A semiconductor device includes a substrate having a cell region and a peripheral region, a buried gate formed over the substrate of the cell region, a peripheral gate formed over the substrate of the peripheral region and comprising a conductive layer, an inter-layer dielectric layer that covers the substrate, and a peripheral bit line formed inside the inter-layer dielectric layer and contacting the conductive layer.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor device fabrication technology, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device including buried gates (BG) and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As semiconductor devices become smaller in size, a semiconductor device may not be able to realize diverse device characteristics. As design rules are less than approximately 40 nm, the formation of a gate structure, a bit line structure, and a contact structure may have technical limitations. Even if such structures are formed, the desired device characteristics may not be achieved. To achieve the desired device characteristics, semiconductor devices may form buried gates (BG) in a substrate.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional semiconductor device including buried gates.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional semiconductor device with buried gates includes an isolation layer 12 that defines an active region 13 over a substrate 11. The substrate includes a cell region and a peripheral region. In the cell region of the substrate 11, each buried gate includes a trench 15, a gate insulation layer (not shown), a gate electrode 16, and a gate hard mask layer 17. Over the substrate 11, landing plugs 14 are formed. An isolation layer 12 is formed to isolate the landing plugs 14 from another and to isolate the landing plugs 14 from the buried gates. In the peripheral region of the substrate 11, peripheral gates 21 are formed, and spacers 22 are formed on the sidewalls of each peripheral gate 21. Each peripheral gate includes a peripheral gate insulation layer 18, a peripheral gate electrode 19, and a peripheral gate hard mask layer 20. An inter-layer dielectric layer 23 is formed over the substrate 11, and a storage node contact plug 25 and a cell bit line 28 are formed in the inter-layer dielectric layer 23 of the cell region. A portion of a peripheral bit line 31 is coupled with the peripheral gate electrode 19 and formed in the inter-layer dielectric layer 23 of the peripheral region, while a portion of the peripheral bit line 32 is formed above the inter-layer dielectric layer 23. FIG. 1 also illustrates a cell bit line hard mask layer 29, and a peripheral bit line hard mask layer 33.
According to the conventional technology, the peripheral bit line 32 is disposed over the inter-layer dielectric layer 23 of the peripheral region. As a result, subsequent processes become complex and procedurally more difficult. More specifically, step height is inevitably formed between the cell region and the peripheral region because the peripheral bit line 32 is formed over the inter-layer dielectric layer 23. The step height makes the subsequent processes of forming an inter-layer dielectric layer covering the peripheral bit line 32 in the peripheral region and forming storage nodes in the cell region be complicated, and increases the procedural difficulty. Also, the step height between the cell region and the peripheral region cracks an etch stop layer (not shown) interposed between the inter-layer dielectric layer 23 and a mold-forming insulation layer (not shown) for forming a mold, and damages the existing substrate structure during a subsequent dip-out process.

Semiconductor device with buried gates and fabrication method thereof


A method, for use in a processor context, wherein instructions in a program executable are encoded with plural instruction set encodings. A method wherein a control instruction encoded with an instruction set encoding contains information about decoding of an instruction that is encoded with another instruction set encoding scheme. A method wherein instruction set encodings are randomly generated at compile time. A processor framework wherein an instruction is decoded during execution with the help of information provided by a previously decoded control instruction.

Microprocessors (referred to herein simply as "processors") execute instructions during their operation. It is very important to improve security during execution and preferably energy/power consumption should not significantly be affected by the solution.
Security is compromised when reengineering of program executables is possible. In addition, security of a solution such as an application intellectual property or algorithm is compromised when a processor can be physically microprobed and program information extracted without permission.
Program intellectual property can be re-engineered from binaries without requiring access to source codes. As reported by the Business Software Alliance, software piracy cost the software industry 11 billion dollars in 1998. Furthermore, an increasing number of tamper-resistant secure systems used in both military and commercial domains, e.g., smartcards, pay-TV, mobile phones, satellite systems, and weapon systems, can be attacked more easily once application semantics, including critical security algorithms and protocols, are re-engineered.
A key reason for many of these problems is that current microprocessors use a fixed Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) with predefined opcodes. Due to complexity, cost, and time-to-market issues related to developing proprietary microprocessors, most recent applications use commodity COTS components.
In software compiled for such systems, individual instruction opcodes as well as operands in binaries can be easily disassembled given that ISA documentation is widely available. Conventional systems can also be microprobed and these instructions extracted from the instruction memory systems or instruction buses.
Making the ISA reconfigurable (as a way to address these problems) is challenging, especially since a practically feasible solution would need to achieve this without significantly affecting chip area, performance and power consumption. Furthermore, it would be advantageous and practical if it could be retrofitted as add-on technology to commercially available microprocessor intellectual property (IP) cores from leading design houses such as ARM and MIPS. It should be backward compatible, e.g., capable of executing existing binaries to avoid losing existing software investments. Another critical aspect is migrating existing binaries to this new secure mode of execution without access to application source codes.
For a given processor there are typically many compilers available provided by many different vendors. These compilers have their own advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, when compiling an application many pieces of codes are added from precompiled libraries or hand-written assembly language.
Accordingly, if security-awareness is introduced at the executable-level, rather than at source code level, as in one embodiment of the present invention, by transforming the executable itself, significant practical advantages could be achieved. The goal would be to security-optimize executables that may have been fully optimized previously with a source-level compiler targeting a design aspect such as performance.

Security of program executables and microprocessors based on compiler-architecture interaction


An information processing method and apparatus, a terminal, and a communications device are provided. The method includes: determining, based on detection of a reporting trigger event, whether to report an event-based beam report and/or an event-based channel state information (CSI) report to a network-side device.

Radio access technology standards such as long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A) are all established based on multiple-input multiple-output (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MIMO) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, OFDM) technologies. The MIMO technology improves a peak rate and spectrum utilization of a system by using a spatial degree of freedom that can be obtained by a multiple-antenna system. It is predicable that a more massive MIMO technology with more antenna ports will be introduced in a future 5G mobile communications system.
The massive (Massive) MIMO technology, by using a massive antenna array, can greatly improve efficiency of using a frequency band of the system and support a larger quantity of access users. Therefore, research organizations all consider massive MIMO as one of the most potential physical layer technologies in next-generation mobile communications systems.
If a fully digital array is used in the massive MIMO technology, a maximal spatial resolution and optimal multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MU-MIMO) performance can be implemented. However, this structure requires large quantities of analog-to-digital (AD) or digital-to-analog (DA) converters and a large quantity of complete radio frequency-baseband processing channels. Therefore, both device costs and baseband processing complexity are a heavy burden.
To avoid the foregoing implementation costs and device complexity, a hybrid digital-analog beamforming technology emerges. To be specific, on a basis of conventional digital domain beamforming, one stage of beamforming is added for a radio frequency signal at a front end near an antenna system. Analog beamforming can implement rough matching between a transmit signal and a channel in a simple manner. A quantity of equivalent channels formed after analog beamforming is less than an actual antenna quantity. Therefore, quantities of subsequently required AD/DA converters and digital channels, and corresponding baseband processing complexity can all be reduced greatly. Residual interference in an analog beamforming part may be processed once again in a digital domain, so that quality of MU-MIMO transmission is ensured.
Analog beamforming is full-band transmission, and an array element in each polarization direction on a panel of each high-frequency antenna array can transmit only an analog beam in a time division multiplexing mode. A beamforming weight of the analog beam is implemented by adjusting a parameter of a device such as a radio frequency front-end phase shifter. Currently, analog beamforming vector training is generally performed in a polling mode. To be specific, an array element in each polarization direction on each antenna panel sends a training signal (that is, a candidate beamforming vector) in the time division multiplexing mode in sequence at an agreed time, and a terminal feeds back a beam report after performing measurement, so that when a network-side device performs service transmission next time, the network-side device implements analog beam transmission by using the beamforming vector used by the training signal.
The network-side device configures setting information of beam reporting (beam reporting), that is, reporting setting, for the terminal by using higher layer signaling, where the setting information includes content information of beam reporting, a time domain related information (periodic, aperiodic, or semi-persistent) of beam reporting, frequency granularity (frequency granularity) information of beam reporting, and the like. The content information of beam reporting may include identifier information of at least one optimal transmit beam selected by the terminal, a physical layer measurement result of the beam selected by the terminal, grouping information of the beam selected by the terminal, and the like.
In the related art, using reporting of a beam report as an example, for periodic and semi-persistent beam reporting, once the network-side device configures related information of beam reporting, the terminal needs to periodically report beam reports, or periodically report beam reports after receiving activation commands; for aperiodic beam reporting, the terminal also needs to report one or more beam reports based on triggering by the network-side device.
However, when there are no or few changes in a beam measurement result of the terminal, that is, when there are no or few changes between a beam report currently obtained through measurement and a beam report already reported, reporting of a beam report by the terminal again may cause waste of communication resources. For example, when a state of the terminal does not change (for example, being stationary) or changes very slightly (for example, at a very low moving speed), it is possible that there are no between the beam report currently obtained through measurement and the beam report already reported. In this case, reporting of a beam report by the terminal again may cause waste of communication resources. Likewise, for reporting of a channel state information (Channel State Information, CSI) report, the same problem also exists.

Beam reporting based on detection of a trigger event


Provided is a liquid crystal display unit that offers high visibility irrespective of the brightness of the surrounding environment and that achieves a reduction in electric power consumption as well as in cost. The liquid crystal display unit is provided with a liquid crystal layer 6, two substrates 1 and 2 that sandwich the liquid crystal layer 6, and a backlight 50 that sequentially emits light of a plurality of colors. Here, one picture element is composed of three R, G, and B pixels that serve as a reflective region, and a pixel having a transparent layer W that serves as a transmissive region. Configured in this way, in the transmissive region, the light from the backlight 50 passes through the transparent electrode 4, so that a transmissive display is performed; in the reflective region, the light is reflected from the reflective electrode 5, so that a reflective display is performed.

As flat-panel displays that have achieved a reduction in, for example, thickness and weight thereof, liquid crystal display units find wide application in a variety of fields including liquid crystal display televisions, monitors, and mobile phones. Various techniques for realizing colorization of such a liquid crystal display unit have been proposed. Examples of practical techniques include a color filter system and a field sequential system.
The color filter system displays images in full color by spatially mixing RGB color information by the use, in combination, of liquid crystal elements having the function of an optical shutter and a color filter in which spaces are divided into RGB three primary color regions so finely that they are imperceptible to the human eye.
On the other hand, the field sequential system has a layered structure composed of a backlight that can sequentially emit light of three colors: R, G, and B, and liquid crystal elements that display color information according to the color of light emitted by the backlight. This system displays images in full color by temporally mixing RGB color information by reducing the duration of the period during which the backlight emits light of RGB to about 16 msec, which is so short that it is imperceptible to the human eye.
Patent Document 1 discloses a liquid crystal display unit that, despite being structured as a field sequential system, can display images in color by reflecting ambient light. Moreover, Patent Document 2 discloses a liquid crystal display unit provided with a reflective region composed of colored pixels and a transmissive region having no colored portion.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2004-061747    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2004-177726


A method of compressing text and graphic images for storage on a computer memory device. The first step of the invention is the importation of a TIFF or EPS file to be compressed into a conversion program where it is converted to a JPEG or PICT filt type. The next step is to import the converted file into a basic authoring program that is written to allow importation of JPEG or PICT files. Once the file has been inserted into the authoring program, a standard compressor is selected and used to perform compression, such compressors being preferably "CINEPAK" of JPEG. Once the file-images have been compressed to a level desired, the images are then stored or fixed or transmitted in their compressed form in their new file-type. The next step is the decompression of the file-images and the viewing thereof. When the compressed file is selected for viewing, a decompression and conversion program is run to decompress the file and convert it back into its original file-type, TIFF or EPS, at which time, it may be processed by an OCR program.

The present invention is directed to a method of using software for compressing graphic images in order that these graphic images may be stored in a substantially enhanced compressed mode on a computer memory. The present invention has especial use in all areas of archiving, such as banks, libraries, insurance companies, and the like, where the prodigious amount of data generated has hithertofore precluded, or made difficult, the transferrance of the physical copies to digital data for storage on a computer memory device. Presently, for example, in the banking industry, the records of al transactions, checks, and the like, are presently stored on microfiche, which is a costly and time-consuming operation, and which, also, requires considerable time in actual use when a check or a transaction is required to be located. Because current computer compression techniques are not capable of compressing data to a degree necessary for storing such prodigious amounts of information, computer-storage of these files has not been implemented to any great degree.
The technological process of the invention involves converting certain text and image file-types, which hitherto have been difficult or impossible to compress, into file-types that can be compressed using standard compression techniques. Thereafter, these compressed files may be decompressed and converted back into their original form for viewing, or converted into a special file-format.
Images are usually imported into computer programs by means of scanners and databases. These data-bases are in either TIFF (Tag Image File Format) or EPS (Encapsulated PostScript Language) format. TIFF files are usually text files stored as a 1 or 2-bit, B&W file. This is a file format frequently used for fax-transmissions and scanning-applications to store or send images as bit maps in various sizes, resolutions, or color depths. It is considered a low-quality, imaging file-type as compared to other file-types available. It's popularity and subsequent broad utilization, however, has been attributed to its versatile file-architecture, which stores information in "tagged fields." This allows application programs to use these "tags" by accepting or ignoring fields within the file, depending on the program's capabilities, and, is, therefore, easily adapted for use by standard faxing or scanning equipment. Presently, TIFF files can be compressed to a lower file size only using the patented LZW compression algorithm (after Lempel-Ziv and Welch, the inventors), as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,302. This compression-algorithm uses the Unix compress-command to reduce the size of files, e.g. for archival or transmission. There are several variants of Lempel-Zev compression schemes, which include LZ77, LZ78, LZSS, LZFG, LZB and LZH (after Lempel-Ziv and Haruyasu, the inventors), for example. While there are several compression-schemes available to reduce TIFF file size, the most popular include LZW, LZW with prediction, Pack Bits (RLE), CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone consultative Committee Study Group) -Level 3, and -Level 4. In each of these processes, however, the deterioration of the subsequent decompressed file is quite noticeable, and, in certain circumstances, the compression ratios of the file-reduction is minimal as compared to the compression ratios of the present invention.
EPS file-formats are extremely high-quality image files used predominantly in the Desktop Publishing Industry. This file-type uses a combination of Post-Script commands and TIFF or PICT formats. PICT files, developed by Apple Computer in 1984, are encoded in "QUICKDRAW" commands, and can hold both object-oriented images and bit-mapped images. Due to the large amount of information relating to the image characteristics, i.e., size, resolution, brightness, color depth, etc., compression-algorithms available for this file-type are presently limited.

Software method of compressing text and graphic images for storage on computer memory


An apparatus and method for recommending a schedule of events to a user is disclosed. In the preferred embodiment of the system and method, each channel schedule is broken down into time slices. A novel fuzzy-now recommendation-time value is calculated for each time slice. This fuzzy-now recommendation-time value is a two dimensional value measured in units of recommendation-time, or “enjoyment minutes”. By means of the calculated fuzzy-now recommendation-time values, recommended schedules may be generated using a wide variety of selection methods.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to media entertainment systems which use Electronic Program Guides (EPGs), and, more specifically, to a system and method of generating, for a particular time period, a suggested schedule of media presentations.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) provides a visual display of media programming schedule information. Such media programming includes, but is not limited to, television shows (cable or broadcast), radio shows, and Webcasts (multicasts over the Internet). Typically, the media programming displayed is shown in real-time, i.e. the scheduling information shown is taking place currently or in the near future.
An exemplary EPG Graphical User Interface (GUI) is shown in FIG. 1. A timeline broken down into half-hour blocks is at reference numeral 101, and the programming for five different channels or stations is shown as horizontal strips at reference numerals 111–115. The user may use an input/ouput (I/O) device to select a particular block in order to see more information regarding the event (i.e., a discrete item of media presentation on a channel, such as a TV or radio show) indicated by that block. In FIG. 1, block 120 has been selected, as shown by its darker outline. Because it has been selected, descriptive information concerning the event in block 120 is shown at the top of the GUI at reference numeral 130. Preview display 130 may contain images and video as well as text to describe the event. The GUI in FIG. 1 only shows one segment of the programming schedule: specifically, the events on channels (or stations or websites) 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 from time 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. In order to see other channels, the user may scroll up or down using the vertical scroll bar 140 and, in order to see different times, the user may scroll forward in time or backward in time using horizontal scroll bar 150.
The EPG GUI has been described independently of any particular medium or output device because the concept of an EPG GUI is likewise independent of any particular medium or display device. However, a block diagram of the relevant functional modules in a conventional media entertainment system that employs an EPG GUI will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. A media source 210 provides content through communication means 215. Examples of a media source include, but are not limited to, a cable TV (CATV) system, a broadcast television system, the Internet, or a storage/playback device (VCR, DVD player, CD-ROM player, a hard drive, a solid-state memory storage unit, etc.). Each media source may have many channels or just one channel. Although communication means 215 is shown as a system bus in FIG. 2, it is merely for ease of presentation and does not represent the actual implementation of communication means 215. The system bus representation may describe one embodiment, where the different units are connected by a local area network (LAN). However, in other embodiments, there might be point-to-point connections between elements (with no shared broadcast medium) or a combination of separate networked and point-to-point connections. For example, a CATV system (Media Source 210) may have a point-to-point connection by coaxial cable with Receiver/Tuner 220 ("point-to-point" from the viewpoint of the individual Receiver/Tuner 220, not the viewpoint of the CATV system), whereas Receiver/Tuner 220, Controller 230, and output means 250 may all be connected by the interior wiring of a TV set. Examples of the one or more connections making up the communication means 215 include, but are not limited to, coaxial cable, terrestrial RF transmission, optical fiber, satellite microwave transmission, telephone network, local area network (LAN), etc. For purposes of this block diagram, media source 210 may comprise multiple media sources and the communication means 215 may comprise multiple communication means.
Receiver/Tuner 220 receives the media content by communication means 215 and transmits one or more channels to output means 250. Examples of a receiver/tuner include, but are not limited to, a stereo AM/FM receiver, a television UHF/VHF broadcast receiver embedded in a television set, a set-top box (STB) attached to a CATV cable line, a web browser, etc. A web browser is appropriate in this context because a web browser "tunes in" a particular URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to receive media content, such as streaming real-time video. Furthermore, a web browser may be implemented in a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a mobile terminal (e.g. a WAP-enabled cellular telephone), or any device with a network connection and a processor. A channel may be a "web channel" or the output of a television station, a radio station, or a computer server. Examples of output content on a channel include, but are not limited to, shows, movies, real-time audio/video feed, news text, graphics, images, etc. Examples of output means include, but are not limited to, a television monitor, a stereo speaker system, a holographic display, a screen on a PDA or mobile device, etc.
A controller 230 controls receiver/tuner 220 to select channels to be output on output means 250 and may control other components in FIG. 2, depending on the particular system involved. Controller 230 may comprise one or more processors, may be integrated with receiver/tuner 220, and may be able to perform the steps of a program. Such a program may be stored in Storage 280 or embedded in the controller itself (e.g. the controller is an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip). Storage 280 is in FIG. 2 for ease of description, and does not necessarily represent hardware. Because controller 230 may require different items stored, such as BIOS, programs, and data, Storage 280 is in FIG. 2 to symbolically represent the one or more locations where these items are stored. Storage 280 may be located remotely (e.g., near Media Source 210), locally (near output means 250), or broken up and distributed both locally and remotely. Storage 280 may be solid-state (SDRAM, flash memory, etc.), magnetic (hard drive, tape, etc.), or optic (CD-ROM, DVD, etc.) memory.
A Scheduling Information Source 260 provides scheduling information for the EPG that is generated for output means 250. In practice, the Scheduling Information Source 260 may be integral with the Media Source 210, e.g., scheduling data may be sent along with the channels in the form of an additional channel or as data multiplexed with individual channels. However, the Scheduling Information Source 260 may be a stand-alone server on the Internet or plugged into a CATV system. By contrast, the Scheduling Information Source 260 may also be multiple distributed information sources or downloaded locally from a portable storage means, such as a floppy disk. The scheduling information that is sent from the Scheduling Information Source 260 may be formatted for output on the output means 250, or may be unformatted, in which case the controller 230 would oversee the formatting of the scheduling information. Furthermore, the scheduling information may be continually broadcast or downloaded using a request/reply protocol, where the controller would request particular scheduling information as the occasion arose and the Scheduling Information Source 260 would reply with that particular scheduling information. Such a protocol might be used if the Scheduling Information Source 260 is implemented as multiple distributed information sources.
User Profile(s) Storage 270 stores records for one or more users who use output means 250. Each user profile record contains preference information regarding one or more users. Examples of preference information include, but are not limited to, preferred genre (e.g., horror, romance, westerns, etc.), preferred actor(s), preferred sports teams(s), scheduling information not to be shown (e.g., a parent might restrict a child's EPG not to show the schedules of R-rated material), preferred shows, relative standings of preferred shows, and preferred keywords (e.g., for words that show up in the descriptive information). These preferences may be entered manually by the one or more users or compiled over time by monitoring the one or more users. The User Profile(s) Storage 270 may be stored locally or remotely.
The functional module description of FIG. 2 effectively encompasses the wide variety of media presentation implementations to which the present invention is directed. As an example, the functional module description can equally be applied to an embodiment comprised of a television set connected to a CATV system, an embodiment comprised of a digital radio receiver attached to a satellite dish, and an embodiment comprised of a PC connected to the Internet, as well as a variety of other embodiments.
One improvement to this type of media system is the addition of Recommendation System 290, which suggest different channel events to the user. Recommendation System 290 may base its recommendations on generic recommendations (for any audience), such as the "Best Bets" of a newspaper, or on specific recommendations for a group or individual. Recommendation System 290 may be implemented locally, e.g., as a program run through Controller 230, or remotely, e.g. as a function performed at Media Source 210. Specific recommendations made to groups or individuals by Recommendation System 290 may be based on individual or group user preferences (either determined by preference monitoring or by direct preference input of the user or group). Exemplary recommendation values for different events on different channels are shown in Table 1. As an example, the event E3 on channel 32, which is scheduled for transmission from 9:00 to 9:30, has a recommendation value of 60 out of 100. The event in the 7:30–8:00 time slot that would be recommended to a user is event E1 on channel 44 because it has the highest recommendation value (69).
TABLE 1Recommendation ValuesChannelEventScheduled TimeRecommendation Value32E17:30–8:0025E28:00–9:0050E39:00–9:3060E4 9:30–10:0027E510:00–11:007144E17:30–8:0069E28:00–9:0050E3 9:00–11:305978E17:30–8:0010E28:00–9:0040E39:00–9:3083E4 9:30–10:0050E510:00–11:0066
One recommendation system is described in a patent application entitled THREE-WAY MEDIA RECOMMENDATION METHOD AND SYSTEM (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/627,139), which is hereby incorporated by reference. In that system, a preference engine and processing system is used to combine three different profiles in order to generate recommendation values for each event. The three different profiles are an explicit rule profile, a feedback profile (preferences indicated by user), and a history profile (preferences indicated by past viewing history). The explicit profile can make stand-alone recommendations or be used to modify recommendations generated from the other profiles. Suitable mathematical forms are used to appropriately weigh different factors and/or profile recommendations.
The output of conventional recommendation systems is a one-dimensional value that does not change over time. In other words, the recommendation value of an event does not change before, during, or after the broadcast of the event. This is shown graphically in FIGS. 3A–3C where the recommendation values REx for the events Ex in Table 1 are charted over time. In order to add more functionality to recommendation systems, as disclosed in the patent application entitled RECOMMENDER SYSTEM USING "FUZZY-NOW" FOR REAL-TIME EVENTS (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/730,676), which is hereby incorporated by reference, a Fuzzy-Now Function Module 295 is added.
The fuzzy-now function yields a weighting factor to be applied to current viewing recommendations. Because the function is based on time, the fuzzy-now function typically varies over time and that variation is typically related to the starting and ending times for an event. An exemplary and simple fuzzy-now function for an event is shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, there is an event occurring over time period (tend–tstart) with a starting time of tstart and an ending time of tend. There is also a waiting starting time of twait—start, which is determined by subtracting threshold time tthreshold from the tstart of the event. The fuzzy-now function in FIG. 4 produces a weighting factor w for the event over time, with, for example, 1 being the most preferred and 0 being not preferred at all. In one aspect, the fuzzy-now function might be considered to represent the answer to the question: "how enjoyable is this program if I start watching it (or start waiting for it) now?". The assumption behind the fuzzy-now function of FIG. 4 is that the user prefers to see the start of an event and his or her interest wanes from that point onward, as indicated by slope 403. Slope 402 indicates the user's willingness to wait before the event begins. If it is before the waiting start time twait—start, the user is not willing to wait at all. After waiting start time twait—start, the user is increasingly willing to wait as the amount of remaining waiting time decreases. Another simple fuzzy-now function might have a plateau in slope 403 to indicate a continued and constant enjoyment level.
This is a simple fuzzy-now function because it merely has straight line slopes connecting key times of the event (the key times being f(tstart)=1, f(tend)=0, and f(twait—start)=0). There may be far more complex fuzzy-now functions based on different assumptions. For example, the user may enjoy the final Jeopardy round of the Jeopardy television show more than the other Jeopardy rounds. Because the final Jeopardy round occurs roughly five minutes before the end, the peak of the fuzzy-now function for Jeopardy may occur there, rather than tstart. In the same vein, the user may be more interested in watching the end of sports events or the final climax of a movie rather than the beginning.
FIGS. 5A–5C show more complex fuzzy-now weighted functions w=fw(Ex) for the same events Ex on the same channels and the same particular time period as FIGS. 3A–3C. It is unlikely that there would be as wide a disparity between fuzzy-now functions as is shown between the individual fuzzy-now functions in FIGS. 5A–5C; however, the variety of shapes makes it easier to understand the process. Furthermore, for convenience, the weighted functions in FIGS. 5A–5C only apply to the time period between the start time and the end time of the event, and not the waiting time before the event starts (tstart−tthreshold=twait—start in FIG. 4).
As an example of a more complex fuzzy-now function, event E1 on channel 32 between 7:30 and 8:00 in FIG. 5A has a fuzzy-now weighted function fw(E1) which shows increasing interest for the first 15 minutes of the event (510), and then a sustained plateau of interest during the last 15 minutes of the event (520). As another example, in FIG. 5B, event E2 on channel 44 between 8:00 and 9:00 has a fuzzy-now weighted function fw(E2) with a slowly decreasing interest curve 540. Because it is used to weight the recommendation values, the fuzzy-now function w=fw(Ex) varies between 0 and 1 (as shown by the y-axis in FIGS. 5A–5C) so that events will only have their total recommendation value when the fuzzy-now function is highest (w=1) and will have no recommendation value when the fuzzy-now function is lowest (w=0).
Lastly, FIGS. 6A–6C show the final recommendation functions fR(Ex)=fw(Ex)※REx for each event on each channel of Table 1 and FIGS. 3 and 5. The recommendation function fR(Ex) (FIG. 6) of an event Ex is calculated by applying (i.e., multiplying) the weighted fuzzy-now function fw(Ex) (FIG. 5) for that event Ex to the recommendation value REx (FIG. 3) of that event Ex. For example, in FIG. 6A, the recommendation function fR(E1) 625 of event E1 on channel between 7:30 and 8:00 equals the recommendation value RE1=25 (301 in FIG. 3A) multiplied by the fuzzy-now function fw(E1) (501 in FIG. 5A). Thus, although the last fifteen minutes of event E1 on channel 32 show the greatest amount of interest (520 in FIG. 5A), the recommendation value for E1 is only 25 (301 in FIG. 3A), so those fifteen minutes have a final recommendation function value of 25 (625 in FIG. 6A).
As discussed above, these values and functions fR(Ex), fw(Ex), and REx may be reached in a myriad of ways: monitoring the user, receiving best bets from a media source, tracking interest over time, etc. In the discussion of the present invention below, the exact manner of generating the specific values and functions is not limited or defined in any way so that the present invention applies to any system or method of generating the specific values and functions fR(Ex), fw(Ex), and REx.
The fuzzy-now recommender system, as disclosed in RECOMMENDER SYSTEM USING "FUZZY-NOW" FOR REAL-TIME EVENTS (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/730,676), relates the instantaneous recommendation values for all roughly contemporaneous events to the current time in order to determine the user's immediate preferences. In other words, although a time-varying function is used to calculate the recommendation values, only one-dimensional instantaneous values are used to make recommendations. A simple example of this is shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 7 shows the recommendation functions fR(Ex) of the events on five particular channels (6, 12, 17, 25, and 30) as they change over time. For convenience, it is assumed certain time periods on certain channels have no events. For instance, there are no events from 8:30 to 9:30 on channel 6, 9:00 to 10:00 on channel 12, 9:30 to 10:00 on channels 17 and 25, and 8:30 to 9:00 on channel 30. In reality, there would be events during these time periods, and the recommendation values of those events would overlap with the recommendation values of the succeeding or preceding event on the same channel, which would lead to a confusing graph.
A user, at time 8:53 p.m., indicated by line 710 in FIG. 7, asks the fuzzy-now recommendation system to supply him with recommendations. At the time of the request 710, the recommendation values for the event on channel 12 is 0.225; the event on channel 17 is 0.375; the event on channel 25, 0.38; and the event on channel 30, 0.05. The fizzy-now recommendation system would recommend the event on channel 25 because it has the highest current recommendation value (0.38).
However, this recommendation is best seen as a local recommendation, but not necessarily a global recommendation. In other words, although the event on channel 25 is the best recommendation at the instantaneous point 710 in time, this may change over time. In fact, in FIG. 7, the event on channel 25 maintains roughly the same recommendation value and then decreases over the next 47 minutes, whereas the event on channel 17 rapidly increases its recommendation value far above the event on channel 25 and remains higher for the remainder of the next 47 minutes. A global recommendation may be for the event on channel 17 rather than channel 25, regardless of the exact instantaneous recommendation value.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method which can use the fuzzy-now recommendation functions to generate global recommendations. Such a fuzzy-now recommendation system would take into account future events, and how the recommendation values of events change subsequent to the current time. Because such a fuzzy-now recommendation would provide global recommendations, it would be uniquely suited for generating recommended schedules for users.


A method of synthesizing single diamond crystals using a carbon source containing at least 99.9 atomic % carbon-12. This is accomplished by graphitizing carbon-12 to form a highly crystalline material which can be used as a carbon source in an ultra high pressure creating apparatus to produce single diamond crystals by means of a temperature difference process.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of synthesizing single diamond crystals of high thermal conductivity and having at least 99.9 atomic % carbon-12. The method involves graphitizing amorphous carbon of at least 99.9 atomic % carbon-12 to form a highly crystalline carbon which can then be submitted to high temperature and pressure in a temperature difference process to form synthetic single diamond crystals.
2. Description of Related Art
Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of all known materials and because of this property, diamond is commonly used as a heat sink in high power lasers or as a window material in CO.sub.2 lasers, both of which require good heat conduction.
However, carbon which is the constituent element of diamond inherently contains approximately 1.1 atomic % of an isotope with mass number 13, so the thermal conductivity of naturally occurring diamond is lower than that of the ideal one which is solely composed of carbon atoms having mass number 12 exhibiting a value of only approximately 20 W/cm.multidot.K at room temperature. If a perfect diamond composed solely of carbon atoms having mass number 12 were produced, it is supposed that it would exhibit a thermal conductivity of at least 50 W/cm.multidot.K. (See Diamond Research pages 7-13 (1976)).
It is known that diamond can be synthesized by subjecting a carbon source and a metal solvent to ultra high pressure and high temperature conditions wherein diamond is thermodynamically stable. A temperature difference process is a synthesis method of choice that can produce large and excellent diamond crystals.
The general layout of a sample cell used in the practice of this method is shown in FIG. 4. The sample cell in an ultra high pressure apparatus contains a carbon source 1 and a diamond seed crystal 2 between which a metal solvent 3 such as Fe, Ni or Co is held. While an ultra high pressure is exerted via a pressure medium 5, a heater 4 is activated to create a temperature difference of several tens of degrees in Celsius between a hotter portion of the carbon source 1 and a cooler portion of the seed crystal 2. The carbon dissolved in the metal solvent 3 is transported to the cooler portion and subjected to pressure and temperature conditions where diamond is thermodynamically stable. By this means, single diamond crystals are grown on the seed crystal 2 supported on a seed bed 6.
In order to insure that single diamond crystals of high thermal conductivity that are solely composed of carbon atoms with mass number 12 can be synthesized by the temperature difference process and other methods of diamond synthesis, carbon with mass number 12 must be used as a carbon source.
Carbon with mass number 12 is conventionally produced by a process that comprises separating the desired carbon from carbon monoxide or methane gas by mass separation and then carbonizing the separated carbon. The purity of the product is approximately 99.9-99.99 atomic %. However, the carbon with mass number 12 that is obtained by this process is amorphous with low crystallinity and consists of fine grains.
Attempts have already been made to synthesize a diamond of high thermal conductivity using as a carbon source said amorphous carbon containing at least 99.9 atomic % of carbon having a mass number 12. However, the crystals grown by using amorphous carbon contain more metal inclusions and irregular shape crystals than crystals grown from natural and artificial graphites that have higher degrees of crystallinity at the same grain size. Thus, it is difficult to obtain satisfactory crystals with the amorphous carbon. A probable explanation for this phenomenon would be that the low crystallinity of the carbon source affects the rate of its dissolution into the metal solvent and makes it impossible for the carbon to be transported at an appropriate speed. Another problem with the amorphous carbon is that it easily adsorbs various impurity gases that will contaminate the atmosphere of diamond synthesis.
A compacted carbon disk or compact is conventionally used as the carbon source but the particles of the amorphous carbon containing at least 99.9 atomic % of carbon with mass number 12 are so small that the density of the compact can only be increased to approximately 1.1 g/cm.sup.3 which is about one half the density of the compact of a natural graphite powder (2.0 g/cm.sup.3). As a consequence, the compact placed under ultra high pressure diamond synthesis conditions has a smaller thickness than that of a compact made from ordinary graphite powder. This causes smaller thickness variations in the temperature profile not only in the direction in which carbon is dissolved but also in its transport direction. These variations in the temperature profile make it impossible to achieve an appropriate speed of carbon transport and, hence, satisfactory diamond crystals (as were achieved in the case described above) cannot be obtained. Further, this low density compact requires an excessively large applied load in order to generate pressure of at least 55 Kb necessary to produce a stable diamond. This shortens the life of synthesis equipment and increases the cost of diamond production.

Method of synthesizing single diamond crystals of high thermal conductivity


An audio data synthesis method including a time of a plurality of audio data is adjusted without using a device which can acquire the standard time. Specifically, audio data is obtained based on synchronized recording of the first and second recorders without using standard time. A time difference is calculated between an own terminal and another terminal, based on the time at which output of a first sound from the audio output module is started, a time at which input of a sound corresponding to the audio data to the audio input module is started, a time indicated by the first information, and a time indicated by the second information. Second and third audio data is synthesized after a time difference between the second and third audio data based on the third sound which is input to the audio input module is adjusted, based on the time difference.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology of synthesizing a plurality of pieces of audio data.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-218487, filed on Oct. 21, 2013, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
IC recorders which record audio information for preparing the minutes of interviews and meetings have been known. The IC recorders include microphones, and are capable of recording the audio information as digital audio data. The audio data recorded by the IC recorders can be reproduced by electronic devices such as personal computers.
Meanwhile, the IC recorders have been used in a variety of applications such as recording of sounds generated in nature, for example, sounds of wind and waterfalls, and chirp of insects, recording of engine sounds played in motor sports, air shows, and the like, and recording of music sounds generated in concerts and by musical instruments being practiced, as well as in business applications. When the IC recorders are mainly used for hobbies as described above, high-quality recording capable of achieving sound localization, that is, a sensation of three-dimensional spatial sounds is desired.
In the above case, it is preferable to perform stereo recording. In the stereo recording, recording is performed in a state in which two microphones are installed while being apart by a suitable distance. However, there are many cases of troublesome treatment such as handling of microphone cables. If a wireless connection is used instead of using the cables, there is no need to handle and install the cables, but it is difficult to synchronize two microphones.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-193868 discloses a synchronization method of audio data which is transmitted from a transmission device to a plurality of output devices. In this method, the times of respective devices are synchronized with a reference time, and a time at which audio data is output from the output devices is determined, based on a time at which the transmission device makes a request of timestamps to the output devices and a time at which the transmission device receives responses from the output devices.

Audio data synthesis method, audio output method, and program for synthesizing audio data based on a time difference


A face recognition apparatus and method using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) learning per subgroup, the face recognition apparatus includes: a learning unit which performs Principal Component Analysis (PCA) learning on each of a plurality of subgroups constituting a training data set, and then performs Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) learning on the training data set, thereby generating a PCA-based LDA (PCLDA) basis vector set of each subgroup; a feature vector extraction unit which projects a PCLDA basis vector set of each subgroup to an input image and extracts a feature vector set of the input image with respect to each subgroup; a feature vector storing unit which projects a PCLDA basis vector set of each subgroup to each of a plurality of face images to be registered, thereby generating a feature vector set of each registered image with respect to each subgroup, and storing the feature vector set in a database; and a similarity calculation unit which calculates a similarity between the input image and each registered image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to face recognition, and more particularly, to a Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) based face recognition apparatus and method using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) learning per subgroup.
2. Description of the Related Art
Face recognition is used to identify at least one person whose face is present in a still or moving picture using a given face database (DB). Since face image data greatly changes according to a person's pose or illumination, it is difficult to classify pose data or illumination data with respect to the same identity into the same class. Accordingly, a high-accuracy classification method is required. Usually, PCA and LDA which are sub-space analysis methods and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are used as an algorithm for a classification operation. A classification method using SVM has been highlighted due to excellent recognition performance. However, since a face image has several hundreds of bytes computation within the SVM is complicated, and complexity is high. Moreover, since binary decision is used, the method using the SVM cannot be used for large-capacity face recognition. Alternatively, when a sub-space analysis method is used, a size of a face image can be reduced from several hundreds of bytes to several tens of bits. Thus, complexity can be decreased. Among sub-space analysis methods, PCA is an unsupervised learning algorithm and provides satisfactory recognition performance compared to internal complexity, and thus is widely spread in a field of initial face recognition. LDA is a method for distinctly discriminating groups indicating different identities. The LDA uses a transform matrix which maximizes a variance between images included in different groups and minimizes a variance between images included in the same group. The LDA is described in detail in "Introduction to Statistical Pattern Recognition" [Fukunaga, K. Academic Press, 2nd ed., 1990].
Recently, PCA-based LDA (referred to as PCLDA) has been developed. The PCLDA is a supervised learning algorithm and has advantages of sub-space analysis and as high recognition performance as the SVM, and therefore, the PCLDA is widely used for face recognition. The PCLDA is described in detail by P. N. Belhumeur, J. P. Hespanha, and D. J. Kriegman ["Eigenface vs. Fisher Faces: Recognition Using Class Specific Linear Projection", IEEE Trans. PAMI, Vol. 19, No. 7, pp. 711-720, July, 1997].
However, the above-described conventional methods have the following problems. Firstly, to increase recognition performance, a large capacity of a training data set is constructed and used. Since it is difficult to obtain a large capacity of a training data set, data sets having different characteristics are mixed. In this situation, specific characteristics of the data sets cannot be properly reflected in a learning process, which may deteriorate performance.
Secondly, in designing a face recognition system using a conventional method, a learned basis vector expresses only current characteristics of a data set during a learning process but does not properly express characteristics and features of a place where the face recognition system is actually installed and used. For example, face images photographed under normal illumination are usually used in a leaning process when face recognition systems are designed. However, since the face recognition systems are usually used at the common front doors of apartment buildings or the entrances of office rooms, illumination conditions of installation places are different from those used to obtain the face images for the leaning process. To obtain the face images for the leaning process under the same illumination conditions as the actual illumination conditions, a large amount of equipment investment is required. To overcome this problem, a method of performing a learning process using face images directly obtained at an installation place may be used. However, when a face recognition system is installed at a place such as a personal house where users are not many, it is difficult to obtain learning data of a satisfactory level. Even though users' face images are collected at such place, due to a small number of users, conventional learning methods may not be used.
To overcome the above problems, local face images, which are directly registered by users at an actual installation place of a face recognition system, and global face images, which are registered in the face recognition system in advance under a situation covering most of various environments, may be used together. In this case, a face recognition system may provide reliable performance even when a small number of users exist. However, since the number of global face images is usually greater than the number of local face images or the global face images have more characteristics than the local face images, the problem firstly mentioned in the above description occurs. As a result, a face recognition system cannot be optimized to an installation place.

Face recognition apparatus and method using PCA learning per subgroup


The present invention describes a method and apparatus for the detection and measurement of surface imperfections within a predetermined size range, contained on the surface of a machined cast metal component. The invention provides a novel illumination and image acquisition technique that allows the inspection of large cast machined surfaces without movement of the component, sensor or illumination system during acquisition of an image. The invention allows for the inspection of large surfaces on objects up to 1,000 mm×650 mm in size. The inspection field of view can be divided in multiple regions, defined by computer aided design (CAD) model data. Each of these regions may apply a unique set of inspection criteria used for disposition of the component. Inspection regions generated using CAD drawings indicate exact position of features with respect to the manufacturing datum located on the surface and viewable as part of the acquired image.

The author of this invention has worked in the field of machine vision inspection for over 15 years. There have been many advancements in the field of machine vision during the past ten years, in particular the speed at which the image processing algorithms can process the information. There have also been advances in the resolution of the sensor (CCD and CMOS) used to acquire the images of objects under inspection. Industry, in particular the aerospace and automotive industries have long desired a robust method for the detection of surface porosity. Small pores or holes that appear on the surface of a machined metal component divulge the evidence of porosity.
There are three types of porosity produced from different root causes. The term "Gas Porosity" refers to hydrogen gas within a casting. Molten aluminum has such an affinity for hydrogen that it will disassociate it from other molecules, such as water and form a solution with it. As with most solutions, as the temperature drops the hydrogen becomes less soluble and precipitates as hydrogen gas. The greater the amount of hydrogen in the molten aluminum and the slower it solidifies the greater the hydrogen voids will be. These voids are generally smooth, round or slightly elongated and may be somewhat localized to the areas of the casting that solidify last. This type of porosity is generally undetectable visually since the surface of the casting solidifies quickest preventing the hydrogen from forming holes large enough to be visible on the surface except by using fluorescent penetrant inspection. However, after the removal of material from the surface of the casting by a machining operation the porosity generally becomes visible.
The term "Gas Holes" refers to generally large and more localized voids than gas porosity but they retain the smooth, round or slightly elongated shape. They are usually caused by reaction in the mold media producing gas that will bubble through the molten metal. This type of porosity is generally appears as larger voids on the surface of castings after machining operations.
The term "Shrinkage Porosity" refers to a type of porosity that has a rough irregular shape. It is caused by a lack of adequate feed metal during solidification. This type of porosity is extreme and is observed as variations in the casting shape or voids in the surface.
The detection methods used for porosity depend on the type of porosity. If the only concern is porosity exposed on the surface of a casting then limits can be set for the maximum allowable size. Visual inspection standards are assigned and human inspection is the preferred technique. However, if internal porosity is the major concern, then radiography (x-ray inspection) is the most common detection method. There are other inspection technologies that can be used for the detection of internal flaws they include Eddy Current Inspection, Fluorescent (Dye) Penetrant Inspection, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) Imaging. All of before mentioned techniques are usually applied in an area removed from the production environment, these are referred to as Off-Line inspection techniques.
The majority of "In-Process" or "On-Line" inspections for porosity related defects are normally performed by qualified human inspectors. The inspection tasks can be very difficult because of complex inspection specifications written to handle the wide variation of porosity characteristics. The size of the porosity is the primary characteristic. Any occurrence of porosity larger than a specified diameter (or dimension) constitutes a defective condition. The occurrence of two or more smaller defects within a specified proximity to each other also constitutes a defective condition. If more than a specified number of porosity defects appear on the entire component this constitutes as defective condition. If the density of smaller dimension porosity that are not considered a defective condition individually but are present as a cluster (small proximity as specified in the specification) then this condition will constitute a defective condition. The number of conditions constituting a defective condition can be considered an overwhelming task of the human inspector and often results in acceptable product being rejected as "bad" or defective product being accepted as "good".
The specification of porosity limits for commercial castings may use MIL-STD-2175, ASTM B26, Aluminum Association's AA-CS-M Series, ASTM E155 (Radiometric) or the inspection or engineering specifications of the individual customer. Most engineering porosity inspection specifications have been written for human inspection. There is currently a realization by engineering and inspection departments that the specifications must be revised to take advantage of the developing automated machine vision inspection technology described in this present invention.
The configuration and position of the essential components with respect to each other is very important to the functionality of the present invention. The location of the illumination system with respect to the image sensor is critical, and will determine the type and size of imperfections that can be detected. The resolution of the image sensor is an important factor in ability of the invention to reliably isolated imperfections (such as porosity) from background information. The capability of the present invention improves with the use of larger the image sensors and the number of picture elements (Pixels) implemented in the sensors. The current technology implements image sensors that range in size from 640 (Horizontal)×480 (Vertical) to 4000 (Horizontal)×4000 (Vertical) pixels. The resolving capability of the invention will improve as a function of increasing the number of available pixels in the acquisition device. When viewing objects that are rectangular in shape the present invention implements a sensor with format that closely mirrors the shape of the object, such as a sensor with a pixel resolution of 3,500 (H)×2,600 (V).
The defect detection can be estimated using the simple formula
      Feature                          Resolution                                (              mm        /        pixel            )        =                                                                        Observed                                                                                field                                                                                of                                                                                view                                                                                (                              FOV                                                                                in                                                                                mm                            )                                                  Sensor                                                  Resolution                                                            (                      #                                                                          pixels                    )                                                          =          Length                                              Dimension        /                  pixel          .                    Where smaller Feature Resolution values provide better detection of imperfections.
The typical implementation technique requires that imperfections must be larger than a single pixel. Image noise and background variations often generate information that is a single pixel in size and should be eliminated with filtering techniques used in the image processing system. A typical inspection can isolate imperfections with a diameter of 400 μm in a 500 mm FOV when using an 8-megapixel sensor. Higher resolution sensors can isolate even smaller imperfections. Another important factor in proper selection of sensor technology is the grayscale resolution, or depth of the image. The depth of the image is referenced in the number bits, the greater the number of bits the greater the signal to noise ratio of the image. A sensor with 8-bit grayscale resolution is capable of discerning 256 levels of gray information, 28=256. An image sensor with 14-bit grayscale resolution is capable of identifying 16,384 unique levels of grayscale information. This is extremely important if you consider that the lowest two or three bits of the information as being subject to noise. In an 8-bit image, the lowest three bits correlates into 3.125% of the sensor's range. The lowest three bits of a 14-bit image is approximately 0.049% of the sensor's range. As future improvements of image sensor technology materialize the spatial resolution capabilities of the present invention will also improve.
The present invention provides a method and device that can perform the visual inspection of machined metal components for surface porosity defectives. The invention offers the unique capability of isolating surface porosity on all surfaces that are visible to an electronic imaging system and accurately measuring the size (dimensions) of the porosity defects. The individual measurements can then be applied to the one or more inspection criteria as set forth in an inspection specification. Furthermore, the present invention provides 100% inspection capability so that it can be applied on-line in the production environment maintaining a specified quality level of out-going product.

Surface inspection technology for the detection of porosity and surface imperfections on machined metal surfaces


The invention features primers capable of distinguishing between highly toxic and minimally toxic strains of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, methods of detecting the presence of highly toxic and minimally toxic strains of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans in samples obtained from a patient and kits for detection of the presence of highly toxic and minimally toxic strains of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans in samples obtained from a patient.

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (A.a.) is a nonenteric gram negative bacterium which is associated with a variety of infectious disease processes including endocarditis, subcutaneous abscesses, and several forms of periodontal disease (Block et al., 1973, A, J, Med. Sci. 276:387-392; Page et al., 1966, N. Engl. J. Med. 275:181-188; Zambon, 1985, J. Clin. Periodontal. 12:1-20; Zambon et al., 1983, Infect. Immun. 41:19-27). Juvenile periodontitis is an oral disease which afflicts adolescents and pre-teens and is caused by A.a. Symptoms include inflammation of the gingiva and destruction of the tissues supporting the teeth.
A.a. produces a variety of potential virulence factors including a proteinaceous leukotoxin (Kraig et al., 1990, Infect. Immun. 58:920-929; Lally et al., 1991, Microb. Pathog. 111-121) which is a member of the RTX (repeats-in-toxin) family of bacterial cytolysins (Welch, 1991, Mol. Microbiol.5:521-528). A.a. leukotoxin exhibits a unique cytolytic specificity in that it destroys human polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages, but does not lyse other types of cells, for example, epithelial and endothelial cells, fibroblasts, erythrocytes and platelets (Baehni et al., 1981, Arch. Oral Biol. 27:671-676; Taichman et al., 1980, Infect. Immun. 28:258-278; Taichman et al., 1984, J. Period. Res. 19:133-145; Taichman et al., 1987, Oral Microbiol. Immun. 2:97-104).
The A.a. leukotoxin is expressed from an operon comprising four genes designated 1txC, 1txA, 1txB, and 1txD. The structural gene encoding the A.a leukotoxin (1txA), encodes a 116 kDa peptide which is approximately 40 and 50% identical to the Escherichia coli alpha-hemolysin and Pasteurella haemolytica leukotoxin (Kraig et al., 1990, Infect. Immun. 58:920-929; Lally et al., 1989, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 159:256-272). The structure of the actual A.a. leukotoxin is similar to other RTX toxins based upon DNA sequence homology and on similarities in the mechanism of action of this class of toxins (Felmlee et al., 1985, J. Bacteriol. 163:94-105; Felmlee et al., 1988, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:5279-5273; Ludwig et al., 1988, Mol. Gen. Genet. 214:553-561; Ludwig et al., 1987, Mol. Gen. Genet. 206:238-245). However, the A.a. leukotoxin differs from other RTX toxins in that it is not secreted from the bacterial cell (Lally et al., 1991, Microb. Pathog. 11:111-121). The products of the three remaining 1x genes, 1txB, 1txC and 1txD, are believed to be required for activation and transport of the leukotoxin in the cell.
At least two mRNAs are transcribed from the 1txCABD gene cluster (Spitznagel et al., 1991, Infect. Immun. 59:1394-1401). A predominant mRNA of 3.8 kb encodes 1txC and 1txA, and a less abundant mRNA of 8 kb encoding 1txCABD results when transcription fails to terminate at a rho-independent transcriptional terminator situated between 1txA and 1txB (Lally et al., Microb. Pathog. 11:111-121; Spitznagel et al., 1991, Infect. Immun. 59:1394-1401). Expression of leukotoxin varies among different strains of A.a. Analysis of several nonleukotoxic strains has revealed that they possess the 1tx operon but express only low steady state levels of 1tx mRNA relative to the highly leukotoxic strain, JP2 (Spitznagel et al., 1991, Infect. Immun. 59:1394-1401). The basis for this difference was unknown prior to the instant invention.
Thus, it is known that two populations of A.a. exist in the oral cavity, one producing high levels of leukotoxin and another producing low levels of leukotoxin. An understanding of the molecular basis for the difference between these two populations has provided a means for which there has been a long felt need, of differentiating between the two populations in order that appropriate treatment may be administered to a patient infected with a leukotoxic strain of A.a., which patient may or may not have progressed to severe periodontal disease.

Composition and methods for diagnosis of diseases associated with Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans infection

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania


A carriage designed for supporting a power washer wand and its nozzle a predetermined, though adjustable, distance from a surface which is to be cleaned by high velocity water exiting a discharge orifice of the nozzle. The carriage is defined by a one-piece body molded from substantially high strength synthetic polymeric/copolymeric plastic material. The carriage body includes a platform having a converging front end nose upwardly from which projects a wand support having a channel in which a power washer wand is located and adjustably clamped. The platform includes two wheels at a rear end thereof and a single wheel beneath the front end nose.

Heretofore a variety of different wheeled carriages or platforms have been provided for movably and/or adjustably supporting devices which perform disparate functions.
One such device is the line marking device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,251 granted on Jan. 9, 1990 to Harrison Bresnen. An airless paint spray mechanism is adjustably attached to a four-wheeled carrier to deliver a trapezoidal paint spray to the surface of a road or pavement to mark stripes of varying widths.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,805 granted on Nov. 30, 1993 to Steven M. Artenian discloses an apparatus for cleaning parking lots, sidewalks and the like utilizing hot pressurized water which sprays downwardly within a manifold similar to a lawnmower chassis. A group of spray nozzles rotate in a plane parallel to the surface which is to be cleaned, and the chassis includes two rear wheels and a single forward wheel for easing movement during cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,970 granted on May 4, 1999 to John H. Straiton discloses another ground surface cleaner, and though the cleaning nozzle associated therewith is not mounted on a platform, ancillary mechanisms are so mounted and the platform includes rollers or wheels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,590 granted on Mar. 4, 1980 to John J. Sundheim is another example of an apparatus for cleaning ground surfaces by utilizing a mechanism similar to a lawnmower except the mechanism utilizes rotating nozzles to create high pressure/velocity sprays directed at the surface to be cleaned.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,328 granted on Jul. 31, 1984 to Steven W. Oram discloses a cleaning device for removing foulant from the hull of seagoing vessels which includes a carriage of a generally triangular configuration having three wheels associated therewith.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,301 B1 granted on Jul. 31, 2001 to Tommy Hall is another example of a pressure washer assembly which includes a polygonal base, two rear wheels and a single front guide wheel. A pair of sidewise directed nozzles are carried by the assembly to facilitate the power washing/cleaning of curbs.
Other typical prior art selected during a search of the present invention is found in the below listed patent and patent application publications:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,204Aug. 24, 2000SchwaratPub. No.: US 2002/0184729 A1Dec. 12, 2002FarinaPub. No.: US 2002/0190145 A1Dec. 19, 2002Sheppard, Jr.Pub. No.: US 2003/0010852 A1Jan. 16, 2003Schommer
The devices of the latter patent and patent application publication singularly and collectively achieve specific intended purposes, but all are characterized by one or more structural, functional or manufacturing disadvantages. For example, most of the devices are very large, cumbersome, constructed from a multiplicity of parts, are very expensive to manufacture, assembly thereof is obviously time-consuming and costly, and from a functional standpoint, the devices cannot be readily, reliably and easily manually manipulated to direct high velocity spray to precise and difficult-to-access areas.


A semiconductor device includes: a plurality of function blocks; a plurality of buses, each of which is respectively connected to one of the plurality of function blocks; a plurality of control signal lines, each of which is respectively connected to one of the plurality of function blocks; a main bus; a bus control unit connected to the main bus; a bus division control unit located between the plurality of buses and the main bus, for connecting one of the plurality of buses to the main bus and transmitting a control signal to a corresponding one of the plurality of control signal lines in accordance with a decoded result of information supplied from the bus control unit via the main bus, thereby controlling a corresponding one of the plurality of function blocks.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor devices, and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device that includes a plurality of function blocks, and address and data buses connected to the function blocks.
As electronic devices are expected to have a larger variety of functions, there is an increasing demand for semiconductor devices having more functions and greater expandability. In an attempt to realize this, a large number of function blocks are connected to a single bus in a semiconductor device of the prior art, and each control operation for each corresponding function block is performed through the single bus.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of a conventional semiconductor device. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional semiconductor device includes a bus control unit 10, an address/data bus 11, and a plurality of function blocks 12. The bus control unit 10 serves as a control unit such as a CPU that controls the function blocks 12 via the address/data bus 11. In the address space that is controlled by the bus control unit 10, each function block 12 is allocated to each corresponding address area. When the bus control unit 10 accesses an address area, the corresponding function block 12 performs a predetermined control operation. Each function block 12 is provided with a latch/decoder unit 12a that latches and decodes an address transmitted via the address/data bus 11, and determines whether the access is intended for the corresponding function block 12.
As described above, the conventional semiconductor device has the function blocks 12 connected directly to the address/data bus 11, so that the latch/decoder unit 12A of each function block 12 can determine whether each access is intended for each corresponding function block 12.
In this structure, as the number of function blocks 12 increases, the load on the address/data bus 11 also increases. Since there is only one address/data bus in this structure, a large number of function blocks 12 will cause a problem of a large load on the address/data bus 11. To avoid such a problem, the semiconductor device needs to be equipped with a bus driver that exhibits sufficiently high driving performance for a large number of function blocks 12.
Furthermore, to connect a large number of function blocks 12 to the single address/data bus 11, a large number of latch/decoder units 12a having identical structures are required, and this results in an increase in circuit size. Also, the greater wire length causes wiring delay, which hinders high-speed operations and results in larger electric power consumption and frequent noise.
Also, since the function blocks 12 are connected to the single address/data bus 11, one access operation is effective only for one of the function blocks 12. For instance, a transferring operation between two of the function blocks 12 requires two cycles by the bus control unit 10, with one of the two cycles being a read cycle for one of the two function blocks 12, and the other one of the two cycles being a write cycle for the other one of the two function blocks 12. During these two cycles, the address/data bus 11 is continuously occupied. While the address/data bus 11 is thus occupied, no accesses can be made to another function block 12, and no data can be transferred between another two function blocks 12. Apparently, the fact that one transferring operation requires two cycles hinders improvement of the semiconductor device.


A chemical reactor for a fuel cell system includes a reaction chamber containing at least two reaction partial chambers arranged parallel to one another. The effective reaction chamber cross section on the input side is adjustable by opening or closing the reaction partial chambers. A first reaction partial chamber type is open when the system is started is warmed up more rapidly under comparable operating conditions than the second reaction partial chamber.

This application claims the priority of German patent document 199 26 608.5, filed Jun. 11, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a chemical reactor for a fuel cell system.
A device for methanol reformation is known from DE 195 26 886 C1, in which the effective length and/or the effective entrance cross section on the input side of a reaction chamber section for a high methanol reaction can be adjusted so that an essentially constant residence time of the gas mixture to be reformed is obtained in the reactor chamber section.
The load spread of the reactor system is thus improved and influenced less by the otherwise strong variation in the educt residence time. In the same way, undesired back reactions caused by residence times that are too long are avoided. Nevertheless, the behavior of the system is unsatisfactory under cold start conditions, since the reformation reactors usually employed have unavoidably high thermal capacities.
The goal of the present invention is to provide a chemical reactor for a fuel cell system that has improved cold start behavior.
This goal is achieved in a reformation reactor according to the present invention. The reactor according to the present invention has a reaction chamber with (1) at least one reaction partial chamber of a first type, and (2) at least one reaction partial chamber of a second type. Only the at least one reaction partial chamber of the first type is open when the system is started. The reaction partial chamber of the first type is designed so that it warms up more rapidly than a reaction chamber of the second type under the same operating conditions.
It is advisable to provide more than one reaction partial chamber of the first type. It is especially advantageous to locate the reaction partial chambers of the first type as homogeneously as possible inside the reaction chamber. The result is that the reaction chamber warms up rapidly, especially in the cold start phase, and homogeneously over its length. A temperature gradient is avoided between the input and the output of the reaction chamber.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


An image capturing device includes a processor, at least one interface, and a memory. The memory is capable of storing a plurality of records. A record includes image storage data, date/time data, and status data. The processor determines whether any of the images in the memory have been archived as indicated by the status information in the status storage cell of the records, and replaces one or more archived images with newly captured images as the device is used.

Digital still image capturing devices typically capture light with an electronic image sensor in order to capture an image. The captured image is stored in a memory. A typical digital image may range in size from about 20 kilobytes to about 4 megabytes, depending on the image resolution and the image compression algorithm being used. However, a memory of an image capturing device can store only a limited amount of images. Memory capacity is therefore a concern in digital still image capturing devices.
The prior art approaches the memory problem by typically including an internal image memory, a removable memory medium, or sometimes both. A user can address memory limitations by managing (i.e., selectively and periodically deleting) the images in the camera. Alternatively, the user may buy additional memory media in order to avoid a memory shortage. Managing the images in the camera may include deleting images and/or transferring images to an external device for storage. After they have been transferred, the user can delete the images from the camera's memory and take more images.
However, there are several drawbacks in memory use in the prior art. If the internal memory becomes filled up, the user cannot take any more pictures. The user must then manually delete images even if the user had previously copied images out of the internal memory and archived them on another device. Worse, if the user is at a location where it is not possible to transfer internally stored images to another storage device, the user will not be able to take any more pictures unless some stored images are deleted (without having been saved in another device). This places a burden on the user, who may be distracted from the process of setting up a shot in order to check the memory and to transfer and/or delete images.
In another prior art approach, some prior art cameras delete all images that are transferred from the internal memory. This is done in order to maintain the largest amount of available memory. As a result, these images are no longer available to the camera for review, sharing (i.e., showing to friends via the camera-back display), or further downloading to printers or other computer devices. In this prior art approach, the user must pay more attention to the downloading process, as the user can only download an image once. If the user accidentally deletes an image, it is gone. The user cannot transfer it out of the camera again.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for improvements in memory management in image capturing devices.

Memory management in an image capturing device

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Host cells, such as E. coli, are provided with an expression system for making starter units required for biosynthesis of polyketides using the ato pathway.

The ability to control aspects of polyketide biosynthesis has stimulated interest in the combinatorial engineering of novel antibiotics. Given the difficulty in producing polyketide compounds by traditional chemical methodology, and the typically low production of polyketides in wild-type cells, there has been considerable interest in finding improved or alternate means to produce polyketide compounds. For example, there has been interest in making polyketides in host cells that are otherwise unable to make polyketides. E. coli host cells, among other host cells which do not otherwise make polyketides, have been contemplated that incorporate expressions systems for expressing polyketides synthases to make polyketides. See PCT publication No. 01/27306 which is incorporated herein by reference.
Polyketide biosynthesis involves the condensation of malonyl CoA, methylmalonyl CoA, or related substituted malonyl CoA precursors, also known as "extender units," onto an acetyl CoA, propionyl CoA, or related acyl CoA precursor, also known as a "starter unit." Of the myriad host cells possible for utilization as polyketide producing hosts, many do not naturally produce such substrates (i.e., polyketide precursors) or do not produce the substrates (i.e., polyketide precursors) in adequate amounts. For example, E. coli does not produce methylmalonyl CoA in sufficient quantities for polyketide synthesis using methylmalonyl CoA as a substrate (precursor). The introduction and modification of biochemical pathways for methylmalonyl CoA biosynthesis in host cells that do not otherwise make polyketides have also been contemplated. See PCT publication Nos. 01/27306 and 01/31035, which are incorporated herein by reference. Two biochemical pathways involving methylmalonyl CoA are relevant to the present invention as well. These pathways are the methylmalonyl CoA mutase pathway, hereafter referred to as the MUT pathway, and the propionyl CoA carboxylase pathway, hereafter referred to as the PCC pathway. See PCT/US 02/06399.
Although approaches to make polyketide in organisms that otherwise do not make polyketides, or make them in low quantities, are extremely useful, it would be useful to produce polyketides that differ from naturally occurring polyketides by incorporating different starter units not found in naturally occurring polyketides.
Interest in making non-natural polyketides has led to organisms that produce polyketides using modified modular polyketide synthase systems wherein directed modification incapacitates the system from using its natural starting material. Novel polyketides have been synthesized by overriding the starter module and supplying a variety of suitable diketide substrates in the form of NAC thioesiers or other suitable thioester. See PCT patent publication Nos. 97/02358 and 99/03986, each of which is incorporated herein by reference. In particular, 15-methyl-6-deoxyerythronolide B (15-methyl-6-dEB) can be made using a 6-dEB synthase (DEBS) gene, by feeding a propyl diketide thioester (e.g., (2S,3R)-3-hydroxy-2 -methylhexanoate N-acetylcysteamine thioester) to DEBS. The resulting polyketide, 15-methyl-6-dEB, is also referred to as 13-propyl-6-dEB because it has a propyl group at the 13-position replacing the ethyl group found in 6-dEB. While the diketide feeding technology provides useful amounts of compound, the cost of producing polyketides by that technology is increased by the need to prepare the synthetic diketide. Moreover, certain polyketide producing cells degrade some of the diketide before it can be incorporated into a polyketide by the PKS, thus increasing the cost of production. Methods to produce polyketides by other means could be more efficient and cost effective, therefore, if the need to feed costly synthetic diketide substrates to the PKS were eliminated, in order to produce non-naturally occurring polyketides.
Given the potential for making valuable and useful novel polyketides in large quantities in heterologous host cells, there is a need for host cells capable of making the substrates (i.e., precursors) required for novel polyketide biosynthesis. The present invention helps to meet this need by providing recombinant host cells that contain a PKS expression system, and that also contain one or more expression systems for making substrates (i.e., precursors) for novel polyketide biosynthesis.

Recombinant host cells expressing atoAD and capable of making a polyketide using a starter unit


An expandable seating furniture comprising a center section for providing a first seating position, the center section providing center chair legs and at least one lateral section, concealable into the center section, each of the at least one lateral section being laterally expandable for providing one or more additional seating positions. The center section conceals one or more lateral chair legs, and may also conceal back support and/or armrest, for each of the at least one lateral section when the expandable seating furniture is unexpanded. The lateral section(s) may be concealable into the center section as interleaved sliding sections (e.g., along a seating plane and/or vertically).

Some chairs can to be transformed forward into a bed. Some sofas can also be transformed forward into a bed. Once transformed into a bed, sitting becomes uncomfortable.
Foldable chairs take space when not in use and also cannot be used when folded. Stackable chairs cannot be used when stacked and take space.
The present invention addresses at least some of these shortcomings.


A method of hiding a first image in a second image to produce a combined image includes the steps of: a) modifying the first image according to the content of the second image, so that when the modified first image is added to the second image to produce the combined image, no visible differences will exist between the second image and the combined image; and b) adding the modified first image to the second image to produce the combined image.

There arise applications in digital imaging where one may want to hide one image within another. The foremost example of this is the field of data hiding, where the goal is to make an image more useful by enabling it with the ability to carry digital data as well as the actual image. Data hiding is more properly referred to as steganography from the Greek words steganos meaning covered and graphia meaning writing or representation. Steganography precedes the digital era and was generally a technique where written messages were first in drawings or paintings by obscuring them in the image's texture (such as vines) so that they could be read only if one knew where to look (often using a mirror). Recently, there has been a desire to hide a message in the form of a digital data sequence within an image. In this approach it is necessary to use a computer to read, or extract, the message. As a result, it is unreadable to the human eye. In all the forms of steganography, both antique and digital, the inclusion of the message results in a distortion of the original image. However, the goal is that the resulting distortion is undetectable to the human eye.
The applications where digital steganography is a potential solution include tamper proofing, digital watermark, image tagging, digital pointers, and data augmentation. Tamper proofing determines if a digital image has been manipulated from its original form and is useful for legal evidence and medical applications. The digital watermark establishes ownership and include applications of copyright protection in the form of either a notice or an actual usage prevention (such as digital copier automatically refusing to print an image with digital copyright notice embedded). Image tagging is an application where an owner gives an image or a sequence of images (i.e., a movie) to a number of distributors, and can place an individual tag on each image such that if the image is found, the distributor of the image can be identified. An example use of image tagging is in the prevention of bootlegged video movies.
Data Augmentation refers to hiding a digital message in an image that contains a description of the image analogous to a caption underneath a photo in a newspaper. A digital pointer refers to hiding a digital message whose contents are a pointer to a location such as a database or a site on the Internet where further information about the picture resides. This information can be similar to the idea of data augmentation, but can also be more encompassing. For example, it can include information on how to segment the image into different areas, information to associate with those areas, and other related images such as the same scene from a different view or with subjects having different expressions or even a higher quality version of the same image (e.g., one with higher resolution).
In the digital version of steganography, the desired distortion most often takes the form of a two dimensional pattern (See "Techniques for Data Hiding" by Bender et al. SPIE Proceedings 2420, 1995), and it is desirable to keep the pattern's contrast as high as possible in order to maintain a high signal to noise ratio. Here the first pattern fills the role of signal, and the image fills the role of noise, even though they look much the opposite to the observer. A high signal to noise ratio enables a decoder to extract the full bit capacity of a message contained in the first pattern. On the other hand, a competing desire is to keep the pattern's contrast as low as possible so that is not visible to the human eye in the image. If one tries to use a fixed pattern of a constant contrast, the specific details of the image such as background noise level in the image and image content (e.g. various edges and textures in the image) make it difficult, and generally impossible, to achieve the competing goals of having the decoder be able to detect a message contained in the first pattern while having the pattern be invisible to a human observer. As a result, the bit capacities of the data hiding techniques described by Bender are low and in some portions of images (i.e. uniform areas with low noise) the patterns will be visible.
Another collection of prior art accomplishes data hiding (5,091,966 issued 2/1992 to Bloomberg et al., 5,128,525 issued 7/1992 to Stearns et al., 5,168,147 issued 12/1992 to Bloomberg, 5,221,833 issued 6/1993 to Hecht, and 5,245,165 issued 9/1993 to Zhang), but it is limited to placing the data within uniform fields of color or gray value, or the special case of text characters, which can be considered as small and very controlled uniform fields. None of these approaches address the issue of how to hide a pattern or embed data in an existing photographic image or a computer generated graphic containing complex content.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved method for hiding one digital image or pattern within another.

Method and apparatus for hiding one image or pattern within another