A process is disclosed for fabricating precision polysilicon resistors which more precisely control the tolerance of the sheet resistivity of the produced polysilicon resistors. The process generally includes performing an emitter/FET activation rapid thermal anneal (RTA) on a wafer having partially formed polysilicon resistors, followed by steps of depositing a protective dielectric layer on the polysilicon, implanting a dopant through the protective dielectric layer into the polysilicon to define the resistance of the polysilicon resistors, and forming a silicide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to polysilicon resistors, and more particularly to a process for fabricating precision polysilicon resistors for use in all integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention provides a process for fabricating polysilicon resistors in which the tolerances of the sheet resistivity of each resistor across the surface of a single substrate are more precisely controlled.
2. Background of the Invention
Polycrystalline silicon resistors, also called polysilicon or polySi resistors, have been used in the electronic circuit industry for many years. Depending upon their doping and doping levels, p+, n+, p− and n− polysilicon resistors can be fabricated. P+ polysilicon resistors are extremely advantageous for use in analog circuit designs due to their desirable figures of merits. Typically, P+ polysilicon resistors are used in analog and mixed signal circuit designs because they can provide precise matching of subsequent resistors, a low temperature coefficient of resistance, a low voltage coefficient of resistance, and a low parasitic capacitance.
Although polysilicon resistors are widely used in analog circuit designs, such resistors generally have high sheet resistance tolerances ranging from 15–20%. This means the sheet resistance changes by +/−15 to 20%. In current analog and mixed signal applications, and in order to meet stringent circuit performance requirements, circuit designers are demanding lower tolerances in polysilicon resistors.
In the current state of the art, polysilicon resistors are fabricated by ion implanting dopants into a polysilicon layer during the source/drain (S/D) implant step and/or emitter implant step. The implanted dopants in the various regions are then activated utilizing a rapid thermal anneal process. Next, a dielectric layer such as a nitride is applied to the body of the polysilicon resistor so as to protect the body of the polysilicon resistor from being silicided in a subsequent silicidation step. The ends of the polysilicon resistors are then typically exposed and silicided by employing a conventional silicidation process that includes depositing a metal atop the exposed polysilicon end portions and annealing. A single or two-step anneal process may be used in forming the silicide depending on the type of metal that is deposited. The two-step anneal typically includes a silicidation formation anneal and a silicidation transformation anneal.
FIGS. 1A–1D are simple pictorial representations of the above described prior art process of fabricating polysilicon resistors. In these drawings, only a single polysilicon resistor device region is shown. Other device regions including other polysilicon resistor device regions, CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) device regions and/or bipolar transistor device regions may be formed adjacent to the resistor device region shown. The various device regions are typically isolated from each other by an isolation region, such as a trench isolation region or field oxide region formed in the substrate.
The initial structure shown in FIG. 1A includes semiconductor substrate 10, an optional first dielectric layer 12 located on the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate 10, a polysilicon layer 14 located on either an upper surface of the optional first dielectric layer 12 or an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate 10, and a second dielectric layer 16 located atop the polysilicon layer 14.
In the prior art process, and as shown in FIG. 1A, ions 18 are next implanted into the polysilicon layer 14 within the polysilicon resistor device region through second dielectric layer 16. Note that the ions 18 are also being implanted into other device regions present on the substrate 10. For example, ions 18 may be implanted into the CMOS device regions and/or the bipolar transistor device regions. The implanted ions within the CMOS device regions are used in forming source/drain regions and/or doping of a polysilicon gate conductor, while the ions being implanted into the bipolar device regions are used for doping the polysilicon emitter.
Following this ion implantation step, the dopants within the various device regions are activated using an activation annealing process. FIG. 1B shows the structure after ion implantation and activation annealing. In this figure, reference numeral 14a denotes a doped polysilicon layer.
Next, a protective dielectric 20 is formed atop the second dielectric 16 providing the structure shown in FIG. 1C. Ends of the protective dielectric 20 and second dielectric layer 16 in the resistor device region are removed by lithography and etching to expose a surface portion of the doped polysilicon 14a. The exposed surface portions of the doped polysilicon are then subjected to a silicidation process in which silicide contact regions 22 are formed. The resultant structure including the silicide contact regions 22 is shown, for example, in FIG. 1D.
The above described prior art process of fabricating polysilicon resistors results in undesirable high tolerance resistors having across wafer variations or tolerances in sheet resistance in excess of +/−15–20%. Moreover, in the foregoing described prior art process for fabricating polysilicon resistors, it is generally hard to control the sheet resistance value of the resistors, primarily because of the dopant activation/deactivation and movement in and out of the polysilicon grain boundaries due to subsequent thermal cycles.
In view of the above drawbacks with the prior art process of fabricating polysilicon resistors, particularly the difficulties in controlling the resistance tolerances of polysilicon resistors, there is a need for developing a new and improved process in which precise polysilicon resistors can be fabricated that more precisely controls the tolerances of the sheet resistivity of each polysilicon resistor being fabricated.

International Business Machines Corporation


An encapsulated self-balancing remote video camera system is provided, which is capable of righting itself into an upright, balanced position. The encapsulated self-balancing remote video camera system has a video camera, wireless communication means and balancing mass disposed within an internal, self-righting, inner structure. The inner structure is disposed within a transparent outer container, such that the inner structure may rotate within the outer container when resting upon a surface, such that the video camera rotates into an upright position by gravitational forces acting upon the balancing mass disposed with the inner structure. In addition, a remote operation means is provided, which enables a user of the present system to view video images transmitted from the video camera, and to remotely control movement of the lens and/or video camera.

Some conventional video camera systems, for use in surveillance, etc., are comprised of a bottom-weighted single sphere, that can be thrown into a structure for inspection thereof. The sphere has a camera mounted thereon, that is turned upright (into a position on the uppermost surface of the sphere when the sphere is resting on a surface) due to gravity. However, if the sphere comes to rest upon an uneven or soft surface, often the sphere fails to roll upright.
In order to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional video camera systems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an encapsulated self-balancing remote video camera system having an inner structure and outer container, capable of righting the inner structure into an upright, balanced position. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a system wherein the video camera may be rotated.

Encapsulated self-balancing remote video camera system


A blood extracting and receiving container assembly (10) having a coating agent (22) disposed on an interior surface of a blood receiving chamber (12) and an extracting apparatus (14) to effectively isolate a blood specimen from contacting surfaces which would initiate clotting. The coating agent contains molecules which inhibit the activation of blood elements responsible for initiating blood clotting processes. A method for manipulating a blood specimen in vitro in association with the subject blood extracting and receiving assembly (10) includes the steps of coating an interior surface of the extracting and receiving container assembly (10) with nonthrombogenic coating agent (22), and, while coating agent (22) adheres to the interior surface of assembly (10), withdrawing a blood specimen (24) into the assembly. Additionally, the method includes the steps of exposing the specimen to an activating surface in a controlled manner to initiate blood clotting processes, preferably while a portion of the specimen is admixed with the nonthrombogenic agent. A clotting parameter, such as weight or clotting rate, may be correlated with a disease condition.

In the medical field, it is often desirable to measure the thrombotic potential of blood, the tendency of blood to form a clot, and cardiologists have been using such measurements to predict the progression of diseases such as atherosclerosis and heart disease. In recent years, cardiologists have collected data indicating that blood elements play a significant role in heart disease and have concluded that blood clots are the primary cause of the majority of heart attacks.
The accumulating evidence has led to a scientific explanation of the correlation between heart disease and blood clotting processes. More specifically, areas of blood vessels that are covered with fatty plaques become brittle, causing the vessels to crack and fissure as the vessel is stretched. Tiny rifts in the vessel wall expose collagen which attracts formed elements in the blood known as platelets. The platelets aggregate near the rift and adhere to the collagen to restrict blood flow and initiate clotting processes. Cardiologists propose that heart attacks occur when a clot intended to repair a rift in a vessel wall grows too aggressively, blocking the entire passage and obstructing blood flow to the heart.
A significant medical advantage may be gained by using measurements of the clotting process in vitro to predict the likelihood of similar blood clotting processes occurring in vivo. Such measurements can be used to identify patients at greatest risk of heart attacks or strokes by reproducing in vitro the circumstances that lead to these maladies. Early detection of a highly reactive clotting response in a patient's blood permits a physician to treat the patient for excessive blood clotting activity to reduce the patient's susceptibility to heart attack or stroke.
In the past, apparatuses have been devised for evaluating the blood clotting process and associated platelet response of a blood specimen. However, problems with these apparatuses have arisen. Transfer of blood from a patient's circulatory system to the diagnostic apparatus significantly alters the blood elements responsible for clotting, specifically, the blood platelets and plasma protein-clotting factors. When a blood specimen is exposed to a surface other than healthy endothelial tissue, such as glass or other artificial surfaces, blood platelets in the specimen contact the foreign surface and become activated. Blood platelets immediately identify any synthetic blood container as foreign. Likewise, plasma protein-clotting factors, primarily factors VII and XII, become activated upon contact with damaged tissue or a foreign surface to initiate blood coagulation.
These changes significantly affect the transferability of observations on blood in vitro to conclusions about in vivo behavior. Moreover, analysis of the blood specimen using these prior art apparatuses typically requires centrifugation to remove the cellular components of the blood sample, resulting in further alteration of the blood from its state in the bloodstream.
Present procedures for evaluating blood clotting processes attempt to delay the above-described changes by adding anticoagulants, such as sodium citrate, to the blood specimen. Prior to evaluating the clotting potential of the specimen, the effect of the anticoagulant is reversed. However, since the blood was previously exposed to the abnormal surfaces of the blood evaluation device, some clotting factors are partially, or completely, activated, and many of the platelets also have become activated, including undergoing a shape change known as the disk/sphere transformation. Thus, in many respects, the blood specimen has begun the clotting process before diagnostic testing begins, and it becomes difficult to determine the blood specimen's original thrombotic tendency.
As an alternative to treating the blood specimen with anticoagulants, a class of blood evaluation devices has been devised to compensate for any minor activation of blood elements by massively activating the blood specimen immediately upon withdrawal f rom the bloodstream. These devices, generally referred to as whole blood coagulation analyzers, intermix a thrombogenic material, such as ground glass or diatomaceous earth, with the blood specimen to rapidly induce complete activation. Tests using this method of rapid activation, however, produce inconclusive results because clotting occurs too rapidly to distinguish excessively active clotting processes from healthy clotting processes.
Additionally, if blood can be withdrawn and studied in vitro without clotting and without the necessity to mix an anticoagulant with it, it is believed that characteristics other than clotting can be much more accurately observed.
The difficulties suggested in the preceding are not intended to be exhaustive but rather are among many which tend to reduce the accuracy, effectiveness, and physician satisfaction with prior apparatuses and associated methods for testing blood clotting processes. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presented above should be sufficient to demonstrate that such methods and apparatuses appearing in the past will admit to worthwhile improvement.
Accordingly, it is therefore a general object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method for manipulating blood in vitro which will obviate or minimize difficulties of the type previously described.
It is a specific object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which permits recovery of a blood specimen from a patient for determining the thrombotic tendency of the patient's blood.
It is another object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which may be used to identify individuals at high risk of maladies resulting from excessive blood clotting activity and to monitor high risk individuals during specific therapy to decrease the clotting activity.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which maintains a blood specimen in vitro in essentially the same state as found in vivo.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which alleviates the necessity of adding anticoagulants to the blood specimen and then reversing their effects prior to performing diagnostic testing.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which is self contained, disposable, and economical to manufacture.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a method for inhibiting activation of blood elements, specifically platelets, and those blood clotting factors which become activated upon exposure to an unnatural surface.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method for determining the thrombotic tendency of a blood specimen under sufficiently controlled conditions to permit discrimination between clotting rates which are dangerously high and those that are within an acceptable range.

Apparatus and method for in vitro manipulation of blood


A hydraulic pump is driven by a first prime mover. An actuator, which is controlled by a control valve, is operated by a pressure oil fed from the hydraulic pump. A second prime mover, which is an electric motor, is provided separately from the first prime mover. A pilot pump is driven by the motor. Hydraulic oil is conducted from the pilot pump to a pilot port of the control valve through a pilot oil pipe. A remote control valve is provided in the pilot oil pipe, and change-over operation of the control valve is controlled by the remote control valve. In an on-load state, a command value for controlling the motor is set at a target current value corresponding to a normal pressure, while in an off-load state the command value is set at a target current value which is lower. By so doing, there does not occur any unnecessary power loss even in an off-load state.

1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system in a hydraulic construction machine such as a hydraulic excavator or a bulldozer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a hydraulic excavator or a bulldozer is provided with a hydraulic pump which is driven by a prime mover. Hydraulic oil discharged by operation of the hydraulic pump is fed to actuators (for example a hydraulic cylinder) through control valves, which actuators actuate a working attachment such as an arm.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a conventional control system used in a hydraulic construction machine. A hydraulic pump 2 and a pilot pump 3 are connected to a shaft 10 of a prime mover 1. A control valve 5 is disposed between the hydraulic pump 2 and an actuator 4. Pilot oil pipes 53 and 54 are connected to a discharge oil pipe 31 of the pilot pump 3 through remote control valves 51 and 52. To the discharge oil pipe 31 is also connected a tank 6 through a relief valve 61. In accordance with operation of the remote control valves 51 and 52, hydraulic oil from the pilot pump 3 is fed to a pilot port of the control valve 5 to change over the state of the control valve 5.
In the above conventional control system, when the prime mover 1 is rotating at high speed and the actuator 4 is not operated (off-load), the pilot pump 3 is driven like an operating state (on-load) of the actuator, so that the hydraulic oil from the pilot pump 3 is not fed to the pilot oil pumps 53 and 54 but is returned to the tank 6 wastefully through the relief valve 61. Consequently, there occurs a large power loss. Moreover, upon turning OFF of the prime mover 1, the pilot pump 3 also stops operation, with the result that the main oil pressure source runs out and at the same time the pilot oil pressure source also runs out, thus making it no longer possible to control the control valve 5.

Control system in hydraulic construction machine


The present invention relates to a method and system for providing advertising inventory information. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for providing advertising inventory information in response to demographic inquiries. In an exemplary embodiment, a server responds to a demographic query. Based on the query, the server queries an advertising inventory database and a contract database to retrieve relevant information. Using the relevant information, the total inventory and the total sold inventory are obtained. Using the now obtained total inventory and the total sold inventory information, the server then provides an estimation of the total available inventory matching the query.

Use of the Internet by the general public is certainly gaining popularity. More and more people are getting access to the Internet and the vast amount of information that it provides. Due to the rapid increase in the number of Internet users, advertising on the Internet has consequently become an important priority for many advertisers.
As a result, for web portals and ISPs, a significant amount of revenue can be generated from displaying advertisers' ad banners on displayed websites or web pages. For example, for a preeminent portal such as Yahoo! which is visited daily by millions of users, considerable revenue can be made by displaying an advertiser's ads on its websites or web pages.
Generally, the advertisers pay a fee for each ad viewed by web users. Contracts to show ads are normally signed several weeks/months before the ads get delivered. The duration of contracts ranges from one day to multiple years. Typically, there are several types of contracts, including regular contracts, exclusive contracts and infinite contracts. For regular contracts, the advertisers purchase a designated number of ad views on a chosen space (web page). For exclusive contracts, they purchase all the ad views on a chosen space. For infinite contracts, they purchase all the leftover ad views on a chosen space after other regular contracts related to that space have been fulfilled.
Like advertising conducted through more traditional medium, such as TV or printed publications, advertising on the Internet is similarly subject to physical limitation. For obvious reasons, it is a natural and often most selected choice for advertisers to request ad views on the more popular web pages. However, since there is a finite amount of physical space on a web page, demand for ad space or ad views on popular web pages often exceeds supply. Thus, information on the level of available inventory is needed so advertisers can be advised appropriately to avoid overbooking of web pages.
In addition, while new contracts for ad views go into effect everyday, old contracts expire at the same time. The volume of newly subscribed ad views does not necessarily match that of expiring ad views. Hence, the level of available inventory varies depending on the pending and expiring contracts. In that regard, ascertaining the level of available inventory is also important. For example, ideally, the level of available inventory should be kept as low as possible so as to maximize advertising revenue. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and system which is capable of ascertaining the level of available inventory on a system-wide basis.
Moreover, the placement of ads is often, to a large extent, affected by demographics. Consequently, contracts to show ads often specify the target demographic group. Thus, before a contract is executed, it would be helpful to know the quantity of available inventory for the specified target demographic group. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and system which is capable of providing advertising inventory information in response to demographic inquiries.
Furthermore, representing all the information in an advertising inventory database is a non-trivial task. This is due to the need to order the large number of combinations of demographic values over time. It is empirically determined that approximately 1035 combinations of demographic attributes need to be represented. This high number of combinations is infeasible to implement in a database. Therefore, it would also be desirable to provide a method and system which is capable of effectively storing inventory information in a database.

Method and system for providing advertising inventory information in response to demographic inquiries


An electrical connector includes an insulating body, a terminal set, a wire, and a shielding housing having an upper shell body and a lower shell body. A support part of the first buckling sheet which is penetrated through a first buckle hole of the lower shell body is rivetedly pressed on an outer peripheral edge of the first buckle hole of the lower shell body. An upper side and a lower side of the wire are pressed by a top plate of the upper shell body and the bottom plate of the lower shell body so that the upper and lower shell bodies of the shielding housing can be integrally formed, thereby promoting the bulk intensity of the produced electrical connector, preventing the internal mechanism of the electrical connector from damage due to the oscillation of the wire, and promoting the reliability of the produced electrical connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technical fields of electrical connectors, and in particular relates to a HDMI electrical connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a High-Density Multichip Interconnect (HDMI) electrical connector includes an insulating body, a terminal set insertedly mounted in the insulating body, a wire connected to a rear end of the terminal set, and a shielding housing sleeved outside the insulating body to form a connection plug.
The shielding housing generally includes a front shell and a rear shell that are commonly designed as two individual parts, in which the front shell is utilized to sleeve outside the insulating body, and the rear shell is utilized to wrap on a wired position of the wire and the terminal set to tightly clamp a rear end of the wire. In the present market, different types of rear shells such as an integrally-formed rear shell and a split-type rear shell having an upper shell body and a lower shell body that are mutually engaged are provided.
In the assembling process of the integrally-formed rear shell, a rear end of a wire, which is penetrated in an interior of the rear shell, is moved forward to engage the front shell. In an actual application, because too many components of the front and rear shells exists in a wired position of the wire and the terminal set and geometric structure thereof cannot be perfectly flatten, the rear shell is possibly blocked and not allowed to insertedly engage with the front shell if any protrusion is existed thereon. Therefore, the internal components of the front and rear shells must be manually pressed and ordered so that a reassembling process can be smoothly performed again, resulting in problems of installation inconvenience, time-consuming and requiring strenuous effort.
In the design structure of the mutually-engaged upper and lower shell body of the rear shell, a limit clamping force produced from the engagement structure of a convex hull and a concave slot is limited. When the tail of the forced wire has a large oscillation amplitude, the internal components of the upper and lower shell body of the rear shell are easily loosened, or even the engagement structure is disengaged, deformed, warped or fallen off, resulting in weak assembly strength and short life service.
Basically, the size specification of the connection plug of the conventional HDMI electrical connector is generally standardized. Except the connection plug, other parts of the HDMI electrical connector can be dimensionally produced according to requirements. In the basic size of the conventional HDMI electrical connector, the length of the tongue piece is 12 mm, the sum of the lengths of the base seat and the tongue piece is 17 mm, the sum of the lengths of the base seat, the tongue piece and the wire clip is 20 mm, and the width of the wire clip is 15 mm. Besides, the width of the rear shell is 17.5 mm, the length measured from a front edge of the front shell to a rear edge of the bottom plate of the rear shell is 31 mm, the entire length measured from a frontmost edge of the front shell to the rear edge of the bottom plate of the rear shell is 31 mm, the entire length measured from a frontmost edge of the front shell to a rearmost end of the rear shell is 37 mm. However, due to a predetermined space to be required for the wired position of the adjacent terminals, it is difficult to realize product miniaturization for the requirement of market diversification.


An air pressure actuated shovel for removing shingles and attached nails from a roof to facilitate re-roofing. The shovel has an elongated handle with a finger actuated trigger mechanism attached to its top end and a shovel blade supporting an air hammer attached to its bottom. The trigger connects the air hammer and an external pneumatic power source via an air hose inside the handle so that when the trigger mechanism is squeezed, a reciprocating piston, driven by an air hammer, abuts the shovel blade to cause it to vibrate. The vibrating shovel blade effectively loosens shingles and nails from the roof of a building. The removal of shingles with the associated nails intact enhances safety due to the elimination of flying nails.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatically actuated shovel. More specifically, the invention relates to a pneumatically actuated shovel for removing shingles and attached nails from a roof to facilitate re-roofing.
2. Description of Related Art
Commonly, when a house or other building has to be reroofed, it is necessary to first remove the existing roof materials. Removing these materials, namely the shingles and nails attaching them to the existing roof structure, is a difficult process which has traditionally been accomplished by forcing a shovel or a similar tool under the shingles to pry them loose along with the attached nails.
This requires a great deal of physical exertion and often results in many of the nails either being forcefully ejected from the roof structure so that they pose a danger as they fly through the air or remaining embedded in the roof structure so that they must be removed from the roof structure separately of the shingles. In either case the task of cleaning up the removed roofing materials is made more difficult because the nails have been separated from the shingles while being removed.
One way to reduce the effort involved and the tendency of the nails to be separated from the shingles during the removal of the roofing materials is to utilize vibrating or reciprocating and otherwise movable shovel type elements driven by a variety of power sources to pry the shingles and attached nails from the roof structure. A number of tools having shovel type elements of the above described type have been disclosed in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,752, issued Jun. 20, 1978 to Jean-Claude Pomeret and Henry Bonnevaux, discloses a motorized shovel apparatus having a cart mounted swiveling support arm, a pneumatic motor driven winch assembly, and a shovel with a pneumatic vibrator disposed between the handle and the shovel blade. The shovel, which is suspended from the winch assembly on the support arm, has controls in its handle adapted to operate the pneumatic motor driven winch assembly and the pneumatic vibrator so that the shovel may be easily operated with a minimum of physical effort. The apparatus of Pomeret and Bonnevaux is intended to be used to dig holes in the ground in cases where the use of a large mechanical shovel is not economical or is not possible due to lack of space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,131, issued Apr. 23, 1991 to Brian J. Alto and Gregory F. Alto, discloses a long handled tool adapted for stripping roof shingles which utilizes a reciprocating blade slidably mounted over a shingle lifting plate to pry shingles from a roof structure and cut the shingle nails. When a trigger on the end of the handle of the tool is squeezed, an electric motor and gearing assembly connected to an offset crank causes the blade to reciprocate along an axis perpendicular to the leading edge of the lifting plate. The tool is effective at removing shingles and nail heads, but leaves the body of the nail embedded in the roof structure.
German Patent Number 925,428, issued Mar. 21, 1955, discloses another device which utilizes a motor and gearing assembly connected to an offset crank to reciprocate a blade member in front of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,503, issued Aug. 22, 1989 to John H. Dike, Jr., discloses a long handled shingle removing tool having a pivoting shovel element on the bottom end of the handle which is actuated by a trigger on the top end of the handle. The shovel element is pivoted upwardly by a pneumatic drive attached thereto to pry the shingles from the roof structure after the shovel element has been forced under a group of shingles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,119, issued Dec. 31, 1991 to Steven C. Wenz, discloses a roof shingle removing apparatus having a wheeled shovel like prying member with a blade attached to its forward edge. The blade on the apparatus of Wenz reciprocated along an axis parallel to the leading edge of the shovel like member which is adapted to cut the nail heads to allow the shingles to be easily removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,165, issued Mar. 24, 1992 to James L. Jacobs and Larry D. Rogers, discloses a wheeled cart connected to a roof mounted guide system that allows the roof to be traversed at various positions along different travel paths. The cart has a reciprocating blade attached to its forward edge that follows the contour of the roof structure to dislodge shingles and nails therefrom. The apparatus of Jacobs and Rogers relies on an electric motor to reciprocate the blade and a complicated blade support assembly to insure that the blade follows the contours of the roof structure.
German Patent Number 2,300,668, issued Jan. 8, 1974, discloses another device for removing materials from a surface. The device includes a reciprocating plate which pries beneath the surface of the material being removed. The above mentioned device is specifically adapted for removing carpeting from a floor and has a spiked wheel and guide assembly which draws the carpet upward after it has been pried from the floor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,894, issued Dec. 1, 1981 to Sam F. Emma, discloses a wheeled device having a long handle extending upward from its base and a movable shovel like member extending forward therefrom. The shovel member on the device of Emma is adapted to pivot downward to dump the material held in the shovel member.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,340, issued Mar. 19, 1985 to Yantzen et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,295, issued Dec. 7, 1971 to Samuel D. Gunning, disclose devices having pneumatically driven reciprocating contact elements extending therefrom. Both devices are adapted for breaking up concrete, asphalt, rock and the like in congested areas.
However, none of the prior art discloses a shovel having a pneumatically driven reciprocating shovel blade which is specifically adapted to remove roofing shingles and attached nails without separating them from each other.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


A valve device is configured for obturating an opening of a channel defined in an injection molding device. The valve device includes a plug movably received in the channel, and a resilient member connected with the plug. The plug includes an obturating portion for obturating the opening of the channel. The resilient member is configured for driving the plug to its original position where the obturating portion obturates the opening, after the opening of the channel is opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to valve devices, and particularly to a valve device of an injection molding device for manufacturing a foil decorated molding.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, various kinds of methods for manufacturing a foil decorated molding, which is molded by an injection molding process and has a transfer layer removed from a substrate foil of a transfer foil and placed on the surface of the molding after the transfer foil is inserted into cavities in an injection mold, have been known in the art. Since the use of the method requires an alignment of the transfer foil along a cavity-forming face of the mold, the transfer foil is preheated before the injection molding process so as to be easily aligned along the cavity-forming face of the mold where the cavity-forming face thereof is greatly recessed or projected from a parting face of the mold.
A traditional injection molding method includes transferring a heater between the male mold and the female mold to heat the foil before matching the molds, and removing the heater after the foil is heated. However, because of the need for the heater and the space it occupies, cost and volume of the injection mold is increased. A new method is used for elongating the foil between the male and female mold by exhausting air from a cavity via the female mold and pressurizing the foil by inputting thermal medium to cause the foil to cling to an inner surface of the cavity of the female mold. However, in this method, the thermal medium cannot be controlled.
What is needed is to provide a valve device for controlling supply of a thermal medium to an injection molding device.

Valve device of injection molding device


A method and a device in an electric power network (1), comprising an active filter (4) controllable via a control input (41), for reducing disturbances generated by a disturbance source (6) located in and/or connected to the power network. A control member (8) is adapted, based on at least one first state variable (Y1i) sensed in the power network (1) and a model of the power network (1), to calculate the disturbances (X2) which occur in a second section (B--B) in the power network (1) without action from the active filter (4), to calculate a control signal (C1) such that, supplied to the control input (41), it would generate in the second section (B--B) the calculated disturbances (X2) with reversed polarity, and to generate the control signal (C1) and supply this to the control input (41). By sensing, in addition, at least one second state variable (Y2i) in the second section (B--B), the control signal (C1) can also be generated in dependence on the control deviation (DU) of the second state variable (Y2i) from a desired value (Y2R). (FIGS. 1 and 2A)

Non-linear elements give rise to disturbances in the form of harmonics in the power networks to which they are connected. Thus, for example, by its operating principle comprising the cyclic connections of different parts of the alternating voltage via the valves included in the convertor, a convertor connected to an a.c. network generates harmonic currents on its a.c. side and harmonic voltages on its d.c. side. During the time intervals between the commutations, however, the convertor may be regarded as a linear element and the currents and voltages arising in the power network may therefore, during the above-mentioned time intervals, be determined from a linear model based on the knowledge of the phase position and the amplitude of the applied voltage as well as on the impedance and initial state of the network. Further, the cyclic connections impart to the currents and voltages arising waveforms which, during a steady state, are repeated for the respective time interval. In principle, only harmonics of the order n=kp .+-.1 occur on the a.c. side and of the order n=kp on the d.c. side, where p is the pulse number of the converter and k is a positive integer.
To reduce the stresses, originating from the harmonics, on the components included in the power network and to fulfill the requirements made on the effect of the harmonics on the network, therefore, filters are generally required to limit the propagation of the disturbances in the power network. Especially in plants for transformation between alternating current and high-voltage direct current, where there are also placed demands for limitation of telecommunications disturbances emanating from the lines, extensive installations for filtering the generated harmonics are required. These filters are generally built up from passive components and are tuned to the harmonics of a lower order whereas the harmonics of a higher order are filtered through a high-pass filter. When calculating the passive filters, factors such as resonances with the impedance of the network--which impedance is dependent on the network configuration--are also taken into account. The fact that the passive filters, installed on the a.c. side, are also to serve as members for generating reactive power is also taken into account.
Drift at mains frequency and in component values means that an exact tuning generally cannot be maintained, and also at the resonance frequency the filter impedance will not always be negligible as compared to the network impedance. In practice, therefore, harmonics remain in the network and to this is to be added the fact that during the actual commutations and due to any phase unsymmetries, harmonics of other numbers of order than those mentioned above are also normally generated.
The above-mentioned limitations of the passive filters have therefore led to proposals for the use of active filters instead, whereby the network via these filters are supplied with currents or voltages counteracting those which are generated by the disturbance source. By measuring the remaining harmonic contents in the power network, the supplied currents or voltages can then, in principle, be given such waveforms that they completely eliminate the harmonic contents of the network. Thus, in the IEEE publication 89 WM 123-1 PWRD (IEEE/PES 1989 Winter Meeting, New York 1989): Cheuksum Wong, Ned Mohan, Selwyn E. Wright and Karl N. Mortensen: Feasibility Study of AC- and DC-Side Active Filters for HVDC Converter Terminals, there is given a technical and economic evaluation of a device comprising a controllable current generator which is intended to be connected between line and ground in an HVDC station. The evaluation is based on calculations and on simulations of the device connected to the direct voltage side. The results indicate a good technical effect, but as far as is clear from the report the simulations have been performed only for steady state while considering harmonics of the orders 12, 24 and 36. Further, a greatly simplified model of the converter has been used and the effect of the direct voltage line has been neglected. By this approach it has been possible to calculate, based on the model, the reference value of the current which, via the current generator, is to be supplied to the network to eliminate the harmonics considered, and this reference value has then been used during the simulations. The report indicates a method of controlling the current generator of the active filter by harmonic analysis of the direct voltage at the converter and, by feedback via PI regulators, forming a reference value for the current generator such that the contents of harmonics of the above-mentioned three orders in the direct voltage are controlled towards zero.
As mentioned above, the connected power network shows an impedance with several resonance frequencies, and in fact, in view of the complicated characteristics in the frequency domain of an extended power network, control systems based only on feedback are likely to involve difficult dimensioning problems.
Essentially, the control problem is caused by the non-minimum phase behavior of the transfer functions of the electric power network. The physical reason for this behavior are electromagnetic waves travelling along the power lines and their reflections at points with changes in the impedance characteristics. This implies multiple transportation delay effects (echoes) on control responses of the electric power network as the natural damping effect on travelling waves is very low.
It is well known from text books in control theory, for example Bernard Friedland, Control System Design, McGraw-Hill International Editions, 1987, ISBN 0-07-100420-3, pp. 78, 144, 188, note 4.7, and Richard C. Dorf, Modern Control Systems, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Fourth Edition, 1986, ISBN 0-201-05326-8, pp. 262-264, that non-minimum phase implies zeros in the righthand part of the complex s-plane and it is also impossible to make stable feedback control with very quick response for non-minimum phase systems.
The need to reduce disturbances with a certain frequency content also exists in other physical processes, and methods for this have also been published on several occasions. Thus, PCT application PCT/GB80/00128 (WO 81/00638) discloses a method for reduction of acoustic disturbances, or more generally vibrations in gases, liquids, or solids, in which the periodic character of a disturbance source is utilized in such a way that a signal stored in a memory member is applied, repetitively and synchronized from the disturbance source, to a loudspeaker placed at a location where the disturbance is to be reduced. The acoustic pressure generated by the loudspeaker is given such an amplitude and such a phase position that it tends to extinguish the original disturbance. The desired cancellation of the disturbance is thereby obtained in such a way that the resultant acoustic pressure is sensed by a microphone whereupon, after certain signal processing, the signal stored in the memory member is corrected in such a way that it tends to further reduce the resultant acoustic pressure. Specifically, the last-mentioned publication describes methods whereby the correction is calculated from a measured value synchronized with the disturbance source and is added to the contents of the memory member in a phase-correct manner in view of the acoustic delay of the system, whereby the magnitude of the correction can either be given predetermined values or be in proportion to the amplitude of the resultant acoustic pressure.
Also EP application No. 88112057.0 (Publ. No. 0 301 483) describes a controller for a power convertor for systems for non-interrupted power supply, active filters, etc. The controller comprises a memory member adapted to store a signal corresponding to the output signal of the controller during a period of a repetitive sequence. The signal stored in the memory member is corrected by adding the control error, with one cycle's time delay, to the contents of the memory.
The introduction of a memory member for storage of signal values in the controller makes it possible to achieve a good cancellation of a stationary periodic disturbance, also with an amplification in the feedback loop which is low for reasons of stability. However, a low amplification means that the contents of the memory member is corrected relatively slowly during non-steady states.
The major disadvantage in this case is that delay effects and other non-minimum phase effects as well as other types of system dynamics are not included and compensated. In general, the correction of the memory with the control error delayed one period will make the controller unstable as there are implicit or explicit delay effects of the systems and other dynamics as well. The total delays add up to more than one period and therefore, even if the controlled system is stable, the damping effect of disturbances with one period repetitive patterns is not very high.

Reduction of disturbances in a power network


Detecting abnormal user behavior via temporally regularized tensor factorization. A method may include obtaining behavioral data of a plurality of users of cloud services to establish a first behavioral baseline; obtaining behavioral data for a particular user of the plurality of users to establish a second behavioral baseline; determining a first variation of behavior between the second and first behavioral baseline to determine an expected behavior; creating a tensor model for a succession of pre-determined time periods comprising multiple three-dimensional tensors; determining a temporal dependence between the multiple three-dimensional tensors; determining a temporal smoothness between the multiple three-dimensional tensors; predicting a future variation in behavior of the particular user based on a combination of the temporal dependence and the temporal smoothness, where the future variation in behavior indicates a potential security threat; and performing a remedial security action on a client device based on the predicted future variation in behavior.

Cloud access security brokers (CASB) may implement a cloud-based security policy between cloud service clients and cloud service providers to facilitate security policies as clients use cloud-based resources. CASB policies may enable threat protection to anticipate security threats in the cloud and subsequently protect a client's enterprise. In some cases, threat protection and predictions may include analyzing user behavior in the context of one or more cloud applications.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


A light source unit includes: a sealed semiconductor laser package including a laser diode that includes an emitter region from which laser light is emitted, the emitter region located at a surface of the laser diode, and a window member configured to transmit the laser light; a first lens structure configured to receive the laser light transmitted through the window member and create an image of the emitter region on an image plane; and a second lens structure configured to convert the laser light having passed through the image plane into a collimated or converged beam, and to emit the collimated or converged beam.

The present disclosure relates to a light source unit.
High-power and high-radiance laser beams are used for performing processing such as cutting, punching, marking of various kinds of materials, or welding a metal material.
Some of the carbon dioxide gas laser devices and YAG solid laser devices that have conventionally been used for such laser processing are being replaced by fiber laser devices, which provide a high efficiency of energy conversion. Semiconductor laser diodes (hereinafter simply referred to as LD) are used for pumping light sources of fiber laser devices. In recent years, along with increase in the output of LDs, techniques in which LDs are used for light sources of a laser beam directly radiated to a material to process the material have been studied, instead of using LDs for pumping light sources. Such techniques are referred to as direct diode laser (DDL) technology.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,733,932 describes an example of a laser light source which combines a plurality of laser beams each emitted from a respective one of a plurality of LDs, to increase the light output. Such combining of a plurality of laser beams is referred to as "spatial beam combining", and can be utilized to enhance the light output of a pumping light source of a fiber laser or a DDL devices or the like.


An information sharing paradigm for a cloud computing solution enables flexible organizational boundaries with respect to cloud resources. Cloud service customers manage their own organization boundary but can extend that boundary selectively by associating cloud resources they own with sets of domain names that may be associated with requests for cloud resources that the organization may be willing to share with other organizations that are using the cloud environment, and by ensuring that any such requests for resources that are shared in this manner are associated with one or more message handling policies that have been defined by (or otherwise associated with) the resource-owning organization. Cloud resources owned by an organization (even those marked as “internal only”) may be selectively shared with one or more other organizations using the cloud environment depending on the domain names associated with the requests. Message handling policies are enforced with respect to shared resources.

Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to extending organizational boundaries in a cloud computing operating environment in which resources are hosted in a shared pool of configurable computing resources.
Background of the Related Art
An emerging information technology (IT) delivery model is cloud computing, by which shared resources, software and information are provided over the Internet to computers and other devices on-demand. Cloud computing can significantly reduce IT costs and complexities while improving workload optimization and service delivery. With this approach, an application instance can be hosted and made available from Internet-based resources that are accessible through a conventional Web browser over HTTP.
Currently, organizations that leverage the cloud to provide solution services to their customer bases also are looking to implement notions of organizational boundaries that would allow them to control access to information as well as interactions between and among their constituencies. The concept of a "community cloud" would enable companies in many different types of industries to leverage cloud technology to expand and transform their business. Thus, for example, an agent-based insurance Company that relies heavily on independent agencies as a channel to reach customers may have an interest in sharing resources and services (using the cloud) while at the same time limiting which agents can talk to other agents in a chain. While some cloud-based solutions provide their users with application-specific flexibility in defining the scope of an organizational boundary, there remains a need to provide a more robust solution wherein the concept of organizational boundaries is fully extensible throughout a cloud so that users can control access to information and enforce policies around interactions across those boundaries.

Extending organizational boundaries throughout a cloud architecture


A method of transmitting a signal to at least one of a plurality of serially-connected devices. The method includes the step of receiving the signal at a first one of the plurality of serially-connected devices, where the signal includes a first address. Then, the signal is sent to each successive device of the plurality of serially-connected devices. Prior to the step of sending the signal to the each successive device, the first address of the signal is modified by a predetermined value at each of the plurality of serially-connected devices. Data associated with the signal can be transmitted to or received from at least one of the plurality of serially-connected devices if the first address received by the one of the plurality of serially-connected devices matches a predetermined address. The method is useful in the operation of programmable limit switches (PLS), especially in a PLS where each output circuit has an addressable controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of addressing serially-connected addressable devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a variety of applications, many devices must be addressed by a central processing unit. For certain applications, addressing the devices in parallel is common. For example, a number of memory devices in computing applications are commonly addressed in parallel by a central processing unit. This parallel addressing requires a dedicated connection from the central processing unit to each memory device. Serial addressing is less common for many applications due to the problems associated with determining for which serially-connected device a signal from the central processing unit is intended. In such applications, a unique address is assigned to each device. In industrial applications, for example, commands to machines controlled by a central processing unit require each machine to be assigned a unique address by, for example, common dual in-line package (DIP) switches. The central processing unit is then programmed to signal each machine by including its unique address attached to a command for that machine. When new machines are added, it must be assigned a unique address and its unique address must be used in the additional programming required to integrate the machine into the system. This problem is illustrated in programmable limit switches.
Programmable limit switches are known and used in a variety of applications. Their most prevalent application is in the use of automated assembly systems, such as a system to assemble diapers. In such systems, the product is moved along a conveyor from workstation to workstation and at each workstation a particular process of the assembly occurs. In the diaper assembly system, for example, one workstation layers a section of absorbent material, while another seals the edges of the layered material. The position of a product in the assembly is monitored by, for example, a resolver connected to the conveyor. The resolver most commonly includes a shaft, which rotates as the conveyor moves products linearly, and circuit means, which detects the rotation of the shaft and sends short pulses to a programmable limit switch.
The programmable limit switch receives position data from a variety of means for measuring position, such as the resolver mentioned, and uses them to control an output device, such as a glue gun, according to pairs of setpoints designated for the output device. Setpoints indicate when an output device is to be turned on and off. An example best illustrates the use of a programmable limit switch. Diapers on the conveyor have a starting edge spaced a certain distance apart, represented by 100 counts of position data, and each extends a length measured by 20 counts. The programmable limit switch controls a glue gun, which needs to apply glue along the edge of each diaper, starting at the second half of the diaper, i.e., 10 counts into the length of the diaper. The programmable limit switch is programmed with a setpoint pair depending upon the starting position of the first product such that the glue gun starts to apply glue 10 counts into the length of each diaper and stops applying glue 20 counts into the length of each diaper. If, then, the starting edge of the first diaper is 50 counts along the conveyor, the pairs of setpoints for three diapers sequentially traveling through the area of glue gun operation are 60 and 70, 160 and 170, and 260 and 270. Thus, when a counter of the PLS reaches 60, for example, its output is activated, or switched on, applying glue beginning half way along the length of the first diaper. When the setpoint 70 is reached, the output is deactivated, or switched off, ending the application of glue at the end of the first diaper's edge. The diaper then proceeds toward the next workstation. The programmable limit switch continues to activate and deactivate the output circuit connected to the glue gun according to the pairs of setpoints for each of the remainder of the diapers along the conveyor.
Of course, a device controlled by the programmable limit switch, such as the glue gun described in the example, can have a constant delay from the time it receives an electrical signal to the time the desired mechanical action occurs. Consequently, an offset is needed so that the electrical signal triggers the device on or off prior to the desired action. The determination of what the offset should be is complicated by the fact that as the velocity of the mechanical system changes, the offset changes. This means that, as the speed of the mechanical system changes, a larger offset is required to compensate for the same mechanical delay. Another complication is that many mechanical devices require two offsets because the delay for activating the device is often different from the delay for deactivating the device.
Prior art devices usually implement the control of such an output in software using a microprocessor. Position signals are provided to the microprocessor, which calculates velocity from two positions at a fixed time interval. The microprocessor computes the offsets using the velocity and adds the offsets to the actual position. These two positions are compared to a table of on/off positions to determine whether a change in output state is performed. This microprocessor can control many output circuits driving output devices from one position reading, but cannot operate at high speeds or with many simultaneously-controlled output circuits without a significant degradation in performance.
These output circuits that drive output devices and are controlled by the microprocessor are generally located on multiple circuit boards, adding the complication that commands sent from the microprocessor must know to which of a plurality of typically identical circuit boards they are addressed. In the prior art, one means of addressing the circuit boards is through the use of DIP switches mounted on each circuit board. The DIP switches set a unique address on each board, which the microprocessor reads to determine whether the command is intended for an output circuit connected to that circuit board or one connected to another circuit board. Similar to the problems previously discussed, each circuit board requires a unique address in order for the microprocessor to distinguish between the boards. Thus, whenever a circuit board is added, a unique address must be set for each new board.
Further, as programmable limit switches incorporate more and more functions due to the inclusion of a more powerful microprocessor, operating such switches has become more complicated and involved, necessitating many hours to understand how to program the microprocessor to create even the simplest set of operating instructions.


An electronic device may include a display and an optical sensor formed underneath the display. The electronic device may include a plurality of transparent windows that overlap the optical sensor. Each transparent window may be devoid of thin-film transistors and other display components. The plurality of transparent windows is configured to increase the transmittance of light through the display to the sensor. The transparent windows may have non-periodic portions to mitigate diffraction artifacts in light that passes through the display to the optical sensor. The transparent windows may be shifted by a random amount in a random direction relative to a grid defining point and/or may be randomly rotated to increase the non-periodicity. A transparency gradient may be formed between the transparent windows and the surrounding opaque portion of the display. The transparent windows may be defined by non-linear edges.

This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to electronic devices with displays.
Electronic devices often include displays. For example, an electronic device may have an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display based on organic light-emitting diode pixels. In this type of display, each pixel includes a light-emitting diode and thin-film transistors for controlling application of a signal to the light-emitting diode to produce light. The light-emitting diodes may include OLED layers positioned between an anode and a cathode.
There is a trend towards borderless electronic devices with a full-face display. These devices, however, may still need to include sensors such as cameras, ambient light sensors, and proximity sensors to provide other device capabilities. Since the display now covers the entire front face of the electronic device, the sensors will have to be placed under the display stack. In practice, however, the amount of light transmission through the display stack is very low (i.e., the transmission might be less than 20% in the visible spectrum), which severely limits the sensing performance under the display.
It is within this context that the embodiments herein arise.

Devices with displays having transparent openings


A passive optical network system is disclosed that simultaneously provides both broadcasting service and data service. The passive optical network (PON) amplifies the optical signals for the broadcasting service in an optical amplifier media of the local office by pumping optical signals generated from the central office and provides the optical signals for the broadcasting service to the subscriber terminals. Therefore, the present invention can simultaneously provide broadcasting service and data service for more subscribers without reducing the number of subscribers to the PON. Also, the present invention uses a plurality of optical sources for the data service and the broadcasting service and receives the optical signals generated from the optical sources by using a plurality of optical receivers in the subscriber terminals, and thus can provide a greater amount and variety of data services and broadcasting services.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passive optical network (PON), and more particularly, to a passive optical network system providing simultaneously both broadcasting service and data service.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid increase of the number of Internet subscribers, the variety of Internet services, the appearance of large capacity contents, etc., subscribers' demand for a large capacity of data services is exponentially increasing. However, the conventional networks based on copper wires have limitations with respect to transmission speed and the integrity of data, so that it is not possible to satisfy the demand for data services by subscribers today and in the future.
Meanwhile, due to the development of electronic elements in recent years, the optical communication systems can transmit data at speeds of several tens of Tbps or more. Therefore, in order to provide data services at high speed and with good integrity, the construction of a FTTH (Fiber To The Home) system, which connects optical fibers directly to the subscriber terminals, is required. The FTTH system can provide the transmission speed and the integrity demanded for data services today and in the future. A passive optical network (hereinafter, referred to as "PON") is being highlighted as a FTTH system, since the PON is one of the most efficient and economical networks from the viewpoint of its construction and maintenance.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional PON comprising a central office 10, an optical divider coupler 21, and a plurality of subscriber terminals 30, which are connected with one another by transmission optical fibers 40 and 50.
The central office 10 provides optical communication service for the subscriber terminals 30 through the optical divider coupler 21. That is, the optical divider coupler 21 is connected with the central office 10 and the subscriber terminals 30 through the transmission optical fibers 40 and 50, thus being able to transmit the optical communication service provided from the central office 10 to the subscriber terminals 30.
To this end, the central office 10 includes a downstream optical source 11 for providing an optical source needed in order to transmit data to the subscriber terminals 30 (downstream transmission), an upstream optical receiver 13 for receiving data transmitted upstream from the subscriber terminals 30, and a first wavelength division multiplexer 15 for filtering and transmitting the signals output from the downstream optical source 11 and the signals transmitted to the upstream optical receiver 13. The subscriber terminals 30 include an upstream optical source 31 for providing an optical source needed in order to upstream transmit data to the central office 10, a downstream optical receiver 33 for receiving data transmitted downstream from the central office 10, and a second wavelength division multiplexer 35 for filtering and transmitting the signals output from the upstream optical source 31 and the signals transmitted to the downstream optical receiver 33. In other words, the optical divider coupler 21 connects a central office 10 with the subscriber terminals 30.
Recently, a number of studies have been addressed to providing broadcasting service through a PON, which has historically been provided by a different hybrid fiber coaxial network (HFC network). That is because the PON may reduce the cost of constructing and maintaining the network for providing data service and broadcasting service simultaneously.
Meanwhile, the analog broadcasting system must have a high CNR (carrier to noise ratio) value so as to maintain clear screen quality on the subscriber terminals. Therefore, in constructing the network system for providing the broadcasting service by the PON, the optical signals being input into the optical receivers in the subscriber terminals must necessarily maintain a very high level of output so as to maintain a proper CNR.
By contrast, digital broadcasting in the future requires a relatively low CNR as compared with analog broadcasting, thus enabling the subscriber terminals to have clear screen quality, though the optical signals input into the optical receivers of the subscriber terminals have a relatively low level of output. However, in order to increase the capacity of the broadcasting channels, the output level must be increased of the optical signals being input into the optical receivers in the subscriber terminals in consideration of additional noise generated by the increased broadcasting signals, so that the optical signals may maintain a proper CNR.
Consequently, when the broadcasting service is provided by a PON, the PON must be constructed so as to provide optical signals of a high level output for the optical receivers in the subscriber terminals,
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional PON for simultaneously providing both broadcasting service and data service and comprises, similar to the conventional PON illustrated in FIG. 1, a central office 10a, an optical divider coupler 21, and a plurality of subscriber terminals 30a, which are connected with one another by transmission optical fibers 40 and 50, and each component of equipment is also similar to those illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIGS. 1 and 2 differ only in that the central office 10a further comprises a broadcasting optical source 17 for a broadcasting service and an optical amplifier 19 for amplifying the signals output from the broadcasting optical source 17, and the subscriber terminals 30a further comprise a broadcasting optical receiver 37 for receiving the signals transmitted from the broadcasting optical source 17. The broadcasting optical source 17 modulates and outputs, according to the broadcasting signals, the optical signals of the wavelength which is distinguished from the wavelength of the optical signals outputted from the downstream optical source 11.
Therefore, a first wavelength division multiplexer 15a in the central office 10a multiplexes and outputs the optical signals, which are output from the broadcasting optical source 17 and amplified by the optical amplifier 19, and the optical signals output from the downstream optical source 11. Also, a second wavelength division multiplexer 35a in the subscriber terminals 30a demultiplexes the multiplexed optical signals as described above, and separates data service signals and broadcasting service signals. The separated data signals and broadcasting signals are provided for subscriber terminals after being data processed by the downstream optical receiver 33 and the broadcasting optical receiver 37, respectively.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, in order for a PON to simultaneously provide broadcasting service and data service, the conventional art directly amplifies the optical signals modulated according to the broadcasting signals by inputting them into the optical amplifier 19, so as to raise the output level of the optical signals being output for broadcasting service from the central office 10a, in order to raise the output level of optical signals being input into the broadcasting optical receiver 37 in the subscriber terminals 30a.
However, when the optical signals for broadcasting service, having a higher output level than a basic value, are input to the transmission optical fiber 40, the noise component is rapidly raised by the nonlinear quality of optical fiber, so that it is impossible to maintain the proper CNR (carrier to noise ratio) required for the broadcasting service. Thus, the output level of the optical signals for broadcasting service, which is amplified by the optical amplifier 19 in the central office 10a and is input to the transmission optical fiber 40, is limited below a basic value by the nonlinear quality of optical fiber.
Therefore, in order to maintain the optical signals, which are input into the optical receivers (especially, the broadcasting optical receiver 37) in the subscriber terminals 30a, in the high level of the output, the number of branches of the optical divider coupler 21 must be reduced, thus it is possible to reduce the loss of the optical signals for broadcasting service.
However, since each PON determines the accessible number of the subscriber terminals according to the number of branches of the optical divider coupler 21, the number of subscriber terminals being accepted by the PON cannot help but be reduced when the broadcasting service is provided by the PON as a conventional art. For this reason, more PONs must be built. Consequently, to use the conventional PON it is more costly and time consuming due to the additional construction and maintenance.
Therefore, in order to efficiently provide the broadcasting service by a PON, it is necessary to develop a PON which is able to simultaneously provide both broadcasting service and data service without reducing the number of subscriber terminals.
Also, in order to increase the number of broadcasting channels for service according to the request of the subscriber, the conventional art must further increase the output level of the optical signals being input into the broadcasting optical receiver 37 of the subscriber terminals 30a because of the additional noise generated by the increased number of broadcasting channel signals, thus enabling the signals to be maintained within a proper CNR for clear screen quality. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a network system that can accept more broadcasting channels.

Passive optical network system providing simultaneously both broadcasting service and data service

Maetan-Dong, Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon-Si, Gyeonggi-Do


Analytical solutions to error bounds on the temperature depth distribution have been given in this invention. Solving the one dimensional steady state heat conduction equation for different sets of boundary conditions and radiogenic heat generation and incorporating Gaussian randomness in the thermal conductivity analytical closed form solutions to the mean and variance in the temperature depth distribution have been obtained. These closed form analytical solutions of mean and variance for the temperature field for different conditions have been used to compute and display the plot and results of the temperature depth profiles along with its error bounds. Quantifying the error statistics in the system output due to errors in the system input is very essential for a better evaluation of the system behavior. Earth Scientists involved in understanding the subsurface thermal structure relevant to geodynamical studies will benefit using these findings.

This invention relates for obtaining and computing the subsurface temperature depth distribution along with its error bounds. The solution has been determined for the stochastic heat conduction equation by considering different sets of boundary conditions and radiogenic heat sources and incorporating randomness in the thermal conductivity. In understanding the Earth thermal structure there are several questions which need clear answers. Many of the controlling parameters that define the Earth's processes are not known with certainty. In such situations these controlling parameters can be defined in a stochastic framework and an average picture of the system behavior together with its error bounds can be quantified.
The thermal structure of the Earth's crust is influenced by its geothermal parameters such as thermal conductivity, radiogenic heat sources and initial and boundary conditions. Basically two approaches of modeling are commonly used for the estimation of the subsurface temperature field. These are: (1) deterministic approach and (2) the stochastic approach. In the deterministic approach the subsurface temperature field is obtained assuming that the controlling thermal parameters are known with certainty. However, due to inhomogeneous nature of the Earth's interior some amount of uncertainty in the estimation of the geothermal parameters are bound to exist. Uncertainties in these parameters may arise from the inaccuracy of measurements or lack of information about the parameters themselves. Such uncertainties in parameters are incorporated in the stochastic approach and an average picture of the thermal field along with its associated error bounds are determined. To assess the properties of the system at a glance we need to obtain the mean value that gives the average picture and the variance or the standard deviation that is the variability indicator which gives the errors associated with the system behavior due to errors in the system input.
Subsurface temperatures are also seen to be very sensitive to perturbations in the input thermal parameters and hence several studies have been carried out in quantifying the perturbations in the temperatures and heat flow using stochastic analytical and random simulation techniques. Quantification of uncertainty in the heat flow using a least squares inversion technique incorporating uncertainties in the temperature and thermal conductivities has been done, Tectonophysics, Vol 121, 1985 by Vausser et al. The effect of variation in heat source on the surface heat flow has also been studied, Journal Geophysical Research, V 91, 1986, by Vasseur and Singh, Geophysical Research Letters, V14, 1987, by Nielsen. In most of the studies the stochastic heat equation has been solved using the small perturbation method. Using the small perturbation method the heat conduction equation has been solved by incorporating uncertainties in the heat sources and the mean temperature field along with its error bounds have been obtained, Geophysical Journal International, 135, 1998, by Srivastava and Singh. The random simulation method has also been used to model the thermal structure incorporating uncertainties in the controlling thermal parameters, Tectonophysics, V156, 1988 by Royer and Danis, Marine and Petroleum Geology, V 14, 1997, by Gallagher et al, Tectonophysics, V 306, 1999a, b, by Jokinen and Kukkonen. This numerical modeling is very useful in studying the nonlinear problems but sometimes simple 1-D analytical solution to the mean behavior and its associated error bounds is very useful in quantifying the uncertainty. The stochastic differential equations in other fields are now being solved by yet another approach called the decomposition method, Journal of Hydrology, V 169, 1995, by Serrano. In a recent study using this new approach the stochastic heat equation has been solved incorporating uncertainties in the thermal conductivity where the solution to the temperature field is obtained using a series expansion method, Geophysical Journal International, V 138, 1999, by Srivastava and Singh. The thermal conductivity is considered to be a random parameter with a known Gaussian colored noise correlation structure.
In this invention the stochastic solution to the mean and variance in the temperature field for a different set of boundary conditions and different radiogenic heat source function has been obtained following the procedure of Geophysical Journal International, V 138, 1999, by Srivastava and Singh. The expressions for mean and variance in temperature depth distribution for different heat sources and boundary conditions have been obtained and used to compute and plot the subsurface thermal field along with its error bounds.

Method for analytically obtaining closed form expressions for subsurface temperature dept distribution along with its error bounds

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


Methods and systems for detecting visual relations in a video are disclosed. A method comprises: decomposing the video sequence into a plurality of segments; for each segment, detecting objects in frames of the segment; tracking the detected objects over the segment to form a set of object tracklets for the segment; for the detected objects, extracting object features; for pairs of object tracklets of the set of object tracklets, extracting relativity features indicative of a relation between the objects corresponding to the pair of object tracklets; forming relation feature vectors for pairs of object tracklets using the object features of objects corresponding to respective pairs of object tracklets and the relativity features of the respective pairs of object tracklets; and generating a set of segment relation prediction results from the relation features vectors; generating a set of visual relation instances for the video sequence by merging the segment prediction results from different segments; and generating a set of visual relation detection results from the set of visual relation instances.

Bridging the gap between vision and language is essential in multimedia analysis, which has attracted a lot of research effort ranging from visual concept annotations, semantic description with captioning, and visual question-answering. Visual relation detection (VRD), a recent effort in offering more comprehensive understanding of visual content beyond objects, aims to capture the various interactions between objects. It may effectively underpin numerous visual-language tasks, such as captioning, visual search, and visual question answering.
Visual relation involves a pair of objects localized by bounding boxes together with a predicate to connect them. FIG. 1a shows several examples of visual relations, in which two objects can be connected with various predicates and the same predicate can connect different object pairs with different appearances. As shown in FIG. 1a, the visual relation between a first person 112 and a first dog 114, the visual relation between a second person 122 and a second dog 124, the visual relation between a person 132 and motorcycle 134, and the visual relation between a person 142 and a horse 144 may be determined by VRD. In this disclosure, we use the term relation triplet to denote a type of visual relation represented by a unique combination of <subject, predicate, object> as a triplet. Due to the combinatorial complexity, the possible space for relation triplets is much larger than that of objects. Because of this, existing methods that could obtain significant performance in object detection, are not applicable to VRD. Several methods have been proposed for VRD. However, they all applied to still images only. Compared to still images, videos provide a more natural set of features for detecting visual relations, such as the dynamic interactions between objects.
Recent research works have focused efforts on VRD in images. It has been commonly observed that a fundamental challenge in VRD lies on how to model and predict the huge number of relations by learning from few training examples. To tackle the problem, most existing methods separately predict the subject, predicate and object in the visual relation triplet, reducing the complexity from O(N2K) to O(N+K), where N and K are the numbers of objects and predicates respectively. Some of these methods further improve the performance by leveraging language prior and regularizing relation embedding space. Extracting relation related features is another crux of VRD. Recent research has used coordinate or binary mask-based features to enhance the performance of detecting spatial relation. The visual feature level connection among the components of relation triplets has also been studied to exploit additional statistical dependency but requires O(NK) parameters for the modeling.
Video object detection aims to detect objects belonging to the pre-defined categories and localize them with bounding box trajectories in a given video. The state-of-the-art methods address this problem by integrating the latest techniques in both image object detection and multi-object tracking. Recent sophisticated deep neural networks have achieved mature performances in image object detection. However, object detection in videos still suffers from low accuracy, because of the existence of blur, camera motion and occlusion in videos, which hamper accurate object localization with bounding box trajectories. On the other hand, multi-object tracking with tracking-by-detection strategy tends to generate short trajectories due to the high miss detection rate of object detectors, and thus additional merging algorithms are developed to obtain more temporally consistent object trajectories.

Video visual relation detection methods and systems


A firearm component including a barrel having a bore extending to a generally circular aperture at a forward end of the barrel. The barrel has a series of compensator slots spaced at equal intervals along the bore. Each slot has an oblong cross section extending through the barrel from an interior surface to an exterior surface having a major axis and a minor axis. The cross section also has a length measured along the major axis and a width measured along the minor axis that is shorter than the length. The interval between each adjacent pair of slots in said series of compensator slots has a width greater than the width of each slot in the adjacent pair. At least a portion of the cross section extends below the central bore axis.

The present invention relates to firearm components, and more particularly, to a firearm component providing a compensator for reducing undesirable loads, such as muzzle rise, that firearms impose on users.
Compensators are well known and used on handguns and rifles. When a user shoots a firearm, high-pressure gases push a bullet through the barrel at high speed. The pressure also causes a recoil force that pushes the gun toward the shooter. This force, which is proportional to the caliber of the bullet and pressure developed behind the bullet, is directed along the barrel. Because the grip of a handgun (or the stock of a rifle) is below the barrel, the gun imposes both a force and a moment on the user. The force pushes directly rearward on the user's hand, and the moment torques the user's hand, so the front end of the handgun tends to move upward and off target. This upward motion is often called muzzle rise. Because the user must realign the handgun with the target before taking another shot, muzzle rise increases the time required between repeated shots. Further, the recoil force and muzzle rise moment fatigue the user, discouraging users from shooting the handgun repetitively over extended periods. Moreover, repeatedly being subjected to recoil and muzzle rise can cause users to respond involuntarily to compensate for these loads, moving the firearm off target.
Conventional compensators include combinations of expansion chambers, baffles, and ports. Expansion chambers allow gases to expand before the bullet leaves the barrel. The expanding gas reduces the pressure in the barrel, which reduces the recoil. Baffles separate expansion chambers. Gases expanding into a chamber impact the baffle. The impact is normally greater on the downstream face of the baffle, causing loads on the barrel in a direction generally opposite the recoil force. Usually, the greatest recoil reduction achieved by compensators results from gases impacting baffles before the bullet exits the firearm. Ports provided in the interior and the exterior of the firearm direct gases escaping from the barrel and/or the expansion chambers. Ports extending from the interior of the barrel not only allow gases to expand, reducing recoil force but also provide downstream surfaces that are impacted by the expanding gas, counteracting muzzle rise moment. Ports venting gases from the top of the firearm direct propulsive forces downward opposing muzzle rise. Depending upon the configuration of expansion chambers, baffles, and ports, the propulsive forces and impact forces created by gases escaping the barrel are delayed, extending the duration of recoil and reducing the peak forces applied. Thus, the particular configuration of expansion chambers, baffles, and ports can significantly affect compensator performance.
There are advantages and disadvantages to conventional compensators. Some conventional compensators direct sound, flash, pressure waves, and/or smoke containing lead toward the user and bystanders. Further, compensators frequently add length and weight to the end of the firearm, increasing potential user fatigue. Still further, in some cases compensators decrease accuracy and/or precision of the firearm. Thus, there remains a need for a compensator that reduces one or more of these disadvantages inherent in conventional compensators.
The specification describes some features resulting from the improvement described below, and other features should be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An image taking method includes the steps of taking an image of an object to be taken, thereby generating image data. A predetermined objective body is detected from the image data. Exposure and/or focusing position are determined for each of the detected objective bodies. The image taking means is caused to take an image of each objective body according to the exposure and/or the focusing position determined for each of the detected objective bodies in response to one image-taking action.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for taking an image such as a digital camera with an automatic exposure control system and an autofocus system, and a method of taking an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been spread an image taking system such as a digital camera or a digital video camera which is provided with an automatic exposure control (AE) system and/or an autofocus (AF) system. As shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11(1999)-146405, in the AE system and AF system, there has been known a technique where a position of the human is determined by detecting the skin color from obtained image data and the exposure conditions and/or the focusing position are determined.
However, in many image taking systems including those where the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11(1999)-146405 is employed, since the exposure control is carried out on only one of the humans and the focusing position are determined, when a plurality of humans to be photographed exist, the other humans can be out of focus and the image taken can deviate from intension of the user.


A package for integrated circuits is described. The package has a package substrate with a land side and an opposite die side, a first set of low level signal connectors on the die side to connect to an IC to be carried by the package, and a second set of low level signal connectors on the die side to connect to external components. The package may have power connectors on the land side or a power supply attached to the land side. A heat spreader or cooler may be attached to the die side.

1. Field
The present description relates to integrated circuit packaging, and more particularly, to the placement of external connections on an integrated circuit package.
2. Background
IC's (Integrated Circuits) are manufactured in and on semiconductor wafers with several layers of active circuitry. The wafer is cut into separate semiconductor chips or dies which are mounted to and electrically coupled to package substrates. The substrates and dies are sealed inside a package for which the substrate is said to be on the land side of the package and the chip or die is said to be on the die side of the package. Pins, balls or lands for the ground plane, power plane and low level signaling extend from the package to allow the package to be coupled to a PCB (Printed Circuit Board), PWB (Printed Wiring Board), or a socket. Many packages also have a heat transfer plate or some other heat conducting structure to connect to a cooling device such as heat fins, heat pipes, liquid radiators, etc.
Typically, all of the package connections for ground, power, and signaling are placed on the land side of the package and extend directly from the package substrate. For more complex chips, this requires that the connectors be very close together and that the high level power connectors be placed close to low level signal connectors. The die side typically has no connections except for cooling connections. For example, the die side of the package may carry a finned heat sink. For higher power chips, a fan with power and control connectors may also be mounted to the die side of the package.
The die operates best with a clean power supply and reference voltage, for example a uniform voltage level and minimal noise. The power delivery path from a power supply such as a VRM (Voltage Regulator Module) to the die, however, has an inductance associated with it, creating impedance in the power delivery system. During core switching, when a portion of the microprocessor is powered up or powered down, a large amount of current is drawn by the die and the current change causes a large voltage drop at the die due to the inductance in the power delivery path. These voltage drops may be mitigated using decoupling capacitors, but the capacitors add complexity and expense to the system design. Some systems use bulk capacitors, die side capacitors, and on-die (or embedded chip) capacitors. Land side capacitors are also used in some systems.
In addition, the trend in processor design is to operate at lower voltages (1 volt or less) but higher power, this increases the necessary amperage (100 Amps or more). Higher current levels are more susceptible to impedance effects and voltage drops. High current levels also require more bulky and expensive connectors between the VRM and associated chip. High current levels also create interference or distortion in low level signaling connections.

IC package with power and signal lines on opposing sides