An automated data generation system and methods are provided to facilitate generation of test data sets for computerized platforms while mitigating the need to store massive quantities of potentially invalid test data. In one aspect, a computerized test system is provided. A rules component is provided to specify one or more data domains for a test data set. A data generator employs the rules component to generate the test data set, where the test data set is then employed to test one or more computerized components.

Computer programs are based on algorithms and data structures. Data structures are used to hold and organize information that is manipulated by algorithms to accomplish a particular result. The nature of the data manipulated can in many ways change the behavior of algorithms that processes such data. Algorithms usually define or imply a set of valid data and often protect themselves from invalid data. Thus, it is possible to imply that each algorithm can work with a pre-defined data domain. For instance, algorithms that perform arithmetic calculations usually cannot manipulate strings of characters as the expected results are not defined for that data type. In some cases, the very nature of the data can cause a system malfunction as, for instance, when an algorithm tries to divide a number by zero. Such malfunctions can be as severe as causing a computer to restart or worse—causing data loss.
While testing software, it is generally not surprising that there is great interest in defining what meaningful data for a particular algorithm is. Not only valid data the algorithm expects and can be used to verify correctness, but also invalid data that may cause system malfunction—something programmers often struggle to detect and correct before customers are affected. Often the very nature of the data the algorithm expects defines which values are interesting and which are not. For example, computers are limited machines with finite storage capacity and data that borders the limit of what a computer can handle and thus, is of interest for testing. For instance, assume a computer can only handle integer numbers up to 10. If an algorithm tries to add 10+10 an error will occur, thus 10 is an interesting or relevant number for testing an algorithm that adds two numbers. Another example is that computers cannot represent floating point numbers such as 0.1 exactly—they represent approximations of such numbers. Therefore, making calculations with such numbers is interesting to find rounding errors in some example application such as payroll or tax calculation programs.
Each type of data a computer can manipulate along with processing capacity of the computer itself may imply both a valid data domain and an invalid data domain. Such domains may be continuous or discrete and not necessarily easy to define. Even seemingly innocuous data types such as strings of characters—used to store sentences—can cause system malfunction, data loss or even cause security and privacy risks. It takes time and dedication to understand and define a set of data values that correctly and thoroughly exercise a particular algorithm. One may store sample data acquired over years of testing and use the same data set for the same class of computer programs. Unfortunately storing, organizing and adapting such data to each program is hard and error-prone as the input each program expects vary and the data often requires manipulation before being reused. It is also hard to inventory and categorize such data so prospective testers can verify completeness of their data domain coverage.

System and methods for authoring domain specific rule-driven data generators


A method for spectral filtering an input optical signal is described. The filtering system uses Brillouin gain inside an interferometer. The interferometer is biased to null signals that propagate without Brillouin gain, but due to asymmetric levels of gain in the interferometer arms the interference null is disturbed for signals of an optical frequency that experience Brillouin gain. The filter thereby preferentially passes signal frequencies that are inside the Brillouin gain bandwidth creating a high extinction ratio filter. The narrow bandwidth of the Brillouin gain effect can allow for spectrally narrow filters such as 30 MHz. The filter can be realized in a stable Sagnac loop configuration even if the pump and signal are combined prior to the Sagnac loop by using a power control device such as an attenuator placed asymmetrically inside the loop. The filter can achieve net gain and can be designed to have a tunable bandwidth.

It is often useful in optical applications such as optical communication, microwave photonics, and optical sensing to spectrally filter an incoming optical signal thus isolating the desired signal from undesired noise as well as other interfering signals. There are many types of optical filters in common use including thin film filters often used for add/drop multiplexers (ADMs) in optical communication networks, Fabry-Perot filters, and Fiber Bragg Grating filters. Such filters are widely used.
One filter with some unusual properties is a filter based on Brillouin Gain (BG). Brillouin gain is a nonlinear process where an input pump of optical frequency fp produces gain in a narrow band of frequencies Δfs centered around a signal optical frequency of fs=fp−fB where fB is the BG frequency shift. For a pump of a stable optical frequency that varies much less than the BG bandwidth associated with the nonlinear BG medium or δfB, the signal passband Δfs˜δfB. Generally δfB«fB, for instance in typical Silica optical fibers fB˜11 GHz and δfB˜30 MHz. One interesting property of BG is thus the narrow gain bandwidth achievable allowing for very narrow optical filters. Additionally, the optical frequency of the pump can be varied thus allowing for a tunable filter passband (both fs and Δfs being tunable). If the pump frequency is tuned slowly, that is changed on a time scale slower than the propagation time through the nonlinear medium or τm, then the center pass-band frequency fs changes in proportion to the pump frequency. Pump tuning that occurs faster than the propagation time through the nonlinear medium can change Δfs, where a BG optical filter with an optical bandwidth Δfs>δfB can be designed if pump optical bandwidth is >δfB (measured on a time scale of τm). Another interesting property of BG is the potential for signal gain, as opposed to the more typical case where signal power is attenuated after propagating through a filter.
A BG filter can be constructed similar to FIG. 1 as is known in the art. Here an input optical signal to be filtered propagates through a first optical circulator 100 into a nonlinear medium 102 such as optical fiber. The optical circulator is a non-reciprocal device that permits light to travel from an input port to a common port in one direction, but sends light entering the circulator at the common port to a reflection port thereby separating light traveling in opposite directions. A higher power pump is injected into the nonlinear medium in the backward direction (backwards with respect to the input optical signal) using a second optical circulator 104. The backward propagating pump creates gain for the counter-propagating signal inside the BG bandwidth, but has minimal impact on the signal well outside the BG bandwidth. If the peak signal power gain is G (in dB), then the extinction ratio (ER) of the signal, defined as the ratio of the transmissivity of a signal at the optical frequency gain peak to the transmissivity of a signal that is well outside the gain bandwidth (e.g. fp−fB−ΔfB) is thus G. We see that to achieve a high ER, an important metric for a filter, a BG filter also needs high gain.
FIG. 2A shows a depiction of a potential input signal spectral profile 106, FIG. 2B the pump spectral profile 108, and FIG. 2C the corresponding filtered signal spectral profile 110. Note optical wavelength λ and optical frequency f are related as f=n·c/λ where n is the index of refraction of the material and c is the speed of light in vacuum. A narrow band of the signal sees gain and the rest is passed with unity gain The requirement of high gain in a high ER BG based filter is a deterrent to its use. This is in part because although high BG is possible, BG tends to saturate quickly, where saturation indicates that the transmissivity through the filter is input signal power dependent. Saturated signals are undesirable in many cases such as sensing applications where the intensity of the signal carries important information. Assume we want 30 dB of ER and thus 30 dB of gain. The amplified output signal power cannot exceed the input pump power, so clearly the input signal must be less than 30 dB smaller than the pump in order to avoid saturation, with 40 dB a safer number. If a 10 dBm input pump power is used then the input signal power should thus be <−30 dBm. The minimum input signal is determined by noise issues and is roughly constant for all high gain conditions (e.g. >10 dB gain). Saturation thus limits the tolerable dynamic range of the input signal, where dynamic range is defined as the ratio of the smallest tolerable input signal to the largest tolerable input signal where the smallest signal is determined by noise considerations and the largest signal is determined by linearity considerations. Another reason to avoid the need for high gains is to reduce the required pump power and to reduce unwanted pump scattering that occurs when the pump power gets too high.
BG is usually associated with high noise figure (adding excess noise to the signal). A typical optical amplifier (OA), like an Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), has a much lower noise figure. Placing a low noise amplifier before a higher noise amplifier can improve the net noise figure, as is known in the art. However, since BG already requires high gain to achieve a high ER filter, it can be difficult to pre-amplify the input optical signal in an OA before the BG as this leads to an inconvenient amount of gain.
What is needed is an optical filter that can use Brillouin gain to achieve some or all of the desired BG characteristics such as signal gain, narrow gain bandwidth, controllable gain bandwidth, and high extinction ratio, while also not requiring high levels of BG (e.g. BG<ER). The low required gain helps to reduce saturation problems and can in some cases reduce the required pump power or the amount of nonlinear material required in the filter. It is desirable if the pump wavelength can be tuned over a broad range larger than the Brillouin gain frequency shift so that the filter pass-band can also be accordingly tuned over a large range. It is desirable that the optical filter has a low noise figure. These benefits should be realized with minimal drawbacks.

System and method for spectral filtering of optical signals


Apparatus for limiting the rotation of a deposition ring relative to a substrate support. Specifically, the deposition ring is rotatably affixed to the substrate support. In a first embodiment of the apparatus, an anti-rotation pin is affixed to a deposition ring that circumscribes a substrate support such as an electrostatic chuck. An anti-rotation bracket is attached at a first end to the substrate support. A second end is coupled to the anti-rotation pin. As such, the deposition ring has some degree of freedom to adjust to thermal expansion of the deposition ring and the substrate support; however, the deposition ring is prevented by the interaction of the anti-rotation pin and bracket from rotating to a point where the deposition ring becomes stuck to the substrate support. In an alternative embodiment of the apparatus, a anti-rotation pin or bump is formed on the underside of the deposition ring. A matching indentation is formed on a radially extending, circumferential flange extending from the substrate support and supporting the deposition ring. The pin and indentation interact to limit the amount of rotation that can be attained by the deposition ring.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a deposition ring used in semiconductor wafer processing systems. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for limiting the rotation of a deposition ring relative to a substrate support chuck that is circumscribed by the deposition ring.
2. Description of the Background Art
In deposition processes, species from a source such as a target, a gas inlet manifold and the like may deposit on exposed internal chamber surfaces, including the chamber walls and hardware. Shields are available which are designed to intercept such species. One portion of such a shield is a deposition ring (also known as a waste ring) that generally circumscribes a substrate support such as an electrostatic chuck and is designed to prevent deposition upon the edges of the substrate support. A substrate support typically contains a radially extending, circumferential flange that supports the deposition ring proximate the edge of the substrate support surface that is designed to support a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer.
Typically, a substrate support, although generally circular in plan form, has one edge that is flat. The flat edge, circular shape matches the shape of a typical semiconductor wafer. Such a flat edge is used to easily orient the wafer during processing. So that the deposition ring can circumscribe the substrate support, the deposition ring also contains a flat portion of its inner circumference such that the geometry of the deposition ring substantially matches the plan form of the substrate support.
The deposition ring inner circumference is slightly larger than the outer circumference of the chuck. Such a size differential is necessary to ensure that the different materials comprising the ring (typically stainless steel) and the substrate support (typically ceramic or dielectric) are permitted to freely expand and contract in response to the extreme temperatures produced in a semiconductor wafer processing system.
The deposition ring, during thermal cycling, slides about the substrate support, i.e., the deposition ring rotates about the substrate support. At room temperature, the rotation is typically 0.35 to 1.5 degrees. However, at 400 degrees Celsius, the rotation can exceed 3 degrees. As a result, the flat portion of the deposition ring inner circumference contacts the edge of the substrate support at the point where the flat edge meets the circular edge. As the temperature within the processing system cools, the deposition ring contracts at a rate faster than the substrate support. If cooled while the deposition ring is in the excessively rotated position, the ring produces substantial inwardly directed force (compressive force) at the circumferential contact points between the ring and the support. As a result, the ring becomes "stuck" and cannot be easily removed from the substrate support. Such compressive force can permanently damage the substrate support.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for apparatus that limits the rotation of the deposition ring with respect to a substrate support that is circumscribed by the ring.


A shell and tube reactor module for hydrogen production is provided. The shell and tube reactor module includes a reactor having a shell side, at least one palladium membrane tube as a tubular section, and a steam reforming catalyst in the shell side, wherein the at least one palladium membrane tube has one sealed end located at upstream of flowing path

Conventional steam reforming reaction for producing hydrogen requires substantial amount of energy supply from an external heating system and an additional purification facility, such as pressure swinging absorber (PSA) or cryogenic purifier, to attain the desired purity of 95 to 99.995%. Since the external facilities generally occupy a larger share of the capital investment and the plant space, a membrane assisted steam reformer is incorporated to provide simplification in the hydrogen purification system. Lately, additional development focuses on in-situ heating by conventional combustion of fuel or spent gases of the reformer inside the reformer to provide the energy required for the endothermic steam reforming reaction disclosed on US patent application publication Nos. US2003/0068260 A1 and US2003/0068269 A1. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,137, a small burner is provided to burn the fuel or vent product gases to provide the needed thermal energy; however, it produces dangerous open flame and NOx polluting product. In US patent application publication No. US2003/0068629 A1, the flameless burning is provided by preheating the fuel and air to a temperature above the autoignition temperature of the mixture. Apparently, the foresaid developments still suffer severe shortcomings including the hazard of vapor phase combustion and the generation of noxious pollutants, nitrogen oxides, NOx from the vapor phase air combustion.
In order to overcome the foresaid drawbacks, the present invention provides a process and a shell and tube reactor module to produce hydrogen with high purity (99.99%). Furthermore, the present invention provides a process and a shell and tube reactor module having a combustion section which can rapidly reach to a high temperature sufficient to initiate an endothermic steam reforming reaction in a very short time.

Process and reactor module for quick start hydrogen production


A method for operating a memory system and a memory buffer device. The method includes receiving an external clock signal from a clock device of a CPU of a host computer to a buffer device, and receiving an ODT signal from the CPU to a command port of the buffer device. Buffer device provides the self-termination information internally to the common data bus by automatically detecting the read or write command on the common command bus and adjust the termination resistor array in a pre-determined value and timing fashion so that information can be read from or write to a data line of only one of the plurality of DIMM devices coupled together through a common data bus interface. All DIMM devices other than the DIMM device being read can be maintained in a termination state to prevent any signal from traversing to the common the common data bus interface.

In a memory system where a memory controller controls multiple memory devices, interface devices are often deployed to improve the quality of the signal transmissions between the memory controller and the memory devices. As an example, DDR2 and DDR3 Registered memory modules use one or more registers to buffer and re-drive the command, control and address signals from the host memory controller to multiple DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM devices. As a second example, DDR3 Load-Reducing Memory Modules (LRDIMM) use a memory buffer to re-drive the command, control, address and data signals from the host memory controller to and from multiple DDR3 SDRAM devices.
Memory interface devices can be used to isolate or segment portions of the memory system from each other, improving the quality of signal transmission as well as potentially reducing the power consumption of the memory system and improving the reliability characteristics of the memory system.
High-speed digital signals, such as the data, clock and control signals that are conveyed between a host controller and a memory module, are typically received by a respective receiver circuits. Each signal is also typically terminated, usually to the junction point of a voltage divider. However, this arrangement can be inefficient, as current is always being conducted (bled) by one branch or the other of the divider.
From the above, it is seen that techniques for improving memory module devices and methods of use are highly desirable.

Self terminated dynamic random access memory


A hydraulic pressure control device is provided that that controls hydraulic pressure of a clutch supplying torque to a continuously variable transmission while the vehicle is stopped and in a running range. The hydraulic pressure control device has an control section that estimates a clutch engagement hydraulic pressure for changing the clutch from an engaged state to a disengaged state based the hydraulic fluid pressure acting on the clutch during the stopping of the rotational movement of a primary pulley of the continuously variable transmission, and then controls regulation of the hydraulic pressure to the clutch from an engaged state to a disengaged state, when the vehicle is stopped and in the running range, so that the torque from the engine does not rotate a secondary pulley of the continuously variable transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement for a hydraulic pressure control device for a continuously variable transmission. More specifically, the present invention relates to a hydraulic pressure control device that controls hydraulic pressure of a clutch supplying torque to a continuously variable transmission while the vehicle is stopped and in a running range.
2. Background Information
In conventional belt-type continuously variable transmissions, there is a technique for carrying out a so-called idle neutral control for improving standing time fuel consumption. When using the so-called idle neutral control, a forward or reverse clutch and a forward/reverse switching clutch are released to create a state similar to when the shift range is in the neutral range, and the drive load of the engine is reduced to achieve idle rotation during a vehicle stop in a state in which the shift range is maintained in the drive range or another running range. An example of the so-called idle neutral control is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-295529.
In a conventional idle neutral control, when the driver attempts to start moving from the idle neutral control, it is necessary to immediately engage a forward clutch or the like and create a state in which movement can be started. The clutch pressure in the idle neutral state must be accurately controlled and kept at a prescribed clutch pressure that is slightly lower than the pressure at which the clutch is engaged.
If the clutch pressure cannot be controlled and kept at this prescribed clutch pressure, there will be variations in the hydraulic system during idle neutral control, variations in the accuracy of the clutch components, and installation error variations. Thus, either resulting in a continuously variable transmission in which the clutch cannot be expected to maintain an engaged state and fuel consumption cannot be expected to be improved, or resulting in a continuously variable transmission that has reduced start-up performance in which the clutch pressure is reduced and time is required to start the movement.
Consequently, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-295529 discloses a method in which a torque transmission point at which the clutch is engaged and torque begins to be transmitted is determined by learning from the prior engagement of the clutch. Specifically, a comparison is made between the clutch input rotational speed and the engine speed when the clutch is gradually engaged, and the clutch supply hydraulic pressure at the time that the clutch input rotational speed is lower than the engine speed by a prescribed rotational speed is determined to be the torque transmission point. The clutch supply hydraulic pressure is controlled and the idle neutral control is carried out so that the learned torque transmission point is maintained when the vehicle is stopped in the D range.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved hydraulic pressure control device for a continuously variable transmission. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Hydraulic pressure control device for continuously variable transmission


An authentication protocol using a Hardware-Embedded Delay PUF (“HELP”), which derives randomness from within-die path delay variations that occur along the paths within a hardware implementation of a cryptographic primitive, for example, the Advanced Encryption Standard (“AES”) algorithm or Secure Hash Algorithm 3 (“SHA-3”). The digitized timing values which represent the path delays are stored in a database on a secure server (verifier) as an alternative to storing PUF response bitstrings thereby enabling the development of an efficient authentication protocol that provides both privacy and mutual authentication.

An integrated circuit ("IC"), also known as a chip or a microchip, is a miniaturized electronic circuit used in electronic equipment such as computer, telephone, and digital applications. An IC is typically formed of semiconductor devices, such as silicon and germanium, as well as passive components such as capacitors, resistors, and diodes. Usually, an IC is manufactured on a thin substrate of semiconductor material. In recent years, cost in manufacturing of ICs, per transistor, has decreased. However, while lower cost increases the availability of manufacturing, ICs must be protected from threats such as cloning or copying as well as protected against misappropriation and unauthorized use. Threats may allow unauthorized access to encrypted data, replication of IC design including unauthorized use of intellectual property ("IP") and hardware piracy or the illegal manufacturing of the ICs. Threats of cloning, misappropriation and unauthorized use of a security key are a problem, particularly in computer applications that use a security key in authentication protocols.
Many computer-based hardware security schemes exist to protect ICs from cloning and unauthorized use. These security schemes depend on accessibility to a security key or signature, such as a unique unclonable identifier derived from each IC. Security keys define the basis of computer-based hardware security mechanisms implemented at high levels of hardware security such as those mechanisms that perform encryption of data communication channels, or provide IP theft protection in computer-based logic devices including Field-Programmable Gate Arrays ("FPGAs").
Conventional security keys are defined using digital data stored, for example, in a flash memory or read only memory ("ROM") on the IC. From a security perspective, it is desirable that access to the security key is restricted to hardware circuits formed on the IC. Unfortunately, security keys stored using these conventional technologies are subject to invasive physical attacks which can allow an adversary to learn the secret key. If the secret key is learned by an adversary, then clones ICs can be created and security protocols can be compromised.
Random bitstrings may form the basis for encryption, identification, authentication, and feature activation in hardware security. In current technologies, keying material for encryption may be stored as digital bitstrings in non-volatile memory on FPGAs and Application Specific Integrated Circuit ("ASICs"). However, secrets stored this way may not be secure against a determined adversary, who can use probing attacks to steal the secret. Physical Unclonable Functions ("PUFs") may be used as alternative to storing digital bitstrings in non-volatile memory. A PUF refers to an IC hardware primitive that leverages entropy introduced by manufacturing variations to produce bitstrings, and may incorporate an on-chip infrastructure for measuring and digitizing the corresponding variations. PUFs may measure and digitize the natural variations that occur in path delays, leakage current, or static random access memory ("SRAM") power-up patterns, to produce a random bitstring.
Various techniques have been proposed to protect ICs using PUF implementations. Challenge-based IC authentication is one example. With challenge-based IC authentication, a secret key is embedded in the IC that enables the IC to generate a unique response to a challenge, which is valid only for that challenge. Thus, the key remains secret and the mechanism performing authentication is resistant to spoofing. Remote activation schemes are another example. Remote activation schemes enable IC designers to lock each IC at start-up and then enable it remotely, providing intellectual property protection and hardware metering. States are added to the finite state machine ("FSM") of a design and control signals are added which are a function of the secret key. Therefore, the hardware locks up until receipt of a specific activation code. Other examples of PUF implementations include mismatched delay-lines, SRAM power-on patterns, metal-oxide semiconductor ("MOS") device mismatches and input dependent leakage patterns. However, each of these techniques has vulnerabilities related to misappropriation, cloning or unauthorized use of a security key for an IC.
A PUF extracts entropy (randomness) from variations in the physical and electrical properties of ICs, which are unique to each IC, as a means of generating digital secrets (bitstrings). The bitstrings can serve the role of uniquely identifying the hardware tokens for authentication applications. The bitstrings are generated on-the-fly, thereby eliminating the need to store digital copies of them in non-volatile memory ("NVM"), and are (ideally) reproducible under a range of environmental variations. The ability to control the precise generation time of the secret bitstring and the sensitivity of the PUF entropy source to invasive probing attacks (which act to invalidate it) are additional attributes that make them attractive for authentication in embedded hardware including resource-constrained hardware tokens.
PUFs may be classified as a "strong PUF" or a "weak PUF". "Strong PUFs" may reduce area and energy overheads by reducing the number and type of cryptographic primitives and operations. For example, a strong PUF is capable of producing a large, unique set of bits per device, and has additional challenges that relate to machine learning attacks, protocol attacks and constraints on device resources. In contrast, area overhead restricts the physical size of the entropy source in a "weak PUF".
Most proposed "weak PUF" architectures require the insertion of a dedicated array of identically-designed test structures to serve as the entropy source in which the area overhead restricts the physical size of the entropy source. Although "weak PUFs" can be used for authentication, they require the insertion of obfuscation functions, e.g., cryptographic hash, encryption and XOR functions, to protect their limited amount entropy against adversarial interface attacks designed to machine learn the secrets.
On the other hand, most "strong PUFs" circumvent the limited amount of entropy within specialized test structures by leveraging the entropy available in existing on-chip resources. A "strong PUF" is able to produce a very large number of challenge-response-pairs ("CRPs") for authentication operations.
What is known as the "arbiter PUF" is traditionally regarded as the first strong PUF because it can be configured to product 2n responses. However, the arbiter PUF is vulnerable to model-building attacks since only a small number of gates define the paths. In particular, an arbiter PUF is typically configures with as few as 256 logic gates making it susceptible to machine learning ("ML") attacks.
The simplest form of a PUF-based authentication protocol is carried out in two phases: enrollment and authentication. The process of preparing a hardware token for authentication operations in the field is called enrollment. During enrollment, a secure server randomly selects a small subset of challenges that are applied to the PUF to generate a corresponding set of responses. The CRPs for each token are then recorded by the server in a secure database, which are then later used for authenticating the fielded token. The number of stored CRPs for each token can be small because the large CPRs space along with the secrecy of the selected subset make it very difficult for adversaries to build a clone to impersonate the token. Authentication is the process between a prover—e.g., a hardware token or smart card—and a verifier—a secure server or bank—that confirms identities using corroborative evidence of one or both parties. With the network of physical objects embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity enabling the collection and exchange of data—referred to as the Internet-of-things ("loT")—there are a growing number of applications in which the hardware token is resource-constrained, and therefore, novel authentication techniques are required that are low in cost, energy and area overhead.
However, this simple form of a PUF-based authentication protocol has several drawbacks. First, it does not provide privacy for the authenticating token, and therefore, adversaries will be able to track a fielded token across successive authentications. This is true because the token must first identify itself to the verifier using some type of token-ID to enable the verifier to select the proper CRP set. The token-ID is required because only a small, undisclosed, subset of the CRPs are recorded on the verifier for each token during enrollment. The token-ID must also be stored permanently on the token, e.g., 'burned in' using fuses, and must be sent in the clear. CRP chaining and encryption schemes have been proposed to avoid this, but incur additionally overhead because they require a read-writable NVM to implement the chaining component.
Second, this simple form of a PUF-based authentication protocol is susceptible to denial-of-service ("DOS") attacks, whereby an adversary depletes the verifier's CRPs for a token by repeatedly attempting to authenticate. Third, even when DOS attacks are not attempted, the stored CRPs can be exhausted in the course of a sequence of valid authentications because the verifier must delete a CRP once it is used (to avoid replay attacks), and the verifier stores only a fixed number of CRPs for each token.
Protocols have been proposed to use delay variations in functional units for authentication. However, these protocols make use of the timing values directly, and do not account for path length bias effects. A weakness in existing protocols relates to weaknesses in the PUF's entropy source. Other protocols are not lightweight such as a recently proposed protocol that supports privacy-preserving and mutual authentication which makes use of a weak SRAM PUF, and requires NVM and several cryptographic functions to be implemented on the token. Conventional methods of authentication which use area-heavy cryptographic primitives and non-volatile memory ("NVM") are less attractive for evolving embedded applications.
There is a demand for reliability and security enhancing techniques in order to provide a truly strong PUF with great cryptographic properties. The invention satisfies this demand.

Privacy-preserving, mutual PUF-based authentication protocol


The object of the invention is to provide an immunological reconstitution promoter or a prophylactic agent for infections for use in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation therapy for tumors. The promoter or prophylactic agent enables the amelioration of delayed immune reconstitution or the prevention of infection following transplantation, while maintaining the GVT effect of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Specifically, in a transplant patient in whom immune reconstitution is delayed, such reconstitution can be promoted by administering, at an early stage following transplantation, a substance capable of depleting CD4+ cells. Early completion of infection management in the patient and improvement in the survival rate are anticipated as a result. In addition, the risk of complications associated with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is reduced, enabling more widespread use of this therapy.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a mode of treatment which, after a malignant tumor has been destroyed by a pre-transplant regimen involving a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, builds a new hematopoietic system by the transfusion of donor-derived or the patient's own hematopoietic stem cells. Of these, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation involving the transplantation of donor-derived hematopoietic stem cells can be expected to have an anti-tumor effect, i.e., a graft-versus-tumor effect (also referred to below as the "GVT effect"), on various tumors of the hematopoietic system and solid tumors against which other therapeutic methods are likely to be ineffective. However, at the same time, there is a possibility that such therapy may be accompanied by graft-versus-host disease (also referred to below as "GVHD") and by infections attributable to delayed immune reconstitution following transplantation. Such concerns have limited the expansion in the use of this approach as a cancer immunotherapy (Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2).
GVHD is a syndrome characterized by skin rash, jaundice and diarrhea, and is understood to arise from the infiltration of activated donor T-cells into, for example, the skin, liver and intestinal tract. With the appearance of immunosuppressants, which were rapidly developed starting in the late 1980s, the prevention of and treatment outcomes for GVHD improved significantly. At the same time, as a result of the decreased mortality from GVHD, lethal infections associated with immune deficiency following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation emerged as a major factor affecting the prognosis of such transplantation. However, the pathogenic mechanism and effective treatments for delayed immune reconstitution following such transplantation have yet to be established. The situation is such that no alternative currently exists but to rely on symptomatic treatment involving the administration of immunoglobulin preparations and antibiotics.
The present invention sets out to employ a substance capable of depleting CD4 positive (also referred to below as CD4+) cells (which substance is also referred to below as a "CD4+ cell-depleting substance") so as to promote immunological reconstitution or prevent infection following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Such substances have not yet been reported in the literature.    Non-Patent Document 1: Shlomchik, W. D., Nature Reviews Immunology, 7(5), 340-352 (2007).    Non-Patent Document 2: Abrahamsen, I. W., and other 5 researchers., Haematologica, 90(1), 86-93 (2005).

Immunological reconstitution promoter or prophylactic agent for infections each of which maintains graft-versus-tumor effect


A method and apparatus for informing a plurality of terminals receiving the same Mobile Broadcast (BCAST) service of an upcoming event such as a BCAST service change in a BCAST system are provided. When receiving a notice of a notification event related to a BCAST service or an Service Guide (SG), a BCAST Subscription Management (SM), including a Notification Generation Function (NTG), creates a notification message about the notification event and sends it to a BCAST Service Distribution/Adaptation (SD/A). The BCAST SD/A sends the notification message to one terminal or a group of terminals through a Broadcast Distribution System (BDS) or an interaction network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile broadcast system supporting Mobile Broadcast Service (BCAST), and in particular, to a method and apparatus for sending a notice of a notification event, like system and service changes, to one or a group of terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Owing to today's development of communication and broadcasting technologies, broadcasting systems or mobile communication systems provide BCAST services. A BCAST service that additionally sends packet data on a broadcast channel beyond the traditional audio- and video-oriented broadcast service is now under discussion.
BCAST is the process of service discovery and subscription by a BCAST-enabled terminal, provisioning of control information associated with the BCAST service, and transmission and reception of the BCAST service. Changes may occur due to many factors during the BCAST service and some of the changes must necessarily be notified to the terminal. Such changes are about service schedule or service reception information, for example.
A Service Guide (SG) providing information about BCAST services is essential to the terminal's service discovery. For BCAST reception, terminals always receive the SG.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an SG used in a conventional mobile broadcast system. Typical traditional audio/video broadcast services and packet transmission service are provided as BCAST services in the illustrated case. Specifically, FIG. 1A illustrates the structure of an SG message or file containing SG information about a plurality of BCAST services. FIG. 1B illustrates the structure of each SG in the SG message or file.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a Header 101 indicates the number of SGs in the SG message or file and the Identifier (ID), version, and length of the SG message or file. The terminal acquires generic information about the SG message from the Header 101. Reference numerals 102 and 103 denote SGs for BCAST service #1 to BCAST service #n. The structure of these SGs is illustrated in detail in FIG. 1B.
Referring to FIG. 1B, for each SG, a Header 111 includes general information about the SG, such as information about individual blocks in the SG, a service ID, and the version and length of the SG. Access Info 112 indicates how the BCAST service corresponding to the SG can be received. Thus, the Access Info 112 provides information about a channel on which the BCAST service is provided, the schedule of the BCAST service, and other information associated with reception of the BCAST service. Provisioning Info 113 provides billing information or security information required to receive the BCAST service. Terminal Requirement 114 indicates requirements for the terminal to receive the BCAST service. Besides these information blocks 112, 113 and 114, Preview Info 115 can further be included to provide preview information about the BCAST service.
Some of the SGs may vary at any time and each time an SG is changed, the updated SG must be sent. Considering, as is often the case in the nature of mobile broadcast, new terminals may join the BCAST service, the SG must be transmitted repeatedly even though the SG is not changed. For instance, if a user wants to join the BCAST service by turning on his terminal, or if a terminal needs to receive the SG as it roams, such a terminal must receive the SG separately from existing terminals already receiving the BCAST service.
Therefore, even the terminals which have already received the SG will also receive the SG and must check whether the SG has been updated. Since the SG is a message from an Application level, the highest level in a communications or broadcast protocol stack, the terminal cannot verify the current SG until receiving the entire SG message. A shortcoming with this SG reception method is serious power consumption in the terminals. If two or three SG messages are delivered for one minute, the terminals continue operating their receivers to receive the SG messages even though they are not receiving the BCAST service.

Method and apparatus for sending notification about broadcast service in a mobile broadcast system


According to one embodiment, a broadcast reception apparatus includes a reception unit which receives a broadcast signal, and outputs a transport stream, a first determination unit which receives the transport stream as TS packets, and determines whether a PES header exists in each TS packet, a second determination unit which determines whether the PES header is normal, when the first determination unit detects the PES header, a search unit which detects a payload start position by searching the TS packet sequentially from the rear end, when the second determination unit determines the PES header to be abnormal, a separator which separates payloads at and after the payload start position, and a decoder which decodes the separated payloads of the TS packets, and outputs video and audio signals.

1. Field
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a broadcast reception apparatus for a transport stream of one-segment broadcast, etc., a TS packet reproduction apparatus, and a broadcast reception method and program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, one-segment broadcasting has become popular as digital terrestrial broadcasting easy to receive with a cellular phone, for example. A broadcast signal of the so-called one-segment broadcast is demodulated to a transport stream with a tuner, and reproduced with a transport stream (TS) packet reproduction unit.
Such a TS packet may cause a signal error during transmission. When a signal error occurs in a TS packet, an error flag is set in the TS packet, and the error is detected by a TS packet reproduction unit.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-181983 discloses the technique, in which when a data error of a TS packet is detected by a packet reproduction unit, the TS packet is abandoned as an error packet. When a normal TS packet is received thereafter, the reproduction unit restarts reproduction.
However, in such a conventional technique as disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-181983, a whole TS packet is abandoned even if an error is detected only in a part of a TS packet and the other data of the TS packet is normal. Thus, the timing of reproducing the payloads at and after the error in the TS packet cannot be detected. As a result, video reproduction is interrupted for about 5 seconds at the longest.

Broadcast reception apparatus, TS packet reproduction apparatus, broadcast reception method and program


The present invention relates to a method for assembling a circuit carrier with a housing component and furthermore to an optical unit for emitting and/or receiving radiation that is fabricated using this particular method of assembling and aligning the circuit carrier with the housing component. The method comprises the following steps: providing said circuit carrier, wherein on said circuit carrier there is arranged at least one electronic component, and providing said housing component having at least one first opening; aligning said circuit carrier in a way that said electronic component is aligned with respect to said first opening in the housing component, wherein the electronic component is directly used as a fiducial for its own position on the circuit carrier; fixing the circuit carrier at the housing component.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to a method for assembling a circuit carrier with a housing component and, more specifically, to an optical unit for emitting and/or receiving radiation that is fabricated using this particular method of assembling and aligning the circuit carrier with the housing component.
When assembling electronic components, they are usually mounted on some sort of circuit carrier, and the circuit carrier has to be mounted at or within a mechanical part that forms a housing or is a part thereof. In a plurality of application fields, for instance when assembling optoelectronic components, such as light emitting diodes (LED) or light receiving components, such as photo diodes, a particularly accurate positioning of the electronic component with respect to the housing or another mechanical or optical part, for example, lenses and apertures, or an opening of the housing, has to be achieved. Usually, this alignment is either done by means of some mechanical fitting or by providing a fiducial on a printed circuit board (PCB) which is optically evaluated by means of an automatic assembly device. The fiducial is for instance formed by a structure, like a cross, a circle, or the like, provided in the metallization layer of the circuit carrier. The alignment of the PCB within the housing is then achieved by means of mechanical positioning aids, for example, openings. Hence, the tolerances of two alignment steps have to be taken into account.
However, in particular for optoelectronic applications, there is still a need of providing an improved alignment method that leads to a higher accuracy of the positioning between the housing component and the electronic component and furthermore can be performed in a more cost-effective and simple way.

Method for assembling a circuit carrier with a housing component, and optical unit


A mobile device including a housing having a distal end, and electronics disposed in the housing configured to operate the mobile device. A connector is coupled to the electronics, and a Pi-shaped antenna has a coupling coupled to the connector to create a resonance using the connector. The Pi-shaped antenna and the connector are configured to wirelessly send and receive the wireless signals. An impedance matching network matches the impedance of the electronics to the Pi-shaped antenna. In some embodiments, the impedance matching network is switchable by the electronics and is configured to match an impedance of the electronics to the Pi-shaped antenna in at least two states, over multiple RF bands.

Wireless mobile devices including smartphones require low profile antennas to meet desired product form factors. The available inner dimension (ID) of these devices is limited due to numerous factors, including other component layout design.
The conventional T-shape antenna is commonly used in smartphones, which T-shaped antenna is good to cover third generation (3G) bands without a USB connector presented in the device housing. In fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) devices, the more popular bands are 704-960 MHz (LTE B17, B20, G850, G900) & 1710-2170 MHz (DCS, PCS, AWS) to 2500-2690 MHz (LTE B7). The conventional T-shaped antenna is limited in band coverage and is not ideally suitable for these popular bands.


A blow molded vehicle sun visor (1) has a visor body (2) formed by a blow molding process. The visor body (2) has a hollow plate-shaped configuration defining an inner space. A bearing member (3) is positioned within the inner space of the visor body (2) during the blow molding process. A support rod (4) is inserted into the bearing me (3) in order to pivotally support the visor body (2). The bearing member (3) has at least one through hole (33, 34) formed therein and extending in a direction of thickness. The visor body (2) has at least one column (25) corresponding to the at least one through hole (33, 34) and formed integrally with the visor body (2). The at least one column (25) extends though the corresponding at least one through hole (33, 34) of the bearing member (3) in order to prevent the movement of the bearing Ryder (3) and to reinforce the visor body (2) with respect to the direction of thickness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle sun visors having hollow plate shaped visor bodies formed by blow molding processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A blow molded vehicle sun visor is known, for example, by PCT International Publication WO93/13957 (i.e., corresponding to Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 6-506424). The sun visor of this publication includes a hollow plate shaped visor body formed by a blow molding Fess, a bearing member inserted into the visor body dig the blow molding process, and a support rod inserted into the bearing member in order to rotatably support the visor body.
The visor body has a plurality of colt and a plurality of projections in order to restrict the movement of the bearing member. The columns are disposed in an upright manner within the hollow space of the visor body and extend in a direction of thickness of the visor body. The columns are respectively positioned adjacent to a left side and a right side of the bearing member so that the columns prevent the bearing member from moving in the left and right directions within a plane parallel to the surfaces of the sun visor body.
However, the columns can restrict the movement of the being member only with respect to the left and right dictions. Therefore, it is not possible to effectively limit the movement of the bearing member within all of the directions of a plane parallel to the surfaces of the sun visor body using the prior ant teaching.

Blow molded vehicle sun visors and methods of manufacturing such sun visors


In a V-belt type continuously variable transmission for utility vehicle, a transmission case assembly covering a drive pulley assembly and a driven pulley assembly is provided. The transmission case assembly includes a transmission case main body, and a transmission cover attached to a cover attachment surface of the transmission case main body. The cover attachment surface is inclined with respect to a vertical plane which is orthogonal to a crankshaft, and the transmission cover is attached to the cover attachment surface by a plurality of bolts removed and inserted in the direction orthogonal to the cover attachment surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a V-belt type continuously variable transmission for utility vehicle to be coupled to a crankshaft of an engine so as to transmit motive power.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,683 B1 discloses a conventional structure of a V-belt type continuously variable transmission to be mounted in a utility vehicle, in which a transmission case is integrated with a crankcase on one end surface of the crankcase of an engine in the crankshaft direction, and a transmission cover is attached to a cover attachment surface of the transmission case by bolts. The cover attachment surface of the transmission case is formed in a vertical plane which is orthogonal to a substantially horizontal crankshaft. Therefore, when the transmission cover is attached to and detached from the cover attachment surface, the plurality of bolts is inserted into and removed from boss portions formed in the transmission cover in the horizontal direction, from the side of the vehicle.
However, in a case where pipe members of a vehicle body frame or vehicle parts or the like exist in the vicinity of the boss portions of the transmission cover, those parts and the bolts are brought into contact with each other in a case of inserting and removing the bolts, so that attachment and detachment tasks of the transmission cover are troublesome. Particularly, in the utility vehicle, the engine and the V-belt type continuously variable transmission are accommodated in a narrow chassis. Thus, difficulty of the attachment and detachment tasks of the bolts and the transmission cover is unavoidable.
Meanwhile, when the V-belt type continuously variable transmission is arranged in such a manner that the bolt insertion boss portions of the transmission cover are away from other parts, spaces for removing and inserting the bolts are generated, so that size of the vehicle is increased.


A method and system for processing a signal in the RF environment is disclosed. The method includes using an Analog Radio Frequency Memory (ARFM) to store an analog amplitude representation of the signal in the form of elemental charge packets. The stored signal is played back by converting the elemental charge packets back to their representative voltages to rejuvenate the original signal.

It is often necessary to have the ability to store an exact replica on of an incoming RF signal to be able to replay and utilize it in the future. Unlike tape recorders and other types of recording devices in which audio or text is stored, it is only with great difficulty that one can obtain an incoming RF signal and duplicate it at a time convenient to the user.
In the past, various approaches been utilized to capture incoming signals and generate a replica signal modulated in such a way as to provide a countermeasure, to for instance countermeasure incoming threat missiles. These systems include an RF memory loop based on piezoelectric delay lines, fiber optic delay lines; magnetostrictive delay lines, inductive delay lines composed of strings of inductors and capacitors (Ladder Topology), and traveling wave tube delay lines. There were noted limitations with these approaches starting with the fidelity of the captured signal and eventual loss of signal quality following several passes or recirculation cycles. However, all of these approaches have become impractical and in their place a digital radiofrequency memory ("DRFM") has been utilized to digitize an incoming RF input signal at a frequency and bandwidth necessary to adequately represent the signal and then to reconstruct that RF signal when required.
A typical DRFM system converts an incoming signal to a digital stream of data which is then phase corrected and stored digitally to be played back when needed. However the DRFM has multiple issues which preclude a simple design. Moreover DRFMs are speed limited and dynamic range limited and are not optimized for size, weight and power.
It will be appreciated that the ability to sample an incoming RF signal and to be able to reproduce it at a later time has a major application in the provision of countermeasure signals which alter the modulation or some other parameter of the incoming signal in such a way as to be able to spoof or countermeasure for instance incoming missiles which can be caused to veer off course. Additionally, the ability to take an original RF signal and to be able to modify it to provide misinformation is indeed useful in various asymmetric warfare situations. Further, the ability to detect an incoming RF signal and to duplicate the signal for analog use thereafter has application in all manner of communications given the ability to faithfully reproduce and use the original RF signal.
Typical digital radio frequency memories occupy a large amount of space in a rack aboard an aircraft which occupy laterally a number of feet, and height wise the same. The amount of power necessary is primarily associated with the powering of analog-to-digital converters, memories and digital-to-analog converters in which the RF signal is not only stored but is phase corrected so as to be able to faithfully reproduce the incoming signal. Were it possible to eliminate the analog-to-digital conversion stage as charge well as the digital-to-analog conversion stage, a large amount of equipment could be dispensed with. This also applies to the elimination of serial to parallel converters and phase correction as charge well as a sampling oscillator.
Thus, a simple storage device that can faithfully store and reproduce an incoming RF signal would be of great advantage. This is especially true in applications where space and power is limited such as for instance in drones. There is therefore a need for an RF memory system that can provide simplicity of design, speed, and dynamic range and can reduce device weight, size and power as compared to the present digital radio frequency memory systems.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a digital radio frequency memory, DRFM, shown at 10 is designed to digitize an incoming RF signal 12 at a frequency and bandwidth necessary to adequately represent the signal and then reconstruct the RF signal at an RF output terminal 14 of the device. The DRFM of FIG. 1 converts the RF signal to a digital stream of data which is phase corrected and stored digitally to be played back when needed.
DRFM 10 includes a limiting amplifier 16 the output of which is coupled to a quadrature IF mixer 18 and thence to low pass filters 20 which output to an analog-to-digital converter 22, the output of which is coupled to a memory subassembly 24. The memory subassembly 24 includes a memory 26 operably coupled to parallel/digital and parallel/serial converters 28 that are clocked by a phase correction circuit 30 driven by a sample oscillator 32. This circuit provides phase correction 34 and clock signals 36 to converters 28. The output of the phase correction circuit 30 is applied to an RF output subassembly 40A that includes a digital-to-analog converter 42A, low pass filters 44, a single sideband modulator 46, amplifier switch 48 and an output port 50 from which is derived an appropriately modulated replica of the incoming RF signal 12. Memory subassembly 24 is controlled by control subassembly 52 that includes a main control 54 and addresses the generation unit 56, a control interface 58 and a voltage regulator 60 which completes a digital radio frequency memory system.
The DRFM is an electronic method for digitally capturing and retransmitting RF signal. DRFMs are typically used in radar jamming, although applications in cellular communications are becoming more common. A DRFM system is designed to digitize an incoming RF input signal at a frequency and bandwidth necessary to adequately represent the signal, and then reconstruct that RF signal when required. The most significant aspect of DRFM is that as a digital "duplicate" of the received signal, it is coherent with the source of the received signal. As opposed to analog 'memory loops', there is no signal degradation caused by continuously cycling the energy through a front-end amplifier which allows for greater range errors for reactive jamming and allows for predictive jamming. A DRFM may modify the signal prior to retransmitting which can alter the signature of the false target; adjusting its apparent radar cross section, range, velocity, and angle. DRFMs present a significant obstacle for radar sensors.

Analog radio frequency memory for signal replication

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integrations Inc.


According to the present invention, an image capturing apparatus for capturing a subject includes: a vertical body including a front face and a back opposed to the front face; a grip to be grasped by an operator's hand, the grip including at least a region of the front face and a region of the back; a release switch provided on the front face of the body in a region other than the part included in the grip; a capturing lens provided on the back of the body in a region other than the part included in the grip; an image monitor operable to display the subject, the image monitor being provided above the release switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus that can take a picture of a subject. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus of vertical shape that an operator can operate with a single hand.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most of conventional capturing devices such as a digital camera have a horizontal shape. Although there are a lot of vertical digital video cameras, they are designed to be operated by a right-handed person. Thus, it is difficult for a left-handed person to operate such vertical digital cameras.
Moreover, the number of operation switches provided on the image capturing apparatus has been increased as the image capturing apparatus come to have more functions. This makes the operation of the image capturing apparatus complicated, thus causing the operator not to operate the image capturing apparatus easily, and sometimes wrong operations by the operator may happen.
In order to avoid the wrong operations by the operator, a digital camera and a digital video camera have been proposed that includes a cover for covering a part of the structure, for example, an operation panel and an image monitor. Such a cover is also effective for preventing the digital camera or the like from being damaged. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-65943, for example, discloses a video camera having a slidable cover for covering some of the operation switches. However, the slidable cover does not cover all the operation switches provided with the video camera. Therefore, there still remains the possibility that a certain operation button or switch may be depressed erroneously while the digital camera or the video camera is not in use and, in the worst case, the digital camera or the video camera may be damaged.

Image capturing apparatus with convenient handling and operation


A method for rib suppression in a chest x-ray image of a patient. The method detects and labels one or more ribs in a region of interest in the x-ray image that includes a lung region. The method obtains a rib model for one or more ribs of the image and modifies detection results for the one or more ribs by applying the rib model in the region of interest. A conditioned x-ray image is formed by suppressing rib content according to the modified detection results. The conditioned x-ray image is stored, displayed, or transmitted.

The chest x-ray is useful for detecting patient conditions and for imaging a range of skeletal and organ structures. Radiographic images of the chest are useful for detection of lung nodules and other features that indicate lung cancer and other pathologic structures and life-threatening conditions. In clinical applications such as in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), chest x-rays can have particular value for indicating pneumothorax as well as for tube/line positioning, and other clinical conditions. To view the lung fields more clearly and allow more accurate analysis of a patient's condition, it is useful to suppress the rib cage and related features in the chest x-ray, without losing detail of the lung tissue or other features within the chest cavity.
Methods have been proposed for detecting and suppressing rib structures and allowing the radiologist to view the lung fields without perceptible obstruction by the ribs. Some methods have used template matching, rib edge detection, or curve fitting edge detection. The applicants have recognized that it can be challenging to remove rib features from the chest x-ray image without degrading the underlying image content that can include lung tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,204,292 entitled "Feature-based neural network regression for feature suppression" (Knapp) describes the use of a trained system for predicting rib components and subsequently subtracting the predicted rib components.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0060366 entitled "Object segmentation in images" (Worrell) describes alternative techniques using detected rib edges to identify rib structures.
The article entitled "Image-Processing Technique for Suppressing Ribs in Chest Radiographs by Means of Massive Training Artificial Neural Network (MTANN)" by Suzuki et al. in IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, Vol. 25 No. 4, April 2006 describes methods for detection of lung nodules and other features using learned results from a database to optimize rib suppression for individual patient images.
The article entitled "Detection and Compensation of Rib Structures in Chest Radiographs for Diagnose Assistance" in Proceedings of SPIE, 3338:774-785 (1998) by Vogelsang et al. describes methods for compensating for rib structures in a radiographic image. Among techniques described in the Vogelsang et al. article are template matching and generation and selection from candidate parabolas for tracing rib edges.
The article entitled "Model based analysis of chest radiographs", in Proceedings of SPIE 3979, 1040 (2000), also by Vogelsang et al. describes Bezier curve matching to find rib edges in a chest radiograph for alignment of a model and subsequent rib shadow compensation.
While some of these methods may have achieved a level of success using rib edge detection to identify rib structures that can then be suppressed in the x-ray image, improvements are desired.
Thus, there is a need for a method of rib suppression that accurately detects ribs in chest x-ray images and suppresses the rib area in a chest x-ray image, while preserving the image content of underlying lung tissue.


Designs of fiber stretcher apparatus using one or more linear actuators to stretch fiber loops for various applications including variable optical delay lines and devices using such delay lines.

This application relates to fibers and fiber devices.
Optical fiber can be used to generate variable optical delays by controlling the length of a fiber loop. For example, multiple turns of optical fiber can be wound around a cylindrical piezo-electric (PZT) actuator to form a fiber optical delay device where an electrical voltage is applied to the cylindrical PZT actuator to cause the diameter of the cylindrical PZT actuator to change. This change leads to a change in the circumference of the cylindrical PZT actuator and thus changes the level of stretching on the fiber loop. This design can be used to achieve fast delay variations and was described by Tearney et al. in an article entitled "Rapid acquisition of a in vivo biological images by use of optical coherence tomography," Optics Letters, Vol. 21, pp. 1408-1410 (1996). The response speed of such a PZT-based fiber delay device can be fast, e.g., on the order of KHz or tens of kHz.
Other variable optical devices have also been proposed for achieving fast delay variations. Examples include a delay device based on a rotating cube described by Su in "Achieving variation of optical path length by a few millimeters at millisecond rates for imaging turbid media and optical interferometry: A new technique," Optics Letters, Vol. 22, pp. 665-667 (1997), a delay device based on a rotating mirror pair by Yasa et al. in "A rapid scanning autocorrelation scheme for continuous monitoring of picosecond pulses," Optical communications, Vol. 36, pp. 406-408 (1981), a grating based Fourier domain resonant delay line disclosed by Tearney et al. in "High speed phase- and group-delay scanning with a grating-based phase control delay line," Optics Letters, Vol. 22, pp. 1811-1813 (1997), and an accousto-optic modulator based delay line by Yang et al. in "Rapid ultrafine-tunable optical delay line at the 1.55 um wavelength," Optics Letters, Vol. 23, pp. 1843-1845 (1998).
Fiber-based optical delay devices can be easily interfaced or integrated with fiber components and devices to provide various advantages. For example, fiber based devices can be designed to avoid alignment of optical components in free space or to achieve compact device packaging.


A surveillance system for in-service fault identification in an amplified passive branched optical network is provided. This system does not require any wavelength tunable light source as used in multi-wavelength OTDR. Fiber-Bragg gratings are placed at some strategic positions on different fiber branches to slice and reflect the optical amplifier's residual ASE power at some wavelength other than the signal wavelengths. The conditions of the fiber link and optical amplifier at each branch can be monitored by constantly checking the reflected power level of the corresponding wavelength without suspending the in-service channels.

It is well known that faults in optical fibres can be located by an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR). An OTDR typically launches a pulse of light into an optical fibre, and backscattered light is monitored for abrupt changes indicative of a loss or fault. The distance of the loss or fault from the launch end of the fibre can be determined from the time interval between the launch and the return of the backscattered peak. Once a period of time sufficient to receive all detectable backscattered light has passed, a further pulse may be launched into the fibre. The pulse width may be varied for different dynamic range or resolution requirements. Thus, for a given amplitude, an increase in the pulse width enables a greater length of fibre to be monitored, that is to say it increases the dynamic range of the OTDR. The dynamic range of an OTDR is the loss after which an event, backscatter or reflection can still be detected.
The OTDR is an extremely useful form of optical test equipment since, from connection to a single end of an optical fibre network, the location of losses and reflections can be determined, and their amplitude measured, to a high degree of accuracy. For loss measurements, both point-losses and end-to-end fibre or network losses can be measured. In duplex networks, the amplitude of any reflections is important, since these may cause crosstalk. In some known schemes it is possible using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques, to take these measurements at a particular wavelength i.e. 1650 nm whilst the network is carrying data at another wavelength i.e. 1550 nm.
As of late, there has been a demand for an OTDR system that conveniently and inexpensively allows for the reliability testing of individual optical fibres within optical networks of optical fibers. Methods used heretofore in conventional OTDR are not suitable, since the Rayleigh back-scattered light from different branches cannot be differentiated at the OTDR. Notwithstanding, recently, several methods based on multi-wavelength OTDR have been proposed in:
a paper by I. Sankawa, "Fault Location Technique for In-Service Branched Optical Fiber Networks", published in IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 2, no 10, pp 766-768, 1990; PA0 a paper by Y. Koyamada, et al, entitled "Recent Progress in OTDR Technologies for Maintaining Optical fiber Networks", IOOC'95, Paper FA1-4, Hong Kong, 1995. PA0 a paper by K. Tanaka, et al, "Measuring the Individual Attention Distribution of Passive Branched Optical Networks", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 915-917, 1966; and, PA0 a paper by M. Shigehara, et al., "Optical Fiber Identification System Using Fiber Bragg Gratings", Technical Digest, OFC'96 Paper WK13, San Jose, 1966; all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
However, these proposed OTDR systems require a wavelength-tunable pulsed light source for the test signals and thus impose high cost and complexity. For the schemes proposed by Sankawa, and Koyamada et al., strong monitoring signals from the wavelength-tunable light sources may deplete the gain of the in-line optical amplifiers and result in system penalty; whereas this invention, in contrast provides an in-service fault detection system using optical amplifiers on passive branched optical networks (PBONs) and on a concatentated link without requiring an extra light source.
Two known systems that address OTDR in optical networks are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,491,573 and 5,491,574 in the name of Shipley. Another United States patent in the same field is U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,392 in the name of Cohen. In view of the limitations of these aforementioned inventions, it is an object of one aspect of this invention to provide a novel passive surveillance scheme for fault identification in optically-amplified PBON using fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) without using any extra light source for the test signals. The invention further obviates the use of a tunable OTDR pulsed light source.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an inexpensive device for testing an optical network of waveguides in the presence of traffic.
More generally, it is an object of this invention to provide a passive surveillance system that is compatible with the use of optical amplifiers and which utilizes otherwise unused spectrum provided by a rare earth doped optical amplifier.

Surveillance system for passive branched optical networks

UR14 Flat 5A, The Chinese University of Hong Kong


According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a virtual identification information generator and a display controller. The virtual identification information generator generates a virtual identification information item to virtualize the display, for each of two or more external devices wirelessly connected to the electronic apparatus by use of a wireless communication module, based on specific identification information of the display including information indicative of properties of the display. The display controller displays image signals transmitted from the external devices on a display. The display image signals are generated by the external devices based on the virtual identification information items.

In recent years, electronic apparatuses including a wireless communication function have become widespread. For example, users who have display apparatuses (wireless display) which include a wireless communication function and tablet terminals which include a wireless communication function can easily view movies which are taken into the tablet terminals from Web sites on large screens of the display apparatuses.
For example, when the display apparatus is connected to a personal computer (PC), the PC obtains information called an EDID from the display apparatus. The EDID represents information which indicates the properties of the display apparatus such as resolution and refresh rate (frequency), and a serial number (including a manufacturer ID and a model ID) which is uniquely assigned to the display apparatus. The personal computer generates an image signal which is suitable for the connected display apparatus, based on the EDID. Specifically, by the EDID, the personal computer can use various display apparatuses as monitors. In other words, the display apparatus can be used as a monitor for various electronic apparatuses, by the EDID.
In connection means of the prior art which uses an EDID, the EDID does not include a setting value which is determined in consideration of simultaneous output of pictures. Therefore, when a plurality of inputs are simultaneously displayed on a display, the pictures are generally reduced by a reducing function (scaling function) which is included in the display, without consideration of the setting value of the EDID. Therefore, the resolution of the input display does not agree with the display resolution, and optimum (dot-by-dot) screen display cannot be performed. In the prior art, output which is optimized for a reduced picture cannot be automatically performed from input.

Electronic apparatus, control method, and storage medium


A system for version control is presented. The system includes a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to receive a package build, wherein the package build a package build manifest, identify a package syntax element from the package build perform a manifest search as a function of the package syntax element, produce a universal version element as a function of the manifest search, verify the universal version element as a function of a version authenticator, and install the package build as a function of the verification.

Software updates, installations, and perhaps uninstallations incorporate some versioning to maintain and track upgradable or downgradable software. Every software package build may follow a variety of different conventions, rules, and labeling methods. Unreliable versioning may result in an improper installation of software that may not be upgradable or downgradable anymore. In some cases, informed users may want a variety of options for downgradable purposes. Users may have the freedom to select where to download some downgradable software from, however, the downgradable software may follow some unfamiliar semantic versioning, resulting in incompatible or unsuccessful installation. Software packages may come from a variety of locations in which each one may have its own history of libraries, builds, APIs, etc. Current versioning systems lack efficient documentation or repositories that efficiently track such histories, which may result in unmitigated installation problems.

Systems and methods for version control in a computing device


A device may include a hollow needle, a dilator mounted coaxially on the needle, and a sheath mounted coaxially on the dilator. The dilator may be slideably displaceable relative to the sheath.

A preferred non-surgical method for inserting a catheter or vascular sheath into a blood vessel involves the use of the Seldinger technique, which includes an access needle that is inserted into a patient's blood vessel. A guidewire is inserted through the needle and into the vessel. The needle is removed, and a dilator and sheath combination are then inserted over the guidewire. The dilator and sheath combination is then inserted a short distance through the tissue into the vessel, after which the dilator is removed and discarded. The catheter is then inserted through the sheath into the vessel to a desired location. A number of vascular access devices are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,581,019, 4,629,450, 4,772,264, 4,978,334, 5,158,544, 5,424,410, 5,312,355, 5,512,052, 5,728,132, 5,885,217, 5,919,160, 6,120,494, 6,179,823, and 6,210,366, each of which is incorporated herein by reference, wherein various devices for vascular access are described. However, none of these devices has the ease and safety of use that physicians would prefer, and there is thus a need for an easier-to-use and safer vascular access device, especially one that would clearly indicate when a blood vessel has been punctured.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The subject invention concerns a means for discovery of microbes having useful activities. More specifically, the subject invention comprises the use of nematodes as the starting material for discovering novel strains of microbes such as Bacillus thuringiensis or other Bacilli. The nematodes are processed by Bacillus isolation techniques to recover the microbes.

The soil microbe Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) is a Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium characterized by parasporal crystalline protein inclusions. These inclusions often appear microscopically as distinctively shaped crystals. The proteins can be highly toxic to pests and specific in their toxic activity. Certain B.t. toxin gcenes have been isolated and sequenced, and recombinant DNA-based B.t. products have been produced and approved for use. In addition, with the use of genetic engineering techniques, new approaches for delivering these B.t. endotoxins to agricultural environments are under development, including the use of plants genetically engineered with endotoxin genes for insect resistance and the use of stabilized intact microbial cells as B.t. endotoxin delivery vehicles (Gaertner, F. H., L. Kim [1988] TIBTECH6:S4-S7). Thus, isolated B.t. endotoxin genes are becoming commercially valuable.
Until the last ten years, commercial use of B.t. pesticides has been largely restricted to a narrow range of lepidopteran (caterpillar) pests. Preparations of the spores and crystals of B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki have been used for many years as commercial insecticides for lepidopteran pests. For example, B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD-1 produces a crystalline .delta.-endotoxin which is toxic to the larvae of a number of lepidopteran insects.
In recent years, however, investigators have discovered B.t. pesticides with specificities for a much broader range of pests. For example, other species of B.t., namely israelensis and morrisoni (a.k.a. tenebrionis, a.k.a. B.t. M-7), have been used commercially to control insects of the orders Diptera and Coleoptera, respectively. See Gaertner, F. H. (1989) "Cellular Delivery Systems for Insecticidal Proteins: Living and Non-Living Microorganisms," in Controlled Delivery of Crop Protection Agents, R. M. Wilkins, ed., Taylor and Francis, New York and London, 1990, pp. 245-255; see also Couch, T. L. (1980) "Mosquito Pathogenicity of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis," Developments in Industrial Microbiology 22:61-76; Beegle, C. C., (1978) "Use of Entomogenous Bacteria in Agroecosystems," Developments in Industrial Microbiology 20:97-104. Krieg et al (Krieg, A., A. M. Huger, G. A. Langenbruch, W. Schnetter(1983)Z. ang. Ent. 96:500-508) describe Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis, which is active against two beetles in the order Coleoptera. These are the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsadecemlineata, and Agelastica alni.
Recently, new subspecies of B.t. have been identified, and genes responsible for active .delta.-endotoxin proteins have been isolated (Hofte, H., H. R. Whiteley (1989) Microbiological Reviews 52(2):242-255). Hofte and Whiteley classified B.t. crystal protein genes into four major classes. The classes were CryIII (Lepidoptera-specific), CryII (Lepidoptera- and Diptera-specific), CryIII (Coleoptera-specific), and CryIV (Diptera-specific). The discovery of strains specifically toxic to other pests has been reported. (Feitelson. J. S., J. Payne, L. Kim [1992] Bio/Technology 10:271-275). CryV has been proposed to designate a class of toxin genes that are nematode-specific.
Regular use of chemical control of unwanted organisms can select for chemical resistant strains. Chemical resistance occurs in many species of economically important insects and has also occurred in nematodes of sheep, goats, and horses. The development of chemical resistance necessitates a continuing search for new control agents having different modes of action.
Xenorhabdus spp. are a commercially significant group of pathogenic bacteria which can infect a variety of insect larvae via a nematode vector host. These bacteria exist in a symbiotic relationship with pathogenic nematodes of the genus Neoaplectana. Steinernema, and Heterorhabditis. This system provides some advantages for the biological control of insect pests because, unlike many other biocontrol agents (such as Bacillus thuringiensis), the nematode actively seeks out prey larvae.
Xenorhabdus spp. are Gram negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod shaped bacteria currently assigned to the family Enterobacteriaceae. Two species (X. nematophilus and X. luminescens) and four subspecies of X. nematophilus (nematophilus, bovienii, poinarii, and beddingii) have been described.
Xenorhabdus spp. are carried in the closed intestine of third instar, infective, juvenile nematodes such as Heterorhabditis. Heterorhabditis spp. possess a specialized, anterior tooth that allows those nematodes to scrape and rupture the hard, exterior cuticle of the insect in order to gain access to the haemocoel. Neoaplectana and Steinernema spp. possess high hydrostatic heads and have an extremely narrow diameter of their anterior region, which enables these nematodes to punch through the softer internal parts of the insect. Once entry to the haemocoel has been gained, these nematodes secrete toxin which inhibits the insect inducible immune system and release their insect-pathogenic bacterial symbiont, thus killing the host insect.
The degree of infectivity of each nematode species/strain for different hosts varies considerably. No one species/strain is most infective for a wide variety of insect hosts. In addition, each genus of nematode hosts a particular species of bacterium. In nematodes of the Heterorhabditis genus, the symbiotic bacterium is Photorhabdus luminescens. The interaction between the bacterium Xenorhabdus and the host nematode is also specific. Apparently, X. nematophilus are symbiotic with Steinernematidae and X. luminescens with Heterorhabditidea. X. nematophilus isolated from infective nematodes are able to be carried by only a small proportion of other nematodes. Reasons for this specificity are not completely understood, but this might be related to the production of bacterial cell surface components (e.g. fimbriae).
An insecticidal toxin from Photorhabdus luminescens that has activity only when injected into Lepidopteran and Coleopteran insect larvae is known. WO 97/17432 (Ensign et al.) reports that proteins from the genus Photorhabdus are orally toxic to insects upon exposure. As reported therein, Photorhabdus luminescens (formerly Xenorhabdus luminescens) were found in mammalian clinical samples and as a bacterial symbiont of entomopathogenic nematodes of the genus Heterorhabditis.
Although the foregoing was known in the art, the utility of nematodes as a source for other insecticidal bacteria (preferably Gram positive bacteria, preferably bacteria of the genus Bacillus, and preferably species of Bacillus thuringiensis) was not previously known. While the art taught of the existence of particular, symbiotic nematodes and certain bacteria as discussed above, the art did not teach or suggest that nematodes could be used as an excellent source for isolating very unique strains of other types of insecticidal bacteria, particularly unique strains of Bacillus thuringiensis.


A fluorine-containing organosilicon compound having the formula (1): ##STR1## wherein X is a hydrolizable group, R.sup.1 is a monovalent organic group, R.sup.2 is a methyl group or a hydrogen atom, n is an integer of 1, 2 or 3, and m is an integer of 0 or 1, and a process of producing said compound. The compound may be used as a silane coupling agent capable of improving not only the strength of laminated sheets of polyester resin and glass and polyester resin concrete but also water and heat resistances.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluorine-containing organosilicon compound containing in the molecule a hydrolizable group bonded to a silicon and an acryloxyl or methacryloxyl group.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An organosilicon compound having the formula (4): ##STR2## wherein X is a hydrolizable group, R.sup.6 is a monovalent organic group, R.sup.7 is a methyl group or a hydrogen atom and n is an integer of 1, 2 or 3, for example, has a silicon-bonded hydrolizable group X-Si group that can react with glass, metal or silica and an acryloxyl or methacryloxyl group that can react with organic materials such as synthetic resins, and is known to be used in the prior art as a silane coupling agent for laminated sheets of polyester resin and glass for its high performance in improving the mechanical strength and electric properties. The compound is also known to be highly effective in improving the strength when added to polyester resin concrete.
However, water resistance and heat resistance obtained by the prior art organosilicon compound were insufficient.

Fluorine-containing organosilicon compound and process of producing the same


A plating apparatus includes a workpiece holder, a plating bath, and a clamp ring. The plating bath is underneath the workpiece holder. The clamp ring is connected to the workpiece holder. The clamp ring includes channels communicating an inner surface of the clamp ring and an outer surface of the clamp ring.

In the production of advanced semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs), electroplated copper is currently used because copper has a lower electrical resistivity and a higher current carrying capacity. However, the copper electroplating process may produce conductive features with defects. For example, nano-bubbles trapped in the electroplated copper layer will limit the quality of the conductive features and therefore reduce production yield of the IC product. Accordingly, forming defect-free conductive features is one of the ongoing efforts in order to improve electrical performance of IC devices.

Plating apparatus for plating semiconductor wafer and plating method

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


The monolayered, biaxially stretch-oriented and heat-set tubular packaging casing, in particular synthetic sausage casing, is crystal-clear and exhibits high resilience. It is essentially composed of a polymer mixture comprising polyamide-6 and an aromatic copolyamide comprising units of hexamethylene diamine, terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid.

The present invention relates to a monolayered, biaxially stretch-oriented and heat-set tubular packaging casing, in particular to a synthetic sausage casing, based on polyamide.
Packaging casings of the type specified above are in most cases produced from polymer mixtures, in order to compensate for certain disadvantageous properties of polyamide. Thus, it is known, for example, to use a mixture comprising polyamide and polyester as a material for sausage casings (EP-A-0,176,980). It has been found, however, that casings of this type are relatively turbid and exhibit an unnatural gloss. It is true that clear casings can be produced from pure polyamide, but these casings have the disadvantage that their permeability to steam is higher than that of comparable casings made of polyamide blends. Moreover, these casings are not suited for the production of large-diameter sausages due to their elastic properties.
Furthermore, a three-layered polyamide casing has been disclosed, which is composed of a central layer comprising a copolyamide with units of hexamethylene diamine, isophthalic acid and terephthalic acid, and two top layers of polyethylene (EP-A-0 305 959). However, this film is not clear due to the PE top layers. It also requires a relatively complicated production process due to its three-layered design.


A caulking gun cartridge caddy has back to back cartridge clamps which surround a portion of the circumference of two caulking gun cartridges, holding them in parallel juxtaposition whereby one cartridge is held in readiness for replacing another while the latter is in use. The caddy holds the cartridges oriented in opposite directions to minimize interference by the spare cartridge with using the caulking gun. The caddy may include means on its side for also holding a smoothing tool commonly needed by users to smooth a bead of the fill material after it has been distributed from the cartridge nozzle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to caulking guns, and particularly to caulking guns that utilize pre-filled cartridges of caulk, glue, sealant or other fill material. More particularly, it relates to a caddy that holds two such cartridges and allows quick loading replacement of one pre-filled cartridge with another, saving the operator time and effort.
2. Description of Related Art
Caulking guns, as they are generally known, comprise a class of construction and repair tools that expel caulk, glue, sealant or other fill material with greater precision than likely with trowels, putty knives or the like. Caulking guns usually have a tubular container for the fill material held in a elongate body, with a gun-like hand grip containing controls for operating a piston which pushes on one end of the container to expel a bead of fill material out the tip of a nozzle on the other end. Two general classes of caulking guns are distinguished largely by whether or not they operate using pre-filled, disposable cartridges with built in nozzles or have fill material tubes integral with the gun. In either case, caulking guns may include pneumatic or hydraulic powered actions to apply pressure to the piston, but most are simple, mechanical devices with a ratcheted plunger that moves the piston in response to squeezing a lever on the hand grip. This invention relates to caulking guns that utilize pre-filled, disposable cartridges.
In using a caulking gun of the type contemplated by this invention, a user selects a pre-filled cartridge of fill material, cuts its built-in nozzle to a preferred aperture and punctures a membrane at the nozzle base to release the fill material. He then inserts the cartridge into the caulking gun and engages the piston against the butt of the cartridge. As he draws a uniform bead of the material onto the work site with the nozzle, the user applies steady pressure to the piston until it reaches its maximum insertion into the cartridge, whereupon the cartridge has been exhausted and must be replaced. The user them retracts the piston, removes and stows the spent cartridge while reaching for a fresh cartridge which he inserts it into the gun, all with one hand while he holds the gun with the other hand. This process can consume significant time, especially if the user must descend and re-ascend a ladder to retrieve a fresh cartridge and dispose of a spent one each time he empties a cartridge. Means for reducing the down time for cartridge changes would be welcome to most users.
Pre-filled cartridges are approximately twelve inches in length and two inches in diameter and, depending upon the material in them, can weigh a significant amount. Especially if the user needs to have several at his disposal for a given job, managing multiple cartridges can become cumbersome. Means for easing the cartridge handling and replacement operation would save time and trouble for the user.
Sometimes users engaged in caulking operations need different types of fill material at their immediate disposal. For example, when caulking cabinetry, one color of caulking may be needed at the counter top level while another is needed at the floor to match surrounding surfaces. Also, on occasion different types of fill material may be called for, such as grout sealer for a new tile job and caulking where the tile interfaces with other objects, such as a bathtub. Means for keeping cartridges of different types of fill material within easy reach and conveniently interchangeable would significantly aid in such operations.

Quick load caulking gun cartridge holder