Described herein are methods and systems for secure exchange of information related to electronic design automation. Information deemed sensitive and otherwise worthy of protection may be secured by methods such as encryption, obfuscation and other security measures. The secured information may be provided to an electronic design automation tool for processing without revealing at least some of the secured information. For instance, rule files related to integrated circuit manufacturability may be selectively annotated to indicate portions thereof deserving of protection. An encryption tool may be used to secure the information so indicated and generate a file comprising secured information related to electronic design automation. An electronic design automation tool may then unlock and use the secured information without revealing the same. For instance, the tool may be a physical verification tool capable of verifying whether any of the one or more integrated circuit layouts may violate one or more of the secured rules. An error report may be generated without revealing the secured rules.

Modern electronic systems including circuits are becoming increasingly complex. Thus, it is not surprising that it may require increasingly specialized skills and capabilities to design and manufacture these complex systems. As these skills and capabilities become more specialized, it may take the cooperative effort of engineers from a number of different entities to complete the engineering required to successfully design and manufacture such electronic systems. It is also possible that, in some cases, one entity will rely upon the specialized skills and capabilities of an outside organization (e.g., vendor) to meet a specific need.
For example, these days it is common for electronic system designers to outsource the manufacturing or assembly of their electronic systems to other businesses that specialize in manufacturing. In these scenarios, entities may need a reliable and secure way for exchanging information related to electronic design automation (EDA) with their partner entities, but still maintain control over how much of their trade secrets, capabilities, skills and the like may be divulged to such partner entities.
In one particular example, a system on chip (SOC) designed by one entity may need to be manufactured by a custom integrated circuit (IC) manufacturer. Foundries associated with these manufacturers usually have constraints (e.g., manufacturing) which may have a bearing over whether a particular IC layout selected by a design engineer can in fact be manufactured by the foundry. These constraints are typically expressed as rules in formats selected for such communication (e.g., Standard Verification Rules Format (SVRF)). A file comprising such rules can be referred to as a rule file. Constraints expressed in a rule file may contain information related to a particular foundry's capabilities, trade secrets and other sensitive information which the foundry may not want revealed to certain parties. However, for example, such information may be useful for designing IC layouts that conform to the rules such that these layouts can be manufactured by the selected foundry.
Thus, there is a need for systems and methods that allow for secure exchange of EDA related information between entities for use in EDA tools such that each entity can control access to information that it considers proprietary (e.g., trade secrets and other confidential information).

Secure exchange of information in electronic design automation


A weatherproof outlet includes a base plate for coupling to an electrical box and a hinged cover. The base plate has at least one opening for accessing an electrical wiring device such as an electrical receptacle mounted in the electrical box. The top surface of the base plate includes an inner rim and an outer rim having a dimension to shed water away from the access opening and the wiring device. A weatherproof gasket is attached to the top surface of the base plate within the confines of the inner wall and overlying the access opening. The gasket includes a plurality of slits for receiving the prongs of a plug and to form a waterproof seal around the prongs when inserted into the slots of an electrical receptacle.

Conventional electrical outlets for outdoor use include a receptacle mounted in a weatherproof outlet box which is closed by a weatherproof cover. When the receptacle is a duplex outlet, the cover plate can have two openings and two covers or flaps mounted adjacent the openings. The flaps or covers are hinged on the cover plate for movement between open and closed positions relative to the openings and are spring biased towards their closed positions. The openings in the cover plate enable access to the electrical contacts in the receptacle.
Rubber gaskets are commonly positioned between the cover plate and the outlet box and overlying the electrical receptacle. The gasket has an opening larger than the electrical device such that the gasket forms a seal between the outlet box and the cover plate and does not form a seal between the cover plate and the electrical receptacle. These devices typically require a separate gasket or seal for the cover flaps to form a weatherproof seal.
The use of separate seals for cover flaps increases the manufacturing and assembly costs. The separate seals also result in an increase in the possibility of leakage of water and dirt into the outlet box or into the receptacle causing damage and shorting of the electrical, components.
One example of a gasket for covering an electrical outlet box is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,358 to Carlisle. This patent discloses a gasket providing a seal between an outlet box and a cover plate and is positioned between the cover plate and the receptacle. This patent also discloses the gasket having a collar extending between the cover plate and, the cover flap. The gasket forms a seal when the cover flap is closed.
Another electrical box outlet seal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,021 to Schaefer et al. This patent discloses a seal positioned between a cover plate and an electrical box. The gasket has a dimension to extend through the opening in the cover plate and is pressed through the opening in the cover plate by an electrical receptacle when the cover plate is attached to the electrical receptacle. The gasket is stretched and deformed out of the plane in the gasket to form a peripheral lip which extends through the opening in the cover plate and surrounds the receptacle projecting portion. The resulting lip contacts the cover flap when in the closed position to form a seal.
Other types of weatherproof electrical covers include a base that is attached to the electrical device and a hinged cover connected to the base. The cover has a dimension such that the cover can be completely closed when a plug is inserted into the electrical receptacle. Examples of this type of weatherproof cover are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,135 to Berlin et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,104 to Dinh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,831 to Shotey et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,642,453 to Shotey et al.
Various other designs of weatherproof outlet covers are known in the art which include a gasket material either on the base which forms a seal with a hinged cover as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,358 to Carlisle or which include a gasket on the hinged cover as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,345 to Bellek and U.S. Pat. No. 2,870,933 to Winter.
These devices are generally suitable for their intended purpose. However, there is a continuing need in the industry for an improved weatherproof cover assembly that is effective and simple to construct.


An illumination aperture diaphragm 100A for a light source device for supplying illumination light in an endoscopic device to simultaneously observe a subject image formed by reflected illumination light in the visible light region and a fluorescence image from a fluorescent substance in a subject has a filter region 1 formed in a flat plate-like base material 3 and an aperture region 2 formed inside the filter region 1. The filter region 1 transmits light in the wavelength region of excitation light for allowing the subject to emit fluorescent light and reduces or blocks the transmission of the light in the visible light region that forms the subject image. An illumination aperture diaphragm 200A may include a plurality of diaphragm blade members 20A.

In a medical field, there have been available a photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) and a photodynamic therapy (PDT). The PDD is a diagnosis by making use of the property of a light-sensitive substance that is distinctively accumulated in tumor bearing tissue and emits fluorescent light when being irradiated with excitation light. In the diagnosis, the light-sensitive substance is given in advance to a living body, and then the tumor bearing tissue is observed by the fluorescent light emitted therefrom. On the other hand, the PDT is a therapy for destroying the tumor bearing tissue using singlet oxygen that is produced by the light-sensitive substance being excited.
In the PDD and PDT, the fluorescent light emitted from the light-sensitive substance in the tumor bearing tissue is required to be imaged and observed with high accuracy under intense illumination light, for example, from shadowless lamps in the operating room. The fluorescent light emitted from the light-sensitive substance is very weak when compared with the illumination light, thus raising the problem that the fluorescence image is buried in the subject image formed by the illumination light.
On the other hand, in recent years, attention has been focused on the method in which the indocyanine green (ICG) is given to the living body as a light contrast agent and excited by being irradiated with excitation light, so that a near-infrared fluorescence image emitted by the ICG is taken and observed in conjunction with the subject image to make a diagnosis. Hemoglobin absorbs light of wavelength shorter than 600 nm and water absorbs light of wavelength longer than 900 nm. On the other hand, the excitation wavelength of the ICG and the wavelength of the fluorescent light emitted by the ICG lie in a wavelength band from 600 to 900 nm in which no absorption by hemoglobin and water takes place. Thus, use of the ICG makes it possible to observe the inside of the living body. However, this method also has the problem that the fluorescence image is buried in the subject image.
To solve such problems, it was suggested that when the subject image including the fluorescent light in the infrared region was separated into RGB components and then the RGB components were re-combined to form a color image, the subject image was separated so as to be richer in the R component, thereby emphasizing the portion being observed that was formed by the weak fluorescent light (Patent Literature 1). However, in this method, since not only the fluorescent light in the infrared region but also the R component light forming the subject image are emphasized at the same time, it is difficult to accurately observe the portion emitting the fluorescent light in the subject image. There is also a problem that a filter for separating the subject image into the RGB components and a mechanism for driving the same are required, leading to an increase in the complexity of the whole system configuration.
It was also suggested that to allow excitation light to be cut and light in the infrared band and the visible light band to be transmitted and received in an imaging device for simultaneously taking a fluorescence image in the infrared band and a subject image in the visible light band, an optical filter having different transmittances for the infrared band and the visible light band should be used to balance between the infrared light image and the visible light image (Patent Literature 2). However, it is difficult to obtain an optical filter which has well-balanced transmittances for the infrared band and the visible light band when the light in the infrared band for forming the fluorescence image is very weak relative to the light in the visible light band for forming the subject image.
On the other hand, it was also suggested that in a light source device used when a subject was illuminated with illumination light including beams of light of the wavelength of excitation light and the fluorescent light wavelength longer than that so as to simultaneously observe both an observation image formed by weak fluorescent light emitted from the portion being observed in the subject and a subject image formed by reflected light from the subject, a white light source should be used to adjust the intensity of the illumination light component in the wavelength region longer than or equal to the fluorescent light wavelength, thereby balancing the quantity of light between the fluorescence image and the background portion (Patent Literature 3). However, it is impossible for this light source device to balance the quantity of light between the fluorescence image and the subject image in the visible light band.
Furthermore, it was also suggested that in an endoscope for observing a fluorescence image in the infrared band and a subject image in the visible light band, a light source device using a white light source was provided with a band limiting rotary filter having a visible light transmitting filter and an infrared light transmitting filter which were disposed so as to divide a circular shape into two parts so that the filter regions to be used were changed for observing fluorescent light and for observing ordinary light, and to simultaneously observe the fluorescent light and the ordinary light, the band limiting rotary filter should be rotated, and an RGB rotating filter on the receiving side should also be rotated in synchronization therewith (Patent Literature 4). However, the band limiting rotary filter cannot change the ratio of the quantity of light between the excitation light for forming the fluorescent subject image and the light in the visible light band for forming the subject image. Furthermore, to simultaneously observe the fluorescence image and the subject image, the band limiting rotary filter of the light source device and the RGB filter of the light-receiving device have to be synchronized with each other, thus leading to the problem of the increased complexity of the whole system configuration.
Note that it is known to provide a light source for excitation light such as an infrared laser separately from a light source for illumination light in order to balance between the excitation light for forming a fluorescence image and light in the visible light band for forming a subject image. However, this case will also lead to an increase in the complexity of the whole system configuration.


A method for multi-streaming multimedia content data over a network to affiliated client devices is provided. A manifest including a list of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) for different segments of multimedia content data for selected primary multimedia content and a list of URIs for different segments of multimedia content data for at least one alternate multimedia content related to and different from the selected primary multimedia content is built and made available for download over the network with a transfer protocol. Synchronization of display of the selected primary multimedia content on a primary display and display of the at least one alternate content on the at least one auxiliary client device is thereby enabled. A system for streaming multimedia data over a network to affiliated client devices is also disclosed.

Streaming is a technique of delivering data corresponding to media content to end-users and typically involves continuously playing media content as the media data is being streamed or delivered to the end user. The streamed content can correspond to video and/or audio, and an end user may watch the streamed content, for instance, on a television monitor connected to an IP client set-top box as well as other client devices such as tablets, smart-phones, personal and lap-top computers, and like electronic devices having or connected to display screens and/or audio speakers.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming (HLS), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG DASH), Smooth Streaming (SS), and HTTP-based Dynamic Streaming (HDS) provide examples of techniques for streaming content using HTTP. Incoming media data from a source is segmented or "chunked" into multiple separate media files which are stored on a server. A playlist file or manifest is created that includes Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) that direct client devices to the address or location of the media segments or files on the server. When the segmented media files are downloaded by a client device, the media files can be reassembled and played one-by-one by the client device in accordance with order specified in the playlist or manifest file. Thus, the user of the client device can be provided with continuous and uninterrupted playing of the media content while the client device continues to download and reassemble additional chunks or segments of the stream.
Adaptive streaming involves producing several instances of the same source media file and making the files containing identical content available to various different types of client devices depending upon their delivery bandwidth, CPU processing power, or the like. For instance, by monitoring CPU utilization and/or buffer status, adaptive streaming technologies can change streams when necessary to ensure continuous playback and to otherwise improve the viewing experience. Thus, HTTP-based adaptive streaming technologies use a combination of encoded media files and manifest or playlist files that identify alternative streams of identical content and their respective URLs. Client devices monitor buffer status and/or CPU utilization and change streams as necessary by locating an alternate stream of the same content from the URLs specified in the manifest or playlist file.

Method and system for multi-streaming multimedia data


The present invention features a broadband radio frequency (RF) device in the form of a power splitter. A broadband spiral transmission line power divider is used to divide power into two powers with a constant phase difference between the two divided powers. The power divider produces large bandwidths.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to transmission lines and more particularly, to broadband spiral transmission line power splitters.
(2) Description of Prior Art
The use of ¼ wavelength 90 degree power splitters is well known in the prior art. For example, FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b show a prior art ¼ wavelength 90 degree power splitters comprising two "hot" lines L1 and L2 that are two unbalanced transmission lines running side-by-side for a ¼ wavelength distance on a dielectric surface sheet 108. The lines share a common ground plane and have a characteristic impedance, Z0, to ground, which is usually 50 ohms. Also referring to FIG. 1c, the ground plane consists of a top metal ground plane gp1 and a bottom metal ground plane gp2. The two ground planes are held together by metal sides 110. If the power splitter is made symmetrical about a horizontal plane 2014 through the centers of the lines L1 and L2, so that the thickness 2001 of the space above the lines L1 and L2 equals the thickness 2002 of the space below the lines, and the unused space inside the cavity 2003 formed by the two ground planes gp1, gp2 and the two metal sides 110 is filled with the same dielectric material as dielectric 108, then the structure is strip line.
If as shown in FIG. 1b, thickness 2001 is appreciably larger than thickness 2002 and dielectric 108 only exists between the lines L1 and L2 and ground plane gp2, the structure is microstrip. In this case, there is little or no coupling between ground plane gp2 and lines L1 and L2, and thus ground plane gp2 serves more as a shield than a ground plane.
A first line L1 has a first end 100 as an input (port relative to ground) and a second end 102 as an output (port relative to the ground). A second line L2 has a first end 104 and is coupled to power of the first line L1 wherein the amount of power coupled thereto increases as the coupling between the two lines increases and the separation between the two lines decreases. Even higher degrees of coupling occur if the lines L1 and L2 start to overlap each other without touching. The coupled output port relative to ground or first end 104 of the second line L2 is on the same end as the input end 100 of the first line L1. A second end 106 of the second line L2 is an isolation or dump port relative to ground, and terminates to ground in Z0. Ideally, when all of the ports are properly matched to Z0, the resultant phase difference between the outputs of the first and second lines L1 and L2 is 90 degrees, and all of the input power is divided between the two output ports, with none of it going to the isolation port 106.
If the power splitter is made with microstrip, then access to the ports at the ends of the lines are made by placing connectors on the outside of the splitter located below the ends and below the ground plane gp2, such as for example at locations 2006 and 2007 for respective ports 104 and 106 for line L2. If the splitter is made with strip line, to maintain symmetry, the locations are moved up the sides 110 of the splitter to lie coincident with axis of the lines L1 and L2, such as for example locations 2008 and 2009 for respective ports 104 and 106 of lines L2. Since the two adjacent ends of the two lines L1 and L2 are usually very close to each other, the locations are spread out to allow two corresponding connectors to be placed adjacent to each other, and added lengths of transmission line are used to connect the connectors to the ends of the lines.
If the coupled power is less than one half the input power, the power splitter is also called a directional coupler, because the coupled power depends on the direction of the wave travelling along the line L1. When power is applied to input port 100, it travels in a forward direction from the port to output port 102 and some of it is coupled to line L2 at coupled port 104. No power is coupled to isolation port 106. If instead power were inserted at output port 102, it would flow backwards from the output port 102 to input port 100 and the roles of the coupled and isolation ports would become reversed. Power from the backward travelling wave would couple to port 106, which is now a coupled port, and none of the power would couple to port 104 which is now an isolation port. In general, if any given port of any first line serves as an input port, the opposite port of the first line will be an output port, the adjacent port on the second line will be a coupled port, and the opposite port of the adjacent port on the second line will be an isolation port.
Because the widths of lines L1 and L2 and their separation 2005 are much smaller than their λ/4 length, the size of the power splitter is primarily determined by the length of the lines L1 and L2. At lower frequencies this length can become excessive. One well known method to reduce the length of the lines is meandering. The lines L1 and L2 can be meandered about a center line between the two lines L1 and L2. FIG. 1d shows the prior art splitter as FIG. 1a where the lines L1 and L2 are separated less and are meandered. Reducing the line widths and their separation further would allow more meander cycles and a much smaller device. Care must be taken to avoid allowing adjacent section of a line, e.g. 1002 and 1003 from coming too close to each other. If the separation 1001 becomes too small, broadside coupling between the sections 1002 and 1003 occurs, and a second mechanism of power transfer between the line ends is introduced along the straight line direction 1004 between the line ends. Only the primary mechanism of power transfer along the transmission line paths of L1 and L2 should be allowed.
The coupling for the ¼ wavelength 90 degree splitter is frequency dependent wherein maximum coupling occurs every ½ wavelength starting at ¼ wavelength. Nulls in coupling occur every ½ wavelength starting at zero wavelengths between the maximum points. Normally the splitter is used at ¼ wavelength. Because the maximum at ¼ wavelength is between nulls at zero and ½ wavelengths, the ¼ wavelength 90 degree splitter is narrowband as far as constant coupling with frequency is concerned. To obtain broader bandwidth, additional ¼-wavelength sections of two coupled lines are added to the splitter, making it more complex.
A disadvantage of the ¼ wavelength 90-degree splitter of the prior art is that its length results in narrowband performance. In the alternative, a bifilar spiral appears lengthless in the radiation domain above a cut-in frequency. Different circumferential lengths radiate at different frequencies, so that radiation always occurs from a circumferential electrical length of one wavelength. When used as a transmission line, a length of a bifilar spiral is difficult to define. Starting at a center feed point of the bifilar spiral and moving outwardly in a circular direction the filar of the spiraled transmission line making up the bifilar spiral eventually couples broadside to itself (via the other filar) at the next turn and then at each succeeding turn with the circumferential length between each turn increasing. If the one-dimensional transmission line is of low Z0 and highly coupled, the filar of the transmission line becomes highly coupled to itself, and the transmission line starts to appear to be a two-dimensional instead of a one-dimensional transmission line. Power is transferred in the circumferential direction via the two line transmission line and in the radial direction via broadside coupling. This differs from the λ/4 90 degree splitter where power transfer is only via the two line transmission line. Thus the two-dimensional size and different circumferential lengths may allow broadband behavior.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,891, hereby incorporated by reference, describes spiral transmission lines. This patent describes two spirals that are crossed to form two crossed transmission lines comprising elements for feeding and matching a quadrifilar helix. The two transmission lines are approximately balanced and are of constant or smoothly changing Z0 with length except for the last ½ of a turn of any given element on the outermost circumference. For a given transmission line length, the given filar has filars on both of its sides. However for the last ½ turn, the given filar has only one opposite filar, which is on the side closest the feed points (the central region) of the spiral. This increases the Z0 of the transmission line along this ½ turn causing a mismatch.
The mismatch shows up as a small increased antenna mismatch when the transmission line is used to feed and match the antenna. If the width of the filar is increased in the area of the ½ turn to increase capacitance to the opposite filar, the Z0 between the ½ turn of filar and its opposite transmission line filar decreases back to normal. But now the capacitance between the opposite filar and its two surrounding opposite filars, which includes the widened ½ turn of filar, becomes larger than normal resulting in its Z0 becoming lower than normal. Thus, this attempt at fixing the first mismatch of the ½ turns of filar creates a second mismatch.

Broadband spiral transmission line power splitter

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A layer-by-layer etching apparatus and an etching method using a neutral beam which enables to control etching depth to an atomic level by controlling the etching of each atom of a material layer to be etched under precise control of the supply of an etching gas and irradiation of the neutral beam and enables to minimize etching damage. In the layer-by-layer etching method, a substrate to be etched, on which a layer to be etched is exposed, is loaded on a stage in a reaction chamber. An etching gas is supplied into the reaction chamber to adsorb the etching gas on the surface of an exposed portion of the layer to be etched. Excessive etching gas remaining after being adsorbed is removed. A neutral beam is irradiated on the layer to be etched on which the etching gas is adsorbed. Etch by-products generated by the irradiation of the neutral beam is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a layer-by-layer etching apparatus using a neutral beam and an etching method using the same, and more particularly, to an etching apparatus having a neutral beam generator for easily generating a neutral beam and a layer-by-layer etching method using a neutral beam which enables to attain the precise control of etching depth and minimization of etching damage by etching layers to be etched in a layer-by-layer manner under proper control of acceleration energy of the neutral beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an increase in the integration density of semiconductor devices has been required, the design rule of integrated semiconductor circuits has been reduced. Thus, a critical dimension of 0.25 μm or less is needed. Ion enhanced etching tools, such as a high density plasma etcher and a reactive ion etcher are mainly used as etching tools for realizing nanoscale semiconductor devices. In such case, high density ions having energies of a few hundred eV bombard a semiconductor substrate or a specific material layer on the semiconductor substrate for anisotropic etching. The bombardment of such ions causes physical and electrical damages to the semiconductor substrate or the specific material layer.
Examples of physical damage are as follows. A substrate or a specific material layer having crystallinity is transformed into an amorphous layer. Also, a specific material layer, on which some incident ions are adsorbed or bombarded, of which partial components are only selectively desorbed therefrom to change chemical composition of a surface layer to be etched. Atomic bonds of the surface layer are changed into dangling bonds by this bombardment. Dangling bonds may result in electrical damage as well as physical damage. As electrical damage, there is gate dielectric charge-up or polysilicon notching due to photoresist charging. Besides this physical and electrical damages, there is also possible contamination by materials of a chamber or the contamination of a surface layer by a reactive gas such as the generation of C-F polymers caused by the use of a CF-based gas.
Physical and electrical damages due to the bombardment of ions reduces the reliability of nanoscale semiconductor devices and productivity. New apparatuses and methods for etching semiconductor devices are required to be developed in order to cope with the trend toward further increases in the integration density of semiconductor devices and reductions in design rule due to increased integration density.
An argon ion beam was conventionally used to etch an oxide, a nitride, and a carbide having excellent anticorrosion or in processing a thin film to an accurate and precise etching depth. In particular, the argon ion beam was necessary for a copper-based oxide reactive to a solution or the etching of ceramic thin films strongly resistive to acid.
However, the state of the argon ion beam may greatly vary depending on degree of vacuum in a vacuum apparatus and kinds of materials to be etched as well as voltage, current, and flow rate of argon gas controlled by an ion beam power supply. Thus, it is very difficult to repeatedly form an ion beam and the state of the ion beam continuously varies during its use. As a result, it is very difficult to repeatedly form etch patterns having a desired etch depth.
Also, a conventional ion beam etcher irradiates an etching gas and an ion beam or plasma at the same time on a material to be etched such as a silicon substrate such that it is difficult to precisely control the depth to be etched to an atomic level.
Thus, an etching apparatus and an etching method which are capable of reducing damage to a material layer to be etched by an ion beam under precise control of etching depth should be studied.

Layer-by-layer etching apparatus using neutral beam and method of etching using the same


The present application provides a rechargeable battery including a battery case and a battery cap coupled to the battery case. The battery cap includes a conductive cap plate; a first electrode electrically connected to the cap plate; a second electrode insulatively connected to the cap plate, the second electrode being in electrical connection with one end of a conductive plate for securing the second electrode to the conductive cap plate; and a conductive turnover component in electrical connection with the conductive cap plate, the turnover component being initially separated from the conductive plate and capable deforming to contact other end of the conductive plate due to high pressure in the battery case, so as to short-circuit the first electrode and the second electrode.

With rapid development of technology and people's awareness of environmental protection, rechargeable batteries are becoming increasingly popular as power sources in various devices, for instance, mobile phones, laptop computers, power tools and electric automobiles.
Electric automobiles and energy storage power stations generally need high capacity rechargeable batteries as power sources. In addition to high capacity, generally, a rechargeable battery should also have excellent safety performance and long cycle service life, so as to meet different requirements of actual use.
To ensure safety performance of a rechargeable battery, a rechargeable battery is generally provided with a pressure relief valve. When accident occurs due to improper charging, short circuit or exposure to high temperature, high-energy rechargeable battery will produce a lot of gas and a sharp rise in temperature. The high pressure gas opens the pressure relief valve to achieve the purpose of pressure relief Although the arrangement of the pressure relief valve can improve the safety performance of a rechargeable battery, the energy accumulated in a rechargeable battery with accident itself cannot be released. Therefore, the battery itself is a security risk. If the battery is continued to be overcharged after accidents, it will lead to serious safety accidents.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a rechargeable battery having desirable safety performance.

Rechargeable battery having desirable safety performance


The fuel nozzle is configured with a fuel injector with a pair of coaxially mounted air swirlers utilized in an annular combustor of a gas turbine engine that is dimensioned to provide 70-90 percent of the mass airflow in the inner passage and the swirl angle of the inner swirler is 45.degree.-55.degree. and the outer swirler is 70.degree. and the L/D of the combustion hole location relative to the fuel injector is 0.6-0.7 which serve to produce an outer shear layer flame for improved lean blowout characteristics.

As is well known in the gas turbine engine field of technology, the fuel injector utilized in a combustor of a gas turbine engine typically is mounted in the dome of the annular combustor and is judiciously located in order to assure stable and efficient combustion. The conventional fuel injector includes a fuel nozzle for injecting fuel into the combustion zone of the combustor and a swirler(s) that serves to impart vortical flow to the incoming air in order to create recirculation zones for stabilizing the combustion process. Heretofore types of fuel nozzles typically produce shear layer adjacent to two recirculation zones. The zones are divided into two separate torroidal zones, one being the inner zone and the other being the outer zone. The inner recirculation zone is located near the axis of the injector and the outer zone is located on the periphery of the swirling airflow as it dumps into the combustor. Conventional injectors insert fuel near the axis of the injector, resulting in the flame being held in the inner recirculation zone. A problem with these heretofore types of injectors and swirlers is that the flame being held in the inner recirculation zone is fuel by spray that is centrifuged outboard, thus fuel/air ratio in the inner recirculation zone. This flame-holding mode adversely affects the stabilizing characteristics of the combustion zone. The requirements to stabilize the flame are 1) a recirculation zone that positions hot combustion products near a shear layer and 2) a shear layer that mixes unburned reactants with hot combustion products.
There are a plethora of fuel nozzles that are disclosed in the prior art that include swirlers and injectors for combustors of gas turbine engines and all of which provide recirculation zones for stabilizing combustion. Examples of prior art fuel nozzles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 30,160 reissued in Nov. 27, 1979 and granted to Emory, Jr. et al entitled Smoke Reduction Combustion Chamber, U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,242 granted to Leonardi on Mar. 16, 1971, entitled Fuel Premixing For Smokeless Jet Engine Main Burner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,398 granted to Clark et al on Feb. 12, 1991 entitled Combustor Fuel Nozzle Arrangement and U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,211 granted to Graves (a co-inventor of this patent application) on Feb. 18, 1997 entitled Outer Shear Layer Swirl Mixer For a Combustor, all of which are commonly assigned to United Technologies Corporation, the assignee of this patent application. Additional patents of interests are U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,273 granted to Bahr et al on Dec. 10, 1974 entitled Axial Swirler Central Injection Carburator, U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,446 granted to Petreikis, Jr. on Aug. 26, 1975 entitled Induced Vortex Swirler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,358 granted to Stenger on Mar. 25, 1980 entitled Double Annular Combustor Configuration and U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,197 granted to Simon et al on Jun. 27, 1989 entitled Fuel Injection Apparatus And Associated Method.
The most relevant of these prior art patents is the U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,211 patent, supra, which discloses a three swirl passage arrangement coaxially disposed relative to the injector. Of significance is that the first and second swirl passage of this design is counter rotating and that the air mass ratio between the first and second passage is 83:17 to 91:9 and the swirl angle of the swirler in creating the counter rotating swirl is in the range of 68.degree. to 75.degree. and the mass of the airflow in the third passage which is co-rotating with the first passage is no greater than 30% of the sum of the mass of the airflows in the first second and third passages (.congruent.15%). By attaining these parameters, the results show that the combustor enhances smoke retardation and relight stability.
This invention addresses the problem of preventing lean blowout of the combustor by providing judicious design and flow characteristics to a dual swirler assembly having discrete swirl angles and mass flow ratios that permit the use of an injector of the pressure atomizing or blast type to operate at lower combustor pressure and lower injector fuel-air ratios. The assembly is limited to a dual passage swirler having an inner swirl passage with approximately a flow angle of 45.degree. to 55.degree. and in the order of 75% of the total fuel nozzle airflow, either being co-rotational or counter-rotational and the length over dome height (L/D) of the combustion air hole location is substantially equal to 0.6 characteristics. In this invention, similar to the disclosure in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,211 patent, the prefilm wall discharges fuel near the outer shear layer.
Actual tests of fuel nozzles comparing lean blowouts between the inner shear layer flame of the type in the prior art and the outer shear layer flame as disclosed in this invention, result in the outer shear layer flame producing blowout fuel-air ratios approximately half of the inner shear layer blowout levels. During altitude testing, the blowout pressures for a given airflow were significantly reduced for outer shear layer flames as compared to inner shear layer flames.

Fuel injector for producing outer shear layer flame for combustion


An image-receiving sheet for thermal dye-transfer recording comprising a substrate and an image-receiving layer disposed on said substrate, said image-receiving layer being capable of receiving an image to be transferred from a coloring material-transferring sheet, characterized in that said image-receiving layer is formed of a coating composition comprising an aqueous solution or a water dispersion of a resin having a dyeing property, a carboxy-modified silicone compound, and a multi-functional aziridine derivative.

A thermal recording system capable of providing a record image upon input of a signal is widely used in facsimiles, computer terminal printers, printers for measuring instruments, etc., since the device used in the system is relatively easy to handle, low in noise and available at an inexpensive cost.
As the recording medium to be used in such thermal recording system, there is commonly known a thermal recording sheet of a so-called color formation type which is provided with a recording layer capable of undergoing physical and chemical changes to cause color formation by application of heat. However, there are disadvantages for this thermal recording sheet that it is liable to induce undesirable color development either during the fabrication process thereof or during storage thereof; and the image formed thereon is poor in storage stability and is apt to fade upon contact with organic solvents or chemicals. In order to eliminate these problems, there has been proposed a thermal recording system in which a recording medium utilizing a self-colored coloring material is used instead of the color-developing thermosensitive recording sheet. For instance, Japanese Patent Laid-open 51(1976)-15446 discloses a recording system in which a substrate, such as paper, polymer film, etc., coated with a coloring material which is solid or semi-solid at room temperature is superposed on an image-receiving sheet in such a manner that the coloring material on the substrate comes into contact with the image-receiving sheet, and the coloring material on the substrate is heated by a thermal recording head and selectively transferred to the image-receiving sheet to thereby obtain a recorded image.
According to this recording system, the coloring material on the substrate is melted, evaporated and sublimated by application of heat, followed by transferring to the image-receiving sheet to form an image thereon through sticking, adsorption and dye-fixing. One of the admitted features of this recording system is that plain paper may be used as the image-receiving sheet. And, a recording system using a sublimable dye as the coloring material provides an image excelling in resolution. Hence attempts have been made to apply this recording system to full color recording. However, when plain paper is used as the image-receiving sheet, there are disadvantages that the dye-fixing, in particular, is hardly attained and because of this, not only the image recorded becomes poor in color density but also distinguished fading occurs for the recorded image with the passage of time. In order to eliminate these disadvantages, there has been proposed the use of an image-receiving sheet having an image-receiving layer mainly comprising a thermoplastic resin as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open 57(1982)-107885 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,484.
Now, the provision of such image-receiving layer mainly comprising a thermoplastic resin provides improvements on recording sensitivity and storage stability to some extent, but there still remain some problems to be solved. For instance, the process of forming the image-receiving layer by dissolving a thermoplastic resin in a solvent is accompanied by not only problems in working efficiency but also a fear of fire disaster. In addition, in the case where a water-soluble or water-dispersible resin is used for the formation of the image-receiving layer, the image recorded on the resultant image-receiving layer is liable to fade when stored under a highly humid environment because of the constituent resin of the image-receiving layer which is likely to absorb moisture from the air. There are other problems in this case that cross-linking agent or/and reactive modifier contained together with the water-soluble or water-dispersible resin in a coating composition for the formation of the image-receiving layer is often reacted with water or reacted with the water-soluble or water-dispersible resin prior to applying the coating composition onto a base sheet or subjecting the coated material to air-drying. Because of this, it is difficult to obtain a stable coating composition which is free of changes in properties and which is capable of providing a desirable image-receiving layer. In order to eliminate these problems, there is a proposal to modify the water-soluble or water-dispersible resin prior to use. However, this proposal is problematic since there is a limit for the kind of an usable resin and, in addition to this, the number of the steps of forming the image-receiving layer is unavoidably increased.
Other than the above, in order to improve the physical properties of the foregoing thermoplastic resin, Japanese Patent Laid-open 61(1986)-277493 or 62(1987)-238791 proposes to make it cross-linked. Further, a number of proposals have been made aiming at improvement in the printability or prevention of fusing with respect to the image-receiving layer. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-open 60(1985)-212374 proposes incorporation of a releasing agent into the image-receiving layer in order to prevent the surface of the coloring material-containing layer of the transfer sheet from being fused with the surface of the image-receiving layer of the recording sheet, resulting in making it impossible to record. Other than this, Japanese Patent Laid-open 62(1987)-222895 proposes use of a resin modified with silicone oil or the like in the preparation of the image-receiving layer.

Image-receiving sheet for thermal dye-transfer recording


Embodiments of the invention utilize a variational framework for computing curve skeletons (CS) of objects whose cross section is not necessary tubular. Embodiments utilize an energy function, which is proportional to some medialness function, such that the minimum cost path between any two medial voxels in the shape is a curve skeleton. Different medialness functions include the Euclidean distance field and a modified version of the magnitude of the gradient vector flow (GVF), which results in two different energy functions. The first energy function controls the identification of the topological nodes of the shape from which curve skeletons start, while the second one controls the extraction of the curve skeletons. Preferred embodiments are completely automated since all parameters are analytically estimated. Embodiments are highly less sensitive to boundary noise, are able to extract the entire curve skeletons, as well as only part of it given the starting and the end voxels, and do not require voxels to be isotropic. In addition, computed curve skeletons are highly centered and form a connected graph. Preferred embodiments have been validated the framework both quantitatively and qualitatively against several 3D shapes of different complexity.

Shape is the lowest common denominator in describing objects, and hence plays an important part in the processing of visual information. Many powerful techniques depend upon the accurate representation of shape. For example, advances in three dimensional hardware acquisition devices, such as digitizers, magnetic resonance imaging systems, computed tomography devices, and laser scanners permit reconstruction of high quality three dimensional models of objects that have to be analyzed or visualized in a concise way. Such models can be described by their color, texture, and shape information, but color and texture (photometric data) are not always available depending on the reconstruction method or acquisition technique. Shape, on the other hand, needs to be accurately modeled, and the efficiency, accuracy, speed, etc., of the modeling of shape directly affect the utility of any system that makes use of a particular model for shape.
An important approach for representing the structure of a shape is to reduce it to a graph. Several methods have been proposed to reduce a shape into a graph, which can be classified into two main categories Reeb graph-based methods and Skeletal graph-based methods. The idea of Reeb graph is to construct a continuous function, usually a height function from one boundary source point to describe the topological structure and reveal the topological changes such as splitting and merging. Unfortunately, this type of graph does not capture the geometry of the shape.
Skeletal graph methods can capture the geometry of a shape. Skeletal graph-based methods compute a one-dimensional skeleton of an object and then convert it into a skeletal graph as its shape representation. A skeleton is a compact representation of a shape that maintains its topology. The concept of skeleton or medial axis was first introduced by Blum as the locus of centers of maximal disks in 2D or spheres in 3D that at least touch the boundary at two points. See, H. Blum, "A Transformation for Extracting New Descriptors of Shape," in Proc. Models for the Perception of Speech and Visual Form, W. Wathen-Dunn, Ed., Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, pp. 362-380 (November 1967). Each point of the skeleton is associated with a radius function that is the radius of its maximal disk/sphere. Therefore, the shape can be represented with less information than the original one. In addition, the shape can be fully recovered from its skeleton. Skeletal graph techniques, including the methods and software of the present invention, capture the topology of the shape and also its geometry.
A skeleton is a compact representation of a shape that maintains its topology. In general, the dimension of a skeleton is less than the dimension of the original object by at least one. For example, the skeleton of a 2D shape is a set of medial curves or centerlines. On the other hand, the skeleton of a 3D object is a set of medial surfaces. As a special case, for a 3D tubular object whose cross section is circular, the skeleton is a set of medial curves rather than medial surfaces. Reducing the dimensionality of the skeleton describing general shapes from medial surfaces to a set of medial curves is of importance in a wide range of applications. Example applications include virtual endoscopy, character animation and morphing, blood vessel analysis such as stenosis and aneurisms, object matching and retrieval, and collision detection. Medial curves are generally called curve skeletons (CS). A curve skeleton can be defined as a one-dimensional connected and smooth curve about which the object is locally symmetric.
Curve skeleton methods include topological thinning methods, distance transform methods, and potential field methods. The basic idea behind thinning methods is to iteratively peel off the object's boundary by identifying simple points, whose removal does not alter its topology. Curve skeletons are usually extracted by either checking the voxel's local neighborhood against a set of templates that prevents the deletion of topological nodes such as branch and end points or by pruning medial surfaces while preventing the removal of junctions between surfaces. Removal of simple points can be done either sequentially, in parallel, by following a specific direction, or by utilizing distance maps in governing the order of thinning. In general, thinning methods produce connected curve skeletons that preserve the object topology. However, preserving end points leads to many undesired small branches, which require post-processing.
The distance transform D(x) computes at each voxel x its minimum distance from the object's boundary. D(x) can be discretely approximated using chamfer metric (3,4,5), or continuously approximated using either the fast marching methods or the fast sweeping methods. The ridge voxels (singularities) of D(x) are locally centered with respect to the object's boundary. Any distance transform-based method involves three main steps: generation of the distance field, detection of ridge voxels, and reconnection of voxels into curve skeletons. Zhou and Toga proposed a voxel coding technique, in which each voxel is assigned two codes; the distance to a manually selected seed point and the distance to the object's boundary. See, Y. Zhou and A. W. Toga, "Efficient skeletonization of volumetric objects," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 196-209, 1999. Initially, curve skeletons are extracted as trajectories and then centered using some medialness function. The algorithm guarantees connected paths but not centeredness especially near branching nodes. Telea and Vilanova resampled the volumetric object along the major three axis; x, y, and z, resulting in three separate stacks of cross sections for the same object. See, A. Telea and A. Vilanova, "A robust level-set algorithm for centerline extraction," in VISSYM '03: Proceedings of the symposium on Data visualisation 2003, 2003, pp. 185-194. Then, a level set-based centerline extraction method is used to compute the medial point of each 2D cross section in each volume independently. Finally, the common points of the resultant sets of medial points form the final skeleton. The convergence of their method is not guaranteed because the actual topology of a 3D object cannot be interpreted from its 2D cross-sections. Deschamps et al., select the end points of a branch of interest manually and then a fast marching front propagates from the starting point with a speed that is a function of the distance transform until it reaches the end point. See, T. Deschamps and L. Cohen, "Fast extraction of minimal paths in 3d images and applications to virtual endoscopy," Medical Image Analysis, vol. 5, no. 4, 2001. Centerline paths are extracted using the gradient descent method. This worked well for tubular structures. However, for general shapes, whose cross sections are not perfectly tubular, the method generates the shortest paths rather than centered ones. Dey and Sun defined some medial geodesic function on the medial surface of the object, from which curve skeletons are extracted by erosion. See, T. K. Dey and J. Sun, "Defining and computing curve-skeletons with medial geodesic function," in Proc. Sympos. Geometry Processing, 2006, pp. 143-152. Although the method is promising for thin structures, the computed curve skeletons always oscillate around the desired ones.
In potential field methods, the Euclidean distance field is replaced with another continuous function that has some medial properties. Then, curve skeletons are identified as the field extremum points. Chaung et al., computed the Newtonian potential field as their potential function. See, J.-H. Chuang, C.-H. Tsai, and M.-C. Ko, "Skeletonization of three-dimensional object using generalized potential field," IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 1241-1251, 2000. Since their method is limited only to polygonal data, each vertex in the object is assumed to start a new curved skeleton, which is not practical assumption for noisy objects. Although generalizing the method to handle non polygonal data is possible, the computation of the potential function is very expensive because the potential value at every internal voxel of the object is a function of its entire boundary voxels. Cornea at al. extended the method to handle non-polygonal data. See, N. Cornea, D. Silver, X. Yuan, and R. Balasubramanian, "Computing hierarchical curve-skeletons of 3d objects." The Visual Computer, 2005. They computed the critical points and low divergence points of the field force to identify the starting point of each curved skeleton. Again, the computation of the potential field is still very expensive even on fast workstation. Also, due to visibility errors while computing the potential function or mis-computation of the critical field points, the final skeleton is not guaranteed to be either centered or connected.
In general, existing 3D extraction techniques of curve skeletons from volumetric objects suffer from at least one of the following limitations: (1) curve skeletons are extracted from medial surfaces by different pruning methods. Therefore, the accuracy of the former is a function of the extraction of the later; (2) they require manual interaction to select the starting point of each curve skeleton, (3) they are computationally expensive, (4) they require heuristics to handle branching nodes, (5) they are dedicated to a specific category of 3D objects, and hence lack of generality, and finally (6) they are sensitive to boundary noise.
Curve skeletons represent an object from image data. Once an object is represented by a curve skeleton, the object's representation can be used for many important functions. In medical imaging, computed curve skeletons can serve as flight paths in virtual endoscopy applications (e.g., colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, angioscopy, etc. In robotics, curve skeletons can serve as optimal planned paths (i.e., the shortest or the safest) for robotic navigation. In computer graphics, curve skeletons serve in the generation of the control skeleton and the skinning process (i.e., assigns each surface triangle to a part of the skeleton) for character animation. In computer vision, curve skeletons serve as a graph for 3D shape matching and retrieval.
Accurate, flexible curve skeletons make any application in which they are used more powerful. Some problems associated with techniques for computing curve skeletons include noise, speed, computational complexity, lack of generality, and lack of automation.
Farag et al., "Robust Centerline Extraction Framework Using Level Sets", Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition (CVPR), Jun. 20-26, 2005, provide a framework for computing centerlines of arbitrary 2D shapes and 3D tubular volumetric objects (e.g., stack of images), whose cross sections are nearly or perfectly circular. In this technique, an object centerline point is selected automatically as the point of global maximum Euclidean distance from the boundary, and is considered a point source Ps that transmits a wave front that evolves over time and traverses the object domain. The front propagates at each object point with a speed that is proportional to its Euclidean distance from the boundary. The motion of the front is governed by a nonlinear partial differential equation whose solution is computed efficiently using level set methods. Initially, the Ps transmits a moderate speed wave to explore the object domain and extract its topological information. Then, it transmits a new front that is much faster at centerline points than non central ones. As a consequence, centerlines intersect the propagating fronts at those points of maximum positive curvature. Centerlines are computed by tracking them, starting from each topological point until the Ps is reached, by solving an ordinary differential equation using an efficient numerical scheme. The technique is computationally inexpensive, and handles efficiently objects with complex topology such as loops. It is suitable for both 2D and 3D tubular objects. The computed centerlines are centered, connected, thin, and less sensitive to boundary noise. Extracted paths form a tree graph at no additional cost. However, there is no theoretical justification behind its speed model to guarantee convergence. Also, speed parameters are set heuristically and therefore prevent the framework from automation. Finally, the technique is limited to 3D objects having circular cross-sections.
A particular robotic vision navigation technique, is provided in Farag et al, "PDE Based Robust Robotic Navigation," Canadian Conference on Computer and Robot Vision (CRV), May 9-11, 2005. The robotic vision implementation in the present application is applicable for 2D robotic path planning. Its framework is general in the sense that it can be used for both 2D and 3D environments. It generates a collision-free optimum path for partial or complete configuration space. Optimum planned paths can be controlled according to the surrounding environment and running conditions in order to follow the safest, shortest, or the hybrid path. However, there is no theoretical justification behind its speed model to guarantee convergence. Also, the speed parameters are set heuristically and hence prevent the framework from automation.

Method and software for shape representation with curve skeletons

The University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.


In an engine including an in-cylinder injector and an intake manifold injector, the fuel injection ratio between the injectors with respect to a total fuel injection quantity in the homogeneous combustion operation is normally set in accordance with the engine operation state (engine speed, load factor). Upon transition from the stratified charge combustion operation to the homogeneous combustion operation, the fuel injection ratio is modified from that of the normal operation during a prescribed control period so that the fuel injection quantity from the intake manifold injector is increased than in the normal operation state, considering that the fuel newly injected via the in-cylinder injector immediately after transition of operation mode is likely to deposit inside the combustion chamber because of the fuel deposited therein during the stratified charge combustion operation. This prevents combustion deterioration in the engine upon transition of the operation mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus of an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to fuel injection control at the time of transition from a stratified charge combustion operation to a homogeneous combustion operation in an internal combustion engine provided with first fuel injection means (in-cylinder injector) for injecting fuel into a cylinder and second fuel injection means (intake manifold injector) for injecting fuel into an intake manifold.
2. Description of the Background Art
In an engine having a main fuel injection valve (in-cylinder injector) injecting fuel directly into a combustion chamber of the engine and an auxiliary fuel injection valve (intake manifold injector) injecting fuel into an intake port, fuel injection control switching between an operation in a stratified charge combustion region (hereinafter, also referred to as "stratified charge combustion operation") and an operation in a homogeneous combustion region (hereinafter, also referred to as "homogeneous combustion operation") in accordance with an operation state has been proposed.
Particularly, in a fuel injection control apparatus of an engine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-020837, a fuel injection ratio of the auxiliary fuel injection valve (intake manifold injector) with respect to a total fuel injection quantity is set to 0 in the stratified charge combustion operation so as to carry out fuel injection only by the main fuel injection valve (in-cylinder injector). This can reduce the capacity of the main fuel injection valve, and the injection speed in the low-load region and hence performance of the stratified charge combustion is improved. In the homogeneous combustion operation, fuel injection is carried out at an appropriate fuel injection ratio between the main fuel injection valve and the auxiliary fuel injection valve, so that performance of the homogeneous combustion in accordance with the operation state can be obtained.

Control apparatus of internal combustion engine


A water-based ink for ink-jet recording contains water, a water-soluble organic solvent, a coloring agent and a crown ether. Even when the water-based ink is employed in the ink passage of an ink-jet recording apparatus and comes into contact with rubber members employed in the ink passage, the occurrence of precipitation is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water-based ink (hereinafter simply referred to as "ink") for ink-jet recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink-jet recording method, recording is performed by generating fine droplets of ink according to various ink ejection methods, causing them to fly, and allowing the ink to adhere to a recording material such as paper. In such a case, the ink droplets are generated by an ink ejection method such as: an electrostatic attraction method by means of the application of high voltage; a drop-on-demand method in which mechanical vibrations or displacements are applied to ink by use of a piezoelectric element; or a thermal method which utilizes the pressure generated when the ink is heated to generate a bubble. When using an ink-jet recording method, less noise is generated, and both high-speed printing and multi-color printing are possible.
Conventionally, a water-based ink containing water as the main solvent has been widely employed as an ink employed in such an ink-jet recording method.
In an ink-jet recording apparatus, rubber members are employed in an ink passage comprising an ink tank and an ink-jet head. These rubber members include: a cap which covers the nozzles of the ink-jet head; a wiper which cleans nozzle surfaces of the ink-jet head; a packing seal which is placed at the joint portion between components; a tube which supplies ink from the ink tank to the ink-jet head if the ink tank is provided separately from the ink-jet head; and the like.
However, when an ink for ink-jet recording comes in contact with the rubber members, additives contained in the rubber members are dissolved in the ink. The dissolved additives then precipitate out as insoluble materials, thereby causing problems such as clogging of nozzles of the ink-jet head.
In order to prevent the occurrence of precipitation in an ink, various proposals have been made, such as: adding a chelating agent to an ink; using a maintenance solution containing a chelating agent such as a polyaminocarboxylic acids and the like; and cleaning an ink-jet head with a cleaning solution containing a chelating agent such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acids and the like.
However, even when the conventional ink, maintenance solution or cleaning solution, each of which contains an common chelating agent, is employed, it is difficult to effectively prevent the occurrence of precipitation caused by contact of the ink with the rubber members.


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for switching channels to reduce channel zapping time, which use channel information generated prior to channel switching and generates audio and video data of a switched channel, thereby skipping a process of calculating channel information of a channel to be switched at the time of channel switching.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method for receiving broadcast signals, more specifically, a method for switching broadcast channels.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
IPTV services, which provide two-way TV services through the Internet, are in common use along with the TV services using conventional broadcasting networks. An IPTV is connected to a set-top box which converts IP video signals to standard TV signals and if a switched video service (SVS) system is used, can connect selectively to a broadband network channel or a service such as a subscriber service and a movie according to a user's preference.
The IPTV has advantages such as high quality video and various additional services as well as two-way interactivity not found in the analog broadcasting such as the conventional terrestrial broadcasting.
Despite these advantages, when a user watching a particular channel attempts to switch to another one, conventional IPTVs cause a time delay (zapping delay) longer than that of analog broadcasting until channel switching is completed. The channel zapping time developed at the time of switching channels of IPTVs results from a transmission and reception method used for the IPTVs; thus, there needs a method for reducing the channel zapping time in a broadcasting system such as the IPTV.

Method and apparatus of channel switching using pre-acquisited PSI table


Multi-stage in-line cartridge ejectors for a fuel cell system provided herein comprise: at least one ejector main body for supplying hydrogen, each ejector main body including a plurality of nozzles arranged in line with a predetermined gap, in which the diameters of the respective nozzles become larger from an inlet side of the ejector main body toward an outlet side thereof, and a plurality of sub-inlets formed on an outer surface of the ejector main body to be connected to the gap or gaps between the nozzles; and a housing accommodating the eject main body and including a main inlet for intake of recirculated hydrogen. The multi-stage in-line cartridge ejectors can improve the system performance by increasing the amount of recirculated hydrogen. Moreover, at least one check valve is provided at an intake position of the cartridge ejectors to effectively prevent reverse flow of recirculation hydrogen gas and at least one heater is provided around the cartridge ejectors to improve cold startability.

(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a multi-stage in-line cartridge ejector. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-stage in-line cartridge ejector for a fuel cell system, which serves as a hydrogen recirculation blower of a fuel processing system in a fuel cell system to increase the amount of recirculated hydrogen, thus improving the system performance.
(b) Background Art
In general, a fuel cell is capable of producing a direct current by converting chemical energy of a fuel gas directly into electrical energy. Unlike other conventional batteries, the fuel cell generates electricity continuously by utilizing fuel and air supplied from the outside.
Hydrogen used as a fuel in the fuel cell may be pure hydrogen or reformed hydrogen generated by a reforming process using a hydrocarbon such as methane or ethanol.
Recently, the fuel cells have been applied to vehicles, and extensive research and development aimed at development of fuel cell vehicles have continued to progress. Such fuel cell vehicles have the same characteristics as electric vehicles and there is no fundamental difference, except that the fuel cell vehicles are more environment-friendly and can use pure hydrogen or reformed hydrogen as an energy source to generate electrical energy.
In a fuel cell system using hydrogen as a fuel, hydrogen is supplied from a hydrogen tank to a fuel cell stack and the amount of hydrogen gas supplied to the fuel cell stack is controlled by a controller. Meanwhile, air used in the fuel cell is supplied to the fuel cell stack through a compressor.
Usually, the air and hydrogen are supplied to the fuel cell in an amount larger than the amount required for electrochemical reaction in order to ensure a certain level of the performance of the fuel cell stack and increase the lifespan thereof.
Unreacted hydrogen remaining in the fuel cell stack is recirculated to prevent waste of fuel, thus increasing the overall efficiency of the system.
Especially, the technique for recirculating the unreacted hydrogen is crucial to improve fuel efficiency of the fuel cell system. A blower means has been typically used to recirculate the unreacted hydrogen discharged from the fuel cell stack to a stack inlet.
Since conventional blower means has several drawbacks in that it has a complex structure, requires lubrication, and causes noise and vibration, techniques to recirculate the unreacted hydrogen using an ejector means have been proposed.
The ejector means for hydrogen recirculation has advantages in that it has a simpler structure than that of the blower means, it does not require lubrication since rotational elements are not used therein, and it does not cause noise and vibration; however, there is also a problem in that the ejector means has a narrow operation range and thus it is not suitable to apply it to the fuel cell vehicle in which the load is rapidly changed.
In order to solve such drawbacks, there have been various approaches to widen the operation range of the ejector means. One approach was to use a plurality of ejectors to increase the operation range, as proposed by some Japanese vehicle manufacturers.
However, this approach has some drawbacks in that the plurality of ejectors occupy much space in a vehicle, manufacturing costs increase due to increased number of parts, flux control of the ejectors is not sufficiently accurate due to the difficulty in manipulation of a hydraulically driven needle used therein.
Further, the approach is disadvantageous in that since two or three ejectors are interchanged or switched additional elements such as a device for interchanging or switching the ejectors and a device for preventing reverse flow, thereby inviting a complexity of the structure.
As another example of the ejector means, there is a variable nozzle type ejector in which the position of a needle is controlled by an electric motor means to adjust the pressure and amount of hydrogen gas. However, it has several drawbacks in that it is expensive and it encounters a pressure loss or leakage problem.
The information disclosed in the Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.

Multi-stage in-line cartridge ejector for fuel cell system


A technique identifies a version of a software application for installation on computerized equipment. The technique involves receiving an electronic communication containing a software version database which identifies different versions of the software application. The technique further involves performing an update assessment operation based on the software version database to determine whether there exists newer versions of the software application available for installation on the computerized equipment. The technique further involves providing an electronic notification to a user of the computerized equipment in response to a result of the update assessment operation indicating that there exists newer versions of the software application available for installation on the computerized equipment. The electronic notification identifies, for installation on the computerized equipment, a particular newer version of the newer versions of the software application available for installation on the computerized equipment.

Conventional data storage systems manage host data on behalf of external host computers. Along these lines, the data storage systems perform host read and write operations in response to instructions from the host computers such as small computer system interface (SCSI) read and write commands.
Some conventional data storage systems are configured to routinely query their manufacturers for software updates. Accordingly, when a data storage system manufacturer releases a new software update, the data storage systems from that manufacturer can electronically inform their operators (e.g., system administrators) that the new software update is available.

Smartly identifying a version of a software application for installation


A new and distinct cultivar of Anigozanthos plant named ‘KPAUSP’ is disclosed, characterized by a distinctive very strongly reflexing perianth lobes. Ovaries and the lower perianth tube are covered in yellow hairs, pedicels covered in Red-Purple 59B hairs. The new variety is a Anigozanthos, typically produced as a garden or container plant.

The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program. The new variety originated as the result of a self-pollination made during 2015 of the parent, an unpatented, proprietary Anigozanthos referred to as '20121100'. 'KPAUSP' was discovered and selected by the inventor at a research greenhouse in New South Wales, Australia during 2016.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'KPAUSP' was New South Wales, Australia at a research laboratory by tissue culture during 2017. 'KPAUSP' has since produced several generations and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.


An improved Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) device structure with a thin SOI silicon layer maintains excellent Ioff DC characteristics without degrading device AC speed and characteristics. The device structure comprises double gate sidewall spacers including an inner polysilicon spacer and an outer dielectric (nitride or oxide) sidewall spacer.

This invention relates to semiconductor device structures, and in particular to ultra-thin Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) devices structures.
As integrated circuit dimensions decrease and circuit speed increases, new transistor structures have been developed in order to yield good performance at the smaller dimensions. In particular, Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) devices are known and are generally undoped or very lightly doped silicon on a low K dielectric. SOI devices are characterized by having the active device region insulated from the bulk substrate, generally by a buried oxide layer. The active device region is thereby said to be floating. SOI devices have been developed which consume less power than do bulk CMOS devices, and which operate at higher speeds than do Ct bulk CMOS devices. FIG. 1 shows a prior art SOI device, including bulk substrate 2, buried oxide layer 4, SOI silicon layer 6, field oxide regions 7, gate dielectric layer 8, conducting gate 10, gate sidewall spacers 11, doped source and drain regions 12, and channel region 14. Source and drain regions may overlap the gate region, or gate sidewall spacer technology may be used to provide separation, or underlap, between the gate and the source-drain regions.
For SOI devices having channel lengths below about 50 nm, it is very difficult to achieve good short-channel control, i.e., to effectively shut off the transistors in the off state, without significantly thinning down the thickness of the buried layer and the thickness of the SOI silicon layer, which is technically very challenging. For a device with SOI silicon thickness of less than 20 nm, an underlap of the source/drain regions with the gate is needed in order to be able to turn off the device. Accordingly, the details of the gate sidewall spacer technology used in the fabrication of such devices are critical to their performance. By way of example, it is known that if doped polysilicon spacers are used in place of nitride spacers (termed a xe2x80x9cstraddled gate devicexe2x80x9d), the device DC characteristics improve significantly. The polysilicon spacer which is also doped during source/drain implant serves as a side gate with a lower work function It behaves like a longer gate when there is no bias applied on the gate (i.e., in the Ioff condition). The polysilicon side gate causes the surface beneath it to invert at much lower applied voltage than the voltage necessary to invert the main channel region, due to the lower work function of the polysilicon. This causes the device to behave like a very short channel device during Ion conditions. The result is a much improved Ion and Ioff. However, when single layer polysilicon gate sidewall spacers are used, the source/drain extension regions reach under the poly spacers and cause an increased overlap capacitance which slows down the AC device performance.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a Silicon-On-Insulator device structure with a thin SOI silicon layer which maintains excellent Ioff DC characteristics without degrading device AC speed and characteristics.
These objects are met by providing double gate sidewall spacers including an inner polysilicon spacer and an outer dielectric (nitride or oxide) sidewall spacer.

Ultra thin SOI devices with improved short-channel control


An embedded multiprocessor system is provided that includes a multiprocessor system on a chip (SOC), a memory coupled to the multiprocessor SOC, the memory storing application software partitioned into an initial boot stage and at least one additional boot stage, and a secondary boot loader configured to boot load the initial boot stage on at least one processor of the multiprocessor SOC, wherein the initial boot stage begins executing and flow of data from the initial boot stage to the at least one additional boot stage is disabled, wherein the application software is configured to boot load a second boot stage of the at least one additional boot stage on at least one other processor of the multiprocessor SOC and to enable flow of data between the initial boot stage and the second boot stage.

Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to embedded multiprocessor systems, and more specifically relate to boot time optimization for applications executing on such systems.
Description of the Related Art
A new class of safety systems, referred to as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), has been introduced into automobiles to reduce human operation error. Such systems may provide functionality such as rear-view facing cameras, electronic stability control, and vision-based pedestrian detection systems. The boot time of an automotive safety system may be crucial for safety as well as important to the overall user experience.
For example, an automotive safety system such as a rear view camera system (RVCS) may be provided to show the rear view of the vehicle when the reverse gear of the vehicle is engaged. The RVCS may simply display the rear view or may include more intelligence to detect obstacles and provide visual and/or audible warnings to the driver. In either instance, the boot time of the RVCS is critical for safety and, if overly long, affects the overall user experience.

Method and system for boot time optimization of embedded multiprocessor systems


A communication system allows a remote user to access a web site across a PSTN using a conventional text device such as a TTY device. The web site is configured with text, menu options, and communication transfer capabilities as may be found in an automated telephone service. The system includes a text gateway module in electrical communication with the text device. The text gateway module receives text data generated by the text device and directs the text data to a text/web translator. The web/text translator converts the text data into web data suitable for use by a web site and server. The web/text translator transmits the web data to a web gateway module that directs the web data to a specified web site. The web/text translator further receives from the web gateway module web data generated by the web site. The web/text translator converts the web data to text data which is readable by the text device. The text data is then transmitted to the text gateway module and then passed to the text device. The web/text translator converts text, graphical icons, menu options, and communication links within a web site into equivalent forms of text data. A remote deaf user may read and select different options that previously were available only in a automated telephone service.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a communication systems along various computer networks and, more specifically, to wide area networks incorporating text communication methods.
2. Relevant Technology
The xe2x80x9cplain old telephone systemxe2x80x9d (POTS) or xe2x80x9cpublic switched telephone networkxe2x80x9d (PSTN) has been in development since the late 1800""s. In general, the term PSTN refers to any medium of communication in which at least part of the link is analog, and not digital, in nature. The PSTN was first developed in the late 1800""s to allow for person to person communications by voice over long distances. The invention of computers made it useful to exchange digital data over the PSTN. In the 1950""s, xe2x80x9cmodemsxe2x80x9d were developed for that purpose. A modem accepts digital data and modulates it into a form suitable for transmission over the PSTN such that a corresponding receiving modem may demodulate the signal back into the original digital data.
Computer networks have become very popular in allowing computers to communicate and transmit data across local area networks (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN). The Internet itself could be considered to be a WAN. A LAN or WAN link is digital in nature and conforms to a known protocol such as NETBIOS, TCP/IP, SPX/IPX, etc. over a communication media such as Ethernet, Token Ring, or higher speed media. Several modem protocols of the format xe2x80x9cV dotxe2x80x9d protocol include the V.32, V.34, and V.70 protocol. All such xe2x80x9cV dotxe2x80x9d protocols are promulgated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the governing body for modem standards based in Geneva Switzerland. The earlier xe2x80x9cBellxe2x80x9d standards, such as Bell 103, Bell 212, etc., are similar but earlier modem standards adopted in the United States prior to the U.S.""s joining of the ITU. The full specifications of any ITU standard may be obtained from the ITU.
The well known xe2x80x9c2500xe2x80x9d series analog phones connect directly to the PSTN but not directly to a LAN or WAN. In the PSTN, often the link from a business or residence to the xe2x80x9cCOxe2x80x9d (central office) is analog, although much of the rest of the PSTN may be digital. Modems such as V.32, V.34, etc. are designed to operate on an analog or mixed analog/digital link. The term PSTN sometimes includes PBX or key phone systems or links as found in many organizations. Examples of such PBX or key systems include ATandT""s xe2x80x9cMerlinxe2x80x9d -or xe2x80x9cPartner Plusxe2x80x9d systems, Nortel""s SL1, SL100, or Northstar systems, and so on. PBX or key systems will often connect directly to analog lines from the PSTN, although digital connections, such as T1 lines, are common. A voice caller on a PBX or key system is able to call and converse with an analog 2500 series phone whereas such a phone will not connect directly to a LAN or WAN network.
Modems provide a means for the deaf or speech impaired to communicate over the telephone system, since typed characters can be sent over the PSTN via modem and read by another modem user. However, standard modems have evolved with poor provision for communications by the deaf or speech impaired and are largely unsuitable for this purpose. Standard modems were developed primarily for computer to computer communications. For example, most standard modems have a xe2x80x9ccarrierxe2x80x9d which is a constant audible signal. If this signal is lost because the call is placed on hold, a standard modem will generally hang up and cannot reestablish the connection with a different modem. Modems are very inflexible in their protocol requirements and will not operate properly or will abort the call if the protocol settings are wrong.
Automated telephone systems are widely used in telephonic communications to provide automated information and various services to hearing callers. The automated telephone systems are sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cIVR,xe2x80x9d for xe2x80x9cInteractive Voice Responsexe2x80x9d systems, or xe2x80x9cVRUxe2x80x9d for xe2x80x9cVoice Response Unitxe2x80x9d, and are well known in the telephone industry. By way of example, when a hearing caller calls the phone number of an entity, such as a business or government organization, the caller may receive information services, transfer services to desired entities, messaging services, fax-on-demand services, and other services through the use of an automated telephone system.
With the automated telephone service, the hearing caller may be instructed by voice prompts to select and enter different command options. For example, the caller may be prompted to press 1 for sales, 2 for office hours, or to enter the extension of a party that the caller wishes to contact, and so on. Another service provided by an automated telephone system is to provide recordings of job openings. The hearing caller may be able to activate a voice description of available job openings by pressing the keys on their phone. Pressing a key on a touch tone phone creates DTMF tones which are detected by the automated telephone system.
A long standing challenge is to make systems accessible to the text devices, such as the Baudot TTY devices, used by the deaf. Since a conventional voice telephone is not usable by a deaf person, the deaf commonly use a device called a TTY or TDD device. The TTY device has a keyboard and display and is used in place of a voice telephone by deaf persons. Typically the display on a TTY displays one or two lines of text, and these displays typically do not accommodate graphics.
Manufacturers of automated telephone systems have been under pressure for many years to make their systems accessible to the deaf using TTY technology. One solution used in the industry is to treat TTY as a foreign language. That is, TTY tones are recorded and played back to the TTY caller. The deaf caller is then expected to create DTMF tones to navigate the menus displayed on the TTY screen. A problem with this approach is that many TTY devices cannot create DTMF tones after the call is dialed.
Internet technology and associated web sites would appear to provide some answers to the problems faced by the deaf. However, two points should be made here regarding this application. First, many of the deaf do not have computers or Internet access, so information or services offered on a web site are not accessible to such persons. Secondly, many services offered to hearing callers through automated telephone systems are not offered on an organization""s web site. For example, an automated telephone system often supports transfer and messaging services to allow a hearing caller to call a person or department within the organization or leave a message for a person or department. Frequently an organization""s web site is not designed to provide such a service. A web site may provide a general e-mail address for contact information, and even this is not available to a deaf person without Internet access. Other services may also be placed on the automated telephone system but not the web site, such as a job posting service.
It would seem equitable that if services are offered hearing callers using a conventional phone, then equivalent services should be offered a deaf person using a TTY device or other text device. In fact, federal law since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, has contained language urging this type of equivalency. In large part these laws have not been heeded or enforced due to the difficulty, expense, and complexity of the available solutions.
A possible approach to providing information and other services to TTY callers would be to construct a parallel and equivalent system accessible to TTY callers. Information, such as job listings, made available in certain formats must be made available to TTY callers by constructing a parallel and complete system just for TTY callers. An objection to this method is that often the number of TTY callers is quite low. Maintaining a separate and parallel information system just for TTY callers is expensive and hard to justify for the low volume of TTY calls received.
Federal law does not require that web sites on the Internet provide access to TTY users. It is reasonable to equate a voice telephone used by a hearing person with a TTY device used by a deaf person. Therefore, services offered to a voice telephone caller should also be available to a TTY caller. However, web site content is not available to a voice telephone user so it is not reasonable or expected for such content to be available to a TTY caller. Indeed there are no laws or regulations to create this type of access for the deaf.
It would therefore be an advancement in the art to provide a system accessible by the deaf and providing equivalent information and services as that found in an automated telephone service. It would be a further advancement in the art to provide such a system that is accessible across a PSTN using conventional text devices such as TTY devices. It would be yet another advancement in the art to provide such a system with wide scale accessability. Such an invention is disclosed and claimed herein.
The present invention relates to a network communication system configured to operate over a network such as a PSTN or the Internet. The system allows a remote user to access a web site hosted by a server in communication with the PSTN. The web site may be configured with text, menu options, communication transfer services, and message storage services as may be found in an automated telephone service. The remote user may access the web site using a conventional text device, such as a TTY device, or a conventional browser.
The system includes a text gateway module in electrical communication with the text device, such as a TTY device. The text gateway module receives text data generated by the text device and directs the text data to a text/web translator. The web/text translator converts the text data into web data suitable for use by a web site and server. The web/text translator transmits the web data to a web gateway module that directs the web data to a specified web site. The web/text translator receives web data generated by the web site from the web gateway module. The web/text translator converts the web data to text data which is readable by the text device. The text data is then transmitted to the text gateway module and then passed to the text device.
The text gateway module, web/text translator, and the web gateway module may be combined as a single module or may be separately identifiable. The modules may further be resident at the server or dispersed at various locations in the communication chain from the text device to the server.
The web/text translator converts text, graphic icons, menu options, and communication links within a web site into equivalent forms of text data. A remote deaf user may read and select different options that previously were available only in an automated telephone service. A remote deaf user may access web sites across a PSTN and use the services of an automated system that were previously unavailable.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.