In accordance with certain exemplary embodiments, the present technique provides methods and apparatus for providing transient and uninterrupted power to protected loads. As one example, the present invention provides an induction device that operates as an induction motor to energize a kinetic energy storage device, such as a flywheel, during conventional operating conditions. However, in the event of a loss of primary power, the induction device, which is fed ac power at variable frequencies, begins to operate as an induction generator. For example, by varying the frequency of the input ac power such that the synchronous speed of the motor is exceeded by the rotating flywheel, the induction device acts as an induction generator and provides a transient operating power to the downstream loads until an auxiliary power source, such as a diesel generator, is brought on line.

The present invention relates generally to a transient power supply and, more particularly, to method and apparatus for providing transient power by converting stored kinetic energy into electrical energy.
Typically, electrical devices receive operating power from an external power distribution grid that is coupled to a power generation facility, such as a power plant, for example. From time to time, this external power source can be interrupted, because of a malfunction in the generation facility and/or in the distribution grid, for instance. Accordingly, certain electrical devices are connected to an auxiliary power source, such as a diesel generator or a bank of batteries. Unfortunately, transitioning from the external power supply to the auxiliary power supply is generally not instantaneous and, as such, presents an interval of time during which the electrical devices are without power. For certain critical devices, such as computers or medical devices, even a momentary loss of power can lead to undesirable effects, such as a loss of critical data and/or malfunction of the device.
Accordingly, these critical devices traditionally have been coupled to a transient power supply, which is often referred to as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) by those of ordinary skill of art in the industry. In summary, a transient power supply (i.e., UPS) provides operating power to the critical device from when the primary power is lost to the time at which the auxiliary power is brought on-line. Traditionally, battery banks have been employed to provide this transient power. As another example, certain flywheel devices have been employed to provide transient power.
Traditional flywheel devices include a rotating flywheel that is coupled to a generator and a motor. During normal operation, the motor operates off of main or primary power and energizes (i.e., kinetic energy of rotation) the flywheel. However, when power is lost, the flywheel remains in motion and operates a traditional generator, which generates power by rotating a permanent magnet or electromagnet within a stator core to induce current within stator windings disposed around the permanent magnet or electromagnet.
Unfortunately, traditional transient or UPS power sources are not without drawbacks. For example, battery banks that provide sufficient levels of power can be relatively expensive to purchase and maintain and, furthermore, often consume relatively large areas of floor space. In an industrial setting, for instance, cost and floor space are relevant concerns. As another example, traditional flywheel devices often require the maintenance of high rotation rates to generate sufficient and appropriate power. Accordingly, traditional flywheel devices often employ vacuum chambers to reduce the dissipation of kinetic energy from the flywheel due to air resistance, for example. Additionally, traditional flywheel devices employ a motor to energize the flywheel and a separate permanent magnet generator to convert the kinetic energy of the flywheel in to electrical power. By using two distinct devices (i.e., the generator and the motor), traditional systems bear a greater cost, and the use of the permanent magnet also increases the cost of the system. Furthermore, maintaining a vacuum condition for the flywheel increases the cost and likelihood of failure for the system.
Therefore, there exists a need for improved methods and apparatus for providing a transient power supply to certain electrical devices.

Apparatus and method for transient and uninterruptible power


Provided is an AD converter that converts an input analog signal into a digital signal, comprising an integrator that sequentially integrates signal levels of the analog signal to obtain an integrated waveform, and outputs the integrated waveform; a digital converting section that detects, with prescribed units of temporal resolution, a transition timing, which is a timing at which a magnitude relationship between a signal level of the integrated waveform and a prescribed reference value transitions to a predetermined state; a feedback section that controls the signal level of the integrated waveform with a control period longer than a unit of temporal resolution, according to a result of the detection by the digital converting section; and a signal processing section that generates the digital signal based on the detection result by the digital converting section.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an AD converter that converts an analog signal into a digital signal. In particular, the present invention relates to an AD converter that uses delta-sigma modulation.
2. Related Art
A circuit using delta-sigma modulation is known as an AD converter for converting an analog signal into a digital signal, as shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-24512. Delta-sigma modulation involves converting an analog signal into a digital signal by performing a feedback process to subtract a prescribed reference value from an added value when the value sequentially added to the level of the analog signal becomes greater than the reference value.
FIG. 10 shows a conventional AD converter 200. The AD converter 200 is provided with a level calculating section 210, an integrator 220, a 1-bit ADC 230, a signal processing section 240, a delay device 250, and a 1-bit DAC 260.
The integrator 220 integrates the level of the analog signal. The 1-bit ADC 230 outputs a binary signal indicating whether the output from the integrator 220 is greater than a reference value. The delay device 250 delays the signal output from the 1-bit ADC 230 by one cycle. Here, "one cycle" refers to one cycle of a sampling clock supplied to the 1-bit ADC 230. When supplied with a logic value of 1 from the delay device 250, the 1-bit DAC 260 outputs, to the level calculating section 210, a level corresponding to the reference value in the 1-bit ADC 230. The level calculating section 210 subtracts the level output by the 1-bit DAC 260 from the level of the input analog signal, and supplies the result to the integrator 220.
The signal processing section 240 generates a digital signal based on the signal output by the 1-bit ADC 230. For example, the signal processing section 240 may generate the digital signal according to the distribution of the timings at which the 1-bit ADC 230 outputs a logic value of 1.
As described above, the AD converter 200 generates the value of the digital signal based on the timing at which the 1-bit ADC 230 outputs a logic value of 1. Therefore, the AD converter 200 can generate the value of the digital signal with a higher resolution when the 1-bit ADC 230 has a higher sampling frequency and a higher resolution with respect to time.
However, there is a limit to how much the sampling frequency of the 1-bit ADC 230 can be enhanced simply by increasing the frequency of the sampling clock. Furthermore, it is difficult for the comparison result by the 1-bit ADC 230 to be fed back to the level calculating section 210 within a single cycle of a high-speed sampling clock.


Multi-mode integrated circuit devices on an integrated circuit substrate include a controller configured to operate in a first mode compliant with the International Standard Organization (ISO) specification ISO 7816 and a second mode different from ISO 7816 responsive to a mode selection signal. A first plurality of input/output pads are associated with operations in the first mode and a second plurality of input/output pads are associated with operations in the second mode. A mode detector circuit is coupled to at least one of the second plurality of input/output pads and configured to detect connection of the at least one of the second plurality of input/output pads to an external device and to activate the mode selection signal to select the second mode responsive to detection of connection of the at least one of the second plurality of input/output pads to the external device.

The present invention relates to integrated circuit devices and, more particularly, to multi-mode integrated circuit devices and methods of operating the same.
Smart cards (SC) are typically plastic cards having an embedded integrated circuit (IC). The integrated circuit may be, for example, a logic circuit with its associated memories or a microcontroller with its associated memories and software coupled to a custom integrated circuit block. The integrated circuit of a smart card is typically attached to a lead frame and wire-bonding techniques are used to connect paths of the integrated circuit to lead frame contacts. Potting and other strengthening methods may be used to protect the integrated circuit against chemical and mechanical stresses and the like. Contact pads are typically located on one side of the smart card and are provided in a limited, specified number, such as eight. The contact pads are typically utilized to perform transactions with a smart card reader using a serial protocol.
Various standards for smart cards are published by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The ISO 7816 standards have allowed extensive use of smart cards in a variety of applications, such as accounting, cryptography, personal authentication, and execution of JAVA scripts. ISO documents ISO 7816-1 Physical Characteristics, ISO 7816-2 Dimensions and Locations of contacts, ISO 7816-3 Electronic signals and transmission protocols and ISO 7816-10 Electronic signals and answer to reset for synchronous cards are included in the ISO 7816 standards for smart card operation.
Smart cards are used in a variety of different applications, such as cellular telephone, credit card and identification card applications utilizing authentication and/or security. For example, it is known to use authenticated smart cards in connection with prepaid cards in public telephony, for bankcards in Point of Sale (POS) terminals and Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), for pay TV providers in set top boxes and for wireless telecommunications operators, for example, in a subscriber identification module (SIM) used in the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) terminals.
Smart cards typically perform communication transactions with the host through a smart card reader. For example, a personal computer system 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1 that is configured to read from a smart card. The personal computer system 100 includes a processor or host unit 110, a display 120 and a keyboard 130. Also shown in the system 100 in FIG. 1 is a mouse 140 and a smart card reader 150. The display 120, keyboard 130, mouse 140 and smart card reader 150 are coupled, either by cables and/or by wireless link, to the host unit 110. The smart card reader 150 communicates with a smart card 160 using a first protocol and with the host unit 110 using a second protocol. The first protocol is typically the ISO 7816 protocol discussed above complying with International Standard Organization (ISO) standards. The smart card reader 150 may be coupled to the host unit 110 by a serial port, parallel port, or the like using the second distinct protocol. The smart card 160 may be read, for example, in connection with secure transactions over the internet accessed using the personal computer system 100.
The card reader 150 typically contains electronic circuits and embedded software that enable communication with the smart card 160 using the ISO 7816 protocol and the host unit 110 using a serial protocol, such as an RS 232C protocol, through a serial port of the host unit 110. For a serial link, such as an RS 232C protocol serial link, between the smart card reader 150 and the host unit 110, a variety of communication rates may be supported, such as a base rate of 9600 bits per second (bps) or optional higher rates, such as two or four times the base rate. An overall data transmission speed between the smart card 160 and the host unit 110 may be limited because of the serial port low speed data rate for data transfer, which is typically below 1 Megabits per second (Mbps). As such, the reader 150 may need to read data from the smart card 160 and transmit the data to the host unit 110 of the personal computer system 100 after first buffering the data.
An alternative approach to reading smart card information is illustrated for the personal computer system 200 in FIG. 2. The personal computer system 200 includes a host unit 210 having the ability to support communications not only through a serial RS 232C type port but also through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol port and/or an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 protocol port. The smart card device 160′ may communicate with the host using USB and/or IEEE 1394 protocols through a dongle 250. The dongle 250 is, essentially, little more than a connector socket with a plug 251 configured to connect to a USB or IEEE port of the host unit 110 using a cable or wireless connection. As such, a different dongle 250 configuration having a different connector 251 may be utilized depending upon whether USB or IEEE 1394 communications are to be used. The host unit 210 further is coupled to a display 220, keyboard 230 and mouse 240 to support user input/output communications.
Note that the smart card 160′ of FIG. 2 is illustrated as including connectors (contact pads) 261 on an upper face thereof and the smart card 160 shown in FIG. 1 is illustrated with connectors 161 on an upper face thereof. The connectors 161, 261 may be utilized to enable input/output communications between the smart card 160, 160′ and the respective smart card reader 150 or dongle 250.
It will be understood that the smart card 160 differs from the smart card 160′ in that the smart card 160 is configured and specifically provided for reading in an ISO standard smart card reader 150 while the smart card 160′ is configured to communicate with a USB protocol when the dongle 250 is configured for a USB interface 251 and a distinct different smart card is provided for reading by an IEEE 1394 dongle 250 with an IEEE 1394 connector 251. In other words, smart card 160 typically may not be read by the dongle 250 and the smart card 160′ typically may be not read by the smart card reader 150.
By using a USB or IEEE 1394 interface, as with the personal computer system 200, a higher data transfer rate from the smart card 160′ may be provided. For example, a USB interface typically supports a data communication rate of 12 Mbps or more and an IEEE 1394 interface typically supports a data communication rate of about 400 Mbps. As such, direct data transfer may be provided from the smart card 160′ to the host unit 210 without utilizing buffering or the like in the dongle 250, therefore simplifying the dongle 250. In. addition, hot plug and play capability may be provided without disrupting the personal computer system 200 when a smart card 160′ is inserted into the dongle 250.
The USB interface can generally be described as a set of four wires of which two carry a power supply (VDD, VSS) and two other wires support data (D+, D−). The USB standard is defined by the Universal Serial Bus Specification written and controlled by USB Implementers Form Inc., a non-profit corporation founded by the group of companies that developed the USB specification.

Multi-mode integrated circuit devices including mode detection and methods of operating the same


In one example, a method includes forming a mask layer above or in a dielectric material. The dielectric material is exposed to photon radiation in an ambient atmosphere comprising a carbon gettering agent to generate damaged portions of the dielectric material. The mask layer blocks the photon radiation. The damaged portions of the dielectric material are removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed subject matter relates generally to the fabrication of semiconductor devices, and, more particularly, to an anisotropic material damage process for etching low-k dielectric materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern integrated circuits, minimum feature sizes, such as the channel length of field effect transistors, have reached the deep sub-micron range, thereby steadily increasing performance of these circuits in terms of speed and/or power consumption and/or diversity of circuit functions. As the size of the individual circuit elements is significantly reduced, thereby improving, for example, the switching speed of the transistor elements, the available floor space for interconnect lines electrically connecting the individual circuit elements is also decreased. Consequently, the dimensions of these interconnect lines and the spaces between the metal lines have to be reduced to compensate for a reduced amount of available floor space and for an increased number of circuit elements provided per unit area.
In such modern integrated circuits, a limiting factor of device performance is the signal propagation delay caused by the switching speed of the transistor elements. As the channel length of these transistor elements has now reached 50 nm and less, the signal propagation delay is no longer limited by the field effect transistors. Rather, the signal propagation delay is limited, owing to the increased circuit density, by the interconnect lines, since the line-to-line capacitance (C) is increased and also the resistance (R) of the lines is increased due to their reduced cross-sectional area. The parasitic RC time constants and the capacitive coupling between neighboring metal lines, therefore, require the introduction of a new type of material for forming the metallization layer.
Traditionally, metallization layers, i.e., the wiring layers including metal lines and vias for providing the electrical connection of the circuit elements according to a specified circuit layout, are formed by a dielectric layer stack including, for example, silicon dioxide and/or silicon nitride, with aluminum as the typical metal. Since aluminum suffers from significant electromigration at higher current densities that may be necessary in integrated circuits having extremely scaled feature sizes, aluminum is being replaced by, for instance, copper, which has a significantly lower electrical resistance and a higher resistivity against electromigration. For highly sophisticated applications, in addition to using copper and/or copper alloys, the well-established and well-known dielectric materials silicon dioxide (k≈4.2) and silicon nitride (k>7) may increasingly be replaced by so-called low-k dielectric materials having a relative permittivity of approximately 3.0 and less. However, the transition from the well-known and well-established aluminum/silicon dioxide metallization layer to a copper-based metallization layer possibly in combination with a low-k dielectric material is associated with a plurality of issues to be dealt with.
For example, copper may not be deposited in relatively high amounts in an efficient manner by well-established deposition methods, such as chemical and physical vapor deposition. Moreover, copper may not be efficiently patterned by well-established anisotropic etch processes. Therefore, the so-called damascene or inlaid technique is frequently employed in forming metallization layers including copper lines and vias. Typically, in the damascene technique, the dielectric layer is deposited and then patterned for receiving trenches and via openings that are subsequently filled with copper or alloys thereof by plating methods, such as electroplating or electroless plating. Moreover, since copper readily diffuses in a plurality of dielectrics, such as silicon dioxide and in many low-k dielectrics, the formation of a diffusion barrier layer at interfaces with the neighboring dielectric material may be required. Moreover, the diffusion of moisture and oxygen into the copper-based metal has to be suppressed as copper readily reacts to form oxidized portions, thereby possibly deteriorating the characteristics of the copper-based metal line with respect to adhesion, conductivity and the resistance against electromigration.
During the filling in of a conductive material, such as copper, into the trenches and via openings, a significant degree of overfill has to be provided in order to reliably fill the corresponding openings from bottom to top without voids and other deposition-related irregularities. Consequently, after the metal deposition process, excess material may have to be removed and the resulting surface topography is to be planarized, for instance, by using electrochemical etch techniques, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and the like. For example, during CMP processes, a significant degree of mechanical stress may be applied to the metallization levels formed so far, which may cause structural damage to a certain degree, in particular when sophisticated dielectric materials of reduced permittivity are used. As previously explained, the capacitive coupling between neighboring metal lines may have a significant influence on the overall performance of the semiconductor device, in particular in metallization levels, which are substantially "capacitance driven," i.e., in which a plurality of closely spaced metal lines have to be provided in accordance with device requirements, thereby possibly causing signal propagation delay and signal interference between neighboring metal lines. For this reason, so-called low-k dielectric materials or ultra-low-k (ULK) materials may be used, which may provide a dielectric constant of 3.0 and significantly less in order to enhance the overall electrical performance of the metallization levels. On the other hand, typically, a reduced permittivity of the dielectric material is associated with a reduced mechanical stability, which may require sophisticated patterning regimes so as to not unduly deteriorate reliability of the metallization system.
The continuous reduction of the feature sizes, however, with gate lengths of approximately 40 nm and less, may demand for even more reduced dielectric constants of the corresponding dielectric materials. For this reason, it has been proposed to introduce "air gaps," at least at critical device areas, since air or similar gases may have a dielectric constant of approximately 1.0.
Air gaps may be formed by etching the dielectric material of the metallization layer under consideration selectively with respect to the metal lines down to a specified depth. Consequently, a self-aligned technique may be accomplished by using the etch selectivity between the metal lines and the low-k or ULK dielectric material. However, etching processes for low-k and ULK materials are complex. A conventional etch process employs a reactive ion plasma etch process (e.g., using NH3). Although the reactive ion etch is somewhat self-aligned, there is an anisotropic component that has a propensity to result in undercutting of the metal lines when the etch is performed. In addition, the reactive ion plasma etch process can damage a cap layer formed above the metal lines to prevent electromigration of the metal into the dielectric material, thereby causing reliability issues at the interface between the metal line and the cap layer. In the corner regions of the metal lines, the cap layer covers edges of a liner layer surrounding the metal line. Damage to the cap layer can result in corner rounding and additional reliability issues arising from defects introduced into the liner.
The present application is directed to various methods for forming air gaps in metal line structures so as to eliminate or reduce the effects of one or more of the problems identified above.

Anisotropic material damage process for etching low-K dielectric materials


A system for precision liquid delivery includes a gas reservoir having a known volume. The system has a tightly load-coupled pneumatic driver (a “TLCP driver”) that is configured to receive input power to cause the TLCP driver to move gas into the gas reservoir to produce a gas drive pressure. A valve is configured to couple the gas reservoir with a fluid reservoir having an unknown volume. The valve is further configured to selectively isolate or pneumatically couple pressures in the gas reservoir and the fluid reservoir. A gas-fluid interface couples pressure in the fluid reservoir to pressure in a fluid path. The fluid path is configured so that the fluid drive pressure driving the liquid in the fluid path is substantially the same as the fluid reservoir pressure. The system also has a pressure sensor configured to detect pressure in the gas reservoir and/or the fluid reservoir.

A variety of known pumps are used for fluid dispensing in laboratory and medical settings. In the laboratory, pumps and pipettes are commonly used for both aspiration and dispensing of samples, reagents, chemicals, solutions, and other liquids. In medical applications, pumps are useful for providing medicaments to patients, especially for the delivery of medical therapies requiring an extended period of time and through various routes of delivery, including intravenously, intra-arterially, subcutaneously, intradermally, intraperitoneally, in close proximity to nerves, and into an intraoperative site, epidural space or subarachnoid space. In addition to medication delivery, pumps are also commonly found in hospital pharmacies drug compounding applications, especially with highly complex parenteral nutrition compounded solutions. In laboratory applications, fluid pumps are general purpose tools often in the form of syringe pushers or tube based peristaltic pumps.


A compressor assembly includes a housing, and a rotatable impeller within the housing which includes a hub and blades extending from the hub. A ring circumscribes the leading edge of the blades, and cooperates with a groove in the housing to define a clearance therebetween which is larger than the clearance between the connecting edge of the blades and a corresponding conforming portion of the housing. This permits free flow of gas around the ring to enhance the operating range of the compressor wheel. The ring also stiffens the blades, permitting the thickness of the hub to be reduced, thereby further enhancing the operating range of the compressor wheel.

This invention relates to a rotary compressor.
Rotary compressors include a rotatable impeller wheel mounted on a rotating shaft. The impeller wheel carries several blades, which are mounted on the hub of the wheel for rotation within a housing. By rotating the impeller wheel, gas, usually atmospheric air, is drawn in through an inlet of the housing and discharged through a diffuser into a volute passage which circumscribes the impeller wheel. The impeller wheel may be rotated, in the case of a turbocharger, by a turbine wheel, or may be rotated by direct mechanical drive in the case of a blower or a supercharger. The air is discharged from the volute to provide charge air to the induction manifolds of an internal combustion engine upon which the device is used. Such compressor wheels, however, are stable only across a relatively narrow operating range. Operation of the compressor wheel outside of this range, in what is commonly referred to as the surge or choke regions, results in dangerous instabilities.
Accordingly, it is desirable to extend the operating range of compressor wheels, while at the same time maintaining maximum aerodynamic efficiency. U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,161 discloses one known way to increase the operating range of a compressor wheel. The compressor wheel discussed in this patent provides ports or openings spaced circumferentially around the housing to permit bidirectional flow of gas into the region of the compressor wheel between the upstream and downstream edges of the compressor blades.

Rotary compressor with stepped cover contour


An acoustic wave element includes a piezoelectric body, an input IDT electrode, an output IDT electrode, a propagation path provided between the input IDT electrode and the output IDT electrode, a first dielectric layer provided on the piezoelectric body so as to cover the input IDT electrode and the output IDT electrode, and a reactive portion provided on the propagation path and configured to react to a substance to be detected or a binding substance configured to bind with the substance to be detected. The main acoustic wave becomes, in the input IDT electrode and the output IDT electrode, a boundary acoustic wave that propagates between the piezoelectric body and the first dielectric layer, and becomes, in the propagation path, a surface acoustic wave that propagates on an upper surface of the propagation path.

A conventional acoustic wave element will be described with reference to FIG. 10. FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a conventional acoustic wave element. Acoustic wave element 1 includes piezoelectric body 2, IDT electrode 3 provided on piezoelectric body 2 and exciting a main acoustic wave having a wavelength of λ, dielectric layer 4 provided on piezoelectric body 2 so as to cover IDT electrode 3, contact layer 5 provided on dielectric layer 4, and reactive portion 6 provided on contact layer 5 and reacting to a substance to be detected or a binding substance that binds with the substance to be detected.
In such conventional acoustic wave element 1, the main acoustic wave that is excited by IDT electrode 3 is a surface acoustic wave propagating on a surface of dielectric layer 4. However, since dielectric layer 4 is so thin that energy is distributed over a surface of dielectric layer 4, a problem is caused in which IDT electrode 3 is damaged by an external factor, and performance thereof deteriorates during use or during a manufacturing process of acoustic wave element 1.
For example, Patent Literature 1 is known as conventional art literature information related to the invention of this application.

Acoustic wave element and acoustic wave element sensor

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An accessory for coupling a torque measuring device to a container cap, especially a smooth sided closure. The accessory includes two clamp elements movably coupled together by a threaded rod so the clamps can be forced into frictional engagement with a cap. A mount block is included for coupling the torque measuring device to the clamps so cap closing torque can be measured using an inexpensive and easily used device. This device will be especially useful for laboratories, fillers and shippers of containers that have been closed with a cap having a certain amount of closure torque so the user can demonstrate to DOT that the closing torque is in the proper range.

In the manufacture of containers comprising combinations of screw-type closures with associated containers, it often becomes necessary or desirable to determine the degree to which the threaded closure complies with applicable torque specifications. For example, in some situations, the torque with which a threaded closure is applied must be of a certain magnitude in order to properly seal the container so the closure does not become loose during shipment. This is especially critical if hazardous material is being shipped. Also, in the packaging of pharmaceutical products, since they can be toxic in the wrong dosages, dosage requirements are somewhat critical and it is often either required, or deemed desirable, to have a child-proof safety closure limiting access to the container contents. Such safety closures may, for example, comprise a threaded inner cap for being threaded directly to the finish of a container and an overlap loosely retractable relative to the inner cap. A user must push the outer cap axially onto the inner cap to engage a ratchet mechanism to be able to simultaneously turn the inner cap.
During the manufacture of products packaged in containers having threaded closures, the caps may be applied with a capping machine which must be adjusted from time to time to compensate for normal mechanical or component variations which may affect application of torque. Normally, periodic control checks are conducted on the packages being produced. During a particular production run, an operator may periodically remove a completed sample product to determine the degree of torque required to remove a threaded closure from an associated container. A removal torque which falls outside a predetermined range indicates the capping mechanism or other components of the manufacturing process must be adjusted or replaced.
There are known prior art devices and methods for effecting quality control torque tests of threaded closures to determine the amount of torque required to remove the closure from the threaded finish of the container. One of the standards of the industry is known as the Owens-Illinois Torque Meter manufactured by Secure Pak, Inc., Toledo, Ohio. There are also bench top torque measuring devices wherein the container is placed and squeezed to resist any rotational movement during the testing operation. The torque required to remove the associated closure is measured. To obtain the desired measurements the containers must be transported to and from the torque measuring devices. The manner in which the torque is applied varies from one operator to another. Consequently, torque data thus produced may be non-uniform and non-reliable in comparison to industry standards.
In certain situations, packages being used to transport hazardous materials are tested and approved by the Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT has specific instructions and requirements for compliance to DOT standards associated with the shipment of such materials. In recent times, DOT has begun to audit and inspect the end users of these packages. The DOT has been requiring assurance from these end users that the closure torque stated by the end user in reply to a DOT question is accurate. If the end user cannot supply such assurance to the satisfaction of DOT, significant fines may be assessed. While, as discussed above, there are machines for measuring such closure torque, the machines known to the inventor are expensive, cumbersome to use, and not at all mobile whereby an end user or transport driver will not have easy access to such a device. At the present time, the inventor is not aware of any device that can expeditiously and accurately verify the closing torque of the containers in such a shipment.
Still further, some containers are closed by smooth-sided caps. With no ribbing or such to grab or hold on the outside of the closure, a mold maker cannot make an inverted mold of the closure to grab and hold it. The inventor is not aware of any device which both satisfies the above-mentioned requirements and which is amenable for use on a smooth-sided closure.

Torque applying and measuring accessory for use with capped containers


An arrangement for avoiding the capture effect in a half-duplex shared network modifies an interpacket gap timer following collision mediation to ensure a station having transmitted a consecutive number of packets defers to another network station, regardless of the outcome of the collision mediation. If a network having transmitted consecutive packets encounters a collision, the network station selectively modifies the interpacket gap interval based on the selected number of slot times during collision mediation. If the networks station selects zero slot times according to the truncated binary exponential backoff (TBEB) algorithm, the network station increases the interpacket gap by two slot times. If the network station selects one slot time during TBEB collision mediation, the interpacket gap is increased from the minimum IPG by one slot time. Hence, a station having transmitted consecutive packets will always defer to another network station following a collision, regardless of the number of slot times selected during collision mediation.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to network interfacing and, more particularly, to methods and systems for transmitting data packets in a half-duplex network susceptible to capture effect.
2. Background Art
Local area networks use a network cable or other media to link stations on the network. Each local area network architecture uses a media access control (MAC) enabling a network interface card at each station to share access to the media.
The Ethernet protocol ISO/IEC 8802-3) (ANSI/IEEE Std. 802.3), 1993) edition) defines a half-duplex media access mechanism that permits all stations to access the network channel with equality. Each station includes an Ethernet interface card that uses carrier-sense multiple-access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) to listen for traffic on the media. Transmission by a station begins after sensing a deassertion of a receive carrier on the media, indicating no network traffic. After starting transmission, a transmitting station will monitor the media to determine if there has been a collision due to another station sending data at the same time. If a collision is detected, both stations stop, wait a random amount of time, and retry transmission.
Any station can attempt to contend for the channel by waiting, a predetermined transmission delay interval after the deassertion of the receive carrier on the media, known as the interpacket gap (IPG) interval. If a plurality of stations have data to send on the network, each of the stations will attempt to transmit in response to the sensed deassertion of the receive carrier on the media and after the IPG interval, resulting in a collision.
Ethernet network stations mediate collisions using a truncated binary exponential backoff (TBEB) algorithm, which provides a controlled pseudorandom mechanism to enforce a collision backoff interval before retransmission is attempted. According to the truncated binary exponential backoff algorithm, a station keeps track of the number of transmission attempts ) during the transmission of a current frame. The station computes a collision backoff interval as a randomized integer multiple of a slot time interval, and attempts retransmission after the collision backoff interval. The station will attempt to transmit under the truncated binary exponential algorithm a maximum of sixteen times.
The collision backoff interval is calculated by selecting a random number of slot times from the range of zero to 2.sup.j -1. For example, if the number of attempts j=3, then the range of randomly selected number of slot times is [0,7]; if the randomly-selected number of slot times is four, then the collision backoff interval will be equal to four slot time intervals. According, to Ethernet protocol, the maximum range of randomly selected slot times is 2.sup.10 -1.
The truncated binary exponential algorithm has the disadvantage that the range of randomly selected slot times [0, 2.sup.j -1] increases exponentially each time a specific station loses a retry attempt after collision, resulting in a higher probability of losing the next collision mediation by randomly selecting a larger integer multiple of slot times. Thus, a new station that has data to transmit has a higher probability of winning, a collision mediation than the station having, a greater number of attempts. This effect is known as the capture effect, where a new station in the collision mediation effectively has a greater probability of capturing access to the media than the losing station until the maximum number of attempts has been reached.
Hence, collision-based networks having collision mediation require each colliding station to back off a random number of slot times, dependent on the number of attempts, before reattempting access to the medium. Such collision mediation reduces the network throughput and creates unbounded packet access latencies. Consequently, applications requiring bounded access latencies such as interactive multimedia cannot be supported on half-duplex networks.
The capture effect also may occur between network stations having different capabilities in counting the transmission delay interval before attempting access of the media. Ethernet protocol specifies the transmission delay interval after sensed deassertion of the receive carrier, i.e., the interpacket gap (IPG) interval, as having a minimum value before stations can attempt access of the media. Network stations (i.e., network nodes) that are capable of minimizing, the transmission delay to the IPG interval, referred to as "fast nodes" or "dominant stations," will begin to transmit before stations incapable of achieving the minimum IPG interval, referred to as "slow nodes." In other words, hardware limitations may prevent the slow nodes from accessing the media within the time interval defined by the IPG interval. Hence, dominant network stations will tend to capture the media over slower nodes that wait a longer time before attempting access of the media. These slower nodes encounter a surrender effect, in which they "surrender" their access to the media due to hardware limitations. The surrender effect may create substantial throughput problems in transmission protocols requiring a sender to receive an acknowledgement within a prescribed interval after a burst transmission.
Hence, capture effect may be caused by a station encountering, a large number of collisions, variance in IPG access times between fast and slow nodes, and variations in propagation delay due to network topology. The capture effect thus causes a large variance in the network access latency, and a corresponding large variance in end to end delays experienced by data packets.
One proposed solution is described in Ramakrishman et al., "The Ethernet Capture Effect: Analysis and Solution," IEEE Local Computer Networks (LCN) Conference, Minneapolis, Minn., October 1994, pages 228-240. The proposed solution by Ramakrishman, referred to as capture avoidance binary exponential backoff (CABEB), uses the standard binary exponential backoff with enhancements for collision resolution in a special case when a station attempts to capture the channel subsequent to an uninterrupted consecutive transmit period.
The CABEB algorithm modifies the truncated binary exponential backoff algorithm based on the premise that there can be no more than one station in an uninterrupted consecutive transmit state at any given time on a CSMA/CD local area network. The CABEB algorithm calculates the collision backoff interval for an uninterrupted consecutive transmission as follows: if the number of collision attempts equals 1, then the collision backoff interval equals two (2) slot time intervals; if the number of collisions equals 2, then the collision backoff interval equals zero (0) slot times; and if the number of collision attempts is greater than 2, then the conventional TBEB algorithm is followed.
Although the CABEB algorithm reduces the capture effect, implementation of the CABEB algorithm in small networks, such as a 2-station or 3-station Ethernet network, substantially increases the collision rate. The CABEB algorithm also reduces the network throughput, especially for small packets.
Another proposed media access mechanism, referred to as the Binary Logarithmic Access Method (BLAM), are described by the IEEE 802.3 w Working Group Draft, "Enhanced Media Access Control Algorithm for IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD." However, BLAM requires substantial changes to the MAC, and has not been proven effective in a mixed environment having stations employing BLAM nodes and TBEB nodes.

Apparatus and method for selectively modulating interpacket gap interval following a collision to avoid capture effect


A rotational geometric phase hologram has geometric phase optical elements (GPOEs) serially cascaded along a common optical axis to form a GPOE cascade used for receiving a linearly-polarized light beam and generating output light beams at an exit surface of the last GPOE. Interference occurred in the output light beams creates a polarization interference pattern on the exit surface. A photoalignment substrate, when positioned in close proximity to the exit surface, records the pattern. Advantageously, each GPOE is rotatable about the common optical axis. Respective rotation angles of the GPOEs are determined according to a spatially-varying linear polarization orientation distribution selected to be generated for the polarization interference pattern. Particularly, the respective rotation angles are reconfigurable to provide the periodicity required for the spatially-varying linear polarization orientation distribution over a range of allowed periodicities while keeping the periodicity of spatially-varying optic axis orientation distribution of each GPOE to be fixed.

A GPOE, such as a PG and a GPL, is a planar circular polarization-sensitive diffractive optical element that modifies the direction of light propagation. The unique circular polarization-sensitive diffractive property of a GPOE implies that the diffraction, and hence the direction of light propagation, can be modulated by means of altering the handedness of the CP incident wave. As one example of application, a PG is used as a reconfigurable beam steerer for eye tracking in a virtual or augmented reality display (as disclosed by Haiwei CHEN, Yishi WENG, Daming X U, Nelson V. TABIRYAN, and Shin-Tson WU, in "Beam steering for virtual/augmented reality displays with a cycloidal diffractive waveplate," Opt. Express, vol. 24, pp. 7287-7298, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference). The GPOE is characterized by having a spatially-varying optic axis orientation distribution that is predetermined. This predetermined distribution is usually introduced (or written) to the GPOE by the fabrication process depicted in FIG. 1. A first step 101 is to coat a photoalignment layer 115 having photo-aligning molecules onto a substrate 110. In a second step 102, a spatial alignment pattern is formed on the photoalignment layer 115 by illuminating the photoalignment layer 115 with a UV light beam 132 having a predetermined spatially-varying polarization orientation distribution. This UV light beam 132 is obtained by passing a polarized UV light beam through a fixed or computer generated amplitude or phase mask 131, that modulates the polarization orientation of the polarized UV light beam. For information on fixed masks, see: J. KIM et al., "Fabrication of ideal geometric-phase holograms with arbitrary wavefronts," Optica vol. 2, pp. 958-964 (2015), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. For information on computer generated masks, see: B. WEI, et al., "Generating Switchable and Reconfigurable Optical Vortices via Photopatterning of Liquid Crystals," Adv. Mater., vol. 26, pp. 1590-1595 (2014), doi:10.1002/adma.201305198, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. (As will be mentioned below, one example of the mask 131 is a GPOE mask.) It causes the desired alignment pattern to be recorded on the photoalignment layer 115. In a third step 103, LC molecules 145 are injected onto the photoalignment layer 115. The alignment pattern on the photoalignment layer 115 guides the LC molecules 145 to align such that the desired spatially-varying optic axis orientation distribution over a LC layer 140 formed by the LC molecules 145 is obtained. Thereby a GPOE 120 is formed.
It follows that a major step in fabricating a GPOE is to record a desired alignment distribution onto a photoalignment substrate, which is a substrate having a photoalignment layer thereon, by generating a polarized UV light beam having a desired spatially-varying polarization orientation distribution and then irradiating the photoalignment substrate with the polarized UV light beam. The alignment distribution can be written onto the photoalignment substrate by a variety of methods, such as polarization interference, direct polarization writing, using a digital micromirror device, and using a GPH. Using the GPH has distinct advantages of fast fabrication time, low optical setup complexity and good fabrication quality.
GPOE fabrication via GPH has three fundamental elements: (i) two CP light beams with mutually orthogonal polarizations and at the same power level; (ii) a GPOE as a mask for modifying the phase difference of the two CP light beams; and (iii) a photoalignment substrate for recording a polarization interference pattern of the light beams. Previous works on using a GPH in fabricating a GPOE include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,602,661 and 9,383,607.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,661, the GPH comprises a patterned retarder, or a GPOE mask, satisfying a half wave condition with respect to an incident LP light beam that is used. The incident LP light beam is rotated according to the pattern retarder or the GPOE mask. The spatial profile of the outgoing LP light beam is recorded on a photoalignment substrate. The rotation is due to interference between the primary and conjugate first-order diffracted waves. However, the periodicity of the fabricated GPOE is always half of the original GPOE mask. In practical situations, it is often required to manufacture GPOEs of different periodicities. The GPH disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,661 is not flexible for adaptation to large-scale manufacturing of GPOEs.
In U.S. Pat. No. 9,383,607, the GPH comprises a QWP and a quarter-wave GPOE mask. The incident LP light beam is rotated by an angle that aligns with the spatial alignment distribution of the GPOE mask. The rotation is due to interference between the zeroth-order non-diffracted beam and the first-order diffracted beam as a result of spatial GP modulation. However, the fabricated periodicity of the resultant GPOE is identical to the original GPOE mask. Similar to U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,661, the GPH disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,383,607 results in inflexibility for large-scale manufacture of GPOEs.
In both U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,602,661 and 9,383,607, the period of the GPOE mask determines the periodicity of the fabricated GPOE. The cost of fabricating GPOEs with different periodicities by the GPHs disclosed in these two references is high as different GPOE masks with particular mask periods are required to fabricate GPOEs with different periodicities.
There is a need in the art for a GPH-based technique of fabricating GPOEs of different periodicities while a same set of one or more GPOE masks with fixed periods is used. Apart from GPOE fabrication, the technique is also useful for other applications that generate polarization interference patterns of different periodicities.

Rotational geometric phase hologram with application for fabricating geometric phase optical element

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited


An organic UVA filter-stabilized antioxidant system demonstrates stabilization after UV exposure as compared with controls lacking the UVA filter stabilizer. The organic UVA filter-stabilized antioxidant system provides a cosmetic composition that confers preserved and sustained antioxidant efficacy to keratinous tissue. The antioxidant system includes a combination of at least one hydroxycinnamate derivative, and an organic, water-soluble UVA filter in a water-based carrier.

Environmental indoor and outdoor UV exposure and environmental pollution can accelerate skin aging by producing free radicals in skin. Antioxidants, including hydroxycinnamate derivates such as ferulic acid, Vitamin C, and other actives protect cells from the damage of oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals and inhibiting oxidation reactions. The topical application of antioxidants and other skin actives is broadly employed in skin care products to prevent skin aging and confer other protective benefits. Antioxidants are known to exhibit chemical properties that are associated with reduced tissue damage. Antioxidants are known to participate in sequestering chemically active species to prevent the formation of free radicals which can contribute to oxidative stress leading to aging of skin. But like the keratinous tissue that antioxidants are intended to protect, these chemical compounds are also prone to the damaging effects of UV radiation and can be rendered less efficacious or potent after UV exposure. Thus, there is a need for compositions that protect and/or stabilize antioxidants to preserve and sustain their efficacy in protecting keratinous tissue.

Organic UVA filter-stabilized antioxidant composition


A hydraulic system for an access arrangement having a platform configured for movement between a deployed position and a stowed position, the hydraulic system including: at least one hydraulic power unit configured to urge hydraulic fluid through a hydraulic circuit; at least one hydraulic cylinder directly or indirectly connected to a portion of the platform and configured to urge the platform towards at least one of the stowed position and the deployed position, wherein the at least one hydraulic cylinder is in fluid communication with the hydraulic power unit; and a pressure regulating valve in a path between the at least one hydraulic power unit and the at least one hydraulic cylinder, wherein the pressure regulating valve is operable to prevent the at least one hydraulic cylinder from urging the platform to the stowed position if a load on the platform exceeds a specified threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the operation of an access arrangement, such as a wheelchair lift, an access ramp, a moveable access arrangement, or the like, and in particular to a hydraulic system for causing the access arrangement to move between various predefined positions, such as the ground position, the deployed position, and the stowed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to provide access by individuals having restricted mobility to various areas and in specific environments, an access arrangement must be used. For example, a person utilizing a wheelchair or that has diminished physical capacity may use a ramp, an elevator, an escalator, or the like. Similarly, in order to provide such a person with full access between remote locations, the mode of transportation must also be equipped with an access arrangement, such as a lift apparatus that includes a platform. This lift arrangement can be equipped on a van or similar vehicle, and is operable between a stowed position (where the platform is positioned in the vehicle), a deployed position (where the platform is extending from the vehicle at the vehicle floor level), and a ground position (where the platform is resting or adjacent the outside ground surface).
Known lift and access arrangements are available and either manufactured integrally with the vehicle, or retrofitted to an appropriate access vehicle. Depending upon the size and configuration of the access arrangement, various driving forces and lifting systems can be used, such as mechanical systems, electrical systems, hydraulic systems, electro-pneumatic systems, or combinations thereof. One of the most common lifting systems used includes hydraulic cylinders to move the platform between the stowed, deployed, and ground positions. For example, a left hydraulic cylinder and a right hydraulic cylinder may work in unison to move the platform between positions, and these hydraulic cylinders are operable through the regulated flow of hydraulic fluid thereto.
In order to provide such regulated flow of hydraulic fluid and control the operation of the hydraulic cylinders, a hydraulic circuit is provided that includes the necessary pumps and valves to control the flow of the fluid throughout the circuit. In particular, by controlling and appropriately routing the flow of hydraulic fluid throughout the circuit, and thus, controlling the flow of hydraulic fluid to and from the hydraulic cylinders, an operator is provided with the ability to cause the platform to move between appropriate positions.
For access from the vehicle to the outside environment, and in operation, the platform is urged to the deployed position, and the user moves onto the platform, whereupon the operator causes the platform to move to the ground level, such that the user can move off the platform. For reentry to the vehicle, the platform starts at the ground position, and once the user moves onto the platform, the operator causes the platform to move to the deployed position, whereupon the user moves in to the inner area of the vehicle. Once the user enters the vehicle, the operator causes the platform to be stowed, i.e., moved between the deployed position and the stowed position.
In certain circumstances, potentially unsafe situations can arise. For example, if the user is wholly on the platform, or still in the process of moving from the platform (in the deployed position) to the inner area of the vehicle, the operator may request that the platform be stowed, e.g., through the actuation of a button, switch, or the like. Obviously, if the platform begins to stow with a user wholly or partially thereon, an unsafe and dangerous situation occurs.
Therefore, there is a need to ensure that the motive or driving system, such as a hydraulic system, cannot effectively urge the platform from the deployed position to the stowed position if a person is present thereon. Certain multi-valve arrangements have been introduced that require positive activation and introduce a bypass circuit within the overall hydraulic circuit, such as the circuit shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,530,226. However, such known arrangements have particular, potential failure points and inefficiencies that leave room for improvement in this area. Ensuring the safety of the users of such access arrangements is paramount, and improvements that lead to additional safety features are beneficial.

Hydraulic system and arrangement for an access arrangement


A molecular electronic device, and a method of fabricating the same, includes a first electrode having a plurality of prominences and depressions on which a plurality of molecules are self-assembled. Capacitance of a molecular electronic device used as a capacitor is increased by forming prominences and depressions on the surface of the first electrode thereby enabling more molecules to be self-assembled on the surface of the lower electrode.

The disclosure relates to a molecular electronic device and a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a molecular electronic device for storing data using redox property of molecular and a method of fabricating the same.
A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) has been commercialized as a memory device. The DRAM includes unit cells each including one capacitor and one transistor. When a voltage is applied to a gate of the transistor or each unit cell of the DRAM, a channel is formed between a source terminal and a drain terminal by controlling a channel width under the gate according to the voltage applied to the gate and stored data is identified '1' or '0' by reading the charge state of the capacitor connected to the source terminal, in which electrons are charged or discharged according to the data.
As the memory device is highly integrated, it is difficult to secure the capacitance of the capacitor in the DRAM device and to design a structure with required capacitance.
In order to overcome such a problem, a molecular electronic device has been used as a capacitor instead of a conventional capacitor having dielectric between an upper electrode and a lower electrode.
The molecular electronic device includes an upper electrode, a lower electrode, a thin film made of self-assembled molecules over the lower electrode, and an electrolyte between the upper electrode and the lower electrode. The molecular electronic device stores electric charge using the redox property of each molecule. One molecule includes various redox potentials. The more redox potentials are included in the molecule, the more electric charges can be stored in the molecular electronic device. Therefore, it is possible to increase capacitance significantly by using the molecular electronic device, compared with a conventional capacitor. Such capacitance increment reduces the limitation of a memory device in size and structure. Accordingly, a method of fabricating a memory device using the molecular electronic device may be easier and simpler than that of fabricating a memory device using the conventional capacitor.
There is demand for developing a technology to increase capacitance more when the molecular electronic device is used as a capacitor.

Molecular electronic device having a patterned electrode and method of fabricating the same


The current subject matter relates to generation of relevant real-time offers based on global positioning system (GPS) data of an individual. A mobile device of an individual can record the GPS data of the individual. The mobile device can be connected to a central system. The central system can receive the recorded GPS data. The central system can predict, by using a trained predictive model and based on transaction history of the individual and the GPS data, categories of likely purchases by the individual. The central system can generate or reproduce offers from merchants of the predicted categories that are located within a threshold distance from a current location of the individual. The central system can send the generated offers to the mobile device that can display the generated offers in real-time. Other applications can include improving relevance of batch offers and/or real-time offers based on a recent purchase trigger.

Individuals usually have personal preferences for purchasing different products. The individuals often visit known similar stores to purchase their preferred products. Merchants desire to capture an insight into a future propensity of an event in relation to the individual. Based on this insight, the merchants can drive personalized recommendations to individuals to improve their sales revenue. Conventionally, these personalized recommendations may not be relevant, as the recommendations may characterize offers from merchants located in places distant from the individual. Thus, the relevance of these personalized recommendations can be further improved by using historical as well as real-time global positioning system (GPS) location of the individual.

Provision of relevant offers based on GPS data


Liquid hydrocarbons are capable of forming solutions of methane which is substantially soluble for example in liquefied petroleum gas creating a potential for the production of liquid fuel solutions of methane and liquefied petroleum for storage, industrial use and vehicular fuel. A binary mixture of hydrocarbons, comprised of methane dissolved in propane or butane is presented which enhance the amount of methane soluble in propane and butane thereby providing a product and methodology for establishing natural gas as an alternative fuel. A binary liquid fuel solution of methane is provided by directly mixing a liquefied petroleum gas into liquefied natural gas thereby cooling the liquefied petroleum gas in order to dissolve an enhanced amount of methane into the liquid by contacting the cooled liquefied petroleum gas/liquefied natural gas liquid blend with dried pipeline natural gas or other sources of natural gas. Storage and reaction vessels are presented which are capable of storing liquefied natural gas and serving as a mixing vessel and shipping vessel for the resulting binary liquid fuel comprised of methane dissolved in liquid hydrocarbons.

Studies have shown that gaseous methane can be stored in liquid hydrocarbons for example propane through solute absorption into solution. Propane is cooled down with refrigeration equipment and a condensor coil while the methane is introduced into the propane by means of gas jets. This process is accomplished by considerable increase in pressure. When the pressure is relieved, the methane is flashed out of the mixture as a gas and can be used as a fuel gas. After the methane is utilized the propane then can be vaporized and used also as gas for general fuel requirements. Storage of natural gas by solution under pressure in refrigerated liquefied petroleum gas has been presented as an idea for combining conventional pressure storage tanks and liquefied petroleum-air plant combinations in one system at the same time increasing the storage capacity up to 5 to 6 times for the same volume and pressure. The high solubility of natural gas in liquefied petroleum gas has been used as a storage tool to meet increased consumption requirements and demands on existing storage volume equipment. These studies were primarily directed toward peak-shaving operations wherein the alternative was liquefied natural gas storage However, in these storage applications the end product was desired to be utilized as a gas fuel form for stationary industrial or pipeline utilization.
Vehicular utilization of natural gas continues to be frustrated by the need of service and refueling infrastructures because of continued focus on compressed natural gas utilization. Even though natural gas is a logical and common sense substitute for gasoline, the use of natural gas as compressed natural gas for vehicles has not been well received. The primary problem with the use of compressed natural gas is the weight, bulk and cost of pressure vessels. Limited mileage range and significant weight and space requirements of such compressed natural gas tanks generally limits the use of compressed natural gas to large vehicles such as buses and/or trucks. But even with the larger vehicles, the limited use, range and limited supply distribution systems has stagnated vehicular use of methane.
Utilization of the solubility of methane in for example, liquefied petroleum gas such as propane and butane has been expanded to include processes wherein liquefied natural gas is vaporized through heat exchange with liquid propane and then pipeline gas (methane) is dissolved in the propane, the liquid mixture then being vaporized for utilization. The procedure exploits the extreme cold of liquefied natural gas to cool down the propane by heat exchange, it being recognized that the cooling process is necessary as the solubility of methane and liquid propane increases with the decrease in temperature However, the prior art as represented by West German Offenlegungsschrift 243,819 disclosed Feb. 19, 1976 addresses the preparation of a methane liquid propane solution for the purposes of storage and transportation. The reference further allows that it is possible to mix air or nitrogen into the blended and vaporized propane with the gas air mixture being adjusted for end use as a propane substitute. The procedure is proposed as a solution wherein a limited quantity of propane in the form of liquid is available.
The forming of solutions of methane and liquefied petroleum gas to form a liquid for storage or transportation for later use as a gas fuel does not address the problems of using natural gas as an alternative fuel for gasoline for vehicular purposes. The utilization of refrigerated liquid fuels which incorporate substantial amounts of methane can provide all the known benefits of natural gas vehicles such as low polution emission and displacement of imported oil while minimizing institutional and economic barriers associated with these vehicles, by use of the liquid fuel solutions of methane as a liquid at the point of use. The liquid fuel solutions of methane and liquefied petroleum gas provides a technique to place methane in a liquid fuel for vehicle fuel usage without the full cost of liquefied natural gas liquefaction. Liquid fuel solutions are suitable for use in existing propane and butane infrastructure for delivery, storage and distribution.

Liquid fuel solutions of methane and liquid hydrocarbons


The present invention relates to an engineering design method and a system of implementing same. In one embodiment, the method includes a construction process of knowledge components and a design process based on the knowledge components. The knowledge components pack universal modules in the standard forms. Accordingly, the knowledge components are independent from design layouts or design processes of products, and reusable in different projects and platforms. The design process integrates a variety of software platforms via an uniform environment and calls the knowledge components to complete the engineering designs. Further, the design process defines a data relation and an execution relation of the knowledge components and establishes a relationship between the knowledge components without programming. The universal module comprises at least operations, methods, rules and/or flows of an engineering design process and engineering analysis process.

In a traditional design process, usually, engineers draw a preliminary design of a product in accordance with experiences, make a physical prototype based on the preliminary design, and then carry out characteristics tests or analysis on the physical prototype so as to obtain the characteristics data of the product. If these data do not meet the requirements or specifications of the product, the engineers modify the preliminary design accordingly, produce the trial products, and then test or analyze the trial products. These procedures are repeated until the product meets the desired performance requirements. For a complicated product, the whole design cycle may be very long and it may be very difficult to ensure the design quality during the long design cycle.
With the constantly development of technologies, new design methods and technologies have been emerged. For example, a computer graphic technology, a computer modeling technology, a computer analysis and simulation technology, and so on, have been applied in the engineering design. A serial of CAX tools has been developed based on these technologies. Using these methods, technologies and tools, engineers are able to establish a digitalized model of a product with no need of a physical prototype, analyze a variety of performances of the product based on the digitalized model, inspect and optimize the design of the product, and even analyze the manufacturability thereof, thereby greatly reducing the design costs and design cycle.
However, a product design usually involves multiple fields and multiple disciplines, and needs the support of a large number of special tools. Though these methods, technologies and tools may improve the efficiencies of design integration, yet these tools with different origins have different concepts, languages, technologies, data formats and use styles, and are independently used and isolated from each other in the design process, where a large number of manual operations are still needed to link up a variety of design process, thereby resulting in the low efficiency of designs. Furthermore, the models and data of different design processes are irrelevant, the corresponding design scheme is unchangeable. Accordingly, the efficiency of a design, an analysis and an optimization is still very low.
Additionally, problems to be resolved in nowadays product design are getting more and more complex, and tools used in the product design have more and more functions, thus, engineers/designers need to spend a vast amount of time and energy to understand them. Furthermore, since the operation process, knowledge, experiences and methods in the design process are not reusable and shared in new design projects, even in the similar design projects, the engineers/designers need to start over from scratch. This may result in the operational tools overloaded.
Moreover, a variety of engineering software extensively use a "hard" connection method to achieve the tool integration. The so called 'hard' connection refers to develop a special data transformation and processing module between the tools for transferring the data, and connect the tools via a plurality of data processing modules. The method has the advantages: the efficiency is very high for the special design flow or the design layout, and the matching and coordination of a variety of special data and modules is good. However, the flexibility and extendibility of the system are not good. Once the design flow or design layout changes, many intermittent data processing programs are need to be rewritten. It is also very difficult to upgrade and expand the system.
For the reuse of design knowledge and design processes, the usual practice is: carrying out the secondary development on the tool software in accordance with the requirements of the special users, integrating the specialty knowledge, the experiences of experts, design methods or design standards into the functional modules, then improving the efficiency of the tool to realize the reuse of the knowledge and design via using these functional modules. However, this customized secondary development mode has strong specialty and the threshold is very high, the development period is longer without popularity for the engineers, and is also unable to easily carry out function expansion and system maintenance.
Briefly, the conventional computer-aided integrated design methods are still unable to resolve the following problems comprehensively: a variety of tools are not integratable in the design processes, the low level repeated workload of designers are heavy, and the mutual independent links and incompact data and modules relations leads to heavy workload of the coordination and modification of designs. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve the rapid design iteration and optimization. Additionally, a variety of design and analysis tools is still operated in a traditional way. Its operation is very complex and highly relies on the user's experiences. The knowledge and experiences of using the tools can not be reused and shared in different projects. The design efficiency is usually very low.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system of knowledge component based engineering design


A method for identifying payment forms accurately identifies types of forms without adding special form identification data. A payment form discrimination method for discriminating payment forms which state a payee account number and a payment amount includes a step of acquiring an image of the form, a step of making a search for the payee account number in the image in accordance with an account number searching rule, and a step of discriminating the type of form based on the searched payee account number. Types of forms can be identified accurately and fast without adding special form identification data, because the form identification is performed using easily searchable account numbers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a payment form discrimination method and apparatus for discriminating payment forms for paying taxes or public utilities fees at a financial institution or the like, and in particular to a payment form discrimination method and apparatus that searches for a character string by which forms can be discriminated and discriminates the forms by the search results.
2. Description of the Related Art
The payment of fees, such as taxes or public utilities fees, can be carried out at a place that is convenient for the person making the payment, like a financial institution, a post office, a convenience store, etc. For such a payment of fees, a payment form stating the payment amount is sent to the person who has to make the payment. The payer then takes the payment form to a financial institution or the like, where the payer can pay the fees. There is a strong demand for the automation of such a fee payment process.
Usually, methods for automatically recognizing characters on the payment form are used for automatic payment processing. For this automatic recognition, there is no need to recognize all characters on the payment form. For example, it is sufficient to recognize the payee, the payment amount and the payment time limit on a tax payment form, and there is no necessity to recognize captions or the like. In order to recognize the characters of the relevant portions among the multitude of characters on such a payment form, it is advantageous to register formats of the form in advance, cut out the registered regions from the read in image of the form, and perform character recognition with the registered character types.
Moreover, since there are several types of forms with different formats that can be processed automatically, it is necessary to identify the format type, access the identified format of the form, and carry out a character recognition depending on the form type. The following techniques have been proposed as automatic identification methods of the form type:    (1) Subjecting a group of characters indicating the form type, such as a title on the form (for example, payment notification slip) to automatic recognition, so as to identify the form type.    (2) Extracting rules from the form and identifying the rule type by the format of the rules.    (3) Attaching form discrimination information, such as a barcode, on the form to be recognized, and reading this information to identify the form.
However, these techniques pose the following problems:    (1) The method of recognizing a form title poses the problems that the recognition process takes a long time since the title is in Chinese (Kanji) characters, and there is the possibility of confusion with forms of similar titles. For example, in payment forms for municipal taxes, similar forms may be used for city A and for city B, so that it is not possible to recognize the forms by the title "Local Taxes".    (2) The recognition with rules takes a long time to process, and there is the problem that when the rule formats are similar, the form may easily be identified incorrectly.    (3) With the method of attaching form discrimination information, the forms can be discriminated reliably, but there is the problem that only those forms can be identified to which discrimination information has been attached. That is to say, it is not possible to identify those forms currently in circulation to which such discrimination information has not been attached.

Payment form discrimination method and apparatus


The invention includes a method of treating and preventing a neurological disorder, such as Alzheimer's Disease, in a subject in need thereof by positioning an electromagnetic field emitting source proximal to the subject and exposing the subject to an electromagnetic field having a predetermined frequency for a predetermined absorption period. Preferably, each individual treatment (comprising exposure to the predetermined frequency for the predetermined absorption period) is continued at a predetermined schedule (preferably daily) for a predetermined treatment period.

After reviewing an extensive literature, the World Health Organization and other health councils/organizations have concluded that there are no adverse health risks to adults or children associated with electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by cell phone use. However, there is little data concerning the long-term effects of EMFs on brain physiology and function. Epidemiologic studies have suggested that occupational (low frequency) EMF exposure may increase risk of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), while other studies have found that acute exposure to cell phone (high frequency) EMF has essentially no effect on cognitive function in normal individuals. To date, no controlled long-term studies of EMF effects on cognitive function have been done in humans, mice, or animal models for AD.
Another amyloid-related neurological disorder is traumatic brain injury (TBI). The primary/initial injury induced by TBI is largely unavoidable, but triggers secondary brain injury over the hours/days following injury that may be readily treatable. In both humans and animals, a key component to this secondary injury is rapid brain accumulation of the protein β-amyloid (Aβ) in as little as one day after injury. The two enzymes (b- and g-secretase) responsible for Aβ production from amyloid precursor protein (APP) are also increased in brain following TBI. Not surprisingly then, many TBI fatalities have brain Aβ aggregations (deposits) at autopy. This secondary production and accumulation of brain Aβ after TBI actives inflammatory pathways, induces oxidative damage/apoptosis, and causes neuronal loss. Since Aβ production and ensuing Aβ aggregation following TBI appear to be key mediators of brain tissue loss and resulting cognitive dysfunction, therapeutics aimed at post-TBI suppression of one or both of these processes could greatly limit secondary TBI injury and provide substantial functional recovery. In mice following experimental TBI, suppression of Aβ production (by reducing β- or g-secretase activity) lessens cognitive deficits, as well as reduces hippocampal neuronal loss. This work demonstrated that brain Aβ accumulation should be a primary therapeutic target against TBI. Unfortunately, these reductions in secretase activity were achieved through genetic manipulation and pharmacologic-level inhibition—neither of which is practical for human therapeutic intervention.

Prevention and treatment of alzheimer'S disease through electromagnetic field exposure

Abstract: The predetermined frequency, according to a preferred embodiment, is about 918 MHz with a specific absorption rate (SAR) of about 0.25 W/kg+/−2 dB. The predetermined absorption period of this preferred embodiment is about one hour. The treatment period is long-term, being greater than about 6 months and preferably between about 7 and 9 months.


A system and method for high definition video rescaling comprises receiving a source image including source pixels each having an associated amplitude, creating destination pixel locations for a rescaled image in accordance with a resealing factor, providing a normalized filter function, multiplying the normalized filter function with the amplitude of each source pixel to produce a filter function for each source pixel, and summing together the filter functions for the source pixels to generate a reconstructed function. The reconstructed function is sampled at the destination pixel locations to provide amplitudes for destination pixels. The amplitudes of the destination pixels are then incorporated into a rescaled image. The filter function is preferably a sinc product function. The sinc product function is a first sinc function having a first period multiplied by a second sinc function having a second period that is an odd integer multiple of the first period, so that the sinc product function has a smaller amplitude than a sinc function as the function converges to zero.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing, and relates more particularly to high definition video image rescaling.
2. Description of the Background Art
Rescaling video images is an important aspect of many types of video and multimedia applications, and therefore efficient video resealing is a significant consideration of designers and manufacturers of image processing systems. A digital video image may be described as a grid of values that are samples of a continuous two-dimensional function. The value of each pixel of the video image represents the value of the continuous function at a point in the center of the pixel. A large video image typically includes a greater number of pixels, or samples, than a small video image. A large video image may. be reduced by decreasing the number of pixels, and a small video image may be magnified by increasing the number of pixels.
In video image resealing, a rescaled image typically includes destination pixels that are derived from source pixels of a source image. The contribution each source pixel makes to each destination pixel is determined by applying a filter function to each source pixel. Various types of filter functions may be used for video resealing. A filter function is typically centered on each source pixel and scaled to the value of the source pixel. The scaled filter functions are summed together to produce a reconstructed function for the source image. The reconstructed function is then sampled appropriately to produce the required number of destination pixels. A magnified image includes a greater number of pixels than the source image, and a reduced image includes a smaller number of pixels than the source image.
The operation of summing together the scaled filter functions may be computationally intense, requiring significant amounts of processing power and time. Some filter functions may produce high quality rescaled images, but have a very high cost in terms of system resources. Other filter functions may require fewer system resources, but produce lower quality rescaled images. Therefore, selecting an optimum filter function for efficient and effective video rescaling is a significant consideration of designers and manufacturers of image processing systems.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are disclosed for high definition video rescaling. In one embodiment, a set of source pixels is provided, each source pixel having an associated amplitude. A set of destination pixel locations is determined based on a resealing factor. A magnified image includes a greater number of pixels than the source image, and a reduced image includes a smaller number of pixels than the source image.
A normalized filter function is centered on each source pixel and scaled to the amplitude of the source pixel. The normalized filter function is the same for each source pixel. The filter functions for the source pixels are summed together to produce a reconstructed function. The reconstructed function is sampled at the destination pixel locations. The amplitude of the reconstructed function at the destination pixel locations is the amplitude of the destination pixel. The destination pixels are then incorporated into a rescaled image.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the filter function is a sinc product function. The sinc product function is a first sinc function having a first period multiplied by a second sinc function having a second period that is an odd integer multiple of the first period, so that the sinc product function has a smaller amplitude than a sinc function as the function converges to zero.

System and method for high definition video rescaling


The present invention is relating to milk-constituent-containing beverages which are preserved and distributed in metal cans, and characterized that a milk-constituent-containing beverage, which is provided with growth inhibition effects against heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria and in which such problems as coagulation, oiling off, feathering, precipitation, neck ring, etc. of the milk constituents are suppressed, said milk-constituent-containing beverage containing (A) diglycerol monoesters of fatty acids and (B) at least one emulsifier such as citric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, guccinic acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, diacetyltartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, polyglycerin monoesters of fatty acids with an HLB of 3 to 16, and sucrose esters of fatty acids with an HLB of 3 to 16, said beverage being characterized in that 70 wt. % or more of the fatty acid composition of the diglycerol monoesters of fatty acids is taken up by the total amount of myristic acid and/or palmitic acid and in that the monoester content of the ester compositioin of the diglycerin fatty acid monoester is 70 wt. % or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns coffee, tea, cocoa, and other beverages containing milk constituents, and particularly concerns stabilized milk-constituent-containing beverages in which the germination of spores of and proliferation of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria are inhibited and in which problems such as coagulation, oiling off, feathering, precipitation, neck ring, etc. of the milk constituents contained are suppressed.
The present invention applies to milk-constituent-containing beverages which are preserved and distributed in metal cans, such as aluminum cans, steel cans, etc., bottles, such as glass, ceramic, etc., and various other containers made of paper, synthetic resin, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Many beverages such as coffee, tea, cocoa, etc. contain milk constituents to improve flavor generally used, and taste, etc. The milk constituents used vary widely in type and amount, and include raw milk, raw cream, whole milk powder, skim milk powder, or instant creaming powder (ICP).
When stored over long periods of time, beverages containing milk constituents undergo loss of potable aptitude ( marketability) due to such problems as separation, oiling off, feathering, precipitation, neck ring, etc. of the milk constituents. Also, although milk-constituent-containing beverages are usually sterilized by retorting, there are cases where the spores of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria survive under the conditions of such treatment. In cases where milk-constituent-containing beverages are sold or stored under low-temperature storage conditions in a vending machine, etc., there is little possibility of germination of spores of and proliferation of the surviving heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria and quality problems do not occur. However, if such beverages are placed in a heated condition, for example at 55.degree. C., the surviving spores of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria can germinate and proliferate to cause the beverage contents to deteriorate and the beverage to thus lose potable aptitude ( marketability).
The combined use of a polyglycerin monoesters of fatty acids, comprising lauric acid and myristic acid, and mono-and diglycerides of fatty acids (laid-open Japanese patent publication No. Hei6-121640), the combined use of sucrose esters of fatty acids and citric acid esters of mono-and diglycerides of fatty acids (laid-open Japanese patent publication No. Hei5-15349), etc. have been proposed as methods of preventing deterioration and putrefaction of the beverage contents through prevention of germination of spores of and proliferation heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria and preventing undesirable effects due to physicochemical changes at the same time. However, with the former of the above methods, not only does the lauric acid, which is a lower fatty acid, damage the flavor significantly but the antibacterial effects are also inadequate. With the latter method, since sucrose esters of fatty acids is used, the effects of preventing the germination of spores of and proliferation of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria are inadequate and unsatisfactory.
The present inventors have previously proposed the milk-constituent-containing beverage disclosed in Japanese patent application No. Hei7-144075 (laid-open Japanese patent application No. Hei8-228676). This prior art discloses a milk-constituent-containing beverage that uses diglycerol monoesters of fatty acids as emulsifier and is characterized in that 70wt. % or more of the fatty acid composition of the diglycerol monoesters of fatty acids is taken up by the total amount of myristic acid and/or palmitic acid. With this prior art, the germination of spores of and proliferation of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria can be suppressed even when the beverage is stored at a high temperature over long periods.


A ski having a tip region, a heel region, and a central zone, is provided with a running sole having longitudinal sides and a longitudinal axis, an edge formed on each of the sides of the running sole, and an upper face including at least two side faces being non-parallel to the running sole. The at least two side faces intersect each other above the running sole to create an apex extending longitudinally over at least part of the ski. The apex is asymmetrical with respect to a longitudinal mid-plane through the longitudinal axis of the running sole.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a ski with a special profile, more particularly intended for the practice of alpine skiing, comprising a central region called a "central zone", on which the bindings for the skier are positioned, and two end regions, one called the tip and the other called the heel.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Traditionally, most skis currently available are symmetrical with respect to their longitudinal mid-plane, so that the right ski is entirely interchangeable with the left ski. In fact, it has generally been considered hitherto that this lack of differentiation of one ski with respect to the other was of no consequence or of very little consequence as regards actual skiing.
Now, the advantage of having asymmetric skis, namely a right ski and a left ski, has been realized, in particular as regards the level of efficiency of setting the edges and thereby the response of these skis.
It has already been known for a long time that this edge setting is particularly efficient at the inner edge of each ski. It is therefore important to have available a ski through which the action of the skier is amplified on the inner side, this amplification being obtainable, for example, by increasing the density of the ski at this location, or its thickness, in order to increase the efficiency of the pressures applied by the skier.
In parallel, it is undoubtedly important to be able to optimize the action of the inner edge of the ski more particularly at the central zone, and it is also expedient to be able to "cut" into the snow at the outer ends of the ski, that is to say close to the tip and the heel, in view of the fact that, during turning, the ends of the ski side-slip and that, in particular, this side-slipping also occurs with a slight pivotal movement with respect to the central zone, so that the said ends are in a relative rotational movement with respect to the said central zone and must therefore be able to move almost freely whatever the condition of the snow, whence this requirement of giving them this ability to penetrate, which is obtained only with thin ends, more particularly at the front and rear contact lines respectively.
Now, these various requirements have never been combined simultaneously within one and the same ski, in view of the apparently conflicting results which they seem to generate. In addition, other constraints, such as the flat positioning of the bindings, the height of the foot of the skier on the ski and the weight of the skier, have prevented the development of its shape.
In order to give the ski some degree of rigidity in simple bending, that is to say perpendicularly to the plane defined by the surface of the sole, they have been fitted with a longitudinal rib, which is strictly linear, positioned along the mid-line of the ski. This rib is continuous (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,158,325) or discontinuous (FR-A-2,523,460), which, in view of its position, gives the ski thus produced no asymmetry.
Asymmetric skis have also been proposed in document DE-A-1,939,540, in which the top located on the inner side of each of the skis of one and the same pair is parallel to the surface of the running sole, while the outer side, except optionally at the central zone, is inclined. Although admittedly it is thereby possible to obtain the effect of cutting into the snow at the outer edge, this type of ski nevertheless does not improve the efficiency of setting the inner edge.