A communications transceiver is implemented by modifying a GPS user equipment. In a data reception mode, a communications signal that has a carrier frequency outside the L-band, and that has been phase modulated by a PN code and by data encoded therein, is received from a conventional L-band GPS antenna. The signal is downconverted to the L-band input frequency of the GPS transceiver, and subjected to automatic gain control. The GPS transceiver software is modified so as to recognize and replicate the PN code, and to demodulate the data-bearing signal. In the data transmission mode, the data to be transmitted are modulated onto the selected PN code sequence. The data-modulated PN signal is converted to a non L-band transmission frequency. Normal operation of the GPS transceiver navigation functions is maintained in parallel with the communications functions.

Information transmission by means of radio wave propagation has become ubiquitous since Marconi's demonstration of radio-telegraphy in the early 1900's. Until the early 1960's, information was generally transmitted over radio communications circuits by means of analog modulation of a carrier frequency. Transmission of digital data evolved from the late 1950's onwards, in the beginning to support the development of military communications equipment. Digital data transmission was initially motivated by Claude Shannon's seminal investigations of channel capacity. Since then, this technology has been applied to support widespread commercial use. In all of these applications, the means to provide two-way communications require both the sender and the receiver to be equipped with a combination of radio transmitting and receiving equipment, i.e. with a transceiver.
Currently, any person who operates the Global Positioning System (GPS) user equipment must provide a separate communications transceiver, in order to conduct two-way communications of data messages while using GPS equipment for navigational purposes. As well known, the GPS is a network of at least 24 NAVSTAR satellites, which orbit the earth at an altitude of about 11,000 miles. GPS user equipment can locate the position of a user anywhere on earth by very accurately measuring the distance between the user and at least four GPS satellites. The GPS satellites provide specially coded signals that are processed in a GPS receiver, enabling that receiver to generate the user's position, velocity and time by computing the relative transit times of signals transmitted simultaneously from a multiplicity of the GPS satellites. In this way, the GPS provides precise positioning and timing data, which are useful for a variety of applications, including, but not limited to, navigation, surveillance, mapping, and vehicle tracking.
At present, however, an operator of GPS equipment must procure a separate and independent radio communications system in order to engage in two-way radio communications. The operator must thus bear the significantly increased cost, volume, weight and power consumption associated with providing separate and independent radio communications systems.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a more efficient and inexpensive method and system for enabling two-way (bi-directional) radio communications of data between two or more users who operate GPS navigation user equipment. In particular, it is desirable to provide both communication and GPS navigation services within a single GPS transceiver. In this way, the cost, volume, weight, and power consumption that are necessary in order to provide both communications and navigation services can be significantly reduced.

Method and system for implementing a communications transceiver using modified GPS user equipment

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.


A method and circuitry for boosting a driven signal along a circuit line so as to reduce RC delays is disclosed. In one embodiment, the circuitry includes a line amplifier positioned at a distance from the circuitry that drives signals onto the line, for example, across a memory array. The line amplifier detects the driven signal on the line at early stages, and even before the signal reaches its full potential, the amplifier amplifies that signal and drives it back to the line to help boost the detected signal. In a preferred embodiment, the amplifier comprises a differential amplifier capable of boosting one of two input signal lines. In an alternative embodiment, the amplifier output may additionally input to a feedback loop, which loop ultimately drives a pull-up transistor to boost the detected signal and passes it back to the line to even further assist the differential amplifier in boosting. Use of the disclosed circuitry benefits, as one example, the boosting of a DRAM column select line that passes a long distance through the memory array.

DRAM integrated circuit memories are well known, and today DRAMs with capacities of 4 gigabits (4 Gb) are on the verge of being ready for production in reliable quantities. Obviously, in such integrated circuits, circuitry layout space is at a premium, as more and more devices (transistors, memory cells, etc.) are being packed into essentially-equivalent integrated circuit areas with each new DRAM generation. Such tight spacing constraints can cause, among other problems, higher coupling noise between adjacent lines on the integrated circuit.
A result of this progression is that signals are now being required to transgress long distances over the expanse of the integrated circuit. For example, in FIG. 1A, the layout of an exemplary 4 Gb DRAM 10 is shown. As it typical, the DRAM comprises bond pads 16, which normally run down the middle of the device as shown, for routing signals between the DRAM 10 and a suitable package for the DRAM (not shown). In this exemplary DRAM 10, the portion of the DRAM containing the memory cells is divided into eight banks 12, with each bank comprising four arrays 14a–14d.
As one skilled in the art well understands, to address a particular cell in the DRAM, or group of cells together in unison (e.g., if the DRAM is greater than a ×1 device), an address needs to be input to the DRAM 10. Certain address lines (Ax) are generally designated as row address lines, while others are designated as column address lines. The address lines must be decoded so that eventually a limited subset of columns and rows in the array are activated to read/write the cells at their intersections.
Ultimately, activation of the columns and rows occurs under the control of column (bit) and row (word) line driver circuitry in the DRAM, which receive as inputs the outputs of the decoder circuitry. In the exemplary DRAM 10 of FIG. 1A, notice that the column decoders/drivers 20 are located in the middle of the device. When shown at higher magnification in FIG. 1B, it is seen that the driver circuits must drive certain signals all the way across the array 14 of cells, i.e., essentially half of the length across the expanse of the device. (Here, the term "array" is used to include the sense amplifiers and other I/O circuitry 30, such as is described in further detail in FIG. 1C, although an array can also comprise a continuous group of memory cells without such support circuitry). Specifically, column select lines 28, or CS lines or Y-select lines as they are sometimes called, are driven across the array 14 by column select driver circuits 20a, which can be viewed as part of the column decode/driver circuitry 20. As is known, the CS lines 28 are used to select a particular group of columns (bit lines) in the device, and thus can be viewed as column decoding lines.
The manner in which the CS lines 28 are used to select particular columns, or bit lines 35, in a DRAM is shown in FIG. 1C, which basically illustrates that a particular active (i.e., driven) CS line 28, can be used to enable particular I/O circuits 34 associated with the sense amps 32 at the end of the columns 35. Such selective activation of the I/O circuitry 334 by the CS lines 28 allows data to pass between the columns and the internal data path 40 of the device. In any event, it is not terribly important to an understanding of this disclosure how the CS line 28 functions to enable particular groups of columns.
What is important is recognition of a fact noted earlier: that the CS lines 28 have to transgress long distances over the integrated circuit. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, passing of signals over long signal lines is difficult. Such lines inherently have parasitic resistances and capacitances which impede the ability of the signal to propagate down the line, i.e., the signal will suffer from RC delays. As a result, the signal will travel more slowly than is ideal, and/or will be unable to achieve a desired voltage at a distance within a suitable period of time. In a worst case, and as applied to the exemplary DRAM of FIGS. 1A–1C, the CS line 28 signal will not reach the I/O circuitry 34 at various points along its length sufficiently quickly, and addressing of the cells may thus occur too slowly for proper device function.
Such RC delay problems are further exacerbated when it is considered that the CS lines 28 are logically routed through the middle of the array 14 as opposed to the peripheral areas of the integrated circuit outside of the array. Although it is known to employ various isolation schemes to try and reduce RC delays of such long-traveling signals, typical solutions are hampered by the busy nature of the signaling and the tight layout spacing in the array. Accordingly, a designer is limited in the options that can be employed to improve the signals propagation down such lines. For example, the designer cannot simply just make the lines wider in the array, or employ additional circuitry in the array (e.g., at the location of sense amp and I/O circuitry 30), as space may not be available to accommodate such modifications.
Hence, it is a goal of this disclosure to provide embodiments of a solution to the problem of degrading signal propagation along long signaling lines in integrated circuits, and specifically those passing through memory arrays.

Line amplifier to supplement line driver in an integrated circuit


A client computing device transmits a resource that conforms to a healthcare interoperability standard to a server computing device that executes a GUI generator component, and the GUI generator component generates GUI markup based upon the resource. The GUI generator component returns the GUI markup to the client computing device, which presents the GUI features on the a display based upon the GUI markup.

In healthcare information technology (IT), "interoperability" refers to the ability of different healthcare IT systems and software applications to communicate, exchange data, and use information that has been exchanged. In other words, when a healthcare software application exhibits interoperability, the healthcare software is able to work together within and across organizational boundaries with other healthcare software applications in order to advance the effective delivery of healthcare for individuals and communities. Various standards have been developed to support healthcare interoperability. Exemplary healthcare IT standards include the clinical document architecture (CDA) and the continuity of care record (CCR). Health Level-7 International (HL7) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International) are the standards organizations that were respectively behind these aforementioned health IT standards. HL7 has subsequently set forth other standards, and relatively recently has set forth fast healthcare interoperability resources (FHIR) as a standard that describes data formats, elements (referred to as "resources"), as well as an application programming interface (API) for exchanging electronic health records. FHIR is relatively easy to implement for healthcare organizations, as such standard uses a modern web-based suite of API technology, including the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-based Representational State Transfer (REST)-ful protocol, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for user interface integration, a choice of Javascript Object Notation (JSON) or eXtensible Markup Language (XML) for data representation, and Atom (a web standard) for results.
Substitutable Medical Applications Reusable Technologies (SMART) health IT is an open standards-based technology platform that enables developers to create applications that seamlessly and securely run across a healthcare system. For example, using an electronic health record application (EHR) or data warehouse that supports the SMART standard, patients, doctors, and healthcare practitioners can draw on a library of SMART applications to improve clinical care, research, and public health. As FHIR has continued to gain support from the healthcare community, SMART has become a standard that works in conjunction with, and on top of, FHIR. Therefore, SMART focuses on formalizing the process for interacting with FHIR interfaces, outlining how applications will be launched from an EHR, and standardizing the security protocols used by third parties to exchange data with EHRs of healthcare organizations. Informally, then, FHIR defines the structure of where data should be retained and how the data should "look". An EHR is responsible for filling that structure with actual patient data. SMART defines how (possibly third party) applications launch from within an EHR, as well as to determine which EHR user is interacting with the application and to further determine an identity of a patient whose data is being accessed. SMART, however, in certain architectures, can impose restrictions that are cumbersome. In a nonlimiting example, a company may develop several EHRs. For instance, the company may develop an ambulatory EHR and an inpatient EHR. These two EHRs are designed to perform different functions in view of the different practices associated with hospital and ambulatory care, respectively. To decrease development and maintenance time, however, the organization that develops the two EHRs may develop applications that can be integrated with both EHRs. In another example, the organization that develops the two EHRs may choose to integrate one or more third party applications with the EHRs. For instance, to reduce development and maintenance time, a graphical user interface (GUI) generator component can be configured to generate GUI features for both the ambulatory EHR and the inpatient EHR. an application for generating certain graphical user interface (GUI) elements may be well-suited for use in both the ambulatory and inpatient EHR. Because the GUI generator application is designed to work with both types of EHRs (and therefore interoperability is desired), the EHRs and the GUI generator application can be designed to communicate with one another using protocols described in SMART.
In this scenario, however, conforming to SMART may impose limitations on what security frameworks/protocols can be used to authenticate a user, as well as sub-optimal performance. Specifically, following the procedures set forth by SMART, for an EHR to request generation of GUI features from the GUI generator application, the EHR emits a HTTP GET request to the SMART application endpoint (i.e., the GUI generator component). The HTTP GET request includes data that is indicative of the context of the EHR at the time of the HTTP GET request (e.g., an identity of a patient whose data is being presented to a clinician, an identity of a clinician, etc.). The HTTP GET request also includes metadata that points to the FHIR service layer of the EHR and optionally points to a security subsystem that is to handle authentication. The GUI generator component then calls the (exposed) FHIR service layer of the EHR to retrieve resources needed to generate the requested GUI features, constructs the GUI features based upon the resources, and causes the GUI features to be presented at a client device that initially requested the GUI features. When user input is received at the client computing device with respect to an interactive element at the GUI, the client computing device transmits an event message to the GUI generator component. The GUI generator component, in response to receiving this message, generates an another call to the FHIR service layer of the EHR, such that the EHR can provide the GUI generator component with any resources necessary to update the GUI features.
There are several disadvantages with respect to this approach. First, the EHR must expose its FHIR API layer to allow the GUI generator application to request resources, which is a security risk. Additionally, because of inherent limitations in HTTP GET requests, certain types of security tokens cannot be used to authenticate to the GUI generator component. Moreover, as described above, each time the client computing device generates an event message based upon user interface with one of the GUI features generated by the GUI generator component, the GUI generator component must transmit a call to the FHIR API layer of the EHR. These additional communications result in sub-optimal communications and security risks.

Computer system for constructing graphical user interface features


A clock and data recovery circuit that does not use a reference clock and a method of recovering cocks and data, in which the clock and data recovery circuit includes a clock generation unit, a mirror delay unit, a preamble phase detection unit, and a sampling unit. The clock generation unit generates a clock signal such that a phase of the clock signal is locked to a phase of a data signal inputted to the clock generation unit. The mirror delay unit outputs a plurality of delayed preamble signals based on the preamble signal during a preamble period. The preamble phase detection unit provides the charge pump with a preamble phase detection signal having information on a phase difference between the preamble signal and the clock signal during the preamble period. The sampling unit extracts data from the data signal by sampling the data signal with the clock signal.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a data receiver and more particularly, to a clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit recovering clocks and data from a data signal of a high frequency and a method of recovering clocks and data.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, in order to transfer data at high speed between a transmitter and a receiver that are spaced apart from each other, a receiver has to exactly extract the data from a received data signal. For example, data may be extracted by sampling a received data signal using a clock signal of a frequency that is the same as a carrier frequency of the received data signal.
Typically, such a clock signal is transmitted with a data signal from a transmitter, and a receiver receives the clock signal and the data signal and extracts data by sampling the data signal based on the received clock signal.
According to conventional methods, a clock generation circuit is needed to generate a clock signal in a receiver, and a transmission line, an input pin, and an output pin that are exclusively used are needed for transmitting the clock signal between a transmitter and a receiver. As data transmission systems require faster operating speeds and lower operating voltages, however, the conventional methods for transmitting a clock signal and a data signal through respective transmission lines cause various problems, such as signal skews, jitter, noise, and the like. Therefore, additional efforts for optimizing a physical arrangement of transmission lines are needed to synchronize a data signal with a clock signal and to reduce jitter and noise.
According to a conventional clock and data recovery method, a clock signal is recovered from a data signal without the additional transmission of a clock signal. Therefore, a clock generation circuit is not used in a receiver. A transmission line, an input pin, and an output pin that are exclusively used to transmit the clock signal are unnecessary. Therefore, it takes less effort to synchronize a data signal with a clock signal, so as to reduce jitter and noise.
A basic configuration of a conventional clock and data recovery circuit is similar to a configuration of a phase locked loop circuit, but a data signal instead of a reference frequency is used to recover a clock signal. The clock and data recovery circuit, which is similar to the phase locked loop circuit, includes a phase-frequency detector. The phase-frequency detector compares a phase and a frequency of a received data signal with those of a recovered clock signal.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional phase-frequency detector used for clock and data recovery,
Referring to FIG. 1, the phase-frequency detector 10, which is known as a Hogge phase detector includes two D flip-flops 11 and 12 that are connected in series to detect whether the phase of a clock signal CLK leads or lags the phase of a data signal DATA,
The first D flip-flop 11 may compare a rising edge of the data signal DATA with a rising edge of the clock signal CLK, and a second D flip-flop 12 may compare a falling edge of the data signal DATA with a falling edge of the clock signal CLK. The comparison results may be provided to a charge pump as an up signal UP and a down signal DOWN, respectively.
The Hogge phase detector 10 has a simple configuration so that the Hogge phase detector 10 operates reliably, but the Hogge phase detector 10 has some problems which are as follows. As a data transmission rate rises, the clock signal that is applied to the D flip-flops has a higher frequency. A practical D flip-flop has a limitation in operating speed, however and the higher frequency of the clock signal causes a problem such that a static skew is increased. Moreover, the Hogge phase detector has unstable response characteristics when a data signal contains a large amount of noise, and an output frequency is adversely affected by transitions of the data signal.

Clock and data recovery circuit and method of recovering clocks and data


Method for controlling a dryer having a steam generator for generating high temperature steam with heat generation of a steam heater, including a hot air supply step for supplying dried hot air to a drum for drying clothes, and a moisture supply step for supplying moisture to the drum for removing static electricity from the clothes dried in the hot air supply step.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a laundry machine, and more particularly, to a laundry dryer having a function for preventing wrinkles or static electricity from forming on clothes.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, laundry dryers are electric appliances that dry washed laundry, mainly washed clothes, by using high temperature air.
In general, the laundry dryer is provided with a drum, a driving source for driving the drum, heating means for heating air introduced to the drum, and a blower unit for drawing/discharging air from/to the drum.
In the dryers, there are electric type dryers and gas type dryers depending on air heating systems, i.e., the heating means. The electric type dryers heat the air with heat from electric resistance, and the gas type dryers heat the air with heat from combustion of gas.
The dryers may also be sorted as condensing type dryers and exhaust type dryers. In the condensing type dryer, the humid air having heat exchanged with an drying object in the drum is, not discharged to an outside of the dryer, but circulated in the dryer, and heat exchanged with external air at a condenser provided separately to form condensed water which is discharged to an outside of the dryer. In the exhaust type dryer, the humid air having heat exchanged with the drying object in the drum is discharged to an outside of the dryer, directly.
The dryers may also be sorted as top loading type dryers, and front loading type dryers depending on systems for introducing the drying object to the dryers. In the top loading type dryers, the drying object is introduced to the dryer from a top thereof, and in the front loading type dryers, the drying object is introduced to the dryer from a front thereof.
However, the related art dryers have the following problems.
In general, the related art dryer dries laundry washed, spun, and introduced thereto. However, in view of nature of washing with water, wrinkles are formed on the washed laundry, and the wrinkles formed thus are not removed perfectly in drying with the dryer. Therefore, in order to remove the wrinkles from a drying object, such as the laundry dried at the related art dryer, pressing is required, additionally.
Moreover, besides the washed laundry, in cases of conventional storage, and use of clothes, wrinkles, crumples, and folds (will be called as crumples, collectively) are formed on the clothes. Accumulation of static electricity caused by friction between clothes during a drying course with hot air is liable to give unpleasant feeling to the user during the clothes is taken out. Development of an appliance has been required, which can make easy removal of the crumples coming from the conventional storage and use of the clothes.


A coupling for connecting pipes to externally threaded fittings and stubs. The coupling comprises a coupling body, a gripper, gripper engagement means for causing the gripper to engage the pipe, a gasket, gasket engagement means for causing the gasket to seal around the pipe, gripper retention means for retaining the gripper within the interior of the coupling body during handling thereof, and gasket retaining means for retaining the gasket within the interior of the coupling body during handling thereof.

Particularly in the plumbing and waterworks industries, situations frequently arise during installation or repair of piping where it is necessary to connect pipes to various fittings such as corporation valves, curb valves and various adapters. These situations can arise for example during water service line installation or repair. Such piping can include service tubes and may be made of polyvinylchloride (PVC) or galvanized steel for example.
Typically, such fittings are provided with a stub, usually externally threaded, for receiving a sealed fluid communicating connection with the pipe. The threading on such stubs are typically of an industry standard such as corporation fitting thread, to allow similarly-threaded couplings to be mounted thereon.
Such pipe-fitting couplings typically come in two main forms. In a first form the coupling is integral with the pipe. The present invention is directed to the second form wherein the coupling is a separate device which clamps on to, or is otherwise sealingly affixed to the end of the pipe. In either case the end of the coupling intended to engage the fitting stub is provided with internal threading and the coupling is connected to the fitting stub by turning one relative to the other thereby engaging the internal threading of the coupling with the external threading of the stub.
A typical manner in which such a separate coupling is used to connect a pipe to a fitting stub is as follows. First a coupling body, having internal threads at a forward end for engaging the external threads of the stub, and a constricted rearward end, is slid on to the pipe, rearward end first. A combination of various internal elements including seals and camming or gripping means are then slid on to the pipe. During this process it is imperative that each of the internal elements be placed on the pipe in the correct order and in the correct orientation. Failure to do so will typically result in failure of the connection. Finally, the coupling body is screwed onto the stub trapping and compressing the seals and the camming or gripping means. In particular, the constricted rearward end of the coupling body presses the seals and camming or gripping means against the end of the stub, or against the side of the pipe. The compressed seals create a hydrostatic seal between the stub and the pipe, while the camming or gripping means are urged to a locking and restraining position preventing the pipe from being pulled out of the coupling inadvertently. Using such a coupling, a secure pressure-sealed connection is made. An example of such a coupling for plumbing applications is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,105 Miller Jr. et al. issued Dec. 3, 1996.
One difficulty with such couplings is the need for the user to handle a number of small elements (typically the internal elements) during installation. This can result in frustration on the part of the user while he fumbles with the various parts to ensure that they are installed in the correct order and orientation. As noted above, if the user fails to install these parts in the correct order and orientation, the connection can fail resulting in leakage. This disadvantage is particularly acute where installation takes place in difficult conditions, for example where the fitting is located in an awkward location, or where the installation is taking place on waterworks, often with the user standing in a wet and muddy hole where fingers are slippery and where a dropped part is irretrievably lost.
Another difficulty with such couplings is that the camming or gripping means are typically unitary circumferentially, or consist of a small number of wide grips spaced circumferentially. Thus if a unitary camming or gripping means fails, the coupling itself fails. Similarly, if one of a small number of grips fails, the strength of the coupling will be compromised. Further, with a unitary camming or gripping means or with wide grips, it is difficult to achieve positive attachment to pipes which are slightly out of round or which have an irregular outer surface (as is often the case with galvanized steel pipes).
Additionally, most present couplings are not reusable since the camming or gripping means used are permanently deformed during use.
Finally, with most present couplings the coupling can easily be under-tightened or over-tightened onto the pipe and/or the fitting, which may result in damage to the pipe, to the fitting, and/or to the coupling and may also result in failure of the coupling.


The present invention belongs to the technical field of transparent conductive films and provides a graphene derivative, a transparent conductive film and an organic electroluminescent (EL) device. Methods are also provided for preparation of the graphene derivative and for preparation of an anode of the organic EL device. The graphene derivative exhibits a lower evaporation temperature and a higher work function. The graphene derivative is represented by formula (I):

Transparent conductive films have been widely used in various applications, for example, as film electrodes in radio frequency identification tags, display devices, lighting devices, electronic paper, solar cells, transistors, integrated circuits, lasers, sensors, and so on. Currently, the most popular materials for preparing transparent conductive films are metal oxides, such as indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO) and the like. However, such metal oxides are brittle and also expensive due to high content of rare metals, resulting in that the applications thereof are greatly limited.
Apart from the above-said brittle films made of metal oxides, there is another kind of flexible transparent conductive films in the art. The flexible transparent conductive films have broader applications because they are flexible and bendable, as compared with metal oxide conductive films. Particularly, the flexible transparent conductive films are suitable for use in flexible organic electroluminescent devices (OLEDs). The materials for making the flexible transparent conductive films known in the art are mainly conductive polymers and carbon nanotubes. Traditional conductive polymers including, for example, polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy), are poor in conductivity. So, other conductive polymers have been developed, including, for example, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene monomer:polystyrene sulfonate) (i.e., PEDOT:PSS), which have good conductivity but are expensive. The carbon nanotubes have excellent photoelectric and mechanical properties. However, techniques of preparing and purifying the carbon nanotubes are complex and it is difficult to separate semi-conductive carbon nanotubes from the metallic carbon nanotubes, resulting in that they are hardly industrially used on a large scale.
Graphene is a two-dimensional sheet comprising a monolayer of graphite, wherein carbon atoms are in sp2 hybridization mode (like a benzene ring) and form a honeycomb-like hexagonal lattice, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The carbon atoms 1 at the edge of the graphene sheet may adsorb other atoms 2 (e.g., hydrogen atom) to satisfy its valence. With such a structure, graphene is not only very stable, but also flexible upon exposure to an applied force because the bonds between the carbon atoms thereof are flexible. It has been found that graphene is not only stretchable like a rubber, but also stronger than a diamond. Furthermore, graphene exhibits an electrical conductivity comparable to copper. The electrical conductivity of graphene is so stable that it is not affected even when being stretched (or bent) by a ratio of over 40%. In addition, graphene products of large size can be produced practically and cost-effectively by the well-established techniques such as chemical vapor deposition, chemical reduction and the like.
Due to the excellent properties as described above, graphene is a promising material for flexible transparent conductive films. However, some defects have been found in the existing graphene materials. First of all, the evaporation temperatures of the graphene materials are relatively high (about 400° C.), such that it is difficult to control the evaporation process to obtain a graphene film with a uniform thickness (currently, the film is often formed by vapor deposition). In addition, the graphene materials have a relatively low work function of about 4.4 eV (the term "work function" refers to the minimum energy required to move an electron inside an object to its surface, indicating its ability to bind up electrons). In contrast, flexible OLEDs usually require the organic substances used therein to have a work function of about 5.2 eV, which is substantially higher than the work function of the graphene materials. Such a mismatch makes hole-injection difficult to take place and causes the luminescence efficiency of the OLEDs to decrease.

Graphene derivatives, transparent conductive films, organic electroluminescent devices, methods of preparing the graphene derivatives and methods of preparing anode layers of the devices

Abstract: wherein A represents a graphene substrate, n represents the number of the group connected to adjacent two carbon atoms of a carbon ring of the graphene substrate; each X independently represents an electron-withdrawing group; and each R independently represents any one of —R1, —R2, —O—R1, —O—R2, —R1—C6H5, —R2—C6H5, and —R3, wherein each R1 is independently an n-alkyl group having no less than 5 carbon atoms, each R2 is independently a substituted n-alkyl group having no less than 5 carbon atoms in its main chain and having an alkyl substituent, the C6H5 represents a phenyl group which is connected to the end of R1 or R2, and R3 is an aryl group.


A solid-state illumination lamp structure includes a sleeve, a first electrode, a second electrode and a light-emitting assembly. The first electrode is mounted on one end of the sleeve and the second electrode is mounted on the other end of the sleeve. The light emitting assembly is mounted inside the sleeve and includes a circuit substrate, at least one light-emitting diode and two conducting assemblies. The two conducting assemblies are electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode, respectively, so that the light emitting assembly emits light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lamp structures, and more especially to a solid-state illumination lamp structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Small conventional illumination lamps for desk or background lighting often use halogen lamps which emit light from tungsten filaments. However, tungsten filaments easily deteriorate under the effect of prolonged high temperature, so that halogen lamps need to be replaced frequently.
Additionally, halogen lamps produce much heat compared to the lighting output and therefore have high power consumption.
Thus, it is obvious that conventional lamp structures, still have some shortcomings and urgently need to be improved.
Hence, the inventors of the present invention believe that the shortcomings described above are able to be improved and finally suggest the present invention which is of a reasonable design and is an effective improvement based on deep research and thought.


The present invention provides polypeptides with histone H3 lysine 79 methyltransferase activity as well as nucleic acids encoding the same. Also provided are methods of using the polypeptides and nucleic acids of the invention in screening assays to identify compounds of interest. Further provided are diagnostic methods for leukemia and prognostic methods to predict the course of the disease in a subject.

Higher-order chromatin structures are of profound importance in gene regulation and epigenetic inheritance (Wu and Grunstein (2000) Trends Biochem. Sci. 25:619-623). Post-translational modifications of core histones critically influence the establishment and maintenance of higher-order chromatin structures. The unstructured tails of certain core histones are extensively modified by acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, ribosylation and ubiquitination. A "histone code" hypothesis, linking histone modifications to chromatin structures, has been the focus of intensive recent studies (Strahl and Allis (2000) Mol. Cell. Biol. 22:1298-1306; Turner (2000) Bioessays 22:836-845). Histone methylation has emerged as a major form of histone modification. (Strahl and Allis (2000) Mol. Cell. Biol. 22:1298-1306; Zhang and Reinberg (2001) Genes Dev. 15:2343-2360). In particular, a large family of SET domain-containing histone methyltransferases (HMTases) has been identified (Lachner and Jenuwein (2002) Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 14:286-298). SET domain proteins have been shown to methylate various N-terminal lysine residues of histone H3 and H4. Histone lysine methylation has been associated with diverse biological processes ranging from transcriptional regulation to the faithful transmission of chromosomes during the cell division (Grewal and Elgin (2002) Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 12:178-187).
Further, lysine methylation catalyzed by SET domain containing proteins has been linked to cancer (Schneider, et al. (2002) Trends Biochem. Sci. 27:396-402). For example, the H3-K4 methyltransferase MLL is frequently translocated in leukemia (Ayton and Cleary (2001) Oncogene 20:5695-5707; Milne, et al. (2002) Mol. Cell 10:1107-1117; Nakamura, et al. (2002) Mol. Cell 10:1119-1128) and the H3-K27 methyltransferase EZH2 is overexpressed in a number of tumors and its expression level correlates with the invasiveness of these tumors (Bracken, et al. (2003) EMBO J. 22:5323-5335; Kleer, et al. (2003) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100:11606-11611; Varambally, et al. (2002) Nature 419:624-9).
Chromosomal translocation is one of the major causes of human cancer, particularly in acute leukemias. The most common chromosome rearrangement found in leukemia patients involves the mixed lineage leukemia gene MLL (also called ALL or HRX) located at 11q23 (Ayton and Cleary (2001) Oncogene 20:5695-5707). MLL is the human homologue of Drosophila Trithorax (Trx), a protein involved in maintaining the "on state" of the homeotic box (Hox) gene expression during embryonic development. MLL contains a number of functional motifs including the N-terminal AT hook DNA binding motif and the C-terminal SET domain required for its H3-lysine 4 methyltransferase activity (Milne, et al. (2002) Mol. Cell 10:1107-1117; Nakamura, et al. (2002) Mol. Cell 10:1119-1128). As a result of chromosome translocation, MLL N-termini become fused in-frame with one of more than 30 partner proteins (Ayton and Cleary (2001) Oncogene 20:5695-5707). Regardless of whether the fusion partner is normally localized to the nucleus or cytoplasm, the chimeras are always nuclear (Dimartino and Cleary (1999) Br. J. Haematol. 106:614-626). Given that the DNA binding domain of MLL is still retained in the fusion proteins, the MLL target genes will be differentially regulated as a result of loss of the MLL SET domain and gain of fusion partner function in the chimeras. HOXA9 has emerged as one of the most relevant MLL target genes in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as it is always up-regulated in AML (Golub, et al. (1999) Science 286:531-537). Indeed, the leukemogenic potential of Hoxa9 was directly demonstrated by the development of AML in mice receiving transplantation of bone marrow cells overexpressing Hoxa9 (Kroon, et al. (1998) EMBO J. 17:3714-3725). Both Hoxa7 and Hoxa9 have been shown to be required for MLL fusion proteins to transform myeloid progenitor cells (Ayton and Cleary (2003) Genes Dev. 17:2298-2307). However, the mechanism by which different MLL fusion proteins up-regulate HOXA9 and how higher levels of HOXA9 leads to leukemia remains to be elucidated.
Dot1 is an evolutionarily conserved protein that was originally identified in S. cerevisiae as a disruptor of telomeric silencing (Singer, et al. (1998) Genetics 150:613-632). It also functions at the pachytene checkpoint during the meiotic cell cycle (San-Segundo and Roeder (2000) Mol. Biol. Cell. 11:3601-3615). Sequence analysis of yeast Dot1 revealed that it possesses certain characteristic SAM binding motifs, similar to the ones in protein arginine methyltransferases (Dlakic (2001) Trends Biochem. Sci. 26:405-407).

DOT1 histone methyltransferases as a target for identifying therapeutic agents for leukemia

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


The present invention relates to a system and methodology to facilitate automatic interactions between a highly threaded software environment such as an operating system kernel and a module operating in a less threaded environment. This is achieved by supplying adapter objects that employ various automated locking components to synchronize interactions between the environments such as processing of events or interrupts that may be generated in the system. In one aspect, a driver management system is provided that includes a driver framework component (DFC) that is separate from a driver or other type module, wherein the DFC generates objects that facilitate seamless interactions between the driver and a highly threaded system. A presentation component associated with the DFC selectively exposes objects to the driver in a multi-threaded environment.

Modern operating systems drive many of today's technology-based innovations by offering a platform for both hardware and software development while serving many diverse needs. These systems have evolved from more simplistic file management systems to more complex workstations that provide high-end performance at reasonable cost. Such systems often include multi-processing architectures, high-speed memory, advanced peripheral devices, a variety of system libraries and components to aid software development, and intricate/interleaved bus architectures, for example. At the heart of these systems include sophisticated operating systems that manage not only computer-related hardware but, a vast array of software components having various relationships. These components are often described in terms of objects or classes having multi-tiered relationships such as in a hierarchical arrangement for files and directories that are found in many data management systems.
Event driven programs that operate in a multi-threaded environment are generally concerned with synchronization between various components associated with the event. Such programs execute code in response to events (callbacks from a system to program supplied functions), and typically implement a state machine that responds to the event and returns. In an object structured, multi-threaded system, events may occur concurrently from the same or different objects. Due to this concurrency, the data in the program can become corrupt due to concurrent modification by two or more concurrent events.
This concurrency in the program is usually mitigated by a series of locks (code that temporally prevents other code from completion) associated with the data which serialize the sections of code that accesses that data. Manually managing this serialization by separate and unrelated entities (e.g., a device driver having separate discreet code and management from an operating system kernel) can lead to errors in which locks are not utilized when they should be, or not released when the code returns. Also errors occur by separate, unrelated modules in which locks should be acquired and released in a consistent order, and if not—the program causes a deadlock.
The level of effort, and complexity of such program code increases with each event and data instance that is to be synchronized, thus causing writing a reliable version of the code a time consuming and difficult task. The chance of shipping a latent synchronization bug with the program increases along with this complexity since not all synchronization cases may be exercised by testing. One example environment where these type problems may exist is associated with device drivers. Device drivers are considered important components of software that allow a computer to take advantage of new hardware devices. In order to expand operating system capabilities, these systems should also provide support for new hardware devices, and provide associated device drivers.
Due to the nature of the operating system industry, a large number of device drivers are not written by the operating system manufacturer, but by outside third parties, who are typically hardware owners. Outside third parties typically do not have access to base team development resources available within the manufacturer, and are usually more concerned with quickly getting their device driver to market, otherwise they can not sell their device, and thus receive revenue. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that many of these drivers run in an unprotected kernel mode of the operating system (e.g., ring 0), which often implies that the slightest coding error may cause a system crash, or worse, a corruption to files and/or data.
In another related aspect to the problems described above, many large software systems operate in a highly threaded model, and support "plug in" software models to extend the function of the system. Due to the highly threaded nature of the operating system, plug in device drivers generally must also be highly threaded and programming highly threaded software modules is often complex and time consuming. In the case of device drivers, they generally execute in unprotected kernel mode and any errors can cause a system crash, or corruption.
In many cases, simpler modules that control lower throughput devices may be better served by a less threaded model. The insertion of a less threaded module inside of the highly threaded operating system should not compromise overall system parallelism, but only the throughput of the target device. Due to the current close coupling of the operating systems threading model with the device driver, drivers are generally written in a highly threaded manner, even for lower end hardware devices in order that they do not compromise overall system scale-ability. This can occur when threads "back up" in trying to submit parallel commands to the driver that may employ a single synchronization lock, wherein the concurrency of the I/O model can allow multiple commands to be issued to the driver regardless of how highly threaded it actually is.

Driver framework component for synchronizing interactions between a multi-threaded environment and a driver operating in a less-threaded software environment


By performing a simple operation on an information processing terminal, a direction of a subject desired to be viewed by a user 40 can be smoothly displayed from various directions. An acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of moving image data, a data generating unit that generates still image data for each of the plurality of pieces of moving image data, a storage unit that stores the still image data in association with position data and time data, a designated value accepting unit that accepts a position designation value in the still image data desired to be viewed by a user, and a selection unit that selects the still image data on the basis of the position designation value accepted by the designated value accepting unit and transmits the selected still image data to an external display device via a communication network are included, and the selection unit selects the still image data corresponding to the position designation value that has already been designated in a case in which the designated value accepting unit has not accepted the position designation value and selects the corresponding still image data on the basis of a change in the position designation value by using the time data as a reference in a case in which the designated value accepting unit has accepted the position designation value.

In recent years, video distribution devices using images captured by a plurality of cameras have been developed. For example, in Patent Literature 1, a configuration in which a point of view of a subject is changed using arrangement states of some cameras designated by a user in advance as a reference among a plurality of cameras having different points of view of the same subject is disclosed. It discloses that that one or two or more different cameras capturing images used for generating a series of combined moving images are designated as a group together with a camera designated by a user, and the combining order is determined for generating a series of combined moving images by changing and combining captured moving images of cameras inside this designated group at predetermined change timings.
In addition, in Patent Literature 2, an imaging system capable of capturing a plurality of images of a target object by disposing a plurality of imaging apparatuses in a three-dimensional space in which moving image signals of a subject are distributed from the plurality of cameras to a recording device with points of view thereof changed is described.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image distribution device, image distribution system, image distribution method, and image distribution program


A method and circuit to trim the internal timing conditions for a semiconductor memory device including a memory matrix and circuit portions for allowing reading of the data stored in the memory matrix wherein such circuit portions include an ATD generator detecting each transition of a plurality of address terminals of the memory device to produce an ATD synchronization signal, a sense amplifier which receives an equalization a signal EQU from a generator activated by the ATD signal, and output buffers enabled by an OUTLATCH signal produced by a generator receiving the ATD signal and the EQU signal. The length of the signals is automatically trimmed according to a corresponding length code contained in a portion of the memory device.

As is well known, semiconductor memory devices such as MaskROM, EPROM, EEPROM, FLASH, SRAM and DRAM have reached such large density and capacity to store logic information (up to 64 Mbit on a single chip) to require additional circuit portions for managing and synchronizing the different timing activities of the device. For instance, one of these circuit portions is the well known ATD (Address Transition Detection) circuit which is active to synchronize the reading phase of the memory data. The ATD circuit detects each transition on the address or CE terminals or pins of the memory device and generates a synchronization signal which is used for timing many operating functions of the memory device. One of these operating functions is the precharge phase of the memory bit lines which must be charged to a predetermined logic level to allow a good conduction of the memory cell storing the data to be read.
For a EPROM device the bit lines are usually precharged to 1 V, while for a RAM device the bit lines are usually precharged to 5 V. The timing setting provided by the ATD circuit is used also to enable the output data buffer as soon as the sensing amplifier has detected the logic information of the memory cell. Therefore, the detection of an address transition, the sensing of the memory cell and the output presentation of the stored data are all operations which must be synchronized and/or delayed according to the kind and size of the memory device and the technology used. The timing schedule of the memory device must be designed carefully and this design activity can become very hard for the memory device designer.
Prior Art
A known prior art solution is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,666 assigned to Huyndai. This document discloses a circuit and method allowing the memory device designer to set up the timing schedule of the device. However, this solution has been specifically provided for synchronizing the redundancy circuit portion of the memory device.

Method and circuit for trimming the internal timing conditions of a semiconductor memory device


A device for accessing a vessel, duct or lumen, comprising a guidewire having a proximal end and a distal end, and at least one projection that extends from said guidewire at or near the distal end of the guidewire. When the guidewire is placed into the vessel, duct or lumen containing a flowing fluid, the drag on the guidewire is greater when the fluid is flowing from the proximal to distal end of the guidewire than it is when it is flowing distally-to-proximally, thereby helping to direct the guidewire. The device is particularly useful in crossing a narrowing in the vessel, duct or lumen, such as may occur in blood vessels containing a stenosis, such as due to atherosclerosis.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention pertains to flow-directed guidewires and catheters, and in particular, to flow-directed guidewires useful for traversing a stenosis in a blood vessel.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Despite advances in guidewire and catheter technology, high-grade stenoses in the coronary or peripheral vasculature continue to pose a considerable challenge. Even experienced interventionalists can expend significant time, effort and resources in crossing these lesions. Furthermore, multiple, failed attempts at traversing a lesion can increase the risk of distal embolization which may have significant implications in some vascular beds. Numerous modifications to guidewires have attempted to increase the efficiency of crossing stenotic areas. For example, hydrophilic coatings, varying degrees and lengths of "floppiness", and different shapes on the wire tip have all been utilized to facilitate this process. The very existence of multiple products speaks to the lack of universal efficacy of any single design. The central issue is that the tip of the wire must enter the opening of the stenosis. This opening is usually eccentric and difficult to locate efficiently. In effect, trial and error is the current method of choice to get the tip of the wire into the stenosis and may involve multiple attempts. It is obvious that a guidewire that will quickly and atraumatically cross lesions will be of tremendous benefit to both the interventionalist and to the patient.
In addition to crossing lesions in peripheral vascular beds, endovascular technology is being increasingly applied to treat carotid artery lesions (Roubin et al). An integral step in this procedure is to gain wire-access to the appropriate carotid artery via the aortic arch and advance a sheath over this wire into the common carotid artery. The aortic arch anatomy can be very difficult to navigate and the aorta and carotid orifice can be heavily diseased. It has been established that distal embolization due to excessive instrumentation in the aortic arch can lead to cerebral events during carotid stenting procedures (Coggia et al, Macleod et al). Innumerable catheters have been developed to help engage the carotid or innominate orifice but this can be difficult, dangerous and time-consuming. Again, a device that will efficiently and safely allow a wire to be placed into a carotid artery would be useful to clinicians and beneficial to patients.
Flow-directed catheters have been available for decades. These catheters have found application in neuro-intervential radiology. In general they are simply very floppy or flexible tubes of small diameter which will small enough and flexible enough to be effected by fluid velocity and thus are directed through vessels into the branches with the highest flow. Multiple variations of this concept have been disclosed and claimed in the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,524,299 (Tran et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,205 (Zenzen et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,512 (Zenzon et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,705 (Mortier et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,939 (Mortier et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,733 (Mortier et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,059 (Chiang et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,890 (Chiang et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,222 (Klein et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,169 (Furukawa); U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,973 (Saab); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,715 (Berg).
Inflated balloons have been conceived as a method to utilize the flow within a vessel to direct a catheter. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,104 (Kerber) an inflatable leaking balloon is described as a tool for using the flow in a vessel to direct the balloon in the direction of flow and also to provide a means of local drug delivery through the small holes in the balloon. Another example of a balloon catheter directed by flow is U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,873 (Antoshkiw et al.).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,618 (Larson) describes a catheter with a deployable parachute attached to the distal tip. The parachute may be guided by the flow within a vessel or by fluid injected through the catheter. A guidewire may be advanced through the lumen of the catheter to provide further direction of the catheter into a desired vessel branch. U.S. Pat. No. 6,491,671 (Larson et al.) describes a catheter with a catheter which is directed within a vessel by a wing shaped structure which provides hemodynamic lift in the presence of flow. This wing shaped structure is utilized to guide the tip of the catheter into a desired vessel branch.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,068 (Dubrul et al.) describes a catheter with an expandable wire mesh at the distal tip. The wire mesh may be expanded by the operator and flow within the vessel may direct the wire mesh and catheter. The wire mesh may also be used as an occlusion device.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,700 (Levine) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,991 (Hebert et al.) describe a catheter with an inflatable balloon which may assist in guiding the catheter through tortuous vasculature. The catheter may include a flexible region where the tip of the catheter may be effectively steered by placing a bent wire within the catheter to bend the catheter in this flexible region so that by torquing the catheter with advancement it may be directed into a desired portion of a vessel such as an aneurysm.
Since 1991, flow-directed catheters have been commercially available. However, their use has been limited by the lack of ability to maneuver in tortuous vascular anatomy and cross stenoses. Typically, a guidewire is required to navigate these anatomic hurdles. The distinction is crucial as catheters are limited by size, structure, rigidity, floppiness or other properties in their design and are not useful for the aforementioned situations. The use of a wire with a floppy tip that can also exploit the flow-dynamics inherent to the vascular system will overcome these limitations


A network device discovery system, method, and computer program product are provided. In use, topological information associated with a plurality of network devices is identified. Further, network connectivity among the plurality of network devices is discovered based on the topological information.

Networks generally include a plurality of devices that are interconnected to facilitate intercommunication. It is often desired to identify connectivity among the various devices on the network. Traditionally, brute force discovery techniques, such as a series of brute force algorithms, have been utilized for identifying such connectivity. However, brute force discovery techniques typically include checking connectivity among each possible pair of devices on the network, resulting in inefficient discovery of network connectivity. There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method and computer program product for discovering network connectivity among network devices based on topological information


A method and apparatus identifying a type of a recordable disc using the reflectivity and RPM (Rotation Per Minute) of the disc. The method includes the operations of detecting an RPM (Rotation Per Minute) of the disc, identifying a first disc type by comparing the RPM with a first reference value, measuring the reflectivity of the disc, and identifying a second disc type between a one-time recordable disc type and a re-recordable disc type by comparing the reflectivity of the disc with a second reference value. Accordingly, the lead-in time of the disc can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus to identify a type of a disc in a disc drive, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus to identify a type of a recordable disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various types of recordable discs, such as a recordable CD (compact disc) and a recordable DVD (digital versatile disc). The recordable DVDs can be divided into DVD−R/+R type discs, i.e., one-time recordable discs on which data can be recorded only one-time, and DVD−RW/DVD+RW type discs, i.e., re-recordable discs on which data can be recorded several times.
Although the shapes of the above-mentioned discs are the same regardless of the types of the discs, their physical disc formats are different according to the types of the discs. That is, a wobble is formed on one side or both sides of the discs, having a frequency of 140 KHz in the case of DVD−R/RW and a frequency of 817 KHz in the case of DVD+R/RW. Further, while the wobble of a DVD−R/RW is formed such that LPPs (Land Pre Pits) are formed in a land area, the wobble of a DVD+R/RW disc is formed using a phase modulation method.
In order to drive various types of discs having different physical formats in the same disc drive, the disc drive must be able to set operational conditions adequate to the physical format of a disc during a lead-in time period for the disc. The setting of the operational conditions is for normally reading data from or writing data to the disc. Setting a servo gain to stabilize servo operations is an example of setting the operational conditions of the disc drive. In order to set the operational conditions, the type of the disc must be correctly identified.
In a conventional method of identifying a type of a disc, the disc type is identified on the basis of an ID (identification) code recorded in a lead-in area of the disc. That is, after the operational conditions of a disc drive are set to read the ID code, the disc type is identified using the ID code recorded in the lead-in area and if the currently set operational conditions are adequate to the identified disc type, the lead-in operation for the disc is complete.
However, if the operational conditions of the disc drive are not adequate to the disc type, the disc drive must retry the setting of the operational conditions adequately to the disc type in order to identify that disc type. Accordingly, where the operational conditions of the disc drive are not adequate to the disc type to be identified, the lead-in operation is inefficiently performed.

Method and apparatus for identifying disc type


An electrical connector includes an insulating housing (1) defining a receiving cavity (10) with an opening (101) opened forward and running through a mating face (11). A plurality of terminals are mounted in the insulating housing. A cover (4) defines a space for partly receiving the insulating housing therein, and includes a front wall (43) with an aperture (430) corresponding with the opening (101). A shell (5) is provided for shielding the insulating housing and the cover. A sleeve (3) has a base portion (32) sandwiched between the mating face (11) and the front wall (43) of the cover (4), and a ring (31) projecting forward through the aperture (430), therefore the sleeve can not release from the insulating housing easily.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector with a ring assembled therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,127 issued to Li et al. on Apr. 22, 2003 discloses an electrical connector for signal transmission. The electrical connector includes a housing mounted with a plurality of terminals and forming a cylindraceous mating portion protruding forward from the housing for receiving a mating plug therein. The electrical connector further comprises an insulating sleeve assembled in an inner side of the mating portion and locked with the mating portion by a pair of hooks buckling with an end of the mating portion and a plurality of ribs interfering with the inner side of the mating portion. However, the sleeve may release from the mating portion after multiple usage of the mating plug. Hence, an electrical connector which can solve the problem is needed.

Electrical connector with a sleeve therein


A vending machine handles a purchase transaction by receiving a payment, receiving a product selection from the customer, and dispensing the product indicated by the product selection. As part of the same transaction, the vending machine offers an information item such as an audio recording or a video recording. The vending machine also receives from the customer a destination address, which may be an e-mail address. The vending machine or a system of which it is part transmits the information item to the received destination address.

Vending machines are well known and are employed to store and dispense a wide variety of merchandise, including beverages, snacks and sundries.
Vending machines provide benefits to both customers and proprietors. For customers, there is the convenience of self-service and twenty-four hour access. Similarly, vending machines are available as sales outlets for proprietors around the clock and without direct labor costs for the sales transactions themselves.
However, the simplicity of the vending machine experience is not in all ways advantageous. The customer's interaction with the machine, consisting of inserting payment, selecting a product to be purchased, and receiving the product, is sometimes not congruent with the brand image of the product purchased. For many products distributed by vending machines, and particularly beverages and some snacks, the brand of the product is highly cultivated by the product distributor or manufacturer to suggest favorable images having elements such as pleasure and fun. The typical vending machine experience does little to reinforce this brand image, except, perhaps, the presence of the brand displayed on the machine and on the product itself. While the product purchased may be pleasurable and fun in itself, the process of obtaining the product from the vending machine is routine and mechanistic.
It would be desirable if the experience of interacting with a vending machine were made enjoyable and entertaining to enhance and reinforce the brand messages promulgated by the distributors of products that are sometimes sold in vending machines. The present inventors have recognized that one way of enhancing the experience of interacting with the vending machine would be to expand the range of products available at the vending machine to include information items. Such information items may include audio recordings such as hit songs and/or video recordings such as music videos and may be selected to support and enhance the brand images of products sold through the vending machines.

System for vending physical and information items


The present invention uses a magnetic recording medium equipped with those magnetically readable recording servo pits which are preformed on a magnetic recording medium and have different magnetic characteristics from those of a recording magnetic film, detects magnetically a tracking signal or preformat signals such as sync signals, address signals, and the like, from the magnetic flux distribution (leakage magnetic field) occurring at edges of each of the servo pits using a magnetic head, makes servo control of the position of the magnetic head by the detected tracking signal and records or reads magnetically the data along the center of a track. In the magnetic recording medium of the present invention, magnetically readable, wobbled servo pits or sync pits, track address pits and data pits are preformed on the magnetic recording medium, these pit portions have locally different magnetic characteristics from those of the recording magnetic film and have a magnetic film structure wherein saturated magnetization is smaller than at other portions or the magnetic film is removed locally. These preformed pits can be read magnetically by detecting the local magnetic field (leakage magnetic field) generated at their edges by the magnetic head.

This invention relates to a method of magnetically recording and reading data while a magnetic head is being subjected to tracking control, a magnetic recording medium used for the method, its production method and a magnetic recording apparatus for recording and reading the magnetic recording medium.
Tracking control has not been necessary in a conventional magnetic recording medium (magnetic disk) which records digital information by a magnetic head because a method has been employed which sufficiently reduces eccentricity of the magnetic recording medium to sufficiently increase a track width and improves accuracy of a mechanism portion of a magnetic recording apparatus to reduce a relative position error between the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head. In a magnetic recording medium for recording digital data, a magnetic film is sputtered onto a disk substrate such as an aluminum substrate and initial magnetization is effected. Then, the disk is initialized one by one by a servo writer or the magnetic head of the magnetic recording apparatus.
In order to accomplish a higher recording density by reducing further a recording track width of a magnetic recording medium, machining accuracy of the magnetic recording medium and the mechanism portion of the magnetic recording apparatus must be improved but this results in the problems that productivity of the recording medium (magnetic disk) drops, ultra-high precision machining is necessary for the mechanical portion of the magnetic recording apparatus and the magnetic recording apparatus thus becomes too large in scale to achieve reasonable stability and cost.
Since it has not been possible conventionally to replicate in advance fixed information specific to a computer onto a magnetic disk, troublesome procedures of purchasing beforehand a software recorded on a floppy disk and then transferring the information from the floppy disk to a magnetic disk have been necessary to replicate a personal computer software. If the software is large in scale, the number of floppy disks reaches some dozens so that operability of the apparatus drops and a user cannot use it so easily. Moreover, the magnetic disk medium must be initialized one by one by a servo writer or a magnetic recording apparatus after a magnetic film is sputtered onto a disk substrate such as an aluminum substrate and is magnetized initially. Therefore, it has been difficult to replicate large quantities of magnetic disk media having recorded information.
On the other hand, in a magnetic disk (floppy) in which digital data are recorded by a magnetic head while optical tracking control is being made, there has been proposed a system which forms in advance a guide groove in a magnetic medium, guides optically the magnetic head by the aid of this guide groove and records data magnetically ("Nikkei Electronics", Sept. 5, 1988, No. 455).

Method of magnetically recording and reading data, magnetic recording medium, its production method and magnetic recording apparatus


A module assembly for an airbag device for protecting occupants of motor vehicles includes a carrier for the assembly, an inflatable airbag packet, a flexible protective envelope, and a fixing mechanism. The airbag packet is fixed to the carrier. The airbag packet is accommodated in the flexible protective envelope. The protective enveloped can be closed off in a gastight manner. The fixing mechanism fixes the airbag packet to the carrier. The fixing mechanism includes a holding element. The holding element, which includes a securing mechanism provided on the carrier to fix the airbag packet to the carrier, extends along an edge of the airbag packet. The securing mechanism is formed integrally on the carrier and is resiliently pivotable with respect to a lateral section of the carrier. Alternatively, the securing mechanism is fixed on the carrier as a separate assembly.

The invention relates to a module assembly for an airbag device for protecting occupants of a motor vehicle.
A module assembly can include an airbag packet, for example for a driver or passenger airbag, which can be inflated to protect a vehicle occupant and is delimited by an encircling outer edge. The airbag packet is formed by an airbag which has been folded up, unfolds when it is inflated and in the inflated state forms a cushion by which the occupant to be protected is to be protected from injury in the event of a crash, and which is arranged in the folded state as an airbag packet in a flexible protective envelope which surrounds (closes off) the airbag packet in a gastight manner. This allows the package dimensions of the airbag packet to be minimized by generating a subatmospheric pressure in the flexible protective envelope (which is ultimately to be closed off in a gastight manner). DE 101 14 208 A1 and DE 10 2004 056 128,both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, disclose various module assemblies. A module assembly may also comprise a carrier, to which the airbag is fixed so that the airbag packet adopts a defined position within the corresponding motor vehicle.


To provide a touch sensor including a tail having a terminal protective layer that allows smooth insertion into or removal from a circuit board without causing any problem, which is likely to occur in a typical terminal protective layer provided on a terminal at a distal end of a tail of a touch sensor used for, for example, input operations of various electronic devices. A touch sensor having a plurality of sensor electrodes and a plurality of wires on a single substrate film includes a body including a flat portion and a deformed portion, which is three-dimensionally shaped relative to the flat portion surrounding the deformed portion and has an operation surface having the sensor electrodes, and a tail projecting from the body and having a terminal to connect the wires to a circuit board. The terminal has a terminal protective layer protecting the wires.

Touch sensors are used for input operations of various electronic devices. Such a touch sensor includes a substrate formed from a resin film, a portion that serves as a detection region having sensor electrodes, and a tail that is a portion in which wires extending from the detection region are bundled. The tail has, at its distal end, a terminal that can be inserted into or removed from a circuit board, which is a separate member. The terminal is inserted into the circuit board for conductive connection. The terminal has a surface typically covered with a conductive carbon layer, serving as a terminal protective layer. Such a technique is described in, for example, Domestic Re-publication of PCT International Publication for Patent Application No. WO 2015/147323 (PTL 1).

Touch sensor, electronic device, and method of producing touch sensor


A method is provided for deploying an IoT device node having a primary communication link for communicating with a management server and a secondary communication link for communicating with a deployment device. The method includes: establishing the secondary communication link with the IoT device node; obtaining device information from the IoT device node; forwarding the device information to the management server; based on the device information, establishing the primary communication link with the IoT device node and sending a first key to the IoT device node over the primary communication link and sending a second key to the deployment device; forwarding the second key to the IoT device node over the secondary communication link; generating a device key based on the first key received on the primary communication link and the second key received on the secondary communication link; and authenticating the IoT device node using the device key.

Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology is under dramatic development for applications in many areas, such as Smart City, M2M (machine-to-machine), and others. Wireless IoT sensor nodes are key components in the IoT network, which are connected with the IoT network using narrow band wireless networks to sense the field conditions and to execute functions in a wide spectrum.
More recently, various narrow band wireless communication technologies have been developed for different applications, such as BLE, Zigbee, NB-IoT, Sigfox, and LORA, etc. These technologies serve the purpose of obtaining reliable and secured data communication after the sensor nodes have been connected to the network.
The IoT sensor nodes generally use one narrow band wireless communication link with other network devices. When an IoT sensor node is to be deployed, the platform management system needs to have information of the IoT sensor node in a preloaded white list file on the platform management system. Thus, complicated operations and software changes may often be needed to allow the IoT sensor node to join the network and make such information to be usable by the platform management system.
The disclosed methods and systems are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.

Method and system for deploying wireless IoT sensor nodes


A method of manufacturing bingo paper includes the steps of storing a plurality of preformulated bingo faces in the memory of a computer. The computer is connected to a variable data print unit. The computer is programmed to print a first series of bingo faces. The computer is also programmed to print a second series of bingo faces wherein the first series of bingo faces is different from the second series of bingo faces. The first and second series of bingo faces can be of different sizes or can have different bingo faces in them. Alternatively, the second series of bingo faces can be identical to the first series but printed in a different order. An indicium is also printed on each bingo face of the first and second series of bingo faces. After the indicium is applied, one or more series of the bingo faces will constitute a set of bingo faces. An apparatus for printing the bingo booklets includes a computer having stored in memory a plurality of bingo faces and a variable data print unit coupled to the computer. A web is fed through the variable data print unit at which point the bingo faces are printed on the web. An indicium print unit, also coupled to the computer and located adjacent the variable data print unit, prints indicia on the web adjacent each bingo face.

This application bases its priority on Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/024,450 which was filed on Aug. 27, 1996.
This invention pertains to the printing of booklets of bingo sheets. However, it should be appreciated by those of average skill in the art that the method and apparatus disclosed herein could also be employed for printing a variety of other types of printed matter including checks, business forms or advertising brochures.
Bingo is a game of chance that is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world. The most popular form of bingo played in the United States consists of a 5.times.5 matrix of numbers with each column of numbers listed under a letter of the word "BINGO" printed at the top of the page. There are 75 numbers that may be used in the game. Under the letter "B", five unique numbers from 1 through 15 may be listed. Under the letter "I", five unique numbers from 16 through 30 may be listed. Under the letter "N", four unique numbers from 31 through 45 may be listed. The center space of the matrix which falls under the "N" column is usually designated as a free space in the play of the game. Under the letter "G", five unique numbers from 46 through 60 may be listed. Under the letter "O", five unique numbers from 61 through 75 may be listed. The game is played by filling a prescribed pattern on the bingo face by marking the randomly generated numbers called from the 75 number series. The first person to fill the pattern and to call "BINGO" wins the game.
Previously the game of bingo was played on what was termed "hard cards". These were bingo faces printed on a cardboard substrate. Each card usually contained one bingo face and was reusable. Play usually consisted of placing a plastic marker on each number that was called on the card until the game was completed by someone winning. The markers would then be cleared from the card and the same card or cards would be used for the following game. The bingo players would play the same cards for all the games of the session. The cards were costly to purchase, required maintenance, retrieval, storage, needed frequent replacement, and provided a limited number of bingo faces.
It has now become popular in the playing of bingo to purchase a booklet of bingo sheets each sheet of which has one or more bingo faces printed thereon. These booklets consist of multiple sheets of bingo paper, one stacked upon the other, with the paper sheets being removably secured at one edge to form a booklet. The number of sheets in a booklet is indicated by the term "up." Thus a 10 up booklet means a booklet having ten sheets. Each sheet typically contains a number of bingo faces indicated by the term "on." These can range from a 1 ON to a 36 ON or more. When players enter the bingo hall they may purchase one or more booklets. Each booklet contains one sheet for each game of the evening. The player will then play all of the bingo faces on the first sheet for the first game and mark these faces with a translucent marker, or ink dauber, as each of the numbers is called. Once a winner is declared and the game is over, the player removes the top sheet from the booklet and plays the next game on the following sheet. The marked first sheet is discarded.
With the popularity of bingo growing, the number of players has increased dramatically. Each player may use twelve, eighteen or more bingo faces simultaneously. As a result a bingo hall operator can use 9,000 or more bingo faces in a single game. State of the art communication techniques such as television satellite links may now join many bingo halls together for a combined bingo session. This further increases the potential number of bingo faces played in a single game to 120,000 or more.
In each bingo game, it is highly desirable that each of the players have unique bingo faces on their sheets in order to reduce the possibility that more than one person would win at the same time by having the identical bingo face. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to print a large number of different bingo faces on bingo sheets in order to reduce the occurrence of prize-splitting.
The current process for printing bingo paper usually requires the use of a web printing press that contains a series of standard and, in some cases, proprietary printing units that combine to print the indicia, audit numbers, serial numbers, wax bars, and bingo faces on a web of paper. On these presses the bingo face printing unit consists of an inking system that wets a series of bingo face plates mounted on a continuous belt. When brought into contact with the paper web routed over the unit impression cylinder, the continuous belt transfers the image of the bingo faces onto the paper web. The number of unique bingo faces printed by this system is limited by the length of the continuous belt. For handling purposes and functionality, modern belt systems will accept a belt length that will hold approximately 9000 unique bingo faces which is the accepted industry standard set. If larger numbers of unique bingo faces are required to satisfy the requirements of a game, sets are printed separately using different 9000 face bingo belts and then combined by hand in a process that is termed set collation. This is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a new and improved method and apparatus for printing large numbers of bingo faces which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.

Method and apparatus for printing bingo booklets


A process for fabricating an integrated circuit includes, in a stack of layers including a silicon substrate overlaid with a buried insulating layer overlaid with a silicon layer, etching first trenches into the silicon substrate, depositing a silicon nitride layer on the silicon layer to fill the first trenches and form first trench isolations, forming a mask on the silicon nitride layer, etching second trenches into the silicon substrate, in a pattern defined by the mask, to a depth greater than a depth of the first trenches, filling the second trenches with an electrical insulator to form second trench isolations, carrying out a chemical etch until the silicon layer is exposed, and forming a FET by forming a channel, a source, and a drain of the field effect transistor in the silicon layer.

Integrated circuits produced in SOI technology have a certain number of advantages. Such circuits generally have a lower power consumption for an equivalent performance. Such circuits also have lower parasitic capacitances, thereby allowing switching speeds to be improved. In addition, the phenomenon of latch up encountered in bulk technology MOS transistor may be prevented. Such circuits therefore prove to be particularly suitable for SoC or MEMS applications. It has also been observed that SOI integrated circuits are less sensitive to the effects of ionising radiation and thus prove to be more reliable in applications where such radiation may cause malfunctions, especially in space applications. SOI integrated circuits may notably comprise active SRAM memory or logic gates.
Many studies have focused on reducing the static consumption of logic gates while increasing their switching speed. Certain integrated circuits currently being developed incorporate both low-consumption logic gates and fast-access logic gates. To generate these two types of logic gates in a given integrated circuit, the threshold voltage of certain transistors of the fast-access logic gates is reduced and the threshold voltage of other transistors of the low-consumption logic gates is increased. In bulk technology, modulation of the threshold voltage level of transistors of the same type is achieved by modifying the doping level in their channels and by modulating the voltage applied to the well. However, in FDSOI (for fully depleted silicon-on-insulator) technology the doping of the channel is almost non-existent (1015 cm−3). Thus, the doping level of the channel of the transistors cannot vary substantially, thereby preventing the threshold voltages from being modified in this way. One solution proposed in certain studies, in order to produce transistors of the same type with different threshold voltages, is to use different gate materials in these transistors. However, in practice producing such an integrated circuit proves to be technically difficult and economically prohibitive. In order for different transistors produced in FDSOI technology to have different threshold voltages it is also known to use a biased ground plane placed between a thin insulating oxide layer (TBOX or UTBOX) and the silicon substrate. By adjusting the doping of the ground planes and their bias, a range of threshold voltages can be defined for the various transistors. It is thus possible to obtain transistors with low threshold voltages (called LVT transistors), transistors with high threshold voltages (called HVT transistors), and transistors with average threshold voltages (called SVT transistors). In order to allow the operation of the various transistors they must be electrically isolated from one another. Therefore the transistors are generally encircled by trench isolations called STIs (for "shallow trench isolations") which extend as far as the wells. In a certain number of integrated-circuit configurations, it is necessary to provide additional trench isolations having a depth smaller than the depth of the aforementioned trench isolations.
It has thus been proposed to use these shallower trench isolations to bias ground planes via lateral contacts. The fabrication processes envisaged run the risk of degrading the UTBOX layer (this layer being highly sensitive due to its small thickness), shallower trench isolations may also provide lateral protection for the UTBOX layer so as thus to eliminate the risk of a short-circuit forming between the transistor and the substrate. These shallower trench isolations pass through the UTBOX layer but do not extend to the depth of the interface between the ground planes and the wells. In practice, forming trench isolations having two different depths proves to be problematic. This is because such a structure potentially requires fabrication processes that are substantially more complex or very different from proven fabrication processes.
Moreover, document US 2011/0057287 describes an integrated circuit produced in bulk technology. This document suggests placing memory cells and peripheral circuits into two separate zones. The trench isolations have different depths in these two zones.
The fabrication process proposed in this document is the following. A lower silicon oxide film is formed by thermal oxidation on a silicon substrate. A polysilicon film is formed on the lower silicon oxide film by a CVD process. A silicon nitride film is formed on the polysilicon film, for example by CVD. This silicon nitride film is covered with an upper silicon oxide film. A photolithography mask is produced, then an anisotropic etch or chemical etch is carried out with this mask in order to form trenches to a first depth in the silicon substrate, through the various films.
A photolithography mask is produced, which mask covers the trenches intended for the memory-cell zone while leaving the trenches intended for the peripheral circuit zone uncovered. This mask and the upper silicon oxide film serve as masks for an anisotropic etch so that the trenches intended for the peripheral circuit zone are etched for longer and are therefore deeper than the masked trenches. The mask is then removed so as to expose the shallower trenches. Silicon oxide is then deposited, for example using a PECVD process, in order to fill the various trenches. Next, this silicon oxide surface deposit and the upper silicon oxide film are removed by a CMP process.
For example by means of wet etching in orthophosphoric acid and then hydrofluoric acid, the silicon nitride film, the polysilicon film and the lower silicon oxide film are removed, exposing the silicon substrate. In this way, trench isolations of different depths, formed by a silicon oxide filling step, are obtained. Conventional bulk-processing operations are then used to form transistors in the memory-cell zone of the peripheral circuits.
Here, forming trench isolations with two different depths requires additional steps, having a non-negligible impact on the fabrication cost of such an integrated circuit. Moreover, removing the photolithography etching mask from the shallower trench isolations is difficult with available processes beyond a certain depth value. Furthermore, it is difficult to envisage how such a process could be adapted to fabrication of SOI integrated circuits, due to the risk that the very thin UTBOX layer or the upper part of the trench isolations will be degraded during formation of the transistors in the active layer or during implantation of the wells or ground planes, and in particular during steps of etching with hydrofluoric acid.

Process for fabricating an integrated circuit having trench isolations with different depths

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