A system and method are provided for displaying a data series. In one embodiment, a graphical interface is provided including at least one axis that is divided into a plurality of axis regions. Preferably, each axis region uses a different linear scale, and the plurality of axis regions forms a continuous non-linear scale. The graphical interface also displays the data series in relation to the plurality of axis regions, and the data series is plotted in relation to each axis region based on a scale resolution corresponding to each respective axis region.

An exchange is a central marketplace with established rules and regulations where buyers and sellers meet to trade. Some exchanges, referred to as open outcry exchanges, operate using a trading floor where buyers and sellers physically meet on the floor to trade. Other exchanges, referred to as electronic exchanges, operate by an electronic or telecommunications network instead of a trading floor to facilitate trading in an efficient, versatile, and functional manner. Electronic exchanges have made it possible for an increasing number of people to actively participate in a market at any given time. The increase in the number of potential market participants has advantageously led to, among other things, a more competitive market and greater liquidity.
With respect to electronic exchanges, buyers and sellers may log onto an electronic exchange trading platform by way of a communication link through their user terminals. Once connected, buyers and sellers may typically choose which tradeable objects they wish to trade. As used herein, the term "tradeable object" refers to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is not limited to, all types of traded events, goods and/or financial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options, bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives and collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, and metals. The tradeable object may be "real," such as products that are listed by an exchange for trading, or "synthetic," such as a combination of real products that is created by the user. A tradeable object could actually be a combination of other tradeable object, such as a class of tradeable objects.
Every day, there are thousands of traders buying and selling for many different reasons, such as, for example, fear of loss, hope of gain, hedging, broker recommendations, and many others. To profit in electronic markets, market participants must be able to assimilate large amounts of data in order to recognize market trends and to view current market conditions. However, trying to figure out why market participants are buying or selling can be very difficult. Chart patterns may put buying and selling activities into perspective by providing a concise picture of the two activities as a tool to analyze markets. Among many different market data types, traders may wish to view one or more price charts to forecast future price movements, for example. A price chart displays a sequence of prices plotted over a specific timeframe, as well as other information that can be useful in analyzing market trends and market patterns, including technical indicators, such as, for example, moving averages.
Typically, a timeframe used for forming a price chart depends on the level of data compression, and determines the level of detail of the displayed data. The timeframe of a price chart may be any timeframe, including, for example, intra-day, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual. An intra-day chart may display open, close, high, and low prices for an identified interval, such as one or more minutes, or seconds during a trading day. Then, the daily chart may display a single set of price data for each day of trading depicted in the chart. The weekly chart is made up of daily data that has been compressed to show each week as a single point, and so forth.
Traders usually concentrate on charts made up of daily and intra-day data series to forecast short-term price movements, whereas weekly and monthly charts are typically used to spot long-term trends. While some traders may wish to view either a long-term chart or a short-term chart, many traders often want to view the combination of the two chart types to see the full picture of the market. Therefore, a preferable approach would be to show the two chart types on a single integrated graph. However, due to the screen size limitations, the prior art systems do not offer satisfactory solutions for viewing the short-term chart details and the long-term chart details on a single axis.
A typical display has the screen size on the order of 1024×768 pixels, which means that using the extreme minimum of one pixel per each value to be displayed on the screen, only 1024 values could be displayed on a single linear chart. For example, if typical one-minute bars with high, low, open, and close were used, the maximum number of values that could be shown would be 256, or a four and a quarter hour time period (using a minimal four pixels per bar, with three pixels used for each bar and one pixel used for spacing between the bars). Then, if five-minute bars were displayed, the maximum number of bars would be still 256, while the time period range would increase to twenty-one and a quarter hours of trading time.
Therefore, based on the examples given above, the longer the time range displayed, the less detail is available about the fine-grained movements of the market. FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a time scale diagram 100 that is often used to display time data series. The time scale diagram 100 is a linear time scale chart that is wide enough to see the entire year of data. However, as shown in FIG. 1A, it is almost impossible to see anything as small as a day, and totally impossible to see anything on the order of an hour, a minute, or a second, since there is not enough room to show such level of detail. Thus, the linear time scale chart 100 does not meet the objectives of showing both historical context and recent time fine-grained detail.
FIG. 1B illustrates another approach that can be used to display the combination of current and historical time series data using multiple linear time scale graphs 150. FIG. 1B illustrates three linear time scale charts 152, 154, and 156 that provide both, the broad historical context and most recent time fine-grained detail. More specifically, the chart 152 displays weekly, monthly, and quarterly timeframes, while the chart 154 displays hourly, and daily timeframes, and finally, the chart 156 displays data on the order of minutes and seconds corresponding to the last hour. However, this approach of displaying data is extremely wasteful of space, and a group of only few such graphs can be displayed on a screen. Also, the use of multiple graphs adds to the cognitive workload on a user, since it is harder to see and recognize price movements or patterns relative to historical highs and lows.
Another approach to displaying time series data is to use a logarithmic time scale. One possible implementation of a logarithmic time scale graph is to mark the leftmost mark on the scale "1 second," while the next evenly spaced mark to the right would be "10 seconds," assuming that a base-10 logarithmic scale is used, the next evenly spaced mark would be "100 seconds" (1 minute 40 seconds), the next would be "1000 seconds" (16 minutes, 40 seconds), the next would be "10,000 seconds" (two-hours, forty-six minutes, forty seconds), and so on. This approach appears to allow for displaying a wide range of time data series. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a base-10 logarithmic scale 200. The example graphical scale 200 displays the natural time periods rather than the evenly spaced marks, where the leftmost mark on the scale represents a time of one second, the next mark represents one minute, the next mark represents one hour, and so on.
However, the logarithmic time scale approach suffers from several problems. First, the natural evenly-spaced divisions are not natural units that make sense to a user, like seconds, minutes, five minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, etc., but are mathematical powers of the smallest logarithmic base unit. This problem can be addressed by using more natural division marks, such as the one shown in relation to FIG. 2, although the illustrated marks are not regularly spaced. The second problem with the logarithmic time scale is that the meaning of "bar" data is not obvious for viewing when displayed in relation to the logarithmic scale, because each bar appearing at a different place on the time scale has a different rollup period, and therefore causes reading of the displayed data to be counter-intuitive.
Thus, it would beneficial to provide a graphical display of data series that will not only provide up-to-date details and historical context data, but also one that will be intuitive for a trader to use.

Graphical display with integrated recent period zoom and historical period context data

Trading Technologies International, Inc.


Provided are flotation system and method for crushing, separating and washing waste plastics. In a direction of transporting materials, the flotation system includes a crusher, a flotation tank, a multi-functional rubbing and separating device, a washing tank and a dehydrator which are connected in turn; the flotation tank and the washing tank are disposed abreast; the floatation tank is a straight launder, and the washing tank is a U-shaped launder; and the discharge port of the flotation tank and the feeding port of the washing tank are connected via the multi-functional rubbing and separating device. The method is to crush the waste plastics first and then execute multiple stages of washing and separating. The flotation system and method herein are capable of improving the effect of washing waste plastics effectively and improving the quality of products.

Equipment for crushing, separating and washing waste plastics is commonly used in the field of waste plastics recycling, and due to lower gross profit rate of this industry, it is difficult to apply higher-priced production and process control equipment. In current equipment for crushing, separating and washing waste plastics, static fluid medium is commonly applied, and fragments of the waste plastics floating on surface of the fluid medium are mechanically stirred to realize the purpose of washing and separating. However, the prior art method herein has disadvantages of lower efficiency, incomplete separation, and higher water consumption.

Flotation type system and method for crushing, separating and washing waste plastics


A retransmission method for a time division duplexing self-adaptive frame structure, and a network side device relate to a technology of dynamically allocating uplink and downlink sub-frames in an LTE-advance (3GPP Release11) TDD communication system. The method comprises: during transmission of a TDD self-adaptive frame, for an uplink sub-frame, if a frame structure, of which an RTT period of PHICH and PUSCH of the uplink sub-frame is 10 ms, corresponding to the uplink sub frame is found in 7 types of defined frame structures, then sending PHICH data on a corresponding downlink sub-frame in the found frame structure, and sending retransmission data on the corresponding uplink sub-frame in the found frame structure. The solution ensures HARQ compatibility of an uplink data channel of R10UE. In addition, A/N feedback of the PDSCH is configured according to the uplink A/N resolution, thereby improving retransmission performance.

In the LTE and the LTE-A standards, the system frame of the TDD is made up of ten sub-frames. The 3GPP supports a total of 7 kinds of frame structure together, as shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1uplink and downlink frame structures of the TDD systemSwitchingSerialpointnumbersperiod fromfordownlinkSub-frame numberuplinkto uplink012345678905 msDSUUUDSUUU15 msDSUUDDSUUD25 msDSUDDDSUDD310 ms DSUUUDDDDD410 ms DSUUDDDDDD510 ms DSUDDDDDDD65 msDSUUUDSUUD
In the current 3GPP standard, system information SIB-I is used to inform the UE of the frame structure configured for the current serving cell. According to the existing standard, the minimum change period of the SIB information is 640 ms. In pre-research project of the "Dynamic TDD frame structure" formally approved by the 3GPP in the RAN54 (December of 2011) plenary session, it becomes possible to allocate the frame structures of the TDD system more dynamically. Shortening the change period of the frame structure of the TDD system can take full advantage of the characteristics of the TDD to support the transmission of the anti-symmetrical service.
But there is no specific scheme on how to set the retransmission of the downlink data frame. In addition, in the process of the uplink synchronization HARQ, how to retransmit the PUSCH to avoid the conflict with the R10 UE needs a further solution as well.

Retransmission method for time division duplexing self-adaptive frame structure, and network side device


A non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon executed by a processor in a vehicle comprising a wireless local area network interface and a wireless cellular network interface provides a communication method. The method comprises automatically initiating a first transport protocol session between said mobile router and said mobile device over said wireless local area network interface; and automatically initiating a second transport protocol session between said mobile router and said destination device over said wireless cellular network interface, said second transport protocol session comprising a cellular network layer and a wide area network layer. The cellular network layer and the wide area network layer are monitored to detect if the wide area network layer or the cellular network layer is interrupted. After detecting an interruption in the second transport protocol session, the first transport protocol is maintained session and the second transport protocol session is reestablished.

Many people use mobile or wireless end-user computer-type devices for a variety of purposes. These devices include smartphones, handheld computer-type devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers equipped with a wireless network interface card, etc. Users often use such devices to read and write email messages, access the Internet, download and view image or video files, run applications, etc.
In order to use such mobile devices, the mobile devices must be able to connect to a wireless network. Conventional wireless local area networks (WLANs) are often deployed inside structures such as homes, offices, public and commercial buildings, etc. The WLAN typically comprises one or more wireless access points, such as a wireless router or hot spot, which communicates wirelessly with the mobile device, and allows the mobile device to connect to a wired network (or other network) that is also in communication with the access point. In order to stay connected to such WLANs, the mobile user must usually stay with the range of the access points. This often constrains the effective mobility of a wireless user. The mobile user must stay in the home, office or building to have wireless access to the WLAN, but if the mobile user leaves the premises, the mobile user may leave the range of the wireless access points and thereby lose connectivity to the network. For the IEEE 802.11 standard, also known as Wi-Fi, the range of such access points is about 50 meters for indoor environments and 100 meters for outdoor environments.
Some campuses and urban areas provide broader W-Fi coverage areas by placing a number of cooperating Wi-Fi hot spots throughout the campus or urban area. This provides the mobile user with greater wireless access as the mobile user generally can move around the campus/urban area while maintaining wireless connectivity. However, when the mobile user leaves the campus/urban area, the user may lose connectivity, thus constraining the wireless mobility of the user.
This dilemma has been addressed somewhat by cellular networks that allow mobile devices to communicate wireless data with such cellular networks using data communication standards, such as GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service) or EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution). Such cellular networks generally provide much broader coverage areas than WLANs or Wi-Fi area, so a mobile user will ordinarily have fewer restrictions on mobility when accessing such a cellular network. Further, cellular networks typically can accommodate roaming users by allowing users to stay connected as they travel from one cellular network to another.
Nevertheless, mobile end-user devices often experience interruptions in service due to drop-offs by the network (either Wi-Fi or cellular network). This problem is exacerbated when the user is quickly moving between network cells, hot spots or networks. This can be caused, for example, (i) because the user's wireless access provider/protocol is not compatible with the new cell, hot spot or network, (ii) because the new cell, hot spot or network is overly congested with traffic, (iii) because of faulty hand-off procedures between the cells, hot spots, or networks, or many other reasons.
In addition, a mobile end-user may experience other types of performance problems, including a change of bit rate or bandwidth during the data transmission, and a change in the quality of service (e.g., jitter, latency, data loss, etc.).
Accordingly, there exists a need for a way to alleviate or mitigate the problems experienced by a user of mobile end-user device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


One example method includes evaluating code of a quantum circuit, estimating one or more runtime statistics concerning the code, generating a recommendation based on the one or more runtime statistics, and the recommendation identifies one or more resources recommended to be used to execute the quantum circuit, checking availability of the resources for executing the quantum circuit, allocating resources, when available, sufficient to execute the quantum circuit, and using the allocated resources to execute the quantum circuit.

While quantum computing technology shows promise, the technology is still relatively new and not well developed. Further, quantum computing may be well suited for some computing tasks, but not for others. As well, QPUs may be expensive to acquire and operate.
Due to these and/or other considerations, it may be difficult to predict hardware resource usage and runtime statistics. Correspondingly, it can be difficult to allocate resources for quantum computing clusters. As a final example, quantum algorithms may be challenging to develop, manage, and deploy.

Quantum compute estimator and intelligent infrastructure


Provided are a target character video clip playing method, system and apparatus, and a storage medium. The method comprises: using image recognition technology to perform target character recognition on an entire video, positioning a plurality of video clips containing target characters, and obtaining a first playing time period set corresponding to the video clips; according to audio clips corresponding to each character marked within the entire video, obtaining a second playing time period set corresponding to the audio clips of the various characters; merging the time periods included in the playing time period sets, and obtaining a sum playing time period set of the target characters; according to a sorting of various playing timelines within the sum playing time period set, performing video playing of the target characters.

When a user is watching a TV drama, if a plot is tediously long, the user may skip some parts of the plot during watching, and there is a way to pick a video on demand by selecting to watch a clip having a character that one likes, and skip a plurality of other clips without the character. However, an AI (artificial intelligence) image recognition technology in the prior art can only recognize a character having a frontal image, also the image has to be clear, otherwise it will be impossible to make a recognition. However, in a TV drama, the character may be talking to a coupling character, while a shot may be constantly switching, that means, although the character is in the scene, since a front face of the character that the user likes to watch does not appear in the scene, the AI image recognition technology will judge that there is no target character in the scene, and skip automatically the scene having no front face of the character that the user likes to watch, while such a scene actually does contain the target character, thus it is impossible to obtain accurately a plot containing the target character based only on the AI image recognition technology.
Therefore, the current technology needs to be improved and developed.

Target character video clip playing method, system and apparatus, and storage medium


An adaptive receiver includes an adaptive array unit and an equalizer unit. In the adaptive array unit, receiving signals of an array antenna are demodulated, weighted by multiplying with a complex weight calculated by an adaptive arithmetic unit, and adaptively combined. In the equalizer unit, propagation path estimation values are calculated from the receiving signals by a propagation path estimating unit, weighted with the complex weight by a complex weight adjusting unit, and adaptively combined. The combined demodulation signal is divided by the combined propagation path estimation value. Thereby, not only the unwanted signal wave of low correlation but also the unwanted signal wave of high correlation can be controlled effectively using an adaptive array antenna.

This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-333292 filed on Oct. 31, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adaptive receiver used in multi-carrier transmission systems for transmitting data in parallel through frequency division.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, attention is paid to an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system for transmitting data in parallel through frequency division as a modulation system used for broad band communication using radio wave. According to this OFDM system, data can be transmitted using a longer period, and therefore influence of frequency selective fading is reduced. Moreover, in this OFDM system, inter-symbol interference can be prevented even if a delayed radio wave is received by adding a copy signal of the own symbol called as a guard interval.
Even when this OFDM system is used, the feature is lessened to a large extent because the orthogonal property is lessened in the environment where a long-delayed signal which appears after a long period of delay is received after a plurality times of reflection at walls or in the case where the preceding signal wave exists because of synchronization with the delayed wave. The orthogonal property is lessened as shown in FIG. 18A to FIG. 18C.
In FIG. 18A, the delayed wave is within a guard interval. In this case, the orthogonal property is never destroyed because a part (indicated as A in the figure) generating interference with other symbol is cut off with elimination of the guard interval at the time of demodulation. In FIG. 18B, a signal wave exceeding the guard interval appears. In this case, since the part generating interference with the other symbol enters a FFT window, the orthogonal property of carrier is destroyed at the time of demodulation. In FIG. 18C, synchronization is set up with the delayed signal wave. Similarly to the case of FIG. 18B, since the part generating interference with the other symbol enters the FFT window, the orthogonal property of carrier is destroyed at the time of demodulation.
An adaptive array antenna is proposed to effectively control an unwanted signal wave (such as delayed wave exceeding the guard interval, preceding wave or interference wave) having a lower correlation to such a desired signal wave. Here, the adaptive array antenna is a device comprising an array antenna made up of a plurality of antenna elements and an adaptive arithmetic unit for calculating a complex weight for changing amplitude and phase of an output signal of each antenna element in view of combining the signal waves by multiplying the receiving signals of antenna with a complex weight to extract the desired signal wave and suppress the unwanted wave.
Moreover, the arithmetic operation by the adaptive arithmetic unit is called as an adaptive algorithm, several algorithms have been reported. For example, algorithms LMS (Least Means Square) and CMA (Constant Modulus Algorithm) can be listed as those based on an MMSE (Minimum Mean Square Error). The LMS is the algorithm for calculating the optimum complex weight by minimizing a difference between a reference signal as a desired array response and an actual array output signal. Moreover, the CMA is the algorithm that can be applied to a constant envelope signal to calculate an optimum complex weight to recover a signal distorted in a multipath environment to an original constant envelope signal. Moreover, the additional algorithms are MSN (Maximum Signal to Noise Ratio) for calculating the complex weight to obtain a maximum SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of array output and DCMP (Directionally Constrained Minimization of Power) for minimizing the power under the precondition that the incoming direction of the desired signal wave is known.
Moreover, JP-A-10-93323 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,986) teaches an adaptive antenna and multi-carrier radio communication system. This system conducts an adaptive arithmetic operation based on LMS, RLS (Recursive Least Squares) algorithm for extracting the known signal called as pilot data inserted into the receiving signal and then updating the complex weight to minimize an error from the known signal prepared in the receiver side. JP-A-10-210099 also teaches an adaptive receiver which realizes CMA in a frequency range for updating the complex weight to make constant the spectrum after the adaptive combining.
The unwanted wave having lower correlation can be controlled effectively by utilizing the above adaptive array antenna. However, the unwanted wave (delayed signal wave within the guard interval) having higher correlation cannot be controlled effectively and thereby the demodulation characteristic is not satisfactory. This is because, a propagation path in the adaptive array antenna is estimated by comparing two reference signals, one resulting after combining the receiving signal weighted by the adaptive array antenna and the other being a stored known signal, and hence the weighting by the adaptive array antenna influences on the propagation path estimation value.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an adaptive receiver which can effectively control not only an unwanted signal wave of lower correlation but also an unwanted signal wave of higher correlation.
It is another object of the present invention to remove influence of weighting in an adaptive array antenna on estimation of a propagation path estimation value.
According to the present invention, an adaptive receiver includes an adaptive array unit and an equalizer unit. In the adaptive array unit, receiving signals of an array antenna are weighted by multiplying with a complex weight calculated by an adaptive arithmetic unit, and adaptively combined. In the equalizer unit, propagation path estimation values are calculated from the receiving signals by a propagation path estimating unit, weighted with the complex weight by a complex weight adjusting unit, and adaptively combined. An output signal of the adaptive receiver is produced based on the combined signal and the combined propagation path estimation value.

Adaptive receiver having adaptive array unit and equalizer unit


An improved modular jack, and more particularly to a keystone jack for use on digital communication networks intends to effectively avoid short circuits and the production of noise and crosstalk in signal transmission. The jack is equipped with a wire mounting plate having four receiving grooves on the top face and four on the bottom face thereof some of which are crossly oriented at their ends so as to permit 8 or more wire contact pieces to be mounted separately thereto and crossly placed without contact at all. A retaining board is integrally engaged with the top face of the wire mounting plate and the combination is forced into a receiving recess of a jack housing having a horizontal extension to support the bottom face of the wire mounting plate so as to fix the 8 wire contact pieces respectively in place. Then a wire limiting cap having a horizontally defined cable insertion hole is engaged with the jack housing so as to permit a cable to be vertically led into the jack with its 8 wires connected to the horizontal wire contact pieces.

The present invention relates to an improved modular jack, and more particularly to a keystone jack for use on digital communication networks which intends to effectively avoid short circuits and the production of noise and crosstalk in operation. The jack is equipped with a wire mounting plate having four receiving grooves on the top face and four on the bottom face thereof some of which are crossly oriented at their ends so as to permit 8 or more wire contact pieces to be mounted separately thereto and crossly placed without contact at all. A retaining board is integrally engaged with the top face of the wire mounting plate and the combination is forced into a receiving recess of a jack housing having a horizontal extension to support the bottom face of the wire mounting plate so as to fix the 8 wire contact pieces respectively in place. Then a wire limiting cap having a horizontally defined cable insertion hole is engaged with the jack housing so as to permit a cable to be vertically led into the jack with its 8 wires connected to the horizontal wire contact pieces
Nowadays, technologies and applications in the information and communication related industries have been developed in a fast and versatile manner. In practical use, most consumers or users are primarily concerned with the quality of signal transmissions, for example, the speed and stability of signal transmissions in one aspect; and the readiness in installation of such equipment in another aspect. So, there are many standards or criterion set up to make the quality of signal transmission s live up to such expectations. For instance, the cross arrangement without contact of the metallic wire contact pieces can help the signal transmission in high speed remain stable. However, the quality of signal transmission can not meet the requirements due to the cross arrangement of wire contact pieces crowdedly placed on one face being poor in conventional jack.
There are a number of disadvantages associated with the prior art jack designs found in practical use:
1. The metallic wire contact pieces placed on the same side of a conventional jack must be closely arranged, resulting in easy contact with each other to cause short circuits between the metallic contact pieces in signal transmissions. So, signal transmissions become unstable and poor in practical operations. PA0 2. In common jacks, the metallic wire contact pieces are not directly connected to the wires of a cable, causing problems in a production process and easily resulting in signal attenuation in practical use. PA0 3. In common jacks, the upper cover is provided with linear grooves for housing the wires of a cable, making the insertion of wires difficult; besides, a groove can only accommodate a single wire of a cable and no additional externally connected wires can be received.

Keystone jack for digital communication networks


A system for scanning an antenna array of the present invention. The system includes a first mechanism for modulating a desired signal on an optical carrier signal. The first mechanism includes a frequency-tunable optical oscillator with a phase shifter for changing an output frequency of the optical oscillator. A second mechanism employs the optical carrier signal to derive signals having predetermined phase relationships. A third mechanism receives the feed signals and radiates corresponding transmit signals in response thereto to the antenna array to steer the array. In more specific embodiment, the desired signal is a Radio Frequency (RF) signal, and the phase shifter is an electrically controlled optical RF phase shifter. The optical carrier signal includes a first optical carrier signal and a second optical carrier signal. The frequency-tunable optical oscillator includes a first tunable optical oscillator for providing the first optical carrier signal and a second tunable optical oscillator for providing the second optical carrier signal. The first and second optical oscillators include first and second optical RF phase shifters, respectively, that include feedback paths having optical and electrical sections.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to antennas. Specifically, the present invention relates to transceivers for active array antennas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active array radar systems are employed in various demanding applications including missile target tracking, air traffic control, aircraft guidance, and ground mapping systems. Such applications demand reliable, efficient, and cost-effective radar systems that accurately detect and track targets.
To enhance target detection and tracking accuracy, radar systems often employ high-frequency microwaves or millimeter waves. However, millimeter waves or high-frequency microwaves may cause excessive signal losses, especially in antenna element waveguide feeds. These losses may reduce the overall target detection and tracking capability of the accompanying radar system.
Small millimeter waves require relatively complex active arrays with small components and close component spacing. Waveguides employed to feed the antenna arrays elements are bulky relative to the small active antenna array elements. This places undesirable design constraints on the active array radar system.
Conventionally, active arrays are steered by beam-pointing techniques that involve selective phase shifting of signals fed to the array. These techniques often require a phase shifter at every active array element. Unfortunately, the phase shifters are often lossy and bulky relative to the small millimeter wave antenna elements. Bulky phase shifters at every element place undesirable design constraints on the antenna arrays.
Alternatively, serpentine radio frequency waveguide feeds are employed instead of the phase shifters. Desired phase shifts are achieved by placing taps at strategic positions in the serpentine feed. Radiation from the different taps has different phase depending on tap spacing and input frequency. Unfortunately, these serpentine feeds are also undesirably complex, bulky, and lossy. Furthermore, conventional radar systems employing serpentine feeds and/or phase shifters may require separate sets of transmit/receive modules to scan or steer the radar antenna in both azimuth and elevation. The extra transmit/receive modules are bulky, expensive, and impose additional radar design constraints.
Hence, a need exists in the art for an efficient active array radar design that obviates the need for bulky and lossy antenna feeds and phase shifters. There exists a further need for an active array radar that can be scanned in azimuth and elevation with the same set of transmit/receive modules and without requiring conventional phase shifters.

Optically frequency generated scanned active array


A spherical shaped semiconductor integrated circuit (xe2x80x9cballxe2x80x9d) and a system and method for manufacturing same. The ball replaces the function of the flat, conventional chip. The physical dimensions of the ball allow it to adapt to many different manufacturing processes which otherwise could not be used. Furthermore, the assembly and mounting of the ball may facilitates efficient use of the semiconductor as well as circuit board space.

The invention relates generally to semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly, to a spherical shaped semiconductor integrated circuit and a system and method for manufacturing same.
Conventional integrated circuits, or xe2x80x9cchipsxe2x80x9d, are formed from a flat surface semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is first manufactured in a semiconductor material manufacturing facility and is then provided to a fabrication facility, or xe2x80x9cfab.xe2x80x9d At the fab, several layers are processed onto the semiconductor wafer surface. Once completed, the wafer is then cut into one or more chips and assembled into packages. Although the processed chip includes several layers fabricated thereon, the chip still remains relatively flat.
To own and operate a modern wafer manufacturing facility, fab, and assembly facility, tremendous resources must be assembled. For example, a single fab typically cost several billion dollars, and therefore requires a great deal of capital and commitment. This high level of capital and commitment is compounded by many problems inherent to both chips and fabs.
Many of these problems reflect on the enormous effort and expense required for creating silicon wafers and chips. For example, manufacturing the wafers requires creating rod-form polycrystalline semiconductor material; precisely cutting ingots from the semiconductor rods; cleaning and drying the cut ingots; manufacturing a large single crystal from the ingots by melting them in a quartz crucible; grinding, etching, and cleaning the sure of the crystal; cutting, lapping and polishing wafers from the crystal; and heat processing the wafers. Moreover, the wafers produced by the above process typically have many defects. These defects can be attributed to the difficulty in making a single, highly pure crystal due to the cutting, grinding and cleaning processes as well as impurities associated with containers used in forming the crystals. For example, oxygen is a pronounced impurity associated with the quartz crucible. These defects become more and more prevalent as the integrated circuits formed on these wafers contain smaller and smaller dimensions.
A problem associated with modern fabs is that they require many different large and expensive facilities. For example, fabs require dust-free clean rooms and temperature-controlled manufacturing and storage areas to prevent the wafers and chips from defecting and warping. The amount of dust in the clean rooms is directly proportional to the end quality of the chips. Also, warping is especially problematic during heat treatment processes.
Other problems associated with modern fabs result from their inherently inefficient throughput as well as their inefficient use of silicon. For example, modern fabs using in-batch manufacturing, where the wafers are processed by lots, must maintain huge inventories to efficiently utilize all the equipment of the fab. Also, because the wafers are round, and completed chips are rectangular, the peripheral portion of each wafer cannot be used.
Still another problem associated with modern fabs is that they do not produce chips that are ready to use. Instead, there are many additional steps that must be completed, including: cutting and separating the chip from the wafer, assembling the chip to a lead frame which includes wire bonding, plastic or ceramic molding and cutting and forming the leads, positioning the assembled chip onto a printed circuit board; and mounting the assembled chip to the printed circuit board. The cutting and assembly steps introduce many errors and defects due to the precise requirements of such operations. In addition, the positioning and mounting steps are naturally two-dimensional in character, and therefore do not support curved or three dimensional areas.
Therefore, due to these and various other problems, only a few companies in the world today can successfully manufacture conventional chips. Furthermore, the chips must bear a high price to cover the costs of manufacturing, as well as the return on initial capital and investment.
The present invention, accordingly, provides a spherical shaped semiconductor integrated circuit and a system and method for manufacturing same. The spherical shaped semiconductor integrated circuit, hereinafter xe2x80x9cballxe2x80x9d, replaces the function of the flat, conventional chip. The physical dimensions of the ball allow it to adapt to many different manufacturing processes which otherwise could not be used. Furthermore, the assembly and mounting of the ball facilitates efficient use of semiconductor material as well as circuit board space.
An advantage achieved with the present invention is that it supports semiconductor processing using wafting in a vacuum, gas or liquid. Such wafting may be in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal direction.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that it supports semiconductor processing while the ball is moving through a pipe, tube, or container. Such movement may be in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal direction. Furthermore, the pipe or tube can be continuous, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for a clean room environment.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that it supports semiconductor processing at ultra-high temperatures, including such temperatures at or above conventional semiconductor material warping or melting points.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that it facilitates crystal formation in that a spherical crystal is naturally formed by its own surface tension.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that the spherical shape of the ball provides much greater surface area on which to inscribe the circuit.
Another advantage achieved. with the present invention is that the spherical shape of the ball withstands external forces better than the conventional chip. As a result, conventional assembly packaging is not always required with the ball.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that the spherical shape of the ball allows one ball to be connected directly to a circuit board or clustered with another ball. Such clustering enables three-dimensional multi-active layers and multi-metal layers in any direction.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that it allows a single, relatively small facility to manufacture the semiconductor material as well as perform the fabrication. Furthermore, the requirements for assembly and packaging facilities are eliminated.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that it reduces manufacture cycle time.
Another advantage achieved with the present invention is that a single fabrication structure can be commonly used for many different processing steps.
Other advantages, too numerous to mention, will be well appreciated by those skilled in the art of semiconductor fabrication.

Spherical shaped semiconductor integrated circuit


A first signal ratio (−log(B/G)) between a B image signal and a G image signal is calculated. A second signal ratio (−log(G/R)) between the G image signal and an R image signal is calculated. A difference between first and second signal ratios in a first area and first and second signal ratios in a second area is increased to enhance a color difference between normal mucosa and an abnormal region (an atrophic mucosal region and a deep blood vessel region). An image after enhancing the color difference is displayed on a monitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device for processing images used for diagnosing atrophic gastritis and a method for operating an endoscope system.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
Diagnoses using endoscope systems have been widely performed in medical fields. The endoscope system comprises a light source device, an electronic endoscope, and a processor device. Due to high resolution achieved by a high-definition imaging system such as an imaging element, which is to be incorporated in the endoscope, with high sensibility and a high number of pixels, recent models of the endoscope systems display high resolution images that surpass the current image quality. Owing to this, fine blood vessels and a small lesion in mucosa displayed look extremely real.
Such high-definition imaging clarifies the shape and the size of a lesion, facilitating the detection of the lesion. However, a doctor finds a lesion based not only on the shape and the size of the lesion but also on a slight difference in color between portions of mucosa. For example, a slightly reddish area that is slightly different in color from the mucosa is detected as a lesion in its early stage. The slightly reddish area may be overlooked only by increasing the resolution with the use of the high-definition imaging.
In Japanese Patent No. 3228627, a color enhancement process is performed to enhance the redness of a reddish area and the whiteness of a white area in an image to prominently display a border between a normal portion and a lesion. The color enhancement process enables finding a lesion which cannot be detected only by using the high-definition imaging.
In recent years, a stomach lesion such as stomach cancer has been detected based on a state of atrophic gastritis. The relationship between the atrophic gastritis and the stomach lesion, which will be described below, is used for the detection. As illustrated in a part (A) of FIG. 30, a surface mucosal layer of normal gastric mucosal structure has certain thickness, so that the mucosal layer absorbs or reflects most of the light. For this reason, the blood vessels in the normal submucosal layer are hardly observed in an endoscopic image as illustrated in a part (B) of FIG. 30.
As illustrated in a part (A) of FIG. 31, in the case of gastric mucosal structure in an advanced stage of the atrophic gastritis, the mucosal layer is thin due to decrease in gastric glandular cells. Changes in internal structure of the gastric mucosa with the progress of the atrophic gastritis exhibit the following features (A) and (B) in an endoscopic image.
(A) The whitish color of muscularis mucosae is seen through the atrophic mucosa, so that the atrophic mucosal portion shows fading of color as compared with the color of the normal portion.
(B) The blood vessels in the submucosal layer are seen through the mucosal layer in the atrophic mucosal portion as the thickness of the mucosal layer decreases with the progress of the atrophy (see a part (B) of FIG. 31).
In diagnosing a gastric lesion based on the atrophic gastritis, the above-described two features (A) and (B) are used for determining staging of atrophy and a border between the normal portion and the portion with the gastritis.
In a case where the atrophy is in its advanced stage (for example, in a case where the atrophy is included in the group C or the group D in the ABC screening), the above-described features (A) and (B) are clearly observed in the endoscopic image. However, in a case where the atrophy is in an intermediate stage (for example, in a case where the atrophy is included in the group B or the group C in the ABC screening), there is little difference between the atrophic portion and the normal portion in the endoscopic image, so that it may be difficult to determine the staging of atrophy and the border between the normal portion and the portion with the gastritis. It is required to display the two features (A) and (B) clearly in the endoscopic image to clarify the border between the normal portion and the portion with the gastritis.
The method described in the Japanese Patent No. 3228627 may be applied to achieve the above. However, the method described in the Japanese Patent No. 3228627 enhances only the redness of a reddish area in an image and cannot enhance the changes in color of mucosa with the progress of the atrophy of the stomach and cannot enhance and display the blood vessels that are located beneath the mucosa and seen through the mucosa as the atrophy progresses.

Image processing device and method for operating endoscope system


An apparatus for preventing backlash in a gear train in a printing machine includes a shaft arranged on the printing machine and gearwheels with at least one gearwheel being arranged on the shaft for driving the shaft, and a brake having adjustable braking power, the brake being arranged on the shaft in a direction of drive of the gear train.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for eliminating backlash in gear trains of printing machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
In spur gear trains, the backlash accumulates from gearwheel to gearwheel and this leads to an impermissibly large amount of backlash, especially in the case of long in-series gear trains, thus impairing operation.
European Reference EP 0 849 0478 discloses an apparatus for avoiding backlash between a first and a second gearwheel. For this purpose, an additional auxiliary gearwheel is arranged on the axis of rotation of a first gearwheel, being turned counter to the direction of rotation of the first gearwheel by a resilient force and thereby subjecting the engagement between two teeth of the second gearwheel to stress.
Auxiliary gearwheels that are arranged on the same shaft in a fixed manner but turned counter to the gearwheel are also generally known.
However, these solutions require such an auxiliary gear on every second gearwheel. This represents a large outlay on materials and assembly, especially in the case of longer gear trains. Moreover, there is always a minimum residual backlash, especially with fixed auxiliary gears.
The object of the present invention is to provide a simple apparatus in which the toothing rests in a defined manner on the load-bearing tooth flanks while minimizing costs related to materials and assembly.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by providing a brake with an adjustable braking power on at least one shaft having a gear wheel. Due to the simplicity of the construction of the present invention, auxiliary gearwheels are no longer necessary thereby reducing the cost of materials and assembly.
By means of the present invention, an additional artificial adjustable load is introduced into a gear train, thereby creating clearly defined conditions for contact between the tooth flanks of intermeshing gearwheels.
One particular advantage of the present invention is the ability to adjust braking force or load during operation, allowing the apparatus to be adapted in an optimum manner to the requirements of the particular gear train. It is thus possible to drive precisely even assemblies with a low internal friction power, such as drives for transverse perforations. Advantageously, the accuracy of folding is improved due to the prevention of backlash in the gear train.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

Apparatus for eliminating backlash in gear trains of printing machines


A method and a device for controlling an internal combustion engine, in which a noise variable is compared to a setpoint value, and an actuating variable is specified based on the comparison. The noise variable is computed using a weighted summation of at least two characteristics.

A method and a device for controlling an internal combustion engine are described in German Patent No. DE 103 05 656. In the method described there, various characteristics variables are ascertained starting from the signal of a structure-borne vibration sensor, which are used for the regulation of the internal combustion engine.

Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine


A method for designing a mask is disclosed. A chip region can be defined and reduced to form a parent dummy pattern. A mesh dummy pattern can be formed, and portions where the parent dummy pattern and the mesh dummy pattern overlap each other can be removed to form offspring dummy patterns.

Generally, a semiconductor device has a multi-layered structure. Each of the layers constituting the multi-layered structure are generally formed using a deposition process or a sputtering process, and then patterned using a lithography process.
Since there are some limitations in the semiconductor device due to a difference in pattern size and pattern density of the layers of the semiconductor device on the substrate, methods where a main pattern and a dummy pattern are formed together are being developed.

Method for designing mask including forming a mesh dummy pattern


A method and apparatus are provided for determining the depth of a gingival pocket using ultra-sound signals transmitted transgingivally. Transgingival (through the gum) transmission of the ultra-sonic signal permits a completely non-invasion determination of the dental health of an individual. In addition to determining the depth of a gingival pocket the health or disease of the pocket could be determined. The current invention allows for mapping of the underlying dental features of an individual for later comparison to future ultra-sound scans and to assist in fabrication of dental restorations.

Periodontal disease (PD), which affects more than 60 million people, is the second most prevalent disease in the United States, yet less than one-fifth of Americans with periodontal disease receive treatment. Periodontal services require 150 million hours and $7 billion dollars annually. PD affects 80% of all adults and 90% of those between the ages of 55 and 64. It is estimated that 70 million adults suffer from some form of PD. Periodontal infections are now linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes making PD a serious health threat.
PD begins with a build up of plaque (which has bacteria in it) on a tooth. The bacteria in plaque attack the bone around the tooth, as well as the fibers (the periodontal ligament) that connect the tooth to the bone. As the fibers and bone are destroyed, a gingival pocket or space forms between the gum and the tooth—an ideal site for more plaque to build up. Left untreated, PD results in the destruction and recession of the periodontal ligament, which attaches the root of the tooth to the bone surface that makes up the interior of the tooth socket. The tooth attachments are destroyed in unpredictable site-specific pattern. Because public awareness of the disease is low and the early stages are painless, people generally don't floss that much, and as a result the disease progresses.
Unfortunately, because of the low awareness of the disease, it is generally not recognized until it has progressed to a significant degree. The treatment at this point, although effective, is uncomfortable, expensive, and often uncovered by insurance.
The accepted standard for measuring the progression of PD is to probe the gingival pocket to measure its depth and thereby measure the degree of recession of the periodontal ligament. The current gold standard for this measurement is a small ruler called a periodontal probe that is "poked" into the gum line to find and measure periodontal pockets and gum line detachments. The process is slow and painful, taking 10-15 minutes for some 180 measurements. Further, unless an automated recording system is used, the process requires the participation of two persons, one to take the measurements and a second to record the measurements. Recording of measurements is necessary to compare readings from one date to another to see if a pocket is breaking down. Because this is a tedious and painful process that is seldom done accurately or to completion, it is difficult to accurately identify and track the progress of the disease. The result is that the disease progresses insidiously and continually.
In addition to manual probing, another approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,571 to Companion. The probe disclosed in this patent uses intra-sulcular ultra-sound waves projected along the surface of the tooth for determining periodontal pocket depth. This method is less invasive with the mechanism, but injects a stream of water into the pocket to act as a transmission medium for ultra-sound waves. In addition to being a generally messy process, the injection of water into the root area of a tooth infected with PD can be the source of additional irritation of the area and discomfort to the patient. In addition, the water stream theoretically could mobilize the bacterium and cause cross contamination of sites. Further, the probe disclosed in Companion requires a fixed reference point, and uses the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) as that reference point. The CEJ is the junction point between the enamel crown of a tooth and the cementum that makes up the root of the tooth. Establishing this reference point requires the use of an invasive probe that is incorporated with the ultra-sonic probe. Further, as disclosed in Companion, the CEJ is often difficult to locate or not present at all due to human variation and/or destruction of the CEJ.
A device known as the Florida probe uses a spring-loaded mechanism to detect the CEJ. Manual probing and the Florida probe are similar in that they invade the pocket to the base and make measurements from contact with the tissue at the bottom of the pocket. While considered to be superior to standard manual probing techniques, the Florida probe suffers from the same drawback as standard probing in that it is extremely invasive. In fact, the spring loaded mechanism of the Florida probe results in greater pressure being applied, and hence greater irritation to the gingival pocket. Further, the Florida probe suffers the same limitation as manual probing in that the presence of tartar in the pocket area may result in the determination of a false bottom for the pocket.
All of these methods approach the measurement of gingival pocket depth by varying levels of invasive measurement and are therefore likely to be uncomfortable for the patient and could prove cause for cross contamination.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,220 to Rose discloses a method and apparatus for using ultra-sonic waves for measuring the depth of a detachment between a tooth and its supporting tissue. Like the probe disclosed in Companion, the apparatus disclosed by Rose projects an intra-sulcular ultra-sound wave along the surface of a tooth (surface acoustic wave pulse) to determine pocket depth. The method and apparatus of Rose depend on achieving a particular critical angle of incidence between the tooth surface and the ultra-sonic probe. Therefore, repeatability of this method is highly dependent upon the skill of the operator.
Therefore, a need exists for a non-invasive method and apparatus for the identification and tracking of periodontal disease. Such a method would measure periodontal pocket depth non-invasively, and thereby enhance patient comfort. Therefore the method would reduce patient fears regarding examination of the gums and thereby make the public more likely to seek out the appropriate care and obtain early diagnosis and treatment. Such a method would further be easy to use, equivalent in complexity and time of use to current manual probes. Such a method would thereby offer repeatability, and the ability to track patient gum health, and given the new evidence of the relation of PD to systemic disease, make a serious improvement to public health.

Method and apparatus for determining the depth of a gingival pocket


Polymeric compositions, such as thermoplatic molding compositions, are rendered flame retardant by blending the base polymer with a stable interpolymer prepared by copolymerizing a brominated monovinyl aromatic monomer, a methacrylic acid ester and, optionally, an ethylenically unsaturated nitrile.

1. Field of the Invention
A stable, brominated polymer capable of imparting flame retardant properties is blended with one or more polymers to provide a flame retardant thermoplastic molding composition.
2. Prior Art
The use of an aryl or nuclear halogenated styrene monomer grafted onto a rubbery substrate, along with additional nonhalogenated styrene and an ethylenically unsaturated nitrile, such as acrylonitrile, is known in the art. Examples include Japanese Patent Publication No. 1978-10689 (Ikeda et al) Published Jan. 31, 1978 U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,524 (Hozumi et al). U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,051 (DeMan) describes copolymers of bromostyrene, acrylonitrile and other monomers but did not recognize the effect of methacrylate esters on miscibility.

Flame retardant polymer with stable polymeric additive


The systems and methods described herein include systems and methods for applying temperature regulated compression and support to certain injured portions of the human body. In particular, the systems and methods relate to a brace to be fitted around a joint of a human for applying therapeutic temperature regulated compression to the joint and having rigid supports disposed therein to provide support for the limb while a patient recuperates from surgery or other injury.

After surgery to an injured joint such as the knee, compression and cold are applied to control the swelling and the commonly occurring hemarthrosis that causes pain and delays rehabilitation. Modalities for postoperative cold and compression traditionally have been applied separately—the compression most commonly by an elastic bandage wrapped around the injured body part, and the cold by a superimposed plastic bag filled with ice. While this approach is simple and can be economical, it has its own complications including minimal re-usability of the elastic bandage, short life span until the ice melts and non-uniform application of cold and compression due to gradual warming of the fluid in the vicinity of the patient and irregular distribution of ice in the bag. To address these problems, certain devices such as the Aircast CRYO/CUFF™ brace have been developed that apply compression and cold therapy in a unitary compression system.
Although these systems work quite well for applying compression and cold therapy to the injured body part, they are often not sufficiently rigid to support the limb when fully engaged by the patient. Thus, the patient may have more mobility and limb functionality than desired during recuperation. The patient is also more susceptible to re-injuries caused by joint hyper-extension and unnatural medial (inward) and lateral (outward) movement of the joint.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a bracing system that offers both the therapeutic benefits of cold (or hot) therapy and compression along with bracing support to allow the patient to more naturally use the limb during recuperation.


Provided is a method for preparing a stable amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC), which can be obtained either in suspension or as a powder. The method comprises stepwise combination of a soluble calcium salt, a soluble carbonate, a first and second stabilizer, and a water miscible organic solvent as described herein. The present invention further relates to stable ACC suspensions and dry powders produced by the method of the present invention.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a calcium salt of carbonic acid, which is widely used in many industries today. It is mostly known as a calcium supplement, taken to increase daily calcium intake. Calcium carbonate has six known polymorphs, three of which are anhydrous crystalline, namely, calcite, aragonite and vaterite; two are crystalline hydrates, namely, monohydrocalcite and ikaite; and one is hydrated amorphous, namely amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). ACC is a transient polymorph that precipitates out of a supersaturated solution following Ostwald's step rule. If not stabilized by any means, ACC will rapidly and completely crystallize into one of the five more stable polymorphs within seconds. The amorphous polymorph is characterized by distinctive 40-120 nm spherules, having no major XRD peaks but a broad low intensity peak between 20-30 2θ, and having a broad low intensity peak around 1082 cm−1 in Raman spectroscopy, in contrast to the 1-10 μm crystals typical of the other polymorphs, also having distinct major XRD peaks and significantly distinguishable Raman peaks.
Synthetic ACC is known for over 100 years, and today there are many methods for synthesizing ACC using various molecules for stabilizing the transient unstable amorphous phase. The three widely used methods all use supersaturated solution of calcium ions from either a soluble source such as calcium chloride or from dissolving a calcium insoluble salt such as calcium hydroxide using a hydrogen binding molecule, such as sucrose. This supersaturated solution of calcium ions is then reacted with a source of carbonate from either carbon dioxide gas, an alkaline metal salt of carbonate, such as sodium carbonate, from an organic salt of carbonate, from ammonium carbonate, or from the hydrolysis of dialkyl carbonate, such as dimethyl carbonate with hydroxide ions (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,147).
Since ACC is unstable in aqueous solution for more than two minutes, commercial production is impractical. Large scale production that includes hundreds or even thousands of liters being mixed and separated using liquid-solid phase separation techniques, such as filtration or centrifugation, in less than two minutes, is not applicable today. If the stability time in solution can be prolonged to several hours, therefore allowing for standard liquid-solid phase separation techniques, such as filtration or centrifugation to be used, commercial production can then become practical.
With the exception of Hyun et al. [Materials Chemistry and Physics, 93 (2005) 376-382], that described a method to stabilize ACC in ethanolic medium for more than 24 hours, none of the above previous reports mention the period of time in which the ACC remains stable in solution. However, Hyun et al. can only produce stable ACC in the presence of toxic ammonia, which, as described by Hyun, is crucial to the stability. Also, the calcium carbonate concentrations used in the publication are relatively low, making them impractical for industrial use.
When attempting to reproduce other published procedures, the applicants of the present invention produced ACC that is only stable in solution for several minutes and crystallizes thereafter. In some cases, even though ACC was produced, it was impossible to isolate it from the solution. For instance, producing ACC using the procedure described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,147 at Example 2 yielded only a slurry that was impossible to filter and from which ACC could not be isolated. Also, should a powder be obtained from this slurry using spray drying, as suggested in this patent, it will only contain ˜2/15 of ACC, with the remaining 13/15 parts being sucrose.
In general, any attempts to duplicate the procedures described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,147 using calcium chloride, or some other soluble calcium salt did not yield ACC or any form of precipitated calcium carbonate.
It is well known that ACC will crystallize in the presence of water, however, to the applicant's best knowledge, there are no previous publications describing the production of ACC which remains stable in aqueous solution or suspension for extensive periods of time using only up to 10% by weight of stabilizers. Also, the carbonation step in all these methods is the last step of the synthesis, always followed by the liquid solid separation step.
There is an unmet need in the art for novel methods for producing ACC with increased stability, either as a suspension in aqueous phase, or as a dry powder, which can be adapted to production of ACC on commercial production scale.

Method for producing stabilized amorphous calcium carbonate


Medical devices comprising nanobeads encapsulating one or more bioactive agents and methods of use thereof are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally related to nanoparticle releasing medical devices, such as drug delivery vascular stents.
2. Description of the State of the Art
Stents are used not only as a mechanical intervention of vascular conditions but also as a vehicle for providing biological therapy. As a mechanical intervention, stents act as scaffoldings, functioning to physically hold open and, if desired, to expand the wall of the passageway. Typically, stents are capable of being compressed, so that they can be inserted through small vessels via catheters, and then expanded to a larger diameter once they are at the desired location. Examples in patent literature disclosing stents which have been applied in PTCA (Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty) procedures include stents illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,665 issued to Palmaz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,882 issued to Gianturco, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,062 issued to Wiktor.
Biological therapy can be achieved by medicating the stents. Medicated stents provide for the local administration of a therapeutic substance at the diseased site. In order to provide an efficacious concentration to the treated site, systemic administration of such medication often produces adverse or toxic side effects on the patient. Local delivery is a preferred method of treatment in that smaller total levels of medication are administered in comparison to systemic dosages, but are concentrated at a specific site. Local delivery thus produces fewer side effects and achieves more favorable results.
In many patients, especially diabetic patients, stentable lesions are focal manifestations of widespread vascular disease. The advent of drug eluting stents has brought relief from restenosis of the treated lesion, but leaves progression of regional vascular disease unaddressed.
The embodiments described below address the above-identified problems.


A gate electrode (1a) is formed on the outer peripheral step portion (1′) of a semiconductor substrate (1) so as to face a pressure-contact supporting block (6), and a convex contacting portion (1g) is formed on a predetermined position on the surface of the gate electrode to contact the pressure contact supporting block. The surface area of the gate electrode ranging from the inner periphery to a position adjacent to the convex contacting portion, is coated with an insulation film (1d). The convex contacting portion (1g) is formed of a convex portion integral with the gate electrode or formed of another gate electrode (1a′).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a pressure-contact type semiconductor device such as a Gate Commutated Turn-off (referred to as "GCT" hereinafter) thyristor, which is applied to, for example, a BTB, a SVG and the like for electric power applications, an inverter for driving an iron manufacturing roller and the like for industrial applications, and other high-voltage, large-capacity switches and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional GCT thyristor will be described below with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a GCT thyristor with a typical outer peripheral gate structure. Referring to the figure, an aluminum gate electrode 1a and an aluminum cathode electrode 1b are formed on an upper surface of a semiconductor substrate 1, and an aluminum anode electrode 1c is formed on a back surface thereof. Reference numeral 1d denotes an insulation film made of polyimide or the like, and reference numeral 1e denotes an insulating rubber member formed on the outermost periphery of the semiconductor substrate 1.
On the cathode electrode 1b on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 1, a cathode distortion buffer plate 2 is provided, and an external cathode electrode (see FIGS. 1A and 1B) is formed on the outer top portion of the cathode distortion buffer plate 2. On the anode electrode 1c, an anode distortion buffer plate 4 is provided, and outside of it, an external anode electrode is formed under the anode distortion buffer plate 4. A ring gate portion 6 contacts the gate electrode 1a, and the contacting top end portion is a plane of about 0.5 mm width. An external gate terminal (see FIGS. 1A and 1B) electrically connects to the ring gate portion 6. The ring gate portion 6 is pressed to the gate electrode 1a by an annular elastic body having such a shape as a coned disc spring via an annular insulator, together with the external gate terminal. An insulator 10 insulates the ring gate portion 6 from the cathode distortion buffer plate 2 and the external cathode electrode. The GCT thyristor formed in this way has a sealed structure, the inside of which is substituted with an inert gas.
Next, an operation of the conventional GCT thyristor will be described. When the GCT thyristor is turned on, an electric current is flown from the external gate terminal to the external cathode electrode. A rising inclination of the gate current at this time is generally 1000 A/μs or more so as to speed up the turn-on expanding speed. When turned off, the current is flown from the external cathode electrode to the external gate terminal. At this time, it is required to supply a current with several thousands A/μs inclination for commutating the current equivalent to the main current to the gate. In order to supply such a large amount of current in an instant, a contact resistance of a current conducting path from the external gate terminal to the external cathode electrode is required to be reduced as much as possible.
Further, the GCT thyristor is generally used by applying a reverse bias voltage between the gate and the cathode. A gap between the cathode distortion buffer plate 2 and the gate electrode 1a formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate has only several tens μm width. In order to prevent discharge in this gap, the insulation film 1d such as polyimide is formed on the innermost periphery and the surface of the gate electrode 1a to thereby coat the surface up to the position right below the insulator 10 (see, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Laid-open Publication No. 8-330572 (FIG. 1)).
However, in the conventional GCT thyristor as shown in FIG. 6, the ring gate portion 6 must contact the gate electrode 1a formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Meanwhile, a portion of the gate electrode 1a positioned right below the outer periphery of the cathode distortion buffer plate 2, which is adjacent to the ring gate portion 6, must be coated with the polyimide insulation film 1d in order to prevent discharge.
Comparing to the aluminum electrodes and the polyimide insulation film formed by a photoengraving technique, the other fabrication members have larger dimensional tolerances. Further, in order to ensure a clearance for positioning each member at the time of fabricating, the positions of the cathode distortion buffer plate 2 and the ring gate portion 6 with respect to the semiconductor substrate 1 are varied within the range of the integration tolerance which is the sum of the dimensional tolerances of the respective members.
Moreover, the ring gate portion 6 and the outer peripheral portion of the cathode distortion buffer plate 2 adjacent thereto must be fabricated in an extremely narrow region of the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor substrate. Therefore, it was extremely difficult to satisfy the condition that "a portion of the gate electrode 1a positioned right below the outer periphery of the cathode distortion buffer plate 2 must be coated with the polyimide insulation film 1d to prevent discharge in the gap", considering from aspects of the component processing accuracy and the positioning accuracy when fabricating.
As another measure for preventing the discharge in the conventional structure, there is a method to remove the gap itself by decreasing the diameter of the cathode distortion buffer plate 2 and retracting it up to the outer diameter equivalent to that of the cathode electrode 1d formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate. In this case, however, there arises a problem that dynamic characteristics (for example, a serge resistance) of the GCT thyristor degrades.

Pressure-contact type semiconductor device


A pneumatically operated, simplified valve actuating device for dental equipment, the valve being capable of avoiding an undesirable dripping of dental instruments at the end of the work. The device includes a valve actuating element identified in a four-way valve, whose body includes a housing for a piston connected to a bobbin, wherein said casing is on one side connected to a selector unit and on the other side to a one-way retention valve, capable of receiving pressurized air from a reducer unit and passing it from said selector unit to a constantly pressurized air line coming directly from said reducer unit and to at least one dental instrument.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention refers to a simplified valve actuating device for dental equipment.
2. Discussion of the Background
Dental equipment presently in use are provided with a device that prevents the dental instruments from dripping at the end of the work.
This device is based on a technique of aspirating the last drop by creating a suction effect. The suction effect occurs by using a membrane-type valve, which aspirates the last drop inside the last section of the flow duct provided in the instrument. This action suffices to prevent, by capillary action, any loss of fluids from the instrument itself.
A device as described above is presently no longer allowed, as the aspiration outlined above may lead to a contamination of the water network as well as of the equipment, instruments and accessories by bacteria or viruses.
A number of alternative systems have been provided, which consist in removing this last drop to the outside by an impulse or blow of timed and controlled compressed air.
To achieve this, some complex electronic equipment has been developed, capable of applying such a control by eliminating the last water drop by a compressed air blow.
However, it is in any case necessary to prevent the dripping or loss of liquids from such dental instruments at the end of the work, even in the case of using some totally pneumatic, non-electronic dental equipment.
The general scope of this invention is to solve the technical problem evidenced in the field by purely pneumatic means, by eliminating the mentioned drawbacks of the known art, in an extremely simple, economical and particularly functional manner.
Another scope is to produce a general solution capable of being advantageously used in any type of dental instrument or assembly.
In view of the mentioned purposes it was planned, in accordance with this invention, to produce a simplified valve actuating device for dental equipment, possessing the characteristics best described in the accompanying claims.

Simplified valve actuating device for dental equipment

Faro Fabbrica Apparecchiature Razionali Odontoiatriche S.p.A.


The present invention includes a semiconductor package (20) that has a leadframe (10). An insulator (13) is mounted on a surface of a flag (11) of the leadframe (10) to insulate a portion of the leadframe (10) from the external environment. A semiconductor die (16) is also mounted on the flag (11), spaced away from the insulator (13). A portion of the leadframe (10), the semiconductor die (16), and a portion of the insulator (13) are encapsulated by a body (21) of the package (20). The body (21) also has an alignment hole (23) that extends from a surface of the body to the insulator (13), and exposes a portion of a surface of the insulator (13). In addition, the body (21) overlaps the insulator (13) and forms a seal to the insulator (13) protecting the leadframe (10) from the external environment.

The present invention relates, in general, to semiconductor packages, and more particularly, to a novel semiconductor package having high breakdown voltage.
In the past, the semiconductor industry has provided many different styles and configurations of semiconductor packages. Packages used for high power dissipation semiconductor devices often have leads extending only from one side of the package. These leads typically are extensions of a leadframe that extends into the package's body. During the process of molding the body around portions of the leadframe, it is often necessary to utilize alignment pins to hold internal portions of the leadframe in place. These alignment pins extend into the molding cavity during molding operations. When the alignment pins are removed, holes are left in the package body thereby exposing portions of the leadframe to the external environment.
After the encapsulation procedure is complete, foreign material such as mold release compounds are cleaned from the exposed leadframe portions, and the holes are filled with an epoxy or silicone material. The cleaning operation increases the package's cost and typically requires the use of environmentally detrimental chemicals.
Due to thermal expansion differences, the epoxy fill material eventually cracks thereby exposing the leadframe to the environment, and reducing the package's breakdown voltage below the desired value of greater than 1500 volts. Although silicones last longer than epoxy, silicones also fail thereby reducing the package's reliability and breakdown voltage.
In addition, the silicon and epoxy materials used during the fill operation have a limited shelf life. Consequently, the material storage time must be closely monitored thereby further increasing the package's cost.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a semiconductor package that provides a breakdown voltage in excess of 1500 volts, that does not use epoxy or silicone to fill openings in the package's body, and that seals holes with materials having a long shelf life.

Encapsulated semiconductor package having protectant circular insulators


A plastic cover for an air bag of a vehicle occupant restraint system is designed so that the tear lines forming the bag releasing doors create the door hinges at the outer margins of the cover. Where the outer margin is curved, a thinned region permits the hinge axis to flatten. Safety corners prevent tearing of the cover material through the hinge region.

Automotive airbags are commonly installed to protect both the driver and the front seat passenger from injury in the event of a head-on collision. The term "airbag" is something of a misnomer because typically the bag is filled with a rapidly evolving gas produced by an igniter. The bag is designed to inflate in no more than approximately 15 milliseconds. In its uninflated and folded condition it is mounted within a housing having a cover which is designed to tear along predetermined lines to provide an opening for the escape of the airbag.
In view of the explosive nature of the airbag inflation, one of the major problems with prior art installations has been the tendency of the airbag cover to break into pieces. The pieces thereupon become projectiles capable of striking the occupants.
Airbag covers customarily are formed of materials such as thermoplastics which are somewhat resilient and have weakened or thinned regions forming tear lines. The tear lines are designed to rupture and form one or more hinged doors which permit the expanding airbag to escape. Ideally the shearing stress which bursts the tear lines is dissipated within sufficient time and distance to allow the formation of hinges which permit the doors to open but retain them in place on the cover. It would also be desirable for the doors to swing open through an arc exceeding 180.degree. in order for them to be positioned well clear of the expanding airbag. Finally, it would be desirable to achieve these objectives while employing a one piece molded cover without the need for inserts or hardware elements.


Methods and apparatus for managing the effects of dispersion in an optical transport system in which some of the system's nodes are connected to one another via inhomogeneous fiber-optic links. In one embodiment, an optical transmitter is configured to apply electronic and/or optical dispersion pre-compensation in the amount selected to cause the peak-to-average-power ratio of the optical signal in the lower-dispersion portion of the link to be relatively low (e.g., close to a minimum value). Advantageously, such dispersion pre-compensation tends to significantly reduce, e.g., in terms of the bit-error rate, the directional anisotropy exhibited by optical transmissions through the inhomogeneous fiber-optic links.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to optical communication equipment and, more specifically but not exclusively, to methods and apparatus for mitigating the adverse effects of dispersion in fiber-optic links.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention(s). Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
The term "dispersion compensation" is often used to refer to a process of substantially canceling the chromatic dispersion introduced by an optical element or a combination of optical elements. In addition, the term "dispersion compensation" is used in a more general sense of dispersion management, e.g., in reference to the built-in capability to at least partially control the overall chromatic dispersion evolution in an optical transport system. The purposes of dispersion compensation include, but are not limited to reducing the effects of excessive temporal broadening of short optical pulses and mitigating detrimental nonlinear distortions of waveforms and/or signal envelopes.
Dispersion compensation is an important issue for fiber-optic links because optical signals modulated at relatively high bit rates can be subjected to strong dispersive broadening/distortion. For example, without dispersion compensation, each transmitted symbol might be broadened/distorted so much that it would strongly overlap with and/or detrimentally affect the neighboring symbols at the receiver, thereby causing significant inter-symbol interference. As known in the art, inter-symbol interference can disadvantageously cause a significant increase in the bit-error rate (BER).

Dispersion management for inhomogeneous fiber-optic links


The invention relates to a method of crystallizing a tetrahydropyridine derivative, to the novel crystalline forms thereby obtained and to the pharmaceutical compositions containing said tetrahydropyridine derivative in a given crystalline form as the active principle.

The present invention relates to a method of crystallizing a tetrahydropyridine derivative, to the novel crystalline forms thereby obtained and to a pharmaceutical composition containing said tetrahydropyridine derivative in a given crystalline form as the active principle.
The present invention relates more particularly to a method of crystallizing [-2-(2-naphthyl)ethyl]-4-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine hydrochloride, to three crystalline forms of this product, to a defined mixture of two of these three forms and to a pharmaceutical composition containing one of said forms or a mixture of two of said forms.
1-[2-(2-Naphthyl)ethyl]-4-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine, hereafter designated by its code number SR 57746, and its pharmaceutically acceptable salts were first described in EP 0 101 381 as anorexigenic agents and subsequently as antianxiodepressants (U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,716), anticonstipation agents (U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,005), neurotrophic agents (U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,320), free radical inhibitors (U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,745) and cardioprotective agents (U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,709).
EP 0 101 381 describes SR 57746 in the form of the hydrochloride, hereafter called SR 57746 A, and this salt was used in preclinical and clinical trials on healthy volunteers. According to said document, SR 57746 A is isolated by crystallization from ethanol, especially absolute ethanol.
In the preclinical trials, especially in the animal pharmacology and toxicology tests, SR 57746 A showed a constant activity and behavior. Likewise, the pharmacokinetic studies on animals gave constant and reproducible results.
By contrast, in the clinical trials carried out on healthy volunteers (Phase I), SR 57746 A was found to show a high variability in the plasma concentrations and the pharmacodynamic effects of the active principle.
In the first clinical trials on patients suffering from very serious diseases, especially amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the dose of SR 57746 A was kept very low, namely 2 mg/day, at which dose the product proved promising (W. G. Bradley, paper entitled xe2x80x9cNew drugs for amyotrophic lateral sclerosisxe2x80x9d, American Academy of Neurology meeting, Mar. 23-30, 1996; pages 240-23/240-28).
It has furthermore been found that the preparation of larger amounts of SR 57746 A by the method of isolation described in EP 0 101 381 does not successfully yield a product with constant characteristics which makes it possible to overcome the disadvantages noted in the Phase I clinical trials.
It was found more particularly that, by the method of isolation described in EP 0 101 381, the SR 57746 A obtained consists of crystals whose size is not constant and specifically is greater than 150 micrometers; more particularly, it is 150-600 micrometers for at least about 75% of the crystals.
Moreover, it has been found that the SR 57746 A obtained by the method described in EP 0 101 381 consists of at least 3 different forms, as demonstrated by differential scanning calorimetry.
Finally, it has been found that the respective ratios of the different forms are not constant in different production lots of SR 57746 A, making it difficult to control the characteristics of the starting material for the manufacture of pharmaceutical compositions.
It has now been found that by carrying out the crystallization of SR 57746 A under suitable and constant conditions in terms of solvent, stirrer speed and cooling rate, it is possible to isolate the compound in three different crystalline forms or as a mixture of two of these three forms in fixed and reproducible ratios.
More particularly, it has been found that:
form I of SR 57746 A is obtained by cooling a solution of SR 57746 A in an ethanol/concentrated hydrochloric acid mixture, without stirring;
form II of SR 57746 A is obtained by cooling a solution of SR 57746 A in absolute ethanol or in an ethyl acetate/water mixture under controlled conditions of cooling rate and stirrer speed;
form III of SR 57746 A is obtained by cooling a solution of SR 57746 A in dimethyl sulfoxide; and
a mixture of form I and form III in fixed and reproducible proportions is obtained by cooling a solution of SR 57746 A in an ethanol/water mixture.
It has also been found that these novel crystalline forms, either by themselves or in fixed mixtures of two of said forms, are absorbed uniformly and reproducibly and make it easy to establish the optimum dosage of the active principle. Over and above the improvements in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic terms, the ability to control the reproducibility of the composition of SR 57746 A in crystalline form is very advantageous as far as marketing of the drug is concerned.
Finally, it has been found that if the novel crystalline forms or the mixtures of two of said forms consist of very small crystals, especially micronized crystals, the activity of the active principle increases substantially and its absorption is uniform and constant, thus making it possible to administer small dosages with a very good therapeutic response and at the same time totally to control the potential side effects.

Method for the crystallization of a tetrahydropyridin derivative and resulting crystalline forms