A keyless entry system includes a vehicle-side device and a portable device. The vehicle-side device includes a vehicle-side transmission unit connected to a plural transmission antenna and transmitting a request signal, and a vehicle-side reception unit receiving and transmitting an answer signal. The portable device includes a portable device-side control unit that detects the intensity of the signals transmitted from the plural transmission antennas. The vehicle-side control unit or the portable device-side control unit calculates distances between the portable device and the respective transmission antennas based on data of the intensity of the signals transmitted from the plural transmission antennas detected by the portable device-side control unit. When an added value of the distances calculated based on two of the intensity data is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the portable device is located inside the vehicle.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a keyless entry system that includes a vehicle-side device and a portable device performing a wireless communication with each other, thereby locking or unlocking a door. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a keyless entry system that can determine with high precision whether a portable device is located inside or outside a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, a keyless entry system is known including a vehicle-side device installed in a vehicle and a portable device carried by a user which perform a wireless communication with each other, thereby locking or unlocking a door of the vehicle. In recent years, a passive keyless entry system is known in which as a portable device approaches a vehicle, a communication is automatically established between a vehicle-side device and the portable device to perform authentication of ID set unique to the individual portable devices, thereby locking or unlocking a door of the vehicle. For example, such a keyless entry system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,224,980 (corresponding to JP-A-2002-77972).
In the case of the passive keyless entry system, it is important to determine whether the portable device is located inside or outside the vehicle. For this reason, plural transmission antennas are installed at respective locations in the vehicle. Then, the portable device detects the intensity of the signals received from the respective transmission antennas and calculates the position of the portable device based on the detected intensity, thereby determining whether the portable device is inside or outside the vehicle.
The transmission antennas installed in the vehicle are provided at least at locations such as a door mirror on the outer body of the vehicle. The transmission antennas installed at locations on the outer body of the vehicle are connected to a circuit unit having a control unit via signal lines wired within the vehicle. Here, electromagnetic waves leak from the signal lines along which signals are transmitted. Therefore, when the portable device is located in the vicinity of the signal line connecting the circuit unit and the transmission antennas, the signal intensity detected by the portable device may become greater than its actual intensity since the intensity of signals leaking from the signal lines is added to the intensity of the signals transmitted from the transmission antennas. In such a case, when the distance to the transmission antenna is calculated based on the signal intensity detected by the portable device, the calculated distance may be smaller than the actual distance. Therefore, it becomes practically impossible to calculate the position of the portable device based on the distances to the plural transmission antennas and to determine the position of the portable device.
Specifically, when signals are transmitted from three transmission antennas, a combination of intensity data of the signals transmitted from the three transmission antennas corresponds to a particular point at which the portable device is located. However, when the reception intensity is increased greater than the actual intensity, there is a case where the distance to the portable device corresponding to the intensity of the signal transmitted from one transmission antenna does not overlap the position of the portable device determined by the intensities of the signals transmitted from the remaining two transmission antennas. In such a case, the combination of the intensity data does not correspond to a particular point. The same statement can be applied to the case where signals are transmission from two transmission antennas. The amount of leakage from the signal line differs from vehicle to vehicle and mainly depends on the way the signal lines are attached. Therefore, it is difficult to normalize the leakage amount.


An apparatus for reflectivity measurement is provided. The apparatus generally measures reflectivity characteristics of a reflective surface, such as a reflective cavity of a light array. The apparatus generally comprises a body defining a volume and a light emitting element disposed outside the volume. A sensor coupled to the body detects light reflected from a reflective surface. Various embodiments provide positioning of the apparatus relative to a light array having a reflective cavity.

1. Field
Embodiments provided herein generally relate to reflectivity metrology. More specifically, embodiments provided herein relate to a test apparatus for reflective cavity characterization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thermal processing is commonly practiced in the semiconductor industry. Semiconductor substrates are subjected to thermal processing in the context of many transformations, including doping, activation, and annealing of gate, source, drain, and channel structures, siliciding, crystallization, oxidation, and the like. Techniques of thermal processing have progressed from simple furnace baking to various forms of increasingly rapid thermal processing such as spike annealing and laser annealing.
Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) is a well-developed technology for fabricating semiconductor integrated circuits. RTP is a process in which the substrate is irradiated with high intensity optical radiation in an RTP chamber to quickly heat the substrate to a relatively high temperature to thermally activate a process in the substrate. Once the substrate has been thermally processed, the radiant energy is removed and the substrate cools. RTP is an energy efficient process because the chamber in which the RTP is performed is not heated to elevated temperature required to process the substrate. In an RTP process, only the substrate is heated. Thus, the processed substrate is not in thermal equilibrium with the surrounding environment, namely the chamber.
Although annealing in early stages substrate processing technology involved heating multiple substrate for long periods in an annealing oven, RTP has been increasingly used to satisfy ever more stringent requirements for processing substrates with increasingly smaller circuit features. RTP is typically performed in a single substrate chamber by irradiating a substrate with light from an array of high intensity lamps directed at the substrate. The radiation is at least partially absorbed by the substrate and quickly heats the substrate to a desired high temperature. The desired temperatures generally are above 600° C. and in certain applications, above 1000° C. The radiant heating can be quickly activated and deactivated to controllably heat the substrate over short time intervals, such as between about 60 seconds and about 1 second.
An array of high intensity lamps providing heat to the substrate may be designed in various manners to irradiate the substrate. Some arrays utilize reflective cavities having an electromagnetic radiation source disposed therein. The reflective cavities generally affect how the electromagnetic radiation is provided to the substrate, such as the total amount of light as well as the spatial and frequency distribution of the light. Thus, it is generally desirable to be able to measure the reflectivity of the reflective cavities. Integrating spheres are generally used to measure various spatially integrated qualities of electromagnetic radiation. While integrating spheres provide a convenient way to measure the total light released from a lamp reflector system, the measurement combines attributes of the lamp with those of the reflector. Moreover, many integrating spheres lack the capability of measuring reflectivity from a reflective cavity.
Therefore, what is needed in the art are apparatus for measuring reflectivity of reflective cavities, such as reflective cavities for an array of high intensity lamps for use in an RTP process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Test apparatus for reflective cavity characterization


The present invention is a device formed of waterproof or water-resistant fabric having a central section comprising a top, front and bottom, to which is joined side portions, thereby providing coverage for slipping over a tree-mounted hunting stand, including preferably both standing and seating portions thereof. The cover is pulled proximate the surface of the tree to which the stand is mounted, and extensions at the top and bottom of the cover provide an interface that prevents the incursion of water. The cover is then held in place via suitable attachment means, such as, for exemplary purposes only, bungee cords, wherein the hook ends of the bungee cords connect with apertures in the top and bottom extensions of the cover.

A game hunter will often remain stationary for long periods of time in order to remain unobserved by game animals. Accordingly, it is necessary for hunters to have reasonably comfortable locations in which to remain motionless. One such location is a stand, or framework, attached to a tree, wherein the hunter can elevate his position in order to better observe game and become less visible. Typical tree stands have facilities for both standing, during periods of watch, and sitting, in order to provide more comfort.
Sometimes while deer hunting, a hunter will leave his or her tree stand mounted to the base of a tree overnight, or during other periods of non-use. This is desirable because the stand does not have to be carried to and from the stand site or be removed and reattached to the tree each day, or each such time the hunter returns to the site. In addition, this minimizes the noise made by the hunter when he comes and goes from the site; a benefit because such noise tends to scare deer and other animals away from the area.
Leaving a stand at the base of a tree, however, has drawbacks. If the tree stand is left overnight, for example, deer may see and/or smell the stand and avoid the area altogether. Also, a tree stand may get wet from rain or dew, or may get covered by objectionable detritus from flora and/or fauna, thereby making the tree stand uncomfortable for utilization when the hunter returns.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for an apparatus and method to permit portable tree stands to remain behind when a hunter departs for an extended period of time, such as a day, while at the same time protecting the tree stand from environmental conditions, such as water and detritus. There is a further need for such an apparatus to not be readily sensed by deer and/or other animals. As will be more fully detailed hereinbelow, it is to the provision of such an apparatus and method that the present invention is directed.

Tree stand cover and method of use thereof


This VSB lithography system includes a first, second and third aperture for forming a single electron beam in each of the rectangular opening portion that are provided, and draws a figure pattern using the single electron beam formed by passing the beam through the first, second and third aperture in sequence. Each of the first, second and third aperture has a mechanism for rotationally driving the aperture around an optical axis up to an arbitrary angle from 0 to 360°. Further, in the third aperture, a mechanism for varying the opening slit width of the rectangular opening portion is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable shaped electron beam lithography system for drawing a figure pattern including an oblique line with an arbitrary angle by forming a single electron beam shot in the same shape as the figure pattern, and a method for manufacturing a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photo mask electron beam lithography system including an electron optical system having a 50 kV electron gun, a raster scan system and a variable shaped beam system (hereinafter, called "VSB system") have been developed, and at the present day, both of them are put into practical use. The raster scan system is, as shown in FIG. 1A, a system which scans a resist layer of a photographic dry plate (blank) by moving the position of a spot of beam irradiation 31 and by projecting electron beam 30 at a position of target drawing pattern 29. On the one hand, the VSB system is, as shown in FIG. 1B, a system which divides target drawing pattern 29 into a plurality of rectangular figures, forms electron beam shot 32 into an electron beam shape coincident with the divided rectangular figures for each of them, and draws patterns on a dry plate or a semiconductor wafer.
The raster scan system has higher drawing accuracy, but lower throughput because of a large number of shots. Therefore, in the field for manufacturing a critical photo-mask, the VSB system is primarily adopted because the VSB system is expected to draw a fine pattern of several hundred μm accurately at a high speed.
A lithography system of the VSB system, as shown in FIG. 2, forms an electron beam emitted from electron gun 1 into rectangular beam 7 through two apertures 101, 102. Then, the formed rectangular beam 7 is reduced by reducing lens system 6, and the deflection angle of the beam is changed by deflector 9 of object lens system 8 to converge and subject to a drawn target substrate 10.
Specifically, first aperture 101 and second aperture 102 for forming a beam are fixed as shown in FIG. 3, and they have a square opening portion in a plate to shield against an electron beam. Therefore, an electron beam which passed through opening portion 101a of first aperture 101 is formed into the same, square shape as opening portion 101a (FIG. 4 (a)). Then, the electron beam is shifted by deflector 5 of forming lens system 4 relative to XY rectangular coordinates of second aperture 102 in the X-axis direction and/or in the Y-axis direction, generating rectangular beam shape 11 formed by a common opening portion between two aperture 101, 102 (FIG. 3, FIG. 4 (b)). That is, by allowing only a part of the electron beam which passed through first aperture 101 to pass through opening portion 102a of second aperture 102, a desired, rectangular beam 7 is formed. Subsequently, rectangular beam 7 is reduced by reducing lens system 6 to project a desired, rectangular beam shot 12 onto the drawn target substrate 10 (FIG. 3, FIG. 4 (c)).
Nowadays, as an LSI pattern is made finer in higher integration, complexity in an LSI pattern shape drawn on a photo-mask is increased, and also the number of LSI patterns tends to be increased exponentially, as the process generation goes forward. This means that, in a process for directly drawing an LSI pattern on a dry plate or a semiconductor wafer, patterns to be drawn by a lithography system are enlarged, or the number of drawing figures divided into a rectangle by the VSB system is increased. This tendency may be a factor for largely lowering productivity, because the time period required to draw is approximately linearly increased corresponding to an increase in the number of figures.
On the one hand, in drawing a trapezoidal FIG. 13 in which both of the two opposite sides have an oblique line with an arbitrary angle, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), a beam formation method by the VSB lithography system shown in FIG. 2 cannot form an electron beam shot that has an oblique line relative to the rectangular coordinate axis of the target that is to be, drawn (hereinafter, called "drawing rectangular coordinate system"). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the trapezoidal figure is divided into a rectangular figure and a triangular figure, further the triangular figure is finely divided into a plurality of elongated rectangular figures, and single electron beam 14 is formed into a rectangular shape coincident with each of the divided figures, and converged and subjected, respectively. In addition, the lithography system (from NuFlare Technology, Inc., EBM series) normally equipped with the second aperture having an opening side at 45° angle can form a beam shot into a triangle having an oblique side at 45° angle, but cannot be applied, when the triangle has an oblique side at an arbitrary angle. Of course, if an aperture for drawing obliquely is provided, for now, it may be addressed, but an oblique side with any arbitrary angle may not be covered, then it cannot be an actual solution. Further, in the case of FIG. 15 obtained by rotating trapezoidal FIG. 13 shown in FIG. 5 (a) around the center of the figure by an arbitrary angle, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), all four oblique side portions have to be approximated by a plurality of elongated rectangular figures 16 parallel or vertical relative to the XY drawing rectangular coordinate system. Therefore, the total number of divided drawing figures of the figure shown in FIG. 6 (b) is largely increased compared to that of the figure shown in FIG. 5 (b).
In current design of LSI pattern, the mainstream is a system called "Manhattan System" in which a pattern is arranged along an X-axis or a Y-axis direction in the XY drawing rectangular coordinate system. While there have been significant advances in the wiring design of LSI patterns, an element arrangement in a direction that has an arbitrary angle is expected to be a useful means to allow a design region to be used effectively, but this arrangement is not permitted in the current Manhattan System. However, in addition to drawing a photo-mask having LSI design involving such oblique arrangement, in the case of forming a pattern of MEMS (micro Electro Mechanical Systems) or a pattern of a nanoimprinting mold for an optical element, a complex pattern using many oblique sides with an arbitrary angle has to be drawn. As the result, in a drawing process using the current VSB lithography system, the number of the divided drawing figures becomes enormous. Therefore, to improve productivity in this process, the largest, technical challenge is to reduce the number of the divided figures in order to shorten the drawing time.
Then, as for a method for forming an oblique pattern, there are technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-255022 and No. 9-82630. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-255022, there is disclosed a technology that, by rotating a first aperture and a second aperture shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 in synchronization with each other, a shape of a beam shot is formed into a rectangular pattern having two oblique sides opposite to each other. However, in this drawing method, the other two opposite sides except the opposite, oblique side portions do not become parallel or vertical to the XY drawing rectangular coordinate system. Therefore, there arises a problem of lack of versatility, because it is difficult to connect with rectangular shaped electron beam shot having four sides along the X/Y-axis direction in the XY drawing rectangular coordinate system.
Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-82630, disclosed is a technology that, in a conventional VSB lithography system having the first and second fixed aperture as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a third rotatable aperture having a slit is provided. In this lithography system, in order to conform to a drawing figure pattern including two opposite, oblique sides parallel to each other that are inclined at an arbitrary angle, a rectangular beam formed by the first and second aperture is formed by the slit of the third aperture rotated up to an angle made between the parallel, oblique sides of the target drawing pattern, thereby the oblique side portions are formed. Two opposite sides, except the oblique side portions, are formed horizontally or vertically relative to the XY drawing rectangular coordinate system, by both the first and second aperture. In such a drawing system, a beam shape formed by the third aperture becomes a similar figure to a drawing figure, and the reduction rate in projecting onto a wafer etc. is represented by the ratio of the distance between two oblique sides of a target drawing figure, to the slit width (fixed value) of the third aperture. Therefore, the reduction rate of the formed beam has to be changed, every time a size of the divided figures to be drawn becomes different, and a settling time required for calibration for each reduction rate adjustment is accompanied. Further, when the target drawing figure is in a trapezoidal shape in which opposite oblique sides have an arbitrary angle and are not parallel to each other (FIG. 5 (b), FIG. 6 (b)), the number of divided figures involved in drawing a figure pattern is increased.
The total required drawing time of the VSB system is approximately represented as the product obtained by multiplying the sum of the settling time necessary for a system to deflect a beam for each drawing and the beam emission time in drawing figures (in exposing resist) by the total number of figures to be drawn. Therefore, the larger the total number of drawing figures is, the more the total drawing time is increased.
Further, in the conventional VSB lithography system which divides a drawing figure pattern having opposite, oblique line portions that are inclined at an arbitrary angle into a rectangular figure, and which converges and emits a formed beam for each rectangular figure, the total drawing time is prolonged linearly due to an increase in the total number of divided figures. Therefore, compared to a drawing figure pattern having a completely rectangular shape the side of which are each parallel or vertical relative to the X-axis or the Y-axis direction in the XY drawing rectangular coordinate system, in a drawing figure such as a parallelogram, a trapezoid, and a rotated trapezoid formed by rotating the trapezoid around the center of the figure, the number of rectangular figures approximating oblique side portions is increased, and the total drawing time is prolonged accordingly. To shorten the total drawing time, setting a size of a divided rectangular figure to be coarse may be also effective, but on the other hand, approximate accuracy in oblique side portions is degraded, so that it cannot be a fundamental solution.

Variable shaped electron beam lithography system and method for manufacturing substrate


In a hierarchical tree-based protection scheme, a node in a mesh network is designated as a root node of a spanning hierarchical protection tree and subsequently invites each adjacent node to become its child within the tree. If the inviting node provides a more capacious protection path to the root node than is currently enjoyed by the invitee, the invitee designates the inviting node as its primary parent and assumes a new tree position. Otherwise, the invitee designates the inviting node as a backup parent. A node assuming a new tree position invites all adjacent nodes except its parent to become its child. The invitations propagate throughout the network until a spanning hierarchical protection tree is formed. Upon a subsequent failure of a straddling link, the tree may be used to re-route data. Further, given a tree link failure, protection switching is quickly achieved at a disconnected node through use of a backup parent as the new primary parent. Dynamic tree reconfiguration in the event of network topology changes may be limited to the network area surrounding the change.

Mesh networks have attracted significant attention from telecommunications providers in recent years for their scalability and flexibility in comparison to traditional SONET/SDH networks.
Various protection schemes have been employed in mesh networks to promote network robustness. For example, network protection cycles (as disclosed in Wayne D. Grover, Demetrious Stamatelakis, "Cycle-Oriented Distributed Preconfiguration: Ring-like speed with mesh-like capacity for self-planning Network Restoration", Proceedings of 1998 IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC '98), Vol. 1, pp. 537-543, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference hereto) and ring covers (as disclosed in L. M. Gardner et al, "Techniques for finding Ring Covers in Survivable Networks", Proceedings of 1994 IEEE Global Telecommunication Conference (GLOBECOM '94), pp. 1862-1866, 1994, which is hereby incorporated by reference hereto) have each been used to essentially form protection rings with shared bandwidth in mesh networks.
While network protection cycles and ring covers may provide satisfactory bandwidth preservation, these schemes involve algorithms that are computationally intensive. In particular, determination of a protection ring or cycle path requires each network node to have knowledge of the entire network topology. As a result, any change in network topology demands a re-execution of the algorithm at every node. Disadvantageously, protection path processing must occur even at nodes that are distant from the network node(s) that have changed or failed, which may reduce network efficiency.
What is needed is a mesh network protection scheme that overcomes at least some of the above-noted disadvantages.

Hierarchical tree-based protection scheme for mesh networks


A number of modified lateral DMOS (LDMOS) transistor arrays are formed and tested to determine if a measured value, such as a series on-resistance, substrate current, breakdown voltage, and reliability, satisfies process alignment requirements. The modified LDMOS transistor arrays are similar to standard LDMOS transistor arrays such that the results of the modified LDMOS transistor arrays can be used to predict the results of the standard LDMOS transistor arrays.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to LDMOS transistor arrays and, more particularly, to a method of monitoring mask misalignment biases of key LDMOS process steps. By characterizing these offsets, process biases can be eliminated, leading to improved electrical and hot carrier reliability performance of LDMOS arrays.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lateral DMOS (LDMOS) transistor array is a well known semiconductor structure that is commonly used in high power applications. FIGS. 1A-1B show views that illustrate a prior-art, dual-device LDMOS transistor array 100. FIG. 1A shows a plan view, while FIG. 1B shows a cross-sectional view taken along lines 1B-1B of FIG. 1A.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, array 100 includes a p− semiconductor material 110, such as an epitaxial layer or a substrate, and spaced-apart first and second n+ source strips 112 and 114 that are formed in material 110. Further, array 100 includes an n− drain extension region 116, such as a well, that is formed in p− semiconductor material 110 between source strips 112 and 114, and an n+drain strip 118 that is formed in n− drain extension region 116.
In addition, array 100 includes a first channel strip 120 that lies between n+ source strip 112 and n− drain extension region 116, and a second channel strip 122 that lies between n+ source strip 114 and n− drain extension region 116. Array 100 also includes a first oxide strip 124 that is formed on first channel strip 120, a second oxide strip 126 that is formed on second channel strip 122, and a field oxide region FOX that is formed in p− semiconductor material 110 and n− drain extension region 116.
As further shown in FIGS. 1A-1B, array 100 includes a first gate 130 that is formed on first oxide strip 124 over first channel strip 120, and a second gate 132 that is formed on second oxide strip 126 over second channel strip 122. In addition, a single line 134 is electrically connected to both of the gates 130 and 132 via contacts 130C and 132C, and a bond pad 136 is electrically connected to single line 134.
In operation, n+ source strip 112, n− drain extension region 116, n+drain strip 118, and gate 130 are the elements of a first MOS device 140, while n+ source strip 114, n− drain extension region 116, n+drain strip 118, and gate 132 are the elements of a second MOS device 142. First MOS device 140 and second MOS device 142 operate in a conventional fashion, and respond to the same voltage on bond pad 136.
When used in a high power application, strong electric fields are present. The strong electric fields accelerate charge carriers in the channel strips into having ionizing collisions with the lattice which, in turn, leads to the formation of hot carriers. Hot carriers, however, degrade a number of device parameters over time.
For example, the series on-resistance and the substrate current degrade (increase) with time as a result of hot carrier damage. Degradation in the series on-resistance and substrate current leads to increased device series resistance and heat dissipation, eventually leading to device failure. The n-channel LDMOS (NLDMOS) transistor is particularly prone to early failure due to increased series on-resistance and substrate current resulting from hot carrier damage.
One condition which can greatly influence the operation of MOS devices 140 and 142 is the misalignment of n− drain extension region 116. As shown in FIG. 1B, n− drain extension region 116 is centered with respect to n+drain region 118. However, process misalignment biases that occur during the manufacturing process can cause n− drain extension region 116 to be shifted either right or left which, in turn, leads to asymmetric device operation.
This asymmetric device operation adversely impacts electrical device parameters, such as breakdown voltage, on-resistance, substrate current and device hot carrier reliability. Thus, there is a need for a method of monitoring these process biases so that they can be eliminated, resulting in LDMOS devices with more symmetrical electrical operation and hot carrier reliability.

Method of monitoring process misalignment to reduce asymmetric device operation and improve the electrical and hot carrier performance of LDMOS transistor arrays


In a parking lot management system, which is applied to a parking lot having a plurality of parking spaces, information about parking is wirelessly communicated between a plurality of wireless LAN base stations connected to an interface part and then connected to the Internet, and a plurality of parking condition detection devices or a wireless LAN mobile station installed in a mobile object. The information is managed by a server via an IP network so that the parking lot management system can provide the information for a user who is in the parking lot.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parking lot management system which provides information about a parking lot. The parking lot management system uses a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) system.
2) Description of the Related Art
A service is known which offers information about availability of parking spaces. The service uses a server to manage information and an on-vehicle communication apparatus connected to the server via the Internet. Japanese Patent Kokai No. 2002-109693 discloses a system which has a function to distribute real time information about availability of parking lots near an area designated by a user. The system uses an unattended parking lot management facility equipped with an availability information notification function, and a server to manage availability information supplied from the unattended parking lot management facility. Accordingly, the system distributes the information to the on-vehicle communication apparatus having capability to access to the Internet. The unattended parking lot management facility is provided with, for example, a vehicle information management device which detects the number of vehicles parked in each parking lot by an associated sensor. If the parking lot has an available space, the vehicle information management device transmits the information to an availability information management server via the Internet.
Another type of information providing system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai No. 2002-318959, which includes a center server and a communication terminal installed at a store. The communication terminal is connected to the center server via a communication network. The center server stores availability information supplied from the communication terminal at the store, and then transmits the availability information to a user's communication terminal having capability to access to the Internet. This system may be used to provide the information about the availability of a parking space. For instance, the system can provide information about an availability of a parking lot near the designated railway station and the number of available spaces in the parking lot.
There is provided a service such that the general public can wirelessly connect to the Internet by means of a notebook computer or a personal digital assistants (PDA). The service is established by a wireless LAN system which has an installed base station for transmitting and receiving data by wireless communication. Such wireless LAN system complies with communication standards. Among them, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11b is generally applied. Alternatively, the IEEE 802.11a , the Bluetooth or the like may be applied.
As an example of such service using the wireless LAN system, there is a "hotspot" service which has a wireless network installed at areas where many people gather such as coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, airports and railway stations, so that these people can use the Internet. It should be noted that the term "hotspot" is a registered trademark of the NTT Communications Corporation, Tokyo, Japan (Japanese Registered Trademark No. 4539387), even though it is used to express the above-described service. This "hotspot" service is achieved in such a manner that a large company, e.g., the NTT Communications Corporation, installs a system at a store or the like who ties up with the company, and then the store owner himself or a railway company installs a commercially available wireless LAN system at the store, train or station so that customers can use the system.
When the scale of the store or the number of customers is large, a large parking space is required for a parking lot. In some cases, a plurality of floors are required for such parking lot. A customer who will use such parking lot may be able to recognize whether the parking space is available or not before entering the parking lot. However, once the customer enters the parking lot, it is often difficult for the customer to smoothly park the vehicle, because the parking lot may be too large to find out the available space.
The systems disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai No. 2002-109693 and Japanese Patent Kokai No. 2002-318959 can detect a parking lot having an available space and can provide a customer with information about such parking lot. However, these systems can not provide a customer with information to help the customer easily find a vacant space in the parking lot.
Furthermore, these systems are based on the assumption that a telephone line mainly accessed by a mobile phone is used to connect to the Internet. A communication speed of such application is thus too slow for the moving vehicle to obtain the parking lot information. Moreover, the moving vehicle sometimes can not receive a radio wave properly.
When the wireless LAN system such as the 'hotspot' is applied to the systems disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai No. 2002-109693 or Japanese Patent Kokai No. 2002-318959, countless number of base stations are required, and therefore the wireless LAN system can not be used. This is because the system is not used in a limited area such as a railway station or a store, but the system is used in an unlimited area such as a road around the railway station.

Parking lot management system using wireless LAN system


Techniques for candidate evaluation and filtering are provided. Enrollment criteria for a clinical trial are received, where the enrollment criteria include a plurality of conditions. A plurality of cost vectors is constructed for the plurality of conditions. A set of values for one or more of the plurality of conditions is determined for a candidate, where the set of values does not include a value for at least a first condition of the plurality of conditions. A utilized cost is generated for the candidate, based on the first set of values and the plurality of cost vectors. The candidate is then ranked based on the utilized cost.

The present disclosure relates to machine learning, and more specifically, to using machine learning in order to efficiently identify candidate patients.
Clinical trials are an important process for researchers to develop new treatments, as well as evaluate their effectiveness and safety. However, more than half of all clinical trials experience delays, leading to a considerable increase in cost. In typical clinical trials, human participants are recruited for experiments or observations. The number of participants required can vary from tens to thousands, depending on the phase and research purpose. Unfortunately, clinical trial recruitment is often slower and more difficult than expected, and many trials fail to reach their planned sample size within the timescale and funding originally envisaged. Such delay or failure of clinical trials leads to considerable waste of money and time, and also represents significant lost opportunity cost.

Processing profiles using machine learning to evaluate candidates

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for producing a high-quality barium titanyl salt includes using, as the fluids to be treated, at least two kinds of fluids, namely, a barium titanium mixed solution that is obtained by dissolving both a barium compound and a titanium compound in a solvent, a compound solution that is obtained by dissolving, in a solvent, a compound capable of deposing the barium and titanium contained in the barium-titanium mixed solution into a barium titanyl salt, and if necessary, one or more other fluids; and mixing these fluids together in a thin film fluid formed at least between two treating surfaces and to form a barium titanyl salt. The treating surfaces are so arranged as to face each other in an approachable/separable state with one of the treating surfaces and being capable of turning relatively to the other.

A barium titanyl salt represented by barium titanyl oxalate is used as a raw material for barium titanate used mainly for a piezoelectric material, a semiconductor material, a dielectric material, a laminated ceramic condenser material, a sensor, and so on. In the barium titanate for these uses, it is required that this be microparticles and that the ratio of barium (Ba) to titanium (Ti) contained the barium titanate (mol ratio) be kept uniform (Ba/Ti is about 1).
As to the method for producing barium titanate, there may be mentioned, for example, a solid phase method typically represented by the method in which barium titanate is obtained by heat treatment of a powder mixture of titanium oxide and barium carbonate, a hydrothermal synthesis method as described in Patent Document 1, and a sol-gel method in which hydrolysis of alkoxides of barium and of titanium is used. However, from view of the production cost and energy, a method in which barium titanate is synthesized by heat treatment of the foregoing barium titanyl salt is general, wherein the oxalate method in which barium titanyl oxalate (barium titanyl oxalate salt) is used as the barium titanyl salt as shown in Patent Document 2 is the most general from view of the production cost and availability of the raw materials thereof.
Generally, however, in the case when barium titanate microparticle is synthesized by the oxalate method, because barium titanyl oxalate, which is a precursor to barium titanate, is in the form of coarse particles, a pulverization process is necessary to change it to microparticles; as a result, in many cases, the barium titanyl oxalate microparticle thus obtained hardly shows crystallinity. The barium titanate obtained by burning the barium titanyl oxalate like this readily becomes a coarse barium titanate again, and on top of it the ratio between the barium and the titanium contained therein becomes uneven or inhomogeneous in entirety of the barium titanate powders in a certain instance.
Applicant of the present invention provided a method for producing microparticles, wherein microparticles are separated in a thin film fluid running between processing surfaces which are disposed in a position they are faced with each other, as shown in Patent Document 3; but a method for producing the barium titanyl salt having a controlled ratio between the barium and the titanium had not been disclosed specifically.

Method for producing barium titanyl salt and barium titanate


A method and apparatus for increasing the accuracy and reliability of geolocation estimates for wireless communication networks devices includes calculating a geolocation estimate of a wireless communication device for a plurality of time periods, and selecting from the plurality of calculated geolocation estimates, a most reliable geolocation estimate of the wireless communication device.

In wireless networks, base stations typically broadcast "pilot signals." Pilot signals are known and monitored by subscriber equipment (such as mobile units) within a cell area, and are used, for example, in power measurements and in the generation of coherent phase references. Each base station of a system transmits a respective pilot signal that enables the subscriber equipment to distinguish the transmissions of different base stations from each other. Measurements of the relative strengths of detected pilot signals allow mobile units to quickly connect to the nearest base station when they first power on, and allow them to help quickly determine the best candidate base stations during handoffs (switching of serving base station).
Another application of pilot signals is in the geolocation of mobile units. Using information on the positions of base stations and measurements of the detectable pilot signals of nearby base stations made by the mobile units, triangulation techniques can be used to determine the mobile unit's most likely position. Mobile geolocation techniques are a critical component of "Enhanced-911" and other location-based services.
In Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) based systems and Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) networks in particular for example, base stations continually broadcast pilot signals that are spread using a known (standardized) pseudo-random sequence. All base stations in a UMTS network use the same pilot sequence; however, pilot sequences used by base stations are offset from one another in time.
UMTS mobile units (and terminals in other Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) based technologies) are capable of measuring the relative phase differences between detected pilot sequences. The estimates of the relative phase difference of detectable pilot signals are then used by the Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) geolocation method outlined in the UMTS system specifications to determine a mobile unit's position.
In implementing current geolocation methods employing triangulation of pilot signal measurements of serving and neighboring base stations, pilot signals from at least three different base stations are required to accurately estimate the position of a user. However, due to the inference-limited nature of CDMA-based systems such as UMTS, detecting pilot signals from two or more neighbor base stations is often not possible over a large portion of the cell's coverage area. It is well known, for example, that due to the near-far effect, when all base stations are transmitting at maximum power, in over ˜40% of the cell's coverage area (the region nearest the base station), only the pilot signal from the serving base station will be detectable by the mobile unit. When only a single base station is detectable, the error of the geolocation estimate is unacceptably high. This error can cause geolocation algorithms to fail to satisfy the stringent position error requirements outlined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission—an error of less than 100 m 67% of the time, and less than 300 m 95% of the time for network-based solutions, and less than 50 m 67% of the time and less than 150 m 95% of the time for handset-based solutions.
In an attempt to correct for the near-far effect and to increase the chances of mobile units detecting two or more pilot signals from neighboring base stations, an Idle Period in DownLink (IPDL) method has been introduced in the UMTS system specification. The IPDL solution decreases system-wide interference by temporarily switching off the serving pilot signal for a period of time. This solution has significant drawbacks, however. The temporary muting of pilot signals adversely affects the performance of the downlink channel for on-going calls, increasing frame error rates. Implementing IPDL requires architectural changes to the UMTS network and complicates critical functions such as downlink power control.

Method and apparatus for geolocation estimates in wireless networks


A method for patterning a recording medium selectively thermally couples a recording medium and a heat source to alter a chemical composition of the recording medium. An apparatus for patterning a recording medium has a heat source for generating and directing an incident thermal wave to a recording medium so as to alter a chemical composition of the recording medium, and a controller for coordinating a mutual position of the incident thermal wave and the recording medium for inducing a direct thermal coupling between the recording medium and the heat source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to patterned recording media and a method of manufacturing the same, and more specifically, to patterned recording media and a method of manufacturing the same using selective thermal coupling.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional magnetic recording systems, a written bit size is defined by the dimensions of the recording head. A written domain comprises several hundred magnetic grains. For example, for the highest recording density products being introduced in the market today (20 Gb/in2), the bit cell is about 620 nm×52 nm. To support such areal densities, the microstructure of the recording media has been engineered to consist of non-exchange coupled grains with grain diameters of about 10 nm. Therefore, a recorded domain involves about 400 grains.
Therefore, one approach to achieving higher recording densities is to reduce the bit size and consequently the media grain size. However, this approach is limited because at a critical grain volume, the magnetic grains become thermally unstable and spontaneously switch magnetization direction at normal operating temperatures due to superparamagnetism and are unable to maintain the magnetization orientation imposed on them during the writing process. In addition, as the number of grains is reduced, the noise arising from statistical fluctuations in grain positions or orientation increase.
Another approach to increasing recording density is to modify the microstructure of the media so that a bit is stored in a single grain, or a multiplicity of grains or magnetic clusters which are fully exchange coupled within the recorded bit dimensions. This approach, commonly referred to as "magnetic media patterning" requires that adjacent grains or clusters be magnetically isolated. This approach is perceived as a necessary means for extending magnetic recording to meet storage densities in excess of 100 Gb/in2.
Conventional methods of patterning magnetic media encompass a wide variety of techniques ranging from conventional lithography, to the use of particle and photon sources in combination with masks to produce patterned structures. For example. U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,845 to Fontana et al. (hereinafter "Fontana") discloses a method of making patterned magnetic media using selective oxidation. The Fontana method includes depositing a layer of magnetic material oil a substrate (e.g., a conventional nickel-phosphorus plated aluminum-magnesium substrate), covering portions of the magnetic layer with a protective mask that determines the patterning of the non-magnetic zones, and exposing the protective mask and the uncovered portions of the magnetic layer to an oxygen plasma. The oxygen plasma oxidizes the magnetic layer so that the uncovered portions have a reduced local magnetic moment. The result is a patterned magnetic medium with discrete magnetic and non-magnetic zones.
The utilization of ion beam implantation to achieve patterned media, has been disclosed in "Method for Spatially Modulating Magnetic Properties Using Ion Beam Implantation". J. Baglin. E. E. Marinero and K. Rubin. (AM9-98-096).
Such conventional methods aim to significantly alter the magnetic properties of the regions exposed to the particles, energy sources, ions or reactive species. The areas of the magnetic material which were prevented from exposure by the mask, exhibit different magnetic properties from the exposed areas and information can be recorded and retrieved by taking advantages of the differences in magnetic properties between these two different material regions.
However, these methods have several drawbacks that inhibit their use in magnetic media manufacturing applications. For example, a storage density of over 100 Gb/in2 would require an exposure mask having a feature size of about 40 nm over large areas. In addition, the mask must be accurately aligned and positioned. Further, in the case of particle implantation and reactive ion etching, the mask may have a short lifetime because the impinging species are expected to be heated and deposited on the non-transmissive areas of the mask. In short, these methods generally require additional hardware and/or processing steps which result in higher fabrication costs and longer manufacturing cycle times.

Apparatus for patterning recording media

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


‘Korvik’ is a new and distinct cherry variety (Prunus avium) notable for its round shape and resistance to cracking. ‘Korvik’ is further notable for its productivity on dwarfing rootstocks, and tolerance to Monilia disease (“brown rot”).

'Korvik' originated in 1973 as a result of a controlled cross of 'Kordia' (female parent) and 'Vic' (male parent) cherry trees. Asexual propagation by budding was first carried out in 1975 in East Bohemia, Czech Republic. The variety has since been observed over a number of asexually propagated generations, and has been found to remain true to type.
'Korvik' is a new and distinct cherry variety notable for its round shape and resistance to cracking. 'Korvik' is further notable for its productivity on dwarfing rootstocks, and tolerance to Monilia disease ("brown rot"). 'Korvik' is more upright than its parent 'Kordia' which is more spreading and has less number of lenticels on the tree stem than its parent 'Vic'. The duration of the flowering of 'Korvic' is 1-2 days longer than its parent 'Vic'. In addition, 'Korvik' differs from parental varieties by leaf shape. The leaf margin of 'Korvik' is obtuse serrate, whereas the leaf margin of its parent, 'Kordia', is acute serrate.


A system for displaying electronic program guide information about a plurality of video items on a screen, the system including a display module to display a plurality of pages layering into the screen, each of the pages including a plurality of graphical panels associated with the video items, and a user input module to receive a user input to turn at least one of the pages such that the at least one page is peeled away from other ones of the pages in order to bring the graphical panels of the at least one page in or out of view, wherein the display module is operative to show the turning of the at least one page bringing the at least one page in or out of view. Related apparatus and methods are also described.

By way of introduction, viewers are now expecting more advanced graphics, video and audio in relation to television as a result of their experience with computers, and in particular the Internet. However, capabilities of set top boxes are generally limited due to inherent limitations of the set top boxes, mainly in relation to the hardware thereof.
One solution is to use a similar hardware set up used in computers and other advanced graphic, video and/or audio systems. However, the computer and similar systems are generally too expensive to be implemented in a set top box.
The following references are also believed to represent the state of the art:
US Published Patent Application 2005/0155061 of Kim;
US Published Patent Application 2004/004717 of Gordon, et al.;
US Published Patent Application 2003/0156220 of Narita;
US Published Patent Application 2004/0017378 of Lin, et al.;
US Published Patent Application 2004/0190614 of Schlockermann, et al.;
PCT Published Patent Application WO 2004/072935 of NDS Limited;
US Published Patent Application 2006/0050790 of Eerenberg, et al.;
European Published Patent Application EP1365385 of Broadcom Corporation;
Japan Published Patent Application 11-168729 of Toshiba Corp.;
Japan Published Patent Application 2002-016876 of Toshiba Corp.;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,220 to Cesana, et al.; and
A publication entitled "Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Techniques for Consumer Digital Video Devices" by the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory, August 2003.
The disclosures of all references mentioned above and throughout the present specification, as well as the disclosures of all references mentioned in those references, are hereby incorporated herein by reference.


A concentrated subscriber wireless remote telemetry system which uses low-cost remote communication devices operating on existing wireless communication systems in order to provide real-time reading and control of remote devices. The metering system comprises at least one powerline remote metering device which collects and forwards telemetry data to an associated wireless remote telemetry device. The wireless remote telemetry device relays the telemetry data to a central controller over existing wireless communication systems, such as cellular base stations, using existing communication standards. The wireless remote metering device transmits various messages over a shared random access channel to the central controller. The central controller transmits messages to the wireless remote metering unit over a paging channel. The wireless remote metering unit may operate in a half-duplex mode only. Furthermore, the wireless remote metering unit may provide a gateway to advanced consumer services at the remote location.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communications. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a novel and improved method and apparatus for the wireless metering of remote measurement devices which are concentrated in a single geographic area.
II. Description of the Related Art
Many industries utilize remote metering devices to monitor, measure, or record critical data. For example, utility companies use utility meters located at the customer site to measure utility consumption. The de-regulation of utility companies, such as electric power, water, and natural gas companies, has prompted these utility companies to seek technological modernization of equipment and services as a means of reducing costs in order to compete with other potential utility service providers.
In a conventional utility metering system, each utility customer is billed according to utility usage over a predetermined period of time, such as one or two months. The utility usage is measured by an electromechanical meter having a visual display such as a set of dials, or an "odometer" type display. A person, typically an employee of the utility company, periodically visits each utility meter in a service area to visually read the utility consumption as reported by the meter.
Several inefficiencies exist in the conventional utility metering system. For example, the utility company must pay a person to travel to each meter to visually read it. This may require sending the meter reader into a dangerous area. It also takes a long time for a person to physically visit each meter. Additionally, most electromechanical meters may be opened and tampered with by a person wishing to reduce his utility bill. Since the meter is typically read only about once a month, the tampering may not be evident to the utility company. Another drawback to the conventional utility metering system is that local fault detection, such as the detection of a localized blackout or brown-out condition, is not possible in real-time because the utility consumption is not measured in real time on a local scale.
Furthermore, a typical utility company is forced to maintain a very high peak-to-average usage ratio. For electrical power companies, this peak-to-average usage ratio may be on the order of 12:1, requiring the power company to maintain about twelve times as much equipment as would be required for a constant, average load. The conventional metering system does not provide any real-time way to minimize peak loading conditions. Clearly this is a very significant cost in providing utility services. Conventional attempts to control peak-to-average usage ratio include billing at a higher rate for all usage above a predetermined quantity. However, it is not currently possible in the conventional system to perform this billing increase in real time because it is not until the meter is read that the utility company can determine the amount of usage. Likewise, the prior art metering system does not monitor real-time loading conditions on a local scale in order to provide for more accurate usage forecasting and equipment installation planning.
In a competitive market, the utility company could also greatly benefit from the integration of other services with utility services. In a related area, "smart" homes are being designed which provide a high level of integration of consumer services such as telephone, cable television, computer network services, home shopping, paging, and the like. Additionally, these "smart" homes may utilize Consumer Electronic Bus (CEBus EIA/ANSI-600) technology to enable the owner to remotely control various household appliances and devices using power-line carriers over the existing power lines in the home. The purpose of CEBus technology is to allow consumer appliances and devices to work together as an integrated home or industry system. CEBus-compliant devices can share information with other CEBus-compliant devices. Among other communication media, the CEBus standard supports communication over pre-existing power line and twisted pair cabling. Power line transceivers typically use a 100 to 400 KHz spread-spectrum carrier technology, while twisted pair transceivers use a simple 10 KHz, 250 mV carrier. However, with the traditional metering system, the utility company does not have the infrastructure to take advantage of this integration.
The problems facing the utility companies in this area are similar to problems facing companies in other industries that have a need to remotely monitor, measure or control a metering device or point-of-sale. For example, mail delivery companies, such as the U.S. Postal Service or the like, generally maintain a large number of mail drop-off points. Each day, these drop off points must be checked to see if any mail has been deposited for delivery. Often times, especially in rural areas, there is no mail at the remote mailbox when the postal employee arrives to check it. The result is inefficient deployment of resources. Likewise, vending machine companies must send employees out to service remote vending machines according to a predetermined schedule, without knowing what the actual demand has been at the machine until the employee arrives. Clearly, there are many industries that face similar inefficiencies that arise from scheduled servicing of remote stations rather than event-driven demand-side management of these remote stations.
Several prior art solutions have been proposed for overcoming these efficiencies. Many of these prior art solutions involve the design and installation of new, dedicated communication systems to service the remote telemetry devices. Such prior art solutions make initial deployment of the system cost prohibitive. Other prior art solutions avoid high initial costs by using existing cellular radiotelephone systems to provide the communication link with the remote telemetry device. However, a significant drawback to these systems is their lack of capacity, preventing them from servicing large urban areas due to a potential overload of the cellular system overhead channels which would prevent normal cellular phone customers from receiving reliable service. Still other prior art solutions use unlicensed radio frequency (RF) bands to transmit their remote telemetry data, resulting in a significant loss of reliability due to interference from other unlicensed users in the same RF band.
In addition, many of these prior art solutions use one wireless transmitter for each telemetry station, even when many of these telemetry stations may be co-located. For example, a typical prior art solution may have one transmitter for each utility meter of each residential home in a neighborhood. This approach adds significantly to the initial cost of deploying a wireless telemetry system.
What is needed is a remote telemetry system which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art telemetry systems by providing real-time telemetry data information in a low-cost and efficient manner, while further providing a "gateway" for providing advanced consumer services at the remote location.

Concentrated subscriber wireless remote telemetry system


A device for coupling an optical fiber includes: a first surface and a second surface, including respective active surface portions; at least one optical fiber positioning element adapted to position at least one point of an optical fiber on a longitudinally median plane of the second surface. The first and second surfaces are movable relative to one another between a first and a second relative position, and, when in the second relative position, cooperate to accommodate a section of the optical fiber therebetween. In this position, the first and second active surface portions cooperate to keep the optical fiber in a predetermined bent condition, particularly adapted to extract light from, or inject light into, the optical fiber. In at least a part of the relative movement from the first to the second relative positions, the first surface rotates with respect to the second surface around a rotational axis oriented transversally with respect to the median plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to optical communications, particularly to optical data communication networks for distributing signals to a plurality of user apparatuses, and specifically to devices for optical fiber connection, e.g. for connecting optical cables to opto-electronic devices adapted to perform electro-optical conversion.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, in the field of telecommunications, optical technology is mainly used for long-distance transmission of optical signals, taking advantage of the wide band offered by optical fibers. Electrical cables, such as coaxial cables or cables consisting of copper pairs, are instead still predominantly used for the transmission of signals (in a wide range of applications like digital television, telephone, data exchange accomplished via dial-up or xDSL Internet connection) from and towards end users and the exchange of data between electronic appliances (such as personal computers, printers, storage devices) of a Local Area Network (LAN).
However, electrical cables have a relatively narrow bandwidth, and are becoming a limiting factor against the achievement of high transmission rates. Moreover, electrical cables raise problems of electromagnetic interference and impedance matching. Furthermore, electrical cables are relatively stiff, and thus are difficult to insert into the suitable raceways of a building (which, for electrical safety requirements, are to be distinct from the raceways used for the distribution of electrical energy), and, due to their bulkiness, the number of cables that can be inserted in the raceway is limited.
Research interest is therefore steering towards the possibility of using optics not only in the long-distance signal transmission, but also in local networks for distributing signals to a plurality of user apparatuses, for example in a residential building or in an office.
Fiber optic cables have a very large bandwidth, low attenuation values and are essentially transparent to the bit rate, the format and the transmission code; additionally, fiber optic cables are not bulky, rather they are flexible, light, free from electromagnetic interference and have low bending losses; moreover, they can be inserted in the same raceways used for the distribution of electrical energy.
However, for the connection to electronic appliances, fiber optic cables require the use of opto-electronic devices, i.e. devices adapted to perform an optical-to-electrical, or, conversely, an electrical-to-optical conversion, so as to convert the optical signals into corresponding electrical signals, and vice-versa. The conversion of an optical signal into a corresponding electrical signal is conventionally carried out through a photo-detector, whereas the conversion of an electrical signal into a corresponding optical signal is conventionally carried out by an opto-electronic device including a light source, e.g. a laser, emitting light whose intensity can be modulated according to the information transported by the electrical signal.
The connection of an optical fiber to a light source and/or to a photo-detector is conventionally carried out through an optical connector. Typically, an optical connector is a device comprising two parts that can be releasably connected to each other and that must be attached one to an end of the optical fiber, and the other one to a pig-tail of the light source or of the photo-detector.
For example, the installation of an optical cable comprising an optical fiber, suitable for example for setting up a (unidirectional) point-to-point link within a building, between a user electronic appliance and a distribution unit (located, for example, in an office or apartment and, respectively, in the cellar or loft) requires (in addition to the passage of the optical cable along a suitable raceway of the building, from the cellar/loft to the office/apartment): cutting the optical cable to the necessary length; peeling off the optical cable jacket, applying the optical connectors to the two ends of the optical fiber, respectively at the user appliance and at the distribution unit; possibly, applying optical connectors to the light source and to the photo-detector (in the case in which the light source and the photo-detector are not already equipped with connectors); and, finally, connecting, through the connectors, one end of the fiber to the light source, and the other end of the fiber to the photo-detector, respectively at the distribution unit and at the user appliance side, or vice versa; the operations are to be repeated twice in case of a bidirectional link.
An alternative known technique for connecting an optical fiber to an opto-electronic device is by means of a fused junction between an end of the optical fiber and a pigtail of the opto-electronic device.
However, using optical connectors and fused junctions is cumbersome and critical operations are necessary that involve fiber stripping (i.e., removal of the protective outer fiber coating), cleaving and polishing operations, which are very delicate to carry out on site, require high precision (tolerances are in the range of micrometers), and have to be executed by highly specialized personnel, using special tools. All this increases the installation time and costs. Moreover, it often happens that these complex operations have to be carried out in inconvenient and narrow spaces (for example, under a table or desk), increasing the risk that the optical fiber connection is not accomplished with the necessary precision, with the consequence that the link performance strongly reduces.
Therefore, despite their several advantages, the use of fiber optic cables in networks for distributing signals to a plurality of end users has up to now been highly limited both due to the high installation costs and because the optical connection may be unreliable if the aforementioned operations are not carried out correctly.
Thus, there is a strong need of simplifying the installation of a fiber optic network for distributing signals to a plurality of users, ensuring a high degree of reproducibility and limiting the installation costs.

Method and device for optical fiber connection


A water gun is revealed. The water gun includes a jetting outlet and at least one suction inlet. The jetting outlet is disposed on a front plate of a barrel of the water gun while the suction inlet that works like a one-way valve is arranged around the jetting outlet. When the hand grip is pulled out, water outside is drawn into an inner space of the barrel of the water gun through the at least one suction inlet. The water in the inner space of the barrel of the water glue is unable to flow out through the at least one suction inlet when the hand grip is pushed in. Moreover, an inner thread is arranged outside the jetting outlet and used for connecting a ball inflating needle or a bike pump hose for inflation of inflatable toys or balls.

The present invention relates to a water gun for children to play with, especially to a water gun disposed with a jetting outlet and at least one suction inlet for providing functions of rapid water suction and inflation.
Generally, a water inlet and a water outlet of water guns available on the market now are located at the same hole having a diameter ranging from 4 to 8 centimeters. Although the water gun has the simple structure, it is unable to suck water rapidly and spray water far away for a long time. In order to suck water quickly, the diameter of the water inlet should be increased. The larger the diameter of the water inlet, the shorter the water shooting distance and the shooting time. If the user wants a further shooting distance for a longer time, the diameter of the water outlet should be smaller. But the water suction speed is lowered and the suction time is increased. The design doesn't match user's requirements for water guns. The conventional water gun is used less efficiently due to two opposite functions including water shooting and water suction performed through the same hole. There is room for improvement and a need to provide a water gun with novel structure.

DONGGUAN TIGER POINT METAL & PLASTIC PRODUCTS CO., LTD.


A crankshaft (6) is rotated about its axis (7), and all of its crankpins (28, 29, 30), which each respectively have an eccentricity (e) relative to the axis (7), and all of its main bearing pins (62, 63, 64, 65), which each have non-eccentric cylindrical surfaces, are simultaneously rotary milled by respective first and second allocated rotary milling cutters (34, 35, 36, 70, 71, 72, 73) of a milling cutter set (12). The individual first milling cutters (34, 35, 36) each respectively have an eccentricity (e) corresponding to the eccentricity of the respective crankpin that is to be machined by the respective first milling cutter, while the second milling cutters are non-eccentric circular cutters. The milling cutter set (12) is rotated at the same rotational speed, i.e. with a rotational speed ratio of 1:1, relative to the rotating crankshaft, while simultaneously the milling cutter set is moved in the X-direction toward the crankshaft axis to achieve a feed advance. A rotary milling machine for carrying out the method includes a milling cutter set having the above described first eccentric and second non-eccentric milling cutters, and a drive apparatus for achieving the 1:1 rotation as well as the feed advance motion of the milling cutter set relative to the crankshaft. In this manner, the milling cutters automatically follow the eccentricity of the crankpins, and the non-eccentric rotation of the main bearing pins, without requiring a complicated individual guidance.

Various different methods and apparatus are known for carrying out the rotary milling of the crankpins or the main bearing pins of crankshafts. German Patent 195 46 197 (Gesell) discloses a method and an apparatus of the above described general type, wherein at least two milling cutters simultaneously carry out rotary milling or machining on at least two crankpins of a rotating crankshaft, whereby the crankpins revolve around the axis of the rotating crankshaft. To achieve this, the German Patent 195 46 197 discloses a rather complicated guidance of the disk milling cutters to follow the eccentric revolution of the crankpins around the crankshaft axis as the crankshaft rotates. The reference further suggests that the rotation speed of the crankshaft is adapted or varied in view of the optimal milling operation of a rotational tool, and the rotational speed of the second and each further rotational tool is regulated dependent on the crankshaft rotational speed prescribed by such adaptation or variation. The equipment and method features necessary for carrying out the above mentioned guidance of the disk milling cutters to follow the motion of the crankpins is regarded as disadvantageously complicated and costly, and subject to breakdowns and improper operation.

Method and machine for rotary milling the crankpins and main bearing pins of crankshafts


The present invention relates to a method for a transmission device to transmit data and a reference signal for demodulation for the data, to a reception device. The transmission device of the present invention appropriately configures the reference signal for demodulation of the data being transmitted to the reception device by the transmission device, and transmits the reference signal to the reception device with the data. According to embodiments of the present invention, the demodulation performance for the data transmitted from the transmission device to the reception device is enhanced.

In a wireless communication system, a transmitting device transmits a signal through a radio frequency channel. In this case, unexpected distortion may occur in the transmission signal. In addition, the transmitting device may precode the transmission signal and transmit the precoded signal to a receiving device. To efficiently receive/detect an original signal, the receiving device requires information about the radio channel, information about interference with respect to the transmission signal, and/or information for demodulating the transmission signal. The receiving device may correct distortion generated in the transmission signal using the above information, thereby obtaining the original signal with higher accuracy.
For this, a scheme in which the transmitting device appropriately configures channel measurement and/or a demodulation reference signal, a scheme in which the transmitting device transmits the reference signal to a receiving device, and a scheme in which the receiving device receives the reference signal need to be defined.

Method for receiving downlink signal and method for transmitting same, and device for receiving same and device for transmitting same


An optical curing apparatus includes a front shell body which consists of a first shell and a second shell that are coupled in a detachable and turnable manner. A light channeling member is fastened to the first shell and may be adjusted angularly to suit user's requirements. The light channeling member and the first shell are detachable. They are adaptable to the light channeling member of various diameters, and may be removed for sterilizing, or become a disposable and replaceable item. A radiation member and an electric power supply unit are provided and detachably coupled through a connector. The radiation member is reusable even if the case is damage or other elements are breakdown.

Optical curing dental material is often used by dentists in the curing process, such as bonding or processing a filler in a tooth cavity and cementing the filler on a desired position. As the oral cavity has a limited space for optical curing process, the general optical curing apparatus often includes an elongate and narrow light channeling member such as a bundle of optical fibers with a free end which may be moved close to the optical curing material so that light can be directly projected to the material. U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,251B1 entitled "Apparatus and method for curing materials with light radiation" discloses an apparatus that has a light channeling member removable from the light source so that it may be sterilized for use on different patients. But in practice, not only the light channeling member has to be placed deeply into the oral cavity and might be in contact with the oral cavity, the case rim of the light channeling member also often touches patient's mouth or saliva. While the light channeling member may be detached for sterilizing, the case rim cannot be removed for this purpose. It is not hygienic and has the concern of infecting diseases. This is a serious flaw of medical practice that has to be resolved immediately.
Moreover, the cited reference has the entire structure formed like a gun. As the light channeling member is not turnable, to stick the light channeling member into the oral cavity to cement the material on the upper molar teeth, the entire gun structure has to be turned. The operation originally designed cannot be applied. It is not convenient to use. Furthermore, the light channeling members have different types such as the cylindrical one which has the same diameter for the entire length and the conical one which has varying diameters. Hence the case has to mate the outside dimension of the light channeling member. This hinders interchangeable function. In other words, different light curing apparatus have to be procured to match different types and sizes of light channeling members. This increases the cost of medical equipment and results in waste. It also makes carrying difficult, and needs a larger storage space.
In addition, the radiation member in the conventional optical curing apparatus is an important element and quite expensive. The radiation member in the conventional structure generally is directly held in the case. Heat of the radiation member directly transfers to the plastic case and could results in brittle or deformation of the case, and make the apparatus not appealing. This cannot meet the clean and hygienic requirements in the practice of dentistry. Moreover, as the radiation member is most expensive element in the whole optical curing apparatus, in the event that the case or other element is damaged, the entire apparatus has to be replaced. It is costly. In the conventional structure, the radiation member is directly bonded to the connection lines of the battery. When to replace the battery, the radiation member is difficult to remove. As the radiation member is expensive, it cannot be thrown away with the battery, hence it creates a lot of problems in maintenance. To throw the radiation member away with the battery will increase the maintenance cost. All this indicates that there is a lot of rooms for improvement in terms of economic effectiveness, cost and applicability.


A driving method includes: generating and outputting a frame image signal to an organic light emitting device, wherein the frame image signal includes an active data region and a blank region based on a time sequence; in the active data region of the frame image signal, using a timing controller to write a data voltage into the gate of the thin film transistor, store it in a storage capacitor, and apply it to the organic light emitting device through the thin film transistor; and in response to reaching the blank region of the frame image signal as determined by the timing controller, changing the first voltage at the cathode of the organic light emitting device to compensate the operating current of the organic light emitting device.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for the brightness change when display at 30 Hz under low gray scale according to the prior art. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for the brightness change when display at 60 Hz under low gray scale according to the prior art. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for the brightness change when display at 30 Hz under high gray scale according to the prior art. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for the brightness change when display at 60 Hz under high gray scale according to the prior art. Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, results measured by an optical measurement tool under the low gray level (Grey32) and the high gray level (Grey255) are shown, wherein the horizontal axis is the time sequence, and the vertical axis is the brightness change. FIG. 5 is a brightness change curve under 64 gray scales switched from 30 Hz to 60 Hz according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 5, where the unit of the horizontal axis is per second (time) and the unit of the vertical axis is nits (brightness), it can be seen that due to the existence of TFT leakage and hysteresis effects, the gray scale at the beginning of each frame is low, especially at low gray scales. This leads to higher brightness at low frequencies than high frequencies. Because the human eye is very sensitive to brightness changes under low gray scales, there will be obvious brightness changes in the frequency changes (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Obvious brightness changes have always been a key issue in G-SYNC (VRR) driving.
However, under high gray levels, the TFT leakage and hysteresis effects are less affected, which is different from the effects presented under low gray levels. High frequencies will be brighter, and low frequencies will be darker (see FIGS. 3 and 4).
For human eyes, the brightness change under low gray scale is more likely to cause visual disgust, and there is a need required to improve the brightness change under low gray scale.
It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and therefore may include information that does not constitute the prior art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Driving method of display device and display device

Everdisplay Optronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd


A polarizing plate including a polarizer, and a protective film layer formed on at least one surface of the polarizer, wherein the protective film layer is formed of a protective resin having a volatile component content of 0.03% by weight or less, and a thickness d of the protective film layer satisfies the formula (1): 0.01 μm≤d≤0.5 μm (1).

In prior-art, there has been known a method for producing a thin polarizer in which a solution containing a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin is applied onto a coating-subject substrate to form a layer of the polyvinyl alcohol-based resin, and then the layer of the polyvinyl alcohol-based resin is subjected to a specific treatment (Patent Literature 1). In this method, the coating-subject substrate is usually peeled off after the polarizer is obtained. However, there are some cases where the surface of the polarizer having been in contact with the coating-subject substrate (this surface may be referred to hereinafter as "peeling surface") gets rough upon peeling of the coating-subject substrate. Such a polarizer having a rough surface has a tendency to have an impaired durability and to crack when heat shock is given. In order to cope with such a reduction in the durability of a polarizer caused by surface roughening, Patent Literature 2 has proposed that a protective layer is formed on the peeling surface of a polarizer. Further, polarizer-related techniques disclosed in Patent Literatures 3 and 4 have also been known.

Polarizing plate and method for manufacturing polarizing plate


The present invention is a method for producing a single crystal of which a whole plane in a radial direction is a defect-free region with pulling the single crystal from a raw material melt in a chamber by Czochralski method, wherein a pulling condition is changed in a direction of the crystal growth axis during pulling the single crystal so that a margin of a pulling rate is always a predetermined value or more that the single crystal of which the whole plane in a radial direction is a defect-free region can be pulled. Thereby, there can be provided a method for producing a single crystal in which when a single crystal is produced by CZ method, the single crystal of which a whole plane in a radial direction is a defect-free region entirely in a direction of the crystal growth axis can be produced with stability.

A single crystal used as a substrate of semiconductor devices is, for example, a silicon-single crystal. It is mainly produced by Czochralski Method (referred to as CZ method for short hereafter). In recent years, semiconductor devices have come to be integrated higher and devices have come to be decreased in size. Along with the tendency, a problem of Grown-in defects introduced during growth of a single crystal has become more important.
Hereafter, Grown-in defects will be explained with reference to FIG. 8.
Generally, in the case of growing a silicon single crystal, when a growth rate of the crystal (a pulling rate of the crystal) is relatively high, there exist Grown-in defects such as FPD (Flow Pattern Defect) and COP (Crystal Originated Particle), which are considered due to voids consisting of agglomerated vacancy-type point defects, at a high density over the entire radial direction of the crystal. The region containing these defects due to voids is referred to as V (Vacancy) region.
Furthermore, when the growth rate of the crystal is lowered, along with lowering of the growth rate, an OSF (Oxidation Induced Stacking Fault) region is generated from the periphery of the crystal in a ring shape. When the growth rate is further lowered, the OSF ring shrinks to the center of the wafer and disappears. When the growth rate is further lowered, there exist defects such as LSEPD (Large Secco Etch Pit Defect) and LFPD (Large Flow Pattern Defect), which are considered due to dislocation loops consisting of agglomerated interstitial silicon atoms, at a low density. The region where these defects exist is referred to as I (Interstitial) region.
In recent years, a region containing no defects like FPD and COP due to voids as well as no defects like LSEPD and LFPD due to interstitial silicon atoms has been found between the V region and the I region and also outside the OSF ring. This region is referred to as N (Neutral) region. In addition, it has been found that when further classifying the N region, there exist Nv region (the region where a lot of vacancies exist) adjacent to the outside of the OSF ring and Ni region (the region where a lot of interstitial silicon atoms exist) adjacent to the I region, and that when performing thermal oxidation treatment, a lot of oxide precipitates are generated in the Nv region and little oxide precipitates are generated in the Ni region.
Furthermore, it has been found that, after performing the thermal oxidation treatment, there exist a region where defects detected by Cu deposition treatment are particularly generated (hereinafter referred to as Cu deposition defect region) in a portion of the Nv region where oxygen precipitation tends to be generated. And it has been found that the Cu deposition defect region cause degradation of electric property like oxide dielectric breakdown voltage characteristics.
It is considered that introduction amount of these Grown-in defects is determined by a parameter of V/G (mm2/° C.·min) which is a ratio of a pulling rate V (mm/min) when a single crystal is grown and a temperature gradient G (° C./mm) of the crystal in the direction of pulling axis from melting point of silicon to 1400° C. at the vicinity of solid-liquid interface (for example, see V. V. Voronkov, Journal of Crystal Growth, 59 (1982), 625–643). Therefore, a single crystal is grown with controlling V/G to be constant at a determined value, thus a single crystal including desired defect region or desired defect-free region can be produced.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open (Kokai) No. H11–147786, it is disclosed that, when a silicon single crystal is grown, the single crystal is pulled with controlling V/G in a determined range (for example, 0.112–0.142 mm2/° C.·min) at the center of the crystal, thus a silicon single crystal wafer with no defects due to voids and no defects due to dislocation loops can be obtained. Furthermore, in recent years, the demand for a defect-free crystal of N region without Cu deposition defect region has become higher. And it has been demanded a production of a single crystal in which the single crystal is pulled with controlling V/G to be a determined defect-free region with high precision.
Generally, the temperature gradient G of a crystal in the direction of a pulling axis is considered to be determined only by HZ (hot zone: a furnace structure) of an apparatus for pulling a single crystal in which the single crystal is grown. It is known that the temperature gradient G of the crystal becomes lower as the single crystal grows, thus G becomes lower at the end of growing the straight body of the crystal than at the start of growing the straight body of the crystal. However, because it is extremely difficult to change HZ while pulling a single crystal, the temperature gradient G of the crystal isn't controlled. As described above, when a single crystal is grown with controlling V/G to be almost constant at a desired value, a pulling rate V is gradually lowered according to fluctuation (decline) of the temperature gradient G of the crystal as the single crystal grows.
However, even if a single crystal is grown with controlling V/G at a determined value by gradually lowering a pulling rate V as described above, when the defect region enlarging in the radial direction of the actually obtained single crystal is examined entirely in a direction of the crystal growth axis, distribution of the defect region-enlarging in the radial direction is different in former half of the straight body of the single crystal (the vicinity of the shoulder portion) and in latter half of the straight body of the single crystal (the vicinity of the tail portion). Thus there are some cases that a crystal quality (a defect region) determined at the start of growing the straight body of the single crystal can't be maintained entirely in a direction of growth axis.
For example, in order to produce a single crystal of which a whole plane in a radial direction is N region, a pulling rate V is determined at the start of growing the straight body of the single crystal so that V/G is a determined value, and the single crystal is grown with controlling V/G to be constant at a determined value by gradually lowering the pulling rate V according to the fluctuation of the temperature gradient G of the crystal during the growth of the single crystal. In this case, a whole plane in a radial direction of the former half of the straight body of the single crystal is N region. However, OSF region or V region is observed, or I region is observed in some portions of a plane in a radial direction of the latter half of the straight body of the single crystal. Thus, there are some cases that the whole plane in a radial direction of the crystal is not N region.
Especially, in the case of producing a single crystal with a large diameter like 200 mm or more so that the whole plane in a radial direction is N region, or in the case of producing a single crystal with controlling V/G with high precision in a narrower region like Nv region or Ni region in N region without Cu deposition defect region as shown in FIG. 8, it is considered extremely difficult to produce with stability a single crystal with a desired quality entirely in a direction of the crystal growth axis, which is one of the causes that lead to lower yield.

Method for producing single crystal and single crystal


A power output apparatus (20) of the present invention includes a clutch motor (30), an assist motor (40), and a controller (80) for controlling the clutch motor (30) and the assist motor (40). The clutch motor (30) includes an outer rotor (32) linked with a crankshaft (56) of a gasoline engine (50) and an inner rotor (34) connecting with a drive shaft (22). The assist motor (40) includes a rotor (42) connecting with the drive shaft (22). A control CPU (90) of the controller (80) controls a first driving circuit (91) to enable the clutch motor (30) to carry out the regenerative operation. The clutch motor (30) accordingly regenerates energy corresponding to a slip between the outer rotor (32) and the inner rotor (34) as electric power. The control CPU (90) then controls a second driving circuit (92) to enable the assist motor (40) to carry out the power operation with the electric power regenerated by the clutch motor (30), thereby rotating the drive shaft (22) in the reverse of the rotation of the crankshaft (56). The power output apparatus (20) of the invention thus constructed can transmit or utilize the power generated by the gasoline engine (50) at a high efficiency and enable the drive shaft (22) to rotate in the reverse of the rotation of the crankshaft (56).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power output apparatus and a method of controlling the same. More specifically, the invention pertains to a power output apparatus for transmitting or utilizing power generated by an engine at a high efficiency and rotating a drive shaft in the reverse of the rotation of the output shaft of the engine. The invention also pertains to a method of controlling such a power output apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Torque converters utilizing a fluid are generally used to convert an output torque of an engine or the like to power and transmit the converted power. In the conventional fluid-based torque converters, an input shaft and an output shaft are not fully locked with each other and there is accordingly an energy loss corresponding to a slip occurring between the input shaft and the output shaft. The energy loss, which is consumed as a heat, is expressed as the product of the revolving speed difference between the input shaft and the output shaft and the torque transmitted at that time. In vehicles with such a torque converter mounted thereon, a large energy loss occurs in transient state like a starting time. The efficiency of power transmission is not 100% even in stationary driving. Compared with manual transmissions, the torque converters lead to a lower fuel consumption.
Some proposed power output apparatus do not use a fluid for torque conversion or power transmission unlike the conventional torque converters, but transmit power through mechanical-electrical-mechanical conversion. For example, a power output apparatus disclosed in JAPANESE PATENT LAYING-OPEN GAZETTE No. 53-133814 couples an output shaft of an engine with a rotating shaft of a d.c. motor via an electromagnetic coupling to make the rotating shaft work as a drive shaft. The engine drives one rotor on the side of d.c. field winding of the electromagnetic coupling, while the other rotor on the side of a.c. armature winding drives the rotating shaft of the d.c. motor or the drive shaft. Electric power produced by a slip between the two rotors of the electromagnetic coupling is supplied from the rotor on the side of a.c. armature winding to the d.c. motor via a rectifier. The d.c. motor also receives electric power from a battery to rotate the drive shaft. Unlike the conventional fluid-based torque converters, this proposed structure substantially has no energy loss due to the slip. It is accordingly possible to make the energy loss in the power transmission means relatively small by enhancing the efficiencies of the electromagnetic coupling and the d.c. motor.
In the proposed structure, however, the drive shaft (rotating shaft of the d.c. motor) is generally rotated only in the direction of rotation of the output shaft of the engine. No special account is taken into the requirement that the drive shaft is rotated in the reverse of the rotation of the output shaft of the engine.

Power output apparatus and method of controlling the same