A method and apparatus for ensuring QoS in a synchronous Ethernet bridge are disclosed, in which a classifier classifies an ingress packet according to a PHB mapped to a DSCP value of the packet and provides the classified packet to one of a predetermined synchronous packet queue and a predetermined asynchronous packet queue, a buffer queue with a plurality of queues mapped to priority levels buffers the classified packet, a marker marks the buffered packet as a synchronous packet or, if the buffered packet is an asynchronous packet, marks the packet in a predetermined format corresponding to a priority level of the packet, and a synchronous Ethernet scheduler schedules the marked packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to Quality of Service (QoS) in a Differentiated Service (DiffServ) network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for guaranteeing QoS in a residential Ethernet system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ethernet is one of the most widely installed technologies for data transmission between different terminals. Owing to its universality and simple structure, Ethernet extends its applications to a Local Area Network (LAN) and a Wide Area Network (WAN). Although it is known that Ethernet is not suitable for transmission of delay-sensitive multimedia data, studies have been actively conducted on a technology for transmitting multimedia data including audio and video, while ensuring compatibility with legacy Ethernet networks. The technology is called Audio/Video (AV) bridging or residential bridging, now under standardization in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1 protocol.
Meanwhile, two Internet solutions for end-to-end QoS guarantee are attracting interest as a substitute for the existing best-effort service. One is rather simple, called Integrated Service (IntServ) which relies on a receiver-initiated signaling protocol, resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP). IntServ provides QoS to end hosts by reserving end-to-end resources using the RSVP, when the end hosts signal their QoS needs.
IntServ provides three service classes, best-effort service, guaranteed service, and controlled load service. For packets of the service classes, path setup and resource reservation are essential before data transmission. However, performing the resource reservation process in all routers existing on a path brings about a load large enough to significantly affect the whole system.
The other Internet QoS solution is DiffServ. Instead of reserving resources on a per-flow basis, an edge node (e.g. router) classifies data packets according to user-requested QoS levels and a core node of a network forwards the traffic differentially, to thereby provide differentiated services to users. Thus, DiffServ obviates the need for a resource reservation protocol and resource reservation and offers the benefits of small network load and provisioning of differentiated services.
Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP) representing precedence is set in Type of Service (TOS) of the header of an Internet Protocol (IP) datagram. For DSCP, four values are defined: Default Per-Hop-Behavior (PHB), Assured Forwarding (AF) PHB, and Expedited Forwarding (EF) PHB. A core router processes a high-precedence packet first of all according to a DSCP setting. In this way, differentiated services are provided.
The edge router has five components, classifier, meter, marker, shaper, and dropper to implement differentiated traffic control. The classifier classifies received traffic based on various criterions. The meter measures the classified traffic flow and compares the measurement with a predetermined traffic profile so that the marker can mark the traffic flow appropriately. Marked packets are controlled in accordance with a predetermined bandwidth characteristic for traffic by the shaper that controls a bandwidth by delaying and the dropper that controls a bandwidth by dropping.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical DiffServ network for QoS guarantee. Referring to FIG. 1, an edge router sets a DSCP in an IP packet and sends the IP packet to a core router 12. The core router 12 performs a PHB according to the DSCP value. While the core router 12 may have a relatively simple structure as it only has to forward the IP packet between hops, the edge router 11 has a complex configuration due to classification and conditioning.
Both IntServ and DiffServ present QoS guarantee solutions over IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6) networks. Yet, they are confined to router-based Layer 3 (L3) networks and not effective in ensuring QoS for transmission of time-sensitive data such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in a Layer 2 (L2)-based edge network that interfaces with L3 or higher networks. Especially in Wireless Broadband (WiBro), there is no specified method for ensuring QoS in an L2 network between a Radio Access Station (RAS) and an Access Control Router (ACR). While RSVP-based IntServ or DiffServ exists in an L3 or higher network where the ACR communicates with an external network, no QoS guarantee for L2 may cause a severe bottleneck phenomenon. As a result, jitter or latency, or even packet loss may happen.
For background details of the L2-based WiBro network, see Korea Patent Application No. 2006-60848 entitled "Bridge-Type Portable Internet System and Signal Processing Method Thereof" and filed on Jun. 30, 2006 by the present applicant (U.S. Ser. No. 11/644,575 filed on Dec. 22, 2006) or Korea Patent Application No. 2006-68828 entitled "Bridge-based Base Station backbone System and Signal Processing Method Thereof" and filed on Jul. 24, 2006 (U.S. Ser. No. 11/880,659, filed on Jul. 24, 2007) by the present applicant.

Method and apparatus for guaranteeing quality of service in a residential ethernet system

Maetan-Dong, Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon-Si, Gyeonggi-Do


Prostatic stem cells have been isolated. Benign prostatic hyperplasia and other proliferative diseases of the prostate may arise in prostatic stem cells. The prostatic stem cells are used as a research tool for studying cancer and other proliferative diseases of the prostate, and for developing diagnostics and therapeutics for proliferative diseases of the prostate. Antibodies to the antigens expressed by prostatic stem cells can be used as therapeutics or diagnostics or can be used to deliver therapeutic or diagnostic agents directly to the prostatic stem cells.

Stem cells are rare cells located in specific niches where they are maintained in a quiescent state (Spradling et al, 2001; Lavker et al, 2000). Stem cells have been defined as cells that have the ability to perpetuate themselves through self-renewal and to generate mature cells of a particular tissue through differentiation. Although one would assume that each tissue arises from a tissue-specific stem cell, rigorous identification and isolation of these somatic stem cells has been accomplished only in a few instances.
Stem cells in organs other than the prostate have been identified by their expression of specific antigens, such as stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1), alpha 6 integrin, and Bcl-2. The present inventors have determined that these antigens can be used to identify the stem cell population in the proximal region of ducts. Sca-1 is expressed on the surface of stem/progenitor cells from a variety of murine tissues, such as hematopoietic (Spangrude et al, 1988), cardiac (Matsuura et al, 2004), mammary gland (Welm et al, 2002), skin (Montanaro et al, 2003), muscle (Asakura, 2003) and testis (Falciatori et al, 2004). Alpha 6 integrin (CD49f) is expressed on the surface of primitive cells in the liver (Suzuki et al, 2000) and skin (Tani et al, 2000). Anti-alpha 6 integrin antibodies have been used to enrich for spermatogonial stem cells from mouse testis (Shinohara et al, 1999). Bcl-2, an intracellular anti-apoptotic protein (Adams et al, 1998), may protect primitive cells from death and is expressed by hematopoietic, keratinocyte and colon stem cells (Domen et al, 2000a; Potten et al, 1997; Tiberio et al, 2002). The expression of CD133 (prominin) has been found on human putative prostatic stem cells (Richardson et al, 2004). Signaling molecules such as Wnt and Notch are also involved in stem cell renewal and stem cell niches (Walsh et al, 2003). Notch1 expression has been noted in prostate epithelial cells during normal development and in prostate cancer cells (Shou et al, 2001).
The most definitive evidence for stem cells' definition is their ability to reconstitute an organ. Serially transplanted bone marrow can reconstitute lethally irradiated mice (Chen et al, 2000; Maggio-Price et al, 1988), and the number of successful serial transfers depends on the size of the grafts and the time intervals between transfers (Jones et al, 1989).
Cell surface molecules on various types of cells are given a cluster of differentiation (CD) designation in which each CD molecule designation describes a surface molecule (marker) identifiable by a cluster of monoclonal antibodies that display the same cellular reactivity. CD designations are assigned at regularly held international workshops on human leukocyte differentiation antigens. For example, the CD19 marker is specific to B cells, and the CD33 marker is specific to myeloid cells. At the present time, it is not known how many of the markers associated with differentiated cells are also present on stem cells.
Cancer is caused primarily by an increase in the number of abnormal cells derived from a given normal tissue, invasion of adjacent tissues by these abnormal cells, and lymphatic or blood-borne spread of malignant cells to regional lymph nodes and to distant sites (metastasis). Pre-malignant abnormal cell growth is exemplified by hyperplasia, metaplasia, or most particularly, dysplasia. The neoplastic lesion may evolve clonally and develop an increasing capacity for growth, metastasis, and heterogeneity, especially under conditions in which the neoplastic cells escape the host's immune surveillance.
As understanding of the pathophysiological role of cancer increases, the role of both tumor markers and genetic information becomes more important in the management and treatment of cancer patients. Tumor markers are substances that can be measured quantitatively by biochemical or immunochemical means in tissue or body fluids to detect a cancer, to establish the extent of tumor burden before treatment, to diagnose as aides in staging or confirmation of histopathology, to predict the outcome of drug therapy, and to monitor relapse. Measurement of tumor markers has been used to screen total populations as well as for testing high-risk groups.
Stem cell biology and tumorigenesis may be closely linked, and stem cells may have a role in the etiology of cancer (Al-Hajj et al, 2004; Al-Hajj et al, 2003; Lapidot et al, 1994; Pardal et al, 2003; Reya et al, 2001; WO 03/050502). Stem cells and tumor cells have many common features, including self-renewal, multi-drug resistance, telomerase expression and, in the instance of the prostate, androgen independence. It has been reported in WO 03/050502 that a small percentage of tumorigenic cells within an established solid tumor have the properties of stem cells. These solid tumor stem cells give rise both to more solid tumor stem cells and to the majority of cells in the tumor, cancer cells that have lost the capacity for extensive proliferation and the ability to give rise to new tumors. Thus, solid tumor cell heterogeneity reflects the presence of a variety of tumor cell types that arise from a solid tumor stem cell.
Prostatic stem cells do not require androgens for survival, as evidenced by completely normal prostatic regeneration after more than 30 cycles of androgen ablation and supplementation, which results in involution and normal regeneration of this gland (Isaacs, 1985). As prostatic carcinoma usually progresses to an androgen-independent tumor (which may reflect a stem cell-like phenotype), an understanding of prostate cell biology is important for devising preventative or therapeutic approaches to prostate cancer.
In addition to being a target of carcinogenesis, prostatic stem cells may also be a potential source of benign prostate hyperplasia, or BPH (De Marzo et al, 1998). The isolation of these cells would therefore be likely to increase our understanding not only of normal prostate physiology but also of two of the most common diseases afflicting men, namely prostatic carcinoma and BPH.
The murine prostate consists of a branched ductal network with each duct consisting of a proximal region (adjacent the urethra), an intermediate region, and a distal region. Actively proliferating cells (transit amplifying cells) are located in the distal region of the ducts (Cunha et al, 1987a). The present inventors have previously shown that the proximal region of mouse prostatic ducts is enriched in a subpopulation of epithelial cells that have a number of properties of stem cells: they are slow-cycling, possess high in vitro proliferative potential, and single cells are able to reconstitute complex, highly branched glandular structures in vitro that contain basal and luminal cells (Tsujimura et al, 2002). In addition, cell digests from the proximal region contain cells that form significantly more prostatic tissue in an in vivo transplantation model than cells isolated from other prostatic regions. Furthermore, cell digests obtained from this transplanted tissue are again able to give rise to prostatic tissue when re-inoculated into new animals, confirming the location of prostatic stem cells in the proximal region.
It would be useful to isolate a subpopulation of cells in the prostate that have the attributes of stem cells, particularly because a characteristic of stem cells is their ability to engraft and proliferate in their "niche" within their compartment.
As stem cells in other organs have been identified by their expression of specific antigens, it would be useful to determine whether these antigens could be used to identify the prostatic stem cell population in the proximal region of ducts.
Isolation of prostatic stem cells and the elucidation of their phenotype would make it possible to examine their biology and their regenerative capacity. In addition, the relationship between prostatic stem cells and two common diseases of the prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate carcinoma could be studied, as both diseases may arise from prostatic stem cells (De Marzo et al, 1999). It has recently been proposed that stem cells are the cells most likely to accumulate mutations that result in neoplasia, and that tumors may contain a stem cell reservoir that can self-renew indefinitely (Reya et al, 2001; Passegue et al, 2003).
The phenotype of acute myelogenous leukemia cells is similar to that of hematopoietic stem cells (Bonnet et al, 1997), and tumorigenic breast cancer cells also resemble normal early multipotent breast epithelial cells (Al-Hajj et al, 2003). Therefore, it would be useful to isolate prostatic stem cells in order to permit an understanding of prostatic epithelial biology, which is relevant as the evolution of androgen-independent prostate carcinoma may reflect a stem-like state of the tumor (Reya et al, 2001; Passegue et al, 2003). Moreover, stem cells and tumor cells have many common features, including infinite life span, androgen independence, multi-drug resistance, and telomerase expression. Therefore, isolation and characterization of special features of these stem calls may make it possible to design rational therapies to treat prostate carcinoma and BPH.

Prostatic stem cells, isolation and uses


Tools and techniques are described for linking visual properties of charts to cells within tables. Methods provided by these tools enable users to select visual properties that are associated with graphical displays of chart data, and to link these visual properties to respective cells within the tables. User interfaces provided by these tools may provide representations of visual properties associated with the graphical displays of chart data, with these representations of the visual properties being responsive to user input to link the cells in the tables to the visual properties. These user interfaces may also include representations of the cells that are associated with the representations of the visual properties.

Spreadsheet applications enable users to visualize relationships between any number of different numerical data items. For example, spreadsheet applications may generate charts, graphs, or other visualizations of underlying data contained within a spreadsheet. As the complexity of these relationships and the underlying numerical data continues to increase, users may wish to adjust or customize the visualizations of this underlying data.

Linking visual properties of charts to cells within tables


The present disclosure relates to compositions for dyeing keratin materials, for example, compositions for hair dyeing comprising at least one 1,3-indandione derivative, a method for dyeing using such compositions and a multicomponent dyeing agent used for carrying out such a method.

For a long time, many people have sought to modify the color of their skin, of their eyelashes or of their hair, for example, to mask their grey hair. To do this, several technologies have been developed.
It is known to dye human keratin fibers, such as the hair, with dyeing compositions containing oxidation dye precursors, generally called oxidation bases. These oxidation bases are colorless or slightly colored compounds which, when combined with oxidizing agents, give rise, through a process of oxidative condensation, to colored compounds. These colored compounds are insoluble and are trapped inside the hair fiber.
It is also known that it is possible to vary the shades obtained with these oxidation bases by combining them with couplers or color modifiers. The variety of molecules used at the level of the oxidation bases and the couplers allows a rich palette of colors to be obtained.
The colors obtained may exhibit good fastness to shampoo. However, the oxidation reaction occurs with the aid of oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide in a basic medium. These oxidizing agents attack the keratin of the hair, such that the cosmetic and mechanical properties of the hair can deteriorate considerably in the event of repeated dyeing.
It is also known to dye human keratin fibers by direct dyeing, which comprises applying to the keratin fibers direct dyes which are colored and dyeing molecules having affinity for the fibers. There may be mentioned, by way of examples of direct dyes which are conventionally used, nitro dyes, benzene dyes, anthraquinone dyes, nitropyridine dyes, azo dyes, cationic azo dyes, xanthene dyes, acridine dyes, azine dyes or dyes of the triarylmethane type or natural dyes.
Other method(s) exist for dyeing keratin materials using indandiones such as 1,2-indandiones and 1,3-indandiones. Such dyeing method(s) are, for example, described in the following Patent Applications: EP 1 010 419, EP 1 013 259, EP 1 300 134, WO 95/11001 and WO 99/18914. The colors thus obtained may be very chromatic and may not bring about chemical degradation of keratin, but at the same time may have the disadvantage of being only temporary or semipermanent, i.e., the colors may fade after only 4 to 5 shampooings.
A need therefore remains for compositions and methods for dyeing which allow good fastness to be obtained without involving the use of oxidizing agents which are likely to damage keratin materials.

Dyeing compositions comprising at least one 1,3-indandione derivative

Abstract: The present disclosure makes it possible, for example, to obtain a color of the keratin fibers which is fast, resistant to light and to washing.


An iron-doped lithium niobate single crystal having a molar fraction of Li.sub.2 O/(Nb.sub.2 O.sub.5 +Li.sub.2 O) of from 0.495 to 0.50 which is closer to the stoichiometrical composition than a usual congruent composition, and a high diffraction efficiency by a two light wave mixture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithium niobate (LiNbO.sub.3, which will hereinafter be referred to simply as LN) single crystal which is useful in the field of e.g. optical information processing, photo-processing, photochemical reaction or photometric control, utilizing a laser beam. More particularly, it relates to a LN single crystal for an optical element having improved hologram diffraction efficiency and response speed, a method for heat treatment thereof and a hologram-application element containing the LN single crystal.
2. Discussion of Background
When a LN single crystal is used for an optical application, if a strong laser beam is irradiated thereto, a local change in refractive index (a photo-refractive effect) appears, and an attention has been drawn to an application in which this photo-refractive effect is positively utilized and applied to a phase-type hologram recording element as a highly sensitive optical memory. With respect to the photo-refractive effect, its mechanism has been explained as follows. Namely, the photo-refractive effect is a phenomenon which occurs when light is irradiated to an electro-optic crystal having a deep trap level (i.e. a photo-refractive center) attributable to an impurity or defect. The photo-refractive center is photoionized, and free carriers thereby formed are diffused and moved by e.g. the external electric field or the photovoltanic effect and then reunited at a non-irradiated portion, whereby a space-charge distribution corresponding to the light intensity distribution will be formed. This space-charge distribution will bring about the change in refractive index by the electrooptical effect. This is the photo-refractive effect.
In order for the above mechanism to function, there must be an ionized trap level at the initial state. For examples, in a LN single crystal, Fe.sup.2+ forms a doner level, which is ionized to Fe.sup.3+ thus forming a trap level. Accordingly, it has been known that an impurity, particularly a transition metal impurity, contained in the crystal plays an important role for the photo-refractive effect. Especially, a LN single crystal is relatively inexpensive among many electro-optic crystals and a large size crystal is readily available. Besides, it has an excellent characteristic as compared with other photo-refractive crystals, such that the recording time of hologram lasts at least a few months. Accordingly, it is used for a research for an application to a memory element for phase type hologram recording.
On the other hand, a LN single crystal with a congruent composition having no transition metal incorporated, has an extremely low hologram diffraction efficiency and thus is not suitable for such an application. To improve the hologram diffraction efficiency of a LN single crystal, it has been heretofore common to employ a crystal having a few hundred ppm of Fe incorporated. In such a case, the composition of the mother crystal is a congruent composition. The reason for employing this composition is that it has been believed that in order to produce a LN single crystal having a high uniformity of composition, it is essential to grow the crystal by a rotational withdrawing method from a melt having a congruent composition with a molar fraction of Li.sub.2 O/(Nb.sub.2 O.sub.5 +Li.sub.2 O) of 0.485, where the crystal and melt are coexistent in equilibrium with the same composition.
Further, the LN single crystal as grown from this congruent composition, has a multi-domain structure. Accordingly, treatment for single domain used to be applied in such a manner that the crystal after growing was heated to a temperature of at least about 1,150.degree. C. i.e. the Curie point, and a voltage was applied in the Z axis direction of the crystal in the heated state to align the domain in one direction, followed by cooling the crystal. The single domain-treated crystal was processed into a predetermined size and then used for various optical applications.
As a single crystal to be used for an optical laser device for writing a three dimensional hologram in the single crystal by means of a visible light laser beam, the LN single crystal with a congruent composition having no transition metal incorporated, is transparent and of a high quality with a uniform crystal composition without crystal defects such as striations. However, the hologram diffraction efficiency is extremely low, and there was a problem that it was difficult to write an application hologram in the crystal.
Therefore, a LN single crystal having the hologram diffraction efficiency improved by an addition of a transition metal such as Fe to the LN single crystal, has been used for a research. However, with a crystal grown by an addition of iron in a substantial amount to the congruent composition, crystal defects such as striations are likely to be taken into the crystal, and such defects will bring about optical non-uniformity or non-uniform scattering of the laser beam, whereby there has been a problem that the hologram diffraction efficiency substantially varies depending upon the portion of the crystal, and it has been difficult to obtain a constant hologram diffraction characteristic.
Further, a coupling coefficient is used as a performance index for comparing the crystal materials showing such photo-refractive effects. In the case of Fe-doped LN single crystals so far known, the coupling coefficients are reportedly from about 4 to 12 cm.sup.-1 (for examples Optical Crystals, p.200, edited by Shintaro Miyazawa, published by Baifukan), which are not necessarily sufficient for optical applications.
Further, from the viewpoint of preparation of a crystal, a transition metal segregates in the crystal. Accordingly, it is difficult to grow a crystal having such a transition metal uniformly incorporated, and macroscopic crystal defects which cause light scattering, are usually contained in a substantial amount in a LN single crystal with a Fe-doped congruent composition. Thus, a product having a quality sufficient for an optical element has not been obtained.
Furthermore, a noise which is believed to be caused by random light scattering due to non-uniformity of the Fe-doped LN single crystal, has been regarded as a problem which prevents improvement of the recording density of the hologram. Further, with a crystal having iron incorporated into a congruent composition there has been a problem that it takes too long a time for the hologram diffraction efficiency to reach a constant level (the response time for writing a hologram). This results in difficulty in that the writing speed is too slow for application to a hologram-application element.
Recently, the present inventors have found it possible to improve the hologram diffraction efficiency without adding iron, by bringing the composition of the LN single crystal close to the stoichiometrical composition. Even in this case, the problem that the response time for writing a hologram is long, has not been solved.

Iron-doped lithium niobate single crystal, method for heat treatment thereof and hologram-application element containing the single crystal

National Institute for Research in Inorganic Materials


A reinforcing strut for an overhead sectional door including a pair of oppositely directed feet for fastening the reinforcing strut to the overhead sectional door and a wall extending from an end of each of the feet with the walls overlying one another and fixed to one another.

Overhead sectional doors can have a number of problems which may be overcome by placing reinforcing struts on the doors. When overhead sectional doors are in the open position, the weight of the door often causes panels of the door to bow downwardly. This is both aesthetically displeasing and can also damage the panels. Placement of struts transverse the panels can reduce the bow in the panels and also prevent the panels from damage.
Most overhead sectional doors are fitted with a remote control operator. This operator is attached to an arm which enables the door to be opened or closed. The arm exerts a pushing or a pulling force on the top of the door section which can be substantially large and may damage the panels of the door. To counter this effect, a strut can be placed at the top edge of the door to cater for these loads.
When a garage door is closed, it becomes a relatively large single surface which has to be able to resist wind pressure. In cyclonic or hurricane winds, the forces that can be generated on the panels are extremely large. The weakest areas on most overhead sectional doors are the top and the bottom edges of the door. Therefore, struts can be placed on the bottom and top edge of the door to counter wind pressure.
Currently, the struts used on overhead sectional doors that are U-shaped in cross-section. The strength of these struts can be dramatically affected by the way in which they are attached to the overhead sectional door. The struts are usually attached by the manufacturer and if not attached correctly, the door may become damaged by the three factors discussed above. Further, the struts that are currently used are quite heavy. The extra weight increases the size requirements of the springs and other components need for the overhead sectional door. This leads to a total cost increase of the overhead sectional doors. Still further, the strength of the current reinforcing struts still permits failure of overhead sectional doors at relatively low loadings.


Disclosed is an organic electroluminescent display apparatus that has small panels each constituted by forming light-emitting sections, each comprising an organic electroluminescent layer, a transparent electrode and a metal electrode, on one major surface of the substrate. The transparent electrode has an extending portion formed to continuously extend from one major surface of the substrate to one side surface. The associated transparent electrodes of adjoining small panels are electrically connected via an anisotropic conductive sheet which has a conductivity only in the thickness direction. This design can narrow the non-light emitting area of each joint of the small panels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent (hereinafter referred to as EL) display apparatus comprising organic EL elements which emit light when applied with electric charges.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, large display apparatuses comprising organic EL elements have a plurality of organic EL elements. Each EL element has an organic EL layer and a pair of electrodes for applying electric charges to this organic EL layer. The quantity of EL elements is determined in accordance with the number of pixels. The EL elements are formed on a single large substrate of an element to constitute a large screen panel, or, alternatively a small panels each having a predetermined number of organic EL elements formed thereon are stacked together to form a large panel.
The organic EL layer should be formed uniformly over the entire panel surface. In the case where a plurality of organic EL elements are formed on a single large substrate, therefore, it is difficult to form the organic EL layer uniformly over the entire substrate surface. Further, a non-uniformly formed organic EL layer would result in uneven brightness on the screen. In addition to a non-uniformly formed organic EL layer, brightness may occur when a hole carrying layer, an electron carrying layer, or electrodes are formed unevenly.
In the case where a plurality of small panels are stacked together to form a large panel, the organic EL layer of each panel can be formed uniformly so that uneven brightness can be suppressed when the large panel is formed. Since the individual electrodes of the organic EL element are very thin, about 1000 angstroms, however, the electrodes to be connected have narrow connecting faces. This makes it difficult to connect the associated electrodes of the adjoining small panels at their end portions.
Conventionally, only the electrodes are led out from each panel to connect the electrodes to thereby facilitate the connection of the panels. This method inevitably increases the joint portions which do not emit light making the joints prominently darker.

Organic electroluminescent display apparatus


The present invention concerns a member of the human chemokine CC protein family. In particular, isolated nucleic acid molecules are provided encoding the chemokine β-15 protein. Chemokine β-15 polypeptides are also provided. The invention further concerns diagnostic methods for detecting thymus disorders and therapeutic methods for modulating bone marrow cell proliferation and differentiation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a human CC chemokine protein (i.e., a cytokine having the first two of its four cysteine residues adjacent as indicated by "CC") and to polynucleotides encoding this protein.
2. Background Information
The discovery of IL-8, in 1987, revealed the existence of a novel class of small cytokines, now called chemokines, that are widely studied because of their ability to activate leukocytes and their potential role as mediators of inflammations. A number of different human chemokines have been identified after IL-8, by cloning or biochemical purification and amino acid sequencing. All have four conserved cysteines that form characteristic disulfide bonds, a short amino-terminal and a longer carboxy-terminal sequence. Two subfamilies are distinguished by the arrangement of the first two cysteines, which are either separated by one amino acid (CXC chemokines) or are adjacent (CC chemokines.). Chemokine cDNAs typically encode proteins of 92–99 amino acids in length that are secreted after cleavage of a leader sequence of 20–25 amino acids. Modeling on the basis of the NMR-derived structure of IL-8 suggests that CXC and CC chemokines are folded in a similar manner.
The first human CC chemokine was identified by differential hybridization cloning and was termed LD78 (Obaru, K. Fukuda, M., Maeda, S. and Shimada, K. (1986) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 99, 885–894.) Several cDNA isoforms of a closely related human chemokine, Act-2, were later described (Miller, M. D. and Krangel, M. S. (1992) Crit. Rev. Immunol. 12, 17–46), and two similar proteins, macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP-1α) and MIP-1β, were purified form the culture medium of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated mouse macrophages (Wolpe, S. D., Davatelis, G. Sherry, B. et al. (1988) J. Exp. Med. 167, 570–581). On the basis of more than 70% amino acid identity, the murine and human proteins are considered as homologs, and the terms human MIP-1α and MIP-1β are commonly used instead of LD78 and Act-2. The best characterized CC chemokine is monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), which was purified and cloned from different sources (Miller, M. D. and Krangel, M. S. (1992) Crit. Rev. Immunol. 12, 17–46; Yoshimure, T. Robinson, E. A. Tanaka, S. Appella, E. and Leonardo, E. J. (1989) J. Immunol. 142, 1956–1962; Matsushima, K., Larsen, C. G., DuBois, G. C. and Oppenheim, J. J. (1989) J. Exp. Med. 169, 1485–1490). Other CC chemokines, I-309 (Miller, M. D., Hata, S., De Waal Malafyt, R. and Krangel, M. S. (1989) J. Immunol. 143, 2907–2916), RANTES (Schall, T. J. Jongstra, J., Dyer, B. J. et al. (1988) J. Immunol. 141, 1018–1025) and HC14 (Chang, H. C., Hsu, F., Freeman, G. J., Griffin, J. D. and Reinherz, E. L. (1989) Int. Immunol. 1, 388–397), were purified or cloned as products of activated T cells. HC14, termed MCP-2, was also isolated from osteosarcoma cell cultures (Van Damme, J. Proost, P., Lenaerts, J-P. and Opdenakker, G. (1992) J. Exp. Med. 176, 59–65), along with a novel CC chemokine, MCP-3, which was subsequently cloned and expressed (Minty, A. Chalon, P. Guillemot, J. C. et al. (1993) Eur. Cytokine Netw. 4, 99–110; Opdenakker, G. Froyen, G. Fiten, P., Proost, P. and Van Damme, J.(1993) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1991, 535–542). These CC chemokines share a sequence identify with MCP-1 of between 29 and 71% (MCP-2 and MCP-3 have 62–71% identity with MCP-1).
MCP-1, the prototype of the CC chemokine sub-family, is chemotatic for monocytes but not for neutrophils (Yoshimure, T. Robinson, E. A. Tanaka, S. AppelIa, E. and Leonardo, E. J. (1989) J. Immunol. 142,1956–1962; Matsushima, K, Larsen, C. G., DuBois, G. C. and Oppenheim, J. J. (1989) J. Exp. Med. 169, 1485–1490) and was initially considered to be a counterpart of IL-8. Indeed, monocytes respond to all CC chemokines, as judged from stimulus-dependent [Ca2+]i changes (Miller, M. D. and Krangel, M. S. (1992) Crit. Rev. Immunol. 12, 17–46; Bioschoff, S. C., Krieger, M. Brunner, T. et al. (1993) Eur. J. Immunol. 23, 761–767; McColl, S. R., Hachicha, M., Levasseur, S., Noete, K. and Schall, T. J. (1993) J. Immunol. 150, 4550–4560). MCP-1, MCP-2 and MCP-3 induce monocyte infiltration on intradermal injection into rats and rabbits (Van Damme, J. Proost, P., Lenaerts, J-P. and Opdenakker, G. (1992) J. Exp. Med. 176, 59–65; Zacha, C, O. C., Anderson, A. O., Thompson, H. L. et al. (1990) J. Exp. Med. 171, 2177–2182), and MCP-1 also elicits in monocytes a respiratory burst (Miller, M. D. and Krangel, M. S. (1992) Crit. Rev. Immunol. 12, 17–46) and the expression of β2 integrins (Jiang, Y., Beller, D. I., Frendi, G. and Graves, D. T. (1992) J. Immunol. 148, 2423–2428).
While the view that CXC chemokines act on neutrophils and CC chemokines act on monocytes apparently remains valid, recent studies have revealed that CC chemokines have a much wider range of biological activities since they can also activate some lymphocytes and, in particular, basophil and eosinophil leukocytes. Thus, there is a continuing need in the art for isolating novel CC chemokines.


A bed transporting apparatus comprised of a lower telescopic movable frame supported on unidirectional casters. A vertical frame is secured to the lower movable frame and has a vertically displaceable bed supporting frame guidingly secured thereto. An hydraulic piston displaces the bed supporting frame in a vertical plane. The piston is operated by a hydraulic oil pumping lever and a valve controls the operation of the piston. The bed supporting displaceable frame has lower bed support arms to supportingly engage a side member of a bed and is further provided with an upper retractable guided connecting strap which is engageable with an opposed side member of the bed. The strap is wound about a drum which, when actuated, causes the bed to tilt along its side against the bed supporting frame and be held secured thereagainst. An extendible section of the lower telescopic frame is retracted to provide for the passage of the transporting apparatus and the bed held thereon through door openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bed transporting apparatus which permits a bed to be engaged, tilted sideways and supported for transportation thereof through restricted passages, such as door openings, crowded hallways, elevators, etc.
2. Description of Prior Art
Various bed transporting devices are known whereby beds or the like articles can be supported on their sides and displaced, and particularly, through conventional door openings. Such transport apparatuses have been utilized to carry heavy objects, such as billiard tables or beds. However, with these apparatuses, it is either necessary to manually position the article to be transported vertically on the transporting device, or to attach a transporting device to the apparatus while in a horizontal position and then manually tilt it onto the transporting device. Such transport apparatuses are disclosed and shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,341, which relates to a pair of dolly devices for moving beds and U.S. Pat. No. 876,020 and Design Pat. No. 257,623 which show different type apparatuses for the transportation of beds. With the majority of these known devices, it is difficult to position the object or bed onto the device. These devices are also unstable, they are often difficult to maneuver, and some are not supported on unidirectional ground bearing means. They often require human physical effort to position the bed vertically on the transport device and engage it, and this has often caused back injuries or other injuries, particularly so to people working in hospitals where there is a continuous displacement of beds between a very large number of rooms and through restricted passages, such as doorways, crowded hallways, elevators, etc.


Within the framework of the purification of exhaust gases of mobile internal combustion engines, filter materials are subjected to particularly high thermal and dynamic conditions. As a result, it is advantageous to use filter materials together in a stable and durable composite. To this end, a heat-resistant filter layer made of a material through which a fluid can at least partially flow and which has at least one filter section and at least one edge area, is provided. A layer thickness that differs from that of the at least one filter section is provided in the at least one edge area.

Field of the Invention:
The invention relates to a heat-resistant filter layer made from a material that is at least partially permeable to a fluid, to a filter body having at least one heat-resistant filter layer of this type, and to a process for producing a filter body of this type. The filter bodies are used in particular for the purification of exhaust gases from mobile internal combustion engines used in automotive engineering.
If new vehicle registrations in Germany are considered, it will be found that in 2000 around one third of all newly registered vehicles have diesel engines. By tradition, this percentage is significantly higher than in, for example, France and Austria. The increased interest in diesel vehicles stems, for example, from the relatively low fuel consumption, the currently relatively low prices of diesel fuel, but also from the improved driving properties of vehicles of this type. A diesel vehicle is also very attractive from environmental aspects, since it has a significantly reduced emission of CO2 as compared to gasoline-powered vehicles. However, it should be noted that the level of soot particulates produced during combustion is well above that of gasoline-powered vehicles.
If the purification of exhaust gases, in particular of diesel engines, is considered, it is possible for hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) in the exhaust gas to be oxidized in a known way by, for example, being brought into contact with a catalytically active surface. However, it is more difficult to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) under oxygen-rich conditions. A three-way catalytic converter, as is used, for example, in spark-ignition engines, does not provide the desired effects. For this reason, the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) process has been developed. Furthermore, NOx adsorbers have been tested for use for the reduction of nitrogen oxides.
Discussions have long been ongoing as to whether particulates or long-chain hydrocarbons have an adverse effect on human health, but to date no definitive verdict has been reached. Irrespective of this, it is clearly desirable that emissions of this nature should not be released into the environment above a certain tolerance range. In this respect, the question arises as to what filtering efficiency is actually required in order to be able to comply with the well known statutory guidelines even in the future. If current exhaust emissions from commercially available vehicles in the Federal Republic of Germany are considered, it can be concluded that most passenger automobiles certified under EU III in 1999 are also able to satisfy the requirements of EU IV if they are equipped with a filter with an efficiency of at least 30 to 40%.
To reduce the levels of particulate emissions, it is known to use particulates traps that are constructed from a ceramic substrate. They have passages, so that the exhaust gas that is to be purified can flow into the particulates trap. The adjacent passages are alternately closed off, so that the exhaust gas enters the passage on the inlet side, passes through the ceramic wall and escapes again through the adjacent passage on the outlet side. Filters of this type achieve an efficiency of approximately 95% over the entire range of particulate sizes that occur.
In addition to chemical interactions with additives and special coatings, the reliable regeneration of the filter in the exhaust system of an automobile still constitutes a problem. It is necessary to regenerate the particulate trap, since the increasing accumulation of particulates in the passage wall through which the gas is to flow leads to a constantly increasing pressure loss that has adverse effects on engine performance. The regeneration substantially includes brief heating of the particulate trap and the particulates that have accumulated therein, so that the soot particulates are converted into gaseous constituents. However, the high thermal loading of the particulate trap has adverse effects on the service life.
To avoid this discontinuous regeneration, which is a major factor in promoting thermally induced wear, a system for the continuous regeneration of filters has been developed (CRT: continuous regeneration trap). In a system of this type, the particulates are burnt by oxidation with NO2 at temperatures that are already over 200° C. The NO2 which is required for this purpose is often generated by an oxidation catalytic converter disposed upstream of the particulate trap. However, in particular for use in motor vehicles using diesel fuel, this gives rise to the problem that there is only an insufficient level of nitrogen monoxide (NO) that can be converted into the desired nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the exhaust gas. Consequently, it has not hitherto been possible to ensure that continuous regeneration of the particulate trap in the exhaust system will occur.
Furthermore, it should be born in mind that, in addition to non-convertible particulates, oil or additional residues of additives also accumulate in the particulate trap and cannot readily be regenerated. For this reason, known filters have to be replaced and/or washed at regular intervals. Filter systems of plate-shaped structure attempt to solve this problem by allowing vibration-like excitation that leads to these constituents being removed from the filter. However, this results in that the non-regeneratable fraction of the particulates in some cases passes directly into the environment without any further treatment.
In addition to a minimum reaction temperature and a specific residence time, it is necessary to provide sufficient nitrogen oxide for the continuous regeneration of particulates using NO2. Tests relating to the dynamic emission of nitrogen monoxide (NO) and particulates have clearly demonstrated that the particulates are emitted in particular when there is no or only a very small amount of nitrogen monoxide in the exhaust gas, and vice versa. What this results in is that a filter with true continuous regeneration substantially has to function as a compensator or store, so that it is ensured that the two reaction partners are present in the filter in the required quantities at a given instant. Furthermore, the filter is to be disposed as close as possible to the internal combustion engine in order to be able to reach temperatures which are as high as possible immediately after a cold start. To provide the required nitrogen dioxide, an oxidation catalytic converter is to be connected upstream of the filter, so as to react carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) and in particular also to convert nitrogen monoxide (NO) into nitrogen dioxide (NO2). If the system containing an oxidation catalytic converter and a filter is disposed close to the engine, a suitable position is in particular upstream of a turbocharger which is often used in diesel motor vehicles to increase the boost pressure in the combustion chamber.
If these basic considerations are looked at, the question arises, for actual deployment in automotive engineering, as to how a filter of this type, which in such a position and in the presence of extremely high thermal and dynamic loads has to achieve a satisfactory filtering efficiency, is constructed. In this context, account should be taken in particular of the spatial conditions, which require a new configuration of filters. Whereas the maximum possible volume was to the fore in the case of conventional filters, which were disposed in the underbody of a motor vehicle, in order to ensure a long residence time of the as yet unreacted particulates in the filter and therefore a high efficiency, if the filters are disposed close to the engine, there is not sufficient space or room available.
For this purpose, a new concept has been developed, mainly referred to by the term "open filter system". The open filter systems are distinguished by the fact that there is no need for the filter passages to be alternately closed off by structural devices. In this context, it is provided that the passage walls are constructed at least in part from porous or highly porous material and that the flow passages of the open filter have diverting or guiding structures. These internal fittings cause the flow and the particulates contained therein to be diverted toward the regions made from porous or highly porous material. Surprisingly, it has emerged that the particulates, as a result of being intercepted and/or impacting, are retained on and/or in the porous passage wall. The pressure differences in the flow profile of the flowing exhaust gas are of importance to this effect occurring. The diversion additionally makes it possible to produce local reduced pressure or excess pressure conditions, leading to a filtration effect through the porous wall, since the abovementioned pressure differences have to be compensated for.
The particulate trap, unlike the known closed screen or filter systems, is open, since there are no flow blind alleys. This property can therefore also be used to characterize particulate filters of this type, so that, for example, the "freedom of flow" parameter is suitable for describing the systems. By way of example, a "freedom of flow" of 20% results in that, when viewed in cross section, it is possible to see through approximately 20% of the surface area. In the case of a particulate filter with a passage density of approximately 600 cpsi (cells per square inch) with a hydraulic diameter of 0.8 mm, this freedom of flow would correspond to a substantially continuous area of over 0.1 mm2. To provide a better explanation, it can also be stated that a particulate filter is referred to as open if in principle particulates can fully pass through it, even particulates that are considerably larger than the particulates that are actually to be filtered out. Consequently, a filter of this type cannot become blocked even in the event of an agglomeration of particulates during operation. One suitable method for measuring the openness of the particulate filter is, for example, to test the maximum diameter of spherical particles that can still trickle through a filter of this type. In the present applications, a filter is open in particular if spheres with a diameter of greater than or equal to 0.1 mm can still trickle through, preferably spheres with a diameter of over 0.2 mm, and in particular spheres with a diameter of more than 0.3 mm.

Heat-resistant filter layer, filter body, and process for producing the filter layer and the filter body

Emitec Gesellschaft fuer Emissionstechnologie mbH


A bulb head structure and an LED bulb comprising the same are provided. The bulb head structure includes a hollow-shaped member which is a hollow cup-shaped structure, and an outer surface of an end is disposed with a lampholder connecting part, an inner insulating member, a substrate, two flexible electrode members which are respectively disposed at side edge and one end of the substrate, and a conduction member. The inner insulating member and the substrate are disposed in the hollow-shaped member, the inner insulating member is adjacent to one end of the hollow-shaped member, and the substrate and the conduction member are respectively disposed at two sides of the inner insulating member. Wherein, one flexible electrode member contacts with the hollow-shaped member and the other flexible electrode member contacts with the conduction member to enable the substrate electrically connecting to the hollow-shaped member and the conduction member respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to a bulb head structure, and more particularly, to a bulb head structure and an LED bulb comprising the same which are applied to the LED bulb.
2. Description of the Related Art
Light emitting diode (LED) enables to transform electrical energy into light energy effectively with a longer service life and lower power consumption, and as a result, it is gradually applied and commonly used in the regular illumination apparatus.
Regarding the conventional application to the LED illumination apparatus, such as bulb, the means of power connection is to connect the power substrate with the bulb's electrode contact to transmit the electric power, and the electric cable is mostly used to connect the power substrate with the bulb's electrode. In the process, however, the electric cable may usually need to be bent owing to the diversity of different working stations, and thus, the electric conductivity thereof may be lowered as the electric cable breaks.
Additionally, in the assembling process of the product, the electric cable has to be fixed on the power substrate and the bulb's electrode contact by soldering so as to accomplish the capability of electrical conductivity adequately, and because the electric cable per se is soft, the cables may need to be managed manually. As a result, the aforementioned situations may result in lower productive efficiency such that the manufacturing process of the product may be unfavorable to automated production.
As described above, inventor of the present invention has been mulling the technical problems over and then designs a bulb head structure and an LED bulb comprising the same which aim at improving the current technique so as to promote the industrial applicability.

Bulb head structure and LED bulb comprising the same

KUNSHAN NANO NEW MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD


An image forming system includes a receiving unit that receives an adjustment value for adjusting a value of an applied voltage in case of transfer in response to an operation of a user, a detector that detects a value of an electric resistance of a print medium as a resistance value. A first control unit controls the applied voltage based on the adjustment value indicated by the second adjustment value information included in the adjustment update information received by the first communication unit. A second control unit uses the adjustment information transmitted respectively from the plurality of image forming devices and determines the adjustment values to be used in the plurality of image forming devices. A second communication unit transmits the adjustment update information including the second adjustment value information indicating the determined adjustment values respectively to the plurality of image forming devices.

In the related art, in an image forming device, a toner image is transferred from a photoconductor to a transfer body such as an intermediate transfer belt and then transferred from the transfer body to a print medium. The image forming device applies a voltage between the transfer body and the print medium in case of transferring the toner image from the transfer body to the print medium. The toner image is transferred from the transfer body to the print medium by the application of the voltage. Here, the value of the electric resistance of the print medium to which the toner image is transferred changes in response to the change of an environment value such as a temperature and humidity in the image forming device. Therefore, the image forming device detects an environment value, refers to an expected control value obtained by a test or the like in advance if a voltage is applied to a print medium by a constant voltage method in case of transferring the toner image from the transfer body to the print medium, and determines a value of the voltage applied between the transfer body and the print medium in response to the detected environment value. However, in recent years, types of print media used in the image forming device increase, and thus the variation of the value of the electric resistance of the print medium increases. As a result, in the image forming device, the value of the electric resistance of the print medium and the expected control value may be inconsistent, and thus the quality of the image formed on the print medium may decrease.


The posture of a vehicle is controlled using a specific variable damping force damper without the necessity of changing over the variable damping force damper frequently and at a high rate and without using a vehicle height sensor. A variable damping force damper U having at least two change-over modes including a mode in which the compression side damping force is soft when the extension side damping force is hard and another mode in which the compression side damping force is hard when the extension side damping force is soft is interposed between a vehicle body D and a wheel E. The variable damping force damper U is changed over by means of an acceleration sensor J mounted on the vehicle body D and a controller M including an integrator P for converting a signal from the acceleration sensor J into a velocity signal and a calculation processing circuit Q for outputting a changing over signal to the variable damping force damper U in accordance with the velocity signal from the integrator P.

A suspension for a traveling vehicle does not provide a satisfactory driving feeling if it merely damps and absorbs vibrations produced on the body of the vehicle. In order to achieve further improvement in driving feeling, it is desirable to employ a suspension of active control which detects a behavior of the vehicle body to control the vehicle body so as to positively keep an appropriate posture thereof.
However, the active suspension system requires a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic valve and is complicated in construction of a controller itself for controlling them. Consequently, it requires a high cost.
Thus, increasing attention is paid to a so-called semi-active suspension system wherein a damper which has a variable damping force is employed so that the damping force characteristic is automatically controlled in response to an amplitude or a frequency of vibrations of the vehicle body.
FIG. 23 shows a basic construction of a conventional semi-active suspension system for a vehicle having four wheels. Referring to FIG. 23, the semi-active suspension system shown is constructed for a single wheel for the convenience of illustration and description, and actually, such semi-active suspension system is provided for each of the four wheels of the vehicle and only one controller is provided commonly for the semi-active suspension systems for the four wheels.
A suspension spring F, a known variable damping force damper G having a damping force which can be changed over between two hard and soft stages, and a vehicle height sensor H are interposed between a vehicle body D and a wheel E. An acceleration sensor J for detecting a vertical acceleration of the vehicle body D is provided on the vehicle body D.
A tire L serving as a spring element is present between the wheel E and the ground K.
A controller M includes a differentiator N, an integrator P and a calculation processing circuit Q. A signal from the vehicle height sensor H is inputted to the differentiator N while a signal from the acceleration sensor J is inputted to the integrator P. The calculation processing circuit Q processes output signals of the differentiator N and the integrator P and provides a damping force changing over signal to the variable damping force damper G so that the damping force may be changed over between two hard and soft stages on each of the extension and contraction sides of the variable damping force damper G as seen from FIG. 24.
As can be seen also from the basic construction described above, the controlling method of the conventional semi-active suspension system proceeds in the following manner.
In particular, where the displacements of the vehicle body D and the wheel E are represented by x and y, respectively, when the directions indicated by arrow marks in FIG. 23 are assumed to be in the positive in sign for the convenience of description, the relative velocity x-y between the vehicle body D and the wheel E is obtained by differentiating a signal x-y of the vehicle height sensor H by means of the differentiator N of the controller M. Meanwhile, the velocity x of the vehicle body D is obtained by integrating a signal x of the acceleration sensor J by means of the integrator P of the controller M.
Here, if attention is paid to the damping force of the variable damping force damper G acting upon the vehicle body D, when x>0 wherein the vehicle body D is moving upwardly, if x-y>0, then the variable damping force damper G is performing an extending operation, and accordingly, the damping force thus generated acts in the direction opposite to the direction of the movement of the vehicle body D. Consequently, the extension side damping force then acts as a vibration controlling force upon the vehicle body D. However, if x-y<0, then the damping force generated acts in the same direction as the direction of the movement of the vehicle body D, and consequently, the compression side damping force then acts on the contrary as a vibration promoting force upon the vehicle body D.
Similarly, also when x<0 wherein the vehicle body D is moving downwardly, in the case of x-y>0 wherein the variable damping force damper G performs a compressing operation, the compression side damping force then acts as a vibration controlling force upon the vehicle body D, but on the contrary, in the case of x-y<0 wherein the variable damping force damper G performs an extending operation, the extension side damping force then acts as a vibration promoting force upon the vehicle body D.
If this is represented in four quadrants taking x and x-y as the axis of ordinate and the axis of abscissa, respectively, then as seen in FIG. 25, the variable damping force damper G provides a vibration controlling force to the vehicle body D in the first and third quadrants, but provides a vibration promoting force to the vehicle body D in the second and fourth quadrants.
Then, the vibration controlling force acts so as to control vibrations of the vehicle body D upon vibration of the wheel E, and on the contrary, the vibration promoting force acts so as promote vibrations of the vehicle body D upon vibration of the wheel E.
Accordingly, as seen from FIG. 26, if the variable damping force damper G is changed over, in the first and third quadrants, to a hard mode in which the generated damping force is high or, in the second and fourth quadrants, to a soft mode in which the generated damping force is low, then vibrations of the vehicle body D can be controlled to a low level against vibrations of the wheel E.
If this is represented in equation, then EQU when x(x-y)>0.fwdarw.hard damping force EQU when x-(xy)>0.fwdarw.soft damping force
The driving feeling of the vehicle can be improved by controlling the variable damping force damper G in this manner.
However, with the conventional suspension system described above, while generally the sign of the positive or the negative of the vehicle x of the vehicle body D varies in a natural frequency, that is, in a number of variation per one hertz, which depends upon the mass of the vehicle body and the spring constant of the suspension spring F, the sign of the positive or the negative of the relative velocity x-y between the vehicle body D and the wheel E is varied at a considerably higher frequency by an instantaneous input of force from the ground K, resonance between the wheel E and the tire L, and so forth.
As a result, since the variable damping force damper G must necessarily be changed over at a considerably high frequency between the hard and soft levels, considerable durability is required for the variable damping force damper itself and also for a changing over actuator for it. Besides, if the actuator is not changed over at a high speed, then the controlling effect is deteriorated.
Further, since the relative velocity x-y between the wheel body D and the vehicle E must necessarily be detected upon controlling, the vehicle height sensor H must be provided for each of the wheels E. Accordingly, there is a problem that the entire system requires a high cost.

Hydraulic damper with variable damping characteristics in compression and extension


A reproduction apparatus is capable of reproducing information recorded on information recording media including at least a super RENS recording medium. The reproduction apparatus includes: an optical head that receives laser light that has been reflected or transmitted by the information recording medium and photoelectrically converts the laser light to an electric signal; a signal processing circuit that extracts an AC component from the electric signal and attenuates the AC component by a predetermined attenuation; an amplitude controlling circuit that controls an amplitude of an electric signal outputted from the signal processing circuit so as to become a predetermined amplitude; and a reproduction circuit that reproduces information recorded on the medium based on an electric signal outputted from the amplitude controlling circuit. An information recording medium testing apparatus includes the reproduction apparatus and a test information generating circuit that generates test information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproduction apparatus constructed so as to be capable of reproducing information recorded on information recording media including at least a super RENS (super REsolution Near-field Structure) recording medium, and to an information recording medium testing apparatus that includes the reproduction apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, commercialized DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) are constructed so that marks with a diameter of just 0.40 μm or thereabouts formed on an information recording medium (an optical recording medium) can be distinguished and reproduced by using an optical head where the wavelength of laser light is in a range of 635 nm to 675 nm, inclusive and the numerical aperture of the objective lens is in a range of 0.59 to 0.66, inclusive to focus the laser light to a spot diameter of just 1 μm or thereabouts. In addition, BD (Blu-ray Discs) are constructed so that marks with a diameter in a range of just 0.138 to 0.160 μm, inclusive can be distinguished and reproduced by using an optical head where the wavelength of laser light is in a range of 390 nm to 420 nm, inclusive and the numerical aperture of the objective lens is in a range of 0.70 to 0.90, inclusive to focus the laser light to a spot diameter of just 0.48 μm or thereabouts, which makes it possible to record data at even higher density.
On the other hand, a so-called super RENS (super REsolution Near-field Structure) recording medium has been proposed in recent years, and research into such medium is presently being conducted. A super RENS recording medium has an optical signal amplifying effect (a "super resolution" effect) of around several tens in magnitude, with this effect making it possible to distinguish and reproduce marks of 0.1 μm and below (that is, marks that are smaller than the reproduction limit for optical reproduction) on a recording medium while using the same optical system as a DVD, a BD, or the like. Since the optical system used for a DVD, a BD, or the like can be used without modification, it is possible to use the construction of a standard optical disc apparatus such as that disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-319137, for example, to realize a reproduction apparatus for reading information recorded on a super RENS recording medium.
When using the circuit construction of the optical disc apparatus disclosed in the above Publication without modification in a reproduction apparatus for a super RENS recording medium, the present inventors discovered the following problem. For a super RENS recording medium, the super resolution effect is initially achieved when laser light with a reproduction power that is extremely high (for example, 2.6 mW to 4.0 mW inclusive for a DVD and 1.0 mW to 3.0 mW inclusive for a BD) compared to the reproduction power for a recording medium such as a DVD or a BD (0.7 mW for a DVD and 0.3 mW for a BW) is irradiated. This means that when the marks recorded on the recording medium are large marks with wide gaps in between the marks as shown by the region Win FIG. 3, the amplitude of an electric signal S1 outputted from an optical head that has received the laser light reflected by the recording medium becomes extremely large as shown in FIG. 3 compared to when laser light of a conventional reproduction power is irradiated. On the other hand, when the marks recorded on the recording medium are small marks with narrow gaps in between as shown in the region X in FIG. 3, the ratio of the DC component to the AC component in the electric signal S1 becomes extremely large, as shown in FIG. 3.
Here, an AGC (Auto Gain Control) circuit that is disposed in front of an A/D converter controls the gain for the electric signal S1 outputted from the optical head to control the amplitude of the electric signal S1 and thereby adjusts the amplitude to an optimal amplitude for the dynamic range of the A/D converter. However, since laser light with an extremely high reproduction power is irradiated onto a super RENS recording medium, as described above the amplitude of the electric signal S1 outputted from the optical head can become extremely large and the ratio of the DC component to the AC component can also become extremely large. For this reason, when the amplitude of the electric signal S1 exceeds the tolerated input limit of the AGC circuit, distortion occurs in the waveform of the electric signal S1 (the reproduction signal) outputted from the AGC circuit, while when the ratio of the DC component of the electric signal S1 is large, gain control by the AGC circuit becomes insufficient, resulting in increased jitter. When the electric signal S1 outputted from the AGC circuit becomes distorted or has increased jitter, it becomes difficult for the A/D converter to favorably carry out conversion to digital data, and it also becomes difficult for a demodulation circuit disposed after the A/D converter to correctly demodulate data based on such digital data. Accordingly, with such reproduction apparatus, there is the problem that it is difficult to correctly reproduce information recorded on a super RENS recording medium.

Reproduction apparatus and information recording medium testing apparatus


Apparatus and methods for displaying a card via a decorative figurine, or similar device, equipped with one or more card retention mechanisms. In one embodiment, the retention mechanisms are arranged in a V shape to allow a card placed therein to be retained in a partially open state. In another embodiment, upper projections may be included to provide further stability to the retained card. In some embodiment, the apparatus is in the form of a quadruped, the retention mechanisms are integral to or coupled to the quadruped's legs, and the upper projections are in the form of the quadruped's arms. In another embodiment, a tent-style card is held between upper and lower retention mechanisms. In another embodiment, the card is permanently adhered to the figurine.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to apparatus and methods for displaying a card. More specifically, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods for displaying a card, such as a greeting card, seating card, and the like, via a decorative figurine, or similar device, equipped with one or more card retention mechanisms.
Description of Related Art
Apparatus for displaying a plurality of greeting cards are known in the art. One such device for displaying greeting cards and the like comprises a flat, relatively thin display member which is secured to a flat mounting surface of a selected support, such as a wall, door or mirror. The greeting cards are inserted into slots in the member, the inserted portion of a card being captured in a narrow space that is provided between the display member and the mounting surface. Special securing means on the member serve as spacers to maintain the narrow capture space and hold the displayed portion of each card in an upright position to be viewed.
Another apparatus for displaying a plurality of greeting cards includes a housing having a channel designed to rest on a support surface. The housing has a plurality of display arm assemblies which may be selectively coupled to the housing and pivot sideways with respect to the housing for the purpose of paging through the greeting cards. The display arms are telescopic thereby allowing them to adjust to various sizes of cards. There is a lighted section at the top of the housing for ornamental purposes, and the housings are designed as a stand-alone version, one that can encompass a circular member such as a Christmas tree, or one designed to be coupled to a flat or comer wall surface.
Also known are apparatus for displaying a single greeting card. One such apparatus is in the form of a blank and the stand formed therefrom for holding and supporting cards. The stand can display creased greeting cards either horizontally or vertically. The blank includes a triangular-shaped base section having in its first adaptation, a pair of diverging side panels and diverging foldable joints, and in its second adaptation, a pair of opposed side panels and parallel foldable joints. Adhesive means are further provided for attaching and placing the blank/stand in the desired position and location.
Another known device for supporting a folded greeting card in an open position includes a linear base member having an abutment means at each end thereof. Each abutment means includes a slot therein for holding each side of a greeting card. In another embodiment of this same device, the abutment means are eliminated and slots are formed directly in the base member.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A driver apparatus configurable for receiving and processing at least one input signal. The driver apparatus can be coupled to ground potential. The driver apparatus can include a processing portion, a ground potential coupler and a control portion. The processing portion can be configured for receiving and processing the at least one input signal in a manner so as to produce drive signals. The ground potential coupler can couple at least a portion of the processing portion to the ground potential such that the processing portion can be configured to produce the drive signals based on an effective reference potential. The control portion can be coupled to the processing portion and the ground potential coupler. Additionally, the control portion can be configured to receive and process at least a portion of the drive signals in a manner so as to control variance of the effective reference potential.

3 dimensional (3D) display systems generally require presentation of separate images for left eye viewing and right eye viewing. In order to do so, the display of a 3D display system presents left images for left eye viewing and right images for right eye viewing in an alternating sequence.
Additionally, for a viewer to view the left images and right images in the aforementioned alternating sequence, a pair of liquid crystal display (LCD) shutter glasses can be provided. A pair of LCD shutter glasses can have a left portion for left eye viewing and a right portion for right eye viewing. A pair of LCD shutter glasses can be configured in a manner such that the left and right portions are alternatively darkened in accordance with the aforementioned alternating sequence.
Thus, the left portion can be darkened when right images are presented on the display of the 3D display system and the right portion can be darkened when the left images are presented on the display of the 3D display system. In this manner, the left eye and right eye of the viewer see only the respective left images and right images on the display of the 3D display system.
Conventional techniques associated with the implementation of such LCD shutter glasses include the use of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) based integrated circuits (IC) for the design of a circuit to drive LCD shutter glasses in a manner so as to facilitate the alternative darkening of the left and right portions.
However, it is appreciable that with the use of CMOS based IC may inhibit flexibility in the manner in which the circuit for driving a pair of LCD shutter glasses can be designed. As such, a circuit designed with the use of CMOS based ICs may not facilitate driving of a pair of LCD shutter glasses in a suitably efficient manner.
It is therefore desirable to provide a solution to address at least one of the foregoing problems of conventional techniques.

Drive system, a driver apparatus and a signal processing method for driving a device


What is disclosed is a system and method for enabling hybrid video capture of a scene being illuminated with structured and unstructured illumination sources over a wavelength range of interest that significantly intersects with each other. In one embodiment, the present system comprises a video capture device for capturing video of a scene being actively illuminated by both a structured and unstructured illumination source; a controller for controlling a manipulation of at least one structured and at least one unstructured illumination sources during capture of the video by the video capture device; and a processor in communication with the controller, the processor executing machine readable program instructions effectuating the manipulation. Various embodiments are disclosed.

Monitoring cardiac and respiratory events is of clinical importance in the early detection of potentially fatal conditions. Current technologies involve contact sensors the individual must wear constantly. Such a requirement can lead to patient discomfort, dependency, loss of dignity, and further may fail due to a variety of reasons including refusal to wear the monitoring device. Elderly patients are even more likely to suffer from the adverse effects of continued monitoring. Unobtrusive, non-contact, imaging based methods are increasingly needed for monitoring patients. One such system uses a single channel camera under structured and unstructured illuminations to capture video of a subject of interest such that the system can monitor both the cardiac and respiratory events. The system isolates pixels associated with the subject's vascular pathways within each frame from the image frames comprising pixels with intensity values corresponding to detected reflected energy projected by unstructured illumination source and estimates subject's chest volume by reconstructing 3D depth map from the image frames comprising pixels corresponding to detected reflected energy projected by structured illumination source. This system requires the simultaneous projection of structured and unstructured light sources. However, artifacts due to the interference caused by the use of structured light patterns have arisen. Such artifacts can adversely impact on the 3D surface reconstruction and vascular pattern detection. For example, FIG. 1 shows an image of a random structured light pattern projected onto a subject's hand. FIG. 2 shows pixels having been classified as corresponding to the projected structured illumination pattern in the image of FIG. 1. Pixels from the projected dot pattern of the structured illumination source can alter the extracted underlying vascular patterns even when interpolated with values of surrounding pixels, especially wherein the blood vessels therein are narrow or short and the projected dot pattern has a relatively high density. This can negatively impact cardiac/respiratory data derived from information associated with pixels of the subject's blood vessels.
Accordingly, what is needed in this art are sophisticated methods for enabling hybrid video capture of a scene being illuminated with structured and unstructured illumination sources.

Enabling hybrid video capture of a scene illuminated with unstructured and structured illumination sources


A system for supplying an aircraft with inert gas is provided. The system includes at least one fuel cell with an air inlet and an exhaust air outlet as well as a membrane device with an inlet, an outlet and a vapor-permeable membrane. The exhaust air outlet is in fluid communication with the inlet of the membrane device. The membrane device guides a gas from the inlet to the outlet and to give off to the outside through the membrane any water vapor contained therein. This leads to a cost efficient, passive and reliable dehumidifaction of inert exhaust gas for inerting purposes, and a dehumidification device that does not or only marginally increases the weight of the aircraft.

The integration of fuel cells in an aircraft contributes to noise reduction and to an improvement in the overall efficiency of the aircraft because, apart from the efficient provision of electrical power, all the products arising from the operation of fuel cells can be used within the aircraft. By-products that arise are, for example, water, oxygen depleted exhaust air, and heat. While water is predestined for applications in wet cells or for the humidification of air, oxygen depleted exhaust air can, among other applications, be used for inerting fuel tanks.
It has been known to dry this oxygen depleted exhaust air in order to prevent water from entering fuel tanks. In this manner the danger of micro-organisms forming in a usually hygroscopic aircraft fuel is significantly reduced. In the state of the art, commonly, equipment is used that by cooling the air to be dried enforces condensation or freezing of the moisture contained in the air.
To this effect, for example DE 10 2009 051 212 A1 and WO 2011 051 210 A1 disclose a device that comprises a cooling element connected to a heat sink, with a first surface and a removal device, wherein water vapor separated in air to be dried freezes while flowing along the first surface and is removed by the removal device.
Other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

System for supplying an aircraft with inert gas, method for supplying an aircraft with inert gas, use of a membrane and aircraft


Electrical equipment is provided with an upgradable communication converter module in the form of a printed circuit board. The module is plugged into a communication converter module receptacle on the equipment for providing communication exchange between the equipment internal communication system and an external communication network. The communication converter module printed circuit board contains a network protocol interface, an isolated interface, a protocol converter, and an internal protocol interface.

The present invention relates to electrical equipment operating within a communication network, and in particular, to such equipment having upgradable communication functions and methods related thereto.
In the power industry, various equipment such as relays, power meters, and circuit breakers are often implemented within a communication network. In such a network, communication is possible across a communication channel of the network either between the equipment or between a particular piece of equipment and a master processor or control center. For instance, a given piece of equipment may transmit or receive commands over the network. The communication network typically employs a standardized communication protocol to regulate and define acceptable standards for communication across the network. The GE's commnet.RTM. protocol is often utilized in such communication networks. A similar communication protocol used within various industrial and commercial environments is generically known as "Ethernet."
As an example of commands transmitted over a communication channel of a communication network, an electrical relay may receive a command from a controller on the network that instructs the relay to reset or send data. Alternatively, the relay may transmit a command over the network to a controller that an event has occurred. Similarly, a power meter on the network may receive a command from a controller on the network that instructs the power meter to acquire data. In turn, the power meter may transmit a command over the network to a controller that a quantity has exceeded a predetermined limit. As another example, a circuit breaker on the network may receive a command from a controller on the network that instructs the circuit breaker to operate. The circuit breaker may also transmit a command over the network to the controller to indicate that it has opened.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,704 entitled "System for Sharing Data Between Microprocessor Based Devices" describes one arrangement for communicating between a programmable logic device and a host computer. Equipment on such a communication network often utilize a different internal communication protocol than that utilized on the network. Such equipment may also process information at a different speed than information is transmitted across the network. For example, a relay may employ an internal serial communication protocol such as the RS232 protocol, while the relay may be desired to be connected to a communication network employing the COMMNET.TM. protocol. In order for the relay to communicate with other equipment on the network, i.e. to transmit and receive information over the network, the relay employs a circuit to translate information from its internal communication protocol to that of the network, and vice-versa.
For example, a communication converter is employed, which has the ability to receive commands in the network'COMMNET.RTM. communication protocol, and to convert these commands to internal serial RS232 commands for processing by the relay. Similarly, when the relay issues a RS232-compatible serial command to be transmitted to other equipment or a controller across the network, the communication converter converts the internal serial command into a COMMNET.TM.-compatible command for broadcast across the network. One example of a PC card having multiple communication protocols for telephone applications is found in U.S. Pat. No 5,420,412 entitled "PC-Card Having Several Communication Protocols."
Different network communication protocols continually evolve and are implemented on such communication networks. For example, the COMMNET.TM. protocol used on a given network may be upgraded to a different or more advanced protocol. A wide variety of network protocols are possible, and thus new communication converters may be designed to convert or translate between other network protocols and the internal protocol of the equipment. Further, new network protocols may be developed subsequent to the design and manufacture of a given communication converter, in which case the user must adapt the equipment to the new protocol.
When equipment is to be utilized within a network having a network communication protocol that is incompatible with the internal communication protocol of the equipment, the communication converter must be changed. However, because such communication converter circuits are typically integrated into the equipment, such upgrading is inconvenient and expensive. To install a new communication converter within the equipment may require physically inactivating the equipment, removing the communication converter circuit components and soldering connections for the new components. Alternatively, the entire equipment may have to be replaced with new equipment containing an upgraded communication converter, even though remaining parts of the equipment do not otherwise need to be replaced.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide improved equipment having modular communication converter assemblies for upgrading the equipment to meet various existing and future network communication protocols without soldering or replacement of the equipment.

Apparatus and method for upgrading communication functions


The present invention provides a production method of mayenite in which mayenite can be produced without requiring a high-temperature treatment, and the cost of equipment and heating cost are inexpensive, and in its turn, the production cost of mayenite is inexpensive. The production method of mayenite is characterized in that mayenite (Ca12Al14O33) is formed by baking katoite [Ca3Al2(OH)12]. A baking temperature of katoite is preferably from 300 to 500° C. In addition, it is preferable to use, as the katoite, a product generated by introducing aluminum and calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2] into water and allowing them to react with water.

In general, mayenite has hitherto been produced as, for example, a component of a protective layer for covering a dielectric layer of a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP") by various methods.
The following Patent Document 1 discloses a production method of an oxide containing a mayenite type compound by using, as a raw material, a combination of a calcium compound and an aluminum compound or a compound containing calcium and aluminum and describes a production method of an oxide, which is characterized by including a step of mixing the above-described raw material to produce a mixture of the raw material and a step of heating and holding the mixed raw material in a reducing atmosphere at 1,200° C. or higher and lower than 1,415° C. in an inert gas atmosphere where an oxygen partial pressure is not more than 1,000 Pa or in a vacuum atmosphere.
In addition, the following Patent Document 2 discloses an invention of a plasma display panel (PDP), and with respect to mayenite to be used as a component of a protective layer for covering a dielectric layer of PDP, Patent Document 2 describes a method in which a raw material prepared by compounding and mixing calcium oxide (CaO) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) in a prescribed proportion is heated to from 1,200 to 1,350° C. in air to produce a mayenite type compound by a solid phase reaction.


A method and apparatus for using weighted random patterns in a partial scan test. A computer generates deterministic patterns on the partial scan design. Deterministic patterns that have the same number of capture clocks between adjacent scan loads are grouped together into pattern groups. A computer then determines a set of weights corresponding to each of the pattern groups. A tester then uses these weights as a filter to weighted random test patterns and applies these filtered weighted random test patterns along with the appropriate number of capture clock pulses to a device under test.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to testing, and more particularly to the testing of very large scale integrated circuit devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Complex very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI) fabricated on a single semiconductor chip contain thousands of functional circuit elements which are inaccessible for discrete testing. Because of the complexity of the internal interconnections between circuit elements and their combinational interdependencies, testing for device integrity becomes increasingly time consuming as the number of circuit elements increases.
By way of example, if a semiconductor chip were to have fifty input connections, the number of combinations of inputs is 2.sup.50. While one could apply that number of different input patterns, record the output responses, and compare those responses with the responses that ought to result, that is a herculean task and "virtually" impossible for modern production testing.
An alternative testing protocol, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,608 (hereinafter referred to as "Giedd"). Giedd employs a random number generator to generate the test patterns. This technique considerably reduces the effort of pattern generation needed to test a device. This is true because a random pattern generator, unlike a binary counter, produces a succession of binary words wherein the split between binary zeros and ones approaches a 50% split for a substantial number of successive words. The number of words used in testing is considerably less than the total possible number of different binary counter combinations. During the random pattern test, each input to the device under test (DUT) has a 50% chance of receiving a binary zero or one input.
A second testing protocol is to employ weighted random patterns as inputs to the DUT. This technique involves applying a statistically predetermined greater number of binary ones or binary zeros to the input pins of the DUT. The object is to apply a weighted test pattern that will have a maximum effect upon the inaccessible internal circuit elements.
A further dissertation on weighted random pattern testing can be found in an article by H. D. Schnurmann et al. entitled "The Weighted Random Test-Pattern Generator", IEEE Transactions on Computers, Vol. C-24, No. 7, July 1975 at page 695 et seq. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,885 (herienafter referred to as "Carpenter").
Yet another technique used to improve testability is to build into the DUT additional circuit connections for the sole purpose of testing. These circuits should be kept to a minimum, consistent with testing needs, because they reduce the availability of circuits for routine functioning of the device. A device, exemplifying this built-in testability, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,254.
In order to avoid comparison of every output bit with an expected output bit, "signatures" may be used. The "signatures" are unique representations which correspond to a particular DUT output. Each signature from a DUT is compared with a "good signature". A "good signature" is the signature which is expected to result from a properly functioning DUT. The use of "signatures" in lieu of a comparison of every individual test response with a known good output response is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,864.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of the DUT 100. DUT 100 may include a number of inputs 104 and outputs 108. Between the input 104 and output 108 are sequential circuit elements e.g. 112, 116 such as flip flops and batches. These elements are coupled together in a chain 120. Other chains 124, 128 of elements may exist throughout DUT 100. In a full scan device, each chain 120, 124, 128 of elements is coupled to an input which can be clocked by a clock line 130 allowing the read-out of each element e.g. 112, 116.
Between chains 120, 124, 128 of elements 112, 116 are combinatoric logic circuits e.g. 140, 144. The logic circuits 140, 144 may include AND gates, OR gates, NOR gates and the like. In a full scan test of the DUT 100, each element 112, 116 is separately accessed and read. In a partial scan test of DUT 100 not all elements are scanned.
Prior art testing methods were suitable for applying weighted random pattern testing to full scan tests of devices. However, such full scan testing of devices is expensive. Full scan testing requires that every element e.g. 112, 116 inside a device be duplicated by a scan equivalent which enables information in the elements 112, 116 to be read out. Thus, a flop is duplicated by a scan flop, a latch is duplicated by a scan latch, such that every element can methodically be accessed by shifting information through a set of scan elements e.g. 120 including scan equivalents. As a result, full scan testing of a device is expensive.
Partial scan testing does not require that every scan element in a device under test be scanned. Instead, information input into a set of scan elements 120 can be propagated through the first set of combinatorial logic circuit elements 140 over one clock cycle and through a second set of combinatorial logic circuit elements 144 during a second clock cycle such that intermediate non-scanned sequential elements 124 can be skipped. The sequential elements 124 are pictured in a chain for convenience, but it is recognized that the sequential elements are not necessarily connected. Deterministic partial scan test patterns are more complicated and thus require significantly more tester memory to store the information. To reduce the tester memory requirements weighted random pattern testing has been used in full scan designs. However, traditional weighted random pattern testing has not been implemented on partial scan designs because weight generation in partial scan designs is orders of magnitude more complex than weight generation in full scan designs.
Thus, it is desirable to have a weighting technique for partial scans to enable weighted random testing of designs to avoid large tester memory requirements.

Method for application of weighted random patterns to partial scan designs