A mechanism for an automated system to allow a user of the system to demonstrate his legitimacy by demonstration of secret knowledge. The mechanism is resistant to compromise by observation of its use. An array of symbols is presented to the user and the user is required to manipulate several symbols at once until assigned key symbols are manipulated into predetermined states. Doing so effectively prevents an observer from determining which symbols are the ones of interest. For example, pushing a button might cause several symbols in the array to exchange their positions. The user continues to do this, having, perhaps, to use several different buttons, until a certain subset of the symbols appears in certain locations within the array. (In this example, the arrangement of this subset of symbols is the user's password or PIN.) In this process many symbols in the array, in addition to the user's specific symbols, would also have been moved, making it virtually impossible for an observer to identify which symbols and array-positions are pertinent to the user's password or PIN.

a. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and devices for verifying the identity of the user of a secure device such as an automated transaction mechanism or computer.
b. Related Art
Electronic systems which require a user to identify himself and establish his authority to execute certain transactions are becoming common. There are, within many business establishments, systems which provide for electronic mail, payroll processing, accounts receivable processing and program development in addition to other applications far too numerous to mention. The use of personal computers in the home with access to extensive communications networks is increasing. Automatic Teller Machine (ATMs) are virtually everywhere and their capabilities are expanding. There are ATMs attached to banking networks that permit the withdrawal of cash and the transfer of funds from one account to another to name two commonplace applications. This trend extends even to the telephone system where long distance telephone calls are made without operator intervention based on the possession of a `phone card` that authorizes the call.
One classical technique for verifying a user's identity (and hence, authority) requires the user to provide two proofs: one that only a legitimate user should have (for example a bank card) and one that only a legitimate user should know (e.g. a PIN). In order to compromise such a system, an imposter must obtain both the object (or a duplicate) and the secret knowledge (or its equivalent). The imposter can obtain the object by force or subterfuge and the secret knowledge by observation of the legitimate user in the act of demonstrating that knowledge (i.e. entering the PIN).
A number of mechanisms have been proposed and implemented to allow the user to demonstrate his authorization by supplying secret knowledge. A weakness in many of these systems is that the secret knowledge can be compromised by an observer. A common countermeasure is to suppress the display of the information as it is entered. Often, this is not effective because an observer might still see which keys or buttons are pressed. Another countermeasure is the use of a person's electronically recorded signature to demonstrate his identity (and hence authorization). This approach depends on the difficulty of reproducing either the signature or motions accurately. It has the weakness of being somewhat unreliable and giving many false negatives.
Another problem with the use of PINs is that they are difficult for most people to remember. This leads to another problem in that people will tend to write the PINs down rather then memorize them. This opens up other opportunities for compromise by losing the written record, or by having that paper stolen.
The ease of compromising the PIN by observation of its use is a weakness in today's ATM systems.

Identity verification system resistant to compromise by observation of its use

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to an acoustic sensor device for capturing internal body sounds. The acoustic sensor device is designed to sense the flexing of a patient's skin that is a result of the localized nature of internal body sounds, especially the patient's heart sounds, and generate an electrical signal analogous to the flexure of the skin. The acoustic sensing device of the present invention has as its principal components two thin film piezoelectric sensing portions, preferably formed from polyvinylidene fluoride or a similar piezoelectric material, two layers of a compliant, substantially incompressible material, a flexible and elastic adhesive layer between respective ones of the sensing portions and the incompressible material layers, an electrical connector at one end of the sensing device, an optional neutral plane inducer, an electrostatic shield for the electrical connector, a moisture barrier/protective coating, and an optional adhesive or cream layer for adhering the sensor device to the skin of the patient.

The present invention relates to disposable acoustic pad sensors for capturing heart sounds which have particular utility in digital acoustic cardiography, phonocardiography and acoustic spectral analysis applications.
Acoustic pick-up devices that have been traditionally used for capturing heart sounds have had two distinct disadvantages: (A) they have a poor signal to noise ratio in that they are very sensitive to air-borne noise which requires that a special, quiet room be used for procedures; and (B) they are fairly massive in size and therefore substantially reduce the surface vibrations they are trying to detect.
Commercially available contact microphones are sometimes used to capture heart sounds because they reduce the pick-up of extraneous sounds. On the negative side however is the fact that they influence the surface vibrations even more than other types of pick-ups.
Many of these devices have an additional disadvantage in that they must be held in place. This can introduce unwanted noise from the unavoidable quivering of muscles and creaking of joints in the user's fingers. Belts could be used to avoid this but many users find them objectionable from a convenience standpoint. Still further, many present sensor devices incur signal losses due to air coupling and non-contaneous conformance with the skin.
The sensor of the present invention described herein substantially avoids all these disadvantages while offering other totally unique and desirable features.


A display control apparatus controls a plurality of buttons displayed on a screen of a display unit. The apparatus, via a detection unit and position calculation unit, calculates a pointer position on the screen that corresponds to a contact position on an input screen that is touched by a fingertip of user. A button selection unit selects one button, as a desired button, from among the plurality of buttons on the screen based on the pointer position. A selected button display control unit displays the desired button on the screen in a display mode different from the buttons not selected. A position correction unit corrects a current pointer position to be at a reference line when the reference line extends in a specific direction from a previous pointer position and the current pointer position is within a specific range that is set to include the reference line.

Conventionally, a graphical user interface (GUI) lets a user choose a desired button from among multiple buttons that are displayed on a screen. Such a GUI is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-51427 (JP '427). More practically, when the user performs a slide operation by sliding his/her fingertip on a touch pad, a pointer moves on a screen. The pointer may be positioned over one of the buttons, which may be provided as a selected button. When the pointer moves over such selected button, the selected button may be displayed in a manner different from the other buttons. In other words, the selected button may be emphasized by, for example, an added outline or a change of color, which is different from the other buttons. By displaying the selected button in a different manner, the GUI indicates that the button is in a selected state.
By having the selected button displayed in a manner different from the other buttons, the user can distinguish the button that is currently being selected at, even when an image of the pointer is not displayed on the screen. Accordingly, based on the slide operation of the user's fingertip on the touch pad, the button having the pointer changes, therefore, the emphasis placed on a selected button transitions across from one button to another in accordance with the slide operation on the touch pad.
However, the slide operation of the fingertip may not always trace an intended line (e.g., a straight line) in spite of the user's intention. That is, even when the user thinks that his/her hand or finger is moving in a straight line, the trace of the movement may actually be a curve. Such a curve may likely be drawn as a portion of a circle that has its center aligned with one and of the user's arm when the user's arm is on a structure close to the touch pad.
In such a case, when an image of the pointer is not displayed on the GUI screen, the user cannot recognize the curved movement of the fingertip, until the transition of the emphasis placed on a selected button moves in a different direction. For instance, the transition of the emphasis on the buttons moves along an intended direction from the start of the finger movement up to a middle of an intended course of movement, and then the transition of the emphasis suddenly goes in another direction, which is different from the user's intention's. Such change in direction may be caused by the curved trace of the fingertip.
The actual movement of the pointer gradually departs, which may be not recognized, from the intended direction during the movement. Therefore, even when the user intends to select one button at a far end of a row arrangement of buttons by the pointer from the other end of the row of buttons, the finger movement may start to select (i.e., emphasize) the buttons on a different row, if there are two or more rows of buttons. Thus, when the user sees such result based on the movement of his/her fingertip, the user may feel uncomfortable, or believe that something is wrong with the device or the user's operation.

Display control apparatus and display system with pointer correction


A transportation cart for relocating a medical examination chair or table comprises a chassis having an open end that defines a receiving area for positioning a base of a medical examination table therebetween. A table support member extends upwardly from the chassis to engage structural portions of the examination table, such that the table may be supported thereon when the table is lowered to rest on the table support member. With the weight of the table supported by the cart, the base may be further actuated so that it is raised from the floor. Thereafter, the transportation cart may be maneuvered to relocate the table as desired. To place the table at the new location, the base is lowered to engage the floor and raise the table from the cart.

Articulating medical examination tables and chairs are known in the art for supporting patients thereon, and for placing patients in various positions that facilitate examination and/or the performance of various medical procedures. For simplicity, these devices will be referred to herein as "tables," it being understood that the invention relates to both medical examination tables and chairs.
Conventional examination tables typically include a seat section and a back section supported on a base unit. The seat and back sections are moveable relative to one another and relative to the base to place a patient in a desired position. The seat section or back section may be articulated by actuating mechanisms such as motors, pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders, or other devices to move the seat and back sections between the various positions, and to adjust the height of the seat and back sections relative to the base. Most tables, for example, have a back section that is maneuverable from a first, inclined orientation, relative to the seat section, for supporting a patient in an initial, seated position; and a generally horizontal orientation, relative to the seat section, for supporting a patient in a supine position.
Medical examination tables are typically located in an examination or operating room of a doctor's office other facility. Due to their size and weight, these examination tables are not frequently moved. When it is desired to move a table, however, this task is usually performed by personnel trained to move the tables. Conventional methods for moving a medical examination table involve lifting the table from the floor (usually requiring at least two persons) and placing the table on a dolly having a generally flat platform. The table is, lifted onto the dolly such that the base rests atop the platform of the dolly. This method, and the dollies typically used to move medical examination tables, present various drawbacks. For example, the conventional moving method requires at least two persons to lift the table and place it on a dolly. The method also poses a risk that the table may be dropped and damaged while it is lifted to place the base onto the dolly. A need therefore exists for a specialized cart and method of moving a medical examination table which overcomes these and other drawbacks of the prior art.

Apparatus and method for relocating a medical examination table


A semiconductor device package comprises a perimeter wall snap fitted to a base having a semiconductor die mounted on the base. A lead is mounted on the opposite side of the die, and the die and a portion of the lead are protected by an encapsulant disposed within the perimeter wall.

A well-known semiconductor device package includes a threaded base, a semiconductor die electrically attached to the threaded base, an electric lead connected to the silicon die and projecting in the opposite direction of the threaded base and a housing enclosing a portion of the electric lead, the semiconductor die and the top surface of the threaded base. Such packages are typically used in commercial applicances and low frequency industrial applications, such as welding equipment.
The housings for these packages represent a significant portion of the manufacturing cost and add to the complexity of the manufacturing process. Specifically, in many cases the housing may need to be brazed or soldered to the threaded base. An inexpensive housing concept that adequately protects the semiconductor die, reduces cost, and simplifies the manufacturing process is a long standing and unresolved need.

Electronic package with snap-on perimeter wall


A track system including a continuous track comprising a spiral track section interconnecting upper and lower track sections. The spiral track section exits into a powered roller assembly that receives a toy car from the spiral track and impels it along the track. The car leaving the rollers moves over an opening in a horizontal section and then through an inverted vertically disposed loop leading back to the opening to a lower track section and back to the spiral track section. The construction of the track creates a mid-air collision course that will occur if the car is moving over the opening when a car is exiting from the vertically disposed loop.

There are, of course, a variety of car track assemblies for use by toy cars that normally includes a continuous track for impelled or self-powered cars. The track assembly may include a separate impelling mechanism that engages the toy car to move it with sufficient force so it will circumnavigate the track and return to the impelling mechanism so it will move around the continuous track until the power for the impelling mechanism is turned off. Generally speaking, these road tracks can consist of single or multiple runs along which cars can compete in some racing function or the continuous track system can take other configurations, including tunnels, bridges, etc.
As aforementioned, toy cars used in one of these track configurations may either be moved by power-driven rollers engaging the cars or the cars may contain a small battery operated electric motor disposed therewithin whereby the car will move under its own power. The foregoing arrangements provide enjoyment to those playing with the same but such arrangement are limited to cars merely racing around the track in competition with each other or on some are limited to cars merely racing around the track in competition with each other or on some timing basis. In order to increase the enjoyment available from a car and track assembly, it is desirable to provide a track system that will provide more than merely a static racing track and will include other features that will further add to the pleasure of those playing with the car and track assembly.

Toy car track assembly with propelling mechanism and collision course


The instant invention provides compositions and methods for promoting the repair and/or growth of biological tissue, e.g., tubular biological tissue such as nerves. Specifically, the instant invention provides tissue connection devices and tissue repair devices and methods for using these devices.

One of the main challenges during repairs of tubular organs such as nerves, blood vessels and tendons is reattachment of the severed or injured ends of the nerve, blood vessel or tendon using microsurgical techniques. Placing micro-sutures is time consuming and prolongs the duration that the patient is under anesthesia. Furthermore, placement of sutures, even micro-sutures, may result in further injury to the nerve, blood vessel, tendon, lymphatic vessel, digestive tract or genitourinary tract and thus delay recovery or impair the degree of recovery.
Accordingly, it is necessary in the art to obviate the use of sutures when repairing biological tissue, e.g., tubular biological tissues.

Biological tissue connection and repair devices and methods of using same


A method and system generates a model of a geographic area for use in identifying locations of the geographic area. A set of variably sized tiles is defined for each of a set of overlapping geometries in the geographic area. Each of the variably sized tiles is defined by a geohash, where the size of the tile is dependent on a granularity of the geohash. A geocode trie structure representing the variably sized tiles can be constructed and used to map one or more provided location coordinates to at least one of the geometries represented by the tiles.

The present disclosure relates generally to location determination, and more particularly to generating and using a geocode trie to determine a location based on a geohash generated from location coordinates.
Traditional solutions for reverse geocoding have involved bounding box geometries with various packing optimizations. For example, a QuadTree structure can be used to represent non-overlapping geometries. In situations where overlapping geometries exist or which require minimum bound rectangles to be used, the QuadTree method returns multiple geometries in response to a single coordinate input. As a result, the system must solve what is commonly referred to as the "point-in-polygon" problem of matching to a single geometry. Various different solutions to this problem have been proposed (e.g., ray casting, matrix algebra), all leading to substantial inefficiency and resource requirements.
Complicating the matter, programming languages with garbage collection functionality (e.g., Java) are worse suited for resource intensive calculations. Specifically, the large number of dynamically allocated objects required in the computation can lead to long periods of garbage collection overhead and result in a system with high latency and low throughput characteristics.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for generating a geocode trie and facilitating reverse geocode lookups


Measurement apparatus and method for digital data acquisition. A first operation mode is provided for real-time processing of digital data having a reduced sample rate or resolution. Furthermore, a second operation mode is provided for processing the measurement signal off-line with a higher accuracy. In particular, the high accuracy data may be temporarily stored and analyzed upon the operation mode is changed from the real-time mode to the off-line mode.

Although applicable in principle to any measurement system, the present invention and its underlying problem will be hereinafter described in combination with a measurement by an oscilloscope.
In modern days electronic devices are used in a growing number of applications. Many electronical devices deal with signals of relative high frequencies. During development or production of electronic devices, it is necessary to thoroughly test these devices. For example, an oscilloscope may be used for measuring the signals and displaying a signal curve relating to the measured signal. Further, the oscilloscope may determine characteristic parameters of the measurement signal, in particular relating to the signal curve.
For computing the characteristic parameters of a digitally measured signal, the signal has to be measured and analyzed with high accuracy, i.e. a high sample rate and/or high resolution. Processing digital signals with such a high resolution and sample rate produces a huge amount of data and requires complex computational resources.
Against this background, a problem solved by the present invention is to provide a measurement system which can deal with both, computing characteristic parameters of a measurement signal with a high accuracy and processing, in particular displaying, the measured signal in real-time.

Measurement apparatus and measurement method


A lighting apparatus comprises: an LED module; a heat sink releasing heat generated by the LED module; and a light source supporting body having a locking part locking to the heat sink so as to hold the LED module on the heat sink. This avoids the necessity of screws used for attaching the LED module to the heat sink, and hence reduces the number of components and realizes easy attaching work for the light source. Thus, workability is improved in comparison with the conventional art.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to a lighting apparatus provided with a light source and, in particular, to a lighting apparatus having the shape of an electric bulb.
Description of Related Art
In recent years, with advancement in development of high luminance light emitting diodes (LEDs), in place of light sources such as incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps, LEDs having features of low power consumption, long life, and the like are increasingly widely used as light sources in lighting apparatuses or the like.
A lighting apparatus employing as a light source a light emitting element such as an LED includes: a board on which the LED is mounted; and a heat sink releasing heat generated by the LED. For example, a lamp is disclosed in which a board on which an LED is mounted is brought into close contact with a board mounting surface of a heat sink fabricated from aluminum and then they are attached to each other with screws (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-73438).


Trees employing the following two elements are used to determine communicable ranges: paths within a transmission network that are set for data transfer between adjacent communicating devices; and the adjacent communicating devices located at both ends of the paths. The adjacent communicating devices corresponding to the roots of the trees are called adjacent communicating devices located at both ends of a path that has become incommunicable due to a fault within the transmission network.

The present invention relates to a technology for knowing the division of a communication range which occurs at a time of a fault and for maintaining communication in a system that manages and controls a network including a plurality of communicating devices.
There are a transmission network and an Internet Protocol (IP) network, the transmission network including a plurality of transmitting devices that set in advance the information on data to be transferred in devices corresponding to an entry and an exit before transferring the data, the IP network including a plurality of routers (referred to also as "communicating devices") that determine the destination of packet transfer on the basis of an IP address. Network control on the IP network dynamically selects an optimum path on the basis of the condition of the entire network in accordance with a network control packet of an IP path control protocol including Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and a signaling protocol including Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), for example. However, in a case where a fault has occurred, the transmission network would select an alternative path designed in advance. On the network where the IP network and the transmission network are connected to each other, another network may be selected as an optimum path by the path selection of the IP network even though it may be better to transfer data via the transmission network depending on the condition of the fault that has occurred.
In order to make the differences in such network control systems less influential, JP-2013-026829-A discloses a system in which the IP path control protocol and the signaling protocol are analyzed with a general-purpose server. A result of the analysis is then converted into a setting for transmitting devices so that the control of a transmission network and the control of an IP network are operatively associated with each other. JP-2013-026829-A discloses a server that makes the transmission network virtually behave as one router and functions as a virtual router. This server is connected to adjacent routers by transmitting and receiving network control packets to and from the adjacent routers, converts a result of processing of the network control packets to and from the routers into a path setting for the transmission network, and sets a path connecting the routers within the transmission network. The virtual router thereby constructs a network for data transfer in the system. This system makes the setting of the transmission network operatively associated with the network control of the IP network, whereby the transmission network and the IP network are unified by the network control of the IP network. Thus a mismatch in path selection at the time of a fault is eliminated.

Fault tolerant communication system, method, and device that uses tree searching


A chip module having a chip which is mounted by means of chip adhesive on a mount and is electrically connected via bonding wires to contact pads, and an encapsulation compound which surrounds the chip and the bonding wires and is bounded by a subarea of the mount. The encapsulation compound is radiation-hardened and heat-hardened in a combined form and has radiation-impermeable pigments.

UV-curing encapsulation compounds are predominantly used in mass production, owing to the fast curing time. Approximately 90% of all chip modules for smart cards are encapsulated with encapsulation compounds such as these. The encapsulation compounds must be permeable to light, in order to allow them to cure all the way through. Alternatively, thermally curing encapsulation compounds are used. These need not be permeable to light and are often colored black. However, thermal curing has the disadvantage that it is too slow for mass production with a curing time of up to 3 minutes, and forms a relatively brittle encapsulation compound in the cured state. In comparison to this, UV-curing encapsulation compounds require only 30 to 40 seconds for curing, and thus satisfy the speed requirements of chip module manufacturers.
Since smart cards are used for identification and authentication in the field of banks and for access monitoring, the security of the data stored in the smart card is subject to very stringent requirements. If it is possible to read secret data from a smart card, or to manipulate it, then, in the worst case, it may be necessary for the system operator to shut down the system, to block all cards and to issue new cards which are immune to attack. The financial damage and the loss of confidence would be immense.
Attacks are made on weaknesses of smart cards at all levels. An attack at the physical level may, for example, make use of the free access of light to the chip in the chip module. It would thus be possible in the visible spectrum at wavelengths from 400 nm to 700 nm to read secret keys with the aid of an optical microscope. Thermal measurements in the infrared range from 700 to 2500 nm could be used to determine which parts of the chip circuit are heated, that is to say are currently operating. In this way, for example, it would be possible to determine the procedure sequence in an algorithm. Apart from optical analysis, free access of light to the chip also allows the chip to be deliberately disturbed, and a subsequent malfunction to be made use of. This could be done, for example, by irradiation of the chip with photons, which release electrons from the semiconductor lattice, and could thus deliberately lead to a change in the memory content or manipulation of data.
Optical analysis and influencing the chip by irradiation in the wavelength range from 200 nm to 2500 nm can be avoided by the use of light-impermeable encapsulation compounds, although these are not suitable for mass production of smart cards, owing to the slow curing time and their brittle nature.


A metallic coolant for a metallurgical bath, the composition of the coolant substantially corresponding to that of the bath consists of ball-shaped bodies of sizes not less than 5 mm and not more than 60 mm, preferably 12 to 60 mm, the ball-shape factor B of the coolant having a value of at least 0.57. The ball shape factor (herein defined) relates the shape to that of spherical balls. The coolant can be made, using a hammer mill, from scrap.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a metallic coolant for a metallurgical bath, the composition of the coolant essentially corresponding to that of the bath. The invention also relates to a method of cooling a metallurgical bath using the coolant and to a method of manufacture of the coolant. Finally the invention also provides a use of a further coolant produced in this method of manufacture, in continuous casting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In metallurgical processes the desired composition of the metal bath is often reached at a temperature which is higher than the temperature at which the metal is to be processed further or at which the liquid metal is to be cast. So in order to achieve the desired temperature, a coolant is fed into the bath in a quantity which corresponds with the desired fall in temperature.
Various demands are made on the coolant, such as:
Its composition must be known and lie between the desired limits so that it corresponds adequately with the composition limits of the bath, in order to prevent the compositional analysis of this bath altering undesirably.
The coolant must have an adequately high dispensed weight to prevent any undesired inclusions.
The dimensions of the coolant particles must lie between set limits so that the coolant is sufficiently manageable.
The coolant must be capable of being dosed smoothly and of being dispensed accurately.
The coolant must be as free as possible from grease, dust, oxide and clinging dirt.
Often shredded metal scrap is used as coolant, for example for steel baths. The scrap may or may not be greatly or slightly deformed in order to make it more manageable.
However, it has been found that there is a need for a metallic coolant which can be dispensed faster and more accurately and has a more dependable cooling effect. For the last requirement it can be noted that if the coolant contains too many small parts, then there is a risk that these stay floating on the bath and provide insufficient cooling effect. On the other hand one of the drawbacks of metal scrap of over-large sizes is that they can block off feed systems which may then become clogged and be unable to be used. This means that other additions essential to the process may not be added to the bath, the bath will not reach the correct composition and the charge will have to be downgraded. Here it should be noted that the dimensions of the feed systems have to be kept limited in the case where the coolant is supplied to an installation of which the bath is treated under vacuum, thereby increasing the susceptibility of the installation to clogging.

Metallic coolant for a metallurgical bath, method of manufacture


A bearing arrangement for mounting a gear bolt (1) as the bearing axle for a gearwheel (2) in a transmission housing. The gear bolt (1) is held in the transmission housing by only a single component in the form of an intermediate plate (3).

For example, from the document EP 1 954 964 B1 a transmission with a transmission housing for a motor vehicle is known, such that in the transmission housing there is an intermediate gearwheel shaft with an intermediate gearwheel mounted on it, which meshes with a gearwheel on a first transmission shaft and with a gearwheel on a second transmission shaft. The intermediate gearwheel shaft is supported at one end on a wall section of the transmission housing and at the other end in a half-shell fixed on a sidewall of the transmission housing by a screwed connection. Since the bearing points are fixed on a plurality of components the spatial position of the intermediate gearwheel shaft is disadvantageously determined by more than one component. Having regard to the manufacturing quality that can be achieved in mass production, axially skewed positions of the shafts carrying mutually engaging gearwheels can occur and this has an adverse effect on the acoustic quality of the gearing concerned.


A mold assembly for manufacturing an outsole includes a female mold, a first male mold pivotally connected to a side of the male mold and a second male mold pivotally connected to an end of the male mold. A peripheral wall defining the cavity has a separating flange extending inwardly therefrom. Each of the first male mold and the second male mole has at least one protrusion extending therefrom through which at least one passage is defined. The protrusion of the first male mold is inserted into the cavity and an outer surface of the protrusion abuts the separating flange. The first protrusion and the second protrusion are inserted into the cavity in sequence and material is injected into the cavity via the passages.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mold assembly and, more particularly, to an improved mold assembly for manufacturing an outsole with at least three colors formed in the outsole.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Current outsoles for footwear are developed to have two colors so as to meet requirements of the market. Manufacturers use a female mold and a male mold to manufacture the outsole which can has only two colors. If extra colors are required, a spray painting is used to add the extra colors on the outsole. Nevertheless, the colors painted on the outsole easily peel. Some manufacturers receive melted rubber materials in molds so as to form an outsole. However, such outsole has a limited resilience and cannot be reused. Furthermore, the materials are hardened after heated or melted so that they are not good enough to be used as an outsole.
The present invention provides an improved mold assembly having a female mold and at least two male molds which are pivotally connected to the female mold so that an outsole is formed by way of injection molded. The two male molds are matched with the female molds in sequence and materials having different colors are injected into the space defined between the male mold and the two female molds so as to easily form the outsole.

Mold assembly for manufacturing an outsole

No. 11, Alley 7, Lane 715, Dong Ping Road


The preent invention relates to a sustained-release oral ointment which comprises a hydrophobic ointment base, an adhesive substance, an aluminum compound and a drug. The ointment is useful as a sustained-release oral ointment which has applicability to an oral mucosa, particularly to a peridontal pocket, sustained-release properties to supply a drug to affected part over a long period of time while maintaining the concentration thereof at a sufficiently high level, and enhanced ratio of utilization of drug (the ratio of the total amount of drug released to affected part to the total amount of drug in the ointment applied).

As ointment bases applied on oral mucosa, there are generally and widely used those ointments comprising a hydrophobic ointment base (e.g. petrolatum or plastibase) and an adhesive substance (e.g. sodium carboxymethyl cellulose or sodium polyacrylate) in consideration of the action of saliva Kenalog for Use in Oral Cavity (trade name), a product of SQUIBB JAPAN INC.; Aphtasolon for Dental Use (or for Use in Oral Cavity, trade name), a product of Showa Yakuhin Kako Co., Ltd.; and Dexarutin Ointment (trade name), a product of Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd.!. These ointments, however, have been insufficient as sustained-release ointments. The inventors of the present application have previously filed JP-A-4-13616 in which they have disclosed a sustained-release oral ointment which comprises a hydrophobic ointment base, an adhesive substance, a polyhydric alcohol and a drug. However, there has not yet been known an ointment base which comprises a hydrophobic ointment base, an adhesive substance and an aluminum compound.
Therefore, it has been desired to develop a sustained-release oral ointment which has applicability to an oral mucosa, particularly to a periodontal pocket, sustained-release properties to supply a drug to affected part over a long period of time while maintaining the concentration thereof at a sufficiently high level, and enhanced ratio of utilization of drug (the ratio of the total amount of drug released to affected part to the total amount of drug in the composition applied).
Hence, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention has an object of providing a novel sustained-release oral ointment.


An electromagnetic coil assembly comprising a spool-spindle and a case. The spool-spindle comprises a spindle portion and a larger included portion. The spindle portion has a conductor wound thereon. The larger included portion has opening for receiving the conductor. The case has a first case end and a second case end, with an opening extending through the case. A first internal surrounding surface extends from the second case end and a second surrounding internal surface having a smaller diameter extends from the first case end. The first internal surrounding surface meets the second internal surrounding surface at an annular internal wall. The spool-spindle is positioned in the case until the larger include portion abuts against the annular internal wall, and the case and spool-spindle are joined.

An electromagnetic coil assembly typically includes a case. Internal to the case is a spindle with a conductor or wire wound around the spindle. The conductor is typically helically wound around the spindle. One example of use of electromagnetic coil assemblies such as these is in combination with drug pumps and drug delivery control valves. FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a prior art electromagnetic coil assembly used in such devices, and reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,439 for a more detailed description thereof.
Briefly, the prior art electromagnetic coil assembly shown in FIG. 1 has a case 20, and internal to the case is a spindle 12. The case 20 is typically a manufactured part made by a turning process, and the case defines an opening that is symmetric about an axis of revolution. The spindle 12 is also typically a turned part that is symmetric about its principal axis and is of ferromagnetic material. The wire coil or conductor winding 14 is helically wound around a central portion of the spindle, and when current passes through the coil an electromagnetic field is generated. The prior art electromagnetic coil assembly also includes a washer 16 pressed onto one end of the spindle and a locater or spacer 18 pressed onto the other end of the spindle. The washer and locater are press fit onto opposite ends of the spindle and held thereon by a friction fit. Fixturing is employed to hold all the components in place while the case is being filled with a potting compound or epoxy 24, and while the epoxy cures. The epoxy is added in two separate phases or steps. The case is then fitted to an electromagnetic device 26.
In the prior art, the combination of the washer and the locator serve to center the spindle within the case. The washer, however, does not fully constrain the spindle, and the spindle can therefore travel, along with the associated washer, in the direction of its principal axis. When the coil case is filled with potting epoxy, the spindle is locked in position. Furthermore, if there is no locator, the free end of the spindle opposite the washer additionally must be held concentric with the case and constrained in the axial direction until the potting compound has cured. Fixturing establishes the distance from the washer end of the spindle to the plane established by the washer end of the case.
What is needed is an improved electromagnetic coil assembly and method that does not require washers, provides for improved stability of components, decreases production time, and reduces fixturing requirements.

Electromagnetic coil assembly employing spool-spindle


A structural assembly for use in building applications is disclosed. The assembly has spaced inner and outer face sheets, as well as one or more intermediate panels positioned between the inner and outer face sheets. The assembly provides an enhanced ability to dissipate blast or projectile impact forces and to carry the forces throughout the assembly, thus maintaining sufficient structural integrity in the building to enable the occupants to evacuate, to enable contents to be evacuated, and to enable reuse of the building itself.

Blast and penetration resistant building structures have been used for many years to protect inhabitants from a variety of natural destructive forces (e.g., tornadoes) as well as man-made destructive forces such as impact loads from projectiles and blasts associated with explosives detonations. These traditional building structures often are constructed of substantial thicknesses of reinforced concrete capable of withstanding the forces associated with the aforementioned loads. An obvious disadvantage of using concrete is its great weight, which makes it difficult to transport and assemble on site. Additionally, although concrete is capable of withstanding large forces or projectile impacts, extreme loading can cause concrete walls to spall, break apart, or be pushed over.
Building modules are known which comprise sheet metal in lieu of concrete and thus are relatively light. These known building modules may easily be prefabricated and transported to the building site for assembly. An example of such modules are those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,468 to Phillips, the entirety of which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. These building modules may contain thermo/acoustic insulation, or they may contain supplemental internal structures for preventing forcible entry. The structures in these modules may also prevent penetration of the associated building panel by low level ballistic projectiles.
Still some current building modules may be difficult to handle and transport due to their substantial size and weight, making their procurement and installation expensive and costly to heat and cool.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a lightweight, low cost building assembly that would resist and dissipate and carry the forces associated with projectiles or blasts to mitigate damage to the overall building structure.
The desired assembly should be versatile enough to be used in a wide variety of structural applications. In addition to the aforementioned blast or projectile resistance, such an assembly should provide substantial structural load-bearing strength to enable its use in any of a variety of building structures.

Explosive blast energy dissipating and carrying building structure


A microprocessor having a microcode unit is provided. Routines comprising DSP functions and instruction emulation routines are stored within a read-only memory within the microcode unit. The routines may be fetched by the microprocessor upon occurrence of a corresponding instruction. For example, DSP functions may be fetched upon occurrence of an instruction defined by the microprocessor to be indicative of a DSP function. The microcode unit provides a library of useful functions. Effectively, the instruction set executed by the microprocessor is increased. A number of methods for defining instructions indicative of a DSP function are contemplated. For example, a subroutine call instruction having a target address within a predefined range of addresses may be defined as indicative of a DSP function. Alternatively, a special subroutine call instruction may be added to the instruction set. Detection of the special subroutine call instruction encoding causes the microprocessor to fetch instructions from the microcode unit. A third alternative is to detect data patterns in data movement instructions and cause instructions to be fetched from the microcode unit upon occurrence of particular data patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of microprocessors and, more particularly, to a read-only memory storing DSP functions within a microprocessor.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Computer systems employ one or more microprocessors, and often employ digital signal processors (DSPs). The DSPs are typically included within multimedia devices such as sound cards, speech recognition cards, video capture cards, etc. The DSPs function as coprocessors, performing complex and repetitive mathematical computations demanded by multimedia devices and other signal processing applications more efficiently than general purpose microprocessors. Microprocessors are typically optimized for performing integer operations upon values stored within a main memory of a computer system. While DSPs perform many of the multimedia functions, the microprocessor manages the operation of the computer system.
Digital signal processors include execution units which comprise one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs) coupled to hardware multipliers which implement complex mathematical algorithms in a pipelined manner. The instruction set primarily comprises DSP-type instructions (i.e. instructions optimized for the performance of complex mathematical operations) and also includes a small number of non-DSP instructions. The non-DSP instructions are in many ways similar to instructions executed by microprocessors, and are necessary for allowing the DSP to function independent of the microprocessor.
The DSP is typically optimized for mathematical algorithms such as correlation, convolution, finite impulse response (FIR) filters, impulse response (IR) filters, Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs), matrix correlations, and inner products, among other operations. Implementations of these mathematical algorithms generally comprise long sequences of systematic arithmetic/multiplicative operations. These operations are interrupted on various occasions by decision-type commands. In general, the DSP sequences are a repetition of a very small set of instructions that are executed 70% to 90% of the time. The remaining 10% to 30% of the instructions are primarily boolean/decision operations. Many of these mathematical algorithms perform a repetitive multiply and accumulate function in which a pair of operands are multiplied together and added to a third operand. The third operand is often used to store an accumulation of prior multiplications. Therefore, DSP hardware often includes hardware configured to quickly perform a multiply-add sequence. An exemplary DSP is the ADSP 2171 available from Analog Devices, Inc. of Norwood, Mass.
As microprocessors continue to increase in performance due to increases in operating frequency and the number of transistors which may be included within a single semiconductor substrate, it becomes desirable to perform certain DSP functions within the microprocessor. Instruction code written in the x86 instruction set, for example, may perform the mathematical operations that DSPs typically perform. Cost of the computer system may be reduced through the elimination of one or more DSPs while still performing equivalent functionality. Unfortunately, the instruction code written for the microprocessor may not be as efficient at performing the operations as DSP instruction code. In particular, a larger number of instructions may be necessary to perform the equivalent functionality. The amount of memory needed to store the program may be deleteriously increased. An increase in the amount of memory needed to store the program may lead to decreased overall performance. For example, in a multi-tasking operating system, less memory is available for other programs due to the increased size of a DSP program. It is desirable to perform DSP functionality within a microprocessor without increasing the memory used to store the program.

Microprocessor configured to selectively invoke a microcode DSP function or a program subroutine in response to a target address value of branch instruction


A system comprises a wireless device that communicates across a spectrum having a plurality of sub-channels. The wireless device comprises a plurality of antennas through which the wireless device communicates with another wireless device, wherein each antenna communicates with the other wireless device via an associated communication pathway. The wireless device further comprises sub-channel power analysis logic coupled to the antennas and adapted to determine which communication pathway has the highest communication quality on a sub-channel by sub-channel basis. The wireless device still further comprises diversity selection logic coupled to the sub-channel power analysis logic and adapted to determine a weighting vector for an associated antenna based on the communication quality, wherein the weighting vector specifies a relative transmission power for each sub-channel for the associated antenna.

This invention generally relates to wireless networks and specifically to wireless local area network ("WLAN") devices.
Wireless local area networks ("WLAN") allow network devices, such as computers, to have network connectivity without the use of wires. Network connections may be established via, for example, radio signals. A wireless access point ("AP") may comprise a wired Internet or Ethernet connection and a radio communication circuitry capable of transmitting data to and receiving data from another compatible wireless device. The AP may provide Internet and/or network connectivity to such other network devices (e.g., computer) called stations ("STA") by transmitting and receiving data via radio signals.
A variety of industry standards exist that govern the implementation of WLANs. Examples of such industry standards comprise the IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g protocols. The 802.11a and 802.11g protocols utilize the Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication method where the data to be transmitted is split into multiple parallel data streams and each parallel data stream transmitted simultaneously over narrow sub-channels that togther form the full channel bandwidth of 20 MHz. The 802.11b protocol utilizes the direct sequence spread spectrum ("DSSS") communication method. DSSS enables communication between two devices by splitting into several parts each byte of data to be transmitted and sending each part concurrently on different frequencies across a 24 MHz-wide spectrum.
In many WLANs, each wireless device (AP or STA) has a single signal path for transmission, a single signal path for reception, and a single antenna. Some WLAN devices may have multiple antennas, but only a single signal path for reception and a single signal path for transmission; the most favorable antenna may be connected to transmit and receive signal chains through a switch (a technique known as antenna switched diversity). In the following, a single-antenna transceiver is defined as a transceiver that has a single signal path for reception and a single signal path for transmission. A single-antenna transceiver also may be defined as a transceiver with multiple antenna structures that may be selectively connected to the signal paths with a control switch. A multi-antenna transceiver is defined as a device having multiple transmission signal paths and multiple receive signal paths in addition to a plurality of radio structures that may be connected to the signal paths. The performance of such WLAN systems is determined by data rates achieved between an AP WLAN transceiver and any STA WLAN transceivers communicating with the AP. There exist a wide range of possible operating conditions between an AP and each STA associated with the AP. Typically, the maximum achievable data rates between the AP and a given STA decrease as the distance between the AP and the STA increases.
The rate at which data is transferred ("data rate") between an AP and each STA associated with the AP may be raised by increasing the number of antennas associated with each wireless device in the system. For instance, a system comprising an AP with multiple antennas and an STA with multiple antennas may have a higher data rate than a system comprising an AP with a single antenna and an STA with a single antenna. The multiple-input antennas and multiple-output antennas ("MIMO") are part of a design that attempts to achieve a linear increase in data rate as the number of transmitting and receiving antennas linearly increase.
WLAN systems employ MIMO "space-time" coding, wherein a transmission signal is split in the time domain and the signal is distributed across the multiple transmitting antennas in space. When combined with a multi-carrier modulating scheme, such as Orthogonal Frequency Data Modulation ("OFDM"), the encoding technique is referred to as "space-time-frequency" coding. A multiple-antenna receiver may receive and process a space-time encoded signal or a space-time-frequency encoded signal to determine the data transmitted from each transmitting antenna.
A multiple-antenna WLAN transmitter (e.g., an AP) produces a set of signals that each pass through separate signal paths for digital modulation, analog and radio frequency processing and wireless transmission over the antennas. These paths are determined largely by the various positions of the transmitting and receiving antennas. Some paths may be at a disadvantage to other paths due to undesirable factors, such as signal noise. Paths that have less interference and greater signal clarity are said to have a relatively high signal-to-noise ratio ("SNR"). Thus, paths with greater SNRs are preferred over paths with lesser SNRs.
Since single-antenna WLAN devices (e.g. STAs) are not compatible with multiple-antenna WLAN devices, systems solely comprising single-antenna WLAN devices cannot take advantage of the vast improvement in performance realized by systems solely comprising multiple-antenna WLAN devices. A performance-improving technique for a multiple-antenna WLAN device communicating with a single-antenna WLAN device is desirable.

Frequency-domain subchannel transmit antenna selection and power pouring for multi-antenna transmission


Enhanced personalized advertisements may be provided through media such as IPTV, for example, by analyzing data such as subscribers' mobility data (calling and movement data), television (TV) watching history, online browsing data (e.g., Internet, web site browsing), and subscribers' historical purchasing transactions. With the analysis, subscribers' contexts, any information that reflects subscribers' interests and activities, and intents, tendency to buy certain products, items, services, and/or travel to some locations may be inferred.

Even in digitized media such as the Internet Protocol IPTV, the current advertisements are delivered in a passive way, namely, that all subscribers are shown the same advertisements given the same period and channel without considering individual characteristics, habits or interests. While there are several methods that aim to deliver flexible advertisements, they depend only on segmenting subscribers by their demographics or provide a hardware system for targeting a group of users without specifying who to target.

Mobility enhanced advertising on internet protocol television

International Business Machines Corporation


A charge pump generates a first sub up current and a second sub up current that vary complementarily with a change in a voltage at an output terminal. The charge pump also generates a first sub down current and a second sub down current that vary complementarily with the change in the voltage at the output terminal. With such complementary relationships, the total up/down currents remain substantially constant and balanced with the change in the voltage at the output terminal.

This application claims priority under 35 USC § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 2004-60763, filed on Aug. 2, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to charge pumps, and more particularly to a charge pump having up and down currents that are balanced and constant for reducing jitter in a phase-locked loop.
2. Description of the Related Art
A phase-locked loop (PLL) is widely used for various applications such as a clock recovery circuit in a communication system or a frequency synthesizer for synthesizing a higher frequency using a lower frequency. In general, the phase-locked loop includes a phase frequency detector (PFD), a charge pump, a loop filter, and a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional phase-locked loop. Referring to FIG. 1, a phase frequency detector 110 generates an up signal UP and a down signal DN based on a phase (or frequency) difference between a reference signal Vi and a feedback signal Vo. A charge pump 120 draws an up current lUP through a loop filter 130 when the up signal UP is activated or draws a down current lDN from the loop filter 130 when the down signal DN is activated. The loop filter 130 is charged or discharged in response to the up/down currents lUP/lDN to generate a loop filter voltage.
A voltage-controlled oscillator 140 generates the feedback signal Vo based on the loop filter voltage. In this manner, the up signal UP and the down signal DN are generated such that a phase (or frequency) difference between the reference signal Vi and the feedback signal Vo is reduced.
FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate operation of the charge pump 120 in response to the up signal and the down signal. Referring to FIG. 2A, an up switch 230a is closed when the up signal UP is activated such that the up current lUP is supplied from an up current source 210a to charge a loop filter 250a. Referring to FIG. 2B, a down switch 240b is closed when the down signal DN is activated such that the down current lDN is drawn by a down current source 210b to discharge a loop filter 250b. The loop filters 250a and 250b, charged or discharged, generate a control signal Vctrl provided to the VCO 140.
An important performance aspect of the phase-locked loop depends on a performance of the charge pump. Particularly, the charge pump is desired to operate over a wide voltage range with balanced up and down currents lUP and lDN. When the up current IUP is not substantially matched with the down current IDN, a ripple may be continuously generated when the phase-locked loop is locked. Moreover, jitter may be disadvantageously increased due to degradation of tracking characteristics.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram illustrating a conventional charge pump. Referring to FIG. 3, the conventional charge pump includes a reference current source Iref, PMOS (P-channel metal oxide semiconductor) transistors MP1 and MP2, NMOS (N-channel metal oxide semiconductor) transistors MN1, MN2 and MN3, and up/down switches UP and DN. The NMOS transistor MN1 and the PMOS transistor MP1 form a current mirror with the NMOS transistor MN2 and the PMOS transistor MP2, respectively, to produce the up current IUP proportional to a current drawn from the reference current source Iref. The NMOS transistor MN3, forming a current mirror with the NMOS transistor MN1, produces the down current IDN proportional to the current drawn from the reference current source Iref.
The up switch UP is closed when the up signal UP is activated such that the up current IUP flows to an output terminal OUT of the charge pump. Alternatively, the down switch DN is closed when the d own signal DN is activated to d raw the down current IDN from the output terminal OUT. One of the up signal and down signal UP and DN is activated.
The up and down currents IUP and IDN are desired to be the same, and such currents are both generated by mirroring the reference current Iref. However, as a voltage at the output terminal OUT varies in a range from about OV to about VDD, the up and down currents IUP and IDN become different from each other because the PMOS and NMOS transistors MP2 and MN3 have finite resistance.
That is, the PMOS and NMOS transistors MP2 and MN3 operate in a saturation region where a drain current Ids of each of such transistors varies with the drain-to-source voltage Vds as follows:
                              Ids          =                                    1              2                                    μ                                                                          Cox                                                                                W              L                                                                  (                                  Vgs                  -                  Vth                                )                            2                                                  (                              1                +                                  λ                                                                                Vds                                            )                                      ,                            [                  Expression                                                              1                ]            wherein μ is a mobility of a charge carrier in a channel, Cox is a capacitance per unit area formed by a gate electrode and the channel, W is a width of the channel, L is a length of the channel, Vgs is a gate-to-source voltage, Vth is a threshold voltage of the transistor, and λ is a channel length modulation coefficient.
Thus, the drain current Ids increases as the drain-to-source voltage Vds increases, and the drain current Ids decreases as the drain-to-source voltage Vds decreases, for the NMOS transistor. On the other hand, the drain current Ids increases as the source-to-drain voltage Vsd increases, and the drain current Ids decreases as the source-to-drain voltage Vsd decreases, for the PMOS transistor.
Therefore, when the voltage at the output terminal OUT of the charge pump in FIG. 3 is increased, the source-to-drain voltage Vsd of the PMOS transistor MP2 is decreased, thereby decreasing the up current IUP. Also, the drain-to-source voltage Vds of the NMOS transistor MN3 is increased, thereby increasing the down current IDN. Conversely, when the voltage at the output terminal OUT is decreased, the source-to-drain voltage Vsd of the PMOS transistor MP2 is increased, thereby increasing the up current IUP. Also, the drain-to-source voltage Vds of the NMOS transistor MN3 is decreased, thereby decreasing the down current IDN. Thus, the up current IUP and the down current IDN may not be precisely matched from the variation of the voltage at the output terminal OUT.
FIG. 4 is a plot illustrating simulation results for the up current IUP and the down current IDN according to the voltage VOUT at the output terminal of the charge pump in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 4, as the output voltage VOUT increases, the up current IUP decreases while the down current IDN increases resulting in a current mismatch which in turn may result in jitter of the phase-locked loop.
A phase locked loop charge pump circuit as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,889 includes a reference current loop for generating a reference current proportional to a reference voltage and a replication feedback loop for replicating a loop filter voltage at a coupling node to provide the reference current as an up current. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,889, the up current is replicated from the down current so that the up current may be substantially identical to the down current.
However, the charge pump circuit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,889 changes the up current according to the change of the down current for enhanced current matching. However, such up and down currents still have variance. For example, when the down current is changed by ΔI, the up current is also changed by ΔI from matching with the down current. Such current variance may lower the operating speed of the phase-locked loop and may affect frequency characteristics of the phase-locked loop to degrade the performance of the phase-locked loop. Therefore, a charge pump that generates the up/down currents that are balanced at a constant current level is desired.

Charge pump with balanced and constant up and down currents


A system for exchanging event tickets, including a database, a computing device, one or more mobile devices, including a seller's mobile device and a buyer's mobile device, a network connecting the computing device and the one or more users' mobile devices, a plurality of modules including authentication module, a geolocation information module for tracking geolocations of the one or more users' mobile devices, a tickets information module, a notifications module, a negotiations platform module, and a confirmation platform module for facilitating an exchange of tickets, wherein the geolocation information module tracks the geolocations of the one or more users' mobile devices and verifies that the geolocations of the seller's mobile device and the buyer's mobile device are within a same venue as a prerequisite to the confirmation platform module facilitating an exchange of tickets.

Several systems exist for selling or exchanging tickets for events. Historically, the most common way tickets were exchanged was by purchasing the ticket from the event venue. Sometimes, tickets were also available from external sources, such as a Ticketmaster location. With advancing technology, ticket exchanges have become more efficient and convenient.
With the advent of the internet and widespread electronic communication, many event venues and ticket providers made tickets available for purchase online. In some instances, the tickets were sent to the purchasers. In others, the purchaser picked the tickets up upon arrival at the venue. In addition, third-party aftermarket ticket services, such as StubHub, are also commonly used today. These services allow users to buy and sell tickets amongst themselves, creating an aftermarket whereby interested parties can find tickets to events that may already be sold out.
Direct event-goer interaction and sales has improved ticket availability, and online exchange systems have made ticket search and purchase processes more efficient. However, there remains a need in the art for a convenient manner of managing and exchanging tickets after purchase, up to and including during the event itself. Systems have been created to assist with the management of a user's ticket portfolio, such as the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,175,926. The '926 patent's technology helps the owner of a variety of tickets to organize and manage how they are used and distributed. The technology is primarily directed to an organizational user, who may have purchased a large quantity of tickets to benefit from bulk purchase pricing and wishes to ensure the least amount of waste resulting from unused tickets. While the '926 patent's technology is useful in managing an organization's ticket portfolio, so to speak, among its employees, there remains a need in the art for a user exchange system that allows separate and unrelated users to contact one another and exchange tickets during the event.

System and method for swapping event tickets


To provide polyglycolic acid resin compositions having excellent moldability, and high barrier properties and transparency after molding, and molded articles therefrom. According to the present invention, a polylactic acid having a mass average molecular weight Mw of 100000 to 1000000 is added to a polyglycolic acid having a mass average molecular weight Mw of 100000 to 1000000 in a content of the polylactic acid of 5 to 30% by mass, and the mixture is melt-kneaded under, for example, a temperature condition of 230 to 270° C., thereby obtaining a resin composition having a temperature-lowering crystallization peak temperature Tc, measured by differential scanning calorimetry, of 3 to 18° C. lower than that of a polyglycolic acid only.

Recently, development of bottles, containers, sheets, and films using a biodegradable resin has been progressed in resin molded articles for use in food products, from a purpose of environmental loading reduction. The biodegradable resins usable for this application include polylactic acid, but there is a problem that polylactic acid resin is lower in various physical properties than resins which have been conventionally used. Thus, polylactic acid resin sheets having improved sliding property, impact resistance, or heat resistance by adding a biodegradable aliphatic polyester to the polylactic acid polymer, are proposed (See, Patent Documents 1 to 3).
For example, a film described in Patent Document 1 is obtained by adding a biodegradable aliphatic polyester having a glass transition temperature of 0° C. or less to a polylactic acid polymer to improve the impact resistance. In a sheet described in Patent Document 2, the improvement of the sliding property is attempted by adding a biodegradable aliphatic polyester having a glass transition temperature of 0° C. or less to a polylactic acid polymer having a composition ratio of L-lactic acid and D-lactic acid of 100:0 to 94:6 or 6:94 to 0:100 in a predetermined mixing ratio; at least uniaxially stretching the resin mixture; and subjecting it to a heat-treatment.
In addition, according to a method for molding a biodegradable sheet described in Patent Document 3, to a polylactic acid resin is added a polyester having a glass transition temperature of 0° C. or less and a melting point higher than a glass transition temperature of the polylactic acid resin and lower than a melting point of the polylactic acid resin in an predetermined mixing ratio. Then, a sheet composed of such a composition is pre-crystallized by bringing the sheet into contact with a cast roll, and molded at a temperature of the melting point of the aliphatic polyester or more, and less than the melting point of the polylactic acid resin, thereby improving the heat resistance of the sheet.
On the other hand, polylactic acid resin molded articles have the defect of having very poor barrier properties against a gas such as oxygen or carbon dioxide, and steam. Specifically, an oxygen-permeability of a polylactic acid film is about 5 times lower than those of aromatic polyester films which have been conventionally used, at 23° C. under a relative humidity of 80%, and a steam-barrier property thereof is about 10 times lower at 40° C. under a relative humidity of 90%. It is difficult to apply the molded articles having poor barrier properties as described above to materials for wrapping food and containers for cosmetics, and therefore, their possible applications are limited.
For imparting the barrier properties to the polylactic acid resin molded article, for example, a method in which a resin having a good barrier property such as an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer is laminated therewith can be considered. Such a barrier material, however, has the defect of having poor biodegradability. Therefore, a multi-layer film in which polyglycolic acid having biodegradability is used as a barrier material has hitherto been proposed (see, Patent Document 4). The multi-layer film described in Patent Document 4 is a polyglycolic acid film on which a polylactic acid film(s) is/are directly laminated on its one or both surfaces, which is formed by co-extruding the polyglycolic acid and the polylactic acid to obtain a multi-layer sheet, and biaxially stretching the sheet under pre-determined conditions.

Polyglycolic acid resin composition and molded article therefrom


Semiconductor structures and methods for suppressing latch-up in bulk CMOS devices. The semiconductor structure comprises first and second adjacent doped wells formed in the semiconductor material of a substrate. A trench, which includes a base and first sidewalls between the base and the top surface, is defined in the substrate between the first and second doped wells. The trench is partially filled with a conductor material that is electrically coupled with the first and second doped wells. Highly-doped conductive regions may be provided in the semiconductor material bordering the trench at a location adjacent to the conductive material in the trench.

Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technologies integrate P- and N-channel field effect transistors (FETs) to form an integrated circuit on a single semiconductor substrate. Latch-up, which is precipitated by unwanted transistor action of parasitic bipolar transistors inherently present in bulk CMOS devices, may be a significant issue for bulk CMOS technologies. The unwanted parasitic transistor action, which has various triggers, may cause failure of bulk CMOS devices. For space-based applications, latch-up may be induced by the impingement of high energy ionizing radiation and particles (e.g., cosmic rays, neutrons, protons, alpha particles). Because the integrated circuit cannot be easily replaced in space flight systems, the chip failure may prove catastrophic. Hence, designing bulk CMOS devices with a high tolerance to latch-up is an important consideration for circuit operation in the natural space radiation environment, as well as military systems and high reliability commercial applications.
Bulk CMOS device designs may be adjusted to increase latch-up immunity. For example, latch-up immunity may be increased in 0.25 micron device technologies by building bulk CMOS devices on epitaxial substrates (e.g., a p-type epitaxial layer on a highly-doped p-type substrate wafer). Highly-doped substrate wafers provide excellent current sinks for currents that, if unabated, may initiate latch-up. However, epitaxial substrates are expensive to produce and may increase the design complexity of several critical circuits, such as electrostatic discharge (ESD) protective devices.
Guard ring diffusions represent another conventional approach for suppressing latch-up. However, guard ring diffusions are costly because they occupy a significant amount of active area silicon real estate. In addition, although guard ring diffusions collect a majority of the minority carriers in the substrate, a significant fraction may escape collection underneath the guard ring diffusion.
Semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrates are recognized by the semiconductor community as generally free of latch-up. However, CMOS devices are expensive to fabricate on an SOI substrate, as compared to a bulk substrate. Furthermore, SOI substrates suffer from various other radiation-induced failure mechanisms aside from latch-up. Another disadvantage is that SOI devices do not generally come with a suite of ASIC books that would enable simple assembly of low-cost designs.
Conventional CMOS devices are susceptible to latch-up generally because of the close proximity of N-channel and P-channel devices. For example, a typical CMOS device fabricated on a p-type substrate includes a P-channel transistor fabricated in an N-well and an N-channel transistor fabricated in a P-well. The opposite conductivity N- and P-wells are separated by only a short distance and adjoin across a well junction. This densely-packed bulk CMOS structure inherently forms a parasitic lateral bipolar (PNP) structure and parasitic vertical bipolar (NPN) structure. Latch-up may occur due to regenerative feedback between these PNP and NPN structures.
With reference to FIG. 1, a portion of a standard triple-well bulk CMOS structure 30 (i.e., CMOS inverter) includes a P-channel transistor 10 formed in an N-well 12 of a substrate 11, an N-channel transistor 14 formed in a P-well 16 of the substrate 11 that overlies a buried N-band 18, and a shallow trench isolation (STI) region 20 separating the N-well 12 from the P-well 16. Other STI regions 21 are distributed across the substrate 11. The N-channel transistor 14 includes n-type diffusions representing a source 24 and a drain 25. The P-channel transistor 10 has p-type diffusions representing a source 27 and a drain 28. The N-well 12 is electrically coupled by a contact 19 with the standard power supply voltage (Vdd) and the P-well 16 is electrically coupled by a contact 17 to the substrate ground potential. The input of the CMOS structure 30 is connected to a gate 13 of the P-channel transistor 10 and to a gate 15 of the N-channel transistor 14. The output of CMOS structure 30 is connected to the drain 28 of the P-channel transistor 10 and the drain 25 of the N-channel transistor 14. The source 27 of the P-channel transistor 10 is connected to Vdd and the source 24 of the N-channel transistor 14 is coupled to ground. Guard ring diffusions 34, 36 encircle the CMOS structure 30.
The n-type diffusions constituting the source 24 and drain 25 of the N-channel transistor 14, the isolated P-well 16, and the underlying N-band 18 constitute the emitter, base, and collector, respectively, of a vertical parasitic NPN structure 22. The p-type diffusions constituting the source 27 and drain 28 of the P-channel transistor 10, the N-well 12, and the isolated P-well 16 constitute the emitter, base, and collector, respectively, of a lateral parasitic PNP structure 26. Because the N-band 18 constituting the collector of the NPN structure 22 and the N-well 12 constituting the base of the PNP structure 26 are shared and the P-well 16 constitutes the base of the NPN structure 22 and also the collector of the PNP structure 26, the parasitic NPN and PNP structures 22, 26 are wired to result in a positive feedback configuration.
A disturbance, such as impinging ionizing radiation, a voltage overshoot on the source 27 of the P-channel transistor 10, or a voltage undershoot on the source 24 of the N-channel transistor 14, may result in the onset of regenerative action. This results in negative differential resistance behavior and, eventually, latch-up of the bulk CMOS structure 30. In latch-up, an extremely low-impedance path is formed between emitters of the vertical parasitic NPN structure 22 and the lateral parasitic PNP structure 26, as a result of the bipolar bases being flooded with carriers. The low-impedance state may precipitate catastrophic failure of that portion of the integrated circuit. The latched state may only be exited by removal of, or drastic lowering of, the power supply voltage below the holding voltage. Unfortunately, irreversible damage to the integrated circuit may occur almost instantaneously with the onset of the disturbance so that any reaction to exit the latched state is belated.
What is needed, therefore, is a semiconductor structure and fabrication method for modifying standard bulk CMOS device designs that suppresses latch-up, while being cost effective to integrate into the process flow, and that overcomes the disadvantages of conventional bulk CMOS semiconductor structures and methods of manufacturing such bulk CMOS semiconductor structures.

Methods and semiconductor structures for latch-up suppression using a conductive region


The method of an apparatus for incinerating and melting wastes along with incombustible materials in the wastes which comprise introducing wastes in a horizontal rotary furnace, incinerating the wastes at a temperature from 800.degree. C. to 1,200.degree. C., and melting the ashes of the wastes together with the remaining products which are vitrified at a temperature of more than 1,600.degree. C., by an oxygen type burner in which an oxygen-fuel mixture has an oxygen content of 50% in the mixture. The exhaust gas generated in the incineration and melting processes is introduced to a dust collector for cleaning the exhaust gas.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of incinerating and melting wastes and an apparatus therefor, and particularly to the method and apparatus for incinerating and melting a combustible material, such as a waste of plastic products, paper products, wood, or rubber products and an incombustible material including metal products.
(2) Prior Art
In recent years, the amount of urban wastes generated for disposal has greatly increased due to a change of life style and the migration of the population toward towns and cities.
The most important problem for waste disposal lies in reducing its volume. Another problem lately has been the presence in urban wastes of harmful materials. Because an effluence of harmful materials from the wastes may occur if wastes are buried underground, the tendency has been to incinerate them.
Normally, the ashes of the urban wastes, including those (such as fly ashes) collected by a bag-filter of a collector, were disposed of in such a manner that they were buried underground in reclaimed land or underground during engineering and construction at the time of performing concrete work.
However, these ashes are fine powders which absorb dioxins and include incombustible heavy metals, and therefore it costs substantially to transfer the ashes since there is a great possibility that the ashes may become scattered in the wind when treating and transferring the same. Furthermore, where the ashes are simply buried underground, the harmful materials included in or absorbed in the ashes are washed therefrom due to rain and underground water so as to cause pollution. Therefore, it is required that disposal of the ashes should be carried out carefully.
Recently, laws and rules concerning disposal of urban and industrial wastes are provided, so that it becomes a legal responsibility that the ashes of the wastes must be disposed of via a second treatment after incineration.
As a method of further decreasing the volume of the ashes and resolving the harmful materials so as to prevent the harmful materials from washing out, the ashes are melted. As methods of melting the ashes, a plasma-electric melting, a high-frequency electric melting, and a heat melting by a burner have all been tried.
As mentioned above, it is difficult technically to use the electric furnace since the objects to be incinerated and melted are mostly nonferrous materials. The plasma-electric furnace is very expensive on a large scale and has an increased installation cost.
Therefore, there have been attempts to melt the ashes by means of a conventional heat furnace having a burner which uses a gaseous, liquid or solid fuel. Such a burner type heating means has become popular recently since it has advantages of generation of a high temperature, a high heat efficiency, a low running cost and ease of burning control.
The burner uses LPG, NLG or other fuels, and the air for burning the fuel is supplied by means of an air compressor such as a centrifugal turbine pump or a vane pump and then mixed with the fuel.
This manner of combustion may generate a high temperature which melts the waste ashes, but it is difficult to control generation of a CO gas. Generation of the CO gas means that dioxins, which are closely connected with the CO gas, cannot be controlled.
A conventional waste reduction process is based on the idea that incineration of the wastes is carried out in another process which is quite different from a melting process. As the result, there are further problems in that it is necessary to provide two disposal installations, one for incinerating the wastes and the other for melting the ashes, and the costs for transfer of the wastes and ashes and also the fuel costs become very expensive.
Further, the molten object or slag are fragile after cooling the same and therefore there is no means of disposal except that they should be abandoned at a reclaimed landfill and buried underground.

Method of incinerating and melting wastes and apparatus therefor