A fluorescent image is obtained by emitting the light with a wavelength which excites a labelling fluorescent substance, a mask is created by a foreign matter area image extracted from an image of foreign matter adhering to the measurement object obtained by emitting light with a wavelength which does not excite the fluorescent substance, and logical multiplication of the mask and the fluorescent image is executed, thereby obtaining a fluorescent image that a foreign matter area is eliminated from the fluorescent image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus which aims at a plurality of minute points arranged on a plane and measures the intensity of each minute point, and more particularly to a fluorescent intensity measuring method and apparatus suitable for a system which aims at a bio chip in which substances such as DNAs or proteins labelled by a fluorescent substance are arranged on a plane as minute points with a high density and performs fluorescence analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-121559 discloses an apparatus which measures a fluorescent intensity of each minute point.
FIG. 17 is a schematic block diagram showing a fluorescent intensity measuring apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-121559. The fluorescent intensity measuring apparatus disclosed in this publication is constituted by a chip drive portion 503 which scans in a direction Y in the drawing, a bio chip 520 in which samples subjected to fluorescence labelling are formed on a substrate surface as minute points, a laser 506 as an excitation light source, the laser beam is reflected by the mirror 580 toward a dichroic mirror 508 which reflects a laser beam from the laser 506 and transmits therethrough the fluorescence from the measurement object, a condenser lens 509, a head drive portion 502 which scans in a direction X in the drawing, a read head 507 including the condenser lens 509 and the dichroic mirror 508, a dichroic mirror 511 which separates the fluorescence from the minute points in accordance with each wavelength, filters 515 and 519 which separate the laser beam and the fluorescence, aperture lenses 514 and 518, pin-hole plates 513 and 517, and photomultipliers 512 and 516.
The effects of the fluorescent intensity measuring apparatus having such a structure are as follows. That is, the laser beam generated by the laser 506 is reflected by the mirror 580 toward the dichroic mirror 508 and is reflected by the dichroic mirror 508 and directed to the condenser lens 509. Then, it is condensed on the bio chip 520, thereby forming a laser beam spot. At this moment, when a fluorescent substance exists in a part irradiated with the laser beam spot, the fluorescent substance is excited by the laser beam, and the fluorescence is generated. The generated fluorescence is condensed by the condenser lens 509, then transmitted through the dichroic mirror 508, separated by the color separation dichroic mirror 511 in accordance with each wavelength, condensed by the aperture lenses 514 and 518 in accordance with each wavelength, transmitted through the pin-hole plates 513 and 517, and enters the photomultipliers 512 and 516. The photomultipliers 512 and 516 are sensors which detect photons and convert them into pulses on a TTL level, and hence the light which has entered the photomultipliers 512 and 516 becomes a pulse signal, and the fluorescent intensity of the minute point can be measured by measuring the pulse number. Further, if the above-described operation is carried out while mechanically scanning the laser beam spot by a chip drive portion 503 and a head drive portion 502, the fluorescent intensity of the minute points on the entire bio chip 520 is measured.
However, if foreign matter which reflects the excitation light or generates the fluorescence exists on the surface of the bio chip 520, the light which becomes the noise from the foreign matter is detected as well as the fluorescence from the spot 521 on the bio chip 520, and hence it is impossible to cope with occurrence of an error in the measured intensity.
Furthermore, since the prior art fluorescent intensity measuring apparatus cannot judge presence/absence of foreign matter, a quantitative judgment cannot be made with respect to the reliability of an intensity value of the minute points.
In view of the above-described problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fluorescent intensity measuring method and apparatus which can reduce measurement errors even if foreign matter exists in the vicinity of the surface of a bio chip, and can recognize the existence of foreign matter and make a quantitative judgment of the reliability of an intensity measurement value.

Fluorescent intensity measuring method and apparatus


A method for fabricating a phase shift mask is provided. A trenched phase shift mask having portions of a light-blocking layer thereon is formed. A layer of anti-reflective material is then formed on the trenched phase shift mask and the portions of the light-blocking layer. The anti-reflective material is then removed on horizontal surfaces of the trenched phase shift mask and of the portions of the light-blocking layer.

Almost every modern electronic product, ranging from toys to massive computers, now uses integrated circuits ("ICs"). ICs are generally made using photolithographic processes that involve manufacturing a template containing patterns of the electrical circuit as transparent and opaque areas. The patterned template is referred to as a "reticle" or "mask". Generally, a number of these masks are required for manufacturing a complete device on the wafer.
A radiation source, such as a light, is used to copy or "pattern" multiple images of the mask onto a photosensitive material, such as a photoresist, on the surface of a silicon wafer. Once features are patterned on the photoresist, further processing is performed to form various structures on the silicon wafer. The completed wafer is then cut (or "diced") to form the individual ICs.
Engineers typically use computer-aided design ("CAD") to create a schematic design of the mask. One technique, Levenson phase shifting, also known as alternating aperture phase shifting, is used to create small features on ICs. Such small features are generated by a pair of areas in the mask called shifters.
One such mask is an alternating element phase shift mask ("PSM") that normally includes a substantially transparent substrate composed, for example, of quartz. Phase-shifting material is situated in regions on the mask substrate to provide a phase shift to light radiation as it passes through the transparent areas of the mask. The phase-shifting regions can be formed in several ways, such as by depositing patterns of transparent films of appropriate thickness on the quartz substrate, or by etching vertical trench patterns into the quartz substrate.
The phase-shifting material may be, for example, silicon nitride or other suitable transparent materials such as oxides or oxynitrides. It may also simply be a thicker (or thinner) region of the same substrate material (e.g., quartz). In such an alternating element PSM, discrete non-phase-shifting components are then disposed alternately adjacent to discrete phase-shifting components.
An attenuated PSM is a PSM that contains discrete layers of absorbers, composed for example of chromium, disposed on the mask substrate. The absorber layers selectively attenuate the light that is passed therethrough.
Hybrid attenuated-unattenuated PSMs can also be combined with alternate element PSMs to provide more complex PSM designs.
Shifters are arranged to exploit the changes in the phases of the light that passes through them. For example, two shifters can be configured on a mask to shine light on the same region of a photoresist. In a region on the photoresist where the light passing through one of the shifters is in phase with the light passing through the other shifter, a feature can be created on the photoresist that is narrower than the distance between the two shifters. Where the light passing through the shifters is out of phase, no feature is created. By reducing the distance between the two shifters, very small features can be created on the photoresist. The width of the feature can be considerably less than could be produced by the same optical system without phase shifting.
In a trenched PSM, the trenches are arranged to alternate with untrenched areas in order to provide alternating regions of phase-reversed light and unreversed light. However, the stray light from the sidewalls of the trenches usually interferes with the normal (desirable) incident light. This interference lowers the intensity of the light that exits from the trenches. Due to the lower intensity of the light that exits from the trenched areas, the alternating trenched and untrenched areas will not provide equal light intensities on the target photoresist. The resulting intensity imbalance then causes the printed photoresist features on the wafer to have placement errors.
Opaque areas, typically of chrome, are usually provided on PSM masks to block the light in areas where features are not to be formed. One known solution for the intensity imbalance issue is to provide undercuts beneath the chrome and to bias (i.e., to thin) the trench chrome opening. However, undercuts limit the minimum chrome size due to problems with peeling of the chrome. Biasing reduces the chrome that remains and hence also contributes to the chrome peeling issue.
Another mask solution is a sidewall chrome alternating aperture mask ("SCAAM") in which the sidewalls of the trenches are coated with a light-absorbing layer of chrome. The SCAAM technique requires less biasing and undercutting due to the chrome that is deposited on the sidewall for eliminating the problem of stray sidewall light.
Unfortunately, however, there are issues with the SCAAM technique that limit its use. One issue is the complexity of forming the additional sidewall chrome layer. This requires an additional chrome layer deposition process, which includes an additional mask-making process for the chrome deposition, additional photoresist processing that includes a complicated resist topography, etching of the chrome, and so forth. These issues limit the application of the SCAAM technique.
Thus, a need still remains for a trenched PSM method and apparatus that wilt effectively yet inexpensively eliminate intensity imbalances between the alternating trenched and untrenched areas of the mask. In view of the ever-increasing need to save costs and improve efficiencies, it is more and more critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Anti-reflective sidewall coated alternating phase shift mask and fabrication method

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd.


Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: retrieving a record of a first transaction, wherein the first transaction is associated with personally identifiable information of an owner; determining a first privacy risk value based on: a first transaction security metric associated with the first transaction, wherein the first transaction security metric includes a first set of security parameters, and a first set of weights correlated to the first set of security parameters; determining the current security status based on the first privacy risk value; and transmitting the current security status to the entity.

Data privacy is a key concern for many entities, including individuals, corporations, and government agencies. As communications systems develop and become more ubiquitous, transfer of data, including sensitive or private data, becomes easier to perform and more difficult to restrict. Numerous networks, systems, services, and applications transmit and/or have access to private information. When a person reveals private information to another entity, it is difficult to ensure that the information will not be further disseminated, either through the information recipient sharing the information or having the information stolen. The lack of adequate mechanisms for protection of private data may create a trust and transparency deficiency which may hinder support of personalized applications and cloud computing solutions.

System, method, and apparatus to mitigaterisk of compromised privacy


A content processing apparatus using sound includes a sound processor configured to generate acoustic sound for a locality check when an event in which locality check is to be executed is generated, a speaker configured to output the acoustic sound, a microphone configured to receive response sound output from an external apparatus which receives the acoustic sound, and a controller configured to determine the external apparatus which outputs the response sound as a peripheral apparatus.

1. Field
The following description relates to a content processing apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for checking locality using sound, and processing content.
2. Description of the Related Art
When users transmit and receive personal content or paid content and store or watch a corresponding content, a locality is checked using round trip time/time to live (RTT/TTL) required in Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) or High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) and a user's confirmation is needed.
As one example, when a mobile phone, in which Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is implemented, is wirelessly connected to a television (TV), if a user transmits content of the mobile phone to the TV, the TV displays a screen to ask whether or not to accept the content. The asking whether or not to accept the content is for security of the wireless connection. That is, corresponding information may be transmitted to neighboring houses regardless of an intention of the user who has transmitted the content. However, even when the screen to ask whether or not to accept the content is displayed, the personal content or paid content may be executed in the neighboring houses when neighbors mistakenly or intentionally accept the reception of the content.
Further, the screen to ask whether or not to accept the content displays a complicated technical description and a legal issue description, and the user selects the content with reference to the descriptions. Therefore, the user may have difficulty understanding the descriptions and reject the content, even when the content has been normally received, and thus, the user may find it difficult to transmit the content from the mobile phone to the TV.
For the convenience of the user, the manufacturers may set "reception acceptance" as a default when the user receives content through a TV, but the issue for security and privacy still exists. Therefore, there is a need for content transmission technology which promotes the convenience of the user and does not cause an issue for security and privacy.

Content processing apparatus and method using sound


A power supply transmission cord to filter out high frequency noises, ripples and noises between a power supply and the connecting peripheral devices such as a VGA card, HDD, RAM, CDROM, DVD and the like. A metal member is provided to surround the transmission cord to filter out the high frequency noises, and a condenser is provided to connect two conductive wires to filter out the ripples and noises.

The power supply in a computer is connected to other peripheral devices such as VGA cards, HDD, RAM, CDROM, DVD and the like through a power supply transmission cord to deliver electric power. The stability of the transmission cord is very important. When the power supply delivers electric power, ripples and noises often occur. On the other hand, signal transmission of the VGA card generates high frequency noises. The power supply transmission cords now on the market to connect the power supply of the computer and the peripheral devices such as the VGA cards, HDD, RAM, CDROM, DVD and the like do not have any apparatus to filter out high frequency noises and ripples and other noises. As a result, the screen often has undesirable display such as snow flakes or skewed lines. This could shorten the life span of the peripheral devices such as the VGA cards, HDD, RAM, CDROM, DVD and the screen. Display quality of the screen also is affected.


An aquarium which includes a tank having a pump and an under gravel filter disposed in the tank below the pump. The under gravel filter includes a hollow bubble dispersing base plate having a perforated top surface and an overlying substrate. An air conduit is provided for introducing air into the pump. The pump is connected to the plate such as to pump blended oxygenated water and air into the interior of the plate to thereby cause oxygenated water and bubbles to exit upwardly through the perforated top surface of the plate and into and through the substrate. The pump includes a free floating magnetic impeller. A rotational torque generating unit is provided to rotate the impeller. The rotational torque generating unit includes a magnetic drive disk and a motor for rotating the magnetic drive disk. The pump and rotational torque generating unit are aligned with each other such that a magnetic field is established between the magnetic drive disk and the magnetic impeller, the magnetic field rotating upon rotation of the magnetic drive disk to thereby rotate the impeller.

The present invention relates generally to aquariums and, more particularly, to aquariums having new and improved filtration systems.
Generally, there are three types of filtration required for aquariums: mechanical, biological and chemical. Mechanical filtration capture particles such as uneaten food, bits of plants, fishes waste, etc., from the water. Biological filtration provides for the growth of a colony of beneficial bacteria that will eliminate harmful toxins in the water. Chemical filtration uses a chemical agent, such as activated carbon, to remove compounds that cause odors, discoloration of the water and certain chemical contaminants.
A number of different type filters are employed to provide the requisite filtering, such as corner filters, under gravel filters, power filters, cannister filters and wet/dry filters.
Corner filters typically comprise clear plastic boxes which sit inside the tank. An air pump bubbles air through an air lift tube, which forces water through carbon and filter floss or other media mechanically and chemically filtering the water. Colonies of beneficial bacteria build up on the media, providing excellent biological filtration. Corner filters, however, are unaesthetic, take up space in the tank, and require more frequent maintenance than other filters. Additionally, the required maintenance also removes the beneficial bacteria.
Under gravel filters work by slowly passing water through a substrate of gravel, which sits on top of a perforated base plate. The water can be pumped with an air lift, with bubbles of air lifting the water in a vertical tube attached to the filter base plate. Increased water flow can be achieved with submersible pumps, called power heads, attached to the lift tubes.
Under gravel filters make good biological filters and will foster large colonies of beneficial bacteria which neutralize toxic ammonia. They also are good at catching all debris in the water. Unfortunately, the filter quickly clogs up as all the uneaten food and other pollutants and particles choke off areas of the substrate. As greater and greater areas of the substrate choke, it results in destruction of the beneficial bacteria which decay and now add a bio load to the system. At a certain point, the remaining beneficial bacteria are overrun, resulting in a tank which is no longer able to maintain the viability of its inhabitants (a "dead tank") which must be cleaned and reinitialized. To avoid this, it is necessary to frequently clean the substrate. Typically, this is done by regular vacuuming of the substrate. Unfortunately, the cleaning process results in removal of the beneficial bacteria colonies. Another problem might occur if an under gravel filter is used with a submersible pump. In this case, there is a safety risk from electric shock when work is done in the aquarium without first shutting down the electricity to the pump.
Another common type of filter is the power filter. There are many styles of power filters, but the most common hangs on the back of the tank. A siphon tube pulls water from the tank into the filter box and passes the water though a mechanical filter (typically a porous foam sponge). The sponge doubles as a biological filter. An internal pump then returns the filtered water into the aquarium.
The foam sponge can be easily inspected for clogging or removed for cleaning, but must be cleaned regularly to remove the solid wastes before they decompose and dissolve back into the water. Cleaning must be done in such a way, however, that the bacteria colony in the sponge is not substantially destroyed through the use of detergents or tap water with chlorine. Even if done properly, however, beneficial bacteria get removed with the debris
Canister filters have some similarities with the "hang on tank" style of power filters, but are designed to provide more powerful filtration. Typically, the water is pumped, at moderate pressure through a filter material, such as glass wool, or a micron filter cartridge. Canister filters are especially useful in aquariums which generate a lot of waste. For these filters to be effective they must be frequently cleaned, to avoid the decomposition of waste in the water stream. These filters usually sit on the floor below the tank, but also can hang on the tank, and in some designs, even sit inside the tank, in which case they are called a "submersible filter". As discussed above, in this latter case there is a problem of electrical shock when the aquarium is serviced without first shutting down the electricity to the filter pump.
Wet/dry filters, also known as trickle filters, work on the principle that colonies of bacteria grow best in the presence of well-oxygenated water. By "trickling" water over unsubmerged media, wet/dry filters provide a very large air/water surface area. Many things can be used for the media, with the best providing great amounts of surface area, while at the same time having large openings to reduce the tendency to clog and ensure efficient gas exchange. Generally, the problem of clogging of the media is reduced by pre-filtering the water with an efficient mechanical filter.
Although all of the foregoing filters can work effectively, they do have some common drawbacks. First, they require mechanical filters. Secondly, they require frequent maintenance which disturbs the natural balance of the tank. Additionally, those prior systems which employ submersible pumps present electrical hazards and are relatively noisy. Sounds are magnified underwater and are a terrible source of stress for fish.
Further, although all existing systems are partially successful in keeping most problems temporarily in check, they do not address one of the major problems which is maintenance of the substrate. As a result, the substrate must still be vacuumed regularly and a substantia amount of water replaced to keep the tank viable. Even if this is done, however, the balance in the tank is never stable and varies between clean and sterile to dirty and toxic.

Aquarium having improved filtration system


Methods and arrangements for conducting corruption analysis of service designs. A service design is accepted. Corrupting factors within the service design are assessed, and a corruption susceptibility score is generated. An alternative service design is generated responsive to a corruption susceptibility score fulfilling predetermined criteria.

In the realm of human-provided services, corruption often emerges as a major issue to be dealt with, especially in the realm of public services. Systemic deficiencies such as lack of transparency, deficit of information, weak accounting practices and obsolete policies, among other deficiencies, have been known to lend themselves to an environment which breeds different forms of corruption.
Several conventional tools and methods are available for assessing deficiencies that result in corruption, but are found to be lacking in any of several respects. Subjective tools assess corruption through opinion surveys and thus are highly susceptible to a surveyee's personal bias. Reactive tools involve assessments performed subsequent to known acts of corruption and at best serve a corrective, rather than preventative, purpose. Some tools conduct assessments based on institutional diagnostics such as audits and focus mainly on loopholes on an administrative side. Thus, corruption taking place on the side of beneficiaries may well go undetected, rampant as it may be in a particular case. Generally, conventional methods such as those just described are mainly performed manually, with a general lack of reliability thereby implied.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Automated corruption analysis of service designs

International Business Machines Corporation


A steam vent arrangement comprises a pan lid knob that incorporates a rotatable member that carries a slidable plunger. The plunger is moved by an SMA element to allow steam to vent via the knob and an aperture in a lid of the pan.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to steam vents for cookware.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is already known to provide adjustable steam vents which are conveniently mounted on a top lid of a cooking utensil. The effective size of a vent or aperture is controlled by partially closing off the aperture using a movable plate. The plate is manually adjustable relative to the aperture and remains in a chosen position so that the aperture is normally open or closed off as required. The vent is open or closed when cooking commences, and manually adjusted if necessary as cooking proceeds, requiring close supervision and attendance by the user.


An outphasing amplification apparatus includes: a signal decomposition unit for decomposing an input signal into a first signal and a second signal having predetermined amplitude values, respectively; a first amplification element for amplifying the first signal, and output a first amplification signal; a second amplification element for amplifying the second signal, and output a second amplification signal; and a combiner for combining the first amplified signal and the second amplified signal, wherein the combiner includes a first input transmission line having an impedance converter, a second input transmission line not having an impedance converter, and a combination unit configured to combine a signal produced by the first amplification signal passing through the first input transmission line to have been subjected to impedance conversion by the impedance converter, and a signal produced by the second amplification signal passing through the second input transmission line not having been subjected to impedance conversion.

To date, amplifiers have been used in various electronic devices. It is generally known that efficiency of an amplifier is highest at an output saturated state (that is to say, a nonlinear state).
To date, proposals have been made of an outphasing amplification apparatus (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as an "outphasing amplifier") as an amplification apparatus that causes an amplifier to operate in a saturated state. An outphasing amplifier includes two amplifiers connected in parallel, and a combiner for combining signals output from the two amplifiers, respectively. And a Chireix combiner is used as the combiner. The Chireix combiner has a λ/4 transmission line on a first line connecting a first amplifier and a combination point, and a λ/4 transmission line on a second line connecting a second amplifier and the combination point. Here, if the combined phase is not in phase, load impedance of the first amplifier has a reactance component that is the same size, but the opposite polarity as the reactance component of the load impedance of the second amplifier. Thus, in order to compensate those reactance components, the Chireix combiner is provided with a shunt reactance.
Related-art techniques have been disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 2009-213090, 2007-174148, and 2006-314087, and Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2009-533947.
Incidentally, improvements in power efficiency characteristic and broadband characteristic are demanded for amplification apparatuses. if a circuit size becomes large, these characteristics are deteriorated.
On the contrary, it is possible to improve these characteristics by reducing the circuit size. Accordingly, it is demanded that the circuit size of an amplification apparatus is made small as much as possible.


A rolling shutter technique for a pixel array is described in which multiple rows of the array are hard reset as the shutter moves down the array. As the rolling shutter progresses down the array, each row is hard reset multiple times before its integration period begins, thereby ensuring that the row is in a true hard reset condition at the beginning of its integration period. Also, multiple rows are hard reset in advance of the beginning of the integration period for a given row, thereby making it less likely that overexposed pixels several rows away will be able to distort the integrating row by blooming.

Image sensors are used in a variety of digital image capture systems, including products such as scanners, copiers, and digital cameras. The image sensor is typically composed of an array of light-sensitive pixel cells that are electrically responsive to incident light reflected from an object or scene whose image is to be captured.
A CMOS imager includes a focal plane array of pixel cells, each cell includes a photo sensor, for example, a photo gate, photoconductor or a photodiode overlying a substrate for producing a photo-generated charge in a doped region of the substrate. In a CMOS imager, the active elements of a pixel cell, for example a four transistor (4T) pixel cell, perform the necessary functions of (1) photon to charge conversion; (2) resetting a floating diffusion region to a known state; (3) transfer of charge to the floating diffusion region; (4) selection of a pixel cell for readout; and (5) output and amplification of a signal representing a reset voltage and a pixel signal voltage based on the photo-converted charges. The charge at the floating diffusion region is converted to a pixel or reset output voltage by a source follower output transistor.
Exemplary CMOS imaging circuits, processing steps thereof, and detailed descriptions of the functions of various CMOS elements of an imaging circuit are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,140,630, 6,376,868, 6,310,366, 6,326,652, 6,204,524, 6,333,205, all assigned to Micron Technology, Inc. The disclosures of each of the forgoing patents are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
A conventional CMOS four-transistor (4T) pixel cell 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1A. The illustrated cell 10 includes a pinned photodiode 13 as a photo sensor. Alternatively, the CMOS cell 10 may include a photo gate, photoconductor or other photon-to-charge converting device, in lieu of the pinned photodiode 13, as the initial accumulating area for photo-generated charge. The photodiode 13 includes a p+ surface accumulation layer and an underlying n− charge accumulation region formed in a p-type semiconductor substrate. In the exemplary pixel 10, accumulated charges are accumulated electrons.
The pixel cell 10 has a transfer gate 7, which is part of a transfer transistor 8, for transferring photo charges generated in the n− accumulation region to a floating diffusion region 3. The floating diffusion region 3 is further connected to a gate 27 of a source follower transistor 28. The source follower transistor 28 provides an output signal to a row select transistor 38 having a gate 37 for selectively gating the output signal to a column line 50. The column line 50 is selected for readout by a column select transistor 52, which applies a current source 54 to column line 50. A reset transistor 18 having a gate 17 resets the floating diffusion region 3 to a specified charge level by connecting it to a supply voltage Vaa-pix before each charge transfer from the n− accumulation region of the photodiode 13.
FIG. 1B illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary CMOS imager 108 having a pixel array 140 comprising a plurality of pixel cells arranged in a predetermined number of columns and rows, with each pixel cell being constructed as illustrated and described above with respect to FIG. 1A or using other known pixel architectures. Attached to the array 140 is signal processing circuitry for controlling the pixel array 140, as described herein, at least part of which may be formed in the substrate. The pixel cells of each row in array 140 are all turned on at the same time by a row select line, and the pixel cells of each column are selectively output by respective column select lines. A plurality of TX, read, row select and column select lines are provided for the entire array 140. The row lines are selectively activated by a row driver 145 in response to row address decoder 155. The column select lines are selectively activated by a column driver 160 in response to column address decoder 170. Thus, a row and column address is provided for each pixel cell.
The CMOS imager 108 is operated by a timing and control circuit 150, which controls address decoders 155, 170 for selecting the appropriate row and column lines for pixel readout. The control circuit 150 also controls the row and column driver circuitry 145, 160 such that they apply driving voltages to the drive transistors of the selected row and column lines. The pixel column signals, which typically include a pixel reset signal Vrst and a pixel image signal Vsig, are output to column driver 160, on output lines, and are read by a sample and hold circuit 161. Vrst is read from a pixel cell 10 immediately after the floating diffusion region 3 is reset. Vsig represents the amount of charges generated by the photosensitive element of the pixel cell 10 in response to applied light during an integration period. A differential signal (Vrst−Vsig) is produced by differential amplifier 162 for each readout pixel cell. The differential signal is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter 175 (ADC). The analog to digital converter 175 supplies the digitized pixel signals to an image processor 180, which forms and outputs a digital image.
Blooming occurs when a photodiode or other photosensitive device is overexposed, i.e., the photodiode 13 is exposed to more photons than it is capable of absorbing and converting to electrons. This is typically due to exposure of a pixel to an overly intense light source, or to exposing the pixel for too long a period of time. The excess electrons can spill over into pixels in nearby rows and columns. This overflow distorts the image, and can wash out portions of the image near the overexposed portion.
A typical technique for exposing and reading out images using pixel array 140 is by using a rolling shutter. That is, as row N is being read out, row N+X is hard reset, with X representing a number of rows further down in the array 140. A hard reset means that both the reset transistors and transfer transistors are turned on to reset the photodiode, and when the transfer transistor is turned off, an integration period begins. The time difference between a hard reset of a row and its subsequent readout is the pixel exposure time, also known as integration time.
Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2F, the operation of a conventional rolling shutter on a portion of a conventional CMOS pixel array 140 is now described. The rolling shutter, operated by control circuit 150 (FIG. 1B) includes a read row 200 and a hard reset row 201. An overexposed pixel 210 and bloom region 211 is also shown. For the purposes of this example, the integration period X of the rolling shutter is the time it takes to sequentially read out 10 rows. The integration period can be set responsive to the amount of incident light and on the capacity of the photodiodes 13 in order to prevent individual pixels from overexposing and blooming during the integration period.
Referring now to FIG. 2A, as read row 200 (at row 6) is being read out, hard reset row 201 (at row 16) is hard reset, which then begins an integration period for row 16 where row 16 begins to collect photons until the read row 200 reaches row 16. FIGS. 2B-2F show the row by row progression of read row 200 and hard reset row 201, with the hard reset row 201 always 10 rows ahead of the read row 200. Once rows 6-15 are read out in sequence, row 16 will then be read out, and so on. This conventional rolling shutter technique does not adequately compensate for blooming, however.
Blooming can often affect pixels several rows or columns away from the initially overexposed pixel. In many cases, the adjacent pixels, which absorb a large portion of the deflected electrons from the initial overexposed pixel, can be overexposed themselves and begin to deflect electrons. Additionally, many electrons may be deflected to pixels several rows or columns away.
This blooming problem is exacerbated when, as is often the case in overexposure situations, large groups of adjacent pixels are exposed to intense light and become overexposed. The cumulative effect of the overexposed pixels can accelerate the displacement of extra electrons, overexposing and distorting pixels many rows and columns away from the initially overexposed pixels in a very short amount of time.
Conventional rolling shutters cannot fully compensate for this phenomenon. Referring again to FIGS. 2A-2F, an overexposed pixel 210 having a bloom region 211 is shown. For the purposes of this example, a single pixel 210 is exposed to light of sufficient intensity to overload the photo sensor charge accumulation region 14 (see FIG. 1A) and send excess electrons as far away as five pixels in all directions. Thus, all pixels within the bloom region 211, having a radius of approximately five pixels, will produce an inaccurate result because of the excess electrons from pixel 210.
Referring again to FIG. 2A, when hard reset row 201 reaches and discharges row 16, i.e., hard resets the pixels in the row), the effects of the overexposed pixel 210 on the portion of the row in the bloom region 211 are temporarily eliminated. However, as shown in FIG. 2B, the blooming effect on a portion of row 16 can reemerge before the end of the integration period for row 16. A modern pixel array can have in excess of 1000 rows; therefore, in this example where the integration time is 10 rows, an overexposed pixel 210 can deflect electrons to nearby pixels for the time it takes to read out 990 rows, or longer. Also, because electrons can be deflected farther than the dimensions of an individual pixel, the hard resetting of row 17 will not prevent photon overflow to still integrating row 16. Also, in situations where the light is particularly intense, or where the photon capacity of a pixel cell is particularly small, the portion of row 17 in the bloom region 211 may refill and overflow to row 16 in less time than it takes to integrate one row, further distorting the portion of row 16 in the bloom region 211.
FIGS. 2C-2F show the progression of the rolling shutter and its inability to fully compensate for blooming. The hard reset row 201 must reach the overexposed pixel 210 (at row 21) to fully discharge the excess electrons by a hard reset, as shown in FIG. 2F. Before the hard reset row 201 reaches the overexposed pixel 210 at row 21, however, portions of rows 16-20 in the bloom region 211 will have already been distorted by the excess electrons which have been deflected from the pixel 210 before hard reset, as shown in FIGS. 2B-2E. Although overexposed pixel 210 is hard reset and stops contributing to the distortion of bloom region 211, the effects of the excess electrons in bloom region 211 will remain until the row is discharged, either by being hard reset for rows 22+, or by being read out for rows 16-20, distorting the portion of the image in that portion of the bloom region 211.
There exists a need and desire for an improved rolling shutter to reduce blooming in CMOS pixel arrays caused by intense light sources and by pixel cells having small charge accumulation capacity.

Rolling shutter for prevention of blooming


Proposed is a switchable valvetrain (1) for an internal combustion engine, having a row of rocker arms (2) which extend in the longitudinal direction of a cylinder head, which rocker arms (2) run via a recess (7) on an upper side (6) on a head (8) of a bearing journal (9), which bearing journal (9) is axially moveably arranged in a bore (10) of a carrier (11) which runs above, with piston-like coupling means (12) being provided for selectively coupling the bearing journal (9) to the carrier (11).

A valvetrain of said type is known from DE 32 39 941 A1 which is considered generic. A disadvantage of said valvetrain (see FIG. 1) is its extremely complexly designed coupling mechanism. Arranged laterally on the carrier is a bar-like slide which, in the coupled case, engages by means of a conical end face on one end into an annular groove of a bearing journal.
Said complex mechanism demands an unnecessarily large installation space in the cylinder head. It can be seen that the laterally engaging slide, with its surrounding construction, projects laterally beyond one end of the rocker arm. It is also clear that, as a result of the mere single-sided coupling, increased component loading in the coupled case can occur on the one hand, and the bearing journal has an increased tendency to tilt in the coupled case on the other hand. There are also only very few standard parts (previously used valvetrain parts) which can be resorted to.

Valvetrain switchable lever arm for internal combustion engine using collapsing pivot element at center pivot


An anti-corrosive additive composition is provided that includes an alkali-based salt of dioic acid and a defoamer agent. The defoamer agent is generally selected from the group consisting of a polyether modified polysilicane, a tri-alkane phosphate, a tri-alkene phosphate, and mixtures thereof. The anti-corrosive additive is particularly adapted for use with concrete compositions, e.g., a concrete composition that includes at least one rebar.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an anti-corrosive additive composition for concrete compositions, and more particularly to an anti-corrosive additive composition for concrete compositions used in reinforced concrete structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For structures made of reinforced concrete, concrete has at least two functions, i.e. to absorb compressive strains and to protect reinforcing steel bars or re-bars against corrosion. The re-bars function to absorb shear and tensile stress.
The cost of corrosion is annually estimated to be in the billions with concomitant catastrophic collapses of structures and losses in lives. The protective effect of hardened concrete on re-bars depends, inter alia, on climatic and environmental conditions as a function of amount of cement, grain of concrete aggregate, water/cement factor and concrete compression.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,752 to Jaklin, there is described the use of modified inorganic silicates, e.g. modified alkali silicates as a concrete additive to prevent corrosion of steel structures or steel re-bars.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,450 to Katoot, there is described the use of a coating process to coat the surface of the metals which is modified to an active moiety of metal hydroxide receptive to a fully cross-lined polymer of various thickness.
In copending application U.S. Ser. No. 10/447,975, there is disclosed an anticorrosive additive comprised of an alkali based solution of dioic acid, alone or in admixture with other compositions for an anti-corrosion additive for concrete compositions providing for more effective corrosion protection for longer periods of time obviating costly precoating of surfaces of metals used in the building and construction industry.
However, there is a need for inclusion of a composition in the anticorrosive additive to reduce excessive air entrainment or foaming during preparation of concrete mixes and for controlled air content of the cured concrete. To improve freeze/thaw properties, it is most effective to control air entrainment within cured concrete to about 5 to 8% with evenly spaced apart bubbles having a specific surface of from 600 to 1,100 square inches per cubic inch spaced apart by 0.004 to 0.008 inches.

Anti-corrosion additive composition for concrete compositions for use in reinforced concrete structures


A pressure vessel housing that can be brazed and leak tested before adding desiccant material, eliminating the risk of damaging desiccant bags during assembly. The desiccant is added to the housing of the pressure vessel through an existing inlet opening in the top of the accumulator housing, thereby eliminating the potential for damage to the desiccant and the desiccant container while maintaining the integrity of the housing because no additional openings in the housing are required to access the desiccant material. A screen permanently mounted inside the pressure vessel supports the loose desiccant material and another screen removably attached to the inlet opening provides access to the loose desiccant material housed within the pressure vessel. A method of making the pressure vessel allows the accumulator assembly to be leak tested before the desiccant is added, reducing scrap and allowing repair of accumulator assemblies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an accumulator or receiver dryer and a method of making the same, for use in an automobile air conditioning system. More particularly, the present invention relates to packaging replaceable desiccant in an accumulator or receiver dryer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In air conditioning systems, and particularly those for automotive applications, the accumulator is typically located at the outlet end of the evaporator. Its purpose is to filter out any particulates in the refrigerant fluid and remove any moisture present in the refrigerant vapor. A desiccant material is placed within the accumulator housing specifically for the purpose of removing the unwanted moisture from the refrigerant vapor.
During assembly of the accumulator, it is important to avoid saturating the desiccant material. Handling the desiccant material during the assembly process introduces the potential for saturation from exposure to humidity of air in the assembly area. Therefore, handling should be kept to a minimum.
A fully sealed unitary housing is a desirable feature of an accumulator. A one-piece construction without joints that may leak is an objective of accumulator assemblies. The simplicity of a unitary housing is also an important feature, which reduces costs and improves reliability. Such a unitary housing can be accomplished by spin welding closed the accumulator housing as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,971 to Masserang.
In known accumulator assemblies and methods of making same, the desiccant material is added to the housing prior to welding and leak testing the accumulator assembly. This known method introduces the risk of saturating the desiccant, and results in a high scrap rate and material cost for damage the desiccant bag incurs during brazing and testing operations.
In addition, with known devices and methods of making these devices, field repair and rework are not practical. Repairs consist of removing the defective device and replacing the entire accumulator or receiver unit.
There are accumulators for air-conditioning systems which sealingly connect a separate desiccant container in the bottom of the accumulator housing prior to permanently assembling the accumulator. The desiccant remains serviceable through the bottom of the housing. This system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,276,756 and 4,291,548 to Livesay.
The Livesay references disclose an access opening in the bottom of the housing that opens into the interior of a desiccant container. A separate, empty desiccant container is placed inside the accumulator housing. A U-shaped tube is placed inside the housing. The empty desiccant container is received in the bight portion of the U-shaped tube.
The desiccant container has an open lower end that communicates with the opening in the bottom of the housing. An annular seal attachment sealingly attaches the lower end of the desiccant container through the open lower end thereof. A detachable closure cooperates with the closure fitting to close the access opening in the housing. The desiccant container is filled after the housing has been permanently assembled by inverting the container and gravity feeding desiccant material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,548 discloses a desiccant container that is a foldable bag that can be inserted through the opening in the bottom of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,040 to Freeman discloses a receiver dryer in which the housing has a readily openable lid held in place by quick disconnect clamps. The lid can be removed to allow a desiccant canister to be inserted inside the housing. To ensure adequate sealing, the housing has an annular O-ring. The separate lid has an overhang that seals against the O-ring of the housing. Additionally, the lid has an internally depending sleeve segment that is provided with another O-ring. The two O-rings are necessary to completely seal the housing against leakage. The lid is secured in place by a quick disconnect clamping band.
Accumulators must maintain high standards during testing. Therefore, a one-piece or unitary design is desired for the housing. The number of access openings and weld joints should be kept to a minimum for the housing to withstand the demanding impact, leak and burst test requirements. A drawback associated with prior art arrangements that provide access to the desiccant material is the need for a separate access opening. Additional openings disrupt the integrity of the accumulator or receiver dryer housing. Any opening in the housing introduces the potential for leaks, so a minimum number of openings is desirable.
A leak proof housing can be manufactured by spin welding a unitary housing into a closed configuration. Therefore, the number of components and attachments inside the accumulator housing should be kept to a minimum to reduce the risk of components breaking loose during the spin weld process. The accumulator disclosed in Livesay and the receiver dryer disclosed in Freeman require several additional components to accomplish accessibility to the desiccant material making spin welding impractical. In addition, if the devices disclosed by Livesay or Freeman cannot be closed by spin welding without defeating their innovative design feature of a separate opening to provide access to the desiccant.
In Livesay, not only is an additional opening required, but a separate desiccant container to hold the desiccant material is necessary. A sealing attachment between the container and the housing is necessary to maintain the desiccant container's position within the housing, and a closure member is necessary to prevent desiccant material from escaping the container.
The receiver dryer disclosed by Freeman also requires significant additional structure. A separate lid, two O-rings, a clamping band and a separate desiccant container are all necessary additional components for access to the desiccant material. Additionally, the sealing attachment between the desiccant container and the casing disclosed by Freeman must be extremely reliable to avoid desiccant material from escaping the desiccant container and contaminating the interior of the casing.
The location of the desiccant within the housing is an important aspect of an accumulator design. Ideally, the desiccant is located near the top of the housing. Locating the desiccant near the top of the housing ensures all vapor components of the refrigerant pass through the desiccant thereby improving the accumulator's performance.
In operation, the liquid refrigerant settles in the bottom of the accumulator housing. Positioning the desiccant in the bottom of the housing introduces the risk of saturating the desiccant material. In addition, all of the vapor inside the accumulator housing is not forced through the desiccant. The vapor that remains near the top of the housing never reaches the desiccant material and may contain unwanted moisture as a result. The Livesay references disclose locating the desiccant in the bottom of the housing, which is not desirable for optimum accumulator performance.
What is needed is an accumulator housing that can be accessed for inserting or removing desiccant material, having a minimum of components and without separate access openings that compromise the integrity of the housing.

Packaging of replaceable desiccant in an accumulator or receiver dryer


The present application provides an optical film. By controlling transmittance of a liquid crystal layer comprising a radical initiator for the maximum absorption wavelength of the radical initiator, the present application can provide an optical film having a liquid crystal layer having excellent resistance to external stimuli and excellent optical properties. Such an optical film can have various forms and can be used in various fields.

Optical films having birefringence can be used in various fields. For example, phase difference films can be used for implementation of high quality images in LCDs (liquid crystal displays) or PDPs (plasma display panels), and the like. These films can also be used for improvement of screen uniformity, contrast ratios and viewing angle characteristics, and the like, or so-called QWPs (quarter wave plates) used for antireflection in OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes), and the like, are also optical films having birefringence.
Liquid crystal films, produced by polymerizing polymerizable liquid crystal compounds, having birefringence are known.
Liquid crystal molecules may be divided into rod-shaped liquid crystals and discotic liquid crystals, depending on their shape. There are also various orientational forms including a planar, homeotropic, tilted, spray or cholesteric orientations. Therefore, the liquid crystal films can have various optical properties which cannot be obtained with stretched films.
The liquid crystal film can be manufactured by generally forming an alignment layer with orientation on a base film, and orienting and polymerizing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on the alignment layer.
The liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal film thus produced should not be damaged by external stimuli. For example, the liquid crystal layer may be exposed to various external stimuli in a process of applying the produced liquid crystal film. For example, when a roll-to-roll process is performed in a process of manufacturing an additional optical film such as a polarizing plate using the liquid crystal film, or applying the liquid crystal film to a device, a stimulus is applied to the liquid crystal layer by the pressure of the roll, or a stimulus is applied thereto in a suction process for fixing a film or the like, whereby damage such as optical stains may occur in a portion thereof to which the stimulus is applied, and such damage needs to be prevented.


A self-adhesive film comprises a substrate layer and an adhesive layer on the substrate layer, which comprises a carboxylic acid-modified thermoplastic elastomer, a carboxylic acid-unmodified thermoplastic elastomer, a crosslinking agent and a plasticizer. A self-adhesive functional film comprises a substrate layer, an adhesive layer formed on one side of the substrate layer, and a functional layer on the other side of the substrate layer which has at least one of antireflective, electromagnetic wave blocking, heat ray cutting off, antistatic, anticlauding, antibacterial, deodorizing easy-adhering, antifouling functions and hard coat layer.

Heretofore, a film has been required, which can be suitably used for efficiently covering a protected surface or a surface that needs to be protected.
For example, a surface protection film is proposed, which has weak pressure dependency at the time of adhering, being able to easily adhered (temporarily adhere) to the surface of various materials (objects to be protected) such as metal plate etc. even when the film is pressed with a low pressure, and also showing excellent peelability after the use (for example, Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 2001-139898).
In another example, a transparent, electrically conductive and heat sealable material and a carrier tape lid using the same are proposed, which show no lowering in antistatic property even at a low humidity, and have such transparency that contents in the tape lid can be visually recognized (for example, Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 2001-348561).
In still another example, a surface protection material is proposed, which has a pressure sensitive adhesive layer on a substrate, showing good initial adhesiveness, small change in adhesive force with time after being adhered and sufficient weather resistance (for example, Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 8-245938).
In another example, a self-adhesive elastomer sheet is proposed, which comprises a polymer composition having an epoxidized diene-base block copolymer and a hydrogenated diene-base block copolymer. But residual air problem when the sheet is adhered remains unsolved (for example, Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 8-81616).
A recent widespread use of, for example, TV sets with liquid crystal display, TV sets with plasma display panel (PDP), personal computers, mobile-phones, electronic notepads, etc., is accompanied by a requirement for developing a surface protection film that efficiently protects surfaces thereof to be protected (display screens). Such surface protection film needs to have, for example, such transparency that enables visual recognition of the screen. Adhesiveness (such as adhesive force and workability at the time of adhering) to the surface to be protected and a resistance to environmental causes (for example, scratching or peeling) are also required.
Studies on barrier layers which block or cut off an electromagnetic wave or heat ray leaking from a housing of various electric equipments, have been carried out. In the case of display screens of such as TV sets, personal computers, mobile-phones, etc., antireflective (reflection-reducing), antistatic anticlouding, antibacterial and deodorizing functions are needed besides the electromagnetic wave blocking property. For example, in the case of antireflective, a means of forming of a thin layer of λ/4 by sputtering of metal or metal oxide is known (Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 2003-524197).
In addition, another means is proposed in which a film comprising an adhesive layer and a substrate layer, and having a advertising logo and/or advertising picture thereon, is adhered to a surface of a front glass etc. of various shops, but in such cases, some parts of adhesive layer tends to remain on the surface to be adhered, when peeled off in the case where the layout of the film is changed. Accordingly, wiping out or cleaning of the remaining adhesives is necessary, taking a lot of time and also resulting in lowering in tackiness necessary for re-adhering and resulting in difficulty in applying the film repeatedly to the surface to be adhered.
Furthermore, the surface to be adhered is generally flat, but especially in the case which the surfaces is unevenness, air tends to be trapped in the space between the surface to be adhered and adhesive layer of the film being adhered, resulting in unevenness of the surface of adhered the film and bringing about deterioration in its appearance, durability, etc. In addition, to improve workability, a film capable of being adhered speedily (with good air expelling ability) has also been desired.
As mentioned above, providing such films is desired, that can be easily and repeatedly adhered to and peeled off from a surface be adhered, and that is excellent in appearance and in durability, even which the product to be adhered is made of various materials such as plastics, metals, fibers, glasses, etc. and has a surface of various configuration such as flat, curved, uneven, etc.


A method and system to process program content material are described herein. A received data stream includes program content data associated with a particular program and includes index data corresponding to the program content data of the particular program. The index data includes one of a plurality of program format codes. A database determines a program format type of the particular program. The database includes the plurality of program format codes and includes a corresponding plurality of program format types, wherein each program format type is associated with a specific division of program content material. Chapter points of the particular program are determined based on the associated specific division of program content material of the program format type corresponding to the one of the plurality of program format codes of the index data.

Television broadcasting is a linear medium that is temporally delivered. With advances in technology, such as video cassette recorders and digital video recorders (DVR), television viewers have been able to change the temporal nature of television broadcasting.
DVRs may record or store television programming content onto a hard drive, for instance. Also, DVRs have the ability to skip to previous or next chapters within the programming content through a remote control button.
However, index data to indicate placement of program segments (e.g., chapters) and placement of advertisements throughout a program is often not transmitted with the broadcast. Further, content providers may try to obscure the transitions between advertisements and program segments, or between advertisements themselves, such that automatic chapter recognition by the DVR may be difficult.


A microphone suspension, particularly for absorbing the vibrations from a boom. The microphone suspension has a base member pivotable mounted to the boom. Bars extend substantially perpendicular to the base member and are adapted to hold an internal microphone holder by first elastic members. An oval ring-shaped member interconnects the bars in the ends opposite to the base member. At least one microphone can be suspended in the internal holder.

Sound equipment for shooting of films often comprises a boom with a microphone mounted in the end, and wherein a boomer (the person holding the boom) holds the boom right above the actors in a specific distance therefrom, so as to obtain as good sound on the film as possible. The microphone may not be dropped into the field of vision and it is very difficult for the boomer to determine when the microphone is close to or is in the field of vision.
Prior art describes systems, wherein an active item (such as a diode) is positioned on the microphone and which, via a control system, communicate a signal to the boomer when the microphone is close to the field of vision.
For obtaining as good sound on the film as possible, there are high requirements to the microphone, e.g. how it is moved and its position. Microphones are often suspended in the end of a boom in a suspension having very weak vibration damping. As it is difficult for the boomer to keep the microphone still during recording, there will always be some vibrations in the microphone, which reduce the sound quality.
Furthermore, the wind effect on the microphone has a big influence on the sound quality on the film, and therefore it is necessary to reduce the wind effect on the microphone as much as possible. The microphone is often surrounded by a foamed membrane, which has a sound wave preventing effect, so that to enter the microphone the sound waves have to pass through a thick membrane. Thus, the sound quality is reduced.


In a method of compiling a simulation model of a digital design, a compiler receives an indication of a desired set of instrumentation entities to be included within a simulation model of a digital design described by a plurality of hierarchically arranged design entities. The instrumentation entities monitor logical operation of one or more of the plurality of design entities during simulation for occurrence of events of interest. In response to the indication, the compiler determines by reference to a bill-of-materials of a previously compiled file whether or not the previously compiled file was compiled with instrumentation entities compatible with the desired set of instrumentation entities. In response to determining that the previously compiled file was compiled with compatible instrumentation entities, the compiler compiles the simulation model of the digital design utilizing the previously compiled file in accordance with the indication.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to designing and simulating digital devices, modules and systems in a distributed simulation environment. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and system that improve a distributed simulation environment by permitting a user to selectively compile instrumentation entities into a simulation model.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical digital design process, verifying the logical correctness of a digital design and debugging the design (if necessary) are important steps of the design process performed prior to developing a circuit layout. Although it is certainly possible to test a digital design by actually building the digital design, digital designs, particularly those implemented by integrated circuitry, are typically verified and debugged by simulating the digital design on a computer, due in part to the time and expense required for integrated circuit fabrication.
In a typical automated design process, a circuit designer enters into an electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) system a high-level description of the digital design to be simulated utilizing a hardware description language (HDL), such as VHDL, thus producing a digital representation of the various circuit blocks and their interconnections. In the digital representation, the overall circuit design is frequently divided into smaller parts, hereinafter referred to as design entities, which are individually designed, often by different designers, and then combined in a hierarchical manner to create an overall model. This hierarchical design technique is very useful in managing the enormous complexity of the overall design and facilitates error detection during simulation. After initial development of the digital representation of the design has been accomplished, the ECAD system compiles the digital representation of the design into a simulation model having a format best suited for simulation.
A simulator then exercises the simulation model to detect logical errors in the digital design. A simulator is typically a software tool that operates on the simulation model by applying a list of input stimuli representing inputs of the digital system. The simulator generates a numerical representation of the response of the circuit to the input stimuli, which response may then either be viewed on a display as a list of values or further interpreted, often by a separate software program, and presented on the display in graphical form. The simulator may be run either on a general-purpose computer or on another piece of electronic apparatus specially designed for simulation. Simulators that run entirely in software on a general-purpose computer are referred to as "software simulators," and simulators that run with the assistance of specially designed electronic apparatus are referred to as "hardware simulators."
As digital designs have become increasingly complex, digital designs are commonly simulated at several levels of abstraction, for example, at functional, logical and circuit levels. At the functional level, system operation is described in terms of a sequence of transactions between registers, adders, memories and other functional units. Simulation at the functional level is utilized to verify the high-level design of digital systems. At the logical level, a digital system is described in terms of logic elements such as logic gates and flip-flops. Simulation at the logical level is utilized to verify the correctness of the logic design. At the circuit level, each logic gate is described in terms of its circuit components such as transistors, impedances, capacitances, and other such devices. Simulation at the circuit level provides detailed information about voltage levels and switching speeds.
In order to verify the results of any given simulation run, custom-developed programs written in high-level languages such as C or C++, referred to as a reference model, are written to process input stimuli (also referred to as test vectors) to produce expected results of the simulation run. The test vector is then run against the simulation execution model by the simulator. The results of the simulation run are then compared to the results predicted by the reference model to detect discrepancies, which are flagged as errors. Such a simulation check is known in the verification art as an "end-to-end" check.
It is often the case that events of interest are quite complex in that they occur over many cycles and are composed of temporally complex interactions of a large number of signals within the given simulation model. In order to facilitate the generation and reporting of events of interest within the simulation model, the above-referenced patent application disclosed the definition of "instrumentation entities" for generating and reporting occurrences of instrumentation events within the simulation model. By associating such instrumentation entities with selected design entities comprising the digital design under simulation, complex instrumentation events can be efficiently defined, generated and reported, thus enhancing the verification process.
Although the overall simulation process is improved by the ability to efficiently instrument simulation models to detect occurrences of events of interest, the present invention recognizes that the compilation of a large number of instrumentation entities into a simulation models entails concomitant overhead in the execution of the simulation model and an increase in the amount of simulation data that must be managed. At small levels of scale (e.g., a simulation model of a portion of an integrated circuit chip) and with a relatively small number of instrumentation entity instances, the processing overhead and growth in simulation data occasioned by the instrumentation entities compiled into the simulation model are generally acceptable. However, as the scale of the simulation model increases (e.g., simulation models of large integrated circuits or large systems containing numerous integrated circuits) and the number of instrumentation entity instances grows, the simulation data and processing overhead attributable to instruction entities can become undesirably large, significantly degrading simulation performance.
Consequently, the present invention recognizes that it would be useful and desirable to enable a simulation user to control the amount of processing overhead and simulation data attributable to the inclusion of instrumentation entities in the compilation of a given simulation model.

Method and system for selective compilation of instrumentation entities into a simulation model of a digital design


An installation for investigating objects (10a) using magnetic resonance comprising a safety room (1) which has gastight walls (1a-c) and having a magnet system (9) for producing a homogenous magnetic field in an investigational volume (13), the magnet system (9) comprising a gastight outer shell (19) which is penetrated in a shell region (29) by feed-throughs (39a-d) into the interior of the magnet system (9), is characterized in that the magnet system (9) is arranged in the safety room (1), and one of the gastight walls (1a-c) is penetrated in an access region (1e), wherein a gastight connecting element (14) is present between the access region (1e) and the shell region (29) which, at its ends, is connected in a gastight manner to the gastight wall and the gastight outer shell (19) respectively, so that access from outside the safety room (1) is available to the shell region (29) and the feed-throughs there (39a-d), that access being sealed in a gastight manner with respect to the safety room (1). A part of the gastight shell of the magnet system thereby effectively becomes part of the wall of the safety room.

The invention relates to an installation for investigating objects using magnetic resonance comprising a safety room which has gastight walls and a magnet system for producing a homogenous magnetic field in an investigational volume, the magnet system having a gastight outer shell which is penetrated in a shell region by feed-throughs into the interior of the magnet system.
An installation of this kind is known, for example, from the published patent application US 2005/200360 A1.
Research activities for the development of vaccines and therapies in conjunction with highly infectious viruses which can be transferred by aerosols, as well as research with gene manipulated and biologically, chemically or radioactively contaminated objects as well as poisonous chemical weapons (ABC weapons) all require a high level of safety precautions. Objects of this kind must, therefore, by investigated in a safety room from which no gas exchange is allowed to occur with the environment. The conditions for such safety rooms are, for example, described in the brochure "Laboratory Biosafety Manual", Third Edition 2004, of the WHO, in particular on pages 2 and 3. In many cases, the requirements of Biosafety Level 4 described therein have to be fulfilled. For research on the aforementioned objects, among other things, measurements using magnetic resonance are of interest. Since devices arranged within the safety room can also become contaminated, these devices can no longer be used to investigate non-contaminated objects. Therefore, separate devices are generally required for the investigation of contaminated and non-contaminated objects. The acquisition of a plurality of devices for measuring magnetic resonance is, however, associated with considerable cost.
The maintenance of devices arranged in contaminated spaces represents an additional problem, since maintenance personnel have to spend time in the safety room during the maintenance procedure, for example when filling liquid helium for the superconducting coils of the device. This requires additional safety measures to protect the personnel (protective suits, disposal of the protective clothing, health monitoring of the personnel and the like) and involves considerable risks for the technical personnel, in particular since the risks associated with contamination are often underestimated on the part of the technical personnel. A large portion of the maintenance work is, therefore, generally carried out by scientifically trained personnel, whereby the maintenance costs are unnecessarily increased.
In particular, for example, for the investigation of gene manipulated animals extremely high safety precautions are required to prevent the escape of the animals. The animals are generally investigated in an anaesthetized condition. Should the animal regain consciousness prematurely, these gene manipulated animals have to be prevented from escaping.
In the aforementioned published patent application, the stated problems are solved by the magnet being located outside the safety room, but the investigational volume being located on the inside. This is achieved by a safety room comprising an extension which projects into the magnet system and encloses the investigational volume.
Such an extension is, however, topologically complicated and difficult to produce, since it has to remain sealed even in the event of accidents. Additionally, the design of the installation considerably deviates from previous MRI investigating rooms with integral radio frequency (=RF) shielding, which further increases the complexity and costs.
By far, the most frequent maintenance tasks by non-scientific personnel take place on the magnet system and it appears to be completely acceptable to design the installation such that it is only during such work that the safety room must not be entered.
It is therefore the object of the invention to propose an installation for investigating contaminated objects using magnetic resonance, in which simple maintenance of the magnet system is possible without risk of contamination for the maintenance personnel, which is as simple and robust as possible and which deviates little from standard investigating rooms.

Installation for investigating objects using magnetic resonance


An elastic plate member is clamped between an input-side stopper plate and an output-side stopper plate, and the input-side stopper plate is secured to an input-side member, and the output-side stopper plate to an output-side member at appropriate intervals therebetween, respectively, in a state in which tubular members and collar members into which the tubular members are respectively inserted are interposed therebetween. The input-side member and the output-side member are elastically coupled in the axial direction and in the circumferential direction of the input- and output-side members. A tilting-restriction shaft is formed on either the input-side or output-side stopper plate. A tilting-restriction member having a tilting-restriction hole is fixed between the stopper plate provided with the tilting-restriction shaft and the input-side member or the output-side member facing the side of the stopper plate provided with the tilting-restriction shaft, and the tilting-restriction shaft is accommodated in the tilting-restriction hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elastic shaft coupling apparatus which is capable of elastically transmitting a rotating force from an input-side member to an output-side member.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional steering system, an elastic shaft coupling apparatus has a mechanism for prevention of tilting of an input shaft and an output shaft of the elastic shaft coupling apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 75405/1992. To summarize the structure of the just-mentioned elastic shaft coupling apparatus, as shown in FIG. 16, a pair of stopper plates s are respectively disposed on both sides of an elastic plate member e in such a manner as to face axial end sides of an input shaft c and an output shaft d.
The stopper plate s and the input shaft c on one side, and the stopper plate s and the output shaft d on the other side, are pin coupled together by means of bolts, thereby coupling the input shaft c and the output shaft d with the elastic plate member e clamped therebetween.
In this elastic shaft coupling structure, appropriate gaps are respectively provided between the respective stopper plates s and the end faces of the input shaft c and the output shaft d corresponding thereto. The input shaft c and the output shaft d are adapted to be rotatable relative to each other at an arbitrary rotating angle by virtue of deflection of the elastic plate member e. Further, a support shaft a projects from a center of either one of the stopper plates s. A receiving hole b for receiving the support shaft a is formed in an end face portion of the input shaft c or the output shaft d opposing that stopper plate s, and the support shaft a is inserted and disposed in the receiving hole b with an elastic material f disposed in the receiving hole b to surround the support shaft a.
If the above-described structure is adopted, drawbacks can occur such as that, due to an error in the assembly of the support shaft a of the stopper plate S and the input shaft c or the output shaft d, their axes become offset, and poor positional accuracy of the support shaft a of the stopper plate s results in misalignment between the axes of the support shaft a and the input shaft c or the output shaft d.
In such a case, in an inserting and coupling section formed by the support shaft a of the stopper plate s, which is fixed to either the input shaft c or the output shaft d, and the receiving hole b for receiving the support shaft a, the support shaft a of the stopper plate s is forcibly inserted in the receiving hole b due to the offset of the axes. As a result, the support shaft a of the stopper plate s and the receiving hole b are set in a mutually offset state, so that the support shaft a is set in a state of uneven contact with the elastic material f provided between the support shaft a and the inner peripheries of the receiving hole b.
Consequently, there occurs an increase in axial sliding resistance between the outer peripheral surface of the support shaft a of the stopper plate s and the elastic material f in the receiving hole b, which makes it impossible for the elastic plate member e to undergo smooth deflection in its axial direction. This also leads to the possibility of degrading the function of transmitting vibrations from the steering gear side to the steering shaft side while dampening the vibrations by means of the axial deflection of the elastic plate member e. Further, there is a possibility that variations in the amount of axial deflection of the elastic plate member e becomes large, causing variations in the spring constant in individual elastic shaft coupling apparatus and leading to instability in performance.
If a desired elastic shaft coupling apparatus is to be obtained which is capable of more substantially dampening the vibrations transmitted from the steering gear side to the steering shaft side, the above-described drawbacks necessitates the provision of a structure which increases the spring constant of the elastic plate member e (i.e., makes deflection difficult to occur) in the direction of relative rotation of the input shaft c and the output shaft d, and lowers the spring constant in the axial direction, thereby facilitating relative movement of the input shaft c and the output shaft d in the axial direction and stabilizing their movement in the axial direction.
In addition, to realize such a structure, it is conceivably necessary to enhance parts processing accuracy or assembling accuracy, or enlarge the clearance between the outer periphery of the support shaft a of the stopper plate S and the elastic material f accommodated in the receiving hole b, so as to expand an allowable range of movement. However, the former measure increases the product cost, and the latter measure has the possibility of making it impossible to sufficiently display the function for preventing the tilting of the input shaft c and the output shaft d in the elastic shaft coupling apparatus.


A semiconductor device including alternating stepped semiconductor die stacks to allow for large numbers of semiconductor die to be provided within a semiconductor device using short wire bonds.

The strong growth in demand for portable consumer electronics is driving the need for high-capacity storage devices. Non-volatile semiconductor memory devices, such as flash memory storage cards, are becoming widely used to meet the ever-growing demands on digital information storage and exchange. Their portability, versatility and rugged design, along with their high reliability and large capacity, have made such memory devices ideal for use in a wide variety of electronic devices, including for example digital cameras, digital music players, video game consoles, PDAs and cellular telephones.
While many varied packaging configurations are known, flash memory storage cards may in general be fabricated as system-in-a-package (SiP) or multichip modules (MCM), where a plurality of die are mounted and interconnected on a small footprint substrate. The substrate may in general include a rigid, dielectric base having a conductive layer etched on one or both sides. Electrical connections are formed between the die and the conductive layer(s), and the conductive layer(s) provide an electric lead structure for connection of the die to a host device. Once electrical connections between the die and substrate are made, the assembly is then typically encased in a molding compound which provides a protective package.
A cross-sectional side view and a top view of a conventional semiconductor package 20 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (without molding compound in FIG. 2). Typical packages include a plurality of semiconductor dies, such as flash memory die 22 and controller die 24, affixed to a substrate 26. A plurality of die bond pads 28 may be formed on the semiconductor dies 22, 24 during the die fabrication process. Similarly, a plurality of contact pads 30 may be formed on the substrate 26. Die 22 may be affixed to the substrate 26, and then die 24 may be mounted on die 22. All dies may then be electrically coupled to the substrate by affixing wire bonds 32 between respective die bond pad 28 and contact pad 30 pairs. Once all electrical connections are made, the dies and wire bonds may be encapsulated in a molding compound 34 to seal the package and protect the dies and wire bonds.
In order to most efficiently use package footprint, it is known to stack semiconductor die on top of each other, either completely overlapping each other with a spacer layer in between adjacent dies, or with an offset as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In an offset configuration, a die is stacked on top of another die so that the bond pads of the lower die are left exposed. An offset configuration provides an advantage of convenient access of the bond pads on each of the semiconductor die in the stack.
As semiconductor die become thinner, and in order to increase memory capacity in semiconductor packages, the number of dies stacked within a semiconductor package continues to increase. However, this can make for long bonds wire from the upper die down to the substrate. Long bonds wire are easily damaged or shorted to other wire bonds, and also have higher signal to noise ratio than shorter bond wires.

Semiconductor device including alternating stepped semiconductor die stacks

SanDisk Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.


An object of the present invention is to specify how a transmission diversity station that implements an EUL should apply a transmission antenna diversity to an E-HICH, an E-RGCH and an E-AGCH. The present invention relates to a mobile communication method for transmitting a signal from a base station to a mobile station via a downlink. In the method, a closed loop transmission antenna diversity is applied to a dedicated channel of the downlink, and an open loop transmission antenna diversity is applied to a control channel of the downlink in conformity with an uplink high efficient transmission method.

Generally, in a mobile communication system, transmission and reception of signals are performed via radio links (or a downlink and an uplink) between a mobile station and a base station.
As shown in FIG. 1, a base station Node-B transmits a signal to a mobile station UE via a downlink (DL), and the mobile station UE transmits a signal to the base station Node-B via an uplink (UL).
Specifically, the base station Node-B and the mobile station UE use various channels set up on the downlink and the uplink, respectively, for signal transmission.
For the signal transmission via the downlink, the base station Node-B configured to use two antennas to divide transmission power into equal halves and transmit downlink signals (or DL signals) as shown in FIG. 2(b) can improve radio communication quality, as compared to that configured to simply use a single antenna to transmit a downlink signal (or a DL signal) as shown in FIG. 2(a).
Herein, the configuration shown in FIG. 2(b) is called a "transmission antenna diversity", and the base station Node-B that implements the transmission antenna diversity is called a "transmission diversity station".
The transmission antenna diversities fall into two broad categories: an "open loop transmission antenna diversity" shown in FIG. 3(a) and a "closed loop transmission antenna diversity" shown in FIG. 3(b).
For the purpose of improving the radio communication quality, there are also a plurality of systems in which the transmission diversity station (or the base station Node-B) applies different signal patterns, different weights of transmission power, and the like to two antennas, when transmitting downlink signals with the two antennas.
As employed herein, the "open loop transmission antenna diversity" shown in FIG. 3(a) is the system that does not require feedback information from the mobile station UE by applying predetermined signal patterns, predetermined weights of transmission power, and the like.
The "closed loop transmission antenna diversity" shown in FIG. 3(b) is the system that regularly receives optimum signal patterns, optimum weights of transmission power, and the like, as feedback information, from the mobile station UE according to the status of radio.
Generally, the "closed loop transmission antenna diversity" is applied to dedicated channels of each mobile station UE, because the application of the "closed loop transmission antenna diversity" can achieve an improvement in the radio communication quality, as compared to the application of the "open loop transmission antenna diversity".
In contrast, the "open loop transmission antenna diversity" is applied to a common channel through which a plurality of mobile stations UE receive signals, because the common channel cannot be adapted to feedback information from a specific mobile station UE.
In the third generation mobile communication system "W-CDMA" system whose specifications are being standardized by the international organization for standardization "3GPP", physical channels having specifications already standardized include a dedicated channel (DPDCH: Dedicated Physical Data Channel) that acts to transmit a data signal dedicated to each mobile station, and a dedicated channel (DPCCH: Dedicated Physical Control Channel) that acts to transmit a control signal dedicated to each mobile station associated with the DPDCH.
As shown in FIG. 4, communications between the mobile station UE and the base station Node-B are accomplished, by setting the DPDCH/DPCCH for the uplink and the downlink, bidirectionally.
According to specifications standardized by the 3GPP, the transmission antenna diversity can be implemented in the base station Node-B.
Specifically, the "STTD (Space Time block coding based Transmission antenna Diversity)" which is a type of open loop transmission antenna diversity, and the "CL TxDiv mode-1 (Closed Loop Transmission diversity mode-1)" or the "CL TxDiv mode-2" which is a type of open loop transmission antenna diversity, can be applied to the downlink DPDCH/DPCCH. The "CL TxDiv mode-1" and the "CL TxDiv mode-2" will hereinafter be collectively called "CL TxDiv".
Generally, the "CL TxDiv" is applied to the downlink DPDCH/DPCCH, because the application of the "CL TxDiv" can achieve an improvement in the radio communication quality, as compared to the application of the "STTD".    [Non-patent Document 1] "3GPP TS 25.211 v6.0.0," December 2003
In addition, the 3GPP promotes the study of an "uplink high efficient transmission method (EUL: Enhanced Up Link)", in order to enhance the efficiency of data signal transmission via the uplink.
As a result, there is a trend toward the additional provision of an "ACKCH (ACK CHannel)", specifically, an "E-HICH (E-DCH HARQ Acknowledgement Indicator Channel)", as a downlink control channel in conformity with the EUL. Incidentally, the E-HICH is a physical channel that acts to transmit layer-1 acknowledgement information dedicated to each mobile station UE.
There is also a trend toward the additional provision of an "E-RGCH (Enhanced Relative Grant CHannel)" and an "E-AGCH (Enhanced Absolute Grant CHannel)", as downlink control channels in conformity with the EUL. Incidentally, the E-RGCH and E-AGCH are dedicated physical channels that act to transmit uplink rate assignment channel dedicated to each mobile station UE.
Although the transmission diversity station has to apply the transmission antenna diversity to all downlink channels, the 3GPP does not give specifications that define how the transmission antenna diversity should be applied to the E-HICH, the E-RGCH and the E-AGCH.

Mobile communication method, mobile station and base station


A fuel cell system (10) of the present invention has a fuel cell (20) which generates electric power by being supplied with reactive gas, an air compressor (C1) which supplies oxidizing gas to the fuel cell (20), a pressure sensor (P2) which detects the pressure of oxidizing gas, a pressure control valve (C2) which adjusts the pressure of oxidizing gas, and a control device (50) which adjusts the valve opening of the pressure control valve (C2) on the basis of the pressure detected by the pressure sensor (P2). When an abnormality in the pressure sensor (P2) is detected, the control device (50) opens the pressure control valve (C2) so that the valve opening thereof is equal to or larger than a predetermined opening. This arrangement ensures that the cell operation can be continued for a while instead of being immediately stopped in the event of abnormality in the pressure sensor (P2).

The present invention relates to a fuel cell system and, more particularly, to a fail-safe technique provided to cope with an abnormality in a gas condition detection means (gas state detector) for detecting a gas condition of a reactive gas.
In a fuel cell vehicle which travels by driving a traction motor by electric power generated in a fuel cell system, the electric power required of the system is computed on the basis of the acceleration opening and the vehicle speed for example, and the rate of supply of reactive gas and the pressure at which reactive gas is supplied are controlled so that the electric power generated in the fuel cell system equals the target electric power. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-168467 is proposed a controller for a fuel cell system for use in a vehicle in which the air pressure at an air pole is controlled at a target pressure by operating at a target rotational speed a compressor for compressing air to be supplied to the air pole and by operating an air pressure control valve. This document discloses a technique to correct a target rotational speed by estimating atmospheric pressure on the basis of operating parameters of a compressor necessary for maintaining the target rotational speed of the compressor or maintaining the air pressure at a target pressure and to limit the amount of electric power generated in a fuel cell by correcting the time period during which a hydrogen package valve is opened.

Fuel cell system that continues operation in the event of a sensor abnormality


The present invention allows a user to establish a customized call waiting rule set to control whether call waiting alerts and associated caller identification information are provided to the user in association with an incoming call. Based on the call waiting rule set, the call waiting alert may be blocked or provided to the user when an incoming call for the user is detected. The decision to provide the call waiting alert may be based on the calling party, the type of call, the party with whom the user is engaged in an active call, whether the user previously called or received a call from the calling party, the relative priority or urgency of the incoming call, or a combination thereof.

The provision of caller identification to called parties has proven to be very desirable to telephone subscribers. Caller identification is now available for incoming calls when the called party is not actively engaged in a call as well as when the called party is engaged in a call. When the called party of an incoming call is already actively engaged in a call, a call waiting alert, along with caller identification information, is provided to the called party over the voice channel. Many users find the call waiting alert very interruptive, especially since the user may have to remove the handset of the telephone terminal from her ear to view the caller identification information and assess the relative importance of the call. If the call waiting alert is ignored, the alert may repeat for several seconds to further the interruption.
Although the receipt of caller identification while engaged in a call is potentially beneficial, the interruptive nature of such receipt has lead to many users opting not to subscribe to the service. This loss of subscribers results in loss of revenue for service providers. Since most users would like to receive call waiting alerts for certain incoming calls and not for others, there is a need to allow users to control whether call waiting alerts are provided to them based on predefined criteria.