A Fresnel lens has a plurality of pitch areas in which a plurality of hybrid type prism portions are arranged. Each hybrid type prism portion has a refraction type prism portion and a total reflection type prism portion. In the refraction type prism portion, a ray of incident light Li1 of an incident angle “a” is refracted twice and goes out as a ray of outgoing light Lo1 of an outgoing angle “f”. In the total reflection type prism portion, a ray of incident light Li2 of the incident angle “a” is refracted, totally reflected and refracted in that order and goes out as a ray of outgoing light Lo2 parallel to the ray of outgoing light Lo1.

In an image displaying device represented by a rear projection type projection television, a screen is used, and image light emitted from an image light source is projected on the screen. In general, the screen of the image displaying device is formed by combining a lenticular and a Fresnel lens. The lenticular functions as a light diffusion plate in which the image light is scattered to form an image. In the Fresnel lens, the image light emitted from the image light source is refracted, and rays of refracted light go out to the lenticular almost in parallel to each other.
FIG. 1 is a view showing an external appearance of a conventional Fresnel lens.
In FIG. 1, 101 indicates a Fresnel lens seen on a slant. 102 indicates a sectional shape of the Fresnel lens 101. 103 indicates an optical axis of the Fresnel lens 101. 104 indicates a prism portion formed for each pitch area corresponding to one pitch length in the Fresnel lens 101.
In the manufacturing of the Fresnel lens 101, a metal mold (or a lens forming mold) is formed by rotating the mold on the optical axis 103, synthetic resin is poured into the metal mold, the synthetic resin is hardened, the metal mold is taken off from the synthetic resin, and the manufacturing of the Fresnel lens 101 is completed. On a surface of the manufactured Fresnel lens 101, a plurality of ring bands are formed in a concentric circular shape around the optical axis 103. As is realized by looking at the sectional shape 102 of the Fresnel lens 101, the ring bands formed in a concentric circular shape denote the plurality of prism portions 104.
That is, the prism portions 104 of the sectional shape 102 formed in a saw-tooth shape are equally spaced at pitch intervals respectively corresponding to one pitch width. One pitch width of the Fresnel lens 101 actually used is almost equal to 0.1 mm, and the pitch width is very small even though the pitch width is compared with each of minimum pixels on which an image is projected through the Fresnel lens 101.
The whole Fresnel lens 101 functions as one convex lens. Because the prism portions 104 can be thinned, rays of light incident on the Fresnel lens 101 can be changed or refracted almost without requiring a distance between an incident point of the ray of incident light and an outgoing point of a ray of outgoing light.
In the image displaying device, to shorten the depth of the image displaying device, image light is often injected on the Fresnel lens 101 of the screen from a direction inclined with respect to an incident normal of the Fresnel lens 101 as much as possible. Therefore, a thinned type image displaying device can be obtained.
FIG. 2 is a view showing the configuration of an image displaying device in which a conventional Fresnel lens is applied to a screen. A plurality of arrows indicate a plurality of rays of light.
111 indicates a light emitting source (or illumination light source means) for emitting a plurality of rays of light. 112 indicates a parabolic mirror (or illumination light source means). The light emitting source 111 is disposed on a focal point of the parabolic mirror 112. 113 indicates a converging lens (or converging optics means) for converging a plurality of rays of light reflected on the parabolic mirror 112. 114 indicates a light bulb (or optical modulating means) formed of liquid crystal. An intensity of each ray of light converged by the converging lens 113 is spatially changed in the light bulb 114 to modulate the converged rays of light according to display contents written on the light bulb 114.
115 indicates a projection optics lens (or projection optics means) for forming an image from the rays of light of which the intensities are changed by the light bulb 114. 116 indicates a rear projection type screen for receiving the image of the rays of light formed by the projection optics lens 115 from the rear side and displaying the image. The rays of light spreading in the projection optics lens 115 are changed in the screen 116 to a plurality of rays of light parallel to each other, the image formed from the rays of light is displayed on the screen 116, and the rays of light are diffused from the screen 116 to a wide area. Therefore, the screen 116 has a function for widening a view field.
In the screen 116, 117 indicates a Fresnel lens described before, and 118 indicates a lenticular.
In the Fresnel lens 117, the spreading rays of light sent from the projection optics lens 115 are received on an incident plane 117A, and the rays of light go out at a prescribed outgoing angle through a prism portion 117B arranged for each pitch area corresponding one pitch. In short, the Fresnel lens 117 is used to almost collimate the rays of light spreading in the projection optics lens 115. An image is formed on the lenticular 118 from the rays of light going out from the Fresnel lens 117, and the rays of light are diffused.
119 indicates an optical axis. The optical axis 119 exists for the parabolic mirror 112, the converging lens 113, the light bulb 114, the projection optics lens 115, the Fresnel lens 117 and the lenticular 118, and the optical axis 119 is perpendicular to the incident plane 117A of the Fresnel lens 117.
Next, an operation will be described below.
The light emitting source 111 disposed on a focal point of the parabolic mirror 112 can be almost regarded as a point source. Therefore, rays of light emitted from the light emitting source 111 are reflected on the parabolic mirror 112 and goes out to the converging lens 113 as almost parallel rays of light. When the parallel rays of light are converged by the converging lens 113 onto the light bulb 114, intensities of the converged rays of light are spatially changed by the light bulb 114 to modulate the converged rays of light according to display contents of the light bulb 114.
The rays of light intensity-modulated are projected on the rear surface of the screen 116 at a wide angle by the projection optics lens 115, and an image is formed from the rays of projected light. An angle between each ray of light and the optical axis 119 is called a projection angle. As shown in FIG. 2, the projection angle in each pitch area differs from those in the other pitch areas. However, because the pitch between each pair of prism portions 117B is considerably shorter than the lengths of the projection optics lens 115 and the screen 116, a plurality of rays of light incident on each prism portion 117B can be almost regarded as a plurality of parallel rays.
An angle between a normal m11 of the incident plane 117A and each ray of incident light denotes an incident angle. Because the incident angle of each ray of incident light is equal to the projection angle of the ray of incident light according to the relationship of alternate-interior angles obtained from a straight line (the incident ray) intersecting two parallel lines (the optical axis 119 and the normal m11), the more a pitch area receiving a ray of light approaches the optical axis 119, the smaller the incident angle of the ray of light is. Also, the more a pitch area receiving a ray of light is far away from the optical axis 119, the larger the incident angle of the ray of light is. In particular, the ray of light going out to the prism portion 117B placed at each end of the screen 116 is incident on the incident plane 117A at the maximum incident angle.
A size of the screen 116 is determined according to this maximum incident angle, or the maximum projection angle of the projection optics lens 115, and a projection distance from the projection optics lens 115 to the screen 116. In contrast, in a case where the size of the screen 116 is predetermined, the larger the maximum projection angle is, the more the projection distance can be shortened. Therefore, an optical system having a shortened distance in the direction of the optical axis 119 can be obtained, and the image displaying device can be thinned.
In the Fresnel lens 117, a plurality of rays of light are received on the incident plane 117A at the incident angles respectively, and the ray of light goes out to the lenticular 118 at a prescribed outgoing angle through the prism portion 117B arranged for each pitch area. The outgoing angle is defined as an angle between a straight line parallel to the optical axis 119 on the Fresnel lens 117 and the ray of light going out from the Fresnel lens 117. The outgoing angle is normally set to a small angle ranging from 0 degree to several degrees. In short, the rays of light going out from the Fresnel lens 117 are almost parallel to the optical axis 119 (the outgoing angle for the rays of light is set to 0 degree in FIG. 2). In this case, the higher the transmissivity (a ratio in power of the outgoing light to the incident light) of the Fresnel lens 117 for the rays of light, the better the Fresnel lens 117. Also, the higher the transmissivity, the more the image displayed on the screen 116 is bright.
In the lenticular 118, the rays of light are received from the prism portions 117B of the Fresnel lens 117. Also, though an image of the display contents of the light bulb 114 is formed by the projection optics lens 115, the rays of light indicating the image are diffused from the lenticular 118 in a direction (the right direction of the screen 116 in FIG. 2) directed toward a user. The user of the image displaying device views the rays of light diffused from each of a plurality of image forming points as an image. Because the rays of light are diffused by the lenticular 118, the user can view the image which has the brightness required in a certain view field.
As is described above, the larger the maximum projection angle of the projection optics lens 115, in other words, the larger the maximum incident angle of light to the Fresnel lens 117, the more the projection distance is shortened. Therefore, a thin type image displaying device having a shortened projection distance can be provided for the user.
In cases where a size of the screen 116 is predetermined by the specification of the screen 116, even though a large maximum projection angle is obtained by the function of the projection optics lens 115 or another optical unit, unless the Fresnel lens 117 receives a ray of light corresponding to the maximum projection angle, the projection distance cannot be shortened. In conclusion, it is an important point that the Fresnel lens 117 is designed so as to set the incident angle of a ray of light as large as possible on condition that the ray of light go out from the Fresnel lens 117 at high transmissivity.
Next, various principles of the conventional Fresnel lens will be described below.
FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are respectively an enlarged view showing the sectional shape of a plurality of prism portions arranged in a plurality of pitch areas of the conventional Fresnel lens, FIG. 3A shows the sectional shape in case of a small incident angle, and FIG. 3B shows the sectional shape in case of a large incident angle. Each arrow in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B indicates a ray of light.
In FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, 121 indicates a Fresnel lens. 121A indicates a refraction type prism portion formed for each pitch area of the Fresnel lens 121.
121B indicates an incident plane of each refraction type prism portion 121A. The incident plane 121B is formed in a flat surface shape and is perpendicular to an optical axis (not shown) of the Fresnel lens 121. 121C indicates an outgoing plane of each refraction type prism portion 121A. 121Z indicates an ineffective plane of each refraction type prism portion 121A. Each refraction type prism portion 121A is shaped by the incident plane 121B, the outgoing plane 121C and the ineffective plane 121Z. Here, the ineffective plane 121Z does not participate with a ray of incident light or a ray of outgoing light.
Also, Li indicates a ray of light incident on the incident plane 121B. Lr indicates a ray of light reflected on the incident plane 121B. Lt indicates a ray of transmitted light refracted on the incident plane 121B and transmitted through the internal of the refraction type prism portion 121A. Lo indicates a ray of outgoing light refracted on the outgoing plane 121C and going out to the air. m12 indicates a normal of the incident plane 121B, and m13 indicates a normal of the outgoing plane 121C.
Next, an operation will be described below.
In FIG. 3A, when a ray of incident light Li transmitted through the air having a refractive index of unity comes on the Fresnel lens 121 having a refractive index of n (n>1) at a real incident angle "a" to the normal m14, the ray of incident light Li is divided on the incident plane 121B into a ray of transmitted light Lt transmitted at a refraction angle of χ and a ray of reflected light Lr transmitted at a reflection angle of "a". The ray of reflected light Lr causes a loss to the Fresnel lens 121.
The ray of transmitted light Lt refracted on the incident plane 121B and transmitted through the internal of the refraction type prism portion 121A makes an angle of φ to the normal m13 and reaches the outgoing plane 121C. A part of the ray of transmitted light Lt is changed to a ray of reflected light (not shown), and the remaining part of the ray of transmitted light Lt crosses the outgoing plane 121C and goes out as a ray of outgoing light Lo at an outgoing angle of "f".
As is described above, the ray of incident light Li incident on the Fresnel lens 121 at the incident angle of "a" makes a turn in the Fresnel lens 121 to a direction of an outgoing angle of "f". Because the ray of incident light Li is received on the incident plane 121B formed in a flat surface shape, the Fresnel lens 121 has a special feature in that the ray of incident light Li is received in the Fresnel lens 121 at a high light-receiving efficiency.
In cases where the incident angle of a ray of incident light becomes smaller, the transmissivity of the incident plane is heightened, and the reflectivity of the incident plane is lowered. In contrast, in cases where the incident angle of a ray of light becomes larger, the transmissivity of the incident plane is lowered, and the reflectivity of the incident plane is heightened. This phenomenon is well-known as an optical theory. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the incident angle "a" of a ray of light becomes larger, a ratio of the ray of transmitted light Lt to the ray of incident light Li is decreased, and a ratio of the ray of reflected light Lr to the ray of incident light Li is increased. Therefore, the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 121 is undesirably lowered.
In short, the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 121 depends on the incident angle. The larger the incident angle "a", the more the transmissivity is lowered. Also, in cases where the Fresnel lens 121 is applied to a screen of which the size is predetermined, the thinning of the image displaying device is undesirably restricted due to the limitation of the maximum incident angle.
In another type of Fresnel lens having the refraction type prism portion, as is described below, the structure on the incident side of the refraction type prism portion 121A shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B is changed to that on an outgoing side, and the structure on the outgoing side of the refraction type prism portion 121A shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B is changed to that on an incident side.
FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are enlarged views respectively showing the sectional shape of a plurality of prism portions arranged in a plurality of pitch areas of another type conventional Fresnel lens, FIG. 4A shows the sectional shape in case of a small incident angle, and FIG. 4B shows the sectional shape in case of a large incident angle. An arrow in each of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B indicates a ray of light.
In FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, 131 indicates a Fresnel lens. 131A indicates a refraction type prism portion formed for each pitch area of the Fresnel lens 131.
131B indicates an incident plane of each refraction type prism portion 131A. 131C indicates an outgoing plane of each refraction type prism portion 131A. 131Z indicates an ineffective plane of each refraction type prism portion 131A. Each refraction type prism portion 131A is shaped by the incident plane 131B, the outgoing plane 131C and the ineffective plane 131Z. The incident plane 131B is formed in a flat surface shape and is perpendicular to an optical axis (not shown) of the Fresnel lens 131. Though rays of light are received on the ineffective plane 131Z, the ineffective plane 131Z does not participate in the going-out of a ray of light from the outgoing plane 131C.
Also, Li indicates a ray of light incident on the incident plane 131B. Lr indicates a ray of light reflected on the incident plane 131B. Lt indicates a ray of transmitted light refracted on the incident plane 131B and transmitted through the internal of the refraction type prism portion 131A. Lo indicates a ray of outgoing light refracted on the outgoing plane 131C and going out to the air. Le indicates a ray of ineffective light received on the ineffective plane 131Z. m14 indicates a normal of the outgoing plane 131C, and m15 indicates a normal of the incident plane 131B.
Next, an operation will be described below.
In FIG. 4A, when a ray of incident light Li transmitted through the air having a refractive index of unity comes on the Fresnel lens 131 having a refractive index of n (n>1) at an incident angle of "a" to the normal m14, the ray of incident light Li is incident on the incident plane 131B at a real incident angle of "b" to the normal m15, and the ray of incident light Li is divided on the incident plane 131B into a ray of transmitted light Lt transmitted at a refraction angle of χ and a ray of reflected light Lr transmitted at a reflection angle of "b". The ray of reflected light Lr causes a loss to the Fresnel lens 131.
The ray of transmitted light Lt refracted on the incident plane 131B and transmitted through the refraction type prism portion 131A makes an angle of φ to the normal m14 and reaches the outgoing plane 131C. A part of the ray of transmitted light Lt is changed to a ray of reflected light (not shown), and the remaining part of the ray of transmitted light Lt crosses the outgoing plane 131C and goes out as a ray of outgoing light Lo at an outgoing angle of "f".
Also, because the ray of ineffective light Le received on the ineffective plane 131Z goes out from the outgoing plane 131C at an angle different from the outgoing angle of "f", the ray of ineffective light Le causes a loss to the Fresnel lens 131.
As is described above, the ray of incident light Li incident on the Fresnel lens 131 at the incident angle of "a" makes a turn in the Fresnel lens 131 to a direction of the outgoing angle of "f". Because the Fresnel lens 131 has the outgoing plane 131C formed in a flat surface shape, in cases where the Fresnel lens 131 is applied to a screen, the Fresnel lens 131 has a special feature in that a lenticular can be integrally formed with the outgoing plane 131C.
However, for the same reason as that in the Fresnel lens 121, as shown in FIG. 4B, in cases where the incident angle of "a" becomes larger, a ratio of the ray of reflected light Lr to the ray of incident light Li is undesirably increased, and an area (an area of slash marks in each of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B) of the ray of ineffective light received on the ineffective plane 131Z is undesirably enlarged.
Therefore, in the same manner as in the Fresnel lens 121, the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 131 depends on the incident angle. And, the larger the incident angle, the more the transmissivity is lowered.
As is described above, in cases where the incident angle in the Fresnel lens 131 having the refraction type prism portions is increased, the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 131 is undesirably lowered. Also, in cases where the Fresnel lens 131 is applied to a screen of which the size is predetermined, the thinning of the image displaying device is undesirably restricted due to the lowering of the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 131.
To remedy the above-described defects in the conventional Fresnel lens having the refraction type prism portions and to obtain a high transmissivity of the Fresnel lens in case of a large incident angle, another conventional Fresnel lens will be described below.
FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are enlarged views respectively showing the sectional shape of a plurality of prism portions arranged in a plurality of pitch areas of another type conventional Fresnel lens, FIG. 5A shows the sectional shape in case of a large incident angle, and FIG. 5B shows the sectional shape in case of a small incident angle. Each arrow in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B indicates a ray of light.
In FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, 141 indicates a Fresnel lens. 141A indicates a total reflection type prism portion formed for each pitch area of the Fresnel lens 141.
141B indicates an incident plane of each total reflection type prism portion 141A. 141C indicates a total reflection plane of each total reflection type prism portion 141A. 141D indicates an outgoing plane of each total reflection type prism portion 141A. Each total reflection type prism portion 141A is shaped by the incident plane 141B, the total reflection plane 141C and the outgoing plane 141D. The outgoing plane 141D is formed in a flat surface shape and is perpendicular to an optical axis (not shown) of the Fresnel lens 141. In a case where a ray of light transmitted through a high refractive index type medium is incident on a plane between the high refractive index type medium and a low refractive index type medium at a large incident angle larger than a critical angle, the ray of light is totally reflected on the plane. This phenomenon is used in the reflection performed on the total reflection plane 141C.
Also, Li indicates a ray of light incident on the incident plane 141B. Lt1 indicates a ray of transmitted light refracted on the incident plane 141B and transmitted through the total reflection plane 141C. Lt2 indicates a ray of transmitted light totally reflected on the total reflection plane 141C and transmitted to the outgoing plane 141D. Lo indicates a ray of outgoing light refracted on the outgoing plane 141D and going out to the air. Le indicates a ray of ineffective light received on the incident plane 141B. m16 indicates a normal of the outgoing plane 141D, m17 indicates a normal of the incident plane 141B, and m18 indicates a normal of the total reflection plane 141C.
Next, an operation will be described below.
In FIG. 5A, when a ray of incident light Li transmitted through the air having a refractive index of unity comes on the Fresnel lens 141 having a refractive index of n (n>1) at an incident angle of "a" to the normal m16, the ray of incident light Li is incident on the incident plane 141B at a real incident angle of "b" to the normal m17, and the ray of incident light Li is divided on the incident plane 141B into a ray of transmitted light Lt1 transmitted at a refraction angle of χ and a ray of reflected light (not shown). The ray of reflected light generated on the incident plane 141B causes a loss to the Fresnel lens 141.
The ray of transmitted light Lt1 refracted on the incident plane 141B and transmitted through the total reflection type prism portion 141A reaches the total reflection plane 141C at an angle which is made to the normal m18 and is larger than the critical angle, the ray of transmitted light Lt1 is totally reflected on the total reflection plane 141C, and the ray of transmitted light Lt1 totally reflected is transmitted as the ray of transmitted light Lt2. Because an optical path of the ray of transmitted light Lt1 is bent by using the phenomenon of the total reflection, no ray of light is transmitted through or goes out from the total reflection plane 141C. Therefore, loss in the transmitted light Lt1 is hardly generated on the total reflection plane 141C.
The ray of transmitted light Lt2 totally reflected on the total reflection plane 141C is transmitted at an angle of φ to the normal m16 and reaches the outgoing plane 141D. A part of the ray of transmitted light Lt2 is changed to a ray of reflected light (not shown), and the remaining part of the ray of transmitted light Lt2 is transmitted through the outgoing plane 141D and goes out as a ray of outgoing light Lo at an outgoing angle of "f" (0 degree in FIG. 5A).
Because an optical path is bent in each of the Fresnel lens 121 having the refraction type prism portions 121A and the Fresnel lens 131 having the refraction type prism portions 131A according to the refraction phenomenon, it is required that the ray of incident light Li is received in each of the Fresnel lenses 121 and 131 at a large real incident angle of "a" or "b" to bend the optical path to a considerable degree. Therefore, a ratio of the ray of reflected light Lr to the ray of incident light Li on each of the incident planes 121B and 131B is increased, and the transmissivity of each of the Fresnel lenses 121 and 131 for the ray of incident light Li is undesirably decreased.
In contrast, in the Fresnel lens 141 having the total reflection type prism portions 141A, because the optical path is bent according to the total reflection phenomenon, a degree of the bending of the optical path based on the refraction phenomenon can be reduced. Therefore, the ray of incident light Li can be incident on the incident plane 141B at a small real incident angle of "b", the increase of the reflectivity of the Fresnel lens 141 can be suppressed, and high transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 141 can be obtained.
As is described above, differently from the Fresnel lenses 121 and 131, high transmissivity can be obtained for the large incident angle in the Fresnel lens 141 having the total reflection type prism portions 141A.
However, as shown in FIG. 5B, in cases where the incident angle of "a" is decreased in the Fresnel lens 141, the ray of incident light Li received on the incident plane 141B is decreased, a ratio of the rays of transmitted light Lt2 totally reflected on the total reflection plane 141C to the rays of incident light Li is decreased, and rays of ineffective light Le (placed in an area of slash marks in FIG. 5B) are inevitably generated.
Though each ray of ineffective light Le is transmitted through the inside of the total reflection type prism portion 141A, the total reflection of the ray of ineffective light Le on the total reflection plane 141C is not performed. Therefore, the rays of ineffective light Le cause a loss to the Fresnel lens 141. In other words, the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 141 for the rays of incident light Li depends on the incident angle. Therefore, though the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 141 for the high incident angle of "a" can be heightened, the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 141 for the low incident angle of "a" is undesirably decreased.
Because each conventional Fresnel lens has the above-described configuration, a problem has arisen that the transmissivity of the conventional Fresnel lens for the rays of incident light Li considerably depends on the incident angle.
Therefore, in each conventional Fresnel lens, a part of image light projected on a screen on a slant at an angle larger than a maximum projection angle cannot be deflected to a desired direction, and the transmissivity of the conventional Fresnel lens for the rays of incident light Li is low.
Here, a conventional Fresnel lens will be briefly described below once more.
FIG. 6 is a view, partially in cross-section, of a conventional Fresnel lens on which image light is projected on a slant.
In FIG. 6, 100 indicates a conventional Fresnel lens in which a plurality of refraction type prism portions are arranged in a plurality of pitch areas. 100a indicates an incident plane disposed on a light incident side of the Fresnel lens 100. 100b indicates an ineffective plane disposed on a light incident side of the Fresnel lens 100. 100c indicates an outgoing plane disposed on a light outgoing side of the Fresnel lens 100. R1in indicates a light flux incident on the incident plane 100a. R2in indicates a light flux incident on the ineffective plane 100b.
The Fresnel lens 100 shown in FIG. 6 has a plurality of very small refraction type prism portions each of which denotes a unit of prism portion. In each refraction type prism portion, a light flux R1in incident on the incident plane 100a on a slant is deflected and goes out as a light flux R1out through the outgoing plane 100c.
However, a light flux R2i incident on the ineffective plane 100b different from the incident plane 100a does not go out in a desired direction but goes out as stray light. Therefore, the light flux R2i cannot be effectively used, and the transmissivity of the Fresnel lens 100 is low.
A Fresnel lens having a plurality of total reflection type prism portions is proposed as a means for solving the above-described problem, and rays of light are deflected in the Fresnel lens according to the total reflection.
For example, a Fresnel lens having a plurality of refraction type prism portions and a plurality of total reflection type prism portions alternately disposed is proposed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 52601 of 1986. Also, a Fresnel lens having a plurality of prism portions is proposed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 19837 of 1987, and are fraction using portion and a total reflection using portion are disposed in each prism portion.
However, in the Fresnel lens disclosed in the Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 52601 of 1986, a refraction type prism portion additionally exists in an area in which the refraction type prism portion does not effectively function, and a total reflection type prism portion additionally exists in an area in which the total reflection type prism portion does not effectively function. Therefore, a problem has arisen that a large amount of light does not still go out in a desired direction.
In contrast, in the Fresnel lens disclosed in the Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 19837 of 1987, the shape of the Fresnel lens in section is formed in a polygonal shape. Therefore, in cases where a lens forming mold used to form the Fresnel lens is manufactured, a cutting tool having a specific shape is required, and it is difficult to manufacture the lens forming mold. In its turn, it is difficult to manufacture the Fresnel lens.
Also, in cases where each conventional Fresnel lens is applied to a rear projection type screen, a problem has arisen that the brightness of an image displayed on the screen is not uniformly set.
In detail, in cases where a Fresnel lens having refraction type prism portions is applied to the screen, the Fresnel lens cannot effectively function in case of a large projection angle. Therefore, the brightness of an image displayed in a peripheral area of the screen is undesirably lowered, and the thinning of the image displaying device is restricted.
Also, in cases where a Fresnel lens having total reflection type prism portions is applied to the screen, the Fresnel lens cannot effectively function in case of a small projection angle. Therefore, the brightness of an image in an area of the screen placed in the neighborhood of an optical axis is undesirably lowered.
The present invention is provided to solve the above-described problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a Fresnel lens in which the dependence of transmissivity on an incident angle is lowered.
Also, the present invention is to provide a screen, in which unevenness of the brightness of an image is suppressed in a range from a small projection angle to a large projection angle, and to provide an image displaying device to which the screen is applied.
In addition, the present invention is to provide a lens forming mold manufacturing method, in which a lens forming mold of the Fresnel lens is manufactured, and a lens manufacturing method using the lens forming mold manufacturing method.

Fresnel lens, screen, image displaying device, lens forming mold manufacturing method and lens manufacturing method


A combination includes a fence and a protective guard. The fence has vertical posts with upper ends and at least one top support bar extending between the vertical posts. The protective guard includes a tubular member having first and second ends, an outer surface extending between the first and second ends, an inner surface extending between the first and second ends that defines an interior space, and a slot extending between the inner and outer surfaces and the first and second ends of the tubular member. The tubular member is secured over an upper edge of the fence so that the upper ends of the vertical posts and the at least one top support bar are captured within the interior space of the tubular member. The combination also includes a spacer positioned between the inner surface of the tubular member and the at least one top support bar for supporting the tubular member between the vertical posts, and insulation material disposed in the slot and the interior space of the tubular member for sealing the interior space of the tubular member.

The present invention is generally related to fencing and is particularly related to protective guards secured to fences for preventing injuries to individuals contacting the fences.
Most fences have sharp edges, particularly at upper edges of the fences. One type of fence, commonly referred to as a chain-link fence, has many sharp edges created by vertical posts, wire mesh and top support bars. Frequently, and particularly when playing sports, individuals collide with and/or become entangled with chain-link fences, which can cause severe cuts, bruises and bone fractures.
In response to the above-identified problems, protective guards have been positioned atop fences. These prior art protective guards are typically constructed from corrugated tubing made of polymer materials such as polyvinyl chloride. A longitudinal cut is made in the tube and the tube is positioned atop a fence. Unfortunately, a number of problems have been observed when using the prior art protective guards made of corrugated tubing. First, the tubing has a thickness of about 0.08 cm. Thus, the tubing is not sturdy and tends to easily crack when subjected to stress, strain and impact. Furthermore, the corrugated tubing is designed to be used as drainage tubing that is placed underground, not atop a fence. As a result, the corrugated tubing cannot withstand prolonged exposure to weather and sunlight, which results in the tubing become brittle and losing its color (bleaching). Moreover, the relatively thin tubing does not maintain a straight line over the top of the fence but tends to sag, buckle and bend.
The above-referenced '803 application discloses a protective guard securable atop a fence to protect individuals from contacting the sharp edges of the fence. The protective guard has a rounded tubular member that defines an interior space that is designed to surround and capture the upper ends of vertical posts, the top support bars extending between the vertical posts and the upper edge of the wire mesh or chain link secured to the top support bars and the vertical posts.
When the protective guard disclosed in the '803 application has been secured atop fences, it has been observed that insects, such as bees, and small animals, such as birds, may build nests in the interior space of the tubular member. This may create a dangerous situation when an individual contacts the protective guard, e.g. bees from a nest may sting an individual that has contacted the fence.
In view of the above problems, it is clear that there is a need for a protective guard that may be easily and reliably secured to an upper edge of a fence, such as a chain link fence. There is also a need for a protective guard that is rugged and able to withstand prolonged exposure to sunlight and weather. There is also a need for a protective guard that prevents animals and insects from gaining access to the interior space of a tubular portion of the guard. Moreover, there is a need for a protective guard for a fence that maintains an aesthetically-pleasing, straight-line appearance when positioned atop a fence.


A method and an apparatus for a memory device including a dynamically updated portion of compressed memory for a virtual memory are described. The memory device can include an uncompressed portion of memory separate from the compressed portion of memory. The virtual memory may be capable of mapping a memory address to the compressed portion of memory. A memory region allocated in the uncompressed portion of memory can be compressed into the compressed portion of memory. As a result, the memory region can become available (e.g. after being compressed) for future allocation requested in the memory device. The compressed portion of memory may be updated to store the compressed memory region. The compressed memory region may be decompressed back to the uncompressed portion in the memory device in response to a request to access data in the compressed memory region.

Virtualization techniques have been developed to enhance memory management for memory space having a size exceeding actual physical capacity of a memory device. Typically, memory virtualization can be based on memory swapping using a storage device coupled to the memory device. As memory objects and/or IO (input/output) sizes are not deterministic, different sizes or pages of memory which are uncompressed may be swapped in/out between the storage and memory devices. As a result, IO through put and/or latency for transferring stored memory data for the swap memory may negatively impact the performance of the virtual memory system.
Further, the performance of certain storage devices, such as spin based hard disks, may have strong dependency on data locality for memory access to reduce lengthy disk spins. However, data locality may not be guaranteed during runtime as clustering characteristics for memory access vary in different data processing tasks. Thus, memory swapping by paging in/out between the memory device and the storage device to support generic data processing tasks can further degrade the perceived performance of the memory system.
Although the trend of adopting larger and larger sizes of actual physical memory tends to alleviate performance cost in inter device memory swap, certain feature enhancements in data processing systems may be provided without memory size changes. For example, support for higher screen resolution may be imposed on existing devices based on substantially the same amount of memory size. However, a mere two times higher screen resolution may correspond to four times increase in window buffer sizes. As a result, without a compensating increase in physical memory size, the system performance for higher screen resolution may degrade and become visibly slower.
Therefore, traditional implementations of virtual memory systems are not capable of supporting performance requirements constrained by limited physical memory sizes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and apparatus for compressed and compacted virtual memory


Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method that enable data sharing to be performed between short-range/middle-range/long-range mobile terminals by minimizing specific intervention of a user. The apparatus includes a social relationship management unit for managing social network group information formed by a user while the user utilizes a social network service. A device recognition and authentication unit identifies a mobile terminal of another party attempting to make a connection and allocates a data communication channel for data exchange, based on device information received from the mobile terminal of the other party attempting to make a connection and the social network group information. A shared data setting unit sets data to be shared with the mobile terminal of the other party between which the data communication channel has been established. A shared data transmission unit transmits the data to be shared to the mobile terminal of the other party.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a data sharing apparatus and method and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method that mutually authenticate mobile terminals having a communication function using communication between the mobile terminals and automatically or manually share data using communication depending on a relationship between the authenticated mobile terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of technologies may be utilized to perform data communication between mobile terminals.
Near Field Communication (NFC) is noncontact short-range wireless communication technology using a frequency band of 13.56 MHz. NFC not only can provide data communication between mobile devices such as smart phones, but also can provide compatibility with existing noncontact smart card technology and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.
Bluetooth, which is an industrial standard for personal short-range wireless communication first created by Ericsson in 1994, enables various devices to securely communicate with each other at low cost.
Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) enables communication between an Access Point (AP), which basically functions to transfer data to the Internet, and a mobile terminal, such as a notebook computer or a smart phone, with which a user is provided with a service. Owing to the advantage of enabling access to the Internet or mutual communication without requiring a wire, various peripheral devices also support WiFi communication.
WiFi-direct provides the function of enabling devices equipped with a WiFi function to directly communicate with each other without passing through a WiFi-direct AP that supports a connection between WiFi devices.
Currently, various communication technologies that support short-range/middle range/long-range communication are present, and thus data communication between mobile devices may be performed using communication technology desired by a user.
However, a connection setup task for using individual communication technologies is complicated, and an authentication task for making a connection and setup tasks for sharing data when the connection has been made are complicated, thus causing a lot of inconvenience to a user.
Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2008-0090786 (entitled "Apparatus and method for sharing data between mobile devices") discloses technology for sharing data using a short-range communication means between mobile devices.
The above-described Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2008-0090786 discloses a mobile device which includes a communication unit for Bluetooth communication, a storage unit for storing data, a preference information control unit for controlling a search for shared data based on user preference information, and a search control unit for searching the device of another party for shared data using a preference information-based keyword via Bluetooth information based on the preference information, receiving retrieved data, and storing the retrieved data in the storage unit.
However, the technology disclosed in the above-described Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2008-0090786 does not disclose a configuration for establishing data sharing based on sociality information between devices, which is constructed using the social relationship of the human social network service of a user and the history of a connection between the devices.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A new miniature rose plant which has abundant, pink colored flowers and attractive foliage. The variety successfully propagates from softwood cuttings and is suitable for year round production in commercial glass houses as a flowering pot plant. This new and distinct variety has shown to be uniform and stable in the resulting generations from asexual propagation.

The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety of miniature rose plant, which was developed by artificially pollinating an unnamed seedling (not patented) with an unnamed seedling (not patented). The two parents were crossed in the summer of 2004 and the resulting seed was sown in December 2004, in a controlled glasshouse environment. Out of these seedlings one seedling was selected, as the new variety and named 'PACfiftyone'. The new rose may be distinguished from its seed parent, an unnamed seedling, by the following combination of characteristics:                1. 'PACfiftyone' has medium double flowers, while the unnamed seedling has big single flowers.        2. 'PACfiftyone' has pink colored petals, while the unnamed seedling has white petals.
The new variety may distinguished from its pollen parent, an unnamed seedling created by the same inventor, by the following combination of characteristics:                1. 'PACfiftyone', has medium double flowers, while the unnamed seedling has small double flowers.        2. 'PACfiftyone' pink colored petals, wile the unnamed seedling has dark red petals.


A machining quality judging method for a wafer grinding machine and wafer grinding machine are disclosed. The thickness of a wafer 2 is acquired from the feed amount of a grinding unit 3 while at the same time actually measuring the thickness of the wafer 2 appropriately. The wafer grinding machine includes a machining quality judging unit 20 for comparing the thickness of the wafer 2 based on the feed amount of the grinding unit 3 with the actually measured thickness of the wafer 2 and judges the machining quality of the ground surface of the wafer 2. Upon judgment of a machining failure, a command is issued to stop the back surface grinding operation.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a machining quality judging method for a wafer grinding machine and wafer grinding machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an ever-increasing trend toward higher integration and packaging of semiconductor devices in recent years, semiconductor chips (dies) have been correspondingly reduced in thickness. As a result, the back surface of the wafer is ground by a grinding means before dicing. During the wafer back surface grinding process, the front surface of the wafer is protected by a protective tape attached thereon.
Further, it has become common practice to polish the back surface of the water that has been ground to remove distortion.
In the case where the wafer blank is hard and difficult to grind, for example, a grinding defect such as "surface burn" or "burr" may be caused, thereby making the desired grinding process difficult.
In view of this, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-301665 proposes a grinding wheel having a grinding stone formed of a resin bonding agent mixed with abrasive diamond grains and micro metal balls.
The metal balls, which contact other objects comparatively softly, function as a buffer between the abrasive diamond grains and the wafer and has a cooling function due to the high heat conductivity on the other hand. These functions, coupled with the cutting function generated by the spherical metal balls dropping off which in turn causes the drop-off of the diamond abrasive grains, can contribute to an efficient grinding operation for the wafer of a hard-to-grind material without surface burn and burring.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-301665, does not disclose that the back surface of the wafer is monitored to execute the desired grinding process.
In the case where undesired grinding continues, a product defect cannot be avoided and yield is reduced.

Machining quality judging method for wafer grinding machine and wafer grinding machine


Disclosed herein is an osteogenic synthetic peptide, derived from bone morphogenetic protein-7, consisting of a sequence of 15 amino acid residues. Provided are also a pharmaceutical composition and a medium composition comprising the same. Having remarkable activity related to promoting osteoblast differentiation, the osteogenic synthetic peptide is very useful in the treatment of osteoporosis, bone defects and/or osteoarthritis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a peptide with an effective function and, more particularly, to a synthetic peptide, derived from BMP-7 (bone morphogenetic protein-7) and consisting of 15 amino acids, and a pharmaceutical composition and a medium composition comprising the same.
The Sequence Listing submitted in text format (.txt) on Apr. 25, 2011, named "30166UA_Sequence_Listing.txt", (created on Apr. 22, 2011, 2 KB), is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture because the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted and the medullary cavity is enlarged.
The bone mass, accounting for the state of health of the bone, is dependent on various factors, such as heredity, nutrition, hormonal changes, exercise, life style, etc. Particularly, aging, shortage of exercise, low body weight, smoking, a low-calcium diet, menopause, or ovary resection are known to be causes of osteoporosis.
Because of the lower bone resorption level thereof, black people are generally higher in bone mass than are white people although there are differences between individuals. On the whole, the bone mass peaks at fourteen to eighteen years of age, and decreases by 1% per year in old age. Particularly, women over 30 years old continuously decrease in bone mass. Hormonal change at menopause causes the bone mass to rapidly decrease. In detail, women in menopause experience a rapid decrease of estrogen, which allows the production of an increased level of B-lymphocytes and the accumulation of pre-B cells in the bone marrow, causing an increase in IL-6 level. IL-6 acts to activate osteoclasts, thus decreasing the bone marrow.
Osteoporosis, as described above, inevitably accompanies senescence, especially post-menopausal women. Entering senescent societies, advanced countries have increasingly paid attention to osteoporosis and therapy therefor.
In addition to osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and bone defective disease are representative bone diseases. Osteoarthritis is known as degenerative arthritis entailing local degradation of joints including articular cartilage and the subchondral bone next to it. Osteoarthritis has two typical causes: when an excessive load is imposed to the joint although articular cartilage or the subchondral bone is normal; and when articular cartilage or the subchondral bone is weak, and even though a proper load is imposed to the joint.
Bone defects may be found in many sites of the body. Its main causes include acute trauma with the accompaniment of ossein loss, a tissue resection operation accompanied by bone loss, chronic inflammation with the accompaniment of bone resection, and chronic nonunion with the accompaniment of the segmental bone defects.
As concerns the medicine for bone diseases, the world market therefor amounts to about one hundred thirty billion dollars and is expected to gradually expand. Thus, leading research institutes and pharmaceutical companies have invested a lot of money in developing therapeutics for bone diseases.
For example, currently used therapeutics for osteoporosis include estrogen, androgenic anabolic steroids, calcium agents, phosphates, fluorine agents, Ipriflavone, and vitamin D3. Additional examples include aminobisphosphonate, developed by Merck in 1995, and raloxifene, acting as a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), developed by Lilly Co. in 1997.
Acting as a negative regulator of bone resorption, estrogen is now most widely used as a therapeutic for osteoporosis, but the habitual use thereof may increase the incidence of endometrial cancer and breast cancer and cause thrombosis, gallstones, hypertension, edema, and mastodynia. A group of studies shows that menopausal women co-administered with estrogen and progesterone are highly apt to suffer from breast cancer, stroke, and pulmonary embolism.
Turning to other therapeutics for osteoporosis, there are bisphosophonate agents (alendronate, etidronate), vitamin D agents, calcitonin agents, and calcium agents. However, bisphosphonate agents cause esophagitis in addition to being low in adsorptivity and difficult to take.
Vitamin D agents are expensive and have pharmaceutical effects which are still unknown. Calcitonin agents are expensive and difficult to take. Calcium agents, although with low side effects, are preventive of rather than therapeutic for osteoporosis.
Further, osteoporosis cannot be cured in the short term, but requires long-term administration of drugs. Accordingly, there is a need for a novel material which shows none of the above-mentioned side effects and is therapeutically effective enough to replace conventional drugs.
Furthermore, the prophylaxis and treatment of osteoporosis still remains to be improved. Particularly, the secondary osteoporosis resulting from drug abuse becomes aggravated.
Such situations are true of osteoarthritis and bone defects.

Osteogenic synthetic peptides, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same, and medium containing the same

Industry Foundation of Chonnam National University


A method for determining performance of an application in a system is described herein. The method includes receiving performance data of the application, the performance data includes a plurality of types of transactions performed by the application, a counted number of transactions for each of the plurality of transaction types as performed by the application, and a total service time by the system of the counted number of transactions of each of the plurality of transaction types; calibrating a performance model of the application in accordance with the received performance data; and calculating an expected performance of the application by the system based on the performance model calibration and the received performance data.

Distributed applications play an increasingly crucial role in business critical enterprise operations. Consequently, they continue to grow in scale and complexity. Users and providers of computing systems and distributed enterprise applications therein value application-level performance because an unresponsive application may directly reduce revenue or productivity. Unfortunately, understanding application-level performance in complex modern distributed systems is difficult for several reasons. Today's commercial production applications are composed of numerous opaque software components running atop virtualized and poorly-instrumented physical resources. Furthermore, the workloads imposed by such applications on distributed systems are highly nonstationary in the sense that the relative frequencies of transaction types in the workload vary considerably over time.
To make matters worse, applications are increasingly distributed in enterprise systems that span both geographical and organizational boundaries. Each enterprise system often executes each application, and each sub-application therein, on separate machines (e.g., servers) to isolate the effects of software faults and workload spikes. The machines themselves may span both geographical and organizational boundaries. Thus, compared with such machine-granularity application boundaries, application consolidation (i.e., consolidating multiple applications that run on individual, often under-utilized, machines or systems onto a smaller number of more highly-used ones) has several advantages, including better resource utilization and lower management and maintenance overheads. However, the mere task of collecting in one place sufficient performance data and knowledge of system design to support a detailed performance analysis for a system evaluation or an application consolidation is often very difficult in practice. Also, rapidly-changing application designs and configurations limit the useful life-span of an analysis once it has been performed. In addition, workload fluctuations in consolidated environments may have complex effects on application-level performance which reduce the overall predictability of the system.
For the above reasons, operators and administrators seldom analyze running production systems except in response to measurements (or user complaints) indicating unacceptably poor performance or in response to a need or desire for application consolidation.

Determining performance of an application based on transactions

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method of and apparatus for generating a spread spectrum clock signal on an integrated circuit are provided. A target frequency generated by a ring oscillator can be modulated by varying a supply voltage to the ring oscillator, thereby changing the target frequency. In one embodiment, the supply voltage is generated by an analog multiplexer that can be digitally controlled. A fixed voltage source can provide an input signal to the analog multiplexer. In one embodiment, the fixed voltage source can be implemented with a unity gain amplifier.

Many systems and devices rely on clock signals to provide timing control. These clock signals can be provided using crystal oscillators, wherein each crystal oscillator is capable of providing one unique frequency of clock signal. Unfortunately, a crystal oscillator has a high Q value, thereby resulting in a spectral energy of the clock signal being focused in a narrow frequency band. This concentration of energy and its associated harmonics can result in emission of electromagnetic interference in excess of that recommended for those systems and devices.
Modulating the frequency of the clock signal spreads its spectral energy over a wider band of frequencies, thereby reducing the energy of the clock as well as its undesirable harmonics. This modulation is known in the industry as frequency hopping, wherein the frequency varies about a target frequency. (Note that this variation is preferably limited to a relatively narrow band to ensure the overall system timing is preserved.) Reducing the energy (typically measured in decibels with respect to a milliwatt, i.e. dBm) at any one frequency advantageously reduces the noise at that frequency.
Therefore, a need arises for a system and method of modulating the frequency (also referenced herein as providing a spread spectrum clock signal). A need also arises for providing this spread spectrum clock signal in a manner that preserves a uniform delay across temperature.

Method and apparatus for generating a phase locked spread spectrum clock signal


This invention relates to compounds that are useful as cancer therapies. The compounds comprise azithromycin derivatives having a phosphonium cation tethered to the azithromycin macrocycle. The invention also relates to methods of using said compounds and to pharmaceutical formulations comprising said compounds.

Cancer is the fourth greatest cause of mortality in the developed world. In 2016 it was predicted that more than 1.6 million new cases of cancer would be diagnosed in the U.S. alone, and that cancer would be responsible for nearly 600,000 U.S. deaths.
Cancer is characterized by the unregulated proliferation of cells, which disrupt the function of tissues. The proliferation of cells can be caused by an abnormal increase in cell production or a disruption in the cell death pathway. In any event, disruptors of cell function can impact the proliferation of cells and in particular cancer cells by reducing or inhibiting cell proliferation. For example, the modulation of cancer cell metabolism can lead to the reduction or inhibition of cell proliferation. Equally, compounds of the invention may reduce, disrupt, or inhibit the growth or proliferation of a cancer cell or it may induce the death of a cancer cell. As such, cancer cell metabolism, and reducing cell proliferation, is a potential target for disrupting cancer growth and ultimately a therapeutic pathway for cancer treatment. Accordingly, the certain embodiments of the invention contemplate compounds that modulate cancer cell metabolism and/or reduce cell proliferation. Reduction in cell proliferation could be achieved either by increasing cell death or by reducing the rate of cell growth.
It has been observed that certain compounds having antibiotic activity have a beneficial effect when administered to patients with cancer. The inventors have found that compounds having a phosphonium ion linked to azithromycin are able to modulate cancer cell metabolism in cancer cell lines and, accordingly, prevent and/or treat cancer.
The "prevention" of cancer may be taken as including the prevention of the formation of tumours, including primary tumours, metastatic tumours, or tumours associated with cancer onset, resistance or relapse. The prevention of cancer may also be taken as encompassing the prevention of the progression of cancer. In this context, prevention of development of cancer may be demonstrated by preventing an increase in the "stage" of a tumour (using an appropriate cancer staging method) that has been treated using the compounds of the invention. The prevention of increase in cancer stage may be compared to progression of an untreated tumour, or compared to the extent of progression that would be expected by a clinician in the event that the tumour was not treated.
The "treatment" of cancer may be taken as including any improvement of pathology, symptoms or prognosis that is achieved in respect of cancer in a subject receiving compounds of the invention. Treatment may be indicated by a partial improvement of such indications, or by a total improvement (e.g. the absence of cancer following medical use of the compounds of the invention).
Accordingly, the prevention and/or treatment as defined above are intended aims of certain embodiments of the invention. The above definitions of treatment or prevention of cancer apply equally to the specific forms of cancer that are also contemplated.
Recent developments in cancer therapy have suggested that certain antibiotic compounds may be useful in cancer treatment. The mechanisms by which these agents, which include the antibiotics azithromycin and doxycycline, exert a therapeutic effect have been open to markedly different explanations. Some authors have suggested that these agents inhibit matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and thereby achieve an anti-inflammatory effect, while others suggest that they impair the cells' response to DNA damage, thereby increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy or radiotherapy on bulk tumour cells. Still other articles have indicated that the antibiotics target mitochondrial function.
However, there have also been reports that antibiotic use can increase risk of colorectal cancer. A recent study identified that increasing duration of antibiotic use was significantly associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenoma (Cao Y, Wu K, Mehta R, et al, "Long-term use of antibiotics and risk of colorectal adenoma", Gut, 2017, 0, page 1-7).
Surprisingly, the inventors have found that the compounds having a phosphonium ion linked to azithromycin have increased activity against certain cancer cell lines compared to azithromycin itself. This is demonstrated by the reduced cancer cell proliferation observed in a cell confluence assay.
Also provided is a method of preventing and/or treating cancer in a subject needing such prevention and/or treatment, the method comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of the invention to the subject. A therapeutically effective amount of a compound of the invention may be an amount of such a compound sufficient to treat a variety of cancers, including the modulation of cancer cells or other dysfunctional cells (such as tumour initiating cells, stem-like cancer cells, cancer stem cells, or a population of cells with stem cell-like features that exist in tumors and that give rise to the bulk of tumor cells with more differentiated phenotypes). References to cancer cells include hybrid and giant cells. It will be appreciated that the therapeutically effective amount of the compound of the invention may be provided in a single incidence of administration, or cumulatively through multiple incidences of administration.
The same considerations regarding the types of cancers to be treated, and benefits provided by treatment, described with respect to the medical uses of the compounds of the invention also apply to the methods of treatment of the invention.

Azithromycin derivatives containing a phosphonium ion as anticancer agents


Provided is a submount flip-chip bonded to a semiconductor laser diode chip with stepped first and second electrodes. The submount includes a substrate having first and second surfaces which are separated by a step height corresponding to a height difference between the first and second electrodes; first and second metal layers being formed to the same thickness on the first and second surfaces, respectively; and first and second solder layers being formed to the same thickness on the first and second metal layers, respectively, and being bonded to the first and second electrodes, respectively.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-14613, filed on Mar. 8, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser diode. More particularly, the present invention relates to a submount flip-chip bonded to a semiconductor laser diode chip having two stepped electrodes that are formed on the same side, a method of manufacturing the same, and a semiconductor laser diode assembly using the submount.
2. Description of the Related Art
As high-density information recording is increasingly being required, the demand for a visible light semiconductor laser diode is increasing. Therefore, semiconductor laser diodes made of various compounds capable of emitting a visible light laser are being developed. In particular, much attention has been paid to a group III-V nitride semiconductor laser diode because of its optical transition being of a direct transition type that induces high frequency laser emission and since it emits a blue light laser.
FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a conventional GaN-based, group III-V nitride semiconductor laser diode chip having n-type and p-type electrodes, which are formed on the same side, and a ridge waveguide.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional GaN-based, group III-V nitride semiconductor laser diode chip has n-type and p-type electrodes, which are formed on the same side, and a ridge waveguide formed in the p-type electrode region.
In detail, an n-GaN layer 12 is formed on a sapphire substrate 10. The n-GaN layer 12 is divided into first and second regions R1 and R2. An n-type electrode 14 is formed on the second region R2 of the n-GaN layer 12. An n-AlGaN/GaN layer 16, an n-GaN layer 18, and an InGaN layer 20 as an active layer are subsequently formed on the first region R1 of the n-GaN layer 12 in sequence from smaller to larger refractive index. A p-GaN layer 22, a p-AlGaN/GaN layer 24, and a p-GaN layer 26 are formed on the InGaN layer 20 in sequence from larger to smaller refractive index. The upper central portion of the p-AlGaN/GaN layer 24 is protruded in the form of a ridge or rib and the p-GaN layer 26 is formed on top of the ridge. The p-AlGaN/GaN layer 24 is covered with a protective layer 28 having a channel 27 which communicates with the p-GaN layer 26. A p-type electrode 30 is formed on the protective layer 28 and the exposed middle surface of the p-GaN layer 26, and becomes in contact with both ends of the p-GaN layer 26 through the channel 27. In this structure, the p-type electrode 30 and the n-type electrode 14 are separated by a step height, h1.
Generally, a temperature has an effect on a critical current and laser mode stability for laser emission of semiconductor laser diodes. As a temperature increases, both of the characteristics are lowered. Therefore, there is a need to remove heat generated in the active layer during laser emission to thereby prevent overheating of laser diodes. In the case of using the structure of the aforementioned conventional GaN-based, group III-V semiconductor laser diode, most heat is discharged only through a ridge because of very low thermal conductivity of a substrate (for a sapphire substrate, about 0.5 W/cmK). However, because heat discharge through a ridge occurs limitedly, it is difficult to carry out efficient heat discharge. Therefore, lowering of characteristics of semiconductor devices that is caused by overheating of laser diodes is not efficiently prevented.
In this regard, a flip-chip bonding technology shown in FIG. 2 can be applied to the structure shown in FIG. 1 to discharge heat generated in an active layer.
Referring to FIG. 2, a reference numeral 50 indicates a semiconductor laser diode chip, which has an inverted structure of the conventional GaN-based, group III-V semiconductor laser diode shown in FIG. 1. A reference numeral 40 indicates a submount, a reference numeral 41 a substrate, and a reference numerals 42a and 42b first and second metal layers, respectively. A reference numerals 44a and 44b indicate first and second solder layers, which are respectively fused to an n-type electrode 14 and a p-type electrode 30 of the semiconductor laser diode chip 50.
By bonding a semiconductor laser diode to a separately prepared heat discharge structure shown in FIG. 2, heat discharge efficiency can be increased.
However, as shown in FIG. 2, the first and second solder layers 44a and 44b have different thicknesses in order to compensate for the step height, h1 between the n-type electrode 14 and the p-type electrode 30. That is, supposing that the thickness of the first metal layer 42a is the same as that of the second metal layer 42b, the first solder layer 44a is thicker than the second solder layer 44b by the height of h1. In this case, because the first and second solder layers 44a and 44b are not uniformly molten when respectively bonded to the two electrodes 14 and 30, there is a difference between the bonding states. FIG. 3 is a photograph showing the molten states of solder layers in the conventional submount shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the first solder layer 44a and the second solder layer 44b run down while being molten non-uniformly.
The first and second solder layers 44a and 44b must have the same chemical composition ratio. Even if the chemical composition ratios of the first and second solder layers 44a and 44b slightly differ from each other, there is a large difference between their melting temperatures. As a result, the first solder layer 44a and the second solder layer 44b are not concurrently molten when bonded to the two electrodes 14 and 30, respectively, thereby causing a difference between the bonding states. In this regard, there is a need to concurrently form the first and second solder layers 44a and 44b under the same process.
As mentioned above, however, the first and second solder layers 44a and 44b differ in thickness. Therefore, in a method of manufacturing a submount, the first and second solder layers 44a and 44b cannot be concurrently formed. Rather, the two solder layers must be formed one after the other. For this reason, there exists a high likelihood for the first and second solder layers 44a and 44b to have different chemical composition ratios.
As mentioned above, if a bonding state between the first solder layer 44a and the n-type electrode 14 is different from that between the second solder layer 44b and the p-type electrode 30, heat generated upon operation of the semiconductor laser diode chip 50 is not efficiently delivered to the submount 40 thereby lowering heat discharge characteristics. As a result, heat within the active layer 20 is not sufficiently discharged. Consequently, the temperature of the semiconductor laser diode chip 50 increases and laser emission characteristics of the active layer 20 is lowered.

Submount of semiconductor laser diode, method of manufacturing the same, and semiconductor laser diode assembly using the submount


The present invention relates to identification of a gene upregulated by interferon-α administration corresponding to the cDNA sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1. Determination of expression products of this gene is proposed as having utility in predicting responsiveness to treatment with interferon-a and other interferons which act at the Type 1 interferon receptor. Therapeutic use of the protein encoded by the same gene is also envisaged.

IFN-α is widely used for the treatment of a number of disorders. Disorders which may be treated using IFN-α include neoplastic diseases such as leukemia, lymphomas, and solid tumours, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related Kaposi's sarcoma and viral infections such as chronic hepatitis. IFN-α has also been proposed for administration via the oromucosal route for the treatment of autoimmune, mycobacterial, neurodegenerative, parasitic and viral disease. In particular, IFN-α has been proposed, for example, for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, leprosy, tuberculosis, encephalitis, malaria, cervical cancer, genital herpes, hepatitis B and C, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human papiliomavirus (HPV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 and 2. It has also been suggested for the treatment of arthritis, lupus and diabetes. Neoplastic diseases such as multiple myeloma, hairy cell leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, low grade lymphoma, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, carcinoid tumours, cervical cancer sarcomas including Kaposi's sarcoma, kidney tumours, carcinomas including renal cell carcinoma, hepatic cellular carcinoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, haematological malignancies, colorectal cancer, glioblastoma, laryngeal papillomas, lung cancer, colon cancer, malignant melanoma and brain tumours are also suggested as being treatable by administration of-IFN-α via the oromucosal route, i.e. the oral route or the nasal route.
IFN-α is a member of the Type 1 interferon family, which exert their characteristic biological activities through interaction with the Type 1 interferon receptor. Other Type 1 interferons include IFN-β, IFN-ω and IFN-τ.
Unfortunately, not all potential patients for treatment with a Type 1 interferon such as interferon-α, particularly, for example, patients suffering from chronic viral hepatitis, neoplastic disease and relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, respond favourably to Type 1 interferon therapy and only a fraction of those who do respond exhibit long-term benefit. The inability of the physician to confidently predict the therapeutic outcome of Type 1 interferon treatment raises serious concerns as to the cost-benefit ratio of such treatment, not only in terms of wastage of an expensive biopharmaceutical and lost time in therapy, but also in terms of the serious side effects to which the patient is exposed. Furthermore, abnormal production of IFN-α has been shown to be associated with a number of autoimmune diseases. For these reasons, there is much interest in identifying Type 1 interferon responsive genes since Type 1 interferons exert their therapeutic action by modulating the expression of a number of genes. Indeed, it is the specific pattern of gene expression induced by Type 1 interferon treatment that determines whether a patient will respond favourably or not to the treatment.


A shaft suppresses a permanent set, or plastic deformation, even when inserted into an extremely winding blood vessel. A guidewire incorporates the above shaft. The shaft is twisted along its longitudinal axis and has a cross section forming a substantially rectangular shape extending in a first direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The cross section has at least one arcuate recess.

The disclosed embodiments relate to a medical device. Specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to a shaft employed on a medical apparatus inserted into a body cavity for the purpose of treatment or an exam, and a guidewire employing the shaft.
Conventionally, various medical apparatuses inserted into a tubular organ and body tissue such as a blood vessel, a digestive tract and ureter have been proposed for the purpose of treatment or examination.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0215109 discloses a guidewire including a shaft twisted around a long axis.


A polysilicon resistor fuse has an elongated bow-tie body that is wider at the opposite ends relative to a narrow central portion. The opposite ends of the body of the fuse have high concentrations of N-type dopants to make them low resistance contacts. The upper portion of the central body has a graded concentration of N-type dopants that decreases in a direction from the top surface toward the middle of the body between the opposite surfaces. The lower central portion of the body is lightly doped with P-type dopants. The central N-type region is a resistive region.

Many of today's most popular electronics applications, such as personal computers and mobile phones, are migrating to lower operating voltages. This leaves less tolerance for errors and increases the accuracy requirements for components. This is especially true for amplifiers used in these applications. At the same time, volume for these products continues to grow, putting additional pressure on suppliers to reduce component costs.
One key amplifier parameter for system accuracy is input offset voltage. Various trimming techniques have been used to adjust amplifier offset voltage and other parameters. Indeed, trimming techniques have enabled an entire class of precision amplifiers to exist today. However, offset trimming and the improved accuracy it creates has not, for the most part, found its way into the high volume, low-cost CMOS amplifiers and A-to-D and D-to-A converters.
Some trimming techniques rely upon an exposed thin film resistor that is trimmed with a laser. Other techniques rely upon polysilicon resistors with thinned central portions that are exposed and cut with a laser.
Still other trimming techniques rely upon resistors that are selectively added or dropped from an integrated circuit by operating a fuse that is in series with the resistor. Such fuses are themselves polysilicon resistors. They have several advantages. For example, they have the ability to be blown without opening the packaged integrated circuit. In contrast to metal fuses which must have an opening to allow gases to escape, the polysilicon fuses do not. Polysilicon fuses can thus be used for trimming during wafer sort, final test, and in customer applications.
Typically polysilicon resistor fuses have a layer of silicide over the fuse to form a low resistance conductor for the current densities required to generate heat that creates a discontinuity in the polysilicon and in the silicide. However, the fuse must be designed, and the proper fuse current must be used, to prevent the silicide flows from reforming the electrical connection across the fuse after it has been initially blown.
For example, a conventional fuse is doped N+ during the N+ poly and N+ source/drain implants. Next, a silicide layer is deposited on the ends of the fuse to provide the resistive difference needed to blow the fuse. In one example the conventional fuse is a layer of polysilicon about 27 μm thick and has a resistivity of 21.44 Ohms/sq in the central region and a resistivity of 35.95 Ohms/sq on the outer ends. The N+ polysilicon body of the fuse is from with an N+ gate implant using a phosphorus species in the order of 1E16/cm2 and an N+ source/drain implant with an arsenic species on the order of 5.7E14/cm2. In another conventional example, where the poly thickness is also 27 um, the N+ gate implant is also phosphorus species on the order of 1E16/cm2 and the N+ source/drain is also an arsenic species on the order of 6.5E14cm2. This example provided a resistivity of 28.74 Ohms/sq in the central region and 6.2 Ohms/sq on the outer regions. That is almost a 5× factor and that is sufficient to easily blow such fuses. In a further conventional example, the polysilicon body was 34 um thick. It used an arsenic implant of approximately 1.08E16/cm2 for the N+ gate implant, and an arsenic implant of 2E15/cm2 for the N+ source/drain implant. It had a resistivity of 102 Ohms/sq in the central region and a 7.8 Ohms/sq on the outer edges providing a 13× resistance factor. These fuses blow easily.
Some prior art fuses are often difficult to blow because the silicide and unsilicided regions had similar resistivities. In the first example above, silicide provides only about a 1.6× difference in resistance between the ends the middle of the fuse. Based on the results of these examples, it is clear that the dopant concentration in the central region is not the only factor affecting the performance of the fuse. Other factors include and are not limited to the ratio of resistivity from outer edges to central region. Initial experience indicates that a ratio of 1:7 in resistivity between the outer edges (terminals) and the central body yields fuses that blow relatively easily.
Such silicide dependent polysilicon fuses have other drawbacks. First of all, one has to have a process that uses silicide or modify an existing process to add silicide. In order to form a silicide, the temperature of the device is likely heated to very high temperatures. That extra heat may alter the internal characteristics of the device by expanding small diffusion regions beyond their designed boundaries. Second, there is the possibility that, after the fuse is blown, the silicide will reform and thereby defeat the fuse. As such, it would be an advantage to have a polysilicon fuse compatible with a low heat budget CMOS process that does not require a silicide step.


A fastener receiving member has a substrate which comprises channels for receiving one or more threaded fasteners. The channels permit positional adjustment of the threaded fasteners and positional adjustment of other components secured by the threaded fasteners relative to the fastener receiving member. Each channel comprises a pair of opposing sidewalls which are spaced apart from one another and which are preferably formed from a relatively soft material, such as plastic. When a fastener is rotatably driven into a channel, the threads of the fasteners deform the material of the opposing sidewalls to form deformations in the sidewalls. The threads of the fastener and the deformations formed by the threads in the sidewalls of the channel cooperate to retain the fastener in the channel.

There are various situations where components of some kind must be attached to a substrate. Screws are often used for this purpose, especially in cases where the components may need to be removed and/or replaced in the field. For example, telephone systems, cable television systems and the like typically include junction box enclosures which house components, such as chokes, switches, filters, terminal connectors, junction blocks, and the like. Service personnel occasionally need to remove and replace these components in the course of maintaining or upgrading the system.
A junction box enclosure may be equipped with threaded holes for holding components intended to be housed in the enclosure. A problem is that it is expensive to fabricate threaded holes. Another problem is that a junction box enclosure manufactured with threaded holes in specific locations to accommodate one set of components is not readily adapted in the field to accommodate a different arrangement of components or to accommodate replacement components having mounting holes in positions different from those of a component being replaced.
A junction box enclosure may be fabricated from a relatively soft material, such as wood for example, so that screws for holding components can be driven directly into the body of the enclosure. A drawback of this approach is that wood can rot, is flammable, and has other characteristics making it undesirable for use in many situations. Another drawback with this approach is that a large number of holes in the body of the junction box enclosure tend to weaken or destroy the structural integrity of the enclosure. Furthermore, it may be difficult to reposition a component so that its mounting screws will be close to, but not in the same place, as existing holes.
Another possible way in which fasteners may be used to mount a component in a junction box enclosure involves providing preformed holes at a plurality of locations in the body of the enclosure and screwing screws into appropriate ones of the preformed holes to mount the component. This approach lacks flexibility. The component can only be mounted at locations corresponding to the locations of the preformed holes.
It would be desirable to provide a mechanism for fastening components in place which is flexible, can be provided in a cost effective manner, and avoids or ameliorates at least some of the disadvantages of existing fastening mechanisms.

Channeled substrates for receiving threaded fasteners


A conveyor for conveying articles supported on independently powered and controllable trays. Each tray comprises a blade suspended from an article-supporting platform. A series of drive coils is embedded in the blade. A battery and a controller embedded in the tray drive the drive coils. The blade rides in a slot between two conveyor rails that support the tray platform. The slot is bounded by an array of permanent magnets along each rail. The drive coils produce an electromagnetic field that interacts with the permanent-magnet field in the slot to form a brushless dc motor that propels the tray along the rails.

The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and more particularly to conveyors in which trays are driven independently by brushless dc motors.
Conventional conveying systems, such as those conveying articles on flat belts, modular belts or chains, and powered or gravity rollers, provide many harbors for pathogens and other contaminants. Motors, gearboxes, roller bearings, shafts, pulleys, and sprockets can all collect food particles and grease and require regular cleaning. In food applications all the conveyor parts have to comply with demanding food-use standards. Furthermore, conventional conveyors require significant electrical infrastructure for power and control. Cable routing and connections add additional harbors for contaminants.

Tray conveyor driven by brushless DC motor


A vibration generating device 10 includes: a diaphragm 11; and a first piezoelectric actuator 12 and a second piezoelectric actuator 13 attached on an upper surface 11a and a lower surface 11b of the diaphragm 11, respectively, so as to sandwich the diaphragm 11 therebetween in a vicinity of an end surface of the diaphragm 11, wherein, in a top view of the upper surface 11a of the diaphragm 11, the first piezoelectric actuator 12 is disposed at a position shifted with respect to the second piezoelectric actuator 13.

In equipment such as a mobile phone and a tablet, a vibrating function become widely common to let a user know incoming calls or operating conditions of the equipment through vibration. In recent years, with miniaturization and thinning of the equipment, a vibrator is also required to be miniaturized, made thinner, and reduced in power consumption. For example, there is known a vibrator using a piezoelectric actuator in a unimorph type, in which a piezoelectric element is attached to an elastic plate, as a vibration source. There is also known a vibrator using a piezoelectric actuator in a bimorph type, in which an elastic plate is sandwiched between two piezoelectric elements so that one piezoelectric element contracts while the other piezoelectric element expands. A piezoelectric actuator in a bimorph type can easily obtain a displacement amount larger than a piezoelectric actuator in a unimorph type. On the other hand, since the piezoelectric actuator in a bimorph type utilizes bending mode of piezoelectric layers, there is a problem that a response frequency is limited.
In order to improve frequency characteristics, various ideas have been devised in electronic equipment using a plurality of piezoelectric actuators. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a sound generator in which a plurality of piezoelectric elements different from each other in thicknesses are attached to a main surface of a diaphragm at intervals. According to this sound generator, it is possible to reduce peak and dip in frequency characteristics of sound pressure.
In addition, Patent Literature 2 discloses a sound generator in which a plurality of piezoelectric elements are attached to a vibrating body so as to be asymmetric in a top view. Furthermore, Patent Literature 3 discloses a sound generator in which at least one side of an outline of an exciter and a side of an outline of a vibrating body facing the at least one side are not parallel to each other in a top view of the vibrating body. According to these sound generators, it is possible to obtain satisfactory frequency characteristics of sound pressure.
However, Patent Literatures 1 to 3 disclose the inventions in which piezoelectric actuators are two-dimensionally disposed, and a technique enabling a high displacement amount in a wide frequency range in a vibration generating device using a piezoelectric actuator in a bimorph type is not reported.

Vibration generating device and electronic equipment


A process for a preparation of Compound (V), a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or a solvate thereof, said process comprising the steps represented by the following formula:

Compound (V) is an endothelin receptor antagonist and useful for treating various circulatory system diseases such as hypertension, ischemic disorders, cerebral circular disorders, renal disorders, circular insufficiency of various organs, asthma, stroke, cerebral infarction, cerebral edema and the like (Patent Literature 1, Patent Literature 2 etc.). A process for preparing oleanolic acid derivatives, which are intermediates of Compound (V), such as myricerone etc., is disclosed in Patent Literature 3. Additionally, a process for preparing Compound (V) using an oleanolic acid is disclosed in Non-Patent Literature 1 and Non-Patent Literature 2 etc. However, processes described in these literatures need an isolation process of intermediates, different reagents or solvents in each reaction step, environmental harmful reagents or the like and are not necessarily sufficient for industrial manufacturing processes.
A method for reduction of a nitro group of hydroxy-2-nitrobenzaldehyde to an amino group by catalytic reduction is described in Patent Literature 4, but in this method, a reduction process is conducted after an aldehyde group is protected as acetal.    Patent Literature 1 WO92/12991    Patent Literature 2 JP 7-53484 A    Patent Literature 3 JP 7-316188 A    Patent Literature 4 JP 7-1011956 A    Non-Patent Literature 1 Organic Process Research & Development, 1999, vol. 3, p.347–351    Non-Patent Literature 2 Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1997, vol.62, p.960–966

Process for producing triterpene derivative

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 are each independently C1–C8 alkyl.


Application permissions can be set in a cloud computing environment based on a user's authorization level in the cloud computing environment. For example, a system can determine that a user has a particular authorization level in a cloud computing environment. The system can determine that the user is to have particular permissions for a continuous integration tool by mapping the particular authorization level to the particular permissions. The system can then set a permission setting for the continuous integration tool to limit the user to the particular permissions.

A user can login to a cloud computing environment using a set of login credentials (e.g., a username and password). After logging in, the user may be able to access certain features of the cloud computing environment based on the user's authorization level in the cloud computing environment. For example, a user may be able to request that the cloud computing environment deploy certain applications if the user's authorization level permits access to those applications.
In some cases, an application deployed for a user in the cloud computing environment may require the user to separately login to the application with another set of login credentials before the user can use the application. This can be referred to as a two-step login process, whereby the user must first login to the cloud computing environment using one set of login credentials and then separately login to the application using another set of login credentials. After logging in to the application, the user may be able to access certain functions and features of the application based on the application permissions accorded to the user.

Setting application permissions in a cloud computing environment