A mask (105) for EUV lithography includes a substrate (107), a multi-layer coating (108) applied to the substrate (107) and a mask structure (109) which is applied to the multi-layer coating (108) and which has an absorber material, the mask structure (109) having a maximum thickness of less than 100 nm, preferably not exceeding a maximum thickness of 30 nm, particularly preferably 20 nm, in particular 10 nm. Also disclosed is an EUV lithography system having such a mask (105) and a method for optimizing the imaging of such a mask (105).

The invention relates to a mask for EUV lithography, an EUV lithography system having such a mask and a method for optimising the imaging of a mask in an EUV lithography system.
Projection exposure systems for microlithography, referred to briefly as lithography systems below, generally comprise a light source, an illumination system which processes the light beams emitted by the light source to form illumination light, an object to be projected which is generally referred to as a reticle or mask, a projection objective which images an object field onto an image field and another object, on which the image is projected and which is generally referred to as the wafer or substrate. The mask or at least a portion of the mask is in the object field and the wafer or at least a portion of the wafer is in the image field of the projection objective.
If the mask is completely in the range of the object field and the wafer is illuminated without relative movement of the wafer and image field, the lithography system is generally referred to as a wafer stepper. If only a portion of the mask is in the region of the object field and the wafer is illuminated during relative movement of the wafer and image field, the lithography system is generally referred to as a wafer scanner. The spatial dimension defined by the relative movement of the reticle and wafer is generally referred to as the scanning direction.
The integration density of a lithography system that can ultimately be achieved on the wafer is substantially dependent on the following parameters: (a) depth of focus (DOF) of the objective lens, (b) image-side numerical aperture (NA) and (c) wavelength of the illumination light. For reliable operation of a lithography system, it is necessary to ensure a so-called process aperture which is as large as possible and which comprises possible focus variation (FV) and variation of the amount of illumination light for a desired critical dimension (CD), that is to say, the smallest structural width occurring on the wafer, and a given numerical aperture (NA). In order to further reduce the CD, the development in EUV lithography systems is generally towards increasing numerical apertures NA. In the following description, the term "critical dimension" does not refer to the minimum structural width but will instead be used as a synonym for the line width or the structural width.
Periodic structures are decisively important for the integration density of the integrated switching circuit which is intended to be produced by means of the microlithographic illumination process. They are described by the pitch, that is to say, period length, and structural width. The structural width used on the wafer can be freely adjusted up to a given degree by the lacquer threshold of the resist to be illuminated. However, the smallest achievable pitch Pitchmin is given by the wavelength λ of the illumination light and the object-side numerical aperture NA of the objective lens. The following applies:Pitchmin˜λ(NA(1+σ))to coherent and incoherent illumination with a predetermined σ setting.
Currently, the best resolutions of pitch and CD are operated by so-called EUV lithography systems having a source of weak X-radiation (referred to as EUV/extreme ultraviolet in technical jargon) at a wavelength of the illumination light of approximately 13.5 nm. These are also referred to as EUV systems in technical jargon. The associated objective lenses which image the illuminated mask onto the wafer are catoptric objective lenses. These are typically operated with image-side numerical apertures of from 0.2 to 0.35 or above. Reference may be made to, for example, US2005 0088760A1 or US2008 0170310A1.
The mask to be imaged generally has a glass substrate, such as ULE™ or Zerodur®, which becomes highly reflective with light having a wavelength of 13.5 nm owing to a stack of dielectric layers, in particular alternating Mo and Si layers, and the mask structure which is in the form of a structured absorber layer on the layer stack is again defined by a structured chromium layer or by a structured layer of tantalum nitride (TaN) or other materials. The thickness of the structured absorber layer or the mask structure is typically more than 100 nm.
The structures on the mask to be imaged generally have two preferred directions. When the imaging qualities of a projection illumination system are assessed, therefore, a distinction is drawn at least between the maximum resolvable pitch of H (horizontal) and V (vertical) structures. In this instance, it should be hereinafter agreed that an H structure is intended to refer to a sequence of light-permeable and non-light-permeable regions of the mask structure, each individual region of those regions having its greater extent so as to be orthogonal relative to the scanning direction.
The illumination of the mask takes place with reflection in EUV lithography systems. Therefore, it is not possible to have telecentric illumination of the mask in non-obscured systems because otherwise the illumination system and the objective lens would be in the way. The chief ray angle (synonym: chief ray angle (CRA)) is the angle of the main beam of the illumination light relative to a notional orthogonal with respect to the object plane of the objective lens. In a projection exposure system as set out in US2005 0088760A1, a CRA of 6° is used with an image-side numerical aperture NA of 0.33. In a projection exposure system as set out in US2008 0170310A1, a CRA of 15° is used with an image-side numerical aperture NA of 0.5. Generally, the CRA used increases with the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens.
As set out in greater detail below, the CRA which is different from 0° results in shadows of the reflected illumination light owing to the extent of the mask structures orthogonally relative to the object plane of the objective lens. In this instance, this is a purely topographical effect of the mask which is determined by the geometric, three-dimensional arrangement of the illumination system, mask and objective lens. This is no longer negligible for EUV lithography systems particularly with a high NA and therefore a high CRA because the thickness of the structured layer (mask structure) is generally several wavelengths of the illumination light of 13.5 nm, and reference can consequently be made to shadowing of the mask structure.
Simple geometric observation makes it apparent that this shadowing appears more intensely for H structures than for V structures if it is assumed for the design of the illumination system and the objective lens that the incidence plane of the CRA on the mask is orthogonal to the extent of an individual structure of the H structures. The size of the difference of the structural widths of H and V structures on the wafer with the structural widths on the mask being assumed to be identical depends on the position thereof as an object point when viewed in the object plane of the objective lens, more specifically the azimuth angle at which the object point is orientated relative to an axis of a coordinate system which is in the object plane, which axis extends in the scanning direction. Since the CRA is measured in a plane perpendicularly relative to the object plane in which the axis of the coordinate system is located, the CRA appears to be rotated for object points which are not located on that axis, that is to say, which have an azimuth angle different from 0°.
H structures are generally imaged so as to be wider in dependence of their position in the object plane of the objective lens. There is further produced for H structures a displacement of the image which is dependent on the focal position of the mask and which corresponds to a field-dependent redirection of the wave front Z2, Z3 which can be corrected by correcting the focal position of the mask. The coefficients Z2, Z3 are Zernike coefficients whose indexing follows Fringe notation, cf. "Handbook of Optical Systems, Singer et al. (eds.), WileyVch, 2005". If the entire wave front is analysed, field-dependent distortion terms Z2, Z3, focus variations Z4 and astigmatism Z5, Z6 result as aberrations. These are accompanied by wave front errors of higher orders, such as comas Z7, Z8 and secondary astigmatism Z12, Z13.
The explanation for the occurrence of those imaging errors which are also referred to below as "rigorous effects" is explained in greater detail, for example, in the article by J. Ruoff: "Impact of mask topography and multi-layer stack on high NA imaging of EUV masks", Proc. SPIE 7823, September 2010. Rigorous effects are considered in the above-mentioned article. The rigorous effects depend on the structural widths, the material which defines the structures of the mask such as, for example, Cr, and the thickness of those structures in the direction of the beam path of the illumination light in the region of the mask.
In addition to the imaging errors which are produced owing to the shadowing or the rigorous effects of the mask structure and which become perceptible in particular in the form of a telecentricity error, the fact that the multi-layer coating has a reflectivity which varies over the incidence angle range of the radiation which strikes the mask also results in a variation of apodisation in the objective pupil which also results in a telecentricity error during imaging. However, those two contributions to the telecentricity error cannot be optimised separately from each other owing to the non-linearity of the rigorous effects to be considered.
In lithography systems, particularly in EUV lithography systems, there is a need for correcting the structural width and pitch-dependent aberrations of the wave front which are induced by the rigorous effects of the mask, and there is a particular need to correct the structural width and pitch-dependent astigmatism which is induced by the mask, the structural width and pitch-dependent distortion which is dependent on the position of the object point and the structural width and pitch-dependent focal position.

Mask for EUV lithography, EUV lithography system and method for optimising the imaging of a mask


An apparatus and method for generating a lamina of light. The apparatus includes an optically transparent member having an input configured to receive light and one or more facets formed in the optically transparent member. As light enters and travels through the member, a lamina of light is created by the light reflecting off the facets. In one application, the lamina of light is provided in the free space adjacent a touch screen display. When the lamina is interrupted during a data entry operation to the screen, an optical position detection device is used to determine the data input based on the location of the interrupt in the lamina. In various other embodiments, the position and uniformity of the lamina may be controlled by selecting the angle, depth and tilt of a reflective surface of the facets in the optically transparent member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to light generation for optical sensor devices, and more particularly, to an optically transparent member with internal facets that act like total internal reflection mirrors that generate a lamina of light when light is transmitted through the member.
2. Description of the Related Art
User input devices for data processing systems can take many forms. Two types of relevance are touch screens and pen-based screens. With either a touch screen or a pen-based screen, a user may input data by touching the display screen with either a finger or an input device such as a stylus or pen.
One conventional approach to providing a touch or pen-based input system is to overlay a resistive or capacitive film over the display screen. This approach has a number of problems. Foremost, the film causes the display to appear dim and obscures viewing of the underlying display. To compensate, the intensity of the display screen is often increased. However, in the case of most portable devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and laptop computers, high intensity screens are usually not provided. If they were available, the added intensity would require additional power, reducing the life of the battery of the device. The films are also easily damaged. In addition, the cost of the film scales dramatically with the size of the screen. With large screens, the cost is therefore typically prohibitive.
Another approach to providing touch or pen-based input systems is to use an array of source Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) along two adjacent X-Y sides of an input display and a reciprocal array of corresponding photodiodes along the opposite two adjacent X-Y sides of the input display. Each LED generates a light beam directed to the reciprocal photodiode. When the user touches the display, with either a finger or pen, the interruptions in the light beams are detected by the corresponding X and Y photodiodes on the opposite side of the display. The data input is thus determined by calculating the coordinates of the interruptions as detected by the X and Y photodiodes. This type of data input display, however, also has a number of problems. A large number of LEDs and photodiodes are required for a typical data input display. The position of the LEDs and the reciprocal photodiodes also need to be aligned. The relatively large number of LEDs and photodiodes, and the need for precise alignment, make such displays complex, expensive, and difficult to manufacture.
Yet another approach involves the use of polymer waveguides to both generate and receive beams of light from a single light source to a single array detector. These systems tend to be complicated and expensive and require alignment between the transmit and receive waveguides.
Accordingly, there is a need for an optically transparent member with internal facets that act like total internal reflection mirrors to create a lamina of light when light is transmitted through the member.

Apparatus and method for generating a lamina of light


One disclosed example provides a method including compiling and storing on the computing device a list of positioning signals each associated with a geographic location, detecting one or more currently available positioning signals, comparing the one or more currently available positioning signals to the list of positioning signals, and if one or more currently available positioning signals matches one or more matching positioning signals stored in the list, then determining the current geographic location based upon the one or more matching stored positioning signals.

A computing device application may utilize a determination of a device's location for many location-based services and applications. For example, applications may search for local points of interest, local weather, may automatically tag photos and video with location information, etc.
Location detection is commonly carried out via a global positioning system (GPS) receiver on the device, and/or by communication with remote location services. However, GPS is often not available indoors. Additionally, communication between the computing device and a remote location service may utilize potentially significant computing and communications resources.


A woodsplitting machine has a plurality of wedges of various sizes and configurations radially attached to a rotational member mounted on the frame behind the log cradle such that an operator can quickly and easily rotate the appropriate wedge into position depending on the diameter of the log in the cradle to be split. The rotational member can be hydraulically actuated such that the wedges can be rotated around the longitudinal axis of the machine with little effort for the operator. An alternate embodiment provides that the rotational member be manually rotated such that the wedges can be rotated around the longitudinal axis of the machine by the hand of the operator.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a machine or apparatus for splitting wooden logs into small pieces useful as firewood. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle mounted wood splitter operated by hydraulic pressure to force the cut wood logs through a splitting wedge which splits the cut log into a desired number of pieces.
2. Description of Related Art
The vast majority of woodsplitters to which the present invention is directed generally employ a ram-type mechanism which forces a "blocked" piece of wood of some maximal length into a stationary splitting wedge having sharpened edges. As the blocked piece or cut log is axially advanced into the wedge, the log is split into a plurality of sector-shaped pieces along cleavage lines that are generally directed radially with respect to the center axis and along medullar rays of the cut log. Typical examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,077,214, 3,862,651, 4,371,019, 4,431,362, 5,337,810 and 5,957,175.
The diameter of the logs fed to the splitting wedge may vary greatly. The industry ideal is to split logs so that the resulting split pieces are of a uniform size. Pieces too large in size result in customers having to manually split their wood further, whereas pieces that are too small in size cannot be used efficiently. In order to maintain this uniform size, larger diameter logs must be cut into a greater number of pieces than smaller diameter logs. In the course of cutting a sequence of logs, it often happens that logs of widely different diameters are encountered, thereby requiring frequent adjustment of the apparatus so that the appropriate number of pieces are generated from each log. Such adjustment of the apparatus to accommodate varying sized logs requires considerable operator time and down time of the machine, thereby increasing the cost of the log splitting operation.
The prior art includes wood splitting machines that have interchangeable wedges to accommodate different sized logs that necessitate manual removal and change of one size wedge to another. Such changeover of the different wedges, however, causes the operator to cease production temporarily with resultant lost operator time and machine down time. Other wood splitting machines include wedges on a pillar type mechanism that allows the operator to raise more wedges when the diameter of the log is larger. This type of equipment, however, frequently results in increased small waste pieces.
What is needed in the art is a wood splitter which can be quickly adjusted to the desired wedge size so that logs of varying size can be split into a uniform size with a minimum of adjustment time both for the operator and the machine.

Wood splitter with multiple wood splitting wedges on a rotating member


Disclosed is a split-lens for grating wheel comprising a disk body and a ring-lens around the peripheral of the disk body wherein said ring-lens comprises alternately-arranged opaque parts and transparent parts, and transparent parts forms the convex lens portion for said ring-lens. The opaque parts are arranged in radial direction on peripheral of the disk body and with equi-angle. By this configuration, the inference problem can be solved and the resolution can be enhanced.

As the prevalence of multimedia and window OS system, the mouse and track ball become essential devices for computer for pointing and sending command. Taking mouse as an example, the mouse is handled on a mouse pad with slight friction and the movement of mouse will cause a corresponding movement of cursor in screen. The corresponding movement of cursor by moving a mouse is achieved by an optical encoder. FIG. 12 shows the internal view of a mouse. A circuit board 81 is placed in front of the mouse body 80 and has three micro-switches corresponding to left, central right button on case of mouse.
The circuit board 81 has an optical encoder 90 on rear side thereof which comprises an X-axis encoder 91 and a Y-axis encoder 92. Each X/Y-axis encoder has a grating wheel 910/920 and an optoelectronic element 93/94. One end of the shaft of the grating wheel is in contact with the surface of the ball 95 such that the grating wheel 910, 920 will rotate in response to the rolling of ball 95.
As shown in FIG. 13, taking the Y-axis encoder as an example, the optical element 94 including a light source 941 and a light receiver 942 is arranged opposite to the slit of the grating wheel 920. The slit will shield intermittently the light from the light source 941 when the grating wheel rotates. The light receiving ends PT1 and PT2 of the light receiver 942 are functioned to determine the rotation direction of the grating wheel 920 by receiving the intermittent light.
As shown in FIG. 14, the relative movement of the grating wheel 920, the light source 941 and the light receiver 942. in FIG. 14A, the two light receiving ends PT1, PT2 of the light receiver 942 is blocked by the grating wheel the digital counter part is shown in T1 of FIG. 15 wherein PT1 and PT2 are (0,0). As the grating wheel 920 rotating, the PT2 receives light from slit 920A while the PT1 is still blocked, therefore, in period T2, (PT1,PT2) is (0,1). As the grating wheel 920 still rotating, both PT1 and PT2 receive light from slit 920A, as shown in FIG. 14C. Therefore, in period T3 of FIG. 15, (PT1,PT2) is (1,1). As the grating wheel 920 still rotating, PT1 receives light from slit 920A, while PT2 is blocked by slit 920A, as shown in FIG. 14D. Therefore, in period T4 of FIG. 15, (PT1,PT2) is (1,0).
However, the working waveform shown in FIG. 15 will be influenced by the light interference. This phenomenon can be more clearly explained with reference to FIG. 16 where D denotes light source, C denotes the grating wheel in front of the light source D, C1 and C2 denote the slits on grating wheel C, and S denotes the sensor opposite to light source D and moving up and down along T-axis.
FIG. 17 shows the wave distribution of light passing through slits C1 and C2, wherein N is the intensity and H is the field distribution.
When slit C2 is blocked, the waveform detected by sensor S is N1=(H1).sup.2.
When slit C1 is blocked, the waveform detected by sensor S in N2=(H1).sup.2.
If the light from slit C1 and C2 do not interfere with each other, the waveform detected by sensor S is N12=N1+N2, as shown in FIG. 18.
However, due to the interference, the really waveform is N12-N1+N2, as shown in FIG. 19.
The interference of light will influence the resolution of PT1 and PT2. Again taking a glance at FIG. 14A, the detection signal on PT1 and PT2 is desirable to be (0,0) when PT1 and PT2 are blocked by the opaque part between slits. However, the PT1 and PT2 may be erroneously detected to receive light caused by the light interference.
There are two methods to prevent the problem caused by light interference.
1. Minimize the distance between the light receiver and the grating wheel. However, the manufacturing technique is different. PA1 2. Increase the size of the slit to be three times of light receiving end of the light receiver. However; the resolution is degraded.
As mentioned above, the prevention of light interference is at the expense of ost and resolution, there is still much to be improved.

Optical encoder wheel with split lens ring

7F,No.142-1,Lane 108,Sec.1,Kuang Fu Rd., E.Dist.


A multimedia communication system is constructed by a terminal device for user which is used for the user to receive information, a terminal device for information provider which is used by an information provider to provide the information to the user, a network to which each of the terminal devices is connected, and a reservation unit for circulating a reservation table to select and reserve the information that is received by the user and a reception time between the terminal device for information provider and the terminal device for user.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multimedia communication system and communicating apparatus for transmitting information such as motion image data, still image data, audio data, computer data, etc. and, more particularly, to an accounting for information which is provided.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, various communication networks such as installation of an optical fiber network in a trunk line system communication network, actualization of B-ISDN using such an optical fiber network, spread of a cable system, realization of a practical use of a communication satellite, spread of a local network, etc. have been rapidly spread. Their mutual connection is also actively being performed.
On the other hand, not only character data but also information which is so called a multimedia such as still image, audio signal, motion picture, etc. is being exchanged in a worldwide scale.
In such a situation, an information service industry using the multimedia information network is also rapidly being enlarged. For example, the following information services have been developed and progressed by using the multimedia information network as a prerequisite.
(1) Video-on-demand such that a video library is accessed from a terminal and a desired video can be selected and enjoyed
(2) Game network such that a desired game is selected from a game library and is played together with a person existing at a remote location
(3) Information retrieval services such that various data bases are accessed and necessary information is called
(4) A desired article is retrieved and purchased from hundreds of thousand of items
(5) Viewer participation TV such that the user participates
(6) TV conference such that persons existing at remote locations progress a consultation while sharing references.
To realize a practical use of those services, an accounting technique such that xe2x80x9ca compensation of the services used is certainly handed to a provider of the servicesxe2x80x9d occupies an important position. Particularly, in case of considering a problem regarding a copyright such as an illegal copy of information, a software, or the like, whether the compensation has correctly accounted or not is a vital question for information service industries when the above multimedia information network is used as a prerequisite.
However, in many cases, a conventional accounting method is a monthly accounting method that is not concerned with a use frequency as in a cable television system or a satellite broadcasting or an accounting method whereby only a use frequency (or using time) which is not concerned with the kind or quality of information is counted as in a use services of a computer.
According to the conventional accounting methods which don""t depend on the kind or quality of information and services as mentioned above, it is difficult to cope with a variety of information and services which are presumed such that they will be further widespread in future. It is an important problem to accurately perform an accounting.
When a number of users and a number of information providers exist on the network, the channel on the network is likely to be busy, so that there is a problem such that it is difficult to receive information of the user.
The invention is made in consideration of the above circumstances and it is an object of the invention to provide a multimedia communication system and a communicating apparatus which can certainly receive information received by the user and can accurately perform an accounting.
According to an embodiment of the invention, there are provided: a terminal device for user which is used for the user to receive information; a terminal device for information provider which is used by an information provider to provide the information to the user; a network to which each of the terminal devices is connected; and reserving means for circulating a reservation table to select and reserve the information which is received by the user and a reception time between the terminal device for information provider and the terminal device for user.
According to another embodiment, there are provided: communicating means for user which is used for the user to receive information; communicating means for information provider for providing the information to the user; and reserving means for circulating a reservation table to select and reserve the information which is received by the user and a reception time between the communicating means for information provider and the communicating means for user.
According to still another embodiment, there are provided: receiving means for receiving reservation information from another terminal device on the network; and transmitting means for transmitting predetermined information on the basis of the reservation information.
According to the above embodiment, each user reserves the information to be received and the reception time on the basis of the circulated reservation table, so that the information can be certainly transmitted to the user and an accounting can be performed on the basis of the reservation.
An accounting system can be also changed in accordance with the kind of information to be transmitted and the time.
According to further another embodiment of the invention, there are provided: a terminal device for user which is used for the user to receive information; a terminal device for information provider which is used by the information provider to provide the information to the user; a terminal device for sponsor which is used by the sponsor of the additional information; a network to which each of the terminal devices is connected; and accounting means for accounting an amount of money according to the additional information received by the user to the sponsor.
According to further another embodiment, there are provided: receiving means for receiving information through the network by the user; and selecting means for selecting whether the additional information which is added to the information is received or not.
According to further another embodiment, there is provided a terminal device for information provider which is used in a communication system in which the information provider transmits information through the network in accordance with a request from a receiver, wherein inserting means for inserting additional information into the information in accordance with a request of the receiver is provided.
According to further another embodiment, there is provided a terminal device for information provider which is used by the information provider to provide information in accordance with a request of a receiver, wherein there is provided accounting means such that when additional information other than the information requested by the receiver is received, an amount of money according to the additional information is accounted to the terminal device which transmitted the additional information.
According to the above embodiment, when the user receives the additional information, since the accounting means accounts to the sponsor, a burden of the user is reduced and the additional information is used even for the sponsor, a fair and accurate accounting can be performed for both of the user and the sponsor.
According to further another embodiment of the invention, there are provided: a terminal device for user which is used for the user to receive information; a terminal device for information provider which is used by the information provider to provide the information to the user; a network to which each of the terminal devices is connected; and accounting means for accounting an amount of money according to the number of times of reception of the same information by the user to the user.
According to further another embodiment, there are provided: a terminal device for user which is used for the user to receive information; a terminal device for information provider for transmitting information in which additional information was inserted to a predetermined channel without receiving any request from the user and for transmitting information according to a request of the user to another channel; and a network to which each of the terminal devices is connected.
According to further another embodiment, there are provided: receiving means for receiving information and additional information which is added to the information; and accounting means for accounting an amount of money according to the additional information for the information which was received to the provider of the additional information.
According to further another embodiment, there is provided communicating means for information provider for transmitting the information to which the additional information was inserted to the communicating means for user through a predetermined channel without receiving any request of the user and for transmitting the information according to the request of the user to the communicating means for user through another channel.
According to the above embodiment, since an amount of money according to the number of times of reception of the information is accounted to the user, the accurate accounting can be performed.
Since the information to which the additional information was inserted is always transmitted to the predetermined channel of the network, the user passively receives the information. Since the information is transmitted to the other channel only when the user requests it, the user actively receives the information.
According to further another embodiment of the invention, there are provided: a terminal device for user which is used for the user to receive information; a terminal device for information provider which is used by the information provider to provide the information to the user; a network to which each of the terminal devices is connected; and accounting means for accounting an amount of money according to the information received by the user to the user and for subtracting the accounting amount of money when the number of times of reception of the same information by the same user is equal to or larger than a predetermined number of times.
According to further another embodiment, there are provided: communicating means for information provider for providing information to the user; and accounting means for accounting an amount of money according to the information received by the user and for subtracting an accounting amount of money when the number of times of reception of the same information by the same user is equal to or larger than a predetermined number of times.
According to the above embodiment, the accounting means accounts the amount of money according to the number of times of reception of the information of the user to the user and, when the user receives the same information by a number of times larger than a predetermined number of times of reception, the accounting means subtracts the amount of money and accounts. Thus, the reception of the information of the user can be further promoted.

Multimedia communication system and communicating apparatus


In a data processing system having multiple input/output adapters, a DMA memory block is assigned to each adapter. The DMA memory block has a data area and a generic common control area. All adapters have the same translation control entry for the control area. The control area includes a mapped page assigned to each adapter request and an unmapped buffer space interposed between the mapped pages. By mapping the generic DMA memory, memory space which is not required by an adapter is not mapped unnecessarily. Because the generic DMA memory space is part of each adapter's DMA memory space, adapters are unable to write to partitions to which they do not belong and the possibility of cross-partition memory writes is reduced. Moreover, runaway writes to dedicated DMA memory space may be caught as soon as they occur.

In high-end data processing systems, such as data storage subsystems, host adapters interconnect the system with host units (either directly or through a network or fabric) and device adapters interconnect the system with various peripheral devices, such as disk arrays. SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) is commonly used to manage multiple CPUs in multi-processor systems. The processors in an SMP managed system access common memory and input/output (I/O) resources. DMA (direct memory access) is a commonly used function which allows peripheral devices to exchange data without tying up the CPU.
In current designs, contiguous DMA memory is mapped for all adapters to access the SMP memory space. And, while such a method provides a common control area which is accessible to all adapters, current designs have numerous drawbacks. First, the entire generic (common) DMA memory space is mapped. Consequently, space which should remain unmapped is exposed to improper writes by adapters. Second, the entire space is mapped in a single operation. Consequently, it is difficult to halt "runaway" memory writes as they occur. And, third, because the entire generic DMA memory space is mapped for all adapters on a system platform, any adapter may write to any partition in a multiple partition platform and cross-partition memory writes may not be preventable.
Consequently, a need remains for effective DMA mapping which overcomes the foregoing drawbacks.

International Business Machines Corporation


A system for protecting an electrochemical element from an external shock includes an electrochemical element, a bag-shaped aluminum laminate film configured to receive and entirely cover the electrochemical element, and a protector configured to cover the electrochemical element and the bag-shaped aluminum laminate film. The protector includes a frame having corners and a plurality of recesses disposed at an inner surface of the corners. When the electrochemical element is received in the bag-shaped aluminum laminate film and an interior of the bag-shaped aluminum laminate film is vacuumed, a plurality of wrinkled portions are formed at corners of the bag-shaped aluminum laminate film. The plurality of recesses of the protector are configured to receive the plurality of wrinkled portions of the bag-shaped aluminum laminate film such that portions of the protector other than the plurality of recesses are in intimate contact with the bag-shaped aluminum laminate film.

The electric double layer capacitor has such a principle that positive and negative surfaces of polarized electrodes physically adsorb anion and cation of electrolyte for storing electric energy.
A bipolar type electric double layer capacitor (which will be called just as capacitor hereinafter) is a stacked device that comprises stacked flat activated carbon electrodes and collector electrodes, and ion passing separators each being sandwiched between adjacent two activated carbon electrodes. Around a unit of the activated carbon electrodes and collector electrodes, there are sealingly put packing members for preventing leakage of a liquid electrolyte therefrom. The packing members serve also as means for achieving isolation between the layers.
In assembling the capacitor, cells by an amount that ensures a needed withstand voltage (cell is the minimum unit of the electrolyte put between mutually opposed activated carbon electrodes) and the packing members are alternately put on one another (each cell having a withstand voltage of about 2.5V), to constitute a stacked body and paired endplates are respectively put on opposed portions of the body. With this, a hermetically sealed construction is provided.
For achieving a perfect sealing between cells, it is necessary to apply a sufficient fastening force to the paired endplates. For this purpose, several pairs of metal screws are passed through openings of the paired endplates, and spacers each having opposed ends with threaded openings are put between the paired endplates, and each pair of metal screws are screwed into the threaded openings of each spacer, so that a sufficient fastening force is applied to the paired endplates.
Furthermore, in order to prevent the entry of water for avoiding mixing of the liquid electrolyte in the capacitor with water, the capacitor is entirely covered with an aluminum laminate film, the interior of the aluminum laminate film thus shaped like a bag and the interior of the capacitor are decompressed to provide the interiors with a vacuum condition, and the aluminum laminate film is welded to the capacitor. With these steps, the capacitor is completely covered and sealed by the aluminum laminate film. This complete covering and sealing by the film is aimed for suppressing quality deterioration and gas generation.
Since the aluminum laminate film is a substance that consists of an aluminum foil laminated with a polypropylene film, polyethylene or the like, the same tends to be easily broken when an external shock is applied thereto, such as when the film is brought into collision with a desk or the like. In such case, moisture in air enters the capacitor and thus the quality of the capacitor is lowered.
As means for protecting the capacitor from such external shock, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Tokkai) 2004-296956 discloses a protecting case that entirely covers both the external surface (especially corner portions) of the capacitor and the bag-shaped aluminum laminate film.


A wiper blade is proposed which is used for cleaning windshields of motor vehicles. The wiper blade has an elastic, elongated support element for an elongated wiper strip, made of flexible material, placed against the windshield to be wiped, which has on its longitudinal sides longitudinal grooves facing each other, in which runners, which are arranged at a distance from each other, of the support element are positioned, whose center section has a connecting device for a powered wiper arm, and wherein the cross section of the two longitudinal runners diminishes from their center area toward the end of the runners, wherein the two adjoining ends of the longitudinal runners are each connected in a single piece by means of a cross brace. A particularly process-oriented and assembly-friendly wiper blade results, if the longitudinal runners of the support element have an even thickness over their entire longitudinal extension and the width of the support element from its center area is reduced toward its two ends.

The invention relates to a wiper blade. In a known wiper blade of this species (DE 26 14 457 A1) distribution, as even as possible, of the wiper blade contact pressure on the windshield surface to be wiped is intended to be achieved by means of varying thickness of the support elements, wherein the center section of the support element is thicker and thus more rigid than the thinner and thus more flexible end section of the support element. Such a support element embodiment at best may be somewhat economically feasible when the support element is made of plastic, however, even in that case each support element has to be individually pressed or injection-molded in a mold.

Wiper blade for windshields of motor vehicles


A stand-up grounds maintenance vehicle including a chassis, a control tower, an implement, and a cover. The chassis is supported upon a ground surface by a plurality of ground-engaging members and extends along a longitudinal axis between a front end and a rear end. The control tower is coupled to the chassis proximate the rear end. The implement is attached to the chassis and is positioned at least partially forward of the control tower. The implement includes an implement drive. The cover extends over the implement drive and is pivotally coupled to the chassis.

Riding and walk-behind grounds maintenance vehicles such as lawn mowers and the like are used by homeowners and professionals alike to care for lawns and other surfaces. These vehicles typically include a prime mover, e.g., internal combustion engine or electric motor, to power not only an implement (e.g., cutting deck) attached to the vehicle, but also a traction drive system, the latter adapted to propel the vehicle over a ground surface.
Landscape contractors sometimes prefer stand-on vehicles (e.g., mowers), which include an operator platform that is attached to the vehicle. For example, such mowers allow turf to be mowed in an efficient, relatively quick manner as compared to some conventional riding mowers. One benefit of stand-on and walk-behind maintenance vehicles is that they are often shorter than conventional maintenance vehicles and, consequently, may be more maneuverable under certain conditions. Typically, stand-on and walk-behind vehicles utilize an engine having a horizontally or vertically-oriented drive shaft to provide power, e.g., via endless belts, to both the implement (e.g., the cutting deck) and to the traction drive system. Each drive wheel may utilize its own hydrostatic pump, and each pump may be independently controlled to provide the vehicle with a very small turning radius and, in some instances, a zero-turning-radius (ZTR) wherein the vehicle can spin about a midpoint between the two drive wheels.
Stand-on and walk-behind maintenance vehicles often include a cover positioned over the implement that may be coupled thereto using one or more of various different types of fasteners. As such, the cover may not be easily removable or movable to a position that permits access to the components thereunder. In other words, tools may be required to remove or move the cover. Further, on some vehicles, the prime mover (e.g., engine) may be completely located underneath the cover. As such, the cover may be used to protect the prime mover from undesired contact.

Grounds maintenance vehicle with flip-up implement drive cover

EXMARK MANUFACTURING COMPANY INCORPORATED


A robot cleaner includes a cleaner body, a suction unit, and a cyclone unit. The cyclone unit has a first suction opening and a second suction opening for sucking air, and a first cyclone and a second cyclone for passing air therethrough, the air having dust filtered therefrom by a centrifugal force. A first guiding member and a second guiding member extend upwardly from the suction unit toward the cyclone unit with an inclination angle, the first guiding member for connection between the suction unit and the first suction opening, and the second guiding member for connection between the suction unit and the second suction opening. A dust box communicated with a dust discharge opening is provided at a front side of the cyclone unit so as to collect dust filtered by the cyclone unit. The dust box is partially or wholly accommodated between the first and second guiding members.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This specification relates to a robot cleaner, and more particularly, to a robot cleaner having a novel structure and arrangement.
2. Background of the Disclosure
Generally, robots have been developed for industrial use, and have managed some aspects of factory automation. As robots are applied to various fields recently, not only medical robots and space robots, but also home robots are being developed.
A representative of the home robot is a robot cleaner, a home electronic appliance capable of performing a cleaning operation by sucking dust on a floor (including foreign materials) while autonomously moving on a predetermined region.
Such a robot cleaner is provided with a chargeable battery, and is provided with an obstacle sensor for avoiding an obstacle while moving.
Generally, a robot cleaner is designed to have a low height in a vertical direction, so as to fit and clean under a lower side of furniture or other structure. Thus, a dust box of the robot cleaner often has a smaller capacity than that of a general cleaner.
In such robot cleaner, the dust box of a small capacity is easily filled with dust by repetitive cleanings. This may cause inconvenience to a user who has to frequently empty the dust box. Furthermore, in some cases; a suction force may be lowered due to accumulated dust.


A liquid crystal display includes: an insulating substrate; gate lines and data lines disposed on the insulating substrate; pixels disposed on the substrate substantially in a matrix form, each pixel including a thin film transistor connected to a corresponding gate line of the gate lines and a corresponding data line of the data lines, a first electrode disposed on the thin film transistor, and a second electrode disposed on the first electrode; a first insulating layer disposed on the gate lines, the data lines and the thin film transistor, and under the first electrode; and a second insulating layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, in which each of the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer include an inorganic insulating layer, and a thickness of the first insulating layer is greater than a thickness of the second insulating layer.

(a) Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a liquid crystal display.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display, which is one of the most widely used types of flat panel display, is a display which applies voltage to an electrode to realign liquid crystal molecules of a liquid crystal layer, thereby controlling an amount of transmitted light to display an image.
In such a liquid crystal display, various types of liquid crystal alignments and various driving methods for improving side visibility have been developed. In such a liquid crystal display, a pixel electrode and a common electrode may be disposed on a single substrate to implement the wide viewing angle.
As a resolution of the liquid crystal display increases, the number of pixels increases, and thus the number of data lines increases. Therefore, in the liquid crystal display having a high resolution, the number of data driving units increases such that manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display increases.
In such a liquid crystal display, coupling between adjacent pixels may occur due to a data voltage and a pixel voltage, and a capacity of a storage capacitor within a pixel may be increased to reduce a kickback voltage.

Liquid crystalline display with enhanced display quality thereof and a method for manufacturing the same


An improved method and apparatus for effecting separation of plastic components from associated metal components where the plastic and metal components are attached to one another by fasteners, e.g., effecting separation of plastic components from a discarded manufactured product such as an automotive vehicle. The improved method comprises impacting the heads of the fasteners in a direction leading from the plastic component to the metal component, so as to cause the plastic component to rupture around the fasteners and thereby free the plastic component from the metal component. The improved apparatus is a pneumatically-powered striker device that is designed for easy alignment of its striker with the heads of the fasteners and is capable of driving its striker against said fasteners with sufficient force and acceleration to cause rupture of the plastic component around the fasteners so as to free the plastic component from the metal component.

Various governmental laws and regulations relating to the environment and disposal of materials require that certain manufactured products (e.g., vehicles and household appliances) destined for disposal or recycling of materials must first have their plastic components separated from their metal components, particularly where the metal components are to be remelted. Accordingly, it is essential that companies involved in disposal of products that comprise both plastic and metal components, e.g., automotive vehicle manufacturers or junk dealers specializing in disposal of automotive vehicles, be able to effect separation of plastic components from metal components in an efficient manner. In the case of disposal of automotive vehicles, such plastic items such as door panels, dashboards, ceiling liners, and wall and floor panels need to be detached from metal components such as body frames and panels, doors, and trunk and hatchback lids. In most cases, such plastic components are attached to metal components by screw-type fasteners. Most commonly the fasteners have Phillips-type or socket-type heads to facilitate screwing and unscrewing. However, screw fasteners with heads of some other geometric configuration may also have been used. Regardless of the type of fastener head, heretofore removal of such fasteners has involved use of power-driven screw drivers (as used herein, power-driven screw drivers includes those that are shaped as sockets to fit over and lock to multi-sided heads or are shaped for insertion into multi-sided sockets in the fastener heads).
However, using a screw-driver tool to detach plastic components from other metal or plastic components is unsatisfactory for dismantling vehicles, since that procedure is too slow and costly, particularly in view of the fact that the number of vehicles being scrapped each year numbers in the hundreds of thousands in some countries and in the millions in more populated industrial countries, e.g., the U.S.A. France, Germany, Italy and Japan. In this connection it should be noted that the unscrewing operation requires first that the tip of the unscrewing tool be properly engaged with the fastener head. Secondly, once the tip of the unscrewing tool is engaged with the fastener, additional time is required to unscrew and remove the fastener. From a cost standpoint the time factor becomes critical in the case where the location of the fastener makes it difficult to properly engage the head of the fastener with the tip of the unscrewing tool. The fastener accessing problem is rendered even more difficult in the case where the head of the fastener is in a recessed portion of the surrounding plastic component. In this connection it should be noted that forming a plastic component with one or more recesses sized to receive the head of a fastener is common practice where it is desired that the head of the fastener not detract from the aesthetics of the product or at least that it not be in a position where it may be engaged by and irritate the user or otherwise interfere with use or the lifetime of the plastic component. The typical automobile of today has numerous plastic components with recessed sections for accommodating the heads of fasteners used to attach those components to other components (metal or plastic).

Method for detaching plastic components from automobiles and other products


A rare earth-containing zeolite with a cocrystalline structure of ZSM-5 and ZSM-11, wherein the weight ratio of the moiety having the crystalline structure of ZSM-5 to the moiety having the crystalline structure of ZSM-11 is 0.1 to 10, which has, in the sodium form, the X-ray diffraction pattern set forth in Table 1, and in its originally synthesized anhydrous state, a chemical formula in terms of mole ratios of oxides as follows: 0.1-1.0 Na.sub.2 O.0.01-1.0 RE.sub.2 O.sub.3.Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.20-300 SiO.sub.2. Said zeolite has good acid hydrothermal stability and resistance against impurity contamination, and is useful as catalyst in various hydrocarbon conversions.

Zeolite ZSM-5 is a kind of high silicon zeolite with Pentasil structure developed by Mobil Oil Corporation (U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,886) and is widely used as catalytic material in isomerization, disproportionation, catalytic cracking and catalytic dewaxing due to its unique pore structure. U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,224 discloses a process for preparing ethylbenzene by the alkylation of benzene with ethylene utilizing zeolite ZSM-5 catalyst, wherein the raw material ethylene needs to be diluted with inert hydrocarbons. For the sake of industrial application, diluted ethylene is obtained from the tail gases of some devices in an oil refinery, such as dry gas of catalytic cracking, coke oven gas and the like. However, when such tail gases are used as sources of diluted ethylene, they require to be pretreated to remove the impurities therein such as hydrogen sulfide, water, carbon dioxide and the like until the contents of them are below 10 ppm.
Zeolite having a structure intermediate that of ZSM-5 and ZSM-11(hereafter refered to as a ZSM-5/ZSM-11 intermediate), another zeolite product developed by Mobil Oil Corporation (U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,424), is prepared by using quaternary ammonium salt as template. The ZSM-5/ZSM-11 intermediate has a characteristic X-ray diffraction pattern and such structures intermediate that of ZSM-5(designated as I) and ZSM-11(designated as S) as SISI, SSII, IISIIISI, SSSISI, IISISI, etc., and it has, in anhydrous state, a chemical formula in terms of mole ratios of oxides as follows: 0.9.+-.0.3 M.sub.2/n O:Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 :ZSiO.sub.2, wherein M is a cation, preferably hydrogen or a hydrogen precursor, e.g, ammonium cation; n is the valence of the cation; and Z is at least 5 and may be up to 5000. It is taught in the patent that the cations in the zeolites can be replaced, at least in part, by ion exchange with other cations in accordance with techniques well-known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,607 further discloses the use of said zeolite in catalytic reactions, such as the conversion of methanol to gasoline, oligomerization of olefins, alkylation of aromatics, isomerization of xylene, catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons and the like.
In general, incorporation of rare earth elements into zeolites will increase the activity and stability of the zeolites. For example, REY zeolites obtained by ion-exchange treatment of NaY zeolites with RE.sup.3+ cation have higher cracking activity and hydrothermal stability than those of NaY zeolites (U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,996). However, with respect to such high silicon zeolites as ZSM-5, ZSM-11 and ZSM-5/ZSM-11, due to their high silica to alumina ratio and therefore less electric charge centers and high hydrophobility as well as smaller pore openings in the channel of zeolite, it is very difficult to incorporate such trivalent cations of large ionic radius as rare earth cations into the channel of those zeolites in aqueous medium by conventional ion-exchange techniques, thus RE.sup.3+ is less likely to coordinate with the electronegative centers of aluminium on the low density skeleton (P. Cho and F. G. Dwyer, ACS Symp. Ser., 218, 59-78, 1983). GB2,033,358A discloses the preparation of zeolite ZSM-5 containing metal, including trivalent metal, by adding salts of mineral acids including salts of trivalent metals to the raw materials of zeolite synthesis. And CN 89108836.9, CN 90104732.5 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,675 discloses the synthesis of high silicon ZSM-5 zeolites containing rare earth elements by employing rare earth-containing faujusite as crystal seed. So far, these have been the reports known to incorporate rare earth into ZSM-5 zeolite by synthesis instead of conventional ion-exchange techniques. But it has never been reported how a rare earth-containing zeolite with a cocrystalline structure of ZSM-5 and ZSM-11 can be directly synthesized.
An object of the invention is to provide a directly synthesized rare earth-containing zeolite with a cocrystalline structure of ZSM-5 and ZSM-11. Another object of the invention is to provide a process for preparing the zeolite. A further object of the invention is to provide uses of the zeolite in catalytic conversions.

Rare earth--ZSM-5/ZSM-11 cocrystalline zeolite

Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chineses Academy of Sciences


A method (300, 400) and a communication system (104, 106, 200) for dynamic RF spectrum allocation among a plurality of RF transmitters (108, 110, 112). A message can be received from a first communication system. The message can include a request (130) for available RF spectrum over which to transmit RF signals. The message can indicate a geographic location of a first non-incumbent transmitter (112) associated with the first communication system. Further, for the RF spectrum, a maximum power level can be determined at which the first non-incumbent transmitter may transmit without exceeding a threshold level of interference at least one focal point (134). A RF spectrum list (138) identifying at least the RF spectrum and the determined maximum power level can be communicated to the first communication system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wireless communication networks and, more particularly, to cognitive radio networks.
2. Background of the Invention
Over the past few decades, the primary format in which multimedia content is stored and distributed has been shifting away from an analog format toward a digital format. One of the many advantages of digitally coding multimedia content is that compression methods can be applied to reduce the amount of storage space and bandwidth required for multimedia data storage and transmission. Thus, multimedia content can be digitally broadcast with higher quality (e.g. high definition) and using less bandwidth as compared to traditional analog broadcasts.
With these benefits in mind, the U.S. Congress has mandated that high power television broadcasters shift their broadcast signals from analog to digital by February 2009, which will free up RF spectrum between the digital channels, also known as white spaces, for other uses. An exception has been reserved, however, for certain licensed incumbent users, such as low power television stations and translators, which primarily serve local regions. User's who wish to transmit in any of the white space spectrums must therefore insure that their transmissions do not interfere with the transmissions of licensed users.

Coexistence and incumbent protection in a cognitive radio network


A monitoring device configured to monitor a network to which plural controllers are connected which includes a decoder configured to extract target data belonging to a target data group from data received from the plural controllers, a first comparator configured to determine whether an immutable part of the target data is known or anomalous, a second comparator configured to determine whether a reception interval of the target data group is normal or anomalous, a third comparator configured to determine whether the number of the target data having been received and included in the target data group is normal or anomalous, and determine whether each reception interval between the target data is normal or anomalous, and a warning counter configured to individually count the number of anomalies determined by the first comparator, the number of anomalies determined by the second comparator, and the number of anomalies determined by the third comparator.

The present invention relates to a monitoring device, and more specifically to a monitoring device monitoring a network to which plural controllers are connected.
Various devices, including a controller, a sensor and the like, installed in a machine such as a vehicle are connected to a network, and information is exchanged between the devices. One representative example of network specifications for the above usage is a controller area network (CAN). Further, information collected in an internal network, such as the CAN, may be sent to an external server that processes the information.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The present invention provides a water trap device for a fuel cell vehicle, in which an anode outlet line is formed to penetrate the inside of a upper portion of a water trap and a coolant discharge pipe having a smaller diameter and extending toward the bottom of the water trap is integrally formed, such that residual coolant collected in the water trap is discharged through a coolant discharge pipe to a water trap outlet valve when residual hydrogen in the anode outlet line is discharged to the water trap outlet valve by the Bernoulli principle.

(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a water trap device for a fuel cell vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a water trap device for a fuel cell vehicle, which can simultaneously discharge residual hydrogen from a fuel cell stack and residual coolant collected in a water trap.
(b) Background Art
In a fuel cell stack for a fuel cell vehicle, a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is positioned at the most inner portion, the MEA including a solid polymer electrolyte membrane capable of transporting hydrogen protons, and catalyst layers, i.e., an anode and a cathode, formed on both sides of the electrolyte membrane to allow hydrogen and oxygen react with each other.
Moreover, a gas diffusion layer (GDL) is positioned at the outside of the MEA, i.e., on the surface where the cathode and the anode are positioned, and a separator having flow fields for supplying fuel and exhaust water produced by the reaction is positioned at the outside of the GDL.
Accordingly, an oxidation reaction of hydrogen occurs at the anode of a fuel cell to produce hydrogen ions and electrons, and a reduction reaction of oxygen occurs at the cathode receiving the hydrogen ions and electrons from the anode to produce water.
That is, hydrogen is supplied to the anode (also referred to as an oxidation electrode) and oxygen (air) is supplied to the cathode (also referred to as a reduction electrode). The hydrogen supplied to the anode is decomposed into hydrogen ions (protons, H+) and electrons (e−) by a catalyst of the electrode layer provided on both sides of the electrolyte membrane. At this time, only the hydrogen ions (protons, H+) are transmitted to the cathode through the electrolyte membrane which is a cation exchange membrane and, at the same time, the electrons (e−) are transmitted to the anode through the GDL and the separator, which are conductors.
Accordingly, at the cathode, the hydrogen ions supplied through the electrolyte membrane and the electrons transferred through the separator meet the oxygen in the air supplied to the cathode to cause a reaction to produce water.
Here, electrical energy is generated by the flow of the electrons through an external conducting wire due to the transfer of the hydrogen ions, and heat is additionally generated during the reaction.
Meanwhile, when an insulator which transfers the hydrogen ions to the oxygen supplied to the cathode is in a dry state, not in a wet state, the hydrogen ions are hard to transfer. Accordingly, moisture, i.e., deionized water for humidification is additionally required other than the water produced by the oxygen.
To this end, coolant for cooling and humidification flows in the fuel cell stack. Here, it is necessary to maintain the balance of the coolant so as not to cause a water shortage in the gas (hydrogen and oxygen) supplied to the fuel cell stack.
In general, since the water shortage affects the performance of the fuel cell stack and causes deterioration, the amount of water discharged to the outside of the fuel cell stack is designed to remain constant.
Accordingly, the residual coolant is collected in a water trap and, if the amount of the collected coolant exceeds a predetermined level, the coolant is automatically discharged to the outside. Here, if the residual coolant is not discharged smoothly, it affects the humidification balance, thus deteriorating the performance of the fuel cell stack.
Meanwhile, hydrogen supplied from a hydrogen tank is mixed with unreacted hydrogen discharged through an anode outlet line after the reaction in the fuel cell stack, and the mixed hydrogen is supplied to a hydrogen inlet of the fuel cell stack.
However, if the hydrogen discharged from the anode outlet line is continuously recirculated, the hydrogen density may be reduced. Accordingly, the hydrogen may be designed so as not to be recirculated, being discharged through a hydrogen vent valve and a silencer in accordance with a predetermined control logic.
The structure of a conventional water trap device and the operation of discharging residual coolant using the water trap will be described below.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional water trap device.
An anode outlet line 10 (hydrogen discharge line) mounted in a dispenser of a fuel cell stack 100 is connected to a hydrogen vent valve 40 and a silencer 50 in turn, and a coolant outlet line 30 of the dispenser of the fuel cell stack is connected to a water trap 20.
Moreover, a moisture removal line 60 for discharging moisture droplets contained in hydrogen to the water trap 20 is connected between the top of the water trap 20 and the anode outlet line 10.
First and second level sensors 70a and 70b are mounted on upper and lower portions of the water trap 20 respectively, and a water trap outlet valve 80 is mounted on a lower portion thereof.
Accordingly, when the first level sensor 70a detects a higher coolant level, the water trap outlet valve 80 is opened to discharge water. On the other hand, when the second level sensor 70b detects a lower coolant level, the water trap outlet valve 80 is closed.
The reason why the coolant is left in an amount that can be detected by the second level sensor 70b is to prevent the hydrogen discharged through the anode outlet line 10 from being discharged to the water trap 20 through the moisture removal line 60 for removing coolant moisture contained in the hydrogen in the anode outlet line 10. Accordingly, the hydrogen discharged through the anode outlet line 10 is transferred to the silencer 50 through the hydrogen vent valve 40. The conventional water trap device as described above has the following problems:
1) when the coolant left in the water trap is not removed due to a malfunction of the level sensor, it may deteriorate the performance of the fuel cell stack; and
2) since the hydrogen discharged through the anode outlet line has a pressure higher than the normal pressure, it requires the silencer for reducing discharge noise, the two level sensors, the moisture removal line connecting the anode outlet line to the water trap, thus increasing the manufacturing cost.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.


An apparatus for detecting abnormal radio-frequency signals has an antenna responsive to a radio-frequency signal. The radio frequency signal has a plurality of signal components, each of which has an associated amplitude. A circuit attenuates each of the plurality of signal components having an amplitude not greater than a threshold value and generates a suspect signal comprising each of the plurality of signal components having an amplitude greater than the threshold value. A circuit then compares the suspect signal to a plurality of preselected signal types. When the suspect signal does not correspond to any of the preselected signal types, a circuit generates an alarm. In a method of detecting usage of a radio-frequency weapon, a signal having an amplitude, is received. A background signal amplitude of a plurality of components of the signal is determined. The signal is filtered to generate a filtered signal corresponding only to signal components of the plurality of signal components having amplitudes greater than a preselected margin greater than the amplitude of the background signal. The filtered signal is compared to a plurality of known signals. When the filtered signal does not correspond to any of the plurality of known signals, an alarm is generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic countermeasures and, more specifically, to devices used to detect harmful electromagnetic signals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The United States has been a tempting terrorist target for decades. With the successful attack on the New York Trade Center in February 1993 there has been speculation by terrorism experts that attacks against the U.S. may increase. At the same time, a weapon is now available to subversive organizations against which there are few defenses. In fact, apart from the catastrophe itself, the weapon will leave no evidence of the attack.
Advanced electronic systems, such as aircraft control systems, are increasingly vulnerable to interference by electromagnetic radiation. Radio frequency (RF) power has been shown in many Department of Defense (DoD) and Department Of Energy (DOE) studies to be a threat to the proper operation of modem electronic systems. As circuits have become more densely packaged, more energy efficient and operate at higher speeds, they've experienced an associated increase in vulnerability and susceptibility to perturbations from non ionizing radiation.
This inherent vulnerability to RF power has spawned research internationally in optimizing transmitters for use as weapons. RF weapons have been developed by NATO and former Soviet nations. The effectiveness of many of these weapons is documented in studies sponsored by DoD and DOE organizations. Anecdotal data suggest RF weapons may have been deployed successfully in combat.
The effects of a successful RF weapon attack are unpredictable. The goal of RF weapons is merely to disrupt their victim system, with the specific result being of secondary importance. The end result varies widely depending on the victim system. In some cases, computers may be reset. In other cases, local oscillators may be driven off frequency, navigation systems misguided, safety sensors incorrectly set or reset, faulty data recorded or control systems given erroneous inputs. In the case of airliners, intended victim subsystems provide control of elevators, thrust reversals, etc.
The significance of the perturbation is proportional to the importance of the system corrupted. A portable compact disc player may react by garbling music or changing the track it is playing. Were a similar amount of energy directed at a commercial aircraft, the plane's control and navigation systems could be corrupted enough to cause a crash.
Another important similarity shared by vulnerable systems involves post-attack evidence. There typically is none. Although the perturbation of the victim system is indisputable while subjected to the RF field, the affected circuits rarely show damage. This makes identification of the cause extremely difficult. Failures appear to be anomalies with no traceable cause. One aspect of a successful RF weapon attack is that no evidence remains to incriminate the perpetrator.
The effects of even low level electric fields have long been recognized by the civil aviation community. Regulations prohibiting airline passengers from using radio receivers in flight are in response to the threat such systems pose to the plane's electronics systems. Superheterodyne receivers, such as those in commercial AM/FM radios, contain small local oscillators, which generate RF energy. Signals generated by the local oscillators are small. Signals escaping the radio as RF energy are unintentional and therefore likely to be smaller still. Even these small RF signals threaten the stability and reliability of the aircraft's electronics.
As aircraft become more advanced, their vulnerability increases. As the electronics become more integral with the actual control of the plane, the results can be more catastrophic. Boeing claims that the Boeing 757 can take off, fly to its destination and land itself without pilot intervention. Indeed, the plethora of gauges formerly found in the cockpit has been mostly replaced by a single screen. On-board computers decide what information the pilot needs to see displayed on the screen. Many of the moment to moment decisions made in flying a plane have been shifted to built-in electronics. Disrupting these systems can cause a plane to execute erroneous commands resulting in a crash.
As aircraft electronics systems are becoming more sensitive, the population of potential sources of interference is exploding. Portable Electronic Devices PEDs) commonly used in flight include laptop computers, hand held games, telephones, personal organizers, compact disc players, etc. Many of these PEDs emit RF energy. Instances of PEDs apparent interference with on board electronics systems have become increasingly common.
Similar to an RF weapon attack, no evidence of the disruption remains for analysis after the interfering signal stops. This has made locating failures difficult. Cockpit personnel have resorted to going through the cabin and asking individual passengers to turn off their PED. Correlating the aircraft's return to normal operation with which PED was disabled simultaneously has been the most powerful tool in identifying the source of the problem.
The population of cellular phone users is also exploding. Cellular phones are RF transmitters, and are prohibited from use in flight. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, (Mar. 8, 1993 p 33): "Narratives from the incidents involving cellular phones show that the pilots noticed a clear cause and effect relationship between cellular/navigation interference and a cellular phone being illegally used in the cabin."
RF weapons are an ideal tool for terrorists. They present a combination of: (1) a proven vulnerability in one of terrorists' favorite targets--airliners; (2) the fact that ground based systems can allow a non-suicidal attack; and (3) the fact that the cause for the attack cannot be identified.
Announced restrictions of PEDs during approach and takeoff indicate and advertise when the aircraft is at greatest risk. Coincidentally, it also represents the terrorist's greatest opportunity. If on-board systems have been disrupted by PEDs inadvertently emitting fractions of watts, an attack focusing billions of watts on the plane may also disrupt the systems. During approach and takeoff, vulnerability is increased by low airspeed and altitude. Pilots have less time to react to system failures and few options to exercise. During this critical phase, the planes are over uncontrolled ground and at close range. This provides the terrorist access.
The lack of residual evidence is critically important to terrorists. It increases the probability of success for subsequent attacks, since potential targets will not be able to identify the risk against which they must protect themselves. At the same time, it decreases the probability of apprehension during any attack.
There are a number of weapons of mass destruction that terrorists would like to use, but are controlled by the sane powers in the world. This is generally done by tightly limiting access to critical technology or components. In some cases, the weapon system is too expensive or visible for a subversive organization to procure.
None of these safeguards are applicable to RF weapons. The technology was explored on both sides of the iron curtain under strict security for some time. In the past few years, however, the technology has moved into the physics labs of universities in the West. This provides a subversive organization with the opportunity to learn how to build such a system from scratch, using no controlled components or subsystems.
More recently, an even greater opportunity emerged. The former Soviet Union is selling most of its technology on the open market. In June 1993 a large sale in London reportedly featured many technologies that had been closely guarded secrets. A subversive may no longer need to learn how to build an RF weapon. Already tested RF weapons may be available for use. Scientists who developed the Soviet systems are also available, having lost their jobs with the collapse of their government. These experts represent a pool of highly skilled operators for RF weapons that have been acquired through the open market or left on battlefields.
On Mar. 3, 1991, United Airlines flight 585 crashed on approach to Colorado Springs. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has not been able to determine a cause for the crash. Their studies show the controls responding erratically and they are unable to reproduce the conditions of the crash in a simulator. Pilot autopsies and cockpit voice recordings indicate that the flight crew was competent and actively responding to the malfunctions. These are the exact indications an RF weapon attack might cause and the same residual evidence in the aftermath.
While UAL 585 may have crashed for reasons other than an RF weapon attack, it serves as an illustration of how such an attack would look. The flight crew had complete loss of control of the plane. Something besides pilot input caused the plane to bank sharply and crash in an almost directly nose-down attitude. Data show the plane pulled 4 g's in turning and was actually headed slightly in the opposite direction from its intended path when it crashed.
Detection of RF weapon emissions is difficult. The weapon is designed to produce the maximum amount of power possible, and to concentrate the power into the shortest possible pulse. Without information of when a pulse will occur or what the frequency it will be, most receivers cannot detect the use of such a weapon. Indeed, the weapon's probable effectiveness is inversely proportional to its probability of being detected by most receivers.
An effective detector must respond to short pulses individually. Pulses are likely to be much less than a microsecond in duration. Although the pulse width is likely to be short, the time between pulses can be expected to be long. Furthermore, one pulse may differ significantly from the next pulse. Each pulse must be considered a separate event for detection.
Defense studies have shown large scale "hardening" of electronic circuits against RF interference is difficult. Furthermore, a victim system's vulnerability is highly frequency dependent. Individual design and manufacturing details of the victim system inadvertently "tune" it to be sensitive to particular frequencies. Disrupting the victim system depends on locating and exploiting these vulnerable frequencies.
Generally, frequencies of vulnerability must be found experimentally. For the RF terrorist, this means a trial and error process of picking a frequency, attacking a plane and watching for an effect. During this experimentation phase, the terrorist has a low probability of success. However, without sensors deployed to detect his trials, he has even less probability of being discovered.
Once a frequency of vulnerability is identified, the probability of success for subsequent attacks increases dramatically. A goal of modern design and manufacturing processes is uniformity. Because a given model of aircraft has common design parameters, every aircraft of a given model has certain common vulnerabilities. Thus, before finding frequencies of vulnerability, the probability of success is relatively low. A quantum change in that probability occurs with the identification of the first such frequency. The terrorist's probability of apprehension is unaffected by the identification of such frequencies, however. The risk of being caught is solely dependent on the fielding of equipment that can detect his emissions.
The effects of on-board transmitters, such as cellular telephones, can have the same effect if the plane has systems sensitive to the transmitted frequency. The risk is mitigated somewhat by the relatively few frequencies that must be accounted for. It is amplified, however, by the size of the population owning cellular telephones and being tempted to use them during the most dangerous part of the flight, final approach. Making a "quick" phone call ahead to confirm hotels and ground transportation may seem innocent, but it has the potential to cause the flight crew to loose control at a critical part of the flight.
No device exists which generates an alarm upon receipt of a radio-frequency signal having an amplitude above a predetermined threshold and not matching any known signals of high amplitude.

Method and apparatus for detecting radio-frequency weapon use


The method is for sending information through a topology. A first and second node each having a first node having a first access port, a second access port and a first uplink connected to a first router and a second router, respectively. A third node is provided that has a first access port and a first uplink, the first uplink of the third node being connected to the second access port of the first node. A first packet is sent via the first access port to the second node. The second node adds a first port number to a tag of the first packet and sends the first packet via the first uplink of the second node to the first access port of the first node. The first node receives the first packet via the first access port of the first node. The first node adds the first port number to the tag and adds a first port number of the first access port of the first node to the tag. The first node sends the first packet via the first uplink of the first node to a first router.

Metro networks are often organized in two levels including metro access and metro core systems. Metro access networks are deployed near the end customer while metro core networks aggregate several access networks deployed in different parts of the metro area. The metro core systems also host the gateway(s) to the wide area backbone network. Currently the dominating technology to connect individual customers and businesses to the Internet is a leased 1.5 or 2.0 Mbps TDM circuits from the customer premises to the provider edge node, that is, router or a switch located in the point-of-presence (POP). The edge equipment is populated with channelized TDM interface cards. This TDM circuit, with limited and relatively expensive capacity, is a bottleneck. The access circuit is provisioned separately from the provisioning of the network service, such as an IP service, leading to high operational overhead. When several circuits are aggregated in the TDM access network, statistical sharing of capacity is not possible due to the fixed nature of TDM circuits. Statistical multiplexing of the traffic can occur only first after the traffic reaches the router. The channelized TDM interfaces include complex hardware that monitors each circuit individually but makes line cards expensive.
The capacity bottleneck of the TDM system may be avoided by migrating to a high-capacity packet-based access infrastructure, such as Ethernet. Ethernet equipment is low cost, high capacity, and widely deployed in the industry. Ethernet switches forwards packets based on the destination address. Ethernet switches are intended for friendly enterprise environments and include a number of automatic features in order to ease the installation and operation of the network. However, these automatic features become problematic in large scale operator environments. The automatic features do not scale to large infrastructures and needs sometimes to be disengaged to increase security. This requires manual configuration of possibly a large number of individual units. One specific example of an automatic feature of Ethernet switches is that they dynamically learn each unique source address of the packets received in order to optimize the forwarding of traffic. It is sometimes necessary to disengage this learning process to prevent customers from being able to communicate directly with each other without going through a service provider. In summary, problems with basic Ethernet switches include: no support for customer separation; low degree of security due to the fact that cross traffic directly between end-customers is allowed; dynamic address learning may open up for DoS attacks; and requires distributed element management and service creation due to the fact that a potential large set of distributed units needs to be configured and managed; and the standard based Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) based restoration is slow.
The method of the present invention provides a solution to the above-outlined problems. More particularly, the method is for sending information through a topology. A first and second node each having a first access port, a second access port and a first uplink connected to a first router and a second router, respectively. A third node is provided that has a first access port and a first uplink, the first uplink of the third node being connected to the second access port of the first node. A first packet is sent via the first access port to the third node. The third node adds a first port number to a first section of a tag of the first packet and sends the first packet via the first uplink of the third node to the first access port of the first node. The first node receives the first packet via the first access port of the first node. The first node shifting the first port number to a second section of the tag and adds a first port number of the first access port of the first node to the first section of the tag. The first node sends the first packet via the first uplink of the first node to a first router.

Method of sending information through a tree and ring topology of a network system


The present invention relates to provision of a method and/or a device for transmitting and receiving a broadcast signal on the basis of color gamut resampling. The method for transmitting a broadcast signal, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises the steps of: resampling first color gamut-based content data into second color gamut-based content data; generating signaling information which includes color gamut resampling information indicating information on the resampling; respectively.

With increasing development of digital technology and communication technology, multimedia content based on audio/video (A/V) data has rapidly come into widespread use in various technical regions (e.g., broadcasts, movies, Internet, personal media, etc.) and the number of users who desire to use multimedia content is also rapidly increasing. In addition, with widespread use of 3DTV/3D movies capable of providing users with a stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) effect, immersive media capable of providing the users with the 3D effect and stereo sound is rapidly increasing. In addition, as the TV screen is gradually increased in size in proportion to the increasing development of display technology, the number of users who desire high-quality content such as high definition (HD) content is also rapidly increasing. Therefore, many developers and companies are conducting intensive research into technology of immersive broadcasting TVs (such as 3DTVs and UHDTVs (Ultra High Definition TVs)) as next generation broadcast services to prepare for the Post-HDTV market. Specifically, in recent times, a variety of research into UHD (Ultra High Definition) broadcast services has been developed.
With increasing development of UHD displays and transceivers, UHD services have been intensively researched. An ultra high definition (UHD) broadcast may be distinguished from a legacy broadcast and provide a high sense of realism, by expressing colors and/or brightness which cannot be expressed in legacy content. However, many developers and companies are conducting intensive research into Wide Color Gamut (WCG) and/or High Dynamic Range (HDR) images and display devices for displaying WCG and/or HDR images.
UHD broadcasting aims to provide TV viewers with higher-quality images, higher-quality colors, and higher sense of immersion in a wider variety of aspects than conventional HD broadcasting. Therefore, a UHD broadcast associated standard has recently been established to define wider color gamut than in conventional TVs. UHD content can provide TV viewers with the best information similar to the original color directly obtained through HVS (Human Visual System), such that it can provide the TV viewers with higher-quality images and a greater sense of immersion. Although the current broadcast system is designed to perform various post-processing steps needed to implement color enhancement, prior to transmission of the content for optimum color implementation, the current broadcast system has difficulty in perfectly expressing various colors due to a difference in environment between the actual display environment of each user and the manufacturing environment of the content manufacturer. In order to provide improved broadcast services in UHD broadcast in a different way from the legacy HD broadcast, there have been intensively discussed various technologies for providing TV viewers with immersive content and a high sense of realism in various technical aspects. As a representative method for creating the content brightness expression range similar to visual sense of the TV viewer, there is a need to discuss and study High Dynamic Range (HDR).
Since a WCG based image format standard has recently been established, it will take a long period of time to rapidly spread WCG based image acquisition devices and WCG based display devices. Therefore, UHD service transmission standards will be established in consideration of future compatibility. In this case, video data having legacy color gamut may be supplied using the WCG transmission format. For this purpose, a method for providing a high-quality service in consideration of the display environment through proper processing of a receiver is needed.
In legacy analog broadcasting and SDTV/HDTV, the standard color gamut, has been established simultaneously with development of video service technology, such that the same color gamut has been used in image acquisition, post-processing, transmission, and display in legacy analog broadcasting and SDTV/HDTV. In other words, a color gamut matching a target service is present. Thus, if a production and/or a transmitter performs post-processing on the basis of the matched color gamut and transmits the post-processed result, a difference in color gamut between respective steps need not be considered. However, various color gamuts have been considered in UHD for example, REC.709 currently used in HDTVs, BT.2020 established as UHDTV standard, DCI-P3 including an intermediate range of HDTV and UHDTV, xvYCC, etc. The legacy image acquisition devices support only REC.709 based color gamuts, and the legacy display supports only REC.709 based images. As described above, it will takes a long period of time to introduce BT.2020 into the image acquisition device and the output device. In this case, considering the future compatibility problems, there is a need to research and develop services capable of supporting the above-mentioned two cases in a single broadcast service.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and device for transmitting and receiving broadcast signal on basis of color gamut resampling