In case of the present invention, a microcomputer (271) controls a charging mode changeover switch (275) and connects the switch to a terminal (275d) to change the terminal (275d) to an initial charging mode power source (278). In this case, the microcomputer (271) requests the information on the charging capacity stored in a microcomputer (252) as charging information, the charging voltage measured by a voltage detector (258) and a standard charging capacity and obtains the information through a communication circuits (254) and (272). The microcomputer (271) obtains an actual charging capacity in accordance with a received measured charging voltage, compares the actual charging capacity with a stored charging capacity, and updates the actual charging capacity to zero when the comparison result is equal to or larger than a threshold value and the charging voltage is equal to or less than another threshold value. According to the present invention, a charging capacity is correctly corrected.

A so called charging/discharging technique is generally becoming popular in which power is supplied from such a power supplying apparatus as a battery charger to a charging/discharging apparatus represented by a battery pack used in a video camera or the like to charge the same.
As a recent battery pack, a battery pack of such a type where a microcomputer is incorporated therein and the charging capacity of the battery pack is memorized or stored in the computer has been provided for a practical use. In the battery pack of this type, the computer causes a built-in RAM (Random Access Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory) or the like to store data or information on the charging capacity of a battery pack now on use. When this battery pack is set to a video camera or a battery charger, the microcomputer reads out the stored information on the charging capacity to transmit the information to the video camera or the battery charger. On the other hand, the operation time or the charging time of the battery pack is calculated on the basis of this information and displayed in the video camera or the battery charger.
Regarding the power charged in a battery pack, however, it has been known that, even though the battery pack which has just charged had a charging capacity from which an allowable operation time of 120 minutes is calculated, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the battery pack is left in a non-use state for a long time, the battery pack gradually self-discharges. For example, when the charged battery pack is put in a non-use state for six months, the charging capacity of the battery pack stored in a memory is 120 minutes but its actual charging capacity is reduced to about 10% of the charging capacity stored in the memory.
In general, the allowable operation time of a battery pack has a relationship with the charging voltage of the battery pack shown in FIG. 2. That is, in case of the charging capacity of a battery pack which can drive a video camera for 120 minutes at maximum, for example, indication of about 8.4V shows a full charged state (100% charged state), and a time display of 120 minutes is performed as the allowable operation time. Then, the charging voltage and the allowable operation time decreases as an operating time elapses. Here, a pre-end voltage Vpre (Voltage Pre-end) (for example, 6.7 V) in FIG. 2 is a voltage value indicating that only a short allowable operation time is left. That is, when the allowable operation time becomes zero, there may occurs a problem that a saving operation can not be performed safely during execution of various processing. Under such circumstances, the pre-end voltage Vpre is set for warning a user in a state the allowable operation time is still left before the charging voltage reaches an end voltage Ve (Voltage end) (for example, 6.5V: a voltage at which a video camera or the like can not be driven) in order to prompt the user to perform a saving operation safely.
However, when the battery pack fully charged is kept in a non-operation state for a long time, the relationship between the charging time and the allowable operation time varies due to self-discharging of the battery pack, for example, as shown in FIG. 3. That is, since the charging voltage is changed to a lowered state (the charging capacity is reduced) due to the self-discharging, which results in reduction in actual allowable operation time. Even in this state, however, since the allowable operation time at a full charged state has been stored in the RAM, there is a problem that, though an actual allowable operation time is 30 minutes or so, the allowable operation time indication displays about 80 minutes, which causes an error. Incidentally, the allowable charging capacity has been actually stored in the RAM, and the allowable operation time is computed in the battery charger or the like on the basis of the allowable charging capacity to be displayed.
Also, as a method for detecting a self-discharge of a battery pack in case that the battery pack is left for a long time without using the same, there is a method where the state of a battery pack while it is not operated is monitored by a microcomputer in the battery pack and a self-discharged amount corresponding to the monitored state is reduced from the original charged state so that an error in an allowable operation time display of the battery is corrected. At this time, a power source for driving the microcomputer in the battery pack uses the power of the battery pack.
However, in case that the self-discharged amount due to the long term non-use is detected by the microcomputer in the battery pack, there occurs a case that a power more than that discharged due to the self-discharging of the battery pack is consumed for driving the microcomputer, and therefore a problem occurs that a non-use time of the battery pack must be significantly reduced.
Furthermore, there is a problem that an over-discharged state occurs in that the voltage of the battery pack is discharged below a voltage level required for maintaining functions of the battery pack, which injures a safety or a reliability of the battery pack.
As set forth above, it is considered to be desirable that the microcomputer in the battery pack is controlled to a non-operation state (microcomputer sleep) in a state that the battery pack is not used (a state that charging and discharging are not conducted).
The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and an object thereof is to perform correction such that an allowable operation time of a battery pack can be displayed accurately.

Charging/discharging apparatus and method, power supplying apparatus and method, program storing medium, and program


A method and system for selective activation of a vehicle near field communication (NFC) module. The vehicle NFC module may be part of a vehicle communication and access system capable of initiating various vehicle functions, such as unlocking one or more doors of the vehicle or starting a motor or engine of the vehicle. With the method and system, a user's mobile device can be used in lieu of a key or a key fob. In situations where the battery power level of the user's mobile device is low, such that Bluetooth or the generation of an active NFC signal is unavailable, the vehicle NFC module is maintained in an active mode. In the active mode, the vehicle NFC module can initiate a connection with a passive mobile NFC target. Otherwise, depending on the battery level of the user's mobile device, the vehicle NFC module is maintained in a standard sleep mode to save power.

With certain vehicle communication and access systems, such as Passive Keyless Entry (PKE) systems or Passive Entry Sleep Start (PEPS) systems, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is oftentimes used to gain access to the vehicle or various vehicle functionalities with a user's mobile device. However, if the battery of the mobile device dies, a backup may be needed if the user is without a key or a key fob. Accordingly, a vehicle NFC module may be used as an active initiator and a mobile NFC device may be used as a passive target in situations when the use of BLE, a key, or a key fob is unavailable or undesirable. However, it is preferable to keep the vehicle NFC module in a sleep mode to conserve vehicle power. The system and method described herein address dynamic controlled selective activation of the vehicle NFC module such that it is only in an active mode during times when the battery level of the mobile device is at or below a threshold battery level.

Method and system for selectively activating a vehicle near field communication module


A device for protecting threaded shafts and nuts against corrosion. The device covers and protects a nut and the exposed portion of a threaded shaft from corrosion found in harsh environments by holding grease in place over the nut and shaft.

This invention relates to the field of fastenings made by nuts and threaded shafts. More specifically, the invention comprises a device which covers and protects a nut and exposed portion of a threaded shaft from corrosion found in harsh environmentsxe2x80x94such as saltwater immersion. The device substantially inhibits rusting of the nut itself and the exposed portion of the threaded shaft extending beyond the nut, allowing the nut to be easily removed even after it has been left in place for some time.
Lug nut protective device are well known in the prior art. Many of these protective devices are theft deterrents. One such invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,146 to Wharton (1985). The Wharton patent discloses a wheel nut cover having threads which strip upon tightening to create a tamper-resistant assembly. A similar device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,224 to Wharton (1988). The ""224 device includes a protective shroud which fractures upon tightening, creating a similar tamper-resistant assembly.
A device having similar objectives is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,305 to McCauley (1989). The McCauley device actually substitutes a different type of lug nut for the standard type found on most automobile and trailer wheels. The lug nut has an internal cavity in a special shape configured to receive a special type of removing tool. Without the tool, it is very difficult to remove the lug nut.
A simpler type of device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,967 to Rosenbaum (1990). The Rosenbaum device is not primarily concerned with theft deterrence. Instead, its focus is to protect the lug stud and lug nut from corrosion. It attempts to accomplish this via covering the lug bolt""s exposed surfaces (although the Rosenbaum disclosure illustrates a lug bolt, it appears to be equally applicable to the more common arrangement of a lug stud and lug nut). While somewhat effective for warding off salt sprays and other corrosive environments, the ""967 device provides no positive seal to prevent water leaking into the cover upon immersion. As will be explained subsequently, water immersion is a significant concern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,070 (1995) discloses a domed plastic lug nut cover. Its stated purpose is to allow the securing of a wheel cover (xe2x80x9chub capxe2x80x9d) to a wheel without removing the lug nuts. The device actually threads onto the exposed portion of a lug stud. Of course, since many lug studs do not have threads extending past the lug nut, the ""070 device will not work in many applications. In addition, like the Rosenbaum device, the ""070 device has no positive seal to prevent water leaking into the cover upon immersion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,532 to Huang (1998) discloses another domed plastic lug nut cover. This particular device uses pliable spring clips to secure itself to a lug nut. While potentially effective for one size of lug nut, different size clips would be required to accommodate the wide variety of lug nuts presently on the market. In addition, the Huang device also lacks any type of positive seal to prevent water penetration.
Another domed plastic cover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,818 to Bias (1999). This device uses the pliable nature of the material itself to frictionally engage and hold itself to the hexagonal side walls of a lug nut. Obviously, the device must be sized to fit a particular lug nut, raising the same concerns as seen for the Huang device. It also lacks any type of water seal.
The lack of a water seal is a significant concern, especially where the device is to be used on boat trailer lug nuts. The lug nuts on boat trailers are always immersed completely in water when launching and retrieving a boat. If water is able to invade a protective lug nut covering, it will often remain trapped there for several hours. This phenomenon causes significant corrosion, especially when the lug nut has been immersed in salt water.
In addition, the protection of a nut locked on a threaded shaft obviously has applications far beyond the automotive industry. Many coastal installations have nuts and threaded shafts exposed to a salt air environment. These typically become rusted and inoperable in a matter of months. Accordingly, the protection of a nut locked on a threaded shaft is a desirable objective.
The known devices for accomplishing this goal are limited in that they:
1. Must be particularly adapted to fit a specific nut;
2. Must be able to thread onto an exposed portion of the threaded shaft;
3. Require the use of springs or specialized tools to lock them in place; and
4. Do not effectively protect against corrosion, especially following water immersion.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are to provide a protective nut cover which:
1. Will accommodate a wide variety of nuts and shafts;
2. Does not require an exposed portion of thread to be held in place;
3. Does not require the use of springs or specialized tools to be locked in place; and
4. Effectively protects against corrosion, especially following water immersion.


A method is provided for real-time data processing based on data sets or data sets defined by applicable rules or user-defined logic. Also provided is a real-time data processing system that implements such method. Transaction boundaries are set and propagated through cascades of multiple data transformations on multitudes of data records or rows. The method may be implemented in conjunction with a relational database management system (DBMS), object DBMS, or any other DBMS. The method and system for real-time data processing may be advantageously applied in Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), and Enterprise Information Integration (EII).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to data processing and database management. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to real time data processing in a database management system (DBMS) and particularly in Extract, Transformation, and Load (ETL), enterprise application integration (EAI), and enterprise information integration (EII). More specifically, the present disclosure provides set-oriented data transformation based on transaction boundaries.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of data processing operations associated with a DBMS or through ETL are batch-oriented. The batch-mode processing is performed after all data records in a data source are read and the output is produced only after the entire batch of data records is processed. The batch-mode transformation introduces intrinsic delays in data processing. Such delays become more problematic in cascades of multiple transformations that involve multitudes of data records or rows, as the delay at one step would undermine the timeliness or responsiveness of the overall processing.
One example of batch-mode transformation can be found with aggregation, which is typically performed across all input data in a batch. In a wholesale setting, for instance, a number of ORDERS arrive in a message queue. Each ORDER is included in one message and the ORDER contains multiple LINEITEMs. To compute the sum of the dollar amount of all LINEITEMs in each ORDER, a batch-oriented system would calculate the sum across all ORDERS in the system. If an ORDER_ID uniquely identifying each ORDER is available, the sum within each ORDER could be computed by using the ORDER_ID as the group by key for the aggregation. Even if this were the case, the aggregation results may not be available until all the input data has been read. This is because batch-oriented systems typically presume that aggregation is to be performed across all input data. Similar situations will result in other multi-row transformations such as sorter, joiner, ranking, etc. The batch mode processing thus makes it nearly impossible to achieve the real-time responsiveness.
A need for data processing on a real-time basis is nonetheless conspicuous. For example, a retail store needs to know the up-to-minute summary of inventories; a postal mail service needs to provide customers with up-to-minute reports on their shipments; a financial service institution needs to continuously update its investors on the changes to their portfolios; and, a healthcare institution needs to provide access to physicians and insurance administrators the updated patient information and most current prognosis reports.
There is a further need to break the batch-mode processing and substitute therefore, the data processing based on smaller data sets. The set-oriented processing would eliminate the delay of waiting on the entire batch to be read and processed. In the above example, the aggregation results for each data set—each ORDER—may be made available immediately in a set oriented real-time data processing system.
There is a still further need for a methodology to define transaction boundaries among the input data and thereby deriving data sets based on the applicable rules or business logic for data transformation on a real-time basis.

Set-oriented real-time data processing based on transaction boundaries


Systems and method for modifying an image in a video feed are described. In some aspects, a plurality of images are received from a plurality of client computing devices. Each image within the plurality of images includes a face. The plurality of images are modified according to a baseline face position and a baseline face size. At least a portion of the modified plurality of images are provided for display to at least one of the plurality of client computing devices.

Oftentimes, people participate in meetings, either online or offline. In offline meetings, people typically sit at eye level with one another (e.g., around a table) fostering a sense of togetherness, community, and creativity. However, in online video conferences, people tend to sit in different positions relative to their cameras (e.g., closer or further from the camera, centered or in a corner of the camera shot, etc.) causing an awkward view for other participants in the online video conference and preventing the development of the sense of togetherness, community, or creativity.

Systems and methods for modifying an image in a video feed


An apparatus is disclosed for detecting defects on a sample inspected by different inspection apparatuses. A data processing unit receives position information of a first defects group in a first coordinate system, based on inspection of the sample under a first condition using a first defect inspection apparatus. The data processing unit receives position information of a second defects group in a second coordinate system, after least one processing step has been performed on the sample. Position information of the second defects group is obtained by inspecting the sample under a second condition using a second defect inspection apparatus which is different from the first defect inspection apparatus. A position correction unit corrects error of relative position information on the first defects group and the second defects group, and the first and second defects groups are checked.

The present invention relates to a defects inspection apparatus of a magnetic disk substrate or a semiconductor wafer or the like, in particular, relates to, in a method for mutually comparing or checking a plurality sets of a detected data obtained by repeated inspection of the same substrate, or a plurality sets of an inspected data obtained by inspection of the same substrate using an inspection apparatus before and after process treatment, a defect inspection method, wherein a state of defects coincidence or non-coincidence is output or displayed; and an apparatus therefor.
As a magnetic recording medium used in a hard disk apparatus, a disk substrate vapor deposited with a magnetic substance is used. Data is magnetically recorded and reproduced on and from this disk substrate, by magnetization with a magnetic head. Recently, with improvement of recording density in a hard disk apparatus, spacing (hereafter referred to as a flying height) between a head for recording and writing (hereafter referred to as a head) and a disk substrate has extremely been narrowed as small as several tens nm to several nm; therefore, presence of depression/protrusion defects larger than the flying height, on this disk substrate, makes the disk substrate and the head contacted, and causes failure of a hard disk apparatus. Therefore, in a state before vapor deposition of a magnetic substance, it is important to inspect presence or absence of the above defect, and not to flow a defect product to the downstream steps.
These defects include crystal defects embedded inside a disk substrate material, residue of abrasive grains, or fine scratch (scratch or the like) generating in polishing for improvement of flatness of a disk substrate, or foreign matters adhering in cleaning or drying or the like.
Foreign matters adhered on a surface can be removed or prevented by re-cleaning, cleaning-up of surrounding atmosphere or the like. However, crystal defects or scratch or the like cannot be corrected, resulting in handling as a defect product; therefore, to ensure high yield and high reliability of a hard disk apparatus, early stage removal of a disk substrate having such defects is important. In addition, also after vapor deposition of a magnetic substance, the above defects are considered to generate by certain causes, therefore surface state inspection is also necessary.
In the above inspection apparatus of a surface state, it is naturally an important item to remove defect goods of a disk substrate inspected, but also to monitor an apparatus state so as to maintain good condition, even in an apparatus to produce a disk substrate, to improve yield. It is also an important item to analyze, based on the above detection result of an inspection apparatus, whether or not such defects are derived from production apparatus failure, or foreign matters adhered in conveying between production apparatuses. Analysis based on defects data output from an inspection apparatus requires understanding of the place where the defects generated, along with positions, shapes and kinds of the defects.
In a conventional surface inspecting apparatus, as described in JP-A-2004-170092, there is a system for displaying a defect map based on defects kinds and sizes, from characteristics of defects detected. Position information (coordinates) of defects obtained by detection using an inspection apparatus, is position information in a rotation direction and in a radius direction. Because a hard disk apparatus rotates a circular plate-like disk substrate in high speed, in a state of maintaining only a small gap with a magnetic head, uniformity of a surface shape of the disk substrate is required. Therefore, a cut edge such as a notch cannot be provided, like a wafer used in production of a semiconductor device. In addition, because whole surface of a disk substrate is used for magnetic recording, pattern recording for a servo drive or the like, marking at the outer circumference or inner circumference is usually not allowed. Therefore, in general, coordinate standard cannot be set in a disk substrate. Therefore, in an inspection apparatus of a disk substrate, an inspection start position, in a fixed state of a disk substrate at an inspection apparatus, is used as the standard, and data of coordinates in a rotation direction and in a radius direction, namely position of a polar coordinate system, is prepared based on this standard.
Therefore, in a state that a disk substrate is mounted on an inspection apparatus, the coordinates are controlled, which makes finding out objective defects easy. However, once a disk substrate is taken out from the inspection apparatus, the coordinates are reset, and thus, even when the same disk substrate is re-inspected, coincidence of coordinates with the previous inspection results is difficult; that requires comparison using defects map output by each inspection, on difference in kinds, coordinates and number of defects by each of the inspections. Therefore, in the case of a plurality of inspections, and coordinate origins of defects maps output by each of the inspections do not coincide, a problem is raised that determination on whether or not the defects are the same defect, or foreign matters adhered this time is ambiguous, from information on the defect maps outputs.
In addition, also in carrying out surface inspections before and after a production step, insufficient inspected data makes discrimination difficult whether or not defects are newly generated in the production step, or generated in previous steps from the production step thereof, resulting in correct determination impossible on a state of a production apparatus. Furthermore, in the case of defects matching in an apparatus other than surface inspection apparatus, which is capable of similarly outputting defects in a rotation direction and in a radius direction (for example, an inspection apparatus of magnetic characteristics, described in JP-A-2000-57501), coordinate coincidence is difficult; therefore, even by analysis back to the previous steps, when critical defects generates, sufficient analysis may be inhibited because coordinates provide no coincidence, or insufficient matching.
As described above, a conventional inspection apparatus gave no consideration of use of inspected data for analysis, which raised a problem of inability of mutual determination by inspected data.
Because there was no consideration of inspected data of detected results for mutual utilization, in an inspection apparatus for inspecting a circular sample such as a disk substrate, which cannot prepare position standard, inspected data could not effectively be utilized.

Apparatus for detecting defects using multiple coordinate systems


One or more computing devices, systems, and/or methods for collectively performing a domain search and a trademark search are presented. For example, a graphical user interface may be controlled to display a domain search interface. A search request to search for domain names may be received via the domain search interface, wherein the search request comprises a name and a selection of a first selectable input corresponding to performing a trademark search. Responsive to receiving the search request, a domain database may be analyzed to generate a plurality of domain names associated with the name and/or a trademark database may be analyzed to generate a plurality of trademark names associated with the name. A search report may be generated comprising the plurality of domain names and the plurality of trademark names. The graphical user interface may be controlled to display the domain search interface comprising the search report.

Many services, such as websites, applications, etc. may provide search platforms for searching for domains. For example, a user may use such a service to perform a search for domain names in an effort to implement a website for a product, a business, a non-profit entity, an organization, etc. However, the search for domain names may return search results having domain names similar to trademarks that are registered, and thus should not be used as a brand associated with a business that the user wants to create, for example. However, the user may choose a domain name from the search results that is similar to a registered trademark, and the user may choose a brand for the business based upon the domain name that violates the registered trademark.

Collectively performing domain searches and trademark searches


The invention discloses a bioreactor with a vessel defining an inner volume, agitation means and at least one addition tube, wherein a delivery orifice in the addition tube is located within the inner volume and a check valve is arranged in proximity of the delivery orifice for allowing flow of a fluid in the direction from the addition tube into the inner volume of the vessel and blocking flow in the reverse direction.

In the biopharmaceutical and Life Sciences industries, cells are commonly cultivated with the purpose either to recover products expressed by the cells, such as proteins, vaccine components etc. or to recover e.g. stem cells for therapeutic use. The cultivation conditions need to be carefully controlled and it is common practice to add reagents such as pH regulators, gases, nutrients, antifoam etc. to the culture during cultivation. This is done by pumping through an addition tube, which can have a delivery orifice (usually the end of the tube) either immersed in the cell culture medium or suspended above the cell culture medium. The pump is typically run intermittently, either controlled by a feedback loop or by a fixed addition program. One issue is then that reagent may be delivered by dripping or diffusion even when the pump is stopped, causing poor control of the reagent supply. When the delivery orifice is immersed, a further issue is also that cell culture medium and cells may enter the tube and be subjected to highly toxic conditions leading to cell death and release of detrimental signal substances. When the delivery orifice is suspended above the medium, the reagent may also go primarily into the foam layer on top of the medium, preventing proper distribution in the culture.
Accordingly there is a need for a well-controlled method of adding reagents to a cell culture with no risk of cells being subjected to overly high local reagent concentrations.


Novel p53-Mdm2 antogonists that conform to Formula I or to Formula II:

The protein-protein interaction (PPI) between the transcription factor p53 and its negative regulator Mdm2 is a major target in current cancer drug discovery. Disrupting the interaction between p53 and Mdm2 was shown to restore the wild type p53 activity and drive cancer cells selectively into apoptosis.1 Many investigations of small molecule p53-Mdm2 antagonists in different cancer cell lines and animal models support their usefulness as potential anticancer agents with a novel mode-of-action. While several classes of small molecule p53-Mdm2 antagonists have been described in the literature, only a few compounds are of sufficient potency and have been structurally characterized. See Czarna, A.; Beck, B.; Srivastava, S.; Popowicz, G. M.; Wolf, S.; Huang, Y.; Bista, M.; Holak, T. A.; Dömling, A. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 5352-5356, and Popowicz, G. M.; Dömling, A.; Holak, T. A., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed 2011, 50, 2680-2688.
Protein-protein interaction antagonists are described to be challenging targets for small molecule drug discovery due to their often extended and rather flat interfaces. However, the interface between p53 and Mdm2 is accessible to small molecules based on its dimension, concavity and hydrophobicity of the binding site. See Fry, D.; Vassilev, L. J. Mol. Med. 2005, 83, 955-963. While p53-Mdm2 antagonists have been discovered by different analytical techniques, including high throughput screening (HTS), computational HTS and structure-based design, the present inventors used of a web-based and structure-based design tool, "ANCHOR.QUERY," which led to the discovery and optimization of new potent p53-Mdm2 antagonists, based on the Ugi multicomponent reaction.

Abstract: where the prescribed substituent groups are defined, are useful in treating or preventing cancer. In particular, the compounds and their pharmaceutical compositions are useful for treating relapsed/refractory acute myeloid and lymphoid leukemia and refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small cell lymphocytic lymphomas.

University of Pittsburgh—Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education


A system for a meta-browser includes a receiver, an output device for displaying a virtual unified browsing space, and a selector input device for navigating the space and making selections therein. The receiver is provided with the capability to receive information from multiple sources of different media types, including broadcast programming, additional information through the broadcast, electronic program guide information, and the Internet. The meta-browser presents personalized collections of information from multiple sources of different media types as different media collections in the unified browsing space, which can be easily and intuitively browsed. A user's browsing experience is further enhanced by personalized recommendations, which are generated based on a profile of the user's interests captured across multiple media sources. Collaborative filtering, which uses multiple user profiles to compute co-relations between the user's profile and others, is also used to make recommendations. The unified browsing space is also searchable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to browsing and/or searching various information sources, and more particularly to searching and/or presenting information from multiple information sources in a personalized and organized manner.
2. Description of Related Art
Web browsers and electronic program guides permit a user to browse various information sources such as Web sites, television program listings, and music collections. Typically, such searches are limited to one type of collection of information. For example, a user who is interested in information on a particular television program may browse the Web using a search engine, which will present the user with a listing of Web sites related to the particular television program. However, the results typically would not include the time when the particular television program is being shown in the user's viewing area. Television schedule information typically would have to be accessed separately using, for example, an electronic program guide.
Tools used for searching Web sites have been improved by including a capability of generating recommendations based on a profile of the user's interests, as have tools for viewing television and tools for listening to music. For example, a person may use a Web browser to access a search engine to obtain list of recommended Web sites based on the person's historical browsing activities, a person wishing to watch television may receive a list of recommended television programs to view based on the person's historical television viewing activities, and a person wishing to listen to music may receive a list of recommended music to listen to based on the person's historical listening activities
Various proposals have been made to improve the usefulness of searching by providing an integrated approach to specifying and searching multiple information resources. While some of these proposals do generally advance the state of the art, further improvements are needed that use existing standards and a plethora of new component technologies to provide a search tool that gives the user greater access to a variety of different content types from a variety of different sources in a personalized, easy and intuitive way.

Method and apparatus for realizing personalized information from multiple information sources


Nonmetallic tools such as rotary bits, circular blades, and scything tools are described that may be suitable for removing cured flexibilized epoxy gap-filler materials from gaps between soft composite materials. The nonmetallic tools may be formed from various plastic or composite materials that are sufficiently hard to cut through the gap-filler material while being sufficiently soft to avoid damaging adjacent areas of soft composite materials. Methods for using the nonmetallic tools may include attaching the nonmetallic tools to a suitable machine-driven tool and contacting the nonmetallic tools to a material to be cut, shaped, or drilled.

Cutting tools such as drills, saw blades, and common scything tools, for example, in general should have an appropriate hardness and cutting surface configuration to avoid damaging the material being cut. For example, it is well known that drill bits that may be appropriate for drilling holes into wood or metal may not be appropriate for drilling into soft plastics, because the drill bits for the wood or metal will cause significant damage or cracking to portions of the plastic extending away from the hole being drilled.
In many applications, cutting tools must be tailored for compatibility with both the material being cut and the materials adjacent to the material being cut. One example of such an application is found in the aircraft industry, particularly for aircraft made of soft composite materials. In aircraft maintenance, gap-filler materials such as a flexiblized epoxy resin may be used to fill gaps between edges of composite or non-metallic panels and components. To remove old gap-filler material in preparation for maintenance or to remove excess gap-filler material during or after the maintenance, typically hand tools such as spud bars or scrapers are used. While these tools are labor-intensive, they are generally required as a gentler alternative to machine-driven tools, because aircraft materials such as carbon, fiberglass-reinforced epoxy, bismaleimide, and polyimide, for example, are very easily damaged. As such, there remain ongoing needs for cost-effective, efficient, and less labor-intensive tools, particularly tools that can be machine-driven, for removing gap-filler materials from gaps between soft materials.

Nonmetallic tools for removing flexibilized epoxy gap filler materials, and methods for removing the gap filler materials


For storage of storage media (22), a sleeve (10) having one or two storage pocket (20) formed between an optional substrate (16) and two cover plates (18). The sleeves (10) in turn may be mounted on a spine (12) having a plurality of vertebrae (56) connected by flexible hinges (60). The sleeves (10) mount on respective vertebrae (56) by slidable insertion of mounting slots (54) onto mounting tracks (58). The flexible hinges (60) then permit easy user access to and review of the storage media (22) contents of individual sleeves (10) in an intuitive roll-and-tumble manner. The sleeves (10) and the spine (12) may in turn also be stored in a clam-shell style case (88) or a wallet style case (108), or loose sleeves (10) may be stored in a tray (118).

One of the most popular forms of recording information today is on various storage media, which can be roughly classified into two general shapes: disc-shaped and box-shaped.
The term disc media and the abbreviation "DM" are used in a generic sense herein to include, without limitation, media such as music compact discs (CD), CD ROM computer media, digital versatile disks (DVD), digital video discs, laser discs, disk-shaped floptical discs (i.e., those not housed in box-shaped cartridges), and other relatively flat yet disk shaped data storage.
Similarly, the term cartridge media and the abbreviation "CM"0 are used in a generic sense herein to include, again without limitation, 51/4" and 31/2" computer floppy-disks, disk-in-cartridge computer storage formats (e.g., ZIP disks, T/M of IOMEGA, Inc.), CD ROM's in the carriers required by some CD drive playback units, digital audio tapes (DAT), video tapes, floptical discs in cartridges, and other relatively flat yet box-shaped data storage media. Admittedly, the actual media within such CM may be a disk, a bank of disks, tape on reels, or still some other mechanism, but since it is the overall exterior shape which effectively dictates physical handling needs for storage the CM vs. DM distinction is useful for the following discussion.
Further, particularly with DM such as CD's, DVD's, and CD ROM's, it has become common to include small printed pamphlets or booklets which describe the contents, instruct on the use and preservation of the media (particularly if used to store computer data), or to provide content related information (e.g., a limited biography of the band whose music is recorded on a music CD, or installation instructions for computer software stored on a CD ROM). It therefore follows that attendant with the proliferation of DM and CM there has also developed a need for storage of such related media literature (hereinafter "ML"), preferably along with the associated DM and CM units themselves, and even more preferably in a manner which denotes specific individual associations.
In the case of all of these potential objects for storage, DM, CM, and ML (collectively "storage media"), there is usually one particular side bearing key identifying indicia which it is desirable that user be able to easily read even during storage. For example, DM, such as CD's, usually have a user informative side and a data storage side, and it is desirable that the user informative side be easily read without removing individual the CD's from the storage system, which may actually contain a large number of CD's.
As implied above, with the proliferation of storage media, a need has come for storing a multitude of units, and it has become typical practice for users to even maintain large libraries, sometimes of hundreds of units. Many storage media are contained within bulky storage cases when first purchased by consumers (e.g., jewel boxes for music compact discs and cardboard sleeves for video tapes), and many present library storage systems retain the bulky original container, despite the fact that it is often far more bulky than the storage media itself. Thus, as libraries of storage media grow, many users are impressed with a need for reducing space requirements, and there have accordingly been various attempts at alternate storage systems. Unfortunately, these systems have suffered from a number of limitations which have limited their acceptance. As with any library storage system, users seek improved accessibility, index ability, aesthetics, and reduced cost. Comprehensive library storage is also increasingly important. For example, most outside-of-the-original-container storage systems have not included provision for storage of ML, and particularly lacking has been systems which store ML in a readily accessible manner associated with the particular the DM or CM units which the ML originally came with.
Another user concern is that most prior art systems have not included provision for easy storage expansion in convenient increments. Such storage systems usually have a module capacity of 5, 10, or 20, which requires that capacity be incremented in units of 5, 10 or 20 when storage for only one or two additional units is really needed.
Further, as society as become increasingly mobile and as data information retrieval equipment has grown smaller and more portable, transportability and robustness of library storage systems for storage media have become increasingly important.
While some prior art systems have addressed some of the above noted concerns, none have suitably addressed them all, and today there remains a need for improved storage media storage systems.

Detachable module and flat object storage system


Polyadipamide yarn is made by a melt-spinning process in which sufficient succinic acid is added to the polymer prior to melt spinning so that the polymer and thus the resulting yarn contain by weight about 50 ppm to about 3000 ppm succinic acid.

The present invention relates to fiber of a polyadipamide polymer such as a yarn of nylon 66 or nylon 46 polymer and processes for making such fiber.
Polyadipamides such as nylon 66 and nylon 46 are desirable for use in the manufacture of high strength yarns for industrial use. Increasing the relative viscosity (RV) of polyadipamides enables tenacity to be increased to higher levels than are customarily obtainable with lower RV polymer. However, the high viscosity polymer has been found to limit production rates due to the high pressure drops which occur as the molten polymer is pumped to the spinneret. In addition, the use of high RV polymer 66 sometimes results in high yarn break levels and low yarn strength which limit yield of the resulting yarn.
Succinic acid is typically present at low levels in polyadipamides since it is present as an impurity in the adipic acid used to make the polymer. Typical levels of succinic acid in the polymer are in the range of 10 to about 25 parts-per-million (ppm) by weight.

Fiber of polyadipamide polymer containing added succinic acid


In a rolling mill train (2; 30; 56) for processing rolling stock (4, 32), at least three rolling stands (10) are directly adjacent in the rolling direction and are driven by electric motors (20) having superconducting windings. It is thereby possible to keep the distances between the rolling stands smaller than with conventional electric drives, thus reducing energy losses during the rolling process. A combined casting and rolling station (40), which is equipped with such an electric motor (20) in the rolling stands, is configured and/or operated efficiently in terms of the required heating power.

Metallic feedstock such as slabs, hot strip or cold strip, sheet metal, tubes etc. made from material such as iron, steel, non-ferrous metals or other metallic materials are subjected on a large industrial scale to various stages of processing and refinement. Typical processing stages are the rolling out of cast slabs into hot strip or the rolling down of the hot strip to the thickness desired by the customer in a cold rolling mill train, for example a tandem mill train.
Conventionally rolling mills occur as separate systems which receive their rolling stock for example from a separate continuous casting system. In modern combined casting and rolling stations hot strip can be manufactured in a continuous process, especially as an endless strip. A combined casting and rolling station is disclosed for example in WO 96/01710 or in DE 694 08 595 T2.
The decisive component for processing rolling stock is a rolling stand, with which for example slabs can be rolled into a strip in consecutive rolling passes. Rolling stands are used in practically all rolling mill trains, especially in hot strip rolling trains and cold strip rolling trains.
After the hot rolling the strips can be subjected to further processing steps. At the end of the rolling train the rolled-down strip is usually rolled up into coils with the aid of a coiler. As an alternative there is a direct coupling to a cold rolling station and/or processing line in the continuous process.
The hot strip can be subjected to further intermediate steps, such as heat treatment for example, before it is conveyed to a cold rolling mill train. At the end of a cold rolling mill train there is usually a winding coiler for receiving the rolled strip combined with shears if necessary in the continuous process.
During rolling high torques must be applied for processing the rolling stock. For this reason powerful electric motors are used to drive the rolls, the torque of which is frequently further increased with the aid of a reduction gear. DE 199 11 751 C1 describes a drive device for a rolling stand. Powerful electric motors as well as suitable transmissions are very heavy and voluminous.
The electric motors complete with gearing must—relative to the processing direction of the rolling stock—be arranged to the side, which means that they significantly increase the area to be occupied by a fabrication shop. As an alternative to this JP 10-235416 proposes integrating a compact superconducting electric motor into the inside of a roll of a rolling stand. Such an embodiment results in mechanical problems since the roll concerned, with its stability thus reduced, will suffer deformations with high rolling forces.

Energy-saving rolling mill train and energy-saving process for operating a combined casting and rolling station


A card edge connector (100) for receiving a memory card (200) includes an insulative housing (1) and a number of terminals (2) retained therein. The insulative housing (1) includes an elongated base (10) extending along a longitudinal direction thereof and a pair of tower section (18) extending upwardly from opposite ends of the base (10). The base (10) defines a receiving slot (10) for receiving the memory card (200) and two rows of contact receiving channels (111) communicated with the slot (10). Each tower section (18) includes a pair of opposed arms (13) and a cavity (15) located therebetween. The arm (13) has a cantilever type resilient finger (132) formed from an inner wall of the arm (13) and extending downwardly for sandwiching the memory card (200), and a locking projection (131) at an upper portion thereof to engage with a notch (203) of the memory card (200).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card edge connector, and more particularly to a card edge connector with a pair of improved resilient fingers and locking projections molded integrally with an insulative housing of the card edge connector for locking the memory card.
2. Description of Related Art
Card edge connectors are employed widely with computers to receive an memory card having a mating edge and a plurality of contact pads coupled to the edge and a notch in side edge. Such card edge connectors have an elongated base defining an elongated slot for receiving the mating edge of the memory card and a pair of arms extending upwardly from opposite sides of the base. Each arm defines a cavity for receiving the side edge of the memory card. A plurality of terminals retained in the insulative housing and each comprises a contact portion extending into the slot for engaging with the contact pads of the memory card and a solder tail extending out of the insulative housing for connecting with a circuit board.
However, the opposite inside walls of the cavity rigidly and mechanically sandwich the side edge of the memory card after the memory card inserted into the card edge connector, whereby the engagement between the memory card and the card edge connector may be affected adversely during the memory card being shocked or vibrated. In addition, the card edge connector usually comprises an ejector with a locking portion to lock with the notch of the memory card for avoiding the movement of the memory card, thereby increasing the cost of the manufacture and the assembly.
Hence, a card edge connector is desired to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art.

Card edge connector with a locking projection and a resilient finger


Systems, methods and apparatus are provided for computing quality scores for a media session delivered using an adaptive streaming protocol, where the quality score may be an estimate of a mean opinion score. The quality score reflects the impact of network delivery on a viewer's quality of experience (QoE). In particular, the quality score is generally based on the effects of stream switch events, as stream switches may be the result of impaired network delivery. Other network events, such as re-buffering events may also be incorporated in the score.

Streaming media sent over various computer networks is becoming increasingly popular. Maintaining such streaming is becoming a problem for the organizations providing and maintaining such networks. Streaming media has become an important element of the "Internet" experience through the significant availability of content from sites like YouTube™, Netflix™ and many others. Streaming media content imposes a significant load for the organizations that provide the networks for such content to be delivered. The companies that provide the networks, and also the content producers and distributors are limited in their ability to gauge the satisfaction of the end user. This based in part, not only on the condition of the network, but the wide variety of different devices that can be used to access streaming media via a network.

Methods and apparatus for providing a media stream quality signal


An automatic door opening system including a door having a top portion, a bottom portion, a hinged portion, and an opening portion. The system includes an opener connected to the door adjacent the opening portion and configured to selectively receive electrical current. The system includes a magnet disposed on the opening portion of the door such that the magnet is adjacent the opener when the door is in the closed position. The system includes a microcontroller in electric communication with the electromagnet wherein a memory contains processor-executable instructions to receive a door activation input and, in response to receiving the door activation input, activate the electromagnet to apply a magnetic force against the magnet and push the door between the closed position and the open position. The system may also include a closer configured to selectively return the door to the closed position.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. The work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Various circumstances may drive the need or desire for systems that allow people to open and/or close doors without touching a door handle. Because door handles are touched by many different people, they may be sources of virus transmission, such as COVID-19, influenza, etc., bacteria, or other undesirable substances, especially in high-traffic areas. Many swinging doors all over the world may benefit from being adapted for use without using the handle to open or close them. This may be particularly critical to areas such has hospitals, but also in other high traffic areas such as universities, offices, etc.


A method and apparatus for rendering an object or scene from a preselected viewpoint onto a display. The object is represented by a texture map stored in a memory of a processor-based system, and the viewpoint is represented by geometry data stored in the memory. The viewpoint on the object may be represented in the geometry data a polygon (or more than one polygon). The processor determines span data by edge-walking the polygon, and transfers the span data to the memory controller. Beginning with a first such span, the processor then transfers the span data (one span at a time) to the memory controller. After each such transfer, the memory controller takes over execution of the rendering procedure, beginning with mapping the current span onto a span of voxels (volume elements) in texture map space. The memory controller then retrieves the colors and textures for that span, and renders the span accordingly (i.e. either displays it or writes it to an appropriate memory). Control then returns to the processor, which transfers the data for the next span, and the memory controller again takes over the remainder of the rendering procedure for that span. The transfer of control back and forth is repeated until all the spans of the first such polygon are rendered, and until all such polygons have been so processed, thus greatly increasing the efficiency and throughput of graphics data in the rendering pipeline. The procedure is made more efficient by the use of a dedicated portion of memory for the graphics data, under the exclusive control of the memory controller.

The present invention relates to the visualization and display of three-dimensional scenes or objects on a computer system, and in particular to a new method and apparatus for accelerating the display of three-dimensional scenes. "Visualization" broadly refers to all of the steps taken by a graphics display system from accessing the 3D graphics data (of a scene or object) to rendering the data as a scene on a display device.
There are three basic types of 3D data visualization carried out by computer systems today: (1) geometry (polygon) rendering (such as wire frame rendering); (2) volume rendering; and (3) 3D texture mapping, which will typically include some features of geometry rendering. The present invention is directed specifically towards more rapid texture mapping than is available with conventional systems. For an extended treatment on methods of graphics visualization, see Foley, van Dam, et al., Computer Graphics--Principles and Practice (2d Ed. 1990 Addison Wesley), incorporated herein by reference.
In conventional systems, a graphics application executing on a processor will generate three-dimensional data representing an object or scene for display on a computer monitor or other display or output device. 3D geometry data are typically processed in the processor under the control of the graphics application. If the system includes a graphics accelerator, the processed data are then sent to the graphics accelerator for rendering on the monitor.
3D texture mapping is an intermediate visualization combining data from geometry rendering and volumetric data from volume rendering. Volumetric data at its simplest is simply a set of 3D pixels (discrete color values), normally referred to as "voxels". Conventional 3D texture mapping can also be combined with arbitrary cutting or clipping to reveal hidden structures within the voxel data.
Texture mapping in three dimensions is typically quite a time-consuming process. If the main processor of a computer or other processor-based system is used to carry out the rendering procedures, this can considerably degrade the performance of the system, which typically uses the processor for many other functions and processes. Dedicated graphics controllers and accelerators have been developed which can speed up the rendering procedures, but they are generally quite expensive, so that fully equipping a system with dedicated graphics modules can be prohibitive.
Some systems in use today utilize a dedicated pixel bus (a special memory bus just for the pixel data) with an extra memory controller in order to speed up the rendering/display procedure, but this increases the cost and complexity of the system.
Thus, in conventional systems a choice must be made to stress either the low cost or the high performance of the architecture.
A system is needed that answers both of these challenges--speed and expense. Ideally, a system would be provided that provides the high performance of dedicated graphics modules with the lower cost of general-purpose processors.

Method and apparatus for efficient rendering of three-dimensional scenes


A light beam optical system is provided according to the present invention for focusing light beams from a light source on the surface of a photoconductive drum and the like via an optical system. This light beam optical system is capable of adjusting focal dislocation with high precision without being influenced by adhesion of toner for forming an image and the like to the photoconductive drum and the like or by change in the position of a light receiving section generated due to temperature change and the like. The light beam optical system comprises an optical system for focusing light beams from a light source on a photoconductive drum, a light receiving section for detecting on which of the front side or the rear side of the photoconductive drum light beams are focused, and control device for controlling the optical system based upon the detected result so that light beams are focused on the photoconductive drum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a focusing method when light beams from a light source is focused on the surface of a photoconductive drum or the like via an optical system, a light beam optical system used for implementing the focusing method and an image forming apparatus using the same. Particularly, the present invention relates to a focusing method using a semiconductor laser or the like for a light source for precisely detecting the dislocation of a focus caused by variation in the light quantity of an optical system due to the change of temperature or aging change and the like, an error in the assembly and adjustment of the optical system and the like, and correcting it with high precision, a light beam optical system used for implementing the focusing method and an image forming apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a laser beam optical system provided with an optical scanner, light beams outgoing from a semiconductor laser passes through A light beam optical system such as a collimating lens, a polygon mirror and f.theta. lens, is focused and radiated on a photoconductive drum, however, there is a problem that a focal position on the surface of the photoconductive drum is varied by change in the conditions of an optical system due to temperature change or aging change, variation in an irritated position due to the rotational eccentricity of the photoconductive drum, an error in assembly and adjustment and the like, and a predetermined light beams diameter cannot be obtained on the surface of the photoconductive drum. In this case, it is required of correcting light beams diameter by detecting a state in which light beams is focused on the surface of a photoconductive drum or in a predetermined position and shifting a part of an optical system in an optical path, that is, correction for focal dislocation.
For the solution of such a problem, light beams recorder for correcting the focal dislocation of light beams by shifting one optical element constituting an imaging optical system in the direction of an optical axis is disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent application No. H2-289812.
Referring to FIG. 34, the constitution of the above light beams recorder will be described below. The light beams recorder shown in FIG. 34 is provided with a semiconductor laser 101 for radiating light beams and a collimating lens 102 for collimating diffused light beams radiated from the semiconductor laser 101. The collimating lens 102 is constituted so that it can focus by being moved in the direction of an optical axis by a focusing mechanism 103. Parallel beams outgoing from the collimating lens 102 are reflected and deflected by light beams deflecting system 104. Light beams 105 deflected by the light beams deflecting system 104 is incident on f.theta. lens 106 and focused on the surface of a photoconductive drum 107. The photoconductive drum 107 is provided with an automatic focus (AF) pattern formed range 107a and an image formed range 107b on the surface. A motor 108 rotates the photoconductive drum 107 and outputs a pulse signal in a predetermined cycle according to an encoder.
Light beams reflected in the AF pattern formed range 107a is received by a photodiode 110 via a condenser 109. An AF control circuit 111 operates the focusing mechanism 103 based upon output from the photodiode 110, that is, the diameter of a converged beam on the surface of the photoconductive drum 107, moves the collimating lens 102 in the direction of an optical axis and controls the rotational cycle of the photoconductive drum 107 and the operating timing of the focusing mechanism 103 according to a pulse signal output from the motor 108. A laser driver 112 is used for radiating light beams modulated by the semiconductor laser 101 according to a picture signal and for radiating a fixed quantity of light beams from the semiconductor laser 101 according to an AF operating signal.
The AF pattern formed range 107a is constituted by a reflection type grating pattern and others for reflecting light beams for scanning the surface of the photoconductive drum 107 in the photodiode 110 at predetermined lattice pitch, and the reflection type grating pattern is formed around the photoconductive drum 107 in the vertical scanning direction.
In the above constitution, when a fixed quantity of light beams are radiated from the semiconductor laser 101 according to an AF operating signal, the light beams are deflected by the light beams deflecting system 104 after they are collimated by the collimating lens 102 and scan the surface of the photoconductive drum 107 via the f.theta. lens 106. At this time, light beams reflected in the AF pattern formed range 107a is received by the photodiode 110 via the condenser 109 and a signal according to the beam diameter on the surface of the photoconductive drum 107 is output from the photodiode 110 to the AF control circuit 111. The AF control circuit 111 receives a signal from the photodiode 110 at predetermined timing according to a pulse signal output from the motor 108, moves the collimating lens 102 in the direction of an optical axis by operating the focusing mechanism 103 according to the received signal and corrects the variation of the diameter of a converged beam on the surface of the photoconductive drum 107, that is, the focal dislocation of light beams.
However, according to a conventional type light beams recorder, there is a serious problem that as the quantity of light beams reflected from the photoconductive drum is detected and focal dislocation is corrected based upon the detected quantity, the decrease of reflected light quantity or the unevenness of reflected light quantity in distribution occurs in case toner and others for forming an image adhere to the photoconductive drum and others and hereby, the precision of the correction of focal dislocation is greatly reduced or correction is disabled. The problem that toner and others adhere, as a result, the decrease of reflected light quantity or the unevenness of reflected light quantity in distribution occurs and therefore, the problem that the precision of correction is greatly reduced or correction is disabled is an essential defect which a method of detecting the reflected quantity of light beams reflected from the photoconductive drum has. This is because it cannot be distinguished whether the variation of detected quantity is caused by focal dislocation or by a stain by toner and others.
Also, according to the conventional type light beams recorder, as the quantity of light beams reflected from the photoconductive drum is detected by light beams receiving means arranged in an initialized position, the precision of the correction of focal dislocation is deteriorated in case the position of the light beams receiving means is varied due to temperature and others. This is because as the reflected light quantity of light beams is detected based upon the light beams receiving means arranged in the initialized position, detected quantity also varies when positional relationship between the light beams receiving means and the photoconductive drum is varied. A problem that the precision of the correction of focal dislocation is deteriorated because of the variation of the positional relationship is an essential defect which a focal dislocation detecting mechanism based upon the light beams receiving means arranged in the initialized position has. This is because it cannot be distinguished whether the variation of detected light quantity is caused by focal dislocation or by the variation of positional relationship between the light beams receiving means and the photoconductive drum.
Also, according to the conventional type light beams recorder, if the quantity of dislocation is the same even if the focal position of light beams is dislocated on the side of a light source apart from the photoconductive drum or on the side reverse to the light source, there is a problem that the direction of focal dislocation cannot be distinguished because the diameter of detected converged beams is the same and it takes much time for the focal dislocation of light beams to be corrected.

Focusing method, light beam optical system used therefor, and image forming apparatus using same


Methods and systems for detecting allelic imbalance using nucleic acid sequencing are provided.

In general, a comparison of sequences present at the same locus on each chromosome (each autosomal chromosome for males) of a chromosome pair can reveal whether that particular locus is homozygous or heterozygous within the genome of a cell. Polymorphic loci within the human genome are generally heterozygous within an individual since that individual typically receives one copy from the biological father and one copy from the biological mother. In some cases, a polymorphic locus or a string of polymorphic loci within an individual are homozygous as a result in inheriting identical copies from both biological parents. In other cases, homozygosity results from a loss of heterozygosity (LOH) from the germline. Because LOH and copy number information can be clinically useful, there is a need for improved methods of identifying loci and regions of LOH in samples.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and materials for assessing allelic imbalance


The material container disclosed in present application, comprises a cylindrical body with end covers attached to its ends. Multiple holes are distributed across the end covers. A movable sliding rack is located inside the cylindrical body. The axial direction of movable sliding rack coincides with the axial direction of the cylindrical body. The movable sliding rack has at least two hollow columns which axis is in the same direction of the axis of movable sliding rack. Any two neighboring hollow columns are isolated by their walls. Water can be timely added into the cylindrical body through the holes, without damaging material container due to water pressure. Turning around one end cover allows the cylindrical body to be opened for food materials conveniently loading or unloading. It provides quicker loading and unloading for cup or bottle packed materials with the movable sliding rack, utilizing the space inside the cylindrical body efficiently.

Ultra-high pressure food processing is referred to after placing food in a container, then placing the container in an ultra-high pressure food processing chamber, filling up the chamber with liquid usually with water continuously to make the pressure inside the chamber reach above 100 MPa, usually 6000 atmosphere pressure, to kill the bacteria in the food. The material container disclosed in the prior art is a simple frame, which can not utilize the most of its inner space for placing food, and the process of placing food is time consuming, labor intensive, and not suitable for in-line operation. In addition, the material container disclosed in the prior art bears low pressure only and it is likely to be damaged.

Material container for ultra-high pressure food processing


A system and method of surge limit control for turbo compressors including a turbo compressor having an inlet and an outlet, an anti-surge valve, a variable speed drive to operate the compressor, a rotational speed transmitter, an inlet temperature transmitter, an inlet pressure transmitter, an outlet pressure transmitter and/or guide vanes, and a controller, the controller including a PID control module wherein the computer uses information from the transmitters to continuously calculate a pressure ratio of the compressor at the compressor's current operational speed and compare it to the compressor's calculated pressure ratio at surge limit conditions. A computer generates a control signal for determining when to open the anti-surge valve if the pressure ratio of the compressor at the compressor's current operational speed guide vanes are within a user defined safety margin to the calculated pressure ratio at surge limit conditions.

Unstable flow conditions within a turbo compressor can arise from any number of changing process conditions. When this occurs and reduces the flow of gasses with an increase in the specific mechanical energy (polytrophic) of the gas stream, the turbo compressor may surge. Surging can significantly damage a turbo compressor and therefore, control systems have been developed to monitor a turbo compressor's performance.
Should the performance levels drop to a potential surge situation, the control systems must open an anti-surge valve to recycle or blow off an additional portion of the gas flow. If recycling occurs too extensively, it will have an adverse impact on the overall efficiency of the turbo compressor. If recycling is not properly controlled, there may be inadequate protection against surge and the potential damage it may cause to the turbo compressor. There is therefore a need to effectively and efficiently monitor the turbo compressor's operating conditions and evaluate their proximity to the surge conditions. The allowable proximity is commonly known as the safety margin with surge producing operational parameters commonly known as the turbo compressor's surge limit.
A compressor's surge limit, displayed in coordinates of the reduced flow rate (Qr) and the reduced head (Hr) is often very difficult to accurately characterize. This difficulty arises from the quality of current compressor flow measurement methods. The level of difficulty increases further when multistage compressors and compressors with side streams are employed. There is therefore a need to develop a method of controlling the compressor to prevent the compressor from reaching its surge limit that does not rely upon measurements of a reduced flow rate or correspondingly, measurements of the compressor's power.
There is therefore a need for a method of controlling a turbo compressor to avoid surge limit conditions which avoids these and other problems.

System and method of surge limit control for turbo compressors


In a method and MRT apparatus for reduction of Nyquist ghosts in medical magnetic resonance imaging given the application of EPI sequences of one or more progression curves with regard to one or more characterizing quantities of the EPI echo, is determined dependent on the echo number of a readout gradient pulse train defined by pulse shape, pulse amplitude and pulse duration, an EPI measurement is implemented with a readout gradient pulse train, composed of alternating positive and negative amplitudes with under which alternating positive and negative echoes and respectively readout, and a phase coding gradient, so a phase-coded data set is acquired, the phase-coded data set is corrected on the basis of the progression curves, and is Fourier-transformed the corrected data set, to obtain an artifact-reduced (with regard to the Nyquist ghosts) image data set.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) as used in medicine for examination of patients. The present invention in particular concerns a method and an MRT apparatus for reduction of Nyquist ghosts (also called N/2 ghosts) that appear upon application of echo-planar imaging sequences (EPI sequences) and impair the image quality (and therewith the diagnosis) to a significant degree.
2. Description of the Prior Art
MRT is based on the physical phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance and has been successfully used as an imaging modality in medicine and biophysics for over 15 years. In this examination modality the subject is exposed to a strong, constant magnetic field. The nuclear spins of the atoms in the subject, which were previously randomly oriented, thereby align. Radio-frequency energy can now excite these "ordered" nuclear spins to a precession movement. This precession generates the actual measurement signal in MRT, this measurement signal being acquired by suitable reception coils. The measurement subject can be spatially coded in all three spatial directions by non-inhomogeneous magnetic fields generated by gradient coils.
In one possible method for generation of MRT images, a slice is, for example, initially excited in the z-direction. The coding of the spatial information in the slice ensues by combined phase and frequency coding by means of two orthogonal gradient fields that (in the examination of a slice excited in the z-direction) are generated in the x-direction and y-direction by the gradient coils. The imaging sequence is repeated M times for various values of the phase coding gradients (for example Gy), and the magnetic resonance signal is digitized and stored N times in the presence of the readout gradient Gx for each sequence pass. In this manner a number matrix (matrix in k-space) is generated containing N×M data points. An MR image of the slice in question with a resolution of N×M pixels can be directly reconstructed from this raw data set by a two-dimensional Fourier transformation.
In a technique known as echo-planar imaging (EPI), a number of phase-coded echoes are used to fill the raw data matrix. The basic idea of this technology is to generate a series of echoes in the readout gradient (Gx) after an individual (selective) RF excitation, the echoes being associated with various lines in k-space matrix by a suitable modulation of the phase coding gradients (Gy).
One possible form of the echo-planar pulse sequence is shown in FIG. 1A. After an excitation pulse and a refocusing pulse multiple gradient echoes are generated via a sinusoidally-oscillating frequency coding gradient in the readout direction and phase coding. The phase coding ensues in this representation via small gradient-pulses (blips) in the range of the zero crossings of the oscillating frequency coding gradients and leads in this manner to a serpentine pass through the spatial frequency matrix (k-matrix) as is shown in FIG. 1B.
Despite of many limitations, EPI sequences show a high clinical potential (particularly in functional imaging and in perfussion and diffusion measurements) since movement artifacts (for example due to respiration or pulsing movement of blood or of cerebral fluid) can be drastically reduced due to the extremely short measurement time (MR image acquisition in less than 100 ms).
Unwanted artifacts also occur in EPI imaging that, as what are known as Nyquist ghosts (or also called "N/2 ghosts"), which make an image assessment or image interpretation more difficult in the framework of a diagnosis.
This type of image interference causes the actual image information to be displaced in both directions by half of the phase coding steps and shown a second time as an "image ghost" that even overlaps the actual image in part. An example of such an image afflicted with a Nyquist ghost is shown in FIG. 3.
The cause of Nyquist ghosts is based on all possible forms of asymmetries between the echoes occurring due to positive and negative gradient pulses of the alternating readout gradient pulse train. Such echoes, for example, originate from eddy currents or gradient distortions. Examinations of the dependency of the Nyquist ghosts on protocol parameters have ultimately identified the echo-echo interval of the readout gradient pulse train (and therewith the frequency of the gradient pulse alternation) as a significant parameter. This is also the reason why strong Nyquist ghosts with ghost-to-signal ratios of more than 20% are observed in the proximity of resonance phenomena of the MR scanner (for example given acoustic resonances of the gradient coil or of the cryoshield).
In order to compensate for unavoidable, system-intrinsic asymmetries, data for phase correction are also acquired in addition to the actual image data, with which image data separated into even and odd k-space lines can be corrected before the Fourier transformation. Insofar as the asymmetries occurring in the later readout train are already present in identical form during the phase correction exposure, the Nyquist ghost can be eliminated in the ideal case.
For EPI imaging two strategies for phase correction are prevalent in the prior art:
A) Before the actual image acquisition the entire EPI readout gradient pulse train is initially acquired without phase coding, meaning that the blips are omitted and a dimensional projection of the image subject to be examined is acquired. The information thereby acquired with regard to the displacement of the echo positions and echo phases is subsequently evaluated and used later for correction of the subsequent actual (two-dimensional) image acquisition. This method has the advantage that effects can be detected that only dynamically build up over time during the EPI readout pulse train (for example building resonance phenomena).
A disadvantage of this known technique is that a complete additional exposure that extends (in the worst case doubles) the measurement time is necessary for each measurement. Given a longer acquisition series (for example 1000 images in fMRI, up to approximately 10 minutes) unavoidable asymmetry changes that occur during the acquisition series cannot be reacted to dynamically. Given longer echo times in the framework of such series, an intensified dephasing of the nuclear magnetic resonance measurement signal can appear that ultimately severely impairs the quality of the phase correction data.
B) For each image acquisition, a phase correction, scan is acquired immediately after the -excitation pulse but still before the actual (diagnostic) image data acquisition.
The phase correction scan can be an acquisition with at least two adjacent half-waves (with a positive gradient amplitude and a negative gradient amplitude), but typically with three half-waves (+−+ or −+− in order to be able to take into account B0 offset dephasing effects). The information to be evaluated is the displacement both of the position of the echo and the phase of the echo and is used (for example averaged) for correction of the positive and negative gradient pulses of the actual, immediately-following image acquisition. An advantage of this method is that changes can be dynamically reacted to given longer acquisition series and essentially no additional measurement time is incurred (given a readout frequency of approximately 1000 Hz, the duration of each phase correction scan is only approximately 1.5 ms).
A significant disadvantage of this approach is that time-dynamic effects (for example resonance phenomena) that develops during the readout gradient pulse train are not detected.

Method and apparatus for reduction of nyquist ghosts in medical magnetic resonance imaging


A memory is provided that includes a write multiplexer, which multiplexes among a plurality of bit line columns. The multiplexer includes a positive boost circuit that applies a positive boost to a voltage at the gates of transistors to strengthen an on state of those transistors. The positive boosting may be in addition to, or instead of, negative boosting at a write driver circuit.

In a conventional static random-access memory (SRAM), a bitcell connects to a pair of bit lines. Prior to a write operation, the bit lines are pre-charged to the power supply voltage used for the bitcell. Depending upon the data to be written to the bitcell, a write multiplexer may discharge either the true bit line or the complement bit line in the bit line pair from its pre-charged state.
There is a need in the art for memories having increased write margin and less leakage.

Memory with positively boosted write multiplexer


A CHF.sub.3 -based RIE etching process is disclosed using a nitrogen additive to provide high selectivity of SiO.sub.2 or PSG to Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, low chamfering of a photoresist mask, and low RIE lag. The process uses a pressure in the range of about 200-1,000 mTorr, and an appropriate RF bias power, selected based on the size of the substrate being etched. The substrate mounting pedestal is preferably maintained at a temperature of about 0.degree. C. Nitrogen can be provided from a nitrogen-containing molecule, or as N.sub.2. He gas can be added to the gas mixture to enhance the RIE lag-reducing effect of the nitrogen.

Known plasma or reactive ion etching (RIE) processes for selectively etching silicon dioxide (or PSG) layers on semiconductor chips require heretofor inadequate trade-offs between chamfering of the photoresist, etch rate selectivity between the SiO.sub.2 layer and an etch stop, and "RIE lag" (the phenomenon where large area via holes are etched more rapidly than small area via holes on the same chip). Such RIE processes are typically optimized for a particular use by varying the chemistry, pressure, flow rate, and power parameters of the environment.
High pressure (i.e., pressures greater than 1 Torr) fluorocarbon RIE processes are desirable in that they provide good selectivity of silicon dioxide. Such processes include, for example, CHF.sub.3 +CF.sub.4 +Ar, and CHF.sub.3 +He chemistries. However, these high pressure processes have been found to provide particularly poor RIE lag characteristics.
Low pressure fluorocarbon processes are desirable for selective etching of silicon dioxide, in that they provide less RIE lag than the high pressure processes described above. Such processes include, for example CHF.sub.3 +He chemistry at 0.5-100 mTorr pressure. In fact, such processes function adequately in low density, low power, batch reactors. Such processes, however, provide unacceptable chamfering of photoresist mask layers when used in higher power, single wafer reactors. This chamfering results in loss of critical dimensions, requiring the use of undesirably large ground rules.
Low pressure, high density processes, which utilize plasma generation mechanisms such as magnetrons, inductive coupling, or electron cyclotron resonance, reduce the photoresist mask chamfering typically found with the lower pressure processes. However, this class of RIE processes provides poor selectivity to the silicon dioxide, and may result in polymer-induced RIE lag within small via openings.
Anisotropic silicon etching (whereby near-vertical etched silicon profiles are achieved) using NF.sub.3 or SF.sub.6 as a primary etchant, and CHF.sub.3 and N.sub.2 as additives, are known in the art. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,799, issued on May 3, 1988, to Lee Chen et al. and assigned to the present assignee. This particular etching system is useful for selectively etching silicon through a silicon dioxide mask.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,724, issued on Aug. 30, 1988, to Manjin J. Kim et al., a mixture of CHF.sub.3 and argon is mentioned as "not the preferred etching gas" for etching vias in silicon dioxide down to an aluminum oxide etch-stop layer. For high selectivity between the etching rates of SiO.sub.2 and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, Kim et al. recommends a gas mixture of NF.sub.3 and argon.
Nitrogen trifluoride with argon, but without a carbon-containing gas such as CHF.sub.3, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,341, issued on Feb. 27, 1990, to Richard D. Blangher et al., for etching SiO.sub.2 while avoiding unwanted polymer by-products which carboncontaining etch gases are prone to leave on the circuit workpiece and on the walls of the reactor.
Etching of oxide selectively to tantalum with mixtures of fluorine containing and nitrogen containing molecules is taught in Japanese Kokai No. 1-33323.
While various high and low pressure, fluorocarbon-based, RIE processes are known in the art, all of these processes require an unacceptable trade-off between selectivity, mask chamfering, and RIE lag. No process is known for selectively etching SiO.sub.2 (or PSG) which simultaneously yields acceptable photoresist chamfering, high selectivity, and good (i.e. low) "RIE lag" characteristics.

Selective fluorocarbon-based RIE process utilizing a nitrogen additive

International Business Machines Corporation


A trench is formed in a silicon substrate, and an epitaxial film is formed on the substrate and in the trench. After a part of the epitaxial film formed around an opening portion of the trench is etched, another epitaxial film is formed on the substrate and in the trench. Accordingly, the trench can be filled with the epitaxial films completely. Then, the surface of the substrate is flattened.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Applications No. 11-307656 filed on Oct. 28, 1999, and No. 2000-268960 filed on Sep. 5, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing technique for formation of a semiconductor element.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 18, to form a doping layer 101 uniform in a depth direction at a desired position in a silicon substrate 100 not only attracts attention as a substrate structure effective in lowering an on resistance of a high withstand voltage MOS device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,215, but also is effective to enable high integration in the depth direction by effectively using the depth direction of the substrate.
As a method of forming the doping layer 101, it is conceivable to use dopant diffusion from the surface, or a method of dopant ion implantation and heat treatment, which is conventionally generally used in a silicon semiconductor process. However, the depth B of the doping layer 101 is controlled by the diffusion rate of the dopant impurity. Thus, in a generally used heat treatment time, it is possible to merely form the doping layer 101 of a depth of several xcexcm from the surface. Besides, since the diffusion of the dopant advances isotropically, the diffusion advances not only in the depth direction but also in the lateral direction, and the doping layer 101 having a lateral extension A comparable to the depth is eventually obtained. Thus, in the doping layer formation by the conventional heat diffusion, an aspect ratio (=B/A) does not exceed xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d in principle, and the structure in formation of a device is restricted.
On the other hand, xe2x80x9cA new generation of high power MOSFETs breaks the limit line of siliconxe2x80x9d IEDM98 Proc. (1998) by G. Deboy et al., proposes the following method. That is, first, as shown in FIGS. 19A and 19B, an epitaxial film 111a is formed on a substrate 110 by epitaxial growth, and as shown in FIG. 19C, a doping layer 112a is formed by partial dopant ion implantation with photolithography and heat diffusion treatment. Next, as shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B, the epitaxial growth, partial ion implantation, and heat diffusion treatment are repeated. As a result, as shown in FIG. 20C, a doping layer 112 extending in the depth direction is formed. According to this method, since the depth of the formed doping layer (doping layer extending in the depth direction) 112 is determined by epitaxial growth thickness, it is not controlled by the diffusion length of the dopant.
However, since the extension in the lateral direction is controlled through the diffusion length of one diffusion treatment, the lateral extension equivalent to the film thickness of one epitaxial growth becomes a processing limit. Thus, in the case where a deeper profile is desired to be formed, it is sufficient if the epitaxial film thickness is increased. However, in order to suppress the extension in the lateral direction, it is necessary to thin the thickness of one epitaxial growth. As a result, the number of times of the epitaxial growth and diffusion treatment of the dopant is increased, and the manufacturing cost of a substrate is increased.
Besides, a processing method proposed in EP-A-53854 is shown in FIGS. 21A-21C. First, as shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B, trenches 121 are formed in a substrate 120, and as shown in FIG. 21C, an epitaxial layer 122 of a desired dopant concentration is filled in the inside of each of the trenches 121. Accordingly, a profile in the depth direction is formed. In this processing method, substrate formation can be made by a trench forming step and an epitaxial growth step, and the number of steps is small and it is expected that throughput is improved. Further, since the shape of the doping layer is almost coincident with a trench shape, it is conceivable that an arbitrary shape with high aspect ratio can be formed as compared with the foregoing method of repeating the epitaxial growth and the dopant diffusion plural times.
However, as expected important problems in the case of trench filling epitaxial growth, void-less trench filling, defect-less epitaxial growth, and high controllability of doping concentration can be pointed out. On the other hand, in the present circumstances, a study of the trench filling epitaxial growth has not been sufficiently carried out, and proper measures against the problems and a manufacturing method are not clear.
Besides, there is a selective epitaxial method as an epitaxial growth technique similar to the trench filling epitaxial growth. The selective epitaxial method is a method in which as shown in FIGS. 22A and 22B, an oxide film 131 having opening portions 132 is disposed on a substrate 130, and as shown in FIG. 22C, epitaxial films 133 are grown only on portions where the surface of the silicon substrate 130 is exposed.
Thus, the structure in which the epitaxial films 133 are filled in the oxide film opening portions 132 is eventually obtained. The selective epitaxial technique has an object to form such a structure that the epitaxial films 133 are made device formation regions of CMOS and the oxide film 131 which is a mask is made element separation regions. Also in the selective epitaxial growth, void-less trench filling and defect-less epitaxial growth have been studied as the main technical problems.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a noble structure for a semiconductor substrate that has a semiconductor layer extending in a depth direction of the semiconductor substrate with a uniform concentration profile, and a method for manufacturing the same.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate has a trench having a first width at a bottom thereof and a second width at an opening portion thereof larger than the first width. The trench is filled with a semiconductor layer having a dimension in a normal line direction with respect to a surface of the semiconductor substrate larger than a lateral dimension thereof that is a dimension in a lateral direction on an arbitrary plane parallel to the surface of the semiconductor substrate intersecting the trench.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate has a semiconductor layer filled in a trench and having a dimension in a normal line direction with respect to a surface of the semiconductor substrate larger than a lateral dimension thereof that is a dimension in a lateral direction on an arbitrary plane parallel to the surface of the semiconductor substrate intersecting the trench. Further a conductive material is filled in the semiconductor layer in the trench for taking a potential of the semiconductor layer.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate is manufactured by forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate; forming a first epitaxial layer on a surface of the semiconductor substrate and in the trench; etching a part of the first epitaxial film; and forming a second epitaxial film in the trench so that the trench is filled with the first and second epitaxial films.
According to a forth aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate is manufactured by forming a trench; filling an amorphous semiconductor film in the trench; single-crystallizing the amorphous semiconductor film through a solid phase reaction; and flattening the surface of the semiconductor substrate.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate is manufactured by forming a trench; forming an epitaxial film on a surface of the semiconductor substrate and in the trench; forming a conductive material film on the epitaxial film so that the conductive material film is filled in the epitaxial film in the trench; and flattening the surface of the semiconductor substrate.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor substrate is manufactured by forming a trench having a first depth in a semiconductor substrate; forming an epitaxial film on a surface of the semiconductor substrate and in the trench; and removing the epitaxial film on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a surface portion of the semiconductor substrate so that the trench has a second depth smaller than the first depth and is completely filled with the epitaxial film.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, when an epitaxial film is formed to fill a trench, a relation of B/xcex1 less than F/2xcex2 is satisfied, in which:
xcex1 is a first growth rate of the epitaxial film on a bottom of the trench;
xcex2 is a second growth rate of the epitaxial film on a side of the trench;
F is a width at an opening portion of the trench; and
B is a depth of the trench.
Thus, the present invention provides various constructions for a semiconductor substrate that has a semiconductor layer extending in an depth direction of the substrate with a uniform concentration profile with a high aspect ratio and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor substrate efficiently without generating any voids, crystal defects and the like.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor substrate having an epitaxial film in the trench