Optical elements, and methods for fabricating them, are described wherein each element includes a free standing (self supporting) polycrystalline continuous thin film of diamond combined with a non-hydrogenated amorphous diamond like carbon (DLC) film having a high percentage of sp.sup.3 bonding. These elements may be designed to have optically smooth surfaces, have wide optical transmission ranges (for example, be transparent across the infrared portion of the spectrum), and exhibit exceptional durability characteristics. Optical instruments that include such elements are also described, along with the derivative benefits, such as improved operating performance and lower maintenance requirements, realized using the novel optical elements. In particular, a polarization Michaelson interferometer (PMI) is taught which is operative over the entire range from far infrared into the visible portion of the spectrum without requiring the exchange of beam splitters or beam polarizers. These performance benefits are achieved as a result of the transmission characteristics of the novel optical elements associated with the PMI.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to optical elements that are fabricated utilizing thin films and to optical instruments that include such elements. More particularly, the invention relates to optical elements that are fabricated utilizing a free standing (self supporting polycrystalline continuous thin film of diamond combined with a non-hydrogenated amorphous diamond like carbon (DLC) film having a high percentage of sp.sup.3 bonding.
Optical elements fabricated from the aforementioned combination of materials may be designed to have optically smooth surfaces, have a wide optical transmission range and exhibit exceptional durability characteristics. In turn, optical instruments that are designed to include such elements may realize derivative benefits such as improved operating performance and lower maintenance requirements.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of techniques are well known for fabricating electronic and opto-electronic elements on different types of substrates. Such techniques may, for example, involve photolithographically etching metal film, where specially designed masks are used to obtain a desired pattern on the film.
Techniques for creating a specific type of thin film, namely a polycrystalline continuous thin film of diamond, are also well known. For example, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique for depositing diamond films on a substrate is taught by Hacker et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,629.
The known deposition techniques have been refined so that it is now possible to deposit polycrystalline continuous thin films of diamond on specially treated substrates that give a high nucleation density. The resulting films have small grains and smooth surfaces which are particularly well suited for optical applications, such as passing infrared (IR) light. Such teachings are, for example, set forth in an article entitled "Diamond Membrane For X-ray Lithography", by Guarnieri, et al, published in volume 1326 of Diamond Optics III (1990).
Still further examples of improved techniques for the deposition of diamond film, and in particular technique for making films that are well suited for the fabrication of optical elements, are those processes that use electrophoretic deposition of diamond powder onto the substrate. These techniques yield a denser and more uniform deposit then drip or drop methods, and are described, for example, in an article entitled "Electrophoretic Deposition of Nucleating Layers for Polycrystalline Diamond Film Deposition", by Cuomo, et al, appearing in the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Volume 33, Number 10A, published in March, 1991.
It is now well settled that diamond thin films are ideally suited for a variety of applications, for example, the fabrication of x-ray masks as referred to in the aforementioned Guarnieri, et al article, because of diamond's well known desirable properties of mechanical strength, optical and x-ray transparency, chemical inertness, flatness, rigidity and radiation hardness.
By selecting the proper deposition conditions from those techniques presently available, those skilled in the art are able to obtain films with uniform tension, that combined with both the mechanical and chemical durability of the diamond film, allows the central portion of the film to be etched out resulting in a flat, thin self-supporting diamond membrane framed over a relatively large area. These films, as will be demonstrated hereinafter with reference to the Detailed Description of the invention, may serve as ideal achromatic substrates for optical elements, particularly those that are designed to pass IR light since the IR transmission property of diamond is better than any known material.
The optical properties of self-supporting diamond thin films have been demonstrated to show the expected excellent transmission over a broad range from far infrared into the visible where scattering by the surface roughness begins to cut down on the transmission. Specific reference may be made to an article by Bi et al, entitled "Optical Properties of Chemical-Vapor-Deposited Diamond Films", appearing in the Journal of Material Research, volume 5, published in April 1990to support these results. By using the techniques described in the aforementioned Guarnieri et al reference to produce films that are smoother than those described by Bi et al, high transmission capability can extend well into the visible range.
Another type of carbon film, well known in the prior art, which has been used for a variety of purposes, including presenting a smooth surface having excellent etching resistance and which can be used as a protective or electrically insulating member for electronic devices, are diamond like carbon (DLC) films such as the one described by Ikoma et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,303. Samples of the Ikoma et al DLC film have a density greater than 1.8g/cm.sup.3, up to approximately 2.7 g/cm.sup.3 (as compared with actual diamond having a density of 3.5 g/cm.sup.3), and may be produced using a magnetized microwave plasma CVD method where a magnetic field is applied. The hydrogen content of Ikoma et al's DLC is approximately 20%.
Although teaching how to make a hydrogenated DLC film and considering its protective and insulating features for the fabrication of electronic devices, Ikoma et al's teachings did not extend to DLC films that would enhance the durability of optical devices per se. In fact, DLC films that are virtually transparent and would not significantly degrade the performance of optical elements did not exist.
The DLC films having the significantly increased density characteristics and bonding characteristics referred to hereinabove, are described by Angus et al in Paper Number 8.01, published at the International Conference On New Diamond Science and Technology, in September 1990, and by Cuomo et al in a paper entitled "The Effects of Substrate Conditions On the Microstructural Evolution Of Thin Diamond-Like Films", presented at the Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society, in Boston, Mass., in December 1990.
In these articles, an evolution towards denser films is described as taking place upon increasing beam energy, reducing substrate temperature and increasing substrate thermal conductivity. The higher density film described contain a higher fraction (approximately 80%) of tetrahedrally coordinated (sp.sup.3 -bonded) carbon; have a density that can approach 3.3 g/cm.sup.3 (i.e. a density that closely approximates the density of actual diamond); and have a hydrogen content of 5% and 1% when formed using sputter and laser deposition techniques, respectively.
Once again, the newer DLC films, referred to herein as non-hydrogenated amorphous diamond like carbon films, are not to be confused with hydrogenated carbon films (such as the film taught by Ikoma et al in the aforementioned patent), which contain more than 20% hydrogen, are substantially less dense than the non-hydrogenated films (thereby affecting the transmission of closely approximate the density of diamond); but which otherwise exhibit "diamond like" properties.
With the advent of the non-hydrogenated amorphous diamond like carbon film having sp.sup.3 fractions approaching diamond, and the refinement of techniques for depositing, high quality diamond films onto substrates that can be etched out to form flat, thin, self-supporting diamond membranes framed over relatively large areas (referred to hereinabove), it would be desirable to provide achromatic substrates and packages formed of the aforementioned materials, for use in fabricating optical elements. Such a combination (the free standing polycrystalline diamond thin film combined with the non-hydrogenated DLC film), would facilitate the fabrication of windows and optical elements that are durable and which have optically smooth surfaces. Such surfaces have heretofore been difficult to achieve without specially treating the substrate surface, etc.(as taught in the aforementioned Guarnieri et al reference), because of the relatively rough surface area presented by the inherently faceted face of diamond film.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to fabricate optical elements that are specifically designed to pass IR light, using diamond film as a substrate and the non-hydrogenated DLC film as a protective coating, since the IR transmission property of diamond, as indicated hereinbefore is better than any known material and would not be appreciably degraded by the DLC coating.
In addition to the desirability of utilizing the aforementioned materials in the fabrication of optical elements in general, and in the fabrication of IR elements in particular, it would be desirable to modify the design of well known optical instruments to incorporate such elements and realize derivative benefits, such as improved operating performance and lower maintenance requirements.
For example, beam splitters are especially important in infrared (IR) Fourier Transform Spectrometers, also known as FTIRs. However, the beam splitters presently used in spectrometers are restricted in the spectral range they can cover partly due to the limited window of transmittance of the substrate material used to support the beam splitting film. Thus, utilizing state of art beam splitters in such applications as FTIRs, requires the use of two, three or more beam splitters in sequence to cover a broad spectral range.
The same limitation applies for beam polarizers. There are far infrared polarizers made from free standing grids wound from very thin wire. Though they are free of substrates the fragility of self-supporting thin wires limit the linear density of the wires and hence are effective only in the long wavelength region, i.e. wavelengths greater than 25 micron.
Modern holographic lithography make possible the preparation of much finer grid dimensions, on the order of 250 nm, which extends the cutoff range of wire grid polarizers beyond the visible. These however require substrates which in most cases add the transmittance range limitations mentioned hereinabove.
Accordingly, it would be desirable, as a further aspect of the invention, to be able to use the aforementioned combination of materials (diamond thin film substrate and non-hydrogenated DLC film), to fabricate optical elements that can be incorporated into redesigned optical instruments, such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometers. In particular, it would be desirable to utilize the new combination of materials to fabricate wire grid polarizers and polarizing beam splitters for use in FTIRs and other optical instruments.
A specific desirable application for the invention would be in an FTIR designed around a polarization Michaelson interferometer (PMI), as described in Infrared Physics, by Martin and Puplett (1969), which would enable the PMI to cover the entire range from far infrared into the visible portion of the spectrum without the need of exchanging beam splitters and polarizers as is presently necessary when the PMI is fabricated using state of the art IR optical components.

Durable optical elements fabricated from free standing polycrystalline diamond and non-hydrogenated amorphous diamond like carbon (DLC) thin films

International Business Machines Corporation


An application programming interface for use in a network device includes at least one control module that is capable of controlling a forwarding plane of the network device. In particular, the network device forwards packets across a network, and includes the forward plane for processing data packets. The application programming interface includes an input module that receives function calls, at least one control module (mentioned above) that receives input control data via the function calls, and an output module that forwards output control data from the control module. The control module produces the output control data based upon the input control data. The output control data is capable of controlling execution of the forwarding plane.

Many networks, such as the Internet, utilize a multitude of data forwarding devices (e.g., routers and switches) to forward data messages, such as data packets, between network nodes. Among other things, such forwarding devices include both routing software and a corresponding routing hardware platform that cooperate to forward data messages to their appropriate destinations.
Undesirably, routing software within current forwarding devices generally is preconfigured for use within one specific routing hardware platform only. In particular, a forwarding device (e.g., a router) manufactured by a given vendor has routing software that is specifically coded and configured for use with no routing hardware platform other than that of the given vendor. Accordingly, such routing software from one vendor cannot be used on another vendor's forwarding device.

Network device application programming interface


A method and system is disclosed for dynamically merging wireless service sectors in a wireless communication system. The method and system determines when certain conditions exist under which dynamically merging a plurality of wireless service sectors would advantageously yield an increased data rate for transmissions to access terminals (ATs) operating the plurality, while, at the same time, not resulting in a total traffic load that would be detrimental to system performance. The method and system also incorporate the manner and means of merging sectors so as to cause the plurality of wireless service sectors to operate as a single, dynamically-merged wireless service sector. Each access terminal operating in a dynamically-merged wireless service sector receives the full, combined power of all the sectors of the plurality during transmissions to that AT.

In a typical cellular radio communication system (wireless communication system), an area is divided geographically into a number of cell sites, each defined by a radio frequency (RF) radiation pattern from a respective base transceiver station (BTS) antenna. The base station antennae in the cells are in turn coupled to a base station controller (BSC), which is then coupled to a telecommunications switch or gateway, such as a mobile switching center (MSC) and/or a packet data serving node (PDSN) for instance. The switch or gateway may then be coupled with a transport network, such as the PSTN or a packet-switched network (e.g., the Internet).
When a mobile station (such as a cellular telephone, pager, or appropriately equipped portable computer, for instance) is positioned in a cell, the mobile station (or MS) communicates via an RF air interface with the BTS antenna of the cell. Consequently, a communication path is established between the mobile station and the transport network, via the air interface, the BTS, the BSC and the switch or gateway.
With the explosive growth in demand for wireless communications, the level of call traffic in most cell sites has increased dramatically over recent years. To help manage the call traffic, most cells in a wireless network are usually further divided geographically into a number of sectors, each defined respectively by radiation patterns from directional antenna components of the respective BTS, or by respective BTS antennae. These sectors (which can be visualized ideally as pie pieces) can be referred to as "physical sectors," since they are physical areas of a cell site. Therefore, at any given instant, a mobile station in a wireless network will typically be positioned in a given physical sector and will be able to communicate with the transport network via the BTS serving that physical sector. Because wireless communication with the BTS forms the basis of services offered by the operator (or owner) of the cellular radio communication system, physical sectors are also referred to as "wireless service sectors." Both cells and sectors may be considered more generally as examples of wireless coverage zones, because they correspond to physical regions within which mobile stations may acquire RF links for access to the network.
As a mobile station moves between coverage zones, such as wireless service sectors of a wireless communication system, or when network conditions change or for other reasons, the mobile station may "hand off" from operating in one coverage zone to operating in another coverage zone. In a usual case, this handoff process is triggered by the mobile station monitoring the signal strength of various nearby available coverage zones, and the mobile station or the BSC (or other controlling network entity) determining when one or more threshold criteria are met. For instance, the mobile station may continuously monitor signal strength from various available coverage zones and notify the BSC when a given coverage zone has a signal strength that is sufficiently higher than the coverage zone in which the mobile station is currently operating. The BSC may then direct the mobile station to hand off to that other coverage zone. Without loss of generality with respect to the present invention, coverage zones will, for purposes of illustration, hereafter be considered to be wireless service sectors.
In some instances, the signal strengths of two or more sectors measured by a mobile station may each be within a particular threshold of a common reference level. For instance, the threshold could be 2 dB and reference level could be taken to be the strongest among the measured signals (in which case the strongest signal is, by definition, within any threshold of the reference level). Alternatively, a different reference level could be set by the BSC for each sector. Sectors determined to be within the threshold may then comprise a group, any or all of which could provide an air interface to the mobile station. Such a group is typically referred to as the mobile station's "active set," and may be used to introduce a degree of efficiency into the handoff process, as well as to help the network construct a panoramic view of traffic load. As the mobile station continually monitors the signal strength of sectors, it may correspondingly update its active set as some sectors drop below and others rise above the threshold.
Some air interface communication protocols support sending the same transmission to a mobile station concurrently from two or more of the sectors in the mobile station's active set. Handoff under such a protocol may incorporate a certain seamlessness, as the mobile station can receive concurrent transmissions from multiple sectors as a matter of operation. Exemplary protocols of this type include one or another version of legacy CDMA, such as EIA/TIA/IS-2000 Rel. 0, A (hereafter "IS-2000"). Other air interface protocols specify communicating with a mobile station by transmitting at any one time from only one of the sectors in the mobile station's active set. An exemplary protocol of this type is EIA/TIA/IS-856 Rel. 0, A, or other version thereof (hereafter "IS-856").
In some wireless communication systems or markets, both types of protocol may be implemented. Mobile stations operating in such systems may be capable of communication with either or both protocols, and may further be capable of handing off between them.

Method and system for dynamically merging wireless service sectors


An efficient deicing system is a silicone-graphene foam composite connected to a source of electrical energy for current promoted heating of the silicone-graphene foam composite. The deicing system can be constructed by infusion and curing a silicone resin infused into the graphene foam attached to electrical contacts. The deicing system can be attached to surfaces of an aircraft for rapid deicing of the aircraft.

The aerodynamic performance of aircrafts, wind turbines, rotor blades and other structures operating at temperatures below 0° C., are severely compromised by the adhesion of ice to their surfaces. The continuous accumulation of ice in aircraft surfaces is known to result in the disruption of the airflow with an increase in drag forces and high losses of energy due to mass-imbalance in the structures. Current efforts to reduce and mitigate the ice formation in aircraft surfaces include: dispersion of chemicals; mechanical removal; and electrical heating of surfaces. Electrical heating systems have proven suitable as deicing systems due to the facile induction of heat to promote continuous removal of ice. However, the metals and alloys for current-induced heating elements result in high power consumption.
Recent studies have focused on use of 1D and 2D carbon-based conductive nanoparticles to develop efficient deicing systems. Due to their lightweight, superior electrical and thermal performance these conductive particles have benefits over conventional metal-based systems. The effectiveness of such systems depends on the intrinsic electrical and thermal conductivity of the filler, as well as the nature of the conductive component. For instance, Wang et al. ACS Applied materials and interfaces, 2016, 8, 14169-73 demonstrated the potential of functionalized graphene nanoribbons (FDO/GNR) as an anti-icing and active deicing film. The resulting FDO/GNR film is capable of preventing the formation of ice in surfaces down to −14° C. Deicing of surfaces is achieved by resistive heating of the film in periods of 90 seconds by implementing power densities of ˜0.2 W·cm−2. However, removal of water remnants in the surface requires the introduction of a lubricating liquid.
Despite success for the deicing of surfaces, performance relies strongly on the distribution of conductive particles in their matrix/surface. Therefore, high concentrations of conductive fillers are required to form a complete conductive network and these particles are limited by their tendency to form agglomerates rather than homogeneous dispersions. Such behavior is attributed to strong π-π interactions between nanoparticles. There appears to be the possibility of superior behavior with more hydrophobic matrixes.
Composites comprising silicone, a low surface energy, hydrophobic material, and graphene have been prepared, for example, Verdejo et al. J. Mat. Chem., 2008, 18, 2221-6, but the process involves infusion of silicone foam with functionalized graphene sheets from suspension. The graphene sheets were of particle size 74 microns into an open-cell silicone foam to form silicone foams with up to 0.25 wt %) graphene sheet infusion and thermal conductivities as high as 0.0748 W/mK, about a 50-fold increase over that of the silicone foam. These foams were considered useful for catalysts, filtration media, and for undisclosed applications in biomedical science. Higher thermal conductivities would be desirable for use in deicing.

Three dimensional graphene foam reinforced composite coating and deicing systems therefrom

THE FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES


A power plant for generating electrical power comprises opposed piston assemblies each at the end of a rack and pinion mechanism conformed to pass through a linear inductor. Thus on each piston firing stroke the linear translation of the rack is used to produce electrical power. This is achieved by an interdigitated magnetic structure attached to each rack. In this manner a linear inductor is utilized to take benefit of each stroke in the course of generating electricity. Each pair of opposed pistons includes its own throttle control system, thus allowing for convenient balancing of the total power. The throttle control system operates a mixture mechanism which combines combustion air with fuel and water to form a charge which is injected into the firing chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical power generators, and more particularly to an internal combustion engine conformed to articulate a linear inductor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical power generators have been known in the past. Typically, internal combustion engines were used to produce electrical power, typically including the articulation of pistons within valve cylinders. Heretofore best efficiencies have been realized in the course of what is known as a four-stroke cycle while best power-to-weight ratios are realized in two-stroke cycles. The better fuel efficiencies available in the four-stroke cycle are primarily due to the length of each stroke, the well-known long stroke engine giving the best results. Four-stroke cycles, however, entail many cycle segments which do not produce power. Thus four-stroke cycle engines are best used in a multiple piston arrangement, complicating weight and parts count. Two-stroke engines while quite efficient in their power-to-weight ratio operate well only at high rates and thus are known to be "peaky".
These physical constraints have heretofore dictated generating power plants to very specific configurations both quite complex and limited and useable load range. It is particularly these two deficiencies that have been the source of customer dissatisfaction, where a generator one size has been quite often found unsuitable for other lesser or heavier uses. It is this exact problem that the present invention solves.
Furthermore, conversion efficiencies of 15-40% heretofore realized are inadequate under todays cost of fuel. Efficiency increases to 60-80% in a structure built for extended lifespan is a further feature of the invention herein.


A method of analyzing an array of pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity values to identify a pixel which has a low pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity value and which has neighboring pixels which have a low pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity value; the method comprising filtering the pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity values and varying the spatial extent of the filter aperture in dependence upon a picture spatial activity measure.

This invention concerns the estimation of motion vectors between video frames; and, in particular, the evaluation of the quality of motion vectors, or a motion vector field, produced by a motion measurement process.
In motion compensated image processing, motion vectors are assigned to pixels, or blocks of pixels, in each frame and describe the estimated displacement of each pixel or block in a next frame or a previous frame in the sequence. In the following description, the motion estimation is considered to be "dense" meaning that a motion vector is calculated for every pixel. The definition of "dense" may be widened to cover the calculation of a motion vector for each small block in the picture or for each pixel in a subsampled version of the picture. The invention can be applied with trivial modification to these wider cases.
Motion estimation has application in many image and video processing tasks, including video compression, motion compensated temporal interpolation for standards conversion or slow-motion synthesis, motion compensated noise reduction, object tracking, image segmentation, and, in the form of displacement estimation, stereoscopic 3D analysis and view synthesis from multiple cameras.
Some of the terminology used in describing motion estimation systems will now be described. FIG. 1 shows one-dimensional sections through two successive frames in a sequence of video frames, referred to as the previous or reference frame (101) and the current frame (102). A motion vector (104) is shown assigned to a pixel (103) in the current frame. The motion vector indicates a point (105) in the reference frame which is the estimated source of the current frame pixel (103) in the reference frame. This example shows a backward vector. Forward vectors may also be measured, in which case the reference frame is the next frame in the sequence rather than the previous frame.
An example of an algorithm that calculates motion vectors for pixels is given in WO 87/05769. The principle of this algorithm is summarised in FIG. 2. The current frame (201) and the previous frame (202) are applied to a phase correlation unit (203) which calculates a "menu" consisting of a number (three in this example) of candidate motion vectors (204). Each candidate vector controls a respective one of a set of shift units (205) which, for every pixel in the current frame, displaces the previous frame (202) by the respective candidate vector to produce a corresponding pixel in a set of displaced frames (206). Each displaced frame (206) is subtracted from the current frame and the resulting difference is rectified and spatially filtered in a respective member of a set of error calculation units (207) to produce a set of errors (208). The errors associated with each candidate vector are compared with each other in a comparison unit (209), which finds the minimum value error and the associated candidate index (210), which is applied to a vector selection unit (211) to select one of the candidate vectors (204) to produce a final 'assigned' output vector (212).
In the cited example, the error calculation units (207) rectify the difference between a pixel in the current frame and a displaced pixel in the previous frame. This difference is known as the "displaced frame difference" or "DFD" for that pixel for the respective vector. The DFD is a measure of the 'quality' of the motion vector, or vector field, used to displace pixels. An important property of DFDs will now be described. If a candidate motion vector for a pixel describes the true motion of that pixel, then we would expect the DFD to be small, and only non-zero because of noise in the video sequence. If the candidate motion vector is incorrect, then the DFD may well be large, but it might be coincidentally small. For example, a rising waveform in one frame may match a falling waveform in the displaced frame at the point where they cross. Alternatively, a pixel may be in a plain area or in a one-dimensional edge, in which case several motion vectors would give rise to a small or even a zero DFD value. This inconvenient property of DFDs is sometimes referred to as the "aperture problem" and leads to the necessity of filtering the DFD in order to take information from nearby pixels into account.
In the example of FIG. 2, vectors are applied to blocks of pixels and each of the error calculation units (207) filters the respective DFD with a two-dimensional filter, a typical example of which is a 5×5 running-average filter. It is this rectified and filtered error that is used for comparison of candidate motion vectors. FIG. 3 illustrates the samples involved in the running-average filter. The set of 5×5 samples (302) is centred on the current pixel position (301).
Choosing the size of the two-dimensional error filter involves a trade-off between reliability and spatial accuracy of the resulting motion vector field created by selecting (allocating) vectors on the basis of the filtered errors. If, on the one hand, the filter is large, then the effect of noise on the filtered error is reduced and the filter is more likely to take into account nearby detail in the picture which might help to distinguish reliably between candidate motion vectors. However, a large filter is also more likely to take in pixel data from one or more objects whose motion is properly described by different motion vectors, in which case it will fail to give a low error for any candidate motion vector, even for one that is correct for the pixel in question.
If, on the other hand, the filter is small, it is more likely to involve pixels from only one object and so is more likely to return a low error for the correct motion vector. However, it will be less likely to reject wrong motion vectors and will be more susceptible to noise.
Our prior UK patent application GB 2502047 provides an improved displaced frame difference filter which combines the reliability and noise immunity of a large conventional filter with the sensitivity and spatial accuracy of a small filter, while avoiding the disadvantages of each. However, the choice of the size (extent) of the filter aperture remains problematic; for critical picture material, there is no choice of filter size which yields satisfactory performance in all aspects of reliability, noise immunity, spatial accuracy and sensitivity. There is thus a need for an improved DFD filter that provides a valid measure of the quality of a motion vector, or motion vector field, regardless of the character of the image being analysed.

Video sequence processing of pixel-to-pixel dissimilarity values


In accordance with this invention, there is provided an atmospheric process for the production of a ferritic coating or film. In the first step of this process, an aerosol mist containing reactants necessary to form the ferrite is provided. Thereafter, the mist is subjected to radio-frequency radiation while in the plasma region. Thereafter, the vaporized mixture is then deposited onto a substrate.

For the past fifty years, ferrimagnetic oxide ceramics (ferrites) have been prized for a range of properties that has no equivalent in the existing metal magnetic materials. These ferritic materials are discussed, e.g., in an article by Alex Goldman entitled "Magnetic Ceramics" which appears on pages 147-189 of Lionel M. Levinson's "Electronic Ceramics" (Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1988).
At page 170 of the Goldman article, it is taught that ferritic materials may be used to produce permanent magnet materials, cores for high-frequency power supplies, cores for low-level indictors for telecommunications filters, deflection yokes for television, high-frequency transformers, recording heads for audio and digital magnetic recording, recording media, radar absorbing paint, sensors, microwave components, copier powders, electrodes, ferrofluids, and magnetostrictive transducers.
One of the more important applications for ferritic materials is in microwave technology, where these materials may be used to produce ferrite loaded rectangular waveguides, junction circulators, magnetically tunable microwave filters, microwave switches, and the like. See, e.g., J. Helszain's "Principles of Mircowave Ferrite Engineering"(Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1969).
Films of ferritic material, with thicknesses of from about 0.1 to about 500 microns, have been proposed for use in electronic circuits; see, for example, "Advances in Ceramics, Volume 16, Fourth International Conference on Ferrites, Part II," Edited by Franklin F. Y. Wang (The American Ceramic Society, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, 1984). These ferritic films are useful for microwave integrated circuits, mangetooptical devices, microinductance devices, and the like.
To the best of applicants' knowledge, an economical, reliable process for the large-scale production of high-quality ferritic films has not been described in the prior art. Thus, for example, on page 9 of Volume 15 of "Advances in Ceramics, Fourth International Conference on Ferrites, Part I," Edited by Franklin F. Y. Wang (The American Ceramic Society, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, 1984), it was disclosed that "Thin films of ferrite . . . have been produced experimentally . . . . but a manufacturing technology to produce a high-quality product has not been established."
In 1971, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,576,672, Douglas H. Harris and Richard J. Janowiecki described a process for depositing ferrite coatings by using a direct current arc plasma generator to heat powdered ferrites. Although this process was superior to prior art processes, it often produced ferrite coatings which were substantially inhomogeneous.
In 1989, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,292, Hamime Machida described a process for applying a ferrite coating upon a substrate in which a metal-ion solution is applied to the substrate and the ferrous ion therein is thereafter oxidized. The Machida process often requires the substrate used in it to be heated (see column 3) and, despite such heating, often produces a ferrite film layer with insufficient crystallization (see lines 67 et seq. of column 3), in which case the film must be subjected to a subsequent annealing (see column 4). Because of the need for heating the substrate and/or annealing the ferrite coating, the Machida process is not suitable for the large-scale production of ferrite coatings.
Another ferrite coating process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,046 of Massao Oishi et al. At column 1 of this Oishi patent, the disadvantages of several prior ferrite coating processes are discussed. At column 1 of the patent, Oishi teaches that these prior processes often produce a product whose magnetic recording density is low, and/or require high temperatures, and/or cannot utilize as a substrate a material having a low melting point or a low decomposition temperature or poor heat stability, and/or do not achieve a satisfactory rate of production in an industrial scale, and/or do not produce a suitably high-quality product. However, Oishi's process also suffers from several disadvantages. In the first place, it only can be used on a relatively limited range of substrates (see column 4). In the second place, because Oishi's process usually requires the rotation of the substrate at a speed of about 400 revolutions per minute (see Example 1), a inhomogeneous coating often produced with substantial differences between its center and edge. In the third place, a process such as Oishi's which requires rapid rotation of a substrate is not suitable for large scale production of coatings.
In 1990, another attempt was made to provide a commercially feasible process for producing ferritic coatings. This attempt was described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,626 of Yasunaga et al. The Yasunaga process, however, required the use of a vacuum chamber and, obviously, was also not suitable for the large scale production of ferritic coatings. A substantial amount of energy, time, and money is required for a vacuum system and its operation. In addition, the size of the film which can be made by the vacuum deposition processes is limited by the size of the vacuum chamber used.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for the production of ferritic coatings which may be conducted under atmospheric conditions.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process for the production of ferritic coatings which does not require that the substrate used in the process be heated.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a process for the production of ferritic coatings which does not require that the coating applied to the substrate material be annealed after deposition.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a process for the production of ferritic coatings which produces a coating which is substantially homogeneous.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a process for the production of ferritic coatings which is suitable for the large-scale production of such coatings.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a process for the production of ferritic coatings which can be used to produce complex, coated shaped articles.

Process for preparing ferrite films by radio-frequency generated aerosol plasma deposition in atmosphere


Examples provided herein describe a system and method for satisfying recovery service level agreements (SLAs). For example, a first entity may determine that a first recovery operation is to be performed at a first storage device. The first entity may then determine that the first storage device is available. Responsive to determining that the first storage device is available, the first entity may establish a data connection with a first storage device and may perform a first recovery operation at the first storage device. The first entity may receive a second storage device availability message from a second entity that requests a second recovery operation at the first storage device and may facilitate communication with the second entity. The first entity may then perform the second recovery operation at the first storage device and communicate the recovered data to the second entity.

Data may be backed up from multiple objects (e.g., various applications and systems) onto a single backup storage device such as a tape device. An example backup storage device may only allow one connection at a time from objects that would like to recover data that is stored on the backup storage device.

Satisfying recovery service level agreements (SLAs)

HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT LP


A speed control system maintains vehicle speed at a desired speed by controlling the engine throttle. The speed control system includes feedback from a quadratic control signal having an amplitude related to a square of the speed error signal and also having the speed error signal's sign. The speed control system also includes integral feedback control and proportional feedback control.

The field of the invention relates to speed control systems for motor vehicles.
Prior speed control systems attempted to maintain vehicle speed at a reference speed by utilizing feedback control of the engine throttle in response to an error signal. Proportional feedback control is commonly used wherein the speed error signal is multiplied by a gain constant and the throttle moved in a direction to reduce the speed error signal towards zero. A problem with pure proportional feedback control is that the control system is continuously providing corrections, specially on hilly road surfaces, resulting in some speed oscillation which may be unappealing to the vehicle operator.
In an attempt to address the above problem, integral feedback control has been utilized wherein the error signal is integrated, or averaged, to provide the feedback control system. A disadvantage of such approaches is their inherently slow response to speed changes such as when encountering upgrades or downgrades in the road surface.
It is also known to provide proportional plus integral feedback control in an attempt to achieve both stable operation and rapid correction to alterations in road surfaces. Other systems have also added differential feedback control to correct for sudden changes in vehicle operation.
The inventors herein have recognized numerous disadvantages of the above approaches. More specifically, combining proportional, integral, and/or differential feedback control is a compromise solution which is not satisfactory under all road conditions. For example, the feedback system will still respond to minor variations in road surfaces resulting in a vehicle speed which appears to hunt. Another disadvantage occurs when traveling uphill. The rapid throttle change required for adequate acceleration may be absent in prior approaches. And, when cresting the hill, a rapid decrease in throttle position may be required to prevent speed overshoot which the operator may find unappealing.

Vehicle speed control system with quadratic feedback control


A method for detecting transition metal contamination in or on equipment and fluids used or being evaluated for use in the manufacture, handling, or shipping of silicon wafers and electronic devices manufactured on silicon wafers. A contamination monitor wafer having an average minority carrier lifetime greater than about 250 microseconds is processed using one or more pieces of equipment or fluids. As part of, or subsequent to the processing step, the contamination monitor wafer is exposed to a temperature of at least 600.degree. C. and the minority carrier lifetime values of the contamination monitor wafer is thereafter determined. To insure that the recombination process is dot dominated by the effects of oxygen precipitates, the contamination monitor wafer should have an oxygen precipitate density of less than 10.sup.8 oxygen precipitates per cubic centimeter before and after being exposed to said temperature of at least 600.degree. C.

The present invention is directed to a method for detecting sources of ultra-trace metal contamination in the manufacture of silicon wafers and integrated circuits, in general, and a method for detecting such sources in individual process steps using a contamination monitor wafer, in particular.
As integrated circuit technology advances and the size of electrical devices continues to decrease, the need to impose tighter limits on spurious electrical current leakage continues to increase. These leakage paths are either through minority carrier recombination at metallically contaminated point defect sites in the vicinity of electrical junctions within the device or sub-device cell structure, or through leakage paths in the oxides used as field effect gates of isolation structures. Both paths are deleteriously increased in size when the silicon wafer is contaminated with metals such as iron, copper, nickel, chromium, zinc, and titanium, in general, and iron, in particular.
The manufacture of silicon wafers and electrical devices includes a number of individual processing steps which potentially contribute to metal contamination. Such steps include wet cleaning, ion implantation, reactive ion etching, gaseous cleaning, thermal treatment and polishing. Each of these individual processing steps should be examined, therefore, to determine whether or to what extent, it contributes to metal contamination.
Others have previously proposed that a contamination monitor wafer be used in combination with various minority carrier lifetime measurement or minority carrier diffusion length techniques as "tools" to detect sources of metal contamination. Minority carrier diffusion length and minority carrier lifetime are related according to the following expression: L.sub.d =((D.sub.n (.tau..sub.n)).sup.0.5 wherein L.sub.d is the minority carrier diffusion length in microns, D.sub.n is the election diffusion coefficient, taken to be 35 cm.sup.2 /sec, or 3500 .mu..sup.2 /.mu.s and .tau..sub.n is minority carrier lifetime in microseconds.
The minority carrier lifetime and minority carrier diffusion length of a silicon wafer are both related to the extent of metallic contamination of that wafer. Wherever references are made herein to minority carrier lifetime, it should be kept in mind that minority carrier diffusion length is for many purposes interchangeable therewith and may be substituted therefor. As disclosed in, for example, Zoth and Bergholz, J. Appl. Phys., 67, 6764 (1990), an increase in metal impurity content corresponds to a decrease in minority carrier diffusion length. According to this approach, therefore, the minority carrier lifetime, or minority carrier diffusion length of the monitor wafer is determined before and after it is subjected to one or more individual steps of a silicon wafer or electronic device manufacturing process. A comparison of the two lifetimes or lengths reveals whether, or to what extent, the processing step(s) contribute to metal contamination.
At present, there are several methods for measuring minority carrier lifetime in a silicon slice, slug or crystal, each involving the injection of excess carriers by some means. One technique involves the injection of excess carriers followed by the steady state measurement of an excess carrier dependent parameter such as surface photovoltage or photocurrent.
When making and interpreting the results of such measurements it is often assumed that metal contamination is the sole cause of minority carrier lifetime reductions and that the relative amounts of metal contamination introduced by a process step may be determined by the measurement of minority carrier lifetime. If, however, recombination paths parallel to and independent of metal contamination sites are introduced during the step which is being monitored, the interpretation of the data becomes difficult and the validity of such a minority carrier lifetime measurement to determine the amount of metal contamination introduced is greatly reduced or completely annulled. Oxygen precipitates are one such source of parallel recombination paths and they can dominate the recombination process if present in an amount greater than 10.sup.8 oxygen precipitates per cubic centimeter.
The typical oxygen content of Czochralski silicon also complicates the detection of metallic defects through the formation of thermal donor states which change the sample resistivity. As a result, Czochralski grown silicon is routinely subjected to a donor annihilation at an elevated temperature prior to measurement of the minority lifetime. Such elevated temperature (e.g., at least 650.degree. C.) heat treatments, however, are known to be strong contributors to metallic contamination--as small amounts of residual iron on the surface of the sample are driven into the sample, significantly reducing the lifetime. Donor annihilation is also disadvantageous because it can promote formation of the extended oxygen defects described above.

Method for detecting sources of contamination in silicon using a contamination monitor wafer


A learning on a weight of an adaptive array antenna which becomes necessary for a space division multiple access is carried out while a backward compatibility with a conventional standard is maintained.

A wireless communication eliminates the burden of wiring operations in a traditional wired communication and further serves for a utilization as a technology for realizing a mobile communication. For example, as a regular standard with regard to a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 can be exemplified. IEEE802.11a/g has been already widely spread.
In many wireless LAN systems including IEEE802.11, while an access control procedure based on a carrier sense such as CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) is adopted, respective communication stations are set to avoid collisions of carriers at a time of random channel access. That is, a communication station in which a transmission request is generated first monitors a media state for a predetermined inter frame space DIFS (Distributed Inter Frame Space), performs random back-off if a transmission signal does not exist during this period, and obtains a transmission right and can transmit a frame in a case where the transmission signal does not exist further during this period too. Also, when a frame with a high degree of urgency such as ACK is to be exceptionally transmitted, the communication station is allowed to transmit a frame after a shorter inter frame space SIFS (Short Inter Frame Space). According to this, the frame with the high degree of urgency can be transmitted ahead of a frame that is transmitted in accordance with a normal CSMA procedure.
Also, in the wireless communication, it is known that a hidden terminal problem occurs in which an area exists where the communication stations cannot mutually communicate directly. As mutual hidden terminals cannot perform a negotiation, a possibility exists that transmission operations may collide with each other. As a methodology for solving the hidden terminal problem, "virtual carrier sense" can be exemplified. To be specific, in a case where Duration (duration time) information for reserving media is described in a reception frame whose destination is not the local station, the communication station expects that the media is used during a period in accordance with the Duration information, that is, performs the virtual carrier sense and sets a transmission stop period (NAV: Network Allocation Vector).
As a representative example of a signal transmission reception sequence utilizing the virtual carrier sense, RTS/CTS handshake can be exemplified. A communication station at a data transmission source transmits a transmission request frame (RTS: Request To Send), and a data transmission is started in response to a reception of a confirmation notification frame (CTS: Clear To Send) from a data transmission destination. Then, when the hidden terminal receives at least one of the frames RTS and CTS whose destination is not the local station, the transmission stop period is set on the basis of the Duration information described in the reception frame to avoid the collisions. By using the RTS/CTS handshake in combination with the CSMA/CA control procedure, reduction in overhead of the collisions in an overloaded state may be realized in some cases.
Also, according to the standard of IEEE802.11a/g, in a 2.4 GHz band or 5 GHz band frequency, by utilizing an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing: OFDM), a modulation method that achieves a communication speed of 54 Mbps at maximum (physical layer data rate) is supported. In IEEE802.11n that is an extended standard, a further higher bit rate is realized by adopting an MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) communication system. Herein, MIMO refers to a communication system provided with a plurality of antenna elements on both a transmitter side and a receiver side for realizing spatially multiplexed streams (widely known).
IEEE802.11n maintains a backward compatibility with IEEE802.11a/g. For example, in a frame format of IEEE802.11n, a method of spoofing a signal information (L-SIG) field where a header section guarantees the backward compatibility is adopted. To be specific, spoofed frame length information and transmission rate information are described in the signal information (L-SIG), and a legacy communication terminal compliant with IEEE802.11a/g is caused to recognize that the frames continue during a period until a frame exchange sequence having no backward compatibility is completed and stand by for a transmission operation to avoid the collisions. On the other hand, with respect to a communication terminal compliant with IEEE802.11n, it is indicated that L-SIG is spoofed by switching a signal arrangement of a part of a signal information (HT-SIG) field where the backward compatibility of the header section is not guaranteed. Therefore, a high speed communication terminal compliant with IEEE802.11n obtains correct Duration information based on a decoding result of HT-SIG and can perform an appropriate virtual carrier sense (for example, see PTL 1).
Although a high throughput (High Throughput: HT) above 100 Mbps can be achieved by IEEE802.11n, along with an increase in the information amount of transmission contents, realization of a further higher speed is demanded. For example, as the number of antennas in the MIMO communication device is increased and the number of streams to be spatially multiplexed is increased, it is possible to improve the throughput in a one-to-one communication while the backward compatibility is maintained.
In future, an improvement in the throughput for the plurality of users as a whole is demanded in addition to the throughput per user in the communication. For example, the working group for IEEE802.11ac aims to establish a wireless LAN standard in which a frequency band smaller than or equal to 6 GHz is used and a data transmission speed exceeds 1 Gbps, and for the realization, like multi user MIMO (MU-MIMO) or SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access), a space division multiple access system where a wireless resource on a spatial axis is shared by a plurality of users is potent.
At present, the space division multiple access is under review as one of fundamental technologies for a next generation mobile phone series system based on a time division multiple access (Time Division Multiple Access: TDMA) such as PHS (Personal Handyphone System) or LTE (Long Term Evolution). Also, in a wireless LAN field, a one-to-many communication is being paid attention as described above, but an application example is rarely met. This is probably because it is difficult to efficiently multiplex the plurality of users in the frame communication.
Also, when an operation of the space division multiple access is started by the new wireless LAN standard, as a communication device of the relevant new standard needs to operate under a communication environment where a communication device of the conventional standard exists in a mixed manner, it is necessary to sufficiently take the backward compatibility with the conventional standard into account.
For example, when the communication device compliant with the new standard transmits frames to a plurality of communication partners at the same time by applying the space division multiple access, the hidden terminal that contains at least one of the communication stations at the transmission source and the transmission destination of the relevant frame in a communication range refrains from a transmission operation over a period until the series of frame exchange sequence is ended even when a multiplexed signal cannot be decoded as not being compliant with the new standard and needs to avoid collisions of transmission signals.
According to the conventional IEEE802.11, a mechanism of the carrier sense such as CSMA/CA and RTS/CTS is introduced. Therefore, in the new standard such as IEEE802.11ac, it is necessary to preferably combine the carrier sense with the space division multiple access.
For example, a communication system is proposed in which two technologies of the carrier sense in the conventional IEEE802.11 and the space division multiple access by an adaptive array antenna are combined with each other by using the RTS, CTS, and ACK frames composed of a frame format that maintains backward compatibility with the conventional IEEE802.11 (for example, see PTL 2).
Also, the communication station can perform the space division multiple access as the plurality of antenna elements function as the adaptive array antenna, but for that, it is necessary to previously perform the learning on the weight of the adaptive array antenna. For example, the communication station can learn the weight of the adaptive array antenna by obtaining it from the training signal that is received from each of the plurality of communication partners. Alternatively, by using a predetermined adaptation algorithm such as RLS (Recursive Least Square) with respect to the training signal, it is possible to directly carry out the learning on the weight of the adaptive array antenna (for example, see PTL 2).
In either method, the communication station that performs the learning on the weight of the adaptive array antenna needs each of the communication partners to send the training signal. Also, under the communication environment where the communication apparatuses that only follow the conventional standard exist in a mixed manner, similarly as in a state in which the normal frame exchange sequence needs to be carried out while avoiding the collisions of the carriers, the training signal needs to be transmitted while avoiding the interference by the communication apparatuses that only follow the conventional standard. That is, it is necessary to learn the weight of the adaptive array antenna while the backward compatibility with the conventional standard is maintained.

Communication apparatus and communication method, computer program, and communication system

Abstract: When a TRQ frame and a training frame for the learning are exchanged, a spoof is applied on these frames to preferably avoid collisions with a surrounding station STA4 that follows a conventional standard. Also, after the weight of the adaptive array antenna is learnt, a STA0 multiplexes and transmits the plurality of data frames addressed to a plurality of users while a wireless resource on a spatial axis is shared by the plurality of users, so that a throughput for one-to-many, that is, for the plurality of users as a whole is improved.


A touch control method and electronic apparatus are described. The method includes a touch sensing unit on which an operational body carries out a continuous touch operation. The method includes determining a first coordinate of a first touch point on the touch sensing unit corresponding to the operational body at a first moment; determining a first operational area including the first coordinate on the touch sensing unit according to the first coordinate; determining a second coordinate of a second touch point on the touch sensing unit corresponding to the operational body at a second moment; obtaining a moving vector from the first touch point to the second touch point according to the first coordinate and the second coordinate; deciding whether the second coordinate is within the first operational area to generate a decision result; and executing a command corresponding to the moving vector according to the decision result.

The present invention relates to touch control method for electronic apparatus and the corresponding electronic apparatus.
Recently, various electronic apparatus such as cellular phone, portable music player and portable computer have become widespread use. In these portable electronic apparatus, a touch sensing unit for accepting the input of the user is generally comprised to facilitate the operation of the user. The touch sensing unit may comprise a touch sensing region composed of sensing elements such as a capacitor type touch sensor or a resistor type touch sensor or the like. The user may carry out an action such as clicking, double-clicking, dragging or the like on the touch control region to implement a corresponding control function.
However, with the development of the technology, the processing capacity of the processor increases, the functions that can be provided to the user by the portable electronic apparatus increases continuously. Simple touch operation such as clicking, double-clicking as mentioned above can't satisfy the more and more versatile operational demand of the user. The operation needing a finger to move on the touch sensing unit such as dragging comes into wide use.
However, in the conventional electronic apparatus, for example, when the finger is moved on the touch sensing unit to magnify/reduce a display object, the precision of the magnify/reduce operation generally can't be controlled accurately by moving the finger. Further, for example, when the display object is moved by moving the finger on the touch sensing unit, the speed for moving the display object generally can't be controlled accurately by moving the finger.
Further, when the user needs to operate the electronic apparatus while holding the electronic apparatus, moving the finger on the touch sensing unit to perform a corresponding control input usually brings inconvenience to the user operating the electronic apparatus single-handed.

Touch control method and electronic device


HR or high resiliency polyurethane foams having improved processing stability are prepared from reactive urethane formation promoting active hydrogen-containing compositions which have been pre-treated with carbon dioxide or a weak acid. The pre-treated active hydrogen-containing composition is, then, reacted with an organic polyisocyante to form the foams hereof.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns HR polyurethane foams. More particularly, the present invention concerns urethane formation promoting active-hydrogen-containing compositions for use in the preparation of HR polyurethane foams. Even more particularly, the present invention concerns stabilized, reactive active-hydrogen-containing compositions for use in HR polyurethane foams.
II. Prior Art
The preparation of HR or high resiliency polyurethane foams with high load bearing and strength properties by the reaction of a polyol or other active-hydrogen-containing compound and an organic polyisocyanate in the presence of a cross-linking agent is well known. Until recently, the most widely used cross-linking agent was 4,4'-methylene-bis-(2-chloroaniline) (MOCA). This compound, which is sterically hindered and negative-substituted, evidences a reactivity rate substantially equal to that of the active hydrogen compound with the isocyanate. Thus, it permitted urethane formation at a good rate, in deference to polyurea formation. However MOCA is a suspected carcinogen and has, thus, been virtually banned. Therefore, the art now seeks viable alternatives to MOCA.
Diamine cross-linking agents which have now been investigated include methylene dianiline, isophorone diamine, and bis-(p-aminocyclohexyl)methane. However, these diamines are highly reactive with isocyanate. Thus, when employed as cross-linking agents with active-hydrogen-containing compounds, they tend to form insoluble polyureas with the isocyanate before urethane formation occurs. Hence, it is readily appreciated that polyurethane foam formation in the presence of highly reactive diamine cross-linking agents can be extremely difficult. In copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 842,621, filed Oct. 17, 1977 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,218 for "HIGH RESILIENCE FLEXIBLE FOAMED POLYURETHANES, FOAMABLE MIXTURES AND PROCESS THEREFOR", the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, the use of highly reactive cross-linking diamines is disclosed. It has been experienced that polyurethane foam systems incorporating these discoveries are extremely sensitive to external conditions, such as variation in foam formulation, moisture content and the like. Such sensitivity inhibits consistency in foaming. However, because of such difficulty in preparing foams due to the diamine reactivity, the benefits of the diamines cannot be fully achieved.
Therefore, it is to be appreciated that the use of highly reactive diamines would be greatly enhanced if their reactivity could be lessened to equal or approximate that of urethane formation promoting active-hydrogen-containing compound, thereby enabling the preparation of HR polyurethane foams therefrom.

HR foams made with reactive polyol compositions having improved stability


In a automotive headlamp having a discharge bulb as a light source, a lighting circuit receiving chamber is formed in the rear of a lamp body, a discharge bulb lighting circuit is fixed in the lighting circuit receiving chamber through resin molding, and an inner flange-like guide portion is formed in the lighting circuit receiving chamber to act as a reference member to set a liquid surface position of poured molten resin in pouring the resin. Also, the inner flange-like guide portion abuts against the surface of the molded resin portion to thereby prevent the molded resin portion from separating from the lighting circuit receiving chamber.

The present invention relates to a automotive headlamp in which a discharge bulb is used as a light source.
In the field of automotive headlamps, much recent attention has been paid to discharge bulbs in view of their good luminous efficiency and color properties as well as their long lifetime. Development activities directed to using discharge bulbs as automotive headlamps have been actively pursued.
A lighting circuit for applying a high voltage across the opposing electrodes of a discharge bulb is required for actuating the discharge bulb to start the discharge. As shown in FIG. 8 , a headlamp employing a discharge bulb has a structure in which a lighting circuit receiving casing 3 for housing a lighting circuit 4 therein is attached to the rear portion of a lamp body 1 in which a discharge bulb 2 is inserted. Various electronic components are mounted on a printed circuit board 5 within the lighting circuit 4.
In the prior art arrangement described above, however, the printed circuit board 5 is mounted in the casing 3 through screws or by bonding with an adhesive, so that the electronic components constituting the lighting circuit 4 are subject to vibration and the entry of moisture.


An optical fiber assembly which can be used without deterioration in the performance thereof even when it is used under a severe environmental condition wherein temperature frequently changes over a wide temperature range. The structure of an optical fiber assembly in accordance with the invention may be applied to an optical fiber connector plug and the like. The optical fiber connector plug is constituted by an optical fiber having an end with a protective sheath thereof removed, a ferrule of a support for fixing of the optical fiber, a thin-wall metal pipe which receives the protective sheath on the optical fiber and fixes it by crimping a plurality of places thereof, and a metal supporting sleeve with a flange which is provided as an integral part of the ferrule and which supports the thin-wall metal pipe. The optical fiber and the thin-wall metal pipe are fixed to the ferrule and the metal supporting sleeve, respectively, at the same time by gluing with thermosetting resin. The physical properties such as the hardness of the protective sheath of the optical fiber assembly change in a reversible manner between the upper and lower extremes of the environment wherein the optical fiber assembly is used; however, the problem of slipping out (pistoning) observed in a conventional optical fiber assembly is reliably prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber assembly such as an optical fiber connector plug and, more particularly, to an optical fiber assembly which is expected to be used under a severe environmental condition wherein temperature frequently changes over a wide range with high and low extreme temperatures.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical fiber assembly is often used under a severe environmental condition wherein temperature frequently changes greatly between high and low extremes. The following describes problems found in such an optical fiber assembly.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional optical fiber connector plug; FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an optical fiber connector plug which has been broken during a heating cycle test. A zirconia ceramic ferrule is extensively used for a ferrule 3 which has a through hole for receiving an optical fiber 2 at the center of the ferrule 3. A metallic supporting sleeve 4 made of stainless steel has a flange, a stepped hole 6 for receiving the base of the ferrule 3, and a hole for receiving an optical fiber protective sheath 1.
The optical fiber protective sheath 1 employs UV resin or PVC resin. The optical fiber 2 is fixed in a hole 5 of the ferrule 3 with an epoxy resin adhesive agent 17a; the optical fiber protective sheath 1 is glued and fixed on the metallic supporting sleeve 4 with epoxy resin adhesive agents 17b, 17c.
Various tests are conducted, expecting that the optical fiber assembly will be used in a severe environment. The upper limit of the temperature range which an optical connector is required to survive during heating cycle test is +80.degree. C. and the lower limit is -40.degree. C. During the heating cycle test, the temperature is increased from 25.degree. C. to the upper limit, namely, +80.degree. C. in 30 minutes, then the upper limit temperature is maintained for 30 minutes; the temperature is then decreased back to 25.degree. C. in 30 minutes, and the 25.degree. C. temperature is maintained for 30 minutes before it is decreased to the lower limit, namely, -40.degree. C., in 30 minutes; then the -40.degree. C. temperature is maintained for 30 minutes before it is increased back to 25.degree. C. in 30 minutes and the 25.degree. C. temperature is maintained for 30 minutes. This cycle is repeated. The number of repetitions ranges from 10 to 1000 cycles although it depends on the request of each user. In the heating cycle test, the optical characteristics of the optical connector are required to stay within specified values.
The heating cycle test is one of the extremely exacting tests for a device with an optical fiber; there has been a problem in that an optical fiber breaks during a heating cycle test which consists of many repeated cycles of 100 or more.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, it often happens that the optical fiber 2 breaks at point B and the optical fiber sheath 1 moves out in the direction of the arrow from the stepped hole 6 of the supporting sleeve 4.
The problem is considered attributable mainly to the difference in expansion from the difference in the linear expansion coefficient based on the different materials used for the metallic supporting sleeve 4 and the optical fiber protective sheath 1, the transition of the epoxy resin adhesive agent into hard glass due to curing, the change which takes place in the hardness of the protective sheath made of hard-to-stick PVC resin, and unsuccessful adhesion to the protective sheath 1 which has a smooth surface. When stainless steel is used for the metallic supporting sleeve 4, the linear expansion coefficient, which constitutes a factor for the shift in the axial direction, will be approximately 12.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree.C. In the case of a single-mode (SM) optical fiber core with a quartz (Si) type clad, the linear expansion coefficient is 12.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree.C. which is practically similar to the one obtained with the stainless steel. Using the PVC resin, however, for the optical fiber protective sheath 1 causes a linear expansion coefficient, which constitutes a factor for the shift in the axial direction, to be 50.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree.C., indicating a significant difference between the core and the stainless steel.
If an adhesion length L of the protective sheath 1 is 5 mm and the difference in temperature during the heating cycle test is 120.degree. C., then the expansion of the protective sheath 1 will be 30 .mu.m in relation to the axial expansion 7 .mu.m of the metallic supporting sleeve 4, the difference in expansion being approximately 23 .mu.m. Hence the protective sheath 1, which is incompletely glued at high temperature, extends out of the supporting sleeve 4 by the length which corresponds to the difference in expansion between the protective sheath 1 and the flange. It is considered that the protective sheath 1 moves to the right in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 because it is difficult for it to move toward the ferrule.
On the contrary, the protective sheath 1 shrinks at low temperature; however, it does not go back to home position thereof. This is considered because the PVC resin hardens at the extremely low temperature, namely, -40.degree. C. and the frictional force or the like produced between the protective sheath 1 and the surface of the ferrule hole prevents the protective sheath 1 from going back to the home position thereof.
Thus, the PVC resin protective sheath 1 comes out in a very small amount by the difference in expansion for each cycle.
Hence, it is presumed that tensile stress in the axial direction is accumulated in the optical fiber 2 for each cycle until the optical fiber 2 finally breaks. FIG. 8 shows the optical fiber 2 which has broken with the protective sheath 1 drawn together with the adhesive agent 17c out of the hole of the supporting sleeve 4. The phenomenon where a part of the optical fiber slips out is called "pistoning phenomenon."
The breakage of the optical fiber stated above is a critical shortcoming of an optical fiber assembly. Repeated application of excessive stress to a part of the optical fiber can cause deterioration in the optical characteristics of the optical fiber even if the optical fiber does not break.

Optical fiber assembly and manufacturing method for the same


An information processing terminal is disclosed that is allowed to carry out contactless data transmission or reception with a reading or writing device by use of a magnetic field. The information processing terminal includes a data transmitter or receiver, a signal processor, and a load modulator. The data transmitter or receiver is configured to generate an induced voltage from a magnetic field generated from the reading or writing device at the time of data reception, and send a transmission signal to the read/write reading or writing device at the time of data transmission. The signal processor is configured to generate a response signal based on the induced voltage. The load modulator controls a variable resistance based on the induced voltage and carries out load modulation relating to the transmission signal based on the response signal and the variable resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing terminal, IC card, portable communication device, wireless communication method, and program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, contactless information processing terminals that can communicate with a read/write device (referred to as "reader/writer", hereinafter) through wireless communication, such as contactless integrated circuit (IC) cards and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, have been widely distributed.
Contactless IC cards and RFID tags do not have a power supply in these media themselves but employ an induced voltage as the driving power supply thereof. The induced voltage refers to a voltage that is generated depending on magnetic flux when a magnetic field arising due to flowing of a current through a transmission coil as a transmission/reception antenna included in a reader/writer passes through a reception coil as a transmission/reception antenna included in the contactless IC cards and RFID tags. That is, the contactless IC cards and RFID tags receive through the reception coil the energy of the magnetic field transmitted from the transmission coil of the reader/writer, to thereby acquire the power necessary for driving thereof.
Furthermore, the contactless IC cards and RFID tags enable/disable a load included therein to thereby vary the impedance seen from the reader/writer. This impedance variation for the reader/writer through the enabling/disabling of the load is referred to as load modulation.
The load modulation in the contactless IC card or RFID tag varies the current that flows through the transmission coil in the reader/writer. The reader/writer detects the change of the current flowing through its transmission coil, varied due to the load modulation of the contactless IC card or RFID tag. The reader/writer regards this current change as response from the contactless IC card or RFID tag, and operates depending on the response.
In general, as the distance between the reader/writer and the contactless IC card or RFID tag becomes larger, the intensity of the magnetic field received by the reception coil of the contactless IC card or RFID tag from the reader/writer becomes smaller, and the induced voltage also becomes lower.
Furthermore, a magnetic field with a specific frequency (referred to as "carrier", hereinafter), such as a frequency of 13.56 MHz, is utilized for the communication between the contactless IC card or RFID tag and the reader/writer. The contactless IC cards and RFID tags include a resonant circuit designed to resonate at the specific frequency. However, if an impeder such as another contactless IC card exists between the reader/writer and the contactless IC card or RFID tag, the resonant frequency is changed, which lowers the induced voltage.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-222696 and No. Hei 10-233717 disclose a technique for stabilizing communication between an information processing terminal such as a contactless IC card or RFID tag and a reader/writer even when the distance between the information processing terminal and the reader/writer is changed or the resonant frequency of the information processing terminal is changed.
However, in some cases, the load modulation would be possibly executed when the energy of a magnetic field acquired by the information processing terminal from the reader/writer is low, i.e., when the magnitude of power acquired by the information processing terminal from the magnetic field is small, such as when the Induced voltage is originally low or when resonance is not caused at the specific frequency used as the frequency of the carrier and thus the induced voltage is lowered. In these cases, the information processing terminal would possibly become inoperative due to failure in acquisition of the power necessary for driving of the information processing terminal because of power consumption of a load such as a resistor relating to the load modulation. This would possibly lead not only to failure in the communication between the reader/writer and the information processing terminal but also to other various problems, such as corruption of data relating to the communication and recognition of unexpected data by the reader/writer.
Problems in an existing information processing terminal will be described below based on FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a circuit relating to load modulation in the existing information processing terminal.
Referring to FIG. 6, the circuit relating to load modulation in the existing information processing terminal is formed of a resistor Rf having a specific resistance R and an N-channel metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) (referred to as "NMOS transistor", hereinafter) Tr2. The NMOS transistor Tr2 serves as a switch that is turned ON/OFF based on a response signal S5 that is a binary signal indicating a high or low level. An induced voltage V1 is applied to one end of the circuit. When the NMOS transistor Tr2 is ON, i.e., when the response signal S5 is at the high level, the other end of the circuit is connected to the ground GND, so that a current I4 flows through the circuit based on the induced voltage V1 and the resistance R of the resistor Rf. In contrast, when the NMOS transistor Tr2 is OFF, i.e., when the response signal S5 is at the low level, the circuit is open, and hence the current I4 does not flow through the circuit. The current I4 that flows through the circuit is expressed as I4=V1/R, and the power P3 consumed by the circuit is expressed as P3=R(I4)2=(V1)2/R.
As the resistance R of the resistor Rf becomes lower, the current I4 that flows through the resistor Rf when the response signal S5 is at the high level becomes larger, and the power consumption P3 also becomes higher. When the current I4 is large, a variation in the impedance of the existing information processing terminal seen from a reader/writer is also large, which has an advantageous effect on signal transmission from the existing information processing terminal to the reader/writer. However, the power consumption P3 is also high at this time. Therefore, if the induced voltage V1 is low, there is a possibility that the existing information processing terminal cannot be driven normally due to failure in securing of the power necessary for driving of the existing information processing terminal. When the information processing terminal is an IC card in particular, the terminal does not have a power supply in the terminal itself in many cases. Therefore, the failure in securing of the power necessary for the driving would lead to a serious problem.
In contrast, if the resistance R of the resistor Rf is increased, the current I4 that flows through the resistor Rf and the power consumption P3 can be decreased. In this case, the possibility of the occurrence of the failure in securing of the power necessary for driving of the existing information processing terminal is low. However, the variation in the impedance of the existing information processing terminal seen from the reader/writer is small irrespective of the magnitude of the induced voltage V1, which has a disadvantageous effect on signal transmission from the existing information processing terminal to the reader/writer.

Information processing terminal, IC card, portable communication device, wireless communication method, and program


An image-receiving element for use in photographic and photothermographic diffusion transfer film units of the type wherein the image-receiving element is designed to be removed or "peeled-apart" from a photosensitive element following exposure and processing. The present image-receiving element comprises in sequence, a support, an image-receiving layer, and an overcoat layer. The overcoat layer comprises a major amount by dry weight of water-insoluble particles and a minor amount by dry weight of a water-insoluble polymeric latex binder material. The water-insoluble particles may comprise inorganic particles such as colloidal silica, and/or organic particles such as water-insoluble polymeric latex particles.

This invention relates to an image-receiving element for use in photographic and photothermographic film units of the diffusion transfer type. More particularly, the invention relates to an image-receiving element especially adapted for use in diffusion transfer film units of the type wherein an image-receiving element is designed to be separated from a photosensitive element after exposure and processing.
Photographic film units for use in diffusion transfer type photographic processes are well known. Such film units including both "peel apart" (i.e. wherein an image-receiving element is separated from a photosensitive element after exposure and processing) and "integral" (wherein the image-receiving element and photosensitive element are maintained as a superimposed integral unit after exposure and processing) formats. Various embodiments of "peel apart" and "integral" formats are known in the art including those wherein images are formed in black and white, and color, as described in: E. H. Land, H. G. Rogers, and V. K. Walworth, in J. M. Sturge, ed., Neblette's Handbook of Photography and Reprography, 7th ed., Van Nostrand Reinhold, N.Y., 1977, pp. 258-330; and V. K. Walworth and S. H. Mervis, in J. Sturge, V. Walworth, and A. Shepp, eds., Imaging Processes and Materials: Neblette's Eighth Edition, Van Nostrand Reinhold, N.Y., 1989, pp. 181-225. Additional examples of "peel apart" film units are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,983,606; 3,345,163; 3,362,819; 3,594,164; and 3,594,165.
In general, diffusion transfer photographic products and processes involve film units having a photosensitive element including at least one silver halide layer. After photoexposure, the photosensitive element is developed, generally by uniformly distributing an aqueous alkaline processing composition over the photoexposed element, to establish an imagewise distribution of a diffusible image-providing material. The image-providing material, (typically image dyes or complexed silver), is selectively transferred, at least in part, by diffusion to an image-receiving layer or element positioned in a superposed relationship with the developed photosensitive element and capable of mordanting or otherwise fixing the image-providing material. The image-receiving layer retains the transferred image for viewing. In diffusion transfer photographic products of the "peel-apart" format, the image is viewed in the image-receiving layer upon separation of the image-receiving element from the photosensitive element after a suitable imbibition period. With "integral" formats, such separation is not required.
Black and white transfer images are generally formed by exposing and developing a silver halide emulsion, and subsequently dissolving and transferring silver from unexposed, or less exposed regions, to an image-receiving layer containing silver precipitating agents or nuclei. Color images are generally formed by the imagewise transfer of image dyes from a photosensitive element to an image-receiving layer containing a dye mordant material.
Image-receiving elements particularly adapted for use in "peel-apart" diffusion transfer film units usually include an image-receiving layer for retaining the transferred image. This image-receiving layer is typically arranged on a substrate layer of suitable material or a combination of layers arranged on the substrate layer, each of the layers providing specific and desired functions adapted to the formation of the desired image in accordance with diffusion transfer processing. In one well known photographic embodiment, the image-receiving element comprises a support material (preferably, an opaque support material carrying a light-reflecting layer for the viewing of the desired transfer image thereagainst by reflection); a polymeric acid-reacting (neutralizing) layer adapted to lower the environmental pH of the film unit subsequent to substantial transfer image formation; a spacer or timing layer adapted to slow the diffusion of the alkali of an aqueous alkaline processing composition toward the polymeric neutralizing layer; and an image-receiving layer to receive the transferred photographic image. Such a structure is described, for example, in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,819 and is illustrated in other patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,322,489 and 4,547,451.
Photothermographic film products for use in diffusion transfer type processes are also well known in the art. Various embodiments of such film products are known and typically comprise: 1) a photosensitive element including at least one photosensitive silver halide emulsion and a corresponding image providing material (e.g. silver for black and white embodiments, image dyes for color embodiments), and 2) an image-receiving element including an image receiving layer. Typically, the photosensitive element is exposed and subsequently brought in superposed contact with the image-receiving element, wherein the assembly is heated for a predetermined time period. In addition to heating, some applications require a small amount of water to be added to the photosensitive element prior to lamination with the image-receiving element. The application of heat, (and water if used), results in the image-wise diffusion of image materials from the photosensitive element, to the image-receiving element. Subsequently, the image-receiving element is separated from the photosensitive element. Various embodiments of photothermographic film units and processes are described in: S. H. Mervis and V. K. Walworth, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th. Edition, Volume 6, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1993, pp. 1036-1039. Specific examples of such film units are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,631,251; 4,650,748; 4,656,124; 4,704,345; 4,975,361; and 5,223,387.
The surface of the image-receiving elements used in "peel apart" photographic and photothermographic film products is often susceptible to tackiness due to the absorption of moisture. Moisture may be provided by the environment, or by way of the processing conditions, which may include the introduction of water and/or other processing liquid. As a result of the absorption of moisture, the surface of the image-receiving element may become wet and sticky. As such, image-receiving elements often cannot be stacked upon one another during storage and/or manufacturing without blocking, i.e. sticking between individual elements.
Furthermore, in photographic embodiments, the surface of the image-receiving element often remains wet and sticky for some period of time after it has been separated from the photosensitive element. During this time period care must be exercised in the handling of the photograph so as not to damage it. Further, in instances where it is desired to place the photograph in a holder of some type for storage purposes, or where it is desired to laminate a protective layer over the photograph, it is necessary to wait until the surface of the photograph is sufficiently dry to permit it to be handled in that manner. The time period required to allow such handling varies dependent upon various factors such as the amount of liquid taken up by the image-receiving layer during photographic processing and the ambient relative humidity and temperature conditions. Additionally at any time after processing and drying, the photograph may encounter humid conditions which can render the surface of the photograph wet and sticky.
Thus, it is desired to provide an image-receiving element which maintains a relatively non-stick, substantially dry outer surface under humid environmental conditions. Furthermore, with photographic film units, it is desired to reduce the time period following photographic processing before which the image-receiving element can be further handled.

Image-receiving element with particle containing overcoat for diffusion transfer film products


A device is allowed to be used only in a specified country. The device has an automatic location detection part, and automatically determines its location, and whether that location is authorized. If unauthorized, or if no location detection signal is detected for too long a time, the device is deactivated.

Goods may be separately licensed for use in different jurisdictions. For example, a Prada™ purse may be made specifically for the Mexican market. This purse may be slightly different than the US version, and may be sold for a different price. However once the item is sold, it is difficult to keep it from entering another jurisdiction.
Gray goods are goods that are licensed for use only in a certain jurisdiction, but then used in another different jurisdiction. This has become a difficult problem with clothing and furnishings such as purses and other designer goods. It is also a problem with electronic items.


A device (1) for the intermediate storage of photographic material (4-8) in sheet form includes an entrance (2) for receiving the material (4-8), an exit (3) for discharging the material (4-8) and several rotatably supported rollers (9-16; 40, 41) which are provided to transport of the material in sheet form (4-8) from the entrance (2) to the exit (3) and can be driven by at least one drive means (17-22). A monitoring means (23, 24A, 24B) for monitoring positions of intermediately stored sheets (4-8) of the photographic material (4-8) is also provided. A control means (23) controls the rotation speeds of the driveable rollers (9-16; 40, 41) in such a way that during operation the rotation speed of at least one of the rollers (9-16; 40, 41) can be adjusted independently of the rotation speeds of the other rollers (9-16; 40, 41) in response to the monitored positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to it device for the intermediate storage of photographic sheet material with an entrance for receiving the material, an exit for discharging the material, several rotatably supported rollers for transporting the material in sheet form from the entrance to the exit and a drive means for driving the rollers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The devices this type can preferably be used in a so-called minilab. In the minilab, image originals recorded on photographic film are read with the device and the obtained image information is exposed on photographic sheet material in either analog or digital form. After the exposure step, the photographic sheet material is transferred to another station for developing the exposed photographic paper. The exposed image information which is recorded as a latent image of the photographic sheet, is thereby made visible and stabilized. Fully processed paper copies with the image information are returned at the exit of the minilab. The minilab performs the exposure end developing processes automatically in sequence. Disadvantageously, however, the exposure process may occur much faster than the developing process in which the photographic sheet paper passes through chemical baths which takes time. Since the image information of a following film is read only after the photographic paper associated with the current film has been fully exposed and developed, there may be a waiting time until the next film can be processed. This reduces the efficiency of the minilab.
It was therefore proposed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,47220 to arrange between the station exposing the photographic paper and the station developing the photographic paper a device for intermediate storage of the exposed photographic paper. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,472, a container is placed between the exposure station and the developing station, in which container the exposed photographic sheet paper is inserted at an entrance disposed at the top of the container. An exit is provided at the underside of the container, wherein the exposed photographic paper intermediately stored in the container is transferred to the developing station over a roller. The different sheets of the photographic paper are arranged in the container in the form of stacks. With his arrangement, the sheets can be supplied and withdrawn consecutively. The sheets are processed in the exposure and developing station in the original order. Since the exposed photographic paper is stacked in the container one on top of the other and adjacent sheets make contact which each other, this conventional device may disadvantageously cause adjacent sheets to damage each other. For example, the sheets can stick to one another.
The European patent application EP 0 708 365 A1 discloses a device for the intermediate storage of photographic sheet material which obviates the aforedescribed disadvantages. In the device disclosed in this reference, the photographic sheet paper is inserted into the intermediate storage device after exposure in the exposure station and transported onward through the intermediate storage device towards the entrance of the developing station. This prevents individual sheets of photographic paper from coming into contact with each other in the intermediate storage device. Different arrangements are proposed for receiving and transporting the individual sheets in the intermediate storage device. All these arrangements have in common that the sheets are transported by a band which moves over drive rollers. The transport speed of the sheets transported through the intermediate storage device is thereby held constant. To ensure that the disclosed intermediate storage device has sufficient storage capacity for the intermediate storage of photographic sheet paper and that the transit time of a sheet to be intermediately stored is kept as short as possible, it is proposed to make the transport path of the sheets through the intermediate storage device dependent on the total number of sheets held in the intermediate storage device. Mechanical assemblies which can be used to vary the transport path of the intermediate storage device--and thereby also the storage capacity of the intermediate storage device--tend to be quite complex.

Device for intermediate storage of photographic sheet material