A cell such as a nonaqueous electrolytic secondary cell includes a plurality of power-generating elements which each include a strip-like positive electrode and a strip-like negative electrode that are both wound into an elliptic cylinder with a separator being interposed therebetween, where each power-generating element has a peripheral face including at least a flat portion. The cell also includes a cell case for housing the power-generating elements, where the cell case has an opening, and a cover hermetically sealing the opening of the cell case. The flat portion of each power-generating element is superposed on the flat portion of the adjacent power-generating element, and a sheet member is wound around peripheries of the superposed power-generating elements to fasten the power-generating elements such that the power-generating elements are integrated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cell comprising a plurality of generally elliptic cylindrical wound generating elements, such as a nonaqueous electrolytic secondary cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional prismatic cells of large discharge capacity, e.g. a nonaqueous electrolytic secondary cell, a plurality of elliptic cylindrical wound power-generating elements are superposed and housed into a cell case. In the nonaqueous electrolytic secondary cell, as shown in FIG. 9, four elliptic cylindrical wound power-generating elements 3 have respective peripheral flat side faces superposed on one another and are housed into a cell case 1. FIG. 10 illustrates a connecting structure of the power-generating elements 3 and current collectors 4. The illustrated nonaqueous electrolytic secondary cell comprises four elliptic cylindrical wound power-generating elements 3 which are connected in parallel to one another. Each power-generating element 3 includes a strip-like positive electrode and a strip-like negative electrode which are both wound into the shape of an elliptic cylindrical winding with a separator interposed therebetween. The positive electrode is made of a strip-like aluminum foil having a surface on which a positive active material is carried, whereas the negative electrode is made of a strip-like copper foil having a surface on which a negative active material is carried.
The active material is applied to a substrate of each electrode except for at least one of the edges thereof. The power-generating element 3 is wound so that a portion of the positive electrode to which the active material is applied is substantially opposed to a portion of the negative electrode to which the active material is applied with the separator 3c being interposed therebetween. The active material is not applied to a substrate edge 3a′ of the positive electrode, and the active material is not applied to a substrate edge 3b′ of the negative electrode. The substrate edges 3a′ and 3b′ are disposed so as to be opposed to each other with the opposed active-material-applied portions being interposed therebetween.
The active-material-applied face of the negative electrode 3b is disposed on an outer peripheral side face of the wound power-generating element 3, or another substrate of the positive or negative electrode 3a or 3b is wound on the peripheral side face of the wound power-generating element 3 once, or only another separator is wound on the peripheral side face of the wound power-generating element 3. A tape made from polypropylene resin is applied to an end of the wound power-generating element 3 so that the power-generating element is maintained in a wound state.
In the power-generating element 3 of the elliptic cylindrical wound type, each of the substrate edges 3a′ and 3b′ comprises arc portions that are curved and overlapped, and a flat overlapped straight portion. Two current collectors 4 are connected to the straight portions of the substrate edges 3a′ and 3b′, respectively. Each current collector 4 includes recesses of corrugated electrode-connecting portions 4b. The substrate edges 3a′ and 3b′ are put into the recesses to be welded as shown in FIG. 9, thereby serving as leads connecting the positive and negative plates to the positive and negative terminals, respectively. An aluminum alloy plate is usually used as the current collector 4 connected to the substrate edge 3a′ of the positive electrode, whereas a copper alloy plate is usually used as the current collector 4 connected to the substrate edge 3b′ of the negative electrode.
The power-generating element 3 including two current collectors 4 connected as described above is inserted into a casing-like stainless-steel cell case 1 from above and an upper open end of the case 1 is closed by a cover plate (not shown), as shown in FIG. 9. A periphery of the cover plate is welded to the case 1 thereby to seal the case. A predetermined amount of electrolyte is poured through a filler hole into the interior of the case 1. The filler hole is thereafter closed, whereupon a nonaqueous electrolytic secondary cell is thus provided. The positive and negative terminals 4b and 5b of the respective collector tabs 4 and 5 extend through the cover plate while being insulated from the cover plate.
In the cell comprising the elliptic cylindrical wound power-generating elements 3, however, the peripheral flat portion of each power-generating element 3 is gradually curved to be expanded with repeated charge and discharge, whereupon each power-generating element 3 tends to change from the elliptic cylindrical shape to a cylindrical shape. When the power-generating element 3 is thus deformed, a distance between the wound positive and negative electrodes is increased such that the performance of the cell is reduced. Furthermore, the expansion of the peripheral flat portion of the power-generating element 3 also forces the cell case 1 to expand.
Furthermore, the active material applied to an outermost negative electrode may come into contact with an inner surface of the cell case 1 to fall off when each power-generating element 3 is put into the case. Additionally, even where the separator is wound around an outermost peripheral face of the power-generating element 3, the separator may be damaged when the power-generating element 3 is housed into the case, whereupon an active material applied to inner electrodes may fall off.
Furthermore, pieces of the active material that have fallen off move in the cell case 1 during use of the cell, resulting in a tiny short circuit between the positive and negative electrodes. The discharge capacity of the cell reduces rapidly since discharge of a feeble current continuously takes place at a short-circuit portion upon occurrence of such a tiny short circuit. This poses a problem.
The substrate edges 3a′ and 3b′ of the arc portion of the power-generating element 3 come into contact with the inner face of the cell case 1 to be bent when the elliptic cylindrical wound power-generating element 3 is accommodated in the cell case 1. In this case, the current collector is sometimes broken and falls off. Further, when an impact force is applied to the substrate edges 3a′ and 3b′, the active material sometimes falls off from the electrode part that is located in the vicinity of the substrate edges 3a′ and 3b′. In this case, too, broken pieces of the substrate and fallen pieces of the active substance may adhere to the positive or negative electrode, resulting in a tiny short circuit.
When the power-generating element 3 is manufactured, as typically shown in FIG. 10, the separators 3c are wound on a core 9 by a half turn or one turn while being pressed by a pair of rollers 10, and thereafter, the positive and negative electrodes 3a and 3b are wound onto the respective separators 3c together with the separators 3c. Thus, the positive and negative electrodes 3a and 3b are overlapped with the separators 3c being interposed therebetween thereby to be wound on the core 9 having an elliptic cylindrical section. The core 9 is made of a resin having high electrolyte resistance, e.g. polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
A relatively large clamping force is applied to an arc portion S (see FIG. 7) of the power-generating element 3 manufactured as described above such that the positive and negative electrodes 3a and 3b and separators 3c are dense. On the contrary, the positive and negative electrodes 3a and 3b and separators 3c are sparse in a straight portion Q. Accordingly, the electrolyte is hard to permeate into the arc portion S. Particularly when the separator is excessively pressed such that porosity thereof is reduced, each separator 3c cannot reserve a sufficient amount of electrolyte. This adversely affects the charge and discharge characteristics of the cell, resulting in variations in the characteristics between the power-generating elements 3 and between the cells.
On the other hand, when the clamping force is excessively small, an interelectrode distance becomes unstable, whereupon the charge and discharge characteristics vary among power-generating elements and among cells. Accordingly, in the cell including the elliptic cylindrical wound generating elements, it is important that the interelectrode distance between the positive and negative electrodes should not become unstable in the straight portion where the electrodes and separators are wound by a relatively small force, and that the electrolyte should be maintained in the separators sufficiently and homogeneously.
Reference symbol d designates a major axis of a cross-sectional ellipse in the power-generating element 3, and reference symbol w designates a minor axis thickness of a cross-sectional ellipse in the power-generating element 3. When the value of (d−w) is large, the distance between the positive and negative electrodes is increased in a central flat portion of the peripheral face of the power-generating element 3 even if the peripheral face of the power-generating element 3 is fastened tight by a sheet member. Accordingly, the value of (d−w) is required to be within a proper range.

Cell comprising a power-generating element fastened by sheets


A method of fabricating a semiconductor structure includes the following steps: forming a first interlayer dielectric on a substrate; forming a gate electrode on the substrate so that the periphery of the gate electrode is surrounded by the first interlayer dielectric; forming a patterned mask layer comprising at least a layer of organic material on the gate electrode; forming a conformal dielectric layer to conformally cover the layer of organic material; and forming a second interlayer dielectric to cover the conformal dielectric layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a method of fabricating a semiconductor structure having a metal electrode and a self-aligned contact (SAC).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Along with the continuous miniaturization of the Integrated Circuits (IC), the feature sizes of semiconductor devices within the ICs are also scaled down continuously. In order to overcome electrical or processing limitations arising from the miniaturization of semiconductor devices, semiconductor manufacturers have found several solutions. For example, for a transistor device with a polysilicon gate, some disadvantages, such as boron penetration and depletion effect often occur and cause inferior performance of the transistor device. In order to solve these drawbacks, some semiconductor manufacturers adopt a gate-last process to replace the conventional polysilicon gate with a metal gate having metal electrode. Additionally, along with the shrinkage between two adjacent gate structures, semiconductor manufacturers also correspondingly invent a method for self-aligning a contact structure so as to overcome drawbacks due to the insufficient space between the two adjacent gate structures.
For a transistor device having both the metal gate and the self-aligned contact structure, a mask layer is often formed to cover the metal gate prior to the formation of the self-aligned contact structure. In the case where the gate electrode is covered by the mask layer, even though the self-aligned contact structure is formed close to the metal gate, there is still no unnecessary contact between them.
However, even though the above-mentioned self-aligned contact structure is widely used to present unnecessary electrical connection, there is still a problem that needs to be overcome. For example, because the width of the mask layer is often equal to or less than the width of the underlying metal gate electrode, the self-aligned contact structure is still able to be in direct contact with the lateral of the adjacent metal gate electrode during the process of forming the self-aligned contact structure.
Accordingly, in order to overcome the above-mentioned problem, there is still a need to provide a method of fabricating a semiconductor structure having a metal gate and a self-aligned contact structure.

Method of fabricating a semiconductor structure with a self-aligned contact


A borosilicate glass is provided that has high solarization resistance and a defined position of the UV edge. The borosilicate glass includes the following constituents, in percent by weight based on oxide, of:                SiO2 65-85%;        B2O3 7-20%;        Al2O3 0-7%;        Li2O 0-2%;        Na2O 0-8%;        K2O 0-12%;        BaO 0-5%;        CaO 0-2%;        MgO 0-2%;        ZnO 0-2%;        TiO2 0.05-0.4%;        MoO3 0.025-0.3%; and        V2O5 0.001-0.01%.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention provides a borosilicate glass having good solarization resistance, and for the use thereof for the production of glass tubes and the production of lamps, and for the use thereof in irradiation units, for example as top glass, a front pane or a shell tube. Solarization is understood to mean the decline in transparency for light of various wavelength ranges, which is caused by the action of short-wave ultraviolet (UV) radiation. In the broadest sense, the ultraviolet radiation range is understood to mean the wavelength range below that of visible light (about <380 namometers (nm)). In the narrower sense of this invention, the UV range is regarded as the wavelength range of about 100-330 nm.
2. Description of Related Art
Lamps, illuminants and irradiation units in general, which are exposed to ultraviolet radiation, require glasses with maximum solarization resistance. In order to be able to specify and establish the wavelength range and proportion of UV radiation transmitted and blocked, a defined position of the UV edge is also desired. The UV edge is understood to mean the transition in the transmission curve from the UV range of high transmission to the UV range of very low transmission down to the limit of transparency. Glasses of the type mentioned are required, for example, as top glass, or as a front pane or shell tube of irradiation devices, for example weathering systems. In such systems, for example, the ageing resistance of lacquers, pigments, materials, components and the like is studied. More particularly, they also serve to simulate the resistance of polymers to sunlight and to check the methods, guidelines or standards pertaining thereto.
In order to reduce any decline in transparency resulting from solarization effects during the use of glasses, it is known that glasses can be pre-aged by UV irradiation. However, this method is inconvenient and associated with corresponding costs, and leads to an unsatisfactory result for many applications, since the pre-aged glasses have a low transmission overall. There is therefore still a need for more solarization-resistant glasses.
The applicant supplies, for example, a borosilicate glass of the 8281 type for UV filters, which suppresses the transmission of particular UV components through its preset position of the UV edge, while visible light and near infrared is transmitted in high proportions. As an essential component which influences UV radiation, this glass receives blocking with molybdenum oxide MoO3.
DE 10 2008 043 317 A likewise describes a glass wherein the UV blocking is established particularly by an MoO3 content. To influence the transmission properties, especially in the short-wave range, additional assisting contents of TiO2 and Bi2O3 are proposed.
For particular applications, however, the distribution of the short-wave light transmitted is unsuitable, or the solarization resistance is inadequate.

Solarization-resistant borosilicate glass and use thereof for production of glass tubes and lamps and in irradiation units


Devices, systems, and methods are directed to formation of tubular structures, such as spirally formed structures, having spirally extending reinforcing material. In particular, tubular structures can be formed in a continuous process in which a first material is spiral formed along a first spiral and a second material is joined to the first material along a second spiral to reinforce the spirally formed first material. As compared to manual application of reinforcing material, such a continuous process can facilitate producing tubular structures at rates suitable for high-volume, commercial fabrication. Further, or instead, as compared to the use of circumferentially extending reinforcing material to support a spiral formed tube, reinforcing the spirally formed first material with a spiral of the second material may offer certain structural advantages, such as improved resistance to buckling.

Tubes are ubiquitous in industrial applications, with some common uses including supporting wind turbines (or other machinery) and transporting fluid. Often, the design features of a tube are selected to reduce the likelihood of buckling under anticipated loading of the tube for a particular application. For example, wall thickness of a tube may be selected to achieve desired stiffness and/or strength of the tube. Increasing wall thickness to achieve a corresponding increase in stiffness and/or strength, however, may result in an inefficient use of material. That is, in some instances, the amount of added stiffness or strength achieved by increasing wall thickness is less than could be achieved by adding the same amount of material in a different manner. Also, increasing wall thickness may result in undesired additional weight.
In applications in which it is undesirable or inefficient to add material thickness to the entire tube, reinforcing material is sometimes positioned circumferentially about a tube. Such circumferential reinforcement, however, is applied in a manual process that significantly increases the cost, and decreases the throughput, of a production process of the structure being formed. Accordingly, there remains a need for a cost-effective and efficient production of tubes having selectively applied reinforcing material.


A voltage amplifier circuit, having a simple circuit construction and suitable for use as a high gain solid state image pickup device, is a differential circuit, one input terminal thereof being supplied with an input signal. At least one stage of an inverter circuit is serially connected to an output terminal of the differential circuit. An output terminal at the last stage of the inverter circuit is connected to the other input terminal of the differential circuit by an ON/OFF switch element controlled at a predetermined timing. In a signal transmission path there is no capacitor causing loss and delay.

This invention relates to a voltage amplifier circuit, and more particularly a voltage amplifier circuit especially suitable for use in an output circuit of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor.
This invention also relates to an image pickup device, including the voltage amplifier circuit.
The CCD image sensor has been widely used as a semiconductor element for converting an optical image signal into an electric signal. For example, a CCD linear image sensor, including linearly arranged pixels, is an indispensable component as a light receiving element for reading picture images in facsimile devices and photocopying machines, etc.
A CCD linear image sensor is made up of a pixel array, including a plurality of linearly arranged pixels, CCD registers for temporarily holding electric charges generated by respective pixels for transferring, and shift gate circuits for transferring charges of the pixels array to the CCD registers. The signal charges transferred by the CCD registers are stored in floating-diffusion capacitors acting as charge accumulators, and a voltage variation thereof is detected by a source follower in the succeeding stage. This voltage variation is amplified by a voltage amplifier circuit for increasing the sensitivity and then outputted as a low impedance voltage output signal.
The voltage amplifier circuit is constituted by a plurality of inverter circuits and source follower circuits. Such a voltage amplifier circuit is formed on a chip together with the CCD sensor by taking into consideration decreases in cost and noise.
In a prior art voltage amplifier circuit, however, there are many problems that the circuit construction is complicated and the operating speed decreases, etc., caused by the relation between the linear input voltage range of the source follower in the previous stage and the operating point of the inverter.

Solid state image pickup device having feedback voltage to amplifier


A method and system is disclosed for providing a distributed technical computing environment for distributing technical computing tasks from a technical computing client to technical computing workers for execution of the tasks on one or more computers systems. Tasks can be defined on a technical computing client, and the tasks organized into jobs. The technical computing client can directly distribute tasks to one or more technical computing workers. Furthermore, the technical computing client can submit tasks, or jobs comprising tasks, to an automatic task distribution mechanism that distributes the tasks automatically to one or more technical computing workers providing technical computing services. The technical computing worker performs technical computing of tasks and the results of the execution of tasks may be provided to the technical computing client. Data associated with the tasks is managed by a programmable interface associated with a data storage repository. The interface allows the various entities of the distributed technical computing environment to access data services performable by the interface or by a file system or a database and database management system associated with the data.

MATLAB® is a product of The MathWorks, Inc. of Natick, Mass., which provides engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and educators across a diverse range of industries with an environment for technical computing applications. MATLAB® is an intuitive high performance language and technical computing environment that provides mathematical and graphical tools for mathematical computation, data analysis, visualization, and algorithm development. MATLAB® integrates numerical analysis, matrix computation, signal processing, and graphics in an easy-to-use environment where problems and solutions are expressed in familiar mathematical notation, without traditional programming. MATLAB® is used to solve complex engineering and scientific problems by developing mathematical models that simulate the problem. A model is prototyped, tested and analyzed by running the model under multiple boundary conditions, data parameters, or just a number of initial guesses. In MATLAB®, one can easily modify the model, plot a new variable or reformulate the problem in a rapid interactive fashion that is typically not feasible in a non-interpreted programming such as Fortran or C.
As a desktop application, MATLAB® allows scientists and engineers to interactively perform complex analysis and modeling in their familiar workstation environment. However, a single workstation can be limiting to the size of the problem that can be solved, because of the relationship of the computing power of the workstation to the computing power necessary to execute computing intensive iterative processing of complex problems in a reasonable time.
For example, a simulation of a large complex aircraft model may take a reasonable time to run with a single computation with a specified set of parameters. However, the analysis of the problem may also require the model be computed multiple times with a different set of parameters, e.g., at one-hundred different altitude levels and fifty different aircraft weights, to understand the behavior of the model under varied conditions. This would require five-thousand computations to analyze the problem as desired and the single computer would take an unreasonable or undesirable amount of time to perform these simulations. In this case, the single computer would be allocated full-time to performing the computation while many computer resources on the network may be idle. Additionally, the benefit of the interactive features of the software is reduced as the computation time increases.
With many engineering and scientific problems requiring larger and more complex modeling, computations accordingly become more resource intensive and time-consuming. When a computation becomes so large and complex that it cannot be completed in a reasonable amount of time on a single computer, distributed computing in a distributed technical computing environment, for example Distributed Computing Toolbox for MATLAB® and MATLAB® Distributed Computing Engine, provides a solution to decrease the computation time as needed.
In such distributed technical computing environments, a scheduler, such as a load sharing facility (LSF), a portable batch system (PBS), a high-throughput computing (HTC) environment, such as Condor, Microsoft Cluster Manager, and the like, manage distribution of tasks within the distributed technical computing environment. Although such schedulers distribute tasks to the various computational devices in the distributed technical computing environment, the data associated with such tasks is stored in a shared file system accessible to those computational devices. This severely limits the types of clients and workers that can work with Distributed Computing Toolbox. Moreover, this limits the abilities of programs using the scheduler, to the capabilities of the file system with respect to being informed of changes and other events. Still further, it requires the data validation occur in the process generating the file. Accordingly, there exists a need to improve the management and handling of data associated with distributed tasks in the distributed technical computing environment.

Methods and system for distributing data to technical computing workers


Methods and a system involve secure communication between an RFID tag and a reader via the over-the-air interface, and to corresponding RFID tags and corresponding readers. A modification of the Rabin method is employed wherein within the framework of the encryption of a plaintext M into which an identification element of the RFID tag or of an object furnished therewith is incorporated, there is computed by the RFID tag, the Montgomery residue (Montgomery reduction) of the square of the plaintext M modulo n with respect to a Montgomery base R, i.e. C*=M2R−1 mod n, and the resultant ciphertext C* is employed for authenticating the RFID tag. The modulus n=p·q is the public key of the reader, the prime numbers p, q are the private key of the reader, and the Montgomery base R is an integer that is larger than the modulus n.

This invention relates to methods and a system for secure communication between an RFID tag and a reader via the over-the-air interface, and to corresponding RFID tags and corresponding readers.
RFID technology ("radio frequency identification") enables in particular the automatic identification of persons and objects, and is becoming increasingly widespread in a multiplicity of applications, such as for example in supply chain management, in access control systems, in systems for theft protection of goods, in electronic ticketing, and the like. An RFID system normally consists of a portable data carrier in the form of an RFID tag (also called a transponder), which a person carries or is attached to an object and which stores an identification code uniquely identifying the RFID tag and/or the object (also known to the person skilled in the art as a Unique ID (UID), Tag-ID (TID) or "Unique Item Identifier" (UII)), and a reader for contactlessly reading out the identification code of the RFID tag. The reader is usually only one reader of a multiplicity of readers which are installed at different locations and can access, via a background system, data deposited there for a multiplicity of RFID tags.
In particular those inexpensive RFID tags intended for logistics applications and for supply chain management, which are normally passive RFID tags that draw the energy required for operation from the electromagnetic field of a reader, frequently offer no cryptographic functions, so that an authentication of an RFID tag to a reader is not possible with such RFID tags. This is the case for example with UHF RFID tags, which are known to the person skilled in the art under the name Class-1 Gen-2 EPC tags, i.e. RFID tags that are configured according to the standard EPC Class 1 Generation 2 or the newer standard ISO/IEC 18000-63. As is known to the person skilled in the art, the term "Class-1 Gen-2 EPC tags" also includes tags according to the standard ISO/IEC 18000-63. In such RFID tags the unique identification code is referred to as the EPC ("Electronic Product Code"), which is usually a bit sequence consisting of 96 bits and deposited in a respective RFID tag. Upon a readout of an RFID tag the EPC is transferred to a reader in plaintext without authentication and can thus be intercepted both actively, by a reader of an unauthorized third party, and passively, by a third party monitoring the insecure communication channel, i.e. the over-the-air interface, between the RFID tag and a reader.
This leads to two potential problems, namely, firstly, that the presence and the position of an RFID tag can be detected and tracked by an unauthorized third party, which is also referred to as tracking of an RFID tag, and, secondly, that a third party can copy the read-out EPC into a new, forged RFID tag and can thus pass off the new, forged RFID tag as the tag from which the EPC was originally read out, which is also referred to as cloning an RFID tag.
For securing the communication between an RFID tag and a reader it is expedient to use cryptographic methods which enable, firstly, a unilateral or mutual authentication between the RFID tag and the reader and, secondly, an encryption of the communication via the over-the-air interface. Cryptographic methods are subdivided into symmetric methods, in which transmitter and receiver employ the same secret key, and public-key or asymmetric methods, in which the transmitter employs a public key and the receiver a secret or private key. However, symmetric methods are known to involve the problem that the common secret key must be deposited securely both in an RFID tag and in a reader or a background system connected thereto, which requires an elaborate key management in systems with a multiplicity of RFID tags and a multiplicity of readers, this being unnecessary in public-key or asymmetric methods. Such a key management can also be omitted in systems employing a symmetric method if the same master key is deposited in all RFID tags and in the background system. However, this involves the danger that as soon as the master key of an RFID tag has been established the whole system is broken. This danger does not exist in public-key methods.
A known public-key method is the Rabin method which, like the frequently used RSA method, utilizes modular exponentiation as its basis. Since the computation of the encryption is substantially simpler, i.e. less compute-intensive, in the Rabin method than in the RSA method, the Rabin method is preferable to the RSA method in particular where the entity carrying out the encryption, i.e. the transmitter of an encrypted message, has only limited processor power, as is the case for example with a limited-resource RFID tag that is to communicate securely with a reader coupled to a background system.
In the Rabin method the secret key consists of two prime numbers p and q, chosen in practice to be sufficiently large, which are linked with each other via a certain congruence condition. The product n=p·q of the two prime numbers p and q defines the modulus n and simultaneously represents the public key. Expediently, the prime numbers p and q are approximately equally large. According to the Rabin method, a plaintext M to be transmitted is encrypted by modular squaring and applying the modulo operation, i.e. the ciphertext C results from the plaintext M according to the following formula: C=M2 mod n.
The security of the Rabin method is based on the fact that it is very difficult to compute the modular square root from the ciphertext C without knowing the prime numbers p and q. However, this is only the case when the plaintext M is not substantially smaller than the modulus n. The modulo operation following squaring prevents the possibility of decryption by simply taking the root.
Since in the Rabin method the encryption by the transmitter involves a modular squaring, the receiver must for decryption compute the modular square root of the ciphertext C. As is known, this can be done utilizing the Chinese remainder theorem (CRT). As the person skilled in the art knows, this results in four square roots from which one must be selected as the original plaintext M. For this purpose, the "right" plaintext M can be marked for the receiver for example by means of a suitable identifier, check sum or the like.
As results from the hereinabove described formula for computing the ciphertext C in the Rabin method, the transmitter must normally carry out an arbitrary-precision division to carry out the modulo operation. However, such an arbitrary-precision division can only be realized very elaborately in particular on simple microprocessors as are employed with RFID tags.
The publication "A Low-Resource Public-Key Identification Scheme for RFID Tags and Sensor Nodes" by Y. Oren and M. Feldhofer in D. A. Basin, S. Capkun, and W. Lee, editors, WISEC, pages 59-68, ACM 2009, proposes under the name of WIPR method a modification of the conventional Rabin method which is intended in particular for securing the communication between a limited-resource RFID tag with a simple processor and a reader. Compared with the hereinabove described conventional Rabin method, the WIPR method has the advantage of employing for computing the ciphertext, instead of an elaborate arbitrary-precision division which is very compute-intensive and can thus hardly be implemented on simple microprocessors as are usually found on RFID tags, arbitrary-precision multiplications, which are substantially faster to execute than divisions and can also be realized more simply in terms of hardware.
According to the WIPR method, the ciphertext C′ is computed by the transmitter, e.g. an RFID tag, generating a random number r, multiplying it by the modulus n and adding the result to the square of the plaintext M, i.e. C′=M2+r·n. In so doing, an identification code of the RFID tag is incorporated into the plaintext M and the size of the random number r is so chosen that the product r·n is more than twice as large as the modulus n. In contrast to the conventional Rabin method, the square of the plaintext M is thus not masked in the WIPR method by carrying out the modulo operation which involves an arbitrary-precision division, but by adding the product r·n with the suitably chosen random number r.
The publication A. Shamir, "Memory Efficient Variants of Public-Key Schemes for Smart Card Applications", in A. D. Santis, editor, Advances in Cryptology—EUROCRYPT'94, Springer LNCS, Vol. 950, pages 445-449, has shown that a method like the WIPR method is just as secure as the conventional Rabin method provided the random number r is chosen randomly from a sufficiently large number range.
However, the price paid by the WIPR method for the advantage of avoiding an arbitrary-precision division is that the ciphertext C′ will normally be very long due to the omission of the modulo operation when squaring the plaintext M and due to the product of the modulus n with the sufficiently large random number r, which slows down the authentication operation between an RFID tag and a reader since a larger amount of data must be transferred from the RFID tag to the reader.

Methods and system for secure communication between an RFID tag and a reader


A method of applying a roof membrane assembly to a roof deck. The method includes the steps of providing a roof membrane assembly including a first roof membrane and a second roof membrane. The first roof membrane has at least one longitudinally extending edge and the second roof membrane overlaps the first roof membrane and is bonded along at least one longitudinally extending edge of the first roof membrane to define a membrane flap having a longitudinally extending edge. The roof membrane assembly is then positioned upon the roof deck and at least one roof membrane fastening device is positioned over the first roof membrane and beneath the longitudinally extending membrane flap and secured through the first roof membrane and into the roof deck. The longitudinally extending edge of the membrane flap is then bonded to the first roof membrane.

A roofing system generally includes a roof deck which is considered the structural supporting surface of a building extending between the surrounding exterior walls of the building. The roof deck may be constructed from plywood, metal decking or concrete or any other suitable material. Depending upon the construction, the roof deck may extend over the surrounding exterior walls or the roof deck may stop short of the exterior walls thereby forming a parapet wall, i.e., a low retaining wall at the edge of the roof deck. If desired, the roofing system may also include an insulation barrier formed from polyisocyanarate or any other suitable material applied over the roof deck.
To make the roof deck and building weather resistant a single-ply membrane roof is installed over the roof deck. The single-ply membrane roof refers to a water impermeable single sheet of polymeric material such as ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) having a preapplied hot melt adhesive, chlorinated polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, or chlorosulfanated polyethylene. The membrane roof has heretofore been installed on the roof deck using a variety of different methods.
For example, the field or interior of the membrane roof may be held to the roof deck by the use of ballast and/or penetrating or non-penetrating fastener means as known in the art. An example of a penetrating fastener means for retaining the field of a membrane roof installed to a roof deck is by utilizing a plurality of small, circular, metal plates having a hole in the center and a roofing screw or other suitable fastener. In order to anchor the membrane roof, the small, circular, metal plates are spaced apart in rows on the membrane roof and the fastener is driven through the hole in each plate, the membrane roof, any insulation material and then into the roof deck. The metal plates are then covered by overlapping roof membrane. An example of a non-penetrating fastener means would include totally adhering the field of the membrane roof to the roof deck.
An important consideration for a mechanically fastened membrane roof system is that the system withstand wind uplift forces. Consequently, in order to withstand wind uplift forces the membrane is typically fastened to the deck at close intervals over the entire membrane surface thereby minimizing the areas of membrane not secured to the roof deck. If the membrane sheets are secured only along the longitudinal edges the width of the membrane sheets should be restricted to a dimension of about 5-6 feet in order to ensure adequate resistance to uplift in the membrane between fastening locations.
Although the many known variations for attaching a membrane roof to a roof deck have been proven to perform satisfactorily under certain conditions, further improvements on attaching a membrane roof to a roof deck are desired.
One object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive mechanically fastened single-ply roofing system of improved durability under a wide range of climatic conditions and improved resistance to wind uplift forces. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved membrane roofing system which enables transferring to the membrane fabricating plant a substantial amount of the labor normally performed on the roof deck, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing labor costs, as well as assuring reliable product quality by providing better quality control. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of securing a membrane roof to a roof deck in a manner which reduces labor and material costs but which does not decrease field performance. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method of securing a membrane roof to a roof deck which permits the use of wider sheets of membrane thereby minimizing the total number of welded seams of the membrane sheets and/or mechanical fastening of the membrane sheets to the roof deck. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of installing a membrane roof to a roof deck that is simple and economical.


A hybrid-vehicle drive method and system includes an internal combustion engine that includes an output shaft, a first electric motor/generator connected to the output shaft of the internal combustion engine via a power distribution mechanism, a wheel drive shaft connected to the output shaft of the internal combustion engine via the power distribution mechanism, a second electric motor/generator connected to the wheel drive shaft, and a transmission located on at least one of the wheel drive shaft and a connecting portion of the second electric motor/generator with the wheel drive shaft.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a drive system for hybrid vehicles, which drives wheels by using a combination of an internal combustion engine and electric motors.
2. Description of Related Art
As conservation of air environment and saving of fuel resources become increasingly important, hybrid vehicles whose wheels are driven by a combination of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor (or motors) have been attracting much attention in the field of automobiles. In the hybrid vehicles, wheels are driven in various manners by an internal combustion engine and an electric motor (or motors) arranged in various forms so as to achieve a wide variety of combinations of rotation speed and drive torque. Motor vehicles used to be driven by using only internal combustion engines. However, the development of hybrid vehicles in the automotive field was started by replacing a part of a drive system that conventionally uses only an internal combustion engine, with an electric drive system including, for example, an electric motor(s).
With this background, it is presently assumed that hybrid vehicles are capable of running only by use of an internal combustion engine. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-198669 discloses one example of a hybrid-vehicle drive system. In this hybrid-vehicle drive system, a first electric motor/generator is connected in series with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine and a power shaft is arranged to be driven by one or both of the internal combustion engine and the first electric motor/generator serving as a motor. The power shaft and an output shaft of a second electric motor/generator are respectively connected to a ring gear and a sun gear of a planetary gear mechanism, thereby connecting both shafts to each other. A carrier of the planetary gear mechanism, which serves as an output shaft, is connected to a transmission, which in turn is connected to drive wheels. In the hybrid-vehicle drive system thus constructed, even when only the internal combustion engine operates as a driving motor, the drive system is able to provide a wide variety of operating or running modes required by the vehicle by utilizing the speed-ratio changing function of the transmission, as is the case with conventional vehicles using only the internal combustion engine. This may be considered as one typical example reflecting the origin of hybrid vehicles as described above.
On the other hand, there has been proposed another hybrid-vehicle drive system that eliminates the need of providing a transmission which was conventionally disposed between an output shaft of an internal combustion engine and a transmission. In this hybrid-vehicle drive system, an internal combustion engine and an electric motor (or motors) are combined to provide a driving source of a motor vehicle such that the motor serves to absorb a difference between the rotation speed of an output shaft of the internal combustion engine and that of vehicle axles. The difference is caused by deviation of the relationship between the rotation speed and the drive torque actually obtained by the internal combustion engine from that relationship required at the vehicle axles. FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing a construction of such a hybrid-vehicle drive system.
In FIG. 1, an internal combustion engine 1 is mounted in a vehicle body (not shown), and has an output shaft (or a crankshaft) 2. A planetary gear mechanism 3 includes a sun gear 4, a ring gear 5, planetary pinions 6, and a carrier 7. The crankshaft 2 is coupled to the carrier 7. A first electric motor/generator (MG1) 8 includes a coil 9 and a rotor 10. The rotor 10 is connected to the sun gear 4 while the coil 9 is supported on the vehicle body. One end of a propeller shaft 11 is connected to the ring gear 5. In the drive system thus constructed, the planetary gear mechanism 3 is operable to distribute power received from the internal combustion engine to the first motor/generator 8 and the propeller shaft 11 as a wheel-drive shaft. Thus, the planetary gear mechanism 3 serves as a power distribution mechanism. A second electric motor/generator (MG2) 12 is connected to an intermediate portion of the propeller shaft 11. The second motor/generator 12 includes a coil 13 and a rotor 14. The coil 13 is supported on the vehicle body. The rotor 14 may be connected to the propeller shaft 11 in any manner. In the drive system as shown in FIG. 1, for example, the rotor 14 is connected to the propeller shaft 11 such that a gear 16 supported and rotated by the rotor 14 engages with a gear 15 provided on the propeller shaft 11. The other end of the propeller shaft 11 is connected to a pair of vehicle axles 18 via a differential gear unit 17. Wheels 19 are attached to the respective vehicle axles 18.
In the drive system shown in FIG. 1, the crankshaft 2 rotates as a unit with the carrier 7, and the rotation speed of these components 2, 7 is denoted by "Nc." Likewise, the electric motor/generator 8 rotates as a unit with the sun gear 4, and the rotation speed of these components 8, 4 is denoted by "Ns." The ring gear 5, the second electric motor/generator 12, and the wheels 19 rotate in proportion with each other, to eventually provide the vehicle speed. The rotation speeds of these components 5, 12, 19 differ depending on the ratio between the number of gear teeth of the gear 15 and that of the gear 16, the speed reducing ratio of the differential gear unit 17, and the tire radius. In the following description, however, the rotation speed of the ring gear 5 will be adopted as a typical speed representing those of the components 5, 12, 19 and will be denoted by "Nr", for the sake of simplicity and convenience.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing a relationship among the rotation speed Nc of the internal combustion engine and the rotation speeds Ns, Nr of the two electric motors MG1, MG2, which relationship is established on the basis of the principal of the planetary gear mechanism. In this graph, ρ represents the ratio of the number of gear teeth of the sun gear to that of the ring gear (ρ<1). Since Nc is determined by the rotation speed of the internal combustion engine, and Nr is determined by the vehicle speed, Ns is determined according to the following expression (1), based on the engine speed and the vehicle speed:Ns=(1+1/ρ)Nc−(1/ρ)Nr  (1)
Besides, torques at the carrier, the sun gear, and the ring gear will be denoted as Tc, Ts, and Tr, respectively. These torques are in equilibrium with each other at the following ratio;Ts:Tc:Tr=π/(1+ρ):1:1/(1+ρ)  (2)When any of these three elements, i.e., the carrier, the sun gear and the ring gear, generates or absorbs torque, torque is transferred among the elements until the above equilibrium is achieved.
In a hybrid vehicle including the drive system constructed as described above, the operations of the internal combustion engine, MG1, and MG2 are controlled by a vehicle operation control system (not shown) based on operation commands from an operator of the vehicle and the operating or running state of the vehicle. More specifically, the vehicle operation control system includes a microcomputer and is arranged to perform the following control. First, a target vehicle speed and a target wheel drive torque are calculated based on operation commands from the vehicle operator and the operating state of the vehicle detected by various sensors. At the same time, output current available at a power storage system or the quantity of electric power required for charging the power storage system are calculated based on the state of charge (SOC) of the power storage system. Using the results of these calculations, the vehicle operation control system further performs calculations to determine an appropriate operating mode of the internal combustion engine, including suspension or stop of the operation thereof, and an appropriate motor-operating/power-generating mode of each of the MG1 and the MG2. Using the results of these calculations, the vehicle operation control system controls the operations of the internal combustion engine, the MG1 and the MG2.
In the hybrid-vehicle drive system, the output shaft of the internal combustion engine is connected to the first electric motor/generator and to the wheel-drive shaft via the power distribution mechanism, and the second electric motor/generator is connected to the wheel-drive shaft, as described above. With this arrangement, as is apparent from FIG. 2, changes in the rotation speed Nc of the output shaft of the internal combustion engine, the rotation speed Nr corresponding to the vehicle speed, and the relationship between the rotation speeds Nc, Nr can be absorbed by the rotation speed Ns of the first electric motor/generator, and therefore these values Nc, Nr can be significantly changed. Thus, the hybrid-vehicle drive system does not require a transmission. More specifically, the relationship between Nc and Nr can be flexibly changed by adjusting or controlling the power distribution system, and it is therefore possible, for example, to operate the engine (Nc>0) even when the vehicle is at a stop (Nr=0), to stop the engine operation (Nc=0) while the vehicle is running forward (Nr>0), or to drive the vehicle (Nr<0) backward irrespective of whether the engine is operated or stopped (Nc≧0).
Since the rotation speed of the MG2 depends on the vehicle speed and the state of charge of the power storage system basically has no relationship with the vehicle speed, there is a great restriction to operating the MG2 as a power generator for charging the power storage system. Therefore, charging of the power storage system is carried out only by the MG1 whereas electric driving of the wheels is carried out only by the MG2. In the above-described hybrid-vehicle drive system including no transmission, therefore, the MG2 serving as a sole motor for driving the wheels needs to be large-sized in order to secure a satisfactory vehicle drive performance for generating large wheel-drive torque as needed even in a low-vehicle-speed region.
The above description will be more apparent from FIG. 3, which shows a coordinate system indicating a relationship between a required value of torque to be produced at the vehicle axles (which will be referred to as "vehicle-axle torque") and the vehicle speed. The relationship of FIG. 3 is obtained when the internal combustion engine of the vehicle is operated at a high fuel efficiency over a wide range of vehicle speed. In FIG. 3, line A represents the limit performance of the vehicle, which represents a desired relationship between the vehicle speed and the vehicle-axle torque, and a flat region denoted by B represents the vehicle-speed versus vehicle-axle-torque performance of the internal combustion engine operating at a high fuel efficiency. The remaining region denoted by C represents the vehicle-speed versus vehicle-axle-torque performance to be provided only by the MG2. To achieve the vehicle-speed versus vehicle-axle-torque performance of FIG. 3, the MG2 is required to have a sufficiently large size so as to produce a large torque at a low rotation speed.
It appears from FIG. 3 that the depth of the region C is considerably large as compared with the region B. The imbalance between the region C and the region B may lead to an imbalance in the size among the three driving sources, i.e., the internal combustion engine and the first and second motor/generators, in particular, an imbalance in the size between the engine and the second motor/generator. In view of this point, the hybrid-vehicle drive system without a transmission as described above may be desired to be further improved.

Hybrid-vehicle drive system and operation method with a transmission


A chip mounter provided with an image processing system for recognizing as an image a chip sucked by a suction bit, the tip surface side of the suction bit being formed of a material which does not cause an erroneous image recognition of the image of the chip by the image processing system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chip mounting technique, and more particularly to a technique which can be used effectively for mounting chip type electronic parts such as semiconductor pellet.
2. Related Art Statement
Typically, chip parts such as chip type electronic parts including semiconductor devices, resistors and capacitors are sucked with a suction bit of a chip mounter and then mounted onto a lead frame etc.
For example, as a chip mounter used in such a mounting technique, a chip mounter which is provided with an image processing system for recognizing as an image a chip sucked by a suction bit has been well known.
A chip mounter with such an image processing system recognizes whether a chip is sucked in a predetermined proper position of a suction bit or not by the image processing system. If the chip is not sucked at a predetermined proper position, the position is adjusted to the predetermined position of the chip based on a resultant image recognition by the image processing system.
Now, in the aforementioned chip mounter provided with an image processing system, the periphery of the suction bit is recognized as a background of a chip by the image processing system, and is formed with milk-white semitransparent resin and the like. Thereby, illumination light from a light emitting diode and the like permeates the resin and then strikes into an optical lens of the image processing system.
However, since at least the tip surface side, i.e. suction surface side of the suction bit, is formed of a metal, when the suction bit sucks the chip while its tip surface side is positioned within a chip surface to be sucked, the image processing system can recognize properly the chip as a proper image. However, when the suction bit sucks the chip while its tip surface side deviates from the chip surface area to be sucked, the image processing system recognizes the tip surface side of the suction bit as a dark shaded image which is the same as that produced by the chip.
As a result, the image processing system may recognize erroneously the shape image of the chip, whereby there is a danger that adjusting the position of a chip based on the image recognition by the image processing system becomes impossible.


A method for making fluid elasticity measurements using an extensional viscometer (100) is disclosed, where stress is not directly measured but is inferred from an accurate measurement of the change in the rate of flow of a liquid during passage through a vertical capillary (104). The flow rate changes when the liquid jet, also called the liquid filament, leaving a first capillary (104), is stretched by the application of vacuum forces. Steady flow is established almost instantly by using a constant liquid head (102, 118) above the capillary, and the flow rate is determined by timing the interval for liquid to drain between two marks (110, 112) on the liquid reservoir surface. Extensional viscosity can be calculated as a ratio of the tensile stress and stretch rate of the liquid at different axial positions.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to rheometry, and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for measuring fluid stresses in extension.
2. Related Art
Mobile polymer solutions, liquid-liquid emulsions, and dilute solid-in-liquid suspensions show flow behavior in which the observed stress has an origin that is partly viscous and partly elastic. These viscous and elastic properties can be measured using a variety of viscometers. Knowledge of these properties is needed for purposes of material characterization, product differentiation, product formulation, and quality control.
Many fluids of industrial interest show only low levels of elasticity, and researchers have found that the use of an extensional flow field is best suited for fluid elasticity measurement. However, extensional viscometers that can make measurement under flow conditions representative of industrial operations require large liquid volumes on the order of one quart. This is because flow has to be set up and a steady state established before the fluid stress can be measured. This is often problematic because sample quantities are often limited due to the expense of the liquid to be measured.
When limited samples are available, fluid recirculation is necessary. Fluid recirculation is undesirable because polymer chain scission happens easily during stretching. Furthermore, in applications such as aerosol formation during agricultural pesticide and herbicide spraying, and also in inkjet printing, the liquids of interest are relatively inelastic and have shear viscosities that are as low as 5 or 6 mPa·s. Measuring extensional viscosity of these liquids is extremely difficult. Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus capable of making fluid elasticity measurements with only small volumes of fluid and without the need for re-circulating the sample. There is a further need for a method and apparatus that can make these measurements for relatively inelastic fluids having low shear viscosities.

Sensitive spinline-type extensional viscometer for mobile liquids employing very small liquid volumes


Method, computer program product, and apparatus for providing navigation guidance to vehicles are disclosed. In some implementations, a navigation device can be configured to determine a dynamic speed limit for a vehicle based on the location of the vehicle in a road segment, and displays the dynamic speed limit in a display of the navigation device.

Conventional personal navigation devices (PDNs), such as TomTom Go, Mio Moov, and Google Navigate, typically show the summer speed limits all year around. With these conventional PNDs, a driver would have to mentally compute the speed limits of certain roads in some situations in order to drive within the speed limits of such roads. For example, a user may have to subtract 20 Kilometers per hour (KM/H) from the speed limits displayed by the PNDs in winter in order to drive within the speed limits, especially in situations when the user has missed the speed limit signs. For some other roads for example, electric speed limit sign may be provided, where the speed limit sign may indicate 80 KMPH between 8 AM and 5 PM, but may indicate 100 KM/H the rest of the time. The conventional PNDs have failed to cope with the situations of variable speed limits described above.
Therefore, there is a need for method, device, computer program product, and apparatus that can address the above issues of the conventional methods and devices.


A device for carrying out of biometric identification by comparing face shapes. The shape of a first face is compared with the shape of a second face. A map can be determined between the shapes. The shape, and hence the comparison, is substantially independent of pose and lighting, and also parts of the shape can be removed from the comparison in order to enhance the recognition.

A biometric is a measurement of any physical characteristic or personal trait of an individual that can be used to identify or verify the identity of that individual. Different forms of biometrics are well known and have been extensively tested. Common forms of biometrics include fingerprint, voice, eye scan (for example retinal scan and iris scan) face recognition, and others. Most biometric systems operate by initially enrolling individuals; that is collecting biometric samples from persons and using those samples to generate a template. The template is the data that represents the enrollee's biometric. The biometric system then matches new samples against the templates, and either verifies or identifies based on this matching.
Retinal scans and iris scans are extremely accurate, but may be considered intrusive by many people, since the scanner actually looks into the users eye. Moreover, the scan may require the user to cooperate, that is, it may require the user to look into the scanner in a certain way.
Fingerprint scans are also intrusive in that they require the user to put their hand into a fingerprint scanning device. In addition, the fingerprint scans often will not work on certain people who work with their hands (such as construction workers, and the like), and suffer from difficulties based on the actual orientation of the fingerprint. Moreover, if a user fails a fingerprint scan, there is no easy way to verify whether the user really should have failed that scan or not. Only highly trained individuals can manually match fingerprints. Finally, fingerprints require cooperation even more than retinal scans.
Face recognition has certain advantages in this regard. Initially, face recognition is not intrusive, since the face can be obtained by a simple camera, without requiring the user to do anything, other than walk by a location, and have their face captured by a camera. Similarly, face recognition does not require cooperation. Other face recognition systems may use lasers. While these latter techniques may be more intrusive, they are still no more intrusive than other technologies and do not require cooperation.
In addition, the human brain is extremely good at recognizing faces. An alarm allows a person to determine at a glance whether the face is correct or not.
The state-of-the-art in face recognition includes devices which are marketed by Viisage and Identix. These devices typically compare two-dimensional pictures of faces, against a two-dimensional template of another picture, which is stored in memory. The problem is that the comparison is intended to be a comparison of FACES, but the real comparison is a comparison of PICTURES OF FACES. Therefore, the comparison is highly affected by lighting, pose of the person, and other variances.

Imaging of biometric information based on three-dimensional shapes


A sampling frequency conversion apparatus having sampling frequency conversion circuits for a plurality of channels includes a detector detecting phase information of digital signals inputted to the conversion circuit for each channel, and an input section inputting setting information for the conversion circuits for two or more channels to be phase-synchronized. The apparatus further includes a phase information supplier supplying the phase information for the conversion circuit for a specific channel designated by the setting information inputted into the input section to the conversion circuits for the remaining channels of those for two or more channels other than the conversion circuit for the specific channel, and a sampling frequency converter performing sampling frequency conversion on the phase information of the conversion circuits for the remaining channels in synchronization with the phase information for the specific channel supplied from the phase information supplier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sampling frequency conversion apparatus having sampling frequency conversion circuits for a plurality of channels and a signal switching apparatus having a sampling frequency conversion circuit provided for each channel. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sampling frequency conversion apparatus and a signal switching apparatus suitable for inputting multi-channel signals of various numbers of channels.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been developed a sampling frequency conversion apparatus (or, sample rate converter) which performs sampling frequency conversion processing on multi-channel digital audio signals.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one configuration example of such a sample rate converter (here, a later-described Matched-Phase mode is not applied). The sample rate converter performs sampling frequency conversion on AES/EBU formatted digital audio signals (hereinafter, referred to as "AES signals"), and includes AES input processing circuits 1-1, 1-2, 1-3; SRCs (sample rate converter IC) 2-1, 2-2, 2-3; and AES output processing circuits 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, corresponding to inputted AES signals (AESI1, AESI2, AESI3) for respective channels (hereinafter, these circuits for respective channels are generically described as "AES input processing circuit 1", "SRC 2", "AES output processing circuit 3", and the like).
The AES input processing circuit 1 includes the following circuit blocks (1) to (3):
(1) A circuit which samples clock signals based on waveforms of inputted AES signals
(2) A circuit which demodulates audio data from inputted AES signals
(3) A circuit which samples ancillary data such as audio channel status bits from inputted AES signals
Demodulated audio data S1 and sampled clock signals S2 (SCLK_I, LRCLK_I) are supplied from the AES input processing circuit 1 to the SRC 2. Likewise, sampled ancillary data S5 are supplied from the AES input signal processing circuit 1 to the AES output processing circuit 3. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing waveforms of the clock signals SCLK_I and LRCLK_I with audio data (left channel audio data and right channel audio data) of the AES signals for one frame (1/fs period).
As shown in FIG. 1, the SRC 2 performs sampling frequency conversion on the audio data S1 using the clock signals S2 (SCLK_I, LRCLK_I) and internal sampling frequency conversion reference clock signals S4 (SCLK_O, LRCLK_O) of the apparatus. Audio data S3 on which sampling frequency conversion is performed using the SRC 2 are supplied to the AES output processing circuit 3.
The AES output processing circuit 3 converts the audio data S3 and the ancillary data S5 into original AES signals, and outputs the AES signals (AESO1, AESO2, AESO3).
There arises a problem in which sound localization (phase, balance) discords between the SRCs 2 for respective channels in the SRC 2 due to a difference in processing time delays according to the sample rate converter having the configuration in FIG. 1.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the following methods (1), (2), and the like have generally been applied:
(1) A method that is conducted, when sampling frequency conversion is performed, using a memory unit which subsequently writes input data or data oversampling the input data, and sequentially read data written with a prescribed address difference from a write address, and using an interpolation processor which performs interpolation processing on the data read from the memory unit. In this method, the address difference between the write address and the read address of the memory unit is optimized. During a prescribed period of supplying input data, the difference between the addresses is optimized without any limitation, and after the prescribed period, the optimization is performed with a certain limitation (see Patent Reference 1).
(2) A method of setting a common parameter between the SRCs for sampling frequency conversion processing (hereinafter, referred to as "Matched-Phase mode processing" or "MP processing") (see Non-patent Reference 1).
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing one configuration example of a sample rate converter using a Matched-Phase mode processing of the methods, and the elements identical to those in FIG. 1 are provided with the same reference numerals. In this sample rate converter, an SRC 4-1 (Phase-Master) is provided to the first channel, and an SRC 4-2 (Slave 1) and an SRC 4-3 (Slave 2) are respectively provided to the second channel and the third channel, in place of the respective SRCs 2-1, 2-2 and 2-3 shown in FIG. 1.
A TDM_IN terminal of the SRC 4-1 is grounded, and a code 3′b000 (setting code indicating Phase-Master) is supplied to an MMODE terminal of the SRC 4-1. Based on the code 3′b000, the SRC 4-1 performs sampling frequency conversion on the audio data S1 supplied from the AES input processing circuit 1-1 in synchronization with a phase detected from the audio data S1. The SRC 4-1 then multiplexes detected phase information (Matched-Phase data) with the audio data on which sampling frequency conversion is performed, and outputs the multiplexed data as shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 3, the Matched-Phase data S6 is supplied to the TDM_IN terminals of the SRC 4-2 and SRC 4-3.
A code 3′b100 (setting code indicating Slave) is supplied to MMODE terminals of the SRC 4-2 and SRC 4-3. Based on the code 3′b100, the SRC 4-2 and SRC 4-3 respectively perform sampling frequency conversion on the audio data S1 supplied from the AES input processing circuits 1-2 and 1-3 in synchronization with the Matched-Phase data S6 which is inputted into the TDM_IN terminals.
Accordingly, the SRC 4-1, SRC 4-2 and SRC 4-3 respectively operate in synchronization with the common phase (phase detected by SRC 4-1).
[Patent Reference 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-158619 (paragraphs 0049, 0067 to 0069, FIGS. 1, 2 and 6)
[Non-patent Reference 1] "192 kHz Stereo Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter AD1896" ANALOG DEVICES, retrieved from Nov. 7, 2005, Internet <URL:http://www.analog.com/UploadedFiles/Data_Sheets/71654447AD1 896_a.pdf>

Sampling frequency conversion apparatus and signal switching apparatus


A method and apparatus for calibrating a multiple port metering pump includes a graduated scale mounted on the head of the pump and an indicator mounted on the body of the pump, whereby the angular orientation of a plurality of radially extending, sequentially spaced outlet ports may be adjusted relative to the pump piston to calibrate and balance the flow of fluid therethrough.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to multiple port metering pumps for delivering precise volumes of fluid and is specifically related to a method and apparatus for calibrating a multiple port pump for precisely dispensing reagents in assay tests from a plurality of outlet ports.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This invention is related to the co-pending applications entitled: VALVELESS METERING PUMP WITH RECIPROCATING ROTATING PISTON, Ser. No. 07/648,242, by G. Pardinas, filed on Jan. 31, 1991 and CONTROL SYSTEM FOR VALVELESS METERING PUMP, by R. Young et al filed concurrently herewith both of which are assigned to the assignee of this application.
It is known to use assay testing to determine the presence of infectious diseases such as, hepatitis, syphilis and the HIV virus in the presence of blood serum. In typical procedures, a precise volume of a biological sample is disposed in a test receptacle and a reagent is added to the same to perform an immunoassay using an automated analyzer. Typically, the reagent is delivered in precise volume to the testing site. The reagent volume for each sample can be in the range of 50 to 100 microliters and must be dispensed within a plus or minus 0.5 microliter accuracy and precision with less than one percent coefficient of variance.
Because of the high precision requirements of pump systems for delivering reagents, the drop size, the condition of the meniscus at the end of the outlet ports and the pressure variation due to valve movement must all be taken into consideration to assure accurate test samples. For example, the minuscule pumping action inherent in shifting a valve from one position to another is of critical significance when dealing with the volumes commonly associated with assay type testing. This, coupled with the requirement that the components of the pump which come into contact with the reagent must be of an inert material such as tetrafluro plastics and/or ceramics or the like, has led to very expensive and complex designs. Unfortunately, the more complex the design the greater the likelihood for error in manufacturing and assembly, further increasing the cost by requiring tight tolerances to minimize the effect of tolerance stacking. In addition, more complex systems with the associated number of moving parts contribute to field failure and maintenance costs.
More recently, valveless, positive displacement metering pumps have been successfully employed in applications where safe and accurate handling of fluids is required. The valveless pumping function is accomplished by the simultaneous rotation and reciprocation of a piston in a work chamber. The piston head containing the work chamber and piston is mounted such that it may be swiveled with respect to the rotating drive. The degree of angle controls the stroke and length and in turn, the flow rate. This type of pump has been found to be useful in performing accurate transfers of both gaseous and liquid fluids.
An example of a valveless positive displacement pump is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,003. The pump includes a cylinder divided into a pair of working chambers, each of the chambers communicating with an inlet and an outlet port. The pump disclosed in the 4,008,003 patent does not lend itself to accurate calibration for metering and dispensing fluids in the precise volumes called for in assay type tests. The piston stroke is not easily adjusted and the angular displacement of the ports cannot be readily calibrated. Another example of a valveless metering pump using a tiltable housing to control the piston stroke is disclosed in the co-pending application Ser. No. 07/463,260, entitled: PUMP WITH MULTI-PORT DISCHARGE, filed on Jan. 10, 1990, with the co-inventors G. Pardinas, R. W. Jaekel and D. Pinkerton.
A valveless metering pump specifically designed for assay type testing and for providing accurate and precise delivery of fluids to test receptacles is disclosed in my afore-mentioned related application entitled: VALVELESS METERING PUMP WITH RECIPROCATING, ROTATING PISTON, Ser. No. 07/468,262. The valveless metering pump thereshown provides a fluid delivery system particularly suited for precision delivery of fluid reagents to a test site in an assay test in a dependable and reliable manner. The pump design includes a minimum number of moving parts, is valveless, flexible in configuration and is easy to assemble with minimum risk of tolerance stacking. The pump is designed to have a broad reagent compatibility and is capable of dispensing fluid volumes in the range of 50-100 microliters per port within plus or minus 0.5 microliters and with a precision of less than one percent coefficient of variance.
It has become common practice that each pump may deliver a specific reagent to each of a plurality of testing locations and, in the prior art, a valve mechanism is used to control the flow of the reagent from first one station and then to the other. In dual port or multiple port systems, it is important that the fluid reagent delivered at each output port be balanced and accurately controlled to assure consistency in the testing procedure. This is a problem of some significance with respect to valveless metering pumps such as those disclosed in the aforementioned pending application Ser. Nos. 07/463,260; and 07/468,262.
While each of the pumps there disclosed is operative to deliver a precise and repeatable volume of fluid to the respective test receptacles, calibration of the pumps to balance the output ports can be a tedious and time-consuming task. Once the pumps are installed and in the field, re-calibration during servicing and maintenance can be difficult if not impossible, often requiring that the pump be removed and returned to the manufacturer for calibration and balancing of the output ports.

Method and apparatus for calibrating a multiple port pump


An approach is disclosed for improving ventricular function of a patient's heart. According to one embodiment, the system includes a pouch that defines a chamber dimensioned and configured to simulate at least a portion of a heart chamber. The pouch has a sidewall portion extending from an inflow annulus and terminating in a closed distal end spaced apart from the inflow annulus. A generally cylindrical outflow portion extends from the sidewall portion of the pouch and terminating in an outflow annulus thereof to provide for flow of fluid from the chamber through the outflow annulus. A valve is operatively associated with the inflow annulus of the pouch to provide for substantially unidirectional flow of fluid through the inflow annulus and into the chamber.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition of the heart in which ventricles one or more become too large. Dilated cardiomyopathy occurs as a consequence of many different disease processes that impair myocardial function, such as coronary artery disease and hypertension. As a consequence of the left ventricle enlarging, for example, the ventricles do not contract with as much strength, and cardiac output is diminished. The resulting increase in pulmonary venous pressure and reduction in cardiac output can lead to congestive heart failure. Dilated cardiomyopathy can also result in enlargement of the mitral annulus and left ventricular cavity, which further produces mitral valvular insufficiency. This in turn, causes volume overload that exacerbates the myopathy, often leading to progressive enlargement and worsening regurgitation of the mitral valve.
A dilated ventricle requires more energy to pump the same amount of blood as compared to the heart of normal size. The relationship between cardiac anatomy and pressure has been quantified by La Place's law. Generally, La Place's law describes the relationship between the tension in the walls as a function of the transmural pressure difference, the radius, and the thickness of a vessel wall, as follows:T=(P*R)/M, which solving for P reduces to:P=(T*M)/R
where T is the tension in the walls, P is the pressure difference across the wall, R is the radius of the cylinder, and M is the thickness of the wall. Therefore to create the same pressure (P) during ejection of the blood, much larger wall tension (T) has to be developed by increase exertion of the cardiac muscle. Such pressure further is inversely proportional to the radius of the cylinder (e.g., the ventricle).
Various treatments exist for patients having dilated cardiomyopathy. One approach is to perform a heart transplant procedure. This is an extraordinary measure, usually implemented as a last resort due to the risks involved.
Another approach employs a surgical procedure, called ventricular remodeling, to improve the function of dilated, failing hearts. Ventricular remodeling (sometimes referred to as the Batista procedure) involves removing a viable portion of the enlarged left ventricle and repairing the resultant mitral regurgitation with a valve ring. This procedure attempts to augment systemic blood flow through improvement in the mechanical function of the left ventricle by restoring its chamber to optimal size. In most cases, partial left ventriculectomy is accompanied by mitral valve repair. With respect to La Place's law, a goal of ventriculectomy is to reduce the radius so that more pressure can be generated with less energy and less stress exertion by the patient's cardiac muscle.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for improving ventricular function


A method for computer startup protection, wherein the method includes steps that a computer powers up, and loads and executes a dynamic password computer startup protection program; the dynamic password computer startup protection program receives a password entered by a user; the password is obtained by the user via sending a dynamic password generating command to a dynamic password device; then the dynamic password computer startup protection program determines whether the password is valid, if so, the dynamic password computer startup protection program loads a computer startup program of the computer; otherwise the dynamic password computer startup protection program does not load the computer startup program of the computer. A system includes a computer and a dynamic password generating device.

In the computer application field, during a process of protecting computer startup or accessing a remote server by a client side, for example, when a user starts a computer in normal mode, the general method for computer startup protection requires the user to enter a password to determine whether the identity of the user is legitimate. If the user can enter a correct password, the user will be regarded as a legitimate user by the computer (or the remote server) and is permitted to login and access the computer. Generally, the password of the user is set up by the user himself/herself. Theoretically, the user is the only one who knows the password. Therefore, the computer regards the user as legitimate if the user enters the password correctly.
And the computer can only identify the digital identity of the user; all the authentications to the user are for the digital identity of the user. While the real world is physical, every one has a unique physical identity. How to guarantee the user who would operate the computer with a digital identity is the legitimate owner of the digital identity, or how to guarantee the physical identity of the operator accord with the digital identity, is an important problem.
In the process of implementing the invention, the inventor found problems below.
On one side, in the method described above with the mode of user name/password, most user uses his/her or family member's birthday date or a telephone number as the password to prevent the password from being forgotten. But those meaningful character strings are easily to be guessed by others; or the user writes the password on a place where the user thought is safe, which is unsafe actually and the password is disclosed easily; furthermore, when the illegitimate user login the computer with the obtained password, the illegitimate user can transplant hard disk into a computer without a password and replace the content of the hard disk to implement the normal starting of the system. Therefore, the mode of user name/password above for identity identification has potential security threats.
On the other side, the mode of user name/password above is a verification mode of static password. During the application process, verification mode of static password has a lot of unsafe factors, which will lead to password disclosure and illegitimate login. Therefore, verification mode of static password is a way of identity verification with potential security threats.
In a word, in the prior art, the protection for computer startup has potential security threats which leads to password disclosure easily; and the security of binding the physical identity and digital identity cannot be guaranteed.

Method for computer startup protection and system thereof


An apparatus for recording or reading high areal density holographically stored information with high signal-to-noise ratio. The apparatus comprises a holographic imaging system for recording or reconstructing a holographic image, having a first numerical aperture and a first focal length and an additional optical system for filtering the signal beam, having a second numerical aperture and a second focal length, wherein the numerical aperture of the additional optical system is less than the numerical aperture of the holographic imaging system and/or the focal length of the additional optical system is greater than the optical length of the holographic imaging system.

The need for cost-effective, high performance data storage has, for many applications, outpaced technology development. Enterprise storage, image archives, and entertainment content, among other applications, are driving the demand for enhanced data storage solutions. Several of these applications currently rely on storage technologies, such as optical, magneto-optical, and magnetic tape, that use removable media. These technologies, for the most part, have relatively limited improvements remaining on their roadmaps for attaining increased data density, or have limitations in achievable data rates, or in random access. Holographic data storage (HDS), on the other hand, promises both near-term performance comparable to the most optimistic long-term projections for these technologies, and a technology roadmap with many years of rapidly increasing data storage density and data transfer rate in combination with random access.
A practical embodiment of an HDS system uses relatively thin recording material, such as photopolymers, in combination with, for example, a 4f optical imaging system. Mutually coherent signal and reference beams form an interference pattern in the volume of their overlap. A hologram is recorded when light-induced changes in the storage medium, such as photopolymerization, produce a record of the resulting interference pattern. Reconstruction of the recorded hologram is accomplished by firstly illuminating the hologram with a reference beam and secondly imaging the diffracted light onto the detector array.
Recording many independent holograms in the same volume of material enhances data density. This process, called multiplexing, requires that each multiplexed hologram be recorded with a unique reference beam. Many multiplexing procedures have been described in the literature (see for example G. Barbastathis and D. Psaltis, "Volume Holographic Multiplexing Methods", Holographic Data Storage, H. J. Coufal, D. Psaltis, and G. T. Sincerbox (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, 2000). A particularly useful multiplexing procedure for relatively thin recording material uses a collimated reference beam, and combines angular and peristrophic (azimuthal) multiplexing techniques [see D. A. Waldman, H.-Y. S. Li, and E. A. Cetin, "Holographic Recording Properties in Thick Films of ULSH-500 Photopolymer", Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 3291, pp. 89-103 (1998) and A. Pu and D. Psaltis, "High-density recording in photopolymer-based holographic three-dimensional disks", Appl. Optics, Vol. 35, No. 14, pp 2389-2398 (1996).
HDS systems that operate to maximize the data density, for a recording material of a particular thickness, use the highest numerical aperture (NA) lenses for the Fourier transform lens pair that said 4f optical imaging system can accommodate. Unfortunately, the use of high NA (NA ≧0.2 for HDS systems) lenses, such as in the conventional 4f optical system wherein the first and second Fourier transform lens are a matched pair and thus have identical values of NA, can introduce several factors that contribute to the substantial decreases of signal-to-noise (SNR) in the HDS system. Most significantly, when high NA optics is used for the second Fourier transform lens, then substantially more scattered light is imaged to the detector plane than for lower NA optics. Light scattered from media or media substrates, along with light scattered from optical and mechanical surfaces is captured more efficiently by high NA optics due to the shorter working distance of said lenses and the larger acceptance field of the lens. The scattered light is imaged onto the pixilated detector and recognized as noise during hologram read-out. This phenomenon is especially evident in thin photopolymer-based media systems where a non-90 degree interbeam angle must be used for the recording geometry. The suppression of noise from various sources is critical to the maximization of storage densities, in particular the suppression of optical noise. A typical HDS system has several potential sources of optical noise including the aforementioned light scattered from the media and/or optical components, reflections from surfaces internal to the drive, and, additionally, image misalignment and distortion. In general, each of these potential noise sources become increasingly more evident and problematic in systems that endeavor to maximize areal density of stored data.
There is a need, therefore, for an apparatus and a method that improves areal data density while at the same time reducing optical noise at the detector plane that is due to scattered and stray light so as to achieve good SNR at high areal density.

High areal density holographic data storage system


A tape drive comprises a magnetic head and a flexible circuit coupled to the magnetic head. The flexible circuit comprises a rolling loop and a double layer portion that extends at least partially through the rolling loop.

Flexible circuits are used with devices, such as tape drives. For example, a flexible circuit can be coupled to the multichannel thin film magneto-resistive tape heads used in a tape drive. With multichannel tape heads, many leads are required to read data, write data and sense servo information on the tape. For an eight channel data head, for example, 80 or more traces may be divided between two separate flex circuits. Additionally, shield connectors, ground lines and substrate connections can increase the number of traces utilized. Furthermore, 16 channel tape heads are becoming more readily available, and such heads can require, for example, 160 traces spread over two flex circuits. As the number of channels increases, difficulties arise in routing the flexible circuit due to, for example, width of the flexible circuit and/or increased stresses on the traces.

System and method related to a flexible circuit

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method of producing nano-metal powder by providing a process metal to be processed. Selecting a metal halide identical to the process metal. Placing the process metal and selected metal halide in a controlled environment so that vapor from the selected metal halide can contact and react with the process metal. Heating the selected metal halide to a selected temperature to achieve vaporization of the selected metal halide at a desired vapor pressure, wherein the selected temperature controls the evaporation rate of the selected metal halide and the rate the nano-metal powder is formed. Heating the process metal to a temperature below the melting point of the process metal. Providing contact between the vapor of the selected metal halide and the process metal to form the nano-metal powder and reform the selected metal halide.

The present invention generally relates to the production of nano-metal and metal oxide powders. More specifically, the present invention relates to production of nano-metal and metal oxide powders by use of improved disproportionation technology.
The current disproportionation process was adapted for the purification of aluminum, U.S. Pat. No. 2,184,705. In this process, the disproportionation is carried out at a temperature above the melting point of the process metal in order to achieve the resulting purified metal product. In the use of the process for the production of nano-metal and metal oxide powders, the disproportionation process is carried out at a temperature that is below the melting point of the process metal in order to produce the nano-metal powders.
Magnetic nano iron and magnetic nano iron oxide powders are currently produced through the use of vapor condensation, plasma technology, laser ablation, gel processing, chemical precipitation, mechanical milling, or thermal spray technology. As shown in FIG. 1, the low evaporation rate of iron illustrates the low rates that are achieved even at high process temperatures. These technologies provide a mechanism by which small quantities of the nano powders can be produced for medical applications, research and development, and other special applications. The cost of nano-metal powders produced through these technologies is excessively high due to the cost of process materials, labor, power requirements and capital equipment. A more efficient process is needed to produce nano-metal powder from aluminum, nickel, iron, titanium, chromium, and other similar metals in large quantities and at reduced costs.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process to produce nano-metal powder from aluminum, nickel, iron, titanium, chromium, and other similar metals in large quantities and at reduced costs.

Disproportionation production of nano-metal powders and nano-metal oxide powders


Disclosed is a 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinylidene)acetate derivative suitably used for a raw material of a 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate derivative and a process for manufacturing the same. Also disclosed is a process for manufacturing an optically active 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate derivative which is a major intermediate for an antidepressant. The 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinylidene)acetate derivative is manufactured by cyclizing a 7-(N-substituted amino)-3-oxo-2-heptanoate derivative. The optically active 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate derivative is manufactured by asymmetrically hydrogenating the 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinylidene)acetate derivative in the presence of a complex of a Group VIII transition metal or an acid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinylidene)acetate derivative and a process for manufacturing the same. This derivative is useful as a raw material for manufacturing an optically active 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate derivative which is the major intermediate of an antidepressant as described below. The present invention also relates to a process for manufacturing an optically active 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate derivative which is a major intermediate of an antidepressant.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an antidepressant, methyl threo-2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate/hydrochloride (Trade name: Ritalin) is commercially available in the form of racemic compounds. Also, it is known for this antidepressant that a specific stereoisomer has a pharmacological activity five times higher than that of other stereoisomers (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,957,880).
Further structural analysis studies on methyl 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate have progressed and the absolute configuration of the optically active form of this compound has been reported (see J. Med. Chem., 12, 266, 1969).
The above optically active methyl 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate is manufactured, for example, by the following known processes:
(1) A process in which phenylacetonitrile and 2-chloropyridine are condensed in the presence of sodium amide, followed by hydrolysis and a reduction to prepare 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinylidene)acetic acid amide (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,507,361). A threo compound is then prepared by a recrystallization of that acid amide. The threo compound is then optically resolved using optically active tartaric acid, followed by hydrolysis and an esterification reaction to synthesize the above optically active compound (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,957,880). PA1 (2) A process in which optically active chlorophenylamine is subjected to a Hofmann decomposition reaction to prepare an olefinic compound, which is then subjected to an oxidation reaction using ozone to synthesize the above optically active compound (see J. Pharm. Sci, 56, 1689, 1967). PA1 (a) A process in which a protective group for an amino group is removed (hereinafter referred to as "protection removal") from the compound represented by formula (2) and the resulting compound is reacted to combine the carbon atoms at the third position and at the seventh position thereof to produce the compound represented by formula (1); PA1 (b) A process in which the protection removal and the reaction of combining the carbon atoms at the third and the seventh positions of the compound represented by formula (2) progresses simultaneously to produce the compound represented by formula (1) in one step; and PA1 (c) A process in which only the reaction of combining the carbon atoms at the third and the seventh positions of the compound represented by formula (2) is carried out to produce the compound represented by formula (1). PA1 1) Complexes represented by the formula RuXY'(L), wherein X represents a hydrogen atom, halogen atom, or the carboxylic acid derivative residue; X' represents a halogen atom or the carboxylic acid derivative residue; and L represents an optically active phosphine ligand. PA1 2) Complexes represented by the formula RuX(L)Q!Y, wherein X, Y, L and Q are the same as earlier define. PA1 3) Complexes represented by the formula Ru.sub.2 Cl.sub.4 (L).sub.2 !NR.sup.6 R.sup.7 R.sup.8, wherein L ,R.sup.6, R.sup.7, and R.sup.8 are the same as earlier defined. PA1 4) Complexes represented by the general formula IrQ(L)!Y, wherein Y, L and Q are the same as earlier defined. PA1 5) Complexes represented by the general formula RhQ(L)!Y, wherein Y, L, and Q are the same as earlier defined.
However, in these processes, complicated operations are required and it is also necessary to use an expensive reagent for optical resolution and/or to use an optically active compound.

2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinylidene)acetate derivative, process for manufacturing the same, and process for manufacturing optically active 2-phenyl-2-(2'-piperidinyl)acetate derivative by asymmetrically hydrogenating the same