These mounts work well at carrying in-plane loads, i.e., those occurring generally in a plane extending perpendicularly outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the engine, including vertical and lateral loads and rotary torque or moments. A thrust mount is used to transfer axially-directed thrust loads of the engine to the support structure. Tension loads occur during forward thrust of the engine, and compression loads occur during braking and during use of the engine's thrust reversers. Thrust loads are commonly transferred from the engine through two thrust links connected to a portion of an aft engine mount. The thrust load is then transferred to the wing pylon through shear pins in the aft engine mount. This route from the engine to the wing is generally referred to as the total thrust load path.
It is important that thrust mounts be designed in such a way as to minimize the risk of an engine loss should the thrust mount fail. It is also important that the mount be relatively easy to manufacture, install, and maintain. At times, these aspects produce incompatible design goals that are difficult to effectively reconcile.
For example, one current thrust mount described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,307, uses a primary pin and two catcher pins to hold an evener beam in a thrust mount clevis. Both catcher pins are designed to engage if the primary pin fails or if a thrust link fails. The '307 design requires a wide thrust clevis in order to accept three pins in a row. Such a clevis is costly to machine since an end mill must reach a long distance into a hard material, e.g., titanium, in order to machine the open areas required to form the thrust clevis. This configuration also has the disadvantage of being inherently heavier because the required in-line bores limit the amount of weight-reducing pocketing that may be accomplished in the evener beam. The second catcher pin and the wideness of the overall clevis also add weight to this particular design.
There exists a need for a superior thrust mount capable of handling thrust loads, while at the same time having a reasonable size and weight. The mount should provide adequate load bearing capability in the event of a thrust link or pin failure and should be easy to install. The mount should also be easy to maintain and require less custom manufacturing than current designs. As will be appreciated by the following description, the present invention provides such a superior thrust mount.


An antitheft motor-vehicle anchor (1, 28, 35) is affixed immovably to a surface position (30) proximate a parking place and has a break-resistant connecter(7, 9, 10, 31, 33, 36, 37) that is lockable to a wheel (14), frame and/or axle of a motor vehicle or vehicular unit to prevent its theft by being carried, towed or pushed away. The break-resistant connector can be retractable or otherwise raised to and lowered from or optionally fixed in a locking or clamping position. Either a fixed or a retractably raised and lowered embodiment can be used as a locking motorcycle stand. A raised and lowered or otherwise retractable embodiment is flush with a surface of a parking place.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to prevention of theft of vehicles and in particular to anchoring wheels, axles or frames of vehicles to a land anchor to prevent their theft from parking places such as driveways, parking lots and motorcycle stands.
2. Relation To Prior Art
A wide variety of wheel-locking attachments are described in patent documents, in motor-vehicle literature and otherwise known to exist. None, however, are anchors which hold a vehicle wheel or other part of a vehicle to a surface anchor to prevent its theft or unauthorized movement in a manner taught by this invention. Most wheel-locking attachments are physical obstructions to wheel rotation or rotation-preventive connection of a wheel to a vehicle. With present vehicle carriers, existing locking systems are inadequate protection against theft of motor vehicles, particularly motorcycles.

Antitheft motor vehicle anchor and method


A backlight module includes a reflector, a light guide plate and a film. The reflector includes a supporting plate and two extending portions, and the extending portions are located on two opposite sides of the supporting plate, respectively. The film includes a main body and two positioning portions, and the positioning portions are located on two opposite sides of the main body, respectively. The light guide plate is located between the supporting plate and the main body. The main body corresponds to the supporting plate, and the positioning portions correspond to the extending portions. The extending portions are bent toward the main body, and the positioning portions are bent toward the supporting plate. The positioning portions are at least partially overlapped with and are fixed to the extending portions, respectively.

Due to being thin in thickness, light in weight, easy to carry, and having lower radiation compared with the CRT display, the demand for the liquid crystal display panels (LCD Panel) has been rapidly increased in recent years. With the LCD manufacturing development, the backlight module has moved further toward the concepts of having a thin shape, a high brightness and reducing the cost.
Please refer to FIG. 9, which is a schematic view of a conventional backlight module. As shown in FIG. 9, the conventional backlight module 40 comprises a back bezel 400′, a reflector 110′, a light guide plate 120′ and multiple films 130′. The light guide plate 120′ is located in the back bezel 400′, and the multiple films 130′ are flat and stacked up on the light guide plate 120. Positioning portions 133′, located on one edge of the multiple films 130′, have a through hole 134′, respectively. The multiple films 130′ are fastened to the back bezel 400′ by a pin 410′ of the back bezel 400′ penetrating through each of the through holes 134′. However, thermal expansion space, formed between the multiple films 130′ and the back bezel 400′, needs to be reserved to prevent the multiple films 130′ from being pressed, which leads to warping, waving or shifting. Therefore, the mura defect may be generated. Additionally, the back bezel 400′ needs to include space S to accommodate the positioning portions 133′ so that the width of the bezel may not be reduced to meet the demand for a narrow bezel in current backlight modules.
Therefore, a display module needs to be provided to solve the problem that the width of the bezel may not be reduced due to the positioning structure of the films as well as to enhance the displaying quality.


Systems and methods for formulating a personalized skincare product for a user. Data inputs reflecting dermal information of the user (e.g., hydration level measurements, oil level measurements, and a photograph of the user's skin reflecting a set of skin concerns) are collected by a computing device and used to determine a set of normalized scores. A skin health data set is generated based on the normalized scores and stored in memory. A skin health metric is determined based on the skin health data set and is stored in memory. The computing device determines, using a machine learning framework, one or more first skincare product formulations based on the user skin health data set. The formulation(s) can be used to manufacture one or more customized skincare products for the user and can be iteratively refined over time, e.g., by collecting additional data from the user over time.

Many or most skincare products today are targeted at large swaths of consumers, but several problems arise when formulating skincare products for a mass market. One problem is how to accommodate the largest possible number of diverse skin types for any given product claim made. This may explain the proliferation of skin "type" products in the market (which may include, for example, oily, dry, combination, acne prone, sun sensitive, sensitive, allergy tested, poor texture, or large pores). When targeting a mass market, manufacturers must strike a balance between what is economically feasible for them relative to the quantity of products available in the market and the number of customers they can attract from the market.
Several companies today are creating "customized" products for customers. The methods employed by these companies generally fall into two groups: (1) using self-reported answers about skin concerns to recommend an existing product, or (2) using self-reported answers about skin concerns to design customized skin care formulations. One problem with both approaches is that that self-reported data can be unreliable, e.g., because customers have little objective knowledge of their skin. The first approach also suffers from the restriction of a limited set of potential products, all of which have typically been created for the mass market. The second approach has suffered from limited effectiveness of results.

Systems and methods for formulating personalized skincare products


An air-intake device having a variable induction-pipe length for an internal combustion engine includes a cylindrical collector. Induction pipes extend from inlets on the collector along a periphery of the collector up to inlet ducts of an internal combustion engine. A switching device in the shape of a cylinder sector is pivotably mounted in the collector. In a first rotary position, the switching device closes lead-in ports which connect the induction pipes to the collector. Therefore, the switching device has elevations on its lateral surface. The elevations have a front surface and adjoining side walls together forming a first contact surface in a closing direction, and an end region opposite the front surface forming a second contact surface. The first and second contact surfaces have a seal and bear against first and second bearing surfaces of the lead-in ports in the first rotary position, for tightly closing the lead-in ports.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an air-intake device having a variable induction-pipe length for an internal combustion engine, including a cylindrical collector, induction pipes disposed on a periphery of the collector, lead-in ports to the induction pipes, and a switching device in the shape of a cylinder sector, the switching device pivotably mounted for closing the lead-in ports in a first rotary position and opening the lead-in ports in a second rotary position.
Accordingly, the invention is directed toward variable induction pipes of an internal combustion engine, i.e. induction pipes adjustable between two lengths, wherein the length of the induction pipes is adapted in each case to the operating state of the internal combustion engine. The respective maximum engine output can thereby be increased at both low and high rotational speeds.
International Publication No. WO 96/02743, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,182, describes an air-intake device which has a collector with a cylindrical construction and induction pipes disposed on the periphery thereof. The induction pipes are connected to the collector at one end through inlets. However, they may also communicate directly with the collector through lead-in ports, with the effective length of the induction pipes then being reduced. The effective length of the induction pipes denotes the length of an induction-pipe region in which most of the air mass flow occurs.
A switching device which has a cylindrical construction is pivotably mounted in the collector. It closes the lead-in ports in a first rotary position. To that end, it bears on an encircling extension of the lead-in ports in a two-dimensional manner. In the first rotary position, the effective induction-pipe length then only corresponds to the length of the induction pipe from the entry up to the cylinder of the internal combustion engine, if the lead-in port is tightly closed. Considerable outlay is therefore necessary in order to keep the tolerances in the switching device and in the collector so low that bearing of the switching device in a sealing manner against the encircling extension is ensured.

Air-intake device having variable induction-pipe length for an internal combustion engine


A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type; an epitaxial layer of a second conductivity type formed on the semiconductor substrate; an impurity diffusion layer of the second conductivity type embedded between the semiconductor substrate and the epitaxial layer and having an impurity concentration greater than that of the epitaxial layer; a resistance region reaching the impurity diffusion layer from a surface of the epitaxial layer and extending substantially vertically to the surface of the epitaxial layer; an insulating film defining the resistance region; and a lead region selectively formed between the surface of the epitaxial layer and the impurity diffusion layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device to be used as a resistance element in an integrated semiconductor circuit and a method of fabricating the same. Particularly, the present invention pertains to a semiconductor resistance element suitable for miniaturization and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1A is a plan view illustrating a conventional semiconductor resistance element, and FIG. 1B shows a cross section taken along the line III--III of FIG. 1A.
An N.sup.+ -type diffusion layer 22 is selectively formed on the surface of a P-type silicon substrate 21. On the P-type silicon substrate 21 including the N.sup.+ -type diffusion layer 22 is formed an N-type epitaxial layer 24 doped with phosphor or the like of 10.sup.15 to 10.sup.16 atoms/cm.sup.3. In other words, the N.sup.+ -type diffusion layer 22 is embedded between the P-type silicon substrate 21 and the N-type epitaxial layer 24. An oxide-film insulating region 25 which reaches the P-type silicon substrate 21 is selectively formed on the surface of the N-type epitaxial layer 24. The N.sup.+ -type diffusion layer 22 and the N-type epitaxial layer 24 immediately atop the layer 22 are therefore isolated from the neighboring element(s). A P.sup.+ -type diffusion region 23 is selectively formed on the surface of the P-type silicon substrate 21 immediately underlying the oxide-film insulating region 25 in order to prevent inversion between elements. P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c are selectively formed on the surface of the N-type epitaxial layer 24 immediately on the N.sup.+ -type diffusion layer 22 by implanting ionized boron or the like of 10.sup.17 to 10.sup.20 atoms/cm.sup.3. The P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c are rectangular from the plan view, and formed almost in parallel to one another. An insulating film 26 is adhered to the N-type epitaxial layer 24. Contact holes 28 are selectively formed in both end portions of each of the P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c. Patterned on the insulating film 26 are a wiring 29 to be connected via one of the contact holes 28 to one end of the P.sup.- -type resistance region 27a and a wiring 30 to be connected via the other contact holes 28 to the other end of the resistance region 27a and the ends of the resistance regions 27b and 27c on the same side.
In the above-structured conventional semiconductor resistance element, the P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c are isolated insulatively from the N-type epitaxial layer 24 by a depletion layer of a PN junction, thus acting as a resistance element. For example, if the boron concentration is 10.sup.17 atoms/cm.sup.3, the P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c will have its sheet resistance .sigma..sub.s of about several tens k.OMEGA./.quadrature.. When the boron concentration is 10.sup.20 atoms/cm.sup.3, the sheet resistance .sigma..sub.s will be about 100 .OMEGA./.quadrature.. In other words, the lower the boron concentration is, the more the depletion layer tends to extend toward the P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c. The effective sheet resistance .sigma..sub.s therefore will be larger.
The resistance R of the P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c is represented by the equation (1). EQU R=.sigma..sub.s .multidot.L/W+r.sub.0 ( 1)
where L is the length (.mu.m) between the contacts of the P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c, W is the width (.mu.m) of the P.sup.- -type resistance regions 27a to 27c, and r.sub.0 is a lead contact resistance (.OMEGA.).
The conventional semiconductor resistance element described above is, however, a planar electric resistance element. In order to acquire a high resistance R with a low sheet resistance .sigma..sub.s, the resistance length L should be increased. In the case of acquiring a high resistance R with a high sheet resistance .sigma..sub.s, since the amount of boron to be implanted tends to vary, the resistance width W should be increased so as to restrict a change in resistance R caused by the depletion layer. The semiconductor resistance element is therefore hard to be miniaturized.

Vertical resistive element for integrated circuit miniaturization


A grid formed with apertures of a predetermined shape is illuminated with light from a lamp and projected onto a tear meniscus accumulated on the lower eyelid. The aperture image projected on the tear film is imaged by a CCD camera. The tear meniscus functions as a concave mirror, so that the magnification factor depends on the radius of meniscus curvature. A processor calculates the magnitude of the grid image and evaluates the radius of meniscus curvature. Since the volume of lacrimal fluid varies depending upon the radius of meniscus curvature, the latter is used as a value representing the lacrimal fluid volume for dry eye diagnose purposes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmic apparatus, and more particularly to an ophthalmic apparatus for non-contact measurement of the physical quantity of lacrimal fluid collected on the lower eyelid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recent years have seen an increase in the numbers of people suffering from dry eyes caused by working with VDTs (visual display terminals) or working in rooms in which the air is dried out by air conditioning systems. Dry eyes can result in a number of ophthalmic conditions, such as damage to the corneal epithelium and conjunctiva. As such, the diagnosis of dry eye syndrome is becoming an important part of ophthalmic diagnostic procedure.
Conventional methods of diagnosing dry eye include examining vital stainings and volume of lacrimal fluid. However, such methods involve discomfort to the patient caused by the application of a solution or contacting the eye with an instrument. To detect the dry eyes in a non-contact manner, methods have been tried involving projecting a beam of coherent light onto the eye and examining interference fringes formed by the tear film layer. In the apparatus of such systems, color images of interference fringes (rainbow-colored interference patterns) formed by the tear film lipid layer of an eye to be examined are photoelectrically converted by a photoelectric element in a light-receiving system and shown on a display means. The presence of dry eye can then be readily diagnosed by examining the interference pattern indicating the condition of the tear film layer.
However, a problem with the interference fringes produced by tear film lipid layer with the conventional systems is the low contrast of the fringes, which makes it difficult to obtain a good ophthalmic diagnosis based on the fringes. Another problem is that the examiner directly observes the color patterns on the display screen to evaluate the grade of the dry eye condition, so only qualitative measurement is possible.
The object of the present invention is to provide an ophthalmic apparatus that enables diagnosis of dry eye condition by quantitatively measuring the physical quantity of lacrimal fluid collected on the border of the lower eyelid.


A computer-implemented method for introducing variation in sub-system output signals to prevent device fingerprinting may include (1) intercepting, on a computing device, an output signal sent from a sub-system device on a computing device to a software component on the computing device, (2) identifying a margin of error for the output signal, (3), creating a modified output signal by introducing variation into the output signal in such a way that (a) the variation does not exceed the margin of error for the output signal and (b) the modified output signal cannot be used to identify the computing device, and (4) sending the modified output signal to the software component. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Marketing and advertising groups (and other, more malicious parties) are continually interested in identifying new ways to track computing device users. While traditional privacy tools may provide users with some control over how they are tracked, recent research has shown that unwanted parties may be able to bypass these tools by fingerprinting a user's computing device based on unique characteristics associated with the device's sensor output.
For example, researchers have demonstrated that the various sensors present in many modern-day computing devices, such as the accelerometers, microphones, speakers, and radios often found in mobile phones, each generate unique and consistent inaccuracies in their outputs. These unique inaccuracies may, in turn, be used to create a profile or fingerprint of sorts for a computing device that can be used to uniquely identify and track the device and/or its user.
Unfortunately, traditional privacy software and privacy settings may be unable to prevent this kind of tracking. For example, as opposed to web-browser cookies, which users may be able to delete, block, and/or monitor, any sensor or hardware component on a computing device that outputs a signal unique to that computing device may potentially be used to fingerprint the computing device. These vulnerabilities may present serious privacy concerns to computing device vendors, developers, and users.
As such, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for a more efficient and effective mechanism for preventing device fingerprinting based on sub-system output signals.

Systems and methods for introducing variation in sub-system output signals to prevent device fingerprinting


A subject positioning device for an interferometer includes a positioning mechanism for positioning a test surface within an axial extent of interference positions in the object beam path, which is less than double of a thickness of the subject, and at least one positioning lens placed between a beam splitter and the axial extent of interference positions in the object beam path with a focal point located within the axial extent of interference positions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a subject positioning device for an optical interferometer and, more particularly, to a subject positioning device for positioning a test surface of a thine plate of subject within the axial extent of interference positions for interference in an object beam path of an optical interferometer whose object and reference beams have a short coherence length.
2. Description of Related Art
In interferometers such as Michelson interferometers, a reference beam and a subject beam into which a parallel beam of coherent light is divided by means of, for instance, a beam splitter are directed to and reflected by a reference surface and a test surface of a thin plate of subject, respectively. These reflected reference and subject beams are, thereafter, united by the beam splitter to interfere with each other, forming a pattern of interference fringes on an observation screen for examination of surface geometry or irregularity of the test surface of the subject.
In cases where using a laser beam to form interference fringes based on which surface geometry or irregularity examination of a test subject is made, because of a long coherence length of the laser light, it is unnecessary to position the test surface precisely with respect to the reference surface. There is a problem, if a thin transparent plate such as a glass plate, that the subject beam reflected by the surface opposite to the test surface of the subject interferes with both the reference beam and the subject beam reflected by the test surface of the subject to form interference fringes as noise in addition to essential interference fringes. In order for such a laser interferometer to avoid a ghost caused by the opposite surface of the subject which is superposed on the essential interference fringes necessary to a surface irregularity examination of, for example, a thin glass plate, the opposite surface of the thin glass plate is necessarily covered with a coat of, for instance, a refractive index matching oil, which is always undesirable from a viewpoint of handling a test subject and/or contamination of a test surface of the subject. Further, if a transparent test subject is considerably thin, a coat of a refractive index matching oil or the like exerts surface tension over the opposite surface of the test subject with an adverse effect of surface distortion, resulting in inaccurate surface examination.
While it is desirable for surface irregularity examination of a subject, such as thin glass plates and the like, to use coherent light having a short coherence length shorter than the double of the thickness of the subject and to position the test surface of the subject within the axial extent of interference positions less than the coherent distance. For example, in cases where using a red light emitting diode (red LED), which has a coherence length of approximately 30 .mu.m, as a light source, the axial extent of interference positions is less than only 15 .mu.m. Unless the test surface is positioned within the small axial extent of interference positions, the pattern of interference fringes which demonstrates surface geometry or irregularities from the reference surface existing on the test surface cannot be formed.

Subject positioning device for optical interferometer


A composite active phase/support catalyst for purifying exhaust gases, the active phase of which comprises a solid solution of transition metals oxides with a spinel structure of the formula AB.sub.2 O.sub.4 wherein "A" comprises a combination of metals with their stoichiometric indexes being in the range Zn.sub.0.18-0.21 Cd.sub.0.18-0.21 Co.sub.0.18-0.63 Fe.sub.0.02-0.46 and "B" also comprises the combination of transition metals with their stoichiometric indexes being in the range Cu.sub.0.09-0.36 Ni.sub.0.09-0.11 Cr.sub.0.24-0.48 Fe.sub.0.28-0.34. The support comprises an oxide carrier coated with oxide layer having a spinel structure of the formula Cu.sub.0.33 Co.sub.0.33 Ni.sub.0.33 Al.sub.2 O.sub.4 whereas the amount of the active phase per support surface lies in the range 10-12 .mu.Moles of AB.sub.2 O.sub.4 per 1m.sup.2 of support surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This Application relates to a catalyst for high purification of exhaust gases of internal combustion engines and of industry, mainly from carbon monoxide and organic compounds which catalyst is free of platinum and/or palladium and rhodium and other precious and rare metals and has an excellent converting activity at moderate temperatures and limit-level of thermostability not lower than 1000.degree. C. This Application is a Continuation-In-Part Application of our earlier U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/676,585 now abandoned, which is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Transition metal oxides show catalytic activity in the processes of deep oxidation of carbon monoxide and organic compounds. The most active among them are complex metal oxide structures named perovskites and spinels which are potentially competitive towards well known catalysts containing precious metals.
Thus complex oxides catalyst with perovskite structure was disclosed in patent literature represented by general formula Ln.sub.1-x A.sub.x MO.sub.3, wherein Ln is at least one rare earth metal. "A" is alkaline earth metal, and "M" represents at least one transition element and "X" varies in range O<X<1. These catalysts have been expected to be put into practical use as an inexpensive 3-way catalysts for converting carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x). However, they can be used only at temperature below 800.degree. C. and are therefore unsatisfactory as catalyst for automobile exhaust gases because such catalysts are required to have a high catalytic activity and durability in a temperature range as high but not lower than 900.degree. C. It is to be noted also, that neither low temperature activity nor stability to poisoning is claimed at all for Ln.sub.1-x A.sub.x MO.sub.3.
Good activity and resistance to high temperatures up to 1050.degree. C. were also maintained for the catalyst for treating exhaust gas from vehicle engines which comprises a sintered substance composed of ferric oxide and at least one other metallic oxide of the group consisting of copper, manganese, and chromium oxide and forming at least in part a spinel crystal structure. These catalytic sintered masses may also include aluminum oxide as reinforcing agent and other additives, such as MgO, CaO, SiO.sub.2, V.sub.2 O.sub.5, NiO, Co.sub.3 O.sub.4, ZnO, Ce, Sb, Co, Ti, K, Ag, W.
However, this catalyst cannot be said to be satisfactory in practical use because of its insufficient activity. The temperatures corresponding to complete carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (CH) oxidation on this catalyst are markedly above about 300.degree. C. This catalysts' imperfection is caused mainly by two factors. The first of them is due to the process for catalyst manufacturing, i.e. high temperature sintering of individual oxide mixtures. In the consequence of this procedure catalyst particles have very low surface area. This shortcoming seriously restricts catalyst productivity in oxidation process. The second factor which causes catalyst inadequate activity is due to some limitations of its composition and structure. This conclusion implies that oxide ratios in starting mixtures are those forming at least in part a spinel crystal structure in the course of sintering. Thus, sintered catalytic mass is essentially heterogeneous, i.e. contains in part a catalytically active spinel structure along with several moderately active and inactive individual metal oxides that reduce catalysts productivity in CO and CH oxidation processes.
Binary oxide spinel structures of the formula MA1.sub.2 O.sub.4 wherein "M" is Cu, Mn, Mo, Zn, Fe, Co, Ni or Sr are also known in the art as materials for carrier coating in manufacturing of supported Pt, Pd-containing catalysts useful in the purification of exhaust gases. The function of this spinel-containing coating is to improve Pt(Pd)-catalysts durability and service life. However, it seems to the present inventors that this coating composition, as well as the method of its deposition onto the carrier can be improved. The principal limitation is that said spinel is used in a form of sintered particles and therefore cannot form continuous film on a carrier surface. Besides that, there is a simple binary composition of said spinel which reduces its adhesion as well as its long-term maintenance of support thereon as an active form.

Composite catalyst for purifying exhaust gases from carbon monoxide and organic compounds


A coupling for directing a stream of particles falling from a feed spout through an opening on the top cover of the screen box of a screening machine. An upper diaphragm seals the feed spout within the mouth of a funnel. A lower diaphragm seals the funnel discharge opening within the top cover opening. Both diaphragms are flexible and permit the funnel to tilt axially and accommodate movement of the top cover opening with respect to the feed spout. Optionally, a gimble may support the funnel and diaphragms and thereby relieve the diaphragms from the weight of the coupling.

Screening machines, that is, machines having one or more screens for sizing, sifting or separating particulate material by vibratory, oscillatory, or gyratory screening movement, are in widespread commercial use. The screen or screens of such machines are mounted or housed within a movable enclosure called a "screen box." To prevent the escape of dust, the box typically has a top cover with an inlet opening. The material to be screened is usually fed from a source such as a hopper or elevator through a feed spout or inlet pipe, and falls through the inlet opening in the top cover, onto the top screen. The box and cover prevent the escape of dust and fines during operation and prevent the entrance of outside dirt which could contaminate the product being screened. One example of such a machine is the ROTEX.RTM. brand machine produced and sold by the assignee of this application.
In operation, screening movement applied to the box separates the different size or shape fractions of the particulate feed according to the size and shape of the screen openings. The various separated fractions are conducted from the screen box through one or more outlet conduits. Because the box (with the top cover on it) is moved in rapid screening motion, provision must be made for accommodating its motion relative to the stationary feed spout while at the same time enclosing the feed stream and airborne fines, and preventing the entrance of dirt. The same problem of accommodating relative motion arises when particles fall from a moving screen box into a fixed receiver pipe, and in other applications where one pipe moves or is disaligned with respect to another.

Coupling for connecting feed spout to screening machine


A magnetic storage apparatus capable of performing storage data to a ferromagnetic tunnel junction device surely and with a low electric consumption. In the present invention, a magnetic storage apparatus using a ferromagnetic tunnel junction device configured so as to perform writing of storage data into the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device by applying writing magnetic force on the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device and to perform reading of storage data written in the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device by detecting a resistance value of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device is provided, wherein it is configured to be able to change the magnitude of the writing magnetic force.

Recently, as a storage apparatus of a computer, a storage apparatus in which high speed writing can be performed, and which has no limits of the number of times of writing, and further which is nonvolatile has been desired. As a storage apparatus having these performances, a magnetic storage apparatus using a ferromagnetic tunnel junction device formed by laminating a fixed magnetized layer and a free magnetized layer with a tunnel barrier layer put between them has attracted attention.
Such a magnetic storage apparatus using a ferromagnetic tunnel junction device is a storage apparatus using a giant magnetoresistive effect caused by the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device. The resistance values of the tunnel barrier layers in the following cases differ from each other: the case where the free magnetized layer of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device is magnetized into the same direction as the magnetizing direction of the fixed magnetized layer, and the caser where the free magnetized layer is magnetized in the opposite direction to the magnetizing direction of the fixed magnetized layer. By utilizing the difference of the resistance value, two different states of the magnetizing directions are formed in the following two cases: a case where the free magnetized layer is magnetized into the same direction as the magnetizing direction of the fixed magnetized layer and the other case where the free magnetized layer is magnetized into the opposite direction to the magnetizing direction of the fixed magnetized layer. The magnetic storage apparatus stores data by relating such two different states of the magnetizing directions to two storage data of "0" and "1", respectively.
More specifically, the magnetic storage apparatus using the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device disposes ferromagnetic tunnel junction devices on a semiconductor substrate with predetermined spaces at front and back positions and at right and left positions. The magnetic storage apparatus further wires a bit line elongating toward a direction orthogonal to the magnetizing direction of the fixed magnetized layer at the upper portions of each of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction devices. The magnetic storage apparatus also wires a writing word line and a reading word line, both elongating toward the magnetizing direction of the fixed magnetized layer at the lower portions of each of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction devices. Moreover, the magnetic storage apparatus connects a writing current generation circuit to each of the bit lines and each of the writing word lines. On the other hand, the magnetic storage apparatus connects a reading resistance detection circuit between each of the bit lines and each of the reading word lines.
Then, a current generated by the writing current generation circuit is applied to a bit line and a writing word line severally, and thereby generating bit line magnetic force orthogonal to the bit line and word line magnetic force orthogonal to the writing word line. Writing magnetic force generated by combining the bit line magnetic force and the word line magnetic force is applied to the free magnetized layer of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device to magnetize the free magnetized layer into the same or opposite direction as or to the magnetizing direction of the fixed magnetized layer. Thereby, the writing of storage data into a ferromagnetic tunnel junction device is performed.
On the other hand, the resistance value of a tunnel barrier layer is detected by the reading resistance detection circuit on the basis of the magnitude of the current which flows through the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device when a predetermined voltage is applied between the bit line and the reading word line. Then, the magnetizing direction of the free magnetized layer is determined on the basis of such resistance value. Thus, the reading of the storage data in the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device is performed.
When storage data is written in the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device in the magnetic storage apparatus having the configuration described above, it is impossible to magnetize a free magnetized layer without applying the writing magnetic force having a predetermined magnitude to the free magnetized layer. Consequently, it has been impossible to write any storage data into the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device without the writing magnetic force.
This is described by means of a storage state explanatory view shown in FIG. 9. The storage state explanatory view is a diagram showing, by means of an abscissa axis expressing the magnitude of the word line magnetic force and an ordinate axis expressing the magnitude of the bit line magnetic force, either value of "0" and "1" storage data is taken according to the direction of writing magnetic force as the combination of the word line magnetic force and the bit line magnetic force. When the writing magnetic force is oriented toward the direction above the abscissa axis, it is indicated that storage data "0" is stored. When the writing magnetic force is oriented toward the direction below the abscissa axis, it is indicated that storage data "1" is stored.
When the writing magnetic force exists in a region enclosed by an asteroid curve around the origin as the center thereof (hereinafter, the region will be referred to as "unstorable region") in the storage state explanatory view, the magnitude of the writing magnetic force is too small to magnetize the free magnetized layer, and it has been impossible to write storage data into the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device.
Accordingly, a conventional technique has set the magnitude of the writing magnetic force in order that the writing magnetic force may be situated on the outside of the unstorable region enclosed by the asteroid curve, and has applied the current necessary for generating the writing magnetic force to a bit line and a writing word line severally.
Moreover, the conventional technique has fixed the magnitude of currents flowing in the bit line and in the writing word line regardless of the value "0" or "1" of the storage data to be written for simplifying the writing current generation circuit, and the writing of the storage data has been performed only by inverting the flowing direction of the current through the bit line.
However, there is the case where the unstorable region of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device shifts upward or downward, or rightward or leftward, on the storage state explanatory view owing to causes in manufacturing processes of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device. There has been the possibility of the impossibleness of writing storage data into the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device because the magnitude of the writing magnetic force being within the unstorable region actually despite being designed to be situated on the outside of the unstorable region.
Then, a conventional magnetic storage apparatus using the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device has made it possible to write storage data into the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device by adding a margin of a certain degree to the magnitude of the writing magnetic force to make the writing magnetic force act on the free magnetized layer even if the unstorable region of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device has somewhat shifted. The conventional magnetic storage apparatus generates the writing magnetic force with margins caused by the application of a current having an unchanging fixed magnitude to a bit line and a writing word line.
That is, because the conventional magnetic storage apparatus using the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device has been configured to be unable to change the magnitude of the writing magnetic force, the conventional magnetic storage apparatus has generated the writing magnetic force which is too sufficient to magnetize the free magnetized layer by making the current larger than being necessary to flow through the bit line or the writing word line. Thereby, the current flowing through the bit line or the word line at the time of writing has increased and the electrical power consumption of the magnetic storage apparatus is therefore increased.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic storage apparatus using a ferromagnetic tunnel junction device which can change the magnitude of writing magnetic force in order that the magnitude of the writing magnetic force is situated on the outside of the unstorable region of the ferromagnetic tunnel junction device even when the unstorable region is shifted.

Magnetic storage apparatus using ferromagnetic tunnel junction device


A circuit for driving a liquid crystal display device, as embodied, includes: a gray level voltage generator for generating a plurality of gray level voltages; and an intermediate gray level voltage generator for receiving a first gray level voltage and a second gray level voltage among the plurality of gray level voltages and for selectively outputting one of the first gray level voltage and a third gray level voltage through a plurality of capacitors, a value of the third gray level voltage being between the first and second gray level voltage and set by the plurality of capacitors, the intermediate gray level voltage generator including: an operational amplifier for pre-charging the plurality of capacitors using a current outputted from the operational amplifier and for selectively outputting one of the first gray level voltage and the third gray level voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an LCD device, and more particularly, to a circuit and method for driving an LCD device, which is capable of reducing power consumption of the LCD device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel includes two plates facing each other, and an LC layer with dielectric anisotropy characteristic between the two plates.
An LCD device including an LCD panel is operated such that, in a state where a voltage is applied to the LC layer, as intensity of electric fields formed by the voltage is controlled to adjust transmittance of light passing through the LC layer, desired images can be displayed thereon. The LCD device is a typical example of flat panel display (FPD) which can be easily carried. Most of LCD devices adopt a TFT-LCD panel which is implemented with thin film transistors (TFT) as a switching element, which is hereinafter referred to as a TFT-LCD device.
The TFT-LCD panel includes a plurality of gate lines for transmitting scan signals thereto, and a plurality of data lines for transmitting image data thereto. The data lines are formed by orthogonally crossing with the gate liens to define a plurality of pixels enclosed thereby. Namely, pixels are formed in a matrix type. Each pixel is connected to a gate line and a data line through a TFT.
In order to apply image signal to each pixel of the LCD device, a scan signal is sequentially applied to the gate lines such that the TFTs connected to the gate lines can be sequentially turned on, and, at the same time, an image signal (i.e., a gray level voltage), which will be applied to a row of pixels corresponding to the gate line, is applied to each data line. The image signal applied to the data line is applied to each pixel through the turned-on TFTs. Here, the gate ON signal is sequentially applied to all gate lines such that the image signal can be applied to all rows of pixels, for one frame period. Therefore, one frame of image is displayed on the LCD panel.
The gray level voltage applied to the data line of the LCD device is a voltage applied to the source of the TFT to generate gray levels. The gray levels of a color TFT-LCD device are determines by the bit number of Red-, Green- and Blue-data which are outputted from a graphic controller. For example, when Red-data of 6 bits are inputted, 64 (26) gray levels are formed such that a red can be expressed by 64 gray levels.
In order to express 64 gray levels, 64 gray level voltages are needed. For example, the voltage range between 0˜10V (in case of high voltage drive) is equally divided into 64 steps, and then the voltages of the 64 steps are provided to the data driver. However, when the data driver has generates 8-divided voltages, it can be operated only if 9 gray level voltages are inputted to the data driver from the outside. Therefore, 9 gray level voltages are required such that the range of 0˜10V can be divided into 8 steps. The above-described method for generating gray level voltages uses a voltage divider using a plurality of resistors.
The voltages divided by each resistor (hereinafter referred to as 'gray level voltage') serves to express the gray levels which are provided to the data lines according to the selection of the data signals. On the other hand, the resistor array (voltage divider) has disadvantages in that the greater the number of gray levels the greater the number of resistors is required. In order to resolve such a problem, a hybrid driving circuit using resistors and capacitors has been developed.
The related art hybrid driving circuit includes: a gray level voltage generator for generating a plurality of gray level voltages corresponding to the data of a part of bits among the data of N bits (N is a positive integer) for displaying images; a decoder unit for selecting and outputting two gray level voltages (hereinafter referred to as first and second gray level voltages) among the plurality of gray level voltages according to the data of a part of bits; a switching signal generator for combining data of the remaining bits among the data of N bits with control signals outputted from the outside and for generating a plurality of switching signals based on the combination result; and an intermediate gray level voltage generator for receiving the first and second gray level voltages from the decoder unit, for generating a third gray level voltage, whose value is between values of the first and second gray level voltages, and for selectively outputting the first or third gray level voltage according to the switching signals.
The intermediate gray level voltage generator receives the first and second gray level voltages from the decoder unit. The intermediate gray level voltage generator reads out a logic value of the least significant bit of the N bits data and outputs the first or third gray level voltage based on the readout result. Namely, when the logic value of the least significant bit is '0,' the intermediate gray level voltage generator outputs the first gray level voltage. On the other hand, when the logic value is '1,' the intermediate gray level voltage generator outputs the third gray level voltage.
The gray level voltage generator generates, for example, 32 gray levels of the total gray levels (for example, 64 gray levels). Also, the intermediate gray level voltage generator receives two adjacent gray level voltages and generates a third gray level voltage between the two adjacent gray level voltages.
More specifically, the intermediate gray level voltage generator will be described in detail below, referring to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates a circuit of an intermediate gray level voltage generator in a related art hybrid-type circuit for driving an LCD device. As shown in FIG. 1, the intermediate gray level voltage generator 103 includes an operational amplifier AMP, first and second capacitors CAP1 and CAP2, and 1st-5th switches SW1-SW5.
One end of the 1st switch SW1 is connected to a first input lead 201 to which a first gray level voltage Vrl is provided. One end of the 2nd switch SW2 is connected to a second input lead 202 to which a second gray level voltage Vrh is provided. Each of the other end of the 1st and 2nd switches SW1 and SW2 is connected to a first node n1. The first capacitor CAP1 is located between the first node 1 and the inverting lead (−) of the operational amplifier AMP. The 3rd and 4th switches SW3 and SW4 are serially located between the first node n1 and the output lead 203 of the operational amplifier AMP. The second capacitor CAP2 and the 5th switch SW5 are serially located between a second node n2, which is between the 3rd and 4th switches SW3 and SW4, and the output lead 203 of the operational amplifier AMP. The inverting lead (−) of the operational amplifier AMP is connected to a third node n3 between the second capacitor CAP2 and the 5th switch SW5. The non-inverting lead (+) of the operational amplifier AMP is connected to a third input lead 204 to which a reference voltage Vref is provided.
Here, the 1st-5th switches SW1-SW5 are turned on or turned off according to the switching signals of the switching signal generator (not shown). In reference, the switching signal generator is not always necessary. Namely, the intermediate gray level voltage generator can be controlled by other units providing the switch signal not by the switching signal generator. The intermediate gray level voltage generator 103 selectively turns on or off the 1st-5th switches SW1-SW5 according to the switching signals, such that one of the first gray level voltage Vrl and the third gray level voltage can be outputted to the output lead 203 of the operational amplifier AMP. Here, the magnitude of the third gray level voltage is determined by capacitances of the first and second capacitors CAP1 and CAP2.
As described above, the related art hybrid circuit for driving an LCD device reduces the number of resistors R as some of gray level voltages among the total gray level voltages are generated through the resistors of the gray level voltage generator and the remaining gray level voltages are generated by the capacitors CAP1 and CAP2 included in the intermediate gray level voltage generator 103. However, the related art circuit has disadvantages in that it must be configured such that the gray level voltage generator must provide a relatively high driving current to charge the capacitors CAP1 and CAP2, and the operational amplifier does not involve in charging the capacitors CAP1 and CAP2. Therefore, the power consumption of the gray level voltage generator is increased.

Circuit and method for driving flat display device


An apparatus or method for upstream label allocation on LANs for multipoint (MP) label switched paths (LSPs). In one embodiment of the method, a first router receives a first incoming labeled data packet, wherein the first incoming labeled data packet comprises a first data packet and one or more first labels. The first router creates a first outgoing labeled data packet, wherein creating the first outgoing labeled data packet includes the step of swapping the one or more first labels of the first incoming labeled data packet with a context label and a forwarding label, wherein the first outgoing labeled data packet comprises the first data packet, the context label, and the forwarding label. Ultimately, the first router transmits the first outgoing labeled data packet to second and third routers via a LAN.

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks are capable of transmitting multicast data packets between hosts (e.g., desk top computers, servers, etc.) of a multicast group. In MPLS networks, data packets are transmitted through a label switched path (LSP) that consists of several label switched routers (LSRs). The LSRs forward data packets based on labels attached thereto. A label is a short, fixed length (e.g., 20 bits), locally significant identifier that tells the next hop LSR how to forward the labeled packet.

Upstream label allocation on Ethernets for MP2MP LSPS


Disclosed are a refrigerator for discharging water contained in a water tank when a predetermined time has passed to supply fresh water to a user and a method of controlling the same. The refrigerator includes a main body, a door pivotally mounted to the main body, a dispenser provided in the door to dispense water to the exterior, a water tank connected to the dispenser to accommodate the water, a water supply valve connected to the water tank to control a flow of the water to be supplied to the water tank, and a controller connected to the water supply valve and the dispenser to control the same and to discharge the water to the exterior when the water is accommodated in the water tank for a predetermined time.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a refrigerator and a method of controlling the same, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of discharging water contained in a water tank thereof when a predetermined time has passed to supply fresh water to a user, and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional refrigerator, a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment are provided to refrigerate or freeze accommodated goods. However, recently, a dispenser has been mounted in a refrigerator so that a user takes out water or ice accommodated in the freezer compartment.
As described above, in order for the user to take out the water, a water tank to accommodate the water is provided in the rear side of the freezer compartment so that fresh and cold water is fed to the dispenser. A water source that supplies the water to the water tank is provided outside a main body of the refrigerator.
Moreover, water supplying pipes are respectively provided between the water source and the water tank and between the water tank and the dispenser. In particular, a filter to filter the water and a water supply valve to control the water flow are provided in the water supply pipe between the water supply source and the water tank.
Therefore, when the user operates an actuator lever in the dispenser using a cup, the water supply valve is opened so that water flows from the water supply source to the water tank and the water previously accommodated in the water tank is pushed by the newly supplied water to flow to the dispenser and to be discharged into the cup that presses the actuator lever.
However, when the user is away from home for a long time so that the dispenser of the refrigerator does not operate for a long time, the water is contained in the water tank for a long time so that the freshness of the water deteriorates.

Refrigerator and method of controlling the same