Crystalline forms, including salts and polymorphs, of a compound useful in the treatment of tetracycline compound-responsive states are provided herein. The crystalline compounds are useful for the treatment or prevention of conditions and disorders such as bacterial infections and neoplasms, as well as other known applications for tetracycline compounds in general.

The development of the tetracycline antibiotics was the direct result of a systematic screening of soil specimens collected from many parts of the world for evidence of microorganisms capable of producing bactericidal and/or bacteriostatic compositions. The first of these novel compounds was introduced in 1948 under the name chlortetracycline. Two years later, oxytetracycline became available. The elucidation of the chemical structure of these compounds confirmed their similarity and furnished the analytical basis for the production of a third member of this group in 1952, tetracycline. A new family of tetracycline compounds, without the ring-attached methyl group present in earlier tetracyclines, was prepared in 1957 and became publicly available in 1967; and minocycline was in use by 1972.
Recently, research efforts have focused on developing new tetracycline antibiotic compositions effective under varying therapeutic conditions and routes of administration. New tetracycline analogues have also been investigated which may prove to be equal to or more effective than the originally introduced tetracycline compounds. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,980,584; 2,990,331; 3,062,717; 3,165,531; 3,454,697; 3,557,280; 3,674,859; 3,957,980; 4,018,889; 4,024,272; and 4,126,680. These patents are representative of the range of pharmaceutically active tetracycline and tetracycline analogue compositions.
Historically, soon after their initial development and introduction, the tetracyclines were found to be highly effective pharmacologically against rickettsiae; a number of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria; and the agents responsible for lymphogranuloma venereum, inclusion conjunctivitis, and psittacosis. Hence, tetracyclines became known as "broad spectrum" antibiotics. With the subsequent establishment of their in vitro antimicrobial activity, effectiveness in experimental infections, and pharmacological properties, the tetracyclines as a class rapidly became widely used for therapeutic purposes. However, this widespread use of tetracyclines for both major and minor illnesses and diseases led directly to the emergence of resistance to these antibiotics even among highly susceptible bacterial species both commensal and pathogenic (e.g., pneumococci and Salmonella). The rise of tetracycline-resistant organisms has resulted in a general decline in use of tetracyclines and tetracycline analogue compositions as the antibiotic of choice.
Each pharmaceutical compound has an optimal therapeutic blood concentration and a lethal concentration. The bioavailability of the compound determines the dosage strength in the drug formulation necessary to obtain the ideal blood level. If the drug can crystallize as two or more polymorphs differing in bioavailability, the optimal dose will depend on the polymorph present in the formulation. Some drugs show a narrow margin between therapeutic and lethal concentrations. Chloramphenicol-3-palmitate (CAPP), for example, is a broad-spectrum antibiotic known to crystallize in at least three polymorphic forms and one amorphous form. The most stable form, A, is marketed. The difference in bioactivity between this polymorph and another form, B, is a factor of eight, thus creating the possibility of fatal overdosages of the compound if unwittingly administered as form B due to alterations during processing and/or storage. Therefore, regulatory agencies, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration, have begun to place tight controls on the polymorphic content of the active component in solid dosage forms. In general, for drugs that exist in polymorphic forms, if anything other than the pure, thermodynamically preferred polymorph is to be marketed, the regulatory agency may require batch-by-batch monitoring. Thus, it becomes important for both medical and commercial reasons to produce and market the pure drug in its most thermodynamically stable polymorph, substantially free of other kinetically favored polymorphs.
For instance, salt forms of a compound, and polymorphic forms of the free compound or salt, are known in the pharmaceutical art to affect, for example, the solubility, dissolution rate, bioavailability, chemical and physical stability, flowability, fractability, and compressibility of the compound as well as the safety and efficacy of drug products based on the compound (see, e.g., Knapman, Modern Drug Discovery, 2000, 3(2): 53).
Accordingly, identification of a salt form or free base of a compound with optimal physical and chemical properties will advance the development of tetracycline compounds as pharmaceuticals. The most useful of such physical and chemical properties include: easy and reproducible preparation, crystallinity, non-hygroscopicity, aqueous solubility, stability to visible and ultraviolet light, low rate of degradation under accelerated stability conditions of temperature and humidity, low rate of isomerization between isomeric forms, and safety for long-term administration to humans.

Salts and polymorphs of a tetracycline compound


A method and arrangement for enabling communication of data between a UE and a first base station in a cellular communication network further comprising the second base station, and the second base station is connected to the first base station via a communication interface. A scheduling request is received from the first base station. The scheduling request is based on a suggested scheduling which is determined by the first base station, and the suggested scheduling concerns the communication of data. Scheduling information is determined based on the scheduling request, and the scheduling information is transmitted to the UE. By determining a suggested scheduling in a micro base station, but transmitting scheduling information from an overlaying macro base station, local awareness of communication conditions may be applied, and interferences from neighboring micro base stations may be decreased.

In 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), the packet-switched communication systems HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) and LTE (Long Term Evolution) have been specified for wireless transmission of data packets between User Equipments and radio base stations in cellular/mobile networks. In this description, the term "User Equipment" (UE) will be used to denote any suitable communication terminal adapted to communicate with a radio base station. A UE, may be implemented as a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a handheld computer, a laptop computer, etc. A "radio base station" may be implanted as a NodeB, an eNodeB, a repeater, etc.
A base station serving a cell in a wireless network may transmit user data and control data in a physical downlink channel to a UE, and a UE may likewise transmit data and control data in a physical uplink channel in the opposite direction to the base station.
With the emergence of telecommunication services, so called heterogeneous networks have been developed. In heterogeneous networks there is a mix of differently sized cells served by base stations, such as macro, micro, pico, femto, and other type of devices such as relays and repeaters. For instance, a UE that is located within the coverage area of a macro radio base station, or partially within the coverage of the macro base station, may be served by a micro radio base station, which coverage area is a subset of the coverage of the macro radio base station. For example, even if an office building or department of a company is located within the coverage area of a macro base station, UE's of the employees will be served by an own micro radio base station of the company when being present in the office building/department. When being present outside the office building/department, the UE's of the employees are instead served by the macro base station. Typically, UE's for visitors to the office are not served by the micro radio base station, but are instead served by the macro base station.
In this description, the term "macro base station" is used to denote the radio base station which serves a larger "macro cell", which overlaps or partially overlaps a "micro cell". The term "micro base station" will be used to denote the radio base station which is serving the micro cell. Moreover, the terms "micro cell" and "micro base station" shall be interpreted generic, and are in this description used to denote any communication cell, and its respective radio base station, which is overlapped or partially overlapped by a macro cell. Thus, the terms micro cells and micro base stations are not limited to only micro cells and micro base stations, respectively, also pico cells, femto cells, and their respective radio base stations will be covered by these terms.
With "physical control channel" is meant physical channels which are used for communication of control data, e.g. scheduling initiations and decisions. In LTE, such physical control channels are e.g. PDCCH's (Physical Downlink Control Channel), and PUCCH's (Physical Uplink Control Channel)), which are used for communication of control data in downlink and uplink, respectively. With "physical shared channel" is meant physical shared channels which are used for communication of data. In LTE, such physical shared channels are e.g. PDSCH's (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), and PUSCH's (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), which are used for communication of data between communication terminals and radio base stations in downlink and uplink, respectively.
With reference to FIG. 1, a heterogeneous communication network will now be described. The micro cell 102 is served and controlled by a micro base station 104. One or more UE's 100 are served by the micro base station 104 and are scheduled by the micro base station 104 to receive downlink data from the micro base station 104. Scheduling information is sent on a downlink control channel 106, from the micro base station 104 to the UE 100, e.g. on a PDCCH. For instance, the scheduling information defines when downlink data will be sent. Downlink data is then sent on a shared channel 108 according to the scheduling information, e.g. on a PDSCH. The micro cell 102 is further embedded in a macro cell 112, and the macro cell 112 is served and controlled by a macro base station 114. One or more UE's 110 are served by the macro base station 114 and are scheduled by the macro base station 114 to receive downlink data from the macro base station 114. Scheduling information is sent on a downlink control channel 116 from the macro base station to the UE 110, e.g. on a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control CHannel). Downlink data is then sent on a shared channel 118 according to the scheduling information, e.g. on a PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared CHannel).
In the FIG. 1, communication of downlink data from the radio base stations 104, 114 to the UE's 100, 110 is described. However, communication of uplink data is performed similarly, even if the UE's 100, 110 requests their respective base station 104, 114 to schedule them to send the uplink data on uplink data channels (not shown in the figure), e.g. PUSCH's (Physical Uplink Shared CHannel). The requests are sent to the respective base station 104, 114 on uplink control channels (not shown in the figure), e.g. PUCCH's (Physical Uplink Control CHannel).
Typically, a heterogeneous communication network comprises various radio base stations having different capabilities and different downlink transmission power levels. For example, the output power difference between macro sites and micro or pico sites can be 10-20 dB, or even more. Therefore these radio base stations may have different coverage ranges. Hence the cells which they serve have different sizes, since the cell size is typically determined by the downlink transmission power, particularly on the reference symbols sent by the base stations.
In the uplink, the transmission power is, in principle, independent of the base station type and depends only on the UE (User Equipment) power capability. In the uplink, the UE should ideally be served by the base station which receives the strongest signal power from the UE, which typically is the base station with the shortest distance to the UE. Hence in the uplink the cells size should ideally not be based on the base station's power capabilities.
Hence in heterogeneous communication networks with smaller cells (micro, pico, femto, etc.) being overlapped or partially overlapped by a larger cell (macro), the optimum cell border may be different in downlink and uplink, and the optimal coverage area for the micro cell will be smaller in downlink. For instance, a UE which is located to a micro cell for best uplink coverage and served by a micro base station will receive signalling information (control data) from the micro base station. Generally, micro base stations transmit signalling information with a lower output power than macro base stations. Thus, even if the UE is served by the micro base station and receives signalling information from the micro base station, signalling information from the macro base station will reach the UE in downlink, and because the signalling information is arranged on the same resource elements for all UE's the signalling information, affect the reception of signalling information from the micro base station with interference. Especially, the signalling information to UE's located near the cell border where the macro signalling can be received with higher power level in case of uplink optimal cell association will be affected by interference. For signalling information in uplink, the interference problem will be less severe, due to the fact that the UE sends the signalling information with a substantially lower output effect, and the signalling information from the UE will not reach the macro base station, or be so weak that it does not affect signalling information substantially from other UE's served by the macro base station. Moreover, the user data in uplink and downlink, respectively, may be arranged in such a way that user data for a specific UE will not be affected by user data for other UE's. To arrange the user data, methods as Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) may be applied. However, in LTE ICIC is only possible to use on shared channels for user data where frequency resources are orthogonal and not for signalling information on control channels such as PDCCH.
Interference of signalling information is not a major problem if the small and the large cells operate on different radio resources, for instance in a GSM network, because the performance degradation is not severe if the downlink cell association is used also for uplink communication. However, the difference between optimum cell size in the downlink and in the uplink is generally a problem if the two cells operate on the same radio resources (same frequency), for instance in VIE. The reason for this is that the smaller base stations typically use a lower output power than the overlaying macro base station, and the UE's use the same or similar output power. Furthermore, the interference situation for the control channels may be difficult. For example, the PDCCH from a smaller base station may be severely interfered by an overlaying base station.
It is thus generally a problem to provide reliable conditions for the control channels in overlapped cells in heterogeneous communication networks using shared radio resources.


An input device is provided with a substrate having a main surface, a first detecting electrode pattern provided on or above the main surface of the substrate, and a second detecting electrode pattern provided on or above the main surface of the substrate wherein a portion of the second detecting electrode pattern intersects the first detecting electrode pattern through an insulator; wherein the insulator, in cross-section taken along the second detecting electrode pattern, comprises a curved convex surface in a region from an end portion to an apex of the insulator.

For example, a conventional input device such as a capacitive touch panel has a substrate, a first detection electrode pattern provided on or above a main surface of the substrate, and a second detection electrode pattern provided on or above the main surface of the substrate as well as intersecting the first detection electrode pattern (see Patent Literature 1, for example).
In such input device, there is provided an insulator for electrically insulating the first detection electrode pattern and the second detection electrode pattern between the first detection electrode pattern and the second detection electrode pattern. That is to say, the insulator is provided on the main surface of the substrate so as to cover a portion of the first detection electrode pattern, and a portion of the second detection electrode pattern is provided on an upper surface of the insulator. With the configuration, it becomes possible to arrange the first detection electrode pattern and the second detection electrode pattern to intersect with each other while electrically insulating the first detection electrode pattern and the second detection electrode pattern from each other.
However, in the conventional input device, when a cross section of the insulator along the second detection electrode pattern is viewed, the insulator is formed in a rectangular shape. Accordingly, when a pressure or the like are applied to the insulator during usage, the insulator is deformed and stress is applied to the second detection electrode pattern provided on the insulator. When the stress is repeatedly applied to the second detection electrode pattern, there is a possibility that the second detection electrode pattern breaks. Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-310551

Input device and display device provided with same


Methods and devices are provided for transforming non-planar or planar precursor materials in an appropriate vehicle under the appropriate conditions to create dispersions of planar particles with stoichiometric ratios of elements equal to that of the feedstock or precursor materials, even after selective forces settling. In particular, planar particles disperse more easily, form much denser coatings (or form coatings with more interparticle contact area), and anneal into fused, dense films at a lower temperature and/or time than their counterparts made from spherical nanoparticles. These planar particles may be nanoflakes that have a high aspect ratio. The resulting dense films formed from nanoflakes are particularly useful in forming photovoltaic devices.

Solar cells and solar modules convert sunlight into electricity. These electronic devices have been traditionally fabricated using silicon (Si) as a light-absorbing, semiconducting material in a relatively expensive production process. To make solar cells more economically viable, solar cell device architectures have been developed that can inexpensively make use of thin-film, light-absorbing semiconductor materials such as copper-indium-gallium-sulfo-di-selenide, Cu(In, Ga)(S, Se)2, also termed CI(G)S(S). This class of solar cells typically has a p-type absorber layer sandwiched between a back electrode layer and an n-type junction partner layer. The back electrode layer is often Mo, while the junction partner is often CdS. A transparent conductive oxide (TCO) such as zinc oxide (ZnOx) is formed on the junction partner layer and is typically used as a transparent electrode. CIS-based solar cells have been demonstrated to have power conversion efficiencies exceeding 19%.
A central challenge in cost-effectively constructing a large-area CIGS-based solar cell or module is that the elements of the CIGS layer must be within a narrow stoichiometric ratio on nano-, meso-, and macroscopic length scale in all three dimensions in order for the resulting cell or module to be highly efficient. Achieving precise stoichiometric composition over relatively large substrate areas is, however, difficult using traditional vacuum-based deposition processes. For example, it is difficult to deposit compounds and/or alloys containing more than one element by sputtering or evaporation. Both techniques rely on deposition approaches that are limited to line-of-sight and limited-area sources, tending to result in poor surface coverage. Line-of-sight trajectories and limited-area sources can result in non-uniform three-dimensional distribution of the elements in all three dimensions and/or poor film-thickness uniformity over large areas. These non-uniformities can occur over the nano-, meso-, and/or macroscopic scales. Such non-uniformity also alters the local stoichiometric ratios of the absorber layer, decreasing the potential power conversion efficiency of the complete cell or module.
Alternatives to traditional vacuum-based deposition techniques have been developed. In particular, production of solar cells on flexible substrates using non-vacuum, semiconductor printing technologies provides a highly cost-efficient alternative to conventional vacuum-deposited solar cells. For example, T. Arita and coworkers [20th IEEE PV Specialists Conference, 1988, page 1650] described a non-vacuum, screen printing technique that involved mixing and milling pure Cu, In and Se powders in the compositional ratio of 1:1:2 and forming a screen printable paste, screen printing the paste on a substrate, and sintering this film to form the compound layer. They reported that although they had started with elemental Cu, In and Se powders, after the milling step the paste contained the Cu—In—Se2 phase. However, solar cells fabricated from the sintered layers had very low efficiencies because the structural and electronic quality of these absorbers was poor.
Screen-printed Cu—In—Se2 deposited in a thin-film was also reported by A. Vervaet et al. [9th European Communities PV Solar Energy Conference, 1989, page 480], where a micron-sized Cu—In—Se2 powder was used along with micron-sized Se powder to prepare a screen printable paste. Layers formed by non-vacuum, screen printing were sintered at high temperature. A difficulty in this approach was finding an appropriate fluxing agent for dense Cu—In—Se2 film formation. Even though solar cells made in this manner had poor conversion efficiencies, the use of printing and other non-vacuum techniques to create solar cells remains promising.
There is a widespread notion in the field, and certainly in the CIGS non-vacuum precursor field, that the most optimized dispersions and coating contain spherical particles and that any other shape is less desirable in terms of dispersion stability and film packing, particularly when dealing with nanoparticles. Accordingly, the processes and theories that dispersion chemists and coating engineers are geared toward involve spherical particles. Because of the high density of metals used in CIGS non-vacuum precursors, especially those incorporating pure metals, the use of spherical particles requires a very small size in order to achieve a well dispersed media. This then requires that each component be of similar size in order to maintain desired stoichiometric ratios, since otherwise, large particles will settle first. Additionally, spheroids are thought to be useful to achieve high packing density on a packing unit/volume basis, but even at high density, spheres only contact at tangential points which represent a very small fraction of interparticle surface area. Furthermore, minimal flocculation is desired to reduce clumping if good atomic mixing is desired in the resulting film.
Due to the aforementioned issues, many experts in the non-vacuum precursor CIGS community desire spherical nanoparticles in sizes that are as small as they can achieve. Although the use of traditional spherical nanoparticles is still promising, many fundamental challenges remain, such as the difficulty in obtaining small enough spherical nanoparticles in high yield and low cost (especially from CIGS precursor materials) or the difficulty in reproducibly obtaining high quality films. Furthermore, the lower interparticle surface area at contact points between spheroidal particles may serve to impede rapid processing of these particles since the reaction dynamics depend in many ways on the amount of surface area contact between particles.

High-throughput printing of semiconductor precursor layer from nanoflake particles


Magnetic sensors are disclosed, as well as methods for fabricating and using the same. In some embodiments, an EMR effect sensor includes a semiconductor layer. In some embodiments, the EMR effect sensor may include a conductive layer substantially coupled to the semiconductor layer. In some embodiments, the EMR effect sensor may include a first voltage lead coupled to the semiconductor layer. In some embodiments, the first voltage lead may be configured to provide a voltage for measurement by a voltage measurement circuit. In some embodiments, the EMR effect sensor may include a second voltage lead coupled to the conductive layer. In some embodiments, the second voltage lead may be configured to provide a voltage for measurement by a voltage measurement circuit. Embodiments of a Hall effect sensor having the same or similar structure are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to magnetic sensors, more particularly, to extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR) effect and Hall effect sensors and methods for making and using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, there are at least two types of magnetic sensors that can be used to measure a magnetic field, including an EMR sensor and a Hall sensor. An EMR sensor operates based on an EMR effect. Broadly speaking, the EMR effect quantifies scattering of electrons at a material interface when an electric current is applied to the material. The scattering occurs due to an interaction between the magnetic field and electrons in at least one of the materials comprising the sensor. Generally, a the Hall effect quantifies a shearing force caused by interaction between the magnetic field and electrons in the current applied to the material. Each of these effects are described in greater detail in the sections below.
EMR Effect Sensors
EMR is a large magnetoresistance effect that may arise in a nonmagnetic semiconductor metal hybrid structure. In an EMR effect sensor, the Lorentz force induced by a magnetic field may cause a redistribution of the electric current density between adjacent semiconductor and metal layers resulting in resistance changes. The EMR effect may be described by equation (1):
                                                                            EMR                                      (                              H                e                            )                                =                                                    R                                                  (                  H                  )                                            -                              R                                                  (                  0                  )                                                                    R                                            (                0                )                                                                        (        1        )            where He is the external magnetic field (e.g., external to the sensor), R(H) is the measured resistance of the sensor in the presence of a magnetic field H, and R(0) is the measured resistance of the sensor at zero magnetic field.
The dimensions of an EMR sensor, the thickness of its layers, and the placement of the voltage and current leads may significantly effect magnitude of the measured EMR. FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B depict prior art EMR effect sensors 100A and 100B. As depicted in both figures, EMR effect sensors 100A and 100B each have a metal layer 102 and a semiconductor layer 104. In both pictures, the voltage and current leads are arranged symmetrically around center 110 of the EMR effect sensor.
Voltage leads 106 and current leads 108 are located on one side of the device—coupled to semiconductor layer 104. FIG. 1A depicts voltage leads 106 and current leads 108 in an V-I-I-V formation, and FIG. 2A depicts the voltage and current in a I-V-V-I formation. The voltage (V) between voltage leads 106 and the current (I) through current leads 108 allow for the calculation of the resistance R(H) in equation (1) by using equation (2):
                              R                                (            H            )                          =                              V                                      (              H              )                                            I                                      (              H              )                                                          (        2        )
EMR effect sensors 100A and 100B can further be described by width 112 of the metal layer 102, width 114 of the semiconductor layer 104, and length 116 of the EMR effect sensor. FIG. 2 illustrates the simulated EMR effect for EMR effect sensor 102B (e.g., having an I-V-V-I lead formation) for four different magnetic fields as a function of the length (L) 116 of the EMR sensor divided by the width (Ws) 114 of the semiconductor layer 104. In this example, metal layer 102 is gold, and semiconductor layer 104 is indium antimonide. As shown, the EMR effect is dependent on the dimensions of the sensor. In FIG. 2, the EMR effect reaches a maximum of approximately 1.1×105% with a 1 T magnetic field and an L/Ws ratio of 25.
FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B illustrate the change in current density in semiconductor layer 104 of EMR effect sensor 100B. At a zero magnetic field, the current density in semiconductor layer 4 is low, as depicted by minimal current density flux lines in semiconductor layer 104 in FIG. 3A. The presence of an external magnetic field causes a redistribution of the current density due to the Lorentz force yielding an increased current density in the semiconductor, as depicted by more current density flux lines in semiconductor layer 104 in FIG. 3B. In this example, a 0.3 T external magnetic field creates an increased current density within the semiconductor layer, and as a result, creates a higher electrical resistivity.
Hall Effect Sensors
The Hall effect is the production of a voltage difference (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and a magnetic field perpendicular to the current. For an n-type semiconductor where there is a dominate type of charge carrier-electron, the Hall voltage VH is given by equation (3):
                              V          H                =                  -                      IB            ned                                              (        3        )            where I is the current input, B is the magnetic flux density, d is the thickness of the plate, e is the electron charge, and n is the carrier density of electrons.
The most frequently used Hall effect sensor consists of a high mobility semiconductor conductive bar with four or six contacts. Two of the contacts are current leads, which are used to induce a current flow through the Hall bar, and the other contacts are voltage probes which are used to measure the Hall voltage. FIG. 9 depicts the typical four contacts Hall effect sensor 900. As depicted in the figure, Hall effect sensors 900 have a semiconductor bar 901 and voltage probes 902 and current leads 903 are located on the edges of the semiconductor bar 901. The voltage probes are arranged symmetrically along the centerline 904 of the Hall sensor.
The Hall sensitivity SH is a very useful parameter for judging the performance of the Hall sensor (equation (4)).
                              S          H                =                                            ∂                              V                H                                                    ∂              B                                =                      -                          I              ned                                                          (        4        )
The Hall sensitivity is typically 1˜5 mV/mT for a 1 mA current with the commercial Hall sensors.
Another useful parameter is the thermal field noise (in T/√Hz, equation (5)):
                                          S            B                          =                                            4                                            K                B                                          TR                                            S            H                                              (        5        )            where R is the resistance of the Hall sensor, T is the temperature and KB is the Boltzmann constant. Two-dimensional quantum-well multilayer heterostructures based on GaAs are promising for low-noise Hall sensors with 100 nT/√Hz. In general, noise could be significantly reduced with devices of lower resistance.

Methods and apparatuses for low-noise magnetic sensors

KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel of a normally black type which receives a plurality of scan signals and a common voltage having a voltage level which periodically varies, and a backlight unit which provides backlight to the liquid crystal panel, where the plurality of scan signals sequentially has a scan-on voltage along a first direction, and the backlight has a luminance which is increased or decreased along the first direction.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device, in which a common voltage is periodically varied.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A liquid crystal display device typically includes a liquid crystal layer having liquid crystal particles. In such a liquid crystal display device, as an electric field that is applied to a liquid crystal layer is changed, alignment of liquid crystal particles is changed, and light transmittance of the liquid crystal layer is changed based on the change of the alignment of the liquid crystal particles. When the light transmittance of the liquid crystal layer is controlled through adjustment of the strength of the electric field that is applied to the liquid crystal layer, an image corresponding to the electric field may be displayed.
A liquid crystal display device may include a common electrode and a pixel electrode to generate an electric field in a liquid crystal layer. The strength of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer may be varied corresponding to the electric potential difference between the common electrode and the pixel electrode. The common electrode may be commonly provided through a plurality of pixels to provide a common voltage to the plurality of pixels. The pixel electrode may be provided for each of the plurality of pixels, and a voltage corresponding to an image that is displayed on the liquid crystal display device may be applied to the pixel electrode. In such a liquid crystal display device, when the electric potential difference between the common electrode and the pixel electrode are constantly maintained in a same polarity for a long period of time, the performance of the liquid crystal layer may be deteriorated. Accordingly, the liquid crystal display device may be driven in a polarity inversion driving method that periodically inverts the polarity of the electric potential difference between the common electrode and the pixel electrode to effectively prevent such a performance deterioration of the liquid crystal layer.
In a liquid crystal display device, when the voltage of the pixel electrode higher than the voltage of the common electrode corresponds to "positive polarity" and a the voltage of the pixel electrode lower than the voltage of the common electrode corresponds to "negative polarity", the common voltage that is applied to the common electrode may be continuously varied to reduce power consumption of the liquid crystal display device during the polarity inversion driving of the liquid crystal display device. For example, when the common voltage is changed to allow the common voltage of the positive polarity to become lower than the common voltage of the negative polarity, the difference between the maximum value of the voltage that may be applied to a pixel electrode in a positive polarity state and the minimum value of the voltage that may be applied to the pixel electrode in a negative polarity state may be reduced such that the range of the voltage that is applied to the pixel electrode may be decreased, and thus the power consumption of the liquid crystal display device may also be decreased.


A method and a system is provided for discriminating between healthy cervical tissue and pathologic cervical tissue based on the fluorescence response of the tissue to laser excitation (LIF) and the backscatter response to illumination by white light (in the spectral range of 360 to 750 nm). Combining LIF and white light responses, as well as evaluating a spatial correlation between proximate cervical tissue sites in conjunction with a statistically significant “distance” algorithm, such as the Mahalanobis distance between data sets, can improve the discrimination between normal and abnormal tissue. The results may be displayed in the form of a map of the cervix representing the suspected pathology.

Early detection of a variety of pathologies has been shown to dramatically improve the therapeutic outcome for such pathologies. This is particularly true with cancer, and specifically with cancer of the cervix. In the case of cancer of the cervix and other cervix anomalies, the pap smear test has been used for many years as a screening method for the detection of pre-cancerous conditions as well as for the detection of cancer. Unfortunately, this method suffers from excessive errors and results in too many false positive as well as false negative determinations, which increases the overall cost to the health care system. The method requires the physician to scrape cells from the surface of the cervix and transfer the cells to a laboratory where a cytopathologist examines them under a microscope. Statistics on the false positive readings of pap smears range as high as 30% and false negative error rate of 20% to 30% associated with insufficient cell readings or inexpert readings of pap smears are normal as well.
In the case of false negative determinations, additional colposcopic examinations and biopsies of the cervix are carried out on patients with normal tissue, overloading the health care system unnecessarily. On the other hand, false negative pap smears allow the pathologies to evolve to full cancers that could have been treated earlier at much lower costs and with better outcomes.
Fluorescence spectroscopy, which is capable of distinguishing histologically normal and histologically abnormal tissue, has been used for the detection of cervical neoplasia by comparing fluorescence of a suspicious area of the cervix with normal tissue. Since the location of abnormal tissue is often difficult to determine by eye, this approach tends to require highly trained practitioners to determine normal tissue.
In other tissues types, pre-cancerous conditions present themselves in ways that make identification of potential abnormal sites over normal sites much easier than in the cervix. In the colon, for example, the presentation of polyps forming on the interior wall is an indication of possible malignant growth. Spectroscopic studies comparing tissue responses of polyp regions from non-polyp regions show a high degree of difference in the optical signatures of the tissue. This is to be expected, considering the morphologic differences in the tissues. In the cervix, however, surface changes caused by the presence of lesions are often difficult, if not impossible, to see. This indicates that the tissue differences between normal and abnormal tissue are often very subtle, and optical techniques must attempt to distinguish these subtle features.
The tissue fluorescence may be excited, for example, by excitation with UV light. Other spectroscopic methods employ multiple fluorescence excitation wavelengths and use discrimination functions, which frequently cannot easily classify the health of the tissue, even when comparing spectra from the same cervix. Accordingly, these spectroscopic methods have little predictive power when used with other cervixes since each "standard" (normal tissue) invariably may have to be determined for each cervix screened.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a screening system and method that provide an immediate indication of the health of the cervical tissue and could replace a pap smear test as a screening modality, is simpler to perform, does not depend on the specific cervix screened, and can be administered by personnel having minimal medical training.

Optical methods and systems for rapid screening of the cervix


A processor natively executes lookup instructions. The lookup instruction is decoded to determine which general-purpose register (GPR) contains a pointer to a lookup key in a buffer. A variable-length key is read from the buffer and hashed to generate an index into a first-level cache and a hashed tag. An address of a bucket of entries for the index is generated and tags from these entries are read and compared to the hashed tag. When an entry matches the hashed tag, a second-level entry is read. A stored key from the second-level entry is compared to the input key to determine a match. The addresses of the matching second-level and first-level entries are written to GPR's specified by operands decoded from the lookup instruction. When the key or entry data is long, the second-level entry also contains a pointer to a key extension or data extension in a third-level cache.

This invention relates to microprocessors, and more particularly to table-lookup instruction execution.
Compared with reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessors, complex instruction set computer (CISC) processors execute relatively complex instructions, such as multiplies, memory-indirect moves, and register exchanges. However, these CISC instructions are still much less complex that higher-level application program code.
For example, searching a table of file mappings or translations requires execution of many CISC instructions to construct addresses, read from the table, compare or the data read, and to copy results or addresses to registers. When the lookup term is a long string, more CISC instructions are needed to read the string from memory and move it into the microprocessor's general-purpose registers (GPR's) before the string can be compared to table entries. Long strings may require multiple cycles to move and compare fixed-size portions of data.
The parent application disclosed a functional-level instruction-set computing (FLIC) architecture that can execute function-level instructions that are more complex that CISC instructions. The FLIC architecture also could access variable-length operands using an execution buffer accessible from the processor's execution pipeline. Pointers in the fixed-width GPR's point to variable-length operands in the execution buffer. Execution resources in the processor's pipeline can directly access the variable-length operands in the execution buffer.
One of the FLIC instructions that can be natively executed on the FLIC architecture is a lookup instruction. The lookup instruction causes the processor pipeline to perform many sub-tasks, such as reading and processing a variable-length string to generate a lookup key, generating addresses to read the lookup table, comparing table entries to the key, and writing addresses for matching entries to the registers.
FIG. 1 shows a lookup instruction. Lookup instruction 10 has a width of 32 bits (four bytes) and can be decoded by an instruction decoder for a FLIC processor. Execution of lookup instruction 10 is native, since lookup instruction 10 is not recompiled or translated into many machine-level instructions; lookup instruction 10 is a machine-level instruction.
Lookup instruction 10 contains opcode 12, which is a multi-bit binary number that indicates the type of operation performed by instruction 10. Other native instructions have other binary numbers in the opcode field. Opcode 12 is decoded by the processor's instruction decoder to determine what operation to perform, and perhaps to select a micro-routine of micro code or a sequence of cycles and control signals in a hardware or firmware sequencer.
Opcode 12 is an 8-bit code in this example, allowing for as many as 256 different instruction types to be decoded, such as branches, compares, moves, read/write, input/output, adds, multiplies, divides, etc. Flavor 14 contains a 6-bit binary number that selects a variant or "flavor" of the lookup instruction. For example, one flavor returns the address of a match in the table, another flavor invalidates a matching entry, another allocates a new entry on a miss, other flavors copy data. Flavor 14 is decoded by the instruction decoder to determine the variation of the basic lookup operation to be performed.
The lookup table or cache can be sub-divided into several sub-caches called sections. Different kinds of translations can be stored in the different sections. Section field 16 contains a 3-bit section number that selects one of up to 8 sections in the lookup cache.
Operands are specified by operand fields 20, 22, 24. The input operands are specified by registers M and N while the output result is placed in register R. Operand fields 20, 22, 24 are each 5-bit fields, each selecting one register from among 32 registers in the processor's GPR's.
The user or programmer can perform a cache lookup by including a lookup instruction in the assembly or machine code. The programmer or the code complied by a compiler program specifies the lookup instruction's opcode and flavor code, and the section number of the cache to be searched. The register codes are appended to generate the 32-bit instruction. The FLIC processor decodes this 32-bit instruction and has the execution pipeline execute the lookup instruction routing data to and from the specified registers or locations specified by the registers.

Native lookup instruction for file-access processor searching a three-level lookup cache for variable-length keys


An apparatus and method may be used to create images, e.g., three-dimensional images, based on received radio-frequency (RF), e.g., millimeter wave, signals carrying image data. The RF signals may be modulated onto optical carrier signals, and the resulting modulated optical signals may be cross-correlated. The resulting cross-correlations may be used to extract image data that may be used to generate three-dimensional images.

In existing approaches to millimeter wave (mmW) based imaging, an array of optical fibers carrying the up-converted mmW signal may be arranged to mimic an array of antennas capturing the mmW radiation from the scene. The optical beams from the fibers may then be allowed to propagate in free space, and interfere to form an optical image corresponding to the mmW scene on a CCD array. Ideally, each pixel of the CCD receives optical beams from all the fibers. The drawback to this approach is that it does not readily provide a way to obtain three-dimensional (3D) images.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of a millimeter-wave scene by optical up-conversion and cross-correlation detection


This invention relates to a multiple phase electrical system, including: a first and a second electrical lane, each lane having a generator and a load connected by a bus system, and a rectifier between the generator and load; and, a transformer connected between the two lanes, the transformer having a plurality of power windings across each of which corresponding phases of the first and second lanes are connected, and a plurality of phase shift windings.

A known phenomenon in rectified electrical systems is the harmonics which are introduced by the rectification units. Typically, for a six pulse system, these harmonics are significant in the 5th and 7th order. Such harmonics can result in the associated electrical equipment being effectively over rated in relation to the electrical power required by the supplied loads.
FIG. 1 shows an electrical system 10 which seeks to reduce the effect of the 5th and 7th harmonics by providing a so-called dual lane twelve pulse power supply for an electrical drive. Each of the lanes 12, 14 includes a generator 16a, 16b, a transformer 18a, 18b and a twelve pulse rectifier unit 20a, 20b, which includes two six diode bridges 22a, 22b. The twelve pulse rectifier provides DC power to a load 24a, 24b. The load 24a, 24b can be any which requires DC power, such as an electric motor or a convertor for supplying power to an AC (or DC) load. The transformer 18a, 18b is of the star-delta, YD, type and is used to provide a thirty (30) degree phase difference in the output branches which allows a reduction in the harmonic content of output from the rectifier unit 20a, 20b. The use of YD arrangements to provide a thirty degree phase shift is well known.
FIG. 2 shows an alternative electrical system 210 in the form of an electrical propulsion arrangement in which power is provided to two electrical propulsive motors 224a, 224b via a convertor 228a, 228b. Each convertor 228a, 228b receives DC power from a six pulse rectifier 220a, 220b which is connected to an AC supply in the form of a generator 216a, 216b. The two fully rated three winding transformers 18a, 18b shown in FIG. 1 have been removed in the system of FIG. 2 and replaced with a two winding star-delta, YD, transformer 218 which is located between and electrical couples the two buses 226a, 226b of the two lanes 212, 214. With equal loading of each electrical motor 224a, 224b, the YD connected transformer 218 provides a path for the circulation of the dominant 5th and 7th harmonic currents generated by each diode bridge rectifier 220a 220b and prevents these undesirable currents from flowing in each of the generators 216a, 216b. Given these harmonic currents are typically 30% of the main fundamental frequency currents, the bus coupling transformer 218 can be of a substantially lower rating in comparison to the three winding transformers shown in FIG. 1.
A further known improvement to the described scheme is a tertiary winding (not shown) to provide a YYD transformer which incorporates a high frequency harmonic filter. Such a filter can further improve the generator current by reducing 11th and 13th harmonic current components.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,514,898 provides an example of a known YD connected transformer for filtering 5th and 7th harmonic currents.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved electrical arrangement for providing rectified electrical power.


A novel shoe construction provides a unique aesthetically pleasing appearance to a shoe that can be easily, but significantly, changed. In the shoe construction, the shoe is provided with an upper ankle portion that has an elongate length that extends upwardly from the shoe sole. The length of the ankle portion allows a top part of the ankle portion to be folded downwardly over a bottom part of the ankle portion to produce a first appearance of the shoe. The top part of the ankle portion can be unfolded to extend upwardly from the bottom part of the ankle portion to produce the second appearance of the shoe.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a novel shoe construction that provides a unique aesthetically pleasing appearance to a shoe that can be easily changed. In particular, the present invention pertains to a shoe construction in which the shoe is provided with an upper ankle portion that has an elongated length that extends upwardly from the shoe sole. The length of the ankle portion allows a top part of the ankle portion to be folded downwardly over a bottom part of the ankle portion to produce a first appearance of the shoe. The top part of the ankle portion can be unfolded to extend upwardly from the bottom part of the ankle portion to produce the second appearance of the shoe.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The high-top lace-up basketball shoe has been a very popular shoe for athletics for many years. In more recent years, in addition to the use of the shoe in athletics, the shoe has also become very popular as a comfortable casual shoe that has an aesthetically pleasing appearance. Shoes of this type are known as athleisure shoes. This is particularly true of the high-top lace-up basketball shoe that has an upper constructed of a flexible, breathable fabric, for example canvas.
With the increasing popularity of the high-top basketball shoe or athleisure shoes in general, new appearances have been sought for the shoe to maintain the marketability of the shoe by keeping up with the latest trends in fashion. However, in order to maintain the comfortable construction of the shoe, changes to the shoe to keep up with fashion trends have been limited to changes in the color or pattern of the fabric employed in manufacturing the shoe. However, the colors or patterns of material employed in constructing the shoe are limited, creating a need to provide a new and aesthetically pleasing appearance of the shoe without detracting from the comfortable construction of the shoe.


A computer comprising: a main body casing accommodating a plurality of hardware components and comprising an entrance opening on a first side thereof; an optical disk drive assembly combined to the main body casing to rotate relative to the main body casing; and a hinge unit provided on a side of the entrance opening of the main body casing, and supporting the optical disk drive assembly to enable the optical disk drive assembly to rotate between an accommodated position where the optical disk drive assembly is accommodated in the main body casing and an ejected position where the optical disk drive assembly is ejected out of the main body casing through the entrance opening. Such a computer is easy for disassembling and assembling when the user repairs or upgrades because an optical disk drive assembly rotates between the accommodated position and the ejected position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer, and particularly to a computer comprising a rotatable optical disk drive assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
As illustrated in FIG. 7, a computer generally comprises a casing 110, a peripheral device 121 provided in the casing 110, a computer main body 101 comprising a plurality of hardware components such as a main board installed with a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), and an extension card such as a graphic card or a sound card, and a monitor (not shown) receiving a video signal from the computer main body 101 and displaying a picture.
The casing 110 comprises a front panel 120 formed with a peripheral device insertion hole 125 into which the peripheral device 121 such as a floppy disk drive and/or a compact disk read-only-memory (CD-ROM) drive is inserted, a rear panel 140 formed with a plurality of connector insertion holes 141 to connect an externally-installed device, a support panel 130 provided between the front panel 120 and the rear panel 140 and connected to the front panel 120 and to the rear panel 140 and supporting a bottom surface, and a frame 150 positioned on a top of the front panel 120 and the rear panel 140 and forming an accommodating space inside.
A front surface of the front panel 120 is provided with a power switch (not shown) for applying power to the computer system and a reset switch, while a rear surface of the front panel 120 is coupled to a combining bracket 160 supporting the peripheral device 121.
As illustrated in FIG. 7, the combining bracket 160 is made of metallic material and shaped like a box. A front end of the combining bracket 160 is positioned on the front surface of the front panel 120 while a rear end of the combining bracket 160 is positioned at a middle area of the support panel 130. Also, since the side walls of the combining bracket 160 are provided with a plurality of through holes 162 corresponding to combining holes 123 of the peripheral device 121 inserted into the combining bracket 160, the peripheral device 121 can be coupled to the combining bracket 160. Accordingly, peripheral devices 121 such as a CD-ROM, a DVD player, a floppy disk drive, and a hard disk drive are selectively installed inside the combining bracket 160 along a vertical direction.
With such a configuration, the peripheral device 121 inserted into the combining bracket 160 is coupled to the combining bracket 160 by a bolt 127 passing through the through hole 162 and the combining hole 123.
As described above, in a conventional computer, when replacing a component installed inside the casing 110 such as a component on a main board for the purpose of upgrading or repairing, a user needs to disassemble the combination of a bolt combining the peripheral device 121 and the casing 110 with a tool such as a screw driver to separate the peripheral device 121 from the casing 110 completely to repair or replace the component. This process is both time-consuming and inconvenient.
A need therefore exists for a peripheral device that is installed rotatably relative to a casing such that it will not be required to disassemble the combination of the bolt to separate the peripheral device from the casing completely. If a peripheral device is installed in such a manner, repairing and disassembling of the component within a spacious inner space of the casing will be enhanced because the peripheral device accommodated in the casing may be rotated to be positioned at the outside of the casing. By installing the peripheral device rotatably, it is convenient for a user to replace a component because of malfunction or for upgrading purposes

Optical disk drive assembly that is rotatable with respect to a computer casing


In a circuit arrangement for use in accessing selected address numbered with a preselected distance left between two adjacent ones of the selected addresses, a control circuit centralizes control operation of a switching network with reference to a reference one of the selected addresses and the preselected distance to make the switching network form internal paths between input and output port sets of the switching network. Alternatively, when ports of a selected one of the input and output port sets are accessed at a predetermined port interval, the control circuit controls the switching network with reference to the predetermined port interval and a reference port selected from the selected port set. A leading port of the other set is determined to be connected to the reference port. A rearranging circuit may be connected to one of the input and output port sets to rearrange an order of the ports of the one port set in consideration of the port distance. The reference and leading ports may be varied in a time division fashion when a conflict of internal paths otherwise occurs in relation to the port distance.

This invention relates to a circuit arrangement for use in distributing a plurality of input signals to a plurality of memory addresses, a plurality of array processors, or the like.
Various attempts have been made to connect a plurality of transmission ends to a plurality of reception ends. In an information processing system comprising a central processing unit and a memory, a plurality of memory addresses of the memory are often accessed by the central processing unit so as to distribute a plurality of parallel data signals, such as vector data signals, from the central processing unit to the memory.
A similar operation is also carried out in a data processing system comprising a plurality of processing array elements and a control computer for controlling all of the processing array elements. Specifically, a plurality of transmission signals may be transmitted in parallel from the control computer to selected ones of the processing array elements.
Under the circumstances, a circuit arrangement or switching network must be placed between the transmission and the reception ends, such as the central processing unit, the memory, the control computer, the array elements, to form a connection path or paths therebetween.
In an article contributed by D. H. Lawrie to IEEE Transactions on Computers, Vol. C-24, No. 12 (December 1975), pages 1145-1155, and titled "Access and Alignment of Data in an Array Processor," a switching network is described which comprises a plurality of consecutively numbered input ports connected to the transmission ends, a plurality of consecutively numbered output ports connected to the reception ends, and a plurality of switching elements between the input and the output ports. The switching elements are divided into a plurality of stages which are interconnected in a perfect shuffle connection manner. With this structure, each input port can selectively be connected to all of the output ports through internal paths.
In order to selectively form the internal paths in the switching network, an input port number and an output port number are indicated by the transmission end to control the switching network each time when each input signal is transmitted from the transmission end to destined reception end or ends. In this event, each of the switching elements in question must calculate the input port number and the output port number in accordance with a predetermined algorithm to select a following one of the internal paths. Such operation is successively carried out in each stage for connection between input and output port indicated by the input and the output port numbers. In addition, each switching element must detect or monitor whether or not a conflict of the internal paths occurs on selection of the internal paths. This means that a complex control circuit is indispensable to every one of the switching elements included in the switching network. This results in an increase of hardware in the switching network.
Thus, control operation is decentralized or distributed to the respective switching elements. The decentralization of control operation may reduce performance of the switching network when a plurality of input signals must simultaneously be distributed to the corresponding output ports, as are the cases with the vector data signals.

Circuit arrangement capable of centralizing control of a switching network


A polymer composition is disclosed that comprises a polymer matrix containing at least one thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer and at least one hollow inorganic filler having a dielectric constant of about 3.0 or less at a frequency of 100 MHz wherein the weight ratio of the at least one thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer to the at least one hollow inorganic filler is from about 0.1 to about 10 and wherein the polymer composition exhibits a dielectric constant of about 4 or less and a dissipation factor of about 0.02 or less, as determined at a frequency of 10 GHz.

Electrical components often contain molded parts that are formed from a liquid crystalline, thermoplastic resin. Recent demands on the electronic industry have dictated a decreased size of such components to achieve the desired performance and space savings. One such component is an electrical connector, which can be external (e.g., used for power or communication) or internal (e.g., used in computer disk drives or servers, link printed wiring boards, wires, cables and other EEE components). To obtain the desired properties, specific liquid crystalline polymers having certain monomers may be employed and in addition, certain additives may be utilized with the liquid crystalline polymers. Despite the benefits achieved, such compositions have various drawbacks. For example, such compositions may not exhibit the desired dielectric properties. In particular, such compositions may exhibit a relatively high dielectric constant and dissipation factor, which can make it difficult to use them in certain applications. Even further, such compositions may not exhibit the desired balance among the dielectric properties, thermal properties, and mechanical properties of the polymer composition.
As such, a need exists for a polymer composition that can have a relatively low dielectric constant and a relatively low dissipation factor but still maintain excellent mechanical properties and processibility (e.g., low viscosity).


A liquid crystal display includes: an insulation substrate; a microcavity layer disposed on the insulation substrate and having a reversed taper side wall; a pixel electrode disposed in the microcavity layer on the insulation substrate; a liquid crystal layer disposed in the microcavity layer; and a common electrode which covers the liquid crystal layer.

(a) Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a liquid crystal display and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display including a liquid crystal in a microcavity, and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display, which is one of the most widely types of flat panel displays currently in use, typically includes two sheets of panels with field generating electrodes, such as a pixel electrode, a common electrode and the like, and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween.
The liquid crystal display generates an electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying voltages to the field generating electrodes, and determines the direction of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer by the generated electric field, thus controlling polarization of incident light to display images.
A liquid crystal display having an embedded microcavity ("EM") structure is a display device manufactured by forming a sacrificial layer with a photoresist, coating a support member thereon, removing the sacrificial layer by an ashing process, and filing a liquid crystal in an empty space formed by removing the sacrificial layer. However, an electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer may be distorted due a side wall of the EM structure such that liquid crystal molecules may be misaligned.
Also, the common electrode may have a curved structure according to the sacrificial layer such that the underlying pixel electrode may be short-circuited or the electric field may be distorted.
An opening process of etching one side of the EM structure is typically performed to remove the sacrificial layer, and thus a common electrode has a structure connected only in one direction by the process. As a result, when the common voltage is applied in one direction, crosstalk occurs due to the common voltage which is changed at a portion (center portion) distant from the applied portion.

Liquid crystal display and manufacturing method thereof


A touch screen (60) disposed on a display surface of a display means (58) is used as an inputting means so that a variety of actions of a microscope can be controlled with sufficient ease and precision.

A typical example of a microscope, such as a Raman microscope, is equipped with a sample stage mounted to be movable in an X-direction and a Y-direction, an X-/Y-directionally driving means for driving the sample stage in the X-direction and the Y-direction, a revolver including a plurality of objective lenses having different magnifications, a Z-directionally driving means for moving the sample stage and the revolver relatively in a Z-direction, a revolver driving means for positioning any one of the plurality of objective lenses selectively at a working position opposing the sample stage, an image pickup means such as a CCD camera, an image projecting optical means for projecting an image of a sample located on the sample stage onto the image pickup means through the objective lens positioned at the working position, a display means such as a liquid crystal panel, and a control means. With such a microscope, it is necessary to appropriately perform control operations, such as the selection of an observation or measurement region of the sample placed on the sample stage, the selection of an observing or measuring magnification, and the focusing of the objective lens. Normally, these control operations are performed via an inputting means such as a joystick or a trackball. However, the control operation using such an inputting means is not necessarily easy, but requires considerable skill, for example, because of a time lag which exists between an inputting operation and an outputted action such as the movement of the sample stage. In making an observation or measurement at a high magnification, in particular, it is common practice to set an observation or measurement region roughly on a low magnification screen, and then set an observation or measurement region fully precisely at a high magnification. In changing the magnification, however, there is need to replace the objective lens and carry out focusing. This procedure is considerably complicated.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 to be indicated below, on the other hand, each disclose a microscope which has a touch screen disposed on a display surface of a display means such as a liquid crystal panel, and uses such a touch screen as an inputting means. However, the microscopes disclosed in the Patent Documents 1 and 2 pose, for example, the following problems: (i) The manner of action control in each of these microscopes is based on contact of a finger with various function switches defined on the touch screen, or mere movement of a finger, and control operations are limited. (ii) An image of a sample on a sample stage, which is projected onto an image pickup means via an image projecting optical system, is displayed on the display means. However, a considerable time lag exists between an inputting operation and completion of the movement of the sample stage and, in moving the sample stage over a considerable length, it is necessary to repeat the designation of a region and a wait for the completion of movement of the sample stage. (iii) When an objective lens has been replaced, it is necessary to correct an error in the parfocal distance for the objective lens and an error in the center of the field of view. However, correction of such errors has not been taken into consideration. (iv) No consideration has been given to the setting of a measurement region required for a Raman microscope.

Abstract: A variety of actions are controlled based on an operator's various finger gestures used on the touch screen disposed on the display surface of the display means, for example, making contact by a finger (tap), making two consecutive contacts by a finger (double-tap), making contact by a finger, and moving the finger without releasing it (drag), making contact by a finger and maintaining the contact for a predetermined time or longer (touch-and-hold), making simultaneous contact by two fingers, and increasing spacing between the fingers (pinch-out) or decreasing the spacing (pinch-in), and making simultaneous contact by two fingers, and moving the fingers in parallel (double-drag).


Techniques for assigning primary synchronization code (PSC) sequences and secondary synchronization code (SSC) sequences to cells in a wireless communication system are described. At least one PSC sequence and multiple SSC sequences may be used for multiple cells in a Node B. In one design, the available SSC sequences in the system may be arranged into groups, with each group including M different SSC sequences. Additional groups of M SSC sequences may be formed with different permutations (e.g., different cyclic shifts) of each group of M SSC sequences. In one design, three SSC sequences SSC(G1), SSC(G2) and SSC(G3) may be used for three cells in one Node B. A first permutation including SSC(G3), SSC(G1) and SSC(G2) may be used for three cells in another Node B. A second permutation including SSC(G2), SSC(G3) and SSC(G1) may be used for three cells in yet another Node B.

I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to synchronization techniques for a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems.
A wireless communication system may include any number of Node Bs that can support communication for any number of user equipments (UEs). Each Node B may support one or more cells, where the term "cell" can refer to the smallest coverage area of a Node B and/or a Node B subsystem serving this coverage area. A UE (e.g., a cellular phone) may be within the coverage of one or more cells at any given moment. The UE may have just been powered on or may have lost coverage and thus may not know which cells can be received. The UE may perform cell search to detect for cells and to acquire timing and other information for detected cells.
Each cell may transmit primary and secondary synchronization signals to assist the UEs perform cell search. In general, a synchronization signal, may be any signal that assists a receiver to detect for a transmitter and to obtain timing and/or other information for the transmitter. The synchronization signals represent overhead and should be transmitted as efficiently as possible. Furthermore, the synchronization signals should allow the UEs to quickly and efficiently perform cell search.

Assignment of primary and secondary synchronization code sequences to cells in a wireless communication system


Removal of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides from the exhaust gas from lean-burn, diesel and other engines which produce exhaust gases containing oxygen in substantial excess of stoichiometric is provided by catalysts containing platinum alloyed with cobalt, nickel, copper, rhodium, palladium, silver or gold. Alloying is accomplished by thermal treatment or by colloidal methods. The catalysts are capable of reducing nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x) within a predetermined range of engine operating temperatures.

The invention relates generally to the control of hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x) in the exhaust of internal combustion engines. More particularly, the invention relates to the removal of NO.sub.x when the exhaust gases include oxygen substantially in excess of that needed for combustion of the fuel. This is typically the case with lean-burn engines, diesel engines, and other engines currently under development.
In recent years three-way catalysts have been used to remove all of the three principal noxious components in auto exhaust gases. The engines are run with stoichiometric air/fuel ratios and the catalysts are able to remove all three components at the same time, that is, a single catalyst is sufficient over the range of engine operating temperatures. More recently, development of so-called "lean-burn" engines is being driven by the desire to improve fuel economy. However, such engines operate with air-fuel ratios which are far from the typical stoichiometric conditions. Instead of an air-fuel ratio of about 14.55/1 by weight, the lean-burn engine may operate with air-fuel ratios above 18/1, up to about 22-24/1, or even higher ratios of 28-30/1 for advanced lean-burn engines or diesel engines. Under such conditions the engine exhaust will include more hydrocarbons, less carbon monoxide, and less, but still excessive nitrogen oxides. While an oxidation catalyst is capable of removing hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, since the oxygen content is high, say about 3-10% by volume, it is clear that conditions are not favorable for the reduction of nitrogen oxides. Conventional gasoline engines that operate near the stoichiometric point can experience lean transients where the air-fuel ratio reaches about 15/1. Under these conditions, the chemical equivalence ratio, defined as the sum of oxidizing chemical equivalents divided by the sum of reducing chemical equivalents, of emissions from the engine can reach a value of about 2. (At the stoichiometric point the equivalence ratio is 1.0.) The present inventors are concerned with nitrogen oxide reduction from lean-burn and diesel engines where the chemical equivalence ratio is greater than 3, often greater than 5, and frequently greater than 10.
There are two generally recognized routes to removing nitrogen oxides. First, the nitrogen oxides can be decomposed to the diatomic nitrogen and diatomic oxygen. This reaction is thermodynamically favored, but catalysts which are able to carry out this reaction under the highly oxidizing conditions and high temperatures found in engine exhaust have not yet been found. The second route is the chemical reduction of nitrogen oxides using reducing agents present in the exhaust, such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and hydrogen. This is considered to be the mechanism of the three-way catalyst. However, such catalysts see the exhaust from an engine operating with a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio which contains little oxygen. When a large excess of oxygen is present, as in a lean-burn or diesel engine, the oxygen, being much greater in volume than the nitrogen oxides would be expected to react with the hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen, thus removing the reducing agents needed to reduce nitrogen oxides.
In commonly-assigned U.S. Ser. No. 07/990,216 a sequence of catalysts was used to cover the range of operating temperatures experienced with internal combustion engines. The second and third catalysts in the sequence were examples of catalysts of the present invention.

Alloyed metal catalysts for the reduction of NO.sub.x in the exhaust gases from internal combustion engines containing excess oxygen


An ultrasonic system for homogenizing a sample includes an ultrasonic transducer and a control system. The transducer includes a horn or other probe that oscillates to produce cavitation in the sample and a converter that drives the horn through its oscillatory motion. The control system includes a closed-loop amplitude-control configuration and process. In particular, the control system includes a user interface, a controller, and a high-frequency driver, all connected together in a closed-loop configuration for enabling amplitude-control feedback. Control software includes programming for the closed-loop amplitude-control process including receiving a user-inputted desired amplitude of oscillatory horn motion, driving the transducer at a corresponding power level, determining the actual amplitude of oscillatory horn motion, and automatically adjusting the power level to the transducer to maintain the desired amplitude during operation of the ultrasonic system.

Homogenization involves disaggregating, mixing, re-suspension, or emulsifying the components of a sample using a high-shear process with significant micron-level particle-size reduction of the sample components. Homogenization is commonly used for a number of laboratory applications such as creating emulsions, reducing agglomerate particles to increase reaction area, cell destruction for capture of DNA material (proteins, nucleic acids, and related small molecules), DNA and RNA amplification, and similar activities in which the sample is bodily tissue and/or fluid, or another substance.
Some laboratory homogenization equipment has been developed that includes ultrasonic systems for homogenizing the samples. Current ultrasonic homogenizing devices are typically configured with a user interface that allows the user to adjust a power control that increases the electrical power delivered to an ultrasonic horn to produce the desired horn oscillatory amplitude. The horn oscillates to cause cavitation in the sample, which breaks down the sample into very small disintegrated particles as desired for various purposes.
The amplitude of the motion of the end of the horn is important for effective homogenizing/processing, as it directly correlates to the amount of cavitation produced in the sample. Maintaining this oscillatory amplitude is typically performed either manually via the user interface by increasing the power to the converter or automatically via a closed-loop configuration with some type of on-board compensation circuit. In these automated systems, even though the homogenizing devices are sold by a power rating (e.g., in Watts), the power rating only denotes the capability of the homogenizer to drive a certain size range of horns. As a result, the amplitude of the horn end that engages the sample is controlled in a way that produces less-than-ideal cavitation.
Accordingly, it can be seen that there exists a need for a better way for controlling the amplitude of horn oscillatory motion of ultrasonic homogenizing devices for enhanced cavitation of the sample being processed. It is to the provision of solutions to this and other problems that the present invention is primarily directed.

Ultrasonic homogenization device with closed-loop amplitude control


Input data is modulated, a two-valued signal regarding a signal of a specific frequency is generated, and a logical arithmetic operation between the modulation data and the two-valued signal is executed. In accordance with the result of the logical arithmetic operation, the specific frequency component in the modulation data is detected. The modulating operation is controlled in accordance with the detection result. As mentioned above, the specific frequency component in the modulation data is detected by the logical arithmetic operation between the modulation data and the two-valued signal. By controlling the modulator on the basis of the detection result, the specific frequency component in the modulation data can be detected by a simple construction. For example, an amount of specific frequency component in the modulation data can be adjusted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a signal processing apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus for digitally modulating input data and outputting the modulated data.
2. Related Background Art
As such a kind of apparatus, hitherto, there has been known, for example, a digital VTR for recording and reproducing a digital signal to/from a recording medium.
In such a digital VTR, particularly, in a digital VTR for industrial use, when a digital signal is recorded to a magnetic tape, it is necessary to raise a recording density by narrowing a track width as much as possible or the like and thereby to reduce a consumption amount of the magnetic tape. As a result, the recording track width is narrowed as mentioned above, and in order to correctly reproduce a recording signal, what is called a tracking for allowing a head to accurately trace the recording track is important.
An apparatus for multiplexing a pilot signal to a recording signal for tracking in a digital VTR to a recording signal is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-255969.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional construction of such a kind of apparatus for multiplexing the pilot signal to the recording signal.
In FIG. 1, a recording signal subjected to predetermined processes is inputted from an input terminal 1 and a code "1" or "0" is added to recording data of (n) bits by a modulation circuit 2, thereby converting to two kinds of data of (n+1) bits. Those two kinds of modulation data are respectively outputted to correlation detection circuits 4 and 7. A correlation between each modulation data and a pilot signal to be multiplexed having a predetermined frequency (f) is detected. Signals according to such correlations are respectively outputted to a selection circuit 11.
Specifically speaking, in the correlation detection circuit 4, a sine wave signal (hereinafter, "sine" is simply referred to as a "sin") from a sin wave signal generation circuit 61 and a cosine wave signal (hereinafter, "cosine" is also simply referred to as a "cos") from a cos wave signal generation circuit 51 are respectively multiplied by the inputted recording data and results of the multiplications are added, thereby detecting a correlation. Components in the case where the pilot signal of the frequency (f) is separated to a sin component and a cos component are respectively outputted as multivalues from the sin wave signal generation circuit 61 and cos wave signal generation circuit 51.
The selection circuit 11 controls a switch 3 so as to select the modulation data having a higher correlation on the basis of a signal indicative of the correlation outputted from each correlation detection circuit.
By modulating the recording data as mentioned above, the pilot signal component of the frequency (f) is multiplexed.
In the conventional apparatus as mentioned above, however, when the correlation between each modulation data and the pilot signal is detected, the multiplications of the multivalues of the sin wave and cos wave are executed, so that there is a drawback such that multipliers and adders of large digit numbers are necessary and a circuit scale increases.
There is also a drawback such that a data amount of the correlation values obtained and a scale of a circuit to compare the correlation values is large.

Signal processing apparatus for digitally modulating input data


A non-volatile memory device has individual pages of memory cells to be sensed in parallel. The memory device includes a source level tracking circuit coupled to receive a predetermined word line voltage from a word line voltage supply and the voltage level at the aggregate source node of one or more pages and coupled to provide to word lines of the memory an output voltage during the sensing operation, where the source level tracking circuit includes an op amp whereby the output voltage is the word line voltage offset by an amount to track the voltage level at the aggregate node and compensate for source bias errors due to a finite resistance in the ground loop.

Solid-state memory capable of nonvolatile storage of charge, particularly in the form of EEPROM and flash EEPROM packaged as a small form factor card, has recently become the storage of choice in a variety of mobile and handheld devices, notably information appliances and consumer electronics products. Unlike RAM (random access memory) that is also solid-state memory, flash memory is non-volatile, and retaining its stored data even after power is turned off. In spite of the higher cost, flash memory is increasingly being used in mass storage applications. Conventional mass storage, based on rotating magnetic medium such as hard drives and floppy disks, is unsuitable for the mobile and handheld environment. This is because disk drives tend to be bulky, are prone to mechanical failure and have high latency and high power requirements. These undesirable attributes make disk-based storage impractical in most mobile and portable applications. On the other hand, flash memory, both embedded and in the form of a removable card is ideally suited in the mobile and handheld environment because of its small size, low power consumption, high speed and high reliability features.
EEPROM and electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM) are non-volatile memory that can be erased and have new data written or "programmed" into their memory cells. Both utilize a floating (unconnected) conductive gate, in a field effect transistor structure, positioned over a channel region in a semiconductor substrate, between source and drain regions. A control gate is then provided over the floating gate. The threshold voltage characteristic of the transistor is controlled by the amount of charge that is retained on the floating gate. That is, for a given level of charge on the floating gate, there is a corresponding voltage (threshold) that must be applied to the control gate before the transistor is turned "on" to permit conduction between its source and drain regions.
The floating gate can hold a range of charges and therefore can be programmed to any threshold voltage level within a threshold voltage window. The size of the threshold voltage window is delimited by the minimum and maximum threshold levels of the device, which in turn correspond to the range of the charges that can be programmed onto the floating gate. The threshold window generally depends on the memory device's characteristics, operating conditions and history. Each distinct, resolvable threshold voltage level range within the window may, in principle, be used to designate a definite memory state of the cell.
The transistor serving as a memory cell is typically programmed to a "programmed" state by one of two mechanisms. In "hot electron injection," a high voltage applied to the drain accelerates electrons across the substrate channel region. At the same time a high voltage applied to the control gate pulls the hot electrons through a thin gate dielectric onto the floating gate. In "tunneling injection," a high voltage is applied to the control gate relative to the substrate. In this way, electrons are pulled from the substrate to the intervening floating gate.
The memory device may be erased by a number of mechanisms. For EPROM, the memory is bulk erasable by removing the charge from the floating gate by ultraviolet radiation. For EEPROM, a memory cell is electrically erasable, by applying a high voltage to the substrate relative to the control gate so as to induce electrons in the floating gate to tunnel through a thin oxide to the substrate channel region (i.e., Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.) Typically, the EEPROM is erasable byte by byte. For flash EEPROM, the memory is electrically erasable either all at once or one or more blocks at a time, where a block may consist of 512 bytes or more of memory.

Read, verify word line reference voltage to track source level


A customizably configurable electrical connector for electrically connecting a plurality of electrically conducting members through at least one electrically conducting ground plate. The ground plate is defined by a plurality of substantially parallel elongated, bendable fingers. Each finger is spaced from every other finger in the ground plate and may be independently bent toward the electrically conducting members to make electrical contact therewith. Preferably, the electrical connector includes a pair of ground plates oriented substantially in parallel, such that the fingers of each ground plate may be bent inwardly towards the opposite ground plate to both electrically and mechanically secure an electrically conducting member therebetween.

Electrical connectors are used to place electrical devices, such as printed circuit boards, in electrical communication with one another. Typically, an electrical connector includes a set of electrical contacts that are adapted to receive a first set of members from the first device to be coupled. The set of contacts extends from the electrical connector and terminates in a second set of members that couple to the second device to be coupled, placing the two devices in electrical communication with each other through the electrical connector.
In order to minimize high frequency noise, it is desirable to provide a ground plane near the electrical contacts in the electrical connector, the ground plane being connected to ground potential. Typically, one or more of the electrical contacts will be coupled to the ground plane. Known electrical connectors are typically provided with certain predetermined electrical contacts connected to the ground plane. Accordingly, unique electrical connectors must normally be provided for each pair of devices to be interconnected.
There is therefore a need for an electrical connector design that allows for customization regarding which pins are grounded and which are not. The present invention is directed towards meeting this need.

Electrical connector having a ground plane with independently configurable contacts