An architecture, client specification and application programming interface (API) for supporting advanced voice services (AVS) for use in handsets in order to support advanced voice services (AVS) for wireless communications systems. The handset or mobile unit executes a client application therein for performing the call setup and in-band signaling with the wireless network for the group voice services, and executes a presence/group management application therein for performing presence and group management functions related to the group voice services in the mobile unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to wireless communications systems, and more specifically, to an architecture, client specification and application programming interface (API) for supporting advanced voice services (AVS) including push-to-talk or press-to-talk on wireless handsets and networks.
2. Description of Related Art
Group-based voice services, such as two-way half-duplex voice calls within a group or between individuals, also known as "Push-to-Talk," "Press-to-Talk," PTT or P2T, have enormous revenue earnings potential for wireless networks, such as cellular networks and personal communications systems (PCS) networks. Corporate subscribers primarily use such services for coordinating field people or fleet users from a central location.
Currently, there are three major approaches employed in providing group-based voice services such as P2T in wireless networks. One approach requires the installation of a dedicated private network, parallel to the wireless network, to support the group-based voice services. NEXTEL uses such a system, based on a solution developed by MOTOROLA known as IDEN. However, a dedicated private network is costly to install and maintain and is employed by a few public wireless carriers. Also, the IDEN system is non-standard, and hence cannot be used in standard wireless communications networks, such as those based on CDMA and GSM.
Another approach is based on Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies. While this approach promises compliance with newer and emerging standards, such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), etc., it does not provide a solution for carriers employing wireless networks based on existing standards, such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), etc. However, even for the newer standards, solutions based on VoIP have serious drawbacks, including slower call setup, significant overhead, increased susceptibility to packet losses, low bit rate voice coders (vocoders), and significant modifications to the mobile handset. There is a need, instead, for solutions that require only minimal upgrades to the handset.
Still another approach is that defined in the co-pending and commonly-assigned patent applications cross-referenced above and incorporated by reference herein. In this approach, group-based voice services are provided by a real-time exchange or dispatch gateway that interfaces to the wireless network to provide the group-based voice services therein, wherein both the real-time exchange and mobile handsets that use the group-based voice services communicate with each other using call setup and in-band signaling within the wireless network.
Notwithstanding these innovations, there is a need in the art for an architecture, client specification and application programming interface (API) for use in handsets in order to support advanced voice services (AVS) for wireless communications systems. The present invention aims to satisfy this need.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Architecture, client specification and application programming interface (API) for supporting advanced voice services (AVS) including push to talk on wireless handsets and networks


Embodiments of the present application relate to a method for authenticating user identity, a system for authenticating user identity, and a computer program product for authenticating user identity. A method for authenticating user identity is provided. The method includes generating a first verification code by a server, displaying the first verification code to a user in an application scenario of a service requiring user identity authentication, receiving a second verification code sent by the user via another application that is other than the application scenario, comparing the second verification code sent by the user and the first verification code generated by the server, and determining whether the user has passed identity authentication based on a result of the comparison.

With the expansion of the Internet, many activities previously conducted face-to-face in real life are gradually being replaced by communications over the Internet.
With the spread of network applications, an increasing number of people are using network applications for online shopping and online payment. To ensure security, when accessing systems having high security requirements such as online banking to perform an operation, users are typically first required to authenticate their identity (also known as "identity verification" or "authorization"). Only when a user's identity conforms to a set of requirements is the user confirmed as a valid user.
One conventional identity authentication method is as follows: when a user is to access a system, a server where the system is located sends a text message, via a telecommunications service or short message system (SMS) using an SMS service interface, to the user's mobile phone, and the text message includes a verification code randomly generated by the server. Upon receipt of this text message, the user enters the verification code included in the text message into a login screen of the system. Subsequently, the entered verification code is sent to the server. The server compares the received verification code against the previously sent verification code. If the two codes match, then the user is determined to be authenticated.
Specifically, a random number can be generated on the server and sent to the designated mobile telephone via the text message. Upon receipt of the random number, the user enters this random number during the login process and submits the random number to the server. The server confirms that the user is the owner of the designated mobile phone by verifying the random number, thereby the user has passed identity authentication.
However, security risks in the above conventional identity authentication method exist. Hackers or cheats could possibly intercept text messages by embedding a mobile phone Trojan or using deception to fraudulently obtain contents of the text message, and victims would remain unaware during this process (in the case of mobile phone Trojans), or simply tell the cheats the contents of the text message (in the case of deception). As a result, the cheats and/or the hackers would obtain the contents of the text message, and successfully steal the victims' identity or funds.

Method and system for authenticating user identity


A circuit having a first input and a second input configured to apply an alternating voltage, a first output and a second output configured to supply a rectified and regulated voltage, a rectifier bridge circuit having a current return circuit, a third transistor and a fourth transistor, and a controller configured to regulate the voltage between the first and the second output to a constant value. The current return circuit is connected to the first input, the second input and to the second output. The third transistor is configured as a series voltage regulator and is connected to the first input and the first output. The fourth transistor is configured as a series voltage regulator and is connected to the second input and the first output. The controller is coupled to a control input of the third transistor and to a control input of the fourth transistor. Further, a method for rectifying and regulating voltages of a circuit is provided. The circuit and the method can be used in a contactless chip card.

Contactless chip cards communicate without using electrical connections to reading and writing terminals. In passive chip cards, the power required for communication and for data processing is provided by the terminal in the form of an electromagnetic field by means of a terminal antenna. The electromagnetic field is coupled to the chip card by means of an antenna on the chip card.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional rectifier and voltage regulator circuit. The voltage induced in a chip card antenna is applied at a first input A1 and a second input A2 and is rectified by a rectifier R. The rectified voltage VR is smoothed by means of a reservoir capacitor CR. A series voltage regulator SR is used to regulate the output voltage VDD for an electric chip L of the chip card.
Usually, load modulation is used for transmitting data from the chip card to the terminal by changing the electrical load on the chip card antenna in a way that depends on the data that is to be transmitted. Since the chip card antenna is coupled to the terminal antenna by means of an electromagnetic field, these load changes also affect the voltage at the terminal antenna. The resultant voltage changes correspond to the transmitted data and can be demodulated to obtain the transmitted data.
A challenge in producing contactless chip cards is to reduce their cost and to improve their technical performance characteristics.

Circuit and method for rectifying and regulating voltages


An apparatus includes: a media; a head over the media; a head actuation motor (HAM) coupled to the head; control circuitry, coupled to the head actuation motor, including: a system-on-chip (SOC) configured to manage a control of the head actuation motor, a pulse width modulation (PWM) code bus, coupled to the SOC, configured to communicate the control of the HAM, and a power integrated circuit (PIC), coupled to the PWM code bus, configured to drive a HAM control signal.

Modern consumer and industrial electronic devices require storage of information, such as digital photographs, electronic mail, calendar, or contacts. These devices can be electronic systems, such as notebook computers, desktop computers, servers, televisions, and projectors, and are providing increasing levels of functionality to support modern life. Preserving the user data stored in the storage devices is of the utmost importance.
As recording technologies advance in hard disk drives, the performance and capacity has increased while the size has decreased. The pressure to produce smaller storage devices has led to the combining of integrated functions that can reside in a compatible technology. Many functions of the storage devices require analog control and sensitivity that cannot be provided by digital logic processes. The control interface between the digital functions and the analog control mechanisms continues to grow based on features and performance of the storage devices. The number of control bits in the control interface can increase the size of the packages and increase cost of the storage device.

Electronic system with servo management mechanism and method of operation thereof


An ultrasonic motor includes a stator and a rotor. In the stator, an n number of piezoelectric elements (wherein n is a natural number) are affixed to one surface of a vibrating member, whose outer circumferential edge is circular or polygonal, along a direction in which the outer circumferential edge extends. Each of the piezoelectric elements has a size corresponding to λθ/2 in terms of center angle, and the piezoelectric elements that are adjacent to each other are disposed so as to be separated by an interval corresponding to λθ/4 in terms of the center angle along a circumferential direction of the vibrating member. The piezoelectric elements are polarized in opposite directions in a thickness direction. The rotor is disposed so as to contact the stator, and is rotated by receiving vibration resulting from a 3n-wave traveling wave generated by the stator.

Hitherto, various ultrasonic motors making use of piezoelectric effects have been proposed. Patent Document 1 indicated below discusses an ultrasonic motor including a stator, formed by affixing a circular ring-shaped elastic member to a circular ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator, and a rotor, which contacts the circular ring-shaped elastic member. In the circular ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator, a plurality of electrodes are formed on both surfaces of a circular ring-shaped piezoelectric member formed of piezoelectric ceramics. The plurality of electrodes include a first phase electrode group and a second phase electrode group. By applying high-frequency voltages having different phases temporally to the first phase electrode group and the second phase electrode group, two standing waves are generated. By combining the two standing waves to each other, a traveling wave is generated at a surface of the ring-shaped elastic member and a surface of the ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator.
In an ultrasonic motor using a circular ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator such as that discussed in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to manufacture the piezoelectric vibrator. That is, in order to excite a predetermined vibration, the piezoelectric member must be precisely formed into a circular ring shape. Therefore, it is necessary to polish piezoelectric ceramics with high precision so that the center of an outer circumferential edge and the center of an inner circumferential edge of the circular ring-shaped piezoelectric member are the same. Further, processing must be separately performed in polarization and electrode formation, thereby tending to increase costs.
In the ultrasonic motor discussed in Patent Document 1, since one surface of the circular ring-shaped elastic member is entirely covered by the circular ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator, it is necessary to contact an opposite side of the circular ring-shaped elastic member with a rotor. That is, the surface that contacts the rotor is limited to one surface of the ring-shaped elastic member. Therefore, there are large design limitations.
On the other hand, Patent Document 2 indicated below discusses an ultrasonic motor including a stator shown in FIG. 12. In the stator 101 shown in FIG. 12, a circular ring-shaped elastic member 102 formed of, for example, metal is used. A plurality of projections 103 are formed at the lower surface of the elastic member 102 so as to be disposed in a dispersed manner in a circumferential direction. The plurality of protrusions 103 are provided by forming a plurality of slits 104 extending in a radial direction.
A plurality of first piezoelectric elements 105a and a plurality of second piezoelectric elements 102b are affixed to the upper surface of the circular ring-shaped elastic member 102. More specifically, an A-phase driving section 105A, including a portion in which four first piezoelectric elements 105a are disposed, and a B-phase driving section 105B, including a portion in which four second piezoelectric elements 105b are disposed, are provided. At the A-phase driving section and the B-phase driving section, standing waves whose phases differ from each other are temporally excited. By combining these standing waves, a traveling wave is formed. When the wavelength of the traveling wave is represented by λ, the A-phase driving section 105A and the B-phase driving section 105B are disposed at a 3λ/4 interval at one side and at a λ/4 interval at the other side.
In manufacturing the ultrasonic motor discussed in Patent Document 2, the plurality of piezoelectric elements 105a and 105b having rectangular planar shapes are affixed to the upper surface of the circular ring-shaped elastic member 102 that is formed of, for example, metal and that is easily processed. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform complicated processings of piezoelectric ceramics.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 1-17354
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-187677
In each of the A-phase driving section and the B-phase driving section, a standing-wave 5-wave whose wave number is 5 is excited. In the specification, when the wave number of the standing wave that propagates through a ring-shaped portion in a circumferential direction is S (S is a natural number), the wave is called an S wave. In order to efficiently excite each of these S harmonic waves, it is desirable that a circumferential length of an area where excitation occurs at one piezoelectric element 105a or one piezoelectric element 105b, that is, the size along a propagation path of a traveling wave be λ/2, and that the entire area of the portion corresponding to the circumferential length λ/2 be excited.
However, in the ultrasonic motor discussed in Patent Document 2, gaps indicated by arrows C are formed between the rectangular piezoelectric elements 105a that are adjacent to each other and the rectangular piezoelectric elements 125a that are adjacent to each other. Therefore, excitation efficiency cannot be increased.
In the ultrasonic motor discussed in Patent Document 2, in order to reduce the gaps C, the plurality of piezoelectric elements 105a and 105b may have the shape of a fan or a trapezoidal shape. However, in this case, the piezoelectric elements cannot be efficiently formed at a low cost, thereby increasing costs.
In addition, in the ultrasonic motor, a holding structure of the stator 101 tends to be complicated. In the stator 101, the plurality of piezoelectric elements 105a and 105b are provided at the upper surface side of the circular ring-shaped piezoelectric member 102, and the rotor is made to contact the projections 103 at the lower surface side to perform a driving operation. Therefore, in order to hold the stator 101, it is necessary to connect one end of a connection portion to a side surface of the circular ring-shaped elastic member 102, and to connect the other end of the connection portion to a holding portion. Therefore, the holding structure including, for example, the connection portion tends to be complicated.
In addition, in the ultrasonic motor, the rotor must be brought into contact with a surface of the elastic member 102 at a side opposite to the side where the piezoelectric elements 105a and 105b are placed. Therefore, the surface that contacts the rotor is limited to one surface of the elastic member 102.


A computation node according to various embodiments of the invention includes at least one input port capable of being coupled to at least one first other 5 computation node, a first store coupled to the input port(s) to store input data, a second store to receive and store instructions, an instruction wakeup unit to match the input data to the instructions, at least one execution unit to execute the instructions, using the input data to produce output data, and at least one output port capable of being coupled to at least one second other computation node. The node may also include a router to direct the output data from the output port(s) to the second other node. A system according to various embodiments of the invention includes and external instruction sequencer to fetch a group of instructions, and one or more interconnected, preselected computational nodes. An article according to an embodiment of the invention includes a medium having instructions which are capable of causing a machine to partition a program into a plurality of groups of instructions, assign one or more of the instruction groups to a plurality of interconnected preselected computation nodes, load the instruction groups on to the nodes, and execute the instruction groups as each instruction in each group receives all necessary associated operands for execution.

The performance of conventional microarchitectures, measured in Instructions Per Cycle (IPC), has improved by approximately 50-60% per year. This growth has typically been achieved by increasing the number of transistors on a chip and/or increasing the instruction cycle clock speed. However, these results will not continue to scale with respect to future technologies (90 nanometers and below), because fundamental pipelining limits and wire delays bind such architectures to their data communications systems.
Instruction-Level Parallelism (ILP), which can describe methods of using multiple transistors, also refers to a process where multiple instructions are executed in parallel, and constitutes yet another path to greater computational performance. One approach to increasing the use of ILP is via conventional superscalar processor cores that detect parallelism at run-time. The amount of ILP that can be detected is limited by the issue window, the complexity of which grows as square of the number of entries. Conventional superscalar architectures also rely on frequently accessed global structures, slowing down the system clock or increasing the depth of the pipeline.
Another approach to the implementation of parallel processing is taken by VLIW machines, where ILP analysis is performed at compile time. Instruction scheduling is done by the compiler, orchestrating the flow of execution in a static manner. However, this approach works well only for statistically predictable codes, and suffers when dynamic events occur—a run-time stall in one function unit, or a cache miss, forces the entire machine to stall, since all functional units are synchronized. Thus, there is a need for new computational architectures that capitalize on the transistor miniaturization trend while overcoming communications bottlenecks.

Computing nodes for executing groups of instructions

Board of Regents, University of Texas System


An ink includes at least one coloring matter represented by a formula (I):

In recent years, the image recording material is predominated by a material particularly for forming a color image and specifically, a recording material of inkjet system, an image recording material of heat-sensitive transfer system, a recording material of electrophotographic system, a silver halide light-sensitive material of transfer system, a printing ink, a recording pen and the like are popularly used. Also, in an image pickup device such as CCD of photographing equipment or in a display such as LCD and PDP, a color filter is used for recording or reproducing a color image. In these color image recording materials or color filters, coloring matters (dyes or pigments) for three primary colors by a so-called additive or subtractive color mixing method are used for displaying or recording a full color image, but a coloring matter having absorption characteristics capable of realizing a preferred color reproduction region and having fastness endurable to various use conditions or environmental conditions is not found at present and improvements are keenly demanded.
The coloring matters used for various uses described above are required in common to have the following properties. That is, the coloring matters are required, for example, to have absorption characteristics preferred in view of color reproduction, exhibit good fastness in the environmental condition on use, such as light fastness, heat resistance, moisture resistance, resistance to oxidative gases (e.g., ozone), and resistance to other chemicals (e.g., sulfurous acid gas), and ensure excellent storage stability as an ink. There is a strong demand for a coloring matter assured of good yellow color hue, fastness to light, moisture, heat and active gases in the environment, and excellent storage stability.
A large number of azo dyes comprising a nitrogen-containing 5-membered ring as the azo component have been heretofore disclosed, but none of these can satisfy the color hue, fastness and molecular extinction coefficient (see, for example, JP-A-55-161856 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), JP-A-6-145543, JP-A-7-224230, JP-A-9-234964, JP-A-9-277703, JP-A-2003-246942). A synthesis method for the 5-membered heterocyclic azo dye has been also disclosed, but the color hue, spectral absorption coefficient and the like are not satisfied (see, for example, J. Fabian and H. Hartmann, Light Absorption of Organic Colorants, Springer-Verlag, Berline (1980), Heinrich Zollinger, Color Chemistry, Weinheim-New York-Basel-Cambridge, Hiroshi Noguchi, Gosei Senryo (Synthetic Dyes), Sankyo Shuppan (1970), Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry, Vol. 22, pp. 813-816 (1985)).
In particular, the skeleton of a yellow coloring matter for use in inkjet recording ink is representatively an azo type. As for the representative azo coloring matter, a fast coloring matter having a triazinyl pyrazole skeleton is described in JP-A-2003-277662, but a coloring matter ensuring excellent storage stability as an ink is being demanded (see, for example, JP-A-2003-277662). Furthermore, a modification example of the fast coloring matter having a triazinyl pyrazole skeleton for improving the solution stability is described in JP-A-2005-225979, but because of not having absorption characteristics preferred in view of color reproduction, improvement of the color hue is demanded (see, for example, JP-A-2005-225979).

Ink, inkjet ink, inkjet recording method and method for improving weather resistance of color image material

Abstract: wherein R1 represents one of an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aralkyl group, an aryl group, a heterocyclic group, an acyl group, an alkyloxycarbonyl group, an aryloxycarbonyl group, a carbamoyl group, an alkylsulfonyl group, an arylsulfonyl group and a sulfamoyl group, which may have a substituent; X1 represents one of —CR2═ and a nitrogen atom, R2 represents one of a hydrogen atom and a substituent, and when R2 represents a substituent, R2 may have a substituent; X2 represents one of —CR3═ and a nitrogen atom, and R3 represents an electron-withdrawing group having a σp value of 0.20 or more; when X1 represents —CR2═, a pair of R1 and R2 and/or when X2 represents —CR3═, a pair of R2 and R3 each may combine to form a 5- to 7-membered ring; the coloring matter may form one of a dimer and a trimer through R1, R2, R3 or A; and A represents a prescribed aryl group or heterocyclic group etc.


According to example embodiments, a light emitting device package includes a package body including nanofibers and light-reflective particles dispersed in a resin, first and second electrodes in the package body, and a light emitting device on the package body. The emitting device is electrically connected to the first and second electrodes.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a light emitting device package.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a semiconductor light emitting device may be provided in the form of a package including an electrode structure for applying driving power to the light emitting device, and in order to obtain desired color characteristics, a semiconductor light emitting device may have a wavelength conversion unit. Meanwhile, a semiconductor light emitting device, when driven, may emit a large amount of heat, so a difference in coefficients of thermal expansion between components included in the package may result in a defective package and a wavelength conversion unit may be damaged to degrade optical quality of light wavelengths converted thereby.

Light emitting device and light emitting device package


A device, system and method for treatment of tissue by direct application thereto of therapeutic substances in the form of a stream of therapeutic droplets carried in a high velocity gas. The high velocity gas is produced by accelerating a flow of gas through at least one gas discharge nozzle. At least one flow of therapeutic liquid is introduced into the high velocity gas through at least one liquid discharge nozzle, thereby fragmenting the at least one flow of therapeutic liquid into a stream of therapeutic droplets. The stream is accelerated to a velocity similar to the velocity of the gas discharge flow. The accelerated therapeutic droplet stream is then applied to a tissue mass for therapeutic treatment. The therapeutic substances are provided by containers mounted directly on the device. The containers contain predefined dosages and/or concentrations of the therapeutic substances.

Devices for dermal abrasion of exposed in vivo tissue are known in the art. One such device is described in International Publication Number WO 2005/065032, "A High Velocity Liquid-Gas Mist Tissue Abrasion Device", included herein by reference. This document also provides a general overview of the prior art of dermal abrasion and dermal abrasion devices.
Disclosed in the above referenced document is a device for dermal abrasion employing a high-velocity liquid-gas streaming mist. The disclosed device is particularly successful in overcoming the difficulty of stagnant boundary layers. When a fluid stream is employed to irrigate a tissue surface, a boundary layer is formed which is characterized by having a fluid velocity which decreases sharply adjacent to the flow surface, being virtually zero at the tissue surface. As a result, particles which are smaller than the thickness of the boundary layer of the fluid stream are often difficult or impossible to remove. The smallest particles in the boundary layer exhibit a drag resistance of a magnitude sufficient for these particles to remain attached to the surface and to resist being swept away by the fluid stream. The device disclosed in the above referenced document overcomes this difficulty, its liquid-gas streaming mist producing a boundary layer of minimal to negligible thickness.
However, neither the device disclosed in the above mentioned document nor other prior art devices discussed therein provide for a construction designed to easily allow treatment of abraded tissue with therapeutic substances in predefined dosages and/or concentrations. Additionally, the above mentioned device and other prior art devices require relatively large liquid and gas sources, suitable for use with a plurality of patients. These sources are positioned distant from the device necessitating the use of connecting tubes which inter alia impede use, especially one-hand use, of the devices.

Device for administering therapeutic substances using a high velocity liquid-gas stream


A required value of decoupling capacitance is calculated in advance for every functional cell, a virtual cell which has a functional cell, and a decoupling capacitance placing area required for placing the decoupling capacitance with the calculated value is created, the virtual cell is placed on a chip, and the decoupling capacitance cell is subsequently placed in the decoupling capacitance placing area of the virtual cell. A layout method of an integrated circuit and a computer program, in which a decoupling capacitance with an amount required for preventing malfunction caused by a noise can be surely placed, and there is no possibility that the functional cell will need to be replaced due to a shortage of the decoupling capacitance after placing the functional cell can be realized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a layout method of a semiconductor integrated circuit provided with a decoupling capacitance for preventing malfunction caused by noises of power supply, also relates to a computer program product for causing a computer to execute such a layout method.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, microfabrication and high integration of a semiconductor integrated circuit have been achieved, and in connection with this, a lowering in operating voltage, an increase in speed of operating frequency, and the like have been made. For example, a process rule of manufacturing the semiconductor integrated circuit has been reduced to 0.1 μm or less, and in connection with this, an operating voltage of the semiconductor integrated circuit has also been lowered to 1.2 V or less, while the operation frequency has been increased to hundreds of MHz or more. In the semiconductor integrated circuit, however, noises are increased according to an increase in speed of operation frequency, and resistance against the noises is deteriorated by lowering voltage, thus causing a problem that circuit malfunction is easily generated by the noises.
Meanwhile, in order to prevent the circuit malfunction by the noises, there is known a technology of providing a decoupling capacitance between circuit power supplies. Conventionally, a placement of the decoupling capacitances at a CAD stage in a layout design has been performed into free areas where functional cells have not been placed after functional cells, such as flip-flops, logic gate elements, clock buffers, and I/O cells, have been first placed in a chip according to an appropriate rule. In this case, after the functional cells and the decoupling capacitances have been placed, it is necessary to verify whether or not a sufficient amount of decoupling capacitance is placed. As a result of verification, if the decoupling capacitance has not been sufficiently placed, the placement of the functional cell has been needed to be changed so that the free areas for placing the decoupling capacitance might be extended.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-055954, there is proposed a layout method of a semiconductor integrated circuit, in which a decoupling capacitance required for reducing a noise is estimated in advance, and as a result of that, the required decoupling capacitance is preferentially placed in a corner area which may a dead space of a chip, and a periphery of an I/O cell, and a semiconductor integrated circuit placed in such a method.
Moreover, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-288253, there is proposed a method, in which after functional cells are placed in a chip, the chip is divided into a plurality of areas, and a required decoupling capacitance is determined for every divided area, so that the decoupling capacitance is placed in each of the areas by increasing or reducing each of the areas depending on the required amount of decoupling capacitance.
In the conventional technology for placing the conventional decoupling capacitance, however, as described above, the decoupling capacitance has been placed in free areas after the functional cells have been placed. Meanwhile, in a layout method of a semiconductor integrated circuit described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-055954, the decoupling capacitance is intended to be placed in a corner area of the chip, and a periphery an I/O cell. For this reason, since the decoupling capacitance is not necessarily placed near a functional cell which particularly requires the decoupling capacitance, for example a functional cell which becomes a source of power supply noise, such as a flip-flop, a clock buffer, or the like, there is a fear that the decoupling capacitance may not effectively function.
Furthermore, in a conventional art, for example, a method of placing a decoupling capacitance described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-288253, after a functional cells are first placed in a chip, a decoupling capacitance is placed. For this reason, when there is a shortage of a free area for placing a decoupling capacitance, it is necessary to correct the result of layout processing in order to secure the free area, so that there is a problem of an increase in time required for layout operations.

Layout method and computer program product


The present invention relates to a new antitumor compound, a method for isolating same from a red alga, antitumor compositions containing same and methods of using same for treating patients with cancer. The compound of the present invention is 6(R)-bromo-3(S)-bromomethyl-7-methyl-2,3,7-trichloro-1-octene.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compound which exhibits antitumor activity, a method for isolating the compound from a red alga, and methods for using the compound. More specifically, the present invention relates to: isolation and identification of a new chemical compound, and of medically useful compositions containing the same. The compound of the present invention exhibits advantageous pharmacological, toxicological or antitumor properties, such as, for example, killing or inhibiting the growth of human tumors.
2. Description of Related Art
Since the mid-1970's the Rhodophyta (red algae) have been known to produce halogenated monoterpenes [Stallard, M. O., et al: Comp. Biochem. Physiol. B, 49: 25-35, 1974]. Although scores of acyclic, monocyclic and bicyclic halogenated monoterpenes have been identified [Sims, J. J., et al: In Marine Natural Products, Chemical and Biological Perspectives, (Scheuer, P. J., ed.), New York: Academic Press, 1978, pp. 297-378], this class of compounds has been confined to the genera Plocamium and Chondrococcus. The structure elucidation of these compounds has not been a simple task. The relatively volatile monoterpenes tend to decompose under electron-impact ionization mass spectrometry (EI-MS) conditions and acquisition of molecular weight and formula information has often been difficult. Correct placement of chlorine and bromine substituents has not proven to be straightforward, as NMR chemical shift arguments are clouded by the cumulative effects of multiple substituents on the C.sub.10 skeleton.
The compound of the present invention is 6(R)-bromo-3(S)-bromomethyl-7-methyl-2,3,7-trichloro-1-octene. A compound proposed to have the same structure as the compound of the present invention was reported previously by Burreson et al., [Burreson, B. J., et al: Chemistry Lett., 1111-1114, 1975.] as an unresolved component in a mixture of monoterpenes from Chondrococcus hornemannii; however, the material was only partially characterized. Neither a proof of the structure, nor the absolute stereochemistry (there are two chiral centers, carbon atoms 3 and 6, and thus four possible diasteromers), nor a method of isolating the compound of the present invention in substantially pure form has previously been reported in the literature.
Other carbocyclic halomonoterpenes from Rhodophyta reportedly have shown general cytotoxicity in brine shrimp assays [Konig, G. M., et al: J. Nat. Prod. 53: 1615-1618, 1990] and in vitro inhibition of murine leukemia [Gonzales, A. G., et al: Planta Med. 44: 44-46, 1982] or other [Kusumi, T., et al: J. Org. Chem. 52: 4597-4600, 1987] cell lines. However, the novel profiles of selective antitumor activity of the compound of the present invention that can be demonstrated in the U.S. National Cancer Institute's new disease-oriented primary screen, which predicts antitumor activity against human solid tumors, has not previously been reported for any halomonoterpene in the literature. Neither the specific compound of the invention nor pharmaceutical compositions of the compound nor methods of using the compound or compositions thereof for treatment of cancer have been heretofore described.

Antitumor compound, compositions and method of use

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


A predistorter for reducing spurious emissions in an amplified signal including a first path configured to generated memory-less distortion correction and one or more second paths configured to generate memory distortion correction. The paths contain one or more dynamically controllable delay circuits that are configured such that the memory-less and memory distortion correction remains independent irrespective of frequency of use of the predistorter.

Wireless communication networks often use digital modulation schemes, the standards for which carry stringent requirements on out-of-band emissions. In addition, regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for example, also limit out-of-band emissions.
One source of out-of-band emissions and/or undesired emissions in-band, collectively referred to herein as spurious emissions, are the RF power amplifiers used to transmit signals to mobile units, such as in a cellular network. Spurious emissions are often due to non-linearities, e.g., amplitude-to-amplitude (AM-AM) and amplitude-to-phase (AM-PM), as well as memory effects, in the response of the RF power amplifiers.
One manner of addressing these concerns is to use a technique referred to as "predistortion" to apply a correction to the input signals of these amplifiers to reduce non-linearities and the spurious emissions that result therefrom. However, conventional predistortion techniques often suffer from certain drawbacks, limiting their utility.
For example, RF based predistorters often contain a number of delay paths, each associated with a look-up table containing correction values, that may be used to provide some portion of a correction signal used to reduce non-linearities and memory effects in the response of the RF power amplifier. Further, these delay paths may be organized into layers. The first of these layers may be configured to provide AM-AM and AM-PM or memory-less distortion, while the second layer corrects for memory effects.
The correction values in the look-up tables may be initially generated for a particular operating frequency or channel for the RF power amplifier. So long as the RF power amplifier is used at this frequency, the correction values in look-up tables in their respective layers remain independent and a cancellation null occurs at the operating frequency, thus preventing a portion of the carrier frequency from appearing in the second layer RF paths. Further, the first and second layers may be turned on and off independently to determine the effectiveness of each layer, and to allow alignment and/or tuning.
However, if the RF power amplifier is used at some other frequency, a portion of the carrier frequency may appear in the second layer RF paths and result in a spurious emission. In order to prevent such a spurious emission, the correction values in the look-up tables in the first and second layers may be adjusted. Such an adjustment makes the correction values in the look-up tables in each layer interdependent. The interdependence of the correction values in the look-up tables in each layer generally prevents independent operation of each layer to allow for independent tuning and/or alignment.
Generation of the correction values in the look-up tables also becomes an iterative process when the correction values are interdependent. For example, in order to minimize spurious emissions in an interdependent system, correction values in the look-up table associated with the first layer are generated while the second layer is turned off. Next, the first layer is turned off while correction values for the look-up tables in the second layer are generated. Multiple iterations between the first and the second layers are often required to eliminate the presence of the carrier in the second layer RF paths, reducing any spurious emissions associated therewith. This process is repeated until the spurious emissions are eliminated or reduced to a satisfactory level.
In addition, the further the operating frequency is from the frequency used to generate the initial correction values in the look-up tables, the more iterative the process becomes. Thus, a frequency located at the center of the operating band of the RF power amplifier is typically selected to generate the initial correction values. RF power amplifiers used for digital modulation schemes typically have sufficient operating bandwidth to make generating correction values in the look-up tables in each layer difficult even when a frequency located at the center of the band is selected for initial generation of correction values. More particularly, those frequencies located at the upper and lower extremes of the operating band are typically the most difficult to generate correction values for, e.g., requiring a high number of iterations, and making the correction values in the look-up tables in each layer even more interdependent.
There is therefore a need to provide a predistorter capable of reducing spurious emissions in the response of an RF power amplifier with independent delay paths irrespective of the operating frequency of the RF power amplifier.

Independence between paths that predistort for memory and memory-less distortion in power amplifiers


Disclosed herein are a safety apparatus of an electric bicycle and a safety driving method thereof. The safety apparatus of an electric bicycle includes a foldable portion which is foldable by rotation of a folding lever, a first sensing portion, a second sensing portion, a control unit provided with at least one of current rotation information and current folded position information and including at least one of sensing range information on a per rotation basis and sensing range information on a per position basis, and a safety drive portion which, when the control unit determines that at least one of the current rotation information and the current folded position information is deviated from at least one of the sensing range information on a per rotation basis and the sensing range information on a per position basis, turns off activation of a motor.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a safety apparatus of an electric bicycle and a safety driving method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a conventional electric bicycle is configured such that a battery voltage is supplied from a battery to a motor and the electric bicycle runs by driving of the motor.
In such a conventional electric bicycle, a rider determines a folded state of a foldable portion with the naked eye when folding the foldable portion.
In the conventional electric bicycle, when the folded state of the foldable portion is imperfect, imperfect running and safety accidents may occur according to activation of the motor.
Accordingly, in recent years, a study for a safety apparatus of an improved electric bicycle and a safety driving method thereof has been continuously conducted in order to suppress unnecessary consumption of a battery while preventing imperfect running and safety accidents by determining a folded state of a foldable portion or previously determining a state in which current rotation of a folding lever is possible to turn off activation of a motor according thereto.
In addition, in recent years, a study for a safety apparatus of an improved electric bicycle and a safety driving method thereof has been continuously conducted in order to further prevent safety accidents when a rider reactivates a motor to manipulate an electric bicycle.

Safety apparatus of electric bicycle and safety driving method thereof


Acoustic models for speech recognition are automatically generated utilizing trained acoustic models from a native language and a foreign language. A phoneme-to-phoneme mapping is utilized to enable the description of foreign language words with native language phonemes. The phoneme-to-phoneme mapping is used for training foreign language words, described by native language phonemes on foreign language speech material. A new phonetic lexicon is created containing foreign language words and native language words transcribed by native language phonemes. Robust native language acoustic models can be derived utilizing foreign language and native language training material. The mapping may be used for training a grapheme to phoneme transducer (i.e., foreign language to native language) to generate native language pronunciations for new foreign language words.

Speech-enabled applications using speaker-independent speech recognition technology are characterized by a vocabulary utilizing a language dependent phonetic description. And typically, the vocabulary uses language specific acoustic models for such phonetic symbols. The applications therefore utilize a native language phonetic inventory or a foreign language phonetic inventory to recognize and transcribe the vocabulary to be recognized.
Current speech recognition systems support only individual languages. If words of another language need to be recognized, acoustic models associated with that language must be used. An acoustic model is a set of acoustic parameters generated during training, representing the pronunciations(s) of a word or sub-word unit and is used for speech recognition. For most speech recognition systems, these models are built, or trained, by extracting statistical information from a large body of recorded speech. To provide speech recognition in a given language, one typically defines a set of symbols (phonetic symbols and phonemes will be used interchangeably hereinafter), known as phonemes, which represent all sounds of that language. For multi-language, speaker-independent speech recognition, a common set of multilingual phonemes and acoustic models are needed for each respective language under consideration. When supporting a wide range of languages a large database covering all languages must be provided.
A large quantity of spoken samples in each language is typically recorded to permit extraction of an acoustic model for each of the phonemes for each particular language. Usually, a number of native speakers—i.e. people having the language as their mother tongue—are asked to record a number of utterances. A set of the recordings of the utterances is referred to as a speech database. The recording of such a speech database for every language one wants to support is very costly and time consuming.
Name dialing in a mobile phone environment may serve as an example for such a scenario. In a mobile phone, words to be added to the active vocabulary may stem from different languages as entries in the personal phonebook, such as names from different countries. To address such phonebook entries using a voice enabling process the names need to be processed properly to derive acoustic models for them. For recognition, acoustic models are utilized for representing the pronunciation of words, phonemes, etc. Typically such acoustic models are language specific and a lexicon lookup or language specific grapheme-to-phoneme (G2P) algorithm yields a phonetic description, which is used by a language specific phoneme-based recognizer. The phonetic realization, i.e., the pronunciation of foreign words uttered by a non-native speaker is the main problem of a multi-language approach to obtain good recognition results for these foreign words.
Most foreign words typically cannot be described accurately in a phonetic inventory of the speaker's native language. (NL) since sounds for specific phonetic units generally do not correspond exactly in the NL. Nevertheless, the articulation capability of the speaker is reflected in the sounds of the NL represented by the NL phonetic inventory. A phonetic inventory is a (language specific) set of phonetic symbols that does not include sound recordings. In some cases the foreign words cannot be completely described in the NL due to missing sounds (e.g. the English word email [ee m ey I] is not describable by the German phoneme set due to the missing sound [ey] in the German language). Moreover, NL acoustic models for FL words are inaccurate and result in low recognition performance even if uttered by FL speakers. Additionally, even when the foreign word can be transcribed within the NL phoneme inventory problems may arise from the "phono-tactics" of FL (foreign language) words, which do not correspond to the phono-tactics of NL words. Phono-tactics is the set of allowed arrangements or sequences of phonemes and thus, speech sounds in a given language. A word beginning with the consonant cluster (zv), for example, violates the phono-tactics of English, but not of Russian. In particular when context dependent acoustic models (like triphones) are utilized for the recognition, different phono-tactics may result in missing triphones and thus in a less accurate modeling of words and a reduced recognition performance.
Basically, even applying a multi-language recognition engine that supports several (native) languages to recognize application words spoken by non-native speakers will not yield the best results. This is due to the fact that the non-native speaker will color the foreign words with the speaker's mother tongue and the description of the foreign words with the FL phoneme inventory and FL acoustic models is usually not accurate enough and will not necessarily give best recognition results. The best solutions—training of these FL words with non-native speech of many speakers—is usually not feasible due to the very limited availability of large, appropriate training databases, i.e., speech recordings of non-native pronunciations (i.e. from many NL speakers) of FL words from the specific target language(s). Typically, the speaker is not at all familiar with the FL inventory and describing newly added foreign words with NL phonemes is a serious undertaking.
What is needed is a speech recognition system that accepts input from speakers speaking words that are foreign to the speakers' native language and is capable of utilizing the speaker's native phoneme inventory to describe the pronunciation of foreign language words where utterances of these words, from native and non-native speakers, are recognized with high accuracy.

Method and apparatus for generating acoustic models for speaker independent speech recognition of foreign words uttered by non-native speakers


The present disclosure relates to a method and a system for detecting an anomaly within a biological tissue. A first image of the biological tissue is obtained, the first image containing light at a first wavelength. A second image of the biological tissue is obtained, the second image containing light at a second wavelength. A texture analysis of the biological tissue is performed using spatial information of the first and second images. The texture analysis is resolved over the first and second wavelengths.

Imaging techniques are commonly used to assist in the detection and diagnosis of various illnesses. Images of a particular region of interest (ROI) of a subject are analysed to detect anomalies. A commonly used technique to detect amyloids and other anomalies comprises positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. PET scans are expensive, time consuming, and may cause discomfort to the subject.
One example of anomalies that may be detected and lead to the establishment of a diagnosis comprises amyloids, that is, abnormal protein aggregates. In particular, while Alzheimer's disease is essentially a neurodegenerative illness, it has been shown that the presence of amyloid plaques in the retina of a subject may indicate the onset of Alzheimer's disease. It has further been proposed to the diagnosis of other illnesses, for example diabetes and hypertension, could be based on the detection of anomalies within the retina of a subject.
Recently, techniques involving numerical image processing have been proposed. In particular, image analysis may be used to characterize image textures with the aim of discovery abnormal patterns within a ROI of the subject. Currently, there are few commercially available technologies capable of efficiently detecting, within the eye of a subject, a manifestation of a disease rooted in other organs of the subject. An example of such technology may be found in International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2016/041062 A1 to Sylvestre et al., published on Mar. 23, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, which discloses techniques for producing spectrally resolved images that may be used for identifying amyloid plaques present in the fundus of a subject suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) analysis has been proposed as a tool for the representation of the texture of a ROI. For instance, FIG. 1 (prior art) is a representation of texture correlations based on spatial GLCM for regions of interest of two subjects, one of which being amyloid positive. In FIG. 1, the ROI is within the retina of the two subjects. Photograph 10A shows a ROI for an amyloid positive subject (hereinafter patient "A") while photograph 10B shows a similar ROI for an amyloid negative subject (hereinafter patient "B"). While photographs 10A and 10B do reveal some differences between these ROIs, these differences are subtle and may not suffice to easily discriminate between normal and abnormal conditions. Diagnosis based on photographs 10A and 10B requires the attention of a highly skilled medical professional. In spite of the skill of the medical professional, diagnosis errors may occur due to the ambiguous distinction between photographs 10A and 10B that respectively show abnormal and normal tissues.
Current imaging techniques tend to provide visual information that can only be evaluated by highly skilled professionals. Moreover, current imaging techniques are generally not easily adaptable to the detection of various types of anomalies in various biological tissues such as ROIs of a subject.
Therefore, there is a need for improvements in the field of medical imaging that compensate for problems related to the limited adaptability of current imaging techniques and to the inherent ambiguity of images obtained using such techniques.

Method and system for detecting an anomaly within a biological tissue


A high speed pattern generating method by which a pattern signal having a speed higher than conventional speed can be generated using a sequence control part operating at a speed equivalent to a conventional speed and a high speed pattern generator for materializing the method are provided. A high speed pattern signal having a speed multiple of the number of multiplexing against an operation speed of the sequence control part is generated by generating multi-phase sub patterns from a plurality of sub pattern generating parts and by taking out for multiplexing the multi-phase sub patterns one phase by one phase by a multiplexing circuit. Further, an instruction memory of a pattern generator is uniquely arranged to materialize the high speed pattern generating method.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a semiconductor device testing apparatus conventionally used for testing a semiconductor device such as an IC memory. As shown in the drawing, this semiconductor device testing apparatus includes a pattern generator 100, a data selector 200, a device under test, for example, an IC 300, and a logical comparator 400. The pattern generator 100 comprises a sequence control part 110 and a pattern generating part 120.
The sequence control part 110 comprises, as shown in FIG. 2, a program counter controller 111, a program counter 112, an instruction memory 113, a loop counter 114 and an initial value storing register 115. The instruction memory 113 comprises a sequence control instruction storage area 113A and a pattern generating instruction storage area 113B, and these storage areas 113A and 113B are accessed by an address signal supplied from the program counter 112. When the sequence control instruction storage area 113A is accessed, a sequence control instruction is read out from the sequence control instruction storage area 113A and then this sequence control instruction is supplied to the program counter controller 111 to be decoded therein and an address to be accessed next is determined. This address is sent to the program counter 112 from the program counter controller 111 and the program counter 112 supplies an address signal for accessing the determined address to the instruction memory 113. Then, a sequence control instruction to be next executed is read out from the instruction memory 113. In such a way, every time one of the sequence control instructions is sequentially read out from the instruction memory 113, the program counter controller 111 determines an address to be next accessed in accordance with a control instruction written in that sequence control instruction. The above operation is repeated so that a pattern generating instruction is read out from the pattern generating instruction storage area 113B.
One of the reasons why a system for reading out a pattern generating instruction while determining an address to be next accessed in accordance with a sequence control instruction is used as described above is that in case of using a system for programming pattern generating instructions one step by one step to generate pattern signals, for example, there occurs a trouble in the system that the program becomes extensive and lengthy and hence a large amount of work and time are required for the programming.
Therefore, a programming method for generating a predetermined test pattern a predetermined number of times using a loop instruction is generally employed. In this method, at starting time of a pattern generation, the number of loop times etc. are stored in the initial value storing register 115 for each loop instruction and when a loop instruction is executed, the number of loop times is counted by the loop counter 114. When the loop instruction is executed a predetermined number of times, the execution of the loop instruction is terminated and then the process moves to an execution of the next loop instruction.
A pattern generating instruction read out from the pattern generating instruction storage area 113B is supplied to a pattern generating part 120 and the pattern generating part 120 generates a test pattern signal and an address signal in accordance with the pattern generating instruction.
The data selector 200 selects an address signal and a data signal etc. to be applied to the IC under test 300 from the signals generated by the pattern generating part 120 and supplies those signals to the IC under test 300 after shaping the wave forms. Also, the data selector 200 selects an expected value data from the test pattern signals and supplies the expected value data to the logical comparator 400.
In the logical comparator 400, a data read out from the IC under test 300 is logically compared with an expected value data from the data selector 200. When a mismatch is detected in the logical comparison, a failure of the IC under test is determined. Therefore, when a mismatch is not detected, the IC under test 300 can be judged as a good IC. Consequently, a pass/failure decision of the IC under test 300 can be performed.
Since, in the conventional pattern generator 100, the instruction memory 113 must be operated in a speed higher than the pattern generation frequency, it is difficult to improve the sequence control part 110 for higher speed operation. Particularly, in order to make the pattern generation speed higher, all of the instruction memory 113, the program counter controller 111, the program counter 112 and the loop counter 114 etc. must be arranged using elements which allow a higher speed operation. The pattern generating part 120 must also be arranged using high speed operable elements and must take a super multi-stage pipeline structure. Therefore, there is a shortcoming in operating the pattern generator in high speed that a huge expense is necessary, and the equipment becomes expensive and large in physical size even if the equipment is realized.
In addition, even if the expenditure is possible, there is a limit in the operation speed of the high speed operable element. Therefore, in the prior art, it is difficult to increase the pattern generation speed of 100 MHz to several 100 MHz.

High speed pattern generating method and high speed pattern generator using the method


A retractable support arm structure, which is applied between a base and a steering mechanism of a LCD stand includes an upright arm having a hollow part, an telescopic arm having one end inserted into the hollow part, and a spring member located between the upright arm and the telescopic arm to store a upwardly extending potential energy and several friction members therebetween are used to maintain the balance. The upright arm and the telescopic arm are constituted by square tube made by seamless corner bar.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides an improvement on China Patent Utility No. ZL 03 2 03726.0, entitled "Rack for LCD Monitor".
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a rack for LCD monitor according to China Patent Utility No. ZL 03 2 03726.0. This rack is adapted to support a LCD monitor or LCD TV, allowing adjustment of the elevation and angle of the LCD monitor or LCD TV. According to this design, the rack comprises a base (10′), which has a horizontally extended area that can be positioned on a flat surface positively, an upright tube (11′) vertically upwardly extended from the base (10′) at the top, a telescopic arm (12′) inserted into the upright tube (11′), a resilient means (13′) that imparts an upward force to the telescopic arm (12′) relative to the upright tube (11′), a holder frame (20′) fixedly provided at the free end of the telescopic arm (12′), a first steering member (21′) pivotally connected to the holder frame (20′) by a Z-axis pivot, a second steering member (22′) pivotally connected to the holder frame (20′) by a pair of X-X axis pivot and turnable in direction perpendicular to the first steering member (21′), and a third steering member (23′) pivotally connected to the front side of the second steering member (22′) by a Y-axis pivot and adapted to bearing the load and freely rotatable relative to the second steering member (22′). In FIG. 1, the resilient means (13′) is an air cylinder (13′) provided within a space at the center of said telescopic arm (12′), having a cylindrical casing (131′) with its one end connected to the free end of the telescopic arm (12′), a piston (133′) axially movably supported in the cylindrical casing (131′), and a piston rod (132′) for driving the piston (133′) being fixedly fastened to the base (10′). When the telescopic arm (12′) is lowered, the air cylinder (13′) imparts a resisting force to the telescopic arm (12′). According to this design, the capacity of the air cylinder (13′) is determined in such a way that the resisting force of the air cylinder (13′) is slightly larger than the load at the third steering member (23′), and the pressure difference between the resisting force of the air cylinder (13′) and the load is set up by the friction force between the telescopic arm (12′) and the upright tube (11′). Therefore, the telescopic arm (12′) can be freely moved up and down relative to the upright tube (11′) and then positioned in the desired position. According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the resilient means (13′) is a spring (13″) which achieves the same effect.


An insulator for spark plug with a main constituent of alumina and containing silicon includes a grain boundary phase positioned between alumina particles. The grain boundary phase contains: a group 2A element; a rare earth element; and at least one kind of zirconium, titanium, chrome, niobium, manganese, and iron (a first element). Assuming that a total amount of the rare earth element is X (mass %), a total amount of the group 2A element is Y (mass %), and a total amount of the first element is Z (mass %), the following are met:0.40≦Y/X≦2.000.10≦Z/X≦0.40.

A spark plug used for an internal combustion engine or a similar component, for example, includes an insulator, a center electrode, a tubular metallic shell and a ground electrode. The insulator has an axial hole extending in the axis direction. The center electrode is disposed to be inserted into a front end side of an axial hole. The metallic shell is disposed at the outer circumference of the insulator. The ground electrode is secured to the front end portion of the metallic shell.
One known type of a spark plug (a so-called parallel electrode type and a transverse discharge type) has a gap between the front end portion of the ground electrode and the front end portion of the center electrode. Applying a voltage to the gap generates discharge in the air. In another known type of a spark plug (a so-called surface discharge type), the front end surface of the ground electrode is disposed so as to face the outer peripheral surface at the front end side of the center electrode. A part of a discharge path becomes a path that goes along the surface of the insulator. Nowadays, a plasma jet ignition plug has been proposed. In this plasma jet spark plug, the front end of the center electrode is positioned at a rear end side with respect to a front end of an insulator. Plasma is generated by turning on electric power between both electrodes where discharge is generated.
Generally, to obtain excellent thermal resistance, dielectric strength characteristics and mechanical strength, the insulator is formed with an alumina-based sintered body. The alumina-based sintered body is obtained by sintering an insulating material with a main constituent of alumina (Al2O3). Furthermore, in formation of the insulator, to achieve reduction in sintering temperature and improvement of sinterability (denseness of the insulator), for example, silicon oxide (SiO2), calcium oxide (CaO), or magnesium oxide (MgO) is employed as sintering additive.
Additionally, to ensure excellent dielectric strength characteristics even under high temperatures, a technique that contains a rare earth element (for example, scandium (Sc), Y (yttrium), or a lanthanum (La)) in an insulator is proposed (for example, see JP-A-2009-242234). According to the technique, a melting point of a grain boundary phase in alumina particles can be heightened. This ensures reducing softening of the grain boundary phase when the insulator becomes a high temperature.


Methods for concentrating hydrogen peroxide solutions have been described. The methods utilize a polymeric membrane separating a hydrogen peroxide solution from a sweep gas or permeate. The membrane is selective to the permeability of water over the permeability of hydrogen peroxide, thereby facilitating the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide solution through the transport of water through the membrane to the permeate. By utilizing methods in accordance with the invention, hydrogen peroxide solutions of up to 85% by volume or higher may be generated at a point of use without storing substantial quantities of the highly-concentrated solutions and without requiring temperatures that would produce explosive mixtures of hydrogen peroxide vapors.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a highly effective oxidizer. Its effectiveness generally increases at increasing concentrations. However, hydrogen peroxide solutions also become increasingly unstable at higher concentrations. For industrial applications, aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions are generally stored at concentrations of 50% or less by volume. Although hydrogen peroxide solutions may be safely stored at higher concentrations, storage conditions become increasingly critical.
Many industrial applications demand concentrations above 50% by volume. Although generally unsuitable for industrial storage, concentrations of approximately 80% by volume may be attained by heating the solution to 140° C. However, the rate of decomposition of the aqueous solution increases by a factor of approximately 2.3 for each 10° C. increase in temperature. Additionally, at temperatures corresponding to the boiling point of a hydrogen peroxide solution having a concentration of approximately 72% by volume, the vapor pressure of the hydrogen peroxide produces an explosive mixture.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below that will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternative methods and apparatus for concentrating hydrogen peroxide solutions at reduced risk of decomposition and hazard.

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A module connector (100), to which a module body is electrically connected, includes an insulating housing (1), a number of contacts (2) received in the insulating housing (1), a shell (3) and a holding member (4). The insulating housing (1) defines a chamber (14) for accommodating the module body. The shell (3) is assembled onto the insulating housing (1). The holding member (4) cooperates with the shell (3) to securely accommodate the module body in the insulating housing (1), thereby electrically connecting the contacting portions of the contacts (2) with the module body accommodated in the chamber (14) of the insulating housing (1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a module connector to which a module body, such as a memory module or a camera module, is firmly fitted.
2. Description of Related Art
With development of cellular mobile phones or the likes, a lot of additional functions, such as taking pictures etc., are added to the mobile phones or the likes. In order to achieve functions such as taking pictures etc., camera modules are furnished to the mobile phones or the likes in virtue of module connectors.
US Pat. Pub. No. 2004/0068868 disclosures a module connector to which a camera module can be fitted. The modular connector defines a chamber for accommodating the camera module and comprises a plurality of contacts disposed on sidewalls thereof with contacting portions exposed into the chamber. The camera module is provided with a plurality of electrical pads arranged on an outer periphery thereof corresponding to the contacting portions of the contacts of the module connector. When assembled, the camera module is downwardly inserted into the chamber of the module connector to achieve electrical connection between the electrical pads thereof and the contacts of the module connector.
However, because the camera module is directly received into the chamber of the module connector without the aid of additional holding appliance, reliable electrical connection between the pads of camera module and the contacts of the module connector can't assure when encountering vibration, thus affecting signal transmission.
Hence, an improved module connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.


An RF front-end module includes a transmitting/receiving terminal, a control unit, a first transmitting block and a second transmitting block. The first transmitting block and the second transmitting block connect the transmitting/receiving terminal and the control unit. The control unit controls on or off status of the first transmitting block and the second transmitting block. Thus, the first transmitting block and the second transmitting block can send a signal to the transmitting/receiving terminal directly without pass through any switch unit, avoiding extra signal loss on switch unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relatives to an RF front-end module, which enables a first transmitting block and a second transmitting block to transmit signals to a transmitting/receiving terminal directly without pass through any switch unit, avoiding extra signal loss on switch unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a conventional RF front-end module is shown. As illustrated, the RF front-end module 10 comprises an antenna unit 11, a switch unit 13, a first transmitter amplifier 151, a second transmitter amplifier 153, a first matching unit 171, a second matching unit 173, a first receiving path 191, and a second receiving path 193.
The switch unit 13 is adapted to control the transmitting/receiving operations of the RF front-end module 10. During an operation of the RF front-end module 10 to transmit a wireless signal, the switch unit 13 is switched to end a or end 13, enabling the antenna unit 11 to be electrically connected by the switch unit 13 to the first transmitter amplifier 151 or second transmitter amplifier 153 so that the signal can be transmitted through the transmitting path PATHt1 or PATHt2 to the antenna unit 11 to complete the wireless signal transmission. On the contrary, during an operation of the RF front-end module 10 to receive a wireless signal, the switch unit 13 is switched to end c or end d, enabling the antenna unit 11 to be electrically connected by the switch unit 13 to the first receiving path 191 or second receiving path 193 so that the signal received by the antenna unit 11 can be transmitted through the path PATHr1 or PATHr2 to complete the wireless signal reception.
In order to get the maximum output power, a first matching circuit 171 and a second matching circuit 173 may be respectively provided between the antenna unit 11 and the first transmitter amplifier 151 and the second transmitter amplifier 153.
During an operation of the RF front-end module 10 to receive a wireless signal, the antenna unit 11 transmits the received wireless signal through the switch unit 13 to the first receiving path 191 or second receiving path 193. During an operation of the RF front-end module 10 to transmit a wireless signal, the first transmitter amplifier 151 or second transmitter amplifier 153 transmits the signal through the switch unit 13 to the antenna unit 11. In other words, when receiving or transmitting a signal, the signal will go through the switch unit 13, and may result in a loss of signal strength, for example, when a signal is being sent through the transmitting path PATHt1 or PATHt2 to the antenna unit 11, the power and performance of the signal will be degraded; when a received signal is being sent by the antenna unit 11 to the receiving path PATHr1 or PATHr2, the sensitivity of the receiving end will be degraded.


A photothermographic imaging material comprising a support having thereon, (a) a photosensitive layer containing an organic silver salt, photosensitive silver halide grains, a reducing agent and a binder, (b) a light-insensitive layer, and (c) a protective layer, wherein a weight reducing value from 25° C. to 100° C. by a heat drying weight measurement of the photographic imaging material is not more than 0.4% based on a weight value at 25° C.

Heretofore, in the medical and printing plate making fields, effluent resulting from wet type processing for image forming materials became problematic in terms of workability, and in recent years, from the viewpoint of environmental protection as well as space saving, a decrease in processing effluent has been highly demanded. Accordingly, a silver salt photothermographic dry imaging material, which can perform image formation only by heating, has been brought into practical use and rapidly prevailing in the above fields.
A photothermographic dry imaging material itself has been proposed for a long time (for example, please refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2). This silver salt photothermographic dry imaging material is generally processed with a thermal development processor, which forms images by applying stable heat to said material and is called as a laser imager. As described above, a great number of laser imagers have been supplied on the market in accordance with rapid pervasion in recent years. Further, in recent years, improvements for more compact size and more rapid processing of laser imagers are required.
Therefore, improvement of characteristics of photothermographic dry imaging material is indispensable. To obtain sufficient density of a photographic image even with rapid processing, it is effective to increase covering power by increasing coloring points by use of silver halide grains having a small mean grain size (for example, refer to Patent Documents 3 and 4), to utilize a highly reactive reducing agent provided with a secondary or tertiary alkyl group (for example, refer to Patent Document 5), or to utilize a development accelerator such as phenol derivatives and naphthol derivatives (for example, refer to such as Patent Documents 6 and 7). Further, in a photothermographic dry imaging material utilizing photosensitive silver halide grains, there is a problem of deterioration of light irradiation image lasting quality (storage stability when an image obtained by thermal development is used in a daylight room for such as diagnosis or stored in a daylight room) because of remaining silver halide grains in a photosensitive layer even after thermal development, and it has been tried to solve this problem (for example, refer to Patent Documents 8 and 9).
Further, disclosed is a thermal development apparatus which develops a film, on which a latent image has been formed, by heating a silver salt photothermographic dry imaging material from the EC surface (the emulsion surface) while being slid between a heating drum and a plural number of opposing rollers (for example, refer to Patent Document 10). Disclosed is a thermal development apparatus in which a fixed heater divided into three parts is utilized instead of the foregoing heating drum, the BC surface side (the substrate surface side) of a film is heated while being slid on said heater (for example, refer to Patent Document 11). In conventional thermal development apparatuses, thermal development time was generally approximately 14 seconds (a length in the transportation direction of 17 inches), and further speed up of a thermal development process is required. However, in these Patent Documents, measures for rapid thermal development are neither indicated nor disclosed. As measures for rapid processing from the apparatus aspect, disclosed are techniques such as to perform thermal development while transporting a film at not less than 23 mm/sec, and to perform thermal development simultaneous with exposure (for example, refer to Patent Documents 12 and 13). However, since a distance between an exposure section and a development section is short, low molecular weight components in a thermally developable photosensitive material, which are generated from a film by thermal development, will influence to as far as the exposure section, which results in a problem of generating contamination of an exposure apparatus; and attempts have been tried to solve this problem (for example, refer to Patent Documents 14 and 15).                [Patent Document 1] U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,904        [Patent Document 2] U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,075        [Patent Document 3] JP-A 11-295844 (hereinafter, JP-A refers to Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No.)        [Patent Document 4] JP-A 11-352627        [Patent Document 5] JP-A 2001-209145        [Patent Document 6] JP-A 2002-006443        [Patent Document 7] JP-A 2003-066558        [Patent Document 8] JP-A 2003-270755        [Patent Document 9] JP-A 2004-004522        [Patent Document 10] Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. 10-500497        [Patent Document 11] JP-A 2003-287862        [Patent Document 12] US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/58,281        [Patent Document 13] JP-A 2004-085763        [Patent Document 14] JP-A 2002-162692        [Patent Document 15] JP-A 2004-085763

Silver salt photothermographic dry imaging material, thermal development method of the same, and thermal development apparatus for the same


The present invention relates to a method for controlling the frequency of a stand-alone microgrid wherein an energy storage device of the stand-alone microgrid is operated as a main power source by controlling a battery power conditioning system (PCS) of the stand-alone microgrid in a constant voltage constant frequency (CVCF) mode. According to the present invention, it is possible to operate the frequency stably while considering the fuel cost and power generation efficiency of a stand-alone microgrid.

Recently, in most island area systems, a power supply network is operated in such a manner that power is supplied by using a plurality of small diesel generators, but in addition to fuel costs, it is costly to store and manage fuel.
Therefore, when a new renewable energy source such as solar power or wind power is utilized, economical efficiency can be secured, but the output of the new renewable energy source highly fluctuates, whereby a battery energy storage system (BESS) is necessary.
Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, the power source of a stand-alone microgrid is comprised of a battery, a diesel generator, a solar power source, a wind power generator, and the like.
The stand-alone microgrid has a diesel generator as a main power source to secure the power supply reliability and controls the voltage and frequency using a governor and an automatic voltage regulator (AVT) mounted on the diesel generator.
In this case, the battery is used to compensate for the output fluctuation of the new renewable energy, by charging surplus electric power and discharging the charged electric power at the time of the peak load.
Such a battery operates in a PQ operation mode in which the output of the battery is controlled, and a power conditioning system (PCS) for the battery controls the output current in synchronization to the system voltage controlled by the diesel generator by using a phased-locked loop (PLL) as shown in FIG. 2.
The BESS, which constitutes a stand-alone microgrid, is provided with a smaller capacity compared to a diesel generator. In general, the BESS plays an auxiliary role to compensate for sudden fluctuations in the output of the new renewable energy source and is restrictively used to compensate frequency when there is enough output.
When such stand-alone microgrid in the related art has a large capacity of new renewable energy and a large output fluctuation, there is frequent transfer of control between the diesel generator and the BESS, whereby frequency synchronization between the power sources is difficult and excessive disturbance may occur in the system.
In addition, since the stand-alone microgrid in the related art mainly uses a diesel generator to generate electricity, there are problems that fuel costs are high, it is difficult to store and manage fuel, and power generation efficiency is low compared to a mainland system due to small-scale power generation.
The matters described in the background art are intended to aid understanding of the background of the invention and may include matters not previously known to those skilled in the art.

Method for controlling frequency of stand-alone microgrid and power converter for energy storage device for controlling same


A method for coloring an optical element in a non-uniform linear pattern is provided. The method includes (a) preparing at least one colorant composition containing at least one photochromic material; (b) depositing the colorant composition on at least one surface of the optical element in a controlled, predetermined pattern using an inkjet printing apparatus to provide a linearly gradient color pattern on the optical element when the optical element is exposed to actinic radiation; and (c) drying the colorant composition on the surface of the optical element. An optical element prepared by the method also is provided.

Gradient tinting methods are known for use in coloring optical elements, such as lenses. The gradient tinting effect provides a functional advantage in that the lens generally has a higher color density at the top of the lens for improved distance viewing with less color density at the bottom of the lens, and an aesthetic effect for fashion and style.
Further, there are well known methods for applying a photochromic composition to optical elements. For example, photochromic materials may be incorporated into the substrate components used to form the optical element. Alternatively, the photochromic materials may be applied to the surface of the optical element and permitted to penetrate into the surface region (known as imbibition). Additionally, the photochromic material can be applied to the optical element as a coating by known methods, such as spin coating, dip coating, spray coating, and the like.
Methods have been disclosed to achieve a gradient photochromic optical element. Generally, gradient tinting of eyewear lenses is accomplished by dipping or submerging the lens into a dye bath. This process requires more precise and reproducible processing than is required for solid tinting or coloring. Moreover, some optical substrates, such as polycarbonate lens material, absorb dyes very poorly. While methods have been developed to overcome these processing difficulties, such methods often require additional manufacturing steps, thus adding additional manufacturing costs.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a cost-effective method of preparing a gradient photochromic optical element where a photochromic composition can be applied in a controlled and predetermined gradient color pattern (upon exposure to actinic radiation) to the surface of the optical element.

Method for coloring an optical element in a non-uniform linear pattern


A transportable container for high purity, high cost, liquid chemicals capable of maximizing dispensing of the liquid chemical content of the container at deviations from an upright position, comprising; a top wall, a side wall and a bottom wall, the bottom wall having an internal surface contacting liquid chemical with a concave upward contour having a lowest most point axially central to the container, an inlet, an outlet comprising a diptube through which the liquid chemical can be dispensed from said container with an outlet end adjacent the top surface and an inlet terminal end adjacent the lowest most point, a level sensor assembly having an output end adjacent the top surface and a terminal end adjacent the lowest most point; the diptube and the level sensor assembly being more proximate to one another at their terminal ends than their ends adjacent the top surface.

The electronic device fabrication industry requires various liquid chemicals as raw materials or precursors to fabricate integrated circuits and other electronic devices. This need arises from the requirement to dope semiconductors with various chemicals to provide the appropriate electrical properties in the semiconductor for transistors and gate oxides, as well as circuits requiring various metals, barrier layers, vias. Additionally, dielectric layers are needed for capacitors and interlayer dielectric requirements. Fabrication requiring subtractive technologies require resists, planarization chemistries and etchants.
All of the chemicals that are used in these applications are required in high purity conditions to meet the stringent requirements of the electronic fabrication industry imposed by the extremely fine line width and high device densities in current and future electronic devices being fabricated with those chemicals.
A part of the effort to provide high purity chemicals is the design and structure of the containers and systems which delivery such chemicals to the reactor or furnaces where the electronic devices are being fabricated. The purity of the chemicals can be no better than the containers in which they are stored and the systems through which they are dispensed.
In addition, it is important to monitor the quantity of high purity chemical available during its use in the electronic device fabrication process. Electronic devices are fabricated in quantities of several hundred at a time per semiconductor wafer, with the size of individual wafers being processed expected to be larger in future fabrication processes. This makes the value of the yield of electronic devices being processed on wafers very high, resulting in considerable cost if processing or fabrication occurs when the high purity chemical is unavailable inadvertently. Thus, the electronic fabrication industry has used monitoring of high purity chemical quantity a part of their scheme in their fabrication processes.
Not infrequently, the high purity chemicals used in the electronic device fabrication process also are very expensive due to their exotic or complex makeup, the low volumes need in fabrication (i.e., dopants are needed in only low levels) and the requirement for very tight product specifications (i.e., high purity and the absence of a wide array of contaminants particularly metals). As a result of the high expense of these high purity chemicals, it is desired to consume as much of the chemical as possible with out running dry. Thus residual chemical in chemical containers, i.e., heals, is desired to be minimized, but complete consumption is also not desired because in automated fabrication processing, such as electronic device fabrication, operating to a run dry condition can result in wafer defects or reduction in yields, which are unacceptable to industry and also very costly.
To address the issues of purity and monitoring of chemical quantity available for use, the industry has made various attempts to achieve those goals.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,603 discloses a container for organometallic compounds used in deposition systems wherein the container has inlet and outlet valves and a diptube for liquid chemical dispensing through the outlet. However, no level sensor is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,132 describes a container for high purity chemicals with diptube outlet and internal float level sensor. The diptube is connected to the integral outlet valve. However, internal float level sensors are known particle generators for the high purity chemicals contained in the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,319 shows a container for beverages in which a diptube allows liquid dispensing based upon a pressurizing gas. The diptube may reside in a well to allow complete dispensing of the beverage. Level sense is not.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,503 describes an ultrasonic sensor, which is known to be used to detect liquid presence in a vessel. Invasive and non-invasive sensors are described.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,356 shows a reagent supply vessel for chemical vapor deposition, which vessel has a sump cavity in which the liquid discharge dip tube terminates, as well as a liquid level sensor terminates. Ultrasonic sensors are contemplated (col. 6, line 37), but in that embodiment, the patent expressly teaches that the sensor does not utilize the sump for sensing operations (col. 6, line 38–43). Good chemical utilization occurs only when the vessel is in the full upright position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,656 shows a container with a rounded floor and a diptube 81.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,243 shows a sewage tank with a suction pipe 5 and a level sensing device 8.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,381 shows a container for herbicides with a discharge tube 19 and a sight tube 13.
The shortcomings of the prior art in addressing the goals of purity and efficient chemical utilization are overcome by the present invention, which provides high purity containment, no chemical entrapment areas (i.e. sump, sidewall to bottom and top transition points) to harbor residual chemical during the container empty clean and refill procedure, a symmetrical design feature enabling cost effective manufacturing and polishing to the mirror finishes (10Ra) required for high purity chemical containers to maintain chemical purity, at the low and empty level sense points where the level precision is most important the smaller cross sectional area of the container concave section enables a more precise measurement of liquid and avoidance of contamination or particle generation during level sensing, and efficient chemical utilization approaching complete chemical utilization without reaching chemical run dry conditions. Other advantages of the present invention are also detailed below.

High purity chemical container with diptube and level sensor terminating in lowest most point of concave floor


A machine has a platform for a standing patient to perform foot exercises specified by a set of selectors on the machine and pre-selected according to a therapy program. Different types of monitor devices viewable by the patient and an attendant, direct the patient to proceed with selected exercises. Light sources associated with the platform to illuminate portions of it, and other slight sources directed to sensors above the platform, are activated in concert, according to the directions addressed to the patient.

This invention relates generally to a rehabilitation therapy machine and more particularly to a machine for assisting a therapist with a patient recovering foot and toe functions.
Among the many problems that can be encountered by a person who has suffered brain injury due to a head injury or stroke or other cause, is the inability to use the feet and toes. Recovery from such problems can often necessitate close and constant attention by a therapist supervising the efforts of the patient to move the foot and/or toes during therapy sessions. Also, it is often difficult for the patient to observe and be mindful of the progress being made toward goals to be reached. Similarly, sometimes it is difficult for the therapist to observe and keep track of progress between one therapy session and another, and over a period of time. Improvement in these regards is needed.