A method of and apparatus for transforming a three color signal into a multi-color signal. A method of transforming a color signal having three color components into a color signal having first through n-th color components, includes: producing a lookup table having signal values of (n-3) of n color components of a color within a three-dimensional color space and reference variables corresponding to the signal values of the (n-3) color components; extracting the reference variables from an input color signal; determining the signal values of the (n-3) color components corresponding to the extracted reference variables from the lookup table; and producing a color signal having n color components using the determined signal values of the (n-3) color components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for transforming a three-color signals into a multi-color signal to display an image, and more particularly, a method and apparatus for transforming a three-color signal into a multi-color signal, by which multiple color signal values corresponding to reference variables extracted from an input color signal composed of three color components are determined from a lookup table, and the found multiple color signal values are used to extract the remaining multiple color signal values.
2. Description of Related Art
With a development of electronics engineering, information provided to users includes not only simple texts but also a variety of multi-media information. The multi-media information includes not only text information but also various types of information, such as a still image, a moving image, an animation, a sound, and the like. Particularly, a moving image is the basis of a next-generation service, such as, a video on demand (VOD) service or an interactive service, so a study on a related draft standard is being actively made.
Due to a development of digital electronics engineering technology, conventional analog data is transformed into digital data. To effectively deal with a vast amount of digital data, a variety of techniques of processing a digital video material have appeared. Digital image processing techniques have the following advantages.
First, because noise is added to an original signal when each analog device performs a function, the quality of an image is degraded during a noise removal process. However, digital image processing apparatuses prevent the degradation of the image quality.
Second, since a signal is digitalized, the signal can be processed using a computer. Hence, signal processing, such as compression of image information or the like, is possible.
Digital image processing techniques relate to how analog data recorded on a medium can be represented using a computer. The possibility of a digital video was realized by a digital video interactive (DIV) system proposed by researchers at the RCA corporation at the end of the 1980's. The DIV system uses a special processor that is capable of microprogramming and executes a command suitable for image processing, thereby executing a function difficult to be processed in real time by general processors.
The Joint Photographics Experts Group (JPEG) and Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG), which were launched in 1989, set a standard coding method that is difficult to be implemented via hardware but has a performance exceedingly superior to that of the DIV system. Because the standard coding method is supported by many companies, it is anticipated to play an important role in the digital video development. In particular, MPEG standards have been continuously developed to, for example, MPEG II and then to MPEG III in order to achieve not only image processing on PCs but also digitalization of a high-definition system, such as, an HDTV.
Various techniques of processing an image using only the processing capability of a main processor without special hardware have been introduced since 1991. At present, representative examples of this technique include Apple's QuickTime, Microsoft's Video-for-Windows, and Intel's Indeo. Theses image-processing techniques are spotlighted especially by PCs because of a high-speed main processor.
This introduction of various digital image processing techniques causes a necessity for standardization. Due to the standardization, the digital image processing techniques are widely used, like being compatibly shared by not only a video conference system, a digital broadcasting codec system, and a video telephone industry but also a computer industry, a communications industry, and the like. For example, a digital video compression for information storage in optical disks, such as, CD-ROMs, or digital storage media is achieved by almost the same base technique as that used for compression for video communications and the like. Current MPEG standardization driven by ISO-IEC, JTC1, SC1, and WG11 is under progress since MPEG was launched in the 1990's.
However, a conventional video signal is processed in a three-dimensional color space of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) colors and displayed using three color light sources. The reason why a video signal is displayed using three color signals, namely, RGB signals, is that the three colors R, G, and B are primary colors which can be used to generate most remaining other colors. In general, in image display using three color light sources, namely, R, G, and B light sources, every color is represented by a combination of R, G, and B colors. In this case, representation of a composite color obtained using R, G, and B colors on a color coordinate is not enough. Since more colors can be recognized by a human being than colors obtained by combining three colors R, G, and B, colors that cannot be represented using R, G, and B can be represented by adding a new color to the three colors. Thus, a color close to a natural color can be represented.
FIG. 1 illustrates a relationship between primary colors used to represent a color. As illustrated in FIG. 1, every color signal can be represented by a combination of three primary colors, namely, R, G, and B. When R and G signals are combined, a yellow (Y) signal is produced. When G and B signals are combined, a cyan (C) signal is produced. When B and R signals are combined, a magenta (M) signal is produced. When the R, G, and B signals are all combined, a white (W) signal is produced.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing colors that can be recognized by human being and chromaticity coordinates of RGB-combined colors. As illustrated in FIG. 2, all of the chromaticity coordinates defined by a triangle of R, G, and B can be represented by combining three color signals, namely, R, G, and B color signals. However, it is not possible to reproduce colors existing outside the triangle of colors existing within a closed curve, which is an area of colors that can be recognized by human being, using only R, G, and B color signals.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an operation of a conventional three-color display device. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the conventional three-color display device receives and displays an input signal having three color components Ri, Gi, and Bi.
The following techniques have been introduced as a method of converting an input signal into a color signal having multiple color components. First, U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,302 assigned to the Olympus Corporation discloses a color conversion performed using a XYZ color space. In systems using 5 or more primary colors, this color conversion includes a very complicate color-space division process and consequently its implementation is difficult.
Second, in a technique proposed by the Genoa Company, a three-dimensional lookup table is reduced to a two-dimensional lookup table, and the two-dimensional lookup table undergoes mapping. An additional one-dimensional lookup table is used to match sizes of two-dimensional color areas for luminance levels with one another. However, this technique also includes a very complicate lookup table calculating process. Furthermore, since a maximum chroma value and a maximum luminance value that can be represented by a multi-color display device vary depending on the type of a method used to convert a color space, the quality of an output image may be degraded.

Apparatus and method of transforming three color signals into multi-color signal


A beverage holder with advertising display providing a slot at the top of the display for the placement of an advertisement card, the beverage holder being designed to be attached to a flush valve housing in a commercial sanitary fixture such as a urinal or toilet without modification to the flush valve, the beverage holder having a base with a threaded opening for a long threaded shaft to hold a clear plastic display mounted on top of said shaft as a changeable eye level advertisement and a plurality of depending legs with end teeth that engage the flush valve housing of the sanitary fixture.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of holders for beverage containers and advertising displays, more particularly, to a beverage container holder and advertising display configured for mounting on a flush valve such as found on commercial urinals and toilets.
2. Description of Prior Art
Commercial sanitary fixtures such as urinals and toilets are used in many public settings. These fixtures are installed in buildings and facilities where large groups of people come together for sporting events, concerts, conferences, and other gatherings. In addition, these fixtures are also commonly found in restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
The public attending sporting events, music concerts, conferences or nightclubs will eventually visit the restroom where those fixtures are installed. Quite often, a person will carry a drink container of some kind, a cup, bottle or glass to the restroom and find that there isn't a safe place to rest their beverage. Commonly, the person may try to balance the beverage container upon the edge of the sanitary fixture, often resulting in a spilled drink, or broken bottle, and liquid and glass covering the floor of the restroom. Such a spill creates a highly unsafe condition for all patrons, and frustration for the patron who accidentally spills his/her beverage.
Advertising in a restroom setting usually requires considerable augmentation to the walls of the restroom. Commonly, a glass frame or corkboard has to be mounted on the tile wall, which requires a drill, screws and the time and labor of an individual.
In my search for similar patents I found only one invention that resembled mine. U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,885, titled "Flush valve mounted beverage holder and associated method." Invented by Lopez-Torres, Jr. I found that U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,885 suffered from a number of disadvantages:                (a) The invention requires the removal of the existing flush valve cover.        (b) The removal of the flush valve cover requires the use of additional tools.        (c) The unused heavy and bulky flush valve cover will require a substantial storage facility.        (d) The advertising display is located far below eye level. Additionally, the display opening only allows for a logo or limited amount of text        (e) Removing, storing the flush valve cover and attaching the new augmentation will take a great deal of time and labor especially in the consideration of a large installment such as a stadium.        (f) The invention requires several embodiments to provide additional functions such as a cigarette holder or the installation on an automatic flush valve.

Beverage holder with advertising display to be mounted on a flush valve with zero modification


The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for obtaining status information for processes executing in a grid. Responsive to a submission of a job from the data processing system to a remote node on the grid, a job identifier is received from the remote node. The job identifier is saved in a set of job identifiers. Responsive to a request for a status of jobs submitted from the data processing system, a job status request for each job identifier in the set of job identifiers for processes still executing is submitted using the set of job identifiers to form a set of job status requests. Responses to the set of job status requests are received. The responses are then presented.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to an improved method and apparatus for processing data. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus and computer instructions for obtaining status information from nodes in a grid.
2. Description of Related Art
Network data processing systems are commonly used in all aspects of business and research. These networks are used for communicating data and ideas as well as providing a repository to store information. Further, in many cases the different nodes making up a network data processing system may be employed to process information. Individual nodes may have different tasks to perform. Additionally, it is becoming more common to have the different nodes work towards solving a common problem, such as a complex calculation. A set of nodes participating in a resource sharing scheme is also referred to as a "grid" or "grid network". For example, nodes in a grid network may share processing resources to perform a complex computation, such as deciphering keys.
The nodes in a grid network may be contained within a network data processing system, such as a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN). These nodes also may be located in different geographically diverse locations. For example, different computers connected to the Internet may provide processing resources to a grid network. By applying the use of thousands of individual computers, large problems can be solved quickly. Grids are used in many areas, such as cancer research, physics, and geosciences.
A user may submit jobs to be run remotely on other nodes in the grid. These jobs are typically submitted to a server process, such as a grid resource application management (GRAM) service. A grid resource application manager allows for programs to be started on remote resources, even if those resources run on different platforms.
At some point in time, the user receives results from the processing of jobs. The present invention recognizes that oftentimes a user may desire to obtain status information on the processing of these jobs on the remote nodes before results are received. Currently, such a feature is unavailable with respect to this type of distributed processing of jobs.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for obtaining status information on jobs executing remote nodes in network data processing system.

Method and apparatus for obtaining status information in a grid

International Business Machines Corporation


An infusion vessel has a vessel body having an internal cavity to serve as an infusion medium space, a cylindrical discharge mouth continuing from a lower portion of the vessel body, a medicine chamber disposed in the discharge mouth and kept airtight against ambient air, and a separator intervening between the infusion medium space and the medicine chamber so as to keep the space in a liquid-tight state against the holder. The separator is subject to displacement, rotation or deformation such as to bring the infusion medium space into communication with the medicine chamber, so that the infusion vessel can be made ready for use by conducting a simple operation to mix the medicine with the infusion medium that have been separated from each other within the vessel during its normal state before use.

Instillation is carried out often in such a manner that a medicine to be dosed will be mixed previously with an infusion medium such as a physiological saline solution, a glucose solution, a Ringer's solution or an amino acid solution. Many of the medicines used for instillation are chemically unstable in their dissolved state, so that each medicine selected will usually be supplied into the infusion vessel just before instillation.
In one case of dosing a liquid medicine by instillation, it will be sucked at first from a vial into a syringe and then transferred into an infusion vessel. In another case, the vial will be connected by a double-headed needle or by a connection tube to the vessel so as to blend the liquid medicine with an infusion medium. If any powdery, any granular or any freeze-dried medicine is involved, an amount of the infusion medium will be supplied into a vial in order to prepare a solution or dispersion of such a medicine. Subsequently, a syringe, a double-headed needle or a connection tube will be used to transfer the content of this vial to the infusion vessel in the described manner.
However, the infusion liquid will possibly and undesirably be contaminated with foreign substances, alien matters, various germs or sundry bacteria. Such an accident will take place when and while a medicine is sucked from a vial into a syringe, or transferred therefrom to an infusion vessel, or the vial is kept in communication therewith through a double-headed needle or a connection tube.
It will require much time to mix just before instillation any desired medicine with the infusion medium in the described intricate manner, particularly in a case wherein a powdery or freeze-dried medicine is involved. Once intermixed with the medium, the medicine will no longer be identified visually by the appearance of an infusion liquid thus prepared. Therefore, the name of medicine contained in such a liquid (or the name of a patient to whom instillation has to be conducted) is usually marked on the infusion vessel. It also is to be noted that any incorrect marking may be done, unintentionally when or after the infusion liquid is prepared.


A clock signal synchronized with a data write signal for each scan line supplied from a light emission control circuit 4 to a scan driver 6 is supplied to an oscillator 12 generating a reference switching signal of a DC-DC converter 8 by a PWM method via a frequency divider 14. Thus, even when a ripple component by a switching operation of the converter has been superimposed on a drive voltage Va, constantly the same gate-to-source voltage Vgs is supplied to a light emission drive transistor Tr2 for each scan line, whereby a problem that a state in which light emission intensities differ for each scan line is brought about can be resolved. Further, the duty ratio of a switching signal from a PWM circuit 11 is detected by a detection circuit 13 to grasp the load condition of the converter, and when the load is light, the division ratio of the frequency divider 14 is increased to execute the switching operation at a low frequency. In this manner, the cycle (boost cycle) of the switching operation in the converter is made greater, so that a useless power loss by the switching operation in the converter can be reduced, whereby the power utilization rate of a light load time can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting display device equipped with a display panel in which light emitting elements constituting pixels are actively driven for example by TFTs (thin film transistors), and to a light emitting display device and a drive control method thereof by which the display quality of an image can be effectively prevented from being deteriorated by a ripple component superimposed for example on a drive source of the display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light emitting display device employing a display panel constituted by arranging light emitting elements in a matrix pattern has been developed widely, and as a light emitting element employed in such a display panel, for example an organic EL (electroluminescent) element in which an organic material is employed in a light emitting layer has attracted attention. This is because of backgrounds one of which is that by employing, in the light emitting layer of the EL element, an organic compound which enables an excellent light emission characteristic to be expected, a high efficiency and a long life which are sustainable for practical use have been advanced.
As a display panel employing such organic EL elements, a simple matrix type display panel in which EL elements are simply arranged in a matrix pattern and an active matrix type display panel in which respective active elements constituted by the above-mentioned TFTs are added to respective EL elements arranged in a matrix pattern have been proposed. The latter active matrix type display panel can realize low power consumption compared to the former simple matrix type display panel and has a characteristic that crosstalk among pixels is small and the like, whereby it is particularly suitable for a high definition display constituting a large screen.
FIG. 1 shows one example of a light emitting display device equipped with a basic circuit structure corresponding to one pixel in a conventional active matrix type display panel, its drive circuit, and a power source circuit supplying a drive power source to a display panel equipped with a large number of the pixels. In the display panel 1, a circuit structure of one pixel 2 is shown for convenience of illustration, and the circuit structure of this pixel 2 shows a most basic pixel structure of a case where an organic EL element is employed as a light emitting element, that is, a case of a so-called conductance controlled method.
That is, a gate electrode (hereinafter simply referred to as a gate) of an N-channel type scan selection transistor Tr1 constituted by a TFT is connected to a scan line (scan line A1), and a source electrode (hereinafter simply referred to as a source) is connected to a data line (data line B1). A drain electrode (hereinafter simply referred to as a drain) of this scan selection transistor Tr1 is connected to a gate of a P-channel type light emission drive transistor Tr2 and to one terminal of a charge-retaining capacitor Cs.
A source of the light emission drive transistor Tr2 is connected to the other terminal of the capacitor Cs and receives supply of a drive power source Va (hereinafter referred to also as a drive voltage Va) from a later-described DC-DC converter via an power source line P1 arranged in the display panel 1. A drain of the light emission drive transistor Tr2 is connected to an anode terminal of an organic EL element E1, and a cathode terminal of this organic EL element E1 is connected to a reference potential point (ground) in the example shown in FIG. 1.
In the circuit structure of the pixel 2, when a selection voltage Select is supplied to the gate of the scan selection transistor Tr1 via the scan line A1 during an address period (data write period), the scan selection transistor Tr1 becomes in an ON state. Upon receiving a data voltage Vdata which corresponds to write data supplied from the data line B1 to the source of the scan selection transistor Tr1, the scan selection transistor Tr1 allows current corresponding to the data voltage Vdata to flow from the source to the drain. Therefore, during a period in which the selection voltage Select is applied to the gate of the transistor Tr1, the capacitor Cs is charged, and the charge voltage becomes one corresponding to the data voltage Vdata.
Meanwhile, the charge voltage charged in the capacitor Cs is supplied to the light emission drive transistor Tr2 as a gate voltage, and current based on the gate voltage of the light emission drive transistor Tr2 and the drive voltage Va supplied via the power source line P1 that is the source voltage flow from the drain thereof to the EL element E1, and the EL element E1 is driven to be lit by the drain current of the light emission drive transistor Tr2.
Here, an addressing operation corresponding to one scan line is completed, and when the gate potential of the scan selection transistor Tr1 becomes an OFF voltage, this transistor Tr1 becomes a so-called cutoff while the drain side of the transistor Tr1 becomes in an open state. However, the gate voltage of the light emission drive transistor Tr2 is maintained by electrical charges accumulated in the capacitor Cs, the same drive current is maintained until the data voltage Vdata is rewritten during a next address period, and a light emission state of the EL element E1 based on this drive current is also continued.
A large number of the structures of the pixel 2 described above are arranged in a matrix pattern in the display panel 1 shown in FIG. 1 to constitute a dot matrix type display panel, and respective pixels 2 are formed at intersection positions between respective scan lines A1, . . . and respective data lines B1, . . .
A video signal to be displayed on the light emission display panel 2 is supplied to a light emission control circuit 4 shown in FIG. 1. In this light emission control circuit 4, based on horizontal and vertical synchronization signals in the video signal, sampling process and the like is imparted to an inputted video signal so that the signal is converted to corresponding pixel data for each pixel, and an operation of writing the converted pixel data in an unillustrated frame memory one by one is executed. During an address period after a writing process of pixel data of one frame in the frame memory is completed, the serial pixel data read out of the frame memory for each one scan line and a shift clock signal are supplied to a shift register and data latch circuit 5a in a data driver 5 one by one.
In this shift register and data latch circuit 5a, pixel data corresponding to one horizontal scan is fetched to be latched utilizing the shift clock signal, so that a latch output corresponding to one horizontal scan is supplied to a level shifter 5b as parallel data. By this operation, the data voltage Vdata corresponding to the pixel data is individually supplied to the source of the scan selection transistor Tr1 constituting each pixel 2. Such an operation is repeated for each one scan during the address period.
A scan shift clock signal corresponding to the horizontal synchronization signal is supplied from the light emission control circuit 4 to a scan driver 6 during the address period. This scan shift clock signal is supplied to a shift register 6a to generate a register output one by one. The register output is converted to a predetermined operational level by a level shifter 6b to be outputted to the respective scan lines A1, . . . By this operation, the selection voltage Select is supplied to the gate of the scan selection transistor Tr1 constituting each pixel 2 for each scan line one by one.
Therefore, the respective pixels 2 arranged on a scan line on the display panel 1 receive a supply of the selection voltage Select from the scan driver 6 for each one scan of the address period. In synchronization with this, the data voltage Vdata is supplied from the level shifter 5b in the data driver 5 to the respective pixels 2 arranged for each scan line, and the gate voltage corresponding to the data voltage Vdata is respectively written in the capacitor Cs in each pixel corresponding to this scan line. By allowing this operation to be implemented covering all scan lines, an image corresponding to one frame is reproduced on the display panel 1.
Meanwhile, the drive voltage Va by a DC-DC converter designated by reference numeral 8 is supplied to the respective pixels 2 arranged on the display panel 1 via the power source lines P1, . . . In the structure shown in this FIG. 1, the DC-DC converter 8 utilizes PWM (pulse width modulation) control so as to boost the output of a primary side DC voltage source Ba.
This DC-DC converter 8 is constructed so as to allow a MOS type power FET Q1 as a switching element to be controlled to be turned on at a predetermined duty cycle by a PWM wave outputted from a switching regulator circuit 9. That is, electrical energy from the primary side DC voltage source Ba is accumulated in an inductor L1 by the ON operation of the power FET Q1, and electrical energy accumulated in the inductor L1 is accumulated in a smoothing capacitor C1 via a diode D1 accompanied by an OFF operation of the power FET Q1. By allowing the power FET Q1 to repeat on-off operations, a boosted DC output can be obtained as a terminal voltage of a capacitor C1.
The DC output voltage is divided by a thermistor TH1 performing temperature compensation and resistors R11 and R12 to be supplied to an error amplifier 10 in the switching regulator circuit 9. In this error amplifier 10, the above-mentioned divided output is compared to a reference voltage Vref, and its comparison output (error output) is supplied to the PWM circuit 11. In this PWM circuit 11, a chopping wave for PWM is generated based on an oscillation signal provided from an oscillator 12 to generate a PWM wave based on this chopping wave and the comparison output. By this PWM wave, a switching operation of the power FET Q1 is performed, and feedback control is performed to hold the output voltage at a predetermined drive voltage Va. Therefore, the output voltage by the DC-DC converter, that is, the drive voltage Va, can be described by the following equation 1:Va=Vref×[(TH1+R11+R12)/R12]  (equation 1)
A pixel structure and a structure of a drive circuit thereof as shown in FIG. 1 are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-316315 which has been already filed by the present applicant, and a DC-DC converter as shown in FIG. 1 is also disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-366101 which has been already filed by the present applicant.
Meanwhile, in the structure of the pixel 2 shown in FIG. 1, the drain current Id by which the organic EL element E1 is driven to emit light is determined by the difference (gate-to-source voltage=Vgs of the transistor Tr2) between the drive voltage Va supplied via the power source line P1 and the gate voltage of the drive transistor Tr2 determined by electrical charges accumulated in the capacitor Cs. FIG. 2 shows an equivalent circuit of the pixel structure, and the already described scan selection transistor Tr1 is replaced and represented by a switch SW1. In FIG. 2, the data voltage Vdata transmitted via the data line B1 is equivalently designated by a gate voltage Vgate by a variable voltage source.
Here, for the drive voltage Va supplied to the source of the transistor Tr2, a boosted voltage by the DC-DC converter is employed as already described, and in this type of DC-DC converter, it cannot be avoided that some degree of ripple noise (ripple component) is superimposed on the voltage Va, since the switching operation is accompanied on the operating principle thereof. In the DC-DC converter, although the level of the ripple component can be decreased more when a large capacity smoothing capacitor C1 is employed, decrease effect for the ripple component cannot be expected so much compared to the ratio at which the capacitance thereof is increased.
Particularly, although the demand for the display panel and the DC-DC converter driving this display panel which are shown in FIG. 1 is increasing due to the spread of cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAS), and the like, employing a large capacity smoothing capacitor for this type of equipment not only increases the cost but also increases the occupying volume of the capacitor. Thus, restriction on design that the capacitance of the smoothing capacitor has to be restrained to some degree exists as a reality.
Therefore, in the equivalent circuit shown in FIG. 2, the drive voltage on which the ripple component corresponding to a switching cycle (voltage boost cycle Si) of the DC-DC converter is superimposed is supplied to the source of the light emission drive transistor Tr2 as shown as Va in FIG. 3. Meanwhile, the switch SW1 is turned on at an addressing time (data write time), and the gate voltage Vgate based on the video signal is supplied to the gate of the drive transistor Tr2.
Here, Ls in FIG. 3 denotes one scan (line) period in the display panel, and Fs represents one frame period. Since the switching operation in the DC-DC converter is independently activated having nothing to do with one scan period in the display panel, write voltages whose gate-to-source voltages Vgs are different for each scan line influenced by the ripple component are written in the capacitors Cs of the respective pixels.
That is, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, in the capacitors Cs of the respective pixels corresponding to a first scan line, data based on a gate-to-source voltage shown as Vgs1 is written, and in the capacitors Cs corresponding to a second scan line and a third scan line, data based on gate-to-source voltages shown as Vgs2, Vgs3 are written, respectively.
FIG. 4 shows a Vgs/Id characteristic (gate-to-source voltage vs. drain current characteristic) of a TFT represented by the transistor Tr2, and in the case where the gate-to-source voltage changes in the range of ΔVgs, accompanied by this, the drain current also changes in the range of ΔId. Here, it has been known that the organic EL element exhibits a light emission intensity characteristic approximately proportional to the value of the current flowing in this element.
Accordingly, as a result of the state in which the value of Vgs changes influenced by the ripple component in response to timings of addressing as described above, a result that light emission intensities of respective EL elements in the light emitting display panel 1 differ for each scan line is produced. Thus, in the display panel, a problem that the display quality of an image is considerably deteriorated may occur. That is, for example, a fine striped pattern, phenomenon of flicker, or the like may occur.
In order to avoid such a problem, it can be considered that a regulator circuit for example as shown in FIG. 5 is adopted. That is, the regulator circuit shown in FIG. 5 is interposed between the output terminal of the DC-DC converter and the power source lines P1, . . . in the display panel 1. The regulator circuit shown in this FIG. 5 is composed of an NPN transistor Q2, an error amplifier constituted by an op amp OP1, and a reference voltage source Vref1. The emitter potential of the NPN transistor Q2 is supplied to the noninverting input terminal of the op amp OP1, and the electrical potential of the reference voltage source Vref1 is supplied to the inverting input terminal of the op amp OP1.
With this structure, the ripple component generated in the emitter side of the transistor Q2 is outputted to the error amplifier constituted by the op amp OP1. Since the base potential of the transistor Q2 is changed by the output of the error amplifier, as a result, at the emitter side of the transistor Q2, that is, at a Vout side, an output voltage that the ripple component is almost removed can be obtained. However, in the regulator circuit, a power loss of (Vin−Vout)×Iout=P[W] always occurs. Accordingly, due to a problem that the continuous utilization time of a battery is drastically shortened, it is difficult to adopt such a device in the above-mentioned portable equipment under actual conditions.
Thereupon, the present applicant has already filed Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-34401 with respect to a light emitting display device in which a boost frequency in the DC-DC converter by the PWM method is synchronized with a scan signal (synchronized with a frequency that is n times the line frequency) so that for each scan line the same gate-to-source voltage Vgs is constantly supplied to the light emission drive transistor even when a ripple component by a switching operation is superimposed on an operational power source. Thus, a state in which light emitting intensities differ for each scan line can be prevented, and a problem that the display quality of an image is deteriorated, such as occurrence of a fine striped pattern or of a phenomenon of flicker in the display panel, can be effectively dissolved.
However, with the light emitting display device of the above-described structure, since the switching operation in the DC-DC converter is performed by the PWM method, for example, even in a state in which the number of lit pixels of the display is small so that the display is in a state of light load, the switching operation is always performed periodically in the converter. Thus, there is a problem that a useless power loss by the switching operation occurs so that the power utilization rate of a light load time is reduced.

Light emitting display device and drive control method thereof


An apparatus for sensing and controlling remote load voltages, the apparatus includes a power converter, a plurality of remote loads, each remote load located in a loop connected to the power converter, and a feed back loop connected to the power converter, and physically adjacent to the power converter, wherein the feed back loop further comprises a first path and a second path, with the first path and the second path in parallel.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of power conversion, more specifically the invention relates to control of a power converter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Early high frequency switching power conversion devices operated without feedback or in an open-loop, "chopper", switch-mode. Later, it was learned that output regulation could be improved by adding a sense point at the converter output. By using the signal at the sense point, the high frequency switch duty cycle can be increased or reduced depending upon whether the output voltage was lower or higher than a desired load voltage.
The common method of voltage feedback control consists of feeding a feedback signal into a gain-compensated operational amplifier that compares the signal to a precision reference. Any deviation of the signal from the reference is amplified by the amplifier (usually referred to as the error amplifier) at high gain and then output to a switching regulation control circuit. The switching regulation control unit adjusts the switching duty cycle by an amount controlled by an error signal resulting from the demand or lack of demand for power output. This is usually accomplished by mixing the error amplifier output signal with a ramp oscillation signal resulting in a pulse with a width controlled by the error signal. This pulse is then used to modulate the switch on-time and thereby control the duty cycle and the output voltage of the converter. This technique is called pulse width modulation (PWM).
Other techniques for voltage feedback control add additional signals to the output of the error amplifier before it produces the final drive pulse (but not before the input to the error amplifier.) These additional signals are, for example, signals representing a switch peak current. If the switch exceeds a certain current threshold, the drive pulse would be terminated. This method is called current mode control, and the converter still uses the external voltage feedback control loop. Other techniques add signals representing output inductor currents for current sharing in so-called multi-phase converters.
Regardless of the type of design of a switching converter, there is still a basic problem when a remote load voltage is sensed with a feedback loop, because the voltage at a remote load is usually less than the voltage regulated at the terminals of the converter due to a drop in transmission line voltage. Some attempts have been made to sense the remote load voltage, via a signal transmission line, to regulate the converter to provide the correct voltage at the load. However, this approach introduces a new problem in that the voltage signal fed back from the load is delayed, and possibly phase shifted, from the actual signal at the load due to the long transmission line used to feedback the voltage signal.
Furthermore, when remote sensing is not at the power converter's terminals, the terminals of the power converter can swing wildly in response to the remote load demands. If other loads were connected to the same converter, but not as far away as the remote sensing, these loads could suffer from over-voltage excursions or even continuous over-voltage conditions due to the sensing at the farthest remote load (this is called a multiple load problem.) And even worse, due to the delay and phase shift of the transmission lines in the complete circuit, the converter can become unstable due to inadequate overall feedback phase margin.
Most AC to DC converters have primary to secondary side isolation for safety reasons, and usually the voltage sense feedback loop contains an isolation device such as an optically isolated coupler in an integrated circuit to provide the required safety isolation. Unfortunately, this feature does not help to reduce the remote sensing problem. Still there is a need to sense voltage at remote loads without introducing instability.
Another refinement of the remote sensing technique is also introduced where both the remote voltage and the remote common potential signals are fed back as a type of differential feedback signal. This refinement has the advantage of rejecting common mode noise, but it does not address the phase shifting, delay, and multiple load control problem associated with remote sensing.


An apparatus includes an interface circuit adapted to couple the apparatus to a serial bus, a slot counter, and a processor. The slot counter may be configured to monitor a radio frequency coexistence management cycle that includes a plurality of time slots. The processor may be configured to transmit a first datagram through the interface circuit during a first time slot in the plurality of time slots. The apparatus may be uniquely permitted to initiate transactions over the serial bus during the first time slot. The processor may be further configured to participate in an arbitration procedure during a second time slot in the plurality of time slots. More than one device coupled to the serial bus may be permitted to initiate transactions in the second time slot.

Mobile communication devices may include a variety of components including circuit boards, integrated circuit (IC) devices and/or System-on-Chip (SoC) devices. The components may include processing devices, user interface components, storage and other peripheral components that communicate through a shared data communication bus, which may be a multi-drop serial bus or a parallel bus. General-purpose serial interfaces known in the industry include the Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C or I2C) serial interface and its derivatives and alternatives.
The Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance defines standards for the Improved Inter-Integrated Circuit (I3C) serial interface, the Radio Frequency Front-End (RFFE) interface, the System Power Management Interface (SPMI) and other interfaces. These interfaces may be used to connect processors, sensors and other peripherals, for example. In some interfaces, multiple bus masters are coupled to the serial bus such that two or more devices can serve as bus master for different types of messages transmitted on the serial bus. SPMI protocols define a hardware interface that may be implemented between baseband or application processors and peripheral components. In some instances, SPMI protocols are implemented to support power management operations within a device.
A multi-drop serial bus may be capable of supporting large numbers of devices that implement increasingly higher-speed, more complex applications, and new protocols are being developed to support such advanced applications. There is a need to provide or maintain low-latency communication capabilities as bus activity increases with new and more complex applications. There is also a need to support legacy devices when new protocols are implemented.

Versatile control messaging scheme for radio coexistence management


A liquid crystal display includes sub-pixels each having a first display field and a second display field that both operate in a transmissive mode or both operate in a reflective mode. The first and second display fields of a sub-pixel are driven by a same driving device. The first and second display fields of a sub-pixel have different characteristics that cause liquid crystal layers in the first and second display fields to have different transmittances, the difference in transmittances of the first and second display fields being larger than a predetermined value.

The description relates to liquid crystal displays having wide viewing angles.
The viewing angle of a liquid crystal display can be measured by determining the maximum angle at which the display can be viewed with acceptable image quality. When viewed from an angle greater than the viewing angle, the images on the display can appear distorted, blurry, and have poor saturation and contrast. In some implementations, the viewing angle of a display can be increased by using a multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) technique. MVA uses alignment portions, alignment slits, or other types of alignment structures to guide the orientation of liquid crystals to form several domains within each pixel.

Liquid crystal displays having wide viewing angles


A method of compensating for network latency in haptics transmission in which the position of a haptic effector is controlled by signals received from a network. The method comprises storing a series of locations of the haptic effector, determining from the series using Fourier Transformation or other means frequencies having a growing amplitude and creating a filter function to eliminate the growing frequencies from output signals directing the force and direction of the haptic effector.

1. Technical Field of Example Embodiments
The present invention relates to haptics transmission systems and more particularly to a system incorporating improved latency correction and a method of improving latency correction.
The present invention relates to haptic communications and more particularly to improving the response of haptic devices coupled by way of a telecommunications network.
2. Description of Related Art
Tactile output from computers has been used to enhance game playing to provide a 'feel', for example vibration, thus adding an additional sensory perception to the games. Such outputs have also been used to enable visually impaired people to read documents and to feel drawings and the like. The basic operation of haptics output devices has been described in our co-pending European Patent Application No. 01305947.2 which disclosed a method for adapting haptic interface output characteristics to correct for per-person differences in the sense of touch. In a further European patent application no 01307951.2 there is disclosed a method of enabling reading of the Moon alphabet by use of a haptics output device. In the transmission of character sets from computers or data stores to haptics output devices there is unlikely to be any time critical activity dependant upon the output signals. However, where game play is involved, particularly if players are competing against each other or against the machine in a competitive manner, transmission delays of forward or reverse force parameters may have a significant impact on the sensed experience.
As game play is more likely to be carried out over a connectionless network, for example the internet or world wide web, rather than by a point to point communications link, signal latency may be introduced which can result in an inconsistency in the sensed movement of the output compared with the input.
Furthermore, sensory devices require frequent updates in both signal directions if the feel of the sensed movement and reaction to users response is to be realistic. The number of updates required to maintain realism, while not a problem where the haptic output device is in close proximity and direct connection to the generating processor, may result in the communications network overloading in a very short time and/or may require extreme allocations of bandwidth.

British Telecommunications public limited company


The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a gate dielectric, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and a method for manufacturing an integrated circuit. The method for manufacturing the gate dielectric, without limitation, may include forming a nitrided dielectric layer (520) over a substrate (310), the nitrided dielectric layer (520) having a non-uniformity of nitrogen in a bulk thereof, and removing at least a portion of the nitrided dielectric layer (520) using a high temperature chemical treatment, the removing reducing the non-uniformity.

In certain semiconductor applications it has become necessary to integrate dual gate oxide (DGO) thicknesses for associated transistor devices onto a single integrated circuit device. One motivation for performing dual gate oxide processing is that high performance transistors typically operate at lower voltages (e.g., 0.8 volts to 1.5 volts), and thus require thinner gate dielectric regions, whereas devices that interface with most conventional external peripherals typically require higher operating voltages (e.g., 1.8 volts to 3.5 volts), and thus require thicker gate dielectric regions. When interfacing lower voltage high performance metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors (MOSFETs) within a core of an integrated circuit, to higher voltage peripheral devices, input and output (I/O) buffers of the integrated circuit (IC) are typically designed to contain thicker gate dielectric regions that are compatible with the higher external peripheral device voltages.
For example, current microcontroller units (MCUs) and digital signal processors (DSPs) are integrating several different types of technology onto a single integrated circuit, such as high speed logic, power logic, static random access memory (SRAM), nonvolatile memory (NVM), embedded dynamic random access memory (DRAM), analog circuitry, and other devices and technologies. Many of these devices require different gate dielectric processing and different gate dielectric thicknesses to provide both high performance lower voltage devices within the core of the device and higher voltage I/O devices to interface with external peripheral devices.
As stated above, a dual gate thickness structure includes thin gate dielectrics for high performance low voltage operation core devices, and thick gate dielectrics for low leakage high voltage operation I/O devices. As devices shrink, even the thick gate dielectrics are getting thinner to meet device requirements. This can cause increased leakage current for the devices, especially the high voltage devices having the thick gate dielectrics.
It has generally been accepted that the leakage current can be mitigated by introducing nitrogen atoms into the gate dielectrics to suppress leakage currents for both the thin and thick gates. One method of nitrogen atom introduction includes performing non-thermal nitridation (e.g., plasma nitridation) on the gate dielectrics. Unfortunately, this and other methods of introducing the nitrogen atoms into the gate dielectrics tend to provide a non-uniform nitrogen profile in the gate dielectric, which results in reduced reliability. The non-uniformity, and thus reduced reliability, is particularly significant in thicker gate dielectrics, such as those used in the aforementioned high voltage devices.
Turning to FIG. 1, depicted is a graph 100 illustrating the nitrogen profile 110 and oxygen profile 120 in a gate dielectric manufactured using one of the aforementioned nitrogen inclusion techniques. In observing the nitrogen profile 110 in the gate dielectric layer, those skilled in the art understand focus should be made on the bulk region of the dielectric layer, wherein the nitrogen profile is a true representation of the dielectric layer. Accordingly, the bulk region of the dielectric layer is generally defined to exclude, on the lower limit, the first 0.3 nm of the dielectric layer, represented by the line 130, and exclude, on the upper limit, anything past where the oxygen profile 120 decreases to about 90% of an average oxygen concentration within the bulk region, as represented by a line 140.
A non-uniformity (N.U.) of the nitrogen concentration in the bulk region may be defined to quantify differences between films. The definition applied in the context of the present invention is
                              %                                                                          N            .            U            .                          =                                                                              [                  N                  ]                                max                            -                                                [                  N                  ]                                min                                                                    [                N                ]                            avg                                *          100                                    (        1        )            Using this equation, the non-uniformity of the nitrogen within the dielectric layer represented in the graph 100 is at least 135 percent if not 140 percent or more. As indicated above, this non-uniformity introduces reliability issues. The graph 100 thereby illustrates that conventional manufacturing techniques are generally unable to obtain nitrogen non-uniformity values in the bulk of the dielectric layers less than about 100 percent.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a method for including nitrogen within a dielectric layer that will result in improved non-uniformity values in the bulk region thereof.

Formation of nitrogen containing dielectric layers having a uniform nitrogen distribution therein using a high temperature chemical treatment


A system and method for adding or removing heat from a heat exchange fluid circulating between an external heat exchanger and an intravascular heat exchange catheter is described. The system includes a two stage cooling system providing for a high rate of cooling in one stage and a lower rate of cooling in a second stage. Both stages may be used to provide maximal cooling while the second stage is used to provide improved control of the cooling rate as a target temperature is approached. The second stage may also be used to provide heat to the heat exchange fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and methods and, more particularly, to a programmable, microprocessor based system and method for controlling the temperature and flow of a thermal exchange fluid that is circulated through a heat exchange catheter inserted into a patient's body for the purpose of cooling or warming at least a portion of the patient's body.
2. Background of the Invention
Under ordinary circumstances, the thermoregulatory mechanisms of a healthy human body serve to maintain the body at a constant temperature of about 37° C. (98.6° F.), a condition sometimes referred to as normothermia. To maintain normothermia, the thermoregulatory mechanisms act so that heat lost from the person's body is replaced by the same amount of heat generated by metabolic activity within the body. For various reasons such as extreme environmental exposure to a cold environment or loss of thermoregulatory ability as a result of disease or anesthesia, a person may develop a body temperature that is below normal, a condition known as hypothermia. A person may develop a condition that is above normothermia, a condition known as hyperthermia, as a result of extreme exposure to a hot environment, or malfunctioning thermoregulatory mechanisms, the latter being a condition sometimes called malignant hyperthermia. The body may also establish a set point temperature (that is, the temperature which the body's thermoregulatory mechanisms function to maintain) that is above normothermia, a condition usually referred to as fever. The present invention addresses all of these situations.
Accidental hypothermia is generally a dangerous condition that may even be life threatening, and requires treatment. If severe, for example where the body temperature drops below 30° C., hypothermia may have serious consequences such as cardiac arrhythmias, inability of the blood to clot normally, or interference with normal metabolism. If the period of hypothermia is extensive, the patient may even experience impaired immune response and increased incidence of infection.
Simple methods for treating accidental hypothermia have been known since very early times. Such methods include wrapping the patient in blankets, administering warm fluids by mouth, and immersing the patient in a warm water bath. If the hypothermia is not too severe, these methods may be effective. However, wrapping a patient in a blanket depends on the ability of the patient's own body to generate heat to re-warm the body. Administering warm fluids by mouth relies on the patient's ability to swallow, and is limited in the temperature of the liquid consumed and the amount of fluid that may be administered in a limited period of time. Immersing a patient in warm water is often impractical, particularly if the patient is simultaneously undergoing surgery or some other medical procedure.
More recently, hypothermia may be treated in a more complex fashion. Heated warming blankets may be applied to a patient or warming lamps that apply heat to the skin of the patient may be used. Heat applied to the patient's skin, however, has to transmit through the skin by conduction or radiation which may be slow and inefficient, and the blood flow to the skin may be shut down by the body's thermoregulatory response, and thus, even if the skin is warmed, such mechanisms may be ineffective in providing heat to the core of the patient's body. When breathing gases are administered to a patient, for example a patient under anesthesia, the breathing gases may be warmed. This provides heat relatively fast to the patient, but the amount of heat that can be administered without injuring the patient's lungs is very limited. An alternative method of warming a hypothermic patient involves infusing a hot liquid into the patient via an IV infusion, but this is limited by the amount of liquid that can be infused and the temperature of the liquid.
In extreme situations, a very invasive method may be employed to control hypothermia. Shunts may be placed into the patient to direct blood from the patient through an external machine such as a cardiopulmonary by-pass (CPB) machine which includes a heater. In this way, the blood may be removed from the patient, heated externally, and pumped back into the patient. Such extreme measures have obvious advantages as to effectiveness, but also obvious drawbacks as to invasiveness. The pumping of blood through an external circuit that treats the blood is generally quite damaging to the blood, and the procedure is only possible in a hospital setting with highly trained personnel operating the equipment.
Accidental hyperthermia may also result from various conditions. Where the normal thermoregulatory ability of the body is lost, because of disease or anesthesia, run-away hyperthermia, also known as malignant hyperthermia, may result. The body may also set a higher than normal set point resulting in fever which is a type of hyperthermia. Like hypothermia, accidental hyperthermia is a serious condition that may sometimes be fatal. In particular, hyperthermia has been found to be neurodestructive, both in itself or in conjunction with other health problems such as traumatic brain injury or stroke, where a body temperature in excess of normal has been shown to result in dramatically worse outcomes, even death.
As with hypothermia, when the condition is not too severe, simple methods for treating the condition exist, such as cold water baths and cooling blankets, or antipyretic drugs such as aspirin or acetominophen, and for the more extreme cases, more effective but complex and invasive means such as cooled breathing gases, cold infusions, and blood cooled during CPB also exist. These, however, are subject to the limitations and complications as described above in connection with hypothermia.
Although both hypothermia and hyperthermia may be harmful and require treatment in some case, in other cases hyperthermia, and especially hypothermia, may be therapeutic or otherwise advantageous, and therefore may be intentionally induced. For example, periods of cardiac arrest or cardiac insufficiency in heart surgery result in insufficient blood to the brain and spinal cord, and thus can produce brain damage or other nerve damage. Hypothermia is recognized in the medical community as an accepted neuroprotectant and therefore a patient is often kept in a state of induced hypothermia while undergoing treatment for the underlying cause of the condition. Hypothermia also has similar advantageous protective ability for treating or minimizing the adverse effects of certain neurological diseases or disorders such as head trauma, spinal trauma and hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke. Therefore it is sometimes desirable to induce whole-body or regional hypothermia for the purpose of facilitating or minimizing adverse effects of certain surgical or interventional procedures such as open heart surgery, aneurysm repair surgeries, endovascular aneurysm repair procedures, spinal surgeries, or other surgeries where blood flow to the brain, spinal cord or vital organs may be interrupted or compromised. Hypothermia has even been found to be advantageous to protect cardiac muscle tissue after a myocardial infarct (MI).
Current methods of attempting to induce hypothermia generally involve constant surface cooling, by cooling blanket or by alcohol or ice water rubs. However, such cooling methods are extremely cumbersome, and generally ineffective to cool the body's core. The body's response to cold alcohol or ice water applied to the surface is to shut down the circulation of blood through the capillary beds, and to the surface of the body generally, and thus to prevent the cold surface from cooling the core. If the surface cooling works at all, it does so very slowly. There is also an inability to precisely control the temperature of the patient by this method.
If the patient is in a surgical setting, the patient may be anesthetized and cooled by CPB as described above. Generally, however, this is only available in the most extreme situations involving a full surgical team and full surgical suite, and importantly, is only available for a short period of time because of the damage to the blood caused by pumping. Generally surgeons do not wish to pump the blood for periods longer than four hours, and in the case of stroke or traumatic brain damage, it may be desirable to induce hypothermia for longer than a full day. Because of the direct control of the temperature of a large amount of blood, this method allows fairly precise control of the patient's temperature. However, it is this very external manipulation of large amounts of the patient's blood that makes long term use of this procedure very undesirable.
Means for effectively adding heat to the core of the body that do not involve pumping the blood with an external, mechanical pump have been suggested. For example, a method of treating hypothermia or hyperthermia by means of a heat exchange catheter placed in the bloodstream of a patient was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,208 to Ginsburg, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Means of controlling the temperature of a patient by controlling such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,003, also to Ginsburg, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. A further system for such controlled intravascular temperature control is disclosed in publication WO 00/10494 to Ginsburg et al., the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Those patents and publication disclose a method of treating or inducing hypothermia by inserting a heat exchange catheter having a heat exchange area including a balloon with heat exchange fins into the bloodstream of a patient, and circulating heat exchange fluid through the balloon while the balloon is in contact with the blood to add or remove heat from the bloodstream. (As used herein, a balloon is a structure that is readily inflated under pressure and which collapses when the pressure is reduced.)
A number of catheter systems for cooling tissue adjacent the catheter or regulating the temperature of the catheter using the temperature of fluid circulating within the catheter are shown in the published art. Some such catheters rely on a reservoir or similar tank for a supply of heat exchange fluid. For such systems that involve a catheter placed in the bloodstream, however, difficulties arise in sterilizing the fluid source between uses and rapidly changing the temperature of a large volume of fluid having a significant thermal mass.
Various approaches have been used to add or remove heat the heat exchange fluid that is circulated through the catheter. For example, the heat exchange fluid may be circulated through a bath containing a second heat exchange fluid, such as a glycol based heat exchange fluid, water, or the like. Another approach uses a refrigeration system to either directly or indirectly cool the circulating heat exchange fluid. Yet another approach employs a thermoelectric system for heating and cooling the circulating heat exchange fluid.
Each of the systems mentioned above have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, in some circumstances, such as in an emergent cardiac arrest, it has been found beneficial to rapidly reduce the patient's temperature. Such a rapid temperature reduction requires a large amount of cooling power, which results in the need for a refrigeration unit that produces a higher than acceptable noise level. Once a patient's temperature has been reduced to the desired level, however, less cooling power is required to maintain the patient at the desired temperature. In such situations, a thermoelectric cooler is preferable, because of the fine control over the temperature of the circulating fluid that can be maintained using such a system.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a rapid and effective means to add or remove heat from the heat exchange fluid circulating through a catheter used to control the body temperature of a patient in an effective and efficient manner, while avoiding the inadequacies of the prior art methods. Such a system would provide large amounts of cooling power to rapidly reduce the patient's temperature to a desired level, yet would also provide accurate control of the heat removed from the patient to maintain the patient at the desired level without undesirable over- or under-shoot of the patient's temperature. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.

System and method for management of body temperature


A packaging comprising: (a) an outer card having one or more cavities; and (b) one or more blister cards housed within the one or more cavities, wherein the one or more blister cards are removable from the one or more cavities so that the one or more blister cards are disposable separate from the outer card.

Blister packs are frequently used for a variety of consumer goods that are generally smaller in size and purchased in volume. While blister packs are used in a variety of consumer industries, the pharmaceutical industry often utilizes blister packs as a means for unit-dose packaging of pharmaceuticals that may be in the form of tablets, capsules, lozenges, or a combination thereof. The blister packs may be used to divide individual tablets, capsules, lozenges, or a combination thereof within formed apertures in the blister card sealed by a foil or film disposed over the apertures. A user of the blister card may then puncture or split the foil or film to remove the individual pharmaceutical, thereby leaving the remaining pharmaceuticals sealed.
Often times, one or more blister packs may be contained within an outer card made of one or more recyclable materials. The outer card may include one or more cavities the retain the blister packs, thereby allowing a plurality of blister packs to be packaged together while also providing additional structural integrity. However, while the outer card may be recyclable, the blister packs secured to the outer card often contains non-recyclable materials. As a result, both the blister packs and the outer card are considered waste and disposed of accordingly.
Examples of blister packs can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,896,138; 7,207,440; and 10,265,246, all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. There remains a need for a more environment-friendly packaging. What is needed is packaging that is at least partially recyclable. There remains a need for packaging having a removable blister pack. What is needed is packaging that is able to secure one or more blister packs in a removable manner. There remains a need for an easily accessible blister card that can be accessed through an outer card. What is needed is an outer card having one or more bay doors, perforations, punch outs, or a combination thereof to access one or more blister packs.


A plastic vent valve (1) for containers for transporting and storing liquids has a cylindrical valve housing(2) which is made as a threaded plug (3) and is screwed onto a screw cover (8) for closing an opening of a plastic inner container of a palletized container. The valve has a valve membrane (4), a surge disk (5), a surge cover (6), and a sealing cap (7).

DE 296 08 342.9 U1 discloses a vent valve of this type in which the valve membrane is held by a clamp disk with air passage openings in the valve housing which is designed to be used at the same time for protection of the valve membrane against penetration of liquid from the tank into the valve for surge vibrations which occur during transport. Practice shows that the clamp disk does not adequately perform this protective function, since during transport the liquid can enter the valve housing and due to the suction action exerted by the liquid the valve membrane opens and liquid emerges from the container via the vent valve. Another major disadvantage of the known vent valve is that the valve membrane does not have the pressure tightness prescribed for transport and storage containers for liquids at a container pressure of 1 bar.
DE 25 01 228 A1 describes a closing cap which is designed for liquid containers, which can be screwed onto a drum neck and into which a safety valve which acts as a ventilation and bleeder valve is integrated which responds to overpressure and underpressure in the container. In this safety valve a valve disk of elastic material which is highly prestressed during installation and thus assumes the shape of a spherical segment is used. In this valve there is the danger of loss of tightness as a result of fatigue phenomena of the valve disk material during prolonged use.


Capturing information associated with a document is disclosed. An indication that a request to print a document is being transmitted is observed in network traffic associated with a printer. At a node other than the printer, data associated with the observed network traffic is processed to determine information associated with the request to print the document.

"Data extrusion" is the general problem in which information is leaked (without authorization), for example by a disgruntled employee, from an organization. A leaked memo, financial forecast, product plan, or technical design could potentially cost a company millions of dollars. Increasingly, security tools such as firewalls and cryptography are configured and used to help prevent electronic data from reaching unauthorized parties. Techniques such as digital watermarking are also employed to help identify the source of information leaked in electronic form.
Unfortunately, these approaches do nothing to mitigate a classic data extrusion technique—printing hardcopies of sensitive information and physically conveying them to an unauthorized party. With little effort, a rogue employee can print memos, schedules, design documents, etc., and slip them into a bag or briefcase without detection. Even if some physical security—such as an exit search—is applied to employees, it is infeasible to evaluate each document carried outside of a typical office building. Moreover, it can be difficult for security personnel to recognize the importance of a particular document. For example, confidential financial data may look comparable to public accounting details.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a better way to track a printed document to the individual that printed it. It would also be desirable to accomplish such tracking without requiring many, if any, changes to an existing installed base of printers.

Identifying the origin of hard-copy documents


A method is described for fast rerouting, in case of a fault, packets of MPLS traffic in a ring-like network configuration, where the MPLS traffic is formed by one or more Label Switched Paths (LSPs) entitled to protection. The method comprises rerouting the MPLS packets to a protection path in the ring, providing the rerouted MPLS packets with additional labels to their respective label stacks, and then detecting the additional labels at network nodes included in the protection path. Detection of the additional labels further allows determining egress nodes of the rerouted MPLS packets and outputting the rerouted MPLS packets at their corresponding egress points from the protection path.

The problem of rerouting/protecting traffic in communication networks is one of the main topics, which is being permanently discussed and developed to improve efficacy of networks operation.
Ring networks have largely evolved in local area computer networks (LANs). Their main benefits are: ability to add/drop local data to/from the ring at any local station while passively forwarding traffic which doesn't belong to a particular local station; efficient use of cables, for example in comparison with mesh networks; fault recovery of traffic, since two-way links between stations can be used for redirecting the traffic in case of a cable break. SDH/SONET networks have adopted these advantages to implement multi point-to-point connections within the ring. Yet, SONET/SDH ring protection is inefficient compared to packet-based protection and often creates bandwidth bottlenecks at a metro level.
Protection of traffic in ring networks is ensured by the intrinsic features of ring networks. According to the most schematic principle concept, a ring-like network is composed of two "concentric" sub-rings (a 1st ring and a 2nd ring) formed by network nodes interconnected via communication links and respectively enabling traffic in the ring-like network to flow in two opposite directions. In case of failure of a particular link belonging to a 1st ring, protection of the traffic which was transmitted via the 1st ring is performed by redirecting it, at two nodes surrounding the faulty link, so as to utilize the 2nd ring and thus reach the required nodes "from the other side". The 2nd ring (as well as the 1st ring) usually reserves bandwidth for such cases and provides a so-called protection path instead of a main path section failed in the 1st ring.
As MPLS technology becomes more and more practically demanded, it is often deployed over existing ring networks and is therefore to be protected in such networks. Fast reroute (FRR) has gained substantial traction in the vendor community and interest from service providers. It offers high speed recovery following network failures, and thereby can shorten disturbance to traffic and improve the service reliability. Fast reroute in packet-based networks brings service providers closer to the point where they can provide reliability comparable to that of TDM services like SDH/SONET or voice.
The prior art comprises some solutions for protecting MPLS traffic in various networks, and also in ring networks.
US 20030108029A1 describes a method and a system for providing failure protection in a ring network that utilizes label switching. A working label switched path (LSP, also called tunnel) between neighbor label switched routers (LSRs) in a ring network that utilizes label switching is protected by an LSP that connects the neighbor LSRs of the working LSP in an opposite direction to the working LSP. If the working LSP fails, then packets are switched to the protection LSP. Switched packets traverse the protection LSP until they reach the neighbor LSR that they would have reached had the packets traversed the working LSP. Time-to-live (TTL) values of packets that traverse the protection LSP are adjusted to account for the number of hops on the protection LSP so that the TTL values of the packets are the same after traversing the protection LSP as they would have been had they traversed the working LSP. After traversing the protection LSP packets can be switched back to the working LSP or switched to a next hop LSP. However, in case of a failure in the ring, the solution makes the traffic to pass so-called excessive portions over the main and the protection paths (as the ring networks dictate), to reach the required termination (egress) node. As a result, the solution suffers from a traffic delay, is critical to multiple faults in the ring and is inefficient from the point of bandwidth reserved for ensuring protection in the excessive portions of the ring.
US20020093954A1 describes a technique for failure protection in communication networks. A communications packet network comprises a plurality of nodes interconnected by communication links and in which tunnels are defined for the transport of high quality of service MPLS traffic. The network has a set of primary traffic paths for carrying traffic and a set of pre-positioned recovery (protection) traffic paths for carrying traffic in the event of a fault affecting one or more of the primary paths. The network incorporates a fault recovery mechanism. In the event of a fault, traffic is switched temporarily to a recovery path. The network then determines a new set of primary and recovery paths taking account of the fault. The traffic is then switched to the new primary paths. The new recovery paths provide protection paths in the event of a further fault. The network nodes at the two ends of a recovery path exchange information over that path so that packets returning to the main path present their original labels that are recognizable for further routing of those packets.
US20020060985A1 discloses a method for high speed rerouting in a multi protocol label switching (MPLS) network which can minimize a packet loss and enable a fast rerouting of traffic so as to protect and recover a multi point to point LSP occupying most LSPs in the MPLS network. The method for high speed rerouting in a multi protocol label switching (MPLS) network comprises the steps of controlling a traffic stream to flow in a reverse direction in a point where a node or link failure occurs by using a backup Label Switched Path (LSP) comprising an Explicitly Routed (ER) LSP having a reverse tree of a protected multi point to point LSP and an ingress LSR through an egress LSR. The method suffers from the drawbacks mentioned before, since it enforces the backup path to return the traffic into the ingress point of the ring where the LSP has started.

Method for rerouting MPLS traffic in ring networks


An overhead-mounted cable tray and busway support system is provided for supporting communication cables and power busways that are connected to computer equipment housed within a data center. The system includes a plurality of brackets, and a roof mounting assembly. Each of the brackets is formed by a vertical member, a horizontal mounting member having a central portion affixed to a top end of the vertical member that is mountable directly or indirectly to a building roof, two cable tray supports connected to the vertical member at different points, and a busway support. The tray supports and the busway support are cantilevered from a same side of the vertical member so that all of the cables and busways may be conveniently installed from the front side of the cabinets housing the computer equipment. The horizontal mounting member is parallel to the tray supports to resist the torque applied to the brackets from the one-sided weight load of the cables and busways. The busway support mounts two or more horizontal busways at different heights and vertically-staggered with respect to each other to facilitate the installation of busplugs that provide power to the computer equipment.

Systems for supporting data communication cables in buildings housing large amounts of computer equipment are known in the prior art. Some of these prior art systems include rows of cable-supporting brackets suspended from rails attached to the underside of the roof of the building. The rows of brackets hang over rows of server racks and other data-processing equipment. Each of the brackets is shaped like an inverted "T", where the stem corresponds to a vertical support member, and the two sides of the hat of the inverted "T" correspond to a pair of opposing support arms for supporting cable trays on either side of the vertical support member. In operation, the vertical support members of the brackets are mounted on the overhead-mounted rails. Next, cable tray sections are mounted on the opposing support arms to form two, parallel cable trays on either side of each row of brackets. In systems having a height-adjustable mechanism, the height of each row of brackets is made to be as uniform as possible so that the adjoining edges of the tray sections are mutually aligned. Finally, the communication cables are lifted up, laid into, and sometimes pulled along the cable trays to properly position them. Such cable support systems are often used in data centers housing rows of server racks or other data-processing equipment.

Overhead-mounted cable and busway support system


Provided are a pixel driving circuit, a driving method thereof and a display apparatus. The pixel driving circuit includes an electroluminescent element, a driving transistor, a switch unit, a charging unit, a compensation unit, a cutoff unit and a storage unit. The pixel driving circuit charges the storage capacitor by the charging unit first, and then uses the method of charging first and discharging later to make the voltage in the storage capacitor match the driving current quickly to perform fast compensation of the threshold voltage Vth, and thus make the driving current provided by the driving transistor not influenced by the threshold voltage Vth, thereby raising the consistency of the driving currents and improving the uniformity of brightness.

Compared with traditional liquid crystal panels, the Active Matrix/Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display panel has characteristics such as faster response, larger contrast, wider angle of view, and so on, and thus has drawn more and more attention to display technology developers.
The AMOLED display panel can emit light due to being driven by current generated by a driving Thin Film Transistor (TFT) in the saturation state. Different currents would be generated due to different threshold voltages when the same gray-scale voltage is input, which results in nonuniformity of driving current. The Low Temperature Poly-Silicon (LTPS) has very poor uniformity of threshold voltage Vth in the manufacturing procedure, and the threshold voltage Vth also drifts; therefore, conventional 2T1C circuits have very poor uniformity of brightness.
FIG. 1 illustrates a voltage driven pixel driving circuit structure (2T1C) composed of 2 TFT transistors and 1 capacitors as known. The first transistor M1 transports the voltage on the data line to the gate of the driving transistor DTFT which transforms this data voltage into corresponding current to be supplied to the organic light emitting diode. During normal operation, the driving transistor DTFT should operate at the saturation region to supply stable driving current within the scanning period of one row. The driving current (i.e., the current flowing through the OLED) can be expressed as:
      I    OLED    =            1      2                          μ        n            ·              C        OX            ·              W        L            ·                        (                                    V              data                        -                          V              oled                        -                          V              th                                )                2            wherein μn is the carrier mobility, Cox is the capacitance of the gate oxide layer, W/L is the aspect ratio of the transistor, Vdata is the data voltage, Voled is the operating voltage of the OLED which is shared by all pixel units, and Vth is the threshold voltage of the driving transistor DTFT. As can be seen from the above expression, if Vth is different between different pixel units, it results in that the driving current would be different; if the threshold voltage Vth of the driving transistor drifts with time, it may results that current at former time would be different from that at latter time, which causes afterimage, reduces display effect, and influences users' experience.

Pixel driving circuit, driving method thereof and display apparatus

CHENGDU BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A data processor determines a position solution or selects a position solution from a first position solution and a second position solution based on a comparison between the turning radius at a hitch point, Rp, and the tongue length, where Rp=Vp/(α′−δ′), where Vp is a velocity at the hitch point, α′ is the vehicle yaw rate, and δ′ is the change in a vehicle slip angle. A trailer position of a trailer is estimated in accordance with a position solution (e.g., determined or selected position solution) based on the determined vehicle heading, the hitch length, and the tongue length.

Certain prior art systems may attempt to model a trailer position of a towed trailer. Some prior art systems may inadequately attempt to estimate the trailer position or trailer path because a prior art equation for the trailer position is inaccurate or cannot be readily processed in real time with limited data processing resources available on a vehicle. Thus, there is a need for a method and system for estimating a trailer position of a trailer associated with vehicle on an accurate basis, a timely basis, or both.

Method and system for estimating a trailer position of a trailer associated with a vehicle


A method in a data processing system for identifying hazards in a circuit. Signal paths are identified in the circuit. Each signal path within the plurality of signal paths begins at a source and ends at a target and each signal path within the signal paths is one that potentially propagates a hazard. Errors are then identified in signal paths in the circuit by analyzing the timing relationships and hazard characteristics of the signals within the signal paths.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to computer aided engineering programs. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for verification of digital circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Much of the process of creating, testing, and implementing an electronic circuit has been automated by the use of computers as a design tool. The computer executes a design or engineering program that provides a human user with tools such as "capturing" a design into electronic form, editing the design with the computer, detecting errors in the design, simulating the operation of the design and translating the design into a component layout or integrated circuit mask pattern depending on the final implementation. The availability of efficient, user-friendly software tools to aid the designer has become very important as the size and complexity of circuits designs increases.
One function provided by computer aided design tools is automatic synthesis and optimization of a circuit design from a schematic diagram. The computer aided design (CAD) system is given a set of constraints, such as timing specifications, and produces a circuit that performs the logic of the schematic diagram while meeting the specified constraints. A typical constraint is, e.g., minimum propagation delay from an input to an output. The CAD system may have to improve the speed of portions of the design by implementing logic functions in combinatorial logic as opposed to standard cells, by using faster logic families or by reducing the number of components used to achieve time critical logic functions.
The synthesis and optimization of a design from a schematic diagram can be complex and time consuming both to the human designer and to the computer's resources where the circuit of the schematic diagram is large and the constraints are many and stringent. Further, requiring the designer to specify constraints to the computer program in the first place can be very burdensome and time consuming. The designer must evaluate many factors including, for example, signal relationships, manufacturing costs, the timing of external signals that the circuit must interface with, and tolerances of components used in the circuit.
Asynchronous logic circuits are present in and critical in the design of low power, delay sensitive, high performance digital circuits. Typically, asynchronous logic circuits are used in real time applications involving digital communication and computer systems. Although there are some automated methodologies which can provide machine design of some types of asynchronous circuits, heretofore no practical automated methodology has existed which could successfully provide design solutions for real applications. Therefore, the solution of complex asynchronous circuit design problems always required intuition and experience, and was consequently a difficult and error prone task. Often the design of the asynchronous circuit entails a substantial amount of time to debug.
Historically, dynamic simulations have been used to verify circuit functionality and timing. Dynamic simulation rely on vectors for the simulation of functionality and timing. However, due to increasing design complexities it is virtually impossible to fully verify a circuit with dynamic simulations because of the size of the vectors needed to simulate each state of the circuit. Static timing analysis tools which do not rely on vectors have been developed to verify circuit timing. Static timing analysis tools have the capability to verify circuit timings more completely and efficiently because they can analyze all possible timing paths, provided the design synchronous. For pure synchronous designs, static timing analysis can verify 100% of all timing paths. However, static timing analysis can not fully verify non-synchronous circuits such as circuits with glitches, asynchronous clocks or other types of hazards that can cause the circuit to fail. Presently, this limitation still requires that dynamic timing simulations be used to verify these type of non-synchronous circuits. Even with dynamic timing simulation it is difficult to fully verify a circuit for these type of non-synchronous hazards because it is virtually impossible to simulate enough patterns to identify all possible hazards in the circuit.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for analyzing asynchronous circuits.

Method and apparatus for analyzing digital circuits


A vehicle body panel structure comprises an outer panel, an inner panel facing the outer panel, and a trim of a cabin interior. In the vehicle body panel structure, at least one surface of a back surface of the outer panel, both surfaces of the inner panel, and a surface of the trim facing the outer panel has both functions of heat insulation and heat dissipation by partially providing a heat insulation section to insulate heat for the at least one surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle body panel structure which can reduce summer heat and provide a comfortable thermal environment. Specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle body panel structure which is provided with both functions of insulation and dissipation of heat to allow interception of incoming heat from the outside and promotion of dissipation of heat from a cabin interior for the purposes of reduction in atmospheric temperature in the cabin and reduction of the temperature of the vehicle interior parts when a vehicle is parked in blazing sunshine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Temperature inside a cabin of a vehicle placed in blazing sunshine becomes very high. In a measurement example of a summer environment in Japan, the cabin's air temperature reaches nearly 70° C. in the case of a parked vehicle. Simultaneously, as for the temperature of interior materials in the cabin, the temperature of the top surface of an instrument panel rises to nearly 100° C., and the temperature of the ceiling rises to nearly 70° C. Needless to say, it is unpleasant for occupants to get into the vehicle in such circumstances. Even when a ventilation or air-conditioning apparatus is activated, the temperature of the interior materials is not easily reduced, and radiation heat continues to be dissipated toward occupants for a long time. Accordingly, the comfort of the occupants is greatly impaired. One of causes of such an increase in temperature is intrusion of solar radiation into the cabin and intrusion of heat from a vehicle body panel which has absorbed the solar radiation into the cabin. Other causes include insufficient elimination or dissipation of heat accumulated in the cabin to the outside.
In order to suppress such an increase in temperature, measures to reduce the amount of intruding heat have hitherto been considered.
As a target for the above-described measures, first, the vehicle's glass is conceived. The transmittance of solar radiation into the cabin is reduced by adjusting the composition of glass so that the glass absorbs part of the solar radiation. Taking windshield glass as an example, the transmittance of solar radiation is reduced to, for example, 45% to 53% in existing vehicles. The amount of solar radiation coming into the cabin through the glass is thus reduced.
As another target for the above-described measures, next, an outer panel is conceived. In terms of heat transfer via an outer panel, there are cases of taking measures for the front surface of the outer panel, namely, a surface exposed to the solar radiation and taking measures for the back surface side of the outer panel. A coating material suppressing absorption of solar radiation in the front surface of the outer panel, which is publicly known, for example, in a construction field, does not satisfy application requirements in a field which requires high designability like the outer panel of the vehicle. On the contrary, as the measure for the back surface side of the outer panel, there have been known a measure focusing on a surface facing the back surface of the outer panel, namely, the back surface of the interior constituting a cabin, and a measure focusing on a back surface itself of the outer panel (see Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open No. 2001-158306 and No. 2002-012094).