A power converting system is described, comprising a source of waste heat and an organic Rankine cycle system. The organic Rankine cycle system in turn comprises at least a turboexpander, at least a rotating load mechanically coupled to the turboexpander and driven thereby, and a variable-speed mechanical coupling between the turboexpander and the rotating load.

The need for energy saving and reducing environmental impact of energy-exploitation has stimulated research and development activities aimed at improving the overall efficiency of energy-conversion systems, both in the field of electric power generation, where mechanical power generated by a thermodynamic cycle is converted into electric power, as well as in mechanical drive applications, i.e. where mechanical power generated by a thermodynamic cycle is used to directly drive an operating machine, e.g. a compressor.
Combined systems, sometimes also called hybrid systems, have been developed for improving the overall power conversion efficiency and reducing both power consumption and environmental impact. A combined system combines a top, high-temperature thermodynamic cycle with a bottom, low-temperature thermodynamic cycle. Waste heat discharged at the low-temperature side by the top, high-temperature thermodynamic cycle is used as the source of thermal power for the bottom, low-temperature thermodynamic cycle. Typically, the top, high-temperature thermodynamic cycle is a gas turbine cycle. One or more gas turbines are used for powering an electric generator, or driving a rotary turbomachine, such as a compressor, e.g. a centrifugal compressor or a compressor train, a pump or the like. The exhaust combustion gas of the gas turbine is used to directly or indirectly heat a working fluid circulating in a closed circuit, where the bottom, low-temperature thermodynamic cycle is performed.
The bottom, low-temperature thermodynamic cycle converts part of the waste heat from the top, high-temperature thermodynamic cycle into mechanical power, which is usually used for driving an electric generator and produce electric power.
The bottom, low-temperature thermodynamic cycle usually comprises a Rankine cycle. In some known applications steam Rankine cycles are used. In other applications, so-called Organic Rankine Cycles are applied, wherein an organic fluid is used as the working fluid instead of water. Exemplary embodiments of ORCs utilize pentane or cyclopentane as working fluid.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic of a combined system using a top, high-temperature thermodynamic cycle combined with a bottom, low-temperature thermodynamic cycle for mechanical drive applications, i.e. for driving compressors or compressor trains.
Referring to FIG. 1, reference number 101 designates a gas turbine for driving a first compressor 102. Fuel F burned in the combustors of the gas turbine 101 is used to power the gas turbine and the thermal energy generated by combustion is partly converted into mechanical power. A portion of the mechanical power thus generated is required for driving the compressor of the gas generator of the gas turbine 101, while surplus mechanical power is available on the gas turbine output shaft and drives compressor 102. Low-temperature thermal power (waste heat), which is not converted into mechanical power by the gas turbine 101, is contained in the exhaust combustion gas, which flows through a waste heat recovery exchanger 103 before being discharged in the atmosphere.
In the waste heat recovery exchanger 103 at least part of the waste heat contained in the combustion gas is transferred to a first closed heat transfer loop 104, where a heat transfer fluid circulates by means of a circulating pump 106. The heat transfer fluid transfers thermal energy removed from the combustion gas into a closed circuit 105, wherein a working fluid is processed to perform a bottom, low-temperature thermodynamic cycle, which partly converts the waste heat from the top, high-temperature thermodynamic cycle into additional useful mechanical power.
The working fluid, e.g. cyclopentane, or a mixture of two or more hydrocarbons, circulating in the closed circuit 105 is subject to cyclic thermodynamic transformations including condensing, pumping, heating, vaporizing, superheating, expanding, to transform heat power from the waste heat recovery exchanger 103 into mechanical power. The closed circuit 105 comprises a circulating pump 107, a preheater 109a, a vaporizer 109, a superheater 111, a turboexpander 113, a recuperator 115 and a condenser 117.
Mechanical power generated by the turboexpander 113 is used to drive an electric generator 121. Electric power from the electric generator 121 can then be used to power an electric motor 123, which in turns drives a second compressor 125. In this configuration the second compressor 125 is mechanically decoupled from the turboexpander 113, since the latter is usually rotated at a constant speed, corresponding to the operative speed of the electric generator 121, while the compressor 125 may require rotating at variable speed. A variable frequency driver 124 is provided for driving the electric motor 123 at variable rotary speed.
The system of FIG. 1 is relatively complex, especially in view of the need for two electric machines 121, 123 and a variable frequency driver 124. The conversion of mechanical power into electric power by the electric generator 121 and the opposite conversion of electric power into mechanical power by the electric motor 123 negatively affects the overall conversion efficiency of the system. The need for a variable frequency driver further reduces the efficiency and adds to the overall cost and complexity of the combined cycle.
There is therefore a need for a simpler and more efficient combined system for mechanical drive applications.

Compressor driven by ORC waste heat recovery unit and control method


Provided is a tire wheel assembly making it possible to effectively reduce cavity resonance noise without causing either negative influence on deformation of a tire or deterioration in rim assembling workability. A tire wheel assembly of the present invention includes a pneumatic tire, and a wheel provided with a rim fitted with the pneumatic tire, and forms a cavity portion between the pneumatic tire and the rim. The tire wheel assembly comprises at least one tube, which has one end thereof closed while having a length of 55% to 110% of a reference length L0 corresponding to one fourth of a cavity resonance wavelength, is provided so as to open to the cavity portion.

As one of causes which generate noise in a pneumatic tire, there is cavity resonance noise due to air with which an inside of the tire is filled. This cavity resonance noise is generated due to vibration of air inside the tire, the vibration being caused by vibration of a tread portion because the tread portion vibrates due to irregularities of a road surface.
As a method of reducing noise caused by a cavity resonance phenomenon as described above, there has been proposed one where a time period during which resonance occurs at the same resonance frequency is reduced by changing, along a circumferential direction of the tire, in a cross-sectional area of a closed space formed with a tire and a wheel (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). More specifically, in order to change the cross-sectional area of the closed space, a bulkhead having a predetermined volume is installed onto an inner surface of the tire, or onto an outer peripheral surface of a rim.
In the abovementioned method, however, if a change in cross-sectional area of the closed space is made large for the purpose of increasing an effect in cavity resonance noise reduction, the bulkhead interferes with deformation of the tire in some cases, and rim assembling workability is deteriorated in some cases. Therefore, a size of the bulkhead is restricted, and it is difficult to increase the effect in cavity resonance noise reduction.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2001-113902


A method of monitoring and controlling a well pump apparatus having an electric motor that rotates a crank arm having a counterweight thereon, a pivoted walking beam oscillated by the crank arm which reciprocates a sucker rod and a pump between an upstroke and a downstroke. The electric current from the motor is measured periodically between the peak upstroke motor current and the peak downstroke motor current, and the results are then integrated to deduce an analysis current per stroke. The mean of a number of sequential samples of the analysis current per period is calculated and thereafter the standard deviation is calculated. The last sample will be within two standard deviations of the mean or the results will be discarded and new data gathered. The well pump apparatus is stopped if a selected number of consecutive samples fall below a preselected threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of monitoring and controlling a well pump apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of monitoring and controlling a well pump apparatus wherein the amount of electricity consumed during reciprocation is measured and wherein statistical analysis techniques are applied to determine optimum fill times, to differentiate between fluid pump-off and gas lock, to determine sucker rod failure or counterweight failure, and to determine motor start failure and transmission belt failure.
2. Prior Art
A typical pumping unit utilizes a pivoted walking beam with a horse head at the outer end. Oscillation of the walking beam produces reciprocal motion of sucker rods and thereby reciprocation of a pump at the bottom of a well.
Oil bearing formations are often in subterranean porous rock or sand. A vertical borehole penetrating such a formation constitutes a relatively small cross-sectional area of the entire crude oil porous formation. Seepage of crude oil from a porous rock or sand formation is a fairly slow process.
For this reason, the typical oil well is pumped in cycles. The well is first pumped for a selected length of time sufficient to pump the fluid accumulated in the well bore to the earth's surface. Once the fluid accumulated in the well bore has been pumped out, a fill time is provided to allow more fluid to seep from the formation into the borehole. As the well ages, crude oil is being drained from greater distances in the producing formation, and longer fill time is required. As fluid migrates through the formation, a fluid level is slowly reached at which equilibrium is established, after which no further fluid flows into the well bore regardless of any additional time allowed.
It will thus be appreciated that it is desirable to know how long the well should be pumped, once pumping action is started, in order to extract the fluid accumulated in the well bore. If the pumping action is stopped prematurely, fluid will be left in the well bore, thereby diminishing the overall production of the well. Conversely, if pumping action continues after the fluid accumulated in the well bore has been pumped to the surface (referred to as a "pumped off" condition) the result is substantially increased wear and tear on the equipment as well as waste of energy required to provide the pumping action.
Accordingly, it is desirous to monitor and control a well pump apparatus so that the pumping cycle is properly terminated when the well is pumped off. Additionally, it is important to accurately determine the optimum fill-time between pumping cycles.
Moreover, it is advantageous to be able to monitor a well pump apparatus to distinguish between a pumped off condition and a gas lock condition.
It is additionally advantageous to be able to monitor a well pump apparatus to detect sucker rod failure.
It is additionally advantageous to be able to monitor a well pump apparatus to detect loss of a counterweight or counterweights so that the apparatus may be stopped and repairs made.
Finally, it is advantageous to be able to monitor and control a well pump apparatus to detect a motor start failure or a loss of the drive belt and to initiate action.

Method of monitoring and controlling a well pump apparatus


Systems and methods for analyzing printed images are provided. One system includes a processing circuit configured to: determine a set of one or more locations on the printed image on the substrate to measure color values; determine a set of input tone values for the at least one ink; receive a set of measured color values corresponding to the set of locations on the printed image from a sensor; and determine a tone value increase error based on the set of measured color values and the set of input tone values. The at least one processing circuit is configured to determine the tone value increase error without requiring measured color values from an area having solid ink.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of printing. More specifically, the disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining a Tone Value Increase and/or error in Tone Value Increase associated with a printing device and/or portion of a printing process.
Printing images that meet specific color characteristics is an important need for those looking to deliver their messages in print form. To understand how the images can be perceived, "Image" or "Images" can be interpreted to mean a set of values that represent one or more attributes of an area either printed or to be printed. It is these attributes that affect the way print is perceived.
Images may be printed on any Substrate. "Substrate" as used here can be any material that can be printed upon. Commonly this is paper or other cellulose-based material, film or plastic, but it may include any material that be printed upon, whether opaque, translucent or transparent. Printing may be accomplished by combining one or more sets of inks (for example cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) on a Substrate to create a variety of colors.

Determination of tone value increase from a printed image


The invention is directed a damping system for the foot rest of a kayak comprising a foot support member adapted to support the feet of the user, at least one mounting rail is provided, the rail having first and second ends, the first end of the mounting rail is connected to the foot support, the second end of the mounting rail is fixed to the hull of the boat, the mounting rail includes a damping mechanism disposed between the first and second end whereby forces transmitted to the fixed second end are damped at the foot support member.

Whitewater kayaks employ either of two basic foot rest systems. A pair of individual foot pegs may be provided to separately support each foot or, the user will rest his feet against a bulkhead disposed in the bow.
Foot pegs are not entirely satisfactory because they provide a limited surface area for contact with the user's feet. In addition, they are unwieldy and not very rigid. As a result, sudden and extreme movements of the boat will cause the user's feet to slip off of the foot pegs. Loss of foot peg support when the boat is engaged in whitewater is dangerous. Without foot support, the user is caused to slide forward and into the bow of the kayak, thereby limiting control of the boat.
In addition, impact of the boat against rocks or the like often results in twisted or even broken ankles. The forces generated during impact are directly transmitted to the user's feet and legs.
At least one prior art foot peg system incorporates cushioning into the foot peg itself. U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,327 to Masters provides a cushion for each foot peg for absorbing shock. As is apparent, such foam cushioning provides limited damping ability. Further, individual foot pegs are prone to breakage and cannot securely support the feet of the user.
In view of the above, a need has existed in the art for providing efficient damping to the foot brace of a kayak.


The preferred embodiments described herein relate to a multi-purpose hand-held device. Some of the preferred embodiments describe a multipurpose hand-held implement comprising first and second members connected together to move between a first position, in which they form together an elongated body, and a second position. In one preferred embodiment, a multi-purpose hand-held device is described comprising a stapler and/or punch and other fold-out utensils, wherein a module containing the utensils is preferably incorporated into the stapler-punch component assembly. Other preferred embodiments are described herein.

The invention relates to a multipurpose hand-held implement, in particular for office work, which in a stored position forms an elongate, essentially closed parallelepipedic body which is delimited by front surfaces, top surfaces and lateral surfaces and has functional elements of a stapler and/or a hole puncher, and is provided with at least one insertion slot, which runs inward from one of the front surfaces, for material which is to be stapled or punched.
Such a hand-held implement forms the subject-matter of our earlier European Patent Application 96927627.8, which was not published before the priority date. The implement described in that document comprises a first member and a second member which are connected to one another in an articulated manner and the relative movement of which actuates a stapler and a hole puncher. Furthermore, various utensils, such as knives, cutters, scissors and so on, which are preferably accommodated in a slidingly movable manner in channels of the implement and are pushed out of these channels in order to be used, are provided on or in the implement. For stability reasons, these sliding guides have to be of relatively solid design, which makes the implement relatively large and heavy.
The object of the invention is to provide an implement of the type outlined in the introduction which, while being highly stable, is relatively lightweight and small.
The invention additionally relates to a stapler mechanism which is suitable for use in the implement according to the invention.
Finally, the invention relates to a hole puncher mechanism which is suitable for use in the implement according to the invention. The invention also relates to an implement of the construction mentioned in the introduction in the case of which a sliding utensil is provided in addition to swing-out utensils.


A semiconductor apparatus is characterized in that it comprises a semiconductor module having a plurality of semiconductor elements and an external connection terminal for externally connecting electrodes of the semiconductor elements in the semiconductor module, wherein the semiconductor elements in each semiconductor module are connected in parallel and/or in series via the external connection terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor apparatus and a production method thereof. Especially, it relates to a semiconductor apparatus and the production method suitable for a device for electric power.
2. Description of the Related Art
The semiconductor module indicated in the circuit as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has been conventionally known. FIG. 1 shows a semiconductor module 100 (so-called 2 in 1) such that two MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors) 101 are mounted on one insulation substrate. FIG. 2 shows a semiconductor module 200 (so-called 6 in 1) such that six MOSFETs 201 are mounted on one insulation substrate. These semiconductor modules 100 and 200 configure the arm of an inverter apparatus for driving a motor. The semiconductor module 100 is configured in such a way that two MOSFETs 101 are connected in series. Also, the semiconductor module 200 is configured in such a way that three circuits obtained by serially connecting MOSFETs 201 are connected in parallel.
In the semiconductor module provided with such a semiconductor element (semiconductor switching element) like the above-mentioned conventional MOSFET, only a product provided with an arm configuration can be used so that the use application of this product is limited. Also, in the case where the above-mentioned semiconductor modules are connected in parallel to be used, the derating of an allowable current capacity should be increased, thereby generating many wastes.
Furthermore, an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) semiconductor module obtained by connecting a plurality of IGBT semiconductor elements via an emitter terminal external connection part, a collector terminal external connection part and a gate terminal external connection part has been known. In addition, an inverter apparatus that uses this IGBT semiconductor module has been known. In this inverter apparatus, these two IGBT semiconductor modules are connected in series. In this series connection, wiring connection using bus bar wiring, etc. is used. This IGBT semiconductor module is obtained by connecting in parallel a plurality of, that is, at least two or more IGBT semiconductor elements in an inside thereof (for example, refer to a patent literature 1).
Consequently, it is necessary to produce at least several IGBT semiconductor elements even in the case where a semiconductor module with a small current capacity is produced. Therefore, there is a problem such that the production cost of the semiconductor module with a small current capacity becomes comparatively expensive. In addition, there arises a problem when the product is downsized.
[Patent literature 1] Japanese Patent Laid-open Application Publication No. 10-84077.

Semiconductor apparatus and production method thereof suitable for electric power devices


A fish tape assembly has a flat tape made of a hybrid composite of electrically non-conductive materials, preferably a fiberglass core surrounded by a nylon jacket. The flat tape has a rectilinear lateral cross-section with its width dimension being greater than its thickness. A non-conductive feed piece is bonded to the leading end of the fish tape. The feed piece has a wedged leading end. A non-conductive anchor piece is bonded to the trailing end of the fish tape to attach the fish tape to a reel assembly. The anchor piece is angled to mount the fish tape in a generally tangential direction relative to the reel.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to fish tapes of the type used by electricians to pull wire through conduit or other spaces, and more particularly to the construction of a non-conductive fish tape assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fish tape is an elongated "wire" or flexible rod typically used to install wire in conduit or through existing walls by pushing the tape through the conduit or wall, attaching the wire, and pulling it back. Steel fish tape is often used because it is stiff enough to be pushed through conduit without collapsing or kinking, flexible enough to negotiate bends or turns, and strong enough to pull multiple wires back through the conduit without breaking or separating under what can be considerable pulling forces. The steel tape can be flat in that has a smaller thickness than width, which aids in the ability to "steer" the tape as it is pushed through the wall or conduit. However, steel may be disadvantageous because it is heavy, possibly too rigid for tight bends, and importantly because it can conduct electricity, it may not be suitable for use near live circuits with open contacts, such as in switch boxes or fuse/breaker panels.
Fish tape made of plastic fibers, such as fiberglass, have been devised to avoid the aforementioned concerns with steel fish tape. Namely, such fish tapes are lighter, more flexible and do not conduct electricity, while at the same time providing high tensile strength. Because fiberglass can splinter, it may be covered by an extruded plastic jacket having better wear and toughness characteristics that is also of lower coefficient of friction to allow it to slide through the wall or conduit easier. The fiberglass or fiberglass composite fish tapes are typically extruded rods having a circular cross-section. The circular cross-section is disadvantageous in that makes the fish tape less steerable and adds to its thickness such that it requires more space when wound in the reel.
Long lengths of fish tape are used, for example 25 ft., 50 ft. and 100 ft. lengths are standard, because the fish tape is snaked through walls and conduit. To make the long run of fish tape manageable during use and storage it is use typically wound about a reel. One end of the fish tape is usually fixed to a stationary or rotatable part of the reel to keep it from coming loose. The other, leading end of the fish tape is adapted in some way to readily attach the wire to be pulled by the fish tape through the wall or conduit. For steel tapes, the ends may be turned back into a "U" or a loop to directly hook onto or loop about a catch inside the reel at the trailing end or the wires at the leading end. However, it is not possible to bend fiberglass fish tapes to form a hook or loop. Thus, tips must be attached to the ends of a fiberglass fish tape that have some type of attachment member. At the leading end, the attachment member is often an eyelet through which the wire can be tied.
The connection to the reel can be problematic. The tape may disengage the catch, or worse, the tape may break when high pulling loads arise. The latter problem can arise when the fiberglass tape is connected to reel in way that extends it radially relative to the reel. When the fish tape is completely unwound from the reel and pulling loads are applied, a bending moment is applied to the fish tape which can cause it to fracture.
The tip at the leading end of the fish tape can also be problematic, most commonly with regard to its ability to feed through the wall or conduit and its connection to the fish tape. The tip is usually a steel piece, however it may be plastic, see e.g. the ferrule item 17 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,848 to MacFetrich. The leading end of a tip for a steel tape usually has flat tapered sides, while for a fiberglass tape it is usually bullet-shaped with a spherical or conical due to the circular cross-section of the fiberglass rod. Considerable effort has been undertaken to lessen the resistance in the feed direction, however, this still remains a problem.
Various techniques have been used to attach the tip to the fish tape including depending on the materials and configuration of the tip used. Welding and threaded attachments are common for steel fish tapes. Fiberglass fish tapes typically employ a friction connection, such as crimping, or an adhesive. A taper-lock connection can be used in which the fish tape is inserted into a conical bore in an externally threaded inner part of the tip and then expanded in the bore by threading a screw into the end of the tape bore the outer part of the tip is threaded onto the inner part. Although various methods of connection have been devised, it is common for tips to pull off of the fish tape under high pulling loads or to loosen after prolonged use.
Accordingly, a non-conductive fish tape assembly is desired with improved construction of the fish tape and end pieces.


An overload control device and a method thereof in a radio network controller are disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention includes i) a load measuring unit, measuring a load of a radio network controller every predetermined time, ii) an overload determining unit, determining whether an overload is generated by comparing the measured load with a predetermined critical value, iii) a parameter setting unit, setting a parameter of a call admission ratio according to an overload level if the overload is generated as the result of determining, the call admission ratio indicating a ratio of a maximum transmitting output as compared with an admitted transmitting output of a base station and iv) a call connection setting control unit, transmitting to the radio network controller a call connection setting signal to limit new call connection setting of a base station having a total transmitting output value which is larger than an admitted transmitting output value set by the parameter of the call admission ratio of the base station among all base stations pertained to the radio network controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an overload control device and a method thereof in a mobile communication system, more specifically to an overload control device and a method thereof in a radio network controller.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A mobile communication service has been continuously developed since the first generation mobile communication service mainly having a low-quality voice call service provided by the advanced mobile phone service (AMPS) of an analog cellular type, which started in late 1980s.
In the second generation mobile communication service, it was possible to provide an improved voice call service and a low-speed (14.4 Kbps) data service by the global system for mobile (GSM), the code division multiple access (CDMA) and the time division multiple access (TDMA) of a digital cellular type.
In the 2.5th generation mobile communication service, it was also possible to provide an improved voice call service and a low-speed (144 Kbps) data service by developing the personal communication service (PCS) that can be internationally used in addition to acquiring frequency bands having the unit of GHz.
The third generation mobile communication service can be distinguished into two systems. One is the mobile communication system of an asynchronous type based on the generation partnership project (3GPP). The other one is the CDMA-2000 system of a synchronous type based on 3GPP2. Especially, in the mobile communication system, which is the wireless protocol suggested in the IMT-2000, is being provided or prepared by a lot of worldwide communication service providers.
The mobile communication system, which has a high quality call service and uses a band diffusion method, is suitable to transmit a lot of data.
The WCDMA communication method employs the adaptable multi-rate (AMR) for voice coding and supports high mobility that can make it possible to call to each other at a speed of 100 km/h.
The WCDMA communication method is also employed by most countries. Technical specifications for the WCDMA is continuously developed in the 3GPP constituted by many institutes in Korea, Europe countries, Japan, USA and China.
Typically, service providers or network operators provides different users with various multi-media data services and/or voice communication services.
To provide the data services and/or the voice communication services, the service providers or the network operators manage wireless sources including system capacity and processing amount.
A mobile communication terminal can access a communication system and a different mutually accessed remote control communication system. Each area covered by radio networks are typically referred to as a cell. Each radio network is set to receive an electromagnetic wave at a pilot output level in which it is enough to cover the cell. The pilot channel is downlink-broadcasted to make it possible to recognize cells and to measure received levels.

Device and method for controlling overload


A pulse oximeter with drive lines for driving red and IR LEDs, and a drive circuit for driving those drive lines. A processor controls the drive circuit using a red zero output line and an IR zero output line directly connected between the processor and the drive circuit. This allows a control signal to directly control the turning off of either the red or IR drive transistors to prevent forward current flow through the red and IR LEDs by overriding the ongoing programmable logic state machine control of the drive transistors. The effects of crosstalk and capacitive coupling are reduced as a result.

The present invention relates to oximeters, and in particular to LED drive circuits in pulse oximeters.
Pulse oximetry is typically used to measure various blood chemistry characteristics including, but not limited to, the blood-oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supplying the tissue, and the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heartbeat of a patient. Measurement of these characteristics has been accomplished by use of a non-invasive sensor which scatters light through a portion of the patient's tissue where blood perfuses the tissue, and photoelectrically senses the absorption of light in such tissue. The amount of light absorbed at various wavelengths is then used to calculate the amount of blood constituent being measured.
The light scattered through the tissue is selected to be of one or more wavelengths that are absorbed by the blood in an amount representative of the amount of the blood constituent present in the blood. The amount of transmitted light scattered through the tissue will vary in accordance with the changing amount of blood constituent in the tissue and the related light absorption. For measuring blood oxygen level, such sensors have typically been provided with a light source that is adapted to generate light of at least two different wavelengths, and with photodetectors sensitive to both of those wavelengths, in accordance with known techniques for measuring blood oxygen saturation.
Known non-invasive sensors include devices that are secured to a portion of the body, such as a finger, an ear or the scalp. In animals and humans, the tissue of these body portions is perfused with blood and the tissue surface is readily accessible to the sensor.
The light sources, typically light emitting diodes (LEDs), need to be driven with current to activate them. In order to reduce the effects of leakage and capacitively coupled transients, it is desirable to be able to drive one of the LEDs, without any current going through the other one. Typically, this can be done by controlling the duty cycle with the processor in the pulse oximeter. However, using the duty cycle controls to eliminate current through one of the LEDs has been discovered to still involve an amount of leakage and capacitively coupled transients that is undesirable.

Oximeter red and IR zero calibration control


Disclosed are methods for detecting neoplastic or damaged cells and for detecting multidrug resistance in neoplastic or damaged cells by detecting an increase in the cell surface expression of a nucleophosmin (NPM) protein on the surface of such a multidrug resistant neoplastic or damaged cells as compared to the level of expression of the nucleophosmin protein on the surface of a normal cell.

A commonly used treatment for diseases, such as cancer or those caused by pathogen-infection, is the administration of drugs, e.g., chemotherapeutics and antibiotics. In order to kill the diseased cells, the drug(s) must enter the cells and reach an effective dose so as to interfere with essential biochemical pathways. However, some cells evade being killed by the drug by developing resistance to it (termed "drug resistance"). Moreover, in some cases, cancer cells (also called tumor cells or neoplastic cells) and damaged cells (e.g., pathogen-infected cells), or the pathogens themselves, develop resistance to a broad spectrum of drugs, including drugs that were not originally used for treatment. This phenomenon is termed "multidrug resistance" (MDR). For example, some cancer cells in a tumor evade being killed by chemotherapeutic drugs by becoming multidrug resistant to a broad spectrum of chemotherapeutic drugs, including drugs that were not originally used for treatment.
Patient cross-resistance to different anti-microbial and anti-cancer agents, which are structurally and functionally distinct, can cause problems for both cancer patients and diseased non-cancer patients. Thus, MDR can involve cancer cells, as well as damaged, non-cancerous cells (e.g., cells infected with pathogens including virus and bacteria). The emergence of the MDR phenotype is the major cause of failure in the treatment of infectious diseases (see Davies J., Science 264: 375-382, 1994; Poole, K., Cur. Opin. Microbiol. 4: 500-5008, 2001). Similarly, the development of multidrug resistant cancer cells is the principal reason for treatment failure in cancer patients (see Gottesman, M. M., Ann. Rev. Med. 53: 615-627, 2000).
Multidrug resistance is multifactorial. The classic MDR mechanism involves alterations in the gene (by gene amplification) for the highly evolutionarily conserved plasma membrane protein (P-glycoprotein or MDR 1) that actively transports (pumps) drugs out of the cell or microorganism (Volm M. et al., Cancer 71: 3981-3987, 1993); Bradley and Ling, Cancer Metastasis Rev. 13: 223-233, 1994). Both human cancer cells and infectious bacterial pathogens may develop classic MDR via mechanisms involving overexpression of P-glycoprotein (both messenger RNA and protein) due to amplification of the gene encoding P-glyocoprotein. The overexpression of P-glycoprotein mRNA or protein in MDR cancer cells or pathogen-infected cells is a biological marker for MDR. Diagnostic tests and therapeutic methods have been developed that make use of the overexpression of P-glycoprotein marker to diagnose and to treat MDR cancer and pathogen infections (Szakacs G. et al., Pathol. Oncol. Res. 4: 251-257, 1998). However, because various normal tissues express different amounts of P-glycoprotein, there are significant problems with side effects, as any therapy that targets P-glycoprotein on the cell surface of MDR cancer cells, would also affect those normal tissues that also have a relatively high level of P-glycoprotein expression, such as liver, kidney, stem cells, and blood-brain barrier epithelium.
"Atypical MDR" is a term used to describe MDR cancer cells or pathogens where the mechanism of multidrug resistance is unknown, novel, or different from the classic mechanism involving P-glycoprotein. For example, human lung tumors are multidrug resistant but do not have alterations in P-glycoprotein (see Cole S. P. et al., Science 258: 1650-1654, 1992). Rather, they express another drug transporter (the multidrug resistance protein or MRP1). A new mechanism of MDR was recently described that involves Lung Resistance Related Protein, which is a marker for this type of atypical MDR (Rome L. H. et al., PCT Publication No. WO9962547). Some other atypical markers for MDR include MRP5, which is a novel mammalian efflux pump for nucleoside analog drugs (see Fridland and Schuetz, PCT Publication No. WO0058471) and certain sphinogoglycolipids (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,565). Thus, there remains a need in both humans and animals for treating, detecting, preventing, and/or reversing the development of both classical and atypical MDR phenotypes in cancer cells and damaged non-cancerous cells, regardless of how the MDR arises (e.g., naturally occurring or drug-induced). In addition, the ability to identify and to make use of reagents that identify MDR has clinical potential for improvements in the treatment, monitoring, diagnosis, and medical imaging of multidrug resistant cancer and multidrug resistant damaged cells.

Nucleophosmin directed diagnostics and therapeutics for multidrug resistant neoplastic disease


A circuit for generating a square-wave output signal that is a frequency multiple of and substantially in phase with a reference input signal is described. The invention provides a phase-locked loop frequency multiplier circuit with a square-wave output signal that is substantially in phase with the reference input signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of integrated circuit frequency multiplier circuits that utilize a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit to generate a fixed multiple of an input frequency.
2. Prior Art
A fixed multiple of an input frequency commonly must be generated in applications such as frequency synthesizers, video signal generation, obtaining a clock frequency, FM detection/demodulation, pulse synchronization, and in numerous other applications. A PLL frequency multiplier circuit is commonly used to generate an output signal having a frequency that is a fixed multiple of the frequency of the input signal. Unfortunately, the output signal of traditional PLL frequency multiplier circuits is not a square-wave, especially when operating at high frequencies. Additionally, there is a phase difference between the output signal and the input signal. These two problems make traditional PLL frequency multiplier circuits undesirable for some applications.
The past approaches in generating a fixed multiple of an input frequency using a PLL frequency multiplier have thus resulted in a non-square-wave output signal with a phase difference between the output signal and the input signal. Therefore, there exists a need for a PLL frequency multiplier that has a square-wave output signal with substantially no phase difference between the output signal and the input signal. The present invention provides a PLL frequency multiplier circuit having a square-wave output signal that is substantially in phase with the input signal.

Phase-locked loop frequency-multiplying phase-matching circuit with a square-wave output


An implant for improved engagement between modular components is provided. The implant includes a body member for insertion, in use, in a natural femoral neck; and a rod for insertion, in use, in the intramedullary canal of a femur. The body member has a first engagement surface and the rod has a second engagement surface such that the first and second engagement surfaces are configured for complementary engagement with each other. One of the first or second engagement surfaces may be a protrusion while the other of the first or second engagement surfaces may be a recess for receiving the protrusion. The implant may further include a locking member, a stabilizing member and a guide means. A domed head portion is provided for attachment to a medial end of the body member and insertion, in use, in a natural or prosthetic acetabulum.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to prosthetic implants, and, more particularly, to a modular implant for total hip replacement.
2. Description of the Invention Background
Hip replacements have become common. A person's hip joint may need to be replaced due to degeneration from disease or from severe trauma. If the degeneration or injury is severe, replacement of the natural joint, in whole or in part, with a prosthesis may be necessary. While initial hip implants are generally successful, they often have to be replaced in time, sometimes because of further degeneration and sometimes because of stress to remaining bone caused by the prosthesis.
Numerous designs for total hip and shoulder replacements have been developed, but problems persist.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A connector structure is provided. The connector structure includes a terminal base having plural terminals, a clip device vertically arranged with the terminal base via a positioning piece and including plural conducting lines and a rotating device located on the clip device.

In general, there are plural terminals for being connected to conducting lines in an insulation displacement connector (IDC). The terminals are located in a terminal base, and it is possible that the terminal base is perpendicularly set on a printed circuit board. During the operation, the IDC is usually connected to a network plug via a Keystone Jack.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows an insulation displacement connector 10 disclosed in the Taiwan Utility Patent No. 537544. As shown in FIG. 1, the four conducting lines 13, 14, 15 and 16 on the cover 11 would be stabbed by the clips 19 after the cover 11 is rotated around the shaft 18 of the connecting main body 17 to attach to the terminal base 12.
By the insulation displacement connector 10, a traditional specific stabbing device (not shown) would be not necessary for stabbing the conducting lines 13, 14, 15 and 16. Whatever, since the stabbing action is performed by rotating the cover 11 around the shaft 18, the lines 13, 14, 15, and 16 would be stabbed one by one and it is necessary to check the precision of the relevant stabbing depths all the time. Therefore, it is not so convenient. In addition, since an operator has to press the cover 11 so as to rotate the cover 11, it is really laborious.
As above-mentioned, a new insulation displacement connector and the relevant stabbing method used thereby being able to save the relevant labor and increase the stabbing efficiency are really desired.

Structure and method for connecting conducting lines to terminals


A keyswitch key includes a thin circuit film comprising a pressure-sensitive switch and at least a first hole defined in the film away from the switch. A metallic base frame is positioned under the film and includes at least one retention member extending through the at least a first hole of the film. An activation mechanism includes a lower portion located on the film and supported by the at least one retention member of the base frame. The activation mechanism is operative to activate/deactivate the switch upon application/release of a manual depression.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyswitch key apparatus, and particularly to a keyswitch key apparatus having a compact size and heat sink capabilities.
2. The Prior Art
Keyswitch keys are basic elements of a keyboard which is the most common input device of a portable (notebook) computer. Most portable computers face two problems arising from compact-size requirements and proper heat dissipation. A conventional keyswitch key 99 as shown in FIG. 1 comprises a keycap 12, a scissors-like mechanism 14 operatively engaged between the keycap 12 and a plastic supporting frame 20, and an elastic element 16 linked to the keycap 12 and responding to a click therefrom to depress a pressure-sensitive switch 32 in a thin circuit film 30 which is positioned on a metal plate 40. A keyswitch key having the above conventional structure works well, however, the conventional structure does not address the problems arising from compact-size requirements or proper heat dissipation of portable computers. Specifically, the plastic supporting frame 20 of the conventional keyswitch key usually occupies a considerable amount of space. The above problems may be overcome if the metal plate 40 and the plastic supporting frame 20 can be combined into a single member which is conductive as well as capable of providing a supporting function similar to the scissiors-like mechanism 14. The combination of the supporting frame 20 and the metal plate 40 can also fully eliminate the need for screw bolts (not shown) which retain the supporting frame 20 on the metal plate 40. Further more, the elimination of the plastic supporting frame 20 will considerably reduce mold manufacturing costs.
Therefore, a combined structure of the supporting frame and the metal plate is required to replace the present plastic supporting frame and the metal plate.


A packaged semiconductor device may include a substrate including at least one device layer and at least one connector arranged thereon, and a resin cover covering each side of the substrate, the resin cover on at least one side of the substrate including an opening exposing the connector and the resin cover on at least one other side of the substrate exposing a portion of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to semiconductor chip packages, and methods of manufacturing thereof. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to wafer level chip packages and methods of manufacturing wafer level chip packages that are capable of providing improved protection against damage, e.g., during handling and/or subsequent wafer and/or chip processing, and reducing chipping and/or cracking defects.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, semiconductor chip packages are provided to physically protect a semiconductor chip while establishing input and output connection portion(s) for connecting the semiconductor chip to other device(s). As electronic devices are becoming smaller and more complex, it is desirable to package a semiconductor chip as soon as possible after the semiconductor chip is formed to help protect the electronic devices of the semiconductor chip from damage that may occur during subsequent handling, etc. In some cases, the semiconductor chips of a wafer are first completely separated from the wafer before being packaged. In such cases, however, the semiconductor chips are susceptible to damage that may occur during the dicing process itself, i.e., process for separating the semiconductor chip(s) from the wafer.
Therefore, in some cases, wafer level packaging is employed to package the semiconductor chip(s) while the semiconductor chip(s) are still on the wafer. Wafer level packaging may offer many advantages, e.g., protection during dicing, relatively small, e.g., thinner, package size, relatively lighter package weight, and/or reduced manufacturing cost, etc. In general, conventional wafer level packages fail to cover all sides, e.g., all six sides, of a semiconductor chip, and/or conventional methods of wafer-level packaging semiconductor devices generally employ, e.g., multiple depositing steps and/or multiple planarization steps. Therefore, improved wafer level packages and simplified methods of packaging semiconductor chips at the wafer level are desired.

Encapsulated wafer level package with protection against damage and manufacturing method


Categorizing data in an on-demand database environment is provided. The categorized data is accessed to provide results based on statistical likelihood that records provide a desired result of a query. The categorization of the data includes organizing queries based on semantic terms, with categorization based on a multidimensional categorization of data in the database environment. The generating of results includes accessing relationship metadata both for individual records and for categories. Relationships along the same category, or among categories can provide records that may answer the query. The relationships and statistics are updated based on usage of the results data. Records and relationships identified as being used to solve the query, or being a desired solution to the query, can be weighted more heavily, thus increasing the likelihood of providing the most relevant data for subsequent queries.

Database systems and other systems often store a wealth of information. However, knowing where to search for data, or what data to access to solve a particular problem can be challenging. On the one hand, many users have a presumption that a solution exists somewhere in the cloud, referring to a network or group of networks. On the other hand, the more information that is created and stored makes finding the right information increasingly difficult. Add in the additional problems that traditional search is composed "backwards", and that different people use different terminology, and searching for a solution may not provide the results desired.
Traditional searching for a solution is usually "backwards" in that the search systems often require the user to select lists or groups of data for the solution. Such an approach misses the fact that a user usually does not know what s/he is looking for and/or the data is often organized in a way different from how the user thinks about the problem. The user would prefer to simply be able to ask a question semantically and have an answer given. This leads into the other problem that different terms and phrases are used to mean the same thing, and a solution to the problem may be missed because the terminology used is different from that of the search. Thus, a user is implicitly expected to use the "right" search terms to get the desired solution.
An additional challenge is provided in the move to more modern database system architectures. In many conventional database systems, users access their data resources in one logical database, from a user's own systems. When a unitary database is accessed, system-wide conventions can be used for all users. Such assumptions about conventions and database system architecture are not appropriate for many modern and developing systems. Search and access may be further complicated from the system operation side when such assumptions no longer prove true.
Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including a description of the figures, which may depict some or all of the embodiments described below, as well as discussing other potential embodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presented herein. An overview is provided below, followed by amore detailed description with reference to the drawings.

Methods and systems for categorizing data in an on-demand database environment


An improved process for preparing a compound of Formula (I): ##STR1## comprising: (a) treating a compound of Formula (Ia): ##STR2## with an alcohol comprising a compound of Formula (Ib-A) and an acid comprising a compound of Formula (Ib-B): ##STR3## wherein R.sub.a is selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrogen; (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkyl; phenyl and (C.sub.1 -C.sub.3) alkyl-phenyl wherein said phenyl groups are optionally substituted by one or two substituents selected from the group consisting essentially of --(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4) alkyl; --O(C.sub.1 -C.sub.3) alkyl; Br; and Cl; and. HX is an acid selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrobromic acid; hydrochloric acid; sulfuric acid; sulfonic acid; and aliphatic and aromatic sulfonic acids selected from the group consisting essentially of methanesulfonic acid, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, benzenesulfonic acid, benzylsulfonic acid, p-toluene sulfonic acid, and camphorsulfonic acid, whereby HX provides the acidic conditions which result in formation of a salt of the corresponding imidate of Formula (Ic): ##STR4## and (b) hydrolyzing said compound of Formula (Ic) to provide said compound of Formula (I).

The present invention relates to an improved method of preparing a series of novel indazole analogs that are selective inhibitors of phosphodiesterase (PDE) type IV and the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and as such are useful in the treatment of asthma, arthritis, bronchitis, chronic obstructive airway disease, psoriasis, allergic rhinitis, dermatitis, and other inflammatory diseases, AIDS, septic shock and other diseases involving the production of TNF.
Since the recognition that cyclic adenosine phosphate (AMP) is an intracellular second messenger, E. W. Sutherland, and T. W. Rall, Pharmacol. Rev., 12, 265, (1960), inhibition of the phosphodiesterases has been a target for modulation and, accordingly, therapeutic intervention in a range of disease processes. More recently, distinct classes of PDE have been recognized, J. A. Beavo et al., TiPS, 11, 150, (1990), and their selective inhibition has led to improved drug therapy, C. D. Nicholson, M. S. Hahid, TiPS, 12, 19, (1991). More particularly, it has been recognized that inhibition of PDE type IV can lead to inhibition of inflammatory mediator release, M. W. Verghese et al., J. Mol. Cell Cardiol., 12 (Suppl. II), S 61, (1989) and airway smooth muscle relaxation (T. J. Torphy in "Directions for New Anti-Asthma Drugs," eds. S. R. O'Donnell and C. G. A. Persson, 1988, 37 Birkhauser-Verlag). Thus, compounds that selectively inhibit PDE type IV by exhibiting low levels of activity against other PDE receptor types, inhibit the release of inflammatory mediators and relax airway smooth muscle without causing cardiovascular effects or antiplatelet effects.
An especially useful class of selective PDE4 inhibitors is that disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/963904, filed Apr. 1, 1997 (Attorney Docket No. PC9281B), which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/016861, filed May 3, 1996 (Attorney Docket No. 9281), now abandoned; and in international application Ser. No. PCT/IB97/00323 based on said provisional application, filed Apr. 1, 1997 (Attorney Docket No. PC9281A), designating the United Sates, and published as WO 97/42174 on Nov. 13, 1997. Both of said applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
The class of selective PDE4 inhibitors disclosed in the above-mentioned applications may be prepared in accordance with the synthesis procedures described in U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/046858, filed May 8, 1997 (Attorney Docket No. 9798), now abandoned; and in international application Ser. No. PCT/IB98/00647 based on said provisional application, filed Apr. 28, 1998 (Attorney Docket No. PC9798A), designating the United Sates, and published as WO 98/***** on November **, 1998. Both of said applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for their disclosure of the state of the art with respect to preparation of indazole carboxylic acid PDE4 inhibitors. However, there is no suggestion therein of the preparation process of the present invention.
The above-mentioned class of indazole carboxylic acid selective PDE4 inhibitors comprises compounds of Formula (II): ##STR5## and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein R is hydrogen, (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkyl, (--CH.sub.2).sub.n (C.sub.3 -C.sub.7) cycloalkyl wherein n is 0 to 2, or --(Z').sub.b (C.sub.6 -C.sub.10) aryl wherein b is independently 0 or 1, and Z' is (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkylene or (C.sub.2 -C.sub.6)-alkenylene, and wherein said alkyl and aryl moieties of said R groups are optionally substituted by one or more substituents independently selected from halo, hydroxy, (C.sub.1 -C.sub.5) alkyl, (C.sub.1 -C.sub.5) alkoxy, or trifluoromethyl;
R.sub.1 is hydrogen, (C.sub.1 -C.sub.7) alkyl, phenyl, or (C.sub.3 -C.sub.7) cycloalkyl, wherein said alkyl and phenyl R.sub.1 groups are optionally substituted with up to 3 substituents independently selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl, trifluoromethyl, and halo; and PA2 R.sub.2.sup.a and R.sub.2.sup.b are independently selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrogen and recited substituents, provided that one, but not both of R.sub.2.sup.a and R.sub.2.sup.b must be independently selected as hydrogen, wherein said substituents comprise, among others those of Formula (IIa): ##STR6## wherein the dashed lines in formula (Ia) independently and optionally represent a single or double bond, provided that in formula (Ia) both dashed lines cannot both represent double bonds at the same time. PA2 (a) treating a compound of Formula (Ia): ##STR10## wherein R and R.sup.1 are as defined above, with an alcohol comprising a compound of Formula (Ib-A) and an acid comprising a compound of Formula (Ib-B): ##STR11## where R.sub.a is as defined above; and HX is an acid selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrobromic acid; hydrochloric acid; sulfuric acid; sulfonic acid; and aliphatic and aromatic sulfonic acids selected from the group consisting essentially of methanesulfonic acid, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, benzenesulfonic acid, benzylsulfonic acid, p-toluene sulfonic acid, and camphorsulfonic acid, whereby HX provides the acidic conditions which result in formation of a salt of the corresponding imidate of Formula (Ic): ##STR12## and (b) hydrolyzing said compound of Formula (Ic) to provide said compound of Formula (I). PA2 (b) separating and purifying said salt of Formula (Ig.sup.2); followed by: PA2 (c) converting said salt of Formula (Ig.sup.2) back to said free base indazole of Formula (Ig) by treating it with an aqueous base selected from the group consisting essentially of sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, and potassium bicarbonate, preferably sodium hydroxide, to provide said compound of Formula (Ig).
Within the above-described class of PDE4 inhibitors, is a group of especially active compounds in which R.sub.2, which includes and refers to "R.sub.2.sup.a " and "R.sub.2.sup.b ", is a group of formula (Ia) wherein the dashed line attached to the ring carbon atom to which R.sub.3 is attached represents a single bond, m is 0, R.sub.5 is hydrogen and R.sub.4 is --OH, --CH.sub.2 OH, --C(CH.sub.3).sub.2 OH, --CO.sub.2 H, --CO.sub.2 CH.sub.3, --CO.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.3, or --CH.sub.2 C(O)NH.sub.2. Further of particular interest within the above-described group of compounds are those wherein R.sub.3 is cyano, R.sub.4 is --CO.sub.2 H, R is cyclohexyl, cyclopentyl, cyclobutyl, methylenecyclopropyl, isopropyl, phenyl or 4-fluoro-phenyl, and particularly wherein R is cyclohexyl; and R.sub.1 is (C.sub.1 -C.sub.2) alkyl optionally substituted by up to three fluorines, and particularly wherein R.sub.1 is ethyl. It is also important among the above-described group of compounds that R.sub.3 and R.sub.5 are cis as represented in Formula (IIb): ##STR7##
Among the most preferred species of compounds as above-described are the following:
Cis-4-cyano-4-(1-cyclohexyl-3-ethyl-1H-indazol-6-yl)cyclohexanecarboxylic acid; and PA1 Cis-4-cyano-4-(1-cyclohexyl-3-ethyl-1H-indazol-6-yl)cyclohexanecarboxylic acid methyl ester. PA1 R is selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrogen; (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkyl; --(CH.sub.2).sub.n (C.sub.3 -C.sub.7) cycloalkyl wherein n is 0 to 2; and --(Z').sub.b (C.sub.6 -C.sub.10) aryl wherein b is independently 0 or 1, and Z' is (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkylene or (C.sub.2 -C.sub.6) alkenylene; wherein said alkyl and aryl moieties of said R groups are optionally substituted by one or more substituents independently selected from the group consisting essentially of halo, preferably F or Cl; hydroxy; (C.sub.1 -C.sub.5) alkyl; (C.sub.1 -C.sub.5) alkoxy; and trifluoromethyl; and PA1 R.sup.1 is selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrogen; (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkyl; phenyl; and (C.sub.3 -C.sub.7) cycloalkyl; wherein said alkyl and phenyl R.sup.1 groups are optionally substituted with up to 3 substituents independently selected from the group consisting essentially of methyl, ethyl, trifluoromethyl, and halo; PA1 comprising: PA1 R.sup.1.sub.a is selected from the group consisting essentially of (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkyl optionally substituted with up to 3 substituents independently selected from the group consisting essentially of trifluoromethyl, fluoro and chloro. PA1 R is selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrogen; (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkyl; --(CH.sub.2).sub.n (C.sub.3 -C.sub.7) cycloalkyl wherein n is 0 to 2; and --(Z').sub.b (C.sub.6 -C.sub.10) aryl wherein b is independently 0 or 1; and Z' is (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkylene or (C.sub.2 -C.sub.6) alkenylene; wherein said alkyl and aryl moieties optionally substituted by one or more substituents independently selected from the group consisting essentially of halo, preferably F or Cl, hydroxy, (C.sub.1 -C.sub.5) alkyl, (C.sub.1 -C.sub.5) alkoxy, or trifluoromethyl; PA1 R.sup.1 is selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrogen; (C.sub.1 -C.sub.6) alkyl; phenyl; and (C.sub.3 -C.sub.7) cycloalkyl; wherein said alkyl and phenyl groups are optionally substituted with up to 3 substituents independently selected from the group consisting essentially of methyl, ethyl, trifluoromethyl, and halo; and PA1 [HX] represents an optional salt formed with the basic imino group of the (Ic.sup.2) compound by treatment thereof with an acid selected from the group consisting essentially of hydrochloric acid; hydrobromic acid; sulfuric acid; sulfonic acid, and aliphatic and aromatic sulfonic acids selected from the group consisting essentially of methanesulfonic acid, trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, benzenesulfonic acid, benzylsulfonic acid, p-toluenesulfonic acid, and camphorsulfonic acid; preferably hydrochloric acid,
The above-identified preferred compounds may be represented by Formulas (IIc) and (IId): ##STR8##

Methods of preparing 4-cyano-4 (substituted indazole) cyclohexane-carboxylic acids useful as PDE4 inhibitors


A polymer having a unit expressed as "--CH.sub.2 CHR--" as well as a substituent capable of being decomposed by acid is employed as a base resin for a resist material. The resist material is further mixed with an acid generator. A resist pattern obtained by selectively exposing and developing the resist material is irradiated with light having a wavelength of not more than 300 nm under a nitrogen atmosphere. Active hydrogen at the .alpha.-position of the unit dissociates as a result to form polymer radicals, which are linked with each other in progress of a crosslinking reaction. Namely, a crosslinked structure of the polymer is formed. Consequently, a resist pattern having high dry etching resistance is completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resist pattern forming method and a resist material suitable for this method, and more particularly, it relates to betterment for improving dry etching resistance of a resist material.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, a semiconductor device is increasingly refined followed by a shorter wavelength of light for irradiation employed for photolithography. A resist material employed for photolithography must be transparent with respect to light of a wavelength in an application range therefore. As base resins serving as the main components of resist materials satisfying such requirement, novolak resin (resin A described later) suitable to g to i rays (436 nm to 365 nm in wavelength) of a mercury lamp and polyhydroxystyrene (resin B described later) suitable to a KrF excimer laser beam (248 nm in wavelength) are widely known as typical resins at present.
On the other hand, acrylic resins C and D containing no benzene rings, illustrated in FIGS. 17 and 18, are now watched with interest as base resins for resist materials employed for an ArF excimer laser beam (193 nm in wavelength) which is regarded as advanced light for irradiation. A material such as novolak resin containing a benzene ring is unsuitable to an ArF excimer laser beam in view of transparency, despite an advantage of excellent dry etching resistance.
In each of the resins C and D shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, units U1, U2 and U3 form methacrylic units respectively. A resist material composed of a base resin prepared from the resin C or D having such methacrylic units contains an acid generator such as triphenylsulfonium triflate as a mixture which is added to the base resin.
When the resist material is irradiated with light, hydrogen (generally acid) is generated due to the action of the added acid generator, to act under heating on that substituent D1 in the resin C or D which is capable of being decomposed by the acid. Consequently, this substituent D1 is cut off from a principal chain of the polymer. Thus, the polymer is denatured by irradiation with light.
When a developer is applied to the resist material after the heating, parts of the polymer denatured by the light are readily dissolved while the remaining parts are not dissolved but remain. In other words, the parts of the resist material irradiated with the light are selectively removed. Consequently, patterning of the resist material is implemented. Namely, the resin C or D forms a positive chemical amplification resist material.
However, the resins C and D containing no benzene rings which are expected for application to an advanced resist material are inferior in dry etching resistance to a resin such as novolak resin which is widely employed at present. This bottlenecks reduction of the wavelength of the light for irradiation.
On the other hand, the resist aspect ratio (resist film thickness/resist pattern size) is increased as a result of improvement in resolution following reduction of the wavelength of the light for irradiation. In order to prevent the resist pattern from falling in the so-called resist pattern fall after development and rinsing, it is necessary to suppress the thickness of the resist material which is deposited on a target of etching (i.e., an underlayer) such as a surface of a semiconductor device.
Further, the etching rate depends on the resist aspect ratio, and known is the so-called RIE-lag such that the etching rate is retarded as the width of the resist pattern is narrowed, i.e., the aspect ratio is increased. In order to suppress such reduction of the etching rate caused by the RIE-lag phenomenon for preventing insufficient etching, it is as well necessary to suppress the thickness of the resist material.
As the thickness of the deposited resist material is suppressed, higher dry etching resistance is required to the resist material. In order to reduce the wavelength of the light for irradiation, therefore, the dry etching resistance, i.e., the selection ratio of the resist material to the underlayer in etching must be improved beyond that in the conventional resist material.

Resist pattern forming method and resist material


The present invention provides a dilatation catheter which includes a balloon having at least one layer of a thermoplastic material consisting essentially of a random copolymer made from dimethyl terephthalate dimethyl isophthalate and ethylene glycol. These balloons are particular suited for use on dilatation catheters used for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is an efficient and effective procedure for treating vascular disease caused by or associated with stenosis of coronary arteries. Typically, a physician fluoroscopically guides a catheter fitted with an expandable balloon, from an entry point at the femoral artery, through a patient's arterial system to the site of the stenoisis or occlusion. The expandable balloon of the catheter is then positioned across the stenosis or occlusion and the balloon is inflated with fluid to dilate the artery and open the obstructed passageway. The dilated artery reestablishes an acceptable blood flow through the artery without resorting to more serious, invasive surgical procedures such as grafts or by-passes.
The PTCA procedure places unique demands on the types of materials needed to fabricate a catheter fitted with an expandable balloon. The physical properties and characteristics of a desirable balloon may result in certain characteristics being balanced against others. For example, a minimum balloon profile is advantageous because it allows the balloon to easily reach and then traverse tight stenosis or occlusions with minimum trauma to arterial vessels. A minimum balloon profile may be achieved by minimizing the wall thickness of the balloon material but thinner walls of the balloon material gives a weaker balloon (compared to a thicker wall) and thus reduces the amount of pressure that can safely be used to inflate the balloon and open a stenosis.
Similarly, very strong thermoplastic materials that are sufficiently strong enough to allow for minimum balloon wall thicknesses tend to be rigid, hard or stiff compared to more elastomeric materials that tend to be flexible, soft and deformable. Using stronger materials may give a minimum profile balloon but the stiffness of the material may be more likely to injure or traumatize the vascular system as the balloon is positioned to and then across a stenosis or occlusion.
In the past, PTCA catheter balloons have been made from polymeric materials which gave balloons that may be broadly categorized into two groups: a) non-distensible balloons and b) distensible balloons. Non-distensible balloons typically inflate to a nominal diameter and then do not significantly stretch or expand beyond that diameter as the pressure is increased. These types of balloons are not stretchable or compliant. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 32,983 to Levy which describes a biaxially oriented, polyethylene terephthalate homopolymer (PET) balloon. In comparison, distensible balloons typically inflate to a nominal diameter and then continue to stretch or expand as the inflation pressure is increased until the strength of the balloon material is exceeded and the balloon bursts. Polyvinyl chloride, polyethylenes and homopolymers or copolymers of olefins have been used to make distensible balloons. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,244 to Becker et al. which describes a thermoplastic rubber balloon.
Distensible balloon materials such as polyvinyl chlorides and polyethylenes characteristically have lower tensile strengths compared to non-distensible balloon materials such as PET or polyimides. The comparatively lower tensile strength of distensible balloon may increase the risk of possible balloon failure if the balloon is over inflated.
Distensible balloons having high expansion properties also present the risk that a blood vessel may be damaged or ruptured due to uncontrolled overinflation. Even so, the relatively high expansion properties of distensible balloons compared to non-distensible balloons provides some advantages. The distensible balloon gives the physician some margin of error in matching a specifically sized balloon with the size of the vessel at the stenosis site. At least in theory, the physician will select a balloon which has the same inflated diameter as the finally dilated artery. In practice; however, assessment of the artery's size can be miscalculated and the greater expansion of a distensible balloon allows the physician to obtain a correct dilatation diameter by using higher inflation pressures (provided, of course, that the balloon material may handle such higher pressures).
Non-distensible balloon materials characteristically have much higher tensile strengths than distensible balloon materials. The higher tensile strengths of nondistensible balloon materials are generally a result of orienting the balloon material during manufacture of the balloon. The orientation process unavoidably imparts stresses and varying degrees of crystallinity or nonhomogeneity in the balloon material which, if ignored, gives an undesirable balloon. PET is a sensitive, unforgiving material when it is processed. During the stretch blow molding process typically used to form PET balloons, the risk exists that thin walled PET balloons will have nonhomogeneous regions in the balloon wall. This nonhomogeneity may result in the formation of pinholes and other weakening of the wall which can lead to balloon failure when it is inflated under pressure. Pinholes are particularly disadvantageous because if the pinhole forms when the balloons is under elevated pressure, a high velocity jet of inflation fluid may be emitted which can cause arterial dissection. The nonhomogeneity of PET materials may be compensated for by using thicker balloon walls but thicker walls may not be preferred. Further, PET balloon have been found to be quite fragile and may be easily damaged during routine handling. The non-distensible properties of PET balloon also require that a physician has to withdraw and replace a balloon which proves to be smaller than needed to fully dilate the artery. Finally, PET balloons have been found to develop extensive wrinkles when the balloon is sterilized. These undesired wrinkles may inhibit the easy advancement of the catheter through the arterial system.
Furthermore, PET balloon materials do not readily take a fold or a crease. As such when these balloons are collapsed in a deflated state the collapsed balloon flattens and provides an undesired "winged" profile. The phenomenon of "winging" results when the flat, lateral portions of the deflated balloon project laterally outward beyond the rest of the catheter. A "winged" balloon presents a profile having rigid edges which has a much higher likelihood of injuring the arterial system during placement of the balloon.
In addition to PET, other types of materials have been used to produce non-distensible balloons are reported. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,938,676 and 4,906,244 that report using a biaxially oriented nylon or polyamide material, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,884,573 and 4,952,357 that report using a polyimide material and U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,239 that reports using a polyurethane material.
In spite of extensive ongoing efforts to produce an "ultimate" catheter balloon, no single material has been found to be overwhelmingly satisfactory for balloons needed to perform PTCA.
There is clearly a continuing need in this field for a catheter balloon made from a polymer material having properties which are optimized for PTCA.

Dilatation catheter having a random copolymer balloon


There is provided an apparatus for generating a driving signal, the apparatus including: a first driving signal generation circuit generating a first driving signal; a second driving signal generation circuit generating a second driving signal, the second driving signal generation circuit including at least two transistors and a pulse generation unit; and a control unit controlling the first and second driving signal generation circuits so that they generate the first and second driving signals selectively.

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for generating a driving signal.
A touchscreen device, such as a touchscreen or a touch pad, is a data input device attached to a display device so as to provide an intuitive user interface, and has recently been widely used in various electronic devices such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and navigation devices. Particularly, as demand for smartphones has recently increased, touchscreens have increasingly been employed as devices allowing for various methods of data input in a limited form factor.
Touchscreens used in portable devices may be mainly divided into resistive type touchscreens and capacitive type touchscreens, depending on the manner in which touches are sensed. Among these, the capacitive type touchscreen has advantages of a relatively long lifespan and the ease of implementing various input manners and gestures, and thus it has been employed more and more. The capacitive type touchscreen is especially easy to implement a multi-touch interface compared to the resistive type touchscreen, and thus it is widely used in smartphones and the like.
The capacitive type touchscreen includes a plurality of electrodes having a predetermined pattern and the electrodes define a plurality of nodes at which a change in capacitance is generated due to a touch. In the plurality of nodes arranged on a two-dimensional plane, changes in self-capacitance or changes in mutual-capacitance are generated by touches, and coordinates of such touches may be calculated by applying, for example, a weighted average method to the changes in capacitance generated in the plurality of nodes.
Recently, touchscreen devices may detect touches proximate to a cover lens, as well as touches made directly to such a cover lens. A driving circuit, generating driving signals to be applied to a plurality of electrodes, applies different levels of driving signal when detecting a normal touch and when detecting a proximity touch causing minute changes in capacitance. In the case of having driving signals of different levels applied thereto, however, transistors having a low withstand voltage for generating a driving signal having a low voltage level may be disabled.
Further, touchscreen devices have recently been provided with a number of panels having various sizes, and noise may be introduced in the case of a large touch panel, as opposed to a small touch panel, so that it may be difficult to accurately detect touches. To overcome this, a large driving signal may be applied for driving the large touch panel. However, if a large driving signal is applied to a small touch panel, current consumption may be increased.


A method, apparatus and computer program product each provides interconnectivity between autonomous systems. A control plane and a data plane are included in a network device. A single interface is included in the control plane for all customers. An interface is included in the data plane for each respective one of the customers.

Before discussing the present invention, certain terms, used throughout the description, will be defined.
An Autonomous System Border Router (ASBR) is a router located on an edge of an autonomous system and functions as an autonomous system's link to other routing domains. The ASBR exchanges router information with routers belonging to other routing domains. Such a router has AS external routes that are advertised throughout the autonomous system. The path to each ASBR is known to every other router in the autonomous system.
Routers support Virtual Routing and Forwarding instances (VRFs). A VRF includes a network address routing table, a derived forwarding table, a set of interfaces or VLANs that use the forwarding table, and a set of rules and routing protocols that determine what goes into the forwarding table.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a network that uses a public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to their organization's network. A VPN works by using the shared public infrastructure while maintaining privacy through security procedures and tunneling protocols.
Multi-Protocol Border Gateway Protocol (MPBGP) is an exterior gateway routing protocol that enables groups of routers (called autonomous systems) to share routing information so that efficient, loop-free routes can be established.
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a standards-approved technology for speeding up network traffic flow and making it easier to manage. MPLS involves setting up a specific path for a given sequence of packets, identified by a label put in each packet, thus saving the time needed for a router to look up the address to the next node to forward the packet to. MPLS is called multiprotocol because it works with the Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM), and frame relay network protocols.
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract between a network service provider and a customer that specifies, usually in measurable terms, what services the network service provider will furnish. Many Internet service providers (ISP)s provide their customers with an SLA. More recently, IS departments in major enterprises have adopted the idea of writing a service level agreement so that services for their customers (users in other departments within the enterprise) can be measured, justified, and compared with those of outsourcing network providers.
Routing type (RT) identifies a particular routine header variant. If a router does not recognize the routing type value, it must discard the packet.
Route distinguisher (RD) is an address qualifier used to distinguish the distinct Virtual Private Network (VPN) routes of separate customers who connect to the provider. The route distinguisher is an 8-byte field prefixed to the customer's Internet Protocol address (IPv4). The resulting 12-byte field is a unique "VPN-IPv4" address. The route distinguisher is used to make IPv4 or Ipv6 prefixes globally unique. It is not used for forwarding, but it is used by the routers BGP process to identify each prefix as unique, even though the 4 byte IP-address may be equal. For example, for a PE router to be able to distinguish between the IP address 10.0.0.0 of one customer from the 10.0.0.0 of another customer, the network administrator must add a unique route distinguisher to each.
On the Internet and in other networks, QoS (Quality of Service) is the idea that transmission rates, error rates, and other characteristics can be measured, improved, and, to some extent, guaranteed in advance. QoS is of particular concern for the continuous transmission of high-bandwidth video and multimedia information. Transmitting this kind of content dependably is difficult in public networks using ordinary "best effort" protocols. Using the Internet's Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), packets passing through a gateway host can be expedited based on policy and reservation criteria arranged in advance. Using ATM, which also lets a company or user preselect a level of quality in terms of service, QoS can be measured and guaranteed in terms of the average delay at a gateway, the variation in delay in a group of cells (cells are 53-byte transmission units), cell losses, and the transmission error rate.
A Label Forwarding Information Base (LFIB) is a subset of a Label Information Base (LIB). The LFIB contains an incoming label, an outgoing label, a next hop and an outgoing interface. The LFIB contains what is actually being used to forward packets via label swapping, whereas the LIB contains all possible routes (generated by the underlying routing Link State Protocol) with labels already assigned (assuming frame mode MPLS). The LFIB has only routes that are considered "best" by the routing protocols. The LIB has IP information, label and interface information, but no indication of which is the shortest path to the given destination. Any route in the LFIB will also be in the LIB, but not the other way around.
The industry has standardized on a few Inter-Autonomous System (AS) models that the service providers may deploy. The current industry standards for Inter-AS solutions include the models defined as 10a (also referred to as option A), 10b (also referred to as option B), and 10c.
The first model defined and deployed by many service providers is the 10a model. The 10a model requires the provider to build on their ASBR a VRF per VPN, a unique peering interface per VRF, and a unique routing process per VRF. The peer ASBR does the same thereby creating a one-for-one relationship between the two ASBR's. The advantages of the 10a model include discrete interfaces facilitating QoS mechanisms and explicit resource management methods that protect the memory and processing resources. Likewise, the exposure of the ASBR and the attached network is limited.
The second model defined and deployed by a few service providers is the 10b model. The 10b model only requires the provider to build a single interface for each peer and a single routing process on the interface. The routing process (MP-BGP) is able to maintain the segregation of VPN prefixes without having to use discrete VRF's per VPN. The advantages include less memory consumption for the routing prefixes and interfaces, less processor consumption for the routing process, and automatic VPN session binding between the ASBR's.
The third model defined and rarely deployed by service providers is the 10c method. The 10c model only requires the provider to build a single interface for each peer and a single routing process on the interface. A routing process (MP-BGP) is able to maintain the segregation of VPN prefixes without requiring a presence on the ASBR. The advantages include even less memory consumption for the routing prefixes since the VPN prefixes are passed around the ASBR. The ASBR has even less processor consumption since the ASBR serves as a core device providing connectivity between the two AS's.
The two most commonly used models—10a and 10b—have orthogonal capabilities. Where 10a is strong, 10b is weak and vice-a-versa. Table 1 provides a synopsis of the existing solutions.
TABLE 1ASBR10a10b10cRoutingManyOneOneInterfacesManyOneOneMemoryPer-prefixPer-labelPer-labelQoSPer-VPNGlobalGlobalConfigurationManualDynamicDynamicResourceStrongWeakWeakSecurityStrongWeakVery Weak
Routing processes are complex state machines that keep track of the prefixes and the paths to reach the prefixes. Routing processes can be constrained by a number of factors such as the number of peers or adjacencies, the number of routing entries, and the number of potentially viable paths for each routing entry. As the number of prefixes and interfaces increase, the computation complexity increases thereby requiring more processor schedule time. Excessive computational routing complexity on the ASBR may impact any or all the VPN's. As shown in Table 1, the 10a method requires many routing processes, while the 10b and 10c methods require a single routing process.
Interfaces consume memory constructs and typically require an operator to configure the interface and the associate peer entity. The cost of a VPN interface is usually not too cumbersome in an Inter-AS solution as the number of VPNs is typically small. Nevertheless, the interface must be created and correctly associated with the appropriate customer. The 10a method requires many interfaces, while the 10b and 10c methods require a single interface.
Memory is allocated for VPN prefixes. VPN prefixes can create a resource burden on the ASBR. The number of prefixes is not directly controlled by a single provider or customer, but by the aggregate set of operators and customers. For this reason, memory allocated for VPN prefixes may be very precious. The 10a method requires memory on a per-prefix basis, while the 10b and 10c methods require memory on a per-label basis.
The customers of the MPLS VPN are particularly interested in QoS, especially at provider boundaries where SLA's tend to be difficult to enforce. Each enterprise has unique QoS requirements that may be difficult to handle in aggregate; however, provisioning a QoS model per customer is also a challenge especially when there is no discrete point where the QoS model may be applied. The 10a method requires QoS on a per-VPN basis, whereas the 10b and 10c methods require QoS on a global basis.
The Inter-AS model requires a configuration that establishes a relationship between the ASBR's for each VPN. The configuration should be simple to implement and should be easy to replicate. The 10a method requires more manual configuration, while the 10b and 10c methods utilize dynamic configuration.
Resources (memory, interfaces, and processor schedule time) are precious for a service provider. In particular, the provider is interested in conducting "One Time Provisioning" for many services. In addition, the management of the allocated resources can become a burden. To minimize the Operation Expenditures, the provider will frequently over-provision many of the components in a solution if the Capital Costs of the components are negligible. On the contrary, the expensive components are monitored closely and judiciously allocated. Resource management plays a critical role insuring SLA's are met. The 10a method provides strong resource management, while the 10b and 10c methods provide weak resource management.
Closely related with resource management is security. Security requirements permeate the solution such that the provider can protect their assets, their ability to provide services, as well as one customer from another customer. Security is based on a risk management model where the law of diminishing returns plays a critical role. The cost of security (capital costs, functional costs, operational costs) must be balanced against the potential risk (liability costs, credibility, etc.). Clearly, failure to address the security requirements of a solution makes the previous points highlighted somewhat pointless. The 10a method provides for strong security, while the 10b method provides weaker security and the 10c method provides even weaker security than the 10b method.
Customers of a 2547bis-based VPN service often need to connect to multiple Service Providers in order to achieve connectivity for all of their sites. The Service Providers need to setup peering points where they exchange VPN prefixes and data traffic. The various types of connections between 2547bis Service Providers are described in draft-ietf-13vpn-rfc2547bis-03.txt.
Many providers select the peering based on a per-VRF basis, i.e. for each customer (VRF), they have a dedicated interface (either physical or logical) where they exchange customer prefixes and traffic. This is a good solution from a security and QOS point of view, the individual customers are isolated from each other and customer SLAs could be applied on such interfaces. This option is called option A, since it's documented as such in chapter 10 paragraph A in draft-ietf-13vpn-rfc2547bis-03.txt.
However, this option does not scale well with the increase in the number of customers. There are two areas where scalability becomes an issue—their needs to be one interface for each customer, and one routing protocol session running on that interface. The routing protocol session is usually BGP-4. This idea addresses the second limitation —the need to have one routing protocol session per customer.

Interconnectivity between autonomous systems


The disclosed apparatus may include a storage device and a secure counter. The apparatus may also include a tamper-logging component that (1) detects an action that is associated with booting untrusted images from the storage device and, in response to detecting the action, (2) securely logs the action by incrementing the secure counter. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

In recent years, enterprises and consumers have become increasingly aware of, and concerned about, the state of security of their computing devices and systems. These concerns have been magnified in view of reports of government agencies installing backdoor components that allow surreptitious access onto computing devices after the devices have left their manufacturers. In view of these and other concerns, device manufacturers may wish to provide some form of guarantee or assurance to their customers that the computing devices they sell are secure. For example, a manufacturer may attempt to secure its devices by limiting the same (using, e.g., various software and/or hardware-based security components) to only booting images and/or executing applications that have been digitally signed by the manufacturer.
However, to ensure industry compatibility and/or to reduce development costs, manufacturers often incorporate various free or open-source software components (including operating systems, such as LINUX and FREEBSD) into their devices. Unfortunately, free or open-source software components are often governed by software licenses (such as the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL)) that require that manufacturers allow end users to freely replace or otherwise modify the software components governed by these licenses. This requirement is often at odds with a manufacturer's desire to secure devices that run software governed by these types of licenses, effectively precluding the manufacturer from limiting its devices to only booting images and/or executing applications that have been digitally signed by the manufacturer. The present document, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for improved systems and methods for securing devices that must comply with the restrictions of free or open-source software licenses.

Apparatus and method for securely logging boot-tampering actions


A magnetic detector for detecting a magnetism present in the vicinity of or close to a magnetic wire circumferentially magnetized therein and an electromagnet for generating an A.C. magnetic field on the basis of the magnitude of a Matteucci-effect voltage developed across the magnetic wire when the electromagnet approaches the magnetic wire. A coordinate input device for detecting proximity between the electromagnet and an array of a plurality of such magnetic wires arranged in X and Y directions when the electromagnet approaches the array. A magnetic image sensor for detecting an intensity distribution of a static magnetic field to be detected and present along a longitudinal direction of the wire on the basis of a detection voltage of the wire when a plurality of such electromagnets arranged along the longitudinal direction of the wire are sequentially excited one after another.

The present invention relates to a magnetic detector, a coordinate input device and a magnetic image sensor using Matteucci effect.
When circumferential magnetization is provided to the interior of a single magnetic wire and external A.C. magnetic field is applied to the wire in the transverse direction thereof, a pulsative voltage is developed across the wire, that is, a so-called Mattecci effect takes place. Such Matteucci effect is known but its substantially no application techniques are known.
Further, as a digitizer or a coordinate input device for inputting handwritten letters, such a prior art device as shown in JP-A-61-70628 is known, but such a coordinate input device based on the aforementioned Matteucci effect is not known so far.
Meanwhile, a prior art magnetic image sensor for detecting magnetic data on a multi-track of a magnetic card or the like or a magnetic field caused by a magnetic material film uses a gap type magnetic head of multi-channel, a magnetic resistive element array, a Hall-effect element array, or the like. Thus, the prior art magnetic image sensor has been defective in that the magnetic image sensor is expensive and requires the number of detection circuits corresponding to the multi-channel and thus its necessary circuit is increased in size.

Coordinate input device using Matteucci effect