Users design and develop a current version of an application to be rendered on different devices. The application is configured and deployed with its current version on a platform server. The application can run on different servers provided from different platforms. A desktop browser displays the current version of the application by loading a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The current version of the application can be tested both on a desktop browser and on a browser, installed on a remote device. Additionally, a visually encoded dynamic code is generated that is scanned by a remote device to launch the deployed version of the application. The visually encoded dynamic code encrypts dynamic information for locating the deployed application that is dependent on the platform server used for deployment. After displaying the current version on the remote device, further points for improvement of the design and functionality of the application are defined.

The fast-changing business environment affects product cycles in the software development industry. Requirements and models for delivering software applications are constantly changing. Businesses expand into new geographies and use new customer-facing channels. Information is distributed through networks, data centers, business systems, market-places, etc. Information technology (IT) solutions support all kind of channels for consumption of data provided through software application. Business users demand easy remote access to enterprise application and data on multiple personal or corporate mobile devices, e.g. smart phones, tablets, etc. More and more mobile devices are used to access information and handle tasks—anywhere and anytime.
User's demands in the area of mobility also impose new requirements on software developers and on the development platform they use when designing new applications. When developing an application, the developer may also work on a mobile version for that application. The development cycle of generating desktop and mobile versions for a software program includes similar iterations, such as design, implementation, testing, maintenance, etc. Software testing is an important phase of the software development process that ensures that defects may be recognized. When possible, the testing activities may be performed on a similar hardware and software environment to the environment of the potential customers or end-users.

Generating visually encoded dynamic codes for remote launching of applications


A method of modifying the rake angle on a motorcycle having a double wishbone front suspension. The motorcycle has a tubular steering housing connected to a non-telescoping fork assembly by a straight body steering stem. The method includes the step of replacing the straight body steering stem with a canted body steering stem. The canted body steering stem includes (i) a primary section having a steering axis corresponding to a steering axis of the motorcycle; and (ii) a secondary section having a cant axis which varies from the steering axis by between 1° and 16°.

The present invention relates to steering mechanisms for motorcycles and more specifically, modifying the rake angle of the steering mechanism.
Traditional motorcycle steering/front suspension designs often have triple trees and telescoping forks with spring and shock absorbing functions being internal to the forks. The steering system includes a steering axis and a steering axis angle. The steering axis is the axis about which the steering mechanism (fork, handlebars, front wheel, etc.) pivots, and usually matches the angle of the head tube. The steering axis angle is the angle that the steering axis makes with the horizontal or vertical, depending on convention. In motorcycles, the steering axis angle is typically called the "rake angle" (or just "rake") and is measured from the vertical, e.g., a 0° rake would be vertical. The "trail" is the horizontal distance from where the front wheel touches the ground to where the steering axis intersects the ground. With a traditional triple tree front suspension, the rake is normally modified by changing the angle of the down tubes relative to the steering stem. This moves the tire contact patch closer to where the steering axis intersects the ground and reduces the trail, thereby reducing the steering effort.
However, certain motorcycle designs such as the 2018 Honda® Goldwing® have a double wishbone front suspension similar to a car. In this design, there are no telescoping forks to house the spring/shock assembly. Instead, the forks are rigid and there is a separate coil over shock that bolts between a lower control arm and the motorcycle frame. One rake modification ("rake kit") for this type of suspension is to change the length of the upper and lower control arms, but this moves the steering axis along with the front wheel (similar to a "chopper" style motorcycle) and it does not reduce trail with particular effectiveness. It also changes ride quality by changing the leverage the suspension has on the shock. A better method for modifying the rake on double wishbone type steering/suspension systems would be a desirable advancement in the industry.

Rake device for a three wheel motorcycle


An apparatus for igniting a larger rocket motor is provided. The apparatus may be a smaller rocket motor that can be ignited hypergolically, when a pressurized oxidizer contacts hypergolic fuel grains of the smaller rocket motor. The hypergolic ignition causes the larger rocket motor to be ignited. The hypergolic ignition of the smaller rocket motor may be stopped after the larger rocket motor is ignited, and the remaining hypergolic fuel grains and the pressurized oxidizer can be reserved for reigniting the larger rocket motor at a later time.

Generally, conventional solid propellant rocket motors have their fuel and oxidizers premixed. These rocket motors are ignited often by explosive squibs. These solid propellants rocket motors may only be ignited once and cannot be extinguished and restarted for later use during the launch process. Another common rocket motor is an all liquid propellant motors such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen motors. These rocket motors may be extinguished and restarted, but need to utilize an external ignition source. These sources add complexity to the motor and can be bulky, thus making the rocket motor inefficient.
Hybrid rocket motors utilize solid fuel and either gaseous or liquid oxidizers. These motors have a combination of features that make solid rocket motors attractive for reasons of simplicity, but like all liquid rocket motors these motors may be extinguished and restarted.
As stated above, rocket motors need to be ignited. Most solid propellant motors use a one use explosive squib. All liquid and hybrid propellant motors often use electric matches, squibs or spark igniters with/or without a combination of a secondary gas flame. The squib systems can only be restarted if the squib is replaced, which is generally not possible for upper stages that are already in flight. External flame sources may be possible on upper stages, but these sources add weight. External flame sources also need to be ignited and have to carry additional spark igniters to ignite these flames. This adds weight and complexity to the system. Hypergolic propellants may overcome this problem, but current hypergolic propellants are toxic and the choice of using hypergolic propellants limits performance and choice of oxidizer and fuel.


A baling system including a first bale-forming area configured to form a first series of first individual bales, and a second bale forming-area configured to from a second series of second individual bales. The baling system further includes a bale bundler configured to receive the first and second individual bales from the first and second bale forming-forming areas and to tie a group of at least six bales together to form a bale bundle.

Balers are agricultural implements that form bales (e.g., square or round-shaped bales) of crop material. Most currently available square balers use a single baling chamber with a single gearbox, a single plunger, and a single knotter assembly to produce one square bale at a time. To increase baling efficiency, there is a desire to increase the capacity of some balers to produce more bales per hour. One way to increase baler capacity is to run the baler's plunger faster; however, due to concerns with knotter assembly reliability at high speeds, plunger speeds have maxed out at approximately one hundred revolutions per minute. Another option to increase baler capacity is to use thicker flakes when forming the bales; however, end users of bales often object to bale flakes being too large. Also, larger flakes can lead to inconsistent bale lengths.
These limitations have led to special hitches that pull two balers with one tow vehicle. While this solution can increase bale production, the use of two balers negatively impacts maneuverability of the tow vehicle and/or of the balers during both field operation and transport.


A coupled process for making partially-oriented polyamide yarn. Polyamide polymer is melt-spun at a withdrawal speed sufficient to produce a spun yarn having an elongation less than 175%. The spun yarn is subsequently subjected to a coupled drawing step in a draw zone to reduce the elongation to the range of 50 to 100%. In the draw zone, the yarn passes through an enclosure with a gaseous fluid jet having a temperature of at least about 190.degree. C. which impinges on the yarn in an intersecting relationship to the path of yarn travel.

The present invention relates to processes for making partially-oriented polyamide yarns for textile applications.
Partially-oriented polyamide yarns are in widespread use as feed yarns for draw texturing and other uses. Various processes are known for manufacturing such feed yarns. In one such process, polyamide polymer is melt-spun at a withdrawal speed sufficient to produce a yarn as spun having an elongation less than 175%. In a coupled drawing step, the yarn is then drawn sufficiently to produce the partially-oriented nylon yarn with an elongation in the range of 50-100 percent. For some enduses, however, this coupled spin-draw process sometimes does not provide partially-oriented nylon yarns with a desired degree of dye uniformity.
When it is attempted to use a heated fluid jet such as that disclosed in Geerdes et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,131, to localize the draw point in this process, dye uniformity is improved. However, the heated fluid jet causes loops of the filaments of the yarn to form and to extend outwardly from the yarn bundle. The filament loops decrease the quality of the yarn and make the process commercially unacceptable at spinning speeds above 2200 yards per minute (2000 meters per minute). For example, using steam at 20 pounds per square inch (138 kPa) and 135.degree. C. with a 1.5.times. draw ratio, filament loops as high as 80 loops/million-end-yards (yards of yarn multiplied by number of threadlines tested) (88 loops/million-end-meters) were observed. The problem increases with higher steam pressures and/or when higher relative viscosity polymer is used.

Steam draw-jet process for making partially-oriented polyamide yarns


The compound represented by the general formula: wherein ring A is benzene which may be substituted and the like; ring B is benzene which may be substituted and the like; X is a single bond and the like; Y is alkyl which may be substituted and the like; Z is CR1 or nitrogen atom; R1 is hydrogen and the like; R2 is alkyl which may be substituted and the like or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof is useful as a prevention/treatment agent of obesity, diabetes, and the like.

Obesity is a condition wherein fat is excessively accumulated in a body (Non-Patent Document 1), and may lead to hyperlipidemia, hypertriglycemia, lipid metabolism disorder, fatty liver, diabetes, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, cerebrovascular disorder, coronary artery disease, dyspnoea, lumbago, gonarthrosis, and the like. Among obesity, those having these diseases or those which may possibly cause these diseases in the future are defined as adiposity, and regarded as one of diseases.
DGAT is an enzyme catalyzing a reaction from diacylglyerol to TG, which reaction is the final stage of triacylglycerol (TG) synthesis, and it is known that DGAT has two kinds of subtypes, DGAT1 and DGAT2. Among these, DGAT1 is known to exist in liver, skeletal muscle, adipocytes, and the like, and is involved in the TG synthesis in each tissue (Non-Patent Document 2).
Further, when TG is absorbed in the small intestine, TG is decomposed by pancreatic lipase in the lumen of the small intestine to fatty acid and mono acylglycerol, then incorporated into small intestinal epithelial cells, and absorbed after it is resynthesized to TG in the epithelial cells, and it has been known that DGAT1 is also involved in the final stage of TG resynthesis in the small intestinal epithelial cells (Non-Patent Document 3).
Therefore, a compound which inhibits DGAT1 is expected to improve the pathology of obesity since it not only inhibits TG synthesis in adipocyte, liver and the like by inhibiting the final step of TG synthesis but also suppresses the TG absorption in small intestines by suppressing the TG resynthesis in small intestine (Non-Patent Document 4).
Further, a theory that the accumulation of TG in liver, skeletal muscle, and the like (ectopic fat accumulation) is a cause of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus accompanying obesity has been widely accepted, and a compound which inhibits DGAT1 is expected to improve the insulin sensitivity and has the therapeutic effect on type 2 diabetes mellitus by alleviating the ectopic fat accumulation (Non-Patent Document 4). Furthermore, in a mouse deleted in DGAT1 by genetic manipulation (DGAT1 knockout mouse), it was reported that the improvement in the insulin sensitivity was observed as compared with a wild type mouse (Non-Patent Document 5). It was recently reported that a compound which inhibits DGAT1 stimulates the action of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and a protein which causes anorexia (Non-Patent Document 6).
As a compound having a continuous aromatic ring structure, the following has been known. For example, in Patent Document 1, (2S)-2-[4′-(1-benzyl-1H-benzimidazole-2-yl)-biphenyl-4-yloxy]-3-phenyl-propionic acid (Example 70) and the like are disclosed as a compound which inhibits protein-tyrosine phosphatase (PTPases) and is useful for the treatment of insulin resistance accompanying obesity, glucose intolerance, diabetes, hypertension, or ischemic disease.
In Patent Document 2, as a compound having an inhibitory activity against protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP-1B) which is useful for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, 2-benzyl-4-[4′-(2-benzyl-benzofuran-3-yl)-biphenyl-4-yl]-4-oxo-butyric acid (Example 1), ({4′-(3-benzylamino)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)biphenyl-4-yl}oxy)(phenyl)acetic acid, {[4′-(5-methyl-1H-indol-1-yl)biphenyl-4-yl]oxy}(phenyl) acetic acid (Example 3), and the like are disclosed.
In Patent Document 3, Patent Document 4 and Patent Document 5, a compound having an inhibitory activity against Factor VIIa, Factor IXa, Factor Xa, and/or Factor XIa which has a structure wherein biphenyl and nitrogen-containing fused heterocyclic ring are bonded is disclosed. However, the chemical structure is restricted to those having a structure wherein the nitrogen-containing fused heterocyclic ring is bonded at the 3-position of the biphenyl.
In Patent Document 6, 2-[[2′-(5-phenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)[1,1′-biphenyl]-3-yl]oxy]acetic acid (Example 46) and the like as a compound having the therapeutic effect on obesity and diabetes by inhibiting adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (aP2) are disclosed.
In Non-Patent Document 7, 2-[[2′-(1-ethyl-4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl) [1,1′-biphenyl]-3-yl]oxy]acetic acid, 2-[[2′-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)[1,1′-biphenyl]-3-yl]oxy]acetic acid, and the like as a compound which binds to adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (aFABP) are reported.
As another compound having a continuous ring structure, those in, for example, Patent Documents 7 to 14 and Non-Patent Document 8 are known.
Also, as a compound having DGAT1 inhibitory activity, for example, heteroarylbenzene derivatives (Patent Document 15), bicyclic heterocyclic compounds (Patent Document 16), triazolopyridine derivatives (Patent Document 17), imidazole derivatives (Patent Documents 18 to 20), spiro-ring compounds (Patent Document 21), and biaryl compounds (Patent Document 22) are known.


A mixing chamber for a multi-bed, down-flow catalytic reactor includes two top openings through which liquid and/or gaseous reactant streams pass into the mixing chamber. Inside the mixing chamber, the two reactant streams collide with each other to achieve mixing. The mixing is particularly enhanced by chevron flow dividers positioned in two rows in a staggered arrangement and located in a central mixing zone. The chevrons improve mixing by increasing turbulence in the colliding reactant streams. The fully mixed reactant streams exit the mixing chamber through side openings to a distributor plate which distributes the reactant stream across the catalyst.

The chemical treatment of hydrocarbons and other compounds in the petroleum refining industry involves passing a fluid including both vapor phase and liquid phase components through a catalytic agent in a reactor to remove contaminants such as iron, other metals, nitrogen, sulfur, and calcium from the fluid. Examples of such processes in the petroleum refining industry include, for example, catalytic dewaxing, hydrotreating, hydrodesulfurization, hydrofinishing, hydrocracking, denitrogenation, hydrodenitrogenation combinations thereof, and others. These reactions are carried out by contact of a hydrogen-containing gas with a hydrocarbon feed stream at elevated temperatures and pressures in a hydroprocessing catalyst of a reactor.
One type of catalytic reactor system called a down-flow reactor includes one or more stationary catalyst bed through which a reactant stream of liquid hydrocarbon and hydrogen flows in a downward direction. As the reactant stream flows through the catalyst bed the liquid and vapor phases of the stream have a natural tendency to segregate and find separate paths through the catalyst. This tendency for the hydrogen and the hydrocarbon to find separate paths is commonly known as "channeling" and is highly detrimental to the overall efficiency of the reactor. The channeling causes formation of localized hot spots in the catalyst bed, reducing catalyst efficiency and requiring the catalyst to be replaced more often. The down time required for replacement of catalyst reduces the throughput of the reactor.
The channeling effect is increased by some of the chemical reactions which take place in these processes which may produce additional components in the vapor phase. In addition, because these reactions may also consume some of the hydrogen, it is frequently necessary to add additional hydrogen at various points within the reactor. When these vapor phase components separate from the reactant stream, are produced, or are added to the reactor, it is important that they be mixed with the liquid phase hydrocarbon components passing through the catalyst. To achieve the desired mixing of liquid and vapor phase components, mixing chambers or mixing boxes are positioned within the reactor at locations between successive catalyst beds.
The mixing chambers are used to uniformly redistribute the liquid and vapor phases at one or more locations within the reactor. This mixing counteracts the natural tendency for the liquid and vapor phases of the feed stream to segregate as the stream passes through the catalyst and seek separate paths through the catalyst. By providing a uniform distribution of liquid and gas, the catalyst will be efficiently utilized and the desired catalytic reactions will take place in a more predictable manner.
Further, radial thermal gradients, or hot spots, often occur in the catalyst beds of a reactor when the temperature of the fluid entering the catalyst bed is non-uniform. For example, quench gases may be added at one or more location when necessary to cool the reactor. Failure to fully mix the quench gases with the reactant stream, may create a temperature gradient across the reactor. The existence of hot spots within the catalyst bed leads to indiscriminate or non-selective hydrocracking of the hydrocarbons. For this additional reason, it is important to have mixing chambers within the reactor which provide a consistent fluid temperature distribution across the reactor. The better the mixing provided by the mixing chambers, the better the temperature and reaction control and the overall reactor performance.
Various systems have been proposed for achieving mixing in down-flow, catalytic reactors, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,000 includes a distributor employing liquid downcomers which allow the reactant stream collected on a collection plate to overflow into the downcomers. Angled chutes at the bottom of each of the downcomers cause the fluid to rotate within a mixing chamber beneath the collection plate. The rotation of the fluid promotes mixing of liquids and vapors.
Other distributor chambers for multi-bed, down-flow reactors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,462,719; 4,836,989; 4,182,741; and 3,977,834. However, many of the distributor chambers currently in use create an undesirably large pressure drop and/or provide incomplete mixing of components.

Mixing system for mixing and distributing fluids in a reactor


An interface device transforms data to a packet and inverts at least a portion of the packet to reduce a number of bit toggles at corresponding locations in a previous packet. A reverse bit appended to the packet indicates whether the packet is inverted. A transmission packet including the reverse bit and the portion of the packet inverted according to a state of the reverse bit is transmitted, and the data are recovered from a received packet, the portion of which that was inverted is inverted again according to the state of the reverse bit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an interface device, and more particularly to an interface device to control data transfer between chips.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, system-on-chips have been employed in various portable devices. In the portable devices, a scheme to reduce power consumption is preferably implemented so that the operating time of the portable devices can be extended. When the interface device employs complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), the interface device conducts current in response to bit state toggling of the outputs. Therefore, reducing a bit toggle rate can decrease the amount of power consumed at the CMOS outputs.
The toggle rate is determined as the rate at which each value of the present data and the previous data changes state. When data are transmitted without being processed, the toggle rate is not controlled. In the worst case, where each bit of the present data is in a different state as the same bit in the previous data, the toggle rate is substantially 100% and consequently, a large amount of power is consumed.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a device to reduce the toggle rate, and thereby, to reduce the power consumption of the interface device.

Interface device and inter-chip communication interface apparatus to control data transfer between chips


The present disclosure describes medical devices comprising a bio-corrodible stent member and a graft member. The bio-corrodible stent member can comprise a metal applied directly to the graft member via a vapor deposition process, such as a chemical or physical vapor deposition process.

Implantable medical devices are frequently used to treat the anatomy of patients. Such devices can be permanently, semi-permanently, or temporarily implanted in the anatomy to provide treatment to the patient.
In many cases, the device may comprise one or more components that are designed to provide treatment for a sufficient period, then to corrode and/or dissolve and be absorbed by or otherwise incorporated into the body. For example, an implantable stent-graft may comprise a stent component designed to be absorbed by or otherwise incorporated into the body after providing reinforcement to a vessel for a sufficiently long treatment period.
Accordingly, there is a need for medical devices that feature one or more components that can be easily and safely absorbed or incorporated by the body, in a predictable manner, after sufficiently long treatment time has elapsed.

Devices and methods related to deposited support structures


An information processing apparatus adapted to be connected for use to a media drive apparatus for recording data on or reproduced data from a recording medium having a file system includes a real file system acquiring section that acquires the file system of the recording medium from the media drive apparatus and a virtual file system providing section that converts the file system acquired by the file system acquiring section into a virtual file system having a directory/file structure different from the directory/file structure on the recording medium and provides it to an application program.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, an information processing program and a program recording medium that can suitably be applied to a computer system including a media drive such as a disc drive for recording information in or reproducing information from a recording medium having a file system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-243072 refers to a virtual file system that an optical disc drive generates by analyzing a real file system on an optical disc and combining the video data and the audio data recorded on the real file system in separate files to a single video/audio file.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0232589 discloses a technique of providing an access to a host (e.g., a personal computer) on the basis of a unit of virtual file by means of a serial bus protocol (SBP-2) command. With this technique, the virtual file system that the optical disc drive provides by means of an SBP-2 command is provided as a file input/output service to an application that is a user by means of a file system driver operating as a redirector.
FIG. 10 illustrates the basic concept of this technique.
Referring to FIG. 10, the host is typically a personal computer (PC) 300 and the device is an optical disc drive 400. The optical disc drive 400 is a device for recording information on and reproducing information from an optical disc 7.
The optical disc drive 400 is equipped with a logical/physical address conversion feature 401 for performing logical/physical address conversion in order to access the physical block as recording/reproduction access to the optical disc 7.
The optical disc drive 400 is also equipped with a real file system providing feature 402 for providing a real file system and realizing a logical block access according to the real file system built on the optical disc 7 (in FIG. 10, "FS" represents a "file system").
Still additionally, the optical disc drive 400 is equipped with a virtual file system providing feature 403 for converting the real file system into a virtual file system.
Furthermore, the optical disc drive 400 is equipped with a host input/output (I/O) providing feature 404 for providing a virtual file system by means of a SBP-2 command.
On the other hand, the personal computer 300 is equipped with a device I/O providing feature 301 for realizing an access based on a virtual file system by means of a SBP-2 command.
With the above-described feature arrangement, the application of the personal computer 300 can handle data on the optical disc 7 by means of the virtual file system.
In other words, the real file system on the disc 7 is converted into a virtual file system by the optical disc drive 400 and provided to the personal computer 300 and the application can access the optical disc 7 by means of the virtual file system as the virtual file system is provided to the application program interface (API) 302 at the personal computer 300.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program and program recording medium


The present invention provides a projection type image display device capable of affording a bright display of a high saturation and capable of ensuring a high reliability of optical parts. The projection type image display device is provided with a color synthesizer for color-synthesizing modulated and polarized light of red light, green light, and blue light, outputted from an image display element. The color synthesizer has an optical characteristic such that the transmittance including reflection by a reflecting film in the interior of the color synthesizer becomes highest for the polarized light of blue light out of the modulated and polarized light of red light, that of green light, and that of blue light. The color synthesizer also has an optical characteristic such that the quantity of the polarized light of blue light outputted becomes largest out of the modulated and polarized light of red light, green light, and blue light.

The present invention relates to a projection type image display, in which light emitted from a light source side is radiated onto an image display element such as a liquid crystal panel and an optical image corresponding to a video signal is formed and projected on a larger scale.
A conventional technique related to the present invention is described, for example, in Japanese Patent No. 2800812 (Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, as a prism for color synthesis of light after modulated by a transmission type light valve, there is described a prism having two types of dichroic surfaces. The surfaces reflect red light (hereinafter referred to as "R light") and blue light ("B light" hereinafter) and transmit green light ("G light" hereinafter).

Projection type image display device, rear projection type image display device, optical unit, and screen unit


An external puncture sealing patch for a vehicle tire is provided. The patch comprises a thin spiked pad made of flexible base and a number of sharp pins partially implanted in the base in a radial arrangement around a central void protruding vertically downward from the bottom surface of the base for penetratively engaging a depth of the tire about its puncture upon depression onto the top surface of the base. A thick coat of an elastomeric sealant is added to the spiked side of the patch for sealingly adhering the spiked pad to the tire as the sealant fills any irregular clearances between the spiked pad and tire to reinforce the attachment thereof. In order to keep the patch effective for an extended period of time, the patch is also provided in a contained form whereby the patch in a dual-purpose container can be quickly deployed at the time of need for application to a tire puncture in a safe and comfortable manner.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle tire maintenance. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tire puncture treatment patch that can be applied directly or through an instant applicator to permit a temporary long drive of the wheeled vehicles including automobiles and motorcycles.
B. Description of the Prior Art
As roads and parking lots are becoming more crowded and littered with more trashes, there are increasing numbers of vehicle tires injured by stepping on careless nails, screws and other sharp objects or criminal vandalism, just when more driving miles to the destination or a service station are desperately wished for. At the occurrence of a puncture, the tire eventually looses the air pressure and results in a critical lost control of the vehicle at that wheel support.
Traditionally, adhesive patches have been used to cover tire punctures. But because the adhesive force only cannot block the punctured area from the external tread side against the high pressure leak of the air lifting the vehicle the injured tire had to be demounted from wheel rim to cover the injuries from both the inside and the outside of the tire which needs a professional grade of equipments and industry standard skill beyond an immediate roadside remedy. Although known to be an unacceptable repair by itself, rubber plugs have been used in an attempt to block punctured holes in the tire. However, it hardly becomes a good emergency remedy due to a tedious pretreatment required with respect to removal of the puncturing nails and such hazardous objects. Especially in harsh weather, it might be impossible to take time outside of the vehicle to follow the necessary steps recommended.
Other available quick remedies include aerosol inflators that contain fluid sealant under pressurized air that is injected into the tire through the tire valve. Although they are supposed to provide a temporary, emergency repair to help get the vehicle off the road traffic and to the nearest tire repair facility, they create an inconvenient remnant for the service personnel who must be informed of the use of such material to eventually remove it completely before starting a repair job. That might create an extra difficult job due to permeations of the liquid under the high tire pressure in the tire structure through the puncture path. Further, some aerosol products of this type use flammable gases, such as butane, propane or isobutene as propellants, which are the environmentally hostile and critically unsafe to the highly frictional tire component in a vehicle.
With these conventional methods, once the particular nail hole is temporarily blocked to hold air in the tire it might be easy to ignore the invisible injury until after the insufficient repair causes sudden tire failure at the end of continued air loss. To prevent such incident, there is also a need for a clear indicator to prompt a timely visit to a service station for proper repair.
So, the presently available solutions are more suitable to non-emergency situations where the vehicle is affordable to be towed to the service station. In the service station, the tire is supposed to be demounted from the wheel for inspection to determine whether a permanent repair is feasible compared to a replacement. In the first step to condition the tire for treatment, the damaging object must be removed as any remnants from emergency treatment are cleared from the unit body of tire. To be considered a permanent repair of a tire, a combination patch and plug has been recommended wherein a vulcanizing stem is used to fill the tire injury and the proper sized tire repair patch reinforces the inner liner of the tire.
Therefore, a practical temporary tire patch that is compatible to this standard practice is necessary to allow even the inexperienced vehicle owners to treat the vehicle punctures right for a safe long drive as well as a future permanent professional repair. Still, such patch treatment is advantageously visible to naked eyes to remind getting a professional repair in reasonable time for the safety of the driver and vehicle.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a combination of an external tire patch with a novel multi-needle hold and an extra sealing means that instantly envelops the puncture injury in a positive manner to provide a longer and safer containment of tire air over an extended temporary drive.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an emergency long drive patch for tire puncture that is easy even for a novice vehicle operator to apply and is more agreeable to the permanent repair through a cleaner removal compared to prior art aerosol inflators.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a self-contained tire emergency patch and applicator combined which is easy and safe to handle and cheap to make.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tire puncture patch that is clearly visible to prompt a timely visit to a service station for proper repair.


Microbes in a sample are identified by calculating similarities between a mass spectrum of the sample and reference mass spectra in a spectral library. The spectral library is divided into a hierarchy of sub-libraries where each sub-library contains reference mass spectra of microbes which are statistically the most prevalent in the samples, but are not included in other sub-libraries and all additional reference mass spectra in the library that have substantial similarity to the reference mass spectra of these microbes. Only if the search in a sub-library does not provide a hit with sufficient certainty of identification, is the search carried out in sub-libraries of higher stages.

The invention relates to the identification of microbes in a sample by calculating the similarities between a mass spectrum of the sample and reference mass spectra in large libraries. The routine fast and error-free identification of many samples of microorganisms plays an important role particularly in clinical and non-clinical infection diagnostics, in hygiene monitoring in hospitals or in rivers and lakes used for swimming, and also in food analysis, monitoring of biotechnological processes or in microbiological research. Microorganisms, here also called microbes for short, include all microscopically small organisms, for example unicellular fungi (e.g. yeasts), algae, or protozoa (e.g. plasmodia as malaria pathogens), although the focus of the identification is usually on bacteria. Viruses are also occasionally categorized as microorganisms, although in the strictest sense they are not true organisms because they have no metabolism.
Identifying microbes basically means determining their species and thus categorizing them in the taxonomic hierarchical scheme: domain (eukaryotes and prokaryotes), kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.
The practice of classifying microorganisms into species originates from a time when taxonomy was largely based on differentiating by means of biochemical reactions and, in many cases, it is imprecise and describes non-uniform phylogenetic units within the microorganisms. The conventional biological definition for distinguishing species from each other by the unlimited sexual reproductive ability of their members among themselves cannot, unfortunately, be applied to microorganisms. Modern methods of molecular biology therefore lead to many corrections in the assignment of species to the genera, and also to the introduction of new species and, in the case of bacteria, additional taxonomic classes below the species, e.g. subspecies. Furthermore, observations in medicine and cell biology have led to the insertion of serovars or serotypes, which are particularly distinguished by different types of attachment behavior at the cell membrane, but which do not constitute a separate species or subspecies. Microorganisms are collected worldwide in many places in the form of frozen or freeze-dried strains.
The identification of a microbe sample within the meaning of this text involves the determination of at least the genus, usually the species, and if possible the subspecies as well, or—in favorable cases—even the serotype or the strain. The strains of one species stored around the world can often be distinguished from each other using molecular biological methods, just as humans are different although they all belong to the same species.
In a more general sense an identification can also mean a characterization in terms of other properties, such as the pathogenicity of a microorganism (ability to cause disease) or the resistance of a microorganism to antibiotics, but this type of identification is only regarded here in a more general sense because many of these characteristics are directly linked, or often have at least a high statistical probability of being linked, with the species, subspecies, serovars or strains. The statistical linkage may even vary from location to location, sometimes from hospital to hospital.
The traditional identification of microorganisms in a sample under investigation requires the cultivation of colonies of the microorganisms. The "API tests" used in laboratory practice comprise different culture media for the cultivation, which can be used to detect specific metabolic characteristics of the microorganisms, thus allowing an initial, usually approximate, taxonomic classification of the microorganisms. Moreover, the microscopic morphology of individual organisms of a colony and the morphology of the colony itself are investigated. On the other hand, new molecular-biological identification methods based, for example, on a DNA or RNA sequence analysis after replication of specific genetic sequences by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), or on mass spectrometric detection of specific molecular cell components of microorganisms, have been known for some years. These new methods are superior to conventional methods in terms of specificity (true-negative rate), sensitivity (true-positive rate), other error rates and analytical speed.
The identification of bacteria by mass spectrometric measurements has been described in detail in the review by van Baar (FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 24, 2000, 193-219: "Characterization of bacteria by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and electrospray mass spectrometry"), for example. The identification is achieved by means of a similarity analysis between a mass spectrum of the bacteria to be identified and reference spectra of accurately known bacteria. During the similarity analysis, a similarity index is assigned to each of the reference spectra. This index characterizes the agreement between the reference spectrum and the mass spectrum of the sample. A bacterium can be classified as identified, for example, if the similarity index is significantly larger than the similarity index for all other reference spectra and also larger than a specified minimum value.
The reference spectra are usually collected in a library, which can contain not only reference spectra of bacteria, but also of other microbes, in order to identify not only bacteria, but also other species of microorganism.
Validation of a library of reference mass spectra requires every entry to be traceable and very accurately documented. The reference spectra are obtained from accurately characterized strains. Such strains of microorganisms are collected worldwide in governmental, public and private institutes, usually stored in the deep-frozen or freeze-dried state, and are available for scientific purposes. Microbiological research institutes frequently hold further strains of newly discovered species of microbe. The exact classification in the taxonomical hierarchy scheme is sometimes disputed, but this does not diminish the value of such strains, as long as the data are traceable. The exact taxonomical classification may be even improved by mass spectrometric means because the similarity indices reflect the relationship of microbe species and their belonging to genera and families.
The term "strain" describes a population which has been propagated from a single organism and identified with certainty in a laboratory of recognized reputation. Spectral libraries are compiled using strains whose identity and classification in the hierarchy system above is accurately known (even if occasionally disputed and subject to changes), i.e. which belong to a certain species of microbe, or, if available, a specific subspecies. Since the microbes are collected and stored in different places worldwide, there are also many strains worldwide which belong to the same subspecies. Although these strains are classified as the same subspecies, there are sometimes slight differences in the mass spectra, which indicate that there are individual differences (as is the case with animals or plants of the same species), such as the serotypes. The strains are marked by internationally agreed labels after the name of the species or subspecies. In contrast to the term "strain", a population which has been grown from a single organism in a microbiological laboratory, e.g. in the process of identification, is termed an "isolate".
The generation of mass spectra of the microbes usually starts with a cleanly isolated colony on a solid, usually gelatinous nutrient medium or a centrifuge sediment (pellet) from a liquid nutrient medium. A small swab, e.g. a wooden tooth pick, is used to transfer a tiny quantity of microbes from the selected colony or sediment to the mass spectrometric sample support. A strongly acidified solution of a conventional matrix substance is then sprinkled onto this sample, the matrix substance serving for a subsequent ionization by matrix-assisted laser desorption (MALDI). The acid of the matrix solution attacks the cell walls and weakens them; the organic solvent penetrates the microbial cells, causes them to burst due to osmotic pressure, and releases the soluble proteins. The sample is then dried by evaporating the solvent, which causes the dissolved matrix material to crystallize. The soluble proteins and to a minor extent other substances of the cell, are embedded into the matrix crystals.
There are borderline cases where the cell walls of the microbes are difficult to destroy or are not destroyed at all by the matrix solution. A slightly different type of digestion is then possible, where in addition to strong acids, sonication or mechanical treatment also helps to destroy the microbial cell wall. These digestions result in mass spectra which are very similar to those prepared in the usual way on sample supports. These digestion methods will not be discussed further here, however. The libraries of reference spectra may contain reference spectra for both preparation methods in parallel.
The sample preparations dried on sample supports, i.e. the matrix crystals with the embedded analyte molecules, are bombarded with pulsed UV laser light in a mass spectrometer, creating ions of the analyte molecules which can then be measured in the mass spectrometer, separated according to the mass of the ions. This type of ionization by matrix-assisted laser desorption is usually abbreviated to "MALDI" ("Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption and Ionization"). Usually, special MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometers are used for this purpose.
Nowadays, the mass spectra of the microbe proteins are scanned in the linear mode of these time-of-flight mass spectrometers, i.e. without using an energy-focusing reflector, because this gives a particularly high detection sensitivity, even though the mass resolution and the mass accuracy of the spectra from time-of-flight mass spectrometers are much better in the reflector mode. In the reflector mode, however, only around a twentieth of the ion signals appear, and the detection sensitivity is one to two orders of magnitude worse. The high sensitivity of the linear mode is based on the fact that not only the stable ions but also the charged and neutral fragments from so-called "metastable" decays of the ions are detected in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Secondary electron multipliers (SEM) are used to measure the ions, which means that the ion detector measures not only the unfragmented molecular ions and the fragment ions but also the neutral particles, because they also generate secondary electrons on impact. If a singly charged molecular ion fragments into five particles, for example, four of them are by necessity neutral particles. All the fragments that originate from one species of parent ion have the same speed as the parent ions and thus arrive at the ion detector at the same time. The time of flight is a measure of the mass of the originally undecayed ions.
The increased detection sensitivity is so crucial for many applications that one accepts many of the disadvantages of time-of-flight mass spectrometers in linear operation, such as a significantly lower mass resolution and also a reduced mass accuracy. The energy of the desorbing and ionizing laser is increased for these applications, something which increases the ion yield but also increases their instability, although this is of no consequence here.
The poor reproducibility of the desorption and ionization processes for the generation of the ions in a MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometer operated in linear mode means the masses of the individual mass signals shift slightly from spectrum to spectrum. These shifts in the mass scales of the repeat spectra with respect to each other can be readjusted using a method described in the document DE 10 2004 051 043 A1 (M. Kostrzewa et al.; GB 2 419 737 B; U.S. Pat. No. 7,391,017 B2), before the repeat spectra are combined to produce a reference spectrum. The mass scales of sample and reference spectra can also be aligned with each other by this mass scale adjustment program. This means that smaller mass tolerance intervals can be used to determine matching mass signals during the similarity analysis, which is decisive for a good identification, even if it takes some time.
The mass spectrum of a microbe isolate is the frequency profile of the mass values of the ions. The ions here are predominantly protein ions, in most cases ions of ribosomic proteins. The mass spectra are usually acquired in the mass range from 2,000 to 20,000 atomic mass units; the most useful information for identifications is found in the mass range from around 3,000 atomic mass units to 15,000 atomic mass units. The reduced resolution means the mass signals of the different isotopic compositions of the ions in this mass range are no longer resolved individually; instead, each isotope group forms a single fused mass signal. The protein ions in this method are usually only singly charged (charge number z=1), thus we can simply refer to the mass m of the ions here, instead of using the more accurate term of the "charge-related mass" m/z, as is actually necessary and conventional in mass spectrometry. Only occasionally mass signals of doubly charged ions occur in the mass spectra of microbes; but as these mass signals are treated like all the others without any difference whatsoever, there is no need to distinguish between singly and doubly charged ions.
Every laser light pulse produces a single mass spectrum, but one which contains the signals of only a few hundred to a few thousand ions. In order to obtain more reliable and less noisy mass spectra, a few tens to a few hundreds of these individual mass spectra are added together to form a sum mass spectrum. The individual mass spectra here can preferably originate from different parts of the sample preparation or even from different sample preparations. The term "mass spectrum of a microbe", or more simply "microbe spectrum", shall always denote this sum mass spectrum.
The profile of the proteins of this microbe spectrum is very characteristic of the species of microbe in question because each species of microbe produces its own, genetically predetermined proteins, each having their own characteristic masses. The abundances of the individual proteins in the microbes, in as much as they can be measured mass spectrometrically, are also largely genetically determined because their production is controlled by other proteins, and the abundances depend only slightly on the nutrient medium or the degree of maturity of the colony. The protein profiles are characteristic of the microbes in the same way that fingerprints are characteristic of humans.
Reference spectra for spectral libraries are generated by first producing colonies or centrifuge sediments of microbes of specific, accurately documented strains and then acquiring mass spectra from them. A large number of sum mass spectra are always acquired for a reference spectrum; they are termed repeat spectra here. Mass spectra of microbes usually contain around 50 to 200 separate mass signals, but many of them are pure noise because the search for mass signals is set to high sensitivity. The reference spectra are therefore usually reduced to a maximum of 70 or 100 mass signals, for example; specialists consider even a limit of 50 mass signals to be sufficient. The information content of a mass spectrum with 50 mass signals in the mass range between 3,000 and 15,000 atomic mass units, where even at reduced mass resolving power far more than 2,000 distinguishable mass signals can occur, is already incredibly high, without taking account of the intensity differences (close to 2,00050≈10155 patterns can be distinguished from each other). For the restriction to 70 or 100 mass signals, the repeat spectra are initially combined to give an average spectrum very rich in signals before first deleting all mass signals which occur only a few times in the repeat spectra, and then deleting the mass signals with very low intensities until the desirable maximum number of mass signals remains.
The mass spectra of the microbes to be identified, called "sample spectra" below for short, are usually generated in a similar way from repeat spectra and limited to a predetermined number of mass signals in order to exclude noise signals as best as possible. This number of mass signals in these sample spectra is usually selected to be slightly higher than the number of signals in the reference spectra.
There are different types of similarity analysis, which are also usually based on different forms of the reference spectra. The reference spectra can store many or few mass-spectrometric parameters for each mass signal, which has a great impact on the length of the reference spectra and thus on the size of the library.
The publication by Jarman et al., for example, (Analytical Chemistry, 72(6), 2002, 1217-1223: "An Algorithm for Automated Bacterial Identification Using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry") elucidates a computational method for the generation of reference spectra of a library and for similarity analysis between a mass spectrum of a sample under investigation (called "sample spectrum" here) and the reference spectra of the library. This method particularly utilizes the reproducibility of the individual mass signals when generating the reference spectra. For the similarity analysis of a sample spectrum, the method derives an individual index for every mass signal of every reference spectrum, indicating how well it matches the mass signal of the sample spectrum. Particular attention is paid to the agreement of the intensities, on the one hand, and a weighting resulting from the spread of the reference signals, on the other hand. The smaller the spread of the intensity for this mass signal (i.e. the better this mass signal can be reproduced), the higher this individual weighting index will be. Mass signals which have poor reproducibility receive a low individual weighting index. The individual weighting indices of the mass signals of the reference spectra thus obtained are then summed to derive a similarity index indicating how closely each reference spectrum matches the sample spectrum. The reference spectra in a library are then sorted according to the magnitude of the similarity indices. The result is a list, sorted according to similarities, which contains the designations of the microorganisms assigned to the reference spectra and the similarity indices.
This algorithm according to Jarman et al., which is only outlined here, requires that a reference spectrum contains the following values for the individual mass signals of the reference spectrum, which are ascertained from the repeat spectra: the averaged mass, the mean deviation of the averaged mass, the average intensity, the mean deviation of the average intensity and how frequently this mass signal occurs above background in the repeat spectra, as a percentage, i.e. its occurrence above the sensitivity threshold. It is usual here to taken into account only those signals in a reference spectrum which have a predetermined minimum percentage of occurrence.
In addition to the method by Jarman et al., several other types of identification algorithm and reference libraries have been elucidated in the literature, but they will not be dealt with further here.
As identification methods developed by the applicant's company show, significantly simpler mass spectrometric identification methods can also have a very high success rate. For example, in contrast to the method used by Jarman et al., it is expedient—for the acquisition of both the reference spectra and the sample spectra—if the spectra are generated under standardized conditions for the cultivation of the colony, the sample preparation and the mass spectrometric spectrum acquisition. This measure alone leads to an improved identification. There is then no need to store any of the mean deviations of mass values and intensity values in the reference spectra, which makes the library smaller and more practical, and makes the similarity analysis faster. A method for aligning the mass scales of the repeat spectra with respect to each other, which frequently show a slight mass shift, has already been dealt with above. Since many mass signals occur in only some of the repeat measurements, but can nevertheless contribute to the identification, it has proved expedient in many experiments with reference spectra simplified in this way to also record the occurrence rate of a mass signal. The occurrence rate gives the percentage of the repeat spectra in which this mass signal occurs. A mass signal then only has three entries: averaged mass, averaged intensity and occurrence rate.
In its simplest form, the method for the similarity analysis with these simplified reference spectra can consist in examining every reference spectrum to see how many of its mass signals agree in each case with those of the microbe spectrum within a specified mass tolerance. The number of these hits, divided by the number of mass signals in the reference spectrum is then an initial partial measure for the similarity; the number of hits divided by the number of mass signals in the microbe spectrum is a second partial measure. A third partial measure can be derived from the intensity similarity of the mass signals that agree. The product of the three partial measures gives the similarity index. A refinement can be introduced by counting each hit only with the occurrence rate of this mass signal, i.e. with a number which is possibly less than one.
This algorithm can be adjusted by an appropriate scale transformation to a maximum similarity index between measured and reference spectra, for example a maximum similarity index of 3.00 for identical spectra. It is even possible to transform the similarity indices in such a way that a similarity value of 2.00 can be considered to be a minimum requirement for an identification. In our experience, such a minimum requirement and a corresponding maximum value have a high psychological value for the acceptance of the method.
For this simple similarity analysis it is possible to develop an algorithm which calculates a similarity index for a reference spectrum in around five milliseconds, some of this time being taken up by the mass scale adjustment. An identification with the aid of a sample spectrum in a reference library containing around 3,500 reference spectra, as are available nowadays, requires around 15 seconds on normal computer servers. This time is compatible with acquisition times for the sample spectra which are achieved with pulsed lasers at 20 hertz repetition frequency, but today's mass spectrometers can acquire mass spectra at 1,000 hertz in a much shorter time.
The development of MALDI mass spectrometers is advancing apace; the first spectrometers with a 2,000 hertz laser shot frequency are already on the market. The acquisition time for sample spectra is decreasing to between one and three seconds. On the other hand, one can expect that the libraries will quickly grow to 10,000 reference spectra and more as further reference spectra are entered, while the development of higher speeds for PCs and computer servers is advancing only slowly. The computation times for the identification will therefore rapidly increase to around one minute and will thus no longer be compatible with the acquisition times. One solution (albeit expensive) to the problem consists in equipping mass spectrometers with multi-processor systems. It would, however, be a welcome development if methods for increasing the identification speed were available which, in combination with the simple computer systems currently in use, produce suitably short identification times.

Multi-stage search for microbe mass spectra in reference libraries


The present application relates to a breast pump system comprising a pump unit, an actuator for driving the pump unit, and a power supply for supplying electrical power to the actuator, and also to a method for use in such as system. An actuator speed regulating module is provided to drive the actuator at a first speed when the pump unit is turned on, and to continue to drive the actuator at a second speed higher than the first speed after a load on the actuator reaches a predetermined level.

Breast pumps are used by mothers to express breast milk at a convenient time, to be stored for later consumption by their child. The breast pump operates by generating a vacuum to mimic the feeding action of the child. Conventional breast pumps can be categorised as mechanical, in which a user manually operates a vacuum pump in order to generate the required vacuum, or electrical, in which a vacuum pump is driven by an electric motor. In electrical breast pumps, it is generally desirable to reduce a power consumption of the system, improve reliability of the system to avoid potential injury to a user, and reduce noise levels associated with the operation of the breast pump. High noise levels can prevent a mother from being able to relax and so the let-down reflex needed to ensure milk expression may be affected.
The invention is made in this context.
US 2008/009815 A1 discloses a closed-loop vacuum control system for a powered breast pump. The vacuum control system includes a source of vacuum for applying a vacuum to a milk collection kit. It also includes a device for setting the vacuum level to be produced by the source of vacuum to a preselected vacuum level. The vacuum control system further includes a sensor for sensing the actual vacuum level being produced by the source of vacuum during operation. A controller continuously compares the preselected vacuum level with the actual vacuum level. A proportional valve is also provided for adjusting the actual vacuum level to correspond to the preselected vacuum level. In this manner, the proportional valve can adjust the actual vacuum level in response to a signal from the controller.

Actuator control in a breast pump system


An image sensor comprises an active pixel sensor (APS) array, a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a ramp signal generator. The APS array has includes a plurality of pixels of arranged in a second order two-dimensional matrix, and wherein the APS array generates a reset signal and an image signal for each pixel of selected columns. The first ADC has includes correlated double sampling (CDS) circuits for each column of the APS array, and wherein the first ADC generates a digital code corresponding to the difference between the reset signal and the image signal using an output ramp signal that is applied to the CDS circuits for each column. The ramp generator generates the output ramp signal in which a low illumination portion and a high illumination portion have different slopes.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an image sensor and, more particularly, to a lossless non-linear analog gain controller in a CMOS image sensor (CIS) type image sensor.
2. Discussion of Related Art
CMOS image sensors are commonly used in portable cameras, digital still cameras, web cameras and the like to convert an image into a digital signal. The digital image signal that is output from the CMOS image sensor contains red, green, and blue image data. The digital image signal is processed to drive a display device such as a liquid crystal display.
A CMOS image sensor uses a correlated double sampling (CDS) method and uses a ramp signal to generate a digital signal from the difference between a reset signal and an image signal which are sampled according to the CDS method. That is, the CMOS image sensor picks up the difference between the reset signal and the image signal that varies based on illumination conditions, and generates a digital code corresponding to the difference. The digital code varies depending on the slope of the ramp signal under the same illumination conditions. To maintain constant luminosity or brightness under the same illumination conditions, the ramp signal has to be constant when the image acquired by the CMOS image sensor is displayed on a display device.
However, when the scene's dynamic range is equal to the sensor's dynamic range, a method of controlling an analog gain by keeping the ramp signal constant may cause data loss, for example, by saturating highlights when increasing the analog gain to brighten shadows.
Many CMOS image sensors have a pixel array which exhibits a linear response to light. Recently, sensors including non-linear analog pixels or smart pixels have been introduced to increase the dynamic range of the sensors. However, a log sensor suffers from excessive fixed pattern noise (FPN) when transistors in the pixel array are mismatched. Noise sensitivity and image quality may deteriorate since the CDS method cannot be used, due to the continuous operation of the log sensor. In addition, the pixel size becomes large due to the number of transistors in the pixel array.

Lossless nonlinear analog gain controller in image sensor and manufacturing method thereof


The current invention related to methods and systems for panning audio objects on multichannel loudspeaker setups. The invention relates to a method of processing an audio object along an axis, said audio object comprising an audio object abscissa and an audio object spread, for spatialized restitution thereof over a plurality of sound transducers, N in number, aligned along said axis; each of said sound transducers comprising a transducer abscissa; N being at least equal to two; said method comprising a plurality of steps.

Sound panning systems are typical components of the audio production and reproduction chains. They have been commonly found in cinema mixing stages for decades, more recently in movie theaters and home movie theaters, and allow spatializing audio content using a number of loudspeakers.
Modern systems typically take one or more audio input streams comprising audio data and time-dependent positional metadata, and dynamically distribute said audio streams to a number of loudspeakers which spatial arrangement is arbitrary.
The time-dependent positional metadata typically comprises three dimensional (3D) coordinates, such as Cartesian or spherical coordinates. The loudspeaker spatial arrangement is typically described using similar 3D coordinates.
Ideally, said panning systems account for the spatial location of the loudspeakers and the spatial location of the audio program, and dynamically adapt the output loudspeakers gains, so that the perceived location of the panned streams is that of the input metadata.
Typical panning system compute a set of N loudspeaker gains given the positional metadata, and apply said N gains to the input audio stream.
Numerous panning systems technologies have been developed for use in research or theatrical facilities.
Stereophonic systems have been known since Blumlein works, especially in GB 394325, followed by the system used for the Fantasia movie as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,298,618, along with other movie-related systems such as WarnerPhonic. The standardization of stereophonic vinyl discs allowed a large democratization of stereophonic audio systems.
An adaptation of content-creation systems, especially mixing desks, was then mandatory as they were only capable of monophonic sound mixing. Switches were added to consoles to direct sounds to one channel, or the two simultaneously. Such a discrete panning system was widely used until the mid-1960s, when double-potentiometer systems were introduced in order to allow a continuous variation of the stereophonic panning without degrading the original signal.
Based on the same repartition principle, the so-called surround panning systems were thereafter introduced to allow the distribution of a monophonic signal on more than two channels, for instance in the context of movie soundtracks where the use of three to seven channels is common. The most frequently encountered implementation, commonly called "pair-wise panning", consists of a double stereophonic panning system, one being used for left-right distribution, and the other for front-back distribution. Extending such a system to three dimensions, by adding a third panning system to manage up-down sound repartition between horizontal layers of transducers, is then trivial.
However, in some cases, one has to position a transducer between left-right or front-back positions, for example a center channel placed in the middle of the left and right channels and used for dialogue in movie soundtracks. This mandates substantial modifications of the stereophonic panning system. Indeed, for esthetical or technical reasons, it can be desirable to either playback a centered signal via the left and right channels, or via the center channel alone, or even via the three channels at the same time.
The emergence of object-based audio formats such as Dolby Atmos or Auro-Max recently required additional transducers in intermediate positions to be added, for instance along the walls of a movie theatre, in order to assure a good localization precision of said audio objects. Such systems are commonly managed by the so-called pair-wise panning systems mentioned above, in which transducers are used by pair. The use of such pair-wise panning systems can be justified, among other reasons, by the symmetry of the transducer set in the room. Coordinates used in such systems are typically Cartesian ones, and assume that transducers are positioned along the faces of a room surrounding the audience.
Other approaches were disclosed, such as Vector-Based Amplitude Panning (VBAP), an algorithm that allows computing gains for transducers positioned on the vertices of a triangular 3D mesh. Further developments allow VBAP to be used on arrangements that comprise quadrangular faces (WO2013181272A2), or arbitrary n-gons (WO2014160576).
VBAP was originally developed to produce point-sources panning on arbitrary arrangements. In "Uniform spreading of amplitude panned virtual sources" (Proc. 1999 IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, New Paltz, N.Y., Oct. 17-20, 1999), Pulkki presented a new addition to VBAP, multiple-direction amplitude panning (MDAP) to allow for uniform spread of sources. The method basically involves additional sources around the original source position, which are then panned using VBAP and superimposed to the original panning gains. If non-uniform spreading is needed, or more generally on dense speaker arrangements in the three-dimensional panning case, the number of additional sources can be very high and the computational overhead will be substantial. MDAP is the method used in MPEG-H VBAP renderer.
Similarly, in the context of three-dimensional panning methods, WO2014159272 (Rendering of audio objects with apparent size to arbitrary loudspeaker layouts) introduces a source width technique based on the creation of multiple virtual sources around the initial source, the contribution of which are ultimately summed to form transducer gains.
In "An optimization approach to control sound source spread with multichannel amplitude panning" (Proc. CSV24, London, 23-27 Jul. 2017), Franck et al. proposed another method for source width control, based on a convex optimization technique, this method reduces itself to VBAP in the absence of source width. Some virtual-source methods also involve a decorrelation step, such as WO2015017235.
Ambisonics, which are based on a spherical harmonics representation of a soundfield, have also been extensively used for audio panning (a recent example being given in WO2014001478).
The most important drawback in original Ambisonics panning techniques is that the loudspeaker arrangement shall be as regular as possible in the 3D space, mandating the use of regular layouts such as loudspeakers positioned at the vertices of platonic solids, or other maximally regular tessellations of the 3D sphere. Such constraints often limit the use of Ambisonic panning to special cases. To overcome these limitations, mixed approaches using, for example, both VBAP and Ambisonics have been disclosed in WO2011117399 and further refined in WO2013143934.
Another issue with Ambisonics is that point-sources are almost never played back by one or two speakers only: because the technology is based on a reconstruction of the soundfield at a given position or in a given space, for a single point-source a large number of speakers will emit signals, possibly phase shifted. While it theoretically allows for a perfect reconstruction of the soundfield in a specific location, this behaviour also means that off-centred listening positions will be somewhat suboptimal in this regard: the precedence effect will, in some conditions, make point-source perceived as coming from unexpected positions in space.
Other approaches have also been presented that are able to use totally arbitrary spatial layouts, for example Distance-Based Audio Panning (DBAP) ("Distance-based Amplitude Panning", Lossius et al., ICMC 2009). In "Evaluation of distance based amplitude panning for spatial audio", DBAP was shown to yield satisfactory results compared to third-order Ambisonics, especially when the listener is off-centred in regard to the speaker arrangement, and was also shown to perform very similarly to VBAP in most configurations.
The most prominent issue with DBAP is the choice of the distance-based attenuation law, which is central to the algorithm. As shown in US20160212559 a constant law can only handle regular arrangements, and DBAP has problems with irregular spatial speaker arrangements, due to the fact that the algorithm doesn't take the spatial speaker density into account.
Also presented was Speaker Placement Correction Amplitude Panning (SPCAP) ("A novel multichannel panning method for standard and arbitrary loudspeaker configurations", Kyriakakis et al., AES 2004). Both the DBAP and SPCAP methods only account for the metric between the intended position of the input source and the positions of the loudspeakers, for instance the Euclidean distance in the DBAP case, or the angle between the source and the speakers in the SPCAP case.
One of SPCAP advantages over the above discrete panning schemes is that it was originally developed to provide a framework for producing wide (non-point-source) sounds.
To this effect, a virtual three-dimensional cardioid, whose principal axis is the direction of the panned sound, is projected onto the spatial loudspeaker arrangement, the value of the cardioid function indirectly yielding the final loudspeakers gains. The tightness of said cardioid function can be controlled by raising the whole function to a given power greater or equal to 0, so that sounds with user-settable width can be produced.
The cardioid law proposed in Kyriakakis et al., AES 2004, is a power-raised law:
      r    =                  1                  2          d                                            (                      1            +                          cos                                            (                θ                )                                              )                d              ,      d    ∈          [              0        ,        1            ]      where d denotes the spread-related width, which is indicative of the spatial extent of the source with respect to the position of the source, and ranges from 0 to 1.

Processing method and system for panning audio objects


A gas flow monitoring system is disclosed that includes a plurality of first gas flow sensors. A primary probe transmitter is connected to the plurality of first gas flow sensors is configured to process data received from the plurality of first gas flow sensors to generate first gas flow data. A plurality of second gas flow sensors are connected to an ancillary probe transmitter and to the primary probe transmitter, where the ancillary probe transmitter are configured to process data received from the plurality of second gas flow sensors to generate second gas flow data. The primary probe transmitter further comprises a building automation system interface, and is configured to receive the second gas flow data from the ancillary probe transmitter and to transmit the first gas flow data and the second gas flow data to a building automation system.

Currently available gas flow measurement devices generate analog signals that are sent to an externally wired control panel. The externally wired control panel interprets analog values and calculates gas flow measurement values. The externally wired control panel communicates the calculated flow information to a building automation system digitally or through analog signal. If more than one flow measurement device is required to provide adequate representation of the flow at any given measurement location within the system, these devices communicate with a separate control panel. The control panel utilizes code to calculate a flow that is an average of all the sensors circuits at that location. Currently, the typical system utilizes one to four measurement devices per flow measurement location. Each device may have up to four sensor circuits, with a maximum of sixteen sensor circuits for a give location. These sixteen sensor points, located on up to four flow measurement devices, communicate to a separate remote control panel that calculate an average flow at the measurement devices over long lines, where the sensor signal data can be exposed to noise or other data corruption. The building automation system communicates with the separate control panel, and does not communicate with flow measurement devices individually.

Gas flow measurement system and method of operation


Techniques to perform bandgap circuit trimming that maximize the operating range and minimize the trimming time at which the bandgap will be accurate. A bandgap circuit output voltage may be trimmed by heating the circuit, supplying increasing input power to the bandgap circuit, and adjusting operational parameters of the bandgap circuit to generate a constant bandgap circuit output voltage. When the bandgap circuit output voltage may remain constant, a constant input power may be applied to the bandgap circuit and its output voltage may be adjusted to a predetermined voltage level.

A bandgap circuit or simply, "bandgap" is an electronic circuit that generates an output voltage that is approximately temperature-invariant. The reference voltage signal may also be termed a precision voltage signal. A bandgap circuit may be part of a larger integrated circuit (IC). In an IC, a bandgap circuit may provide reference voltages for other voltage-sensitive circuits within the chip. A bandgap circuit may be tuned or "trimmed" to generate a precision reference voltage signal for a predetermined operating temperature. Conventional trimming operations occur during IC manufacture and validation processes. Although bandgap circuits may be trimmed to provide a precise reference voltage, traditional trimming techniques are time-consuming, costly, and may only provide a limited temperature range wherein the bandgap's output voltage remains constant.
A trimming technique known as a "temperature trim" may involve heating a chip from a first temperature to a second temperature and adjusting the bandgap's output voltage at each temperature to provide the desired reference voltage. For a limited range of temperature values around the first and second temperature, the bandgap's output will be accurate. However, as the temperature diverges from the first and/or second temperature, the bandgap reference voltage may diverge in a non-linear manner away from the desired reference voltage. In turn, the voltage-sensitive circuits receiving the bandgap reference voltage may malfunction throughout such divergent temperature ranges.
Beyond bandgap reference voltage nonlinearity issues, temperature trimming requires physically heating each of a chip to perform the trim. Such trimming operations require ICs to be loaded into a machine and tested. Once the chip is heated to the desired temperature, then the reference voltage may be trimmed by performing a number of trimming operations. Thus, a temperature trim may require several seconds of time to heat and trim a chip to a desired bandgap reference voltage. Since trimming operations are prolonged, temperature trimming limits the number of ICs that can be manufactured per unit time. As the number of chips that must be trimmed increases, the time required to perform a temperature trim on the lot of chips may scale in kind.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for trimming a bandgap circuit that provides an increased temperature-invariance range for a bandgap reference voltage within a minimized trimming time.

System and method for power trimming a bandgap circuit


A multilayer ceramic capacitor may include: a ceramic body including a plurality of dielectric layers and having first and second main surfaces, first and second side surfaces, and first and second end surfaces; a capacitor part formed in the ceramic body and including first and second internal electrodes, the first internal electrode having a first lead exposed to the second main surface and the second internal electrode having a second lead exposed to the first main surface; resistor parts including first and second internal connection conductors formed on the same dielectric layers among the plurality of dielectric layers in the ceramic body; and first to fourth external electrodes, first and third connection terminals, and second and fourth connection terminals. The capacitor part and the resistor parts may be connected in series to one another.

The present disclosure relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor and a board having the same mounted thereon.
A multilayer ceramic capacitor, which is one of multilayer chip electronic components, is a chip shaped condenser mounted on printed circuit boards of various electronic products such as a display device, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), or the like, a computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, and the like, to serve to charge electricity or discharge electricity.
Since this multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) has advantages such as a small size, high capacitance, easiness of mounting, or the like, the multilayer ceramic capacitor may be used as a component of various electronic devices.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor may have a structure in which a plurality of dielectric layers and internal electrodes having different polarities are alternately stacked while being interposed between the dielectric layers.
Particularly, in a power supply device for a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer, or the like, voltage noise may be generated due to a rapid change in load current during a process of supplying low voltage.
Therefore, a multilayer ceramic capacitor has been widely used in the power supply device as a decoupling capacitor for suppressing voltage noise described above.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor serving as a decoupling capacitor needs to have low equivalent series inductance (ESL) in accordance with an increase in an operational frequency thereof. In order to decrease this ESL, a great amount of research has been conducted.
Further, in order to more stably supply power, the multilayer ceramic capacitor serving as a decoupling capacitor needs to have controllable equivalent series resistance (ESR) characteristics.
In the case in which an ESR value of the multilayer ceramic capacitor is lower than a required level, an impedance peak generated in a parallel resonant frequency due to the ESL of the capacitor and plane capacitance of a micro processor package may increase, and impedance in a series resonant frequency of the capacitor may excessively decrease.
Therefore, in order to allow a user to implement flat impedance characteristics of a power distribution network, ESR characteristics of multilayer ceramic capacitor serving as a decoupling capacitor needs to be easily controlled.
With regard to the control of the ESR characteristics, a method of using a material having high electrical resistance in external and internal electrodes may be considered. The method of changing a material as described above may provide high ESR characteristics while maintaining a low ESL structure according to the related art.
However, in the case of using the material having high resistance in the external electrode, a localized heat spot causing a current crowding phenomenon may be generated due to pin holes. Further, in the case of using the material having high resistance in the internal electrode, in order to match the material with a ceramic material in accordance with an increase in capacitance, the material used for the internal electrode also needs to be continuously changed.
Therefore, since an existing method for controlling ESR has disadvantages as described above, research into a multilayer ceramic capacitor capable of controlling the ESR has been still required.
In addition, in accordance with the recent trend toward the rapid development of a mobile terminal such as a tablet personal computer (PC), an ultra book, or the like, a micro processor also has been miniaturized and highly integrated.
Therefore, an area of the printed circuit board has decreased, and in a similar manner, a mounting space of the decoupling capacitor has been limited, such that a multilayer ceramic capacitor capable of satisfying the limited mounting space has been still required.

Multilayer ceramic capacitor and board having the same mounted thereon


A magnetic recording medium excellent in running properties, durability and shelf stability. The magnetic recording medium has a magnetic layer of a ferromagnetic metal thin film formed over at least one surface of a non-magnetic base, with or without an inorganic protective layer formed on the magnetic layer. A surface layer consisting essentially of a salt of a phosphoric alkyl ester compound with an alkylamine compound, which is represented by the following formula (1) or (2), and a fluorine-containing carboxylic acid ester compound is provided on the magnetic layer or on the inorganic protective layer: ##STR1## where: R.sup.1 and R.sup.2, which may be the same or different from each other, are a hydrocarbon or fluorinated hydrocarbon group having from 2 to 26 carbon atoms; R.sup.A, R.sup.B, R.sup.C and R.sup.D are hydrogen, or a hydrocarbon or fluorinated hydrocarbon group having not more than 26 carbon atoms; and m is 1 or 2.

The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium having a ferromagnetic metal thin film as a magnetic layer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a ferromagnetic metal thin film type magnetic recording medium which is made excellent in running properties, durability and shelf stability by specifying the structure and composition of a lubricant which is to be present on a protective film formed on the magnetic layer.
Magnetic recording mediums, e.g. magnetic tapes, floppy disks, etc., are commonly coated at the magnetic layer surface thereof with a lubricant to improve lubrication between the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head and to enhance the running durability of the magnetic recording medium.
With the achievement of high recording density, the magnetic layer surfaces of magnetic recording mediums have become smoother. Further, magnetic recording mediums are used under various environmental conditions, and information recorded thereon are usually stored for a long period of time ranging from several years to several tens of years. Accordingly, magnetic recording mediums are demanded to have running durability and shelf stability under a wide variety of environmental conditions. Under these circumstances, conventional lubricants have become unable to exhibit satisfactory effect.
Further, small-sized video tape recorders such as cam coders, i.e. video tape recorders having a camera integrated therewith, and 8-mm video tape recorders are often used outdoor. Therefore, magnetic recording mediums are demanded to endure use in a wide range of environmental conditions.
To improve the density of magnetic recording on video tapes and magnetic disks in conformity to future developments of high-definition television, digital recording, etc., metal thin film type magnetic recording mediums which use a ferromagnetic metal thin film as a magnetic layer, and which are useful for high-density recording have been expected. However, in a metal thin film type magnetic recording medium, the magnetic layer is protected by only an extremely thin metallic oxide layer. Therefore, it has been demanded to provide a lubricant layer material which is capable of not only ensuring running properties and durability but also markedly improving shelf stability of ferromagnetic metal thin film type magnetic recording mediums.
In particular, ferromagnetic metal thin film type magnetic recording mediums are being improved so as to enable achievement of higher-density recording by smoothing the surface and also changing the composition of the magnetic layer from CoNi--O to Co--O or Co--Fe that contains Co--O, etc. so as to attain high Bm. With the conventional metal thin film type magnetic recording mediums that have a high cobalt content, however, it has heretofore been difficult to obtain stable running properties, favorable durability and corrosion resistance.
Hydrocarbon- or fluorine-containing lubricants which have various structures, and which are excellent in lubricating performance have been examined as being lubricants for metal thin film type magnetic recording mediums, and it is known that an organic fluorine compound having a hydrophilic functional group in a molecule thereof is capable of improving running durability to a considerable extent.
However, even if a lubricant having excellent characteristics is used, a smooth metal thin film type magnetic recording medium having improved electromagnetic transducing characteristics suffers from the problem that the lubricant attached to the surface of the magnetic layer is gradually lost because of repeated sliding movement, resulting in deterioration of the characteristics.
One approach that has heretofore been made to improve the characteristics is to use a lubricant having various polar groups in a molecule thereof. For example, Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication Number hereinafter referred to as "JP(A)"! 59-119537 and Japanese Patent Application Post-Examination Publication Number hereinafter referred to as "JP(B)"! 4-50644 disclose a technique in which a carboxylic acid, an ester, a phosphoric ester, etc. are used. JP(A) 4-274017 and 4-372716 disclose the use of an alkylamine salt of a carboxylic acid and an alkylamine salt of phosphonic acid. However, the disclosed techniques involve the problem that repeated running durability at low temperature is inferior. Accordingly, there have also been made many studies to improve the characteristics by using two or more different kinds of lubricant in combination.
JP(A) 62-141625 discloses the use of a carboxylic acid and a fluorine-containing ester in combination. With this method, the repeated running durability at low temperature can be markedly improved in comparison to a case where each lubricant is used alone. However, the magnetic recording medium using a carboxylic acid and a fluorine-containing ester in combination has the problem that it is inferior in corrosion resistance, particularly shelf stability under high-temperature and high-humidity environmental conditions.
Further, JP(A) 4-205712 proposes a method in which a lubricant layer is formed from two different kinds of lubricant, and in which the amounts of lubricant at the magnetic layer side and at the back coat layer side are specified. With this method, however, no satisfactory lubricating properties can be obtained.
JP(A) 57-29767, 58-188326, 60-63711, 60-63712, 62-209718 and 01-211215 disclose a method in which a lubricant is applied to a back coat layer provided on the side of a magnetic recording medium which is reverse to the side thereof on which a magnetic layer is formed, thereby enabling the lubricant to be appropriately supplied from the back coat layer to the magnetic layer surface where the lubricant is gradually lost by sliding movement. Such a coating method enables an improvement in repeated running durability. However, when a lubricant is coated on only the back coat layer, durability is difficult to ensure; when a lubricant is coated on both the back coat layer and the magnetic layer, a surplus of lubricant is inevitably present on the magnetic layer. Consequently, the coefficient of static friction rises, giving rise to problems such as undesired sticking of the magnetic recording medium.
In terms of corrosion resistance, which is a problem in practical use of magnetic recording mediums that use a ferromagnetic metal thin film as a magnetic layer, the required corrosion resistance cannot sufficiently be ensured by only a fluorine-containing lubricant having a polar group in a molecule thereof. Accordingly, it has been proposed to use such a lubricant in combination with a rust preventive. However, it has heretofore been difficult to ensure the required corrosion resistance by the combined use of a lubricant and a rust preventive that are selected from those which are generally known.
Under these circumstances, attempts have recently been made to improve durability and corrosion resistance by providing a protective film on the magnetic layer of a magnetic tape as well as a magnetic disk. Among various protective films, a carbon film, which is represented by a diamond-like carbon film, has become of major interest as a protect film because it has a high hardness and is unlikely to seize to a sliding member under all environmental conditions. However, when such a carbon protective film is used alone, the coefficient of friction is raised by repeated sliding movement, resulting in breakage of the film. Therefore, it is a common practice to coat a lubricant having a polar group on the protective film. For example, JP(A) 5-151559 discloses a magnetic recording medium in which a long-chain alkylsilane compound is applied to the surface of a carbon protective film. However, under low-temperature and low-humidity environmental conditions, the required lubricating performance cannot satisfactorily be ensured by only a long-chain alkylsilane compound, and it is likely that the protective film will be broken as a result of the rise of the friction coefficient.
Thus, it has been demanded to develop a magnetic recording medium which has the coefficient of friction stabilized at a low level, and which is excellent in still durability, repeated running durability and corrosion resistance and capable of high-density magnetic recording in particular.


The invention includes a method of forming a structure over a semiconductor substrate. A silicon dioxide containing layer is formed across at least some of the substrate. Nitrogen is formed within the silicon dioxide containing layer. Substantially all of the nitrogen within the silicon dioxide is at least 10 Å above the substrate. After the nitrogen is formed within the silicon dioxide layer, conductively doped silicon is formed on the silicon dioxide layer.

There are numerous applications in semiconductor processing in which it is desired to form conductive layers over oxides. For instance, transistor structures frequently comprise conductive layers formed over silicon dioxide (commonly referred to as a gate oxide). In some instances, the conductive materials comprise conductively doped silicon, and in such instances dopant can occasionally migrate through the oxide into an underlying substrate. In particular transistor devices, such dopant migration can be problematic. For instance, PMOS devices comprise an n-type channel region underneath a gate oxide, and can comprise p-type doped silicon over the gate oxide. If p-type dopant migrates from the silicon, through the oxide, and into the underlying substrate it will change the doping within the n-type channel. Such change can affect, and even destroy, electrical properties of the transistor. Accordingly, it can be desired to alleviate dopant migration relative to PMOS devices.
In contrast to the above-discussed problems which can be associated with PMOS devices, dopant migration is typically not problematic relative to NMOS devices. However, NMOS devices can have their own associated problems. For instance, it can be desired to form gate oxide for NMOS devices which is thicker than that utilized for PMOS devices. Such can be problematic in semiconductor wafer processing, in that both NMOS devices and PMOS devices are frequently formed over the same wafer. It would be desired to develop methodology which enables different gate oxide thicknesses to be associated with different transistors on the same wafer, and in particular applications desired to develop methodology to enable NMOS transistors to have thicker gate oxide than PMOS transistors.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of forming a structure over a semiconductor substrate