A mobile node adapted router and home agent router operating by the IPv6 protocol able to shorten the time required for updating the current address of the mobile node and increase the speed of switching of the transfer route and providing a transfer route not passing through a home agent every time for a node not supporting this protocol, provided with a memory unit for storing a current address of a mobile node which the correspondent node should store instead of the correspondent node and a transfer unit for referring to the memory unit when receiving a packet transmitted to the home address of the mobile node, converting it to the current address, and transmitting the packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile node adapted router and a home agent router forming a packet communication system supporting at least mobile nodes among fixed nodes and mobile nodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a protocol for mobile nodes enabling communication in an IP network even when nodes change connection points in the network, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) of the U.S. has established the Mobile IP (document [1]: RFC2002) protocol (note: the documents cited in the specification are listed together at the end of the specification).
Due to the rapid rise in the number of nodes serviced by IP networks in recent years, a serious problem has arisen of the depletion of IP addresses. A transition is underway to a network using the IPv6 (document [2]: RFC2460) protocol enabling use of more IP addresses. Therefore, in addition to the Mobile IP protocol in IPv4 networks up to now, effort is being made to establish a Mobile-IPv6 (document [3]) protocol supporting movement of nodes in an IPv6 network. The IETF is engaged in deliberations for the next stage of requests for comments (RFC).
In the Mobile-IPv6 protocol, depending on the configuration of the network or the location of the node, sometimes time is taken for the switching the transfer route when a mobile node (MN) moves. In such a case, there is a problem that if packets are sent from another node to a network connected to before the movement of the mobile node, packet loss occurs and the quality of service deteriorates.
Further, to switch the transfer route, not only the mobile node, but also the correspondent node (CN) communicating with the mobile node has to support the Mobile-IPv6 protocol. Therefore, when the correspondent node does not support the Mobile-IPv6 protocol, the packets to be transmitted to a mobile node are transferred to the mobile node through a home agent router (HA) cooperating with a home link to which the mobile node is normally connected. Therefore, there is a problem of an increase in the transfer delay or concentration of traffic in a home agent router. The above problems will be explained in detail later with reference to the drawings.

Mobile node adapted router and home agent router


With the objective of providing a scanning receiver capable of capturing a target radio wave in an extremely short period of time by use of a simple constituting means, a plurality of wide frequency division bands in which a full frequency range is divided into predetermined frequency ranges are set and the field intensities of received radio waves are retrieved using the output of an intermediate frequency amplifier circuit over the set wide frequency division bands in order. Further, when a received radio wave having a field intensity greater than or equal to a prescribed level is obtained upon the above retrieval, receive frequencies are swept from one end of each of the wide frequency division bands to the other end thereof. When a target radio wave can be captured upon the above sweeping, transition to the operation of receiving the target radio wave is performed. When the target radio wave is not obtained, the retrieval of field intensities of received radio waves and the sweeping of receive frequencies following the retrieval are performed over the non-retrieved wide frequency division bands in a sequential order to capture the corresponding target radio wave.

The present invention relates to a scanning receiver which selects and receives a target radio wave out of various radio waves, and particularly to a scanning receiver capable of capturing and receiving a target radio wave without the need for many scanning processes and a long selection time even if the propagation frequency of the target radio wave is unknown.
In general, a scanning receiver is operated so as to frequency-sweep a local oscillation frequency over a constant or predetermined frequency range and stop the sweeping of the local oscillation frequency when a target radio wave is captured and received by its frequency sweeping thereby to proceed to the reception of the target radio wave.
In such a scanning receiver, the sweeping of the local oscillation frequency has originally been performed using an analog means upon frequency-sweeping the local oscillation frequency. Therefore, when a firstly captured and received radio wave does not correspond to a target radio wave, the remaining frequency range is frequency-swept following its capturing to thereby capture the target radio wave. In such a case, information about the local oscillation frequency at the stop of the frequency sweeping cannot be stored perfectly. It was thus difficult to perform frequency sweeping over a wide band frequency range and thereby capture and receive a target radio wave.
Thereafter, with rapid development of digital technology substituted for analog technology, the digital technology has been used in the frequency sweeping of the local oscillation frequency even in the field of scanning receivers. Thus, a scanning receiver that makes use of a digital memory means has become developed.
In recent years, computer processing technology and LSI (Large Scale Integration) manufacturing technology have greatly been advanced and global homogenization in the allocation of frequencies of radio waves has been made. Therefore, receivers each using a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) frequency synthesizer in the generation of a local oscillation signal have increased. Even in the case of a scanning receiver, one using such a PLL frequency synthesizer has become mainstream.
On the other hand, the scanning receiver needs to take into consideration the following points when the PLL frequency synthesizer is used in the generation of the local oscillation signal. That is, when the propagation frequency of a target radio wave is perfectly unknown, the scanning receiver must scan received radio waves over an extremely wide frequency range to capture and receive the target radio wave in order to capture and receive the corresponding target radio wave. The reason for this is as follows: When the frequency allocations of actual various radio waves are viewed, they are given at alternate-12.5 kHz frequency intervals or at alternate-25 kHz frequency intervals depending upon frequency bands (such allocated positions of radio waves hereinafter be called "channels"). Therefore, in order to capture and receive the target radio wave by the scanning receiver, there is a need to sequentially capture and receive the respective channels at above frequency intervals over the full frequency range in which effective radio waves are placed, regardless of the presence or absence of allocation of the radio waves.
In this case, the scanning receiver needs to frequency-change the local oscillation frequency generated by the PLL frequency synthesizer in such a manner that the local oscillation frequency is sequentially synchronized with the propagation frequencies of the radio waves placed at above frequency intervals. Since a frequency switching time of about 10 ms per channel is normally required where the local oscillation frequency of the PLL frequency synthesizer is frequency-changed so as to be synchronized with the propagation frequencies of the respective radio waves, a considerable time might be required until the wide frequency range in which the effective radio waves exist, is frequency-swept to capture and receive the target radio wave.
Even in the case where it is expected that, for example, a transmitting station transmitting a target radio wave is at a fairly near distance and the field intensity of the target radio wave will be relatively large, the need to take a considerable time is also by no means rare until the target radio wave is captured and received.
In consideration of the fact that time is extremely taken to capture and receive such a target radio wave, the shortening of the time taken to capture the target radio wave has been thought out in the field of a sweeping receiver containing this type of scanning receiver. A receiver disclosed in a patent document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 09(1997)-321581) has been proposed as one example.
The receiver disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 09(1997)-321581 is one of such a type that two receiving sections corresponding to a main receiving section and a sub receiving section configured substantially in the same scale are provided, and while any receiving radio wave is being received by the receiving operation of the main receiving section, the sub receiving unit performs a sweeping operation to detect the following received radio wave, and data about the detected received radio wave is stored in a memory, and that when a skip signal is supplied to the main receiving section, the main receiving section receives the next received radio wave on the basis of the received radio wave data stored in the memory. Thus, since the main receiving section is capable of receiving the following radio wave promptly even if the speed of frequency sweeping at the sub receiving section is not so fast, the frequency sweeping operation can apparently be speeded up looking overall.
Although the receiver disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 09(1997)-321581 is capable of apparently speeding up the frequency sweeping operation by cooperation between the main receiving section and the sub receiving section and thereby shortening time taken to capture the target radio wave, it is necessary to provide the sub receiving section substantially identical in constitutional scale to the main receiving section in addition to the provision of the originally-required main receiving section. Therefore, the receiver becomes large in constitutional scale on the whole but also increases in the number of required components, thereby resulting in a great increase in manufacturing cost.


A method for operating one or more plasma processes in a plasma chamber, with at least two power supplies, the method comprising the following process steps:                a. carrying out an arc detection for at least one of the power supplies;        b. generating at least one signal relating to the arc detection and/or data relating to the arc detection;

Plasma processes occur, for example, in plasma processing and coating devices. A great number of different plasma processing devices are known, for example, PVD, PECVD, etching or even gas laser excitation. One form of such a device is also known in general terms as a sputtering system on account of the sputtering process used. In particular in the case of dc sputtering installations, flash-overs, where a current seeks an electrically conductive path in the plasma, are a frequent occurrence. Such flash-overs occur relatively frequently, in particular during what is known as reactive coating of a substrate. The reason for this is the fact that in addition to the substrate itself, parts of the sputtering system, such as the inner wall of the process chamber, are coated with electrically non-conducting or only poorly electrically conducting materials, which then charge up to a breakdown voltage. To avoid undue damage to the sputtering systems, the supply of current of a plasma dc voltage supply is switched off or briefly interrupted as soon as possible during the occurrence of a flash-over, or a voltage across the plasma chamber is short-circuited or its polarity is reversed. In order to be able to initiate the above-mentioned measures at all, devices for arc discharge detection (arc detection) and also for suppressing or extinguishing the arc discharges (arcs), are in many cases an integral part of the plasma current supply or plasma dc voltage supply, i.e. the plasma power supply.
In the first instance, it is important that arc discharges or arcs are reliably detected. An arc discharge can be detected, for example, by a voltage dip or voltage drop or by a current rise at the output of the plasma dc voltage supply. In other words, an arc discharge detection (arc detection) can be implemented by monitoring at least one suitable characteristic value of the plasma process, such as one of the above-mentioned electrical characteristic values.
In addition to what are called "hard arcs", which may lead to damage of the sputtering system and to defects in a substrate to be machined, in particular also what are commonly termed "short arcs" are known (arcs that are relatively strongly defined, but in contrast to hard arcs are self-extinguishing) and what are commonly termed "micro-arcs" (hereafter also referred to as micro arc discharges or micro arcs). Depending on the setting of the threshold for arc discharge detection, such micro arc discharges, when they extinguish themselves again, are generally not detected at all by the known methods and devices. However, it is known that such micro arc discharges can become amplified and can then lead to a more serious short arc or hard arc.
To preclude this happening, it is known, for example, from EP 0 692 138 B1, to reverse the polarity of the voltage supply periodically for a predefinable short time to discharge any charges in the plasma chamber. This is also referred to as DC pulsed operation. Compared with a continuous plasma process, arcing is often clearly reduced with this operation, but the coating or ablation rate is likewise reduced.

Abstract: transferring the at least one signal and/or the data to a plasma process-regulating device and/or to one or more other power supplies or to one or more of the arc diverter devices associated with the other power supplies.


A system and method to monitor a target area of a panoramic images by shooting the target area, sequentially shifting the shooting direction. A unit image of a generated panoramic image and a corresponding unit image of another panoramic image generated before the first panoramic image are compared and the change, if any, in the luminance level is detected. Then, the detected difference of luminance level is compared with a predetermined threshold value and predetermined information is displayed on the display screen with the generated panoramic image. It is possible to define small regions in the area for which a large threshold is predetermined and/or small regions in the area for which no such comparison is made on a unit image basis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a monitor for monitoring the situation of a broad area by means of a panoramic image obtained by shooting the surroundings, sequentially changing the shooting direction and also to a monitoring method, a computer program and a recording medium to be used with such a monitor.
This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-415744, filed on Dec. 12, 2003, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic still cameras have been and being popularly used. They are adapted to convert light transmitted through a lens as a result of shooting a target by means of a solid state image pickup element such as CCD into image signals and record the image signals on a recording medium. They can also reproduce the recorded image signals. Many electronic still cameras are equipped with a monitor that can display a picked up still image so that a specific one of the recorded still images may be displayed there. In such an electronic still camera, the image signals supplied to the monitor correspond to an image of the target of shooting. Thus, it is an image of a very limited area that can be displayed at a time. In other words, it has not been possible to monitor the situation of a broad area.
In view of the above identified circumstances, monitoring cameras that can continuously shoot a target, sequentially shifting the shooting direction, to obtain a panoramic view of the target by arranging a plurality of unit images in order to monitor the situation of a broad area have become popular. Particularly, in recent years, techniques of reducing the size of each image and synthetically combining a plurality of images into a single image to produce video signals of a single frame have been proposed (see, inter alia, Patent Document 1: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. hei 10-108163). Additionally, central monitoring/recording systems adapted to monitor a broad area by collecting images that are obtained by means of a plurality of monitoring video cameras arranged at respective positions have also been proposed (see, inter alia, Patent Document 2: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-243062).
When shooting a target area with a predetermined view angle by means of a known monitoring camera as shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings, it is necessary to sequentially shift the shooting direction both horizontally and vertically. When, for example, the size of the target area is expressed by s×t times of the frame size of each image (to be referred to as unit image) obtained by shooting a small region of the target area from a given view angle, it is necessary to select at least s×t shooting directions.
To be more specific, the target is shot by aligning the shooting direction of the monitoring camera to coordinates (1, 1) of the upper left corner. Then, the shooting direction of the monitoring camera is shifted sequentially and horizontally to coordinates (2, 1), (3, 1), (4, 1), . . . , (s, 1) to shoot the target continuously. After completing the operation of shooting the first row, the target is shot by aligning the shooting direction of the monitoring camera to coordinates (1, 2) of the second row and then shifting the shooting direction sequentially and horizontally. After repeating the above operation until the shooting direction is aligned to coordinates (s, t) for shooting the target, the s×t unit images are put together to synthetically produce an image of the entire target area.
However, when a watchman tries to detect a change in the target area, using the monitored image recorded on a recording medium such as a video tape in a manner as described above, he has to observe every inch of the target area in the monitored image that is updated continuously by each scanning motion of the camera. Particularly, the watchman has to identify any minor change in the image and appearance of a small object at the cost of a large effort and time. Additionally, since such a monitoring system heavily relies on the eyes of the watchman, it inherently involves a risk that changes and appearances of objects can be overlooked.
Still additionally, when a change is detected in the target area, the watchman has to analyze the situation and the cause of the change in detail by referring to the image data recorded in the past to further raise the load on the part of the watchman.
Furthermore, in a system where any difference of luminance between panoramic images taken with time intervals calls watchman's attention and the target area is what is shown in FIG. 1, the road leading to the entrance of the church may frequently calls watchman's attention because many people may be walking there and hence movements may be detected also frequently. If the watchman needs to monitor small regions of the target area other than the road where many movements may be detected, he may be constantly annoyed by the movements on the road that may arise on the road because they inevitably call his attention. Then, the watchman can eventually mix up the changes detected on the road and those detected in other small regions of the target area so that he may not be able to reliably monitor the target area.

Monitor for monitoring a panoramic image


Described are techniques for initializing a device in a data storage system. An indicator is set in an entry associated with a portion of the device indicating that the portion of the device is to be initialized. A signature field of the entry is set with a signature value indicating that the portion of the device is to be initialized. The device is indicated as available for use after setting the indicator and the signature field for each portion of the device. The device has one or more portions and each of the portions has a corresponding entry including an indicator and a signature field.

1. Technical Field
This application generally relates to a data storage system, and more particularly to techniques used with device initialization.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer systems may include different resources used by one or more host processors. Resources and host processors in a computer system may be interconnected by one or more communication connections. These resources may include, for example, data storage devices such as those included in the data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation. These data storage systems may be coupled to one or more host processors and provide storage services to each host processor. Multiple data storage systems from one or more different vendors may be connected and may provide common data storage for one or more host processors in a computer system.
A host processor may perform a variety of data processing tasks and operations using the data storage system. For example, a host processor may perform basic system I/O operations in connection with data requests, such as data read and write operations.
Host processor systems may store and retrieve data using a storage device containing a plurality of host interface units, disk drives, and disk interface units. Such storage devices are provided, for example, by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,939 to Yanai et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,394 to Galtzur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,147 to Vishlitzky et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,208 to Ofek. The host systems access the storage device through a plurality of channels provided therewith. Host systems provide data and access control information through the channels to the storage device and storage device provides data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems do not address the disk drives of the storage device directly, but rather, access what appears to the host systems as a plurality of logical disk units. The logical disk units may or may not correspond to the actual disk drives. Allowing multiple host systems to access the single storage device unit allows the host systems to share data stored therein.
Different tasks may be performed in connection with devices of a data storage system. One task that may be performed in connection with a device of a data storage system is initialization or formatting of the device. One existing technique for initializing or formatting a device on a data storage system may include, in addition to other processing steps, initializing each track of the device such as with an initialization pattern.
The foregoing existing technique has some drawbacks. Initializing each track of the device may be very time consuming and use a lot of computing resources. A track may correspond to a portion of a physical storage such as, for example, multiple blocks on a data storage device. In connection with initializing each track on the device with an initialization pattern, the resources of the data storage system may be consumed to saturation so that the service time to process other requests such as, for example, host I/O operations, may be unacceptable. Additionally, the amount of time to perform the initialization prior to the device being available for use may also be unacceptable particularly as the capacity of devices and data storage systems increase.
The initialization may be performed in connection with different operations and commands. Initialization may be performed in connection with an application determining that a device should be initialized. For example, a snapshot application may be used in connection with making a snapshot or point in time copy of data from a first device to a second device. While the snapshot of data is in the process of being copied to the second device, a read operation to access data on the second device may be redirected to use a copy of data on the first device if the data has not yet been copied from the first device to the second device. If a snapshot application session is terminated prior to completion of making the snapshot on the second device, the snapshot application may set an indicator indicating that the second device requires initialization due to the incomplete and aborted snapshot operation.
Thus, it may be desirable to utilize a technique in connection with device initialization which efficiently utilizes resources of a data storage system and reduces the amount of time before the device is available for use. It may also be desirable that the technique be scalable as data storage capacity of the data storage system and devices therein increases.


Provided is a client device that includes a detection unit that detects an act of expressing gratitude by a user, a communication unit that transmits and receives at least a first portion of virtual currency, and a control unit that performs control, with recognition of an act of expressing gratitude by a first user on the basis of data detected, such that a certain amount corresponding to the act in virtual currency held by the first user is subtracted and a first portion of the certain amount of the virtual currency is managed as gratitude currency held by the first user.

Today's capitalist society continues to grow on the premise of a monetary economy; however, profit maximization has also raised disadvantages such as increase in the poor and regional disparities.
On the other hand, there is regional currency used as having the same value as legal currency or completely different value in a specific regional community. Efforts has been made to deepen regional revitalization and social interaction through such regional currency.
Moreover, in recent years, in order to stimulate communication and further improve society, a system has also been proposed in which the feeling of gratitude is quantified and used as currency, focusing on evaluating the feeling of gratitude to the other party.
For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a technology related to a method of settlement of regional currency payment in a specific group. In particular, there is disclosed such a system capable of settling as regional currency like currency, with numerical evaluation value in which part or all of the value of offering of goods or services or donations among members in the specific group is replaced with a numerical value representing the degree of gratitude.
Furthermore, Patent Document 2 below discloses a system capable of expressing the feeling of gratitude of "thank you" as value information to a gift destination.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Client device, information processing system, storage medium, and information processing method


There is disclosed anti-receptor and growth blocking agents to the vitamin B12/transcobalamin II receptor and binding sites. The anti-receptor and growth blocking agents antagonize or modulate the vitamin B12/transcobalamin II receptor or binding sites, causing cellular depletion of vitamin B12, thus inhibiting cell division or causing apoptosis. Anti-receptor and growth blocking agents of the present invention include proteins (such as antibodies and antibody derivatives), peptides and small organic molecules. In a preferred embodiment, the anti-receptor agent is an antibody to the vitamin B12/transcobalamin II receptor.

As has been demonstrated in experimental in vitro data, pre-clinical animal models, and patient studies, vitamin B12 is a co-enzyme necessary in cell division, as well as cellular metabolism, in proliferating normal and neoplastic cells. Insufficient vitamin B12 causes cellular division to be held in abeyance and ultimately may result in apoptosis. The nutrient is generally derived from dietary intake and is transported throughout the body complexed to transport proteins. The complex of transport protein and vitamin B12 is recognized by a cellular receptor which internalizes the complex and releases the vitamin intracellularly. The overall process has been reviewed in GUT 31:59, 1991. Vitamin B12 is taken in through the diet. Binding proteins in the saliva (R-binder) and gut (intrinsic factor-(IF)) complex vitamin B12 after release from endogenous binding proteins by action of enzymes and low pH in the stomach. Vitamin B12 is transferred across the intestinal epithelium in a receptor specific fashion to transcobalamin II (TcII). The vitamin B12/transcobalamin II complex is then transported throughout the body and recognized by receptors present on dividing cells, internalized and released within the cell where it is utilized by certain enzymes as a co-factor.
The high affinity receptor in dividing tissues or cells responsible for internalization of vitamin B12 recognizes transcobalamin II complexed with vitamin B12. The vitamin B12/TcII receptor recognizes only the vitamin B12/TcII complex and not the serum transport protein or the vitamin alone. The receptor is down-regulated on non-dividing cells; the mechanism for supplying non-dividing cells with vitamin B12 is poorly understood. However, it is known that more vitamin B12 is required during cell division than during metabolism, and that the vitamin B12/TcII receptor is the only high affinity means for cellular uptake of vitamin B12 during cell division. When stimulated to divide, cells demonstrate a five to ten fold increase in transient expression of this receptor leading to vitamin B12 uptake which precedes actual DNA synthesis (J. Lab. Clin. Med. 103:70, 1984). Vitamin B12 receptor levels may be measured by binding of 57Co-vitamin B12 complexed to transcobalamin II (present in serum) on replicate cultures grown in chemically defined medium without serum. No receptor mediated uptake occurs in the absence of carrier protein.
Dividing cells, induced to differentiate, lose receptor expression and no longer take up vitamin B12. More importantly, leukemic cells, deprived of vitamin B12, will stop dividing and die (Acta Haemat. 81:61, 1989). In a typical experiment, leukemic cell cultures were deprived of serum for 3 days, and then supplemented either with serum (a source of vitamin B12) or a non-metabolizable analogue of vitamin B12 and cultured up to five days. Cell cultures supplemented with vitamin B12 continued to grow, whereas those deprived of the active nutrient stopped growing and die.
Based on these observations, it has been suggested that whole body deprivation of vitamin B12 may be useful in the treatment of cancer or other disorders characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells. Moreover, because of the critical role played by vitamin B12-containing enzymes in cell division, it is believed that vitamin B12 deprivation may be used in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs which inhibit cellular replication. For example, when vitamin B12 depletion was combined with methotrexate, the two modalities together were more efficient in depleting folate levels in leukemic cells than either alone (FASEB J. 4:1450, 1990; Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 270:729, 1989; Leukemia Research 15:165, 1991). Folates are precursors in the production of DNA and proteins. In typical experiments, cultures of leukemic cells were exposed to nitrous oxide for several hours to convert the active form of endogenous vitamin B12 to an inactive form. Replicate cultures were then left without further treatment, or additionally treated with methotrexate. Cellular folate levels were measured three days later. Cells treated with the combination (i.e., both methotrexate and inactive vitamin B12) showed a more striking decrease in cellular folate levels than with either of the two approaches alone. This combination also results in a higher cell kill in vitro. When this approach was applied to the treatment of highly aggressive leukemia/lymphoma in animal models (Am. J. Haematol. 34:128, 1990; Anticancer Res. 6:737, 1986; Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol. 17:114, 1986; Br. J. Cancer 50:793, 1984), additive or synergy of anti-tumor action was observed, resulting in prolonged remissions and cures. The following Table 1 summarizes the observed additive or synergistic results:
TABLE 1Vitamin B12 Depletion (Nitrous Oxide) in Combination TherapyDrugs Used inCombinationwith Vitamin B12TherapeuticStudyDepletionResultsMyelocytic leukemia/ratscycloleucineadditive5-FUadditivemethotrexatesynergisticAcute leukemia/rats5-FUadditiveAcute leukemia/ratsmethotrexatesynergisticAcute leukemia/ratscycloleucinesynergistic
A key finding in the experiments described above was that short-term (hours to days), whole body depletion of vitamin B12 can act synergistically with chemotherapeutic drugs (such as methotrexate and 5-FU) to inhibit tumor growth and treat animals with leukemia/lymphoma. Despite synergistic anti-tumor activity, there was no toxicity attributable to the short-term vitamin B12 depletion for proliferating normal cells. This combination therapy was demonstrated in multiple animal models. Observations in patients have indicated that long-term (months to years) vitamin B12 depletion is required to produce significant normal tissue toxicity. Even in those cases, subsequent infusion of vitamin B12 can readily reverse symptomology (Br. J. Cancer 5:810, 1989).
Because of the promise of this therapeutic approach, various methods have been sought to efficiently and controllably perform a temporary depletion of vitamin B12. Such methods, however, affect all of the body's stores of vitamin B12. They include dietary restriction, high doses of vitamin B12 analogues (non-metabolizable-competitive antagonists which act as enzyme inhibitors), and nitrous oxide (transformation of vitamin B12 to inactivate form). These different methods have been used in culture systems and in animals to deplete vitamin B12. The most efficient and the most utilized method has been the inhalation of nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Animals are maintained typically under an atmosphere of 50% to 70% of nitrous oxide for periods from a few hours to a few days, causing the conversion of endogenous vitamin B12 into an inactive form. This methodology has been utilized in combination with drugs for therapy of leukemia/lymphoma. A further method for vitamin B12 depletion involves infusion of a non-metabolizable analogue of vitamin B12 which essentially dilutes out the active form. This form of therapy is not specific for dividing cells but affects liver dependent metabolic processes. Another approach includes restricting the dietary intake of vitamin B12. This method, however, requires very long periods of dietary restriction and is offset by hepatic storage of vitamin B12. All of these methods suffer from problems of specificity, since they affect both vitamin B12-dependent growth as well as basal metabolism, and therefore are not particularly suited to the development of anti-proliferative pharmaceutical products.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for agents which will cause the cellular depletion of vitamin B12, and which selectively affect dividing cells. The present invention fulfills this need, and provides further related advantages.


In a digital TV receiver a single digital complex multiplier is used for digitally synchrodyning digital intermediate-frequency signal to baseband both during the reception of VSB digital television signals and during the reception of QAM digital television signals. The component digital multipliers of the complex multiplier are provided by read-only memories (ROMs). The complex digital carriers used by the complex multiplier are supplied from further read-only memory storing sine/cosine look-up tables for the QAM carrier and for the VSB carrier as,translated to the final intermediate-frequency band. This further read-only memory is addressed by a sample count and an indication of whether VSB or QAM digital television signal is currently being received.

The invention relates to television receivers capable of receiving vestigial-sideband amplitude-modulation (VSB) digital television (DTV) signals as used in terrestrial broadcasting in the United States and also capable of receiving quadrature-amplitude-modulation (QAM) digital television signals as used in cablecasting or direct satellite broadcasting (DBS) in the United States.
Receivers for VSB DTV signals are described by C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,449 issued Dec. 26, 1995 with the title xe2x80x9cDIGITAL VSB DETECTOR WITH BANDPASS PHASE TRACKER, AS FOR INCLUSION IN AN HDTV RECEIVERxe2x80x9d. In the described receivers the VSB DTV signals are converted to a frequency band just above baseband and are then digitized before being synchrodyned to baseband in the digital regime. The synchrodyning is done using a digital complex multiplier. Hilbert transform filtering responsive to a stream of real samples from the analog-to-digital converter generates a stream of imaginary samples, which stream of imaginary samples together with a delayed stream of the real samples supply a complex multiplicand signal to the complex multiplier. Read-only memory addressed by a sample counter supplies a complex digital carrier wave from sine/cosine look-up tables, which complex digital carrier wave is applied to the complex multiplier as a complex multiplier signal. The product output signal from the complex multiplier comprises as real and imaginary components thereof an in-phase (I) synchronous demodulation signal and a quadrature-phase (Q) synchronous demodulation signal. The I synchronous demodulation signal is descriptive of baseband symbol coding. The Q synchronous demodulation signal is used as a basis for generating automatic frequency and phase control (AFPC) signal of local oscillations supplied to the mixer for converting the VSB DTV signals to the frequency band just above baseband.
The use of infinite-impulse response filters for developing complex multiplicand signal for the digital complex multiplier in DTV receivers of bandpass tracker type is described by C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg in U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,617 issued Aug. 20, 1996, with the title xe2x80x9cDIGITAL VSB DETECTOR WITH BANDPASS PHASE TRACKER USING RADER FILTERS, AS FOR USE IN AN HDTV RECEIVERxe2x80x9d. The use of finite-impulse response filters for developing complex multiplicand signal for the digital complex multiplier in DTV receivers of bandpass tracker type is described by C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg in U.S. Pat. No. 08/577,469 issued Dec. 22, 1995 with the title xe2x80x9cDIGITAL VSB DETECTOR WITH BANDPASS PHASE TRACKER USING NG FILTERS, AS FOR USE IN AN HDTV RECEIVERxe2x80x9d. QAM/VSB DTV receivers in which receivers both QAM and VSB DTV signals are processed through the same intermediate-frequency amplifiers to generate a final I-F signal are described by C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,012 issued Feb. 3, 1998 with the title xe2x80x9cRADIO RECEIVERS FOR RECEIVING BOTH VSB AND QAM DIGITAL HDTV SIGNALSxe2x80x9d. The DTV signals are converted to a frequency band just above baseband and are then digitized before being synchrodyned to baseband in the digital regime. The real samples of the digitized final I-F signal are supplied to real-samples-to-complex-samples conversion circuitry to generate complex multiplicand signal for a digital complex multiplier for demodulating QAM DTV signals and for another digital complex multiplier for demodulating VSB DTV signals. The complex multiplier for demodulating QAM DTV signals multiplies the complex multiplicand signal by a complex multiplier signal supplied from sine/cosine look-up tables for the QAM DTV carrier stored in read-only memory addressed by a sample counter. The resulting complex product has a real component and an imaginary component corresponding to the results of in-phase and quadrature-phase synchrodynes to baseband in the digital regime. The complex product is supplied to a symbol synchronizer before symbol decoding. The digital complex multiplier for demodulating VSB DTV signals multiplies the complex multiplicand signal by a complex multiplier signal supplied from sine/cosine look-up tables for the VSB DTV carrier stored in read-only memory addressed by a sample counter, following procedures similar to those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,449. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 5,606,579 issued Feb. 25, 1997 to C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg with the title xe2x80x9cDIGITAL VSB DETECTOR WITH FINAL I-F CARRIER AT SUBMULTIPLE OF SYMBOL RATE, AS FOR HDTV RECEIVERxe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,372 issued Aug. 19, 1997 to C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg with the title xe2x80x9cDIGITAL TV DETECTOR RESPONDING TO FINAL-IF SIGNAL WITH VESTIGIAL SIDEBAND BELOW FULL SIDEBAND IN FREQUENCYxe2x80x9d are also of interest. The C. B. Patel et alii patents referred to above are all assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., pursuant to employee invention agreements already in force at the time the inventions disclosed in these patents were made.
The complex multipliers described in these patents are constructed of component digital multipliers that generate only a real component of a complex product or only an imaginary component of a complex product. These component digital multipliers can be constructed using multiplier and multiplicand registers and logic circuitry. Such component multipliers have latent delay of several samples, which latent delays introduce undesirable additional delay into the feedback loop(s) that generate automatic frequency and phase control (AFPC) signal of local oscillations supplied to the mixer for converting the DTV signals to the frequency band just above baseband. Using read-only memories (ROMs) storing look-up tables of the products of multiplicand and multiplier signals received as partial (read) addresses, to provide the component digital multipliers of a complex multiplier used in demodulating DTV signals, eliminates latent delay in the component multiplications. This avoids introduction of undesirable additional delay into the AFPC loop(s).
The ROMs used as the component digital multipliers generally take up more area on a monolithic integrated circuit die than do multipliers constructed using multiplier and multiplicand registers and logic circuitry, the inventors observe. So in a QAM/VSB DTV receiver it is desirable, the inventors point out, to use the same complex multiplier for digitally synchrodyning digital intermediate-frequency signal to baseband during both the reception of VSB digital television signals and the reception of QAM digital television signals. Different complex carriers are used as the multiplier input signal during the reception of VSB digital television signals and during the reception of QAM digital television signals.
Using read-only memories (ROMs) storing look-up tables of the products of multiplicand and multiplier signals received as partial (read) addresses, to provide the component digital multipliers of a complex multiplier used in demodulating DTV signals, eliminates latent delay in the component multiplications. This avoids introduction of undesirable additional delay into the AFPC loop that controls the frequency and phase of local oscillations used in converting the DTV signals to the frequency band just above baseband, prior to digitization of the DTV signals and application of the digitized DTV signals to the complex multiplier as multiplicand signal.
A preferred embodiment of the invention in QAM/VSB DTV receivers uses a single digital complex multiplier for demodulating both QAM and VSB DTV signals as received at different times. The component digital multipliers of the complex multiplier are provided by ROMs. The complex digital carriers used by the complex multiplier are supplied from ROMs storing sine/cosine look-up tables for the QAM carrier and for the VSB carrier as translated to the final intermediate-frequency band.

TV receiver using read-only memory shared during VSB and QAM reception for synchrodyning I-F signal to baseband


An automatic original document feeding device which can shorten a length of time required for refeeding sheets of the original document after a jamming of a sheet of the original document is cleared. When a trouble signal is received indicating that a sheet of the original document remains within a feed path due to an improper feeding or a jamming before the sheet is completely scanned, a side cover is opened and at the same time a driving mechanism is actuated for automatically lowering the sheets of the original document from a feeding position. If the jamming occurs at a later position in the paper path after the image has been completely scanned, the side cover does not have to be opened, the driving mechanism is not lowered, and the sheets of the original document remain in their feeding position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an automatic feeding device which can be used in an apparatus such as an image forming device. The invention is more particularly related to an automatic document feeder and its controller which alters a clamped state of a stack of original pages to be scanned, depending on where a paper jam of the automatic document feeder occurs.
2. Discussion of the Background
Image forming devices, such as copying machines, are known. Such image forming devices have various elements such as sensors and timers which can detect when a paper being fed through the image forming device has jammed. Typically, an operator of the copying machine is then informed of the jam and the operator can then take actions to alleviate the jam situation.
However, the drawback with such conventional devices is that after the jam condition is alleviated, there is often a delay until the device is prepared to continue the copying operation. That is, in such conventional devices, a situation may be presented that certain elements of an automatic document feeder are automatically positioned after a paper jam in order to assure that an operator has the ability to clear the jam. However, it may not be necessary to move all elements of the document feeder for every type of jam. Accordingly, an operator may needlessly wait for the elements of the document feeder to return to their original position after a jam has been cleared, even if it was not necessary to move the elements after the jam occurred.

Automatic original document feeding device which has different procedures for correcting paper jams depending on where the jam occurs


In a video signal recording apparatus for digitally recording a first video signal, a copyright information detecting unit extracts copyright information inserted in the first video signal. An active period decision signal generating unit detects an active pixel period of the first video signal to generate an active period decision signal. A fixed value output unit outputs a second video signal containing information representing a non-copyrighted work. A selecting unit replaces the first video signal by the second video signal in the active pixel period when it is determined, based on the copyright information and the active period decision signal, that the first video signal indicates information representing a copyrighted work, thereby generating a third video signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data recording apparatuses for digitally recording data containing information representing a copyrighted work on a recording medium, such as a video tape, hard disk, or an optical disk. More specifically, the present invention relates to a video signal recording apparatus for digitally recording video signals containing information representing a copyrighted work.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, video recording apparatuses which can perform digital recording of video signals on a recording medium, such as a digital video tape, a hard disk, or DVD, have rapidly become widespread, instead of those which can perform conventional analog recording on a recording medium, such as a VHS tape. When the video signals to be recorded are analog, the MPEG-2 picture compression scheme is used to first convert these analog video signals to digital video signals with a reduced amount of information and then record such digital signals on a recording medium. When the video signals to be recorded are digital, these digital video signals are recorded as they are on a recording medium.
In conventional analog recording, copying of video signals from one recording medium to another, that is, dubbing, causes significant degradation in image quality, leading to a protection of a copyrighted work included in data to be recorded. In digital recording, on the other hand, when the data to be recorded is digital, dubbing does not cause degradation in image quality as long as the there is no problem with the medium or the recording apparatus. The same goes for analog data once converted to digital data. Therefore, video signal recording apparatuses for digital recording should adopt a copyright protection technology for prohibiting illegal copying of data containing information representing a copyrighted work.
A typical copyright protection technology is described below. Signals for copyguard protection, which are superimposed on analog video signals of the National Television System Committee (NTSC) scheme for controlling dubbing, are broadly classified into Macrovision signals and Vertical Blanking ID (VB-ID) signals. A Macrovision signal is composed of an AGC pulse for inserting a pseudo-synchronizing signal and a color stripe for inverting the phase of a burst signal of a specific line. That is, an erroneous signal is inserted in a blanking period of the video signal to cause erroneous synchronization in the recording apparatus and an erroneous operation of the AGC, thereby preventing normal recording. In other words, copyright protection is achieved by a significant degradation in signal quality after copying.
A VB-ID signal, on the other hand, is composed of information of 20 bits, being inserted in the twentieth line in a vertical blanking period of an NTSC signal. The VB-ID signal includes a Copy Generation Management System-Analog (CGMS-A) signal, which represents generation management information about the work. The CGMS-A signal is composed of two bits for representing three types of information: No copying is permitted, one generation of copies may be made, and copying is permitted without restriction. Based on these three types of information, the recording apparatus determines whether a recording operation is permitted. That is, copyright protection is achieved not by degrading signal quality after copying but by restricting the number of times of copying.
The above-described Macrovision signal and VB-ID signal are signals for directly or indirectly controlling the input signal copying operation of the recoding apparatus. Also, these signals identify the input signal as containing information representing a copyrighted work. In other words, the Macrovision signal and VB-ID signal are copyguard signals which indicate that information representing a copyrighted work is mixed in the input signal and also indicate copyright information representing the degree of copyright protection for the work. A minimum period in which such a copyguard signal is inserted is one field.
With reference to FIGS. 15 and 16, a conventional video signal recording apparatus which supports Macrovision signals or VB-ID signals (CGMS-A signals) is described below. As illustrated in FIG. 15, a video signal recording apparatus DRc1 includes an input signal processing unit 101, a copyright information detecting unit 102, a recording processing unit 106, a recording unit 107, and a recording control unit 111. In the video signal recording apparatus DRc1, the input signal processing unit 101 performs a process, such as separation of a synchronizing signal or analog-digital conversion, on an analog video signal Sva to generate a digital video signal Svd for output to the recording processing unit 106. Also, the signal input unit 101 outputs the analog video signal Sva to the copyright information detecting unit 102.
The copyright information detecting unit 102 detects a Macrovision signal or a CGMS-A signal superimposed on the analog video signal Sva to extract copyright information, thereby generating a copyright information signal Scr. Based on the copyright information signal Scr, the recording control unit 111 generates a recording control signal Sc for controlling the recording operation of the recording processing unit 106.
The recording processing unit 106 performs a recording process, which complies with the recording unit 107, on the digital video signal Svd output from the input signal processing unit 101. The recording processing unit 106 preferably includes an MPEG2 image compressing means for compressing the digital video signal Svd, converting the compressed signal to a signal format for recording on a hard disk, and then outputting an MPEG image signal Smpg. The recording operation of the recording processing unit 106 is controlled by the recording control signal Sc supplied by the recording control unit 111. The recording unit 107 records the MPEG image signal Smpg supplied by the recording processing unit 106 on a digital recording medium, such as a hard disk.
A copying control operation of the video signal recording apparatus DRc1 is described below in a case where a copy guard signal, such as a Macrovision signal or a CGMS-A signals, is detected in the input analog video signal Sva. For example, when the copyright information detecting unit 102 detects in the analog video signal Sva an AGC pulse of a Macrovision signal or both of an AGC pulse and a color stripe thereof, this means that copying is prohibited. Therefore, the copyright information detecting unit 102 outputs to the recording control unit 111 a copyright information signal Scr representing that copying of the analog video signal Sva is prohibited. Since the minimum period in which a copyguard signal is inserted in the analog video signal Sva is one field, the copyright information signal Scr indicates whether copying of at least one field is prohibited.
Based on the copyright information signal Scr indicative of copying prohibition, the recording control unit 111 outputs a recording control signal Sc indicative of recording prohibition so as to stop or prevent the recording processing operation of the recording processing unit 106. When the recording processing unit 106 has been set to perform a timer-controlled recording operation, this timer-controlled recording operation is cancelled so as to be prohibited.
Next, a copying control operation of the video signal recording apparatus DRc1 is described below in a case where a CGMS-A signal is detected. When the CGMS-A signal indicates that copying is prohibited, the copyright information detecting unit 102 outputs a copyright information signal Scr indicating that copying is prohibited. The recording control unit 111 outputs a recording control signal Sc for prohibiting a recording process so as to stop or prohibit the recording processing operation of the recording processing unit 106. When the CGMS-A signal indicates that copying is permitted without restriction or that one generation of copies may be made, the copyright information detecting unit 102 outputs a copyright information signal Scr indicating that recording can be made. Based on this copyright information signal Scr, the recording control unit 111 outputs a recording control signal Sc for allowing the recording processing operation. Based on the recording control signal Sc, there cording processing unit 106 performs the recording processing operation or continues the timer-controlled recording operation.
FIG. 16 schematically illustrates recording areas of the recording medium of the recording unit 107. The recording medium of the recording unit 107 is broadly divided into three areas: a filing system information area AFS, a video file management information area AAD, and a video file area AAV, which are listed in increasing order of physical address. The video file area AAV stores video files which are output as the MPEG image signals Smpg from the recording processing unit 106 of the video signal recording apparatus DRc1 so as to be recorded on the recording unit 107. The filing system information area AFS records filing system information indicating which video files are recorded in which address of the video file area AAV.
The video file management information area AAD records video file management information including a recording start time, a recording time length, a recoding TV channel, a recoding TV program, and recoding mode information. The video file management information can specify the contents of each video file recorded in the video file area AAV. With the use of the video file management information, it is possible to present the contents of the recoded video file to the user. The video file management information is fed to the video signal recording apparatus DRc1 through a means (not shown) for detecting the state of user's operation and the channel of the analog video signal Sva input to an input terminal 20.
The number of files that can be managed in each of the filing system information area AFS and the video file management information area AAD is not uniquely related to the recording capacity of the video file area AAV. Therefore, however spaces remain in the hard disk, they cannot be used when the number of managed files passes the upper limit.
The capacity of each of the filing system information area AFS and the video file management information area AAD is set to be significantly smaller than that of the video file area AAV. Once the filing system information area AFS is completely consumed, the recording unit 107 cannot record video files anymore even if unused recording areas remain in the video file area AAV. Furthermore, once the video file management information area is completely consumed, the contents of the video files recorded on the video file area AAV cannot be specified anymore.
With reference to FIG. 17, a video signal recording apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-14793 is described below, in which a pre-process for replay is omitted for a copying-prohibited input signal. A video signal recording apparatus DRc2 includes a recording medium drive control unit 50, a recording medium 51, a signal recording/replaying processing unit 52, a deshuffling processing unit 53, a deshuffling control unit 54, a copyright information detecting unit 55, a video signal processing unit 56, an external signal input unit 57, a video signal output unit 58, and a monitor 59. The recording medium 51 is preferably a medium having digital signals recordable thereon and reproduced therefrom, and is typically a magnetic tape, an optical disk, or a magnetic disk.
The recording medium drive control unit 50 drives the recording medium 51 to perform an operation of recording video/audio signals. The external signal input unit 57 receives an external input signal to be recorded on the recording medium 51 for supply to the video signal recording apparatus DRc2. The video signal processing unit 56 performs, in response to a recording/replaying operation, video signal processing, such as compression, decompression, error correction, and shuffling. The video signal output unit 58 outputs the replayed recorded video to the monitor 59. The signal recording/replaying processing unit 52 replays the video signal recorded on the recording medium 51, and records the video signal on the recoding medium 51.
At the time of replaying, the deshuffling processing unit 53 deshuffles video signals supplied by the signal recording/replaying processing unit 52, and then outputs the resultant signals to the video signal processing unit 56. At the time of recording, the deshuffling processing unit 53 deshuffles signals supplied by the video signal processing unit 56, and then outputs the resultant signals to the signal recording/replaying processing unit 52.
The deshuffling control unit 54 controls the deshuffling operation of the deshuffling processing unit 53 to start or stop at the time of recording/replaying, and also controls the driving operation of the recording medium drive control unit 50. The copyright information detecting unit 55 detects various information including copyright information contained in the external input signal at the time of recording.
The recording operation of the above-structured video signal recording apparatus DRc2 is described below. First, an external video signal Sve to be recorded on the recording medium 51 is fed through the external signal input unit 57. The external video signal Sve is typically a tuner input video signal of analog broadcasting or a video signal input through an analog external input terminal.
Next, the external video signal input through the external signal input unit 57 is supplied to the video signal processing unit 56 for video signal processing. When the external video signal Sve is an analog signal (Sva), the external video signal Sve is output through the video signal output unit 58 to the monitor 59 for presenting video to be recorded on the recording medium 51. Furthermore, the video signal processing unit 56 extracts copyright information from the input external video signal Sve (Sva), and also performs a band compressing process to convert the external video signal Sve (Sva) to a digital signal (Svd).
Next, the extraction result obtained by the video signal processing unit 56 is identified by the copyright information detecting unit 55. As a result of the identifying process, if the external video signal Sve is "recordable", that is, copying is permitted, or if no copyright information or no copyguard signal is provided to the external video signal Sve, the deshuffling control unit 54 is controlled so that the deshuffling processing unit 53 performs a deshuffling process. If the external video signal Sve is "not recordable", that is, copying is prohibited, the deshuffling control unit 54 is controlled so that the deshuffling processing unit 53 does not perform a deshuffling process. Then, the video signal output from the deshuffling processing unit 53 is recorded by the signal recording/replaying processing unit 52 on the recording medium 51.
Another recording apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-180295 (1997-180295), in which a signal to be recoded is muted while copying is prohibited and, once prohibition is removed, a recording operation is started. In this recording apparatus, copying-prohibition data included in the signal to be recorded is detected in order to control the recording operation of the recording system. The recording operation is in a wait state for portions of which recording is prohibited until copying prohibition is removed, and is performed for portions other than the above copying-prohibited portions. While a copying detection signal is being detected, the signal to be recorded is muted, but recording itself is not interrupted, thereby allowing the entire program of television broadcasting to be recorded, for example. Note that, in this recording apparatus, received signals of analog television broadcasting, received data of digital television broadcasting, and digital signals supplied from a computer through an I/O interface to the recording system can be also supplied to the recording system after being muted by a relevant muting circuit.
The above-described video signal recording apparatus which stops recording for each copyrighted work requires a complicated process of notifying the user that recording is stopped. For example, consider a case where a user starts manual recording by pressing a recording start button, and external video signals are copyrighted and are therefore copying-prohibited. In this case, some measures have to be taken so as to stop or not to start the recording operation, and also so as to display a message indicating, for example, that "recoding is prohibited by copyright" on a monitor screen.
Moreover, timer-controlled recording, which automatically starts recording by a timer, requires a process more complicated than that of manual recording. That is, if recording of the program set by timer-controlled recording is prohibited by copyright, the information about prohibition has to be held until the user next operates the recording apparatus. Then, for example, when the user next operates the recording apparatus, a message indicating that recording is prohibited is displayed on the screen of the monitor. This requires very complicated processes, making it difficult to develop software for the recording apparatus.
Still further, consider a case where the input terminal of the recording apparatus is connected to an analog output of a tuner for digital satellite broadcasting. In digital satellite broadcasting, rain could degrade the reception state, causing a weak electric field. In such a weak electric field, copyright information (copyguard signal) included in digital satellite broadcasting may not be able to be correctly detected by the tuner. For example, the copyright protection information of the input video signal is detected as being frequently changed. In one case, a CGMS-A signal of a program is detected as being alternately indicative of "copying-prohibited" and "copying-permitted".
As described above, in the case where the video signal whose copyright protection information is frequently changed is supplied in a weak electric field caused by rain, for example, the video signal recording apparatus DRc1 starts and stops recording alternately and repeatedly. In recording apparatuses using a hard disk, data from starting recording to data at the stopping of recording are managed as a single video file. Also, each video file includes management information for the purpose of later displaying the recorded video files as a list. Therefore, repetition of starting and stopping recording creates a large number of video files, consuming a large amount of the filing system information area AFS and the video file management information area AAD. This makes it impossible to efficiently use the filing system information area AFS. At the worst, some video files cannot be recorded.
In the filing system, the limitation on the number of manageable files and the capacity of the hard disk have a tradeoff relationship. Therefore, the limitation on the number of manageable files can be mitigated by increasing the capacity of the hard disk, as well as the power of the CPU for managing a large number of files. In commercial recording apparatuses, however, it is a waste to use a CPU of overly high capability to perform only file management processing only for the purpose of managing a large number of files. This is one reason for limiting the number of files.
Moreover, if the capacity of the hard disk is increased without extending the filing system, the areas of the hard disk are not efficiently used. Extension of the filing system may alleviate inefficient use of the hard disk, but may require more capability of file management.
In the above-described video signal recording apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-14793), copying-prohibited external video signals are recorded on the recording medium without being deshuffled. In this case, the original external video signals without being deshuffled are recorded on the recording medium, meaning that the original external video signals can be extracted as they are. This does not provide complete protection of copyright of the original external video signals.
Moreover, upon stopping a deshuffling process, the above-described video recording apparatus is not capable of notifying the user that the deshuffling process has stopped for copyright protection. For example, if video signals indicative of a white or black full-screen picture are supplied, video signals to be recorded with deshuffling and those to be recorded without deshuffling provide exactly the same image. Therefore, the user cannot know from the replayed video whether the video is copyright-protected.
Furthermore, in the above-described recording apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-180295), the user cannot ascertain which reason correctly explains why a portion has been muted at the time of replaying, due to a lack of an input signal or copyright protection. In order to allow the user to ascertain the reason of the mute, a complicated process is required for notifying the user that the mute has been performed for the purpose of copyright protection.
Still further, in order to record signals containing information representing a copyrighted work, such information is replaced by information representing a non-copyrighted work. From the recorded information representing the non-copyrighted work as a replacement, the information representing the original copyrighted work cannot be recovered. That is, the original work has been discarded. Therefore, when permission for using the original work is obtained later, the original work has to be again obtained (received and recorded).

Video signal recording apparatus for copyrighted works

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A system and method for isolating semiconductor devices is provided. An embodiment comprises an isolation region that is laterally removed from source/drain regions of semiconductor devices and has a dielectric material extending over the isolation implant between the source/drain regions. The isolation region may be formed by forming an opening through a layer over the substrate, depositing a dielectric material along the sidewalls of the opening, implanting ions into the substrate after the deposition, and filling the opening with another dielectric material.

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensors generally utilize a series of photodiodes formed within an array of pixel regions of a semiconductor substrate in order to sense when light has impacted the photodiode. Adjacent to each of the photodiodes within each of the pixel regions a transfer transistor may be formed in order to transfer the signal generated by the sensed light within the photodiode at a desired time. Such photodiodes and transfer transistors allow for an image to be captured at a desired time by operating the transfer transistor at the desired time.
The complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensors may generally be formed in either a front side illumination configuration or a back-side illumination configuration. In a front-side illumination configuration light passes to the photodiode from the "front" side of the image sensor where the transfer transistor has been formed. However, forcing the light to pass through any overlying metal layers, dielectric layers, and past the transfer transistor before it reaches the photodiode may generate processing and/or operational issues as the metal layers, dielectric layers, and the transfer transistor may not necessarily be translucent and easily allow the light to pass through.
In a back-side illumination configuration, the transfer transistor, the metal layers, and the dielectric layers are formed on a the front side of the substrate, and light is allowed to pass to the photodiode from the "back" side of the substrate such that the light hits the photodiode before it reaches the transfer transistor, the dielectric layers, or the metal layers. Such a configuration may reduce the complexity of the manufacturing of the image sensor and its operation.
However, without proper isolation between the various devices and transistors, the image sensor may not operate as efficiently as desired. In particular, as the size and pitch of pixels within an image sensor scale down, noise between the devices becomes more of a problem, and improper isolation can allow an undesirable junction leakage between the devices.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A method for performing verification is disclosed. The method includes selecting a set of gates to add to a first localization netlist and forming a refinement netlist. A min-cut is computed with sinks having one or more gates in the refinement netlist and sources comprising one or more inputs of an original netlist and one or more registers registers of the original netlist which are not part of the refinement netlist. A final localized netlist is obtained by adding one or more gates to the refinement netlist to grow the refinement netlist until reaching one or more cut-gates of the min-cut.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to verifying designs and in particular to verifying a logic function in a netlist. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method and computer program product for performing minimization of input count during structural netlist overapproximation.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the increasing penetration of microprocessor-based systems into every facet of human activity, demands have increased on the microprocessor development and production community to produce systems that are free from data corruption. Microprocessors have become involved in the performance of a vast array of critical functions, and the involvement of microprocessors in the important tasks of daily life has heightened the expectation of reliability of calculative results. Whether the impact of errors would be measured in human lives or in mere dollars and cents, consumers of microprocessors have lost tolerance for error-prone results. Consumers will not tolerate, by way of example, miscalculations on the floor of the stock exchange, in the medical devices that support human life, or in the computers that control their automobiles. All of these activities represent areas where the need for reliable microprocessor results has risen to a mission-critical concern.
Formal verification techniques, semiformal verification techniques and simulation provide powerful tools for discovering errors and verifying the correctness of logic designs. Formal verification techniques, semiformal verification techniques and simulation frequently expose probabilistically uncommon scenarios that may result in a functional design failure. Additionally, formal verification techniques provide the opportunity to prove that a design is correct (e.g., that no failing scenario exists).
One commonly-used approach to formal, semiformal, and simulation analysis for applications operating on representations of circuit structures is to represent the underlying logical problem structurally (as a circuit graph), and to perform explicit or symbolic evaluation of that circuit graph.
In such an approach, a logical problem is represented structurally. Explicit simulation-based approaches to hardware verification are scalable to very large designs, though suffer from the coverage problem that generally limits them to yielding exponentially decreasing coverage with respect to design size. Formal verification techniques overcome the coverage problem of simulation, yielding exhaustive coverage, though suffer from computational complexity that limits their application to smaller designs.
Formal verification techniques generally require exponential resources with respect to the number of state elements and inputs of a design under verification. Various techniques have been proposed to address the reduction in the number of state elements. For example, the technique of overapproximating the behavior of a design by replacing certain internal gates by inputs (referred to as "localization") has been proposed, which effectively causes any logic which fans out to the signals being referred to by a property solely through the injected cut-points to be removed from the domain of the verification problem. An unfortunate characteristic of localization is that the cut-point insertions tend to substantially increase the number of inputs in the design, which can be detrimental to subsequent proof analysis techniques sensitive to that metric, such as binary decision diagram-based reachability analysis.
Under the prior art, no adequate solution exists for performing minimization of input count during structural netlist overapproximation.

Method and system for performing minimization of input count during structural netlist overapproximation

International Business Machines Corporation


A scalar multiplication unit references a t-bit sequence representing a random number k one bit at a time from the most significant bit, and upon each referencing, sets in a work variable R[0] a value obtained by doubling a specific point G on an elliptic curve set in a scalar multiplication variable R, and sets in a work variable R[1] a value obtained by adding the specific point G to the work variable R[0]. The scalar multiplication unit 122 sets the work variable R[0] in the scalar multiplication variable R if the value of the referenced bit is 0, and sets the work variable R[1] in the scalar multiplication variable R if the value of the referenced bit is 1. A scalar multiple point output unit 123 outputs as a scalar multiple point kG a value obtained by subtracting a constant value 2tG from the scalar multiplication variable R.

There is a technique of using an electronic signature for verifying an author of electronic data.
The electronic signature is created by a specific signature generation algorithm by using electronic data, a secret key, and a random number. The electronic signature is communicated together with the electronic data.
A receiver of the electronic data verifies the electronic data by a specific signature verification algorithm by using the received electronic data, the received electronic signature, and a public key of a signer. That is, the receiver of the electronic data determines whether or not the received electronic signature was generated by using the secret key corresponding to the public key. Then, if the received electronic signature was generated by using the secret key corresponding to the public key, it is verified that the received electronic data was created by an owner of the secret key (the signer).
Thus, if the secret key is disclosed to another person, there is a risk that the electronic signature may be forged and electronic data may be communicated by another person posing as the owner of the secret key.
If the random number used in generating the electronic signature is disclosed to another person, the secret key may be identified based on the electronic signature and the random number.
Thus, as in the case of disclosure of the secret key, the electronic signature may be forged and electronic data may be communicated by another person posing as the owner of the secret key.
By performing timing analysis of processing time of an arithmetic process for generating an electronic signature, it may be possible to obtain a numerical value (for example, a secret key or a random number) used in the arithmetic process (see Non-Patent Literature 1).
For example, in a signature generation algorithm (and a signature verification algorithm) of elliptic curve cryptography, such as EC-Schnorr or ECDSA, an elliptic scalar multiplication kG is performed by which a point G on an elliptic curve is scalar-multiplied by a random number k. The signature generation algorithm (and the signature verification algorithm) is discussed in Non-Patent Literature 2.
A conventional elliptic scalar multiplication kG is performed as shown below.
[Formula 1]                Step 1. R=G;        Step 2. i=t−1, then repeat Steps 2-1 to 2-4 until i=0;                    Step 2-1. R[0]=2R;            Step 2-2. R[1]=R[0]+G;            Step 2-3. R=R[k[i]];            Step 2-4. i - - -;                        Step 3. Return R;        where        t: bit count of k        k[i]: bit value of the i-th bit from the least significant bit        R[k[i]]: R[0] if k[i]=0, or R[1] if k[i]=1.
The above computation method will be called an Add-Double-Always method.
In the Add-Double-Always method, k[t] must be 1. Thus, a bit count t of the random number k varies depending on the value of the random number k. For example, assume that the random number k is represented by 32 bits. If the most significant bit of the random number k is 1, the bit count t is "32". If the most significant 12 bits of the random number k are 0, the bit count t changes to "20(=32−12)".
That is, computation time varies depending on the value of the random number k, and it may be possible to identify the random number k by timing analysis.
An elliptic scalar multiplication kG based on a modified Add-Double-Always method is shown below.
[Formula 2]                Step 1. R=0;        Step 2. i=t, then repeat Steps 2-1 to 2-4 until i=0;                    Step 2-1. R[0]=2R;            Step 2-2. R[1]=R[0]+G;            Step 2-3. R=R[k[i]];            Step 2-4. i - - -;                        Step 3. Return R;
In the above computation method, k[t] does not have to be 1. Thus, the bit count t of the random number k is a fixed value, not varying with the value of the random number k.
However, in Step 2-1, if the most significant bit of the random number k is 1, doubling of a variable R that is an infinite point (R=0) is performed only once. If a plurality of most significant bits are 0, the doubling of the variable R that is the infinite point is performed a plurality of times. Further, computation time varies between the doubling of the variable R that is the infinite point and the doubling of the variable R that is not the infinite point.
Thus, the computation time varies depending on the value of the random number k, and it may be possible to identify the random number k by timing analysis.
In the signature generation algorithm (and the signature verification algorithm) of elliptic curve cryptography, it is necessary to perform a multiple-precision operation process.
A residue operation "a/2 mod p" performed in the multiple-precision operation process is shown below, where "a" represents a multiple-precision integer, "p" represents a prime number, and "mod" represents a residue operator.
[Formula 3]                Step 1. if a is even, then c=a>>1;        Step 2. else c=a+p;c=c>>1;        Step 3. Return c; [Formula 3]        where        x>>1: right-shift by 1 bit the bit sequence x.
In the above residue operation, if "a" is even, a shift operation is performed once. If "a" is odd, a shift operation and an addition are each performed once.
That is, computation time varies depending on the value of "a", and it may be possible to identify "a" by timing analysis and to identify the random number k based on "a".
A zero determination operation performed in the multiple-precision operation process is shown below. The zero determination operation determines whether or not the value of a multiple-precision integer b is zero. The multiple-precision integer b is expressed as a value in which a plurality of words (integer values) are concatenated.
[Formula 4]
Process: Determine whether or not a word in "b" is zero sequentially from the most significant word.                Condition 1: If a word is non-zero, determine that "b" is non-zero, and end.        Condition 2: If all words are zero, determine that "b" is zero, and end.
In the above zero determination operation, the nearer the position of a non-zero word is to the most significant word, the shorter computation time becomes.
That is, the computation time varies depending on the value of "b", and it may be possible to identify the random number k by timing analysis.

Arithmetic apparatus, elliptic scalar multiplication method of arithmetic apparatus, elliptic scalar multiplication program, residue operation method of arithmetic apparatus, and residue operation program


An upper adhesion layer 35 formed between a piezoelectricity layer 32 and an upper electrode layer 34 so as to abut on the piezoelectricity layer 32 and the upper electrode layer 34 is included. The upper adhesion layer 35 includes a first tungsten layer 47 made of tungsten in which an α phase and a β phase coexist and a second tungsten layer 48 made of α-phase tungsten. The first tungsten layer 47 is configured so as to abut on the piezoelectricity layer 32. It is possible to obtain a piezoelectric device which is capable of improving the adhesion property of both the piezoelectricity layer and the electrode layer and reducing a basic point voltage fluctuation at the time of high-temperature operation so as to improve reliability.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a detection element of an angular velocity sensor as one type of a conventional piezoelectric device disclosed in Patent Document 1, and FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 11-11 of FIG. 10.
The conventional angular velocity sensor includes tuning fork type detection element 1 shown in FIG. 10 and a signal processing circuit (not shown) for processing a signal output from detection element 1 and calculating an angular velocity. As shown in FIG. 10, detection element 1 is configured by a tuning fork type in which a pair of facing arms 2 is connected by connection portion 3, and connection portion 3 is mounted in a mounting substrate and is used. Driving portions 4 for driving arms 2, detecting portion 5 for outputting an angular velocity signal generated due to the angular velocity applied to detection element 1, and monitor portion 6 for monitoring the driving state of detection element 1 are arranged in each of the pair of arms 2. In the arrangement, two driving portions 4 are arranged with one detecting portion 5 interposed therebetween and monitor portion 6 is arranged in the vicinity of the boundary between each of arms 2 and connection portion 3, in the opposite directions of arms 2.
As shown in FIG. 11, each of the pair of arms 2 has silicon substrate 9 having two layers including silicon layer 7 and silicon oxide layer 8 obtained by oxidizing the surface thereof, and driving portions 4 and detecting portion 5 are formed on silicon substrate 9 with intermediate layer 10 interposed therebetween. Each of driving portions 4 and detecting portion 5 includes lower electrode layer 12 and upper electrode layer 13 with piezoelectricity layer 11 interposed therebetween. Adhesion layer 14 is formed between piezoelectricity layer 11 and upper electrode layer 13.
Intermediate layer 10 is made of titanium (Ti), and lower electrode layer 12 is made of Pt—Ti mainly made of platinum (Pt) containing Ti. Piezoelectricity layer 11 includes two layers including alignment control layer 15 mainly made of lead titanate and PZT layer 16 made of lead zirconate titanate and laminated on alignment control layer 15. Adhesion layer 14 is made of Ti, and upper electrode layer 13 is made of Au.
Recently, the angular velocity sensor has been used in extremely high-temperature environments such as the inside of an engine room as well as a cabin of a vehicle which a person gets in and out of. Accordingly, the reliability of the angular velocity sensor needs to be further improved at a high temperature.
If conventional detection element 1 having the above configuration is used at a high temperature as in the vicinity of an engine, interaction occurs between Ti constituting adhesion layer 14 formed between piezoelectricity layer 11 and upper electrode layer 13 of detection element 1 and PZT layer 16 constituting piezoelectricity layer 11. Accordingly, the dielectric constant, the specific resistance or the piezoelectric constant of the interface of piezoelectricity layer 11 is changed with time and detection sensitivity is changed.
FIG. 12 is a characteristic diagram showing a change in the basic point voltage fluctuation of the same angular velocity sensor at a high temperature with the elapse of time. In the angular velocity sensor using detection sensor 1, as shown in FIG. 12, as an operation time at a high temperature (an operation of 5 V at 125 degrees Celsius) is increased, a basic point voltage which is a voltage generated in the angular velocity sensor when an angular velocity is not applied is significantly changed.
Accordingly, in the conventional piezoelectric device, as can be seen from the characteristic diagram showing an output voltage change against an angular velocity change of the angular velocity sensor of FIG. 13, a voltage when an angular velocity is not generated is changed from the basic point voltage (point V0) to, for example, point V1 of a minus side, and an error of A° C./sec occurs.
However, in the piezoelectric vibrator field, a vibrator is composed of a piezoelectric substance, electrodes are respectively formed on two opposite surfaces of the piezoelectric substance, and tungsten is used as the underlying layers of the electrodes. In this piezoelectric vibrator, in order to prevent the piezoelectric substance as well as the electrodes from being trimmed when the electrodes are laser-trimmed in order to adjust a resonance frequency, tungsten, a metal with a high melting point, is used as the underlying layers of the electrodes (see Patent Document 2).
Although it relates to the semiconductor field, there is a technology that, in order to form a T-shaped electrode on a semiconductor substrate, tungsten in which an α phase and a β phase coexist and α-phase tungsten, and thereon tungsten having the α phase are formed on the semiconductor substrate and processed by etching. In this technology, the T-shaped electrode is obtained by focusing on a difference in the etching rates of the α-phase tungsten and the β-phase tungsten, forming tungsten in which an α phase and a β phase coexist with a higher etching rate on a lower side and forming the α-phase tungsten with a lower etching rate on an upper side (see Patent Document 3).    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2005-249645    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 58-188916    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 64-30273

Piezoelectric device and its manufacturing method