The present invention is for a high quality digital FM radio system that utilizes the subcarrier band to generate digital audio signals. The hybrid FM radio system utilizes the subcarrier band to transmit the digital FM signals that are synchronized to the analog FM signals. The receiver processes both the analog and digital signals and a high quality FM signal results. The receiver may switch between the traditional analog signal and the higher quality digital signal automatically to present the best possible audio to the user.

The radio frequency spectrum associated with FM broadcasting band ranges from 88 to 107 MHz, and subdivided into channels. There is a portion of bandwidth within each FM channel that is not required for transmitting the main FM station broadcast signal, and is generally under utilized. Those responsible for the FM stations have continuously tried to efficiently utilize all of their allotted frequency resource including this available excess bandwidth.
Under current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules, FM radio stations are each allocated a channel that is 200 kHz wide. United States FM radio stations are granted a license to operate an FM radio signal within an assigned range of frequencies called a channel. This range is substantially larger than the minimum range or bandwidth required for the main FM radio signal. Although a typical FM station is assigned a bandwidth of 200 KHz, the positive or one-sided baseband frequency spectrum is a 100 KHz bandwidth, and an FM station takes up to a maximum of 53 KHz for the main FM stereo broadcasting station, and less for a monoaural station. The remaining portion of the baseband signal from 53 KHz to 99 KHz, approximately 50% of the available FM channel spectrum resource, is not required for broadcasting the main FM station signal.
The present FM radio stations with an operating bandwidth of 100 kHz contains two audio channels. The main channel, known as FM stereo, is transmitted using an L+R and L−R technique to accommodate monoaural reception as well. This is the channel received on car radios and similar mediums. A secondary channel, or subcarrier, above the 53 KHz area is used for Muzak and other private audio broadcasts. In general, the subcarrier is an under utilized bandwidth.
A diagrammatic representation of an FM channel is shown in FIG. 1 showing the 100 kHz one-sided baseband frequency. For the signals operating between 88–107 MHz, there is a main channel from 0–15 kHz, which is the mono band (L+R). There is a 19 KHz stereo pilot signal and the stereo band is from 23–53 kHz, wherein the lower side band (LSB) spans 23–38 kHz, the upper side band (USB) spans from 38 kHz to 53 kHz, and the (L−R) is at 38 kHz. The subcarrier band extends from 53 kHz to 99 kHz.
Experiments in the FM subcarrier bandwidth has been ongoing for many years, used in a number of applications, and implemented in a variety of analog and digital communication schemes. For example, Muzak, is standardized music used in elevators and similar locals. Muzak uses a double side band AM modulation of a 67 KHz subcarrier to carry the subscription music.
Radio stations try to lease frequencies in the "excess" bandwidth to other users through various subcarrier based systems. One such service is known as Sub-Carrier administration (SCA), that has been used in the United States for many years for background music without commercial interruption, reading services for the blind, stock market information, and educational and religious applications, and paging services to name a few. U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,610 shows the subcarrier band employed for transmission of traffic information, while a paging scheme that employs the subcarrier band is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,577 to transmit voice pager data over the FM subcarrier band.
SCA has also been used for data transmission, having the ability to reliably support a data rate of 4,800 bits/second or higher. The FCC deregulated SCA service and stations are free-to carry SCA services without prior authorization, as long as all uses of the frequency are within the regulations imposed on the license holder.
In Europe, one FM subcarrier application is known as the Radio Data System (RDS) while in the U.S., it is known as the Radio Broadcast Data Service (RDBS). The RDS system has been implemented by the BBC on the BBC FM transmissions in England. Similar systems are available in several European countries, wherein these systems use an RDS subcarrier at 57 kHz that is modulated with data signals. The RDS system has a number of message group types. In these applications, a 57 KHz subcarrier is modulated using bi-polar phase shift keying (BPSK) to carry a low speed digital data signal. A block and bit synchronization method as well as a simple linear block encoding for error detection and correction enable the system to function. The data rate for the RDS system is 1187.5 bits/second or approximately 11.4 groups/second, and the channel modulation efficiency of RDS is about 0.3 bps/Hz. RDS provides for additional functional features such as roaming, seeking and locking onto of FM stations transmitting RDS signals.
Since systems like the RDS system have broad coverage, a number of users can use a data channel on a pro-rata basis. RDS is a fairly robust digital subcarrier communication scheme because of the long baud interval, low subcarrier frequency, and narrow bandwidth. This schema has been adopted as an international standard and incorporates specification of the physical layer (the modulation and FM interface), the data link layer (error correction coding), and a network layer for service delivery.
RDS has been popular in European countries for transmitting traffic-related information to motorists while utilizing the existing FM radio broadcasting infrastructure. However, RDS has a slow data transmission rate and with the many function groups RDS is too slow for effective data transmission.
Due to the low data rate of RDS, another format called the Data Radio Channel (DARC) supports a higher data rate FM subcarrier service. DARC is also an international standards (EIA-794) and has several different modes of operation. The modes vary according to the amount of error correction coding (ECC) overhead applied to the data transmission. DARC is 16K bits per second minimum-shift keyed modulation of a 76K Hz subcarrier tone.
Another higher frequency system that is comparable to DARC is the Subcarrier Traffic Information Channel (STIC). This digital system uses a differentially encoded, quadrature phase-shift keyed modulation of either a 72.2K Hz of a 87.4K Hz subcarrier tone to deliver a 18,050 or 21,850 bps raw data rate. STIC also has a US standard (EIA-795) and also addresses the STIC standard addresses layers 1 through 4. STIC basically applies modern modem technology to a FM subcarrier system by using efficient convolutional coding, code concatenation and interleaving at the bit level to address channel impairments.
Several other higher speed subcarrier technologies have been developed with limited success, demonstrating the difficulty of the propagation environment to which FM subcarrier systems are subjected and the rather low efficiency of the current FM subcarrier systems.
In typical FM broadcasting, left and right stereo base band signals are low-pass filtered and combined to produce a composite stereo signal. The circuit that combines the left and right component signals and produces the composite stereo signal is called an exciter. The composite stereo signal is used to drive a FM modulator that modulates a carrier wave in accordance with the composite signal. The modulated carrier wave is then broadcast using a FM antenna as an analog signal.
Conventional systems generate the composite stereo signal using analog equipment. But, there are a many difficulties in generating the composite stereo signal in the analog format. For example, low-pass filtering and sub-carrier stereo modulation are complicated for an analog system and the analog filters introduce phase distortions and group delay distortions into the resulting signal.
There have been attempts at generating the stereo composite signal in a digital format and converting the signal to an analog signal for broadcasting. This is advantageous for radio stations as employ the digital methods of programming such as CD's, DAT and computer audio files. Using digital signal processing (DSP) with fast high precision A/D and D/A converters, a FM exciter using digital signal processing has better performance than the analog systems.
And, there have been attempts at generating the audio signal in a digital format, wherein the signal is broadcast in digital, termed Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). While producing superior audio quality, the radio receivers must be equipped to receive the DAB. The DAB is more comparable to streaming audio over the Internet than the conventional analog broadcasts. Radio receivers buffer the incoming signals and play back the buffered elements. In the US, there are several proposed systems including the In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) and the In-Band Adjacent Channel (IBAC). Most other countries are backing the Eureka 147 standard. The Eureka 147 system employs similar attributes but occupies a different section of the radio spectrum. More information about the IBOC methodology is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,796.
Unfortunately, pure DAB systems will require every person to purchase a new radio receiver as the analog receivers do not process the digital audio signals. There are proposals for hybrid processing using both analog and digital broadcasting for a period to allow the consumers to transition to digital receivers.
While DAB standards have not yet been finalized and there is still uncertainty in the implementation, the benefits in quality, efficiency, ease and cost will eventually make some form of DAB a reality. And, with lower cost broadcast systems there will likely be an increased number of applications in the subcarrier band for various transmissions.
One implementation for a digital signal processing system of a digital FM exciter provides for the left channel to provide a left analog audio signal that becomes the left component of the composite stereo signal. Similarly, the right channel provides a right analog audio signal that becomes the right component of the composite stereo signal. The left and right analog signals are respectively processed by anti-aliasing filters. After filtering, the left and right signals are respectively converted from analog into digital signals by A/D converters. The converted digital signals are provided to a digital signal processor (DSP).
The DSP combines the left and right signals into a composite digital signal. More specifically, the DSP performs band limiting filtering, pre-emphasizing, left and right channel mixing, sub-carrier generation, sub-carrier modulation and Sin(x)/x compensation for the D/A converter. Additionally, the DSP provides soft level limiting, loudness signal monitoring for analog and digital automatic gain control, and spectrum analysis for optimized system control and operation.
The composite digital signal output by the DSP is then converted to an analog signal by D/A converter and filtered through low pass filter. The result is a composite analog base-band stereo signal that may be used to modulate a carrier wave which is then broadcast by an FM antenna.
The drawbacks of this system result from the fact that the D/A converter and the external analog FM modulator must be of the highest quality, and therefore are very expensive. The high quality processing achieved by the front end A/D converters and the DSP will be lost if the D/A converter and analog FM modulator cannot match the performance of the DSP.
There are many related patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 6,295,362 involves a digital FM signal generator that generates a modulated FM signal for broadcasting without the need for an analog modulator. There is a FM subcarrier system that multiplexes the Data Radio Channel (DARC) encoded source channels using an FM subcarrier.
As discussed, the use of digital inputs in the broadcasting system improves the efficiency and cost. In particular, the audio inputs can arrive in one of the many digital formats. One of the present popular audio formats is the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) audio layer-3 (MP3) that is a technique for audio compression and is basically a standard way of compressing/decompressing digital multimedia such as music. The MP3 protocol compresses the sound signal into a small-capacity music file at the rate of 1:10 by applying the MP3 technique to be more convenient to save and to speed up the network transmission rate.
As MP3 is a compressed audio file format, it is one of the more popular audio formats on the Internet, due to the small size and near CD quality. MP3 is a method of compressing audio samples with minimal loss of quality, with compression of up to 12:1 having no loss of quality.
There are various MP3 encoders/decoders for converting between audio formats. MP3 provides various levels of quality depending upon the number of bits used for encoding. There are various levels of compression quality supported in the standard such as 96 kb/s, 128 kb/s, 160 kb/s . . . . in 32 kb increments. The higher the transmission rate the better the quality.
What is needed is a system to improve audio fidelity and enhance the quality of music. Such a system should capitalize on new technologies but be implemented within the bounds of the current radio community.

Bae Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration INC


The invention relates to an optical device (10) adapted to be worn by a wearer comprising at least: —a programmable lens (20) having an adjustable optical function and extending between at least one eye of the wearer and the real world scene when the optical device is worn by the wearer, —an optical function controller (30) comprising —a memory (32) storing at least computer executable instructions; and —a processor (34) for executing the stored computer executable instructions so as to control the optical function of the programmable lens (20), wherein the computer executable instructions comprise instructions for adjusting the optical function of the programmable lens (20) over a period of time determined so that the wearer does not perceive the adjustment of the optical function.

Usually, an active lens permits a variation of the optical power or prism of the lens while being worn by a wearer. For instance, it exists active lenses with a manual adjustment of the optical power or prism of the lens.
When focused on the wearer's needs, an active lens induces a variable prismatic deviation and a strong and disturbing apparent motion appears.
It exists active lenses, such as Fresnel lenses with additional power limited to field of view of the wearer, which are automatically activated when the wearer lows his head. Plus, it exists active lenses comprising an optical component stacked between two perpendicular active Fresnel cylindrical lenses. In order to maintain a fine central vision, the resulting spherical power is centered according a fixation point. In both cases, the optical function seen by the wearer is equivalent to a mobile patch skating or jumping on the lens according to his gaze direction or to his head orientation which moreover may occur at the wrong time.
Moreover, it exists active lenses controlled by adjusting the optical power according to vergence measurement with an eye-tracker. However, such active lenses have a high latency and are not sufficiently accurate. Indeed, eye-trackers with vergence measurement are not able to guarantee any precision, even on a restricted field of view, and thus the unprecise vergence measurement cause an unstable vision. It also exists high end devices, for instance used in sciences to study vergence, but such devices are heavy.
Furthermore, it exists other techniques to control the optical power, based on the gaze direction and on a three-dimensional scan, to avoid vergence measurement, or on salience mapping of the environment, but such techniques are not compatible with wearable devices.
In all cases, embedded gaze-tracking devices have high power consumption, latency, errors and dysfunction. Such limitation are, for instance, noticeable while a wearer sits and uses his phone, or his tablet, or his computer, or when a wearer is at the top of a stair and lows his head to adjust his foot placement to go down. The steps of the stair can suddenly move, according to the head motion, the eye-tracker calibration, or the lighting, and the wearer can fall down. Indeed, it may cause a misaligned and blurred vision while descending the stairs.
Thus, there is a need for an optical device adapted to be worn by a wearer for adjusting the optical function of the optical device while the optical device is worn by the wearer to circumvent such limitations.
A control loop of the optical function based on gaze direction need to be very finely adjusted to avoid unbearable oscillations or drifts.
One object of the invention is to provide such an optical device.

Optical device adapted to be worn by a wearer


Provided are wireless communication methods and corresponding base stations and user terminals. The wireless communication method performed by the base station includes generating indication information indicating a support capability of the base station for user terminals of different heights and/or types; and transmitting the indication information to user terminals within a cell managed by the base station. The wireless communication method performed by the user terminal includes receiving indication information indicating a support capability of a base station for user terminals of different heights and/or types; and selecting a portion of information that matches its own height and/or type from the indication information.

In recent years, drones (or aerials or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)) have been widely used, and wireless communication networks, such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, may be used to support drone services due to good performance thereof, for example, to communicate with drones during drone flight, or to support terrestrial controllers/personnel to communicate with drones over wireless networks. Herein, a user terminal, such as a drone, capable of flying in the air and communicating with a base station through a wireless communication network may be referred to as an aerial user terminal.
Compared with a terrestrial user terminal, the aerial user terminal has different characteristics. First, the aerial user terminal is subject to more restrictions, such as flight restrictions including height restrictions, speed restrictions and/or whether flights are allowed, etc., and restrictions in different regions are different. In addition, compared to a terrestrial user terminal, the aerial user terminal has higher mobility due to its speed and height. Moreover, the height of the aerial user terminal often changes during takeoff and flight, thus facing variable wireless propagation conditions. Therefore, compared with a terrestrial user terminal, the aerial user terminal will be in a more complex wireless environment, and the aerial user terminal may cause stronger interference to the wireless communication network for being in the air. The above characteristics of the aerial user terminal bring up new challenges to its communication with the base station.
Therefore, a wireless communication network including a terrestrial user terminal and an aerial user terminal needs to be enhanced, so that both the terrestrial user terminal and the aerial user terminal can obtain good communication performance in the wireless communication network.

Wireless communication methods and corresponding base stations and user terminals


A replacement heart valve device is disclosed. In some embodiments, the device includes a frame coupled to one or more leaflets that are moveable between open and closed configurations. In some embodiments, the frame comprises at least two frame sections that join at a pair of commissural posts. In some embodiments, the device may be geometrically accommodating to adapt to different vasculature shapes and sizes and/or to be able to change size while implanted within a growing patient.

The human heart includes a series of valves that work to ensure that blood flows correctly through the chambers of the heart. Birth defects, trauma, or other pathologies can negatively impact the function of a person's native heart valves. Prosthetic heart valves have been developed to either supplement or entirely replace defective native heart valves.

Geometrically-accommodating heart valve replacement device

President and Fellows of Harvard College


A robot wrist structure includes a first wrist element that is supported by a forearm in a rotatable manner about a first axis; a second wrist element that is supported by the first wrist element in a rotatable manner about a second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis; and a third wrist element that is supported by the second wrist element in a rotatable manner about a third axis that is orthogonal to the second axis and that is disposed in the same plane as the first axis. Further the second wrist element is provided with, at a position at which the second axis is included, a second axial hollow hole that passes therethrough in a direction along the second axis.

There is a known robot wrist structure provided with: a first wrist element that is attached to a forearm in a rotatable manner about a first axis; a second wrist element that is supported by the first wrist element in a rotatable manner about a second axis, which is perpendicular to the first axis; and a third wrist element that is supported by the second wrist element in a rotatable manner about a third axis, which is disposed in the same plane as the first axis, wherein the forearm is provided with a first hollow portion disposed about the first axis, the first wrist element is provided with a through-hole that passes therethrough along the first axis and that is in communication with the first hollow portion, and the third wrist element is provided with a second hollow portion that passes therethrough along the third axis (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2018-001277).
With this wrist structure, it is possible to wire a wire body from rearward of the forearm to a tip of the third wrist element so as to pass through the first hollow portion, the through-hole, and the second hollow portion. By doing so, there is an advantage in that it is possible to considerably reduce the load exerted to the wire body due to motions of the first, second, and third wrist elements without having to make the wire body longer.
The wiring route that reaches the tip of the third wrist element from rearward of the forearm so as to pass through the first hollow portion, the through-hole, and the second hollow portion is generally utilized as a wiring route for a wire body having relatively high rigidity, such as a welding wire or a high-current cable, that has passed through a relaying apparatus installed in a rear portion of the forearm. Also, in this case, the wire body is wired by being accommodated in a dedicated conduit.


The present invention relates to a vacuum container in which a periphery of an inner container, a periphery of a film container, and an inner container cover are bonded through ultrasonic wave fusion and a method of manufacturing the same.

In general, domestic liquid products include cosmetics, medicines, and synthetic detergents, and are mainly preserved in a container formed of a synthetic resin such that a consumer opens a plug to use the products. However, when the plug is opened and closed to discharge the liquid product, a user uses the product while gripping and inclining the container, so that foreign substances penetrate into the container. Thus, a discharge pump is installed at an inlet of a container accommodating a liquid product such that contents may be pumped upwards.
FIG. 1 is an exemplary sectional view of a discharge pump according to the related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the discharge pump 100 includes a press button 110 directly pressed by a user to discharge contents, an elevation member 120 elevating in association with movement of the press button 110, a cylinder 130 accommodated by the elevation member 120, an operation piston 131 installed within the cylinder 130 to move the contents upwards while elevating in association with the elevation of the elevation member 120, a check valve 133 operated to move the contents in the container only upwards. As well known to those skilled in the art, a raising piston P for pushing the contents stored in the container toward the discharge pump 100 as the contents are discharged by an operation of the discharge pump 100 is installed on an inner bottom of the container.
However, because the container should be higher by a height occupied by the raising piston P due to characteristics of the raising piston in which the contents in the container are pushed upwards toward an inlet of the container, it is impossible to install the discharge pump 100 in a cosmetics container such as a compact container having a small height.
Further, even when the raising piston P reaches a top point, an excessive amount of cosmetics are left because a large space is left at a periphery of the raising piston P and the discharge pump 100.

Vacuum container and method for manufacturing same


A service creation environment (SCE) generates generic service creation information defining a certain service. The generic service creation information is then processed by a service execution agent for mapping onto service creation information that is specific to the service logic execution environment (SLEE) of a service control point (SCP) upon which the service is to be executed and provided. This SLEE specific service creation information is then down-loaded to the service logic execution environment, and converted in a conventional manner to service execution related information. The generic service creation information comprises only a certain limited number of primitives (instructions or commands) operating on a certain limited number of service independent building blocks (SIBs). The mapping operation is made from these limited primitives and service independent building blocks to SLEE specific primitives and service independent building blocks, or SLEE specific general programming language commands, or SLEE specific specification description language (SDL) commands.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the creation and provisioning of special intelligent network telephone services.
2. Description of Related Art
Telephone service providers are constantly developing new telephone services to meet the needs of existing customers, and further to attract new customers. It is important then that service providers be able to create and deploy these services as quickly and efficiently as possible. Services are typically created using a service creation environment (SCE). These created services are then executed by a service logic execution environment (SLEE) after being deployed into a given communications network. In an intelligent network (IN), for example, the service logic execution environment often sits in a service control point (SCP) node.
Conventional telephone service development generally has the service creation environment generate commands relating to the created service that are specific (i.e., custom tailored) to the service control point, and its associated service logic execution environment, upon which the service is to be executed. Once downloaded to that specific service control point, the commands trigger the building of service scripts. The scripts are then executed by the service logic execution environment included within that service control point to provide the telephone service.
This conventional approach to service creation and provisioning has a number of limitations. The most restrictive of those limitations is that in selecting a certain service creation environment to create a given service, a corresponding service logic execution environment must be used to execute the service. Thus, it is noted that the service creation environment and the service logic execution environment for a given telephone service are tightly coupled. The service logic execution environment corresponding to the service creation environment used in developing the service must then be implemented in the service control point through which the service is being provisioned. Furthermore, with this tightly coupled relationship, it is not possible to use the same service creation environment to design services for implementation on different service logic execution environments. Also, it is not possible to use different service creation environments to design services for the same service logic execution environment.
It is recognized then that this tightly coupled limitation of the prior art service creation and provisioning process may require, in situations where a given service is to be provided on different types of service control point platforms each having a different service logic execution environment, the use of two or more different service creation environments in creating that service for widespread network installation. As the creation and deployment of a single service may require the application of a significant amount of time and effort, it is unproductive and inefficient to expend that effort two or more times to provide the same service for execution on multiple different service logic execution environments. This is especially a concern to the service provider when it utilizes different vendors to supply service control points for its intelligent network, as a different service creation environment may be required for each different service control point upon which the service must be provided. For the service creator, there are also concerns over redundant service development and possible inconsistencies in the plural created services. There is a need then for a technique that supports the de-coupling of the service creation environment from the service logic execution environment. This technique would efficiently allow for the use of any selected service creation environment to develop telephone services for execution on a service control point by any selected service logic execution environment.

Decoupling service creation environment from service logic execution environment


A fully integrated and comprehensive health care system that includes the integrated interconnection and interaction of the patient, health care provider, bank or other financial institution, insurance company, utilization reviewer and employer so as to include within a single system each of the essential participants to provide patients with complete and comprehensive pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment health care and predetermined financial support therefor.

A variety of medical payment systems have heretofore been proposed illustrative of which are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,725 granted to Lawrence E. Pritchard on Jan. 1, 1985 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,121 which was granted to William B. Barber et al. on Aug. 15, 1989.
According to the proposals of the prior art, systems have been proposed which include one or more magnetic and manual entry data entry terminals at the health care provider facilities, various verification and authentication routines, data storage which includes lists of insurance companies or other payers together with lists of medical procedures for which such payers are obligated to make payments, schedules of permissible fees for such procedures and selected data related specifically to each covered patient.
Other proposals of the prior art have included examination of participants to determine their physical condition, identification of existing physical profiles and encouragement of changes in life styles, where indicated, to enhance the physical condition of the participant and to lessen the likelihood of the development of disease.
However, such systems have not heretofore featured the total health care function, for they have not integrated important elements of total health care such as comprehensive preventive health measures, the review of the necessity for implementing selected procedures including changes in life styles, the obtaining of second opinions, (i.e., utilization review/case management) and other functions contemplated by total health management such as ancillary services. Neither have they included integration of the active participation by a patient's employer or inclusion of a patients' own available cash balances. Accordingly, since these missing functions are important ingredients to extend proposals of the prior art to fully comprehensive medical care, there has continued to be a need for a system which provides full integration of each of the aforementioned activities.


Systems and methods are provided for calibrating electromagnetic position tracking systems commonly used in virtual reality systems by compensating for steady state magnetic field distortions that can occur within a tracking volume and distort magnetic sensor readings. The calibration system includes a calibration device that holds magnetic sensor(s) in a fixed position relative to a reference position sensor object provided on the calibration device. The calibration data collection process includes positioning the calibration device at multiple locations within a tracking volume and measuring magnetic position readings using a magnetic tracking system and a corresponding reference position using the reference position tracking system. The calibration data is then algorithmically processed using a data processor to generate a magnetic distortion correction function for adjusting the magnetic tracking system measurements based on a known position of said sensors, which is determined from the measured position of the reference tracking object.

Systems for providing immersive virtual reality ("VR") experiences rely on object tracking systems that track the position and movement of objects as they travel within a three-dimensional space, such as a playing room or field. Data-processing systems translate object movement tracked in real-space into movement of the object in a virtual reality environment ("virtual space"), graphically rendering such movement in the virtual space.
Some exemplary position tracking technologies are laser-based tracking systems and optical tracking systems, which utilize light or infra-red emitters and sensors to track objects within a given area. Laser or optical tracking systems, however, require unobstructed line-of-sight between an emitter and the tracked objects in order to accurately determine the position of the tracked object relative to the base station. As is understood by those of skill in the art, occlusions can occur in the measured position data when line of sight is lost, e.g., when a tracked object is obscured by another object.
Other popular tracking systems include magnetic position tracking systems. Such systems are not prone to occlusion problems arising in the absence of line-of-sight between the electromagnetic field transmitter(s) and the sensors placed on the tracked objects. Typical six "degree of freedom" ("DoF") electromagnetic tracking systems consist of a magnetic field transmitter and a receiver. The electromagnetic transmitter contains a plurality of orthogonal coils that can be pulsed to transmit orthogonal electromagnetic fields, whereas the receiver has three coils that measure such fields generated by the transmitter. The position of the receiver can be determined by comparing the strength of the received signals with the transmitted signals. In addition, the orientation of the receiver can be determined by comparing the strength of the received signals to each other.
Absolute position and orientation systems that rely on magnetic field emission (e.g., AC or DC-based tracking systems), however, are prone to magnetic distortion. The error in position can be drastic depending on the severity of the distortion. This error leads to unusable position information for applications that require a high degree of accuracy, but are deployed in locations that have distortions present. The method required to correct for such distortion involves recording sensor data at a highly granular number of known physical locations, and correcting the distorted sensor output at each location.
Such calibration data collection methods implement a method of physically referencing the position of the magnetic sensors manually. This manual approach, however, is prone to a large number of procedural errors in both data collection and set-up. For example, a known physical data collection method is to layout a measured grid with holes drilled or positions otherwise marked at known intervals, as shown in FIG. 5, to provide known physical reference positions at which to capture and measure magnetic sensor data. Constructing such a room-sized grid and recording magnetic calibration data can consume a significant amount of time (e.g., 45 man-hours to construct a grid and 10 man-hours for sensor data collection). Furthermore, such calibration systems are prone to error arising from the manual construction of the reference grid, as well as the manual positioning/leveling of the calibration device during data-collection. For instance, error can arise from differences between the actual position of the calibration device and the reference position determined from the manually defined reference grid, which is assumed to be accurate.
Accordingly there is a need for calibration systems and methods that compensate for the effects of steady state magnetic distortion, thereby providing a quick and accurate way to record calibration data. Improved calibration systems and methods, as well as simplified data acquisition techniques, are needed to more efficiently and more accurately calibrate electromagnetic tracking systems.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Calibration system and method for magnetic tracking in virtual reality systems


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a gate-insulating film on a semiconductor substrate; forming a gate electrode on the gate-insulating film to be electrically insulated from the semiconductor substrate; etching the gate electrode, the gate insulating film and the semiconductor substrate to form a trench which is used to electrically isolate a device region for forming a device from the remainder region on the substrate top surface; and etching the inside of the trench using a gas containing Cl2 and HBr with a different condition from the etching condition of the semiconductor substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having an isolation of an STI and its manufacturing method.
2. Related Background Art
For the purpose of downsizing semiconductor devices, the method of isolating elements by STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) has been used for years in lieu of the technique using selective oxidation for isolating elements. STI is a technique for electrically isolating device regions for forming devices from other regions in a semiconductor device by providing shallow trenches. In STI, trenches are formed in device isolating regions instead of using selective oxidation thereof.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a semiconductor device 400 having conventional STI made by a process of its manufacturing. A gate-insulating film 20 is formed on a top surface of a semiconductor substrate 10. A gate electrode 30 of an amorphous silicon film overlies the gate-insulating film 20. A silicon nitride film 40 is deposited on the gate electrode 30. A silicon oxide film 50 is deposited on the silicon nitride film 40.
The silicon nitride film 40 and the silicon oxide film 50 are selectively etched off to obtain a predetermined pattern by using a photolithography technique. After that, using the silicon oxide film 50 as a mask, the gate electrode 30, the gate-insulating film 20 and the semiconductor substrate 10 are selectively removed by etching. By this etching, the trench 60 is formed to reach the semiconductor substrate 10.
Subsequently, the side and bottom surface portions of the trench 60 are oxidized by an RTO (rapid thermal oxidation) in an oxygen O2 atmosphere heated to 1000° C. In FIG. 4, the trench 60 and its surrounding structure after the RTO treatment are shown in an enlarged scale.
On the side surface and the bottom surface of the trench 60, a silicon oxide film 70 is formed by the RTO. The silicon oxide film 70 protects the surface of the semiconductor substrate 10, etc. from the air.
When the trench 60 is oxidized in the oxygen O2 atmosphere, the diffusion coefficient of an oxidation seed diffusing into silicon single crystal is smaller than that of an oxidation seed diffusing into amorphous silicon. Stresses rise in the periphery of the boundary portions (e.g. sides, edges and corners) between the side surface and the bottom surface of the trench 60 during the oxidation progress. The diffusion coefficient of an oxidation seed on the periphery of the boundary portions, where a relatively large stress rises, is smaller than that of an oxidation seed on the flat surface portions, where a relatively small stress rises. In general, a gas including fluorocarbon (e.g. CF4, C3F8, and so on) is often used in RIE process.
Therefore, the boundary portions 80, which are provided at the bottom portion of the trench 60 of the semiconductor device 400, are more difficult to be oxidized than the flat surface portions inside the trench 60. Thus, the oxide film becomes thinner and thinner toward the boundary portions 80. Further, the oxide film provided on the boundary portions 80 is thinner than the oxide film provided on their flat surfaces. As a result, the boundary portions 80 are sharpened, and have curved surfaces, each of which has a small curvature radius.
The sharper the boundary portions 80 and the smaller the curvature radius of the curved surface in the boundary portions 80 becomes, as shown in FIG. 2A, the larger the stress becomes therein. The stress which rises in the boundary portions 80 includes not only the stress concentrated by the oxidation, but also includes the stress from an amorphous silicon, a silicon nitride film and a silicon oxide film which are deposited on the semiconductor substrate 10.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the stress concentration in the boundary portions 80 of the trench 60 easily causes crystal defects 91 in the boundary portions 80. The crystal defects 91 cause, e.g., a leakage of the carrier, therefore the crystal defects 91 interfere with the normal operations of the semiconductor devices. As a result, they cause a lower yield of the semiconductor devices.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A new and distinct cultivar of Sutera plant named ‘Danova906’, characterized by its outwardly spreading and low mounding plant habit; vigorous growth habit; freely branching habit; early and continuous flowering habit; large white-colored flowers; and good garden performance.

The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Sutera plant, botanically known as Sutera hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Danova906'.
The new Sutera is a product of a planned breeding program conducted in Moshav Mishmar Hashiva, Israel. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new uniform Sutera cultivars with large and numerous flowers.
The new Sutera originated from an open-pollination in November, 2001 of a proprietary selection of Sutera hybrida identified as code number BA-1-4, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified selection of Sutera hybrida, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Danova906 was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny from the aforementioned open-pollination in a controlled environment in Moshav Mishmar Hashiva, Israel in May, 2002.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings in Moshav Mishmar Hashiva, Israel since June, 2002, has shown that the unique features of this new Sutera are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A Data Management System has a plurality of data managers and is provided with a plurality of data managers in one or more layers of a layered architecture The system performs with a data manager and with a user input via an API a plurality of processs on data residing in heterogeneous data repositories of the computer system including promotion, check-in, check-out, locking, library searching, setting and viewing process results, tracking aggregations, and managing parts, releases and problem fix data under management control of a virtual control reposisitory having one or more physical heterogeneous repositories. The system provides for storing, accessing, tracking data residing in the one or more data repositories managed by the virtual control repository. User Interfaces provide a combination of command line, scripts, GUI, Menu, WebBrowser maps of the user's view to a PFVL paradigm. Configurable Managers include a query control repository for existence of peer managers and provide logic switches to dynamically interact with peers. A control repository layer provides a common process interface across all managers data view maps to a relational table paradigm and maps control repository layer (CRL) calls to sequences of SQL queries. A command translator for a relations data base provides pass through of SQL queries. Table files map SQL Queries into a set of FILE I/O's with appropriate inter I/O processing, and meta data maps SQL Queries into Meta data API calls with appropriate inter I/O processing. PFVL paradigm calls are mapped into DataManager(s)/Control Repository calls.

In the article entitled "Beyond EDA (electronic design automation)", published in Electronic Business Vol.19, No.6 June 1993 P42-46, 48, it was noted that while billions of dollars have been spent over the past (then and still last) five years for electronic design automation systems (EDA) and software to help companies cut their design cycle, a huge gulf remains between design and manufacturing. To eliminate the gull and thus truly comply with the commandments, companies are extending the concept of concurrent engineering to enterprise wide computing. The concept, which calls for integrating all the disciplines from design to manufacturing is becoming the business model of the 1990s. Achieving an enterprise wide vision requires tying together existing systems and programs and managing the data that flows among them. Software that makes that linkage possible is largely in the class known by two names: product data management (PDM) or product information management (PIM). Mr. Robinson, the author, described the experiences of several companies with PIM and PDM, in particular Sherpa and Cadence.
The design of complex parts, such as integrated circuits, computers, or other complex machines in a complete manufacturing operation like IBM's requires computer capability, with computers capable of processing multiple tasks, and allowing concurrent data access by multiple users. The IBM System 390 operating system known as Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) allows such things as relational database management methods, such as the TIME system described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,316, to be used to reduce design time. The TIME system is used within IBM for the purposes described in the patent during circuit design. However, these-prior efforts treated design as directed to an entity and did not achieve the efficiencies provided by the system detailed in our description of our invention, which also can run under MVS, but also under other operating systems. Our detailed description of our invention will illustrate that we have furthered the objects of the invention of 5,333,316 by increasing the flexibility of a number of circuit designers who may concurrently work on designing the same integrated circuit chip and reducing the interference between chip designers. With the prior system, a user (a person, processor or program capable of using data in a relational database) was given a private copy of the master table. Alteration of a row in the user table was not automatically updated in the master table, because a lock mechanism prevented the row update, but that was an great improvement at the time, because no longer did multiple users have to wait for copying of a table, each time data from a user needed to be updated. This row locking and treatment of data has become widespread in the relational database field, and it has been enabled for use with multiple instances of a platform even on Unix machines today. We should note that also in the MVS art, there have been proposed various library systems, e.g. those represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,333,312 and 5,333,315 and others which relate to IBM's Image Object Distribution Manager in the ImagePlus product line of IBM, and IBM's Office Vision are examples of systems enabling control of a source document while allowing access by multiple users. Implementation of these patented ideas enable synchronous and asynchronous copying of a document into a folder in a target library. These methods provide for check out of a document and its placement in a target library while locking the document in the source library to prevent changes while the checked out document is out. But these steps are only some of the many things that are needed to bring a product to a release state. Bringing a product to a release state is an object of the current developments relating to design control in a manufacturing setting.
Concurrent engineering is required among many engineers working in parallel and at different locations worldwide. Furthermore, as noted by Oliver Tegel in "Integrating human knowledge into the product development process" as published in the Proceedings of the ASME Database Symposium, Engineering Data Management: Integrating the Engineering Enterprise ASME Database Symposium 1994. ASCE, New York, N.Y., USA. p 93-100, specialists who are not working directly together are often needed for solving the demanding tasks that arise during the development of today's advanced products. During product development, assistance is required from other departments such as manufacturing, operations scheduling, etc. Even the vendors and customers should be integrated into the product development process to guarantee the product developed will be accepted in the market.
There is a need for integrators/coordinators/model builders and the designers to work together to create a next release. Information from different people in different forms must be collected aiming at a final good design. A problem occurring during product development is, how to know which people to contact for what kind of information, but that is only one. During all of the process concurrent engineering, particularly for the needs of complex very large scaled integrated system design, needs to keep everything in order and on track, while allowing people to work on many different aspects of the project at the same time with differing authorizations of control from anywhere at anytime.
For the purpose of the following discussion, need to say that we call our system a "Computer Integrated Design Control System and Method" because it encompasses the ability to integrate CIM, EDA, PDM and PIM and because it has the modularity making it possible to fulfill these needs in a concurrent engineering environment particularly useful to the design of complex very large scaled integrated systems as employed in a computer system itself. The making of these systems is a worldwide task requiring the work of many engineers, whether they be employed by the manufacturer or by a vendor, working in parailel on many complete parts or circuits which are sub-parts of these parts So as part of our development, we reviewed the situation and found that no-one that we have found is able to approach the creation of "Computer Integrated Design Control System" like ours or employ the methods needed for our environment. Our methods are modular and fulfill specific functions, and yet make it possible to integrate them within a complete "Computer Integrated Design Control System".
A patent literature review, especially one done with retrospective hindsight after understanding our own system and method of using our "Computer Integrated Design Control System" will show, among certainly others, aspects of DMS systems which somewhat approach some aspect of our own design, but are jacking in important respects. For instance, after review of our detailed description, one will come to appreciate that in modern data processing systems the need often arises (as we provide) to aggregate disparate data objects into a cohesive collection These data objects may reside at various levels of completion, spanning multiple versions and/or repositories in a hierarchical, multi-tiered data management system. Additionally, these data aggregations may need to be hierarchical themselves, in order to enable the creation of large groupings of data with varying levels of granularity for the data included therein. In such a data management system the end-users of the data aggregates are not necessarily the "owners" of all or any of the data objects comprising the data aggregate, but they have a need to manage the particular collection. Management of a data aggregation may include creating the aggregation, adding or deleting data objects, moving the aggregation through a hierarchical, multi-tiered data management system and tracking the status of the data aggregation in real-time while maintaining the coherence of the data aggregation. Creation of a data aggregation or the addition of a data object to an existing data aggregate may need to be accomplished within the data management system or via data objects imported into the data management system through application program interfaces for the data management system.
With such a focus, when one reviews the art, one will certainly find, currently, data management systems which provide means for grouping components of a data system to facilitate the retrieval thereof. However, these data management systems are insufficient and lacking because they fail to address the above-referenced need for grouping disparate data items, just to mention one aspect of our own developments.
Another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,047 to Maki et al. (issued Apr. 6, 1993) teaches an attribute based classification and retrieval system wherein it is unnecessary to implement an artificial code for indexing classifications. The patent teaches a method for defining unique, user-determined attributes for storing data which are capable of being readily augmented without necessitating the modification of the under-lying query used for retrieval thereof. However, the Maki et al. patent requires that the data items being grouped share at least one common attribute to enable the grouping, and therefore fails to address the problems of managing data aggregates formed from disparate and unrelated data objects.
Other data management systems address the creation of data aggregates coupled to particular processes implemented in the data system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,605 to Chapman et al. (issued Jun. 14, 1994) teaches the creation of a Bill of Resources table which represents the resources consumed in the performance of a given process. Attribute tables for the given resources are utilized to determine whether additional processes which will consume some or all of the resources of a given process can be initiated. The patent to Chapman et al., requires that each process to be initiated have a particular Bill of Resources aggregate associated therewith. This tightly coupled construct does not permit the creation of data aggregates not related to a particular process implemented in the data management system. Furthermore, since a process must be contemplated in order to create a Bill of Resources table, Chapman et al. do not permit the creation of aggregates without foreknowledge of the process that requires the resource. Thus, in a manner similar to that described for Maki et al., Chapman et al. require that a relationship between the elements exist prior to the formation of the Bill of Resources grouping.
Also, unrelated DMS systems are known which are used for hardware implementations which enable related data in a computer memory, storage or I/O subsystem to be physically grouped in proximity to other such data so as to improve hardware performance, application performance, and/or to solve memory management issues are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,949 to Suzuki (issued May 23, 1995) teaches a file storage management system for a database which achieves a high level of clustering on a given page and teaches loading related data from a secondary storage unit at high speed. The patent uses map files including a metamap file for defining page to page relations of data. These hardware implementations are not related to the present invention, as they involve the management of the physical contents of a data object rather than the management of aggregations of data objects as we perform the methods of our present invention. It is contemplated, however, that such known hardware techniques may be implemented in a system comprising the aggregation management features disclosed herein, thereby further augmenting the overall system efficiency.
During our development process we have viewed the development of others. Even the best of the EDA (electronic design automation) design houses don't have an integrated approach like we have developed.
For the purposes of this background, we will discuss some of the various approaches already used specifically viewing them in light of our own separate developments which we will further elaborate in our detailed description of our invention which follows later in this specification.
In the field of EDA, there are today several leading edge providers of Data Management technology. Among them are Cadence Design Systems, Inc., ViewLogic Inc., and Synchronicity Inc., Of course there are others, but these the companies that have the capability to provide complete data management solutions that encompass all facets of the business process including design, manufacturing, quality control, defect tracking, project management and the like. However, review of their most recent technology still affords the opportunity to make improvements in the area of scalability, modularity and adaptation of disparate environments into a seamless Data Management enterprise.
Historically many attempts have been made to manage and share data across groups of users or teams. This has typically resulted in systems that assume a particular use model and expect the users to mold their process or methodology around it. Furthermore, these systems tend to either be a closed architecture which is difficult to enhance or customize. In addition these systems can be large and complex, and lacking the ability to scale from a small team of "low-end" users to a large group of sophisticated "high-end" users.

Method for managing a plurality of data processes residing in heterogeneous data repositories

International Business Machines Corporation


The present application pertains to unconventional sputter target/backing plate assemblies (10) for high power operation and to the low temperature method of making them. The sputter target/backing plate assemblies (10) comprise targets (12) and backing plates (16) having dissimilar thermal coefficients of expansion. Although the consolidated targets (12) and backing plates (16) have dissimilar thermal coefficients of expansion, they are able to be bonded together and used at high sputtering temperatures without bowing or bending and are able to utilize backing plates (16) normally associated with a specified target metal. In the method of making, a plurality of male projections (16) are formed in one member of the assembly (10) with a plurality of corresponding female grooves (32) formed in the other surface. The assembly (10) is bonded by conventional techniques around an annular zone that surrounds the male (26) and female portions (32). The assembly (10) is then pressure consolidated at low temperature so that the projections are force fit into the female recesses.

Cathodic sputtering is widely used for the deposition of thin layers of material onto desired substrates. Basically, this process requires gas ion bombardment of a target having a face formed of a material that is to be deposited as a thin film or layer on a substrate. Ion bombardment of the target not only causes atoms or molecules of the target material to be sputtered, but imparts considerable thermal energy to the target. This heat is dissipated by use of a cooling fluid typically circulated beneath or around a heat conducting backing plate that is positioned in heat exchange relation with the target.
The target forms a part of a cathode assembly which together with an anode is placed in an evacuated chamber that contains an inert gas, preferably argon. A high voltage electrical field is applied across the cathode and anode. The inert gas is ionized by collision with the electrons ejected from the cathode. Positively charged gas ions are attracted to the cathode and, upon impingement with the target surface, dislodge the target material. The dislodged target materials traverse the evacuated enclosure and deposit as a thin film on the desired substrate that is normally located proximate the anode.
In addition to the use of an electrical field, increasing sputtering rates have been achieved by the concurrent use of an arch-shaped magnetic field that is superimposed over the electrical field and formed in a closed loop configuration over the surface of the target. These methods are known as magnetron sputtering methods. The arch-shaped magnetic field traps electrons in an annular region adjacent the target surface thereby increasing the number of electron-gas atom collisions in the area to produce an increase in the number of positively charged gas ions in the region that strike the target to dislodge the target material. Accordingly, the target material becomes eroded (i.e., consumed for subsequent deposition on the substrate) in a generally annular section of the target face, known as the target raceway.
In typical target cathode assemblies, the target is attached to a nonmagnetic backing plate. The backing plate is normally water-cooled to carry away the heat generated by the ion bombardment of the target. Magnets are typically arranged beneath the backing plate in well-known disposition in order to form the above-noted magnetic field in the form of a loop or tunnel extending around the exposed face of the target.
In order to achieve good thermal and electrical contact between the target and backing plate, these members are commonly attached to each other by means of soldering, brazing, diffusion bonding, clamping and by epoxy cement and the like. However, sputter target assemblies bonded by these methods can bow or bend at high sputtering temperatures, especially when a large difference exists between the coefficients of thermal expansion for the target and backing plate. In many cases, in order to minimize bowing and bending of the plates at high sputtering conditions, targets and backing plates having similar thermal expansion coefficients are bonded together.
In many situations, the targets and backing plates can be diffusion bonded. However, with regard specifically to diffusion bonding that is carried out in HIP cans, HIP cans may leak during the HIP process thereby preventing or diminishing metal target bonding to a backing plate due to contamination or residual air in the HIP can.
Additionally, the high temperatures that can be associated with some of the above disclosed bonding methods can result in undesirable grain growth in the target metal.
The present invention pertains to a low temperature bonding method which provides for the consolidation of sputter target/backing plate assemblies. These sputter target/backing plate assemblies are comprised of targets and backing plates having dissimilar thermal expansion coefficients. Although the target and backing plate have dissimilar thermal expansion coefficients, the method allows these unconventional assemblies to be bonded together and used at high sputtering temperatures without significant bowing or bending. As a result, these sputter target assemblies are able to utilize backing plates having higher thermal and lower electrical conductivity than the conventional backing plates normally associated with a specified target metal. Lastly, this method allows for the target assembly to minimize grain growth in the target metal due to consolidation at a low temperature.

Friction fit target assembly for high power sputtering operation


In a communication session in which data flows with encrypted data packets pass through a monitoring intermediary for data traffic control. The encrypted data packets include SPIs (Secured Parameter Indexes) which are used to identify SAs (Security Associations) for data decryption. During the initial signaling process for the communication session, the nodes seeking the communication session include the SPIs in the signaling messages and send the signaling messages through the monitoring intermediary which in turn matches the SPIs of the signaling messages with the corresponding SPIs extracted from the data packets. In enforcing data traffic control, the monitoring intermediary allows data flows to pass through if comparison matches in the SPIs are found. Otherwise, the data flows are rejected.

I. Field
The present invention generally relates to packet data communications, and more particularly, to monitoring and controlling of packet data flows during packet data communications.
II. Background
Interconnecting of networks globally allows information to be swiftly accessed irrespective of geographical distances. FIG. 1 shows a simplified schematic drawing of the global connection of networks, commonly referred to as the Internet signified by the reference numeral 20. The Internet 20 is in essence many networks with different levels of hierarchy linked together. The Internet 20 is operated under the IP (Internet Protocol) promulgated by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). Details of the IP can be found in RFC (Request For Comments) 791 published by the IETF.
Connected to the Internet 20 are various individual networks, sometimes called LANs (Local Area Networks) or WANs (Wide Area Networks) depending on the network sizes. Shown in FIG. 1 are some of such networks 22, 24 and 26.
Within each of the networks 22, 24, and 26, there can be various pieces of equipment connected to and in communication with each other. Examples are computers, printers, and servers, to name just a few. Each piece of equipment has a unique hardware address, commonly called the MAC (Media Access Control) address. The piece of equipment with the MAC address is sometimes called a node. When the node communicates beyond its own network via the Internet 20, an IP address needs to be assigned to the node.
The assignment of the IP address can be manual or automatic. The manual assignment of the IP address can be performed by a network administrator, for example. More often, the IP address is automatically assigned. For instance, in a LAN, the IP address can be assigned by a server called the DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) server (not shown) residing inside in the node's LAN. Furthermore, in a WAN which supports wireless technologies, IP addresses can be assigned automatically and remotely.
Returning now to FIG. 1, as an example, suppose a node 30 in the network 22 attempts to send a data packet to another node 34 in the network 24. Under the IP, each data packet needs to have a source address and a destination address. In this case, the source address is the address of the node 30 in the network 22. The destination address is the address of the node 34 in the network 24. Operating in such a manner, the nodes 30 and 34 are said to be communicating under the Simple IP transport mode in which both nodes 30 and 34 simply use their own IP addresses in the exchange of data packets to conform with the IP.
Advent in wireless technologies allows nodes to move away from their originally registered network to another network. For instance, referring back to FIG. 1, the node 30, instead of permanently wired to the network 22, can be a wireless device, such as a PDA (Personal Device Assistant), a cellular phone, or a mobile computer. The wireless node 30 can travel beyond the boundary of its home network 22. Thus, the node 30 may roam away from its home network 22 to a foreign network 26. Under such scenario, the original address assigned to the node 30 would no longer be applicable to the node 30. As such, data packets destined for that address of the node 30 may not be reachable to the node 30.
The Mobile IP (Mobile Internet Protocol) set forth by the IETF is intended to deal with the node mobility problems. In accordance with the RFC 2002 published by the IETF, whenever away from the home network 22 and roaming in another network, the node 30 is assigned a "care-of address," abbreviated as CoA (Care-of Address).
Under the RFC 2002, there are two types of CoA, namely, the FA CoA (Foreign Agent Care-of Address) and the CCoA (Co-located Care of Address).
The FA CoA is in essence the address of a FA (Foreign Agent) which is a designated server in the foreign network where the node 30 is located at. The use of the FA CoA is applicable in the IPv4.
The CCoA is an individual but temporary address assigned to the node 30 by the foreign network. The use of the CCoA is applicable in both the IPv4 and IPv6.
In any case, anytime the node 30 is in a foreign territory, the node 30 must register the CoA, be it the FA CoA or the CCoA, with its home network 22, so that the home network 22 always knows the whereabouts of the node 30. After registration, the CoA is stored in the routing table maintained by a designated server, called the HA (Home Agent) 25 of the home network 22.
Take a few examples for illustration.
For the case of the FA CoA, suppose the node 30 roams into the foreign network 26. Upon reaching the territorial limit of the foreign network 26, the node 30 receives an advertisement message from the foreign network 26 informing the node 30 of its presence in the foreign territory. From the advertisement message, the node 30 knows the address of the FA 36 of the foreign network 26. The node 30 then registers the FA CoA with the HA 25 in the home network 22.
When the node 30 in the foreign network 26 sends out a data packet to the node 34 in the network 24, for example, knowing the address of the node 34 in the network 24, the data packet can be sent straightforwardly. That is, in accordance with the IP, in the data packet, the source address can be set to the HoA of the node 30 and the destination address can be set to the address of the node 34 in the network 24. The direction of the data packet is shown as data path 38 shown in FIG. 1.
As for the reverse data traffic, it is not as straightforward. In the reverse data route, when the node 34 in the network 24 attempts to send a data packet to the node 30, now in the foreign network 26, as mentioned above, in conformance with the IP, both the source and the destination addresses must be specified in the data packet. In this case, the source address is the IP address of the node 34 in the network 24. As for the destination address, without any update notice from the node 30, the node 34 only knows the HoA of the node 30, not the FA CoA of the node 30. Thus, the destination address will be set to the HoA of the node 30.
Nevertheless, since the FA CoA of the node 30 is stored in the routing table of the HA 25 in the home network 22, when the data packet reaches the home network 22, the HA 25 of the network 22 encapsulates the received data packet with the stored FA CoA and sends it to the node 30 in the foreign network 26. That is, the encapsulated data packet utilizes the FA CoA as the destination address. Once the foreign network 26 receives the encapsulated data packet, the FA 36 merely strips away the encapsulated FA CoA and delivers the original packet to the mobile node 30. The route of the data packet is shown as data path 40 in FIG. 1.
It also should be noted that the data paths, such as the paths 38 and 40, in reality pass through the Internet 20 many times. For the sake of clarity so as not to obscure FIG. 1, the paths merely are shown as passing through the relevant servers, such as the HA 25 and the FA 36. That is, the data paths 38 and 40 are shown as logical paths as shown in FIG. 1.
Operating in the manner as described above, the mobile node 30 is said to be communicating with the correspondent node 34 under the Mobile IP tunneling mode using the FA CoA.
In the above example, a data tunnel is said to exist between the nodes 30 and 34 through the HA 25 even though the mobile node 30 appears to receive data packets straightforwardly from the corresponding node 90. The advantage of using the tunneling mode is that when the mobile node 30 migrates to yet another foreign network, other than the update notice to the home network 22, there is no need for the mobile node 30 to send similar notice to the corresponding node 34. Thus, data sent and received by the corresponding node 34 appear to be uninterrupted.
As for the case of the CCoA, when the node 30 roams away from the home network 22, instead of requesting for a FA CoA, the node 30 can instead request a CCoA from the foreign network. If the network 26 is a WAN supporting wireless technologies such as the cdma2000 standards promulgated by the TIA/EIA (Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Association) and the 3GPP2 (3rd Generation Partnership Project 2), the CCoA can be requested and assigned remotely by the foreign network 26 via a PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol between a PDSN (Packet Data Serving Node) 41 and the mobile node 30, for example. The PDSN 41 is basically a server in the network 36 serving and processing data traffic in the wireless portion of the network 26. However, other than the assignment of the CCoA by the foreign network 26, the node 30 performs all the functions of a foreign agent, such as the FA 36 as mentioned previously. Again, the mobile node 30 needs to register the CCoA with the home network 22.
For instance, to correspond with node 34 in the network 24, the node 30 sends out a data packet with two layers of addresses. In the outer layer, the source address is set to the CCoA, and the destination address is set to the HA 25. In the inner layer, the source address is the HoA of the node 30 and the destination address is the address of the node 34 in the foreign network 24. Upon receipt of the data packet from the roaming node 30, the HA 25 strips off the outer address layer and sends the data packet to the node 34 with the inner address layer. The logical path of the data packet is shown as data path 42 in FIG. 1.
In the reverse data path, that is, when the node 34 sends a data packet to the node 30, the data packet has only one address layer with the source address set to the node 34 and the destination address set to the HoA of the node 30. Upon receipt of the data packet, the HA 25 encapsulates the data packet with the CCoA as the destination address and the address of the HA 25 as the source address and sends the encapsulated data packet to the node 30. The node 30 performs the de-encapsulating on its own without going through the FA 36. The direction of the data packet is shown as data path 44 in FIG. 1.
Operating in the manner as described above, the roaming node 30 is said to be communicating with the correspondent node 34 under the Mobile IP tunneling mode using the CCoA.
Very often, data communications between the nodes need to be monitored and controlled for different reasons. For example, when the mobile node 30 and the corresponding node 34 are in a VoIP (Voice over IP) session, it needs to be certain that the participating parties, the mobile node 30 and the corresponding node 34 in this case, are authorized. Among other things, for each data packet, the source address, the destination address, and the destination port need to be ascertained. If the session is fee-based, means for tracking has to be implemented for purpose of accounting. For security and privacy reasons, it is common that data packets exchanged between the nodes are encrypted. Encryption schemes for packet data under the transport mode and the tunneling mode are different. Monitoring of encrypted data packets thus poses a special challenge. Yet there is increasing demand for secured and private communications over shared networks.
Accordingly, there is need to provide secured monitoring schemes for packet data communications with encrypted data flows.

Bearer control of encrypted data flows in packet data communications


To simplify control of a sheet feeding/conveying system while preventing a step-out phenomenon and saving power, provided is an image forming apparatus which detects a load angle of a first motor (M1) for conveying an n-th sheet (P) (where n is a natural number equal to or larger than 1). In accordance with the detected load angle, a current value for the first motor (M1) for conveying sheets (P) following the n-th sheet and a current value for a second motor (M2) for conveying the n-th and subsequent sheets (P) are set. Such control is executed when power is turned ON or the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus that a sheet material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A small and inexpensive stepping motor is often used as a drive source for a sheet feeding/conveying system in an image forming apparatus. The stepping motor is generally driven by a constant current chopper control system. While the stepping motor can contribute to achieving a compact and inexpensive structure, the stepping motor frequently causes a step-out phenomenon in which the rotation of a rotor cannot be synchronized with the input of a pulse signal. The step-out phenomenon occurs, for example, in an overload state to the pulse rate of the pulse output to the stepping motor from a drive circuit.
An image forming apparatus that performs multifarious types of image formation needs to support various kinds of sheets, such as plain paper and thick paper. Therefore, the required torque of the stepping motor varies significantly depending on the kind of sheets in use in some cases. With regard to the torque for causing a sheet to enter between conveying rollers made of a sponge material and disposed along a sheet conveying path, for example, the torque for thick paper (200 g/cm) becomes twice as high as the torque for plain paper (80 g/cm) in some cases. The torque of the stepping motor is determined by the value of the drive current. Therefor, the selection of the stepping motor and the selection of the drive current that determines the torque are determined on the assumption of using thick paper which faces severer conditions.
However, plain paper is predominantly used in general offices or the like. Therefore, the constant use of the drive current set for thick paper causes more than necessary power consumption and noise generation. Thus, a technique to solve this problem is proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-322734). According to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-322734, the drive current value is set for plain paper in a normal operation mode, and is set for thick paper only when a user operates to set thick paper.
Recently, there is a proposal of a technique of optimizing the drive current based on the relationship between the maximum output torque of a stepping motor and the level of the drive current (see US 2011/0229235). The technique disclosed in US 2011/0229235 calculates an estimated load torque at the time of conveying a first sheet. The estimated load torque is used to determine a current value corresponding to the level of the target load torque at the time of conveying second and subsequent sheets.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-322734 is effective in preventing a step-out phenomenon. However, this technique still faces the problem when actual sheets in use differ from the set sheets, for example, when a sheet cassette for plain paper is removed and thick paper is fed in this sheet cassette.
The technique disclosed in US 2011/0229235 independently controls a plurality of stepping motors, thus complicating the control circuit when a plurality of stepping motors is used.


Disclosed are a laser scanning device, a radar device, and a scanning method thereof. The laser scanning device comprises a scanning prism comprising a plurality of scanning mirror surfaces, wherein the plurality of scanning mirror surfaces rotates about a scanning axis, a normal of each of the scanning mirror surfaces forms a certain angle with respect to the scanning axis, and the angles thereof are not all the same; a transceiving component comprising a laser transmitting unit and a laser receiving unit, wherein the laser transmitting unit generates a scanning line by rotation of the scanning mirror surfaces, and the same laser transmitting unit generates a plurality of scanning lines by rotation of the scanning prism.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a scanning device in a LiDAR of U.S. Pat. No. 8,767,190B2.
In the scanning device, a motherboard 20 is provided on a frame 22. Plural emitter hybrids 30 are sequentially inserted onto the motherboard 20, and plural detector hybrids 32 are sequentially inserted onto the motherboard 20. The plural emitter hybrids 30 are provided in a vertical direction, and the plural detector hybrids 32 are provided in the vertical direction. The emitter hybrids 30 each is provided with one emitter, and the detector hybrids 32 each is provided with one detector. The frame 22 spins to obtain a 360-degree scanning field of view.
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of a laser scanning device in a prior art. The laser scanning device generates an emergent light by a laser emitting unit to generate a scanning line. As shown in FIG. 2, the laser scanning device includes a scanning tower mirror 40 and a transmitting lens group 50. The scanning tower mirror 40 rotates about a rotation axis X. The transmitting lens group 50 is disposed in parallel with a top surface of the scanning tower mirror 40. The scanning tower mirror 40 is a standard quadrangular tower mirror.
The emergent light L emitted by the laser emitting unit 60 is transmitted through the transmitting lens group 50, then reflected by an inclined surface of the scanning tower mirror 40, and emitted outside of the laser scanning device accordingly. An incident light L′ generated by diffuse reflection of an obstacle is a light beam, is converged by the transmitting lens group 50 and then received by a laser receiving unit 70.
A position of the laser emitting unit 60 relative to the scanning tower mirror 40 is unchanged. As the scanning tower mirror 40 rotates, the emergent light L scans to and fro within a certain angle field of view.

Laser scanning device, radar device and scanning method thereof


A medical imaging system includes an imaging device for inserting into a lumen of a catheter. The imaging device includes an ultrasound transducer and bias circuitry electrically coupled to the transducer for biasing the transducer. At least one communication line is coupled to both the ultrasound transducer and the bias circuitry and extends to a proximal end of the catheter. The at least one communication line transmits a transducer drive signal to the transducer and a charge signal to the bias circuitry. At least one inductive coupler is in communication with the at least one communication line. The transducer drive signal and the charge signal are both AC signals. The transducer drive signal has a transducer-drive-signal frequency and the charge signal has a charge-signal frequency that is different than the transducer-drive-signal frequency.

Ultrasound devices insertable into patients have proven diagnostic capabilities for a variety of diseases and disorders. For example, intravascular ultrasound ("IVUS") imaging systems have been used as an imaging modality for diagnosing blocked blood vessels and providing information to aid medical practitioners in selecting and placing stents and other devices to restore or increase blood flow. IVUS imaging systems have been used to diagnose atheromatous plaque build-up at particular locations within blood vessels. IVUS imaging systems can be used to determine the existence of an intravascular obstruction or stenosis, as well as the nature and degree of the obstruction or stenosis. IVUS imaging systems can be used to visualize segments of a vascular system that may be difficult to visualize using other intravascular imaging techniques, such as angiography, due to, for example, movement (e.g., a beating heart) or obstruction by one or more structures (e.g., one or more blood vessels not desired to be imaged). IVUS imaging systems can be used to monitor or assess ongoing intravascular treatments, such as angiography and stent placement in real (or almost real) time. Moreover, IVUS imaging systems can be used to monitor one or more heart chambers.
IVUS imaging systems have been developed to provide a diagnostic tool for visualizing a variety of diseases or disorders. An IVUS imaging system can include a control module (with a pulse generator, an image processor, and a monitor), a catheter, and one or more transducers disposed in the catheter. The transducer-containing catheter can be positioned in a lumen or cavity within, or in proximity to, a region to be imaged, such as a blood vessel wall or patient tissue in proximity to a blood vessel wall. The pulse generator in the control module generates electrical pulses that are delivered to the one or more transducers and transformed to acoustic pulses that are transmitted through patient tissue. Reflected pulses of the transmitted acoustic pulses are absorbed by the one or more transducers and transformed to electric pulses. The transformed electric pulses are delivered to the image processor and converted to an image displayable on the monitor.

Ultrasound imaging systems with bias circuitry and methods of making and using


A remote control fishing tackle having a main controller (10) and a separate float unit (30) for operating remotely from the main controller and connected thereto by a primary fishing line (351). A secondary fishing line (352) is suspended from the float unit and has a fish hook (353) thereon. The main controller has a radio transmitter (21) with an electric power source (23) and a reel (22) for the fishing line for unreeling and reeling in the float unit. The float unit has a receiver (31), batteries (60), two electric motor units (40, 41) driving separate propellers (44, 45) in two water channels (50, 51), or a common water channel (70), and electronic speed controllers (30, 33) operated by the receiver in response to signals from the transmitter controlled by separate control elements (11, 12) so that the float unit can be propelled forward and backward and turned. The reel is operated selectively by a power drive or manually (15).

The conventional fishing tackle consists of a fishing rod as well as a reeling device fastened with a fishing line having a float, a sinker, a hook and a bait (or lure) on it.
In general, when fishing, the fisherman manually casts the fishing hook away from the shore and then proceeds fishing.
Since the distance of manual casting is limited, it is difficult to achieve the goal of catching fish effectively. In addition, the effects of bad weather patterns and terrible bank conditions usually make the fisherman unsatisfied with their fishing activities so that the fishing sport can never become a popular leisure activity.

4/F, No. 118-1, SEC. 1, Chung-Shan N. Rd.


The invention is directed to a method, computer program product and apparatus for a body of code to specify how database elements are combined to create a complex element, a database grouping is created that receives the content of the evaluation without introducing a level of hierarchy, and provides graphical user interface (GUI) to interactively manipulate the element.

Certain semiconductor manufacturing processes allow for the usage of stacked vias. Such physical structures usually require the definition of specific rules between the different elements of the stack. Typical examples of such rules include requirements on the way shapes of cuts are stacked within a via and the minimal area rules for the intermediate routing layers of the via for the intermediate levels in the stack.
Automated place and route tools can fulfill these requirements by selecting one solution in the domain spaces of the different parameter combinations. However, in the custom circuit design area, it is not uncommon for the physical layout designers to want to control each individual parameters of the stack. There are two conventional implementations. First is a parameterized cell (PCell) approach, where an "instance" of the via is created, while a design language is used to manage the creation of the shapes within the instance master. Second is a manual approach, where the designer layouts a stack of vias and crafts each via individually by tuning the parameters of the via.
FIG. 1 illustrates a stacked via. This stacked via 100 has four layers, going from bottom layer 110 to a first intermediate layer 120, to a second intermediate layer 130 and a top layer 140. There is also an array of 2×2 cuts between each layer 115, 125, 135. Array 115 is in between bottom layer 110 and first intermediate layer 120. Array 125 is between the first intermediate layer 120 and the second intermediate layer 130. Array 135 is located between the second intermediate layer 130 and the top layer 140.
FIG. 2 illustrates a stacked via with and extended intermediate layer. This stacked via 200 is similar to the stacked via of FIG. 1. It also has four layers, going from bottom layer to top layer 210, 220, 230, 240, with an array of 2×2 cuts between each layer 215, 225, 235. Intermediate layer 220 has a process rule requiring a minimum area, which is larger than what the regular cut overlap rule defines for this specific layer. In such case, the user must adjust the area to be larger. Stretching one edge of the intermediate layer 220 can do this. Routing tools use pre-defined combination of MAR via that stretch in the direction perpendicular to the routing direction for that layer.
FIG. 3 illustrates a stacked via that precludes the overlapping of cuts. This stacked via 300 is similar to the stacked via of FIG. 1. It also has 4 layers, going from bottom layer to top layer 310, 320, 330, 340, with an alternate array of cuts between each layer 315, 325, and 335. Each layer includes 2 cuts, and the cuts alternate such that successive cut layers have cuts that are rotated 90 degrees. In other words, no cuts are located immediately above or below another cut.
FIG. 4 illustrates another stacked via that precludes the overlapping of cuts. This stacked via 400 is similar to the stacked via of FIG. 3. It also has 4 layers, going from bottom layer to top layer 410, 420, 430, 440, with an alternate array of cuts between each layer 415, 425, and 435. In FIG. 4, the cut layers are shifted 90 degrees with respect to the top layer 440 and bottom layer 410.
The stacked vias of FIGS. 3 and 4 result from process rules precluding the overlap of cuts in the stacked via. Stacked vias of FIGS. 3 and 4 are useful when design rules violate the design in FIG. 2 above. There are several different solutions that can be created by the custom designers, some of which may be allowable by the rules in some processes while others may not. Alternate arrays of FIGS. 3 and 4 are common choices, but some processes also allow straddling via cuts. Some are dictated by the process rules, others depend on the surrounding shapes, or considerations understood only by the person creating the layout.
In a PCell approach, an "instance" of a via is created. The PCell may be written for OpenAccess (OA) in a non-proprietary language such as C++ and/or Python. A collection of parameters associated with the PCell allows the designer to control the intermediate plates and cuts, while the PCell coder made sure that the process rule are enforced in the actual code. In a manual approach, the designer provides layouts including stack of vias and crafts each of them individually by tuning the parameters of the via instance. These two approaches have many drawbacks.
First, the PCell approach is not "interoperable". The stack only exists in the tool virtual memory (VM) space, which is evaluated by the design language used to describe the PCell super-master. The stack is embedded within a level of hierarchy. This embedding prevents the routing tools from being able to interact or connect with the intermediate levels of the stack.
Furthermore, in OA, the PCell approach does not allow parameterization of the top and bottom layers of the stack. In OA, although it is possible to "bind" a PCell supermaster to a via definition, by construction, an OA via definition requires a fixed top and bottom layers. The PCell master is linked to a customViaDef in the OpenAccess technology database, defining the two predefined top and bottom access point into the via object. Such PCell master does not have parameterized top and bottom layer names.
Even if the PCell itself contains all the intermediate interconnect shapes, these are not visible to the routing applications in OpenAccess.
customViaDef( (viaDefName topLayer bottomLayer lib cell view))
FIG. 5 illustrates a stacked via in OpenAccess (OA) using the PCell approach. This stacked via 500 has 4 layers, going from bottom layer to top layer 510, 520, 530, 540, with an alternate array of cuts between each layer 515, 525, 535. This structure is stored together as a Pcell.
On OA, the PCell approach does not allow parameterization of the stack layers 520, 530. In OA, although it is possible to "bind" a PCell supermaster to a via definition, by construction, an OA via definition requires a fixed top 540 and bottom 510 layers.
customViaDef( (viaDefName topLayer bottomLayer lib cell view))
Second, the manual approach is not user friendly, and requires the end user to manually create each individual levels of the stack. The user has to remember all the interlevel rules. There is no notion for visualizing the stacked via as a whole. It has to be created by all discrete objects using editors. Therefore, the manual approach can not provide assistance in recognizing that assemblage as a special object.

Method and system for implementing stacked vias