Thermally imageable lithographic printing plate precursors and heat-sensitive compositions for use in these printing plate precursors are disclosed. The compositions contain an aqueous developer soluble polymer, such as a phenolic resin; a compound that reduces the aqueous developer solubility of the polymer; and optionally, and infrared absorber. Examples of compounds that reduce the aqueous developer solubility of the polymer are those that contain at least one quarternized nitrogen atom, such as quinolinium compounds, benzothiazolium compounds, pyridinium compounds, and imidazoline compounds. On thermal imaging, the irradiated areas become more soluble in the aqueous developer and can be removed to form a positive image.

This invention relates to positive working lithographic printing form precursors, to their use, and to imagable compositions for use thereon.
The art of lithographic printing is based on the immiscibility of oil and water, wherein the oily material or ink is preferentially retained by the image area and the water or fountain solution is preferentially retained by the non-image area. When a suitably prepared surface is moistened with water and an ink is then applied, the background or non-image area retains the water while the image area accepts ink and repels the water. The ink on the image area is then transferred to the surface of a material upon which the image is to be reproduced, such as paper, cloth and the like. Commonly the ink is transferred to an intermediate material called the blanket which in turn transfers the ink to the surface of the material upon which the image is reproduced.
A generally used type of lithographic printing form precursor has a light sensitive coating applied to an aluminium base support. Negative working lithographic printing form precursors have a radiation sensitive coating which when imagewise exposed to light hardens in the exposed areas. On development the non-exposed areas of the coated composition are removed leaving the image. On the other hand positive working lithographic printing form precursors have a coated composition, which after imagewise exposure to light of an appropriate wavelength, becomes more soluble in the exposed areas than in the non-exposed areas in a developer. This light induced solubility differential is called photosolubilisation. A large number of commercially available positive working printing form precursors coated with quinone diazides together with a phenolic resin work by photosolubilisation to produce an image. In both cases the image area on the printing form itself is ink-receptive or oleophilic and the non-image area or background is water receptive or hydrophilic.
The differentiation between image and non-image areas is made in the exposure process where a film is applied to the printing form precursor with a vacuum to ensure good contact. The printing form precursor is then exposed to a light source, a portion of which is composed of UV radiation. In the instance where a positive printing form precursor is used, the area of the film that corresponds to the image on the printing form precursor is opaque so that no light will strike the printing form precursor, whereas the area on the film that corresponds to the non-image area is clear and permits the transmission of light to the coating which becomes more soluble and is removed.
More recent developments in the field of lithographic printing form precursors have provided radiation-sensitive compositions useful for the preparation of direct laser addressable printing form precursors. Digital imaging information can be used to image the printing form precursor without the need to utilise an imaging master such as a photographic transparency.
An example of a positive working, direct laser addressable printing form precursor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,925, issued Nov. 24, 1987. This patent describes a lithographic printing form precursor in which the imaging layer comprises a phenolic resin and a radiation-sensitive onium salt. As described in the patent, the interaction of the phenolic resin and the onium salt produces an alkali-insoluble composition which is restored to alkali solubility upon photolytic decomposition of the onium salt. The printing form precursor can be utilised as a positive working printing form precursor or as a negative working printing form precursor using additional process steps between exposure and development as detailed in British Patent no. 2,082,339. The printing form precursors described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,925 are intrinsically sensitive to UV radiation and can be additionally sensitised to visible and infra-red radiation.
A further example of a laser addressable printing form precursor which can be utilised as a direct positive working system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,907, issued Dec. 13, 1994, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,046, issued Feb. 13, 1996. These two patents describe a radiation induced decomposition of a latent Bronsted acid to increase the solubility of the resin matrix on imagewise exposure. As with the printing form precursor described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,925 these systems can be additionally utilised as a negative working system with additional process steps after imaging and pre-development. In the negative working process the decomposition by-products are subsequently used to catalyse a cross-linking reaction between resins to insolubilise the imaged areas prior to development. As in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,925 these printing form precursors are intrinsically sensitive to UV radiation due to the acid generator materials used.
The hereinabove described printing form precursors of the prior art which can be employed as direct imaged positive working printing form precursors are lacking in one or more desirable features. None of the printing form precursors described can be handled extensively without due consideration for the lighting conditions in the working area. In order to handle the printing form precursors for unlimited periods special safelighting conditions are required which prevent unwanted exposure to UV radiation. The printing form precursors may be utilised for limited periods only in white light working conditions dependent on the output spectrum of the white light source. It would be desirable to utilise digital imaging hardware and printing form precursors in the unrestricted, white light press room environment in order to streamline workflows and UV sensitivity would be a disadvantage in these areas. In addition, white light handling would provide an improved working environment in traditional pre-press areas which currently have to be under restrictive safelight conditions.
Moreover, both printing form precursor systems have constraints on their components which create difficulties in optimising plate properties to provide optimum performance across the wide range of demanding lithographic plate performance parameters, including developer solubility, ink receptivity, runlength, adhesion.
In the systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,925 the presence of functional groups which would crosslink the phenolic resin in the presence of the onium salts upon irradiation cannot be allowed, either as a modification to the alkali soluble resin or as additional components in the composition, as this would lead to reduced solubilisation on exposure.
An essential requirement of the compositions described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,046 is the presence of both a resole resin and a novolak resin in order to allow the use of the system in a negative working mode. This is the favoured mode for this system as demonstrated by the negative working patent examples and the first commercialised product derived from this proprietary technology, Kodak""s Performer product. This optimisation for negative working potential restricts optimisation for the positive working mode which does not have this requirement.
A wide range of heat solubilising compositions useful as thermographic recording materials have previously been disclosed in GB 1,245,924, issued Sep. 15, 1971, such that the solubility of any given area of the imagable layer in a given solvent can be increased by the heating of the layer by indirect exposure to a short duration high intensity visible light and/or infrared radiation transmitted or reflected from the background areas of a graphic original located in contact with the recording material. The systems described are varied and operate by many different mechanisms and use different developing materials ranging from water to chlorinated organic solvents. Included in the range of compositions disclosed which are aqueous developable are those which comprise a novolak type phenolic resin. The patent suggests that coated films comprising of such resins will show increased solubility on heating. The compositions may contain heat absorbing compounds such as carbon black or Milori Blue (C.I. Pigment Blue 27). These materials additionally colour the images for their use as a recording medium.
The level of solubility differential in the compositions described in GB 1,245,924, however, is very low compared to that of commercial positive working lithographic printing form precursor compositions. Standard lithographic printing form precursors are able to demonstrate excellent tolerance to strong developing solutions, good robustness to variations in customer use and can be optimised to provide high developer solution usage and high numbers of printed impressions. The very poor developer latitude exhibited by the compositions of GB 1,245,924 makes them unsuitable for commercially acceptable lithographic printing form precursors.
We have discovered a heat-sensitive composition suitable for application as a heat-sensitive positive working printing form precursor for heat mode imaging which does not exhibit the disadvantages of the prior art as described hereinabove.
The composition of the present invention is heat-sensitive in that localised heating of the composition, preferably by suitable radiation, causes an increase in the aqueous developer solubility of the exposed areas.
Therefore according to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an oleophilic, heat-sensitive composition comprising an aqueous developer soluble polymeric substance, hereinafter called the xe2x80x9cactive polymerxe2x80x9d, and a compound which reduces the aqueous developer solubility of the polymeric substance, hereinafter called the xe2x80x9creversible insolubiliser compoundxe2x80x9d, characterised in that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is increased on heating and that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is not increased by incident UV radiation.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a positive working lithographic printing form precursor having a coating comprising of a composition comprising a said active polymer and a said reversible insolubiliser compound coated on a support having a hydrophilic surface characterised in that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is increased on heating and that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is not increased by incident UV radiation.
In order to increase the sensitivity of the heat-sensitive compositions of the present invention it is beneficial to include an additional component, namely a radiation absorbing compound capable of absorbing incident radiation and converting it to heat, hereinafter called a xe2x80x9cradiation absorbing compoundxe2x80x9d.
Therefore a further aspect of the present invention is a lithographic printing form precursor wherein said coating is suitably adapted to preferentially absorb radiation and convert said radiation to heat.
Therefore according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a heat-sensitive positive working lithographic printing form precursor which has on a support having a hydrophilic surface an oleophilic, heat-sensitive composition comprising a said active polymer, a said reversible insolubiliser compound and a said radiation absorbing compound, characterised in that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is increased on heating and that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is not increased by incident UV radiation.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a heat-sensitive positive working lithographic printing form precursor wherein the said coating includes an additional layer disposed beneath the oleophilic, heat-sensitive composition, wherein the additional layer comprises a radiation absorbing compound.
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a heat-sensitive positive working lithographic printing form precursor which has on a support having a hydrophilic surface an oleophilic, heat-sensitive composition comprising a said active polymer and a said reversible insolubiliser compound which is also a said radiation absorbing compound characterised in that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is increased on heating and that the aqueous developer solubility of the composition is not increased by incident UV radiation.


A method evolves generic computational building blocks. The method initializes a parent population with randomly generated programs. The method also obtains a list of randomly generated test inputs. The method generates a target dataset that includes input-output pairs of randomly generated binary strings. The method also applies a fitness function to assign a fitness score to each program, based on the input-output pairs of the target dataset. The method grows a seed list by applying genetic operators to the programs, and selecting offspring that satisfy a novelty condition. The novelty condition is representative of an ability of a program to produce distinct and unique output for the list of randomly generated test inputs. The method iterates until a terminating condition has been satisfied. The terminating condition is representative of an ability of programs in the seed list to solve one or more genetic programming instances.

Genetic programming (GP) is a form of biologically-inspired machine learning that leverages the analogy between computer program code and natural genetic code. An advantage of GP over other forms of machine learning is the ability to compress information in the same way that the complex functionality of a biological organism is compressed into its DNA. The ability to compress information is closely related to acting intelligently. Another advantage of GP systems is that it is possible to explain how such systems make decisions. For example, the program code produced by a GP system can be expressed in a human-readable programming language. By contrast, a deep neural network is a black box that offers no explanation of how decisions are made. Neural networks also tend to exhibit weaknesses, such as brittleness, which are not found in human intelligence. There is growing concern that such systems are reaching their useful limits, and cannot achieve the goal of artificial general intelligence without help from other techniques.
The building block hypothesis is often used as the justification for why GP is practical. Intuitively, GP does not appear to be practical, because searching for a program that solves a given problem by randomly generating programs and trying each one would seem to require time that is exponential in the program size. The building block hypothesis claims that, rather than needing to generate a perfect program, only relatively short program fragments, or building blocks, need to be generated. Such building blocks tend to be present in programs giving good approximations for the solution. By leveraging parallel computation, many building blocks can be found at the same time, and the genetic operators used in GP are designed to combine building blocks into a reasonably good solution.
Assuming the building block hypothesis is true, there is still a problem: even though only the short building blocks need to be determined, a new set of building blocks need to be determined for a new GP instance. This can mean searching for the same building blocks over and over again, which wastes computational resources.
Many GP systems address this problem by seeding the initial population of programs with hand-coded building blocks that are expected to be useful in solving the particular problem under consideration. For example, if the problem is to estimate the distance between objects in a given image, then the population might be seeded with the trigonometric functions and the value of the constant r. The drawbacks of this approach is that it relies on human intelligence when the goal is to produce artificial intelligence. Additionally, such approach opens the door to injecting human bias into the system.

Using genetic programming to create generic building blocks


A signal processing circuit including a plurality of analog-to-digital conversion circuits, an in-memory computing device, and a control method thereof are provided. Each analog-to-digital conversion circuit includes a reset switch, a capacitor array circuit, a voltage comparator, and a successive approximation circuit. A first terminal of the reset switch receives a first reference voltage, and a second terminal of the reset switch receives an input voltage signal. The capacitor array circuit adjusts the input voltage signal according to a successive approximation control signal to generate an adjusted voltage. The voltage comparator compares the voltage levels of the adjusted voltage and a second reference voltage to generate a comparison signal. The successive approximation circuit generates a successive approximation control signal according to the comparison signal and generates an output digital signal corresponding to the input voltage signal. The capacitor array circuit maintains the input voltage signal during a non-reset stage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chips are one of the main research and development directions of the semiconductor industry. AI chips are chip structures that integrate memory, driving circuits, and computing circuits, and adopt in-memory computing (IMC) techniques to achieve real-time computing and decentralize the workload of the central processing unit. The application of AI chips is very wide, and AI chips are expected to have high efficiency, large amount of memory space, scalability, less power consumption, fast response time, smaller circuit size, reduced cost, and the like.
In addition to a memory array, AI chips adopting IMC also have a multi-channel digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). However, when all ADCs are enabled at the same time, it is necessary to provide a sufficient reference voltage for all ADCs, thus causing noise and affecting the signal conversion results of the ADCs.

Signal processing circuit, in-memory computing device and control method thereof

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


The present invention is directed to films that are deposited with foamable inks or coatings. One purpose is to facilitate their separation for recycling purposes. The films are particularly useful as packaging labels. The inks/coatings are designed so that foaming is activated when the film is in the hot-wash stage of a typical recycle process. This provides added buoyancy to the film allowing it to float to the surface and be removed, thereby significantly improving the efficiency of the recycle process. A feature of the invention is that, prior to this hot wash, the inks/coatings remain substantially unfoamed and thereby do not negatively affect the aesthetics of labeled package. The foamable inks/coatings can be used with any type of film.

Most commercial recycle processes for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers require that any label be completely removed and separated, in order to minimize contamination and provide a high quality recycle flake. This is because the inks in the label, as well as the label itself (if made from a non-polyester material), have a negative impact on PET and can cause haze and discoloration.
A common method for achieving some or all of this separation is to subject the materials to a "sink-float" separation in a water-based wash bath. With traditional, non-shrink labels made from polypropylene, this approach works well since the polypropylene has a density less than 1 g/cm3 and will float to the top of the bath where it can be removed. In contrast, the PET component has a density of 1.33 to 1.35 g/cm3 and will sink to the bottom where it can be easily collected.
The growing popularity of heat-shrink labels (or shrink labels) has complicated matters, however. Shrink labels typically have a density greater than 1.0 g/cm3 and tend to sink with the PET flake. This is true whether the labels are made from copolyester, polystyrene, poly(lactic acid) (PLA), or poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Because these labels and their printing inks stay mixed with the PET at the bottom of the tank, they contaminate the PET and may cause haze/color problems. While some shrink materials, like copolyester, are compatible with PET and can be tolerated at low levels as long as ink contamination is minimized, some label stock (e.g., polystyrene and PVC) can cause additional problems when the PET flake is later reprocessed. For example, at PET processing temperatures, PVC contamination tends to severely corrode extruder barrels due to the release of hydrochloric acid.
There are some solutions to this problem already on the market including micro-voided shrink films, as well as labels that are pre-foamed. These approaches reduce the density of the label stock, making it more easily separable, but also render the label opaque. For some applications, this opacity may be acceptable (and even desirable), but for many packages, the brand owner desires clear or translucent label stock to better show off their product. Furthermore, in the case of pre-foamed labels, it is also very difficult to print on these labels and provide any kind of "eye-catching" graphics given the rough-nature of the surface.
Because of (a) the wide range of shrink labels on the market, (b) the difficulty in rapid identification of label type at the recycle facility, and (c) the serious negative potential of contamination by a material like PVC, most recyclers simply choose to dispose of all shrink labeled bottles rather than try to reclaim the PET flake. Even though some shrink labels tend to not cause major issues for recyclers, the risk that other more-damaging label stock might get through the system is too great. As a result, a large quantity of high-quality PET flake is getting sent to landfills despite the fact that it could be reclaimed.
Thus, there is a need for a film that is suitable for use as packaging labels or wrappings and that can be easily separated from PET flake without adversely affecting the aesthetic characteristics that make such packaging material so popular. There is also a need for a process that can easily separate the film from PET flake. Ideally, the solution would work for all types of film materials, so that recyclers would no longer have to worry about separating acceptable film materials from bad.
The present invention addresses these needs as well as others that will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims. In one embodiment, the invention solves a recycler's problems by using inks/coatings on the packaging label or wrapping material that foams during the recycle flake washing step.

Films containing foamable inks or coatings and process for separating similar density materials


Provided is a method for performing relay forwarding on integrated access and backhaul (IAB) links. The method includes receiving, by a first IAB node, a data packet; and transmitting, by the first IAB node, the data packet to an IAB donor. Further provided are an information acquisition method, an IAB node, an IAB donor node and a storage medium.

Usage of a larger available bandwidth, massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and multi-beam of 5th-Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) compared to Long Term Evolution (LTE) makes the research and application of integrated access and backhaul (IAB) links possible. Through radio backhaul links and relay links, dense NR cell networks can be deployed more flexibly without increasing transmission network dense deployment accordingly.
In an example of deploying an IAB network, nodes A, B and C are all access nodes, a user equipment may connect to the access nodes A, B and C through access links, but only a wired connection between the access node A and a core network element exists, and there is no wired connection between the access nodes B/C and the core network element. An access node that supports the radio access of the UE and performs radio backhaul on data is called an IAB node. An access node that provides a radio backhaul function for the IAB node to connect the UE to the core network is called as an IAB donor. Data of the UE may be transmitted among the access nodes through the radio backhaul links. For example, the access node B may transmit the data received from the UE to the access node A through the radio backhaul links, and then the access node A transmits the data received from the UE to the core network element. For the downlink, the core network element may transmit a UE data packet to the access node A, and then the access node A transmits the UE data to the access node B through the radio backhaul links, and then the access node B transmits the UE data to the UE through the access links. The access links and backhaul links may use same or different carrier frequencies.
How to perform relay forwarding in the IAB architecture so as to correctly transmit and receive the UE's data is the problem to be solved.

Method for performing relay forwarding on integrated access and backhaul links, information acquisition method, node, and storage medium


A system controller selects a transmission mode for content distribution based upon the relative popularity of the content within the content distribution system. The system controller receives a content distribution request from a content source and detects a content distribution characteristic for content to be distributed by the content source, in response to receiving the content distribution request. When the content distribution characteristic indicates the content as being relatively popular, or frequently requested by receivers in the content distribution system, the system controller selects a one-to-many transmission mode for the content. When the content distribution characteristic indicates the content as being relatively unpopular, or infrequently requested by receivers in the content distribution system), the system controller selects a one-to-one transmission mode for the content. By selecting a transmission mode based upon the relative popularity of the content, the system controller maximizes network resources, thereby causing the network to operate economically.

In general, content distributors transmit audio, images, or text, (e.g., content) to end users or receivers using a variety of distribution models. Conventional models of distribution have particular cost components associated with the content transmission to a given audience.
One conventional mechanism or mode for content distribution involves broadcast transmission. In broadcast transmission, such as radio or satellite broadcast, a content source transmits content to many receivers (one-to-many). Typically, the facilities for broadcasting audio content are fairly large, complex, and capital intensive, even for low-power FM broadcasting. The total bandwidth available to a broadcaster using broadcast transmission is limited. Broadcast transmission, however, reaches all receivers equally such that adding an audience within a broadcast area does not create any additional costs for the broadcaster (e.g., the broadcaster does not have to develop additional broadcasting facilities). Therefore, broadcast distribution of content typically includes a low marginal cost (e.g., no additional cost with respect to reaching additional receivers in an audience) and an associated a high fixed cost (e.g., initial development of broadcast facilities).
Another conventional mechanism or mode for content distribution involves multicast transmission. In multicast transmission, such as IP multicast or application-level multicast, a content source transmits content to many receivers (e.g., one-to-many). Compared to broadcast transmission, multicast transmission is not limited by an allocated bandwidth and does not have the same high fixed cost associated with broadcast distribution of content. However, any given multicast consumes multicast addresses and router resources and, for multiple receivers, can load network resources.
Another conventional mechanism or mode for content distribution involves unicast transmission. In unicast transmission, such as digital streaming over a computer or information network (e.g., the Internet), a single content source transmits content to a single receiver. In general, unicast transmission is effective on a small scale because the associated transmission and reception tools, such as client computers, software, and network connection costs, have relatively low costs. The total bandwidth available to unicast transmission is virtually unlimited. The cost associated with unicast transmission, however, involves the addition of new listeners or receivers of content to the network. Adding listeners to a unicast or digital streaming media transmission requires additional streams of data (e.g., bandwidth), and corresponding additional costs and resources for installing and maintaining the additional streams. Therefore, unicast distribution of content involves a low fixed cost (e.g., cost of computers and connection) and an associated high marginal cost (adding content receivers to receive transmission).
Certain conventional networks, such as the Internet allow distribution of both broadcast or multicast transmissions (one-to-many) and unicast transmissions (one-to-one). For a user to receive content in either a one-to-many or a one-to-one transmission mode, the user must monitor the transmission mode of the incoming content. Furthermore, when informed of a transition between transmission modes, the user must, conventionally, manually select a receiver (e.g., computer program application) to receive content in a particular transmission mode (e.g., either one-to-one or one-to-many).

Methods and apparatus for distributing content within a content delivery system


An adapter for a pipe is disclosed where the adapter changes the effective inside diameter of the tube to increase the airspeed flowing through the area where the adapter is placed. The adapter is utilized in automobiles where to adjust engine parameters based upon the requirements from the various sensors. This allows original sensors to be used in pipe while providing the overall appearance of a larger section of pipe. A kit including a number of nesting adapters is provided to allow altering of the cross sectional area of the pipe. The location of the sensor is maintained in the center of the pipe and the adapter(s) engage, nest, or connect to cause a progressive reduction of the pipe diameter until the optimal air flow speed is achieved based upon the requirements of the sensor.

When modifying air intake and air flow pipes in customized vehicles it is often desirable to utilize pipes or tubes that are different in diameter than the pipes or tubes that the vehicle was designed with. The alteration of inside diameter of the pipe often creates a difference in the flow characteristics of air that moves through the pipes or tubes. Changing the cross sectional area of the pipe or tube will alter the information monitored by sensors placed within the tubes or pipes. Several solutions will allow the correct information to be monitored by the sensors. One option is to locate a sensor that can be used with the different size pipe or tube. Because of the large number of variations in sensors and pipe diameters, locating an acceptable sensor would be an involved and possibly futile effort. Another option, as proposed in this application is to utilize the pipe with one or more adapter sleeves that make the inside diameter equivalent to the inside diameter of the original equipment pipe or tube. Some patents have been issued to try and alter the size or diameter of a pipe or tube where sensors are used. Exemplary examples can be found in the patents identified herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,145 issued to Harry Miller on Mar. 5, 1974 discloses a Variable Throat Venturi Airspeed Sensor. This patent uses a section of pipe where a hinged arm is articulated to reduce the area of the pipe. Pressure sensors are placed both before the restriction and at the apex of the restriction. While this patent discloses an alteration of the flow within the tube the size of the alteration is not performed with sleeves. The sensor is not an O2 or a Mass Air Flow Sensor used in an automotive application.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,634 issued to Richard J. Billette et al. on Feb. 8, 1977 discloses a Flow Meter with a changeable restriction in the pipe. While the restriction is variable by using different size an orifice, the restriction is not a sleeve that extends over the area where the sensor(s) is/are located. The sensors in this patent are pressure sensors and are used to determine the pressure change before and after the restrictive orifice. The sensor is not an O2 or a Mass Air Flow Sensor used in an automotive application.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,244 issued to Jason Agar et al. on Apr. 11, 1978 discloses a Method and Apparatus for Measuring Fluid Flow and/or for Exercising a Control in dependencies thereon. A variety of different shaped restrictions are disclosed to determine the result of having the restriction within the pipe. The patent uses thermistors placed within the airflow that are electrically heated and cooled with the airflow to determine the characteristics of the airflow within the tube. The sensor is not an O2 or a Mass Air Flow Sensor used in an automotive application.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,740 issued to Harvey E. Svetik et al. on Sep. 8, 1987 discloses a Pipeline Lining for pipe. This patent is a lining that is threaded into an existing pipe and it effectively alters the inside diameter of the pipe. While this patent discloses a means to alter the inside diameter of a pipe, the entire length of the pipe is altered, and there are no sensors that monitor the flow through the pipe. The only opening is for a vent for evacuating the air between the inside and outside pipe.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,055 issued to Lloyd E. Nelson on Apr. 25, 2000 discloses a Multi-Port Orifice Meter Fitting. The meter fitting-includes two outer plates with a rotatable orifice plate located between the two outer plates. While the purpose of this patent is to allow for replacement of an orifice without the need to open the pipe and replace the orifice, the patent could be used with orifices of different diameter to alter the flow rate through the orifice. While the flow rate through the orifice is different than the flow through the pipe, there is no monitoring means to measure the flow located within the orifice.
What is needed is a flow adapter with insert sleeves of various diameters that fit within a section of pipe to alter the flow to tune the flow for a sensor placed within the section or pipe and the adapter sleeve.

Pipe adapter for adjusting the flow past a sensor


Method for the estimation of channel parameters in a wireless communication system. In accordance with the method several levels of the wireless channel parameters estimation take place to address the specific requirements of the channel. Based on the level of estimation required an appropriate estimation algorithm is selected to achieve the desired results. The evaluation of the channel state and thereafter determining the appropriate parameter estimation requirements provide for a superior overall performance of the wireless system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication systems and more particularly to a method for comprehensive estimation of independent channel parameters.
2. Prior Art
In a multi-path environment of a wireless system, there is a need to evaluate the channel conditions, and provide a set of parameters that give an indication of the quality of the channel. Each of the channels that may be used is checked and then those having the best transmission results may be selected for communication. The understanding of the channel quality is particularly important in order to ensure the correct operation of a wireless system using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In this case, multiple frequencies are multiplexed in a relatively narrow band, collectively forming a wide band transmission link. Environmental impact on the transmitted signal raises the need for timing synchronization, used to position the signal in an optimum sampling window and further ensure phase alignment of the signals. It is therefore essential to understand the channel characteristics so as to provide the necessary parameters to the wireless system for the necessary adjustments.
Roy III et al. show in U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,147 a technique based on maximum likelihood entropy principles, or subspaces, for the estimation of sinusoid signal parameters. Therefore, this technique cannot be directly applied to the estimation of signal parameters in an OFDM system. This is because the technique is directed toward extracting all of the signal transmission channel parameters. It is well-known in the art that there is insufficient data to realize such an approach. Even if it is assumed to be possible, extracting all the signal transmission channel parameters would naturally require a significant amount of data from the measurements. This would necessarily lead to a complex implementation which may further lead to a slower than desirable response time.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,526, Li et al. suggest a different approach, noting that it is impractical to handle all the possible channel parameters in an OFDM system. Li et al. suggest to overcome prior art deficiencies by employing an arrangement and a method that does not require the estimation of all the signal transmission channel parameters. More specifically, a rotational invariance arrangement or technique that utilizes either spectral, and/or temporal, and/or spatial diversity present in the wireless system, is used to generate a single prescribed parameter of the mobile signal transmission channel. In one of the embodiments of the invention disclosed by Li et al. the single prescribed parameter of the signal transmission channel is the delay that is substantially constant over the diversity, while the gain of each signal transmission channel path may vary.
There are many parameters in an OFDM system to be uniquely identified. The different operation modes, for example for a HiperLAN/2 standard, are shown with reference to FIG. 5. The limitations of the prior art go between complex systems that require the estimation of all the parameters, to simpler solutions that select a single prescribed parameter for estimation purposes. There are well-known coarse, simplified, and exact channel estimation methods, each employed separately from each other, and without consideration of when one should be used over the other as channel estimation takes place. A coarse channel estimation is generally referred to as a case where the channel estimation is not very accurate and has a low computational budget, however, it must be recalculated for each time there is need for a channel estimation. Exemplary and non-limiting discussions of coarse channel estimation may be found in "Channel Quality Estimation and Rate adaptation for Cellular Mobile Radio", by K. Balachandran, S. et al., IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 17, no. 7, July 1999, pp. 1244-1256, and "A Novel OFDM Transmission Scheme with Length Adaptive Cyclic Prefix", by Zahng, Z. and Lai, L., Journal of Zhejiang University SCIENCE, 2004, Vol. 5(11), pp. 1336-1342. Exemplary and non-limiting discussions of simplified channel estimation may be found in "A Reduced Complexity Channel Estimation for OFDM Systems with Transmit Diversity in mobile Wireless Channels", by Minn, H. et al., IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 50, no 5, May 2002, pp. 799-807, "An Investigation into Time-Domain Approach for OFDM Channel Estimation Approach", by Minn, H. and Bhargava, V., IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 46, no 4, December 2000, pp. 240-248, and "A Low-Complexity ML Channel Estimator for OFDM", by Luc Deneire et al., IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 51, No. 2, February 2003, pp. 135-140. Exemplary and non-limiting discussions of exact parametric channel estimation may be found in "Estimation of Multipath Parameters in Wireless Communications", by Vanderveen, M. C. et al., IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 46, no. 3, March 1998, pp. 682-691, and "Multichannel MLSE Equalizer with Parametric FIR Channel Identification", by Chen, J. et al., IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 48, no. 6, November 1999, pp. 1923-1935. Exemplary and non-limiting discussions of exact detailed channel estimation may be found in "A Two-Stage Receiver for Co-channel Interference Cancellation in Space-Time Block-Coded Systems over Frequency Selective Channels", by de Almeida, A. L. F et al., XX Simposio Brasileiro De Telecomunicaciones—05-08 De Outubro De 2003, Rio De Janeiro, "Channel Estimation Using Pilot Tones in OFDM Systems", by Yeh, C. and Lin, Y., IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, vol. 45, no. 4, December 1999, pp. 400-409, "A Comparison of Pilot-Aided Channel Estimation Methods for OFDM Systems", by Morelli, M. and Mengali, U., IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 49, no. 12, December 2001, pp. 3065-3073, "Pilot Tone Selection for Channel Estimation in a Mobile OFDM System", by Negi, R. and Cioffi, J., IEEE Transaction on Consumer Electronics, vol. 44, no. 3, August 1998, pp. 1122-1128, and "On channel estimation in OFDM systems", by Edfors, O. et al., proc. of Vehicular Technology Conf., 1995, pp. 815-819. Exemplary and non-limiting discussions of discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based exact channel estimation may be found in "Analysis of DFT-Based Channel Estimators for OFDM", by Van de Beek, J. J. et al., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Wireless Personal Communications 12, 2000, pp. 55-70. Other known prior art deals with specific aspects of channel estimation, but none provide a comprehensive channel estimation solution.
The disclosures of the foregoing references are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
There is therefore a need in the art to provide a method to allow a flexible and comprehensive solution that estimates the channel parameters based on the specific characteristics of a channel. It would be further advantageous if such a solution would allow for various levels of parameter extractions based on the specific needs of a wireless channel.

Method for estimating wireless channel parameters


A staticized flop circuit converts a dynamic signal appearing across the output of a logic circuit into a static signal, and includes a dynamic-to-static convertor which minimizes glitching in the static output. The dynamic-to-static convertor includes a pull-down device, operatively coupled between an output node and a ground, which is closed while an input node is at a precharge potential and which is open while the input node is at a ground potential, and a pull-up device, operatively coupled between a source voltage and the output node, which is closed while the input node is at the ground potential and which is open while the input node is at the precharge potential. The invertor also includes a pull-down path shutoff device, operatively coupled between the output node and the ground in series with the pull-down device, which is closed during each first phase of a clock signal and which is open during each second phase of the clock signal, and an activation device, operatively coupled between the output node and the series connection of the pull-down device and the pull-down shutoff device, which is closed during each first delayed phase of a delayed clock signal and which is open during each second delayed phase of the delayed clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a staticized flop circuit, and more particulary, to a dynamic-to-static converter of a staticized flop circuit which reduces glitching in a static output thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional staticized flop circuit, an example of which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, functions to periodically evaluate a dynamic logic signal to produce a corresponding static output signal. This is necessary in the case where a dynamic circuit output is to interface with a static circuit, and thus the dynamic signal output must be staticized for application to the static circuit. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of such a circuit, whereas FIG. 2 is an exemplary component level circuit diagram of the same.
A logic circuit 102 receives at least one input A, B, . . . X to perform a logic operation on the same. The logic circuit 102 may be any logic circuit, such a MUX for example, that produces a dynamic output. In the example of FIG. 2, the logic circuit is implemented by transistors ML1 and ML2 which produce the logical NAND of inputs A and B at a dynamic node EVAL.
Together with the logic circuit 102, a precharger D 104, a latch D 106 and a ground switch 108 form a dynamic circuit. The precharger D 104 serves to precharge the dynamic node EVAL during each low pulse of a clock signal CLK, and may be implemented by a voltage source Vdd and a transistor MPRE as shown in FIG. 2. Conversely, the ground switch 108, which may be implemented by a transistor MGS, functions to conditionally discharge the dynamic node EVAL during each high pulse of the clock signal CLK. The discharge is conditional since the transistors ML1 and ML2 of the logic circuit 102 must be closed as well. The latch 106 may be composed of forward invertor INVD1 and feedback invertor INVD2, and functions to hold the voltage of the dynamic node EVAL for the case of EVAL-to-high.
The dynamic to static conversion takes place in the convertor 110. As shown in FIG. 2, the convertor may be formed of pull-down transistor MC1, an activation transistor MC2, and a pull-up transistor MC3. MC1 and MC3 basically form an inverter which is activated and deactivated by MC2. That is, if MC2 is on (activated) and EVAL is high, then MC3 is off and MC1 is on, thus pulling down the voltage at node Y to low. In contrast, if EVAL is low while MC2 is on, then MC3 is on and MC1 is off, thus pulling up the voltage at node Y to high. Also, when MC2 is off (deactivated), EVAL is precharge to high, and thus MC3 is off and the path to MC1 is cut off by MC2, and no change in the node Y potential takes place.
At the output of the dynamic-to-static convertor is a latch 112 and an output buffer 114. The latch 112 functions to latch the potential at static node Y and may include a forward invertor INVS1 and a feedback invertor INVS2. The output buffer 114 may be implemented by an output inverting buffer INVB.
In the circuits of FIGS. 1 and 2, the static node Y undergoes a transition responsive to an input transition. On the other hand, even in the absence of an input transition, the dynamic mode EVAL is precharged and is conditionally discharged every CLK cycle. This is described in greater detail below. In the discussion herein, logic "0" is low and is ground Vss, whereas logic "1" is high and is supply voltage Vdd.
First, a "precharge phase" is described which takes place when the clock CLK is low. Since CLK is low, MPRE is turned on and dynamic node EVAL is charged to high. This in turn puts MC3 in an off state and MC1 in an on state. However, since CLK is low, MC2 is off, and therefore both the pull-up path and the pull-down path of the converter 110 are shut off. The static node Y thus maintains its value, the voltage of which is held by the latch 112. When the CLK goes low at the precharge phase, the pulldown path of the converter is immediately shut-off. This action then isolates static node Y from any transition at dynamic node EVAL, and thus staticizes the circuit output.
The "evaluation phase", which occurs when the CLK goes high, will now be described. It is assumed for explanation purposes that the static node Y is initialized to high.
In a first case, either one or both of ML1 and ML2 is off, and thus EVAL remains high. That is, MGS turns on, but the pull-down path for node EVAL is cutoff by logic circuit 102. Also, the high dynamic node EVAL keeps MC1 on (and MC3 off), while the CLK turns on MC2. The pull-down path of node Y is thereby established, discharging node Y to low and switching the output to high.
In a second case, both ML1 and ML2 are on, and CLK turns on MGS to activate the pull-down path for node EVAL, thus causing EVAL to go low. At the same time, the CLK turns on MC2 which activates the pull down path for node Y. Thus, node EVAL and node Y are discharged almost simultaneously. When the dynamic node EVAL hits a threshold voltage, MC3 overpowers MC1, and the static node is charged back up to high, causing the output to go low.
It takes time for the dynamic node EVAL to discharge to the point where MC1 is shut off to block the pull-down action of node Y. This causes the node Y to glitch to low prior to being restored to high. This glitch is at least partially caused by the fact that the clock-to-q delay for the flop is not balanced for the two edges as shown below: EQU clk(r).fwdarw.out(r)=y(f)+out(r)=2 gate delay EQU clk(r).fwdarw.out(f)=eval(f)+y(r)+out(f)=3.5 gate delay
where clk(r).fwdarw.out(r) is the delay from the rise of CLK to the rise of the output; y(f) is a 1-gate delay occurring during a falling of node Y to low; out(r) is a 1-gate delay occurring during a rise of the output to high; clk(r).fwdarw.out(f) is the delay from the rise of CLK to the fall of the output; eval(f) is a 1.5 gate delay occurring during a falling of node EVAL to low; y(r) is a 1-gate delay occurring during a rising of node Y to high; and out(f) is a 1-gate delay occurring during a falling of the output to low.
In the equations above, eval(f) is a 1.5 gate delay. In fact, however, eval(f) can range from 1 to 2 gate delays depending on the number of nmos devices (embedded logic) contained in the evaluation stack of the logic circuit 102. A 2-device stack would equate to 1 gate delay, a 3-device stack would equate to a 1.5 gate delay, and a 4-device stack would equate to a 2 gate delay.
Glitching results at node Y when the previous value at node Y is high and the EVAL node evaluates to low. In this case, a zero-gate delay occurs in the activation of switch MC2 (driving by the clock), whereas a 1.5-gate or more delay occurs in the pull-down of node EVAL. This increases the pull-down time of node Y prior to its being pulled back up by action of the pull-up transistor MC3.
Glitching presents problems in several respects. For example, glitching raises power consumption and requires special care when conducting electromigration studies. Moreover, glitching reduces the noise margin for the circuit receiving the flop output.
In addition, the problems of glitch propagation are intensified for low-voltage applications. FIG. 3(a) illustrates the case where Vdd=1.8v, and FIG. 3(b) illustrates the case where Vdd=1.0v. It is a common practice to attempt to counter glitching by skewing the inverter of the output buffer by selecting a stronger (lower beta ratio) pull-down device MN. When Vdd=1.8v as in FIG. 3(a), the voltage drive for MN is Vgs-Vt=0.9v-0.5v=0.4v in the case of a 50% glitch in the node Y potential. By using a larger MN in the inverter, some reduction in the glitch magnitude is possible. On the other hand, at the lower supply voltage Vdd=1.0v as in FIG. 3(b), the voltage drive for MN is Vgs-Vt=0.5v-0.5v=0.0v (again in the case of a 50% glitch in the node Y potential). Thus, regardless of the size of MN, the pull-down device is cutoff and can no longer hold the node down, and the glitch therefore propagates much more easily.
There have been previous attempts to overcome or reduce the effects of glitching. One approach has been to speed up the discharge rate of the EVAL node by selecting large pull-down devices with low fanout for the EVAL node. This approach, while only minimally successful, increases the device area and power usage. Other designs include selecting a high beta ratio (i.e., a stronger pull-up) for MC3 relative to that of MC1 and MC2. Still other designs employ a high fanout on node Y by increasing the size of the output buffer INVB, or (as suggested above) a weakened pull-up (i.e. a small beta ratio) of the output buffer INVB to prevent propagation of the glitch. Nevertheless, any reduction in glitch magnitude is minimal with these approaches.

Dynamic-to-static convertor and staticized flop including the same


Provided is an adjustable pedal system. The adjustable pedal system includes: a support bracket having a predetermined hole and a guide groove which are substantially perpendicular; a driving part including a driving arm which can make a substantially vertical motion along the guide groove and provides a driving force to the driving arm; a control arm including a hinge hole which is coupled to the driving arm by a first pin and a sliding slot which is coupled to the predetermined hole by a second pin and formed oblique to the guide groove; and a pedal arm having a pedal at one end thereof and being connected to the control arm at other end thereof, the control arm slides obliquely along the sliding slot according to the working of the driving arm when moves vertically along the guide groove and thus this causes a position of each of the control arm and the pedal arm to be changed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustable pedal system, and more particularly, to a pedal system which can be adjusted according to a driver's body condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
For several decades, automobile producers and designers have taken interest in ergonomic aspects of automobiles to accommodate drivers of different body sizes. In an effort to accommodate drivers of different sizes, they have designed automobile controllers (such as a steering wheel) to be adjustable. In addition, they have recognized that all vehicle controllers operated by drivers are very important in terms of ergonomics and safety.
Control pedals are typically provided in a vehicle and foot-operated by the driver. Separate control pedals are provided for operating brakes and an accelerator. When the vehicle has a manual transmission, a third control pedal is provided for operating a transmission clutch. A front seat of the vehicle is typically mounted on tracks so that the seat is forwardly and rearwardly adjustable along the tracks. However, the technology of moving the front seat along the tracks is not sufficient to accommodate drivers of various sizes. Therefore, a technology which can adjust positions of the control pedals according to drivers of various sizes is required. This technology is called an adjustable pedal system.
Generally, pedal systems include pendent-type pedal systems which are used in passenger cars and floor-mounting-type pedal systems which are used in large vehicles such as buses.
In a floor-mounting-type pedal system, in particular, a rail is often installed at a lower end of a pedal to control the position of the pedal. Thus, a large space is required for the pedal system in a vehicle. In addition, since separate operating structures are needed for a brake pedal and an accelerator pedal, the structure of the pedal system becomes complicated, and the cost of the pedal system is increased.


The present invention relates to a static discharge protection module of LCD display control board of portable computer which have an insulation sleeve, a LCD display control board and a metal foil which pressed on the insulation sleeve. The present invention can reduce errors by human labor to adhere conductive cloth to wrong position below front frame, can reduce materials, such as conductive cloth, conductive foam, and can effectively solve the problems of ESD test failure of LED indicator.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is an isometric diagram of conventional portable computer and LCD display control board. The mother board, hard disk, and CD-ROM are mounted in the body 91 of conventional portable computer 9. A front frame 911 is disposed as a housing on the body 91 near the LCD panel 92. A LCD display control board 93 on which LED indicators 932 are mounted is disposed under the front frame 911. The LCD display control board 93 is used to control the on-off or switch of the LCD panel 92. An inverter 931 is disposed on the LCD display control board 93 for providing power to LCD display control board 93. In order to avoid the contact of high voltage end with outside matters, a protection casing 94 to prohibit the front frame 911 or other outside matters directly contacting with the inverter 931 which renders a short circuit. The LCD display control board 93 is inserted into the protection casing 94. But, the portion of the LCD display control board 93 near the LED indicators 932 is not protected by protection casing 94. A conductive cloth is adhered to the underside of the front frame 911 so that the electrical static will swiftly conducted to the ground. But, the disadvantages of the use of the conductive cloth are that the conductive cloth is too soft. After the conductive cloth is adhered to the front frame 911 by hand, a gap will generate between the front frame 911 and the conductive cloth so that the conductive cloth is not well positioned and the problem of EDS test fail of LED indicator occur.

Static discharge protection module of LCD display control board of portable computer


Structures and methods of forming self-aligned unsymmetric gate (SAUG) FinFET are provided. The SAUG FinFET structure has two different gate structures on opposite sides of each fin: a programming gate structure and a switching gate structure. The SAUG FinFET may be used as non-volatile memory (NVM) storage element that may be electrically programmed by trapping charges in the charge trapping dielectric (e.g., Si3N4) with appropriate bias on the control gate of the programming gate structure. The stored data may be sensed by sensing the channel current through the SAUG FinFET in response to a bias on the switching gate of the switching gate structure.

The semiconductor industry continues to increase the density of electronic components (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) in integrated circuits by progressive reductions in minimum feature size and by the use of three-dimensional (3D) transistor structures, such as a fin field-effect transistor (FinFET), which utilize the vertical dimension to deliver more drive current for the same footprint. The higher component densities enabled by innovations in semiconductor technology allow more functions to be integrated into a given area. The ability to achieve high functional density has given rise to the System-on-Chip (SoC) concept wherein multiple functional blocks such as digital logic, non-volatile memory, and analog functions are integrated on a single chip. Integrating such a diversity of functions on one chip often presents new challenges in forming and integrating a concomitantly large variety of electronic components and transistor structures.

Self-aligned unsymmetrical gate (SAUG) FinFET and methods of forming the same


Systems and methods to generate a motion attention model of a video data sequence are described. In one aspect, a motion saliency map B is generated to precisely indicate motion attention areas for each frame in the video data sequence. The motion saliency maps are each based on intensity I, spatial coherence Cs, and temporal coherence Ct values. These values are extracted from each block or pixel in motion fields that are extracted from the video data sequence. Brightness values of detected motion attention areas in each frame are accumulated to generate, with respect to time, the motion attention model.

One of the key issues in video manipulation is video abstraction in the form of skimmed video. For this purpose, an important task is to determine the content significance of each chunk of frames in a video sequence. Content significance is related to those portions of the video sequence that are likely to attract the attention of observers. To this end, motion attention models to assist in determining content significance of video sequence portions are greatly desired. The following systems and methods are directed to addressing this need for useful motion attention to determine which elements of a video data sequence are likely to attract human attention.

Systems and methods for generating a motion attention model


Techniques generally described are related to a flexible storage block based on solid state devices. One example method to update data stored in a storage block may include maintaining, by a flash storage module, a cluster link in the storage block for storing a file, wherein the cluster link links together a plurality of data clusters that are storage spaces provided by one or more solid state devices. The method may include, in response to a first request to update data stored in a first data cluster amongst the plurality of data clusters, allocating a second data cluster to store the updated data. The method may further include linking the second data cluster to the cluster link, wherein the linking the second data cluster to the cluster link invalidates the first data cluster in the cluster link.

The performance of a file system may be highly dependent on the latency or throughput of a data storage device on which the file system is based. Solid state devices may offer good read performance, good random access speed, and low energy consumption in providing storage services. However, data throughput of the solid state device may be limited by the throughput of the interface (e.g., USB 2.0 or SATA) that the solid state device is coupled with. The performance of the solid state device may also be unbalanced depending on whether the solid state device is performing a read operation or an update operation.
According to one example statistical analysis, the percentage of small files (files with sizes that are under 16 KB) in a particular file system may be higher than 50%. In some situations, up to 88% of files may be small files in certain types of file systems. Since these file systems may allocate at a minimum one flash page for storing a file regardless of the size of the file, the probability of wasting storage space in the solid state device may be great, as most of the stored files have sizes that are smaller than the size of the flash page.

Flexible storage block for a solid state drive (SSD)-based file system


A cloned DNA encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase of a C.sub.4 plant is disclosed. The DNA according to the present invention encodes the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NOS: 1-6 in Sequence Listing or the same amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NOS: 1-6 except that one or more amino acid is added, deleted, inserted or substituted, with the proviso that the polypeptide having this amino acid sequence has phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity.

PCK is an enzyme which reversibly catalyzes the reaction forming oxaloacetic acid by carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate. ATP-dependent PCK (EC 220.127.116.11) and GTP-dependent PCK (EC 18.104.22.168) are known. Plant PCKs are dependent on ATP and play an important role in the process of photosynthesis by which starch is formed from carbon dioxide.
On the other hand, C.sub.4 plants include mainly the plants belonging to family Gramineae originated in tropical zone, and are well adapted for strong sun light, high temperature and to shortage of water. More particularly, the rate of photosynthesis of C.sub.4 plants is twice that of C.sub.3 plants, and the photosynthesis is not inhibited by oxygen in the air. The photosynthesis of C.sub.4 plants does not reach saturation even if they are irradiated with a light having an intensity by which the photosynthesis of C.sub.3 plants is saturated. Further, the optimum temperature for photosynthesis of C.sub.4 plants is higher than that of C.sub.3 plants.
As mentioned above, PCK of plants plays an important role in photosynthesis. Thus, if a C.sub.3 plant is transformed so that it produces the PCK of C.sub.4 plant, it is expected that various effects may be obtained, such as increase in the rate of photosynthesis, efficient utilization of the sun light, and promotion of photosynthesis at a high temperature. However, so far, PCK gene of plants, needless to say C.sub.4 plants, has not been entirely sequenced.

DNA encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, recombinant vector and transformed plant containing the same


A waterslide feature comprises a channel having a sliding surface and walls. The walls define a plurality of recesses. A nozzle extends through each of the recesses angled to spray water over the sliding surface. The nozzles are positioned to provide a flow of water to impact a vehicle sliding on the sliding surface. The nozzles are sized to provide a flow of water sufficient to affect motion of the vehicle. The vehicle may include an attachment to enhance the effectiveness of the flow of water.

In the past few decades, water-based amusement rides have become increasingly popular. A common type of water-based amusement ride is a flume-style waterslide in which one or more participants ride in a vehicle which slides along a channel or "flume" over a water lubricated surface from the start of the waterslide to the end of the waterslide.
Water is provided in the flume to provide lubrication between the vehicle and the flume surface, and to provide cooling and splashing effects. Typically, the motion of the participant in the flume is controlled predominantly by the contours of the flume (hills, valleys, turns, drops, etc.) in combination with gravity. However, various techniques have been applied to accelerate or decelerate participants by means other than gravity.
Once the participants and vehicle arrive at the end of the waterslide, the vehicle must be transported back to the start of the waterslide. The waterslide continues to operate while vehicles are transported back to the start of the waterslide. As such, each waterslide requires a significant number of vehicles to ensure that there is no delay in the operation of the waterslide while vehicles are being transported back to the start of the waterslide.

Waterslide feature, ride vehicle and method


A section deriving unit (10) derives a section to which a digital input value DIN belongs and outputs a section number IVN, and a computation parameter output unit (20) outputs a computation Parameter CPA corresponding to IVN. A computation unit (30) performs a given computation based on DIN and CPA and outputs the result of the computation as a digital output value DOUT. Any DIN-DOUT conversion characteristic that the user requires can be obtained by setting a delimiter information storage unit (12) and a computation parameter storage unit (22) as appropriate. The computation unit (30) could, for example, perform a calculation DOUT=amXm+amxe2x88x921Xmxe2x88x921+ . . . a1X+a0, based on computation parameters am to a0. This look-up table device can be used for gamma compensation or depth cueing conversions.

The present invention relates to a look-up table device and an image generation device that uses the same.
A look-up table device that is known in the art receives a digital input value and uses a given table to output a digital output value.
An example of such a look-up table device is described below. This look-up table device uses memory that is provided with an n-bit address bus and a k-bit data bus, where the address bus is used as an input signal line and the data bus is used as an output signal line. With a look-up table device of this format, the table has a form such that each of k-bit digital output values is stored in each of 2n storage areas which correspond to. n-bit digital input values. In other words, the look-up table device of this type must have a storage capacity of at least 2nxc3x97k-bit of memory.
If either n or k is large, therefore, the table itself will become large, leading to a problem concerning an increase in the necessary storage capacity therefor. Particularly if n is large, the necessary storage capacity will increase exponentially in correspondence with 2n. There is therefore a demand for a look-up table device that can reduce the necessary storage capacity to a minimum, even in such a case. In addition, when the necessary storage capacity increases in this configuration, the time taken to overwrite the values in the table also increases. This raises another problem in that this device is unsuitable for applications where rapid overwriting of table values is necessary.
There is thus a further demand for a look-up table device that enables various different conversions, with few table values.
The present invention was devised in the light of the above technical problems and has as an objective thereof the provision of a look-up table device that makes it possible to implement various conversions within a limited storage capacity, and an image generation device that uses that look-up table device.
To solve the above described technical problems, the present invention provides a look-up table device for converting a digital input value into a digital output value, comprising:
section deriving means for receiving the digital input value, deriving the section to which the digital input value belongs, and outputting section information that is specifies the section;
computation parameter output means for receiving the section information and outputting a computation parameter corresponding to the section information; and
computation means for receiving the digital input value and the computation parameter, performing a given computation based on the digital input value and the computation parameter, and outputting the result of the computation as the digital output value.
With this aspect of the invention, the section deriving means first derives section information such as the number of a section to which the digital input value belongs, then the computation parameter output means outputs a computation parameter based on this section information. The computation means then performs a given computation based on the digital input value and the computation parameter, to obtain the digital output value.
With this aspect of the invention, it is not necessary to provide the same number of digital output values to match all of the digital input value. This means that it is possible to greatly reduce the necessary storage capacity, in comparison with a conventional look-up table device. Moreover, the device of the present invention is advantageous in that it makes it possible to implement various different types of conversion, by setting different combinations of computation parameters and given computations.
In a second aspect of the present invention, the section deriving means comprises means for storing delimiter information of sections classifying the digital input value, and derives the section to which the digital input value belongs based on the delimiter information. The way of delimiting sections can be varied in various ways by providing such storage means and modifying the contents stored in this storage means as appropriate. AS a result, it is possible to obtain any of various input-output digital value conversion characteristics that the user desires. Note that the delimiter information in this case is not restricted to delimiter values for the sections; various other values such as the central values of the sections could equally well be used instead.
In a third aspect of the present invention, the computation parameter output means comprises means for storing a computation parameter corresponding to each of the section information, and reads out the computation parameters from the storage means based on the section information. The values of computation parameters to be used in the given computation can be modified in various ways by providing such storage means and modifying the contents stored in this storage means as appropriate. As a result, it is possible to obtain any of various input-output digital value conversion characteristics that the user desires.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, the computation means obtains a difference value between the digital input value and a delimiter value that is specified by delimiter information of the section to which the digital input value belongs, and performs the given computation based on the difference value and the computation parameter. Performing the computation based on such a difference value makes it easy to obtain a conversion characteristic with no discontinuities. This aspect also has the advantage of making it possible to utilize the delimiter value used by the section deriving means, as a base value for obtaining the difference value.
In a fifth aspect of the present invention, the computation parameter output means outputs the coefficients am to a0 of the expression mXm+amxe2x88x921Xmxe2x88x921+. . . a1X+a0 in m (where m is greater than or equal to 1) degree expression, as the computation parameters; and the computation means obtains amXm+amxe2x88x921Xmxe2x88x921+ . . . a1X+a0, based on X that is specified by the digital input value and am to a0 that are included within the computation parameters, and outputs the obtained result as the digital output value. Performing the given computation based on a linear computation equation in this manner makes it possible to simplify the hardware configuration of the computation means.
A sixth aspect of the present invention relates to a device comprising at least one of a gamma compensation means that performs gamma compensation by using the above look-up table device, and a depth cueing means that performs depth cueing by using the above look-up table device; and means for generating an image to which at least one of the gamma compensation and the depth cueing has been applied. By using the look-up table device of the present invention for the conversion of gamma compensation or depth cueing in this manner, not only is it possible to provide any user-desired conversion processing, it is also possible to reduce the size of the hardware that performs such conversion.

Look-up table device and image generation device


The instant invention describes macrocyclic compounds having therapeutic activity, and the mechanism and methods of treating disorders such as autoimmune diseases, inflammation, and cancer, tumors and cell proliferation related disorders.

The identification of new pharmacophores is of paramount biomedical importance and natural products have recently been regaining attention for this endeavor.1 This renaissance is closely tied to the successful exploitation of the marine environment which harbors unmatched biodiversity that is presumably concomitant with chemical diversity.2 In particular, marine cyanobacteria are prolific producers of bioactive secondary metabolites,3 many of which are modified peptides or peptide-polyketide hybrids with promising antitumor activities, such as dolastatin 10,4 curacin A,5 and apratoxin A.6 As a result of ongoing investigations to identify new drug leads from cyanobacteria, we report here the biological characterization of activity for class of a marine cyanobacterial metabolites and synthetic analogues with novel chemical scaffold and nanomolar antiproliferative activity. These findings provide new alternatives to address unmet needs in the treatment of proliferation diseases and disorders.
Modulation of cellular activity by apratoxins may be beneficial for cancer treatment and for immunosuppression, e.g., based on downregulation of receptors, inhibition of STAT3 activity and of T-cell activation. As such, other diseases that may be treated with apratoxin-based agents include other diseases where receptor downregulation may be beneficial, e.g., autoimmune diseases, some which may be associated with chemokine receptors (e.g., multiple sclerosis), or inflammation. These findings provide new alternatives to address unmet needs in the treatment of the aforementioned diseases, disorders, and symptoms thereof. Modulation of cellular activity by apratoxins may also be beneficial to disorders that are associated with enhanced secretory pathway activity.

Macrocyclic therapeutic agents and methods of treatment

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


An operation method in heterogeneous networks, and a gateway and a wireless communication device using the same are disclosed. The operation method in heterogeneous networks includes followings. When a gateway, connecting a first communication network and a second communication network, operates in a beacon mode, the gateway determines whether the first communication network is in an allowed period or a forbidden period, and generates a determination result. Then, the gateway adaptively adjusts a ratio of a superframe duration to a beacon interval of a periodic beacon of the second communication network according to the determination result. In addition, the gateway is connected to a M2M communication server via the first communication network, and the gateway is connected to at least one M2M communication device via the second communication network.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to an operation method for implementing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in heterogeneous networks, and a gateway and a wireless communication device using the same.
2. Related Art
Currently, the development of a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system adopts architecture of heterogeneous networks, so as to improve the communication efficiency of the M2M communications application. The M2M communication may also be referred to as machine type communication (MTC). FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating system deployment of an M2M communication application. As shown in FIG. 1, the M2M communication system 10 includes at least one M2M server 11, at least one M2M user 12, an access network 13, and a plurality of M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n. The M2M server 11 and the M2M user 12 are connected to each other via a communication network and an application program interface (API). The M2M server 11 may be disposed in the access network 13, and may also be disposed in the Internet and is connected to the M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n via the access network 13.
Referring to FIG. 1 again, each of the M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n supports more than two communication protocols at the same time, and is connected to the access network 13 and a local wireless communication network respectively. The local wireless communication network may support IEEE 802.11 standard, IEEE 802.15.4 standard, WiFi standard, bluetooth standard, or ZigBee wireless communication protocol standard (abbreviated as ZigBee hereinafter). The access network 13 may be a wired communication network or wireless access network supporting a power saving mode, so as to decrease a portion of power consumption of the M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n. When the access network 13 is the wireless access network, the access network 13 may support, for example, 3GPP LTE wireless communication standard, IEEE 802.16 standard, or other wireless access network standards. Each of the M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n is connected to M2M nodes via the local wireless communication network, for example, the M2M gateway 14n is connected to a plurality of M2M nodes 15a, 15b, . . . , 15n. The M2M nodes 15a, 15b, . . . , 15n are connected to the M2M server 11 via the M2M gateway 14n serving as an agent, and transmit captured data to the M2M server 11, or receive an instruction message from the M2M server 11. The M2M user 12 may access data of the M2M nodes via the M2M server 11. The access network 13 provides a wide-area communication capability to the M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n, and each of the M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n provides a small-range (or short-distance) communication capability to the served M2M nodes.
However, the access network 13 and the local wireless communication network (for example, a wireless communication network 15) of each of the M2M gateways 14a, 14b, . . . , 14n have different power saving cycles, which are asynchronous in most cases. Two examples are illustrated below through FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. In addition, for the access network 13, the local wireless communication network 15 may also be referred to as a capillary network.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating non-synchronized power saving cycles of heterogeneous networks. To be illustrated more clearly, FIG. 2 shows non-synchronized power saving cycles resulted by mis-alignment between communication windows of an LTE network and a ZigBee network. Referring to FIG. 2, similar to the architecture of heterogeneous networks in FIG. 1, the access network 13 is an LTE network in this case, the M2M server 11 is disposed in the LTE network 13, and the power saving cycle of the LTE network 13 includes two stages: an allowed period and a forbidden period. To be illustrated more clearly, the allowed period follows a periodic or non-periodic tracking area update (TAU), and the forbidden period follows the allowed period. For example, the allowed period follows the TAUs 211, 212, and the occurrence of the TAUs 212, 213 represents the ending of the previous forbidden period. In the allowed period, the LTE network 13 may transmit a signal to the M2M gateway 14n, or receive an uplink signal of the M2M gateway 14n, but in the forbidden period, the LTE network 13 does not process the signal of the M2M gateway 14n. As shown in FIG. 2, signal transmission 251 is processed by the LTE network 13 in the allowed period, but signal transmission 253 occurs in the forbidden period, and thus is not processed. The M2M gateway 14n should wait until the next TAU 212 is received, so as to perform uplink signal transmission or receive downlink signal transmission in the next allowed period.
The wireless communication protocol between the M2M gateway 14n and the M2M node (or referred to as an M2M device) 15n has a power saving cycle different from that of the LTE network 13, and the power saving cycle includes: an active period and a sleep period, which are not completely aligned with the allowed period and the forbidden period of the LTE network 13. The wireless communication network 15 is a ZigBee network in this case, and the M2M device 15n is disposed in the ZigBee network 15. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the downlink signal originally transmitted by the M2M server 11 to the M2M gateway 14n via the signal transmission 251 in the allowed period cannot be transmitted to the M2M device 15n via the signal transmission 252 in the sleep period, thereby generating delay of signal transmission. Likewise, as for the uplink signal transmitted by the M2M device 15n via the signal transmission 254 in the active period, the corresponding LTE network 13 is still in the forbidden period, so the M2M gateway 14n cannot transmit the signal continuously to the M2M server 11 via the signal transmission 253. The M2M gateway 14n should wait until the allowed period after the next TAU 212 to transmit the uplink signal to the M2M server 11, and therefore, the delay of the signal transmission or unnecessary transmission power consumption is generated.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating non-synchronized power saving cycles of heterogeneous networks due to non-periodic signals. To be illustrated more clearly, FIG. 3 shows the non-synchronize power saving cycles of an LTE network and a ZigBee network, where the power saving cycle of the LTE network may be changed due to non-periodic TAU. Referring to FIG. 3, similar to the heterogeneous networks signal transmission in FIG. 2, but a next TAU 312 after a TAU 311 shown in FIG. 3 is a non-periodic TAU (for example, the M2M gateway 14n is handed over to a new tracking area), and occurs earlier than the time point of a next periodic TAU expected by the M2M gateway 14n. Therefore, the power saving cycles that are originally slightly synchronized become non-synchronized now, and the downlink signal originally transmitted by the LTE network 13 via the signal transmission 352 in the allowed period encounters the sleep period of the ZigBee network 15 at the M2M gateway 14n, so the downlink signal cannot be transmitted to the M2M server 11 directly by the M2M gateway 14n. After the non-periodic TAU 312, the M2M gateway 14n may know that it is switched to a new allowed period, and therefore, the uplink signal may be transmitted via signal transmission 352 to the M2M server 11. It is assumed that the M2M gateway 14n does not attempt to synchronize the power saving cycles of the two heterogeneous networks, when the ZigBee network 15 is in the active period, the LTE network 13 is adjusted to the forbidden period due to the non-periodic TAU 312, and if the M2M gateway 14n predicts the allowed period by using the periodic TAU, likewise, the transmission signal 353, after the uplink signal transmission of the signal transmission 354 from the M2M device 15n, cannot be transmitted from the M2M gateway 14n to the M2M server 11 successfully by the LTE network 13 due to the encountered forbidden period.
When the power saving cycles of the wide-area access network 13 and the local wireless communication network are asynchronous, unnecessary transmission power consumption, or even delay of M2M communication, may be resulted. Therefore, how to enable the power saving cycles of heterogeneous networks supporting the M2M communication to be synchronized, is a major issue in this industry.

Operation method in heterogeneous networks and gateway and wireless communication device using the same

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An adaptor is made to connect a standard sterilized water container to a standard aerosol flow passage that itself is connected to a heater. The flow control adaptor comprises a nipple that is connected to the water bottle above the heater and chamber and extends through and sealing relation to the chamber to position the nipple bottom at the heater platen which forms the bottom of the aerosol flow chamber. The bottom of the nipple adjacent the bottom of the chamber is formed with a relatively lower and smaller water feed aperture and a relatively higher and larger vent aperture that collective operate to maintain a constant level of water in the bottom of the aerosol flow chamber.

The present invention relates to humidifiers for inhalation therapy, and more particularly concerns a humidifier arranged for use with a source of controlled breathing mixture to provide a humidified breathing mixture.
Hospital patients requiring relatively low flow rates of moisturized breathing mixture of higher oxygen content are often serviced by simple, disposable nebulizers or humidifiers. Such an inexpensive disposable nebulizer is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,921 to Blair E. Howe for Nebulizer Heater. In the arrangement of this patent, oxygen under pressure is mixed with air to provide a high speed turbulent air stream that entrains water from a water bottle and which is caused to flow through a flow control chamber and over a heater to provide a moisturized heated and oxygen enriched breathing mixture to the patient. However, some patients require higher flow rates of oxygen enriched air for purposes of therapy and cannot be serviced at such high flow rates by conventional nebulizers. Some patients require more complex and selectively variable flow rate control of breathing mixtures. Breathing mixtures of such high flow rates and/or variable control are generally provided in a hospital by complex and expensive equipment known as a ventilator.
Ventilators often involve microprocessor controlled systems, electrically powered and electronically operated. These systems may include connections to wall air and oxygen pressure, but also may include optional internal compressors to supply additional air requirements. Ventilator systems are capable not only of providing air for breathing by the patient but are capable of actually controlling the patient's breathing itself. Humidification of the high flow oxygen air mixture from such ventilators is generally accomplished by auxiliary equipment. Again, the auxiliary equipment itself is highly specialized and expensive. Although that portion of the equipment that is directly connected to the patient is often disposable, it too may be costly.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide for humidification of a high flow rate breathing mixture with methods and apparatus that minimize or avoid above mentioned problems.


The identification of the path and termination points of copper landlines is performed through the use of natural events without the aid of network provisioning information. At least one sferics detector detects at least one sferics event. A listening device, which may be separate from, or integrated with, the sferics detector, is attached to at least one wire that is capable of detecting a noise related to the at least one sferics event. A computing device, possibly attached to the listening device, is capable of matching the noise to the at least one sferics event. The computing device is further capable of determining the location of at least part of the wire based on the location of the listening device and locations of at least two sferics events.

The present invention relates to the identification of the path and termination points of wires such as, for example, telephone lines through the use of natural events such as, for example, lightning strikes, and without use of network provisioning information.
The detection and geo-location of lightning, known as sferics detection, is currently of interest in a number of different areas. Three areas have lead to the development of reasonably priced, reliable and accurate detection and ranging equipment. These are aviation, electric power generation, and severe weather forecasting. The necessary technology has evolved to the point where a number of vendors can provide reliable off-the-shelf lightning detectors of high reliability and accuracy. These vendors include Insight Avionics of Buffalo, N.Y.; Boltek Corporation of Buffalo, N.Y., and Honeywell International, Inc., of Morristown, N.J.
Sferics technology enables the geo-location of lightning strikes through a number of different methods, including the following:
RANGE AND AZIMUTH FROM A SINGLE SITE—Some sferics detectors can produce useful information on the range and azimuth of a strike using phased antennas and pulse shape.
USE OF MULTIPLE SITES AND TIMING—Some systems use a series of highly time-correlated receivers to determine the passing of strike pulses. These systems are analogous to a bobber floating in water detecting ripples by bobbing up and down. A number of bobbers can detect a ripple pattern created when a stone is thrown into the water. The variation on the timing of the arrival of the ripples allows the calculation of the location of the thrown rock. This type of system is a global positioning system (GPS) or long range navigation (LORAN) system run in reverse.
Multiple site and timing systems are quite complex and costly. There is a need for atomic clock level of accuracy at the various locations. Even if GPS timing permits the establishment of add-hoc systems at much lower cost, there is still the need for exchanging information on wave form structure to correlate strike data. However, an advantage of these systems is their range and accuracy. Because of they have long range capability, a regional network is practical, facilitating the gathering information on short notice.
FLASH DETECTION—This is the most straight-forward form of detection. A light flash followed by sound is used to determine the range of the lightning strike. Optical detectors are used to determine the direction of the strike. The problems with this type of geo-location are obvious: limited range, sound detection complexity, complexity in the optical sighting.
DIRECT ORBITAL OBSERVATION—A series of satellites have been lofted to provide detection and tracking of lightning around the globe. Satellites such as the Microlab-1 and other orbital platforms such as the Space Shuttle have carried lightning detection payloads and have produced a wealth of information on strike locations. The occurrence of lightning, satellite location and system availability are the primary limiting factors for this type of data capture.
Existing sferics networks range from the very sophisticated timing-based networks run by national research and meteorological agencies to single-site systems run by private individuals. A large number (several hundred) of these networks makes information directly available on the Internet in a real-time or near real-time basis. The timing resolution ranges from one minute to the range of fifteen to thirty minutes.
Large sferics networks presently exist and are in operation. These sferics networks are used on a regular basis to determine the path and severity of weather information. For example, the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office operates the Arrival Time Difference (ATD) lightning location system. The ATD system is a very sophisticated system which uses multiple sferics detectors and rubidium clock based time coordination to achieve the range and accuracy cited. The ATD system incorporates a number of measurement improvement techniques to reduce false detections and to improve the geo-location capability of the system. A key element of the ATD system is use of a specific receiving station in the network of detectors as the "selector" station. By looking at the waveform recorded at the selector station and comparing this to the waveforms recorded by other stations, it is possible to match the strikes detected. As mentioned earlier, each of the strikes will produce a unique waveform. By matching the wave form patterns, it is then possible to correlate the measures of the various receivers. In addition, it is possible to discard false strike measurements by eliminating indications which were not seen by other sites.
Large national sferics networks such as the ATD system provide substantial continuous coverage over most of the highly populated portions of the world. A number of the national systems provide data in tabular form which can be used to identify specific strike location and timing.
Individual sferics systems often provide data in graphical rather than tabular format with a full screen representation of 50 to 100 miles. Even with fairly sophisticated "screen scraper" technology, the capability to isolate and identify specific strikes is somewhat limited. This problem is exacerbated by the imprecision of lack of a specific address for the detector. (For example, Diekirch, grand Duchy of Luxembourg is one given address. While the entire country is small, identifying the town of Diekirch can mean a location several kilometers on a side.) However, even with these problems, the graphical representations provide a strong reference set for activity estimation and detection probabilities.
In sum, the information stored by existing sferics systems generally provides location, severity and timing of strikes. The long term operational history of several of the detection networks has permitted the calibration and anomaly detection needed to get a high degree of accuracy over the operating field.
Presently the identification of the path and termination of a telephone line can present a tremendous challenge if the network provisioning information is lost or not available. The task of identifying the path can be done by a laborious examination of cable bundles and patch points, but this time and labor-intensive process is not practical over longer distances or in areas having a crowded or dense infrastructure. The time and effort needed to perform this process is often beyond the available resources and capabilities. In addition, the tracing of wire paths often requires the use of two teams (or sets of equipment), one at each end of the wire, i.e., line. The remote-end team must then move down the line. Travel and mobility requirements present logistics, timing and cost challenges, making it difficult if not practically impossible to trace a line. Moreover, the effort to track a specific line must in many cases be duplicated a number of times before a substantial knowledge base is recreated to derive any economies of scale in the tracing of areas' lines. Accordingly, there is a need for an accurate and efficient means of locating wire landlines, and applicants provide a technique based on sferics information that satisfies this need.

Lightning and electro-magnetic pulse location and detection for the discovery of land line location