An improved photonic switch having optical amplification is described. Signals are amplified before they are switched, after they are switched, or both before and after they are switched. The optical amplification compensates for fixed losses within the switch and transmission system, or provides output power equalization. The photonic switching system includes a demultiplexer for dividing incoming light into different wavelengths or wavebands. The different signals are then supplied to optical amplifiers. The amplifiers amplify the optical signals before supplying them to the optical switch core. Once in the optical switch core, the signals are switched as desired to specified output nodes, then multiplexed back together to provide an output signal from the photonic switching system. In some systems amplification is further provided on the output side. The system also provides a control system by which the optical power of the signals is sensed and controllably amplified to achieve desired results, for example, fixed loss compensation, output power equalization, or other desired levels.

This invention relates to optical switching, and in particular to an optical switch employing Micro-Electro Mechanical System technology (MEMS).
Networking technology has become pervasive in the last decade. It is now possible to transmit over six trillion bits per second over a single optical fiber. With these transmission rates, however, has come a bottle neck in the central office where switching is performed to transmit information arriving over one optical fiber onto another optical fiber and toward the desired location. One prior art solution is evidenced by networks in which two trillion bits per second of data arriving on an optical fiber are divided into one thousand parallel two gigabit per second data streams, or ten thousand parallel one hundred fifty-five million bit per second data streams. Each of these data streams is switched using conventional electronic switching technology and then forwarded on to the desired location.
Another well-known technique for accomplishing this switching involves optical cross-connect switches, also known as Optical-Electrical-Optical or OEO switches. In such switches information arrives in an optical form at the switch, it is then converted into electrical form, switched electronically, then converted back into optical form and transmitted on to the next switch. Such an approach has numerous advantages, in addition to using well-established electronic technology for performing the switching. Unfortunately, however, such switching is dependent upon the particular protocol within which the data is encoded, and is extremely expensive, complex and physically large in high data rate implementations, for example forty gigabits per second. Of course, significant electrical power is consumed, and the solution does not scale to changes in data rate, port density or protocol.
As a result of these disadvantages, a switching technology known as the photonic cross connect switch, also known as Optical-Optical-Optical or OOO switch has been developed in which all switching is performed optically, i.e. the data is never converted to electronic form. In the photonic switch, there is no need for conversion of the optical input signal into electrical form, or conversion of the switched electrical signal back into optical form. It offers faster operation, higher capacity and lower power consumption.
FIG. 1a illustrates a prior art MEMS photonic cross connect switch, referred to as PXC 2a, in which mirrors are used that scan in two axes. Multiple optical fiber inputs with an equal number of lenses produce an equal number of approximately collimated input optical beams. (The optical beams are said to be collimated when the diameter of the beams does not change appreciably as the beam propagates.) In the implementation depicted, the beams are produced by positioning the input fibers in a fiber block 10 with an associated lens array 11. Block 10 consists of a two-dimensional array of fibers with a polished end face appropriately aligned to the input lens array 12.
The two mirror arrays consist of an input array 12 and an output array 13. Each array includes movable mirrors which allow a beam from an input optical fiber to be reflected to a desired output fiber. Because each mirror is movable in two axes, the switching is achieved by directing the input beams into different output optical fibers. The mirror position, and therefore the switching operation can be controlled using several different techniques. In one implementation a voltage is used to generate an electrostatic force to rotate the switch mirrors. In another approach, a magnetic field is used to provide magnetic actuation, while torsion bars are used to provide a restoring force for the mirrors. In general, moveable mirror array 12 is populated with as many mirrors as there are fibers in the input/output fiber array. For clarity, however, only a few mirrors are shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b. For a more detailed description of the movement and control of the mirror arrays, see commonly assigned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/572,979, filed May 16, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,041 B2, entitled A Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Mirror Device Having Large Angle Out Of Plane Motion Using Shaped Combed Finger Actuators And Method For Fabricating The Same.
FIG. 1b illustrates another prior art MEMS PXC 2b, in which a mirror is used to fold the geometry and eliminate some of the components shown in FIG. 1a. In PXC 2b, the input beam passes through the lens array and is reflected by the movable mirror array 12 onto fixed mirror 16. Mirror 16 thus replaces the output moveable mirror array 13, the output lens array 14 and the output fiber array 15. Mirror 16 directs optical beams back to the moveable mirror 12, back through lens array 11, and back into the fiber array 10. Thus the fiber array now becomes both an input and an output array. The mirrored configuration shown in FIG. 1b has the advantage that, in principle, any fiber can be switched to any other fiber, so the fibers do not need to be divided into sets of input and output fibers.
One disadvantage of all of the systems described above is the inherent loss in optical signal power. This fact drives the need to amplify the optical signals. It is well known that in the course of passing through long optical fibers, optical components and switches, the signals are attenuated, and are attenuated differently depending on the nature of the fiber, components and switches, and the actual path that the signals take in the network. One solution to this problem has been to provide amplification of the signals at intermittent locations along the fiber.
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of such a typical prior art system employing two wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical switches, together with amplification along the fiber connecting the two switches. As shown in FIG. 2, the optical fibers terminate at demultiplexer 22 to which they are optically coupled. Demultiplexed optical signs are input to PXC 32, which may be of the type shown in FIG. 1a or 1b, or some other arrangement. The role of demultiplexer 22 is to take multiplexed signal carried by fiber 20 and break it apart into its constituent signals, for example individual data-bearing wavelengths. In so doing, PXC 32 may operate on each constituent signal independently, for example, passing certain signals on to DWDM transmission system 28, while passing (or receiving) certain other signals to (or from) another network component, for example, a digital cross connect 30 having an optical-to-electrical converter 31 at the interface with PXC 32. Importantly, PXC 32 operates on these signals in the optical domain (without first converting the signals to the electrical domain). Thus, PXC is a type of OOO switch. Digital cross connect 30 requires conversion of the signals from the optical domain to the electrical domain, and thus is a type of OEO switch. In any event, the function of adding or removing constituent signals performed by the PXC 32 as illustrated and discussed above is generally referred to as "grooming." After grooming, those constituent signals which are to be passed to the DWDM transmission system are recombined into a composite or multiplexed signal by multiplexer 33 before being provided to optical fiber 23.
After an appropriate distance 34 (typically measured in miles), the signal(s) on the optical fiber 23 are supplied to a booster amplifier 25, a line amplifier 26, and a pre-amplifier 27 by which the signal(s) are amplified. Eventually the multiplexed signal(s) reach demultiplexer 36. The signal is then demultiplexed, and as previously described, grooming may take place via PXC 37, the constituent signals at this point are passed to yet another multiplexer 43 of DWDM transmission system 29, and so forth through the network. Although the prior art system shown in FIG. 2 does provide amplification, and enables the transmission system to maintain control over the amplifier operation, it may or may not account for the loss in the PXCs.
Regardless of the form of the switch—OOO or OEO—long haul optical transmission systems typically use wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to carry many optical signals on a single fiber. One problem, however, with WDM systems is maintaining a uniform amplitude among the various signals muxed together into the composite WDM signal, that is assuring that all signals arriving at a particular location are equally powerful, or controllably intentionally of different power levels, depending upon the desired use. This makes it advantageous to controllably balance loss with gain in different optical network elements at the constituent signal level. If this is done by electronic amplification, more complexity and balancing is required to compensate for the electronics. It would therefore be desirable to provide a system in which electrical regeneration is avoided and controllable optical amplification is provided at the constituent signal level.
Another advantage of the invention is that the gain control may be done within a node and across multiple nodes via fiber optical links using control plane software. Typical control plane software can be generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS). Using this kind of control, the amplifier gain can be used to equalize losses across an arbitrary number of switches and network elements based on power sensed at any point within the network

Optical amplification in photonic switched crossconnect systems


The injection sleeve comprises: a cylindrical cermet sintered body comprising a hard ceramic phase whose major components are at least one selected from the group consisting of a complex boride of Ni and Mo, a complex boride of Ni and W and a complex boride of Ni, Mo and W and a metal matrix phase consisting of a solid solution whose major components are Ni and Mo. The cylindrical cermet sintered body contains the hard ceramic phase in an amount of not less than 50% by weight and not more than 90% by weight.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an injection sleeve for die casting which is employed for die-casting a molten metal such as aluminum (Al), an aluminum alloy and zinc (Zn).
2. Background of the Invention
The die casting method wherein a molten metal such as aluminum, an aluminum alloy or zinc is supplied to an injection sleeve of a die casting machine, the molten metal is injected into a die casting mold by a plunger tip at a high speed, a high pressure is applied on the molten metal and the molten metal is solidified in the mold, is widely employed in the production of metal parts in the industrial fields making automobiles, electric machines and the like. The reason is that the time required for casting a single piece of product is significantly short and the production cost is inexpensive compared with the other casting methods.
In the die casting method, the casting cycle wherein the molten metal is transmitted into the inner portion of the mold of the casting machine at a high flow rate and is solidified, is finished in a very short time period compared with those of the other casting methods. This casting cycle is repeated at a high frequency. Therefore, a portion contacting the molten metal, especially the injection sleeve or the die casting mold requires a material provided with an excellent corrosion resistance and erosion resistance against the molten metal and the thermal shock resistance against the repetitively performed heating and cooling cycle.
In casting aluminum or an aluminum alloy having a comparatively high casting temperature, these parts are required to stand an extremely severe condition. Conventionally, a material has been utilized for these parts, wherein an alloy steel, such as SKD 61, is heat-treated and further treated with a nitriding-treatment on its surface.
Further, there is a considerable difference between conditions of contacting the molten metal between the injection sleeve and the die casting mold. When the temperature of the molten metal which is transmitted into the sleeve is lowered, the viscosity of the molten metal increases and further a portion thereof is precipitated, the structure of the cast product becomes inhomogeneous which adversely influences the product property. Therefore, the cooling of the molten metal should be avoided as much as possible at the injection sleeve. On the other hand, the mold is sufficiently cooled down since the inner portion thereof is a portion for solidifying the molten metal.
The corrosion is significant on the inner face of the injection sleeve, especially in the region beneath a feeding port, since this region contacts the molten metal having a relatively high temperature. The service life of the injection sleeve made of an alloy steel is short even if the nitrization-treatment is performed thereon. However, no promising material has been found as the material for the conventional injection sleeve other than the alloy steel. The injection sleeve of an alloy steel, such as SKD 61, is currently employed while cooling the portion thereof wherein the corrosion is significantly caused, in a range allowable for the injection sleeve.
Further, a plunger tip (a piston-like member padded with Colmoloy alloy on its surface and the inside thereof is water-cooled) should rapidly be moved in the injection sleeve and the molten metal should be pressurized in the mold in a short period of time. Therefore, a sufficient lubricity should be maintained between the inner face of the injection sleeve and the plunger tip. In this view, the injection sleeve made of an alloy steel is problematic, and a lubricant wherein carbon is mixed with water should be supplied by about several tens ml per a casting. This lubricant is thermally decomposed into gases by the heat of the molten metal. These gases are incorporated in the inner portion of the molten metal which causes pores remained in the cast product.
In recent times, trials have been performed wherein ceramics having an essentially high corrosion resistance against the molten metal and the thermal shock resistance due to its small thermal expansion, for instance, sialon in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 72464/1988, or silicon nitride in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 2949/1985, is employed in the injection sleeve for die casting.
However, the toughness and the thermal shock resistance of these ceramic sleeves are not sufficiently high. Even when these sleeves are reinforced by fitting the ceramic sleeve into a metal cylinder, almost no reinforcement effect can be provided in the temperature range of usage, since the thermal expansion (3 to 4.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree. C.) is significantly smaller than the thermal expansion of the metal cylinder (in case of SKD 61, 13 to 14.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree. C.). Therefore, the condition of usage is limited and the sleeve is destructed by mechanical impact or by thermal shock in its usage, which does not reach the stage of practical use.
A cermet sintered body was proposed in Soviet Powder metallurgy and Metal Ceramics No. 8(44) p665-670, 1966 and in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 196353/1987, which was provided with a hard ceramic phase of a Mo-Ni complex boride and a metal matrix phase of an Ni base alloy. Further, the chemical corrosion resistance and the oxidation resistance of a cermet sintered body can be promoted by further adding chromium to the cermet sintered body.
The present inventors proposed a cermet sintered body composed of a hard ceramic phase whose major component is a Ni-Mo complex boride, a Ni-W complex boride or a Ni-Mo-W complex boride and a metal matrix phase whose major component was an Ni-Mo alloy, in Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 143236/1988, and showed that the cermet sintered body was a material having a large strength and hardness at an elevated temperature, compared with those in a WC-Co cemented carbide and the like. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 143236/1988, the inventors proposed a material wherein a carbide was added to the cermet sintered body of this species to promote the strength and the hardness at an elevated temperature.
Further, the inventors proposed a mold (cooled) for die-casting the molten metal such as aluminum or zinc, as a specific use of these cermet sintered body in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 299740/1990.
However, concerning the problem whether the cermet sintered body of this system can be used as the injection sleeve for aluminum which is employed under a severer condition, the adaptability thereof has been unclarified in case wherein the cooling is not performed, since the cermet sintered body incorporates the metal matrix phase whose major component is nickel and the metal matrix phase is comparatively weak at corrosion by the molten aluminum and the like, and, therefore, the adaptability of the cermet sintered body without cooling has been doubtful.

Injection sleeve for die casting and a method of casting an aluminum or an aluminum alloy part


Featured for use as a part of an inflatable restraint system airbag module is an elongated cylindrical airbag inflator containing a load of a gas generant material. The inflator has a size (i.e., length) selected to correspond to the size of the load of the gas generant material stored within the inflator.

This invention relates generally to inflatable restraint systems and, more particularly, to specifically sized airbag inflators and to airbag module assemblies containing such specifically sized airbag inflators.
Airbag module assemblies generally include, as basic components: 1) an airbag cushion, which is rapidly inflated when the vehicle encounters sudden deceleration, 2) an inflator, which upon actuation serves to provide an inflation fluid, e.g., a gas, used to inflate the airbag cushion, and 3) a reaction canister, which typically functions as a structural housing supporting assembly components such as the airbag cushion and the inflator, for example, while providing a mounting base for installation of the assembly in a vehicle and serving to direct the inflation fluid resulting from the inflator.
Safety restraint airbag cushions are normally sized and shaped to provide a vehicle occupant with desired cushioning protection when one or more airbag cushions have been properly deployed. In airbag module assemblies, airbag cushions are typically stored within a reaction canister in an uninflated, folded condition. In practice, reaction canisters which contain an airbag cushion for the protection of a front seat passenger commonly have a rectangular cross sectional shape and form a correspondingly shaped opening wherethrough the airbag cushion is deployable. Normally, a passenger side airbag module assembly is mounted in or behind what is called the vehicle instrument panel or dashboard (hereinafter referred to as the "instrument panel"), with the airbag deployment opening of the reaction canister positioned planar or adjacent the instrument panel.
The size of the airbag deployment opening, e.g., the length and width of the rectangular shaped opening, are normally determined by the need to provide a particular desired airbag cushion deployment. Thus, it is common that reaction canisters have a length predetermined by the size of the inflatable airbag cushion which is to be housed therein.
In typical passenger side airbag module assemblies, the inflator has a generally hollow outer housing structure, which is generally of an elongated cylindrical shape. One type of commonly used inflator device contains a load of a gas generant material stored within such an inflator housing structure. The size of the gas generant load is generally predetermined in order to be sufficient to result in desired inflation of the associated airbag cushion upon actuation of the inflator.
In practice, such inflators are commonly sized dependent upon the shape and size of the corresponding reaction canister. For example, such inflator devices typically have a cylindrical diameter predetermined to permit the inflator to be housed within the reaction canister and a longitudinal length selected to correspond to that of the respective reaction canister. The sizing of an inflator device to correspond to the size of a corresponding reaction canister, however, can result in the inflator device outer structure having an inner volume which is larger than needed for the storage of the predetermined load of a gas generant material sufficient to result in desired inflation of the airbag cushion upon actuation of the inflator. Such extra or added volume is sometimes simply referred to as "free volume." In order to at least in part compensate for the presence of such free volume, it is common that such inflator devices include one or more variously sized and shaped internal elements, sometimes simply referred to as "spacers."
Unfortunately, the presence of free volume within an inflator structure can result in the inflator having less than optimal performance or design. For example, the presence of such free volume within an inflator structure can detrimentally increase the volume of the inflator cavity which must be pressurized in order for the inflator to achieve a proper combustion of the stored gas generant material. Additionally, as a result of such increased internal volume, an inflator may experience an undesirable delay in attaining proper combustion and may produce an effluent with a greater than desired particulate content.
Further, the presence of such unnecessary volume within an airbag module assembly component can undesirably result in the module assembly being larger than needed or desired.
Still further, larger than desired module assemblies can be more costly to manufacture, assemble and produce and may unduly or unnecessarily limit the range of module design variation and placement within a vehicle.
Thus, there is a need and a demand for an airbag module assembly which reduces, minimizes or avoids problems normally associated with the inclusion of free volume, in a relatively large amount, within an associated inflator device.
Further, there is a need and a demand for an airbag module assembly of more compact and lighter weight design.
Still further, there is a need and a demand for an airbag module assembly, particularly for the passenger side of a vehicle, having an improved design and more consistent performance.


A method of determining a communications contact relevance for a user includes: analyzing stored contact information of a plurality of contacts with which the user can at least one of receive information from or transmit information to; analyzing context information relevant to likelihoods of imminent communication by the user with the contacts, the context information including information different from ones of the contacts with which the user most recently communicated, the context information further including present user context information and at least one of present context or historical context associated with each of the contacts, respectively; and determining the likelihoods of imminent communication between the user and the contacts based on the context information.

Users of communication devices often use these devices to communicate with other persons or entities for which the users have contact information stored. The stored information may be, for example, in a list of contacts. The contacts may be friends, family members, business associates, acquaintances, etc. and the stored information may include, for example, phone numbers, home and/or business addresses, email addresses, websites, birthdays, etc.
Contact lists may be organized manually by the user. The users may manually organize the contacts into standard categories such as "favorites," "business," "holiday cards," etc., or customized categories.
Contacts may be automatically organized according to communications with the contacts. For example, communication devices can automatically populate a "recently called" list indicating with which contacts communication has recently been had, e.g, in reverse chronological order.


The invention relates to a method for treating biomaterial using at least one electrical field generated by a first voltage pulse which is terminated once the value for an electrical parameter has exceeded or dropped below a preset limit. After the first voltage pulse has been terminated, it is continued by an additional voltage pulse. The invention also relates to a circuit arrangement comprising at least one storage device for electrical charges to generate at least one voltage pulse by selectively discharging the storage device, and at least one control unit for controlling the discharge. The present invention provides a controller for monitoring the chronological progression of the voltage pulse. This controller controls at least one continuation of discharge after termination.

The invention relates to a method for treating biomaterial using at least one electrical field generated by a first voltage pulse which is terminated once the value for an electrical parameter has exceeded or dropped below a preset limit, as well as to a circuit arrangement, in particular for carrying out said method, comprising at least one storage device for electrical charges to generate at least one voltage pulse by selectively discharging the storage device, and at least one control unit for controlling the discharge. The present invention relates in particular to the field of electroporation, electrofusion and electrostimulation of living cells, as well as to all applications in which biomaterial must be exposed to an electrical field.
The introduction of bioactive molecules, e.g., DNA, RNA or proteins, into living cells is an important tool in studying the biological functions of these molecules. One preferred method for introducing foreign molecules into cells here is electroporation, which does, as opposed to chemical methods, not rely on the simultaneous transport of other bioactive molecules. In electroporation, the foreign molecules are taken from a buffer solution adapted to the cells or a cell culture medium and introduced into the cells in a brief flow of current, wherein exposure to the short electrical voltage pulses or resultant electrical field makes the cell membrane permeable to the foreign molecules. The cell suspension is here often in a so-called cuvette, i.e., a narrow flask open at the top, which has two opposing, parallel electrodes in the lateral walls in proximity to its floor, which are used to apply an electrical voltage. Through the briefly arising "pores" in the cell membrane the bioactive molecules initially enter the cytoplasm, where they can already perform the function to be studied, and then, under certain conditions, also the cell nucleus.
Briefly applying a strong electrical field, i.e., a short voltage pulse with a high current density, also makes it possible to fuse cells, cell derivates, sub-cellular particles and/or vesicles. During this so-called electrofusion, the cells are, for example, initially brought into close membrane contact by an inhomogeneous electrical alternating field. The subsequent application of an electrical field pulse then causes the membrane sections to interact, finally resulting in fusion. Industrial equipment comparable to that used for electroporation can here be used for electrofusion. Further, living cells can also be stimulated by electrical fields in such a way as to change their properties.
If, in the process of establishing an electrical field with a field strength of several hundred volts per centimeter in an aqueous solution, the electrical resistance collapses in a very short time, e.g., under 1 μs, thereby causing the current to rise very rapidly and sharply, a so-called lightning discharge can occur. During a lightning discharge, the brief rise in power or heat leads to concomitant physical phenomena, such as lightning, cracking and spraying of the solution on the one hand, and irreversible damaging or killing of the cells on the other hand. Therefore, a lightning discharge generally endangers not only the safety of people and equipment in the vicinity, but also results in a loss of the used biomaterial.
WO 02/086129 A1 discloses a circuit arrangement for introducing bioactive molecules into the cell nucleus of eukaryotic cells by means of an electrical current, or for treating cells, cell derivates, sub-cellular particles and/or vesicles with electrical current, as well as a corresponding method. The circuit arrangement consists of two storage devices for electrical charges, which are each supplied by a high voltage power supply. The storage devices are each connected to a power semiconductor for transmitting the charges present in the storage devices to a cell suspension. The power semiconductors are actuated and switched via a control device. This circuit arrangement further provides for that at least a first voltage pulse can be transmitted to the cell suspension with the capacitor voltage of the storage device by actuating a power semiconductor for a preset time (T1). To further enhance the safety of the user and used samples, it is provided that an overcurrent switching module enables overvoltage deactivation at least for the first voltage pulse, terminating the respective pulse. Therefore, overcurrent deactivation makes it possible to terminate the voltage pulse in a case where preset limits have been exceeded. For example, if the current rises too precipitously while establishing an electrical field, a lightning discharge, and hence cell damage, can be prevented by terminating the voltage pulse. However, depending on the point of termination, the disadvantage of this is that successful treatment is not achieved, e.g., the transfection efficiency is too low. If the voltage pulse is terminated too early, the corresponding reaction batch must be discarded or can only be used to a very limited extent, even though cell viability has been obtained.
There is therefore a need for a method and a circuit arrangement of the kind mentioned at the outset that enable the successful treatment of biomaterial even if the first voltage pulse has been terminated.

Method and circuit arrangement for treating biomaterial


A braking system for a vehicle is disclosed. The braking system may have a primary braking system (PBS) having a boost assist subsystem, and an electronic control unit (ECU) for controlling the PBS and the boost assist subsystem. A memory may be in communication with the ECU. A database may be stored in the memory and may define a plurality of category function codes. The codes may define what levels of braking operation may be provided by the PBS when one of a fault or an anomaly is detected. The ECU may further be configured to implement a brake boost evaluation software module to determine whether to apply a requested level of braking being requested by a subsystem of the vehicle when at least one of a malfunction or anomaly is present.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Modern day braking systems used on motor vehicles such as passenger cars and trucks often employ a Primary Brake System ("PBS") and a Secondary Brake System ("SBS") which are hydraulically connected in series. The PBS provides the main means for generating brake pressure to the brake calipers associated with the four wheels of the vehicle. The PBS does this while constantly monitoring the hydraulic fluid that it applies and the pressure it generates, internal to the PBS itself. The SBS also forms a backup braking system which is able to hydraulically control the brake fluid applied to at least two brakes of the vehicle in the event that a failure occurs in the PBS. The PBS includes a slave cylinder that can be used to develop a pressure boost signal that can be used to aid in building pressure in the PBS, to thus aid the user in braking the vehicle.
Such modern day braking systems as described above have the capability to ignore, interrupt or degrade brake boost in the event an anomaly is detected somewhere in the braking system. The anomaly may be with a sensor being used to read a pressure (e.g., master cylinder pressure), a distance travel of a component (e.g., pedal travel), a position of a valve (e.g., master cut valve (MCV)), etc. However, instances may exist in which a detected anomaly is present, and an electronic control unit (ECU) associated with the braking system has interrupted or degraded the brake boost, but the capability of the braking system to provide requested brake boost is still present. In other words, an anomaly may be present with a component (sensor, valve, etc.) in the PBS, but the anomaly does not hinder the ability for the PBS to respond to a non-driver brake request to help with vehicle braking. This situation, although expected to be somewhat rare, would nevertheless prevent some other subsystem of the vehicle, for example an autonomous braking subsystem responding to an emergency braking situation, from responding to a request for braking while the anomaly is present, even though the requested braking could actually be generated by the PBS and used to help brake the vehicle.
Accordingly, it would be highly advantageous if the braking system was provided with the intelligence/capability to evaluate a detected anomaly and determine if a non-driver brake request can still be applied, if the braking is being requested by one of the vehicle subsystems.

Brake system and method for responding to external boost requests during predetermined loss or degraded boost assist conditions

Veoneer-Nissin Brake Systems Japan Co., Ltd.


According to one embodiment, a magnetoresistive memory device includes a substrate, a first oxide film provided on the substrate, bottom electrodes provided in the first oxide film, a part of each of the bottom electrodes protruding above the first oxide film, magnetoresistive elements provided on the respective bottom electrodes, sidewall nitride films provided on side surfaces of the respective bottom electrodes and the magnetoresistive elements, a second oxide film provided on the magnetoresistive elements, the sidewall nitride films and the first oxide film, and contact electrodes provided in the second oxide film and the first oxide film to reach the substrate from an upper surface of the second oxide film.

Recently, a large-capacity magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) using magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) elements has been proposed and is attracting attention. In an MTJ element, one of two magnetic layers that sandwich a tunnel barrier layer is set as a magnetization fixed layer (reference layer) where the direction of magnetization is fixed in order not to be changed, and the other layer is set as a magnetization free layer (storage layer) where the direction of magnetization is made to be easily inverted.

Magnetoresistive memory device and manufacturing method of the same


A method for managing an image memory in an embedded device is provided. A node is obtained from a linked list of the image memory. It is judged whether valid data is present in a memory block corresponding to the node. When no valid data is present, it is judged whether valid data is present in a memory block corresponding to a previous node of the node. When valid data is present in the previous node, it is further judged whether the valid data is movable. When the valid data is movable, memory block information described in the two nodes is exchanged, and the valid data previously stored in the memory block corresponding to the previous node is moved to the memory block corresponding to the node.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a calculator, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for managing an image memory in an embedded device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Direct Frame Buffer (DirectFB) is a prevalent software library implemented in embedded systems. Tailored for special requirement environments of embedded devices, DirectFB is a compact, powerful and easy-to-use technique for graphic acceleration and graphic reinforcement. Functions of DirectFB manage an image memory by use of a linked list. In an initial state, the linked list only includes one free memory node for recording a start address and an end address of an entire memory pool. When an application program needs to be allotted with a memory block from the memory pool, a DirectFB memory management unit traverses all free memory nodes in the linked list, and identifies and allots a most matching free memory node to the application program. In the event that no matching free memory node having an appropriate size is found, a free memory node having a closest size is allotted, a new memory node is inserted into the linked list to record information of the newly allotted memory block, and the new memory node is then marked as having been allotted. Memory blocks described in neighboring memory nodes in the linked list are also physically neighboring.
In current DirectFB techniques for managing the memory, when an application program releases a memory block, a node recording information of the memory block is set to free. When a neighboring node of the free node is also free, the two nodes are merged such that the free memory blocks recorded by the two nodes are merged into a larger free memory block, as indicated by a block block4 merged from the block block4 and a block block5 in FIG. 1. With the above memory management technology, memory fragments result if the physically continuous memory blocks have different lifespans. Thus, although a total amount of the free memory is greater than the size of the required memory, it is possible that all the free nodes are smaller than the size of the required memory to cause a memory allotment failure during the memory management.
Therefore, there is a need for a solution for ensuring an application program is allotted with a required memory under a situation that a free memory is greater than the required memory.

Method and apparatus for managing video memory in embedded device


The present invention in various aspects and embodiments provides methods and formulations for treating inflammatory conditions of the skin and/or conditions involving compromised skin barrier function. Such diseases include blistering diseases of the skin, hereditary defects in skin barrier function, hyperproliferative conditions involving the skin, conditions associated with aging or damaged skin, immunological disorders involving the skin, among others.

The skin acts as a barrier structure in vertebrates to protect from physical, chemical, and biological insult. For example, epidermal disruption exposes antigen presenting cells resident in the skin (e.g., Langerhans cells and dendritic cells) to environmental antigens, and further stimulates keratinocytes (as the first responders of the barrier insult) to release biological signals that lead to both activation and maturation of resident immune cells. The particular immune adjuvants released by keratinocytes can direct the character of the resulting immune response, including the induction of a Th2-type response, Th17-type response, or Th1-type response. See, for example, De Bennedetto, et al., Skin Barrier Disruption—A Requirement for Allergen Sensitization, J. Invest. Dermatol. 132(3):949-963 (2012).
Improving skin barrier function and modulating the underlying immunology is important in the prevention, treatment, and management of skin conditions, including: inflammatory conditions resulting from acute or chronic chemical, environmental, and/or biological insult; hereditary defects in skin barrier function; conditions associated with aging or damaged skin; proliferative disorders involving the skin; and immunological disorders of the skin or which manifest in symptoms that affect the skin, among other conditions.
The present invention meets these and other objectives.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hypochlorous acid formulations and methods for treating skin conditions


A pivoting axle system for an aerial lift vehicle with a chassis includes a left axle supporting a left wheel and a right axle supporting a right wheel. The left and right axles are pivotable between a transport position and a working position. A first hydraulic cylinder is connected at one end to the chassis on a right side of a vehicle center line and at an opposite end to the left axle, and a second hydraulic cylinder is connected at one end to the chassis on a left side of the vehicle center line and at an opposite end to the right axle. In the working position, the first and second hydraulic cylinders are prevented from deflection beyond a yield point.

The invention relates to a boom lift product and, more particularly, to supporting structure for a boom lift product that is expandable and retractable between a stowed/transport position and a working position.
It is desirable with a boom lift product to provide a stable and secure base when a platform supported at an end of an extendible boom is used in a raised position. Stability can be achieved through the use of outriggers, counterweights and the like. A wider wheel base also provides added stability, but a wider wheel base has limitations for transport since a width of the more stable wheel base typically exceeds maximum limitations for transport or on-road travel.
It would be desirable for supporting structure for a boom lift product to include an adjustable wheel base that is wider in a working position and narrower for transport.
Existing machines of this type use a single axle extend cylinder for each axle pair connected between the two associated axles. One deficiency it has is the extension cylinder is relatively low to the ground and relatively unprotected from impact damage such as might be seen when driving into a low object like a fire hydrant or the like. The existing designs may include a slide bar to protect the rod itself but the cylinder as a whole is unprotected from structural deflection or damage. This is of particular concern for a system such as this for if or when the cylinder is impacted, the force of contact may allow the angle of the axle to change as the cylinder deforms (if the cylinder is no longer straight, the distance between the connections to the axles and or frame would be shorter). This would result in the axles retracting to some extent unintentionally and would risk the machine stability due to a shifting of the tip line of the machine.


The putting training device positions a plurality of objects and a practice ball on a practice surface, and, in the preferred embodiment, comprises an arm arrangement of two connected rods having telescoping ball receptacles at each end. Four golf balls contained within perimeter receptacles are guiding balls. A golf ball positioned within a fifth receptacle is a practice ball to be putted once the putting training device is removed from the five positioned golf balls. The method comprises: providing an alignment device comprising; two ball sockets that define a take-away gap; two ball sockets that define a follow-through gap; the take-away gap and follow through gap further defining a putting arc distance gap; placing a plurality of objects on a putting surface; overlaying the alignment device on the objects so that the sockets contain an object; and removing the device, thereby leaving the objects on the putting surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a putting training device and method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Golf, a game played for centuries, has achieved worldwide popularity. It is thought that as many as 60 million people play golf across the globe on a total of 32,000 golf courses. The United States alone accounts for over half these numbers. With all of golf's popularity, it is the rare person indeed who does not encounter frustration while playing the game. While delight and indescribable contentment may result from seeing the ball hone in on the flagstick after a perfectly executed stroke, frustration surely results from the cold vibration and wayward path of the golf ball poorly struck. In an effort to eliminate, or at least minimize, frustration, the golfer seeks refuge in golf books, magazines, videos, private instruction, and hours of practice. But each aspect of the game presents its own challenges. For example, in driving the ball from a tee, the club head may reach a speed in excess of 100 miles per hour. Coordinating this explosion of energy with sufficient accuracy is exceedingly difficult for even the professional golfer. In most cases, the weekend golfer lacks the physical ability to match the distance and accuracy of the professional.
Similarly, approach shots to the green often require a great deal of arc and backspin in order for the ball to land close to the hole or even remain on the green. Because weekend golfers often drive the ball a shorter distance, they must use a less lofted club on approach shots in order to reach the green, resulting in less accuracy and more frustration. Thus, the gap widens between the weekend golfers' golf games and that of their professional counterparts.
Putting, on the other hand, does not demand explosive energy, high club head speed, or a great deal of manual dexterity. Rather, putting requires proper technique, alignment, and concentration. Accurate putting, more than any other shot in golf, may be mastered by almost all that play the game. And because putting may account for almost half the number of total strokes in a round of golf, it is this area of golf in which high handicap golfers may narrow the gap between themselves and professionals.
Just as in other golf strokes, the putting stroke involves a take-away, a forward stroke, and a follow-through. The distance the putter head travels between the forward stroke and follow-through, the stroke length, is important for determining the distance the putt travels. The distance the putter head travels along the target line between the forward stroke and follow-through determines putting consistency. This distance is determined by a number of factors, including the golfer's size, flexibility, and training. Generally, a longer putting arc distance correlates positively with greater accuracy and consistency. While a number of putting training aids and methods are known in the art, none provide the necessary training or assistance for a golfer to attain the optimum putting arc distance. Some devices known in the art are mats that must be placed on a surface. Such mats, however, are necessarily unnatural and artificial. Putting on a mat alters the spatial relationship between the golfer and the putting surface as well as interferes with the golfer's "feel" that may only be attained from putting on a natural surface. Other devices known in the art must remain on the putting surface during practice which, again, interferes with the golfer's ability to practice effectively.
What is needed is a device and method that may be comfortably and effectively used by golfers to develop an optimum putting arc distance and improve putting.


A versatile drawer organizer structure for segregating a plurality of items. The structure includes a main compartment and two adjustable side compartments located on each side of the main compartment. Each of the side compartments can slide toward the main compartment or away from the main compartment thus decreasing and increasing the size of the side compartments and decreasing and increasing the overall width of the structure so that the structure precisely fits within the inside width of the drawer. The overall width of the structure can be adjusted without cutting of the material making up the structure and without making any permanent alterations to the structure. Thus, the structure can be easily sized to precisely fit the inside width of a large number of different drawers and many other enclosed spaces.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices used to sort, segregate, and organize various items within an enclosed space.
2. The Background Art
Almost every home and business has cabinets, dressers, desks, or other similar type of furniture with drawers that pull out and can be used to hold various items. Such items may be cooking utensils and cutlery, articles of clothing, such as stockings, underwear, and so forth, writing implements, office supplies, and other similar items. Generally, without some type of organizer in the drawer, such items are merely thrown into the drawer (or some other enclosed space) and the user must take the time to rummage through the various items in the drawer to find one particular item.
Thus, there is a need for structures to organize drawers and other similar enclosures so that the different items can be segregated so that one particular item can be quickly and easily retrieved from the drawer. In order to segregate and organize items which are stored in drawers as well as other enclosures, various structures have been proposed.
One approach to organizing a drawer has been to place boxes of different sizes within the drawer. This approach provides one or more compartments within the drawer in which items can be segregated. Disadvantageously, merely placing boxes in the drawer is unsatisfactory since the boxes do not fit precisely within the drawer and slide around and leave unused drawer space.
Another approach has attempted to overcome the disadvantages of placing boxes in the drawer. This approach provides one or more box like structures, which may be independently formed or formed as a unitary structure, which are cut to fit precisely within the drawer. Disadvantageously, many users do not want to bother with cutting the box structure or have difficulty making accurate cuts which are necessary to provide a precise fit within the drawer or cuts which are cosmetically pleasing. Moreover, once the box structure is cut, the structure will likely not precisely fit into another drawer of different dimensions and likely cannot be altered to provide a different arrangement even in the same drawer.
In view of the above mentioned disadvantages, it would be an advance in the industry to provide a structure for organizing drawers and similar enclosed spaces which overcomes these and other drawbacks.


An exhaust fan assembly is provided for expelling contaminated air from a building. The assembly includes a plenum, a fan assembly attached to the plenum, and a windband mounted on top of the fan assembly. The fan assembly is constructed of cylindrical outer and inner walls which define a bearing chamber and surrounding annular space. A fan driven by a shaft extending downward from the bearing chamber draws exhaust air from the plenum and blows it up through the annular space to a nozzle at the top of the fan assembly.

The present invention relates generally to exhaust fans, and more particularly to exhaust fans of the type that draw contaminated air from one or more fume hoods dispersed throughout a building, mix the contaminated air with ambient air to dilute the contaminants, and vent the diluted air from the building into the ambient environment.
There are many different types of exhaust systems for buildings. In most of these the objective is to simply draw air from inside the building in an efficient manner. In building such as laboratories, fumes are produced by chemical and biological processes, which may have an unpleasant odor, are noxious or toxic. One solution to rid the building of these fumes is to exhaust them through a tall exhaust stack which releases the fumes far above ground and roof level. Such exhaust stacks, however, are expensive to build and are unsightly.
Another solution is to mix the fumes with fresh air to dilute the contaminated air, and exhaust the diluted air upward from the top of the building at a high velocity. The exhaust is thus diluted and blown high above the building. Examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,806,076; 5,439,349 and 6,112,850. Prior systems are expensive, difficult to safely maintain and not easily adaptable to meet a wide range of performance specifications.


Systems and methods for improved propped fracture geometry for high permeability reservoirs are provided. In one embodiment, a method of determining a pad volume and proppant volume for fracturing a subterranean formation is provided comprising selecting a proppant volume for placement in a fracture to be created in a subterranean formation; determining a desired fracture geometry for the fracture; calculating a pad volume sufficient to create the desired fracture geometry in the subterranean formation at a lower fluid efficiency value; calculating a fracture length that would result from injecting the pad volume into the subterranean formation at an upper fluid efficiency value; calculating a fracture width that corresponds to the calculated fracture length; and calculating a proppant volume sufficient to fill a fracture having the calculated length and width.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for treating subterranean formations. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for improved propped fracture geometry for high permeability reservoirs.
Hydrocarbon-producing wells are often stimulated by hydraulic fracturing treatments. Hydraulic fracturing operations generally involve pumping a fracturing fluid into a well bore that penetrates a subterranean formation at a hydraulic pressure to create or enhance one or more cracks, or "fractures," in the subterranean formation. "Enhancing" one or more fractures in a subterranean formation, as that term is used herein, is defined to include the extension or enlargement of one or more natural or previously created fractures in the subterranean formation. The fracturing fluid may comprise particulates, often referred to as "proppant particulates," that are deposited in the fractures. The proppant particulates function, inter alia, to prevent the fractures from fully closing upon the release of hydraulic pressure, forming conductive channels through which fluids may flow to the well bore. After at least one fracture is created and the proppant particulates are substantially in place, the fracturing fluid may be "broken" (i.e., the viscosity of the fluid is reduced), and the fracturing fluid may be recovered from the formation.
Hydrocarbon-producing wells also may undergo gravel packing treatments, inter alia, to reduce the migration of unconsolidated formation particulates into the well bore. In gravel-packing treatments, a treatment fluid suspends particulates (commonly referred to as "gravel particulates") to be deposited in a desired area in a well bore, e.g., near unconsolidated or weakly consolidated formation zones, to form a gravel pack to enhance sand control. One common type of gravel-packing operation involves placing a sand control screen in the well bore and packing the annulus between the screen and the well bore with the gravel particulates of a specific size designed to prevent the passage of formation sand. The gravel particulates act, inter alia, to prevent the formation particulates from occluding the screen or migrating with the produced hydrocarbons, and the screen acts, inter alia, to prevent the particulates from entering the production tubing. Once the gravel pack is substantially in place, the viscosity of the treatment fluid may be reduced to allow it to be recovered.
In some situations, fracturing and gravel-packing treatments are combined into a single treatment (commonly referred to as "frac-pack" operations). In such "frac-pack" operations, the treatments are generally completed with a gravel pack screen assembly in place with the hydraulic fracturing treatment being pumped through the annular space between the casing and screen. In this situation, the hydraulic fracturing treatment ends in a screen-out condition, creating an annular gravel pack between the screen and casing. In other cases, the fracturing treatment may be performed prior to installing the screen and placing a gravel pack.
The effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing is often dependent on the dimensions of the resulting fracture. For example, the resulting fracture is ideally wide enough to allow produced fluids to flow from the reservoir into the well bore at a sufficient rate and long enough to penetrate enough of the reservoir to be fed by an adequate volume of fluid. If the fracture is too narrow, the fracture may be a bottleneck in the production of the fluid; if the fracture is too short, it may not be fed by an adequate volume of fluid from the reservoir.
Attempts have been made at optimizing the geometry of propped fractures in high-permeability formations applying a theory known as "unified fracture design." This theory attempts to optimize fracture design for a given volume of proppant using pseudo steady-state analysis. However, this methodology relies on having reliable information about the fluid efficiency for a specific fracturing treatment on a reservoir, which may be difficult to achieve, even with extensive diagnostic pumping. As used herein, the term "fluid efficiency" generally refers to the value obtained by dividing the volume of a fracture by the volume of fluid pumped into the fracture. Diagnostic pumping that is used to determine fluid efficiency may add unnecessary time and expense to the fracturing process and/or adversely affect the productivity of the reservoir. Also, by the nature of the fracturing process, fluid efficiency can change during the course of a fracturing treatment. One factor that can affect fluid efficiency is if fracture growth exposes formation layers or surfaces with varying properties. Another factor that can cause fluid efficiency to change during a treatment is changes in treating pressure within a formation. A third factor may be the nature of the fracture's penetration into the formation layers and the degree to which it is a simple single fissure or if the fracture's nature is more complex with multiple or branched fissures. A fourth, but not necessarily final, factor is the degree to which pressure in the fracture affects the porosity and permeability of the fracture face. Softer formations may have changing porosity and permeability along with altered mechanical properties caused by increasing pressure and fracturing fluid invasion.

System and method for improved propped fracture geometry for high permeability reservoirs


A task linking program is provided for using a computer for interacting with on-line and off-line programming systems to perform tasks related to programming microdevices. The program is secure in being capable of being setup only in an administrator mode where microdevice, programming system, and other information can be inputted and changed. The program has an operator mode in which the program can only run the programming system. This provides the ability to employ relatively low skill operators to use the programming system.

Originally, standalone desktop programmers were developed that took data from an operator, typically an engineer, and programmed it directly into a programmable electronic microdevice. The mechanism for inserting and removing the microdevice from the desktop programmer was an operator who manually performed the task. The desktop programmer could only put data into and take data out of a microdevice, and manipulate the data.
At the same time, there were companies that produced electronic microdevice labelers. These labelers contained a built-in printer and would take labeling information, print a label, and place the label on the microdevice. These systems were more automated. They could take an entire tube of microdevices and move the each microdevice though the system, labeling each microdevice and placing it back it an empty receiving tube. In this system, the operator only had to handle the tube of microdevices and not each microdevice itself. However this system could only label parts.
A business, which needed to program and label microdevices, bought two completely different systems from two different companies. Then, as two separate processes they would program all their microdevices and then label all their microdevices.
Subsequently, a system was created which merged the two systems. The idea was to have an automated system that would program and label parts together in one process. Not only did this reduce the number of steps in the user's process, but it also eliminated the need for the operator to physically touch the microdevice. Now the operator only needed to handle the tubes of microdevices, inserting and removing them from the machine. The machine now did all the microdevice-by-microdevice handling, programming and labeling.
One big problem, however, was the two systems had no idea how to talk to each other. They were not designed to work together or to know of the other's existence. One good point was each of the different systems had a remote control interface. Hence, a handling link program was created that used each systems' remote control interface to arbitrate process control between the two systems.
With this arrangement, there existed a handling link program separate from a programmer program which was separate from a labeler program. They talked to each other, but generally were developed separately, updated separately, and in some cases developed by different companies.
During the development of the concept of a programmer/feeder system, it became apparent that a remote, non-connected control system and program was desirable. Unfortunately, for many years the "legacy" systems, or traditional systems, such as standalone programmers, had only focused on microdevice programming, data manipulation, and self-test capabilities. This meant that many new operations would have to be performed in a new program which can control both a programmer in an integrated system and a standalone programmer, where an operator has to manually insert the microdevices.
The new program would have to use each systems' remote control interface to arbitrate process control between the systems. It would have to provide a complete user interface for entering and storing all microdevice handling, labeling, and programming information. When an operator selects the setup information it must be sent to each component in the system. The new program would then have to start arbitration while keeping each of the components working in synchronization during the process. It would have to keep track of statistic results for the operations being performed. Ideally, the setup information would be stored to be easily used over and over again to run the same microdevices. Further, the new program would ideally also provide a mode of operation where an operator could manually, one by one, enter each of the parameters for programming a batch of microdevices and then just initiate operation.
In addition, it was apparent that many businesses wanted to have the capability of minimizing operator skill and dividing the operation of the new program into different parts than anything which had been done in the past. In essence, an engineering (free form) style user interface and a manufacturing (automated) style user interface were desired in one product.
Thus, it was apparent that there would be many major problems in developing a programmer/feeder system program which could be controlled from a separate personal computer while still being able to control previously developed legacy programming, labeling, and handling systems, and the systems which would evolve from them.

Programmer/feeder system task linking program


A sensitive photon detection system generates an electronic photon sensor signal as a K factor times a number N photons per unit time. The system is configured by combining a separate optical amplifier with a gain factor K1 with a photo detector with a gain factor K2 such that K may be realized as the product of K1 and K2. The values of K1 and K2 are chosen to meet a predetermined K while optimizing a signal quality of the photon sensor signal. The optical amplifier may be preceded by a photon gathering device and/or a light chopping device to further optimize system performance. Further, the photon sensor signal may be further processed analog circuitry or may be digitized and processed using digital signal processing to generate an enhanced photon sensor signal with enhanced signal quality by adding gain and/or bandwidth limiting.

Photon detection is widely used in applications as varied as process monitoring, optical communications, spectroscopy, remote sensing, quantum cryptography, and tracking. A simple means for improving the sensitivity of photon detection is desired and would result in an increased range of applications with photon detection systems with improved performance.
There has been much work directed at improving the sensitivity of photon detectors. For example, Chappell Brown in the Jan. 29, 2002 EE Times describes the use of FET's with quantum dots to permit the detection of single photons. This work has been done at the Toshiba Cambridge Research Laboratory by a team under the direction of Andrew Shields. In this approach, a two dimensional electron gas is created in the channel of a field effect transistor. The channel is formed at the surface of the FET's heterojunction (e.g., between GaAs and aluminum gallium arsenide). This electron gas is very sensitive to the field on the transistor gate. Instead of a conventional gate on top of the channel, an array of indium phosphide quantum dots is deposited. When a photon hits a quantum dot, it creates an electron and a hole which in turn perturb the two dimensional electron gas, creating a small change in current that can be detected.
As another example, S. Komiyama, O. Astafiev, V. Antonov, T. Kutsuwa, and H. Hirai, Nature 403, 405 (2000) describe a photon detector that can detect photons in the far infrared part of the spectrum. It also uses a quantum dot that is 7000 Angstroms across. The quantum dot is placed in a strong magnetic field that splits the electron energy levels in the dot into two energy levels. An incoming infrared photon can be absorbed by the dot if its energy is equal to the gap between the energy levels. Once the electron is excited by the photon, it leaps onto the terminal of a single electron transistor where it is detected. A 0.1 mm2 device can count one photon every ten seconds. It must be cooled to 1° K in order to detect far infrared photons.
B. S. Karasik, W. R. McGrath, M. F. Gershenson, and A. V. Sergeev, J. App. Phys. 87, 7586 (2000) describe a detector capable of detecting even longer wavelength photons. A millimeter wavelength photon is detected by changing the state of a one micron sized micro-bridge made of a disordered superconducting film. The photon heats the film, causing it to change from a superconducting to conducting state. The photon is detected by this change in resistivity. Like the infrared detector, this detector also requires extensive cooling (in this case, to 0.1° K).
A somewhat similar detector for visible and infrared photons has been developed by G. N. Gol'tsman, O. Okunev, G. Chulkove, A, Lipatov, A, Semenov, K. Smirnov, B. Voronov, and A, Dzardanov, Ap. Phys. Lett. 79 705 (2001). It also uses a superconducting/conducting transition in a micro-bridge made of an ultra thin NbN film. The device is maintained at 4.2° K.
In addition to these relatively new sensitive detectors, there are many more common detectors based on dynode type photomultipliers, single or multi-channel photomultipliers, and avalanche diodes. Some of these are reviewed in the recent article by Wolfgang Becker and Axel Bergmann, "Detectors for high speed photon counting," which may be accessed at http://www.becker hicki.de/pdf/Spcdetectl.pdf.
Optical amplifiers based on stimulated emission are well known. Stimulated emission can occur in matter in a variety of forms, both fluid and solid. Optical fiber amplifiers are becoming more important now for optical communications [See, e.g., S. Sudo, ed., Optical Fiber Amplifiers. Boston: Artech House, Inc. (1997)]. Optical amplifiers are well described in the U.S. Patent Office subclass 359/333, 349. In these subclasses, optical amplification is described under the headings: Raman or Brillouin process, free electron, bi-stable, correction of deleterious effects, mode locked, particular active medium (e.g., crystal, plasma, fluid, etc.), particular pumping type (e.g., electrical, optical, nuclear, magnetic, etc.), particular resonator cavity (e.g., scanning, confocal or folded mirrors, etc.), multiple pass, and beam combination or separation.
Photon detection is a relatively mature field with both good analytical and experimental support. However, the state of the art is pushed in efforts to increase the sensitivity of detection. Noise and voltage breakdown problems can arise when detectors are made to operate at their limits. In some cases, extreme cooling is required. In other cases, the sensitive detectors can be quite bulky. Devices based on nanotechnology hold considerable promise, but this technology is still in the relatively early stages of development.
Typical high gain photon detectors have gains on the order of 106-108, with pulse response widths of 1 nanosecond. Each input photon yields an output current pulse of peak amplitude on the order of a milliampere. The table below (taken from Wolfgang Becker and Axel Bergmann, "Detectors for high speed photon counting," that can be accessed at http://www.becker hickl.dcjvdf/spcdetectl.pdf.) shows some typical values for a standard photomultiplier tube (PMT), a fast photomultiplier tube, and a multi-channel PMT:
TABLE 1PMTGainFWHMISERVSERImax (cont)Standard107  5 ns0.32 mA16 mV100μAFast PMT107 1.5 ns  1 mA50 mV100μAMCP PMT1060.36 ns 0.5 mA25 mV0.1μA
In Table 1, ISER denotes the peak current for a "single electron response", and VSER denotes the average SER peak voltage when the output is terminated with 50Ω. Imax is the maximum permitted continuous output current of the PMT. The Table shows that quite large gains are possible with typical tubes, and that the response time of the tubes is very small and on the order of nanoseconds.
Avalanche photodiodes can also be made quite sensitive if they are operated close to or even slightly above the breakdown voltage. In these devices, the electron-hole pairs generated by the input photons initiate an avalanche breakdown in the diode. Active or passive quenching circuits are used to restore normal operation after an avalanche occurs. These devices have high quantum efficiency in the visible and near-infrared. PIN diodes can be used to detect X-ray photons. Because of their energy, X-ray photons create so many electron-hole pairs in the diode that the resulting charge pulse can be detected by an ultra-sensitive charge amplifier. These devices, however, only have time resolutions in the microsecond range. They can distinguish between different energy photons by the amount of charge generated by each.
Transit time spread and timing jitter occurs in these high gain detectors. For a PMT, there are three major causes: emission at the photocathode, multiplication in the dynode system, and timing jitter in the subsequent electronics. High efficiency semiconductor-type photo-cathodes (GaAs, GasAsP, and InGaAs) introduce transit time spreads of the order of 100 to 150 psec. This is due to the random velocities and random directions of the emitted electrons. The same type of transit time spread is introduced by the dynodes. The timing jitter in the discriminator at the input of a photon counter can also introduce a timing spread. Transit time spread also occurs in avalanche photodiodes, due to the different depth in which the photons are absorbed. The passive quenching circuit can also introduce a spread if the reverse voltage has not completely recovered from the previous avalanche breakdown.
Noise occurs associated with the random thermal emission from the cathode (with the dark current increasing by a factor of 3 to 10 for each 10° C. increase in temperature). Also, most detectors have an increased probability to produce a dark current pulse in a time interval of hundreds of nanoseconds to some microseconds following the detection of a photon.
Solid state detectors have quite respectable noise figures. The sensitivity is often described in terms of the parameter D*, defined as the reciprocal of the noise equivalent power (NEP) of the detector referred to unit area and a 1 Hz electrical bandwidth:D*=(AΔf)1/2/NEP
where A is the detector area and Δf is the electrical bandwidth. Typical commercially available detectors have D*s in the range 108-1012 watt−1-cm-sec1/2. In general, noise can be decreased by operating at reduced gain.
Optical amplification based on stimulated emission has developed rapidly as a result of the rise of optical communication devices. Stimulated emission is enhanced over spontaneous emission in materials that contain a meta-stable state. Thus, ordinarily the spontaneous lifetime of an excited state is on the order of some tens of nanoseconds. However, in some materials, this spontaneous lifetime can be of the order of microseconds to a few milliseconds; in which case the excited state is called a meta-stable state. In that case, the likelihood of a spontaneous transition occurring rather than the desired stimulated emission is small. For stimulated emission to occur, a population inversion has to be created in the host medium. This can be achieved either with optical pumping or electrically (e.g., collisional excitation due to current flow in a discharge).
For the fiber amplifiers which are finding increasing use in optical communications, typical pump lasers include Er, Pr, Nd, and Tm. Pump band gain coefficients can be in the range of 2-6 dB mW. The theoretical limit on the noise figure (degradation of S/N between input and output for an optical amplifier) is 3 dB. For comparison, amplifier gains of 30-40 dB are easily obtained. The noise figure of an optical fiber amplifier actually decreases for a fixed pump length as the gain is increased. [S. Sudo, ed., Optical Fiber Amplifiers. Boston: Artech House, Inc. (1997)].
Depending on the application, an optical collection system may be used in front of the optical amplifier to either narrow the field of acceptance of the system or broaden it. For example, for optical communications, it may be desirable to have a very narrow acceptance angle. This will serve also to minimize background photon noise. For broad area monitoring, on the other hand, it may be desirable to have a wide acceptance angle.
A large aperture collection lens may be used to increase the gathered intensity. However, a limit on the largeness of the aperture may be set by the acceptance angles in the subsequent optical system. The acceptance angle must be larger than the beam divergence at any point in the system. The divergence angle in the subsequent optics is subject to the conservation of the transverse action Δθ D, where D is the diameter of the optical beam at any point in the optical system and Δθ is the associated angular divergence of the beam at that point. If an optical fiber amplifier is used, for example, the allowable divergence of the beam at the fiber end will be determined by the numerical aperture of the fiber. It is understood that a lens system may be replaced by a mirror system or a combined lens/mirror system.
Another method for noise and offset reduction is the chopping technique. Chopping is a modulation technique which shifts the spectra of low frequency stationary processes at multiples of chopper frequency out of the band of interest. The chopping may be achieved with well-known techniques, e.g., mechanically (e.g., rotating wheels), electromechanically (e.g., electrically controlled mirror orientation), by means of electrically controlled crossed polarizer's, etc. As one application, this type of gating may be used with pulsed light sources to reduce the effective background or to distinguish between different signal components.
If a "photon event" comprises emissions from gunfire and chemical explosions (non-nuclear) there is a problem in the detection of radio frequency spectrum. This type of emission is black-body and increases with frequency. At optical frequencies (visible and infrared) the signals are large and are readily detectable by conventional optical detectors. However, optical frequencies cannot penetrate dense clouds, smoke, or foliage. Lower frequencies, down into the radio and microwave frequency bands, can penetrate these obstructions, enabling detection at light speed and offering the possibility of radio localization. But at radio frequencies, antennas are used to capture energy and the antennas suffer from severe limitations. The wavelength-squared dependence on capture area of an antenna means that power collected diminishes with the square of frequency. If an attempt is made to recapture the frequency dependent losses with gain in the antenna, the radiation pattern becomes very directive, requiring prior knowledge of the source location in order to point the antenna, limiting usefulness as a detector. So lower frequencies provide the required penetration but are problematic to detect because they require antennas. As frequency increases, the black body radiation increases with frequency, but the capture area of the antenna decreases with frequency-squared. A sensitive photon detector that does not have a frequency dependent capture area would circumvent the problem of a frequency dependent antenna.
While many techniques have been employed separately to accomplish photon collection, optical amplification, and photon detection, no single system has incorporated all the necessary elements to achieve a photon detection system that is optimized for sensitivity, size, signal to noise, etc. and yet configured with off the shelf components.
There is, therefore, a need for a sensitive photon detector that combines the best features of optical amplifiers with those of state of the art photon detectors to configure a photon detector system that uses off the shelf components, offers smaller size, and provides better signal to noise than is achievable with a single component photon detector.

System and method for sensitive photon detection


A system of modular assembly comprising a plurality of structural members. Each of the plurality of structural members comprises at least two slots along a lengthwise side. A first one of the at least two slots defines a first outside slot which is located nearest to a first widthwise side and a second one of the at least two slots defines a second outside slot which is located nearest to a second widthwise side. The distance between the slot axis of the first outside slot and the first widthwise side is a predetermined slot-to-side distance, and the distance between the slot axis of the second outside slot and the second widthwise side is a whole-number multiple of the predetermined slot-to-side distance. The distance between each of the slot axes of the at least two slots along one of said lengthwise sides is a whole-number multiple of the predetermined slot-to-side distance. The plurality of structural members comprises a first vertical structural member, a second vertical structural member, a first horizontal member and a second horizontal structural member. The first outside slot of the first vertical structural member is detachably connected slot-to-slot to the first outside slot of the first horizontal structural member, the second outside slot of the first vertical structural member is detachably connected slot-to-slot to the first outside slot of the second horizontal structural member, the first outside slot of the second vertical structural member is detachably connected slot-to-slot to the second outside slot of the first horizontal structural member, and the second outside slot of the second vertical structural member is detachably connected slot-to-slot to the second outside slot of the second horizontal member such that the first vertical structural member is substantially parallel to the second vertical structural member and substantially perpendicular to the first horizontal structural member and the second horizontal structural member.

It is known to connect a plurality of structural members using complementary slots to form assembled constructions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,854,724 of Wuorio discloses a molding apparatus comprising a plurality of structural members. According to the Wuorio patent, each structural member has two parallel sides extending lengthwise and two parallel sides extending widthwise whereby an equal thickness is defined between two planar sides. In addition, the structural members have slots, and each slot has a pair of sides, an end, and a center line. The slots of the structural members engage each other in order to assemble the molding apparatus of the invention.
Another example of such an apparatus is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,216 of Vaeth. The Vaeth patent discloses a desk that is assembled by connecting complementary slots on a plurality of structural members. The structural members of the apparatus have slots of varying depth on one or more sides of the structural members. Like the Wuorio apparatus, each of the slots in the structural members of the Vaeth desk are defined by an open end, a closed end, and a pair of sides.
The previously-described devices, however, each suffer from one or more disadvantages. None of the previously-described devices can be enlarged by adding additional structural members. For example, the molding apparatus of the Wuorio patent cannot be expanded upon to produce a molding apparatus comprising more structural members than are illustrated in FIG. 9. Instead, the Wuorio patent discloses a molding apparatus that is locked into an assembled construction using locking element 16 such that the assembled structure cannot be expanded. Thus, the molding apparatus of the Wuorio patent cannot exceed the length of its longest structural member or the width of its widest structural member. Simply put, the molding apparatus of the Wuorio patent cannot be "grown" outside the box created by the four largest molding elements. Similarly, the desk of the Vaeth patent cannot be expanded to produce a desk comprising more structural members than are illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 and 6. The desk of the Vaeth patent cannot be expanded by adding a second desktop or another pedestal of bookshelves. Thus, both the Wuorio patent and the Vaeth patent describe devices limited in size by the dimensions of their largest individual structural members. Consequently, neither Wuorio nor Vaeth disclose devices that are scalable. Scalability is the ability to duplicate, or replicate ad infinitum, subassemblies of structural members to produce a larger assembled unit. When scaling is employed, a plurality of subassemblies are detachably connected together with one or more connecting members to produce a larger assembled unit.
It would be desirable, therefore, if a system of modular construction were developed that could be used to produce an assembled unit from a plurality of subassemblies of structural members and one or more connecting members. It would also be desirable if such a system were developed that could be used to connect a plurality of subassemblies in a non-planar or "brick and mortar" style construction. It would be further desirable if such a system were developed that allowed for the replacement of like structural members with unlike structural members to make repair and replacement easier and less expensive. It would be still further desirable is such a system were developed that allowed for the construction of structurally stable assemblies of limitless dimensions without the use of tools or fastening devices.


Alert conditions datasets are created from historic data taken from actual incidents for which the alert condition datasets are to indicate during future operations. A networked computers system including various devices is monitored for alert conditions associated with one, or more, of the devices. The severity of an alert is based on the number of alert conditions met for a given alert conditions dataset.

In an organization there are incidents recorded where a device or a service becomes unresponsive, inhibited, unreachable, and so on, which can hamper the operations of the organization. In most of the cases, actions such as root cause determination, rebooting the computer system, and/or collecting system dump data is taken after an incident has occurred.
In a storage area network (SAN), a storage resource management (SRM) program collects data from various devices and/or component of a computer system. The data collected includes current and historical performance metrics and device details. The SRM program raises alerts based on the threshold values set for a particular metric for a particular device. The alerts are raised once the actual value of the metric for the particular device or system component meets the threshold condition set by a user.

Determining alert criteria in a network environment

International Business Machines Corporation


A lens-fitted photo film unit has a film roll chamber, a cartridge chamber, and an exposure frame member provided between the film roll chamber and the film container chamber. The exposure frame member has an exposure aperture through which each picture frame is recorded in the same size on the filmstrip. The exposure frame member is rearwardly convex along a lengthwise direction of the filmstrip so as to support the filmstrip to be forwardly concave behind the exposure aperture, and has a forwardly concave wall portion on one margin of the exposure aperture. Data recording holes are formed through the forwardly concave wall portion, and a data recording lamp projects light toward the data recording holes at each exposure, to photographically record a number of dots on the filmstrip on one margin of the picture frame. A data switching blade mounted in the forwardly concave wall portion in front of the data recording holes. In cooperation with an operation member that is operated to select one of different print formats to each picture frame, the data switching blade covers or uncovers the data recording holes, changing the number of dots recorded for each picture frame in accordance with a print format selected by the operation member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens-fitted photo film units, by which picture frames can be designated to be printed in different formats within a filmstrip by optically recording print format data in association with each picture frame.
2. Background Arts
Lens-fitted photo film units, hereinafter referred to as film units, each preloaded with a photo film cartridge, are getting more popular as a user-friendly snap camera. The film unit has a film roll chamber and a cartridge chamber for holding a roll of unexposed photo filmstrip and a film container or cartridge shell respectively. An exposure frame is formed between the cartridge chamber and the film roll chamber. The filmstrip is exposed through an exposure aperture confined by the exposure frame, and is wound into the cartridge shell one frame after each exposure.
Since a cheap fixed-focus optical system is used as the taking lens of the film unit, the filmstrip is supported to be forwardly concave behind the exposure aperture in order to correct the curvature of the field. Therefore, the exposure frame is shaped to be rearwardly convex along the lengthwise direction of the filmstrip.
For handiness sake, the film unit is expected to be as compact as possible. Recent trend is to make the unit body thinner than the outer diameter of the cartridge shell except the cartridge chamber.
Recently, film units containing a new type photo film cartridge called IX 240 type or APS (Advanced Photo System) type have been brought into market. The IX 240 photo film cartridge can contain a leader of a filmstrip therein and advance it to the outside by rotating its spool in an unwinding direction. The standard frame exposure range of the filmstrip contained in the IX 240 photo film cartridge is 16.7 mm.times.30.2 mm.
To add amusement in the snap-photography, a print system has been provided for making photo prints in different formats, including a conventional ISO 135 standard size (C size) whose aspect ratio is about 1.5, an elongated panoramic size (P size) which is about double the ISO 135 size in length and thus has an aspect ratio of about 3.0, and a high-vision size (H size) whose aspect ratio is proximate to that of the high-vision TV screen, i.e. about 1.8. In general, the P size photo print is about 89 mm.times.252 mm, the H size photo print is about 89 mm.times.158 mm, and the C size photo print is about 89 mm.times.127 mm.
It is also known in the art to record every picture frame in the same size and record print format data for designating a print format to each frame concurrently with the exposure. According to this method, prints are made in the designated print formats from the same size picture frames by limiting the printing range of each frame to be correspondent to the designated print format.
As the aspect ratio of the IX 240 standard frame is about 1.8, i.e. the H size, a H size photo print is made from the standard frame. In this case, the C size photo print is made by limiting right and left portions of the IX 240 standard picture frame. On the other hand, a P size photo print is made by limiting upper and lower portions of the IX 240 standard picture frame.
In the film unit, the print format data is optically recorded as a dot pattern on the photo film on one margin of the picture frame. To record the dot pattern, a plurality of holes are formed through a wall portion of the exposure frame, and a data switching blade is mounted in front of the wall portion, so as to be slidable for covering or uncovering some of the holes.
Mounting such a plate to be slidable in front of the wall portion of the exposure frame can increase the thickness of the film unit. In addition, the data switching blade should be sufficiently close to the film surface so as the dot pattern to be recorded clearly enough for automatic discrimination of the dot pattern.


A wobble signal generating apparatus of an optical-electronic system. A first operation unit for generating a reference signal in response to a first input signal and a second input signal that are derived from a plurality of light signals reflected from an optical storage medium is provided. The plurality of reflected light signals is used for generating the reference signal even when the optical-electronic system is recording data onto the optical storage medium. A processing unit processes the reference signal to generate the wobble signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc recording and reproducing apparatus preferable for use with a writable optical discs such as a write once optical discs (CD-Rs) and a rewritable optical discs (CD-RWs).
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, writable optical discs such as write once optical discs (CD-R) and rewritable optical discs (CD-RW) standardized in ISO/IEC13490-1 have proliferated as information media for editing and recording audio data. In each of these optical discs 10, as shown in FIG. 1A, grooves 1 for guiding a light beam (hereinafter, referred to as pregrooves) are formed, and a positioning method referred to as a tracking servo is employed. The tracking servo is a mechanism where pits and projections constituting lands 2 formed on both sides of each pregroove 1 are detected to determine the position of an optical pickup, so that the desired pre-format address is accurately irradiated with a laser.
Sloped surfaces of the land, which coincide with side surfaces of the pregroove 1, are formed with a slight wobble in the form of a sine wave in-phase with each other as shown in FIG. 1B. The wobble signal indicates that the wobble component has been subjected to FM modulation. In the wobble signal, time axis information which indicates the position on the optical disc 10,
Sloped surfaces of the land, which coincide with side surfaces of the pregroove 1, are formed with a slight wobble in the form of a sine wave in-phase with each other as shown in FIG. 1B. The wobble signal indicates that the wobble component has been subjected to FM modulation. In the wobble signal, time axis information which indicates the position on the optical disc 10, and a recommended value of the power of the laser beam optimum for recording are encoded.
The encoded time axis information is referred to as ATIP (Absolute Time In Pregroove) information, and is written as an absolute time in the signal recording region (i.e. a program region) of the optical disc 10 along a direction from the starting point at its inner peripheral side toward its outer peripheral side. The ATIP information is written in the processing of the CD-R and CD-RW. The ATIP information is written in the optical disc 10 such as CD-R and CD-RW in a modulation mode referred to as bi-phase modulation mode. In this mode, a baseband modulation is conducted where, depending on whether the waveform of the last pulse signal constituting the error correction information of the immediately preceding pre-format address ends at a high level or low level, the pre-format address in the next frame is connected without being inverted, or the pre-format address is inverted and connected.
The ATIP information is written, for example, in the side surfaces Us, Ut of the pregroove 1 between two lands 2a and 2b shown in FIG. 1B. That is, the ATIP information is written in the side surface Us of the land 2a located at the inner peripheral side of the pregroove 1 in which data is recorded, and in the side surface Ut of the land 2b located at the outer peripheral side of the pregroove 1 in such a manner that the ATIP information written in the side surface Us is synchronous to the ATIP information written in the side surface Ut.
Therefore, the ATIP information can be read as a wobble signal by detecting the reflected light from the main spot 4 on the wobble formed in the lands 2a and 2b by two light receiving elements split in the direction of a track. The broken double line circles in FIG. 1B show spot diameters of the light beam applied to standard density optical disc.
The wobble signal is produced in such a manner that its center frequency becomes, for example, 22.05 kHz, when the optical disc 10 is rotated at a standard velocity (CLV) of a compact disc (CD). One sector of the ATIP information is constituted in such a manner as to coincide to one data sector after the signal is recorded. Therefore, at the time information is recorded, the pregrooves 1 are irradiated with a light beam with a predetermined intensity and information is written therein while the sector of the ATIP information is synchronous with the data sector.
In a conventional method, when a signal is recorded in the optical disc 10, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1B a pit 61 is formed at a main spot 4 created by a three-beam method, and in this state, the return light from the main spot 4 is split and received in the photodetecting device 20 shown in FIG. 2. In the photodetecting device 20, a light receiving signal A from the light receiving element PD1 such as a photodiode which constitutes a four split photodetector, and a light receiving signal D from the light receiving element PD4 similar to the light receiving element PD1 are added to each other by a 2-input operational amplifier (OPA) 22A to produce an addition signal A+D. At the same time, a light receiving signal B from the light receiving element PD2, and a light receiving signal C from the light receiving element PD3 are added to each other by a operation circuit 22B to produce an addition signal B+C. In the photodetecting device 20, the latter addition signal B+C is subtracted from the former addition signal A+D by an operation circuit 22C and filtered by band pass filter 26 to obtain a wobble signal.
However, when data is written to the optical disc 10 by a laser beam, the large writing power of the laser beam received by the photodetecting device 20 causes the levels of the light receiving signals A.about.D to exceed the allowance value of the operation circuits 22A and 22B, and thus causing saturation of operation circuits 22A and 22B.
Therefore, a sampling and holding device 24 is provided between the photodetecting device 20 and the operation circuits 22A and 22B to turn off the connections between the photodetecting device 20 and the operation circuits 22A and 22B when data is written to the optical disc. By sampling and holding the signal between reading and writing data, the large writing power of the laser beam received by the photodetecting device is avoided.
However, when the sampling and holding device 24 turns off the connections between the photodetecting device 20 and the operation circuits 22A and 22B, the signal provided to the band pass filter 26 is temporarily terminated. Thus, quality of the wobble signal deteriorates.
FIG. 3A shows the waveform of the signal output by the operation circuit 22C shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B shows the waveform of the wobble signal output by the band pass filter shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3B, the amplitude of the wobble signal is irregular, which worsens the accuracy of the position on the optical disc indicated by the wobble signal.
In addition, the switching of the sampling and holding device 24 must meet the operation of the disc driver, thus complicating the timing setting of the switching of the sampling and holding device 24.

Method and apparatus for generating wobble signal