A method for providing location-based information via a temporary social network includes detecting each of a plurality of first user devices within a predetermined proximity of a physical location and, in response, connecting each of the plurality of first user devices to a social network that is associated with the physical location using a communications network. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of first user devices will be connected to the social network for a predetermined amount of time or for as long as they are in the predetermined proximity. While in the social network, location-based information about the physical location is received over the communications network from each of the plurality of first user devices connected to the social network. At least some of that location-based information about the physical location may then be over the communications network to a second user device.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to social networking and more particularly to the provision of information through temporary social networks.
Related Art
Social networks may be provided by social network systems that provide an online service, platform, or site that operates through a plurality of computers connected over a network such as, for example, the Internet. These social network systems facilitate the building of social networks or social relations among people who share interests, activities, backgrounds, real-life connections, and/or a variety of other characteristics known in the art. Such social network systems typically consist of a representation of each user (often via a user profile), the user's social links, and any of a variety of services.
One of the many services provided by social network systems is to obtain information about businesses from users of the social network and provide that information to other users in the social network. For example, a user may interact with a business and then rate the business and/or write a review about that business such that the rating and/or review are stored on the social network system. Other users may then retrieve the rating (or an aggregate rating of the business by a plurality of users of the social network) and/or the review(s) in order to help to determine whether or not to interact with that business. However, such conventional systems suffer from the deficiency that that information provided about those businesses (e.g., the reviews and ratings) is "stale" or old, i.e., such information was typically provided days, weeks, months, or even years prior to the date that such information is being retrieved. As such, the user retrieving that information may be provided an inaccurate view of the business, particularly with regard to the date on which the user is retrieving that information and likely considering interacting with the business.
Thus, there is a need for an improved social networking system.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Information provision through temporary social networks


Techniques, systems, apparatus and material are described for generating renewable energy from biomass waste while sequestering carbon. In one aspect, a method performed by a reactor to dissociate raw biomass waste into a renewable source energy or a carbon byproduct or both includes receiving the raw biomass waste that includes carbon, hydrogen and oxygen to be dissociated under an anaerobic reaction. Waste heat is recovered from an external heat source to heat the received raw biomass waste. The heated raw biomass waste is dissociated to produce the renewable fuel, carbon byproduct or both. The dissociating includes compacting the heated raw biomass waste, generating heat from an internal heat source, and applying the generated heat to the compacted biomass waste under pressure.

This application relates to devices, techniques and materials related to carbon sequestration and renewable energy production from biomass waste.
Aquatic plants and vegetative groundcover, particularly farms and forests, are essential carbon dioxide collectors, natural habitats for countless wildlife, and sources of fiber for applications ranging from paper products to building materials. Devastation of forests on almost all continents has occurred because of non-native pest introductions and greenhouse gas exacerbated climatic changes that have made forests vulnerable to pestilence, fire, wind, flood, and drought damages.
Throughout South, Central, and North America forest fires have destroyed vast stands of trees that have been weakened or killed by drought and disease. This represents an enormous loss of pulp and building materials. Fires and rot also produce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane that further harm the global atmosphere. It is of paramount importance to provide practical solutions that enable rapid conversion of vegetative biomass into renewable supplies of fuels, electricity, and valuable materials before these materials are lost because of fires, decay, floods and erosion. A corollary objective is to facilitate rapid redevelopment of healthy forests, crops, and other groundcover and to facilitate production of fuel and sequestered carbon values from prescribed thinning and underbrush removal to improve forest conditions and to prevent the spread of harmful fires.
Like reference symbols and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Carbon-based durable goods and renewable fuel from biomass waste dissociation for transportation and storage


A combination of a torque-generating apparatus with an alternator/generator. The torque-generating apparatus comprises a first assembly (10, 25) including a generally cylindrical member of magnetically soft material and having a longitudinal axis, and a second assembly (2) arranged coaxially within the first assembly and including an electromagnetic winding (4). The first assembly (10, 25) and the second assembly (2) are rotatable relative to each other about the axis. Relative rotation between the first (10, 25) and second (2) assemblies induces a magnetic field which generates rotational torque between the first and second assemblies. Rectification means (31) is provided to convert alternating current electrical output from the alternator/generator (22) to provide D.C. current to the electromagnetic windings (4) of the torque generating apparatus to generate an electromagnetic braking effect.

The presently preferred power generator in oilfield exploration or extraction applications is the mud alternator because it is powerless on the surface, and therefore safe to handle, and only generates power once down hole and spinning in the mud flow. However, one of the major problems faced by both the provider and end-user of drilling equipment has been the control of impeller speed of down hole mud alternators.
All mud alternators effectively run open loop and the only way to govern their speed is either to modify the flow rate of mud pumped past the impeller or to change the impeller. These methods are not always successful in controlling alternator speed and, hence, power output. An alternator that rotates too quickly generates too much voltage for the down hole apparatus and consequently causes the apparatus to overheat. If an alternator causes the apparatus to overheat for too long, the apparatus is likely to fail resulting in a costly interruption of the drilling programme. A loss of down hole power results in a loss of communication with the drilling apparatus and the entire drill string must be pulled from the well to effect repairs. For an extended reach hole, the extraction, repair and replacement can take in excess of two days and a drilling engineer therefore avoids excessive rotation speeds for the alternator if at all possible.
To ensure the alternator is always operated within safe limits, the alternator RPM or output voltage is transmitted to the surface at frequent intervals in order that the drilling engineer may monitor the performance of the alternator and effect alternator speed corrections by adjusting the mud pumping-rate.
The preferred method for avoiding excessive rotation speed for the alternator is to select a suitable impeller for the alternator during the planning stage of a drilling contract. Mud flow rates can vary widely, for example from 150 to 800 United States gallons per minute. One of the planning tasks is to establish the minimum and maximum mud flow rates for the task in order that an optimum impeller can be selected. The difficulty with this method is that an incorrect impeller is sometimes fitted to the alternator. The drilling engineer is then faced with the decision of not using the drilling apparatus until the correct impeller has been fitted, or risking damage to the drilling apparatus due to excessive alternator power output.

Downhole torque-generating and generator combination apparatus


A system and method for forming semiconductor structures is disclosed. An embodiment comprises forming a high diffusibility layer adjacent to a gate stack and forming a low diffusibility layer adjacent to the high diffusibility layer. After these two layers are formed, an anneal is performed to diffuse dopants from the high diffusibility layer underneath the gate stack to help form a channel region.

Generally, when a source/drain region of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistor is formed through an epitaxial process, a single layer of a material (usually including a dopant) is formed. Such a layer may be a single layer of silicon with a dopant such as phosphorous. One method of forming this single layer uses a selective deposition process that utilizes a precursor such as dichlorosilane (DCS) along with an etchant such as hydrochloric acid in order to selectively grow a layer of epitaxial silicon on a base of underlying silicon material. This type of formation process forms a low activation, high diffusibility layer, in which the dopants can easily diffuse out of the epitaxial layer with a low temperature of anneal. However, by forming such a low activation, high diffusibility single layer, diffusion from such a layer cannot be well controlled, leading to concerns regarding short channel effects in devices formed from such a process.
In order to address these concerns, another process has been attempted by which a high activation and low diffusibility single layer has been formed. In such a process a precursor such as Si2H6 or Si3H8 is utilized to form both a layer of epitaxial silicon over an underlying silicon layer along with a layer of polysilicon over non-silicon layers. After such a growth and deposition, the unit may be purged of precursors and a selective etching of the polysilicon (using etchants such as HCl along with a catalyst like of GeH4) may be initiated in order to remove, the polysilicon without removing the epitaxially grown silicon (or partially removing the epitaxially grown silicon). This deposition and selective etching may be repeated a number of times in a cyclical fashion in order to grow the desired epitaxial silicon layer to the desired thickness.
However, this cyclical process also has its drawbacks. In particular, this process forms a high activation and low diffusibility single layer that leads to an increase of the resistance within the LDD region of transistors. Additionally, the use of this cyclical process can lead to the formation of voids underneath spacers that may be used with the gate stack. As such, this cyclical process forms a high activation, low diffusibility single layer that has its own problems to replace the problems with which it helps.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A terminal crimping device is composed of an elevating crimper for crimping terminals onto the exposed conductors of cables and an anvil positioned opposite said crimper. The crimper is caused to ascend and descend by means of drive means including a servo motor. The controlling of the terminal crimping operation is done by monitoring the height of the crimper at the time of terminal crimping and the load applied to said drive means and comparing a detected load to the height with the preset reference data to determine whether the terminal crimping performance is good or not. Thus, a reliable determination whether the terminal crimping performance is good or not is performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a terminal crimping device which produces terminal-equipped cables constituting a wire harness, or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The terminal crimping device is, in general, composed of a crimper and an anvil set opposite to said crimper wherein the crimper performs the work of crimping terminals to the exposed conductors of cables through elevating actions thereof. In this connection, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Appln. No. 8-236,253 discloses that the elevating actions of the crimper are achieved by decelerating the rotation of the servo motor before being transmitted to a disk where the disk rotation is converted into a linear motion such that a ram carried by said crimper is elevated and lowered. A detailed explanation thereof will be given with reference to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11.
FIGS. 10A through 10C are figures explaining the action of the terminal crimping device; FIG. 11A is a graph showing the relationship between the crimper action time and the elevating speed; and FIG. 11B is a graph showing the relationship between the time and the motor current value wherein 1, 2, 3 in FIGS. 11A and 11B correspond to A, B and C in FIG. 10.
Referring to FIG. 10, the disk 7 is secured to the output shaft of the decelerator (not shown), which functions to decelerate the rotation of the servo motor.
The disk 7 secured at an axis thereof to the output shaft of the decelerator carries an eccentric pin (crank shaft) 8 thereon. A crank rod 9 is pivotally attached at an upper end thereof to the eccentric pin 8 while the crank rod 9 is pivotally attached at a lower end thereof to a ram 11. The ram 11 is movable slidably in a vertical direction within a ram guide which is provided within the inner surfaces of a frame (not shown)., In this way, the disk 7, the crank rod 9, the ram 11 and the ram guide constitute a piston/crank mechanism.
The ram 11 is formed at a lower end thereof with an engagement recess 13, which is removably loaded with an engagement head 16 of a crimper holder 15 carrying a crimper 14. Immediately beneath the crimper 14, an anvil 17 is secured to a base 2 positioned opposite to said crimper 14.
FIG. 10A shows the start of the crimping step in which the crank pin 8 of the disk 7 takes an uppermost position to place the crimper 14 at the top dead center position, wherein the descending speed of the crimper 14 stands at 0 while the load current stands at 0 as shown in FIG. 11A.
FIG. 10B shows a rotation of the disk 7 in the arrow-marked direction which causes the crank pin 8 to move downward until the crimper 14 reaches a position in its high speed descent to contact the barrel c of a terminal, thus starting a crimping action therefor. The descending speed of the crimper 14 is reduced before the contact thereof while reducing the load current.
FIG. 10C shows that the disk 7 rotates in the arrow-marked direction to move the crank pin 8 to the neighborhood of the bottom dead center position such that the crimper 14 and the anvil 17 substantially perform the crimping work and, then, the crimper 14 provisionally comes to a stop at the crimping position. At this time, the crimper 14 is at rest (stop time t) showing a speed 0 while maintaining the state of pressurizing and pinching the barrel c of the terminal to continue the pressurizing action against the springback of the terminal barrel c, thus the load current reaching the peak value while showing a rising curve. Springback of said barrel c is prevented through this pressurizing and pinching action by this provisional halt.
After termial crimping, the servo motor 4 is caused to rotate the disk 7 in a direction reverse to the arrow-marked direction in the state shown in FIG. 10C such that the crimper 14 ascends to restore to the state (A).
In FIG. 11, the descending speed of the crimper 14 is sufficiently reduced from the speed thereof shown during the descent from the uppermost position to the terminal crimping start position. Therefore, such impact noise as is caused in a conventional flywheel type terminal crimping device will not be generated, thus contributing to noise prevention and job site improvement.
As data for determining whether the terminal crimping performance is good or not, the current value IU and IL as shown in FIG. 11B, are stored.
More specifically, FIG. 11B shows that I represents a standard value at the time of a normal step of crimping a given terminal and a given cable size, IU and IL represent a high limit and a low limit thereof, the high limit IU and the low limit IL being established by a preliminary test. If I is between IU and Ic, it means the normal crimping, in which the high limit IU and low limit Ic are established by the preliminary test.
As described in the foregoing, the crimping performance of the conventional terminal crimping device is determined by determining whether the value of electric current at the time of terminal crimping operation is in the preset range thereof. The determination by such a value of electric current alone is susceptible to a significant error to such an extent that values otherwise to be rejected can happen to be among those determined acceptable.

Control method of terminal crimping device


An information processing apparatus accepts operating instruction only from a user who has logged into the information processing apparatus, and is assigned with a screen of the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus includes a login processing unit configured to allow a first user to login and be assigned with the screen and to allow a second user, after the first user, to login and be assigned with the screen by reassigning the screen from the first user to the second user while maintaining a login status of the first user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to information devices provided with information processing functions as primary functions, information processing apparatuses such as electronic equipment provided with information processing functions as secondary functions, information processing methods, information processing programs, and record media such as CD-ROMs. An example of information devices provided with information processing functions as primary functions may be a personal computer. An example of electronic equipment provided with information processing functions as secondary functions may be an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a scanner, a facsimile device, a multifunction peripheral, etc., for which remarkable progress has been made in recent years in terms of information processing functionalities.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, multifunction peripherals provided with the functions of a copier, a printer, a scanner, and a facsimile device have been available in the market. Multifunction peripherals are equipped with such hardware as an imaging unit, a printing unit, a communication unit, an operation/display unit, and so on, and are provided with four types of software units corresponding to a copier, a printer, a scanner, and a facsimile device. The switching of these software units makes it possible to function as a copier, a printer, a scanner, or a facsimile device. When functioning as a copier or printer, these multifunction peripherals print images on print sheets or the like. When functioning as a copier or scanner, these multifunction peripherals capture images from original documents or the like. When functioning as a facsimile device, these multifunction peripherals exchange images with other equipment through telephone lines or the like.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-84383    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-202208    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-130532    [Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-319646
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of image forming apparatuses that are designed to provide a login/logout function for the purpose of improving security. This function is supposed to allow only the users capable of logging into image forming apparatuses to use the image forming apparatuses.
In the image forming apparatuses that are designed to provide the login/logout function, the login/logout function is introduced at the expense of loss of the functions to permit sharing by a plurality of users and to provide the parallel processing of a plurality of jobs. Because of this, problems arise such as an incapability of permitting a job interruption, an incapability of permitting a job reservation, a necessity to hold a next job in a wait state, etc. When sharing by a plurality of users or the parallel processing of a plurality of jobs are not achieved in multifunction peripherals, these multifunction peripherals with all their functions cannot prove their full merits. Even in consideration of such demerits, however, security cannot be compromised.
Accordingly, there is a need for an information processing apparatus such as an image forming apparatus that permits sharing by a plurality of users while providing improved security.

Information processing apparatus allowing multiple logins


An information processing system, information processing method, and computer program are provided. The information processing system configured of a plurality of equipments includes an apparatus information acquiring section for acquiring apparatus information as the system as a whole, an expanded function proposing section for proposing expanded functions to be executed by using the respective equipment forming the system, a function management section for managing performance or an apparatus configuration that becomes necessary for making each of the expanded functions executable; and an execution possibility determination section for extracting performance or an apparatus configuration necessary for executing an expanded function proposed by the expanded function proposing section, for comparing with a summation of the apparatus information acquired by the apparatus information acquiring section, and for determining whether or not the expanded function is executable.

The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing method, and a computer program for having operations between two or more networked equipments cooperate with each other, and more particularly relates to an information processing system, an information processing method, and a computer program to have operations between two or more equipments connected by a network cooperate with each other.
Further, the present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing method, and a computer program by which a plurality of networked equipments performs distributed processing so that they can operate as a single virtual equipment, and particularly to an information processing system, an information processing method, and a computer program to grasp excess processing capacities in the virtual single equipment formed from a plurality of networked equipments, and also expand functions.
It is known that a plurality of computers are connected to each other by a network to implement sharing information resources, sharing hardware resources, and collaboration between a plurality of users. There are connection media between the computers including various types such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), and the Internet.
Particularly recently, computer and network technologies deeply pervade typical homes. Information equipments such as personal computers and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and further, AV equipment such as television receivers and video reproduction apparatus, and various information appliances, CE (Consumer Electronics) equipment and the like in a home are interconnected via a home network. Further, such a home network is, in many cases, interconnected to an external wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, via a router.
While a mode of use assumed is that a plurality of AV equipments are connected on a home network in this manner, there is a problem that the cooperation implemented between the AV equipments is not sufficient until now.
For such a problem, in order to have the equipments on a network cooperate with each other, research and development on a grid computing technique is underway recently, by which high arithmetic operation performance is implemented through collaborative operation between equipment. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-342165; Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-351850; Japanese Patent Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-358289; Japanese Patent Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-366533; and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-366534.
According to the grid computing technique, a plurality of information processing apparatuses on a network perform distributed processing, so that they can operate as a single information processing apparatus as seen from users.
For example, where a plurality of information processing apparatuses each having a program recording function are connected on a network, a cooperative operation for a program recording reservation can be implemented. That is, where a plurality of information processing apparatuses have their program recording reservation operation cooperating via a home network, they operate virtually as a single recording equipment on the home network. And the user can make a program recording reservation using arbitrary one of the equipments connected to the home network.
Furthermore, through such cooperation in the program recording function, another program (so-called a counter program on a different channel) a recording time of which overlaps with the reserved program can be recorded simultaneously. Similarly, by having reproduction operation of recorded content cooperate between a plurality of equipments, simultaneous/synchronized content reproduction can be implemented. Through the cooperation in a content reproduction function, by having the reproduction of content recorded by different equipment proceed simultaneously and synchronously, it is able to introduce the concept of channel switching in content reproduction.
According to such virtual single equipment, even where the hardware resources and processing capacity of a single equipment may meet a demand from a user, by positively using excess processing capacities in other equipment that operate cooperatively and collaboratively on the network, the demand from the user can be met, whereby even services not practicable by only an usual stand alone single equipment can be implemented.
However, e.g., where a user wishes to expand a function in such virtual single equipment, there is a problem that it is relatively hard to know the current processing capacities. Thus, which function is expandable and what apparatus configuration is required to implement the expandable function are relatively hard to know.
In an usual stand alone single information processing apparatus, it is relatively easy to grasp its apparatus configuration such as its hardware and software. In contrast, where a plurality of information processing apparatuses are cooperatively operating via a network, the configuration of a certain apparatus is not visually seen from another apparatus, and as a result, the current excess processing capacities in a virtual single information processing apparatus may not be easily grasped.
For example, where a specific apparatus tries to make a request to the virtual single information processing apparatus, the specific apparatus may not judge what function is actually is able to be implemented until the excess processing capacities are determined between the networked information processing apparatuses.
Further, even where an added function becomes to be implemented by a combination of information processing apparatuses, what function becomes to be implemented is not proposed in advance before connecting them.
Generally, an information processing apparatus can implement function expansion, e.g., with the addition of peripheral equipment. In contrast, in a virtual single information processing apparatus, due to difficulties in grasping its excess functions, it is difficult to judge which equipment should newly be connected to the network for an expanded function which is newly requested by a user.

Information processing system, information processing method, and computer program


The disclosed apparatus is a fishing rod holding apparatus which is capable of holding, singularly or in combination, a fishing pole, an umbrella, and a lantern. The device is easily transportable because it easily disassembles into small and easy to handle component parts. The device incorporates a swivel, so the fishing rod may be swung about for baiting the hook, unhooking a catch, or adjusting the tackle.

The present invention generally relates to devices used to assist and enhance the sport of fishing, and more particularly to devices which are configured to hold a fishing rod, where the device is secured to the ground surface. The device is further adapted to hold other fishing and camping equipment, such as a lantern, an umbrella, or other fishing and camping gear.
When fishing from a shoreline, it is often desirable for the fisherman to cast his line and then set the fishing pole in a holder anchored in the ground so that the fisherman is free for other activities. A number of devices which perform this function are known, each having various advantages and disadvantages. Among the desired features of these devices are that the device should allow for the rapid and easy insertion of the fishing rod and the device should be easily transported, i.e., the device should be easy to disassemble and be relatively light. It would also be advantageous if the device would allow for the pole to be pivoted from pointing towards the water to some other direction away from the water, thereby allowing the fisherman to leave the pole within the holder while the fisherman is either rebaiting his hook, unhooking his catch, or making other adjustments to his fishing equipment.
Fishermen have been known to enjoy their sport at all times of day and night, and in all types of weather. If he fishes in the very early morning or late into the night, the fisherman requires a light source and a location to place the light source for effective lighting. Fuel burning lanterns provide a steady and relatively inexpensive source of bright light. A fishing rod holder having the further capability of holding a lantern would be desirable. Because fishermen also fish in both bright sunlight and rainy weather, it would be advantageous to have a fishing rod holder also capable of holding a sheltering device such as an umbrella. It would also be advantageous to have a device which is capable of holding any combination of a fishing pole, umbrella and/or lantern, separately or together.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus which meets the need identified above.
The disclosed apparatus is a fishing rod holding apparatus, comprising a ground penetrating anchor, a pole holding member, an extension tube, and an extension rod. The ground penetrating anchor comprises first an inverted L-shaped rod having a substantially vertical first member and a substantially horizontal second member, the first member having a lower end and an upper end, the lower end sharpened for penetrating the ground, and the second member having a proximal end and a distal end, the proximal end connected to the upper end of the first member. The ground penetrating anchor further comprises a sleeve insert having a top and a bottom, wherein the bottom is attached to the upper end of the first member such that the axis of the sleeve insert is substantially parallel to the first member, and the top extends above the upper end. The pole holding member comprises a first sleeve adapted to receive and retain a fishing rod handle, a second sleeve adapted to slide over the sleeve insert of the anchor and stop at the bottom of the sleeve insert, leaving the top of the sleeve insert exposed, and a connecting arm having a rod end and an anchor end, the rod end connected to the first sleeve and the anchor end connected to the second sleeve. The second sleeve is free to pivot on the sleeve insert, thereby allowing the pole holding member to swivel a complete circle with respect to the ground penetrating anchor, thereby allowing the user to swivel a fishing rod from pointing toward a water body to some other orientation. The extension tube is adapted to slide over the top of the sleeve insert and the extension rod has an insert end adapted to slide inside the extension tube. At its opposing end, the extension rod has a hook adapted to receive and retain a lantern handle. The disclosed device further comprises a first locking means for locking the extension tube to the top of the sleeve insert and a second locking means for locking the extension rod within the extension tube at a desired position. When not locked, the extension rod is free to slide within the extension tube so the height of the hook may be set as desired.
In a second embodiment, the disclosed fishing rod holding apparatus further comprises a handle holder attached to the distal end of the horizontal second member, where the handle holder is adapted to receive and retain an umbrella handle. A third locking means for locking the umbrella handle into the handle holder may be also be included.


An apparatus providing a heat sink and protective cover for a Tape Automated Bonding ("TAB") integrated circuit mounted on a printed circuit board. The apparatus is comprised of a printed circuit board with a plurality of thermal vias drilled through it. The TAB integrated circuit is mounted on the printed circuit board over the thermal vias. The vias draw then heat generated by the TAB integrated circuit to the other side of the printed circuit board. A heat sink is then placed over the thermal vias on the opposite side of the board to dissipate the heat. The heat sink is held in place by a spring clip which hooks onto a molded plastic cover placed over the TAB integrated circuit. The apparatus is easy to manufacture and efficiently dissipates the heat generated by TAB integrated circuits.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat sink and a protective cover for a tape automated bonding ("TAB") integrated circuit mounted onto a printed circuit board. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for dissipating heat generated by a TAB integrated circuit mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Art Background
The high speed and high power integrated circuits created today generate significant amounts of heat. The heat generated inside of an integrated circuit must be efficiently transferred away from the integrated circuit and dissipated. If the heat is not dissipated the circuit's performance will degrade, or, worse, the circuit might overheat and malfunction.
A simple and effective way to dissipate the heat generated by an integrated circuit is to attach a heat sink to the integrated circuit package. A heat sink is a piece of heat conductive material having a large surface area. Since the heat sink conducts heat well, it draws the heat away from the integrated circuit and spreads it throughout the body of the heat sink. The large surface area of the heat sink then distributes the heat to the surrounding air which carries it away. The efficiency of a heat sink can be improved by adding a fan to the system to circulate the air, thereby improving the process of transferring heat from the heat sink to the surrounding air.
A Pin Grid Array ("PGA") style integrated circuit package consists of a rectangular plastic or ceramic package with a plurality of pins protruding from the bottom of the package. PGA integrated circuits are often inserted into PGA sockets which are mounted onto a printed circuit board. Alternatively a PGA integrated circuit can be mounted directly onto a printed circuit board.
To efficiently cool a high wattage PGA integrated circuit, a heat sink can simply be clipped on to the PGA integrated circuit. Examples of this device are illustrated in FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b and are manufactured by International Electronic Research Corporation of Burbank, Calif. Referring to FIG. 1a, a heat sink 1 is attached to a PGA integrated circuit 11 using a spring clip 7. The spring clip 7 clips into the gap between the PGA integrated circuit 11 and the PGA socket 13. Referring to FIG. 1b, a heat sink 1 is attached to the PGA integrated circuit 11, which is mounted directly onto a printed circuit board 10. In the arrangement of FIG. 1b, the spring clip 7 clips into the gap between the PGA integrated circuit 11 and the printed circuit board 10.
The technique of clipping a heat sink onto an integrated circuit, however, does not work for chips mounted in TAB (tape automated bonding) integrated circuits packages. TAB integrated circuit packaging is a relatively new form of integrated circuit packaging which reduces the size of the integrated circuit package and increases the number of leads.
The reason that heat sinks cannot be clipped onto TAB integrated circuit packages is that TAB integrated circuit packages are usually directly attached to the printed circuit board. This is illustrated in FIG. 1c. Referring to FIG. 1c, a TAB integrated circuit 5 is shown directly attached to a printed circuit board 10. As can be seen at the contact point 7 where the TAB integrated circuit 5 and the printed circuit board 10 meet, there is no gap where a spring clip could clip onto and attach a heat sink.
Although TAB integrated circuits tend to be smaller than PGA integrated circuits, TAB integrated circuits typically incur bigger problems releasing thermal energy efficiently. This is due to the smaller leads and the smaller package size of TAB integrated circuits, which decrease the ability to dissipate heat.

Heat sink and cover for tab integrated circuits


A device for providing a messenger-based service may include a template message provider configured to provide a template message including a keyword slot; a keyword determiner configured to determine a keyword corresponding to the keyword slot by using an input message received correspondingly to the template message; and a result message provider configured to provide a result message including information corresponding to the keyword.

Today, messenger services using communication networks have become more commonplace along with the rapid development of communication networks, such as the Internet. In other words, internet users may easily transmit and receive messages to and from other users anywhere at any time by using the Internet, and such messenger services have brought many changes to people's lives in general. In accordance with the development of mobile communication, these messenger services have been used as a popular communication method that transcends national borders, and the number of users using these messenger services is gradually increasing. In this regard, the number of messenger-based services is gradually increasing.
As such, messenger services are services that deliver information in a form of conversation between users.
Information disclosed in this Background section was already known to the inventors before achieving the disclosure or is technical information acquired in the process of achieving the disclosure. Therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to the public in this country.

Device for providing messenger-based service and method using same


An apparatus and method for providing a security service is provided. The apparatus includes a reception module which receives first data including a first public key and marked with a security ID, the first public key being one of a pair of public keys necessary for providing a security service to a home server and the security ID indicating that the first data needs to be encrypted; a response generation module which generates second data by encrypting part of a response message for the first data; and a transmission module which transmits the second data to a home server in a home network.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to providing a security service in a home network, and more particularly, to providing a security service in a home network, which can decrease the complexity of messages transmitted within the home network and decrease the amount of computation required for setting and maintaining security.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advent of the Internet, the frequency of data transmission between computers has increased, and the demand for protecting data transmitted over networks has steadily grown. The protection of data transmitted over networks is referred to as network security, which is differentiated from computer system security.
Network security may be performed in an Open System Interconnection (OSI) layer such as an application or a network layer. For example, in an IEEE 802.11-based wireless local area network (WLAN), the protection of data transmitted over wireless communication is carried out in a network layer by using a security technique such as Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) or WiFi Protected Access (WPA).
In a related art network security scheme, a server provides a public key and a server authenticating certificate, which is a public key certificate authenticated with an electronic signature by a certifying authority, to a client when the client accesses the server. Then, the client determines whether the server authenticating certificate has been signed by a reliable certifying authority and whether the server authenticating certificate is valid, and extracts the public key from the server authenticating certificate. Thereafter, the client encrypts an arbitrary message to be used as a session key with the extracted public key and transmits the encrypted arbitrary message to the server. The server decrypts the encrypted arbitrary message with its private key, thereby restoring the session key. Thereafter, the server encrypts a message with the restored session key by using a symmetric key encryption method, and transmits the encrypted message to the client.
However, the above-mentioned related art network security scheme involves encrypting and transmitting all messages regardless of whether the messages are for upper-layer applications, which increases the complexity of messages and decreases the speed of data transmitted over networks. Further, the above-mentioned related art network security scheme requires both a server and a client to obtain a certificate from a certificate authority and to authenticate the certificate in order to realize a secure communication between the server and the client, and thus may not be suitable for use in a home network including a plurality of consumer electronics (CE) devices.

Apparatus and method for providing security service in home network


A system includes a gaming table, at least one light sensor, an electronic system, and a central computer. The gaming table includes a tabletop covered by a fabric. The at least one light sensor is positioned in proximity to a player position at the gaming table. In addition, the at least one light sensor is positioned beneath the fabric to detect light intensity through the fabric. The electronic system is communicably coupled to the at least one light sensor. Furthermore, the electronic system is operable to detect changes in light intensity at the at least one light sensor. The central computer is communicably coupled to the electronic system. Additionally, the central computer is operable to rate a plurality of dealers at a table game in a casino based on a status of the at least one light sensor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of gaming systems, and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a method for monitoring casino table operation.
2. History of Related Art
The card and chip detection system described herein is designed to detect if cards or chips are placed in a certain area on a gaming table. If the casino knows where and when chips or cards are on the table, then player tracking, dealer tracking, surveillance and pit management become very accurate. The casino will know an accurate count of how many total hands are dealt for providing free compensation ("comp") and occupancy purposes. Also, dealer audits are accurate for evaluating dealer efficiency and speed. Security knows immediately when and where hands are being played for video surveillance. Unknown patrons are automatically logged into the system for tracking purposes.

System and method for generating reports associated with casino table operation


Six sets of Salmonella typhimurium strains are provided, all strains having low spontaneous mutation rates, and each set being sensitive to and diagnostic of one of the six possible base substitutions in DNA. Also provided are methods for making and using these S. typhimurium strains to detect, and establish the type of specific base substitution mutation induced by, mutagenic agents.

Several Salmonella typhimurium strains have been used widely in what is known as the Ames test to detect mutagenic agents. In this test, bacterial strains that require histidine for growth (His-), are mutated or reverted to wild type (His+) when treated with the test mutagenic agent. Thus the presence of a mutagen is indicated by the reversion of auxotrophic strains (His-) to wild type phenotype (His+). Many such strains, e.g., TA97a, TA98, TA100, TA102 and TA104 etc., are known in the art. While these bacterial strains allow the detection of mutagens they do not provide information on which of the six possible base pair substitution mutations are caused by the mutagen.
Three systems, employing cells other than Salmonella, exist in the art for detecting each of the six possible base substitution mutations (Cupples et al., 1989; Hampsey, 1991; Schaff et al., 1990; Stambrook et al., 1988). Six strains of Escherichia coli with mutations in the lacZ gene have been used by Cupples et al. (1989). These were developed for detecting specific base substitution mutations based on phenotypic reversion to wild type. However, these strains have not been widely used because of the unwieldiness of the mutagenicity assays and because phenotypic reversion has not been demonstrated conclusively to result exclusively from a specific base substitution mutation.
Another system has been developed using six yeast strains capable of detecting specific base substitution mutations without DNA sequence analysis, by reversion of the mutants to the wild type phenotype (Hampsey, 1991). However, yeast are more difficult to maintain and the mutagenicity assay requires almost two weeks to complete compared to 48 h for the Salmonella assay. Similar to the E. coli system of Cupples et al. (1989), phenotypic revertants of the yeast strains have not been sequenced adequately to confirm reversion via a single base substitution mutation. Thus, the possibility of other mechanisms of reversion, e.g., by missense suppression cannot be eliminated as causative of the observed phenotypic reversion.
Tester mammalian cells capable of detecting specific point mutations have also been reported (Schaff et al. 1990; Stambrook et al, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,520). These references are essentially by the same authors and disclose similar subject matter. The references relate to a cell assay for specific base substitutions and frame shift mutations using non-reverting mammalian tester cells engineered to contain a mutated mouse adenine phosphoribosyl-transferase (APRT) gene. Specific point mutations are tested by treating tester cells (APRT-) with a mutagen and observing phenotypic reversion to APRT+. However, mammalian cells are much more expensive and too cumbersome for routine screening of mutagenic agents. The method of producing the mammalian tester cells relies on targeting the nucleotide sequence at one of the intron/exon junctions in the APRT gene. This method is clearly not relevant to prokaryotic cells like Salmonella typhimurium, as splicing of RNA is not characteristic of prokaryotic cells.

Detection system for mutagens that identifies mutagenic changes

The Regents of the University of California


The present technology provides systems, methods, and devices that can update aspects of a map as an autonomous vehicle navigates a route, and therefore avoids the need for dispatching a special purpose mapping vehicle for these updates. As the autonomous vehicle navigates the route, data captured by at least one sensor of an autonomous vehicle can indicate an inconsistency between pre-mapped from a high-resolution sensor system describing a location on a map, and current data describing a new feature of the location. The current data can be clustered together based on a threshold spatial closeness, where the clustering describes the new feature, and semantic labels of the pre-mapped data from the high-resolution sensor system can be updated based on the new feature described by the clustered current data.

An autonomous vehicle is a motorized vehicle that can navigate without a human driver. An exemplary autonomous vehicle includes a plurality of sensor systems, such as, but not limited to, a camera sensor system, a LIDAR sensor system, a radar sensor system, amongst others, where the autonomous vehicle operates based upon sensor signals output by the sensor systems. Specifically, the sensor signals are provided to an internal computing system in communication with the plurality of sensor systems, where a processor executes instructions based upon the sensor signals to control a mechanical system of the autonomous vehicle, such as a vehicle propulsion system, a braking system, or a steering system.
The autonomous vehicle navigates using a combination of data captured by at least one sensor of the autonomous vehicle and a map stored on the autonomous vehicle. The map is commonly created using a special purpose mapping vehicle which captures data at a much higher resolution than the at least one sensor on the autonomous vehicle. However, the configuration of roads commonly changes due to construction, lane changes, or other factors. When this happens the autonomous vehicle can run into issues navigating based on outdated maps, and the road portions where the inconsistencies exist become restricted areas for the autonomous vehicle until the map is updated.


The inventive gear drive comprises toothed wheels with teeth of toothed crowns interacting with single- or multi-flow elements. Working profiles of the interacting teeth comprise piecewise and/or pointwise conjugate, convex at a tooth point and concave at a tooth root arc-shaped sections continuously connectable to each other or to involute sections. The interacting toothed crowns are so embodied that a phase gap of the face tooth intermating at a discrete angle from a point, where the interaction of profiles ends at a point, where the interaction of the face profiles of the next tooth pair starts. The drive is so embodied that the face tooth overlap ratio thereof is less than 1. The so improved teeth provide for high level of the contact tightness and absence of axial forces at engagement, increase the structural flexibility of the gear drive teeth in order to improve their qualities.

Involute (or evolvent) gear drives are known (F. L. Litvin "Teoriya zubchatykh zatsepleniy", Moscow, Nauka, 1968, 584 pp.), that comply with the basic law of meshing by means of intermating tooth face profiles of paired wheels, with the following overlap ratio (εα) and total overlap ratio (εγ): εα≧1 and εγ≧1. The involute gear drive has some disadvantages, such as low structural flexibility of the tooth face profile (danger of edge engagement phase and presence of pole engagement phase, low degree of tooth contact tightness) and high sensitivity to process and deformation irregularities of the tooth contact along a line of teeth.
Novikov's spatial 'out-of-pole' (herein further called 'extra-pole') gear drive is known (M. L. Novikov "Zubchatye peredachi s novym zatsepleniem", published by VVIA im. N. E. Zhukovskogo, 1958, 186 pp.), and satisfies the basic law of meshing by means of axially intermating teeth with addendum mating (εα=0) of their face profiles, convex of radius ρα at a tooth addendum and concave of radius ρf at a tooth dedendum, Δρ=ρf−ρα>0. The Novikov gear drive has disadvantages such as low structural flexibility—lacking a principle ability to design a spur gear and/or narrow-crown drive, necessity to choose the value of Δρ>>0, low degree of tooth contact tightness, and its increased sensitivity to process and deformation irregularities of shape.
Spatial gear drives of mixed engagement are known (G. A. Zhuravlev, Gear Drive, USSR Inventor's Cerificate No. 1185942, IPC F16H1/08, Pri. 20.05.1975, Bulletin No. 15, 2004), with axially intermating teeth, where extra-pole pointwise conjugate sections of the tooth face profiles are circumscribed by concave line of radius ρass at a tooth addendum and convex line of radius ρfss at a tooth dedendum, ρass−ρfss>0, connectable by involute sections with profile angle of base tooth contour α>>αk, with α=α1α and αk<α1α (αk is theoretical pressure angle of extra-pole arc-shaped sections; α1α is profile angle at lower boundary point of main arc-shaped section at a tooth addendum) and increased meshing angle αtw.
Due to employment of two effects: (G. A. Zhuravlev "The Mixed Gearing Engagement Systems. Proceedings of Ninth World Congress on the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms", Vol. 1, Italy, Milano, 1995, p.p. 433-437), an effect of the super-additive IP kinematical principle (in contrast to the additive one, with simple adding of engagement components when they are combined in the mixed engagement) and an effect of contact curvature (the effect of considerable, exceeding the one that may be described by a solution of the Hertz flat contact problem, influence of the increasing of contact tightness for elastic bodies to lowering the contact stresses and, as a consequence, revelation of a principle ability to improve greatly pole and extra-pole phases of engagement), such drive is free from lost of the tooth contact surface, contact strength of the pitch point is augmented up to the maximum extent, parameters of the contact durability (pole and extra-pole) of the engagement phases are equalized, and particular features of the shape of its tooth face profile ensure increased smoothness of its operation and low bending stresses.
The known gear drive has certain disadvantages such as limited structural flexibility regarding an increase of contact tightness (and employment of the curvature effect) during phases of extra-pole meshing, as well as in selecting parameters of longitudinal (εβ≧1) tooth shape.
Spatial gear drives of mixed engagement are known (G. A. Zhuravlev, Mixed-Engagement Gearing, EUROPEAN PATENT No. 0293473, F16H55/08, 29.07.92 and Russian Federation Patent No. 1075041, IPC F16H55/08, Bulletin No. 7, 1984), based on the kinematical principle of mixed IP.
Tooth face profiles comprise involute sections and main pointwise conjugate arc-shaped sections (convex at a tooth addendum and concave at a tooth dedendum, with parameters depending on the sign and absolute levels of inter-axle distance deviations Δαw>0 and Δαw<0), which are continuously connectable to each other by additional arc-shaped sections (small-sized construction sections, using effect of concentrator curvature, i.e. an influence effect of increasing the geometrical concentrator curvature at certain loading parameters, according to a cross bending pattern, onto the lowering of bending stresses: G. A. Zhuravlev, "The Principle of the Kinematical Independence to the Mixed Toothed Engagements. Proceedings of ISMM '97 International Symposium <<MACHINES and MECHANISMS>>, YUGOSLAVIA, BELGRADE, 1-3.9.1997): concave section of radius ρpa at a tooth addendum and convex section of radius ρpf at a tooth dedendum.
This approach provides for a kinematical independence principle: involute sections have α>>α1α. Due to a greater teeth overlap and lesser drive sensitivity to the inter-axle distance deviations, active width of toothed crown bw may be decreased to bw≈0.7px (where px is an axial pitch), with considerable improvement of the parameters of its bending durability, vibro-acoustics and service life. The disadvantages of this solution are limitations of structural flexibility regarding employment of the curvature effect and increase of contact tightness during all engagement phases.
Gear drives of mixed engagement are known (G. A. Zhuravlev, USSR Patent No. 1839700, IPC 5F16H1/20, 55/08, Pri. 24.09.1986, Bulletin No. 48-47, 1993), formed by multi-flow elements of IP type with shifted engagement phases of tooth face profiles of different pairs of interacting toothed crowns, e.g. composite wheels. In each individual pair of the interacting toothed crowns, involute (at α>>α1α) and pointwise conjugate sections of the tooth face profiles form independent engagement phases with interrupted continuity of their kinematical engagement and discrete existence (only for single points and local portions of the profiles) of the common tangential plane at teeth contact place, ensuring (due to relative offset of the discrete engagement phases) face overlap ratio εα≧1 and intermating of the paired wheels.
The component of pointwise conjugacy of the convexo-concave sections of the tooth profiles is combined with refusal from conditions of axial overlap, forming pitch-line gear contact, increased contact tightness during all engagement phases, lack of axial forces at the engagement. At the same time, the complying with condition εα≧1 imposes limitations on the structural flexibility of the multi-flow IP drive regarding employment of effects of curvature and contact tightness increase.
Gear drives of mixed engagement with face teeth intermating are known (G. A. Zhuravlev, Russian Federation Patent No. 1571330, IPC F16H 55/08, 25.04.1988, Bulletin No. 22, 1990), taken here as prototype (the closest prior art device), based on the mixed IP kinematical principle and the effect of contact curvature.
Tooth face profiles of the IP drive have involute (quasi-involute) sections and extra-pole piecewise conjugate and/or pointwise conjugate (convex at a tooth addendum and concave at a tooth dedendum) sections, mating each other at theoretical points of contact of extra-pole sections (α=αk=α1α), creating inflection at the theoretical point of contact at a tooth dedendum.
The involute sections create independent engagement phase, with a face overlap ratio εα≧1, and have different (by both sides from the inflection) types of contact between tooth profiles at boundary points, from convexo-concave to biconvex. The drive on the whole has contact of pitch-line type without conditions of axial overlap and is characterized by employed curvature effects with increased contact tightness (up to pitch-line contact during extra-pole engagement phases), increased levels of super-additivity of the mixed engagement and structural flexibility of the face and longitudinal tooth shapes. Such parameters like engagement dynamics, combination of running-in ability with wear-resistance, vibro-acoustics, loading capability, and service life of the gear drive are improved.
Limitations of the structural flexibility of the known drive (conditions of face and total teeth overlap εα>1 and εγ>1) restrain the increase of contact tightness (engagement angle αtw and/or height values of the extra-pole pointwise conjugate sections) during various engagement phases and level of super-additivity of the mixed engagement.


One non-limiting embodiment provides a method, including: receiving, from a user, user input comprising a trigger event; identifying, using at least one processor, active media content; and performing, based upon the trigger event, an action with respect to the active media content. This embodiment is intended to be non-limiting and other embodiments are contemplated, disclosed, and discussed.

Advances in technology have increased the ways in which consumers obtain media content. Previously, consumers had a choice between live events, radio, or pre-recorded media such as vinyl records, 8-track tapes, cassettes, compact discs, or the like. Consumers now have new choices such as streaming media, for example, as delivered over an Internet connection, and satellite delivered media in audio form, video form, and/or in combination. Information handling devices ("devices") such as computers, tablets, smartphones, automotive stereos, TV streaming boxes, cable boxes, satellite boxes, or the like, are often capable of obtaining these new forms of media. Therefore, a consumer has a huge available library of available content at their fingertips at all times. It may be difficult for a consumer to keep track of the large amount of media available, and in particular, to keep track of preferred media that suits the consumer's preferences.

Performing action on active media content


An apparatus includes a coupling rod having a longitudinal axis and disposed within one or more bearing elements that laterally constrain the coupling rod while enabling axial rotation, multiple latching barbs coupled to the coupling rod, rotational force elements that apply a rotational force to the latching barbs in a latching direction and resist rotation of the latching barbs in an unlatching direction. The apparatus may be deployed in a rack system having a rack drawer. The apparatus may also include barb engagement elements for engaging and latching the latching barbs when the rack drawer is moved from an open position to a closed position. Rotation of the coupling rod in the unlatching direction unlatches the latching barbs when the rack drawer is in the closed position and enables a user to open the rack drawer. A method that uses the apparatus is also disclosed herein.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to storage racks and cabinets and, in particular, to latching mechanisms for drawers of storage racks and cabinets.
Maintenance personnel are often required to install or access equipment stored in drawers and mounted on storage racks via sliding rails. Typically, two hands are required to unlatch and open the drawers to access the equipment.

International Business Machines Corporation


A flat keyboard switch comprises a printed circuit board having a plurality of fixed contacts and a light emitting element provided thereon, a diaphragm disposed above the fixed contacts and serving as a movable contact for electrically connecting the fixed contacts to each other, a surface sheet having an indicium printed at a portion thereof above the diaphragm, the indicium being made of a material having a light transmitting property, a movable element disposed between the diaphragm and the surface sheet, a light introducing plate disposed in the neighborhood of the light emitting element for scattering light emitted from the light emitting element toward the movable element, and a light introducing member interposed between the movable element and the light introducing plate being formed as a unitary member together with the movable element and the light introducing plate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flat keyboard switch of the type which has a built-in light emitting element for illuminating a switching section.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat keyboard switches of the type mentioned above are already known. An exemplary conventional flat keyboard switch is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 which are a partial sectional view and a partial plan view with a surface sheet, respectively.
The conventional flat keyboard switch shown includes a pair of fixed contact elements 15 and 16 provided on a surface of printed circuit board 14 and diaphragm 13 in the form of a semi-spherical metal spring plate disposed as a movable contact on fixed contact element 15 above fixed contact element 16, thereby constituting a switching section.
Surface sheet 11 is provided to isolate and protect the switching section from the outside, and movable element 18 in the form of a plate is disposed between surface sheet 11 and diaphragm 13 such that, when the switch is depressed, the depressing force is transmitted to diaphragm 13 by way of surface sheet 11 and movable element 18 to deform diaphragm 13 downwardly into contact with fixed contact element 16 to establish electrical connection between fixed contact elements 15 and 16 by way of diaphragm 13. Movable element 18 is provided in order to provide a definite click feeling by a turning over operation of diaphragm 13.
Indicium 19 such as a graphic pattern or figure or a character is printed at a portion of surface sheet 11 above movable element 18 as seen in FIG. 2. Indicium 19 is printed as a white-on-color representation from transparent or color ink having a light conducting property so that light from the rear or lower face of surface sheet 11 may be introduced to the upper face of surface sheet 11. Light emitting element 17 is disposed on printed circuit board 14 in the neighborhood of diaphragm 13.
Light emitted from light emitting element 17 is introduced to a location near diaphragm 13 by way of light emitting plate 12 in the form of a transparent flat plate provided on printed circuit board 14 and adapted to transmit light therethrough. Then, the light is scattered toward movable element 18 made of a material having a light conducting property. The light scattered to movable element 18 thus illuminates indicium 19 on the surface sheet 11 from the rear side.
The conventional flat keyboard switch described above is disadvantageous in that the assembling step in manufacture is complicated because it includes movable element 18 which is formed as an independent element.
Further, since movable element 18 and light transmitting plate 12 do not make a continuous structure but are formed as mutually independent elements with a spacing left therebetween, light emitted from light emitting element 17 and introduced by light introducing plate 12 is scattered while it passes the spacing between movable element 18 and light transmitting plate 12. Consequently, the conventional flat keyboard switch is also disadvantageous in that light emitted from the light emitting element is not utilized efficiently for the illumination and indicium 19 on surface sheet 11 may not be illuminated with sufficient light.


A multi-region (81, 83) lateral-diffused-metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) device (40) has a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) support structure (21) on or over which are formed a substantially symmetrical, laterally internal, first LDMOS region (81) and a substantially asymmetric, laterally edge-proximate, second LDMOS region (83). A deep-trench isolation (DTI) wall (60) substantially laterally terminates the laterally edge-proximate second LDMOS region (83). Electric field enhancement and lower source-drain breakdown voltages (BVDSS) exhibited by the laterally edge-proximate second LDMOS region (83) associated with the DTI wall (60) are avoided by providing a doped SC buried layer region (86) in the SOI support structure (21) proximate the DTI wall (60), underlying a portion of the laterally edge-proximate second LDMOS region (83) and of opposite conductivity type than a drain region (31) of the laterally edge-proximate second LDMOS region (83).

Insulated gate field effect transistors (IGFETs) are much used in modern electronics as individual devices and as part of various integrated circuits (ICs). Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices are a well-known form of IGFETs and are commonly referred to by the abbreviation MOSFET. The abbreviations MOS and MOSFET and the terms for which they stand are commonly used in the art to refer to IGFETs irrespective of whether the conductive gate of such devices is metallic or of some other conductor, and irrespective of whether the gate insulator is of oxide or some other dielectric. Unless specifically noted otherwise, the abbreviations MOS, MOSFET and the terms for which they stand are to be interpreted to include any conductive material and not just metallic elements for the gate conductor and any dielectric material and not just oxides for the gate insulator.
Laterally-diffused-metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) devices are a well-known sub-set of MOSFETs that are much used, especially in connection with high voltage and/or high power applications. Various modifications have been made to LDMOS devices to improve their various properties, e.g., breakdown voltage, gain, leakage current, power handling capability, etc. Nevertheless, there is an ongoing need for further improvements. This is especially true in connection with the source-drain breakdown voltage (referred to as "BVDSS") of LDMOS devices. The various embodiments of the invention illustrated herein provide devices of improved properties.


A process and graded catalyst bed for selectively producing methyl mercaptan from methanol. The methanol is reacted with hydrogen sulfide, in the presence of a graded catalyst bed containing at least three types of nickel or cobalt molybdenum alumina catalysts to convert the methanol to methyl mercaptan in one-pass. At least one of the hydrotreating catalysts can contain aluminium phosphate. Use of the graded catalyst bed prevents the formation of a hot spot within the graded catalyst bed. The methyl mercaptan having less than about 30 wt. % unreacted methanol contained therein.

Mercaptans, which are also known as thiols, are organic compounds that are used in diverse applications. Some mercaptans, such as methyl mercaptan (CH3SH), are used as natural gas odorants, agricultural supplements, or as polymerization process modifiers. Methyl mercaptan is used in organic synthesis of sulfur compounds and as an intermediate for jet fuel additives and fungicides. Methionine, which is an essential amino acid, is one type of synthetic sulfur compound that can be produced from mercaptans.
Many types of synthetic sulfur compounds exist. The variety of synthetic sulfur compounds available can be attributed to the numerous mercaptan compounds that can be synthesized. Yet, while numerous compounds can be made, economical processes for the production of even relatively simple mercaptans, such as methyl mercaptan, are not available in some cases.
Mercaptans can be produced from alcohols using various catalysts. Unfortunately, thermodynamic conditions in most alcohol reactions using traditional catalysts result in poor efficiencies because of the lack of uniform temperature distribution throughout the catalyst bed. A need exists for an economic and efficient process for selective production of simple mercaptans, such as methyl mercaptan from alcohols.

Graded catalyst bed for methyl mercaptan synthesis


A method and a kit for cushioning and covering a pole is disclosed. First and second sheets of cushioning material are wrapped around a pole, with the second sheet of cushioning material being cut to fit the height of the pole. A first cover sheet is applied to the cushion sheet and is secured in place to cover a portion of the pole. A second cover sheet is applied to the cushion sheet and overlaps the first cover sheet to finish the pole, thereby providing a cushioned pole that is covered with an abrasion resistant, tough cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing a cover that both cushions and provides a finished surface for a pole. More specifically, the present invention relates to cushioning and covering a lally column of the type found in the basement of a residence or office. Further, the invention relates to cushioning and covering various types of cylindrical poles where it is desired to provide a finished exterior surface and at the same time cushion the pole.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In conventional residential and commercial construction, the structure's first floor is typically supported by a foundation that runs around the periphery of the building as well as by a number of lally columns that support horizontal joists, which in turn support the flooring above the joists. These lally columns are typically cylindrical steel poles having a height of about 71/2 feet and a diameter of 2 to 12 inches. Typically, one end of the lally column supports the joist above and the other end is supported by the concrete floor of the basement. Further, lally columns can be used in types of environs other than basements.
The steel lally columns are often finished with paint. The steel lally columns tend to weather or rust because they are stored outside in construction yards prior to installation in buildings. Thus, the exterior surfaces lally columns are rough and unsightly. When a basement room is being finished to create a recreation room, in the case of a house, or a storage room, in the case of a commercial building, the lally columns present a hazard. More specifically, in a basement recreation room, children tend to play games or ride tricycles, and a steel lally column presents a serious risk of injury.
Steel poles are also used in environs other than in basements or as lally columns. More specifically, steel poles are used to support basketball backboards and rims, volleyball nets and other sports equipment. It would be desirable to cushion the poles against the impact of humans playing sports in the area adjacent the pole.
In the case of a basketball backboard support pole, these poles are wrapped with a thick pad of foam rubber encased in a vinyl fabric cover. The foam pads are held in position with buckles or other attachment means that are unsightly and bulky. U.S. Pat. No. 3,181,849 discloses a shock absorbing guard for a pole which is made of a molded rubber composition or a synthetic rubber product. The cylindrical pad is attached to the pole with two plates that are screwed together. The shock absorbing guard disclosed in this patent would be very expensive to manufacture and would be unsightly because of the method of attachment and would absorb moisture due to the nature of material used. Various types of pole covers are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,386 to Menichini; U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,495 to Petock; U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,990 to Owen; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,167 to Thorne. All of these patents disclose complicated pole guards that result in unsightly and cumbersome attachment mechanisms. In the heating and plumbing field, it is often desirable to jacket pipes to insulate for heat loss. The following U.S. Patents disclose pipe coverings in the non-analogous field of plumping, which covers would not be suitable for finishing and providing a cushion for a lally column, a basketball pole or similar pole support: U.S. Pat. No. 1,811,984 to Taft; U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,043 to Grenier; U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,060 to Fry et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,287 to Helling.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cushioned pole cover and method of applying the cover so that lally columns in existing structures can be finished. It is a further object of the invention to provide a kit for covering a lally column wherein the height of the cover can be sized to the height of the lally column.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of covering a pole that can be done by an unskilled person using common household tools, such as scissors and the like. It is a further object of the invention to provide a cover that is inexpensive to produce, that is relatively lightweight and that can be shipped in a compact form.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a cover that has a high gloss smooth surface that is made of a tough, durable material, and preferably a material that is maintenance free and easy to clean. It is a further object of the invention to cover the pole with materials that will not absorb moisture.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a kit for covering a lally column or other pole that can be installed in a few minutes. It is a further object of the invention to provide a cushioning cover that will cushion impact and will maintain its shape after impact.

Cushioned pole cover and method of applying the cover


Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for managing transmission of air interface measurement reports from a UE to its serving base station. In accordance with the disclosure, a UE will generally transmit such measurement reports on subcarriers having particular subcarrier spacing. However, if and when the UE detects threshold poor air interface performance, such as threshold weak signal strength from its serving base station, the UE will responsively transition to instead transmit measurement reports to its serving base station on subcarriers having smaller subcarrier spacing.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the information described in this section is not prior art to the claims is are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In a cellular wireless communication system, as a user equipment device (UE) operates within coverage of a cellular base station, it can be important for the UE to report air interface performance metrics to the base station from time to time. By way of example, the UE may regularly monitor signal strength and quality of reference signals being transmitted by its serving base station and by adjacent base stations and may report those metrics to the serving base station to facilitate handoff decisions and other adjustments in air interface communication. Further, if the UE reports threshold poor performance of transmissions from its serving base station, the serving base station may then direct the UE evaluate and report air interface performance from various other base stations, on various other frequencies, or the like, to facilitate handoff to better coverage, and the UE may responsively do so.

Method and apparatus for management of measurement report transmission


A control device of the invention for a semiconductor memory device comprising an interface conforming to JEDEC standard of DDRx-SDRAM or LPDDRx-SDRAM, comprises banks, a read/write control circuit, and a transfer control circuit. Each bank comprises subarrays. Each subarray comprises memory cells arranged along bit lines and word lines. The read/write control circuit controls reading of data from and writing of data to the semiconductor memory device. The transfer control circuit controls data transfer inside the semiconductor memory device and sets to enable an additional transfer command not specified in the JEDEC standard and a transfer command for writing data, read from a transfer source memory cell, to a transfer destination memory cell without passing outside the semiconductor memory device by transmitting a first signal value not used in the JEDEC standard to the semiconductor memory device via at least one signal line of the interface.

Herein, DDRx-SDRAM refers to DDR-SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory), DDR2-SDRAM, DDR3-SDRAM, DDR4-SDRAM, and their derivatives and successor devices. Also, in this specification, LPDDRx-SDRAM refers to LPDDR-SDRAM (Low Power DDR-SDRAM), LPDDR2-SDRAM, LPDDR3-SDRAM, LPDDR4-SDRAM, and their derived standard and successor standard.
Generally, when transferring data, which are stored in a first memory block having a first address in an external memory, to a second memory block having a second address in the same memory, the memory controller continuously reads the data in the first memory block and temporarily stores the data into a buffer in a processor chip, and then, the data is read out from the buffer controlled by the memory controller, and then, the data is continuously written into the second memory block. In such a memory data transfer process in the memory system, an interface between the processor and the memory is occupied only for the data transfer and no operation or processing is performed on the data, and a large amount of bandwidth, power and time are consumed wastefully.
In recent years, applications that handle a large amount of data, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data, have become popular. In such applications, such internal memory system processes, transferring or copying a large amount of data from a memory block of a memory to another block of the same memory, initializing specific data stored in a memory block in the memory, and the like can frequently occur. By the internal memory system processes, the interface, between the processor and the memory, is used only for such internal memory data transfer tastefully, thereby, performance and energy efficiency of the memory system can be significantly declined.
For solving such a problem, U.S. Pat. No. 9,116,856 shows a new idea of DDR memory controller to store data which is read from a memory for transferring, or copying the data in a local memory, which is embedded in the memory controller without sending the data to a system bus attached to the memory. By the idea, a data transfer, between the memory and the local memory in the memory controller does not occupy the system bus for transferring or copying data, and reduces amount of information communicated via the system bus.
Further, four prior art documents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,381,368A, 5,440,517A, and 5,886,944A, show that there are several data transfer methods utilizing the characteristics of DRAMs. In a DRAM, a plurality of memory cells is arranged along a plurality of complementary bit line pairs and a plurality of word lines orthogonal to the complementary bit line pairs. A charge representing data is stored in a capacitor of each memory cell. Here, as for an example, a charge represents the data "1", and no charge represents the data "0". In a DDRx-SDRAM or LPDDRx-SDRAM, by performing row access using an ACT command, a word line corresponding to an input address is asserted, and a charge of a memory cell which is connected to the asserted word line is transferred to a corresponding bit-line of a pre-charged complementary bit line pair. At this time, a slight potential difference is generated on the complementary bit line pair. A sense amplifier, connected to the complementary bit line pair, amplifies the slight potential difference for setting a bit-line potential level to a power supply level and to set another bit-line potential level to a ground level. In a normal DRAM, after the amplification of the slight data on the complementally bit-line pair by the sense amplifier, a column select line, which is corresponding to an input address, is asserted to perform data read or write, by performing column access with a read command or a write command, respectively. The point of the prior arts is that another word line, which is connected to the same complementary bit line pairs via corresponding memory cells, is asserted while the data amplified by the sense amplifier are kept on the corresponding complementary bit line pairs. This makes it possible to copy a large amount of data from memory cells of one word line address to memory cells of another word line address without passing through the outside of memory array in a DRAM.
Furthermore, a non-patent document, entitled "RowClone: Fast and Energy-efficient In-DRAM Bulk Data Copy and Initialization", discloses that data can be transferred between banks without passing outside the DRAM by adding a special command.
However, when using a widely spread JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard DRAM having already standardized interface and functionalities, data have to pass through a bus outside of the DRAM to transfer or copy the data; as explained, it consumes a large power and a long time.
In recent years, interfaces of JEDEC DRAMs such as DDR3-SDRAMs and DDR4-SDRAMs run at very high operating frequency. In a case where a DRAM performing special operations in such high operating frequencies, as in memory data transfer or data copy explained above, when using another signal or other signals deviating from the signal group of the interface defined by the JEDEC standard, it would be difficult to use low cost commodity parts; this may lead to soaring development costs by unique pin arrangement of a memory package, a unique memory control device having additional functions, and a unique DDR PHY and required sensitive wirings on a high frequency print-board, etc.

Semiconductor memory device comprising an interface conforming to JEDEC standard and control device therefor


Radio frequency (RF) front end circuitry includes one or more antenna ports, one or more RF switching ports, and an RF switch matrix coupled between the antenna ports and the RF front end ports. The RF switch matrix comprises a dual 4×4 multiplexer, and is adapted to selectively couple any one of the antennas to any one of the plurality of RF switching ports.

Modern mobile telecommunications standards continue to demand increasingly greater rates of data exchange (data rates). One way to achieve a high data rate in a mobile device is through the use of carrier aggregation. Carrier aggregation allows a single mobile device to aggregate bandwidth across one or more operating bands in the wireless spectrum. The increased bandwidth achieved as a result of carrier aggregation allows a mobile device to obtain higher data rates than have previously been available.
FIG. 1 shows a table describing a number of wireless communications bands in the wireless spectrum. One or more of the wireless communications bands may be used, for example, in a CDMA, GSM, LTE, or LTE-advanced equipped mobile device. The first column indicates the operating band number for each one of the operating bands. The second and third columns indicate the uplink and downlink frequency bands for each one of the operating bands, respectively. Finally, the fourth column indicates the duplex mode for each one of the operating bands. In non-carrier aggregation configurations, a mobile device will generally communicate using a single portion of the uplink or downlink frequency bands within a single operating band. In carrier aggregation applications, however, a mobile device may aggregate bandwidth across a single operating band or multiple operating bands in order to increase the data rate of the device.
FIG. 2A shows a diagram representing a conventional, non-carrier aggregation configuration for a mobile device. In the conventional configuration, a mobile device communicates using a single portion of the wireless spectrum 10 within a single operating band 12. Under the conventional approach, the data rate of the mobile device is constrained by the limited available bandwidth.
FIGS. 2B-2E show diagrams representing a variety of carrier aggregation configurations for a mobile device. FIG. 2B shows an example of contiguous, intra-band carrier aggregation, in which the aggregated portions of the wireless spectrum 14A and 14B are located directly adjacent to one another and are in the same operating band 16. FIG. 2C shows an example of non-contiguous intra-band carrier aggregation, in which the aggregated portions of the wireless spectrum 18A and 18B are located within the same operating band 20, but are not directly adjacent to one another. FIG. 2D shows an example of inter-band carrier aggregation, in which the aggregated portions of the wireless spectrum 22A and 22B are located in different operating bands 24, 26. A modern mobile device should be capable of supporting each one of the previously described carrier aggregation configurations. Finally, FIG. 2E shows an example of inter-band carrier aggregation across three operating bands, in which the aggregated portions of the wireless spectrum 21A, 21B, and 21C are located in different operating bands 23, 25, and 27. Additional carrier aggregation configurations may aggregate bandwidth across four or more operating bands.
The use of carrier aggregation may pose unique problems for the front end circuitry in a mobile device. For instance, a mobile device using carrier aggregation may require two or more antennas. The use of more than one antenna may complicate the design of the front-end switching circuitry within the mobile device. Additionally, the use of carrier aggregation across certain operating bands may cause undesirable interference between transmit and receive circuitry in a mobile device front end that renders the mobile device unusable in these operating bands.
FIG. 3 shows conventional front end circuitry 28 for use in a mobile terminal. The front end circuitry 28 includes antenna switching circuitry 30, a diplexer 32, and an antenna 34. The antenna switching circuitry 30 includes low band switching circuitry 36 and high band switching circuitry 38. The low band switching circuitry 36 is adapted to couple one of a first plurality of RF front end ports 40 to the antenna 34 through the diplexer 32. The high band switching circuitry 38 is adapted to couple one of a second plurality of RF front end ports 42 to the antenna 34 through the diplexer 32. The diplexer 32 includes a low band port 44 coupled to the low band switching circuitry 36, a high band port 46 coupled to the high band switching circuitry 38, and an antenna port 48 coupled to the antenna 34. The diplexer 32 is adapted to pass high band signals falling within a high pass band between the high band port 46 and the antenna port 48, pass low band signals falling within a low pass band between the low band port 44 and the antenna port 48, and attenuate signals outside of the high and low pass bands. Although effective at selectively placing the antenna 34 in communication with the appropriate RF front end port, the conventional front end circuitry 28 shown in FIG. 3 is not suitable for carrier aggregation applications that require multiple antennas.
FIG. 4 shows conventional front end circuitry 50 for use in a mobile terminal with two antennas. The front end circuitry 50 includes antenna switching circuitry 52, a first diplexer 54A, a second diplexer 54B, a first antenna 56A, and a second antenna 56B. The antenna switching circuitry 52 includes first antenna switching circuitry 52A and second antenna switching circuitry 52B. The first antenna switching circuitry 52A includes first low band switching circuitry 58, first high band switching circuitry 60, second low band switching circuitry 62, and second high band switching circuitry 64. The first low band switching circuitry 58 and the first high band switching circuitry 60 are adapted to selectively couple one of a first plurality of RF front end ports 66 to the second antenna switching circuitry 52B through the first diplexer 54A. The second low band switching circuitry 62 and the second high band switching circuitry 64 are adapted to selectively couple one of a second plurality of RF front end ports 68 to the second antenna switching circuitry 52B through the second diplexer 54B. The second antenna switching circuitry 52B includes antenna selection circuitry 70, which is adapted to selectively place the first antenna 56A and the second antenna 56B in communication with either the first diplexer 54A or the second diplexer 54B.
The antenna switching circuitry 52 may comprise a plurality of transistors and other assorted passive components. As is well known in the art, non-linearity of the transistors and other passive components within the antenna switching circuitry 52 may generate harmonic distortion about a passing signal. In certain carrier aggregation configurations, the generated harmonic distortion can cause desensitization of receive circuitry in the conventional front end circuitry 50 illustrated in FIG. 4. For example, the conventional front end circuitry 50 may experience problems in a carrier aggregation configuration using bands 3 and 8 (CA 3-8). In a CA 3-8 configuration, the conventional front end circuitry 50 will couple one of the second plurality of RF front end ports 68 corresponding with the band 8 transmit port to the antenna selection circuitry 70 in order to transmit a carrier signal between 880-915 MHz. As the carrier signal passes through the first low band switching circuitry 58, harmonic distortion is generated. The carrier signal and harmonic distortion travel through the first diplexer 54A, where the harmonic distortion is effectively filtered. However, as the carrier signal travels through the antenna selection circuitry 70, additional harmonic distortion is generated.
Because at least a portion of the second harmonic of the band 8 uplink band (1760-1830 MHz) falls within the band 3 downlink band (1805-1880 MHz), components of the harmonic distortion about the second harmonic are within the high pass band of the first diplexer 54A, and a portion of the harmonic distortion will be delivered to the first high band switching circuitry 60. Further, because the front end circuitry 50 is configured to simultaneously transmit on band 8 and receive on band 3, one of the first plurality of RF front end ports 66 corresponding with the band 3 receive port will be coupled to the first diplexer 54A through the first high band switching circuitry 60. Accordingly, a portion of the distorted band 8 transmit signal about the second harmonic will be delivered to the band 3 receive circuitry, where it will cause desensitization. Additionally, the harmonic distortion in the carrier signal will be presented to the antennas 56A and 56B, thereby degrading the quality of the wireless signal. As a result of the desensitization of the receiver circuitry, the performance of the front end circuitry 50 illustrated in FIG. 4 may suffer in a CA 3-8 configuration.
As an additional example, the conventional front end circuitry 50 will also experience problems in carrier-aggregation applications using bands 4 and 17 (CA 4-17), because the third harmonic of a band 17 transmit signal (2112-2148 MHz) falls within a band 4 receive signal (2110-2155 MHz). The problem with the conventional front end circuitry 50 may occur in any carrier aggregation configuration using operating bands in which the harmonic components of the carrier signal fall within the frequency band of the receive signal. The limited combination of operating bands usable in a carrier aggregation configuration by the conventional front end circuitry 50 illustrated in FIG. 4 may impede the performance and versatility of a mobile device.
In addition to the problems encountered by the conventional front end circuitry 50 when one or more harmonics of a transmit signal fall within a receive operating band, the conventional front end circuitry 50 is also limited to inter-band carrier aggregation applications, in which the transmit signal and the receive signal are located in different operating bands that are separated by a certain frequency delta. Because the conventional front end circuitry 50 includes only two antennas, each one of the antennas 56 must be used to simultaneously receive signals within a first carrier aggregation operating band and a second carrier aggregation operating band. Accordingly, the diplexers 54 must separate each incoming RF signal so that they may be routed to the correct receiving circuitry in the conventional front end circuitry 50. In order for the diplexers 54 to properly separate incoming RF signals, the operating bands of the received RF signals must be separated by a certain frequency delta, as determined by the filter response of the diplexers 54. Generally, one of the received RF signals must be a high band signal, while the other received RF signal must be a low band signal. If the signals are not separated by an appropriate frequency delta, the received signals will not be separated by the diplexers 54, and both signals will be passed to the same receive circuitry in the conventional front end circuitry 50. Accordingly, the conventional front end circuitry 50 cannot operate in either contiguous or non-contiguous intra-band carrier aggregation applications.
A further challenge presented by the conventional front end circuitry 50 is the wide band antennas 56 required for proper operation of the circuitry. Due to the fact that the conventional front end circuitry 50 uses a single antenna to simultaneously receive both low band and high band signals, the antennas 56 must be operable over a wide bandwidth. Creating such wide bandwidth antennas generally requires tunable components and high order filters, which generally add to the complexity and cost of a mobile terminal, and may introduce additional insertion loss into the RF signal path.
FIG. 5 shows an exemplary configuration of a mobile device 72 including four antennas 74. For context, a battery 76, a speaker 78, and a charging port 80 are also shown. As shown in FIG. 5, each antenna 74 in the mobile device 72 is placed in a corner of the device. Accordingly, each one of the antennas 74 is separated from the others by some physical distance. Due to the orientation of the mobile device 72, for example, in a user's hand, one of the antennas 74 may experience a higher transmit efficiency and/or higher receive sensitivity than the others. As the orientation of the mobile device 72 changes, the most efficient or sensitive antenna may also change. In order to optimize the performance of the mobile device 72, front end circuitry within the mobile device 72 should be capable of dynamically selecting the most efficient antenna for transmission and reception of wireless signals.
Accordingly, there is a need for front end circuitry that is capable of operating in all carrier aggregation configurations while reducing cross-distortion between signals, and is further capable of antenna swapping to optimize the performance of a mobile device.

Front end circuitry for carrier aggregation configurations