A microprocessor, including a synchronous type memory having several parts, includes a power saving feature that places at least some parts of the memory in a non-operating state when instructions not requiring access to the memory are executed. An enable signal is generated when access is not required and a signal supplying circuit supplies a synchronous signal when the enable signal is not generated and supplies a signal in a predetermined state to place at least some parts or all parts of the memory in the non-operating state to reduce power consumption.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microprocessor incorporating a synchronous type memory on the same chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a timing chart showing a state of operation of a two-port RAM which was reported as "Two-port data RAM of DSSP1" in National Convention Record, 1985, The Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers of Japan as an example of a conventional microprocessor.
A synchronous type memory constituted with a two-port RAM pre-charges bit line, drives word line, operates sense amplifier- and the like on a machine cycle basis, for example, using four-phase clocks of a general purpose speech signal processor (DSSP1: Digital Speech Signal Processor). Hereinafter specific description is made thereon.
Here, one machine cycle is divided into four durations T1, T2, T3 and T4 responding to each duration of high level "H" of four-phase clocks.
In the duration T1, pre-charge of bit lines and decode of an address signal is performed as shown in FIG. 1(a) and FIG. 1(b), respectively.
In the duration T2, the bit lines are discharged to read data into the bit, lines as shown in FIG. 1(d), and during the duration T2 through the duration T4, word lines are driven as shown in FIG. 1(c).
Also, during the durations T3 and T4, operation of a sense amplifier and operation of an output buffer are performed as shown in FIG. 1(e) and FIG. 1(f), respectively.
Needless to say, power is consumed attending on a level change of each signal line during the above-described one machine cycle.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a synchronous type memory performing the operations as described above.
In FIG. 2, numeral 9 designates a one-chip microprocessor, which is constituted by incorporating a CPU 10, a synchronous type memory 3 and the like.
The CPU 10 is constituted within an instruction register 1, an instruction decoder 2, an ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit) which is not illustrated and the like.
The instruction register 1 holds an instruction to be executed. Also, the instruction decoder 2 decodes the instruction held in the instruction register 1.
The synchronous type memory 3 is constituted with an address decoder 31, a sense amplifier 32, a pre-charging circuit 33, a memory cell array 34 and the like, and stores various data in the memory cell array 34.
Numeral 4 designates address signal lines, which input an address signal representing the memory location of data to be accessed by the CPU 10 in the synchronous type memory 3 to the address decoder 31.
The address decoder 31 decodes the address signal inputted through the address signal lines 4, and outputs the decoded result to the memory cell array 34 through word lines 35.
Numeral 5 designates output data signal lines. A signal of data read from the memory cell array 34 is amplified by the sense amplifier 32, being outputted to the output data signal lines 5.
Numeral 6 designates four-phase clock lines, which transmit a four-phase clock to the above-described address decoder 31 and the pre-charging circuit 33 and the sense amplifier 32 as described later.
The pre-charging circuit 33 pre-charges bit lines 36 of the memory cell array 34.
In such a one-chip microprocessor 9, the synchronous type memory 3 performs reading operation all the time in synchronism with the clock given through the four-phase clock lines 6 even in the duration when it is not accessed by the CPU 10.
In the conventional microprocessor incorporating the synchronous type memory as described above, even when the CPU does not necessitate an access to the synchronous type memory, the synchronous type memory performs reading operation by a clock supplied on a cycle basis. This means that it performs sequential operations for reading data of bit line pre-charge, address decode and word line drive on a cycle bases. For this reason, there exists a problem of consuming unnecessary power.
In the light of such circumstances, for example, the invention of the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-26716(1988) purposing a reduction in power consumption of the microprocessor has been proposed.
This invention of the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-26716(1988) detects a function block in the microprocessor which does not operate in decoding an instruction, and does not make the block operate by stopping supply of the clock, and thereby power consumption is curtailed.
However, this invention of the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-26716(1988) is constituted in a manner that clock supply to each function block in the microprocessor is distributed by a clock distributing circuit, and the clock supply to each function block is stopped by this clock distributing circuit. Accordingly, in the above-described invention of the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-26716(1988), the clock supply to each function block is stopped on a function block basis.
Then, in the above-described Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-26716(1988), a built-in synchronous type memory is not shown as a function block in the microprocessor, but in the microprocessor incorporating a large capacity memory on the chip, the greater part of the power thereof is consumed by the memory. Then, it is considered that this invention of the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-26716(1988) is applied to the microprocessor incorporating the synchronous type memory as a function block, but in this case, clock supply to the whole of the memory is stopped. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the memory is normally divided into the portions of the address decoder, the word line driving circuit, the bit line pre-charging circuit, the sense amplifier and the like. For this reason, where clock supply is stopped uniformly for the whole memory as described above, supply and stop of clock in response to the status of each portion of the memory cannot be carried out, and therefore various troubles might take place.
For example, in a circuit construction in which addresses are decoded during durations of "H" of the clock and the word lines are driven during durations of "L" of the clock, the word lines are desirably made non-active, in other words, the clock supply is desirably stopped at its state of "H" in order to protect the stored contents of the memory. However, when the clock supply is stopped to do so, the decoder is put intact in the operated state, and there is possibility of power consumption.

Microprocessor having built-in synchronous memory with power-saving feature


A navigation system includes an inertial measurement unit, a navigation computer, a GPS receiver, and a clock controller. The inertial measurement unit has a first clock and a first switch, the navigation computer has a second clock and a second switch, and the GPS receiver has a third clock. The clock controller controls the first and second switches. Accordingly, the inertial measurement unit, the navigation computer, and the GPS receiver may use their own clocks, or the inertial measurement unit and the navigation computer may use the second clock, or the inertial measurement unit, the navigation computer, and the GPS receiver may use the third clock.

A navigation system frequently relies on an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a global positioning system (GPS) that interface with a navigation computer to provide navigation control and/or guidance of a craft such as an airplane, missile or submarine. In operation, the navigation system may assume control of the GPS tracking loops by use of a Kalman filter, which is commonly referred to as Deep Integration. Because of the precise nature of how the tracking loops are driven, the navigation system as described above requires precise alignment of the clock signals incorporated within the global positioning system, the inertial measurement unit, and the navigation computer. Furthermore, because of varying computational performance in the navigation computer, a phase adjustment mechanism is desirable in order to precisely adjust the time alignment of the data from the inertial measurement unit, the data from the global positioning system, and the tracking loop commands.
The present invention is directed to an arrangement that provides clock synchronization for a navigation system. Additionally or alternatively, the present invention may also be arranged to adjust the time alignment of the data from the inertial measurement unit, the data from the global positioning system, and the tracking loop commands of the navigation system.

GPS/IMU clock synchronization particularly for deep integration vector tracking loop


A moisture-heat exchange arrangement which is intended for connection to a patient to humidify and heat the air inhaled by the patient, wherein the arrangement includes a moisture-heat exchanger unit (5) and a humidifier means (11, 12) that connects with the unit (5) to increase the humidity of the inhalation air. The humidifying means includes a casing (3) which is connected with the moisture-heat exchanger unit (5) and which has a first opening (9) that communicates with the moisture-heat exchanger unit and an opposing opening (6) that communicates with the patient. The inner surface of the casing has provided thereon a water-absorbing and/or water-vapour permeable material (11) which delivers moisture to the air inhaled by the patient.

Moisture-heat exchangers of the aforesaid kind are known to the art. One such moisture-heat exchanger is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,471. This known moisture-heat exchanger is comprised of two passive moisture-heat exchanger elements and an intermediate air humidifying and heating arrangement. Moistening of the inhalation air is achieved with water that is introduced into water passageways such as to wet a perforated paperboard plate which covers the end surface on the inside of one moisture-heat exchanger element. The water is heated in the moisture-heat exchanger with the aid of resistors that function to heat heat-transfer means which include a perforated plate and which are mounted between the two passive moisture-heat exchanger elements.
The air humidifying means of the known apparatus presents considerable resistance to the flow of air through the moisture-heat exchanger and therewith reduces the rate of air flow and also the throughflow of inhalation and exhalation air. This resistance to air flow is mainly caused by the fact that the perforated plates cover large parts of the through-flow area.
Because of the construction of the heating means of the known SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) apparatus, the air that flows through the heating means is heated only partially and, furthermore, unevenly. Because the heating means is located in a region between two passive moisture-heat exchange elements, the moisture-heat exchanger has a large axial extension.
DE-A 4 126 028 teaches a moisture-heat exchanger apparatus which includes a moisture-heat exchanger element that accommodates a plurality of pipes through which water is delivered to said element and therewith moisten the same. This known apparatus also includes a heating means which comprises an annular heating element which is spaced from the moisture-heat exchanger element both radially and axially. The greatest drawback with this apparatus is that water is delivered to only a few discrete regions within the moisture-heat exchanger element, resulting in uneven moistening of the inhalation air.
WO91/19527 teaches a moisture-heat exchanger apparatus which includes a moisture-heat exchanger element in the form of a plate, and an inhalation-air heating resistor spaced from the plate. The apparatus also includes a pipe whose outlet orifice is located adjacent the surface of the resistor and which delivers water thereto. The greatest drawbacks with this apparatus are mainly that moistening of the air is ineffective because water is delivered to the resistor, which also creates the risk of short-circuiting, and because heating of the air is incomplete when the resistor has the form of a rod, or the through-passage of air is impaired when the resistor has the form of a grid or grating.
SE-C 501 042 teaches a moisture-heat exchanger in which a band-like or wire-like heating element is mounted between layers therein that are positioned parallel with the direction of flow of the inhalation air. Manufacture of this apparatus is complicated and the apparatus presents a relatively high resistance to air flow. An air humidifying means in the form of a diffusion rod lies against one end of the moisture-heat exchanger and delivers moisture thereto. However, delivery of moisture to the moisture-heat exchanger is uneven and often incomplete, therewith rendering the apparatus less effective.


An image processing device includes: an interest area detector that detects interest areas included in a time-series image group captured in time series; a calculation processing unit that calculates feature amounts indicative of features of the interest areas; an area classification unit that classifies the interest areas into area groups, based on the feature amounts of the interest areas and time-series positions of time-series images including the interest areas; a group feature amount calculation unit that calculates a group feature amount indicative of a feature of each of the area groups; an area selection unit that selects one or more representative areas of the interest areas belonging to the area groups, from among the area groups; and a representative image output unit that outputs one or more representative images including the representative areas in the time-series image group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device, an image processing program, and an image processing method, particularly to an image processing device, an image processing program, and an image processing method in which a group of representative images to be paid attention is selected from groups of time-series images of insides of lumens or the like of a subject captured in time series.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, electronic imaging devices for capturing images of an object have emerged in various forms such as digital cameras, digital video cameras, and the like. The electronic imaging devices are capable of continuously capturing images of an object in time series, and a group of continuously captured images of the object in time series (hereinafter, referred to as a group of time-series images) can be observed in sequence by displaying on a display device such as a liquid crystal display.
In recent years, particularly in the medical field, there has been suggested a capsule endoscope that is capable of capturing in-vivo images of a subject such as a patient, sequentially in time series. The capsule endoscope is a medical device that includes a capturing function, a wireless communication function, and the like, in a small capsule-shaped casing which can be swallowed by a subject. When being swallowed by a subject, the capsule endoscope captures images of inside of the digestive tract (hereinafter, referred to as in-vivo images) sequentially in time series at a predetermined capturing rate, while moving in the digestive tract by peristaltic motion or the like, and transmits the obtained in-vivo images sequentially in a wireless manner to a receiving device on the outside of the subject. After having transmitted a group of in-vivo images, the capsule endoscope in the subject is finally excreted out of the body of the subject. The group of in-vivo images captured by the capsule endoscope is one example of a group of time-series images.
In this arrangement, the number of images in a group of in-vivo images captured by the capsule endoscope generally becomes as enormous as several tens of thousands. For example, the capsule endoscope continuously captures in-vivo images in time series, at a capturing rate of 2 to 4 frames per second, for a period of time between the instant when the capsule endoscope is orally ingested and the instant when the same is excreted together with excretion or the like out of the body (about 8 to 10 hours).

Image processing device, computer-readable recording device, and image processing method


An electrode device is disclosed that is removably implantable at least partially in a bone or other tissue. The electrode device includes a head and a shaft connected to the head. The shaft has a shaft body extending distally from the head in an axial direction of the shaft, and a conductive element including a conductive surface at a distal end of the shaft. A plurality of discrete anchor elements can project from an outer surface of the shaft body in a transverse direction of the shaft. A conductive wire can be permanently fixed to a proximal end surface of the conductive element, the end surface being located in or adjacent the head. The head can have a convex outer surface and a concave inner surface. An electrode array and a reamer tool is also disclosed.

Epilepsy is considered the world's most common serious brain disorder, with an estimated 50 million sufferers worldwide and 2.4 million new cases occurring each year. Epilepsy is a condition of the brain characterized by epileptic seizures that vary from brief and barely detectable seizures to more conspicuous seizures in which a sufferer vigorously shakes. Epileptic seizures are unprovoked, recurrent and due to unexplained causes.
Ischemic stroke is also a very common medical condition in which cerebral blood flow (CBF) is compromised resulting in changes in brain function. If severe this leads to an infarct. Around the infarct is a penumbra region where function is depressed. Together these cause loss of function such as motor and sensory capability.
It is desirable to have a safe, reliable and/or comfortable means of monitoring brain activity, including, for example, to detect the occurrence of epileptic seizures, to enable monitoring of seizure frequency and severity with a view to diagnosing epilepsy and/or determining appropriate seizure control strategies and/or including, for example, to detect the onset of ischemic stroke. It is also desirable to have a safe, reliable and/or comfortable means of stimulating brain activity for providing therapy or otherwise.
Current techniques for monitoring brain activity such as epileptic seizures rely on EEG recordings, typically performed using EEG electrodes attached to the outer surface of the scalp or via surgically implanted intracranial EEG electrodes.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.

Electrode device for monitoring and/or stimulating activity in a subject


A telemetry system including a first device having a processor that employs a DC balanced encoding scheme to generate a DC balanced encoded data signal, a modulator for modulating an RF carrier wave by the DC balanced encoded data signal and generating a DC balanced encoded RF modulated data signal including DC balanced RF energy. The DC balanced encoded RF modulated data signal transmitted by the first device is received by a second device. Since the RF energy received is DC balanced, drift in baseline voltage is eliminated irrespective of data transmission thereby improving the robustness of recovery of data by the second device. The second device may include a converter for converting the DC balanced RF energy extracted from the received DC balanced encoded RF modulated data signal to a substantially constant average induced voltage, irrespective of data being transmitted, for powering at least one component of the second device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a telemetry system and, in particular, to a telemetry system in which an RF communication signal generated by a first device (e.g., an external device) is DC balanced encoded prior to transmission to a second device (e.g., an internal device) to optimize robustness of the wireless communication link and/or maintain a substantially constant average induced voltage in the second device irrespective of the data being transmitted.
2. Description of Related Art
In a variety of scientific, industrial, and medically related applications, it may be desirable to transfer energy and power (energy per unit time) across some type of boundary. For example, one or more devices that require power (e.g., electrical, mechanical, optical, and acoustic devices) may be located within the confines of a closed system, or "body," in which it may be difficult and/or undesirable to also include a substantial and/or long term source of power. The closed system or body may be delimited by various types of physical boundaries, and the system internal to the boundary may be living or inanimate, may perform a variety of functions, and may have a variety of operational and physical requirements and/or constraints. In some cases, such requirements and constraints may make the implementation of a substantial and/or long term "internal" power source for internally located devices problematic.
One common example of a closed system is the human body. In some medically related and scientific applications, a variety of prosthetic and other medical devices that require power may be surgically implanted within various portions of the body. Some examples of such devices include, but are not limited to, drug infusion pumps, pacemakers, defribllators, cochlear implants, sensors and stimulators.
Accordingly, in some medical implant applications, "transcutaneous energy transfer" (TET) devices are employed to transfer energy from outside the body to inside the body, to provide power to one or more implanted prostheses or devices from an external power source. One example of a conventional TET device is a transformer that includes a primary winding (or coil) external to the body and a secondary winding internal to the body. Both the primary and secondary windings generally are placed proximate to respective outer and inner layers of a patient's skin; hence, the term "transcutaneous" commonly refers to energy transfer "through the skin." Thus, the RF communication signal generated by the external device includes both a data stream signal and an RF energy signal. When received at the implantable medical device, the RF energy induces a voltage therein. This induced voltage may be utilized to power one or more components of the implantable medical device thereby reducing the consumption of energy drawn from an internal power supply that requires surgery to replace.
Heretofore in conventional telemetry systems, a standard binary encoding scheme (i.e., a low level state for "0"s and a high level state for "1"s) and amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation have been employed, wherein full power (maximum level) is emitted from the external device when transmitting a "1" while reduced energy (minimum level) is emitted from the external device when transmitting a "0". Accordingly, the amount of power received by the implantable medical device fluctuates, that is, a minimum level of energy is received when transmitting a "0" bit while a maximum level of energy is received during transmission of a "1" bit. A string of successive "1"s produces a relatively high level of power that may potentially exceed the maximum threshold for proper operation of the implantable medical device. In the case in which the external device transmits a string of successive "0"s then the internal device receives a reduced energy level. If the telemetry system is a passive telemetry system whereby some of the power or energy necessary to operate at least one component in the implantable medical device is provided by the passive power source, it is possible that an insufficient amount of energy may be received by the implantable medical device if the data stream includes a relatively long duration of successive "0" bits. For instance, if the data stream is "1000000001" then during the eight successive "0" bits the implantable medical device receives a reduced energy level. It is desirable in a passive telemetry system to maintain a substantially constant average energy level induced in the implantable medical device irrespective of the data being transmitted.
Another problem associated with using a binary encoding scheme is that the received power levels in the implantable medical device associated with the high and low bits differs based on the distance separation between the antennas of the external and internal devices. As a matter of convenience the external device is typically portable relative to that of the implantable medical device. Therefore, variations in the distance separation between the coils of the external and internal devices relative to one another will cause fluctuations in the power level received by the implantable medical device for the associated bits. In general there is an inverse relationship between the coil separation distance and the power level of the bit received by the implantable medical device. That is, the smaller the distance separation between the two coils relative to one another the higher the bit power level received by the implantable medical device. As the separation distance between coils increases the received bit power level decreases. By way of example, when the distance separation between the coils of the respective external and internal devices is relatively small then a "1" bit may be received at a power level of 5 while a "0" bit is received at a power level of 3. A result of a difference of 2 is obtained between the high and low bit power levels. On the other hand, at a relatively large separation distance between the coils of the respective external and internal device a "1" bit may be received at the implantable medical device at a power level of 3 while the "0" bit may be received with a power level of 2. Under this second set of exemplary conditions, the difference in power level between the high and low bits is 1. Accordingly, the difference in high and low bit power levels varies depending on the distance separation of the external and internal coils. The farther the distance separation between the coils the smaller the difference in received power levels between the high and low bits, whereas the shorter the distance separation the greater the difference in received power levels between the high and low bits.
Variations in the difference in power level of the associated high and low bits based on the coupling distance between the coils of the external and implantable medical devices complicates recovery of the original data signal. A conventional wireless communication receiver as found in an internal device typically includes a demodulator (e.g., a low pass filter (LFP)) that extracts an envelope from the modulated RF communication signal. The amplitude (DC component) of the envelope varies depending on the distance separation between the antenna coils of the external and internal devices. Accordingly, the envelope extracted from the modulated RF signal must be properly centered prior to passing through the slicer in order to ensure that the reference voltage will slice the envelope symmetrically. Specifically, the envelope (Vin) extracted by the demodulator is received as input to a data slicer 185, as shown in FIG. 1a, that (i) centers the envelope using a capacitor 190 around a reference voltage (e.g., an average DC voltage level (Vcc/2), wherein Vcc is the power supply voltage of a processor), (ii) slices the envelope by the reference voltage (e.g., Vcc/2) using a comparator 195 to recover the digital data signal, and (iii) reshapes the digital data signal prior to being transmitted to a processor.
FIG. 1b shows, for an ideal data bit stream of alternating "1"s and "0"s, three exemplary waveforms representative of different stages in a conventional RF wireless communication system including an external device that employs a binary encoding scheme in wireless communication with an internal device. Waveform #1 represents an envelope extracted by the demodulator from a conventional binary encoded RF modulated signal for the exemplary ideal data bit stream. Thereafter, the extracted envelope is centered (as represented by waveform #2) about the reference voltage (e.g., Vcc/2) after passing through the capacitor 190. The centered envelope is symmetrically sliced and the digital signal output (as represented by waveform #3) is unaffected by the distance separation between the coils of the external and internal devices. Under these ideal conditions (i.e., a data stream comprising alternating bits) the envelope is properly centered and symmetrically sliced. Thus, the use of a conventional binary encoding scheme under these ideal conditions does not have any negative effect on the recovery of the original data stream (as represented by waveform #3).
However, a typical data stream rarely comprises exclusively alternating bits more often including strings of varying lengths of the same successive bits. When using a conventional binary encoding scheme a relatively long string of the same successive bit (e.g., "1"s or "0"s) behaves like a DC voltage that is blocked by the capacitor 190. As a result of the DC blocking the envelope will not be properly centered and thus not slice symmetrically whereby some data bits may be missed by the slicer during recovery from the RF modulated signal. FIG. 1c is an alternative scenario of a more practical data bit stream "010101000000001011111101". In the exemplary data stream, the period of eight successive "0"s behaves as a constant DC voltage that is blocked by the capacitor 190 causing the output of the capacitor 190 (represented by waveform #2) to approach and eventually equal Vcc/2. When the voltage of the envelope output from the capacitor 190 equals Vcc/2 (as during the 13th and 14th bits) then both inputs to the comparator 195 are the same. Under these conditions the comparator output is a noise signal that toggles undesirably based on the noise levels associated with each input to the comparator. Accordingly, the exemplary reshaped and sliced digital data signal output (as represented by waveform #3) is unable to recover the original data stream during the 13th and 14th bits. This example illustrates that a string of the same successive bits may impact the recovery of one or more of those bits.
In addition, the string of successive bits may result in the drift of the baseline voltage which may effect the recovery of subsequent bits in the data stream. As clearly represented during the alternating first six bits of the data stream in which the envelope is properly centered about the baseline voltage Vcc/2, a transition in bits (e.g., from "0" to "1", or from "1" to "0") results in a substantially constant voltage increase/decrease after the capacitor of approximately Vcc/2. As mentioned above, after the string of 8 successive "0" bits, the baseline voltage is approximately Vcc/2. Thereafter, during the transition from "0" to "1" between the 14th and 15th bits the voltage increases from Vcc/2+Vcc/2. Next the data stream transitions between the 15th and 16th bits from a "1" to a "0" whereby the voltage decreases by Vcc/2 and returns to the baseline voltage of Vcc/2=(Vcc/2+Vcc/2)−Vcc/2, which once again due to the fact that both inputs to the comparator are the same generates noise during the 16th bit. This generation of noise during the 16th bit is therefore a result of drift of the baseline voltage which affects subsequent bits until a properly centered baseline voltage is realized.
A similar effect to that of the string of successive "0"s is encountered during the string of six successive "1"s which also behaves as a constant DC voltage that is blocked by the capacitor 190. The envelope output from the capacitor (represented by waveform #2) once again approaches Vcc/2. However, in the case of the string of six successive "1"s the 23rd bit toggles to "0" before the centered envelope (as represented by waveform #2) reaches Vcc/2.
It is therefore desirable to develop an improved passive telemetry system that overcomes the aforementioned problems by inducing a substantially constant power in the implantable medical device regardless of the bit stream being transmitted while facilitating recovery of the original data signal by ensuring a zero DC offset.

Telemetry system employing DC balanced encoding


A capacitive sensing system may include a fluid cup configured to receive a fluid, and processing circuitry and a capacitive sensor coupled to one another, the capacitive sensor is a distance separated from and in parallel with a top surface of the fluid in the fluid cup, the distance the capacitive sensor is separated from the top surface of the fluid being variable with a fill level of the fluid in the fluid cup. The capacitive sensor and the fluid in the fluid cup may form elements of a capacitor with a capacitance that is a function of at least the distance the capacitive sensor is separated from the top surface of the fluid. The processing circuitry may be configured to measure a change in signal corresponding to a change in capacitance of the capacitor and determine the fill level based on a magnitude of the change in signal.

Solid-production systems, such as consumer ice-makers, typically employ a sensing mechanism in conjunction with a dispensing apparatus to automatically determine a fill level of fluid dispensed from the dispensing apparatus.
For example, a capacitive sensor may be provided adjacent to a compartment of the fluid tray, but external to the fluid, such that the capacitive sensor is not submerged in the fluid. The capacitive sensor may comprise a non-conductive, dielectric substrate that conforms to the exterior of the compartment of the fluid tray. A plurality of electrodes may extend along a longitudinal axis of the substrate. An electrode of the plurality of electrodes may transmit a signal corresponding to dielectric changes in the electrode as the fill level of the fluid changes within the compartment of the fluid tray. The fill level of the fluid can then be determined based on the physical location of the transmitting electrode on the compartment up to a predetermined threshold fill level. A controller may be configured to close a valve in the dispensing apparatus in response to a determination that the predetermined threshold fill level is achieved. However, providing a sensor adjacent to the compartment of the fluid tray in this manner is problematic as the sensor may be measuring the sides of the compartment of the fluid tray, which does not take into account surface tension such that the fill level may be higher at the sides of the compartment than in the center. As such, some compartments may be filled inconsistently due to inaccurate determination of the fill level of the fluid across the whole compartment.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to utilize a capacitive sensing system and a related method that utilizes a capacitive sensing circuit that is a distance separated from and substantially in parallel with a top surface of fluid in a fluid tray, a fluid mold, a fluid cup, and the like, so as to detect a fill level of the fluid, such as water.

Capacitive sensing system and related method


The casino gaming system includes gaming machines and a gaming server having keys. A network bus interconnects the gaming machines and the gaming server. The network bus provides a communication link to transmit information between the gaming machine and the gaming server. The gaming server transmits keys over the network bus to the gaming machines. The gaming machines use the keys to encrypt information, and the gaming machines transmit the encrypted information over the network bus and/or an outside network connected to the gaming server.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for encrypting communications on a network bus in a gaming system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method where a certificate authority server manages keys used to secure communications on a network bus in a gaming system.
2. Statement of the Problem
Conventional gaming machines include a processor, a rules library, a random number generator and an interactive display. In the casino, these conventional gaming devices are, typically, stand-alone type machines. Increasingly, the gaming machines in a casino are networked via a network bus to a gaming server. This networking is desired because it allows the casino to monitor wagering and other activities performed at each of the networked gaming machines. Since the monitoring of wagering and other activities performed at each of the networked gaming machines can include financial information, the casino desires that the communications over the network bus be secure.
In considering secure gaming communications, there are several important goals that should be addressed. The network bus should ensure privacy. Privacy, also termed confidentiality, is the condition where the information is kept secret from all but those authorized to access the information. In the gaming environment, privacy can apply to the transmitted information as well as the identity of a player of the gaming machines.
In addition, information transmitted over the network bus should be authenticated. Authentication ensures that the content, integrity of the transmitted information, origin of the transmitted information, date of transmission, time of transmission and other attributes of the transmitted information have not been tampered with during transmission.
Additionally, entities transmitting information over the network bus should not be capable of repudiating the transmission. Cryptographic services that facilitate non-repudiation prevent a player and/or a casino from denying a previous action or commitment. The casino desires non-repudiation, especially, to enforce payment by a player that has wagered and lost. Conversely, the player desires non-repudiation to enforce payment by the casino when the player wins.
As a result of networking of the gaming machines, the ubiquity of the Internet, greater connectivity between networks, and the support for electronic commerce both inside and outside the casino, the casino desires secure communications over the network bus that provides privacy, authentication and non-repudiation. Therefore, a need exists to provide these services to support secure communication over the network bus between the gaming server and the gaming machines in a casino.
In addition, the casino may decide or desire to connect the gaming server and, hence, the network bus and all networked gaming machines, to an outside network. Networking the casino to an outside network may be advantageous for a gaming entity that owns several casinos in different locations. For example, the connection of each casino to a centralized computer would provide centralized accounting of financial information for all the casinos operated by the gaming entity.
If casinos are connected to outside networks, however, it is critical that communications originating within the casino (including gaming machines and the gaming server) remain secured against misuse or tampering by an unauthorized party after the information exits the physical protection of the casino. This desire for secured communications becomes particularly important when financial information is transmitted by the casino over the outside network. Consequently, a need exists for a secure communication link between the gaming server in a casino and an outside network.
In addition, the connection between gaming machines requires various transmission and/or data protocols. These protocols are typically created as standards in the industry. However, a game manufacturer would like to control the connection between the gaming machines such that only authorized personnel can connect the gaming machines. Therefore, a need exists for a technique to control the connection between the gaming machines such that only authorized personnel can properly connect the gaming machines.
Additionally, some casino players may prefer playing a specific gaming machine. However, the player may be in a remote location and unable to travel to the casino to play. In such instances, the casino can connect a gaming machine to an outside network so that the player can connect to the outside network via a remote computer and play, even though absent from the casino. In such instances, a need exists for a secure network that provides privacy, authentication and non-repudiation so that the player can play and both the player and casino can be confident in the knowledge that the transmitted information is secure and that the rules of the game will be upheld with integrity.
3. Solution to the Problem
The present invention provides a method and apparatus that allows secure communication in a casino between networked gaming machines and a gaming server. With the present invention, privacy is ensured; communication is authenticated; and messages cannot be repudiated.
Additionally, the present invention discloses a method and apparatus that provides secure communications between the casino and an outside network. The present invention is especially advantageous if the gaming entity manages machines at multiple casinos in different locations and the gaming entity requires quick, yet secure retrieval of information over the outside network.
In addition, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for secure communications between each gaming machine. In this regard, this secure communication allows for the connection between the gaming machines to be controlled by the game manufacturer such that the gaming machines cannot be connected unless the cryptographic technique used to secure the communications between the gaming machines is known.
Lastly, the present invention provides secure communications between the casino and a remote player over an external network. The present invention is especially critical in ensuring that transmitted information between player and casino is kept confidential and indecipherable by unauthorized individuals intercepting the transmitted information.

Cryptography and certificate authorities in gaming machines


Performance mapping of equipment performance parameters by capturing, mapping, and/or structuralizing equipment performance data of a device for installation in a system. This includes generating performance maps which outline the expected feature performance parameter behavior of the equipment based on a set of operating parameters that capture the operating conditions. Each performance parameter on the map is representative of an operating point of specific operating conditions taken at a particular point in time. In one example, a performance parameter can be defined by an individualized set of parameter coefficients which in turn are dependent on instantaneous operating conditions. With the performance maps determined individually for devices as part of the system, and stored along with a time of testing, activities such as continuous commissioning, monitoring and verification, preventative maintenance, fault detection and diagnostics, as well as energy performance benchmarking and long term monitoring can be performed.

Building Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems can contain central chilled water plants that are designed to provide air conditioning units with cold water as to reduce the temperature of the air that leaves the conditioned space before it is recycled back into the conditioned space.
Chilled water plants can comprise of active and passive mechanical equipment which work in concert to reduce the temperature of warm return water before supplying it to the distribution circuit.
Chilled water plants can have multiple devices and parts, each of which are responsible for certain functions and work together to achieve a common function, such as cooling of a desired space. As some or all of these components can be interrelated, it may be difficult to identify a particular source of any malfunction or depreciation when the plant is in operation.
Other difficulties with existing systems may be appreciated in view of the Detailed Description of Example Embodiments, herein below.

Performance parameterization of process equipment and systems


In the process of spraying in a cubicle having a water-rinsed rear wall the cubicle waste water is separated by ultrafiltration into permeate and lacquer-containing residue. The permeate is recycled. Fresh spraying composition is fed-in. The lacquer preferably is an alkyd resin, an acrylic resin, a polyvinyl acetate resin, a silicone resin, a copolymer thereof, a mixed polymer thereof or a mixture thereof. The spraying composition comprises a component for preventing coalescence, preferably one or several aliphatic amines having an average molecular weight of 75 to 133 or mixtures or derivatives thereof, and a component for retardation of the drying. If the lacquer is capable of being emulgated or dispersed in water, the spraying composition and/or the cubicle waste water preferably comprises a component for stabilizing the emulsion or dispersion. A component for adjusting the throughput in the ultrafiltration is admixed to the cubicle waste water, preferably a derivative of glycol or of a higher alcohol. The spraying composition and/or the cubicle waste water additionally may contain a biocidal component. The conductibility of freshly fed water is kept below a predetermined limiting value preferably of 10.sup.-4 .OMEGA..sup.-1 cm.sup.-1, which is preferably achieved by reverse osmosis. The lacquer-containing residue of the cubicle waste water is enriched by removing water until its lacquer content is about equal to that of fresh spraying composition. The enrichment and reuse may proceed in essentially continuous or discontinuous manner, in the latter case the lacquer-enriched residue is stored intermediately.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an environmentally benign paint spraying method utilizing a method for environmentally air-drying lacquer dissolved, emulgated or dispersed in water in a paint spraying station. The paint spraying station having a cubicle with a water-rinsed rear wall for collecting and washing out of the overspray in cubicle waste water. The cubicle waste water then being separated by ultrafiltration into permeate and lacquer-containing residue. The permeate being returned to the paint spraying station, and the lacquer-containing residue being enriched with lacquer by removing water until its lacquer content is essentially equal to that of spraying composition which is freshly fed to the spray painting station. The residue that is enriched with lacquer in this way is then admixed to the freshly fed spraying composition for reuse in spray painting. Also admixed therein is a component for preventing coalescence of the lacquer being admixed to the spraying composition fed to the paint spraying station.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In prior art devices the overspray usually will be disposed of, which constitutes a heavy burden for the environment and is also very costly. For instance, a binding agent for oven-drying lacquer, which can be dispersed in water, is known from EP-0032554: the disposal of such a binding agent constitutes a heavy burden to the environment, because it contains phosphor. Besides, special measures have to be taken so as to avoid conglutination of the appliances used for separating the overspray from the cubicle waste water, in this context cf. for example DE-3704683.
The separation of cubicle waste water into permeate and lacquer-containing residue by means of ultrafiltration is known, for example, from EP-0307047, EP-0245863, EP-0137877 or EP-0127685. On the other hand, it is known from EP-0318827 or EP-0271015 that the permeate has to be deacidified before it is returned to the paint spraying residue. Both of these aspects of the state of the art are taken into account in EP-0217212.
Experiments for the recuperation of the lacquer from the overspray in cubicle waste water are made reference to in "Oberflache+JOT" 5/1987, page 36, however, in this publication they are considered as "successful only in certain cases". In "Oberflache+JOT" 2/1988, pages 24-25, lacquer and binding agent circuits in the spraying cubicle are qualified as "future", while the recuperation of the lacquer by means of special reprocessing is mentioned as known. Also in DE-3800980, the recuperation of the lacquer by means of reprocessing is known.
In "Oberflache+JOT" 5/1988, pages 61-63, the use of amines for preventing coalescence of air-drying lacquer and the additional cleaning of the cubicle waste water by reverse osmosis following its separation into permeate and lacquer residue are mentioned. In this publication, the recuperation of the lacquer from the overspray is considered as being "in its initial stages of development".
Therefore it is in accordance with prior art that the lacquer-containing residue has to be disposed of.
From EP-0141171 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,592 a method for paint spraying with a dispersion of lacquer in water is known. The paint spraying station is equipped with a cubicle with water-rinsed rear wall for collecting and washing out of overspray in cubicle waste water. If the concentration of the overspray in the cubicle waste water reaches about 20% a partial current of the cubicle waste water circuit is conveyed through a filtration unit so as to be separated into filtrate and lacquer-containing residue. The filtrate consists of cleaned water and is returned to the paint spraying station for water rinsing of the cubicle rear wall. At the lacquer-containing residue several parameters are measured such as for example conductibility, in order to regulate filtration in a way that the measured parameters will be approximately equal to those in the freshly fed dispersion. The residue, which is enriched with lacquer in this way, will then be admixed to freshly fed dispersion and thus reused for paint spraying. The overspray in the cubicle waste water is not stable, and it is specified in EP-0141171 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,592 that the mixture must pass through dispergers so as to temporarily stabilize it. Besides, it is a drawback of this method according to EP-0141171 or U.S. Pat. No. 4607592 that only a partial current of the cubicle waste water is treated and as a consequence the unit needs a costly pipe and control system. It is probably for this reason that this method failed to gain acceptance (cf. the above quoted article in "Oberflache+JOT").
It is known from JP-49-51324 to enrich the lacquer-containing residue with lacquer by removing water from the total cubicle waste water and to reuse the residue enriched with lacquer in this way for paint spraying. Though it is recommended to use deionized water in order to avoid contamination of the spraying composition, this only serves the purpose of avoiding to soil the spraying composition and it is expressly pointed out that also regular tap water may be used.
Thus, it corresponds to the state of the art that the lacquer-containing residue is not stable and no appropriate countermeasures are known.
As a consequence, the prior art methods of the kind mentioned above are unreliable, which is not acceptable in view of the present demands for the protection of environment.

Method for environmentally benign paint spraying with an air-drying lacquer dissolved, emulgated or dispersed in water


A method and device for realizing graph processing based on the MapReduce architecture is disclosed in the invention. The method includes the steps of: receiving an input file of a graph processing job; predicting a MapReduce task execution time distribution of the graph processing job using an obtained MapReduce task degree-execution time relationship distribution and a degree distribution of the graph processing job; and dividing the input file of the graph processing job into input data splits of MapReduce tasks according to the predicted MapReduce task execution time distribution of the graph processing job.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to graph processing, and more specifically, to a method and device for realizing graph processing based on the MapReduce architecture.
Description of Related Art
MapReduce is a software architecture proposed by Google Inc. for large scale parallel programming. MapReduce is mainly used in parallel computing on large scale data sets (larger than 1 TB). The concepts "Map" and "Reduce" and its main idea are all borrowed from functional programming languages. Current MapReduce middleware implementation requires application developers to specify a Map function for mapping a set of key-value pairs to some new key-value pairs, called as middleware key-value pairs; further, application developers are also required to specify a Reduce function for the further processing of the middleware key-value pairs outputted from the Map function. The MapReduce architecture is used for parallel computing on large-scale data sets (larger than 1 T) in most cases, and scalability can be realized through distributing large-scale operations on a data set to multiple nodes on a network to perform parallel computation, which has been widely adopted in web access log analysis, file clustering, machine learning, data statistics, statistic-based machine translation, and other fields. For example, Hadoop is a kind of MapReduce implementations. More and more cloud computing service providers have deployed the MapReduce architecture in their cloud computing systems.
Graph processing is an important kind of problems in large-scale data processing. A large amount of graph processing algorithms are involved in the relationship analysis of various entities, data mining, and various optimization problems in social networks. The MapReduce implementation of a graph processing algorithm is usually constituted by several iterations, each of which is formed by multi-step Map tasks and multi-step Reduce tasks. A graph processing algorithm needs in general multiple iterations to finally converge on a stable solution.
In existing graph processing problems, the scale of input data sets is so large that it is hardly possible to complete the computation on a single node. Thus, in the implementation of a MapReduce-based graph processing algorithm, a large graph formed by multiple nodes needs to be divided into several sub-graphs. Due to the disequilibrium of node and edge distributions in a graph, computing loads based on Map or Reduce tasks are unbalanced for each sub-graph also, for a fundamental reason there is a linear relationship between their computing complexities and the storage complexities of data structures they used (for example, adjacency list). A common dividing criterion is to divide the data set inputted into a graph processing job according to fixed data size. As a result, a "long tail" phenomenon usually occurs in current MapReduce implementations of graph algorithms, wherein some sub-computing tasks (Map or Reduce task) has an especially long running time, while other finished sub-tasks have to wait until all sub-tasks have been finished, to perform the computation in the next iteration. The essential cause of such a phenomenon is that the relationship between the computing complexity and data length of a graph processing algorithm is not necessarily linear, for example, it may be O(n2) or O(n3) relationship.
Therefore, a graph processing method for balancing computation loads of Map and Reduce tasks is desired.

Realizing graph processing based on the MapReduce architecture

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method for identifying objects in an electronic image is provided. The method includes the steps of providing an electronic source image and processing the electronic source image to identify edge pixels. The method further includes the steps of providing an electronic representation of the edge pixels and processing the electronic representation of the edge pixels to identify valid edge center pixels. The method still further includes the step of proving an electronic representation of the valid edge center pixels. Each valid edge center pixel represents the approximate center of a horizontal edge segment of a target width. The horizontal edge segment is made up of essentially contiguous edge pixels. The method also includes the steps of determining symmetry values of test regions associated with valid edge center pixels, and classifying the test regions based on factors including symmetry.

As the volume and complexity of vehicular traffic has continued to increase worldwide, so has the need for collision warning systems to help vehicle drivers avoid collisions. Examples of collision warning systems include forward collision warning systems, blind spot warning systems, lane departure warning systems, intersection collision warning systems, and pedestrian detection systems. Typically, many of these systems employ radar sensors, or a combination of radar and vision sensors to perform vehicle detection and recognition.
One problem typically associated with a "radar only" approach to vehicle detection is multiple false positives, which is the indication of the presence of a vehicle in an area when no vehicle is actually present in that area. Another problem with "radar only" systems is that the placement of bounding boxes, which typically are designed to indicate the approximate location and boundaries of an area containing a target vehicle, can be imprecise. Some designers have attempted to address these shortcomings by combining radar with vision sensors, often using the radar as a cueing system to locate potential vehicle areas and provide located potential vehicle areas to a vision-based portion of the sensor to complete processing and identify the vehicles. While this approach can be effective, it has the disadvantage of requiring both radar hardware and vision/camera hardware, adding expense to the system.
What is needed is a fast cueing video-only system for detecting and identifying regions of interest that are potential vehicles and/or objects in an input image frame, and passing region of interest information on to additional processing circuitry for classification and processing.

Method for identifying vehicles in electronic images


In the operation of an oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) process, it is desirable to remove oxygen in the product stream for a number of reasons, including to reduce oxidation of the product. This may be achieved by having several pre-reactors upstream of the main reactor having a catalyst system containing labile oxygen. The feed passes through one or more reactors saturated with labile oxygen. When the labile oxygen is consumed through a valve system, the pre-reactor accepts product from the main reactor and complexes reactive oxygen in the product stream until the catalyst system is saturated with labile oxygen. Then the reactor becomes a pre-reactor and another pre-reactor becomes a scavenger.

The use of various ferrites in a steam cracker to produce olefins from paraffins is known. Introducing ferrites such as zinc, cadmium, and manganese ferrites (i.e., mixed oxides with iron oxide) into a dehydrogenation zone at a temperature from about 250° C. up to about 750° C. at pressures less than 100 psi (689.476 kPa) for a time less than 2 seconds, typically from 0.005 to 0.9 seconds are also known. These reactions appear to take place in the presence of steam that may tend to shift the equilibrium in the "wrong" direction. Additionally, the reaction does not take place in the presence of a catalyst.
In addition, it is known that nickel ferrite may be used in the oxidative dehydrogenation process using reaction conditions comparable to those noted above.
In some Petro-Tex patents, the metal ferrite (e.g., M FeO4 where, for example, M is Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, Zn or Cd) is circulated through the dehydrogenation zone and then to a regeneration zone where the ferrite is re-oxidized and then fed back to the dehydrogenation zone.
It is interesting to note that the ferrite reversible takes up and releases oxygen.
Also known is a catalyst for the oxidative dehydrogenation of a paraffin (alkane) such as ethane. The gaseous feedstock comprises at least the alkane and oxygen, but may also include diluents (such as, argon, nitrogen, etc.) or other components (such as, water or carbon dioxide). The dehydrogenation catalyst comprises at least about 2 weight % of NiO and a broad range of other elements preferably Nb, Ta, and Co. While NiO is present in the catalyst, it does not appear to be the source of the oxygen for the oxidative dehydrogenation of the alkane (ethane).
Also known are sol gel supported catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene. The catalyst appears to be a mixed metal system, such as, Ni—Co—Mo, V—Nb—Mo possibly doped with small amounts of Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs on a mixed silica oxide/titanium oxide support. Again, the catalyst does not provide the oxygen for the oxidative dehydrogenation, rather gaseous oxygen is included in the feed.
Also known is a catalyst of the composition LiO—TiO2, which is characterized by a low ethane conversion not exceeding 10%, in spite of a rather high selectivity to ethylene (92%). The catalyst is used in a high temperature process of oxidative dehydrogenation, which is close to or higher than 650° C.
The preparation of a supported catalyst usable for low temperature oxy-dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene has been disclosed. A supported catalyst for the low temperature gas phase oxydehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene is prepared by (a) preparing a precursor solution having soluble and insoluble portions of metal compounds; (b) separating the soluble portion; (c) impregnating a catalyst support with the soluble portion and (d) activating the impregnated support to obtain the catalyst. The calcined catalyst has the composition MoaVbNbcSbdXe. X is nothing or Li, Sc, Na, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ti, Zr, Hf, Y, Ta, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Ce, La, Zn, Cd, Hg, Al, Tl, Pb, As, Bi, Te, U, Mn and/or W; a is 0.5 to 0.9, b is 0.1 to 0.4, c is 0.001 to 0.2, d is 0.001 to 0.1, e is 0.001 to 0.1 when X is present.
Another example of the low temperature oxy-dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene using a calcined oxide catalyst containing molybdenum, vanadium, niobium and antimony is the calcined catalyst containing MoaVbNbcSbdXe in the form of oxides. The catalyst is prepared from a solution of soluble compounds and/or complexes and/or compounds of each of the metals. The dried catalyst is calcined by heating at 220 to 550° C. in air or oxygen. The catalyst precursor solutions may be supported on to a support, e.g., silica, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, zirconia, titania or mixtures of these. The selectivity to ethylene may be greater than 65% for a 50% conversion of ethane.
Also disclosed elsewhere are Pt—Sn—Sb—Cu—Ag monolith systems that have been tested in an auto-thermal regime at T>750° C., the starting gas mixture contained hydrogen (H2:O2=2:1, GHSV=80,000 h−1). The catalyst composition is different from that of the present disclosure and does not contemplate the use of molecular hydrogen in the feed.
Also disclosed elsewhere are mixed metal oxide catalysts of V—Mo—Nb—Sb. At 375 to 400° C., the ethane conversion reached 70% with the selectivity close to 71 to 73%. However, these parameters were achieved only at very low gas hourly space velocities less than 900 h−1 (i.e., 720 h−1).
Japanese Patent 07053414 teaches a silica supported catalyst of the formula Mo1.V0.3Nb0.12Te0.23On where n satisfies the valence of the catalyst for the dehydrogenation of ethane.
Also disclosed elsewhere are Mo—V—Te—Nb—O oxide catalysts that provide an ethane conversion of 50 to 70% and selectivity to ethylene up to 95% (at 38% conversion) at 360 to 400° C. The catalysts have the empirical formula MoTehViNbjAkOx, where A is a fifth modifying element. The catalyst is a calcined mixed oxide (at least of Mo, Te, V and Nb), optionally supported on: (i) silica, alumina and/or titania, preferably silica at 20 to 70 wt % of the total supported catalyst or (ii) silicon carbide. The supported catalyst is prepared by conventional methods of precipitation from solutions, drying the precipitate then calcining.
A known preparation of a Mo—Te—V—Nb composition involves preparing a slurry by combining an inert ceramic carrier with at least one solution comprising ionic species of Mo, V, Te, and Nb, drying the slurry to obtain a particulate product, pre-calcining the dried product at 150 to 350° C. in an oxygen containing atmosphere and calcining the dried product at 350 to 750° C. under inert atmosphere. The catalyst prepared exhibits the activity and selectivity in the oxidation reaction comparable to the non-supported catalyst.
A process for preparation of ethylene from gaseous feed comprising ethane and oxygen involving contacting the feed with a mixed oxide catalyst containing vanadium, molybdenum, tantalum and tellurium in a reactor to form effluent of ethylene has been disclosed. The catalyst has a selectivity for ethylene of 50 to 80%, thereby allowing oxidation of ethane to produce ethylene and acetic acid with high selectivity. The catalyst has the formula Mo1V0.3Ta0.1Te0.3Oz. The catalyst is optionally supported on a support selected from porous silicon dioxide, ignited silicon dioxide, kieselguhr, silica gel, porous and nonporous aluminum oxide, titanium dioxide, zirconium dioxide, thorium dioxide, lanthanum oxide, magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, barium oxide, tin oxide, cerium dioxide, zinc oxide, boron oxide, boron nitride, boron carbide, boron phosphate, zirconium phosphate, aluminum silicate, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, and glass, carbon, carbon-fiber, activated carbon, metal-oxide or metal networks and corresponding monoliths; or is encapsulated in a material (preferably silicon dioxide (SiO2), phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), magnesium oxide (MgO), chromium trioxide (Cr2O3), titanium oxide (TiO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2) or alumina (Al2O3). However, the methods of preparation of the supported compositions involve the procedures of wet chemistry (solutions are impregnated into the solid support and then the materials are dried and calcined).
A ceramic tube for use in the conventional dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene. The "tube" is a ceramic membrane. The ethane flows inside the tube and hydrogen diffuses out of the tube to improve the reaction kinetics. The reactive ceramic is 5 microns thick on a 1.5 to 2 mm thick support.
SABIC teaches a process in which ceramic pellets are packed around a tubular reactor and different reactants flow around the outside and inside of the tube for use in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene.
A zoned or layered oxidative reactor in which following a zone for oxidative dehydrogenation there is an "oxidation zone" following a dehydrogenation zone to oxidize the hydrogen to water is known. Following the oxidation zone, there is an adsorption bed to remove water from the reactants before they enter a subsequent dehydrogenation zone. This is to reduce the impact of water on downstream dehydrogenation catalysts.
Methods to remove residual oxygen from the product stream have been disclosed. A combustible, such as hydrogen or a hydrocarbon, may be added to the product stream to eliminate residual oxygen. The disclosure refers to a catalyst but does not disclose its composition. As noted above, it may then be necessary to treat the product stream to eliminate water.
Also known are processes for the partial catalytic oxidation of a hydrocarbon to a final product, such as, propene to acrolein or acrylic acid. The process appears to operate outside the explosive limits of propylene (Col. 32-33). Additionally, the final product stream contains small amounts of oxygen (1.5 to 3.5 vol. %, Col. 37, line 10). The residual oxygen content in the final product (acrylic acid) does not appear to be a concern for the inventors. In these processes, the catalyst is not regenerated in situ, it is replaced with new catalyst.
Other disclosures teach a coupling process for lower hydrocarbons to produce higher hydrocarbons involving halogenation (bromination) followed by an oxidative removal of halogen and coupling of the intermediate compounds to produce the final product. This is of interest as it teaches a forward, reverse feed to burn coke off one of the catalysts used in the process. This disclosure teaches away for recycling product through a reaction zone to eliminate residual oxygen.
It has been known to remove residual oxygen from the product stream of an oxidative dehydrogenation process by consuming the oxygen by burning hydrocarbons or hydrogen. This is expensive and reduces yields of and selectivity for the desired hydrocarbon.
Disclosed herein are simple ways to reduce the oxygen content in the product stream from an oxidative dehydrogenation reaction by passing the stream over a catalyst bed, to extract oxygen from the product stream and at least partially provide a source of oxygen for the catalyst.


Embodiments of the inventive concept include a semiconductor package having a plurality of stacked semiconductor chips. A multi-layered substrate includes a central insulation layer, an upper wiring layer disposed on an upper surface of the central insulation layer, and a first lower wiring layer disposed on a lower surface of the central insulation layer. The stacked semiconductor chips are connected to the multi-layered substrate and/or each other using various means. The semiconductor package is capable of high performance operation, like a semiconductor package based on flip-ship bonding, and also meets the need for large capacity by overcoming a limitation caused by a single semiconductor chip. Embodiments of the inventive concept also include methods of manufacturing the semiconductor package.

The inventive concept relates to semiconductor packages, and more particularly, to a multi-layered semiconductor package that can be manufactured at low cost within a preset form factor, and a method of manufacturing the multi-layered semiconductor package.
In general, a packaging process is performed on semiconductor chips formed by performing several semiconductor processes on a wafer, thereby forming a semiconductor package. Such semiconductor packages may be classified into two categories: a single-layer semiconductor package in which a single semiconductor chip is stacked by flip-chip bonding, and a multi-layered semiconductor package in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are stacked by wire bonding or through silicon vias (TSVs). Recently, semiconductor packages have been more highly integrated, and also have been continuously required to provide high reliability, process simplification, a small form factor, cost effectiveness, and the like.

Semiconductor package and method of manufacturing the semiconductor package


An exhaust manifold catalytic warm-up converter for an automotive vehicle engine includes tubular runners having inlet and outlet ends and connectable at their inlet ends with exhaust ports of an engine. The runners are joined at their outlet ends with a common exhaust outlet. A generally helical twisted tape extends longitudinally in each of the runners between their inlet and outlet ends and laterally divides the runners into at least two parallel generally helical flow passages. The tape is porous and formed of a material having a predetermined thickness and porosity to encourage a flow of exhaust gases through pores of the tape between adjacent helical passages due to pressure gradients across the tape resulting from gas flow in the helical passages. The porous tape has a low thermal inertia for fast warm-up and is coated with a catalytic material for stimulating reaction of emissions in the engine exhaust gases passing through the exhaust manifold. Additional features and alternatives are disclosed.

Catalytic converters used with automotive vehicle engines have been used in exhaust emission control for many years. While they are very effective at operating temperatures, many current systems are known to take 40-90 seconds to warm up under U.S. Federal Test Procedure (FTP) conditions. As a result, 70-90 percent of tailpipe emissions on FTP may occur before the catalyst is warmed to effective operation.


An apparatus and method for sensor signal prediction and for improving sensor signal response time, is disclosed. An adaptive filter or an artificial neural network is utilized to provide predictive sensor signal output and is further used to reduce sensor response time delay.

The invention relates generally to the field of signal conditioning. More particularly, the invention relates to an interoperating collection of adaptive filters supporting sensor signal prediction and that prediction""s application. The adaptive filter based sensor signal predictor(s) may be used to increase a sensor""s rate of response.
Many industrial control applications require a plurality of sensors. In some applications, the sensors have a response time that is inadequate to provide effective control of the system.
Sensor response time may be described as the period between changing physical conditions and a change in the sensor (electrical) output. Sensor sensitivity may be described as the amount of change necessary in the physical condition that is needed to initiate a similar change in the sensor output signal. Together, the response time and the sensitivity of the sensor control the output signal.
If a given sensor""s response time is N (i.e., N=50 milliseconds) and its sensitivity is S (i.e., S=+/xe2x88x9210 parts per million, for a chemical sensor) then N milliseconds after an S part per million change is experienced, the sensor will produce an approximately proportional, measurable change in the generated electrical signal. A control system external to the sensor, relying on the sensor, receives no benefit in polling or sampling the sensor any faster than it can physically respond, because no change (or an inaccurate change) in the electrical signal will be detected. If, for example, the external control system requires a feedback signal at higher sampling frequencies than the frequency response of the sensor, the conventional or classic solution is to develop a new sensor with different (improved) physical response characteristics. Development of new sensors however, is costly and potentially not possible.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for improving sensor response times by predicting sensor outputs. Further, there is a need for inexpensive electronic devices that serve as interfaces between a closed (black box) control system and a given (chemical, pressure, temperature, etc.) sensor. Further still, there is a need for sensor predicting devices that utilize adaptive filter or neural network prediction algorithms to monitor sensor short-range past response and are able to predict the short-range future response of the sensor. Further still, there is a need for sensor predicting devices utilizing adaptive filter or neural network prediction algorithms that employ adaptive error correction and optionally provide interpolated output in the short time period that is required by the external control system.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to a system for improving the response time of a sensor. The sensor includes an input configured to sense an environmental characteristic and an output configured to provide an electrical signal representative of the input. The system also includes a sampling system configured to sample the sensor output at discrete time intervals and provide sampled sensor output signals. Further, the system includes an adaptive filter including a plurality of inputs and at least one output, the plurality of inputs configured to receive sampled sensor output signals, and at least one output of the adaptive filter configured to provide at least one estimated future sensor output based on the plurality of sampled sensor output signals provided to the plurality of inputs to the adaptive filter.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention also relates to a method of predicting the output of a sensor. The sensor has an input for sensing an environmental characteristic, and the sensor having a sampled output representative of the input at a discrete time interval. The method includes providing, to a plurality of inputs of an artificial neural network, a plurality of discrete sensor outputs. Each discrete sensor output is representative of a sensor input at a different discrete time interval. The method also includes generating at least one output of the artificial neural network. The at least one output being an estimate of at least one future sensor output.
Further, an exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to a method of predicting sensor output. The method includes adapting weights of an artificial neural network. The method also includes receiving, by the artificial neural network, a plurality of discrete sensor outputs from p discrete time intervals, up to the time n. Further, the method includes generating an output of the artificial neural network, based on the sensor outputs from the p discrete time intervals. The output is representative of the predicted sensor output at time n+1.
Further still, an exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to a method of accelerating the output of a sensor. The method includes receiving by a first neural network a plurality of sensor outputs at discrete evenly spaced time intervals less than and including time n. The method also includes receiving by a second neural network a plurality of sensor outputs at discrete evenly spaced time intervals less than and including time n+m, where 0 less than m less than 1. The method further includes generating, by the first neural network, a predicted sensor output that is an estimate of the sensor output at time n+1. Further, the method includes generating, by the second neural network, a predicted sensor output that is an estimate of the sensor output at time n+1+m.


An improved cooling cover is disclosed for use in bell shaped annealing furnaces. The cooling cover includes a jet nozzle orifice arrangement which develops jet streams from a low pressurized supply of air at ambient temperature in the plenum chamber of the cooling cover. A multitude of free standing jet streams thus impinge the inner cover of the bell shaped annealing stand to produce improved cooling times. Importantly, the plenum chamber includes strategically placed axial jet pump outlets which are effective to draw the jet streams from the cooling cover after they have been in heat transfer contact with the inner cover in a distribution pattern which is not altered so that the work or coils within the inner cover can be more uniformly cooled than heretofore possible. The spent jet streams are withdrawn from the cooling cover in a manner which does not affect the initial impact of the jets with the inner cover while establishing a neutral to slight under pressure at the base of the cooling cover to prevent sand seal upset and hot gas backwash.

Bell shaped annealing furnaces are typically used for batch coil annealing of metal strip wound into coils. A plurality of coils are vertically stacked one on top of the other (separated by diffuser plates) onto a fixed annealing stand or base. The coils are covered with an inner cover which is sealed (removably) to the annealing stand. An outer cover, typically sealed also to the annealing stand, surrounds the inner cover. The outer cover typically carries burners or a source of heat which heats the outside surface of the inner cover which in turn radiates the heat to the coils therein. The coils are heated until they reach their transformation temperature and they are held at this transformation temperature until temperature uniformity has been achieved throughout the coil. At that time the coils are then cooled to achieve the desired annealing. As noted, the inner cover is sealed to the base and a protective atmosphere is usually maintained within the inner cover while heating to a transformation temperature. This inner atmosphere is typically a HNX (hydrogen-nitrogen) composition. The invention can also be used with pure hydrogen.
Cooling of the coils after heating is the longest stage of the annealing cycle. Typically, it takes twice the time to cool the work when compared to the time it takes to heat the work. The availability of annealing stands or furnace bases is often limited in the mill and plant capacity is thus set by the cycle times and available number of bases. Cooling time reduction is thus the easiest way to increase base throughput and thus plant capacity.
In the batch coil annealing process as initially practiced, after the work was heated, the outer cover was simply removed and heat was exchanged between ambient air and the inner cover to accomplish cooling. Today cooling is performed usually with a cooling cover. Most cooling covers are updraft type covers. These covers pull air over the face of the hot inner cover and exhaust the heated air at the top. Methods have been tried to improve air flow turbulence thus increasing cooling of the inner cover but often, especially with sand seals, problems are encountered.
Other cooling methods use water. Water is either directly sprayed on the cover at the top so it flows down the inner cover. Alternately, water can be sent through heat exchange coils in the base where it cools the protective atmosphere. One type of a heat exchange coil used for cooling mounted in the base is marketed under the brand name "INTRAKOOL". Use of water requires extra measures and additional operating equipment and further adds to maintenance needs. The problems typically encountered with internal exchangers is simply failure of the heat exchanger resulting from thermal shock which occurs when water is pumped into a coiled hot tube. Cooling the inner cover by pouring water over the inner cover also presents operational and maintenance problems. Thus the trend is to use air cooling covers in which air is directed against the inner cover and high heat transfer rates are achieved.
One type of such cover was developed by the assignee of the present invention and this invention is viewed as an improvement over the assignee's earlier design. In that design, a structure and concepts similar to that disclosed in Hemsath U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,008 was employed. More specifically, a plenum chamber was formed in the top end of the outer cover and extending from the top end of the outer cover was a plurality of circumferentially spaced, longitudinally extending distribution tubes. Each tube, was in fluid communication with the plenum chamber at one axial end and each tube had a plurality of orifices drilled at longitudinally spaced increments along its length. When ambient air was pulled by a fan into the plenum chamber and pumped into the distribution tubes, the orifices metered the ambient air out of the distribution tubes as free standing jet streams of high velocity which impinged the cooling covers to further enhance or speed up the cooling of the inner cover. The jet pumps developed from the distribution tubes were effective to significantly decrease the cooling time. However, some initial operational problems were encountered which led to the development of the invention set forth herein. Of some concern was the cooling pattern developed on the inner cover by the variation of jet velocity resulting, to some extent, from the fundamental orifice-longitudinal tube arrangement. Even so, the cooling rates achieved by the jet streams in the early design was far superior to that achieved by other cooling covers in use. However, another problem, which has also plagued other cover installations, resulted from the fact that the large flow of cooling air impinging the inner cover exerts a positive pressure at the base of the cooling cover. Should the base of the cover be an elastomer seal positively clamped by a mechanical hydraulic device compressing the seal, the positive pressure exerted at the base of cooling cover does not present any significant concern. However, if the seal for the cover is the traditional sand seal, then the positive pressure within the cover will disturb the sand and break the sand seal. This presents a major dust problem which the present invention overcomes.

Cooling cover for batch coil annealing furnace


A hermetically sealed implantable medical device is provided with a multi-pin arrangement including selected glass to metal or ceramic to metal seals for a feedthrough of the compression seal or matched seal type.

There are numerous applications where it is necessary to penetrate a sealed container with a plurality of electrical leads so as to provide electrical access to and from electrical components enclosed within. One such application for which the present invention has particular but not limited utility is in body implantable pulse generators (e.g. for treatment of bradycardia, tachyaiythmia or for muscle or nerve stimulation), referred to generally as implantable pulse generators (IPG's). The heart pacemaker is a well known example of one type of IPG. Typical devices of this type are formed of a metal container housing the electrical and power source components of the IPG with a lid or the like welded to the container to close the device and provide it with a hermetic seal. An electrical lead is electrically connected to the IPG by means of attachment to one or more feedthroughs which penetrate the container but maintain the hermetically sealed environment thereof. A typical feedthrough consists of an external metal part (a frame or ferrule) into which preformed solid or sintered glass part is sealed. Within the glass part, one or more metal leads (pins) are sealed. Since the reliability of critical implantable medical devices depend on hermetic sealing of various components, the integrity of the glass to metal seals used in battery components and the seal between the internal electrical components and the human body is of paramount importance.
In many implantable medical devices, metals which have long term corrosion resistance and biocompatibility are needed to provide years of reliable service since maintenance or repair possibilities for the devices are extremely limited. Moreover, since such devices are sometimes lifesaving for the patient, failures of the feedthrough materials can have catastrophic consequences. Therefore, metals like titanium, niobium, tantalum, platinum and the like are used due to their well known superior corrosion resistance and biocompatability.
As such devices have undergone development, they have become smaller yet more electronically sophisticated, making it necessary to include more and more functions into smaller and smaller containers. This translates into a need for multi-pin feedthroughs carried by small, usually slim, containers. Multi-pin arrangements of feedthrough pins have generally been suggested before. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,910 issued to McCoy, a number of flat pins are shown traversing a hermetic glass seal in a linear array. Or, in Neilsen et aL "Development of Hermetic Microminiature Connections", Journal of Elastomeric Packaging, Dec. 1991, Vol 113/405-409, the stresses on a compression seal for a multi-pin device are modeled. However, the successful combination of materials which include the corrosion resistance and biocompatibility required for an implantable medical device have not been disclosed.

Implantable medical device with multi-pin feedthrough


Provided is a near-field microscope using a dielectric resonator, which makes it possible to minimize influences by external environments, and to enhance its sensitivity, resolution and function by adjusting the distance between a sample and an apex of a probe. The near-field microscope includes a wave source, a dielectric resonator, a probe, a distance adjusting unit, and a detector. The wave source generates a wave, and a frequency of the wave is adjustable by the wave source. The dielectric resonator propagates the wave from the wave source, and a resonance frequency, impedance, a Q factor and an electromagnetic wave mode of the wave is freely adjustable. The probe scans the wave output from the dielectric resonator on a sample. The distance adjusting unit measures a distance between the probe and the sample and maintains the distance to a predetermined value. The detector detects a wave that propagates through the probe, interacts with the sample and then propagates through the probe and the dielectric resonator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a near-field scanning microwave microscope, and more particularly, to a near-field scanning microwave microscope, which can minimize the bad influence of temperature or external environments thereon and enhance its sensitivity and resolution by connecting a probe to a dielectric resonator.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical microscope for measuring the shape of a nanosize sample has a limited resolution due to a diffraction limit because it observes the shape of an object using light. That is, an object having a size smaller than the half of a light wavelength cannot be optically measured due to the diffraction limit. Accordingly, there has been developed a near-field scanning microwave microscope that can overcome the diffraction limit and thus measure an optical characteristic of an object having a size much smaller than a light wavelength. In the near-field scanning microwave microscope, light having passed through a microscopic aperture smaller than a light wavelength is scanned on a sample spaced apart from the aperture by a distance equal to or smaller than a diameter of the aperture, whereby the diffraction limit can be overcome because a near field spaced apart from a surface of the sample by a distance smaller than a light wavelength is not diffracted.
A study for a noncontact or nondestructive microscope using an evanescent or near field effect has been introduced as one field of a surface study after a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and an atomic force microscope (AFM) were realized. Due to the development of optical microscope technology, the measurement of a characteristic of a sample through the existing optical method has been converted from a macroscopic view into a microscope view. Accordingly, a method for measuring a microscopic characteristic of a sample has been spotlighted as a new study field. Meanwhile, with the integration of various electronic components, a study for a physical characteristic of a fine structure is being highlighted as an important project. Specifically, the development of new measuring equipment capable of overcoming a diffraction limit becomes essential for understanding and measuring a physical characteristic of a fine structure.
A microscope using a near-field effect has been developed as one means for overcoming the diffraction limit. Specifically, with the integration of communication components, the development of a near-field microscope in a millimeter wave region or a microwave region has been required for a study on an optical characteristic of a fine structure of an integrated device.
An experiment for a near field using a microwave was first executed by Ash and Nicholls, and a near-field microwave microscope has been continuously developed and is being applied to various technical fields. Examples of methods for obtaining a near-field microwave image include a method using a coaxial cable resonator, a method using a stripline resonator, and a method using a waveguide slit.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional near-field optical microscope using a coaxial cable resonator, which is disclosed in "APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, VOLUME 75, NUMBER 20".
In the above near-field optical microscope, a wave output from a microwave source 100 propagates through a coaxial cable resonator 103, and is transmitted through a probe formed at an end portion of resonator 103 to a sample 107 whose optical characteristic needs to be measured. A wave output from the probe 105 interacts with the sample 107, and is then again input through the probe 105 to the resonator 103. A microwave deformed by an interaction with the sample 107 is detected by a detector 110. In this manner, microscopic and optical characteristics of the sample 107 can be measured. Here, a reference numeral "102" denotes a directional coupler.
However, when the coaxial cable resonator 103 is used in the microscope, only an experiment in a microwave band can be performed due to a cut-off frequency caused by a structure of a coaxial cable. Accordingly, a resonance frequency of the near-field microscope must be limited to a specific frequency of the microwave band, whereby a limit exists in obtaining the maximum sensitivity. Also, since the coaxial cable resonator is constituted by two conductors, that is, inner and outer cylindrical conductors, only an experiment using a TEM wave can be performed. Accordingly, various wave modes for measuring various optical characteristics of the sample cannot be used in the above microscope. That is, since there exists a specific mode where an optical characteristic of a specific sample is well measured and since the coaxial cable can use only a TEM mode, the near-field microscope using the coaxial cable resonator can measure only limited kinds of samples.
Also, since the coaxial cable resonator 103 uses a frequency of a microwave band having a relatively long wavelength, its length inevitably becomes longer. That is, the coaxial cable resonator 13 inevitably has a length of about 2 m. Accordingly, a near-field optical microscope using a coaxial cable resonator is very large in volume, and is thus unsuitable for commercialization.
As another conventional near-field microscope, there is a microscope using a waveguide slit.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional near-field microscope using a waveguide slit, which is disclosed in "APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, VOLUME 77, NUMBER 1". In the microscope shown in FIG. 2, a slit 115 is formed at one end of a waveguide 113, a substrate 120 is disposed below the slit 115, a sample 117 is disposed on the substrate 120, and light is irradiated from a light source 122 positioned below substrate 120. Here, a reference numeral "123" represents a shadow mask.
In the above structure, light irradiated from the slit 115 interacts with the sample 117, and is then input through the slit 115 to the waveguide 113. A microwave deformed by an interaction with the sample 117 is detected by a detector, whereby the shape and characteristic of the sample 117 can be measured. However, the conventional near-field microscope using a waveguide slit has drawbacks in that a light loss is increased and its resolution is degraded because light having passed through the slit 115 spreads.
Even a conventional near-field microscope using a improved waveguide structure is susceptible to external environments, is large in volume, cannot be easily assembled, and cannot measure various wave modes and various samples because a device for adjusting a distance between a sample and an end of a probe is not easily installed.

Near-field scanning microwave microscope using dielectric resonator

Industry-University Cooperation Foundation Sogang University