A resource point game mechanic includes a plurality of game components, at least some of which have a resource point value. Each game component is in a state such as an “in play” state or an “out of play” state. Resource points according to the resource point value are accumulatable by a player transitioning one of the game components from the “out of play” state to the “in play” state. Preferably, the resource points are spendable on benefits/chances/penalties. An alternative preferred embodiment of the present invention is a method for using a game mechanic in which each player obtains a plurality of game components having a resource point value, then each player, in turn, transitions at least one of the game components from an “out of play” state to an “in play” state, and then each player accumulates resource points according to the resource point value by the step of transitioning.

The present invention is directed to a new game mechanic for a game, and particularly to a new game mechanic in which resource points are accumulated by putting a game component such as a card into play in a game such as a trading card game.
For thousands of years history has recorded that man has been player of both physical and mental games. Ancient civilizations played simple games such as tic-tac-toe. More complicated games were developed as civilization progressed. Board games (e.g. chess and monopoly) and card games (e.g. gin rummy and poker) remain extremely popular. Newer games (e.g. fantasy and role-playing games) have also been developed and become popular. With the advent of computers and the internet, some of these games may now be played virtually "online."
Games are generally made up of one or more physical or virtual game components (e.g. a board, pieces, tokens, dice, or cards), a plurality of rules of play (e.g. how to set up, how to get points, how to move pieces, or how to win), and a plurality of game mechanics. Exemplary low-level game mechanics include rolling dice, spinning a spinner, drawing cards, capturing pieces, and any means for advancing play. High-level game mechanics (hereinafter referred to as "game mechanics") may be more complicated or may include a series of rules (often the core rules) that are used to advance play or define how a game proceeds. For example, MONOPOLY® has the game mechanics of purchasing "properties" as game pieces land on the properties, collecting a "set" of properties, building improvements on sets of properties, and charging "rent" to other players whose game pieces land on the properties. As another example, chess has the game mechanic of moving game pieces in predetermined patterns to capture the other player's game pieces. In football, a game mechanic might be that a team loses possession of the ball after failing to advance 10 yards in 4 downs.
Trading card games exemplify one of the newer types of game genres. In typical trading card games, each player has a deck of trading cards that are compiled from sets of trading cards that are available for purchase. Players purchase, trade, or otherwise acquire trading cards to form a collection of trading cards. Each player selects the cards with which he wishes to play and thereby constructs his deck from the totality of trading cards in his collection. Each player draws an initial "hand" of trading cards by shuffling his deck and drawing a plurality of random trading cards. Each player executes in turn a sequence of actions including, for example, drawing, playing, and discarding trading cards in accordance with the rules of play and using game mechanics until the game ends.
Players of trading card games use the trading cards in their decks in a series of conflicts. Although given different names, there are usually different types of trading cards in the deck including, but not limited to, character cards, enhancing cards (providing energy, resources), and variation cards (providing spells, training, situations, challenges, goals, or other situations). In some cases cards may exhibit traits of one or more of the different types of trading cards. For example, "attachments" may be either an enhancing card or a variation card. The trading cards have different characteristics that make them "valuable" in certain situations. For example, the character cards generally have a cost characteristic (how many enhancing cards it takes to use the character card), an offensive characteristic (how much damage the character card can inflict when it attacks during a conflict), and a defensive characteristic (how much damage the character card can withstand during a conflict). Each player also generally has a separate "player life score" that may be reduced and/or increased based on the results of a conflict or based on the playing of variation cards. The object of the game is generally to be the first to reduce an opponent's player life score to zero (0). Alternative winning conditions (e.g. accumulating a predetermined number of goal cards) are possible.
The original trading card game is MAGIC: THE GATHERING®. The "MAGIC" game begins with each player putting his deck into a library stack and drawing a plurality of trading cards (e.g. seven (7)) from his library stack. MAGIC's trading cards can be divided into three basic categories: character/creature cards, enhancing/land/manna cards, and variation/sorcery cards. Enhancing/land/manna cards provide resources that allow character/creature cards and variation/sorcery cards to be brought into play. To "pay" for putting a character/creature card or a variation/sorcery card into play, you must "tap" (turn sideways) enhancing/land/manna cards that equal the "mana cost" (the cost characteristic) of that character/creature or variation/sorcery that is indicated on the character/creature card or variation/sorcery card. More valuable characters/creatures and variation/sorcery cards usually cost more to bring into play. Each turn, a player "untaps" (turn straight) his tapped trading cards (if any are tapped), draws a trading card from his library stack, and plays one enhancing/land/manna card (if he has any and if he so desires to play the enhancing/land/manna card). If he has enough enhancing/land/manna cards (resources), he may tap the enhancing/land/manna cards and bring character/creature cards into play. After the turn in which a character/creature card is brought into play, it may be tapped to "attack" the opponent in a conflict. The power points (offensive characteristic) and the toughness points (defensive characteristic) of the character/creature cards in play determine the result of an attack. If the result of an attack is that a character/creature "dies," then it is sent to the "graveyard" which is a stack of cards that are out of play. The player may also play one or more variation/sorcery cards in the same turn as he attacks his opponent with one or more character/creature cards. It is significant that the enhancing/land/manna cards provide resources that are used to "pay" to bring character/creature cards and variation/sorcery cards into play and that the game mechanic that is used to show that the trading card is being used is tapping.
YU-GI-OH!™ is a popular trading card game that was inspired by "MAGIC." There are differences between the games such as the terminology, types of cards (e.g. monster, spell, and trap cards), the numbers of points, terminology of the conflict (e.g. attacking an opponent v. dueling/battling with the opponent's character/monster cards), and the use of a side deck. Like "MAGIC," Yu-Gi-Oh! uses cards already in play to provide resources. Character/monster cards can be used as enhancing cards that are used to "pay" to bring character/monster cards and variation/spell cards into play. Yu-Gi-Oh! uses character/monster cards to pay "tribute" to tribute summon (put into play) higher level (the cost characteristic shown on the card by its "level") character/monster cards. Under some circumstances, Yu-Gi-Oh! may also use "equip spell cards" as a type of enhancing card to modify the strength of character/monster cards. Yu-Gi-Oh! also uses a tapping game mechanic to show how the trading card is being used. For example, in Yu-Gi-Oh! the tapping of a character/monster card determines whether it is in attack position or defense position. The attack points (offensive characteristic) and the defense points (defensive characteristic) of the character/monster cards in play determine the result of a conflict.
POKEMON® is another popular trading card game. POKEMON trading cards include character/basic/evolution cards, enhancing/energy cards, and variation/trainer cards. POKEMON uses enhancing/energy cards to provide resources that are used to "pay" for allowing the character/basic/evolution cards to attack. The cost characteristic of a character/basic/evolution card is shown as the attack cost. The attack damage points (offensive characteristic) and the hit points (defensive characteristic) of the character/basic/evolution cards in play determine the result of a conflict. POKEMON uses a tapping game mechanic to show special characteristics applied to character/basic/evolution card. For example, in POKEMON the tapping of a character/basic/evolution card may show that the pokemon is asleep, confused, and/or paralyzed.


Example DC-DC converters include a housing having at least two bullet terminals. The at least two bullet terminals are configured to mate with corresponding terminals in a DC bullet breaker panel. The converter also includes a DC-DC voltage converter circuit coupled between the at least two bullet terminals, and a controller coupled with the DC-DC voltage converter circuit. The controller is configured to control the DC-DC converter circuit to convert a DC input voltage at a first one of the at least two bullet terminals to a different DC output voltage at another one of the at least two bullet terminals. Methods of converting DC voltages using DC-DC converters having bullet terminals are also disclosed.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Wireless service providers use power radio equipment located on radio towers at various heights. Due to a cable loop length from a power system to the radio equipment, a DC voltage at the radio equipment is reduced, and the DC voltage also decreases during an AC outage (due to battery discharge). Wireless providers often deploy a stand-alone DC-DC converter system connected to an existing −48 VDC rectifier/battery plant to increase the DC output voltage to the radio equipment to allow the radio equipment to sustain operation during an outage, and to reduce the size of the cable feeding the remote radio equipment. In addition, distributed antenna system (DAS) providers sometimes deploy a stand-alone Class 2 circuit converter system that limits each circuit to 100 W. However, the installation of stand-alone converter systems requires considerable extra expense as well as extra rack space.


Disclosed is a message display method in a mobile communication terminal, which includes the steps of receiving a message, detecting message information from the received message, and displaying detected caller information on LCD by a scroll system. The present invention scrolls message information or message contents on an internal or external LCD automatically r selectively so that a user enables to check a sort of message and caller through an LCD window in direct without manipulating a message check key. Moreover, when receiving a message, the present invention enables to check message contents by a least key manipulation, and particularly, carry out all operations relating to a message using only one hot key for a user's convenience.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to a method of displaying messages in a mobile communication terminal.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, a mobile communication terminal(hereinafter abbreviated terminal) provides a receive message alarm function informing a user of the received voice and character messages by displaying count or icon on an upper part of an LCD screen.
The message receive alarm function, which may differ in communication service providers, displays, as shown in FIG. 1(a), an icon or the count of message(s) on an upper part of an LCD screen when receiving a message. For instance, if three character messages are received, 'character: 3' is displayed. If two voice messages are received, 'voice: 2' is displayed. In this case, when 'message receive sound' is set up, a specific melody is outputted the moment receiving the message so as to inform a user of 'message receive'.
When the user presses a message check key, as shown in FIG. 1(b), three submenus are displayed. When the user selects one of the displayed submenus, ex. 'character message', as shown in FIG. 1(c), a list of the messages having been received so far is displayed on the LCD screen.
Subsequently, the user selects his favorite one in the message list using a move key. When a specific character message is selected, as shown in FIG. 1(d), message contents, originator's phone number, etc. are displayed in detail on the LCD screen. If the message contents are too long, the message contents are scrolled by pressing the move key.
The user then stores/deletes the received message and the species/count of the messages in/from a phone book using a store/delete key.
However, only received time and count of messages are displayed on the LCD screen in the related art, whereby a receiver is unable to recognize the originator's detailed information(caller, caller ID, and phone number). Namely, if an originator tries to check the detailed information about the message, the detailed menu has to be checked through a function menu such as an electronic note and the like.
And, the related art has to carry out key manipulation at least five times when receiving a message so as to check the message contents.
Moreover, the related art has to carry out troublesome check, select, and store message steps using a plurality of different keys when handling a message.
Furthermore, the related art using a folder type terminal has troubles in unfolding the terminal and checking the messages on the LCD screen one by one through key manipulations.

Message display method in mobile terminal


An architecture for a multimedia peer-to-peer home network allows the automated definition of peer groups, or zones, by using group labels, where each peer is capable of automatically identifying whether other peers are members of the same group, or of another group, and where each peer may freely cooperate with other peers of the same group, e.g. exchange information or share resources like storage capacity. Using this architecture, it is e.g. possible that a user who is accessing a node within a peer group has also access to any other node of the peer group, without being requested for authentication. Another characteristic is that other peer groups can be defined which have access rights to network resources and services. Advantageously, the invention simplifies network creation and operation by not requiring the user to have special networking knowledge.

In computer technology it is well known to build up a network of connected devices for exchanging data and sharing hardware resources. The separate devices are commonly called nodes. At the time being, nodes are usually computers, but can be other technical devices, and their interconnections are mainly electrically, optically or wireless radio connections. Networks can be classified as being based on either client-server or peer-to-peer (P2P) architectures. In P2P based networks a node is also referred to as a peer. While in client-server architectures each node is defined to be either client or server, there is no such differentiation in P2P networks. Instead, peers include both, server and client functionalities. P2P technology enables each node to be capable of providing services or resources to any other node in the network, or use services or resources provided by any other node in the network.
P2P networks are usually not restricted to any special applications or underlying network topologies, but can be understood as a set of nodes, or peers, which rely on certain sets of specific protocols. It is characteristic for a P2P network that the peers communicate directly with other peers, so that no central network organization is required. Most P2P networks support that peers can be connected to the network or disconnected from the network at any time.
The mentioned P2P protocols are required for basic network organization, such as e.g. discovery of other connected peers, offering own services or resources to other peers (advertising), understanding other peers' advertising messages, or allocating connection capacity for establishing certain connections to other peers. Also, there are protocols that enable a group of peers to cooperate, and thus form a peer-group. Such peer-groups are usually used for providing a common set of services within the peer group. Nevertheless, the purpose of a peer-group is not generally defined. A peer belonging to a peer-group normally has access to, and can be accessed from, all other connected peers of the same group. Additionally, each peer may be a member of further peer-groups. For adding or removing peers to or from a peer group, the user is always required to perform certain administrative activities.
Generally only authorized users have access to the peers, or to the peers' contents, or to released parts of the peers' contents, where authorization of the user is achieved by a user-specific key, either physical or virtual secret key, e.g. password.
Since peers must be regarded as individuals, it is necessary that each peer can be unambiguously addressed by using an identifier. Usually a peer is addressed by using a unique label, e.g. a so called Universal Unique Identifier (UUID).
When peers form a peer-group, the peer-group as such usually gets a dedicated label, e.g. UUID, which can be used for identifying the members of the group. The described peer-to-peer networks and mechanisms are in a detailed manner published e.g. in WO 02/057917 A2.

Method for creating a peer-to-peer home network using common group label


A hyperbaric oxygen chamber, comprising two pressure vessel heads connected by a cylindrical wall wherein the diameter of the cylindrical wall permits a patient to sit within the chamber and permits the chamber to fit through a standard double door opening in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the wall.

This invention relates to chambers for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Hyperbaric oxygenation is a mode of medical treatment in which the patient is entirely enclosed in a pressure chamber breathing oxygen at a pressure greater than one atmosphere.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy began during the 1930's with Navy studies on the use of oxygen to more rapidly decompress divers and to treat those divers suffering from decompression sickness. Since that time, studies on the efficacy and proper utilization of hyperbaric oxygen therapy have greatly expanded the role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in modern medicine.
Besides being essentially the only accepted treatment for decompression sickness, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has also become accepted as a primary or adjunctive therapy for decubitus ulcers, radiation necrosis, acute carbon monoxide poisoning, acute gas embolism, gas gangrene, refractory osteomyelitis, crush injuries with acute traumatic ischemia, acute cyanide poisoning and acute cerebral edema. Furthermore, studies are presently being conducted to determine the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of thermal burns, bone grafting, acute carbon tetrachloride poisoning, fracture healing, multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia and numerous other conditions.
The cost of hyperbaric oxygen therapy limits its use in treating the conditions for which hyperbaric oxygen therapy has proved to be effective, and drastically limits the scope of studies into further potential benefits from hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Typically, a patient undergoes hyperbaric oxygen therapy for a period of about an hour while lying within a mono-place chamber pressurized with pure oxygen, or while sitting or standing within a multi-place chamber pressurized with compressed air while breathing pure oxygen through a mask.
Mono-place hyperbaric oxygen chambers are generally elongate, horizontal cylinders pressurized with pure oxygen in which the patient must lie in the prone position. Although these mono-place chambers are considerably less expensive to construct and operate than the larger multi-place chambers, they are still relatively expensive. This is due to the expense involved in manufacturing an outwardly opening door mechanism which is capable of maintaining a proper seal while the chamber is pressurized and the cost of fabricating and maintaining the double-walled plastic cylinder used to form the chamber.
Mono-place hyperbaric oxygen chambers are also expensive to operate. Since patients are slid into the end of mono-place chambers on a gurney, the room used to house the chamber must be longer than the length of the chamber plus the length of the gurney. This space requirement typically makes it impractical for small clinics or individual physicians to administer hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
One of the major costs involved in treating a patient with hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a mono-place chamber is the cost of the oxygen. Since the entire mono-place chamber is pressurized with oxygen, and since the safety and comfort of the patient requires that the chamber be constantly ventilated, the minimum oxygen usage for such a chamber is about 240 liters per minute. However, since the only cooling typically available to offset the accumulation of body heat in the chamber is from the flow of oxygen in the chamber, oxygen usage is often as high as 500 liters per minute. The total oxygen environment of the mono-place chambers also necessitates the inclusion of variety of safety features. Substantial ventilation systems are required to ensure against carbon dioxide accumulation in the chamber. Furthermore, because of the increased flammability of most materials in a pure oxygen environment, there is always the potential for a catastrophic fire.
One example of a mono-place hyperbaric oxygen chamber is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,574, issued Jun. 28, 1971 to Mercer, in which an elongated tubular hermetically sealable casing having a pressure sealable door at each end and a floor structure has internal supports for a patient's bed or litter. A similar example of a transportable hyperbaric chamber is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,798, issued Aug. 24, 1984 to Saxon et al., in which a cylindrical chamber is adapted to be temporarily connected to a deck chamber or other emergency chamber to receive an injured person.
Another approach is disclosed in PCT Publication PC/SE79/00011, issued Aug. 9, 1979 to Ingelstedt, et al., in which a pressure sealed, rotating chamber with a cylindrical pressure-tight door on one end is used to rotate a patient to a reclined or upright sitting position for the treatment of middle ear dysfunction.
Each of these examples has a disadvantage in that they use heavy, externally mounted pressure doors to seal the chamber. these doors are expensive to manufacture and difficult to mount and operate.
Other references consulted regarding structural features but not deemed pertinent to the present invention as claimed are U.S. Pat. No. 2,292,092, issued Aug. 4, 1942 to Shankweller ("Cabinet Cover") and U.S. Pat. No. 1,169,143, issued Jan. 25 1916 to Furlong ("Door").
Treatments in mono-place hyperbaric oxygen chambers are generally disliked by patients. The patients find it very uncomfortable to lie on their backs in the chambers for the long periods required by the therapy. In addition, to the physiological discomfort caused by the treatments, patients typically experience enhanced feelings of claustrophobia during the sessions.
Although multi-place chambers are significantly more comfortable than mono-place hyperbaric oxygen chambers, in that they permit the patient to sit or stand during the treatment session, these large chambers suffer many drawbacks. Due to the size of the chambers, they cannot be prefabricated and shipped to a facility, but must be custom fabricated on site. Typically, the large chambers also require a large support staff. Due to their size and the expense involved in their manufacture, multi-place chambers are only utilized at relatively large facilities, which deal with a large number of cases wherein hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the only accepted mode of treatment. Even at these facilities, the cost of each individual therapy session greatly limits the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
In view-of the foregoing, a need exists for a safe, comfortable mono-place hyperbaric oxygen chamber which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and operate.

Hyperbaric oxygen chamber, method, and door assembly therefor


Implementations of the present disclosure involve a system and/or method for minimum cost cycle removal from a directed graph. The system determines if a provided graph contains any cycles by assigning each vertex an integer value and comparing the integer values of vertices connected by an edge. When the value of a starting vertex is greater than an ending vertex, a cycle is present. The system then determines which edges may be removed in order to minimize the cost of breaking the cycle. The system generates a linear cost function that is equal to the sum of a cost to remove an edge multiplied by a corresponding binary variable. Constraints are generated to ensure that the result does not have any cycles. The system then solves for the minimum of the linear cost function by utilizing the constraints. The value of the binary variables may then be used to determine which edges to remove.

Software applications generally have a series of operations that are performed both sequentially and in parallel. Oftentimes, an operation will depend on a result from one or more other operations. Problems arise when a set of operations become interdependent on each other, where a first operation, directly or through intermediate operations, depends on the output of another operation, which in turn depends directly or through intermediate operations, on the first operation. These interdependencies can cause an application to fall into infinite loops where each operation is waiting for results from one or more other operations. These dependencies may be represented as a directed graph.
A directed graph is a structure containing a set of vertices, connected by edges that have a direction. Graph traversal is the process of visiting all of the vertices in the graph. The graph may be traversed by starting at one of the vertices and following the edges until each vertex that is reachable from that vertex has been visited. In the case of disconnected graphs, one may need to start traversal from various vertices. A cycle in a directed graph refers to a loop in the graph such that when traversing the edges away from a vertex, eventually we come back to the same node.
Referring to FIG. 1, a directed graph 100 is depicted. The directed graph includes three vertices 110, 115, 120 connected by three directed edges 125, 130, 135. The direction of each edge is indicated by an arrow at the end of each edge. The depicted graph 100 also forms a cycle starting at vertex A 110, traveling from vertex A 110 to vertex B 115 over edge AB 125, traveling from vertex B 115 to vertex C 120 over edge BC 130, and returning to vertex A 110 over edge CA 135.
In the context of software, vertex A (110) may signify a first operation, vertex B (115) may signify a second operation, and vertex C (120) may signify a third operation. The edges AB (125), BC (130), and CA (135) may signify dependencies between the operations. Thus, the first operation (vertex A) requires a result from the third operation (vertex C), the second operation (vertex B) requires a result from the first operation (vertex A), and the third operation (vertex C) requires a result from the second operation (vertex B). Thus, none of the operations can be completed because each operation is dependent on another operation resulting in an infinite loop.
Applications that fall into infinite dependency loops are often configured to automatically break out of these loops by removing a dependency (an edge in a graph) and accepting any repercussions caused by removing the dependency. In many instances, breaking a cycle does not cause an application to fail when run, but instead introduces inaccuracy into the analysis that the application was intended to perform. In cases where the options are for the application to be stuck in an infinite loop or for the application to produce a less accurate result, the less accurate result is the more desirable option.
Static timing analysis applications sometimes have issues related to dependency loops. Static timing analysis is related to computing the expected timing of a digital circuit. When designing a digital circuit, the designer must account for the various delays between different circuit elements so that the results of a series of operations in the circuit arrive at a destination at the correct time based on a clock signal. Since processing signals within a circuit may have dependencies on other signals, timing of the signals is critical. Similar to the hypothetical application above, the digital circuit may be depicted as a directional graph. In some cases, the digital circuit may have cycles leading to infinite dependency loops. In order to perform static timing analysis, the infinite loops must be broken at the expense of reduced accuracy.
Another example is in the field of datapath placement. A datapath includes a set of functional units connected to a system bus that operate to perform data processing operations. Similarly to the examples provided above, the datapath placement may include interdependencies between operations which may lead to loops if the function performing the operations needs to be placed in the direction of data flow, and if the data has a cyclic dependency. Again, by breaking the loop, a valid placement is obtained at the cost of increased inaccuracy of mimicking the data flow.
It is with these and other issues in mind that various aspects of the present disclosure were developed.

Method and apparatus for minimum cost cycle removal from a directed graph


The invention relates to a method for selectively detecting and/or quantifying superparamagnetic and/or ferromagnetic particles on analytes. The method is characterized in that a frequency component of magnetic fields (15, 18), which is generated due to the non-linearity of the magnetization characteristic curve of the particles, is measured at a mixing frequency. A device for selectively detecting and/or quantifying superparamagnetic and/or ferromagnetic particles on analytes comprises: a container (12) that contains particles, which are to be detected and/or quantified, on analytes; at least one oscillator (13, 16; 25) for generating frequencies of alternating magnetic fields (15, 18); at least one field generator (14, 17) for subjecting the analytes to alternating magnetic fields (15, 18); a magnetic field sensor (20) for measuring a response magnetic field (19) of the particles, and; at least one phase-sensitive detector (21, 23). These elements are configured in such a manner as to enable a frequency component of the magnetic fields (15, 18), which is generated due to the non-linearity of the magnetization characteristic curve of the particles, to be measured at a mixing frequency.

From the state of the art, detection processes with analytes by means of fluorochromes, enzymes or radioactive particles as so called markers for analytes are known. It is a drawback that the linear detection range of fluorescent markers or the sensitivity of enzymatic techniques are limited. Radioactive markers are problematical because of the need to provide radiation protection.
Bioassays on the basis of magnetic marking of analytes is therefore one alternative. The magnetic particles are comprised of an iron oxide core with a defined diameter of several tens of nanometers to several hundred nanometers. They have a biocompatible surface coating with which they can bond to the analytes, for example, to chemical substances, or to the surfaces of cells or viruses in a manner known per se.
Advantageously, such markers are stable, nontoxic and manipulatable by means of magnetic fields. Particles of iron oxide are superparamagnetic. The presence of magnetic particles in a sample volume can be determined by alternating field susceptometry. In the case of monodispersitates, i.e. a unitary particle size, the concentration of the particles can also be quantitatively determined.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,660 the detection of magnetic particles by means of susceptometry is known. In that case the magnetic susceptibility of an analyte is measured by means of a Maxwell bridge in the frequency range around 200 kHz. The measured electrical voltage on an output amplifier of the bridge is proportional to the susceptability of the solution. With constant particle size, the susceptibility is also proportional to the number of magnetic particles in solution.
The drawback is that this method is not selective. Indeed the magnetic susceptibility of concentrated nanoparticle solutions is high. However, immunoassay methods as a rule detect very small concentrations of biomolecules and consequently very small concentrations of magnetic marker particles. The resulting susceptibility of the solution is then very small and can hardly be distinguished from the susceptibility of a control solution or blank without magnetic particles. To increase the amplification at the output of the Maxwell bridge is hardly a usable solution to this problem because of parasitic effects like susceptibility variations in the sample vessel, the reagents and the laboratory environment as well as the spread in the output voltage give rise like thermal effects and electrical drifting of the components of the readout circuit interfere.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,585, the movement of magnetic particle samples to produce a low frequency modulation of the measurement signal using a qradiometric SQUID magnetic field detector is known. The drawback here is that signals from the sample holder and the sample vessel cannot be suppressed in this process.

Method and device for selectively detecting ferromagnetic or superparamagnetic particles


Regenerative torque is limited for a hybrid electric powertrain of a vehicle. A transmission controller determined torque limit is validated by a vehicle controller. The vehicle controller validates the torque limit using, individually or in combination, an actual status of a torque converter clutch, a detected status of the torque converter clutch, or a speed of the vehicle.

The present invention relates to a method of controlling torque in an automotive powertrain and in particular to a method of limiting torque during a regenerative mode of the automotive powertrain.
A hybrid powertrain of an automotive vehicle includes an electric machine. The machine may be operated in a propulsive mode where the machine rotates to produce a torsion force that propels the vehicle. Alternatively, the machine may be operated in a regenerative mode to brake the vehicle and produce an electrical charge that is stored in a battery. During the regenerative mode, a torque converter clutch may need to be locked to transmit kinetic energy through the powertrain to the machine. To facilitate opening the torque converter clutch when exiting the regenerative mode, a transmission controller may set a regenerative torque limit based on the status of the torque converter clutch.
However, the status of the torque converter clutch used by the transmission controller to set the regenerative torque limit may be less accurate than desired.

Limiting regenerative torque for a hybrid electric powertrain


A belt buckle system includes a belt buckle frame member having an internal shaft, a first elongated actuator member slidingly positioned within the internal shaft, and a first latch member positioned within the buckle frame. The latch member rotates between an extended position and a retracted position and has a latch portion that extends outward from the belt buckle frame when the first latch member is in the member extended position and wherein the latch portion of the first latch member is positioned within the frame when the latch member is in the retracted position. The first elongated actuator actuates to transition the first latch member between the extended position and the retracted position.

Conventional belt buckles or belt adjustment systems are limited in their ability to conform to a particular user's waist size. Belt adjustment systems conventionally secure a belt about a user's waist by relying on a series of spaced holes punched through an end of a belt. A hook of a belt buckle can be inserted through a hole to capture the end of the belt to secure the belt in a loop of a particular size. The spacing between each of the holes as well as the overall number of holes can vary for adjustment of belt size but is generally limited by the minimal material that must remain between the holes.
Conventional belt adjustment systems are limited to setting the size of the belt loop to discrete sizes based upon the spacing of the holes in the belt. If a user desires to set the belt to a loop size that is positioned between the holes in the belt, the user has to manually create an additional hole in the belt, which can be difficult and unattractive if not performed well. Alternately, the user must use the next smaller or next larger belt loop size relative to the desired size, which can be uncomfortable for the user.
To deal with these drawbacks, there are pinless belt buckle systems that use a ratcheting belt buckle that is removably attached to a belt. The buckle includes a clamp that clamps onto one end of the belt. There is a need for improved pinless buckle systems.


A data processing system having a host computer including a key manager, a control unit connected to the host computer, a data storage unit (such as a tape drive) controlled by the control unit, and data storage medium for storing data thereon to be written to or read from by the data storage unit. The key manager stores a data structure having at least one record having a volume serial number, as start location, a length entry, and a key for encrypting and decrypting data on the data storage medium. A data storage medium (such as data tape) is mounted on the data storage unit, and a volume recorded on the tape is retrieved. The control unit retrieves the data structure from the key manager and matches the volume serial number recorded in the retrieved data structure with the volume serial number retrieved from the data storage medium. It they match, the control unit passes to the data storage unit, commands to turn on or turn off encryption dependent upon the location where data is written by the data storage unit onto the data storage medium, or to turn on or turn off decryption dependent upon the location where data is read by the data storage unit from the data storage medium.

The current method of doing hardware tape encryption, and in the future, disk data encryption, requires that the entire volume be encrypted. This limitation poses a few problems since in many cases users will not require the entire data on a tape volume to be encrypted.
One of these problems is, when trying to recover complete systems where the tape device or the disk device needs to be IPL'd (Initial Program Load) or booted, the current procedure will require a non-encrypted tape or disk media device to be IPL'd or booted first to get enough of the operating system up and running to be able to interact with the key management system.
One drawback of the prior art is the requirement of having both an encrypted and non-encrypted tape volume. It is desirable to have even operating system data (such as supervisor passwords) to be encrypted. Additionally, media devices in servers today cannot IPL or boot an encrypted bootstrap program.
Another problem that this leads to is the fact that the users are required to purchase and manage more storage media devices, since the users don't have the ability to store both encrypted and non-encrypted data on the same storage device. One solution to this problem is just encrypting all data.
A drawback of this solution is that both encryption and decryption take time and may affect performance. It is desirable to only encrypt data that needs to be encrypted and not an entire volume each time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,498 issued Aug. 3, 1999 to Schneck et al. for SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING ACCESS AND DISTRIBUTION OF DIGITAL PROPERTY discloses a system for controlling access to data in which portions of the data are protected. FIGS. 20(b) and 21(b) show packaged data structures having non-secure regions 120, 122, 124 and an encrypted ancillary information region 126.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,187 B1 issued Jan. 1, 2002 to Kern et al. for STORAGE SYSTEM WITH DATA-DEPENDENT SECURITY discloses a host-independent storage facility that provides data-dependent security by storing a storage key in association with a storage region. In response to an application allocation command, the host issues a set-access-key command that identifies the protection type, the storage region to be protected, and the reference key to be used by the controller for gaining access to the associated region. Table 1 shows a storage use map that includes storage access region, reference access key, and operation parameter (write, read/write, no security). Allocated storage regions include disk sectors, disk tracks, disk "extents", volumes, address ranges, blocks, tape tracks, files, datasets, etc. (col. 7/23-29).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,526 B2 issued Dec. 2, 2003 to Nguyen et al. for NETWORK ATTACHED VIRTUAL DATA STORAGE SUBSYSTEMS discloses a network attached virtual data storage subsystem in which the networked storage manager (NSM) manages the allocation, configuration and security; the NSM controls file access or volume access as well as implementing data encryption/decryption within the control blocks.
US Patent Application Publication US 2002/0111133 A1 published Aug. 15, 2002by Wittkotter for DATA PROCESSING APPLIANCE discloses a key management system for a data file system in which each file of a volume data file has an individual key. Access to a selected file requires both the file key and the volume key.
US Patent Application Publication US 2003/0070083 A1 published Apr. 10, 2003 by Nessler for METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ENCRYPTION/DECRYPTION OF DATA ON MASS STORAGE DEVICE discloses a hard disk device that is divided into several independent isolated storage areas. A master boot record (MBR) is stored in one of the independent isolated storage areas; each of the remaining areas stores encrypted data where each area uses a different, independent key.
US Patent Application Publication US 2006/0272027 A1 published Nov. 30, 2006 by Noble for SECURE ACCESS TO SEGMENT OF DATA STORAGE DEVICE AND ANALYZER discloses a data storage device that can include both a secure portion and an insecure portion. The storage device is partitioned into at least two partitions. The insecure portion may be traditionally partitioned and store encrypted data as desired (Par. 33). There can be multiple secure portions and multiple insecure portions of the data storage device (pars. 41 and 44).
Deltacrypt OneClick Encryption Software, published on Tucows Inc. (Jul. 3, 2003), www.archive.org/details/tucows—241817_Deltacrypt_OneClick_Encryption_Software describes a file encryption program with RSA protected keys. The user is able to encrypt any file format without volume restrictions.

Mapping encrypted and decrypted data via key management system

International Business Machines Corporation


Device and method for displaying a current driving mode of a vehicle, at least one of several driving modes of the vehicle is an autonomous driving mode. The device includes a display unit having a light source and an imaging unit interacting with the light source. A first controller controls the light source. The first controller is configured such that it meets a first technical qualification with regards to a reliability or safety criterion. The first controller only activates the light source in the event of the current presence of the autonomous driving mode. A second controller controls the imaging unit, the second controller is configured such that that it meets a second technical qualification with regards to the reliability or safety criterion. The first technical qualification corresponds to a higher degree of reliability or safety with regards to the reliability or safety criterion than the second technical qualification.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a device for displaying a current driving mode of a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle that is set up for autonomous driving.
The term "autonomous driving of a vehicle" refers to a vehicle control device that completely autonomously or fully automatically controls the vehicle in a so-called "autonomous driving mode", without intervention by a driver. The term "autonomous driving mode" is presently identical to the term "fully autonomous driving mode". With such a vehicle, the longitudinal or transverse adjustment, in particular, for example, for driving on a road or for parking etc., is controlled in a completely automated manner by a central control unit of the vehicle in the autonomous driving mode.
In the "autonomous driving mode" understood in such a way, the responsibility for correct vehicle control or vehicle guidance thus lies with the central control unit of the vehicle and not with the driver. The driver can thus focus on other activities, for example reading a book, watching a film, having a discussion with other passengers, eating food etc.
To do so, the central control unit of the vehicle obviously has to meet correspondingly high reliability criteria and, where necessary, be designed to be repeatedly redundant.
Along with the "autonomous driving mode", such vehicles also typically have at least one "manual driving mode", in which the control of the vehicle is carried out in a known manner completely by the driver. In the "manual driving mode", the responsibility for the vehicle control or vehicle guidance thus lies completely with the driver of the vehicle.
Along with these two driving modes (autonomous/manual) mentioned above, there is also still a series of so-called "partially autonomous driving modes" in which the central control unit of the vehicle partially autonomously carries out the vehicle control or vehicle guidance, wherein the aspects of the vehicle control or vehicle guidance not carried out autonomously have to be fulfilled or carried out by the driver. In these driving modes, the driver takes on responsibility at least for partial aspects of the vehicle control or vehicle guidance. Examples for such "partially autonomous driving modes" are a radar-based distance control or a cruise control function.
In particular in the "autonomous driving mode", but also in the "partially autonomous driving modes", the driver must be reliably and currently informed that the "autonomous" or "partially autonomous driving mode" is active, and thus that the responsibility for the guidance and control of the vehicle lies completely with the vehicle itself, in the first instance, and partially in the second instance. Furthermore, the driver must be reliably and currently informed that a previously active "autonomous driving mode" is currently changing or will change in a foreseeable time, and thus the responsibility for the guidance or control of the vehicle is completely or partially transferred to the driver. The corresponding informing of the driver takes place by corresponding information output devices, for example for optical information output, acoustic information output, and/or haptically perceptible information output. Very high reliability requirements can be placed on the information output devices. In particular, this should prevent an information output device displaying to the driver the presence of an active "autonomous driving mode" even though at the time such an "autonomous driving mode" is not active.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are directed to a device for displaying a current driving mode of a vehicle, wherein at least one of several driving modes of the vehicle is an autonomous driving mode that can be implemented reliably and cost effectively.
A first aspect of the invention relates to a device for displaying a current driving mode of a vehicle, wherein at least one of several driving modes of the vehicle is an autonomous driving mode. The device comprises a display unit that has at least one light source and an imaging unit that interacts with the light source, a first control device that controls the light source, wherein the first control device is designed and implemented in such a way that it meets a first technical qualification with regards to a reliability or safety criterion, and wherein the control device only activates the light source in the event of the current presence of the autonomous driving mode, and a second control device that controls the imaging unit, wherein the second control device is designed and implemented in such a way that it meets a second technical qualification with regards to the reliability or safety criterion, wherein the first technical qualification corresponds to a higher degree of technical reliability or safety with regards to the reliability or safety criterion than the second technical qualification.
The presence of an "active autonomous driving mode" is therefore displayed by the activation of the light source, i.e., by the illumination of the light source. Advantageously, the light source comprises several individual light sources, such that, in the event of a technical malfunction of an individual light source, it is nevertheless ensured that the light source illuminates.
The imaging unit is advantageously designed for emitting graphics, alphanumerical signs, animations etc. The feature, according to which "the light source interacts with the imaging unit", means, for example, that a graphical or alphanumerical output of the imaging unit only takes place with an active, i.e., illuminating, light source. Other kinds of interaction are also included by the inventive concept.
Advantageously, the first control device is also designed for the autonomous driving control of the vehicle. Furthermore, the first control device is, advantageously, identical to the central control unit mentioned in the description introduction, wherein the central control unit also controls the light source. Advantageously, the light source is controlled by a control unit that meets the technical reliability or safety requirements that are placed on the control unit for autonomous driving.
The device ensures that the display unit does not incorrectly display to the driver that the vehicle is in the automated driving mode even though it is actually currently in a manual/partially autonomous driving mode. The opposite case is far less critical. If, when the automated driving mode is actually present, it is not displayed that the vehicle is in this very same driving mode, then the driver furthermore assumes that he is driving manually/partially autonomously and bears the responsibility. This incorrect assumption would thus not have any grave consequences. It must therefore definitely be ensured that an incorrect display of the automatic driving mode is prevented, yet not displaying the automatic driving mode does not have to be definitively prevented.
Advantageously, the technical qualification of the first and second control device is defined by a technical standard with respect to the technical reliability or safety criterion. Advantageously, with respect to the technical reliability or safety criterion, the technical qualification of the first or the second control device corresponds to an ASIL level (ASIL=Automotive Safety Integrity Level), i.e. ASIL-A, ASIL-B. ASIL-C, ASIL-D, according to ISO 26262, and/or an SIL level (SIL=Safety Integrity Level), i.e. SIL-1, SIL-2, SIL-3, SIL-4, according to IEC 61508 or EN 61508 or EC 61511, and/or a DAL level (DAL=Design Assurance Level), i.e., DAL-A, DAL-B, DAL-C, DAL-D, DAL-E according to DO-178C, and/or a qualification according to an error rate per hour, and/or a qualification according to an error probability.
Advantageously, the first technical qualification of the first control device corresponds to the ASIL level ASIL-C or ASIL-D, or the SIL level SIL-3 or SIL-4, or the DAL level DAL-A or DAL-B, or an error rate of <10−7 or <10−8 or <10−9 per hour. Advantageously, the first qualification of the first control device is identical to a qualification that a control device has to fulfil that controls an autonomous driving of the vehicle.
According to the invention, the first technical qualification of the first control device corresponds to a higher degree of technical reliability or safety in terms of the reliability or safety criterion than the second technical qualification of the second control device. Advantageously, the second qualification of the second control device corresponds to a reliability and safety qualification common in telematics systems in vehicles.
In an advantageous development of the proposed device, the display unit is a liquid crystal display having a liquid crystal matrix and a background illumination, wherein the imaging unit is the liquid crystal matrix that is controlled by the second control unit, and the light source is the background illumination that is controlled by the first control unit. The background illumination advantageously comprises one or more individual light sources, in particular one or more light diodes LEDs (LED=Light Emitting Diode) and/or organic light diodes OLEDs (OLED=Organic Light Emitting Diode). The liquid crystal display only enables the output of a piece of optical information when the background illumination is active. Presently, the background illumination displays the presence (background illumination on) or absence (background illumination off) of the autonomous driving mode with a very high degree of reliability (first qualification). The second control unit controls the crystal matrix, and thus defines the graphical or alphanumerically emitted piece of optical information. Independent of this piece of emitted optical information, the driver can recognize that the autonomous driving mode is active by the fact that even one piece of optical information is emitted. Because the control of the background illumination takes place with a higher degree of reliability than the control of the liquid crystal matrix, it can be ensured that even when, because of an error, the second control unit controls the liquid crystal matrix in such a way that a graphic were to be emitted, from which it can be seen that the autonomous driving mode is active, this graphic would not be visible to the driver because of the background illumination being switched off at that moment in time.
In an advantageous development of the proposed invention, the liquid crystal display has a background illumination device that is divided into a number O of regions, where O=2, 3, . . . , wherein the first control unit controls a number P of the regions, where P<O. In a simple case, the background illumination has two regions that have, for example, an identical surface. Thus, the first region, for example, forms the background illumination of the right-hand part of the display unit and the second region the background illumination of the left-hand part of the display unit. The first control unit exclusively controls the second region of the background illumination. Thus, if even one piece of optical information is visible to the driver in the left-hand part of the display unit, then this means that the autonomous driving mode is active. If the autonomous driving mode is not active, no optical information will be emitted on the left-hand part of the display unit; nonetheless, the right-hand part of the display unit (controlled by the second control unit) can be used for emitting optical information. This has the advantage that the display unit can be used to emit information when the "autonomous driving mode" is not present.
In an advantageous alternative development of the device, the display unit is a DLP projector (DLP=Digital Light Processing) that has a DMD chip (DMD=Digital Micromirror Device) and at least one illumination source, wherein the imaging unit is the DMD chip and is controlled by the second control unit, and the light source is the at least one illumination source and is controlled by the first control unit. Here, the control device of the DMD chip is defined by the second control unit, the emitted graphical, or alphanumerical piece of information. However, this piece of information is only visible when the illumination source or the illumination sources of the DMD chip are active. The illumination source or the illumination sources of the DMD chip are controlled by the first control unit with a high degree of technical reliability, such that, when the display unit generates even one optical output, the driver always recognizes that the autonomous driving mode is active. Advantageously, several differently colored illumination sources are present. Advantageously, the illumination sources are LEDs or OLEDs.
Advantageously, the DLP projector has a number N>1 of illumination sources, in particular differently colored illumination sources, wherein a number M of illumination sources is controlled by the first control unit, where M<N. Advantageously, the remaining N-M illumination sources are controlled by the second control unit.
In advantageous development of the device, only one, several, or all of the M illumination sources is/are activated to display the autonomous driving mode, the illumination sources being controlled by the first control unit, while all other N-M illumination sources for displaying the autonomous driving mode are inactive. Advantageously, M illumination sources have an identical light color, wherein the remaining N-M illumination sources do not have this color. In this case, the piece of emitted optical information always displays the presence of an autonomous driving mode when the optical output appears in the light color of the M illumination sources.
In an advantageous development of the device, the display unit is a head-up display, wherein the liquid crystal display described above or the DLP projector described above is part of the head-up display.
A further aspect of the invention relates to a vehicle having a device described above.
A further aspect of the invention relates to a method for displaying a current driving mode of a vehicle by means of a display unit that has at least one light source and one imaging unit interacting with the light source, wherein at least one of the several driving modes of the vehicle is an autonomous driving mode. The method comprises the following steps: In one step, controlling the light source takes place by means of a first control device, wherein the first control device is designed and implemented in such a way that it meets a first qualification with regards to a reliability or safety criterion, and wherein the control device only activates the light source in the event of the current presence of the autonomous driving mode. In a further step, controlling the imaging unit takes place by means of a second control device, wherein the second control device is designed and implemented in such a way that it meets a second qualification with regards to the reliability or safety criterion, wherein the first qualification corresponds to a higher degree of reliability or safety in terms of the reliability or safety criterion than the second qualification. It goes without saying that the two steps are in particular carried out temporally parallel, i.e. simultaneously.
Advantages as well as preferred developments of the method arise by an analogous and corresponding transfer of the statements previously made with respect to the proposed device.


Described herein is an implantable medical device and methods for making a device that includes a metal housing using a molding process. In one embodiment, the housing includes a header attachment element that extends from the housing. In another embodiment, the implantable medical device includes a header attachment surface comprising one or more header retaining features configured to secure a connector header to the header attachment surface. In another embodiment, the housing includes one or more structural elements extending from and integrally molded with the interior surface of the first or second portions of the housing. Also disclosed are methods of making the implantable medical device.

Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are commonly used to provide treatment to patients. Implantable medical devices can include cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices, including pacemakers and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs). In general, CRM devices deliver electrical stimuli to a target tissue via a lead wire having one or more electrodes disposed in or about the target tissue. The lead wire is typically connected to a pulse generator contained within a housing. In addition to the pulse generator, the housing can also contain other system components. Typically, the housing is formed by stamping the desired shaped components from a sheet of metal.

Housings for implantable medical devices and methods for forming housings


A portable recessed light source configured for use with a vehicle seat belt, the light source including: a housing having a first housing portion and a second housing portion, the first housing portion having a light emitting source electrically coupled to a power supply, the first housing portion being pivotally secured to the second housing portion; and a retaining clip for securing the housing to the seat belt, the retaining clip being secured to the second housing portion, wherein the first housing portion is positionable into at least two discrete positions with respect to the second housing portion.

Most vehicles have interior lights or "dome" lights that are illuminated upon opening of a door of the vehicle or by manipulation of an activation switch disposed proximate to the light or vehicle dashboard, which in this instance may be manipulated by the vehicle operator. However, these types of lights provide general illumination to the entire interior of the vehicle and at night may cause unwanted glare, which is undesirable especially if the vehicle is being operated at night.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a portable recessed light for use by a passenger of the vehicle wherein the recessed light only provides discrete illumination in the passenger's "personal space".

Recessed light source for vehicle seat belts


The present invention provides an improved anchor which is capable of being readily laid, irrespective of the holding or anchorage involved. The anchor includes a first fluke or base member (2), an elongate shank member (9) to which at least one anchor line or chain may be attached, and a second fluke (20) from and disposed substantially parallel to the first fluke (2) but is of a smaller size than the first fluke (2).

The present invention relates, in general terms, to improvements in anchors or means for anchoring. More particularly, but not exclusively, the invention relates to an improved form of anchor suitable for use in a variety of different contexts, for achieving effective anchoring regardless of the nature of the holding (be it sand, rock, coral or the like), whilst preferably at the same time allowing for ready release and re-setting of the anchor as and when desired.
For ease of explanation, throughout the ensuing specification reference will be made to an especially preferred embodiment of an anchor in accordance with the present invention, to be utilised for the purposes of anchoring a boat or the like water-borne vessel at any give locale. It should be realised, however, that an anchor in accordance with the present invention is equally suited for other purposes than for the mooring of boats, as by way of example the permanent or temporary mooring of buoys, drilling rigs and/or the like.
In particular the present invention relates to an improvement in the anchor disclosed in the present applicant's Australian Patent No. 734943.
The situation often arises wherein there is a need to anchor or moor boats, buoys, drilling rigs and/or any other form of vessel or water-borne body, either permanently or temporarily, in a given position or at a given locale. That need may, in turn, give rise to problems in that, dependent upon circumstances and the actual location, it has become necessary to anchor or moor such vessels or other bodies in different types of holdings. An anchor which might be particularly suitable for one type of holding, as for example sand or mud, need not be appropriate for another, different type of holding, as for example rock or coral. It has sometimes been the practice for the vessel owner/user to utilise a different form of anchor dependent upon the nature of the holding. Up until recently, prior to the advent of the present applicant's SARCA (Registered Trade Mark) anchor, the subject of Australian Patent No. 734943, there had not been available a multi-use, multi-purpose anchor. In the result, and in order to achieve the best or optimum anchoring result, a different form of anchor would often need to be deployed dependent upon the nature of the holding. That fact alone gave rise to problems, regardless of the size of the water-borne vessel, craft or the like to be anchored or moored. By way of example only, it was not particularly efficient to have the vessel or craft operator required to change the anchor to a different type dependent upon circumstances and the nature of the holding expected below, this especially taking into consideration the possible problems associated with the task of physically replacing one type of anchor for another. In this day and age, where it has become a reasonably common practice to have inexperienced persons in charge of vessels, such a task can be extremely difficult, with the consequences of its not being done properly potentially dangerous.
Conventional anchors, if disturbed, can tend to roll over and thereafter be disposed on the ocean/sea/river/lake bottom (or other holding) incorrectly, in effect the wrong way up. In reality prior art anchors, when so disturbed, would lie on their side and have a tendency to stay that way. Quite clearly when so disposed or deployed the efficiency of operation of the overall anchor can be expected to be significantly reduced, a totally unacceptable result. Furthermore, when so deployed there may be a tendency for the anchor to be dragged across the holding, giving rise to disturbance of sand, mud, dislodgment of rock unwanted, destruction of coral etc. Such can have a deleterious effect on the overall environment and, if the relevant vessel is being used, for example, for purposes of angling or fishing, such a disturbance to the holding/ocean bottom is again undesirable, since it can be expected to disturb the local sea-life, thereby reducing the chances of anything being caught.
A further problem/disadvantage associated with anchors in accordance with the known art has related to the tendency or possibility of such anchors inadvertently working their way free from the holding, regardless of the nature of such holding. Once an anchor works itself free from its holding, then the vessel associated therewith is totally susceptible to the vagaries of the tides, weather, etc. This can be especially unfortunate if, for example, the crew or passenger(s) of the vessel or craft are not aware of the fact that the anchor has worked loose, as for example if they are suitably inexperienced sleeping or otherwise occupied. An unanchored vessel can drift alarmingly, dependent upon the tides and prevailing weather conditions, leaving itself liable to all sorts of consequences, as for example beaching, being swept onto rocks or reefs, etc, all such consequences involving significant danger to the occupants of the vessel.


A single core triaxial flux-gate magnetometer including a tall-toroidal core having a radial excitation winding, two orthogonal sets of axial or circumferential output windings, and an equatorial output winding oriented orthogonal to both axial output windings. The core is fabricated from a strip of magnetic tape material wrapped to form a toroid having a height ranging from approximately equal to its diameter to one and one half times its diameter. Each end of the strip is uniformly tapered along the top and bottom edges such that the tapered segments extend around an integer multiple of complete revolutions of the wrapping, the length of each tapered segment thereby being equal to the inner or outer circumference of the toroid or an integer multiple thereof. Leakage of the induced magnetic field at any point along the edge of the tapered segment will be generally proportional to the height of the tapered segment between its edges at that point, and will extend with equal magnitude in opposite directions from the strip parallel to the planar surface of the toroid and perpendicular to the edges. The tapered segments are oriented and aligned relative to one another in the wrapped toroid such that the induced magnetic field leakage is generally symmetrical and balanced across any diameter of the core.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to component system flux-gate magnetometers of the tall-toroidal type, and particularly to a single core three axis magnetometer having a magnetic tape core.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The term magnetometer refers to instruments for measuring weak magnetic fields, the upper limit generally being considered the maximum intensity of the earth's magnetic field. Magnetometers are commonly divided into three classifications: mechanical magnetic balances, which compare the magnetic field intensity to a known force (gravity, torsion, etc.); component systems, which measure the effect of the magnetic field intensity or changes in the magnetic field intensity along an axis of a sensor (coils, Hall effect, electron beam); and spin-precession detectors, which monitor the interaction of the magnetic field with energized or moving atomic particles (proton free precession, optical pumping, and monitoring types.) The first two classifications are generally grouped under the broader heading of electronic magnetometers.
Electronic magnetometers measure one vector component of the magnetic field, and are therefore orientation dependent. Relative field intensity is determined by amplitude variation, therefore requiring accurate calibration and tuning for optimal performance. Traditionally, the term magnetometer has referred to a single field sensing unit, with two or three orthogonal sensing units being combined to measure the total magnetic field. Commercial devices which measure more than one orthogonal vector are thus termed two-axis (biaxial) or three-axis (triaxial) multi-component system magnetometers.
In some types of component systems, the sensing devices are fixed relative to the magnetic field vector component being observed. The two most frequently employed examples are flux-gates and search-coils.
A flux-gate consists of a high permeability core in which the ambient field induces a magnetization. A primary or excitation winding around the core is electronically stimulated using alternating current until the core reaches saturation. Secondary, sensing, or output windings measure the asymmetry of the magnetization in the core resulting from the superimposed ambient field, which appears as a second harmonic of the sweep or excitation frequency. The resultant output is most commonly a voltage proportional to the particular vector component's field strength or intensity.
In contrast, search-coils measure variations of the ambient field which induce voltages in the primary winding proportional to the change in field or frequency over time. Since response falls off to zero at low frequencies, these devices function only as variometers.
Flux-gate sensor cores may generally be of an open or closed configuration. Four common types of flux-gate sensor cores have well defined analytical characteristics: single rod, double rod, toroid or ring core, and tall-toroidal core. (The term tall-toroid is used herein to describe a hollow cylindrical tube or annulus.)
The single and double rod cores are examples of open cores, in which rods, strips, or wires of high permeability material are wound with excitation and output windings, with single windings being used in some applications for both excitation and output as in the case of search-coils. The second harmonic of the output voltage is obtained by filtering. In double rod core systems, the rods are arranged in opposition (i.e., two parallel spaced-apart rods having the direction of the excitation windings and induced field opposing one another) with the output windings surrounding both rods generally perpendicular to their lengths.
In toroid or ring cores, the core is generally formed from a curved rod or disk of malleable high permeability material having a circular or square half-annular cross section, and may have a circular or elliptical overall shape. The excitation windings are wound toroidally, while the output windings are wound either toroidally or circumferentially (axially) across the diameter of the ring core. In tall-toroidal cores, the core material is molded or machined to the desired dimensions in the shape of a hollow cylindrical tube or annulus, with the core having a generally rectangular half-annular cross section with a height greater than the radial thickness. The excitation windings are again wound toroidally, and the output windings may be wound equatorially rather than axially.
Iron and various high permeability materials (mu metal coated glass rods, Supermalloy,.TM. Permalloy 80.TM.) have proven suitable for forming many types of flux-gate cores. One improvement has been the use of a very high permeability magnetic tape material in single rod cores. U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,775 to Kim describes a very small single rod core using a straight strip of magnetic tape material (Metglas.TM. amorphous alloy 2705M) having a length dimension of 1.8 cm, width dimension of 0.5 mm, and a thickness of 20 .mu.m. This type of a magnetic tape material provides advantages in fabricating such a core due to the methods by which the material can be handled and worked.
While magnetic tape materials have proven preferable for single and double rod cores, a significant disadvantage remains in attempting to form a tall-toroidal core from a planar magnetic tape material--namely, the ends of the magnetic tape strip form discontinuities that "leak" the induced magnetic field orthogonal to the preferred orientation of the induced field, thereby overlapping the ambient field along at least one field vector component and creating unwanted output signal noise. Filtering this signal noise requires more complicated circuitry and greatly increases the cost of both single- or multi-component systems. While magnetic tape materials may be utilized in single-axis component systems where the output windings may be oriented parallel with the leakage of the induced field, the magnetic tape materials have proven less than optimal for multi-axis sensors -where the leakage must necessarily affect sensing along at least one vector component.
Various methods of producing a multi-component system incorporating biaxial or triaxial sensors are known. Conventional triaxial sensors are produced using a first biaxial ring core sensor having two orthogonal axial output windings to measure two field vector components, in combination with a second single-axis ring core having one axial output winding oriented orthogonal to both vector components of the biaxial ring core sensor and spaced apart therefrom by approximately one half the core diameter. Such a prior art triaxial multi-component system is shown in FIG. 10 herein. The left sensor core includes two axial or circumferential output windings which measure field vector components relating to the marked Y- and Z-axes, while the right sensor core includes a single axial or circumferential output winding oriented orthogonal to both the output windings of the left sensor core to measure the remaining field vector component relating to the marked X-axis.
Dual core systems are suitable for many terrestrial or navigational uses where the source of the ambient field is located at a distance sufficient that the parallax between the two cores may be neglected, or wherein significant heading error may be tolerated or corrected. However, such a system is unsuitable for observing near-field events where the directional vector itself rather than the magnitude of the ambient magnetic field is critical, and the angle formed between the ambient field source and the spaced-apart cores would lead to noticeable error in measurement of those field vector components. One example would be monitoring spatial orientation or telemetry of a movable object relative to a fixed alternating current reference field near or within an enclosed space, such as an aircraft or orbital vehicle. Moreover, since the cores do not saturate in exact synchronization, the "late" core will distort the surrounding field and can therefore produce significant heading errors in navigational systems.
One representative example of a three-axis sensor designed to overcome the problems of vector misalignment and asynchronization is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,165 to Lewis, which is actually a closed core system that operates on the principle of three orthogonal sets of double rod cores. While it may be appreciated that the Lewis '165 triaxial sensor may be constructed to occupy a relatively small volume with paired output windings of the three sets of spaced-apart rod cores producing a single effective centerpoint for the sensor, the fabrication of the core structure and application of the excitation and output windings are very complicated, labor intensive, and expensive processes. Moreover, fabrication of the core structure to meet uniform tolerances and specifications can be very difficult.

Single core triaxial flux-gate magnetometer


Epitaxially coated semiconductor wafers are prepared by a process in which a semiconductor wafer polished at least on its front side is placed on a susceptor in a single-wafer epitaxy reactor and epitaxially coated on its polished front side at temperatures of 1000-1200° C., wherein, after coating, the semiconductor wafer is cooled in the temperature range from 1200° C. to 900° C. at a rate of less than 5° C. per second. In a second method for producing an epitaxially coated wafer, the wafer is placed on a susceptor in the epitaxy reactor and epitaxially coated on its polished front side at a deposition temperature of 1000-1200° C., and after coating, and while still at the deposition temperature, the wafer is raised for 1-60 seconds to break connections between susceptor and wafer produced by deposited semiconductor material before the wafer is cooled.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods for producing a semiconductor wafer having a front side coated by chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
2. Background Art
During chemical vapor deposition, in particular during the deposition of an epitaxial layer on a polished semiconductor wafer, inter alia, two phenomena may occur which are known by the terms "autodoping" and "halo".
In "autodoping" dopants pass from the rear side of the semiconductor wafer via the gas phase into the deposition gas, which is fed over the front side of the semiconductor wafer. They are then incorporated into the epitaxial layer, predominantly in the edge region of the front side of the semiconductor wafer, and therefore cause more or less pronounced undesired radial fluctuation in the resistivity of the epitaxial layer.
"Halo" denotes a scattered light effect which is caused by light-scattering structures on the rear side of the semiconductor wafer which becomes apparent when a collimated light beam is shone onto the rear side of the semiconductor wafer. The structures mark transitions on the surface of the rear side of the semiconductor wafer, at which regions with a native oxide layer adjoin regions where such an oxide layer has not been or is no longer present. These transitions occur when removal of the native oxide layer during the pretreatment in a hydrogen atmosphere ("pre-bake") was incomplete before the actual epitaxial deposition. One means of quantifying this effect consists of a scattered-light measurement of the haze (turbidity, opacity), for example with an SP1 light scattering meter from KLA Tencor, in the so-called DNN ("DarkField Narrow Normal") or DWN ("DarkField Wide Normal") channel.
In order to avoid problems with "autodoping" U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,047 proposes providing slits in the bottom of the susceptor's depression ("pocket") holding the semiconductor wafer, wherein the slits are arranged on the outer edge of the bottom of the susceptor. Dopants defusing out from the rear side of the semiconductor wafer can be removed from the reactor without reaching the front side of the semiconductor wafer, by a purging gas fed through slits in the susceptor onto the wafer rear side.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,095 B2, there are small holes in the entire bottom of the susceptor for the same purpose. Here, too, the dopant diffusing out from the rear side of the semiconductor wafer is transported away by guiding a purging gas past the wafer. These measures are also effective against "halo" formation because they facilitate removal of the native oxide layer, since gaseous reaction products that arise when the native oxide is dissolved are likewise transported away through the holes in the bottom and the purging gas flowing past.
DE 10328842 discloses a susceptor having a gas-permeable structure with a porosity of at least 15% and a density of 0.5 to 1.5 g/cm3. By using such a porous susceptor, the gaseous reaction products which are formed during the pretreatment when the native oxide layer is dissolved, and also dopants diffusing from the semiconductor wafer to be coated, can escape through the pores of the susceptor to the rear side of the susceptor, and be taken up by means of a purging gas flow and removed from the reactor. Using the susceptor therein described also avoids undesired nanotopography effects on the rear side of the semiconductor wafer, which occur in the case of susceptors with holes. Holes in the susceptor influence the temperature field on the front side and rear side of the semiconductor wafer to be coated, which leads to locally different deposition rates and thus to said nanotopography effects. The term nanotopography denotes height fluctuations in the nanometer range, which are measured over a lateral extent of 0.5 mm to 10 mm.
A further problem in the epitaxy of semiconductor wafers involves stresses in the epitaxially coated semiconductor wafers, which can lead to dislocations and slips.
A number of methods for identifying slips in semiconductor wafers are known: on the one hand by visual inspection with collimated light by means of devices for inspecting the surface of semiconductors wafers, or else with devices which are suitable for determining the nanotopography.
The most sensitive method in this regard, however, is SIRD ("Scanning Infrared Depolarization"), since SIRD is able not only to detect slips but also able to measure photoelastic stresses. The SIRD method for identifying stress fields, slips, sliplines, epitaxial defects, which is based on inducing optical birefringence, is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,487 B2.
Thermally induced stresses in epitaxially coated semiconductor wafers can be avoided if, during the epitaxy of semiconductor wafers, the temperatures are reduced during the pretreatment steps in a hydrogen atmosphere (bake) and with the addition of hydrogen chloride to the hydrogen atmosphere (HCl-etch) and also during the actual coating step. Lower coating temperatures, however, lead to an increased occurrence of undesired crystal defects such as stacking faults or typical epitaxial defects which are known by the terms "hillocks", "mounds" or "pits". At very low temperatures, polycrystalline growth may even occur. A further disadvantage is an impaired edge roll-off of the epitaxially coated layer and also a deterioration in the local flatness of the semiconductor wafer (geometry, SFQR). In addition, the growth rate decreases with lower deposition temperatures, which makes the process less economical.
Consequently, reducing the pretreatment and deposition temperatures is not acceptable at all, owing to the associated disadvantages.
In order to achieve good properties with regard to geometry for the epitaxial coating in single-wafer reactors (e.g. a Centura 300 mm reactor), it is absolutely necessary to move to high temperatures, since only then is the layer thickness distribution at the edge of the wafer suitable for obtaining or improving the initial geometry of the wafer.
At low temperatures the layer thickness in the vicinity of the edge of the wafer starts to fall and the initial geometry, which generally also already has a degree of edge roll-off, starts to deteriorate. At higher deposition temperatures, the epitaxial layer thickness exhibits a tendency to increase and this compensates for the edge roll-off of the substrate.
However, the stresses in the wafer increase greatly at higher deposition temperatures. This is due to the fact that dislocations arise and migrate more easily in the crystal since less activation energy is required for these processes at high temperatures. This in turn means that even in the case of small temperature differences between wafer and susceptor, the stresses are produced. This is associated with the fact that during coating, deposition gas also passes below the wafer and at some locations causes the wafer to grow on the susceptor. This effect is also called "bridging". Such connecting bridges between susceptor and wafer form thermal bridges and—depending on whether the susceptor or the wafer is at a higher temperature—cause heat to be conducted into the wafer or withdrawn from the wafer. This heat flow in turn leads to stresses in the wafer.
US 2001/0037761 A1 discloses subjecting the susceptor with the semiconductor wafer lying thereupon to a thermal treatment in order to achieve intrinsic gettering properties in the bulk of the wafer. In this case, intrinsic gettering is made possible by oxygen precipitates. A crystal pulled by means of the CZ method and a wafer fabricated therefrom usually comprise oxygen in a concentration of 10 to 18 ppm. What can be achieved by thermal treatment and subsequent cooling is that the wafer comprises a region below its surface which is free of oxygen precipitates, while the bulk contains such oxygen precipitates (also called BMD=bulk micro defect) which act as intrinsic getters for metallic impurities.
In an epitaxy reactor, the semiconductor wafer is for this purpose firstly brought to a temperature of at least 1175° C., preferably to higher temperatures of up to 1300° C., held at this temperature for a few seconds (e.g. 12-15 s) and then cooled, e.g. at a cooling rate of 10-15° C./second. Higher cooling rates are possible if the semiconductor wafer is removed from the susceptor. Susceptors usually have one or more openings (the so-called lift pin holes) through which the semiconductor wafer can be raised by means of pins, so-called lift pins, while the susceptor remains in the original position. A result of lifting is that the semiconductor wafer is no longer in contact with the hot susceptor, which enables higher cooling rates of 25-30° C./second.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,071 proposes avoiding the "bridging" effect by the initial growth rate firstly being restricted to 0.1-1 μm/minute during the epitaxial deposition. However, such low growth rates make the process uneconomical. Moreover, it is proposed that bridging material between wafer and susceptor be removed by etching after epitaxial deposition and before the cooling process (that is to say, at deposition temperature). This has the disadvantage, however, that not only the connecting bridges between wafer and susceptor but also silicon material is etched away from the wafer rear side, which can lead to a deterioration in the overall geometry of the wafer. DE102005045338 discloses applying an elevation in the form of silicon material on the rear side of a silicon wafer, which elevation at least partly compensates for the edge roll-off brought about by the silicon wafer to be epitaxially coated. The height and extent of the application on the rear side of the silicon wafer can be set in a targeted manner by a suitable choice of the gas flows and the treatment durations. This is counteracted, however, by the etching away, as proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,071, of bridging material and rear side depositions.

Method for producing an epitaxially coated semiconductor wafer


Rotation of a rotating member to a predetermined rotational position is properly regulated by a regulating member even when a thickness of the regulating member in a rotating shaft direction is made smaller. In a steering lock device, a pair of restricting portions formed in a release frame of a release link is disposed at both-sides of a link in front- and rear-direction, so restricts tilt of the link to both-sides in the front- and rear-direction. For this reason, even if thickness of the link in the front- and rear-direction in the vicinity of the shaft is made smaller, when rotation of a cam shaft from an “ACC” position to a “LOCK” position is regulated by the link, tilt of the link to both-sides in the front- and rear-direction can be suppressed, so that the link can properly regulate rotation of the cam shaft from the “ACC” position to the “LOCK” position.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a key device that regulates rotation of a key.
2. Related Art
There are key devices in which a lifter is disposed at one side of a rotating shaft direction of a lock plate (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-229557).
In such key device, when the lifter is rotated by rotation of a key knob to an "ACC position", rotation of the key knob to the "ACC position" is regulated by the lock plate not being rotated together with the lifter, while rotation of the key knob to the "ACC position" is allowed by the lock plate being rotated together with the lifter.
Here, in the key device as described above, it is preferable that tilt of the lock plate to both sides in the rotating shaft direction can be regulated and the lock plate can properly regulate rotation of the key knob to the "ACC position", particularly even when the thickness of the lock plate in the rotating shaft direction of the lock plate is made smaller in order to provide a small size lock plate.


A thermal mass flow transducer includes first and second constant current sources, a first temperature sensitive element, a second temperature sensitive element, a heater element, and a control circuit. The control circuit is coupled to the heater element and is further coupled to receive temperature signals from the first and second temperature sensitive element. The control circuit is responsive to the temperature signals to determine a temperature difference between the first and second temperature sensitive elements, to generate a pulse width modulation (PWM) current based on the determined temperature difference, and to supply the current to the heater element at a current magnitude sufficient to maintain the temperature difference at a predetermined value.

Fluid flow sensing and control systems are included in various systems, devices, and environments. For example, many aircraft rely on accurate airflow sensing and control for various performance and environmental functions, such as engine starting, equipment cooling, and cockpit and cabin environmental control. No matter the particular end-use, typical flow sensing and control systems include one or more flow transducers to sense the mass flow rate of the fluid being controlled, and supply a signal representative of the sensed flow to a control law. The control law may then command one or more flow control devices, such as one or more valves, to a appropriate position to achieve a desired fluid flow rate.
One particular type of flow transducer that has been and continues to be used is a thermal mass flow transducer. A typical thermal mass flow transducer includes a pair of temperature sensing elements, a heater, and a control circuit. One of the temperature sensing elements is heated by the heater, whereas the other is not. The control circuit is coupled to the temperature sensing elements and the heater, and supplies current to the heater to maintain a constant temperature difference between the temperature sensing elements. The heater current needed to maintain the constant temperature difference is also representative of the fluid mass flow rate. To generate and supply the heater current, the control circuit typically includes a DC-type current driver, which is usually a power transistor-based driver.
The thermal mass flow transducer described above works reasonably well, but does exhibit certain drawbacks. For example, of the energy dissipated by the thermal mass flow transducer, about 40-70% is by the DC-type current driver, and only about 30-60% is by the heater. The relatively large energy dissipation by the DC-type current driver results in a significant energy waste. Moreover, this energy is dissipated in the form of heat, which may be conducted to the non-heated temperature sensing element, resulting in reduced flow sensing accuracy.
Hence, there is a need for a thermal mass flow transducer that dissipates relatively low amounts of wasted energy and/or exhibits increased accuracy, as compared to presently known transducers. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.

Thermal mass flow transducer including PWM-type heater current driver


A processor for executing configurable instructions and a method of configuring the processor are disclosed. In one embodiment, the processor includes (i) a processor core to execute preconfigured instructions and (ii) a processor core extension to execute user-defined extension instructions that are configurable instructions. The user-defined extension instructions may include an autonomous instruction with varying execution cycles based on source data and an operation performed. The processor core extension employs extension interface signals as a handshake protocol to operate together with the processor core without knowing any priori knowledge of how many processor clock cycles that the autonomous instruction will take to complete.

1. Field of Art
This disclosure relates generally to configuring a processing device to include user-defined instructions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, for a particular instruction, a processor takes a certain number of clock cycles to complete its operation and produce a result. Processors that implement a pipeline architecture use instruction pipelines to allow overlapping execution of multiple instructions. Processing overlapping instructions allows the processor pipeline to continue execution while other pipelined instructions are being executed by various pipeline stages.
For processors that use a pipeline architecture, pipelined instructions experience some amount of latency. Latency may be represented by the number of processor clock cycles that occur from the time the instruction enters the instruction pipeline until the instruction generates a result. For some deterministic operations, the processing latency can be determined prior to execution of the instruction. Using the predetermined processing latency, the designer can construct an instruction pipeline to accommodate the processing latency of a particular instruction. Other types of instructions, however, do not take a data dependent amount of time to execute (i.e., no predetermined processing latency). These types of instructions, however, are typically not implemented as a pipelined instruction because it is unknown when the instruction will produce a result. These limitations, in turn, reduce the processing efficiency for certain operations.

Self-timed user-extension instructions for a processing device