A receiver and associated method estimates a channel impulse response of the communications signal. A communications signal is received as a burst of transmitted symbols, including a known training sequence. The joint estimation of timing offset and initial channel impulse response is determined based on the cross-correlations of the known transmitted symbols and received communications signal. A constant modulus interference removal iteration is applied to improve the initial channel impulse estimation.

Cellular networks are expanding as more users turn to mobile devices as their primary and secondary communications devices, thus requiring an increase in the amount of wireless infrastructure. The increased load demands on the infrastructure often causes network congestion. This mandates an increase to the capacity of the communications networks, such as the GSM/GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), to reduce interference. Different proposals to increase capacity and reduce interference include systems for frequency planning or quality of signal control, power control schemes, and mobile station performance enhancement systems.
Wireless and cellular networks also suffer from increased interference emanating from other users, such as neighboring cells on the same frequency, known as co-channel interference (CCI), or interference emanating from neighboring frequencies on the same cell, known as adjacent channel interference (ACI). A single-antenna interference cancellation (SAIC) system is sometimes used to counter CCI. The use of this type of system has been standardized by the 3G-partnership project (3GPP), as the technical specification group (TSG) for the GSM/EDGE radio-access network (GERAN).
SAIC can reduce interference using Downlink Advanced Receiver Performance (DARP) techniques, as adopted by the 3GPP. The 3GPP technical specification 05.05V8.11, entitled the Third Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network, Radio Transmission and Reception, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This specification describes the requirements for different components used in such communications systems, for example, the transceivers, base stations, and other components.
Different SAIC algorithms used as interference reduction systems have been proposed, including a constant modulus method and joint demodulation method (JDM), which uses the joint demodulation of the user and an interference sequence. These systems typically begin with a standard least-squares (LS) estimate of a propagation channel, and a static channel profile for an interferer. A joint branch metric can be minimized using modified Viterbi systems, and any estimated sequences for an interfering signal in a least mean squares (LMS) algorithm can update channel estimates for a desired interfering propagation channel.
Such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,006,811, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0170234, and an article by the Nokia Research Center entitled Co-Channel Interference Suppression For Constant Modulus Signals. These systems describe an iterative method for improving channel impulse response (CIR) estimation. In such systems, the timing offset of a training sequence is presumed to be perfectly known. This assumption, however, cannot always be held, and a valid assumption could be that the timing offset is randomly distributed over a number of symbols. Thus, the CIR and timing offset could be jointly estimated.

Method and receiver for estimating the channel impulse response using a constant modulus interference removal iteration


A cellular cushioning system includes cells or support units arranged in one or more stacked arrays. The cells are hollow chambers that resist deflection due to compressive forces, similar to compression springs. The arrays are attached to one or more intermedial binding layers. The intermedial binding layer(s) links the cells together while allowing the cells to deform independently of one another. An external load compresses one of the void cells within an independent compression range without significantly compressing at least one void cell adjacent the compressed void cell. The independent compression range is the displacement range of the compressed void cell that does not significantly affect the compression of adjacent void cells. If the void cell is compressed beyond the independent compression range, the intermedial binding layers may be deflected and/or the void cells adjacent the compressed void cell may be compressed.

Cushioning systems are used in a wide variety of applications including comfort and impact protection of the human body. A cushioning system is placed adjacent a portion of the body and provides a barrier between the body and one or more objects that would otherwise impinge on the body. For example, a pocketed spring mattress contains an array of close-coupled metal springs that cushion the body from a bed frame. Similarly, chairs, gloves, knee-pads, helmets, etc. may each include a cushioning system that provides a barrier between a portion of the body and one or more objects.
A variety of structures are used for cushioning systems. For example, an array of close-coupled closed-cell air and/or water chambers often constitute air and water mattresses. An array of close-coupled springs often constitutes a conventional mattress. Further examples include open or closed cell foam and elastomeric honeycomb structures. For cushioning systems utilizing an array of closed or open cells or springs, either the cells or springs are directly coupled together or one or more unifying layers are used to couple each of the cells or springs together at their extremities. While directly coupling the cells or springs together or indirectly coupling the extremities of the cells or springs together is effective in tying the cushioning system together, the independence of each of the cells or springs is reduced. This lack of independence can lead to an increased load being placed on a small area of the body (referred to herein as a point load). A point load deforming one of the cells or springs is likely to deform adjacent cells or springs directly or by stressing the unifying layer(s). As a result, the resistance to deflection at the point of contact increases due to the deflection of multiple cells or springs. The increased resistance to deflection may cause pressure points on portions of a user's body that protrude into the cushioning system more than other portions of the user's body (e.g., at a user's shoulders and hips on a mattress).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Disclosed herein are modified strains for reducing degradation of recombinantly expressed products secreted from a host organism and methods of using the modified strains. In some embodiments, to attenuate a protease activity in Pichia pastoris, the genes encoding enzymes the degrade proteases are inactivated or mutated to reduce or eliminate activity. In preferred strains, the protease activity of proteases encoded by PAS_chr4_0584 (YPS1-1) and PAS_chr3_1157 (YPS1-2) (e.g., polypeptides comprising SEQ ID NO: 66 and 67) is attenuated.

The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is widely used in the production of recombinant proteins. P. pastoris grows to high cell density, provides tightly controlled methanol-inducible trans gene expression and efficiently secretes heterologous proteins in defined media.
However, during culture of a strain of P. pastoris, recombinantly expressed proteins may be degraded before they can be collected, resulting in a mixture of proteins that includes fragments of recombinantly expressed proteins and a decreased yield of full-length recombinant proteins. What is needed, therefore, are tools and engineered strains to mitigate protein degradation in P. pastoris.

Modified strains for the production of recombinant silk


An integrated circuit assembly that includes an integrated circuit which is connected to an interposer. The integrated circuit may include a logic circuit which generates an output signal. The interposer may include a driver circuit that regenerates the output signal. The interposer may also contain a clock signal that is connected to the logic circuit. Separating the driver circuit from the integrated circuit may provide an assembly which reduces the amount of noise in the logic circuit created by the driver circuit switching states. Additionally, providing the clock circuit on the interposer allows the clock to be fabricated with a more robust process than the logic circuit of the integrated circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit assembly.
2. Background Information
Computer systems typically contain one or more microprocessors that perform various tasks in accordance with instructions and data. The instructions and data can be transmitted, stored and retrieved from other devices such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) integrated circuit or a hard disk drive.
The microprocessor is typically fabricated as a single integrated circuit that is assembled into a package. The package may be soldered to a printed circuit board commonly referred to as a motherboard. Likewise, memory devices may be formed in separate integrated circuits that are packaged and mounted to the motherboard. Separating the microprocessor and the memory circuits simplifies the design, replacement and repair of the two components.
The microprocessor typically contains core logic memory circuits that receive input signals and provide output signals. The microprocessor may also have driver and buffer circuits that provide an interface between the logic/memory circuits and other devices coupled to the processor. It has been found that the driver circuits may create electrical noise in the power and ground busses of the integrated circuit when switching states. The noise may affect the operation of the logic/memory circuits of the microprocessor.
There have been developed integrated circuits with on-board filtering capacitors which reduce the noise created by the driver circuits. On-board capacitors increase the complexity and the cost of mass producing the microprocessor. It would therefore be desirable to provide an integrated circuit assembly that would isolate the driver circuits from the core logic/memory circuits of a microprocessor.
A microprocessor will typically contain a clock circuit(s) that is connected to the logic/memory circuits. The clock circuit is typically constructed with the same fabrication process as the other logic/memory circuits of the processor. It is desirable to reduce the line widths, etc. of an integrated circuit to increase the transistor density of the circuit. Unfortunately, improving transistor density may also reduce the robustness of the clock circuit, introducing additional skew and other undesirable signal conditions. It would be desirable to separate the clock circuit from the logic/memory circuit of the processor.
The input/output (I/O) signals, and power/ground are provided to the microprocessor or through die pads located on an external surface of the integrated circuit. The die pads are typically connected to a substrate or interposer of the integrated circuit package. The substrate/interposer is mounted to a printed circuit board such as the motherboard of a computer.
There have been developed integrated circuit packages which connect the integrated circuit to the substrate/interposer with a plurality of solder bumps with a process commonly referred to as controlled collapsed chip connection (C4). The solder bumps are located within a two-dimensional array that extends across a bottom surface of the integrated circuit. The substrate/interposer includes routing traces and vias that connect the solder bumps to contacts that are attached to the printed circuit board. The substrate/interposer xe2x80x9cfans-outxe2x80x9d the relatively small die pad pitch of the integrated circuit to the larger contact pad pitch of the printed circuit board. It would be desirable to utilize the substrate/interposer for functions other than fanning out the signals of the integrated circuit.
One embodiment of the present invention is an integrated circuit assembly that includes an integrated circuit which is connected to an interposer. The integrated circuit may include a logic circuit which generates an output signal. The interposer may include a driver circuit that regenerates the output signal.

Active interposer technology for high performance CMOS packaging application


A method and apparatus for performing complex mathematical calculations. The apparatus includes a multicore processor 10 where the cores 15 are connected 20 into a net with the processors on the periphery 15a primarily dedicated to input/output functions and distribution of tasks to the central processors 15b-h of the net. The central processors 15b-h perform calculations substantially simultaneously, far exceeding the speed of conventional processors. The method 100, which may be implemented by an instruction set to the processor nodes, informs the processor nodes how to divide the work and conduct the calculations. The method includes steps dividing the data into subsets 110 directing the subsets to predetermined nodes 115, performing the calculations 120 and outputting the results 125.

It is useful in many information processing applications of computers to use multiple processors or multiple computers to speed up operations. Dividing a task and performing multiple processing and computing operations in parallel at the same time is known in the art, as are many systems and structures to accomplish this. An example is systolic array processing wherein a large information stream is divided up among rows of processors that perform sequential computations by column, and pass results to the next column. Other examples are found in the field of supercomputing, wherein multiple processors may be interconnected and tasks assigned to them in a number of different ways, and communication of intermediate results between processors and new data and instructions to them may be provided through crossbar switches, bus interconnection networks with or without routers, or direct interconnections between processors with message passing protocols such as MPICH, used on large machines.
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is a pervasive technology, which is computationally burdened with Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) calculations, known as butterfly computations (also referred to as "butterflies"). The butterfly processing time has been and continues to be a major challenge to product advancements in applications such as wireless communications, due to the ever increasing speed and processing complexity requirements. Although prior art multiple processor architectures have improved the FFT processing speeds, those architectures have reached limitations to making further improvements because of physical constraints that limit the speed of exchanging information between computers. A novel approach to improve the butterfly computational speed is needed to take advantage of the new multiprocessor array architectures mentioned above. While the invention is described using a butterfly calculation, the invention is equally applicable to other complex calculations.

Method and apparatus for performing complex calculations in a multiprocessor array


A method for cleaning a thermode tip including applying an energy pulse to the thermode tip. The energy pulse involves raising the temperature of the thermode tip higher than the working temperature of the thermode tip. A method for cleaning a thermode tip may include periodically performing a predetermined number of soldering cycles at a working temperature; and applying an energy pulse to the thermode tip.

Thermodes are devices used for local application of heat and pressure, typically in soldering applications known as 'Hot-bar reflow soldering'. Once the thermode is brought into contact with a desired location, localized heating is produced by direct resistance heating of the tip of the thermode. The 'soldering gun' is a common example.
The main advantage of thermode soldering is the very rapid temperature change (up to 1000° Celsius per second) with precise control over the temperature while the component parts are being mechanically held by thermode contact pressure. Also, since the hottest portion of the thermode is typically in direct contact with the part bond area, efficient heat transfer occurs and rapid heating of the item is possible. The bond area is the area(s) of the part being processed where a reflow soldered bond is desired between at least two surfaces. Since the tips have little thermal mass, rapid cooling and solidification of the completed bond is possible. Forced air cooling can additionally be used to reduce the time required for the soldering cycle.
There are several styles of thermodes in common use, which differ mainly by the shape of the tip and material used. A thermode typically includes the following elements:                Terminals: electrical contacts where power is applied.        Mount: means of mechanically supporting the thermode (possibly the same structure as supports the terminals).        Shank: means of supporting the tip and conducting current to it.        Tip: high resistance section where the majority of heat is developed.        Transition zone: means of joining the tip to the shank.        Working surface: the portion of the tip, which comes in contact with the item to be heated.        Thermocouple: a device for determining the working temperature, attached to the tip near the working surface
Issues may arise when the thermode, especially the thermode tip, requires cleaning due to a build-up of flux/solder residue and gradual metallurgical contamination of the working surface (collectively referred to as residue or debris). Even with the no-clean flux formulations, which may contain less than 5% solids, there is still residue build-up over time as the actual burn-off amount for no-clean fluxes is generally about 50% of the initial flux weight. Cleaning off the residue may require hours of downtime of the manufacturing system and reduced service life, which can cost a company many thousands of dollars of lost revenue over a year. Current methods may require the thermode soldering tips to be abrasively scrubbed or chemically cleaned every 150 to 175 soldering cycles.
Currently, various thermode tip cleaning methods are employed; although not without their disadvantages. Another common method for thermode tip cleaning is the use of a sponge soaked in water or a chemical cleaning solution. An air blast may also be used to clean the thermode tip. Both the air blast method and wet sponge method generally do not eliminate the need for mechanical scrubbing of the thermode, but may somewhat reduce the frequency of the mechanical scrubbing. Each of these methods typically requires additional tooling at the soldering site. Thus, there is a need for a method of cleaning a thermode that overcomes at least some of the deficiencies of conventional systems and methods.


A water-based ink composition comprising a dye or pigment, dissolved or dispersed in an aqueous medium, and having at least one of fatty acids in a total content not more than 0.3% by weight and fatty acid esters in a total content not more than 0.6% by weight.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a water-based ink composition, and an ink-jet recording process.
2. Description of the Related Art
As ink-jet recording systems, ink ejection systems are known in the art as exemplified by a system utilizing electrostatic attraction, a system in which mechanical vibration or displacement is imparted to an ink composition by the use of a piezoelectric device, and a system in which an ink composition is heated to cause it bubble and a pressure produced when it bubbles is utilized. Ink droplets are formed by some of these ink ejection systems, and part or the whole of the droplets is caused to adhere to recording mediums such as paper to make a record. When writing implements such as fountain pens, felt-tip pens and ball-point pens are used, an ink composition is ejected from capillaries and the ink composition thus ejected is received on recording mediums to make a record. As ink compositions used in such ink-jet recording systems or writing implements, those prepared by dissolving or dispersing a water-soluble dye or a pigment in water or an aqueous medium comprising water and a water-soluble organic solvent are known and put into use.
In such conventional ink compositions, they are of course required to have various performances. In particular, the performance most required is the liquid stability that the ink composition does not cause clogging of, and deposits at, nozzles or orifices of recording apparatus or pen points when recording is being performed using the ink composition, when the recording is paused and also when the recording is stopped over a long period of time. Especially in the ink-jet recording systems, the apparatus are expensive compared with the writing implements, and hence it is important to prevent ink-jet nozzles or orifices from clogging. Moreover, in the ink-jet recording systems, if the nozzles or orifices are not even clogged, faulty images due to curved jets, changes in ink drop quantity and changes in flying speed which are caused by the deposits formed at the nozzles or orifices have caused a great problem. Furthermore, among the ink-jet recording systems, the thermal ink-jet recording system that utilizes heat energy tends to cause deposition of foreign matter on the surface of a heating element as a result of temperature changes, and the problem is more important.
Commercially available dyes or pigments used as materials for ink compositions also contain many impurities (e.g., organic matter and inorganic matter such as dispersants and leveling agents). Ink components other than the dyes or pigments, as exemplified by water and water-soluble organic solvents, also contain not a little organic or inorganic impurities. Still also, during the manufacture of ink compositions, various impurities may be included therein according to containers or implements used and the environment.
Under such circumstances, it has been attempted to solve the above problems by controlling the quantity of the impurities in ink compositions that may cause the deposits.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 3-48951 discloses a liquid composition containing a water-soluble dye used in ink-jet recording and in which iron and silicon contained therein are controlled to be in a content not more than 9 ppm in total. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-2906 also discloses an ink-jet recording ink composition mainly composed of an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble acid dye or water-soluble direct dye having been subjected to ion exchange by the use of a cationic ion-exchange resin.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 64-4350 also discloses an ink-jet recording apparatus in which sodium ions in an ink composition are controlled to be in a content of 0.001% by weight to 0.2% by weight, and fatty acids and fatty acid derivatives contained in materials constituting an ink tank, 10 to 100 ppm in total weight.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-48552 still also discloses an ink composition comprising water, a water-soluble dye and a polyhydric alcohol or polyhydric alcohol derivative and in which a fatty acid ester as an anti-foaming agent is controlled to be in a content of 0.01% by weight to 5% by weight.
Such conventional impurity-controlled ink compositions are more improved than ink compositions containing impurities in excess. However, they have not necessarily been well effective when, for example, even the long-term storage of ink compositions and the changes in temperature and environment are taken into account. In particular, they have not perfectly solved the problems of the curved jets, changes in ink drop quantity and changes in flying speed in the ink-jet recording systems. In the case of the ink-jet recording system utilizing heat energy, they have been not able to well prevent the deposition of foreign matter on the heating element.
The above Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 64-4350 does not teach any control of the quantity of fatty acids or fatty acid esters in ink compositions.
The above Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-48552 teaches control of the quantity of a fatty acid ester intentionally added as an anti-foaming agent, but does not teach any control of the quantity of fatty acid esters as well as impurities that are actually present in ink compositions.

Water-based ink composition and ink-jet recording process


A method and an apparatus in a first wireless station of a network transmitting to a second wireless station. The network uses multi-tone OFDM signals. The first station includes multiple antennas and a receive and a transmit signal path per antenna. Each receive signal path includes a discrete Fourier transformer determining the tones in a received signal, and each transmit signal path includes an inverse discrete Fourier transformer converting tones to a signal. The method includes determining channel estimates for each tone and each receive path while receiving from the second station, determining transmit weights to transmit to the second station, tone-by-tone weighting a signal for transmission to the second station to produce weighted tone sets for each transmit signal path, and transmitting the weighted tone sets. The first station is configured so that the weighting produces additive beamforming without the second station needing multiple antennas.

The present invention is related to wireless networks, and in particular to methods and apparatuses for transmitting using multiple antennas without requiring the receiver of the transmission to have multiple antennas.
Wireless networks, e.g., local area wireless networks (WLANs) conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard have become common. It is known that the performance of a link in such a WLAN is significantly degraded in the presence of multipath, as in an office setting where there is no line-of-sight from the client to the access point. Some variants of the IEEE 802.11 standard use orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), which is known to perform better than many alternatives in the presence of multipath.
WLANs often are used in an infrastructure wherein one wireless station of the network, called an access point, acts as a base station for a set of client stations. One mechanism for improving communication is to use multiple antennas at the access point and possibly at the client stations.
It is known, for example, to use antenna selection diversity at the access point wherein one of a plurality of receive antennas is selected according to a selection criterion, typically signal strength at the two receivers as measured by the received signal strength indication (RSSI) signal at the radio receiver. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/698,588 to Lyons et al. filed Oct. 31, 2003 titled ERROR VECTOR MAGNITUDE SELECTION DIVERSITY METRIC FOR OFDM, published as US 20050208897A, and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,922,549, introduced an alternate measure for antenna selection in an OFDM receiver based on an error vector magnitude (EVM) measure obtained at the receiver and measured from a preamble part of a packet as used in WLANs and received at the receiver.
It also is known to use beamforming at the access point, e.g., to use multiple radio receivers, one per receive antenna, and then combine the received signals from each antenna according to a combining method.
These methods significantly improve reception at the access point. Of course one can similarly improve reception at the client for transmissions by the access point by including multiple antennas at the client station. It would be beneficial, however, for the client to remain single antenna to maintain lower cost.
One known method of maintaining single antenna clients while having symmetry in the quality of reception at the access point (the uplink direction) and the quality of reception at the client (the downlink direction) is to include receive diversity at the access point for uplink improvement and transmit at higher power on the downlink. The higher transmit power, however, increases the likelihood of co-channel interference in an environment that includes several access points.
Thus there is a need in the art for methods of transmitting using multiple transmit antennas.
One known multiple antenna transmit solution includes changing which transmit antenna is used when a packet fails to be received at the client. This technique effectively involves transmit selection diversity at the media access control (MAC) level.
Thus there is still a need in the art for methods and apparatuses of transmitting using multiple transmit antennas.
There further is a need in the art for methods and apparatuses of transmitting using multiple transmit antennas that do not require the receiver, e.g., a single antenna client, to exchange knowledge related to calibration.

Multiple antenna processing on transmit for wireless local area networks


A mechanical joint is provided between a first component and a second component. The mechanical joint includes a flanged retainer and a fastener. The flanged retainer includes a base and a flange. The base includes a bore and a counterbore that extends longitudinally along a centerline into the base from a longitudinal end of the base to the bore. The flange extends radially out from and circumferentially about the base at the longitudinal end of the base. The flange longitudinally engages the first component and the base projects longitudinally through the aperture and longitudinally engages the second component. The fastener includes an anchor and a shaft. The anchor is seated within the counterbore. The shaft projects longitudinally from the anchor, through the bore, and at least to the second component.

1.Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to a mechanical joint and, more particularly, to a mechanical joint with a fastener securing, for example, a composite component to a metal component.
2. Background Information
Various types and configurations of mechanical joints are known in the art. However, many of these mechanical joints cannot be utilized for securing a composite component to a metal component since many composite materials, due to their inherently brittle nature, can be particularly susceptible to damage when subjected to bolt loads.
There is a need in the art for an improved mechanical joint which can be used for, among other things, securing a composite component to a metal component without subjecting the composite to the highly concentrated bearing stresses created by fastener preload and additional bolt loads created by thermal expansion of the components being fastened together.

Mechanical joint with a flanged retainer


Computer-based speech recognition can be improved by recognizing words with an accurate accent model. In order to provide a large number of possible accents, while providing real-time speech recognition, a language tree data structure of possible accents is provided in one embodiment such that a computerized speech recognition system can benefit from choosing among accent categories when searching for an appropriate accent model for speech recognition.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is generally related to speech recognition, and more particularly to improving recognition of speech with different accents.
2. Background
Speech recognition systems are becoming increasingly popular. Systems such as interactive voice response telephone systems provide users with experiences intended to create the sensation of speaking to a machine. At the same time, users can become quite frustrated when such a system doesn't work, either by misunderstanding the user or by asking the user to repeat themselves.
A challenge has been speakers with accents. While humans have the mental capacity to understand many different accents, this still poses a challenge for computer-based speech recognition systems. One approach has been to create a table for the computer system to be able to identify which accent a user is speaking with. Unfortunately, this table-based approach is difficult to implement for more than a small number of accents because of issues such as the table size and the processing capability required to consider all of the various possible accents in the system.

Recognition of speech with different accents


According to the present invention, improved dispersants are provided which comprise adducts of (A) polymer-substituted mono- and dicarboxylic acid or anhydrides and (B) an amido-amine characterized by being a reaction product of an alpha, beta-unsaturated compound of the formula: ##STR1## wherein X is sulfur or oxygen, Y is --OR.sup.4, --SR.sup.4, or --NR.sup.4 (R.sup.5) , and R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 are the same or different and are hydrogen or substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbyl, and bis(para-amino cyclohexyl) methane or oligomers thereof.

Polyisobutenyl succinimides, prepared from the reaction of polyisobutenyl succinic anhydride and ethylene polyamines (e.g., tetraethylene pentamine) are widely used in commercial lubricating oils as dispersants and have also been suggested for use in fuels as dispersants.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,085 relates to the preparation of beta-aminopropionamides by reaction of an alkyl amine with an acrylate to form an alkyl aminopropionate and reaction of the latter compound with an amine. The resulting compounds are disclosed to have utility as surface active agents, specifically as emulsifying, wetting, foaming and detergent agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,337,609 relates to adducts of hydroxyalkyl alkylene polyamines and acrylates. The resulting adducts are added to polyepoxides to provide compositions which are suitable for use as a barrier coating for polyethylene surfaces, and for additional end uses, such as in molding. In addition, the adducts are disclosed to be useful as catalysts in resin preparation and as corrosion inhibitors in water systems for ferrous metals.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,140 relates to the preparation of amido-amine compositions, which are useful as epoxy resin curing agents, by reacting a polyalkylene polyamine and a fatty amine (comprising a mono- or diamine having as one of the substituents on a nitrogen atom a hydrocarbyl radical having 8 to 24 carbon atoms) with an alpha-beta unsaturated carbonylic compound. It is disclosed that this reaction occurs through the Michael addition of an amine group across the unsaturated group of the carbonylic compound and through the condensation of an amine group with the carbonylic group.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,163 also relates to curing agents for polyepoxide compositions, which curing agents are prepared by reacting an organic amine and an acrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,441 relates to amino-amido polymers characterized by being a reaction product of at least a polyamine and an acrylate type compound, such as methyl or ethyl acrylate, and methyl or ethyl methacrylate. The patent states that the polymers are useful in a wide variety of applications, such as floculating agents, water clarifying additives, corrosion inhibitors in oil and gas wells, and as lube oil additives. The patent further discloses that the polymers may be derivitized, including acylation with monocarboxylic acids and polycarboxylic acids, aliphatic dicarboxylic acids, aromatic dicarboxylic acids, for example, diglycolic, phthalic, succinic, etc., acids.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,003 relates to lubricating compositions containing an amido-amine reaction product of a terminally carboxylated isoprene polymer which is formed by reacting a terminally carboxylated substantially completely hydrogenated polyisoprene having an average molecular weight between about 20,000 and 250,000 and a nitrogen compound of the group consisting of polyalkylene amines and hydroxyl polyalkylene amines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,771 relates to scale inhibiting with compounds containing quaternary ammonium and methylene phosphonic acid groups. These compounds are derivatives of polyamines in which the amine hydrogens have been substituted with both methylene phosphonic acid groups or their salts and hydroxypropyl quaternary ammonium halide groups. The patent discloses that any amine that contains reactive amino hydrogens can be utilized, for example, polyglycol amines, amido-amines, oxyacylated amines, and others.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,241 contains a similar disclosure to U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,771.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,217 and European Patent Publication 319,299 relate to dispersants derived from amido-amines or thioamido-amine characterized by being a reaction product of a polyamine and disclosed alpha, beta-unsaturated compounds. The disclosed polyamines include alicyclic diamines such as 1,4-di(aminomethyl)cyclohexane.


An encoding method for encoding video data by adjusting a quantization parameter, the video data being partitioned into blocks comprising sets of quantized transform coefficients. The method includes, for a set of quantized transform coefficients corresponding to one of the blocks, collecting statistics, wherein the statistics comprise the number of quantized transform coefficients and the sum of the non-rounded quantization value of the quantized transform coefficients in the set. The method also includes deriving a step size based on the statistics, mapping the derived step size to a closest quantization parameter value, and quantizing a next block using the mapped quantization parameter value.

Data compression occurs in a number of contexts. It is very commonly used in communications and computer networking to store, transmit, and reproduce information efficiently. It finds particular application in the encoding of images, audio and video. Video presents a significant challenge to data compression because of the large amount of data required for each video frame and the speed with which encoding and decoding often needs to occur. The current state-of-the-art for video encoding is the ITU-T H.264/AVC video coding standard. It defines a number of different profiles for different applications, including the Main profile, Baseline profile and others. A next-generation video encoding standard is currently under development through a joint initiative of MPEG-ITU: High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC).
There are a number of standards for encoding/decoding images and videos, including H.264, that uses block-based coding processes. In these processes, the image or frame is divided into blocks, typically 4×4 or 8×8, and the blocks are spectrally transformed into coefficients, quantized, and entropy encoded. In many cases, the data being transformed is not the actual pixel data, but is residual data following a prediction operation. Predictions can be intra-frame, i.e. block-to-block within the frame/image, or inter-frame, i.e. between frames (also called motion prediction). It is expected that HEVC will also have these features.
When spectrally transforming residual data, many of these standards prescribe the use of a discrete cosine transform (DCT) or some variant thereon. The resulting DCT coefficients are then quantized using a quantizer that employs a uniform quantization step size, i.e. a uniform partitioning of the data space.
Work in lossy compression, e.g., audio/voice coding, video coding, image coding, etc., tends to focus on improving rate-distortion performance. That is, the objective of most encoding and decoding schemes is to find an optimal balance between distortion and coding rate. A rate-distortion optimization expression of the type J=D+λR is typically used, wherein the Lagrangian multiplier λ represents the desired trade-off between coding rate and distortion.
The reconstruction of the data at a decoder using a uniform reconstruction space that matches the uniform partitioning of the data space by quantization at the encoder does not always realize an optimal rate-distortion performance.
Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components.

Methods and devices for data compression using a non-uniform reconstruction space


An amorphous silicon semiconductor having a gradient doping profile is produced by thermo-electrically diffusing an ionizable deposit material such as antimony or aluminum, for example, into the amorphous silicon layer. Embodied in a photovoltaic device, the gradient doping profile increases the width of the depletion or barrier region and concurrently ensures an ohmic contact between amorphous silicon and current carrying electrodes.

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon has been demonstrated as having favorable photoconductive properties, promising a viable alternative to crystalline materials such as single crystal silicon and germanium. Produced typically in a thin film form, amorphous silicon provides substantial material savings over its crystalline counterparts. The existing impediment to its widespread use is a low device efficiency relative to other materials. Although the material displays a favorable quantum efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers, other fundamental electrical properties of the semiconductor such as mobility, lifetime and diffusion length of carriers, for example, limit the efficiency of an amorphous silicon device. The resultant effect upon a device such as a solar cell is that the effective collection of photo-generated charge carriers is limited to the barrier region or the non-junction region is not electronically neutral, thereby impeding the transport of carriers generated in the barrier or depletion region.
The present invention deals with these deficiencies by selectively altering the amorphous silicon with an extrinsic dopant which both extends the effective field region of charge collection substantially throughout the amorphous silicon layer and concurrently improves the electrical characteristics of the non-junction or bulk region of the device. The dopant comprises an ionizable material such as antimony, for example, which is thermo-electrically diffused into the amorphous silicon layer during the sputter deposition of the silicon film.
The two principal methods of producing hydrogenated amorphous silicon are the glow discharge decomposition of silane and reactive sputtering in a plasma consisting of a mixture of argon and hydrogen. In either case the material has been doped N or P-type by adding to the discharge an amount of phosphine (PH.sub.3) or diborane (B.sub.2 H.sub.6); respectively. Solare cell structures have been fabricated from these materials utilizing abrupt junctions formed by gas phase doping. Such structures include for example Schottky barriers, p-i-n junctions and hetero-junction configurations. The Schottky barrier structure is a multilayer configuration consisting of a metallic substrate, a 500A heavily phosphine doped a-Si layer (n.sup.30 ), an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer, and a high work function semi-transparent metal contact. The thin n.sup.+ amorphous silicon layer, obtained by doping from a discharge containing PH.sub.3, is used to form the ohmic contact to the intrinsic amorphous silicon layer.


An electrostatic discharge protection circuit is coupled to a power supply rail and a ground supply rail of an integrated circuit and includes at least one shunt configured to couple the supply rails and a trigger configured to supply on an output a shunt control voltage to a control terminal of the shunt to set the shunt in a coupling state when an ESD event is sensed on one of the supply rails. The protection circuit further comprises a voltage booster arranged between the output of the trigger and the control terminal of the shunt to boost the shunt control voltage.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electrostatic discharge protection circuit for an integrated circuit, and to an integrated circuit comprising such a protection circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An integrated circuit (IC) comprising sensitive internal circuitry may be subjected to an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) event consisting of a very high voltage applied to pins or pads of the circuit. Such an event may damage the circuitry and occur during the manufacture, assembly, testing, or normal handling and operation of the integrated circuit or of a product in which the integrated circuit is incorporated. Clamp circuits or "shunts", such as a large MOSFET transistor, are therefore commonly provided as part of an ESD protection circuit to couple power and ground supply rails of the IC in response to a detection of an ESD event. The high voltage received is thereby dissipated through the shunt and the sensitive circuitry is protected from damage.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional integrated circuit IC comprising an ESD protection circuit EC along the lines of the circuit disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,177. The integrated circuit comprises a voltage pad PV coupled to a power supply rail PSR, a ground pad PG coupled to a ground supply rail GSR, and an input/output pad P0. The integrated circuit IC further comprises internal circuitry CT and an ESD protection circuit EC, both linked to the supply rails PSR, GSR.
The ESD protection circuit EC comprises an input 1, a trigger 2, a trigger output node N3, a delay 3, and a shunt transistor TN1 configured to couple the rails PSR, GSR of the integrated circuit IC. Input 1 comprises an input node N1 and diodes D1, D2. Input node N1 is coupled to the pad P0 and to the supply rails PSR, GSR via diodes D1, D2 respectively. As diodes D1, D2 are on the ESD discharge path, they are relatively large.
The trigger 2 comprises a resistor R1 and a capacitor C1 in series forming an RC transient filter, a detection node N2, and a PMOS transistor TP1. Resistor R1 has one terminal coupled to the power supply rail PSR and one terminal coupled to node N2. The capacitor C1 has one terminal coupled to node N2 and one terminal coupled to the ground supply rail GSR. Transistor TP1 has a gate terminal G driven by node N2, a source terminal S coupled to the power supply rail PSR, and a drain terminal D coupled to the trigger output node N3.
The delay 3 comprises a resistor R2 and a capacitor C2. Resistor R2 and capacitor C2 each have one terminal coupled to node N3 and one terminal coupled to the ground supply rail GSR. Capacitor C2 may be a gate-body parasitic capacitance of transistor TN1 or a physical capacitor. Finally, the shunt transistor TN1 has a control terminal (gate terminal G) driven by node N3, a drain terminal D coupled to the power supply rail PSR, and a source terminal S coupled to the ground rail GSR.
Circuit EC provides protection from positive ESD events applied between pad PV and a grounded pad PG, negative ESD events applied between pad PG and a grounded pad PV, as well as ESD events between pad P0 and either of pads PV, PG.
FIG. 2 shows voltages V with respect to time t at various points of the ESD protection circuit EC during an ESD event. Five voltages VP, VG, V1, V2, and V3 are shown in FIG. 2, each corresponding to the voltage at a respective part of the circuit of FIG. 1. Voltage VP is the voltage present on the power supply rail PSR, voltage VG is the voltage present on the ground supply rail GSR, and voltages V1, V2, V3 are the voltages present at nodes N1, N2, N3 respectively.
At a time t1, an ESD event occurs, for example by applying test probes between pad P0 and the ground pad PG. Voltage V1 present at the pad P0 increases rapidly. Voltage VP present on the power supply rail also increases, but to a peak voltage value much less than that of voltage V1 due to the voltage drop across diode D1 and due to parasitic resistances (not shown) present in the supply rails. Voltage VG on the ground supply rail increases slightly, but is maintained relatively low by ground pad PG, which is connected to ground.
Voltage V2 at node N2 is initially held low, at a voltage value less than that of the power supply rail. Consequently, transistor TP1 is in a conducting state. Node N3 is thus coupled to the power supply rail PSR, and voltage V3 increases towards voltage VP, setting the shunt transistor TN1 in a coupling state. The supply rails GSR, PSR are coupled, and the voltage VP on the power supply rail decreases.
Voltage V2 rises with a delay time set by the RC time constant determined by resistor R1 and capacitor C1. Eventually, voltage V2 passes the threshold voltage of transistor TP1, and transistor TP1 is set in a blocked state, isolating node N3. The delay 3 maintains transistor TN1 in a conductive state for the entire duration of the ESD event, which may be 500 nS or more. The voltage V3 at node N3 decreases with a value determined by resistor R2 and capacitor C2.
In normal operation of the integrated circuit IC, voltage V2 at node N2 is at a high voltage value, keeping transistor TP1 in a blocked state. A relatively constant voltage applied on the power supply rail PSR and its slight fluctuations are not detected by the trigger 2 and thus do not launch the operation of the protection circuit EC. Furthermore, resistor R2 keeps voltage V3 at node N3 at zero, such that the shunt transistor TN1 is maintained in a blocked state. Consequently, the ESD protection circuit EC does not interfere with the operation of the integrated circuit IC and the internal circuitry CT.

Electrostatic discharge protection circuit


A collapsible fish net includes a pair of support arms (14, 16), a handle (12) and a flexible mesh material (28) disposed between the support arms. When not in use, the net is placed in a scabbard (40) with the support arms in a closely spaced, parallel relationship. When the net is removed from the scabbard, a spring 18 moves the arm (16) with respect to the arm (14) thereby opening the mesh material. A fish is guided into the mesh material so its weight causes the mesh material to collapse along the length of the fish, thereby securing the fish until it can be released.

As more people take up recreational fishing, many anglers are practicing catch and release techniques to avoid depleting fish stocks. Provided that fish are handled carefully, most hooked fish can be released to fight again another day.
To aid in releasing fish, many anglers use a net to hold the fish while the hook is being removed. These nets generally have an oval or rectangular frame that supports a soft, loosely woven mesh material into which the fish is scooped. Conventional fish nets suffer from at least three problems which limit their effectiveness. First, these nets are typically secured to a ting on the back of a user's fishing vest and can be difficult to detach when playing a fish. Additionally, if used from a floatation device such as a float tube, these nets can take up valuable space and hinder maneuverability. Finally, and most important, most conventional nets allow the fish to bend or flop about as the angler attempts to remove the hook, thereby increasing the chance that the fish will be injured when released.
Therefore, there is a need for a catch and release fish net that is small and compact, is easy to use when playing a fish and minimizes potential injury to a fish as it is being released.


A layered capacitor device with high capacitance per unit area is realized by alternating in the vertical direction first layers (FL1, FL2, FL3, FL4, FL5) and second layers (SL1, SL2, SL3, SL4). A first layer (FL2) consists of horizontally alternating electrically conducting tracks (T2,2; T2,3) and electrically insulating tracks, whereas a second layer includes of electrically insulating material, e.g. an oxide. In this way top-bottom capacitors (C.sub.TB) and side-wall capacitors (C.sub.SW) are constituted that are parallel coupled to form the layered capacitor device. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this parallel coupling is realized by conductively interconnecting diagonally neighboring electrically conducting tracks (T1,2; T2,3).

The present invention relates to a layered capacitor device and an integrated circuit comprising such a capacitor device.
Such a layered capacitor device is already known in the art, e.g. from the U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,557, entitled `Electrical Layer Capacitor and Method for the Manufacture Thereof`. Therein, a layered capacitor device is described that is formed by an alternating superposition of electrically conducting layers, called metal coatings in the cited U.S. Patent, and electrically insulating layers, called plastic films in the cited U.S. Patent. In this way, a longitudinal stack of individual capacitors is constructed. Metal coatings of a same polarisation are interconnected so that the individual capacitors become parallel coupled. In case a layered capacitor which forms part of an integrated circuit is given the structure known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,557 by alternating superposition of metal layers and oxide layers, the realised capacitance per unit chip area is small.


Fired magnesium oxide stabilized zirconia ceramic body having a highly smooth, polished or otherwise equivalent surface has, on at least part of the surface, a metal/metal alloy coating. The fired ceramic body can be a magnesium oxide stabilized tetragonally toughened zirconia. The coating can be from a metal or metal alloy other than by tantalum vapor deposition, and can include a titanium metal or alloy. The coating can be a macro coating, up to less than about 0.015 of an inch in thickness. The coated magnesium oxide stabilized zirconia ceramic can be a tool or an orthopedic implant or component for an orthopedic implant, which can be a load bearing implant or component for a load bearing implant having an articular surface and a nonarticular surface where the metal or metal alloy coating is on at least part of the nonarticular surface. Plasma arc spraying under vacuum may be employed.

Certain metal or metal alloy porous coated ceramic materials as prosthetic implants, especially for load bearing, are known. Prior to the '482 U.S. and '768 PCT applications, Serafin, Jr. et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/657,385, disclosed a metal/alloy on ceramic coating, which has broad applicability, with an exemplary ceramic MgO-TTZ and exemplary physical attachment features including undercut grooves and/or holes. A problem within the foregoing, for example, as disclosed by the parent in its Examples 5 and 6, is that, the coating can be extremely strong and reliable in some cases, but less strong and reliable in others.
It would be desirable to provide such a strong and reliable bond more uniformly.


Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) systems, devices and methods wherein a portable ECLS device is used to deliver cardiovascular support to a humans or animal patient (or harvested organ(s)) during pre-hospital or inter-hospital transport.

Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.71(e), this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection and the owner of this patent document reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
In extracorporeal life support (ECLS), blood is removed from a subject's circulatory system and channeled through an ECLS system wherein the blood becomes oxygenated and carbon dioxide is removed. The oxygenated blood is then delivered back into the subject's circulatory system. Most ECLS systems include pumps which propel or circulate the blood through the subject's vasculature thereby assuming the function of both the heart and lungs, even if the subject's heart is stopped or beating inefficiently. Other ECLS systems (e.g., the Novalung System, Novalung GmbH, Heilbronn, Germany) provide pumpless extracorporeal lung assist by oxygenating and removing carbon dioxide from the blood while relying on the subject's beating heart to adequately circulate the blood through the device and through the subject's vasculature.
In general, ECLS techniques include extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as well as cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). ECMO is essentially a form of partial CPB. ECMO is typically used for extended periods of time (e.g., days) while CPB is used for relatively short periods (e.g., hours). CPB has traditionally been used during cardiac and aortic surgical procedures wherein the heart is stopped. Generally, in ECMO vascular access is achieved by inserting cannulas into peripheral blood vessels using percutaneous technique or superficial surgical cut and then advancing the cannulas to locations in the central vasculature (e.g., vena cava, right atrium, aorta). In CPB vascular access is typically accomplished by intraoperative connection of cannulas to intrathoracic blood vessels.
ECMO can be performed either as venoarterial ECMO (VA-ECMO) or venovenous ECMO (VV-ECMO). In VA-ECMO, deoxygenated blood is removed from a vein and the oxygenated blood is returned into an artery. In VA-ECMO the system typically pumps the blood under pressure to partially support the subject's cardiac output while W-ECMO generally provides extracorporeal lung assist but does not support cardiac function.
In the past, ECLS systems were typically available only at major medical centers where specialized personnel (e.g., cardiothoracic surgeons and/or perfusionists) could be called upon to set up and operate the ECLS systems. Patients in the field, or those who presented at smaller hospital emergency departments, after suffering severe cardiac events or lung injuries would typically have to undergo (and survive) transport by vehicle (e.g., ground ambulance, helicopter, etc.) to a major medical center before having any possibility of ECLS treatment.
In recent years, efforts have been made to develop small, automated, simplified, portable ECLS systems that could be used to deliver ECLS treatment to patients at smaller hospitals and during transport, without the need for specialized personnel. Examples of such devices include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,367,540; 7,597,546; 7,682,327; 7,846,122; 8,529,488; 8,529,488; 8,187,214; 8,568,347; 8,951,220; 8,834,399; 8,882,693; 8,721,579 and 8,844,336 as well as United States Patent Application Publication Nos. US2014/0142491; US2014/0326678 US2015/0056601; US2015/0141897; US2015/0073335 and US2015/0082863, the entire disclosure of each such patent and patent application being expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Mobile extracorporeal life support systems and related methods


An electromotive device is disclosed which utilizes stacks of oriented magnetic material as stator bars. Electrical conductors are wound about the stator bars to create a stator inductor. The stator bars are generally configured to shield the electrical conductor winding from electromagnetic forces and further, to provide a first flux return path for the magnetic flux created by magnets fixed to a rotor for movement with respect to the stator inductor.

This invention relates to a high power-to-weight electromotive device capable of use as a motor, alternator or generator. Electromotive devices are known for use both in transforming electrical energy into mechanical power and transforming mechanical power into electrical energy. In both cases, the energy or power producing capability results from relative movement between a magnetic field and electrically conductive elements.
Lightweight motor, alternator and generator devices are well known and some are capable of operation at high speeds. However, many such devices are not capable of producing high power at high speeds. For example, high power density devices of 0.6 horsepower per pound of weight are known to be useful for periods of intermittent operation, but such devices are incapable of continuous operation at high power densities in excess of 1 horsepower per pound. Also prior high power electromotive devices have not been capable of simultaneous high speed and high torque operation, nor have they provided efficiency of operation.
Many of the problems associated with achieving a high power-to-weight ratio electromotive device have been addressed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,965. The '965 patent discloses an electromotive device with a high power density per unit weight effected by utilization of an armature assembly having a large diameter-fin cross section speculation ratio. This structure of the '965 patent results in low opposing induced currents, as well as low eddy currents, to enable operation of the electromotive device at high efficiency with maintainable high torque during high speed operation.
The '965 patent provides for minimal hysteresis or eddy current losses by providing a flux path through stationary iron. This design led to an improvement over conventional motors which suffer such eddy current losses due to the fact that the iron through which the flux path travels is moving. Since the torque of the motor is proportional to the flux, any reduction in the flux will result in decreased torque. In a typical electric motor, the torque will fall off rapidly with increasing speed. The eddy current losses in the copper conductors and armature bars are associated with the windings or copper and are caused by cross leakage between the bars (made worse by radially long bars) and direct exposure of the copper to the magnetic field, and over saturation of the armature bars due to an excess amount of permanent magnet material.
The '965 patent provides a device which minimizes those losses. Losses associated with bar to bar cross leakage are reduced by designing the '965 device to incorporate radially short armature bars. Losses induced by the copper being directly exposed to the magnetic field is solved by the '965 patent through the use of an I-shaped armature bar acting as a shield to the magnetic field. Finally, losses caused by oversaturation of the armature bars are solved by the '965 patent by designing the amount of permanent magnet material such that the bars just approach saturation. The design of the '965 device, however, necessitates that the flux travel through at least four air gaps, a design which has led to problems as a result of air gap reluctance. It has been found that to maintain useful flux density in spite of the air gap reluctance, the magnets must be thickened radially. However, such a modification enlarges the diameter of the motor, increases the weight of the motor, and increases the cost of the motor, all of which are contrary to the desire to have a lightweight motor. Since the torque levels of the motor are proportional to the amount of useful flux, less useful flux will result in reduced motor torque and higher current draw at higher speeds for the motor. Therefore, it is still an objective to design a high powered, lightweight motor having high torque levels and increased useful flux.
Another high power-to-weight ratio electromotive device has been addressed by a dispersed conductor electromagnetic device which is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,944. The '944 design utilizes a straight-sided armature bar of powdered iron which allows full exposure of the copper windings to the magnetic field. The powdered iron does not have the flux-carrying ability that other embodiments such as silicone iron does. To minimize the eddy current effect, the '944 patent utilizes extremely fine wire with its windings. The armature bars are fabricated from powdered iron to maximize the amount of flux traveling through what would otherwise be a very large air gap.
The '944 approach has been proven undesirable in terms of power-in versus power-out due to the resistance characteristics of the fine wire. This resistance characteristic causes significant energy losses in the form of heat at higher operating levels which translates into lost power and efficiency. In addition, the straight-sided armature bars do not easily lend themselves to standard production automatic winding techniques as the coils tend to slip outward from between the bars. Thus, other winding techniques must be utilized.
The power loss in the '944 patent due to fine wire resistance is again compensated for by increasing the amount of permanent magnet material beyond the saturation level of the iron bars. Aside from the costs of additional material, however, the bulk of this additional flux goes to the copper winding in the form of eddy current loss and is dispersed, leaving very little gain in power for the additional material investment.
While the preceding and other various arrangements have been designed with the objective of achieving a high power-to-weight ratio electromotive device, they have not been completely successful.
Thus, it is primary objective of this invention to provide an electromotive device which achieves a high power-to-weight ratio by dispersing the electromotive windings to minimize eddy currents within the coils.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an electromotive device which achieves a high power-to-weight ratio by dispersing the electromagnetic field core pieces to minimize eddy currents.
It is a still further objective of this invention to provide an electromotive device which achieves a high power-to-weight ratio by dispersing the electromotive windings to minimize eddy currents within the coils and dispersing the electromagnetic field core pieces to minimize eddy currents generally.
It is another objective of this invention to provide an electromotive device which achieves a high power-to-weight ratio by shielding the electromotive windings with field core piece extensions to minimize eddy current within the coils.
It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved electromotive device capable of use as a highly efficient motor, alternator, or generator.
It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved electromotive device that is capable of continuous operation at high power densities in excess of one horsepower per pound.
It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved electromotive device having an optimum thickness armature assembly which represents a balance among the effects of heat transfer to the cooling medium, heat production from resistance heating and other sources, and torque production.
It is still another object of this invention to provide an electromotive device of simple design having an integrated flux return path.
It is still another object of this invention to build an electromotive device having the maximum flux in the iron cores and incorporating a built-in return path in these cores, thus eliminating the need for a separate return path.
A final object of this invention is to use the core stators having integral flux return paths in curvilinear sections up to 360.degree. to drive, without limitation, devices such as rim mounted magnets on fans, propellers and impellers.
The foregoing and other objectives will become apparent to one skilled in the art as the description proceeds. The invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as described and illustrated in the specification and drawings of this patent application, and more particularly as defined by the appended claims. It is understood that changes in the precise embodiments of the disclosed invention are meant to be included as within the scope of the claims. The description of the preferred embodiment is intended to be illustrative and is not intended to be limiting upon the scope of the claims.

Lightweight high power electromotive device


Lubricant compositions are stabilized against oxidative degradation by incorporating therein a minor effective amount of a reaction product produced from singlet oxygen and a hindered bis-p-methylphenol.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lubricant compositions having improved stability properties. More particularly it relates to lubricants having incorporated therein minor effective amounts of the reaction product of singlet oxygen and hindered bis-p-methylphenols.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
It is well known that lubricants are subject to oxidative degradation. This may occur, for example, as a result of elevated temperatures or of prolonged exposure to the elements. Such degradation or deterioration frequently leads to a loss of lubrication properties and in especially severe cases to a mechanical breakdown of the device being lubricated. Many additives have been tried in an effort to reduce oxidative degradation. Some are only minimally effective unless added in high concentration, and others cause undesirable side effect. However, no references are known to applicants which disclose or fairly suggest this invention.

Antioxidant stabilized lubricant compositions


A bushing roller bearing having particular application for use in a wing flap assembly of an aircraft by which a wing flap is raised or lowered. The bearing includes metallic, coaxially aligned outer and inner races and a non-metallic intermediate liner disposed therebetween. The inner race is coupled to and rotatable with a shaft that is interconnected with the wing flap. The outer race is adapted to rotate (i.e. ride) along a wing flap track at the wing of an aircraft. The intermediate liner is formed from a self-lubricating composite material which reduces wear and friction between the outer and inner races. The intermediate liner floats through the bearing, such that a clearance exists between the liner and the races to permit the liner to be displaced laterally and radially. By virtue of the intermediate liner, the susceptibility of the bearing excessive wear, to lock-up and possible failure is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a relatively lightweight, self-lubricating bushing roller bearing including a floating composite liner and having particular application for use in a wing flap assembly of an aircraft to raise and lower a wing flap.
2. Background Art
Metallic roller bearings have long been used in wing flap assemblies to raise and lower a wing flap with which the assembly is associated. However, conventional metallic roller bearings having pluralities of metallic rollers are undesirably susceptible to fatigue and/or lock-up and, consequently, are known to have a relatively short life. Moreover, the metallic roller bearings must be periodically lubricated to reduce friction and wear. As will be known to those skilled in the art, the lubrication often washes out of the conventional metallic bearing as a result of deicing the wings, cleaning the aircraft, and various environmental conditions (e.g. sand, and the like). The premature loss of lubrication from the metallic roller bearings, the failure to lubricate the bearings on a timely basis, and the fatigue to which said bearings are subjected all contribute to failure and the need to frequently replace said bearings which correspondingly increases aircraft maintenance costs and down time.
In addition, the large number of roller be replace said bearings which correspondingly increases aircraft maintenance costs and down time.
In addition, the large number of roller bearings, and the metallic rollers therein, which are usually carried on an aircraft wing as part of the wing flap assembly increases the total weight of the wing and the load of the aircraft. The foregoing weight increase causes a corresponding increase in fuel consumption and operating costs.
It would therefore be desirable to have available a relatively lightweight, longer life bushing roller bearing for use in a wing flap assembly that would eliminate the need for periodic lubrication and frequent replacement.


A soundboard for pianos is provided which is of laminated construction, comprising three plies. The top and bottom plies are of equal thickness and lie in planes parallel to one another. The grains of these plies are also parallel to one another. The center ply is of greater thickness than the sum of the outer plies, but of less thickness than twice the sum of the two outer plies. The grain of the center or core ply is at right angles to the grains of the two outer plies.

Pianos have been built for centuries with soundboards constructed of wood. It is known that a relatively close grained wood is the best for soundboards. It has been conventional in the United States to use Sitka spruce boards of an appropriate thickness and edge-glued together to make up the necessary width of the board.
It is known that the velocity of sound in a solid material is equal to the square root of the elasticity divided by the density. Thus, for best sound propagation the elasticity should be high and the density should be low. Most woods are not suitable for soundboards either because the elasticity is too low or the density is too high. Conventional spruce or pine is not satisfactory since the growth is too fast, and the grain too open. Hence, the density and elasticity are not appropriate. The specific spruce suitable for the construction of solid piano sounding boards is grown under somewhat adverse climatic conditions, whereby the growth is slow, and the grain closely spaced.
Spruce boards for piano soundboards are quarter sawn. Accordingly, a board can be no wider than the radius of a tree. The center and the sapwood must be avoided, whereby the width of such boards is limited. It must also be borne in mind that knots, grain swirls, etc. must be avoided. The preferred grain spacing corresponds to something close to ten annular rings per inch. From this it is easy to see that only very old trees can have any appreciable thickness of boards made from them. As a result of this and other factors the supply of suitable spruce boards is shrinking.
Conventional piano soundboards have an inherent disadvantage in that sound travels fastest in the direction of the grain. In fact, the speed in the grain direction of a conventional solid spruce soundboard is about four times as fast as it is transverse of the grain.
Some effort has been made in the past to construct soundboards of laminated plies. Such efforts have not met with success, as the boards have failed to resonate properly, and have sounded dull or "tubby".


A method of planarizing a copper containing conductive layer of a semiconductor wafer forms a blanketing copper containing layer within and upon a patterned substrate layer. Chemical mechanical polish (CMP) planarizing is performed on the copper containing layer at a relatively fast rate of removal until most of the layer is removed. The remaining portion of the layer is then CMP planarized at a second rate of removal, which is slower than the first rate of removal, until the copper containing layer is substantially completely removed and a barrier layer underlying the copper containing layer is reached. The multiple phase planarization of the copper containing layer avoids excessive dishing and pattern erosion while maintaining high throughput and uniform removal.

The escalating requirements for high-denisity and performance associated with ultra large-scale integration semiconductor wiring require responsive changes in interconnection technology. Such escalating requirements have been found difficult to satisfy in terms of providing a low RC (resistance capacitance) interconnection pattern, particularly where sub-micron via contacts and trenches have high aspect ratios imposed by miniaturization.
Conventional semiconductor devices typically comprise a semiconductor substrate, normally of doped monocrystalline silicon, and a plurality of sequentially formed dielectric layer and conductive patterns. An integrated circuit is formed containing a plurality of conductive patterns, and a plurality of interconnect lines, such as bus lines, bit-lines, and logic interconnect lines. Typically, the conductive patterns on different layers, i.e., upper and lower layers, are electrically connected by a conductive plug filling a via hole, while a conductive plug filling a contact hole establishes electrical contact with an active region on a semiconductor substrate, such as a source/drain region. Conductive lines are formed on a substrate layer or in trenches and typically extend substantially horizontal with respect to the semiconductor substrate. Semiconductor "chips" comprising five or more levels of metallization are becoming more prevalent as device geometries shrink to sub-micron levels.
A conductive plug filling a via hole is typically formed by depositing a dielectric interlayer on a conductive layer comprising at least one conductive pattern, forming an opening in the dielectric layer by conventional photolithographic and etching techniques, and filling the opening with a conductive material, such as tungsten (W). Excess conductive material on the surface of the dielectric layer is typically removed by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). One such method is known as damascene and basically involves forming an opening in the dielectric interlayer and filling the opening with a metal. Dual damascene techniques involve forming an opening comprising a lower contact or a via hole section in communication with an upper trench section, which opening is filled with a conductive material, typically a metal, to simultaneously form a conductive plug and electrical contact with a conductive line.
High performance microprocessor applications require rapid speed of semiconductor circuitry. The control speed of semiconductor circuitry varies inversely with the resistance and capacitance of the interconnect pattern. As integrated circuits become more complex and feature sizes and spacings become smaller, the integrated circuit speed becomes less dependent upon the transistor itself and more dependent upon the interconnection pattern. Miniaturization demands long interconnects having small contacts and small cross-sections. Thus, the interconnection pattern limits the speed of the integrated circuit. If the interconnection node is routed over a considerable distance, e.g., hundreds of microns or more as in sub-micron technologies, the interconnection capacitance limits the circuit node capacitance loading, and, hence, the circuit speed. As integration density increases and feature size decreases in accordance with deep sub-micron design rules, e.g., a design rule of about 0.18 .mu.m and below, the rejection rate due to integrated circuit speed delays severely limits production throughput and significantly increases manufacturing costs.
In prior technologies, aluminum was used in very large scale integration interconnect metallization. Copper and copper alloys have received considerable attention as a candidate for replacing aluminum in these metallizations. Copper has a lower resistivity than aluminum and improved electrical properties vis-a-vis tungsten, making copper a desirable metal for use as a conductive plug as well as conductive wiring.
In the planarization of a copper containing conductive layer to stop on a barrier layer, wide conductive lines tend to "dish" and dense patterns tend to erode. This causes unwanted copper line thinning which increases resistance in the interconnections. The dishing and pattern erosion is caused by the high pressure and speed process conditions conventionally used to planarize ("polish") copper. Relatively high pressure and high speed process conditions are employed to provide a desirable copper removal rate and a uniform removal of the conductive layer. This single phase polishing produces a structure, such as depicted in prior art FIG. 4, exhibiting dishing and pattern erosion.
In order to avoid dishing and pattern erosion, a slower polishing and lower pressure process could be employed, but this would undesirably reduce the throughput and may have an effect on the uniformity of removal of the copper conductive layer. Furthermore, a greater amount of overpolishing is required by poor removal uniformity in order to complete the planarization process.
An approach to minimize dishing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,618,381 that employs a multiple step method of chemical-mechanical polishing. In the described method, a protective layer of material, such as silicon dioxide, borophosphosilicate glass, silicon nitride or tetraorthosilicate is formed over the metal surface of the layer of conductive material to be planarized. The protective layer is not as easily polished as the metal in a CMP process of the protective layer from the underlying metal overburden. A second CMP process, which removes the metal at a greater rate than the protective layer, is said to prevent the polishing pad from dishing metal in the areas having larger metal features such as large metal buses and bond pads.
One of the significant disadvantages of the above approach is the additional steps taken to avoid the dishing effect. This includes the additional deposition steps employed to produce the protective layer of material on the metal. Also, it is possible for some of this material to remain on the wafer, possibly increasing the overall capacitance of the chip. The additional processing steps also have an adverse impact on wafer throughput.
There is a need for a method of planarizing a plated copper surface to remove most of the copper from the wafer surface using process conditions that produce a rapid, uniform removal of the copper for purposes for high throughput, while minimizing overpolishing necessitated by poor removal uniformity. The process needs to reduce the dishing and erosion that arises in conventional high speed and high pressure process conditions, while still maintaining acceptable throughput and uniformity.

Method for multiple phase polishing of a conductive layer in a semidonductor wafer


A music information generating device, including: a block color name recognizing part which selects and determines, from among plural color names which are made to correspond to plural ranges of color attribute value having been set beforehand, a color name corresponding to the representative-color of the block as a block color name of the block, by recognizing to which range of the color attribute value the representative-color of the block belongs, where the plural color names have been made or are going to be made to correspond to the plural sound-source names having been stored; and a diagram music-score generating unit which selects, based on a criterion having been set beforehand, a designated block from among the blocks having been arranged in lattice shape, and thereby generates a diagram music-score.

The present invention relates to a music information generating device, a music information generating method, and a recording medium, related to a generating/reproducing device of picture-image music which generates/reproduces music from a picture-image, a generating/reproducing method of picture-image music, and the like.
In recent years, methods are proposed which generate music from RGB values meaning physical levels of picture-element color included in a picture-image. For example, methods are proposed which create sorts of musical-notes by RGB values (for example, refer to Non-patent document D1), or create a major key or a minor key and harmony-tone from RGB values (for example, refer to Non-patent document D2) or alternatively, cause the RGB value to correspond to a pitch of sound, harmony-tone, or the sort of a music-instrument (for example, refer to Non-patent document D3).                D1: TSUTOMU WAKABAYASHI, TAKAHIRO KOBAYASHI and MAMI HIRABAYASHI: "PROPOSAL OF MELODY AUTOMATIC GENERATING SYSTEM USING FEATURES OF PICTURE-IMAGE" IPSJ Interaction 2011        D2: MASAYA FUJITA: "INVESTIGATION OF MUSIC-COMPOSITION AUTOMATIC GENERATING SYSTEM BY PICTURE-IMAGE INFORMATION" Tokyo City University 2012 Graduation Study Summary        D3: KENJI KOJIMA: "'RGB MusicLab' CONVERTING COLOR INFORMATION OF PICTURE-IMAGE INTO MUSIC" V34 (2010) [online] Internet <URL:http://www.forest.impress.co.jp/docs/review/20100421_362686.html>

Music information generating device, music information generating method, and recording medium


Examples described herein provide advanced pairing between an application and a selected device within an application-driven user experience. An application is enabled to pair devices within the application context and customize the user experience without relying on an experience or user interface provided by an operating system. This application-driven pairing is abstracted from protocols, allowing the application to provide custom pairing user experiences for any protocol.

Some applications running on a computing device may be allowed to use other devices if the other devices have a secure relationship with the computing device. Establishing a secure relationship between a computing device and other devices, often referred to as pairing a device, is typically an experience driven by the operating system of the computing device, often using a system-owned user interface to provide the user experience.


The present application provides a compartmentalized cooling system for providing a cooling flow in a turbine with a flow of combustion gases therein. The compartmentalized cooling system may include a turbine nozzle and a cooling baffle. The turbine nozzle may include an airfoil insert and a nozzle outer sidewall. The cooling baffle may include a high pressure cooling passage in communication with the airfoil insert in a first circuit and an impingement plate positioned about the nozzle outer sidewall in a second circuit.

Generally described, a turbine stage of a gas turbine engine includes a number of stationary turbine nozzles. Each turbine nozzle may have a vane extending radially between outer and inner sidewalls. The nozzle vanes may have an airfoil configuration for guiding the combustion gases between corresponding turbine rotor blades disposed upstream and downstream thereof. The turbine rotor blades may be mounted to the perimeter of a rotor disk for rotation therewith. Because the turbine nozzle vanes are heated during operation by the hot combustion gases that flow therethrough, cooling air bled from the compressor may be channeled inside the vanes for cooling purposes. Limiting the amount of parasitic cooling air required and limiting the leakage of such cooling air lost in the nozzle vanes and elsewhere should promote overall gas turbine engine efficiency and performance.
Compartmentalized cooling has been used in the past with aviation turbine engines and the like. Such aviation engines generally include a circular (360°) component to direct the cooling flow into the nozzles. This configuration may be possible with aviation engines given that aviation engines generally are full hoop case structures that are axially stacked during assembly. Due to the overall size of industrial gas turbine engines, however, such industrial gas turbines generally are installed in at least two half (180°) segments, if not many more. This segmented configuration generally precludes the use of a 360° component to route the cooling flow into the nozzle arrangement.
There is thus a desire for an improved industrial gas turbine design. Such an improved industrial gas turbine design may use a number of segmented cooling baffles to provide high pressure cooling air with low leakage so as to promote efficient cooling with low leakage.

Turbine nozzle compartmentalized cooling system


In the Microsoft® Windows 2000™ environment, ports for printers on a network can be created using an AddPort command and XcvData function. By placing pointers within XcvData to data structures, the process of adding ports can be made largely invisible to a user.

The concept of "network printing," in which a set of digital printers or other devices are controlled using a network protocol, is well known. Heretofore, management of a network of printers, particularly at installation, has been a labor-intensive process. In order to set up a plurality of printers and make the printers accessible to a plurality of computers, a server on the network has to be configured, and this configuration process typically involves having a systems administrator, that is a person with the particular responsibility of maintaining the network, identify printers on the network, and configure ports and drivers in order to access each of these printers. It would be preferable to provide a system in which a user could automatically survey a network for any printers which happen to be installed thereon at a particular time, and automatically add ports and drivers to the network to serve the discovered printers, all in a single automatic operation.
The present invention is directed toward a method for facilitating such an automatic installation system in the Microsoft Windows 2000 environment, using Microsoft-provided APIs.

System for automatically installing digital printers on a network


A positive polarity D/A converter 11 and a negative polarity D/A converter 12 are formed of an IC chip having the same structure and the same breakdown voltage respectively. When a horizontal clock signal CKH is in a non-conformity state, a clock monitoring circuit 124 contained in the negative polarity D/A converter 12 selects inputs of switch circuits 113, 123 such that outputs of the positive polarity D/A converter 11 and the negative polarity D/A converter 12 can be set to the same potential as an external input. Accordingly, since an output of a D/A converter 10 and an output of a common circuit 13 become a substantially identical potential, application of a DC voltage to a liquid crystal layer can be prevented. Alternatively, the same operation as the above can be achieved by monitoring the horizontal clock signal CKH by using a clock monitoring circuit 114 of the positive polarity D/A converter 11.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display device and, more particularly, an active matrix type liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A flat panel display device which is typified by a liquid crystal display device is employed in various fields to profitably employ characteristics of light weight, small thickness, and low power consumption. In particular, the liquid crystal display device in which a liquid crystal layer is employed as an optical modulation layer is widely employed as a display device for OA devices, home electrical appliances, etc. Especially an active matrix type liquid crystal display device in which switch elements are provided to pixels one by one is spread rapidly as the display device of the OA device.
In the liquid crystal display device, when the voltage of the video signal applied to the liquid crystal layer is unipolar, a direct current (DC) component is always applied to the liquid crystal layer. Problems such as deterioration of the liquid crystal layer are caused if such condition is continued for a long time. In order to prevent such problem, the polarity inversion driving method is executed, i.e., polarity of the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer is inverted every frame period.
Meanwhile, a video signal is applied to the liquid crystal panel at a timing which is in synchronism with a reference clock signal being input from an external device. For this reason, if the reference clock signal is in a non-conformity state due to any reason, the DC component is applied to the liquid crystal layer over a long time. This situation causes deterioration of the liquid crystal and in turn causes abnormality in image display.
Therefore, such a technology has been proposed that a clock monitoring circuit is provided in the liquid crystal display device and thus the DC component can be prevented from being applied to the liquid crystal layer over a long time when the reference clock signal is in a non-conformity state . However, according to such configuration in the prior art, there are problems such that the number of parts to be incorporated is increased and it is difficult to use the parts in common. As a result, it is difficult to achieve improvement in productivity and a lower cost of the device.