Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are drawn to improved systems and process for anodically bonding multiple substrate wafers to each other at low temperatures. At least one circuit wafer having printed circuits thereon is bonded to an interposer wafer by applying an amorphous thin film between the wafers. A low voltage is applied across the wafers to heat the wafers and to cause bonding of the wafers. Multiple circuit and interposer wafers can be used. The bonding temperature is low enough that soldered connections on the circuit wafers will not flow or otherwise distort, thus maintaining electrical integrity.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of bonding stacked silicon and glass wafers. In particular, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to improved devices and methods of anodically bonding multiple wafers or layers.
2. The Relevant Technology
Anodic bonding, also known as field assisted glass-silicon sealing, is a process which permits the sealing of silicon to glass at a temperature below the melting point of glass. The silicon and glass pieces, wafers, layers are heated by an electrical device to about 400-500 degrees C. FIG. 1 illustrates one general system that can be used to anodically bond silicon and glass wafers, layers, or substrates. The electrical device, such as a voltage source 105, applies a voltage across the wafers on the order of mid to high 100s of volts to heat up the wafers to the required temperature. Generally, a positive terminal 106 of the electrical device is connected to an anode, such as aluminum plate 125, located on or below a silicon wafer 120. Likewise, negative terminal 108 of the electrical device is connected to a cathode 110 located on or above a glass wafer 115. After applying voltage across the wafers one time, the silicon and glass are bonded together and can be cooled to room temperature.
This type of bonding is thought to be the result of mobile ions in the glass wafer. At higher temperatures, the negative ions on cathode 110 attract the positive sodium ions (Na+), causing the sodium ions to travel towards the cathode end of glass wafer 115. The remaining negative ions in glass wafer 115 form a space charge on the side of glass wafer 115 adjacent to silicon wafer 120. This generates an electric field, which pulls silicon wafer 120 and glass wafer 115 together during the process. Therefore, while the voltage is applied across the wafers and the temperature is raised, an electric field pulls the wafers together. After removing the voltage, the wafers are irreversibly chemically bonded together. The force of the electric field that pulls the wafers together is given by the equation F=E/d, where E is the electric field and d is the distance or gap between the wafers. Therefore, the smaller the gap between the wafers, the greater the force generated by the electric field. This provides incentive to make the surfaces as smooth and parallel as possible, in order to achieve the maximum force for a given electric field strength.
One way to think about anodic bonding is that the silicon-oxygen (Si—O) surface bonds must be broken and reformed through contact with the other wafer. This is a relatively strong bond (approximately 560 kcal/mole), which means that a large amount of energy is required to break these bonds. This energy can come from an elevated temperature and/or application of an electric field to the multilayer or wafer structure. The best way to increase the energy of the electric field is to decrease the separation between the wafers, i.e. decrease the distance in the force equation, through having low surface roughness (Ra) and very good planarity. The surface roughness can be defined as Ra=(1/L)∫0L|z(x)−zave|dx, where z(x) represents the surface height at a given point, and zave is the average surface height. Thus, Ra is the integrated absolute deviation from the mean surface height within a region (0, L). There are many descriptions of surface roughness but this one is commonly used and will be used here.
The main problem with existing processes is the necessity to use a high voltage source to generate the correspondingly high temperatures required to bond the wafers. The temperature and voltage required for this process can cause extensive damage to prefrabricated printed circuit boards (PCBs). Therefore, using prior art processes, it is not possible to create an anodic bond between a glass wafer and a fully-functional silicon PCB that includes sensitive electrical components without causing significant damage to the electrical interconnects and components residing on the PCB.
In an effort to minimize space in an electrical circuit, it is often advantageous to stack boards on top of one another with interposer wafers between them. If the current anodic bonding process is used, only a single silicon wafer can be bonded with a glass wafer because the electrical components and interconnects must be added after the anodic bonding process is complete. In contrast, if one could develop an improved low-temperature, low-voltage anodic bonding process, multiple fully-functional PCBs could be bonded with multiple glass wafers.
There are other techniques for fabricating multilayer or multi-wafer substrates. Unfortunately, these other fabrication processes require even higher temperatures than required to anodically bonding silicon and glass wafers. For example, low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) processes, which are common in the semiconductor and telecommunication industries, require temperatures in the range of about 850° C.

Low temperature bonding of multilayer substrates


An online dialog system and method are provided. The dialog system receives speech input and outputs an action according to its models. After executing the action, the system receives feedback from the environment or user. The system immediately utilizes the feedback to update its models in an online fashion.

Human-computer dialog is an interactive process where a computer system attempts to collect information from a user and respond appropriately. Spoken dialog systems are important for a number of reasons. First, these systems can save companies money by mitigating the need to hire people to answer phone calls. For example, a travel agency can set up a dialog system to determine the specifics of a customer's desired trip, without the need for a human to collect that information. Second, spoken dialog systems can serve as an important interface to software systems where hands-on interaction is either not feasible (e.g., due to a physical disability) and/or less convenient than voice.
Recently, researchers have investigated the use of reinforcement learning for optimal decision-making in spoken dialog systems. The goal of reinforcement learning algorithms is to learn a policy, a mapping from states to actions, which informs a system what it should do in any represented state of the dialog. In order to use these algorithms, dialog designers have had to either explicitly specify a reward function mapping states of the dialog to numeric values, and/or, conduct usability studies after a base system has been deployed to get numeric values for various states of the dialog from a user's subjective evaluations.


A computer network extends around all the holes of a golf course including a series of interconnected display terminals that can display the real time scores of all players on the course at any time. They may also be equipped with printers for generating hard copies of scores. The terminals are provided with transceivers for two-way radio communication with transceivers in portable player's units carried by each of the players. Each player's unit is provided with a unique transmittable code signal that identifies the unit to the system. Before starting play, a player's identity and the code of the player's unit carried are registered in the system, as well as the team or foursome he is playing with. Before each stroke, a player actuates his unit, which sends a coded radio signal to the nearby terminal. The terminal identifies the player by the code, adds one stroke to his score, and transmits to all players on his team, through their player's units, an audible signal so that honest score keeping is insured. Audible or visible current scores may be transmitted to the player's units as well. To indicate to the computer network that play on a hole has been completed by a player, an electronic ball/cup sensor may be provided at each hole. Alternatively, the player at a terminal or via his player's unit may provide that signal before teeing off on the next hole.

This invention relates to the game of golf and more particularly to a computer based score keeping system that operates on line as the game is in play.
Players generally keep their own scores when playing, and it is difficult for spectators and other players to know what the scores are for all the other players as the game is in progress. And players may not always record each stroke taken, either inadvertently or deliberately.


A method and system for combining the process variations in circuits and distributed interconnect-based electromagnetic (EM) objects in order to capture a statistical behavior of overall circuit performance parameters. In an exemplary approach, a coupled circuit-EM system is decoupled at the points where the EM objects connect to the circuit portion, and circuit ports are defined at those points. The sources of variation are identified and used to determine Y-parameters for the ports with EM elements and for all EM elements based on the SPICE-like and EM full-wave simulations. A response surface is generated for each variable and is used to extract circuit and EM parameters by generating many random vectors representing combinations of the random variables. These Y-parameters are merged to produce a probability density function (PDF) of one or more performance metrics for the electronic device or system.

The increasing need for higher data rates is continuously pushing the carrier frequencies of communication systems higher. This trend is complemented by the scaling down of device and interconnect dimensions that enable enhanced functionality on a single chip. The flip side of this continuing development is the increasing susceptibility of circuits to process variations, which produce lower yields.
Thus, as technology continues to shrink the size of electronic devices, the need to model the effect of process variations on circuit performance is becoming increasingly important. Process variations affect the performance of both active and passive components of many electronic devices or systems, which makes it necessary to include distributed interconnect structures for capturing the effect of process variations on overall circuit performance. Accordingly, it would be desirable to combine the process variations of circuits with the distributed interconnect-based passive components in a model, in order to capture the statistical behavior of overall device performance parameters, enabling the calculation of Probability Density Functions (PDFs) for key performance metrics of electronic devices and systems. As those of ordinary skill in statistical circuit analysis will appreciate, the PDF of a random variable is a measure of the probability of the random variable falling within a unit interval, at a specific value of the variable. The PDF for a parameter is often presented graphically and can be a discrete or a continuous function of the random variable. In the case of a discrete sample space, the PDF is called the probability mass function and is equal to the probability that the random variable takes on a specific value from the sample space.
The calculation of PDFs for one or more statistical variables during the development of an electronic device is important because a circuit designer can employ a PDF to evaluate the statistical behavior of a variable in regard to a proposed design and then modify the design as necessary to ensure that the yield of devices that meet specifications is at an acceptable level. Too often, this type of information is only developed after a design is entering the manufacturing stage, so that longer development times and substantial costs must then be incurred to modify the design, based on empirical results provided by initial production testing. Clearly, if an efficient technique were available to statistically evaluate a design in regard to key performance metrics, by calculating the PDF of one or more statistical variables before the design phase is concluded, products should be able to reach the marketplace much sooner, at a lower cost, and at a higher profitability to the manufacturer.
One technique for dealing with such problems is to use a combination of analytical techniques and response surface methodology to predict the statistical behavior of performance measures from the distributions of lower level process parameters. In another approach, a response surface technique has been used with a Technology CAD approach to determine the spread of circuit performance measures. In a recent work, the issues pertaining to asymptotic evaluation of the PDF of a random variable that can be expressed as a 2nd order response surface have been addressed.
However, conventional approaches to modeling statistical behavior are generally limited to circuit variables and have not attempted to combine circuit variables and electromagnetic (EM) variables of an electronic device to achieve a more accurate analysis. Modem Radio Frequency (RF) circuits operating at very high frequencies, e.g., at 10 GHz and above, such as on-chip inductors, need accurate modeling of passive components. While the characterization of distributed interconnect structures can be accomplished using field solvers, lumped elements and active components require the use of SPICE-like circuit simulators (the acronym "SPICE" refers to the well-known Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis software).
Compared to the literature on statistical variability in circuits, little work has been undertaken in the area of statistical study on the performance of EM structures although this is of equal importance in present day design manufacturability analysis. The impact of variability on board level signal integrity using time domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements, field solvers and resistance, inductance, conductance, and capacitance (RLGC) transmission line models in HSPICE™ has been addressed. In another work, a commercial field simulator and linear regression tool have been used to perform statistical analysis of filters on liquid crystal polymers (LCP) substrates. In view of the large dimensions compared to on-chip distributed structures, the percentage standard deviations compared to mean values is small, allowing linear approximations for the objective functions in terms of the varying parameters, and thereby producing Gaussian PDFs. It has been found that for large standard deviations of parameters contributing to variability of on-chip passive components, quadratic response surfaces are more appropriate. There is a noticeable deviation of the quadratic response surfaces from the Gaussian profile for the desired objective functions. This observation is true for both circuit and EM variability.
With increasing frequency of operation of chips, passive components, such as on-chip spiral inductors, need to be modeled using field solvers in order to accurately capture all of the EM effects. Since process variations affect both circuits and EM structures or components, there is a clear requirement for an automated way of combining the two analysis tools to predict the impact of process variations on the overall circuit performance. One approach to accomplish this goal might be to also include parametric circuit models for the EM components in a SPICE-like simulator when constructing the response surface. There are two impediments associated with this approach. First, using circuit models for EM objects requires the complex step of generating parameterized, passive, and accurate RLC models at high frequencies. Second, since process variations are becoming greater, even for EM objects, the PDFs of the parameters defining the passives will be non-Gaussian and correlated in addition to being numerically computed. It is very difficult to generate samples from such distributions.
Accordingly, there are two critical issues for high frequency RF circuits in emerging technologies that need to be addressed. As noted above, particularly in regard to RF electronic devices, a method is needed to implement statistical analysis of combined circuit-EM systems. In addition, a method is needed that can address the challenge of non-Gaussian, correlated parameters representing the electromagnetically modeled passive components, as well as Gaussian and uncorrelated parameters.

Statistical analysis of coupled circuit-electromagnetic systems


A building having a plurality of floors, a plurality of detectors, such as smoke detectors, located on the floors, and an elevator system usable for moving building occupants between floors during an emergency condition, such as a building fire. The elevator system includes a control unit that controls movement of an elevator car between selected floors within an emergency evacuation zone for evacuation of building occupants to a designated evacuation assistance floor. The vertical movement of the elevator car is controlled relative to the detection of smoke within the building to increase the efficiency of emergency evacuation. The elevator and smoke detection systems are equipped with an emergency power source for operation in the event of a power outage. A signal control system receives status information from the building systems, including the elevator system, an air handling system, and a fire suppression system. The signal control system provides the status information to the fire station or to fire department personnel en route to the building.

The Americans with Disabilities Act passed into law assuring all people an equal opportunity to gain access to all buildings used by the general public. Even with the adoption of this law, non-ambulatory people are generally afforded ingress to all buildings but not necessarily given a protected means of egress from the building during emergency circumstances. During a building emergency, such as a fire, ambulatory and non-ambulatory building occupants, even those who are clear thinking people under normal circumstances, can panic or make irrational decisions, which can result in injury to themselves and others.
Faced with a difficult emergency situation, people many times revert to their most comfortable behavior. In terms of leaving a multi-story building during nonemergency conditions, this means using the elevator. People normally arrive at and depart from the upper floors of the building via the elevator, and most never have used the emergency stair system. Given a typical response to an emergency situation, people will retrace their most familiar path of travel, which usually includes passing in front of the elevators as they attempt to find an escape route from the building.
During an emergency situation, elevators are usually taken out of service except for controlled use by the fire department. Accordingly, the building occupants cannot currently use the elevator as a safe and reliable means of egress during the emergency situation, such as a fire. They must therefore attempt either to use an unfamiliar stairway or wait within the building to be rescued. Non-ambulatory and disabled people unable to use stairs have no choice but to await help.
In multiple level buildings it is difficult to evacuate building occupants via the stairs. Generally, there are two classifications of buildings relative to fire and life safety: high-rise buildings and mid-rise buildings. The major distinction is that a standard hook and ladder type fire apparatus can only reach the point of a building about 75 feet or 6 floors above the ground, so "high-rise" buildings, those above about 6 floors, must be evacuated from within the building.
In mid-rise buildings, fire departments use the stairs to transport personnel and equipment to the fire floor, which drastically interferes with the designed egress capacity of the exit stair system. In high-rise buildings, the difficulties with occupant evacuation are compounded. Although the elevator cars can be used by the fire department to transport personnel to a selected staging floor below the fire floor, many times smoke is present in the hoistway shaft by the time of their arrival to the staging floor. Stack effect pressures within the building move large volumes of air through the vertical hoistway shafts. The shafts quickly become smoke filled chimneys and are often capable of transporting smoke throughout the building in a matter of minutes.
Since the fire department cannot reach the building's upper floors from outside the building, the building's occupants are forced to either use an exit stairway to evacuate or remain in the burning building until rescued by the fire department. As the fire department personnel uses one stairway to advance on the fire, the stairway doors are typically propped open with fire hoses, thereby allowing smoke from the fire floor to enter the stairway. Accordingly, that stairway is not suitable for evacuation of the building occupants during an emergency.
The evacuation of people is the primary responsibility of the fire department. The fire department personnel do not begin a fire attack until the building occupants are safe. Conventional evacuation of building occupants, however, is a very time consuming process. During a fire, the chaotic environment increases the complexity and danger of an evacuation procedure, which also usually increases the time required to evacuate the building. It is even more difficult and time consuming to evacuate the non-ambulatory, injured, and disabled occupants.
Even if available for use, conventional elevator systems are an unreliable method of escaping a building fire, and under current regulations, can only be used by the fire department under a narrow range of conditions. For example, the elevator system is not used when there is a high risk of a power outage, because such a power outage will shut the elevator system down and potentially trap passengers between floors. The conventional elevator control system is also easily short circuited by water that enters either the machine room or the hoistway shaft. Smoke is easily drawn into the hoistway shaft by naturally occurring stack effect pressures, and the smoke can quickly fill the hoistway, thereby creating an unsafe environment for people without self-contained breathing devices.
Therefore, the elevators are not usable for building occupants as a reliable means of egress during a building fire. Placards stating "Do not use Elevators during a Fire" are commonly placed next to the hall call stations to notify the occupants of the proper emergency exiting strategy. Ambulatory occupants are therefore forced to use exit stairways to escape a building fire, even from the top floors of mega high-rise buildings.
Conventional Emergency Evacuation Procedures
When an emergency condition is identified in a building an alarm signal is manually or automatically provided to the fire department. Upon receiving the alarm signal, the fire department only knows that an alarm has been activated, but it does not know the status of the building systems until the response team arrives at the building and access the building's fire alarm panel or other data information bank. As a result, the response team loses valuable time with respect to controlling the building conditions and establishing a desired building evacuation sequence and emergency response strategy for the particular building.
Even though the fire department response time to arrive at the building is typically less than six or seven minutes, fifteen minutes can easily pass before an evacuation sequence is initiated. The total evacuation time for upper floors of a high-rise building may take up to an hour. During a building fire, time is critical and unnecessary delays can increase the danger of the situation.
In accordance with a typical standard incident command procedure, an incident command post is established in the main floor lobby upon arrival by the fire department. The fire department personnel can then override the elevator system and use the elevators to send an investigation team to a safe point several floors below the fire floor. The investigation team then takes the stairs to the fire floor to assess the extent of the fire involvement and determine the necessary evacuation procedures. Fire Department personnel and equipment are then typically staged two floors below the fire floor and a rescue assistance area is established four floors below the fire floor. Building occupants are then initially evacuated through the stairway to the rescue assistance area.
Conventional Elevator and Fire/Smoke Detection Systems
The basic configuration and operation of an elevator system is well known. A multiple floor building contains a vertical elevator shaft defined by a top, bottom and vertical structural walls through which an elevator car travels between floors. An opening in one of the structural walls at each floor forms a hoistway entrance through which building occupants can safely pass into and out of the elevator car when the elevator car is adjacent to the hoistway entrance during non-emergency conditions. An interlock mechanism connects the elevator car door to the hoistway door when the elevator car is adjacent to the hoistway entrance and the elevator car door opened or closed.
The elevator car's vertical travel in the hoistway is controlled by a conventional elevator control system. The elevator control system typically includes a motion controller and a car controller that receives signals from hall call stations located on each floor. The elevator control system is adapted to position the car adjacent the signaling floor to allow passengers to enter or exit the car. When a "send" or "floor destination" button within the car is activated, a signal is sent to the elevator control system, which in turn moves the car to the designated floor and opens the door to allow passengers to exit the car. Accordingly, the elevator control system permits the building occupants to quickly and efficiently travel between floors of the multi level building during normal conditions.
The typical high-rise building has a fire alarm/smoke detection system, such as a system manufactured by the Simplex Corporation. The fire alarm/smoke detection system is comprised of a plurality of smoke and heat sensing devices which are remotely located throughout the building and capable of detecting the early signs of a building fire. These remote detectors are electrically connected to a central fire alarm panel and are functional to either open or close a series of relay contacts, thereby capable of sending a signal to a building security station, to the fire department, and to an alarm system that alerts the building occupants with audible and strobe alarms. The central fire alarm panel also initiates the operation of fire doors, air conditioning systems, and the like within the building. Many times the fire alarm/smoke detection system also has an auxiliary relay contact as a backup system that is functionally connected to the elevator control system. The elevator control system is programmed, such that when it receives a distinctive signal from the central fire alarm panel, the elevator control system recalls all elevator cars to a predesignated floor, e.g., the lobby floor, and prevents elevator cars from stopping at a floor where smoke has been detected.
Prior to 1973, elevators remained fully operational during a building fire without any safeguards that took into account the location of the building fire. Building occupants on the fire floor trying to quickly escape a fire could push the elevator hall call station buttons and inadvertently call an elevator full of people to the fire floor. Building security personnel investigating a signaling smoke detector could likewise find themselves faced with the fire as the elevator doors opened on the fire floor. Fire temperatures or water flowing from the activation of a fire sprinkler could also short circuit the elevator hall call station buttons and call the elevators to the fire floor, thereby jeopardizing fire department personnel trying to utilize the elevators to stage personnel and equipment.
In an effort to minimize this dangerous situation, all modem elevator systems are equipped with a recall function that is initiated either automatically by the detection of smoke or manually by building security or fire department personnel. The 1996 Edition of the ASME A17.1 code for elevators requires recall on all elevators. Once sent into alarm condition, all hall call stations are de-energized and all elevator cars are automatically recalled to a predesignated floor of the building. If the predesignated floor is the floor where smoke has been detected, the elevator cars are recalled to an alternate floor. The elevators are parked with the doors open and the elevators are temporarily taken out of service. Upon arrival, the fire department can override the recall function by activating a fire department key switch to utilize each elevator car individually. The conventional elevators, however, in an emergency such as a building fire, cannot be used as a safe means of egress of occupants from the building even under the control of the fire department.
Many state of the art buildings are also equipped with a smoke detection system that is designed and installed in accordance with industry standards. At least one smoke detector is located in each elevator lobby and is functionally connected to the elevator control system. Additional remote smoke detectors may be located throughout the building and are functionally connected to the elevator control system. When smoke from a building fire is detected by the elevator lobby detector or by a remote smoke detector, an alarm signal activates building emergency systems, which results in the closing of certain predetermined doors, sounding audible alarms, and the like. The elevator recall function is activated either automatically or manually, and the elevator control system deactivates the hall call stations and the car destination buttons.
If an elevator car is moving upwardly, the elevator control system deenergizes the motion controller, stops the car's ascent, and activates the motion controller to position the car at a predesignated egress floor. If the car is moving downwardly, the elevator control system activates the motion controller to continue the decent to the predesignated egress floor.
Four basic elements are important for an elevator car to be used as an emergency means of egress, which are not all provided by conventional elevator systems: reliable power, a smoke free hoistway shaft, no unshielded electronics in the hoistway or machine room that can be damaged by water, and the ability of the elevator system to respond to changing building conditions due to migrating smoke. Power outages can stall the elevator car, trapping passengers within the hoistway shaft and further consuming fire department resources to locate the stalled car and evacuate the trapped passengers. An emergency power source is only a mandatory building code requirement in buildings above 75 feet to the highest occupied level. Accordingly, there is a need for an elevator system that is usable for emergency evacuation of building occupants during a building fire or other emergency.
One significant reason that conventional elevator systems are not used for emergency egress during a building fire is the danger presented by smoke. Smoke that is present at the hoistway door can also be interpreted by the electronic eye as an obstacle in the elevator doorway, thereby preventing the door from closing properly. Smoke also contains toxic gases and products of combustion that create an untenable environment for people, even at room temperature. Smoke in the elevator hoistway would subject any passengers riding in the elevator car to such an untenable environment and expose them to increased risk.
At least one model building code in the United States prescribes an enclosed elevator lobby in all buildings to separate the hoistway shaft from the remainder of the building in an effort to control smoke. Some building code jurisdictions allow an air pressurization system utilizing the elevator hoistway shaft to create positive air flow from the shaft into the fire floor to blow smoke out of and away from the hoistway shaft. An automatically deployable hoistway door gasketing system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,195,594 and 5,383,510 to keep smoke from entering the hoistway. Additional methods of providing a smoke barrier at the hoistway door are described in my co-pending U.S. applications, namely, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/732,129, filed Oct. 18, 1996, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/423,958, filed Apr. 18, 1995, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Another reason for not using the elevator system for egress during an emergency is the risks presented when water gets into the elevator system. Water used for fire suppression, such as from automatic fire sprinklers or from the fire department hoses, is usually present during a building fire. Water can enter the hoistway and short circuit the car controls located on the top of the elevator car. A raised sill at the hoistway door or a slight slope of the lobby floor away from the hoistway door can help prevent water from draining into the hoistway shaft. Water entering the hoistway shaft can also be controlled by the water shield/drainage system for the hoistway door, described in my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/751,306, filed Nov. 18, 1996, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The evacuation time as calculated in the "Routine Analysis of the People Movement Time for Elevator Evacuation" is about forty minutes for an eleven story building using a single elevator. A twenty-one story building was estimated to take three hours to evacuate. Interviews of building occupants after actual fire incidents indicate the initiation time from first hearing an alarm to beginning any evacuation sequence may exceed thirty minutes. Therefore, the use of the conventional elevator systems for evacuation is neither efficient nor realistic in its present configuration.

Multiple level building with an elevator system operable as a means of emergency egress and evacuation during a fire incident


A wind instrument is provided having a basic body in which extends a central duct which is bounded by a peripheral wall of the basic body, a plurality of openings in the peripheral wall which connect the duct with the surrounding air, a plurality of valves mounted on the basic body and each having a closure member co-acting with an opening and having a control assembly connected to the valves. The control assembly guides the closure member for movement between a closed position in which the opening is closed by the closure assembly and an open position in which the opening is left clear. The closure assembly has a plate of stiff material which is provided on the side facing toward the opening with sealing material and which in the closed position engages sealingly around the opening. The closure member is connected to the control assembly by a yieldable member.

The invention relates to a wind instrument, such as a saxophone, clarinet, flute, bassoon, oboe or instrument provided with closure members.
Such a wind instrument comprises a basic body in which extends at least one central duct which is bounded by a peripheral wall of the basic body. Formed in the peripheral wall is a number of holes which connect duct with the surrounding air. At least a number of these openings can be opened and closed by means of closure members mounted on the instrument. Particularly the pitch which is produce is determined by the open or closed position of the closure members during playing of the instrument, wherein generally the higher the position of the closure member which is opened, the higher the pitch obtained.
In known wind instruments of this type the closure members comprise in each case a cup-shaped holder which forms part of the control means and wherein a closure pad is fixed, for instance with sealing wax. This closure pad constitutes the closure member which can close and leave clear the associated opening in the peripheral wall. According to the prior art the closure pad is for instance composed of a felt cushion bounded by leather. In some cases a basic layer of cardboard is also used as well as a thin plate of metal or plastic riveted thereto.
For good operation of the wind instrument it is essential that the closure members do indeed close properly in the closed position. Even in the case of a minor leakage the desired tone or tones cannot be produced, or in any case not properly. Accurate arrangement of the closure members is therefore of great importance. This is particularly the case when a plurality of closure members is closed simultaneously with common control means.
The closure pads must be replaced regularly due to wear and/or deforming thereof. This is a time-consuming and costly process. The closure pads are usually secured in the cup-shaped holders with sealing wax and, when a complete engagement in the closed position is not already obtained initially, a precise adjustment of the closure pads is subsequently obtained by arranging small fillings, for instance of paper or cardboard, behind the cushions so that the closure members seal properly over the whole periphery and/or so that the simultaneously closing closure members are completely sealed.
The invention has for its object to provide a wind instrument of the type stated in the preamble wherein said drawbacks of known instruments occur to a lesser degree.

Wind instrument and closure member for wind instrument


An organic electro-luminescence display device includes a first substrate, plural pedestals which are provided in a convex shape on the first substrate and have inclined side surfaces, plural first electrodes respectively provided on the respective side surfaces of the pedestals, an organic electro-luminescence film which is provided above the plural pedestals and includes a light-emitting layer laminated on the plural fist electrodes, and a second electrode which is provided above the plural pedestals and is laminated on the organic electro-luminescence film. Light generated in the light-emitting layer is transmitted between a first reflection surface and a second reflection surface. The second electrode includes light transmission parts, through which the light passes, above upper end parts of the pedestals. A surface of the second electrode facing the organic electro-luminescence film is the second reflection surface except for the light transmission parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electro-luminescence display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic electro-luminescence display device has a structure in which an organic film is sandwiched between an anode and a cathode (see JP 2012-234748 A). In general, plural organic films are laminated, and one layer thereof is a light-emitting layer. The organic film is covered with a translucent sealing film and is shielded from moisture.
In a high quality display device, a pixel is micronized, so that adjacent pixels are close to each other. Thus, light generated in one of the pixels is transmitted through the sealing film and can enter the adjacent pixel, and a problem of color mixture occurs by this. Hitherto, since about 80% of light is transmitted in a lateral direction or an oblique direction, the efficiency is low.

Organic electro-luminescence display device


Utility pole system having a battery storage housing defining a top portion, a bottom portion, and an interior volume with an access opening extending through the top portion; a pole with an upper end and a lower end attached to the top portion of the battery storage housing; and means for moving the pole from the first position where the lower end of the pole covers the access opening of the battery housing, and a second position where the lower end exposes the access opening. The utility pole system might also include electrical components powered by a battery provided in the battery storage housing, such battery charged by utility power.

In many urban settings, public or quasi-public infrastructure is often located in the right-of-way of public roads. For instance, utility poles such as street lights and power poles are often located in the right-of-way of roads and/or highways. For example, such utility poles are often positioned on or at the edge of pedestrian sidewalks.
In addition to street lights and power poles, small cell poles are increasingly being located at street level (e.g., in the public right-of-way). That is, with the increasing use of mobile data, a trend has been toward increasing the density of cell poles in urban environments. By way of example, proposed 5G wireless networks promise greatly improved network speeds and are currently being planned and implemented. Such networks require shorter RF transmission distances compared to existing networks and require more dense networks of access points/small cell poles to handle data traffic. This often results in a densification of infrastructure in the public right-of-way. In various municipalities, small cell poles having configurations that support cell equipment and street lights are replacing existing street lights. This allows dual use of the utility pole location. Stated otherwise, additional infrastructure is provided without increasing the density of the infrastructure.

Utility pole having underground battery housing


Apparatus, methods, media, signals and data structures for protein sequence analysis are disclosed. A method includes identifying, from among a first group of aligned protein sequences having at least a threshold degree of alignment with a first protein sequence, a second group of at least one of the aligned sequences having at least one insertion or deletion (“indel”) relative to the first protein sequence satisfying a predefined condition. The apparatus may include a processor circuit configured to carry out the method.

Methods are known for comparing the amino acid sequences of proteins to identify indel (insertion/deletion) associated sequences. Such methods are described for use in identifying peptides, peptide analogs, and peptidomimetics that have a high probability of modulating or mimicking the activity of a target protein. For example, in PCT international patent application publication no. WO 97/01578, methods are described for identifying molecules that affect biological activity of a target protein in which information regarding the location of an indel in a target protein is used to identify nearby fragments.
Protozoan pathogens are responsible for a wide variety of disease, typically tropical in nature. These pathogens exist as intracellular parasites in a host and include organisms that appear to be protozoan in nature such as Pneumocystis. An example of such protozoan pathogens is the genus Leishmania, which causes a spectrum of tropical and subtropical diseases known as the leishmaniases. These consist of several forms including cutaneous, mucocutaneous, visceral and diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis. The incidence of such tropical diseases has been on the rise due to multiple factors including the AIDS epidemic, increased international travel, lack of effective vaccines, difficulty in controlling vectors, and the development of resistance to chemotherapy.
Leishmania live as either extracellular, flagellated promastigotes in the digestive tract of their sand fly vector or as non-flagellated amastigotes within macrophages where they survive and replicate within phagolysosomes. During both the innate and acquired immune responses, macrophages respond to extracellular signals to become activated for enhanced antimicrobial activity. This is a critical requirement leading to the elimination of intracellular pathogens. However, recent findings have shown that leishmania and other intracellular pathogens have developed mechanisms to interfere with cell signaling pathways thereby preventing macrophages from becoming effectively activated [Reiner N E. (1994) Immunol. Today 15:374-381; Nandan, D. et al. (2000) J Leukocyte Biology 67:464-470]. As a result, these organisms are able to survive and successfully multiply within the otherwise hostile intracellular milieu of macrophages. L. donovani is the major causative agent of human visceral leishmaniasis. This disease is progressive and often fatal if untreated. Recently, it has been shown that macrophages infected with L. donovani show a phenotype of impaired cell signaling and cell deactivation. For example, interferon-γ signaling through the Jak-Stat1 pathway [Nandan D. and Reiner N E. (1995) Infect. Immun. 63:4495-4500] and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling leading to iNOS induction and c-FOS expression were observed to be markedly attenuated in leishmania infected cells [Nandan D. et al. (I 999) Infection and Immunity 67:4055-4063]. Of significant interest was the finding that the deactivated phenotype was reversed in cells that had been incubated with the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) inhibitor sodium orthovandate prior to infection [Nandan D. et al. (1999) Infection and Immunity 67:4055-4063]. Several lines of evidence have recently converged to demonstrate a role for the Src-homology 2 (SH2) domain containing protein tyrosine phosphatase-1 (SHP-1) in the pathogenesis of infections with leishmania [Nandan D. et al. (1999) Infection and Immunity 67:4055-4063; Olivier M. et al. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273:13944-13949; Blanchette J. et al. (1999) Eur. J Immunol. 29:3737-3744; Forget G. et al. (1999) Journal of Leukocyte Biology Supplement 31:1999]. In particular, SHP-1 has been shown to become activated in leishmania infected cells [Nandan D. et al. (1999) Infection and Immunity 67:4055-4063; 6] and leishmania infection is attenuated under conditions of SHP-1 deficiency [Forget G. et al. (1999) Journal of Leukocyte Biology Supplement 31:1999]. Moreover, it has recently been shown that a conventional anti-leishmanial agent used clinically, sodium stibogluconate, is an inhibitor of SHP-1 [Pathak M K. and Yi T. (2001) J Immunol. 167:3391-3397].

Methods and apparatus for protein sequence analysis


A magnetoresistive memory device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a layer stack containing an electric field-modulated magnetic transition layer and a ferroelectric insulator layer located between the first electrode and the second electrode, The electric field-modulated magnetic transition layer includes a non-metallic magnetic material having a ferromagnetic state and a non-ferromagnetic state with a state transition therebetween that depends on an external electric field.

A magnetoresistive memory device is a memory device in which a magnetic state of a memory material provides at least two resistive states. The magnetic state of a memory cell can be sensed by measuring the resistance of the memory cell under a small external voltage bias. Generally, a stack containing a free ferromagnetic material layer and a reference ferromagnetic material layer separated by a spacer tends to provide a low resistance state when the free and reference layer magnetization directions are parallel, and a high resistance state when the magnetization directions are antiparallel. For example, spin-transfer torque (STT) magnetoresistive memory devices employ spin-polarized current to program the magnetization direction of the free layer, and spin-orbit-torque (SOT) magnetoresistive devices employ injection of a spin-polarized current from an adjacent conductive layer. A general challenge for magnetoresistive devices is the reduction of switching power, i.e., the power required to induce transition from one magnetoresistive state to another magnetoresistive state.

Electric field controllable spin filter tunnel junction magnetoresistive memory devices and methods of making the same


A semiconductor structure includes a first stack of semiconductor layers disposed over a semiconductor substrate, where the first stack of semiconductor layers includes a first SiGe layer and a plurality of Si layers disposed over the first SiGe layer and the Si layers are substantially free of Ge, and a second stack of semiconductor layers disposed adjacent to the first stack of semiconductor layers, where the second stack of semiconductor layers includes the first SiGe layer and a plurality of second SiGe layers disposed over the first SiGe layer, and where the first SiGe layer and the second SiGe layers have different compositions. The semiconductor structure further includes a first metal gate stack interleaved with the first stack of semiconductor layers to form a first device and a second metal gate stack interleaved with the second stack of semiconductor layers to form a second device different from the first device.

The semiconductor industry has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in semiconductor materials and design have produced generations of semiconductor devices where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of integrated circuit (IC) evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. But these advances have also increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing semiconductor devices.
Multi-gate transistors, such as gate-all-around (GAA) field-effect transistors (FETs), have been incorporated into various memory and core devices to reduce IC chip footprint while maintaining reasonable processing margins. While methods of forming GAA FETs have generally been adequate, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all aspects. For example, the process of tuning threshold voltage of a metal gate structure involving deposition and patterning of different work function metal (WFM) layers has become challenging when the channel region of the GAA FET is configured with a plurality of nanoscopic features (e.g., nanosheets, nanorods, etc.) closely arranged in a vertical stack. Thus, for at least this reason, improvements in methods of forming metal gate structures with suitable threshold voltage in GAA FETs are desired.

Multi-layer channel structures and methods of fabricating the same in field-effect transistors

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


A frontal view imaging and control device installed on a movable object, includes: an image input unit receiving an image taken by an image device that captures a region of a road surface in a predetermined direction; a projection transformation unit linking each pixel of the image onto a virtual two-dimensional plane of a road surface through coordinate transformation so as to form a virtual projection image on the two-dimensional plane; a projection likelihood calculation unit dividing the virtual projection image into a distant view section and a close view section, and calculating similarity defined between a projection of the distant view section and a projection of the close view section; and an attitude angle calculation unit determining an angle of depression and a panning angle that maximize the similarity as a measured attitude angle that indicates an image capturing direction of the imaging device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging sensor system which is to be installed on a movable object, such as a vehicle, that travels on a road, and which captures a road surface in its field of view, in particular, relates to a frontal view imaging and control device installed on a movable object which has function to automatically estimate the attitude of the imaging system with respect to the road surface on which the movable object travels.
2. Description of Related Art
An on-board frontal view imaging device is installed on the front portion of a vehicle in order to measure the position of a traveling subject vehicle so as to enable a stabilizing control or the like of the vehicle body.
Because such an on-board frontal view imaging device observes an exterior environment including a road surface while being installed on the vehicle, the attitude of a camera (an imaging unit) with respect to the vehicle and the road surface deviates from a standard attitude that has been determined during designing due to an installation error or load distribution.
Therefore, in order to compensate for shifting of the attitude of the imaging device from that at the installation thereof while using the images taken by such a camera, it is necessary to correct shifting of the attitude of the imaging device so that an apparatus, which caries out vehicle lane recognition and/or obstacle detection by using the images taken by the imaging device, exhibits designed performance by carrying out vehicle lane recognition (recognition of white lines or the like dram on the road surface) and/or vanishing point recognition thereby estimating the attitude of the imaging device.
In a conventional technology, when a vehicle travels straight at the center of a straight vehicle lane, the parameters representing the attitude of an imaging device are corrected based on the lane boundary lines drawn on the road surface and the vanishing point thereof and shifting of the attitude of the imaging device, i.e., shifting of the optical axis, is adjusted by image processing (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-259995, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1).
Moreover, in another conventional technology, the most frequent value (i.e., the mode) is selected from a histogram representing the measured parameter distribution, the mode is treated as an estimated value, and the optical axis is corrected by image processing (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-337310, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2).
In another conventional technology, a vehicle lane and a vanishing point are determined by detecting peaks originating from a white line representing the boundary between vehicle lanes that is obtained from projection of a brightness image obtained by polar coordinate conversion with a vanishing point candidate as the origin (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-150302, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 3).

Frontal view imaging and control device installed on movable object


A method for making a semiconductor device includes forming at least one gate stack on a layer comprising a first semiconductor material and etching source and drain recesses adjacent the at least one gate stack. The method further includes shaping the source and drain recesses to have a vertical side extending upwardly from a bottom to an inclined extension adjacent the at least one gate stack.

Semiconductor devices, such as semiconductor integrated circuit (IC's), include numerous semiconductor device structures. Examples are insulated-gate transistors, such as Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) transistors, which include both P-channel and N-channel MOS transistors. MOS-type transistors may be formed by gate stack deposition and patterning followed by spacer deposition and etching to form a transistor circuit having a raised source/drain structure. Active source and drain recesses are formed that may be "sigma" shaped recesses because of their similarity to the Greek letter "sigma" (Σ). This configuration may impart maximum compressive stress. Other recess configurations are "box" shaped with straight walls for lower off-state leakage. There are a number of recognized fabrication processes for building these transistors and they share a common fabrication step of selectively depositing semiconductor material above the source and drain regions to form raised source and drain structures using selective epitaxial deposition.
Epitaxial deposition is often used to control the electrical properties of the source and drain regions of insulated-gate transistors. It is possible to control the dopant levels present within single crystal regions by introducing dopants into the epitaxial silicon layers. For example, it is possible to introduce germanium (Ge) or carbon (C) atoms in order to introduce mechanical stress into the epitaxial layers and increase the mobility of charge carriers in the source and drain regions.
The epitaxial layer may be formed as a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer in proximity to the gate channel. The active source and drain shapes are often formed to impart greater compressive stress due to the epitaxial SiGe proximity, but as a result, there may be greater off-state leakage, which is detrimental to transistor function. It is desirable if the source and drain regions may be formed for greater stress while maintaining a lower off-state leakage.

Methods for making a semiconductor device with shaped source and drain recesses and related devices

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Liquid metal electrical contact compositions are disclosed. Compositions of this invention consist of a metal mixture of first and second Periodic Table Group III metals and a lubricant. A gallium/indium metal mixture is preferred. Preferred lubricants are metal-based, most preferably molybdenum-based. The liquid metal electrical contact compositions are particularly useful for high current density applications.

The principle of the single pole DC generator/motor was discovered by Michael Faraday, over 150 years ago. Faraday found that when an electrically conductive disc was rotated axially, with its edge rotating between the stationary poles of, e.g., a horseshoe magnet, a potential difference was created between the shaft and the disc. Faraday showed that it did not matter whether the magnet itself was stationary or rotating with respect to the disc. As long as the conductive disc was moving in the magnetic field, a potential was created. Faraday further determined that rotating the magnet with respect to the conducting disc stationary did not produce an induced potential. From this series of observations, Faraday concluded that a magnetic field was stationary relative to the axial rotation of both the magnet and the conducting disc. The magnetic field was, therefor, not rigidly associated with the magnet that served to induce the field.
Since the work of Faraday, many experimenters have tried to make a single pole direct current device that could be used for practical applications such as the Fawley Superconducting Homopolar Motor. The Fawley Superconducting Homopolar Motor was built in 1969 by the International Research And Development Corporation of England. The motor operated as a 3250 h.p. motor at 200 r.p.m. The motor was designed to operate a water cooling pump for a 500 M.W., Turbo generator, at the C.E.G.B., power station at Fawley England. This work is described by A.D. Appleton in 61 Proceedings of the IEEE, p. 106, January, 1973. Single pole or homopolar DC or AC devices produce low voltage and high current. Resistance levels that are acceptable for other devices are too high for a single pole DC or AC devices. Thus, most of the theoretically available power is consumed in the machine's own electrical circuitry.


A method codes a sequence of digital images, each image having the same image format and including a number of pixels with assigned pixel values. Motion parameters between first and second images are determined, where based on said motion parameters a motion compensation is performed for coding the sequence of images, where said motion parameters are included in the coded sequence of images. The motion parameters between a first image and a second image include a scalar field having scalar values for a plurality of image positions in the image format. The scalar field is determined such that gradient vectors derived from the scalar field correspond to motion vectors for the motion compensation.

The invention concerns a method for coding a sequence of digital images as well as a corresponding method for decoding. Furthermore, the invention refers to a coding apparatus and a decoding apparatus as well as a system for coding and decoding a sequence of images.
For a fast and efficient transmission and storage of images, compression algorithms are used in order to exploit the spatial, temporal and probabilistic redundancies in the images. In video coding, block-based motion compensation techniques are known which seek to reduce the spatial variations in using a block-based transitional motion prediction and compensation in time direction. To do so, the motion of predefined blocks comprising several pixels in a current image relative to the previous image in an image sequence is determined, minimizing an intensity difference norm. Using this motion information for prediction, only the residual error, which contains much less variation, has to be transmitted in order to obtain a lossless reconstruction at the decoder. Block-based methods have the disadvantage of generating block artifacts at block boundaries in the decoded image. Several improvements of block-based motion compensation are described in the related art, e.g. an adapting block-size, adaptive choice of intra-coding, weighted prediction from multiple preceding and succeeding image, in-loop filtering, and so on.
Besides block-based motion compensation, there are also approaches for pixel-based motion compensation. By this motion compensation, an arbitrary motion can be described using pixel-based motion vector fields. These methods have the disadvantage that due to the large number of motion vectors, much side information has to be transmitted to the decoder. In order to reduce this side information, the reference "Sparse representation of dense motion vector fields for lossless compression of 4-D medical CT data," by A. Weinlich et al. (EUSIPCO, 2011) describes a sparse representation of dense motion vector fields where only significant motion vectors with respect to their prediction capability are coded.

Method for coding a sequence of digital images


There is set forth herein a system including a camera device. In one embodiment the system is operative to perform image processing for detection of an event involving a human subject. There is set forth herein in one embodiment, a camera equipped system employed for fall detection.

Falls in elderly patients are a major concern for both families and medical professionals, as fall-induced injuries are the most common types of injuries and are now considered to be the eighth leading cause of death in adults aged 65 or older. The CDC reports that more than one-third of U.S. adults aged 65 and over fall at least once each year. About 10% of all falls result in fractures, while a fifth of the reported cases require immediate medical attention. Untreated falls can result in a number of adverse outcomes, from death due to cerebral hemorrhaging (for those taking blood thinner medications) to the loss of mobility and depression from late treatment of fractures. For the elderly, medical examination and treatment after a fall is an extremely time-sensitive matter, which is why fall detection is one of the most studied methods of improving the safety of the older population, especially those living on their own.
Currently, there are a number of user-activated commercial devices available on the market, where the user has to press a button to alert an emergency response center. The effectiveness of these devices, however, is limited by the ability of the patient to remain conscious after a heavy fall.
About one-third of adults in the United States aged 65 or older fall every year, with 20% of the reported fall cases needing prompt medical attention. Although a number of approaches for detecting falls have been proposed over the past few years, all of the methods have a trade-off between detection accuracy, processing power requirements, and the level of intrusiveness.

Automatic detection by a wearable camera


A supported catalyst includes a plurality of support particles that each include a carbon support and a layer disposed around the carbon support. The layer is selected from a metal carbide, metal oxycarbide, and combinations thereof. A catalytic material is disposed on the layers of the support particles.

This disclosure relates to supported catalysts having high activity and that are stable under relatively severe operating conditions.
Fuel cells and other types of devices commonly utilize electroactive materials. For instance, a typical fuel cell may include an anode catalyst, a cathode catalyst, and an electrolyte between the anode and the cathode catalysts for generating an electric current in a known electrochemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant. The catalytic material, such as platinum, is typically supported on carbon particles.

Fuel cell catalyst including carbon support particles with metal carbide layer and catalytic material and fuel cell using the same


A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions to control a information processing device, wherein the operating system outputs process data to a device driver program, in which, when the device driver program is a first-type device driver program interpreting a first-format process data, the first-format process data is output, and when the device driver program is a second-type device driver program interpreting a second-format process data, the first-format process data is converted into the second-format process data to output, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the information processing device to perform: inquiring of the operating system about the device driver; receiving a inquiry result from the operating system; judging whether the device driver program is the second-type device driver program based on the inquiry result; and performing, when it is judged that it is the second-type device driver program, a process for installing the first-type device driver program.

A device driver program for controlling devices such as a printer or a facsimile (referred to as FAX) may be provided for each type of operating systems (referred to as OS).
In the case where the device driver program is provided for each type of OS, there is a device which, when a request is received from a client PC, distinguishes the OS used for the client PC and notifies, as a response, a location address of the device driver program corresponding to the distinguished OS to the client PC.

Driver managing program and information processing


A tablet apparatus includes a first member which is provided with a keyboard, and a second member which is provided with a display portion and covers an upper surface of the first member. The first and second members are connected to each other through a link member such that the second member may be guided through the link member and move in various positions with respect to the first member.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present general inventive concept relate to a tablet apparatus which includes a keyboard and a display portion having a touchscreen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been widely used electronic apparatuses equipped with a display panel in which an image is displayed on an upper surface of a main body formed in a rectangular plate shape so as to be easy to carry.
In addition, among such electronic apparatuses, there is a tablet apparatus in which a display portion to display an image is constituted by a touchscreen and a user may input a command through the display portion.


A method of delivering heavy payload using an autonomous UAV able to deliver supply by way of airdrop with more precision and at a lower cost. The UAV is equipped with two movable wing systems that rotate from a stowed position to a deployed position upon jettison of the UAV from a mothership. The UAV can be controlled remotely or it can operate autonomously and the movable wings can include ailerons to effectuate flight control of the UAV. The UAV can be reusable or can be an expendable UAV.

The ability to provide supplies in remote areas has always been a problem. Current supply methods typically involve convoys and air supply methods. However, providing an accurate delivery of supply can be very challenging and expensive.
The most accurate method of delivery has always been by land transportation. This methodology faces a number of challenges when the destination is in remote or potentially hazardous areas. Aside for the expense of the delivery and the time it takes, land transportation can also be subject to assaults, ambush or exposure to improvised explosive devices along the way.
Air transportation can solve some of the above issues related with land transport, however, it is still very expensive and often times impractical depending on the location in which delivery is to be made. For example, this method can be impractical in places with dense vegetation and many canals and rivers. The landscape can make it difficult or even impossible at times for an aircraft to land. Airdrop requires a low flying aircraft that can be impractical in some instances. Also, the accuracy of providing supply via airdrop can often be less than desirable and inconsistent. Joint Precision Airdrop System "JPADS" is a current program of the U.S. Military that employs GPS steerable parachutes to attempt to guide heavy air dropped items from a cargo aircraft such as the C-5, C-17, C-130, or from heavy lift helicopters such as the V-22 and CH-53. JPADS is known to cost on the order of $30,000 per drop, and the limitations of steering a parachute through varied weather systems and from various drop altitudes has caused numerous payloads meant to resupply troops to become lost, damaged or inaccessible. A number of military personnel have become injured and killed during the process of searching for and retrieving items delivered via such steerable parachute drops. Accordingly, the U.S. Government has indicated an interest in increasing the accuracy of such troop resupply capabilities while simultaneously reducing the cost of such deliveries as much as tenfold. Many civil organizations have also expressed an interest in being able to precisely delivery heavy payloads of resupply materials such as during national disasters from airborne delivery platforms which obviate the need for landing zones, airports, ground transportation or to avoid such things as penetrating another nation's national borders while still being able to deliver relief supplies to such a nation from a safe, airborne standoff distance and altitude. Other relief missions such as stranded hikers, disabled ships, boats, or sailing vessels present logistical rescue difficulties where it is desirable to have the ability to precisely provide immediate emergency relief supplies, equipment, food, water, medical equipment such as medicines, oxygen, cardiac defibrillators and the like, or bilge pumps, life rafts and other equipment to prevent a vessel from sinking or to save the lives of people aboard a stricken vessel.
With the above problems in mind, it is needed a more efficient and cost effective method of providing supply that avoids one or more of the above stated problems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An apparatus and method a method for performing two-pass real time video compression is provided. Tactical decisions such as encoding and quantization values are determined in software, whereas functional execution steps are performed in hardware. By appropriately apportioning the tasks between software and hardware, the benefits of each type of processing are exploited, while minimizing both hardware complexity and data transfer requirements. One key concept that allows the compression unit to operate in real time is that the architecture and pipelining both allow for B frames to be executed out of order. By buffering B frames, two-pass motion estimation techniques can be performed to tailor bit usage to the requirements of the frame, and thereby provide a more appealing output image.

As it is known in the multimedia art, video data may be captured for real-time display on a computer graphics device coupled to a host central processor unit (CPU). A problem arises because the timing and the format of video input data may vary from the timing and display format of the host CPU, yet it is a goal to display the video image in real-time with minimal visual artifacts. In order to increase the overall quality of the video display, it is important to insure that the interface between the video capture device and the graphics device is optimized to provide the highest possible data transfer bandwidth.
The typical data flow path of video data is as follows. Video data is `captured` by a video capture unit and stored in a memory. The capture video data is received in block format, yet must be translated to interleaved format for display. The video data is then transferred from that memory to a graphics controller. The graphics controller feeds the video data to a frame buffer memory, which stores the image data that is to be displayed on the computer monitor. According to one known topology, the video capture unit, memory and graphics controller, as well as the host CPU may all be coupled together via a high speed bus such as the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI.TM.) bus. The PCI.TM. bus is capable of transferring data at a bandwidth of 133 Mhz.
All of the peripheral devices that are coupled to the PCI bus must operate according to the PCI protocol. As such, each coupled device includes interface logic for controlling reads and writes of data between various components coupled to the bus. The video capture unit, which may be coupled to a video compression/decompression (CODEC) unit, or may be an independent device such as an USB interface that receives digital data directly from a USB camera similarly must include logic for transferring video data over the PCI bus to system memory. In addition, the interface logic of the video capture unit must also include synchronization logic for allowing for coherent communication of data from the clocking domain of the peripheral device to the PCI clock domain.
Thus there are at least three design considerations that must be dealt with when interfacing video capture units to a host computer system; optimizing PCI bus bandwidth, providing appropriate conversion of block format data to interleaved format data, and synchronizing the data transfer between the video and PCI clock domains. Historically the above goals have been met using data buffer management techniques.
Typically, data buffer management is performed in hardware using dedicated RAM memory or register file arrays to buffer the data, in combination with synchronization logic for transferring ownership of the data from one clock domain to the next. A typical read sequence may include the following steps: 1) data is written to the dedicated buffer from control logic operating in the video clock domain 2) a `data available` control signal is passed through a synchronizer into the PCI clock domain 3) Data is then read out of the dedicated buffer by control logic operating in the PCI time domain.
Data format conversion functionality is typically performed either entirely in software or through a combination of software and hardware. The conversion techniques usually involve byte manipulation of data structures stored in memory under CPU/software control. By using software to provide format conversion, there is an advantage that no additional hardware cost, in terms of gates, is incurred. However, it presents certain performance disadvantages, since compute cycles are wasted performing relatively elementary byte manipulation tasks.
A second problem arises with the above technique because of the delay associated with the data synchronization method. While the PCI bus is waiting for the data, other data is still being received by the video capture unit. In order to insure that no data is lost, the size of the data buffer may have to be quite large. One drawback associated with data buffering is the inherent fact that data buffers use valuable real estate of an integrated circuit or board, thereby leaving less room for other logic and the routing of data signals. Thus it is always desirable to minimize the size of the buffers that are used for transactions.
Therefore it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for maximizing transfer bandwidth between a peripheral device operating at an peripheral clock frequency and an internal bus operating according at an internal clock frequency while minimizing the hardware expense.
A further design consideration is encountered when the buffered data is forwarded for storage in a memory on the host computer. The data that is to be stored is stored in a converted format. However, there are a variety of conversions that may be performed on video data depending upon the sub-sampling criteria that is used on the input data. For example, pixel data may be stored in either 4:2:2 format, with four luminance pixels stored with two pairs of chrominance data, or 4:2:0 format, with four luminance pixels stored with one pair of chrominance data. In order to maximize memory space usage, it would be desirable to optimize the storage for each of the conversion formats of data. However, because it may be desired to read the data out of memory in the unconverted, block format, historically multiplexers were added to the data types to accommodate the various conversion types. Such a design is often undesirable, since minimization of area is always a design goal.

Method and apparatus for interleaving and de-interleaving YUV pixel data


A method of modifying a time-varying image sequence in which a parametric velocity vector field that characterizes changes in successive images of the image sequence is estimated. The estimating includes combining optical flow constraints, directional smoothness constraints and regularization constraints in a functional of the estimate of the parametric velocity vector field such that the weighting coefficients of the functional are functions of the parametric velocity vector field to be estimated. A system of nonlinear equations that arise from the optimality criterion of the functional are then solved. Once the system of nonlinear equations is solved, the estimate of the parametric velocity vector field is applied to modify at least one image in the image sequence.

A time-varying image sequence is a sequence of images of a given scene with each successive image taken some time interval apart from the one preceding it. The velocity vector field of an image is defined as the collection of the two-dimensional velocity vectors which are the projections of the three-dimensional velocity vectors of the visible points in the scene. If the scene being imaged changes gradually with time, and if the changes are mostly due to the relative movements of the physical objects in space, then the corresponding changes in the successive images of the sequence can be used to estimate the velocity vector fields of the images.
Reliable estimation of velocity vector fields is very important for the analysis of time-varying image sequences. The temporal variations in the images of the sequence specified by the velocity vector fields can be used to extract spatial information about the scene. They can also be used to extract information characterizing the movements of the objects in the scene. Stereopsis can be considered as a special case of image-sequence analysis where the number of images is restricted to two and the displacement direction is known.
There are two principal approaches to the problem of estimation of the velocity vector field: the feature-based matching approach and the spatio-temporal gradient approach. For feature-based matching approach, the image points with significant variations in the values of the time-varying image function, called feature points, are identified in both images. The estimation of the velocity vector field is accomplished by matching the feature points of one image to the feature points of the other image. The spatio-temporal gradient approach is based on the constraint imposed on each velocity vector relating the spatial gradient of time-varying image function to the temporal derivative of the time-varying image function.
The spatial variation in the time-varying image function utilized in the above approaches do not provide sufficient information to determine the estimate of the velocity vector field. In the feature-based matching approach the velocity vectors can be estimated only on a sparse set of image points, while in the spatio-temporal gradient approach at most one constraint is imposed on two components of each velocity vector. To overcome these difficulties, it has been proposed, Horn and Schunk, "Determining Optical Flow", Artif. Intell. 17, 1981, pp. 185-203, that velocity vector fields should vary smoothly from point to point on the image plane. This requirement enabled estimation of both components of the velocity vector at each image point; however, it forced the estimate of the velocity vector field to vary smoothly across the occluding boundaries. Several approaches, which are based on the selective application of the smoothness requirement, have been proposed to overcome this difficulty.
Yachida used estimates of the velocity vectors at prominent feature points as reliable initial estimates and sequentially propagated them into neighboring image points. Davis et al first computed estimates of the velocity vectors at corner points and then propagated them along the contour lines between corner points. Hildreth estimated the velocity vector field along zero-crossing contours. Nagel used image points with significant second-order spatial variation to estimate of velocity vector fields. Nagel and Enkelmann investigated oriented smoothness constraints for the estimation of velocity vector fields. Terzopoulos introduced controlled continuity measures to overcome the discontinuities in visual problems. Hierarchical approaches to the problem of estimation of velocity vector fields have also been investigated.
There is a need for a method of modifying a time-varying image sequence based on an improved method of estimating the velocity vector field.

Method of modifying a time-varying image sequence by estimation of velocity vector fields


According to the present invention, the effects of the transmission medium on transmitted information symbols are estimated separately from other effects, e.g., those associated with receive and transmit filters, using knowledge of the pulse shaping. The medium response estimate is then used to detect information symbols. Previously, receivers had used estimates of the composite channel to detect symbols. This, however, assumed uncorrelated noise, which is not always the case.

The present invention relates generally to communication systems and, more particularly, to coherent demodulation in digital communication systems.
Digital communication systems are developing rapidly for both wireline and wireless applications. In such systems, information is converted to information symbols, typically binary in value. These symbols are then encoded and modulated to a form that can be transferred onto a transmission medium, such as wires, the air (using radio waves or acoustic pressure), or magnetic tape. This transmission process includes the use of pulse shaping, to shape the symbol values for transmission.
As the demand for communications grows, higher data rates are employed in wireline modems. As a result, the modulation and or transmission medium introduces intersymbol interference (ISI), in which one symbol overlaps with the next. To provide acceptable performance, equalization at the receiver is required, such as linear equalization, decision feedback equalization, or maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE).
Equalization is also required in many wireless communications systems. These systems include those defined by D-AMPS, PDC, and GSM, which employ a combination of frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and time division multiple access (TDMA). Therein, the transmission medium is dispersive due to multipath propagation, giving rise to ISI at the receiver.
New forms of modulation and multiple access have been introduced in wireless communications, such as spread spectrum modulation and code division multiple access (CDMA). In these types of systems, for example, those defined by IS-95, an information symbol is represented by a sequence of chips (modulation symbols). As with FDMA and TDMA, multipath propagation in CDMA systems gives rise to signal echoes at the receiver. In a CDMA system, ISI is handled with a Rake receiver.
In all of these systems, speech quality is significant to customer satisfaction. To provide high speech quality at the receiver, advanced demodulation techniques are used in the form of, for example, an equalizer or a Rake receiver. These advanced demodulation techniques require estimating channel tap coefficients, which correspond to different signal delays. These channel tap coefficients are then used in the demodulation process.
Demodulation is typically performed at baseband. In a radio receiver, this occurs after the received signal has been filtered, amplified, mixed down to the baseband frequency, sampled and quantized. This results in a stream of received samples, denoted r(k), which are traditionally modeled as: EQU r(k)=c(0)a(k)+c(1)a(k-1)+ . . . +n(k) (1)
where c(j) are the channel tap coefficients and a(k) are the transmitted symbol values. Complex values are assumed, which correspond to in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signal components. In a traditional coherent receiver, the channel tap coefficients are estimated and then used to determine the symbol values from the received data. If a fractionally-spaced receiver is used, then the received data samples are viewed as multiple symbol-spaced data streams multiplexed together. Each symbol-spaced stream is modeled as shown above.
An example is given in the article authored by Y. Wan, Q. Liu and A. M. Sendyk, entitled "A fractionally-spaced maximum-likelihood sequence estimation receiver in a multipath fading environment" and published in ICASSP '92. Therein, differences between what was received and what was expected to be received are squared and summed to form a metric, which is minimized by the detected symbol values. For fractionally-spaced equalization, squared differences are still summed to determine the detected symbol values.
Such traditional approaches treat the transmit pulse shaping or filtering, the transmission medium, and the receive filtering together as one composite channel. If all the received samples have uncorrelated noise samples, then these traditional approaches are optimal. However, because the noise passes through the receive filter, it is bandlimited. Depending on the receive filter response and the sampling rate, the noise samples will be correlated. This occurs in symbol-spaced receivers when the receive filter is matched to the transmit filter and the composite response is not Nyquist. Moreover, partial response modulation schemes are intentionally designed with this property, so as to occupy a smaller bandwidth. This situation also arises in fractionally-spaced receivers when the receive filter is matched to the transmit filter and the filter bandwidth is such that the noise samples are correlated. Under these conditions, the traditional approaches are inaccurate.
One approach to solving this problem, which has been proposed for fractionally-spaced MLSE receivers, is to whiten the samples before traditional signal processing. See, for example, the articles authored by W. H. Sheen and G. Stuiber, entitled "MLSE equalization and decoding for multipath-fading channels" published in IEEE Trans. Commun., Vol. 39, pp. 1455-1464, October 1991 and that authored by K. Hamied and G. L. Stuiber, entitled "A fractionally spaced MLSE receiver" and published in ICC '95, Seattle, Wash., Jun. 18-22, 1995. However, if the receive filter is bandlimited or nearly so, then the whitening filter may be impossible or difficult to implement in practice. Also, whitening requires an additional filter in an operation, which adds complexity to the receiver.
Another solution is to use a wider receive filter, so that the noise samples are uncorrelated. A wider, "brick wall" filter is proposed in an article authored by G. M. Vachula and J. F. S. Hill, entitled "On optimal detection of band-limited PAM signals with excess bandwidth" which has been published in IEEE Trans. Commun., Vol. 29, pp. 886-890, June. 1981. A practical, wider receive filter has been proposed in an article authored by K. Balachandran and J. B. Anderson, entitled "Receive filters for bandlimited intersymbol interference channels" which has been published in CISS '96, Princeton, N.J., Mar. 1996 and in an article authored by H. Meyr, M. Oerder and A. Polydoros, entitled "On sampling rate, analog prefiltering, and sufficient statistics for digital receivers" and published in IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 542, pp. 3208-3214, December. 1994. However, this solution allows more noise to pass through the receive chain, which can cause saturation problems in, for example, the low noise amplifier when receiver dynamic range is limited. This is particularly troublesome when adjacent channel interference is present.
A similar problem occurs in spread spectrum systems. In a Rake receiver, the baseband samples r(k) correspond to correlations or despread values. These values are traditionally combined using estimates of the composite channel tap coefficients. As with nonspread systems, this is only optimal if the noise samples prior to despreading are uncorrelated. If the correlation spacing is chip-spaced and the chip pulse is not Nyquist or the correlation spacing is fractionally-spaced, then the noise on the despread values is correlated.
Thus, in both nonspread and spread communication systems, there is a need to improve receiver design to efficiently address the problem of noise correlation.

Method and apparatus for digital symbol detection using medium response estimates


A method and apparatus for enhancing a user's learning capacity includes generating a reference signal having occurrences separated by time intervals and receiving from a user a manipulation of a trigger. A temporal relationship is determined between user manipulation of the trigger and occurrence of the reference signal. A guidance signal is generated that is a function of the temporal relationship and is, at least occasionally, presented to the user. A visual image may be displayed that is varying in appearance as a function of user manipulation of the trigger. The guide signal may be withheld for user manipulations of the trigger that are within a particular range that encompasses an occurrence of the reference signal. A direction signal may be generated that indicates a desired user manipulation of the trigger relative to the reference signal. The trigger may be adapted to be manipulated by a young child user.

This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for enhancing learning capacity. While the invention is useful with individuals of all ages, it provides a technique which does not necessarily involve overt surface behavior of the individual and, thereby, can be used by young children and infants.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,529,498 and 5,743,744, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, I disclose a neuro-motor coordinating measuring and enhancing apparatus and method. The technique described in my previous patents includes generating and, at least occasionally, presenting to the user repetitive occurrences of a reference signal, the occurrences being separated by a time interval, and receiving from the user with a trigger a response to the user's prediction of the lapse of the predetermined time interval since the last occurrence of the reference signal. The temporal relationship between the response of the user and the predetermined time interval since the last occurrence of the reference signal is determined and used to generate a guidance signal that is a function of the temporal relationship. The guidance signal draws the user into time alignment with occurrence of the reference signal.
In view of the outstanding success of using the techniques disclosed in my prior patents to improve neuro-motor functioning, I have also conceived of using such techniques as planning and sequence training to enhance the learning capacity of individuals. This conception has been evaluated utilizing a peer-reviewed research project as will be discussed in more detail below.
It is important that young children be provided with the exceptionally helpful capabilities of the rhythmicity training disclosed in my previous patents. As told in Kotulak, R., "Inside the Brain, Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works," Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1997, although the brain is capable of learning throughout life, nothing will ever match the activities that go on during the early days of a child. In the course of the first three years, a totally dependent child will build an incredibly complex new brain that will enable him or her to walk, talk, analyze, care, love, play, explore, and have a unique emotional personality.
Although the techniques disclosed in my patent are of immeasurable advantage to a user, I have discovered that further enhancements increase this advantage.

Method and apparatus of enhancing learning capacity


The disclosure provides a video synthesis method, a terminal and a storage medium. The method includes acquiring at least one video clip. The method includes acquiring a target audio suitable to video content based on the video content and the number of the at least one video clip. T number of the audio change points of the target audio is greater than or equal to the number of at least one video clip minus one, and the audio change points comprise time points at which change in audio feature satisfies a preset condition; and obtaining a video file by synthesizing the at least one video clip and the target audio based on the audio change points included in the target audio.

With the development of the Internet, more and more users like to publish videos on the Internet. Most of these videos are obtained through video synthesis. For example, these videos may contain multiple video clips and are equipped with corresponding background music.
Related technologies synthesize multiple video clips into a video with background music. Generally, the following process is required: user selects multiple video clips on the terminal, selects a piece of music that is suitable for contents of the multiple video clips as background music by watching the contents of the multiple video clips, and then the multiple video clips and the background music are combined into a video by using a video synthesis application on the terminal.
In the video synthesis process of the above technology, users often need to try to play multiple pieces of music in order to find out background music suitable for the contents of multiple video clips. Therefore, in order to improve the efficiency of video synthesis, a video synthesis method is urgently needed, when multiple video clips are synthesized into a video with background music.

Video synthesis method terminal and computer storage medium

BEIJING DAJIA INTERNET INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present invention is directed to a tool accessory case having a first and a second housing member pivotally connected to each other along a hinge portion and forming a tool holding cavity. The tool accessory case also has at least one index configured for receiving at least one elongated tool accessory disposed in one of the housing members. The index has an upper guide for contacting an upper portion of the tool accessory, and a lower guide for contacting a lower portion of the tool accessory. Further, a flexible arm is included on either the index or one of the first and second housing members. The flexible arm is configured for deforming and applying a lateral pressure to the lower portion of the tool accessory for the purpose of positively retaining the tool accessory in the index. The tool accessory is slidingly received by the index, and the lateral pressure is applied by the flexible arm when the tool accessory is generally entirely received by the index.

Tool accessory cases are commonly used by consumers and individuals in many professions to organize small parts such as drill bits, fasteners, and the like. Frequently, accessories of this sort are available in sets of varying size and shape and are used for different purposes. It is desirable to keep the accessories organized so that the user can easily locate the specific tool accessory for the particular purpose.
The tool accessories are commonly organized in individual compartments or indexes within the tool accessory case in order of size and type. The compartments retain the tool accessory while also permitting the user to easily select and remove the tool accessory from the compartment. Typically, the compartment does not positively retain the tool accessory when the case is opened and inverted, or when the case is dropped. Alternatively, when the tool accessories are positively retained by the compartment, the tool accessories are typically difficult to grasp and remove, particularly if the user is wearing work gloves or only has one hand available.