A multiplexing method for data switching is disclosed. In the method, a continuous data is received, and the continuous data includes a plurality of super frames, and each super frame includes a plurality of frames. These super frames are divided into a set of even super frames and a set of odd super frames. The frames included in the set of odd super frames are sorted by corresponding required bit error rate of each frame decreasingly or increasingly. The frames included in the set of even super frames are sorted by the required bit error rate of each frame increasingly or decreasingly. An encoder is used to encode these sorted super frames.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiplexing method and apparatus thereof for data switching. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multiplexing method and apparatus thereof for data switching, which include arrangement of frames in super frames and table switching.
2. Description of Related Art
With development of network switching technology and increase of network bandwidth, an Internet service provider (ISP) may provide more different types of network services. In a former network with limited bandwidth, only text data or voice data can be transmitted. In now days, with increase of network bandwidth, image data or video data can be transmitted on network. However, different bit error rates (BERs) are required for transmitting the aforementioned different data. For example, a low BER is required for transmitting the image data so as to obtain a relatively clear image, and a relatively high BER is allowed while transmitting the voice data, since a user may just care about identification of the voice, not clearness or elegancy of the voice.
An error correction code for protecting a transmitting data may achieve its error correction function by adding additional bits to the transmitting data. The more the additional bits added, the better effect the error correction is, i.e. the better error correction effect the error correction code achieves, and the lower BER the transmitting data has. Therefore, application of a same error correction code having better error correction ability for the transmitting data requiring different BERs may significantly decrease a transmission rate. However, if a same error correction code having lower error correction ability is applied for protecting the transmitting data requiring different BERs, although the transmission rate is not decreased greatly, transmission of the data requiring the lower BER cannot be satisfied.
Therefore, an unequal error protection (UEP) method is provided for protecting the transmitting data requiring different BERs. According to the method, different error correction codes with different qualities are applied to the transmitting data requiring different BERs, so as to meet the requirement of different BERs for different transmitting data without a great decrease of the transmission rate.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating a conventional multiplexing method for unequal error protection. As shown in FIG. 1, a continuous data is divided into four sequence codes SF1, SF2, SF3 and SF4, in which each of the sequence codes SF1˜SFW represents a super frame. Each of the super frames SF1˜SF4 includes a plurality of transmitting data S1, S2 . . . SW, and each of the transmitting data S1, S2 . . . SW represents a frame. A rate-compatible punctured code encoder 10 punctures each of the frames S1˜SW to achieve the unequal error protection effect. Each of the frames S1˜SW requires a different BER. If a relation of the BERs for the frames S1˜SW within each of the super frame SF1˜SF4 is PS1>PS2> . . . >PSW, the frames S1˜SW within each super frame is then sorted as S1, S2 . . . SW.
In other words, frames S1˜SW of each super frame SF1˜SF4 are sorted according to a corresponding required BER of each of the frames S1˜SW decreasingly or increasingly. Then, a string of bit codes padded with zeros is added to the tail of each of the super frames SF1˜SF4 to meet a requirement of bit length of an input bit and avoid a mass of errors occurred in the UEP system due to utilization of a hard switching method (which will be described in the follows) by the rate-compatible punctured code encoder 10. However, in this data multiplexing method for UEP, since the frames of each super frame are sorted by its corresponding required BERs decreasingly or increasingly, unexpected errors may occur in the system due to excessive instant changes of the BERs when a receiving terminal performs decoding on the frames closely connected between two adjacent super frames. Meanwhile, adding of the string of bit codes may decrease an actual transmission rate and throughout rate (i.e. waste of bandwidth). Accordingly, transmission efficiency and bandwidth utilization of the UEP system are poor.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of bit error rates on a receiving terminal according to a conventional data multiplexing method for unequal error protection. As shown in FIG. 2, there is an instant increase of the BERs of the frames SW and S1 closely connected between two adjacent super frames, which will cause the unexpected errors of the UEP system. Accordingly, a protection efficiency of the UEP system is decreased.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a rate-compatible punctured code encoder 10. Referring to FIG. 3, the encoder 10 includes a convolution code encoder 101 and a puncturing unit 102. The encoder 10 encodes and punctures the frames S1˜SW requiring different BERs to perform different degrees of protection on the frames S1˜SW, such that the UEP effect is achieved. The relation of the required BERs of the frames S1˜SW is PS1>PS2 . . . >PSW. The operation principle is as follows. First, the convolution code encoder 101 performs convolution encoding on the frames S1˜SW and outputs an encoded data C_parent. Next, the puncturing unit 102 provides different puncturing tables T1, T2 . . . TW to the frames S1, S2 . . . SW requiring the different BERs. Finally, the encoded data C_parent is punctured according to the puncturing tables to form a punctured encoded data C_child.
For example, as to the frame S1, after the convolution code encoder 101 performs convolution encoding on the frames S1˜SW and generates the encoded data C_parent, the puncturing unit 102 provides the corresponding puncturing table T1 to the frame S1. Then, the puncturing unit 102 starts to puncture the encoded data C_parent according to a start position of the puncturing table T1, and outputs the punctured encoded data C_child. During which if a bit code located at a certain position of the puncturing table T1 is 1, the puncturing unit 102 then outputs the encoded data C_parent located in a position corresponding to that in the puncturing table T1; and if the bit code located at a certain position of the puncturing table T1 is 0, the puncturing unit 102 then punctures the encoded data C_parent located in the position corresponding to that in the puncturing table T1.
Assuming the encoded data of the frame S1 after being convolution encoded is C_parent=[1 0 1 1 1; 0 0 0 1 1], and the puncturing unit 102 provides the puncturing table T1=[0 0 0 1 1; 1 0 1 1 1] to the frame S1. Then, the puncturing unit 102 starts to puncture the encoded data C_parent according to the start position of the puncturing table T1, and generates the punctured encoded data C_child=[x x x 1 1; 0 x 0 1 1], wherein x represents the data punctured, i.e. x will not be transmitted. Therefore, according to the above example, the data outputted by the puncturing unit 102 is 110011.
As described above, to achieve the UEP effect, and if the relation of the BERs required by the frames S1˜SW is PS1>PS2 . . . >PSW, the puncturing unit 102 may sequentially provide the puncturing tables T1˜TW to the corresponding frames S1˜SW, wherein the relation of the puncturing tables T1˜TW will be described as follows. If the bit code located at a certain position in the puncturing table T1 is 1, the bit codes located at the same positions of the puncturing tables T2˜TW are also 1. If the bit code located at a certain position in the puncturing table T2 is 1, the bit codes located at the same positions of the puncturing tables T3˜TW are also 1. The relations of the other puncturing tables may be deduced accordingly. For example, if the bit code located at a first column and a second row of the puncturing table T1 is 1, the bit code located at the first column and the second row of each of the puncturing tables T2˜TW is also 1.
According to the aforementioned relation of the puncturing tables T1˜TW, the number of bits punctured in the frames S1˜SW has a relation of S1>S2> . . . >SW. Namely, protection degrees of the frames S1˜SW provided by the encoder 10 have an order of S1<S2< . . . <SW. According to the different protection degrees of the frames S1˜SW provided by the encoder 10, the error correction ability provided by the encoder 10 may satisfy the requirement of different BERs for the frames S1˜SW, such that the UEP can be achieved.
Referring to FIG. 3 again, in the conventional UEP method, the puncturing unit 102 starts to perform the puncturing process on the encoded data C_parent according to the corresponding start positions of the puncturing tables. The puncturing unit 102 switches to a suitable puncturing table every time when the BER of the inputted frame changes to perform the puncturing process, wherein the puncturing processes of the encoded data C_parent are all started according to the start position of the corresponding puncturing table. This switching method is referred to as a hard switching method. However, the hard switching method may decrease the efficiency of the UEP and cause more errors on the data received by the receiver terminal, and therefore the BERs required by the frames S1˜SW cannot be satisfied.
The reason why the hard switching method may decrease the efficiency of the UEP will be explained in the following examples. First, an example with no decrease of the UEP efficiency due to the hard switching method is provided, then, an example with decrease of the UEP efficiency due to the hard switching method is provided, so as to aid the explanation of why the rate-compatible punctured code encoder 10 using the hard switching method may decrease its UEP efficiency.
Assuming the encoded data of the frame S1 is [1 0 1 1 1; 0 0 0 1 1] after being convolution encoded by the convolution encoder 101, and the corresponding puncturing table T1 is [0 0 1 1; 0 1 1 1]; the encoded data of the frame S2 is [1 0 1 1 1; 0 0 0 1 1] after being convolution encoded by the convolution encoder 101, and the corresponding puncturing table T2 is [0 0 1 1 1; 1 0 1 1 1]. Then, the convolution encoder 101 encodes the frames S1 and S2, and generates the ecoded data C_parent=[1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1; 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1]. The puncturing unit 102 starts to puncture the encoded data C_parent according to the start position of the puncturing table T1 until puncturing of the data located at 0˜4 columns of the encoded data C_parent is completed. Next, the puncturing unit 102 starts to puncture the data located at 5˜9 columns of the encoded data C_parent according to the start position of the puncturing table T2 until puncturing of the data located at 5˜9 columns of the encoded data C_parent is completed. Finally, the puncturing unit 102 generates the punctured encoded data C_child=[x x x 11 x x 1 1 1; 0 x 0 1 1 0 x 0 1 1]. Now the hamming weight of the punctured encoded data C_child is 9, and the aforementioned hamming weight is the number of the bit codes having a value "1" within the encoded data. Great changes of the hamming weight may cause a great increasing of the BERs. However, in the present example, there is no decrease of the UEP efficiency due to the hard switching method.
However, if assuming the encoded data of the frame S1 is [1 0 1; 0 0 0] after being convolution encoded by the convolution encoder 101, and the corresponding puncturing table T1 is [0 0 0 1 1; 1 0 1 1 1]; the encoded data of the frame S2 is [1 1 1 0 1 1 1; 1 1 0 0 0 1 1] after being convolution encoded by the convolution encoder 101, and the corresponding puncturing table T2 is [0 0 1 1 1; 1 0 1 1 1]. Then, the convolution encoder 101 encodes the frames S1 and S2, and generates the encoded data C_parent=[1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1; 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1]. Next, the puncturing unit 102 starts to puncture the data located at 0˜2 columns of the encoded data C_parent according to the start position of the puncturing table T1. Namely, the data located at 0˜2 columns of the encoded data C_parent are punctured according to the data located at 0˜2 columns of the puncturing table T1. Then, the puncturing unit 102 starts to puncture the data located at 3˜9 columns of the encoded data C_parent according to the start position of the puncturing table T2. However, the 3˜9 columns of the encoded data C_parent include more columns than that included in the puncturing table T2. Therefore, the puncturing process is also started according to the start position of the puncturing table T2, until the end position of the puncturing table T2. In this case, some bits of the encoded data C_parent will be left un-punctured. Then, the puncturing process is restarted according to the start position of the puncturing table T2 until puncturing of the C_parent is completed.
In other words, the puncturing unit 102 first punctures the data located at 3˜7 columns of the encoded data C_parent according to the data located at 0˜4 columns of the puncturing table T2. Then, the data located at 8˜9 columns of the encoded data C_parent are punctured according to the data located at 0˜1 columns of the puncturing table T2. Finally, the puncturing unit 102 generates the punctured encoded data C_child=[x x x x x 1 0 1 x x; 0 x 0 1 x 0 0 0 1 x]. However, in this case, the hamming weight of the punctured encoded data C_child is 4. Therefore, the efficiency of the encoder 10 using the hard switching method may be decreased due to variation of the hamming weight, and the UEP efficiency of the encoder 10 is decreased accordingly. Moreover, another undesirable phenomenon shown in this example is that the punctured bits are excessively concentrated, which may easily cause decoding errors of a decoder. In summary, the UEP efficiency of the encoder 10 using the hard switching method is decreased. Therefore, the encoder 10 using the hard switching method cannot satisfy the requirement of different BERs of the frames S1˜SW.
Therefore, based on the aforementioned description, the algorithm of the hard switching method may be represented by:
C_parenti,t is allowed for transmission as Ti,(t-tk)mod p(k)=1;
C_parenti,t is deleted from encoder outputs as Ti,(t-tk)mod p (k)=0;
for any t in the range between tk and tk′
Wherein tk represents the end position of a (k−1)-th puncturing table plus 1. Tij(k) represents the bit code located at i-th row and j-th column in a k-th puncturing table, and the number of the total columns of the k-th puncturing table is p. tk′ represents a k-th frame is ended on a tk′-th column of the C_parent. C_parenti,t represents the encoded data located at the i-th row and t-th colomn. If the bit code located at the i-th row and (t−tk mod p)-th column of the puncturing table is 1, data located at i-th row and t-th column of the encoded data C_parent can be transmitted. If the bit code located at the i-th row and (t-tk mod p)-th column of the puncturing table is 0, data located at i-th row and t-th column of the encoded data C_parent is punctured.
Though the encoder using the hard switching method may add a string of bit codes padded with zeros to each of the encoded data to avoid decrease of the UEP efficiency due to utilization of the hard switching method. However, adding of the string of the bit codes may decrease a transmission rate and a throughout rate of the system.
In summary, arrangement of the super frames of the conventional data multiplexing method for UEP has a shortage of excessive instant increasing or decreasing of the BERs of the frames between two adjacent super frames, which will cause unexpected errors in the system. Though a string of bit codes padded with zeros may be added to the tail of each of the super frames to meet the requirement of bit length of an input bit and avoid a mass of errors occurred in the UEP system due to utilization of the hard switching method, adding of the string of bit codes may also cause a waste of the system bandwidth and a decrease of the transmission rate. Moreover, application of the hard switching method by the puncturing unit of a conventional UEP system may greatly decrease the hamming weight of the punctured encoded data on the junction of the super frames, and cause a poor UEP effect. Though a string of bit codes padded with zeros may be added to each of the encoded data to increase the UEP efficiency, it may also cause a waste of the system bandwidth and a decrease of the transmission rate. Accordingly, the present invention provides a multiplexing method and apparatus thereof for data switching, such that the UEP efficiency can be improved, and waste of the system bandwidth can be avoided.

Multiplexing method and apparatus thereof for data switching

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An attachment device with which a sensor may be fixed to the outer periphery of a cylinder barrel of a fluid power operated drive cylinder. It comprises an attachment clamp, on which a holding face is provided for securing the sensor and cooperating with the peripheral face thereof. The holding face is formed by an undercut holding groove and provides also a working face against which a positioning element on the sensor may be engaged.

The invention relates to a device for the attachment of a sensor to the outer periphery of the cylinder barrel of a fluid power drive cylinder, comprising an attachment clamp made up of a clamping member adapted to at least partly fit around said cylinder barrel when said clamp is mounted thereon and of two bracing arms adjoining the ends of the clamping member and adapted to be acted upon by an associated bracing means, and holding face means for cooperation with a peripheral face of the sensor for securing same in position.


An automated apparatus that sterilizes and refills beverage containers with filtered water and any number of additives or ingredients such as nutrients, health supplements, caffeine, flavorings, vitamins, sweeteners, coloring agents, medicines, etc. The apparatus allows consumers, including home consumers, to produce, customize and “bottle” their own flavored and fortified filtered water.

The popularity of non-carbonated, non-alcoholic beverages, particularly flavored and fortified filtered water has been increasing steadily over the past few years. The demand for flavored and fortified filtered water together with brand name marketing has resulted in significant costs for flavored and fortified filtered water, the basic component of which is filtered or distilled water.
Concerns as to the purity and accuracy of the source of such water-based beverages have led to the finding that in some cases, exotic brand named varieties are nothing more than filtered municipal tap water.
The present invention is directed to an automated apparatus that conveniently refills containers with filtered water and any number of additives or ingredients such as nutrients, health supplements, caffeine, flavorings, vitamins, sweeteners, coloring agents, medicines, etc. This automated apparatus allows consumers, including home consumers, to produce, customize and "bottle" their own flavored and fortified filtered water.

Water purifier and cooler, bottle and cap cleaner, and water filler and nutrient mixer


A system for the determination of quantifies relating to the circulatory system of a patient including a device for the non-invasive measurement of the qualitative variation over time of the local concentration of an indicator injected into the blood circulation system at a first position, the measurement taking place at a second position of the blood circulation system. An evaluating unit is provided, in which there is implemented an evaluating algorithm which transforms the qualitative variation into a quantitative variation over time of the local concentration of the indicator injected into the blood circulation system. For the purposes of the transformation, the condition is fulfilled that the cardiac output COdye calculable from the quantitative variation over time of the local concentration in accordance with a predetermined relationship is equal to an input value of the cardiac output COe, which has been determined by thermodilution measurement.

The present invention relates to a system and also to a computer program for the determination of quantities relating to the circulatory system of a patient, and especially for determining the circulating volume of blood and quantities derived therefrom by means of pulse spectrophotometric methods.
A system suitable for determining the circulating volume of blood is known, inter alia, from German patent document DE 41 30 931 Al. This is based on the principle of pulse spectrophotometry. Following the injection of a dye-bolus into the blood circulation system of a patient, the variation in the concentration of dye with respect to time is measured optically. This can be effected invasively by means of a fibre optic catheter or non-invasively by means of a reflection or transmission measurement at a finger, earlobe etc. A circulation transport function is then determined and a circulation response pulse that would correspond to an ideal indicator injection at a time point t=0 is calculated therefrom. A virtual dye concentration at the time point t=0 is then calculated by backward extrapolation of the circulation response pulse. The circulating volume of blood is given by the quotient of the amount of dye injected and the virtual dye concentration at the time point t=0. In the case of an invasive measurement, use is made of a fibre optic catheter which is technically relatively complex and expensive and, in addition, the application thereof imposes further stress on the patient. In the case of a non-invasive measurement, the problem of lack of precision in the measurement arises as will be discussed hereinbelow.
For the purposes of determining a plurality of quantities relating to the circulatory system, inter alia, the volume of blood that is circulating and the cardiac output CO by means of pulse spectrophotometric methods, it is necessary for the variation in the absolute concentration of the dye injected into the circulation to be known as precisely as possible, a qualitative measure for the variation of dye concentration over time is not sufficient. However, since the optical behaviour of biological tissue is mainly determined by the scattering of light so that the Lambert-Beer's law is no longer applicable, absolute concentrations cannot be determined by means of a non-invasive spectrophotometric measurement. A set-up for solving this problem is known from EP 0 505 918, wherein the ratio of the concentration of the injected dye to the concentration of a reference dye in the form of the haemoglobin that is always uniformly present in the blood and absorbs to a maximum extent in a differing wavelength range is determined. To this end, the extinction at the respective absorption maxima is determined by means of measurements at two different wavelengths. The absolute concentration of the haemoglobin in a blood sample is measured in vitro. A calibration is thereby effected, but this does not represent an online-calibration due to the in vitro measurement.
Other conventional non-invasive pulse spectrophotometric systems for the measurement of the circulating volume of blood, such as the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,841, dispense with a calibration based on a blood sample and in vitro measurement of the haemoglobin concentration. However, the evaluating algorithms, which are based essentially on Lambert-Beer's law, cannot always ensure sufficient accuracy for the determined variations over time of the dye concentration and the quantities relating to the circulatory system derived therefrom due to the abovementioned scattering effects of biological tissue.

System and a computer program for the determination of quantities relating to the circulatory system of a patient


The invention relates to a deep-rolling roller head (1) of a deep-rolling tool for the deep rolling of radii or undercuts (22) on the main and stroke journals of crankshafts (21), with a housing (2) in which one or two deep-rolling rollers are tracked with little clearance and are loosely rotatable in a roller cage (5) at a lateral distance from each other. The roller cage (5) is attached to underside (3) of the housing (2) towards the crankshaft (21) by means of pins (15) which support the roller cage (5) on its face (10) away from the deep-rolling rollers (4) and at the same time track them laterally. The housing (2) is provided with a projection (11, 12) for the support of the roller cage (5) on either end of its underside (3) towards the crankshaft (21). Pins (15) serving as fastening and tracking elements of the roller cage (5) are provided and engage the roller cage (5).

Deep-rolling roller heads of this type are known e.g. from the following published documents:    1. EP 0 661 137 B1, FIG. 6,    2. EP 0 683 012 B1, FIG. 4,    3. EP 0 839 607 A1, FIG. 1    4. U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,167 FIG. 7 and    5. U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,184 FIG. 2a.
A deep-rolling roller head of this type is however also the object of an older German patent application DE 102 18 703.7 of Jul. 26, 2002 by the same applicant.
The known deep-rolling roller heads have in common that the roller cages are attached on the respective housings of the deep-rolling roller head by means of L-shaped holding devices. The roller cages can be brought into a predetermined position by means of the holding devices and can be fixed on the deep-rolling roller head. For this purpose the deep-rolling rollers are tracked loosely in a rotatable manner in their respective roller cages with little lateral clearance. This clearance amounts as a rule to approximately 0.2 mm. In addition, the deep-rolling rollers are to be offset by approximately 0.2 mm in the direction of the crankshaft relative to the center of the housing of the deep-rolling roller head around which a guide roller of the deep-rolling rollers on which the deep-rolling rollers are supported relative to the crankshaft rotates. In addition the deep-rolling rollers in the deep-rolling roller head also have a spread in the axial direction of a crankshaft.
The precise, i.e. predetermined position of the deep-rolling rollers in the deep-rolling roller head is determining for its serviceable life. Wear occurs in spite of precise adjustment and increases the clearance between the deep-rolling rollers and the roller cages in the course of the deep-rolling roller tool's utilization. From this it can be seen that the precise adjustment of the deep-rolling rollers in the deep-rolling roller head is of particular importance. The adjustment and also the resetting that follows when wear has occurred are performed in the deep-rolling roller heads known from the state of the art via the L-shaped holding devices of the roller cages. Under the best possible circumstances, setting gauges are available for this adjustment. It is also customary to have a person schooled in the art perform the adjustment manually. In that case it has been noted that the serviceable life of the deep-rolling rollers and of the roller cages are influenced substantially by the skill of the person schooled in the art making the adjustment. The adjusting of the deep-rolling rollers is furthermore a slow job, requiring much work time.
This leads to the object of the present invention, to improve a deep-rolling roller head in such manner, and in particular to simplify the configuration of the roller cage to such an extent that precise adjustment of the deep-rolling rollers becomes possible without any special skill or any great expenditure in work time. It should also be possible to equalize wear. At the same time the life of the deep-rolling rollers and of the roller cages as well as the quality of the deep-rolled product are to be improved. Finally the improvement should be easy and economical and also personnel with lesser practice should be able to realize it.

Hard-rolling roller head pertaining to a hard-rolling tool


A food seasoning quantitative dispenser includes a body, a supporter, a center rod, a cap unit and a base. The body has a chamber for storing seasoning, and a conical neck. The supporter has plural feet, an annular wall, a central tubular member and an outlet between the feet, and located under the conical neck. The center rod has two flanges, an annular groove between the flanges and a bottom hole for a spring to fit in. The cap unit has a cap body, a button and a stop disc. When the button is pressed down, the center rod is moved down to let the seasoning fall down through the open bottom of the body and received in the base closed on the bottom of the body. The fallen amount is definite for one time of pressing, so a user can adjust the amount by repeating pressing the button.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a food seasoning quantitative dispenser, particularly to one consisting of a body, a supporter, a rod, a cap unit and a base. The body has a hollow chamber for storing seasoning, a conical neck for combining with a supporter provided with plural feet and an outlet between the feet, and the support rod supported on the conical neck with a spring fitting in the bottom hole of the rod and the center tubular member of the supporter, and a cap unit closing the upper end of the body and composed of a cap body, a button and a stop disc. When the button is pressed down once, the seasoning in the annular groove of the rod falls down with a definite amount through the open bottom end of the body to be received on the base closing the open bottom of the body. Thus a user can adjust the amount of the seasoning to be taken out by repeating pressing the button.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Food material such as seasonings, coffer, creamer, sugar, or other very small particle or powder drinks are generally stored in a can 10, as shown in FIG. 1, with a cap 11 closing up the can 10. In using, a user takes off the cap 11 and uses a spoon 12 to scoop proper amount of the sugar in the can 10 and then pours in a hot coffee, black tea, etc. However, a user cannot take out just the proper amount for use, often either too much or too little than needed. Chances are that a user has to hold the can 1 with one hand and holds a spoon 12 with the other hand for scooping the material in the can, so the user may let the material on the spoon 12 fall down by accident, giving rise to some embarrassment. If worse, the can 10 may be overturned to let the content fall out on the ground to result in a mess.


A thermochromic level indicator for determining the level of a material inside a container includes a temperature responsive strip including at least two thermochromic materials of different opacities and transition temperatures, the thermochromic materials with greater opacity having relatively lower transition temperatures than the thermochromic materials with lesser opacities. Other accurate thermochromic level indicators are also disclosed.

It is often desirable to measure the volume or level of a material within a tank or other container without opening the container or weighing the container. One avenue of measuring the volume or level of the material within a container employs thermochromic materials which change from one color to another or from opaque to transparent or vice-versa at certain transition temperatures. Since the surface of the container will have a different rate of heat transfer at the surface areas adjacent the filled volume of the container as opposed to the surface areas adjacent the unfilled volume of the container, during periods of heating or cooling, a thermochromic material can reasonably indicate the level of material in the container.
One exemplary application of a thermochromic level indicator is on a propane tank, such as for a gas grill. In such an application, a strip of thermochromic material may be adhered to the outer surface of the propane tank. The strip is then heated above the transition temperature of the thermochromic material and allowed to cool. The portion of the strip adhered to the tank surface adjacent the liquid propane in the tank will tend to cool faster than that adhered to the tank adjacent the empty volume, since the propane will act as an improved heat sink over the empty volume. Consequently, the strip adjacent the volume of liquid propane will cool through its transition temperature and change from transparent to a color before the rest of the strip, thus permitting the level of liquid propane in the tank to be ascertained until the remaining portion of the strip also cools below its transition temperature. Since the rate of heat transfer changes abruptly at the interface of the filled and empty portions of the tank, the thermochromic layer will exhibit an abrupt color difference at the interface for a period of time sufficient to determine the liquid or more dense level in the tank.
It is desirable that the thermochromic strips change states with the addition of a relatively small amount of heat. However, the strips are thus often usable only over relatively narrow ranges of ambient temperatures.
Some of these level indicators are permanently adhered to the tank wall and thus suffer from an inability to be transferred from one tank to another. Other level indicators are adhered to a magnetic strip which can be temporarily affixed to the tank. However, the magnetic strip adds more thermal mass and thus tends to reduce the accuracy of the device.


A system and method is presented for database restoration in a distributed data system. The distributed data system has a first database on a first server which needs restoration. The first database is first restored with a predetermined full backup file, the full backup file being made at a first predetermined time. The first database is then restored with one or more incremental backup files, the incremental backup files being made since the first predetermined time and having the most recent backup file made at a second predetermined time. A transaction log documenting data transactions since the second predetermined time is then examined. One or more transactions listed in the transaction log after the second predetermined time are then executed since they are not included in the incremental backup files. To verify whether the restored first database has completed its restoration, a transitive vector of the first database is compared with a transitive vector of a second database on a second server of the distributed database system, wherein the second database and the restored first database are expected to be the same.

The present disclosure relates to object replication and, more particularly, to a system and method for restoring a database in a distributed database system.
In a distributed database system, databases on a database server are replicated and located on different servers in a distributed manner. Replication refers to a process by which data objects existing on a server are created on another server and made consistent with the originals. Various methods of replication have been proposed. One such proposal includes a store and forward method of replication in which each server keeps track of locally made changes to a particular copy of a data set (sometimes referred to as a "replica") which contains one or more data objects. Each server periodically broadcasts the new locally made changes (since the last replication broadcast) to all other related servers. Such locally made changes may include the creation of new data, modification of existing data, or deletion of existing data. The group of other servers also having a copy of the data set are kept on a "replica list." The changes are preferably broadcast in the form of updated copies of the changed data objects. This allows each server to update its local copy of the data set as changes are received by replacing the older data objects with the newer data objects.
As with any computer system, the distributed database system is vulnerable to data corruption or interruption which may leave the databases in disarray. The nature of the distributed database system is such that information may be stored on multiple servers located in multiple geographical locations. As such, data corruption on one server may affect the data integrity on multiple servers. Although it is extremely important to avoid data corruption, it is more important, when the corruption is unexpected or unavoidable, to remedy the consequence and minimize the damage caused by the data corruption by recovering the corrupted data in a complete and speedy fashion.
In the computer network, on top of the operating system layer, a cross-platform and scalable directory software system (or in short, "directory") is desirable and used for managing identities that span across the network. One example of such a directory is eDirectory provided by Novell, Inc. of Provo, Utah. Such a directory is very important for the operation of the computer network, and therefore the backup or restoration of this directory needs to be complete and in a timely fashion.
What is needed is an enhanced method and system to restore a corrupted database on a server in the distributed database system and ensure that the restored database is in synchronization with other databases of the distributed database system.

System and method for restoring a database in a distributed database system


An article and method of forming the article are disclosed. The article includes a substrate, an overlay bond coat deposited over the substrate and a topcoat deposited over the bond coat. The bond coat of the article includes a plasma affected region proximate to an interface between the bond coat and the topcoat, and the plasma affected region includes an elongated intergranular phase. The method of depositing includes adjusting the plasma spray conditions so as to form the plasma affected region proximate to an interface between the bond coat and the topcoat, and elongated intergranular phases in the plasma affected regions.

The present invention relates to processes for depositing protective coatings. More particularly, this invention relates to a process for forming an improved bond coat of a thermal barrier coating system.
The operating environment within a gas turbine engine is both thermally and chemically hostile. Significant advances in high temperature alloys have been achieved through the formulation of iron, nickel and cobalt-base superalloys, though components formed from such alloys often cannot withstand long service exposures if located in certain sections of a gas turbine engine, such as the turbine, combustor and augmentor. A common solution is to provide turbine, combustor and augmentor components with an environmental coating that inhibits oxidation and hot corrosion, or a thermal barrier coating (TBC) system that thermally insulates the component surface from its operating environment. TBC systems typically include a ceramic layer (TBC) adhered to the component with a metallic bond coat that also inhibits oxidation and hot corrosion of the component surface.
A bond coat is beneficial to the service life of the thermal barrier coating system in which it is employed, and is therefore also beneficial to the service life of the component protected by the coating system. During exposure to the oxidizing conditions within a gas turbine engine, bond coats inherently continue to oxidize over time at elevated temperatures, which gradually deplete aluminum from the bond coat and increases the thickness of the oxide scale. Eventually, the scale reaches a critical thickness that leads to spallation of the ceramic layer at the interface between the bond coat and the oxide scale. Once spallation has occurred, the component will deteriorate rapidly, and therefore must be refurbished or scrapped at considerable cost. In view of the above, there is a continuous need to improve the spallation resistance of such thermal barrier coatings through improvements in the bond coat.


An air flow manifold system for a production line calibration station. The air flow manifold system has a connector manifold connected to the production line calibration station, a vacuum source, a first manifold and a second manifold. The first and second manifolds connect the connector manifold to a vacuum source. The first and second manifolds each have a shut-off valve and a sonic nozzle controlling the mass air flow therethrough. The mass air flow through the first and second sonic nozzles are selected to have an optimal value for the calibrations to be conducted by the calibration station. An electrical controller sequentially activates the first and second valves sequentially supplying the specified mass air flow rates through the calibration station. Pressure and temperature sensors disposed upstream of the sonic nozzles permit an accurate determination of the mass air flow rates through the sonic nozzles.

In the production of mass air flow sensors, it is required to adjust the electrical power to the mass air flow sensor's heater so that it will operate at a specified temperature and to adjust the mass air flow sensor's response time to a step change in the mass air flow rate being detected by the mass air flow sensor. Both of these adjustments may be made at the same calibration station if the calibration station can be provided with two different calibrated mass air flow rates. In the use of these mass air flow sensors, the operating characteristic of the manufactured mass air flow sensor must be uniform within specified limits in order to avoid subsequent trimming or adjustments of either the output signal of the mass air flow sensor or the electronic fuel control of an internal combustion engine.
In order to achieve these objectives, the mass air flow calibration must be accurate and repeatable. The use of a critical flow or sonic nozzle to produce a calibrated mass air flow rate is well known in the art. Hicks et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,790 discloses the equation for determining the mass air flow rate through a critical flow or sonic nozzle used to calibrate a volumetric air flow meter on a high pressure pipe line. Evans et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,973 discloses a flowmeter calibration stand using a sonic nozzle to provide a calibrated air flow from a pressurized air source to the flowmeter being calibrated. A pressure regulator is used to maintain the pressure across the sonic nozzle at a fixed value.
The prior art does not recognize the need for production calibration of mass air flow sensors so that their operating parameters are substantially identical, nor the requirement for different calibrated air flow rates for trimming or adjusting different operating parameters of the mass air flow sensors during production.

Air flow manifold system for providing two different mass air flow rates to a mass air flow sensor production calibration station


A light receiving element includes a plurality of light receiving cells arranged in matrix each of which converts an incident light into an electric signal and has an anode electrode and a cathode electrode whose polarities are different from each other, first to fourth output terminals, first to fourth resistance units including a plurality of resistors each having one end connected to the anode electrodes of the light receiving cells corresponding to the first column, the last column, the first row and the last row in a matrix of the light receiving cells and the other end connected to the first to fourth output terminals, and a fifth resistance unit including a plurality of resistors which connect the anode electrodes of adjacent light receiving cells with each other, in which the cathode electrodes of the respective light receiving cells are connected to a common potential in the matrix.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light receiving element and, more particularly, a light receiving element for position detection, and a sensor and an electronic apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Light receiving elements for position detection are used for a sensor or the like which detects a position of an object to be measured that reflects a light or the like based on a position of incidence of the light or the like in a light receiving element.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 59-056774 (Patent Literature 1) discloses a position detection device having such a light receiving element as described in the following. More specifically, in a position detection device in which on one of the surfaces of a semiconductor substrate of a certain conductivity type, a resistance layer of an opposite conductivity type is provided, and a converted current generated by corpuscular rays or the like which enter the resistance layer is divided by the resistance layer and extracted from a plurality of electrodes to detect a position of incidence of the corpuscular rays or the like, the resistance layer is surrounded by four resistance lines formed of a circular arc so as to have a connection point of the resistance line located at each angle of a square or a rectangle, an arithmetical circuit is provided which extracts a current from the connection point of the resistance line and operates the extracted current to obtain an output related to the position of incidence of the corpuscular rays or the like, and a predetermined relationship is given between a sheet resistivity of the resistance layer and the resistance line formed of a circular arc.
In addition, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 61-108930 (Patent Literature 2) discloses a position detection device having such a light receiving element as described in the following. More specifically, in a position detection device in which on a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type, a resistance layer of a second conductivity type is formed and a current generated by corpuscular rays or the like which enter the semiconductor substrate is divisionally output from a plurality of electrodes provided on the periphery of the resistance layer, the corpuscular rays or the like are made to enter from the side of the semiconductor substrate opposite to the surface on which the resistance layer of the second conductivity type is formed, a layer of the first conductivity type whose thickness is small enough and whose concentration is high is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate which corresponds to the surface of incidence, the resistance layer is configured to be surrounded by four resistance lines formed of a circular arc so as to have a connection point of the resistance line located at each angle of a square or a rectangle such that a current is extracted from the connection point of the resistance line, and a predetermined relationship is given between a sheet resistivity of the resistance layer and the resistance line formed of a circular arc.
In the position detection devices having a light receiving element recited in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, however, in order to increase an S/N (Signal to Noise) ratio of a position signal indicative of a position of incidence of a light or the like in the light receiving element, that is, to increase an output current difference derived from a difference in a position of incidence of the light, a resistance layer whose sheet resistivity is extremely high should be formed. This is because when the sheet resistivity is low, variation in a sheet resistivity in each region of the resistance layer largely affects an output current to make accurate position detection difficult. Furthermore, in order to increase the S/N ratio of the position signal, a resistance layer whose sheet resistivity is highly uniform in the whole region of the semiconductor substrate should be formed.
Forming a resistance layer whose sheet resistivity is extremely high and making the sheet resistivity be uniform in the whole region of the semiconductor substrate is difficult in terms of a manufacturing process. In addition, although for increasing the sheet resistivity, an impurity concentration of the resistance layer should be decreased, decreasing the impurity concentration of the resistance layer will result in becoming liable to be affected by surface charges generated during the manufacturing process and surface charges generated according to environments of use. As a result, the sheet resistivity varies to cause characteristic variation, that is, variation in a sheet resistivity due to temperature and mobile ions or the like. The position detection devices having a light receiving element recited in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 therefore have a drawback of difficulty in increasing an S/N ratio of a position signal in terms of a manufacturing process.

Light receiving element for position detection having a plurality of resistance units and sensor and electronic apparatus having the same


An upper electrode used for a substrate processing apparatus using plasma is provided. The upper electrode includes a bottom surface including a center region and an edge region having a ring shape and surrounding the center region, a first protrusion portion protruding toward plasma from the edge region and having a ring shape, wherein the first protrusion portion includes a first apex corresponding to a radial local maximum point toward the plasma, and a first distance, which is a radial-direction distance between the first apex and a center axis of the upper electrode, is greater than a radius of a substrate.

Embodiments relate to an upper electrode and a substrate processing apparatus including the same, and more particularly, to an upper electrode for performing plasma treatment on a substrate and a substrate processing apparatus including the upper electrode.
Examples of a process of manufacturing semiconductor devices include a plasma process including a plasma-induced deposition process, a plasma etching process, and a plasma cleaning process. Recently, as the need for miniaturized and highly-integrated semiconductor devices increases, it is required to form a contact structure, having a high aspect ratio which is tens to hundreds times higher than a general aspect ratio, on a wafer. In a process of forming a structure having a high aspect ratio, a fine error of the plasma process may cause defects of each semiconductor product. Therefore, various researches are being continuously performed for accurately controlling a density distribution of plasma in plasma equipment to enhance the precision and reliability of the plasma process.

Upper electrode and substrate processing apparatus including the same


A mobile erectable stage. In one preferred embodiment, in a stored condition, the stage has the form of a trailer which can be transported from one location to another. At least one bell crank assembly is used to erect the stage by raising at least one side wall panel and the interconnected roof panel, so that a stage with a sloped roof canopy which overhangs the stage floor is deployed. The stage floor can be enlarged by adding floor panels. The stage contains a powered light truss which extends out beyond the stage floor toward the audience to shine light back onto the stage. Further, the stage contains reversible acoustic panels, one side of which is used when the stage performers are using microphones to deflect audio waves to reduce possible echoing through the microphones and the other side of which is used when the stage performers are not using sound amplification. In another preferred embodiment, the stage has support columns which are extendable upward so that the erected stage has an elevated canopy. An improved stabilizer arm assembly is also provided which allows the stage to be supported better and elevated higher.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile erectable stage and sound shell, which can be easily stored when not in use. In the preferred embodiment, in a stored condition, the stage has the form of a trailer which can be transported from one location to another. At least one bell crank assembly is used to erect the stage by raising at least one side wall panel and the interconnected roof panel, so that a stage with a sloped roof canopy which overhangs the stage floor is deployed. The stage floor can be enlarged by adding floor panels. The stage contains an adjustable powered light truss which extends out beyond the stage floor toward the audience to direct light back onto the stage. Further, the stage contains reversible acoustic panels, one side of which is used when the stage performers are using microphones to deflect audio waves to reduce possible echoing through the microphones and the other side of which is used when the stage performers are not using sound amplification.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
There are known portable, expandable, and erectable stages, or rooms in the prior art. Some, when in a storage position, take the form of a trailer which can be transported from location to location.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,997, to Mitchell, teaches an expansible trailer which opens into a classroom-type structure. First, hinged floor extension units are deployed. Then pie-shaped rocker arms are pivoted a desired amount to cause the roof panels to open to the desired position. Hingedly attached panels are then manually positioned to form the room.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,442, to Rau et al., teaches a portable performance platform wherein a pair of standards 40, 42 each include an upright post member 44 and an inwardly angled cantilever arm 46. Piston and cylinder assemblies 54, 56 permit a pair of walls 32, 28 to be raised from a stowed position to multiple open stage positions by means of articulated support arms 48 attached to each cantilever arm 46. Because of the cantilever configuration, arms 48 and piston assembly 54 must be on opposite sides of the pivot point of arm 46. Therefore, this reduces the useable height of stage rear wall 30, and results in employment of sloped roof edge panel 74.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,312, to Schwartz, teaches a wall paneling for altering the acoustic properties of a wall. A plurality of hinged frames contain pivotally attached wall elements, each of which have a front and a rear face. Each face can have a particular sound-absorbent or sound reflective coating. The frames can be swung away from the wall and the desired face selected.


A modular prosthesis includes a component having a superior surface and an inferior surface. An elongate aperture having a major axis and a minor axis is defined in the component and a bolt shank is insertable through the elongate aperture in the component to extend beyond the inferior surface thereof. Means are provided for selectably positioning the bolt at one of a number of selected points along the major axis of the elongate aperture. In an illustrated embodiment, the means for positioning the bolt includes more than one seat for a bolt head about the aperture. In another embodiment, the prosthesis includes an adapter having a first end defining a cavity for receiving the shank of the bolt extending from the inferior surface. The adapter includes teeth on the first end that are engagable with at least one or more teeth near the aperture in the component on its inferior surface to fix the cavity, and thus the bolt, at a selected point along the major axis of the aperture. Exemplary prostheses include femoral and tibial components.

Knee arthroplasty is a well-known surgical procedure wherein a diseased and/or damaged natural knee joint is replaced by a prosthetic knee joint. A typical knee prosthesis may include a tibial component, a femoral component, and a patellar component. The femoral component generally includes a femoral stem and a pair of spaced-apart condylar portions, the superior surfaces of which articulate with a portion of the tibial component. The femoral stem seats within the medullary canal of a resected femur. Similarly, the tibial component includes a stem implantable into a resected tibia, the stem being secured to a tibial plateau that faces the condylar portions of the femoral component.
As normal anatomical variations preclude the use of a standard size or type of any of the above components, modular prosthetic knees have been developed that allow for limited adaptation or exchange of one or more components to provide a customized prosthesis. With respect to the femoral component, for example, it is known to provide a selection of variously angled and sized femoral stems that are attachable to the remainder of the femoral component with a screw. In practice, the femoral stem is rotated with respect to the femoral component and screw until the femoral stem is tightly bound against a surface of the femoral component and cannot be further rotated. Such a configuration is generally acceptable for a cylindrical, nonangled femoral stem because the radial position at which the femoral stem binds has no effect on the orientation of the femoral stem.
By contrast with a cylindrical femoral stem, a femoral stem having a flattened portion that must be inserted into the medullary canal at a particular orientation or a femoral stem that must be laterally angled with respect to the remainder of the femoral component, the radial stopping point or positioning of the femoral stem is critical. However, it is quite difficult to screw the femoral stem in place and ensure that the femoral stem binds against the femoral component at a predetermined radial point. Additionally, a wide selection of relatively expensive femoral stems must be stocked.
In addition to lateral offset, the size, shape, or condition of a patient's femur sometimes requires that the femoral stem be offset from a central location in either an anterior or posterior direction. Flexible or easily adjusted anterior-posterior offset is not provided by known prostheses. Similar considerations and problems apply to the tibial component.


A method for of performing a medical procedure on a patient suffering from a movement disorder. The method comprises delivering electrical current having a defined pulse rate equal to or greater than 1500 Hz and/or a defined pulse duration equal to or less than 200 μs to spinal cord tissue of the patient in a manner that modulates neuronal traffic in at least one dorsal column (DC) nerve fiber of the patient, thereby treating symptoms of the movement disorder without causing the patient to perceive paresthesia from the delivered electrical current.

Parkinson's disease affects between 1.0-1.5 million Americans, which is greater than the number of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and Lou Gehrig's disease combined. Each year, 50,000 American are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. For some, the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease are difficult to control even with dopaminergic treatments. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) has been applied therapeutically for well over a decade for the treatment of neurological disorders, including Parkinson's Disease, via electrical stimulation of one or more target sites, including the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and internal segment of globus pallidus (GPi). DBS has become a prominent treatment option for many disorders, because it is a safe, reversible alternative to lesioning. For example, DBS is the most frequently performed surgical disorder for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease. There have been approximately 30,000 patients world-wide that have undergone DBS surgery.
However, DBS needs a long, complex and invasive surgery to succeed. For example, multiple stimulation leads are typically implanted adjacent the target sites within the brain of the patient. In particular, multiple burr holes are cut through the patient's cranium as not to damage the brain tissue below, a large stereotactic targeting apparatus is mounted to the patient's cranium, and a cannula is scrupulously positioned through each burr hole one at a time towards each target site in the brain. Microelectrode recordings may typically be made to determine if each trajectory passes through the desired part of the brain, and if so, the stimulation leads are then introduced through the cannula, through the burr holes, and along the trajectories into the parenchyma of the brain, such that the electrodes located on the lead are strategically placed at the target sites in the brain of the patient. Disadvantageously, the cutting of multiple burr holes and the introduction of the leads along multiple trajectories into the brain increases trauma and risk to the patient. Additionally, the selection criteria restrict the patient population eligible for DBS to only 1.6-4.5% (see Morgante L., et al, How Many Parkinsonian Patients are Suitable Candidates for Deep Brain Stimulation of Subthalamic Nucleus. Results of a Questionaire, Parkinsonian Related Disorders, 2007; 13:528-531). Further details discussing the treatment of diseases using DBS are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,845,267 and 6,950,707, which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
There is, thus, a need to develop less invasive efficacious treatments for patients with Parkinson's disease. Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) techniques, which is currently used in treating chronic neuropathic pain of the trunk and limbs by directly stimulating spinal cord tissue (e.g., the dorsal column) via one or more leads implanted within the epidural space, is a promising option for patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. It is believed that symptoms of motor disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, may be the result of control issues driven by sensory input. A patient with a motor disorder may have a healthy motor cortex, but the input to the motor cortex may be inappropriate. An imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory input into the motor cortex may result in motor disorder symptoms. Sensory input travels to the motor cortex via sensory nerves in the dorsal column. Thus, in an effort to restore balance between the excitatory and inhibitory inputs into the motor cortex, it is believe that stimulation applied to the dorsal column of the spinal cord in conventional SCS treatments may effectively treat motor disorders. Such dorsal column stimulation for treating symptoms of motor disorders has not yet found widespread use, however, because long-term efficacy in a large number of patients has not been demonstrated.
However, some have reported improvement of motor control using SCS in animal models and in humans. For example, using chronic and advanced Parkinson's disease rodent models, it has been shown that epidural electrical stimulation of the dorsal column was able to restore locomotive ability (see Romulo Fuentes, et al., Restoration of Locomotive Function in Parkinson's Disease by Spinal Cord Stimulation: Mechanistic Approach, Eur J Neurosci, 2010 October; 32(7): 1100-1108). A case study where SCS at the T9-T10 vertebral levels has been shown to alleviate motor Parkinsonian symptoms in the off-drug condition to the same extent as levodopa intake alone (see Fenelon G., Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Pain Improved Motor Function in a Patient with Parkinson's Disease, Parkinsonian and Related Disorders 18 (2012) 213-214). Others have published that SCS can be used to treat movement disorders (see U.S. Patent Publications 2007/0060954, 2010/0023103, and 2012/0330391.
Thus, since SCS is a minimally-invasive approach, SCS techniques for effectively managing symptoms of motor disorders remain attractive in comparison to brain stimulation-based methods, such DBS. In order to achieve an effective result from conventional SCS, the stimulation lead or leads must be placed in a location, such that the delivered stimulation energy creates an electrical field, which when strong enough, depolarizes (or "stimulates") the neural fibers within the spinal cord beyond a threshold level, thereby inducing the firing of action potentials (APs) that propagate along the neural fibers to provide the desired efficacious therapy to the patient. It is believed that the antidromic activation (i.e., the APs propagate in a direction opposite to their normal direction, which in the case of the spinal cord dorsal column (DC) neural fibers, propagate in the caudal direction) of the large diameter DC neural fibers provides the actual pain relief to the patient by reducing/blocking transmission of smaller diameter pain fibers via interneuronal interaction in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, while the orthodromic activation (i.e., the APs propagate in their normal direction, which in the case of the spinal cord, propagate in the rostral direction) of the large diameter DC neural fibers generate action potentials that arrive at the thalamus and are relayed to the sensory cortex, thereby creating a side-effect in the form of a sensation known as paresthesia, which can be characterized as a tingling sensation that replaces the pain signals sensed by the patient. The paresthesia induced by the stimulation and perceived by the patient should be located in approximately the same place in the patient's body afflicted by the motor disorder.
Although alternative or artifactual sensations are usually tolerated relative to the sensation of pain, patients sometimes report these sensations to be uncomfortable, and therefore, they can be considered an adverse side-effect to SCS therapy in some cases. There, thus, remains a need to treat movement disorders using SCS therapy while preventing patients from perceiving paresthesia.

System and method for spinal cord modulation to treat motor disorder without paresthesia

Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation


A system provides haptic surround functionality. The system determines a location of a virtual event in a virtual environment. The system also determines a location of a first virtual body area of a virtual user in the virtual environment based on a location of a first body area of a user, where the first body area corresponds to the first virtual body area. The system then determines a first haptic effect based on the virtual event, the location of the virtual event in the virtual environment, and the location of the first virtual body area of the virtual user in the virtual environment. The system outputs the first haptic effect by a first haptic output device to the first body area of the user.

"Haptics" relates to a tactile and force feedback technology that takes advantage of the sense of touch of a user by applying haptic feedback effects (i.e., "haptic effects"), such as forces, vibrations, and motions, to the user. Devices, such as mobile devices, touchscreen devices, and personal computers, can be configured to generate haptic effects. In general, calls to embedded hardware capable of generating haptic effects (such as actuators) can be programmed within an operating system ("OS") of the device. These calls specify which haptic effect to play. For example, when a user interacts with the device using, for example, a button, touchscreen, lever, joystick, wheel, or some other control, the OS of the device can send a play command through control circuitry to the embedded hardware. The embedded hardware then produces the appropriate haptic effect.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A novel tetracyclic cyclohexylcyclohexene derivatives represented by formula: ##STR1## wherein ##STR2## n, X and Y are as defined in the specifications, are disclosed. The compounds are useful as electroptic display materials.

The present invention relates to novel cyclohexylcyclohexene derivatives that are useful as electrooptic display materials.
Typical examples of liquid-crystal display cells include the dynamic scattering mode cell proposed by G. H. Heilmeier et al. in Appl. Phys. Letters, 13, 46 (1968), the field-effect mode cell proposed by M. Schadt et al. in Appl. Phys. Letters, 18, 127 (1971), and the quest-host mode cell proposed by G. H. Heilmeier et al. in Appl. Phys. Letters, 13, 91 (1968).
While various characteristics are required of liquid-crystal materials used in these liquid-crystal display cells, the most important one which must be shared by all display cells is that they have a nematic phase over a broad range of temperatures including room temperature. Many of the practically feasible liquid-crystal materials satisfying this requirement are usually prepared by mixing several or more components including a compound having a nematic phase at a temperature in the vicinity of room temperature and a compound having the nematic phase in the temperature range higher than room temperature. Many of such mixed liquid crystals commercially used today are at least required to have a nematic phase over the entire range of temperatures from -30.degree. C. to +65.degree. C. With the recent expansion in the fields of applications of liquid-crystal display cells, a need has arisen for the development of liquid-crystal materials in which the temperature range for the appearance of a nematic phase is extended to even higher levels. More recently, it has become necessary to develop a nematic liquid-crystal compound having a high N-I point, that is, temperature at which a transition occurs from nematic to isotropic liquid phase or vice versa.
To meet these needs, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,422,951, 4,439,340 and 4,536,321, as well as European Patents 62,470 and 119,756 have proposed compounds such as 4-[4'(4"-substituted cyclohexyl)-cyclohexyl] substituted benzene that have N-I points around 200.degree. C. Liquid-crystal compounds having a nematic phase in an even higher temperature range are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,472,293 and 4,477,369, as well as European Patents 84,974 and 99,099; the compounds proposed in these patents include 4,4'-bis(4-substituted phenyl)-bicyclohexane, 4-substitutedz-{4'-[4"-(4"-alkylcyclohexyl)cyclohexyl]cyclohexyl}-benzene, 4-alkyl-4"-(4-halogenophenyl)-octadecahydro-p-terphenyl and 4-alkyl-4"(3,4-difuorophenyl) octadecahydro-p-terphenyl and have N-I points around 300.degree. C.
However, the compounds proposed in these prior patents suffer from the disadvantage that their C-N point (temperature at which a transition occurs from crystalline to nematic phase or vice versa) or S-N point (temperature at which a transition occurs from smectic to nematic phase or vice versa), which are the lower limits of the temperature range where a nematic phase occurs, are high.
If these compounds having high C-N or S-N points are added to nematic mixed liquid crystals which are commonly used in practice as host liquid crystals with a view to enhancing their N-I points, a crystalline or smectic phase will appear in the low-temperature range.


A thickness estimating apparatus includes a transfer robot, a light source, a camera, a memory and a controller. The memory stores a thickness predicting model generated based on a data set including a thickness of at least one of a test wafer corresponding to the wafer or a test element layer formed on the test wafer, and the thickness predicting model being trained to minimize a loss function of the data set. The controller applies pixel data, which is acquired from at least one pixel selected from a plurality of pixels included in a captured image, to the thickness predicting model, to predict a thickness of at least one of the wafer or an element layer formed on the wafer in a position corresponding to a position of the selected pixel.

Example embodiments consistent with the present disclosure relate to a wafer inspection apparatus and a wafer inspection method.
A semiconductor production line may include process chambers for performing various semiconductor processes, and a chemical/mechanical polishing (CMP) process, a deposition process, an etching process, or the like may be performed in the process chambers. When the semiconductor process is completed in each of the process chambers, an inspection process for determining whether the semiconductor process has been correctly performed may be performed. In general, the inspection process may be carried out by transferring a wafer in which the semiconductor process is completed to an Optical Critical Dimension Integrated Metrology (OCD IM) facility or the like for measuring a thickness of the wafer. In this way, since a separate period of time and space may be required to proceed with the inspection process, productivity may decrease and costs may increase.


A baler for compacting fibrous materials or other compactable materials having a platen operable by two compression devices. One compression device is at least one hydraulic cylinder with a piston rod attached to the platen which performs compaction. The other compression device is at least one hydraulic cylinder with a piston rod which is attached to the platen and performs tramping. The apparatus provides rapid tramping before compaction by the selective activation of only the second compression device. Both cylinders function through a common hydraulic fluid reservoir and solenoid valve.

Fibers balers are necessary for the reason that all types of fibers exhibit very low apparent densities unless they are compacted and constrained. This compaction allows more efficient storage and shipping of the fiber, since the compacted form of the fiber takes up less volume, requires less warehouse space, and fewer containers or vehicles to transport. Other materials besides fiber also exist naturally in a low density form and share in the need for compaction and constraint for the same reasons as fiber. Such materials include paper, cardboard, wood shavings, refuse and metal shavings, just to name a few. The art of baling is well known and many different types of balers exist today. These balers all share some common features. They have one or more compaction boxes for the material to be baled, a hydraulic ram to provide the compaction energy, and a platen to provide the uniform pressure across the entire cross section of the bale. Additionally, they provide some means for allowing bands, straps or wires to be employed and secured around the bales after the material has been sufficiently compacted, but before the pressure is released from the bale.
Using existing art, if the baler has only one compaction box and no precompaction device, the output of the baler is relatively low. The reason for this is that the platen is connected to a hydraulic ram, and the rate at which the hydraulic ram can move is proportional to the volumetric output of the hydraulic pump which powers the ram. The primary purpose of this hydraulic pump is, of course, to provide high pressure to move the platen just far enough during the final compaction cycle that the bale is compacted to the desired density. In single compaction box with no precompaction equipment though, a secondary purpose of this hydraulic pump is to provide the energy and pressure necessary to accomplish, in several steps, precompaction of successive charges of fiber or material to an intermediate density allowing the box to be filled before the final compaction occurs. Each one of these compaction steps is slow because the ram moves only at a rate determined by the volumetric capacity of the hydraulic pump. Not only is each of the compaction steps slow, but the retraction of the ram is slow as well, because it too, is determined by the volumetric capacity of the hydraulic pump. Single box balers without trampers usually, but not always, have the compression box in a horizontal orientation.
To increase the output associated with a single hydraulic system, and associated single ram, single platen, and single compaction box, the known art of baling has come to include a variety of different types of precompaction devices. These precompaction devices, often known as trampers, are typically used on fiber and consist of metal boxes with some type of tramper foot. Because of the much greater volume of material handled, the tramping step is usually more time consuming, per pound of material handed, than the final compaction step, so several precompacting devices are often used to feed multiple high pressure boxes. Once loaded, however, the boxes are moved under a single platen and hydraulic ram for the final compaction step. In this manner, the most costly components of the baler are kept in more continuous use, and are therefore used to better effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,206 to Miles et al discloses a compacting apparatus having a compression chamber defined by side plates and first and second movable end platens, a long stroke small diameter hydraulic piston pushes the first end platen against a charge toward the second end plate, partially compressing the charge. The first end platen is then latched in a fixed position while the second end platen by the short-stroke large diameter hydraulic piston applies a further compressive stroke. The fully compressed charge is pushed out of the compression chamber bound loosely while fully compressed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,190 to Tezuka discloses a device having four hydraulic cylinders for compacting trash and garbage to remove liquid. There are additional cylinders for actuation of gates and wrapping equipment.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,384,007; 3,621,775; 4,953,458 and 5,325,770 are typical of prior art compaction devices. However, none of the patents show the use of primary and a secondary hydraulic cylinders to move a platen to accomplish both tramping and final compaction.


In one embodiment, a multi-layer inductor is formed overlying a semiconductor substrate.

The present invention relates, in general, to electronics, and more particularly, to methods of forming semiconductor devices and structure.
In the past, the semiconductor industry utilized various methods and structures to integrate filters onto monolithic semiconductor devices. Typically such filters were limited to simple pi-type filters that included resistive and capacitive elements or in some cases inductive and passive elements. One example of a pi-type filter was the NUF6106 sold by ON Semiconductor of 5005 East McDowell Road, Phoenix Ariz. The pi-type filters often did not provide sufficient attenuation above the cut-off frequency of the filter. The filters that included inductors typically were pi-type filters with a series inductor coupled in series with the pi-type filter. One example of such a filter is disclosed in U.S. patent application publication number U.S. 2003/0228848. Inductive filters typically had excessive loss at frequencies above the cut-off frequency of the filter (typically referred to as insertion loss), and often had undesirable group delay distortion.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a filter integrated onto a monolithic semiconductor device that as low group delay distortion, low insertion loss below the cut-off frequency, and high loss above the cut-off frequency.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements in the figures are not necessarily to scale, and the same reference numbers in different figures denote the same elements. Additionally, descriptions and details of well-known steps and elements are omitted for simplicity of the description. As used herein current carrying electrode means an element of a device that carries current through the device such as a source or a drain of an MOS transistor or an emitter or a collector of a bipolar transistor or a cathode or anode of a diode, and a control electrode means an element of the device that controls current through the device such as a gate of an MOS transistor or a base of a bipolar transistor. Although the devices are explained herein as certain N-channel or P-Channel devices, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that complementary devices are also possible in accordance with the present invention. For clarity of the drawings, doped regions of device structures are illustrated as having generally straight line edges and precise angular corners. However, those skilled in the art understand that due to the diffusion and activation of dopants the edges of doped regions are generally not straight lines and the corners are not precise angles.

Integrated semiconductor inductor and method therefor

Semiconductor Components Industries, L.L.C.


The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for updating asset ownership for telematics-enabled machinery. In some embodiments, the updating asset ownership system comprises asset entities that transmit telemetry data. A communication interface of the updating asset ownership system can receive the telemetry data. An asset ownership data store of the updating asset ownership system can be configured to store asset owner data that identify designated owners associated with the asset entities. An asset ownership comparator of the updating asset ownership system can process the received telemetry data. Based on the processing, the asset ownership comparator can update designated owners of asset entities stored in the asset ownership data store.

Platforms that store data related to assets and their ownership often suffer from a lack of good quality data and the ability to evaluate the data for potential errors. The data often lacks completeness, conformity, consistency, accuracy, and integrity. As a result, one crucial data issue that has a major impact is missing or incorrect asset owner information. Some assets may be in use for decades and change hands a number of times, resulting in data records of asset resale being frequently missing, inaccurate, or unverified. Conventional tools or processes that store data related to assets and their ownership often fail to address these issues, and thus there is no definitive information on the asset ownership over the asset lifecycle. Furthermore, existing systems and methods lack ways to process and evaluate existing and incoming data from the assets themselves for determining asset ownership. The result is dubious ownership information being presented that can easily lead to expectations of showing correct asset ownership to not be met. Customers, dealers, and/or any entities who desire access to reliable and robust data related to assets and their ownership suffer from a poor experience, resulting in erosion of confidence in the underlying applications and data.
For example, Chinese Patent Application No. CN108985916A to Liu, (hereinafter "Liu") describes a vehicle digital asset management method and server. In particular, Liu discloses receiving vehicle digital asset registration requests, evaluating the vehicle's asset value, sending the asset value to a user for confirmation, and registering the vehicle when the confirmation is received. As a result, the ability to identify potentially problematic asset ownership information/data and to update such information/data is lacking from the methods described by Liu.
There is a need for systems and methods that can identify potentially problematic asset ownership data, evaluate that data, and perform reliable updates of asset ownership to correct for inaccuracies and missing information, all in an automated fashion. There is also a need for processes that can receive data from the assets themselves, such as enterprise and telemetry data, and use it in evaluating potentially inaccurate or missing asset ownership data. Many current system and methods lack the ability to perform updates of asset ownership using a single automated system storing vast amount of data. These systems and methods further lack the ability to incorporate feedback as to the accuracy of the updates performed. Additionally, there is a need for ways to perform such updates of asset ownership in a safe and secure way without privacy violations (e.g., displaying asset information that can be personal).
It is with respect to these and other general considerations that the aspects disclosed herein have been made. Also, although relatively specific problems may be discussed, it should be understood that the examples should not be limited to solving the specific problems identified in the background or elsewhere in the disclosure.

Updating asset ownership systems and methods


A vehicle seat including a thigh support, a leg rest, a foot rest and a control system which is adapted to monitor the respective positions of the leg rest and the foot rest. The control system will either move the foot rest to a position where it will not strike the floor during movement of the leg rest or prevent the foot rest from moving in such a manner that it will strike the floor. A control system which is adapted to adjust the back support and leg rest such that the seat is in either the sleep orientation or the upright orientation in response to the user's actuation of a single switch may also be used.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle seats and, more particularly, to vehicle seats having self-powered back supports, leg rests and foot rests.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle seats, such as those found on airplanes and trains, commonly include a substantially horizontal thigh and buttock support (hereinafter "thigh support") and a back support which pivots about an axis adjacent to the rearward portion of the thigh support. The back support may be reclined from an upright position, through any number of intermediate positions, to a substantially horizontal fully reclined position. Vehicle seats also commonly include leg rests which pivot about an axis adjacent to the forward portion of the thigh support. The leg rest may be pivoted from a substantially vertical storage position, through any number of intermediate use positions, to a substantially horizontal, fully extended use position. In the intermediate and fully extended use positions, the leg rest will provide support for the lower legs of an average sized passenger, from approximately the knee to the ankle. When a passenger is ready to sleep, the back support may be moved to the fully reclined position and the leg rest may be moved to the fully extended use position. Oriented in this manner, the seat will provide a comfortable sleeping surface.
More extravagant seats, such as those found in the first cabin (or first class) section of an airplane, also include a foot rest which is associated with the leg rest. Such foot rests are commonly movable from a retracted non-use position behind the leg rest, through any number of intermediate use positions, to a fully extended use position. In a use position, the foot rest effectively increases the length of the leg rest so that the leg rest will support the passenger's feet as well as his or her lower legs. There are a number of considerations which mitigate against simply employing a longer leg rest that will also support the feet. For example, not all passengers desire foot support. In addition, the length of the leg rest must be less than the distance between the pivot axis associated with the thigh support and the floor of the vehicle to which the seat is secured. A leg rest that is longer than this distance would not be able to pivot to its substantially vertical storage position because it would strike the floor before reaching that position.
Lumbar supports are another common luxury item associated with more extravagant seats. Such lumbar supports are typically capable of adjustment both up and down along the length of the back support and toward and away from the back support.
Many vehicle seats, including the more extravagant seats described above, also include self-powered electromechanical actuators which move the back support and leg rest, as well as the foot rest and lumbar support if included on the seat, to the orientation desired by the passenger. Such self-powered seats typically include a control panel having a variety of buttons, knobs or other similar implements associated with the movable portions of the seat. When, for example, a button corresponding to the back support is pressed, a switch will close and the back support will slowly recline until the button is released or the back support reaches its fully reclined orientation. Similarly, when another button corresponding to the back support is pressed, the back support will slowly incline until the switch is released or the back support reaches its fully upright orientation. The other movable portions of the seat are controlled in a similar manner.
There are, however, a number of disadvantages associated with the conventional vehicle seats described above. For example, passengers often return the leg rest to its storage position before returning the foot rest to its non-use position. As the combined length of the leg rest and extended foot rest is usually greater than the distance between the rotation axis associated with the forward portion of the thigh support and the floor of the vehicle, the foot rest will be forced into the floor before the leg rest reaches its storage position. The seats are often damaged as a result.
Another disadvantage associated with conventional vehicle seats has to do with the number of steps required to adjust the seat to the sleep position, where the back support is fully reclined, the leg rest is fully extended and the foot rest is extended, or to the fully upright position, where the back support is upright and the leg rest and foot rest are in their respective storage and non-use positions. The passenger must determine whether each movable portion of the seat is in the desired position and, if any are not, individually adjust those portions by finding and engaging the appropriate button or knob. This is obviously quite inconvenient.

Vehicle seat and system for controlling the same


Apparatus and methods for determining wafer characters are disclosed. In one example, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a processing tool configured to process a semiconductor wafer; a device configured to read an optical character disposed on the semiconductor wafer while the semiconductor wafer is located at the apparatus for wafer fabrication; and a controller configured to determine whether the optical character matches a predetermined character corresponding to the semiconductor wafer based on the optical character read in real-time at the apparatus.

Semiconductor integrated circuits wafers are produced by a plurality of processes in a wafer fabrication facility ("FAB"). To properly identify these wafers, identification marks must be suitably placed on the wafer such that the wafers can be readily identified throughout the fabrication processes. The fabrication processes may include as many as several hundred processing steps, e.g. thermal oxidation, diffusion, ion implantation, rapid thermal processing (RTP), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), epitaxy, etch, and photolithography, which are conducted at different processing stations by different wafer fabrication tools (i.e., "processing tools"). A reliable method of identification of these wafers by their lot numbers and/or wafer identification (ID) numbers is therefore very important not only from a production control point of view, but also for future tracking of the semiconductor devices that are built when a quality issue or discrepancy arises.
In existing methods, to check a wafer ID of a wafer being processed by a processing tool, the wafer needs to be transported to a different tool for determining whether there is a mismatch between the detected wafer ID and a predetermined wafer ID corresponding to this wafer and for generating a wafer mismatch alarm in response to a mismatch. This causes a long handling time, which often induces a wafer scrap when the time exceeds a threshold, e.g. a threshold related to an out of specification (OOS) event and/or a quench time (Q-time) over event. There is no effective method to solve the above mentioned problems.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


Systems, apparatus, and method of monitoring a position of a joint. An inertial monitoring unit is configured to be coupled to a portion of a patient, such as a thigh. Another inertial monitoring unit is configured to be attached to another portion of the patient, such as a shank, that is connected to the other portion by a joint, such as a knee. The inertial monitoring units detect motion of their respective portions of the patient and transmit data indicative of this motion. These transmissions may be received by a computer and used to determine an orientation of the joint. The inertial monitoring units may also be coupled to vibration detection units and/or ultrasound modules that provide additional data regarding a condition of the joint.

Body motion tracking has a wide range of applications extending from medicine to entertainment. For example, body motion tracking has become a popular method for interfacing with virtual reality systems. Personal communication devices, such as smart phones, may use motion tracking system to detect user interaction with the device. Within the field of biomedical engineering, data analysis of body motion is one component used for understanding kinematics and the kinetics of the human body. Once the kinematics of a patient are understood, this knowledge may be used to design prosthetics, implants, and diagnostic instruments. Known body motion tracking methodologies include capturing body motion by collecting data from bio-imaging units that use ionizing radiation to image the patient, and from motion tracking devices attached to the patient that capture motion directly. This data may then be analyzed to determine design parameters for the device in question.
Although normal human body motion is well studied, there remain gaps within this knowledge base with respect to correlating abnormal motions to clinical diagnosis. One of the obstacles to more extensive use of motion tracking using known methodologies is that conventional systems are bulky and not always available in hospital. These systems typically require specially-trained technicians, making day-to-day diagnostic use impractical. Systems that use ionizing radiation may also be undesirable due to potential adverse health effects resulting from exposure the radiation used to image the patient.
One type of motion tracking device is an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). IMUs are configured to detect motion based on the effects of acceleration on a sensor. Generally, an IMU includes multiple inertial measuring sensors, such as accelerometers and/or gyroscopes that allow the position of the IMU to be determined without an external reference. Conventional types of IMU systems vary in accuracy and size. For example, micro-machined micro-electro-mechanical system ("MEMS") based sensors coupled with integrated circuit technology have allowed IMUs to be miniaturized. However, the static accuracy of MEMS-based IMUs is limited to about 0.4 degrees in orientation and about 4 degrees under cyclic motion.
Thus, while conventional MEMS-based IMUs may have potential for biomedical implementations, the resolution/accuracy of MEMs-based IMUs remains relatively low. More specifically, currently, commercially-available IMU systems have pre-determined and limited operational dynamic range that is not tailored and optimized for human body motion tracking. Conventional IMU systems are thus not suitable for determining patient motion because they do not meet the resolution and dynamic range requirements, which vary depending on the activities being monitored.
As a result, there remains a need for improved motion tracking systems, apparatuses, and methods that are easy to use, highly accurate, and low in cost, with high mobility, and that avoid using radiation-based imaging technologies.

Motion tracking system with inertial-based sensing units