System and techniques for variable epoch spike train filtering are described herein. A spike trace storage may be initiated for an epoch. Here, the spike trace storage is included in a neural unit of neuromorphic hardware. Multiple spikes may be received at the neural unit during the epoch. The spike trace storage may be incremented for each of the multiple spikes to produce a count of received spikes. An epoch learning event may be obtained and a spike trace may be produced in response to the epoch learning event using the count of received spikes in the spike trace storage. Network parameters of the neural unit may be modified using the spike trace.

A neuromorphic processor is a processor that is structured to mimic certain aspects of the brain and its underlying architecture, particularly its neurons and the interconnections between the neurons, although such a processor may deviate from its biological counterpart. A neuromorphic processor may be composed of many neuromorphic (neural network) cores that are interconnected via a network architecture such as a bus or routing devices, which may direct communications between the cores. The network of cores may communicate via short packetized spike messages sent from core to core. Each core may implement some number of primitive nonlinear temporal computing elements (e.g., neurons). When a neuron's activation exceeds some threshold level, it may generate a spike message that is propagated to a set of fan-out neurons contained in destination cores. The network then may distribute the spike messages to destination neurons and, in turn, those neurons update their activations in a transient, time-dependent manner.
One or more state variables that represent the neuron's activation level may be maintained for each neuron. In typical operation, the state variables experience a step change in response to the occurrence of a spike at the input or the output, which decays as a function of time in an exponential manner. Historically, neurons have been modeled using analog architecture, which was well-suited to modeling exponentially-decaying state variables. In digital neuromorphic architectures, modeling of an exponentially-decaying function presents a number of computational challenges.


A motor control device driving a motor via an inverter circuit includes a current sensing element, a PWM signal generation unit and a current detection unit. The PWM signal generation unit is configured to generate three-phase PWM signals in a manner such that the current detection unit is capable of detecting two-phase currents at two fixed time-points within a carrier period of the PWM signal. A duty of one of the three-phase PWM signals is increased/decreased to both phase lag side and phase lead side with reference to any phase. A duty of another phase PWM signal is increased/decreased to both phase lag side and phase lead side with reference to any phase away one half of the carrier period from the reference phase. A duty of the other phase PWM signal is increased/decreased to either phase lag side or phase lead side with reference to any phase.

A technique has conventionally been known that an electric current is detected using a single shunt resistance inserted into a direct-current part of an inverter circuit when U-, V- and W-phase currents are detected for the purpose of controlling an electric motor. In order that all the three-phase currents may be detected in the above-mentioned manner, a three-phase PWM (pulse width modulation) signal pattern needs to be generated in one period of a PWM carrier so that two or more phase currents are detectable. For example, FIG. 21 shows a case where a saw-tooth wave carrier is used. Assume now that U phase duty and V phase duty are equal to each other. In this case, when upper arm switching elements U+ and V+ of the inverter circuit are in an ON state and an upper arm switching element W+ is in an OFF state, a W-phase current can be detected but the other phase currents cannot be detected. In view of this problem, as shown in FIG. 22, it is considered that two-phase or more currents are normally detectable by shifting one phase (the W phase, in this case) of PWM signal, as shown in FIG. 22.
However, when the phases of PWM signal are sequentially shifted, a motor current changes in a stepwise manner in synchronization with transition from a pattern in which the PWM signal of one phase is shifted to another pattern in which the PWM signal of another phase is shifted, as shown in FIG. 23. FIG. 23 also shows parts of waveforms in an enlarged manner. When the U-phase current is increased and decreased alternately repeatedly every carrier period, the U− phase current is decreased twice continuously in synchronization with the aforementioned transition. This results in occurrence of stepwise change as shown in FIG. 23. The current change in this case causes torque variations, resulting in a problem that a level of noise produced during drive of the motor is increased.

Motor control device, air conditioner, washing machine and refrigerator


In preferred embodiments, the invention provides a gas filter for a reactive gas used in semiconductor processing tools and processes that are sensitive to molecular contamination. The reactive gas filter of the invention have improved pressure drop and can supply an output gas stream having concentrations of less than about 1 ppbv for both ammonia and sulfur dioxide for an input gas stream with ammonia and sulfur dioxide concentrations, respectively, of no greater than about 10 ppbv and 5 ppbv. In one aspect the invention provides a reactive gas filter with an improved pressure drop that can supply an output gas stream having concentrations of less than about 1 ppbv for both ammonia and sulfur dioxide for an input gas stream with ammonia and sulfur dioxide concentrations, respectively, of no greater than about 10 ppbv and 5 ppbv, using a filter media volume of no greater than about 0.5 liters.

Gas filtration is critical in semiconductor manufacturing environments. Tremendous efforts are made to eliminate yield-reducing contaminants from the gases used in semiconductor processing tools. Contaminants can generally be classified as either particulate or molecular. Common particulate contaminants include dust, lint, dead skin, and manufacturing debris. Examples of yield-reducing contaminants include: acids, such as hydrobromic acid, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid; bases, such as ammonia, ammonium hydroxide, tetramethylammonium hydroxide, trimethylamine, triethylamine, hexamethyldisilazane, NMP, cyclohexylamine, diethylaminoethanol, methylamine, dimethylantine, ethanolamine, morpholine, condensables such as silicones and hydrocarbons with a boiling point greater than or equal to 150° C.; and dopants such as boron (usually as boric acid), phosphorous (usually as organophosphate), and arsenic (usually as an arsenate).
In semiconductor photolithography tools gas is supplied for generally two purposes: the actuation of tool pneumatics; and the purging of tool optics. Although purified dry air, nitrogen, or the like is generally used to drive pneumatics and purge optics, small amounts of contaminants are still liable to be present in the gas at concentrations sufficient to damage tool optics (for example, illuminator optics and projection lenses). Contaminating substances may adhere onto the optical elements to form molecular films. Molecular films on optical surfaces physically absorb and scatter incoming light. Scattered or absorbed light in photolithography optical surfaces causes distortion of the spherical quality of wavefronts. When the information contained in the spherical wavefront is distorted, the resulting image is also misformed or abberated. Image distortions, or in the case of photolithography, the inability to accurately reproduce the circuit pattern on the reticle, cause a loss of critical dimension control and process yield.
Contaminating substances may also chemically react with the optical surfaces of the photolithography tool and/or the wafers being processed in the tool. For example, sulfur dioxide may combine with water in the tool to produce sulfuric acid, which can irreversibly damage tool optics. In addition, ammonia may react with wafer surface materials, such as the resist, gate-insulating films, and the like, interfering with the photolithography processing step and reducing process yield. Thus, the purity of the gases supplied to semiconductor processing tools is of critical concern.


A wellbore completion design is provided, which creates a convective flow action that separates water and sand from hydrocarbons during production of the hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation. A deviated section of the wellbore creates the desired effect. The wellbore completion design may include a secondary bore, which intersects the deviated section of the wellbore at an acute angle, to accumulate the separated water and sand. An injection pump disposed in the toe section of the secondary bore can also be employed to pump the water back into the water containing portion of the subterranean formation. If solids are present in more than trace amounts, the toe section of the secondary bore may be formed at an acute angle to the remaining portion of the secondary bore to prevent blockage of the pump. Alternatively, a tertiary bore may be provided, so that the solids can accumulate in the secondary bore and the water can flow into the tertiary bore.

The present invention is directed generally to methods of separating water and solids from oil and gas and more particularly to a wellbore completion design that separates water and solids from oil and gas downhole in such a way that the water and solids remain downhole. These solids will usually consist of granular to very fine sized formation solids, or solids introduced into the well during drilling, completion, stimulation, or production operations.
One of the most burdensome aspects of producing hydrocarbons from a well for well operators is dealing with the presence of solids and water in the hydrocarbons. It is not desirous to have either of these by-products present in the hydrocarbons. Indeed, the presence of these elements in hydrocarbons only inhibits their recovery, often to the degree that economics will force an operator to suspend or even abandon well production. Accordingly, well operators have had to develop techniques for removing or separating the sand and water from the hydrocarbons as nature itself in most wells lends no assistance in this regard. Many of the techniques developed to deal with the removal of these elements, however, are cumbersome, expensive, not always environmentally friendly and often involve complex processes and equipment.
One conventional technique for removing sand from the hydrocarbons is to install sand screens at the end of the production pipe or inside the wellbore through the producing interval. These sand screens typically comprise multiple layers of wire mesh. The pore sizes of these screens are usually selected to filter out or remove as many granules of sand present in a particular formation as possible. Thus, the screens can be, and often are, customized for a particular application. Thus, one screen does not usually "fit all." Accordingly, well operators are required to learn as much about the nature of the formations they will be producing from to insure that they select the right sand screen to filter out as much of the sand as possible.
There are two major drawbacks to using sand screens for removing sand from hydrocarbons. First, over time the sand screens begin to plug up. This causes a decrease in the amount of hydrocarbons being produced. Eventually, the sand screens plug up entirely, requiring either removal of the sand screen or invocation of an operation to clean the sand screens, downhole. Typically, either operations will require the well to be shut down, which in turn ceases the production of hydrocarbons, and causes an additional economic loss to the well owner. Another major drawback of using sand screens attached to the production tubing is that eventually sand bridges form between the sand screen and the wellbore wall. These sand bridges block the flow of remedial treatment fluids, which occasionally need to be pumped downhole through the annulus between the production tubing and the wellbore. To unblock the sand bridges, the well often has to be shut down so that the sand screen can be removed for cleaning. This again results in an economic loss to the well owner.
Another technique for removing sand and other debris from the hydrocarbons being produced from a well is to employ a device at the surface, known as a separator; in some cases, specifically a sand separator. This technique involves producing the sand with the hydrocarbons. A drawback of this approach, however, is that the separator devices take up space at the surface, which is often limited in off-shore applications. Furthermore, it reduces the producing rate of the well, requires repeated cleaning or maintenance, and may be a separate additional device needed additional to a water separator system.
Water is usually removed from the hydrocarbons at the surface using multi-phase separation devices. These devices operate to agglomerate and coalesce the hydrocarbons, thereby separating them from the water. A drawback of this approach, however, is that no separation process is perfect. As such, some amount of the hydrocarbons always remains in the water. This can create environmental problems when disposing of the water, especially in off-shore applications. Also, the multi-phase separation devices are fairly large in size, which is another disadvantage in off-shore applications, as space is limited as pointed out above. Another limitation is that this can require additional maintenance or repair if solids are part of the produced fluid stream.

Wellbore completion design to naturally separate water and solids from oil and gas


An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device including a modified lateral silicon-controlled rectifier (MLSCR) and a voltage control circuit is provided. The MLSCR has a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal connected to a first P+-type doped region, where the first terminal and the second terminal are electrically connected to a first line and a second line, respectively. The voltage control circuit is electrically connected to the first line, the second line and the control terminal. When an electrostatic pulse is appeared on the first line, the voltage control circuit provides a current path from the first line to the control terminal. When an input signal is supplied to the first line, the voltage control circuit receives a power voltage, and stops providing the current path according to the power voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device. Particularly, the invention relates to an ESD protection device having a modified lateral silicon-controlled rectifier (MLSCR).
2. Description of Related Art
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is generally a main reason to cause electrostatic overstress or permanent damage of an integrated circuit (IC), so that an ESD protection device is generally added to the IC to prevent ESD damage. In recent years, a modified lateral silicon-controlled rectifier (MLSCR) has become a basic component in design of the ESD protection device. However, the MLSCR has several shortages in operation that have to be overcome.
For example, a trigger voltage and a holding voltage of the MLSCR are generally too high or too low. Moreover, the MLSCR is liable to have a latch-up effect. In addition, in control of a plurality of the MLSCRs, the MLSCRs are generally unable to be simultaneously turned on, which may cause a non-uniform turn-on phenomenon. Moreover, a magnitude of the trigger voltage may influence a turn-on speed of the MLSCR.
Therefore, various manufactures are dedicated to resolve the above problems, so as to enhance protection capability of the ESD protection device.

Electrostatic discharge protection device


A memory cell includes a storage medium having a programmable thermal impedance, and a heater in thermal communication with the storage medium for programming the thermal impedance. In another aspect, a memory cell includes a storage medium having a programmable electrical impedance, and a heater in thermal communication with the storage medium for programming the electrical impedance. In a third aspect, a memory device includes a plurality of the memory cells in accordance with the first and/or second aspect of the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a thermal memory cell/device for reading/writing and erasing information and more particularly, a thermal memory cell/device in which a primary current path for reading/writing/erasing of information does not necessarily involve the storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
While conventional memory devices are volatile (i.e., DRAM, SRAM), the demand for a non-volatile (as well as cheap, low power consuming and high density) memory technology has been risen sharply, in particular triggered by the emergence of mobile phones, computers, camcorders etc. Towards this end, several non-volatile memory technologies are being developed such as magnetic tunnel junction RAM (MTJ-RAM), ferroelectric RAM (FERAM) as well as phase-change RAM.
The latter of these technologies is typically based on chalcogenide materials (e.g., GeSbTe alloys), the phase of which can be reversibly programmed between phases (e.g., amorphous and polycrystalline. Specifically, amorphization is accomplished by heating the media above the melting temperature (about 500° C.) and then rapidly cooling with a rate of about 109 K/s. Crystallization is achieved by moderate heating of the media below the melting temperature but above the glass temperature (about 300° C.). The amorphous and crystalline phases exhibit very different physical properties, by which reading of the stored information can be accomplished. For example, the amorphous state has higher electrical resistivity and lower optical reflectivity than the crystalline state.
Such phase-change memory devices have been proposed and some of the concepts have been demonstrated (e.g., see U.S. Publication No. US20020039306A1, U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,591, U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,014, U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,674, U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,046, U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,768, U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,758, U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,436, U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,667, U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,716, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,014).
However, a careful look at the prior art reveals that all of these inventions utilize the electrical resistance change of the two phases for reading the state of the cell. Consequently, in all of these assemblies, the primary current path for reading/writing/erasing is realized directly through the phase-change media.
Although, due to the large difference in electrical resistivity between the amorphous and crystalline state (about a factor of 100) the read dynamic range is substantial, this approach is accompanied with several problems, which are discussed in more detail below.
Specifically, phase-change media (i.e., Ge2Sb2Te5) typically exhibit fairly large electrical resistivities, roughly on the order of about 10−1 Ωm and about 10−3 Ωm for the amorphous and (poly)crystalline phase, respectively. For example, for a 180 nm memory cell, which has been recently demonstrated (e.g., see M. Gill et al, "Ovonics Unified Memory: A high performance nonvolatile memory technology for stand alone memory and embedded applications" 2002 IEEE International Solid—State Circuits Conference, page 202), the electrical resistance of the amorphous phase is about 85 kΩ and about 2 kΩ for the amorphous and crystalline phase, respectively.
Clearly, such large electrical resistances can cause major problems if they are part of the write/erase circuit. For example, in order to switch the amorphous phase "back" to the crystalline phase, a substantial voltage has to be applied in order to dissipate enough power for sufficient heating. Although Poole-Frenkel conduction through the phase-change media lowers the device impedance at bias fields of larger than 3×105 V/cm, the high temperatures in combination with large electric fields may easily irreversibly degrade (e.g., by breakdown, which is strongly temperature dependent) the phase-change material, and therefore compromise the device performance.
In addition, as a further complication, the resistance of the phase-change media above the glass temperature is very low, which makes the controlling of the write/erase process very difficult.

Thermal memory cell and memory device including the thermal memory cell

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention provides an image taking apparatus for shortening image taking time and obtaining a high quality image by preventing deterioration of the S/N ratio. A digital camera that performs image taking for generating image signals by capturing, with a CCD, object light sent via an image taking optical system includes: a shading correction section performing shading correction by adjusting gain depending on respective positions on the CCD; a scene determination section determining that a scene just shot is to be corrected if the scene just shot includes a uniform region with a predetermined or more area and a predetermined or higher bright ness; and a shading correction control section causing, if the scene just shot is determined by the scene determination section to be a scene to be corrected, the shading correction section to perform shading correction on an image signal obtained by image taking just performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image taking apparatus that performs image taking for generating an image signal by capturing, with an image pickup device, object light sent via an image taking optical system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A charge coupled device (CCD) is widely used as an image pickup device for a digital camera, one of image taking apparatuses. The CCD is provided with plural photoelectric conversion elements, such as a photodiode, for converting incident object light into an image signal, which is an electrical signal. Furthermore, many CCDs are provided with a lot of microlenses arranged corresponding to plural photoelectric conversion elements in order to increase the amount of incident light into each of the lot of photoelectric conversion elements. In such CCDs, the rate of condensation of light into a photoelectric conversion element differs depending on the angle of the incident light into a microlense. For example, the larger the angle of the incident light into the microlense is, the farther the portion where light is condensed is away from the center of the photoelectric conversion element. Furthermore, there may be caused a phenomenon that, when the object light passes through an image taking optical system constituted by an image taking lens and the like, the object light that passes through the periphery of the image taking optical system is darkened in comparison with the object light that passes through the vicinity of the central axis of the image taking optical system. Therefore, when uniform object light, for example all in red, is received by a CCD via an image taking optical system, difference is caused among image signals from respective photoelectric conversion elements even though the object light was uniform. As a result, there is caused a shading phenomenon on an image on the display screen which has been obtained through image taking, that color differs depending on positions on the screen.
There is also arranged a color filter for acquiring color signals of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) on the CCD. In this case, since infrared rays in object light passes through the color filter, there is generally arranged an infrared-ray cutting filter (an IR filter) for filtering out the infrared rays at the front of the CCD. However, the shading phenomenon may be caused after all on an image on the display screen which has been obtained through image taking, because of cut-off frequency difference or transmittance difference at a particular frequency caused due to manufacture difference of the infrared ray cutting filter.
The angle of incident light into microlenses constituting the CCD changes depending on the diaphragm opening of a camera lens. Accordingly, there is proposed a technique as follows. That is, sensitivity values of a CCD corresponding to diaphragm values of a camera lens are stored as correction data, and when an image is taken, gain of an amplifier for amplifying an image signal outputted from the CCD is adjusted with the correction data to correct the sensitivity of the CCD, and thereby shading is corrected (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-178198).
In the technique proposed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-178198, shading correction is performed by adjusting gain of an amplifier with data for sensitivity correction depending on the diaphragm value of a camera lens for all the pixels and respective regions on the screen where an image is displayed. Therefore, there is a problem that a long processing time (operation time) is required for performing the shading correction, and therefore a long image taking time is required. Furthermore, shading correction is performed for all the pixels and respective regions on the screen, and therefore there is also a problem that the S/N ratio, the ratio of necessary strength of an image signal to strength of unnecessary noise, is deteriorated. In addition, shading correction by adjusting gain of an amplifier for respective regions on the screen leads to uneven S/N ratio and thus makes it difficult to obtain a high-quality image.


Total analysis systems and methods for simultaneously monitoring a suite of biological and/or chemical species in water and/or other process systems are disclosed. The system provides a sample-volume controlled sensor array comprising a fluid delivery device and a plurality of optical sensor elements for determining the presence and total concentrations of multiple analytes in the process system simultaneously. Image identification algorithms are provided for identifying the analytes based on image intensity, color pattern, positional arrangement, and the like. The methods incorporate multivariate optimization algorithms to analyze multiple sensor responses. This produces analytical results that are typically difficult to obtain without full system or variable compensation. The improved array response may then be utilized to measure, monitor, and control the concentration of analytes in the chemical or biological sample or water system.

Many chemical and biological measurements need to be performed in locations outside of a fully equipped analytical facility. This requires systems that are portable and miniaturized so that they can be transported to locations where rapid test response is required for process or water quality monitoring, or they can be deployed in a medical environment to provide rapid test results for certain biological or biochemical species of interest. These chemical and biological analyses can be performed individually using single tests with post-test optimization to enhance the quality or accuracy of the results, but this serial approach has inherent flaws because multidimensional interactions are difficult to fully compensate using a serial approach. Additionally, this approach can be time consuming and can produce erroneous results. Introducing operator or system errors when tests are performed on different platforms or at different times further complicates this system. The best way to overcome this limitation is to perform all the desired measurements simultaneously on the same platform, but current state of the art does not provide a fully integrated platform for such measurements.
Current electrochemical array technology allows operators to perform an arrayed test at a single time, but this is limited to those materials that respond to an electrochemical stimulus. This usually involves measurement techniques like anodic stripping voltametry or cyclic voltametry methods, or incorporates chemically responsive material into an electrochemical detector, e.g., an ion-specific electrode (ISE). This system, although productive for some systems is limited by many of the common limitations of electrochemical systems, e.g., systematic problems at low and high ionic strength that effect electrochemical potentials. Additionally, some of these systems can suffer from serious cross-reactivities or interferences, e.g., the cross-reactivity of common oxyanions or small cations like sodium, lithium, and potassium.
There are other test platforms that could provide small-scale array measurements that are based on optical or spectral measurements. These can be optical detection from multi-flow wet chemical analysis, or they can be portable versions of classic laboratory measures, e.g., portable atomic absorption spectrometer units. These systems are often limited by mechanics required for fluid flow and maintenance, or from cumbersome equipment like portable atomic absorption spectrometer systems that, although theoretically transportable, have proven less mobile in practice. There is also mention of miniaturizing additional lab systems like Inductively Coupled Plasma—Atomic Emission Spectroscopy or Mass Spectroscopy, but these methods are difficult to adapt into portable handheld, or field deployable systems.
A proposed alternative is to use an optical platform based on well-characterized, chemical responses of optical sensor films. Such a system uses solid, chemically responsive films that respond to analyte concentrations by changing their absorbance values at an optimized wavelength. This platform can be extended to incorporate sensor test elements for all known interfering or cross-reactive species for a particular test matrix, as well as account for test limitations at the extremes of the test sample conditions, e.g., high and low ionic strength as well as high and low buffer strengths. This system has the added benefit of providing a small test platform that can be formed into an array specifically designed to measure test elements that require specific deconvolution analysis.
Optical chemical sensors also fall into two general classes, reversible and irreversible. Fully reversible sensors equilibrate rapidly to the concentration of the target analyte in the test fluid and their response changes when the analyte concentration changes. Examples of reversible sensors are polymer film pH sensors and ion selective optodes (ISO). In contrast, an irreversible sensor will continue to respond to the analyte in the test fluid until the responsive reagent in the sensor has been exhausted, i.e., the total amount of analyte available to the sensor rather than the analyte concentration in the sample. Many non-ISO type sensors belong to this category.
Since the reagent in the reversible sensors is at chemical equilibrium with the analyte in the sample, the exposure of the sensor film to the sample alters the analyte concentration if the sample volume is finite. This requires that the reversible sensor films be exposed to either a large excess amount of sample volume or a given amount of sample volume. In the latter case, a correction can be made to reduce errors due to the finite volume effect. Similarly, the irreversible sensor requires sample volume control so that the sensor response reflects the analyte concentration in the controlled volume of the test fluid.
A sensor array designed for quantitative analysis may not yield satisfactory results by just immersing the array element into a liquid sample because the above mention reasons. For a sensor array consisting of both reversible and irreversible sensors, the sample volume that each sensor region is exposed to has to be controlled. Moreover, volume regulation also helps prevent sensor-to-sensor cross contamination. In this invention, sensor film compositions are designed to be at their optimized performance when they are exposed to fixed sample volumes.
Optical sensor arrays that are composed of irreversible sensors, or a combination of irreversible and reversible sensors, must have some form of fluidic control that delivers a controlled volume of test fluid to each sensor element. Most systems available today use some form of pump or mechanical multi-addition system to deliver these controlled volumes, e.g., robotic addition to multi-well plates. These systems are often cumbersome and require mechanical and electrical components that are rarely field robust and suitable for remote testing in harsh environments.
In recent years, capillary effect has been exploited for fluidic designs. One drawback associated with this passive mechanism is that it relies on the use of absorbent or wicking materials. This makes it difficult to fabricate a device to deliver a small amount of sample to a large number of locations. Instead, the absorbent material is an integrated part of sensing or reaction matrix. Liquid delivered to the site result in only wetting the materials within the matrix. For sensor array applications, dosing a given amount of liquid sample to multiple locations is more desirable.
Even though a large number of publications and patents have been devoted to the development of sensor methods, reagents, and equipment to replace the traditional wet chemistry methods, a need remains for an economical and convenient field deployable sensor system for simultaneous detection of multiple analytes.

Optical sensor array system and method for parallel processing of chemical and biochemical information


A ground fault interruptor (GFI) electrical connector receptacle device for use with a twist-lock, multi-prong plug has passages in the face plate in registration with electrical contact blades coupled to a GFI circuit to disconnect the blades upon detection of a ground fault. The configuration and shape of the passages through the face plate accept the twist-lock plug so that the foot of the L-shaped grounding prong of the plug is brought into engagement with the rear surface of the housing face plate when the plug is rotated to restrain the plug from axial removal.

The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors of the general type having holes for receiving a multi-prong plug to transfer a source of electrical power to the plug and an electrical device attached thereto and relates more specifically to a ground fault interruptor (GFI) electrical connector for use with a twist-lock multi-prong plug.
National and local electrical building codes require that electrically operated devices such as hot tub and swimming pool pumps, electric hedge clippers, electric lawnmowers, and so forth, and electrical outlets in marina locations be coupled to the source of electrical power by means of a twist-lock plug. In addition, the electrical code requires that the electrical power supplied to such a tool or electrically operated device be protected by a ground fault interruption circuit. Currently, compliance with the electrical code requirements necessitates that on electrical circuit breaker having a ground fault circuit interruption capability be mounted at the electrical distribution panel which is often generally located some distance from the actual operation of the electrically powered device to be protected. Accordingly, the electrical power is brought to the desired location through means of a electrical conduit and is then terminated at the twist-lock electrical connector. Accordingly, two separate and distinct electrical code requirement devices are necessary to comply with the electrical code requirements.
Another disadvantage to known methods and arrangements for complying with the electrical code requirements is related to the necessity, particularly when it is desired to use such tools and electrically operated equipment in already wired buildings, residences, or other facilities wherein pre-wiring is often difficult or impractical.
It is desirable therefore to provide a single, electrical connector receptacle device which can be used with a twist-lock multi-prong plug while providing the desired protection by means of a ground fault interruption circuit with the single protective device being located near or at the location that the electrically operated device is used.
It is further desirable that such an electrical connector device be usable with existing electrical wiring and physically mountable within a conventional electrical outlet box.
It is a general aim of the present invention therefore to provide a ground fault interruption electrical connector receptacle device for use with a twist-lock, multi-prong plug.

Ground fault interruptor electrical connector for twist-lock plug


A thermally driven power generator having a base and a heat source placed within the base. The thermally driven power generator further having a heat collector is adapted to collect the heat from the heat source through a plurality of fins and a heat sink adapted to release heat into the environment. The thermally driven power generator further having a thermal electric power generation module is sandwiched between the heat collector and a heat sink; the thermal electric power generation module is designed to convert heat collected by the heat collector to electrical power. A tray assembly for a thermally driven power generator, the tray assembly having: a transport tray; and a magnetic element integrated with the transport tray, the magnetic element designed to attract a wick keeper of a candle such that the wick is held in place.

Thermoelectric power generators use heat to generate electricity in order to electric or electronic devices. Smaller scale thermoelectric power generator systems may be useful during power outage situations or in environments where other conventional forms of electricity, such as batteries, are not available and may also aid in reducing one's electricity consumption.
Conventional systems, wherein a candle flame is used to produce heat to generate the power, have often had trouble producing enough heat to provide adequate power to operate electronic devices. For example, without adequate power, a light may fail to turn on or may be too faint to use as effective lighting.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A video game program includes a terminology storing function, a first running commentary function, a running commentary interrupting function, a second running commentary function, a running commentary returning function, and a running commentary continuing function. In the video game implemented with this program, if specific events occur while the video game is in progress and the play-by-play or commentary is interrupted, the system returns from the play-by-play or commentary related to the specific events to the interrupted play-by-play or commentary, after the play-by-play or commentary has been provided for the specific events, and the interrupted play-by-play or commentary is continued.

Various video games have been proposed in the past. One such game is a video game, such as a baseball video game, which displays a character on a monitor, in which the operation of the character can be controlled, and which includes a running commentary function (See Japan Patent Application Publication No. 5-313705, for example). In this baseball video game, the operation of the character can be controlled with a controller. Then, each type of event in the game which progresses by operation of a character is given play-by-play or commentary using running commentary terminology which is recorded in advance. In a video game with a running commentary function, when a specific event occurs in the game by operation of a character, the play-by-play or commentary up to the occurrence of the specific event is generally interrupted, and play-by-play or commentary related to the specific event is given independently of the play-by-play or commentary up to the occurrence of the specific event.
In a conventional video game with a running commentary function, when a specific event occurs in the game by operation of a character, and the play-by-play or commentary is interrupted, play-by-play or commentary related to the specific event is given independently of the play-by-play or commentary up to the occurrence of the specific event. Thus, as more specific events occur, the play-by-play or commentary may be cut off at times. Also, when the play-by-play or commentary is interrupted, the video game player cannot listen to the play-by-play or commentary following the interruption, because the interrupted play-by-play or commentary is not provided again. For this reason, there is a problem in that it becomes difficult for the video game player to understand what events have occurred in the game from the play-by-play or commentary, and the video game player cannot experience a sufficient sense of realism from the play-by-play or commentary during the game.
An object of the present invention is to allow a video game player to easily understand the various events that occur during the game from the play-by-play or commentary when such events occur during the game, and experience a sense of realism from the play-by-play or commentary during the game.

Video game program, video game device, and video game method


In one embodiment, a system for coupling communications signals to an underground medium-voltage power line includes a medium-voltage power line, a ground conductor, one or more ferrites, and a low-voltage communications line. The medium-voltage power line includes a center phase conductor and a concentric neutral conductor. The ground conductor couples the concentric neutral conductor to a ground connection. The one or more ferrites substantially surround at least a portion of the ground conductor. The low-voltage communications line includes a first conductor and a second conductor. The first conductor is coupled to the ground conductor between the one or more ferrites and the concentric neutral conductor. And the second conductor is coupled to the ground conductor between the one or more ferrites and the ground connection.

Power systems utilize a variety of electrical devices and connectors to deliver electricity from a power station or generator to customers. Some power systems utilize a three-tiered approach that utilizes high-voltage power lines with voltages in the range from approximately 60kV to 100kV, medium-voltage power lines with voltages in the range from approximately 4kV to 60kV, and low-voltage power lines with voltages in the range from approximately 90V to 600V. Medium-voltage and low-voltage power lines power lines can be positioned above the ground or under the ground in different configurations.
In these three-tiered power systems, high-voltage power lines typically connect a power station or generator to a substation. The substation serves a particular area such as a neighborhood or community and includes a transformer to step-down the voltage from high voltage to medium voltage. Typically, multiple sets of medium-voltage power lines connect the substation to local distribution transformers. The distribution transformers typically serve the customers in close proximity to the distribution transformer and step-down the voltage from medium voltage to low voltage for use by the customers. The distribution transformers are typically mounted either on a pole or on the ground.
The power lines used to deliver electricity to customers have also been used to transmit and receive communications signals. For example, power lines have been used by utility companies to transmit and receive low bandwidth communications signals to monitor equipment and to read meters. Power lines have also been used to provide broadband communications for customers. Various techniques have been developed to couple broadband communications signals to medium-voltage power lines. These broadband communications signals typically occupy frequencies in the 2-50 MHz region. One approach to coupling communications signals to these medium-voltage power lines is to use the intrinsic capacitance of metal oxide varistor (MOV) lightning arresters to couple a portion of the communications radio frequency signals onto medium-voltage power lines.

Coupling communications signals to underground power lines

International Broadband Electric Communications, Inc.


A universal hybrid adapter includes a first housing part, a second housing part, and a sleeve. The first housing part has a receptacle end configured to receive a plug connector including a ferrule having a first diameter. The second housing part has a receptacle end configured to receive a plug connector including a ferrule having a second diameter different from the first diameter. A first end of the sleeve is configured to receive the ferrule having the first diameter and a second end of the sleeve is configured to receive the ferrule having the second diameter. The transition from the first end to the second end of the sleeve takes place at right angles.

Known fiberglass plug connectors can be split into two groups, namely standard connectors having a ferrule diameter of 2.5 mm and small form factor connectors having a ferrule diameter of 1.25 mm. In this case, there are different types in each group. Standard connectors are, for example, plug connectors of the type ST, FC or SC. Small form factor connectors are, for example, the types LX.5, LC or MU.
The term adapter is in this case used when two different types in one group are intended to be connected to one another, whereas hybrid adapters connect plug connectors from different groups.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,729 discloses an adapter for standard connectors by means of which the different types ST, FC and SC can be connected to one another.
DE 101 41 449 A1 discloses a universal adapter for the group of small form factor connectors. In this case, an embodiment is disclosed in which the adapter is composed of two symmetrical housing halves which each define a receptacle for a plug connector. In this case, the housing halves are designed such that they are each suitable for receiving all of the three types LX.5, LC or MU. In the interior of the housing halves is arranged a sleeve which receives the ferrules of the two plug connectors to be connected. LX.5 plug connectors have a ferrule which protrudes from the housing of the plug connector and is shorter than that for LC or MU plug connectors, with the result that the housing half is formed with a pin which, during an insertion procedure, moves a laser light flap away such that the ferrule is not damaged.
DE 699 06 230 T2 discloses a hybrid adapter, by means of which it is possible to receive plug connectors from different groups. The hybrid adapter comprises an alignment sleeve for axially aligning ferrules, having a support element which defines an essentially central hole through said support element, the hole comprising a first section and a second section. The first and the second section are aligned in the longitudinal direction and are located close to one another, the inner surface of the hole tapering increasingly at a predetermined angle of less than approximately 5 degrees. The support element comprises a first inner wall which at least partially defines the first section, the first inner wall comprising a plurality of first contact points which are spaced apart from one another symmetrically over the first inner wall, the first contact points being dimensioned in order to receive a first ferrule of a first diameter which has no tapering. The support element comprises a second inner wall which at least partially defines the second section, the second inner wall comprising a plurality of second contact points which are spaced apart from one another symmetrically over the second inner wall, the second contact points being dimensioned in order to receive a second ferrule of a second diameter which is not the same as the first diameter and likewise has no tapering.
One disadvantage of the known hybrid adapter is the fact that it is not suitable for receiving LX.5 plug connectors.


An electrowetting display device includes a first and a second transparent substrates, multiple partition walls, a polar liquid, a non-polar liquid, and a phosphor layer. The non-polar liquid is opaque and immiscible with the polar liquid. The phosphor layer is formed on at least one of the first and the second transparent substrates. The phosphor layer comprises a first part that transforms the short-wavelength light into red light, a second part that transforms the short-wavelength light into green light, and a third part that transforms the short-wavelength light into blue light or allows the short-wavelength light to pass therethrough without transformation. Each of the first, the second, and the third parts is corresponding to one pixel unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrowetting display device, particularly to an electrowetting display device having a luminescence conversion mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show a cross-section of a display unit 100 of a conventional electrowetting display device. Referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the display unit 100 includes a polar aqueous solution 102, black ink 104 and a hydrophobic dielectric layer 106. As shown in FIG. 1A, when a voltage is not applied to the display unit 100, the black ink 104 evenly covers a top surface of the hydrophobic dielectric layer 106, and thus ambient light is absorbed by the black ink 104 to form a dark state. In comparison, as shown in FIG. 11B, when a voltage source 116 applies a voltage to a transparent electrode 108, an interface between the hydrophobic dielectric layer 106 and the aqueous solution 102 is polarized to have high surface energy, and thus the hydrophobic dielectric layer 106 that becomes less hydrophobic enables the black ink 104 to move towards a partition wall 112. At this time, the ambient light is reflected by a base plate 114 (such as a white-colored plate) to form a bright state. Such design is power-saving because images are displayed in black and white by means of the ambient light. However, the monochromic or black and white display fails to provide colorful visual effects, and such design may cease to function when the amount of ambient light is insufficient.
FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show a cross-section of a display unit 200 of another conventional electrowetting display device. Referring to FIG. 2A, the display unit 200 similarly has a polar aqueous solution 202, a hydrophobic dielectric layer 206, a transparent electrode 208, partition walls 212, a transparent substrate 214, and a white light 216 used as a backlight source. According to this design, the black ink shown in FIG. 1A is replaced with a combination of red ink 204R, green ink 204G and blue ink 204B. A voltage source 218 applies a voltage to the transparent electrode 208 to control the distribution of each colored ink to achieve full color display. However, such design has inferior color saturation and fails to achieve full black display. Specifically, since the area of the dielectric layer 206 covered by each colored ink are adjusted to change the intensity of its corresponding color, the remaining area not covered by the colored ink may cause leakages of white light to decrease color saturation. As shown in FIG. 2A, for a blue display unit assigned to produce a blue color, surrounding white light is, however, mixed in the blue light, and some red light and green light from adjacent display units may be also mixed in the blue light to decrease color saturation. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, in case only the grey levels of blue light and red light are adjusted, surrounding white light and some green light are liable to be mixed in the blue light and the red light to decrease color saturation. As a result, the shift in color hue and the decrease in color saturation often occur in the conventional design. Moreover, such design fails to achieve full black display. Even additional display units made of black ink are provided, the mix of surrounding white light still results in inferior color saturation.


There is provided a method of detecting erroneous measurements of the position of a device, the device comprising position measurement means, the method comprising determining the state of motion of a user of the device from a plurality of possible states; predicting the position of the device using a plurality of models and the determined state of motion of the user, each model corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of possible states; measuring the position of the device using the position measurement means; comparing the predicted position of the device to the measured position of the device; and determining whether the measured position of the device is erroneous based on the result of the step of comparing.

Currently, satellite positioning systems, such as GPS, are one of the most accurate location data sources available to portable or mobile electronic devices. However, there are a number of drawbacks associated with satellite positioning systems. For example, it might not be possible to receive signals from the satellites when the device is indoors, under heavy foliage or in an 'urban canyon' (i.e. between a number of tall buildings), making it impossible to obtain a position measurement (sometimes referred to as a 'fix'). Satellite positioning systems can also be prone to errors in the position measurement which can be due to a number of different reasons, including 'multipathing' where the signals from a satellite can reflect off of buildings before reaching the satellite positioning system receiver. These errors can cause the reported position to be some distance from the actual position, sometimes even as far as several city blocks. These erroneous measurements are sometimes referred to as 'outliers'.
GPS-enabled devices can be used to track the location of a user carrying the device. Users of such devices can include elderly people, children, people with Alzheimer's disease or dementia (who are prone to wandering) or patients in a care home or hospital. In some of these cases, 'geofences' can be established that bound safe or acceptable areas in which the user is allowed to move freely (or conversely areas that the user should not enter). Any obtained position measurement is compared to the geofence, and if the user is found to be outside the geofence (i.e. in an area that they should not be in), an alarm can be triggered or an alert raised. The position measurements obtained by the device can be provided to a remote location, such as a call centre or emergency services personnel, to enable the device and thus the user to be found.
It will be appreciated that in geo fencing applications, outlier position measurements can indicate that the user is outside the acceptable area and can result in an alarm being triggered, when in fact the user is within the acceptable area. The alarm can be provided for the benefit of the user (i.e. the alarm can be audible to the user of the device to indicate that they have crossed the geofence), or the alarms can be used to initiate the dispatch of people or the emergency services to locate and help the user of the device. Likewise, outlier position measurements can indicate that the user is within the acceptable area when in fact the user has crossed the geofence, which means that an alarm might not be triggered. Therefore, it is desirable to minimise false alarms caused by outliers.
Even if an alarm is correctly triggered (i.e. the user has crossed the geofence), outlier measurements relayed to the emergency services or other person dispatched to find the user can send that person off in the wrong direction and delay the assistance being provided to the user.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved technique to identify outlier position measurements.

Method of estimating the position of a device and an apparatus implementing the same


An integrated circuit package includes a heatspreader which is formed to have a centrally disposed recessed portion between planar surfaces, and flex tape extending from the planar surfaces into the centrally disposed surface. A semiconductor chip is mounted on the centrally disposed surface between the flex tape, and wire bonds interconnect bonding pads on the chip to the metal interconnect patterns on the flex tape. Plastic molding or epoxy is then applied to encapsulate the chip and wire bonding in the centrally disposed planar surface of the heat spreader. The package is then readily mounted on a motherboard using solder balls.

This invention relates generally to semiconductor integrated circuit packages, and more particularly the invention relates to a flex tape ball grid array package where the flex tape and a formed heatspreader provide the package substrate.
The semiconductor integrated circuit chip must be mounted and sealed on a supporting substrate with the substrate providing interconnect electrical leads for supplying electrical signals and voltages to and from the integrated circuit. The ball grid array package is presently used for housing and interconnecting large scale integrated circuits. See copending application Ser. No. 08/625,641 filed Mar. 29, 1996, incorporated herein by reference. Typically, the substrate is a rigid ceramic, for example, which includes metal lead patterns to which the chip contacts are wire bonded. Laminated substrates having multiple metal layers have been used as well as rigid tape substrates. Tape automated bonding (TAB) is typically used with the rigid tape substrates. Solder balls are used to interconnect the substrate leads to electrical contacts on a mother board on which the substrate is mounted as a component in a larger circuit or system.
The two generic constructions for ball grid array packages are die up and die down configurations. In the die up configuration, the chip is attached to the top surface of the substrate and the balls are attached bottom face. In the die down configuration, the chip and balls are on the same surface of the substrate. In the die up configuration, the substrate generally has two metal layers, one on each surface of the substrate. Vias are formed in the substrate to interconnect the two metal layers.
The ceramic and laminate substrates are costly to manufacture. In most substrates there are two or more layers of metal in the substrate which are connected by vias drilled in the substrate, thus increasing the cost. Further, laminate and ceramic substrates are limited in the routing density which limits the separation of the solder balls of the package.
The present invention is directed to a more economical and higher density ball grid array package in which flex tape laminated to a formed heatspreader comprise the package substrate.


The present invention provides automated kernel software outage measurement and classification. System failures are categorized into software-caused failures and hardware-caused failures. Software failures are further classified as unplanned outages and operational outages. The operational outages are then classified as unplanned operational outages and planned operational outages.

Measurement of software reliability is essential for assessing and improving the availability of network elements such as routers and switches and for efficiently and effectively trouble shooting. For example, kernel software refers to the core operating system software used for controlling the execution of a Route Processor (RP). Failure of the kernel software will cease operation of the RP, leading to a complete RP outage. Measurement of kernel software outages and classifying reasons for these software outages are especially important for high availability network operations.
Prediction and measurement of Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) are two major software reliability estimation approaches. Unlike hardware MTBF estimation, the prediction of software MTBF is very difficult due to the lack of systemic techniques. There have been several attempts to predict software MTBF based upon lines of code, bugs, "if" statements, etc. However, these techniques are still experimental and have not been proven effective in commercial applications.
Certain crash information currently exists for measuring kernel software MTBF in the field. One technique monitors a network device's reboot reason via Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) notification from a special Network Management Server (NMS). The software MTBF is stored and calculated in a remote NMS device. In another process, all error and register related information is dumped into a persistent memory file during router crash time. This file is then reviewed manually off-line for software MTBF calculation and analysis. However, this reboot information and the manual techniques mentioned above do not address the need for accuracy, scalability, cost effectiveness, and manageability.
For example, the SNMP based measurements can be lost due to unreliable SNMP traps of the remote device based measurement. The SNMP based measurements also can not capture certain software failure events such as a standby RP failure or a forced switch-over event in dual-RP systems. There are also no specific rules for distinguishing software-caused crashes from other types of router crashes.
Current outage measurement schemes are also unable to automatically distinguish operations related to software outage events. Thus, all dumped crash information has to be manually searched by a system administrator for specific types of software related outage information. Outage reasons and MTBF information then has to be manually generated by the system administrator.
The present invention addresses this and other problems associated with the prior art.

Automated and embedded software reliability measurement and classification in network elements


A semiconductor device with multiple strap-contact configurations for a memory cell array. An array with memory cells interconnected with bit-lines, control-gate lines, erase gate lines, common-source lines, and word-lines is provided. In one aspect of an illustrative embodiment, a strap-contact corridor is spaced at n bit-line intervals (n>1) across the array. The strap-contact corridor comprises strap-contact cells, which provide electrical interconnection between control-gate lines, erase gate lines, common-source lines, and word-lines and their respective straps.

Wide varieties of semiconductor memory devices have been developed. These semiconductor memory devices are continuously employed in new and expanded uses, which require an integrated circuit of increased capabilities and decreased cost. Accordingly, there exists a continuing demand for inexpensive semiconductor devices having increased memory and reduced chip size. Many semiconductor devices are comprised of multiple types of circuits such as memory and logic circuits. Flash memory cells are typically formed, along with other circuits (non-memory circuits) such as core circuits, as embedded flash memory. Flash memory cells may be included in system on a chip (SOC) devices.
Flash memory has become increasingly popular in recent years. A typical flash memory comprises a memory array having a large number of memory cells arranged in blocks. Each of the flash memory cells is fabricated as a field-effect transistor having a control-gate and a floating-gate. The floating-gate is capable of holding charges and is separated from source and drain regions contained in a substrate by a layer of thin oxide. The memory cells may be capable of several operations including program, read, write, and erase. For example, memory cells may be electrically charged by injecting electrons from the drain region through the oxide layer onto the floating-gate. The charges may be removed from the floating-gate, in one known approach, by tunneling the electrons to the source through the oxide layer during an erase operation. The data in a memory cell is thus determined by the presence or absence of a charge on the floating-gate.
Amorphous polysilicon (poly) lines or buried lines (for example patterned doped silicon) may be used to interconnect components of the memory cells together in an array. A contact is provided between the poly or buried line and the interconnect structure (typically metal). As arrays become larger, there may be a voltage drop along poly or buried lines. The voltage drop may be detrimental to the function and speed of the array. One method of overcoming this problem may be to use metal lines rather than poly or buried lines to interconnect components of the memory cells. However, a larger memory cell may then be required to accommodate the space needed to connect contacts to each memory cell component.

Strap-contact scheme for compact array of memory cells

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


An electronic dust collecting type air purifier which includes a dust collecting device, which includes a plurality of electrically insulative trays arranged in a stack, a plurality of filter beds made from metal wire coils and respectively mounted in the trays, and an anion generating apparatus having an input terminal connected to one filter bed to receive electrons from it and an output terminal for discharge of electricity into the air to produce anions for gathering dust, the filter beds, except the one which is connected to the anion generating apparatus, being connected to the grounding terminal.

The present invention relates to an electronic dust collecting type air purifier, and more particularly to such an air purifier which comprises an anion generating apparatus, and a dust collecting device connected to the input terminal of the anion generating apparatus. The dust collecting device comprises a plurality of separated filter beds made from metal wire coils. One filter bed is connected to the input terminal of the anion generating apparatus to provide the necessary electrons. Anions are produced in the air and the dust collecting device when the air purifier is operated, and dust is collected by static electricity.
Regular electronic dust collection type air purifiers commonly use a potential difference to produce a corona discharge, and an ionized metal wire to ionize air particles, causing air particles to carry positive charge, so that air particles can be adhered to high voltage dust collecting boards or grounded dust collecting boards. This main drawback of these electronic dust collecting type air purifiers is that the ionized metal wire breaks quickly with use due to oxidation. There are known other electronic dust collection type air purifiers that use charge static fibers to absorb air particles that carry reversed charge. These air purifiers are still not satisfactory in function because static electricity disappears when air particles and charge static fibers are neutralized. Furthermore, a short circuit or leakage of electricity tends to occur in the prior art electronic dust collection type air purifier when a certain amount of air particles are gathered at the dust collecting boards.

Electronic dust collecting type air purifier


A clip may include an anchor made of a hard resinous material and having a pillar that is configured to be inserted into an attaching hole formed in a plate-shaped object member and elastic arms that are formed in the pillar and capable of flexing inward and outward with respect to the pillar, and cushions made of a soft resinous material. The elastic arms respectively have engagement claws respectively having engagement surfaces that are configured to engage an inner periphery of the attaching hole. The engagement surfaces are respectively covered by the cushions.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a clip that is configured to be attached to a plate-shaped object member (e.g. a door inner panel of a vehicle).
Description of Related Art
An example of clips that are configured to be attached to a plate-shaped object member (e.g., a door inner panel of a vehicle) is taught by, for example, JP2003-130110A. The clip is known as a cushion clip and includes an anchor having a pair of elastic arms and a shock-absorbing or cushioning body integrally connected to the anchor. The anchor is configured to be inserted into an attaching hole formed in the object member. The anchor and the cushioning body are respectively made of polypropylene or other such hard materials and an elastomer or other such soft materials.
When the anchor is pushed into the attaching hole of the object member, the anchor can be introduced into the attaching hole while the elastic arms are flexed inward. When the anchor is completely introduced into the attaching hole, the elastic arms can engage a periphery of the attaching hole. Thus, the clip can be attached to the object member. The clip attached to the object member may function to absorb impact from an opposite member (e.g., a body panel of the vehicle) that is capable of relatively moving toward and away from the object member. In particular, when the object member and the opposite member move closer to each other, the cushioning body of the clip may contact the opposite member, so as to absorb the impact from the opposite member.
Further, the cushioning body of the clip taught by JP2003-130110A has a boss portion that is continuously projected from a bottom surface thereof. The boss portion is shaped to contact an inner circumferential surface of the attaching hole of the object member when the clip is attached to the object member by inserting the anchor into the attaching hole. Therefore, in a condition in which the clip is attached to the object member, the boss portion may function to prevent the water (rainwater), dust or other such substances from entering an interior side of the object member through the attaching hole.
Generally, the object member may have variations in thickness. Also, the attaching hole formed in the object member may have variations in diameter that are caused by burrs formed around the attaching hole or coating defects called "fat edges." Therefore, when the anchor is inserted into the attaching hole, the elastic arms cannot properly engage the periphery of the attaching hole. Further, backlash or looseness can be formed between the elastic arms and the attaching hole in some situations.
In order to prevent such disadvantages, the whole clip (both of the anchor and the cushioning body) can be made of soft elastic materials in order to absorb the variations in thickness of the object member and/or the variations in diameter of the attaching hole due to elasticity thereof. However, in such a clip, when the anchor is inserted into the attaching hole, an anchor insertion resistance can be increased. In other words, in the clip, when the anchor is inserted into the attaching hole, an anchor insertion load (force) may be increased in comparison with the clip of which the anchor is made of polypropylene. As a result, working efficiency of a clip insertion operation can be reduced. Thus, there is a need in the art for improved clip.


Recombinant adeno-associated viral (AAV) capsid proteins are provided. Methods for generating the recombinant adeno-associated viral capsid proteins and a library from which the capsids are selected are also provided.

Multiple recombinant gene transfer vectors based on different types of viruses have been developed and tested in clinical trials in recent years. Gene transfer vectors based on adeno-associated virus (AAV), i.e., AAV vectors, have become favored vectors because of characteristics such as an ability to transduce different types of dividing and non-dividing cells of different tissues and the ability to establish stable, long-term transgene expression. While vectors based on other viruses, such as adenoviruses and retroviruses may posses certain desirable characteristics, the use of other vectors has been associated with toxicity or some human diseases. These side effects have not been detected with gene transfer vectors based on AAV (Manno et al., Nature Medicine, 12(3):342 (2006)). Additionally, the technology to produce and purify AAV vectors without undue effort has been developed.
At least eleven AAV serotypes have been identified, cloned, sequenced, and converted into vectors, and at least 100 new AAV variants have been isolated from non-primates, primates and humans. However, the majority of preclinical data to date involving AAV vectors has been generated with vectors based on the human AAV-2 serotype, considered the AAV prototype.
There are several disadvantages to the currently used AAV-2 vectors. For example, a number of clinically relevant cell types and tissues are not efficiently transduced with these vectors. Also, a large percentage of the human population is immune to AAV-2 due to prior exposure to wildtype AAV-2 virus. It has been estimated that up to 96% of humans are seropositive for AAV-2, and up to 67% of the seropositive individuals carry neutralizing anti-AAV-2 antibodies which could eliminate or greatly reduce transduction by AAV-2 vectors. Moreover, AAV-2 has been reported to cause a cell mediated immune response in patients when given systemically (Manno et al., Nature Medicine, 12(3):342 (2006)).
Methods of overcoming the limitations of AAV-2 vectors have been proposed. For example, randomly mutagenizing the nucleotide sequence encoding the AAV-2 capsid by error-prone PCR has been proposed as a method of generating AAV-2 mutants that are able to escape the neutralizing antibodies that affect wildtype AAV-2. However, it is expected that it will be difficult to generate significantly improved AAV-2 variants with single random point mutations, as the naturally occurring serotypes have, at most, only about 85% homology in the capsid nucleotide sequence.
Methods of using a mixture of AAV serotype constructs for AAV vectors have also been developed. The resulting chimeric vectors possess capsid proteins from different serotypes, and ideally, have properties of the different serotypes used. However, the ratio of the different capsid proteins is different from vector to vector and cannot be consistently controlled or reproduced (due to lack of genetic templates), which is unacceptable for clinical use and not satisfactory for experimental use.
A third approach at modifying the AAV-2 capsid are peptide insertion libraries, in which randomized oligonucleotides encoding up to 7 amino acids are incorporated into a defined location within the AAV-2 capsid. The display of these peptides on the AAV-2 capsid surface can then be exploited to re-target the particles to cells or tissues that are otherwise refractory to infection with the wildtype AAV-2 virus. However, because knowledge of the atomic capsid structure is a prerequisite for this type of AAV modification, this method is generally restricted to AAV serotype 2. Moreover, peptide insertion libraries typically cannot address the issues of AAV particle immunogenicity or transduction efficiency.
Thus, a need remains for new AAV vectors and a method of generating new AAV vectors. In particular, there is a need for AAV based vectors that can be used efficiently with a variety of cell types and tissues, and that do not react with a pre-existing anti-AAV human immunity that could neutralize or inactivate the vectors. Also needed are vectors that transduce different cell types in vivo and in vitro and that offer a more restricted biodistribution or a more promiscuous biodistribution, depending on the intended use. In particular, there remains a need for vectors capable of transducing a variety of cells types, such as hematopoietic stem cells or embryonic stem cells, as well as having desirable properties.
A recombinant AAV vector known as "AAV-DJ" has been reported and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/538,791, published as US 20100047174, which is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

AAV capsid proteins for nucleic acid transfer

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELEAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY


Provided is a trailing edge assembly of a wind turbine rotor blade, which includes a mounting portion; a flap portion flexibly connected to the mounting portion so that a flap angle subtended between the mounting portion and the flap portion can be altered; a volume adjustable chamber arranged between the mounting portion and the flap portion and realised to alter its volume between a minimum volume associated with a minimum flap angle and a maximum volume associated with a maximum flap angle; and at least one tube to face into an airflow passing over the airfoil region of the rotor blade, and an inner orifice arranged to face into the interior of the volume adjustable chamber such that an airflow between the outer orifice and the inner orifice alters the volume of the volume adjustable chamber. Embodiments of the invention further describe a wind turbine rotor blade.

During operation of a wind turbine, its rotor blades are subject to aerodynamic loads. It is usual to adjust the angle of attack and/or the rotational velocity of the rotor blades in order to keep the blade loading at an acceptable level while aiming to keep the wind turbine power output at the desired level. This is done by adjusting the rotor blade pitch angle by means of a pitch drive at the interface between rotor blade and hub. The angle of attack and/or rotational velocity may be reduced as needed, for example by adjusting the rotor blade pitch angle by a suitable amount or by adjusting the torque of the generator of the wind turbine. The rotor blade loading is kept to an acceptable level in order to avoid structural damage, for example fatigue of the structural components and materials, with the aim of avoiding failure during the planned lifetime of the rotor blade.
The corrective measures described above—e.g. adjusting the pitch angle and/or adjusting rotational velocity of the rotor blades—work well in steady wind conditions. However, atmospheric wind is rarely steady over long intervals, and is more usually irregular with gusts and turbulence leading to fluctuations in loading. A typical turbulent wind field contains regions with higher wind speeds and regions with lower wind speeds. During a wind gust or a high turbulence event, the peak speed can be significantly higher than the mean wind speed. The changes in loading as the rotor blades pass through these regions result in fatigue loads on the rotor blades and the wind turbine supporting structure. Large variations in the wind field can be seen by the aerodynamic rotor of a wind turbine that stands in the wake of an upstream turbine. A problem with the corrective measures described above—i.e. corrective measures limited to adjusting the blade pitch angle—is that they are not quick enough to prevent excessive loading by gusts, turbulent wind fields or wakes. Therefore, even though pitch control is effective in maintaining rotor speed and turbine power, the ability to counteract rapid load variations is limited.
An alternative approach is to alter the shape of the airfoil to reduce loading on the blade. This can be done using any one of various kinds of actively controlled adjustable trailing edge flaps. By implementing adjustable flaps in the trailing edge of a blade (generally in an outboard region of the rotor blade) it is possible to modify the distribution of loads along the rotor blade.
Most adjustable or adaptive trailing edge flap arrangements known from the known art are actively controlled, i.e. these systems require some kind of actuator (mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, etc.), a controller to determine the amount of actuation required, and feedback sensors. Additional effort and cost is associated with the need for a dedicated flap control system in addition to the pitch control system. While these systems allow precise adjustment of the trailing edge geometry in response to fluctuating aerodynamic loads, they suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, any components must be installed within the blade so as not to affect the airflow over the blade, but it is difficult and expensive to install and service complex actuator systems inside wind turbine rotor blades. Furthermore, any moving parts are prone to failure. These actuator systems must be serviced, but their location in an outboard region of the blade interior makes such maintenance procedures difficult and costly. Joints, hinges or connectors at the outside of an adaptive flap system may be damaged by ice build-up in cold conditions. Also, the metal parts and/or electrical components in the rotor blade interior must be electrically isolated from any lightning conductors to ensure that the lightning protection system is not compromised, and to avoid damage to the adaptive trailing edge flap arrangements from flash-over during a lightning strike. Furthermore, active components usually require the use of feedback sensors, which are also subject to the drawbacks mentioned above.


A label switching router having an internal channel share function over an asynchronous transfer mode that sets up an internal channel in advance of the external channel and shares it when an external channel needs to be set up, and a method for sharing an internal channel using the same. The label switching router includes a forwarding engine for setting up a label switched path by using a signaling protocol, extracting an egress forwarding engine number and a channel identifier, allocating an extension tag, searching a previously-set internal channel, forming a forwarding information base/label information base including the previously-set internal channel identifier and the extension tag, adding a header having the internal channel identifier and extension tag to a received internet protocol packet by referring to the forwarding information base/label information base, and forwarding the internet protocol packet, and a merging unit for receiving label switched path set information from a peer forwarding engine, forming an extension information base/merging table where an internal channel identifier is mapped to an extension tag, performing merging when receiving an internet protocol packet having the extension tag, extracting the extension tag, mapping the extension tag to the internal channel identifier, and forwarding the internet protocol packet to an internal channel having the mapped internal channel identifier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a label switching router (LSR) having an internal channel share function over an ATM which sets up internal channels in advance and shares internal channels when an external channel needs to be set up, and a method for sharing an internal channel using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an Multiprotocol Label Switching network (or MPLS network) improves transmission of layer 3 (L3) packet by an internet protocol (or IP) header used in an existing local area network/wide area network (LAN/WAN), and thus efficiently and rapidly transmits the L3 packets by using a new label stack having a short length, namely an MPLS header. The connection structure of the MPLS network includes an end system for performing a router function, and LSRs classified into label edge routers (LER) positioned on contact points to the existing network, and core LSRs positioned in the MPLS network according to their functions.
An MPLS control protocol stack for supporting MPLS functions includes a label distribution protocol (LDP) layer for transmitting/receiving label values between the LSRs. An MPLS, also called a label switch path or LSP, is set up to transmit the L3 packets by the corresponding LDP layer according to the MPLS. In the ATM MPLS network, when the L3 packet is transmitted from the existing network such as the LAN through ATM (or Asynchronous Transfer Mode) access such as an IP over ATM (or IPOA) of the end system, an MPLS layer of an ingress or incoming ATM-LER positioned on the boundary of the ATM MPLS network transforms the L3 packet into ATM cells, and transmits the ATM cells to a core ATM-LSR through an ATM LSP determined by an LDP layer. Identically to general ATM cell transmission, the core ATM-LSR transmits the ATM cells to an egress or exiting ATM-LER by VPI/VCI (or virtual path identifier/virtual channel identifier) switching of the ATM cells in an ATM layer. The egress ATM-LER assembles the ATM cells into L3 packet and transmits the ATM cells to the existing network through the end system.
In order to set up an external channel such as the LSP or IPOA PVC (or permanent virtual circuit), the virtual path (or VP) tunnels are set up in the form of a VP full mesh in the ATM MPLS network. That is, the ATM MPLS network sets up the VP tunnels by using the internal channel set process due to the external channel. When one external channel LSP or IPOA is set up, the internal channels must then be connected as many as the value obtained by subtracting the set Forwarding Engines (or FEs) 200 from the whole FEs 200. Accordingly, when N LSPs are set up, a number of channels required in the ATM MPLS network is represented by following formula 1:Network channel number=external channel number (N)+N*(FE number−1)  <Formula 1>
Considering the mapping relations between the internal and external channels, the general internal channel allocation restricts capacity of the ATM MPLS network. For example, when 16K of LSP and 16K of IPOA PVC are needed per 622 Mbps of FE in 10 G of MPLS network, 512K of channel capacity is required to set up channels. However, channel capacity per 622 Mbps is restricted to 64K, which influences the ATM MPLS network.

Label switching router having internal channel share function over ATM, and method for sharing internal channel using the same


Improved approaches for users of computing devices to interact with graphical user interfaces are described. According to one aspect, a rotational user action supplied by a user at a user input device is transformed into linear action with respect to a graphical user interface. According to another aspect, a portion of an extended list of items is displayed by a graphical user interface and, through rotational user actions at a user input device, the portion of the list being displayed can be varied with welcomed ease of use. Although the type of computing device can vary, the improved approaches are particularly well-suited for use with a portable media player.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a computing device and, more particularly, to a handheld computing device having a rotational input unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist today many styles of input devices for performing operations with respect to a consumer electronic device. The operations generally correspond to moving a cursor and making selections on a display screen. By way of example, the input devices may include buttons, switches, keyboards, mice, trackballs, touch pads, joy sticks, touch screens and the like. Each of these devices has advantages and disadvantages that are taken into consideration when designing the consumer electronic device. In handheld computing devices, the input devices are typically buttons and switches. Buttons and switches are generally mechanical in nature and provide limited control with regard to the movement of a cursor (or other selector) and the making of selections. For example, they are generally dedicated to moving the cursor in a specific direction (e.g., arrow keys) or to making specific selections (e.g., enter, delete, number, etc.). In the case of handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs), the input devices tend to utilize touch-sensitive display screens. When using a touch screen, a user makes a selection on the display screen by pointing directly to objects on the screen using a stylus or finger.
In portable computing devices such as laptop computers, the input devices are commonly touch pads. With a touch pad, the movement of an input pointer (i.e., cursor) corresponds to the relative movements of the user's finger (or stylus) as the finger is moved along a surface of the touch pad. Touch pads can also make a selection on the display screen when one or more taps are detected on the surface of the touch pad. In some cases, any portion of the touch pad may be tapped, and in other cases, a dedicated portion of the touch pad may be tapped. In stationary devices such as desktop computers, the input devices are generally selected from keyboards, mice and trackballs. With a mouse, the movement of the input pointer corresponds to the relative movements of the mouse as the user moves the mouse along a surface. With a trackball, the movement of the input pointer corresponds to the relative movements of a ball as the user rotates the ball within a housing. Both mice and trackball devices generally include one or more buttons for making selections on the display screen.
In addition to allowing input pointer movements and selections with respect to a Graphical User Interface (GUI) presented on a display screen, the input devices may also allow a user to scroll across the display screen in the horizontal or vertical directions. For example, mice may include a scroll wheel that allows a user to simply roll the scroll wheel forward or backward to perform a scroll action. In addition, touch pads may provide dedicated active areas that implement scrolling when the user passes his or her finger linearly across the active area in the x and y directions. Both devices may also implement scrolling via horizontal and vertical scroll bars as part of the GUI. Using this technique, scrolling is implemented by positioning the input pointer over the desired scroll bar, selecting the desired scroll bar, and moving the scroll bar by moving the mouse or finger in the y direction (forwards and backwards) for vertical scrolling or in the x direction (left and right) for horizontal scrolling.
Further, consumer electronic products other than computers, such as cordless telephones, stereo receivers and compact-disc (CD) players, have used dials to enable users to select a phone number, a radio frequency and a specific CD, respectively. Here, typically, a limited-resolution display is used together with the dial. The display, at best, displays only a single item (number, frequency or label) in a low resolution manner using a character generator LCD. In other words, these devices have used single line, low resolution LCD readouts.
Thus, there is always a need for improved user input devices that facilitate greater ease of use of computing devices.

Method and apparatus for use of rotational user inputs


A method and system for storing one or more database query language statements and performance information for each query language statement as a persistent database object. In one or more embodiments, the method and system stores the resource intensive statements and the performance information for each resource intensive statement as a second persistent database object.

In a database management system, SQL statements are used to manipulate data and to retrieve data that matches certain selection criteria. A SQL statement is compiled in memory before being executed by a database engine. Though the compiled form of the SQL statement may be cached in memory for some amount of time for repeated executions, it is eventually discarded. Therefore SQL statements can be considered transient objects in a database system.
In practice, the set of SQL statements used by an application are repeatedly executed, and the same SQL statements can be frequently compiled into memory and executed. Also, some statements, when executed, place a high load on the system by consuming a large amount of system resources, which causes the system's performance to suffer. If knowledge about the frequency or load demands of certain SQL statements is available, then this knowledge can be used to tune these statements by adding controls to improve the performance of these SQL statements.
However, obtaining knowledge about the frequency or load demands for these statements is complex and sometimes impossible. For example, the number of SQL statements that are executed by a database system can be very large and thus very difficult to manage. Conventional database systems typically do not persistently store executed statements and performance information about each statement. The conventional systems are therefore unable to provide a sufficient amount of performance information about the executed statements to identify which statements are consuming a substantial amount of resources. Also, conventional database systems are unable to allow a database administrator (DBA) to filter or rank the executed statements based on their performance characteristics.
A need exists for a method to persistently store SQL statements and their performance information into a database as an object that can be used in a performance analysis such as a comparison of system performance between different time periods. Also, a need exists to identify high load SQL statements.