An apparatus for and method of reducing electromagnetic interference of an integrated circuit by providing multiple choking levels are disclosed. A choking circuit includes a choking level select signal generator, a pulse choking circuit connected to the choking level select signal generator, and a modulation control circuit connected to the pulse choking circuit. The choking level is increased when modules of the integrated circuit are less active, which reduces electromagnetic interference. The choking level is decreased when modules of the integrated circuit are more active, which maintains the voltage supplied to the power bus above a desired level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor integrated circuits having a circuit that reduces electromagnetic emissions generated by power supply current without degrading circuit performance. In particular, the invention relates to a choking circuit which has multiple levels of current smoothing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern electronic systems often include many integrated circuits, and the rapid switching of many thousands of logic elements causes electromagnetic emissions. Such emissions, when transmitted along power bus conductors, can interfere with the operation of the electronic system. Electromagnetic emissions may also interfere with the operation of nearby electrical equipment due to electric and magnetic fields radiated into space. This is the general problem of electromagnetic interference ("EMI").
In an integrated circuit, emissions are typically generated by the large numbers of transistors that switch in response to a transition of an input clock signal. Such simultaneous switching of the transistors generates high amplitude transient current pulses that must be provided by an external power supply. It is these transient pulses that cause most of the electromagnetic emissions generated by integrated circuits. On the other hand, a highly integrated circuit, such as a system-on-chip, consists of many modularized elements, but not all these elements are enabled simultaneously. Typically, only part of the elements are enabled to perform certain functions at a specific time. Therefore, the current of an integrated circuit drawn from an external power supply depends on the activities of the integrated circuit.
Inventors have proposed a number of solutions to reduce EMI. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,792 teaches that EMI may be lowered by selecting a lower clock frequency. U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,919 discloses that a pseudorandom code may be added to a digital signal to reduce its EMI. U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,832 teaches that a delay may be added to a signal to lower its EMI.
Another solution (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,207) has attempted to reduce the generation of electromagnetic emissions by choking the power supply current at every transition of a clock signal so that the amplitude of the transient pulse can be reduced and the pulse energy can be spread over an extended period of time. This reduction is made possible by dynamically modulating the resistive portion of a low pass filter between the external power supply and the power bus of the integrated circuit. Just prior to every transition of the clock signal in the integrated circuit's nucleus logic, the resistive portion of the low pass filter is increased to given value, termed a "choking level", and is then gradually reduced. In response to this resistance modulation, the voltage level on the internal nucleus power bus is necessarily reduced. In this patent, the way of modulating the resistive portion of the lower pass filter is the same at every transition of the clock signal, regardless the activities of the integrated circuit. Hence, it can be referred to as an I.sub.cc current EMI choke with a single choking level.
For the I.sub.cc current EMI choke with a single choking level, the choking level is chosen based on a high activity case of the integrated circuit, that is, when all modularized elements of the integrated circuit are active simultaneously, so that the voltage level on the internal nucleus power bus is not reduced below the level required in the most sensitive circuit operation. On the other hand, this choking level can be too little to reduce EMI efficiently in a case when only part of the modularized elements of an integrated circuit are active, which is the typical case most of the time for a highly integrated circuit.

I.sub.cc current electromagnetic interference choke with multiple choking levels


There is provided a communication test apparatus that can avoid a pause of a communication test for executing a signaling when executing the communication test, and reduce the time for the communication test.

Conventionally, a test for radio communication using radio communication terminal as EUT (Equipment Under Test) has been performed. The test for radio communication is accomplished for a radio tester by performing radio communication through a communication terminal and an antenna. Or, the test for radio communication is accomplished by way of directly connecting the radio tester to the communication terminal through a coaxial cable and performing communication through the coaxial cable. On all occasions, it is necessary that the radio tester establishes the connection to the communication terminal, and then, controls the communication terminal, that is, executes the signaling. The time taken for this is called signaling time. The signaling time necessary for the radio tester to execute the signaling with one communication terminal is, for example, approximately 2–3 seconds.
Here, in case where there is a plurality of communication terminals, the radio tester executes the signaling with the communication terminal to be tested later after completing a test for a predetermined communication terminal. And, it executes a test for the communication terminal to be tested later after completing the signaling. Thus, the test for the communication terminal is paused during the signaling time.
Accordingly, in case where there is a plurality of communication terminals, the time that the test is paused cannot be negligible with respect to a total test executing time. This has been a practical problem in case of executing a test for a plurality of communication terminals (EUT).
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a communication test apparatus that can avoid a pause of a communication test for performing a signaling when executing the communication test, and thus, shorten the time for the communication test.

Apparatus, method and program for communication test, and recorded medium on which that program has been recorded

Abstract: Because the communication test apparatus establishes the signaling on each EUT1, EUT2, and EUT3 in parallel, the time for the signaling is shortened to about ⅓. Also, since the communication test apparatus executes the communication test for EUT1, EUT2, and EUT3 of which the signaling is established, it is not necessary to make a pause of the communication test until EUT2 and the signaling are established after completing the test for EUT1. Also, because the communication test apparatus establishes EUT1, EUT2, EUT3 and the signaling while executing the communication test for EUT4, EUT5 and EUT6, there is no need to make a pause of the communication test until EUT1, EUT2, EUT3 and the signaling are established after completing the test for EUT4, EUT5 and EUT6.


Provided are an information feedback method, terminal, base station, a storage medium, and an electronic device. The method includes: decomposing a channel state information (CSI) matrix H to obtain a matrix Ud and a matrix Vd, where Ud is a matrix having d columns, and every two column vectors are mutually orthogonal; and Vd is a matrix having d columns, and every two column vectors are mutually orthogonal; and feeding back amplitude and phase information of elements in Ud including d left eigenvectors and/or amplitude and phase information of elements in Vd including d right eigenvectors.

In a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communications system, precoding or beamforming is performed on multiple transmit antennas, thereby achieving the purpose of improving transmission efficiency and reliability. In order to implement high-performance precoding or beamforming, a precoding matrix or a beamforming vector needs to be well matched with a channel, which requires that a transmit end can smoothly obtain channel state information (CSI). Therefore, CSI feedback is a key technology for implementing high-performance precoding or beamforming in the MIMO system. However, when the CSI feedback is performed, quantization feedback on a channel matrix will bring a relatively large feedback overhead, especially for CSI feedback supporting multiple sub-bands, the feedback overhead is an important issue that restricts performance improvement.
A CSI quantization feedback technology is an important part of a MIMO technology. Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) vectors or variations of DFT vectors, such as a Kronecker product of multiple DFT vectors, or cascaded DFT vectors, or cascaded DFT vectors subjected to a phase adjustment, are usually used in a traditional wireless communication system. A terminal reports precoding indication information in the above-mentioned form to a base station through the quantization feedback. Such type of precoding codebook may be classified as a first type of codebook, which has a relatively small overhead, but has relatively low CSI quantization precision and limited performance. For another codebook, DFT vectors or Kronecker products of DFT vectors are linearly weighted, and the information related to the DFT vectors and the amplitude and phase information of weighting coefficients are fed back to the base station as the precoding indication information. Such precoding codebook may be classified as a second type of codebook. This codebook has relatively high CSI quantization precision but a larger CSI overhead, especially has a relatively large CSI feedback overhead when high-rank DFT vectors or many DFT vectors are linearly weighted and combined.
In view of the preceding issue in the related art, no effective scheme has yet been proposed.

Information feedback method, terminal, and base station


A web-based mission certification quiz for educating various persons involved in a fundraising campaign is disclosed. A web-based method for educating solicitors, donors, participants and others involved in a fundraising campaign about the campaign's mission includes providing, on a website, information about the campaign's mission, taking, on the website, a mission certification quiz by answering one or more questions, wherein the questions are designed to test a participant's knowledge about the campaign's mission. The method further includes determining a final score based on the number of correct answers, and creating a mission certificate on the website based on the final score.

Charitable, nonprofit and other organizations often raise money through fundraising campaigns. It is necessary that these organizations effectively communicate their fundraising mission to potential donors. It is also important that solicitors that seek donations on behalf of the organizations are well informed about the campaign's mission.
Solicitors who are not well informed about the campaign's mission cannot effectively communicate with potential donors. Solicitors often face many questions from potential donors about the campaign's mission. If solicitors are unable to provide satisfactory answers to the queries, potential donors will be skeptical about the fundraising mission. Also, if solicitors appear to be not well informed about the mission, potential donors may wonder whether the solicitor represents a legitimate charity. An ill-informed solicitor will be less successful in convincing a potential donor to make a contribution. Thus, it is necessary that solicitors and others involved in a fundraising campaign are well informed about the mission and are able to provide satisfactory answers to all queries.
It is also believed that potential donors who are well informed about the campaign's mission are more likely to make a charitable donation. Thus, if potential donors can be efficiently and conveniently educated about the campaign's mission, they can be more influenced to make a donation. Thus, it is desirable to educate potential donors about the campaign's mission.
There are usually no convenient and user-friendly means for educating solicitors, donors and others about a fundraising campaign's mission. For example, there are usually no convenient and user-friendly process to educate participants of charity walks, runs, biking events, and other fundraising events, except for providing literature in the form of handouts and brochures. However, recipients of the handouts are often not motivated to read the information. Also, people often join these events for athletic reasons, and need to be enticed to learn about the charitable cause.
Lack of user-friendly and convenient means for educating about the campaign's mission often results in ill-informed solicitors and donors. It is believed that solicitors will be more successful in fundraising if they are well informed. Also, it is believed that potential donors will be more willing to donate to charitable causes if they are well informed about the mission.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system by which nonprofit, charitable and other organizations can effectively communicate their fundraising mission to potential donors. There is a need for a method and system by which such organizations can educate potential donors about various causes that benefit from their support. There is also a need for a method and system that educates solicitors that seek donations on behalf of the organizations about the campaign's mission. There is a need for a method and system that assures potential donors that the solicitors are well informed and represent legitimate organizations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mission certification quiz for fundraising campaign


A piezoelectric blade protection structure for a plurality of juxtaposed piezoelectric blades mounting onto a circuit board to provide protection and anchoring effect for the piezoelectric blades. A protection member is mounted onto the vibration nodes of the piezoelectric blades to prevent the piezoelectric blades from broken by improper impact of external forces. The protection member, piezoelectric blades and circuit board are interposed respectively by a upper elastic element and a lower elastic element to provide a desired vibration space and anchoring for the piezoelectric blades.

In order to enable piezoelectric blade assemblies mounted onto a circuit board to maintain desired vibration and performance, a conventional approach as shown in FIG. 1 is to add a protection frame 20′ above a piezoelectric blade 10′. And the piezoelectric blade 10′ and the protection frame 20′ are interposed by an elastic element 30′ therebetween on the vibration node to prevent the piezoelectric blade 10′ from being compressed by external forces and broken, and also allow the piezoelectric blade 10′ to be anchored more securely. However such a structure still has drawbacks, notably:
1. The protection frame 20′ has to individually cover the piezoelectric blade 10′. For a structure that has many sets of piezoelectric blade 10′ laid in a juxtaposed manner, fabrication process and time increase. The cost for producing many protection frames 20′ also increases.
2. The protection frame 20′ generally completely covers the piezoelectric blade 10′. Heat energy generated by vibration of the piezoelectric blade 10′ cannot be dispersed. Moreover, the piezoelectric blade 10′ also produces friction noise during vibration. The sealed protection frame 20′ creates acoustic chest effect and results in excessive noise during operation of the piezoelectric blade 10′.
3. Different loads (such as cold cathode fluorescent lamps) require different output powers of the piezoelectric blade 10′ (such as different length and luminosity). Hence the number of layers of the piezoelectric blade 10′ varies. The height of single sheet or laminated piezoelectric blade 10′ has to change according to the load condition. As a result, different heights of protection frame 20′ have to be designed to match the piezoelectric blade modules of different specifications and heights. The number of specifications of the protection frame 20′ increases and the fabrication is higher.

Piezoelectric blade protection structure


Systems and methods for connecting two or more individuals to an Internet conversation based on their mutual interests, the current content they may be viewing and what they want to talk about at that time. The techniques of the present invention allow an individual who starts a conversation to maintain full control over who is able to join that conversation as well as how many are able to join at any one time. A user who desires to start or join a conversation about a particular topic or story selects an indicator, such as an icon, associated with the specific topic or story. The user is presented with an option to start or join a conversation. If the user opts to start a conversation, the user is presented with a comment page, and the user enters a comment, or comments, that preferably is intended to spark an interest in other users. The comment is then presented to other users. Those users who may desire to join in a conversation with the conversation starter respond with their own comment, which is then sent to the conversation starter. The conversation starter reviews the comment, and if the comment is subjectively acceptable, the conversation starter brings the responding user into a conversation. The responding user and conversation starter are then connected in a messaging session, such as an instant messaging session. Multiple users may be connected in a single messaging session by the conversation starter in this manner.

The present invention relates generally to Internet based conversations between individuals, and more particularly to improved techniques for connecting individuals in conversations based on the individuals' interests.
Internet chat rooms have been in existence for some time. In general there are two types of chat rooms, private and public. In public chat rooms, anyone can join the chat room to discuss issues during any time that the chat room is active. In a public chat room, an individual typically locates the chat room and jumps into the conversation if it is appealing to the individual. The individual is able to simply listen in (i.e. view all comments as they are posted in the room) or the individual may join in by posting a comment. In general, there is no way to prevent an undesirable participant from joining in the conversation, possibly wasting the other participants' time. In private chat rooms, on the other hand, it is possible to prevent undesirable participants from joining a conversation. To join a private chat room, one typically needs a password that is disseminated by one or more of the current participants. In this way, a participant who starts a chat room is able, to some extent, to limit other participants from joining by giving the password to only those individuals they desire to join. Internet chat rooms are also fixed in the sense that they are typically pre-associated with a general topic. Such Internet chat rooms generally do not provide users with the ability to dynamically create a conversation with other users directed to current media content the users may be currently viewing. In particular, there is no ability to control access based on what is being said.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art are methods and systems for dynamically matching and connecting two or more conversants to a conversation without the drawbacks associated with prior art systems such as chat rooms.

Systems and methods for matching participants to a conversation


A fault detection system and method for a warm air furnace is provided. A sensing circuit connected to an AC power source measures a level of current consumption during several points in the warm air furnace operating sequence. The measured level of current consumption is compared with an expected value. If the measured level exceeds the expected level by a threshold amount, a fault in the warm air furnace may be detected. An indication of at least one warm air furnace component that is most likely to have caused the fault may be provided.

Many houses and other buildings use warm air furnaces to provide heat. Generally, these furnaces operate by heating air received through cold air or return ducts and distributing the heated air throughout the building using warm air or supply ducts. A circulation fan, operated by an alternating current (AC) permanent-split-capacitor (PSC) motor, directs the cold air into a heat exchanger, which may be composed of metal. The heat exchanger metal is heated using a burner that burns fossil fuels. The burner is ignited with an ignition device, such as an AC hot surface ignition element. The air is heated as it passes by the hot metal surfaces of the heat exchanger. After the air is heated in the heat exchanger, the fan moves the heated air through the warm air ducts. A combustion air blower, or inducer, is used to remove exhaust gases from the building. The inducer is typically operated using an AC shaded-pole motor.
Because furnaces play a critical role in the comfort of the occupants of the building, it is important that the warm air furnace remains functional. Therefore, it is desirable to detect faults in the warm air furnace prior to failure. This may prevent the occupants of the building from either remaining in an uncomfortably cold building or having to leave the building while waiting for a repair technician to fix the warm air furnace.
Therefore, a need exists to detect faults in a warm air furnace while the furnace is operating. Detecting faults in a warm air furnace while the furnace is operating may be beneficial for allowing an installer to verify proper furnace operation prior to leaving a site of installation, enabling predictive diagnostics for detecting deteriorating furnace elements prior to failure, and quickly detecting faults that have already occurred.

System and method of fault detection in a warm air furnace


The present invention provides a device for holding hair in a bundle securely. The device consists of a cylindrical coiled shape with pitch slightly larger than inside diameter, made with a material of sufficient rigidity as to not flex. A bundle of hair, smaller than the pitch, yet larger than the inside diameter is inserted into a pitch gap and the bundle wound into the device until the hair is contained by the cylinder formed by the coils. The hair springs against the device, friction holding it in place. The device may then become a means to attach other ornaments which hang from the coil as additional adornments for the hair. Additionally, the coil itself may itself be decorated on the outside surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to mechanical devices for the purpose of securing hair in a bundle
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for holding or ornamenting the hair have been used for literally thousands of years. Those for bundling the hair are usually elastic bands or flat clips or bendable devices of malleable materials or other such mechanical devices with movable parts or which change shape. Devices of this type require elastic qualities or springs or that they be deformed with each use of the device or other energy storing means which apply pressure to the hair bundle. The same pressure which secures the bundle of hair can damage the hair or entangle the hair which along with the damage can cause discomfort upon removal. Furthermore, these devices rely on moving, stretching or bendable parts, which can break or wear out.
There is no known prior art which teaches a method of holding hair by means of a rigid or semi-rigid helix in bundles without undo pressure or moving parts and is removed easily by "unscrewing" the device as with the present invention.


Methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer program products are provided for generating a network security rule. Existing security rules may be determined across a network that includes a plurality of network resources, such as computing devices or virtual machines. A map is generated that identifies each of the permitted connections between the resources over the network. In some implementations, the map may include a network topology map. Network traffic data for each of the permitted connections may be gathered or monitored. Based on the existing security rules and the gathered network traffic data, an enhanced security rule may be generated for a particular connection that reduces data traffic over connection, which improves network security by further hardening the available communication paths.

Network security is an integral aspect in the protection of computers and sensitive content of an organization. For instance, where an organization relies on cloud-based applications or platforms, cloud providers may enable users to restrict access to network resources based on one or more user-defined access rules. Such rules may be implemented in a network firewall or by identifying security groups. In typical environments, a user must analyze the network and generate access rules manually. For example, an engineer responsible for a company's network security may need to identify which restrictions should be put in place and write specific rules for each access restriction. In other situations, the engineer may group or isolate network resources and specify the allowed communication paths between resources.
In each solution, however, the engineer must manually define the rules, either textually or through a graphical interface. As the number of resources increases on a given network, such as into the hundreds, thousands, or greater numbers, the less scalable these solutions become. Furthermore, existing techniques are cumbersome, tedious, and time-consuming, often requiring several engineers (or teams of engineers) to manage the network security for an organization. In addition, existing techniques are prone to errors, leaving open unintended communication paths that result in security vulnerabilities that may be exploited.

Automatic generation of security rules for network micro and nano segmentation


A production method for a fuel cell including an electrolyte, an anode which is provided on one of both sides of the electrolyte, a cathode which is provided on the other side of the electrolyte, and separators one of which is provided on an outer side of the anode and the other of which is provided on an outer side of the cathode. This production method includes a first process in which the anode and the cathode each of which includes at least a catalyst and an ion-exchange resin are produced; and a second process in which the electrolyte is provided between the anode and the cathode before being formed into a thin-film electrolyte. With this production method, contact resistance can be reduced without increasing the number of production processes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a production method for a fuel cell. More particularly, the invention relates to a production method for a fuel cell, which makes it possible to produce a fuel cell with reduced contact resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among various types of fuel cells, great attention has been given to a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (hereinafter referred to as a "PEFC"), as the optimum power source for an electric vehicle. This is because the PEFC can be operated at a rather low temperature, and exhibits high energy conversion efficiency of 50% to 60%. Also, a start-up time of the PEFC is short, and a system of the PEFC is compact and light-weight. For an electrolyte of the PEFC, a cation-exchange resin membrane is used. The cation-exchange resin membrane is used as a cation conductive membrane. The cation conductive membrane of the PEFC has a proton (hydrogen ion (H+)) exchange group in a molecule. When being moisturized to saturation, the cation conductive membrane exhibits specific resistance of equal to or lower than 20 Ωcm, and serves as a proton conductive electrolyte. The saturated moisture content of the electrolyte membrane reversibly changes based on a temperature. Namely, when the PEFC is being operated, the electrolyte membrane is kept saturated with moisturizing water that is supplied, in the form of water vapor, to fuel gas and oxidizing gas in order to prevent a moisture loss from the electrolyte membrane, and with water that is generated by an electrochemical reaction which occurs on the cathode side.
The PEFC mainly includes an electrolyte membrane, a fuel electrode (hereinafter, referred to as an "anode"), an air electrode (hereinafter, referred to as a "cathode"), and separators. Such a PEFC is usually formed by the following method. First, the cathode is joined to one of both surfaces of the electrolyte membrane, which is formed to be a thin-film in advance, and the anode is joined to the other surface, whereby a membrane electrode assembly (hereinafter, referred to as a "MEA") is formed. Then, a diffusion layer is joined to each of both surfaces of the MEA, whereby a membrane-electrode-diffusion layer assembly (hereinafter, referred to as a "MEGA") is formed, and a separator is then fitted to the MEGA on each of the anode side and the cathode side, whereby the PEFC as a module is produced.
However, the PEFC produced by this method has the following problems. When the cathode and the anode are joined to the surfaces of the thin-film electrolyte membrane, the porosity of the cathode and the anode tends to be reduced. Also, the electric power generation efficiency of the PEFC tends to be reduced due to contact resistance which occurs, for example, if the anode and the cathode are not sufficiently joined to the thin-film electrolyte membrane.
Accordingly, technologies for reducing contact resistance in a fuel cell have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP (A) 06-176771 discloses the following technology. In this technology, the minimum amount of ion-exchange resin required for joining an ion-exchange membrane and an electrode to each other is moisturized and joined to an electrode surface by forming an ion-conductive thin-film, whose glass-transition temperature is lower than that of the ion-exchange membrane, on one of or both of the surfaces of the ion-exchange membrane, whereby contact resistance is reduced.
However, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP (A) 06-176771 has the following problem. Although the contact resistance can be reduced, the production method for a fuel cell according to this technology becomes complicated, since multiple ion-exchange membranes need to be provided.
A PEFC module is usually produced by joining/fitting components such as an anode including a catalytic layer and a cathode including a catalytic layer and separators to an electrolyte membrane which has been formed to be a thin-film in advance. However, the electrolyte membrane of the PEFC produced by this method has problems that yield thereof is low, and/or that durability thereof is low. The PEFC produced by this method has another problem that relatively high contact resistance occurs in the fuel cell, and therefore the electric power generation efficiency tends to be reduced.
When the PEFC is produced by the above-mentioned conventional method, the catalytic layer of the anode and the catalytic layer of the cathode are joined to the thin-film electrolyte membrane. Examples of a typical method for joining the electrolyte membrane and the catalytic layers to each other include a method in which the catalytic layers are transcribed to the electrolyte membrane (hereinafter, this method will be referred to as a "transcription method"), and a method in which the catalytic layers are sprayed on the electrolyte membrane (hereinafter, this method will be referred to as a "spray coating method"). However, the transcription method has the following problem. When the catalytic layers are joined to the electrolyte membrane by the transcription method, the catalytic layers needs to be pressed to the thin-film electrolyte membrane. Accordingly, the porosity of the catalytic layers is reduced during pressing. Also, the spray coating method has the following problem. When the catalytic layers are joined to the electrolyte membrane by the spray coating method, although it is unlikely that porosity of the catalytic layers is reduced, the electrolyte may be damaged since a solvent is used during the spray coating.


A voltage converter having four switches Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, connected in series and operated in pairs in a complementary fashion. An input voltage is provided across the four switches. A middle capacitor is connected in parallel with two middle switches Q2, Q3. Voltage output is provided across switches Q3 and Q4 (i.e. at a midpoint of the four switches). Series-connected output capacitors can be connected in parallel with the set of four switches. The middle capacitor alone or in combination with parallel connected capacitors, when connected to the input voltage or output terminals functions as a capacitive voltage divider for voltage conversion and/or regulation with extremely high efficiency and which can provide either step-down or step-up function. Also, an output inductor can be provided as a perfecting feature to further increase efficiency. Alternatively, two of the four switches can be replaced with rectifying diodes. Alternatively, the voltage converter has two or more sets of four switches connected in parallel. The two sets can be connected by resistor-capacitor ladder, or an inductor-capacitor ladder for charge/voltage sharing to reduce voltage ripple.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to voltage converters and regulators and, more particularly, to voltage converters and regulators having several switches or other devices connected in series to form a voltage divider. The circuits in accordance with the present invention are particularly useful for providing low voltages at high currents needed for modern microprocessors. The non-isolated bus converters are suitable for high power density, high efficiency non-isolated unregulated DC/DC conversion but can be operated to provide good voltage regulation, as well.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As microprocessor technology advances, the required microprocessor power supply must provide power with lower voltage, higher current, and higher slew rate. Next generation microprocessors will require operating power at unprecedented low voltages and high current. For example, microprocessors may soon require voltages as low as 0.7 Volts and currents as high as 130 Amps or more with extremely wide and rapid excursions of current load between full operational mode and so-called standby or sleep states. This power must typically be generated from a DC power bus providing 48 volts or 12 volts. Providing reliable, small size, and cost effective power supplies and power conditioning circuits to meet the power requirements of state of the art microprocessors is increasingly difficult. In fact, present state of the art DC-DC converter circuits and voltage regulators will soon be inadequate for use with many foreseeable microprocessor designs.
Present state of the art voltage converters or regulators typically have a single stage or multiple stage buck converter. Two stage buck converters tend to reduce switching losses and reverse recovery losses in the buck converter switches. Also, in a two-stage buck converter, the reduced input voltage to the second stage allows the operating frequency of the second stage to be greatly increased. Consequently, the size of filtering capacitors can be greatly reduced. However, the efficiency gains and size reductions achievable from adding buck stages are inherently limited. Two stage buck converters may not be able to meet the power requirements of microprocessors in a cost effective circuit of acceptably small size.
On the contrary, the rate of change of current that can be delivered to a load, referred to as slew rate, is limited not only by the transient performance of the power supply/voltage regulator (hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as VR or voltage regulator module (VRM)) itself but by interconnect parasitics which can be excessive and further limit transient performance. Therefore, use of filter capacitors of increasing values and size have been used for energy storage to meet needed slew rates even though the limited control bandwidth of VRs is compromised by such increased capacitance.
It has been recognized that the requirement for capacitors to accommodate high slew rate of load current can be reduced by operating switching voltage regulators at higher switching rates or frequencies to provide increased control frequency and transient response. However, such an option has not been widely adopted because the efficiency of known voltage converter topologies is significantly reduced when switching frequencies are increased because the major loss factors are switching losses and body conduction losses associated with the inherent diode in MOSFETs which are used for switching.

Non-isolated bus converters with voltage divider topology

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.


Disclosed is an image processing system for analyzing images of a specimen to determine whether the specimen contains defects. The system includes a plurality of processors for receiving image data from a specimen and for analyzing one or more selected patch(es) of such image data to determine whether the specimen has a defect. The system also includes a plurality of buses for coupling the processors together, wherein the bus has the following specifications: a data rate of about 50 gigabits per second or more and an error rate less than about 10−16. In one implementation, the buses are low voltage differential signal type buses, and in another implementation, the buses are hyper transport type buses.

The present invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor inspection. More specifically, it relates to techniques for processing inspection images and the like.
Generally, the industry of semiconductor manufacturing involves highly complex techniques for fabricating integrating circuits using semiconductor materials which are layered and patterned onto a substrate, such as silicon. Due to the large scale of circuit integration and the decreasing size of semiconductor devices, the device must be defect free prior to shipment of the device to the end users or customers. Thus, the resulting device or wafer needs to be inspected for defects. Additionally, the reticles which are used to fabricate the wafers are also inspected for defects.
A reticle or photomask is an optical element containing transparent and opaque, semi-transparent, and phase shifting regions which together define the pattern of coplanar features in an electronic device such as an integrated circuit. Reticles are used during photolithography to define specified regions of a semiconductor wafer for etching, ion implantation, or other fabrication process. For many modern integrated circuit designs, an optical reticle's features are between about 1 and about 5 times larger than the corresponding features on the wafer. For other exposure systems (e.g., x-ray, e-beam, and extreme ultraviolet) a similar range of reduction ratios also apply.
Optical reticles are typically made from a transparent medium such as a borosilicate glass or quartz plate on which is deposited on an opaque and/or semi-opaque layer of chromium or other suitable material. However, other mask technologies are employed for direct e-beam exposure (e.g., stencil masks), x-ray exposure (e.g., absorber masks), etc. The reticle pattern may be created by a laser or an e-beam direct write technique, for example, both of which are widely used in the art.
After fabrication of each reticle or group of reticles, each reticle is typically inspected by illuminating it with light emanating from a controlled illuminator. Optical images of one or more portions of the reticle are constructed based on the fraction of the light reflected, transmitted, or otherwise directed to a light sensor. Such inspection techniques and apparatus are well known in the art and are embodied in various commercial products such as many of those available from KLA-Tencor Corporation of San Jose, Calif.
During a conventional inspection process, the optical image of the reticle portion being inspected is typically compared to a corresponding reference image. Conventionally, the reference image is either generated from a circuit pattern data that was used to fabricate the reticle or from an optical image of a nearby area of the reticle itself. Either way, the optical image features are analyzed and compared with corresponding features of the reference image. Each feature difference is then typically compared against a threshold value. If the optical image feature varies from the test feature by more than the predetermined threshold, a defect is defined. A similar inspection process may also be used to inspect a semiconductor wafer which is fabricating using a plurality of reticles.
Mechanisms for a typical inspection process may include a number of serially coupled processors. The image data is fed into and processed by a first processor. After the first processor performs one step of the analysis, the resultant data is then fed into a second processor for the next step in the analysis. The image data may be fed serially into any number of processors. Typically, the different processors will each perform some small portion of the total analysis algorithm(s). The algorithms are usually hard-coded into the individual processors.
Although serially processing portions of the image data is adequate for some applications, it is too slow and/or inflexible under certain conditions. For example, as circuit patterns and corresponding reticle patterns grow more complex, the image data of such reticles grows to contain a relatively large amount of data that must be accurately analyzed. A typical reticle may be converted into 1 million by 1 million pixels of image data. Thus, it may become quite burdensome to process such large amounts of image data.
Additionally, conventional image processing is often dependent on the proper functioning of all of the processors. That is, if a single processor fails within the serial chain of processors, the image data may not be properly analyzed. The inability to properly analyze is especially likely if there are no other processors within the serial chain of processors that perform the failed processor's functions.
Finally, inspection systems that include processors with fixed or hard-coded algorithms often cannot handle the full range of possible algorithms that may be useful for image processing, and they are not easily upgraded or changed if a new set of algorithms is desired. For example, if new algorithms are desired, the processors may have to be replaced with new processors that have a new set of hard-coded algorithms. This procedure may be relatively time-consuming and/or costly.
Thus, improved inspection apparatus and techniques are needed. More specifically, mechanisms for more efficiently and accurately processing image data are desired.

High throughout image for processing inspection images


In an interface apparatus provided between a first remote control system of polling communication system and a second remote control system of contention communication system, a control section executes at least one processing of the following processings based on mapping information of addresses. A first control processing is to transmit a transmission signal for controlling a second load unit to a second node unit responsive to a transmission signal which represents reception of a first input signal and is transmitted from a first terminal unit, thereby controlling the second load unit based on the first input signal. A second control processing is to transmit a transmission signal for controlling a first load unit to the first load unit responsive to a transmission signal which represents reception of the second input signal and is transmitted from the second node unit, thereby controlling the first load unit based on the second input signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interface apparatus between two remote control systems having transmission modes different from each other, and in particular, an interface apparatus between a first remote control system of polling communication system and a second remote control system of convention system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a remote control system of polling system (hereinafter referred to as a "polling communication system") in which a plurality of terminal units and one transmission unit are connected with each other via a signal line, and the transmission unit performs data exchange or data of transmission and receipt between the terminal units by accessing respective terminal units by using respective addresses allocated to respective terminal units by the time division multiplexing access. In such a remote control system, in order to control an action of a load in response to a switch operation, there is provided a pair of terminal units, in which one terminal unit receives binary data inputted by a switch operation (by monitoring the switch operation), and another terminal unit controls the load such as an illumination load. The transmission unit has such mapping information that the address of the terminal unit on the switch side is mapped to or corresponds to the address of terminal unit on the load side. Consequently, when the transmission units detects an operation of the terminal unit on the switch side, the transmission unit notifies the terminal unit on the load side of the switch operation. On the other hand, the terminal unit on the load side transmits information as to the action or operating of the load to the terminal unit on the switch side via the transmission unit. This leads to that the operating state of the load can be displayed on a displaying light which is provided in the terminal unit on the switch side.
Also, there has been diffused a remote control system of convention system (hereinafter referred to as a "contention communication system") including a plurality of terminal units, in which each terminal unit includes a microcomputer for communication, the respective terminal units operate independently and separately, and the terminal units directly communicate with each other without any transmission unit. In such a remote control system, direct communication is established between a terminal unit for monitoring a switch operation and another terminal unit for controlling a load.
In the above-mentioned remote control systems, the polling communication system is currently applied mainly for controlling illumination loads, whereas the contention communication system is currently applied mainly for controlling air conditioning apparatuses. Accordingly, in the polling communication system, the terminal units have been manufactured as products with various functions for controlling illumination loads, whereas the contention communication system is expected high reliability in the field of air conditioning control.
By the way, if it is attempted to connect the polling communication system with the contention communication system, an interface apparatus is required. Some polling communication systems have a function to provide dimming control of an illumination load. Basically, however, the polling communication system controls ON/OFF operation of the illumination load. Therefore, the interface apparatus is only required to transmit the ON/OFF information between respective systems. Namely, in a system for sending the information, a contact point is turned ON/OFF through the terminal unit. On the other hand, in a system for receiving the information, the ON/OFF state of the contact point is monitored by the terminal unit. In other words, in the respective systems, there are required two terminal units includes (a) one terminal unit for transmitting information of contact output for control to a counterpart system, and (b) another terminal unit for receiving information of contact output from the counterpart system. In order to achieve bi-directional data exchange, each system requires two units and therefore total 4 terminal units are required. Normally, two terminal units are required for transmitting information from one system to another system, and additional two terminal units are required for receiving acknowledgement of operation from another system. Thus, the information exchange between systems additionally requires four terminal units.
As described above, four terminal units are required for controlling one load of a switch of one system in response to an operation of a switch in another system. With increase in the number of combinations of switches and loads, the number of terminal units remarkably increases. As a result, there will occur such a problem that the connection relationship becomes complicated.

Interface apparatus provided between two remote control systems having different transmission modes


An annular mating portion extends from a fastening surface of a fastening nut. The mating portion has an inner diameter set to be substantially equal to an outer diameter of the portion of a piston in which an accommodating groove is formed. In a state in which the mating portion is inserted into the accommodating groove, and an inner circumferential surface of the mating portion slides in contact with a circumferential wall of the accommodating groove, the fastening nut is mated with a threaded portion, and a lip seal is held between the mating portion and the accommodating groove. This fixes the lip seal to the piston.

This type of a pressure reducing valve (regulator) typically includes an open/close valve arranged between a primary port into which high-pressure gas flows and a secondary port from which the gas is discharged. The open/close valve opens and closes to reduce the pressure (primary pressure) of the high-pressure gas flowing through the primary port to a secondary pressure and discharges the gas with the reduced pressure.
In the prior art, such pressure reducing valves include a piston-type pressure reducing valve. The piston-type pressure reducing valve includes a cylinder arranged downstream from an open/close valve and a piston arranged within the cylinder to a slidable manner and defining a pressure reducing chamber and a pressure regulating chamber within the cylinder. The piston moves in accordance with the pressure difference between the pressure regulating chamber side and the pressure reducing chamber side to open or close the open/close valve. Such a pressure reducing valve is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-192462.
The piston-type pressure reducing valve normally includes a seal arranged on the outer circumferential surface of the piston. The seal ensures sealing (hermetic sealing) between the pressure reducing chamber and the pressure regulating chamber. In many cases, an O-ring is used as the seal.
However, for a hydrogen tank used, for example, in a fuel cell vehicle, there is a trend for increasing the pressure (e.g. 70 MPa) to increase storage capacity. A pressure reducing valve for such a hydrogen tank would be subjected to an extremely high gas pressure that is applied to the pressure receiving surface of a piston at the side of the pressure reducing chamber and to the seal. Thus, when the pressure reducing valve uses an O-ring as its seal to ensure sufficient sealing in the same manner as a normal pressure reducing valve, the O-ring must be set at an extremely high compression rate. In this case, the friction between the O-ring and inner circumferential surface of the cylinder increases. This interferes with movement of the piston.
Accordingly, in the prior art, the pressure reducing valve for high-pressure gas conventionally includes an annular seal, or a "lip seal," which has a slide piece (seal lip) that slides in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder due to the pressuring force of an elastic member. The lip seal is arranged on the outer circumferential surface of the piston to ensure sealing.
For example, the pressure reducing valve 71 shown in FIG. 5 uses a lip seal 72 including a resin ring member 73, which has a U-shaped cross-section, and an elastic member 75. The elastic member 75, which is formed by an annular spring member, has a U-shaped cross-section and is arranged in a recess 74 of the ring member 73. The lip seal 72, which is fitted in an accommodating groove 77 formed on an outer circumferential surface of a piston 76, is fixed to the piston 76 by a fastening force of a fastening nut 81 that is mated with a threaded portion 80 formed on a head portion 78 of the piston 76. The elastic force of the elastic member 75 presses a seal lip 82 of the ring member 73 toward a cylinder inner circumferential surface 83 until coming in contact with the cylinder inner circumferential surface 83. This achieves the sealing between a pressure reducing chamber and a pressure regulating chamber.
However, an engagement portion 84 defined between the threaded portion 80 and the fastening nut 81 needs to have play in the radial direction. In other words, a margin must be provided for engagement of the threads of the threaded portion 80 and the fastening nut 81. Even if the piston 76, the threaded portion 80, and the fastening nut 81 are formed in a manner that they are arranged coaxially, the play results in a backlash. Thus, the piston 76 and the fastening nut 81 may not necessarily be arranged coaxially. In the prior art, taking into consideration such backlash, the outer diameter of the fastening nut 81 is smaller than the outer diameter of the piston 76.
However, to regulate the pressure of ultrahigh-pressure gas as described above, the pressing force for pressing the seal lip 82 against the cylinder inner circumferential surface is also se to be extremely high in correspondence with the gas pressure. Due to the frictional force, the lip seal 72 easily deforms in the axial direction when the piston 76 moves. Repetitive reciprocation of the piston 76 may result in the seal lip 82 becoming caught in the gap formed between the fastening rut 81 and the piston 76. This would interfere with smooth movement of the piston 76 and consequently lower the regulation accuracy of the gas pressure.


There is provided a jitter amplifier circuit for amplifying jitter included in an input signal. The jitter amplifier circuit includes a distorting circuit that receives the input signal, and distorts a waveform of the input signal so as to generate a harmonic component of the input signal, and a filter that passes, out of the distorted signal output from the distorting circuit, a harmonic component of a certain order which is determined in accordance with an amplification ratio of amplifying the jitter.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a jitter amplifier circuit, a signal generation circuit, a semiconductor chip, and a test apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a jitter amplifier circuit for amplifying jitter included in an input signal.
2. Related Art
Devices such as high-speed communication devices and high-speed serial I/O devices are tested for properties, including jitter tolerance testing. For example, it is stipulated to conduct a test by injecting jitter having a frequency of several hundred MHz to communication data according to recommendation of International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T).
When a high-speed device under test (DUT) is actually used, jitter of a high-frequency component has a significant influence on the bit error. For this reason, it is desired to test the high-speed DUT by using a test apparatus which is capable of injecting jitter having a high frequency.
Here, jitter can be injected into a clock signal, for example, in such a manner that a signal corresponding to the jitter is injected into the control input of a voltage-controlled oscillator or the like which generates the clock signal. In this way, the frequency or phase of the clock signal is modulated, so that the jitter is injected into the clock signal. Also, the jitter can be injected into a data signal by supplying the clock signal including the jitter injected thereto as the driving clock of a pattern generator which generates the data signal.
Here, the jitter is injected into the clock signal by frequency- or phase-modulating the clock signal. Therefore, there is a problem that the frequency of the jitter which can be injected into the clock signal is limited to approximately several dozen MHz.
There is another method for injecting jitter into a signal, in which a variable delay circuit is provided on a transmission path for the signal. According to this method, the jitter can be injected into the transmission signal by controlling the time delay of the variable delay circuit in accordance with the jitter to be injected.
However, it takes a long time to vary the time delay of the variable delay circuit. Therefore, this method also has difficulties in injecting high-frequency jitter.
It may be possible to inject high-frequency jitter by using a high-speed operating variable delay circuit or the like. However, this poses a problem of an increased cost for the circuit.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, an advantage of some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a jitter amplifier circuit, a signal generation circuit, a semiconductor chip and a test apparatus which can solve the above-mentioned problems. This advantage is achieved by combining the features recited in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further effective specific example of the present invention.

Jitter amplifier circuit, signal generation circuit, semiconductor chip, and test apparatus


A magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus prevents vibration caused by rotation of a rotary drum constituting a rotary head cylinder. The magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus includes a drum base having a through-hole, a static drum fixed on the drum base, a rotary drum having at least one head for recording and reproducing a signal on and from a magnetic tape, and a shaft which penetrates the central axis of the rotary drum and the static drum and is bearing-coupled with the rotary drum. An axial support portion which is engaged with the shaft, and inserted into the through-hole of the drum base, elastically supports the shaft so that the shaft maintains the central axial direction during rotation of the rotary drum, with a result that an axial vibration caused by the rotation of the rotary drum can be prevented.

The present invention relates to a magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus having a rotary head cylinder, and more particularly, to a magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus which can prevent vibration caused by rotation of a rotary drum constituting a rotary head cylinder.
A general magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus having a rotary head cylinder records a signal on a magnetic tape or reproduces the signal therefrom. Such a magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus uses a rotary head cylinder on which at least one head is installed in order to read recorded data from a magnetic tape or records data thereon. A case where such a rotary head cylinder is used in an apparatus requiring a high speed rotation and a high density recording such as a digital video cassette recorder (VCR) will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a rotary head cylinder for use in a conventional magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus. The rotary head cylinder shown in FIG. 1 includes a cylindrical rotary drum 10 which rotates at high speed, a cylindrical static drum 20 which is located in the lower side of the rotary drum 10, and a shaft 18 which penetrates the central axis of the rotary drum 10 and the static drum 20 and is inserted into a through-hole 32 provided in the static drum 20.
The rotary drum 10 is connected with the shaft 18 via a bearing 16, and includes a motor unit 12 for rotation of the rotary drum 10 therein. The rotary drum 10 has the same diameter as the upper portion of the static drum 20. A head 14 for recording data on a magnetic tape or reproducing data therefrom is installed on the edges in the lower surface of the rotary drum 10. The head 14 is disposed so that it is embedded by a minute distance from the circumferential surface of the rotary drum 10 toward the shaft 18. A tape lead 22 for guiding the magnetic tape is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the static drum 20. The tape lead 22 guides the magnetic tape via contact to the magnetic tape so that the head 14 can facilitate a recording and reproduction operation with respect to the magnetic tape.
Fixed protrusions 26 formed on the upper surface of a drum base 24 are inserted into insertion holes 28 formed on the lower edges of the static drum 20. Screw grooves 34 for fixing the static drum 20 to the drum base 24 are formed between the insertion holes 28. A number of the screw grooves 34 are installed in the lower surface of the static drum 20 in the form of surrounding the shaft 18, and are individually connected with fixed screws 30. The static drum 20 is fixed to the drum base 24 by such a screw coupling.
The rotary head cylinder having the above-described structure does not have a complete symmetrical structure by weight around a rotational axis. As a rotary head cylinder becomes compact, a static drum is fabricated to become thinner and thinner as well. Therefore, when such a rotary head cylinder rotates at high speed, an axial vibration occurs. The axial vibration deforms the thin static drum 20 in thickness even though a small amount of load is applied to the rotary head cylinder. That is, the vibration shock caused by the rotary drum 10 is transferred to the static drum 20 via the shaft 18, to thereby deform the shape of the thin static drum 20. Such a deform of the static drum causes the tape lead 22 not to guide a magnetic tape well. As a result, the head installed on the rotary drum 10 does not trace accurately with respect to the magnetic tape.
Also, in the case of a camcorder, noise generated by the rotary head cylinder may be recorded on a mantic tape together with a recording signal.

Magnetic tape recording and reproducing apparatus preventing axial vibration of rotary head cylinder


Disclosed herein is a TDMA processing apparatus suitable for use in communication equipment for performing a communications service of a TDMA system. The TDMA processing apparatus can be reduced in size and manufactured at a low cost. The TDMA processing apparatus includes a one-chip microcomputer, which has a timer unit to which a preset value corresponding to each control-signal outputting timing as viewed from a reference point is set and for counting input reference clock pulses so as to make an interrupt request when the count reaches a preset value. In addition, the TDMA processing apparatus generates a control signal in response to the interrupt request.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TDMA processing apparatus suitable for use in communication equipment of a TDMA system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional TDMA processing apparatus. The TDMA processing apparatus is used to supply given control signals to peripheral devices such as a modulator and demodulator, a transmit-receive unit, a frequency synthesizer, etc. in given timing. In FIG. 1 , there are shown a counter for counting input reference clock pulses, a memory 2 for specifying an address in response to the count of the counter 1, and an output buffer 3 for supplying data output from the memory 2 to each of the peripheral devices under the control of an external device. The elements 1, 2 and 3 are connected to peripheral devices to form a complete communication transmitter/receiver. The peripheral devices typical in such prior art TDMA communication transmitter/receiver are shown in block 4. These include a modulator 4a, a transmitter 4b, a frequency synthesizer 4c, a demodulator 4d, a receiver 4e and a duplexer 4f. An antenna 5 is typically connected to the system through the duplexer 4f.
FIG. 2 shows frame and burst structures employed in a TDMA system based on the EIA IS-54 standard. The frame structure will now be described below by way of example. Let's now assume that three slots represent one frame, one slot is made up of m bits and the time needed to transmit one frame is n seconds. Incidentally, an "SACCH", a "DATA", a "CDVCC", a "RSV", a "SYNC", a "G", and a "R" represent a slow-speed type attached control channel, a voice channel or a high-speed type attached control channel, a coded identification color code, a reserve area, a synchronizing word, a guard time interval, and a lamp time interval, respectively.
In this case, the data transfer rate is 3 m/n (bits/second), and the transfer time per bit is n/3 m (seconds). In order to reliably carry out the operation of each of the peripheral devices, it is necessary to perform the timing control for supplying a control signal to each of the peripheral devices at a time interval shorter than the transfer time per bit. If the time interval referred to above is one-xth the transfer time per bit, then the timing control makes it necessary to be carried out at a time interval of n/3 mx (seconds).
The operation of the TDMA processing apparatus will now be described below. From the above description, the period of the reference clock pulses becomes n/3 mx. The counter 1 counts the reference clock pulses. When one clock pulse is input to the counter 1 at the time that the count of (3 mx-1) is reached, the counter 1 develops the count 0. That is, the counter 1 circularly counts at 3 mx indicative of the number of control timings in one frame. The width of the output from the counter 1 is log.sub.2 3 mx bits, and its output is input to a desired address in the memory 2.
Let's now consider that the control signals supplied to the peripheral devices are classified into y types. In this case, the memory 2 is organized as shown in FIG. 3 so that the contents of 3 mx words (one word being made up of y bits) in total can be stored. In addition, data of y bits, which has been stored at an address specified by the output of the counter 1, is delivered to the output buffer 3.
The output buffer 3 is supplied with output control signals each indicative of either output permission or output nonpermission corresponding to each bit. The output buffer 3 now supplies to a desired peripheral device, data of each bit corresponding to the output permission, of data input thereto. Thus, the output buffer 3 delivers control signals to the peripheral devices for each frame cycle at a rate x times the data transfer rate. Incidentally, the control signals represent an instruction for the changeover of a frequency of the frequency synthesizer and an instruction for starting up or disabling the transmit-receive unit, for example.
The conventional TDMA processing apparatus constructed as described above needs the memory 2 having the capacity proportional to the number of bits per frame, i.e., 3 m. Since the width of data in a memory element is normally either 8 bits or 16 bits, memory elements represented in the form of required data width y/data width of memory element (number) are needed. In addition, a large number of memory elements should be provided as the memory 2 as the number of the control signals fed to the peripheral devices increases, thereby causing the problem that circuits employed in the TDMA processing apparatus should be designed on a large scale, and the manufacturing cost of the TDMA processing apparatus becomes expensive.
Incidentally, the conventional TDMA processing apparatus has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-16740.


A press-contact pogo pin connector is provided which has a machining cost lower than those of conventional connectors, can be easily reduced in height, and does not cause instantaneous interruption. A molded insulating housing has a cylinder hole. A pin installed inside the cylinder hole is urged by a coil spring installed inside the cylinder hole so as to protrude from the housing. A flange portion on the rear side of the pin urged by the coil spring abuts against the peripheral portion of the front opening of the cylinder hole on the front side of the housing so that the pin is prevented from falling off. A contact integrally includes a substrate connection terminal portion and a contact spring portion that extends inside the cylinder hole and is brought into press-contact with the pin at all times. The contact is secured to the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a press-contact pogo pin connector used mainly as a battery connector for small electronic devices such as mobile phones.
2. Description of the Related Art
Press-contact connectors with pogo pins are conventionally used as battery connectors for mobile phones.
As show in FIG. 11, in conventional pogo pins used for such press-contact connectors, a pin 3 urged in its protruding direction by a coil spring 2 is movably installed inside a metal-made closed-end cylinder 1 with the end of a press-contact pin 3a of the pin 3 protruding from the end of the cylinder 1. The press-contact pin 3a is to be brought into press-contact with a contact terminal of a battery by the urging force of the coil spring 2 in the protruding direction.
A bias cut surface 4 inclined with respect to the axial direction is formed on the cylinder-side inner end surface of the pin 3. The coil spring 2 pushes the bias cut surface 4, and a force component perpendicular to the pushing direction is thereby generated. This force component causes the circumferential surface of the pin 3 to be in press-contact with the inner surface of the cylinder 1 at all times, and this allows electric current to flow from the pin 3 through the cylinder 1.
In a press-contact connector with such pogo pins, the cylinder and the pins are produced using various machining devices such as a lathe, milling machine, and press. Therefore, the manufacturing cost is high, and a reduction in size is limited due to mechanical machining. Another problem is that, since the cylinder is installed inside a molded housing, the overall height of the connector cannot be small. Still another problem is that, since the connector is configured such that the pin 3 can radially move within the cylinder 1, an instantaneous interruption can easily occur when an external shock is applied.
To reduce the machining cost and to improve the resistance to instantaneous interruption, a press-contact connector shown in FIG. 12 has been developed (for example, WO2005/112200). In this connector, a pin 3 and a cylinder 1 that receives the pin 3 are produced by stamping and bending a metal plate, and the electrical continuity between the cylinder 1 and the pin 3 is ensured by allowing an elastic contact member 5 projecting along the inner surface of the cylinder 1 to come in press-contact with the external circumferential surface of the pin 3 at all times.
In the connector having a cylinder and a pin formed by bending a plate as shown in FIG. 12, the machining cost is reduced, and the resistance to external shock is improved. However, both the cylinder used as an outer cylinder and the pin used as an inner cylinder are produced by machining metal members and are incorporated in a molded housing. Therefore, the problem with this press-contact connector is that its height does not satisfactorily meet the low profile requirement when the connector is mounted in a direction parallel to a substrate.


Attenuating masks for selective attenuation of radiation, particularly from an x-ray source in brachytherapy, employ materials having atomic number in a specific range, so as to attenuate radiation dose intensity generally proportionally through a range of distance from the source. Some preferred attenuation materials are silver and molybdenum. A set of small masks can be provided for a particular design of catheter that holds a radiation source, each mask having a size and shape to define a different solid angle of masking, so that in a brachytherapy procedure, sensitive tissue such as bone or skin can be protected by proper selection of and positioning of the attenuating mask, to reduce the dose intensity to that tissue.

This invention concerns radiation therapy, especially electronic x-ray brachytherapy, for treating tissues which may have diffuse proliferative disease.
In brachytherapy, a radiation source is generally placed within a surgically created or naturally occurring cavity in the body. In particular, this invention relates to delivery of x-ray therapy to tissue as might be found in the human breast, or to other tissue, preferably by activation of a miniature, electronic x-ray source. Such therapy often follows surgical treatment of cancer.
With conventional intracavitary brachytherapy, a prescribed dose is selected by the therapist to be administered to a volume of tissue (the target tissue) lying just outside the treatment cavity, into which a single radiation source will be placed. Generally the prescribed dose will specify a uniform minimum dose to be delivered at a preferred depth outside the treatment cavity (the prescription depth). Also with conventional brachytherapy, since by the laws of physics radiation intensity falls off, essentially exponentially with increasing distance from the radiation source, it is generally desirable to create and maintain a space between the source of radiation and the first tissue surface to be treated (generally the cavity wall) in order to moderate the absorbed dose at the cavity surface while still delivering the prescribed dose at the prescription depth. This is usually accomplished by placing an applicator in the cavity which both fills and shapes the cavity into, most often, a solid figure of revolution (e.g., generally a sphere, cylinder or ellipse) and positions the radiation source within a source guide (i.e. within an applicator shaft) situated along a central axis of the cavity so formed and through which the source, usually part of a catheter assembly, may be traversed. If the applicator has a balloon to shape the cavity, it is preferably inflated using a fluid medium which has radiation attenuation properties similar to those of soft tissue. Water is such a medium. This choice of medium simplifies treatment planning.
One accepted standard in current breast cancer brachytherapy practice is a prescription depth of one centimeter beyond the treatment cavity surface, thus defining the target tissue, which is used for treatment planning. Assuming the tissue at the prescription depth receives the desired minimum dose, the tissue nearest the source (generally the cavity surface) should not receive more than 2.5 to 3 times the prescription dose (this is the allowable dose ratio). Current standards also require that the skin not receive a dose of more than about 1.5 times the prescription dose. With a one centimeter prescription depth, this usually requires the skin be at least 6-8 mm away from the surface of an applicator engaged against the tissue in the cavity. A distance of less than about 6-8 mm may result in doses higher than 1.5 times the prescription dose which are known often to result in undesirable patient cosmesis. Similar complications arise in proximity to bone and other tissues/organs as well. These proximity problems commonly arise and, since radiation overdose is to be avoided if at all possible, may well constitute a contra-indication for conventional isotropic breast brachytherapy. In brachytherapy application other than in the breast, prescription depths other than one centimeter may be preferred, but in general, the concerns and principles described above will still apply.
In order to assess the cavity shape and distances from cavity surfaces to skin surfaces or to other radiation sensitive structures, imaging of the cavity and apparatus is carried out as part of the planning process. Conventional x-ray imaging or CT scanning is often used for this purpose. If as is stated above, the volume of target tissue encompasses or abuts sensitive structures, the treatment planning process must be modified to reduce the dose exposure to such structures. If this can't be done as is often the case, brachytherapy as a treatment modality generally must be abandoned. With current planning algorithms, such accommodation is difficult.
It is apparent that methods and/or apparatus are needed which address the complexities described above, yet are compatible with current planning procedures, all of which would make brachytherapy an option for a greater proportion of the patient population, and more effective when applied.

Proportional attenuation of radiation in brachytherapy treatment


According to one configuration, a first wireless access point communicates probe request communications to a mobile communication device. The first wireless access point monitors power levels associated with probe response communications from the mobile communication device. Via the monitored power levels, the communication management resource quantifies motion of the mobile communication device with respect to the first wireless access point and a corresponding region of wireless coverage provided by the first wireless access point. The communication management resource selects amongst multiple neighboring wireless access points in which to handoff the mobile communication device based on a prediction of which of the multiple wireless access points will provide a best chance of successfully receiving a handoff of a mobile communication device and corresponding wireless communication link from the first wireless access point.

Conventional wireless networks typically include one or more wireless access points to provide mobile communication devices access to a remote network such as the Internet. In certain instances, a network environment enables a handoff of a respective mobile communication device from one wireless access point to another to provide continuous connectivity.
Current wireless systems assume that customer devices will automatically authenticate and connect to a different wireless access point when they are within proximity of a wireless access point hosting a respective signal. Thus, the different client behavior—iOS, Android, laptop, firmware version(s), chipset(s)—result in different user experiences.
Depending on the environment, there may be overlap of multiple Wi-Fi signals being broadcast between available WAPs.

Predictive handoff and wireless association in a network


Arrangement for expanding liquefied gas. The arrangement includes a vaporizing element having a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger has an impermeable enclosure containing a heating fluid and a vaporizing tube made of a heat conducting material through which the liquefied gas passes. The vaporizing tube includes an intake connected to a supply reservoir and an outlet supplying vaporized gas. An element is provided for regulating a flow rate and a pressure of vaporized gas. A tube connects the outlet of the vaporizing tube to the element for regulating a flow rate and a pressure of vaporized gas. The element for regulating a flow rate and a pressure of vaporized gas is connected to an engine. This Abstract is not intended to define the invention disclosed in the specification, nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a device for expanding liquefied gas with a separate vaporizing element.
The invention provides for an arrangement which allows the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (L.P.G.) for use in ignition engines normally receiving a liquid fuel.
It is suitable for all types of internal combustion engines, and it is adapted in particular to boat engines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquefied petroleum gas is used more and more as a source of energy for motor vehicles. Indeed, this fuel has very interesting advantages, chief among which a very low pollution must be listed, and an advantageous charge rate used by numerous countries, allowing a substantial decrease in the kilometric cost.
The use of liquefied gas to operate an engine which was initially designed to receive a liquid fuel requires using a specific device ensuring the vaporization of the gas under a predetermined pressure and flow rate.
This device is usually in the form of a housing, generally made of a light metal cast iron, such as aluminum, and comprising a double enclosure formed of a gas vaporizing chamber and a thermal chamber in which a hot liquid circulates, which is most often constituted by the engine cooling water drawn due to a shunt made on the circuit connecting the latter to the radiator, or to the evacuation pipeline in the case of boat engines cooled with sea water. The two chambers have a common wall arranged to allow for the transmission of calories.
The vaporizing chamber also acts as a pressure regulator and, to this end, comprises a valve that is generally activated by an internal membrane.
The design of this system causes a certain number of drawbacks.
Given that the transfer of heat occurs through the wall that is common to the two chambers, and that the other walls of the vaporizing chamber communicate with the outside, substantial losses of calories occur, and in order to obtain a right vaporization of the liquefied gas, manufacturers have to provide separation walls in the form of a labyrinth in order to increase the common surface, which obviously generates high manufacturing costs. Despite these arrangements, it is necessary in certain cases to provide an additional heating means, for example, an electrical resistance as the one described in the Patent No. FR 2 759 419, or an outer impermeable enclosure provided with a heat supply element and connected to the thermal chamber of the vaporizing housing by a double canalization in a closed circuit, as one in which circulates a fluid ensuring the transfer of the calories produced in the heated enclosure toward the vaporizer, this device being the object of the Patent Application No. FR 98 08 110.
Furthermore, the existing apparatuses do not allow supplying high powered engines and, in this case, one must provide several steam pressure regulators for a single engine.

Device for expanding liquefied gas with separate vaporizing element


Method and apparatus for scribing indicia into a surface using a laser as an emission source. Means are provided for controlling the beam scan over the surface being inscribed responsive to a digitized control signal representing the indicia. Laser power is controlled to avoid damaging the structural integrity of the glass. The system is suited for automation both for the input of data representing indicia and for the actual inscribing operation. The apparatus includes an emitter housing containing a laser and marking head for positioning the beam on the surface. The emitter housing further includes means for controllably directing the output beam to form the desired pattern in the surface and locating pins which cooperate with system circuitry to permit laser operation only when the emitter housing is properly located with respect to a surface being etched. A support system which includes a controller is provided which comprises means for data input and conversion of the input data into a control signal for controlling the laser.

The inscription of images on various surfaces has become increasingly important in recent years for the permanent identification of valuable objects in addition to forming decorative designs on surfaces. For example, for the permanent identification of automobiles, trucks and the like, vehicle VIN Numbers or other identifying indicia are permanently inscribed on the windows of the vehicle at various locations to provide a non-removable identification for the vehicle. Many insurance companies offer a discount from the cost of insuring the vehicle if such permanent indicia are placed on the vehicle. Such indicia, for example a bar code, can also provide an access code for the retrieval of the history of the vehicle, such as for example its previous owner, its maintenance history and the like.
Conventionally, the inscription process is accomplished by mechanical or chemical means. For example, a malleable surface, such as wood, certain precious metals and the like, can be mechanically inscribed using a router or similar tool. These tools can be manually operated by persons possessing relatively high degree of skill or can be robotically controlled to mass produce inscriptions of various kinds on the malleable surface. However, manual operation is slow and not suited to repetitive operations while robotic equipment is expensive and can present a substantial maintenance problem.
In the case of hard surfaces such as glass, chemical etching utilizing a stencil is a common method employed for the inscription of indicia on the surface of the glass. A suitable etchant is placed on the back of the stencil and the etchant contacts the glass surface through the openings in the stencil. The etchant chemically attacks the surface to permanently etch an image corresponding to the stencil openings into the glass surface. Examples of such methods are represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,514 granted Apr. 29, 1986 to L. Joe Scallan and U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,115 granted Jan. 15, 1991 to Thomas DeRossett. Both of these employ chemical etchants to etch an image into the surface of glass.
It is well understood, however, that glass and other inorganic oxide containing materials are relatively chemically resistant. Therefore, the etchant must be of a highly corrosive nature in order to react with the glass surface to form an image. Most of the etchant compounds are hydrogen fluoride based and as such, are highly corrosive and dangerous to use. Also, disposal of such materials can also be a serious problem in view of the potentially harmful environmental affect such materials may have. These materials must be treated as toxic substances and disposed of only at approved sites and transported in an approved manner. Needless to say the disposal of toxic materials is an expensive operation.
As an alternative to the chemical etch, sandblasting can be utilized as a method for etching glass and other similar surfaces. Sandblasting, if not properly carried out, also posses an environmental threat as well as a potential safety hazard to the operators and other personnel in the immediate area of the sandblasting operation. It is necessary to provide adequate protection for the operators of the sandblasting equipment as well as expensive air filtering apparatus to avoid air pollution violations.
Neither chemical etching nor sandblasting readily lend themselves to automation and in most cases, the indicia which can be etched onto the glass surface are limited to non-machine readable numbers. Moreover, poor technique, particularly in the case of chemical etching, can lead to erroneous results due to blurring of the etched image making it difficult to read, especially by machine. It must be noted, particularly in the case of automobile VIN numbers, that accuracy and image quality are of the utmost importance and mistakes require the replacement of the vehicle window or windshield, an expensive procedure.

Method and apparatus for laser inscription of an image on a surface


According to one embodiment, a ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprises an ultrasonic scanning unit configured to scan a region including at least part of a liver of an object with an ultrasonic wave and acquire an echo signal associated with the liver, an image generating unit configured to generate an ultrasonic image of the liver based on an echo signal associated with the liver, and a calculation unit configured to calculate at least one of a first index indicating an irregularity degree of the liver and a second index indicating an irregularity feature of the liver by using the ultrasonic image of the liver.

Ultrasonic diagnosis allows to display in real time how the heart beats or the fetus moves, by simply bringing an ultrasonic probe into contact with the body surface. This technique is highly safe, and hence allows repetitive examination. Furthermore, this system is smaller in size than other diagnosis apparatuses such as X-ray, CT, and MRI apparatuses and can be moved to the bedside to be easily and conveniently used for examination. In addition, ultrasonic diagnosis is free from the influences of exposure using X-rays and the like, and hence can be used in obstetric treatment, treatment at home, and the like.
Recently, there has been disclosed a technique for evaluating organs such as the liver by using such an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus. This technique indicates the irregularity degree of the surface of the liver in the following manner: extracting a contour line by operation including smoothing and dividing the area of the portion sandwiched between the contour line and its approximate curve by the length of the approximate curve to obtain a normalized value based on the difference between the contour line and the approximate curve, thereby representing an irregularity. The technique colors the sandwiched portion and displays it on an image.
As a method of extracting the contour of an organ or the like by using an ultrasonic image or the like, for example, a method called the Fast Marching method is available. This method extracts an organ boundary from a tomogram by designating an initial contour inside the organ region and making ultrasonic waves continuously propagate from the initial contour in all directions. When making ultrasonic waves propagate, the method determines the path costs between pixels, that is, arrival time differences, according to local propagation velocities. Propagation velocities are obtained by a given expression such as the Eikonal equation dependent on the density values on an image. For example, the density values inside an organ are more uniform than those in a neighboring region of an organ boundary, and propagation velocities inside the organ are higher. That is, a contour propagates more quickly inside the organ. Separating a point at which the contour arrives from a point at which the contour does not arrive can quickly implement region segmentation.
As another method of extracting the contour of an organ or the like, the kernel method is available. According to this method, in data analysis, in order to grasp a nonlinear data structure, the original data is transformed into a form allowing easy analysis (a linear form in general) by applying nonlinear transformation to the original data.
The following problems, however, arise in the conventional method of evaluating organs in ultrasonic diagnosis.
That is, the conventional evaluation method executes smoothing in the process of extracting a contour line to remove noise near a boundary line. At this time, partial fine boundary irregularity information is lost together with noise. This partial fine boundary irregularity information includes a nodular pattern for determining the type of disease, and hence it may not be possible to make a satisfactory evaluation.
In addition, the conventional evaluation method evaluates a liver function as an irregularity based on the area of the portion sandwiched between a contour line and its approximate curve, that is, the variance relative to the approximate curve. However, the types and stages of liver disease vary, and there is not necessarily a one-to-one functional relationship between variances relative to approximate curves and liver functions. For this reason, simply using a variance relative to an approximate curve as an index for the diagnosis of a liver function may lead to an unsatisfactory result. More specifically, for example, as shown FIGS. 10A and 10B, with regard to contour lines C1 and C2 of two livers, approximate curves L1 and L2 are obtained, which extend across the respective curves. In this case, the variance of the contour line C1 relative to the approximate curve L1 is almost the same as that of the contour line C2 relative to the approximate curve L2. However, the comparison between the contour line C1 and the contour line C2 shows that their irregularity forms (for example, the degrees of zigzag) greatly differ from each other. Likewise, boundary lines of type C liver cirrhosis and type B liver cirrhosis in different stages may have the same variance.

Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus and ultrasonic image processing apparatus


In the method, a conductive pad of the board is etched to a depth that is greater than 50% and less than 100% of a thickness of the conductive pad. Subsequently, a solder ball may be formed on the etched conductive pad. For example, the conductive pad may be copper.

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-section of an example solder ball connection between a package board and a module board according to the prior art. A package board carries one or more chips (e.g., memory chip(s), logic chip(s), analog/RF chip(s), and/or etc.). A module board serves a board for connection to a mother board such as in a computer, or may serve as the main device board such as in a cellular phone.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conductive pad 8 of a package board 10 is formed on laminate 6 of the package board 10. The conductive pad 8 of the package board 10 includes a copper layer 12 having a layer of nickel 14 formed thereon. A gold layer 16 is formed over the nickel layer 14. Photo solder resist (PSR) 18 is formed adjacent to the nickel and gold layers 14 and 16 on the copper layer 12. The conductive pad 22 of the module board 20 may have the same structure as the package board 10 and may also include a gold layer 16. A solder ball 24 makes electrical contact with the conductive pad 8 of the package board 10 and the conductive pad 22 of the module board 20.
FIG. 2 illustrates another example of the solder ball connection between a package board and a module board according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, the conductive pad 28 of the package board 30 includes a copper layer 32 formed on a laminate 26. A photo solder resist (PSR) 34 is formed over and exposes a portion of the copper layer 32.
The exposed portion of the copper layer 32 is subjected to the well-known organic solder-ability preservative (OSP) treatment. The resulting OSP coating (not shown) has strong adhesion to copper and strong resistance to oxidation. As such the OSP coating, usually 0.2 to 0.4 um thick, helps prevent the exposed portion of the copper layer from oxidizing. When the conductive pad 28 is to be soldered, the OSP coating is removed. The conductive pad 38 of the module board 40 may have the same structure as the package board 30. A solder ball 42 makes physical and electrical contact with the copper layer 32 of the package board 30 and the module board 40.
In the past, solder balls such as in the above-described embodiments included lead. However, in the interest of protecting the environment, a lead free alternative has been developed. For example, alloys of tin, silver and copper have been developed as lead free alternatives. Unfortunately, lead free solder has proven to be more brittle than leaded solder. Consequently, device failure due to, for example, cracking of the solder ball joints is of greater concern.

Method of forming a solder ball on a board and the board