A scan-testing method for circuits having tri-state bus drivers disables all drivers during scan intervals and enables at most one of the bus drivers during the capture interval. A driver select signal is generated for each bus driver and gated with a corresponding circuit functional enable signal to generate a driver enable signal. A driver is selected by loading a driver select code into memory elements during the scan-in sequence and decoding the driver select code to produce the driver select signals.

The present invention generally relates to the testing of digital circuits and, more specifically, to the testing of integrated circuits having tri-state bus drivers and to driver control circuitry for use therewith.
Testing of digital systems, such as the core logic of an integrated circuit, is typically performed by loading a test pattern or stimulus into scannable memory elements in the system, operating the system in normal mode for at least one clock cycle of the system clock, capturing the response of the system to the test stimulus, unloading the test response from the system and then comparing the responses obtained in the test to the responses which should have been obtained if the system was operating according to design. Problems arise when the circuit under test includes tri-state bus drivers. Tri-state drivers are used in digital circuits to connect data signals to a common bus under the control of an enable signal. For correct operation of the circuit, there must not be more than one driver enabled active at any given time. This is a requirement that is often not possible to meet in a self-test environment based in scan test methods because random test stimulus values are usually shifted in the scan chains and the circuit combinational logic driving the enable signals does not always guarantee that the enable signals are exclusive.
Various solutions to these problems have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,601 for xe2x80x9cScannable Latch for Multiplexor Controlxe2x80x9d is concerned with the situation where tri-state bus enable signals are all controlled from scannable elements. While scanning-in test vectors, the invention prevents bus contention by means of a combination of encoders/decoders. However, the proposal does not prevent bus contention during the capture cycle. This is a serious limitation of the proposal. During BIST, this might be fatal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,190 for xe2x80x9cBuilt-in Self-test Tri-state Architecturexe2x80x9d is concerned with an arrangement for preventing bus contention. The serial connection of the INHIBIT signals provided limits the frequency of operation during BIST, a significant drawback of the method. Also, the probability of testing the last bus drivers near the end of the serial connection is much less than that of the drivers near the beginning, and thus, potentially leaves some of the faults untested.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,359 for xe2x80x9cFail-safe Fault Tolerant Circuit for Manufacturing Test Logic on Application Specific Integrated Circuitsxe2x80x9d provides a technique for avoiding contention on a bus during normal operation of the circuit due to a malfunction of test circuitry that could become active at an inopportune time. However, the patent does not disclose a method of testing the bus drivers described in the patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,185 for xe2x80x9cLocal Tristate Control Circuitxe2x80x9d is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,190, mentioned above and, therefore, suffers from the same drawbacks. The patent provides-a serial connection from one bus driver to the, next indicating whether any of the bus drivers upstream is enabled. The patent differs from the latter in the manner in which the last bus driver is handled. If none of the upstream drivers is enabled, the last driver is forced to be enabled irrespective of the state of the functional enable signal output by the core logic. In this way, a pull-up or bus driver is not necessary to ensure the bus carries a value of 0 or 1. This method has the same disadvantages as the latter and, additionally, the impact of the timing of the enable signal of the last driver is more important than that of method proposed by others. The patent suggests that it is known to use a decoder to ensure that only one driver is enabled at any one time. However, testing the logic generating the bus driver enable signals in functional mode is not tested at all due to limitations of the method. Another disadvantage is that the method results in adding more delay along the path of the functional enable signals.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,119 for xe2x80x9cSemiconductor Integrated Tri-state Circuitry with Test Meansxe2x80x9d discloses a method of modifying the tri-state circuit so that it behaves like a combinational network during test mode. This method has the disadvantage that some faults in the bus drivers are not tested and the test must be performed at lower speed.
The present invention seeks to overcome the difficulties outlined above by a method which involves disabling all drivers during scan intervals and enabling at most a selected one of the drivers during the capture interval by generating a driver select signal for each driver and gating the driver select signal with the circuit functional enable signal for each driver to generate a driver enable signal, the driver select signals being generated in such a manner that at most only the selected one of the drivers is active during the capture sequence. The selected one of the drivers is selected by loading a driver select code into memory elements during the scan-in sequence and decoding the driver select code to produce the driver select signals.
The method of the present invention takes advantage of the fact that a disabling mechanism is usually required for the tri-state drivers while scanning data into the memory elements. The invention provides a decoding circuit, dedicated to test, to implement the method. The decoding circuit operates to enable at most one driver at the end of the test stimulus loading sequence. A driver is only enabled if both its associated enable signal generated by the functional logic and the test-dedicated decoding logic driver select signal are active. The present invention supports various scan methodologies. In a clocked scan methodology, the scan sequence is performed at relatively low speed and the signals of the decoders have plenty of time to propagate to the different tri-state drivers, which may be distributed throughout the chip. The driver control circuit will enable only one driver, even if multiple functional enable signals carry an active value. This way, there is no bus contention and the test can be performed at-speed without adding delay compared to a methodology that uses deterministic patterns generated by an appropriate tool. In the proposed method, the functional circuitry does not need to be modified to implement the decoding in test mode and the insertion of the test circuitry into an integrated circuit can be automated.
One aspect of the present invention is generally defined as an improvement in a method of testing a circuit having two or more tri-state bus drivers, each having a data input, an enable input and a data output, the data outputs being connected together to form a bus, the circuit having core logic, a plurality of scannable memory elements, each having a clock input, an input connected to the output of the core logic and/or an output connected to an input to the core logic, and being configurable in scan mode in which the memory elements are connected to define one or more scan chains and in normal mode in which the memory elements are connected to the core logic in normal operational mode, the core logic generating a data input and a functional enable signal for each the tri-state bus drivers, the bus providing input to the core logic, the method including a shift-in sequence for clocking a test stimulus into the memory elements, a capture operation for capturing the response of the core logic to the test stimulus and a shift-out sequence for clocking captured responses out of the elements for analysis, the method comprising the improvement of:
storing a driver select code signal in scannable memory elements associated with the bus drivers, the driver select code signal identifying at most only one of the driver which is to be active during normal mode;
decoding the output of the associated scannable memory elements and generating a decoded driver select signal for each of the bus drivers;
gating each the decoded driver select signal with a functional driver enable signal for each the driver to generate a driver enable signal and applying the driver enable signal to the enable input of the driver;
disabling all of the drivers by generating an inactive driver select signal for each the bus drivers when the plurality of memory elements are configured in scan mode; and
applying the driver enable signal to each the bus drivers when the plurality of memory elements are configured in normal mode.
Another aspect of the present invention is generally defined as a driver control circuit for use in an integrated circuit having core logic, two or more tri-state bus drivers, each having a data input, an enable input and a data output, the data outputs being connected together to form a bus, the circuit having core logic, a plurality of scannable memory elements, each having a clock input, an input connected to the output of the core logic and/or an output connected to an input to the core logic, and being configurable in scan mode in which the memory elements are connected to define one or more scan chains and in normal mode in which the memory elements are connected to the core logic in normal operational mode, the core logic generating a data input and a functional enable signal for each the tri-state bus drivers, the bus providing input to the core logic, the improvement comprising:
storage means associated with the bus drivers for storing a driver select code signal identifying at most only one of the drivers which is to be active during normal mode;
decoding means for decoding the driver select code signal and generating a decoded driver select signal for each of the bus drivers;
gating means for gating each decoded driver select signal with a functional driver enable signal for each driver and generating a driver enable signal and applying the driver enable signal to the enable input of the driver; and
the decoding means being responsive to an active driver control signal for disabling all of the drivers by generating an inactive driver select signal for each the bus drivers when the plurality of memory elements are configured in scan mode and being responsive to an inactive driver control signal by applying the driver enable signal to each the bus drivers when the plurality of memory elements are configured in normal mode.

Method for testing circuits with tri-state drivers and circuit for use therewith


In one embodiment, an apparatus includes at least one read head, each read head including a magnetoresistive (MR) read element, having a lower shield layer, an underlayer positioned above the lower shield layer, an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer positioned above the underlayer, a magnetization pinned layer positioned above the AFM layer, an insulating layer positioned above the magnetization pinned layer, and a magnetization free layer positioned above the insulating layer, magnetic side shields positioned on both sides of the MR read element in a cross-track direction, and at least one shield excitation coil configured to excite magnetization of the side shields. In another embodiment, a method for forming a read sensor includes forming a MR read element, forming magnetic side shields on both sides of the MR read element in a cross-track direction, and forming at least one shield excitation coil configured to excite magnetization of the side shields.

The heart of a computer is a magnetic hard disk drive (HDD) which typically includes a rotating magnetic disk, a slider that has read and write heads, a suspension arm above the rotating disk and an actuator arm that swings the suspension arm to place the read and/or write heads over selected circular tracks on the rotating disk. The suspension arm biases the slider into contact with the surface of the disk when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk adjacent an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the slider to ride on an air bearing a slight distance from the surface of the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing the write and read heads are employed for writing magnetic impressions to and reading magnetic signal fields from the rotating disk. The read and write heads are connected to processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
The volume of information processing in the information age is increasing rapidly. In particular, HDDs have been desired to store more information in its limited area and volume. A technical approach to this desire is to increase the capacity by increasing the recording density of the HDD. To achieve higher recording density, further miniaturization of recording bits is effective, which in turn typically requires the design of smaller and smaller components. One approach to achieve this reduction in component size is to use a magnetoresistive (MR) read head having a spin valve element.
A MR read head comprising a spin valve element is generally used for a read head employed in a HDD. A hard bias read head or reader in which a hard magnetic material is provided in the track width direction of the spin valve element, and a side shield read head (or a side shielded reader, as described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0087045) in which a soft magnetic material is provided instead of a hard magnetic material are known in the art.
In a side shield read head, the sensitivity at the edges in the read sensitivity distribution is reduced as a result of the soft magnetic material being provided in the track width direction of the spin valve element. This reduction in sensitivity at the edges of the sensitivity distribution is due to the spin valve element attracting the magnetic field generated in the central portion of the recording track, while the soft magnetic material magnetic shield absorbs the magnetic field generated at the periphery of the track width. It is possible to reduce read-out noise at the track ends and interference from adjacent tracks as a result of the reduction in sensitivity at the edges, and therefore it is possible to increase the track density. Side shield read heads have therefore have become more popular in recent years.
Reducing the geometric dimensions of the actual spin valve element is also effective for improving the track density. Reducing the dimensions of the element in the track width direction facilitates reading-out of magnetic information in recording tracks having a narrow recording width. Currently, the dimensions of a spin valve element are below about 50 nm.
However, new problems have arisen as spin valve elements have become smaller. This includes variations in the characteristics of individual read heads. There are fluctuations (production variations) in the film-forming conditions of the film-forming process for spin valve elements, etc. These fluctuations affect the shape, size, and film characteristics of the elements, and are manifested as variations in the read characteristics of the spin valve element. One effect of the fluctuations becomes relatively larger as the size of the elements decreases.
Head signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is one read characteristic. Head SNR is defined as the ratio of the magnitude of the output of read signals in a low-density recording pattern to the head noise caused by the read head. In general, the greater the head SNR, the more accurately recorded information is able to be read out from the medium.
FIG. 5 shows the relationship of head SNR and read utilization for a plurality of read heads produced under the same conditions. Here, read utilization is defined as the ratio of the amount of variation in resistance when a medium field is applied to individual spin valve elements to the maximum amount of variation in resistance. The magnitude of the read output is proportional to the magnitude of the read utilization, and therefore there is a very close relationship between head SNR and read utilization. In FIG. 5, the read utilization should be around 35% in order to achieve the best head SNR. However, the utilization of individual heads is scattered in a range between less than 25% and 45%, so not all of the heads are optimized. Also, the head SNR decreases outside the optimum range and therefore, any read operations to read recorded signals may be inadequate. The proportion of products which operate in accordance with the specification is referred to as the yield. Variations in read utilization may cause a reduction in yield so steps should be taken against this.

Side shield reader with a shield exciting coil


Provided are a microorganism capable of producing L-threonine and having an inactivated tyrR gene, a method of producing the same and a method of producing L-threonine using the microorganism. The microorganism can be used to produce L-threonine in high yield.

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0007528, filed on Feb. 5, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microorganism having an inactivated tyrR gene, a method of producing the same and a method of producing L-threonine using the microorganism.
2. Description of the Related Art
L-threonine is an essential amino acid and is widely used as a feed and food additive, and also as a pharmaceutical and raw material for synthesizing some drugs. It has been produced by fermentation with artificial mutants of the genus Escherichia, Coryneform bacteria, Seratia and Providencia. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 10037/81 discloses a method of producing L-threonine using a strain belonging to the genus Escherichia which has a requirement for diaminopimelic acid and methionine, and has the resistance to the feedback inhibition by threonine of the biosynthetic system of threonine. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 224684/83 discloses a method of producing L-threonine using a strain belonging to the genus Brevibacterium which is resistant to S-(2-aminoethyl)-L-cysteine and α-amino-β-hydroxy valeric acid and has a nutritional requirement for L-isoleucine and L-lysine. Korean Patent Application Laid-open No. 8022/87 discloses a method of producing L-threonine using a diaminopimelic acid and methionine-requiring, α-amino-β-hydroxy valeric acid-resistant strain belonging to the genus Escherichia which has an additional resistance to at least one substance selected from the group consisting of rifampicin, lysine, methionine, aspartic acid, and homoserine, or has a reduced ability to decompose L-threonine. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 219582/90 discloses a method for producing L-threonine using a strain belonging to the genus Providencia which is resistant to α-amino-β-hydroxy valeric acid, L-ethionine, thiaisoleucine, oxythiamine, and sulfaguanidine, and has a requirement for L-leucine and also a leaky requirement for L-isoleucine.
However, the above known methods have the disadvantages that they fail to afford a high production of L-threonine or require costly requirements such as diaminopimelic acid and isoleucine. In other words, the use of diaminopimelic acid-requiring strains in the production of L-threonine includes an additional fermentation of diaminopimelic acid and thus may increase cost. Where a strain having a requirement for isoleucine is used for the production of L-threonine, costly isoleucine must be added to fermentation media, which increases cost.
In an attempt to overcome these disadvantages, the present inventors developed an L-threonine-producing strain of Escherichia coli which is resistant to L-methionine, L-threonine and L-lysine analogues and α-aminobutyric acid, and has a nutritional requirement for methionine and a leaky requirement for isoleucine. They successfully produced L-threonine by fermentation with the strain at higher yields than with prior strains. The strain and a method for producing L-threonine using said strain are disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 92-8365.
Oxidative decomposition of tyrosine has two routes, i.e. decomposition to fumarate and acetoacetate and decomposition after conversion into 3,4-hydroxyphenylacetate by tyrosinase. In the former case, L-tyrosine reacts with α-ketoglutarate to produce L-glutamate and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate (Neidhardt FC et al., (eds) Escherichia coli and Salmonella: cellular and molecular biology, 2nd edn. ASM Press. Washington D.C., 1996, pp. 2649-2660). The biosynthesis of tyrosine and phenylalanine includes transamination. An important enzyme in the transamination is encoded by tyrB, aspC and ilvE genes (Ji Yang and James Pittard, Journal of Bateriology, 1987, 167, pp. 4710-4715). That is, the tyrB gene encodes a subunit of aromatic amino acid transaminase. A TyrB protein encoded by the tyrB gene is involved in the transamination by the aromatic amino acid transaminase in the third and final steps of tyrosine biosynthesis as the subunit (Neidhardt FC et al., (eds) Escherichia coli and Salmonella: cellular and molecular biology, 2nd edn. ASM Press. Washington D.C., 1996, pp. 2649-2660). The tyr B gene also has a function similar to aspC gene to be involved in the synthesis of aspartate (ASP) from oxaloacetate (OAA) as well as the biosynthesis of tyrosine and phenylalanine. ASP is an intermediate for L-threonine biosynthesis (Neidhardt FC et al., (eds) Escherichia coli and Salmonella: cellular and molecular biology, 2nd edn. ASM Press. Washington D.C., 1996, pp. 358-403).
The tyrB gene belongs to tyrR regulon and undergoes repression of expression during trasncription by a product encoded by tyrR gene (Ji Yang and James Pittard, Journal of Bateriology, 1987, 167, pp. 4710-4715).
The present inventors have intensively studied to select strains having an improved ability to produce L-threonine on the basis of conventional technologies and now discovered that L-threonine biosynthesis can be facilitated by inactivation of the tyrR gene.

Microorganism producing L-threonine having inactivated tyrR gene, method of producing the same and method of producing L-threonine using the microorganism


The present invention provides a method for enhancing service signals transmitted by a DCE, such as a Modem, to a DTE user. Since any transmission from a remote computer to a DTE user through a wireless communication network can be encoded with additional information, use of an AT compatible modem in conjunction with a wireless communication network adds a new dimension of information that can be displayed to the DTE user. The present invention also includes a method for ensuring effective data transfer from a DCE to a DTE user. When a DTE receives a connection service signal it will often require several internal adjustments before it can accept data. Because data received by a radio-based modem is received in packets, under certain conditions data will be waiting to be transmitted to the user immediately after the modem enters a data transfer state. The method of this invention includes the steps of transmitting a service signal to the DTE indicating that the modem has entered a data transfer state and delaying for a predetermined time after transmitting the data-transfer-state signal before transmitting data from the modem to the DTE.

This invention relates generally to the art of connecting data terminal equipment (DTE) users to remote computer systems (or hosts) through a wireless or radio wave data communication network. The invention disclosed may, however, be useful for other forms of data transmission and communication systems.
Over the past several decades, various communication networks have evolved to meet the growing need for access to information. Among the more familiar types of systems used for communication are wire-based telephone communication systems that use physical wires or optical fiber links to connect users. Data transmission using wire-based telephone communication systems can be accomplished using existing AT Modem technology. An AT Modem is a standard data communication equipment (DCE) connection device used with telephone equipment for converting or modulating an asynchronous stream of data into a phone line carrier signal. The connection between an AT Modem and a DTE, such as a personal computer or a portable computer, is usually through an RS-232 interface. One of the principal disadvantages of a wire-based telephone communication network is that users are limited to specific locations where wired connections are available. Another disadvantage is that wire-based telephone communication networks usually require dedicated telephone lines, which can be expensive.
Recently wireless data communication networks have emerged that enables information exchange by sending and receiving data through high frequency radio signals. Examples of such networks include the Mobitex Radio Network (Mobitex), which is operated by RAM Mobile Data, and Ardis, which is a joint venture of Motorola and IBM. Mobitex was developed in Sweden by Ericsson/Eritel and has been installed and is maintained in many other countries. For example, in Canada, Mobitex is operated by Roger's Cantel. Making efficient use of these wireless data communication networks to connect DTE users to remote computer systems is one of the objects of this invention.
Electronic data communication is organized into networks that have established protocols and specifications. Communication between computers takes place over a connection that is established using a common protocol. A data communication network generally refers to a collection or grouping of computers organized for co-operative communication of data. Once a connection is established, there are a number of data transfer methods used by various data communication networks. Both Mobitex and Ardis use packet switched data transfer methods, which aggregate data into blocks called packets before it is transmitted.
Ericsson also manufactures a device called a Mobidem, which is a radio based modem that is capable of transmitting digital information across the Mobitex data communication network. A Mobidem essentially provides an interface between a DTE user and Mobitex. Unfortunately, effective communication between a DTE user and a remote computer system across a wireless communication network, such as Mobitex, requires significant enhancements to support the standard AT Modem protocol. An object of this invention is to provide an enhanced user interface to a wireless data communication network such as Mobitex that is compatible with standard AT Modem technology.
A standard AT compatible modem is capable of sending a number of service signals to its DTE user that indicate changes in the status of the modem. For example, if the user makes a call to a remote computer system, several possible events may occur that result in associated service signals:
if the modem is disconnected, the message "No Carrier" will be displayed; PA1 if a connection is made, the message "Connect 2400" will be displayed; and PA1 if the call is made and the remote computer does not answer, "Busy" or "No Answer" will be displayed.
These messages can handle all of the events that can occur in the operation of a land-line modem (i.e. one that uses telephone lines).
The user of the modem has the option of setting various AT Modem parameters that affect whether service signals are transmitted by the modem to the DTE and the form in which they are transmitted. If the user enables the modem to transmit text service signals, the messages noted above will be transmitted to the DTE for display. If the user enables the modem to transmit numeric messages, the modem will transmit a numeric code to the DTE that corresponds to the event that occurred. If user does not enable the modem to transmit service signals, service signals will not be transmitted to the DTE.
Since any transmission from a remote computer to a DTE user through a wireless communication network such as Mobitex can be encoded with additional information, use of an AT compatible modem in conjunction with Mobitex adds a new dimension of information that can be displayed when an event occurs. An object of this invention is to enhance an AT compatible modem to transmit service signals that include information such as the identity of the caller and a presentation string.
All AT Modems have two basic states of operation; a command state and a data transfer state. In the command state, the DTE user can send command signals to the modem and change the modem's operating parameters. At start-up, an AT Modem is in the command state. When a connection is established, an AT Modem automatically shifts to the data transfer state. Because data received by a radio-based modem such as a Mobidem is received in packets, under certain conditions data will be waiting to be transmitted to the user immediately after the modem enters the data transfer state. Unfortunately, many DTE user applications will fail if the modem begins transmitting data to the user immediately after the modem transmits an entering-data-transfer-state signal. Another object of this invention is to provide a method for delaying data transmission by the modem to the user for a period of time after the modem has entered a data transfer state.

Computer system for use with a wireless data communication network


An OFDM receiver includes: a variable gain amplifier controlling a signal level of an intermediate frequency signal that is obtained from a reception signal by frequency-conversion; and an automatic gain controller controlling a gain of the variable gain amplifier means. The automatic gain controller includes: a clip detector comparing a clip number threshold value with a detected number of transient clips in which a signal level of the intermediate frequency signal exceeds a parameter clip level, so as to detect a period where the detected number exceeds the clip number threshold value; an accumulator accumulating a detection output of the clip detector; and a target value decision circuit to which an accumulation output of the accumulator is supplied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) receiver for receiving and demodulating an OFDM signal and its automatic gain controller circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a modulation method called an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing method (hereinafter referred to as an OFDM method) is known as a method of modulating digital data. With this OFDM modulation method, a number of orthogonal subcarriers is provided in a transmission band, and digital data is assigned to the amplitude and phase of each subcarrier by phase shift keying (PSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) to modulate the digital data.
Since the OFDM method divides the transmission band by a number of subcarriers, the band per one subcarrier becomes narrower and a modulation speed lowers. However, it has a feature such that a total transmission speed is not different from that of a modulation method of current related art. Since the OFDM method transmits a number of subcarriers in parallel, a symbol speed becomes lowers, thereby enabling to shorten a relative time length of a multipath with respect to a time length of a symbol. It has therefore another feature of less susceptibility to multipath interference. Still another feature is such that since the OFDM method assigns data to a plurality of subcarriers, a transmission/reception circuit can be realized by using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) calculation circuit for inverse Fourier transform during modulation and a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) calculation circuit for Fourier transform during demodulation.
The OFDM method having these features are often applied to terrestrial digital broadcasting which is strongly influenced by multipath interference. For terrestrial digital broadcasting adopting the OFDM method, there are standards such as Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) and Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial Sound Broadcasting (ISDB-TSB) (e.g., refer to "Terrestrial Digital Sound Broadcasting Receiver Standards (Desired Specification) ARIB STD-B30, ver. 1.1", Association of Radio Industries and Businesses, executed on May 31, 2001 and revised to 1.1 on Mar. 28, 2001, and "Transmission Method for Terrestrial Digital Sound Broadcasting ARIB STD-B29, ver. 1.1", Association of Radio Industries and Businesses, executed on May 31, 2001 and revised to 1.1 on Mar. 28, 2001.
In an OFDM receiver of related art, a tuner unit connected to an antenna converts an OFDM signal of a desired reception channel into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal which is then supplied to an intermediate frequency amplifier unit. The IF signal amplified by the intermediate frequency amplifier unit is converted into a digital signal by an A/D converter circuit, and the digital signal is supplied to a baseband processing unit. By using a carrier signal having a predetermined frequency (carrier frequency), the baseband processing unit orthogonally demodulates the digitized IF signal to obtain an OFDM time domain signal of the baseband. Only the effective symbol period of the OFDM time domain signal is subjected to FFT to obtain an OFDM frequency domain signal. The OFDM frequency domain signal is subjected to differential demodulation of DQPSK or synchronous demodulation of QPSK, 16 QAM or 64 QAM to obtain a demodulated output of the OFDM signal of the reception channel.
The baseband processing unit has therein an automatic gain controller (AGC) circuit which maintains constant the level of the intermediate frequency signal to be supplied to the A/D converter circuit by controlling the gain of a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier constituting the intermediate frequency amplifier unit.
For example, as shown in FIG. 8, an automatic gain controller circuit 510 of an OFDM receiver 500 of related art includes an absolute value (ABS) circuit 511, a subtractor circuit 512, a sign judgment (SGN) circuit 513, a low-pass filter 514, a rounding process (RIND) circuit 515, an accumulator circuit 516.
In this automatic gain controller circuit 510, the ABS circuit 511 obtains an absolute value of the signal level value of the intermediate frequency signal by removing the sign of the intermediate frequency signal digitized by and supplied from the A/D converter circuit 504. The subtractor circuit 512 subtracts a fixed target value from the signal level value of the intermediate frequency signal changed into the absolute signal level by the ABS circuit 511 to detect a signed difference value. The SGN circuit 513 judges the sign of the signed difference value detected by the subtractor circuit 512, and supplies a 1-bit sign signal corresponding to the sign of the difference value to the accumulator circuit 516 via the low-pass filter 514 and rounding process (RND) circuit 515. The accumulator circuit 516 outputs an accumulation output as an automatic gain controller (AGC) signal.
The AGC signal output from the automatic gain controller circuit 510 is supplied to a pulse density modulation (PDM) circuit 520 which outputs a PDM signal of a rectangular wave whose density changes with an amplitude of the AGC signal. The PDM signal is fed back via a low-pass filter 525 to a control terminal of a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier 503A constituting an intermediate frequency amplifier unit 503.
As described above, in the automatic gain controller circuit 510 of the OFDM receiver 500, the fixed target value is used as one of input parameters, and subtracted from the absolute value of the signal after A/D conversion. The sign of the resultant value is converted into a 1-bit signal. This signal is passed through the low-pass filter 514 and accumulated in the accumulator circuit 516 to obtain and output the AGC signal.
Input signals to the A/D converter circuit 504 of the OFDM receiver 500 have a property of a Gaussian distribution in an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B. If a distribution of input signals is estimated and a fixed target value is used, a clip amount of the input signal can be adjusted. Adjusting noises by clipping and adjusting noises by quantization are properly balanced so that a quantity of noises mixed in the A/D converter circuit 504 can be minimized.

OFDM receiver and its automatic gain control circuit


A device for removing ions from a flow of water includes a first electrode and a counter-electrode opposite the first electrode in the flow of water. The first electrode contains at least one material which is capable of intercalating one or both of Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions in the flow of water. The counter-electrode can include a material capable of binding to anions in the flow of water.

Water from traditionally safe sources such as municipal water sources or potable water from wells may nonetheless possess qualities that are less desirable to the water consumer. For instance, water from potable water sources can vary significantly with respect to taste, odor, turbidity, bacterial and/or viral contamination, heavy metal contamination, hardness, mineral deposits, and/or a combination of these water quality parameters. The quality parameter of water hardness relates to the concentration of calcium ions (Ca2+) and/or magnesium ions (Mg2+) present in a given volume of water. Calcium and/or magnesium exist in potable water in the form of salts, which are normally soluble in the form of sulfates, carbonates, bicarbonates, or chlorides. The soluble salts are often ionized so that the water contains a relatively high concentration of calcium ions and/or magnesium ions.
Water is typically classified according to hardness as "soft water" or "hard water." The harder the water, the greater the concentration of calcium and/or magnesium ions per volume. Hard water is typically undesirable because it can cause scale buildup in plumbing, fixtures, and appliances and may affect the performance these systems and devices. For instance, the heat from a hot water heater removes some calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate from the water, resulting in scale buildup that can slow the heating process and increase energy usage. Cleaning agents used with hard water are often less effective. Clothes washed in hard water may become dingy and gray with time and feel harsh or scratchy. Glassware may become spotted as it dries. Films may be left on shower doors or curtains, walls, and tubs, and hair washed in hard water may look dull and not feel clean. The process of removing calcium ions and/or magnesium ions from hard water is commonly referred to as water softening.
There are a variety of existing techniques for removing ions from water, each with advantages and disadvantages that make the different technologies more or less desirable for a given application. Reverse osmosis (RO) and modern thermal distillation are techniques that are effective at comprehensive, non-selective removal of ions from water (i.e., deionization). Since these techniques remove water from salts, they are most advantageous when the initial ion load is quite high such as in the case of seawater desalination. However, RO and thermal distillation techniques suffer from generally high cost due to the significant energy inputs required. Another technique for removing ions from water includes electrochemical technologies such as electrodialysis or electro-absorption (i.e., capacitive deionization). These techniques typically remove ions from feed water using ion-exchange membranes and/or high-surface-area carbon in connection with an applied potential to attract ions out of the water to an electrode and to limit desorption. Therefore, electrodialysis and electro-absorption are more attractive for brackish water sources or applications that require partial removal of ions from a water stream.
The most common technology for municipal water softening is ion exchange. In an ion exchange softening system, the softening device when active uses an ion-exchange resin to replace calcium ions and magnesium ions in a feed water stream with sodium ions. Though ion exchange systems can recover slightly more water than CDI systems, and energy consumption in an ion exchange system is generally lower than with a CDI system, ion exchange does have some disadvantages. Softened water can taste salty since calcium and magnesium ions are replaced with sodium ions. Additionally, ion exchange systems must be periodically recharged with sodium ions. This requires a user to routinely add salt to the system to maintain system efficiency, which can be a burden to the user. Furthermore, brine waste streams in areas with significantly hard water can create a burden on local water treatment plants and on the environment. Some municipalities have banned salt-adding water softeners altogether because of this burden.
Another technique for removing ions from water includes the addition of intercalation hosts to electro-absorption platforms to form a "desalination battery" or similar hybrid systems. The addition of intercalation hosts to electro-absorption platforms provides many advantages. For instance, a system using intercalation hosts can have higher available capacities than carbon-based capacitive deionization (CDI) systems, which improves efficiency and reduces electrode wear. Additionally, since intercalation hosts do not rely on high surface area to achieve high capacity, they are less susceptible to fouling than typical CDI electrodes. Furthermore, intercalation compounds are configurable to remove specific targeted ions from a water stream, which is advantageous when water meets most, but not all, quality criteria for a given application.
The use of intercalation hosts in CDI systems has been traditionally limited by lack of availability of materials that: (1) intercalate ions of relevance, such as sodium ions (Na+); (2) have sufficient capacity in the potential window provided by aqueous electrolyte; (3) are nontoxic; and (4) have appropriate cycle life to purify a reasonable amount of water before electrode regeneration or replacement is required. However, Applicant has discovered that water softening is an application that is well-suited to the use of intercalation hosts. Municipal water often contains greater than optimal concentrations of calcium and magnesium ions, but the water is otherwise potable. Therefore, a water treatment or water softening system that utilizes intercalation hosts to selectively extract only the ions of interest will be most energy efficient. In contrast, since hard water is prone to leaving mineral deposits on surfaces, conventional carbon-based CDI systems can be difficult to implement. Furthermore, municipal hard water frequently contains approximately 200 ppm divalent cations, which is typically too low to justify energy-intensive purification techniques such as RO or distillation-based technologies.
What is needed are suitable intercalation host materials for softening water that selectively intercalate ions of relevance, have sufficient capacity in the stability window of the aqueous environment in which they are implemented, are nontoxic, and have a long cycle life. A water softening device that includes at least one electrode with such an intercalation host material would be further advantageous.

Intercalation-based materials and processes for softening water


The present disclosure relates to a connector, an assistive device, a wearable device, and a wearable device kit. The connector includes a first magnetic connecting component; and a second magnetic connecting component detachably connected to the first magnetic connecting component by magnetic attraction. By means of the connector of the present disclosure, the assistive device can be detachably connected to the wearable device more reliably and more flexibly.

Wearable device usually refers to a portable device that may be directly worn by a user or is integrated with clothing or a wearable object to be worn by a user. Currently, the most common wearable devices are glasses, helmets, watches, wristbands, earphones, etc.
There may be generally two types of wearable devices according to the implementation of wearable devices, i.e., a type, simply referred to as an integrated type, in which a device that performs smart functions is integrated in clothing or a wearable object that may be worn by a user, and a type, simply referred to as an assembled type, in which a device that implements smart functions is attached, in the form of an accessory, to clothing or a wearable object. The integrated type is advantageous in terms of performance, appearance, user experience, etc., but has a complex manufacturing process and high cost; and although the assembled type is inferior to the integrated type in the terms of performance, appearance, user experience, etc., it can be easily implemented and is less expensive.
For the assembled type, at present, the most common is to install a small assistive device, such as a smart camera or a smart reader, onto a conventional spectacle frame (i.e., a spectacle frame without smart functions). For example, the small assistive device can be installed to a connector on the spectacle frame by magnetic attraction. In order to ensure the reliable magnetic attraction, a relatively strong magnetic force is usually required, and accordingly the volume and weight of the assistive device and the connector are relatively large, thus affecting the user experience. Particularly, when the user does some exercise, the assistive device tends to fall off due to the vibration generated by the exercise.
The methods described in this section are not necessarily the methods that have been previously conceived or employed. Unless otherwise specified, it should not be assumed that any method described in this section is considered as the prior art just because it is included in this section. Similarly, unless otherwise specified, the problems mentioned in this section should not be considered to be well known in any prior art.

Connector, assistive device and wearable device


An implantable annuloplasty suture guide is intended to lie against at least a portion of an annulus surrounding a human heart. The implantable annuloplasty suture guide is made of an elongated ribbon of braided, heat setable material. The braided, heat-setable material is heat-set in a curved lengthwise configuration corresponding to at least a portion of the annulus of the human heart valve. A method of making an implantable annuloplasty suture guide configured to lie against at least a portion of an annulus defined by tissue surrounding a human heart. The method includes the steps of providing an elongate biocompatible ribbon comprising a braided, heat setable material. A fixture is provided, with the fixture comprising a heat conducting material defining an elongate cavity having a curved length-wise configuration corresponding to at least a portion of the annulus defined by the tissue surrounding the human heart. The elongate biocompatible ribbon is placed in the cavity and the fixture is heated to provide a select temperature for a select time in the cavity, the select temperature and the select time being sufficient to heat-set the elongate biocompatible ribbon in the curved length-wise configuration.

It is well known in the art to use implantable annuloplasty suture guides for surgical correction of certain mitral or tricuspid heart valve disorders. The heart has two atrio-ventricular valves. The mitral valve is on the left side of the heart and the tricuspid valve is on the right side of the heart. Both valves are subject to damage that requires the valves to be repaired or replaced. Clinical experience has shown that repair of the valve, where this technique is possible, produces better long term results than does valve replacement. The mitral and tricuspid valves differ significantly in anatomy. The annulus of the mitral valve is somewhat D-shaped and the annulus of the triscupid valve is more nearly circular.
Wright et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,279, the contents of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein, describes in detail various effects of valvular dysfunction, known corrective procedures and various prostheses that have been used in conjunction with mitral or tricuspid valve repair. Wright is also directed to an annuloplasty and suture ring structure that has experienced considerable success in mitral and tricuspid valve repair.
Known prosthethis are either completely flexible or have an internal frame in at least a portion of the annuloplasty ring to impart some structural integrity. Those annuloplasty rings having an internal frame can be difficult to install if there is even slight deviation in patient anatomy in the vicinity of an annulus defined by tissue surrounding a human heart valve. Thus, this is one limitation on Carpenter et al. D-shaped closed rings discussed on the Wright '279 patent. Other rings are flexible, such as the Cosgrove-Edwards band which is a fully flexible C-shaped ring and the Metronic Duran ring which is fully flexible and circular. Both of these rings are also discussed in the Wright '279 patent. Because flexible annuloplasty rings can be hard for surgeons to manipulate and install due to their flexible nature, flexible rings typically require a holder for installation by a surgeon. However, fully attaching flexible annuloplasty rings to the circumference of a holder can present difficulties that require relatively tight tolerances between the annuloplasty rings and a holder and the connection process can drive up costs. In addition, known flexible suture rings require attachment of the entire inner circumferential surface of the annuloplasty ring to the holder, which can make it difficult to view the surgical field in the vicinity of a valve annulus and can inhibit access to all portions of the annuloplasty ring.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.


An exemplary mounting clip for removably attaching panels to a supporting structure comprises a base, spring locking clips, a lateral flange, a lever flange, and a spring bonding pad. The spring locking clips extend upwardly from the base. The lateral flange extends upwardly from a first side of the base. The lateral flange comprises a slot having an opening configured to receive at least a portion of one of the one or more panels. The lever flange extends outwardly from the lateral flange. The spring bonding flange extends downwardly from the lever flange. At least a portion of the first spring bonding flange comprises a serrated edge for gouging at least a portion of the one or more panels when the one or more panels are attached to the mounting clip to electrically and mechanically couple the one or more panels to the mounting clip.

Photovoltaic panels are an environmentally friendly solution to generating electricity. However, they are an expensive solution, not only because of the cost of the photovoltaic panels themselves, but also because of the cost of installation of the photovoltaic panels. Typically, installation of photovoltaic panels requires highly trained installers, specialized hardware and many hours of labor to properly align the panels and install them securely and accurately.
The installation of a photovoltaic panel often requires mounting means to securely attach the photovoltaic panel to a supporting structure. Such mounting means not only needs to be mechanically sound and stable, but should also provide electrical bonding between electrically conductive components in a simple installation procedure. The conventional mounting means that are commercially available are expensive, difficult and time consuming to install, because they require many different parts and tools to assemble the photovoltaic array. Additionally, the process of bonding and grounding electrically conductive parts requires a separated process. The lack of integration between the processes of mechanical fastening and electrical bonding increases the time and cost of the solar installation.
Therefore, what is needed is a photovoltaic panel mounting means which enables both mechanical and electrical bonding at the same time when installed, and provides for an easy installation process, for just one person in an ergonomic manner, with only limited tools. This would result in a reduction of time and skill necessary to install photovoltaic panels on a mounting structure.


A method of fabricating an integrated circuit includes forming a barrier layer along lateral side walls and a bottom of a via aperture and providing a ternary copper alloy via material in the via aperture to form a via. The via aperture is configured to receive the ternary copper alloy via material and electrically connect a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer. The ternary copper alloy via material helps the via to have a lower resistance and an increased grain size with staffed grain boundaries.

Semiconductor devices or integrated circuits (ICs) can include millions of devices, such as, transistors. Ultra-large scale integrated (ULSI) circuits can include complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) field effect transistors (FET). Despite the ability of conventional systems and processes to fabricate millions of IC devices on an IC, there is still a need to decrease the size of IC device features, and, thus, increase the number of devices on an IC. Nevertheless, there are many factors that make the continued miniaturization of ICs difficult. For example, as the size of vias (or pathways between integrated circuit layers used to electrically connect separate conductive layers) decreases, electrical resistance increases.
Conventional integrated circuits utilize vias to connect structures (e.g., gates, drain regions, source regions) and conductive lines. A via is typically a metal plug which extends through an insulative layer. A barrier layer is used to protect the via from metal diffusion and from electromigration (EM). The barrier layer can contribute significantly to resistance associated with the via metal. Electromigration is the mass transport due to momentum exchange between conducting electrons and diffusing metal atoms. Electromigration causes progressive damage to the metal conductors in an integrated circuit. In general, it is characteristic of metals at very high current density and temperatures of 100° C. or more.
Integrated circuit manufacturers have attempted to reduce via resistance as the via size decreases by reducing the thickness of the barrier material. According to one conventional process, plasma vapor deposition (PVD), IC manufacturers deposit a very thin barrier material at the bottom of the via due to non-conformed deposition. The thickness of the barrier material is reduced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes. These advanced deposition processes form hightly conformed barrier metal films. However, reducing the barrier thickness causes the barrier to become more permeable to copper (Cu) diffusion, which can adversely affect resistance to electromigration.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion 100 of an integrated circuit including a copper layer 110, a copper via 120, a copper layer 130, a dielectric layer 150, and a dielectric layer 160. Via 120 and copper layer 130 are separated by a barrier layer 140.
Portion 100 also includes a dielectric layer 142 that is separated from copper layer 130 by an etch stop layer 174. Dielectric layer 142 can be oxide and etch stop layer 174 can be Silicon Nitride (SiN). Etch stop layer 174 prevents diffusion of copper from copper layer 130 into dielectric layer 142. Dielectric layer 150 can be separated from copper layer 130 by a barrier layer 152. Similarly, dielectric layer 160 can be separated from copper layer 110 by a barrier layer 182. Barrier layers 152 and 182 can be Tantalum Nitride (TaN). Etch stop layers 172, 174, 176, and 178 can be Silicon Nitride (SiN).
According to conventional processes, barrier layer 140 can have a cross-sectional thickness of between 7 nm to 25 nm. Barrier layer 140 inhibits diffusion of copper ions from layers into via 120 and from via into dielectric layer 142. Conventional barrier layers can include Tantalum Nitride (TaN).
FIG. 1A shows a portion formed according to a single damascene process where copper layer 110 and copper via 120 are deposited in two separate steps and are separated by a barrier section 182. FIG. 1B shows a portion formed according to a dual damascene process where copper layer 110 and copper via 120 are deposited in one step or process and are not separated by a barrier.
As discussed above, conventional systems have attempted to reduce the thickness of barrier layer 140 to reduce the resistance associated with via 120. However, this reduction in thickness can cause electromigration failures. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate portion 100 described with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B, further having an EM failure or void 145 in copper layer 130. FIG. 2A shows a portion formed according to a single damascene process (as described with reference to FIG. 1A) where copper layer 110 and copper via 120 are formed in two separate steps or processes. FIG. 2B shows a portion formed according to a dual damascene process (as described with reference to FIG. 1B) where copper layer 110 and copper via 120 are formed in one step or process.
FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate portion 100 having an EM failure or void 155 in via 120 due to copper diffusion from copper via layer 120. FIG. 3A shows a portion formed according to a single damascene process (as described with reference to FIG. 1A) where copper layer 110 and copper via 120 are formed in two separate steps or processes. FIG. 3B shows a portion formed according to a dual damascene process (as described with reference to FIG. 1B) where copper layer 110 and copper via 120 are formed in one step or process.
EM failures have been described by Stanley Wolf, Ph.D. in Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era, Lattice Press, Sunset Beach, Calif., Vol. 2, pp. 264-65 (1990). Dr. Wolf explains that a positive divergence of the motion of the ions of a conductor leads to an accumulation of vacancies, forming a void in the metal. Such voids may ultimately grow to a size that results in open-circuit failure of the conductor line.
Thus, there is a need for an interconnect or via having less resistance while not experiencing electromigration in via or line failures. Further, there is a need for a method of forming a large grain size interconnect having stuffed grain boundaries for high electromigration reliability. Even further, there is a need for a method of using ternary copper alloy to obtain a low resistance and large grain size interconnect.

Method of using ternary copper alloy to obtain a low resistance and large grain size interconnect


A print head 20 is placed upstanding on a chassis 25 through a protective member 26. A support shaft 28 to which a platen roller 21 is attached through a support member 27 is fixed at a lower end to the chassis 25. The support shaft 28 is fixed at an upper end to an upper attaching portion 25a of the chassis 25. A space restricting member 31 is provided to the upper attaching portion 25a so as to engage with an engaging lug 35 on the protective member 26 to restrict the upper ends of the print head 20 and the platen roller 21 at a predetermined space from each other. Thus, the upper ends of the print head 20 and the platen roller 21 are maintained at the predetermined space during printing to press the print head 20 and platen roller 21 against each other with a uniform pressure along their lengths. As a result, there is no difference in printing state between the upper and lower portions of the print head 20 and the platen roller 21, and uniform printing and improved print quality can be achieved.

Conventionally, handy printers are known which are capable of printing desired information easily at a desired place.
In a printer of this type, for example, a printing tape cassette, which is provided with an ink ribbon and a printing tape, is removably set in the printer body. The ink ribbon and the printing tape are disposed in an overlapping manner between a print head and a platen roller in the printer body. In such a state, the platen roller presses the printing tape and the ink ribbon against the print head, and the platen roller is then rotated to feed the ink ribbon and the printing tape while the print head is being driven in accordance with print information to print desired information on the printing tape.
In this printer, the print head and the platen roller are disposed in an upstanding manner within the printer body so as to be closable with respect to each other. When the tape cassette is set within the printer body, the print head and the platen roller are moved away from each other, the ink ribbon and the printing tape are inserted from above in an overlapping manner in between the spaced print head and the platen roller. In printing, the platen roller approaches the print head to press the ink ribbon and the printing tape against the print head. The print head is attached to an upstanding protective member fixed at a lower end to a chassis attached within the printer body. The platen roller is attached rotatably at an upper and at a lower end to a support member which in turn is attached turnably to an upstanding support shaft, which is fixed at a lower end to the chassis. The support member is turned around the support shaft so as to move toward/away from the print head.
In such a printer, the protective member of the print head and the support shaft of the platen roller are fixed only at their lower ends to the chassis in an upstanding manner, but they are not fixed at their upper ends. Thus, by pressing the platen roller against the print head, the print head is likely to move away at its upper portion from the platen roller. Thus, the print head and the platen roller cannot be brought into uniform contact with each other through their lengths, so that there is a difference in printing state between the upper and the lower portions of the print head. As a result, uniform printing cannot be achieved and there is a deterioration in the print quality.
Such a problem would also arise in a structure in which the platen roller is fixed and in which the print head moves toward/away from the platen roller. In particular, when the respective lengths of the print head and the platen roller are increased to use a wider printing tape, the above described problem would be striking.

Device for parallel justification of print head relative to the platen


An uninterruptible power source (UPS) for supplying power to a barrier operator when mains power has failed is disclosed. The UPS includes a UPS controller for detecting and responding to a mains power failure and capable of generating a plurality of control signals. A backup power source and an up-converter is connected to the UPS controller, wherein the up-converter increases the voltage of the backup power source when needed. A switch is responsive to one of the plurality of control signals of the UPS controller and toggles the operator barrier between the up-converter and the mains power source, and awakens the operator via a standby receiver power line. Another embodiment awakens the operator anytime a UPS receiver receives a preamble of a wireless transmission signal. Auxiliary lighting may also be associated with the UPS and/or photo-electric safety devices.

Uninterruptible power supplies are used to provide backup electrical power to equipment in instances where standard commercial power, or mains power is out of service. Typical uninterruptible power supplies comprise an energy storage unit, such as a battery, to supply backup power to equipment when needed. The stored energy capacity of the battery is maintained by a charging circuit, which charges the battery using mains power. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) may also include circuitry that is capable of transforming the battery's stored power into a form that is compatible with the equipment receiving the backup power. For example, if an AC powered electric motor requires backup power from the UPS, then the battery's DC power must be converted to an AC form to operate the AC motor. To ensure that power is supplied to the equipment when mains power fails, a switching system within the UPS is provided which disconnects the out-of-service mains power, and connects the battery to the equipment to be operated. This action is reversed when mains power returns to service.
While a UPS may be used for various applications, there are special considerations when a UPS is used in conjunction with a barrier operator that moves an access barrier, such as a garage door, between open and closed positions. Thus, when the barrier operator requires AC power to operate its electric motor, the uninterruptible power source must convert the DC power of the uninterruptible power source's backup battery into AC power, such as 120 VAC at 60 Hz, through the use of a power converter or invertor that includes semiconductor transistor circuitry (i.e. switches). When the converter or invertor is enabled, due to a mains power failure, an oscillator, operating at a predetermined frequency, drives the semiconductor transistors that produce current pulses at the output of the transformer, thereby simulating AC power. As a result, the stored DC energy of the backup battery is continuously converted into AC power until mains power is restored, or the energy storage capacity of the battery is fully depleted. The operation of the oscillator and semiconductor transistors generally have an efficiency of about 50%, and as a result, they consume significant power from the backup battery. This conversion may take place continuously, quickly consuming the stored energy of the backup power source. Thus, there is a need for an uninterruptible power source that can provide backup power to a barrier operator only when it is needed on demand.
Further, users of barrier operators traditionally purchase the barrier operator without considering the additional benefit that an uninterruptible power source may provide. Thus, if the user later desires to add the uninterruptible power source to an already installed barrier operator, he or she may be required to purchase a new barrier operator which has an integrated uninterruptible power source. As a result, the user must needlessly discard a functional barrier operator, while expending additional money and time to purchase and install an entirely new barrier operator that includes the UPS function. Thus, there is a need for an uninterruptible power source that a user can easily attach to an existing barrier operator, in a user-friendly manner.
Additionally, users of barrier operators having a UPS system may reside in geographic regions where temperatures are cold, or where temperatures fluctuate between warm and cold. Under these conditions, the UPS battery may resist being re-charged by the battery charger. As a result, the battery's performance is reduced, thus limiting the time that the barrier operator can be utilized during a mains power failure. Additionally, cold temperatures tend to reduce the useful operating life of the batteries, thus increasing battery replacement frequency and overall cost of ownership. Therefore, there is also a need for a UPS battery heating device, that can maintain the battery's optimal operating temperature while subjected to less than optimum operating temperatures.
Furthermore, uninterruptible power sources currently provided for use with barrier operators do not provide a system for monitoring the status of the battery. As a result, the battery may be in need of replacement, while not having the capacity to operate the barrier operator when the mains power has failed. This is especially problematic if the user solely relies on a garage door as the sole means for entering one's home. In such a case, the user may have to forcibly enter their home, thus incurring the inconvenience and expense needed to make the repairs thereto. Thus, there is a need for a UPS battery monitor that can provide the user with the battery's status or condition, allowing him or her to replace the battery prior to a mains power failure.
Many times when mains power fails, the ambient light outdoors is insufficient to allow safe ingress and egress through the area where the barrier operator and corresponding access barrier are mounted. Because of this, the risk for injury is greatly increased. As a result, there is a need for auxiliary lighting that illuminates a desired area, when mains power has failed, so as to allow safe ingress and egress through the region controlled by the access barrier.

Uninterruptible power source for a barrier operator and related methods


A logging instrument for estimating a property of a formation is provided. The instrument includes a magnet to generate a magnetic field. The instrument also includes pulse sequencer circuitry that supplies radio frequency (RF) signals. The instrument additionally includes an antenna system configured to transmit the RF signals and to obtain nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of the formation in response to the transmitted RF signals. In one aspect, the logging tool contains a temperature sensor configured to obtain temperature measurements of the magnet. The instrument additionally includes a control unit communicatively coupled to the temperature sensor, the antenna system and the pulse sequencer circuitry and configured to receive the temperature measurements and selectively adjust operating parameters of the pulse sequencer circuitry based on the received temperature measurements in order to maintain optimal intensity of the magnetic field.

Performing downhole measurements is desirable in many oil industry applications. Various methods exist for performing downhole measurements of petrophysical parameters of a geologic formation. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging is among the most important methods that have been developed for rapid determination of such parameters, including formation porosity, composition of formation fluid, quantity of movable fluid, permeability and others.
Wireline logging of earth formation performed using NMR tools or other techniques known in the art provides valuable information concerning the petrophysical properties of the formation and, in particular, regarding the fluid composition of the formation. However, various challenges exist with respect to the use of tuned NMR tools in wireline logging. For example, there is variation of the magnetic field with temperature. A magnetic field's strength, in part, is characterized by its remnant flux density (Br). Magnetic field's remnant flux is temperature dependent. It should be understood that the precise temperature coefficient of Br depends on the particular magnet used in the NMR tool. For example, it is known that samarium cobalt magnets have a temperature coefficient of Br of approximately −0.035%, but can be as high as −0.05% depending on composition of the material. Thus, a 100° C. temperature difference can cause a substantial 5% change in the magnetic field intensity. Left uncompensated, changes in temperature degrade instrument performance.
The ability to mitigate the effects of magnetic field intensity variation is of direct relevance to NMR logging, particularly for real-time processing integrated as a workflow. Accordingly, there is continued interest in the development of improved NMR tools.

RF flip angle adjustment in a downhole NMR tool


In a field emission cathode type electron gun, a plurality of cathode segments and a plurality of gate control circuits are provided. Each of the gate control circuits is connected to one of the cathode segments. Each of the cathode segments includes a cathode electrode, a gate electrode, an insulating layer therebetween, and a plurality of cone-shaped emitters formed within openings perforated in the gate electrode and the insulating layer. Each of the gate control circuits detects a current flowing through one of the cathode segments and controls a voltage of the gate electrode of the respective cathode segments in accordance with the detected current, so that the detected current is brought close to a definite value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field emission cathode (FEC) type electron gun.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a first type of conventional FEC type electron gun, a cold cathode is constructed of one substrate (cathode electrode), one gate electrode, an insulating layer therebetween, and a plurality of cone-shaped emitters formed within openings perforated in the gate electrode and the insulating layer. If a high voltage is applied between the gate electrode and the cone-shaped emitters, a strong electric field is generated around the tips of the cone-shaped emitters, so that electrons are emitted therefrom. (see: C. A. Spindt, "A Thin-Film Field-Emission Cathode", Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 39, No. 7, pp. 3504-3505, June 1968). This will be explained later in detail.
The above-described FEC type electron gun has an advantage in that a high density of current is realized and the velocity of dispersion of emitted electrons is small as compared with a conventional thermionic cathode electron gun.
Also, in order to effectively converge an electron beam emitted from the electron gun, focusing electrodes are provided (see: JP-A-5-343000 and JP-A-7-235258). This will also be explained later in detail.
In a second type of conventional FEC type electron gun, in order to obtain a stable electron beam, a field effect transistor (FET) is incorporated as a constant current source into the same substrate as the cold cathode (see: JP-A-8-87957). This will also explained later in detail.
In a third type of conventional FEC type electron gun, the driving system of the second type of FEC type electron gun is applied to a plurality of cold cathode elements. This will also be explained later in detail.
In the third FEC type electron gun, however, since all the cold cathode elements are controlled by a single FET, each of the emission currents of the cold cathode elements fluctuates, and as a result, the distribution of current density within the entire cold cathode is fluctuates with time, and thus, a stable electron beam cannot be obtained.

Field emission cathode type electron gun with individually-controlled cathode segments


A bioreactor for culturing of cells is described. Screens suitable as a cell growth scaffold may comprise crossed fibers. Screens may be contained loosely in a screen holder, which in turn may be contained inside a manifold assembly. A lower manifold, screen holder and upper manifold may have identical or similar interior open cross-sections. Flow of liquid medium can occur upwardly through the array of screens, then flowing over a weir in the presence of an air pocket, and into a moat and a pump. The screen holder may have slots whose exterior-facing ligaments are rounded, and may have grooves whose interior-facing edges are rounded. These components may be located inside an incubator suitable to maintain desired environmental conditions and cleanliness.

Bioreactors are used to expand a population of cells, such as stem cells or other anchorage dependent cells. However, improvements are still desirable, such as in regard to ease of use, and automation, and reproducibility of procedures. It is also desirable to culture so as to produce large numbers of cells, such as billions of cells if possible.


A light emitting diode includes a base, a light emitting chip, and a wavelength converting layer. The base is formed with a recessed portion that has a bottom wall surface, and a side wall surface extending upwardly from the bottom wall surface and cooperating with the bottom wall surface to define a receiving space. The light emitting chip is provided on the bottom wall surface of the receiving space, and has a top chip surface disposed below a top surface of the base, and a peripheral chip surface extending downwardly from the top chip surface and being substantially parallel to and forming a gap with the side wall surface of the recessed portion. The wavelength converting layer is filled in the receiving space in the recessed portion so as to cover the top chip surface and the peripheral chip surface of the light emitting chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a light emitting device, more particularly to a light emitting diode.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional light emitting diode includes a base 11 formed with a recessed portion 111, a light emitting chip 12 provided on a bottom wall surface of the recessed portion 111 and having a top chip surface and a peripheral chip surface, and a fluorescent layer 13 filled in the recessed portion 111 so as to cover the top chip surface and the peripheral chip surface of the light emitting chip 12. The fluorescent layer 13 contains phosphor particles 131 for converting a part of blue light emitted from the light emitting chip 12 into yellow light, so that the mix of blue and yellow light results in white light. However, since light (L2) emitted from the peripheral chip surface travels in the fluorescent layer 13 longer than light (L1) emitted from the top chip surface, the light (L2) is more likely to be converted into yellow light than the light (L1), thereby making the light obtained from the conventional light emitting diode yellowwish.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,316 discloses another conventional light emitting diode (see FIG. 2) that eliminates the aforementioned drawback by first covering the top chip surface and the peripheral chip surface of the light emitting chip 12 with a transparent spacer 14, and then disposing the fluorescent layer 13 to cover the transparent spacer 14. Since the fluorescent layer 13 has a uniform thickness, light emitted from different parts of the light emitting chip will be eventually converted to obtain output light that is less yellowish.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,576,488, 6,417,019 and 6,650,044 disclose methods such as electrophoresis and stenciling to manufacture still another conventional light emitting diode (see FIG. 3) including the fluorescent layer 13 that has a uniform thickness and that is disposed to directly cover the top chip surface and the peripheral chip surface of the light emitting chip 12. However, these methods can only be applied to the light emitting chip 12 that is mounted to the base 11 via chip bonding process (see FIG. 4) rather than wire bonding process. Furthermore, these methods lead to higher manufacturing costs, thereby impeding the popularity of the conventional light emitting diode.


Disclosed are a primer composition having photochromic property and impact resistance for coating transparent materials and a photochromic transparent material having a primer layer formed by coating and curing the primer composition. The primer composition for coating transparent materials comprises: a) 5-90 parts by weight of a polyurethane containing Brønsted salt; b) 5-50 parts by weight of a polyepoxy resin; and c) 140 parts by weight of a photochromic dye, based on 100 parts by weight of the total primer composition. The photochromic transparent material having a primer layer formed by coating and curing the primer composition shows excellent photochromic property and impact resistance.

The primer composition for coating transparent materials according to the present invention is applied to various transparent materials requiring transparency such as lenses for glasses, glass for cars, optical lenses, optical films, etc. Raw materials for transparent materials include plastics and glass. Among these, plastic lenses have strong breaking resistance and a lighter weight compared to glass and thus are largely used as substitutes for transparent glass. Particularly, plastic lenses are widely used in the field of optical lenses or lenses for glasses.
Materials for transparent plastic lenses include polyallylcarbonate, acrylic resin or polythiourethane. Such materials for transparent plastic lenses have soft surfaces and tend to be cracked or scratched. Therefore, such materials have a need of surface reinforcement, for example, by a silicone-based hard coating. However, a silicone-based hard coating is problematic in that it decreases impact resistance of a plastic lens. Accordingly, in order to prevent such a problem, it is necessary to coat a primer layer between a plastic lens and a hard coating layer.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. H8-54501 discloses a method for improving impact resistance of a plastic lens, wherein a layer formed of urethane-based resin is used as a primer layer.
Meanwhile, use of a photochromic compound as a primer layer has been disclosed in the prior art. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. H3-269507 discloses a photochromic lens comprising a plastic substrate, a hard coating layer formed of silicone resin and a primer layer between the plastic substrate and the hard coating layer, the primer layer containing a photochromic substance. In addition, use of photochromic coating composition is disclosed in several patent publications including Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. H5-28753 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,889,413, 6,107,396, 6,187,444, 6,268,055, 6,060,001 and 6,436,525.
However, when a photochromic dye combined with polyurethane is coated on a plastic substrate as a primer coating layer, there are problems in that the optical density is low and the bleaching rate is also low. Additionally, when the thickness of a primer layer is increased to 10 μm or more so as to obtain a high optical density, the hardness of a hard coating layer is decreased after applying the hard coating layer.
Generally, important factors to evaluate a photochromic lens are a high activation/bleaching rate, a high optical density (OD) and fatigue resistance. Among these factors, fatigue resistance can be improved by the selection of a suitable matrix and the addition of a UV stabilizer, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the optical density of a lens while maintaining a desired activation/bleaching rate. Particularly, it is an imminent subject in the field of photochromic primer coatings to improve the optical density. The most important factors determining the optical density of an organic photochromic dye are a structure of the dye itself and environments of the dye. However, these factors have not been considered heretofore in photochromic primer compositions according to the prior art.

Photocromic primer composition having high impact resistance and transparent material coated with the same


Stable, organometallic complexes of 5,5-diphenyl-2,4 imidazolidenedione (diphenyl hydantoin) are versatile biocides, effective when applied topically or parenterally to animal tissue, and when applied topically to plants. The diphenyl Hydantoin complexes are seen to prevent animal and plant tissue infections, and may be combined with other materials to inhibit infection.

The compound 5,5-Diphenyl-2, 4 imidazolidinedione, also known as diphenyl hydantoin, or phenytoin, possesses the structure ##STR1## and has been used as an anticonvulsant. It is still used in this way, although it has been supplanted, to some degree, by other drugs, especially the hypnotics. See, e.g., F.Buchtal et al., Antileptic Drugs, Raven Press, N.Y., 1972 at page 103. It is more extensively used as a veterinary anticonvulsant, particularly in the treatment of cats.
Diphenyl hydantoin, its derivatives, and compositions containing these are known in the art, as may be seen in, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,409,754; 3,932,449; 3,798,233; 4,091,233; and 4,093,809, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. While many uses for hydantoin and its derivatives are disclosed in these references, it is apparent that hydantoin and its derivatives have never been employed as biocides.
Organometallic compounds have been employed in the past as specific biocides, particularly as antimicrobials. For example, organometallic derivatives of sulfadiazine are among the most prominent of these materials. See, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,761,590; 4,020,150; 4,049,802; 3,792,161; and 4,078,058, in which organometallic compounds of sulfadiazine are disclosed, such as silver sulfadizine, zinc sulfadiazine, and cerium sulfadiazine. The efficacy of these compounds as antimicrobials is clear from these disclosures, which are incorporated by reference herein.
While each of these complexes exhibits satisfactory effect in particular applications, no single one of these compounds, or classes of compounds, is effective against a broad range of infections and infective agents such as bacteria, viruses, plasmodia, and the like. Additionally, treatment of target infections with the known metallic complexes of, e.g., sulfadiazne, has resulted in the development of mutant strains against which previously satisfactory anti-infection agents are now less effective, or noneffective.
Hence it is an object of this invention to provide material useful as a versatile biocide for, but not limited to, bacteria, viruses, plasmodia, and the like.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a process for the production of a versatile biocide.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of treatment for treating and/or preventing infection in plant and animal tissue by application of a versatile biocide.
How these and other objects of the invention are accomplished will become apparent in the following disclosure.


The liquid ejection head comprises: a plurality of pressure chambers connected to a plurality of nozzles from which liquid is ejected, the pressure chambers being arranged in a two-dimensional configuration; a diaphragm which constitutes a wall of each of the pressure chambers, the wall being located opposite to the nozzles; a plurality of piezoelectric elements disposed at positions corresponding to the pressure chambers on a surface of the diaphragm which is on an opposite side of the diaphragm from the pressure chambers, the piezoelectric elements causing portions of the diaphragm corresponding to the pressure chambers to deform; an intermediate plate which is located on a piezoelectric element side of the diaphragm where the piezoelectric elements are disposed and which forms a space around a periphery of each of the piezoelectric elements; electrical wires for electrically connecting drive circuits which drives the piezoelectric elements with drive electrodes of the piezoelectric elements, the electrical wires being disposed in the intermediate plate; and an ink pool section which is located across the intermediate plate from the diaphragm and which supplies the liquid to the pressure chambers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection head and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a liquid ejection head and an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of pressure chambers connected to a plurality of nozzles from which liquid is ejected are arranged in a two-dimensional configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
In print heads (also called simply "heads") mounted in image forming apparatuses, a so-called piezoelectric inkjet head is known, and for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-314833, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-127366, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-179973, and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-1550 disclose such piezoelectric inkjet heads. In such a piezoelectric inkjet head, ink accommodated inside pressure chambers is pressurized by using the displacement of piezoelectric elements, ink droplets are ejected from nozzles connected to the pressure chambers, and thereby an image is formed on a recording medium.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-314833 discloses a head in which piezoelectric elements are arranged on a diaphragm which forms one wall of each pressure chamber. In this head, a reservoir is provided on the piezoelectric element side of the diaphragm, and ink is supplied from the reservoir to the pressure chambers via supply ports formed so as to pass through the piezoelectric elements and the diaphragm.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-127366 discloses a head in which a space is provided in order to prevent the movement of piezoelectric elements formed on a diaphragm and a sealing substrate is provided for sealing the space. The reservoir is formed so as to pass through the diaphragm in a part outside the region of the row of pressure chambers, in such a manner that ink is supplied from the lower side of the pressure chambers.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-179973 discloses a head having a structure in which the partitions of an ink supply tank provided on the piezoelectric element side of a diaphragm seal off the piezoelectric elements. In this head, ink is supplied to the pressure chambers from an ink supply tank, via ink supply channels formed in the diaphragm in regions other than the regions corresponding to the pressure chambers.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-1550 discloses a head composed by stacking up a pressure chamber substrate in which pressure chambers are formed, a common electrode film having piezoelectric elements formed respectively at positions corresponding to pressure chambers, and a reservoir member having a lid-shaped structure which encloses a plurality of piezoelectric elements therein.
In recent years, there have been increasing demands for improved image quality and higher printing speeds, in inkjet heads. In order to meet these demands, it is necessary to form heads to higher density, and to enable them to eject high-viscosity ink at a high frequency.
However, in a head formed to high density, the ink flow channels tend to become highly complicated. As a result, the flow path resistance to the ink inside the head can increase, refilling characteristics can be degraded, it is difficult to eject high-viscosity ink at a high frequency, and consequently ink ejection becomes instable.
Furthermore, as the density of the head increases, the space for the electrical wires (internal wires) for driving the piezoelectric elements becomes insufficient, and the difficulty of wiring increases.
In the head disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-314833, thin-film transistor elements (TFT) of equal number to the piezoelectric elements are arranged on a side face of the head, and wires from the TFTs are extended to, and connected to, drive electrodes of the piezoelectric elements. However, no consideration is given to a composition in which the piezoelectric elements are arranged in a two-dimensional configuration and the composition is not suitable for installation of high-density wiring.
In the head disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-127366, electrode wires which are connected electrically to a common electrode which is common for a plurality of piezoelectric elements are provided on a sealing substrate, and connecting sections for connecting these electrode wires with drive circuits for driving the piezoelectric elements are provided on the sealing substrate. However, the description only relates to a composition with one row of piezoelectric elements, and therefore, similarly to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-314833, it is not suitable for installation of high-density wiring. Moreover, if the head disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-127366 is formed to a high density, then the ink flow channels become complicated, and there is a possibility that the refilling characteristics decline.
In the head disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-179973, electrical wires (internal wires) extended from the electrodes of the piezoelectric elements to the end section of the head are disposed in the same plane as the diaphragm on which the piezoelectric elements are disposed, and hence there is a high possibility that problems occur in the electrical wires, and the composition is therefore unsuitable for achieving high density in the head. Furthermore, the ink flow channels are composed by a plurality of bending channels, thus causing the refilling characteristics to decline, and making it difficult to eject high-viscosity ink at a high frequency.
In Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-1550, there is no discussion of the method of installing the electrical wires (internal wires) for driving the piezoelectric elements, and there is a possibility that the above-described problems occur in these electrical wires.

Liquid ejection head and image forming apparatus


A method, apparatus and computer program product are therefore provided in order to provide for efficient selection of a router (206, 208) for providing network services in an infinite link network. A mobile terminal (202) may identify nearby routers (206, 208) using link layer distance metrics in order to select an optimal router. The link layer distance metrics may provide a number of “hops” or other measure of physical distance between the mobile terminal (202) and the router (206, 208) in order to route packets to a router that is physically closest to the mobile terminal, which may result in a minimized number of relays for a packet transmitted from the terminal to the router, and vice-versa.

Advances in technology have allowed for increasingly complex features to be integrated into mobile terminals. As more and more devices are powerful enough to access and display Internet content, various ways of connecting these devices to one another and to the Internet have been devised. It is common for devices to have the capability to access networks such as the Internet via cellular networks, such as Third Generation (3G) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, or by wireless protocols such as the 802.11 network family.
However, these network access methods require a central provisioning authority, such as a cellular tower or a wireless router. As such, network-enabled devices are constrained by the availability of these central authorities. In response, new network models have been developed to provide these devices with increased access and flexibility. One such model is the "infinite link layer" model that represents all devices in an ad-hoc network environment, where devices may directly communicate with one another and forward network data. In such an environment, devices are not constrained by central connections to, for example, a single wireless router. In contrast, a single device may be able to connect with multiple devices, some of which may be routers that provide access to a traditional packet-switched Internet Protocol network, such as the Internet. If the device wishes to communicate with the Internet, a particular wireless router must be chosen. However, the infinite link layer provides unique challenges in the selection of such routers, because a given device may not be able to address every router available on the infinite link network. In practice, there may be some nodes of the network that cannot ever speak to one another due to packet replication limits (e.g., limiting a given message to a particular number of "hops" to conserve network bandwidth). As such, traditional methods for router selection (e.g., choosing from a list of preferred routers) may not be applicable, since the device may not have access to certain routers, due to the routers being more than the maximum number of hops away from the device.

Method and apparatus for selecting a router in an infinite link network


Briefly, one or more embodiments of an amplifier, including example applications, are described.

The present disclosure relates, in general, to amplifiers and similar electronic circuits. Portability is a desirable feature for a variety of electronic devices, including, for example, medical devices. Challenges exist in making electronic devices, such as amplifiers, for example, sufficiently small. One challenge relates to reducing power consumption since reduced power consumption may also reduce the size of a battery or similar power source to power the device. Likewise, a further challenge relates to noise reduction. At times, reducing power consumption may have an undesirable consequence in that signal quality may be reduced through increase noise.