According to some embodiments, a presence indication associated with an attachment is provided.

In some cases, a system may need to detect whether or not an attachable device is currently present. For example, a server may need to detect whether or not one or more Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) devices are present.
One way of detecting whether or not a device is present is to have the device provide a pre-defined signal sequence to the system. For example, a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) will transmit an out-of band signal sequence to indicate its presence in accordance with the Serial ATA Working Group specification entitled "Serial ATA II: Extensions to Serial ATA 1.0" (October, 2002).
FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a known Serial ATA interface 100 between a disk drive 102 and a system 110. In particular, this portion of the interface 100 is used to provide power to the disk drive 102 via a power supply 120. Note that three conductive paths (i.e., each associated with an interface pin) are provided between the power supply 120 and the disk drive 102 because the amount of current that can be provided through an individual interface pin is limited.
Because a Serial ATA disk drive 102 is "hot-plug" capable (i.e., the disk drive 102 can be attached or removed when power is applied to the system 110) and may include energy storing elements (e.g., capacitors), a large surge of charge-up current could briefly flow from the system 110 to the disk drive 102 when it is attached. To prevent this, one of the ATA interface pins 132 is longer than the other two pins (and will establish contact between the system 110 and the drive 102 before those pins). The conductive path associated with this interface pin 132 includes a resistor 130 having a current limiting resistance of RL.
There is a disadvantage, however, with the use of a signal sequence generated by a device to detect whether or not the device is present. In particular, the system will be unable to detect that a device is present if the device is not operating. For example, a device that is malfunctioning might not be able to generate the appropriate signal sequence, or the interface might not have power applied.
As another approach, a dedicated interface pin could be used to detect whether or not a device is present. For example, a device's interface pin might always be coupled to ground. In this case, a system could detect the presence of the attachment by detecting the presence of ground via a conductive path associated with that interface pin. Requiring a dedicated interface pin, however, could increase the costs associated with an interface. Moreover, such an approach might not even be possible in the case of a pre-defined interface specification.

Presence indication signal associated with an attachment


An apparatus for improving the aerodynamic performances of conventionally spoked bicycle wheels or the like, the apparatus comprising a pair of rings (10) being adapted to be located one on either side of the spokes of the wheel and abutting against the wheel's inside rim at their most radial outward portion (11) and extending inwardly towards the wheel's axle. The rings (10) are releasably mated at the most radial inward portion (13) with apertures (16) formed when so mated, The apertures (16) are formed about the spokes when located thereon with the outer surface (12) of the pair of rings (10) forming an aerodynamic surface extending radially inwardly from the wheel's inner rim.

Although the following description refers primarily to bicycles, it will be readily appreciated that other means of propulsion may equally benefit from employment of the inventive principles. Consequently any reference to a bicycle is meant to encompass any similar mode of transport whereby suitable application, modification or adaptation of the invention can be applied.
It has long been recognised that the aerodynamics of a bicycle are strongly effected by the aerodynamic performance of the wheels in particular. This is particularly true for racing, but is equally applicable to leisure pursuits involving bicycles. In other words the better aerodynamic performance of the wheels of a bicycle, the easier it is to ride. A cyclist has in any event to pedal to propel himself forward and any substantial drag caused by the bicycle, and the wheels in particular, lessens the speed obtainable by the cyclist for the effort expended.
It is known for racing bicycles in particular to have at least the rear wheel made from a lightweight material in the form of a disc. The aerodynamics of such a disc wheel are such that the drag on the bicycle is lessened when compared to the conventionally spoked wheel. These types of disc wheels are usually made from a composite material and although extremely light in weight, they are relatively stiff and easily damaged and as such are suited for use on a racing track where the surface is extremely even. These types of wheels are unsuitable for use on uneven surfaces as they are easily damaged if they strike any protrusion such as can be found on roads or similar surfaces.
In addition, these types of disc wheels are most suitable when used on indoor tracks because when they are used outdoors problems arise with regard to crosswinds which tend to cause aerodynamic drag. This drag removes the advantages gained in the aerodynamic performance of the wheels due to their disc nature,
Further to the above, there are known wheels which have been designed to overcome the above mentioned disadvantage by providing a lightweight spoked wheel whereby the at least three spokes and rim are made from composite materials of a similar nature to the composite discs. The rim extends inwardly towards the axle a short distance for strength and to provide an aerodynamic advantage over a conventionally spoked bicycle wheel. These wheels are supposed to absorb road shock and the like and reduce fatigue of the composite material, while reducing the drag caused by cross winds to the above described disc wheels while also providing improvements in aerodynamic performance over the conventionally spoked bicycle wheel.
However, it has been found that these wheels are also easily damaged if used on roads or the like and especially if the road conditions are rough. These wheels are not easily able to be repaired. This means that if the wheel is only slightly damaged, the wheel will have to be discarded as it is unable to perform as it is supposed. This is a relatively expensive wheel to purchase and therefore as they appear to be easily damaged, they have not been universally adopted.
Another type of bicycle wheel that is known and which has been developed to overcome the disadvantages associated with the aerodynamics of conventionally spoked bicycle wheels is a wheel that includes an annulus shaped rim which extends substantially inwardly from the outer edge and a number of metal spokes which extend between the axle and the annulus shaped rim in the same manner as a conventionally spoked bicycle wheel, The metal spokes are embedded into the annulus shaped rim which is made from plastics materials such as carbon fiber resins.
In a similar manner to the previously described wheels, this wheel has the disadvantage that if the wheel is only slightly damaged it will have to be discarded as it is unable to be repaired satisfactorily for its intended use.
Therefore it would be advantageous to provide a wheel and/or wheel apparatus which enables the cyclist to have improved aerodynamic performance as compared to a conventionally spoked bicycle wheel as well as being a wheel and/or wheel apparatus which is easily repaired when damaged. Such an apparatus could be able to be adapted to be applied to a conventionally spoked wheel such that the conventionally spoked bicycle wheel is improved aerodynamically without the need to use the costly wheels as described above.


A cowl top cover of the present invention provides that hardly applies influence when a dimension error occurs to a component, on sealability between the cowl top cover and a bonnet hood, a performance of a washer nozzle. The cowl top cover of the present invention includes at least one bent part that is formed to be bent in a mountain-like and a valley-like shape in a vehicle height direction as viewed in a cross section orthogonal to a vehicle widthwise direction, and the bent part includes a flexural deformation structure with which it is possible to allow a locally flexural deformation in a vehicle lengthwise direction in the bent part and to enable expansion and contraction of a distance in the vehicle lengthwise direction between a locking pawl part disposed at first end of the cowl top cover and a seal member fixation part disposed at second end of the cowl top cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cowl top cover that covers a cowl part disposed between a windshield and a bonnet hood of an automotive.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an automotive has, at a vehicle front part, an engine room in which an power engine is installed, and the right-and-left lateral surface parts of the engine room is covered with a fender panel, and the upper opening is covered with a freely openable bonnet hood.
Between a rear part of the bonnet hood of the automotive and a front end of a windshield, a cowl part is disposed to define a boundary between the engine room and a vehicle compartment, and the cowl top cover is attached to improve the appearance by covering the cowl part. Further, generally, the cowl top cover is provided with an air intake port (intake port) for introducing an outside air into the vehicle.
In a conventional cowl top cover, a panel fixation part disposed at a forward-side lower part is fixed to a vehicle body panel, and the cowl top cover is supported by the vehicle body panel. Further, at a forward-side upper part of the cowl top cover, an elastically deformable seal member is fixed. When the seal member adheres to a rear-end lower surface of the closed bonnet hood, the cowl top cover and the bonnet hood are sealed via the seal member, and thus, a heat or a bad smell of the power engine is prevented from being leaked out of the engine room.
On the other hand, at a rear end of the cowl top cover that faces the windshield, a glass engaging part is disposed which engages with the windshield to support the windshield, and the glass engaging part is formed in a clip-like shape so that the rear end of the cowl top cover is bifurcated. When the front end (lower end) of the windshield is inserted into the clip-like glass engaging part to hold the front end of the windshield, the rear end of the cowl top cover and the front end of the windshield are engaged.
An example of the cowl top cover having such a clip-like glass engaging part is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-211439 (hereinafter, referred to as "Patent Literature 1") and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-73504 (hereinafter, referred to as "Patent Literature 2"), for example.
For example, the cowl top cover described in Patent Literature 1 includes: a clip-like glass engaging part at the rear end; a bent part that is disposed closer to the front end near a bonnet hood, obtained when the cowl top cover is viewed in a cross section orthogonal to a vehicle widthwise direction and that is formed to be bent in an approximately chevron V-shaped; and a plate part that is arranged to linearly extend from the bent part rearward. Further, at a front end of the plate part, which is rearward of the bent part of the cowl top cover, a deformed part is disposed which is obtained by thinning a plate part so as to facilitate elastic deformation.
In such a cowl top cover in Patent Literature 1, upon attachment of the cowl top cover to the cowl part, when the front end of the windshield is fitted into the glass engaging part of the cowl top cover to hold the front end of the windshield, the cowl top cover is forced and pressed down from the upper surface side and the deformed part disposed rearward of the bent part is thereby elastically deformed.
As a result, it is possible to change the orientation (angle) of the clip-like glass engaging portion disposed at the rear end of the cowl top cover, to a direction approximately equal to the inclination angle of the windshield, and this enables the cowl top cover to avoid interference with another vehicle body component so as to facilitate an engagement between the front end of the windshield and the glass engaging part of the cowl top cover. This facilitates a work of assembling a cowl top cover to a vehicle body, and it is thus possible to improve the productivity of an automotive.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, a cowl top cover 60 described in Patent Literature 2 includes a clip-like glass engaging part 61 disposed at a rear end and a panel fixation part 62 disposed at a forward-side lower part and fixed to a vehicle body panel 71. Further, at a forward-side upper part, a seal member 72 for sealing a bonnet hood 73 is fixed.
Further, the cowl top cover 60 in Patent Literature 2 includes a mountain-like protrusion part (bent part) 63 that is disposed closer to a front end near the bonnet hood 73 and that protrudes upwardly, and at the backside of the protrusion part 63, a stiffening rib 64 formed along a vehicle lengthwise direction is arranged. Moreover, in Patent Literature 2, in the stiffening rib 64 arranged in the protrusion part 63, a slit-like gap 65 is formed from a distal end (apex) to a terminal end of the stiffening rib 64.
In the cowl top cover 60 of Patent Literature 2, the above-described slit-like gap 64 is formed in the stiffening rib 64, and thus, when the cowl top cover 60 receives a relatively strong impact, the cowl top cover 60 is capable of being elastically deformed so that the slit-like gap 65 is filled with the stiffening rib 64. As a result, the received impact is lessened and it is thereby possible to prevent the cowl top cover 60 and other components from being damaged.
Further, in Patent Literature 2, when the cowl top cover 60 receives a pressing force as a result of a deposit such as snow and ice being deposited on the cowl top cover 60, for example, the cowl top cover 60 is elastically deformed so that the gap 65 is filled; however, it is possible to regulate a deformation amount of the elastic deformation by an interval between the slit-like gaps 65. When the deformation amount of the elastic deformation of the cowl top cover 60 is thus regulated, it becomes possible to prevent disengagement between the clip-like glass engaging part 61 disposed at the rear end of the cowl top cover 60 and the front end of the windshield.
As in the above-described Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, the conventional cowl top cover often adopts, as a structure for engaging the front end of the windshield, a structure in which the clip-like glass engaging part is arranged at the rear end of the cowl top cover and the front end of the windshield is inserted therebetween and supported.
However, in this type of engagement structure, the front end of the windshield is clamped and supported by the clip-like bifurcated glass engaging part from an up-down directions, and thus, inevitably, the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen, by the thickness of at least the glass engaging part, relative to a glass surface of the windshield. When the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen relative to the windshield, a poor visual aspect ensues, and as a result, appearance quality of an automotive decreases.
Further, when the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen relative to the windshield, a foreign substance such as dust easily accumulates at a boundary part between the cowl top cover and the windshield, and as a result, there is a problem that a task of removing the accumulated foreign substance is complicated.
Therefore, Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. 2003-532574 (hereinafter, referred to as "Patent Literature 3") proposes an engagement structure in which the rear end of the cowl top cover is not risen relative to the glass surface of the windshield to ensure that the glass surface of the windshield and an outer surface at the rear end of the cowl top cover are disposed on the same plane.
The engagement structure described in Patent Literature 3 is configured such that a locking pawl part is arranged at the rear end of the cowl top cover, and a fitting member capable of fittingly attaching the locking pawl part of the cowl top cover is bonded to a lower surface of the front end of the windshield.
When such an engagement structure (fitting structure) using the fitting member of Patent Literature 3 is adopted, it becomes possible to arrange the glass surface of the windshield and the outer surface of the cowl top cover on the same plane. Thus, it is possible to improve the visual aspect at a boundary part between the windshield and the cowl top cover, and it is also possible to prevent accumulation of a foreign substance such as dust at the boundary part.
Generally, there is a permitted error in each dimension of an automotive body, a windshield, and a cowl top cover, and thus, it is required to absorb respective dimension errors when the cowl top cover is engaged with the windshield and is assembled into the vehicle body.
For example, as described in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, when the clip-like glass engaging part is arranged at the rear end of the cowl top cover so as to engage the cowl top cover and the windshield, even when a dimension error occurs to a glass terminal or a vehicle body panel and thus a relative position between the glass terminal and the cowl top cover is shifted, it is possible to ensure that the front end of the windshield is stably held by the glass engaging part of the cowl top cover and it is thus possible to absorb a dimension error of each component.
However, in the engagement structure between the cowl top cover and the windshield as in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, as described above, the rear end of the cowl top cover is risen relative to the glass surface of the windshield, and as a result, problems may occur such as decrease in appearance quality of an automotive and accumulation of a foreign substance.
On the other hand, as described in Patent Document 3, when the cowl top cover and the windshield are connected by using the fitting member, as described above, it is possible to arrange the glass surface of the windshield and the outer surface of the cowl top cover on the same plane.
In this case, however, the relative position between the cowl top cover and the windshield is fixed by the fitting member, and thus, there is a tendency of more of an influence of a dimension error occurring in each component such as the windshield and the cowl top cover, and as a result, the relative position between the windshield and the cowl top cover or the position of the cowl top cover relative to the vehicle body may easily be shifted.
As a result, the relative position of the seal member also is shifted, and a sealability between the cowl top cover and the bonnet hood may be lost. Further, a position of a through-hole for a washer nozzle formed in the cowl top cover is shifted and a surface angle of an attachment part of the washer nozzle is inclined, and thus, an injection direction of the washer nozzle is changed as a result of which a desired performance is not satisfied and a yield is decreased.


The recovery of aluminum chloride from deactivated alkylation catalyst complexes by hydrogenation using hydrogen gas and an aluminum catalyst is disclosed. Using aluminum to catalyze the hydrogenation allows the reaction to proceed at a lower temperature and pressure while reducing the amount of hydrogen chloride present in the reactor thus reducing the corrosiveness and cost of the aluminum chloride recovery. Methods for batch, batchwise continuous, and continuous aluminum chloride recovery are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to batch, batchwise-continuous, and continuous processes for recovering aluminum chloride from deactivated alkylation catalyst complexes by low-corrosion hydrogenation using an aluminum catalyst. Most specifically, the present invention relates to the hydrogenation of a complex sludge of aluminum chloride and olefinic hydrocarbon compounds using an aluminum powder catalyst in the presence of hydrogen gas; the aluminum powder also acting as a reagent to remove hydrochloric acid from the reaction mixture to reduce the corrosiveness and cost of the hydrogenation step.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of aluminum chloride based homogeneous complexes to catalyze hydrocarbon conversion reactions such as alkylation and isomerization is known in the art. Alkylation processes for the production of gasoline that use a soluble alkylaluminum chloride--based catalyst, such as the catalyst and process disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/370,056 by Sherman, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,569, have been shown to be more cost effective and environmentally friendly than conventional sulfuric acid and hydrofluoric acid alkylation processes. As the alkylation reaction in such processes approaches completion, the homogeneous catalyst degrades to a less active state and forms a separate sludge phase. The present invention is directed to the recovery of aluminum chloride from this sludge for recycle to produce the soluble catalyst.
Aluminum chloride can be recovered by hydrogenation of the sludge at high temperature (200.degree. C.) and high pressure (3000 psig), but the combination of aluminum chloride and hydrochloric acid produced during hydrogenation is very corrosive at high temperatures for a carbon-steel reactor, making the hydrogenation step expensive. The corrosion rate can be reduced by reducing the temperature and pressure or by reducing the amount of hydrochloric acid present. While rhodium or palladium, both well-known hydrogenation catalysts, can be used to lower temperature and pressure, these catalysts are expensive. It has now been found that metallic aluminum (a less expensive agent) is an effective hydrogenation catalyst in the presence of hydrogen gas for these homogeneous, high bound-hydrocarbon content, alkylaluminum chloride--based catalysts and promotes the liberation of aluminum chloride and paraffinic by-products at a lower temperature (150.degree. C.) and pressure (1500 psig) than non-catalytic hydrogenation. The metallic aluminum also scavenges excess hydrochloric acid utilized in allylation or produced in the hydrogenation process, thereby greatly reducing reactor corrosion.
The prior art contains numerous methods for recovering spent catalysts from alkylation processes but none using aluminum to catalyze the hydrogenation of alkyaluminum chloride--based catalysts. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,517,692 teaches the regeneration of deactivated aluminum halide catalysts from sludge utilizing hydrochloric acid in conjunction with an olefin and aluminum as a reagent. Hydrogenation is not practiced and the aluminum is sacrificial, reacting with hydrochloric acid to produce more aluminum chloride. The process is non-catalytic and is a net producer of aluminum chloride relative to the present invention. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,334 deals with regeneration of sludge to produce a "reactivated complex," not aluminum chloride, using aluminum with hydrochloric acid and benzene, not hydrogen. The present invention regenerates aluminum chloride using hydrogenation and no aromatic hydrocarbon reagents. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 3,476,825 teaches the use of aluminum powder and hydrochloric acid to produce aluminum chloride in-situ, not to regenerate catalyst from a sludge. In a separate step, hydrogen was used to regenerate the catalyst but not in the presence of aluminum.
Further examples include U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,584 which uses aluminum that has been pretreated with hydrogen chloride to disproportionate the aluminum chloride from the sludge complex at temperatures not exceeding 100.degree. C. Unlike the present invention which practices catalytic hydrogenation, no hydrogen is used. Also the aluminum is stoichiometrically consumed in the reaction. For every three moles of aluminum chloride released from the sludge, one mole of aluminum is converted to aluminum chloride. In the present invention, aluminum is catalytic in the hydrogenation step and is only consumed by reaction with any net excess hydrochloric acid in the system resulting from the presence of more than stoichiometric amounts of alkylation catalyst complex activator which is also liberated during hydrogenation. The method taught by the '584 patent did not produce aluminum chloride when applied to the high-hydrocarbon (about 46 weight % hydrocarbon) alkyaluminum chloride--based catalysts that are the focus of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 1,582,131 discloses non-catalytic hydrogenation of aluminum chloride catalyst residues with the recovery of aluminum chloride by distillation. U.S. Pat. No. 2,211,207 describes hydrogenation in the presence of heavy metal halides, it does not teach the utility of aluminum as a catalyst for aluminum chloride recovery.
None of the aforementioned patents teaches the use of aluminum powder as the hydrogenation catalyst for aluminum chloride recovery which is the subject of this application.

Aluminum promoted hydrogenation of alkylation sludge for aluminum chloride recovery


Dynamic systems and methods for depicting context among different views of an imaging visualization application used by a medical workstation are provided.

The graphical user interfaces (GUIs) of modem computer systems are software programs that permit users to interact with the systems via graphical images on the system displays. They often depict spatial relationships between conceptual elements using graphical images, such as windows, menus, and dialogs with a dynamic interface. The same is true for windows as they open and close. This trend towards graphical depiction of context is becoming more popular as more powerful Central Processing Units (CPUs) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPUs) become available. These GUIs also distinguish modem computer systems and help provide an improved user experience. In a medical imaging workstation, multiple views of the same dataset are often displayed simultaneously, but little progress has been made in terms of offering dynamic interfaces to provide context.
Many existing visualization methods for medical images are applied directly to the data or some derivative thereof. Although useful, concurrent visualization across different locations and orientations of a workstation display can sometimes be difficult for users to understand. As an example, diseases such as bronchiectasis, asthma, cystic fibrosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are characterized by abnormalities in airway dimensions, including the thickness of the walls and the size of the lumen (i.e., inner airway). Computed Tomography (CT) has become one of the primary means to depict and detect these abnormalities since the availability of high-resolution, near-isotropic data makes it possible to evaluate airways at oblique angles to the scanner plane. Presentation of oblique angles on existing workstations, when allowed, typically involves an interface as depicted in FIG. 1, which shows an example of a medical imaging workstation application for airway analysis. A traditional axial view 2 is shown in the upper left of the figure, along with a 3D view 3 of the segmented airways (upper middle), a cross-sectional view 4 of a selected location (upper right), and a straightened "fillet" view 5 (bottom left) along a selected airway path. All views show portions or derived data from the same 3D volume of the airway tree obtained by the CT imaging scanner. Cross hairs 6 and boxes 7 in the axial view 2 are used to depict a relation or correspondence between the different views.
However, the problem still remains to adequately demonstrate to the user how an oblique plane relates to the rest of the data. This type of visualization is very important to physicians and other health professionals in using a medical imaging workstation, so they can remain confident in the automatic calculation of oblique angles, and remain oriented with respect to the patient's anatomy. Current workstations simply update views with changes in user input, but not much is shown in terms of the direct correspondences between the different views.

Dynamic graphical user interfaces for medical workstations cross-reference to related applications


A trailer coupling with a ball support and a coupling ball arranged at a free end of the ball support. A coupling ball holder is fitted onto and can rotate on the coupling ball. A locking element is provided on the coupling ball holder by which the coupling ball holder is secured against being inadvertently removed from the coupling ball. An angle measuring device, provided on the coupling ball, comprises sensors which can detect rotation of the coupling ball holder relative to the coupling ball about a rotation axis. The position of the locking element, relative to the coupling ball, can be determined using the sensors.

A trailer coupling of this type is known from EP 1 796 926 B1, in which the angle measuring device comprises a permanent magnet and sensors that are sensitive to a magnetic field. In this case, however, components of the angle measuring device are provided both on the coupling ball and on the coupling ball holder. Thus, when a trailer is used which has a simple coupling ball holder in which no components of the angle measuring device are additionally built in, the rotation detection does not work.


A corneal surgical instrument comprising a surgical knife and ultrasonic probe assembly that measures the corneal thickness, monitors the positioning and perpendicularity of the knife and controls the depth of the knife blade. The ultrasonic probe assembly includes a pair of ultrasonic probes disposed on opposite sides of said cutting plane of the knife blade. Information on monitored parameters is displayed to the surgeon in the display of a surgical instrument used to perform corneal surgery.

Surgical procedures to correct myopia (nearsightedness), astigmatism and hyperopia (farsightedness) have been in widespread use for at least the past 20 years. Three surgical procedures to correct these problems are radial keratotomy, astigmatic keratotomy and hexagonal keratotomy.
Radial keratotomy is used to reduce or eliminate myopia which occurs when the cornea is too steeply curved or the eyeball is too long. Bluffed vision results because images focus in front of the retina. To correct for this, a series of radial incisions are made in the cornea peripherally around the central corneal zone of 3-4 mm in diameter. The incisions function to flatten the cornea and thereby move the focal point of the eye posteriorly toward the retina and ideally coincident with the retina. For optimum results, the incisions usually have to be at least 85-90% of the corneal thickness along the length thereof.
Astigmatic keratotomy corrects astigmatism caused by an irregularly shaped cornea. In an astigmatic eye, the shape of the corneal is more ovate than spherical, with the result being distorted vision. Surgical correction of the astigmatism is accomplished by placing a series of transverse incisions in opposite quadrants of the cornea. As with radial keratotomy, these incisions usually should be 85-90% of the corneal thickness.
Hexagonal keratotomy is used to correct hyperopia. Hyperopia occurs when the cornea is too flat or the eyeball is too short, whereby images focus behind the retina. To correct this problem, a "T-hexagonal" set of incisions are made in the cornea to form a six-sided geometric figure. The incisions cause the cornea inside the six-sided geometric figure to bow forward and thereby increase the curvature of the cornea and thereby move the focal point of the eye forward. This procedure has evolved since 1987 and, as currently modified by Dr. J. Charles Casebeer of Flagstaff, Ariz., has been quite successful.
At present, the above surgical procedures are for the most part done freehand by the surgeon in the following manner. The surgeon uses a pachometer, such as the Sonogage pachometer sold by Sonogage, Inc. of Cleveland, Oh., to measure the thickness of the cornea typically 1.5 mm temporal to the visual axis or several measurements are made around the periphery of the 3-4 mm central or optical zone. The lowest reading is used to set the depth of cut of a surgical knife to be used to make the incisions. The depth of cut typically is set to 85-110% of the measured minimum thickness of the cornea depending on the surgeon's previous experience.
The success of the above surgical procedures depends in part on the ability of the surgeon to guide the knife so that it is always perpendicular to the corneal surface. Cocking of the knife to either side will result in a shallower cut. Another problem is the increase in thickness of the cornea from approximately 500 microns at the optic center to approximately 580-600 microns at the periphery of the cornea. Accordingly, the percentage depth of the cut will usually decrease moving radially outwardly along the radial incision when performing radial keratotomy.

Ophthalmic surgical instrument and method


A portable electronic device including a battery, a direct current (DC) power source, a first device that consumes a first amount of power during operation, a second device that consumes a second amount of power during operation, the second amount of power being more than the first amount of power, a first switch provided in a charging path between the DC power source and the battery, a second switch provided in a path for supplying power from the battery to the second device, and a charging control circuit that controls charging the battery by connecting the first switch when external power is supplied via the DC power source, and control the second switch to be connected and the first switch to be disconnected when the second device is operated during the charging.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic apparatus having a secondary battery therein, the secondary battery being a battery that can be charged, and also relates to a charging apparatus for the portable electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable electronic apparatus such as a portable phone terminal has a secondary battery therein, the secondary battery being a battery that can be charged using an external power supply. Regarding a charging control device for such a secondary battery, a technology for accurately controlling a charging voltage and detecting a charging current while suppressing heat generation during charging has been suggested (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-104270).
In order to increase charging efficiency during charging of a secondary battery, the following method is adopted. That is, a power supply voltage supplied from the outside to a charging integrated circuit (charging IC) is decreased by a direct current-direct current (DC-DC) converter and is supplied to a power supply IC, and the secondary battery is charged.
With this method, power can be supplied from the secondary battery when it becomes necessary for the power supply IC to supply a current beyond the ability of power supplied from the outside. For this purpose, a rapid fluctuation of load is detected on the basis of a fluctuation of the voltage of supplied power having a decreased voltage and a result of a current monitor by using a so-called battery assist function, and a power supply path is switched by using a switch, such as a field-effect transistor (FET).
FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of a charging system in a portable phone terminal according to the related art.
A power supply IC 104 supplies power to devices, such as a baseband (BB) IC 100 including a communication unit and a central processing unit (CPU), a peripheral device 102 such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) device or camera, and a memory 101. The power supply IC 104 includes a power supply circuit (low dropout (LDO) regulator, DC-DC converter, or the like) 111 that stably outputs operation voltages of the respective devices.
Normally, power is supplied from a secondary battery 110 to the power supply IC 104. When a DC voltage 108 is applied from an external charger or the like to a charging IC 114, a voltage output from a DC-DC converter 109 of the charging IC 114 is supplied. Such paths are controlled by a charging control circuit 107 of the charging IC 114. A voltage is directly applied from the secondary battery 110, not via the power supply IC 104, to power amplifiers of a third-generation portable phone (3G PAs 105) and a power amplifier of a global system for mobile communications (GSM) portable phone (GSM PA 106), the 3G PAs 105 and the GSM PA 106 serving as devices that consume a relatively large amount of power.
In the existing configuration illustrated in FIG. 1, when the DC voltage 108 is applied, the charging control circuit 107 detects it and turns on a FET 112 (the FET 112 is connected), thereby starting charging of the secondary battery 110. At this time, when a current that can be supplied by the DC voltage 108 is smaller than the sum of a current supplied to devices connected to the power supply IC 104 and a current supplied to the 3G PAs 105 and the GSM PA 106, the charging control circuit 107 turns on a FET 113, switches a power supply path from the DC-DC converter 109 to the secondary battery 110, and stops output of the DC-DC converter 109 at the same time. The devices connected to the power supply IC 104 include the memory 101, the peripheral device 102, antenna switches (ANT SWs) 103, and the BB IC 100 in this example.

Portable electronic apparatus and charging apparatus


A switch comprises a housing containing electrical contacts moveable from a power supply OFF position to a power supply ON position. A control mechanism is operatively coupled to the contacts, which contacts are operable by an actuator of predetermined configuration engaging with the control mechanism to change the status of the contacts. The control mechanism is moveable relative to the actuator in a direction transverse to the direction of insertion of the actuator to facilitate operative engagement therewith.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to switch assemblies used especially but not exclusively in machinery guards enclosing kinetic machinery.
2. Description of Related Art
Known switch assemblies comprise a switch adapted to be fitted to an enclosure and an actuator adapted to be fitted to a door, gate or protective cover of the enclosure and insertable into the switch. When the enclosure is closed by the door, gate or protective cover, the actuator is inserted into the switch which enables the energisation of a machine within the enclosure as the result of the switch turning on an electrical power supply.
Switches of this type have a housing in which are situated normally-open contacts, one set fixed, the other movable and carried by an axially-movable push rod spring-loaded to maintain the sets of contacts apart and the power supply consequently OFF.
The axially-movable push rod bears against a rotatable, can of a cam arrangement normally disposed to secure the push rod in a power supply OFF position but which is operable by the actuator to cause cam rotation and axial movement of the push rod to a power supply ON position.


The present invention provides an input and output device for computer system storage that can prevent a computer system being fatally damaged by a computer virus, and also provides a software execution method that by using the input and output device, enables trial software, trial data and mail data to be safely tried. For this, a virtual computer system is used that runs on a computer system. Writes to a hard disk in the virtual computer system are made via a disk cache, and whether or not data is transferred from the disk cache to the hard disk is controlled. Application program snapshot data created by the computer system is recorded on a recording medium that is substantially read-only or transmitted to a different computer system. The snapshot data from the recording medium is read or received by the different computer system and a processing by the application program is resumed in the state in which data transfer from the disk cache to the first storage has stopped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input and output means for computer system storage and a software execution method using same, for preventing a computer system being fatally damaged by a computer virus that becomes a problem when providing new software for trial.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Trial software and trial data are exchanged via various communication media, and there are cases in which computer systems are damaged by computer viruses that become attached accompanying trial software and trial data distributed via the Internet in particular. Such damage can alter an operating system (OS) and, if it continues after such an alteration, in most cases it becomes necessary to reinstall the OS on the computer system, canceling the intended computer processing.
Generally, to prevent such damage, trial software is tried out, or characteristics of files created by a virus produced by reading trial data or mail data are detected and the file removed, or files that have a computer virus are erased before trying out trial software or reading trial data or mail data. Because new viruses are distributed one after another, it is difficult to prevent damage at the start of distribution using computer virus removal software.
In the case of such damage produced by a computer virus, there are known computer systems that substantially eliminate this kind of damage caused by computer viruses by using a function provided to reset the computer system before trying out trial software, or reading trial data or mail data.
Connectix Corporation's Virtual PC, for example, uses a method in which trial software and the like is operated on a virtual system using another, second, disk image file of the initial disk image file. Here, during operation, Virtual PC performs processing using the second disk image file, but when shutting down Virtual PC, when required, a procedure is used to have the second disk image file record reflected in the initial disk image file. Therefore, if a computer virus causes damage during the operation of Virtual PC, it is possible to return to the initial state by discarding the second disk image file.
As shown by the block diagram of FIG. 1, with VMware, Inc.'s VMware, the guest OS does not directly access the hard disk, but performs reads and writes via a virtual disk provided by VMware. FIG. 1 shows a host application operating on a host OS, a virtual platform (VP) application operating on a host OS, and a guest OS application operating on a guest OS. Thus, an application-operating environment can have a plurality of modes. Also, hard-disk read/write operations are carried out via a VP application; the following three read/write modes are available.    (1) Persistent mode: This mode performs hard-disk reads and writes in real time, as in the case of an ordinary hard disk.    (2) Non-persistent mode: A history of changes is written not to the hard disk but to a redo log, and the redo log is discarded when the guest OS terminates, so ultimately the hard disk is not written to.    (3) Undoable mode
Similarly to the case as in the above-mentioned non-persistent mode, a change history is written to the redo log and the contents of changes are saved, and when the guest OS is being terminated it is possible to choose to commit the contents of the redo log to the hard disk, discard the redo log, or to keep the contents instead of discarding the redo log.
In this way, computer systems up to the present use a disk image file to carry out a processing and, if required, the disk image file has been stored on the hard disk of the computer system. The examples described above provide a mode in which there is no direct writing to the hard disk, but to realize this mode, intermediate code, intermediate data and other such interim data-processing states are saved on the hard disk as required. This saving to the hard disk is undesirable from the standpoint of security and makes it more possible to create a computer virus.
As is well known, a computer virus causes damage by rewriting system files stored on the hard disk and erasing or modifying data files. This being the case, a computer system that is saved on a hard disk, such as described above, is more susceptible to damage caused by a computer virus.
The present invention is proposed in view of the above situation, and has as one object to provide an input and output means for computer system storage that by having a configuration that can stop a hard-disk write capability when endeavoring to prevent damage caused by a computer virus, but can enable a hard-disk write capability in cases such as when large-scale data processing is performed, is able to prevent a computer virus from fatally damaging a computer system while minimizing any loss of convenience. Another object is to provide a software execution method using the above input and output means for computer system storage that, by using the input and output means for computer system storage, enables trial software, trial data and mail data to be safely tried.

Input and output control means for computer system storage and a software execution method using same

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


Prodrugs of analogs of the anti-tumor antibiotic CC-1065 having a cleavable protective group such as a piperazino carbamate, a 4-piperidino-piperidino carbamate or a phosphate, in which the protecting group confers enhanced water solubility and stability upon the prodrug, and in which the prodrug also has a moiety, such as a disulfide, that can conjugate to a cell binding reagent such as an antibody. The therapeutic use of such prodrug conjugates is also described; such prodrugs of cytotoxic agents have therapeutic use because they can deliver cytotoxic prodrugs to a specific cell population for enzymatic conversion to cytoxic drugs in a targeted fashion.

Many reports have appeared which are directed to the targeting of tumor cells with monoclonal antibody-drug conjugates {Sela et al, in Immunoconjugates, pp. 189-216 (C. Vogel, ed. 1987); Ghose et al, in Targeted Drugs, pp. 1-22 (E. Goldberg, ed. 1983); Diener et al, in Antibody Mediated Delivery Systems, pp. 1-23 (J. Rodwell, ed. 1988); Pietersz et al, in Antibody Mediated Delivery Systems, pp. 25-53 (J. Rodwell, ed. 1988); Bumol et al, in Antibody Mediated Delivery Systems, pp. 55-79 (J. Rodwell, ed. 1988); G. A. Pietersz & K. Krauer, 2 J. Drug Targeting, 183-215 (1994); R. V. J. Chari, 31 Adv. Drug Delivery Revs., 89-104 (1998); W. A. Blattler & R. V. J. Chari, in Anticancer Agents, Frontiers in Cancer Chemotherapy, 317-338, ACS Symposium Series 796; and I. Ojima et al eds, American Chemical Society 2001}. Cytotoxic drugs such as methotrexate, daunorubicin, doxorubicin, vincristine, vinblastine, melphalan, mitomycin C, chlorambucil, calicheamicin and maytansinoids have been conjugated to a variety of murine monoclonal antibodies. In some cases, the drug molecules were linked to the antibody molecules through an intermediary carrier molecule such as serum albumin {Garnett et al, 46 Cancer Res. 2407-2412 (1986); Ohkawa et al, 23 Cancer Immunol. Immunother. 81-86 (1986); Endo et al, 47 Cancer Res. 1076-1080 (1980)}, dextran {Hurwitz et al, 2 Appl. Biochem. 25-35 (1980); Manabi et al, 34 Biochem. Pharmacol. 289-291 (1985); Dillman et al, 46 Cancer Res. 4886-4891 (1986); and Shoval et al, 85 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 8276-8280 (1988)}, or polyglutamic acid {Tsukada et al, 73 J. Natl. Canc. Inst. 721-729 (1984); Kato et al, 27 J. Med. Chem. 1602-1607 (1984); Tsukada et al, 52 Br. J. Cancer 111-116 (1985)}.
A wide array of linkers is now available for the preparation of such immunoconjugates, including both cleavable and non-cleavable linkers. In vitro cytotoxicity tests, however, have revealed that antibody-drug conjugates rarely achieve the same cytotoxic potency as the free unconjugated drugs. This has suggested that mechanisms by which drug molecules are released from conjugated antibodies are very inefficient. Early work in the area of immunotoxins showed that conjugates formed via disulfide bridges between monoclonal antibodies and catalytically active protein toxins were more cytotoxic than conjugates containing other linkers {Lambert et al, 260 J. Biol. Chem. 12035-12041 (1985); Lambert et al, in Immunotoxins 175-209 (A. Frankel, ed. 1988); Ghetie et al, 48 Cancer Res. 2610-2617 (1988)}. This improved cytotoxicity was attributed to the high intracellular concentration of reduced glutathione contributing to the efficient cleavage of the disulfide bond between the antibody molecule and the toxin. Maytansinoids and calicheamicin were the first examples of highly cytotoxic drugs that had been linked to monoclonal antibodies via disulfide bonds. Antibody conjugates of these drugs have been shown to possess high potency in vitro and exceptional antitumor activity in human tumor xenograft models in mice {R. V. J. Chari et al., 52 Cancer Res., 127-131 (1992); C. Liu et al., 93, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 8618-8623 (1996); L. M. Hinman et al., 53, Cancer Res., 3536-3542 (1993); and P. R. Hamann et al, 13, BioConjugate Chem., 40-46 (2002)}.
An attractive candidate for the preparation of such cytotoxic conjugates is CC-1065, which is a potent anti-tumor antibiotic isolated from the culture broth of Streptomyces zelensis. CC-1065 is about 1000-fold more potent in vitro than are commonly used anti-cancer drugs, such as doxorubicin, methotrexate and vincristine {B. K. Bhuyan et al., Cancer Res., 42, 3532-3537 (1982)}.
The structure of CC-1065 (Compound 1, FIG. 1A) has been determined by x-ray crystallography {Martin, D. G. et al, 33 J. Antibiotics 902-903 (1980), and Chidester, C. G., et al, 103 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 7629-7635 (1981)}. The CC-1065 molecule consists of 3 substituted pyrroloindole moieties linked by amide bonds. The "A" subunit has a cyclopropyl ring containing the only asymmetric carbons in the molecule. While only the relative configuration of these carbons is available from x-ray data, the absolute configuration has been inferred as 3b-R, 4a-S, by using DNA as a chiral reagent {Hurley, L. H. et al, 226 Science 843-844 (1984)}. The "B" and "C" subunits of CC-1065 are identical pyrroloindole moieties.
The cytotoxic potency of CC-1065 has been correlated with its alkylating activity and its DNA-binding or DNA-intercalating activity. These two activities reside in separate parts of the molecule. Thus, the alkylating activity is contained in the cyclopropapyrroloindole (CPI) subunit and the DNA-binding activity resides in the two pyrroloindole subunits (FIG. 1A).
However, although CC-1065 has certain attractive features as a cytotoxic agent, it has limitations in therapeutic use. Administration of CC-1065 to mice caused a delayed hepatotoxicity leading to mortality on day 50 after a single intravenous dose of 12.5 μg/kg {V. L. Reynolds et al., J. Antibiotics, XXIX, 319-334 (1986)}. This has spurred efforts to develop analogs that do not cause delayed toxicity, and the synthesis of simpler analogs modeled on CC-1065 has been described {M. A. Warpehoski et al., J. Med. Chem., 31, 590-603 (1988)}. In another series of analogs, the CPI moiety was replaced by a cyclopropabenzindole (CBI) moiety {D. L. Boger et al., J. Org. Chem., 55, 5823-5833, (1990), D. L. Boger et al., BioOrg. Med. Chem. Lett., 1, 115-120 (1991)}. These compounds maintain the high in vitro potency of the parental drug, without causing delayed toxicity in mice. Like CC-1065, these compounds are alkylating agents that bind to the minor groove of DNA in a covalent manner to cause cell death. However, clinical evaluation of the most promising analogs, Adozelesin and Carzelesin, has led to disappointing results {B. F. Foster et al., Investigational New Drugs, 13, 321-326 (1996); I. Wolff et al., Clin. Cancer Res., 2,1717-1723 (1996)}. These drugs display poor therapeutic effects because of their high systemic toxicity.
The therapeutic efficacy of CC-1065 analogs can be greatly improved by changing the in vivo distribution through targeted delivery to the tumor site, resulting in lower toxicity to non-targeted tissues, and thus, lower systemic toxicity. In order to achieve this goal, conjugates of analogs and derivatives of CC-1065 with cell-binding agents that specifically target tumor cells have been described {U.S. Pat. Nos.; 5,475,092; 5,585,499; 5,846,545} all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. These conjugates typically display high target-specific cytotoxicity in vitro, and exceptional anti-tumor activity in human tumor xenograft models in mice {R. V. J. Chari et al., Cancer Res., 55, 4079-4084 (1995)}.
Cell-binding agents are typically only soluble in aqueous medium, and are usually stored in aqueous solutions. Thus, these analogs should possess sufficient water solubility to allow for efficient reaction with cell-binding agents and subsequent formulation in aqueous solution. In addition, for cell-binding agent conjugates to have a useful shelf life, it is important that CC-1065 analogs that are linked to these cell-binding agents are stable for an extended period of time in aqueous solutions.
The CC-1065 analogs described thus far (see, e.g. FIGS. 1B and 1C) are only sparingly soluble in water. Because of the sparing solubility of CC-1065 analogs, conjugation reactions with cell-binding agents currently have to be performed in extremely dilute aqueous solutions. Therefore, these prodrugs should have enhanced water solubility as compared to the parent drugs.
Also, CC-1065 analogs that have been described thus far are quite unstable in aqueous solutions for the following reason. The seco-form of the drug is spontaneously converted into the cyclopropyl form, which then may alkylate DNA, if present. However, the competing reaction of the cyclopropyl form with water results in opening of the cyclopropyl ring to yield the hydroxy compound, which is inactive. Thus, there is a need to protect the reactive portion of CC-1065 analogs in order to extend their useful life in aqueous solution, for example by the development of prodrugs of CC-1065 analogs.
There is therefore a need to develop prodrugs of CC-1065 analogs that are very stable upon storage in aqueous solutions. Preferably, these prodrugs should only be converted into active drugs in vivo. Once the prodrug is infused into a patient, it should preferably be efficiently converted into active drug.
Carzelesin is a prodrug where the phenolic group in adozelesin is protected as a phenyl carbamate {L. H. Li et al., Cancer Res., 52, 4904-4913 (1992)}. However, this prodrug is too labile for therapeutic use, and also affords no increase in water solubility compared to the parental drug. In a second example, the phenolic residue of a CC-1065 analog was glycosylated to produce a prodrug (U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,298). However, this prodrug is not converted into active drug in vivo, and requires the additional administration of an enzyme from a bacterial source to convert it to the cytotoxic form.
There are a few examples of anticancer drugs, unrelated to CC-1065, that have been converted into water soluble prodrugs. In the anticancer drug irinotecan, the phenolic group is protected by a 4-piperidino-piperidino carbamate. It has been reported that this protecting group confers water solubility to the drug. In addition, the prodrug is readily converted in vivo in humans to the active drug, presumably by the enzyme carboxylesterase, which naturally exists in human serum, tumor tissue and in some organs {A. Sparreboom, 4, Clin. Cancer Res., 2747-2754 (1998). L. P. Rivory et al., 52, Biochem Pharmacol., 1103-1111 (1996)}.
Similarly, the anticancer drug etoposide phosphate is an example of a prodrug that has a phosphate protecting group and is rapidly converted into active drug in vivo, presumably through hydrolysis by endogenous alkaline phosphatase {S. Z. Fields et al., 1 Clin. Cancer Res., 105-111 (1995)}.
Thus, there exists a need for analogs of CC-1065 that have increased solubility and stability in aqueous solution, to facilitate their conjugation to cell binding agents in aqueous solutions, while preserving their biological activity. In addition, in order to reduce toxic side-effects, it would be advantageous to provide the CC-1065 analog in the form of a prodrug that is converted to the cytotoxic drug predominantly at the desired therapeutic site and preferably through the action of endogenous agents. All these advantages and more are provided by the invention described herein, as will be apparent to one of skill in the art upon reading the following disclosure and examples.


In a system, a generator is configured to charge a battery through a charging wire connecting therebetween. A first unit measures a voltage of the battery, and a second unit detects an operating rate of the generator. A third unit determines that the charging wire is broken when the measured battery voltage is lower than a predetermined threshold voltage and the detected operating rate of the generator is lower than a predetermined threshold value.

A battery installed in, for example, a vehicle and a generator for charging the battery are connected through a charging cable. As conventional battery chargers capable of detecting a break in the charging cable, various types of them have been well known.
As one example of the conventional battery chargers, a voltage regulating apparatus for charging generators is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,811 corresponding Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. S59-148538. As another one example of the conventional batter chargers, a battery recharging system for a motor vehicle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,646 corresponding to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H4-222426.
The voltage regulating apparatus disclosed in the former Publication is provided with a charging generator and a voltage regulator. The charging generator includes an AC (Alternating Current) generator and a rectifying circuit. The output terminal of the rectifying circuit is connected to a battery through a charging cable. The voltage regulator has L and S terminals, the L terminal of which is connected to the output terminal of the rectifying circuit, and the S terminal of which is connected to the positive terminal of the battery.
The voltage regulator regulates the output voltage of the charging generator based on the voltages at the L terminal and S terminal. The voltage regulator also determines that the charging cable has a break when the difference between the voltage at the L terminal and that at the S terminal exceeds a predetermined value, thereby stopping the operation of the charging generator and generating an alarm.
In addition, the battery recharging system for a vehicle disclosed in the later Publication includes a current generator, a switch, an indicator lamp, and a voltage regulator. The current generator includes an alternator and an associated rectifier whose output terminal is connected to the positive terminal of a battery through a connecting cable.
The voltage regulator is provided with first and second input terminals A and L, the first input terminal A of which is connected to the output terminal of the current generator, the second input terminal of which is connected the positive terminal of the battery through the switch and the lamp.
The voltage regulator regulates the output voltage of the current generator based on the potential at the first input terminal A and that of the second input terminal L. The voltage regulator also determines that the connecting cable has a break when the potential difference between the potential at the first input terminal A and that at the second input terminal L is greater than a pre-established reference value, thereby causing the lamp to be lit to indicate the interruption of connection between the battery and the current generator.
In order to reduce environmental pollution by vehicles and energy consumption thereby, vehicle control has been integrated. For example, when integrated vehicle control is applied to a battery charging system, the integrated vehicle control optimizes the alternator output when an engine runs at idle to regulate emissions. The integrated vehicle control also regulates the alternator output during acceleration and deceleration to control energy consumption of vehicle electric loads. This integrated vehicle control uses a plurality of ECUs (Electronic Control Units) as external control units, various sensors connected thereto, and actuators whose operations are controlled by the ECUs.
In order to achieve the efficient integrated vehicle control, there have been prepared a plurality of data communication control methods between ECUs (external control units) and an alternator.
One conventional example of data communication control methods between ECUs and an alternator is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-325085. The communication method disclosed in the Publication establishes bus line connections between ECUs and an alternator, and allows the ECUs to communicate a plurality of information codes with the alternator through the bus lines.
When data communication control methods are applied to communications between a charging generator and a voltage regulator of a voltage regulating apparatus, it is necessary to convert the alternator output into an information code (digital value). Similarly, when data communication control methods are applied to communications between a current generator and a voltage regulator of a battery recharging system for automobiles, it is also necessary to convert the output of the current generator into an information code (digital value).
For these reasons, in order to use the data communication control methods, the alternator or the current generator has to provide an A/D (Analog to Digital) converting circuit for converting the output of the alternator or the current generator into an information code. Installation of the A/D converter into the alternator or the current generator may however contribute to increase of the commit size of the alternator or the current generator, which may cause the voltage regulating apparatus and the battery recharging system to increase in size and cost.

System and method for determining whether a charging wire is broken


An RF test equipment and wire bond interface circuit (150) for facilitating the on-wafer (100) testing of integrated circuits (120) has an electrical interface (102,104,106), for providing electrical coupling to the IC (120) and a low-pass filter structure connected between the electric interface (102,104,106) and the IC (120). The low-pass filter structure comprises a first inductive element (108) connected in series with the electrical interface (102,104,106) for simulating wire bond reactances, a second inductive element (114) connected in series with the first inductive element (108) for making contact with the IC (120) and at least one capacitor (110,112) connected between ground and a point common to both the first (108) and the second (114) inductive elements, for providing shunt capacitance and defining a Tee type low-pass matched filter at the input (121) and the output (123) of the IC (120). The RF test equipment and wire bond interface (150) assure the on-wafer performance of the IC (120) will correspond to its off-wafer performance, despite the addition of wire bonds (127,129 and 133,135).

RF testing of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) is advantageously accomplished at the wafer level, where automatic test equipment can rapidly verify the electrical performance of the MMIC, prior to its separation, bonding and packaging as an individual component. In this effort, an RF test probe is used to provide temporary electrical contact between the automatic test equipment and an MMIC element on a wafer. A disadvantage and limitation known in the prior art is that current RF test equipment fixtures do not simulate, at the wafer test level, the operating environment of an MMIC after it has been separated from the wafer, wire bound and packaged. As a result, wafer level performance characteristics are marginal at best.
It would be extremely advantageous therefore to provide, at the wafer level, an RF test equipment, and wire bond interface circuit which overcomes these shortcomings.


A wireless mobile terminal (10) and method for utilizing digital broadcast content records (204) selected digital broadcast content as received, for example, by a digital broadcast receiver (16) and provides editing of the selected digital broadcast content based on digital rights management data to generate customized clips of information. The selected digital broadcast content is edited (206) to produce mobile terminal edited digital broadcast content that may be, for example, distributed (208) by the mobile terminal to a plurality of peer devices. A broadcast content editor (24) allows for the editing of clips of content wherein the edited clips are then stored in memory as recorded clips for distribution by the mobile terminal. In another embodiment, a network element is remotely controlled by the mobile terminal to effect editing through the mobile terminal at the network element.

The transfer of copyright protected digital content in a non-broadcast arena is generally known. Presently, content providers are the only source for content previews, which may usually be transferred freely. Content preview recipients may obtain complete access to the corresponding content and corresponding right from a content server or some other source typically only upon payment of a content license fee. Other content usage control architectures that have been proposed to allow content usage rights to be expressed in vouchers which may be created and distributed separately from the content itself when the content is registered by or with a voucher server. Payment for issued vouchers is collected by a payment collection entity, such as a cellular communication network operator. Registered content previews may be transferred freely among terminals and peer to peer communications and viewed without a voucher, but the content may be fully accessed only upon purchasing a voucher from the payment collection entity.
Consumers are increasingly utilizing non-voice entertainment services through cellular phones and other mobile terminals. Such mobile terminals may include any suitable mobile device that may, for example, communicate wirelessly with suitable networks such as the Internet, intranets, cellular systems, terrestrial digital video broadcast system (DVB-T) or satellite broadcast systems. For example, cell phones have been proposed that include built in digital broadcast content receivers such as DVB-T receivers, cellular transceivers that receive for example GSM-signals, CDMA-signals, or any other signals to facilitate both wideband data stream reception, such as through the DVB-T receiver and lower band reception and communication through the cellular transceiver. These mobile terminals can receive and display (such as play) video and audio streams, digital books, support e-commerce transactions and receive digital television broadcasts.
Such mobile multimedia terminals may include: controllers that switch to the particular receiver according to a communication environment, a display interface to optimize received over the air data signals for display, media decoders to decode received over the air data signals, employ synchronization managers connected to the controller and receivers that enable reception of over the air data signals without re-synchronizing a receiver. Known multimedia mobile terminals may employ memory to store the received digital broadcast content. Such mobile multimedia terminals attempt to manipulate the data signals for display and may combine the broadcast data signal with other data to create a display. However, such mobile multimedia terminals, although apparently allowing the storage of broadcast digital data, do not appear to provide user capability of selecting portions of a digital broadcast to create clips nor recording such clips for sharing content among peer devices without violating copyright protection or other digital rights management limitations. In addition, it does not appear that such terminals facilitate billing for recorded clips or for their distribution. In addition, such mobile multimedia terminals do not appear to allow editing of the digital broadcast content to provide, for example, edited clips that may be shared with other mobile terminals.
In addition, such mobile multimedia terminals typically require the use of a built in digital data broadcast receiver to directly receive the wideband broadcast data stream. It may be desirable to allow cellular phones and other mobile terminals that do not have the built in digital data broadcast receiver, to nonetheless be able to edit digital broadcast content.
In addition, it has been proposed to have mobile terminals that communicate recorded digital information to peer devices while maintaining copyright protection to allow for example a peer device to act as a content provider. However, such devices have not been proposed to include the ability to edit recorded clips of digital content to allow, for example, customized clips to be communicated among peer devices.
In addition, conventional digital rights management techniques typically addresses whether content can be copied but do not typically address whether copied content can also be edited. For example, digital rights that are controlled by a broadcast service provider typically do not control whether a user device may add overlay information, title information, comments, highlighting, splicing, reordering, speed altering and transforming the digital broadcast content (such as adding effects, rotating, filtering, sizing, cropping or other information transformations).
The various aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following detailed description of the invention with the accompanying drawings described below.

Method and apparatus for recording and editing digital broadcast content


A channel estimation system is disclosed. The channel estimation system comprises a first memory element having a write function and a plurality of read functions, a pilot signal extraction element adapted to receive a first output of the first memory element, a programmable averaging element adapted to receive the output of the pilot signal extraction element, and a combiner adapted to receive a second output of the memory element and the output of the programmable averaging element, wherein the second output of the first memory element is delayed with respect to the first output of the first memory element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to receiver circuit architecture in a wireless portable communication device. More particularly, the invention relates to channel estimation in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) communication system.
2. Related Art
With the increasing availability of efficient, low cost electronic modules, mobile communication systems are becoming more and more widespread. For example, there are many variations of communication schemes in which various frequencies, transmission schemes, modulation techniques and communication protocols are used to provide two-way voice and data communications in a handheld, telephone-like communication handset. The different modulation and transmission schemes each have advantages and disadvantages.
As these mobile communication systems continue to evolve, so do the operating requirements. Current and future mobile communication systems must be able to operate under diverse and harsh operating conditions. For example, current and future communication systems must be able to reliably operate in what is referred to as a "high speed" environment. A high speed environment is one in which the portable communication device is moving at a high rate of speed with respect to the base station with which it is communication. A portable communication device operating in a high speed train, where speeds approach and exceed 300 kilometers per hour (Km/h), is one example of such a high speed environment. A moving vehicle causes the signal received by the portable communication device (i.e., the handset, or mobile) to fade, whereby the signal amplitude and phase varies in time in addition to the amplitude and phase variations imposed by the modulation of the signal.
In a code division multiple access (CDMA) communication environment, a pair of pilot channels are provided so that the handset can estimate channel parameters and make corrections to the traffic channel based on the parameters of the pilot channel. Accurately characterizing the amplitude and phase reference of the pilot channel, referred to in CDMA as "channel estimation," is vital to accurately demodulate the traffic channel and increasingly important to performance under the new 3G (wideband CDMA, or WCDMA) standard. In WCDMA, two pilot channels from two diverse antennas (referred to as a "diversity" antenna system) are transmitted simultaneously. However, the complexity and delay associated with estimating the channel parameters of the pilot signal in a high speed environment makes accurately demodulating the traffic channel a resource intensive operation.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a way to efficiently estimate the channel parameters in a WCDMA communication system.

Channel estimation system for a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) communication system


A system and method are disclosed for dynamically sizing sectors of a multi-sectored radiation pattern. The disclosed invention teaches the use of multiple narrow beams composited to form a radiation pattern. Signals associated with each such narrow beam may be provided to inputs of a scan receiver or signaling radio which inputs are associated with a particular sector of the radiation pattern. The number of narrow beam signals provided inputs associated with a particular sector defines the azimuthal width of that sector. By altering the number of narrow beam signals provided each such input, the azimuthal width of the sectors may be adjusted. The disclosed invention also teaches the use of attenuators in the signal path between the narrow beams and the scan receiver or signalling radio. By adjusting these attenuators, the effective length of the sectors may be adjusted.

As cellular communications become more widely used, the number of individual users and calls multiplies. Increase in cellular communications utilization magnifies the opportunity for interference between the different users on the cellular system. Such interference is inevitable because of the large number of users and the finite number of cellular communications cells (cells) and frequency bands (channels) available.
As originally implemented, cellular communications systems were broken down into omni-trunks where each cell was able to use each channel in a 360.degree. radius. Because of overlap in the area serviced by cells, a caller utilizing one cell in the penumbra between two cells could interfere with a caller utilizing the other cell if both were on the same channel. To avoid this interference the channel utilized by a caller in one cell would have to be disabled for any other callers in any adjacent cells. Disabling such a channel on all adjacent cells would cause many more cells than actually utilized to have the caller's channel unavailable for use by other callers. Such disabling of channels to avoid interference was recognized to lead to under-utilization of cell resources as well as depletion of available channels.
In order to avoid such under-utilization, reuse patterns were adopted in the art wherein different channel sets are assigned to different cells so that callers in adjacent cells tend not to utilize the same channel concurrently. Problems with such reuse patterns, however, include difficulty in creating a cell reuse pattern utilizing channels in such a way as not to have any two cells' use of a channel overlap, as well as limitations on the number of channels available for use in implementing such a reuse pattern.
To reduce the interference problems caused by other users in the omni cell 360.degree. configuration, cells have also been broken down into 120.degree. sectors such that each channel available at the cell only communicates in an area of 120.degree. radial coverage about the cell. An advantage, in addition to the reduction of interference realized by the sector system, is that such a cell achieves extended range as compared to an omni cell 360.degree. system simply due to the ability to focus a greater signal gain on the antennas. Individual cells may then cover a larger area, and communications signals may be stronger within the cell.
A problem with going from the omni cell 360.degree. configuration to the sector system, however, is that as a result of splitting of the cell into 120.degree. sectors only a third of the channels are available in each sector. This results in a reduced call capacity in any particular cell sector at a cell as compared to that available in the omni cell 360.degree. configuration. This is because if all of the channels in a particular sector are currently being utilized by users, a channel available in another sector in that same cell may not be available for utilization by a new caller located in the loaded sector. For example, if an omni cell has 60 channels and a sector system is divided into three 120.degree. sectors, each sector only has 20 channels. If in sector 1 there are 20 channels being used and a twenty-first user attempts to gain access, this user will not have access to the cell because of a lack of available channels in the sector. Whereas, in the omni cell 360.degree. configuration, provided that all 60 channels are not being utilized, the twenty-first user would have had access to the cell because all channels are by definition potentially available throughout the cell.
Of course one solution might be to add to the total number of channels at the cell. However, this solution is undesirable in that the addition of channels further complicates establishing cell re-use patterns. Furthermore, as the number of channels per sector increases the possibility of interference events also increases. Likewise, the addition of channels increases the energy density within the cell and thus reduces the carrier to interference ratio which results in poorer signal quality.
It shall be appreciated that loading of sectors is often cyclic or dynamic in nature rather than constant. For example, during certain times of day, such as business commuting times, a particular sector, such as a sector encompassing an urban highway, may service more users than during other times of day. Therefore, during particular times a particular sector or sectors may require increased capacity in order to service all users whereas at other times the cell's capacity might be better utilized when spread more homogeneously throughout the cell's coverage area.
It would, therefore, be advantageous to make more efficient use of cellular capacity by being able to make sectors dynamically shapable in order to provide increased capacity to a particular area within the cell's radiation pattern by making more channels potentially available to that particular area, without actually increasing the total number of channels within the cell. Ideally, the shapable sectors will be composed of narrow beams so as to provide a convenient means by which sectors may be sized radially about the cell. Systems implementing such narrow beams are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,610, entitled "NARROW BEAM ANTENNA SYSTEM WITH ANGULAR DIVERSITY," incorporated herein by reference, and the associated above-referenced co-pending and commonly assigned continuation-in-part U.S. patent application entitled "APPARATUS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MULTIPLE ANTENNA TRANSMISSION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS." Management of such a system, including concurrent beam and channel management within a neighborhood of cells, is disclosed in the above referenced co-pending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED CONTROL OVER CELLULAR SYSTEMS. "
Another problem in the art is that in a cellular system, communications are typically mobile, often in vehicles travelling at considerable speed. Such mobile communication devices tend to travel through the various sectors and/or cells of a cellular system, thereby continuously effecting signal quality as fringe or shadow areas are entered and exited. These effects of signal quality are not limited to the mobile communication device itself, but also effect other communication devices operating in the area. For example, a communication device operating in one cell, although experiencing acceptable signal quality itself, may in fact be causing interference for another communication device. Such interference may be in the form of co-channel interference, near/far problems, increased energy density and the like. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a means by which such a communication device may be handed off to another sector or cell, although its communication parameters do not necessitate the hand off, in order to better serve another communication device. Likewise, such a communication device may be experiencing communication of a quality so as to be within acceptable parameters although communication of a better quality may be had through an adjacent sector or cell.
Recognizing the mobility of communications and the attendant communication quality issues, therefore, it would also be advantageous to be able to dynamically shape sectors in their longitudinal, or outboard, reach from a cell site. Preferably, as it is determined that a communication device is causing interference for another communication device or as it is determined that this communication device may itself be better served by another sector or cell, the shape of the sector currently serving the communication device may be adjusted to force a hand off of the communication device to another sector or cell. Ideally, the longitudinal shape of sectors will be accomplished through the use of attenuators in the receive signal path.
A need therefore exits in the art for a system and method for dynamically adjusting the shape of cell sectors to provide for greater trunking efficiency and the ability to serve more users. Moreover, a need in the art exists for such a system to provide azimuthal as well as longitudinal shaping of the sectors.

Antenna deployment sector cell shaping system and method


A pump is provided with a housing, a rotor, and a separating member. The housing is formed by connecting two housing members. A first housing member has a cylindrical wall and a bottom wall, and the other end of the cylindrical wall is open. A second housing member comprises a sealing portion, a side portion and a connecting portion. The side portion extends from the sealing portion to the bottom side of the first housing member along an outer face of the cylindrical wall of the first housing member. The connecting portion connects a distal end of the side portion to the first housing member. The sealing portion fits tightly with the cylindrical wall of the first housing member along its entire circumference. The open end of the first housing member is reliably sealed by the second housing member. The shape of the cavity within the housing is adjusted reliably to a predetermined shape. Fluid can reliably be prevented from leaking between spaces divided by the rotor and the separating member within the housing and pump efficiency improves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pump provided with a housing and a rotor that rotates within the housing, the pump drawing fluid into the housing and forcing the drawn fluid to the exterior of the housing. The present invention also relates to an ink jet printer mounting this pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rotary pumps are known to the art. One example of a rotary pump is set forth in Principles of New Machinery, 1997, Tenth Edition, p. 203 (27.13 Cary's rotary pump, part 1) "Kikai no so Fukkan Iinkai Hensha, Rikogakusha". This pump is termed a Cary's rotary pump.
As shown in FIG. 9, a Cary's rotary pump 70 is provided with a housing 73, a rotor 74, a pair of blades (separating members) 76a and 76b and a compressed spring 75. An inlet port 71 and an outlet port 72 are formed in the housing 73. The rotor 74 is cylindrical, and has a groove 78 therein extending across its diameter. The rotor 74 rotates while making contact with a portion of an inner face of the housing 73 between the inlet port 71 and the outlet port 72. The pair of blades (the separating members) 76a and 76b are housed in the groove 78. The compressed spring 75 is housed between the pair of blades (the separating members) 76a and 76b. The compressed spring 75 presses the pair of blades (the separating members) 76a and 76b against the inner face of the housing 73.
When the rotor 74 rotates, the pair of blades 76a and 76b rotates integrally with the rotor 74 while making contact with the inner face of the housing 73. Centrifugal force operating on the pair of blades 76a and 76b increases the force pressing the pair of blades 76a and 76b against the inner face of the housing 73.
The pair of blades 76a and 76b and the rotor 74 separate a cavity within the housing 73 into three divided spaces. That is, the cavity within the housing 73 is separated into: a divided space 77a linked with the inlet port 71, a divided space 77b linked with neither the inlet port 71 nor the outlet port 72, and a divided space 77c linked with the outlet port 72.
When the pair of blades 76a and 76b are rotating integrally with the rotor 74, this rotation occurring in a clockwise direction, and while the pair of blades 76a and 76b are making contact with the inner face of the housing 73, the volume of the divided space 77a linked with the inlet port 71 increases, and the volume of the divided space 77c linked with the outlet port 72 decreases. The increase in volume of the divided space 77a linked with the inlet port 71 draws fluid such as water, air, or the like, into the housing 73 from the inlet port 71. The decrease in volume of the divided space 77c linked with the outlet port 72 elevates the pressure of the fluid drawn into the housing 73, and this pressurized fluid is discharged to the exterior of the housing 73 from the outlet port 72.

Sealing features for a pump and ink jet printer mounting the pump


One or more misaligned packaging blanks or blanks for cigarette boxes in a stack can be realigned by causing the stack to be engaged at both ends by two half-shell-shaped receiving portions. It is then tilted by 90.degree. so that the edges of the blanks all rest on a supporting surface. The two receiving portions are then brought together so as to realign any blanks protruding from the stack longitudinally. A detection device are incorporated in one of the receiving portions for checking the proper orientation of the stack and for causing it to be turned over one way or the other, depending upon its initial orientation.

This invention relates to packing equipment, and more particularly to apparatus for aligning packaging blanks, especially blanks for cigarette boxes. This invention also relates to a method utilizing that apparatus for blanks disposed in a stack, and to a cigarette packing machine equipped with such apparatus.
Before they can be processed by a machine for packaging a product, packaging blanks are frequently supplied to the machine in stacks that have been withdrawn from a pallet. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,915 describes a depalletizer for feeding a cigarette packer with blanks for cigarette boxes. Because of the manipulations and transfers to which each stack of blanks is subjected before arriving at the packing machine, either before or after depalletization, one or more of the blanks in the stack may have shifted slightly relative to the rest of the stack. If precautions are not taken to realign the stack before it is inserted in the packer, the misaligned blank will generally not be accepted by the machine. Instead, it may be bent or even destroyed by jamming, which also usually causes stoppage of the packing line.
Germany (Fed. Rep.) 22 24 107 describes apparatus for aligning packs of blanks which systematically turns over such packs. In Great Britain 1,406,251, the alignment apparatus is chiefly intended to turn over every other pack of labels appearing in reversed directions on a pallet, the labels being supplied one by one to the apparatus. Great Britain 1,325,288 discloses a device more particularly intended to align a covering sheet on a pack that is already aligned.

Apparatus and method for aligning packaging blanks


A semiconductor memory device is provided for preventing loss of cell data and reduction of a standby current. The semiconductor memory device includes a first conductivity type semiconductor substrate connected to a ground voltage, a first well region of second conductivity type formed over the semiconductor substrate and connected to the ground voltage, a second well region of the first conductivity type embedded in the first well region, a first impurity region of the second conductivity type embedded in the second well region and connected to an input/output pad, and one or more additional impurity regions embedded in the second well region separately from the first impurity region, the one or more additional impurity regions being connected to the ground voltage.

The present invention concerns a semiconductor memory device with means for preventing standby current and cell data, wherein input and output signal are stored and read through an input/output pad electrically connected with the n.sup.+ impurity doped region of the semiconductor substrate. The present application is based upon Korean Application No. 96-29030, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Recently, as semiconductor memory devices have been developed to have a high operational speed, undershoot is generated in an input/output signal. This causes an unwanted current to flow through the n.sup.+ impurity doped region connected with the input/output pad while being diffused or drifted into the memory cell arrays of the device.
Unfortunately, this unwanted injection of electrons into the n.sup.+ region can destroy the memory cell data.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view illustrating a first conventional semiconductor memory device. As shown in FIG. 1, a first p-type well 102, an n-type well 103, and a second p-type well 104 are each formed on different portions of a p-type semiconductor substrate 101. A first n.sup.+ doped impurity region 105 is embedded in the first p-type well 102 and is connected with an input/output pad 110. A second n.sup.+ impurity doped region 106 and a p.sup.+ impurity doped region 107 are embedded in the first p-type well 102, separate from the n.sup.+ impurity doped region 105. Both the second n.sup.+ impurity doped region 106 and the p.sup.+ impurity doped region 107 are connected with ground voltage V.sub.SS.
A third n.sup.+ impurity doped region 108 is embedded in the n-type well 103 and is connected to a source voltage V.sub.CC. A fourth embedded n.sup.+ impurity doped region 109 is embedded in the second p-type well 104 and is connected with the cell node.
In the conventional memory device shown above, when undershoot is generated due to the swing of the input/output signal inputting to the input/output pad 110, the diode of the first p-type well 102 is grounded and the first n.sup.+ impurity doped region 105 connected to the input/output pad 110 is forward biased.
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an equivalent circuit of the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a forward bias is applied to the impurity doped region connected with the p-type semiconductor substrate 101 and the cell node. Thus, a part of the electrons injected from the first n.sup.+ impurity doped region 105 into the first p-type well 102 is transferred through the second n.sup.+ region 106 and the p.sup.+ region 107 to ground (path 100A in FIGS. 1 and 2). Most electrons are actually diffused into the p-type semiconductor substrate 101. Some of the electrons are is discharged through the n-type well 103 connected with the source voltage V.sub.CC (path 100B in FIGS. 1 and 2). The remaining electrons flow into the memory cell array, however, thus changing the cell data (path 100C in FIGS. 1 and 2).
The drawbacks of the conventional memory device are caused by the current paths 100B and 100C. The electrons travelling along current path 100B through the n-type well 103 can cause an operational failure as a standby current I.sub.sb. The electrons travelling along current path 100C into the fourth n.sup.+ impurity doped region 110 can lower the voltage of the cell node and thus destroy the cell data.
FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view illustrating a second conventional semiconductor memory device. As shown in FIG. 3, a first p-type well 202, an n-type well 203, and a second p-type well 204 are each formed on different portions of a p-type semiconductor substrate 201. A first n.sup.+ doped impurity region 205 is embedded in the first p-type well 202 and is connected with an input/output pad 110. A second n.sup.+ impurity doped region 206 and a p.sup.+ impurity doped region 207 are embedded in the first p-type well 202, separate from the n.sup.+ impurity doped region 205. Both the second n.sup.+ impurity doped region 206 and the p.sup.+ impurity doped region 207 are connected with ground voltage V.sub.SS.
A third n.sup.+ impurity doped region 208 is embedded in the n-type well 203 and is connected to a source voltage V.sub.CC. A fourth embedded n.sup.+ impurity doped region 209 is embedded in the second p-type well 204 and is connected with the cell node.
The semiconductor memory device of FIG. 3 differs from the semiconductor device of FIG. 1 in that the n-type well 203 extends under the first p-type well 202 to insulate the first p-type well from the p-type substrate 201. In this way, the n-type well 203 acts to protect the device from electrostatic charges by reducing the current path 200C from the input/output pad 110 to the cell node. Thus the current 200C in the second conventional semiconductor memory device is less than the current 100C in the first conventional semiconductor memory device.
FIG. 4 is a view illustrating an equivalent circuit of the semiconductor memory device as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the current path 200C allows unwanted electrons to pass to the cell node and may cause a loss of data. However, in this device, the n-type well 203 and the first p-type well 202 are turned off in a reversely biased state, which blocks the flow of the electrons from the input/output pad to the cell node, minimizing the current along current path 100C. Thus, when undershoot is generated in an input/output signal entering the input/output pad 110, the diode of the first n.sup.+ impurity doped region 205 in the first p-type well 202 is forward biased, causing most electrons to flow into the first p-type well 202. A part of the electrons flowing into the first p-type well 202 is discharged through the path 200A to ground, but most of the remaining electrons flow into the n-type well 203 along current path 200B, i.e., as standby current I.sub.sb. Since the n-type well 203 and the p-type semiconductor substrate 201 are at this point reversely biased, the electrons are discharged to the source voltage V.sub.CC terminal through the path 200B instead of passing through the second p-type semiconductor substrate 204. This prevents a loss of data at the cell node and can reduce the standby current, I.sub.sb.