Approaches are disclosed for switching transport protocol connection keys. A first node sends a keychange request message to a second node, causing the second node to accept subsequent messages digitally signed with a first or second key. The second node sends an acknowledgment message to the first node, causing the first node to accept subsequent messages digitally signed with the first or second key. The first node receives a new message digitally signed with the second key from the second node and determines that there are no remaining messages to be received digitally signed with the first key. In response thereto, the first node only accepts messages digitally signed with the second key and sends a message signed with the second key to the second node, causing the second node to only accept messages digitally signed with the second key.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a transport layer protocol that provides a reliable connection-oriented data delivery service to upper-layer applications through the use of sequenced acknowledgment with retransmission of segments when necessary. In a typical TCP implementation, a TCP connection is established between two TCP endpoints that are established on two hosts. A TCP endpoint is maintained by the TCP module (or stack) of a host and is represented as the combination of an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the host and a TCP port number.
TCP uses a stream data transfer mechanism to deliver an unstructured stream of bytes between TCP endpoints. The bytes in the stream are numbered sequentially and are grouped into TCP segments for transmission over the TCP connection between the TCP endpoints. A TCP segment transmitted over a TCP connection includes a header portion and a payload portion, and can be identified by the sequence number of the first byte in the payload portion of the segment. The transport service provided by TCP is used by upper-layer applications to exchange application-specific data over the TCP connection.
One example of an upper-layer application that uses TCP to exchange data is Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP is a peer-to-peer routing protocol the latest version of which, BGP-4, is defined in RFC1771 that was published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in March 1995. In order to exchange routing information, two BGP hosts, or peers, first establish a TCP connection, and then negotiate a BGP session in order to exchange network routes. Another example of an upper-layer application that uses TCP to exchange data is Label Distribution Protocol (LDP). LDP is a protocol defined for the MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) architecture and is described in RFC3036 published by IETF in January 2001. In a MPLS network, two Label Switching Routers (LSRs), or LDP peers, establish a bi-directional LDP session over a TCP connection in order to exchange label-mapping information that maps network layer routing information directly to data-link layer switched paths.
TCP, however, is vulnerable to data injection attacks. In a data injection attack, an attacker guesses parameter values for a valid TCP connection and uses these parameter values to send spurious TCP segments that contain malicious or spurious data payloads. These spurious TCP segments may affect the state of the TCP connection itself or may be intended for an upper-layer application. If the receiving TCP endpoint passes such segments to the upper-layer application various problems may occur when the application acts on or executes the data payloads. The consequences of data injection attacks can be severe. For example, when a BGP session is disrupted by a change in the state of the associated TCP connection, the BGP peers that established the session may have to discard all BGP routes that were exchanged during the session and may have to re-synchronize their routing information with peer routers in the network.
One type of a data injection attack is a TCP RST attack. In a TCP RST attack, an attacker uses the parameters of a valid TCP connection to construct and send spurious TCP segments that request closing and re-setting of the TCP connection by setting the RST (reset) bit in the TCP segment's headers.
One prior approach for preventing such data injection attacks minimizes the chances that an attacker would be able to determine the parameters of a valid TCP connection. In this prior approach, a TCP endpoint computes a digital signature or message digest for each TCP segment that it sends, and includes the signature in the TCP segment header. The signature is computed based on a key or a password known only to both TCP endpoints, and uses the contents of one or more fields of the TCP segment as input. Thus, in order to successfully launch a data injection attack, an attacker would not only have to determine the valid TCP connection parameters, but would also have to guess the key or password used to produce the TCP segment-signature.
One particular implementation of this prior approach, which implementation is used for protecting BGP sessions, is described in RFC2385 published by IETF in August 1998. In this implementation, a TCP OPTION has been defined for carrying a Message-Digest5 (MD5) hash value in a TCP segment. The MD5 algorithm (as defined in RFC1321 published by IETF in April 1992) takes as input a message of arbitrary length and produces as output a 128-bit signature, or "message digest", of the input. In this implementation, every TCP segment sent on a TCP connection contains, in the OPTIONS field of the TCP segment header, a 16-byte MD5 signature produced by applying the MD5 algorithm to the following items in order:                1. The TCP segment pseudo-header (in the order: source IP address, destination IP address, zero-padded protocol number, and segment length);        2. The TCP segment header (excluding the OPTIONS field, and assuming a checksum of zero);        3. The TCP segment data (if any); and        4. An independently-specified key or password known to both TCP endpoints and presumably specific to the TCP connection.
Upon receiving a TCP segment signed with a MD5 signature, the receiving TCP endpoint computes its own digest for the TCP segment from same data and by using its own key. The receiving TCP endpoint then compares the computed digest with the MD5 signature included in the OPTIONS field of the TCP segment. If the computed digest matches the MD5 signature included in the TCP segment, the receiving TCP endpoint validates the TCP segment and passes the payload portion of segment to the recipient upper-layer application. If the comparison fails, the TCP endpoint silently discards the TCP segment and sends back no acknowledgement.
The above approach, however, has numerous disadvantages. One disadvantage of the above approach is that, although difficult, it may not be impossible for an attacker to produce a valid signature for a malicious TCP segment that it wants to inject in the TCP connection. For example, since the MD5 algorithm is prone to a successful cryptanalytic attack, it is not impossible for an attacker to sniff a large number of similar TCP segments and to deduce the key used to create the MD5 signatures for TCP segments. This disadvantage causes serious security concerns, especially for upper-layer applications, such as BGP, that use TCP connections to run sessions for very long periods of time.
Another disadvantage of the above approach is that in some situations it is very difficult to change the TCP connection keys without significant disruption to upper-layer applications. Since both TCP endpoints must use the same key to produce signatures for the TCP segments associated with a TCP connection, when the key associated with a TCP connection needs to be changed, both TCP endpoints must change the key nearly simultaneously in order to prevent loss of data transmitted between the upper-layer applications over the TCP connection.
For example, in a BGP implementation that is in accord with RFC2385, when BGP peers establish a BGP session with each other over a TCP connection, both BGP peers may configure their respective TCP endpoints to use a shared MD5 encryption key or password. The shared MD5 encryption key may be provisioned to the BGP peers beforehand. Some situations may arise, however, which require that the MD5 encryption key must be changed. For example, a MD5 encryption key may need to be changed because of security concerns related to personnel changes (e.g. a network administrator leaving the company). In another example, if the BGP session is a long running session and is established between a BGP peer in an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network and a BGP peer in a customer network, it may be desirable to change the MD5 encryption key periodically in order to prevent a potential attacker from guessing the key by sniffing and analyzing a large number of TCP segments sent over the TCP connection associated with the BGP session.
However, once the BGP session is established there is no practical way to change the MD5 encryption key because BGP uses its own KEEPALIVE mechanism to detect whether the BGP session is active. BGP peers disable the TCP HoldTimer for the TCP connection, and use their own BGP KEEPALIVE HoldTimer, the value of which is negotiated during the establishing of the BGP session. A BGP peer would periodically send BGP KEEPALIVE messages to ensure that the HoldTimer on its BGP peer does not expire. For example, if the BGP peers negotiate the default BGP HoldTimer interval of 180 seconds, absent the exchange of any other BGP messages a BGP peer would send a BGP KEEPALIVE message every 60 seconds or so. If the BGP peer does not receive a communication over the BGP session within the BGP KEEPALIVE HoldTimer interval, it sends out a HoldTimer Expired Error and closes the BGP session.
Thus, if the MD5 encryption key, which is used by a BGP peer in BGP session established over a TCP connection, needs to be changed, the key must be changed on both TCP endpoints within an interval of time that is smaller than the BGP HoldTimer. The interval of time during which the keys are changed on both TCP endpoints must be smaller than the BGP HoldTimer in order to prevent the TCP endpoint from silently discarding TCP segments signed with the old key that carry BGP messages of the BGP session. However, in a large network such as an ISP, it is practically impossible to change the MD5 encryption keys on all TCP endpoints that support BGP peers within an interval of time as small as a BGP HoldTimer interval.
U.S. application Ser. No. 11/173,690 of Satish Mynam et al. ("Mynam et al.") proposes a key change solution in which a first TCP module accepts messages signed with both an old MD5 encryption key and a new MD5 encryption key. This is done without signaling to a second TCP module that the first TCP module is prepared to receive messages signed with a new MD5 encryption key. Thus, Mynam et al. proposes to allow a TCP module to enter a "key overlap" phase until a message using the new MD5 encryption key is received. However, drawbacks of Mynam et al. include the chance of denial of service attacks during the overlap of the old and new MD5 encryption keys with using spoofed MD5 encryption key based TCP segments.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for techniques that overcome the disadvantages of the prior approach described above for preventing data injection attacks.

Approaches for switching transport protocol connection keys


An active matrix substrate comprises a TFT (4) in which a plurality of drain electrodes (16a and 16b) are provided for a single source electrode (6), and at least one of the drain electrodes is electrically connected to the pixel electrode (1) via the drain outgoing wire. The drain outgoing wire includes a first conductive pattern section comprising (i) a drain outgoing wire common section (7d) and drain outgoing branch sections (7a and 7b) each of which extends from said drain outgoing common section into each of said drain electrodes, and (ii) a correction connection electrode 9 which is partially overlapped with said branch sections of said first conductive pattern section via an insulating layer. The correction connection electrode 9 is electrically connectable to a plurality of said branch sections by being conducted to said branch sections through said insulating layer. This structure allows pixel defect correction within the pixel.

An active matrix substrate is widely used for various active matrix display apparatuses such as a liquid crystal display apparatus, an EL (Electro Luminescence) display apparatus etc. In an active matrix substrate used for a conventional active matrix liquid crystal display apparatus, a switching element such as a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) is provided in each intersection of a plurality of scanning signal lines and a plurality of data signal lines which are intersect with each other on a base substrate. With the switching function of this switching element such as a TFT, each pixel (electrode) of pixel section connected to the switching element (eg. TFT) is supplied with a pixel signal according to circumstances. Further, there is a kind of active matrix substrate in which each pixel section has a retention capacitor element. This gives an effect of preventing self-discharge of liquid crystal layer or degradation of pixel signal caused by off-current of TFT or the like during off-state of the TFT or the like. The retention capacitor element is also used as a supply path of various modulation signals for driving liquid crystal.
The following describes concrete examples (eg. Document 1) of known structure of active matrix substrate used for a conventional active matrix liquid crystal display apparatus. FIG. 18 is a schematic plan view showing a single pixel of an active matrix substrate of a conventional active matrix liquid crystal display apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 18, in a conventional active matrix substrate 200, a plurality of pixel electrodes 51 are arranged in matrix, surrounded by scanning signal lines 52 for supplying scanning signals, and data signal lines 53 for supplying data signals, which intersect with each other. Further, a TFT 54 is provided in each intersection of the scanning signal lines 52 and the data signal lines 53. The TFT 54 serves as a switching element connected to the pixel electrode 51. The gate electrode 55 of the TFT 54 is connected to the scanning signal lines 52 through which scanning signals are supplied. In this manner the driving of TFT 54 is controlled. Further, the source electrode 66a of the TFT 54 is connected to the data signal lines 53 through which data signals are supplied. Further, the drain wire 56 is connected to the drain electrode 66b of the TFT 54, the drain wire 56 is also connected to one of the electrodes (retention capacitor upper electrode) 57 of the retention capacitor element, and the retention capacitor electrode 57 is connected to a pixel electrode 51 via a contact hole 58. A retention capacitor (common) wire 59 serves as the other one (retention capacitor lower electrode) of the two electrodes of the retention capacitor element.
The liquid crystal display apparatus used for a large-sized liquid crystal TV often adopts a Vertical Alignment (VA) mode having a multi-domain, or so-called a Multi-domain Vertical Alignment (MVA) mode, so as to ensure a wide viewing angle (see Document 2, for example).
In the MVA mode, the pixel electrodes of the active matrix substrate and the counter electrodes of the counter substrate are provided with an exsection pattern or an alignment control projection for adjusting alignment of liquid crystal molecules from which a fringe field is formed. Provision of fringe field has an effect of scattering the liquid crystal molecules so that they are aligned into plural directions. This is how the wide viewing angle is ensured. In this way, the conventional active matrix substrate shown in FIG. 18 ensures a wide viewing angle by having an exsection pattern or an alignment control projection for adjusting alignment of liquid crystal molecules in each of the pixel electrodes of the active matrix substrate and the counter electrodes of the counter substrate. Further, in order to prevent light leak or improve initial response speed after voltage application, there is a technique of embedding electrodes in the portions having the exsection patterns (may be referred also to as electrode slits) of the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes (see Document 3, for example).
In the manufacturing process of active matrix substrate, foreign bodies or remaining films may cause short-circuit (leak) between the source electrode and the drain electrode of a TFT. In the resulting defective pixel, the pixel electrodes cannot be given proper voltages (drain voltages). As a result, some defective spot such as a luminescent spot or a black spot occur in the display screen of the liquid crystal display apparatus. This results in a decrease in yield of manufacturing.
In view of this problem, there is a technique for forming a correction connection wiring in advance between each of an adjacent pair of pixels (see Document 4, for example). In the case of pixel defect, this technique carries out laser irradiation with respect to the correction connection wiring so as to allow the pixel electrode of the defective pixel to be electrically conducted to the pixel electrode of the adjacent pixel. In this way, the voltage equal in potential to that of the adjacent pixel is supplied to the defective pixel, and the defective pixel is driven by a pseudo operation.
However, this method needs to be improved to solve the following problem. Normally (in normal operation), the pixels are insulated with each other, and therefore the correction connection wirings are required to be formed across the pixels. Therefore, as the area of the correction connection wiring increases, the aperture ratio decreases. Further, in the sporadic short-circuit (leak) between the source electrode and the drain electrode of the TFT, it is preferable to compensate the error within the pixel in which the defect occurs. This is because, if the defective pixel is driven by the TFT of the adjacent pixel via the correction connection wiring after the leakage portion is cut off, an extra driving load is exerted on the TFT of the adjacent pixel. However, in the foregoing pixel defect correction method, the defect of the pixel can be corrected only by connecting adjacent pixels. Therefore, the correction within the pixel concerned was not possible. Suggested to solve this problem of TFT defect is a redundant structure of liquid crystal display apparatus. In the redundant structure, a plurality of TFTs is connected in parallel with respect to a single pixel (see Document 5, for example).
[Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukaihei 09-152625/1997 (published on Jun. 10, 1997)
[Document 2]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2001-83523/2001 (published on Mar. 30, 2001)
[Document 3]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai 2001-117083/2001 (published on Apr. 27, 2001)
[Document 4]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukaihei 02-135320/1990 (published on May 24, 1990)
[Document 5]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukaihei 07-199221/1995 (published on Aug. 4, 1995)

Active matrix substrate, display apparatus, and pixel defect correction method


An apparatus and method for radio signal parallel processing are provided, wherein the apparatus, which receives and processes in parallel a first and second carrier signal of frequencies ω1 and ω2 (ω2>ω1), includes: a first local oscillator which outputs a signal of frequency ω to a first frequency mixer which converts the first carrier signal into a signal of a first intermediate frequency (ω−ω1) and a signal of another first intermediate frequency (ω+ω1), and outputs the converted signals; and a second frequency mixer which converts the second carrier signal into a signal of a first intermediate frequency (ω2−ω) and a signal of another first intermediate frequency (ω2+ω), and outputs the converted signals. With the above, the capacity of data reception and transmission increases, the complexity of implementing the apparatus is low, and the cost of manufacturing the apparatus is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for radio signal processing in a radio receiver, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method in which two carrier signals, having different frequencies, are simultaneously received and processed in parallel in a superheterodyne receiver, which then outputs two baseband signals by down-converting the received carrier signals into low frequency signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
A superheterodyne receiver receives a carrier signal, twice down-converts the signal into an intermediate frequency, and outputs a baseband signal. A superheterodyne receiver that twice down-converts a carrier signal into an intermediate frequency is referred to as a dual intermediate frequency (IF) superheterodyne radio frequency receiver. The baseband signal indicates the signal of the original frequency band before it is modulated by the source side into a high frequency band signal.
Superheterodyne receivers are widely used in areas of wireless communications, such as wireless telephony, radio broadcasting, and wireless LANs.
Meanwhile, as the amount of data transmitted through wireless telecommunications increases, there are increasing demands for data processing capacities at the source and destination.
However, since the prior art superheterodyne receiver receives only one carrier signal and outputs a single baseband signal, it cannot meet this requirement.

Apparatus and method for radio signal parallel processing


A transmission includes a housing, a first shaft rotatably supported relative to the housing, and a second shaft rotatably coupled to the first shaft. A switch-type clutch assembly is movable between an engaged state having a first clutch member coupled to a second clutch member and a disengaged state having the first clutch member separated from the second clutch member. The housing rotates with the first shaft when the switch-type clutch assembly is in the engaged state. A friction clutch is movable between an engaged state having a first friction plate coupled to a second friction plate and a disengaged state having the first frication plate separated from the second frication plate. The second shaft is fixed for rotation with the first shaft via the housing when the switch-type clutch assembly and the friction clutch assembly are both in the engaged state.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
An automatic transmission provides smooth shifting between gears. Planetary and dual-clutch transmissions are two alternative forms of automatic transmissions. A planetary automatic transmission may have lower gear sliding-related losses due to smaller gear modules (having shorter gear teeth) than those used on a dual-clutch transmission. In addition, a planetary automatic transmission can often utilize lower viscosity lubricant for gear and clutch protection as compared to a dual-clutch transmission. Nonetheless, a planetary automatic transmission is usually less efficient than a dual-clutch transmission due to the fact that a planetary automatic transmission utilizes a larger number of wet clutches (i.e., friction-plate clutches) than does a dual-clutch transmission, which typically incorporates switch-type clutches such as dog clutches.
Clutch inefficiency in a planetary automatic transmission comes primarily from drag-related losses of spinning, disengaged friction plates of the wet clutches. While drag-related losses can be minimized by providing adequate spacing between the friction plates, such additional spacing typically results in longer shift times.
A dog clutch or other switch-type clutch arrangement may provide a more efficient clutch configuration in its disengaged state. However, use of such switch-type clutches does not allow for appropriate gradual energy dissipation, thereby resulting in abrupt gear shifts.
In sum, wet clutches provide a longer shift time when compared to switch-type clutch arrangements, and, thus, a smoother shift, but suffer from the disadvantage of spinning losses when disengaged.

Transmission including dog clutch arrangement and method


A robotic surgical system includes a surgical robot and a guide tube. The surgical robot includes a robot arm and a controller. The controller is configured to establish a software-based remote center of motion of a surgical instrument attached to the robot arm based on a location of a surgical portal in a patient through which the surgical instrument is inserted. The guide tube having a trailing end supported by the robot arm of the surgical robot, a leading end inserted in the surgical portal and maintaining alignment between the robotic arm and the surgical portal during a surgical instrument exchange, and an elongated tubular body through which an elongated shaft of the surgical instrument is inserted or removed during the surgical instrument exchange.

Robotic surgical systems have been used in minimally invasive medical procedures in which surgical instruments were inserted through surgical portals at fixed entry points into the patient's body. These systems incorporated a Remote Center of Motion (RCM) to ensure that the surgical instruments did not move beyond these fixed entry points as the instruments were manipulated inside the patient's body. Many of these surgical robots used a mechanical RCM with a portion of robotic arm attaching directly to the surgical portal. Unlike surgical robots using mechanical RCM's, software-based RCM's typically did not mechanically connect to the surgical portal in order to provide an increased range of motion and reduce collisions between robotic arms of the surgical robot. Unfortunately, many of the surgical robots with software-based RCM's tend to complicate instrument exchanges as the surgical portals moved out of alignment with the robotic arms when the surgical instruments were removed.
During an instrument exchange, the surgical instrument was pulled out of the surgical port and removed from the robotic arm. A new or different surgical instrument was then connected to the robotic arm and introduced back through the surgical portal. Surgical robots with mechanical based RCM's facilitated the exchange because the surgical portal was continually held in alignment with the linear axis of the instrument motion by a linkage or connection to the surgical portal. In contrast, surgical robots with software-based RCM's did not have a connection or linkage to the surgical portal and therefore lost alignment when the surgical instrument was removed from the surgical portal. Inserting another surgical instrument required the clinician to manually align the surgical portal with the surgical instrument. This process increased the time required for conducting the instrument exchange.
Accordingly, there is a need for robotic surgical systems with software-based RCM's that facilitate instrument exchange by maintaining alignment of the surgical portal and robotic arm.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Robotically controlling remote center of motion with software and guide tube


An internet and/or intranet based database search system and method for conducting searches of highly confidential records such as individual patient medical records and to automate the process of securing required approvals to make such records available to a properly authorized and authenticated requesting party. The system's central premise is that the patient has a fundamental right to the confidentiality of their personal medical records and should control that right through specific, informed consent each time that a party requests to receive them. It reinforces the widely held conception of privacy in general as well as of the sanctity of the doctor/patient relationship by granting the doctor the right, subject to the patient's express permission, to initiate a search request. At the same time, it provides an expedited and cost-efficient means for transfer of such records as demanded by many healthcare reform proposals and gives the repositories where these records are held the right to stipulate the specific terms and conditions that must be fulfilled before they will release litigation alleging breaches of patient confidentiality. And it carries out all of documents entrusted to their care, thereby substantially reducing the risk of these legitimate interests in a way that is fast, simple to use and easy to audit. The system optionally includes a billing mechanism to pay for any added cost associated with providing this additional protection; and in its preferred embodiment, is applicable to both digital as well as non-digital records.

This invention relates generally to the field of transmission of medical records, and more particularly to a standing order database search system and method for such transmission having Internet and intranet application.
In a recent Harris poll, 85% of respondents said they believe protecting the confidentiality of medical records is "absolutely essential" or "very important" within healthcare reform. As this survey result suggests, people are concerned about the risks powerful, new information technologies could pose to their rights of privacy. In an ironic way, the inefficiencies of the past have served as something of a comfort—despite the fact that more than a quarter of Americans responding to a 1993 Harris poll said health information about them had been improperly disclosed in the past.
Reflecting the inadequacy of a technological solution to the issue, various leaders have sought a political resolution. In 1995, Senator Robert Bennett (R-Utah) introduced the so-called Medical Confidentiality Act of 1995. Although the legislation remains mired in debate, one thing has become clear from remarks made by both the staunch advocates for the legislation as well as its numerous dissenting voices, most of which feel that its protections are inadequate. This fact is that comprehensive protection must be devised to guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of computer-based patient records as well as the data networks to carry such information.
None of the prior technologies has been able to strike this balance between protecting confidentiality and facilitating the transfer of individual medical records. The San Jose Mercury News, a widely recognized online resource for Silicon Valley companies reported the following headline in its Mar. 4, 1997 edition: "The electronic privacy issue is shaping up as a major-league battle in the 105th Congress." On Mar. 5, 1997, Wired Magazine reported in a story entitled "Panel Urges Medical Data Protection" as follows: "Right now, if your medical records are on a computerized database or are transmitted, you run the risk of having them seen by people you never dreamed would be perusing your health information."
The deficiency in prior technology to deliver the combined benefit of adequate protection of confidentiality and support for an ubiquitous, easy-to-deploy and use, and cost-effective means for the transfer of medical records is perhaps best noted in the written and oral testimony before various Congressional committees debating privacy legislation.
During his Jan. 13, 1997 opening remarks before the National Committee on Vital Health Statistics, Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality, Dr. Robert Gellman, a privacy and information policy consultant in Washington and the subcommittee chair stated: "We intend to cover the full range of fair information practices issues, including patient's rights, limits on use and disclosure of information, health identification numbers, pre-emption of state laws and privacy-enhancing technologies when available, sometimes known as PETs—privacy-enhancing technologies."
The subcommittee's first witness, Dr. David Korn, Professor of Pathology, and immediate past Vice President of Stanford University, Dean of the Stanford Medical School and a distinguished scholar in residence at the AAMC, stated: "The difficult challenge before this committee is to find a point of balance that will enable to us to enhance the security of confidential medical information and reduce the probability of its misuse, without substantially impairing the access and communication that are essential to the effective delivery of medical care, the efficient functioning of the health care delivery system and the pace of biomedical and health services research." Dr. Korn concluded his remarks by stating, in part, "[G]iven the requirements for access and communication in the real worlds of medical care and biomedical research, such levels of security in my judgment are fanciful."
On Feb. 3, 1997, David L. Larsen, Director of Health Care Services at Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health Care (IHC), testified on behalf of the American Association of Health Plans (MHP) which represents 1,000 HMOs, PPOs, and similar network plans providing care to over 120 million Americans. In his testimony, Mr. Larsen stated: "AAHP supports this Committee's efforts to protect against the unauthorized and inappropriate use of patient information while at the same time facilitate the coordination and delivery of high quality, network-based health care. It is important that your recommendations recognize the special needs of integrated delivery systems.
"In order to manage and improve the health outcomes of the population we insure, we must be able to share information among IHC corporate entities—our physicians, hospitals, and health plans. IHC has developed electronic medical records and common databases to facilitate this communication. Preventing the creation of these common databases, limiting the type of data which can be shared within the IHC integrated delivery system, or requiring a patient's authorization for each and every transaction and transfer of data, would severely limit IHC's ability to measure and improve the health outcomes of our enrollees."
Robert B. Burleigh, President of Brandywine Healthcare Services and Consultant to the Board of Directors of the International Billing Association (IBA), the only trade association representing third party medical billing companies, also testified before the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality on Feb. 3, 1997. In his testimony, Mr. Burleigh stated: "[Section 111(d) of the proposed legislation] provides that a 'health information trustee may disclose protected health information only if the recipient has been notified that the information is protected health information . . . .' In the normal course of business today, the technical means of notifying a recipient of (proposed) protected health information, prior to, or concurrently with, disclosure does not exist."
Mr. Burleigh concluded his testimony with the following warning: "We are concerned that an unintended result of this proposed legislation would be the decision by providers to discontinue accepting insurance coverage in order to avoid the burdensome (in their view) new duties of securing informed consents, providing disclosures, maintaining new disclosure logs and related records, and other proposed responsibilities."
On February 18, Lauren Dame, staff attorney at Public Citizen's Health Research Group, a non-profit organization founded in 1971 by Ralph Nader and Dr. Sidney Wolfe, testified before the committee. In her prepared remarks, Ms. Dame stated: "As medical records are computerized and there is increased disclosure of sensitive medical information—as we believe there will be—many of the problems consumers face today will be exacerbated unless strong privacy protections are included in any regulations developed . . . . [P]rivacy for medical information is an important value in and of itself. People feel very strongly that they should have control over the dissemination of what amounts to highly intimate and private information about themselves.
"[W]e believe that any effort to regulate the use and development of computerized patient medical records should begin with the proposition that . . . personally identifiable patient information should not be disclosed without the informed consent of the patient. (And, by "informed consent", I do not mean the kinds of blanket consent or release forms patients currently are forced to sign in order to obtain health insurance, which basically give the insurers the right to collect any medical information they want, and to do with it what they will.)"
Ms. Dame concluded her remarks with this statement which indicates the solutions have yet to be devised: "[Y]ou have heard from insurers, providers, and processors of data, and no doubt most of them have painted glowing pictures of the great increases in efficiency and cost savings associated with computerizing medical records and with limiting privacy protections. While in some areas, the interests of all of us might be accommodated, often you will be faced with some hard choices . . . . In making your recommendations to the Secretary, I urge you to err on the side of protecting the privacy and confidentiality of personally-identifiable medical information. As a society, we can always modify regulations to increase data exchange if experience shows us that we can safely do so. But privacy, once lost, cannot be recaptured."
On Feb. 19, 1997, Dr. Denise Nagel, a physician, instructor at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of the National Coalition for Patient Rights, an organization whose mission is to protect and preserve privacy and confidentiality in medical care, testified for that organization and on behalf of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. During her testimony, Dr. Nagel quoted the 1996 Time/CNN poll which "found that 87% of Americans believed that 'laws should be passed that prohibit health care organizations from giving out medical information without first obtaining the patient's permission.'" and commented that "the same percentage of people in a 1993 Louis Harris poll trusted their own providers but most (71%) believed that 'if privacy is to be preserved, the use of computers must be sharply restricted in the future.'" Dr. Nagel stated her opinion: "Rules that conform to these views would require consent for placing personal information in a computer system and consent for the disclosure of identified information, except in rare circumstances."
Merging these two fiercely advocated perspectives—efficiency of a system for delivering records and informed consent—into a single system is one of the essential missing features of the prior art.

Standing order database search system and method for internet and intranet application


The jack plate has two vertically aligned side plates and a transom plate. A travel stop block is couple to the jack plate transom plate. The travel stop block is located between an upper and lower transom bars. The operational height of the jack plate can be manually operated by turning a hex head threaded rod.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jack plate/travel stop system and more particularly pertains to abating the inadvertent wetting of a height adjusting hydraulic cylinder in a safe, convenient and economical manner without the use of a drive motor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of stop systems of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, stop systems of known designs and configurations previously devised and utilized for the purpose of abating wetting through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
While the prior art devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the prior art patents do not describe a manually operated jack plate/travel stop system that allows for a safe economical device for the adjusting the operating height of an outboard motor, relative to the transom of a boat, in a safe, convenient and economical manner.
In this respect, the manually operated jack plate/travel stop system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides a device for the adjusting the operating height of an outboard motor, relative to the transom of a boat, in a safe, convenient and economical manner.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved manual operated jack plate/travel stop system which can be used for abating the inadvertent wetting of a height adjusting hydraulic cylinder in a safe, convenient and economical manner. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.

Manually operated jack plate/travel stop system


A method and apparatus for testing a write function of a dual-port static memory cell during a concurrent read/write cycle on a memory cell is disclosed. A memory cell of a dual-port static memory is read via a first port of the memory cell. After the read operation, the standard bitline restore operation that normally occurs after a read or write operation is suppressed from occurring on the bitlines for the first port. Then, the memory cell is read again via the first port at the same time the memory cell is being written via a second port with a logical data value that is opposite to the logical data value being read from the first port. After the completion of the write operation, the bitlines for the first and second ports are restored by a bitline restore operation. Finally, the logical data value in the memory cell is verified for its correctness.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing in general, and in particular to a method and apparatus for testing memory cells. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing a write function of a dual-port static memory cell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A dual-port memory cell typically consists of a static memory element and a set of access devices. In most applications, the static memory element is a pair of cross coupled inverters, and the access devices are N-channel transistors. Each port of the dual-port memory cell is associated with a pair of true and complement bitlines. The true side of the static memory element is connected to each true bitline via a respective access device, and the complement side of the static memory element is connected to each complement bitline via a respective access device. The bitlines carry data to or from the static memory element when the memory cell is being written or read.
All dual-port static memory cells are capable of having both a write cycle and a read cycle occurring simultaneously at separate ports of a same memory cell. Importantly, most, if not all, dual-port static memory cells are guaranteed by their manufacturers to have a successful data write operation during the above-mentioned concurrent read/write cycle at the same memory cell. The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for testing a write function of a dual-port static memory cell during a concurrent read/write cycle on a memory cell.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a memory cell of a multi-port memory is read via a first port of the memory cell. After the read operation, the standard bitline restore operation that normally occurs after a read or write operation is suppressed from occurring on the bitlines for the first port. Then, the memory cell is read again via the first port at the same time the memory cell is being written via a second port with a logical data value that is opposite to the logical data value being read from the first port. After the completion of the write operation, the bitlines for the first and second ports are restored by a bitline restore operation. Finally, the logical data value in the memory cell is verified for its correctness.
All objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.

Method and apparatus for testing a write function of a dual-port static memory cell

International Business Machines Corporation


Personal multimedia devices can detect when an incoming video format is different from a native format and make a local decision to convert incoming video formats to a format native to the personal multimedia device.  The personal multimedia device may include a media processor that comprises an MPEG decoder/encoder, graphics processors, and a video decoder/encoder. These components increase a frame rate of a received video signal when the frame rate of the received video signal is less than a frame rate of the native video format of the personal multimedia device and decrease the frame rate of the received video signal when the frame rate of the received video signal is greater than the native frame rate of the set-top box. The graphics processor scales a frame resolution of the frames in the received video signal to correspond to the native video format.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communications systems, and more particularly, to videoconferencing between entities that use multiple video standards.
B. Description of Related Art
Personal multimedia devices are devices that provide multimedia services to a user. Example of personal multimedia devices include set-top boxes and personal video recording (PVR) devices. A set-top box is a device that enables a television set to receive and decode digital television (DTV) broadcasts. Set-top boxes are frequently used to receive satellite and cable television signals. At a basic level, a set-top box will include an input connection for the television signal broadcast by the satellite or cable company, and an output connection leading to the user's television.
Some set-top boxes additionally include more advanced features, such as a network port (e.g., Ethernet) and/or other input output connections, such as a keyboard or a universal serial bus (USB) connection. With these set-top boxes, in addition to simply watching television, users may perform a number of more interactive activities, such as surfing the web and sending email.
An additional activity that may be performed in conjunction with the more advanced set-top boxes is videoconferencing. More specifically, a video camera may be connected to the set-top box through a connection such as the USB connection. Audio and video recorded by the video camera may be processed by the set-top box and then transmitted through the network port to a network, such as the Internet. At the receiving end, another set-top box may receive the video signal from the network, process the video signal into a format compatible with the receiving television, and present the video signal on the receiving television.
There are situations, however, in which different set-top boxes in the above-described video conferencing scheme are incompatible with one another. Set-top boxes in different regions of the world may use different video formats. Televisions in Europe, for example, typically use the Phase Alternation Line (PAL) analog television display standard while televisions in North America typically use the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) standard. When attempting to implement a videoconference with televisions using different standards, the received video will not be able to be appropriately displayed on the receiving television.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to improve video conferencing capabilities of personal multimedia devices such as set-top boxes.

Personal multimedia device video format conversion across multiple video formats


The present disclosure is directed to a pre-filled container configured to store a pre-defined volume of a vaporizable liquid composition. The present disclosure is also directed to personal vaporizing devices for using such containers. In one embodiment, the pre-filled container is configured to provide a vaporizable liquid composition stored therein to an ultrasonic vaporizing component via capillary action for vaporization thereof.

The present disclosure is directed to a pre-filled container configured to store a vaporizable material. The present disclosure is also directed to personal vaporizing devices for using such containers. In one embodiment, the pre-filled container is configured to provide vaporizable material stored therein to a vaporizing component via capillary action.
In recent years, portable electronic vaporizers have gained popularity among users who vaporize herbal extracts to inhale the vapors emitted therefrom. Vaporization is an alternative to burning (smoking) that avoids the inhalation of may irritating toxic and carcinogenic by-products. With little or no smoke produced and generally cooler temperatures than what occurs when material is burned, less material is required to achieve a given level of effect. Hence the irritating and harmful effects of smoking are reduced, as is secondhand smoke.
Many of the battery-powered vaporizers include a reusable battery-containing device portion that connects to one or more cartridges or containers containing the consumable vaporizable material or liquid solution ("E-liquid"). The main ingredients of e-liquids are usually a mixture of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and/or polyethylene glycol, often with differing levels of alcohol mixed with concentrated or extracted flavorings, and a variable concentration of nicotine. In some embodiments, the e-liquid may contain medicinal agents, recreational agents, nutraceuticals, wellness agents, and the like. There is variability in the purity, kinds, and concentrations of ingredients used in the liquids, and significant variability between labelled content and concentration and actual content and concentration.
E-liquid is often sold in bottles, pre-filled disposable containers, or as a kit for consumers to make their own. Components are also available individually and consumers may choose to modify or boost their flavor, nicotine strength, or concentration with various offerings. As a result, consumers will typically prepare e-liquids themselves and will fill containers (or refill used containers) with such prepared e-liquid. Unfortunately, the filling of a container by the consumer often results in uncertainty as to the precise amount of active ingredients contained in the liquid and may introduce contaminants into the liquid and/or container. Furthermore, handling of regulated ingredients and/or those that are potentially dangerous at high concentration when preparing the e-liquid poses a safety concern to the consumer when refilling the containers.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide pre-filled containers of e-liquid compositions, wherein the e-liquid compositions may contain a multitude of active ingredients, wherein the active ingredients are present in precise amounts as desired for the intended use thereof by a consumer.

Pre-filled vaporizing liquid container and personal vaporizing devices for using such container


The present invention provides a control system of following a follow target position. A control system has a disturbance observer for obtaining a disturbance force estimation value and a speed estimation value as estimation values of a disturbance force and a speed as a speed to be controlled by using an actuator control signal cont and a zero follow position which can be observed. Since the disturbance force estimation value and speed estimation value are fed back.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to follow-up control. The present invention can be applied to, for example, a control system for performing a focusing control or a tracking control of a light spot in an optical disk drive.
2. Description of the Background Art
First, the focusing or tracking control in a general optical disk drive will be briefly described. An optical disk is chucked by a spindle motor, and the rotation of the spindle motor is controlled so that the optical disk rotates at a predetermined linear velocity.
To realize accurate recording and reproduction in an optical disk drive, a light spot from an optical pickup has to be converged and positioned with high precision onto a recording track spirally formed in the face of an optical disk. Since it is difficult to make an axis of a center hole of an optical disk and the rotary axis of a spindle motor perfectly coincide with each other, an eccentricity of hundreds μm occurs in the rotation of the optical disk. In relation to mechanical machinery precision of the surface of an optical disk, an face runout of hundreds μm occurs in the rotation of an optical disk. In some cases, physical distortions peculiar to an optical disk, such as eccentricity and runout are generically referred to as a "disk physical distortion" hereinafter.
When eccentricity occurs in rotation of an optical disk, recording tracks of the optical disk meander. Consequently, it is necessary to perform a tracking control for following a recording track. It is also necessary to perform a focusing control for making a light spot follow and converge to a recording track in accordance with a runout which occurs in association with rotation of an optical disk. The position control in this specification is a concept including both the tracking and focusing controls. Such a position control can be realized by following the position of a movable part of an actuator to which an objective lens is attached.
A1. First Conventional Art
FIG. 43 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional control system 301 for controlling a position to be controlled, which is, for example, a position control system for performing a focusing or tracking control on a light spot in a vehicle-mounted or portable optical disk drive.
In the control system 301, a position x to be controlled follows a follow target position d_p. A subtracter 1 subtracts the position x to be controlled from the follow target position d_p to thereby obtain a position error d_p_e. A control for converging the position error d_p_e on almost zero is performed. For example, the position x to be controlled is set to zero at a mechanical midpoint.
In the case where the control system 301 is applied to an optical disk drive, there is no means for directly detecting each of the position x to be detected and the follow target position d_p. By electrically computing a signal detected by optical means of an optical pickup, the position error d_p_e is just obtained as an electrical signal. An actuator is not usually provided with a sensor for detecting the speed. Therefore, a unity feedback system in which the position x to be controlled and the follow target position d_p are inputted to the schematically-shown subtracter 1 is constructed.
A phase compensating block 2 performs phase compensation on the position error d_p_e to thereby obtain a position control signal p_cont. The position control signal p_cont is an electrical amount which is, for example, a voltage. A electricity-to-force converting block 3 converts the position control signal p_cont to a force and outputs a position control force z2. To an actuator for supplying the position x to be controlled, not only the position control force z2 but also an acceleration disturbance force z_acc based on an acceleration disturbance Di_acc to be added to the object to be controlled are also added. This addition is expressed by an adder 5. Generation of the acceleration disturbance force z_acc is expressed by a multiplier 9 for multiplying the acceleration disturbance Di_acc with a mass "m" of the object to be controlled.
An output from the adder 5, that is, a result of addition of the acceleration disturbance force z_acc and the position control force z2 is supplied as an external force z1 to an actuator mechanism block 4. The actuator mechanism block 4 converts the external force z1 to the position x to be controlled. In other words, the position x to be controlled is the position of the movable part of the actuator when the external force z1 is applied to the actuator.
The position x to be controlled is, for example, the position of the movable part of the actuator of an optical pickup in an optical disk drive. The follow target position d_p is a target value of the position x to be controlled, that is, a target value of the position of the movable part of the actuator. If the control system 301 is, for example, a control system for performing a focusing control, the position error d_p_e is a so-called "focus error signal". If the control system 301 is, for example, a control system for performing a tracking control, the position error d_p_e is a so-called "track error signal".
The phase compensating block 2 performs phase compensation on the position error d_p_e on the basis of a phase compensation characteristic F(s). The phase compensation characteristic F(s) is a characteristic including a stabilization compensation for assuring a phase margin by advancing a phase around the crossover frequency of the control system 301 and a low-bandwidth compensation characteristic for partly increasing a gain in a bandwidth lower than the crossover frequency. By performing the stabilization and low-bandwidth compensation, the position control signal p_cont is obtained.
A electricity-to-force converting characteristic H(s) corresponds to the characteristic of the electricity-to-force converting block 3 and is defined as a characteristic including a driver gain and a current-to-force characteristic indicative of the relation between a current and a force in a driving magnetic circuit of the actuator.
An actuator mechanism characteristic G(s) corresponds to the characteristic of the actuator mechanism block 4 and is expressed by, for example, a secondary system. Concretely, in an actuator expressed by a model using a mass, a spring, and a dashpot, the characteristic indicates the relation between a force applied to the actuator and the position of the movable part of the actuator.
FIGS. 44A and 44B are graphs showing an example of open-loop characteristic in the control system 301. FIG. 44A shows a gain characteristic, and FIG. 44B shows a phase characteristic. As shown in FIGS. 44A and 44B, the gain at 8 Hz or lower which is around the maximum rotation frequency of a CD player is increased and, further, the phase of a bandwidth around the crossover frequency (1 kHz) at which the gain is 0 dB is advanced, thereby assuring a predetermined phase margin.
Open-loop characteristic in the case of applying the control system 301 to a CD player is subjected to loop shaping so that a gain of 60 dB or higher in a low bandwidth, a control bandwidth of 1k to 3 kHz, a phase margin of 40 to 60 degrees, and a gain margin of 10 to 20 dB can be assured. The open-loop characteristic can be realized by properly designing the actuator mechanism characteristic G(s) and the phase compensation characteristic F(s).
FIGS. 45A and 45B are graphs showing the operation of the control system 301 for performing the tracking control, having the open-loop characteristic illustrated in FIGS. 44A and 44B. A case where the acceleration disturbance Di_acc is not added to a control target, that is, a case where Di_acc=0 is shown. FIG. 45A shows a state of a change in a follow target position d_p, that is an eccentricity amount of an optical disk. It is assumed here that the follow target position d_p changes at 8 Hz around the maximum rotation frequency of a CD player, and an amplitude is 140 μmpp of a specification limit. That is, FIG. 45A shows a value of the follow target position d_p when a CD player operates under the worst conditions.
FIG. 45B shows a state of a change in the position error d_p_e in the case where the follow target position d_p changes as shown in FIG. 45A, that is, a value in the case where the control system 301 is in a steady state. Hereinafter, the position error d_p_e at the time the control system enters in the steady state will be called a "residual error".
As shown in FIGS. 45A and 45B, even in the case where a CD player operates under the worst conditions, if the influence of the acceleration disturbance Di_acc can be ignored, the residual error can be suppressed up to about 0.09 μmpp. Generally, when the residual error becomes equal to or larger than 0.1 μmpp, a reproduction signal deteriorates. If the control system 301 has the open-loop characteristic shown in FIGS. 44A and 44B, the reproduction signal does not deteriorate even under the worst conditions, so that normal reproduction can be assured.
In reality, however, vibration or the like is applied to a vehicle-mounted or portable optical disk drive. For example, to a portable computer-mounted ODD device, a portable CD player, and a portable MD player, external vibration created by carriage by the user or external vibration created when the device is attached to a vehicle, a table, or the like is applied to the actuator of an optical pickup.
As shown in FIG. 43, not only the position control force z2 but also the acceleration disturbance force z_acc based on the acceleration disturbance Di_acc are inputted to the actuator mechanism block 4. An influence of the acceleration disturbance Di_acc is exerted, and the position x to be controlled is largely deviated from the follow target position d_p and, as a result, the position error d_p_e increases.
FIGS. 46A and 46B are graphs showing the sensitivity characteristic of the control system 301 having the open-loop characteristic illustrated in FIGS. 44A and 44B. FIG. 46A shows the gain characteristic, and FIG. 46B illustrates the phase characteristic.
FIGS. 47A and 47B are graphs showing the operation of the control system 301 having the open-loop characteristic illustrated in FIGS. 44A and 44B. FIG. 47A shows the waveform of the acceleration disturbance Di_acc having a frequency of 30 Hz and an amplitude of 5 Gpp. FIG. 47B shows a residual error occurring when the acceleration disturbance Di_acc illustrated in FIG. 47A is given. In the graphs, the follow target position d_p is set to zero.
When the acceleration disturbance Di_acc is given to the control system 301, as shown in FIG. 47B, the residual error becomes 1.5 μmpp. Such a magnitude of the residual error causes deterioration in a reproduction signal of an optical disk, and a data error rate of information reading increases. In the case where the optical disk drive is a recorder, due to an influence of the acceleration disturbance Di_acc, information may not be properly recorded.
A2. Second Conventional Art
In an actual optical disk drive, there is a case that an optical disk having a defect such as a blemish or dirt is reproduced or recorded.
In a region where a defect occurs (hereinafter, provisionally referred to as a "defective region") in the surface of an optical disk, light is not normally reflected by the disk and optical information is lacked. When the follow-up control using the position error d_p_e is performed in the defective region, the actual difference between the position x to be controlled and the target value d_p becomes large, and a problem such that a focus error occurs in the focusing control and retracing to a neighboring track in the tracking control occurs.
To deal with such a problem, it is desirable to configure a control system by using a function (hereinafter, provisionally referred to as a "defect compensating function") enabling a position control to be performed continuously even after actuator shifts from a region where no defect occurs (hereinafter, provisionally referred to as a "defect-free region") to the defective region.
FIG. 48 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the conventional control system 302 having such a defect compensating function. The control system 302 can be employed as a position control system for performing a light spot focusing or tracking control in an optical disk drive.
As shown in FIG. 48, the control system 302 has a configuration such that a problem preventing block 103 for obtaining a defect compensating function is interposed between the phase compensating block 2 of the control system 301 and the electricity-to-force converting block 3.
The problem preventing block 103 has a selector 102 and first and second paths selected by the selector 102. The selector 102 outputs a signal sent via the first or second path as an actuator control signal cont in accordance with a first event or a second event complementary to the first event. In the control system 302, different from the control system 301, the actuator control signal cont inputted to the electricity-to-force converting block 3 does not always coincide with a position control signal p_cont.
The first and second events correspond to, for example, a state where the actuator encounters the defect-free region and a state where the actuator encounters the defect region, respectively. The first and second events are identified by a defect detection signal DEFECT separately supplied and correspond to, for example, signal levels "L" and "H" of the defect detection signal DEFECT, respectively.
The defect detection signal DEFECT goes high "H" or low "L" in accordance with whether the actuator encounters the defect region (this period is provisionally referred to as a "defect period") or the defect-free region (this period is provisionally referred to as a "defect-free period"). The defect detection signal DEFECT is generated, for example, on the basis of an amount of light reflected by the disk.
Via the first path, the position control signal p_cont outputted from the phase compensating block 2 is inputted as it is to the selector 102. The second path is provided with a low-pass filter 100 and a sample and hold circuit 101. The low-pass filter 100 extracts and outputs low-frequency components including disk rotation frequency from the position control signal p_cont. An output of the low-pass filter 100 is supplied to the sample and hold circuit 101. The sample and hold circuit 101 performs the sample and hold operation at a timing when the signal level of the defect detection signal DEFECT changes from "L" to "H".
When the actuator encounters the defect-free region, the first path is selected. Also in the control system 302, in a manner similar to the control system 301, the position control signal p_cont is substantially inputted to the electricity-to-force conversion block 3. However, when the actuator encounters the defect region, the second path is selected. In the control system 302, therefore, the position control signal p_cont at the time of transition from the first event to the second event just before the present second event starts, that is, at the time of transition from the defect-free region to the defect region (hereinafter, provisionally referred to as "entrance of a defect") is inputted as the actuator control signal cont to the electricity-to-force converting block 3. Moreover, from the position control signal p_cont, the low frequency components are extracted as described above.
Since an input of the sample and hold circuit 101 is an output of the low-pass filter 100, the position control signal p_cont without the influence of high-frequency noise added can be sampled and held. An output of such a sample and hold circuit 101 is, so to speak, an average value of the position control signals p_cont in the defect-free region and can be regarded as a disk physical distortion correction signal for correcting a physical distortion of a disk. By employing the disk physical distortion correction signal as the actuator control signal cont in the defect region, the continuity of inputs to the electricity-to-force converting block 3 is achieved and the defect compensating function is realized.
As described above, as the technique using the low frequency components of an output of the phase compensating block in the defect-free period, for example, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-250478 can be used.
To realize stable and reliable defect compensation, it is a necessary condition that leading to a phase control loop is normally done at the point of transition from the defect region to the defect-free region (hereinafter, provisionally referred to as an "exit of a defect").
Conditions of normally leading to the position control loop are that the position error d_p_e at the leading operation is around zero, and the difference between a time differential x′ of the position x to be controlled indicative of the speed of a control target and a time differential d_p′ of the follow target position d_p indicative of the follow target speed of the control target is close to zero.
The two conditions denote that the difference between the follow target position d_p and the position x to be controlled is maintained to be not large even in the defect period. To realize it, also in the defect period in which the position error d_p_e is missing, it is necessary to properly generate a signal driving the control target, specifically, the actuator control signal cont to be inputted to the electricity-to-force converting block 3, as if the control in the defect-free region is performed.
B1. Problems of the First Conventional Art
To solve the problems of the first conventional art, for example, the low-frequency bandwidth compensation characteristic of the phase compensating block 2 may be set to a wide bandwidth. FIGS. 49A and 49B show, in the control system 301, open-loop characteristic in the case of strongly compensating the low bandwidth as compared with the open-loop characteristic (indicated as "normal" in the drawing) shown in FIGS. 44A and 44B. FIG. 49A shows a gain characteristic, and FIG. 49B shows a phase characteristic.
In the case of strongly compensating the low bandwidth, the sensitivity characteristic of the control system 301 is as expressed by graphs of FIGS. 50A and 50B. FIG. 50A shows a gain characteristic, and FIG. 50B shows a phase characteristic. The sensitivity characteristic shown in FIGS. 46A and 46B is indicated as "normal" in FIGS. 50A and 50B.
In a frequency band in which the gain increases in the open-loop characteristic as shown in FIG. 49A, the sensitivity characteristic can be lowered as shown in FIG. 50A. However, as shown by a portion A in FIG. 50A, there is a problem such that the gain characteristic is raised near the crossover frequency. Further, as shown in FIG. 49b, a phase margin decreases. Consequently, when the low frequency band compensation is performed strong, stability of the position control deteriorates, and a problem such that the position x to be controlled oscillates easily.
In association with the low-frequency compensation, to solve a problem caused by strong compensating the low-frequency band of the control system, it is sufficient to add a stabilization compensator for advancing a phase in the phase compensating block 2. For example, the order of the phase compensation characteristic F(s) is increased. In an actual control system, in many cases, the phase compensation block 2 is formed in an LSI and defined by a filter of a predetermined order, and design tolerance is low. It is therefore difficult to arbitrarily increase the order of the phase compensation characteristic F(s).
B2. Problems of Second Conventional Art
The second conventional art is a technique effective when a disk physical distortion amount is small. However, it is feared that a problem occurs when the disk physical distortion amount is equal to or larger than a specification limitation of a disk. The problem will be described hereinafter.
The follow target position d_p which changes according to a disk physical distortion has a sine-wave-shaped periodic pattern synchronized with rotation of the disk. To make the position x to be controlled follow the follow target position d_p, the waveform of the actuator control signal cont also has a periodic waveform pattern of a sine wave shape synchronized with rotation of the disk. When the disk physical distortion becomes large, the amplitude of the periodic waveform pattern of the actuator control signal cont becomes large.
On the other hand, the actuator control signal cont becomes a constant value during the defect period, so that the actuator control signal cont shifts from the predetermined value to the periodic waveform pattern at the exit of the defect. In theory, therefore, before and after the defect exit, values of the actuator control signal cont do not coincide with each other. The larger the amplitude of the periodic waveform pattern of the actuator control signal cont during the defect free period is, the larger the mismatch becomes.
Since the sensitivity of a change in the position x to be controlled to the actuator control signal cont is determined by the electricity-to-force converting block 3 and the actuator mechanism block 4, the larger the mismatch before and after the defect end of the actuator control signal cont is, the larger the position error at the exit of the defect becomes.
When the increased position error exceeds a dynamic range of the position control in the control system 302, a problem such as a focus error in the case of the focusing control or pull-in to a neighboring track in the tracking control occurs.
The problem will be described concretely by using an analysis result by a simulation. The case of applying the control system to tracking control of a CD player will be described as an example. FIGS. 51A to 51D are graphs showing operation of the tracking control performed by the control system 302 and results of analysis made on assumption that a CD disk having an eccentricity amount of ±70 μm is used and a portion of the radius of 24 mm as the innermost part of a region in which recording tracks of a disk are formed is reproduced at a linear velocity of 1.2 m/s. The length of the defect region is assumed to be 3 mm. In an actual CD disk, however, the length of the defect region hardly exceeds 3 mm.
FIG. 51A show a change with time in the follow target position d_p, which corresponds to the eccentricity amount of the disk. In the simulation, the eccentricity pattern indicative of the eccentricity amount of the disk has a sine wave having an amplitude of ±70 μm and a frequency of about 8 Hz. In order to perform a simulation under the worst conditions, a case that a defect region exists in a position where the speed of the follow target becomes the highest, that is, near the point at which an eccentricity pattern of a sine wave shape crosses zero is assumed. In FIG. 51A, the time base around the zero cross of the downward pattern is enlarged, so that the eccentricity pattern has a linear waveform which descends to the right.
FIG. 51B shows the waveform of a residual error, FIG. 51C shows the waveform of the actuator control signal cont, and FIG. 51D shows the waveform of the defect detection signal DEFECT. As shown in FIG. 51D, the defect period starts around time at which the eccentricity pattern shown in FIG. 51A crosses zero, and the defect period is about 2.5 msec. It is understood from FIG. 51C that, during the defect detection signal DEFECT is at the "H" level, the actuator control signal cont is constant and the position control signal p_cont just before the entrance of a defect is held. The reason why the actuator control signal cont increases slightly at the time corresponding to the entrance of the defect is that the actuator control signal cont at the time prior to the time corresponding to the entrance by a delay time in the low-pass filter 100 is held.
According to the second conventional art, as shown in FIG. 51B, the absolute value of the residual error in the defect period increases like a quadratic function and increases as the defect region becomes larger. In the example, the residual error at the exit of the defect is about 0.75 μm. Considering that the limit point of pulling the position to be controlled into a neighboring track is at a half track pitch 0.8 μm in a CD, the size of the residual error causes unstable defect compensation.
According to the second related art as described above, in the case where the disk physical distortion such as eccentricity is large, in other words, in the case where a change in the follow target position d_p is large, the residual error becomes large at the exit of the defect, and there is a first problem such that continuity of the control may deteriorate.
Further, an influence of noise component included in the actuator control signal cont exerted to the defect compensating operation in the second conventional art will be described. Generally, the position error d_p_e includes high-frequency observation noise as compared with the disk rotation frequency, so that noise is added also to the phase control signal p_cont as an output of the phase compensation block 2 to which the position error d_p_e is inputted. Consequently, noise is added also to the actuator control signal cont in the defect-free period. The amplitude of the noise depends on the amplitude of noise added to the position error d_p_e.
In the case where noise added to the actuator control signal cont is random noise, an influence is hardly exerted onto the position x to be controlled. As described above, the actuator mechanism characteristic G(s) functions as an integrator expressed by a secondary model using a mass, a spring, and a dashpot. Consequently, even random noise is added, an integral becomes zero in the steady state, and an influence of random noise is very small.
At the entrance of the defect, however, there is no guarantee that the integral of noise until then in the actuator mechanism block 4 is zero, and the integral may include a DC component. In the case where the integral of noise has a DC component, it is equivalent to the case that the DC component acts as a pulse-shaped disturbance on the actuator during the defect period. There is the possibility that such a phenomenon causes a error in the speed of the actuator and an increase of the position error d_p_e.
In recent years, the phase compensation block 2 is constructed by an LSI (large-scale integrated circuit) which operates at a predetermined sampling frequency. In many cases, a digital processing is executed on the inside of the phase compensation block 2. In this case, noise including the sampling frequency is added to the position control signal p_cont. When such noise is integrated in the actuator mechanism block 4, the integral becomes a DC component and, moreover, its length may become a few times as long as the sample period.
To clarify the problem, an analysis result of a simulation of the tracking control of a CD is shown in FIGS. 52A to 52D. The graphs of FIGS. 52A to 52D show, as an example of the case of applying the control system 302 to tracking control of a CD player, a result of analysis in the case where there is no disk eccentricity, the length of the defect region is 3 mm, and reproduction is performed at a linear velocity of 1.2 m/s. As an example, it is assumed that the phase compensation block 2 is constructed by a digital circuit operating at a sampling frequency of 80 kHz, the amplitude of noise is 0.4 V, the width of noise is 25 μsec (corresponding to two sampling periods), and noise is added just before the entrance of a defect. Analysis of the function of the defect compensation with respect to this case is equivalent to analysis of the function of the defect compensation with respect to the case a pulse obtained as an integral of noise is added to the actuator control signal cont. The pulse has, concretely, an amplitude of 0.4 V during the period of the two sampling periods until the rising edge of the defect detection signal DEFECT, that is, at 25 μsec.
FIG. 52A shows the follow target position d_p. In the simulation, the eccentricity amount of a disk with respect to the follow target position d_p is zero. FIG. 52B shows the waveform of a residual error, FIG. 52C shows the waveform of the actuator control signal cont, and FIG. 52D shows the waveform of the defect detection signal DEFECT. As shown in FIG. 52D, the length of the defect period is about 2.5 msec. As shown in FIG. 52C, during the defect detection signal DEFECT is at the "H" level, the actuator control signal cont holds the actuator control signal cont in the defect-free period, that is, zero as the value of the phase control signal p_cont.
As shown in FIG. 52B, the absolute value of the residual error in the defect period increases like a quadratic function and increases as the defect region becomes larger. In the example, the residual error at the exit of the defect is about 5 μm, which is a value far exceeding the half track pitch of 0.8 μm in a CD as a limit point of pulling the position of the control target to a neighboring track, so that defect compensation becomes unstable.
According to the second conventional art as described above, the residual error at the exit of the defect increases due to noise added to the actuator control signal cont, and there is a second problem such that continuity of the control may be lost.


The embodiments provide a data processing apparatus for automated blueprint assembly. The data processing apparatus includes a micro-blueprint assembler configured to receive a request for automated blueprint assembly for assembling an application, where the request specifies at least one feature, and a model database configured to store model data. The model data includes a plurality of classes and class properties. The data processing apparatus further includes a micro-blueprint database configured to store a plurality of micro-blueprints. Each micro-blueprint corresponds to a functional component of a stack element or service tier, and the functional component is annotated with one or more classes of the plurality of classes and at least one required capability and available capability. The micro-blueprint assembler is configured to generate at least one application blueprint based on the model data and the plurality of micro-blueprints according to the request.

A functional blueprint of an application may define the topology (e.g., the number of tiers), configuration, actions, constraints, operating systems, and software packages that need to be provisioned to deploy an application or server. A deployment blueprint for each functional blueprint defines a way (amongst many) in which the application could be provisioned in terms of mapping to resource sets and the required compute, storage, network. For example, a "QA" deployment blueprint may use a single resource set with one virtual machine (VM) to host all three tiers of application, whereas a "Production" deployment blueprint may distribute the three individual application tiers to three different resource sets.
Currently, there exist a number of different conventional methods to generate functional blueprints or deployment blueprints. However, the conventional methods provide a blueprint that is monolithic in design, for example, an application template that includes the definition of all the functional components and their respective software stacks in situ. As a result, the conventional blueprint may be unsuitable for extensive re-use. For example, there may be a number of different choices of software stack elements in a software stack. With the current monolithic design, this would mean creating multiple functional blueprints for all the different options. The sheer choice of re-usable services, similar conformant infrastructure, software stack elements, and/or versions may lead to an explosion in the number of complete blueprints to be defined and maintained in a catalog. As a result, managing the conventional blueprints may be unworkable, or cumbersome at best.

Automated blueprint assembly for assembling an application


A flexible sensor (201) comprises a first conductive layer (202) and a second conductive layer (203). The first conductive layer and the second conductive layer define a sensing region (205) for determining an interaction, such as a mechanical interaction. The first conductive layer comprises a first substrate (206) having a plurality of conductive rows (207) printed thereon and the second conductive layer comprises a second substrate 208 having a plurality of columns (209) printed thereon. The first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are constrained by a constraining means (505) which holds the two layers together but permits movement of the layers perpendicular to each other in the sensing region.

The present invention relates to a flexible sensor and method of manufacturing a flexible sensor.
Sensors are known to be used in a wide variety of applications and industries. In particular, sensors which provide touch capabilities in response to mechanical interactions such as pressure are often used in applications such as in electronic devices to provide touchscreens, buttons or similar. Standard matrix sensors typically include two separate substrates which include conductive materials in order to provide an indication of force or position values with the substrates being constrained to prevent movement of the substrates relative to each other.
A problem that occurs with sensors of this type is that, even if the substrates are made to be flexible, bending of the sensor (and substrates) results in compression on the inner surface of each substrate as it bends. Bending of the sensor (and substrates) also results in elongation on the outer surface of each substrate as it bends. This leads to the substrates making contact with each other thereby creating a conduction path resulting in false triggering or a start resistance being induced into the sensor from the residual stresses activated during bending. Furthermore, any induced start resistance is also uneven and thus difficult to predict due to its dependence on the radius of curvature of the bend.
In addition, for relatively thin substrates, instead of experiencing compression on the inner surface and elongation on the outer surface, the substrate buckles about the inner surface. Similarly, the buckling creates a pressure point where the substrates contact which results in a start resistance and corresponding stress to the sensor.


An apparatus for filtering molten material, such as a molten metal-ceramic particle mixture, includes a porous cloth filter located so that the mixture must pass through the cloth filter, and a mechanical filter shaker that prevents the accumulation of filtered solids on the porous cloth filter. Where a further degree of filtration is required, there is a second filter located so that material leaving the porous cloth filter passes through the second filter after it passes through the porous cloth filter, and a mechanism that prevents an accumulation of filtered solids on the second filter. The second filter is desirably a porous media filter.

This invention relates to metallurgical processing, and, more particularly, to the filtration of molten metal and composite materials to remove solid material therefrom.
According to one approach, cast composite materials may be formed by melting a metallic matrix alloy in a furnace and adding particulate matter to the molten metal. The mixture is vigorously mixed to encourage wetting of the matrix alloy to the particles, and after a suitable mixing time the mixture is cast into molds or forms. The mixing is conducted while minimizing the introduction of gas into the mixture. The resulting composite materials have the particulate reinforcement distributed throughout a matrix of an alloy composition.
Such cast composite materials are much less expensive to prepare than many other types of metal-matrix composite materials such as those produced by powder metallurgical technology and infiltration techniques. Composite materials produced by this approach, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,759,995, 4,786,467, and 5,028,392, have enjoyed commercial success in only a few years after their first introduction.
There are two types of solid matter that may be present in the composite material. A desirable particulate is the ceramic material intentionally added to the melt. This material is usually a carefully selected and sized ceramic. Typical types of ceramics are aluminum oxide and silicon carbide, and typical particle sizes are in the range of from about 5 up to about 35 micrometers. An undesirable solid matter is an uncontrolled material that finds its way into the melt during the production operation. The undesirable solid matter may include, for example, pieces of the ceramic furnace lining that have broken off during mixing, pieces of impellers that have broken off during mixing, pieces of molten-metal furnace troughs that have broken off into the flow metal, pieces of oxide films that have formed on the melt surface and been enfolded into the melt during mixing, and pieces of reaction products between the desirable particulate and the melt that have become free floating in the melt, such as aluminum carbides.
The undesirable solid matter is generally larger in size than the desirable particulate reinforcement, and may typically be on the order of 200 micrometers or more in maximum dimension (i.e., about 10 times the size of the desirable particulates). If left in the melt, the undesirable solid matter is frozen into the composite material when it solidifies. The undesirable solid matter becomes inclusions that can adversely affect the mechanical properties of the final composite material.
A similar problem is encountered in the more-conventional metallurgical industry that does not deal with composite materials. It has long been the practice to filter undesirable solid matter from melts of non-composite alloys that are to be used in sensitive applications. Different types of filters are used, depending upon the metal to be filtered and the cleanliness requirements of the product.
In aluminum alloy melting practice the molten alloy may be passed through a glass-fiber sock filter having an open weave so that there are openings of a predefined size in the filter. The solid matter is trapped at the surface of the filter. The filter openings are typically on the order of 400 micrometers or more in size, and are selected according to the cleanliness requirement of the final product and production considerations. Smaller openings remove smaller particles, resulting in a cleaner final product. On the other hand, the smaller the openings, the greater the flow resistance offered by the filter and the slower the filtration process. The filter may actually remove particles smaller than the filter mesh size due to the buildup of a filter cake. The filter size opening is usually selected to be a compromise between the requirements of metallurgical cleanliness and production efficiency.
Another type of filter used in the aluminum industry for filtering conventional (non-composite) alloys is the porous media filter. The porous media filter is a block of a material such as a ceramic that has a controlled open-cell porosity therethrough. Pieces of undesirable solid material are trapped within the volume of the filter as the molten alloy is passed through the filter.
In the course of the work leading to the present invention, conventional glass-fiber sock filters and porous media filters were used to filter molten mixtures of an aluminum alloy and 10-20 volume percent of desirable particulate such as alumina or silicon carbide, of a size distribution of about 5-20 micrometers. Coarse undesirable solid matter was mixed in to the melt. The conventional filtering practice could be used on a laboratory scale. However, it did not produce successful commercial-scale heats of the composite material. Variations of filter opening size were also tried, unsuccessfully. In short, conventional aluminum-alloy filtering practice was not operable with aluminum-based cast composite materials on a commercial scale.
There is therefore a need for an improved filtering technology for removing undesirable large solid pieces from composite material melts, while not affecting the distribution of smaller particles in the melt and the final product. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.


The present invention provides an Intelligent Engineering Data Analysis (I-EDA) system and method to help prevent low wafer yield and prevent occurrences of abnormal events. The I-EDA has a non-conforming wafer tracing (NCWT) system that operates to correlate occurrences of abnormal events with low wafer yield. The method generally has the steps of performing a fabrication operation on wafers disposed within a wafer lot; determining if an abnormal event occurred while performing the fabrication operation on the wafers disposed within the wafer lot; using a NCWT to determine a statistical correlation between an occurrence of an abnormal event and a wafer yield of the wafers being processed during the occurrence of the abnormal event if the abnormal event occurred during processing of the wafers disposed within the wafer lot; and using the determined statistical correlation to analyze the fabrication process and thereby improve wafer yield.

In an automated manufacturing environment that performs batch processing, determining a cause of a low yield of specific items within the batch can prove difficult.
Two systems that use SPC to sample and quality test manufactured products are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,647 issued to Meijer et al. ('647 patent), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,259 B1 issued to Sandoval ('259 patent). The systems disclosed in the '647 and the '259 patent provide a manufacturing execution system that operates to determine the quality of batch processed manufactured items and then adjusts the quantity of future batch output based on the quality results determined using SPC processing. The systems disclosed in the '647 and the '259 patent use the SPC data as acceptance sampling for a batch and feed that information back to an ordering system. However, the '647 and the '259 operates at a batch level and is not able to diagnose a problem in the batch processing that is correlated with a low item yield.
In a semiconductor fabrication facility that processes wafers in batches of wafers called lots, finding a correlation between an abnormal event and resulting individual wafer yield of wafers disposed within a lot can be difficult. Additionally, finding a root cause of low wafer yield using lot-based data is difficult. Efforts are continually used to improve wafer yield, however, existing systems and methods do not provide a good way to monitor or determine whether wafer yield is actually improved based on properly diagnosing abnormal lots.
Typically abnormal events occurring in a wafer manufacturing process are diagnosed at the lot level, not at the wafer level. However, existing systems do not provide a system or method to correlate the occurrence of an abnormal event with individual wafers disposed within a lot even though, typically, when an abnormal event occurs, only a portion of a lot, rather than an entire lot is affected. Thus, it is desirable to provide a system that can correlate abnormal event occurrences with individual wafers impacted by the abnormal occurrence and analyze the results of the correlation to improve wafer yield.

System and method to analyze low yield of wafers caused by abnormal lot events

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


Memory devices configured to reduce coupling noise between adjacent wordlines in a memory array. More specifically, wordline drivers are interleaved such that adjacent wordlines are driven by wordline drivers enabled by different row decoders. Each wordline driver includes a weak transistor to ground and a strong transistor to ground. By disabling the wordline driver on the wordlines directly adjacent to the active wordlines, a path is provided to drive the coupling noise from the active wordline to ground through the strong transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to integrated circuits and, more particularly, to memory devices configured to reduce coupling noise between adjacent wordlines in a memory array.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
A wide variety of integrated circuit devices are available for storing data in systems such as computer systems. One type of commonly used memory device is a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) device. A DRAM memory cell typically includes an access device, such as a transistor, coupled to a storage device, such as a capacitor. The access device allows the transfer of charge to and from the storage capacitor. The data is stored in a binary format; a logical "1" is stored as a charged a capacitor, and a logical "0" is stored as a discharged capacitor. A typical DRAM device is arranged in a plurality of addressable rows and columns which form a memory array. To access a memory cell, a particular row or "wordline" and a particular column or "bitline" may be implemented.
With the constantly increasing demand for higher data storage capacity, memory arrays are becoming more dense. Memory density is typically limited by current processing technologies used for fabrication of the memory arrays. Disadvantageously, as the density of memory arrays increase, other aspects of the memory array, such as electrical characteristics, may also be affected. For instance, coupling noise between adjacent wordlines may have a greater impact on device performance as the device density increases. Disadvantageously, the increased coupling noise between adjacent wordlines may negatively impact device performance and increase current leakage as well as the occurrence of soft errors which may alter the data storage in the memory cells.
Embodiments of the present invention may address one or more of the problems set forth above.

Methods of reducing coupling noise between wordlines