A method of detecting a change (that is, an increase or a decrease) in the level of fluid in tissue in a first area of a body includes the steps of: applying electromagnetic energy, preferably in the frequency range of approximately 300 MHz to approximately 30 GHz, to a first volume of the body; measuring a resultant or returned signal; comparing the signal to a reference signal to determine if the fluid level in the tissue has changed. In one embodiment, the method detects changes in the level of fluid in tissue of a body by applying electromagnetic energy to a first volume of the body over a period of time (for example, using an antenna or antennae); measuring a resultant signal or a signal returned from the tissue; and comparing the signal to a reference signal to determine if a level of fluid in the tissue has changed during the period of time.

The present invention relates generally to the detection of fluids in tissue, and, more particularly, to apparatuses, systems and methods for detection of changed, elevated or abnormal fluid levels in tissue.
Changed, elevated or abnormal fluid levels in living tissue can result from a number of physiological conditions. For example, edema is an abnormal accumulation of watery fluid in the intercellular spaces of connective tissue. Edematous tissues are swollen and, when punctured, secrete a thin incoagulable fluid. Edema is most frequently a symptom of disease rather than a disease in itself, and it may have a number of causes, most of which can be traced back to gross variations in the physiological mechanisms that normally maintain a constant water balance in the cells, tissues, and blood. Among the causes may be diseases of the kidneys, heart, veins, or lymphatic system; malnutrition; or allergic reactions.
Moreover, bleeding (hemorrhage) can cause blood to collect and clot (hematoma). Hematomas can, for example, occur beneath the outermost of three membranes that cover the brain (meninges) as a result of a head injury. There are two types of cranial subdural hematomas. An acute subdural hematoma occurs soon after a severe head injury. A chronic subdural hematoma is a complication that may develop weeks after a head injury. Such a head injury may have been so minor that the patient does not remember it. An epidural hematoma is a traumatic accumulation of blood between the inner table of the skull and the stripped-off dural membrane. The inciting event often is a focused blow to the head. It is often difficult to detect hematomas, particularly when the hematoma occurs well after the time of an injury.
In addition to accumulation of body fluids, elevated fluid levels in tissue can arise as a result of introduction of a fluid into the body, for example, during an injection procedure. In that regard, in many medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, a physician or other person injects fluid into a patient's blood vessels. Moreover, in recent years, a number of injector-actuated syringes and powered injectors for pressurized injection of contrast medium in procedures such as angiography, computed tomography, ultrasound and NMR/MRI have been developed.
Extravasation or infiltration is the accidental infusion or leakage of an injection fluid such as a contrast medium or a therapeutic agent into tissue surrounding a blood vessel rather than into the blood vessel itself. Extravasation can be caused, for example, by rupture or dissection of fragile vasculature, valve disease, inappropriate needle placement, or patient movement resulting in the infusing needle being pulled from the intended vessel or causing the needle to be pushed through the wall of the vessel. High injection pressures and/or rates of some modem procedures can increase the risk of extravasation. In computed tomography, for example, contrast injection flow rates can be in the range of 0.1 to 10 ml/s.
Extravasation can cause serious injury to patients. In that regard, certain injection fluids such as contrast media or chemotherapy drugs can be toxic to tissue. It is, therefore, very important when performing fluid injections to detect extravasation as soon as possible and discontinue the injection upon detection.
Several extravasation detection techniques are known in the art. Two simple and very useful techniques for detecting extravasation are palpation of the patient in the vicinity of the injection site and simple visual observation of the vicinity of the injection site by a trained health care provider. In the palpation technique, the health care provider manually senses swelling of tissue near the injection site resulting from extravasation. By visual observation, it is also sometimes possible to observe directly any swelling of the skin in the vicinity of an injection site resulting from extravasation.
In addition to palpation and observation, there are a number of automated methods of detecting extravasation that may include automatic triggering of an alarm condition upon detection. Unfortunately, each of these automated methods of detecting extravasation is limited by significant drawbacks.
In that regard, several plethysmographic detection techniques are available. For example, mercury strain gauge plethysmographs measure the volume change resulting from venous blood flow in a cross sectional area of a limb of a patient. Air cuff or pulse volume recorder plethysmographs measure the changes in pressure within a recording cuff. Such plethysmographs can be cumbersome to operate and/or insensitive to small changes in volume.
Impedance plethysmographs use low-frequency electromagnetic energy transmitted via galvanic contact with the skin to measure changes in the electrical impedance in a defined tissue volume of a limb. Detection of extravasation via impedance changes is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,964,703 and 5,947,910. In this method, an impedance change of a certain level relative to a baseline measurement in the vicinity of the injection site is interpreted as being an extravasation. A change in impedance occurs during extravasation because injection fluid in the tissue of the patient changes both the volume and the electrical impedance properties of the tissue. Use of electrodes in impedance plethysmographs can, however, result in instabilities. For example, maintaining suitable electrical (ohmic or galvanic) contact between the electrodes of impedance plethysmographs and the skin of the patient is often very difficult.
Photo-plethysmographs measure the optical scattering properties of capillary blood to detect the presence of extravasated fluids in tissue. An example of a photo-plethysmograph is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,034. Because light is heavily absorbed in tissue, however, the sensitivity of photo-plethysmographs is generally limited to the top ¼ inch of tissue. Many extravasations, however, occur deeper than ¼ inch. Moreover, the injection medium may flow into interstitial spaces remote from the photoplethysmograph sensors and go undetected.
A number of extravasation detection devices attempt to measure temperature differences to determine if an extravasation has occurred. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,281 discloses subcutaneous temperature sensing of extravasation to trigger an alarm. In this method of extravasation detection, an antenna and a microwave radiometer instantaneously measure the temperature of the subcutaneous tissue at the site where fluid is injected by measuring microwave radiation emitted naturally from the body. An algorithm periodically determines the temperature difference between tissue and injected fluid, and compares the difference to a fixed threshold. An alarm processor uses the comparison to determine an alarm condition.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,141 discloses a microwave extravasation detection system employing a reusable microwave antenna and a disposable attachment element for releasably securing the microwave antenna to a patient's skin over an injection site. The attachment element holds the antenna in intimate contact with the patient's skin to optimize microwave transfer therebetween, while shielding the antenna from environmental noise signals. U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,668 also discloses use of a microwave antenna to sense temperature of tissue to detect extravasation. Although measurement of temperature changes and emissivity using microwave energy can result in instantaneous detection, temperature differences are often too small for practical measurement.
In addition to microwave radiometry for the detection of extravasation as described above, radiometry has also been proposed for the detection of pulmonary edema as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,559. U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,445 discloses detection of pulmonary edema via transmitting electromagnetic energy through a transmission line coupled to tissue. U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,149 discloses detection of brain edema via impedance changes detected by a sensor. A proposed method of detection of brain edema is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,479, in which a measured signal from a microwave antenna is compared to a stored characteristic edema signal.
Microwave energy has also been used for the detection of tumors in living tissue as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,589. Unlike the passive measurements in microwave radiometry, U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,589 disclosed transmission of electromagnetic energy into the body (breast tissue) using a microwave antenna in and a resultant signal is measured. In that regard, U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,589 describes a microwave antenna to detect incipient tumors in accordance with differences in relative dielectric characteristics. Electromagnetic energy in the microwave frequency range is applied to a discrete volume in the tissue and scattered signal returns are collected. The irradiated location is shifted or changed in a predetermined scanning pattern. The returned signals are processed to detect anomalies indicative of the present of a tumor.
Magnetic resonance has been proposed for use in water content mapping in human tissue as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,863. Microwave energy has also been used as in non-invasive tomographic spectroscopy imaging. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,332,087 and 6,026,173.
Microwave energy has further been used to measure the fat content in nonliving organic tissue. For example, M. Kent, "Hand Held Fat/Water Determination in whole Fish", Food Control, 1:47–53 (1990), discloses a microstrip sensor for such a determination. In general, the fat content of pelagic and other fatty species of fish is proportion to water content. The dielectric properties of the fish depend on the water content. In the device of Kent, changes in transmission properties of the fish were calibrated against water content.
It is very desirable to develop improved devices and methods for detecting elevated or otherwise abnormal levels of fluids in living tissue (for example, as a result of edema, hematoma or extravasation).


An apparatus for cutting ocular lens materials is disclosed which includes a rotating drive unit, a chuck for holding the lens material, a main shaft for transmitting a rotational force from the rotating drive unit to the chuck, and a coupling for supporting the main shaft and the chuck in a freely rotatable way; the chuck comprising finger members that are normally urged toward the side where they are closed and a cylinder portion for operation in such a way as to open the finger members; the chuck and the main shaft being connected concentrically; a passageway being provided for applying a working pressure from outside to the cylinder portion.

This invention relates to an apparatus for cutting ocular lens materials, as well as a chuck to be used with that apparatus. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus for cutting ocular lens materials (hereinafter referred to simply as "lens materials") in the process of producing ocular lenses such as contact lenses and intraocular lenses. The invention also relates to a chuck for securing lens materials to said cutting apparatus.
Conventional chucks for securing lens materials to cutting apparatus are classified as a "drawbar" type and a "vacuum" type. A chuck of the drawbar type is shown in FIG. 8. The chuck generally indicated by 51 comprises a collet chuck 52 and a tubular holder 53 with a bottom that holds the collet chuck 52 by surrounding it. The holder 53 has a hollow main shaft 54 connected thereto for transmitting a rotational force from a rotating drive unit Al to the holder 53. The collet chuck 52 has a rod-like drawbar 55 connected to its basal end for transmitting a reciprocal force from a reciprocating drive unit R to the collet chuck 52.
The drawbar 55 is inserted into the hollow portion of the main shaft 54 in such a way as to form a slight clearance; the drawbar 55 is also inserted into a hole 53a in the bottom of the holder 53.
The collet chuck 52 has a plurality of fingers 52a that are formed in such a manner as to hold a lens material in position. The back side of each finger 52a is tapered or the collector chuck 52 has such a shape that its outside diameter decreases gradually from the finger 52a toward the base.
When the collet chuck 52 is pulled together with the drawbar 55 by means of the reciprocating drive unit R, the tapered back side of each finger 52a is pressed against the peripheral edge of the opening in the holder 53, whereupon the resulting counterforce causes the fingers 52a to close to grip the lens material L which is placed in the collet chuck 52.
Conversely, if the collet chuck 52 is pushed out of the holder 53, the fingers 52a will return to the initial open state, causing the lens material L to be disengaged from the collet chuck 52.
A chuck of the vacuum type is shown in FIG. 9. The chuck generally indicated by 61 is of a tubular form that has a gas passageway 62 bored through it along the central axis. The chuck 61 has one end of a main shaft 63 connected thereto for transmitting a rotational force from a rotating drive unit A2 to the chuck 61. The main shaft 63 has a gas passageway 64 bored through it along the central axis that communicates with the gas passageway 62 through the chuck 61. The main shaft 63 has an air aspirator V provided on the other end that communicates with the gas passageway 64.
If a lens material L is placed at the end of the chuck 61 to close the gas passageway 62 and when the air aspirator V is actuated, a negative pressure is established within the gas passageway 62, whereupon the lens material is fixed on the chuck 61 by being sucked to its end.
In the case of a chuck of the first type, the drawbar 55 will rotate in synchronism with the main shaft 54. Since the drawbar 55 is an elongated member, all or part of it will often rotate eccentrically and, in an extreme case, it may contact the inner surface of the hollow portion of the main shaft 54. As a result, vibrations will occur to lower the precision of the cut surface of the lens material.
In the case of a chuck of the second type, air must be sucked with a sufficient force to hold the lens material even in the midst of cutting it with a blade applied. Hence, a bulky air aspirator is necessary, leading to a higher equipment cost. A further problem with the vacuum type is that if the air aspirator stops operating for some reason such as power failure, the lens material will drop.

Apparatus for cutting ocular lens materials


A mathematical expression recognizing device comprises a character recognition unit which recognizes characters in a document image, a dictionary storing a pair of evaluation scores for each type of word, the score showing the possibility of belonging to the text and that of belonging to the mathematical expression, an evaluation unit which obtains the evaluation scores showing the possibility of belonging to the text and that of belonging to the mathematical expression for each of the words included in the recognized characters with reference to the dictionary, and a mathematical expression detecting unit which searches for an optimal path connecting words by selecting one of the text and the mathematical expression based on a formative grammar and the evaluation scores showing the possibility of belonging to the text and that of belonging to the mathematical expression for each of the words, thereby detecting characters belonging to the mathematical expression.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mathematical expression recognizing device and a mathematical expressions recognizing method as well as to a character recognizing device and a character recognizing method that can be used for recognizing a document image containing mathematical expressions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reports on character recognition for printed documents containing mathematical expressions, or mathematical expressions, and recognition of the structures of mathematical expressions have been produced for some time, although the number of such reports is not very large. The characters to be recognized are not necessarily arranged one-dimensionally. Rather, arrangements of characters to be recognized are more often than not two-dimensional as indexes, exponents, fractional numbers and so on are arranged two-dimensionally in ordinary practice. Therefore, there must be provided means for recognizing (determining) not only the characters included in or relating to mathematical expressions but also the structures (positional information) of mathematical expressions in order to know if each of the characters is placed there as an index, an exponent, a denominator, a numerator or something else. Thus, for recognizing a mathematical expression by means of a computer, the time required for the processing operation will be much longer than the time consumed for processing ordinary characters.
Reports on achievements that have made it possible to recognize the structure of a mathematical exposure within a practical processing time include documents [1], [2] and [3] listed below. According to the documents, a rule is defined for determining the positional relationship of the characters in a mathematical expression including that of upper and lower characters and each of the characters is judged to be an ordinary character, an index, an exponent, a denominator, a numerator or something else according to its position by referring to the rule in order to recognize the structure of the mathematical expression.
Document [1]: Masayuki Okamoto, Hashim Msafiri Twaayondo, "Structure Recognition of Mathematical Expressions Using Peripheral Distribution Features", Transaction for the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication, D-II, Vol. J78-D-II, No. 2, pp. 366–370 (1995).
Document [2]: Masayuki Okamoto, Hiroyuki Azuma, "Recognition of Mathematical Expressions with Emphasis on the Layout of Signs", Transaction for the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication, D-II, Vol. J78-D-II, No. 3, pp. 474–482 (1995).
Document [3]: R. J. Fateman, T. Tokuyasu, B. P. Berman and N. Mitchell, "Optical Character Recognition and Parsing of Typeset Mathematics", Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 2–15 (1995).
However, with the prior art including the known techniques of the above listed documents, each character is judged to be an ordinary character, an index, an exponent, a denominator, a numerator or something else based on the local characteristic. Therefore, if the position of one character is misjudged, it adversely affects all the subsequent judgments to a significant extent. For example, if an ordinary character is misjudged to be an index, all the ordinary characters arranged after it on the level same as that of the misjudged character are misjudged to be so many indexes. In short, a local misrecognition of a mathematical expression can greatly damage the recognition of the entire structure thereof.
Additionally, the known techniques of the above listed documents only relate to character recognition within a mathematical expression and do not show any technique to detect a mathematical expression in a text.

Mathematical expression recognizing device, mathematical expression recognizing method, character recognizing device and character recognizing method


To help a user avoid potentially harmful purchases, performing notification in a personal navigation device (PND) includes determining position of the PND, comparing the position against a plurality of restricted points of interest according to a predetermined setting, and activating an alert when the position is within a threshold distance of one of the restricted points of interest.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personal navigation devices (PNDs), and more particularly, to a method of notifying a user of a PND about restricted areas, promotions, and other points of interest.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of navigation methods have been employed over the centuries by sailors desiring to go from one place to another without getting lost on the way or passing through dangerous waters. Whereas in the past, navigation was typically of interest to navigators on marine vessels, as more advanced navigation systems are developed, drivers, hikers, and tourists are rapidly adopting Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers as aids in their travels.
One key to navigation is positioning, or the art of knowing precisely where one is at any given moment. In the past, positioning was accomplished through use of a sextant, which measures angular positions of celestial bodies relative to the horizon. Today, positioning can be accomplished with fair accuracy by GNSS receivers. Currently, only the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) developed by the United States Department of Defense offers comprehensive positioning satellite coverage around the globe, though other systems should become operational by the year 2010.
A typical personal navigation device (PND) will include an antenna for receiving electrical signals transmitted by GPS satellites, and positioning circuitry for determining a position of the PND from the electrical signals, and generating corresponding position data. The antenna can be integrated into the PND, or can be connected externally through a wire. The PND may also provide functions that use the position data generated. Typically, the PND can be a standalone mobile device, or can be integrated into an automobile as another instrument on the dashboard. The standalone mobile device can also be adapted for use in an automobile through a mount, which can be attached to the automobile through suction cups or other more permanent means.
The PND will typically include an internal map, which can be used in conjunction with the position data to determine where the PND is located on the map. Based on this information, a navigator function of the PND can calculate a route along known roads from the position of the PND to another known location. As mapping software becomes more detailed, with greater numbers of references to points of interest (POIs), many new functionalities are yet to be explored. Particularly, as POIs are classified, greater integration between the position data and POI data should be developed.

Method of performing notification in personal navigation device


Package for an integrated circuit (IC), includes a housing (3) of a first material having two major surfaces (4, 5). The major surfaces are substantially parallel to each other. Furthermore, a lead frame (6) is present for carrying the IC (2), the lead frame (6) including contact terminals (7) for electrical communication with the IC (2). The package (1) has a through-hole (8) in the two major surfaces (4, 5), allowing various special applications of the package (1).

Such a package is known from e.g. PCT patent application WO2004/086003 wherein a method and assembly are shown, the method including the steps of providing a coated or uncoated sensor element having an exposed sensing surface; attaching the sensor element to a platform so that the exposed sensing surface is spaced from the platform; and optionally applying a protective layer over the platform while maintaining the sensing surface as exposed. The assembly includes a resonator having a free portion with a sensing surface incorporated onto a platform, components of the sensor are physically shielded from harsh operating conditions, the requisite space is maintained between the free portion of the resonator and the platform, and the sensing surface of the resonator remains exposed for sensing. The assembly may include a cut-out through which the sensor is exposed to ambient environment. This known package offers a very limited design freedom and a limited possible interaction between sensor and media to be sensed.


A novel bentgrass cultivar, designated ‘T-1’, is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of bentgrass cultivar ‘T-1’, to the plants of bentgrass ‘T-1’ and to methods for producing a bentgrass plant produced by crossing the cultivar ‘T-1’ with itself or another bentgrass variety. The invention further relates to hybrid bentgrass seeds and plants produced by crossing the cultivar ‘T-1’ with another bentgrass cultivar.

The present invention relates to a new and distinctive creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris (stolonifera)), a variety used primarily as commercial golf course turf.
There are over 100 species of Bentgrass (Agrostis) but only two are used to any great extent as golf course turf. Bentgrass is well adapted to close mowing due to its prostrate growth habit. They grow best in moist uncompacted soils and have broad temperature hardiness.
The Agrostis genus—better known as the bentgrasses—is comprised of over 100 species, several of which have been developed into successful turfgrasses. One Agrostis in particular, A. stolonifera or creeping bentgrass, has become the preeminent grass for golf course putting greens the world over. Another Agrostis species, colonial bentgrass (A. tenuisSibth.), has been bred into a golf course grass useful on tees and fairways in cooler regions. Two or three other Agrostis species find minor turf application, mostly for golf, tennis courts, bowling greens, or an occasional home lawn.
The Agrostis genus is widely distributed throughout the world with representative species found on all of the northern continents. However, of the present-day bentgrass species in use as turfgrasses, all originated from Europe. The original seed of these plants was brought to the US during colonial times.
America has an abundance of native bentgrass species (A. S. Hitchcock, 1951, Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Misc. Publ. 200) but none are commercially useable as turf grass.
Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris) is so named due to its ability to creep laterally by stolons. The stolons are able to root at the nodes producing a new plant. Creeping bentgrass is the plant of choice for fairways, tees and greens where the height of cut is below one-half inch.
Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris) is a perennial cool season grass that forms a dense mat. The grass spreads by profuse creeping stolons and basal tillers and possesses rather vigorous, shallow roots. Stems, or stolons, are decumbent (creeping) and slender and produce long narrow leaves. Leaf blades are smooth on the upper surface and ridged on the underside, are approximately 1 to 3 mm wide and bluish green in appearance. The ligule is long, membranous, finely toothed or entire and rounded, auricles are absent.
Developing new grass species is difficult, time consuming, and expensive. The developer must sift through thousands of prospective grasses listed in botanical literature, identify promising grasses, and often travel thousands of miles to locate, isolate, identify, transport, quarantine, grow, test, and breed these grasses. This process can take more than 10 years to develop acceptable cultivars. Furthermore, as it turns out, most prospective grasses in nature have no commercial turf value, due to their inability to generate an acceptable ground cover when mowed. The vast majority of natural grasses cannot produce a plush lawn under continuing defoliation.
Yet another complexity facing the plant developer is the unresponsiveness of many wild grasses to plant breeding. The vast majority of wildland grasses lack genetic potential for refinement into desirable turfgrass cultivars. Only after considerable investment in collection and breeding does the developer discover which grass species can be successful bred and which cannot.
The development of new turf grasses requires the development and selection of bentgrass varieties, the crossing of these varieties and selection of superior hybrid crosses. The hybrid seed is produced by manual crosses between selected male-fertile parents or by using male sterility systems. These hybrids are selected for certain single gene traits such as pod color, flower color, pubescence color or herbicide resistance which indicate that the seed is truly a hybrid. Additional data on parental lines, as well as the phenotype of the hybrid, influence the breeder's decision whether to continue with the specific hybrid cross.
Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods are used to develop cultivars from breeding populations. Breeding programs combine desirable traits from two or more cultivars or various broad-based sources into breeding pools from which cultivars are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new cultivars are evaluated to determine which have commercial potential.
Pedigree breeding is used commonly for the improvement of self-pollinating crops. Two parents that possess favorable, complementary traits are crossed to produce an F1. An F2 population is produced by selfing one or several F1's. Selection of the best individuals may begin in the F2 population; then, beginning in the F3, the best individuals in the best families are selected. Replicated testing of families can begin in the F4 generation to improve the effectiveness of selection for traits with low heritability. At an advanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., F6 and F7), the best lines or mixtures of phenotypically similar lines are tested for potential release as new cultivars.
Mass and recurrent selections can be used to improve populations of either self- or cross-pollinating crops. A genetically variable population of heterozygous individuals is either identified or created by intercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selected based on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellent combining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a new population in which further cycles of selection are continued.
Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genes for a simply inherited, highly heritable trait into a desirable homozygous cultivar or inbred line which is the recurrent parent. The source of the trait to be transferred is called the donor parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent. After the initial cross, individuals possessing the phenotype of the donor parent are selected and repeatedly crossed (backcrossed) to the recurrent parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.
The single-seed descent procedure in the strict sense refers to planting a segregating population, harvesting a sample of one seed per plant, and using the one-seed sample to plant the next generation. When the population has been advanced from the F2 to the desired level of inbreeding, the plants from which lines are derived will each trace to different F2 individuals. The number of plants in a population declines each generation due to failure of some seeds to germinate or some plants to produce at least one seed. As a result, not all of the F2 plants originally sampled in the population will be represented by a progeny when generation advance is completed.
In a multiple-seed procedure, bentgrass breeders commonly harvest one or more panicles from each plant in a population and thresh them together to form a bulk. Part of the bulk is used to plant the next generation and part is put in reserve. The procedure has been referred to as modified single-seed descent or the panicle-bulk technique.
The multiple-seed procedure has been used to save labor at harvest. It is considerably faster to thresh panicles with a machine than to remove one seed from each by hand for the single-seed procedure. The multiple-seed procedure also makes it possible to plant the same number of seeds of a population each generation of inbreeding. Enough seeds are harvested to make up for those plants that did not germinate or produce seed.
Descriptions of other breeding methods that are commonly used for different traits and crops can be found in one of several reference books (e.g., Allard, 1960; Simmonds, 1979; Sneep et al., 1979; Fehr, 1987).
Proper testing should detect any major faults and establish the level of superiority or improvement over current cultivars. In addition to showing superior performance, there must be a demand for a new cultivar that is compatible with industry standards or which creates a new market. The introduction of a new cultivar will incur additional costs to the seed producer, the grower, processor and consumer; for special advertising and marketing, altered seed and commercial production practices, and new product utilization. The testing preceding release of a new cultivar should take into consideration research and development costs as well as technical superiority of the final cultivar. For seed-propagated cultivars, it must be feasible to produce seed easily and economically.


A computer system includes a microprocessor, a cache memory, main memory and supporting logic. The supporting logic includes cache control logic that determines whether an access to memory results in a hit to the cache for dirty or clean data. When a write to the cache results in a hit to clean data, the bus cycle is enlarged in order to set a dirty bit associated with the write data. The bus cycle is enlarged by requesting the processor to refrain from commencing a new bus cycle or driving a new memory address.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for using a cache memory in a computer system.
1. Description of the Related Art
Many computers today include one, and usually two, levels of cache memory. A cache memory is a high-speed memory that is positioned between a central processing unit (CPU) and main memory in a computer system in order to improve system performance. Cache memories (or caches) store copies of portions of main memory data that are actively being used by the CPU while a program is running. Since the access time of a cache can be faster than that of main memory, the overall access time can be reduced.
Many microprocessor-based systems implement a "direct mapped" cache memory. In general, a direct mapped cache memory comprises a high speed data Random Access Memory (RAM) and a parallel high speed tag RAM. The RAM address of each line in the data cache is the same as the low-order portion of the main memory line address to which the entry corresponds. The high-order portion of the main memory address is stored in the tag RAM. Thus, if main memory is thought of as 2.sup.m blocks of 2.sup.n lines of one or more bytes each, the i'th line in the cache data RAM will be a copy of the i'th line of one of the 2.sup.m blocks in main memory. The identity of the main memory block that the line came from is stored in the i'th location in the tag RAM.
When a CPU requests data from memory, the low-order portion of the line address is supplied as an address to both the cache data and cache tag RAMs. The tag for the selected cache entry is compared with the high-order portion of the CPU's address and, if it matches, then a "cache hit" is indicated and the data from the cache data RAM is enabled onto a data bus of the system. If the tag does not match the high-order portion of the CPU's address, or the tag data is invalid, then a "cache miss" is indicated and the data is fetched from main memory. It is also placed in the cache for potential future use, overwriting the previous entry. Typically (but not required in all systems), an entire line is read from main memory and placed in the cache on a cache miss, even if only a byte is requested. On a data write from the CPU, either the cache or main memory or both may be updated.
Accordingly, in a direct mapped cache, each "line" of secondary memory can be mapped to one and only one line in the cache. In a "fully associative" cache, a particular line of secondary memory may be mapped to any of the lines in the cache. In the fully associative cache, all of the tags may be compared to the address in order to determine whether a cache hit or miss has occurred. "K-way set associative" cache architectures also exist which represent a compromise between direct mapped caches and fully associative caches. In a k-way set associative cache architecture, each line of secondary memory may be mapped to any of k lines in the cache. In this case, k tags must be compared to the address during a cacheable secondary memory access in order to determine whether a cache hit or miss has occurred. Caches may also be "sector buffered" or "sub-block" type caches, in which several cache data lines, each with its own valid bit, correspond to a single cache tag RAM entry.
When the CPU executes instructions that modify the contents of the cache, these modifications must also be made in the main memory or the data in main memory will become "stale." There are two conventional techniques for keeping the contents of the main memory consistent with that of the cache--(1) the write-through method and (2) the write-back or copy-back method. In the write-through method, on a cache write hit, data is written to the main memory immediately after or while data is written into the cache. This enables the contents of the main memory always to be valid and consistent with that of the cache. In the write-back method, on a cache write hit, the system writes data into the cache and sets a "dirty bit" which indicates that the data has been written into the cache but not into the main memory. A cache controller checks for a dirty bit before overwriting a line of data in the cache, and if set, writes the line of cache data out to main memory before loading the cache with new data.
A computer system can have more than one level of cache memory for a given address space. For example, in a two-level cache system, the level one (L1) cache is logically adjacent to the host processor. The level two (L2) cache is logically behind the L1 cache. Main memory (e.g. DRAM) is located logically behind the L2 cache. When the CPU performs an access to an address in the memory address space, the L1 cache responds if possible. If the L1 cache cannot respond (for example, because of an L1 cache miss), then the L2 cache responds if possible. If the L2 cache also cannot respond, then the access is made to main memory. The CPU does not need to know how many levels of caching are present in the system or indeed that any caching exists at all. Similarly, the L1 cache does not need to know whether a second level of caching exists. Thus, to the CPU unit, the combination of both caches and main memory is considered merely as a single main memory structure. Similarly, to the L1 cache, the combination of the L2 cache and main memory is considered simply as a single main memory structure. In fact, a third level of caching could be included between the L2 cache and the main memory, and the L2 cache may still consider the combination of L3 and main memory as a single main memory structure.
As microprocessor technology has advanced, level one caches have been included on the microprocessor chip itself. In systems employing a microprocessor with an in-chip L1 cache, a L2 cache is typically part of a supporting chip set. One drawback of some L2 cache designs is that they include, a performance penalty for setting the dirty bit. For example, one L2 cache that can be used as a write back cache includes a tag store for storing L2 tags and a dirty bit store for storing L2 dirty bits. Typically, the tag store and dirty bit store are SRAMs. Some systems use separate SRAMs for the dirty bit store and the tage store. However, to save resources (cost, space, power, heat, silicon etc.), the tag store and dirty bit store can be combined in one SRAM. For example, a 32 k.times.9 SRAM can be used to store eight bit tags and a dirty bit for each line in the L2 cache, or a 32 k.times.8 SRAM can be used to store a 7 bit tag and a dirty bit.
Many SRAMs include one set of bidirectional pins for both reading and writing data (rather than separate I/O pins) in order to reduce costs. The default state is likely to be output. When writing dirty bits to a dirty bit store implemented with an SRAM having bidirectional data pins, extra time is needed to assert a write enable in order to change the dirty bit pin to an input pin and set up for the write operation. Thus, the bus cycle can be expanded by two clocks or more to accommodate for the writing of dirty bits. In some designs, setting the dirty bit causes a performance penalty even if the dirty bit store has separate data input and output pins. For example, the time needed to write the new dirty bit can be a performance penalty.
Since computers are judged by their price and performance, computer makers strive to increase the speed and efficiency of their computers without significantly increasing costs. Thus, there is a need for a system of writing to a cache memory that reduces the performance penalty for setting a dirty bit.

System for using a cache memory with a write-back architecture


A base for a parallel kinematics robot including a plurality of gear cavities. Each gear cavity having a first bearing seat configured to receive an output shaft bearing. The base consists of one piece in homogeneous material, and thereby interfaces negatively affecting the accuracy of the robot are omitted.

It is conventionally known to provide a delta robot with a plurality of gear boxes that are discrete components and attached to a common fixture by means of bolts. The gear boxes are machined before the attachment to the fixture, and tolerances at interfaces between each gear box and the fixture add to errors in relative positions of machined surfaces between the plurality of gear boxes. Moreover, the bolt couplings at the interfaces contribute to a decreased stiffness of the robot. These errors and the decreased stiffness are furthermore reflected in the accuracy of the robot.
US20110277581A1 discloses a delta robot where a plurality of housings is integrated into a base made in one piece. The motor is configured to house drives that are discrete components, and bearing seats defining the positions of the respective axes are therefore not integrated in the housings but in the respective drives. Interfaces between the housings and the drives decrease the accuracy of the relative positions of the axes.
There remains a desire to enhance the accuracy of parallel kinematics robots.


The putt stabilizer improves a players putting stroke by providing a simple means to keep the wrist and forearm in position while making the stroke. The device braces the angle formed between the player""s outside forearm and the putter shaft, allowing the player to keep this angle constant throughout the putt stroke. As the player learns to hold the proper position, they can gradually reduce their forearm pressure against the device until the preferred putting stroke can be made without aid from the invention.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the sport of golf, specifically to devices used to train the proper putting stroke.
2. Description of Prior Art
In golf, putting is an important part of the game that requires skill and proper technique in order to reduce the number of strokes needed to putt the players golf ball into the cup. In order to help players learn the proper putt stroke and in turn lower their scores, many training devices have been developed to aid the golfer in their wrist and arm positions.
The generally preferred method of putting is to keep a constant angle between the arms and the putter, providing a smooth, pendulum-like stroke deriving from the upper body. Although the rules of tournament play generally do not allow for such training devices, they can be used effectively when practicing the game, and can provide the player with the muscle development and wrist positions needed to learn the preferred method of putting a golf ball.
A device used to aid the golfer in the preferred putting method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,516 (Bickler) 1990. The device attaches to the putter grip through a hole at the top of the grip found on some putters, and supports the golfers inside forearm to the longitudinal axis of the putter. Such a device, however, does not ensure a constant angle between the inner forearm and the putter shaft mainly because it must rely on the user to voluntarily press their forearm against the device during the putt stroke. This method in turn does not teach the correct muscle movements required during an unaided stroke because of this unnatural requirement to press inward on the trainer during use. Another related problem with supporting the inner forearm angle is the natural movement of the forearm to rotate outward, away from the device. When putting, the player""s elbows are bent slightly, and the weight of the upper body (pivoting at the player""s waist) tends to rotate the elbows outward, or in mechanical terms, buckle. This buckling of the player""s arms is inevitable because the player""s hands are fixed at a certain distance above the putting surface; determined by the length of the putter. This buckling effect will leave the inside forearm unsupported by the device. Also, on impact with the ball, the inside forearm tends to pivot away from the supported angle.
The most notable disadvantage of the Bickler device is its limitation to only one predetermined angle by design. The game of golf is an individual sport, and the players can range in size and shape. This vast field of different type players leads to infinite individual playing styles and abilities that makes the game so unique. An effective training device should teach the proper putting method without interfering with the player""s own specific putting technique. In other words, the training device should train the user not to rotate their wrists rather than at what angle to hold the club.
Another disadvantage of the Bickler device is that in the patent claims it requires xe2x80x9cthe palm of the users hand (to) hold the (device mounting member) against the grip to stabilize the device during use.xe2x80x9d This requires the golfer to hold the device to the putter when using, which takes away the concentration needed to accurately putt the golf ball into the cup. Yet another disadvantage of the device is that it mounts to only standard type putters consisting of generally round grips with holes in the ends. The design also requires the player to grip over it to facilitate its use, resulting in a weaker grip on the putter handle, changing the unique shape of the handle, and covering a percentage of the handle material resulting in decreased grip. It would also not function well with the popular ergonomically shaped grips of today.
Another device to aid the player learn the preferred method of putting is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,382 to Hargraves (1988) This device consists of a generally linear arm secured to the putters grip""s end above the player""s hands that can be rotated outward at a right angle to the club shaft. The device is intended to prevent the golfer""s wrist from twisting when putting the ball. Such a device; however, does not rigidly hold the proper angle between the forearm and wrist required for the preferred putting method because the supported arm merely rests against the device and can easily slip by if desired by the user. In other words, the angle is held only by a frictional force between the forearm and the device, and can easily be overcome. In order to hold this preferred angle, the user must exert a compression force against the device to increase the static frictional force to prevent slippage. This requirement again takes away from the concentration needed to accurately putt the golf ball.
Another device to aid the golfer in learning the preferred method of putting is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,971 to Tischler (1995). This device consists of a device affixed to the handle of the putter extending upwardly at an obtuse angle to engage with the golfer""s armpit. This device may hold the preferred wrist to forearm angle indirectly; however it seems awkward to use, and must be stored separated from the putter. Providing a pivot point in the armpit of the user does not reinforce the muscle and arm positions needed when the device is not used. In other words, the user merely pivots the putter at the pivot point located in the user""s armpit, not developing any special skills or muscle positions. Similar devices are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,342,055 (Diley) and 5,520,392 (Foresi).
Other devices to aid the golfer learn the preferred method of putting by holding the wrist to forearm angle are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,158,298 (Goins), 5,499,820 (Albertsson), 5,511,788 (Manley), and 5,527,040 (Stanley). These devices are worn by players around their wrist and lower forearms to keep the proper angle. These devices, while maintaining the proper angle, require the player to wear the device when aid is needed. They also provide some degree of difficulty to attach and remove from the player""s arm, and do not give the player the quick option to putt without the aid of the device during practice.
Objects and Advantages
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of my invention are:
a) To properly locate and position the off target wrist and forearm required for the preferred putting stroke.
b) To provide alignment of the putter head perpendicular with the intended path of the golf ball by keeping the putter head from twisting during the stroke.
c) To provide a training device that attaches quickly and easily to the golf club.
d) To provide a training device that can be retracted such that the club it is attached to can be easily placed back into the golf bag or carrier.
e) To teach the user to putt with shoulders and upper body, and not the wrists to provide the preferred putting stroke.
f) To hold the angle formed between the shaft of the putter and the outer forearm during the entire putt stroke.
g) To provide a training device that can be quickly placed in the stowed position when the user wants to use the putter in traditional fashion.
h) To provide a training device that can be easily adjusted to brace any wrist to forearm angle, independent of the player""s size or putting style.
I) To provide a training device made of extremely light weight materials that can withstand the elements and putting forces, and provide the user with a comfortable fit.
j) To provide a firm impact against the ball by directing the force used to strike the golf ball to the upper arms and body.
k)To improve the follow through after the putting stoke by providing momentum to drive the golf ball with the upper body.
l) To provide a training device that feels natural, not requiring the use of muscles or arm positions not associated with the preferred putting stroke, and accomplishing this goal with only one point of contact with the user.
m) To provide training for both regular and reverse hand grip styles.
n) To provide the user with instant detection of wrist rotation during the stroke.
o) To provide a single training device that allows the user to actually learn the preferred method of putting through a series of specific training positions and varying pressures, with the final goal being to eventually wean the user from the training device
p) To provide a training device that can be used with right or left handed players.

Putter stabilizing brace for putt training


A distributed antenna system for using distributed antennas provides for locating a plurality of distributed antennas on existing infrastructure such as existing utility poles, traffic lights/signals, streetlights, etc. Each of the distributed antennas is connected to a base station hotel using a fiber optic cable. The distributed antenna system allows users to access wireless services provided by a plurality of carriers and using a plurality of communication technologies using a truly shared network and without having to implement duplicative wireless infrastructure components.

In recent years, the telecommunications industry has experienced rapid growth by offering a variety of new and improved services to customers. This growth has been particularly notable in the area of wireless communications, e.g., cellular and mobile radio systems. One of the factors that have led to the rapid growth in the wireless arena is the objective of allowing a user to be reached any time, and anywhere. Unfortunately, the industry has not been able to reach this goal even though large and small companies and various consortiums are frantically building vast networks in an effort to capture a share of this booming market.
Despite their efforts to provide seamless and blanket coverage for wireless telecommunications, some areas remain inaccessible. Moreover, due to a large number of wireless service providers trying to provide wireless services using a number of different telecommunication technologies, it is often necessary to install large amount of telecommunication equipment, including a number of antennas and cables connecting thereto, in a service area. Such solutions result in having unappealing wireless antenna structures that often ruin the natural looks of the area where such antennas are located.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an economically viable system and method for using distributed antennas in an efficient manner.

Method and apparatus for using distributed antennas


A closure for silica glass crucible to be mounted on an opening portion of a silica glass crucible is provided with a peripheral edge mounting portion closely adhered to an inner peripheral end of the opening portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a silica glass crucible, especially a silica glass crucible used in a pulling step for the production of a single crystalline silicon, and particularly provides a structure of avoiding intrusion of foreign matter into an inner face of the manufactured silica glass crucible during storing or conveying of the crucible.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the production of single crystalline silicon, it is common that a silica glass crucible used in the melting of polycrystalline silicon as a starting material is cleaned and inspected after the manufacture, and consequently an acceptable product is packed for delivery. With the increase in the purity of semiconductor materials, it is important to suppress various contaminations during the production of single crystalline silicon, and it is also desired to control contamination of a silica glass crucible to minimum. Concretely, when the silica glass crucible is used for pulling a single crystal, it is taken meticulous care on the contamination by cleaning the inside of the crucible with ultra pure water or the like prior to the use. Therefore, it is first important to prevent the manufactured crucible from contamination even in a period from delivery to use. Especially in recent years, the size of the silica glass crucible tends to be gradually increased for enhancing the production efficiency of single crystalline silicon, and hence it is not easy to handle such a larger-size crucible. For example, such a crucible is apt to be easily contaminated during operation such as inspection or packing after the manufacture.
In order to solve such a problem, it is desired to mechanically pack the silica glass crucible at a cleaned state after the cleaning of the silica glass crucible, and hence an apparatus of automatically wrapping the silica glass crucible at the cleaned state is disclosed in JP-A-2000-219207.
Although it becomes particularly possible to avoid contamination at delivery by wrapping with the apparatus described in the above patent document to store the silica glass crucible at the cleaned state, contamination on the inner face of the crucible is not yet prevented completely.
Onto the outer peripheral face of the silica glass crucible is attached silica starting powder and/or silica pieces (hereinafter referred to as raw material powder) of half-molten state, so that such a raw material powder is easily intruded into the inside of the crucible even after wrapping. The raw material powder may be moved inwardly from a gap between a wrapping sheet and an end face of the crucible and intruded into the inside of the crucible, for example, during conveying of the crucible under a wrapping environment, and further when the wrapping sheet is removed after delivery, the raw material powder remaining on the outer face of an opening portion of the crucible may be still intruded into the inside of the crucible, which could not be avoided. In particular, since the conventional wrapping sheet is a thin vinyl sheet, the raw material powder is generated by rubbing the crucible with the vinyl sheet and thereafter intruded easily into the inner face of the crucible through the gap between the sheet and the end face of the crucible.
Moreover, the crucible may be handled at a state of removing the wrapping sheet, for example, after the delivery to a maker for the production of single crystalline silicon. In this case, there is no means for avoiding the intrusion of foreign matters into the inner face of the crucible. In particular, melting treatment does not necessarily start immediately after polycrystalline silicon as a starting material is charged into the crucible and also the crucible is often stored and held at a state of charging the polycrystalline silicon, during which foreign matters are intruded into the crucible to constitute a factor of obstructing single crystallization in the production of single crystalline silicon.
As mentioned above, there are many opportunities of contaminating the inner face of the silica glass crucible, so that it is desired to provide a way for avoiding such contaminations.

Closure for silica glass crucible, silica glass crucible and method of handling the same


Ball-carrying structure comprising a support member having at least one orifice. The support member is adapted to removably retain a ball.

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 517 xc2xa7119 of French Patent Application No. 00/01331, filed on Jan. 31, 2000, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference thereto in its entirety.
This invention relates to an original structure enabling the reception of one or several balls, in particular game balls, notably with a view to storing or displaying the balls.
The ball-carrying structure according to this invention utilizes a supporting member fitted with at least one orifice of suitable diameter in order to accommodate one ball by a slightly forcible nesting motion.
The corresponding orifice(s) is (are generally circular in shape and their wall preferably flexible to enable reception and maintenance of the ball by slight deformation of the wall.
According to one embodiment, the ball-carrying structure utilizes a ring made of flexible material; this ring may be in the form of a partial cylinder.
According to another embodiment, the structure provides for a plate made of a flexible material of a few millimetres in thickness, fitted with at least one orifice for accommodating a ball; this plate may comprise a plurality of orifices for accommodating balls, of identical or different diameters according to the diameter of the balls to be accommodated.
The ball support may further comprise a system that enables hooking of the support onto a carrying support.
According to another embodiment, this support is made of a molded flexible material and comprises an orifice to enable this support to be hooked onto the carrying structure.
According to still another embodiment, the ball-carrying structure according to the invention makes up the appended member of a key-holder ring.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a ball-carrying structure comprising a support member having at least one orifice, wherein the support member is adapted to retain a ball.
The support member may be adapted to removably retain the ball. The support member may have a flexible wall which is deformable. The flexible wall may be in the form of a ring. The support member may be a ring. The support member may be a flexible plate. The plate may comprise a plurality of orifices. The ball-carrying structure may further comprise a ring coupled to the support member via a hooking system. The ring may be a key ring and the hooking system may comprise a connecting link and an opening disposed in the support member. The support member may be made of a molded flexible material. The support member may be made of a molded flexible material.
The invention also provides for a ball-carrying structure comprising a key ring adapted to retain keys, a support member in the form of a ring coupled to the key ring and having at least one orifice, and at least one ball disposed in the at least one orifice, wherein the support member is adapted to retain the ball.
The support member may be adapted to removably retain the ball. The ball-carrying structure may further comprise a hooking system coupling the key ring to the support member, the hooking system comprising a connecting link and an opening disposed in the support member.
The invention is also directed to a ball-carrying structure comprising a key ring adapted to retain keys, a support member in the form of a plate coupled to the key ring and having at least one orifice, and at least one ball disposed in the at least one orifice, wherein the support member is adapted to retain the ball.
The support member may be adapted to removably retain the ball. The ball-carrying structure may further comprise a hooking system coupling the key ring to the support member, the hooking system comprising a connecting link and an opening disposed in the support member.


In a method of communicating with a mobile station in a cell of a cellular telecommunication network having a microcell layer with a plurality of microcells each comprising at least one relay station and a macrocell layer with a macrocell covering a plurality of microcells, a call in the microcell layer is effected between the mobile station and a set of relay stations, the number of which is a cardinal number at least equal to two, allocated to the call. The relay stations allocated to the call can change during the call, and the call is handed over from the microcell layer to the macrocell layer when it is not possible to allocate to the call a number of relay stations corresponding to the cardinal number. A base transceiver station for implementing the invention is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns the field of mobile telecommunication networks or mobile radio networks and more particularly networks using TDMA (time division multiple access) digital transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
These networks are made up of cells each comprising a base transceiver station responsible for providing communication with mobile stations in the cell. Various standards have already been drawn up for terrestrial telecommunication systems with mobile terminals, in particular the GSM, DCS 1800 and PCS standards. Under the GSM standard, each base transceiver station (BTS) transmits signaling messages in a cell on a broadcast control channel (BCCH). The broadcast control channel also identifies the cell. A random access channel (RACH) is used for signaling messages from the mobile stations. The mobile stations use this channel during a call initialization phase to send either a request (uplink call) or an acknowledgement message (downlink call).
The invention is more particularly concerned with cells with two layers. These cells have a macrocell layer and a microcell layer. In such cells, the macrocell layer is used to manage the mobile stations at cell level. The microcell layer is used to manage the mobile stations at micro-BTS level. Each micro-BTS radiates at a low power in the microcell that it defines, which typically has a size of a few hundred meters, compared to a typical size in the order of one kilometer for a cell or macrocell.
This design and this structure of the cells increases traffic capacity or alleviates transmission problems encountered in urban environments. However, the resulting improvement is greater if the mobile stations are managed in the microcell layer. An objective in cells with distributed antennas is therefore to assure as much transmission to and from the mobile stations in the microcell layer as possible. It is nevertheless still possible to transmit to and from the mobile stations in the macrocell layer. To handover from the microcell layer to the macrocell layer, it has been proposed to estimate the speed of the mobile stations and to use that speed in the decision whether to handover from the microcell to the macrocell. In this case, the mobile stations which are stationary or moving at low speed are managed in the microcell layer and fast-moving mobile stations are managed in the macrocell layer. This solution is described in ETSI recommendation TS GSM 05.22 version 4.00, for example. This recommendation proposes to evaluate the speed by the time spent in the cell.
French patent application 97 11123 filed Sep. 8, 1997 by the assignees of the inventors, whose title in translation is xe2x80x9cBase transceiver station controlling calls used in a cell of a digital cellular mobile radio network, and corresponding control methodxe2x80x9d, which had not been published by the date of filing of this application, describes a distributed radio coverage system. The above application proposes that each cell comprise a plurality of relay stations. Also, calls to a mobile station of the cell are allocated a set of at least two relay stations. The relay stations of the same cell use the same BCCH and RACH.
French patent application 97 11125 filed Sep. 8, 1997 by the assignees of the inventors, and whose title in translation is xe2x80x9cMethod of identifying a mobile station in a cell of a digital cellular mobile radio networkxe2x80x9d, which also had not been published at the date of this application, describes a distributed radio coverage system. The above application proposes that each cell comprise a plurality of relay stations. It proposes to select at least one of the relay stations of a cell in accordance with the quality of a call from a mobile station, in order to determine a position of this mobile station in the cell. The relay stations of the same cell use the same BCCH and RACH.
The invention proposes a solution to the problem of redirecting traffic from the microcell layer to the macrocell layer in distributed cells. It maximizes traffic efficiency and use of microcell resources and provides a good grade of service (GoS).
To be more precise, the invention proposes a method of communicating with a mobile station in a cell of a cellular telecommunication network having a microcell layer with a plurality of microcells each comprising at least one relay station and a macrocell layer with a macrocell covering a plurality of said microcells, wherein a call in the microcell layer is effected between the mobile station and a set of relay stations, the number of which is a cardinal number at least equal to two, allocated to the call, the relay stations of the set allocated to a call can change during the call, and the call is handed over from the microcell layer to the macrocell layer when it is not possible to allocate to the call a number of relay stations corresponding to said cardinal number.
Said cardinal number is advantageously 2.
In one embodiment, the macrocell comprises means for managing the equivalent of a number Nmacro of transmitter-receivers and said number is chosen so that the grade of service is less than or equal to 2%.
The invention also concerns a base transceiver station for a cell of a telecommunication network having a microcell layer with a plurality of microcells each comprising at least one relay station and a macrocell layer with one macrocell covering a plurality of said microcells, means for allocating a set of relay stations to a call in the microcell layer, the number of which is a cardinal number at least equal to two, allocated to the call, said allocation means allocating different relay stations to a mobile station in movement, and the base transceiver station further including means for handing over a call from the microcell layer to the macrocell layer when it is not possible to allocate to the call a number of relay stations corresponding to said cardinal number.
The cardinal number is preferably 2.
In one embodiment, the layer comprises means for managing the equivalent of a number Nmacro of transmitter-receivers and in that said number is chosen so that the grade of service is less than or equal to 2%.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent on reading the following description of embodiments of the invention which is given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Handover from a microcell layer to a macrocell layer in a two-layer cell of a telecommunication network


A memory circuit having a stitched architecture wherein word lines of the memory circuit comprise a low resistance conductor stitched to a gate conductor portion having a higher resistance than the low resistance conductor. The memory circuit includes an array of memory cells having thereon bit lines disposed generally along a first direction and the word lines disposed generally along a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction. The memory circuit also includes an array sense amplifier region disposed adjacent the array of memory cells generally along the first direction. The array sense amplifier region has therein a plurality of array sense amplifiers coupled to the bit lines. The memory circuit further includes a stitch region containing contacts for stitching the low resistance conductor with the gate conductor. The stitch region is disposed adjacent the array of memory cells generally along the second direction. There is further included a set of local data lines disposed generally along the second direction and coupled to the plurality of array sense amplifiers. There is also included a set of master data switches coupled to the set of local data lines. The master data switch is disposed in a contact-free portion of the stitch region that is adjacent to the array sense amplifier region generally along the second direction. The memory circuit further includes a set of master data lines disposed generally along the first direction and a set of master line-to-switch connectors disposed generally along the second direction for coupling the set of master data lines to the set of master data switches, wherein the set of bit lines, the set of master data lines, the low resistance conductors of the word lines, the set of local data lines, and the set of master line-to-switch connectors are formed from at least four different conductor layers of the memory circuit.

The present invention relates to integrated memory circuits such as dynamic random access memory integrated circuits (DRAM), static memory circuits, or the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved dynamic random access memory architecture wherein the master data switches and the connections thereto are laid out such that space usage on the chip is substantially reduced.
Memory circuits such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) circuits have long been employed in electronic equipment such as computers. In designing DRAM circuits, the challenge has been to maximize performance (in terms of delay, power consumption, density, and the like) while reducing the size of the integrated circuit to improve performance. There is provided in the art a DRAM architecture known as a stitched word line architecture wherein the word lines are formed by stitching together a low resistance conductor (typically formed of a metal such as aluminum or copper) to a gate conductor portion by the use of interdielectric contacts.
To facilitate discussion FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a word line 100 including a low resistance conductor 102 and a gate conductor portion 104. Low resistance conductor 102, which is typically formed of a low resistance material such as aluminum or copper or one of their alloys, is disposed above and separated from gate conductor portion 104 by a dielectric layer. Gate conductor portion 104, which may be one continuous piece or may be segmented, represents the conductor that couples to the gate of the access transistors, i.e., the transistors that control the flow of current to and from the storage cells. To couple low resistance conductor 102 to gate conductor portion 104, a plurality of contacts, or stitches 106 are shown.
The use of a stitched word line architecture increases the speed at which the potential on the word line can be switched since speed is limited by the value of the RC product of the word line as a unit. Since the sheet resistance of the material forming low resistance conductor 102 is substantially lower than the sheet resistance of the material forming the gate conductor portion, the use of low resistance conductor 102 greatly reduces the resistance (R) at the expense of little additional capacitance (C). Thus, the value of the RC product is greatly reduced, enabling an increase the switching speed of the word line.
Although the use of the stitched word line architecture advantageously improves performance, there is required on the DRAM chip a stitch region for accommodating contacts 106. To further elaborate, FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of an exemplary DRAM circuit wherein the stitched word line architecture is employed. Referring now the FIG. 2, DRAM portion 200 includes arrays of memory cells 202, 204, 206, and 208. Within an array, word lines 210 are disposed horizontally (i.e., in the X direction) in general while bit line pairs 212 are disposed substantially orthogonal to the word lines, i.e., they are disposed vertically (i.e., in the Y direction) in general.
It should be understood that while the general direction of the word lines (as well as other horizontal running structures) is typically horizontal, local variations in the general direction may occur in some DRAMs. Likewise, although the general direction of the bit lines (as well as other vertical running structures) is typically vertical, local variations may also occur. In these cases, the local intersection between a word line and a bit line may not be exactly orthogonal, as may be expected, although the general direction of a word line and the general direction of a bit line may form one. Thus, the directions discussed herein should be understood in the general sense and are not intended to limit the inventions to absolute horizontal or vertical directions. It should also be understood that each of word lines 210 represents a stitched unit wherein a low resistance conductor is stitched to an underlying gate conductor portion in the manner discussed earlier. Although only some exemplary word lines and bit line pairs are shown in FIG. 2, it should also be understood that an array may have as many word lines and bit line pairs as needed.
The contacts (e.g., contacts 106 of FIG. 1) employed to stitch the low resistance conductor of a word line to its gate conductor portion are disposed in the stitch regions which are located adjacent to the arrays generally in the horizontal (or X) direction. With reference to FIG. 2, the contacts for stitching the low resistance conductor to the gate conductor portion of the word lines are located in stitch regions 214, and 216, which are disposed between adjacent columns of arrays.
The bit line pairs 212 of FIG. 2 are provided in pairs in accordance with the folded bit line architecture that is well known to those skilled in the art of DRAM design. Generally speaking, in the folded bit line architecture, two bit lines are employed to sense the charged stored in a memory cell of the DRAM. In preparation for reading the stored charge, both the true and complement bit lines are precharged to a predefined level. Since the word line is connected to the gate of the access transistor that controls the storage cell, raising the word line connects the storage cell to the true bit line. The stored charge will either increase or decrease the precharged potential already existing on true bit line.
An array sense amplifier coupling to both the true and compliment bit lines would then compare the potential of the true bit line to that of the compliment bit line (which is unconnected to the storage cell and therefore does not have its potential changed by the charge in the storage cell). The result of the comparison is then provided through additional circuitry (which will be described further in connection with FIG. 3 herein) to the pins of the DRAM circuit to enable an external circuit to ascertain the logic value stored in the storage cell.
With reference to FIG. 2, the array sense amplifiers are disposed in the array sense amplifier regions which are disposed above and below each array. In the example of FIG. 2, an interleaved sense amplifier architecture is employed wherein the sense amplifiers employed for sensing the potentials on adjacent bit line pairs are located at opposite ends of an array. By way of example, sense amplifier 220, which is employed to detect the potentials on bit line pair 212a, is disposed in sense amplifier region 222. Sense amplifier 224, which is employed to sense the potentials on adjacent bit line pair 212b, is disposed in sense amplifier region 226. As can be seen in FIG. 2, sense amplifier regions 222 and 226 are disposed at opposite ends of array 202. The interleaved sense amplifier architecture is well known in the art and will not be further elaborated here.
The use of an interleaved sense amplifier architecture advantageously increases the sense amplifier pitch relative to the bit line pitch, thereby providing more room in each sense amplifier region to implement the sense amplifiers. To reduce the number of sense amplifiers required per DRAM circuit, each sense amplifier is typically connected to the two bit line pairs of the two arrays adjacent to it and multiplexed between the two bit line pairs as needed. By way of example, sense amplifier 220 is coupled to both bit line pairs 212a and 212e, and is multiplexed between these two bit line pairs to enable sense amplifier 220 to service the sensing need of both of these bit line pairs. In this manner, the number of sense amplifiers required per DRAM circuit may be reduced by approximately half.
As mentioned in connection with FIG. 2, additional circuitry is typically required to output the logic state sensed by the array sense amplifiers (e.g., sense amplifiers 224 of FIG. 2) to the off-chip driver (which provides that sensed logic state to the pin of the DRAM IC to be read by the requesting external circuit). One implementation of the aforementioned additional circuitry is depicted in FIG. 3. Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a pair of bit lines which include a true bit line 302 and a compliment bit line 304. As mentioned earlier, an array sense amplifier may be employed to compare the potential on true bit line 302 with the potential on compliment bit line 304 to ascertained the charge stored in the memory cell accessed (which modifies the potential on true bit line 302). The result of the comparison is output by array sense amplifier 306 to local data lines 308 and 310. Local data line 308 represents the true data line and local data line 310 represents its compliment.
A pair of master data switches 312 and 314 couple to local data lines 308 and 310 to master data lines 316 and 318. As in the case of the local data lines, master data line 316 represents the true master data line while master data line 318 represents its compliment. Master data switches 312 and 314 may be implemented by, for example, n-channel complimentary metal oxide (CMOS) transistors although they may well be implemented by other types of transistor technologies. The combination of local data lines 308/310 and master data lines 316/318 carries the result ascertained by array sense amplifier 306 outside of the array area. As shown in FIG. 3, master data lines 316 and 318 are input into a master sense amplifier 320, which compares the potentials on master data lines 316 and 318, to output data on a R/W data line 322 to be furnished to the off-chip driver.
The provision of master data switches 312 and 314 is advantageous since multiple pairs of local data lines are typically coupled to any given pair of master data line. By appropriately manipulating the master data switches coupled to a given pair of master data lines, it is possible then to select the appropriate pair of local data lines for coupling to the pair of master data lines while deselecting (i.e., decoupling) the other pairs of local data lines from that pair of master data lines. In this manner, the capacitance associated with the conductive path between the array sense amplifier (e.g., array sense amplifier 306) and the master sense amplifier (e.g., master sense amplifier 320) is reduced since the inactive pairs of local data lines are not selected and are thus decoupled from the pair of master data lines that forms part of the conductive path.
It should be appreciated many pairs of local data lines, master data lines, and master data switches may be required in a given DRAM circuit. As such, the circuitry of FIG. 3 needs to be accommodated and laid out such that minimal additional space is required on the integrated circuit. In particular, it remains a challenge to lay out the local data lines, the master data switches, the master data lines, and the connections between these components such that both layout complexity and space usage is reduced.

Dynamic random access memory circuit and methods therefor


A drive backboard, a manufacturing method thereof, a display panel and a display device are provided. The drive backboard includes a plurality of pixel units and a plurality of spare electrode groups. Each pixel unit includes m subpixel units, and m is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. Each spare electrode group includes two first spare electrodes and one second spare electrode; two adjacent ith subpixel units respectively use one first spare electrode in each spare electrode group and share one second spare electrode in each spare electrode group, where i is a positive integer from 1 to m.

Mini light emitting diode (Mini LED) and micro light emitting diode (Micro LED) technology, as a new generation of display technology, is obtained by minimizing the structure of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). This technology inherits the characteristics of LEDs and has the advantages of low power consumption, high brightness, ultra high resolution and color saturation, fast response speed, ultra power saving, long service life and high efficiency.

Drive backboard, manufacturing method thereof, display panel and display device


A compressor section for use in a gas turbine engine has a plurality of compressor stages. Each compressor stage is provided with a rotor hub, and each rotor hub mounts a plurality of compressor blades. A rotor drum extends between adjacent rotor hubs. A plurality of stator stages have an outer ring and a radially inner ring. A plurality of vanes extend between the outer and inner rings. An inner surface of the inner ring is spaced by a gap from an outer surface of the rotor drum. The rotor drum is provided with a plurality of blades having a general airfoil shape to resist leakage across the gap.

This application relates to a seal between a compressor rotor and a stator vane.
Gas turbine engines are known, and typically include a compressor stage which compresses air and delivers it into a combustor stage. The air is mixed with fuel and ignited in the combustor stage, and products of that combustion pass downstream over turbine rotors, driving them to rotate.
It is a desire of modern turbine designer to increase the efficiency of all aspects of the turbine engine operation. One loss of efficiency occurs when air leaks within the compressor section. Typically, the compressor section includes a plurality of rotating sets of blades, each defining a stage of compression. Static vanes having airfoils are positioned intermediate the rotating compressor blades, and served to redirect airflow between the serial stages.
It is possible for air to leak between the rotor, and an inner periphery of the stator vane. This air is thus not redirected, as desired, and hurts efficiency.
It is also often the case that a fan delivers air into the compressor stage. Typically, both the compressor and fan have been driven directly by turbine rotors. More recently a gear reduction has been employed between the fan and a turbine rotor to allow the fan to rotate at a slower speed.
The use of the gear reduction has allowed the fan to become larger in diameter. In addition, the fans may deliver air into a bypass duct, as well as to the compressor. It is desirable to increase the overall efficiency of the gas turbine engine such that a higher percentage of air can be delivered into the bypass duct. Thus, the efficient compression of the air within the compressor section becomes even more desirable when utilized in a gas turbine engine utilizing a gear reduction drive for a fan.
Any number of types of seal have been utilized. One known type of seal includes an abradable material, and a plurality of knife-edge seals rotating with the rotor. This seal construction typically extends further inwardly than may be desired, and requires a large number of parts.

Gas turbine engine compressor stator seal


A two-stroke uniflow engine is provided with: a cylinder; a piston; an exhaust valve that is opened and closed in order to discharge exhaust gas that is generated inside the cylinder; a scavenging port that takes active gas into the interior of the cylinder in accordance with a sliding movement of the piston; a fuel injection port that is provided in the internal circumferential surface of the cylinder; a fuel injection valve that injects fuel gas into the fuel injection port; and a fuel injection control unit that executes control of the injection of the fuel gas in the fuel injection valve, wherein the fuel injection control unit decides at least one of an injection pressure and an injection time of the fuel injection valve based on a change in pressure inside the cylinder that is caused by a reciprocating movement of the piston.

Two-stroke engines (i.e., two-cycle engines), which are also used as the engines of sea-going vessels, are reciprocating engines in which the strokes of compression (including air intake) and expansion (including combustion and air discharge) are completed in the strokes of a single reciprocation of a piston inside a cylinder. For example, in a diesel-type gas engine in which diesel fuel oil and fuel gas are supplied concurrently via high-pressure injection, the fuel gas and fuel oil are injected in the vicinity of top dead center in the latter half of a compression stroke, and this fuel gas is then ignited so that the fuel gas is reliably combusted inside the cylinder.
As an example of this type of gas engine, technology has been disclosed (see, for example, Patent document 1) in which high-pressure (for example, 250 bar (25 MPa)) fuel gas is injected from a fuel gas valve that is fitted onto a cylinder cover positioned in the vicinity of top dead center.
In a gas engine that uses this type of high-pressure injection, the air inside the cylinder is compressed while the scavenging port and the exhaust valve are in a closed-off state, and combustion is then induced by injecting fuel gas directly into this high-temperature, highly compressed air. Accordingly, in a gas engine that employs high-pressure injection, because it is necessary to supply fuel gas when the pressure inside the combustion chamber in the latter half of the compression stroke is high, the fuel gas must be supplied at a higher pressure than that inside the combustion chamber, so that a high-output pressure booster is required. Moreover, in addition to initial costs such as this, increases in operating costs and problems about safety have also occurred. Therefore, a low-pressure injection two-stroke engine has been proposed (for example Patent documents 2 and 3) that, while the pressure inside the cylinder is still comparatively low during the initial stages of the compression stroke, injects fuel gas directly into air that has been taken in via the scavenging port without increasing the pressure of the fuel gas.


The present invention provides a liquid crystal display panel and a manufacturing method thereof. The liquid crystal display panel includes a first plate disposing a pad on an inside surface thereof, and a second plate including a glass substrate and at least one coating layer formed on the glass substrate. Opposite the pad of the first plate, the at least one coating layer and the glass substrate of the second plate together forms a blocking groove. The present invention benefits to the narrow frame design and can assure the display effect of the liquid crystal display panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing technology field of a liquid crystal display panel and more particularly to a liquid crystal display panel and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the continuous popular of a liquid crystal display panel, the demand for the function of every element of the liquid crystal display panel becomes more and more high.
Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a structure schematic view of a preferred embodiment of a liquid crystal display panel in the prior art.
The liquid crystal display panel includes a color filter (CF) plate 11 and a thin film transistor (TFT) plate 12. The CF plate 11 and the TFT plate 12 is connected together by frame glue 13.
The liquid crystal display panel has a display area A′, a switch element area B′ and a frame glue area C′. Opposite the display area A′, an inside surface of the CF plate 11 is coated with a first alignment film 111, and an inside surface of the TFT plate 12 is coated with a second alignment film 121. Wherein the first alignment film 111 and the second alignment film 121 are formed by an inkjet way, but this way is easy to result in an uneven edge of the first alignment film 111 or the second alignment film 121. That will easily influence the frame glue area C′ and is difficult to realize the design of a narrow frame.
For solving the above questions, generally the CF plate 11 disposes a pad (PS) 112 thereon to control the edge of the first alignment film 111, and the TFT plate 12 disposes a groove 122 thereon to control the edge of a second alignment film 121.
However, with the develop trend of the liquid crystal display panel with a narrow frame, it is needed to make the distance between the display area A′ and the frame glue area C′ be shorter. But once the distance between the display area A′ and the frame glue area C′ are too short, the groove 122 formed in the way of FIG. 1 will be difficult to control the edge of the second alignment film 121. Once the edge of the second alignment film 121 influences the frame glue area C′, it will effect the adhesive of the frame glue 13 and further effect the display effect of the liquid crystal display panel.
in conclusion, how to realize the design of narrow frame and avoid the effect of the alignment film on the frame glue to assure the display effect of the liquid crystal display panel, is one of research directions of the liquid crystal display field.

Liquid crystal display panel and manufacturing method thereof

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.