An autostereoscopic display includes a display device and an optical system which provide laterally overlapping viewing windows wherein one viewing window may receive black view data while an adjacent viewing window receives eye view data. Such a display may be used to perform observer tracking.

In normal vision, the two human eyes perceive views of the world from different perspectives due to the separation of the eyes (Interocular separation). These two perspectives are then used by the brain to assess the distance to various objects in a scene. In order to provide a display which effectively displays a three dimensional (3D) image, it is necessary to recreate this situation and supply a so-called stereoscopic pair of images, one to each eye of the observer.
3D displays are classified into two types, namely stereoscopic and autostereoscopic, depending on the method used to supply the different views to the eyes. Stereoscopic displays typically display both of the images over a wide viewing area. In one known type of arrangement, two head mounted separate channels, as in head mounted displays, are worn by an observer such that each channel presents a respective one of the stereoscopic pair of images to the associated eye. Other types of stereoscopic displays typically display both of the images over a wide viewing area. FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates such a display at 1 and illustrates the wide output light cone 2 produced by the display. Each of the views is encoded, for instance by colour (in anaglyph systems), polarisation state, or temporally (in shutter glasses systems). Viewing aids such as filters 3 and 4 are worn in front of the right and left eyes R and L of the observer so as to separate the views and let each eye see only the view intended for it. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, the left and right views are encoded by encodings A and B.
The filter 3, which may be a colour filter, a polarising filter or a shutter, blocks light with the encoding A hut passes light with the encoding B so that the right eye R sees the right view. Similarly, the filter 4 blocks light with the encoding B but passes light with the encoding A so that the left eye sees only the left view.
Autostereoscopic displays require no viewing aids to be worn by the observer. Instead, the two views are only visible from limited regions of space as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings. The autostereoscopic display 1 creates `viewing regions` such as 6 and 7. The viewing regions are regions of space in which a single two dimensional (2D) image is visible across the whole of the active area of the display 1 by one eye. When an observer is situated such that the right eye R is in the right viewing region 7 and the left eye L is in the left viewing region 6, a stereoscopic pair of images is seen and a 3D image can be perceived.
For flat panel autostereoscopic displays, the viewing regions are typically formed by cooperation between the picture element (pixel) structure of the display and an optical element which is referred to as a parallax optic. Examples of parallax optics are parallax barriers, lenticular screens and holograms. A parallax barrier is a screen with vertical transmissive slits separated by opaque regions. FIG. 3 illustrates an autostereoscopic display of the front parallax barrier type. A parallax barrier 8 is disposed in front of a spatial light modulator 9 comprising glass substrates 10 and columns of pixels 11 with gaps 12 between adjacent columns. The SLM 9 may be a light-emitting device, such as a pixelated electroluminescent display. However, as shown in FIG. 3, the SLM 9 is of the light valve type, such as a liquid crystal device (LCD), provided with a backlight 13.
The pitch of the slits such as 14 is chosen to be close to an integer multiple of the pitch of the columns of pixels 11 so that groups of columns of pixels are associated with each slit of the barrier 8. As shown in FIG. 3, each slit such as 14 is associated with three columns such as columns 1, 2 and 3.
The function of the parallax optic 8 is to restrict the directions in which light is transmitted through each of the pixels to a predetermined range of output angles. To a first order, the angular range of view of each pixel is determined by the pixel width and the separation between the plane of the pixels and the plane of the parallax optic 8.
FIG. 4 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the angular zones of light created by the SLM 9 and the parallax barrier 8 where the parallax barrier has a pitch which is an exact integer multiple of the pitch of the columns of pixels 11. The angular zones Z1 and Z2 coming from different locations across the display surface intermix. Thus, there is no region in front of the display where an eye of the observer will see a single image across the whole of the display surface.
In order to overcome this problem, the pitch of the parallax optic 8 is reduced slightly so that the angular zones Z1 and Z2 converge at a predetermined plane referred to as a `window` plane 15 in front of the display as illustrated in FIG. 5. The change in pitch of the parallax optic 8 is referred to as `viewpoint correction` and gives rise to the viewing regions 6 and 7 where the zones Z2 and Z1, respectively, all overlap. The viewing regions 6 and 7 are generally `kite` shaped in the lateral plane and extend vertically.
The window plane 15 defines the optimum viewing distance of the display. An observer whose eyes are located in the window plane 15 receives the best performance from the display. As each eye of the observer moves laterally in the window plane 15, the perceived image remains unchanged until the eye reaches the edge of the viewing region 6 or 7. The image perceived across the whole display will then change as the eye moves into the adjacent viewing region, for instance to the next image. The part of the window plane 15 within each viewing region 6, 7 is generally referred to as a `viewing window`.
In a typical SLM such as a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD), the columns of pixels 11 are spaced apart by the gaps 12 to allow for the routing of electrical connections. The gaps 12 form vertical strips and are covered by an opaque material to stop light leaking through the gaps. In a TFT LCD, the opaque layer is called a `black mask` or `black matrix`. However, as illustrated in FIG. 6 of the accompanying drawings, the vertical strips between the columns of pixels 11 are also imaged to the window plane and cause dark regions 16 to be formed between the viewing regions 6, 7. If the dark regions 16 are to be avoided so that the viewing regions 6, 7 meet each other, apertures in the black mask defining the pixels 11 must be such that adjacent pairs of pixel columns associated with each parallax element of the parallax optic 8 are horizontally contiguous i.e. there is no continuous vertical black mask strip between such adjacent pairs of pixel columns.
The illumination profile (variation of light intensity with viewing position) within each viewing region 6, 7 is determined by the shape of the apertures defining the pixels 11. The parallax optic 8 is a cylindrical optical element so that the vertical aperture of each pixel column is integrated to give vertically extended lumination within each viewing region 6, 7. Thus, If the vertical aperture of the pixel varies across its width as illustrated at 17 in FIG. 7, illumination of the viewing window varies across its width. This is illustrated in FIG. 7 for the viewing region 7, which is divided into a bright zone 18, a dull zone 19, and mixed zones 20. An observer whose eye moves between the bright zone 18 and the dull zone 19 will perceive an intensity change of the order of 5% or more as a visual flicker effect. This effect detracts from the perceived quality of the display and is uncomfortable. It is therefore desirable to maintain a constant vertical aperture ratio in such displays, for instance by means of rectangular pixel apertures.
If an eye of the observer is not located at the window plane 15, then the breakdown in viewpoint correction means that the eye will see different information in different places across the display surface. For instance, if an observer eye is in the mixed zone 20 closer to the display, the observer eye will see the left hand side of the display as being substantially brighter than the right hand side thereof. If the observer is sufficiently far away from the window plane to be outside the viewing regions 6, 7, each eye sees slices of different images across the display surface so that the 3D effect is lost. This condition begins to occur at the tips of the viewing regions 6, 7 nearest and furthest from the display. Dark bands caused by vertical strips between the pixels also become visible as darker bands on the display.
Although each parallax element is principally associated with a respective group of pixel columns as illustrated by columns 1, 2 and 3 in FIG. 3, adjacent groups of pixel columns are also imaged by the element. Imaging of the groups creates lobes of repeated viewing regions to either side of the central or zero order lobe as illustrated in FIG. 8 for a two view display showing views V1 and V2. Each of the lobes repeats all the properties of the central lobe but is affected to a larger extent by imperfections and abberations of the optical system so that higher order lobes may be unusable.
In order to provide a full colour display, each pixel 11 is generally optically aligned with a filter associated with one of the three primary colours (red, green, blue). By suitably controlling groups of three pixels associated with the three primary colour filters, substantially all visible colours may be produced or approximated. In an autostereoscopic display, each of the stereoscopic image channels must contain enough of the colour filters for a balanced colour output. Many SLMs have colour filters arranged in vertical columns for ease of manufacture so that all the pixels in each column have the same colour filter associated therewith. If a parallax optic were disposed on such an SLM with three pixel columns associated with each parallax element, light imaged into each viewing region would be of only one colour. The colour filter layout must therefore be such as to avoid this situation, for instance as disclosed in EP 0752610.
The autostereoscopic displays illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 7 have parallax barriers as the parallax optics 8 disposed at the front of the display i.e. between the SLM 9 and the viewing regions 6, 7. However, other arrangements of parallax optical work in substantially the same manner.
For instance, as shown in FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings, the front parallax barrier may be replaced by a front lenticular screen which comprises an array of cylindrically converging lenslets or lenticules. The lenticular screen focuses light from the SLM 9 to the window plane and produces viewing regions having well-defined boundary regions on axis. Because the lenticules work by redirecting light rather than by restricting light throughput as in the case of a parallax barrier, the illumination at the window plane is greater for a lenticular screen. However, parallax barriers are not subject to the optical abberations produced by lenticular screens.
FIG. 10 of the accompanying drawings illustrates an autostereoscopic display which differs from that shown in FIG. 3 in that the parallax barrier 8 is disposed between the backlight 13 and the SLM 9 to form a rear parallax barrier display. This arrangement has the advantage that the parallax barrier 8 is kept behind the SLM 9 and therefore way from possible damage. Also, the light efficiency may be improved by making the rear surface of the parallax barrier 8 reflective so as to permit recycling of the light not incident on the slits (rather than absorbing such light). A switchable diffuser 21 is disposed between the SLM 9 and the parallax barrier 8 and may, for example, comprise a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal. When switched to a low dispersion state, the display operates as described hereinbefore as an autostereoscopic 3D display. When the diffuser 21 is switched to a highly dispersive state, the light rays are deflected on passing through the diffuser to form an even or `Lambertian` distribution which prevents the creating of the viewing zones. The display therefore functions as a 2D display and permits the full spatial resolution of the SLM 9 to be used in displaying a 2D image.
FIG. 11 shows a known type of spatial light modulator (SLM) 9 in the form of a liquid crystal display (LCD) comprising a plurality of picture elements (pixels) arranged as rows and columns in a regular pattern or array. The LCD 9 provides a colour display and comprises red pixels 32, blue pixels 33, and green pixels 34. The LCD 9 is of the thin film transistor twisted nematic type and the pixels are separated from each other by a black mask 35. Thus, each column of pixels is separated from each adjacent column by a continuous vertical opaque strip of the black mask 35, which prevents light from passing through the thin film transistors of the LCD 1.
In order to provide a 3D display, a lenticular screen 8 is disposed in front of the pixels of the LCD 9. The lenticular screen 8 comprises a plurality of vertically extending lenticules, each of which is optically cylindrically converging. The lenticules extend vertically and may be formed, for instance, as plano-convex cylindrical lenses or as graded refractive index (GRIN) cylindrical lenses. Each lenticule is disposed above a plurality of columns of pixels (four columns as shown in FIG. 11) and each column of pixels provides a vertical slice of a 2D view. The shape of each pixel is rectangular with a small rectangular extension projecting from the right side of each pixel.
As illustrated in FIG. 12, when the 3D display is suitably illuminated from behind and image data are supplied to the pixels of the LCD 9 such that each column of pixels displays a thin vertical slice of a 2D image, each lenticule of the screen 8 forms viewing zones 37 to 40 from the respective four columns of pixels associated with the lenticule. The directions in which the viewing zones 37 to 40 extend correspond to the directions from which the respective 2D views were recorded during image capture. When viewed by an observer whose eyes are in adjacent ones of the viewing zones 37 to 40, a 3D image is perceived.
However, the vertical portions of the black mask 35 between the columns of pixels are also imaged in the directions indicated at 41 to 45. Further, the viewing zones 37 to 40 contain regions such as 46 to 48 of reduced brightness corresponding to imaging of the rectangular protrusions extending from the main pixel regions. Thus, the output of the display does not have continuous parallax with uniform brightness.
FIG. 13 shows a 3D display of the type disclosed in EP 0 625 861 and comprising an LCD 9 and a lenticular screen 8. The LCD 9 differs from that shown in FIG. 11 in that the pixels are arranged in a different pattern of horizontal rows and vertical columns. In particular, each pixel may be a composite pixel comprising a red pixel 32, a blue pixel 33 and a green pixel 34. The pixels are arranged such that they are contiguous in the horizontal direction. In other words, there are no continuous vertical black mask portions separating the pixels. To achieve this, each composite pixel 50 in a first row is spaced vertically from a horizontally adjacent composite pixel 51 in a second row but the right hand edge of the composite pixel 50 lies on the same vertical line as the left hand edge of the composite pixel 51. Thus, compared with FIG. 11, the number of columns of pixels imaged by each lenticule of the screen 8 has been doubled to eight whereas the vertical resolution of the LCD 9 has effectively been halved.
As shown in FIG. 14, each lenticule of the screen 8 generates eight viewing zones 52 to 59 which are angularly contiguous with each other and which represent eight different 2D views with continuous horizontal parallax. Thus, "black" regions such as 41 and "grey" regions such as 46 in FIG. 2 are eliminated and an observer can perceive a 3D image of substantially constant intensity and without image gaps. Further, the number of 2D views for the or each 3D image frame is doubled by halving the vertical resolution.
The LCD 9 shown in FIG. 13 thus overcomes the disadvantages of the LCD 9 shown in FIG. 11 in that contiguous viewing zones can be produced. However, the pixels must be accurately contiguous in the horizontal direction in order to avoid undesirable visual artifacts appearing to the observer. In particular, any underlap or overlap of the pixels in the horizontal direction will give rise to intensity variations as an observer eye moves from each viewing zone to an adjacent viewing zone. Thus, LCDs of this type have to be manufactured to very tight tolerances in order to avoid such effects and this increases the complexity and cost of manufacture.
Further, as will be described hereinafter, the crosstalk between left and right views may give rise to undesirable visual artifacts with the LCD of FIG. 13. In particular, the amount of crosstalk seen by each eye may be different and may vary in a stepwise manner as the observer moves.
EP 0 617 549 discloses an stereoscopic head-mounted display which has a separate display device and optical system for each eye of an observer. Each display device comprises a backlight and an LCD and each pedocal system forms a virtual image of a left or right eye view of a stereoscopic pair. For viewing comfort, the virtual images are formed in the same region in front of the observer.
EP 0 262 955 discloses an autostereoscopic display of the type providing two views which are repeated in a plurality of lobes.

Autostereoscopic display including a viewing window that may receive black view data


A processing device receives a request to include a custom action in a processing definition. The custom action is to be performed in response to an occurrence of an infrastructure event in a third party infrastructure platform. The processing device selects the processing definition that specifies a default action to be performed in response to the occurrence of the infrastructure event. The default action being defined by an infrastructure management platform managing the third party infrastructure platform. The processing device receives, from the third party infrastructure platform, user input defining the custom action relative to the default action in the processing definition and changes the processing definition to include the custom action relative to the default action.

Computing infrastructures, such as storage systems, virtualization systems, and networking systems, can be provided as resources via data centers and/or cloud computing environments. Various infrastructure events may occur for the resources (e.g., physical resources, virtual resources), such as, creating a resource, provisioning a resource, running a resource, de-provisioning a resource, etc. Event notifications can be generated for the infrastructure events. Typically, one or more management actions are performed in response to occurrences of events. The management actions are generally pre-defined and fixed and do not allow for third party customization.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Customizable event processing for third party infrastructure events


Monoclonal antibodies that bind specifically to prostate carcinoma and do not bind substantially to normal prostate or benign prostatic hyperplasia, as well as hybridoma cell lines producing the monoclonal antibodies are disclosed. In one embodiment, a monoclonal antibody designated MAb PD41 is disclosed. A new antigen designated prostate mucin antigen is disclosed in isolated, substantially pure form. In addition, methods for using the hybridoma cell lines, the monoclonal antibody and/or the antigen for diagnosis, prophylaxis and/or treatment of prostate carcinoma are disclosed.

Several laboratories have developed monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) or immunoassays for monitoring the expression of the two well-characterized prostate antigens, i.e., prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) (Chu et al., in T. M. Chu, ed., Biochemical Markers for Cancer, pp. 117-128, New York, Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1982; Taga et al., 1983, Prostate 4:141-150) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) (Wang et al., 1979, Invest. Urol. 17:159-163). Neither of these prostate markers, however, has been found useful for early detection or for distinguishing benign from malignant prostate tumors. Moreover, these prostate markers do not provide meaningful information regarding the progressive nature or aggressiveness of the tumor.
Additional MAbs that have shown potential for detecting circulating prostate antigens in patient serum include TURP-27 (Starling et al., 1986, Cancer Res. 46:367-374), 7E11-C5 (Horoszewicz et al., 1987, Anticancer Res. 7:927-936) and PR92 (Kim et al., 1988, Cancer Res. 48:4543-4548). These antibodies recognize tumor antigens that are either prostate-organ specific, such that they react with normal and benign prostate antigens as well as carcinoma, i.e., PSA, PAP, 7E11-C5 and TURP-27, or they cross-react with non-prostate cells or carcinoma, i.e., PR92 cross-reacts with breast carcinomas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,404 issued Oct. 8, 1991 to Ueda et al., describes monoclonal antibodies which recognize "differentiated antigen" specifically found on epithelial cells of human prostate including normal prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatic cancer.
Two monoclonal antibodies described by Bazinet et al., (1988, Cancer Res. 48:6938-6942) recognize an antigen that is selectively expressed on malignant prostatic epithelium. However, these MAbs appear to identify only a small reactive subset of prostate carcinomas provided the tissue specimens have not been exposed to fixatives.
At present, there still remains a definite need for the identification of other prostate tumor associated antigens. In particular, there is a need for MAbs which preferentially bind to prostatic carcinoma and show little or no cross-reactivity to benign prostatic hyperplasia and normal prostatic epithelia. Such antibodies will be useful for both diagnosis and therapy of prostate carcinoma. Additionally, there is a need for MAbs specific for prostate carcinoma, that will be useful for early detection and monitoring of prostatic carcinoma disease and progression and/or which can provide additional clinical and pathological information with respect to aggressiveness or metastatic potential of prostate carcinoma.

Isolated nucleotide sequences encoding an: antigen binding site of monoclonal antibody PD41; and antigen associated with prostate adenocarcinomas

Eastern Virginia Medical School of Medical College of Hampton Roads


A depth camera assembly (DCA) includes a direct time of flight system for determining depth information for a local area. The DCA includes an illumination source, a camera, and a controller. The illumination source projects light (e.g., pulse of light) into the local area. The camera detects reflections of the projected light from objects in the local area. The camera includes a detector where pixels are grouped into multiple macropixels that are coupled to an output bus. Specific macropixels from which information describing light detected by pixels in the specific macropixels is obtained. In come configurations, each macropixel includes a counter that is incremented based on detection of light by pixels in the macropixels. The counter may be used to select macropixels from which data is obtained.

The present disclosure generally relates to depth sensing, and specifically relates increasing speed of readout of data from a detector in a direct time of flight sensor.
Mapping an environment with high accuracy and resolution allows generation or more immersive virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) content. Accurately mapping an environment surrounding a VR system or and AR system allows virtual objects to more realistically interact with real objects the environment surrounding the VR or AR system. For example, highly accurate mapping of an environment surrounding the VR or AR system allows a virtual object in a virtual environment to collide with real surfaces in the environment surrounding the VR or AR system or to appear occluded when the virtual object moves behind an opaque surface in the environment surrounding the VR or AR system.

Synchronous event driven readout of pixels in a detector for direct time-of-flight depth sensing


A sentence communicating a desired vanity message is parsed into the component parts. Code blocks corresponding to one or more component parts of the sentence are unambiguously coded. At least one of the code blocks is non-phonetically and unambiguously coded. And at least one of the code blocks representing a component part of a sentence has, as a part of the code block, a code distinguishing feature for the code block representing the component part of the sentence. The code blocks follow each other to form a coded message. The first and one or more other code blocks have no fewer than the predetermined minimum number of characters and no more than the predetermined maximum number of characters.

Over the years, human languages have evolved to adapt to communication in a shortened or abbreviated form. For example, with the popularity of instant messaging (IM) on the Internet, the use of relatively simple abbreviations of names and places has expanded to the user of abbreviations for more complex expressions. Expressions such as "You are cool," for example, may be phonetically shortened or abbreviated as "U R Cool".
The notion of personalized merchandise or goods also expands the application of these abbreviated or "coded" messages to different display media types. For example, vanity or personalized license plates no longer simply display the initials of a person's name. Instead, license plates may be used to communicate individualized expressions. Within the limited space of a vehicle license plate, individuals use a combination of their creativity and phonetic characteristics of message to express a desired message. For example, a personal coded message such as "LV" in the expression "I LV U" means "LOVE" as in "I LOVE YOU," while commercial messages such as "OPEN24-7" may be interpreted as "We are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week." These shortened messages also appear in other display media such as, phone numbers, (e.g., 1-877-WORM-FREE or 1-800-CALL-ATT) or the like, some of which have a limited number of characters or spaces to display the messages or expressions. Such messages describe the words phonetically and in its entirety (i.e. as they are). These messages are also based on simple sentences often containing three or four words.
Presently, if a person desires to get a personalized or vanity license plate number communicating and/or expressing a sentence or a message, the person has to follow the requirements of the Department of Transportation (DOT) or other governing body of the particular state in which the person lives. For example, the state of Missouri first requires that each license plate has a maximum of six character spaces with six alphanumeric characters. In other states, such as Illinois, the maximum number of spaces is seven. Unfortunately, even seven character spaces do not allow a person to compose many coded sentences or messages, particularly a complex sentence and/or multiple words. This is a major restriction or limitation for current phonetic coding or abbreviation method. The details involved in creating a phonetically coded personalized automobile license plate can be found at eHow.com under "How to create a personalized license plate".
Due to the unique nature of a license plate, many States DOT require that a given vanity/personalized license plate can be assigned to only one vehicle. For example, in Missouri, vanity plates such as "IM-TAKN" (meaning "I am taken") or "LVU-DAD" (meaning "Love you, Dad") can be assigned to only one vehicle. Thus, this restriction prohibits several people from expressing the same message through their personalized vehicle license plates. Moreover, space requirements on license plates and the like limit the number of possible combinations of letters and numbers available for expressing a message phonetically. As an example, phonetically expressing a desired message such as "Our children are wonderful" on a license plate and satisfying space/number of characters requirements would be practically impossible. As a negative economic consequence, the number of vanity license plates issued by a given State DOT is thus limited and the revenue generated to that State is also limited.
Also, many messages for license plates are written or abbreviated based on arbitrary or personal rules. A dictionary of commonly used vanity automobile license plate terms can be seen at the World Wide Web baac.net/michael/plates/. Note this is merely a collection of terms used in vanity plates. Since the arbitrary or personal rules are not readily known, in many cases, the general public is often unable to know the meaning or the message being communicated. In another case of a personalized plate (e.g., "IMWTIM"), although one may be able to guess the possible meanings of the message being communicated, in many others examples, one does not easily understand the meaning of the message being communicated, except for the owner of the vanity plate or when the owner shares the information.
In the area of personalized license plates, there are other regulatory limitations to be considered. As an example, the DOT may make a determination whether or not a particular message is objectionable to the general population before allowing its use on a license plate. For example, persons may express certain messages orally and/or privately but may consider them unsuitable to express in writing or in public. Even if a message is not necessarily objectionable (e.g., "my wife is sexy"), one may be uncomfortable openly or explicitly expressing these feelings in writing through a personal display medium such as the current vehicle license plate system or a T-shirt. Other problems can arise when messages have sexual connotations or express views on a particular ideology. For example, a person may wish to say that s/he hates the Republican or Democratic Party. The state government procedures or even informal rules of decorum may not allow one to express such feelings through current personalized license tags. Similar regulatory agency imposed space limitations may be found in many other countries, such as Canada, Germany, or Japan.
Additionally, due to display space limitations, one may not be able to completely display messages expressed in sentences containing many words. Even if the message is displayed, probably in small letters on a display space, as an example, a mug or a personal wear such as a T-shirt, a reader must be fairly close to the displayed space, which may not always be possible or feasible or appropriate, to read the sentences.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,760,528; 4,969,097; 5,305,205; 5,623,406 and 6,279,018 describe rules that are useful to the development of abbreviations of text for speedy inputs to computers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,377,965; 6,775,663; 6,901,364 and 7,010,478 claim information coding and retrieval systems as a part of search engine system. The U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,265 discloses a search engine system with coding information and a search method using the same. Since per above mentioned patent, a plurality of different words having similar or same meanings is coded as one standard word, this method is confusing and not suitable to unambiguously derive a code clearly communicating the desired message in the given sentence. In the U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,902 a method for compressing and abbreviating text messages by using standard abbreviations and/or known compressive transformations, and subsequent interpretation is disclosed. These abbreviation rules are complicated and mechanistic in nature. Importantly, upon expanding or reversing the shortened text message, one only gets an approximation to the original message or a list of many possible full length versions of meanings. The compressed and abbreviated text messages based on prior art methods could not meet the government or the industry imposed space limitations or the number of character restrictions on a personalized or individualized display space and unambiguously communicate the desired message in a coded form on such display space. Importantly the above mentioned prior art approaches suffer a serious drawback. The coded or reduced or abbreviated character sets when decoded have multiple meanings, i.e. the coded text communicates an ambiguous meaning with multiple possibilities of subsequent interpretations. The US application (US 2007/0175073) describes a more readily identifiable license plate with an emphasis on apprehending child abductors. Thus, these prior art methods are not suitable to unambiguously create a coded message communicating the desired message for display on a personal and/or individual display space and not suitable to compress a text message into a format that could be decompressed to the original text message form without multiple meanings.
Thus, a creative, novel and practical message communication system and methods for unambiguously and non-phonetically coding a sentence or compressing a text message are desirable to overcome the above restrictions and/or similar limitations. A system and method for unambiguously and non-phonetically coding a sentence or compressing a text message is also desirable in which a set of uniform rules and guidelines is provided that can be easily practiced by many.

Method for coding a vanity message for display


The present disclosure relates to a display panel including at least one scan line formed by a first metal layer, at least one data line formed by a second metal layer, and at least one dielectric layer between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. The scan line is of a segment structure including a plurality of sub-scan lines electrically connecting to connection patterns of the corresponding second metal layer via corresponding via holes of the dielectric layer, the connection patterns of the second metal layer electrically connects the sub-scan lines. The data line is of the segment structure including a plurality of sub-data lines electrically connecting to the connection patterns of the corresponding first metal layer via the corresponding via holes of the dielectric layer, and the connection patterns of the first metal layer electrically connects the sub-data lines.

Flat display panels are widely used in computers, televisions, monitors, portable electronic devices, etc. As the market demands for large-size screens in portable electronic devices continue to increase, large-size displays using flat display panels have been fully developed and commercialized.
With the development of more advanced manufacturing equipment and materials engineering technology, the application of bendable, foldable and curved display in electronic products has become more and more abundant, which has brought great profit opportunities for electronic product manufacturers.
Flexible display is a highly competitive display technology in the future. By mounting flexible-display-medium electronic components and materials on a flexible or flexible substrate, the display is characterized by being able to bend or curl into any shape, which is light and thin. It is easy to carry, especially its foldability, so that the panel can obtain a larger display area without occupying more space.
In the conventional panel design, the scan line in the effective display area (AA) uses a metal material linear trace to span the entire effective display area, and a general low temperature polycrystalline thin film transistor (LTPS TFT) array substrate is adopted. Molybdenum metal is used as a scan line material, but molybdenum metal is a high-temperature brittle material, and the ductility is poor. When the radius of curvature of the panel is small, the fracture is likely to occur. Referring to FIG. 1, it is a schematic diagram of a folding manner of a conventional display panel. When the folding panel is folded along the bending line A/B, the general panel design level scan line will penetrate the AA area. When the bending radius of curvature is reduced, the metal line of the scan line is prone to crack. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional display panel. The panel mainly includes a substrate 1 disposed in order from bottom to top, a buffer layer 2, a gate insulating (GI) layer 3, and a scan line 4 formed of molybdenum metal, an interlayer insulating (ILD) layer 6, a data line 7 and the like, wherein the scan line 4 generates cracks 5 due to panel bending.

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present invention is directed to photoinitiated cationic epoxy compositions including: (a) at least one substantially saturated epoxy material comprising at least two glycidyl ether groups; (b) about 0.1 to about 20 weight percent on a basis of total weight of the composition of at least one polymer comprising at least one vinyl chloride segment and at least one vinyl acetate segment; and (c) at least one cationic photoinitiator; and bonded substrates and methods of bonding including the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to photoinitiated cationic epoxy compositions having good impact strength and toughness.
2. Brief Description of Related Technology
Photoinitiated, cationically curable adhesive compositions based on epoxy resins have many benefits and advantages desirable to end user consumers. For example, such compositions provide cured products having physical properties comparable to those provided by thermosetting compositions, are less inhibited by oxygen than photoinitiated free radical curable compositions (resulting in faster and more thorough cure), and exhibit less shrinkage during cure than otherwise comparable photoinitiated free radical curable compositions (such as those based on acrylic chemistry).
Photoinitiated cationic adhesive compositions have, therefore, been used in various well-known applications such as liquid crystal displays and as laminates in digital video discs.
There has been an ongoing desire to find photoinitiated adhesive compositions having good impact strength and toughness, because photocure mechanisms are ordinarily more rapid than heat cure mechanisms and can avoid heat degradation of the overall device, part and/or substrate.

Photoinitiated cationic epoxy compositions


A hydrocarbon reservoir within a subterranean formation surrounding a wellbore is simultaneously fractured within an upper zone with a lower density acid and within a lower zone with a higher density acid. As the fracturing propagates through the reservoir, the lower portion of the fracture within the upper zone of the reservoir intersects with the upper portion of the fracture within the lower zone of the reservoir. The lower density acid remains within the upper zone of the reservoir propagating the fracture therein while the higher density acid remains within the lower zone of the reservoir propagating the fracture therein.

The invention relates to acidizing a subterranean formation and, more particularly, to a new and improved method for acid fracturing a formation surrounding a wellbore.
It is common practice to acidize subterranean formations in order to increase the permeability thereof. For example, in the petroleum industry it is conventional to inject an acidizing fluid into a well in order to increase the permeability of a surrounding hydrocarbon-bearing formation and thus facilitate the flow of hydrocarbon fluids into the well from the formation or the injection of fluids, such as gas or water, from the well into the formation. Such acidizing techniques may be carried out as "matrix acidizing" procedures or as "acid fracturing" procedures.
In matrix acidizing, the acidizing fluid is passed into the formation from the well at a pressure below the breakdown pressure of the formation. In this case, increase in permeability is effected primarily by the chemical reaction of the acid within the formation with little or no permeability increase being due to mechanical distortions within the formation as in fracturing.
In acid fracturing, the acidizing fluid is disposed within the well opposite the formation to be fractured. Thereafter, sufficient pressure is applied to the acidizing fluid to cause the formation to break down with the resultant production of one or more fractures therein. An increase in permeability thus is effected by the acid etching of the fractures formed as well as by the chemical reaction of the acid within the formation.
In yet another technique involving acidizing, the formation is fractured initially using an inert fluid. (Inert fluids may be gelled water containing polymers such as hydroxypropyl cellulose). Thereafter, an acidizing fluid is injected into the formation at fracturing pressures to extend the created fracture and to "finger through" the fracture filled with the inert fluid. The acid functions to dissolve formation materials forming the walls of the fracture, thus increasing the width and permeability thereof.
In A. R. Jennings, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,703, there is described an acid treatment of a subterranean formation to improve productivity of hydrocarbons from a reservoir therein employing an acid fracturing of the formation surrounding a well pentrating the hydrocarbon reservoir. Such acid treatment involves the injection of a gelled and foamed acid into a formation under conditions and pressures sufficient to fracture the formation and create a foam pad in the face of at least one resultant fracture. Thereafter, an ungelled and foamed acid is injected into the fracture which acid "fingers" through the foam pad thereby unevenly etching the fracture and propagating to substantially further distances into the formation. When the acid is spent and the desired amount of etching and fracturing is obtained, the gelled composition is removed from the formation. Hydrocarbon fluids are then produced from the formation.

Method for acid fracturing a subterranean formation


The invention proposes a device for connecting wall elements of a drawer, wherein the wall elements, in the connected state, form at least part of a wall of the drawer, and wherein the drawer wall comprises a front wall, a rear wall and/or at least one side wall. According to the invention, a plate-like connecting adapter with engagement means is provided for connecting the wall elements which are to be connected, the engagement means interacting, for connecting purposes, both with an end side of a first wall element which is to be connected and with a main side of a second wall element which is to be connected, wherein the connecting adapter, in its main direction of extent, butts against the end side and the main side.

Different connecting devices are known in the furniture sector for assembling drawer-wall elements.
For example, straightforward adhesive-bonding connections or mortise and tenon joints are realized for drawer-wall elements made of wood.
The connected wall elements of a drawer form at least part of a wall of the drawer, wherein the drawer wall, depending on the position on the drawer, may comprise a front wall, a rear wall and usually two side walls.

Connecting device and drawer having a connecting device


An emitter switched thyristor with base resistance control for preventing parasitic latch-up includes a P-N-P-N main thyristor with an N.sup.+ floating emitter for MOS-gated controlled turn-on and a lateral P-channel MOSFET for shunting hole current in a second base region to a P.sup.+ diverting region electrically connected to the cathode. The P-channel MOSFET is enabled by the application of a negative gate voltage to form a P-type inversion layer between the second base region and the P.sup.+ diverter region, thus reducing the resistance between the cathode and the second base region and raising the holding current of the emitter switched thyristor to above the operating current level. The formation of an alternative current path to the cathode has the further effect of reducing the forward bias across the base-emitter junction of an adjacent parasitic thyristor to thereby prevent the sustained regenerative action of the parasitic thyristor.

The development of semiconductor switching technology for high power applications in motor drive circuits, appliance controls and lighting ballasts, for example, began with the bipolar junction transistor. As the technology matured, bipolar devices became capable of handling very large current densities in the range of 200-300 A/cm.sup.2, with blocking voltages of 600 V.
Despite the attractive power ratings achieved by bipolar transistors, there exist several fundamental drawbacks to the suitability of bipolar transistors for all high power applications. First of all, bipolar transistors are current controlled devices. Accordingly, a large control current into the base, typically one fifth to one tenth of the collector current, is required to maintain the device in an operating mode. Even larger base currents, however, are required for high speed forced turn-off. These characteristics make the base drive circuitry complex and expensive. The bipolar transistor is also vulnerable to breakdown if a high current and high voltage are simultaneously applied to the device, as commonly required in inductive power circuit applications, for example. Furthermore, it is difficult to parallel connect these devices since current diversion to a single device occurs at high temperatures, making emitter ballasting schemes necessary.
The power MOSFET was developed to address this base drive problem. In a power MOSFET, a bias voltage for turn-on and turn-off control is applied to a gate electrode. The gate electrode is separated from the device's active area by an intervening insulator, typically silicon dioxide. Because the gate is insulated from the active area, little if any gate current is required in either the on-state or off-state. The gate current is also kept small during switching because the gate forms a capacitor with the device's active area. Thus, only charging and discharging current ("displacement current") is required. The high input impedance of the gate, caused by the insulator, is a primary feature of the power MOSFET. Moreover, because of the minimal current demands on the gate, the gate drive circuitry and devices can be easily implemented on a single chip. As compared to bipolar technology, the simple gate control provides for a large reduction in cost and a significant improvement in reliability.
These benefits are offset, however, by the high on-resistance of the MOSFET's active region, which arises from the absence of minority carrier injection. Indeed, the drift region of the power MOSFET represents a high series resistance during current conduction. As a result, the device's operating forward current density is limited to relatively low values, typically in the range of 10 A/cm.sup.2, for a 600 V device, as compared to 200-300 A cm.sup.2, for the bipolar transistor.
On the basis of these features of power bipolar transistors and MOSFET devices, it is apparent that hybrid devices embodying a combination of bipolar current conduction with MOS-controlled current flow would provide significant advantages over single technologies such as bipolar or MOSFET alone. Thus, in the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), disclosed in an article by coinventor B. J. Baliga, M. S. Adler, R. P. Love, P. V. Gray and N. Zommer, entitled "The Insulated Gate Transistor: A New Three terminal MOS Controlled Bipolar Power Device," IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, ED-31, pp. 821-828 (1984), on-state losses were shown to be greatly reduced when compared to power MOSFETs. This was caused by the conductivity modulation of the IGBT's drift region during the on-state. A cross-sectional representation of a typical insulated gate bipolar transistor is shown in FIG. 1.
Although gate-controlled bipolar transistors, such as the IGBT, represent an improvement over using bipolar or MOSFET devices alone, even lower conduction losses can be expected by using a thyristor. This is because thyristors offer a higher degree of conductivity modulation and a lower forward voltage drop when turned on. Consequently, the investigation of thyristors is of great interest so long as adequate methods for providing forced gate turn-off can also be developed. As will be understood by one skilled in the art, a thyristor in its simplest form comprises a four-layer P1-N1-P2-N2 device with three P-N junctions in series: J1, J2, and J3, respectively. The four layers correspond to the anode (P1), the first base region (N1), the second base or P-base region (P2) and the cathode (N2), respectively. In the forward blocking state, the anode is biased positive with respect to the cathode and junctions J1 and J3 are forward biased and J2 is reversed-biased. Most of the forward voltage drop occurs across the central junction J2. In the forward conducting state, all three junctions are forward biased and the voltage drop across the device is very low and approximately equal to the voltage drop across a single forward biased P-N junction.
An inherent limitation to the use of thyristors for high current applications is sustained latch-up, however, arising from the coupled P1-N1-P2 and N1-P2-N2 bipolar transistors which make up the four layers of the thyristor. This is because sustained thyristor latch-up can result in catastrophic device failure if the latched-up current is not otherwise sufficiently controlled by external circuitry or by reversing the anode potential. Sustained latch-up can occur, for example, when the summation of the current gains for the thyristor's regeneratively coupled P1-N1-P2 and wide base P1-N2-P2 transistors exceeds unity. An alternative to providing external circuitry or reversing the anode potential to obtain turn-off, however, is to use a MOS-gate for controlling turn-on and turn-off.
Several methods for obtaining MOS-gate control over thyristor action, including latch-up, exist. For example, in the MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT), turn-off is provided by shorting the emitter-base junction of the N-P-N transistor to thereby produce a reduction in gain. This raises the holding current of the thyristor to a level above the operating current. Accordingly, an MCT structure has been reported which utilizes an P-channel MOSFET integrated into the P-base region of a thyristor with a N.sup.- drift region, as shown in FIG. 2. This device is described in an article by V. A. K. Temple, entitled "The MOS Controlled Thyristor," published in IEDM Technology Digest, Abstract 10.7, pp. 282-285, (1984). However, the maximum controllable current density, which is a direct measure of a device's ability to turn-off, is limited by the MOSFET inversion-layer channel resistance and other resistances in the base region. Because of the lower mobility for holes in silicon, MCT's built from n-type high-voltage drift layers exhibit poor current turn-off characteristics.
Other examples of MOS-gated thyristors include the depletion-mode thyristor (DMT), shown in FIG. 3, which overcame many of the drawbacks associated with the MCT. In the DMT, a depletion mode MOSFET is placed in series with the base of the P-N-P transistor. Accordingly, once the thyristor is turned-on, current flow can be shut off by application of a negative gate bias. This eliminates the base drive by pinching off the base current to the P-N-P transistor and shuts off the device. Both the MCT and DMT exhibit low forward drop and high on-state current densities.
In another device, described in an article entitled "The MOS-Gated Emitter Switched Thyristor," by coinventor Baliga, published in IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 75-77, February, 1990, turn-on is achieved by forcing the thyristor current to flow through an N-channel MOSFET and floating N.sup.+ emitter integrated within the P-base region. This article is hereby herein incorporated by reference. A cross-sectional representation of this structure and equivalent circuit is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, which are reproductions of FIG. 1 from the aforesaid Baliga article. As will be understood by one skilled in the art, the length of the floating N.sup.+ emitter region, which determines the value of large resistance R shown in FIG. 4B, controls the holding and triggering current for the device. Turn-off of the emitter switched device (EST) is accomplished by reducing the gate voltage on the MOSFET to below the threshold voltage. This cuts off the floating N.sup.+ region from the cathode and shuts-off the device.
Unfortunately, the integration of the MOSFET into the P-base region causes a parasitic thyristor to be formed, as shown in FIG. 4A. The N.sup.+ emitter region of the parasitic thyristor forms the N.sup.+ source of the N-channel MOSFET. If this thyristor turns-on, the EST can no longer be turned off by reducing the MOSFET gate voltage to zero. Turn-on of the parasitic thyristor is initiated by the onset of electron injection from the N.sup.+ emitter region of the parasitic thyristor when forward biased, and is dictated by the resistance of the P-base under the N.sup.+ emitter region. Accordingly, the likelihood that parasitic latch-up will occur can be reduced if the P-base resistance (small R) is lowered by making the length of the N.sup.+ emitter region small and by using a P.sup.+ diffusion to reduce the sheet resistance of the P-base.
More recently, a base resistance controlled thyristor (BRT) was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,300, to Baliga, and an article entitled "A New MOS-Gated Power Thyristor Structure with Turn-Off Achieved by Controlling the Base Resistance," by coinventors M. Nandakumar, B. J. Baliga and M. Shekar, and S. Tandon and A. Reisman, IEEE Electron Device Leeters, Vol. 12, No. 5, pp. 227-229, (1991), both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. The principle of operation involves modulation of the lateral P-base resistance of the thyristor using MOS gate control. Operational BRTs with 600-volt forward blocking capability, such as the one shown in FIG. 5, have been developed. FIG. 5 is a reproduction of FIG. 1 from the aforesaid Nandakumar, et al. article. The BRT can be turned-off by application of a negative bias to a diverting means to thereby reduce the resistance of the P-base by providing a parallel path for current flow to the cathode. As will be understood by one skilled in the art, the reduction in P-base resistance results in an increase in the device' s holding current to above the operational current level and shuts-off the device.
There are certain advantages that EST devices shown in FIG. 4a have over MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT) structures. First, the EST device can be fabricated using an IGBT baseline process which is much simpler than the triple-diffused DMOS process used to fabricate the MCT, for example. In addition, unlike the MCT, saturation of the thyristor current through gate control is possible with the EST structure. This feature provides controlled turn-on of the EST for adjusting the rate of rise of the anode current. This characteristic enhances the EST's suitability for motor drive applications for controlling the recovery of flyback diodes, for example. In addition, the EST is characterized by high input impedance, low on-state voltage drop, and good turn-off characteristics, which makes it useful for other applications in motor drive circuits, appliance controls, and lighting ballasts, to name a few.
One of the inherent disadvantages of using an EST, however, is the parasitic thyristor shown schematically on the right hand side of FIG. 4B. This parasitic thyristor can latch-up at high current densities resulting in a loss of MOS-gated control. As will be understood by one skilled in the art, the presence of the P.sup.+ diffusion in the P-base reduces the likelihood of latch-up by keeping the resistance under the N.sup.+ emitter of the parasitic thyristor as small as possible. This reduces the likelihood that the P.sup.+ /N.sup.+ junction will become forward biased when the thyristor is turned-on. The injection of electrons from the N.sup.+ emitter can also be limited by shorting the P.sup.+ diffusion to the cathode, as shown. Notwithstanding these techniques to prevent latch-up, however, a multicell EST switching device rated for 1 amp has been shown to be susceptible to parasitic latch-up failure at about 2.5 amps for a gate voltage of 10 volts for a 600 volt device. This low latch-up level limits the suitability of using emitter switched devices for higher current applications.

Unit cell arrangement for emitter switched thyristor with base resistance control

North Carolina State University at Raleigh


Disclosed is a system, including both method and apparatus, for enhancing the plasma etching of a semiconductor wafer. The system enhances etchant uniformity while greatly reducing plasma contamination. Etching is performed in a housing for processing a semiconductor wafer having a wafer perimeter defined by an outer wafer edge, a top surface and a bottom surface. The plasma etch technique includes a plasma positioned substantially coplanar with and proximate,to the semiconductor wafer. The plasma has a perimeter defined by an outer plasma edge and extending beyond substantially all of the wafer perimeter. Provided is a means for introducing an inert gas between the wafer perimeter and the plasma perimeter so the inert gas may or may not hit the wafer's bottom surface. Plasma and wafer can each have a circular shape where the plasma and the wafer are proximate to each other. Further provided can be a plasma focussing device having an inner wall residing beside and encircling that portion of the plasma overlying the wafer, the device positioned coaxially with the wafer and having a diameter larger than the wafer diameter.

The field of this invention relates generally to the plasma etching of semiconductor wafers, and more particularly to plasma etch apparatus designed to enhance etch uniformity and to inhibit the undesirable formation and deposition of particulates in the etch environment.
FIGS. 1A and 1B (prior art) illustrate the state of the art with an example of a conventional plasma etch system 20. A sealable chamber or housing 22 is coupled to a vacuum system (not shown) for evacuating the housing. Housing 22 typically has a movable door (not shown) for accessing the interior of housing 22. A pedestal 24 is secured inside housing 22 for receiving a wafer to be processed.
When preparing to perform a plasma etch process, a semiconductor wafer 26 is placed on top of pedestal 24 and clamped securely in place with a clamping ring 28 which generally is formed into the shape of an annulus. Toward its bottom edge, clamping ring 28 is provided with a plurality of inwardly extending fingers 31 used for contacting wafer 26 when clamping wafer 26 in place. Clamping ring 28 has an internal diameter shown in the drawings as a diameter d2, which is somewhat larger than the diameter of the wafer being etched.
One goal during plasma etching is to cover as little of the peripheral surface of wafer 26 as possible. Therefore clamping fingers 31 are designed to minimize their coverage of the wafer periphery and to minimize abberations caused by the fingers contacting the wafer.
Next, a plasma focus ring 30 having an interior diameter d1 and a ring height h1 can be placed over and into-contact with clamping ring 28. As discussed below, d1 also approximately equals the diameter of the plasma portion placed proximate to the exposed d2 portion of wafer 26.
Now that the parts are in place inside housing 22, the housing is closed and sealed tightly. A vacuum system evacuates the housing to create a vacuum inside into which a suitable etching gas is introduced. A plasma 32 typically is produced by coupling an RF (radio frequency) power source (not shown) to pedestal 24 according to standard processing methods.
At least a portion of plasma 32 occupies the interior volume defined within plasma ring 30. As is known to these skilled in the art, the plasma has a continuously varying diameter which can be considered to be substantially "fixed" in the sense that the plasma has a time-averaged diameter which is substantially constant. Influences such as magnetic enhancement will make the plasma non-circular at any one point in time, thus causing the diameter to be non-constant and therefore different at any one particular moment in time.
Further, plasma 32 is in close proximity with a top surface 34 of wafer 26. As FIG. 1 shows, plasma diameter d1 is larger than wafer exposed diameter d2. The plasma etch process now begins, with plasma 32 proceeding to etch top surface 34 of wafer 26.
Additionally, it is common practice when performing plasma etching to provide some form of cooling for silicon wafer 26 to keep it from being degraded or otherwise harmed by the heat produced within housing 22. In one arrangement a solid annular washer 23 is inserted between wafer 26 and pedestal 24; these three parts are sealed tightly together to prevent fluid leaks and the parts thereby define a gap 25. An inlet pipe 33, formed so wafer 26 can be placed coaxially with pipe 33 provides fluid communication into and out of gap 25. A cooling or cooled fluid such as a gas 39 is then injected through pipe 33 and into gap 25 where gas 39 provides a thermal conduction path between wafer 26 and pedestal 24.
One problem with present plasma etch techniques is the contamination of etch plasma 32 with contaminants such as particulates or involatile materials that are produced as by-products of the plasma etching process.
For example, a first form of typical contaminants is a plurality of effluents 36 which escape from top surface 34 of wafer 26 during etching. A second form of contaminants is a group of compounds 38 formed in plasma 32 during the etching process, such as particulates or involatile materials created by the chemical bonding of component constituents suspended and moving within the plasma. Effluents 36 and compounds 38 are examples of a species of particulates 40.
Particulates 40 and other involatile materials will adhere to the surfaces of structures residing within housing 22. Plasma contamination is made worse as a result of particulates 40 coming into contact with an interior wall 42 of plasma ring 30. The result is that particulates 40 loosely adhere to wall 42 and may become dislodged onto the wafer when the focus ring is moved. Also, involatile materials may precipitate onto wall 42 to form a film 44.
Film 44 is a source of further contamination due to thermal cycling occurring as an inherent feature of the plasma etch process. Wall 42 and film 44, being composed of different materials, may have different coefficients of thermal expansion and contraction. When film 44 is formed on wall 42, both film and wall are hot.
When silicon wafers are exchanged--that is, a completed processed wafer is removed and replaced with a wafer to be processed--in the process chamber or housing 22, the plasma is turned off, an action which allows the internal surfaces in the housing to be cooled. When this happens, both wall and film contract at different rates because they have different coefficients of expansion. Wall and film are then heated again, and again they expand at different rates. As this cycle is repeated, film 44 can crack and shower particles onto top surface 34 of wafer 26.
FIG. 1C (prior art) shows a reactive gas species concentration distribution occurring across diameter d1. The horizontal or x-axis is a measure of distant along d1 and the vertical or y-axis is a measure of the reactive gas species concentration of that portion of plasma 32. Most desirable is to have a substantially flat concentration profile indicative of uniform reactive gas species concentration, which leads to more uniform etching. However, as shown in regions 48 and 50, etchant gas concentration undesirably increases toward the wafer periphery where the plasma approaches and overlaps the edge of wafer 26.
This cup-shaped concentration profile is undesirable because the result is that wafer etching is less controlled toward the wafer perimeter. The density profile in region 52 is uniform and therefore desirable. The preferred overall profile would extend region 52 by extensions 54 and 56 so the overall density profile would be substantially flat and uniform, thus providing uniform etching over the entire exposed top surface 34 of wafer 26. This improved uniformity can be achieved by enclosing the wafer area with a plasma ring 30. However, as has been shown above, ring 30 by relieving one introduces a new problem of contributing to plasma contamination
Therefore the technology will be improved if a system can be provided that will lessen or eliminate particulates as a source of pollution in a plasma etch environment and provide a more uniform reactive gas species concentration profile.


According to one aspect of the present invention, a reporting method in a wireless communication system is provided. The method comprises: determining a service state; controlling positioning for acquiring position information based on the service state; acquiring information on the position of a terminal according to the positioning mode determined by said controlling; and reporting the acquired position information to a network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns wireless communications, and more specifically, to a method of reporting location information alongside other information, in a wireless communication system, and a method of supporting the same.
2. Related Art
3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) which is improvement of a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) is introduced as 3GPP release 8. The 3GPP LTE uses orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in a downlink and uses single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) in an uplink. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) having maximum four antennas are adopted. In recent years, 3GPP LTE-advanced (LTE-A) which is an evolution of the 3GPP LTE has been discussed.
MDT (minimization of driving tests) means that service providers test user equipments instead of vehicles in order for coverage optimization. Coverage varies depending on the location of the base station, arrangement of surrounding buildings, and users' use environments. Accordingly, a service provider periodically needs to do driving tests and requires bunch of costs and resources. MDT is that a service provider measures coverage using a user equipment.
MDT may be divided into logged MDT and immediate MDT. According to logged MDT, a user equipment delivers a logged measurement after performing MDT measurement to a network at a specific time. Immediate MDT lets a user equipment transfer a measurement to a network when reporting conditions are met after MDT measurement is carried out. Logged MDT conducts an MDT measurement in an RRC idle mode while immediate MDT does in an RRC connected mode.
A service provider may prepare for a coverage map that indicates a service's quality distribution and whether a service is available over his/her entire service area by compiling the MDT measurements received from several user equipments and may utilize the coverage map for network operation and optimization. For example, when reported a coverage issue regarding a specific region from a user equipment, a service provider may expand coverage of the corresponding local cell by increasing transmit power of the base station providing services to the corresponding area.
In case a user equipment that has performed an MDT measurement may be available for reporting with the user equipment's location information upon measurement, the user equipment may send the location information together with the measurement result to a network. The user equipment may conduct a positioning procedure in order to obtain the location information while doing MDT measurement. Meanwhile, the user equipment may consume much power while fulfilling the positioning procedure. In comparison, usefulness of the location information reported alongside the measurement result is not always high. Accordingly, a need exists for a reporting method that enables the optimization between reducing the user equipment's power consumption and reporting location information that is critical for operating a network.

Method for reporting position information together with other information in a wireless communication system and apparatus for supporting same


An optic for aisle lighting includes a portion of an optical material defined by a length and a cross-sectional profile. The cross-sectional profile is characterized by a cavity within the optical material, two upwardly-facing surfaces of the optical material on opposite sides of the cavity from one another, and downwardly-facing surfaces of the optical material. The cavity is bounded by an upward facing aperture, and at least three faces of the optical material that meet at interior angles. Light received through the upward facing aperture is separated at the interior angles, and refracted by the faces of the optical material, into separate light beams equal in number to the faces. The two upwardly-facing surfaces internally reflect the separate light beams downwardly. The downwardly-facing surfaces intercept respective portions of the separate light beams, and refract the portions as they exit the optic.

Many present day light fixtures for interior lighting are designed to provide general lighting in wide patterns from incandescent bulbs. Reasons that wide patterns are typical include the low historical costs of energy and the size of incandescent bulbs. In recent years, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have emerged as cost competitors to incandescent bulbs due to increased energy costs and the realization that much of the energy consumed by incandescent bulbs becomes waste heat that must be removed. LEDs are also much smaller light emitters than incandescent bulbs, enabling optical arrangements that provide greater flexibility in the placement of emitted light while keeping overall system size, weight and cost low.


A method for securing a KVM Matrix system by inserting a plurality of input security isolators, each of the input security isolators is placed between a host computer and matrix host adapter of the KVM matrix system to enforce security data flow policy that is applicable for the corresponding host computer. Additionally, a security filter is placed between peripheral devices and a matrix console adapter to enforce security data flow policy that is applicable for the corresponding peripheral devices.

KVM Matrix are in common use in certain applications that requires large number of users to interact with large number of computers. Applications such as Command and Control centers, Air Traffic Control, Marine control, Broadcasting, NOC (Network Operating Centers) and emergency services are examples for such applications. KVM Matrix enables dynamic switching of computer resources to users to support the dynamic needs of each user and to enable recovery from different scales of failures. In the past KVM Matrix used analog data switching. As analog signals are prone to quality degradation and limited in bandwidth, today most KVM Matrix switches digital signals. Switching digital signals can make use of proprietary serial digital protocols or may rely on standard IP (Internet Protocol) frames to carry the different computer interface signals. The use of high-speed CATX cables optical fibers in KVM Matrix systems enables co-location of the computer resources from the users. This setup enables more scalable and control deployment of computers and easier deployment of users over large sites. Another reason for such co-location is the heat and the noise generated by modern computers and the lack of space near the users.
KVM Matrix are typically controlled by their users that request access certain computing resources based on directory services (for example Microsoft Active Directory) through specific keyboard switching commands that detected by the KVM Matrix. Larger KVM Matrix may have specific users called directors, administrators or managers that controls the whole site.
KVM Matrix host transmitters or adaptors typically digitized the computer generated video and audio. As the resolutions and color depth of video is ever increasing, faster than KVM Matrix fabric bandwidth, video compression—decompression is used. KVM Matrix receivers or console adaptors are used to decompress the video and audio streams and generate standard video and analog audio output to drive the user display and speakers or headphones. Matrix receivers or console adaptors also digitize the user microphone audio input and the user keyboard and mouse commands. The resulted serial stream is routed back to the KVM Matrix host transmitters or adaptors to interface with the corresponding computer.
In February 2015 NIAP (the US National Information Assurance Partnership) has released a new standard for KVM Switches and Matrix called: "Protection Profile for Peripheral Sharing Switch Version 3.0". This standard adopted by the Common Criteria organization, offered a way to evaluate and test existing or new products to assure mitigation against the discovered types of data leakages. Since this standard released, no vendor was able to certify its existing product against this new standard as prior-art products are lacking some of the basic security mechanisms required by the standard.
IHSE GmbH, Maybachstraße 11, 88094 Oberteuringen, Germany, is a leading European developer and manufacturer of advanced KVM devices, IHSE develops and manufactures switches for operating and switching between computers and consoles, as well as extenders for visually lossless signal transmission, with 30 years of experience.
Some details of their products may be found in the IHSE Product Catalog 2015-2016, available from www.ihse.com.
U.S. Government Approved Protection Profile—Protection Profile for Peripheral Sharing Switch Version 3.0″ is available from www.niap-evs.org.
"High Security Labs Secure KVM and Matrix Security Target", see: www.niap-ccevs.org. Aten is a leading Asian developer and manufacturer of KVM Matrix systems. ATEN "Application Guide—Matrix KVM Solution for Network Operating Center (NOC)" discloses the company view of various characteristics (including security) of their KVM matrix products. See: www.aten.com.
Thinklogical is a leading US developer and manufacturer of KVM Matrix systems. Thinklogical Press Release "Thinklogical Achieves Common Criteria Accreditation for Fiber-Optic KVM Matrix Switches" discloses the evaluation process of the prior-art KVM Matrix systems made by the company against the now obsolete Peripheral Sharing Switch Protection Profile. Published documents such as the Security Target of this evaluation discloses the prior-art set of threats and security features used by Thinklogical. In another document from the same company: Thinklogical White Paper "Recommended Best Practices for the Design of Secure Multi-Domain KVM and Video Routing Systems", the company discloses its view of KVM Matrix security threats and their mitigation offered by the different company products. See: www.appliedelectronics.com/documents.
Thinklogical document "KVM Matrix Switch Routers Product Manual covering the following models: VX40, VX80, VX160, VX320, VX320VIDEO & VX320AUDIO" provides technical information about prior-art KVM Matrix products offered by the company.
Thinklogical document "Thinklogical VX 640 Router KVM Matrix Switch Security Target Document Version 1.4" discloses the VX 640 KVM Matrix system sets security assumptions and security functions based on the now obsolete Peripheral Sharing Switch Protection Profile version 2.1.

Method and apparatus for securing KVM matrix


A filter assembly separating organic waste from water includes a first annular filter element defining an axis. The first annular filter element is defined by a first annular coil of flat wire and an optional second filter element is defined by a second annular coil of flat wire, being generally helical in the axial direction. A cylindrically or frustoconical filter membrane is concentrically disposed between the first and second annular filter element. The filter membrane is porous having aperture size of less than a nano-particulate size of the organic waste, but greater than a nano-particulate size of the water molecule. The second annular filter includes adjustable porosity for selectively preventing particles from reaching the filter membrane and selectively cleaning the membrane by reversed flow of water through the membrane. The assembly generates radial and distal flows and differential pressure forces, for use in high throughput industrial, agricultural and municipal facilities.

Industrial farming has become increasingly prevalent as a means to economically produce proteins to meet the dietary needs of the populous. For example, large farming enterprises now produce, for example, chicken eggs and poultry, or hog farming for producing pork products. Further, cattle have been raised in large scale farming operations to produce milk and beef economically. Unfortunately, industrial farming has caused significant environmental contamination due to the fecal and other waste produced by the animals. Organic runoff is known to contaminate fields, streams, and ground water as may be periodic flood waters. In addition, medicine used to treat the animals has also been found in the environment at level believed to be unsafe to humans. To date, there has not been a solution to this organic contamination that is both economical and environmentally friendly. The high solids content of the organic waste has rendered attempts at filtration impractical. While drying has been attempted, high water content remains in the organic waste along with objectionable odors and unacceptable levels of objectionable bacteria. Solid human waste in the amount of about half a trillion tons per year is also problematic for similar reasons as is evident with organic waste from industrial farms. In addition, the water removed during drying processes remains unusable and still caused undesirable contamination to the environment.
Landfill costs, tipping fees and on site air quality are all factors that add to the problems associated with handling organic waste. If it were even feasible with current technology to sterilize, deodorize and dry organic waste the cost to do so would be unfeasible. However, should it become feasible to achieve these benefits, pyrolytic disposal also becomes possible providing the benefit of eliminating acidic or caustic leachate caused from organic waste from landfills.
Therefore, there Exists a Need for an Improved Method of Concentrating, then Dewatering Generally Organic Waste, that is Economically Feasible, Providing Clean, Useable Water as Byproduct

Apparatus and method to concentrate and dry generally organic solids and produce purified water therefrom


A turbine airfoil, such as a turbine blade, having a showerhead for cooling the leading edge region. A plurality of rows of exit film slots are arranged along the leading edge in the spanwise direction and staggered from each other. The exit slots are connected to narrow cooling air passages formed within the airfoil wall in which a plurality of rows of micro pin fins extend across the passage to form serpentine flow paths for the cooling air. Cooling air from a cooling air supply channel is metered into an impingement cavity to produce backside impingement cooling of the leading edge wall. The cooling air is diffused and then passed into the plurality of narrow cooling air passages to be metered again and serpentine flow through the narrow passages, and then diffused into the exit film slots. The cooling air is then ejected from the diffusion slots as a film layer of cooling air onto the leading edge airfoil surface. The narrows cooling air passages with the micro pin fins can also be arranged on the pressure side or the suction side walls of the airfoil to provide improved impingement and diffusion and film cooling for the airfoil surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a gas turbine engine, and more specifically to a turbine airfoil with a showerhead leading edge cooling arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
A gas turbine engine includes a turbine with one or more stages of rotor blades and stator vanes used to convert energy from the hot gas flow into mechanical work to drive the compressor or, in the case of an industrial gas turbine engine (IGT) to drive an electric generator. In order to extract the highest amount of mechanical energy, the hat gas flow is passed into the turbine having the highest possible temperature. However, the highest possible temperature at the turbine inlet is limited to the material capabilities of the first stage vanes and blades. if the blades or vanes become too hot, the parts can fail.
In order to allow for higher gas flow temperatures, the turbine airfoils are cooled by passing a pressurized cooling air through the internal passages formed within the airfoils. A combination of internal convection cooling with impingement and film cooling is sued in order to maximize the cooling ability while minimizing the amount of pressurized cooling air used.
The leading edge of the stator vanes and the rotor blades are exposed to the highest gas flow temperature and therefore require the highest amount of cooling to prevent hot spots. In the prior art, an airfoil leading edge is cooled with backside impingement in series with showerhead film cooling. showerhead film rows are supplied cooling air from a common impingement cavity and discharge the cooling air at various gas side pressures. U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,251 issued to LaFleur on Aug. 8, 2000 and entitled COOLABLE AIRFOIL FOR A GAS TURBINE ENGINE shows this type of leading edge cooling arrangement. As a result of this method for cooling the leading edge, cooling flow distribution and pressure ratio across the showerhead film holes for the pressure side and suction side film row is predetermined by the impingement cavity pressure. Also, the standard film slots pass straight through the airfoil wall at a constant diameter and exit at an angle to the surface. Some of the coolant is subsequently injected directly into the mainstream causing turbulence, coolant dilution and a loss of downstream film cooling effectiveness. And, the film slot breakout on the airfoil surface may induce stress problem in a blade cooling application.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,295 issued to Hauser et al on Jun. 25, 1974 and entitled COOLING SLOT FOR AIRFOIL BLADE discloses a turbine blade with a trailing edge cooling passage formed by rows of holes drilled at about 90 degrees offset to form square shaped nodes that act as turbulence promoters to the cooling air flow. One problem with the Hauser et al invention is that the passages are formed by drilling holes in the trailing edge blade material. Because the passages are formed by drilling holes, the passages for the cooling air do not flow in a serpentine path as is provided for in the present invention. Also, the drilled holes cannot be formed close to an end of the blade. The holes on the tip of the blade in Hauser et al have to be drilled from the tip and not from the trailing edge. On both the tip and the bottom of the trailing edge in the Hauser et al invention, the holes for the cooling air to pass are not formed near the inner or outer extremes because the holes cannot be drilled without passing through the material on the extremes as is accomplished in the present invention and described below. Thus, the method of forming cooling air passages cannot be used to form cooling holes for the leading edge showerhead of the turbine airfoil as is the case for the present invention.


A data slot may be reserved for a first thread selected from a plurality of threads executed by a computer system. A memory of the computer system may comprise a plurality of log files and a next free data slot pointer. Each log file may comprise a plurality of data slots and each of the data slots may be of a common size. Reserving the data slot for the first thread may comprise attempting to perform a first atomic operation to write to a first data slot pointed to by a current value of the next free data slot pointer an indication that the first data slot is filled. If the first atomic operation is successful, the computer system may update the next free data slot pointer to point to a second data slot positioned sequentially after the first data slot. If the first atomic operation is unsuccessful, the computer system may analyze the second data slot.

Many types of computing applications utilize logging functionality to save data during execution, often to create a record of the application activities. Resulting logs are used to derive information about the execution of the application, information about tasks performed by the application during execution, etc. Logging functionality is used in many different contexts and for many different purposes. For example, logging functionality is often used to de-bug and/or troubleshoot various applications and/or systems. In the context of many business applications, including financial service applications, logging functionality is used to track transactions executed by and/or through the applications. The resulting logs are then used to perform audits, troubleshoot account problems, verify inventory status, demonstrate compliance with applicable regulations, etc.
In many cases, logging functionality is implemented in a multi-thread environment where more than one thread records its activities at a common log location. Multi-thread environments can increase the speed at which application tasks are performed. One example use case involves high frequency securities trading, in which multiple threads are executed with each thread implementing trades determined according to a trading algorithm. The use of multiple threads allows the trades to be implemented faster, thus increasing the efficacy of the trading algorithms. Another example use case for multi-thread and/or multi-application logging is in the context of an operating system where multiple services maintain a common system log.
Logging in a multi-thread and/or multi-application environment requires certain safeguards to prevent different threads or applications from over-writing the others' records. These safeguards are typically implemented as locks or other operating system-level mechanisms. For example, a thread that needs to write to the log must first obtain a lock associated with the log. If the lock is unavailable (e.g., another thread has the lock), the first thread may not write to the log until the lock is released. Although locks can be effective at preventing overwrite, they demonstrate weakness in applications where execution speed is important, such as high frequency securities trading applications. Calls to the operating system to obtain and/or release locks are computationally expensive and time consuming. Also, when a lock required by a thread is unavailable, the thread may not be able to continue its processing until the lock is available, thus slowing overall execution. In some cases where thread execution speed is important, it is known to create logs after execution by analyzing communication messages generated by the threads. For example, high frequency securities trading application threads generate messages requesting the execution of trades. Details of the trades can be extracted by analyzing data packets making up the messages. Analysis of the data packets, however, is also computationally expensive. The packets must be parsed according to their specific transport-layer protocol. Payload data describing the trade or other transaction must then be extracted and properly placed relative to other payload data. Improvements to multi-threaded logging are desired.


A FAIMS device for separating ions has a pair of electrodes for providing a compensation voltage and an asymmetric waveform that are separated and insulated where at least one porous spacer reside in the proximity of the analyzer region of the FAIMS cell. The porous spacers allow a focusing gas to flow into the analyzer region to provide pneumatic focusing of the ions traversing the analyzer region to improve the ion transmission.

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is an important technique for the detection of narcotics, explosives, and chemical warfare agents because of its high sensitivity and amenability to miniaturization for field-portable applications. In IMS, gas-phase ions migrate in a drift tube in the presence of a constant electric field. Ions are separated by differences in their drift velocities. For electric field strengths that are relatively low, an ion's drift velocity depends on the applied electric field strength and the mobility, K, which is independent of the applied electric field and experimentally determined. The ions travel through a bath gas at a sufficiently high pressure that allows the ions to rapidly achieve a constant velocity when driven by the force of a constant electric field, which contrasts to migration in a mass spectrometer where ions accelerate in a constant electric field at low pressure.
At high electric field strengths the ion drift velocity is not directly proportional to the applied field and the mobility, Kh, is not a constant, but rather dependent on the applied electric field. This dependence has been exploited to develop high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) where ions are separated by a difference in their mobility at high field strength, Kh, relative to their mobility at low field strength, K. In FAIMS, ions are separated due to the dependent behavior of Kh as a function of the applied electric field strength.
A FAIMS spectrometer has an analyzer region defined by the space between two electrodes. One electrode is maintained at a selected dc voltage, often at ground potential, while the second electrode has an asymmetric waveform V(t) imposed upon it that is a repeating pattern of a short, th, high voltage, Vh, periods and longer, tl, lower voltage, Vl, periods such that Vhth+Vltl=0 for each complete cycle of the waveform. The peak voltage during the high voltage portion of the waveform is called the "dispersion voltage" or DV.
Ions to be separated are entrained in a stream of gas flowing through the FAIMS analyzer region. The net motion of an ion is the sum of an axial x-axis component due to the stream of gas and a transverse y-axis component due to the applied electric field. The distance traveled by an ion during the high voltage portion of the waveform is given by dh=KhEhth where Eh is the applied field. During the low voltage portion of the asymmetric waveform, dl=KEltl. As Ehth and Eltl are equal in magnitude the net displacement along the y-axis occurs because of the difference in Kh and K. This transverse drift is compensated by applying a constant voltage to the first electrode, the "compensation voltage" or CV. Hence, where multiple ions are present, only an ion whose drift is compensated can arrive at a detector for an appropriate combination of DV and CV. Analysis can be carried out by changing CV over time.
Buryakov et al. Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Processes, 128, 143 (1993) disclosed the first FAIMS device with planar electrodes. The electric field between the planar electrodes is uniform, allowing ions to diffuse laterally. Because there is a lack of ion focusing, poor ion transmission into the narrow outlet, which is often the entrance to a mass spectrometer, affects sensitivity. The use of curved electrodes produces a two-dimensional atmospheric pressure ion focusing effect that achieves greater ion transmission efficiencies. For example, Carnahan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,424, describes a device where two cylindrical electrodes are used where one electrode is concentrically located within a tubular electrode and the ions are transmitted parallel to the central axis of the cylinders. Guevremont et al., WO 00/08455, describe a domed-FAIMS analyzer where a cylindrical inner electrode has a curved surface terminus proximate an ion outlet orifice to an analyzer region. The application of an asymmetric waveform to the inner electrode has an additional ion-focusing action that extends around the spherically shaped terminus of the inner electrode that causes the selected ions to be directed radially inwardly within the region proximate the inner electrode terminus. Guevremont et al., WO 1/69216 disclose a "side-to-side" FAIMS. In this design the ions are transmitted around the circumference of an inner cylindrical electrode. The ion inlet and the ion outlet of a side-to-side FAIMS device are disposed, one opposing the other, within a surface of the outer electrode. An ion is selectively transmitted through the curved analyzer region between the ion inlet and the ion outlet along a continuously curving ion flow path perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinders. The ions travel approximately fifty percent of the circumference of the inner electrode and are partitioned between two streams traveling in opposite directions around the inner electrode, effective reducing the ion density within the analyzer region, reducing the ion-ion repulsion space charge effect, and allowing a reduction of the travel distance to improve the ion transmission efficiency. However, in this design the ions are not focused in a direction parallel to the central axis of the cylindrical electrodes and an inner cylinder with a small radius is required to produce a strongly focused field, which can result in ion transit times that can be insufficient to separate mixtures of different ions.
Both planar and cylindrical ("dome" and "side-to-side") geometries have been used for commercial FAIMS systems: the DMS (Sionex, Bedford, Mass.); and Selectra (Ionalytics, Ottawa, Canada). These commercial systems are used for detection of drugs, explosives, chemical warfare agents, environmental monitoring, bacterial typing, product quality assurance, natural resource management, and biomedical research. However, the use of FAIMS has often been limited by resolving power (Rp) which is about an order of magnitude less than that of the Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) designs.
Shvartsburg et al., Anal Chem. 2006, 78(11), 3706-14 has compared the inherent resolving power of simulated planar and cylindrical FAIMS systems. As one proceeds from a curved surface of 8 mm with a Rp of 10 to a curved surface of 73 mm with an Rp of 45, the ion transmission suffers from 96% at Rp=10 to 2% at Rp=45. At higher curvatures, approaching ∞ for a planar surface, although Rp should increase significantly, the ion transmission would become insufficient for practical use. One critical difference between planar and cylindrical FAIMS is in the dependence of peak widths on the ion residence time. In a cylindrical system, ions with CVs outside of a finite range are filtered out, allowing equilibrium in the gap that requires a certain residence time (˜50 ms for the commercial Selectra), and greater FAIMS resonance time does not improve resolution. In planar systems a single CV permits ion equilibrium and ions with even a small CV difference will eventually be eliminated with sufficient time. Hence, longer separation times would increase Rp (in principle) indefinitely. However, longer residence time can further diminishes the ion transmission due to lateral diffusion. Commercial planar systems typically have a residence time that is about two orders of magnitude less than that of a cylindrical system to have similar ion transmission. Tang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/020059 discloses the use of an "ionic funnel" at a non circular ion outlet of a planar FAIMS unit where an ion transmission of more than two fold was displayed because virtually no loss is experienced between the outlet from the FAIMS ion outlet and the outlet of the "ionic funnel."
Hence, it would be advantages to use FAIMS units that can increase the resolving power if better or additional means of diminishing the effects of lateral diffusion of the ions in the analyzer region could be achieved to improve ion transmission.

Pneumatic ion beam focusing in high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS)

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A space scanner for an autonomous mobile device can obtain spatial data by scanning not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction of the mobile device using a mirror configured to rotate as well as to tilt and thereby can ensure autonomous driving.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a space scanner for an autonomous mobile device, more particularly, which can obtain spatial data by scanning not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction of the mobile device using a mirror configured to rotate as well as to tilt.
2. Description of the Related Art
An autonomous mobile (walking) device such as a mobile robot detects surrounding objects and measures distances from the objects using laser, supersonic waves or the like in order to locate its position and determine the direction to move.
Laser range finding is known as a most accurate method for measuring the distance to an object, particularly, by detecting a laser beam reflecting from the object and measuring the time taken for the laser beam to travel to the object and back.
A conventional autonomous mobile device adopting such a laser range finding technique scans using laser beams emitted directly along a two-dimensional horizontal plane. Accordingly, the autonomous mobile device can detect surrounding objects and measure the distance from the objects only if the objects are located at a specific height corresponding to a laser emitter.
That is, detectable objects are limited to those onto which the laser beams are emitted and to those which are located at the same horizontal plane of the laser emitter. Thus, it is impossible to scan other ranges and distance information on only a specific horizontal plane can be obtained.
However, while consumer demands on autonomous mobile devices capable of performing more accurate driving and more various operations are increasing, the distance information only on a specific horizontal plane cannot sufficiently ensure safety and functionality.

Space scanner for autonomous mobile device