Disclosed herein is a measurement apparatus for improving performances of standard cells in a standard cell library when verifying performance of the standard cell library through a ring oscillator among various test element groups (TEGs). A built-in circuit is used to measure and verify performance of the standard cell library through a TEG. Therefore, it is possible to effectively improve performances of the standard cells in the standard cell library. Particularly, it is possible to not only remove human errors or internal errors of equipment, but also perform the measurement more readily, rapidly and accurately. Further, it is possible to curtail the use of high-performance equipment or manpower and time required in a measurement process.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a related ring oscillator. A ring oscillator may be made up of a plurality of delay chains 102 to 103. As shown in FIG. 1, one delay chain 102 has a NAND gate 101, and a chain of inverters IV-1 to IV-N. That is, the delay chain 102 includes a NAND gate 101, a first inverter IV-1 having an input connected to the output of the NAND gate 101, and a second inverter IV-2 having an input connected to the output of the first inverter IV-1. In this manner, the inverters IV-1 to IV-N are sequentially connected up to the Nth inverter IV-N to constitute a chain structure. The output of the Nth inverter IV-N is fed back to an input of the NAND gate 101 at the same time it is externally outputted. A delay chain 103 is additionally provided, which may be of any standard cell type.
The ring oscillator with the above configuration outputs pulses 104A and 104B, each having a certain period. Each output pulse 104A or 104B has a width corresponding to the sum of propagation delay times of standard cells constituting the delay chains 102 to 103 of the ring oscillator. A low to high delay time of each of the standard cells constituting the ring oscillator is obtained by measuring the width of each pulse 104A or 104B through an oscilloscope and multiplying the measured width by a low to high delay time ratio in SPICE.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a related digital process monitor circuit. Referring to FIG. 2, the related digital process monitor circuit includes a ring oscillator 201, an asynchronous ripple counter 202, a local counter 203, and a register interface and control unit 205. The register interface and control unit 205 receives an external clock signal CLK, a start command DPM_START and a test cycle period DPM_COUNT_DOWN and outputs a test end signal DPM_DONE, and a count value DPM_COUNT generated by the asynchronous ripple counter 202.
Upon receiving the start command DPM_START, the register interface and control unit 205 outputs, to the ring oscillator 201, an enable signal ENABLE to start the operation of the ring oscillator 201. Upon receiving the enable signal ENABLE, the ring oscillator 201 generates a clock pulse RING_OSC_CLK 204 and transfers it to the asynchronous ripple counter 202 and the register interface and control unit 205. The asynchronous ripple counter 202 counts down in response to the clock pulse RING_OSC_CLK 204.
While the start command DPM_START is applied to the register interface and control unit 205, the local counter 302 receives the test cycle period DPM_COUNT_DOWN from the register interface and control unit 205. After receiving the test cycle period DPM_COUNT_DOWN, the local counter 203 counts down by 2DPM—COUNT—DOWN (in other words, two raised to the power of the value of DPM_COUNT_DOWN).
When the value of the local counter 203 reaches 0, the local counter 203 transfers the test end signal DPM_DONE to the register interface and control unit 205. Upon receiving the test end signal DPM_DONE, the register interface and control unit 205 stops the entire circuit operation. At this time, the asynchronous ripple counter 202 generates the count value DPM_COUNT and transfers it to the register interface and control unit 205. Then, the register interface and control unit 205 outputs the count value DPM_COUNT transferred from the asynchronous ripple counter 202. Lastly, the asynchronous ripple counter 202 is initialized by a reset signal RESET from the register interface and control unit 205. At this time, the ring oscillator 201 is stopped by a synchronization stop signal SYNC_STOP from the register interface and control unit 205. The period of the clock pulse 204 from the ring oscillator 201 is measured using the count value DPM_COUNT outputted from the register interface and control unit 205.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a related apparatus for measuring the speed of a ring oscillator. Referring to FIG. 3, the related ring oscillator speed measurement apparatus includes a ring oscillator 316, a ring counter 307, an enable controller EN 308, a system counter 311, and a count detector 312.
The ring oscillator 316 includes an AND gate 302 and a plurality of inverters 303 to 305 connected in series. The output of the last inverter 305 is positively fed back to the AND gate 302.
The ring oscillator 316 generates a clock pulse RING CLK 306 and outputs it to the ring counter 307. The period of the clock pulse RING CLK 306 is determined depending on a propagation delay time from the AND gate 302 to the last inverter 305. As a result, the period of the clock pulse RING CLK 306 is in proportion to the number of inverters used. The clock pulse RING CLK 306 may have a maximum or minimum frequency under the influence of a process, temperature or voltage variation. The clock pulse RING CLK 306 is inputted to the ring counter 307. The ring counter 307 is a down counter that performs down counting. This ring counter 307 decrements a first preset value at every period of the inputted clock pulse RING CLK 306.
The AND gate 302 of the ring oscillator 316 is concerned in activation of the ring oscillator 316. That is, when the output of the AND gate 302 is "1", the ring oscillator 316 generates the clock pulse 306 continuously. In other words, the ring oscillator 316 provides a rising edge pulse such that the ring counter 307 counts down. When the clock pulse RING CLK 306 is "1", the output of the enable controller EN 308 is "1" and a disable shift value DISABLE-SHIFT is "1", the AND gate 302 outputs "1".
The disable shift value DISABLE-SHIFT is a value inputted from a test device, which acts to block a test vector or logic value for a test while the apparatus of FIG. 3 measures the speed of the ring oscillator 316. Also, the disable shift value DISABLE-SHIFT functions to stop the down counting for a period between a time at which a shift is ended and a time at which the output of the enable controller EN 308 is changed to "1".
The enable controller EN 308 provides an enable signal ENABLE to the system counter 311. Also, this enable signal ENABLE controls activations of the ring oscillator 316 and system counter 311 together with the aforementioned disable shift value DISABLE-SHIFT. When the enable signal ENABLE from the enable controller EN 308 is "0", the oscillation of the ring oscillator 316 and the operation of the system counter 311 are stopped. The enable controller EN 308 is composed of one D flip-flop. The enable controller EN 308 receives the output of the count detector COUNT DET 312 and outputs the enable signal ENABLE to the AND gate 302 and the system counter 311 synchronously with a system clock pulse SYS CLK 310.
The system counter 311 is enabled in response to the enable signal ENABLE from the enable controller EN 308 to decrement a second preset value at every period of the system clock pulse SYS CLK 310 synchronously with the system clock pulse SYS CLK 310. The system counter 311 outputs the decremented second preset value to the count detector COUNT DET 312. The count detector COUNT DET 312 detects the second preset value inputted from the system counter 311.
In detail, the count detector COUNT DET 312 detects when the second preset value inputted from the system counter 311 is "0" or "1", and outputs "0" to the enable controller EN 308 as a result of the detection. Upon receiving "0" from the count detector COUNT DET 312, the enable controller EN 308 outputs the enable signal ENABLE of "0" to the AND gate 302 and the system counter 311 to stop the oscillation of the ring oscillator 316 and the operation of the system counter 311.
When the ring oscillator 316 is stopped as mentioned above, the ring counter 307 outputs a count value 315 obtained by periodically decrementing the first preset value. The count value 315, the second preset value and the period of the system clock pulse SYS CLK 310 are used as factors for measurement of the speed of the ring oscillator 316.
In the above-mentioned related measurement apparatus, in order to calculate a propagation delay time of a standard cell, it is necessary to measure the width of the clock pulse outputted from the ring oscillator. This means that the measurement must be made at the oscilloscope or wafer stage. For this reason, high-performance equipment and much manpower and time are required. Further, the process of measuring the width of the clock pulse outputted from the ring oscillator may be subject to the human error of the measurer or an internal error of the equipment, resulting in difficulties with measurement accuracy.
FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating an error in measurement for calculation of a propagation delay time of a standard cell by the related measurement apparatus. In this drawing, SYS CLK denotes a system clock pulse, EN denotes an enable signal for ON/OFF control of a ring oscillator, RING CLK denotes an output pulse from the ring oscillator, Counter′ denotes an output count value from a ring counter having an error, and Counter″ denotes a reference count value.
In FIG. 4, because the application time of the second enable signal and the oscillation period of the ring oscillator do not have an equal ratio, a measurement error corresponding to one oscillation period of the ring oscillator may occur even at the application time of the same enable signal. Further, it is difficult to obtain a standard deviation and average of measurement results of performance of the related ring oscillator and a delta value associated with the average. Furthermore, the related measurement apparatus needs a separate register bank or a plurality of flip-flops to set the operating times of a plurality of ring oscillators and set the initial value of a counter for performance measurement, thus increasing the entire chip size.

Measurement apparatus for improving performance of standard cell library


A multiple reflecting time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF MS) and method of analysis are disclosed. The flight path of ions is folded along a trajectory by electrostatic mirrors. The longer flight path provides higher resolution while maintaining a moderate instrument size.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the area of mass spectroscopic analysis, and in particular to a multi reflecting time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-TOF MS) and a method of use.
2. State of the Art
Mass spectrometry is a well recognized tool of analytical chemistry, used for identification and quantitative analysis of various compounds and mixtures. The sensitivity and resolution of such analysis is an important concern for practical use. It has been well recognized that resolution of TOF MS is proportional to the length of the flight path. However, it is recognized it is difficult to increase the flight path while keeping the instrument to a reasonable size. A proposed solution is multi-reflecting time-of-flight mass spectrometers (M-TOF MS). The use of MR-TOF MS became possible after the introduction of an electrostatic ion mirror with time-of-flight focusing properties. U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,862, Soviet Patent No. SU198034 and Sov. J. Tech. Phys. 41 (1971) 1498 disclose an ion mirror to improve the focusing of ion energy in time-of-flight instruments. The use of the ion mirror automatically causes a single folding of ion flight path.
H. Wollnik realized a potential of ion mirrors for implementing a multi-reflecting MR-TOF MS. United Kingdom Patent No. GB2080021 suggests a way of reducing the full length of an instrument by folding the ion path between multiple gridless mirrors. Two rows of such mirrors may be aligned in the same plane or located on two opposite parallel circles (FIG. 1). Introduction of gridless ion mirrors with spatial ion focusing was intended to reduce ion losses and keep the ion beam confined regardless of the number of reflections (more details in U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,780). The gridless mirrors disclosed in GB 2080021 were to provide independence of ion flight time from the ion energy. Two types of MR-TOF MS are disclosed: (a) folded path' scheme, which is equivalent to combining N sequential reflecting TOF MS, and where the flight path is folded along a jig-saw trajectory; and (b) 'coaxial reflecting' scheme, which employs multiple ion reflections between two axially aligned ion mirrors using pulsed ion admission and release. The 'coaxial reflecting' scheme was also described by H. Wollnik et al. in Mass Spec. Rev., 1993, 12, p.109 and was implemented in the work published in the Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Proc. 227 (2003) 217. Resolution of 50,000 was achieved after 50 turns in a moderate size (30 cm) TOF MS. Gridless and spatially focusing ion mirrors indeed preserved ions of interest (losses were below factor of 2), though the admitted mass range shrank proportionally with the number of cycles.
Another type, cyclic MR-TOF MS was described in papers by H. Wollnik, Nucl. Instr. Meth., A258 (1987) 289, and Sakurai et al, Nucl. Instr. Meth., A427 (1999) 182. Ions are kept in closed orbits using electrostatic or magnetic deflectors. The scheme employed multiple repetitive cycles, which shrank mass range, similarly to the coaxial reflecting scheme.
A folded path MR-TOF MS using two-dimensional gridless mirrors was disclosed in Soviet Union Patent SU1725289. The MR-TOF MS comprised two identical mirrors, built of bars, were parallel and symmetric with respect to the median plane between the mirrors and also to the plane of the folded ion path (FIG. 2). Mirror geometry and potentials were arranged to focus the ion beam spatially across the plane of the folded ion path and provide second-order time of flight focusing with respect to the ion energy. The ions experienced multiple reflections between the planar mirrors, while slowly drifting towards the detector in a so-called shift direction (here X-axis). The number of cycles and resolution were adjusted by varying the ion injection angle.
Nazarenko's prototype of a 'folded path' MR-TOF MS with planar gridless mirrors, having spatial and time-of-flight focusing properties did not provide ion focusing in the shift direction, thus limiting the number of reflection cycles. Besides, the ion mirrors used in the prototype did not provide time-of-flight focusing with respect to spatial ion spread across the plane of the folded ion path, so that a use of diverging or wide beams would in fact ruin the time-of-flight resolution and would make an extension of flight path pointless. In other words, the scheme failed to deliver an acceptable analyzer and thus the ability of working with real ion sources. Lastly, the Nazarenko prototype has no implication on the type of ion source, nor on efficient ways of coupling between MR-TOF MS and various ion sources,
The type of ion source, its spatial and timing characteristics of ion beam, as well as geometrical constrains are the important considerations in the design of MR-TOF MS. Compatibility with single reflecting TOF MS does not automatically mean that a source is well suited for MR-TOF MS. For example, pulsed ion sources, like secondary ion SIMS or matrix-assisted desorption/ionization MALDI, are very compatible with TOF MS and such instruments are characterized by high resolution and moderate ion losses caused by spatial ion divergence. Switching to MR-TOF MS introduces new problems. On one hand, a pulsed nature of such sources suits well an extension of flight time in MR-TOF MS since frequency of ionizing pulses is adjustable. On the other hand, instability of MALDI ions is a limiting factor on flight time extension.
Gaseous ion sources, like electrospray (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) atmospheric pressure photo-ionization (APPI), electron impact (EI), chemical ionization (CI), photo-ionization (CI) or inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) are known to produce stable ions, but they generate intrinsically continuous ion beams, or quasi-continuous ion beams, as in case of recently introduced gas filled MALDI ion source described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,331,702, and 6,504,150. TOF MS has been successfully coupled with continuous, and later to quasi-continuous ion sources, after introduction of an orthogonal ion acceleration scheme (o-TOF MS) (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,240, WO9103071, Soviet patent SU1681340), efficiently converting continuous ion beams into ion pulsed packets. Gaseous ion sources in combination with a collisional-cooling ion guide (U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,736) produce cold ion beams with low velocity spread along the axis of TOF MS, which help to achieve high TOF resolution in excess of 10,000. However, using MR-TOF MS would reduce the duty cycle of orthogonal acceleration and thus drop sensitivity.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,625 suggests that a further increase of resolution of o-TOF MS is mostly limited by a so-called 'turn-around time' and increasing of flight path improves resolution. The '625 patent suggests a coupling of external ESI source to a 'coaxial reflecting' MR-TOF MS via an orthogonal accelerator, combined with an ion mirror and multiple deflectors, such as shown in FIG. 3. To improve the sampling of the continuous ion beam, the interface employs a linear ion trap, storing ions between rare ion pulses. Melvin Park et. al. in the article entitled 'Analytical Figure of Merits of a Multi-Pass Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer', extended abstract on ASMS 2001, www.asms.org, MR-TOF MS demonstrated resolution of 60,000 using 6 cycles of reflections in a c.a. 1 m long instrument. However, the use of ion mirrors with grids caused severe ion scattering and ion losses. Coaxial reflecting MR-TOF MS improved resolution but shrank mass range proportionally.
ESI with orthogonal injection has been also coupled to an MR-TOF MS with a folded ion path (see EP 1 237 044 A2 and J. Hoyes et al. in extended abstract ASMS 2000 'A high resolution Orthogonal TOF with selectable drift length' www.asms.org). The invention allows converting an existing commercial o-TOF into a dual reflecting instrument by introducing an additional short reflector between orthogonal source and detector. Energy of continuous ion beam controls number of ion reflections. The 'folded path' MR-TOF MS retains full mass range and considerably improves resolution, but it also reduces duty cycle and geometrical efficiency of ion sampling into the orthogonal accelerator in addition to ion losses and scattering occurring at every pass through meshes in both ion mirrors.
The two above examples demonstrate that a conventional orthogonal acceleration becomes inefficient in MR-TOF MS, particularly at extended flight times. There have been multiple attempts of improving pulsed ion sampling from continuous ion beams, mostly employing ion storage in radio-frequency (RF) traps, like 3-D ion trap (IT) in the paper of B. M. Chien et al. 'The design and performance of an ion trap storage-reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer' International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes 131 (1994) 149-119, linear ion trap (LIT) in U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,878, U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,386 (FIGS. 29-31), U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,250 (FIGS. 29-31), U.S. Pat. No. 6,545,268 and WO9930350 or dual LIT (GB2378312) and ring ion trap in paper of A. Luca et al., 'On the combination of a linear field free trap with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer', Rev. Sci. Instrum. V.72, #7 (2001), p 2900-2908. Since all of those solutions compromise temporal and/or spatial spread of ejected ion packets, the orthogonal injection is still the method of choice for singly reflecting TOF MS. Some trapping features are used in an intermediate scheme in U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,586, combining both an ion trapping step and an orthogonal acceleration. Slow ion packets are periodically ejected out of storing ion guide into a synchronized orthogonal accelerator. Compared to conventional o-TOF MS the scheme improves sensitivity, while moderately sacrificing resolution and mass range. The scheme has been coupled to coaxial MR-TOF MS in already described reference by M. Park. However, such instrument does not provide full mass range. It is still desirable to improve conversion of continuous ion beam into ion pulses fully suitable for TOF MS and particularly to multi-reflecting TOF MS.
Multiple reflecting TOF is also employed in tandem mass spectrometer in a co-pending application of one of the author (WO2004008481). A slow MR-TOF MS is used for slow separation of parent ions at a millisecond time scale and a short orthogonal TOF is used for fast mass analysis of fragments at a microsecond time scale. Fast collisional cell is used in-between to fragment ions without smearing time-of-flight separation in the MR-TOF MS. The scheme delivers a novel quality: it allows parallel or 'multi-dimensional' MS-MS analysis, where fragment spectra are simultaneously acquired for multiple parents without mixing them. The scheme has a drawback that parent ions spread in the shift direction which strongly limits acceptance of analyzer and requires smaller divergence of ion beam coming out of the ion source. A higher acceptance of MR-TOF MS is desirable.
Summarizing the above, the MR-TOF MS of the prior art do not have spatial and time of-flight focusing to provide a certain retaining of ion beam along a substantially extended flight path. Most of references describe MR-TOF analyzer without considering their compatibility with ion sources as well as their utility in tandem mass spectrometers. In fact, a limited acceptance of the known MR-TOF analyzers seriously limits such coupling and is expected to cause ion losses at substantially elongated flight paths. Some references are made to actual coupling of MR-TOF MS to continuous ion sources, demonstrating strong improvement of resolution. However, resolution is gained at the expense of losing sensitivity and, in the case of coaxial reflections, of shrinking mass range. Therefore, there is a need for TOF mass spectrometer working with intrinsically continuous or quasi-continuous ion sources, and superior to o-TOF by a set of major analytical characteristics, namely—sensitivity, mass range and resolution. There is also a need for better schemes of coupling TOF MS into tandem mass spectrometers.

Multi-reflecting time-of-flight mass spectrometer and method of use


Each driver has a global driver section comprising drive program code and global driver data, both defining driver operations associated with a corresponding class of devices. Each device has an associated driver instantiation comprising local driver data, having an internal pointer to the global driver section of the instantiated driver, and possibly at least one external pointer to another driver instantiation. A device registry forms a list of device registry entries, each corresponding to a respective one of the drive instantiations. Driveer client code may perform operations on a given device by fetching in the device registry a pointer to the driver instantiation associated with the given device, and then use operations provided by the associated driver instantiation, directly or using further operations reached in other driver instantiations by using iteratively the external printer.

This invention relates to computer technology.
Real time embedded operating systems are of increasing interest in various applications. An example is the operating system (OS) named ChorusOS (a product and trademark of SUN MICROSYSTEMS), which is flexible as to the hosting hardware. This means that it may have to be installed and configured on a variety of computer platforms.
For being installed on a particular machine ("target"), an OS like ChorusOS has to be prepared in accordance with the target characteristics, including its main board, the corresponding board support package (BSP), and its specific drivers. Usually, the target will include additional devices, also with their own drivers.

Computer system with an improved device and driver framework


Jittered sub-pixel samples are used to reduce aliasing during rendering in a graphics pipeline. Sub-pixel samples are jittered using programmed sub-pixel offset values, permitting an application to select not only the number of sub-pixel samples within a pixel, but also the position of each sub-pixel sample within the pixel.

Conventional graphics processors are exemplified by systems and methods developed to reduce aliasing using supersampling or multisampling techniques that use fixed positions for sub-pixel samples. However, conventionally each pixel has the same fixed sub-pixel position, i.e., the sub-pixel positions are periodic. The human perception system is tuned to detect regular patterns, appearing as aliasing artifacts. To reduce aliasing, the sub-pixel positions should be non-periodic or vary over a region larger than a pixel. Furthermore, the sub-pixel sample positions should be programmable rather than fixed to allow an application to select a specific pattern, including a pattern that varies of several pixels.
There is thus a need for allowing flexibility in determining the positions of sub-pixel samples, including the ability to specify non-periodic sub-pixel positions to reduce aliasing.

Generation of jittered sub-pixel samples using programmable sub-pixel offsets


A preferred embodiment of a lifting device includes a mounting column having a first major portion extending in a first direction, and a second major portion fixedly coupled to the first major portion and extending in a second direction. The lifting device also comprises a lifting arm rotatably mounted on the second major portion of the mounting column and having a first hole formed therein for receiving a pin, a bracket fixedly coupled to the second portion of the mounting column and having a second hole formed therein for receiving the pin so that the pin restrains the lifting arm from substantial rotation about the second major portion of the mounting column, and a retaining member secured to the second major portion of the mounting column so that the bracket and the retaining member restrain the lifting arm from substantial movement in the second direction.

Personal transportation vehicles such as motorized wheelchairs or scooters are commonly used by persons having ambulatory difficulties or other disabilities. Personal transportation vehicles are often transported in a van, pickup truck, or other suitable transporting vehicle (hereinafter referred to as "the transporting vehicle"). Although compact, personal transportation vehicles can weigh several hundred pounds. Thus, some type of lifting device is usually required to load the personal transportation vehicle onto and off of the transporting vehicle.
A typical lifting device may include a horizontally-oriented arm having a retractable strap extending therefrom for lifting the personal transportation vehicle. Some types of arms may telescope to increase the overall length of the arm, thereby permitting the end of the arm to be located directly over the center of gravity of the personal transportation vehicle during lifting.
The lifting arm is commonly supported by a vertically-oriented column. The column can be rotatably coupled to a base secured to the floor of the transporting vehicle. Rotation of the column in relation to the base permits the arm (and the personal transportation vehicle) to be swung into (and out of) the interior or the bed of the transporting vehicle once the personal transportation vehicle has been lifted to an appropriate height.
Conventional arm-type lifting devices, in general, must be configured by the manufacturer or installer for a left or right hand installation, i.e., for installation on a particular side of the transporting vehicle. Hence, additional parts must often be designed, manufactured, and provided with the lifting device to facilitate the possibility of both left and right-hand installations. Moreover, reconfiguring the lifting device between left and right hand configurations may require that the device be returned to the dealer or other location where trained service personnel and appropriate tooling are located.
The bases of conventional arm-type lifting devices are often bulky, and may by subject to interference with the wheel well or other structure of the transporting vehicle. Also, most lifting arms cannot easily be moved to a vertically-oriented position (for compact storage when a personal-transportation vehicle is not being carried in the transporting vehicle). Moreover, the telescoping arms used on some lifting devices are bulky, and may extend only a relatively small distance in relation to the overall length of the arm due to the structural characteristics of the telescoping configuration.

Lifting device for a personal-transportation vehicle


A method and system for alerting an aircrew of terrorist activity in a cabin of an aircraft. The system includes a plurality of fobs worn by flight attendants. The system also includes an antenna sending unit (ASU) located within the cabin and a cockpit display unit (CDU) located in the cockpit of the aircraft. When a terrorist situation is detected by a flight attendant, the flight attendant sends an alerting signal to the cockpit by sending a coded signal via the ASU to the CDU. The CDU provides an indicator to the cockpit crew and an alert to each fob. In addition, the CDU sends a test signal to each fob to check the status of each fob.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to alerting systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for alerting an aircrew of terrorist activities occurring in a cabin of an aircraft.
2. Description of Related Art
As discussed in patent application Ser. No. 10/017,547 ('547), the threat of terrorism on commercial aircraft has recently increased. '547 provided a system and method for covertly alerting a cockpit crew of a terrorist or other dangerous incidences occurring in the cabin area. Although '547 provided a novel method of alerting the cockpit crew of such disturbances, '547 did not provide a method of informing other cabin crew members of any dangerous situations. Because of the size of today's commercial aircraft, incidences occurring in one section of the cabin may go unnoticed by flight attendants locating in another section of the cabin. '547 only provided an alert to the cockpit crew. A system and method is needed which enables all flight attendants to be informed of a dangerous incident. In addition, the system should provide an alert in such a manner as to not alert or alarm other passengers of the incident. U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,320 to Monroe (Monroe), U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,035 to Stahl et al. (Stahl), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,390 to Schlager et al. (Schlager) all disclose various types of alerting devices. However, Monroe, Schlager and Stahl do not teach or suggest a system or method which enables mobile units to covertly alert other mobile units of a dangerous system.
Another problem associated with the carriage of fobs by flight attendants involves the administration and control of such fobs held by flight attendants. With the amount of flights and flight attendants involved within airline operations, it is quite possible that a flight attendant may inadvertently walk off of an aircraft, after the completion of a flight, with the fob still in her possession. The system should provide an alert to both the flight attendant and the cockpit crew that the fob is no longer on the aircraft. Thus, it would be a distinct advantage to have a system and method which provides an alert to all cabin crew members when a dangerous incident is occurring, as well as an alert when a fob carried by a cabin crew member is carried from an aircraft. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a system and method.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An electronic device comprises a conductive region, and a three-dimensional assembly of fine particles in a close relation with the conductive region, the conductive region being controlled in electric conductivity by controlling distribution of electrons in the three-dimensional assembly of fine particles. Another electronic device comprises a conductive region, and a two-dimensional assembly of fine particles in a close relation with the conductive region, the conductive region being controlled in electric conductivity by controlling the state of occupation by electrons in a plurality of quantum levels formed in the fine particles.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic device and in particular relates to that using a three-dimensional assembly of fine particles.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent high-integrated semiconductor memory, approximately 10.sup.4 electrons stored in capacitors in memory cells for one bit of information. Therefore, in order to write information in semiconductor memory, about 10.sup.4 electrons must be stored in capacitors in memory cells.
For storing 10.sup.4 electrons in capacitors in memory cells, since energy of several eV per electron is required, energy as high as 10.sup.4 eV or more is consumed only for storing one bit of information. That is, the power consumption of conventional semiconductor memory is very large.


Method for the stabilisation of rock masses, especially vaults or walls of tunnels being excavated, comprising the insertion of a hollow tubular element (10) having an open top and provided with at least a spiral-shaped conical-development element (20, 26) within a hole (22) drilled in the rock mass (28) to be consolidated, and the pressure-injection of consolidation material (30) in the cavity of said hollow tubular element (10).. The external diameter of said hollow tubular element (10) is smaller than the maximum hole diameter (22) by a length preferably comprised between 20 and 55 mm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the stabilization of rock masses and the related stabilization element used for the purpose.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for the stabilization of rock masses in correspondence of the vault and/or sides of tunnels obtained by drilling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known, in the construction of roads or railways it is often necessary to drill the ground, creating a tunnel, when a natural obstacle is found, constituted, for instance, by a mount relief or a rock spur. According to the nature of the grounds gone through, tunnels are provided with lining of various kinds and the just excavated passages are reinforced and stabilized by means of provisional supports. At present, for the consolidation of tunnels tubular elements of a remarkable length and close front are widespread; said elements are inserted into corresponding holes drilled in the rock by means of special rock-boring machines. In said tubular elements, the fluid determines the elastic deformation of the tubes, which adhere to the hole walls, following their substantially irregular profile.
Said known system of rock mass consolidation has several drawbacks associated especially to the high cost of the equipment used for the deformation of the tubular elements. Besides, said deformation is unavoidably limited and requires therefore the use of a high number of tubular elements to realize an adequate consolidation of the rock mass. The same elastic deformation of the elements reduces the resistance effect of the same, especially in correspondence of the most expanded zones; therefore, the system as a whole is not suitable for all kinds of grounds.
According to another technique of the known art, the consolidation of rock masses is obtained by means of untreated steel rods which are inserted into holes drilled in the rock mass; sideways of the bars, two tubes are placed, respectively for the injection and the bleed of consolidation mortar. This system has a main drawback associated to the weight of the rods, which, besides, do not show a high rigidity because of their great weight. As a consequence, the same rods enter with difficulty the holes drilled in the rock. Besides, this technique involves necessarily the use of two tubes to be placed near each rod.
Therefore, also this system is unsatisfactory because of both the obtained effect and the cost and complexity of the operations and the apparatuses.

Method for the stabilization of rock masses and related stabilization element


Systems, methods, devices, circuits for data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for processing skew tolerant processing of data derived from multiple read heads.

The use of multiple read heads disposed in a read/write head assembly has been developed to sense and process data from a user data region of a storage medium. In the case of two read heads, the two read heads may be located, for example, approximately 100 nm apart in a down track direction. In some cases, the stroke of the storage medium (i.e., a radial location of the read/write head assembly relative to the storage medium) results in the two read heads extending across multiple tracks on the storage medium. This typically occurs near the outer diameter and inner diameter of the storage medium where a skew angle due to the stroke is most pronounced. Some approaches have been developed to alleviate this situation including the use of three or more read heads on the same read/write head assembly and disposed in relation to one another such that there is a guarantee that two of the three or more read heads are sensing data from the same track regardless of the stroke. Such an approach requires relatively tight tolerances of the location of one read head relative to other read heads on the read/write head assembly, and as such increases the production costs of read/write head assemblies.
Hence, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for advanced systems and methods for processing data derived from multiple read heads sensing data from tracks on a storage medium.

Systems and methods for skew tolerant multi-head data processing

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) PTE. LTD.


A chlorine dioxide solution is sprayed onto produce that includes at least one contaminant which can be debris, soil, fungus and/or organic chemicals. Sprayers are used to spray the chloride dioxide solution on the produce to wash the contaminant from the produce. The produce may be placed on a conveyor and the conveyor may be used to move the produce under the sprayers while the sprayers are used to spray chlorine dioxide solution onto the produce. The conveyor may include rotating brushes that come in contact with the produce, such that the brushes that brush the produce and mechanically remove debris and residue from the produce. Rinsing sprayers may be provided over the conveying path downstream of the sprayer that sprays the chlorine dioxide solution on the produce. The rinsing sprayers may be used to spray the produce with potable rinse water.

After harvest, fresh produce is washed before being sorted and packed. Once clean produce has been sorted and packed, fungus adhering to the surface of the produce may cause mold to develop before the produce has reached market. The presence of fungus on even one piece of produce in a crate can cause decay of substantially all of the produce in the crate. For these reasons, it is desirable to reduce the occurrence of decay in packed produce so that the overall value of the harvested produce is increased.
If produce is treated by process water, the used process water contains contaminants and debris. Conventionally, process water for treating produce has been used for a short time before being dumped due to the buildup of contaminants in the process water.


A new wiring splice junction block for connecting a power supply cable from a main distribution panel to two or more branch circuits. The inventive device includes a circular housing having a circular wall extending upwardly therefrom disposed inwardly with respect to its cylindrical side wall. The cylindrical side wall has a plurality of circumferentially spaced apertures therethrough. A conductive ring is secured within the circular housing. The conductive ring has a peripheral edge disposed inwardly of the circular wall of the circular housing. A plurality of resilient connectors extends radially from the peripheral edge of the conductive ring in a spaced relationship. The connectors align with the circumferentially spaced apertures of the circular housing. The connectors extend outwardly over the circular wall. A circular lid is dimensioned for covering an open upper end of the circular housing. The circular lid includes a plurality of slotted openings therethrough. The slotted openings align with the resilient connectors and the circumferentially spaced apertures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly pertains to a new wiring splice junction block for connecting a power supply cable from a main distribution panel to two or more branch circuits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of electrical connectors is known in the prior art. More specifically, electrical connectors heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art electrical connectors include U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,244 to Saito et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,646 to Shimada; U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,424 to Bowen et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,465 to Holden; U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,352 to Pretchel; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 323,317 to Nagasaka et al.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new wiring splice junction block. The inventive device includes a circular housing having a circular wall extending upwardly therefrom disposed inwardly with respect to its cylindrical side wall. The cylindrical side wall has a plurality of circumferentially spaced apertures therethrough. A conductive ring is secured within the circular housing. The conductive ring has a peripheral edge disposed inwardly of the circular wall of the circular housing. A plurality of resilient connectors extends radially from the peripheral edge of the conductive ring in a spaced relationship. The connectors align with the circumferentially spaced apertures of the circular housing. The connectors extend outwardly over the circular wall. A circular lid is dimensioned for covering an open upper end of the circular housing. The circular lid includes a plurality of slotted openings therethrough. The slotted openings align with the resilient connectors and the circumferentially spaced apertures.
In these respects, the wiring splice junction block according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of connecting a power supply cable from a main distribution panel to two or more branch circuits.


Disclosed is a technique for automatically performing disease detection using image processing. The technique includes receiving, from image capture devices, a first image depicting a first set of plants of a first unit and a second image depicting a second set of plants of a second unit. One or more metrics associated with the first and second sets of the plants are measured based at least on the images. At least one difference in the first and second sets of the plants is detected based at least on differences in the measurement for the one or more metrics associated with the first set of the plants and the second set of the plants. In response to detecting the at least one difference, additional images of the plants are requested from the one or more image capture devices to detect the presence of plant disease.

Disease management is a significant issue in all plant growing operations. From the functional perspective of a commercial grower, identification of plant diseases is critical in industrial horticultural operations to prevent losses in the yield and quantity of the agricultural product. Although plant diseases may be visually observable on the leaves, stem, and fruit, it is difficult to monitor the plant diseases manually on a large scale with multiple grow operations that may be spread over different locations. In some cases, it is costly and impractical to inspect and conduct various tests. Additionally, monitoring of health and disease on plant requires extensive knowledge, experience, and expertise for growers. As a result, information collected is generally of low fidelity, of dubious provenance, untimely, incomplete, and does not lend itself for determining a course of remedial action, let alone coordinate an operation-wide response. Disease detection and diagnosis is the first step in managing the problem, and early and precise detection and diagnosis offer significant advantages to mitigating the damage with corrective action.


The present invention concerns a prolonged release bioadhesive mucosal therapeutic system containing at least one active principle, with an active principle dissolution test of more than 70% over 8 hours and to a method for its preparation. This bioadhesive therapeutic system comprises quantities of natural proteins representing 50% by weight of active principle and at least 20% by weight of said tablet, between 10% and 20% of a hydrophilic polymer, and compression excipients, and comprising between 4% and 10% of an alkali metal alkylsulphate to reinforce the local availability of active principle and between 0.1% and 1% of a monohydrate sugar.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the medical field, in particular the field of mucosal infections. More particularly, the present invention relates to novel prolonged release bioadhesive therapeutic systems for treating local mucosal infections or the mucitis and candidiasis type. The invention also relates to methods for treating such symptoms and to novel release forms for improving their efficacy. The bioadhesive therapeutic systems of the invention can be used for curative or preventative treatment of such disease types.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Candidiasis is a disease resulting from a local proliferation of fungal species (Candida). Such proliferation can have a number of origins, in particular a local physico-chemical imbalance (modification of pH, etc) associated, for example, with taking antibiotics, steroids or other physical treatments (irradiation, chemotherapy, immunodepressors, etc.). The increase in immunodepression situations (related to immunodepression consecutive upon chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer or the AIDS epidemic) was the cause of a re-emergence of oral candidiasis and severe parodontal disease (Hermant et al., 1997, Med. Mal. Infect. 27: 715-718). Buccal candidiases are routinely detected even in HIV seropositive subjects who are apparently in good health. They are often the first manifestation of an HIV infection. More than 90% of patients with AIDS develop oral candidiasis (Vasquez, 1999, Pharmacotherapy, 19 (1): 76-87). The prevalence approaches 20% in certain populations; it increases with the reduction in the number of CD4 (Greenspan & Greenspan, 1996, Lancet 348: 729-733). Further, candidosa is a common characteristic of infection by the immunodeficiency virus HIV and cancer. The fungal species responsible for those candidiases are Candida such as C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis or C. krusei.
Particular signs associated with candidiasis are dry mouth, pain on ingestion, loss of taste, burns, etc. A change in the condition of the buccal cavity has serious implications for the general condition of the patient. Buccal infections that are poorly treated can be the cause of odynophagia and dysphagia, can interfere with speech, mastication and deglutition. Further, the pain caused by those infections leads patients to reduce their food intake; this results in a loss of weight, dehydration and malnutrition. Prevention and treatment of oral candidiasis is thus an essential concern in maintaining quality of life and in preventing more severe complications in those patients (Weinert et al., 1996, Amn. Intern. Med. 125: 485-496).
Candidiasis is also a frequent complication in anticancer treatments. In particular, chemotherapy, bone marrow graftings or local irradiation are all factors encouraging the development of local candidiasis type infections. The secondary oral effects of chemotherapy are a major source of morbidity in cancerology. Out of 27 clinical tests: 14 with mucitis (945 randomized cases) and 15 with oral candidiasis (1164 randomized cases), the incidence of mucitis was 50% to 80% and that of candidiasis was 30% to 70% and varied as a function of the location of the cancer. In view of that analysis, partially absorbed treatments appear to be more effective than those which are totally absorbed by the intestinal tract as regards prophylaxis (Clarkson et al., 2000, Cochrane Database Syst Rev. (2): CD000978).
More generally, a farther factor encouraging the development of candidiasis is an alteration in the integrity of the mucosa, for example by local or diffuse desquamation. Mucitis is one of such conditions: it involves an erythema generally followed by local desquamation. The alteration in the mucosa (generally buccal) that is induced is the early stage forming the bed of infection, in particular a fungal infection in AIDS or cancer (chemotherapy, bone marrow grafting, local irradiation with tumours to the head and neck, etc). Patients suffer locally from salivary hypofunction, which itself is responsible for an alteration in dental hygiene (Greenspan et al., The Lancet 348 (1996) 729).
Candidosa infections are currently treated in the first intention in a local manner, essentially using antifungals: magistral preparations, lozenges, mouthwashes, azoles, polyenes (Greenspan et al., Lancet 348: 729-733). Azole derivatives are proposed in the second intention, by systemic route, in the case of oesophageal candidiasis (ketoconazole, fluconazole, itraconazole). Such treatments are effective in prevention but are risky (interactions with drugs, resistance, intolerance) . . . . Such systemic azoles are reserved for short therapies in confirmed candidiasis (Kovacs et al., 2000, The New England Journal of Medicine, May 11, 1416-1429).
A further disadvantage of these treatments resides in frequently observed relapses. Some studies observed 60% recurrence in the three months following treatment (Imam et al., Amer. J. of Medicine 89 (1990) 142).
Considering the physiopathology of candidiasis, Candida albicans and also C. krusei, C. tropicalis and C. glabrata are the agents responsible for the local infection (mouth, oesophagus, skin, nails, vagina). It can be more or less profound depending on the host's defenses. It is a cutaneo-mucous affection that can induce complications and become systemic. Effective local treatment or preventing buccal candidiasis can avoid systemic candidiasis and the appearance of resistant strains.
Adhesion of the fungus to the mucosa is an essential element in its pathogenicity. The residency time of an antifungal product in the buccal cavity can be an essential element in its immediate and long term efficacy.
Described or existing formulations or compositions are based on forms for systemic administration both as regards their galenic form and the active principles involved.
The present invention provides a prolonged release bioadhesive therapeutic system that is essential for producing a long residence time in the locations of the infection in contrast to the usual local forms (mouthwashes, gel, pastils, lozenges) which have a transitional effect.
By way of example, a buccal gel for local application based on miconazole is sold by Janssen-cilag (92787 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France) under the trade name Daktarin buccal Gel® for the treatment of mycoses of the buccal cavity. Miconazole is an antifungal from the imidazole family. It acts in situ after application. As it is only very slightly re-absorbed, it is well tolerated. The dosage for treating buccal mycoses in adult is 125 mg of miconazole (two spoonfuls) applied 4 times a day for 7 to 15 days. The salivary concentration of the miconazole is a good reflection of the efficacy of the product. It varies from 5 to 0.4 μg/ml 30 minutes to 3 hours after applying the gel. Its very rapid reduction is explained by the very short residency time of gel in the buccal cavity. Further, the MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of miconazole against Candidosa albicans is in the range 1 to 10 μg/ml (Daktarin monograph, medical information from the Swiss Compendium of Medicinal Products). This concentration is only obtained achieved during the short period following application of the gel. As a result, the antimycotic coverage obtained with the buccal gel is mediocre.
Bioadhesive forms and their preparation method have been described in patent EP-0 542 824 B1. They were designed for systemic passage and cannot be used for local action. They do not permit satisfactory in vitro dissolution, a criterion for determining local availability. Thus, they are incompatible with using an active principle such as an antifungal which necessitates local action and/or limited systemic passage.

Prolonged release bioadhesive therapeutic systems


A disk driving device including a hub which rotatably supports a disk with the aid of bearings, a yoke which is fixedly secured to the hub so as to be turned together with the hub, a drive magnet unit which is fixedly mounted on the inner cylindrical surface of a cylindrical portion of the yoke, and a stator core confronted with the drive magnet unit. In the device, the yoke includes a bent portion and the hub includes a flange which protrudes below and outwardly from a disk mounting portion of the hub and which has an upper surface having an inner diameter substantially equal to an inner diameter of the bent portion of the yoke. The flange is located below a disk mounting portion, and the flange is fixedly held between the inner surface of the bent portion of the yoke and the upper end face of the drive magnet unit.

A conventional disk driving device applied to a hard disk driving device is shown in FIG. 3. A cup-shaped frame 5 includes a cylindrical bearing holder 5a at the center thereof. A flange-shaped mounting portion 5c is radially outwardly extended from the upper end of a cylindrical wall 5b of the frame. And a stator core 6 is mounted on the outer cylindrical surface of the bearing holder 5a. The stator core 6 is formed by stacking a plurality of core plates made of magnetic substance, and has a plurality of protruded poles which are radially outwardly extended from the center thereof. A drive coil assembly 7 is wound on the protruded poles of the stator core 6.
Upper and lower ball bearings 1 and 1' are fixed in the bearing holder 5a of the frame 5 in such a manner that their outer races are fixed to the inner cylindrical surface of the bearing holder 5a, and their inner races are fixed to the central shaft 2b of a hub 2 on which for instance a magnetic disk is placed. The hub 2 is cylindrical, and its outer peripheral portion is stepped downwardly, thus being formed into a disk mounting portion 2d. The upper surface of the latter 2d includes an annular disk mounting surface 2c which is protruded slightly upwardly. The central portion of the hub 2 is protruded downwardly, thus forming the aforementioned central shaft 2b. The shaft 2b is fixed to the inner races of the upper and lower ball bearings 1 and 1'. That is, the hub 1 is rotatably mounted on the frame 5 through the ball bearings 1 and 1'. The hub 2 is made of a non-magnetic material such as for instance aluminum alloy.
A yoke 3 is fixedly secured to the outer periphery of the lower surface of the disk mounting portion 2d. The yoke 3 includes a cylindrical portion 3a, and a bent portion 3b which is radially inwardly extended from the upper end of the cylindrical portion 3a. A protrusion 2e extended from the lower surface of the disk mounting portion 2d of the hub 2 is caulked over the bent portion 3b, so that the yoke 3 is fixedly secured to the hub 2. An annular drive magnet unit 4 is fixedly mounted on the inner cylindrical surface of the cylindrical portion 3a of the yoke 3 in such a manner that the inner cylindrical surface of the magnet unit 4 is confronted through a predetermined gap with the protruded poles of the stator core 6. Hence, by applying current to the drive coil assembly 7 wound on the protruded poles of the stator core 6, the drive magnet unit 4 is energized, so that the yoke 3 and the hub 2 are rotated.
In the above-described disk driving device, the yoke is secured to the hub by caulking. However, the method of securing the yoke to the hub is not always limited thereto or thereby. For instance, methods as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b) may be employed. In the method shown in FIG. 4(a), the outer cylindrical surface G of a disk-shaped hub 2, and the lower surface H of the outer peripheral portion of the hub 2 are joined through adhesive to the inner cylindrical surface of the upper end portion of a yoke 3' and the upper end face of the drive magnet unit 4, respectively. The method has been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei. 5-91167.
In the method shown in FIG. 4(b), a protrusion 2e is formed on the lower surface of the hub 2, and the peripheral portion I of the lower surface of the hub 2 which surrounds the protrusion 2e and the outer cylindrical surface J of the protrusion 2e are joined through adhesive to the inner periphery of the upper surface of the bent portion 3b of the yoke 3 and the inner cylindrical surface of the head portion 3b, respectively. The method has been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei. 6-38060.
In the conventional device shown in FIG. 3, When the yoke 3 is fixedly secured to the hub 2 by caulking, the yoke 3 is positively secured to the hub 2, so that the yoke 3 never comes off the hub 2. However, the hub 2 is unavoidably strained during caulking, so that its disk mounting surface 2c is somewhat deformed. Hence, when the hub 2 is turned with a disk mounted on the annular disk mounting surface 2c thus deformed, the disk is oscillated axially, that is, a so-called "planar oscillation" occurs. In order to eliminate this difficulty, it is necessary to finish the annular disk mounting surface 2c by the lathe processing or the like after the yoke 3 and the drive magnet unit 4 are secured to the hub 2.
On the other hand, in each of the methods shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the yoke is bonded to the hub with adhesive. Hence, the methods will not adversely affect the disk mounting surface such as the aforementioned method, that is, by caulking. However, in each of the methods, the bonding surfaces are so small that the yoke is not sufficiently fastened to the hub. Hence, if an excessively great impact is applied to the device, the yoke may come off the hub, thus damaging other components.

Disk driving device with hub flange secured between yoke and drive magnet

Kabushiki Kaisha Sankyo Seiki Seisakusho


A system and method for determining timing offset errors in a low earth orbit satellite system based upon Doppler and Doppler rate of change is provided. A user terminal determines first and second timing offsets respectively associated with first and second satellite beams from respective first and second satellites. Next, the user terminal determines the Doppler and Doppler rate of change associated with the first and second satellite beams. A timing offset is estimated from the measured Doppler and Doppler rate of change and is then compared with the user terminal's own determined timing offset. If the comparison does not produce a value within a predetermined threshold, a beam identification error is declared.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to satellite communications and satellite communications systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to estimating and compensating for propagation delays associated with identifying satellite beams in a satellite communications network.
II. Background Art
Conventional satellite communications systems include one or more terrestrial base stations (hereinafter referred to as gateways), user terminals, such as a mobile phone, and one or more satellites for relaying communications signals between the user terminal and the gateway. The gateway receives signals from and transmits signals to satellites, which could be in orbiting low earth orbit (LEO), processes communication links or calls, and interconnects or transfers calls to and from appropriate ground networks, as desired. That is, the gateway provides an Earth-based link to permit a system user to communicate with other system users or to provide communication links to ground-based service providers, such as publicly-switched telephone networks (PSTNs), data networks, wireless communication systems, or other satellite gateways.
Although mobile phones or wireless user terminals provide users with increased mobility and flexibility, the proliferation of such phones have increased the demands on the associated communications systems. For example, in the case of satellite-based communication systems, determining the position of system users is critically important in establishing communication links with the phone, determining what service provider to use, and providing position location services to the phone user, among other things. However, the flexibility of travel for mobile phones complicates this process.
Most communication satellites project a "footprint" comprising several radio link or communication signal beams grouped to provide coverage for communications with system users in a geographic area covered by the footprint. A particular user terminal may be assigned, albeit temporarily, to use a specific satellite beam for transferring communication signals based upon that user terminal's geographic location. Consequently, a satellite communication system gateway must know the user terminal position in order to provide appropriate communication services to a particular user through an appropriate servicing satellite beam. Thus, knowledge of the specific satellite beam providing service for a particular user or geographical area is basic to the ability of a gateway to provide communication services.
Another aspect of this process is properly establishing a communications link to the other communication services providers, such as the PSTNs and the data networks. These service providers are usually associated with specific Earth-based geographic areas and only process communications links associated with their respective areas. For example, networks may have governmental licenses or various business arrangements with customers to service particular areas. Knowledge of the user terminal position is also needed before these geographically dependent services can be provided. Identification of the satellite beam is a necessary step in determining the position of a user terminal.
A number of conventional approaches are available for determining the position of satellite communication system users. Some techniques, for example, entail measuring a distance between the user terminal and the associated satellites and determining rates of change associated with the determined distance. When these distance measurements are combined with other data, the location of the user terminal may be accurately determined. Techniques for determining user-terminal location using satellite user-terminal range and range rates are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,284, entitled "Passive Position Determination Using Two Low Earth Orbit Satellites;," U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,534, entitled "Unambiguous Position Determination Using Two Low-Earth Orbit Satellites;" and U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,959 entitled "Position Determination Using One Low-Earth Orbit Satellite." Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,441, titled "Accurate Range And Range Rate Determination In A Satellite Communications System," discloses a technique for compensating for satellite motion in order to enhance the accuracy of user-terminal position information.
However, although motion between satellites and associated user terminals can be determined, errors often occur in these measurements due to effects such as antenna gain characteristics or, for example, because a particular satellite may be low in elevation with respect to the user terminal. These errors often result in the gateway misidentifying the servicing or communicating satellite's beam and consequently mis-judging the position of the user terminal. The end result of misidentification of the satellite's beam is often denial of system services, or even complete radio link acquisition failure for the associated user.
Another source of errors may arise as part of the implementation of specific communication techniques or user access methods employed by communication systems to accommodate multiple system users. Numerous techniques exist for providing access to communication systems for multiple system users. Two known multiple-access techniques include time division multiple access (TDMA) and frequency division multiple access (FDMA), the basics of which are well-known in the art. However, spread spectrum modulation techniques, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), are significantly more desirable because of their ability to accommodate multiple users in increasingly bandwidth-limited environments.
The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307 titled "Spread Spectrum Multiple Access Communication System Using Satellite Or Terrestrial Repeaters," and. U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459 entitled "System And Method For Generating Signal Waveforms In A CDMA Cellular Telephone System," both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and are incorporated herein by reference. The method for providing CDMA mobile communications was standardized in the United States by the Telecommunications Industry Association in TIA/EIA/IS-95-A, entitled "Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System," referred to herein as IS-95. Other communication systems or techniques are described in the IMT-2000/UM, or International Mobile Telecommunications System 2000/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, standards covering what are referred to as wideband CDMA (WCDMA), cdma2000 (such as cdma2000 1x or 3x standards, for example) or TD-SCDMA.
In satellite communication systems that use CDMA, a large number of user terminal or phone users, each having a transceiver, communicate through satellites and gateways using spread spectrum communication signals. By using CDMA, the associated frequency spectrum can be reused multiple times, thus permitting an increase in system user capacity. Thus, CDMA is much more spectrally efficient than other user-access techniques. Although CDMA is spectrally efficient, CDMA systems are also somewhat vulnerable to problems associated with the mobile station or terminal mis-positioning errors discussed above. One area where CDMA systems are particularly vulnerable is the area of user handoffs.
A handoff occurs when a mobile station communications session or link, such as an ongoing call or conversation, is passed from one satellite beam to another satellite beam. The are generally two types of handoffs, hard handoffs and soft handoffs. During a hard handoff, when a mobile station moves from within the coverage area of one beam to the coverage area of another, destination or target, beam that is going to provide service, the terminal breaks its communication link with the servicing beam and establishes a new communication link with the destination beam. During a soft handoff, however, the mobile station establishes a link with the destination beam prior to breaking its communication with the current beam. This process is known in the art as make-before-break. Additionally, during a soft handoff, the determination of the proper identification for the destination beam is made in relation to the location of the servicing beam. Thus, during a soft handoff, the mobile station simultaneously communicates with both a servicing beam and a destination beam.
A soft handoff technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,261 entitled "Mobile Station-Assisted Soft Handoff in a CDMA Cellular Communications System," which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is incorporated herein by reference. In the system of the '261 patent, the soft handoff process is predicated upon the use of measuring the strength of a pilot signal transmitted by each beam to facilitate access to the satellite by a particular mobile station. By way of background, access to a CDMA-based communication system or communication signals for mobile stations is provided in a forward link, that is, in the direction from the satellite to the mobile station. The forward link includes three types of overhead channels: at least one pilot channel, a synchronization channel, and one or more paging channels. These overhead channels are used by the system to establish and manage communication sessions with the mobile station.
The pilot channel includes transmission of a pilot signal which acts as a beacon for potential system users or subscribers, and is used by user terminals or mobile stations to obtain initial system synchronization and to provide robust time, frequency and phase tracking of the base station transmitted signals. In spread spectrum communication systems such as those based on IS-95, base stations are characterized or distinguished by a phase offset in the pseudorandom-noise (PN) codes used for spreading communication signals, also known as PN offset of the pilot signal. Typically, each terrestrial base-station uses the same spreading code at different code phase offsets. In the alternative, as is more typical of a satellite system, a series of PN codes based on unique PN polynomials are used within the communication system with different PN codes possibly being used for different gateways and for satellites in each orbital plane. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that as many or as few PN codes as desired can be assigned to identify specific signal sources or repeaters in the communication system.
In a satellite based system, in order to determine the proper destination satellite beam, that is which beam is covering the location of the user terminal, from among a number of candidate beams, the user terminal searches for the appropriate pilot signal by determining the pilot signal strength and the PN code or code phase offset. This process is accomplished by performing a correlation operation for each potential code and code phase offset, wherein all received pilot signals are correlated to a particular set of PN code offset values. A method and apparatus for performing correlation operations is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,648, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Performing Search Acquisition In A CDMA Communication System," which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is incorporated herein by reference.
To initially establish a communications link with a communication system, a user terminal must first acquire a pilot signal associated with the system. The user terminal receives the PN code and phase offset information of this pilot signal when it demodulates the pilot signal and system timing by demodulating the synchronization channel. However, before the user terminal is handed off to a new satellite beam, it must correlate newly received pilot signals with the set of PN codes and code offset values to determine the PN offset of the most likely destination satellite beam.
The amount of propagation delay between communication system satellites and the user terminal is often significant and uncertain, and may cause unknown shifts in PN offset values being detected. That is, the user terminal detects a larger phase shift due to the delay rather than the originating signal source. These shifts may result in the user terminal misidentifying a new hand-off or destination satellite beam. Unknown propagation delays are especially probable when the new destination satellite is low on the horizon with respect to the current servicing satellite in the cited references.
What is needed, therefore, is a technique to compensate for the effects of propagation delays by permitting the user terminal to independently verify PN offset measurements associated with destination or new target satellites in a manner that estimates propagation delays.

Aiding beam identification in a satellite system


In a system of the present invention in which a file ID is defined for each file, upon receiving a request for accessing a file specifying a file ID from a user, a file server refers to a file management table to obtain a logical disk ID for accessing the file. The file server then refers to a logical disk management table to obtain an I/O path corresponding to the logical disk ID, and accesses a physical disk device by use of the obtained I/O path. When a fault has occurred in an operational I/O path, a file server rewrites the logical disk management tables in all nodes to change the I/O path. This reduces the time taken to switch I/O paths, and hiding the process of switching the I/O paths from the user.

The present invention relates to a file system for processing files distributed and managed in a plurality of disk devices, and more particularly to a file system in which when a plurality of I/O paths are provided to access a disk device, it is possible to control switching among the plurality of I/O paths so as to access the disk device through one of the plurality of I/O paths.
In the UNIX file system, which is one of the conventional file systems, a number (a file ID) is defined to uniquely identify each file, and a file server can specify a file on which to perform read/write operation by supplying its file ID. The file server registers and manages a matching relationship between each file ID and an I/O path used to access a disk device storing the file, in a file management table (referred to as an inode in UNIX) stored in a memory. An I/O path is composed of such information as a node number, an I/O interface number, a device number, etc. This management system is described in, for example, a book entitled "The Design of The Unix Operating System" authored by Maurice J. Bach (p60–p72).
Upon receiving a read/write access request with a file ID specified, the file server refers to the above file management table, determines an I/O path used to access the disk device based on the file ID, and accesses the disk device using the I/O path. In addition to the I/O path information, the file management table stores file management information such as each file size, the date of last update of each file, etc., and the file management information is read out from a disk device when a file is opened and it is written back to the disk device regularly or when the file is closed. The file server converts a file name supplied by the user to its file ID.
A known method for handling a plurality of disk devices in a file system is to add a name tree managed by a disk device B to a directory, for example, X within a name tree managed by a disk device A so as to show a plurality of disk devices (that is, a plurality of name trees) as if they existed within a single name tree. In this method, the user can access a file in the disk device B by accessing the directory X. This method is called "mount operation". At system start-up, the file server carries out one mount operation after another using a specific disk device (a route device) as a starting point so as to show a plurality of disk devices to the user as if they were a single name tree. A mount construction file in the route device stores information on a matching relationship between each disk device to be subjected to mount operation at system start-up and a directory name (a mount point) of a name tree onto which the disk device is mounted. The file server performs mount operation according to the information stored in the mount construction file at system start-up.
The mount construction file includes information on each I/O path used to specify a disk device to access it. The file server reads the matching relationships between I/O paths and mount points registered in the mount construction file into memory as mount construction information at the time of performing mount operation. When the user opens a file by specifying its file name, the file server obtains an I/O path used to access the physical disk device storing the file based on the above mount construction information, and creates a file management table. Accordingly, when the configuration of a system has been changed as a result of, for example, connecting a new disk device to the system, the system administrator must set new construction information-in the computer system by rewriting the mount construction file.
On the other hand, to enhance reliability of computer systems, such a patent publication as Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-275090 (1998) describes a method which physically connects two different nodes to a physical disk device so as to be able to access the disk device through two different I/O paths. With this arrangement, one of the I/O paths is used in normal operation, and when a node fault has occurred and as a result, it is no longer possible to use the current I/O path, the other I/O path is used to access the disk device from another node in order to maintain availability of the disk device in case of a fault.
Another well-known method for enhancing reliability of disk devices is to multiplex and store a file in a plurality of disk devices (mirroring). A concept of "a logical volume" is generally used for mirroring. Mirroring is a mechanism which shows a plurality of physical disk devices as a single logical volume to the user. The user creates a logical volume in which information on a plurality of physical disk devices is registered beforehand. When the user has accessed the logical volume for a file operation in the same way as to access a physical disk device, file mirroring operation is performed on the plurality of disk devices. By using a logical volume, it is possible to carry out striping, which distributes and stores a file in a plurality of disk devices.
In order to dynamically switching from a current I/O path to another I/O path to access a physical disk device in the conventional UNIX file system when the current I/O path can no longer be used, it is necessary to search file management tables and mount construction information to rewrite each entry of the unavailable I/O path name with the entry of a new one. The above operation to rewrite an entry in each file management table with a new entry must be carried out for each open file. As a result, in a conventional UNIX file system to which the above technique for switching I/O paths is applied, it takes time to rewrite entries in file management tables, causing a problem that it is not possible to perform I/O operation on the target physical disk device during such rewriting time.
Furthermore, if two I/O paths are simply switched when a fault has occurred in one of the I/O paths, the node which was accessing a physical disk device before occurrence of the fault cannot properly write back the contents of caches which the node currently holds, such as a buffer cache (an area in which data is temporarily stored at the time of reading/writing the data from/to a physical disk device in order to reduce the number of input/output operations on the physical disk device, whose processing speed is slow compared with the memory), file management tables, and a disk cache (a cache memory held by a physical disk device for the same purpose as that of the buffer cache) in the physical disk device, to the physical disk device, raising a problem that important data may disappear. Furthermore, since this compromises integrity of the file system, it is necessary to restore the compromised file system to its proper state based on information on the file system redundantly stored in a physical disk device. This restoring operation requires checking of the entire disk device and therefore takes a long time, making it impossible to perform I/O operation on the physical disk device during the restoring operation.
In addition, since, after switching to the new I/O path, the new I/O path is used to access the disk device, it is necessary for the system administrator to update the mount construction file so that a matching relationship between the new I/O path and the mount point of the disk device is registered in the mount construction file, in order to properly perform the mount operation at the time of restarting the system after switching to the new I/O path. Further, in the case where mirroring of files is employed, the system administrator needs to create a logical volume and carry out a complicated procedure for managing the logical volume.

File system for creating switched logical I/O paths for fault recovery


An optical semiconductor device including: a substrate having a principal surface; first and second optical waveguides disposed on the principal surface of the substrate, the first and second optical waveguides extending in a first direction, the second optical waveguide being arranged adjacent to the first optical waveguide in a second direction intersecting with the first direction; first and second signal electrodes disposed on the first and second optical waveguides; a resistor disposed on the principal surface, the resistor being arranged between the first optical waveguide and the second optical waveguide, the resistor being electrically connected to the first signal electrode and the second signal electrode; a resin layer disposed on the principal surface, top surfaces of the first and second signal electrodes, and the resistor; and a capacitor disposed on the resin layer, the capacitor being electrically connected to the resistor through an opening of the resin layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical semiconductor device and a method of producing the same,
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-180425 (Patent Literature 1) discloses a semiconductor device including a capacitor and an optical element monolithically integrated on a single substrate. The capacitor is used to eliminate noise components in electrical signals applied to the semiconductor device. Noise components are transmitted from the outside of the semiconductor device and reach the semiconductor device through an electrical line. If the elimination of the noise components by the capacitor is insufficient, a malfunction occurs in the optical element of the semiconductor device. In order to sufficiently eliminate noise components having high frequencies, a capacitor having a large capacitance is desired.

Optical semiconductor device and method of producing the same


An apparatus for lubricating a mold in an individual section glassware forming machine by combustion of at least one combustible gas. The apparatus includes a shaft positioned adjacent to the mold, a burner head on the shaft and including a spark electrode for igniting a combustible gas exiting the burner head, a manifold on the shaft spaced from the burner head for connection to a combustible gas supply, and a gas passage within the shaft extending from the manifold to the burner head.

Articles of glassware commonly are formed by blow molding in one or more molds. Individual section glassware forming machines typically include a set of blank molds wherein glass gobs are formed into glass blanks. The glass blanks are transferred to final blow molds in which they are formed into their final desired shape. Glassware forming molds are typically lubricated by manually swabbing or by igniting a combustible gas to deposit carbon soot in the molds. The combustible gas is fed to a burner head by one or more externally routed hoses, and may be fed through a nozzle to an igniter.

Lubrication assembly for glassware forming molds


A method of manufacture of an embedded integrated circuit package system includes: forming a first conductive pattern on a first structure; connecting a first integrated circuit die, having bumps on a first active side, directly on the first conductive pattern by the bumps; forming a substrate forming encapsulation to cover the first integrated circuit die and the first conductive pattern; forming a channel in the substrate forming encapsulation; and applying a conductive material in the channel.

Electronics demand more integrated circuits in an integrated circuit package while paradoxically providing less physical space in the system for the increased integrated circuits content. Some technologies primarily focus on integrating more functions into each integrated circuit. Other technologies focus on stacking these integrated circuits into a single package. While these approaches provide more functions within an integrated circuit, they do not fully address the requirements for lower height, smaller space, and cost reduction.
Modern electronics, such as smart phones, personal digital assistants, location based services devices, servers, and storage arrays, are packing more integrated circuits into an ever shrinking physical space with expectations for decreasing cost. Numerous technologies have been developed to meet these requirements. Some of the research and development strategies focus on new package technologies while others focus on improving the existing package technologies. Research and development in the existing package technologies may take a myriad of different directions.
One proven way to reduce cost is to use package technologies with existing manufacturing methods and equipments. Paradoxically, the reuse of existing manufacturing processes does not typically result in the reduction of package dimensions. Existing packaging technologies struggle to cost effectively meet the ever demanding integration of today's integrated circuits and packages.
Numerous package approaches stack multiple integrated circuit dice, package in package (PIP), package on package (POP), or a combination thereof. The electrical connections to the each of the stacked integrated circuit require space typically formed by spacers, such as silicon or interposers. Current spacers require additional steps and structures increasing manufacturing costs and decreasing manufacturing yields. These spacers also limit the amount of height reduction. Conventional PIP and POP configurations require space for the package integration and/or stack limiting the reduction of the package height.
Numerous approaches embed passive devices and integrated circuit circuits into printed circuit board. Some of these approaches require lamination and press process in conventional printed circuit board manufacturing causing damage to the integrated circuits or limiting the thinness of the integrated circuits. Other approaches embed integrated circuits in holes formed in the printed circuit board or substrate. However, these approaches have problems such as different materials used for filling the hole from the substrate causing damage to the integrated circuit, embedded connections to the integrated circuits, additional process steps to form connections to the embedded integrated circuit, or a combination thereof.
Thus, a need still remains for an embedded integrated circuit package system for ultra thin integrated circuits providing low cost manufacturing, improved yields, and reduction the integrated circuit package dimensions. 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.

Embedded integrated circuit package system and method of manufacture thereof


The invention provides a soil moisture content measurement system comprising a porous plate arranged to support a soil sample; a hanging water tube extending downwardly from the porous plate, the tube arranged to convey liquid toward and away from the porous plate; a measuring capillary tube in connection with the hanging water tube, the measuring capillary tube arranged to convey liquid toward and away from the hanging water tube; measurement apparatus configured to measure the movement of liquid within the measuring capillary tube; and a data memory configured to receive and store data from the measurement apparatus representing liquid movement measurements within the measuring capillary tube. The invention also provides a related method of measuring soil moisture content.

One of the most important soil physical relationships requiring estimation is the amount of water available in the soil represented by a water retention curve. A water retention curve represents the relationship between soil water tension (matric potential) and soil water content of the soil. Many models have been developed to estimate the amount of water available in soil from small farmlands to large-scale catchments. The soil water retention curve plays a major role in many of these models. Studies of water balance and runoff generation leading to sediment production require the calculation of a soil water retention curve at the lower end (0 to 100 cm soil water tension).
The most popular and only reliable method to obtain the soil water retention curve at the lower tension is a tension plate with a hanging water column. This method has been in use for over 70 years. A tension plate is made from a porous material such as ceramic or a sand bed. Since larger pore space dominates the soil water characteristics at the lower tension range, tests must be carried out with either minimum or no disturbance to the soil sample.
To use the tension table, the soil sample must first be saturated. During saturation, the weight of the soil sample is checked regularly to find the equilibrium point. Once the saturation process is completed, different tensions are applied to the soil sample, which sits on the tension plate, by the hanging water column. In order to find the equilibrium point for each applied tension, the water meniscus in the hanging water column is monitored regularly. This is a very time consuming task. Once the soil sample reaches equilibrium, it is transferred to a weighing apparatus at the end of each tension step to estimate the moisture content.
The main disadvantages of this method are:                1. Disturbance to the fragile soil matrix (larger pore structure) due to regular handling of the soil sample.        2. Inaccurate soil moisture estimation due to sample handling.        3. High labour intensity. Regular supervision is necessary to determine the equilibrium points.
It would be useful to at least partially automate the test procedure to eliminate or reduce the drawbacks. An added advantage of an automated system could be the ability to produce accurate outflow data to estimate the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity.

Soil moisture content measurement system and method


The present invention relates to systems and methods for protecting a golf club head region. One embodiment of the present invention relates to a golf club protection system that protects the head region of a golf club from incidental damage. The system includes a first and second member. The first and second members are shaped to include a combined internal region corresponding to the shape of a golf club head. The first and second members are also moveably coupled to one another to enable the insertion and removal of a golf club from the system. The first member may further include a releasable shaft coupling system that releasably engages the shaft in response to a coupling force between the shaft and the first member. The nature of the moveable coupling between the first and second member may enable the second member to internally move within or overlap the first member.

The sport of golf is played with a set of golf clubs that are utilized to strike a ball with varying performance characteristics. These clubs generally include woods, irons, putters, and various hybrids. The clubs all include a shaft, a grip and a head. The shaft is an elongated tube section that extends between the grip and the head. The grip is the interface between the user's hands and the club. The grip is generally located at the top of the shaft, while the head is oppositely located at the bottom of the shaft. The head includes one or two striking faces which are designed to make contact with the ball during use. The striking face is oriented so as to create a particular loft angle. The loft angle of the striking face corresponds to the upward lift imparted on a ball. Various grooves or patterns on the club's striking face impart a spin on the ball that affects the balls overall trajectory. The accuracy and performance of a club depends in large part on the striking face.
The striking face of a club is vulnerable to dents, dings, debris, and other objects which may cause a loss of overall club performance. For example, clubs are commonly stored in a bag with the head facing up. During transportation, the heads of the clubs often bump into one another as the bag is jarred. This incidental bumping can cause damage to the striking face of one or more of the clubs. In addition, clubs may be damaged as a result of exposure to weather or other elements such as rain or sunlight. For these reasons, various club head covers have been developed to individually protect the head region of a club from damage.
Unfortunately, existing club head covers suffer from various efficiency, manufacturing, or operational limitations. For example, many conventional covers require complex multi-step processes to cover and uncover the head of a club. Likewise, the manufacturing process associated with many club covers requires that they be sold for unreasonable prices. And further, other covers are designed in a manner that does not ensure reliable engagement with the head of a club. These covers may easily slip off or misalign from the club during transportation thereby exposing the club head region to damage. Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for an improved golf club protection system that overcomes these limitations in a cost effective and utilitarian manner.