A process and apparatus for recycling LCO and/or HCO to a hydroprocessing zone to saturate aromatics for cracking in an FCC unit is disclosed. The recycle cracked stream may be recycled to a downstream hydroprocessing zone to avoid a first hydroprocessing zone that is primarily for demetallizing (and desulfurizing) feed to the FCC unit.

The field of the invention is fluid catalytic cracking (FCC).
FCC technology, now more than 50 years old, has undergone continuous improvement and remains the predominant source of gasoline production in many refineries. This gasoline, as well as lighter products, is formed as the result of cracking heavier, less valuable hydrocarbon feed stocks such as gas oil.
In its most general form, the FCC process comprises a reactor that is closely coupled with a regenerator, followed by downstream hydrocarbon product separation. Hydrocarbon feed contacts catalyst in the reactor to crack the hydrocarbons down to smaller molecular weight products. During this process, coke tends to accumulate on the catalyst which is burned off in the regenerator.
It has been recognized that due to environmental concerns and newly enacted rules and regulations, saleable petroleum products must meet lower and lower limits on contaminates, such as sulfur and nitrogen. New regulations require essentially complete removal of sulfur from liquid hydrocarbons that are used in transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel.
Hydroprocessing is a process that contacts a selected feedstock and hydrogen-containing gas with suitable catalyst(s) in a reaction vessel under conditions of elevated temperature and pressure to remove heteroatoms such as sulfur and nitrogen from hydrocarbon streams to meet fuel specifications and to saturate olefinic compounds. Hydroprocessing is also used to prepare fresh hydrocarbon feed for FCC processing by demetallizing the FCC feed. Vanadium and nickel in the FCC feed can deactivate the FCC catalyst during the FCC process.
The demand for diesel has increased over gasoline in recent years. Petrochemicals such as propylene and single ring alkyl aromatics are considered even more valuable. Light Cycle Oil (LCO) is also produced in an FCC unit and can be directed to the diesel pool. However, LCO may degrade the quality of the diesel pool due to its high aromaticity and low cetane value. Upgrading of LCO to petrochemicals would be desirable.
Heavy Cycle Oil (HCO) is also produced in the FCC unit with little use other than for fuel oil. Further conversion of the HCO to motor fuel products would also be desirable.

Process and apparatus for recycling cracked hydrocarbons


An electric unit is attached to a power unit including a motor-generator, the power unit being disposed in a power unit mounting chamber that is formed at a front of a vehicle and separated from a vehicle cabin by a partition wall. The electric unit includes: a high-voltage component including an electric power conversion device of a relatively high voltage, the electric power conversion device converting an electric power between a DC electric power and an AC electric power for the motor-generator; and a low-voltage component including a control device of a relatively low voltage, the control device controlling the electric power conversion device. The high-voltage component and the low-voltage component are accommodated in an accommodation case. Inside the accommodation case, the high-voltage component is arranged toward the front of the vehicle, and the low-voltage component is arranged toward a rear of the vehicle.

JP2011-134654A describes a vehicle-mounted electric unit that is provided in an electric vehicle, such as an electric car and a hybrid vehicle, to suppress a built-in high-voltage component from being externally exposed due to an external impact force.
The vehicle-mounted electric unit described in JP2011-134654A includes an accommodation case and a connector. A terminal block is arranged inside the accommodation case, and an outlet is formed on an external surface of the accommodation case. The connector is inserted into the outlet of the accommodation case and connected to the terminal block. The connector is arranged such that it can be detached from the accommodation case when an external impact force is applied. This vehicle-mounted electric unit also includes an insulating wall portion that is arranged inside the accommodation case so as to obstruct the outlet when the connector is detached.


A networked computer includes a system controller having a network interface. When the networked computer enters a reduced-power state, the network interface receives frame data. The network interface filters the frame data and saves selected frame data to a memory. The memory provides the frame data to the system controller.

The invention relates generally to monitoring the system environment of an inactive networked computer, and more specifically to monitoring network activity for specific events.
Local Area Networks (LAN""s) consist of a group of interconnected computers communicating according to a common protocol such as Ethernet (IEEE Standard 802.3). In a client-server type LAN, a server computer maintains files, which may be accessed by client computers. The server may also monitor and perform various maintenance functions on the client computer.
To save energy and reduce costs, client computers may enter a reduced-power (or sleep) state when they are not in active use. A sleep-state shuts-down most components of a client computer and maintains only minimal functionality. Various techniques have been implemented to allow a server computer to wake-up a sleeping client computer. Generally these techniques require the sleeping computer to monitor network activity.
For this purpose, some network interfaces provide a hardware state machine which is configured to monitor for specific bit patterns when the computer enters a sleep state. This allows the network interface to detect specific network events, however configuration is generally fixed. Accordingly, network interfaces having a hardware state machine may not be easily reconfigured to meet the needs of a specific application.
Other solutions may use a standard MAC accessing a direct memory access (DMA) first-in first-out (FIFO) memory for receiving network frame data. Frame data saved to the system memory may be parsed to detect specific bit patterns. These interfaces provide greater flexibility. Specifically, these interfaces may be programmed to monitor for different bit patterns depending upon the application. Unfortunately, these interfaces likewise impose greater cost and complexity.
According to one aspect of the invention a network interface suitable for receiving frame data over a network includes a media access control, a buffer manager, and a memory. The media access control provides a connection to a media interface. The buffer manager is operationally coupled with the media access control and is configured to receive frame data from the media access control. The memory has a plurality of segments, which are operationally coupled with the buffer manager. The buffer manager is configured to write the frame data to the memory segments.
According to another aspect of the invention, a receive buffer memory has a plurality of segments. The receive buffer memory receives first and second frame data from a network. The receive buffer memory writes the first frame data to a first segment of the receive buffer memory and writes the second frame data to a second segment of the receive buffer memory. The receive buffer memory also reads the first frame data from the first segment of the receive buffer memory simultaneous the writing of the second frame data.
According to another aspect of the invention, a controller suitable for monitoring events related to a computer system includes a control processor, a plurality of connections, and a network interface. The control processor is configured to communicate with a host processor. The plurality of connections are operationally coupled with the control processor. The control processor is configured to monitor system events over the plurality of connections. The network interface is operationally coupled with the control processor and has a memory partitioned into a plurality of segments. The segments provide frame data to the control processor. The control processor is configured to monitor network events from the frame data.
According to another aspect of the invention, a computer system has a network connection. The computer system enters a reduced power state. The computer system receives a plurality of frames from a network. The computer system filters the plurality of frames. The computer system writes first frame data from the plurality of frames to a first segment of a receive buffer memory. The computer system reads the first frame data from the first segment of the receive buffer memory.
These and other objects, features and advantages will become apparent when considered with reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Receiving data on a networked computer in a reduced power state


A tie-down assembly includes a housing configured to receive a pair of bails. A cross-bar and post are used to rotatably connect the bails to the housing. The pair of bails can be identical to allow a strap to be cinched to the housing. Alternatively, the bails can be shaped differently, for example, to center a strap within the bail or to facilitate the use of multiple straps.

Tie-down assemblies have been used for some time to secure freight transported in vehicles. Tie-down assemblies are firmly mounted inside a vehicle, such as a truck, ship, or container. As needed, straps, ropes, or lines are then fastened to the tie-down assemblies to hold freight in a desired location or position.
In the past, several types of tie-down assemblies have reached widespread acceptance. A first approach uses a D-ring formed of circular cross-section, heavy gauge wire. The D-ring is pivotably mounted within a U-channel that is in turn welded in place. This tie-down assembly does not allow the channel to rotate in use, and welding operations are required to mount the assembly in place. Two examples of this approach are identified as lashing rings B40 and B50 as distributed by the Buyers Products Company.
A second approach is to provide a sheet metal bracket that surrounds a D-ring at least partially. The bracket is in turn secured in place, as for example with threaded fasteners. This approach provides a light weight, low cost design. Examples of this type of tie-down assembly are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,921, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and cargo tie-down models 39F and 300F of the A. L. Hansen Mfg. Co.
A third approach is to provide a metal cup that defines a recess in which a cross-bar is pivotably mounted with a threaded fastener that defines a pivot axis. The cross-bar defines a stud at each end, and a rectangular section bail is mounted onto these studs. An example of this approach is shown as model 10-40 of A. L. Hansen Mfg. Co. This approach requires a threaded fastener to secure the cross-bar in place.
A fourth approach utilizes a ring to which is secured an axle that passes through a mounting post. An example of this approach is shown as model CAT-340 of Austin Hardware.
A fifth approach utilizes a mounting plate and a cross-bar. The cross-bar defines an integral post and two opposed recesses that receive ends of a tie-down bail. The integral post passes through a bearing washer and a central opening in the central panel and defines an enlarged head that secures the tie-down assembly together. This approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,869, which is incorporated by reference herein, is titled "Tie Down Assembly," and is assigned to A.L. Hansen Mfg. Co.


A scan compression architecture for a design for a testability compiler used in system-on-chip software design tools includes a first scan architecture including a first scan compressor/decompressor configuration connected to a first predetermined set of pins, and a second scan architecture including a second scan compressor/decompressor configuration connected to a subset of the pins. The first scan architecture is selectively enabled for executing a scan test with a low time. The second scan architecture is for executing a scan test with high parallelism.

The testing cost for complex system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuits (ICs) is growing fast, especially in the case of devices including non-volatile memory portions. To reduce the test cost of complex SoC ICs, such as an SoC including an embedded flash memory, three different possibilities can be chosen: reduce the embedded flash intrinsic test time; insert a partial/full BIST (built-in self test) approach; and increase the test parallelism by probing a small subset of pins. The first two approaches can have a big impact on the device area, so the third approach is preferably the preferred one.
Using a standard software tool and including a compressor/decompressor architecture, it is possible to perform tests with a plurality of scan chains. More particularly, a compression architecture generally comprises a decompressor receiving test input bit streams from a set of pins to load the plurality of scan chains. The SoC is tested with the scan chains and produces corresponding test output bit streams. A compressor receives the test output bit streams, compress it in a scan output that is compared to a predicted pattern to determine whether an error occurred during testing.
Using the architecture described above it is possible to perform tests on different levels of the device. For example, the tests include tests at the electrical wafer level executed for each single wafer, and tests at the package level executed as a final step before the delivery of the package. In this compression architecture the same set of pins and the same plurality of scan chains is used to execute the tests on a package level and on a wafer level.
A disadvantage of this architecture is that the parallelism of the tests at the wafer level is very limited because a large number of bits involved in the package level test are used for the wafer level test. Two specific constraints should be taken in consideration: the test time and the test parallelism.
More particularly, since the entire pins of the package are typically probed at the package level test, it is important to reduce the test time during a package level test. At the same time, since a plurality of devices on the same wafer may be tested during the electrical wafer test, it is important to improve the test parallelism in the electrical wafer test.
With an architecture comprising a specific configuration of pins and of scan chains it is only possible to obtain a compromise between the test parallelism and the test time, or to advantage one constraint to the detriment of the other.
A specific design tool available in standard software tool and known as a design for testability compiler that allows implementation of different architectures to improve the flexibility of the design for testability structures is inserted in the SoC for specific test requirements.
A known available approach is the multi-mode architecture that allows the implementation of multiple scan chains configurations (or modes). It is common in this environment to have two configurations: a standard scan chain mode and a burn-in scan chain mode.
In the standard scan chain mode the number of internal scan chains depends on the maximum number of available I/O pins at the top level and on the test equipment constraints. These features are schematically shown in FIG. 1 which provides an improved architecture with N scan chains.
In the burn-in scan chain mode all internal scan chains are serially connected in a single long scan chain by a multiplexer for allowing a higher parallelism in the testing step since more devices can be tested in parallel. FIG. 1 also shows the alternative approach wherein a multiplexer shown by the dotted line connects all the chains in a single long chain.
A scan architecture may be optionally available for allowing insertion of a decompression multiplexer logic block between fewer external scan chain inputs and the internal scan chain inputs, along with a compression XOR logic based block between the internal scan chain outputs and fewer external scan chain outputs.
This further available approach is schematically shown in FIG. 2 wherein the main hardware portions are shown. The decompression multiplexer connects several internal scan chain inputs to a single external scan chain input for allowing a higher degree of parallelism in the testing step, quantified in a compression factor parameter.
These known approaches still present some limitations, mainly when there is a need to perform testing steps requiring different degrees of parallelism. More specifically, the increasing complexity of the current system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuits (ICs), especially but not only those including embedded Flash memories, along with the increasingly stringent quality requirements, gives rise to a consequential increase of the overall test cost which does not support the current trend to reduce as much as possible the device test time/cost.
The problem is particularly relevant when the inserted deign for testability structure needs to be used both in testing steps where a high degree of parallelism is required, for example in electronic wafer level testing, and in testing steps where a low time test is required, for example in the package level test.

Scan compression architecture for a design for testability compiler used in system-on-chip software design tools


A graphical user interface (GUI) architecture is configured to enable efficient management of resources in a storage system environment. The GUI architecture is embodied within a namespace and storage management (NSM) application as a GUI toolkit configured to produce reusable GUI components, such as a navigation frame, a wizard and a dialog box. In particular, the reusable wizard allows users to make intelligent choices toward successful completions of desired actions by, e.g., only requesting information needed to accomplish those actions.

A storage system typically comprises one or more storage devices into which information may be entered, and from which information may be obtained, as desired. The storage system includes an operating system that functionally organizes the system is by, inter alia, invoking storage operations in support of a storage service implemented by the system. The storage system generally provides its storage services through the execution of software modules, such as processes. The storage system may be implemented in accordance with a variety of storage architectures including, but not limited to, a network-attached storage environment, a storage area network and a disk assembly directly attached to a client or host computer. The storage devices are typically disk drives organized as a disk array, wherein the term "disk" commonly describes a self-contained rotating magnetic media storage device. The term disk in this context is synonymous with hard disk drive (HDD) or direct access storage device (DASD).
The storage system may be further configured to operate according to a client/server model of information delivery to thereby allow many clients to access information stored on the system. In this model, the storage system may be embodied as file server executing an operating system, such as the Microsoft® Windows™ operating system (hereinafter "Windows operating system"). Furthermore, the client may comprise an application executing on an operating system of a computer that "connects" to the server over a computer network, such as a point-to-point link, shared local area network, wide area network, or virtual private network implemented over a public network, such as the Internet. Each client may request the services of the server by issuing storage access protocol messages (in the form of packets) to the server over the network. By supporting a plurality of storage (e.g., file-based) access protocols, such as the conventional Common Internet File System (CIFS) and the Network File System (NFS) protocols, the utility of the server is enhanced.
To facilitate client access to the information stored on the server, the Windows operating system typically exports units of storage, e.g., (CIFS) shares. As used herein, a share is equivalent to a mount point or shared storage resource, such as a folder or directory that stores information about files or other directories served by the file server. A Windows client may access information in the directory by mounting the share and issuing a CIFS protocol access request that specifies a uniform naming convention (UNC) path to the share. The UNC path or pathname is an aspect of a Windows networking environment that defines a way for a client to refer to a unit of storage on a server. The UNC pathname is prefixed with the string \\ to indicate resource names on a network. For example, a UNC pathname may comprise a server name, a share (directory) name and a path descriptor that collectively reference a unit of storage or share. Thus, in order to access the share, the client typically requires knowledge of the specific physical location (i.e., the identity) of the server exporting the share.
Instead of requiring the client to provide the specific identity of the file server exporting the share, it is desirable to only require a logical pathname to the share. That is, it is desirable to provide the client with a globally unique pathname to the share without reference to the file server. The conventional Distributed File System (DFS) namespace service provides such a solution in a Windows environment through the creation of a namespace that removes the specificity of server identity. DFS is well-known and described in DCE 1.2.2 DFS Administration Guide and Reference, 1997, which is hereby incorporated by reference. As used herein, a namespace is a view of shared storage resources (such as shares) from the perspective of a client. The DFS namespace service is generally implemented using one or more DFS servers and distributed components in a network.
Using the DFS service, it is possible to create a unique pathname (in the form of a UNC pathname) for a storage resource that a DFS server translates to an actual location of the resource (share) in the network. However, in addition to the DFS namespace provided by the Windows operating system, there are many other namespace services provided by various operating system platforms, including the NFS namespace provided by the conventional Unix® operating system. Each service constructs a namespace to facilitate management of information using a layer of indirection between a file server and client accessing a shared storage resource (share) on the server. For example, a share may be connected or "linked" to a link point (link in DFS terminology or a mount point in NFS terminology) to hide the machine specific reference to the share. By referencing the link point, the client can automatically access information on the storage resource of the specific machine. This allows an administrator (user) to store the information on any server in the network by merely providing a reference to the information (or share). However, these namespaces are typically services created on heterogeneous server platforms, which leads to incompatibility and non-interoperability with respect to management of the namespaces by the user. For example, the DFS namespace service is generally limited to Windows-based operating system platforms, whereas the NFS namespace service is generally limited to Unix-based operating system platforms.
The Virtual File Manager (VFM™) developed by NuView, Inc. and available from Network Appliance, Inc., ("NetApp") provides a namespace service that supports various protocols operating on various file server platforms, such as NetApp filers and DFS servers. The VFM namespace service is well-known and described in VFM™ (Virtual File Manager) Reference Guide, Version 4.0, 2001-2003, and VFM™ (Virtual File Manager) Getting Started Guide, Version 4.0, 2001-2003.
A large-scale storage system environment may include many (e.g., hundreds of) storage systems hosting resources embodied as, e.g., storage and namespace objects. As used herein, namespace objects include namespaces, link points and shares, whereas storage objects include servers, files and disks. In order to perform namespace and storage management in such a large-scale storage system environment, it is desirable to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) of a management console that enables users to is manage multiple storage system resources efficiently, e.g., as one or more groups of managed objects.
In addition, it is desirable to provide a GUI having an architecture that produces GUI components, such as dialog boxes ("dialogs") and wizards, which can be reused with various applications executing on the management console. As used herein, a dialog is a movable window that appears on a computer screen of the NSM console and that provides status, as well as available options for an application executing on the console. A wizard is an interactive utility that may be implemented as a sequence of dialogs adapted to guide a user through an operation flow, inputting information as required by the flow.
A simple operation flow as embodied in a wizard typically comprises a fixed number of pre-defined steps organized in a serial or linear manner. However, such a linear flow of operations is inflexible and may increase the number of steps the user must follow to initiate a task or action. As a result, it is further desirable to identify dependencies in the operation flow and exploit those dependencies to provide an optimized flow of operations that limits the number of steps that the user need follow. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a wizard that allows a user to make intelligent choices towards successful completion of a desired action using the optimized operation flow.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Graphical user interface architecture for namespace and storage management


A biocompatible tissue graft includes a first layer of a bioremodelable collageneous material, a second layer of biocompatible synthetic or natural remodelable or substantially remodelable material attached to the first layer; and at least one fiber that is stitched in a reinforcing pattern in the first layer and/or second layer to mitigate tearing and/or improve fixation retention of the graft, and substantially maintain the improved properties while one or more of the layers is remodeling.

Researchers have experienced major challenges in designing methods to repair abdominal wall defects that result from traumatic injuries, surgical procedures (incisional hernias) or chronic diseases. Currently available synthetic and biological grafts have demonstrated only limited success. The graft should be biocompatible, have adequate mechanical properties and should also degrade at an appropriate rate to permit transition of function from the graft to native fascia. While the use of synthetic meshes has lowered incidence rates of incisional hernias to below 10%, these repairs are still frequently complicated by infection, visceral adhesion, extrusion and fistulation, and require re-operation. Biological grafts derived from decellularized tissues, such as dermis or small intestinal submucosa (SIS), have shown greater success than synthetics. They are better vascularized, less prone to be complicated by visceral adhesions, and can be used in the presence of contaminated or infected fields. While grafts derived from acellular dermis possess biomechanical properties that are similar to abdominal wall fascia, and have shown promise for hernia repair, they lose mechanical strength and integrity after implantation, resulting in laxity, stretching and poor suture retention, which in turn can lead to complications, such as bulging, dehiscence, and hernia recurrence. The dermis products are also commonly available in small sizes, and require pre-operative suturing of multiple pieces to repair large hernia defects.


In the head portion, the thermopile is arranged substantially in the center of the head portion. The preamplifier board is arranged near the thermopile. The heat diffusion member made of a high heat conductive material is arranged so as to surround the thermopile and the preamplifier board. The main board and the laser diode are arranged between the upper surface of the head casing and the upper surface of the heat diffusion member. The power supply board and the laser diode are arranged between the down surface of the head casing and the down surface of the heat diffusion member. The thermopile, the preamplifier board, the main board, the power supply board, and the laser diodes are arranged out of contact with the heat diffusion member.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a radiation thermometer, which measures temperature of an object by detecting infrared energy radiated from the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been, heretofore, a radiation thermometer (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-324981) which detects infrared energy radiated from an object to be measured and calibrates the infrared energy by emissivity of the object, hence to measure the actual temperature of the object to be measured.
Generally, a radiation thermometer detects infrared energy by heat sensitive element such as a thermopile. The thermopile includes an infrared radiation receiving portion (hot junction) having a plurality of thermocouples connected in a series. In this thermopile, when infrared radiation enters the infrared radiation receiving portion, there occurs a temperature difference between the hot junction and the cold junction depending on the amount of the incident infrared radiation, and thermo electromotive force is produced according to the difference. This thermo electromotive force corresponds to the temperature of the object to be measured.
The temperature of the cold junction of the thermopile changes according to the inner temperature of the thermopile. The temperature of the object measured by the thermopile is calibrated according to the inner temperature of the thermopile, while measuring the inner temperature of the thermopile with a thermistor. This can get an accurate temperature of the object to be measured.
In this radiation thermometer, since the infrared energy radiated from the object to be measured is invisible, a user cannot recognize which position of the object to be measured is being measured.
A radiation thermometer has been developed which can indicate a measuring position with light source such as laser diode (LD) or light emitting diode (LED) in order for a user to recognize the measuring position.
The radiation thermometer capable of indicating a measuring position, however, is apt to enlarge in size because it contains a light source such as a laser diode or a light emitting diode.
When the heat generated by the light source in order to indicate a measuring position is locally transmitted to the thermopile, the inner temperature of the thermopile becomes uneven. In this case, the thermistor cannot detect an accurate inner temperature of the thermopile.
Additionally, there is the case where the infrared radiation radiated from the peripheral members of the thermopile (for example, holding member of the thermopile and the like) enters the infrared radiation receiving portion. When the temperature of the peripheral members agrees with the inner temperature of the thermopile, the amount of the infrared radiation of the peripheral members entering the infrared radiation receiving portion can be calculated according to the inner temperature of the thermopile. By subtracting the infrared radiation amount of the peripheral members from all the infrared radiation amount entering the infrared radiation receiving portion, it is possible to accurately obtain the infrared radiation amount only for the object to be measured.
When the temperature of the peripheral members becomes uneven according to the heat of the light source, or when the temperature of the peripheral members is different from the inner temperature of the thermopile, the infrared radiation amount of the peripheral members entering the infrared radiation receiving portion cannot be calculated according to the inner temperature of the thermopile. It is impossible to accurately obtain the infrared radiation amount only for the object to be measured from all the infrared radiation entering the infrared radiation receiving portion.
In order to measure an accurate temperature of the object to be measured, it is necessary to set a distance between the thermopile and the light source as large as possible so as not to locally transmit heat to the thermopile and so as to make the atmospheric temperature near the thermopile equal to the inner temperature of the thermopile. As a result, downsizing of the radiation thermometer is increasingly difficult.
Since an output signal of the thermopile is very small, an output signal of the thermopile has to be amplified with a high amplification factor. When the output signal of the thermopile is affected by the noise, measurement accuracy is remarkably reduced.


Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a nitrogen-containing fluorescent substance comprising accommodating an oxide fluorescent substance containing two or more elements in a receptacle made of a material containing carbon, and sintering the oxide fluorescent substance in a mixed gas atmosphere containing nitrogen gas.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for manufacturing a fluorescent substance containing nitrogen, to a fluorescent substance containing nitrogen, and to a light-emitting device employing the fluorescent substance containing nitrogen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, there is an increasing trend to employ a white light-emitting diode (white LED) in various fields. The white LED emits white light in such a manner, for example, that several kinds of light to be emitted from several kinds of fluorescent substances each employed for shifting the wavelength of part of light emitted from an LED chip are mixed with the light that has been emitted from an LED chip without the wavelength thereof being shifted at all so as to obtain white light. In the conventional white LED however, since it is difficult to obtain the light of long wavelength side in the visible radiation region, the light emitted from the conventional white LED becomes somewhat yellowish white. Because of this, this white light is insufficient in color tone if it is to be employed as an illumination for display application or for medical application, so that there is a strong demand for an LED which is capable of emitting a somewhat reddish white light.
As for the fluorescent substance which is capable of emitting a reddish light when an ultraviolet or blue light-emitting diode is employed as a light source, there has been proposed a nitride fluorescent substance having a composition represented by MXSiYNZ:Eu (wherein M is at least one selected from the group consisting of Ca, Sr, Ba and Zn; Z=(⅔)X+( 4/3)Y; preferably X=2 and Y=5 or X=1 and Y=7). Since this fluorescent substance is capable of absorbing light having a short wavelength ranging from 300 to 550 nm and capable of emitting a light having a long wavelength ranging from 550 to 750 nm, it is possible, through the employment of this fluorescent substance, to emit lights ranging from yellow to red from the light of ultraviolet region while absorbing visible lights of indigo, blue and bluish green.
The aforementioned nitride fluorescent substance can be manufactured in such a manner that a base material of fluorescent substance, and a refined metal or a nitride thereof acting as an activator are mixed together and then subjected to sintering in an ammonia atmosphere using a boron nitride crucible at a temperature ranging from 1200 to 1600° C. In this case, since an apparatus for disposing ammonia employed as an atmospheric gas is required to be installed and moreover, since the process is complicated and a manufacturing apparatus of large scale is required to be employed, the cost for manufacturing the nitride fluorescent substance would become high. Furthermore, if an LED which is capable of emitting white light is to be manufactured by using this nitride fluorescent substance, another fluorescent substance which is capable of emitting yellow light or blue light is required to be employed in combination with this nitride fluorescent substance.
As described above, the conventional nitride fluorescent substance is accompanied with problems that it is difficult to manufacture a fluorescent substance exhibiting useful light-emitting properties and that it is difficult to determine a suitable mixing ratio for the adjustment of white-emitting light.

Fluorescent substance containing nitrogen, method for manufacturing the same, and light-emitting device

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation


An adapter for a portable battery charging apparatus having two or more battery charging interfaces on separate panels. Wires electrically couple the battery charging apparatuses to a charger unit. The wires are routed for flexibility to fold and unfold the panels. The adapter is configured to nest between two panels of the battery charging apparatus when the panels are stacked together in a compact folded state.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to an adapter for a foldable battery charger.
2. Description of the Related Art
Battery chargers are relatively large, bulky pieces of equipment. They typically have a rigid housing which can be moved but is difficult to transport by foot because of the weight and volume they occupy. Persons working in the field and military personnel have a need to carry battery chargers with them.
Some foldable equipment having batteries or chargers has been proposed in the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,615 discloses a flexible belt with a charger and batteries for a video camera. The power belt has a dedicated charging unit which can only charge one type of battery. The battery packs do not include hinges between them to allow the packs to stack on top of each other.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0052156 shows a charging mat having an embedded control switching circuit. The charging mat does not include wires that connect discrete battery charging interfaces to allow stacking The charging mat does not include charging jacks of different types which nest together in a mating fashion. In addition, there is no disclosure of an adapter to mount different batteries, where the adapter can nest between panels in a folded state.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,089 discloses a flexible sheet material having embedded cables to couple various electronic devices. The device uses flat cables 46, 56, and 64, which has been shown to prematurely fail when bent repeatedly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,942 shows a battery pack with foldable panels, attached batteries and a charger. The battery pack does not include an on-board charging unit or adapter that can nest between panels in a folded compact state.
None of the references show an adapter to connect batteries outboard of the panels or mat, where the adapter is able to nest between two panels of a portable battery charger when the panels are stacked together in a compact folded state.


A system of downconverting an intermediate frequency (IF) phase or frequency modulated signal to a digital baseband includes an N bit shift register circuit that receives a binary input as a 1-bit input sample data stream of an IF signal. A decimation circuit includes a memory and receives data from the N bit shift register circuit and stores N 1-bit binary samples as address bits and performs decimation, downconversion and filtering by accessing memory values at a predetermined rate.

Some multi-band or other tactical radios operate in the high frequency (HF), very high frequency (VHF) (for satellite communications), and ultra high frequency (UHF) bands. The range of these multi-band tactical radios can operate over about 2.0 through about 512 MHz frequency range. Next generation radios will probably cover about 2.0 to about 2,000 MHz (or higher) to accommodate high data rate waveforms and less crowded frequency bands. This high frequency transmit mode is governed by standards such as MIL-STD-188-141B, while data modulation/demodulation is governed by standards such as MIL-STD-188-110B, the disclosures which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
UHF standards, on the other hand, provide different challenges over the 225 to about 512 MHz frequency range, including short-haul, line-of-sight (LOS) communication and satellite communications (SATCOM) and cable. This type of propagation can be obtained through different weather conditions, foliage and other obstacles making UHF SATCOM an indispensable communications medium for many agencies. Different directional antennas can be used to improve antenna gain and improve data rates on the transmit and receive links. This type of communication is typically governed in one example by MIL-STD-188-181B, the disclosure which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. This standard specifies a family of constant and non-constant amplitude waveforms for use over satellite links.
The joint tactical radio system (JTRS) implements some of these standards and has different designs that use oscillators, mixers, switchers, splitters, combiners and power amplifier devices to cover different frequency ranges. The modulation schemes used for these types of systems can occupy a fixed bandwidth channel at a fixed carrier frequency or can be frequency-hopped. These systems usually utilize memoryless modulations, such as a phase shift keying (PSK), amplitude shift keying (ASK), frequency shift keying (FSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), or modulations with memory such as continuous phase modulation (CPM) and combine them with a convolutional or other type of forward error correction code.
These systems often use a number of base station segments that are operative with HF and VHF communications nets and often ad-hoc communications networks in which a plurality of N mobile radios are located on a terrain, typically each moving with no fixed infrastructure. Many of these systems must sample and downconvert a frequency or phase modulated intermediate frequency (IF) signal. Some of the signals are amplitude modulated waveforms with a combination of phase/frequency and amplitude modulations. These small and low power radios typically minimize the amount of circuitry used. One approach is to convert as quickly as possible to the digital or software domain where higher levels of integration exist. Software and firmware processing can be efficiently done at baseband and an efficient method to convert analog IF signals to baseband frequencies is required.
In a prior art downconverter system 10 such as shown in FIG. 1, IF signals are sampled at a sample rate (F) using an analog/digital converter 12 to create an N-bit sample signal. Within the digital domain illustrated at 14, a complex local oscillator circuit multiplies the signal and converts it into a complex baseband signal using the local oscillator 16 and mixer 18. Complex low pass filtering and downconversion follow using a low pass filter 20 followed by downconversion decimator 22, another low pass filter 24, and decimator 26 as illustrated. These functions can consume considerable digital resources and consume considerable power depending on their clock rates.

Decimating down converter and related methods


Aqueous dispersion of a particulate solid containing a low boiling organic liquid in which the particulate solid has a hydrophobic outer surface which is suitable for applying to a substrate to form a continuous hydrophobic film thereon.

The prior art has recognized the utility of inert particulate solids as insecticides, see for example; Driggers, B. F., "Experiments with Talc and Other Dusts Used Against Recently Hatched Larvae of the Oriental and Codling Moths", J. Econ. Ent. 22 327-334 (1929); Hunt, C. R., "Toxicity of Insecticide Dust Diluents and Carriers to Larvae of the Mexican Bean Beetle", J. Econ. Ent. 40 215-219 (1947); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,536 (1964), each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
These references all describe applying particulate solids to foliage or insects by dry dusting. Although dry dusting is useful for laboratory experimentation it is not applicable for large scale agricultural use. The use of dry dusting has declined because the extremely fine particles, usually on the order of less than 30 um, with a median particle size typically between 0.5 to 3.0 um, are prone to drift and therefore have high negative environmental impact. Dry particles also do not adhere well to the target substrate (e.g. plants). Typically only 10% to 20% of the dry dust is deposited onto the target. (Pesticide Application Methods by G. A. Mathews Longman Scientific & Technical, Second Ed. (1992).)
It has also been determined that hydrophobic particulate solids can be applied to substrates as a liquid composition to form a hydrophilic coating. To this end, the particulate substances have been combined with a dispersant having a hydrophilic end and a lipophilic end and the same added to water to form an aqueous dispersion. The dispersant concentrates at an interphase between the hydrophobic substance and water with the lipophilic end of the dispersant positioned toward the hydrophobic substance and the hydrophilic end toward the water.
General classes of dispersants are divided into different groups by chemical functionality, e.g., cationic, anionic, amphoteric, nonionic. Typical examples of surfactants include soaps (carboxylate salts), sulfonates, sulfated alcohol ethoxylates, alkylphenol ethoxylates, carboxylic and polyoxyethylene esters, amines, imidazolines, and quaternary ammonium salts. Extensive lists containing hundreds of commercial dispersants are readily available (see McCutcheon's Emulsifiers & Detergents N. Amer Ed. (1995)).
The use of dispersants, however, causes the particulate hydrophobic substance to become hydrophilic and to retain this hydrophilic character after drying. Therefore, when such dispersions are placed on a substrate they will retain water. Water results in surface damage to many substrates including agricultural crops and other plants (disease), lumber (rot), concrete (freeze cracking), soil (erosion), textiles, solid chemicals such as fertilizers (leach), and the like. Accordingly, the use of dispersants for employing a dispersion of hydrophobic particulate solids for protecting surfaces has been problematical.
It would therefore be a significant advance in the art of applying hydrophobic particulate solids to a substrate to provide the substrate with a continuous film of the particulate solid while retaining a hydrophobic character. The resulting film would provide a substantial deterrent to damage due to water.

Aqueous dispersion of a particulate solid having a hydrophobic outer surface and films produced thereby

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


The present invention relates to Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV) and, in particular, to methods of screening compounds for their ability to act as CaMKIV agonists or antagonists. The invention further relates to compounds identified using such methods and to therapeutic methodologies based on same.

Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV) is a monomeric multifunctional enzyme that is expressed primarily in subanatomical portions of the brain, T lymphocytes and postmeiotic male germ cells. It is present in the nucleus of cells in which it is expressed (Jensen et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:2850 (1991)). CaMKIV phosphorylates and activates the cyclic AMP response element binding proteins CREB and CREMτ in a manner analogous to protein kinase A (Matthews et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:6107 (1994); Sun et al, Genes Dev. 8:2527 (1994); Enslen et al, J. Biol. Chem. 269:15320 (1994)).
In the absence of Ca2+/calmodulin, CaMKIV is inactive. Activation requires three events: i) binding of Ca2+/calmodulin; ii) phosphorylation of a single threonine residue present in the activation loop by a separate protein kinase that is also Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent; and iii) autophosphorylation of serine residues present in the extreme N-terminus that is required to relieve a novel form of autoinhibition.
CaMKIV has previously been implicated in mediating cytokine gene transcription during T cell activation using a line of transgenic mice that overexpress a catalytically inactive form of CaMKIV (Anderson et al, Mol. Endo. 11:725-737 (1997)). Driven by the murine Ick promoter, the mutant CaMKIV was expressed only in developing thymoctes and thus, the differentiation of mature T cells could not be addressed in these mice. High level expression of CaMKIV is restricted to only a few cell types, including the CD4+ T cell, where it has been localized to the nucleus in a tight 1:1 stoichiometric association with protein phosphatase 2A (Hanissian et al, J. Biol. Chem. 268:20055-20063 (1993), Westphal et al, Science 280:1258-1261 (1998)).
The specific role of CaMKIV in T cell activation is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/033,715, as is the importance of CaMKIV as a target for immunosuppressive agents. A method of identifying immunosuppressive agents that target CaMKIV is also provided in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/033,715. Agents identified using the screen provided there are T cell specific and thus substantially free of adverse side effects.
The studies described herein relate, at least in part, to the role of CaMKIV in CD4+ T cell differentiation. Naïve CD4+ T cells can differentiate along different pathways in response to stimulation by MHC/antigen complex (see FIG. 1). The most well characterized T helper subsets are referred to as Th1 and Th2 which differ in the types of cytokines they secrete. The different sets of cytokines in turn mediate different effector functions. Th1 cells secrete IL-2, INF-γ, and TNF-β. IL-2 functions as the Th1 cell autocrine growth factor and promotes the differentiation of CD8+ T cells into cytolytic T cells. IFN-γ stimulates macrophages to kill intracellular microbes and activates the production of IgG which is the principle immunoglobulin involved in opsonization and phagocytosis. The TNF-β secreted by Th1 cells recruits and activates inflammatory leukocytes. Collectively, these are mechanisms used by Th1 cells to promote elimination of intracellular microbes. In contrast, Th2 cells express IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13. IL-4 functions as the Th2 autocrine growth factor. This cytokine is also required for immunoglobulin switching to the IgE isotype and is the primary activator of mast cells. IL-5 stimulates eosinophils to kill parasites. IL-13 is required for generation of allergic asthma. Th2 cells thus function to eliminate parasites and are the mediators of allergic responses.
The mechanisms determining the pathway by which an individual, naïve T cell proceeds are unclear, but the process is strongly influenced by the context in which T cell stimulation occurs. Once a Th1 or Th2 population begins to become established, the cytokines it produces inhibit the alternative pathway (FIG. 1) to further promote dominance of a single cell type. In vivo, one or the other differentiated cell type generally comes to dominate during the course of an immune response to profoundly determine the outcome of the response.
The present invention provided methods of identifying agonists (activators) and antagonists (inhibitors) of CaMKIV and to methods of using compounds so identified in a variety of therapeutic settings.


A floating caliper-type disk brake for automotive vehicles, for supporting the circumferential forces and for guiding the brake pads including a brake carrier integrated into the steering knuckle of the vehicle. To insure a simple final assembly on the vehicle and to facilitate an automatic assembly, the floating caliper with brake pads attached thereto is supplied as a pre-assembled unit. The brake pads by means of leaf springs secured to their back plates are detachably fixed to the floating caliper. In the practice of the invention, the leaf spring of the outer brake pad, additionally serves to radially prestress the floating caliper vis-a-vis the carrier arms of the brake carrier, thereby eliminating another spring provided for this purpose. The assembly of the floating caliper on the vehicle is simplified because there is no need to assemble the said additional spring.

A disk brake of the afore-mentioned type is known from DE-A-38 15 733. This disk brake comprises a floating caliper displaceably guided on the steering knuckle by means of two bolt guides. The two bolt guides form two support points for the floating caliper on the inner axial side. The back plate of the outer brake pad is used for additionally supporting the floating caliper on the outer axial side. The floating caliper is disposed either on a central projection of the brake pad serving as a third support point or on projections of the back plate lateral in the circumferential direction in the form of a four-point support. The brake pad, in turn, is supported on carrier arms of an integrated brake carrier.
Typically, the floating caliper is clamped in the radial direction vis-a-vis the carrier arms by means of a wire spring to prevent rattling from occurring. The floating caliper, by the wire spring, is rigidly forced radially inwardly against the back plate of the brake pad which, in turn, is rigidly forced against the carrier arms. No radially resilient movement of the floating caliper over the brake pad is provided. The outer brake pad is detachably fixed to the floating caliper by means of a leaf spring, with the latter also comprising a radially resilient spring tongue; however, the spring tongue in the outer brake pad has no function in the prior art system and is provided only in order to permit an identical design of the outer and inner brake pads.
As in a disk brake of the afore-mentioned type the carrier arms are integral parts of the steering knuckle of the automotive vehicle, the brake pads and the floating caliper must be mounted, during final assembly of the vehicles, by the vehicle manufacturer. The final assembly must be as simple as possible. The floating caliper is, therefore, supplied by the brake manufacturer together with the brake pads as a pre-assembled unit to the vehicle manufacturer for final assembly. However, the prior art floating caliper-type disk brake involves the disadvantage that after fixing the floating caliper by means of the two bolt guides, the wire spring is yet to be clamped between floating caliper and brake carrier, thereby substantially complicating assembly (especially automated assembly) of the floating caliper on the vehicle wheel.
It is the object of the invention to provide a floating caliper-type disk brake of a simple design, permitting a low-cost manufacture and an easy, preferably, automatic assembly on the vehicle wheel.

Floating caliper-type disk brake for automotive vehicles


A bezel mounting assembly includes a bezel (10), a front panel (30) defining a pair of apertures (31), and a locking device (20) attached to the bezel for securing the bezel to the front panel. The bezel includes a pair of pillars (121) and a pair of blocks (11) having a pair of posts (14). The locking device includes a pair of symmetric side plates (22) defining through slots (25) for slidably receiving the posts, a pair of resilient arms (27) extending from the side plates, an operating member (23), and a pair of catches (26). The locking device is slidably attached on the blocks, with the posts engagingly received in the through slots. The resilient arms are secured to the pillars at free ends thereof. The operating member is moved vertically so as to drive the catches to engage in and disengage from the apertures of the front panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting assembly, and more particularly to a computer bezel mounting assembly with a simplified configuration and convenient usability. The invention relates to a contemporarily filed application titled "BEZEL MOUNTING DEVICE" having one same inventor and the same assignee with the instant application.
2. Description of Prior Art
A conventional front bezel is mounted to a computer case by means of a plurality of set screws or fasteners being attached to the bezel and engaged in a plurality of fixing holes defined in the computer case. A typical bezel mounting assembly is disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 285,315. The mounting assembly comprises a chassis and a front bezel. Two sidewalls of the chassis define a plurality of receiving slots in respective front portions thereof. Side edges of the bezel have a plurality of barbs engaging in the corresponding slots of the chassis, thereby connecting the front bezel to the chassis. However, this mounting assembly requires the bezel to have numerous barbs, which makes detachment of the bezel from the chassis inconvenient and laborious. Additionally, the barbs are easily broken when too much force is applied thereon during the detachment process.
Another typical bezel mounting assembly is disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 200,980. The bezel mounting assembly comprises a front bezel, a chassis and a plurality of metal clip members mounted on top of corresponding pillars formed on the bezel. A circumferential edge of the chassis defines a plurality of slots corresponding to the arrangement of the pillars. Each metal clip comprises a planar fixing portion, a vertical supporting portion, and a guiding portion. A mounting dent is defined between the supporting portion and the guiding portion. The guiding portion passes through the corresponding slot of the chassis until an inner edge of the chassis at the slot is blocked in the mounting dent. The bezel is thereby mounted to the chassis. This mounting assembly requires a plurality of additional separate members (i.e., the metal clips) with specific configurations in order to mount the bezel, which makes manufacturing of the mounting assembly more time-consuming costly. Moreover, it is rather inconvenient and laborious to detach all the clip members tightly engaged in the slots. Another similar structure is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,680.

Bezel mounting assembly with slidable lock member

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A Flash EEPROM having at least one memory sector. The memory sector includes a plurality of rows and columns of memory cells; at least one negative voltage generator for generating a negative voltage commonly charging the plurality of rows to a negative potential during an erase pulse for erasing the memory cells of the at least one memory sector and control logic activating the negative voltage generator at the beginning of the erase pulse and deactivating the negative voltage generator at the end of the erase pulse. The Flash EEPROM having for controlling a discharge time of the rows of the at least one memory sector at the end of the erase pulse.

Flash EEPROMs are characterized by the fact that all the memory cells of the memory array, or at least large groups of them (memory sectors), can be electrically erased at a time.
According to a preferred erasing technique, described for example in the co-pending European Patent Application No. 95830253.1 filed on Jun. 19, 1995 in the name of the same applicant, erasing of the memory cells of the memory array or of a given memory sector is performed by biasing the word lines of the memory array or of the memory sector with a negative erase voltage ranging from -8 V to -12 V, and applying a positive erase voltage of approximately 5 V to the sources of the memory cells. Applicant also incorporates by reference European Patent Application No. 95830348.9, filed Jul. 31, 1995 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,807) European Patent Application No.95830317.4, filed Jul. 24, 1995 (corresponding to U.S. application Ser. No. 08/687,145) and European Patent Application No.95830351.3, filed Aug. 2, 1995 (corresponding to U.S. application Ser. No. 08/692,936).
After the erase, all the word lines and all the sources of the memory cells of the memory array or of the memory sector must be brought to the ground potential. This involves the discharge of large capacitances. In fact, when the potential of the word lines is brought to the negative erase voltage, the control gate capacitances of all the memory cells connected to the word lines are charged to a voltage ranging from -8 V to -12 V. Similarly, when the potential of the sources of the memory cells is brought to the positive erase voltage, the source capacitance of all the memory cells is charged to a voltage of approximately 5 V. In Flash EEPROM of the size of some megabits, the sum of the control gate capacitances, as well as the sum of all the source capacitances of the memory cells, can be of the order of some hundreds of picofarads. The rapid discharge of such large capacitances gives rise to high currents flowing in the metal lines which deliver the power supply voltages inside the memory device. To prevent problems of electromigration in such metal lines, these must be overdimensioned, with an obvious increase of chip area.

Flash EEPROM with controlled discharge time of the word lines and source potentials after erase


A method includes receiving an alarm sound including information related to an emergency event. The method also includes transmitting, to a server, identification information of the mobile device and the information. The method further includes receiving, from the server, an instruction for responding to the emergency event. The method further includes outputting the instruction.

Alarm devices such as sirens or bells have been widely used to indicate an emergency situation such as a fire or burglary. When an emergency situation arises, the alarms devices typically operate to generate loud alarm sounds. In general, the sound generated by an alarm device is designed to be easily perceived by people so that they can be immediately alerted to the emergency situation and take appropriate actions for safety.
In an actual emergency situation, the original emergency event that triggered the alarm sound may not be clear to those in the vicinity of the emergency. Further, the location of the source of the emergency such as a fire may not be immediately apparent to those near the emergency. For example, despite an alarm sound, people in the vicinity of the emergency may not be able to identify a burglary as the cause of the alarm sound. Similarly, the location of a fire may not be readily identifiable due to smoke. Accordingly, people perceiving an alarm may not have a clear understanding of the emergency situation to respond appropriately.
Moreover, a person in an emergency situation may not be familiar with the location or a building in which an alarm is triggered. In such case, a person may try to obtain information on such location or building through a mobile device. However, such an effort may result in a delay in responding to the emergency situation. Further, even with knowledge of such location or building, a person in the emergency situation may not be able to respond appropriately due to panic or an emergency condition such as smoke from a fire.
Thus, there is a need for a method and system for communicating information on an emergency event to allow a mobile device to provide an instruction for responding to the emergency event.
Recently, the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers has become widespread. These devices typically provide a voice and data communication capability over wireless networks. In addition, such devices typically include other features or applications that provide a variety of functions designed to enhance user convenience.
One such feature is a voice call function in which a mobile device may call a phone number in response to receiving a voice command from a user. This feature allows the user to call a desired phone number without physically entering the number by hand on the mobile device. Accordingly, the voice call function may be used to call a phone number in a variety of situations in which the user may not be able to physically input the number by hand.
The voice call function may allow a user of a mobile device to make a call in an emergency situation. When the user has been injured in an accident such as a fall, a vehicular accident, or the like, the user may call a phone number for assistance using the voice call function of the mobile device. For example, if the user is unable to physically operate the mobile device due to injury, the user may speak a command such as "CALL 911" to the mobile device to seek assistance. However, voice call functions may be triggered unintentionally by erroneous recognition of a voice command. An erroneous call to an emergency number, e.g., 911, is particularly undesirable. Such an erroneous call wastes the resources of the emergency service as well as subjecting the user to potential penalties.

Emergency handling system using informative alarm sound


Method and apparatus to measure jitter (period-to-period fluctuations in fundamental frequency) among the voices of suicidal, major depressed, and non-suicidal patients to predict near-term suicidal risk.

Among the many clinical decisions psychiatrists must make, assessment of a patient's risk of committing suicide is definitely among the most complex and demanding; identification of individuals at imminent suicidal risk is the most important decision a clinician makes. Currently, such assessment is done on a clinical intuitive level, which requires gathering and weighing a variety of information and data from numerous sources. These data include the patient's demographic profile, history, family evaluation and psychological factors, as well as the current situation as evaluated during the clinical interview. These data help in categorizing groups of people as "high risk" but they are not useful to determine if a patient is at imminent risk. Moreover, collecting such data is time consuming; required data to make a decision are usually not available in clinical situations requiring an immediate decision.

Method for analysis of vocal jitter for near-term suicidal risk assessment


A light directing apparatus comprising an LED array having RGB light emitting diode structures arrayed longitudinally along a substrate to form a plurality of RGB triplet groups and a lenslet array having a plurality of lenslet structures positioned adjacent a respective one of the RGB triplet groups. The lenslet structures include for each respective RGB triplet group a plurality of cylindrical lenses indexed to its respective RGB triplet group. The cylindrical lenses are longitudinally arrayed in parallel to said RGB light emitting diode structures. This arrangement results in greater optical efficiency because light from the LEDs is preferentially directed in a desired direction where an observer is most likely to be.

This invention relates generally to an image formation apparatus which uses a plurality of light emitting elements and, more particularly, to such a system in which an array of such light emitting elements are matched with a lens array for enhancing the illumination pattern preferentially in one direction.
An array of surface-emitting light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is typically manufactured with a 2-dimensional array of the different structures, such as in a Red-Green-Blue (RGB) array where each individual color LED pixel is in the shape of a stripe having an active area whose length is several times greater than its width. The normal optical properties of these LEDs are that the emitted radiation would be in an isotropic pattern, close to a Lambertian.
The isotropic distribution of illumination, which does not favor any one direction or orientation over another, may be the ideal arrangement for some display uses. One example where isotropic illumination may be desired is with a scoreboard at a professional sporting event where fans within the stadium are at all positions relative to the scoreboard—higher, lower, to the left, right and straight on, etc.
Where viewing is predicable, such as billboard signs along a highway, isotropic light distribution is wasteful since only persons in front of and slightly below the sign will be reading the information on the sign. Lenticular arrays, such as fresnel lenses, have been used to focus light from a general light source in a particular direction. But until now, no lens system has specifically addressed LED or pixel-based systems. The present system is adapted to address this deficiency.

Flat panel color display with enhanced brightness and preferential viewing angles


A mode-dependent, battery-coupling switch for a subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) selectively adjusts its current requirements to provide optimal current handling capability irrespective of the mode of operation of the SLIC. Where current demands of the SLIC are relatively minimal (e.g., on-hook idle mode), the bias is set at a relatively small, default value. During high current demand, such as ringing and off-hook signaling, the bias is set at a relatively large value, to maintain a low voltage drop across the battery-coupling switch.

Subscriber line interface circuits (SLICs) are employed by telecommunication service providers to interface a wireline pair with subscriber (voice-data) communication equipment. In order to be interfaced with different types of telecommunication circuits, including (single supply-based) low voltage circuits that provide digital codec functionality, the transmission channels of the SLIC must conform with a very demanding set of performance requirements, such as accuracy, linearity, low noise, filtering, insensitivity to common mode signals, low power consumption, and ease of impedance matching programmability. In a typical application, the wireline pair to which the SLIC is connected can vary from one installation to another, and may have a significant length (e.g., on the order of multiple miles), transporting both substantial DC voltages, as well as AC signals (e.g., voice and/or ringing). As a result, it has been difficult to realize a SLIC implementation having 'universal' use in both legacy and state of the art installations.
Advantageously, this problem is successfully addressed by the SLIC architecture disclosed in the '976 application, referenced above and a portion of which is diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown therein, the SLIC of the '976 application is partitioned into a high voltage analog section 1, that drives tip and ring conductors 2, 3 of a subscriber loop pair 4, and a mixed signal (low voltage and digital signal processing (DSP)) section 5, which monitors and controls the operation of the high voltage analog section 1. The high voltage analog section 1 is comprised of an integrated arrangement of functional analog signal blocks, and is interfaced with a DSP codec subsection 6 and a supervisory microcontroller subsection 7 of the mixed signal section 5. The high voltage analog section 1 performs analog (e.g., voice, ringing) signal processing and interface functions of a conventional SLIC, based on control inputs and programmed parameters of the mixed signal section 5.
In addition to voice signaling, the high voltage section provides a substantial gain boost for low voltage signals, and provides both balanced and unbalanced drives for ringing, including multiple wave shapes, such as sinusoidal and trapezoidal signals. The high voltage section is also configured to supply advanced diagnostic information, for application to the low voltage digital signal processing interface. Diagnostic information may relate to tip and ring currents, and operating battery voltage.
The mixed signal section contains low voltage digital communication interface circuitry, including a digital signal processor (DSP) based coder-decoder (codec). Because the mixed signal section is digitally programmable, the partitioned SLIC architecture of the '976 application is, in effect, a 'universal' design, that may be readily programmed to comply with a variety of industry and country telecommunication standards. Programmable line circuit parameters include loop supervision, loop feed, impedance matching and test coverage.
The high voltage analog section 1 includes a receive input unit 10 that interfaces and conditions input voice and ancillary signals, including low voltage signaling and ringing signals, supplied from the codec 6, and couples complementary polarity copies of a voice signal representative current to respective tip and ring amplifier blocks 20T and 20R of a dual mode tip/ring amplifier unit 20. These tip/ring amplifier blocks are selectively biased to operate at a first (close-to-unity) gain for a first signaling mode (off-hook voice signal processing), or at an increased or 'boosted' (e.g., ×30 or ×120) gain for ancillary signal processing (e.g., on-hook signaling and ringing). The tip/ring links ⅔ are monitored via a sense amplifier 25.
Reference voltages for the tip/ring amplifier 20 are derived from a battery bias unit 30, which is coupled to the output port 43 of a battery supply switch unit 40. The battery bias unit 30 contains a set of switchable, voltage-divider networks, that are used to selectively bias tip and ring portions of the tip/ring amplifier 20 in accordance with the mode of operation of the SLIC. Battery supply switch 40 selectively couples either a relatively low battery voltage VBL that is applied to a low battery supply switch input port 41, or a relatively high battery voltage VBH that is applied to high battery supply switch input port 42 to one or more output ports (a single one of which is shown at 43, to reduce the complexity of the drawings. The low battery voltage VBL may be on the order of −60 VDC and the high battery voltage VBH may be on the order of −125 VDC. The battery supply switch output port 43 is switchably coupled to tip and ring path voltage divider networks within the battery bias unit 30. The choice of battery voltage depends upon the state of battery supply switch unit 40, whose operation of which is controlled by the mixed signal section 5.
For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 2, the low battery voltage VBL port 41 is coupled through a diode 44 to a node 51 of a battery supply path switch 50. Diode 44 allows transitioning to low battery operation when battery switch is open, or in the event high battery is removed this diode also prevents cross-conduction between VBH and VBL when battery switch 50 is closed. The battery supply path switch 50 is controlled by a battery supply switch control signal from the DSP section 5. (Although only a single set of a diode and battery supply path switch is shown, the battery supply switch unit 40 may contain plural ones of such diodes and associated switches coupled in parallel, for example, a pair of such diode-switch sets, as described in the above-referenced '976 application).
Switch node 51 is coupled to the battery supply switch output port 43, while switch node 52 is coupled to the high battery (VBH) supply switch input port 42. In addition to being coupled to the battery bias unit 30, the battery supply switch output port 43 is coupled to various circuits of the SLIC, such as power transistor circuits.
As shown in FIG. 3, the battery supply path switch 50 may be implemented by means of a Darlington-coupled pair of NPN bipolar transistors Q1-Q2, collectors of which are coupled in common to node 51 (to which the low battery voltage VBL is coupled through diode 44, and which is (default) coupled to output port 43). The emitter of transistor Q2 is coupled to node 42 (to which the high battery voltage VBH is supplied), while the base of transistor Q1 is coupled to receive base drive current from a current source 55.
In order to accommodate whatever current demand may be encountered (including ringing, and other (off-hook) high current requirements) during the various modes of operation of the SLIC, the base bias drive to transistor Q1 may be set at a relatively large current value (e.g., on the order of 50 microamps). This 'standby' current drive parameter serves to ensure that the Darlington transistor pair Q1-Q2 will be driven into full saturation and will absorb any current, including those having relatively large values (e.g., currents on the order of 70-100 mA).
Unfortunately, although such a large standby base bias current ensures that the battery supply switch will successfully handle any current demand, it also results in substantial and unnecessary power dissipation (e.g., on the order of 6 mW) during those operational modes where current requirements are relatively low. For example, during on-hook idle mode, in the absence of the need to generate a ringing signal in response to an incoming call, the current demands of the SLIC are relatively minimal, since what is essentially required is to provide just enough current to detect the user going off-hook, in association with the placement of an outgoing call. This reduced current requirement is especially imperative at an installation, such as a remote terminal, where electrical power may be supplied by a local or back-up battery unit, the power dissipation budget for which is severely constrained.

Mode-dependent, multiple bias-driven battery switch for subscriber line interface circuit


Methods and apparatus for providing relatively long travel in a transverse direction for a magnetic levitation stage apparatus are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a linear actuator includes a first core, a second core, and at least one coil wrapped around the first core. The first core includes a body portion and a plurality of rails. The body portion has a first axis and a second axis, and the rails have longitudinal axes that are perpendicular to the first axis and parallel to the second axis. The dimensions of the rails along the longitudinal axes are substantially larger than a dimension of the body portion along the second axis. The second core has a third axis that is oriented perpendicularly to the longitudinal axes and to the second axis, and is levitated relative to the first core when a current is provided through the coil.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor processing equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a CI-core or an EI-core actuator which enables travel to efficiently occur in a transverse direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
For precision instruments such as photolithography machines which are used in semiconductor processing, factors which affect the performance, e.g., accuracy, of the precision instrument generally must be dealt with and, insofar as possible, eliminated. When the performance of a precision instrument is adversely affected, as for example by excessive heat or weight, the integrity of a device formed using the precision instrument may be compromised.
Magnetic levitation stage assemblies are often used in photolithography processes to support a wafer that is being scanned. In magnetic levitation stage assemblies, magnetic actuators are used to allow a stage, e.g., a fine stage, to effectively undergo non-contact positioning. Such magnetic actuators produce a suspension or levitation force which allows a stage to be scanned or otherwise positioned without the stage having to substantially contact any surface.
The use of a magnetic levitation stage allows the weight associated with the stage to be substantially supported without requiring a relatively large amount of energy or current, and also allows the stage to be accurately positioned. An example of a magnetic levitation stage is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/272,930, filed Oct. 18, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIG. 1a is a diagrammatic representation of a CI-core actuator with a single coil which is capable of generating a force that may be used as a magnetic levitation force. A CI-core actuator 100 includes a C-core 102 and an I-core 104 which are separated by a gap 108. A coil 106 is substantially wound around a top-portion of C-core 102. If coil 106 is provided with current, coil 106 and the top-portion of C-core 102 form an electromagnet. When gap 108 is relatively small, as for example less than or equal to approximately one millimeter (mm) in size, CI-core actuator 100 may operate efficiently in that a relatively large amount of force may be generated for a relatively low amount of power. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, however, the need to maintain a relatively small gap 108 is not conducive to a relatively long travel in a transverse direction for a component such as a stage (not shown) that is to be moved using CI-core actuator 100.
Current may be provided through coil 106 such that a magnetic flux is generated with respect to C-core 102. The flux effectively penetrates gap 108 to create an attraction between C-core 102 and I-core 104. An attraction force, F, may be defined as follows:
      F    ≈                            N          2                                  i          2                        A                                                            μ          o                            4                                      (            gap            )                    2                      =      k                      i        2                              (          gap          )                2
where N is the number of turns of coil 106, i is the current flowing through coil 106, A is an area of one side of C-core 102, μo is the permeability of air, and (gap) represents the size of gap 108. The attraction force is generally more efficient for relatively a relatively small gap 108. When C-core 102 and I-core 104 are formed from a relatively high permeability iron material, the reluctance of the overall magnetic circuit is dominated by the reluctance across gap 108. However, the reluctance of the overall magnetic circuit is affected by the iron material in that the iron causes the overall magnetic path length to increase.
Instead of coil 106 being substantially wound around a top portion of C-core 102, a plurality of coils may instead be wound around "legs" of a C-core. The winding of coils around the legs of a C-core is less complicated to manufacture than the winding of a coil around a top portion of a C-core. FIG. 1b is a diagrammatic representation of a CI-core actuator with a plurality of coils. A CI-core actuator 110 includes a C-core 112 and an I-core 114 which are separated by a gap 118. Coils 116 are wound around sides of C-core 116 as shown.
While CI-core actuators are often used in magnetic levitation stage devices, EI-core actuators may be used as well. With reference to FIG. 1c, an EI-core actuator will be described. An EI-core actuator 120 generally includes an E-core 122 and an I-core 124 which are separated by a gap 128. A coil 126 may be wound around a "leg" of E-core 122, as shown, such that when current passes through coil 126, flux is substantially generated to cause an attraction between E-core 122 and I-core 124. As CI-core and EI-core actuators provide attractive forces, they are commonly arranged in opposing pairs.
CI-core or EI-core actuators may be used to facilitate movement of a stage, as for example a stage that is a magnetic levitation stage. Typically, at least a plurality of pairs of CI-core or EI-core actuators is used in a magnetic levitation stage apparatus. FIG. 2a is a diagrammatic side-view representation of a stage which carries a plurality of C-cores of a CI-core. A stage 204 includes a plurality of C-cores 208, and is arranged to move beneath a relatively large plate 212 which serves as an I-core that corresponds to C-cores 208. Such movement may be accomplished using linear motors. Since C-cores 208 are supporting weight at all times, relatively significant heat may be generated, and coolant is generally needed to provide cooling to stage 204. Further, when C-cores 208 move, substantially any wires or cables (not shown) coupled to C-cores 208 or to coils (not shown) wound around C-cores 208 must also move. Such wires and cables include power cables and cooling hoses. Wire and cables add disturbance forces to stage 204 which may adversely affect the movement and positioning performance of stage 204.
In addition, when C-cores 208 are supported on stage 204, the overall weight carried or otherwise supported by stage 204 increases. Increasing the weight carried or otherwise supported by stage 204 increases the amount of force needed to drive stage 204 and, hence, the power requirements of stage 204, which is often undesirable.
To reduce power requirements and complications associated with positioning C-cores 208 on stage 204 such that C-cores 208 effectively move with stage 204, C-cores may be substantially fixed to a non-moving portion of an overall stage device. With respect to FIG. 2b, a stage which carries an I-core portion of a CI-core actuator while the C-core portion of the CI-core actuator remains substantially fixed will be described. A stage 224 effectively includes an I-core surface (not shown), and is arranged to scan beneath C-cores 228 which are coupled to a substantially fixed surface 232. While the use of stage 224 which does not include moving coils associated with C-cores 228 substantially eliminates issues associated with the implementation of moving coils, stage 224 generally needs to be larger in a stroke direction than the maximum stroke in the stroke direction. That is, stage 224 is sized such that a dimension of stage 224 along a particular axis is larger than the maximum stroke along that axis. As a result, the size of a stroke which stage 224 may undergo is effectively limited by the size of the stage 224.
Further, the amount of force associated with each C-core 228 typically changes depending upon the location of a center of gravity 234 of stage 224, i.e., a force ratio associated with the force output of each C-core 228 changes. Typically, more force and, hence, more power is required in whichever C-core 228 is nearer to center of gravity 234. In addition, control dynamics generally change with the position of each C-core 228. When center of gravity 234 is located substantially at a mid-line between C-core 228a and C-core 228b, then forces generated using C-core 228a and C-core 228b may be substantially the same. However, when center of gravity 234 is located closer to C-core 228a, for example, then C-core 228a generally must generate more force than C-core 228b. Adjusting the amount of force associated with each C-core 228 depending upon where center of gravity 234 is located is often relatively complicated.
The lifting point associated with a stage also moves when the stage moves. This may cause changing distortion in the stage, which may adversely affect the performance of the stage. When the precision with which the stage may be positioned is affected, wafer fabrication processes which utilize the stage may be compromised.
For at least the reasons stated above, cooling issues and stroke issues associated with the use of CI-core actuators in stage assemblies as discussed with respect to FIGS. 2a and 2b generally do not efficiently allow for relatively long travel transverse to the force direction of the CI-core actuators. Although the use of voice coil motors in a stage apparatus such as a magnetic levitation stage apparatus may be effective in allowing for relatively longer travel in a transverse direction, voice coil motors generally operate less efficiently than CI-core and EI-core actuators. In addition, voice coil motors may either require the use of moving magnets, which add weight to a moving stage, or of moving coils, which gives rise to issues associated with moving cables and cooling.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and a method which enables a stage such as a magnetic levitation stage to have relatively long travel in a transverse direction without significant cooling concerns, stroke length concerns, or issues with moving cables. More specifically, what is desired is a CI-core actuator or an EI-core actuator which allows for long travel in a transverse direction.

CI-core actuator for long travel in a transverse direction