A method and system for providing a magnetic writer are described. The method and system include providing a bottom antireflective coating (BARC) on a portion of the magnetic writer. The BARC has a low reflectivity. The method and system also include providing a barrier layer on at least a portion of the BAR and providing a mask on at least a portion of the barrier layer. The barrier layer isolates the BARC from the mask.

FIG. 1 depicts a conventional method 10 for fabricating a conventional perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) pole of a conventional PMR transducer. FIGS. 2-4 depict the conventional PMR head 50 during fabrication using the conventional method 10 as viewed from the air-bearing surface (ABS). For clarity, the conventional PMR head 50 is not to scale. Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the method 10 commences after formation of an alumina underlayer. A conventional seed layer, such as Ru, is deposited, via step 12. A conventional bottom antireflective coating (BARC) layer of SiN is typically, deposited, via step 14. The conventional BARC layer may be used to reduce or eliminate reflections from the underlying substrate
A photoresist layer is provided on the conventional BARC is provided on the conventional BARC layer, via step 16. FIG. 2 depicts the conventional PMR head 50 after step 16 is provided. The conventional PMR head 50 is typically a merged head including a conventional PMR write transducer 60 and a read transducer 80. Thus, the conventional read head 80 typically includes a first shield 82, a read sensor 84, and a second shield 86. The read head 80 may be separated from the PMR write transducer 60 by an insulator 54. The conventional PMR transducer 60 includes a first pole 62 and alumina underlayer 64. The conventional seed layer 66 and conventional SiN BARC layer 68 have also been formed. Also shown is the photoresist layer 70.
The photoresist layer 70 is patterned, via step 18. Typically, step 18 is performed utilizing photolithography. Step 18 includes forming a trench in the photoresist layer 70 in which the conventional PMR pole is to be formed. FIG. 3 depicts the conventional PMR head 50 after step 18 has been completed. Thus, a trench 71 has been formed in the photoresist 70′. At the base of the trench 71, footings 73 exist. In addition, because a PMR pole is being formed, the trench 71 has a reverse angle. Stated differently, the angle, θ, is less than ninety degrees. The magnetic material for the PMR pole is deposited via step 20. Step 20 also may include removing an exposed portion of the conventional BARC layer 68 at the base of the trench. Thus, the trench 71 is at least partially filled. Fabrication of the conventional PMR head 50 is completed, via step 22. Step 22 may include removing the resist 70′, performing a pole trim and/or chemical mechanical polish (CMP), as well as forming other structures, such as shields. FIG. 4 depicts the conventional PMR head 50 after completion of the method 20. Consequently, the PMR pole 72 has been formed. During formation, a portion of the conventional BARC layer 68 is removed. Subsequently, the resist mask 70′ and exposed portions of the BARC layer 68 and seed layer 66 are removed. Thus, only a portion of the seed layer 66′ remains. Although shown separately, the seed layer 66′ might be indistinguishable from the PMR pole 72. In addition, an insulating layer 74 substantially surrounding the sides of the PMR pole 72 has been provided. In addition, a write gap 76, optional conventional top shield 78, and insulator 79 are also fabricated. The PMR transducer 60 may also include a second pole (not shown) and pole pads (not shown). The shape of the PMR pole 72 substantially conforms to the shape of the trench 71. Consequently, the conventional PMR pole 72 has reverse angle, θ. The conventional PMR head 50 may thus be formed.
Although the conventional method 10 and conventional PMR head 50 function, there are drawbacks. Although the conventional Ru seed layer 66 enables growth of the PMR pole 72, the conventional seed layer 66 is typically strongly reflective. As a result, placing the resist layer 70 directly on the conventional seed layer 66 would adversely affect photolithography used in patterning the photoresist layer 70 in step 18. Use of the conventional SiN BARC layer 72 substantially reduces the reflection from layers below the photoresist layer 70. Consequently, unwanted optical effects due to reflections from the conventional seed layer 66 may be reduced or eliminated.
Although the conventional BARC layer 68 improves the photolithography, use of the conventional BARC layer 68 results in footings 73 that adversely impact the conventional PMR head. The footings 73 are generally believed to be caused by an acid-base interaction between the acidic resist 70 and the basic conventional BARC 68. This interaction is known as resist poisoning. The footings 73 limit the trench line width resolution and increase scumming. As a result, the conventional PMR pole 72 formed within the trench 71 has an increased width. In addition, the process window is decreased. The line width thus varies sharply with a change in the focus conditions for photolithography. In addition, there is a greater variation in the critical dimension of the trench 71 between devices 50. Consequently, processing may need to be more tightly controlled. Thus, performance and manufacturability of the conventional PMR head 50 may be adversely impacted.
Methods have been proposed for removing the footings 73. Such techniques include utilizing an acid treatment and an oxygen plasma treatment of the surface of the conventional BARC layer 68. The acid and oxygen plasma treatments are reported to reduce the footing 73 and reduce scumming. However, such methods may be of limited utility. Particularly in the context of head formation, such treatments may not adequately remove the footings 73.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the fabrication of a PMR head.

Method and system for providing a magnetic writer using a BARC


A rayon fiber that does not use a halide-based flame retardant, a phosphorous flame retardant or an organic solvent, has excellent flameproofness and launderability and is biodegradable when buried in the soil at the time of disposal, and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The flameproof rayon fiber according to the present invention contains components of silicon and magnesium, and a compound containing the components of silicon and magnesium is amorphous. This rayon fiber can be manufactured by preparing a viscose solution, adding a solution containing a silicate compound containing an alkali metal to the viscose solution so as to make a silicic compound-added viscose spinning solution containing the alkali metal, performing spinning by extruding the silicate compound-added viscose spinning solution containing the alkali metal through a spinneret into a spinbath containing a sulfuric acid, thus producing a fiber to be treated containing the silicate compound, and treating the fiber to be treated using a magnesium-containing solution in a scouring process or an aftertreatment process.

Conventionally, with regard to cellulose fibers having flame resistance and the methods for manufacturing the same, cellulose fibers using a general halide-based flame retardant or phosphorous flame retardant (red phosphorus, reactive phosphorus compound or the like) have been known. Additionally suggested are the impregnation of cellulose fibers with an organic solvent that swells the cellulose fibers and an inorganic compound that is dissolved in that organic solvent, followed by drying (see Patent document 1), and cellulose fibers containing silicon dioxide (see Patent document 2). There also have been a suggestion of treating with an aluminum compound cellulose fibers obtained from viscose mixed with sodium silicate, thus forming aluminum silicate in the cellulose fibers (see Patent document 3), and a suggestion of allowing a compound having a phosphoryl group (a phosphorus compound such as a condensed phosphoric acid) to be contained uniformly in cellulose, thus forming a hydrated compound layer having aluminum as an essential component on the surface of the cellulose fibers (see Patent document 4).    Patent document 1: JP 5 (1993)-31705 A    Patent document 2: GB 1,064,271 B    Patent document 3: JP 3179104 B    Patent document 4: JP 2001-329461 A
However, the cellulose fibers disclosed in Patent document 1 are obtained by impregnating the cellulose with the inorganic compound serving as a flame retardant, and the use of the organic solvent for impregnation causes a problem of putting a load on the environment. The cellulose fibers disclosed in Patent document 2 have poor launderability because the silicon dioxide is susceptible to alkalis and eluted by an alkaline component contained in a detergent. The cellulose fibers disclosed in Patent documents 3 and 4 use the aluminum compounds. It has been suggested that aluminum may exhibit neurotoxicity and thus may pose a question of safety. In particular, the cellulose fibers disclosed in Patent document 3 are treated with a water-soluble aluminum compound, so that aluminum ions are contained in a drainage water. The aluminum ions are highly toxic to animals and plants, and thus the influence on the environment becomes a problem.
Furthermore, aramid fibers, etc. have been known as a highly flameproof material. However, there are problems in that the aramid fibers cannot be burned at the time of disposal and are not decomposed when buried in the soil.

Flameproof rayon fiber and method for manufacturing the same


A method for detecting malignancy-associated changes. A sample of cells is obtained and stained to identify the nuclear DNA material. The sample is imaged with a digital microscope. Objects of interest are identified in the sample of cells based on the intensity of the pixels that comprise the object versus the average intensity of all pixels in the slide image. An exact edge is located for each object and variations in the illumination intensity of the microscope are compensated for. A computer system calculates feature values for each object and, based on the value of the features, a determination is made whether the cell exhibits malignancy-associated changes or not.

The most common method of diagnosing cancer in patients is by obtaining a sample of the suspect tissue and examining it under a microscope for the presence of obviously malignant cells. While this process is relatively easy when the location of the suspect tissue is known, it is not so easy when there is no readily identifiable tumor or pre-cancerous lesion. For example, to detect the presence of lung cancer from a sputum sample requires one or more relatively rare cancer cells to be present in the sample. Therefore patients having lung cancer may not be diagnosed properly if the sample does not accurately reflect the conditions of the lung.
Malignancy-associated changes (MACs) are subtle changes that are known to take place in the nuclei of apparently normal cells found near cancer tissue. In addition, MACs have been detected in tissue found near pre-cancerous lesions. Because the cells exhibiting MACs are more numerous than the malignant cells, MACs offer an additional way of diagnosing the presence of cancer, especially in cases where no cancerous cells can be located.
Despite the ability of researchers to detect MACs in patients known to have cancer or a pre-cancerous condition, MACs have not yet achieved wide acceptance as a screening tool to determine whether a patient has or will develop cancer. Traditionally, MACs have been detected by carefully selecting a cell sample from a location near a tumor or pre-cancerous lesion and viewing the cells under relatively high magnification. However, it is believed that the malignancy-associated changes that take place in the cells are too subtle to be reliably detected by a human pathologist working with conventional microscopic equipment, especially when the pathologist does not know beforehand if the patient has cancer or not. For example, a malignancy-associated change may be indicated by the distribution of DNA within the nucleus coupled with slight variations in the shape of the nucleus edge. However, nuclei from normal cells may exhibit similar types of changes but not to the degree that would signify a MAC. Because human operators cannot easily quantify such subtle cell changes, it is difficult to determine which cells exhibit MACs. Furthermore, the changes which indicate a MAC may vary between different types of cancer, thereby increasing the difficulty of detecting them.

Method and apparatus for automatically detecting malignancy-associated changes


A poultry feeder with beak growth control device is provided. In one embodiment, the feeder includes a feeder pan, a feeder tower, and a beak grooming ring. The grooming ring is removably inserted in the feeder and has an annular shape complementary configured to engage a corresponding shape of the feeder pan. Preferably, the grooming ring has a self-supporting structure that retains its complementary shape to the feeder pan independently of the pan when removed therefrom. The grooming ring is insertable and removable from feeder as a separable unit from the feeder and operable to abrade the beak while the birds feed, thereby controlling its growth and length.

A typical poultry house is long structure that may have a length of several hundred feet, a width of about 40-60 feet, and may house about 15,000-20,000 birds. Poultry houses are often equipped with an automated feeding system consisting of one or more feed delivery lines which run the length of the poultry house.
Poultry feedings systems of the pan-type are well-known in the art. Examples of such feeding systems and feeders used in them are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,655,317; 5,007,380; 4,476,811; 4,003,339; 3,971,340; 3,598,087; 3,415,228; 3,230,933; and 3,033,163; which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. As generally disclosed in these various patents, feed from an bulk feed storage tank located outside of the poultry house is conveyed and discharged into one or more feed hoppers or similar distributed receptacles that may be located inside the house.
An example of conventional pan-type feeding systems are shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Such poultry feeding systems generally include one or more indoor feed supply hoppers A fluidly coupled to a feed conveyor tube B communicating with the bottom of each hopper. A main feed supply pipe Q fluidly connects the outdoor bulk feed storage tank (not shown) to the one or more feed supply hoppers A and their respective feed conveyor tubes B. The supply hoppers A may be fluidly connected to the main feed supply pipe Q with expansion joints R that allow the supply hoppers A to be raised or lowered with respect to the stationary supply pipe Q which is fixedly hung from the poultry house structure.
In known fashion, within the feed conveyor tube B is a helical conveyor or auger driven by motor C that conveys the granular feed from the hopper A into the plurality of poultry feeders D. Each of the poultry feeders D has a feed bowl or pan E into which the feed passes from feed conveyor tube B through a feed drop tube or feeder tower H, and a protective grill F that enables the birds to obtain feed from the feeder pan, but prevents the birds from entering the feeder pan (see also FIGS. 2A and 2B showing a feeder D and feeder tower H, respectively).
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the generally tubular feeder tower H may contain windows or openings L through which feed is delivered to the feed pan E and a plurality of fins M to minimize the likelihood of birds from scratching feed out of the pan. The feeder towers H generally include provisions on top for supporting an anti-roost wire K that extends longitudinally along and above feed conveyor tube B as shown in FIG. 1.
It is also known to support the poultry feeders D by attaching the feeder tower H of the feeders to the conveyor tube B as shown in FIG. 1 via an opening J formed in a feeder tower cap I affixed to the top of the feeder tower (see also FIGS. 2A and 2B). Openings in the feed conveyor tube B communicate with a feed inlet in the tower cap I that delivers feed to the feeder pan D below via gravity.
When the birds are very young, the poultry feeders D may be located on, or adjacent to the floor (not shown below the feeders). As the birds mature and grow, the entire feeding system is raised above floor level to enable the birds to readily access and obtain feed from the feeder pans. Typically, a motorized (or alternatively manual) winch system is provided comprising a motorized winch N and a series of pulleys O and support wires G attached to the feed conveyor tube B that are used to support the poultry feeders D. The entire conveyor tube/poultry feeder assembly B, D is raised or lowered in unison as a single unit to a using the winch system to the desired level needed to effectively feed the birds.
For broiler breeders, it is desirable to carefully ration the amount of feed that the birds receive to allow for a more moderate growth rate than broilers. As an example, breeders may be generally fed approximately 110-170 grams of feed daily in contrast to broilers which are fed larger amounts of feed to attain grow-out size more quickly. Accordingly, there is a further need to provide the ability to regulate the amount of feed charged in the feeder D in a controlled manner.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the relative positions between the bottom outlet of the feeder tower H and the feed pan E may be manually adjusted via adjustment ring mechanisms P (often marked with indicia Q for setting repeatability) in some of the foregoing known feeders D. This restricts and regulates the amount of feed that may enter and fill the pan to obtain a predetermined desired level of feed in the pan during the pan filling operation of the feed system. Although such feeder systems may regulate the amount of feed provided to the birds, these known system generally do not provide a means for fully closing or shutting off the feeders D and preventing the delivery of feed from the feeder tower H into the feed pan E. Because these prior known feeders D are generally always in an "open" or "on" condition such that when feed is delivered to the feeders via feed conveyor tube B during the feeder fill or charging operation, the feed is immediately dispensed from the feeder tower H into the feed pan E in real time to the awaiting birds. Therefore, these known feed systems generally lack the ability to keep the feed conveyor tube B network and feeders D fully charged immediately prior to the intended feeding time, which is important for ensuring that an accurate amount of feed is dispensed to the birds and that all feeders D are uniformly filled with the same amount of feed and available at the same time.
In addition, if feed equipment malfunctions occur during the instantaneous type feeder charging and feed dispensing operation with such known feed systems, there is little or no time to take corrective action to remedy the equipment problems. The feeders may be only partially charged or not charged at all with feed. Consequently, the birds may not receive feed at the intended time.
A problem also encountered in commercial poultry production is a way to effectively control the growth of a bird's beak. Because poultry tend to peck each other, it is important to keep the beaks trimmed in length to prevent injury to the birds. In addition, if the growth of the beak is not controlled in some manner, crossing may occur as the beak grows very long which interferes with the ability of the bird to feed properly.
In their natural free range habitat, the length of a bird's beak is controlled by feeding off the ground. Pebbles or stones keeps the beaks trimmed in length by gradually abrading away the beak at a relatively slow pace while the birds feed. Conventional feeders as described herein do not provide a mechanism for keeping the beaks trimmed. Such feeders generally are comprised of a plastic feeder tower and feeder pan which are softer than a bird's beak and thus incapable of abrading and controlling the length of the beak.
Beak trimming (also referred to as "debeaking") has been employed in an attempt to control beak growth. In this practice, part of the beak is removed to shorten the length of the beak. However, this practice is controversial and cumbersome to implement as each bird must have its beak trimmed.
Some attempts have been made to apply a thin abrasive coating directly onto the generally plastic poultry feeder itself with an adhesive, or to directly apply thin sheets of abrasive material similar to sandpaper to the feeder which has an adhesive backing are flexible enough to conform to the shape of the feeder surfaces to which the sheet is applied. Such an arrangement is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,934. However, the birds may quickly wear through such thin layers of abrasive rendering the feeders ineffective for controlling beak length and growth. Moreover, once the abrasive material is gone from the already worn feeder pans and/or towers, it generally impractical to thoroughly clean each and every feeder and then attempt to properly reapply a new abrasive coating or sheets and achieve satisfactory adhesion. The feeder pans must therefore be discarded and replaced with all new pans.
An improved poultry feeder with readily replaceable beak growth control device is therefore desired.

Poultry feeder with beak grooming device


A polymerizable liquid crystalline composition comprises a side chain liquid crystalline polymer obtained by radical-copolymerizing a (meth)acrylic compound has an optically active site and a (meth)acrylic compound having an oxetanyl group, and a cation generator and thus have no functional group the synthesis of which is difficult, such as an epoxy group. The use of the polymerizable liquid crystalline composition provides a cholesteric liquid crystal film which is excellent in a capability of retaining the orientation after being aligned and fixed in a liquid crystal orientation and in mechanical strength without the necessity of a complicated operation such as photo irradiation under an inert gas atmosphere.

In recent years, studies and developments have been actively carried out to utilize liquid crystalline compounds as optical materials, and many of them have already been put in practical use. When a liquid crystalline compound is used as an optical material, it is necessary to retain the compound in its liquid crystal structure having been aligned and fixed, under practical service conditions. Various methods for fixing the liquid crystal structure have been proposed, such as those wherein polymerizable liquid crystalline compounds are used, wherein polymeric liquid crystalline compounds are used, and wherein polymeric liquid crystalline compounds having a crosslinkable reactive group are used.
In one of the methods wherein polymeric liquid crystalline compounds having a crosslinkable reactive group are used, there is used a polymerizable liquid crystalline compound comprising a mesogen composed of two or more benzene rings or similar rings, spacers each composed of a hydrocarbon chain, and radically polymerizable reactive groups such (meth)acrylate groups located at both or one of the terminal ends (see, for example, Patent Document 1 below). In this method, such a polymerizable liquid crystalline compound is applied after being heat-melted or in the form of a solution, on an alignment substrate and if necessary dried so as to be formed into a liquid crystal layer thereon, which layer is then heated to be aligned in a liquid crystal state and polymerized by photo irradiation to fix the layer in the aligned state. However, this method is required to inhibit the inhibition of polymerization caused by oxygen in the air, leading to the necessity of complicated operations such as photo irradiation under inert gas atmosphere and improvements in facilities and devices therefor. It is also necessary to pay meticulous care upon synthesis of the polymerizable liquid crystalline compound because the (meth)acrylate group is likely to be polymerized with light or heat.
As the method using a polymeric liquid crystalline compound, it is proposed to use a liquid crystalline polyester with excellent properties to retain the liquid crystal orientation (see, for example, Patent Document 2 below). However, as a result of the widespread of mobile devices, an optical film comprised of such a liquid crystalline polyester has been demanded to have properties to retain the liquid crystal orientation under more sever practical use conditions and more excellent mechanical strength as well.
As the method using a polymeric liquid crystalline substance having a polymerizable reactive group, there have been proposed a method wherein a polymerizable reactive group is introduced into the polymeric main chain and a method wherein monomer units having a polymerizable reactive group are introduced into the side chains. However, since in either of these methods the liquid crystallinity of the material used is decreased, there is a limit to the amount of the polymerizable group to be introduced to enhance the sufficient mechanical strength. Therefore, alternative methods have been demanded.                (1) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-80081        (2) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-158258        (3) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 9-3454

Polymerizable liquid crystalline composition and liquid crystal film made from the composition


A lidstock material suitable for sealing plastic containers that are retorted at elevated temperatures to sterilize their contents. The lidstock material comprises a substrate joined to a film comprising a mixture of a butene-1 polymer; high density polyethylene; polypropylene; and a powdered filler. The lidstock material is heat sealable, peelable, and retains high burst strength both during and after retorting at elevated temperatures.

Products that must be heated after being packaged in order to sterilize their contents include disposable contact lenses and some food products such as meats. Disposable contact lenses are usually packaged in blister packages consisting of 2 pieces: a base and a lid. The base is an injection molded plastic shaped to include a bowl-shaped or rectangular recess for receiving the contact lens. Each blister pack generally contains a contact lens and enough solution to prevent drying and to maintain the contact lens ready for use.
The lid covering the base is heat sealed over the recess containing the contact lens. Then the package is retorted in an autoclave to sterilize the contents. A lidstock material for the lid must possess sufficient burst strength during and after autoclaving to keep the package sealed so that contact lens solution does not escape throughout the shelf life of the blister pack. The lid must also be peelable from the base in order to provide easy access to the contact lens held within the blister pack.
Lidstock materials suitable for covering openings in packages for contact lenses and foods are known in the prior art. However, the prior art lidstock materials generally suffer from one or more serious disadvantages making them less than entirely suitable for their intended purpose.
A principal objective of the present invention is to provide a lidstock material for lids requiring improved burst strength.
A related objective of the invention is to provide a lidstock material for making heat sealable and peelable lids on plastic containers.
Additional objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of some preferred embodiments.

Lidstock material having improved burst strength


A variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) of an engine of a vehicle has a VGT mechanism and a VGT actuator connected to the VGT actuator. A controller is connected to the VGT actuator, and is configured to monitor at least one entry condition such as vehicle battery voltage, voltage at the VGT actuator, temperature of the engine, its oil, and its coolant, and exhaust gas temperature. If the entry conditions are met, the controller performs a learn procedure in which the VGT actuator cycles the VGT mechanism through its range of motion following a key-off shutdown command. The learn procedure may take place immediately preceding, during, or immediately following shutdown of the engine. The VGT actuator then reports to the controller an available range of motion of the VGT actuator and of the VGT mechanism.

This disclosure relates to an arrangement and method for reliably determining the available range of motion of a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT), such as the available range of vane motion in a VGT that varies the angle of the turbine vanes. Particularly, this disclosure relates to an arrangement and method for reliably determining the available range of motion of a VGT notwithstanding premature cranking of the engine by an operator or a cold state of the engine.

Internatinal Engine Intellectual Property Company, LLC.


A revocation list is registered a public ROM area. The revocation list designates at least one electronic device in which use of the storage medium by the designated electronic device is to be revoked. A controller receives from the electronic device which attempts to access, identification information indicative of the electronic device, and checks whether identification information corresponding to the received identification information is contained in the revocation list, thereby determining whether or not use of the storage medium by the electronic device which attempts to access should be revoked.

The present invention relates to a storage medium for use in recording and reproducing contents such as image data and music data, and more particularly to a storage medium suitable for preventing recording/reproducing of contents by improper electronic devices and a contents protection method using the storage medium.
In these years, with development of computer technology, various electronic devices, such as a personal computer, a settop box, a player and a game machine, which permit multimedia processing, have been developed. This kind of electronic devices can reproduce various digital contents such as image data and music data stored in a storage medium and can download digital contents and use them via the Internet, etc.
These digital contents can be copied or downloaded, without degradation in quality, by adopting digital coding techniques, e.g., MPEG2, MP3, etc. From the standpoint of protection of copyrights, there is a demand for techniques of preventing unlawful use of such digital contents.
However, the storage medium used in electronic devices such as a personal computer, a settop box and a player are, in most cases, reversible and can be recorded/reproduced in another devices. Further, the specifications of such a storage medium are basically open. Since the digital contents can be freely moved/copied, it is difficult in practice to protect the contents stored in the medium from unlawful copying/moving.
As regards a storage medium, like a memory card, in which a storage portion and a controller are integrated, contents may be protected by providing an access disable region (secret region), which can be accessed by a secret procedure alone and cannot be accessed by a user, and storing in the secrete region important information necessary for the use of contents, such as copy control information and move control information.
In this case, when contents are copied/moved between an electronic device (e.g., a personal computer, a settop box, a player) and the storage medium, the electronic device and the storage medium may mutually authenticate each other to confirm that they are lawful ones and share a predetermined contents protection function relating to the copyright protection (contents protection). If they are properly authenticated, key exchange may be performed in accordance with a shared key generation algorithm and a common authentication key may be acquired individually, and the authentication key may be used to encrypt/decrypt a contents key (i.e., a key for decrypting contents) or encrypt/decrypt the contents.
In the above case, there is a problem. Since the information necessary for the mutual authentication is preset at the stage of shipment of the electronic device, a program running on the electronic device may be modified (or attacked) after it is purchased. As a result, an improper device may be determined to be proper in the mutual authentication. Considering this, the mutual authentication is not enough to surely protect the contents.

Storage medium and contents protection method using the storage medium

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A metal cord for reinforcing rubber articles and a pneumatic tire including metal cords to reinforce tire components such as carcass, breaker and band are disclosed, wherein a metal cord according to one aspect of the present invention comprises filaments having a tensile strength of from 4000 to 5500 N/sq.mm and a diameter of from 0.10 to 0.35 mm and the filaments are twisted together, the filaments before twisted are two-dimensionally waved so that the elongation after fracture of the cord becomes in a range of from 2 to 6%. According to another aspect of the present invention, the metal cord is a single filament having a tensile strength of from 4000 to 5500 N/sq.mm and a diameter D of from 0.10 to 0.35 mm, and the filament is two-dimensionally waved so that the elongation after fracture becomes in a range of from 2 to 6%.

The present invention relates to a metal cord for reinforcing rubber articles and a pneumatic tire including metal cords to reinforce tire components such as the carcass, the breaker and the band.
In recent years, from the viewpoint of protection of the environment, there is a pressing need to reduce the weight of automobile tires because the tire weight reduction may decrease the rolling resistance and improve the fuel consumption of the automobiles. Therefore, every effort to reduce the tire weight has been made on various tire components.
For example, in case of steel cords used to reinforce pneumatic tires, effort to increase the strength of a cord is made in order to decrease the total weight of steel cords used in a tire. Therefore, we tried to increase the strength of steel filaments constituting a steel cord, using various materials for example a wirebar made of a high-carbon steel whose carbon content is in a range of from 0.90 to 1.0 weight % or a low-alloy steel including chromium, and changing the wire drawing conditions so as to be able to uniformize heat the generation during drawing and the amount of processing to the drawn wire or filament, and further changing the thermal treatment process. As a result, there is hope for desired high-strength filaments.
In such high-strength steel filaments, however, the resistance to fatigue is not good. It is difficult to improve the fatigue resistance at the same time by the process which is capable of improving the tensile strength.

Metal cord and pneumatic tire including the same


A sensor device which detects a positional relationship between an first member and second member, includes a signal source generating an electrical signal, a first electrode receiving the electrical signal and storing an electrical charge at a first part on the first member, a second electrode inducing an electrical charge at the second part on the second member, a third electrode inducing an electrical charge at the third part on the second member, a fourth electrode inducing an electrical charge at the fourth part on the first member, a reference electrode disposed at a fifth part on the second member to be connected to a reference voltage point, a fifth electrode inducing an electrical charge at the sixth part on the first member, and a differential amplifier amplifying a voltage difference between the fourth electrode and the fifth electrode and outputting a difference signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensor device, and a sensor system and an electronic device using the sensor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a proximity sensor of this kind detecting electrostatic capacitance has been proposed as a sensor detecting proximity of an object (e.g., refer to International Publication WO2004/059343). Such a proximity sensor includes a first member to detect proximity and a second member to be a detection object, and can detect the proximity of the second member in a non-contact manner.
However, the proximity sensor disclosed in International Publication WO2004/059343 given above basically detects all objects approaching the first member. Therefore, it is hard to detect only the second member. For instance, if the second member is a tab or a door, the proximity sensor should detect the proximity only of the tab or the door, but the proximity sensor actually detects the proximity of an object other than the tab or the door.
As mentioned above, it is hard for a conventional proximity sensor to accurately detect the proximity only of an object to be detected.

Sensor device, and sensor system and electronic device using the sensor device


The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes determining, for a portion of users of a social network, label values each comprising an inferred interest level of a user in a subject indicated by a label, associating a first user with one or more second users based on one or more relationships specified by the first user, and outputting a first label value for the first user based on one or more second label values of the one or more second users.

Social networks can permit users to post information about themselves and communicate with other people, such as their friends, family, and co-workers. Some social networks permit users to specify friendships with other users. Additionally, social network users may write descriptions of their interests, compose stories, describe their lives, etc. Some user may generate a great amount of content, while other users may generate very little.


An electronic apparatus includes a communication device that communicates with a mobile device and a plurality of devices via a network. The mobile device is wirelessly connectable to the network. The electronic apparatus further includes a control unit configured to determine whether the mobile device is disconnected from the network, and a message sending unit configured to send an alarm message to one of the devices by communication between the one of the devices and the communication device when the mobile device is disconnected from the network, the one of the devices being currently powered on.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus that carries out communication with a plurality of devices via a network such as a home network and a method of providing each of the devices with service by the electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a home electrical device such as a TV and an audio system has been loaded with a communication function for communicating with a network as communication technology and information processing technology progress. Accordingly, a home network system for connecting the home electrical devices needs to be configured.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-53779 discloses a home network gateway apparatus for connecting a home network to the Internet. This apparatus serves to remotely control home electrical devices, which are connected to a home network, from outside through the Internet.
Recently, a position sensing system has been used as one for protecting elderly persons who wander away from home. The system senses a position of a mobile phone carried by an elderly person to find a place where he or she is wandering away from home. However, the system can specify a destination of an elderly person and not sense the moment when the person goes out of the house.
It is therefore desired that a new system for protecting poriomaniacs using a home network should be achieved.
In the near future, it is expected that not only home electrical devices are connected to each other but also a portable information processing apparatus such as a PDA (personal digital assistant) and a personal computer will be used as a device on a home network. Most portable information processing apparatuses such as a PDA and a personal computer have a wireless communication function. Such a portable information processing apparatus can serve as a mobile device. From now on, it is necessary to achieve a new home network system for linking a mobile device having a wireless communication function such as a PDA and a personal computer and a home electrical device such as a TV and an audio system.

Electronic apparatus and service providing method used in the electronic apparatus


The invention generally comprises a shade for covering a light source and a process for making the shade. The shade comprises an inner member and an outer member where the outer member is connected to the inner member. At least one inclusion is located between the inner member and the outer member wherein covering the light source with the shade enables viewing of the inclusion therein when the light source is in an on state and substantially prohibits viewing of the inclusion therein when the light source is in an off state.

Various shades exist in the prior art for covering lamps and lights. Of the decorative shades known, these devices operate on the principle that the means for providing a decorative appearance must reside on an outer surface of the shade itself. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,415 discloses a pleated outer cover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,601 discloses a shade having an outer cover of spaced pivoting light deflectors and U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,896 discloses a design placed on the surface of a panel that comprises the lamp shade.
A need exists to provide what appears to be a lamp shade with a standard covering, decorative or otherwise, but which also provides decorative features when light projects from a back surface to a front surface of the shade. In this regard, some of the most pleasing decorative features desired for shade covers comprise articles of nature such as botanicals. This presents a problem however. Existing shades cannot provide decorative features in combination with existing shade materials wherein the three dimensional botanical decorative features are selectively visible through the shade dependent on whether the light source is illuminated.
The invention disclosed herein solves these problems and deficiencies in the prior art by providing a novel shade construction and operation. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the shade of the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of those previously proposed.

Lamp shade for decoratively illuminating and concealing inclusion therein


In some examples, a service provider may determine that multiple merchants are within a threshold distance of each other. The service provider may send, to a buyer, item information about items offered by the multiple merchants. Further, based at least in part on the multiple merchants having been determined to be within the threshold distance of each other, the item information sent to the buyer may indicate that orders for items provided by the multiple merchants are available for combined delivery, e.g., as a single combined order. A first courier stationed near the merchants may pick up the items from the merchants and may handoff the items to a second courier who delivers the items to the buyer. Additionally, in some cases, the preparation of the multiple items may be timed to so that the items are ready for pickup at approximately the same time.

People enjoy eating quality food that is prepared by good restaurants. Nevertheless, sometimes people may not want to go to a restaurant, but instead may prefer to have food delivered to them. To meet this demand, a courier may deliver food prepared by a restaurant to a customer at a delivery location. For example, a service may enable customers to order food items from any of a variety of restaurants, and may arrange for couriers to deliver the food items from the restaurants to the customers. Conventionally, when a customer wants to order from multiple restaurants, the customer might place a first order with a first restaurant, such as for having a pizza delivered, and might also place a second order with a second restaurant, such as for having Chinese food delivered. This can result in duplication of delivery services and additional cost to the customer.

Managing communications for combined orders


Mass analysis method and mass spectrometer in which the S/N of mass spectra does not deteriorate due to accumulation if an ionization method, such as MALDI, producing spectral intensities that are not uniform in time is employed. Every given number of collected mass spectra are accumulated and stored to produce primary accumulation mass spectra. After the measurements, some of the stored primary accumulation spectra are selected according to a given rule based on a time trace of the intensities of the primary accumulation mass spectra. The selected spectra are accumulated to produce a secondary accumulation mass spectrum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mass spectrometry and a mass spectrometer used for quantitative analysis and simultaneous qualitative analysis of trace amounts of compounds and for structural analysis of sample ions.
2. Description of Related Art
MALDI (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization) is one kind of method of laser ionization. This method uses a matrix (such as liquid, crystalline compound, or metal powder) having an absorption band at the used laser wavelength. A sample is mixed and dissolved in the matrix. Then, the matrix is firmly held on a sample plate. The matrix is irradiated with laser light to vaporize or ionize the sample. Since this is a pulsed ionization method using a pulsed laser, MALDI is compatible with time-of-flight mass spectrometers (TOFMS).
In recent years, a matrix-free ionization method capable of omitting a procedure for mixing a matrix and a sample has been developed. In many cases, a microscopic structure on a sample plate is used.
On the other hand, a TOFMS is a mass spectrometer for finding the mass-to-charge ratios of ions from the times taken for the ions to reach the detector after a given amount of energy is imparted to the ions to accelerate them such that the ions fly. In the TOFMS, the ions are accelerated by a constant pulsed voltage of Vα. At this time, from the law of energy conservation, the velocity v of the ions is given by
                                          mv            2                    2                =                  qeV          a                                    (        1        )                                v        =                                            2                            qeV                        m                                              (        2        )            where m is the mass of each ion, q is the electric charge of each ion, and e is the elementary electric charge.
The ions reach a detector in a flight time of T, the detector being in a position at a given distance of L.
                    T        =                              L            v                    =                      L                                                      m                                  2                                    qeV                                                                                (        3        )            It can be seen from Eq. (3) that the flight time T varies according to the mass m of the ion. TOFMS is an instrument for separating masses by making use of this principle. One example of a linear TOFMS is shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore, reflectron TOFMS instruments in which the energy focusing can be improved and the flight distance can be prolonged by placing a reflectron field between the ion source and the detector have enjoyed wide acceptance. One example of a reflectron TOFMS is shown in FIG. 2.
TOFMS has two kinds of methods of measuring flight times. In one method, ions created by an ion source are directly extracted with a high pulsed voltage, and the flight time is measured. This is known as the coaxial TOFMS. Frequently, this is combined with a pulsed ion source in use. In the second method, ions created by an ion source are transported with a kinetic energy of about tens of eV. The ions are accelerated with a high pulsed voltage in a direction perpendicular to the direction (axis) of the transportation. Under this condition, the flight time is measured. This is known as the orthogonal acceleration TOFMS. This is often combined with a continuous ion source in use.
An ionization method employing laser irradiation can use both of these TOFMS methods. In the case of the coaxial design, laser irradiation and measurement of flight time are synchronized. In the case of the orthogonal acceleration design, laser irradiation and measurement of flight time are not synchronized. See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H7-178070 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-134181.
MALDI is superior to other ionization methods presently used in mass spectrometry in its ability to ionize highly varied compounds. However, when a matrix material and a sample are mixed and crystallized, a spread of about 1 mm in diameter is often produced. Frequently, the sample is locally present within this area. Ionization is effected by laser irradiation. The diameter of the irradiating laser light is 100 μm, which is sufficiently smaller than the crystallized area. Therefore, there is the problem that the ion intensity varies greatly according to the beam position on the sample due to the localization of the sample. In particular, where the spectral intensity is plotted on the vertical axis of a graph (hereinafter referred to as the time trace) and the data acquisition time is on the horizontal axis, plural spectral peaks appear as shown in FIG. 3.
In an ordinary mass spectrometer, about hundreds to thousands of mass spectra are collected and accumulated. As a result, an accumulated mass spectrum with good signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) is obtained. Because spectra are accumulated randomly during the laser irradiation process, mass spectra with extremely low signal intensities are also collected. In total, the S/N may be deteriorated.

Method of mass analysis and mass spectrometer


The shipping planning system stores price/quantity relationship data for products in advance, calculates additional variable cost for shipping quantity for each product based on available resource and inventory, procured resource amount, procurement lead time, and available facility capability, evaluates relative profit subtracting opportunity loss of other products which shares the resources from a margin profit of the product using the additional variable cost, and determines the product to be shipped which makes the relative profits positive, and a shipping quantity and a price of the product using the price/quantity relationship data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shipping planning system for deciding the shipping quantity of a product and the price of the product so as to increase the profit in consideration of the relationship between the price and the demand and the available amount of the resource on hand and the additional procurement cost.
2. Description of Related Art
In the manufacturing industry, it is a key issue of when, how many and which products to produce and to ship to maximize the profit under the restriction of the limited resources. This issue is generally treated as a product mix issue with profit being the evaluation index. The solution for the issue has been conventionally researched and developed in the field of operations research. For example, the Linear Programming method is a typical approach to solve the problem how much of which product should be produced and shipped to maximize the profit under the restriction of the resources for a predetermined amount of demand of each product. In order to discretely treat the number of the products or resource consumption units in a more practical manner, the problem may be treated as a Combinatorial Optimization Problem to be solved by Mixed Integer Programming or various Heuristic Methods.
In order to evaluate the profit, the price of a product and the cost of producing the product need to be taken into consideration. In many of the conventional researches, the price of the product and the cost are treated as predetermined parameters being a fixed value for each product. However, if the problem is to be treated as a practical matter, the price and the cost need to be treated with attention to the points below.
As is demonstrated in the fields of economy or marketing, the price and the demand are often associated with each other. It may not be practical to consider the price being fixed regardless of the shipping quantity. Therefore, it is appropriate to take the price to be determined according to the shipping quantity instead of a previously given fixed value.
The cost is divided into a fixed cost that fixedly occurs regardless of the shipping quantity and a variable cost that is incurred according to the shipping quantity such as a procurement cost of a material. As the fixed cost is constant no matter what shipping quantity is set for each product, it is not appropriate to take the fixed cost into consideration in decision-making. Therefore, it is preferable to use the marginal profit that is calculated by the sales/variable cost for evaluating the profit by taking only the variable cost which is incurred according to the size of the shipment into consideration in examining when how much of which product is to be produced and shipped. For correct decision making, only the cost that fluctuates according to the result of the decision-making should be taken into consideration. As the cost that has occurred at the moment of the decision-making is the sunk cost from the viewpoint of an actual cost occurrence even if the cost is classified as the variable cost, the cost should not be incorporated in the profit evaluation. In the manufacturing industry, the material procurement cost can be classified as the variable cost according to the number of the product to be produced and the shipping quantity. The procurement cost of the material that has been incurred in the past and is determined to be stored is the cost that occurred regardless of the production and the shipment of the products thereafter; the cost should be subtracted in evaluating the profit when the profit is evaluated. That is to say, the variable cost for a product may change depending on whether the procurement cost of the material to be consumed has already been incurred or to be additionally incurred thereafter.
The above-mentioned practical requirements have been pointed out and have been recognized, but no technique for solving the problem with the requirements for both the price and the cost being actually taken into consideration for providing a solution has been developed yet.
A method for deciding the shipping quantity and the price so as to ensure the product by regarding the price as what changes depending on its relationship with the shipping quantity of a product is disclosed in "Financial Analysis for Profit-driven Pricing, G. E. Smith, T. T. Nagle Sloan Management Review, Spring 1994". That method is a method for selecting the price so as to ensure the profit according to the predicted fluctuation of the sold number when the current price is changed. With that method, the price is decided based on the Breakeven Sales Volume calculated by the formula below.Breakeven Sales Volume=Current Contribution Margin×current number of sales/Modified Contribution Margin
Here, Current Contribution Margin=current price−current variable cost, and Modified Contribution Margin=Modified price-Modified variable cost. If the predicted sales number ensures the Breakeven Sales Volume, it is determined that the price can be changed higher or lower. In that method, however, how the amount of resources to be consumed changes according to the shipping quantity is not taken into consideration. Thus, there is a problem in that the sunk cost can also be included in the variable cost used in the evaluation.
The invention disclosed in JP-A-2001-154722, for example, is a technique for deciding the shipping quantity, by which the additional procurement cost is the least, by excluding the procurement cost of the material that has been in the inventory from the variable cost as a sunk cost. In JP-A-2001-154722, a production planning system for eliminating a surplus material with the least loss by taking the material that has been in the inventory as the surplus material is provided. That system enables correct decision-making to be performed without incorporating the sunk cost in the cost evaluation by treating only the procurement cost of the material that needs to be additionally procured for producing a product with a surplus material as an additional variable cost. The price setting and the profit evaluation are not supported from the viewpoint of what price the product sells for against the demand (a method for presenting a price required for ensuring a profit based on the cost is shown).
As mentioned above, in the conventional technique, a method for deciding the shipping quantity and the price by a profit evaluation that takes into consideration both the relationship between the price and the demand and the relationship between the shipping quantity and the resource additional procurement cost at the same time has not been provided.
By focusing on a certain product, the price according to the shipping quantity and the additional procurement cost for the required resource change at the same time as the shipping quantity changes. Further, by taking it as a whole, a resource is generally shared by products, and the price and the additional procurement cost need to be obtained according to a combination of the shipping quantity of each product that satisfies the restriction on available capacity of the resource. As such, a matter of deciding the shipping quantity and the price so as to maximize the profit under the restriction of the available capacity of the resource is the combinatorial problem. Therefore, the problem could be solved by treating the problem as a mathematical optimizing problem in theory. As a structural reason that no technique for solving the problem has been provided so far, two points below can be thought of.
<Reason 1>
Changing the price of the product according to the shipping quantity means that a value of the sales that is required to calculate the profit is not always proportional to the shipping quantity, which is an operational variable. Thus, a simple Mathematical Optimization Method such as a linear planning method can not be applied.
<Reason 2>
In order to calculate the amount of resource consumed from the shipping quantity and obtain the additional procurement amount, a procedural algorithm based on a rule such as the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) or the production schedule needs to be used, which is difficult to incorporate simply into a mathematical programming model.
The reason below can also be considered from the viewpoint of good operability in actual application.
<Reason 3>
Even if an optimum solution can be obtained by treating the problem as a mathematical optimization problem, processes to induce such a solution are generally not known, thus, it is not necessarily a method easily accepted by a user.


A method and apparatus for processing vehicle license tag numbers allows subscribers of a toll service to avoid additional charges normally associated with processing photographs of vehicle license tags by toll agencies to collect tolls. A subscriber can upload one or more license tag numbers to be associated with the subscriber's account with the toll service. The toll service provides a list of license tag numbers to the toll agency. If, for a given toll event, the toll agency does not receive a response to a wireless toll tag reader signal, the toll agency compares a license tag number obtained by processing a photo of the vehicle's license tag with the list provided by the toll service to find a match and process the toll.

In current vehicular toll systems it is common to automate toll payment by use of a toll tag in the vehicle. A toll tag is a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag device that responds to a read signal transmitted from a vehicular toll gateway. The read signal is transmitted by a reader associated with a lane controller. Upon receiving the read signal, the RFID tag device responds by transmitting an identifier that is associated with an account, assuming the RFID tag device is operable or present in the vehicle. Such toll gateways allow drivers to drive through the toll gateway at normal speed, without having to slow down or stop. In case the reader does not receive a response, as the vehicle passes through the toll gateway, a picture is taken of the vehicle's license tag. As a default, some toll agencies take a picture of every vehicle's license tag in the event the received identifier fails to authenticate or is not associate with a valid account.
Settlement of tolls is typically done in batch processes where a received identifier is used to identify an account with the toll agency, and the account is debited accordingly. If no valid identifier is received for a given vehicle, the toll agency must cross reference the license tag number with a government registration database. This typically accrues additional charges. An infraction invoice for the cost of the toll and additional charges associated with processing the license tag information is then sent to the registered owner of the vehicle.
Similarly, a person who rents a car, such as on a business trip, may have to stop and pay tolls manually since the renter does not have a suitable toll tag to use. If a vehicle renter goes through a wireless toll gateway, the toll agency will issue an infraction invoice to the rental agency, who will in turn charge the renter.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for an alternate way to pay tolls without additional charges when the vehicle has no toll tag or an inoperative toll tag.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Method and apparatus for using a vehicle license tag number for toll payment as a backup form of account authorization


A method for etching a stack with an Ru containing layer disposed below a hardmask and above a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack with pinned layer is provided. The hardmask is etched with a dry etch. The Ru containing layer is etched, where the etching uses hypochlorite and/or O3 based chemistries. The MTJ stack is etched. The MTJ stack is capped with dielectric materials. The pinned layer is etched following the MTJ capping.

The present invention relates to etching a layer of non volatile materials through a mask during the production of a semiconductor device. More specifically, the present invention relates to etch a metal magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) stack.
During semiconductor wafer processing, features may be etched through a metal containing layer. In the formation of magnetic random access memories (MRAM) or resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices, a plurality of thin metal layers or films may be sequentially etched. For MRAM a plurality of thin metal layers may be used to form magnetic tunnel junction stacks.

Method to etch non-volatile metal materials


A semiconductor memory device comprising redundancy memory elements for functionally replacing defective memory elements, redundancy circuits for operating said functional substitution of the redundancy memory elements for the defective memory elements, and operation mode control circuits for controlling the memory device to operate according to a plurality of operation modes, said plurality of operation modes comprising a memory read mode and redundancy test modes for testing the redundancy circuits. The memory device comprises an internal shared bus of signal lines that when the memory device is operated in said read mode is used to transfer read data signals to output terminals of the memory device and when the memory device is operated in one of said redundancy test modes is used to transfer redundancy signals, depending on the redundancy test mode, to the output terminals of the memory device.

It is known that semiconductor memory devices comprises a matrix of memory cells arranged in rows (word lines) and columns (bit lines).
It is also known that semiconductor memory devices conventionally incorporate row and column redundancy circuits for increasing the manufacturing process yield.
A row redundancy circuit is a circuit that detects if a current address supplied to the memory device corresponds to a defective row of the memory matrix containing one or more defective memory cells and, if so, selects a redundancy row of redundancy memory cells instead of the defective row.
Similarly, a column redundancy circuit is a circuit to detect whether the current address supplied to the memory device corresponds to a defective column of the memory matrix containing one or more defective memory cells and, if so, selects a redundancy column of redundancy memory cells in substitution of the defective column.
Normally, a certain number of redundancy rows and redundancy columns are provided in the memory device, said number depending on the defectiveness of the manufacturing process. The row redundancy circuit and the column redundancy comprise non-volatile memory registers (redundancy registers) each one capable of storing an address of a defective row or column and controlling the selection of an associated redundancy row or column when the current address supplied to the memory device coincides with one of said defective addresses. The provision of row and column redundancy circuits has a cost in term of chip area, the latter increasing with the increase of the number of redundancy memory elements provided in the memory device.
Some of the signals generated by the row and column redundancy circuits must be routed through the memory device chip. For example, for test purposes it may be useful to know how many and which redundancy rows and redundancy columns have been used to replace defective rows and columns. More particularly, it is important to have the maximum visibility of the redundancy circuits, for example when it is to be decided which redundancy registers are to be used to store defective addresses, during the debugging phase of the memory device, during reliability tests, for obtaining statistics of the defectiveness of the manufacturing process, for optimizing the number of redundancy memory elements to be provided, and for inspections after delivery of sold products. Conventionally, this requires routing redundancy row and column selection signals generated by the redundancy registers to the output terminals of the memory device chip.
The necessity to have many dedicated signal lines running through the chip is disadvantageous, especially in memory devices of large size, because the chip area increases and the benefit in term of yield of the manufacturing process is reduced.

Semiconductor memory device with row and column redundancy circuits and a time-shared redundancy circuit test architecture.


A power folding seat for installation within a vehicle includes a seat cushion mountable to the vehicle, a seat back pivotally coupled to the seat cushion, and a power actuator disposed within the seat back for automatically rotating the seat back between an upright position and a folded position. The power actuator includes a power seat recliner, a latch assembly, a power head restraint adjuster, and a control system coupled to the power seat recliner, the latch assembly, and the power head restraint adjuster. The control system includes a signal receiver which is configured to receive commands from a remote transmitter, and a data processor coupled to the signal receiver. The data processor controls the power seat recliner, the power latch actuator and the power head restraint adjuster, and is configured to move the seat back between the upright position and the folded position in accordance with the received remote commands.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a folding seat for automobiles. In particular, the present invention relates to an automobile seat whose seat back automatically rotates between an upright and a folded position under electrical power.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional rear seats for an automotive vehicle include a seat cushion and a seat back disposed adjacent the rear cargo area of the automobile. The seat back is pivotally coupled to the seat cushion to allow the seat back to be rotated from an upright position to a folded position, and thereby extend the effective volume of the rear cargo area. The seat back also includes a latch which secures the seat back in the upright position.
Although rear folding seats are widely used for facilitating rear passenger occupancy and for extending the effective cargo area of an automobile, the conventional automobile seat is difficult to operate. For instance, if the automobile owner has returned from a shopping trip carrying several packages for storage in the rear cargo area of the automobile, the owner must first drop the packages, and then open either the rear passenger doors or the rear cargo door of the automobile in order to manually release the seat latch. If the automobile is a sport coupe having only two doors, the automobile owner must slide the front passenger seats forward to gain assess to the rear folding seat, and then climb into the rear seat in order to release the rear seat latch. The automobile owner must then manually rotate the seat back into the folded position, and then return to the rear portion of the automobile in order to store the packages in the rear cargo area.
Therefore, there remains a need for an automobile seat which allows the effective rear cargo area of an automobile to be automatically accessible as needed.


An electronic device of the present invention includes a shift register SR provided integrally with a substrate, a first line 11 connected with a connection terminal 101 electrically connectable with an outside device provided independently of the shift registers SR, second lines 12a through 12c via which output waveforms of the shift register SR are extracted, and switching sections 13a through 13c by which the first line 11 and the second lines 12a through 12c are switched between an electrically connected condition and an electrically disconnected condition. With this, even in a case where the electronic device of the present invention is a liquid crystal display device having a driver monolithic structure, output waveforms of a drive circuit (electronic circuit) can be inspected.

In order for a device size to be small and installation cost to be reduced, there has been recently proposed an electronic device in which a display panel and a drive circuit (electronic circuit) for driving the display panel are provided integrally with a same substrate, i.e., a liquid crystal display device having a so-called monolithic structure (see Patent Literature 1, for example).


The capacity of a platinum-containing diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) to simultaneously convert NO to NO2, CO to carbon dioxide, and remaining hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide and water in the exhaust system of a vehicle diesel engine may be evaluated and diagnosed using measured DOC exhaust inlet temperatures and outlet temperatures at a relatively high exhaust temperature and, soon thereafter, at a relatively low exhaust inlet temperature. Values of the platinum-containing DOC exotherms at the high and low DOC inlet temperatures are found to provide a basis for evaluation of both NO conversion and the HC and CO conversion capabilities of the DOC. The process may be repeated as the catalyzed DOC conversion efficiency changes with use. The practice may also be used to evaluate the performance of oxidation catalysts used in a like way in treating the exhaust from a lean-burn gasoline engine.

The statements in this section are intended to provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Many vehicles are powered by multi-cylinder, reciprocating piston, diesel engines which use a hydrocarbon fuel (or a bio-diesel fuel mixture) that, when mixed with air, is ignited during high compression of the air-fuel mixture in each cylinder. In the operation of diesel engines (and lean-burn gasoline engines) the mass ratio of air to fuel (e.g., 17:1 or greater) is well above the stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio. A turbocharger may be used to deliver air into the intake manifold of the engine and fuel injectors are used to deliver controlled amounts of fuel to each cylinder. Many parameters of engine operation are controlled using a computer-based engine control module. The result of such well-managed delivery of fuel and excess air to each cylinder is that efficient usage of the fuel is attained. But the exhaust gas stream, combined from the exhaust of the respective cylinders in the exhaust manifold of the engine, contains significant amounts of carbon monoxide (CO), incompletely burned hydrocarbons (HC), mixtures of oxides of nitrogen (mainly NO, with some NO2, collectively NOx), and small particles of carbon, in addition to nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water.
Governmental regulations in the United States and other countries compel treatment of the exhaust streams from diesel engines on vehicles to reduce the quantity of each of CO, HC, NOx, and diesel particulates (micrometer size carbon particles) before the exhaust is discharged from the tailpipe of the vehicle. Thus, there is a need to design and place suitable reactors in the exhaust flow stream for conversion of these exhaust constituents to nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water before the treated exhaust is discharged from the exhaust system. Various catalyzed oxidation reactors and catalyzed reduction reactors are proposed for such exhaust treatment, and there is a corresponding need to assess the operation of such catalyzed reactors on each vehicle to determine whether they are functioning as required. There is a specific, government-mandated, need to determine whether a platinum-containing metal catalyzed DOC is functioning to suitably convert (oxidize) some nitrogen oxide, NO, to nitrogen dioxide, NO2, so that the exhaust gas composition will respond to a selective catalytic reduction reactor in converting NOx to N2 and water. The conversion of some NO to NO2 is important to removing NOx from the exhaust stream.


An optical latch based on a lasing semiconductor optical amplifier is disclosed. The optical latch is configured to achieve one or more stable states in response to the input of predetermined signals at a “SET” input and a “RESET” input of the optical latch. The optical latch includes first and second LSOAs, each of which is configured to receive a pump input and generate an amplifier output. Each LSOA is also associated with a respective combiner and splitter. The combiner associated with each LSOA combines an input signal from the “SET” or “RESET” input, as applicable, with a signal received from the splitter of the other LSOA and the resulting combined signal is then input to the LSOA. Each splitter receives a ballast laser output from the associated LSOA, which is then split into two signals, namely, an input to the combiner of the other LSOA and an output signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to optical digital circuits, including latches and logic gates. More particularly, embodiments of the invention are concerned with optical latches based on devices such as lasing semiconductor optical amplifiers (LSOAs).
2. Description of Related Technologies
Digital electronics has revolutionized technology. Generally, in digital electronics, basic "building block" electronic digital circuits are combined to create more complicated and useful circuits, such as computer processors. These basic "building block" digital circuits include such well-known circuits as a NOT gate, a NOR gate, an OR gate, an AND gate, a NAND gate, a latch, and an astable multivibrator. Each of these electronic digital circuits is well known in the art.
However, the speed of electronic digital circuits is limited. For example, typical electronic digital circuits comprise transistors, which turn on and off. The transitions between on and off for each transistor takes time. Thus, electronic digital circuits limit a system's speed. In general, optical systems are capable of greater speed than electronic systems. Therefore, it is desirable to have optical digital circuits.
In addition, the use of electronic digital circuits in optical systems has drawbacks. For example, optical communication systems are capable of quickly moving large amounts of data. Frequently, it is desirable to use digital circuits in these optical communication systems. When electronic circuits are use in optical systems, the optical signal is converted into an electronic signal. After processing by the electronic circuits, the signal is reconverted to an optical signal. This conversion and re-conversion requires extra components, which add cost and size to the system. Further, the use of electronic components limits the speed of the system to the speed of the electronics, rather than allowing the system to take advantage of the speed of optical circuits.

Optical latch based on lasing semiconductor optical amplifiers


An overcurrent protection circuit connected between a voltage input and a voltage output of an electronic device to protect against excessive current is disclosed. The overcurrent protection circuit includes first to fifth resistors, a relay comprising a coil and a normally closed switch, a pnp transistor, and a break-over element. When a current between the voltage input and the voltage output is greater or equal to a rated current of the electronic device, the npn transistor is turned on, while the coil is powered on to control the switch to be opened, therefore the voltage output cannot output voltage, which can protect against excessive current damaging the electronic device.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to circuits and, particularly, to an overcurrent protection circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
Many electronic devices include fuses used to protect against excessive current damaging the electronic devices. However, the fuses are often not adequately sensitive, and furthermore, users have to replace with new fuses when the fuses are burnt out, which is very inconvenient.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A novel method and a novel article are disclosed for cleaning a metal, glass, or plastic surface without scratching or scoring the surface. The novel method comprises wiping the surface with the novel article, which is made from an open cell, hydrophilic, static-dissipative, polyurethane foam, and which is laundered so that the article in deionized water releases fewer than 36.0.times.10.sup.6 per square meter of apparent surface area of the article for particles of a size greater than about 0.5 .mu.m and fewer than about 2.5 parts per million of chloride, fluoride, sodium, sulfate, sulfite, or silicon ions. The novel article may be a wiper, a sponge, a roller, a swab mounted on a handle, or a plug having a generally cylindrical shape when unstressed and having particular utility where the surface is the interior surface of a metal, glass, or plastic tube. The plug is propelled through the tube, as by means of compressed air. The novel method also may comprise washing the surface with deionized water.

In clean rooms where semiconductors, magnetic storage media, or thin film circuits are produced and in clean rooms where pharmaceuticals are produced, similar cleaning problems are encountered. Frequently, it is necessary to clean a metal, glass, or plastic surface so as to remove metal and other particulates, and so as to remove organic and other residues. As an example, after a metal pipe has been installed in a clean room, it is necessary to clean the interior surface of the metal pipe so as to remove metal particles resulting from prior manufacturing, cutting, or facing operations.
Known methods for cleaning metal, glass, or plastic surfaces in clean rooms have employed polyester filamentary wipers, as exemplified in Paley et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,229, or polyvinyl alcohol or polyvinyl acetal rollers, as exemplified in Tomita et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,911. Cotton wipers and other filamentary wipers have been also employed, as well as other cleaning articles of diverse materials, such as sponges and swabs.
Commonly, in clean rooms, metal, glass, or plastic tubes of small interior diameters are installed. A known method for cleaning the interior surface of such a tube in a clean room has comprised cutting a small piece from a wiper, wadding the cut piece, and blowing the wadded piece through the tube by means of compressed air.
On a larger scale, plugs made of polyurethane foam or other polymeric foam have been used to clean the interior surfaces of pipe lines of large interior diameters, as exemplified in Wheaton U.S. Pat. No. 2,906,650, Knapp U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,508, and Knapp U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,185. Plugs of related interest are exemplified in Bitter U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,600 and Hamrick U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,947.
Ideally, articles for cleaning metal, glass, or plastic surfaces in clean rooms should satisfy certain criteria. Such articles should be hydrophilic and static-dissipative. Particularly but not exclusively if used in clean rooms where semiconductors, magnetic storage media, or thin film circuits are produced, such articles should have very low counts of potentially destructive particles released in deionized water, particularly particles of a size greater than about 0.5 .mu.m, and very low counts of potentially deleterious ions released in deionized water, particularly chloride, fluoride, sodium, sulfate, sulfite, or silicon ions. Heretofore, none of the wipers, rollers, or other cleaning articles available for cleaning metal, glass, or plastic surfaces in clean rooms have satisfied all of these criteria.

Hydrophilic foam article and surface-cleaning method for clean room


A motion sensing apparatus provided. The apparatus includes a sensing module and a processing module, wherein the sensing module includes at least two outputs, the processing module includes at least two signal ports, each signal port of the processing module is connected with one of the outputs of the sensing module respectively, and the sensing module outputs sensing signals from different outputs according to sensed different motions, and the processing module performs corresponding processes according to the sensing signals received from different signal ports. The apparatus simplifies a hardware circuit to some extent, saves the cost, and reduces the consumption of electric energy.

A corresponding reaction caused by the influence of external motion is referred to as motion sensing. At present, the motion sensing technology is widely used, for example, in TV remote controls, electric vehicles, computers, game consoles and mobile terminals (e.g., mobile phones).
At present, the mobile terminal is no longer a simple communication terminal, in addition to the traditional voice communicating function, functions like music playing, video playing, recording, taking photographs and video, and internet surfing make the mobile terminal fashionable and highly entertaining. Producing a fashionable and entertaining mobile terminal has been a trend in the mobile terminal development. Therefore, how to make the mobile terminal more practical, fashionable and attractive has become a key factor that mobile terminal manufacturers need to consider in the market competition. As the multimedia technology continues to develop, it has become a trend that the motion sensing technology is applied to the mobile terminal.
At present, when mobile terminal users want to change background pictures or play the next song, most of them have to change them manually, which is more rigid to operate without novelty, and fails to stimulate the user's desire to buy mobile terminals. However, the mobile terminal with the screen-shaking function developed by motion sensing technology leads the way for a new market. This mobile terminal has a screen shaking function, when the user needs to change in a certain function, it can be realized by gently shaking the mobile terminal. By replacing traditional manual operation with this method, it is possible to increase the practical and fashionable uses of the mobile terminal.
At present, the main principle of the mobile terminal with screen shaking function is that the function of screen shaking is realized depending on a sensor system consisting of a gravity sensor or an acceleration sensor and a hardware processing circuit. One sensing signal is generated by the sensor system by sensing the shaking operation of a user, the hardware processing circuit in the sensor system performs amplification, filtering and the like processes on the sensing signal, and then outputs a processing signal. The processor in the mobile terminal detects the processing signal output by the sensor system when necessary, and performs corresponding screen shaking processes according to the processing signal. Since the sensor system needs to perform amplification and filtering processes on the sensing signal, it not only makes the hardware circuit of the sensor system more complex, but also increases the production cost of the mobile terminal. At the same time, electric energy stored in the mobile terminal will also be consumed when these hardware processing circuits process the sensing signals, which reduces the endurance capability and the reliability of the mobile terminal to some extent.

Motion sensing apparatus and mobile terminal