A component includes a body including zircon (ZrSiO4) grains, the body having a free silica intergranular phase present between the zircon grains and distributed substantially uniformly through the body. The body comprises a content of free silica not greater than about 2 wt. % for the total weight of the body.

Alkali free alumino-silicate glasses, such as, glasses for Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) substrates using amorphous silicon or oxide thin film transistors (TFTs), or glasses for organic light emitting diode (OLED) substrates using low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) TFT deposition have been designed to allow high temperature processing (up to 700° C.) while not suffering from deformation. These glasses can be formed using a fusion draw process where liquid glass flows over the lips of a glass overflow forming block made of zircon (ZrSiO4) material and fuses at the bottom of the glass overflow forming block to form a sheet. Zircon forming blocks that come in contact with alkali free alumino-boro-silicate glasses offer good corrosion resistance and mechanical properties at the forming temperature of glass. However, it has been observed that bubble inclusions may occur in the glass formed using zircon forming blocks. Bubble inclusions in the glass are not acceptable for the TFT substrate application.

Sintered zircon material for forming block


A capacitor-triggered electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit is disposed between a metal pad and V.sub.ss potential level, wherein the pad may be an input pad, an output pad, or a V.sub.DD power rail. The circuit includes a thick oxide device, a capacitor, and a resistor. The thick oxide device is configured with its drain and source connected to the pad and circuit ground V.sub.SS, respectively. The gate of the thick oxide device is tied to the pad, and the oxide device bulk is coupled by the resistor to circuit ground V.sub.SS. The capacitor is connected between the pad and the bulk of the thick oxide device. The bulk of the device is constructed by a P-well region formed in a substrate. The capacitor is formed between the pad and a polysilicon layer just therebelow, without consuming extra layout areas. When a positive-to-ground ESD pulse is conducted at the pad, the capacitor will couple the ESD voltage to the well region, forward bias the bulk/source junction, and then turn on the thick oxide device operated in a bipolar mode to bypass the ESD stress. Moreover, a diode is connected between the pad and circuit ground by its cathode and anode, respectively, to bypass a negative-to-ground ESD pulse. The diode can be an extra or built-in PN junction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a technique for protecting against electrostatic discharge damage during integrated circuit fabrication. More particularly, the present invention relates to a capacitor-triggered electrostatic discharge protection circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrostatic discharge, hereinafter "ESD", is a common phenomenon that occurs during handling of semiconductor integrated circuit ("IC") devices. An electrostatic charge may accumulate for various reasons and cause potentially destructive effects on an IC device. Damage typically can occur during a testing phase of an IC's fabrication, during assembly of the IC onto a circuit board, as well as during use of equipment into which the IC has been installed. Damage to a single IC due to poor ESD protection in an electronic device can partially or sometimes completely hamper its functionality. ESD protection for semiconductor ICs is, therefore, a reliability issue.
ESD stress models are based on the reproduction of typical discharge pulses to which the IC may be exposed during manufacturing or handling. Three standard models, known as the Human Body Model (HBM), Machine Model (MM), and Charged Device Model (CDM) have been developed. The human-body model is set forth in U. S. Military Standard MIL-STD-883, Method 3015.6. This Military Standard models the electrostatic stress produced on an IC device when a human carrying an electrostatic charge touches the lead pins of the IC device. The machine model is set forth in Industry Standard EIAJ-IC-121, which describes the electrostatic stress produced on an IC device when a machine carrying an electrostatic charge contacts the lead pins of the IC device. The charged device model describes the ESD current pulse generated when an IC device already carrying an electrostatic charge is grounded in the process of being handled.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, circuit diagrams of ESD protection circuits conventionally used respectively with an input pad and an output pad of an IC package are schematically depicted. As shown in FIG. 1, an NMOS transistor M.sub.1 is utilized to protect an internal circuit 6 from the ESD stress that may appear at the input pad 5. The gate, source, and bulk of the NMOS transistor M.sub.1 are all tied to circuit ground V.sub.SS. The drain of the NMOS transistor M.sub.1 is connected to the input pad 5. As shown in FIG. 2, an output buffer consisting of an NMOS transistor M.sub.2 and a PMOS transistor M.sub.3 is employed to protect the internal circuit 6 from ESD damage at the output pad 7. Accordingly, gates of the NMOS and PMOS transistors are both coupled to the internal circuit 6, drains of which are tied together and to the output pad 7. Moreover, the source and bulk of the NMOS M.sub.2 are tied together and to circuit ground V.sub.SS. The source and bulk of the PMOS transistor M.sub.3 are tied together and to a V.sub.DD power rail. However, in light of the trend toward submicron scale IC fabrication, NMOS transistor vulnerability to ESD stress has been greatly reduced due to advanced processes, such as using lightly-doped drain (LDD) structure and clad silicide diffusions. Moreover, those devices with higher ESD immunity, such as a diode or a thick oxide device M.sub.4 shown in FIG. 3, have a triggering voltage higher than the breakdown voltage of a submicron-NMOS transistor. Accordingly, those devices are suited to operate in providing protection at the input pad 5, but are useless in providing protection at the output pad 7 because the ESD stress may cause damage to the NMOS transistor of an output buffer. In addition, the ESD pulse may damage the internal circuit 6 from the V.sub.DD to V.sub.SS power rail. As C. Duvvury et al. proposed in his paper "INTERNAL CHIP ESD PHENOMENA BEYOND THE PROTECTION CIRCUITS" in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 35 (12), 1988, latchup effect degradation of circuit performance is unavoidable. Consequently, there is a need for an ESD protection circuit that can be used at any of the IC components likely to introduce ESD to the internal circuit, such as at an input pad, an output pad, or a power rail, in order to protect the internal circuit from ESD damage.

Capacitor-triggered electrostatic discharge protection circuit


An magnetic resonance apparatus in embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features: (a) a coil having at least two sections, (b) the at least two sections having a resonant circuit, (c) the at least two sections being reactively coupled or decoupled, (d) the at least two sections being separable, (e) the coil having openings allowing a subject to see or hear and to be accessed through the coil, (f) a cushioned head restraint, and (g) a subject input/output device providing visual data to the subject, the input/output device being selected from the group consisting of mirrors, prisms, video monitors, LCD devices, and optical motion trackers.

There are many previously known resonators for use in magnetic resonance (MR) systems for imaging and spectroscopy. For example, one previously known device is commonly known as a birdcage resonator. These previously known birdcage resonators typically comprise a plurality of circumferentially spaced inductive/capacitive elements connected by inductive/capacitive end ring elements, which are driven at resonance by a Larmor radio frequency useful for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) systems. The object to be analyzed is positioned within the resonator during the operation of the MR system.
One disadvantage of these previously known resonators, however, is that they typically use lumped element circuits (with discrete inductors and capacitors) to achieve resonance at the selected radio frequency. Because lumped element circuits lose more energy to radiation at high frequencies where the circuit is greater than 1/10 wavelength, the lumped element resonator is less efficient for high field MR imaging applications compared to lower field strengths. Because lumped element circuits are more radiative, they are electrically less efficient and have a lower Q factor. Similarly because conventional lumped element circuits such as the birdcage are more inductive, they resonate at lower frequencies than do the less inductive transmission line (TEM) circuits.
These previously known resonators, which use lumped element circuits, suffer from several additional disadvantages. One such disadvantage is non-uniform current distributions which result in decreased homogeneity, decreased fill factor, and increased electric field losses. Especially at higher frequencies and for larger (clinical) volumes, lumped element resonators may achieve self-resonance below the desired frequency of operation as well as increased electromagnetic radiation losses.
A distributed circuit, cavity resonator for NMR systems disclosed by Vaughan in U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,957 overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the previously known devices. Vaughan discloses a cavity resonator having coaxial inner and outer cylindrical walls separated by a dielectric region. Spaced conductive end walls extend across the inner and outer walls at each axial end of the coil so that the inner, outer, and end walls together form an approximate cavity. The inner, outer, and end walls can, for example, be coated with a thin foil conductive material, such as copper, silver, or gold. In doing so, the coil imitates a coaxial line segment made resonant at Larmor frequencies useful for MR, such as 64 MHz (1.5 T), 175 MHz (4.1 T) or 170 MHz (4 T).
The apparatus disclosed by Vaughan provides a cavity resonator coil overcoming the problems of conventional coils discussed above, providing for a substantial improvement in signal to noise ratio (SNR). The coil will also resonate and operate efficiently at higher Larmor frequencies for the higher static magnetic now available at 3T and above. Because the SNR from MR samples increases with the magnet field strength, the ability of this coil to resonate and operate efficiently at higher frequencies means that it can be used at high field strengths to obtain further SNR gains. This increase in signal to noise ratio provides a substantially improved image of the object to be analyzed within the resonator during the operation of the MR system, for example.
The resonator disclosed by Vaughan has proven effective in MR systems providing increased SNR, homogeneity, transmit efficiency, fill factor, decreased electric field losses, and higher operational frequencies. However, there are still some problems associated with both the resonator disclosed by Vaughan and the previously known lumped element resonators.
An ideal clinical head coil for example would lend itself to the easiest and most comfortable subject positioning, leave the subject's face uncovered once the subject is in position, and would include these access and comfort features without compromising coil performance, safety and reliability. It is preferable for a head coil to be both comfortable and accessible for the subject and easy to use for the technician. However, it is difficult to provide comfort and accessibility for the subject and ease of use for the technician and maintain a high coil performance. The ideal coil should have a removable top as well, to allow for comfortable subject positioning in the coil. Furthermore, some commercial systems don't provide the space for a coil that slides over a subject's head. Accordingly, several commercial coil designs already incorporate this "pop top" feature. However, these commercial coils that separate into halves are not popular with some research applications such as fMR. Apparently the electrical contacts that are broken and remade to open and close the coil each time a new subject is loaded, become unstable over time due to wear and oxidation, resulting in noise "spikes" and temporal instabilities often seen in EPI images for example. These electrical contacts are required to complete the end ring current paths in birdcages and similar coil structures. While commercial coils must meet rigorous FDA safety criteria, it could be imagined that electrical contacts in a coil might possibly pose safety risks in certain situations, especially where electrolytic bodily fluids were present.
Similarly, an ideal body coil might be as small as possible and fit close enough to the human trunk for efficient transmission to and reception from a region of interest, but allow room for subject comfort and access. The present body coils are built very large to allow for access and comfort, but as a consequence are very inefficient and are poorly coupled to the MR region of interest in a body. RF power amplifiers of 35 kW and more are required to compensate for the inefficiencies of a body coil used in a 3T magnet for example. Still, these coils provide little shoulder room for the largest human subjects.
Limb coils, especially leg coils, are similarly limited by conventional practice. A leg volume coil for example must be oversized to make room for a leg with a foot to be threaded through the cylindrical structure. Or a leg coil has a removable top to provide easier access for a closer fitting, more efficient coil. This latter coil however by conventional designs requires the problematic electrical contacts described for the head coil above.
Typical existing head only MR systems are one-piece units. A significant problem with this structure is that many medical subjects do not possess the physical ability to manipulate their heads and bodies into the positions required for the MR without significant difficultly or pain. Typically, the subject must try and navigate their head into the small diameter of the head only system. This can be painful or impossible for most medical subjects who are asked to do this while lying on their back.
Because of the inherently low SNR of the MR signal, these signals must be acquired and averaged a sufficient number of times to improve the SNR to a significant value. MR data acquisition by signal averaging is highly intolerant of motion in the MR sample or subject. Accordingly, human subjects are required to remain motionless for the duration of an MR scan, sometimes lasting 30 minutes or more. Movement will result in lower resolution images and in image "ghosting", thereby limiting the diagnostic quality of an image and often requiring a repeated imaging session. To minimize head motion for example, MR operators will often insert padding around the subject's head to provide head restraint. While this has the effect of reducing the subject's head movement, it does not eliminate all of the subject's head movement. Further, all of the padding placed around the subject's head can apply uncomfortable pressure and can intensify the subject's feelings of claustrophobia. Therefore, the purpose behind having a high performance coil with a better signal to noise ratio is defeated if the subject cannot remain still.
Another, problem associated with many MR protocols, is they can be painfully loud. Typically, subjects are given earplugs or headphones to muffle the noise (in most MR centers the subject can even bring their own cassette or CD to listen to). The acoustic noise is attributed to the electro motive forces generated by switched electrical currents in the wires of the magnet's gradient coils. Stronger magnet fields and stronger or faster gradient current switching generate greater acoustic amplitudes. While the methods mentioned above are generally effective for gradient noise reduction, coils must be built to larger and less efficient dimensions to accommodate the head restraint and hearing protection devices placed about the head.
Visual input/output is often required for a subject receiving an MR exam, for diagnostics or research. These I/O visual devices help to minimize claustrophobia, provide visual cues, and relay information from the MR operator. Visual I/O devices are typically mirrors, prisms, or active displays located above the subject's eyes. A problem with existing systems of this sort is that 1) they are often fixed in position which requires that a subject be adjusted to the device, and 2) they typically protrude above the head coil so as to preclude their use in close fitting head only MR systems, and in head gradient inserts used in whole body MR systems.
It has been shown that back planes on RF coils can function as an RF mirror to extend the uniformity of the coil's transverse RF magnetic field along the rotational or "z" axis of the coil. A back plane, also known as an end cap, can be used in a coil to make a shorter, and therefore more ergonomic, better shielded, and more electrically efficient coil for a desired field of view. Conventional cylindrical birdcage head coil, as mentioned above, typically do not have a back plane. The lack of a back plane together with the inherently shorter axial field of a birdcage require the birdcage head coil to be longer typically covering the subject's mouth and chin. This increased length of the birdcage has many problems. It creates a head coil, which can increase feelings of claustrophobia for the subject. Once inside of the head coil the subject's mouth is located immediately in front of the inside coil wall. A subjects breath pushed back into their face by the inside coil wall creates a very uncomfortable/claustrophobic feeling for the subject. This is an undesirable result since the MR exam may take 20 to 90 minutes. Additionally, general medical access and vocal communications are impeded with the coil extending over the subject's mouth and chin. Further, if the subject has a large head, nose, and/or chin, it becomes increasingly difficult to fit the subject's head inside of the coil. Another additional disadvantage for coils not having end caps is additional electromagnetic energy is lost from the top of the coil and thus the coil is less efficient at high frequencies.
While a back wall in a head coil is more desirable for coil performance and ergonomics in relation to the subject's mouth and chin (i.e., with a back wall the head coil body can be shorter and thus the head coil does not have to extend over the chin), a back wall is undesirable for a couple of reasons. First, a back plane closes off one end of the coil giving the appearance of putting ones head into a bucket rather than an open cylinder. This can increase a feeling of claustrophobia for the subject. Second, the back plane limits access to the subject from the back of the magnet. In coils without back planes, leads for physiological monitors, anesthesia and/or respiratory hoses, EEG leads, communications lines, etc., can be passed. In these systems visual signal projection is often performed from the rear of a magnet and through the back of a coil to mirror or prism systems mounted above the subjects' eyes. Therefore, presently, head coil manufacturers must choose between the benefits of having a coil back plane or end cap or the benefits associated with access to the subject provided by head coils with no end cap.
As stated above, a problem associated with head coils is the amount of space provided inside of the coil. RF coils transmit MR stimulus to the subject and receive signals back most efficiently when the coil is as close as possible to the subject. Therefore, for RF coil performance considerations, space inside a coil should be only enough for subject comfort and for the inclusion of devices useful for safety, head stability, and communication with the subject. As stated above, normally a subject must wear earphones or plugs for hearing protection and have separate pads inserted around the head to hold the head motionless for the MR exam. Further, there is typically some sort of visual and/or audio communications device adjacent to the head so that the MR operator can communicate with the subject. However, the padding, hearing protection and communication equipment can not only make the MR experience uncomfortable for the subject but this equipment also occupies limited space within the head coil.
All of these problems listed above, individually and collectively, degrade the overall quality of NMR images and spectra, add to the discomfort of the subject, and limit subject access for the physician or researcher. Therefore, what is clearly needed is a high performance apparatus, which provides for increased signal to noise ratios and improved MR image quality, while overcoming the problems discussed above.

Cavity resonator for magnetic resonance systems


Apparatus and methods are disclosed for uptake and transport of particulate matter in a gas stream. The apparatus includes a receiver for the particulate matter connected with a gravity feed input channel assembly with a passive metering orifice therein. An in-line aeration and distribution chamber assembly is connected with an outlet from the input channel assembly and includes a chamber with plural discrete gas intake passageways opening thereinto. An outlet channel exits the chamber and is connectable with a vacuum suction source for directing a gas stream having the particulate matter entrained therein from the apparatus.

Various dry material dispersers have heretofore been utilized in various industrial mixing applications (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,071,289 and 5,171,090, and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005/0111298 and 2005/0058020). Such devices are typically designed to accommodate particular dry materials and operations, thus lacking adaptability to various other operations or dry materials.
For example, polymer materials used in flocculation processing of liquids may be provided in a variety of shapes and sizes (for example, in bead/pellet form, dust form or crystal form). Moreover, processing may demand various feed and material mass flow rate distribution for successful makeup. One example is current fast oilfield drilling operations, where high throughput rate polymer make-up would be quite desirable for existing closed loop solids control flocculation operations in order to keep pace with modern drilling rigs' high rate of penetration. For industrial applications, furthermore, polymer make-up systems must be durable and, particularly for outdoor operations such as oilfield applications, simple to operate and maintain, with as few component and moving parts as possible
Heretofore, however, high rate polymer make-up systems have included mechanically complex auger conveying systems comprising a feeder bin, chain driven conveyor screw, bearings, gearbox, motor, agitation paddles, bin vibrator, safety screen, speed control, complex electrical circuits and switches, and separate dry polymer eductor(s) and dispersal/wetting system. These systems have not proven altogether useful, particularly for oilfield and other remote construction site applications, having been characterized in such application by higher down time, life cycle cost and maintenance frequencies.

Apparatus and methods for entraining a substance in a fluid stream


A manual device for applying a coating on a substrate by means of a tape has an applicator endpiece assembled to a casing and projecting from the casing. The applicator endpiece extends along a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction. The applicator endpiece has an attachment portion for assembling it to the casing, an applicator portion for applying the coating on the substrate, and a stem extending along the longitudinal direction between the attachment portion and the applicator portion. The stem is elastically deformable in such a manner that the applicator portion is movable between a rest position and an application position. The stem is an iso-stress stem.

It is often difficult to apply the coating on a substrate with the help of known manual devices. In order to deposit the coating on the substrate correctly (i.e. in order to unwind the tape and transfer the coating from the tape onto a substrate), predetermined application conditions must be met, in particular concerning pressure and relative position of the substrate, which are generally not complied with by the user. In addition, known manual devices for facilitating deposition of the coating present reliability and ergonomics that are in general not satisfactory. There therefore exists a need in this sense.

Manual device for applying a coating on a substrate using a tape, having an improved end piece


A mobile unit transmits a request for position registration to a network when moving from a first area to a second area. When the number of incoming calls does not exceed a threshold and the number of movements between the first area and the second area exceeds a threshold, a mobile switchboard combines the first area and the second area into an extended area, and informs the mobile unit of the extended area.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for registration of a position of a mobile unit in a mobile communication network.
2) Description of the Related Art
A mobile communication system is configured with a mobile unit (UE), a base-station control device (RNC), a base station (BS), a mobile switchboard (MSC), and a location register (VLR) that is provided in the mobile switchboard and in which information on a position of the mobile unit is registered. The position of the mobile unit always changes in the mobile communication system. Therefore, registration of the position of the mobile unit in advance of an incoming call is a required management for the network (mobile switchboard) to establish communication upon receiving the incoming call.
Specifically, the position is managed as a part of subscriber information in the location register by using sections locally divided called position registration areas. The same information of the position registration area is registered in the mobile unit. The registration of the position at the mobile unit is carried out by the mobile unit requesting the network when the mobile unit is powered on and when the mobile unit not during communication moves across position registration areas.
In recent years, with the increasing number of users of the mobile communication system, the amount of data on the network has been increasing accordingly. However, wireless resources between the mobile unit and the base station in the network are limited. Therefore, various methods have been studied for efficient use of such wireless resources.
In a conventional position registering method, for example, the position of the mobile unit is registered every time the mobile unit moves across position registration areas. To determine an area to which a paging signal for an incoming call is to be sent, the network always ascertains a current area in which the mobile unit is located.
FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram of a conventional position registration procedure for the mobile unit. It is assumed that three position registration areas LA1, LA2, and LA3 are present.
As shown in FIG. 12, first, (1) a mobile unit 100 is located in the position registration area LA1, and this position registration area LA1 is registered in a location register VLR in a mobile switchboard (MSC) 104 via a base station 101 and a base-station control device (RNC1) 111 (step S1200).
Next, (2) when the mobile unit 100 moves to another area, the position registration area LA2 (step S1201), the mobile unit 100 recognizes that the mobile unit 100 has entered the position registration area LA2 based on report information D1 of the current area (step S1202). Then, a position-information-registration request D2 for which a previous area, the position registration area LA1, is set is transmitted to the location register VLR via a base station (BS2) 102 and a base-station control device (RNC2) 112.
Next, (3) upon receiving the position-information-registration request D2, the mobile switchboard 104 recognizes that the mobile unit 100 is located in the position registration area LA2, and updates a latest position registration area in the location register VLR to the position registration area LA2 (step S1203). Then, the mobile switchboard 104 returns a position-information-registration request response D3 to the mobile unit 100 to notify that the latest position registration area is LA2.
Next, (4) upon receiving the position-information-registration request response D3, the mobile unit 100 recognizes completion of position registration, and then, writes and stores the position registration area LA2 in a storage area for position information in the mobile unit 100 as the latest position registration area (step S1204).
Next, (5) when the mobile unit 100 moves to the position registration area LA3 (step S1205), the mobile unit 100 recognizes, based on report information D4 of a current area, that the mobile unit 100 has entered another area, the position registration area LA3 (step S1206). Then, the position registration procedure is performed in a similar manner as a case of the position registration area LA2. First, a position-information-registration request D5 for which a previous area, the position registration area LA2, is set is transmitted to the location register VLR via a base station (BS3) 103 and a base-station control device (RNC3) 113.
Next, (6) upon receiving the position-information-registration request D5, the mobile switchboard 104 recognizes that the mobile unit 100 is located in the position registration area LA3, and then updates the latest position registration area to LA3 (step S1207). Then, the mobile switchboard 104 returns a position-information-registration request response D6 to the mobile unit 100 to notify that the latest position registration area is LA3.
Next, (7) upon receiving the position-information-registration request D6, the mobile unit 100 recognizes completion of position registration, and then, writes and stores the position registration area LA3 in the storage area as the latest position registration area (step S1208).
As described above, when the mobile unit 100 changes its location from the position registration area LA1 to the position registration area LA2, the mobile unit 100 performs the position registration procedure on the network. Thus, the position information in the mobile unit 100 and the location register VLR is updated to the position registration area LA2. In this manner, when there is an incoming call for the mobile unit 100, paging is performed with respect to the position registration area LA2. In a similar manner, when the mobile unit 100 changes its location to another area, for example, the position registration area LA3, the position information is updated to the position registration area LA3.
As described, in the conventional mobile communication, the location of the mobile unit is kept track of in a unit of position registration area that includes a plurality of base stations. Update of this position registration area is important for accurately grasping the position registration area when an incoming call is to be placed to the mobile unit in the network. Such technologies regarding the update of the position registration area are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H7-87554, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H7-250365, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-23234.
However, in the conventional technologies, the wireless resources in the network are wasted. In the conventional technologies, every time the mobile unit moves across position registration areas, a process of updating the position registration information is performed irrespectively of frequency of the incoming-call. Therefore, when the mobile unit frequently moves near a boundary of position registration areas, the process is performed very frequently because the process is performed every time the mobile unit enters one of the position registration areas. Particularly, frequent performance of such process by a mobile unit with a low incoming-call frequency leads to a wasteful use of the wireless resources, and makes it impossible for the wireless resources to be used efficiently.

Mobile switchboard, mobile unit, mobile communication system, and position-registration extending method


A facsimile network includes a plurality of nodes (10)-(14) which are disposed at different locations in the world. An originating fax machine (16) is associated with one of the nodes (10) for transmitting a fax over a local public telephone network (PSTN) (18). When the node (10) receives the fax transmission in the normal transmission mode, it then converts it to a digitized compressed and encrypted image which is transmitted over a primary network (24), such as the Internet, to a destination node (14) by a predetermined route. The node (14) then decompresses and de-encrypts the image and converts it to a facsimile image for transmission to a destination fax (20) in a normal mode over a local PSTN (22). A node (12) operates as a central node which can also receive the transmission for routing directly to the fax or for directing via another network link to the node (14).

Facsimile systems have seen increased acceptance in recent years and, in fact, have become a staple of the business community. In the early days of facsimile systems, some difficulties arose due to incompatibilities of the various systems. Even though one owned a facsimile system, there was some doubt as to whether a facsimile transmission could be completed to another system manufactured by a different manufacturer. This problem was somewhat alleviated when the standards were developed, one of those standards being the Group II standard.
Facsimile protocols are generally comprised of header information that is transmitted to a destination fax followed by an image, this typically being a bit-map image. However, prior to transmitting the header and images, it is necessary for a facsimile machine to negotiate a communication link with the destination facsimile machine. This is typically achieved to some type of hand-shaking. With Group II fax protocol, all too often the originating facsimile machines fail to even negotiate a communication link with the receiving facsimile machine.
When the Group III protocol was introduced in the mid-1980's, the use of facsimile machines saw a rapid increase in use. This was due to the fact that the Group m protocol not only was backward compatible with Group II, but it enabled a high level of standardization to occur in the industry. Typically, a Group m facsimile has associated therewith a handshake protocol that allows the two facsimile machines to determine their combined speed of operation and then transmit the images at that determined or negotiated speed. This is an interesting aspect of the facsimile machine, in that facsimile machines are typically rated at 14.4 Kbs, but this is their maximum speed. All too often, due to noise on the phone line, etc., the facsimile machines will default down to a slower speed. Typically, they initially try to effect the communication link at 9,600 Kbs and then drop to 4,800 Kbs, then 2,400 Kbs, 1,200 Kbs, and so forth, until an error free speed is reached. It is feasible with very noisy lines that a facsimile system may communicate at as low a baud rate as 300 Kbs. However, once an acceptable noise-free communication link can be maintained, then the image is transmitted at that speed, with both the source and destination adjusting their speed to the same speed.
In a Group III fax, the transmission of the image over the negotiated transmission link will consist of first transmitting the header and then all of the pages in the original facsimile document as a single job. Typically, there is an End of Page (EOP) command sent at the end of each page and then an End of Job (EOJ) command sent at the end of the job. During transmission, there are various error correction algorithms utilized to correct the data when it is transmitted, but some applications of the Group III fax has one disadvantage in that if the last page is not received correctly by a receiving fax, it does not provide an acknowledgment to the sending fax that it has received the entire job and the sending fax may interpret this to require a re-send operation, wherein the entire document is re-sent. For small jobs that are only one or two pages long, this is not a problem. However, for large jobs in excess of two hundred pages, this can be quite time consuming. The time consuming aspect is, of course, the time it takes to transmit a single page.
Transmission of an image over a facsimile connection is facilitated by first converting the image into a bit-mapped image via scanning of a hard copy of the document or converting a print job in a computer directly to the image, and then transmitting the individual bits as they are scanned or generated in a serial manner. However, this transmission of images is time consuming, especially if the image includes a lot of dark areas. One solution to this has been to actually transmit the data file prior to transforming it into an image. For example, one system that has achieved this is referred to as the Microsoft Exchange Server®, which is an operating system for messaging and file sharing. The purpose of this system to alleviate the necessity to transfer a document into an image prior to transmission to a remote site. It is not the conversion into the image that is time consuming but, rather, it is the transmission of the image information. Further, on the receiving end, the image information is not readily translated into a data file that can be manipulated. For example, if a destination user desired to transmit a contract which basically comprised an ASCII file, the procedure is to convert it first into an image and then transmit the image to the destination system. Once the destination system receives this image, it must be printed out from a facsimile machine or, alternatively, it can be imported into a computer program which can then either print the image out on a standard printer or store the image. However, once the image is received, it is not in a useable form to allow modification of the document itself With the digital transmission systems, the file itself can be transmitted without first converting it into an image. However, all facsimile systems that exist at present require conversion of a file into an image as it would appear in a printed document and then transmission of this image. This can be facilitated by fax modems that directly convert a file into an image while using a scanner, the scanner being the more conventional approach.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A multiple saw blade adjustable dado cutter assembly. The cutter can be used with a table saw or a radial arm saw, for example, to make dado cuts in board lumber. A pair of cooperating cams, each connected to a saw blade, can be adjusted to make a dado cut of a desired width. If the desired dado width is wider than the two blade configuration can cut, a center cam attached to another blade can be inserted between the pair of cooperating cams. With the three blade configuration, the three cams cooperate to allow the three blades to be spaced for the desired width of cut. In both configurations and at any spacing width, the two or three blades employed remain in a generally parallel alignment and transverse to the axis of the arbor on which the assembly is secured. To permit the blades to function with this geometrical relationship and to be adjustable, not all of the blade teeth lie in the same plane. The sequentially operating three or more cam assembly has uses beyond dado cutting. Also, the blades can be made to mount directly onto a saw arbor with spacer washers taking the place of the cam assembly. For industrial applications, more than three blade configurations are envisioned.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiple saw blade adjustable dado cutter assembly. The cutter can be used with a table saw or a radial arm saw, for example, to make dado cuts in board lumber. A pair of cooperating cams, each connected to a saw blade, can be adjusted to make a dado cut of a desired width. If the desired dado width is wider than the two blade configuration can cut, a center cam attached to another blade can be inserted between the pair of cooperating cams. With the three blade configuration, the three cams cooperate to allow the three blades to be spaced for the desired width of cut. In both configurations and at any spacing width, the two or three blades employed remain in a generally parallel alignment and transverse to the axis of the arbor on which the assembly is secured. To permit the blades to function with this geometrical relationship and to be adjustable, not all of the blade teeth lie in the same plane. The sequentially operating three or more cam assembly has uses beyond dado cutting. Also, the blades can be made to mount directly onto a saw arbor with spacer washers taking the place of the cam assembly. For industrial applications, more than three blade configurations are envisioned.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A dado, or housed joint, is typically made by cutting a slot into a board, the slot having a depth of cut equal to one half the thickness of the board, the slot being at a location other than the board end, and the slot having a width equal to the thickness of the other board which is to be fitted into the slot. Multiple blade dado cutters which can be adjusted to make cuts of differing width are known in the art. However, they have significant disadvantages when compared to the cutter of the instant invention.
The typical dado cutter for use in the home usually has blades which are adjusted so that a blade rotates in a plane which is not transverse to the axis of the arbor on which the blade is mounted. Basically, with this arrangement, the blade wobbles causing vibration forces and only one saw tooth cuts the outer side edge. For example, this alignment generally requires that the board being cut be fed through the cutter slowly and can cause the dado cut to have rough side edges and an uneven bottom cut. U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,458 teaches a two-bladed adjustable dado cutter employing a cam arrangement which permits the two blades to be adjusted for width of cut. The cam arrangement always keeps the two blades juxtaposed at one location along the blade circumference, with the widest spacing between the blades being at another location diametrically opposed from the juxtaposed location. The blades therefore form a V-shape which permits the wobbling forces to neutralize each other. This particular dado cutter is sold by Sears under the trademark "EXCALIBUR".
Various industrial dado cutters are known in which the blades rotate in planes which are transverse to the axis of the arbor on which the blades are mounted. However, with this configuration, to increase the width of cut, the basic outside two blades must be separated and additional chipper blades and paper shims must be inserted between them. For example, seven different blades may be involved with one dado cutter, the two outside blades which can each cut a width of 1/8 inch or 3.175 mm, four chipper blades which can each cut a width of 1/8 inch or 3.175 mm, and one chipper blade which can cut a width of 1/16 inch or 1.587 mm. By various combinations, this assembly can make dado cuts of from 1/4 inch or 6.350 mm to 13/16 inch or 20.637 mm in 1/16 inch or 1.587 mm increments. It should be appreciated that it is expensive to manufacture seven different blades which must function together in a plurality of arrangements.

Multiple saw blade adjustable dado cutter assembly including a cam assembly and nestable dado blades


A communication system offering remote access and a communication method thereof are provided. The communication system includes a remote device, a relay node, and at least one server device. The relay node controls a connection from the remote device to a local area network (LAN). The at least one server device is located in the LAN. The remote device communicates with the relay node by using a web access protocol. The relay node converts a first command compliant with the web access protocol into a second command compliant with a LAN data access protocol, so that the remote device can remotely access the at least one server device through the relay node. Thereby, the remote device can remotely access the at least one server device without setting parameters of related network nodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a communication technique, and more particularly, to a communication system offering remote access and a communication method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Each local area network (LAN) has corresponding relay nodes (for example, gateways, routers, or switches). These relay nodes take care of network address allocation and translation between the intranet (LAN) and the extranet (the Internet) and monitor, block, and filter network packets transmitted from the extranet to the intranet to protect communication devices located in the LAN.
However, when a user travels to another place and wants to remotely access files or multimedia resources on the LAN deployed at the user's home or company, the LAN monitoring mechanism implemented on the relay nodes usually does not allow any connection from the extranet to the intranet. Various remote access techniques have been developed so far to resolve the problem mentioned above. However, to implement such a technique, a user has to set parameters of related network nodes on the relay nodes. In other words, the implementation of each of aforementioned techniques requires very complicated operations for users.

Communication system offering remote access and communication method thereof


A method of removing an enzyme from a liquid enzyme reaction mixture used in a hydrolysis reaction or a base exchange reaction of a phospholipid is provided. The method includes the step of treating the liquid enzyme reaction mixture with a solvent mixture of water and an organic solvent, wherein the solvent mixture includes an inorganic metal salt, to remove the enzyme. Enzymes included in the reaction product can be easily removed without a treatment such as heating, and thus it becomes possible to easily produce various phospholipids that have a reduced risk of inducing an allergy, that retain a high quality and that have excellent storage stability.

The reactions for hydrolysis or base exchange of phospholipid are generally carried out in a suitable solvent in the presence of enzyme. These reactions are usually stopped by deactivating the enzyme with a treatment such as heating. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-273536 discloses a method for manufacturing lysophospholipids by partially hydrolyzing derivatives of phosphatidic acid with a treatment by lipase or phospholipase A2 (hereinafter referred to as "PLA2"). In this method, the reaction mixture is heated at an appropriate point to deactivate the enzyme and halt the reaction. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-186898 discloses a method for manufacturing a phosphatidylserine by achieving a phosphatidyl group exchange reaction between an acylglycerophospholipid and serine by using phospholipase D (hereinafter referred to as PLD). In this method, the enzyme is deactivated with a treatment such as heating or alcohol denaturation after the reaction. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-319793 discloses an acylglycerophospholipid phosphatidyl group exchange reaction by using PLD. The exchange reaction is followed by deactivating the PLD with a treatment such as heating.
As described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-233750, however, phospholipases have strong thermal resistance and thus are not sufficiently deactivated even after heating, for example, at 95° C. for about 30 minutes. The inadequate deactivation of phospholipases may cause quality problems, such as odors occurred in the hydrolysis of fats in the phospholipids. This document further teaches that deactivating the phospholipases by heating at a temperature of 100° C. or more, such as 120° C., is problematic in that phospholipids or free fatty acids resulting from treating the phospholipids with phospholipases are prone to deteriorate. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-233750 discloses processing a starting material that contains phospholipid with a phospholipase, then treating the phospholipase with a protease, and then deactivating the protease by heating, to solve the problem as mentioned above.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-93086 suggests that proteins, peptides, and enzyme can be a cause of allergy. The document also teaches that the method of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-233750 is clearly problematic in terms of safety in that peptides, which are breakdown products, and proteases still remain, and they have a risk of inducing an allergy. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-93086 discloses treating a starting material that contains phospholipid with a phospholipase and then a protease, and then removing any proteins, peptides, and enzymes, to solve the problem as mentioned above. As the procedure of removing proteins or the like, filtration using a filter aid, processing using an adsorbent, and so like are exemplified. It is mentioned that the used adsorbent can be removed by filtration using the filter aid. Although this method is capable of removing proteins and the like, it requires processing such as filtration and adsorption after the reaction, and thus has the problem in that the process becomes more complicated.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-193982 discloses adding a polar organic solvent to an liquid enzyme reaction mixture and then removing hydrophilic impurities, proteins, and inorganic salts from a solution of phosphatidylserine in the organic solvent by water extraction. The document teaches that this can reduce the activity of PLD in the solution of phosphatidylserine to below the detectable limit (0.1 IU/g), however, there is no mention regarding the protein level in the solution.

Method for removing enzyme and method of base exchange or hydrolysis of phospholipid using the same


A power rotary tool has a drive spindle and a chuck device mounted on the end of the spindle. The chuck device has a body member with an axial bore through an end thereof that defines a female pilot section and a threaded longitudinal section adjacent and rearward of the female pilot section. A flat shoulder is defined on the body member rearward of the threaded longitudinal section. The drive spindle has a male pilot section at a forward end thereof and a threaded longitudinal section adjacent and rearward of the male pilot section. A radial stop is defined on the drive spindle adjacent and rearward of the threaded section. Upon mounting of the chuck onto the drive spindle, the male pilot longitudinal section slides tightly within and uniformly contacts the female pilot longitudinal section and the shoulder of the body member abuts directly against the radially extending stop defined on the drive spindle.

A wide variety of attaching systems and methods are known in the industry for mounting chucks to drive spindles of power rotary tools. For example, threaded connections, tapered bore systems, coupling devices, etc., are well known and used in various applications. An essential feature of each mounting system is, however, that it securely mounts the chuck to the drive spindle so that the chuck is precisely aligned axially with the drive spindle rotational axis and is not allowed to move radially relative to the spindle so as to minimize run-out in operation of the power tool. The chuck must be secured to the drive spindle in the axial and radial direction to ensure proper operation of the rotary tool and tool bit.
With conventional threaded mounting systems, the interengaging threads between the chuck body and drive spindle are primarily responsible for securing the chuck device in the radial and axial direction. However, due to the machining tolerances in defining the threads, a certain amount of "play" always exists between the threads. This "play" can contribute to imprecise rotary operations, particularly in high speed and high precision applications such as routing. Additionally, operational stresses are absorbed by the threads between the drive spindle and chuck body, which may lead to binding of the chuck on the drive spindle, or other distortion of the threads.
The present invention relates to an improved system for mounting a chuck device to a drive spindle wherein the convenience and speed of a threaded coupling system is utilized without the drawbacks noted above.

System for mounting a chuck device to a rotary power tool


The invention is directed to a method for ultrasonic imaging, in which two-dimensional images (10, 11) are acquired, one of which is aligned with a longitudinal direction of an interventional object (e.g. a needle) (13) to be moved towards a target area (7) within a subject of examination and the other one is intersecting the longitudinal direction of the interventional object (13) and automatically positioned dependent on the automatically determined position and orientation of the interventional object (13). Further, the invention is directed to an ultrasonic imaging device (1) adapted to conduct such a method.

Real-time ultrasound is routinely used to guide interventional procedures, such as biopsies and local ablative therapies (incl. radio-frequency ablation). With the recent introduction of real-time Multi-Planar Reconstruction (MPR) and bi-plane ultrasound on mechanical and matrix transducers it is now possible to gather in real-time anatomical information in any arbitrary planes. In bi-plane ultrasound imaging, two imaging planes are generated both of which intersect the transducer active aperture. MPR is a method for reconstructing two-dimensional images from a set of raw image data, i.e. from a set of transversal cross-sectional images arbitrary images with different orientation can be calculated, such as frontal, sagittal or oblique cross-sectional images. In MPR, a so determined imaging plane which does not intersect the transducer aperture is called C-plane.
US 2007/0073155 A1 describes a compact ultrasound needle guidance system and method for adjustably target a needle's destination in the imaging plane of a two-dimensional ultrasound image before insertion of a needle into a patient. In this system a needle holder is provided at an ultrasound probe for acquiring a two-dimensional image of a subject of examination. Knowing the position of the needle holder and thus the orientation of the needle, an intersection point of the needle with the two-dimensional image can be determined, assuming that the orientation of the needle is not changed during insertion. This intersection point can be marked when displaying the two-dimensional image on a display. However, this system is not very flexible in use such that there is a need for alternative imaging methods and systems.

Automatic positioning of imaging plane in ultrasonic imaging


Out of regions extracted from a frame image, regions assigned the same identification information as that of a region unselected in a past frame immediately before the frame are defined as nonselection regions, and nonselection regions in number equal to or smaller than a predetermined number are selected out of the nonselection regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of encoding a specific region of an image to image quality higher than in other regions.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image signal encoding technique is used to transfer or store/reproduce a moving image. As such a moving image encoding technique, an international standard encoding method such as ISO/IEC International Standard 14496-2 (MPEG-4 Visual) is known. As another international standard encoding method, H.264 and the like by ITU-T and ISO/IEC are also known. In this specification, ITU-T Rec. H.264 Advanced Video Coding 1 ISO/IEC International Standard 14496-10 (MPEG-4 AVC) will simply be referred to as H.264. These techniques are used in the fields of video camera and recorder as well. In particular, there is recently a vigorous effort going on to apply the techniques to surveillance video cameras (to be referred to as surveillance cameras hereinafter).
In application to a surveillance camera, image data is encoded at a relatively low bit rate to suppress the size of encoded data in many cases because of necessity of long-term recording. In the low bit rate encoding, however, a large amount of information is lost, and the image quality degrades. For this reason, the technique cannot function well to achieve the original object of, for example, specifying a human face. Instead of uniformly encoding a whole frame, there is generally used a technique of detecting a region such as a human face, which is supposed to be important for the application purpose, as a specific region so as to divide the frame into a specific region and other regions (nonspecific regions) and changing the code amount assignment for each region. More specifically, encoding is performed by assigning a large code amount to the specific region not to lower the image quality while suppressing the code amount only in the nonspecific regions.
In this technique, however, when a plurality of specific regions exist in a frame, and a large code amount is assigned to every specific region, the actual bit rate exceeds the target bit rate. On the other hand, if the code amount is uniformly assigned to all specific regions within the range of the target bit rate, image quality suitable for the application purpose of, for example, specifying a human face cannot be obtained in the specific regions. To solve these problems, techniques of controlling code amount assignment to each specific region have been proposed.
An example of such related arts is patent literature 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-193441). In patent literature 1, a specific region having a smaller area in a frame is assigned a larger code amount than that for a specific region having a larger area in the frame. This makes it possible to reliably create compressed data capable of clearly showing a face captured in a small size and also maintain image quality enough to recognize a face captured in a large size even with little decrease in the compression rate.
In the above-described related art, however, even if the area ratio of the specific regions to the frame is low, it may be impossible to obtain desired image quality when a lot of specific regions exist.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


A plate is thermally coupled to a heat generating device and thermally coupled to two heat pipes. Each heat pipe is configured to have a predetermined boiling point temperature selected according to design criteria. One or more additional heat pipes can be coupled to the plate. A heat spreader can be in thermal contact with the heat generating device and with at least one of the heat pipes. The heat pipes can differ in outer cross-sectional dimensions depending on thermal distance position relative to the heat generating device, such that the heat pipes located a farther thermal distance from the heat generating device have smaller outer cross-sectional dimensions than the heat pipes located a shorter thermal distance from the heat generating device.

The increasing power of electronic devices is motivating the semiconductor industry to seek effective thermal management solutions. A number of techniques for cooling electronic devices and packages have become widespread. Currently, fin array heat sinks with fans are the most common cooling technique. These devices are typically attached to a package lid or directly to a die. A primary purpose of heat sinks is to increase the area for heat rejection to air.
Another common technique that has emerged in the past decade is the use of heat pipes. The heat pipe has become a widely used thermal management tool in the notebook industry. Most current notebooks utilize heat pipes in their thermal management solution. Their primary purpose is to remove heat from a heat source to a heat sink where the heat is dissipated. Heat pipes are vacuum-tight vessels that are evacuated and partially filled with a small amount of water or other working fluid with a wicking structure. FIG. 1 shows an illustration of how a heat pipe works. As heat is directed into a heat pipe 110 from a heat source 120, fluid evaporates creating a pressure gradient in the heat pipe 110. This forces vapor 130 to flow along the heat pipe 110 to a cooler section or condenser 160 where it condenses. The condensed fluid wicks 140 back to the evaporator 150 near the heat source 120.
Heat removal capacity of the heat pipe is controlled by wicking media and heat pipe geometry, among which important parameters are heat pipe cross-sectional dimensions and heat pipe length. Currently, available heat pipes with 6 cm outer diameter (OD) can only dissipate about 30 to 50 W of heat. High performance electronic devices often dissipate more than 100 W of heat. Therefore, multiple heat pipes are used for thermal management. These heat pipes, usually 3 or more, are often embedded in a cooper enclosure or block to form a cooling module.
The current designs have an important limitation. Due to their OD sizes, the heat pipes are much comparable with a typical die size. Spreading thermal resistance from the die to each individual heat pipe becomes significant. FIG. 2 shows an illustration of multiple heat pipes embedded in a copper block 200 and coupled to a heat spreader 210. The heat spreader 210 sits on top of a heat source 220, such as a chip. A center heat pipe 230 is positioned closest to the heat source 220, with outer heat pipes 240 located farther away from the heat source 220. The center heat pipe 230 and the outer heat pipes 240 have identical boiling points of 50 degrees Celsius. The spreading thermal resistance causes the outer heat pipes 240 to remove much less heat than the center heat pipe 230. The center heat pipe 230 could reach its boiling limit and exceed its heat removal capacity, causing it to "burn out" before the outer heat pipes 240 have approached their full heat removal potential. Therefore, heat load carried by the outer heat pipes 240 will be far less that the amount carried by heat pipes closer to the heat source, such as the center heat pipe 230. Thus, the center heat pipe 230 will approach and exceed its heat load capacity before the outer heat pipes 240 reach their heat load capacity, resulting in a system poorly adapted for handling high heat load.
What is needed is an apparatus for and method of optimizing boiling points of heat pipes to achieve simultaneous onset of boiling.

Optimized multiple heat pipe blocks for electronics cooling


A compression and decompression system in which a reversible wavelet filter are used to generates coefficients from input data, such as image data. The reversible wavelet filter is an efficient transform implemented with integer arithmetic that has exact reconstruction. The present invention uses the reversible wavelet filter in a lossless system (or lossy system) in which an embedded codestream is generated from the coefficients produced by the filter. An entropy coder performs entropy coding on the embedded codestream to produce the compressed data stream.

Data compression is an extremely useful tool for storing and transmitting large amounts of data. For example, the time required to transmit an image, such as a facsimile transmission of a document, is reduced drastically when compression is used to decrease the number of bits required to recreate the image.
Many different data compression techniques exist in the prior art. Compression techniques can be divided into two broad categories, lossy coding and lossless coding. Lossy coding involves coding that results in the loss of information, such that there is no guarantee of perfect reconstruction of the original data. The goal of lossy compression is that changes to the original data are done in such a way that they are not objectionable or detectable. In lossless compression, all the information is retained and the data is compressed in a manner which allows for perfect reconstruction.
In lossless compression, input symbols or intensity data are converted to output codewords. The input may include image, audio, one-dimensional (e.g., data changing spatially or temporally), two-dimensional (e.g., data changing in two spatial directions (or one spatial and one temporal dimension)), or multi-dimensional/multi-spectral data. If the compression is successful, the codewords are represented in fewer bits than the number of bits required for the uncoded input symbols (or intensity data). Lossless coding methods include dictionary methods of coding (e.g., Lempel-Ziv), run length encoding, enumerative coding and entropy coding. In lossless image compression, compression is based on predictions or contexts, plus coding. The JBIG standard for facsimile compression and DPCM (differential pulse code modulation--an option in the JPEG standard) for continuous-tone images are examples of lossless compression for images. In lossy compression, input symbols or intensity data are quantized prior to conversion to output codewords. Quantization is intended to preserve relevant characteristics of the data while eliminating unimportant characteristics. Prior to quantization, lossy compression system often use a transform to provide energy compaction. JPEG is an example of a lossy coding method for image data.
Recent developments in image signal processing continue to focus attention on a need for efficient and accurate forms of data compression coding. Various forms of transform or pyramidal signal processing have been proposed, including multiresolution pyramidal processing and wavelet pyramidal processing. These forms are also referred to as subband processing and hierarchical processing. Wavelet pyramidal processing of image data is a specific type of multi-resolution pyramidal processing that may use quadrature mirror filters (QMFs) to produce subband decomposition of an original image. Note that other types of non-QMF wavelets exist. For more information on wavelet processing, see Antonini, M., et al., "Image Coding Using Wavelet Transform", IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1992; Shapiro, J., "An Embedded Hierarchical Image Coder Using Zerotrees of Wavelet Coefficients", Proc. IEEE Data Compression Conference, pgs. 214-223, 1993; for information on reversible transforms, see Said, A. and Pearlman, W. "Reversible Image Compression via Multiresolution Representation and Predictive Coding", Dept. of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering, Renssealaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y. 1993.
Compression is often very time consuming and memory intensive. It is desirable to perform compression faster and/or reduced memory when possible. Some applications have never used compression because either the quality could not be assured, the compression rate was not high enough, or the data rate was not controllable. However, the use of compression is desirable to reduce the amount of information to be transferred and/or stored.
The prior art includes compression systems for handling natural continuous-tone images. An example is the International Standard Dis. 10918-1, entitled "Digital Compression and Coding of Continuous-Tone Still Images", CCITT recommendation T.81, commonly referred to as JPEG. The prior art also includes compression systems to handle binary/noise free/shallow pixel depth images. An example of such a system is a system conforming to the International Standard ISO/IEC 11544, entitled "Information Technology-Coded Representation of Picture and Audio Information--Progressive Bi-level Image Compression", CCITT recommendation T.82, commonly referred to as JBIG. However, the prior art lacks a system that handles both adequately. It is desirable to have such a system.
Parsers are well known in the computer science literature. A parser is responsible for assigning meaning to different parts of an object with an initially unknown structure. For example, a parser operating as part of a compiler might determine that some characters in a program file are "identifiers," other characters form reserved words, and other characters are parts of a comment. The parser is not responsible for determining what the characters "mean" but only what type of subject they are a part.
Most image storage formats are single-use. That is, only a single resolution or a single quality level is available. Other image formats allow multi-use. Some prior art multi-use image formats support two or three resolution/quality choices. Other prior art multi-use image formats allow only resolution or quality to be specified, not both. It is desirable to increase the resolution and quality choices that are available.
For instance, internet World-Wide-Web servers currently provide desired information from a large body of data. Typically, a user browses many images on the screen and may decide to print a few. Unfortunately, the current state of the browsing tools leads to a fairly poor quality printout if the image was intended mainly for monitors, or an excessive browse time if the image was intended mainly for printing. Obtaining a "lossless" image is either impossible or must be done as a completely independent download.
The present invention provides lossy and lossless compression using a transform that provides good energy compaction. The present invention provides a parser that identifies and selects parts of compressed data based onto structure, such as the frequency band and importance level, to which the entropy coded data belongs to, but does not decompress the data. The present invention provides more flexible multi-use image formats.
The present invention provides a single system that can handle both natural con-tone images and binary/noise free/shallow pixel depth images, particularly those images that contain both types of data.

Compression and decompression with wavelet style and binary style including quantization by device-dependent parser


A structure and method of fabricating a high-mobility semiconductor layer structure and field-effect transistor (MODFET) that includes a high-mobility conducting channel, while at the same time, maintaining counter doping to control deleterious short-channel effects. The MODFET design includes a high-mobility conducting channel layer wherein the method allows the counter doping to be formed using a standard technique such as ion implantation, and further allows the high-mobility channel to be in close proximity to the counter doping without degradation of the mobility.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductors and transistors and more particularly to Si/SiGe strained-layer field-effect transistors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Si/SiGe strained layer heterostructures are interesting devices for future high-performance microelectronics applications. In particular, tensile-strained Si on relaxed SiGe MOSFETs have been proposed for advanced CMOS applications, while Si/SiGe modulation-doped field-effect transistors (MODFETs) are of interest for advanced communications applications. Field-effect transistors based upon Si/SiGe strained layers have the common feature that they rely on enhanced mobility to achieve performance improvement. This is especially true for tensile-strained Si on relaxed SiGe MODFETs which can have mobility enhancement factors of 3-5 times for electrons as described in the reference to K. Ismail, entitled "Si/SiGe high-speed field-effect transistors," Tech. Dig. Int. Electron Devices Meet., 509 (1995) (herein incorporated by reference) and for compressive-strained Ge on relaxed SiGe MODFETs which have hole mobility over 10 times higher than bulk Si MOSFETs as described in the reference to S. J. Koester, R. Hammond, J. O. Chu, entitled "Extremely high transconductance Ge/Si0.4Ge0.6 p-MODFET's grown by UHV-CVD," IEEE Elect. Dev. Lett. 21, 110 (2000) (herein incorporated by reference).
However, in order to make a high-performance FET, device design factors in addition to mobility must be considered. In particular, control of short-channel effects is a serious issue for devices with very short gate lengths as recognized by Q. C. Ouyang, S. J. Koester, J. O. Chu, A. Grill, S. Subbanna, and D. A. Herman Jr., at the International Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices, Kobe, Japan, Sep. 4-6, 2002. In Si MOSFETs, short-channel effects are generally controlled through counter-doping, i.e., introducing carriers of the opposite type into the body of the device in order to maintain a high built-in potential between the source and drain p/n junctions. In Si MOSFETs, counter doping is generally introduced by ion implantation directly through the active area of the device.
As for SiGe MODFETs, however, implantation of dopants through the active device area can seriously degrade the mobility. The mobility degradation occurs because the trailing edge of the implant profile intersects the high-mobility channel. Since impurity concentrations as low as 1015 cm−2 can degrade the mobility, even implants with peak concentrations well below the channel region cannot be used. Therefore, it is essential in SiGe MODFETs that the channel region be completely free of implanted impurities in order to maintain the high mobility. An example of the deleterious effect of ion implantation through a Si/SiGe n-channel MODFET structure is shown in the plot of FIG. 1(a) illustrating curves 15 showing decreased electron mobility with implant impurities present as compared to the curves 12 showing no implant impurities present.
One possible option for MODFETs is simply to eliminate the counter-doping, a practice common in III-V devices. However, unlike III-V devices, where high band-gap barrier layers can reduce parallel conduction, the SiGe barrier layers do no provide this opportunity. A demonstration of the need for counter-doping in Si/SiGe n-MODFETs is shown in the plot of FIG. 1(b), which shows experimental data of a scaled Si/SiGe n-MODFET with no p-well along with physical simulations of a very similar device with p-type counter doping. The device without counter doping (p-well) shows severe short-channel effects and large source/drain leakage current, while the simulations show that with the proper p-well doping the same device would exhibit near ideal subthreshold behavior.
To date, no method of introducing counter doping into SiGe MODFETs have been explicitly suggested. However, the concept of incorporating the doping via an in situ doping process has been proposed and implemented using tensile-strained Si surface channel MOSFETs in the reference to K. Rim, J. L. Hoyt, J. F. Gibbons, entitled "Fabrication and analysis of deep submicron strained-Si N-MOSFET's," IEEE Trans. on Elect. Dev. 47, 1406 (2000). However, this technique is not applicable for a layer structure grown on a pre-fabricated relaxed SiGe substrate where the regrown layer structure needs to be kept thin, since the doping is only incorporated in the epitaxially regrown layer, and therefore the underlying substrate could still act as a leakage path. A good example of this is situation occurs for a MODFET fabricated on a buried insulating layer, where the typical fabrication scheme would be to first produce a wafer of relaxed SiGe on insulator, and then regrow the MODFET layer structure on top. In this situation, in situ doping of the p-well during growth would still leave the original SiGe substrate undoped. In situ doping is also a problem for p-channel SiGe MODFETs, since the counter doping would have to be n-type, and many common n-type dopants have a high surface affinity during growth, segregating to the surface and causing unintentional dopant incorporation into the channel layer.
It would thus be highly desirable to produce a high-mobility semiconductor layer structure and field-effect transistor exhibiting a high-mobility conducting channel, while at the same time, maintaining counter doping to control deleterious short-channel effects. It would also be highly desirable to provide a method of fabricating such a layer structure and transistor.

Structure for and method of fabricating a high-mobility field-effect transistor

International Business Machines Corporation


In a post-processing device (sheet discharge device), a pile thickness calculating section calculates, from a type and the number of paper sheets discharged through a sheet output port, a thickness of a pile, at its leading end, of sets of paper sheets on a sheet output tray (piling section), calculates a thickness of the pile, at its trailing end, of sets of paper sheets on the sheet output tray from an amount of movement of a lifting section, and calculates an angle of inclination of the uppermost set of paper sheets in the pile from the thicknesses of the pile at its leading and trailing ends, a height of inclination of the sheet output tray, and a length of the paper sheets. The control section controls the sheet discharge section to change a manner of discharging a subsequent set of paper sheets according to the calculated angle of inclination.

The present disclosure relates to sheet discharge devices and image forming apparatuses and particularly relates to a technique for preventing dropping of paper sheets piled on a piling section.
Image forming apparatuses and the like include those equipped with a sheet discharge device configured to discharge paper sheets after image formation or after post-processing, such as punching or stapling, and receive and pile the discharged paper sheets on a sheet output tray. If in such a sheet discharge device, for example, a pile of paper sheets on the sheet output tray becomes significantly out of alignment during piling up of the paper sheets, subsequent paper sheets can no longer properly be piled on the sheet output tray. Therefore, a technique is employed in which when a detection sensor or the like detects that the top surface of a pile of paper sheets on the sheet output tray is not at a proper vertical position with respect to a sheet output port, the sheet output tray is lowered a certain amount and then lifted to correct the top surface of the pile of paper sheets on the sheet output tray to the proper vertical position.
Generally, the sheet output tray has an upward inclination in a direction of discharge of paper sheets. Therefore, paper sheets are piled on top of one another on the sheet output tray while taking an inclined position where their trailing ends in the direction of discharge are located below their leading ends in the direction of discharge. Thus, even if a large number of paper sheets are piled on the sheet output tray, the pile of paper sheets is less likely to collapse. Furthermore, because of the presence of the inclination, the paper sheet discharged through the output port in the apparatus body toward the sheet output tray moves on the sheet output tray while going down toward the apparatus body, which prevents dropping of the paper sheet from on the sheet output tray.
However, as stapled sets of paper sheets are successively piled on top of one another on the sheet output tray, their trailing end-side stapled portions of greater thickness are superimposed one on another and the thickness of the pile of sets of paper sheets is increased more at its trailing end in the direction of discharge of the sets of paper sheets than at its leading end in the direction of discharge, resulting in gradually reduced inclination of the top surface of the pile of sets of paper sheets. As a result, subsequently discharged paper sheets may slide off the sheet output tray or the pile of sets of paper sheets may collapse.
To solve the above problem, a technique is proposed in which when, during discharge of stapled sets of paper sheets to the inclined sheet output tray as in the above case, the superposition of stapled portions located at the same position in a pile of the sets of paper sheets on the sheet output tray reaches a predetermined amount, a subsequent stapled set of paper sheets is discharged to a location offset from that of the previous stapled set of paper sheets to avoid further superposition of the stapled portions and in turn avoid the thickness of the pile of sets of paper sheets from increasing more at its trailing end.
A technique is also proposed in which paper sheets are collected face down and face up alternately every predetermined number of sets and each set of collected paper sheets is stapled at a predetermined portion thereof and then discharged to an inclined sheet output tray as in the above technique to avoid superposition of the stapled portions and in turn avoid the thickness of a pile of sets of paper sheets on the sheet output tray from increasing more at its trailing end.

Sheet discharge device and image forming apparatus


An antenna device includes a first triplate line and one or more second triplate lines that are connected to the first triplate line so as to cross the first triplate line. Two ground plates of each second triplate line include respective flange portions that are in contact with and fixed to a surface of one of two ground plates of the first triplate line. At least one of a surface of each flange portion that contacts the one of the ground plates of the first triplate line and the surface of the one of the ground plates of the first triplate line that contacts each flange portion is provided with an irregular portion for reducing a contact area between each flange portion and the one of the ground plates.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an antenna device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An antenna device including a triplate line, in which a central conductor plate is interposed between two ground plates, as a feed line has been developed as an example of an antenna device having a simple structure with which loss in the feed line can be reduced (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 63-88902).
With the antenna device including the triplate line as the feed line, in the case where the antenna device is a frequency-sharing antenna capable of transmitting and receiving signals in a plurality of frequency bands, the feed line is required for each frequency band and each polarization. When all of the feed lines are assembled in a single triplate line, the triplate line has an extremely large area, and the size of the antenna device is increased.
Accordingly, the assignee of the present invention has proposed an antenna device including multiple triplate lines that are connected together so as to cross each other.
However, with the proposed antenna device, there is a risk that a contact failure will occur in a section where the ground plates of the triplate lines are connected to each other and intermodulation (IM) distortion will be increased.


Managing runtime qubit allocation for executing quantum services is disclosed. In one example, a processor device of a quantum computing system implements a quantum backoff service (QBS) that enables safe runtime qubit allocation for executing quantum services. The QBS receives a request from a quantum service scheduler for allocation of one or more qubits for an executing quantum service. Upon receiving the request for allocation, the QBS determines whether the one or more qubits are unavailable for execution. If the QBS determines that the one or more qubits are unavailable for allocation, the QBS places the executing quantum service into a sleep state. The QBS in some examples may subsequently receive an indication that the one or more qubits have become available for allocation. The QBS then restores the executing quantum service into an executing state and allocates the one or more qubits for the executing quantum service.

Quantum computing involves the use of quantum bits, referred to herein as "qubits," which have characteristics that differ from those of classical (i.e., non-quantum) bits used in classical computing. Qubits may be employed by quantum services that are executed by quantum computing devices. As quantum computing continues to increase in popularity and become more commonplace, an ability to efficiently manage allocation of limited numbers of qubits among multiple executing quantum services will be desirable.


A lytic reagent composition highly selective in its interactions with the cell membranes of white blood cells and also provides a method of using the reagent composition in a particle analyzing system to effect a significantly improved white blood cell differential determination. The lytic reagent composition is characterized by an ability to selectively shrink the white blood cells into the increasing size order of lymphocytes, basophils, monocutes, eosinophils and neutrophils, and effect a five component separation of these major subpopulations of white blood cells on the histogram of an automated blood analyzer when used in conjunction with a suitable blood diluent.

There are three major populations of cells in the blood comprising the platelets, erythrocytes (red blood cells) and leukocytes (white blood cells). Within the white blood cell population, many subpopulations exist, five of which are considered predominantly in hematological analysis. These white cell subpopulations include monomorphonuclear lymphocytes, which constitute about 15-45% of the white blood cells in a normal mature population, polymorphonuclear basophils (0-3%); monomorphonuclear monocytes (.about.0-10%); polymorphonuclear eosinophils (.about.0-5%); and polymorphonuclear neutrophils, which constitute from about 45-80% of the mature white blood cells in a population. In many diseases, there is a clinically significant alteration in the normal distribution of these mature cell types. In addition, immature or abnormal cell types are often associated with the disease state. Hematological analysis of white blood cells, including white cell enumeration and flagging of abnormalities, in conjunction with traditional diagnostic techniques, is thus an important tool in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
Prior to the mid-1970's, white blood cell differential analyses were conducted by manual examination, with a technician viewing blood film slides with the aid of a microscope. Since that time, hematological analysis has been automated, making its use both widespread and commonplace.
While the methodologies for automated analysis vary, most often the enumeration and analysis involves subjecting a diluted sample of whole blood to a lysing reagent which stromatolyzes and therefore eliminates the red blood cell population and simultaneously modifies the cell membranes of the more prevalent white cell subpopulations so that the cytoplasm leeches out, causing differential shrinkage of the different cell types and enabling discrimination and sorting thereof. The size and number of white blood cells in the sample are then detected with the aid of an automated analyzer, which typically includes a detector adapted to detect the volume (size) and/or opacity of the white blood cells in the sample by electrical or optical differences. The white blood cells are counted for a period of time sufficient to gather data for analysis, data points are stored in a memory device and then analyzed in an algorithmic processor. The data can then be displayed in the form of a two dimensional or three dimensional histogram.
Heretofore, a number of lysing reagents and reagent systems have been developed which have provided the clinician with the ability to isolate the white cell population from the red cell population of whole blood and to further differentiate the white cell population into smaller subpopulations. Patents considered representative of the art in the field include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,286,963; 4,485,175; 4,529,705; 4,745,071; and W088/07187.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,963 to Ledis et al describes a lytic diluent and method for achieving rapid lysis of red blood cells in whole blood. This diluent enhances the ability of automated instrumentation to perform differential determinations of lymphoid and myeloid subpopulations of leukocytes and the quantative determination of hemoglobin. The lytic diluent employed by Ledis et al is composed of a mixture of at least one quaternary ammonium salt and an aryl substituted short chain alkanol in buffered aqueous medium (pH 3.5 to 5.0). The lytic diluent of this Ledis et al patent is limited in its ability to effect differentiation of the leukocyte population into the two principal subpopulations; namely the lymphoid and myeloid fractions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,175, also to Ledis et al, describes a reagent system and method for performance of differential determinations of leukocytes into three subpopulations utilizing automated cell counting equipment, in which the reagent system includes a blood diluent and lysing reagent. The lysing reagent comprises an aqueous mixture of aliphatic quaternary ammonium compounds, which when added to a diluted blood sample under mild conditions of concentration and at a relatively slow rate causes volume modifications to the various subpopulations of white blood cells, enabling a three component separation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,705 to Larsen relates to a reagent for combined diluting and lysing of whole blood cells. The reagent comprises an aliphatic quaternary ammonium salt and at least one anion selected from the group consisting of sulfate, carbonate, formate and acetate anions, which are employed for the purpose of preventing aggregation of platelets in the sample and an alkali metal cyanide for conversion of hemoglobin to a chromagen.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,071 to Lapicola describes a reagent system for differential blood analysis including a blood diluent and lysing reagent. The lysing reagent of the '071 patent comprises an aqueous solution of a single aliphatic quaternary ammonium salt and may also contain potassium cyanide as a chromagen forming agent. The preferred quaternary ammonium salt is the dodecyl (C.sub.12) homolog.
W088/07187 describes a reagent system enabling differentiation of white blood cells into at least five distinct subpopulations. The PCT application discloses a reagent system comprising a lytic reagent and a companion reagent for the lytic reagent referred to as a "quench". The primary functions of the quench are to retard the activity of the lytic reagent and to restore the ionic balance of the sample subsequent to its treatment with lytic reagent.
Generally, the white blood cell differentials obtained in accordance with the described techniques fall into one of two categories. The first category is a three component screening differential resulting in the isolation and quantification of three fractions of white blood cells including a lymphocyte component, a midregion or monocyte component and a granulocyte (predominantly neutrophilic) component. The granulocyte population usually includes the neutrophils, as well as eosinophils, and possibly basophils, while the midregion often contains monocytes, other mononuclear cells, basophils and eosinophils. Separation among populations is frequently poor, resulting in low correlation between automated and manual differential counts, which is undesirable. Poor separation of subpopulations is further undesirable as it decreases the ability to accurately flag abnormalities.
The second category of white blood cell analyzers is capable of effecting a four or five component separation. Such systems are substantially more complex than the three component differential analyzers, resulting in higher costs to the operator for materials and labor. An illustration of this type of system is described in W088/07187, a Patent Cooperation Treaty application to Coulter Electronics.
As will be appreciated by persons skilled in this area of technology, a cleaner separation between subpopulations, together with the ability to separate up to five subpopulations would result in a significant improvement in the reliability and accuracy of white blood cell differential analysis. Despite the existence of many different reagents on the market for blood differential analysis, there still exists a need for a system capable of identifying at least three and preferably five distinct subpopulations of white blood cells which is relatively simple to use and consistently effects a clean separation of the cells on a leukocyte volume histogram, to increase the ability to flag abnormalities.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved lytic reagent composition which selectively modifies blood cell volume by reacting with the cell membranes to cause red blood cells to rupture and selectively shrinks the white blood cell population into at least three distinct, highly separated components when used in combination with a suitable blood diluent.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved lytic reagent composition capable of effecting a five component separation of white blood cells into the five major subpopulations on the leukocyte volume histogram of an automated analyzer.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a flexible blood analysis reagent system that can be optimized for both human and multiple species applications.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved method for automated white blood cell differential analysis.
Further objects and advantages will be appreciated from the following disclosure.

Method for the improved determination of white blood cell subpopulations


Method and system for reducing the brake pressure rise rate under low Mu braking surface conditions by utilizing a vehicle reference speed to determine if the wheels are being over-braked. When over-braking occurs, the pressure rise rate is restricted by not allowing an ABS valve to go into an Apply state (approximately 100 psi/sec.), regardless of wheel acceleration levels. A Ramp state is used in place of the Apply state and the pressure rise is therefore limited to approximately 30 psi/sec. to improve wheel control. The Ramp duty cycle is also modified to provide the smallest pressure steps possible with the current valve hardware.

Because truck brakes are designed to have the capacity of stopping a vehicle loaded to 20,000 lbs. per axle, they are extremely over-braked while operating empty on slippery roads. Even with ABS operation under these conditions small changes in brake pressure can have a large effect on wheel deceleration and may cause the wheels to be over-braked.
The wheel speed shown in FIG. 1 indicates the effect of this over-braking. Wheel speed control to the reference speed is very poor, producing vehicle stability problems and long stopping distances.
The Y-axis is a multiple scale axis which represents speed in MPH, acceleration in units of g's (.times.10), and numeric value of the ABS logic state. As the logic state on the Y-axis increases, the brake pressure rise rate increases. The X-axis is real time shown in milliseconds, usually ranging from 0 to 6. The acquisition of data is automatically started by the occurrence of a wheel deceleration rate which exceeds the allowable limit, based on vehicle reference speed. The plot contains 0.25 seconds of data prior to the start of the ABS event.
There are four types of data plotted: wheel speed, wheel acceleration, vehicle reference speed and the ABS logic state. The wheel speed data can be identified by its typical cyclic behavior modulating between the actual vehicle speed and the vehicle reference speed. Wheel accelerations correspond to the changes in wheel speed. The reference speed is calculated by subtracting 4 mph from the highest wheel speed and then taking 80% of the result. The reference speed is then decreased at a rate of -0.8 g's until it is recalculated by a higher wheel speed, when data is received. The behavior of the reference speed is typically much less cyclic than the wheel speeds as noted in the plot. The logic states are plotted using triangular markers placed at the Y-axis position corresponding to the numeric value logic state.
Under ideal conditions the wheel speeds should be controlled to the reference speed. When the wheel speeds drop below the reference speed, vehicle stability is decreased. On the other hand, if the wheels remain above the reference speed, the stopping distance may increase. It is important to maintain an accurate reference speed so the proper decisions can be made in controlling the wheel speeds. This becomes a tradeoff of stopping distance because the wheel is free-rolling in order to establish the true vehicle speed.
The root of the control problem is typically in the control logic. Typical control logic can be found in the McNisch, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,200. The data of FIG. 1 indicates that the ABS logic recognizes that the wheel is decelerating and signals the ABS valve to release brake pressure. Because of the response time of the brake system, the wheel is over-braked During the Release state, brake torque or pressure is reduced until the wheel starts to accelerate. The control logic then calls for a Hold state on brake pressure until the wheel speed reaches the vehicle reference speed. The wheel acceleration, at the time the wheel pressure exceeds the reference speed, determines how fast brake pressure will be reapplied.
The data further indicates high acceleration levels, up to 6 G's, which, according to the logic, calls for fast pressure application rates. The wheel is again over-braked and the process is repeated, creating an unstable system.
On a high Mu surface this would have been the proper logic for optimum stability and minimum stopping distances, but it does not work here. There are many variables which affect the wheel acceleration and, therefore, it can be misleading when used as the determining factor for brake pressure application rates.
This is a relatively complex problem because it has to be resolved without affecting the performance of the system on high Mu surfaces.

Method and system for controlling brake pressure under low Mu braking surface conditions in a vehicular ABS