In an engine cooling system, an upper coolant chamber and a lower coolant chamber of a typical engine, such as an internal combustion engine or fuel cell, are formed adjacent to the heat-emitting components of the engine, and a substantially anhydrous, boilable liquid coolant having a saturation temperature higher than that of water is received within the engine coolant chambers. A coolant expansion reservoir defining an expansion chamber is coupled in fluid communication between the engine coolant chambers and the engine's ambient atmosphere for receiving coolant from the engine coolant chambers and permitting coolant flow between the expansion chamber and engine coolant chambers with thermal expansion and contraction of the coolant. The expansion reservoir is mounted within a desorption environment formed within the vehicle's engine bay on the exhaust side of the radiator for heating the coolant within the expansion chamber to a temperature at or above a predetermined temperature during a substantial period of engine operation in order to vaporize substantially all water from the coolant and thereby maintain the coolant in a substantially anhydrous state.

It has long been a desire in the cooling system field to significantly extend the longevity of liquid coolants and/or cooling system components to approach or be coextensive with the lifetime of the motor vehicle or other power generating equipment with which the cooling system is used. In order to achieve this goal, it would be necessary to extend the corrosion inhibitor stability of liquid coolants to thereby limit the water content and resulting acidity within the coolants and their corrosive effects on engine surfaces and other cooling system components. An ideal such system would have to be low in water content at all times, and therefore would have to be capable of both significantly restricting the absorption of water into the coolant and forcing water out of the coolant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,579, dated Jul. 16, 1991, shows a condenserless apparatus for cooling an internal combustion engine with a substantially anhydrous, boilable liquid coolant having a saturation temperature above that of water. The apparatus comprises a coolant chamber surrounding the cylinder walls and combustion chamber domes of the engine, and a coolant pump which is adapted to pump coolant through the coolant chamber at a flow rate so that the liquid coolant substantially condenses the coolant vaporized upon contact with the metal surfaces of the engine.
The apparatus of the '579 patent further comprises means for exhausting gases and/or vapors from the coolant chamber which is coupled in fluid communication with the coolant chamber at a location at or below ambient pressure. The means for exhausting preferably includes a conduit in fluid communication on one end with the coolant chamber, and an expansion tank in fluid communication with the other end of the conduit for receiving the gases and/or vapors from the coolant chamber and purging the gases through an outlet port into the ambient atmosphere. The liquid within the expansion tank is maintained at a level above the tank's connection to the conduit in order to provide a liquid barrier between the coolant chamber and the engine's ambient atmosphere.
The apparatus of the '579 patent further comprises a dehydrating unit coupled in fluid communication with an outlet port of the expansion tank for dehydrating the ambient air drawn into the expansion tank and thereby minimizing the exposure of the coolant to ambient vapors. Thus, an engine equipped with this type of apparatus can limit the amount of moisture returning to the coolant chamber by employing both the liquid barrier in the expansion tank and the dehydrating unit.
The apparatus of the '579 patent can use substantially non-aqueous coolants operating at ambient vent pressures, and therefore derives significant benefits over currently produced engine cooling systems. However, although the dehydrating unit provides significant advantages, it may be perceived in certain applications as being relatively bulky and thus undesirable. In addition, even when the engine is not running, the dehydrating unit will continue to absorb moisture, and thus requires periodic maintenance to remain effective. The preferred coolants in the apparatus of the '579 patent are forms of diols (e.g., propylene glycol) and are basically hygroscopic such that if exposed to ambient air, they will continue to absorb water vapor. If the dehydrating unit becomes saturated, it will permit moisture to pass into the expansion tank and in turn expose the coolant to undesirable levels of water. Thus, particularly at relatively low ambient temperatures (e.g., below about 10.degree. C. or 50.degree. F.), the liquid barrier in the expansion tank will not prevent the introduction of water vapor into the engine coolant chambers, but rather will absorb water.
The introduction of water into the coolant causes an increasing rate of degradation of the coolant, with the production of acids (oxsolic, acetic, etc.) and thus significantly limits the effective useful life of the coolant additives. This is discussed in further detail in my co-pending patent application Ser. No. 08/449,338, entitled "A Method Of Cooling A Heat Exchange System Using A Non-Aqueous Heat Transfer Fluid", which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference as part of the present disclosure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks and disadvantages of the above-described cooling systems for internal combustion engines and other power generating equipment.

Engine cooling system with temperature-controlled expansion chamber for maintaining a substantially anhydrous coolant, and related method of cooling


Methods of fabricating a semiconductor device including a dual-hybrid liner in which an underlying silicide layer is protected from photoresist stripping chemicals by using a hard mask as a pattern during etching, rather than using a photoresist. The hard mask prevents exposure of a silicide layer to photoresist stripping chemicals and provides very good lateral dimension control such that the two nitride liners are well aligned.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication, and more particularly, to forming a dual-hybrid liner without exposing an underlying silicide layer to photoresist stripping chemicals.
2. Related Art
The application of stresses to field effect transistors (FETs) is known to influence their performance. When applied in a longitudinal direction (i.e., in the direction of current flow), tensile stress is known to enhance electron mobility (or n-channel FET (NFET) drive currents) while compressive stress is known to enhance hole mobility (or p-channel FET (PFET) drive currents). One way to apply such stresses to a FET is the use of intrinsically-stressed barrier silicon nitride liners. For example, a tensile-stressed silicon nitride liner may be used to cause tension in an NFET channel while a compressively-stressed silicon nitride liner may be used to cause compression in a PFET channel. However, tensile stress may degrade hole mobility and hence reduce PFET performance. Similarly, compressive stress may degrade electron mobility and hence worsen NFET performance. Accordingly, a dual/hybrid liner scheme is necessary to induce the desired stresses in an adjacent NFET and PFET.
In the formation of dual-hybrid silicon nitride liners for stress enhancement of NFET/PFET devices, the first deposited liner must be removed in one of the two FET regions by patterning and etching. One typical approach to forming a similar structure is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0029323 to Shimizu et al. In this disclosure, a silicon nitride film 13 is formed. In addition, in this disclosure, a silicon oxide film 13A (FIG. 4), e.g., P-TEOS or O3-TEOS, is formed as an insulating film over the silicon nitride film 13. Silicon nitride film 13 and silicon oxide film 13A are then exposed to a photo-etching technique to remove them from over the PFET (FIG. 4(b)). Next, another silicon nitride film 14 (FIG. 4(c)) is deposited as an insulating film, and then layer 14 is exposed to a photo-etching technique to remove it from over the NFET.
One shortcoming of the Shimizu et al. approach is that it requires exposure of an underlying silicide layer 12 adjacent the PFET to photoresist stripping chemicals in order to completely remove film 13 from the PFET region (FIG. 4(b)). Unfortunately, photoresist stripping chemicals typically include oxygen or ozone that can cause oxidation of silicide layer 12 and increased resistance. For example, a typical silicide layer normally has a resistance RS between about 6 ohm/sq and about 20 ohm/sq. By comparison, a slightly oxidized silicide layer may have a corresponding resistance RS between about 12 ohm/sq and about 40 ohm/sq. A much higher resistance or even open fail can occur when oxidation sensitive silicide is exposed. In technologies beyond 90 nm, which utilize ultra small gatelengths (e.g., <35 nm) and diffusion widths (e.g., <100 nm), such an increase in Rs is unacceptable because it will impact performance of the device. In addition to the above problem, exposure of silicide layer 12 to the photoresist stripping chemicals may result in an open circuit in silicide layer 12.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for methods of fabricating a semiconductor device having a dual-hybrid liner in which the silicide layer is protected from photoresist stripping chemicals.

Dual-hybrid liner formation without exposing silicide layer to photoresist stripping chemicals

International Business Machines Corporation

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd.


A sanitary installation element that is arranged in a water line includes a mixing device with at least one throttling or closing element, which throttling or closing element can be moved under the pressure of the inflowing water from a mixing or open position into a throttling or closed position against a restoring force, wherein the mixing device offers a relatively large clear flow cross section when the at least one throttling or closing element in the mixing or open position, and, by contrast thereto, a reduced clear flow cross section when the at least one throttling or closing element is in the throttling or closed position. The installation element always offers an optimum flow cross section both in low and high pressure ranges.

The invention relates to a sanitary installation element which is arranged in a water line.
Sanitary installation elements which are arranged in a water line are already known in an extremely wide variety of embodiments. For example, jet regulators have already been created which can be inserted into the water outlet of a sanitary outlet fitting. The previously known jet regulators, which are either fastened directly in the water outlet of a sanitary outlet fitting or can be inserted into an outlet mouthpiece which can be mounted on the water outlet, often have a jet splitter which divides the water flow flowing in through the pipe line and the fitting body into a multiplicity of individual jets. Said individual jets may, depending on the jet regulator design, be aerated if required before a homogeneous, soft and non-sputtering water jet is formed at the water outlet in a homogenization device which is situated downstream of the jet splitter and/or in an outflow-side flow straightener, which has a network-like, grate-like, sieve-like or honeycomb-like structure.
In order that the jet regulator can perform its function optimally and can form the water jet emerging from the water outlet, it is necessary for a certain quantity of water to flow through the jet regulator. Since the jet splitter and if appropriate also the downstream functional units of the jet regulator form a flow resistance, there is the risk at low pressures that a sufficient water quantity cannot flow through the jet regulator, and the jet regulator cannot perform its function, and that the water jet emerging from the jet regulator is perceived as being unpleasant.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A computer based digital transcription system employs audio and video inputs of a court proceeding, and stores the digital signals in a memory in the form of distinct file segments of a predetermined time length during each recording session. The computer associates a date and time and a third identifier, such as location, with each distinct file segment. Playback of any desired segment may be effected during recording or at any time afterward; and playback does not interfere with the recording of realtime information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to transcription systems used to record transcripts of court proceedings and the like, and more particularly, to a computer-based digital transcription system that eases the task of recording and copying such transcripts.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
It has long been customary during court proceedings and administrative hearings to record written transcripts of, such proceedings with the help of a court stenographer for later review and reference. In recent years, many courtrooms have switched to audio transcript recordings; in such instances, a stenographer need not be present during the proceedings. Judges or attorneys desiring a copy of the audio transcript are provided with copies of the recorded audio track, which can be transcribed into a written transcript at a later date, if necessary.
The first such audio transcript recording systems relied upon magnetic tape as a recording medium. One or more microphones are placed around the courtroom to pick up the voices of the judge, attorneys, and witness. The microphones are connected to a mixer/pre-amplifier which feeds a magnetic tape recorder for recording one or multiple audio tracks on the magnetic tape. Copies can later be made by playing back the recorded tape and "dubbing" the audio tracks onto a new blank tape. Such systems are generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,387 to Gallagher, Jr., and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,751 to Gimelli.
Efforts have been made to integrate court reporting systems with computers. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,387 (reissued as Re. 35,658) discloses a computerized court reporting system wherein a computer is used to operate and index a video cassette recorder (VCR) used to record both audio and video tracks on magnetic video tape. U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,510 to Meredith discloses an audio-video system for use in a courtroom wherein a logic controller selectively couples certain microphones and video cameras to a series of video cassette recorders.
All of the foregoing court reporting systems rely upon the use of magnetic tape. Magnetic tape has certain inherent disadvantages. First, it often binds in the recording/playback equipment, which can result in the loss of all or portions of the recorded proceedings. Secondly, it is difficult to accurately index magnetic tape; while magnetic tape recording/playback equipment often includes a tape counter, such counters are notoriously unreliable. It takes a relatively long time to physically move from one portion of the tape to a different portion of the tape, as by rewinding or fast-forwarding, when searching for a desired portion. In addition, the process of making duplicate tapes requires the "dubbing" procedure described above. Moreover, the quality of signals recorded on magnetic tape degrades with time. Furthermore, the record and playback heads of conventional magnetic tape recording equipment require frequent maintenance to ensure satisfactory results.
In some instances, a judge or one of the attorneys may need to hear prior testimony, or prior argument, played back during court proceedings. When magnetic tape is used to record the proceedings, then the tape must be stopped, rewound to the relevant portion, and played back. The tape must then be fast-forwarded back to the point where the tape was stopped before proceedings can continue. Apart from the delay that this procedure necessitates, no record of the proceedings can be made during the time that the tape is being rewound, played back, and fast-forwarded back to the remaining blank portion of the tape.
More recently, audio transcription systems have been introduced that digitize audio signals. U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,704 to Bennett, et al., and assigned to Engate Incorporated of Chicago, Ill., discloses, in one embodiment, a court reporting system wherein an analog voice signal generated by a microphone is converted, via an analog-to-digital converter circuit, to a series of digital values to generate a written transcript. Digital audio signals can be stored in the memory of a computer, e.g., in the form of a ".wav" file, so-named because such digital audio computer files often have the file extension ".wav" at the end of the file name. Some known digital audio transcription systems operate to store digital voice signals via a computer.
While movement of audio recording toward digital audio offers much potential, it also introduces a host of new problems. Computer files stored in the memory of a computer can easily become corrupted due to either hardware problems or software problems, rendering such files worthless, and potentially costing the loss of hours of courtroom proceedings. Moreover, computerized audio transcription systems have the appearance of being complicated and overwhelming to many court reporters and court clerks; for example, they often have trouble determining when they are monitoring an ongoing recording as compared with playing back an earlier recording. Moreover, a user seeking to locate relevant digital audio files stored in the memory of a computer often finds it difficult to locate all of the files that belong to a particular recording session. Even when such files are all located, it is still a burden to find the particular file containing a desired portion of the transcript; once the proper file is found, the length of such file may make it difficult to find a particular portion contained therein for playback.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a digital transcription system which eliminates the need for reliance upon unreliable magnetic tape.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a transcription system which allows instant access to any specific recorded segment by indexing such segment with the time at which such segment was recorded.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system which can easily produce highly-stable archival copies of a transcript for long-term storage.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system which can easily be used to create complete audio, real time text, or video, transcript copies for judges or attorneys at the end of each day's proceedings, but which can also be used to quickly and easily create custom-ordered transcripts that provide only those portions of the proceedings which were carried out between preselected starting and stopping times.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system that can be controlled by a single user under the control of a simple personal computer.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system that prevents a user from being confused as between controlling recording operations as compared with controlling playback/copying operations.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide such a transcription system that allows for playback of previously recorded proceedings while continuing to record the proceeding during such playback period.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.


An implantable atrial defibrillator provides a pulse of defibrillating electrical energy to the atria of the heart in synchronism with sensed R waves in response to non-coincident sensing of an R wave at first and second areas of the heart. The defibrillating pulse is provided after a predetermined number of consecutive R waves are non-coincidently sensed to assure reliable synchronization. The atrial defibrillator is also operational in a marker mode wherein a number of synchronization marker pulses are delivered to the heart for detection on an externally generated electrocardiogram. The atrial fibrillation detector of the defibrillator is normally disabled and is activated when the sensed ventricular activity indicates a probability of atrial fibrillation to conserve a depletable power source. An endocardial lead is also described which ensures that the delivered atrial defibrillating electrical energy is substantially confined to the atria of the heart.

The present invention generally relates to an atrial defibrillator for delivering a pulse of defibrillating electrical energy to the atria of a human heart. The present invention is more particularly directed to a fully automatic implantable atrial defibrillator which exhibits reduced power consumption, reliable synchronized delivery of defibrillating electrical energy to the atria, and multiple modes of operation including bradycardia pacing. The present invention is further directed to an improved endocardial lead for delivering the defibrillating electrical energy to the atria while minimizing the electrical energy applied to the ventricles.
Atrial fibrillation is probably the most common cardiac arrythmia. Although it is not usually a life threatening arrhythmia, it is associated with strokes thought to be caused by blood clots forming in areas of stagnant blood flow as a result of prolonged atrial fibrillation. In addition, patients afflicted with atrial fibrillation generally experience palpitations of the heart and may even experience dizziness or even loss of consciousness.
Atrial fibrillation occurs suddenly and many times can only be corrected by a discharge of electrical energy to the heart through the skin of the patient by way of an external defibrillator of the type well known in the art. This treatment is commonly referred to as synchronized cardioversion and, as its name implies, involves applying electrical defibrillating energy to the heart in synchronism with a detected electrical activation (R wave) of the heart. The treatment is very painful and, unfortunately, most often only results in temporary relief for patients, lasting but a few weeks.
Drugs are available for reducing the incidence of atrial fibrillation. However, these drugs have many side effects and many patients are resistent to them which greatly reduces their therapeutic effect.
Implantable atrial defibrillators have been proposed to provide patients suffering from occurrences of atrial fibrillation with relief. Unfortunately, to date, none of these atrial defibrillators have become a commercial reality to the detriment of such patients.
Implantable atrial defibrillators proposed in the past have exhibited a number of disadvantages which probably has been the cause of these defibrillators from becoming a commercial reality. Two such defibrillators, although represented as being implantable, were not fully automatic, requiring human interaction for cardioverting or defibrillating the heart. Both of these defibrillators require the patient to recognize the symptoms of atrial fibrillation with one defibrillator requiring a visit to a physician to activate the defibrillator and the other defibrillator requiring the patient to activate the defibrillator from external to the patient's skin with a magnet.
Synchronizing the delivery of the defibrillating or cardioverting energy with an electrical activation (R wave) of the heart is important to prevent ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation is a fatal arrythmia which can be caused by electrical energy being delivered to the heart at the wrong time in the cardiac cycle, such as during the T wave of the cycle. As a result, it is most desirable to sense electrical activations of the heart to generate synchronization pulses (or signals) in a manner which avoids detecting noise as an electrical activation. Unfortunately, implantable atrial defibrillators proposed to date have not provided either such noise immunity or any other means for assuring reliable synchronization.
Another measure for reducing the risk of inducing ventricular fibrillation during the delivery of defibrillating electrical energy to the atria of the heart is to reduce the amount of the electrical energy which is passed through the ventricles. In other words, it is advantageous to confine the electrical energy to the atria as much as possible.
Implantable defibrillators, in general, must be powered by a portable, depletable power sources, such as a battery. However, an automatic implantable atrial defibrillator which continuously monitors atrial activity of the heart and which continuously monitors for atrial fibrillation will consume so much power that frequent battery replacement, requiring explanting the defibrillator, would be necessary.
The atrial defibrillator of the present invention provides solutions to all of the above noted deficiencies in atrial defibrillators proposed to date and other features which obviate potential problems in implantable atrial defibrillators. In general, the atrial defibrillator of the present invention is fully automatic and provides reliable synchronization to electrical activations, both through noise immune electrical activation sensing and through a test mode which permits a physician to confirm reliable electrical activation sensing. The atrial defibrillator of the present invention also provides for conserving battery power by activating the atrial fibrillation detector only when the ventricular rate indicates a probability of atrial fibrillation. In addition, the atrial defibrillator of the present invention provides a new and improved endocardial lead and a method for using the same which assures that the delivered electrical energy is confined to the atria and little of the electrical energy is passed through the ventricles.


Colors look differently when observed under sunlight and room light. At least three chromatic colors and additional chromatic colors differing in hue from said three colors are used in combination. The additional colors are those which have a spectral reflectance which smoothens waviness in the spectral reflectance curve of the nearly achromatic color produced by the combination of the three chromatic colors. As the result, the combination of the colors gives rise to a color which has almost uniform spectral reflectance over the entire region of wavelengths. Thus it is possible to obtain printing which is less vulnerable to change in color under different light sources.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, a print control program, a medium having print control program recorded therein, and a printing method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
How humans perceive colors from ink attached to printing paper may be explained in terms of the product of three factors—the spectral distribution of the light source, the reflectance of the ink and printing paper, and the color matching function which depends on the characteristic properties of the human eye. Printers usually produce colors by combination of three inks expressing C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow) [the former two may be replaced by lc (light cyan) and lm (light magenta), respectively, which are similar to them in hue]. This means that the color humans perceive changes as ink changes in its spectral distribution. An adequate combination of colors (C, M, Y) produces an achromatic color (gray) on printing paper.
Printing with a conventional printer needs preliminary steps. First, trial print undergoes colorimetry with a specific light source. Then, a correspondence between ink combination and image data is established on the basis of calorimetric values. Finally, regular printing starts while referencing the correspondence. Since any color is represented by the product of three factors as mentioned above, it is essential that the colorimetry be carried out under a specific light source. If a printed product is observed under a light source which is different from that used for the colorimetry, then it looks differently. This phenomenon occurs remarkably in the case of low chromatic color or achromatic color (gray). For example, an object which takes on gray under the sunlight would look reddish under the room light. Pigment-based ink greatly varies in hue depending on light sources.

Printer, print control program, medium having print control program recorded therein, and printing method


A linear compressor and a method of producing the linear compressor which do not generate eddy currents in an inside stator of a linear motor thereof, thus preventing an eddy current loss, caused by an electrical contact between a plurality of thin metal sheets of the inside stator. The linear compressor includes a cylinder having a piston therein, a magnet arranged around the cylinder to actuate the piston, and the inside stator arranged around the cylinder to be placed inside the magnet. The inside stator has the thin metal sheets arranged in a cylindrical arrangement, and a holder which is made of a nonconductive resin material and to which the thin metal sheets are insert-molded to be held in positions thereof in the cylindrical arrangement. Due to the nonconductive holder, the thin metal sheets are prevented from being in electrical contact with each other, and the linear compressor does not generate any eddy currents in the inside stator, and prevents an eddy current loss.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to linear compressors and, more particularly, to a linear compressor which does not generate eddy currents in an inside stator of a linear motor thereof, and to a method of producing the linear compressor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a linear compressor is a machine that draws and compresses gas refrigerant in a refrigerating system or an air conditioning system, such as a refrigerator or an air conditioner, which is operated by running a refrigeration cycle.
A conventional linear compressor includes a hermetic casing that defines an appearance of the linear compressor, with a linear motor and a compression unit both being housed in the hermetic casing. The linear motor generates the driving power when the linear motor is turned on by electricity supplied from an external power source, while the compression unit draws gas refrigerant and compresses the refrigerant using the driving power of the linear motor.
The compression unit includes a cylinder block, with a cylinder provided at a central portion of the cylinder block to define a compression chamber therein. A cylinder head is assembled with a lower end of the cylinder block to guide inlet and outlet gas refrigerant relative to the compression chamber of the cylinder. That is, the cylinder head has a suction valve to allow the inlet gas refrigerant to enter the compression chamber, and an exhaust valve to allow the outlet gas refrigerant to be discharged from the compression chamber. A piston is movably received in the compression chamber of the cylinder to linearly reciprocate in the compression chamber using the driving power of the linear motor.
The linear motor includes an inside stator, an outside stator, and a slider. The inside stator has a cylindrical shape and is placed around the cylinder, while the outside stator has a cylindrical shape and is installed around the inside stator to surround the inside stator, with an interval defined between the inside and outside stators. The slider is interposed between the inside and outside stators to linearly reciprocate in an axial direction of the inside and outside stators. The slider has a magnet that cooperates with the inside and outside stators so as to linearly move the piston in the cylinder.
The inside stator has a plurality of thin metal sheets, which are thin steel sheets, as an example, and are arranged around a circumferential surface of the cylinder while being directed in a radial direction, thus forming a cylindrical arrangement. To arrange the thin metal sheets around the circumferential surface of the cylinder to form the cylindrical arrangement, first ends of the thin metal sheets are held by a holder provided on the circumferential surface of the cylinder. Second ends of the thin metal sheets are welded together to maintain the cylindrical arrangement of the thin metal sheets.
However since the thin metal sheets are welded together to maintain the cylindrical arrangement as described above, an electrical contact is formed between the welded metal sheets during a process of welding the metal sheets to produce the inside stator. Therefore, when the slider linearly reciprocates in the axial direction of the inside and outside stators during an operation of the linear compressor, eddy currents are generated in the inside stator, resulting in an eddy current loss to reduce operational performance of the linear compressor.

Linear compressor and method of producing the same


An improved scent transfer device for collecting evidence at a crime scene. The device comprises a gas cartridge coupled to an air valve. A holder having a sterile pad positioned therein is secured to one end of a housing containing said air valve by locking protrusions. When gas from the cartridge is expelled into the air valve, a vacuum is created at the end of where the pad holder is attached when a switch is pressed, enabling a user to collect the scent on the pad. The pad can then be removed and stored in an evidence bag. An extension member which locks into the holder can be utilized to extend the capabilities of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for collecting scents from a scene and enabling trained dogs to sniff the collected scent and then hunt for criminals or missing persons.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Copending application Ser. No. 11/545,941, filed on Oct. 12, 2006, now Pat. No. 7,448,288, discloses an improved scent transfer device for collecting evidence at a crime scene. The device comprises an air inflator having a gas cartridge, the inflator being coupled to an air amplifier. A holder having a sterile pad positioned therein is secured to the air amplifier. When gas from the cartridge is expelled into the air amplifier, a vacuum is created at the end of the air amplifier where the pad holder is attached, enabling a user, when the pad holder is positioned near an area to be examined, to collect the scent on the pad. The pad can then be removed and stored in an evidence bag. The device of the present invention is light weight and does not require mechanical parts, such as a motor and batteries. In addition, the use of gas cartridges eliminates the necessity of using air to create the vacuum which could contaminate the pad and also enables the generated vacuum to be precisely metered each time the device is used.
What is desired is to provide a scent transfer device which is an improvement to the device shown in the '941 application wherein the pad holder is more secure to the device and an extension holder is provided, when necessary, to provide an extension mechanism whereby the scent holder device can be used in more varied environments. In addition, what is desired is to provide a housing that is ergonomic and which incorporates the basic components of the scent transfer unit.

Scent evidence collecting and transfer device


A nitride trapping memory device includes a comparator, a bias unit, a memory cell, a cycling cell, a compensation cell and a control unit. The comparator has a reference voltage. The bias unit is for outputting a bias voltage to the comparator, and the comparator outputs a bit value according to comparison of the bias voltage and the reference voltage. The memory cell is connected to the bias unit via a first switch. The cycling cell is connected to the bias unit via a second switch. The compensation cell is connected to the bias unit via a third switch. The control unit is for controlling the cycling cell and the compensation cell according to the bit value.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a nitride trapping memory device and method for reading the same, and more particularly to a method for dynamically adjusting read margin by using an extra cycling nitride trapping memory cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flash memory, a non-volatile semi-conductor memory element, is widely used many portable 3C products such as PDA, mobile phone, card reader, handy disc, and adaptor card due to the features of small volume, high capacity, low power consumption and re-writability.
Flash memory uses memory cell array to store logic data. Every memory cell includes a transistor having a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode. The gate electrode is coupled to a word line. A conventional memory cell uses the poly-silicon layer of the gate electrode to store the electrons. The poly-silicon layer is a conductive layer, which allows the electrons to move on poly-silicon layer freely. Therefore, every conventional memory cell can only store one bit of data. When reading the data stored in the conventional memory cell, the general practice is to apply a fixed read voltage onto the word line, so that the logic value stored therein is determined according to the current measured at the memory cell.
In order to achieve a high-density memory element, the Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. of Israel provides a nitride trapping memory cell. The nitride trapping memory cell is a memory allowing electrons to be erased or written into. The main difference between a nitride trapping memory cell and a conventional memory cell lies in that the nitride trapping memory cell uses a non-conductive nitride layer to store the electrons in the vicinity of the drain electrode and the source electrode. By doing so, every nitride trapping memory cell can store two bits of data, effectively increasing the density of the memory element.
However, if the area close to the drain electrode has already stored one bit of data, the second-bit effect will occur during the reverse read, causing the threshold voltage of forward read to rise up. Under such circumstance, the conventional method of applying a fixed read voltage to read the logic value stored in nitride trapping memory cell would reduce the reliability of the read data.
To resolve the above problem, the conventional method is to consider the second-bit effect in advance and pre-set a read '1' margin. That is, before the memory element leaves the factory, the increase in threshold voltage value due to the second-bit effect is already considered and the estimated increase in threshold voltage is pre-set at a read '1' margin, lest the reliability of the read data might be reduced due to the second-bit effect. However, such practice would increase the read voltage of the word line pre-set in the memory element, and increase read disturb effect in consequence.
Besides, a method of using two reference memory cells to read multi-bit flash memory and the device for making the same is disclosed. Each word line uses two reference memory cells respectively denoting that the word line has the distribution of the threshold voltages of high threshold voltage memory cells and the distribution of the threshold voltages of low threshold voltage memory cells. An average reference threshold voltage value can be obtained from the two reference memory cells. However, under practical operation, the threshold voltage of the two reference memory cells does not necessarily lie in the middle between the high threshold voltage distribution and the low threshold voltage distribution. Therefore, the read reference threshold voltage value obtained according to the above method is a read reference threshold voltage value obtained under ideal circumstances.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,849 discloses a method which controls the threshold voltage value of the second reference memory cell according to the initial threshold voltage value of the first reference memory cell, so that the read reference threshold voltage value obtained from the first reference memory cell and the second reference memory cell can be assured to lie between the high threshold voltage distribution and the low threshold voltage distribution. However, complicated erasing routines and program verification routines are applied in the reference memory cell, not only increasing the difficulty in the design of circuits, but also increasing the read time.

Method of reading the bits of nitride read-only memory cell


A front PTO implement auto connect system includes a frame having a drive over surface and a pair of rear attachment members automatically and releasably engageable by a tractor rear draft linkage. The system includes a PTO coupling member mounted on the frame, and a front PTO shaft extending forwardly from the frame to a front PTO housing. A front attachment member on the front PTO housing is automatically and releasably engageable by a tractor front hanger. The front PTO implement auto connect system may be picked up with the same or similar linkages used to pick up a mid-mounted implement such as a mower deck.

Auto connect systems are available for automatically connecting a mid-mounted implement when the tractor drives over the implement. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,470 for Drive Over Mower Deck, U.S. Pat. No. 7,905,297 for Automatic Connection for Mid-Mounted Implement, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,877,972 and 8,234,847 for Automatic Connection Mechanism for Mid-Mounted Implement, assigned to Deere & Company, describe a drive over mower deck that may be picked up under the tractor and automatically attached to the tractor's front and rear lift linkages, including a mid PTO mounted to the rear lift linkage. The rear lift linkage may include a pair of rear draft links that engage the rear of the mid-mounted implement. The forward lift linkage may be pivotably connected to the front end of the implement, and engage the forward end of the tractor frame. The mid PTO engages a PTO coupling member on the gearbox or top surface of the mid-mounted implement such as a mower deck. A similar system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,622,406, for example.
Typically, the same mid PTO also may be used to power front PTO driven implements such as rotary brooms or snow blowers. However, this requires removing the auto connect system, including the front and rear lift linkages and mid PTO mounted to the rear linkage, then adding a forward extending front PTO shaft to the mid PTO. Substantial time and effort is required to switch between applications that share the tractor's mid PTO. Additionally, the front PTO shaft may be in the way of mid mower draft and loader designs.
An auto connect system is needed that remains on the tractor when a front PTO implement is used. An auto connect system for a front PTO implement is needed that does not require removing the auto connect system for mid-mounted mower decks, including the front and rear lift linkages and mid PTO mounted to the rear linkage. A front PTO implement auto connect system is needed that makes it relatively fast and easy to switch between applications that share the tractor's mid PTO. A front PTO implement auto connect system is needed that is not in the way of mid mower draft and loader designs.


The present invention prevents the corrosion of a printed circuit board which is connected to a lower side of a display panel in a liquid crystal display panel. In a display device which includes a display panel and a frame member which supports an outer peripheral portion of a display screen of a display panel, a water absorbing member is adhered to a surface of the frame member which faces the display panel in an opposed manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly to an effective technique which is applied to a large-sized liquid crystal display device such as a liquid crystal television set.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a liquid crystal display device, there has been a liquid crystal display for a liquid crystal television set and a PC (Personal Computer). Recently, the liquid crystal display for the liquid crystal television set or the PC is increased in size thereof.
In the liquid crystal display device such as the liquid crystal television set, for example, a component (display module) which is integrally constituted of a liquid crystal display panel, a circuit board which transmits video signals and scanning signals to the liquid crystal display panel or the like by using a frame member is housed in an exterior component (housing).
Further, a large-sized liquid crystal display device has a large amount of heat generation in use thereof, and generated heat is likely to accumulate in an upper portion of the housing (an upper portion of a display module). Accordingly, in the large-sized liquid crystal display device in recent years, a driver (drain driver) which transmits signals to a video signal line extended in the longitudinal direction of the liquid crystal display panel may be arranged on a lower side of the liquid crystal display panel.
Further, as a method to effectively radiate heat in the inside of a housing of the liquid crystal display device outside, there has been proposed a method which provides an exhaust hole at an upper portion of a housing body and provides an intake hole at a lower portion of the housing body (see JP-A-2001-332074, for example).

Display device with waterproof sheet and recessed portion or through hole formed in a surface of the frame member which faces the waterproof sheet


A terrain advisory display including a display, a processing circuit coupled to the display and wherein the display is configured to generate a three-dimensional image.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of synthetic vision information systems. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and method of depicting TAWS alert information in the synthetic vision display.
The synthetic vision information system may be utilized in combination with a Terrain Awareness and Warning System ("TAWS") to communicate with aircrew that the aircraft's flight path may be on an imminent collision course with an obstacle. TAWS may include a Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS), a Ground Collision Avoidance Systems (GCAS), a Terrain Awareness and Warning System or any combination thereof.
A synthetic vision information system may be used to improve situational awareness which may reduce pilot workload to allow the aircrews to avoid mistakes, such as flying too close to terrain, landing short or entering an active runway. A synthetic vision information system may further aid aircrews in re-planning en route and during final approach segments by providing intuitive guidance cues to reduce pilot workload and improve performance.
Synthetic vision information systems use terrain and obstacle databases to produce terrain maps that show a perspective version of the outside world on a two-dimensional display screen. These scenes may be generated based on positioning data, aircraft altitude and other data. Also included on the display are obstacle and terrain warnings based on the projected flight path. Synthetic vision information systems create a perspective display of the geographic area around the plane by utilizing a digital three-dimensional map of a geographic area and the aircraft's positioning data to precisely locate the plane's location and altitude.
When the plane's location and altitude trigger a warning that the aircraft's flight path may be on an imminent collision course with an obstacle, the synthetic vision information system, in combination with TAWS, communicates this warning to the aircrew. However, this warning message does not provide sufficient obstacle characteristic details (i.e. size, shape or adjacent obstacles).
What is needed is a synthetic vision system configured to provide sufficient obstacle characteristic details to allow the aircrew to more effectively determine the appropriate course of action in a warning situation.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the aforementioned needs.

Method for TAWS depiction on SVS perspective displays


A braking device for a two-wheeler, such as bicycle which comprises a pair of left and right arms pivotally attached to a frame of the two-wheeler, each having on its distal end portion a brake shoe, and a spring for energizing the arms to move toward brake releasing direction. This braking device is characterized in that one of the arms is more strongly energized by the spring than the other arm is, and that a stopper is provided to restrict the extent of the movement of the strongly energized arm toward the brake releasing direction, so that, when arms are being set back to the unactuated original state, this strongly energized arm is stopped of its movement by the stopper before the other arm finally returns to its original state.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a device for applying and releasing the brakes of a two-wheeler which enable a pair of the right and left shoes to set back reliably from the rim of a wheel when the brakes are released.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
There are known, as the brakes for a two-wheeler such as a bicycle, a side-pull type brake, a center-pull type brake and a cantilever type brake. In any of these types, the brake comprises a pair of arms which is pivotally mounted on the attaching bolt, a pair of shoes mounted on the distal end portion of each of the arms, a brake lever, and a brake wire whose one end is connected to one of the arms and the other end connected to the brake lever. The pair of arms is normally energized to take an unactuated position. The application or release of the brakes are effected via the operation of the brake lever to rotate (or swing) via the brake wire the pair of arms around the attaching bolt thereby to cause the displacement of the pair of brake shoes, i.e. moving the shoes toward the rim of a wheel to pressingly hold both sides of the rim between the pair of the shoes thereby applying the braking of the two-wheeler, or moving the shoes to set back from both sides of the rim of the wheel thereby releasing the braking of the two-wheeler. It is preferable in order to achieve an effective braking to make the distance between the forward surface of each of the brake shoes and each side of the rim facing to each of the brake shoes as equal as possible before actuating the braking operation.
Accordingly, the braking device is conventionally installed to a bicycle, in such a process that an attaching bolt for pivotally mounting the brake arms is first fixed to a frame of the bicycle such that each of the brake shoes is kept apart at a prescribed distance from the rim, and then the brake wire is fastened to the brake arm.
However, in the case of the center-pull type brake or the cantilever type brake, each of the arms is separately secured to the frame of the bicycle, and then connected to a brake wire, so that it is rather difficult to set both of the right and left brake shoes in equidistance to the side surfaces of the rim.
In contrast, in the case of the side-pull type brake, it is rather easy to uniformly set the left and right arms. Actually, however, it is often unavoidable to cause a nonuniformity between the distance from the tip surface of left brake shoe to one side of the rim, and the distance from the tip surface of right brake shoe to the other side of the rim. In order to correct this nonuniformity, it has been conventionally conducted to readjust the distances from the tip surfaces of right and left brake shoes to the sides of the rim by forcefully deforming part of a spring attached to the arms thereby adjusting the restoring or repulsing force of the spring.
However, since the repulsing force of the spring is acted separately on each of the arms, any difference in repulsing force of the spring that will be applied to the left and right arms will invite a situation at the time of effecting the braking that the brake shoe which is mounted on an arm energized weakly by the spring first moves later to the rim, and then the brake shoe which is mounted on an arm strongly energized by the spring moves to the rim. In this manner, the pair of the shoes are successively contacted to the rim thereby holding the rim from both sides.
At the time of releasing the braking on the contrary, the brake shoe which is mounted on an arm strongly energized by the spring is first set back from the rim, and then the brake shoe which is mounted on an arm weakly energized by the spring is set back later from the rim.
Accordingly, if the restoring of one of the arms is fairly weak, the brake shoe which is mounted on this arm is hardly set back from the rim, but remains as being contacted to the rim, thereby causing the generations of frictional noise, increasing the load on the wheel or giving rise to other troubles during ordinary running of the wheeler.

Side pull bicycle brake with differential spring release and pivotal stopper structure


Stripe-based non-volatile multilevel memory operation can include writing a number of lower stripes including programming a number of lower pages of information in each of the number of lower stripes. An upper stripe can be written including programming a number of upper pages of the information in the upper stripe. Each of the number of upper pages can correspond to a respective one of the number of lower pages. Each of the respective ones of the number of lower pages corresponding to the number of upper pages can be programmed in a different lower stripe of the number of lower stripes.

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computers or other electronic devices. There are many different types of memory including volatile and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory can require power to maintain its information and includes random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), among others. Non-volatile memory can provide persistent information by retaining stored information when not powered and can include NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, read only memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), phase change random access memory (PCRAM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), and magnetic random access memory (MRAM), such as spin torque transfer random access memory (STT RAM), among others.
Memory devices can be combined together to form a solid state drive (SSD). A solid state drive can include non-volatile memory, e.g., NAND flash memory and NOR flash memory, and/or can include volatile memory, e.g., DRAM and SRAM, among various other types of non-volatile and volatile memory. Flash memory devices, including floating gate flash devices and charge trap flash (CTF) devices using semiconductor-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor and metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor capacitor structures that store information in charge traps in the nitride layer, may be utilized as non-volatile memory for a wide range of electronic applications. Flash memory devices typically use a one-transistor memory cell that allows for high memory densities, high reliability, and low power consumption.
An SSD can be used to replace hard disk drives as the main storage device for a computer, as the solid state drive can have advantages over hard drives in terms of performance, size, weight, ruggedness, operating temperature range, and power consumption. For example, SSDs can have superior performance when compared to magnetic disk drives due to their lack of moving parts, which may avoid seek time, latency, and other electro-mechanical delays associated with magnetic disk drives. SSD manufacturers can use non-volatile flash memory to create flash SSDs that may not use an internal battery supply, thus allowing the drive to be more versatile and compact.
An SSD can include a number of memory devices, e.g., a number of memory chips (as used herein, "a number of" something can refer to one or more of such things, e.g., a number of memory devices can refer to one or more memory devices). As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, a memory chip can include a number of dies and/or logical units (LUNs). Each die can include a number of memory arrays and peripheral circuitry thereon. The memory arrays can include a number of memory cells organized into a number of physical pages, and the physical pages can be organized into a number of blocks.
A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) is an umbrella term for computer information storage schemes that divide and/or replicate information among multiple memory devices. The multiple memory devices in a RAID array may appear to a user and the operating system of a computer as a single memory device, e.g., disk. Historically, a RAID operated with multiple hard disk drives (HDDs).


A circuit and method are shown for controlling a redundant memory cell of an integrated memory circuit. The circuit includes a decoder, a precharge enable unit, a redundant controller, a redundant enable signal generator, and a redundant memory cell array. The precharge enable unit is connected to the decoder, and responds to a precharge enable signal by precharging the output terminal of decoder. The decoder responds to a first row address signal by discharging the output terminal of the decoder unless the value of the row address signal corresponds to a programmed address of the decoder. The redundant enable signal generator samples the voltage level of the output terminal of the decoder under control of a redundant control signal of the redundant controller in order to generate a redundant cell enable signal. The redundant controller generates the redundant control signal in response to a second row address signal, where the redundant controller delays the redundant control signal by a predetermined time interval in response to a stress test signal which is active during a stress test in order to allow the decoder sufficient time to discharge the output terminal during the stress test. The redundant memory cell array is connected to the redundant enable signal generator and responds to the redundant enable signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated memory circuit and, more particularly, to a circuit and method for controlling a redundant memory cell during a burn-in stress test.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated memory circuits typically include a plurality of memory cells for storing data. A typical integrated memory circuit has capacity of 64 megabits (MBits). However, when one or more memory cells are defective, the integrated memory circuit cannot be used, which reduces manufacturing yield and thereby increases cost. In order to increase yield, integrated memory circuits usually include redundant memory cells. When a normal memory cell is defective, then it is replaced with a redundant memory cell, which allows the device to be used despite the defective memory cell and results in increased yield.
When an integrated memory circuit having redundant memory cells is subjected to a burn-in stress test, then a problem can arise wherein normal memory cells are mistakenly identified as defective and replaced with redundant memory cells. As a result, normal memory cells may be excluded from the burn-in stress test.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a conventional redundant memory cell control circuit for an integrated memory circuit. Referring to FIG. 1, the redundant memory cell control circuit includes a precharge enable unit 11, a decoder 13, a redundant controller 15 and a redundant enable signal generator 17. A redundant memory cell array 19 is connected to an output terminal of the redundant enable signal generator 17.
The precharge enable unit 11 is composed of a PMOS transistor coupled between a power supply terminal Vcc and a node N1. The gate of the PMOS transistor is driven by a precharge enable signal PPRE. When PPRE is active, the precharge enable unit 11 precharges node N1 to the voltage level of the power supply terminal Vcc. The voltage at the power supply terminal Vcc is typically 3.3 V during either a read or a write operation and is stressed to 5.5 V during a burn-in stress test.
The decoder 13 includes a series of fuses F1-F.sub.2n+2 coupled between node N1 and NMOS transistors M1-M.sub.2n+2. Each of the NMOS transistors M1-M.sub.2n+2 is coupled between one of the fuses F1-F.sub.2n+2 and a ground supply terminal GND and has its gate driven by one of a number of logic level of row address signals RAi/RAiB (i=0, 1, 2 . . . ).
The redundant controller 15 includes a NAND gate 31 and three invertors 33, 34 and 35 connected in series. Each of the inputs to NAND gate 31 receives one of the row address signals RAi-RAiB and generates a redundant control signal PREDE.
The redundant enable signal generator 17 includes a NAND gate 41 and an invertor 43. One input of NAND gate 41 receives the voltage at the node N1 and the other input of NAND gate 41 receives the redundant control signal PREDE which are logically combined in order to generate a redundant cell enable signal RED.
The redundant memory cell array 19 is enabled by the redundant cell enable signal RED. That is, when the redundant cell enable signal RED is logic high, the redundant memory cell array 19 is activated, and when logic low, the redundant memory cell array 19 is inactivated.
In the operation of the redundant memory cell control circuit of FIG. 1, when one of the normal memory cells (not shown) is defective, e.g. the memory cell connected to a row address RA0 is defective, then fuse F1 is cut. During the burn-in stress test, the precharge enable signal PPRE is activated to a logic low level and the precharge enable unit 11 precharges node N1 to the voltage level of power supply terminal Vcc, which is typically 5.5 V. When the node N1 is precharged and the row address signal RA0 is activated to a logic high level, the NMOS transistor M1 becomes active. However, because fuse F1 is cut, node N1 does not discharge and node N1 remains precharged to a high logic state. At this time, the redundant controller 15 generates the redundant control signal PREDE which is active at a logic high level. Accordingly, both inputs to NAND 41 of redundant enable signal generator 17 are at a logic high level and the redundant cell enable signal RED from the redundant enable signal generator 17 is activated to a logic high level and activates the redundant memory cell array 19. In this manner, the defective memory cell corresponding to the row address signal is replaced with the redundant memory cell array 19.
When the node N1 is precharged and the row address RA0 becomes inactive, then a row address RA0B becomes logic high level and node N1 is discharged. At this time, the redundant controller 15 will also generate the redundant control signal PREDE, but node N1 is discharged and the redundant cell enable signal RED will remain at a logic low level. When the redundant cell enable signal RED is inactivate, the redundant memory cell array 19 also remains inactivate.
However, the discharging speed of node N1 can be relatively slow, as illustrated in FIG. 2 (see FIG. 2A). This is because the precharged voltage at node N1 is at a higher level, 5.5 V, than the normal operating voltage, 3.3 V. Consequently, when the redundant control signal PREDE is activated at a logic high at a point P1 of FIG. 2 when the voltage at the node N1 has not sufficiently discharged, then the redundant cell enable signal RED will become a logic high and activate the redundant memory cell array 19. When the redundant memory cell array 19 is mistakenly activated due to the higher burn-in test voltage, a memory cell having no defect will be excluded from the burn-in stress test and may be defective. Thus, the reliability of the integrated memory circuit is reduced.

Circuit and method for controlling a redundant memory cell in an integrated memory circuit


Backlighting methods and apparatuses to backlight a device. The backlighting apparatus includes a flexible light guide, a light source, and a housing. The light source is disposed adjacent to a transmission interface of the flexible light guide to illuminate the flexible light guide. The housing at least partially encloses the flexible light guide and the light source. A surface area of the flexible light guide is visible through the housing. By using a flexible light guide to backlight the device, the size of the device is reduced compared to conventional devices. Alternatively, the device may accommodate additional components. Other advantages also may be achieved.

Keypad backlighting is currently used in many electronic devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants. While current keypad backlighting technologies enhance the visible recognition of individual keys, the current keypad backlighting technologies negatively impact the size and functionality of the devices in which they are used.
FIG. 1 depicts a cross-sectional view of a conventional backlighting system 10 using top-emitting light emitting diodes (LEDs) 12. Specifically, the LEDs 12 are wide-angle, top-emitting, component LEDs 12. The LEDs 12 illuminate a stiff light guide panel 14. The LEDs 12 and light guide panel 14 are disposed within a housing having a top plate 16 and a bottom plate 18. Typically, the light guide panel 14 is punched with holes so that keypad plungers 22 can extend through the light guide panel 14. The keypad plungers 22 are coupled to a plunger layer 20 that is a low optical grade material. When a user pushes a button (not shown) on the keypad, the plunger layer 20 and keypad plunger 22 transfer the tactile contact to a switch 24 within the housing. One type of switch 24 is a metal dome of the type known in the art. Unfortunately, this conventional backlighting system 10 has a disadvantage of creating poor brightness uniformity due to noticeable hot spots from the LEDs 12. Also, the thickness of the top-emitting LEDs ranges between 0.35 to 0.60 mm, thereby adding to the thickness of the backlighting system.
FIG. 2 depicts a cross-sectional view of a conventional backlighting system 30 using side-emitting LEDs 32. This backlighting system 30 includes many of the same components as the backlighting system shown in FIG. 1 and described above. In particular, the backlighting system 30 includes a stiff light guide panel 14, a housing having a top plate 16 and a bottom plate 18, a plunger layer 20, a keypad plunger 22, and a switch 24. The light guide panel 14 of this backlighting system 30 is illuminated by side-emitting LEDs 32. Unfortunately, this conventional backlighting system 30 also has a disadvantage of hot spots from the holes 34 in the light guide panel 14 to accommodate the keypad plungers 22. The holes 34 result in localized hot spots and deteriorate the brightness uniformity performance of the light guide panel. The holes 34 also reduce the tactility of the keypad buttons.
A third type of conventional backlighting system (not shown) uses electroluminescent (EL) lighting. EL lighting systems emit light in response to an electrical current passed through an electroluminescent material. However, the rectifier circuitry in EL backlighting systems generates noise which negatively interferes with other electronic circuitry within the backlit device.
In view of this, what is needed is a backlighting solution to overcome the problems of hotspots, thickness, and noise associated with conventional backlighting technologies.

Low-profile backlight with flexible light guide

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A method of calibrating a robotic device, such as a cardiac catheter, includes oscillating the device on an actuation axis by applying an oscillation vector at an oscillation frequency. While oscillating, a location of the device is periodically measured to generate a plurality of location data points, which may express the location of the device relative to a plurality of measurement axes. The location data points are then processed using a signal processing algorithm, such as a Fourier transform algorithm, to derive a transfer function relating a position of the device to a movement vector for the actuation axis. The transfer function may be resolved into and expressed as a calibration vector for the actuation axis, which may include one or more components, including zero components, directed along each of the measurement axes. The process may be repeated for any actuation axes on which calibration is desired.

a. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to robotically controlled devices employing positional feedback systems. In particular, the instant invention relates to a method for obtaining a transfer function in order to calibrate actuation of a robotically controlled device relative to the positional feedback system.
b. Background Art
Catheters are used for an ever growing number of medical procedures. To name just a few examples, catheters are used for diagnostic, therapeutic, and ablative procedures. Typically, the physician manipulates the catheter through the patient's vasculature to the intended site, such as a site within the patient's heart. The catheter typically carries one or more electrodes or other diagnostic or therapeutic devices, which may be used for ablation, diagnosis, cardiac mapping, or the like.
It is well known that, to facilitate manipulation of the catheter through the patient's vasculature to the intended site, portions of the catheter shaft, especially the distal regions thereof, may be made steerable. For example, the catheter may be manufactured such that the physician can translate, rotate, and deflect the distal end of the catheter as necessary and desired to negotiate the tortuous paths of the patient's vasculature en route to the target site.
By way of illustration, deflectability is oftentimes achieved by installing one or more steering wires (sometimes referred to as "pull wires") along the length of the catheter shaft. These steering wires are coupled to one or more actuators that the physician can utilize to selectively tension the wires, thereby deflecting the distal end of the catheter. It is also known that the pull wires may be coupled to a motorized, electromechanical control system for actuating the catheter on the deflection axis. Similarly, in order to advance and retract (that is, translate) the catheter, the catheter may be coupled to a motorized carriage.
Positional feedback systems (sometimes referred to as localization systems, navigation systems, or mapping systems, with the various terms being used interchangeably herein) may be used to provide the physician with information concerning the position or location of the catheter within the patient. U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,377 ("the '377 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,126 ("the '126 patent"), both of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, disclose navigation systems for determining the position or location of a catheter in a patient's heart.
In the systems of the '377 and '126 patents, current pulses are applied to pairs of orthogonally-arranged patch electrodes placed on the body of the patient. These patches are used to create electric fields inside the patient defining a set of orthogonal x, y, and z measurement axes. The patents teach small amplitude, low current pulses supplied continuously at three different frequencies, one on each axis. A location electrode placed within these electric fields—for example, within the patient's heart—experiences voltages depending on its location between the pairs of patch electrodes defining each axis. The voltage on the location electrode, when compared to that on a reference electrode, indicates the position of the location electrode relative to the reference electrode. Thus, the three voltages can be used to define a location of the location electrode, and thus the catheter, in three-dimensional space, which may be expressed as a rectangular (x, y, z) coordinate relative to a set of orthogonal measurement axes.
While the motors used to actuate a catheter are themselves quite precise, the mechanical systems employed to deflect, translate, or rotate the catheter are less so, especially where actuation forces must be transmitted over significant distances. In particular, the position of the catheter tip depends upon many variables, including the catheter's temperature, its recent movement history, and the tortuous path it is traversing, as well as the expected and desired dependence upon the displacement supplied to the pull wires or other mechanical and electromechanical system elements. Much of this variability is due to retained forces along the length of the catheter body and internal catheter structures, which may be collectively referred to as "memory." In fact, for a given displacement of the pull wires, these factors can result in a variation of the tip location in excess of 1 cm. Relative changes desired in tip position are not precisely predictable for the same reasons.
Furthermore, extant positional feedback systems, such as the navigation system described above, may have inherent error. Though intra-cardiac navigation systems are robust in terms of their reproducibility, the dimensional feedback that they provide tends to be contextual—dependent upon the particular patient, heart chamber structure, and other factors. Though this presents no difficulty for mapping applications, wherein all sites are mapped and marked in the same relative context, it does present a problem in open loop characterization of the catheter. For example, if the navigation system indicates that a 10 mm deflection is necessary, but this movement is, in reality, only 9 mm per the catheter's characteristics, an error of 1 mm results. This navigation system error is in addition to the device error discussed above.
Thus, it is desirable to obtain a transfer function relating the desired motion of the catheter in three-dimensional space to the control vectors or motion commands (referred to herein as "movement vectors") that are supplied to the motors. A first order calibration method might be to actuate the catheter for an expected movement and measure the actual movement utilizing the navigation system described above. A scale correction factor can be derived from the ratio of the expected movement to the actual movement. This approach, however, may account for some uncertainties of the catheter itself, but does not account for external error sources such as patient motion, cardiac motion, patient respiration, and electronic noise.

Robotically controlled catheter and method of its calibration

St. Jude Medical, Atrial Fibrillation Division, Inc.


A prosthetic screw system that includes a prosthetic screw for at least partial insertion into a bone and/or cartilage. The prosthetic screw includes a head and a lower portion connected to the head. The prosthetic screw system also includes a set of head-pieces that can be connected to the head of the prosthetic screw. The head-pieces have differing configurations that are designed to be connected to different types of components of a prosthetic system. The universal connection arrangement between the prosthetic screw and the set of head-pieces enables the prosthetic screw to be customized for connection with a variety of components of a prosthetic system. The head-pieces can alternatively or additionally include a mechanical and/or electrical mechanism that provides one or more substances (e.g., medicine and/or other biological agent, etc.) and/or electrostimulation to a surgical site.

The human spine is made up of a column of thirty-three bones and their adjoining structures. The bodies of these vertebrae are connected by anterior and posterior ligaments and by discs of fibrocartilage generally known as intervertebral discs. These discs are positioned between opposite faces of adjacent vertebral bodies. This column of vertebrae and intervertebral discs forms a central axis that supports the head and torso. These vertebrae also enclose an opening through which the spinal cord passes.
The presaccral vertebrae are normally held in position to one another by the intervertebral discs, ligaments and musculature of the body. These vertebrae move relative to adjacent vertebrae thus permitting the head to be turned relative the body and providing a wide range of flexibility to the spine.
One of the most costly health problems in society involves back pain and pathology of the spine. These problems can affect individuals of all ages and can result in great suffering to victims. Back pain can be caused by several factors such as congenital deformities, traumatic injuries, degenerative changes to the spine, and the like. Such changes can cause painful excessive motion, or collapse of a motion segment resulting in the contraction of the spinal canal and compression of the neural structures, causing debilitating pain, paralysis or both, which in turn can result in nerve root compression or spinal stenosis.
Nerve conduction disorders can also be associated with intervertebral discs or the vertebrae themselves. One such condition is herniation of the intervertebral disc, in which a small amount of tissue protrudes from the sides of the disc into the foramen to compress the spinal cord. A second common condition involves the development of small bone spurs, termed osteophytes, along the posterior surface of the vertebral body, again impinging on the spinal cord.
Upon identification of these abnormalities, surgery may be required to correct the problem. For those problems associated with the formation of osteophytes or herniations of the intervertebral disc, one such surgical procedure is intervertebral discectomy. In this procedure, the involved vertebrae are exposed and the intervertebral disc is removed, thus removing the offending tissue or providing access for the removal of the bone osteophytes. A second procedure, termed a spinal fusion, may then be required to fix the vertebrae together to prevent movement and maintain a space originally occupied by the intervertebral disc. Although this procedure may result in some minor loss and flexibility in the spine, due to the relatively large number of vertebrae, the minor loss of mobility is typically acceptable.
For the replacement of a vertebra of the human spinal column, for the distraction of the spinal column, for the stabilization of the vertebrae and likewise, it is known to apply pedicle screws. The pedicle screw is screwed into the pedicle of the vertebra and the head of the pedicle screw is connected to suitable provisions, for example to a stabilizing system, to distraction rods, etc. During the treatment of the spine, the pedicle screw is generally first rotated into the pedicle. Subsequently, the insertion of the rod is effected.
A standard pedicle screw assembly comprises a screw having an externally threaded stem having in turn a head provided with parts allowing it to be secured to one end of a distraction rod. Typically two such pedicle screws are inserted into respective vertebrae and are secured to a rod to distract and/or stabilize a spinal column after, for instance, a disk operation. One commonly used pedicle screw is disclosed in German Patent No. 4,107,480, which is incorporated herein by reference, and includes a head that has a pair of outwardly projecting parallel ridges with overhanging inner edges. A cap formed with a pair of complementary inwardly open slots fits with these ridges. The pedicle screw is threaded into the vertebrae, an end of the rod is fitted to its outer end, the cap is then slid transverse to the pedicle screw axis and parallel to the rod over the rod to capture it, and finally a cap screw threaded into the cap and tightened to press the rod down against the head of the pedicle screw and thereby fix the rod, cap, and screw together. Many other pedicle screw designs have been developed to simplify the insertion of the pedicle screw into the pedicle, and/or to reduce damage to the pedicle screw and/or the pedicle during surgery. Some of these pedicle screw, nail or post designs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,918,440; 4,653,489; 4,877,019; 5,292,252; 5,562,670; 5,571,139; 5,882,350; 5,989,254; 5,997,539; 6,004,322; 6,004,349; 6,017,344; 6,053,917; 6,056,753; 6,083,227; 6,113,601; 6,183,472; 6,224,596; 6,319,254; 6,368,319; 6,375,657; 6,402,752; and 6,554,830; U.S. patent Publication No. 2001/0007074 published Jul. 5, 2001; and 2001/0053913 published Dec. 20, 2001; 2002/0029043 published Mar. 7, 2002; and the patents cited and disclosed in such patents. All these designs of pedicle screws, nails or posts and the disclosure associated with such pedicle screws, nails or posts are incorporated herein by reference.
After the pedicle screw is inserted in the pedicle, the bone around the pedicle screw must heal to properly secure the pedicle screw in the bone. Any infection that occurs around the pedicle screw can slow the healing process and/or damage the bone around the pedicle screw thereby weakening the connection between the bone and pedicle screw. Typically, a patient is given antibiotics for several days after the surgery to reduce the occurrence of infection about the pedicle screw. The patient may also receive electrical stimulation during surgery to promote the healing process of the bone about the pedicle screw. Both of these techniques have improved the post-operative success of the surgical procedure; however, improved success rates are still needed. Several pedicle screw designs that can be used to promote healing of the bone about the pedicle screw are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/269,601 filed Oct. 11, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Once the pedicle screw is positioned in the bone and/or cartilage, the top position of the pedicle screw is commonly connected other components such as a rod, pin, ball, etc. so as to provide a pedicle structure used to correct a problem with the spine. Each component typically has a unique shape, thereby requiring the head of the pedicle screw to have a specific and corresponding shape to enable connection between the component and the pedicle screw. Examples of a few of the many shapes of the head of pedicle screws are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,669,697; 6,565,569; 6,565,567; 5,387,212; 5,129,900; 5,129,388; U.S. patent Publication No. 2002/0161367 published Oct. 31, 2002; European Patent Application Publication No. 0553424 published Aug. 4, 1993; and PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO 02/076315 published Oct. 3, 2002, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. When a pedicle structure is being inserted during surgery, the proper type of pedicle screw must be inserted and oriented in a precise manner, or the pedicle structure will not fit properly together. During surgery, it is not uncommon for a pedicle screw to be inserted into bone or cartilage and later have to be removed because the pedicle screw can be used with the particular pedicle structure being built. The removal and reinsertion of another type of pedicle screw can result in increase surgery times, potential damage to the bone and/or cartilage and/or other complications.
In view of the present state of technology related to prosthetic implants, there is a continued need for pedicle screws that reduce the occurrence of post-operative failure, and which can be easily adapted for use with various types of components used to form pedicle structures.


A method for encoding and decoding a sequence of words, corresponding signal, encoder, decoder, computer programs and storage means. A method for encoding a sequence of source words includes a step of selecting an encoding function to be applied to a source word to be encoded as a function of the content of the word to be encoded and of at least one preceding source word in the sequence so that the concatenation of two consecutive encoded words has no binary element, called an isolated binary element, sandwiched between two binary elements with a value different from that of the isolated binary element. The method further includes a step of encoding the word to be encoded implementing the selected encoding function.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of telecommunications
More precisely, the invention proposes a device and a method of encoding and decoding suited especially to a wire high-speed data transmission, particularly in a home or office environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Certain constraints have to be met during the data-sending and data-transmission phase for data transmission applications in interior and exterior environments. These constraints particularly limit the radiation spectrum. They are applicable particularly to transmission in a home or office environment. Thus, according to the prevailing standards of electromagnetic compatibility, the radiation spectrum must remain within a jig that restricts the radiation to within 30 MHz. Certain encoding methods are used for data transmission in an intra-building environment, particularly in order to limit radiation to within 30 MHz, while maintaining a high bit rate or speed.
Thus a first encoding system, the MLT3 (MulTiLevel 3) encoding system more particularly described in the IEEE802.3 standard, is used for example in 100BaseT type interfaces. In this encoding system, bits equal to "1" correspond to a transition, while bits equal to "0" correspond to an absence of transition. Thus, only bits equal to "1" will cause a change in the state signal. They are encoded successively on three states such as, for example, −V, 0, +V. Bits equal to "0" are encoded, for their part, in retaining the previously transmitted value.
The main advantage of the MLT3 encoding system is that it greatly reduces the frequency necessary for a given speed or bit rate, due to the use of three states. For example, for a bit rate of about 100 Mbits/s, the maximum parasite frequency of the signal is about 25 MHz.
One major disadvantage of this encoding system is caused by the long sequences of "0" bits that appear in this code and that can cause a loss or a phase shift of the receiver clock. To overcome this problem, encoded pieces of data are scrambled before being transmitted. This diminishes the improvements given by this code.
Moreover, since the Hamming distance between valid code words is very small (equal to one), transmission errors are facilitated, as errors might occur in encoding or in scrambling. There is then a risk of accepting invalid code words or rejecting valid code words.
Finally, this code makes it difficult to control the radiation spectrum and does not have particularly worthwhile error detection or error correction properties.
The prior art also envisages other encoding methods to obtain a radiation spectrum that partly meet the requirement of limiting radiation to within 30 MHz.
These encoding methods can be used to cancel the DC component of data to be transmitted, taken as an average or for each symbol transmitted.
The cancellation of this DC component (also known as DC balancing or direct-component balancing), provides a means of obtaining a radiation spectrum partly complying with a jig laid down by intra-building transmission standards, limiting radiation to within 30 MHz.
For example, one such method uses the Widmer and Franaszek encoding (A. X. Widmer and P. A Franaszek, IBM Journal of Research and Development, Vol. 27 No. 5, p. 440, September 1983), used in the IEEE 1394b standard. This encoding gives 10-bit words from 8-bit words, using a DC balancing technique.
This technique cancels the average DC component, and not the DC component for each transmitted symbol.
However, it has the disadvantage of permitting successive transitions. The result is non-negligible radiation beyond 30 MHz. The spectrum then does not fully comply with the jig laid down in frequency emission standards. Therefore this code only partially meets the specified constraints.

Method for the encoding and decoding of a sequence of words, corresponding signal, encoder, decoder, computer programs and storage means


Data storage devices are described with an ECC system that generate additional on-demand ECC information for a previously written track to provide for correction of data errors in the track and thereby avoid having to rewrite the track. Embodiments of the invention address the squeeze-error problem that arises when writing the next (second) track in a sequence causes errors to be introduced in the adjacent previously written (first) track. In alternative embodiments the existence of the data errors in the first track can be detected by reading the track or by estimating the number of likely errors using head position data measured while writing the first and second tracks. The additional on-demand ECC information can be written on any track that is available.

Conventional disk drives with magnetic media organize data in concentric tracks that are spaced apart. The concept of shingled writing is a form of magnetic recording and has been proposed as a way of increasing the areal density of magnetic recording. In shingle-written magnetic recording (SMR) media a region (band) of adjacent tracks are written so as to overlap one or more previously written tracks. SMR recording technology assumes that the effective writing path of the write head is wider than the track pitch. The shingled tracks must be written in sequence unlike conventionally separated tracks, which can be written in any order. Shingled-tracks on an SMR disk surface are organized into a plurality of shingled regions, which are also called I-regions. Once written in the shingled structure, an individual track or sector cannot be updated in place, because that would overwrite and destroy the overlapping tracks. SMR drives can also include non-shingled regions that are written in non-overlapping structure so that individual tracks and sector can be updated in place, which is convenient for staging some data records before they are written to a shingled region. So-called E-regions (exception regions) are used for short term storage, caching or staging data that will ultimately be written to a shingled region. SMR drives rely on indirection mapping that to links logical block addresses (LBAs) to physical block addresses (PBAs). For example, when a data sector corresponding to a particular LBA is moved from an E-region to an I-region, the indirection mapping is updated.
ECC in disk drives is used to detect and correct errors and erasures, which occur when a data element is missing or known to be faulty. Traditionally ECC is performed on a sector basis using redundant bits appended to the sector data when it is written. Simple error detection capability for each sector can be achieved by including check symbols appended to the data in each sector. These sector ECC approaches are not ideal for some disk drive applications such as streaming audio-video (AV) and the SMR architecture presents additional ECC problems.
US patent application 20110075292 by Richard New, et al. (Mar. 31, 2011) describes SMR drives in which a band establishes a respective segment in a log-structured file system. Large error correction (ECC) block sizes within each segment (band) are implemented by storing the intermediate ECC parity state after each partial write of an ECC block. In this case, the ECC block size spans multiple physical sectors, and because of the larger ECC block size the error correction code is more efficient and able to correct larger defect errors on the disk. The ECC code may be implemented in a number of different ways which are known to those skilled in the art of designing ECC codes.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,490,212 to Kasiraj, et al. (Feb. 10, 2009) describes ECC for an SMR drive that is useful for recording and playback of video data in transaction data blocks larger than the conventional 512 byte block size but smaller than the band size. Large physical sectors can be used to improve format efficiency, and large ECC codeword sizes (larger than the transaction block size) can be used to improve reliability without imposing a read-modify-write performance on the system. To do this, the disk drive saves the cumulative ECC parity state between successive partial writes of each transaction block so that the parity computed in a first write operation is used to generate the parity for a subsequent write operation. For example, a transaction block size might be one megabyte, and the ECC might span the entire band. Each time a transaction block is written, gradually filling up the band, the cumulative parity state for the ECC is maintained, so that at the end of the last transaction block in that band, the ECC parity can be written out. This provides a very long ECC block size and therefore a very efficient ECC code which is resilient to defects and errors. The ECC code could be very simple, such as a single parity sector computed by XORing all of the data in the physical sectors in the band. This provides protection against a single sector failure within the band. However, using XORing the error correction block is a parity sector that can only correct one data block and is not scalable.
Published patent application 20110096828 (Apr. 28, 2011) by Ying Chen, et al. describes a system with encoding and decoding blocks with multiple independent scalability layers. The Forward Error Correction (FEC) is assumed to be applied to a "block" or "fragment" of data at a time, i.e., a "block" is a "source block" for FEC encoding and decoding purposes. A client device can use the segment indexing described herein to help to determine the source block structure of a segment. The FEC codes considered for use with block-request streaming are typically systematic FEC codes, i.e., the source symbols of the source block may be included as part of the encoding of the source block and thus the source symbols are transmitted. A systematic FEC encoder generates, from a source block of source symbols, some number of repair symbols and the combination of at least some of the source and repair symbols are the encoded symbols that are sent over the channel representing the source block. Some FEC codes may be useful for efficiently generating as many repair symbols as needed, such as "information additive codes" or "fountain codes" and examples of these codes include "chain reaction codes" and "multi-stage chain reaction codes". Other FEC codes such, as Reed-Solomon codes may practically only generate a limited number of repair symbols for each source block.
Hard disk drive (HDD) archival applications such as so called "cold-storage" refer to data that is stored for various reasons but is rarely ever read again. For these applications the HDD design tradeoffs between density of storage, access speed, etc. are different than for HDDs used for data that is frequently read. Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) designs are particularly suitable and cost effective for cold storage. HDD archival applications such as "cold-storage" require increased capacities, which are obtained by increasing the tracks per inch (TPI). Data integrity that guarantees accurate data retrieval is also a requirement. These are conflicting requirements, because TPI increases by squeezing the width of the tracks, which invariably results in increasing the number of unreadable data sectors. For example, writing a second track in a sequence can narrow the magnetic width of portions of the first adjacent track so that these portions are no longer readable. This type of error is known as a squeeze-error and "squeezed sectors"are equivalently "erased sectors."

Error correction with on-demand parity sectors in magnetic data storage devices