An oxide cathode for an electron tube and a method for manufacturing the oxide cathode are provided. In the oxide cathode including a sleeve for a heater, a metal substrate formed on the top of the sleeve, and an electron emission material layer coated on the metal substrate, the electron emission material layer is formed by coating a carbonate paste containing an alkaline earth metal carbonate, an organic blowing agent, and a vehicle on the metal substrate by screen printing, and thermally treating the coated carbonate paste. Picture quality degradation due to a Moire phenomenon is reduced by coating the carbonate paste by screen printing to provide an even cathode surface, and degradation of the cathode by Joule heat is reduced, thereby improving electron emission and lifespan characteristics of the cathode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cathode for an electron tube and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to reduction of a Moire phenomenon and improvement of the lifespan characteristics of oxide-coated thermoelectron emission electrodes (oxide electrodes) widely used in general Braun tubes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional cathode for an electron tube is illustrated by a sectional view in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the cathode includes a disc-type metal substrate 12, a cylindrical sleeve 13 which supports the metal substrate 12 below the same and installs a heater 14 acting as a heater of the cathode, and an electron emissive material layer 11 attached to the top of the metal substrate 12. Such an oxide cathode for the electron tube can work at a low temperature of 700–800° C. (Celsius) due to its low work function and has been widely used in Braun tubes.
A conventional oxide cathode is manufactured by forming the electron emissive material layer 11 on the metal substrate 12, which contains nickel (Ni) as a major component and traces of silicon (Si), magnesium (Mg), tungsten (W), etc., as a reducing agent. The electron emissive material layer 11 is formed by spraying a suspension of carbonate on the metal substrate 12. The carbonate suspension is prepared by dissolving a binder such as nitrocellulose in an organic solvent and mixing the solution with an alkaline earth metal carbonate containing barium as a major component, preferably, a ternary carbonate of (Ba,Sr, Ca)CO3 or a binary carbonate of (Ba,Sr)CO3. The carbonate is converted into oxide during the evacuation or activation process in the manufacture of the cathode to act as the electron emissive material layer 11.
The principles of operation and electron emission of the oxide cathode are as follows.
A carbonate mixture is coated on a metal substrate by spraying or deposition, as described above, the resulting cathode is mounted into an electron gun to assemble an electron tube. During evacuation of the electron tube, the carbonate is heated by a heater to about 1000° C., and barium carbonate is converted into barium oxide:BaCO3→BaO+CO2↑  (1)
During the operation of the cathode, the resulting barium oxide is reduced through a reaction with a reducing agent such as Si or Mg at the boundary of the metal substrate and produces free barium that triggers electron emission:BaO+Mg→MgO+Ba  (2)BaO+Si→Ba2SiO4+2Ba  (3)
Free barium acts as an electron donor, so the oxide cathode becomes an n-type semiconductor during the cathode operation. In general, when a large quantity of current flows through a semiconductor, the semiconductor generates Joule heat by its own resistance. If the generation of the Joule heat continues for a long time, material evaporation or melting occurs due to the heating of the cathode, which causes degradation of the cathode. In other words, when existing oxide cathodes are used under a high current density applied to enhance the electron emission density of the cathode, there is a problem of the degradation of lifespan characteristics due to the generation of the Joule heat.
As is apparent from the reaction schemes (2) and (3) above, byproducts such as MgO and Ba2SiO4 as well as free barium are produced. Those byproducts accumulate to form an intermediate layer between the electron emissive material layer and the metal substrate. The intermediate layer acts as a barrier to hinder the diffusion of the reducing agent such as Mg or Si. As a result, generation of free barium that contributes to the emission of electrons becomes difficult, which is another cause of the cathode's lifespan reduction.
To address the problems described above, an approach of providing conductivity by mixing carbonate with grounded conductive materials has been made to suppress the generation of the Joule heat. However, the addition of conductive materials sufficient to provide a desired conductivity lowers electron emission characteristics.
As an example, EP 0685868 discloses a cathode for an electron tube, so-called "hot isostatic press (HIP) cathode". An electron emission material layer of the cathode is manufactured by mixing grounded metal nickel with carbonate and molding with the mixture under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. Since the electron emission material layer containing a large amount of metal nickel has conductivity, like a metal, during the operation of the cathode, the electron emission material layer has a longer lifespan under a load of high current density. Disadvantageously, the cathode has a high working temperature of 850° C., which is 50° C. or greater higher than conventional oxide cathodes, and is manufactured by the complicated process described above at higher cost.
EP 0560436 B1 discloses the formation of a conductive path following the principle of percolation by the addition of a globular metal of 20–80% by volume to the electron emission material layer of a conventional oxide cathode to improve the lifespan characteristics of the cathode oxide. For a desired percolation effect, at least 30% by weight globular metal needs to be, incorporated into the electron emission metal layer, which reduces a relative amount of the electron emission material in the layer, thereby lowering the initial emission characteristics of the cathode.
S. N. B. Hodgson et al. discloses an oxide cathode with a percolation path formed by the addition of needle-shaped nickel particles of 2.5–5% by volume to the electron emission material layer in an article entitled "Progress on the Percolation Cathode" (IDW '99 Proceedings of the Sixth International Display Workshops CRT 6-4 (Late-News Paper)). The electron emission material layer of the oxide cathode is formed by a general spraying method, so there is a problem of clogging of spray gun nozzles by metal particles and a great surface roughness of the cathode.
Spraying methods of coating a suspension of carbonate particles by spraying through a spray gun are relatively easily applied to the manufacture of the cathode but are limited in forming a uniform, dense, coated layer because air pressure is the only force applied to coat the layer. In particular, the structure of an electron emission material layer coated by the spraying method is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a 400×-magnified electromicroscopic photograph of the electron emission material layer coated by the spraying method, where non-uniform particle-to-particle voids, a great surface roughness, and a sparse structure are apparent. FIG. 3 is a 3000×-magnified photograph of the surface of the electron emission material layer of FIG. 2, which confirms non-uniform particle and pore sizes in the electron emission material layer.
As described above, the surface of the carbonate coated by the spray method is uneven, has the non-uniform K-phase distribution, and increases the consumption of the carbonate. Also, the carbonate layer has poor COEK characteristics with a deviation in thickness of ±10 μm (microns). These results cause a Moire phenomenon and thus degrade picture quality.
The Moire phenomenon is defined as non-uniform luminance distribution due to a localized difference in electron emission quantity reaching the surface of a Braun tube due to nonuniform electron emissions during the cathode operation, which occurs when the cathode surface is rough, thus resulting an interference pattern between electron beams and screen dots. The Moire phenomenon is known to be more serious with increasing cathode surface roughness.
To prevent this Moire phenomenon, a method of manufacturing a cathode by screen printing has been suggested. The screen printing method makes the cathode surface uniform, and the quality degradation due to the Moire phenomenon is improved. However, an increase in the density of the carbonate layer causes sintering of the cathode to occur and adversely affects on the cathode lifespan.
In particular, when a cathode ray tube (CRT) is operated for a longer period of time, sintering of the cathode occurs. If the cathode has a non-uniform structure, initially formed pores rupture and shrink to increase the distance between the cathode and a G1 electrode. As a result, a potential difference between the cathode and G1 electrode, which is predetermined for the control of emission electron beams, changes, and a reduction in the quality of charge emission degrades the lifespan and luminance of the cathode.
If a cathode with the electron emission material layer having a non-uniform particle size, pore size, and surface smoothness, as described above, is inserted into an electron gun, product quality and reliability degradation may result. The cathodes described in the references described above still have that problem.
Recently, the tendency for a Braun tube for television receivers or monitors to have high luminance to meet high-definition and large-sized screen requirement has increased a need for a high-current density, long-lifespan cathode, which could not be realized with conventional oxide cathodes having the problems described above.
An impregnated cathode has been known to have long lifespan under a load of high current density. However, it is manufactured by complicated processes and has a working temperature of 1000° C., which is higher than oxide cathodes, so there is a need to form electrode parts of the electron gun using high-melting point materials. This increases the manufacturing cost and thus is impractical. In a practical aspect, it is most economical to improve existing cheap oxide electrodes to have a high current density and extended lifespan.

Cathode for electron tube and method for manufacturing the same


The invention provides a connection structure including: a first electro-conductive film that is formed on a substrate; an insulation film that is formed on the first electro-conductive film, an end surface of the insulation film facing in a direction in which an end surface of the first electro-conductive film faces; and a second electro-conductive film that extends from the upper surface of the insulation film to reach the end surface of the first electro-conductive film across the end surface of the insulation film, the second electro-conductive film being electrically connected to the first electro-conductive film via the end surface of the first electro-conductive film.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a connection structure having, for example, an electro-conductive film provided on an insulation layer and another electro-conductive film provided under the insulation layer, where the first-mentioned electro-conductive film and the second-mentioned electro-conductive film are electrically connected to each other. The present invention further relates to an electro-optical device that adopts such a connection structure for electric connection between electro-conductive films such as pixel electrodes, wiring, though not limited thereto. In addition, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electro-optical device having such a connection structure.
2. Related Art
In the configuration of a liquid crystal device, which is a non-limiting example of an electro-optical device having a related-art connection structure, each of pixel electrodes that are made of transparent electro-conductive films such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or the like is electrically connected to a relay layer, which is provided below the pixel electrode, via a contact hole. One technical problem of the related-art connection structure, which has a pixel electrode and a relay layer that are electrically connected to each other via a contact hole, lies in that it is difficult to provide a wide open area (i.e., a region that passes light) in a pixel layout configuration. Specifically, in order to establish an electric connection between a relay layer, which is not transparent, and a transparent pixel electrode via a contact hole, it is necessary to overlap a part of the relay layer and the pixel electrode in a plan view, or in other words, underlay a part of the relay layer with respect to the pixel electrode. For this reason, the opaque relay layer substantially narrows, within the entire region of a pixel, the dimension of the open area, which is an active area through which light can be transmitted/reflected. When forming a contact hole at an area where opaque constituent elements that block light, including but not limited to, wiring, a light-shielding film(s), and a semiconductor device(s), are provided, it is necessary to allocate a space margin in consideration of positional alignment between two types of masks used for removing a region of an insulation layer at which the contact hole is supposed to be bored. Since it is necessary to allocate a margin space, the ratio of non-open area to the entire region of a pixel is lowered. This means that it is difficult to enhance display performance by increasing an aperture ratio of the pixel (i.e., the percentage of the light-transmissive/reflective open area that occupies the region of the pixel).
As a known technical solution to the above-identified problem, JP-A-11-3938 discloses a connection structure in which two electro-conductive patterns are electrically connected to each other via a small contact region, where one of the above-mentioned two electro-conductive patterns is formed in a layer that is not the same as that of the other electro-conductive pattern with an insulation film (i.e., insulation layer) being interposed or sandwiched therebetween.
Disadvantageously, in the configuration disclosed in JP-A-11-3938, it is difficult to make the size of a connection electro-conductive film compact because the connection electro-conductive film extends onto the surface of an under-layer electro-conductive pattern of the above-mentioned two electro-conductive patterns. For this reason, the configuration disclosed in JP-A-11-3938 has a technical disadvantage in that the open area of a pixel is narrowed by such an overlapping portion of the connection electro-conductive film that extends onto the surface of the under-layer electro-conductive pattern of the above-mentioned two electro-conductive patterns.
On the other hand, when the source region of a pixel switching TFT, which is provided in each pixel region for the purpose of supplying an image signal to the corresponding one of pixel electrodes, and the drain region thereof are electrically connected to a data-line side wiring region and a pixel-electrode-side wiring region via contact holes (i.e., each via a contact hole), respectively, a coupling capacitance is undesirably generated between the data-line side wiring region and the pixel-electrode-side wiring region because of a potential difference therebetween. Then, the coupling capacitance generated between the data-line side wiring region and the pixel-electrode-side wiring region could cause the problem of defective display such as a horizontal crosstalk or other similar problems at the time of operation of an electro-optical device.

Connection structure, electro-optical device, and method for production of electro-optical device


In an optical disk drive selectively operable with different kinds of optical disks, an objective lens actuator assembly includes a plurality of objective lenses each assigned to a particular kind of optical disk for converging a laser beam issuing from a light source onto the recording surface of the optical disk. A disk-like lens holder supports the objective lenses on a single circle thereon. A chassis supports the lens holder such that the holder is freely rotatable and freely movable back and forth along its axis of rotation. A focusing actuator is mounted on the chassis for causing the lens holder to move along the axis of rotation. A tracking actuator causes the lens holder to rotate for thereby positioning the lenses. The tracking actuator has a single tracking coil affixed to the circumferential edge of the lens holder, and a plurality of magnets each attracting or repulsing the coil when current is fed to the coil. The magnets adjoin the circumferential edge of the lens holder and are mounted on the chassis in association with the lenses.

The present invention relates to an optical disk drive selectively operable with different kinds of optical disks and, more particularly, to an objective lens actuator assembly advantageously applicable to such an optical disk drive.
An objective lens actuator assembly for the above application is disclosed in "Development of Twin Lens Optical Pick-up for DVD", Technical Report, the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan, 1995, Vol. 46 (VIR95-46), pp. 53-60, and "Switching VD/CD Lenses", Nikkei Mechanical, Aug. 7, 1995, Vol. 460, pp. 62-65. The actuator assembly is built in an optical disk drive selectively operable with a CD (Compact Disk) or a DVD (Digital Video Disk), as desired. While CDs and DVDs share the same principle of playing, they are different in specifications including thickness. To allow a single optical disk drive to read information out of the two different kinds of optical disks, it is necessary to provide the disk drive with two different kinds of objective lenses (one for converging a laser beam issuing from a light source onto a CD and the other for converging it onto a DVD).
In the above conventional actuator assembly, two objective lenses assigned to DVDs and CDs, respectively, are mounted on a disk-like lens holder. The lens holder is rotatable about a shaft and movable back and forth in the direction parallel to the shaft. The actuator assembly includes a tracking actuator, a focusing actuator, and an operation control circuit. The focusing actuator causes the lens holder to move in the direction parallel to the shaft. The tracking actuator has a plurality of tracking coils mounted on the lens holder and causes the lens holder to rotate about the shaft for thereby positioning the objective lenses. The tracking actuator is capable of correcting a tracking error and replacing the objective lens at the same time.
However, the conventional actuator assembly has some issues yet to be solved, as follows. The tracking coils must be mounted on the lens holder in accordance with the number of objective lenses, increasing the overall weight of the lens holder. As a result, power consumption by the tracking actuator is increased, and the operation speed is lowered. Moreover, control for the tracking error correction and lens replacement must be executed with each of the two pairs of tracking coils, resulting in the need for two pairs of operation control circuits and two pairs of tracking coil switching circuits. This undesirably complicates the configuration of the overall operation control circuitry.

Objective lens actuator assembly for an optical disk drive


Embodiments of a feedback-driven malware detector are directed to protecting a computer from programs that perform actions that are malicious or not expected by a user. In one embodiment, the feedback-driven malware detector performs a method that initially determines whether the state of an application program scheduled to be added to an extensibility point on a computer is already known. If the state of the object is not already known, the user is informed that an application program is being installed on the computer and that the application program is being added to an extensibility point. Then, input is obtained from the user that assists in determining whether the application program is malware.

The constant progress of communication systems that connect computers, particularly the explosion of the Internet and intranet networks, has resulted in the development of a new information era. With a single personal computer, a user may obtain a connection to the Internet and have direct access to a wide range of resources, including electronic business applications that provide a wide range of information and services. Solutions have been developed for rendering and accessing a huge number of resources. However, as more computers have become interconnected through various networks such as the Internet, abuse by malicious computer users has also increased. As a result, computer systems that identify potentially unwanted software have been developed to protect computers from the growing abuse that is occurring on modern networks.
It is estimated that four out of five users have unwanted software on their personal computers. Those skilled in the art and others will recognize that unwanted software may become resident on a computer using a number of techniques. For example, a computer connected to the Internet may be attacked so that a vulnerability on the computer is exploited and the unwanted software is delivered over the network as an information stream. These types of attacks come in many different forms including, but certainly not limited to, computer worms, denial of service attacks and the like, all of which exploit one or more computer system vulnerabilities for illegitimate purposes. Also, unwanted software may become resident on a computer using social engineering techniques. For example, a user may access a resource such as a Web site and download a program from the Web site to a local computer. While the program may be described on the Web site as providing a service desirable to the user; in actuality, the program may perform actions that are malicious or simply undesirable to the user. While those skilled in the art will recognize that unwanted software may take many different forms, for purposes of the present invention and for simplicity in description, all unwanted software will be generally referred to hereinafter as computer malware or, more simply, malware. As described herein, computer malware includes, but is certainly not limited to, spyware, ad ware, viruses, Trojans, worms, RootKit, or any other computer program that performs actions that are malicious or not desirable to the user.
When a malware becomes resident on a computer, the adverse results may be readably noticeable to the user—such as system devices being disabled; applications, file data, or firmware being erased or corrupted; the computer system crashing or being unable to perform normal operations. However, some malware performs actions that are covert and not readily noticeable to the user. For example, spyware typically monitors a user's computer habits, such as Internet browsing tendencies, and transmits potentially sensitive data to another location on the network. The potentially sensitive data may be used in a number of ways, such as identifying a commercial product that matches the observed tendencies of the user. Then the spyware may be used to display an advertisement to the user that promotes the identified commercial product. Since the advertisement interrupts the normal operation of the computer, the actions performed by the spyware may not be desirable to the user.
Many vendors have developed programs to identify and/or remove malware from a computer. Typically, a collection of signatures is developed that represents each piece of malware and then a computer is searched for objects (e.g., files, databases, etc.) that match these signatures. However, vendors who develop programs that identify and/or remove malware from a computer have been known to incorrectly identify a program as malware. In some instances, a program may be considered malware by one user and a beneficial program that performs desirable functions by another user. Moreover, under the present signature-based system, computers may be susceptible to malware in certain circumstances. For example, even when a user regularly installs software updates on a computer that provides the most recent malware signatures, there is a vulnerability window that exists between when a new computer malware is released on the network and when the new signature may be developed and installed to protect the computer from the malware. As the name suggests, it is during this vulnerability window that a computer system is vulnerable or exposed to the new computer malware.


Described herein are quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCMD) techniques that can be used for measuring characteristics of a creping adhesive film similar to the creping adhesive film that is formed on a Yankee dryer during the tissue and towel manufacturing process. In addition, exemplary embodiments described herein may use these techniques to predict performance of creping aids utilized to form a creping adhesive film.

1. Field of the Art
The present embodiments relate to measuring creping adhesive film characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional creping process generally includes scraping a dried paper web from a drying cylinder (e.g., a Yankee dryer), such as by the use of a creping doctor blade. The creping action puts very small folds or accordions in the sheet which impart a fine, rippled texture to the sheet, which can increase the bulk, softness and absorbency of the sheet.
Adhesion of the sheet to the drying cylinder is one factor that contributes to how the sheet crepes at the doctor blade. Sheet adhesion may be controlled through application of an adhesive formulation onto the Yankee dryer surface. The creping process typically involves applying the creping adhesive, such as in the form of an aqueous solution or dispersion, to a drying surface for the web. Typically, this surface is the surface of a rotating heated creping cylinder, such as the Yankee dryer. The paper web is then adhered to the indicated surface and later dislodged from the surface with a creping device, e.g., a doctor blade. The impact of the web against the creping device ruptures some of the fiber-to-fiber bonds within the web, causing the web to wrinkle or pucker. In this regard, fibrous webs, particularly paper webs, are conventionally subjected to the creping process in order to give them desirable textual characteristics, such as softness and bulk. Adhesive formulations can improve product quality and control of the papermaking process.
Drying cylinders such as the Yankee dryer are often operated at a variety of temperature conditions, for example, ranging from about 90° C. to 130° C. Recent trends have the creping conditions moving towards high temperature and/or low sheet moisture. Under high temperature conditions, "rewettability" of the applied adhesive may affect adhesion of the sheet to the Yankee dryer. Rewettability refers to the ability of a dry adhesive film on the dryer to absorb water, e.g., once in contact with the wet paper sheet. The adhesive is typically sprayed on the Yankee coating continuously. However, the majority of the adhesion occurs by means of the adhesive deposited in previous passes. If the adhesive absorbs greater amounts of water in contact with the sheet, the adhesive will be softer, resulting in a more intimate contact with the sheet and providing increased adhesion between the sheet and the dryer.
The solubility of the adhesive film in water is another property affecting adhesion. The wet sheet before the Yankee dryer typically contains 60% or more water. During the contact between the wet sheet and the Yankee dryer, water from the sheet may wash off a portion of the deposited adhesive coating, which can decrease the efficiency of the creping process. It is often desirable to use an adhesive with low water solubility (high insolubility) so that the adhesive film can withstand wash-off at the point of contact with the wet sheet, and form a more durable coating on the Yankee surface.
Predicting performance of creping adhesives on a commercial machine is a challenging task, in part because of the extremely dynamic nature of the creping process. The primary indicator of performance of creping adhesives has been an adhesion test. The peel adhesion test is a common laboratory technique for characterizing adhesion of creping adhesives.
Adhesion is a complex phenomenon that can be affected by various parameters. In a common process, the adhesion development starts in the pressure roll nip at the point of the sheet transfer from the carrying fabric or felt onto the Yankee dryer cylinder. The moisture from the wet sheet can rewet the partially or completely dried adhesive coating, making it soft and pliable enough to form a good contact with the sheet but ideally not too soft that it is washed off the Yankee dryer surface. Water is an effective plasticizer of the creping adhesive film, and can affect the adhesive film softness. The rewet phenomenon affects the adhesion development. At the same time water can solubilize the adhesive film, and potentially render it useless and inefficient. A certain level of insolubility is desirable for the adhesion development. Therefore, characterization of film solubility, rewetting and softness characteristics can help develop an understanding of the adhesion development on the Yankee dryer and for predicting performance of creping adhesives.
Conventional methods for characterizing rewetting, solubility and softness characteristics of creping adhesive films involve preparation of uniform adhesive films, typically of a few millimeters in thickness. For rewetting and solubility measurements, the films are immersed into water under controlled agitation, temperature and time. The mass gain and/or loss of the films are then calculated to determine the rewet ratio or percent insolubility. For film softness measurements, films are tested using a durometer to determine a relative hardness or using a more sophisticated rheometer. In rheological measurements, the film undergoes mechanical stress under controlled temperature and stress rate. The film's resistance to stress is measured to yield shear modulus, for example, which can be used to characterize the film softness. The test time for many of these characterizations is greater than 10 hours, some test times are longer than 40 hours. Thus, it is difficult to use these tests to make real time adjustments. In addition, these methods require a preparation of thick films (a few millimeter thickness); whereas, in comparison the thickness of typical adhesive films on the Yanke dryer are about a few micrometers. The wetting and solubilization phenomena often depend on the thickness of the film and therefore the correlation of results of conventional test methods to process conditions may be relatively poor. Another potential downside of the conventional rewet methods is their use is often limited to insoluble or only partially soluble adhesive films—for fully-soluble adhesive films, moisture absorption may compete with the solubilization process, resulting in a mass loss measurements rather than a mass gain, typically sought from a rewet measurement.
The description herein of certain advantages and disadvantages of known methods and compositions is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Indeed the present embodiments may include some or all of the features described above without suffering from the same disadvantages.

Methods of measuring a characteristic of a creping adhesive film and methods of modifying the creping adhesive film


One or more embodiments of the invention provide a method, apparatus, system, and article of manufacture for monitoring components of a digital cinema system. A digital cinema system utilizes an exhibitor system (that has one or more components) to display media content. A configuration of the exhibitor system is stored in the exhibitor system. The integrity of the configuration is then determined by querying each of the components. Software agents on each of the components respond to the query. Based on the configuration and the responses received, the integrity of the exhibitor system is determined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital cinema systems, and in particular, to a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for protecting the intellectual property rights and integrity of components of the use management of a digital cinema system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The methods by which movies and other media programs that are distributed to theaters for display to audiences have not substantially changed in over 75 years. Celluloid copies of such movies are distributed to each theater in advance of the first showing, and the same copy is repeatedly displayed for audiences until the movie is excessively worn, the license expires, or the theater stops showing the movie in favor of a more popular movie.
There are several problems with this process. First, the process of manually and securely distributing physical celluloid copies of each movie is costly. Second, it is time consuming. This is especially important in circumstances where last minute changes must be made to the film before release. Such time concerns often prohibit that any such changes be made.
There is therefore a need for a method and system for distributing media programs in a rapid and inexpensive manner. As will be described further herein, the present invention solves that need by providing for the distribution of digital copies of media programs via a satellite or other high bandwidth medium. For example, digital cinema systems provide the ability for distributing digital copies of motion picture "films" electronically directly to theatres running exhibitor systems.
However, the use of digital cinema systems presents additional challenges. For example, because of the ability to identically duplicate digital content, significant concerns exist regarding the intellectual property (IP) rights of content. In addition to content security, components of both distribution centers and exhibitor systems are fairly expensive. Accordingly, currently, there are very few digital cinema exhibitor installations in the world. As digital cinema systems are deployed on a large scale, owners and theatres may desire to protect and prevent the unauthorized removal, replacement, resale, or reuse of the exhibitor system components.
For example, if a component from one exhibitor system is removed and installed into another exhibitor system, a potential exists that the characteristics or capability of the exhibitor system may change. This may result in allowing the exhibitor system to operate outside of the intent of use management. Thus, if a larger digital projector was installed replacing a smaller digital projector, the exhibitor system may be able to be used for a larger screen, where the use management permits authorized uses in small screen only.
The prior art mechanism for ensuring content security and integrity is physical human security and supervision. Such human supervision is limiting and not efficient or useful when launching a significant deployment of a digital cinema system.
What is needed is a system and method for the distribution of digital media that protects the content owner's intellectual property rights and the integrity of the use management of an exhibitor system. The present invention satisfies these needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for integrating and monitoring key digital cinema system components as a means to verify system integrity


The present invention provides a highly dielectric elastomer composition which shows a high dielectric constant in a wide temperature range from low to high temperature and has a low dielectric loss tangent, and a dielectric antenna composed of the highly dielectric elastomer composition. A dielectric antenna including a molding of a highly dielectric elastomer composition composed of an elastomer and a highly dielectric ceramic powder mixed with the elastomer and an electrode formed on the molding. The highly dielectric ceramic powder of barium titanate.neodymium ceramic has a temperature coefficient α(unit: 1/° C.) of a dielectric constant of the ceramic powder on 25° C. standard ranging from −200×10−6 to 100×10−6 over a temperature range from −40° C. to 100° C. The dielectric constant of the highly dielectric elastomer composition is ≧7 and a dielectric loss tangent thereof is ≦0.01.

In recent years, with a conspicuous spread of a patch antenna for use in a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a RFID, and the like, and a lens antenna for use in a radio telescope, a millimeter-wave radar, and the like, and with an outstanding progress of a satellite communication apparatus, there is a growing demand for making the frequency of a communication signal high and communication apparatuses compact.
As the dielectric constant of a material of an antenna incorporated in the communication apparatus becomes higher, it is possible to make the communication signal higher and the communication apparatus compact. The dielectric constant is a parameter indicating the degree of a polarization inside the dielectric. Therefore when the material of the antenna having a high dielectric constant can be used, it is possible to make the frequency of the communication signal high and hence shorten circuits and make the communication apparatus compact.
Conventionally, as a highly dielectric elastomer, the fibrous metal salt of titanic acid and/or the composite fiber of the metal salt of titanic acid and the amorphous titanium oxide integrally enclosing the fibrous metal salt of titanic acid therewith to form the integrated composite fiber are known. The integrated composite fiber having the mol ratio between metals M and Ti in the range of 1.005 to 1.5 is mixed with the elastomer at 5 to 80 wt % with respect to the total weight of the highly dielectric elastomer composition to allow the highly dielectric elastomer composition to have a high permittivity (patent document 1).
300 to 500 parts by weight of barium titanate powder having a dielectric constant not less than 2000 in the range of a room temperature to 90° C. is mixed with 100 parts by weight of ethylene propylene rubber or the like crosslinked with the peroxide to form the high-permittivity rubber composition having a dielectric constant set to not less than 10 and preferably not less than 20 (patent document 2).
But in the above-described highly dielectric elastomer composition of the example (patent document 1) composed of the elastomer and the composite fiber mixed therewith, it is difficult to select the kind of the elastomer and the composite fiber, and owing to the directionality of the fibrous filling material, the molding of the highly dielectric elastomer composition is anisotropic. Thereby the linear expansion and the dielectric characteristic become unstable. Thus it is difficult to obtain a material having a high permittivity and a low dielectric loss tangent.
The high-permittivity rubber composition (patent document 2) is an insulating material which is disposed to relax an electric field mismatching which is liable to be generated at a connection position of power cables, a termination portion thereof, and the like. As the property of the barium titanate powder, it has a large dielectric loss tangent. Thus the barium titanate powder is unsuitable for an electronic part such the material of an antenna.
As the use mode of the communication apparatus becomes diversified, the communication apparatus is demanded to have little variations in the electrical characteristic in the range from a low temperature to a high temperature. When the conventional highly dielectric elastomer composition is used for an electronic part that is used in a wide temperature region, the electrical characteristic of the electronic part changes greatly.
Further, to comply with the demand of miniaturization of the communication apparatus, an antenna body is formed by molding a dielectric resin material which has a small specific gravity and a small dielectric loss and is advantageous for obtaining a high gain, and an electrode is formed on the obtained molding to form a dielectric antenna.
As a conventional dielectric antenna having an electrode plated with a metal, the rubber-like elastic material soluble in the inorganic filler and in the solvent is mixed with the styrene polymer having the syndiotactic structure (SPS) to obtain the composite dielectric material, the surface of which is roughened by etching treatment to plate the surface at an improved degree. The composite dielectric material is used as an antenna (patent document 3). A resin difficult to be plated and a resin easy to be plated are used in combination. The resin easy to be plated is used on the surface on which the electrode is formed so that it is used as the material of the antenna (patent document 4). Further the electrode is made of the copper foil pattern (patent document 5). In addition, the electrode is formed on the antenna body made of ceramics by screen printing (patent document 6).
When a resin material is used as a dielectric substrate of an antenna, it is necessary to form an electrode. As methods of forming the electrode, a metal plating method, a metal foil-bonding method, and screen printing method, and the like are known. Metal plating treatment is difficult to be made. Further the metal plating treatment has a problem that a specific foundation treatment is required, as disclosed in the patent documents 3 and 4. Further when the electrode is formed by plating treatment, the electrode has a low degree of adhesion to the material of the antenna to a low degree after the foundation treatment is made. Thus there is a fear that the dielectric characteristic deteriorates. Thus the metal plating processing is unfavorable. When the copper foil is used as the electrode, as disclosed in the patent document 5, the electrode is liable to be oxidized. Thus when a working temperature rises, the electrode is oxidized and the permittivity decreases. The screen printing is applied to form the electrode on the antenna body made of ceramics but not applied to the antenna body made of the elastomer. Screen printing paste used to form the electrode of the antenna made of ceramics contains silica. A product including the printed paste is calcined at a high temperature of 500 to 600° C. to vitrify it so that Ag powder is fixed. Because the elastomer is decomposed at a high temperature of 500° C., the screen printing method cannot be used for the antenna composed of the elastomer.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-031244
Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-138067
Patent document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-143531
Patent document 4: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-078322
Patent document 5: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-066620
Patent document 6: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 06-029727

Highly dielectric elastomer composition and dielectric antenna


An existence probability of an image object based on an image taken by a stereo camera 2 is calculated by an image object existence probability calculating portion 11, an existence probability of a millimeter wave object based on an output of a millimeter wave radar 3 is calculated by a millimeter wave object existence probability calculating portion 12, and an existence probability of a laser object based on an output of a laser radar 4 is calculated by a laser object existence probability calculating portion 13. Further, the respective existence probabilities of the image object, the millimeter wave object, the laser object are corrected based on recognizing rates of the respective recognizing sensors by an existence probability correcting portion 14, the existence probabilities after correction is fused as a fusion existence probability by a fusion existence probability calculating portion 15, thereby, a control of avoiding contact with a hazard or alarming or the like is made to be able to execute by a firm and optimum timing.

The present invention relates to an object recognizing apparatus for recognizing a n object existed at a periphery of own vehicle based on a plurality of sensors for detecting the object at the periphery of the own vehicle.
The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-140755 filed on May 19, 2006 including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In recent years, in a vehicle of an automobile or the like, there is developed a technology of recognizing an object including a three-dimensional object existed in a running direction of own vehicle by detecting an outside vehicle environment by a camera, a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar or the like, which is applied to a vehicle control of a collision avoiding control or the like.
Although according to such a technology of recognizing an object, generally, there are used recognizing sensors represented by a camera, a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar and the like, the recognizing sensors pose a problem that a dispersion is brought about in a detecting accuracy by a running environment. Therefore, recently, there is proposed a method referred to as sensor fusion of mounting a plurality of sensors of a camera, a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar and the like on a vehicle and recognizing a front object by fusing outputs detected by the respective sensors.
For example, Patent Reference 1 discloses a technology in which based on respective data detected by an image recognizing apparatus including a millimeter wave radar and a camera, probability distributions showing accuracy of the respective data are calculated, the respective data are fused by calculating a product of a plurality of the probability distributions with regard to the same data value, and a kind of a front object is investigated based on a data value showing the highest probability.
According to the technology disclosed in Patent Reference 1, even in a case in which a probability of a probability distribution calculated based on data detected by one front recognizing means is reduced, when a probability distribution calculated based on data detected by other front recognizing means shows a high probability, the kind of the front object can be recognized by using a data value of the high probability. [Patent Reference 1] JP-A-2005-165421
However, only by determining an object simply by a height of a probability distribution as disclosed in Patent Reference 1, there is a concern that by an uncertain factor of a characteristic of a sensor for detecting a periphery situation, a degree of influencing on a vehicle stabilization by a control apparatus or the like, there is brought about a situation in which an operational timing of an avoiding control, an alarming control or the like against contact (collision) of the object and own vehicle is excessively early or excessively retarded, and a pertinent control timing is not necessarily produced.


A connector apparatus for receiving a card-like data processing medium in a frame element having a rear transverse element and a pair of longitudinal elements. A header is disposed adjacent the rear element of the frame member and an actuator bar for moving the card-like data processing medium out of engagement with the header is provided. An eject plate is moved by a link arm connected to the frame at a pivot point. The actuator bar is positioned below or above one of the longitudinal elements of the frame to significantly reduce the transverse dimension of the connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to electrical connectors for computer memory cards.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
Memory cards are conventionally connected to computers by means of connectors comprising a frame member which will have a transverse rear element and a pair of longitudinal elements having opposed card receiving grooves on their inner surfaces. A connector header is positioned adjacent the transverse rear element, and the memory card is inserted between the side elements of the frame and then engaged with the header. The connector also includes an eject mechanism which conventionally may be an eject plate which is positioned directly beneath the rear transverse element of the frame. An ejector actuator bar is positioned laterally adjacent to one of the longitudinal elements of the frame and extends rearwardly to be connected by a pin to one end of an eject arm. The eject arm is at its other end connected to the eject plate and is medially connected by a fulcrum pin to both the eject plate and the rear transverse section of the frame. When the user applies inward longitudinal pressure to the actuator bar, the arm pivots on the fulcrum pin to move the ejector plate forward against the rear end of the memory card so as to move it out of engagement with the connector header. A disadvantage to such memory card ejection systems exists in that the actuator bar occupies a significant amount of space to the side of the longitudinal element against which it is positioned. The overall transverse dimension of the memory card connector is thus correspondingly increased, and efforts to decrease the size of computers employing such memory card connectors are impeded. A need, therefore, exists for a memory card connector actuator bar arrangement which does not substantially add to the transverse dimension of the memory card connector.

Memory card connector having reduced transverse dimension


A composite part, such as a stiffener is formed in place. A composite charge is placed on a tool spanning a mold cavity, with the centerline of the charge offset from the centerline of the mold cavity. Opposite sides of the charge are held against the tool as the charge is formed into the mold cavity. One side of the charge is held against movement on the tool while the other side of the charge is allowed to slip over the tool toward the mold cavity.

1. Field
This disclosure generally relates to the fabrication of composite parts, and deals more particularly with a method and apparatus for forming stiffeners, such as aircraft fuselage stringers.
2. Background
Composite parts, such as stiffeners used in the aircraft industry, may be fabricated in a multi-step process in which separate tooling is used for laying up, forming-to-shape, and curing a multi-ply composite charge. The composite charge may assembled by sequentially laying up individual plies according to a predetermined ply schedule, either by hand or using automated equipment, on a layup tool or other substrate. During this initial layup process, the layup tool may include features that preform the charge. The preformed charge is then transferred to a male or female mold in a press former where the preformed charge is formed to final shape. The formed charge is then transferred to an IML (inner mold line) cure tool where it is cured in an autoclave or an oven.
The need for separate tools for laying up and curing of composite parts adds to production flow times, material and/or labor costs, and may contribute to undesirable tolerance location buildup. Additionally, the use of separate tools for layup and cure introduces the potential for the part layup to change shape and/or wrinkle caused by transportation and/or relaxation from dwell times at pre-installation stages.
In addition to the problems discussed above, existing press forming equipment used to form composite charges to final shape may allow the composite charge to shift out of position during the forming process as the charge is compressed between male and female tool dies. When the charge shifts out of position during forming, the finished part may be out of tolerance or mis-shaped, causing the part to be scrapped.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for forming a composite part, such as a stiffener, in-place in a cure tool, thus eliminating the need for layup or forming tools. There is also a need for a method and apparatus of the type mentioned above which controls the centerline position of the composite charge as it is being formed on the cure tool.


Described herein are systems and methods for analyzing biological samples. Including a method for processing an analyte, comprising providing a fluidic device comprising the analyte and one or more polymer precursors; selecting a discrete area within said fluidic device; providing an energy source in optical communication with fluidic device; and selectively supplying a unit of energy generated from the energy source to the fluidic device to generate a polymer matrix within the fluidic device, wherein the polymer matrix is within the discrete area or adjacent to the discrete area.

In the field of cellular biology, single-cell analysis can include the study of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and cell-cell interactions at the single-cell level. Due to the heterogeneity seen in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell populations, analyzing a single cell can make it possible to discover mechanisms not seen when studying a bulk population of cells. In single-cell analysis, changes in single cells can be tracked or observed at the level of genes, proteins, or other cellular components. For example, in cancer, where cells may be mutating, it can be of interest to see how cancers change at the genetic level. These patterns of somatic mutations and copy number aberrations can be observed using single-cell sequencing.

Devices and methods for analyzing biological samples


A gaseous fuel and air mixing venturi device adapted for retrofitting in a carburetor has a venturi body with a passage for air flow through the body, the passage having a throat of reduced cross-sectional area. The body has an axial fuel inlet port at a first end and fuel supply ports connected to the fuel inlet port and spaced around the throat for supplying fuel to the air flow passage for mixing with air flowing through the passage. The first end of the venturi body has mating seating formations for seating against corresponding seating surfaces of a gaseous fuel carburetor after removal of a spring mass air/fuel mixing section, and a fastener mechanism for releasably securing the venturi body in the carburetor, with the fuel supply port of the carburetor connected to the fuel inlet port of the venturi body.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for mixing gaseous fuel and air in the correct proportions for combustion in a gas engine, and is particularly concerned with a venturi mixing device for replacing the spring mass, diaphragm actuator of existing gaseous fuel carburetors for natural gas engines and the like, and with a method of retrofitting a carburetor with such a device.
2. Related Art
The majority of gaseous fuel carburetors for internal combustion engines have an air/fuel mixing section which is comprised of a spring mass system. This has the potential to create unstable engine performance due to interaction with the upstream pressure regulator or emissions control valve. The carburetor was originally designed to run open loop with a mechanical upstream pressure regulator, and on applications that did not have strict emissions requirements. In recent years emissions requirements have become very strict, and more sophisticated upstream air/fuel ratio controls have either replaced the mechanical pressure regulator entirely or supplement its operation. These devices are typically electromechanical and respond to the commands of a computer controller using a closed loop control strategy, based on the output of an oxygen sensor, located in the exhaust stream of the engine. These new systems can respond very quickly and often create unstable interactions between the carburetor and the upstream fuel valve. This interaction is possible because the air/fuel mixing section of the carburetor is comprised of a dynamic spring mass system
There are several existing types of gaseous fuel carburetors and the majority use a diaphragm to actuate the air fuel mixing section against the force of a spring. The smallest model eliminates the diaphragm and uses a piston as the operator. The diaphragm is typically an elastomer coated fabric and is susceptible to chemical and thermal degradation, rupture due to engine backfiring, abrasive damage, and the like. The air/fuel mixing section of the carburetor also has sliding surfaces that are prone to wear. Down time of an engine due to required maintenance in an industrial application, such as a pump on an oil pipeline, can result in the loss of thousands of dollars from lost production.
Another deficiency of known gaseous fuel carburetors is the limited ability to thoroughly mix the air and fuel together. The fuel is introduced into the center of the air stream from a single location. This can create a lean mixture at the outer edges of the flow stream and a richer mixture in the center. This makes it more difficult for the engine to completely burn all incoming fuel, which often results in higher exhaust emissions and a reduction in horsepower.
The limited number of existing gaseous fuel carburetor models and sizes may require the user to install a unit that is too large for the application. A carburetor excessively large for an engine may cause starting troubles. If certain application parameters change significantly, such as fuel composition, the user may be required to change to a different model of carburetor and modify the associated plumbing and linkage of the engine.
Venturi mixers have been developed for gaseous-fueled engines in order to overcome some of the problems of the existing gaseous fuel carburetors with a spring-mass system forming the air/fuel mixing section. One example is the FMV6 Mixing Venturi manufactured by Continental Controls Corporation of San Diego, Calif. Other such devices are manufactured by Woodward and Heinzmann. These mixers are not installed in the existing carburetor. Instead, they replace the carburetor entirely, which often creates substantial installation difficulties and costs. The physical envelope of these mixers is typically very different from the existing carburetor. This requires major modifications to the engine's air intake system, which could result in thousands of dollars of lost production time. Another major deficiency is that these mixers do not include a butterfly for controlling the air/fuel mixture to the engine. In some instances the existing butterfly is separable from the carburetor and can be used with custom adapters. If the butterfly is not separable from the carburetor, a new butterfly may have to be purchased. If the location of the butterfly is different from the previous installation, additional changes to the governor linkage will be required. An additional mixture screw will also be required. Conventional retrofit difficulties increase significantly when the engine uses more than one carburetor, which is often the case.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method that overcomes these significant problems found in the conventional systems as described above.

Gaseous fuel and air mixing venturi device and method for carburetor


Computing units are determined for performing molecular docking calculations in parallel with the number of computing units and the width of the data paths allocated by relative complexity of operations. Data can be expected to arrive at downstream computing units as it is needed, leading to higher utilization of computing units. Computing units are hardware components that are specific to a calculation performed. For molecular docking calculations, functions of molecular subsets or of combinations of molecular subsets are calculated. Determinations include fit between molecular subsets, affinity or energy of “fit” between molecular subsets, etc. Affinity might include inter-atomic energy, bond energy, energy of atoms immersed in a field, etc. The calculations could be used to simulate and/or estimate likelihoods of molecular interactions.

An explanation of conventional drug discovery processes and their limitations is useful for understanding the present invention.
Discovering a new drug to treat or cure some biological condition, is a lengthy and expensive process, typically taking on average 12 years and $800 million per drug, and taking possibly up to 15 years or more and $1 billion to complete in some cases.
A goal of a drug discovery process is to identify and characterize a chemical compound or ligand biomolecule, i.e., binder that affects the function of one or more other biomolecules (i.e., a drug "target") in an organism, usually a biopolymer, via a potential molecular interaction or combination. Herein the term biopolymer refers to a macromolecule that comprises one or more of a protein, nucleic acid (DNA or RNA), peptide or nucleotide sequence or any portions or fragments thereof. Herein the term biomolecule refers to a chemical entity that comprises one or more of a biopolymer, carbohydrate, hormone, or other molecule or chemical compound, either inorganic or organic, including, but not limited to, synthetic, medicinal, drug-like, or natural compounds, or any portions or fragments thereof.
The target molecule is typically what is known as a disease-related target protein or nucleic acid for which it is desired to affect a change in function, structure, and/or chemical activity in order to aid in the treatment of a patient disease or other disorder. In other cases, the target is a biomolecule found in a disease-causing organism, such as a virus, bacteria, or parasite, that when affected by the drug will affect the survival or activity of the infectious organism. In yet other cases, the target is a biomolecule of a defective or harmful cell such as a cancer cell. In yet other cases the target is an antigen or other environmental chemical agent that may induce an allergic reaction or other undesired immunological or biological response.
The ligand is typically a small molecule drug or chemical compound with desired drug-like properties in terms of potency, low toxicity, membrane permeability, solubility, chemical/metabolic stability, etc. In other cases, the ligand may be biologic such as an injected protein-based or peptide-based drug or even another full-fledged protein. In yet other cases the ligand may be a chemical substrate of a target enzyme. The ligand may even be covalently bound to the target or may in fact be a portion of the protein, e.g., protein secondary structure component, protein domain containing or near an active site, protein subunit of an appropriate protein quaternary structure, etc.
Throughout the remainder of the background discussion, unless otherwise specifically differentiated, a (potential) molecular combination will feature one ligand and one target, the ligand and target will be separate chemical entities, and the ligand will be assumed to be a chemical compound while the target will typically be a biological protein (mutant or wild type). Note that the frequency of nucleic acids (both DNA/RNA) as targets will likely increase in coming years as advances in gene therapy and pathogenic microbiology progress. Also the term "molecular complex" will refer to the bound state between the target and ligand when interacting with one another in the midst of a suitable (often aqueous) environment. A "potential" molecular complex refers to a bound state that may occur albeit with low probability and therefore may or may not actually form under normal conditions.
The drug discovery process itself typically includes four different subprocesses: (1) target validation; (2) lead generation/optimization; (3) preclinical testing; and (4) clinical trials and approval.
Target validation includes determination of one or more targets that have disease relevance and usually takes two-and-a-half years to complete. Results of the target validation phase might include a determination that the presence or action of the target molecule in an organism causes or influences some effect that initiates, exacerbates, or contributes to a disease for which a cure or treatment is sought. In some cases a natural binder or substrate for the target may also be determined via experimental methods.
Lead generation typically involves the identification of lead compounds, i.e., ligands, that can bind to the target molecule and that may alter the effects of the target through either activation, deactivation, catalysis, or inhibition of the function of the target, in which case the lead would be a viewed as a suitable candidate ligand to be used in the drug application process. Lead optimization involves the chemical and structural refinement of lead candidates into drug precursors in order to improve binding affinity to the desired target, increase selectivity, and also to address basic issues of toxicity, solubility, and metabolism. Together lead generation and lead optimization typically take about three years to complete and might result in one or more chemically distinct leads for further consideration.
In preclinical testing, biochemical assays and animal models are used to test the selected leads for various pharmacokinetic factors related to drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, toxicity, side effects, and required dosages. This preclinical testing takes approximately one year. After the preclinical testing period, clinical trials and approval take another six to eight or more years during which the drug candidates are tested on human subjects for safety and efficacy.
Rational drug design generally uses structural information about drug targets (structure-based) and/or their natural ligands (ligand-based) as a basis for the design of effective lead candidate generation and optimization. Structure-based rational drug design generally utilizes a three-dimensional model of the structure for the target. For target proteins or nucleic acids such structures may be as the result of X-ray crystallography/NMR or other measurement procedures or may result from homology modeling, analysis of protein motifs and conserved domains, and/or computational modeling of protein folding or the nucleic acid equivalent. Model-built structures are often all that is available when considering many membrane-associated target proteins, e.g., GPCRs and ion channels. The structure of a ligand may be generated in a similar manner or may instead be constructed ab initio from a known 2-D chemical representation using fundamental physics and chemistry principles, provided the ligand is not a biopolymer.
Rational drug design may incorporate the use of any of a number of computational components ranging from computational modeling of target-ligand molecular interactions and combinations to lead optimization to computational prediction of desired drug-like biological properties. The use of computational modeling in the context of rational drug design has been largely motivated by a desire both to reduce the required time and to improve the focus and efficiency of drug research and development, by avoiding often time consuming and costly efforts in biological "wet" lab testing and the like.
Computational modeling of target-ligand molecular combinations in the context of lead generation may involve the large-scale in-silico screening of compound libraries (i.e., library screening), whether the libraries are virtually generated and stored as one or more compound structural databases or constructed via combinatorial chemistry and organic synthesis, using computational methods to rank a selected subset of ligands based on computational prediction of bioactivity (or an equivalent measure) with respect to the intended target molecule.
Throughout the text, the term "binding mode" refers to the 3-D molecular structure of a potential molecular complex in a bound state at or near a minimum of the binding energy (i.e., maximum of the binding affinity), where the term "binding energy" (sometimes interchanged with "binding free energy" or with its conceptually antipodal counterpart "binding affinity") refers to the change in free energy of a molecular system upon formation of a potential molecular complex, i.e., the transition from an unbound to a (potential) bound state for the ligand and target. The term "system pose" is also sometimes used to refer to the binding mode. Here the term free energy generally refers to both enthalpic and entropic effects as the result of physical interactions between the constituent atoms and bonds of the molecules between themselves (i.e., both intermolecular and intramolecular interactions) and with their surrounding environment. Examples of the free energy are the Gibbs free energy encountered in the canonical or grand canonical ensembles of equilibrium statistical mechanics.
In general, the optimal binding free energy of a given target-ligand pair directly correlates to the likelihood of combination or formation of a potential molecular complex between the two molecules in chemical equilibrium, though, in truth, the binding free energy describes an ensemble of (putative) complexed structures and not one single binding mode. However, in computational modeling it is usually assumed that the change in free energy is dominated by a single structure corresponding to a minimal energy. This is certainly true for tight binders (pK˜0.1 to 10 nanomolar) but questionable for weak ones (pK˜10 to 100 micromolar). The dominating structure is usually taken to be the binding mode. In some cases it may be necessary to consider more than one alternative binding mode when the associated system states are nearly degenerate in terms of energy.
Binding affinity is of direct interest to drug discovery and rational drug design because the interaction of two molecules, such as a protein that is part of a biological process or pathway and a drug candidate sought for targeting a modification of the biological process or pathway, often helps indicate how well the drug candidate will serve its purpose. Furthermore, where the binding mode is determinable, the action of the drug on the target can be better understood. Such understanding may be useful when, for example, it is desirable to further modify one or more characteristics of the ligand so as to improve its potency (with respect to the target), binding specificity (with respect to other target biopolymers), or other chemical and metabolic properties.
A number of laboratory methods exist for measuring or estimating affinity between a target molecule and a ligand. Often the target might be first isolated and then mixed with the ligand in vitro and the molecular interaction assessed experimentally such as in the myriad biochemical and functional assays associated with high throughput screening. However, such methods are most useful where the target is simple to isolate, the ligand is simple to manufacture and the molecular interaction easily measured, but is more problematic when the target cannot be easily isolated, isolation interferes with the biological process or disease pathway, the ligand is difficult to synthesize in sufficient quantity, or where the particular target or ligand is not well characterized ahead of time. In the latter case, many thousands or millions of experiments might be needed for all possible combinations of the target and ligands, making the use of laboratory methods unfeasible.
While a number of attempts have been made to resolve this bottleneck by first using specialized knowledge of various chemical and biological properties of the target (or even related targets such as protein family members) and/or one or more already known natural binders or substrates to the target, to reduce the number of combinations required for lab processing, this is still impractical and too expensive in most cases. Instead of actually combining molecules in a laboratory setting and measuring experimental results, another approach is to use computers to simulate or characterize molecular interactions between two or more molecules (i.e., molecular combinations modeled in silico). The use of computational methods to assess molecular combinations and interactions is usually associated with one or more stages of rational drug design, whether structure-based, ligand-based, or both.
When computationally modeling the nature and/or likelihood of a potential molecular combination for a given target-ligand pair, the actual computational prediction of binding mode and affinity is customarily accomplished in two parts: (a) "docking", in which the computational system attempts to predict the optimal binding mode for the ligand and the target and (b) "scoring", in which the computational system attempts to refine the estimate of the binding affinity associated with the computed binding mode. During library screening, scoring may also be used to predict a relative binding affinity for one ligand vs. another ligand with respect to the target molecule and thereby rank prioritize the ligands or assign a probability for binding.
Docking may involve a search or function optimization algorithm, whether deterministic or stochastic in nature, with the intent to find one or more system poses that have favorable affinity. Scoring may involve a more refined estimation of an affinity function, where the affinity is represented in terms of a combination of one or more empirical, molecular-mechanics-based, quantum mechanics-based, or knowledge-based expressions, i.e., a scoring function. Individuals scoring functions may themselves be combined to form a more robust consensus-scoring scheme using a variety of formulations. In practice, there are many different docking strategies and scoring schemes employed in the context of today's computational drug design.
Whatever the choice of computational method there are inherent trade-offs between the computational complexity of both the underlying molecular models and the intrinsic numerical algorithms, and the amount of computing resources (time, number of CPUs, number of simulations) that must be allocated to process each molecular combination. For example, while highly sophisticated molecular dynamics simulations (MD) of the two molecules surrounded by explicit water molecules and evolved over trillions of time steps may lead to higher accuracy in modeling the potential molecular combination, the resultant computational cost (i.e., time and computing power) is so enormous that such simulations are intractable for use with more than just a few molecular combinations. On the other hand, the use of more primitive models for representing molecular interactions, in conjunction with multiple, and often error-prone, modeling shortcuts and approximations, may result in more acceptable computational cost but will invariably cause significant performance degradation in terms of modeling accuracy and predictive power. Currently, even the process of checking a library of drug candidates against a target protein takes too long for the required accuracy using current computational systems.
In general, the present invention relates to the efficient and accurate determination or characterization of molecular interactions via computational methods. Here the determination or characterization of molecular interactions (of which computational docking and scoring methods are only a subset) may involve the prediction of likelihood of formation of a potential molecular complex, the estimation of the binding affinity or binding energy of two (or more) molecules, the prediction of the binding mode (or even additional alternative modes) for the target-ligand pair, or the rank prioritization of a set of ligands based on predicted bioactivity with the target molecule. Throughout the remainder of the text, the binding affinity (or equivalent) will in general be modeled as an objective mathematical function (i.e., an 'affinity' function) that approximately characterizes the underlying physics and chemistry of the appropriate molecular interactions between the target and ligand molecules, though other possible embodiments exist (some of which will be discussed in the detailed description) wherein the affinity function may be one of a variety of qualitative or quantitative measures associated with the molecular interactions.
In summary, it is desirable in the drug discovery process to identify quickly and efficiently the optimal states or configurations, i.e., binding modes and binding energy, of two molecules or parts of molecules. Efficiency is especially relevant in the lead generation and lead optimization stages for a drug discovery pipeline, where it may be desirable to accurately predict the binding mode and binding affinity for possibly millions of potential target-ligand molecular combinations, before submitting promising candidates to further analysis. There is a clear need then to have more efficient systems and methods for computational modeling of the molecular combinations with reasonable accuracy.

Method and apparatus for analysis of molecular configurations and combinations


A fuzzy logic algorithm utilizes a single rule to produce a varying output signal. A plurality of input signal values are received from a plurality of sensors. A predetermined combination of a plurality of membership functions in the single fuzzy logic rule are defined in which a first instance of the predetermined combination based on a first set of inputs yields a first output signal defined by a first and second axis. A second instance of the predetermined combination based on a second set of inputs different from the first set of inputs yields a second output signal substantially identical to the first output signal, except the second output signal is shifted along one of the first and second axes. A controller produces digital output signals based on the first and second output signals to produce the varying output signal.

A technique called "fuzzy logic," developed by Dr. Lotfi Zadeh and described in "Fuzzy Sets," Information and Control, Vol. 8, No. 3, June 1965, pp. 338-53, has proven highly effective in controlling complex systems. Using fuzzy logic, input variables are processed against a collection of rules, each of which expresses a system objective in propositional form; for example: "if velocity is low and rpm is low then shift to 1st gear." Unlike conventional logic, in which conditions are either satisfied or not satisfied, the conditions "velocity is low" and "rpm is low" may be only partially satisfied so that the rule is only partially satisfied.
The use of fuzzy logic, however, may require a substantial amount of memory. The use of numerous rules in a rule set, often the result of the use of the "matrix" approach, or the employment of detailed nonlinear membership functions, may cause a strain on memory resources. There are many applications in which such resources are not plentiful, or in which key parameters should be stored so that they are readily accessible (e.g., in non-volatile memory rather than read-only memory while the control function is still being developed and calibrated). In these cases, it may be advantageous to have a more parsimonious implementation which supports the functionality of fuzzy logic, yet bend some of its principles.
In particular, in order for the typical (Mamdani "Max-Min" algorithm) fuzzy logic control algorithm to produce a useful variation of the output, it is necessary to have more than one rule. Variation of output is obtained by the consequents of two (or more) rules playing against each other. A side effect of this method of generating variation in output is the difficulty in producing an explicit output value for particular values of inputs. If the desired output is known for specific inputs, some experimentation and iteration is needed to obtain the necessary membership functions that yield the desired relationship.
For these reasons, there exists a need for a variation of the usual fuzzy logic algorithm in which the parameterization is more compact and the relationship between the output function and the input signals is more explicit.


A method and system for determining the operating integrity of a dual sensor system takes in signals from each of the sensors in the dual sensor system. The signals are preferably generally on the same cycle, and the control evaluates whether a single sensor has sent two consecutive cycle signals to the control without a corresponding cycle from the other of the sensors. If so, an indication is made that the other of the sensors may be failing, or is intermittent. Preferably the sensors are associated with wheel speed indicators and the control is an ABS control.

This application relates to a method of easily testing the sensors in a dual sensor system to determine whether the sensors have failed, or are failing (i.e., only operating intermittently).
Modern vehicles are being provided with more systems which require sensor inputs. As an example, antilock brake systems utilize wheel speed sensor information from sensors associated with each of the wheels. The sensor information is often utilized to make critical decisions, such as whether and how much to actuate a brake. If the sensor information is inaccurate, this is of course, undesirable. If the sensors are not providing accurate information, it is important that the failure of a particular sensor be quickly identified. In the past, there have been no practical or simple methods for identifying a failing sensor in a two-sensor system.
Sensors can fail for a variety of reasons, and in a variety of ways. As an example, a sensor can become damaged such that is fails completely, or can become intermittent. This can occur due to damage, or manufacturing problems such as a bad solder joint. Further, environmental conditions can also cause a sensor to fail or become intermittent.
In this invention, a pair of sensors has their signals evaluated in a fashion to identify whether one of the sensors is failing or becoming intermittent. Typically, the sensors are of the sort which provides unitary signals in a cyclic fashion. There is preferably a phase angle difference between the two sensor signals. If a signal is sensed from a first sensor, and a second sensor which should be expected to provide a signal on the same cycle as the first signal, does not send a signal before the first sensor has a subsequent signal sent, the control identifies a problem. The signal can be sensed most preferably at the transition of either a rising or falling signal. If the sensors are operating correctly, then the sensor signals will be on relatively the same cycle, but spaced by some phase difference.
The present invention monitors transitions of the signals and maintains a memory of the last signal to transition. The system can then identify when one of the sensors has failed, or is becoming intermittent. Preferably, a counter associated without the control counts the number of signals from one of the sensors with a corresponding signal from the other. A preset number of signals can be set for determination that the other sensor has failed completely.
This system also incorporates a control that zeros the counter if there is a change in direction, as would otherwise potentially result in a signal being received from one of the sensors which had last sent a signal prior to the other sensor sending a signal. That is, for the wheel sensor, when the vehicle begins moving in a different direction (i.e., reverse to forward), it would be expected to receive two subsequent signals from one signal.
These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.

Sensor error detection in a dual sensor system


A technique facilitates sand control in a wellbore. A lower completion and an upper completion are run downhole into the wellbore and deployed. The lower completion assembly employs a plurality of packers to isolate well zones. The lower completion assembly also has gravel pack ports which are independently opened to enable gravel packing of each individual zone via a tool run downhole. Additionally, the lower completion assembly has a production port in each zone. A shifting tool is employed to open the production ports and to enable production from the well zones.

In many well applications, various completions and completion techniques are employed to limit the influx of sand from the surrounding formation. Many types of completions have been designed to inhibit or block the migration of sand into downhole equipment in an effort to avoid damage to the equipment which can otherwise result as particulate matter passes through with the production fluid. A variety of sand screens and/or gravel packs may be employed to control the sand production. However, current equipment and techniques can be relatively complex, burdensome and expensive to employ.


A filtration system for separating accompanying substances, present in liquid, droplet or mist form, from a gaseous material stream, comprising                a housing, in which there is arranged a filter insert,        wherein the housing has an inlet and an outlet for said material stream,        wherein the filter insert comprises at least two filter layers,        wherein one boundary surface of the first filter layer is essentially in parallel with a boundary surface of the second filter layer,        wherein at least one boundary surface forms a barrier for said material stream.

The filtration of gaseous material streams for separating liquid fractions that are present in droplet or mist form may be realized in different ways. Depending on the requirements and the framework, there are used various techniques for this purpose.
Known filtration systems are based, e.g., on the principle of centrifugal force for separating droplets having a higher mass than the gas stream. Another known filtration system is based on the principle of electrostatic interaction with particles in material streams. These are so-called electrostatic precipitators.
Filtration systems according to the type, as initially described, are mostly based on filter layers on the basis of fibre material filtration media. Due to their high effectiveness regarding the separation of solid or liquid particles from gaseous material streams or of solid particles from liquid material streams, at simultaneously relatively low system costs, such filtration systems are most common. Two different concepts, hence, are most commonly used. In the so-called surface filters very densely packed filter materials or filter layers having very small pores are inserted, wherein the filter layers are embodied having relatively thin layers in order to prevent too high pressure losses. On the other hand, there are so-called depth filter systems, wherein relatively loosely packed fibre materials are used in correspondingly thick filter layers.
Surface filters and depth filters are known in various embodiments and most commonly used in technical applications. There are, however, known some problems for which there has not been found a solution so far. One big problem is that in the separation of liquid fractions that are present in droplet form from gaseous material streams these droplets will coagulate in the filter layer—in particular in a fibre fabric of the filtration medium—into coherent liquid sectors and fill in the cavities in the filter layers. In this way, these sectors will become impassable for the gas stream. Currently, this problem is solved by correspondingly high filter volumes being situated upstream, which will lead to correspondingly high costs or unacceptably high dimensions for the filter housings, respectively. Successful approaches for discharging the liquid from the filtration medium or the filter insert, respectively, have not been known so far. Discharging the liquids from the filter insert is in particular difficult if the filter layers are very densely packed as well as if the liquid has a relatively high viscosity.


In conventional electronic components, having a substrate as a component of the structure has been an obstacle to an ultra-low profile design. To address the problem, the present invention provides an improved structure without a substrate. Internal electrode 15 is formed into a predetermined coil pattern. Bumps 16 and irregularities 17 are formed on confronting surfaces of the component, by which each component is hard-to-cling with one another. On the other hand, the confronting side-surfaces with no bumps 16 or irregularities 17 allow a mounting device to have an improved vacuum suction force. Such structured electronic component maintains easy handling even when it is extremely downsized.

An electronic component has conventionally formed on a substrate.
Here will be described a flat coil as a conventional electronic component with reference to FIG. 9. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional flat coil. Coil-shaped or helical wiring 2 is formed on substrate 1 including an alumina substrate and is covered with protecting section 3 made of insulating resin. External electrodes 4 are connected to both ends of wiring 2. Such structured flat coil is mounted on a printed circuit board via external electrodes 4. In response to demands for downsizing electronic components, manufacturers makes some more progress on the path to miniaturization; recent technology seeks an ultra-compact structure with a dimension of 0.4 mm×0.2 mm×0.2 mm (the so-called 0402 component), as is shown by X, Y and Z in FIG. 9.
Next will be described obstacles to miniaturization of electronic components with reference to FIG. 10.
FIG. 10 shows the relationship of the dimension of a conventional electronic component, the area (mm2), the weight (mg) and the ratio of the area to the weight. The x-axis represents the dimension of products that gets smaller toward the right: 3216 (3.2 mm×1.6 mm); 20125 (2.0 mm×1.25 mm); 1608 (1.6 mm×0.8 mm); 1005 (1.0 mm×0.5 mm); 0603 (0.6 mm×0.3 mm); and 0402 (0.4 mm×0.2 mm). On the other hand, the y-axis represents the following three: the area of a product (specifically, it shows the total area (mm2) of the six faces that is shown by a graph with a combination of dotted lines and '∘' in FIG. 10); the weight of the product (specifically, it shows the weight (mg) when the product has a density of 1 g/cc that is shown by a graph with a combination of dash-single-dot lines and '⋄'); and the ratio of the area to the weight shown by a graph with a combination of solid lines and 'Δ'). It will be understood that the graph showing the ratio of the area to the weight has a sharp rise as the product is getting smaller. Such an extremely downsized electronic component, since it is mainly made of insulating resin, is susceptible to static electricity. This will be easily understood by an example where a minute plastic powder (of less than 1 mm in diameter) exhibits high adherability under the influence of static electricity.
Compared to the electronic component mainly made of resin, a ceramic-based electronic component, such as a laminated ceramic capacitor, has larger specific gravity ranging from 3 to 10, which protects the component from the influence of static electricity. Similarly, a square chip resistor and the flat coil shown in FIG. 9 have a substrate as a main structure. By virtue of the weight of the substrate, the two components above are less susceptible to the influence of static electricity.
In contrast, resin-based electronic components, because of a small specific gravity of approx. 1, have a lightweight structure. Besides, the shapes of the components have little difference in density and specific gravity in the vertical and the horizontal directions. That is, the smaller the chip size, the more susceptible to the influence of static electricity. The susceptibility to static electricity causes poor handling of each electronic component. Therefore, manufacturers are having difficulties in retrieving a necessary component from a magazine case containing various components.
For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. H09-270355 is known as a prior art relating to the present invention.
As for the electronic components having resin as a main component and therefore having a small specific gravity, the smaller the size, the more increase the area of each component. This allows the miniaturized component to increase the tendency of clinging under the influence of static electricity. For example, when the 1005-component and the 0603-component make contact with each face, it is difficult to separate one from the other. In some cases, an excessive force applied to separate them can impair the characteristics or reliability of the components. From this reason, improvement in handleability has been a pending problem.

Electronic component and method for manufacturing the same


Consumable components associated with computerized apparatus are provided with memory. The memory is used to store, and provide downloading capability therefrom, upgrade versions of computer code. The upgrade versions of computer code are programs or subroutines of programs associated with a device selected from a group including, the consumable, the associated computerized apparatus, and interactional program code associated with both the consumable device and the associated computing apparatus.

(5.1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to providing installed-base computing apparatus with software updates using consumables associated with computing apparatus as a carrier. Using an exemplary embodiment to describe the invention, an ink-jet hard copy apparatus' controller firmware or apparatus driver software on a host computer connected to the hard copy apparatus is updated using the replaceable ink-jet ink cartridge device employed by the apparatus.
(5.2) Description of Related Art
Substantially all present-day computers, calculating devices and instruments, computer peripherals—such as printers, scanners, digital senders, facsimile machines, copiers—and the like, include a microprocessor-based controls, generally in the form of a printed circuit board. Such computerized apparatus generally include a memory device containing computer code instructions, or "firmware." Moreover, in some senses, computer software has become far more important than the computer hardware. For simplicity, all such machines are referred to generically hereinafter as "computerized apparatus". Further, some computing devices have consumable devices—such as an ink-jet cartridge for an ink-jet printer—or upgradable plug-in devices—such as PCMCIA cards in portable computers, SIMMs cards, font cartridges, and the like—regularly used in association with the computing apparatus or peripheral.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,265 (Childers et al.)(assigned to the common assignee herein and incorporated herein by reference) describes an INK JET PRINTER SERVICE STATION CONTROLLED BY DATA FROM CONSUMABLE PARTS WITH INCORPORATED MEMORY DEVICES. A memory for tracking ink-jet printer operations with respect to the print cartridge is provided so that predetermined service requirements can be implemented using the ink-jet printer service station. "The control data may be service station parameters, one or more subroutines to control the service station and combinations thereof." (Childers et al., Abstract) The controller or computer host must already be programmed to understand and work with the parameters or subroutines and the data stored in the memory.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,208 (Benjamin et al.)(assigned to the common assignee herein and incorporated herein by reference) describes a REPLACEABLE CARTRIDGE FOR A PRINTER INCLUDING RESIDENT MEMORY WITH STORED MESSAGE TRIGGERING DATA. Messages regarding newly available printer driver software, consumable re-order information, or other like are transmitted to the computer of the end-user upon insertion of the consumable, replaceable cartridge in the printer.
In the current state of the art, such messages or other upgrade facilities require the end-user to download new software or firmware programs (hereinafter referred to more simply as "code") from the Internet. Not all end-users of computers have internet connections. Thus, other end-user's have to, or choose to, call the original equipment manufacturer ("OEM") to obtain a disk with newer code versions. Only a small percentage of motivated computer users do either, waiting for a problem to occur with their older generation equipment or just waiting to purchase a next generation machine rather than upgrading. As a result, the handling of reported failures is a major cost to OEM's; the OEM call center must first debug the end-user's problem, determine if an updated code is required, then mail the materials. Moreover, there is often a call-back from the end-user seeking installation assistance once the materials are received.
One problem in seeking better means for upgrading code has been the relatively high cost of memory type integrated circuits ("IC") having large enough capacity to carry more than simple instructions or messages. As read-only memory ("ROM") IC's have moved toward commodity pricing, new opportunities arise.
There is a need for providing complete program code updates to end-users of computing devices and computer peripherals.

Computer consumable component employed with an associated computerized apparatus

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.