For gaze-controlled text size control of a display, the invention proposes to probe, sample and record a user's horizontal gaze Signal; to subject the gaze Signal to a subband filterbank or wavelet transform; to detect line delimiters in the gaze Signal; to derive a reading speed; to determine, as a number of saccades per text line the number of locations where the gaze Signal has sudden high slope portions surrounded on both sides by portions of markedly smaller slope; to detect, based on the reading speed and the number of saccades, a too small font size Status or a too big font size Status; and to initiate a corresponding font size change. Parts of this method can be used for gaze-based measuring of text reading speed and for gaze-based measuring of number of saccades.

Recording and estimating the gaze path of a user watching a screen is a mature technology opening new perspectives in terms of Human-Machine Interfaces. Such captures are till now mainly achieved using infrared video technologies in commercial systems.
[5] purport to describe a laptop computer product with integrated eye control, taking advantage of the reflection of infrared sources on the user's eyes to estimate the current gaze orientation.
Other, more experimental systems are physiologically based on the recording of the corneo-retinal potential by the means of electrodes positioned around the eye. Two electrodes are generally used to record the horizontal movements, two others catch the vertical motions and a last one is used as a reference. FIG. 1 shows an example of a horizontal capture setup.
Young et al [1] have purportedly shown that captured signals, namely ElectroOculoGram (EOG) signals, are linearly correlated to the eye motions.
Several commercial or academic systems embed dedicated amplifiers to measure and record the associated signal. "BIOPAC" systems for an example of generic biomedical amplifier, "BlueGain EOG Amplifier" developed by Cambridge Research Systems, and an Eye-movement Tracking System proposed by Deng [2].
Even if such systems were historically and mainly used for medical purposes [3], recent developments in video games and entertainment [4] prove their potential as a new way for users to interact with a machine.
The Boston College "EagleEyes" Project [6] is an example of taking advantage of the EOG to help users with severe physical disabilities to control a computer.
In [7], Bulling et al propose to use EOG signals to recognize users' activities by analyzing their eyes movements. Horizontal EOGs are processed with dedicated wavelet transforms and help to determine if the user is reading, writing or browsing while s/he is in front of her/his computer.
With the development of e-books, the improvements of TV-screens which are now able to satisfyingly display texts and web pages, it becomes apparent that reading comfort may not always be optimal and depends among others on the size of the text font used in the display. To adjust font size to individual users' needs, [5] requires an active interaction of the user with the machine like a deliberate click on an icon, or a specific eye motion to zoom on some part of a screen. The Single Line Reader algorithm implementation in [8] also makes use of deliberate head movements to control the speed and scrolling direction of a single line text display.
An improvement of ease of user interaction is thus desirable.

Method for gaze-controlled text size control, and methods for gaze-based measuring of a text reading speed and of a number of visual saccades per text line


A lightweight structural concrete with screw-ability and nail-ability similar to wood is composed of non-structural and ultra lightweight aggregate such as expanded perlite of a particular size distribution and amount, entrained air cells of another specific size distribution and amount, and dense cementitious composition of a cement binder, a fine grade structural filler no larger than masonry sand grade, a pozzolan, and optional micro-fibers for reinforcement. This structural concrete matrix is optimized to hold 13 gauge T-nails and bugle head wood screws with thread ranging from 8 to 11 threads per inch and diameter of 0.10″ to 0.137″. The resulting concrete will have consistent screw-ability and nail-ability similar that of wood.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lightweight concrete with structural strength and density according to ASTM standard.
2. Description of the Related Art
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard defines structural lightweight concrete as having a compression strength in excess of 17.2 MPA (2500 psi) after 28 days curing when tested in accordance with ATSM C 330, and an air dry density not exceeding 1,842 kg/m3 (115 lb/ft3) as determined by ASTM C 567. Standard concrete mix is made of coarse aggregate (stone), fine aggregate (sand), and cement binder. Similarly to standard concrete mix, many current structural lightweight concrete mixtures have the same mix composition, except that the aggregates in the mix are replaced with lower-density ones. Lower-density replacement aggregates can be of man-made aggregates or natural aggregates, and have compression greater than structural strength of 2500 psi. For example, most common man-made (synthetic) lightweight aggregates include expanded shale or clay, cinders, and expanded slag. The most common natural lightweight aggregates include pumice, scoria, tuff, and diatomite.
Currently, the use of structural lightweight concrete has been limited to large cast structures where its lower density is required, such as bridges and high rises. Like most normal concrete material, its utilization in residential buildings has been limited due to its inflexibility and associated cost of the material. Moreover, most structural lightweight concrete, like regular concrete, cannot be screwed and/or nailed, which can be costly and unworkable for most modern residential applications. This is one of the major reasons most residential structures remain wood-based in North America, despite the fact that the performance of structural lightweight concrete is far superior to wood.
Most lightweight concrete (structural or otherwise) falls into three (3) categories. First category of lightweight concrete relates to the standard structural concrete that utilizes lighter aggregates, such as expanded shale or expanded clay as normal stone replacement. The size of lightweight structural aggregates varies from coarse to fine. The mechanics of standard structural concrete matrix work the same way as regular concrete, since the structural aggregates are used to carry the load directly. Second category of lightweight concrete relates to the type of concrete that has no coarse aggregates with structural strength. The concrete is typically provided with fine structural fillers, such as masonry sand and air cells, expanded perlite, vermiculite, or wood particle as non-structural fillers to take up space in the matrix. Fine structural fillers, that are smaller than sand size in some mixes, can be structural as masonry sand, or non-structural, such as micron size expanded perlite or micro air cells. The concrete matrix in the second category (whether it is cellular or perlite concrete) relies solely on the solid cementitious structure (cement binder and fine structural aggregates such as sand) enveloping the air cells or the expanded perlite to do the work. Third category of lightweight concrete relates to the type of concrete that has both structural and non-structural aggregates larger than masonry sand; the concrete matrix will have elements of both the first and second categories.
Hereon, the term "structural aggregate" is defined as aggregate that has compression strength that is greater that 2500 psi as consistent with the term "structural" referred in ASTM standard for concrete. The term "non-structural aggregare" is defined as aggregate with compression strength of 2500 psi or less.
In the second category of lightweight concrete, most are cellular concrete, perlite concrete, vermiculite concrete or the like. These types of lightweight concretes are often provided with non-structural strength and are limited in construction applications. Examples of such cellular concrete are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,359 entitled "Cellular concrete"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,505 entitled "Cellular concrete"; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,762 entitled "Composition of materials for use in cellular lightweight concrete and methods thereof". Examples of such perlite concrete include U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,022 entitled "Composite material and method", and U.S. Pat. No. 6,881,257 entitled "Machinable light weight sisal-based concrete structural building material". A few of the non-structural lightweight concretes can display some very low level of screw-ability and nail-ability, but nothing close to the properties of wood. As a result, the holding strength of screws and grip strength of nails are very poor in comparison to wood. Normally, these types of lightweight concretes tend to crack when screwed or nailed by a user. A few of structural lightweight concretes such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,080,022 and 6,488,762 may have the structural strength; but they lack the screw-ability and nail-ability of wood. Moreover, these types of lightweight concretes are not very economical in a large manufacturing scale, because the mixture requires a large amount of expensive cement binder, or has very limited supply of components as in the case of grounded recycled glass.
Cellular and non-structural aggregate, such as expanded perlite concrete, has been limited only to a few applications that do not require structural strength, but rather take advantage of the insulating characteristics. Past attempts to make this type of concrete into structural grade and make it more economical have resulted in failure. Such past failures are generally attributable to the lack of understanding of the concrete's matrix and its complex mechanism at the microstructure level. Exotic materials required for the concrete mixes or certain new manufacturing processes will always make the concrete more expensive.
Accordingly, there is a need for low cost, high strength lightweight concrete which does not use wood, but possess wood properties so that the lightweight concrete can be easily machined, screwed, and/or nailed without cracking, while maintaining strength characteristics superior to ordinary concrete.

Lightweight structural concrete provided with various wood properties


A system and a method for producing a multiple-die device by attaching a die to a substrate using a first die-attach material having a first processing temperature and attaching a subsequent die using a second die-attach material having a second processing temperature such that the process of attaching the second die does not degrade the first die-attach material. For one embodiment, multiple dies are attached using each die-attach material. For one embodiment, the first die-attach material is a thermoplastic film and the second and subsequent die-attach materials are reformulations of the thermoplastic film.

If chips can be packaged more densely on the surface of a circuit board, the dimensions and cost of the module can be reduced and system performance improved. One possible method of maximizing packaging densities involves placing chips atop one another to form three-dimensional stacks referred to as stacked-chip devices or stacked-die devices. Over the past several years there has been great interest in stacking chips where possible. Such chip-stacking schemes include stacking a number of decreasing sized chips in order to facilitate the wire-bonds or stacking a number of same-sized chips using spacers or employing a beveling technique. Typically the lower-most die of the stacked-die device is attached to the substrate using a die-attach material such as a paste-based adhesive. The same die-attach material is used to attach subsequent die in the stacked-die device one to another. Typically the paste-based adhesive is applied as a liquid, the die is placed on the substrate (or upon another die), and the adhesive is then cured. During curing, the adhesive is raised to a relatively high temperature. To attach a subsequent die of a stacked-die device, the process is repeated. As the trend moves toward stacking more die, from 2–4 stacked die, in typical devices today, to 6–8 stacked die in the near future, and more, problems arise with the die-attach material. Repeatedly raising the temperature to cure each subsequent adhesive layer causes degradation of the previously applied adhesive layers.
Moreover, in some situations, the use of a paste-based adhesive as a die-attach material is not optimal, and is being replaced by a film die-attach material. For example, for some applications an extremely thin die may be desired. A typical die may be 725 microns thick, but for a given application (e.g., wireless communications), a die 25 microns thick may be desired. For such thin die, the imbalance in metal density from one side of the die to the other causes the die to warp. Such warping renders the use of a paste-based adhesive as a die-attach material problematic as the warped die does not maintain contact with the paste-based adhesive throughout the curing process.
Additionally, where the die package has dimensions approximately equal to the die, using a paste-based adhesive for a die attach material may lead to bleedout of the paste, which may interfere with a subsequent wire-bonding process.
These problems are addressed through use of a lamination process using a film die-attach material such as a thermoplastic-based film, which is beginning to gain popularity as the die-attach material of choice in stacked chipscale packages. Such material have many desired characteristics including good flowability and adhesive/cohesive strength.
In a typical lamination process using a thermoplastic film for the die-attach material, the die is laminated to the substrate (or to another die) under high temperature and pressure. The film has enough adhesive strength to hold the die flat (prevent warping) during the lamination process. To attach a subsequent die in order to form a stacked-die device, the process is repeated. This means that the die-attach film of a previously attached die is subjected to the heat and pressure of repeated laminations processes.
The repeated thermal processing can cause voids and stress in the die attach film causing delamination and warping. As a result, extreme care must be taken during successive lamination processes to prevent previous die attach film layers from delaminating or experiencing excessive deformation. This limits the ability to achieve void-free bond lines across the several dies of a stacked-die device. Moreover, the voids, cracks, and other defects caused by repeated high-temperature/high-pressure processes leads to a reduction in performance reliability.

Methods and systems for attaching die in stacked-die packages


A controller of the power converter according to the present invention comprises a gate driver. The gate driver generates a gate-drive signal. The gate-drive signal is coupled to drive a power transistor to switch a transformer of the power converter for regulating an output of the power converter. The gate driver has a charge-pump circuit for charging pump a voltage level of the gate-drive signal. Therefore, the gate-drive signal can fully turn on the power transistor.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a power converter, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a transistor gate driver with a charge-pump circuit of a controller for the power converter.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of a primary side regulated power converter with the constant current output. The power converter (such as a power adaptor) is required to charge a battery with a constant current. The power converter includes a transformer 110 for generating an output (an output voltage VO and an output current IO). The transformer 110 has a primary winding NP, a secondary winding NS, and an auxiliary winding NA. The secondary winding NS generates the output voltage VO and the output current IO through a diode 140 and a capacitor 145. The output voltage VO and the output current IO are generated at an output terminal of the power converter. A first terminal of the primary winding NP is coupled to an input voltage VIN. A second terminal of the primary winding NP is coupled to a drain of a power transistor 120.
A controller 50 generates a gate-drive signal SG. The gate-drive signal SG is coupled to a gate of the power transistor 120 to drive the power transistor 120 for switching the transformer 110 and regulating the output voltage VO and the output current IO of the power converter. In other words, the transformer 110 is magnetized when the power transistor 120 is turned on.
A current-sense device, such as a resistor 125, is coupled between a source of the power transistor 120 and a ground. The resistor 125 detects a switching current IT of the transformer 110 to generate a current-sense signal VCS coupled to the controller 50. The current-sense signal VCS is correlated to the switching current IT.
An anode of the diode 140 is coupled to a first terminal of the secondary winding NS. The capacitor 145 is coupled between a cathode of the diode 140 and a second terminal of the secondary winding NS. The capacitor 145 is further coupled to the output terminal of the power converter.
An anode of a diode 130 is coupled to a first terminal of the auxiliary winding NA of the transformer 110. A second terminal of the auxiliary winding NA is coupled to the ground. A capacitor 135 is coupled between a cathode of the diode 130 and the ground. Once the power transistor 120 is turned off, the secondary winding NS of the transformer 110 will generate the output voltage VO and the output current IO via the diode 140 and the capacitor 145. Meanwhile, through the diode 130 and the capacitor 135, the auxiliary winding NA of the transformer 110 will generate a source voltage VDD coupled to supply the power for the controller 50. The diodes 130 and 140 are used as the rectifier.
Because of the secondary winding NS and the auxiliary winding NA are proportional to the primary winding NP, the current-sense signal VCS and the source voltage VDD are correlated to the output current IO and the output voltage VO respectively. The source voltage VDD is correlated to the output voltage VO according to the following equation (1).
                              V          DD                =                                            T              NA                                      T              NS                                ×                      V            O                                              (        1        )                            where "TNA/TNS" is the turn ratio of the auxiliary winding NA and the secondary winding NS of the transformer 110.
A voltage divider including resistors 131 and 133 is coupled between the auxiliary winding NA of the transformer 110 and the ground. Through the auxiliary winding NA of the transformer 110, a reflected signal VS coupled to the controller 50 is generated at the join of the resistors 131 and 133. Because of the auxiliary winding NA is related to the secondary winding NS, the reflected signal VS is related to the output voltage VO and the output current IO. The gate-drive signal SG is thus generated in accordance with the reflected signal VS for regulating the output voltage VO and the output current IO of the power converter.
The primary side regulation technologies had been disclosed in many prior arts such as, "PWM controller regulating output voltage and output current in primary side", U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,192; "Primary-side controlled flyback power converter", U.S. Pat. No. 6,853,563; "Control circuit for controlling output current at the primary side of a power converter", U.S. Pat. No. 6,977,824.
FIG. 2 shows the characteristic curve for the output voltage VO versus the output current IO of the power converter shown in FIG. 1. When the output current IO of the power converter reaches the constant current level, the output voltage VO will be decreased for regulating its output current IO as a constant. Once the output voltage VO decreases to a low voltage as shown in a curve 150, the source voltage VDD of the controller 50 will be decreased accordantly (as shown in equation 1). The low source voltage VDD would generate a low voltage gate-drive signal SG that cannot turn on the power transistor 120.
The object of the present invention is to solve this problem. A transistor gate driver is developed to fully turn on the power transistor 120 even when the source voltage VDD is low. A prior art "Transistor drive circuit of power converter operating in a wide voltage range", U.S. Pat. No. 7,471,121 was designed to solve this problem, but its drawbacks are bigger die size and the higher cost of the circuit of the controller.

Transistor gate driver with charge pump circuit for offline power converters


A tire location detecting apparatus for a vehicle with four wheels includes four rotation direction detecting devices, four transmitters, a triggering device, a receiver, and a controller. Each of the rotation direction detecting devices outputs a rotation direction signal which is then transmitted by an associated one of the transmitters. The triggering device triggers the transmitter on a first one of the four wheels to transmit an identification signal specific thereto. The receiver receives all of the signals transmitted from transmitters and provides those signals to the controller. The controller identifies the transmitter and tire on the first wheel based on the identification signal transmitted from the transmitter on the first wheel and determines, for each of the transmitters, whether the transmitter and the associated tire are located on one of the right-side wheels or one of the left-side wheels based on the rotation direction signal transmitted from the transmitter.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tire location detecting apparatuses for automatically detecting the locations of tires on a vehicle and tire inflation pressure detecting apparatuses for detecting the inflation pressures of tires on a vehicle.
More particularly, the invention relates to an efficient tire location detecting apparatus which is integrated into a direct-type tire inflation pressure detecting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional direct-type tire inflation pressure detecting apparatuses generally include a plurality of transmitters and a receiver.
Each of the transmitters is directly installed to one of a plurality of wheels of a vehicle and includes a pressure sensor working to sense the inflation pressure of a tire mounted on the wheel. Each of the transmitters is configured to transmit a pressure signal representative of the inflation pressure of the tire sensed by the pressure sensor.
The receiver is installed to the body of the vehicle and includes at least one antenna. The receiver is configured to receive the pressure signals transmitted from the transmitters through the antenna and determine the inflation pressures of the tires based on the respective received pressure signals.
In the above arrangement, in addition to the pressure signals sent out from the transmitters, the receiver may also receive pressure signals that are sent out from external transmitters. However, it is impossible for the receiver to determine whether a pressure signal received thereby has been sent out from one of the transmitters or from an external transmitter. Moreover, it is also impossible for the receiver to detect the locations of the transmitters (i.e., the tires) on the vehicle. In other words, the receiver cannot determine the wheel to which the transmitter having sent out a pressure signal and the tire whose inflation pressure is indicated by the pressure signal are mounted.
To solve the above problems, each of the transmitters may be configured to transmit an identification signal (to be referred to as ID signal hereinafter) representative of the identity thereof along with the pressure signal. On the other hand, the receiver may be configured to have registered therein reference ID signals, each of which coincides with the ID signal of one of the transmitters and is associated with the location of that transmitter.
Thus, the receiver may work to compare an ID signal received thereby with the reference ID signals registered therein and identify the transmitter which has sent out the ID signal when the ID signal coincides with one of the reference ID signals.
Consequently, the receiver can identify the wheel to which the identified transmitter is mounted. More specifically, the receiver can determine whether the wheel is a FR (front-right), a FL (front-left), a RR (rear-right), or a RL (rear-left) wheel of the vehicle. Further, the receiver can determine the inflation pressure of the tire fitted on the identified wheel based on the pressure signal received along with the ID signal.
However, with the above configuration, it is required to previously register the ID signals specific to the respective transmitters as reference ID signals in the receiver through associating the ID signals with the locations of the respective transmitters on the vehicle (i.e., the wheels on which the respective transmitters are mounted). Moreover, as tire replacement or rotations are performed, it is required to update the reference ID signals in the receiver.
However, the registration of the ID signals in the receiver is a time-consuming task, and thus it is required to automatically perform the registration task. Further, for automatically performing the registration task, it is required to automatically detect the locations of the transmitters (i.e., the locations of the associated tires) on the vehicle.
To meet the above requirements, U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,524 proposes a method, according to which a triggering device is provided for each of the wheels to transmit a trigger signal, one of the transmitters transmits the ID signal specific thereto to the receiver upon being triggered by the trigger signal, and the receiver associates the ID signal and the location of the triggered transmitter and registers therein the ID signal as a reference ID signal.
However, with this method, a triggering device is required for each wheel, thus increasing the parts count and manufacturing cost of the tire inflation pressure detecting apparatus.
International publication No. WO 031089260 proposes a method, according to which a dual axis accelerometer is provided in each transmitter to automatically detect the location of the transmitter and thus that of the tire associated with the transmitter.
However, with this method, it is only possible to determine the right/left location of the transmitter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,993 proposes a method, according to which the receiver accumulates the strengths of signals received from the transmitters via respective receiving antennas and determines the locations of the transmitters based on the respective accumulated strengths of signals.
However, with this method, it takes time to accumulate the strengths of signals. Moreover, an additional means (or device) is required to perform the accumulation task, increasing the manufacturing cost of the tire inflation pressure detecting apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,489,888 proposes a method, according to which the receiver determines the locations of the transmitters based on the respective distributions of RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) values for signals transmitted from the transmitters.
However, with this method, it takes time to obtain the distributions of RSSI values. Moreover, an additional means (or device) is required to obtain the distributions of RSSI values, increasing the manufacturing cost of the tire inflation pressure detecting apparatus.

Tire location detecting apparatus configured with rotation direction detecting devices and triggering device


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an array substrate, a method for fabricating the same, and a display panel. The array substrate comprises a substrate, first signal lines and touch electrode signal lines the substrate. The touch electrode signal lines intersect with the first signal lines. Each of the touch electrode signal lines includes a plurality of first sub-signal lines and a plurality of second sub-signal lines. The first sub-signal lines are arranged in a same layer as and insulated from the first signal line. Each of the second sub-signal lines run across one of the first signal lines and are electrically connected with the first sub-signal lines adjacent to said second sub-signal line through vias. The first sub-signal lines are arranged in a layer different from the second sub-signal lines.

With the rapid development of display technology, the birth of touch panel (TP) makes people's lives more convenient. At present, embedded capacitive touch technology has been widely used in the field of display technology.
To achieve the touch function, the touch electrode signal lines electrically connected with the touch electrodes must be arranged to input a touch signal to the touch electrodes through the touch electrode signal lines, or receive the sensing signal fed back by the touch electrodes. In the array substrate, the arrangement of the touch electrode signal lines and the data lines in a same layer may introduce defects or even failure.

Array substrate, method for fabricating the same, and display panel

HEFEI BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An implant is provided comprising a substrate having one or more nanoceria coatings coated at least partially thereon, wherein the one or more nanoceria coatings comprise surface cerium having a 3+/4+ oxidation state ratio such that the one or more nanoceria coatings exhibit catalase mimetic activity, superoxide dismutase mimetic activity, or both. Methods are provided for forming a nanoceria coaling. The coating has nanoceria having a surface cerium 3+/4+ oxidation state ratio such that such that the coating exhibits catalase mimetic activity, superoxide dismutase mimetic activity, or both. Also disclosed is a method of reducing degradation of an implant by placing nanoceria in proximity to a bone-implant interface.

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons has projected annual volumes of primary total hip joint replacement to increase over 748,000 in USA or 4 million worldwide by 2030. By 2030, total hip replacement surgery is expected to rise by 174% and total knee replacement by 673%. Despite technological advances and improvements in treatment strategies to manage rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, total joint replacement ("TJR") still remains the final treatment option in many cases to relieve pain, and improve the quality of life. Annual hospital costs associated with these procedures are projected to exceed 65 billion by 2015. However, due to osteolysis 10-15% TJR will fail, with some studies suggesting rates of osteolysis can approach 40%.
In the USA, the annual cost of TJR exceeds $10 billion. Although joint replacement surgery has made remarkable progress, 10-15% arthroplasty failure still occurs due to high levels of free radicals, chronic inflammation and osteolysis. In 2000, 28,000 and 31,000 revision surgeries were performed for total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty, respectively and the numbers of revision surgeries are increasing each year. Revision surgeries are 40% more costly than primary total hip and knee arthroplasties and more than 1 billion dollars are spent on revision surgeries each year alone in USA. At this time, there is no drug or treatment strategies specifically approved for prevention or inhibition of periprosthetic osteolysis (hereinafter "osteolysis").
Cerium is a rare-earth element with fluorite lattice structure with +3/+4 oxidation states and may interchange between the two depending on the environment. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (hereinafter "CNP"s) have been shown to possess a substantial oxygen storage capacity via the interchangeable surface reduction and oxidation of cerium atoms, cycling between the Ce4+ and Ce3+ redox states. CNPs have a mixed oxidation state of cerium containing both Ce3+ and Ce4+. It has been shown that upon incubation of CNPs with hydrogen peroxide, CNPs with a higher starting concentration of Ce3+ can convert to CNPs containing increased Ce4+ on their surface. Along with this change in oxidation state is the loss of their SOD mimetic ability. However, increased Ce4+ on the CNP surface exhibit better catalase mimetic and —NO scavenging capabilities.
It has been well established in many studies that depending on their reactivity and surface chemistry, CNPs can effectively convert both reactive oxygen species (ROS)(superoxide, O2−, and hydrogen peroxide) into more inert species and scavenge reactive nitrogen species (RNS)(nitric oxide, ·NO), both in vitro and in vivo. It has been further shown that CNPs significantly accelerate the decay of ONOO− and that CNPs ability to interact with ONOO− is independent of the Ce3+/Ce4+ ratio on the surface of the CNPs.
Due to these capabilities, these materials have been employed for industrial use in three-way catalysts. Biological uses of CNPs have centered on their ability to scavenge free radicals under physiologically relevant conditions. This catalytic nature, which began with the discovery that water-based CNPs (with increased Ce3+ in their outer surface) could act as superoxide dismutase mimetics, has laid the foundation for their application in experimental and biomedical research.
CNPs are known for their regenerative antioxidant activity in a biological environment. The unique regenerative property of CNPs is due to low reduction potential and the existence of both Ce3+/Ce4+ oxidation states. It has been shown that the oxygen vacancies could act as catalytically active hot spots to scavenge very reactive radicals such as superoxide radical anion, hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide or peroxynitrite. It has been shown that NC with higher levels of cerium in the +3 oxidation state exhibit superoxide dismutase activity and that this reactivity correlates with the level of cerium in the +3 oxidation state in a reversible manner. Likewise, NC with higher levels of surface cerium in the +4 oxidation state exhibit better catalase mimetic activity that also is reduced when higher levels of cerium are present in the +3 oxidation state.

Implant and coating to reduce osteolysis

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute


A bearing seal includes a bearing housing which houses a rotatable shaft, with a flange of the shaft located outside the housing and an internal annular volume residing between the bearing housing and the shaft, the annular volume bounded at one axial end by the flange. A seal resides in a recess in an outer surface of the housing, the seal including an outwardly extending resilient lip which engages the flange to close off the annular volume at the first axial end, adjacent the flange. The bearing housing includes a fluid passage which extends from an outer surface thereof to the annular volume, the passage including an innermost section oriented tangential to the annular volume. Purge fluid supplied to the annular volume via the external passage causes circumferential flow and substantially radially uniform purge fluid pressure within the annular volume. Build up of the purge fluid pressure in the annular volume eventually causes the lip to flex away from the flange to cause substantially uniform outward flow of purge fluid around the periphery of the seal, thereby to prevent ingress of contaminants.

In one typical machining operation, a machine tool motor rotatably drives a spindle shaft within a bearing housing, with the motor operatively coupled to one end of the spindle shaft. The opposite end of the spindle shaft extends outside of the bearing housing, and it holds a chuck or other tool-holding device which rotates with the spindle shaft to perform a machining operation on a workpiece. For precision machining operations, with critical machining tolerances, the bearing housing and the rotatable spindle shaft must cooperate to precisely rotate the tool-holder about a desired axis, such as vertical or horizontal, over relatively long periods of time. For some applications, such as in the automobile industry, a machining "assembly" line may include as many as three hundred successive machining operations. If one machine tool goes down, due for instance to machining inaccuracy resulting from problems with the spindle bearings or the spindle itself, it becomes necessary to shut down the entire line, at tremendous cost to the manufacturer.
For many machine tools, one area of susceptibility is the seal between the inside of the stationary bearing housing and the rotatable spindle shaft, where the tool-holding end of the spindle shaft extends out of the housing. It is absolutely critical to maintain an effective seal at this joint.
For instance, it is extremely critical to prevent ingress of contaminant materials such as metal shavings or chips from the machined parts, machine tool coolant which is typically sprayed from a nozzle toward the position where the tool contacts the workpiece, and also to prevent the potentially harmful effects generated by humidity, pressure and/or temperature fluctuations. One such effect caused by ingress is liquid condensation. It is common for the coolant to be sprayed continuously at a relatively constant rate, and this results in coolant deflection and splashing on nearby surfaces, including the joint between rotating spindle and the bearing housing. Also, many machining operations require multiple coolant streams to be directed at the spindle, to provide continuous washing of metal chips, i.e., a coolant "chip wash". If ingress of coolant occurs, the coolant is capable of causing severe damage by washing out the lubricant grease for the spindle bearings, which can result in elevated bearing temperatures. In some extreme instances, this can result in catastrophic bearing failure.
Particularly over the past ten to fifteen years, it has become common to use labyrinth-type bearing seals to isolate the inner portions from the outer portions of a spindle shaft of a machine tool. These seals typically include a stator (sometimes referred to as a cap) which is mounted, as by press fitting, into the bearing housing, and which includes radially oriented labyrinth grooves. The labyrinth passage could be formed by the spacing between the stationary and the rotary parts. A rotor fits axially into the stator, revolves with the spindle, and is held in place on the rotating member by static drive rings and/or a tight fit. The labyrinth structure is designed to require multiple changes in fluid flow direction, with accompanying changes in fluid pressure, with the objective of minimizing the possibility of coolant ingress to the bearing. The structure also includes an expulsion port designed to expel any fluid contaminant that may work its way into the seal structure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,000 shows one such labyrinth-type bearing seal.
While labyrinth-type bearing seals have proved suitable for some applications, they have also experienced deficiencies in other important applications. One reason for these deficiencies relates to an increase in the performance expectations for bearing seals for machine tool spindles. More specifically, over the past five to ten years there has been an increased awareness of the potential hazards of overexposure of human operators to machine tool coolants and the particles/chips generated by machining. For this reason, and because almost all machine tool coolants are classified as hazardous materials from an environmental standpoint, there has been a movement toward enclosing the machining area of machine tools, usually within some type of movable or closable shroud, or enclosure. The shroud reduces exposure of the human operator to potentially hazardous materials such as liquid coolant, machine tool lubricating oil or metal chips produced during machining operations.
Unfortunately, the increased use of such shrouds has produced some unintended adverse consequences. For instance, one noticeable effect of these machine tool shrouds has been the tendency of machine tool builders and/or operators to pay less attention to the amount of coolant necessary for use, since the shroud shields the operator from splashed or oversprayed coolant. This generally results in increased coolant usage, with a corresponding increase in the ingress susceptibility of the bearing seal because of this greater coolant volume. This is also true with respect to the use of the coolant chip wash, which may propel the chips toward the seal.
Also, depending on the particular machining operation, the orientation and/or shape of the shroud may cause an increase in the accumulation of metal chips near the bearing seal. Even though the relatively large metal chips may be too large to work their way past the seal, they may sufficiently interfere with proper operation of the seal so that during use the structure becomes more susceptible to coolant ingress.
Thus, even though a labyrinth-type bearing seal may be suitable for extended use for a particular machine tool operated under conditions prevalent ten years ago, that same bearing seal may not perform sufficiently for the same machine tool under operating conditions prevalent today. It simply can not withstand the increased coolant volume coupled with the increased accumulation of metal chips.
The labyrinth seal has other disadvantages. Because of the relatively complex labyrinth structure and the close tolerances, the machining costs for labyrinth-type seals is relatively high. Also, since the labyrinth structure remains open, there is always a possibility of coolant ingress into the labyrinth, and eventually to the bearings. Most labyrinth seals include at least one expulsion port, to allow outflow of contaminant. Unfortunately, the expulsion port provides another entry opportunity for metal chips.
Other bearing seals have been used for spindles, such as rubbing seals which typically include a rubber lip. One advantage of a rubbing seal is the positive circumferential contact along the seal joint. However, rubbing seals have rotational speed limitations, due to excessive heat build up from friction which adversely affects spindle performance.
Some seal configurations have been adapted to accommodate the features of the labyrinth seal and the rubbing seal, with the labyrinth portion located closer to the joint than the rubbing seal. For some of these configurations, purge fluid from the bearing housing is introduced between the labyrinth seal portion and the rubbing seal portion during operation, in an effort to prevent ingress of coolant or other potential contaminants. While the purge fluid may improve the effectiveness of the labyrinth seal portion, the labyrinth seal joint still remains open when the purge fluid is turned off, so the labyrinth portion of the seal is still susceptible to liquid ingress. This problem is also true with respect to a labyrinth/mini-maze seal. Moreover, the use of purge fluid in combination with a labyrinth/rubbing seal structure still does not solve the heating problem of the rubbing seal, so there are still speed limitations.
Another bearing seal, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,378, uses a labyrinth in combination with a rotatable contact seal, with compressed gas introduced between the contacting surfaces to lift the seal and form a gas cushion between the surfaces. During low speed operation, the contact seal is relied on to prevent ingress. During high speed operation, the gas cushion is relied on. The success of this seal depends upon centrifugal forces which cause the seal to move out of contact with the opposed contacting surface, and outflow of the compressed gas which forms the gas cushion. However, there does not appear to be any structure for assuring or maintaining uniformity in seal movement or uniformity in fluid outflow around the periphery.
It is an object of this invention to improve the seal capability and reliability of a bearing seal for a machine tool, such as a spindle bearing seal, under static and dynamic conditions.
It is another object of the invention to actively prevent ingress of contaminants through a bearing seal, particularly under adverse conditions such as heavy volume use of machine tool coolant or heavy accumulation of metal chips.
It is still another object of this invention to prevent contaminant ingress at a bearing seal, but in a manner which does not concurrently introduce other potential spindle operational problems.
It is still another object of this invention to simplify the overall structure of a reliable bearing seal, to facilitate retrofitting of failed seals in the field.


A method and apparatus for conducting a wagering game are disclosed. A value input device receives a wager from a player to play the wagering game. A processor is operative to initially associate one or more of a plurality of incomplete offers with the player. A display is adapted to display the plurality of incomplete offers. The processor, in turn, is operative to allow the player to change which of the incomplete offers is associated with the player, and after the player changes which of the incomplete offers is associated with the player, complete the plurality of offers and award the associated offers to the player.

Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting of the machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Accordingly, in the competitive gaming machine industry, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to produce new types of games, or enhancements to existing games, which will attract frequent play by increasing the entertainment value and excitement for the player.
One concept originally employed to increase the entertainment value of a game is a bonus round, providing the player with a different game experience during play of the basic game. Typically, a predetermined set of symbols on the basic game triggers a bonus round. Bonus games take on a variety of themes and in many cases require the player to make choices that typically instill a feeling of control or self-destiny.
A concept often found in bonus games today is the selection of an animated character or object that potentially provides the player with a winning outcome. In many cases, the selection results in immediate feedback to the player of an award, a loss, or the completion of the bonus round. To enhance the entertainment of the bonus round, game developers have created longer series of events, but typically the player has little interaction once the initial selection has been made. An example of this might include a player choosing (from a group) an animated "partner" or "partners" that perform some feat to generate a winning outcome. While the player has the initial option of choosing this "partner", once the round commences, the player cannot intervene and must await the outcome. This limits the feeling of control the player has on the outcome of the bonus round. A method of changing the "partner" or "partners" in the middle of the round would assist in keeping the player more involved, enhance entertainment, and present the player with a feeling of self-destiny.

Gaming machine with bonus choice changing feature


Disclosed herein are semiconductor device arrays, such as, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and Complex Programmable Logic Arrays (CPLAs) that use high-density Spin Transfer Torque (STT)-based memory elements. STT-based memory elements can either be stand-alone FPGAs/CPLAs, or can be embedded in microprocessors and/or digital signal processing (DSP) system-on-chip (SoC) to provide design flexibility for implementing low power, scalable, secure and reconfigurable hardware architecture. Because the configuration is stored on the FPGA/CPLA die itself, the need for loading the configuration from external storage every time is eliminated when the device is powered on. In addition to instant startup, eliminating configuration I/O traffic results in power savings and possible pin count reduction. Security is greatly improved by eliminating the need to store configuration data in an external memory.

Programmable device arrays are basic building blocks for configurable logic circuits used in computer systems. Examples of programmable device arrays include Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), Complex Programmable Logic Arrays (CPLA), etc.
Current FPGAs use either Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cells or antifuses to program the logic cells and crossbar switches (i.e., a matrix switch connecting multiple inputs to multiple outputs). Antifuse based FPGAs are one-time programmable only, and hence they have limited use. SRAM-based FPGAs also suffer from a couple of known problems. For example, the logic cells typically have high leakage power. Also, though SRAM uses bi-stable latching circuitry to store each bit, it is still a volatile type of memory in the sense that data is eventually lost if the memory device is not externally powered. Therefore, the entire SRAM needs to be reloaded with configuration data whenever the FPGA is powered on. This necessitates an external non-volatile storage (e.g., Flash storage), and dedicated Input/Outputs (I/Os) for configuration, and leads to relatively long programming time on startup. An additional disadvantage is that there may be security issues associated with storing configuration data in off-die memory arrays, requiring additional complex encryption schemes.
Non-volatile types of RAMs have characteristics that are favorable for embedding in high-speed high-density logic circuitry. Spin Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (STTRAM) is a type of non-volatile RAMs that is typically used for more conventional memory circuits, such as, cache, secondary storage etc. Current high-speed high-density logic circuits like FPGAs/CPLAs typically do not employ STTRAM or other STT-based elements. Some researchers have proposed to hybridize conventional Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)-based FPGA design with STTRAM to implement a CMOS-STTRAM non-volatile FPGA configuration. See, for example, the article entitled, "Hybrid CMOS-STTRAM Non-Volatile FPGA: Design Challenges and Optimization Approaches," by Paul et al., pp. 589-592, 2008 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design. However, there is room to bring STTRAM closer to logic level and embedding non-volatile memory bits in reconfigurable logic to be used in high-volume computer architectures and interfaces. The present disclosure addresses the shortcomings of the currently available solutions by proposing devices using STT-based elements and associated manufacturing process thereof.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Spin transfer torque based memory elements for programmable device arrays


Technologies are described herein that pertain to optimizing a ranker component for a risk-oriented objective. Various definitions of risk are described herein, wherein risk is based upon variance in performance scores assigned to the ranker component for respective queries in a data store. Additionally, risk is optionally based upon variance in relative performance of the ranker component versus a baseline ranker component.

Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, information within documents, and/or metadata about documents. Accordingly, a search engine can be referred to as an information retrieval application. A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. Search engines include rankers that are configured to receive a query and output a ranked list of search results responsive to receipt of the query. The search results may include web pages, images, information and other types of data. Additionally, a search engine may be configured to mine data that is available in network-accessible databases and/or open directories.
Generally, a ranker is trained by optimizing performance of the ranker in accordance with a performance metric, such that parameters of the ranker are determined to cause the ranker to perform as well as possible with respect to some performance metric (on average across all queries in training data). Labeled training data may be retained in a data store, such that the training data includes queries and (labeled) ranked search results that correspond to such queries. Therefore, if the ranker is operating ideally, for a given query the ranker will output search results in the order identified in the training data. Various techniques are currently available to compute the performance of a ranker for training data. Exemplary techniques for determining performance of the ranker on a per query basis include normalized discounted cumulative gain (NDCG), mean average precision (MAP), amongst others.
Accordingly, the general performance of a ranker is often determined by averaging the per query performance score. Thus, conventionally, parameter values of the ranker are learned such that the averaged per query performance score is as high as possible. Such approach, however, fails to take into consideration the perception of a user when the search engine performs very poorly for particular queries. For instance, even if a ranker is learned as described above (where parameter values are set to cause the average performance scores across queries to be maximized), if the ranker performs very poorly on certain queries, the user will perceive that the ranker generally performs poorly.

Optimizing a ranker for a risk-oriented objective


Methods and systems are disclosed that may retrieve and filter a call history log or related data, select users based on the results of filtering, and provide proposed contacts to a communication service. The filtering may comprise a variety of criteria and the criteria may be assigned different weights.

People are using computing devices to communicate with each other more and more, often using platforms and services, typically referred to as social networking services, such as PLAXO, SKYPE, FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, etc. Such services may be computer network based services that allow members to communicate with one another. Social networking services are often opt-in services. Typically, each member creates an account by setting a username or other identifier for identifying the member within the network and a password for preventing others from representing their usernames. Once an account is created, members can log-in (or sign-in) and log-out (or sign-out) of the social networking service as they wish.
The same person may belong to multiple social networks. Generally, a different account must be created for each social networking service. Different social networking services may offer users different experiences and may allow users to perform various functions. Thus, it is not uncommon for a person to belong to more than one social networking service. But, whether a person belongs to one or more social networking services, managing contacts on the social networking services may be difficult. The number of members of a social network can reach into the millions. Finding specific members that a particular user wishes to contact can therefore be challenging. Aspects of this disclosure help in overcoming or reducing the difficulty of this and other challenges.


A control system for a vehicle safety device includes a drive circuit. The drive circuit includes a main switching element, and a safety switch which is turned on by an inertia force produced at the time of a collision of the vehicle. The vehicle safety device is activated when the main switching element and said safety switch are both turned on. The control system further includes an acceleration sensing circuit for detecting deceleration of the vehicle, and a microcomputer. The microcomputer judges, based on a deceleration signal from the acceleration sensing circuit, whether or not a collision has occurred, and outputs an ON-instruction signal to the main switching element when the microcomputer judges that the collision has occurred. The microcomputer also judges whether or not the acceleration sensing circuit is subjected to a malfunction, and judges whether the safety switch is in the ON state or the OFF state. The microcomputer outputs an ON-instruction signal to the main switching element when the microcomputer judges that the acceleration sensing circuit is subjected to a malfunction and at the same time when the microcomputer judges that the safety switch is in the ON state.

This invention relates to a control system for a vehicle safety device.
A system for controlling a vehicle safety device, such as an air bag, which utilizes a microcomputer, is already known, for example, from Japanese Laid-Open (Kokai) Utility Model Application No. 5371/90. The microcomputer integrates a deceleration signal from an acceleration sensing circuit, and compares this integral value with a threshold level to determine whether or not a vehicle collision has occurred. The microcomputer, when judging that the vehicle collision has occurred, feeds an ON-instruction signal to a transistor of a drive circuit to turn on this transistor, so that a squib connected in series with this transistor is supplied with electric current and is ignited, thereby expanding the air bag so as to ensure the safety of the passenger of the vehicle. Recently, this control system has come into the limelight because of the high-precision collision judgment effected by the microcomputer.
In the above control system, it is necessary to give consideration to a run-away of the microcomputer. When the microcomputer runs away, it is possible that the ON-instruction signal may be outputted despite the fact that a collision has not actually occurred, with the result that the air bag is activated inadvertently.
In the above control system, a safety switch is used as one of means for dealing with the run-away of the microcomputer. This safety switch is turned on by an inertia force produced upon collision of the vehicle, and is connected in series with the above transistor. When an actual collision does not occur, the safety switch is in the OFF state, and therefore even when the transistor is turned on due to a runaway of the microcomputer, electric current is not supplied to the squib, thus preventing an inadvertent activation of the air bag.
In the above control system, when the acceleration sensing circuit is subjected to a malfunction, the ON-instruction signal is not fed from the microcomputer to the transistor. Therefore, when a collision occurs during the malfunction of the acceleration sensing circuit, the transistor remains in the OFF state, though the safety switch is turned on. As a result, the air bag is not activated.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 241467/88 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,914) discloses means for detecting a malfunction of an acceleration sensing circuit. One of the inventors of the present invention is a joint invention of a U.S. patent application filed on Jan. 18, 1991 which is directed to a control system of the type in which a malfunction of an acceleration sensing circuit is detected by a microcomputer.

Control system for vehicle safety device


An image forming apparatus includes a modulation data storage, a pulse width modulator, and an optical writing mechanism. The modulation data storage stores different gray-scale pulse sets. Each set includes gray-scale pulses having pulse widths different from each other in steps of a predetermined value corresponding to gray-scale information possibly contained in image data to be input. Each gray-scale pulse includes at least two pulses including at least one of left-positioned and right-positioned pulses. The pulse width modulator selects a gray-scale pulse set from among the different gray-scale sets in accordance with gray-scale information and performs a pulse width modulation to control a light beam on and off at a density twice or more than twice a density of the input image data by using the gray-scale pulse set selected. The optical writing mechanism causes the light beam to scan a photosensitive member to form a latent image thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for image forming, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for image forming that is capable of effectively performing a light beam with a pulse width modulation using various gray-scale pulses.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, electrophotographic is widely applied to an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer using a semiconductor laser. In this apparatus, the laser light beam is deflected with a polygon mirror to scan a surface of a photosensitive member, thereby forming a latent image of an object image.
As an example of this type of apparatus, Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 08-018782 describes a multiple color information recording apparatus attempting to improve an image quality with a pulse width modulation (PWM) method. The PWM method controls a time period defined as a duty of an on-time of a laser diode.
Also, a technique is known which improves an image quality by increasing a recording resolution. In this technique, a laser diode is driven to emit laser light at a density more than twice an input image density, or a number of input pixels, in at least one of the main scanning and sub-scanning directions. In recent years, this technique is widely used to improve the image quality, in which the recording is performed at such a high resolution with a reduction of a number of gray-scale included in image data.
Generally, a dither method and an error diffusion method are used for a case where a gray-scale is expressed with binary image data, for example. The PWM method can also be used for such case. In the PWM method, a pulse is predefined with a certain width and a dot is formed using this pulse. In order to obtain a superior image quality, it is needed to select a pulse having the most preferable width.
The PWM method can also be used for a case where a gray-scale is expressed with image data of a multiple value such as a four-stepped-value, an eight-stepped-value, and so forth. In the multiple value, the four-stepped-value has three levels of data, the eight-stepped-value has seven levels of data, and so forth. To each of these levels of data included in each multiple value, a pulse is predefined with a width. In this case, it is also needed to select a pulse having the most preferable width so as to obtain a superior image quality.
A free selection of pulses is preferable to obtain a pulse having the most suitable width. However, it is difficult to predefine a pulse width by dividing it into relatively small steps, which increases a manufacturing cost, particularly in a case where a recording is performed at a relatively high resolution and at a relatively fast recording speed.
Therefore, in an apparatus that generates, for example, eight different pulses including one-eighth, two-eighth, three-eighth, four-eighth, five-eighth, six-eighth, seven-eighth, and eight-eighth, a pulse having the most suitable width is required to be selected from among these eight different pulses relative to the data of each gray-scale. As a result, it produces a drawback that an image quality is not optimized.
In recent years, a red laser diode having a 650-nm-ranged wave length that is capable of reducing a spot size has been used as a light source in place of a laser diode of a 780-nm-ranged wave length to be able to perform a recording at a high resolution. However, this red laser diode has a characteristic that, as illustrated in FIG. 11, a start of an actual light emission indicated by a signal S2 is delayed relative to a signal indicated by a signal S1 for commanding the laser diode to start emitting laser light. Accordingly, laser light needed may not be obtained when the width of a pulse is predefined without adjusting the above-mentioned time delay. Consequently, this causes a problem that an image quality is degraded.
Actually, when a recording is performed with a red laser diode, the pulses having widths at relatively low duty ratios are not usable depending upon a recording resolution or a recording speed. This leads to a problem that the narrow selection becomes more narrow.
The above-mentioned Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. 08-018782 describes a multiple color information recording apparatus capable of selecting a method of growing pulses with the pulse width modulation in accordance with input data and values of the neighboring pixels. Such an apparatus can select the positions of pulses but not solve the above-mentioned problem of the narrowed selection.

Method and apparatus for image forming capable of effectively controlling a light beam with a pulse width modulation


A video camera picks up an image of an operator. The picked-up image is subjected to a mirror image conversion. An image for operation, including operation buttons and the operator's image that is subjected to the mirror image conversion are mixed and displayed on a screen of a television receiver. The operator selects a desired operation button by using a universal remote controller with light emitting portions, and executes the operation on the screen. A detecting portion in the television receiver detects which operation button is operated, and executes a control operation corresponding to the operated operation button.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic appliance such as a television receiver or a personal computer having a display device and, more particularly, an electronic appliance in which a remote control method in the electronic appliance is improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the 1980s, home appliances such as television receivers started to have infrared remote controllers. Remote-control user interfaces have widely spread and greatly changed the style of use of home appliances. At present, the remote control is in the main stream. The remote controllers basically employ the same scheme when accomplishing functions. Namely, they require a user to push a key corresponding to a desired function. For example, a remote controller for a television receiver has keys "Power", "Channel", "Volume", "Input Switching", and the like to realize convenient remote control of the television receiver.
To control data broadcasting which has started recently, a user must repeatedly manipulate "Up", "Down", "Left", "Right" keys and an "Enter" key on a remote controller until a desired menu is displayed. This is troublesome for the user. An EPG (electronic program guide) displays a matrix of guides and prompts the user to select a desired one of the guides by pushing keys on a remote controller. This is also troublesome for the user.
To cope with the problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-283866 has disclosed a controller that employs a position specifying device such as a mouse to provide positional information, encodes the positional information into a time-series of key codes or a time-series pattern of pushed key signals, and transmits the time-series of key codes to a television receiver.
This related art requires a user to conduct a pointing operation, which resembles the pointing operation of a personal computer, when remotely controlling a television receiver. If the user is unfamiliar with a personal computer, such pointing operation is troublesome for the user. Applying the operation techniques of personal computers to home appliances is unreasonable in view of information literacy (ability to use information). There is a need for a new controller suitable for remote-controlling today's television receivers.
Due to advancement in network technology, television receivers and displays for personal computers can display various types of information from storage media or from the Internet. Such a variety of information pieces involve a variety of handling methods, and current remote controllers accompanying home appliances are insufficient to cope with such a variety of handling methods. There is a need for a remote controller capable of coping with many handling methods.
Only by expanding the size and capacity, the conventional remote controller can cover a variety of complicated functions of present home appliances such as television receivers. For example, a menu of data broadcasting requires a user to conduct many steps of pointing operations, and therefore, the user is forced to use the conventional remote controller as a pointing device. The conventional remote controller, however, is problematic to use it as a pointing device. When controlling a plurality of networked devices, the user must manipulate their respective remote controllers via a display. The number of remote controllers increases in proportion to the number of networked devices. This problem is frequently experienced in present days when a television receiver, for example, is connected to other devices such as a VTR, a video disk, and an audio unit. It is bothersome for the user to find a correct one among the remote controllers of these interlinked devices. In addition, the conventional remote controller is substantially unable to select and control information pieces provided by various web sites via the Internet.
In contrast, in view of the above respects, the applicant of this application has proposed the controller for the electronic appliance, which can accomplish both flexibility for various electronic devices and convenience of the remote control and also omit an on-hand operation of the remote. This controller picks up an image of an action of the user's hand by the video camera and discriminates an operation content based on the action. However, such a problem lies that this controller cannot fulfill its function in a darkroom.


A method of tracking incomplete writes in a disk array includes the steps of sequentially receiving a plurality of write commands which identify respective blocks in the array that are to be written; generating a list of expanded write areas for only those write commands which are received most recently, where each expanded write area encompasses the blocks that are to be written plus additional blocks which are likely to be written by subsequent write commands; modifying the list, each time a write command is subsequently received which writes a particular block that is not in any expanded write area in the list, by replacing one expanded write area with a new expanded write area that encompasses the particular block; and storing a replica of the list on a magnetic media each time the modifying step occurs.

This invention relates to methods of tracking incomplete writes in a disk array, and disk storage system which perform such methods.
In the prior art, the term "RAID" disk array has been defined to mean any Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks; and several different RAID disk arrays have been defined. These include a Level One RAID disk array, a Level Three RAID disk array and a Level Five RAID disk array. See "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)" by Patterson, et al., Report No. UCB/CSD 87/391, December 1987, Computer Science Division of the University of California at Berkeley.
With a Level Five RAID disk array, both parity and data are striped across a set of several disks. FIG. 1 shows one example of a Level Five RAID disk array in which the array resides on a set of five disks that are labeled Disk 0, Disk 1 . . . Disk 4. Each column of the array contains data and parity which is stored in a single disk of the set. Each row of the array contains data and parity which are striped across all five disks of the set.
In FIG. 1, each row of the array consists of one parity chunk which resides on one disk, and four data chunks which reside on four other disks. Also, each data chunk and each parity chunk is partitioned into several physical blocks. A single block is the smallest portion of a chunk that can be separately addressed by a user program with a read or write command. In FIG. 1, there are eight blocks per chunk. Each block consists of a predetermined number of bytes (e.g.--512 bytes) plus one cyclic redundant check byte called the "CRC" byte.
In the FIG. 1 array, block 0 in row 0 is addressed by a read/write command with a logical address of 0. As this logical address is sequentially incremented by one, the data blocks are addressed the following order: blocks 1-7 of data chunk 0, blocks 0-7 of data chunk 1, blocks 0-7 of data chunk 2, blocks 0-7 of data chunk 3, blocks 8-15 of data chunk 4, blocks 8-15 of data chunk 5, etc. For example, block 8 of data chunk 5 has a logical address of 40.
When a block of data is written, the CRC byte within that block is also generated and written. Further, the parity block which has the same block number as the data block is also generated and written. This parity block is written using odd parity or even parity.
With even parity, the exclusive-or of a parity block and all data blocks that have the same block number produces a block of all "0's". Conversely, with odd parity, the exclusive-or of a parity block and all data blocks that have the same block number produce a block of all "1's".
One way to generate the new parity block for a new data block that is to be written is as follows. First, the existing data block and its parity block are read from their respective disks. Then the new parity is calculated as the parity block which was read exclusive-or'd with the data block which was read exclusive-or'd with the new data block. This new parity block and the new data block are then written on their respective disks.
During the execution of a read command, the CRC byte is regenerated from the block of data that is read. If the regenerated CRC byte differs from the stored CRC byte, then the block of data which is read contains an error. To correct this error, the erroneous data block is regenerated by a) reading all of the other blocks (data and parity) on the disks which have the same block number as the erroneous data block; and b) exclusive-oring those blocks together.
Consider now the case where the execution of a particular write command is started which attempts to write data into a block having a particular block number "i", but that execution is interrupted before it is completed. Such an interruption can occur, for example, due to a power failure.
In the above case, the interruption can occur after the writing of the new data block is completed but before the writing of the new parity block has begun. Similarly, the interruption can occur after the writing of the new parity block has completed but before the writing of the new data block has begun. In either case, the exclusive-or of all blocks having block number "i" will not equal a block of all "0's" or all "1's". At the same time, the ECC byte for every block with block number "i" will be correct.
After the cause of the interruption is fixed, the array will continue to be read and written by the user programs. If any data block having block number "i" is read and the ECC byte detects an error, then an attempt will be made to regenerate the erroneous data block by exclusive-oring together the remaining data blocks and parity block with the same block number. But, due to the prior incomplete write, that regeneration process will not work.
This problem was addressed in the prior art by providing a flag in the disk array which was set to "1" when the array started to run, and reset to "0" when the array stopped running in a normal fashion. Thus, if the flag was found to be "1" before it was set when the array started to run, the normal operation of the array must have previously been interrupted.
However, a drawback with the above prior art flag is that after the flag is found to be in the incorrect state, it takes too long to identify the particular block that is incompletely written. To find the incompletely written block, every data block and every parity block in the entire array must be read; then parity blocks must be recalculated from the read data blocks; and then the recalculated parity blocks must be compared to the read parity blocks. For large arrays, this process can take over a day to complete.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a method of tracking incomplete writes in a disk array and a disk storage system which performs such method, which eliminate the need to check parity for every block in the entire array after the normal operation of the array has been interrupted.

Method of tracking incomplete writes in a disk array and disk storage system which performs such method


A thermostat for providing control signals to a variable capacity HVAC system. The thermostat being a setback thermostat with a ramping set point for the recovery period. The thermostat monitoring the load signal required during recovery and increasing or decreasing the ramp slope accordingly.

The standard thermostat operates by providing either an "on" signal or an "off" signal to the heating and cooling system, which causes the heating or cooling system to either run at full speed or be in an off state. Traditional HVAC equipment with compressors may have two speeds: minimum and maximum, giving the system limited variable capacity. The thermostats which control this equipment provide an on/off signal for each speed. Newer HVAC equipment may have variable speed compressors which are capable of a minimum "on" speed and are variable up to a maximum speed.
If the HVAC system which is utilized is a gas engine heat pump, the gas engine heat pump allows for several states. The gas engine heat pump can be off, on at an idle speed, or on at some greater value than idle, up to and including a maximum speed. Gas engine heat pumps are a recent development and are not currently available to the general public.
For a thermostat to operate with a gas engine heat pump, that thermostat is required to provide a signal which indicates the load (the percentage of the capacity of the HVAC equipment required to maintain the set point temperature). In this way, the gas engine heat pump is able to run at a higher speed as the load increases. As a result, a gas engine heat pump is better able to match the needs of the system.
The second condition which must be accounted for in a gas engine heat pump is the condition when setback thermostats are utilized. A setback thermostat will change the desired temperature at a set time to either increase or decrease the desired temperature with the intention of saving energy. For example, a standard setback thermostat, when operating in a northern climate in the winter, may increase the desired temperature in the morning when the occupants of the house are home. The thermostat will then decrease the desired temperature during the day when the occupants are away at work or school, and increase the temperature when the occupants return home. Finally, the thermostat will decrease the temperature when the occupants go to sleep. A gas engine heat pump operating in such an environment may be running at a high speed prior to the setback thermostat setting the temperature to a lower temperature, thus the signal from the thermostat would generally shut the gas engine heat pump off. Such a drastic change in speed will shorten the life of the gas engine heat pump. A second condition is where the thermostat would increase the desired temperature. In such condition, the gas engine heat pump would go from an off state to a maximum on state in a short period of time. Similarly, this would also shorten the life of the gas engine heat pump.

Thermostat for a variable capacity HVAC and method for providing a ramping set point on a setback thermostat


The invention provides a process for the production of crystalline titanium powder containing single crystals or agglomerates of single crystals having an average crystal size (by volume) greater than 1 μm, said process including reacting a titanium chloride species, preferably titanium dichloride, and reducing metal in a continuous back-mix reactor to produce a free flowing suspension of titanium powder in molten chloride salt wherein: i. both the titanium chloride species and the reducing metal are dissolved in a molten chloride salt and fed to the reactor containing a chloride salt of the reducing metal; ii. the average feed ratio of the titanium chloride species and reducing metal to the continuous back-mix reactor is within 1%, preferably within 0.1%, of the stoichiometric ratio required to fully reduce the titanium chloride salt to titanium metal; iii. the concentration of titanium powder in the fluid suspension of titanium powder in molten salt in the continuous back-mix reactor is between 2 and 23 mass %; and iv. The reducing metal is lithium, sodium, magnesium, or calcium.

One of the first attempts to produce titanium crystals is described in the patent by Keller and Zonis (1958). Keller and Zonis realized the importance of slow, stepwise reduction of titanium chloride species to obtain crystalline titanium.
Keller and Zonis also stressed the importance of uniformly distributing the reducing agent to avoid localized portions in the salt reaction medium where the titanium is rapidly reduced forming titanium fines.
White and Oden described a process to produce granular Ti metal free of halide inclusions that entails reacting a stream consisting of Na, Mg, Li or K dissolved in a halide salt of the respective metal in a continuous stirred tank reactor with a stream consisting of a halide salt stream containing a halide salt of Ti. Although the intent of the process is to provide conditions that allow orderly growth of titanium metal, the importance of key factors to achieve such conditions were not realized, e.g.: the need to ensure low concentrations of both dissolved reducing metal and dissolved titanium halide in the reactor (which is achieved by feeding the reactants near stoichiometrically and providing a relatively long residence time in the reactor), the advantage of feeding the two reacting components as dilute streams, maintaining a high concentration of titanium crystals in the reactor to enhance growth of such titanium crystals relative to the formation of new titanium crystal nuclei, the benefit of preparing the feed stream containing the titanium halide feed by reducing TiCl4 with an excess of titanium particles suspended in a molten halide salt stream and the need to prevent uncontrolled reduction of titanium chloride via Long Range Electronically Mediated Reduction (LR-EMR) which is described in J. Mater. Res., Vol. 13, No. 12, December 1998, 3372 to 3377. Furthermore, the need to avoid high operating temperatures that can lead to partial sintering of titanium crystals forming clusters that might contain encapsulated halide salt was not realised and the process instead taught the advantage of using high operating temperatures to increase the solubilities of the different reacting species in molten halide salt.
The present invention differs from the prior art in that it optimizes a combination of diverse requirements needed to achieve conditions to produce and grow crystalline titanium metal particles in a continuous manner.

Process for the production of crystalline titanium powder


A method of forming salicide, of which the characteristics is the formation of a silicon nitride layer before the source/drain being implanted with dopant. The silicon nitride layer avoid the oxygen within the oxide layer to implant into the source/drain. Thus, a better salicide is obtained. In addition, the formation of the parasitic spacers made of silicon nitride at the side wall bottom of the gate spacer increases the distance between the salicide and the junction. Consequently, the leakage current is prevented. While the silicon nitride layer is removed, the polysilicon of gate and the silicon of the source/drain are amorphized. This is advantageous to the formation of salicide without the step of ion implantation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fabricating method of self-aligned silicide (salicide), and more particularly to a method for preventing oxygen being implanted into substrates during the implantation of forming source/drain, and to obtain salicide with a low resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the integration of the metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices become higher and higher, the resistance of source/drain of a MOS device gradually increases. While it becomes comparable with the resistance of the MOS channel, to reduce the sheet resistance of drain/source and to ensure the integrity of the shallow junction between metal and MOS device, salicide process has been commonly used in the fabrication under 0.5 .mu.m.
One of the conventional salicide processes is shown as FIG. 1A to FIG. 1E. A substrate 10 on which there is at least a MOS region 11 including a gate 12, a lightly doped region 12a (LDD), and a device isolation 13, for example, a shallow trench isolation (STI), or a field oxide layer is provided. An insulation layer 14, such as a silicon oxide layer or a silicon nitride layer, is formed on the surface of the substrate 10. The insulation layer 14 is then etched back to form a spacer 15 at the side walls of the gate region 12. Meanwhile, a native oxide layer 15a is formed on the surface of the substrate 10. By using the spacer 15 and the gate 12 as masks, the substrate 10 is implanted with dopant to form a source/drain 16, as shown in FIG. 1B.
Referring to FIG. 1C, the substrate 10 is implanted by dopant such as As ions, so that a layer of amorphous silicon is formed on the surface of the silicon substrate 10. This is called the pre-amorphization effect. Then, the oxide layer 15a is removed. A metal layer 17, for example, a titanium layer, is formed on the substrate 10. Through a rapid thermal process, the metal layer 17 is reacted with the polysilicon on the surface of the gate 12 and the silicon in the surfaces of the source/drain 16 to form a salicide layer 18. The unreacted metal is then removed by wet etching. The resultant device is shown as FIG. 1D.
Referring to FIG. 1E, a dielectric layer 19 such as a silicon oxide or a silicon nitride layer is formed. The dielectric layer 19 is patterned to form a contact 20 and thus, the surfaces of source/drain 16 and part of the isolation are exposed.
The above mentioned salicide process causes a dopant effect, that is, as the dopant implanted into source/drain, the oxygen within the native oxide layer on the surface of source/drain is implanted into the source/drain with the implanted dopants. The subsequent salicide process is thus affected and the quality of the salicide is deteriorated. This effect is more serious in NMOS since the bigger As and P ions can carry more oxygen. On the contrary, the effect is not that obvious due to the smaller B ions in PMOS. Moreover, at the part of the source/drain close to the gate, leakage current is likely to happen to cause the device failure, especially at the shallow junction in the sub-micron devices.


In one embodiment, at least one processing device is configured to assign a plurality of devices of a cluster to a logical host group where at least one of the devices assigned to the logical host group has a network time parameter that is different than another of the devices assigned to the logical host group. The at least one processing device is further configured to determine a target network time parameter for the logical host group based at least in part on network time parameter related information about a given device of the plurality of devices assigned to the logical host group and to cause the plurality of devices to configure their respective network time parameters to the target network time parameter based at least in part on the assignment of the plurality of devices to the logical host group.

Device management consoles (DMCs), hypervisor hosts, physical host devices/servers and virtual machines (VMs)/containers are often configured with different network time protocol (NTP) services for time management. In some cases, there may be a time mismatch between the DMC and the physical server, hypervisor host and VM/container which may cause or expose potential functional and security challenges.
In a large datacenter, lab administrators are typically responsible for installing and managing the DMCs and VM administrators are typically responsible for handling the hypervisor administration. In some cases, such a division of labor may create opportunities for possible misconfigurations of the NTP between the DMC, hypervisor hosts, physical host devices, physical servers and hosted VMs/containers.
In a cloud datacenter environment, where there may be a mandate that all physical servers stay in the same time zone, the NTP may be configured to the host devices based on the customer's geographical location. The lab administrators often have to manually configure the NTP settings for all of the host devices which are part of the same cluster. For example, each cluster may be running with a different NTP setting based on how it is configured. Ensuring that the NTP configuration for the host devices in a cluster are the same as the cluster NTP often requires significant manual effort and may be a time-consuming task for the lab administrator. Such manual configurations may also be prone to a potential configuration error.

Network time parameter configuration based on logical host group


The pattern forming method of the present invention includes: (i) forming a film including an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition containing a compound (A) represented by General Formula (I) shown below; a resin (P) capable of decreasing solubility with respect to a developer including organic solvent by the action of an acid; and a compound (B) capable of generating an acid by irradiation of actinic rays or radiation; (ii) irradiating the film with actinic rays or radiation; (iii) developing the film irradiated with the actinic rays or radiation using a developer including an organic solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pattern forming method and an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition for use in the method. More specifically, the present invention relates to negative pattern forming method appropriately used in a semiconductor manufacturing process, such as IC, a manufacturing process of a circuit board of a liquid crystal, thermal head, and the like, and other photofabrication lithography processes, and an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition used therein. In addition, the present invention relates to a manufacturing process of an electronic device including the pattern forming method and an electronic device manufactured by the method. Furthermore, the present invention also relates to an active-ray sensitive or radiation-sensitive film including the actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the development of a resist for a KrF excimer laser (248 nm), a pattern forming method using a chemical amplification has been used so as to compensate for sensitivity reduction caused by light absorption. By way of an example, in a positive chemical amplification method, a photoacid generator included in the exposed portion is decomposed by irradiation with light to generate an acid. Further, an alkali-insoluble group contained in a photosensitive composition is converted into an alkali-soluble group by the catalytic action of the generated acid in PEB (Post Exposure Bake) process. Subsequently, development is carried out using, for example, an alkali solution. In so doing, a desired pattern is obtained by removing the exposed portion (for example, refer to JP3632410B and JP2011-100105A).
For the method, various kinds of alkali developer have been proposed. For example, as the alkali developer, water-based alkali developing liquids such as a 2.38 mass % aqueous TMAH (tetramethylammonium hydroxide) solution have been widely used.
Due to miniaturization of a semiconductor device, there is a trend toward a shorter wavelength of the exposure light source and a higher numerical aperture (higher NA) of the projection lens and at the present time, an exposure machine using, as its light source, an ArF excimer laser having a wavelength of 193 nm has been developed. A method of filling a high refractive-index liquid (hereinafter sometimes referred to as an "immersion liquid") between the projection lens and the sample (that is, a liquid immersion method) has been proposed as a technique for further enhancing the resolving power. In addition, EUV lithography that performs exposure by using ultraviolet rays having a shorter wavelength (13.5 nm) has also been proposed.
Recently, a pattern forming method using a developer including an organic solvent has been developed (see, for example, US2012/058427A, JP2008-281975A, JP2010-139996A, or JP2010-164958A). For example, a pattern forming method having a process of developing using a developer including an organic solvent with respect to a resist composition having a compound capable of losing basicity due to irradiation of actinic rays or radiation has been disclosed in US2012/058427A. According to this method, stably forming a fine pattern with low line width variations (hereinafter, also referred to as "line width roughness" or LWR), high defocusing (hereinafter, also referred to as DOF), and a rectangular pattern profile is disclosed.
However, it is actually very difficult to find an appropriate combination of resist composition, developer and rinsing liquid, and the like, necessary for forming a pattern with excellent performance overall, and there is demand for further improvements. For example, it is desired that a resist composition with excellent LWR and exposure latitude (hereinafter, also referred to as EL) be developed.

Pattern forming method and actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition for use in the method

Abstract: [Chem. 1]RN-A−X+  (I)


A powertrain braking system for a vehicle includes an powerplant that can be regulated to provide a desired powerplant torque and a transmission that transfers the desired powerplant torque at one of a plurality of gear ratios to provide a desired axle torque. A control module calculates an axle torque command based on a powertrain braking request and determines a shift command based on the powertrain braking request. The control module controls the powerplant based on the axle torque command and the transmission based on the shift command to achieve a desired vehicle deceleration rate that corresponds with the powertrain braking request.

Vehicles powertrains traditionally include a powerplant (e.g., internal combustion engine, electric motor and/or a combination thereof) that produces drive torque to drive a driveline. The drive torque is transferred to the driveline through a transmission such as an automatic transmission. The drive torque is transmitted through one of various gear ratios of the automatic transmission to achieve a desired axle torque. More specifically, the powerplant and transmission are regulated to provide the desired axle torque to the driveline.
The powertrain can be used to brake the vehicle. For example, the transmission can downshift and/or the powerplant can be regulated to decelerate the vehicle at varying rates. Powertrain braking can be driver initiated and/or automatic. For example, a driver can manually shift the transmission to a lower range resulting in a gear shift. Alternatively, the vehicle can detect when deceleration is required and can automatically shift the transmission to a lower range.
Traditional powertrain braking, however, can lead to a more rapid deceleration than what a driver is accustomed to or desires. As a result of too rapid a deceleration from a downshift, the driver tends to step into the throttle. This can cause the control system to hunt. More specifically, the vehicle accelerates as a result of the driver stepping into the throttle, which induces an upshift. The driver then eases off the throttle, inducing a downshift. This cycle repeats as the control system hunts for the proper balance point without actually achieving it.

Axle torque based powertrain braking with range selection for coordinated torque control (CTC)