An electronic communication system and method of utilizing same for telephonically exchanging between teacher and parent information regarding student homework assignments, attendance, classroom behavior, and academic performance. During the school day each teacher carries a small, portable terminal (1) which not only accepts manually entered numeric data, but also produces digital audio recordings of voiced homework assignments, announcements, and comments made by the teacher. Upon leaving at the end of the day, the teacher returns the remote terminal to a centrally located storage rack (2). The system's central computer (3), electronically connected to the rack, then extracts data from the newly inserted terminal. The numeric and audio information thus gathered from a multiplicity of such terminals is organized by the computer and made telephonically available to participating parents.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an information recording, storage, retrieval and relay system, and particularly to an information recording, storage, retrieval and relay system for enhancing communication between teacher and parent, and among teaching faculty members themselves, regarding student performance, behavior and attendance in the educational environment.
2. Description of Prior Art
The majority of those who find themselves dealing in the modern affairs of business and the interactions of twentieth century society are well acquainted with what have come to be known facetiously as The Three Classic Lies, the first two of which are, "The check's in the mail," and, "I already gave at the office."
Unfortunately, in the realm of public education and parenting there has arisen another trio of standard deceptions that might best be depicted as follows: #1 "But, Mom, I don't have any homework tonight." #2 "But, Dad, I've got to watch this video of `Wuthering Heights` because the dumb teacher didn't tell us about the book report until just yesterday, and they're out of it at the library." #3 "No sweat, Mom, I'm doing just fine in geometry. Look, I really need to get to the mall tonight, okay?"
Certainly there are variations on the above theme, a fact to which those skilled in the art of dealing with youth will readily attest. However, if the youthful creativity invested in devising such variation were instead directed toward actually completing assigned school work, parents, teachers and, most of all, students themselves, would benefit remarkably.
Despite tremendous technological progress that has taken place in the western world over the last two decades, various social and economic changes over the same period have produced certain negative impacts on the structure and function of educational systems, most notably in the United States.
With unanimous agreement educators now acknowledge that one of the most fundamental problems resides in the fact that the level of communication and interaction that once existed between teacher and parent has dropped to an unprecedented low. This decline can be attributed in large part to the fact that the number of families in which both father and mother are required to work outside the home has increased, while teachers find themselves carrying larger numbers of classes as well as additional custodial, bureaucratic and administrative duties extraneous to their primary teaching functions.
The phrase "teacher burnout38 can appropriately be adapted to include "parent burnout" in describing this recent situation in which neither party seems to have the opportunity nor persistence required to establish the one-to-one communication that leads to effective collaboration. The victims of this growing distance between teacher and parent are the students themselves, who now emerge from high school with the lowest levels of competency and literacy ever recorded in our history of public education.
As there has been no practical method offered for effectively correcting or altering the structures and scheduling of our working society, any effort to rehabilitate collaboration between teacher and parent must now focus on advanced and innovative ways to re-establish communication between the two.
The first appearances of any organized or structured efforts to bring about teacher-parent communication certainly include the student report card, mailed at regular intervals, as well as parent-teacher conferences scheduled occasionally through the school year. Unfortunately, such meetings have been generally infrequent, and during the lengthy intervals between report card mailings there have been many instances in which a student's performance has declined considerably while the parent has remained unaware, awaiting the next report card.
With the intention of establishing a telephonic means for exchanging student-related information between teacher and parent one might at first be tempted to turn to several existing arrangements, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,320,256; 4,640,991; 4,799,254; and 4,820,167. Though the inventions may accomplish their individual functions adequately, such systems, even if their most useful features are optimally combined to function as a telephone "homework hotline," can only fail to deliver the high performance that should ideally be required in today's educational environment.
Recent versions of such "homework hotlines" as described in the May 6th, 1990 London, England Sunday Express in a report by William Massie and in the Jun. 24th, 1990 Maryland Sun in a report by Ann Lo Lordo are, themselves, limited in function. Such telephone "hotlines" provide to the caller no more than pre-recorded announcements of homework assignments, lunch menus, and in some cases notifications regarding student attendance problems. Though that kind of information can certainly be important, unfortunately "homework hotlines" not only fail to deliver it efficiently and reliably as a result of inherent limitations, but also create several new problems in the process:
(a) A considerable amount of additional time and effort must be invested in such a "hotline" arrangement on the part of teachers and other school staff members to provide the voiced recordings of homework assignment announcements. In many cases to produce such recordings it is first necessary for each teacher to submit a homework assignment in written form to a designated staff member. The staff member must then sort and arrange all such written assignments received; enter by keypad for each assignment the specified code to identify the teacher and respective class period number; then read the assignment aloud into a voice recorder. This cycle of action must be repeated for every assignment submitted until all are finally recorded.
In other cases each teacher must locate an available telephone, place a call to gain access to the "hotline", enter tone digit codes to signify both teacher identification and the particular class period for which the assignment is intended, enter a recording command, then announce the assignment. This procedure must be repeated for each and every class period in which an assignment has been given. It is improtant to note that the making of such recordings requires redundant effort on the part of the teacher, given the fact that the homework assignments must also be announced in class, which in itself presents another problem:
(b) Because the recordings of homework assignments must be made separately and outside of the classroom, the "hotline" creates the possibility of inadvertant discrepancies occurring between the live classroom versions of such announcements and the recorded "hotline" versions.
(c) Such student-accessible "hotlines" have lulled many students into the assumption that, because they can call for their homework after school, they need not pay attention in class to their teachers as the assignments are given. Later in the evening those students who were inattentive now try to call the "hotline" to hear the assignments they should have noted earlier in class. Moreover, such unnecessary and excessive student use causes frustration among parent-users as they fail in their attempts to gain access to the "hotline" information.
Furthermore, such student reliance on "hotlines" gives rise to a new problem as evidenced by a report in the Chicago Tribune, written by columnist George E. Curry and ironically entitled "`No homework` excuse passe." In the report an English teacher reveals the new excuses now being given by students who rely on the "hotline" for their assignments: #1 "My phone is broken." #2 "I called and the line was busy." #3 "I called and I didn't get an answer." Thus it appears that such "hot lines," contrary to their purpose, have actually spawned yet another trio of lies as noted above, these being directed at the teachers instead of the parents.
Because of the inherent limitations of such "hotlines" several additional problems remain unaddressed:
(d) One major problem is of particular frustration to the teacher, who has no practical way of using such a "hotline" to communicate to a parent vital information concerning a specific student. The teacher, for example, cannot use the "hotline" to relay student-specific information regarding behavior in class, academic performance and personalized study suggestions. As a result the parent may remain unaware of a student problem that might otherwise be corrected in a timely manner.
(e) Another problem left unaddressed is found in the fact that "hotlines," because of inherent limitations, are incapable of determining whether incoming calls are being placed by parents or students, such inability resulting in false indications of parent participation. Furthermore, in the event in which a parent actually does call, such a "hotline," incapable of identifying the caller, cannot therefore document the inquiry and attribute it to that specific parent. As a result, the school staff can be placed in a vulnerable position in the event of a complaint alleging failure on the part of the school to provide information to that parent regarding assignments. Without documentation of that parent's "hotline" participation, or lack of same, the school has no reliable way of refuting such allegations.
The failure to identify telephone participants presents further problems when such "hotlines" are used in conjunction with common computerized automatic dialers intended to telephonically inform parents of their student's absence from school. Although such dialers in some cases have been an improvement over mailed absence reports in regard to speed, they nevertheless present several major problems in operation and reliability for both schools and parents:
Considerable time and effort is required, first by the teacher, who must produce a handwritten report identifying each absent student; second, by the student or courier assigned to personally carry the written report to the school administration office; third, by the staff member, who must compile the absence reports, then transcribe by keyboard in the format required by the automatic dialer the names of those students reported absent.
By matching the transcribed student names to home phone numbers on file the automatic dialer is then able to place the appropriate calls. Such calls are commonly placed during early morning or early evening with the assumption that those are the times when parents are most likely to be home; unfortunately the dialer frequently fails to reach those parents.
The majority of such failures can be attributed to the ease with which students, themselves, intercept the anticipated calls simply by picking up the phone, pretending to converse, then hanging up. By doing so the students thwart the intent of the automatic dialer, in essence "beating the system."
(f) Another problem yet unaddressed results from the inability of such "hotlines" to be student-specific. This in turn causes frustration for the parent who, after managing to gain access, must not only execute by way of tone digit signals several menu selections, but must also then listen to a number of pre-recorded homework assignments and other announcements, many of which do not pertain to the student in question.
Furthermore, such lack of student-specificity precludes the possibility of a parent being able to request, let alone obtain, vital and relevant information such as a particular student's current academic performance rating which, as earlier indicated, cannot even be entered into the "hotline" arrangement by the teacher in the first place.

Teacher and parent interactive communication system incorporating pocket sized portable audio numeric terminals


A system and method for demodulating an optical differential-phase-shift-keyed (DPSK) input signal using a Fabray-Perot etalon filter. In one embodiment the system receives a transmitted wavefront from the etalon filter and uses a detector to generate an electrical waveform from the transmitted wavefront. A comparator is used to receive an output from the detector and to generate a signal in accordance with each phase shift (i.e., bit transition) in the optical DPSK input signal. A latching flip-flop receives an output from the comparator and generates a digital signal representative of the bit pattern of the DPSK input signal. The system and method does not require the precisely matched dual optical paths of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and therefore is substantially less susceptible to thermal effects that could influence the operation of a conventional Mach-Zehnder interferometer in DPSK demodulation operations.

Optical Differential-Phase-Shift-Keyed (DPSK) demodulators have traditionally been formed by using the well known Mach-Zehnder interferometer. This device has essentially two "arms" that form distinct optical paths that are used to detect phase shifts in the optical DPSK signal. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer requires a physical length that is determined by the data rate of the communication link with which it is being used. The two arms of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer must maintain a differential optical path length equal to the distance that light travels in one bit period. As a result, it is highly sensitive to temperature and other environmental factors that cause variations in the physical dimensions of the optical components that it uses.
To address the undesirable influence that thermal factors have on the performance of present day Mach-Zehnder interferometers that are used in DPSK optical demodulator applications, these devices have typically employed a control loop to regulate the path length of one of the optical paths. As will be appreciated, this adds significantly to the complexity and cost of the interferometer.
Other apparatuses and methods for demodulating a DPSK optical signal have involved optical filter discriminator approaches that attempt to detect the phase shift changes in the bit pattern of the optical DPSK signal. However, such approaches typically only use the transmitted wavefront portion of the input optical signal, and not the larger reflected energy provided by the reflected wavefront component of the signal. Such approaches further typically do not attempt to make use of both the transmitted and reflected energy components of the optical DPSK signal. Using both the transmitted and reflected energy 1) increases the received signal, and 2) improves the signal-to-noise ratio, since common-mode noise of the dual detectors is cancelled out. Time alignment of the transmitted and received pulses is less difficult than alignment of the two arms of a Mach-Zehnder demodulator.

Optical differential-phase-shift-keyed demodulator apparatus and method


A filter element for filtering fluids and gasses flowing through a filter housing is provided. The filter element includes a permeable filter media for filtration of contaminants and a rigid frame for supporting and retaining the filter media. To ensure that gasses and fluids flow through the filter media rather than around the filter element, a resilient seal element is attached along an outer peripheral surface of the frame. The seal element can be resiliently compressed between the inner surface of the filter housing and the outer peripheral surface to create a sealing effect therebetween. To prevent the filter media from interfering with the seal element, the filter media is substantially constrained within the outer peripheral surface of the frame.

Filtration devices and systems are employed in a wide range of applications for filtering contaminants from various process fluids. For example, it is known to pass air or similar gasses through filter assemblies that enclose filtration media such as filter paper to remove dust and other contaminants. The filtration media is typically enclosed within a housing that is permanently fixated within a larger overall process system that utilizes the filtered air or gas. The filter media is often configured into a filter element or filter cartridge that can be removably received within the housing to remove the containments from the fluids or gasses flowing therein. Because of the potential for a single or primary filter element to be displaced or fail, and to prevent dislodged debris during installation or removal of the primary filter from entering the engine, it is known to provide a second or safety filter element typically downstream of the primary filter element.
One method of constructing such safety filter elements, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,122 to Gieseke et al., herein incorporated by reference, involves a rigid support frame for supporting and retaining a planar sheet of flexible filter media. The planar sheet includes a skirt that is folded between the peripheral edge of the frame and an inner surface of the filter housing for creating a sealing effect therebetween and ensuring that process fluids and gasses flow through the safety filter element. The skirt when folded during slidable insertion of the filter element into the filter housing provides the potential for leak paths past the safety filter element.


A connector assembly includes a housing, a connector interface body, an elongated shaft, and a cam. The housing has an opening extending into the front face and an elongated channel oriented along the longitudinal axis. The cam is within the opening of the housing and includes a passageway through which a shaft of the housing extends. Rotation of the shaft rotates the cam to engage and drive the connector interface body away from the housing. The cam includes a collar protruding from the cam and extending along a periphery of the passageway. The collar has a clearance dimension along a first direction that is smaller than a gap between the retention features of the housing and an interference dimension along a transverse direction that is larger than the gap. The cam is retained in the housing when the collar engages retention features of the housing across the interference dimension.

The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to electrical connectors that electrically couple circuit boards with one another.
Server systems may include several blade server circuit boards that are mounted to a backplane board. In some known server systems, the blade server circuit boards are loaded into a server box in a parallel relationship. For example, the blade server circuit boards are loaded into the server box through a front face of the box so that the blade server circuit boards are approximately parallel with respect to one another. Some known server systems include a motherboard located along a bottom side of the box. The motherboard includes connectors that mate with the blade server circuit boards such that the motherboard and blade circuit server boards are oriented perpendicular to one another. These connectors mate with the blade server circuit boards in directions that are perpendicular to the loading direction of the blade server circuit boards.
For example, the connectors may include a planar connector interface that moves away from the connector and toward a blade server circuit board. The connector interface includes contacts that mate with corresponding contacts on the blade server circuit board. The connector interface abuts against the blade server circuit board in order to mate the contacts with one another. In order to move the connector interface toward and away from the blade server circuit board, an elongated cam shaft that extends through the connector may be rotated. The cam shaft is coupled with cams in the connector that rotate with the cam shaft. As the cams rotate within the connector, the cams engage and drive the connector interfaces away from the connector housing and toward the blade server circuit board to couple with the circuit board.
But, the cams typically are affixed to the cam shafts using set screws and other types of fastening mechanisms. If the cam shaft needs to be replaced with a different cam shaft, replacement of the cam shaft requires an operator to separately detach the fastening mechanisms between the cams and the cam shafts before the cam shaft can be removed. The new cam shaft is placed into the connector and the operator must then re-attach the cams to the cam shaft. The requirement for repeated coupling and decoupling of the cams with the cam shafts may add significant time in replacing cam shafts in server systems that require the replacement of several cam shafts.
A need exists for a connector that couples circuit boards with one another using a cam shaft that may be more easily replaced with other cam shafts.

Connector assembly for coupling circuit boards


An electrical zero insertion force connector includes a first part having two housings, a second part having a plug, and a sleeve contact having contact segments with a gap. A clamp movably connects to the sleeve contact. The second housing movably connects to the first housing. The sleeve contact extends into the first housing such that the clamp engages the first housing and the contact segments engage the second housing. The second part connects to the first housing such that the parts connect together with the plug inserted into the gap. Upon connecting to the first housing, the second part disengages the second housing from the first housing and moves the second housing toward the first housing such that the sleeve contact moves with the second housing away from the clamp until the clamp moves over the contact segments and presses the contact segments onto the plug.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical zero insertion force connector having first and second connector parts in which the first part includes a housing having a receptacle with a sleeve contact contained therein, the sleeve contact having contact segments and a clamping sleeve movable relative to the contact segments, and in which the second part has a plug pin which inserts into the contact segments to electrically connect the parts together upon the parts being mechanically connected together.
2. Background Art
Plug-and-socket connectors are used to electrically connect individual modules, flexible foils, printed circuit boards, etc., together. For example, plug-and-socket connectors are used in the automotive field to electrically connect control devices together or to electrically connect electronic modules integrated into a vehicle instrument panel to the vehicle electrical system.
A plug-and-socket connector generally includes two complementary connector parts which mechanically interconnect to form the connector. One part houses an electrically conductive sleeve contact and the other part includes an electrically conductive plug pin. The plug pin inserts into contact segments of the sleeve contact upon the parts being mechanically connected together such that the plug pin electrically connects to the sleeve contact thereby electrically connecting the parts. The contact segments have to exert a relatively high contact force onto the plug pin inserted therein to continuously ensure proper contacting between the plug pin and the sleeve contact even under highly variable environmental conditions. As such, considerable force is required for electrically connecting the parts together.
Some plug-and-socket connectors have joining aids such as levers which enable the connector parts to be electrically connected together without a sufficient expenditure of force. A plug-and-socket connector having a joining aid takes up relatively more space. This is a problem where space is at a premium or is relatively unaccessible. For instance, motor vehicle locations employing plug-and-socket connectors may not have space for accommodating joining aids.
Certain plug-and-socket connectors are known as "zero insertion force connectors" or "zero insertion force plugs" as the connector parts of these connectors may be electrically connected together without much or any force.
WO 2005/096449 discloses a generic zero insertion force connector having first and second connector parts. The first part houses a sleeve contact and the second part includes a pin-shaped counter-contact (i.e., a plug pin). The plug pin inserts into the contact segments of the sleeve contact without needing much force to do so upon the parts being mechanically connected together. During the end phase of the mechanical connection between the parts, an activation element (e.g., an adjustment clip) is activated to move relative to the sleeve contact and apply contact force to the contact segments to secure the plug pin therein. A problem is that the activation element can move, prior to the parts being mechanically connected together, in response to elements of the first part moving against one another and activating the activation element. The activation element is often in the activated position prior to the parts being mechanically connected together as the parts are sometimes exposed to mechanical influences prior to their mechanical connection. This results in higher assembly costs as the activation element has to be moved out of the activated position for the parts to be properly assembled together.

Electrical zero insertion force connector


Transmitting/receiving system includes a plurality of analog junction lines and analog tie trunks provided at two ends of the analog junction lines. The PBX is provided with an analog junction line-ISDN converting unit. The analog junction line-ISDN converting unit is operative to transfer B-channel signals on a first analog junction line through the PBX network and the analog tie trunks and to transfer D-channel signals on a second analog junction line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmitting/receiving system between private branch exchanges (PBX's) which includes a plurality of analog junction lines linked between one PBX provided with a plurality of integrated service digital network (ISDN) terminal equipment and another PBX provided with a plurality of ISDN terminal equipment and a plurality of analog tie trunks connected to the network constituting the one PBX and the network constituting the other PBX and connected to ends of the corresponding analog junction lines.
An ISDN is a digital integrated communications network with a wide range of services which uses digital lines. It is widely spreading in use. At the present, however, there are a few users which would like to use services of the ISDN other than its data communications service, i.e., just the telephone services of the ISDN. It is possible for users to make use of the abundant telephone services of an ISDN by using as is existing, cheap analog lines instead of introducing the higher cost digital lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
The spread of ISDN in recent years has been accompanied by the replacement of subscribers' terminal equipment with ISDN compatible terminal equipment. An increasing number of users would like to use just the telephone services among the various services available with an ISDN for the time being. In this case, the user cannot receive such ISDN telephone services just by replacing his digital terminal equipment with ISDN terminal equipment. That is, to receive such services, he must install some additional means.
Such additional means exist in concept, but none has yet actually been seen. If such an additional means were to be extremely high in price, there would be the problem that all significance would be lost in the users making use of existing analog line equipment.

Transmitting/receiving system having digital switching network


Wearable electronic devices, such as watches, can be provided with an attachment system for connecting and releasing a removable module that interfaces with some portion of the electronic device. For example, a watch housing includes a main body having a channel for receiving a watchband and a first opening extending to the channel. A rear cover coupled to the main body provides a second opening. A unibody button is positioned between the main body and the rear cover. The button is biased against the rear cover and is moveable toward the channel to release a watchband engaged therein.

Some electronic devices may be removably attached to a user. For example, a wristwatch or fitness/health tracking device can be attached to a user's wrist by joining free ends of a watchband together. In many cases, watchbands may have limited fit adjustment increments available. For example, some bands have an incrementally user-adjustable size (e.g., a buckling clasp, pin and eyelet, etc.) whereas other bands have a substantially fixed size, adjustable only with specialized tools and/or expertise (e.g., folding clasp, deployment clasp, snap-fit clasp, etc.). Other bands may be elasticated expansion-type bands that stretch to fit around a user's wrist. The degree of comfort and securement of the electronic device to the user can depend on the function and arrangement of the watchband.
Consumer products such as watches, cameras, phones, purses, and glasses may include one or more accessories attached thereto. The manner in which they are attached may be widely varied. However, they typically suffer from similar, if not the same, drawbacks. For example, many consumer products typically do not include user-friendly attachment systems. Some may require special tools and others may even require taking the consumer product into a shop in order to remove, fix or replace the accessories. Furthermore, even when products have user oriented attachment mechanisms, they may not provide adequate retention force. Even if the retention force is adequate, the mechanism used may be quite robust and large thereby adversely affecting the elegance of the consumer product.
In one example, wristwatches typically include a case and a band. The case carries the components or mechanisms of the wristwatch including the face. The band extends away from the case so that it can wrap around the wrist of a user. The band may be integral with the case. However, in most cases, the band is a separate part that is attached to the case. For example, the case may include a pin that captures the band thereby attaching the band to the case. In order to detach the band from the case, the pin needs to be removed. In some instances, band removal can be accomplished with a special tool. However, in many cases, the user may need to visit a specialty store or have the assistance of technician in order to remove the band.


A tappet apparatus cooperates with a valve and a cam. The apparatus includes a case to reciprocate motion of the cam; and a locking unit in the ease, movable between an activated position at which the valve reciprocates motion of the case, and a deactivated position at which the valve is stationary regardless of the motion of the case. The locking unit may include first and second passages in the case; a pin, movable between a first and a second position within the first passage; and a column in the second passage. The pin may be situated in the column when the pin is in the second position. The activated position may be defined by the pin being in the first position, and the deactivated position may be defined by the pin being in the second position.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tappet apparatus with a cylinder deactivation function.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In typical light load driving, the driver uses only around 30% of an engine's maximum power. In these conditions, the throttle valve is nearly closed, and the engine needs to work to draw in air. This causes cylinder pressure to be very low, leading to low fuel efficiency.
Cylinder deactivation is thus used at light load so that the throttle valve can be opened further to provide the same power output. This increases pressure in each cylinder. Cylinder deactivation is achieved by keeping the intake or exhaust valves closed for a particular cylinder.
A typical cylinder deactivation apparatus includes a three-part variable tappet, a lock pin, and a double cam. The three parts of the tappet can be separated from one another and cooperate with the double cam to deactivate a cylinder.
The double cam and variable tappet are costly to manufacture and complicated to assemble.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


Methods are provided measuring L-lysine using a variant enzyme, an L-lysine measurement kit, and an enzyme sensor. Variant L-amino acid oxidase having a predetermined amino acid mutation, and having oxidase activity that is highly substrate-specific for L-lysine; a method for measuring L-lysine using this variant enzyme; an L-lysine measurement kit; and an enzyme sensor are also provided.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a novel L-amino acid oxidase, a method for measuring L-lysine using this novel L-amino acid oxidase, a kit employed in this method, and an enzyme sensor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a variant L-amino acid oxidase with high substrate specificity for L-lysine, a method for measuring L-lysine employing this variant enzyme, an L-lysine measurement kit, and an enzyme sensor.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
L-lysine, one of the constituent amino acids of proteins, is an essential amino acid that cannot be produced within the body. The concentration of amino acids including L-lysine within the body is kept at homeostasis. However, congenital metabolic anomalies and internal disorders can cause great fluctuation in blood concentrations. The concentration of not just L-lysine, but of other amino acids within the body, affords a useful means of detecting disease. Thus, by measuring the blood concentration of one or many amino acids, it is possible to detect disease (International publication No. WO2006/129513 and Anal. Chem. 81: 307-314 (2009)).
In recent years, a large number of methods employing enzymes have become known as methods of quantifying amino acid levels. These methods employing enzymes are advantageous since they are less expensive and easier to implement than instrumental analysis methods. For example, enzymes such as dehydrogenase and oxidase are often employed. An example of a quantification method employing oxidase is the use of peroxidase to detect the hydrogen peroxide that is produced by subjecting amino acids to the action of oxidase (Japanese Un-examined patent publication No. Shou55-43409). This detection and quantification can be conducted with a method such as the colorimetric method, fluorescence method, or electrode method.
Methods employing enzymes are also known as methods of quantifying L-lysine. For example, in quantification with oxidase, L-lysine α-oxidase [EC 18.104.22.168] has been employed. L-lysine α-oxidase derived from Trichoderma viride affords a higher substrate specificity than other L-amino acid oxidases, and is commercially available. Thus, it has come to be employed in elements such as enzymatic sensors (Guerrieri et al., Sens. Actuators, B 126: 424-430 (2007); Endo et al. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 391: 1255-1261 (2008); Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 406: 19-23 (2010)).
There are also reports that L-lysine monooxidase derived from Pseudomonas fluorescens exhibits an L-lysine oxygenase activity (Flashner et al., J. Biol. Chem. 249: 2579-2586 (1974); Flashner et al., J. Biol. Chem. 249: 2587-2592 (1974)). This enzyme employs L-lysine, L-threonine, and L-arginine as substrates.
However, the Trichoderma viride-derived L-lysine α-oxidase also exhibits oxidase activity on amino acids other than L-lysine. Thus, when employing L-lysine α-oxidase to quantify a sample containing multiple amino acids, such as blood plasma, excess evaluation tends to be involved.
Furthermore, it has recently been reported that L-lysine α-oxidase derived from the mucus of saltwater fish has greater substrate specificity than the above L-lysine α-oxidase (Endo et al., Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 391: 1255-1261 (2008)). However, this L-lysine α-oxidase is derived from the mucus of saltwater fish, and there are no reports of enzyme production by culturing. Accordingly, it is difficult to produce large quantities of this enzyme for use in quantifying L-lysine.
There have been no reports of using the Pseudomonas fluorescens-derived L-lysine monooxygenase to quantify L-lysine. Even when this enzyme is employed to quantify L-lysine, as set forth above, because it has oxygenase activity on L-ornithine and L-arginine in addition to L-lysine, it is impossible to strictly quantify L-lysine in samples containing multiple amino acids, such as blood plasma.
Methods of quantifying L-lysine based on oxidase, if successful, would be useful from the perspective of being less expensive and more convenient than instrumental analysis methods. However, as stated above, for samples containing multiple amino acids, such as blood plasma, the substrate specificity is low or there are problems with enzyme productivity with respect to the enzymes that are currently available. From this perspective, these enzymes are not practical.

L-amino acid oxidase, method for measuring L-lysine, kit and enzyme sensor


An IC device includes a polycrystalline silicon thin film interposed between a first level semiconductor circuit and a second level semiconductor circuit which are formed on a substrate and disposed to vertically overlap each other. The polycrystalline silicon thin film includes at least one silicon single crystal. The at least one silicon single crystal includes a flat horizontal portion, which provides an active region of the second level semiconductor device, and a pin-shaped protruding portion protruding from the flat horizontal portion toward the first level semiconductor device.

The present disclosure relates to an integrated circuit (IC) device and a method of manufacturing the IC device, and more particularly, to an IC device including a polycrystalline semiconductor thin film having a controlled crystal size and position and a method of manufacturing the IC device.
Large capacity and high integration of IC devices including memory devices have become important features according to the demand for multifunctional information and communication devices. Operations of memory devices and structures of operational circuits and interconnection lines which are included in the memory devices have become more complicated due to a reduction in memory cell sizes for high integration. Accordingly, an IC device including a memory device having improved integration density and excellent electrical characteristics is desirable.

Integrated circuit device including polycrystalline semiconductor film and method of manufacturing the same


Systems and apparatus may include converter device(s), a matrix switch, processor(s), and memory(s), where one or more of the converter devices provide video input signals to the matrix switch. A processor may determine if one of a plurality of video signals input to the matrix switch includes data representative of identification information overlain on a video image derived from one of the plurality of video signals. The determination may be based on a flag value stored in the converter device(s). The flag value may be retrieved by a server coupled to the matrix switch. If the information is included in the video signal, the video signal may be passed through a path in a matrix switch configured by the processor. If the information is not included in the video signal, the data representative of identification information may be retrieved from the converter device and then overlain on the video image.

Field
Various features relate to interface devices for video and audio, and in particular, to interface devices adapted to receive data in any one of a plurality of format types, convert the data to one predetermined format type, add metadata, and output the converted data including the metadata for analysis and/or storage.
Background
Today's surgical operating rooms contain a myriad of technology. The technology includes equipment that provides video as an output. As used herein, the term video is meant to encompass, for example, moving images of live action (e.g., images of an interior of a patient's body as a laparoscope is maneuvered therein, of an interior of a large intestine as an endoscope is advanced through the intestine, or of an operating room as operating room staff move about therein), still images (e.g., individual frames captured from a moving image of live action), real-time or near real time images that have been generated with the aid of a computing device (e.g., images of an interior of a patient's body generated by a sonogram machine, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, or an X-ray machine), as well as graphic representations of static, semi-static, and dynamic measurements of parameters (e.g., an image from a screen of an electrocardiograph machine, a display of bold oxygen concentration, or blood pressure). The preceding list is demonstrative and is not intended to be limiting. Reference to video is also intended to encompass the signals presented to video monitors (e.g., monitors, televisions, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs)) that drive the circuitry of video monitors to generate imagery. Some pieces of equipment may add some aspect of patient identification to their images and this information may typically be provided outside of the boundary edges of the images.
The video may be provided to video monitors integrated with the equipment (e.g., a video monitor integrated with a sonogram machine) and/or to video monitors within the operating room, and/or to video monitors outside of the operating room. The video may also be recorded at the time of its production, either by a recording device integrated with the equipment or by an external recording device coupled to the equipment.
Video may be obtained, for example, from video pickup devices (and circuitry associated therewith) or video output ports of medical devices such as endoscopes, laparoscopes, orthoscopes, microscopes, robotic surgical systems, surgical-light mounted video cameras, and video cameras mounted in the operating room that provide images of the operating room itself. Additional video may be obtained, for example, in the form of graphic displays of vital signs, such as those associated with electrocardiograph devices, bold oxygen monitoring device, and blood pressure monitoring device. Still further, video imagery may be obtained from fluoroscopes, X-ray machines (commonly referred to as "CR machines"), magnetic resonance image (MRI) machines, computed axial tomography (CAT) scanners, and/or other types of imaging devices. The preceding lists are demonstrative and are not intended to be limiting.
Instruments, machines, and/or devices found in today's operating rooms are made by many manufacturers. Each manufacturer may have a different preference for how its video signals are presented to video monitors (e.g., component video, red-green-blue (RGB) video, separate or super video (S-Video), digital signals) and what formats are used (e.g., analog NTSC or PAL or digital High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), among others). Additionally, video signals may be provided from the equipment to the video monitors wirelessly, via copper wire, or via fiber optic cable. As used herein, a video output of any given piece of equipment may be referred to as a video feed.
There presently exists system that provides digital, video routing and display solutions to such environments as, for example, operating rooms, hybrid rooms, catheterization suites, interventional suites, and electrophysiology (EP) labs. The system may be configured with videoconferencing and streaming, multiview windowing, image capturing, video recording, and/or hands-free voice over Internet Protocol (IP) communication. The system may provide a user with comprehensive control over the system and its functionality, including, for example, touch routing of images from video and data sources to video monitor monitors.
The system may be useful, for example, for display of the video imagery of one or more pieces of equipment on one or more video monitors that are not integral to the equipment itself. Such video monitors may be conveniently positioned for a surgeon's use during surgery. The system may also be useful, for example, for remote (i.e., in a location other than the operating room) observation, training, and conferencing. The components of the system may be dispersed to multiple locations; some components may be in the operating room while other components may be outside of the operating room. The components of the system may be coupled to one another via wire, fiber optic cable, and/or via radio waves (i.e., wireless).
While the system is useful, several problems exist. For example, it is possible that the video from a given piece of equipment may not be displayed on a video monitor, despite the system having been programmed to route the video from the given piece of equipment to the video monitor. It may not be possible for operating room staff (or hospital staff in general) to determine if the lack of a video image is due to a failure of the given piece of equipment, a failure of the system or one of its components, or a failure of any of the wired, wireless, and/or fiber optic interconnections between the given piece of equipment, a server of the system, and the video monitor. Trouble-shooting such a problem can be time consuming and is, in general, not something that operating room staff (or hospital staff in general) are trained or equipped for.
Additionally, while the system may help in locating various pieces of equipment within the hospital setting, it is not able to provide information about the equipment with a degree of granularity that would be helpful, for example, in distinguishing between features of two pieces of equipment that share a same general name, such as "microscope."
Additionally, the system cannot apply such granular information (i.e., equipment information), and/or patient information, to video images presented on video monitors. Nor is the system able to remove patient information (or not display patient information if it is already present in a video stream) from a video monitor in a public area, such as at a conference, so as to comply with the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) regulations.
What is needed is a system, device, and/or method that solves one or more of these and/or other problems which may be recognized in the existing system.

Converter device and system including converter device


The present invention relates to a light emitting device comprising a light source and a luminescent material, which luminescent material comprises one or more matrix materials and two pluralities of nanoparticles, which two pluralities of nanoparticles comprise different perovskite compounds. The invention also relates to a luminescent material.

Approximately 25%, of the global electricity demand is used for lighting, which accounts for 1.9 GT of CO2 emissions. In order to reduce the energy demand for lighting, white light emitting diodes are becoming increasing prevalent, which are much more efficient than incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tube lighting. If all conventional white-light sources in the world were converted to the energy-efficient LED light sources, energy consumption could be reduced by around 1,000 TW h yr−1, the equivalent of about 230 typical 500-MW coal plants, reducing greenhouse gas emission by about 200 million tonnes.
A standard white light LED is typically composed of a blue GaN LED (440-470 nm emission) with a coating of either a yellowgreen phosphor or a combination of red and green phosphors (multi-phosphor approach). The role of the phosphor is to absorb a certain fraction of the blue light, down-convert and reemit this light across the visible spectrum. Most commercially available single-phosphor pc-LEDs are based on Ce3+ doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG:Ce:Y3-xGdxAl5-yGayO12:Ce) as the yellow-emitting phosphor material. Although effective, this suffers from a limited emission in the red spectral region in comparison to the green region, resulting in cool white light (correlated color temperature 4000-8000 K), and a limited color rendering index (CRI; usually <75). For indoor lighting, lower correlated color temperature (<4000 K) and higher CRIs (>80) are required. In simple terms, the light emitted from most LEDs is much more blue than natural daylight, and is hence not optimum. The problem that needs to be solved is to find a more suitable emitting material than the existing phosphors for white light emitting diodes.
Semiconductor NCs, known as quantum dots, may provide an alternative way to generate white LEDs. Quantum dots synthesized from II-VI semiconductors can be employed in place of phosphors, since they can be tuned to radiate any color simply by changing the chemical composition and physical size of the dot, which is typically 2-10 nm. Semiconductor quantum dots have recently found applications in displays.
Papavassiliou, G. C. et al., J. Mater. Chem. 22, 8271, 2012 describes the synthesis of nanocrystals of lead halide compounds. Protesescu, L. et al., Nanocrystals of Cesium Lead Halide Perovskites (CsPbX3, X═Cl, Br, and I): Novel Optoelectronic Materials Showing Bright Emission with Wide Color Gamut, Nano Lett, (2015) describes nanocrystals comprising cesium perovskites. Schmidt, L. C. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 850, 2014 (Nontemplate synthesis of CH3NH3PbBr3 perovskite nanoparticles) describes the synthesis of perovskite nanocrystals in solution.
Zhang F. et al., ACS Nano, 9, 4, 4533-4542, 2015 describes the use of quantum dots of a single organic-inorganic perovskite as a phosphor replacement to produce white light. However, there is no discussion of the possibility of using two or more different quantum dots of different perovskite compounds to produce an optimized emission profile for the light emitting device.
It has been established previously that halide ions in metal-halide perovskite materials can migrate between different perovskite compounds and alter the composition of these compounds. This halide ion-exchange is described in Hoke et al., Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 613. For luminescent materials and phosphors, it is very important that the emission spectrum is predictable and does not change over time. Halide exchange between different perovskites has previously been expected to cause variation in the photoluminescent properties of these perovskites and instability in their photoluminescence spectra. This has prevented two or more of these compounds being used simultaneously in many applications. There has been no suggestion previously of how to overcome this halogen exchange problem for metal halide perovskites.
There is a need to develop new luminescent materials useful as phosphors producing warmer white light.

Matrix-incorporated organic-inorganic metal halide perovskite nano-particles as luminescent material


A process for controlling an automated motor vehicle drive train which has an engine and a transmission, with the step of at least once detecting at least one wear parameter of the transmission during its running performance, the wear parameter representing the wear or the fatigue of at least one component of the transmission. A load limit parameter, which represents the maximum load on the transmission due to the engine, is set as a function of the detected wear parameter.

The invention relates to a process for controlling an automated motor vehicle drive train which has an engine and a transmission, with the step of at least once detecting at least one wear parameter of the transmission during its running performance, the wear parameter representing the wear or fatigue of at least one component of the transmission.
The present invention relates, furthermore, to an automated drive train for a motor vehicle with an engine and with a transmission, with means for detecting at least one wear parameter of the transmission and with means for controlling the drive train.
A process of this type and a drive train of this type are known from WO 01/61653 A1. This publication is concerned with a process for determining the remaining operating duration of a product. In this case, values of specific operating variables are detected. The value range of the individual operating variables is subdivided into classes, and the operating durations are detected as a function of the class within which the detected value falls. An assignment of weighting factors may also take place here, in order to determine a weighted cumulative operating duration for a product.
The product, of which the operating duration up to technical failure is detected, may be, for example, an engine, a transmission or a control apparatus of a motor vehicle.
This process for determining the remaining operating duration is intended to make possible a particularly reliable preventive maintenance/repair shortly before the end of the technical running performance is reached.
The term "running performance" is understood in the present context as being a generic term for various terms which may be connected with the stress of a motor vehicle, such as, for example, operating duration, running distance, running time, etc.
In motor vehicles, an essential quality criterion is that the motor vehicle should as far as possible not break down or as far as possible rarely break down within a predetermined average running performance. A critical criterion for this is reliability, that is to say the probability that a product will not break down during a defined running performance under given functional and ambient conditions (cf. "Fahrzeuggetriebe—Grundlagen, Auswahl, Auslegung und Konstruktion" ["Vehicle transmission—principles, selection, design and construction"] by G. Lechner and H. Naunheimer, Springer-Verlag, page 395).
One of the critical criteria for reliability is what is known as the failure rateλ(t) as a measure of the risk of failure of a part when it has already survived up to the distance point (d) or time point (t).
The failure behavior of a product is often exhibited in the form of what is known as a "bathtub curve". This is formed by three regions. The first region refers to early failures which occur essentially due to assembly or manufacturing errors. A middle region with a relatively low failure rate is the region of random failures caused, for example, by operating faults, dirt or the like.
The third region, in which the failure rate rises sharply with an increase in running performance, is the region of wear or fatigue failures.
The second region can be influenced to only relatively little extent. The first region can be influenced positively by strict manufacturing and quality assurance. In the present context, however, the third region is of particular importance.
This is because a suitable running performance calculation can ensure, in the design of the transmission, that, taking into account all possible circumstances, operation which is as damage-free as possible is achieved beyond the required average running performance expectation.
The emphasis in this case is on freedom from damage or maximum reliability over a defined running performance, for example zero failures within the first 150 000 km.
Since the transmission as a whole fails even in the event of the failure of one part of the transmission (for example, the break of a gearwheel), the individual components of the transmission are in each case to be designed as a function of the load to be expected, such that they all fulfill the average running performance expectation.
The different utilization behavior of consumers is of highly critical importance in this running performance calculation. Thus, as is known, there are vehicle drivers who drive extremely defensively and in this case almost never fully exhaust the performance capacity of their vehicle. On the other hand, there are drivers who constantly demand the available performance from their vehicle. However, performance-preoccupied drivers make up, overall, only a relatively small fraction of users. Nevertheless, as a rule, a transmission is designed such that it possesses a high running performance expectation even for performance-preoccupied drivers.
A simplified illustration of this is assumed below, whereby a transmission possesses an average running performance expectation of 100 000 km, that is to say, on average, does not fail before reaching this driving performance with the vehicle in which the transmission is installed. It will be appreciated, however, that, in practice, the average running performance expectation may even amount, for example, to 150 000 or 200 000 km.
It is apparent from what was said above that, where performance-preoccupied drivers are concerned, the average running performance expectation is about 100 000 km. As regards defensive drivers, however, the transmission will have an average running performance expectation which is markedly higher and may lie, for example, in the region of 300 000 or 400 000 km.
The result of this is that, in the case of defensive drivers, a vehicle which possesses, overall, as a system a running performance of, for example, 100 000 kilometers and fails on account of other components is scrapped, even though the transmission would still be "good" for a further running performance of 200 000 or 100 000 km.
Under these circumstances, designing the transmission in such a way that even performance-preoccupied drivers have a reasonable average running performance expectation leads to the individual transmission parts having a stronger or a larger dimensioning. This contributes to a higher weight of the transmission. In other words, the result of this necessary transmission design is that a large proportion of users (defensive drivers) "drag around" with them an unnecessarily high weight above the average running performance of the vehicle. This leads, in the case of these drivers, to increased fuel consumption and therefore also to higher emissions (in internal combustion engines), etc.
To monitor the functioning of a motor vehicle transmission, it is known from DE 197 31 842 A1 to detect the position of a variable-position transmission element and to check by means of an assessment criterion whether the variable-position transmission element is in a predetermined target position. As a result, a malfunction due to tolerances can be avoided and the running performance can be prolonged.
It is known from the initially mentioned WO 01/61653 A1 to determine the remaining operating duration by means of a running performance estimation, in order to make possible preventively a maintenance/repair before the end of the technical operating duration, that is to say before a failure, is reached.
In general, it is also known to monitor specific parameters, such as, for example, the running time of a vehicle and its load, in order to allow a user-dependent and time-dependent early damage detection (DE 101 61 998 A1).
Thus, for example, it is known to carry out the maintenance intervals of vehicles variably as a function of the load on individual parameters of a vehicle, instead of fixed maintenance intervals of, for example, ten or fifteen thousand kilometers.

Process for controlling an automated motor vehicle drive train and drive train

GETRAG Getriebe-und Zahnradfabrik Hermann Hagenmeyer GmbH & Cie KG


Disclosed is a system for estimating arterial blood pressure. The system includes a heartbeat detection module configured to receive an electrocardiogram signal, and detect one or more QRS complexes of the electrocardiogram signal. The system also includes a photoplethysmographic sensor module configured to trigger a light emitter, thereby generating a plurality of samples of a photoplethysmographic signal. Further, the system includes a blood pressure calculation module configured to receive information about the detected one or more QRS complexes and the plurality of photoplethysmographic signal samples, and calculate at least one blood pressure value based on a pulse arrival time period between the electrocardiogram and the photoplethysmographic signal. Additionally, the photoplethysmographic sensor module is further configured to receive information about the detected one or more QRS complexes, trigger, each time a QRS complex is detected, the generation of the plurality of photoplethysmographic signal samples, and determine a photoplethysmographic signal acquisition period.

Continuous and non-invasive estimation of arterial blood pressure (BP) without using a cuff has gained emerging interest for health care applications. Instead of commonly used cuff-based measurements, changes in the Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), i.e., the speed of a pressure pulse propagating along the arterial wall, can be an alternative approach for a continuous, non-invasive, and indirect BP measurement. As a surrogate of PWV, an indirect estimation of BP can be also obtained with the use of Pulse Transit Time (PTT) or Pulse Arrival Time (PAT), as for example described in "Wearable Cuff-less PTT-based System for Overnight Blood Pressure Monitoring", by Yali Zheng et al., Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, pp. 6103-6106, Osaka 3-7 July 2013, in "A low-power, dual-wavelength photoplethysmogram (PPG) SoC with static and time-varying interferer removal" by E. S. Winokur et al., IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 581-589, 2015, in "Cuff-less and noninvasive measurements of arterial blood pressure by pulse transit time" by C. Poon et al., 2005 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology 27th Annual Conference, 2005, and in "An ultra low power pulse oximeter sensor based on compressed sensing" by P. K. Baheti et al., 2009 Sixth International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks, June 2009.
There is a motivation to improve current state of the art electronic systems and methods for non-invasive cuffless blood pressure estimation.

System and method for cuffless blood pressure estimation


There are provided measures for improvement of distributed behavioral monitoring. Such measures exemplarily include receiving activity data indicative of a behavior of an entity to be monitored from at least one sensor sensing activity of the entity, wherein the at least one sensor is provided to an endpoint associated with said entity, assessing an activity represented by said activity data as malicious, validating a result of said assessing based on a categorization assigned to said entity in relation to said at least one sensor, and deciding, based on a result of said validating, on a response to said assessing.

The present specification generally relates to distributed behavioral monitoring systems/scenarios in which sensors are provided on endpoints (and potentially elsewhere inside an organization). These sensors continuously collect, process and eventually upstream data to a centralized location (that can be locally deployed or hosted in a cloud), where this data is then analyzed via a detection pipeline for security breaches, anomalies or other inconsistencies.
With new security breaches being disclosed almost daily, the problem of cyber security has become an extremely significant one that is expected to grow in the upcoming years. This is encouraged by an ongoing digitalization of activities of privates, enterprises and governments. The involved transition gives a great opportunity to attackers and threat actors that can try to access a wealth of private, confidential and valuable material from homes or offices instead of attempting a risky break-in at a secure facility.
In order to address these security hazards, the above-mentioned distributed behavioral monitoring systems were applied. The analysis by such distributed behavioral monitoring systems may reveal security breaches, anomalies or inconsistencies that need to be reported to customers via selected mechanisms.
Prior art which relates to this field can be found in document US 2013/0132551, disclosing reduction of alerts in information technology systems.
According to this document, reduction of amounts of various alerts from an IT infrastructure is addressed. In so doing, false alerts are collected, current alert policies are reviewed, existing policies are updated or new policies are prepared, and the new/updated policies' false alert reduction capabilities are validated by simulation of the flow of historical data. However, according to this document, alert policies are subject to a continuous maintenance. Further, in order to improve existing policies, detection of false alerts is necessary. Hence, high effort with little automatization degree is necessary.
Accordingly, it is evident that available systems for responding to security threats suffer from various drawbacks, and it is thus desirable to improve known systems so as to overcome such drawbacks.
Hence, a problem arises of how to minimize false positive alerts preferably with reduction of analysis effort. Further, it is desirable to improve an overall detection quality of the above discussed systems.
Hence, there is a need for an improvement of distributed behavioral monitoring.


3-D model acquisition of an object is performed using two planar mirrors and a camera. According to some embodiments, 3-D reconstruction is achieved by recovering the scene geometry, including the equations of the mirrors, the camera parameters and the position of the markers, which give the location and orientation of the subjects. After establishing the geometry, a volume intersection algorithm is applied to build a 3-D model of the subject. Camera parameters and spatial constraints of the mirrors may be initially unknown. Camera parameters may be solved with reference to the object and references in the object. Further, distance from the camera to at least one point on the object may be determined once camera parameters are solved. Markers having fixed relative positions may be provided on the object for reference.

Three-dimensional reconstruction or rendering of objects may be performed based on captured images of the objects. Multiple views of an object may be provided by one or more mirrors providing reflections of the object. An image captured may be analyzed and three-dimensional renderings produced based on information gathered from the image, such as distance from a camera to a point or region and silhouette data.

Three-dimensional model acquisition using planar mirrors


Methods and apparatus for forming an oxide layer on a semiconductor substrate are disclosed. A two frequency plasma source is used to form a plasma in a plasma reactor. In various embodiments, different quantities of power are supplied to a power source operating at the first frequency and a power source operating at the second frequency over time.

Semiconductor devices typically require thin oxide layers to be formed at various stages of their fabrication. For example, in transistors, a thin gate oxide layer may be formed as part of a gate stack structure, including sidewalls, as will be described further below. In addition, in some applications, such as in the fabrication of a flash memory film stack, a thin oxide layer may be formed surrounding the entire gate stack, for example, via exposing the stack to an oxidation process. Such oxidation processes have conventionally been performed either thermally or using a plasma.
Thermal processes for forming oxide layers, for example, the gate oxide layer or the gate stack oxidation layer, have worked relatively well in fabrication of semiconductor devices of the larger feature sizes used in the past. Unfortunately, as feature sizes are becoming much smaller and different oxides are employed in the next generation of advanced technologies, the high wafer temperatures often required in thermal oxidation processes are problematic in that the dopants in the silicon wafer (well doping and junctions) diffuse at the higher temperatures (e.g., above about 700° C.). Such a distortion of the dopant profiles and other features can lead to poor device performance or failure.
Plasma processes used to form oxide layers have similar problems. For example, at high chamber pressure (e.g., 100 mTorr), contaminants tend to accumulate in the gate oxide layer during formation, leading to fatal defects in the gate oxide structure such as dangling bonds or mobile charge, and at low chamber pressure (e.g., tens of mTorr), increased plasma ion energy leads to ion bombardment damage and other diffusion problems. For example, conventional oxidation processes often result in a defect known as a bird's beak. Bird's beak refers to diffusion of the oxide layer into the layers of the film stack structure from the sides at the interface between adjacent layers, rounding off the corners of the adjacent layers. The resultant defect has a profile that resembles a bird's beak. The intrusion of the oxide layer into the active region of the memory cell (e.g., in flash memory applications) reduces the active width of the memory cell, thereby undesirably reducing the effective width of the cell and degrading the performance of the flash memory device.
Another limitation of current low temperature plasma processes is that oxidation appears to occur preferentially on surfaces parallel to the wafer plane, namely, the top of the stack and bottom of trenches. It is believed that this is due to the flux of oxygen ions and radicals perpendicular to the wafer. Regardless of the cause, limited oxidation occurs on the sidewalls of the stacks, resulting in an unacceptably thin sidewall layer on the gate stacks. Thus, there is a need for an improved method for forming oxide layers on semiconductor substrates.

Dual frequency low temperature oxidation of a semiconductor device


The present invention discloses a precharge circuit for preventing undesired output pulses caused by the current sensing circuit of the flash memory devices. The access time of the read-cycle also can be decreased after the undesired output pulses are completely removed. Basically, the circuit disclosed by the invention encompasses the current mirror and the cell array as conventionally; a control circuit, a voltage detector and a precharge circuit to remove the undesired output pulses. The control circuit couples with the current mirror, the voltage detector, and the precharge circuit. The current mirror is used to generate output waveform. The precharge circuit couples with the cell array with a bit line, and pre-charges the voltage level of the bit line to a predetermined expected value. The control circuit controls the precharge circuit to precharge the bit line when the read-cycle starts. Whole the current sensing circuit keeps disable until the voltage level of the bit line rises to an expected value. The output signal is then generated according to the logic-state of selected memory cell of the flash memory. The invalid logic 1 will never appear whatever the logic-state of the selected memory cell is.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit for preventing invalid output in a flash memory device, and more particularly, to a precharge circuit for preventing invalid output pulses caused by current sensing circuits in the flash memory devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, many kinds of electrical products are invented and manufactured each day, and these new products usually need high processing speed than before. A key point for upgrading the processing speed is to effectively enhance the access time from data storage, such as decrease the transmission delay of the volatile or non-volatile memories. A major disadvantage of the volatile memories, such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) is that they lose all their stored memory if power is turned off. However, it is important for some memory systems to retain their data even the power is off. Non-volatile memories, such as ROM (Read Only Memory), PROM (Programmable ROM), EPROM (Erasable PROM), EEPROM (Electrical EPROM), and flash memory are another class of memories that are developed to prevent programmed data from being lost. Typically, the manufacturer or user can program their non-volatile memory based on requirements, and the programmed data can be stored for a long time interval.
Flash memory is a relative new generation of the non-volatile memories that is derived by a technology similar but advanced to the EPROM device. All the skilled persons know that many advantages offer by the flash memory. For example, the flash memory is electrically re-programmable a few times ranging up to many thousand times. Furthermore, the flash memory can be packaged in the low cost plastic package, and the flash memory also can be used in high-density sockets that will be basic requirements in the future.
Current sensing circuits are commonly used for generating outputs signals when accessing data from the flash memories. However, invalid output pulses are usually detected in the read-cycle of the flash memories. Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, which respectively illustrates the functional and detail diagrams of a conventional current sensing circuit (please refer to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,158). In FIG. 1A, a sensing enable signal (SE) input to a current mirror 11 is used to retrieve the programmed data (S.sub.o) which is programmed in a cell array 12 beforehand. Typically, the memory cell that is programmed to conduct current indicates logic 1 (usually is designated to be V.sub.cc), and the memory cell that is programmed to prevent from conducting current is used to indicate logic 0 (usually equals to the ground's voltage level). When the read-cycle starts, a current generated by the current mirror 11 will detect the selected memory cell of the cell array 12. Therefore, the logic-state of the selected memory cell is determined by the current through a bit line (BL).
FIG. 1B represents a detail circuit structure of the current sensing circuit in FIG. 1. A reference voltage (V.sub.ref) connects with the gate of the NMOS transistor 105 is used to sink a reference current (I.sub.ref). Please note that the BL is reset to logic 0 before each read-cycle starts. Accordingly, when the BL is reset and the SE is 0, a PMOS transistor 101 will be conducted but an NMOS transistor 104 is turned off. The voltage level of the node B is thus risen to logic 1, and both of the PMOS transistors 102 and 103 that consists the current mirror 11 are not turned on. When the read-cycle starts, SE will rise to logic 1 to conduct the NMOS transistor 104. The NMOS transistor 104 is treated as a current switch to conduct the current from the current mirror 11 to the selected memory cell through BL. The PMOS transistor 102 and 103 (i.e. current mirror 11) will turn on and the voltage level of the node B will fall. As noted, the BL is detected when the read-cycle starts at the same time. If the selected memory cell is not conductive, there will be no current flowing through the PMOS transistor 102 to the NMOS transistor 104. Because the I.sub.ref indicates a constant current, the voltage level of the node A will be pulled down to logic 0. Thus, the output S.sub.o is also logic 0.
On the other hand, when the selected memory cell is conductive, there will be a significant current flowing through the PMOS transistor 102 and the NMOS transistor 104 into the selected memory cell. Because both the PMOS transistors 102 and 103 are conductive, a current I.sub.c with the same amount flowing through the PMOS transistor 102 will also appears at the node A. Because the current I.sub.c is designated to be much larger than I.sub.ref, the voltage level of the node A will be pulled up to be logic 1, and S.sub.o is also logic 1 after amplifying by two series inverters 106 and 107.
Although the conventional current sensing circuit can be employed to access programmed data from the cell array 11, however, a longer access time is required for waiting the accessed voltage levels to be stable. Referring to FIG. 3A, which illustrates a waveform diagram representative of an output waveform derived from the circuit in FIG. 1B. An invalid logic 1 is caused by a current directed into the cell array 12 when BL being set. Therefore, each time when the read-cycle begins, a current flowing to BL will induce the current mirror to generate an undesired current to charge the node A, and the invalid logic 1 is thus obtained at S.sub.o. A curve indicated by dot-lines is used to represent the output waveform at S.sub.o when the selected memory cell is not conductive. Another curve that is indicated by solid-lines is used to describe the output waveform S.sub.o when the selected memory is conductive. It is clearly that S.sub.o is unstable until t.sub.2, and there is a significantly time delay (from t.sub.1 to t.sub.2) for waiting. Typically, t.sub.1 is about 10 nano seconds, and t.sub.2 is about 20 nano seconds. Sometimes, although S.sub.o outputs a stable logic 1 before t.sub.1, however, the invalid logic 1 is clearly an error when logic 0 is programmed. A need has therefore been arisen to disclose a circuit, in which the access time delay of the current sensing circuit here can be significantly reduced for achieving the requirement of high operation speed.

Precharge circuit for preventing invalid output pulses caused by current sensing circuits in flash memory devices

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., LTD.


A method and system for accessing a database management system running on a server computer from within a JAVA applet running on a client computer. The JAVA applet prepares a URL to address an active server page on the server computer, embedding a database query within the URL. The JAVA applet then accesses the active server page using the prepared URL. The server computer, upon receiving a request for access to the active server page, executes a script stored within the active server page that receives the database query embedded within the URL, passes the query to the database management system, receives from the database management system the query results, creates a HTML document, and stores the query results in the HTML document. The server computer then returns the HTML document to the client computer, where the JAVA applet reads the query results from the HTML document.

The development of communications networks, personal computers, and client-server network applications has led to frequent access of data stored in database management systems on server computers by application to programs running on client computers. Commonly, a client computer establishes a TCP/IP connection to the server computer on which the database management system runs and then sends queries to the database management system and receives responses to those queries via the TCP/IP protocol. The server computer includes a process which listens for TCP/IP connection requests, establishes TCP/IP connections in response to those requests, and establishes connections to the database management system corresponding to the TCP/IP connections. The process forwards incoming queries from client computers through the TCP/IP connections to the corresponding database connections, collects data furnished by the database management system in response to the queries, and forwards the collected data back to the corresponding client computers through the TCP/IP connections.
With the rapid increase in the use of the Internet, web browser applications have become a very common and convenient means for client computer users to access information stored on server computers. Initially, web browsers were capable of retrieving hypertext markup language ("HTML") documents from a remote server over the Internet and graphically displaying the HTML documents to the web browser user. As web browsers have become more sophisticated, they can now not only receive HTML documents from server computers, but can also receive JAVA programs from server computers and execute the JAVA programs on the client computer under the direction and monitoring of the web browser. These JAVA programs, known as applets, can provide a far more interactive and dynamic display of information than that achieved by displaying static HTML documents. However, JAVA applets give rise to a number of serious administrative and security problems. If the applet was able to have free access to the full range of operating system calls accessed by application programs, then a web browser user could inadvertently download from the Internet a capricious program that disrupts the state of the client computer, including changing the client computer's configuration settings, that damages or destroys the client computer's file system and the contents of the client computer's files, or that rifles the contents of the client computer and transmit those contents back to an even more capricious program running on a server computer. For these reasons, the executing applet is closely guarded and monitored by the web browser, and its access to client and server resources is severely restricted.
It has become very desirable for JAVA applet developers to be able to write applets that can access database information from server computers. FIG. 1 displays a stock price quoting system implemented using a JAVA applet. This stock price quoting system demonstrates both the need for access to server database management systems by a JAVA applet and the problems that currently make such access difficult to achieve. The stock price quoting system displays a list of stocks and prices 101 on a display monitor 102 of a personal computer 103. The processes executing on the personal computer include the operating system 104, a browser 105, and the JAVA applet executing under control of the browser 106 that acquires the stock prices and directs their display. The stock prices are stored on a data storage device 107 managed by a database management system 108 on a server computer 109. In order to obtain the stock prices, the applet needs to direct the browser 105 to, in turn, direct the operating system of the personal computer 104 to request a connection to a server process 110 running on the server computer. Once a connection has been established, the applet 106 then directs the browser to transmit one or more stock price database queries to the server process 110 which forwards the queries to the database management system 108. The database management system executes the queries against stock price data stored in the data storage device 107 in order to obtain the response stock price data, and then directs the server process 110 to transfer the response stock price data back to the applet 106. Finally, the applet directs the browser via the operating system of the personal computer to display the response stock price data in a stock price report on the display monitor. The data transfer between the personal computer and the server computer occurs through network controller hardware devices 111 and 112 over telephone lines, a local area network 113 or a wide area network. Additional controllers 114 and 115 mediate transfer of data from the personal computer to the display monitor of the personal computer and from the data storage device to the server operating system.
Because the applet is restricted in its ability to access resources, including the database management system, devising a general access strategy for accessing database management systems from an applet, as in the above example, has proved to be a difficult problem. There is, for example, no standard method for an applet to employ TCP/IP sockets in order to access remote database management systems. While access using TCP/IP is possible, a TCP/IP based server process would need to be developed to run on the server computers that contain the database management systems. Development of such a server process requires careful attention to details involved in handling error conditions that arise because of network and database errors. In addition, careful attention would be required to considerations of the number of connections allowable on a server and to considerations of the practical limitations to connectivity arising from database management systems and from bandwidth limitations of the local area network or telephone lines by which data is transferred. Another possible method is the JDBC-ODBC bridge. JDBC was developed for JAVA and allows JAVA applets to access a database management system using a driver written in JAVA for each particular type of database management system. This method has the drawback that development of the drivers can be quite difficult, code writing and debugging under JDBC can be complex, additional software needs to be added to the personal computer that uses native calls that are not compatible with all browsers, and the applet must adhere to a number of security requirements. Because applets have relatively free access to HTML pages unconstrained by security requirements, a third method might employ placing the stock price data into HTML pages rather than into a database management system, so that the applet could access the data directly. The disadvantage in this method is that storing the stock price data in static HTML pages can be quite inefficient, and data stored in this manner is not amenable to incremental updates and easy and efficient ad hoc searching and manipulation. A need has therefore been recognized for a technique that allows an applet running on a client computer to easily access a database management system running on a server computer.

Database access using active server pages


In each light modulator element of a special light modulator with diffraction grating structure where moving ribbons and fixed ribbons are alternately arranged, the maximum light-amount (I1) when an output light-amount first becomes maximum from when the moving ribbons start to sag and the maximum light amount-voltage becoming an displacement amount (P1) at the maximum light-amount, are obtained and the minimum of a plurality of maximum light-amounts is set as a target ON light-amount (It). Since a voltage (corresponding to a displacement amount (Pt1)) between the maximum light amount-voltage and the minimum light amount-voltage at a displacement amount (P2) is obtained as a target ON-voltage for the target ON light-amount (It), it is thereby possible to prevent moving distance of the moving ribbons among ON/OFF from largely differing among the light modulator elements and achieve an appropriate image recording.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for correcting output light-amounts of a spatial light modulator with diffraction grating structure and the special light modulator is preferably used for recording an image.
2. Description of the Background Art
Developed has been a light modulator element of diffraction grating type which is capable of changing the depth of grating. The light modulator element is produced using a semiconductor device manufacturing technique and is alternately provided with fixed ribbons and moving ribbons on a substrate. The moving ribbons can be sagged relatively to the fixed ribbons to change the depth of grating. It is proposed that such a light modulator element is used for an image recording apparatus in techniques such as CTP (Computer to Plate) as an optical switching element, since the intensities of specular reflection light and diffracted light beams are controlled by changing the depth of grooves on the diffraction grating as above. Published Japanese translation of PCT. No. 2002-503351 discloses a light modulator element where fixed ribbons are formed on a substrate and moving ribbons are formed at positions away from the substrate.
The light modulator element of diffraction grating type has characteristics that an outputted light amount can be continuously changed. In a spatial light modulator having an array of such light modulator elements, an output light-amount diffracted from each light modulator element in an ON state and an OFF state can be equalized even if light from a light source has slight unevenness or physical properties are slightly different between the light modulator elements.
In the mean time, since a zeroth order light beam (specular reflection light) is outputted when an input voltage is 0 and a light amount of the zeroth order light beam is maximum in a case of a light modulator element of diffraction grating type where the height of the moving ribbons is the same as that of the fixed ribbons when the moving ribbons are not sagged, unevenness in the output light-amounts between the light modulator elements can be corrected with reference to the state of the light modulator element at an input voltage of 0. On the other hand, in a case of a light modulator element of diffraction grating type where the height of the moving ribbons is different from that of the fixed ribbons when the moving ribbons are not sagged, since the zeroth order light beam first becomes maximum after inputting a certain amount of voltage, a plurality of input voltages for acquiring a desired light amount may exist in the vicinity of a voltage where the light amount of the zeroth order light beam is maximum and therefore, it is not possible to easily determine an appropriate input voltage.

Method and apparatus for correcting output light-amounts of spatial light modulator, image recording apparatus, and image recording method


A method and apparatus is provided for rendering a consistent format output for record data having inconsistent internal structures. Record data is batch entered into a database input buffer associated with a computer. Consecutive data lines are transferred from the input buffer to a stack. A parsing algorithm identifies related categories of the data in the stack. The individual data lines comprising each category are replaced with the associated compound category data line. Failures of the parsing algorithm to provide consistent format output are detected. An interactive editor interface displays the input buffer or stack to the user. Manual parsing and correction of data errors is thereby permitted.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for recognizing and parsing information in a data file. More particularly, the invention relates to an easily edited method and apparatus for parsing dissimilar data to provide a consistent format output.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Computers are increasingly being used to store, manipulate and transfer data. It is therefore critically important to be able to provide this data in a format that can be readily accessed by computer hardware and software systems. Unfortunately, while most commonly-used forms of record data, such as financial statements, have their own internal structures, there is no universal standardized format.
In the past, data from such dissimilar, non-standardized tables has been manually transferred to consistent and compatible formats. However, it has been difficult to efficiently automate the process of providing a consistent format computer output from different record data forms, such as tabular data.
A typical electronic file containing, for example, a financial statement, is uncoded. Thus, there are no codes specifically indicating the type of information represented by each line or column of text. To have a computer extract information from the file, the content of the file must be identified. The various tables in the file must be recognized, and the content of each table parsed and broken down into constituent parts. Once the data has been recognized and broken down, it can be normalized and manipulated.
Such normalized data is readily accessible by spreadsheet or database programs, or can be illustrated and analyzed by mathematical, statistical, or financial models. Financial statement entries can also be compared and analyzed for specific divisions, companies, or throughout the entire industry.
Time and accuracy are important considerations in the preparation of financial statements. Computers can process the financial data much faster than by hand. However, inaccurate information can have a disastrous impact on a company's financial condition. The computerized method must therefore provide either accurate data, or a method for quickly locating and correcting incorrect data.
Ferguson and Kornfeld, A Method For Electronically Recognizing and Parsing Information Contained in a Financial Statement, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/497,355, filed Jun. 30, 1995 and incorporated as a part hereof, describes an algorithm for a computerized parsing of financial data. The Ferguson and Kornfeld method uses what they call a "bottom-up" parser algorithm to recognize data lines from a financial statement. The data lines are then reorganized into a consistent electronic format.
The Ferguson and Kornfeld method is specifically adapted for parsing financial statements such as income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. Table titles, columns, and line items are identified, and the table end located. Their bottom-up parser processes the line items from the bottom of the table to the top of the table. This bottom-up algorithm uses at least two tests to determine whether constituent line items are to be marked as a block containing the value of the subtotal. If one or more subtotals are located, it is necessary to make another pass through the data to find higher order subtotals.
However, various problems such as incorrect numerical values, sloppy formatting, and inaccurate title formatting may prevent the parsing algorithm from correctly processing the record data. These deficiencies in the input data will cause the parser to occasionally fail. A minor edit by an editor in the source document can often fix the document so that it can be parsed correctly. However, Ferguson and Kornfeld's parsing algorithm does not provide any feedback on why or at what point in the source document the parser failed. Thus, the problems must be manually located.
It would therefore be an advantage to provide a method for parsing data and thereby rendering a consistent format output. It would be a further advantage if such method were adapted for use with an editor interface. It would be yet another advantage if such method provided information to assist the user in detecting problems that cause parsing failure, and activated the editor feature to permit the user to locate and correct such problems.


A communication apparatus comprises a memory which stores a document and a moving picture in an associated manner, a display device comprising a document display area for displaying a document and a moving picture display area for displaying a moving picture, a control unit which reads the document stored in the memory and displays the document in the document display area of the display device, and a display control unit which, when a moving picture associated with the document read by the control unit is stored in the memory, reads the moving picture associated with the document, and displays the moving picture in the moving picture display area of the display unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, a communication system, a display method, and a program which are applied to an electronic mail system and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been present systems for exchanging electronic mails to which various files are attached. In recent years, as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-359695, a user uses a wireless communication terminal such as a cellular phone with an image pickup function to attach a picked-up image (or URL where an image is stored) to an e-mail to be transmitted, and transmits the e-mail to a wireless communication terminal at a transmission destination, where the transmitted e-mail text and the attached image are displayed at the wireless communication terminal at a reception side.
However, in the above method, in the case of attaching a moving picture file to an e-mail and transmitting the e-mail, it was so difficult for the user to create, edit, and read the e-mail while confirming reproduced contents of the moving picture file.

Method and apparatus for wireless transmission of electronic mail having a moving image file attachment which is displayed during edition or creation of electronic mail