A method for electronic gaming on a mobile device including a location determining module and a wireless data connection includes receiving coordinate data from the location determining module. Accuracy data is received from the location determining module. A region of confidence within which the mobile device is known to be within is determined based on the accuracy data received from the location determining module. An extent to which the region of confidence is within one or more pertinent jurisdictions is determined. Electronic gaming over the wireless data connection of the mobile device is permitted when it is determined that the region of confidence is entirely within the one or more pertinent jurisdictions.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to mobile gaming and, more specifically, to location and age verification for mobile gaming.
2. Discussion of Related Art
While there are many variations, the basic lottery is a game of chance in which a player selects or is selected a set of numbers. A drawing is then performed to determine a set of winning numbers. Those players who had selected the winning numbers may be awarded a sum of money. Today, lottery games are often state run or administered on behalf of a state, although casinos and other private entities may administer lottery games where local laws permit.
Traditionally, the player would receive a paper ticket at the time of entry into the lottery game. The ticket would contain the numbers that the player selected or were otherwise assigned to the player. Because entry into the lottery would require the physical presence of the player to purchase the ticket, the age of the player could be verified at the point of sale, for example, by a clerk responsible for dispensing the lottery ticket. By verifying age, restrictions associated with lottery play may be adhered to.
In addition to verification of age, it is often important that the sale of the lottery ticket be performed within a particular jurisdiction. For example, where a lottery is administered by or on behalf of a state, the sale of the lottery tickets might have to be limited to the territory of that state. Under the traditional approach for lottery game entry that is performed in-person, a state need only ensure that their authorized points of sale are physically located within the jurisdiction of the state. Verification of the physical location of the player at the moment of entry is not a practical concern.
Lotteries need not be confined to a single jurisdiction. Today, multi jurisdiction lottery games such as POWERBALL and MEGA MILLIONS are available in which multiple jurisdictions within the United States participate in combined sweepstakes. In such games, the location where the player purchases the lottery ticket with in the set of combined jurisdictions may affect how revenue generated from the sale of the ticket is shared among the participating jurisdictions.
Currently, entry into lottery sweepstakes is not limited to in-person transactions in which paper tickets are purchased. Lottery play may be performed over electronic lines of communication such as the Internet. As mobile communications devices such as mobile phones and Internet-enabled tablets proliferate, the possibility exists to engage in lottery play from a mobile device.

Location and age verification for mobile gaming


By this invention, novel nucleic acid sequences are provided, wherein said nucleic acid sequence is a genomic sequence of a plant desaturase encoding sequence. Also provided in the present invention are the promoter and intron sequences of the desaturase genomic sequences. Furthermore, recombinant DNA constructs employing the polynucleotide sequences are provided. The instant invention also provides methods for the modification of fatty acid compositions in host plant cells.

Plant oils are used in a variety of applications. Novel vegetable oils compositions and/or improved means to obtain oils compositions, from biosynthetic or natural plant sources, are needed. Depending upon the intended oil use, various different fatty acid compositions are desired.
One means postulated to obtain such oils and/or modified fatty acid compositions is through the genetic engineering of plants. However, it is necessary to identify the appropriate nucleic acid sequences which are capable of producing the desired phenotypic result, regulatory regions capable of directing the correct application of such sequences, and the like.
Higher plants appear to synthesize fatty acids via a common metabolic pathway (fatty acid synthetase pathway). In developing seeds, where fatty acids are attached to glycerol backbones, forming triglycerides, for storage as a source of energy for further germination, the FAS pathway is located in the proplastids. The first committed step is the formation of acetyl-ACP (acyl carrier protein) from acetyl-CoA and ACP catalyzed by the enzyme, acetyl-CoA:ACP transacylase (ATA). Elongation of acetyl-ACP to 16- and 18-carbon fatty acids involves the cyclical action of the following sequence of reactions: condensation with a two-carbon unit from malonyl-ACP to form a β-ketoacyl-ACP (β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase), reduction of the keto-function to an alcohol (β-ketoacyl-ACP reductase), dehydration to form an enoyl-ACP (β-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydrase), and finally reduction of the enoyl-ACP to form the elongated saturated acyl-ACP (enoyl-ACP reductase). β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase I, catalyzes elongation up to palmitoyl-ACP (C16:0), whereas β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II catalyzes the final elongation to stearoyl-ACP (C18:0). Common plant unsaturated fatty acids, such as oleic, linoleic and a-linolenic acids found in storage triglycerides, originate from the desaturation of stearoyl-ACP to form oleoyl-ACP (C18:1) in a reaction catalyzed by a soluble plastid Δ-9 desaturase (also often referred to as "stearoyl-ACP desaturase"). Molecular oxygen is required for desaturation in which reduced ferredoxin serves as an electron co-donor. Additional desaturation is effected sequentially by the actions of membrane bound Δ-12 desaturase and Δ-15 desaturase. These "desaturases" thus create mono- or polyunsaturated fatty acids respectively.
Obtaining nucleic acid sequences capable of producing a phenotypic result in FAS, desaturation and/or incorporation of fatty acids into a glycerol backbone to produce an oil is subject to various obstacles including but not limited to the identification of metabolic factors of interest, choice and characterization of an enzyme source with useful kinetic properties, purification of the protein of interest to a level which will allow for its amino acid sequencing, utilizing amino acid sequence data to obtain a nucleic acid sequence capable of use as a probe to retrieve the desired DNA sequence, and the preparation of constructs, transformation and analysis of the resulting plants.
Thus, additional nucleic acid targets and methods for modifying fatty acid compositions are needed. In particular, constructs and methods to produce a variety of ranges of different fatty acid compositions are needed.

Nucleic acid sequences and methods of use for the production of plants with modified polyunsaturated fatty acids


Curable compositions contain at least one polymerizable ionic species and, when cured (for example, by photocuring), provide cured compositions which are thermoplastic and yet fragmentable by a protic liquid medium such as water. The polymerizable ionic species corresponds to Formula (I) A+B− wherein A+ is a cationic species having a cationic functional group and a first polymerizable, ethylenically unsaturated functional group; and B″ is an anionic species having an anionic functional group and a second polymerizable, ethylenically unsaturated functional group which is the same as or different from the first polymerizable, ethylenically unsaturated functional group. The curable compositions are useful for forming sacrificial or temporary articles, for example by three-dimensional printing methods.

One known method for manufacturing metal parts involves investment casting, wherein a pattern is used to fabricate a mold made of a refractory material. A molten metal is then cast into the mold to form a part having a desired shape. Thus, in investment casting, a disposable foundry pattern is used to produce a mold in which parts can be cast. Various ways of forming and using such a disposable foundry pattern are known in the art. For example, a disposable foundry pattern may be formed from a substance, such as a wax. The foundry pattern, which typically will have the shape or form desired in the final cast product, is thereafter invested in a refractory material. The foundry pattern is then removed from the refractory material by melting, leaving behind a mold (cavity) in the refractory material. Alternatively, it is also known to photocure (meth)acrylate monomers (i.e., monomeric compounds containing one or more acrylate and/or methacrylate functional groups per molecule) to provide disposable foundry patterns, which then (following investment in a refractory material) must be subjected to thermolysis conditions in order to create the mold. If (meth)acrylate-functionalized polyethers are instead employed, the resulting photocured disposable foundry pattern is swellable in water but is very difficult to remove from a refractory material in which it is invested using an aqueous medium without damaging the mold.
Accordingly, the development of alternative compositions from which disposable foundry patterns can be readily produced, wherein the disposable foundry pattern can be invested in a refractory material but then easily removed (without damaging the resulting mold) using an aqueous medium (in particular, using just neutral water at room temperature) would be highly desirable.
The fabrication of articles using three-dimensional printing techniques has been of great interest in recent years, wherein an article is built up layer-by-layer or continuously using a material (for example, a composition capable of being converted from a liquid to a solid by photocuring). One of the challenges in such fabrication methods is the provision of adequate support to the layers of the material as they are being built up. One approach known in the art has been to utilize a second material capable of supporting the layers of material from which the article is being constructed. However, once 3D printing of the article has been completed, the problem remains of how to separate the support material from the article, which typically is intimately associated with the support material. Separation of the support material from the article in an expeditious and thorough manner, to provide a finished article of high quality is often difficult to achieve.

Articles prepared using curable compositions based on polymerizable ionic species


A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to rapidly generate a large prime number to be utilized in a cryptographic key of a cryptographic system. A candidate prime number is determined and a mod remainder table is initialized for the candidate prime number using conventional mod operations. If all mod remainder entries in the table are non-zero, the candidate number is tested for primality. If the candidate prime number tests positive for primality, the candidate number is utilized in a cryptographic key of a cryptographic system. If any of the table entries is zero, the candidate number and each mod remainder entry are decremented/incremented. If any mod remainder entry is less than zero or greater than the corresponding prime number, the corresponding prime number is added/subtracted to/from the mod remainder. The process then repeats until a satisfactory number is obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cryptographic systems, and in particular, to a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for the rapid generation of large prime numbers for use in a cryptographic system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer use has proliferated and continues to expand as technological capabilities rapidly increase. With this proliferation, computers often communicate and exchange information across a network. However, computer hackers and other persons often attempt to gain unauthorized access to such communications and information. To prevent unauthorized access, the messages and information may be encrypted. Encryption methods vary from using an external device known as a hardware key (or "dongle") to using secret key encryption such as DES (Data Encryption Standard) or public key encryption (such as RSA). Many such encryption methods utilize and need prime numbers. However, because of the mathematical algorithms required to generate large prime numbers and the limited resources available in a typical cryptographic hardware token, the time required to generate a pair of keys (utilizing large prime numbers) is often on the order of several minutes. Accordingly, what is needed is a method for rapidly generating large prime numbers on a token. The problems and disadvantages of the prior art may be better understood by describing prior art encryption and the generation of keys.
As described above, one solution to prevent unauthorized access uses an external device known as a hardware key, or "dongle". A dongle is coupled to an input/output (I/O) port of the host computer. An application executing on the host computer sends a code to that I/O port, and the dongle responds by reading out its serial number, which verifies its presence to the program. The dongle hinders software duplication, because each copy of the program is tied to a unique number, which is difficult to obtain, and the key has to be programmed with that number.
While the use of such hardware keys is an effective way to reduce software piracy, to date, their use has been substantially limited to high value software products. Hardware keys have not been widely applied to popular software packages, in part, because the hardware keys are too expensive, and in part, because there is reluctance on the part of the application program user to bother with a hardware key whenever use of the protected program is desired. Also, in many cases, the hardware keys are designed for use with only one application. Hence, where the use of multiple applications on the same computer is desired, multiple hardware keys must be operated at the same time.
In addition to dongles, other methods that utilize software encryption have been widely utilized. Simple encryption is the most common method of securing data. Both secret key encryption (e.g., DES (Data Encryption Standard)) and public, key encryption (e.g., RSA encryption) methods that use both a public and a private key are implemented. Public and private key encryption methods allow users to send Internet and e-mail messages without concern that the message will be read by unauthorized persons or that its contents will be tampered with.
Secret key encryption such as DES operates as a block cipher. Data is encrypted in 64-bit blocks. A 64-bit block of plaintext goes in one end of the algorithm, and a 64-bit block of ciphertext comes out the other end. The same algorithm and key are used for both encryption and decryption (except for minor differences in the key schedule). The key can be any 56-bit number (the remaining bits are utilized for parity checking), and may be changed at any time. To encrypt data using DES, a block of data is encrypted using a substitution followed by a permutation based on the key.
Various public-key encryption methods have been adopted and used in the prior art. One such method is RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) encryption. With RSA encryption, data is encrypted using a recipient's public key, which can only be decrypted by the recipient's private key. The security that exists in RSA encryption is based on the difficulty of factoring large numbers. The public and private keys are based on a pair of large prime numbers. Accordingly, to utilize RSA, two large prime numbers must be obtained. Details regarding RSA encryption are described in Bruce Schneier, "Applied Cryptography, Second Edition, Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C", pages 466–474 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1996), which is incorporated by reference herein.
Various methods have been developed to obtain a number and determine if the number is prime. Some such methods determine if a number is prime by trying to determine the factors of the number. Accordingly, some methods may generate random numbers and attempt to factor those numbers. Such a method may not be frequently used. Alternatively, in a more frequently used method, random numbers are generated and tested to determine if they are prime. However, testing if a number is prime may fail frequently, forcing the selection and testing of a random number repeatedly. In this regard, it often takes on the order of several minutes to generate an RSA key pair.
For example, one method for generating a prime number checks to make sure a random number is not divisible by a set of small prime numbers (e.g., 3, 5, 7, 11, etc.). Thus, some methods may test the random number for divisibility by all primes less than a certain number (e.g., 256 or 2000). Further, some methods may not generate random numbers but may incrementally search through numbers starting at a random point until a prime is found. Such prior art methods of generating prime numbers are described in Bruce Schneier, "Applied Cryptography, Second Edition, Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C", pages 233–263 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1996), which is incorporated by reference herein.
In view of the above, there are various methods for encrypting information and determining prime numbers to be utilized in the encryption. However, the prior art methodologies are slow and inefficient. Accordingly, what is needed is a method for rapidly generating large prime numbers for use in a cryptographic system.


Reducing number of components in a case where a plurality of locking mechanism is being used. The system includes an input cable (84) driven when pulled by an electric motor (10) via a hook (81); a connecting member (110) rotatably connected to a vehicle body, an output end of the input cable (84) is connected thereto; and a branched driving cable (100) having a first driving cable (503), an input end of which is connected to the connecting member (110) while an output end of which is connected to a link restricting mechanism (500) for transmitting a pulling force of the input cable (84) to the link restricting mechanism (500), and second driving cable (514), an input end of which is connected to the connecting member (110) and an output end of which is connected to the stored state locking mechanism (510) for transmitting a pulling force of the input cable (84) to the stored state locking mechanism (510), wherein the link restricting mechanism (500) and the stored state locking mechanism (510) are driven by the electric motor (10) via the branched driving cable (100).

According to conventional art, there is provided a vehicle with such a configuration that panel members such as a roof panel provided to a vehicle body are made openable, closable, and movable (see Patent Documents 1, 2). In the vehicle relating to Patent Document 1, a roof panel is supported by a vehicle body via a link mechanism and at the same time, the link mechanism is driven by an electric motor so as to allow opening and closing of the roof panel between fully closed state where vehicle cabin space is closed and stored state where vehicle cabin space is opened and the roof panel is stored in the trunk room.
For panel members such as roof panel automatically openable/closable as mentioned, there is a possibility that lifting of the roof panel occurs by aerodynamic force or vibrations during traveling in fully closed state or at stored state, and looseness is caused due to vibrations during traveling. Therefore, the roof panel should be reliably held to the vehicle body in fully closed state and stored state, and various locking mechanisms are required.
For example, in the vehicle relating to Patent Document 1, a roof locking mechanism for holding front edge portion of the roof panel to front header of vehicle body in fully closed state, where vehicle cabin space is closed by the roof panel, is provided. The roof panel is held in fully closed state by this roof locking mechanism which is driven by an electric motor via a connecting rod.
Further, a link locking mechanism for restricting the link mechanism connecting the roof panel and the vehicle body while the roof panel is in fully closed state is provided. In this way, improvement of holding rigidity of the roof panel in fully closed state is attempted by restricting the link mechanism. That is, the link locking mechanism indirectly holds the roof panel by restricting the link mechanism. This link locking mechanism is driven via a wire although driving mechanism is unknown.
Further, in a vehicle relating to Patent Document 2, a stored state locking mechanism which holds the roof panel in the storage room in stored state where the roof panel is stored in the storage room is provided. In this way, by holding the roof panel in stored state by the stored state locking mechanism, up/down looseness of the roof panel in the storage room at traveling is prevented. The stored state locking mechanism is driven by an electric motor via a connecting rod.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-264657    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-264658

System for opening/closing a roof panel and a branched driving cable to be used for the system


Provided is a method of transmitting and receiving data using a persistent allocation scheme in order to effectively support a voice service between a base station and a mobile terminal in a packet based mobile communication system. When an error occurs in transmitting a control information that indicates whether to use a radio resource using the persistent allocation scheme, the base station may retransmit the control information and thereby maintain a communication quality.

3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), one of a number of mobile communication standardization organizations, is engaging in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) standardization process and an advanced LTE standardization process in order to develop a packet based mobile communication system standardization. A mobile communication system generally includes a base station constituting a cell, and a mobile terminal used by a user. A plurality of mobile terminals may transmit and receive packet data to and from the base station via a radio channel.

Method of error recovery in transmitting and receiving voice service in packet based mobile communication systems


A dye composition, which comprising: (a) a mono azo dye of the formula (I)

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dye compositions and the use thereof and, more particularly, to a yellow reactive dye composition and the use thereof on special textile finishing processes.
2. Description of Related Art
The reactive dyestuffs used for dyeing or printing cellulose fiber materials or cellulose containing fibers particularly need high quality such as the properties of leveling, reproducibility, solubility, fastness etc.
However the reactive dye stuffs available at present are short of a golden-yellow dye characterized with ordinary build-up with good color compatibility and excellent ghosting fastness. These shortcomings exposed and cannot be conquered while dyeing with pale shade and trichromatic combination. Taking yellow dyes for example, it is known that pyrazoline azo dyestuff is excellent in various fastness properties, especially light fastness and ghosting fastness. However, pyrazoline azo dyestuff is lack for build-up and color combination for it's pale shade, therefore, the conventional dyestuff shows limited color gamut while dyeing application.
With continuous efforts and attempts, the inventor of the present invention found a dye composition characterized with fine properties in ghosting fastness, compatibility, photochromism and build-up can be formed by mixing together another dyestuff with pyrazoline azo dyestuff. They are not only having superior characteristics of fastness properties, the dye compositions of the present invention are also capable of dyeing with a broad color gamut, and economic in achieving various fastness properties.

Reactive dyestuff composition and their use

Abstract: wherein R, R1, K, Y and m are defined the same as the specification; and (b)at least one azo dye selected from the group consisting of the following formula (II), (III) and (IV),

Abstract: wherein R, R2, R3, Y, (W)0˜3, (W′)0˜3, D, D1 and D2 are defined the same as the specification. These kinds of dye composition with good stability and build-up. The dye composition are suitable for dyeing and printing of materials containing either cellulose fibers, such as cotton, artificial cotton, linen, and artificial linen, or synthetic polyamide, such as wool, silk, and nylon etc. Dyed materials with excellent properties can be obtained, showing especially outstanding performance in of wash-off, built-up, level-dyeing, photochromism, wet-fastnes, ghosting fastness and light fastness.


A control method for a vehicle, which is equipped with a drive unit configured to drive a driving wheel and a controller configured to control the drive unit and receive an activation command for the drive unit from a user, includes determining whether the vehicle carries out coasting with the drive unit unactivated, determining whether the activation command has been received during the coasting, and limiting an actual braking force generated by the drive unit if the controller has received the activation command during the coasting, compared to a case where the vehicle runs in a state other than the coasting.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle and a control method for the vehicle, and more specifically, to activation control of a vehicle in the case where a drive unit is activated during coasting.
2. Description of Related Art
In the case where a user erroneously turns off a power supply of a control system of a vehicle through operation during traveling of the vehicle, a drive unit including an internal combustion engine and a rotating electrical machine may be stopped, and the vehicle may coast with the generation of a driving force stopped.
In the case where the vehicle coasts in this manner, it may become necessary to reactivate the drive unit to cause the vehicle to travel appropriately.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-092623 (JP-2004-092623 A) discloses an art of allowing an engine to be reactivated by temporarily changing over the shifting range to a neutral range through coercion or limiting the opening degree of a throttle even in the case where the range of an automatic transmission is set to a drive range, if the engine is stopped during traveling of a vehicle.
In a vehicle that generates a driving force for running by a rotating electrical machine, such as a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle, if an accelerator pedal is turned off during running, a braking force resulting from the regenerative operation of the rotating electrical machine is applied, and the vehicle thereby decelerates.
However, if coasting as described above is started, the switching operation of an inverter that drives the rotating electrical machine is stopped. Therefore, there is established a so-called free-run state where no braking force is generated by the rotating electrical machine and only an inertial force of the vehicle is applied.
If the switching operation of the inverter is resumed through the activation operation by the user during this coasting, the braking force generated by the rotating electrical machine recovers.
In addition, the magnitude of the braking force of the rotating electrical machine changes in accordance with the set speed ratio. Therefore, if a low speed-side speed ratio is selected, a larger deceleration can be generated.


A recording head actuator assembly for correcting for tape mis-registration (TMR) in a tape drive. The assembly includes a recording head actuator including a recording head and actuators for laterally positioning the head relative to tracks of a tape. The assembly also includes a dynamic azimuth control (DAC) assembly that includes a flexural pivot and a rotation driver. The rotation driver applies a driving force on the flexural pivot causing the flexural pivot to rotate about a hinge axis and the head to rotate about a rotation axis passing through the head, from a first azimuth angle to a second azimuth angle. The rotation axis and the hinge axis coincide, and the rotation axis of the head is transverse to a direction of tape travel. In some useful implementations, the flexural pivot may include a planar outer flexure and a planar inner flexure arranged as a cross strip pivot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to tape drives and recording head actuator designs and, more particularly, to a recording head actuator assembly (and a tape drive incorporating such an assembly) adapted to address angular error or misalignment between read and write elements of a recording head and magnetic tape passing over the recording head.
2. Relevant Background
Tape drives have been widely employed in the data storage industry for over thirty years due to their ability to store large amounts of data on a relatively small and inexpensive removable format. Typically, tape drives use a storage tape that is wound between a pair of tape reels as data is transferred to or from the tape media via a read/write tape head assembly (or recording head actuator assembly). In one arrangement, one of the reels (e.g., the "take-up" reel) is part of the tape drive while the other reel (e.g., the "cartridge" or "supply" reel) is part of a removable cartridge. Upon insertion of the cartridge into the tape drive, the storage tape on the cartridge reel is coupled to the take-up reel of the tape drive (e.g., via respective leaders). After coupling, the tape is unwound from the cartridge reel, moved past the recording head assembly and wound onto the take-up reel via a drive motor. Next, the tape is unwound from the take-up reel, moved past the tape head assembly and wound onto the cartridge. Subsequently, the storage tape must be uncoupled from the take-up reel, prior to removing the cartridge from the tape drive. In another arrangement, both reels are part of a cassette which is inserted into a tape drive and driven by a drive motor.
To increase the storage density and reduce the access time of magnetic tapes, a popular trend is towards multi-head, multi-channel fixed head structures with narrowed recording gaps and data track widths so that many linear data tracks may be manipulated on a tape medium of a predetermined width (e.g., such as one-half inch width tape) passing by the head structures at increasingly faster rates of speed. However, various factors work against the ability of present systems to achieve such increased storage densities and reduced access times.
Physically storing data on magnetic tape remains crucial in the data storage industry, but this will only continue as long as the data stored on the tape remains uncorrupted, resists degradation over large spans of time, and can readily be retrieved from the tape. One problem presently plaguing the date storage industry is related to the dimensional stability of the magnetic tape. More specifically, the resolution of the tracks on the tape have become so fine that variations in temperature, humidity, and pressure can change the physical dimensions between the tracks on the tape (also called tape dimensional stability (TDS)), but, at the same time, similar changes do not occur within the recording head such that the spacing of the read and write elements remain unchanged. As a result, there can be track misregistration (TMR), e.g., between servo tracks and servo readers and between read elements and written tracks, due to TDS that can cause errors in later reading data from the tape and writing new data to the tape.
TMR can also result from an angular misalignment between the recording head and the tape (e.g., the tape is at an angle (often labeled as an azimuth angle) relative to the read and write elements instead of running perfectly orthogonal to the head). At this point, it may be useful to further discuss tape motion and its variation to understand the problem of TMR in a typical tape drive. Lateral tape motion (LTM) refers to the vertical motion of the tape in reference to the recording head. This motion can become problematic when the fine tracks of the tape become offset in regards to the writing portion of the recording head. This issue has been accounted for by use of two motors (a coarse motor along with a fine motor) actuating the recording head assembly to trace the lateral tape motion or motion of the servo tracks on the tape. In contrast with regard to angular misalignment, an azimuth in mathematics is simply an angular measurement in spherical coordinates, and azimuth (sometimes referred to as skew) in a tape drive can be caused by the non-linear motion of the tape relative to the recording head. In the tape drive, an error can be caused due to the existence of a non-zero azimuth angle between the recording head (i.e., a line extending through the linearly arranged read and write elements on the head) and a line extending perpendicular to the direction of travel for the tape.
Hence, there remains a need for a recording head assembly that is better designed to address TMR and to reduce the likelihood of errors caused by TDS or by the tape being at an unexpected azimuth angle relative to the recording head. Preferably, the new recording head assembly would be useful in existing tape drive configurations, e.g., the size of the assembly would fit within space presently provided for a recording head assembly, and, further, it would be useful for the assembly to be relatively inexpensive to manufacture while having an acceptably long service life.

Rotatable recording head actuator for correcting angular error in tape drives


A breakaway mounting system for mounting a structure to a fixed support surface has a plurality of elongated mounting members extending generally perpendicular to the support surface. An attachment plate is coupled with the structure to be mounted. The attachment plate has a plurality of apertures formed therein, and each of the mounting members extends through one of the apertures. A plurality of shearing plates are provided. Each shearing plate generally surrounds one of the mounting members and is positioned between the support surface and the attachment plate. Each shearing plate has an upper surface and a lower surface. The area of the shearing plate upper surface is substantially smaller than the area of a lower surface of the attachment plate, and the area of the shearing plate lower surface is substantially smaller than the area of the support surface. A fastener is attached to the mounting member for securing the attachment plate to the support surface. One of the upper surface and the lower surface of each shearing plate forms a shear plane for shearing the associated mounting member when the structure is impacted by a vehicle with sufficient force.

This invention relates to a system for connecting a roadside structure, such as a highway sign, to a support surface, and in particular to a system that allows the structure to be broken away upon being impacted by an errant vehicle.
Roadways and highways have numerous necessary structures located along their sides. For instance, almost every single highway has highway sign posts, commercial sign posts, luminaire supports, emergency call box supports, and fire hydrants located therealong. It is necessary for these structures to be located in close proximity to the road. These structures present significant hazards to an errant vehicle that exits the roadway and impacts the structures. If the structures are rigidly fixed adjacent the roadside, contact by a vehicle with the structure will result in significant damage to the vehicle and potentially serious bodily harm to the vehicle occupants. In fact, if such structures are rigidly secured, the chance of a fatality occurring in a collision dramatically increases. More specifically, a moving vehicle contacting a fixed, rigid support is subject to significant deceleration and generates an incredible amount of force that results in a very violent collision. A roadside structure that will breakaway or yield upon impact by a vehicle will greatly reduce the severity of the collision and is less likely to result in bodily harm to the vehicle occupants.
Numerous attempts have been made in the past to provide connections between roadside structures and a ground support surface. Once of the most basic types of prior art structures involves the use of yielding supports. More specifically, a structure, such as a sign, is supported by a yielding rod-like structure. When a vehicle impacts the rod-like structure, the rod simply bends over and out of the way of the impacting vehicle. These types of yielding support structures are typically only suitable for small highway structures. More particularly, in order to support large highway structures, a support rod or the like must have a particular rigidity to hold the structure in the upright position, especially when the structure is subjected to wind loading. Oftentimes, the rigidity of the material utilized to support the large structure is such that if contacted by a vehicle, a significant amount of force is still generated, thus resulting in a violent collision. Additionally, as is apparent, in order to adopt existing roadside structures to utilize yieldable supports, it is necessary to re-anchor the support in the ground utilizing the yielding support structure.
A further type of highway structure connection is a slip-base connection. In this type of connection, an anchor member extends from the ground and has a rigid plate secured thereto. The support member used to support the structure also has end plate that rests on the anchor member end plate. Notches are provided on the edges of the end plates of the adjoining anchor member and support member. Bolts are placed in these edge notches to connect the two end plates together and, thus, to connect the support member to the anchor member. The edge notches are such that they allow the bolts to slip out of the connection when the structure is contacted by a vehicle. A keeper plate is commonly used to hold the bolts and prevent the bolts from slipping out of the edge notches due to wind induced vibration and temperature-induced expansion and contraction. These types of structures suffer from the disadvantage that they are oftentimes not omnidirectional. More specifically, if a vehicle contacts the supported structure in a force line that is not in line with the edge notches, a substantial amount of force can still be generated by a collision. Further, it is typically difficult to adopt existing roadside structures to the slip base devices. Additionally, the clamping force must be between specific ranges to allow the bolts to slip, but still resist wind loads and temperature variations. Therefore, during installation, the torquing of the bolts to obtain the correct clamping force is crucial, thus requiring substantial time and attention to detail during preparation.
A still further type of roadside connector is a frangible transformer base. A frangible transformer base consists of a pedestal that is manufactured from a brittle material, typically aluminum. The frangible base is used to support the highway structure and attaches the support member to a rigid base, such as a concrete foundation. When a vehicle impacts the highway structure, the frangible transformer base fractures, allowing the supporting member to breakaway from the rigid base and move out of the way of the errant vehicle. As is apparent, it is oftentimes difficult to modify existing structures to use frangible transformer bases. Still further, frangible transformer bases are typically expensive to manufacture and can require numerous different sizes be made for different sizes of structure.
A still further type of roadside connector is frangible couplers. These couplers are often placed between a plate attached to an anchor member and a plate attached to a support member. When the highway support structure is impacted, the frangible couplers fracture and allow the support and anchor members to separate, thus reducing the potential for injury to the vehicle occupants. The first type of frangible coupler consists of a generally cylindrically fabricated body formed of a brittle matrix material. On one end of the cylinder a short threaded rod is cast into the brittle matrix material and presents male threads for connection to the attachment plate of a support member. The other end of the cylinder has a threaded sleeve formed therein that presents a female thread surface that is capable of mating with a male-threaded stud of an anchor member. A second type of frangible coupler consists of a solid shaft that is machined with threads on each end and with an hourglass configuration in the middle region between the threaded ends. The hourglass-shaped middle region presents a reduced cross section for fracturing upon contact. Frangible couplers are typically expensive and difficult to manufacture because they require the machining of special features, such as an hourglass configuration, that result in high labor and machine costs. Additionally, because of the difficulty of manufacturing frangible connectors, it is oftentimes difficult to adopt existing highway structures for their use. More specifically, an existing highway structure has a particular weight and height that results in certain wind load and gravitational forces being applied to the base of the support structure. Therefore, existing off-the-shelf frangible couplers oftentimes lack a sufficient number of sizes and types to retrofit a great number of existing supports. In particular, the sizes available may not provide sufficient resistance to wind loading while allowing sufficient breakaway capacity to reduce injury due to collision. If this is the case, it may be necessary to custom manufacture the frangible coupler which results in very high manufacturing costs due to the potential intricate molding and milling processes required to make these couplers.
Therefore, a breakaway connection system is needed which will overcome the problems with the prior connecting structures discussed above.

Breakaway connection system for roadside use

Board of Regents of University of Nebraska


The present invention provides novel materials and screening methods for identifying agonists and antagonists of cell receptors. Methods are disclosed for identifying agonists and antagonists using chimeric receptors comprising the extracellular ligand-binding domain of a first receptor fused with the transmembrane and intracellular domains of a second receptor containing an intracellular immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM).

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a family of at least ten highly conserved type-I transmembrane proteins (TLR1-TLR10) that are responsible for initiation of innate immune responses in vertebrates. They recognize a variety of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) from bacteria, viruses and fungi and act as a first line of defense against invading pathogens. Engagement of TLRs with their ligands leads to the production of various pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and effector molecules, depending on the cell type that is activated.
TLRs are characterized by an extracellular amino-terminal leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain and a carboxy-terminal intracellular tail containing a conserved region called the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) homology domain. The extracellular domain contains a varying number of LRR domains, which are presumably involved in ligand binding but may also be necessary for TLR dimerization.
PAMP ligands for most of the TLRs have been identified and include lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (recognized by TLR4), bacterial lipoproteins and lipoteichoic acid (recognized by TLR2), double stranded RNA (recognized by TLR3), flagellin (recognized by TLR5), single stranded viral RNA (recognized by TLR7 and TLR8), and viral and bacterial unmethylated CpG DNA (recognized by TLR9). In addition, host-derived ligands for several TLRs have been identified and include heat shock proteins (recognized by TLR4), chromatin-IgG complexes (recognized by TLR9), and endogenous mRNA (recognized by TLR3). No direct ligands have been identified for TLR 1 and TLR 6, but they appear to function as cofactors for TLR2.
Based on their ligands, TLRs 1, 2, 5 and 6 appear to specialize in recognition of products unique to bacteria and not made by the host. Their detection, therefore, affords a straight-forward self/non-self recognition. TLRs 3, 7, 8 and 9, on the other hand, specialize in viral detection and recognize nucleic acids, which are not unique to the microbial kingdom. In this case, self/non-self recognition is mediated not so much by the molecular nature of the ligands as by their accessibility to the TLRs. These TLRs are localized to intracellular compartments and detect viral nucleic acids in late endosomes-lysosomes. Because the host's nucleic acids are not normally accessible in these compartments, they do not trigger TLR-mediated signal transduction.
Once engaged, most TLRs initiate a signal transduction cascade leading to activation of NFκB via the adapter protein myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88) and recruitment of the IL-1 receptor associated kinase (IRAK). Phosphorylation of IRAK then leads to recruitment of TNF-receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6), which then results in the phosphorylation of the NFκB inhibitor I-κB. As a result, NFκB enters the cell nucleus and initiates transcription of genes whose promoters contain NFκB binding sites, such as cytokines. TLR3, on the other hand, utilizes a MyD88-independent pathway to recruit TRIF to activate NFκB and IRF3, resulting in IFN-β production.
Various assays have been developed for identifying agonists and antagonists of TLRs (e.g., U.S. Patent Application publication Nos. 2004/0197865, 2004/0132079, 2004/022777, 2004/0014779, 2003/0166001, 2003/0104523, 2003/0044429, 2003/0022302). These assays, however, generally depend on the detection of delayed downstream events, such as cytokine production or reporter induction. Such delay in detection increases the likelihood that any toxicity associated with the test compound, the solvent, or the extracellular milieu will adversely affect the assay. As a result, there is an immediate need for a sensitive screening assay that allows detection of an immediate signal mediated by TLR engagement and materials for performing such an assay.

Use of chimeric receptors in a screening assay for identifying agonists and antagonists of cell receptors


A wind-resistant umbrella to prevent air gusts from turning the fabric body of the umbrella inside out. The umbrella includes a central air vent formed at the upper end of the central rod of the umbrella that vents air downwardly and laterally adjacent to the top of the fabric body. The umbrella further includes a plurality of body air vents in the fabric body of the umbrella.

The present invention generally relates to umbrellas. More specifically, this invention relates to umbrellas having air venting means which prevent the umbrellas from turning inside out during high winds.
The problems of umbrellas turning inside out from the pressure of high wind is generally known. Various attempts to resolve this problem have been made in the prior art. Umbrellas which have air vents at the crown of the fabric body of the umbrellas are shown in Thomas U.S. Pat. No. 1,031,974; Belnivegna Des. 162,617; Wendorf U.S. Pat. No. 03,032,047; Farley U.S. Pat. No. 3,456,661; and Williams U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,063. In Khalil U.S. Pat. No. 1,723,044 a wind-resistant umbrella is disclosed having air venting means formed in the top portion of the rod handle. Ryder et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,008 discloses a wind-resistant umbrella having a plurality of flexible flap vents integrally formed throughout the fabric body of the umbrella.
The prior art wind-resistant umbrellas generally provide means to vent wind pressure by directing air upwardly and laterally from the umbrella. While this construction relieves the pressure on the interior of the umbrella to prevent it from being turned inside out, laterally-blown rain may enter the venting means to render the umbrella ineffective for its primary purpose. A preferred construction for an umbrella having air venting means would prevent even laterally-blown rain from entering the venting means during release of pressure on the umbrella fabric body.


A display assembly for sequentially dispensing a plurality of card-like samples in an upright position is disclosed. The assembly comprises a planar back panel, a retaining member having a pivotable hinge and receiving member for engaging the retaining member to the back panel for maintaining the card-like samples in upright contact with the back panel.

Stores which sell house paint need a convenient way to display the paint's color for consumers without having to open cans. This is typically accomplished using samples, also known as paint chips, having a swatch or swatches of paint appearing on strips or cards of paper or plastic. In a typical display, a plurality of paint chips of like color or colors are held upright on edge in front-to-back relationship such that removal of the frontmost sample from the assembly exposes the next adjacent sample. The consumer is encouraged to remove these samples from their display assembly and take them home.
A problem can occur when the consumer removes paint chips from the display. As the number of samples decreases in the display, the remaining samples have a tendency to fall forward out of an upright position. As a result, the true colors of the samples are not adequately displayed because at even a slight forward angle, light may not be properly reflected off the paint chip sample. Consequently, the consumer may be misled as to the proper paint color.
The present invention solves this problem through the use of a paint chip holder having a retaining member with a pivotable hinge, the retaining member having a pair of arms which exert pressure against the samples, so that no matter how many paint chips samples are removed by the consumer, the remaining samples stay in an upright position. Other advantages of the present invention include that the holder is easily refillable, portable, easy to maintain and assemble, can be displayed as a plurality and retains the paint chips without interference with visibility of either the paint chips or of the display assembly overall.


The present invention provides a use of a Cas protein, and a method and a kit for detecting target nucleic acid molecules. The method for detecting target nucleic acid molecules comprises adding a guide RNA, a Cas12a, and a nucleic acid probe into a reaction system containing target nucleic acid molecules to be detected, and detecting it after the reaction is completed.

Specific detection method of nucleic acids has important values in applications such as pathogen detection, genetic disease detection and the like. For pathogen detections, because each pathogenic microorganism has its unique characteristic nucleic acid sequences, the detection of nucleic acid molecules for specific species can be developed, also known as nucleic acid diagnostics (NADs), plays an important role in the field of food safety, environmental microbial pollution detection, human pathogen infections and the like. In another aspect, the NAD methods can also detect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human beings or other species. Understanding the relationship between genetic variation and biological function at the genomic level may provide anew perspective for modern molecular biology, among which SNPs are closely related to biological function, evolution, disease and the like, thus the development of techniques for detection and analysis of SNPs is particularly important.
So far, several NAD methods have been established, most of which are created for the detection of specific DNA molecules and some of which are for RNA molecules. Usually, DNA molecules are very stable and detection samples can be from a series of complex biological samples, while RNA molecules can be easily degraded and should be treated with care. In 1970s, restriction endonuclease digestion detection methods were developed, and then by the development of methods for detection of specific nucleic acid molecules such as Southern, Northern and dot hybridization. In 1985 when the PCR method became a routine experimental method, it led to exponential progress in molecular biology. The detection of specific nucleic acid molecules currently established usually requires two steps, the first step being target nucleic acid amplification and the second step being target nucleic acid detection. PCR technique is the first established and currently most commonly used amplification method. Based on the PCR method, fluorescence labelled probes are introduced to facilitate realtime detection of the amplification of target (named as Realtime PCR), which is a rapid and highly sensitive detection method and can be used for quantitative analysis. Besides of PCR amplification method, many alternative methods have been created, such as the ligase chain reaction, the branched DNA amplification, NASBA, SDA, transcription-mediated amplification, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), rolling circle amplification (RCA), Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) and the like. The advantage of these alternative methods lies in the isothermal characteristic, that's to say that the reaction can be simply accomplished at one temperature, without the need for thermal cycling instruments for PCR. In addition to real-time PCR, which can directly complete amplification and detection, among nucleic acid detection methods, FISH hybridization technology (Fluorescence in situ hybridization), the most commonly used detection method, hybridizes in situ with complementary target sequences by labeling molecular probes. In addition, detection methods such as next-generation sequencing technologies and Oxford Nanopore sequencing technologies have also been developed, but these methods usually require expensive experimental equipment.
The detection of SNPs first also needs to be amplified by PCR and other methods to obtain enough amounts of fragments containing SNP site regions for further detection. Common approaches include primer extension, hybridization, ligation and enzymatic cleavage. After completing the above methods, you need to use specific methods for detection, such as mass spectrometry detection, fluorescence detection, chemiluminescence detection, etc.
Although many detection methods have been developed as described above for nucleic acid detection, in some cases, faster, simpler and cheaper detection is still an important development direction, such as rapid detection of pathogens in the wild, rapid detection of drug-sensitive SNPs, etc. In 2016, Collins et al. developed a rapid and inexpensive method for detecting Zika virus based on the characteristics of CRISPR-Cas9 that specifically recognizes and cleaves target sequences. In 2017, Zhang Feng et al. took advantage of the collateral effect of CRISPR-Cas13a to build a rapid nucleic acid detection method. "Collateral effect", i.e., Cas13a binds to specific target RNA and then randomly cleaves other non-target RNAs (here, the RNA molecule is designed as an RNA fluorescence reporter system), combined with isothermal amplification technology RPA to achieve rapid target RNA detection; and Zhang Feng team called this detection method as SHERLOCK (Specific High Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing). The SHERLOCK method involves the binding of RNA templates, so if you need to detect DNA, DNA should be first transcribed to RNA for detection; in view of the instability of RNA, this method will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of operation.
In 2015, Zhang Feng et al. discovered a new CRISPR-associated protein endonuclease Cas12a (formerly known as Cpf1), which is an RNA-guided specific DNA endonuclease like the commonly used Cas9 protein; but compared with Cas9, Cas12a has its own characteristics, such as the need for crRNA to guide the specific cleavage of double-stranded DNA and produce cohesive ends.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Application of Cas protein, method for detecting target nucleic acid molecule and kit

Shanghai Tolo Biotechnology Company Limited


The electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) transducer disclosed herein is useful for the non-destructive analysis of objects. The transducer comprises a core having a winding and a coil disposed between the core and the object to be analyzed. One transducer can be used as a transmitter and another transducer as a receiver. Then selectively switching static magnetic field in either transmitter or receiver and processing data with and without static magnetic field allows for eliminating artifacts due to parasitic coupling between the transmitter/receiver pair. The switching of the static magnetic field can be implemented either by using electromagnet or a pair of permanent magnets where magnetization of one permanent magnet is reversed to provide cancellation of the static magnetic field.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure herein relates generally to the field of electromagnetic transducers. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to an electromagnetic acoustic transducer used in non-destructive testing. Yet more specifically, described herein is a method and apparatus for eliminating interference between separate electromagnetic acoustic transducers.
2. Description of Related Art
Monitoring the behavior of acoustic waves in a solid is useful in detecting potential flaws in the solid. One example of use includes propagating an acoustic wave into a member being testing, receiving the resulting wave, and analyzing the wave. Determining the resulting wave's attenuation can yield useful information concerning flaws in the member. The flaws may include cracks, pitting, corrosion, or other discontinuities in the solid. The members being tested include structural members, vessels, piping and other tubulars. Other applications include measuring solid dimensions and identifying the material through which the wave propagates.
One device useful for inducing acoustic waves in solids for non-destructive testing is an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). FIG. 1 illustrates in a side cut-away view an example of a prior art EMAT 10. The EMAT 10 comprises a permanent magnet 14 that extends substantially parallel to an electrically conductive object 12. Members disposed on the terminal ends of the magnet 14 form a magnetic yoke 16 extending downward toward the object 12. A coil 18 comprising a series of wires 20 is disposed in the space between the permanent magnet 14 and the object 12.
EMAT function comprises flowing electrical current through the coil 18 thereby inducing eddy currents in the object 12 proximate to the electrically conducting wire 20. Interaction between a magnetic field and induced eddy currents in turn creates Lorentz forces that acoustically excite the object. The magnetic field is produced by the magnet 14. Acoustic excitation typically results in acoustic waves that propagate in the object 12. Similarly, placing an EMAT proximate to an object excited by acoustic waves can induce an alternating magnetic flux that in turn results in an electromotive force applied to the receiver coil wires. Thus by measuring this electromotive force an EMAT may also act as an acoustic receiver. Recording and analyzing these waves is useful in detecting flaws in the solid.
One drawback of currently used EMATs is if an EMAT transmitter and an EMAT receiver are sufficiently proximate on another, parasitic coupling, or cross-talk, occurs between the respective windings of the transmitter and receiver. The resulting cross talk can have deleterious effects on data received by the receiver.

Electromagnetic acoustic transducer with cross-talk elimination


A circuit automatic generation apparatus includes storage means 4 for retaining input/output information of each function circuit and circuit information to which the function circuit is connected, test mode generation specifications for generating a test mode signal, test specifications added to the function circuit, terminal test specifications for specifying the input/output directions of terminals and circuit terminal information to which the terminals are connected, and input/output information of a top-layer circuit and circuit information to which the top-layer circuit is connected; connection information check means 5 for determining the presence or absence of a connection defect of the function circuit; test mode generation circuit generation means 10 for generating a test mode generation circuit; test specification addition function circuit generation means 9 for generating a function circuit to which test specifications are added; terminal test circuit generation means 11 for generating a terminal test circuit; and top-layer circuit generation means 8 for generating the top-layer circuit from the test mode generation specifications, the terminal test specifications, the input/output information of the function circuit and circuit information to which the function circuit is connected, the test specifications added to the function circuit, and the input/output information of the top-layer circuit and circuit information to which the top-layer circuit is connected.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic design technology of a semiconductor integrated circuit described in an HDL (Hardware Description Language) and in particular to a circuit automatic generation apparatus and method unifying a large number of design steps required for creating the top-layer circuit of a semiconductor integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, a method of automatically generating a logical circuit from a circuit described in the HDL using a logic synthesis tool has been adopted widely as a method of generating a logical circuit of a semiconductor integrated circuit. However, it is a common practice for a designer to manually describe a circuit using a text editor, etc., as a method of describing a circuit in the HDL.
A top down design technique of dividing a semiconductor integrated circuit for each function to form a hierarchical (layered) organization is widely used as a circuit design technique of describing a circuit in the HDL in the related art; a circuit is designed according to the hierarchical (layered) organization technique in function circuit design and in top-layer circuit design of a semiconductor integrated circuit. In the hierarchical (layered) design technique, it is necessary to create a high-layer circuit for connecting input/output signals of a plurality of function circuits formed as low layers.
In recent years, the number of function circuits making up a semiconductor integrated circuit has become enormous with the larger scale and higher function of the semiconductor integrated circuit. To develop such a semiconductor integrated circuit early, the trend of dividing design work among designers for each function circuit appears noticeably. The design process of creating the top-layer circuit of a semiconductor integrated circuit tends to be divided among designers.
To create the top-layer circuit, "input/output information of function circuit," "circuit information to which function circuit is connected," and "input/output information of top-layer circuit and circuit information to which top-layer circuit is connected" become necessary.
To create a top-layer circuit closer to the mounting level to which test specifications to conduct shipment inspection of a semiconductor integrated circuit are added, further "test mode signal generation information," "terminal test specification information," and "function block circuit information to which test specifications are added" become necessary. These pieces of information are information dependent on the job progress situation of function circuit designers, and are frequently updated.
In a general work dividing system, a design review is conducted for each job in charge and a check is made to ensure that the circuit does not involve any problem and then the job is inherited to the next step. In this method, however, a large number of steps are undergone until completion of a sequence of jobs, and it takes much time until a product high in perfection is obtained in the job in which the correction frequency is high.
The design method of creating the top-layer circuit of a semiconductor integrated circuit is conducted, for example, in the order of "function circuit creation," "test mode signal generation circuit creation," "terminal test circuit creation," "test circuit installation in function circuit," "top-level circuit creation," and "whole circuit design check of top-layer circuit of semiconductor integrated circuit."
In the design process, if trouble occurs in the last step "whole circuit design check of top-layer circuit of semiconductor integrated circuit," the process returns to the first "function circuit creation" step and a correction is made. In the design process, there is a possibility that a large number of artificial mistakes may occur such as a mistake at the circuit creation time and a design data pass mistake to the next step caused by the fact that a plurality of designers manually work in each step.
Thus, in the design method of creating the top-layer circuit in the related art, a plurality of designers manually work in each design step and thus the time taken for the design step is prolonged and an artificial mistake also occurs frequently and therefore a great deal of time is wasted as manual return is repeated.
Some semiconductor integrated circuits for mobile communications include a mechanism for dividing power supplied to the semiconductor integrated circuit into two or more channels and supplying or shutting off the power as required to realize low power consumption. In this mechanism, a state occurs in which a semiconductor element to which power is supplied and a semiconductor element to which no power is supplied are mixed according to the power supply and power shutoff combination of the two or more channels.
At this time, if a function circuit to which power is supplied receives output data of a function circuit to which no power is supplied as input, the input gate potential of the semiconductor element is not fixed and thus a leakage current flows.
To prevent a leakage current from flowing in design, it is necessary to create a power supply control signal and install a circuit for fixing the function circuit input potential in response to the power supply control specifications.
As an example of such a power supply control mechanism, a method of inputting a power supply control signal designed in response to the power supply control specifications to a function circuit as input signal and installing an AND gate for the input signal to the function circuit is available.
The design step of creating the power supply control circuit also tends to be divided among workers.
However, the design step is also conducted manually by a plurality of designers and thus the time taken for the design step is prolonged and an artificial mistake also occurs frequently and therefore a great deal of time is wasted as manual return is repeated.
In function verification of a semiconductor integrated circuit, function verification is conducted in response to the function to be checked. To conduct function verification, input data dynamically changing with input of a semiconductor integrated circuit (real values of high level, low level, intermediate potential, undefined value, etc.,) is input using a function verification tool and each function circuit is operated and the result is output. A comparison is made between the output result and the expectation value data previously describing the operation expected as the semiconductor integrated circuit specifications, whereby whether the function circuit operates normally or malfunctions can be checked.
The designer selects execution of function verification for each function circuit or in the one-chip circuit containing all function circuits considering the work efficiency in response to the check items of the function verification. In the one-chip circuit function verification of a large-scaled semiconductor integrated circuit, the handled data amount tends to become very large.
Particularly, in the one-chip circuit function verification, the used input data and expectation value data increase depending on the product of the number of terminals and the number of modes of the semiconductor integrated circuit and therefore the creation work of the input data and the expectation value data requires a great deal of time.
The input data and the expectation value data used for the function verification tend to be created manually by a plurality of designers.
Since the design steps involved in the function verification are also conducted manually by a plurality of designers, the time taken for the design steps is prolonged and an artificial mistake also occurs frequently and therefore a great deal of time is wasted as manual return is repeated.
As a related art for shortening the circuit design time period, Japanese Patent No. 2927137 discloses a design automation art of storing data defining the external specifications about already designed function circuits and put into parts and inputting the external specifications of the circuit to be designed and the circuit configuration, thereby reusing the already designed function circuits.
According to the art, after function circuit design completion, the function circuit and the input/output test specifications of the function circuit are given as input data and a test circuit is installed in the function circuit for conversion of the function circuit to the function circuit to which the test specifications are added, whereby the "test circuit installation in function circuit" step can be speeded up.
According to the art, however, only the "test circuit installation in function circuit" step is speeded up in the step sequence of creating the top-layer circuit and occurrence of waste of a great deal of time as manual return is repeated is not circumvented and therefore it is impossible to drastically reduce the number of design steps of a semiconductor integrated circuit.
To create the top-layer circuit rapidly and with no mistake, it is necessary to radically remedy "existence of a large number of design steps to create the top-layer circuit" and "manual work of a plurality of designers as work in each step" of the design method problems in the related arts.
To create the power supply control circuit rapidly and with no mistake in the power supply control circuit installation step, it is also necessary to radically remedy "manual work of a plurality of designers" of the design method problem in the related art.
In the step of creating the input data and the expectation value data used for the function verification, it is also necessary to radically remedy "manual work of a plurality of designers" of the design method problem in the related art.

Circuit automatic generation apparatus and method


A method for ensuring media stream security in an IP Multimedia Subsystem network is disclosed. The method includes: assigning an end-to-end media stream security key for a calling User Equipment (UE) or a called UE, by a network device with which the calling UE or the called UE is registered, respectively, and transmitting the media stream security key to a network device with which the opposite end is registered; encrypting the end-to-end media stream security key using a session key shared with the calling UE or the called UE respectively, and transmitting the encrypted end-to-end media stream security key to the calling UE or the called UE, respectively, via a session message; encrypting or decrypting a media stream, by the calling UE or the called UE, respectively, using the end-to-end media stream security key.

As a core session control layer in the fixed and mobile networks, the IMS has become a main topic in the art. Many specifications related to the IMS have been defined in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Telecommunications and Internet Converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN) standards, which concerns network architecture, interface, protocol, etc. Particularly, security is an important consideration in the 3GPP and TISPAN. In the current specifications, the IMS network is split into an access domain and a network domain in view of the security, and security specifications are defined for the access domain and the network domain respectively. FIG. 1 shows a security model for the IMS network, in which interfaces requiring the security are defined. Although having been described in detail in the specifications, these interfaces are defined only in terms of the control plane of the IMS network, i.e. how to ensure the security of the session protocols in the IMS network, instead of how to ensure the security of the media plane in the IMS network. In fact, the security of the media plane is also very important. Otherwise, media streams may be tampered or eavesdropped during the conversation of the subscribers, which results in degradation of the quality of service for the subscribers or leakage of confidential information.
Usually, an approach for protecting the media streams in the IMS network comprises: a Real-time Transfer Protocol (RTP) proxy is introduced into the architecture of the IMS network; keys are shared between User Equipment (UE) and the RTP proxy through the Generic Bootstrapping Architecture (GBA, which is also a generic authentication and key assignment model defined in the 3GPP specifications); confidentiality and integrity of the media streams are secured between the UE and the RTP proxy through the shared keys, achieving the security of the media streams in the access domain; and the security of the media streams in the network domain may be achieved in two ways: the first one is that no protection is provided between the RTP proxies, if the network is trustable or secure in the network domain; and the other one is that the media streams between the RTP proxies are protected through the IP_Security (IPSec) Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) protocol under the security mechanism in the 3GPP IMS network domain.
FIG. 2 shows an architecture of the GBA model and FIG. 3 illustrates an application of the GBA model to key assignment for the media streams. In the application, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server (such as Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) defined in the 3GPP IMS network) and the RTP proxy are taken as a whole, i.e. a Network Application Function (NAF) entity in the GBA. The SIP server acquires from the Bootstrapping Server Function (BSF) a key shared between the NAF and an SIP client The key shared between the NAF and an SIP client is stored in the BSF. The SIP server then sends the key to the RTP proxy via Is interface. Thus, the key for media stream security is shared between the. SIP client and the RTP proxy.
In the GBA model, both the NAF and the BSF are logical function entities. All Application Servers (ASs) and even the Call Session Control Function (CSCF) entity may be used as an NAF to acquire a key shared with the UE in the GBA processes. Likewise, the BSF may be implemented by any device, such as a CSCF entity, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), an Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) server, and a web portal, etc.

Method for ensuring media stream security in IP multimedia sub-system


Disclosed is a metal source/drain-based field effect transistor having a structure that replaces a portion of a semiconductor of a source/drain with a metal and a method of manufacturing the same. By replacing the source/drain region with the source/drain metal region, increase of the parasitic resistance of a conventional three-dimensional MOSFET of several tens of nanometers, lattice mismatch of the source/drain during selective epitaxial growth, and self-heating effect can be fundamentally solved. Further, since the metal is deposited after the partial etching of the source/drain region or the selective epitaxial growth is partially performed under the conventional CMOS process, the process can be performed without using any additional mask.

Metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) reduce unit cell cost, increase performance, and reduce power consumption through scaling according to Moore's law. A MOSFET is a device consisting of three terminals that are a source, a drain, and a gate (or substrate). Also, MOSFET is a core device that acts as a switch or amplifier and is used in all the electronic applications such as computers, mobile phones, internet of things, or the like performing logic operations.
The conventional MOSFET reduces the unit area per device and the operation voltage so as to reduce the power consumption, improve the device performance and reduce the process cost at the same time. On the other hand, as the size of the device is reduced to several tens of nanometers, power consumption increases due to the increase of the leakage current flowing under the channel between the source and the drain where the gate cannot control. In order to control the channel between the source and the drain effectively, a fin-shaped FET (FinFET) has been developed by wrapping three sides of the channel. For scaling down to 10 nm, gate-all-around (GAA) FET has also been developed in which the channel can be effectively controlled by the gate surrounding the entire channel region.
However, recently, it has become difficult to scale down MOSFETs by improving gate-to-channel controllability only. Parasitic resistance increases by the reduction of the metal/semiconductor interface area at the source/drain, and the complicated three-dimensional channel structure does not effectively emit heat generated during the device operation, so the device deteriorates greatly. In addition, impurities or heterogeneous materials for stress engineering cause lattice mismatches in the selective epitaxial growth, which results in the formation of a grain boundary and lowers the channel stress. In addition, non-uniform grain boundaries formed by temperature, pressure or composition ratio of substrate cause variability problems.

Metal source/drain-based MOSFET and method for fabricating the same


An infrared imaging array includes a plurality of photodetectors arranged in a two-dimensional array. A first charge read-out gate is associated with each photodetector and reads out electrical charges from the associated photodetector receiving first charge read-out clock pulses output from a vertical scanner. A charge storage element is connected to each column of photodetectors and includes a storage gate opposite which a potential well is formed in a substrate. The electrical charges transferred from the photodetectors in each column are stored in the potential well. A second charge read-out gate is associated with each charge storage element and transfers the electrical charges stored in the associated charge storage element to an output diode receiving second charge read-out clock pulses from a horizontal scanner. In the present invention, an insulating film underlying the charge storage gate has a thickness that decreases stepwise in the charge transfer direction so that the depth of the potential well created opposite the storage gate increases stepwise, producing an electric field in the charge transfer direction. Therefore, a small quantity of electrical charges remaining in the potential well drift in response to the electric field, increasing charge transfer speed.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a two-dimensional imaging array. This array includes a two-dimensional array of photodiodes 1, for example, 128.times.128 photodiodes, for generating electrical signals in response to light incident on the respective photodiodes. The photodiode array is mounted on and electrically connected to a p type silicon substrate 50a containing signal processing circuitry. Each photodiode is in electrical communication with a respective signal processing circuit in the substrate 50a through a columnar body 30, such as a cylindrical volume of indium. This construction is particularly applicable to an infrared light detector in which incident infrared light 200 strikes the photodiode array 1. The photodiode array 1 comprises cadmium mercury telluride (Cd.sub.0.2 Hg.sub.0.8 Te) that responds to infrared light in 10 micron band.
The general electrical arrangement of the imaging array of FIG. 6 is shown schematically in FIG. 7. For simplicity, FIG. 7 shows a 3.times.3 array of photodiodes 1a to 1i, i.e., an array including three photodiodes in each of three rows. The photodiodes 1a to 1i are connected to the source regions of vertical switch MOS transistors 2a to 2i, respectively, via the columnar connectors 30. A vertical scanner 3 is commonly connected to the gate electrodes of the vertical switch MOS transistors 2a to 2i. The drain regions of the vertical switch MOS transistors 2a to 2i are connected to charge storage capacitors 4x, 4y, and 4z. The charge storage capacitors 4x, 4y, and 4z are connected to the source regions of horizontal switch MOS transistors 5a, 5b, and 5c, respectively. A vertical scanner 6 is commonly connected to the gate electrodes of the horizontal switch MOS transistors 5a to 5c. A floating diffusion amplifier (hereinafter referred to as FDA) output circuit 7 is commonly connected to the drain regions of the horizontal switch MOS transistors 5a to 5c. Reference numeral 8 designates an output terminal.
In operation, incident light causes the photodiodes 1a to 1i to produce electrical charges that are conducted through the indium connectors 30 to the respective vertical switch MOS transistors 2a to 2i. Receiving clock pulses from the vertical scanner 3, the vertical switch MOS transistors in each column transfer electrical charges to one of the charge storage capacitors 4x to 4z. Receiving clock pulses from the horizontal scanner 6, the horizontal switch MOS transistor transfers electrical charges stored in the charge storage capacitor to the FDA output circuit 7.
FIGS. 9(a) to 9(c) are schematic diagrams illustrating the signal processing circuitry of the infrared imaging device and potential wells produced in the p type silicon substrate 50a. In the figures, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 7 designate the same or corresponding parts. Reference numeral 1A designates a photodiode arbitrarily selected from the photodiodes 1a to 1i. Reference numeral 2 designates one of the vertical switch MOS transistors 2a to 2i which corresponds to the photodiode 1A. Reference numeral 4 designates one of the charge storage capacitors 4x to 4z, which corresponds to the photodiode 1A. The charge storage capacitor 4 includes an injection gate 4a and a storage gate 4b. Reference numeral 5 designates one of the horizontal switch MOS transistors 5a to 5c, which corresponds to the charge storage capacitor 4. Reference numerals 11 and 12 designate an input diode and an output diode, respectively. The FDA output circuit 7 includes an FDA output gate 7a, an FDA source follower 7b connected to the FDA output gate 7a, and a resistance 7c connected between the FDA output gate 7b and the ground. Reference numeral 9 designates an FDA overflow reset gate for draining electrical charges stored in the potential well created opposite the output diode 12 to an FDA reset drain 10. Reference numeral 13 designates an FDA overflow reset gate for draining electrical charges stored in the potential well created opposite the storage gate 4b to an overflow drain 14. All of the gates described above are by MOS switches. In FIGS. 9(a)-9(c), for convenience, the vertical switch MOS transistor 2, the FDA overflow reset gate 9, the FDA reset drain 10, the FDA output circuit 7, the FDA overflow reset gate 13, and the overflow drain 14 are shown disposed apart from the p type silicon substrate 50a. However, these elements are included in the substrate 50a.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an infrared imaging apparatus in which the imaging array 50 is interconnected with other components. Electrical charges output from the infrared imaging array 50 are converted to electrical imaging signals by a scan converter 51 and displayed on a television monitor 52 as a visible image. To coordinate the reading out of the sequential electrical imaging signals from the array 50 with the conversion of those signals into a two-dimensional image in the scan converter 51, a timing generator 53 provides timing signals to both the array 50 and the scan converter 51.
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing clock pulses .phi.V, .phi.RS, .phi.R, and H1 applied to the respective gate terminals of the infrared imaging array 50 and the voltage waveform of an output signal DVo 1 from the output terminal 8. The clock pulses .phi.V and .phi.H1 are generated from the vertical scanner 3 and the horizontal scanner 6, respectively, and the clock pulses .phi.RS and .phi.R are generated from other scanners (not shown). The timing of each clock pulse is determined by the timing generator 53 of FIG. 8.
A description is given of the operation of the infrared imaging array.
When the clock pulse .phi.V from the vertical scanner 3 is applied to the gate of the vertical switch MOS transistor (hereinafter referred to as a vertical scanner gate) 2, three photodiodes in a prescribed row, for example, the photodiodes 1a, 1b, and 1c in the uppermost row shown in FIG. 6, are selected from the photodiodes 1a to 1i.
Turning to FIG. 9(a), when the clock pulse .phi.RS applied to the overflow electrode 13 and the clock pulse .phi.V applied to the vertical scanner gate 2 are both at "H" level, electrical charges generated in the photodiode 1A, which is one of the three photodiodes selected, are transferred through the vertical scanner gate 2 and a potential well created opposite the input diode 11 to a potential well created opposite the storage gate 4b, and then the electrical charges are drained through the overflow electrode 13 to the overflow drain 14. When the clock pulse .phi.RS decreases to "L" level to close the overflow electrode 13, electrical charges transferred from the photodiode 1A are accumulated in the potential well beneath the storage gate 4b. After the charge accumulation, when the clock pulse .phi.R applied to the FDA reset gate 9 increases to "H" level to open the FDA reset gate 9, the potential of the output diode 12 increases and a high voltage is applied to the output terminal 8 because a constant voltage power supply (not shown) is connected to the FDA reset drain 10. Then, the clock pulse .phi.R decreases to "L" level to produce a potential well beneath the output diode 12. In this state, when the read-out clock pulse .phi.H1 recurring at regular intervals shown in FIG. 10 is applied to the gate of the horizontal switch MOS transistor (hereinafter referred to as horizontal scanner gate) 5, the electrical charges stored in the potential well beneath the storage gate 4b are transferred to the potential well beneath the output diode 12 while the clock pulse .phi.H1 is at "H" level, i.e., while the horizontal scanner gate 5 is open (FIG. 9(c)). The width of each pulse of the read-out clock .phi.H1 corresponds to the time interval required for opening one horizontal scanner gate 5. Receiving the read-out clock pulse .phi.H1, the horizontal scanner gates 5a, 5b, and 5c successively open in this order and electrical charges stored in the charge storage capacitors 4x, 4y, and 4z are successively read out. The gate voltage of the FDA output gate 7a changes during every transfer of electrical charges stored in the charge storage capacitor 4 to the output diode 12, and the current flowing to the FDA output gate 7a from the constant-voltage source connected to the FDA source follower 7b is reduced, whereby the output signal DVo 1 having a voltage shape shown in FIG. 10 is output from the output terminal 8.
In the above-described operation, the pulse width of the read-out clock .phi.H1 is equivalent to the time interval for reading out electrical charges of one photodiode, i.e., pixel, and this charge read-out time interval is usually as long as or a little longer than the time interval during which electrical charges stored in the potential well beneath the storage gate 4b are completely transferred to the potential well beneath the output diode 12. Hereinafter, this time interval is called an actual read-out time.
In the above-described operation, before transferring electrical charges to the potential well beneath the output diode 12, a "H" level pulse is applied to the FDA reset gate 9 to completely eliminate electrical charges from the potential well beneath the output diode 12 during every reading out of electrical charges for each pixel.
FIG. 11(a) is a plan view illustrating the charge storage gate 4b and its vicinity and FIG. 11(b) is a sectional view taken along line XIb--XIb of FIG. 11(a). In the figures, the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 6, 7, and 9(a)-9(c) designate the same or corresponding parts. Reference numeral 60 designates an insulating film about 500 angstroms thick comprising silicon oxide. As shown in FIG. 11(a), the storage gate 4b of the charge storage capacitor 4 is long and narrow in the charge transfer direction to increase the volume of the potential well created opposite the storage gate 4b, whereby a large quantity of electrical charges generated in the photodiode are stored in the potential well. For example, the storage gate 4b has a width of about 80 microns and a length of about 300 microns.
The charge transfer from the potential well beneath the storage gate 4b to the potential well beneath the output diode 12 is carried out by self induced drift of the electrical charge itself and thermal diffusion of the electrical charge due to the heat from the p type substrate. In the initial stage of the charge transfer operation where a lot of electrical charges remain in the potential well beneath the storage gate, the charges are rapidly transferred to the potential well beneath the output diode 12 by the self-induced drift of the charges. However, in the final stage of the charge transfer operation where a small quantity of charges remains in the potential well beneath the storage gate, the self-induced drift of the charge decreases and the charge transfer is carried out only by thermal diffusion, increasing the charge transfer time. That is, the longer the potential well created beneath the storage gate 4b is, the longer the charge transfer time becomes. Therefore, when the length of the storage gate 4b is increased in the charge transfer direction to store a large quantity of electrical charges, in order to completely transfer the electrical charges to the potential well beneath the output diode, the pulse width of the read-out clock .phi.H applied to the vertical scanner gate 5 has to be increased to increase the time interval during which the vertical scanner gate 5 is open, i.e., the time interval for reading out the charges.
Meanwhile, when an output image is displayed on a TV monitor, it takes 1/60 sec. to process one frame. Therefore, when an output signal from the above-described infrared imaging array is displayed on a TV monitor as an image, the pulse width of the read-out clock .phi.H1, i.e., the charge read-out time, is about 1 .mu.s. Recently, an increase in the frame rate, i.e., a reduction in the time required for processing one frame, has been proposed to faithfully capture an image of a target moving at high speed. In this case, however, it is necessary to further reduce the charge read-out time from 1 .mu.s.
In the conventional infrared imaging array described above, however, if the length of the storage gate 4b is increased in the charge transfer direction to increase the quantity of charges stored in the potential well beneath the storage gate 4b, the time required for transferring the charges to the potential well beneath the output diode 12, i.e., the actual read-out time, is increased. In this state, if the pulse width of the read-out clock .phi.H1 applied to the horizontal scanner gate 5, i.e., the actual read-out time, is made lower shorter than 1 .mu.s to operate the imaging array in a TV frame, the quantity of charges transferred from the potential well beneath the storage gate to the potential well beneath the output diode 12 unfavorably decreases, resulting in poor resolution of the image attained.


A write and/or erase method is adapted to a storage apparatus having a function of changing a write and/or erase power of a light beam with respect to a recording medium. The write and/or erase method sets a write and/or erase slice level for detecting an off-track of the light beam with respect to a track on the recording medium depending on the write and/or erase power.

This application claims the benefit of a Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-163252 filed May 30, 2001, in the Japanese Patent Office, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to write and/or erase methods and storage apparatuses, and more particularly to a write and/or erase method (hereinafter simply referred to as a write/erase method) which sets parameters which are used when writing and/or erasing (writing/erasing) with respect to a recording medium depending on a write and/or erase power (write/erase power), and to a storage medium which employs such a write/erase method.
In addition to magneto-optical disk units which record and/or reproduce (record/reproduce) information with respect to a land of a magneto-optical disk, there are proposed magneto-optical disk units which record/reproduce the information with respect to both a land and a groove of the magneto-optical disk. By employing the so-called land-groove recording system which records the information on both the land and the groove of the magneto-optical disk, it is possible to increase the recording density on the magneto-optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical recording medium, typified by a magneto-optical disk, which employs the land-groove recording system and has a narrow track pitch, there is a possibility of deteriorating a signal reproducing performance of a target track due to a signal interference caused by a signal written on an adjacent track. It is known that this signal interference is dependent on a write power of a light beam which is used to write the signal on the adjacent track, and dependent on a positional error of the light beam with respect to the track. In addition, it is also known that a tolerable amount of the positional error of the light beam with respect to the track decreases when the write power becomes large, and that the tolerable amount of the positional error of the light beam with respect to the track increases when the write power becomes small.
In other words, because the optical recording medium has the narrow track pitch, a thermal conduction easily occurs with respect to the adjacent track which is adjacent to the target track on which the information is written if the write power is large. As a result, the signal written on the adjacent track may be erased or, the signal written on the target track may leak into the adjacent track. For this reason, the write signal level of the adjacent track is deteriorated when the write power is large. Hence, a method of suppressing deterioration of the write signal level of the adjacent track by adjusting the write power has been proposed in a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-16251, for example.
Furthermore, when the write power is large, the signal from the adjacent tracks leaks when reading from the target track, because the optical recording medium has the narrow track pitch. Especially when the write power of the adjacent track is large, the signal read from the adjacent track easily leaks into the signal read from the target track.
According to the conventional storage apparatus, however, a limit of the write power is obtained on the assumption that the light beam scans the center of the track on the recording medium. For this reason, when an external vibration or shock is applied on the storage apparatus, the light beam actually scans a position deviated from the center of the track, and there was a possibility of deteriorating the signal of the adjacent track as described above.
On the other hand, a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-182292 proposes a method which varies the write power during a write retry process, obtains a statistical write success rate with respect to the write power, and controls the write power to an optimum value based on the write success rate. In this case, the write power and/or the erase power are set intentionally, but it is necessary to set an off-track detection slice level which is used for detecting an off-track of the light beam by assuming a case where the write power and/or the erase power are high. As a result, the off-track is monitored very severely, and there was a possibility of detecting the off-track too sensitively.

Write and/or erase method and storage apparatus