A system and method for rotating sheets receiving cut sheets from a source and providing them to a utilization device. The rotator continually engages sheets with at least one drive component throughout the transport and rotation process. The rotator includes a transport mechanism having a plurality of nip roller pairs along the length of a feed table. The nip rollers (nips) can be selectively engaged with, and disengaged from, the driven rollers using discrete actuators. This allows for feed velocity differentials when entering and exiting the rotator feed table, and also for clearance during sheet rotation. A rotator disk assembly is centered on the table between, and comprises a driven rotator disk and an overriding, freely rotating pressure disk. When sheets enter or pass through the rotator section, the pressure disk is raised to provide a clearance for sheets to pass.

Electronic publishing and print-on-demand applications have become increasingly popular in recent years. In such operations, a high-speed electronic printer, also commonly termed a "laser printer" is employed to produce printed pages that are thereafter bound into books of appropriate size and shape. Contemporary electronic printers, and the peripheral sheet-utilization devices that accompany them, are capable of providing duplex-printed (e.g. two-sided) sheets that can be folded-over and interleaved into a bound book, or otherwise cut and stacked to form a bound book. Where large-size sheets are employed (for example 14½-inch by 22½-inch sheets) a plurality of pages can be printed on a single sheet. The sheet is then subsequently cut and/or or folded into a completed book in the appropriate page order.
It is often desirable to feed individual sheets, including large-scale sheets adapted for book folding, into a sheet-feed electronic printer. However, it is also desirable, for increased efficiency, to derive the individual sheets from a continuous roll of paper web. Thus, the web is initially fed from a driven roll stand to a downstream cutter, where sheets of the desired length are cut from a web of predetermined width. In some implementations, the web may be slit along its length to derive two or more narrower sheets as well. The individual sheets are then passed into electronic printer. One example of a sheet feeder, which passes individual sheets into a printer is shown and described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,470, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DIRECTLY FEEDING PAPER TO PRINTING DEVICES, by Crowley, and related patents thereto, the teachings of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. This patent describes a technique for feeding sheets to a stack-feed port of a printer or other utilization device based upon the demand for sheets by the stack feeder of the device. However, contemporary printers/utilization devices often contain dedicated sheet feed port that issues a request signal to provide sheets from the cutter to the port.
One particular concern in the preparation and binding of books is the grain direction of the paper. When paper is produced, it defines a grain direction that typically corresponds to the direction which the paper flows through the paper making process. To achieve the highest quality for the finished book, the sheets should be printed with a uniform grain direction, and the finished book should provide all pages with a similar grain direction. Since the grain direction of the roll may differ from that desired for the folded pages, maybe appropriate to rotate the sheets prior to feeding them into the electronic printer. In the past, this is entailed stacking the cut sheets into a feed stack, rotating the feed stack and then feeding the rotated stack of sheets to the feed port of the electronic printer. Clearly, this is a slower and less efficient process that requires additional human effort and may be prone to mistakes.
There are many other reasons that the user may desire the ability to rotate sheets and directly feed such sheets to a printer or other utilization device without resorting to the creation of an intermediate feed stack. For example, the web may be more efficiently cut in one orientation, by preferably fed in an orthogonal orientation to the cut orientation.
Rotation of sheets for a high-volume, high-speed handling application "on-the-fly" from a cutter is a challenging problem. Each sheet must be positively rotated to a substantially orthogonal orientation from its cut orientation without error—otherwise a jam or misfeed will occur. Feed rates in excess of 125-200 sheets-per-minute may be required. However, the rotator should preferably enable the handling a wide range of sheet dimensions, and optionally disable the rotation functionality when not needed.
It is, thus, desirable to provide a sheet-feeding arrangement that includes a novel system and method for rotating sheets before they are fed from a web cutter to an electronic printer or other sheet-utilization device. This system and method should allow relatively large-sized sheets (for example, up to approximately 14½ by 22½ inches) to be fed reliably with the proper rotation so as to account for grain direction and other dimensional requirements. The system and method should accommodate a range of sheet sizes and dimensions with easy adjustability therebetween. Such a system and method should provide a device that is easy to service and affords long-term reliability.


Machines, systems and methods for backing up data, the method comprising retrieving identifying information about target data storage volumes from which target data is to be backed up; communicating the identifying information to a proxy application installed on a backup computing system utilized to backup the target data stored on the target data storage volumes, wherein the proxy application uses the identifying information to place the target data storage volumes in a first state in which write operations may not be performed to the target data storage volumes, wherein the proxy application causes snapshots to be taken of the target data storage volumes of a first type and a second type, in response to determining that the target data storage volumes are placed in the first state.

Most currently available data backup tools don't have the capability to backup data storage volumes that reside on virtual disks along with related or counterpart data storage volumes that reside on physical disks in a synchronized manner. That is, most data backup tools use two different mechanisms, one to backup data from the virtual volumes and another to backup data from the physical volumes, respectively.
In other words, the backup (e.g., snapshot) operations performed on the virtual volumes and the physical volumes are performed in two separate operations. This means that the backup copies will not be consistent (i.e., not copied at the exact same point in time) because the currently available backup mechanisms are unable to synchronously perform the snapshot operations on both the virtual volumes and the physical volumes at the same time.
For example, consider a scenario where mapped drives C:\ and D:\ reside on virtual disks and drive E:\ on a physical disk. If a SQL application is installed on drive C:\ the SQL database on drive D:\ and the related SQL logs on drive E:\ then the backups performed on the volumes across the virtual and physical domains would not be synchronized.

Data backup across physical and virtualized storage volumes

International Business Machines Corporation


Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) segments received from a server are processed to result in improved reliability. An embodiment of the method comprises receiving a first TCP segment from a server and placing the first TCP segment in a segment queue, the first TCP segment having a first sequence number. A determination is made as to whether a second TCP segment is missing from the segment queue based at least in part on a first sequence number. Responsive to determining that the second TCP is missing from the segment queue, placing a placeholder for the second TCP segment in the segment queue. The first TCP segment is delivered to an application responsive to the first TCP segment being the next TCP segment in a sequence.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to the effective use of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) for the transport of multimedia content.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multimedia content (e.g., video and music) is frequently exchanged over the Internet from a server to a client. To transmit data to a client, a server uses some type of communication protocol. One of the protocols that may be used is Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). TCP guarantees delivery of a stream of data from a server to a client by using a positive acknowledgment technique. When a server sends a data segment to a client, the server expects the client to respond with an acknowledgment message once the client receives the segment. If the client does not respond with the acknowledgment message within a set amount of time, it means that the data segment was lost or corrupted. In response, the server retransmits the data segment to the client. The problem with TCP is that it is optimized for accurate delivery rather than timely delivery. Therefore, the delivery of data may incur long delays because of the wait for retransmissions of lost segments.
Since the delivery of multimedia data in most cases requires fast delivery, servers often use User Datagram Protocol (UDP). UDP is faster than TCP because it does not guarantee delivery of data. UDP never verifies whether a data segment was received by a client. Additionally, UDP drops any segment that is received out of order. Therefore, the client will not have access to all of the data sent by the server.

Semi reliable transport of multimedia content


An apparatus and method for reducing dust on components in a computer system is disclosed. Embodiments include a system that generally includes an enclosure, a component mounted with the enclosure, and a fan adapted to induce an airflow towards the component to provide cooling. The system also generally includes a dust ionizer adapted to provide an electrical charge to dust particles within the airflow and a dust reflector having an electrical charge adapted to deflect the charge dust particles away from the component. In some embodiments, the component may be a processor, heat sink, video chip, memory module, voltage regulator module, etc.

Personal computer (PC) systems are well known in the art. They have attained widespread use in many segments of today's modern society as a result of their widespread use for telecommuting, news, stock market information and trading, banking, shopping, shipping, communication in the form of hypertext transfer protocol (http) and email, as well as other services. PCs are typically provided with enclosures which protect the operating components of the computer, provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance, and shield against undesirable emission of electromagnetic energy.
Many components of PCs generate heat during operation, making it necessary to cool those components so that proper functioning continues, particularly because of the confined space of the enclosure which makes it more difficult to reject waste heat. Cooling strategies for PCs usually rely upon forced air flow through the computer enclosure. A typical arrangement provides a single fan, typically mounted in or adjacent the power supply for the computer, which induces a flow of air through the enclosure and particularly through the power supply, which is often the principal heat source within the enclosure. While the forced air provides an effective method for cooling PCs, it also brings dust or other particles into the enclosure. Dust may then gather on critical components, eventually resulting in failure of that component and potentially the entire PC. The problem of accumulated dust is exacerbated for thermally-sensitive components, as dust accumulations contribute to overheating and eventual failure. Accumulation of dust may result in a safety hazard as well. Dust on a heat generating component typically heats up with that component, which may result in a fire. A fire may also be created when accumulated dust creates a short between two electrical components.
One method of remedying the dust situation is to periodically open up the system to either blow out the dust using compressed air or to collect the dust with a vacuum cleaner. Manually blowing out or removing the dust with a vacuum clean are time-consuming for the user, making them undesirable. Moreover, these methods rely on activity that may not be performed, particularly if users are asked to do the work themselves, and therefore do not prevent the accumulation of dust in many cases. These methods also require for the computer to be turned off in order to open the system up for dust blowing or removal, resulting in downtime for the system. Because of their cost, complication, and ineffectiveness, these methods do not provide a satisfactory solution for many users.
Some systems implement a filter at the air inlet of the enclosure, attempting to reduce the amount of dust that enters the system. Filtration systems do remove some of the dust that would otherwise enter the system. Filtration systems, however, are somewhat inefficient, particularly for small particles, resulting in significant amounts of dust still entering. Another problem with filtration systems is that they can drastically reduce the amount of air entering the system, making cooling more difficult. More effective filters with smaller gaps decrease the amount of air that goes through at a given power setting, requiring either reduced airflow or increased fan size or power. Neither solution is desirable as they increase costs and run the risk of creating more noise.
There is, therefore, a need for an effective and efficient system and method to reduce the amount of dust on certain components of computer systems. There is an even greater need for such a system when components are thermally-sensitive.

Systems, apparatus and method for reducing dust on components in a computer system


According to some embodiments, a method in a wireless transmitter of aligning code blocks with modulation symbols comprises: receiving a block of information bits for wireless transmission in a plurality of modulation symbols; partitioning the plurality of modulation symbols into groups of one or more modulation symbols, wherein the modulation symbols in a group are contiguous in time; and assigning each of the information bits to one of the groups. For each of the groups the method further comprises: segmenting the assigned information bits in the group into one or more code blocks; encoding each code block into coded bits; and assigning the coded bits of the one or more code blocks to the group of modulation symbols the information bits are assigned to. The method further comprises transmitting the groups of modulation symbols to a wireless receiver.

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) standard (3GPP TS 36.212 V14.1.1, Section 5.1.2) specifies that code block segmentation (CBS) is performed when the size of the transport block with additional cyclic redundancy check (CRC) exceeds the maximum code block size of 6144 bits prior to Turbo encoding. When this occurs, the transport block with additional CRC is segmented into smaller code blocks together by insertion of an additional CRC sequence of L=24 bits to each code block.
How the CBS is performed affects successive interference cancellation (SIC) of interference from different spatially multiplexed signals. SIC may be applied if the spatially multiplexed signals are separately coded in different code blocks before the spatial multiplexing. Using SIC, the receiver first demodulates and decodes one of the spatially multiplexed signals. If decoding is successful, the decoded data is re-encoded and subtracted from the received signals. A second spatially multiplexed signal may then be demodulated and decoded with improved signal to noise ratio (SNR), because the interference from the first signal is removed to a large extent. After successful decoding, the second spatially multiplexed signal may be subtracted from the received signals as well. This process can be repeated until all spatially multiplexed signals have been decoded.
When applying SIC, the first signals to be decoded are subject to more interference than signals to be decoded later in the process when some interference has been removed. Therefore, different modulation and coding schemes can be applied to the different spatially multiplexed signals.
Fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) includes CRC attachment. For NR, CRC may be attached on a code-block group (CBG) level in addition to, or instead of, attaching CRC on a code-block level. A code-block group is a set of one or more code blocks. If CRC bits are attached on CBG level, the CRC bits may be transmitted together with any of the code blocks in the group, or spread out over several of the code blocks in the group.
A problem with existing solutions is that the LTE type of CBS does not include alignment between code blocks and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. A large fraction of the code blocks may thereby be partially transmitted in two different OFDM symbols. If a code block is transmitted during two consecutive OFDM symbols, it cannot be decoded until it has been completely received in the second OFDM symbol. This in turn means that acknowledgements (ACKs)/negative acknowledgements (NACKs) may be delayed.
Furthermore, when using SIC, the interference from the partially received code block cannot be subtracted from the signals in the first OFDM symbol until the whole code block has been received in the second OFDM symbol. A pipelined processing of each OFDM symbol is more difficult if a code block spans over the OFDM symbol border, especially if a large part of the coded bits in a code block is transmitted in a later OFDM symbol.


An optical component is produced by forming an anti-reflection film on a surface of a molding of a norbornene resin having a polar group. The anti-reflection film is composed of an equivalent film of which the overall refractive index as calculated according to a prescribed formula is 1.52 to 1.8 and that has an intermediate layer measuring 10 to 50 nm in mechanical film thickness and containing Al2O3, a first high-refractive-index layer, and a first low-refractive-index layer containing SiO2 as a main ingredient, a second high-refractive-index layer measuring 0.4xcex to 0.6xcex (where xcex is 480 to 550 nm) in optical film thickness and containing TiO2 as a main ingredient, and a second low-refractive-index layer measuring 0.2xcex to 0.3xcex in optical film thickness and containing SiO2 as a main ingredient. This ensures that the anti-reflection film adheres to the surface of the molding so strongly as not to exfoliate therefrom.

This application is based on application No. H11-362664 filed in Japan on Dec. 21, 1999, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical component produced by forming an anti-reflection film on a surface of a molding of a norbornene resin, and to a method for producing such an optical component.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, synthetic resins have come to be widely used as materials for optical components such as lenses, mirrors, and prisms. This is because synthetic resins are lighter and cheaper than glass materials, and can easily be molded into complex shapes. Conventionally preferred kinds of such synthetic resins are polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC). However, both PMMA and PC are insufficiently heat resistant and in addition moisture-absorbent. Therefore, in practical use, moldings of those resins pose the serious problem of easily changing their shapes and refractive indices.
This has encouraged development of satisfactorily heat-resistant and non-moisture-absorbent synthetic resins, of which one outcome is norbornene resins having no polar group. Norbornene resins have proved to be excellent in transparency, heat resistance, and non-moisture-absorbency, and are thus effective as optical materials.
However, forming a conventional anti-reflection film on a molding of a norbornene resin results in rather low adherence between them, which inconveniently facilitates exfoliation of the anti-reflection film from the molding. The adherence declines particularly sharply at higher ambient temperatures and humidities and with greater film thicknesses. This has prompted attempts to improve the adherence of the anti-reflection film by adding a polar group to the norbornene resin. However, no satisfactory results are known to have been obtained to this date.
An object of the present invention is to provide an optical component having an anti-reflection film adhering to a surface of a molding of a norbornene resin so strongly as not to exfoliate therefrom, and to provide a method for producing such an optical component.
To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, an optical component is provided with: a molding formed out of a material containing a norbornene resin having a polar group; and an anti-reflection film formed on a surface of the molding. This anti-reflection film is composed of, from the molding side to the air side: an equivalent film of which the overall refractive index as calculated according to formula (1) below is 1.52 to 1.8 and that includes, from the molding side to the air side, an intermediate layer measuring 10 to 50 nm in mechanical film thickness and containing Al2O3, a first high-refractive-index layer, and a first low-refractive-index layer containing SiO2 as a main ingredient,                     N        =                              n            g                    +                                    ∑                              i                =                1                            3                                                  xe2x80x83                                                  [                              4                                                  (                                                            n                      i                                        -                                          n                      g                                                        )                                                                  n                  i                                                                  n                  d                                            ]                                                          (        1        )
where ng represents a refractive index of the molding and ni and di represent a refractive index and a mechanical film thickness, respectively, of an i-th layer of the equivalent film as counted from the molding side; a second high-refractive-index layer measuring 0.4xcex to 0.6xcex (where xcex is 480 to 550 nm) in optical film thickness and containing TiO2 as a main ingredient; and a second low-refractive-index layer measuring 0.2xcex to 0.3xcex (where xcex is 480 to 550 nm) in optical film thickness and containing SiO2 as a main ingredient.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an optical component is provided with: a molding formed out of a material containing a norbornene resin having a polar group; and an anti-reflection film formed on a surface of the molding. This anti-reflection film is composed of, from the molding side to the air side: a first high-refractive-index layer containing TiO2 as a main ingredient and formed with the molding heated to 70 to 130xc2x0 C.; a first low-refractive-index layer containing SiO2 as a main ingredient; a second high-refractive-index layer measuring 0.4xcex to 0.6xcex (where xcex is 480 to 550 nm) in optical film thickness and containing TiO2 as a main ingredient; and a second low-refractive-index layer measuring 0.2xcex to 0.3xcex (where xcex is 480 to 550 nm) in optical film thickness and containing SiO2 as a main ingredient.
In these optical components according to the present invention, an anti-reflection film composed of specifically defined layers is formed on a surface of a molding of a norbornene resin having a polar group. This ensures that the anti-reflection film adheres to the surface of the molding so strongly as not to exfoliate easily therefrom.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for producing an optical component includes: a molding step of forming a molding having a desired shape out of a material containing a norbornene resin having a polar group; a heating step of heating the molding to 70 to 130xc2x0 C.; and a vapor-deposition step of vapor-depositing an anti-reflection film as a first layer on a surface of the molding.
By this method according to the present invention, first a molding of a norbornene resin is heated to 70 to 130xc2x0 C., and then a first layer is vapor-deposited on the norbornene-resin molding. This ensures that an anti-reflection film adheres to the surface of the molding so strongly as not to exfoliate therefrom.


A method and system for preserving application session states among multiple terminals. An application session state is captured from a first terminal. The application session state is stored on a central storage device or repository server. The application session state is then retrieved from the central storage device with a second terminal. At least one application on the second terminal is then placed in the application session state using the information that is retrieved from the central storage device.

As people become more mobile, there is an increasing demand for computing in locations and situations that diverge from the traditional wired environment. The popularity of mobile devices such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and wireless telephones, further makes nomadic computing a desirable and viable life style. However, most of today's applications are session-oriented. As used herein, the term session orientation means that a particular application is constrained by the device, platform, location, and time.
The session-oriented model places a limitation such that for the duration of an application session, a user cannot switch devices; otherwise, the user might lose their active application session and would need to restart it on a new device. Consider a scenario when a user is running an application on a stationary device (such as a desktop PC), but an alternative mobile device (such as a Pocket PC or laptop with wireless access) is available to the user. If the user would like to continue their application on the mobile device they could not do so without losing their active application session on the stationary device.
Consider another scenario when the user is running an application on their office desktop PC and must leave the office to attend a meeting at a remote location. The user can carry their laptop (with wireless access) with them on the flight to the meeting. Let's say that during the flight or at the airport the user would like to continue their application on their laptop, but again, they could not do so without losing their active application session on the laptop computer.
In both scenarios set forth above an alternative approach would be that the user saves their documents into a portable media. At a later time, the user must read or extract the documents from the portable media back into the mobile device and restart work on the documents on the mobile device. Such an approach requires the user's effort to move the document from one physical device to another physical device and is time consuming and undesirable. As such, a need exists for an Application Mobility Service (AMS) that enables a user to seamlessly and effortlessly transfer an active application to any device that is accessible or convenient to the user simultaneously or at a later time.


The invention relates to a device, a method and a system for determining a road surface condition, where the surface condition is one of dry, wet or icy. The device comprises a reflectance spectrometer which senses the reflectance properties of the road at one or several wavelengths and uses these reflectance properties to determine the surface condition. The reflectance spectrometer is a wavelength modulation spectrometer, preferably for the near infrared region. The system determines the surface condition and indicates it to a user of the system.

A number of solutions for solving the problem of determining possible slipperiness of road surfaces, in particular aimed at detecting presence or absence of water or ice on the road surface, are known. Older methods for determining the road surface condition using mechanical arrangements are known but are prone to faults and wear. A number of solutions to the problem of detecting water or ice on a road surface at a fixed position have also been suggested, but are generally not applicable to the problem of determining the road surface condition at or near a moving vehicle. For that problem, remote sensing methods using spectroscopical methods have become the dominating solution, and in particular near infrared spectroscopical methods due to the distinct spectroscopical properties of liquid and frozen water in that wavelength interval.
One of the earliest patents relating to this subject is U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,091 (1981) wherein a method of detecting ice on road surfaces by detecting an amplitude modulated light beam in the infrared region reflected from the road surface is disclosed. The method suffers from the drawback that there is no provision for separating reflectance changes occurring due to presence of ice from those occurring due to presence of water on the road surface, or due to changes in the reflectance properties of the asphalt or concrete constituting the road paving.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,206 (1990) discloses a method of detecting ice or water on road surfaces by detecting the reflectance of the road surface at two separate wavelengths in the infrared region. The method calculates the ratio between the two reflectances, and indicates the presence of water if the ratio exceeds a certain level or the presence of ice if the ratio falls below a certain level. If the ratio remains within an intermediate level, the method indicates that the road surface is dry, but unfortunately the ratio may also fall within this intermediate range if certain proportions of water and ice are present at the road surface.
Assuming the reflectance to be influenced by three parameters only; road paving reflectivity, effective liquid water layer thickness and effective ice layer thickness, three independent parameters need to be measured, and a number of solutions using three or more wavelengths have been suggested, i.a. U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,853, proposing detection at at least four wavelengths. Unfortunately, the absorption of light in non turbid media adheres to the Beer-Lambert law, stating that the transmission through the medium decreases exponentially with increasing layer thickness. For a detection system with finite signal dynamics, this corresponds to a very limited dynamic range in terms of layer thickness variations. To solve this problem, one may detect the presence of water or ice using several different wavelength intervals having different absorption coefficients, where detection in each interval gives a reliable indication of water or ice presence for a range of substance thicknesses. Combining results from measurements in several such intervals, an acceptable total layer thickness tolerance is achieved. Unfortunately, this implies detecting reflectances at a comparatively large number of wavelengths, necessitating a complex, and therefore expensive arrangement.
Wavelength modulation spectroscopy is a particular form of spectroscopy where the used light wavelength is modulated at a frequency f. After interfering with a substance, usually a gas, the wavelength modulation gives rise to amplitude modulation at frequencies being multiples of the wavelength modulation frequency f, and the amplitude modulated signal at one of these multiples of f is used for detection. With wavelength modulation spectroscopy it is possible to achieve higher signal to noise ratio than with other corresponding spectroscopical methods, thus making it possible to detect and measure substances in smaller concentrations than otherwise. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,350 a form of wavelength modulation spectroscopy is disclosed, where signals are detected at more than one of these multiples of f concurrently, and the signals received are used to calculate properties of a gas being measured, such as its concentration, temperature or pressure. The document does however not disclose a method of concurrently measuring the amount of two or more substances with overlapping spectral features, using a single detected modulated wavelength. Neither does the document disclose a method of deriving information on whether the substance being detected is turbid or not.
An object of the invention is therefore to provide a system, a method and a device which overcome the above mentioned problems with prior art surface condition detection devices.
These and other objects are attained by a system, a method and a device according to the characterising portions of the independent claims.

Device, method and system for determining the road surface condition


In one embodiment of the invention, a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) subsystem includes a cache of a current peer and a peer locator. The current peer is in a current ring at a current level. The cache stores information of ring peers within the current ring. The current ring is part of a hierarchical ring structure of P2P nodes. The hierarchical ring structure has at least one of a lower level and a upper level. The peer locator locates a target peer in the cache in response to a request.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to networks, and in particular, the invention relates to peer-to-peer communication.
2. Description of Related Art
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communication has recently become popular. P2P communication allows a computer or a network device to communicate or locate another computer or network device across a network. Currently, computers and other Internet protocol (IP)-based devices can be discovered using the existing Domain Name System (DNS) or using P2P mechanisms like Napster or Gnutella.
These techniques for P2P communication have a number of disadvantages. Napster and DNS are server-based name services. More particularly, the DNS is a distributed Internet directory service. DNS is used mostly to translate between domain names and IP addresses, and to control Internet message delivery. In server-based name services such as DNS and Napster-like P2P systems, the name servers must maintain a large list of computers or network devices that they support. For a large number of names, DNS needs complex software and processing power for name resolutions. It also requires heavy administration and maintenance. Moreover, DNS-like techniques may contain state IP addresses because of the typically high Time-To-Live (TTL) validity in resource records.
In distributed systems like Gnutella, a message is required to traverse through the network one peer at a time and branches out until the result is found in a peer. This traversing generates a lot of network traffic, especially when the amount of messages is large. Since Gnutella employs a flat model, it may not scale well with the network. It also does not maintain any index or cache of other computers and may cause performance degradation when the network grows. In addition, it is difficult and inconvenient to form and name groups of computers in these systems.
Another technique uses bootstrap servers for its operation (e.g., Legion). These bootstrap servers run agents or managers that manage various requests on the P2P network or agents. If a peer needs to discover another peer, it may find it in the directory structure provided by the managers. One disadvantage of this technique is that the bootstrap server is a single point of failure. A failure of the bootstrap server may render the service non-operational.
Therefore, there is a need to have an efficient technique to provide P2P communication.

Multi-level ring peer-to-peer network structure for peer and object discovery


The lower guide track sections for a bale binder engaged with a down press include a platen portion substantially as long as a platen slot and dimensioned for deployment within the platen slot. Track extensions extend outward from the platen. The first extension has a strap receiving end face that to cooperates with a first strap guide track on a carriage such that the first strap guide track on the first carriage is dimensioned to index laterally beyond a press frame. A second extension having a strap exit end face cooperates with a second strap guide track on a second carriage such that the second strap guide track on the second carriage is dimensioned to index laterally beyond the press frame. First and second guide track sections are mounted on laterally displaceable carriages and each have an exit end face, the end faces operatively cooperate with the receiving end faces of the extensions. The first carriage guide track section exit end face and the second carriage guide track section receiving face each have a medial border dimensioned to define a clearance length.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of automated bale binding apparatuses engageable with bulk material compressors, in particular down presses.
2. Related Art
Baling of bulk material such as cotton is achieved by a compression apparatus, usually hydraulic, that compresses a volume of bulk material into a preconfigured bale shape and size. While still compressed, a bulk material bale binding apparatus engages the volume of compressed material at a baling station and binds it with wire strap. The strap can be metal or plastic.
The binding wire or strap is placed around a compressed volume of material in a baling station by feeding the wire or strap through a guide track that circumscribes the volume of material to be baled and guides the wire or strap into a loop around the bale. The loop is on a single plane, typically transverse to a long axis of the bale. Thereafter the wire or strap is released from the track, tightened around the material to be baled and fastened or knotted. These procedures are described in detail in prior art such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,324 to Stamps and U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,900 to Daniel, incorporated by reference herein.
It is in the nature of the compression apparatus that the circumscribing guide track must be disengageable at least in part, so that the compression machinery can eject a finished bale and compress a new bale. Prior art devices have achieved the disengagement of a portion of guide track either by swinging it upwards and away from the baling station, or sliding it outward from the baling station. These prior art solutions are typified by a fixed guide track portion and a moveable guide track portion. Both of they portions always remained within the plane of the bale loop, whether disengaged or not.
One form of bale compression apparatus is called a down press. Down presses are completely above a floor level and generally comprised of a first and second compression box for receiving a volume of bulk material to be baled. A first box is typically filled with loose material while a second box is simultaneously compressed and baled. Filling a box with loose material happens at a first position engaged with a tramper, which fills the box. Bale binding occurs at a second position having a vertically oriented hydraulic press for compressing the volume of bulk material. Binding occurs at the compression station. The boxes are transposed from the filler station to the compression and binding station by rotation around a central column. The boxes, press and central column are supported by a frame comprised of two end columns and a support lintel. Any automated bale binding apparatus used to bind the compressed volumes of bulk material must disengage to a position outside the circumference of the rotation of the two boxes around the center column. Disengagement of binding equipment in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the support frame would require moving the apparatus an impractical distance. Accordingly, prior art disengagement apparatuses that disengage guide track portions within the same plane as the bale loop are impractical for use with down presses, because the bale loop plane is perpendicular to the support frame.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for automated bale binding equipment for use with down presses that disengages in a direction parallel with the frame of the down press and in a direction nonparallel to the bale loop plane. Concomitantly, there is a need for guide track components that are disengageable in a manner allowing such a lateral disengagement of the binding apparatus from the baling station. Additionally, there is a continuing need in the art for durability, compact size, and economy.
Further problems to address in automating binding of bales compressed by down presses include the following. Down presses commonly have a stand to be placed on the floor. On top of the stand is a bed which holds a lower platen and support structure for that platen. The support structure includes the slots into which lower guide track sections are inserted. The beds have preexisting dimensions of width and depth. These dimensions necessarily correspond to the dimensions of the compression boxes with which they interact. Accordingly, any lower guide track sections to be used for bale binders designed to be interoperative with down presses must be fit within the preexisting dimensions of the beds.
Another dimension to be accommodated is the space, sometimes known as a "stand off" space, between a wire knotter and the nearest edge of bale. If the stand off is too large, that is if the knotter is too far away from the bale, the resulting wire loops will be too large, and the bale will expand beyond the dimensions required to comply with the standards of the International Cotton Council for bale size. This stand off distance is on the order of seven inches.
Another design problem required to be met for automated baling with down packers is a minimum turning radius of guide track corner portions. This minimum radius is also in the order of seven inches. The most economical grade of wire to use that complies with the International Cotton Council standards for post binding strength and durability is 10 gauge wire. It is a property of 10 gauge wire that if a guide track guidance channel turns too sharply, that is, has a total turning radius of less than seven inches, the wire will frequently "jump" its track and jam. Therefore a shorter turning radius is impractical. There is a need in the art for an automatic bale binder for a down press that accommodates preexisting bed dimensions while still maintaining an adequate turning radius for 10 gauge wire.

Lower guide track for down packing press apparatus and method


An infrared source for use in an infrared spectrometer includes an insulator core having a containment cavity, an outlet port in communication with the containment cavity, and an electrically heated infrared element mounted in the containment cavity with a portion thereof facing the outlet port and with the walls of the containment cavity closely spaced to the infrared element. The insulator core is formed of a ceramic fiber material which has excellent resistance to heat and very low thermal conductivity so that very little heat from the infrared element escapes from the insulator core except as infrared radiation through the outlet port. The insulator core is preferably mounted within a central cavity of a metal housing, and may be sealed off from the ambient atmosphere by an infrared transmissive window sealed to an outlet opening in the housing. The electrical supply lines from the infrared element may extend through an opening in the housing which is closed and sealed to inhibit the passage of gases from the ambient atmosphere into the interior of the housing. Where the infrared element is sealed off from the ambient atmosphere in this manner, potentially corrosive gases will be inhibited from reaching the hot infrared element. This containment of the infrared element within the insulator core allows the element to be maintained at a desired temperature for radiating infrared for use in analytical instruments such as infrared spectrometers, while consuming very low amounts of electrical power.

Infrared spectrometers, such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers, dispersive-type infrared spectrometers and filter-based infrared spectrometers, are widely used for measuring the chemical composition and characteristics of materials. In an infrared spectrometer, infrared radiation provided by a source having a relatively broad emission bandwidth is passed through a spectrometer, and then through a sample, before reaching a suitable detector. The information obtained from the detected radiation is analyzed to determine information concerning the sample, for example to determine an absorbance spectrum of the sample in the infrared range. This spectrum may then be used to identify the chemical composition of the sample.
It is desirable that the infrared source for an infrared spectrometer have a relatively broad and uniform emission spectrum over the wavelengths of interest. Unfortunately, conventional broadband infrared sources that meet these criteria typically possess several undesirable characteristics, including relatively high power consumption and the production of relatively high levels of stray infrared radiation, e.g., radiation that travels in unwanted directions. These characteristics are undesirable because they produce a substantial amount of wasted energy and an unwanted heating of the parts of the spectrometer.
Unwanted heating of spectrometer components as a result of radiation from the source propagating in unwanted directions has particularly been a problem with conventional infrared sources. An efficient infrared source will, by definition, produce large amounts of infrared radiation. The electrical filaments which are heated by electrical current to provide the infrared typically radiate in all directions, so that much of the infrared radiated from the filament does not go into the useful beam that is directed into the spectrometer, even if a reflector is used adjacent to the source to help form the beam. Consequently, a significant amount of infrared wavelength energy is not accounted for by the beam and will be absorbed by adjacent structure within the spectrometer, heating up the spectrometer. Moreover, any stray infrared from the source may interfere with the signal reaching the infrared detector, and therefore the detector must be carefully shielded from the source. Even if a conventional infrared source is surrounded by heat insulation, the insulation itself tends to increase in temperature and will eventually itself become a source of heat which is transmitted either by conduction, convection or reemission of infrared radiation to other parts of the spectrometer. Thus, conventional infrared sources have been both a heat load on the spectrometer and also a significant power drain which adds to the total power requirements of the spectrometer.
An example of an infrared source commonly used in spectrometry is the "glow bar," which is a coil of silicon carbide that is resistively heated to a temperature of about 1200 degrees Celsius. Due to the relatively large size of the coil, this type of source is relatively costly and inefficient. For instance, the glow bar consumes about 150 watts of power, which requires a relatively large power supply, and usually one that is separate from the power supply for the electronic components in the spectrometer. The combination of glow bar and power supply adds cost, weight and size to the spectrometer. The glow bar also radiates a lot of heat--more heat than can be passively dissipated inside a modern spectrometer. To remove the excess heat, the glow bar is typically cooled with water flowing through a water jacket that surrounds the source. Water cooling adds plumbing and water supply requirements, which adds further cost, weight, size and complexity to the spectrometer. Manufacturing and field service are also more difficult, since the water jacket can interfere with access to the source.
Infrared spectrometers for special purposes may sometimes be used in environments where the spectrometer may be exposed to corrosive gases. In such environments, the hot source element (commonly operating at about 1200.degree. Celsius) cannot be exposed to these gases. Similarly, it would not be acceptable for any structures near to the source to be allowed to reach temperatures sufficiently hot to accelerate the corrosive effects of the gases.
Infrared spectrometers often use a purge gas such as dry air or nitrogen to pressurize the spectrometer to reduce corrosion caused by ambient gases that might react with the source electrode. Many manufacturing plants use gases, for example Freon-113, that will react with the hot source electrode or hot exposed parts to produce very corrosive chemicals. For example, only a few parts per billion of Freon-113, when exposed to a 1200.degree. C. source, can produce a small but significant quantity of various acids, including hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid. These acids corrode the source electrode and can also condense on the cooler components in the interferometer, for example, the fasteners, flex pivots, and electrical connectors. Purge gas failures can thus result in damage to the spectrometer.


A random access method and an apparatus include performing listen before talk (LBT) on a first carrier, detecting a first signal on the first carrier when the terminal determines, through the LBT, that the first carrier is in a busy state, where the first carrier includes an unlicensed carrier, the first signal includes a first preamble signal or indication information, and the indication information indicates that the first carrier sends the first preamble signal, and sending a second preamble signal on the first carrier to attempt to access a base station when the terminal detects the first preamble signal or the indication information.

In conventional Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE), a contention-based random access process is shown in FIG. 1, including the following steps: S1. User equipment (User Equipment, UE) selects a preamble signal index (Preamble index) and a physical random access channel (Physical Random Access Channel, PRACH) resource that is used to send a preamble signal (preamble), and sends the preamble on the resource. S2. An evolved NodeB (evolved NodeB, eNodeB) sends a random access response (Random Access Response, RAR) to the UE. S3. The UE sends a third message (a message 3) to the eNodeB. S4. The eNodeB sends a fourth message (a message 4) to the UE, so that a terminal accesses the eNodeB. Different UEs may select a same PRACH resource to send preambles.
The PRACH resource may include a licensed spectrum (licensed spectrum) and an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed spectrum). For a commercial radio communications system, an operator needs to obtain the licensed spectrum through auction. After obtaining authorization, a user can carry out a radio communication operation activity by using a corresponding spectrum. The unlicensed spectrum does not need to be obtained through auction. Anyone can be authorized to use these frequency bands, for example, using a Wireless Fidelity (Wireless Fidelity. Wi-Fi) device on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. Generally, a carrier on the licensed spectrum is referred to as a licensed carrier, and a carrier on the unlicensed spectrum is referred to as an unlicensed carrier.
If UE sends a preamble by using an unlicensed carrier, the UE can send the preamble only after successfully performing listen before talk (Listen Before Talk, LBT). If any UE successfully performs LBT, another UE detects that the carrier is in a busy state, and cannot send a corresponding preamble signal. Therefore, how to enable more UEs to simultaneously send preamble signals by using an unlicensed carrier is a problem that needs to be resolved urgently.


The present disclosure provides a compensation method, device, circuit for a display panel, a display panel and a display device. The display panel includes a plurality of pixel circuits, each of which comprises a driving transistor. The compensation method includes: obtaining a first compensation grayscale value GL1 and a second compensation grayscale value GL2 of a pixel circuit to be compensated; obtaining a first compensation luminance L1, a first gate-source voltage Vgs1 of the driving transistor, a second compensation luminance L2, and a second gate-source voltage Vgs2 of the driving transistor, wherein L1 and Vgs1 correspond to GL1, and L2 and Vgs2 correspond to GL2; obtaining a theoretical luminance L corresponding to an input grayscale value GL; calculating the compensation gate-source voltage V′gs by using L, L1, Vgs1, L2, and Vgs2; and obtaining an output compensation grayscale value GL′ according to V′gs.

In the circuit of the current AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) display panel, an electrical compensation can be realized by a sensing voltage line. That is, a specific voltage is input to a data terminal, and a sensing current is generated on a driving TFT (Thin Film Transistor). The current is accumulated on the sensing voltage line to form a sensing voltage, and the data voltage is corrected according to the magnitude of the sensing voltage, thereby realizing compensation of the TFT.
Moreover, the electrical compensation method applied to display panels in the related art further comprises a method of directly acquiring a threshold voltage of a driving transistor. The method comprises: applying a fixed voltage to a gate terminal of the driving transistor to generate a driving current to charge the sensing voltage line. A gate-source voltage of the driving transistor decreases as the sensing voltage line voltage increases. The voltage of the sensing voltage line stops increasing when the gate-source voltage of the driving transistor decreases to be equal to the threshold voltage of the driving transistor, and a difference between the voltage of the data line and the voltage of the sensing voltage line is the threshold voltage.

Compensation method, device, circuit for display panel, display panel and display device


A plurality of trenched capacitors are grouped in phases. A control circuit switches each phase between charging and discharging states devised to supply one or more loads with controlled power.

Modern electronic circuits such as, for example, ASICs, FPGAs, and microprocessors, have a broad range of current demands ranging from very high peak currents to relatively low quiescent currents. Although switching regulators can be designed to be highly efficient over a moderate range of load currents, future generations of electronic circuits will probably demand higher maximum output currents and greater dynamic range from power supplies. The modern trends toward increasing numbers of board-level voltage supplies, lower voltages, and smaller circuit board sizes with increased cooling concerns tends to create a growing need to use point-of-load (POL) voltage converters (or as they are called in some embodiments, "voltage regulators"). Further, such trends also tend to create the need to incorporate highly responsive power management control functions within POL converters in order to satisfy load/line requirements.
A synchronous buck switching voltage regulator is a power supply circuit that attempts to provide an output current to a load at a predetermined output voltage. Typical synchronous buck regulators have certain inherent constraints that limit their ability to satisfy the increasing demands of contemporary microprocessors. For example, synchronous buck regulators typically employ series inductors that inhibit high frequency changes in output. Synchronous buck topologies also typically employ high power FETs controlled by circuit drivers. Such designs exhibit large input capacitances that limit switching rates.
Some previously known power supply strategies have coupled in parallel a plurality of switching regulator stages to deliver high output currents to a load such as a microprocessor. Typically, switching transistors are controlled to direct input current into only one regulator stage at a time. Duty ratios in these stages typically decrease as input voltages rise to minimize power plane current while output voltages drop to accommodate faster integrated circuitry and the associated increased derivatives of the power demand curve.
Many modern integrated circuits provide digital feedback signals that convey information about the circuit's power requirements to the power supply. The slow response of synchronous buck topologies and other power supply schemes may introduce instabilities in the feedback loop. Further, many contemporary microprocessors and ASICs turn on or off different parts of the integrated chip or system as needed to conserve power. This increases the demands on the voltage regulator to accommodate changes in load requirements.
What is needed, therefore, is a voltage converter with the ability to source current across a large dynamic range with high speed, stepping and control flexibility and the capability to supply multiple loads with a variety of voltages and currents while exhibiting fast current ramp-up and ramp-down capabilities, dynamic feed-forward and feedback configuration with high efficiency.

Trench capacitor power supply system and method


Embodiments of the present invention provide a memory configuration on a chip containing multiple memory segments having different memory grades. In a typical embodiment, a single chip will be provided on which the memory segments are positioned. A memory grade may include low performance (low leakage), medium performance (medium leakage), and high performance (high leakage). Each memory segment or group of memory segments may have a separate power supply and/or controller. In one example, memory segments may be stacked in a through-silicon via configuration.

Current mobile systems suffer from power leakage and consumption of semiconductor circuits. Moreover, current low-power circuits are based on conventional design schemes. However, mobile multi-core processor (MCP) implementations require a fundamentally different design approach for cores and on-chip memories. Still yet, current memory approaches are based on standard-based fixed speed having a fixed power supply. In some implementations, a sleep mode may be present. However, the sleep mode may take an extensive period of time for the memory to transition between sleep and wake modes.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,054,663 discloses a multi-memory chip memory configuration that utilizes a reference signal during use to measure process variation between memory segments and to compensate for the variation.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,873,775 discloses a multiple processor and memory segment device that utilizes a first primary set of memory segments and a secondary set of memory devices that are accessible through a memory segment of the primary set.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,772,880 discloses an intelligent multiple memory SoC design that is reconfigurable to process multiple application problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,715,255 discloses a multi-memory segment chip that utilizes the disablement or reprogramming of particular memory die after packaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,495,966 discloses a method for adjusting the "cycle voltage" of a memory block based upon the frequency of process cycles for that memory block.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,042,082 discloses a multi-memory segment stacked SOC device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,913,000 discloses a multi-memory segment electronic device that utilizes a buffer for read operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,738,304 discloses a method for creating memory arrays with a mix of volatile and non-volatile memory segments.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0161196 discloses a multi-component memory system that is mounted on a PCB with each memory segment having a branch point on the system bus.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2012/0004011 discloses a method for using both non-volatile and volatile memory in a mobile electronic device.
Unfortunately, none of these approaches addresses the deficiencies in the related art.


An illumination system for illuminating a scan region on an object and for providing a white level reference for a detector may comprise a light source for producing light rays and an elongate lens having a first end and a second end positioned between the light source and the scan region. The lens collects some of the light rays from the light source and directs them onto the scan region. A first spot lens is positioned adjacent the first end of the elongate lens and a second spot lens is positioned adjacent the second end of the elongate lens. The first and second spot lenses direct some of the light rays from the light source toward first and second ends of the scan line. A white level reference mark is positioned adjacent the lens and the light source so that some of the light rays from the light source are reflected by the white level reference mark to the detector.

Imaging devices, such as optical scanners, are well-known in the art and produce machine-readable image data signals that are representative of a scanned object, such as a photograph or a page of printed text. In a typical scanner application, the image data signals produced by an optical scanner may be used by a personal computer to reproduce an image of the scanned object on a suitable display device, such as a CRT or a printer.
A hand-held or portable optical scanner is an optical scanner which is designed to be moved by hand across the object being scanned. The hand-held scanner may be connected directly to a separate computer by a data cable. If so, the data signals produced by the hand-held scanner may be transferred to the separate computer "on the fly," i.e., as the image data are collected. Alternatively, the hand-scanner may include an on-board data storage system for storing the image data. The image data may then be downloaded to a separate computer after the scanning operation by any convenient means, such as via a cable or an optical infrared data link.
Hand-held or portable optical scanners are well-known in the art and various components thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,597 of McConica for "Hand-Held Scanner having Adjustable Light Path", U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,212 of McConica, et al., for "Optical Wave Guide for Hand-Held Scanner," U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,020 of Kochis, et al., for "Hand-Held Optical Scanner with Onboard Battery Recharging Assembly," and U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,908 of McConica, et al., for "Manually Operated Hand-Held Optical Scanner with Tactile Speed Control Assembly," all of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all that they disclose.
A typical hand-held optical scanner may include an illumination system and an optical system. The illumination system illuminates the object and the optical system collects light reflected by the illuminated object and focuses a small area of the illuminated object, usually referred to as a "scan region" or "scan line," onto the surface of a photosensitive detector positioned within the scanner. Image data representative of the entire object then may be obtained by sweeping the illuminated scan line across the entire object, usually by moving the hand-held scanner with respect to the object. By way of example, the illumination system may include a white light source (e.g., a fluorescent or incandescent lamp or an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs)). The optical system may include a lens and/or mirror assembly to focus the image of the illuminated scan line onto the surface of the detector.
The photosensitive detector used to detect the image light focused thereon by the optical system may be a charge-coupled device (CCD), although other devices may be used. A typical CCD may comprise an array of individual cells or "pixels" each of which collects or builds-up an electrical charge in response to exposure to light. Since the quantity of the accumulated electrical charge in any given cell or pixel is related to the intensity and duration of the light exposure, a CCD may be used to detect light and dark spots on an image focused thereon. In a typical scanner application, the charge built up in each of the CCD cells or pixels is measured and then discharged at regular intervals, known as sampling intervals, which may be about 5 milliseconds or so for a typical scanner, although other sampling intervals may be used.
The term "image light" as used herein refers to the light that is focused onto the surface of the detector array by the optical system. Depending on the type of scanner and the type of document, the image light may be reflected from the document or object being scanned or it may be transmitted through the object or document. The image light may be converted into digital signals in essentially three steps. First, each pixel in the CCD detector converts the light it receives into an electric charge. Second, the charges from the pixels are converted into analog voltages by an analog amplifier. Finally, the analog voltages are digitized by an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. The digital signals then may be processed and/or stored as desired.
One factor that affects the overall quality of the scanned image is the tonal resolution of the scanner. The tonal resolution is a measure of the number of different intensity levels (i.e., grayscale tones) that can be detected and recorded by the scanner. For example, an image scanner utilizing an 8-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converter to convert the analog signals from the detector array into corresponding digital signals is capable of representing 2.sup.8 or 256 different intensity levels. The A/D converter returns a maximum value of 255 for a maximum intensity or "white" pixel and a minimum value of 0 for a minimum intensity or "black" pixel.
A scanner's "white intercept" or "white point," is the intensity of image light that results in a maximum value (i.e., full scale) output from the A/D converter of the scanner. Similarly, the "black intercept" or "black point" is the intensity of the image light (neglecting noise) at which the A/D converter returns a value of zero. Therefore, the bit depth of the A/D converter and the difference between the white and black intercepts determines the tonal resolution of the scanner.
On problem associated with scanner apparatus of the type described above relates to providing substantially equal illumination along the entire length of the scan line. Referring now to FIG. 1, consider, for example, an illuminated scan line S on an object O, image light from which is focused onto the surface of a detector D by a lens assembly L. In order for the detector D to capture the desired detail of the object O along the entire length of the scan line S, all portions of the illuminated object O bounded by the scan line S should equally illuminate the surface of the detector D. Unfortunately, however, the illumination, i.e., the density of luminous flux, on the surface of the detector D varies inversely with the square of the distance from the illuminated object O and directly with the cosine of the angle .theta. between the luminous flux and the normal N to the surface of the detector D. Consequently, the illumination on the surface of the detector D tends to decrease towards each end, thereby reducing the effective sensitivity of the detector D for points that lay near each end of the scan line.
Another problem commonly associated with a scanner of the type described above relates to the gradual degradation over time of the light source used to illuminate the scan line. Generally speaking, the light output of most of the commonly used light sources tends to decrease with age. If peak image quality is to be maintained, it is necessary compensate for the reduced light output.

Illumination system with white level calibration for hand-held scanner


A coded signal conveys encoded audio information and metadata that may be used to control the loudness of the audio information during its playback. If the values for these metadata parameters are set incorrectly, annoying fluctuations in loudness during playback can result. The present invention overcomes this problem by detecting incorrect metadata parameter values in the signal and replacing the incorrect values with corrected values.

There is a growing level of dissatisfaction among consumers and audio professionals alike with extreme variations in the loudness of the audio in radio and television broadcasts and in pre-recorded audio material. Large variations in loudness often occur as listeners tune from one station to another, as the program received from a given station switches between a main feature and commercial advertisements, and as listeners change media in their playback systems such as switching between different compact discs or different DVDs. Listeners are often forced to adjust the volume controls of their receivers and playback systems to maintain a relatively uniform loudness.
One solution that has been proposed to overcome this problem is the use of control information or "metadata" that accompanies the audio information. Metadata, or data that describes the audio data, may be provided in a broadcast or recorded signal to control the playback loudness of the audio information. One example of this type of metadata is described in the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) A/52A document entitled "Revision A to Digital Audio Compression (AC-3) Standard" published Aug. 20, 2001. This particular standard specifies metadata that includes the parameters, DIALNORM, COMPR and DYNRNG, which pertain to playback signal level and dynamic range. Both signal level and dynamic range affect the perceived or subjective level of a signal, which is referred to as loudness. Receivers that conform to this ATSC audio standard use the DIALNORM parameter to control playback signal levels, and may use the COMPR and DYNRNG parameters to control compression of playback signal dynamic range.
If this type of metadata is used properly during audio content creation, distribution, broadcast and recording processes, the problem with excessive variations in playback loudness could be eliminated or at least greatly reduced. Unfortunately, metadata is sometimes misused or not used at all because it is misunderstood, because the appropriate people do not know how to use it properly, or because it is used to create artistic effects in inappropriate ways.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for correcting metadata affecting the playback loudness of audio information

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation


A replaceable valve system for a fluid dispenser having a container with an opening for slidingly receiving the valve system, including an outer sleeve having an inlet end and an outlet end and being slidable in the container opening, the outer sleeve having a valve seat adjacent the inlet end thereof, a plunger slidable in the outer sleeve and having an internal passage for fluid flow from an inlet end to an outlet end, a one way valve positioned adjacent the inlet end for permitting fluid flow from the plunger inlet end to the outlet end while blocking fluid flow from the outlet end to the inlet end, an inner sleeve carried within the outer sleeve, a first spring carried between the plunger and inner sleeve urging the plunger and inner sleeve away from each other, a second valve positioned within the inner sleeve, a second spring positioned between the second valve and inner sleeve urging the second valve into sealing engagement with the outer sleeve valve seat for blocking fluid flow from the outer sleeve into the container.

This invention relates to fluid dispensers such as are used in washrooms and similar locations for dispensing soaps and lotions. A wide variety of such dispensers have been developed and are in use in various installations. Maintenance of a dispenser often is a problem, due to wear and tear on the unit, damage resulting from improper usage, and vandalism. Often it is necessary to replace the entire dispenser when such an event occurs.
Replacement and/or repair of a damaged unit can be both time consuming and expensive, in costs of parts and costs of labor, as well as being an inconvenience to users until the replacement is completed.
Accordingly, it is an object to the present invention to provide a new and improved dispenser design utilizing a replaceable valve system which permits replacement of the valve construction in the dispenser, with utilization of a simple tool such as a screw driver, and without requiring removal and replacement of the entire dispenser.
Dispensers with provisions for various forms of repair are presently known. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,949,877; 4,964,544; and 5,476,197.


Box spring with plastic band support for mattress consisting of a frame (1) and a set of bands (2) made of extruded plastic positioned one by one so as to enclose the frame (1), tightened mechanically under a specific tension and joined at their ends by heat sealing, the majority of the bands being arranged transversely on the frame (1) but with some bands longitudinally arranged and interlaced with the former.

Traditional box springs based on braided wires and springs as a means of support for a mattress in beds have the disadvantage that with use the metal of the wires loses its tempering and the springs are stretched, with the result that the center of the bed sags and there are accompanying problems in the form of discomfort and deformation of the spinal column which users may suffer as a consequence.
Solutions of various kinds have been developed in order to resolve the problem. For example, rigid plates are incorporated or the support is based on semiflexible foams of special materials, but this gives rise to other disadvantages, discomfort, and high cost. In addition, such solutions are suitable only for design of mattresses of a specific consistency and thickness, but not, for example, for thin soft sponge mattresses, since the reduced absorptivity of such mattresses results in excessive discomfort with these support means.
One practical solution to this problem has been the production of mattresses integrated with box springs, but the use of these box springs alone is disadvantageous, in that they generally are used with an additional mattress placed on top. The bed then becomes very bulky and inelegant in appearance.

Calle Auyantepuy Edif. El Parral PH-12 Colinas Bello Moute


Disclosed herein is a magnetic head in which the sliding surface is constructed of a transducing gap, a pair of soft magnetic metal films opposite to each other through the transducing gap, and a substrate holding the soft magnetic metal film. The substrate is 20-200 times as wear-resistant as the soft magnetic metal film. The magnetic head has a gap depth of 1-5 .mu.m and produces an overall high head output.

The present invention relates to a composite-type magnetic head which is built up of a soft magnetic metal film and a magnetic or non-magnetic substrate supporting it.
The recent introduction of high-coercivity tapes have necessitated the development of magnetic heads which employ a soft magnetic metal film having a high saturation magnetic flux density. These magnetic heads are constructed such that a soft magnetic metal film is held between high wear-resistance magnetic or non-magnetic substrates, so that they are subject to less wear by sliding travel and have a longer wear life.
A composite-type magnetic head suffers so-called level difference (due to the unbalanced wear that occurs at the boundary between different materials) unless the materials constituting the head sliding surface have the same wear characteristics. The level difference leads to an increased spacing loss at the time of recording and playback.
A conventional countermeasure to cope with the level difference is to constitute the head sliding surface with materials having the same wear characteristics. An example of this countermeasure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 1-102713. According to this disclosure, a proper amount of Bi.sub.2 O.sub.3 is added to the major component (.alpha.-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3) for the substrate (thereby to lower its wear resistance) so that the substrate has the same wear characteristics as the soft magnetic metal film made of amorphous alloy or sendust (Fe-Al-Si alloy) to thereby obtain a magnetic head having a small level difference namely a low spacing loss.
Although the addition of Bi.sub.2 O.sub.3 reduces the level difference, it also increases the wear rate of the substrate and hence aggravates the wear resistance of the head as a whole. For the magnetic head to have a desired life in this situation, it is necessary to increase the gap depth excessively. However, the increased gap depth lowers the magnetic circuit efficiency and hence offsets the effect of reducing the spacing loss due to the level difference. Incidentally, the magnetic circuit efficiency is defined by the ratio of the magnetic flux of tapes which passes through the head coil when the magnetic head is represented by an equivalent magnetic circuit with magnetic reluctance.
There is another approach to the elimination of level difference. In this case, the substrate is made of a wear-resistant material and the soft magnetic metal film is made to have a high wear resistance comparable to that of the substrate. It is reported that it is possible to improve the wear characteristics of the soft magnetic metal film by the incorporation of nitrogen. However, the improvement by this means is not satisfactory for practical use. In fact, the wear rate of the soft magnetic metal film is still nearly ten times that of the substrate.


Water-free, gaseous sulfur trioxide is used as an agent to remove various organic coatings, films, layers and residues from the surface of a substrate when used in conjunction with certain other physical and chemical treatments applied at the appropriate time during the process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the removal, cleaning, and stripping of a wide variety of organic materials that may be deposited or formed on substrates during the manufacture, repair or rework of those substrates, using water-free sulfur trioxide in conjunction with additional processing steps.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the fabrication or repair or rework of various semiconductor and non-semiconductor devices and displays, films or layers of organic materials may be deposited on substrates or wafers that must be removed subsequently. Examples of such devices and displays include, but are not limited to, semiconductor devices and wafers, ceramic devices, liquid crystal display devices, photomasks, flat-panel displays, printed circuit boards, printed wiring boards, magnetic read-write heads, and thin-film read/write heads. Examples of such organic materials include, but are not limited to, photosensitive and non-photosensitive organic materials, polymerized photoresists, cured and uncured polyimides, polycarbonates, paints, resins, multi-layer organic polymers, certain organo-metallic complexes, positive optical photoresists, negative optical photoresists, chemically amplified photoresists, electron-beam photoresists, X-ray photoresists, ion-beam photoresists, and ion-implanted and other hardened photoresists.
The removal, cleaning, or stripping of such organic materials comprising, for example, organic coatings, films, layers, or residues from such substrates or wafers is one of the necessary steps in the manufacture and repair of the devices described above. The removal, cleaning and stripping of such organic materials is usually carried out by one of three general techniques, including (1) dry methods, which include dry-ashing or plasma ashing, dry-stripping, dry-etching, and the use of various procedures which make use of kinetic processes such as abrasives, cryogenic aerosol techniques, CO2 snow, etc.; (2) wet methods, including the so-called RCA clean process (developed by RCA for use in cleaning semiconductor substrates), wet stripping with liquid chemicals such as, for example, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, piranha etch (a mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide), ozonated deionized water (DI water), and ammonium hydroxide solutions, and the use of organic solvents, for example, various choline solutions, amine-based solutions, M-pyrrole, paint removers, etc.; and (3) a combination of both dry and wet methods, often in repeating sequences.
Dry methods often involve the use of a plasma of high-energy ions to remove organic materials (dry-ashing, or plasma ashing). There are two general categories of plasma methods employed. One of the plasma methods, often referred to as barrel-ashing, makes use of a stream of plasma directed at the substrate. The other method, often referred to as down-stream ashing, involves the use of a plasma gas atmosphere "downstream" (i.e. physically distant from) from the source of the plasma so as to minimize the damage to the substrate. Different plasma gases may be used, including those made up of various mixes of oxygen, ozone, and nitrogen gas, creating CO, CO2 and H2O as end products (see, e.g., Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Volume 1—Process Technology, S. Wolf and R. N. Tauber, p 564, Lattice Press, Sunset Beach, Calif., 1986).
In some cases, a hydrogen plasma may be required to assist the dry process. For example, for very difficult-to-remove photoresists, hydrogen plasma may be used to strip the upper layer of hardened resist to create easy-to-strip hydrides (see, e.g. "Choose the Right Process to Strip Your Photoresist", Semiconductor International, February 1990, p. 83). In other cases, difficult-to-remove residues may require the addition of fluorine gas, or some other halogen gas, to the plasma gas mix, or even a follow-up exposure to hydrofluoric acid vapor (see, e.g. "Managing Etch and Implant Residue", Semiconductor International, August 1997, p. 62).
Several drawbacks are associated with plasma processes. These include: (1) radiation damage to the underlying substrate, where bombardment of the substrate by high-energy ion plasmas, particularly in the barrel-ashers, can damage the crystal structure of the substrate as well as implant undesired atoms in the substrate, thus reducing yield and reliability of substrate devices (although the damage may be minimized by annealing or by using down-stream ashers which minimize radiation damage at the cost of slower and less effective organic removal rates); (2) creation of additional contamination as high-dose ion plasmas striking impurities in the resist react to form etch-resistant, insoluble inorganic oxides (see, e.g., "New Concerns in Dry Oxygen Ashing", Semiconductor International, March 1996, p. 44); (3) worsening of the existing contamination typically found in commercial photoresists as the high-energy plasma drives existing metal impurities into the substrate; (4) formation of difficult-to-remove residues such as "via veils", and "metal fences" and the hardening of sidewall polymers as the result of the interaction of released by-products of plasma etching with the side-walls in the substrate structure at elevated temperatures; and (5) incomplete removal, cleaning and stripping of the photoresists and other organic materials from very small features due to micro-masking of the resists from further processing by sputtered oxides which may form as a result of high-energy ion impact.
Other dry methods are in use which do not require high-energy plasmas. However, these non-plasma methods suffer in general either from (1) low removal rates, (2) high-temperature processing conditions, (3) excessive damage to the substrate, for example, damage from mechanical abrasion caused by micro-sandblasting techniques such as, for example, cryogenic aerosols, the potential for damage created by temperature fluctuations such as, for example, CO2 snow methods (see, e.g. "Emerging Technology; Emerging Markets", Precision Cleaning, October 1996, p. 14), and damage created by ultraviolet light exposure (UV-exposure), or (4) an inability to completely remove or strip organic materials which have been hardened by exposure to prior processing such as high temperature, or high energy, high dose, ion-implant.
Wet methods, including, for example, the RCA clean, specialized organic solvents, acids, and oxidizing solutions such as Caro's acid, and other liquid reagents, also have a number of drawbacks when used to remove, clean, or strip organic materials. These drawbacks include: (1) incomplete removal of organic materials due to the difficulty all liquids have in penetrating very small features and in overcoming surface tension and capillary cation; (2) incomplete removal due to a limited ability to affect certain organic materials, including photoresists, photoresist residues and organo-metallic complexes which have been hardened by exposure to high energy, high dose ion-implant, or high temperature processing; (3) further introduction of metallic impurities and other residual contamination commonly found in liquid reagents; (4) the spread of contamination to all parts of the substrate, particularly as trace organic residues accumulate in the cleaning solution during the stripping process; (5) the hazardous or toxic nature of many of the organic solvents and acids required; (6) the large volumes of hazardous or toxic reagents which must be maintained in a highly pure condition, often at elevated temperatures; (7) the large number of different types of reagents which must be kept at hand to deal with different cleaning applications and processing conditions; (8) the difficulty and cost of safely disposing of large volumes of hazardous or toxic reagents; and (9) the propensity of many liquid reagents to cause corrosion of the substrate, particularly when metal films are contained in the substrate.
The RCA clean process, a commonly used wet process which involves treatment with NH4OH/H2O2 followed by HCl/H2O2, has similar drawbacks, which limit its effectiveness and application.
Despite the drawbacks of these various methods for removing, cleaning and stripping organic materials, dry methods in combination with wet methods, sometimes requiring several repetitions, must be used, for lack of better methods, to achieve acceptable levels of cleanliness when removing, cleaning and stripping certain very difficult-to-remove organic materials, particularly hardened photoresists. Hardening of photoresists as the result of prior processing is often a problem, making removal, cleaning and stripping difficult. Hardening of photoresists arises from several sources, including (1) exposure to high energy electromagnetic radiation normally used in photolithographic processes and very short wavelength, or deep UV, photoresist curing steps, (2) high energy, high dose ion-implant processes, (3) reactive ion etching processes (RIE), (4) high temperature processes such as postbake, photoresist curing steps, (5) oxide, metal or polysilicon dry etching, as well as other physical and chemical treatments. In addition, dry etching and dry-ashing processes often create extremely etch-resistant polymers and residues of inorganic or organo-metallic materials, such as sidewall polymers, via veils and metal fences (see, e.g., "What's Driving Resist Dry Stripping", Semiconductor International, November 1994, p. 61). Under such conditions, wet and dry methods in combination may be the only available technique which can provide satisfactory removal, cleaning and stripping of the organic material. Even under conditions where prior art is used in repeated sequential combinations of dry then wet processing, certain organic materials may still be resistant to satisfactory removal. For example, photoresists exposed to oxide etch processes leave carbon-fluorine polymers that are resistant to removal even with successive applications of dry and wet strip processes followed by an RCA clean.
The prior art thus suffers from numerous drawbacks that may be overcome with the teachings of the present invention. Such drawbacks include: (1) difficulty in removing hardened organic materials, including sidewall polymers, via veils, metal fences and other inorganic residues, and photoresists which may have been exposed to high-energy electromagnetic radiation such as UV-hardening (ultraviolet radiation hardening), or high energy, high dose ion-implant, or reactive ion etch (RIE); (2) difficulty in removing organic materials from very small features (generally sub-micron) and high aspect-ratio features without using substrate-damaging plasma methods; (3) the introduction of substrate damage or film erosion when plasma methods must be employed for lack of an effective alternative; (4) the creation of new, removal-resistant inorganic materials when plasma methods must be employed for lack of an effective alternative; (5) the worsening of existing contamination which may be driven into the substrate when plasma methods must be employed for lack of an effective alternative; (6) the introduction of additional contaminants when liquid reagents and solvents are used; (7) the spread of contamination between substrates when liquid reagent and solvent baths are used; (8) the difficulties and expense of buying, using and disposing of large volumes of hazardous or toxic liquid reagents and solvents; (9) the relative complexity of plasma-based methods which require radio-frequency or microwave generators as well as high-vacuum pumps and systems; (10) the difficulty in maintaining a uniform removal process across the diameter of the substrate when barrel-ashers are used and whenever a stripping process must be stopped by the calculation of an optimum end-point; (11) the relatively high temperature of many dry methods (200° C. and up) which can make some diffusion-related problems, such as the diffusion of impurities into the substrate, more severe (both diffusion of impurity materials and consumption of thermal budget may be concerns of the user, depending on the substrate manufacturing process employed); (12) the difficulty of scaling up dry-processes to handle substrates 12 inches in diameter and greater; (13) the difficulty of using the prior art when stripping organic materials from metal films without inviting corrosion of that metal film; (14) the poor selectivity of oxygen plasmas to photoresist over certain organic films lying in close proximity (such as the approximate 1:1 selectivity displayed by oxygen plasmas when used to remove photoresist in close proximity to the interlayer dielectric film material, BCB); and (15) the frequent requirement to develop and operate, complex and expensive multi-step, combination dry plus wet, removal processes in order to adequately clean hardened organic materials from substrates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,506, issued Aug. 6, 1991, to S. Gupta et al and entitled "Method of Stripping Layers of Organic Materials", discloses and claims a two-step method comprising (1) exposure of organic materials to gaseous sulfur trioxide followed by (2) rinsing with a solvent to remove various organic coatings, polymerized photoresists, and especially implant and deep-UV hardened resist layers, during the manufacture of semiconductor or ceramic devices. While the method disclosed and claimed in this patent is useful, there are further needs for cleaning surfaces and removing organic materials which are not disclosed or claimed in this patent and which extend into other areas of technology. Specifically, those undisclosed and unclaimed needs include the need to remove, clean, and strip organic materials contained on a broad range of substrates including not just semiconductor devices, wafers, ceramic devices and printed circuit boards as suggested in the prior art, but also from substrates used in liquid crystal display devices, photomasks, flat-panel displays, printed wiring boards, magnetic read/write heads, thin-film read/write heads, as well as other substrates upon which organic films may have been deposited and which also contain features (1) where liquid stripping and cleaning methods are inadequate due to surface tension and capillary effects, or due to the contamination introduced and spread by liquids, (2) where plasma techniques result in substrate damage, erosion, or incomplete removal of the organic material, (3) where there is a requirement for improved uniformity of the removal method across the substrate diameter or large dimension than is provided by the prior art, (4) where there is a requirement for the removal of organic materials at a throughput rate which is faster than that provided by prior art, either with an inherently faster organic removal rate, or by providing for very large, batch processing capability, (5) where there is a requirement for more effective removal of silicon polymers, sidewall polymers, via veils, metal fences, and other inorganic residues created by dry etching processes, (6) where there is a requirement for an integrated method for cleaning both organic and inorganic residues with a minimum use of hazardous or toxic and other liquid wastes, (7) where there is a requirement to minimize or eliminate the corrosion of substrate metal films during organic cleaning, (8) where there is a requirement to integrate steps in the stripping and cleaning process in order to improve cycle time, work-in-process, and throughput, (9) where there is a requirement to minimize processing temperatures, or (10) where there is a requirement to remove or strip only part of the organic coating, film or layer, as may be required, as an example, in efforts to planarize or shape that coating, or to remove one organic coating from an underlying organic coating with significant selectivity.
As a result of the passage of time, it has become clear to the present inventors that there are additional considerations regarding the method of the above-mentioned patent that are required in order to improve the effectiveness of the method. As discussed herein, by effectiveness of the method is meant completeness of the organic removal process, elimination of substrate damage and erosion, improved uniformity of processing across the substrate, faster organic removal rate and substrate throughput, an increase in the number of substrates that can be processed simultaneously during one process cycle, minimization of corrosion of the substrate, minimization of total liquid wastes generated by the method, minimization of hazardous or toxic chemical usage, minimization of total process cycle time, minimization of process temperature requirements, and improved selectivity of removal for one type of organic coating lying in close proximity to a second type of organic coating. These additional considerations include: (1) a precursor chemical or physical treatment of the organic material and the substrate may be required prior to insertion of the substrate into the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber for exposure to the process gases; (2) reactive process gases other than inert gases, dry-nitrogen or sulfur trioxide, as specified in prior art, may also be required to be mixed in the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber with the sulfur trioxide; (3) reactive process gases other than sulfur trioxide may also be required to be introduced to the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber in a specific sequence, either before or after introduction of sulfur trioxide; (4) any one of the process gases may also be required to be replenished in the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber at regular intervals during the method; (5) all of the process gases in the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber may also be required to be in movement, and that movement may be required to be in a specific flow pattern, during the method; (6) while in the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber the temperature of the process gases and the substrate may also be required to follow a temperature-time curve; (7) the partial-pressure of any of the process gases in the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber may also be required to follow a partial-pressure versus time curve; (8) simultaneous physical treatment of the substrate (e.g., exposure to high-energy electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light) may also be required during exposure to the process gases while contained within the exposure chamber; (9) it may be necessary to stop the process reactions within the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber prior to their completion and at a precise moment in time; (10) a pre-rinse chemical or physical treatment of the substrate may also be required after exposure to the process gases within the sulfur trioxide reaction chamber but prior to rinsing in a solution to remove reaction products; (11) application of simultaneous physical processes such as, for example, ultrasonic or megasonic processes, or various other kinetic processes, are required while rinsing the substrate in a solution to remove reaction products as described in prior art; and (12) a post-rinse chemical or physical treatment of the substrate may also be required after rinsing in a solution to remove reaction products.
What is needed is a method which satisfies these considerations for effectively removing, stripping, or cleaning organic coatings, films, layers, and residues consisting of, for example, photosensitive and non-photosensitive organic materials, polymerized photoresists, cured and uncured polyimides, polycarbonates, paints, resins, multi-layer organic polymers, certain organo-metallic complexes, positive optical photoresists, negative optical photoresists, chemically amplified photoresists, electron-beam photoresists, X-ray photoresists, ion-beam photoresists, and ion-implanted and other hardened photoresists from a variety of substrates used in devices such as semiconductor devices and wafers, ceramic devices, liquid crystal display devices, photomasks, flat-panel displays, printed circuit boards, printed wiring boards, magnetic read-write heads, and thin-film read/write heads, as well as other substrates upon which organic films may have been deposited.

Method of removing organic materials from substrates