The invention relates to embodiments of high-resolution time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers with special reflectors. The invention provides reflectors with ideal energy and solid angle focusing, based on Cassini ion traps, and proposes that a section of the flight path of the TOF mass spectrometers takes the form of a Cassini reflector. It is particularly favorable to make the ions fly through this Cassini reflector in a TOF mass spectrometer at relatively low energies, with kinetic energies of below one or two kiloelectronvolts. This results in a long, mass-dispersive passage time in addition to the time of flight of the other flight paths, without increasing the energy spread, angular spread or temporal distribution width of ions of the same mass. It is also possible to place several Cassini reflectors in series in order to extend the mass-dispersive time of flight. Several TOF mass spectrometers for axial as well as orthogonal ion injection with Cassini reflectors are presented.

In the prior art, there are essentially two types of high-resolution reflector time-of-flight mass spectrometers, which are characterized according to the way the ions are injected.
Time-of-flight mass spectrometers with axial injection include MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometers (MALDI-TOF MS), which operate with ionization by matrix-assisted laser desorption, but also time-of-flight mass spectrometers where stored ions are injected axially into the flight path from a storage device such as an RF quadrupole ion trap. They usually have Mamyrin reflectors (B. A. Mamyrin et al., "The mass-reflectron, a new nonmagnetic time-of-flight mass spectrometer with high resolution", Sov. Phys.-JETP, 1973: 37(1), 45-48) in order to temporally focus ions with an energy spread. Mamyrin reflectors allow second-order temporal focusing, but not higher order focusing. Since point ion sources are used, the reflectors can be gridless, as a modification of the Mamyrin reflectors, which are operated with grids. MALDI-TOF MS are operated with a delayed acceleration of the ions in the adiabatically expanding laser plasma and with high accelerating voltages of up to 30 kilovolts; in good embodiments, with a total flight path of around 2.5 meters, they achieve mass resolving powers of R=50 000 in a mass range of around 1000 to 3000 daltons.
Time-of-flight mass spectrometers where a primary ion beam undergoes pulsed acceleration at right angles to the original direction of flight of the ions are termed OTOF-MS (orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometers). FIG. 1 depicts a simplified schematic of such an OTOF-MS. The mass analyzer of the OTOF-MS has a so-called ion pulser (12) at the beginning of the flight path (13), and this ion pulser accelerates a section of the low-energy primary ion beam (11), i.e. a string-shaped ion packet, into the flight path (13) at right angles to the previous direction of the beam. The usual accelerating voltages, only small fractions of which are switched at the pulser, amount to between 8 and 20 kilovolts. This forms a ribbon-shaped secondary ion beam (14), which consists of individual, transverse, string-shaped ion packets, each of which is comprised of ions having the same mass. The string-shaped ion packets with light ions fly quickly; those with heavier ions fly more slowly. The direction of flight of this ribbon-shaped secondary ion beam (14) is between the previous direction of the primary ion beam and the direction of acceleration at right angles to this, because the ions retain their speed in the original direction of the primary ion beam (11). A time-of-flight mass spectrometer of this type is also preferably operated with a Mamyrin energy-focusing reflector (15), which reflects the whole width of the ribbon-shaped secondary ion beam (14) with the string-shaped ion packets, focuses its energy spread, and directs it toward a flat detector (16). The width of the ion beam means the reflector must be operated with grids. Mass resolving powers of around R=40 000 at mass 1000 daltons are achieved in these OTOF mass spectrometers.
As these two examples suggest, time-of-flight mass spectrometers with high mass resolution are operated predominantly with Mamyrin reflectors in today's technology. Mamyrin reflectors provide second-order energy focusing, but not higher order focusing. If the energy spread of the ions is relatively large compared to the average energy, undesirable focusing errors occur. Since the kinetic energy of the ions always spreads slightly as the ions are being produced, or during their pulsed acceleration, the time-of-flight mass spectrometers must be operated with high accelerating voltages for the ions, between 5 and 30 kilovolts, for example, in order to always keep the relative energy spread as small as possible in relation to the average energy.
As a consequence of the high ion energy, the very long flight paths must be chosen in order to achieve a good temporal dispersion of ions of different masses. Since the fastest ion detectors at present offer measurement rates up to five billion measurements per second, and thus require a separation of a few nanoseconds between two ion masses which are to be resolved, the flight paths for the high mass resolutions desired must be several meters long, often far more than ten meters. If multiple reflectors are used to keep the instrument compact and to extend the flight path, the residual errors of the reflectors add up. If lower accelerating voltages are used in order to manage with shorter flight paths, the resulting higher relative energy spread, which cannot be focused in a higher order, prevents a high resolving power from being achieved.
It is known that a quadratically increasing electric potential in the reflector results in an ideal reflection with energy focusing of as high an order as desired (T. J. Cornish et al., "A curved field reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer for the simultaneous focusing of metastable product ions", Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 1994: 8(9), 781-785). If such a field is generated in a simple diaphragm stack by voltages which increase quadratically from aperture to aperture, the result is a defocusing effect in both lateral directions. If the kinetic energy of the ions is decreased in order to achieve long dispersive times of flight, the laterally defocusing effect increases. Further electric fields for at least "quasi-ideal" energy focusing are presented in a publication by A. A. Makarov, J. Phys. D; Appl. Phys. 24, 533 (1991).
Kingdon ion traps are generally electrostatic ion traps in which ions can orbit one or more inner electrodes or oscillate between several inner electrodes. An outer, enclosing housing is at a DC potential which the ions with a predetermined total energy (sum of kinetic and potential energy) cannot reach. In special Kingdon ion traps which are suitable for use as mass spectrometers, the inner surfaces of the housing electrodes and the outer surfaces of the inner electrodes can be designed in such a way that, firstly, the motions of the ions in the longitudinal direction of the Kingdon ion trap are completely decoupled from their motions in the transverse direction and, secondly, a symmetrical, parabolic potential profile is generated in the longitudinal direction in which the ions can oscillate harmonically in the longitudinal direction. When "Kingdon ion traps" are mentioned below, this always refers to these special designs.
In the publications DE 10 2007 024 858 A1 (C. Köster) and DE 10 2011 008 713 A1 (C. Köster), Cassini ion traps are described as special types of Kingdon ion traps which differ in the way in which several inner electrodes are arranged. The inner electrodes and the outer housing electrode (and possibly several segmented housing electrodes also) are designed here in such a way that the longitudinal motion is completely decoupled from the transverse motion, and a parabolic potential well is generated in the longitudinal direction for a harmonic oscillation.
The potential distribution φ(x,y,z) of such a Cassini ion trap can, for example, be that of a hyperlogarithmic field of the following form:
      ψ              (              x        ,        y        ,        z            )        =                    ln        [                                                            (                                                      x                    2                                    +                                      y                    2                                                  )                            2                        -                          2              ·                              b                2                            ·                              (                                                      x                    2                                    -                                      y                    2                                                  )                                      +                          b              4                                            ai            4                          ]            ·                        U                      l                                                                          n                                    C                      l                                                                          n                                +                  [                                            -                              (                                  1                  -                  B                                )                                      ·                          x              2                                -                      B            ·                          y              2                                +                      z            2                          ]            ·                        U          quad                          C          quad                      +          U      off      The shape of the field can be changed by the constants a, b and B. Uln, Uquad and Uoff are potential voltages. The inner surface of the outer housing and the outer surfaces of the inner electrodes are equipotential surfaces φ(x,y,z)=const. of this potential distribution. In cross-section, the equipotential lines form approximate Cassini ovals about the inner electrodes here; two inner electrodes result in Cassini ovals of the second order, while n inner electrodes result in Cassini ovals of the nth order. For an even number of inner electrodes, there are embodiments where the ions can oscillate transversely near the center plane between at least one pair of inner electrodes. Any ratio of the longitudinal oscillation period to the transverse oscillation period can be set with the aid of form parameters.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to provide compact time-of-flight mass spectrometers with high mass resolution, and especially to provide reflectors for time-of-flight mass spectrometers whose energy and solid angle focusing are as ideal as possible.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometers with cassini reflector


Bond tool pressure distribution is optimized by a method and apparatus having a device having a first surface which permits inclination of the first surface in at least one direction, wherein the device is in a locked position. A first bonding arrangement is positioned on the first surface of the device. A second surface makes contact to the first bonding arrangement. This contact is detected and the device is unlocked to allow the first surface to incline while the second surface is in contact with the first bonding arrangement. The second surface is applied to the first bonding arrangement with a force, and the device is locked upon application of the force.

This invention relates, in general, to a method of bonding leads to an integrated circuit, including, but not limited to, a method of optimizing bond tool pressure distribution.
During the manufacture and assembly of components it is often necessary to position or hold a work piece in a co-planar orientation to each other. This is a major concern in the assembly of integrated circuits. In particular, it is desirable to have the integrated circuit co-planar with a bonding tool when inner lead bonding (ILB) is performed in a tape automated bonding (TAB) process. When the IC and the bonding tool are coplanar, a uniform amount of pressure is applied to all the leads and the IC, which results in more uniform bonding of the leads to the IC. More uniform bonding translates into a more reliable IC having a reduced amount of lead lifts.
In the past, a self aligning air bearing platform has been used, such as that described by Laninga et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,671 on Jun. 19, 1990. The self aligning air bearing described in this patent has significantly improved the state of the art in this area, but it would be desirable to further optimize the process of achieving coplanarity between the IC and the bonding tool beyond that which was realized by Laninga et al.

Method and apparatus for optimizing bond tool pressure distribution


A center vacuum rotary drill bit including a rotary drill bit body, an insert and an insert spacer assembly. The rotary drill bit body includes a top working surface having a slot extending transversely across the top working surface. The slot includes a first sidewall, an opposite second sidewall and a generally horizontal bottom surface extending between the first sidewall and the second sidewall. The insert includes a pair of oppositely facing generally parallel side surfaces, a pair of oppositely facing generally parallel end surfaces extending between and interconnecting the side surfaces, a pair of oppositely inclined top surfaces extending between and interconnecting the side and end pairs of surfaces, and a bottom surface extending transversely to and interconnecting the side and end pairs of surfaces. The insert spacer assembly includes a shim and a spacer bar. The shim has a pair of upstanding spaced sidewalls and a bottom wall extending in transverse relation between and integrally connecting the sidewalls. The spacer bar is of a generally parallelogram configuration and has a coefficient of expansion 10 micro in./in./degree C. The insert spacer assembly is interposed between the insert and the slot to elevate the insert with respect to the top working surface of the rotary drill bit body.

A hard wear resistant insert for use in a center vacuum rotary drill bit is typically formed of cemented tungsten carbide and is secured by brazing the insert within a slot formed within a top working surface of the body of the rotary drill bit. The hard wear resistant insert secured within the top working surface of the rotary drill bit body typically wears or dulls before the drill bit body such that the user of the center vacuum rotary drill bit must either replace the entire rotary drill bit, attempt to replace the insert with a new insert of similar size, or attempt to resharpen the insert. Replacement of the entire center vacuum rotary drill bit is costly and resharpening of the insert may only be performed a limited number of times before the top working surface of the drill bit body frictionally engages the material to be cut. Inevitably, replacement of the worn hard wear resistant insert with a new hard wear resistant insert is the selected approach.
It will be appreciated that after prolonged use both the hard wear resistant insert of the rotary drill bit body and the top working surface of the bit body wear such that the depth of the slot within the center vacuum rotary drill bit body changes.
Because the height of the hard wear resistant insert and/or depth of the slot within the center vacuum rotary drill bit body are typically unique to a given manufacturer, substitution of one size insert among various center vacuum rotary drill bit bodies is difficult if not impossible. Substitution of worn inserts with comparably sized inserts is important because a dissimilar insert may not clear the top working surface of the center vacuum rotary drill bit body or the new insert may project so far above the center vacuum rotary drill bit body that the insert is susceptible to fracturing during use.
Exemplary of this problem is a comparison of a HKCV3 13/8 inch center vacuum rotary drill bit obtainable from Kennametal Inc., and a comparable 13/8 inch center vacuum rotary drill bit obtainable from American Mine Tool. The HKCV3 13/8 inch center vacuum rotary drill bit includes an insert approximately 0.67 inches in height within a 0.55 inch deep slot formed within the top working surface of the rotary drill bit. The comparable 13/8 inch center vacuum rotary drill bit obtainable from American Mine Tool includes an insert of approximately 0.74 inches in height within an approximately 0.62 inch deep slot. It will be appreciated that the Kennametal insert cannot be simply substituted within the American Mine Tool slot because the slots are of different depths, thereby effecting the amount of insert exposed during drilling, i.e., clearance, and inevitably the performance of the drill bit.
One possible solution is to manufacture a variety of new inserts having acceptable insert heights for the corresponding slot depths formed within the center vacuum rotary drill bit bodies. The separate manufacture of new inserts for use with a specific center vacuum rotary drill bit body all but eliminates any savings which may be realized in substituting a readily available insert within another manufacturer's center vacuum rotary drill bit body because of the variety of inserts which must be inventoried to meet industry requirements.
In view of the foregoing, there is a significant need for an insert spacer assembly to allow for the use of various insert designs within a variety of rotary drill bit bodies to accommodate dissimilar slot depths and insert heights. In addition, there is a significant need for an insert spacer assembly to allow for the use of inserts made of less material than comparable inserts typically employed in a similar slot, thereby resulting in substantial cost savings.
To alleviate the aforementioned problems, we have invented a novel insert spacer assembly for adjusting the elevation of a hard, wear resistant insert within a slot formed within a top working surface of a rotary drill bit body. The insert spacer assembly includes a shim and a spacer bar. The coefficient of expansion of the spacer bar and the shim are each greater than or equal to 10 micro in./in./degree C. to effectively distribute the force of drilling over the slot and reduce the stress load on the insert. It is believed that if the coefficient of expansion of the spacer bar is less than 10 micro in./in./degree C. then the spacer bar will be susceptible to internal stress fracture during brazing of the insert and heat treatment of the bit body.
The combination of the shim and spacer bar elevates the insert within the slot with respect to the top working surface of the rotary drill bit body such that most any style and height of insert may be used within any rotary drill bit body. It will be appreciated that because most any height of insert may now be used in any depth of slot and provide substantially the same rotary drill bit effectiveness, substantial savings may also be realized in using less material to form the insert.


Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include initializing, by a processor executing a file system in communication with a block manager managing multiple storage regions on a storage device, a file system write cache to have a default cache size, the default cache size corresponding to a first storage capacity of a default number of the storage regions. Upon detecting that a current number of the storage regions that are not in use by the block manager is less than the default number, the file system write cache is resized to a reduced cache size that corresponds to a second storage capacity of the current number of the storage regions. While the file system write cache has the reduced cache size, the file system write cache can be resized back to the default cache size as unused storage regions become available.

Thin provisioning is a method used by storage systems to optimize utilization of available physical storage space. Instead of allocating all requested physical blocks (also known as storage regions) to data volumes (i.e., logical volumes) up front, thin provisioning implements on-demand allocation of the storage units to the data volumes. This methodology helps eliminate almost all "whitespace" (i.e., storage regions allocated to data volumes but not storing any data), thereby improving storage utilization rates over storage allocation methods such as thick provisioning that allocate, to individual data volumes, storage regions that may remain unused (i.e., not storing any data).
Thin provisioning implements an over-allocation (or over-subscription) mechanism that enables a storage system to view additional storage capacity than has been physically reserved on the storage system itself. In thin provisioning, physical storage space is either physical storage space or logical storage space, wherein the physical storage space is either reserved or used. Reserved physical storage space comprises an amount of storage space that is allocated to a storage pool, and used storage space comprises an amount of reserved physical storage space that is currently used to store data. For a given data volume, the logical space comprises the given volume's reported capacity, and for a given storage pool, the logical space comprises a maximum size for all data volumes in the pool.
Over-allocation enables flexibility in growth of data volumes, without having to predict accurately how much a given data volume will grow. Instead, storage region growth becomes sequential. Physical storage capacity in the storage system is only dedicated when data is actually written by a host computer, not when the storage volume is initially allocated. The servers, and by extension the applications that reside on them, view a full size data volume from the storage but the storage itself only allocates the blocks of data when they are written.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in this field and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present patent application.

Dynamically controlling a file system write cache

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A plastic storage bin comprising a container and a label holder is disclosed. The label holder is configured to rotatably and detachably couple with the container. The label holder preferably comprises a clear rigid plastic designed to hold a 3″×5″ card that describes the contents of the container. Specifically, the preferred label holder is configured to rotatably and detachably couple with a label holder securing means by cooperatively engaging a plurality of protrusions with a plurality of apertures. The storage bin further comprises a lid configured to mate with the container so as to create a positive seal. The plastic storage bin with a rotatably attachable label holder is easily assembled and disassembled without the use of any tools, glue, tape or other adhesives.

Plastic storage bins have been well known for many years. Plastic storage bins have a variety of commercial and home uses, such as their use as containers of supplies, clothing, tools, toys, and the like.
Current plastic storage bins do not have removable label holders. Therefore, the user of a bin does not have an easy means to identify the contents of the bin, unless the bin is transparent, the user is looking directly into the bin itself, or the user has affixed a label to the bin that describes the bin's contents. Because bins are often located on shelving, or in such other manner that prevents the user from looking directly into the bin, the user is unable to easily determine the bin's contents. Affixing a label to the bins by means of tape, glue or other adhesive material is cumbersome and requires the often-messy or time consuming effort to remove the affixed label when the contents of the bin are changed. Furthermore, tape, glue or some other adhesive material on a label is necessary in order to fully label the contents of the bin.
It is difficult to ascertain the contents of current plastic storage bins without looking directly into the bins. It is also difficult to label these prior plastic storage bins without using a separate adhesive, such as tape, glue or other adhesive label.

Storage bin with attachable label holder


A figure editing apparatus and method includes the feature of displaying a first table of classifications of editing objects. A desired classification from the first table is selected and displayed. A second table containing editing objects is displayed based on the selected classification, and the editing objects are displayed in such a manner that editing objects that have been edited and editing objects that have not yet been edited are displayed in different forms in a common display area. A desired editing object is selected from the second table and displayed, and an editing process is performed based on the selected editing object.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a figure editing apparatus and method which are suitable for correction or the like of a character font and, more particularly, to the designation of an editing object.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, in such a kind of figure editing apparatus, when an object to be edited is designated, the object is designated by a number, for example, a JIS code allocated on the basis of a predetermined rule.
However, in order to group characters or the like as editing objects and to sequentially edit every group in accordance with the order other than the numerical order, the operator has to designate the editing objects one by one by the numbers while looking at a memorandum or on the basis of his memory. There is not a method of knowing which object has been edited or is not yet edited. The operator also has to manage such information regarding the editing or unediting by writing such information on a memorandum or the like. There is, consequently, a problem such that the operator is largely burdened and a mistake also easily occurs.

Figure editing apparatus and method for displaying edited objects in a form different from objects not yet edited


A power system for managing charging, discharging and protection of rechargeable batteries is disclosed. The power system mainly includes a power system. The power system includes a switching circuit coupled to the rechargeable batteries to charge and discharge the rechargeable batteries. The power system includes a power management unit to control the switching circuit. The power system includes a temperature sensing circuit to monitor a temperature of the batteries, voltage detectors to monitor voltages of the batteries, and current detectors to monitor a current of the batteries. If an abnormal condition is sensed by the power management unit when the power system is in an operating mode, the power management unit will terminate the operating mode by switching off the switching circuit to protect the batteries and the power system.

Rechargeable batteries are commonly employed to supply power for portable electronic devices such as radios, notebook computers, cameras, etc. A rechargeable battery can be refreshed to full capacity if the rechargeable battery is charged by a power source such as an adapter. A battery management system may be employed to implement the charging function, and the battery management system can also provide protection function to protect the battery from any damage under some abnormal conditions, such as over voltage, over temperature, etc. In conventional solutions, the charging function and protection function for a battery management system are usually implemented by separate circuits, a circuit for the charging function and a circuit for the protection function.
The battery management system usually includes a detection circuit to monitor the capacity of the rechargeable battery, for example, the voltage value of the rechargeable battery. When the battery capacity is not full, the battery management system will charge the battery. When the battery is fully charged, the charging process will be terminated.
During the process of charging the rechargeable battery, if some abnormal conditions such as over voltage, over current or abnormal temperature occur, these abnormal conditions will considerably deteriorate the battery performance. So the protection function is needed to avoid abnormal conditions from deteriorating the battery. When an abnormal condition is detected, the protection operation, such as terminating the charging process, is activated to protect the battery.
In conventional battery management systems, the circuits designed for charging and protection functions are located on different chips. The circuit for the charging function may be integrated into one chip and sealed as an apparatus outside a battery package. The circuit for the protection function may be integrated into another chip and sealed with the battery inside the battery package. In these conventional applications, since two separate packages are needed for charging the rechargeable battery, it is not convenient enough especially for use by portable electronic devices. Some designers have tried to integrate both charging and protection functions into a single chip and seal the chip with the battery inside the battery package.
However, the simple combination of two circuits makes the chip size much larger. The chip integrating with both charging and protection functions is larger and much more complex than a chip with only one function. Sealing the combined chip within the battery package increases the size of the battery package even more. Therefore, it is needed an efficient system for providing the charging and protection functions to portable electronic devices, and it is to such system the present invention is primarily directed.

Power management circuit for battery pack


An easily assemblable and cost efficient removable cap is provided in a housing for hearing devices or hearing aids respectively with sound amplifying components arranged at the inside of the housing with at least one opening arranged on the housing. The removable cap is a one-piece element with outwardly protruding pins, and it covers the opening. Grooves are also provided in the vicinity of the opening with dead stops, wherein said pins are insertable into the grooves from the inside of the housing but are jammed from being pulled outside of the housing by said dead stops in order to prevent any unintentional or independent loosening of the cap.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a housing for hearing devices or hearing aids respectively with sound amplifying components arranged at the inside of the housing, at least one opening arranged at the outside and a removable cap for covering said opening.
Hearing devices or hearing aids respectively commonly consist of a closed housing or joined housing shells for its operations. As the devices are subject to a number of environmental influences during its operations, the housings, as well as multipart shells, have to be leak-proved sealed. The respective housings thus may only be opened with special tools and by respectively trained or skilled persons.
For direct interventions into the inside of the housing during operation or during short breaks of operation, without the need of opening the housing shell, closable openings will have to be provided within the housing shell. This may be the case if an electrical plug-in connection has to be established with an external unit.
2 . Description of Related Art
Such openings are provided in known hearing devices, such as behind-the-ear hearing aids, with electronic amplifying techniques, and may be closed with covers pivotably arranged at the housing. Such covers are for instance attached by means of metallic axis or pins, that are arranged leading through the cap as well as through the housing. This provides a stable connection but needs a great amount of space and is involved with relatively high production costs due to its multi-piece composition and use of different materials.
In another known embodiment a cap for closing the opening is insertable from the outside through an opening into the housing, whereby elastically hinge elements will snap into accordingly shaped recesses within the housing. The cap thus may be provided as a one-piece element but bears the risk that the cap may get loose or broken by inappropriate handling.
In another known embodiment, the openings are covered or closed by a cap having a flexible hinge or consisting of flexible material, such as rubber. Such covers disadvantageously have a self-closing effect due to its flexible and resilient characteristics of the hinge, thus closing the opening before the intended intervention through the opening has taken place.

Housing for hearing devices or hearing aids


Devices and methods for accurate reading of data in memory technology prone to drifting memory characteristics. An example device includes a memory array for storing data, and a memory buffer for storing a subset of the data in the memory array. A memory controller is configured to read data from the memory buffer if the data was written to the memory array before a predetermined duration of time, and to read the data from the memory array if the data is at least one of not valid or not available at the memory buffer.

The present invention relates to computer memory devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to management of memory devices with drifting electrical characteristics.
Typical memory devices consist of memory cells fabricated with semiconductor materials. As memory device size continues to scale down and with the continuing drive to maintain low power consumption in memory devices, many issues arise from the limitations of the materials and their electrical properties. One such issue is the drifting of electrical characteristics utilized for reading memory states. An example of drifting read characteristics is the tendency of electric charge leakage in a capacitor memory cell.
Another example is resistance drift in phase change memory (PCM) technology. Conventionally, PCM read operations measure resistance level to distinguish memory states. The resistance levels in PCM cells have a tendency to increase over time, after programming. The resistance drift makes reading the stored data from a PCM cell challenging because resistance contrast between two adjacent (in terms of resistance levels) memory states is gradually reduced over time, and resistance of different memory states may eventually overlap.
Additionally, multi-level cell (MLC) memory technology has been employed to increase data density in memory devices. MLC memory arrays incorporate memory cells with the advantage of storing two or more digit binary values, as opposed to the traditional single-level cell (SLC) memory that stores a single digit binary value. However, resistance drift is more problematic when a PCM cell is configured with a MLC scheme than a SLC scheme because the resistance margins between neighboring resistance levels are greatly reduced in MLC.

Memory device with memory buffer for premature read protection

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to MOCA networks including power-saving MOCA-capable devices. Each of the MOCA-capable devices is operable during a normal or active mode to perform the specific multimedia functionality for which the device is designed, such as to function as a digital video recorder (DVR) and content server, set-top box, and so on. Moreover, each of the MOCA-capable devices is also operable to automatically enter a low-power or standby mode, which reduces the power consumption of the device, when the device need not operate in the active mode. In this way, power savings in each of the MOCA devices results in overall power savings in the MOCA network. A global user-configurable low-power or standby mode parameter can be utilized to override the automatic standby mode operation if desired.

The Multimedia over Coaxial Alliance ("MoCA" or "MOCA" herein) is a networking standard for home entertainment networks that utilizes a home's existing coaxial structure or "backbone." In a MOCA network, MOCA-compliant or -capable devices communicate with one another over the coaxial backbone to thereby provide desired content, such as high-definition (HD) video and audio, to occupants of the home. For example, a MOCA network may include a MOCA-capable media center PC that serves multimedia content over the coaxial backbone to other MOCA-capable devices, such as laptop computers and HD televisions (HDTVs). As opposed to serving of such content over a typical in-home wireless network, such as conventional Wi-Fi network, the serving of content over the coaxial backbone allows for a much higher bandwidth and more reliable communication of such content. While the MOCA standard is specifically directed to utilization in homes having existing coaxial backbones, it may of course be used in structures other than homes and in homes or other structures not having an existing coaxial backbones but which have such a backbone newly installed to accommodate the network.
MOCA-capable devices can consume relatively large amounts of power during operation. This is true simply because the MOCA-capable devices are connected to the MOCA network, and even when such content is not desired and is not being used by the occupants of the home. Even if the power consumption of several MOCA-capable devices in a given home is not that large, as more homes implement MOCA networks then the power consumption of such networks in the aggregate could indeed be large, and the wasted power of such devices operating when the operation of the devices is not necessary could be significant.
There is accordingly a need for lowering the power consumption of MOCA-capable devices to thereby lower the power consumption of the MOCA network.

Energy saving circuits and methods for multimedia over coaxial alliance (MOCA) capable devices


A sub tray selector is provided in a casing and rotatable so as to adjust a selecting position in accordance with the height of a designated sub tray. The sub tray selector is capable of retaining the designated sub tray and any other sub trays stacked thereon and disengaging each of the retained sub trays from a sub tray engaging member in accordance with a shifting motion of a base tray advancing to the external position. Thus, the retained sub trays stay at the standby position.

The present invention relates to an automatic disc playback apparatus or a disc player. Various kinds of automatic disc playback apparatuses have been conventionally employed as means for continuous playback of a plurality of discs. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 4-205755, published in 1992, discloses a base tray. A plurality of sub trays, each mounting a disc, are stacked on this base tray.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a conventional disc player disclosed in the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 4-205755. FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating a disc loading operation of the conventional disc player.
As shown in FIG. 8, a disc player 100 has a boxlike player housing 101. A rectangular opening 101a1 is provided on a front face 110a of the player housing 101. A base tray 102 is coupled or engaged in the opening 101a. The base tray 102 is slidable between an external position where the base tray 102 is positioned outside the player housing 101 and a standby position where the base tray 102 is lodged inside the player housing 101.
A plurality of sub trays 103, each mounting a disc D, are stacked on the base tray 102 in an up-and-down direction. Among the plurality of sub trays 103, a desired sub tray 103 is shiftable with respect to the base tray 102. The desired sub tray 103 can thus be transported to the standby position and to a later-described playback position.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9, the above-described disc player 100 comprises a pair of sub tray holders 104 and 105 supporting the right and left sides of the sub tray 103 positioned at the standby position and displaceable in accordance with a pulling motion of the base tray 102 advancing to the external position. A sub tray standby position engaging mechanism and sub tray selecting mechanism 106 is provided to position the desired sub tray 103 at the standby position.
The sub tray 103 mounts the disc D. In one mode, the sub tray 103 advances to the external position together with the base tray 102. In another mode, the sub tray 103,is shifted from the external position to the inside of the player housing 101 and stays at the standby position in the player housing 101. The sub tray holders 104, 105, the sub tray standby position engaging mechanism and sub tray selecting mechanism 106 are cooperative to position the sub tray 103 in the above-described manner. Furthermore, in a still another mode, the sub tray 103 is shifted from the standby position to the playback position.
However, according to the above-described conventional disc player 100, there is a necessity of providing complicated mechanisms for selecting the desired sub tray 103 from the plurality of sub trays 103 stacked on the base tray 102. More specifically, all of the above-described sub tray holders 104 and 105 and the sub tray standby position engaging mechanism and sub tray selecting mechanism 106 are complicated in their constructions. Therefore, a simple mechanism performing the same function is earnestly needed.
Furthermore, according to the above-described conventional disc player 100, the base tray 102 comprises a pair of finger holes 102a and 102a opened at the right and left sides of the front end thereof as shown in FIG. 9. With this arrangement, an operator is allowed to insert fingers into the finger holes 102a and 102a to hold or pinch the outer periphery of the disc D. However, this arrangement is disadvantageous in that the disc D placed on the lowermost sub tray 103 is difficult to hold, because the operator is forced to insert his/her fingers deeply into the finger holes 102a and 102a.


A photodiode array has buried photodiodes and vertical selection transistors. Trenches are lined with gate oxide and metallic plugs of first material lie within the trenches. Gate contacts of second material contact the metallic plugs, with photodiode diffusion regions adjacent the trenches as sources of vertical transistors, the metallic plugs form gates of the vertical transistors, and buried photodiode regions form sources of the vertical transistors. In embodiments, the first conductive material is tungsten, titanium nitride, titanium carbide, or aluminum and the second conductive material is polysilicon. The array is formed by trenching, growing gate oxide, and depositing first material in the trenches. The first material is etched to define metallic plugs, the second material is deposited onto the metallic plugs then masked and etched; and drain regions implanted. Etching the second material is performed by a reactive ion etch that stops upon reaching the metallic plugs.

Image sensing photodiode arrays are common in CMOS electronic cameras; most such photodiode arrays have photodiodes in or near the same plane as transfer-gate, sensing, and resetting transistors.
Typically, image sensing photodiode arrays are organized as illustrated in FIG. 1. The transfer transistors 102 selectively couple a sense and reset node 104, often known as a floating diffusion region and acting as a drain of the transfer transistors, to the photodiode 106 itself acting as a source of the transfer transistors, while the reset transistors 108 selectively couple the sense and reset node (also referred to as the floating diffusion region) 104 to a reset voltage 110 that may be a power supply voltage. The sensing transistors 112 are controlled by voltage of the sense and reset node 104 and provide a signal to a selection transistor 114 that is dependent on integrated photocurrent in photodiode 106 since a prior reset. There are often additional pairs 116 of photodiodes with transfer transistors coupled to each sense and reset node 104.
In a baseline embodiment 120, FIG. 1A, which provides a top view of a four-shared pixel structure resembling the photodiode structure of FIG. 1, photodiodes 122 are buried photodiodes with photodiode diffused regions 124 that do not reach surface of the silicon substrate 100 into which they are implanted. Trenches 126 are etched into the silicon substrate 100 to reach the photodiode diffused regions 124; these trenches are lined with a gate oxide 128 and filled with polysilicon material forming transfer gate 130, polysilicon material filling in trenches forms vertical gate electrodes for respective transfer gates 130 and couple respective photodiode diffused region 124 to a diffused region 132 serving as a drain of the associated transfer gate and as the floating diffusion region, the polysilicon material is also formed over the silicon surface to connect to a photodiode select line (not shown) through a contact. When the transfer gate 130 is driven to a voltage through that selects the photodiode, a channel 134 forms along both side walls of the vertical gate electrodes 126 and along the surface to diffusion region 132. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the drains of the transfer gates may be merged into a common diffusion region 132 as part of the floating diffusion region 104.
In an embodiment, the device illustrated in FIG. 1A is fabricated with the drain regions or floating diffusion region coupled to four transfer gates is formed in the center surrounding by photodiode diffusion regions 124 as illustrated in FIG. 1B. Each of the transfer gates has a gate formed of a planar polysilicon gate electrode 142 and two vertical transfer gate electrodes 144 extending from the planar polysilicon gate electrode 142 into the silicon substrate 100. The gate of each transfer gates 130 couples an associated photodiode (not shown in FIG. 1B but lying beneath the respective transfer gate 130) to a common floating diffusion region.

Method and image sensor with vertical transfer gate and buried backside-illuminated photodiodes


An improved, simple rack for the secure transport of bicycles and small motorcycles in the bed of a pickup truck or trailer without clamping, strapping or disassembly of the cycle, and with minimal obstruction of the load-carrying bed floor, has individual cycle wheel receptacles with both fixed and spring-loaded wheel clamping brackets, that are secured to at least one rack rail assembly that is secured to opposite sides of the truck or trailer bed. In order to secure a cycle in the rack, a front or rear wheel of the cycle is lifted up and pushed into the wheel receptacle between the fixed and spring-loaded wheel clamping brackets. In order to unload the cycle, the wheel is pushed against the spring-loaded wheel clamping bracket, thereby releasing the wheel from the fixed wheel clamping bracket, and is, then, pulled upwardly from the wheel receptacle.

Bicycles, motorcycles, and other wheeled recreational equipment are commonly transported in or on vehicles such as automobiles, pickup trucks, and trailers. Numerous racks and tie-down devices have been devised to secure these recreational vehicles during transport. Almost all of the prior-art carrying devices require clamping, strapping, or partial disassembly of a bicycle or recreational vehicle before it is transported. When such prior-art carrying devices are employed, considerable time and effort is required to load and unload bicycles and other such equipment. Many prior-art carrying devices have not been designed to specifically accommodate installation within pickup truck beds, and those that have been so designed typically obstruct the load-carrying floor of the bed even when bicycles are not being transported. Other carrying and transport devices do not securely grip the bicycle, thereby risking damage to a bicycle's frame, components, and paint if it is ejected from the carrying device when bumps in the road are encountered.
What is needed is a simple rack that may be mounted within the bed of a pickup truck, trailer, or other transport vehicle in such a way that it minimizes obstruction of the load-carrying bed floor of the pickup truck or trailer. Such a rack will also provide a secure method of carrying bicycles, as well as small motorcycles and motor scooters having wheels of varying size.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Bicycle rack installable in a pickup truck bed or trailer


A high efficiency and compact optical device comprising two or more active and resonating optical facet surfaces defined by a three-dimensional representation and configured to provide a three-dimensional device. A focal region, remote from the optical surfaces and non-contiguous therewith, is defined by two or more active optical resonant surfaces, at least one of which is self-resonant. The optical surfaces in general do not have a continuous second derivative and are defined by a piecewise continuous surface function providing radially directed facets. The optical device comprises a transparent dielectric body with its optical surfaces being formed on the surfaces of said transparent dielectric body. A light transducer may be located at a focal region to provide an energy conversion. A light source having a physical extension in space, such as an LED, may be located at the focal region to provide collimation. In some embodiments the active surfaces may be chosen to transform incident radiation into a predetermined shape and having a predetermined spatial power distribution.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to facet-based, compact, and high-efficiency optical concentrators, collimators, reflectors, and couplers that do not, in general, preserve the point-to-point ordering of the input light rays so that maximum power transfer from a first aperture to a second aperture is achieved.
2. Prior Art
The physical processes that are available to the designer of a light concentrator are limited. Following what has become convention in the field of optical concentration we shall give letter designations to different processes used for controlling light: surface Refraction (R), surface reflection (X), total Internal reflection (I), Diffraction (D), volume refraction due to Gradients in refractive index (G). A concentrator is then classified by the primary mechanisms that are used to implement the concentration. Secondary processes comprising less than 50% of the optical interactions are typically not listed.
For example, a simple concentrating lens having two refractive surfaces with a constant refractive index in between the surfaces is described as an RR (or R2) concentrator; while a cassegrainian-like two mirror concentrating system that is immersed in air is described as an XX (or X2) concentrator system. The ordering of the letters, as read from left to right, is important and generally describes the order of interaction of the processes involved in the concentration of light. Therefore, a concentrator described as RX is not the same as a concentrator described as XR because the RX concentrator involves a refraction followed by a reflection while the XR concentrator involves a reflection followed by a refraction for concentration. Even if there are only two physical surfaces it may also be possible to have three or more processes of light redirection involved. For example it is possible for an RXI concentrator to use refraction, followed by a mirror reflection, and finally total internal reflection while only using two physical surfaces. Note, that this nomenclature does not distinguish between different sources of radiant energy nor does it consider the end use of the light. Also note that due to time-reversal invariance of the equations of electromagnetics a concentrator may be run "backwards" as an expander or collimator of light (the opposite of a concentrator) such as might be useful for illumination applications from a small lamp, however, the left-to-right ordering of the categorizing letters is always meant to imply concentration in this document. With this systematic notation we can easily categorize the types of solar concentrators that exist in the prior art and then compare them to the current invention.
A canonical problem in the area of non-imaging optics is how to design ultra-efficient concentrators, collimators, and other power transfer devices, which are manufacturable, compact, robust, cost effective, and producible in large volumes. There are a number of concentration techniques that are available in the literature. However, most of these techniques use a two-parameter bundle of input rays for their design. In contradistinction, the present invention uses the full extended phase space for the design. In particular, the present invention deals predominantly with concentrators typically of type I2, I3, I4, and IN (where usually N≧2 and an integer).
The following are a list of the issued patents that use a variety of different techniques for concentration. It is observed that these patents, clearly do not anticipate, teach, or show in any way, the use of a large-area non-planar facet surface morphology for concentrating light by predominantly Total Internal Reflections.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,565 issued to Arnulf Rabl and Veronika Rabl on 1978 Oct. 17 deals with concentrators of type I2, which only use two total internal reflection redirections. However, this prior art addresses only a very specific from of optical facet having both a right-angle at each facet apex and linear flat surfaces on the facet sides. Although these concentrators are based on total internal reflections they are also substantially in error with respect to what physics is needed to actually implement a high concentration lens design. In particular, this prior art will always have a concentration that is strictly less than the theoretical limit imposed by physics because it has intrinsic astigmatism due to the strict use of right angles and flat surface facets in their patent. The resulting astigmatism is seen in FIG. 9. Finally, this prior art is also unable to provide any shaping of the resulting focused light spot.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,337,759; 5,404,869; 5,577,492; 5,577,493; 5,613,769; 5,676,453 and 5,655,832 issued in various combinations to John M. Popovich, William A. Parkyn Jr., and David G. Pelka deal with concentrators of type I, IR, and IR2 having large numbers of relatively small facets compared to the diameter of the lens. The non-imaging lenses they consider are also limited by the extreme sharp or acute angles of the facets making it very hard to manufacture. Additionally, the approaches presented in their patent are not capable of reaching the highest possible concentration because the focal region is typically placed in the air not the dielectric so that the advantages of a refractive index greater than unity are not exploited.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,155 issued to Ugar Ortabasi on Jun. 6, 2001 deals with concentrators of type RGXGX, which are based on the classical compound parabolic concentrator and are not capable of being made physically compact and also require multiple distinct parts for fabrication instead of just one compact transparent dielectric part.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,733 issued to Juan C. Minano, Pablo Benitez, Juan C. Gonzalez, Waqidi Falicoff, and H. J. Caulfield of Light Prescriptions Innovators LLC on Oct. 28, 2003 deals with concentrators of type RR, RX, RXI, X2, and XR. The concentrators of this prior art invention are limited by being restricted to: optical surfaces having continuous second derivatives; small or micro-structured facets; flat facets; facets that are based on complimentary pairs or sub-facets that must include both an active facet and an inactive facet; facets that are characterized by a deflection laws based on reflection from a mirrored facet surface, refraction from a refractive facet surface, and a combination of reflection and refraction from facets having mirrored and refractive surfaces; an extended phase-space design restricted to two spatial coordinates and one momentum coordinate for the input light bundle of rays as well as the design of the concentrator; and facets that are configured to exist only as concentric annuli around the optical axis. In all distinguishing cases just listed the present invention is different and teaches a different means to achieve concentration and collimation of light. In particular, the present invention deals predominantly with concentrators typically of type I2, I3, I4, and IN (where usually N≧2 and an integer). In general, the present invention uses at least one surface that has discontinuous second derivatives at periodic or non-periodic coordinate locations; large facets; curved facets; complimentary pairs of facets that only have active facet faces; facets that are characterized by a deflection law based on reflection from unmirrored facet surfaces using only total internal reflection; a design that demands working in a five dimensional extended phase space even if the input bundle of rays is restricted to two spatial coordinates and one momentum coordinate for the input bundle of rays; and each facets is configured to exist predominantly over a limited range of azimuthal angles Δφ instead of 360 degree for the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,381 issued to Pablo Benitez, Juan C. Minano, Fernando Munoz of Light Prescriptions Innovators LLC. on 2005 May 24 deals with concentrators of type RXIR, which is different than the present invention of IN type concentrators because there are no self-resonant facet surfaces.
Juan C. Minano in J. Opt. Soc. Am. A/Vol. 2 No. 11 pp 1826 shows an R3 type concentrator called a compound triangular concentrator, and in J. Opt. Soc. Am. A/Vol. 3 pp 1345 shows an RG type type Graded Refractive Index (GRIN) concentrator. Many other examples can be found and examined in detail by Prof. Roland Winston et. al. in the text "Nonimaging Optics", ISBN: 0-12-759751-4, published by Elsever in 2005. Each of the references listed previously has one or more of the following disadvantages, while the present invention reduces or eliminates these disadvantages.
The first disadvantage of the prior art is that they use a large area of mirrored surfaces for the primary reflecting surface. These mirrored surfaces provide a failure mode for micro-cracks and mirror detachments to attack the optical system—especially over extended time periods (decades) of thermal cycling. The present invention overcomes this limitation by predominantly using Total Internal Reflection (TIR) on one or more surfaces to minimize or, in some embodiments, completely eliminate mirrored surfaces altogether.
The second disadvantage of the prior art that it does not have a built in means to control the shape of the final light spot at the output focal region. The present invention overcomes this limitation in some embodiments by shaping each facet in a slightly different way in order to facilitate a match between the shape of the focused light spot on a receiving device, located at the output aperture focal region, and the shape of said device itself—such as a photovoltaic cell.
The third disadvantage of the prior art is that it is not transparent and therefore there is no means to provide a visual representation of colors and textures that are located behind, and noncontiguous with, the concentrator to a remote observer by indirect lighting or by active light sources behind the concentrator. The prior art is therefore less aesthetically appealing to humans and is less desirable for unobtrusive integration into buildings and other platforms where the aesthetic function is required. The present invention overcomes this limitation by not using much of the concentrator's area for mirrored surfaces. In some embodiments no mirrored surfaces are needed at all.
The fourth disadvantage of the prior art again results from the fact that the concentrator is not completely transparent and therefore there is no direct way to provide diffuse light to an observer or system that is behind the lens or array of concentrator lenses. For example, such a capability is needed when the lens is integrated into a window like structure that provides both concentrated direct solar energy to a photovoltaic cell as well as dispersed natural lighting. Again, the present invention overcomes this limitation by not using much of the concentrator's area for mirrored surfaces. In some embodiments no mirrored surfaces are needed at all.
The fifth disadvantage is that the prior art is not integrated with a means for dissipating the energy from thermal heating at the concentrated light spot. The present invention overcomes this limitation by using nano-structured and transparent thermal control structures typically located on the concentrator's surface near to any optically absorptive regions that get hot from concentrated light.
The sixth disadvantage is that the prior art is typically not very thin and low profile. The present invention overcomes this limitation by providing a means to fold the optics while minimizing or eliminating the need for many, and sometimes all mirrored surfaces. Folding the optics means that the required path length for focusing the light is obtained by multiple reflections within the concentrating device instead of directly by propagation without reflections.
The seventh disadvantage is that some of the prior art exhibits a lack of broad-band capability due to material and structural dispersion of light. This is especially true for systems that employ a refractive index that changes from point-to-point in the volume of the concentrator due to intrinsic material dispersion. Certain embodiments of the present invention overcomes this limitation by minimizing refraction thereby minimizing the effects of material dispersion.
The eighth disadvantage of the prior art is that it is typically difficult to manufacture. The present invention overcomes this limitation by using low cost materials that are homogenous and which may be structurally modified and fine tuned by established machining techniques as well as a number of other process that only change the shape of a one-material optical element. Furthermore, the facets of the present invention are typically large relative to the sizes of the device. This allows for easier manufacturing and a more robust and durable lens.
The ninth disadvantage of the prior art is that it does not allow for the easy formation of arrays of lenses. The present invention overcomes this limitation by providing a structure that has a facet morphology that may act as mechanical spars, which provides an integrated stiffener to keep an array of lenses optically flat even under external loads—such as from high winds or a human walking on meter-scale tiles of the concentrators.
The tenth disadvantage of the prior art is that most optical elements are rotationally or transitionally symmetric, which leads to rotational and translational skew invariance. This invariance tends to limit the concentration performance beyond that suggested by the conservation of etendue. Certain embodiments of the present invention break the rotational or translational symmetry by having different facet shapes at non periodic facet locations for the purpose of shaping the focal spot to a desired shape or for simply improving concentration performance.
The eleventh disadvantage of the prior art is that when curved facets are employed they tend to be small structures relative to the size of the largest dimension of the device and to incorporate very acute angles at their apex thereby making them difficult to manufacture and fragile. In the present invention the facets are a large fraction of the largest dimension of the device. This helps improve the manufacturability of the device.
The twelfth disadvantage is that the prior art can not provide both concentrated light and dispersed light to both a high efficiency photovoltaic cell that uses only directly concentrated light and to thin-film photovoltaic cells for dispersed light simultaneously. The present invention can because it is transparent to diffuse light.
While all of these disadvantages may not exist for any one particular prior art design all of the previously mentioned sources of prior art do suffer from one or more of the above stated deficits. However, each embodiment of the present invention incorporates the majority of the advantages alluded to above and discussed in detail throughout this document. These advantages all stem from the unique self-resonant curved facets, which provide a means for light redirection by total internal reflection.
In summary, there are a large number of prior art devices that are currently disclosed and based on Refraction (R), Reflection (X), Gradient (G) index, and total internal (I) reflection for concentrating or collimating light energy. However, none of these teaches or anticipates the present invention of a concentrating optical device, which predominantly uses multiple (N) efficient total internal reflections IN in a high dimensionality phase-space design. The current invention incorporates large non-linear facets that provide very large optical efficiencies, large angles of acceptance, shaping of the focal spot, manufacturability and a compact design. Thus the prior art is seen to have multiple deficiencies, which are addressed and overcome in the present invention.


A device for controlling light emissions and a method for fabricating the device are disclosed herein. A quantum well of an active region of a semiconductor device may comprise a quantum structure lattice having lattice geometries that satisfies the Bragg condition, such that inter-quantum structure distance d between a first quantum structure and a second quantum structure within the quantum structure lattice is an integer multiple of a emission half wavelength mλo/2n, where m is an integer, λo is a wavelength in free space, and n is a refractive index of a cladding material of the quantum well.

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor devices, and more specifically relates to using a quantum-structure lattice array to control the light emission properties of a semiconductor quantum well structure.
Spontaneous and stimulated optical emissions properties of semiconductor active regions may predominately control the performance of optoelectronic emitters such as lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and single-photon emitters. Such spontaneous emissions properties may be controlled by the environment surrounding the light emitter. For example, optical microcavities in the form of photonic crystals, distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), distributed feedback structures (DFBs), and optical waveguides have all been proposed as ways to enhance, attenuate, or suppress spontaneous emissions by changing the density of associated electromagnetic states.
Because passive microcavities does not emit light in of itself, quantum wells and quantum dots are often used as light emitters in the active region of microcavities. Such quantum wells and quantum dots may typically be used for emission wavelength selection via quantum size effects.

Spontaneous and stimulated emission control using quantum-structure lattice arrays


A stent delivery catheter for rapid exchange carries at its distal end a sleeve (12) to surround a self-expanding stent (10) and a tension wire (30) running the length of the catheter to release the stent by proximal withdrawal of the sleeve. A tubular catheter shaft (62) surrounds the tension wire. An inner catheter (44) defines a guidewire lumen (48) with a proximal guidewire exit part (58) at the distal end of the catheter shaft. The inner catheter carries an abutment (32) to restrain the stent from moving proximally when the sleeve is pulled proximally. There is a gap (74) between the abluminal surface of the inner catheter and the luminal surface of the catheter shaft, in which the tension wire is accommodated.

Catheter systems and stent delivery systems are similar, to the extent that each is usually deployed by advancing it along a guidewire. Not infrequently, there will be exchanges of such devices while the guidewire remains in place. Systems which are categorised as "over the wire" have a guidewire lumen which runs the full length of the device. As this is typically of the order of 130 cm, it can be cumbersome and inconvenient to exchange for a different device while the guidewire remains in place, leading to the site of surgical treatment.
By contrast, the so-called "rapid exchange" catheter systems have a guidewire lumen which runs much less than the full length of the system, and only in a distal portion of the length. In such systems, the length of guidewire protruding from the body of the patient during exchange of one catheter system for another, over the same guidewire, need be only a fraction of the full length of the catheter system, making it easier and quicker to make the exchange. This is a good reason for preferring rapid exchange systems to "over-the-wire" systems, other things being equal.
An early example of a rapid exchange catheter system is to be found in EP-A-0 380 873. The system shows a balloon catheter with a substantial part of its length defined by a hypotube which delivers inflation fluid to a balloon at the distal end of the catheter. Running through the balloon is a tube defining a guidewire lumen extending from a distal exit port distal of the balloon to a proximal guidewire exit port some distance proximal of the balloon. Proximal of the proximal guidewire port, the guidewire runs parallel to the hypotube shaft, but outside it. Advancing the catheter device over the guidewire is relatively simple, because the guidewire lumen is more or less straight, with a continuous smooth luminal wall surface.
Reference is now made to the stent delivery system disclosed in EP 505 686. It is to be noticed that the path of the guidewire through the stent delivery system of EP 505 686 is significantly more complicated than that of EP 380 873. Not only does the guidewire pass through the cylindrical wall of the catheter body on which the balloon is mounted, but also through the cylindrical wall of a sheath element which surrounds the stent and which is retracted, relative to the catheter body, for deployment of the stent. To accommodate the guidewire during stent deployment, the sheath 10 has not only a proximal guidewire exit port but also a long slit, the walls of which slide over the guidewire during proximal retraction of the sheath. Furthermore, to deflect the guidewire out of the proximal exit port in the cylindrical wall of the catheter body, there is provided a plug with a tapered end surface which will guide the proximal end of the guidewire, during backloading of the catheter device onto the guidewire, out of the lumen of the catheter body, through the proximal guidewire exit port.


The present invention discloses a package structure of a LCD module without additional fixing and connection devices such as screws, thereby increasing the possibility of further narrowing the frame and improving assembly efficiency of the product line. The package structure of LCD module comprises interlocking back plate, protection frame and front frame.

With the development of technologies and growing expectations of people, people are not longer satisfied with traditional Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) displays which are bulky, heavy and power consuming. Compact, lightweight and low power consuming displays are desired, especially in portable, compact and power saving applications. Driven by such requirements, LCDs are accordingly designed. The LCDs have the advantages of thin, lightweight, low power consumption, low radiation, plane rectangular display, and un-flickering stable images. With the constant decrease in LCD prices, the LCDs have been popular in the market and gradually became mainstream displays instead of the CRTs.
With further development in technologies, people are having higher expectations for LCDs. Thus, the display area of a LCD is getting larger, the thickness of a LCD is getting smaller, and the frame of a LCD is becoming narrower.
The inventors found that a conventional package structure of a LCD normally comprises a front frame, a protection frame and a backplate, which are assembled and then further securely connected by connection devices such as screws. Such design makes it impossible to further reduce the width of the frames. Moreover, with the increase in LCD sizes, more fixing and connection devices are required for the assembly of LCDs, lowering the assembly efficiency of the production line.

Package structure of liquid crystal display module

Beijing BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd.


A broadband wireless access system including: a base station that allocates an uplink bandwidth to each connected subscriber station according to at least one algorithm; and at least one subscriber station that when there is no voice information to be sent through the uplink bandwidth allocated from the base station according to an unsolicited grant service (UGS) algorithm, detects another packet based on another algorithm, encapsulates the detected packet, and sends the encapsulated packet in a payload field of a UGS packet to the base station through the uplink bandwidth. Thus, the broadband wireless access system maximizes utilization of the bandwidth allocated according to the UGS algorithm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing bandwidth in a broadband wireless access system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In line with ongoing growth of the Internet user population accompanied by increasing interest in broadband wireless communication, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 broadband wireless access (BWA) system has emerged to satisfy the demands of users for communication service with the high quality of a wired environment in a wireless environment.
IEEE 802.16 standardizes a broadband wireless communication system that can provide not only high-speed broadband data communication service but also high-speed voice communication service to users through high-speed broadband communication.
In the broadband wireless communication system, a plurality of subscriber stations connect to one base station through a downlink channel and an uplink channel between the base station and each subscriber station.
The downlink channel is classified into a pilot channel, a broadcast channel, a traffic channel, and a traffic control channel. The traffic channel is further classified into a burst traffic channel, a dedicated traffic channel, and a signaling channel.
The uplink channel is classified into an access channel and a traffic channel. The access channel is further classified into a channel for accessing an uplink according to a contention-based method, and a channel for accessing an uplink according to a contention-free method. The traffic channel is further classified into a burst traffic channel, a dedicated traffic channel and a signaling channel.
According to a broadcast method, the broadband wireless access (BWA) system uses the downlink channel through which a signal is sent from the base station to each subscriber station. And, the base station of the broadband wireless access (BWA) system allocates an uplink bandwidth to each subscriber station, so that the broadband wireless access (BWA) system uses the uplink channel through which a signal is sent from each subscriber station to the base station.
The efficiency with which the uplink bandwidth is utilized is one of the most important factors affecting quality of service (QoS) in the broadband wireless access (BWA) system.

Apparatus and method for managing bandwidth in broadband wireless access system


Aprepitant L-proline solvate compositions and aprepitant L-proline solvate cocrystals are disclosed as well as pharmaceutical compositions containing them. The compositions and cocrystals of the invention are: 1:1:1 aprepitant L-proline methanol composition; a 1:1:1 aprepitant L-proline methanol cocrystal; a 1:1:1:1 aprepitant L-proline ethanol composition; a 1:1:1 aprepitant L-proline ethanol cocrystal; 1 1:1:1 aprepitant L-proline n-propanol composition; and a 1:1:1 aprepitant L-proline n-propanol cocrystal: The aprepitant L-proline solvate compositions or cocrystals may be used in the same way as aprepitant to treat or prevent disorders relating to emesis, a neuropsychiatric disease, an inflammatory disease, pain, cancer, a skin disease, itch a respiratory disease, or an addiction.

Nausea and vomiting are commonly experienced by cancer patients in the course of their disease and treatment. Nausea and/or vomiting may be a result of the cancer itself or from its treatment. Aprepitant, 2-(R)-(1-(R)-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)-phenyl)ethoxy)-3-(S)-(4-fluoro)-phenyl-4-(3-(5-oxo-1H,4H-1,2,4-triazolo)methylmorpholine, shown below, is a substance P/neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor antagonist used to prevent of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting associated with moderately- and highly-emetogenic chemotherapy and to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).
The neuropeptide receptors for substance P (neurokinin-1: NK-1) are distributed throughout the mammalian nervous system, the circulatory system and peripheral tissues and are involved in the regulation of a number of biological processes including sensory perception of olefaction, vision, pain, vasodilation, gastric motility and movement control. Substance P antagonists are being studied for their usefulness against neuropsychiatric diseases, inflammatory diseases, pain (including migraine), skin diseases, asthma and other respiratory diseases and emesis. Substance P is known to be a major mediator of pruritus, also commonly known as itch. Studies have reported that aprepitant, as a substance P antagonist, can have a therapeutic effect in the treatment of pruritus (S. Ständer. "Targeting the neurokinin Receptor 1 with aprepitant: a novel antipruritic strategy" PLoS One. 2010; 5(6) e10968). The types of itch or skin irritation, include, but are not limited to: a) psoriatic pruritis, itch due to hemodyalisis, aguagenic pruritus, and itching caused by skin disorders (e.g., contact dermatitis), systemic disorders, neuropathy, psychogenic factors or a mixture thereof; b) itch caused by allergic reactions, insect bites, hypersensitivity (e.g., dry skin, acne, eczema, psoriasis), inflammatory conditions or injury; c) itch associated with vulvar vestibulitis; and d) skin irritation or inflammatory effect from administration of another therapeutic such as, for example, antibiotics, antivirals and antihistamines.
It has been demonstrated that NK1 receptors are overexpressed in a wide range of tumor cells and that NK1 receptor antagonists, such as aprepitant, on binding to these receptors can inhibit tumor cell proliferation, angiogenesis and migration of tumor cells. In vitro studies have shown the effectiveness of aprepitant in a range of cancer cell lines including malignant melanoma, neuroblastoma, pancreas, gastric and colon carcinoma cell lines. These studies suggest aprepitant's potential as a broad spectrum anti-tumor drug (M. Muñoz. "The NK-1 receptor antagonist aprepitant as a broad spectrum antitumor drug" Invest New Drugs. 2010 April; 28(2): 187-93).
Substance P has been implicated in the response to stress, as well as reward related behaviours (P. W. Mantyh. Brain Research. 1987; 307: 147-165). Clinical trials are currently ongoing to investigate whether aprepitant, as a substance P antagonist, could have a positive effect on the cravings and dependency associated with addictive substances such as alcohol, cocaine, opioids, cannabis and tobacco.
Aprepitant is classified by the Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) as a Class IV drug, indicating that it is a low solubility and low permeability API. APIs with poor water solubility are usually characterised by low absorption and poor bioavailability. Aprepitant is a white to off-white crystalline solid which is sparingly soluble in ethanol and isopropyl acetate, slightly soluble in acetonitrile but practically insoluble in water. Aprepitant is identified by CAS Registry Number: 170729-80-3. Aprepitant is disclosed in PCT application WO 95/16679 along with a process for its preparation. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,719,147; 6,048,859; and 6,235,735. U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,742 describes polymorphic forms of aprepitant.
Aprepitant is currently approved for the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and also for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting. It is marketed by Merck & Co., Inc, as capsules containing 40 mg, 80 mg and 125 mg of aprepitant for oral administration. Aprepitant was developed and is currently marketed as a nanoparticle formulation to overcome its poor solubility/permeability characteristics. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,684. But, even with a nanoparticulate formulation, the mean absolute bioavailability of aprepitant is still only 60-65%.
There is a need therefore to develop new forms of aprepitant that have improved dissolution, solubility and/or increased bioavailability. The aprepitant compositions and cocrystals of this invention answer such needs.
PCT application PCT/IB2011/054210, published as WO 028937 A1, describes a 1:1:1 aprepitant L-proline H2O composition and cocrystal. The disclosure of this patent application is incorporated herein by reference.
Although therapeutic efficacy is the primary concern for an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), the salt and solid state form (i.e., the crystalline or amorphous form) of a drug candidate can be critical to its pharmacological properties, such as bioavailability, and to its development as a viable API. Recently, crystalline forms of API's have been used to alter the physicochemical properties of a particular API. Each crystalline form of a drug candidate can have different solid state (physical and chemical) properties. The differences in physical properties exhibited by a novel solid form of an API (such as a cocrystal or polymorph of the original therapeutic compound) affect pharmaceutical parameters such as storage stability, compressibility and density (important in formulation and product manufacturing), and solubility and dissolution rates (important factors in determining bioavailability). Because these practical physical properties are influenced by the solid state properties of the crystalline form of the API, they can significantly impact the selection of a compound as an API, the ultimate pharmaceutical dosage form, the optimization of manufacturing processes, and absorption in the body. Moreover, finding the most adequate solid state form for further drug development can reduce the time and the cost of that development.
Obtaining crystalline forms of an API is extremely useful in drug development. It permits better characterization of the drug candidate's chemical and physical properties. It is also possible to achieve desired properties of a particular API by forming a cocrystai of the API and a coformer Crystalline forms often have better chemical and physical properties than the free base in its amorphous state. Such crystalline forms may, as with the cocrystal of the invention, possess more favorable pharmaceutical and pharmacological properties or be easier to process than known forms of the API itself. For example, a cocrystal may have different dissolution and solubility properties than the API itself and can be used to deliver APIs therapeutically. New drug formulations comprising a cocrystal of a given API may have superior properties over its existing drug formulations. They may also have better storage stability.
Another potentially important solid state property of an API is its dissolution rate in aqueous fluid. The rate of dissolution of an active ingredient in a patient's stomach fluid may have therapeutic consequences since it impacts the rate at which an orally administered active ingredient may reach the patient's bloodstream.
A cocrystal of an API is a distinct chemical composition of the API and coformer(s) and generally possesses distinct crystallographic and spectroscopic properties when compared to those of the API and coformer(s) individually. Crystallographic and spectroscopic properties of crystalline forms are typically measured by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and single crystal X-ray crystallography, among other techniques, Cocrystals often also exhibit distinct thermal behavior. Thermal behavior is measured in the laboratory by such techniques as capillary melting point, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

Aprepitant L-proline solvates—compositions and cocrystals


Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for advertising network layer reachability information specifying a quality of service for an identified network flow are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein to specify quality of service for network flows include receiving network layer reachability information including a first quality of service class specified for a first network flow, the network layer reachability information having been advertised by a first network element that is to receive the first network flow. Such example methods can also include updating an incoming packet determined to belong to the first network flow to indicate that the incoming packet belongs to the first quality of service class, the incoming packet being received from a second network element. Such example methods can further include, after updating the incoming packet, routing the incoming packet towards the first network element.

In modern communication networks, circuit switched trunks are still relied upon to exchange voice traffic between telecommunication service providers. However, given the prevalence of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services being offered by these same service providers, it is expected that Internet protocol (IP) peering connections will replace these circuit switched trunks for exchanging voice traffic between service providers. However, today's IP peering connections between service providers are generally limited to supporting a best-effort quality of service (QoS), which may become inadequate for VoIP services as the amount of voice traffic exchanged over these IP connections increases. As an alternative, direct connections supporting a higher QoS could be established between service providers for the purpose of exchanging voice traffic. However, some service providers may lack the infrastructure to implement such direct connections, or be unwilling to commit resources to implementing these direct connections given that voice traffic may account for just a small fraction of the provider's overall traffic and, thus, the provider's overall revenue.
Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts, elements, operations, etc.

Advertising network layer reachability information specifying a quality of service for an identified network flow


An exercise console is disclosed as including a housing and a display incorporated into the housing. The display is adapted to align substantially parallel to the top surface of the housing. A tilt mechanism connects the display to the housing and is operable by a user to tilt the display to a nonparallel angle with respect to the housing. In another aspect in accordance with the invention, the exercise console includes a substantially fixed array of buttons incorporated into the housing. The buttons provide to a user various input options which are selectable in a pre-determined sequence by operation of the buttons to program the exercise console. Various indicators are associated with the buttons and inform the user which input options are next available for selection after the user has selected one or more input options.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to exercise equipment and more particularly to display and control consoles for exercise equipment such as treadmills and stationary bicycles.
2. Background
As in other industries, designers in the exercise equipment industry face challenges if they try to incorporate modern technological advances into traditional exercise equipment, which may include, for example, stationary bicycles, treadmills, elliptical machines, rowing machines, stair climbers, nautilus machines, and the like. Compared to relatively simple devices of the past, modern exercise devices now could incorporate many sophisticated computers and electronics but must often deal with the position and posture dictated by the user and the activity. Technology could enable a user to perform tasks such as tailoring an exercise program to a user's fitness level, selecting a preferred training method, adjusting a device to a user's weight, controlling speed, monitoring body functions, adjusting resistance, and the like. Moreover, modern exercise devices could allow a user to track and monitor a user's progress on the device while exercising. However, access, visibility, and interaction need to be compatible with a user and not a distraction or a burden.
Typically, a control console provides the primary means of interaction between a user and a functional device. An exercise console may include input devices, such as keypads, keyboards, buttons, or the like, to receive user input and thereby allow a user to program and control an exercise device. An exercise console may also include a display device to display pertinent information, such as workout progress, program settings, speed, resistance levels, and the like. For example, light emitting diode ("LED") displays have been used in various devices to display information. Such LED displays often include arrays or other arrangements of LEDs and provide a bright, low-power solution for displaying information. However, LED displays are limited by low resolution and very few available colors.
More recently, newer displays, such as liquid crystal displays ("LCDs"), offer higher resolutions and greater arrays of available colors. Moreover, LCDs could be used to display entertainment, such as television, movies, music videos, and the like, in addition to workout information. Nevertheless, LCDs also have their drawbacks. For example, LCDs may be significantly more expensive than LED displays, less bright, less contrasting, more subject to glare, and subject to a much narrower viewing angle.
Problems with the viewing angle may be especially pronounced in exercise devices used at gyms, where patrons of different heights may use the same device. For example if a separate pivoting LCD were attached to the top of an exercise console, this configuration would be expensive, cumbersome, require multiple components, and obstruct a user's field of view. This could also affect the affordability and market competitiveness of an exercise device in an industry where there are significant pressures to keep costs low.
Another problem with modern processor-based equipment and controllers, including exercise consoles, is the learning curve often needed to operate and use such devices. It is difficult for users to learn how to use the unique programming scheme, let alone recall it when needed. That is, as the sophistication of control consoles increases, the complexity of operation often likewise increases. Where buttons are provided on the exercise console, it may be time-consuming for a user to determine which buttons to push and the order in which to push them. Furthermore, a user may not have the time or patience to read and refer repeatedly to a user manual. Likewise, using exercise time to read through instructions printed in a small font at an awkward distance on the device or an associated exercise console may be considered a waste. This can be especially frustrating for the technologically challenged or phobic or the user who switches between different exercise devices at a club. This may also discourage some from exercising at all due to the inconvenience involved in getting a device to serve them.
In view of the foregoing, what is needed is an exercise console that takes advantage of newer LCD technology, while avoiding many of the shortcomings discussed herein. Specifically, an exercise console is needed that can incorporate LCD technology while accommodating users of different heights. Such a device would ideally be inexpensive, simple, and adaptable to accommodate a user's field of view.
Further needed are apparatus and methods for reducing the learning curve needed to operate and use many exercise consoles. Where buttons are used on an exercise console, apparatus and methods are needed for quickly indicating to a user which buttons to push and the order to push them. Such apparatus and methods would ideally minimize the amount of time and reading needed to program and operate a device and accommodate the technologically inexperienced, challenged, or phobic.


A router structure is arranged to effect the routing of tubular fluid conduits and more particularly, tubular fluid conduits such as available in water coolers and the like, wherein the routing of mineral deposits is effected by the projection of a flexible wire coil sized to be received within such conduit and rotated relative to a housing containing the flexible wire coil for rejection through an associated housing tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to drain conduit and snake routing structure, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved drain conduit router apparatus wherein the same is arranged for the cleaning and removal of mineral deposits within a drain conduit, particularly of a water cooler refrigeration structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Router apparatus of various types have been utilized throughout the prior art, such as exemplified in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,500; 4,604,603; 5,018,234; and 5,056,178.
The instant invention is directed to overcome the prior art by providing for a router structure arranged in a sized manner to effect the cleaning of conduits associated with swamp cooler structure and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.