An apparatus and a method for testing semiconductor devices, such as individual integrated circuits in semiconductor chips, by directing a current in each circuit through a respective selected predetermined path to establish, in each circuit, a respective focused magnetic field and converting each such magnetic field into a respective voltage which, when fed to respective amplifier gated with a respective selected frequency, will modulate each such respective voltage. Each such respective voltage is then used to create a respective pulsating magnetic field that when detected by a respective remote magnetic sensor will provide a series of respective signals representative of the current in the respective circuit from which the pulsating magnetic field was derived. By applying each such series of voltages to a lock-in amplifier synchronized at the respective frequencies gating each respective amplifier the current in each circuit being tested can be accurately determined and will be free of errors due to circuit noise or crosstalk between the circuits under test.

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for the transmission and sensing of signals in selected portions of semiconductor integrated circuits or chips containing a plurality of individual circuits therein. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a transmission and sensing circuit arrangement especially useful in measuring currents in selected portions of semiconductor Integrated circuits.
As is well known in the art, an Integrated circuit chip is comprised of a plurality of individual circuits and, as the elements forming the individual circuits in the integrated circuit chip have become smaller, each individual circuit in the chip also becomes denser causing an exponential increase especially in standby or quiescent currents in the chip and in each such individual circuit. Furthermore these increased currents contribute directly to excessive power dissipation in the chip and affects, through heating, the performance and reliability of the chip. Furthermore defective portions of integrated circuits often draw significantly increased current that can be used to identify defective portions of the integrated circuit. Therefore it is desirable, during the design and testing of an integrated circuit chip, to be able to accurately measure all such quiescent currents at numerous locations in a circuit or at different numerous locations in a plurality of different circuits throughout the chip in order to accurately measure the quiescent current in each circuit or selected portion thereof. In order to characterize and diagnose design or processing efficacy.
The prior art attempted to mitigate this problem by monitoring the current at multiple locations in such circuits while under test with built in current sensors (BICS). However, these prior art BICS have various shortcomings that adversely impact the circuits under test for they are interactive and thus introduce parasitic resistance, additional capacitance or inductance, while consuming unproductive chip area by requiring extra inputs and outputs, additional wiring, and tester hardware to transmit the current measurement data off-chip.
Accordingly, the present invention is designed to circumvent the above difficulties and avoid the above described difficulties encountered by the prior art. The present invention achieves these ends by providing a circuit layout and current-monitoring apparatus and a method that is passive, remote, has little or no parasitic electrical impact on the circuit under test, minimizes the impact on circuit layout, or area, and provides wide frequency response. The present invention also has minimal impact on circuit performance and provides analog current information from multiple locations simultaneously without crosstalk, interference, or noise.

Apparatus and method for transmission and remote sensing of signals from integrated circuit devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and a method for specifying and configuring, together with categorising and classifying, heterogeneous types of multiple data sources is disclosed. The system and method also retrieve search results in accordance with search requests and conditions from at least one of the multiple data sources, for example a relational database management system (RDBMS), a light-weight directory access protocol (LDAP), an extensible mark-up language database (XMLDB), extensible mark-up language (XML) files, hypertext mark-up language (HTML) files, or TEXT files, through an application programming interface (API), or a web service interface such as a simple object access protocol (SOAP).

Data storage of data and information and search and retrieval of the stored information through a network interface are significant tasks performed by computer systems. These tasks are complicated by the number of different types of data storage sources or stores that are available and by the number of different types of applications that are available to access and search the data sources. Often, some of the data sources are incompatible with the search or access application, which makes the search and retrieval of the data and information stored on the incompatible data sources impossible. To access incompatible data sources, the application must incorporate the accessing and searching logic and codes of each data source type desired. Writing such code is usually more complex and requires more effort to program than other types of programming code. Each data source typically has a set of query languages or a search engine to perform information retrieval or searching. The languages or search engine are usually unique to each data source.
Additionally, searches performed on the Internet, such as a web-wide search, span millions of web pages. Another type of search is an enterprise-type search, which typically indexes a much smaller, but much more varied set of content types. The web-wide type searches are less specific than enterprises-type searches, and users or requesters performing enterprise-type searches typically require access to different types of data sources.
Attempts have been made to provide systems to retrieve or search information resident in multiple data sources. U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,053 issued 27 May 1997 to Noble et al. describes a federated information management (FIM) system and method for integrating data from multiple databases to provide users with access to a virtual database. The FIM system provides a uniform user interface, however, the multiple databases mentioned are of a similar type, specifically, database management system (DBMS).
International Patent Publication No. WO-A-00/75,849 published 14 Dec. 2000 to Lackey et al. discloses a middleware system that provides access to disparate data sources, such as relational and non-relational databases, multidimensional databases, objects and extensible mark-up language (XML) files. The system of WO-A-00/75,849 provides access to different types of data sources, but only configures the properties of the data source, which enables the application to create a connection for the data source without configuring the search and returnable attributes required for searching. In essence the system of WO-A-00/75,849 provides flexible connectivity to a single data source, but does not provide such flexible and configurable data retrieval from heterogeneous data sources.
Attempts also have been made to provide systems for querying heterogeneous data sources distributed over a network using context interchange. U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,716 issued 14 Sep. 1999 to Madnick et al. describes a system for querying disparate, heterogeneous data sources over a network that includes a request translator and a data translator. The request translator translates a request having an associated data context declared by the requester into a query having a second data context associated with it. The second context is also associated with the query and is declared by, at least one of the disparate data sources. This system also includes a data translator, which translates received data from the data context declared by the data source queried into the data context associated with the request. A related method for querying disparate data sources over a network is also described. The method includes the steps of translating a request having an associated data context into a query having a second data context. The second data context is associated with one of the disparate data sources to be queried. The method further includes translating data received from the data sources, from the data contexts associated with the data sources, into the data context associated with the request.
The above systems are unable to support different types of data sources and dynamically identify applicable types of data sources, or dynamically define the scope of a search.
Thus, a need exists for a method or a system to address the problems discussed above for data access, search, or retrieval from multiple heterogeneous data sources.

Method and system for data retrieval from heterogeneous data sources

Agency for Science, Technology and Research


The magneto-optical disk recording device disclosed is for recording and reproduction using a one-beam optical head and includes a magneto-optical head, a reproduction amplifier, a recording data delay circuit, a recording state detection circuit, a data comparator circuit, and a record judging circuit. The reproduction amplifier amplifies a magneto-optical reproduction signal read out by the magneto-optical head during the recording. The recording data delay circuit delays a recording data for a predetermined period of time. The recording state detection circuit receives the reproduction signal from the reproduction amplifier and detects a reproduced signal state during the recording. The data comparator circuit receives and compares an output of the recording data delay circuit and an output of the recording state detection circuit, and outputs a record failure signal. The record judging circuit judges whether to skip a record failure region or to verify a recorded state of the data when the record failure signal is outputted from the data comparator circuit. The arrangement enables the verification operation during the recording to be made simple thereby enhancing a recording speed.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magneto-optical disk recording device, and more particularly to a magneto-optical disk recording device with means for verifying a recorded state during the recording and checking an erased state during the erasing in the magneto-optical disk.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In an optical disk medium, especially in a magneto-optical disk recording device which uses a magneto-optical disk medium typically represented by an erasable optical disk medium, a laser beam is converged and irradiated along a groove (guide groove) provided in advance on a magneto-optical disk medium formed of a thin magnetic film, thus magnetically recording data as magnetic patterns on the magneto-optical disk medium.
The groove is provided in a spiral form and, in the case of the magneto-optical disk medium, the groove is utilized for positioning a magnetic head to an adjacently located land region serving as a data track. In the data track, a sector format region for sector data is written in advance as a sector head region. In the magneto-optical disk recording device, the recording/reproduction of data starts upon the recognition of the pre-format. Conventionally, there are various methods for recording and reproducing data in the data regions that are divided into sectors. For example, in a 5-inch magneto-optical disk recording device, a mark position recording system is used for the recording. In this system, the recording is made by making the center of the recording pit hold data in accordance with binary data. In the re-recognition of the data to be reproduced, the read signal is differentiated and the zero cross point is detected. At the same time, the reproduction clock determined by the modulation system is extracted, and the pattern of "0" or "1" is judged from the timing relationship with respect to data detection windows, thus carrying out the reproduction of the original data.
Further, for the magneto-optical disk recording device for carrying out recording and reproduction of a large volume of data, there is research and development on a mark-edge recording system in which edges of the recording pit are made to hold data for the purpose of increasing the recording capacity. As for this system, it is known that the recording density can ideally be doubled as compared with the mark position recording system. During the reproduction, the edge data is detected normally by a fixed slice leveled pulsation and, simultaneously with this, the reproduction clock determined by the modulation system is extracted, and the pattern of "0" or "1" is judged from the timing relationship with respect to data detection windows, thus carrying out the reproduction of the original data.
With respect to the present-day magneto-optical disk recording device, for the reasons that the device lacks an overwrite function unlike in the magnetic recording device and that the device is easily contaminated with dirt or such damages as scratches, it is the practice to make the verification during the data recording in order to ensure the reliability of the recorded data. However, the read waveforms during the recording are different from the read waveforms during the normal reproduction so that, according to the conventional reproduction signal detection method, it has not been possible to detect the reproduction signal during the recording. Thus, the current process requires three steps, namely, data erasing, data recording and recorded data verification (the time period corresponding to three rotations of the disk) resulting in the problem that high speed recording is not possible. Recently, a magneto-optical disk medium having an overwrite function has been developed, and hence the standardization of the next generation optical disk medium is under consideration. However, in this case, only costly devices or systems have been proposed wherein, for example, the optical head has two-beam configuration or two optical head configuration for the verification.
A prior art magneto-optical disk recording device having a verification function is shown by a block diagram in FIG. 1.
The prior art device shown in FIG. 1 employs a two-beam optical head 1' with a reproduction beam 20 and a recording beam 2'. This example relates to a case where the recording is made on a track N. The recording data 101' is mark-edge recorded on a magneto-optical disk medium by the recording beam 2' through a recording current driving circuit 5'. The recorded data is read by the reproduction beam 20 and is outputted to a reproduction amplifier 3'. At the reproduction amplifier 3', the reproduced signal is amplified and is outputted to a clock extraction circuit 21 and a reproduced data detection circuit 22. At the clock extraction circuit 21, the clock extraction from the reproduced signal is carried out, and the reproduction clock 100' is outputted to the reproduced data detection circuit 22, a recording data delay circuit 6' and a data comparator circuit 7'. At the reproduced data detection circuit 22, the reproduced signal amplified by the reproduction amplifier 3' is converted to a binary signal, is latched by the reproduction clock 100' from the clock extraction circuit 21, and is outputted to the data comparator circuit 7'. The data comparator circuit 7' receives a delayed recording data 102', which has been timing-adjusted by the reproduction clock 100', from the recording data delay circuit 6', and an output 103' from the reproduced data detection circuit 22, compares these data, and outputs a verify error signal 104'. At a record judging circuit 8', when the verify error signal 104' is outputted from the data comparator circuit 7', it is judged whether the recorded state of the data signal recorded on the magneto-optical disk medium requires verification. Then, the record judging circuit 8' outputs a record judging signal 105' to the system side.
The deficiency in the above system is that the two-beam optical head has a problem in positioning the beams at the recording track, or that the need for the reproduction clock extraction inevitably requires a complex construction. Thus, the problem remains that the system requires a recording time of more than two times as compared with the magnetic disk device.
A prior art example in which it is attempted to reduce the time required in making verification during the recording in a magneto-optical disk so as to shorten the recording time, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. Hei 5-62273. In this example, the level of the reproduction signal ("RF signal" in the reference) from the optical head during the recording is detected by a level detection circuit. Here, the verification is made only when this reproduction signal level has become a level lower than a predetermined level. Since no verification is made when the level is above the predetermined level, that is, not all recorded data are verified, it is said that the recording time is shortened.
Another prior art example which does not relate to a magneto-optical disk medium but relates to a write once read many type optical disk is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. Sho 57-212629. In this example, the verification is made by monitoring the quantity of reflected light during the recording.
The above method in which the quantity of reflected light is monitored is effective in determining whether to re-verify or whether to transfer a defective portion to a replacement sector, but there are still problems as explained below.
That is, since the verification depends on changes in the quantity of the reflected light, the change in the reflected light caused by contaminants such as grease or dirt adhering to the surface of the optical disk leads directly to the determination that there is a defect. However, as is apparent from the performance index defined approximately by the product of "the square root of the reflectivity from the optical disk medium" and "the Kerr rotation angle", it is known that the lowering of the reflectivity leads to an increase in the Kerr rotation angle. Here, the verification is made directly based on the change in the reflectivity as being the existence of defects, and this presents a problem in the verification reliability.
Further, in the conventional magneto-optical disk recording device in which the verification is made during the recording only by checking the quantity of the reflected light, there remains a possibility that the presence of a minute scratch on the magneto-optical disk medium or a stain on a surface of the medium that is not a problem in practice is erroneously recognized as being a problem. This makes the verification during the recording meaningless, thus affecting the efficiency of the operation for a reason such as necessitating a further precise verification to be carried out after more than one cycle of the disk rotation from the start of the data recording.
Also, in the conventional magneto-optical disk recording device where only the quantity of the reflected light is relied upon as explained above, it is impossible to make the checking of defective erasing so that there is a possibility that the recording is made at a defective portion, leading to a problem of the lowering of throughput of the device.
The prior art includes a proposal of a system wherein a magneto-optical reproduction signal is detected by a level detection circuit during the recording, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. Hei 5-62273. This proposal relates to a method in which the detection is not made on a bit-by-bit basis but is made to detect a reproduction signal level (an envelope level in which a change with time is long) by a fixed threshold level. Thus, the detected signal cannot be regarded as representing an exact bit-by-bit recording state, and the detection is of low accuracy. With the method with which whether or not a reproduction signal level is above a predetermined level is judged, there is a problem that, where the recording power becomes large, it is possible for a bit involving a recording error to be incorrectly recognized as being normal. In the proposed example, since the fixed threshold level is used for the judgment, there is a problem that, when an envelope DC change caused by a birefringence inherent to the magneto-optical system has occurred, there is a possibility for the abnormal recording to be recognized as being normal.

Magneto-optical disk recording device and capable of verifying recorded state during recording and checking erased state during erasing


An integral formation of a water conduit connector for sports water bags includes the following steps: 1) manufacturing molds, which comprises a hole allowing the core mold to go inside, a sprue, positioning holes, and top rejecting holes going through to the mold cave, inside of which is provided with threaded grooves and pipe neck portions; 2) disposing and positioning the water hose in the cave formed by the molds; 3) closing the molds and inserting a mobile core mold from the inlet into the molds, such that the core mold will stretch into the hose to serve as a padding for the interior wall of the hose; 4) injecting liquid hard plastic material from the sprue into the cave of the molds, such that a threaded connecting base can be integrally formed at the end of the hose; 5) detaching the molds; and 6) blowing high pressure air from the free end of the hose to force the core mold detaching from the interior wall of the hose, accordingly a firmly connected, integrally formed hose with a threaded connecting base is completed.

(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integral formation of a water conduit connector for sports water bags, which allow firm connection of the hose of soft plastic and the threaded connecting base of hard plastic, thereby the aforesaid two elements would not detatch from each other due to outer force, and the connected structure is particularly applicable to water bag for use in sport.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Cyclists used to carry on back a water bag for supplying water during sport. Generally, said water bag is provided with a water pouch and a water conduit connecting thereto. A nozzle with the function of stopping water is provided at the end of the water conduit, such that when the cyclist is thirsty, he/she can pull out the conduit and suck the nozzle to drink water.
The relevant water bag structures are disclosed in, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,727,714 and 5,806,726.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,714, the conduit is connected to the water bag via a holding base, which is provided with a one-way tooth structure, such that the water conduit (hose) can be easily and flexibly mounted on the holding base. As the water hose made of soft plastic would deform due to elasticity fatigue. Therefore, after being repeatedly detached for wash, the connecting portion would deform and subsequently loose from the water hose. Usually the user would cut off the spoiled hose, which would gradually become shorter and shorter and finally useless.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,726, the water hose is connected with the holding base via a threaded base. The advantage of such a connection is that the user can simply detach the whole structure is he/she intends to wash the interior wall of the water conduit, and that the water conduit can be cleaned completely without leaving any drink. This is quite sanitary. However, as adhesive is applied to fasten the water hose and the threaded base made of plastic of different hardness, it is harmful for the user's mouth to touch the adhesive constantly.
In view of the above-mentioned disadvantages in the prior art, the inventor has disclosed an integral formation of a water conduit connector for sports water bags, which has long life in use, harmless and firm combination in structure.

Method of making a water conduit connector for sports water bag


A messaging receiver (400) and corresponding system (100b) and method adaptable to a plurality of modulation formats including; a processor (401) having flexible resources (404), preferably software based, for receiving a signal to provide a modulation identifier, and a controller (403), coupled to the processor, for deploying the flexible resources responsive to the modulation identifier. Alternatively the messaging receiver includes a buffer (412) for storing a signal having a modulation format, and the processor processes the signal in accordance with the plurality of modulation formats so as to differentiate the modulation format, and the controller deploys the flexible resources responsive to the modulation format.

Messaging systems are ordinarily designed to operate with a given modulation format. Personal messaging units (PMU's) or subscriber units that operate on the messaging system are designed to operate with this given modulation format. Very often a second, even neighboring, messaging system including it's corresponding PMUs will operate with or on a different modulation format. Because of the distinct modulation formats PMUs from these two systems will not be able interoperate on either system or operate on the neighboring system.
One solution that has been proposed is the adoption of an open architecture modulation format and protocol. If this were adopted by all messaging systems PMUs could interoperate on any system, subject to certain administrative formalities. Thus one open architecture modulation format could be utilized for all regional based messaging systems or effectively one wide area messaging systems. Various reasons such as the fast and ever changing user needs and telecommunications technology necessitating more capable modulation formats or the need to grandfather or accommodate existing formats have resulted in many practical obstacles to the wide scale success of standard modulation formats.
Additionally the advent of two-way messaging systems employing a forward or "outbound" radio frequency channel for message delivery to the PMU's or subscriber units and a reverse or "in-bound" channel for acknowledgments or the like has created even greater opportunity, if not necessity, for modulation format differences. The modulation formats may vary, justifiably, between forward and reverse channels or between data, voice, video or a combination of such messaging services.
In addition, some system operators have one way systems and were unable to obtain licenses for an inbound frequency that would allow them to offer two way services. These operators are driven to provide two way services, such as delivery guarantees and the like, using spectrum for the inbound channel from common spectrum allocations such as the ISM band of frequencies. The ISM band has been authorized by the Federal Communications Commission for general use so long as certain rules, such as power level limits, are followed and proscribed modulation formats are followed. Similar spectral authorizations are available in many other countries.
At the same time the greater mobility of the general population virtually mandates that a given PMU operate on a plurality of messaging systems and this trend seems to be growing. Clearly a need exists for a messaging system and receiver that is adaptable to varying modulation formats and corresponding methods of so adapting.

Modulation format adaptive messaging receiver and method thereof


The identification of a mutation in the HLA-DMB locus in antigen presenting cells defective in presenting antigen is described. Methods of diagnosis and treatment of immunocompromised individuals and compositions and methods of treatment for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases are also described.

In antigen presenting cells, class II molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) form complexes with peptides derived from endocytosed proteins. Class II molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are heterodimeric (.alpha./.beta.), transmembrane glycoproteins expressed by antigen presenting cells (APC) of the immune system (e.g., macrophages, dendritic cells, B cells). Within APC, class II molecules bind peptides derived from endocytosed proteins and from other sources, and the MHC class II/peptide complex is expressed at the cell surface for surveillance by CD4+ T cells. Recognition by the T cell receptor of an antigenic MHC/peptide complex activates the T cell and initiates an immune response.
In human B-lymphoblastoid cell lines, the primary pathway for generating class II molecule/peptide complexes is intimately related to class II molecule biosynthesis. In the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), nascent class II heterodimers associate with the invariant chain (Ii), a class II molecule chaperon; this association promotes correct folding of class II molecules and prevents class II molecule acquisition of peptides in the ER. A targeting or retention signal within the cytoplasmic tail of invariant chain mediates localization of the class II/Ii complex to the endocytic pathway. After cleavage and dissociation of invariant chain, class II molecules bind peptides available in the endocytic pathway, and then traffick to the cell surface.
It had been postulated that the invariant chain may not be the only molecule functioning in this capacity. The requirement for another molecule in this pathway in addition to invariant chain can be inferred from data obtained with mutant human B lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCLs). A key feature of these mutants is a defect in presentation in intact protein antigen, but not immunogenic peptides, to class II restricted T cells. In addition, class II molecules expressed by the mutants fail to acquire features of the mature, peptide-loaded molecules of the progenitor cell, such as expression of certain antibody epitopes (e.g., mAb 16.23) and stability in SDS detergent solutions. (Neefjes, et al., EMBO J. (1992) 11:411-416; Mellins, et al., Nature (1990) 343:71-74; and Germain, et al., Nature (1991) 353:134-139, all incorporated herein by reference.) These observations suggested that the mutants are impaired in formation of complexes between class II molecules and peptides derived from endocytosed proteins.
This conclusion regarding the B-LCL mutants is confirmed by direct assessment of the peptides found in association with HLA-DR molecules--human molecules homologous to mouse class II molecules--in the mutants. Rather than the heterogeneous mixture of peptides found in wild type cells, the majority (60-70%) of the DR molecules expressed by the mutants are associated with a nested set of peptides from residues 80-103 of the invariant chain. (Mellins, et al., J. Exp. Med. (in the press); Riberdy, et al., Nature (1992) 360:474-477 and Sette, et al., Science (1992) 258:1801-1804, all incorporated herein by reference.) Though undetectable in the progenitor cell, these Ii peptides have been found in association with class II molecules in other wild type cells (Hunt, et al., Science (1992) 256:1817-1820; Chicz, et al., Nature (1992) 358:764-768 and Chicz, et al., J. Exp. Med. (1993) 178:27-47, all incorporated herein by reference), raising the possibility that the class II/Ii peptide complex is a biosynthetic intermediate. The mutant phenotype thus suggested a number of possible functions for the gene product altered in these cells, including generation or transport of peptides, chaperoning of class II molecules to peptide-containing compartments, or a function that directly facilitates peptide loading of class II molecules, such as removal of Ii peptides.
Although the specific role of its product has not been identified, the relevant gene has been mapped by the present inventor and is reported upon here. The derivation of the mutants from a progenitor cell that is hemizygous for the class II region of the MHC (see 8.1.6, FIG. 1 and Levine, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., (1985) 88:3741-3745, incorporated herein by reference) suggested that the responsible gene(s) mapped to this region. B-LCL mutants with homozygous deletions of the region, including the 8.1.6-derived mutant 5.2.4 (FIG. 1 and Mellins, et al., J. Exp. Med. (1991) 174:1607-1615, incorporated herein by reference), were found to share the class II presentation defect, confirming location of the relevant gene(s) within the MHC (Mellins, et al., (1991), supra and Ceman, et al., J. Immun. (1992) 149:754-761, incorporated herein by reference). The gene that underlies the mutant phenotype has been identified as HLA-DMB, an human MHC-linked gene that encodes a class II-like .beta. chain. The results reported below establish HLA-DMB as a critical regulatory molecule in class II restricted antigen presentation and suggest that it functions at an intracellular site to promote class II molecule/peptide association. Transfection of mutants with DMB complementary DNA restored the wild type phenotype, establishing HLA-DM as a critical molecule in antigen presentation to CD4+ T cells.

Detection of a mutation in the HLA-DM.beta. gene in an immunocompromised patient


A duster or cleaning element holder that includes a duster head that can be mounted on the end of a handle and then rotated relative to the handle. The duster head can be swiveled to the left or to the right, either at certain angles or in a complete 360 degree rotation. The handle may include a telescoping feature to allow the handle to be lengthened to reach hard spaces or retracted for storage.

Whether you are a homeowner and just needing assistance keeping the dust and grime in check in your own abode, or if you are a member of commercial office/residential cleaning team, you have certain things in common. First of all, you want your job to be as quick and easy as possible without compromising the quality of the cleaning job being performed. Secondly, you want to minimize the amount of equipment that you must maintain, keep in stock, and cart all over the house, or all over the city. As such, devices that offer versatility of use can be quite appealing to such persons.
A few of the wide variety of cleaning situations that one faces can include tight spaces in which the cleaning person has little room to work, low spaces requiring the user to bend down low, and high spaces requiring the user to either stretch up, use a stepping stool, chair or ladder to reach the high spots.
Cleaning a room, home or office may result in having to clean a variety of surfaces that are at varying angles and at varying angles relative to the person cleaning the surface. For example, cleaning the top surface of a shelf, cabinet, picture frame, ceiling fan, etc., is a difficult angle for a typical cleaner. The user must use a ladder to get their reach above the surface, or proximate to the surface before they can adequately wipe the surface. Another common situation is when trying to wipe the underside surfaces of items, such as under a piece of furniture to remove cobwebs and spider webs, the top surface of books under a lower shelf, etc. Another tricky situation is when trying to dust or wipe behind items sitting on a shelf at varying elevations.
What is needed in the art is a versatile device that can be used with a variety of dusting and cleaning pads, and that is adjustable such that it is a suitable tool for any of the above, as well as other scenarios.


A method and an extractor for pressing out plasma and buffy coat from a collapsible blood container (1), in which blood has been divided, by centrifugation, into a plasma layer, a buffy coat layer and a layer of red blood cells. The plasma and then the buffy coat are pressed out each through a separate outlet tube (2) or through a common outlet tube (2), which is connected to the top portion of the blood container, a pulsating pressure being applied to a top section of the blood container (1) during the end phase of the pressing-out of buffy coat. The extractor has a stationary support surface (6) and a movable pressing member (7), between which the blood container is suspended and subjected to a compressive force in order to press out the plasma and then the buffy coat through the outlet tube (2). The extractor has one or more inflatable cushions (12, 13) arranged on the support surface (6) or the pressing member (7) or both on the same level as the top section of the blood container (1), and a device (15, 16) for pulsating the pressure in said cushions.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to blood component preparation. More specifically, the invention relates to a method and an extractor for pressing out plasma and buffy coat from a collapsible blood container, e.g. a blood bag, in which blood has been divided, by centrifugation, into a plasma layer, a buffy coat layer and a layer of red blood cells, the plasma and then the buffy coat being pressed out each through a separate outlet tube or through a common outlet tube, which is connected to the top of the blood container.
2. Description of the Related Art
In blood component preparation, blood is donated to a blood bag via a blood drawoff tube permanently connected to the bag. In addition, a number of side bags are connected to the blood bag by means of tubes. These connections are normally collected in the upper edge of the blood bag. Subsequently, the blood bag is centrifuged upright in a centrifuge cup, such that the blood forms layers, viz. an uppermost plasma layer, a subjacent buffy coat layer whose volume is relatively small, and a lowermost layer of red blood cells. At least the plasma and buffy coat fractions are then transferred to side bags by the blood bag being suspended at its upper edge in an extractor and subjected to mechanical pressure between a support surface and a pressure plate. The plasma then flows through an outlet tube over to a plasma container, while the buffy coat slowly flows upwards in the blood container. The outlet tube is normally branched into a plasma tube extending to a plasma container and a buffy coat tube extending to a buffy coat container but, alternatively, separate outlet tubes can be provided for each container. When the buffy coat has reached the top of the blood container, the plasma tube is closed and the buffy coat tube is opened. The major part of the buffy coat now flows over to the buffy coat container. However, a certain amount of buffy coat penetrates into the indentations formed by the various connections in the upper edge of the blood container, and there is a great risk that this amount remains in the blood bag after pressing-out. The remaining amount of buffy coat will mix with the red blood cell fraction and constitute a contamination therein. In manually operated extractors, one may manually press out these residues and feed them to the outlet tube, such that they can be pressed over to the buffy coat container. However, an efficient method of reaching these buffy coat residues in automatic extractors has not been available.

Method and apparatus for harvesting blood components


Recombinant nucleic acids that encode all or a portion of the epothilone polyketide synthase (PKS) are used to express recombinant PKS genes in host cells for the production of epothilones, epothilone derivatives, and polyketides that are useful as cancer chemotherapeutics, fungicides, and immunosuppressants.

The epothilones were first identified by Gerhard Hofle and colleagues at the National Biotechnology Research Institute as an antifungal activity extracted from the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum (see K. Gerth et al., 1996, J. Antibiotics 49: 560–563 and Germany Patent No. DE 41 38 042). The epothilones were later found to have activity in a tubulin polymerization assay (see D. Bollag et al., 1995, Cancer Res. 55:2325–2333) to identify antitumor agents and have since been extensively studied as potential antitumor agents for the treatment of cancer.
The chemical structure of the epothilones produced by Sorangium cellulosum strain So ce 90 was described in Hofle et al., 1996, Epothilone A and B—novel 16—membered macrolides with cytotoxic activity: isolation, crystal structure, and conformation in solution, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 35(13/14): 1567–1569, incorporated herein by reference. The strain was found to produce two epothilone compounds, designated A (R═H) and B (R═CH3), as shown below, which showed broad cytotoxic activity against eukaryotic cells and noticeable activity and selectivity against breast and colon tumor cell lines.

The desoxy counterparts of epothilones A and B, also known as epothilones C(R═H) and D (R═CH3), are known to be less cytotoxic, and the structures of these epothilones are shown below.

Two other naturally occurring epothilones have been described. These are epothilones E and F, in which the methyl side chain of the thiazole moiety of epothilones A and B has been hydroxylated to yield epothilones E and F, respectively.
Because of the potential for use of the epothilones as anticancer agents, and because of the low levels of epothilone produced by the native So ce 90 strain, a number of research teams undertook the effort to synthesize the epothilones. This effort has been successful (see Balog et al., 1996, Total synthesis of (−)-epothilone A, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 35(23/24): 2801–2803; Su et al., 1997, Total synthesis of (−)-epothilone B: an extension of the Suzuki coupling method and insights into structure-activity relationships of the epothilones, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 36(7): 757–759; Meng et al., 1997, Total syntheses of epothilones A and B, JACS 119(42): 10073–10092; and Balog et al., 1998, A novel aldol condensation with 2-methyl-4-pentenal and its application to an improved total synthesis of epothilone B, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 37(19): 2675–2678, each of which is incorporated herein by reference). Despite the success of these efforts, the chemical synthesis of the epothilones is tedious, time-consuming, and expensive. Indeed, the methods have been characterized as impractical for the full-scale pharmaceutical development of an epothilone.
A number of epothilone derivatives, as well as epothilones A–D, have been studied in vitro and in vivo (see Su et al., 1997, Structure-activity relationships of the epothilones and the first in vivo comparison with paclitaxel, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 36(19): 2093–2096; and Chou et al., August 1998, Desoxyepothilone B: an efficacious microtubule-targeted antitumor agent with a promising in vivo profile relative to epothilone B, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95: 9642–9647, each of which is incorporated herein by reference). Additional epothilone derivatives and methods for synthesizing epothilones and epothilone derivatives are described in PCT patent publication Nos. 99/54330, 99/54319, 99/54318, 99/43653, 99/43320, 99/42602, 99/40047, 99/27890, 99/07692, 99/02514, 99/01124, 98/25929, 98/22461, 98/08849, and 97/19086; U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,145; and Germany patent publication No. DE 41 38 042, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
There remains a need for economical means to produce not only the naturally occurring epothilones but also the derivatives or precursors thereof, as well as new epothilone derivatives with improved properties. There remains a need for a host cell that produces epothilones or epothilone derivatives that is easier to manipulate and ferment than the natural producer Sorangium cellulosum. The present invention meets these and other needs.

Recombinant methods and materials for producing epothilone and epothilone derivatives


A surface discharge device performing functions of a trigger and electron beam generator includes a cylinder shaped member formed from a dielectric material with dielectric constant ε>100, in which a central opening is formed having a conical or cylindrical shape. An internal electrode is electrically coupled to the internal surface of the cylinder shaped member. An external electrode covers the external surface of the cylinder shaped member. A triggering pulse is applied between the external and internal electrodes to generate emission of electrons in the central opening and formation of the conducting plasma to ignite the device and serve as a source of electrons for generating an electron beam. The conducting plasma charges a capacitor formed by the cylinder shaped dielectric member and the external electrode. The cylinder shaped member is positioned in a hollow cathode having a central bore hole in the bottom. An anode is positioned remotely from the cathode and an electric field exists dynamically in space between the cathode and anode for at least a portion of the duration of the triggering pulse.

"Free electrons" are the electrons which are controlled, meaning the electrons may be extracted from the electron source, accelerated, and directed in a specified direction. For generation of "free electrons", the electron source should provide conditions for efficient emission of electrons from a cathode. Direct extraction of electrons from a metal surface by applying an electric field, defined as an auto electron emission requires a high electric field and is known to be limited in the current density.
As an alternative approach to the direct extraction of electrons, electron sources use triggers in which the current pulse passes through a gas, converting it into highly ionized state, called a plasma, which is a good emitter as it has no potential barrier preventing the emission of electrons.
The main electrical triggering technique used in conventional electron generating devices is surface flashover in which a current pulse flows in a gas along a dielectric surface that assists the discharge ignition. For low pressure gases or vacuum, this surface supplies the discharge media (absorbed gas molecules, surface defects, sharp edges, inclusions of foreign materials, etc.). In this technique, discharge literally flashes over the dielectric surface. Disadvantages of such a trigger of the discharge ignition are (1) limited emission of electrons and (2) short lifetime. Both of these disadvantages are related to the fact that current tends to flow through a narrow channel between metallic electrodes of the device. As a result, volume of the plasma channel is limited, and accordingly so is the emitted electron current. Additionally, due to the current confinement into the channel dielectric surface erosion limits lifetime of the trigger to as little as 106 pulses.
Other electron emitters make use of some specific material such as dielectrics (or ferro electrics) with high dielectric constant ε˜1000 to overcome the problems associated with limited electron emission and shortened lifetime. A typical electron emitter consists of a dielectric plate mounted between two electrodes positioned on opposite sides thereof, such that one electrode covers the side of the plate completely, while another, e.g., a face electrode, leaves significant area of the side of the dielectric plate uncovered.
Presence of the high ε dielectric facilitates performance of such an electron emitter. First, the emitter can work at lower voltages as it amplifies and focuses an electric field on the edge of the face electrode. Second, it provides distribution of the surface/over-current over larger area as it creates an integrated distributed capacitor that the discharge current tends to charge. Third, due to the distributed nature of the discharge, erosion of the surface is reduced, and lifetime of such a device is elongated.
This design of electron generators/triggers is suitable for large area electron switches or electron guns. However, due to their distributed nature, the design is less effective for some devices where the generated electrons should be concentrated in narrow beams. In this case, only a small fraction of the trigger area, which is located in the vicinity of the device/beam axis, works effectively.
A more effective generator/trigger device than that found in the prior art is needed for generation of focused electron beams.

Cylindrical electron beam generating/triggering device and method for generation of electrons


In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes a method for detecting a known video entity within a video stream. The method includes receiving a video stream and continually creating statistical parameterized representations for windows of the video stream. The statistical parameterized representation windows are continually compared to windows of a plurality of fingerprints. Each of the plurality of fingerprints includes associated statistical parameterized representations of a known video entity. A known video entity in the video stream is detected when a particular fingerprint of the plurality of fingerprints has at least a threshold level of similarity with the video stream.

Advertisements are commonplace in most broadcast video, including video received from satellite transmissions, cable television networks, over-the-air broadcasts, digital subscriber line (DSL) systems, and fiber optic networks. Advertising plays an important role in the economics of entertainment programming in that advertisements are used to subsidize or pay for the development of the content. As an example, broadcast of sports such as football games, soccer games, basketball games and baseball games is paid for by advertisers. Even though subscribers may pay for access to that sports programming, such as through satellite or cable network subscriptions the advertisements appearing during the breaks in the sport are sold by the network producing the transmission of the event, and subsidize the costs of the programming.
Advertisements included in the programming may not be applicable to individuals watching the programming. For example, in the United Kingdom, sports events are frequently viewed in public locations such as pubs and bars. Pubs, generally speaking, purchase a subscription from a satellite provider for reception of sports events. This subscription allows for the presentation of the sports event in the pub to the patrons. The advertising to those patrons may or may not be appropriate depending on the location of the pub, the make up of the clientele, the local environment, or other factors. The advertising may even promote products and services which compete with those stocked or offered by the owner of the pub.
Another environment in which advertising is presented to consumers through a commercial establishment is in hotels. In hotels, consumers frequently watch television in their rooms and are subjected to the defacto advertisements placed in the video stream. Hotels sometimes have internal channels containing advertising directed at the guests, but this tends to be an "infomercial" channel that does not have significant viewership. As is the case for pubs, the entertainment programming video streams may be purchased on a subscription basis from satellite or cable operator, or may simply be taken from over-the-air broadcasts. In some cases, the hotel operator offers Video on Demand (VoD) services, allowing consumers to choose a movie or other program for their particular viewing. These movies are presented on a fee basis, and although there are typically some types of advertising before the movie, viewers are not subjected to advertising during the movie.
Hospitals also provide video programming to the patients, who may pay for the programming based on a daily fee, or in some instances on a pay-per-view basis. The advertising in the programming is not specifically directed at the patients, but is simply the advertising put into the programming by the content provider.
Residential viewers are also presented advertisements in the vast majority of programming they view. These advertisements may or may not be the appropriate advertisements for that viewer or family.
In all of the aforementioned embodiments, it is necessary to know when an advertisement is being presented in order to substitute an advertisement that may be more applicable. Detection of the advertisements may require access to signals indicating the start and end of an advertisement. In the absence of these signals, another means is required for detecting the start and end of an advertisement or advertisement break.
There is a need for a system and method that allows for the insertion of advertisements in video streams. There is also a need for a system which allows advertisements to be better targeted to audiences and for the ability for operators of commercial premises to cross-market services and products to the audience. Additionally, there is a need for a system which enables the operators of commercial premises to eliminate and substitute advertising of competitors' products and services included in broadcasts shown to guests on their premises.

Detecting known video entities utilizing fingerprints


Technologies are generally described for organizing inputs for an online service. It is determined that there are no updated inputs generated on a personalized page hosted on a server corresponding to the online service for a predetermined time period. The inputs may be associated with an acknowledged contact regarding the online service. Inputs previously generated on the personalized page hosted on the server are reorganized in accordance with one of multiple arrangements.

Online services, such as social networks, allow a user to upload personal content and information to a server. The personal content and information may be made available for viewing by other users or the public. Through the online services, users may share their life story and/or thoughts, and at the same time service providers may get benefits from the services such as advertising revenue.

Organization of inputs for online service


A monitoring system which can monitor a plurality of vehicles (1) includes vibration sensing units (15) each sensing a vibration of the associated vehicle (1), a sensed time specifying unit (20b) which specifies an instant at which the vibration of the vehicle (1) is sensed by the vibration sensing unit, and an abnormality determining unit (20a) which determines, when a vibration of one of the vehicles (1) is sensed by the associated vibration sensing unit (15), whether the vibration is caused by preparations for theft with respect to the vehicle (1) or the vibration is caused by environmental influences on the vehicle (1). The abnormality determining unit (20a) carries out the determination on ground of sensing results obtained by the vibration sensing units (15) of the respective vehicles (1) and a result of specification carried out by the sensed time specifying unit (20b). With this, a possibility of incorrectly identifying a vibration not being attributed to preparations for theft as a vibration attributed to preparations for theft.

Monitoring systems (antitheft systems) for monitoring a vehicle to prevent theft have been developed to this day. Such a monitoring system is, for instance, arranged in such a manner that, a vibration sensor is attached to a vehicle, and when vibration of the vehicle is sensed, it is assumed that someone is preparing theft (preparations for theft), so that a warning such as blowing a horn is performed.
However, only the result of sensing by the vibration sensor is usually not enough to precisely determines whether the vehicle is vibrating due to the preparations for theft or the vehicle is vibrating due to other reasons. For this reason, warnings are frequently performed by mistake. Conceivable reasons of the vibration of a vehicle other than the preparations for theft are such as an earthquake and construction works. In this wise, a monitoring system which is likely to perform mistaken warnings is untrustworthy.
There is a method in view of the problem above, which is arranged such that a determination is made in consideration of information other than the information from the vibration sensor of the vehicle. For instance, in regard to earthquake, there are institutions for collecting information regarding vibration caused by extensive earthquakes, so that the determination can be made in consideration of the vibration caused by the earthquake, when the information can be obtained from the institutions.
Also, there is another method disclosed by, for instance, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-348263 (Tokukai 2000-348263; published on Dec. 15, 2000), for determining whether or not a vibration is attributed to an act of thievery (preparations for theft), on ground of an waveform of the vibration sensed by a sensor (vibration sensor).
However, even if such a method that takes the information from the institutions into consideration can determine whether or not a vibration is attributed to an earthquake, other types of information concerning, for instance, an abnormal vibration in a parking lot where the car is left, a vibration due to construction works, and an influence of local wind are hardly obtainable from the institutions, thereby being hardly taken into consideration.
Furthermore, according to the determining method on ground of the waveform of a vibration, there could be a case that it is hardly determinable whether or not the vibration is due to preparations for theft.
In this manner, since conventional arts cannot steadily deliver precise determinations, it has been demanded to further improve the precision of determinations.
The present invention is done to solve the problem above, and thus the objective of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system, central monitoring apparatus, and on-board monitoring apparatus, which can reduce the possibility of misidentifying a vibration, which is of no concern with preparations for theft, as a vibration due to preparations for theft.

Monitor system, central monitor apparatus, on-vehicle monitor apparatus, monitor method, monitor program, computer-readable recording medium containing the same


Various cable termination assemblies are disclosed. The cable termination assembly can include a pin, a sealing element, a compression plate, and an insulator. The compression plate and the sealing element can be seated on the pin and form a substantially gas or liquid-tight seal with the pin. The insulator can have a feature that engages with a feature on the pin. The insulator can be advanced along the pin to compress the compression plate against the sealing element.

Field
The present disclosure relates to methods and devices related to an improved termination fitting for a mineral-insulated cable.
Description of Certain Related Art
Mineral-insulated (MI) cables are electrical cables with an inner conductor element, outer metal sheath, and a mineral insulation filling the space between the conductor and the sheath. MI cables are able to withstand physically demanding settings, such as corrosive and/or high temperature environments that may be encountered in certain energy extraction operations. For example, some MI cables are used to heat bitumen or heavy oil in thermally assisted gravity driven operations.


A method of pose calculation for a portable three-dimensional scanning device including a first sensor and a second sensor the method including utilizing data from the first sensor and data from the second sensor to acquire data defining six degrees of freedom of the scanning device to optimize a first pose calculation, receiving data comprising one of data from the first sensor and data from the second sensor, selecting a subset of the six degrees of freedom of the scanning device, utilizing the data from the first sensor and the received data for the selected subset of six degrees of freedom to optimize a second pose, wherein the unselected degrees of freedom are retained from the first pose and storing received data associated with the second camera pose in a point cloud database.

For many applications including architecture, engineering, and construction, there is a need to build accurate maps of as-built environments. Additional applications include the use of such maps by first responders, municipalities, developers, security personnel and more. The creation of such maps typically requires manual measurements, precision-surveying instruments, and imaging devices or, more recently, laser radar (lidar) to build detailed plans or a map of the environment. Lidar tools are typically stationary when providing measurements but new generations of backpack systems and wheeled carts with integral sensors, sometimes termed 'trolleys,' are also used.
New forms of mobile mapping use passive or active sensing means to quickly capture a 3D map of the environment or operate in real-time. These systems may use one or more of the following sensors: laser radar (lidar), camera, inertial measurement unit, and other sensors. Such sensors, combined with sufficient computing resources and the application of novel algorithms, may be used to build a real-time 3D map of a local environment. As the sensor moves through the environment, it gathers image, lidar, and motion data to populate a 3D map of the environment. The map accretes additional data and continues to build a map of the environment.
However, occasionally even when using this combination of sensing, computing, and processing, mapping is difficult or challenging. This is often a function of the geometry of the environment. Examples include narrow stairwells, featureless environments (either geometric or visual), or narrow transitions between two larger areas such as a doorway. In such instances the model may be distorted or warped as a result of an inability to correctly track features in the environment. This can result in the map having non-level floors or adjacent rooms that appear to be at angles to each other when in fact, they are not.
What is therefore needed is a system and a method for operating the system to scan areas that pose unique challenges for mapping solutions that use traditional simultaneously localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques.

Systems and methods for improvements in scanning and mapping


An electrical device (1) in which an element (7) composed of a conductive polymer is positioned in contact with the surface layer of one or more metal electrodes (3,5). The metal electrode contains a base layer (9) which comprises a first metal, an intermediate metal layer (15) which comprises a metal that is different from the first metal, and a surface layer (17) which (i) comprises a second metal, (ii) has a center line average roughness R.sub.a of at least 1.3, and (iii) has a reflection density R.sub.d of at least 0.60. The conductive polymer composition preferably exhibits PTC behavior. The electrical devices, which may be, for example, circuit protection devices or heaters, have improved thermal and electrical performance over devices prepared with electrodes which do not meet the center line average roughness and reflection density requirements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical devices comprising conductive polymer compositions and to circuits comprising such devices.
2. Introduction to the Invention
Electrical devices comprising conductive polymer compositions are well-known. Such devices comprise an element composed of a conductive polymer. The element is physically and electrically connected to at least one electrode suitable for attachment to a source of electrical power. Those factors determining the type of electrode used include the specific application, the configuration of the device, the surface to which the device is to be attached, and the nature of the conductive polymer. Among those types of electrodes which have been used are solid and stranded wires, metal foils, perforated and expanded metal sheets, and conductive inks and paints. When the conductive polymer element is in the form of a sheet or laminar element, metal foil electrodes which are directly attached to the surface of the conductive polymer, sandwiching the element, are particularly preferred. Examples of such devices are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,426,633 (Taylor), 4,689,475 (Matthiesen), 4,800,253 (Kleiner et al), 4,857,880 (Au et al), 4,907,340 (Fang et al), and 4,924,074 (Fang et al), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,689,475 (Matthiesen) and 4,800,253 (Kleiner et al), microrough metal foils having certain characteristics give excellent results when used as electrodes in contact with conductive polymers. Thus U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,475 discloses the use of metal foilswhich have surface irregularities, e.g. nodules, which protrude from the surface by 0.1 to 100 microns and have at least one dimension parallel to the surface which is at most 100 microns, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,253 discloses the use of metal foils with a microrough surface which comprises macronodules which themselves comprise micronodules. Other documents which disclose the use of metal foils having rough surfaces, but which do not disclose the characteristics of the foils disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,689,475 and 4,800,253, are Japanese Patent Kokai No. 62-113402 (Murata, 1987), Japanese Patent Kokoku H4-18681 (Idemitsu Kosan, 1992), and German Patent Application No. 3707494A (Nippon Mektron Ltd). The disclosure of each of these U.S., Japanese, and German documents is incorporated herein by reference.

Electrical devices containing conductive polymers


A method for etching a feature in an etch layer through a photoresist mask over a substrate is provided. A substrate with an etch layer disposed below a photoresist mask is placed in a process chamber. The photoresist mask is conditioned, wherein the conditioning comprises providing a conditioning gas comprising a hydrogen containing gas with a flow rate and at least one of a fluorocarbon and a hydrofluorocarbon with a flow rate to the process chamber; and energizing the conditioning gas to form the conditioning plasma. The conditioning plasma is stepped. An etch plasma is provided to the process chamber, wherein the etch plasma is different than the conditioning plasma. A feature is etched in the etch layer with the etch plasma.

The present invention relates to the use of a photoresist mask in semiconductor device production. More particularly, the present invention relates to etching through a photoresist mask during the production of a semiconductor device.
During semiconductor wafer processing, features of the semiconductor device are defined in the wafer using well-known patterning and etching processes. In these processes, a photoresist (PR) material may be deposited on the wafer and then is exposed to light filtered by a reticle. The reticle is generally a glass plate that is patterned with exemplary feature geometries that block light from propagating through the reticle.
After passing through the reticle, the light contacts the surface of the photoresist material. The light changes the chemical composition of the photoresist material such that a developer can remove a portion of the photoresist material. In the case of positive photoresist materials, the exposed regions are removed, and in the case of negative photoresist materials, the unexposed regions are removed. Thereafter, the wafer is etched to remove the underlying material from the areas that are no longer protected by the photoresist material, and thereby produce the desired features in the wafer.
To provide increased density, feature size is reduced. This may be achieved by reducing the critical dimension (CD) of the features, which requires improved photoresist resolution. One way of improving photoresist resolution is by providing thinner photoresist masks.
New photoresist materials (193 and 157 nm PR) are being pursued to produce small CD sizes in the photoresist, but these resists are less resistant to damage from the plasma than previous masks of DIV and 248 nm photoresist. Also, with the current single layer approach, increasingly thinner resist must be used to match the resolution of the features. This may not provide enough resist for the oxide etch and may cause other complications, such as striation. In order to keep up with shrinking feature dimensions, the industry has been investigating new technologies such as multi-layer approaches involving several processing steps. The switch to new technologies will undoubtedly be expensive and time-consuming.

Photoresist conditioning with hydrogen ramping


A plurality of decoding metrics for a current frame may be generated based on a correlation set for a current frame and a correlation set for at least one previous frame. Whether a signal is present on a control channel may then be determined based on the generated decoding metrics.

A cellular communications network typically includes a variety of communication nodes coupled by wireless or wired connections and accessed through different types of communications channels. Each of the communication nodes includes a protocol stack that processes the data transmitted and received over the communications channels. Depending on the type of communications system, the operation and configuration of the various communication nodes can differ and are often referred to by different names. Such communications systems include, for example, a Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) system and a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
Third generation wireless communication protocol standards (e.g., 3GPP-UMTS, 3GPP2-CDMA2000, etc.) may employ a dedicated traffic channel in the uplink (e.g., a communication flow between a mobile station (MS) or User Equipment (UE), hereinafter referred to as a user, and a base station (BS) or NodeB). The dedicated channel may include a data part (e.g., a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) in accordance with UMTS Release 4/5 protocols, a fundamental channel or supplemental channel in accordance with CDMA2000 protocols, etc.) and a control part (e.g., a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH) in accordance with UMTS Release 4/5 protocols, a pilot/power control sub-channel in accordance with CDMA2000 protocols, etc.).
Newer versions of these standards, for example, Release 6 of UMTS provide for high data rate uplink channels referred to as enhanced dedicated channels (E-DCHs). An E-DCH may include an enhanced data part (e.g., an E-DCH dedicated physical data channel (E-DPDCH) in accordance with UMTS protocols) and an enhanced control part (e.g., an E-DCH dedicated physical control channel (E-DPCCH) in accordance with UMTS protocols).
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional wireless communication system 100 operating in accordance with UMTS protocols. Referring to FIG. 1, the wireless communication system 100 may include a number of NodeBs such as NodeBs 120, 122 and 124, each serving the communication needs of a first type of user 110 and a second type of user 105 in their respective coverage area. The first type of user 110 may be a higher data rate user such as a UMTS Release 6 user, referred to hereinafter as an enhanced user. The second type of user may be a lower data rate user such as a UMTS Release 4/5 user, referred to hereinafter as a legacy user. The NodeBs are connected to an RNC such as RNCs 130 and 132, and the RNCs are connected to a MSC/SGSN 140. The RNC handles certain call and data handling functions, such as, autonomously managing handovers without involving MSCs and SGSNs. The MSC/SGSN 140 handles routing calls and/or data to other elements (e.g., RNCs 130/132 and NodeBs 120/122/124) in the network or to an external network. Further illustrated in FIG. 1 are interfaces Uu, Iub, Iur and Iu between these elements.
An example of a frame structure for the E-DCHs (e.g., E-DPCCH and E-DPDCH) in the uplink direction is illustrated in FIG. 2. Each frame 200 may have a length of, for example, 10 milliseconds (ms) and may be partitioned into 5 sub-frames each including 3 slots. Each slot 205 may have a length of, for example, 2560 chips, and may have a duration of, for example, 2/3 ms. Consequently, each sub-frame may have a duration of 2 ms.
As discussed above, an E-DCH includes an E-DPDCH 240 and an E-DPCCH 220, and each of the E-DPCCH 220 and the E-DPDCH 240 may be code multiplexed.
The E-DPCCH 220 carries control information for an associated E-DPDCH 240. This control information includes three components: a re-transmission sequence number (RSN), a transport format indicator (TFI) and a happy bit. The RSN indicates the transmission index of an associated packet transmitted on the E-DPDCH. That is, the RSN value indicates the number of times data associated with an upper layer enhanced dedicated transport channel (E-DTrCH), and associated control information has been transmitted by a UE without receiving an acknowledgment (ACK) from the NodeB in return. Currently in UMTS Release 6, the RSN has a maximum value of 3 and is represented by two bits.
The TFI indicates the data format for the transport channel carried by the associated E-DPDCH (e.g., transport block size, transmission time interval (TTI), etc.) and is represented by 7 bits. The TFI value may be a value selected from a transport format set (TFS) including all possible TFI values for a given transmission.
The happy bit is a binary indicator, which may be used by a UE to inform one or more NodeBs whether the UE is satisfied with the current setup of the E-DCH channels and is represented by a single bit. For example, UE 110 of FIG. 1 may use this indicator to inform one of the NodeBs 120/122/124 that the UE 110 can handle greater data capacity. In other words, the happy bit is a rate increase request bit.
FIG. 3 illustrates a conventional UMTS uplink transmitter 300 located at the enhanced UE 110 of FIG. 1 and a receiver 350 located at one of the NodeBs 120/122/124. The conventional transmitter 300 and receiver 350 of FIG. 3 may transmit and receive E-DCHs.
As shown in FIG. 3, data associated with an upper layer enhanced dedicated transport channel (E-DTrCH) may be processed into E-DPDCH frames at the transmission channel processing block 303. The frames may be binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulated and orthogonally spread at the modulation and orthogonal spreading unit 304. The spread modulated frames are received by the gain unit 315 where an amplitude of the spread modulated frames may be adjusted. A combiner 320 receives the output of the gain unit 315.
Still referring to FIG. 3, the 2 RSN bits, the 7 TFI bits and the 1 happy bit are mapped into a 10-bit E-DPCCH word, which may be control information for an associated E-DPDCH frame having a TTI of, for example, 2 ms or 10 ms.
The 10-bit E-DPCCH word includes a happy bit set to a given value (e.g., '1' or '0'), a format indicator or TFI having a value corresponding to a data format for the transport channel carried by the associated E-DPDCH frame (e.g., transport block size, transmission time interval (TTI), etc.), and an RSN value between 0 and 3. The happy bit and the TFI may be referred to as control data.
The 10-bit E-DPCCH word may then be coded into a 30-bit coded sequence at an FEC unit 301. That is, for example, the 10-bit E-DPCCH word associated with a single E-DPDCH frame is first coded into a 32-bit E-DPCCH codeword using a (32, 10) sub-code of the second order Reed-Muller code. The 32-bit codeword is then punctured to (30, 10) code to generate the 30 coded symbols (in this case 1 bit will represent 1 symbol) to be transmitted. These 30 coded symbols are transmitted in one sub-frame; for example, 3 slots 200 as shown in FIG. 2 with 10-bits per slot.
Returning to FIG. 3, the 30-bit coded sequence is modulated at a BPSK Modulator 305 and orthogonally spread at an orthogonal spreading unit 310. The output from the orthogonal spreading unit 310 is gain adjusted at a gain unit 316 and output to the combiner 320.
Similar to the above E-DPCCH, well-known DPCCH frames used in determining, for example, channel estimates, are modulated at a BPSK Modulator 306, and the modulated frames are orthogonally spread at an orthogonal spreading unit 311. The spread modulated frames are received by a gain unit 317 where an amplitude of the spread modulated frames may be adjusted.
The outputs of each of the gain units 315, 316 and 317 are complex signals and are combined (e.g., code-division and/or I/Q multiplexed) into a combined signal by a combiner unit 320. The combined signal is scrambled and filtered by a shaping filter 325, and the output of the shaping filter 325 is sent to the receiver 350 via a propagation channel 330 (e.g., over the air).
After the transmitter 300 transmits the combined signal over the propagation channel 330, the transmitting UE awaits an ACK from the NodeB indicating that the transmitted signal has been successfully received and decoded.
If an ACK is received by the user, the transmitter 300 may transmit new E-DTrCH data. If an ACK is not received or an NACK is received, the UE may retransmit data from the same E-DTrCH and similar control information via an E-DPDCH frame and corresponding E-DPCCH frame, respectively.
The retransmitted E-DPCCH frame includes the same or different happy bit value, the same TFI value, and an incremented RSN value. For example, if the RSN value of the initial frame is N, the RSN value of the retransmitted frame is N+1. Thus, RSN values for consecutive retransmissions of the same data are correlated in that the values are incremented by one.
After retransmitting the data and associated control information (e.g., via an E-DPDCH frame and a corresponding E-DPCCH frame, respectively) including an RSN value of N+1, if still no ACK is received from the NodeB or a NACK is received, the UE may retransmit the data and similar control information again via another E-DPDCH frame and E-DPCCH frame, respectively. In this retransmission (e.g., third transmission), the E-DPCCH frame may have an RSN value of N+2. The UE may continue to retransmit the non-acknowledged data until an ACK is received, or the number of retransmissions reaches a threshold value.
At the receiver 350, the transmitted signal is received over the propagation channel 330, and input to the E-DPDCH processing block 335, E-DPCCH soft-symbol generation block 345 and a DPCCH channel estimation block 355. As is well-known in the art, the DPCCH channel estimation block 355 generates channel estimates using pilots transmitted on the DPCCH. The channel estimates may be generated in any well-known manner, and will not be discussed further herein for the sake of brevity. The channel estimates generated in the DPCCH channel estimation block 355 may be output to each of the E-DPDCH processing block 335 and the E-DPCCH soft-symbol generation block 345.
At the soft-symbol generation block 345, the received control signal may be de-scrambled, de-spread, and de-rotated/de-multiplexed to generate a sequence of soft-symbols. The E-DPCCH soft-symbols may represent an estimate of the received signal, or in other words, an estimate of the 30 symbols transmitted by the transmitter 300. The E-DPCCH soft-symbols may be further processed to recover the transmitted E-DPCCH word.
The E-DPCCH soft-symbols are output to an E-DPCCH discontinuous transmission (DTX) detection unit 365. The E-DPCCH DTX detection unit 365 determines whether the signal received on the E-DPCCH is actually present using a thresholding operation.
For example, the E-DPCCH DTX detection unit 365 may normalize a signal energy for a received E-DPCCH frame (e.g., the signal energy over a given TTI of 2 ms) and compare the normalized signal energy to a threshold. If the normalized signal energy is larger than the threshold, the E-DPCCH DTX detection unit 365 determines that a control signal is present on the E-DPCCH; otherwise, the E-DPCCH DTX detection unit 365 determines that a control signal is not present on the E-DPCCH and, subsequently, declares a discontinuous transmission.
If the E-DPCCH DTX detection unit 365 detects that a control signal is present on the E-DPCCH, the soft-symbols output from the soft-symbol generation block 345 are processed by the E-DPCCH decoding block 375 to recover (e.g., estimate) the 10-bit E-DPCCH word transmitted by the transmitter 300.
For example, in recovering the transmitted 10-bit E-DPCCH word, the E-DPCCH decoding block 375 may determine a correlation value or correlation distance, hereinafter referred to as a correlation, between the sequence of soft-symbols and each 30-bit codeword in a subset (e.g., 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.) of all 1024 possible E-DPCCH codewords that may have been transmitted by the transmitter 300. This subset of codewords may be referred to as a codebook.
After determining a correlation between the sequence of soft-symbols and each of the codewords in the codebook, the E-DPCCH decoding block 375 selects the 10-bit E-DPCCH word corresponding to the 30-bit E-DPCCH codeword, which has the highest correlation to the E-DPCCH soft-symbols. The 10-bit E-DPCCH word is then output to the E-DPDCH processing block 335 for use in processing the E-DPDCH.
If the E-DPDCH is successfully received and decoded at the receiver 350, the NodeB transmits an ACK to the transmitting UE in the downlink; otherwise, the NodeB transmits a NACK (e.g., if the NodeB is a serving NodeB) or nothing (e.g., if the NodeB is a non-serving NodeB)
The conventional E-DPCCH processing as shown in FIG. 3 is used to generate E-DPCCH performance results and/or set conformance test requirements for Release 6 UMTS standards. However, in conventional single-frame E-DPCCH processing, a high transmit power of E-DPCCH is required to achieve satisfactory detection performance. Moreover, performance does not improve as the number of retransmissions increases.
The E-DPCCH is decoded based on a single frame at all times. This limits the performance for the E-DPDCH, and results in faster power consumption and/or higher interference to other users.

Multiframe control channel detection for enhanced dedicated channel


A package may include a substrate provided with noise absorbing material. The noise absorbing material may absorb noise from a signal path in the substrate to prevent the noise from reaching other signals or signal paths.

One method to reduce noise coupling in a radio frequency (RF) package is to increase space in the radio frequency (RF) package. Unfortunately, the method may result in an undesirable increase in package area. Another method to reduce noise coupling may utilize band-gap structure for noise isolation. However, the band-gap structure may also consume an increased package area.


The invention relates to a device, especially an active backscatter transponder, for generating an oscillator signal based on a base signal. It comprises an oscillator for actively constructing the oscillator signal by oscillations, an input for the base signal and an output for the oscillator signal produced. The oscillator can be induced by the base signal to generate oscillator signal in a quasi-coherent manner to the base signal. For the transmission of data, the device further has a data insertion device for inserting data or a data signal into the oscillator signal. A corresponding suitable receiver receives and processes the received signal that was generated and transmitted by such a device as a quasi-coherent signal. A separation device removes the signal portions of the oscillator from the received signal via the base signal of a receiver-side oscillator, with a data retrieval device for retrieving the inserted data.

The invention relates to a backscatter transponder for generating an oscillator signal based on a base signal with an oscillator for actively constructing the oscillator signal by means of oscillations, an input for the base signal and an output for the oscillator signal generated, whereby the oscillator is rendered capable of being activated in a quasi-phase-coherent manner with the aid of a control signal generated by a clock generator and is capable of being activated in a quasi-phase-coherent manner with respect to the base signal by means of the base signal for generating the oscillator signal.
The invention also relates to a communication system incorporating such a backscatter transponder and/or a method for transmitting data with such a backscatter transponder.
Methods and arrangements for exchanging data and for measuring the distance from a base station to a modulated transponder exist in numerous forms and have been known for a long time. Customary transponders comprise what are referred to as "backscatter transponders", for example, which do not have their own signal source but instead simply reflect back the received signal (where relevant, in amplified form). Reference is also made in this context to "modulated backscatter".
Although the backscatter transponder constitutes the data transmitter, a dedicated radio frequency signal is not customarily generated in a backscatter transponder. A radio frequency auxiliary carrier signal is sent first from the actual data receiver station to the transponder, which this transponder sends back, usually with low-frequency modulation.
The critical advantage of communication systems based on backscatter transponders with respect to standard communication systems having separate signal sources in all sub-stations therefore consists in the fact that the signal received in the receiver can be restricted to the modulation bandwidth in a virtually optimal manner via mixing with the auxiliary carrier signal and therefore a virtually optimal signal-to-noise ratio is achieved.
With the separate signal sources in the transmitter and receiver which are otherwise customary in communication systems, it is generally not possible, or only with great effort, particularly in the case of lower data rates, to regulate the separate sources in such a precise manner with respect to frequency and phase that a comparably small receiver bandwidth would be achievable.
The critical disadvantage of backscatter transponder systems, however, is the fact that the radio frequency signal has to travel along the path from the receiver to the transponder and back and therefore, based on the radar equation, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the overall transmission link decreases in proportion to the 4th power of the distance. Due to free field attenuation which increases strongly with frequency, it is scarcely possible to implement very high-frequency backscatter transponders in the GHz range, particularly with a satisfactory signal-to-noise ratio.
If, as is customary in the case of standard communication systems, a data signal is generated in the data transmitter, particularly in the transponder, with a dedicated source, the RF signal travels along the transmitter/receiver path only once. In this case, the SNR is only inversely proportional to the square of the distance. Added to this is the fact that other attenuation/losses on the transmission path also only affect the signal once and not twice. Therefore, particularly in the case of larger distances, the SNR is orders of magnitude higher in this respect than in the case of simple backscatter systems.
A device for generating an oscillator signal based on a base signal having an oscillator for actively constructing the oscillator signal via oscillations, an input for the base signal and an output for the oscillator signal generated is known from German patent document DE 100 32 822 A1 in which the oscillator is capable of being activated by the base signal to generate the oscillator signal in a quasi-phase-coherent manner with respect to the base signal. In this respect, the device comprises particularly a transmitter in the form of a transponder and provides an oscillator connected to the transponder antenna. A clock control unit is additionally provided for activating the oscillator. The oscillator is switched on and off cyclically with the clock control unit via a clock control signal. In this respect, the signal generated by the oscillator is quasi-coherent with respect to the received base signal. Switching the oscillator on and off also switches its quasi-phase-coherent activation capability.

Active backscatter transponder, communication system comprising the same and method for transmitting data by way of such an active backscatter transponder