A radio communication analyzer tests the signal characteristics of a carrier, as a target signal to be tested, which has undergone quadrature modulation using a digital data signal output from a radio unit to be tested. A quadrature demodulation section performs quadrature demodulation of the target signal and outputs a baseband signal. A storage section stores the waveform data of the baseband signal. A clock synchronous detection section detects clock synchronization information contained in the target signal based on the waveform data. A demodulation section sequentially reads out the waveform data and obtains demodulated digital data in accordance with the clock synchronization information. A burst synchronous detection section generates burst synchronization information representing a burst start position of the target signal on the basis of the demodulated digital data or the waveform data.

The present invention relates to a radio communication analyzer having a function of testing the function of a radio unit and, more particularly, to a radio communication analyzer for testing the signal characteristics of a target signal (to be tested) obtained by phase modulation of a carrier wave with a digital data signal.
In order to effectively use communication lines, TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) is used as a communication scheme between a base station and a radio unit as a mobile terminal, e.g., a car phone or a portable telephone, used in a mobile communication system.
As such TDMA schemes, PDC, PHS, GSM, and the like are used in practice. A burst signal having a signal interval T.sub.1 and a non-signal interval T.sub.2 set in one signal period T.sub.0 like the one shown in FIG. 3 is exchanged between a base station and each radio unit (substation).
In this burst signal, digital data to be transmitted, which consists of "1" or "0", is converted into a digital baseband signal (to be referred to as a digital data signal hereinafter) with a predetermined clock signal. Quadrature modulation of a high-frequency carrier is performed by using this digital data signal. The resultant signal is then inserted in the signal interval (burst interval) T.sub.1 of the burst signal.
In a radio communication analyzer that measures the signal transmitted from each radio unit to a base station to check whether it has signal characteristics complying with certain standards, the analyzer receives the burst signal output from the radio unit as a target signal, and measures various characteristics and precisions of the target signal.
The measurement items concerning characteristics and precisions to be measured in the conventional techniques roughly fall into the following three categories:
(a) measurement of inphase and quadrature components on a coordinate system to check whether a carrier is properly phase-modulated with a digital data signal (data on the I/Q coordinate system will be referred to as I/Q coordinate data, and measurement of such data will be referred to as I/Q coordinate data measurement);
(b) power measurement, e.g., measurement of the amplitude of a target signal; and
(c) frequency measurement of a target signal.
Note that I/Q coordinate data measurement includes measurement of modulation precision, frequency deviation, and the like, and power measurement includes measurement of antenna power deviation, carrier-off interval leakage power, ramp-up/ramp-down characteristics, and the like.
Frequency measurement includes measurement of occupied bandwidth, adjacent channel leakage power, and the like.
In general, measurement is mainly performed in the quadrature modulation (phase) domain (a), the amplitude domain (b), and the frequency domain (c) because of easy implementation of measuring devices.
According to a general technique of performing each of the above measurements in a radio communication analyzer, the analyzer is set in a measurement mode for one measurement category to measure the respective characteristics and precisions in the set measurement category.
More specifically, when, for example, the antenna power deviation, carrier-off interval leakage power, and ramp-up/ramp-down characteristics in the power measurement category are to be measured, a clock signal for a digital data signal is regenerated from a received target signal, and a burst start signal indicating the start of a burst interval is regenerated.
Signal acquisition positions for the target signal are specified by this clock signal, and the burst start position of the target signal is specified by the burst start signal.
Subsequently, the antenna power deviation during the burst interval (carrier-on interval), carrier-off interval leakage power indicating power during the burst-off interval (carrier-off interval), and burst rise/fall characteristics are calculated.
It is then checked whether the obtained characteristics meet the standards.
When measurement processing for the respective characteristics and precisions concerning the respective measurement items belonging to one measurement category is complete, the radio communication analyzer is set in a measurement mode for the next measurement category to start measurement of the respective characteristics and precisions in the set measurement category.
As described above, the measurement modes of the radio communication analyzer are sequentially switched to measure the respective characteristics and precisions in the respective measurement categories, as needed.
The following problems remain to be solved in the above radio communication analyzer.
In the respective measurement categories described above, precision and error measurements are independently performed. However, even characteristic measurement and precision measurement concerning different measurement categories sometimes include a common procedure for processing a target signal.
For example, the clock signal and the burst start signal must be detected in both the power measurement category and the I/Q coordinate data measurement category described above.
Every time the radio communication analyzer is switched to a mode corresponding to one of the above measurement categories, detection processing for the same clock signal and the same burst start signal must be executed, resulting in a deterioration in measurement efficiency.
Assume that the respective measurement items belonging to a plurality of measurement categories are to be executed. In this case, when the operator designates one measurement category, the respective characteristics and precisions in the designated measurement category are measured. When the measurement is complete, the measurement results are displayed on a display unit.
The operator then designates the next measurement category to execute measurement of the respective characteristics and precisions in the designated measurement category.
In this manner, the operator sequentially designates the respective measurement categories, and checks the measurement results on the display screen. That is, the operator must repeatedly execute such a series of complicated operations. The measurement efficiency may therefore greatly deteriorate.
In addition, since measurement is executed for the respective measurement categories on the basis of data of a target signal in different time zones, the measurement is performed for different target signals in effect. In the strict sense, since the respective measurement results are not obtained from the same target signal, the test results cannot be compared/collated.

Radio communication analyzer having collective measurement function of transmission test items


A lighting device includes a light emitting element; a first lens that captures and emits light generated by the light emitting element; and a second lens that captures light emitted from the first lens and emits the light in a predetermined direction. The first lens includes a first-lens-entrance through which the light generated by the light emitting element enters, a first lens exit that emits the light entered from the first-lens-entrance and transmitted through an inside of the first lens, and a plurality of first-lens-side-portion-wall-surfaces that are provided between the first-lens-entrance and the first lens exit. The plurality of first-lens-side-portion-wall-surfaces include a reflection-side-surface-portion that reflects the light entered the inside of the first lens from the first-lens-entrance, and a side surface portion that is configured to allow light having a luminous intensity smaller than a luminous intensity of light entering the reflection-side-surface-portion to enter.

As a vehicular headlamp (so-called headlight), for example, a lighting device described in PTL 1 is used. FIG. 15 is a sectional view of lighting device 100 described in PTL 1. Lighting device 100 is configured of light emitting diode (LED) 101, board 102, reflecting plate 103, and opening 104. Light diverging from LED 101 is reflected by reflecting plate 103 and is applied in a predetermined direction through opening 104.
Here, since most of light diverged from LED 101 is reflected by reflecting plate 103 and is applied in the predetermined direction, a luminous intensity gradient of light distribution of lighting device 100 is steep and a boundary between light and dark is conspicuous. Therefore, when a plurality of lighting devices 100 are provided, there is a problem that a luminous intensity gradient of combined light distribution is steep and streak unevenness occurs in the light distribution. Here, the streak unevenness refers to a bright light or a dark line generated between the light distributions of the plurality of lighting devices, for example, when a road surface is irradiated. Such streak unevenness occurs, so that an unnatural pattern appears on a road surface and visibility of a driver is deteriorated.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An image capturing device includes an assistant image synthesizing unit that changes a degree of transparency of a first assistant image in a transparent background area set in a second assistance image, when generating a synthesized assistant image by synthesizing the first and second assistant images providing assistance information for capturing, and a display control unit that overlaps the synthesized assistant image with a captured image and displays the image on a display unit.

The present disclosure relates to an image capturing device, a program, and an image capturing method.
Generally, an image capturing device such as a digital camera is provided with a display unit such as back panel using, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like, and an electronic finder. In the display unit, it is possible to display a captured image output by an image capturing element in a live view, and to overlap and display assistance information for capturing, such as a photographing mode and a zoom magnification with the captured image.
Using such a display unit, for example, a technique of providing a user with information assisting determination of an image capturing composition by a user has been developed. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-279767, a technique of overlapping and displaying an assistant line such as a grid pattern with a captured image in an electronic finder is described. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-33507, a technique of overlapping and displaying a figure image such as a graticule arbitrarily drawn by a user in the same manner is described. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-36983, a technique of synthesizing and displaying a scale mark, a graticule, or the like according to each lens with a captured image in a lens-exchangeable digital camera is described.

Image capturing device and associated methodology for displaying a synthesized assistant image


A constrained ripple spring assembly 26 is disposed in the radial slots 12 of a dynamoelectric machine and radially between the windings 14 and the wedges 20 maintaining the windings in the slots. The ripple springs 28 are adhesively secured to flat surfaces, for example, the underside of the wedges or one or two filler strips 30, 32, such that the spring assemblies are substantially flat upon insertion. At a predetermined elevated temperature, the adhesive bond is broken, enabling the spring to expand into a natural corrugated shape to apply a radial loading against the wedges and winding.

In generators for power generating equipment, one or more windings are typically provided in a plurality of generally radially and axially extending, circumferentially spaced, slots. The windings are maintained within these slots by sets of wedges located partially in complementary surfaces adjacent the openings of the slots. The slots are disposed in the rotor and stator of the dynamoelectric machine. In the following description, the invention is described with respect to stator bars in stator slots, although it will be appreciated that the invention has like applicability to windings in the rotor slots.
Radial space in the stator slots is taken up by filler strips held in the slots between the wedges and the stator windings. As the generator ages, the materials will typically creep and shrink, tending to open up spaces between the stator bars, filler strips and wedges. In early machines of this type, flat filler strips were employed. However, in a short period of time, for example, within one or two years, the parts would become loose and it was necessary to remove the wedges, apply additional filler strips and re-wedge the machine. That process was oftentimes repeated.
Radial ripple springs have been previously used in order to progressively take up the clearance in the slots caused by creepage and shrinkage of the materials whereby a tight stator bar, filler strip and wedge arrangement may be maintained in the slot. When first installed, the radial ripple springs are compressed to about 80% of their full compression. As the various parts of the winding shrink, creep and settle, the springs expand and maintain radially opposed forces on the winding and wedges, respectively. Thus, radial ripple springs serve to provide follow-up forces where clearances would otherwise grow as the generator ages.
Because the current assembly procedures require the ripple springs to be compressed during the wedging process, the procedures are tedious and laborious. For example, it is first determined how much space there is between the wedges and stator bar. This is accomplished by disposing filler strips in the space. Once that dimension is determined, the filler strips are removed so that the ripple springs can be inserted in their stead. To insert the ripple springs into the machine, the springs are typically located between a pair of flat fillers. With these composite fillers and ripple springs disposed in the stator slots, the wedges are driven longitudinally along the slots, compressing the ripple springs. Currently, about 80% of the compressive force of the springs can be compressed by this wedging process, although the radial inward force on the stator wedges during installation makes it difficult to drive or displace the wedges longitudinally along the slot. Consequently, the more compression the spring is initially subjected to, the more difficult it is to drive the wedges. Further, efforts to drive the wedges to compress the springs to more than 80% of their full compression has resulted in radial forces so high that the material of the wedges will start to de-laminate. Thus, there is a practical limit to the degree of compression to which the ripple springs may be subjected during installation. Further, there is no readily suitable method for checking the spring compression when the assembly is complete.

Constrained ripple spring assembly with debondable adhesive and methods of installation


The invention concerns a structure comprising at least one metallic surface which undergoes cathodic protection and a protective coating for said surface, said coating comprising a polymer including micro-capsules containing compounds sensitive to the electric field generated by the cathodic protection and capable of reacting in an alkaline medium to form a protective layer on the surface of the structure when it is in direct contact with a corrosive medium.

Self-repairing materials taking their inspiration from living systems are known in which minor damage causes an automatic self-repair response, fracturing, cutting, etc. . . ).
An intelligent system based on similar principles would be very interesting for structures including an organic coating, whereby cracking or delamination of said coating could be at least partially repaired or wherein effects could be reduced without manual intervention. Such a coating with a self-repairing capacity could be considered to endow the protected structure with a substantially increased service life.
Two major self-repairing material concepts exist. The first consists of closing the crack, the second in filling it.
In the case of closing the crack, the two faces are drawn together to remove the stress concentration at the bottom of the crack: without such stress concentration, the crack cannot propagate. The two faces can be brought together by shape memory materials (metallic alloy or polymer).
When filling a crack, the crack is filled with a repair agent. The latter is a cross-linkable polymer, generally of the same nature as the coating, which will form a chemical bond between the two faces of the crack. It may also be a solvent, preferably for thermoplastics, which will cause the polymer chains either side of the crack to diffuse (in this case there is no cross linking/bonding between the two faces).
In the context of self-repairing materials using a repair agent, three points are crucial to implementation:                storing the repair agent;        transporting said agent to the crack; and        initiating the repair action.
In the literature, repair agents are stored in hollow spheres or micro-capsules within the polymer and can repair the polymer in the event of a crack.
As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,518,330 describes a polymer comprising inclusions of micro-capsules or hollow spheres filled with a polymerizable agent and particles of a catalyst for the polymerization reaction.
In a further example which is similar to the preceding example, United States patent application US-A-2004/0007784 describes a polymer in which the catalyst particles are bonded to the surface of micro-capsules containing the polymerizable agent.
For such storage systems, the repair reaction is caused by the stress field in the crack. This causes the hollow spheres to break. The repair agent is then transported along the crack by capillary forces and polymerizes under the effect of the catalyst, thus plugging the crack.
Finally, in the case of such self-repairing materials it is necessary to have a repair agent in situ which is close to any possible cracks and ready to react during alteration of the material.
In the more particular case of structures comprising at least one metallic surface protected from external corrosion by cathodic protection, in accordance with the invention it is more particularly proposed to develop an assembly comprising an anti-corrosion coating for said surfaces in a corrosive medium (water, land) which is also protective and self-repairing. A typical use for said assembly, for example, concerns the protection of pipelines placed in seawater or buried, for the transport of effluents.
Effluent conduits and steel installations may be protected by the joint action of a coating and cathodic protection. The latter consists of placing the metallic surface under a sufficiently low electrical potential, ideally less than −0.8 V, and preferably in the range −0.8 V to −1.1 V/(Ag/AgCl), to minimize corrosion.
As an example, in the particular case of steel oil pipelines which are submerged in the sea, they are often protected from corrosion by the presence of a coating and by using cathodic protection. The latter consists of applying a potential that artificially places the metallic surface of the pipeline outside its corrosion potential, thus rendering it less corrodible than it was initially.                Cathodic protection may be achieved in two different manners:                    either by bringing the structure into contact with a second metal at a potential which is lower than that of the metal comprising the structure, which is then generally designated by the term "sacrificial anode";            or by applying an impressed current which renders corrosion of the metal comprising the structure impossible.
According to the principle of cathodic protection, when cathodic protection is applied, the oxidation reaction (equation [1]) of the metal composing the wall (termed a metal in the present description) is discouraged and oxygen reduction (equation [2]) and/or proton reduction (equation [3]) is encouraged, or even water reduction at a very low potential (equation [4]). In practice, it is very difficult to control the applied potential, which sometimes leads to cathodic overprotection when the potential is too negative.oxidation of metal (corrosion): M=>M2++2e−  [1]reduction of oxygen: O2+2H2O+4e−=>4OH−  [2]proton reduction: 2H++e−=>H2  [3]water reduction: 2H2O+2e−=>2OH−+H2  [4]
If the coating has a defect such as micro-cracking caused, for example, during application of the coating, laying the structure, contact with the seabed or the land or by ageing of the coating, OH ions will become concentrated at the coating/metallic surface interface at the defect. The significant increase in pH in said zone has the effect of causing greater or lesser loss of adhesion of the coating, risking its detachment sooner or later.
On the one hand, the production of hydrogen associated with proton reduction (equation [3]) or, in the case of cathodic overprotection, the reduction of water (equation [4]) has the result of reducing the metal oxides present on the structure surface, this phenomenon causing a loss of adhesion of the coating on the metal and detachment thereof. In extreme cases, a high concentration of hydrogen may also cause breakage of the metallic structure.

Self-repairing structure and coating for corrosive medium

Abstract: The invention also concerns the coating associated with said structure.


Automated closet systems and related methods that use digital imagery, RFID/barcode identification of garment hangers, and computer-controlled conveyors, to provide for image-based garment storage and retrieval. Digital garment photographs are stored in a database. Hangers have a unique RFID/barcode tag and hold garments. The RFID/barcode tag of each hanger is correlated to a garment photograph to which the hanger is assigned. A storage closet has a storage conveyer on which hangers are disposed. A pickup and loading station has a conveyer coupled to the storage conveyer that is used to transfer hangers to and from the storage conveyer. A control unit, such as a wireless touchscreen, is used during storage to initiate photographing, scanning, and transfer of garments to the storage closet. During retrieval, a user searches through digital images displayed on the control unit to find a stored garment for retrieval. Selection of a particular garment identifies a particular RFID/barcode tag. The RFID/barcode tag is passed to a conveyer controller that retrieves the hanger located in the referenced location and delivers it to the pick-up station.

The present invention relates generally to clothing storage systems, and more particularly, to an automated closet system.
Conveyor rack system have heretofore been used in the garment cleaning industry to hold cleaned garments for pickup by customers. Similarly, RFID tags have heretofore been used for various purposes in conjunction with garment conveyors. Photo based libraries of garments have not been used in a garment retrieval or closet system. It would be desirable to have a system that merges these technologies to provide an improved automated closet system.


The present invention is directed to a mild, efficient, and general direct C(sp)-H bond silylation. Various embodiments includes methods, each method comprising or consisting essentially of contacting at least one organic substrate comprising a terminal alkynyl C—H bond, with a mixture of at least one organosilane and an alkali metal hydroxide, under conditions sufficient to form a silylated terminal alkynyl moiety. The methods are operable in the substantially absence of transition-metal compounds. The systems associated with these methods are also disclosed.

The ability to silylate organic moieties has attracted significant attention in recent years, owing to the utility of the silylated materials in their own rights or as intermediates for other important materials used, for example, in agrichemical, pharmaceutical, and electronic material applications.
Over the past several decades, considerable effort has been allocated to the development of powerful catalyst architectures to accomplish a variety of C—H functionalization reactions, revolutionizing the logic of chemical synthesis and consequently streamlining synthetic chemistry. Accomplishing such challenging transformations can often necessitate the use of stoichiometric additives, demanding reaction conditions, complex ligands, and most notably precious metal precatalysts. Notably, the need to use precious metal catalysts for these transformations remains a fundamental and longstanding limitation.
Strategies for the synthesis of ethynylsilanes have employed strong bases or have relied on stoichiometric or catalytic transition metal species such as Pt, Zn, Au, and Ir, typically using various pre-activated organosilicon coupling partners at high temperatures. Inexpensive and commercially available hydrosilanes have been investigated, however this particular silicon source has introduced new challenges: the requisite in situ Si—H bond activation necessitates exogenous bases, sacrificial hydrogen acceptors or oxidants, and elevated temperatures (i.e., 80-120° C.). Moreover, undesired hydrosilylation of the alkyne can be competitive, further complicating catalyst and reaction design. These factors have led to important limitations in scope and practical utility. For example, substrate classes important in pharmaceuticals and natural products applications such as aliphatic amines and nitrogen heterocycles are notably absent in the aforementioned reports. Despite the inherent acidity of terminal acetylenes, the development of a mild and general stoichiometric or catalytic method for cross-dehydrogenative C(sp)-Si bond formation remains a longstanding challenge in the field.
The present invention takes advantage of the discoveries cited herein to avoid at least some of the problems associated with previously known methods.

Base-catalyzed silylation of terminal alkyne C—H bonds


An acoustic absorption structure comprising a plurality of resonators. Each resonator comprises a first chamber which has a first mouthpiece delimited by an edge pressed against an inner surface of a porous zone of a skin so that the first chamber and the skin delimit a first cavity, a second chamber, in which is positioned the first chamber, which delimits, with the first chamber, a second cavity, at least one acoustic orifice passing through the first chamber, at least one drainage orifice passing through the first chamber and at least one drainage hole passing the second chamber, each drainage orifice and each drainage hole being configured to limit an accumulation of fluid in the resonator. Also, an aircraft propulsive assembly or an aircraft comprising the acoustic absorption structure are provided.

According to an embodiment of the prior art, a propulsive assembly comprises a nacelle and a turbofan engine, positioned inside the nacelle and having, at the rear, a primary ejection duct through which the waste gases from the combustion are evacuated. This primary ejection duct comprises, at its skin, an acoustic absorption structure for attenuating the noise over several frequency bands, such as, for example, the noises associated with the combustion (300-1000 Hz) and the noises associated with the operation of the turbine (higher than or equal to 4000 Hz).
Such an acoustic absorption structure is described in the document "Aero-acoustic liner applications of the broadband special acoustic absorber concept," American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, AIAA 2013-2176, 19th AIAA/CEAS Aeroacoustics Conference May 27-29, 2013, Berlin, Germany. It comprises a plurality of capsules closed by the skin of the primary ejection duct so as to each delimit a cavity in which is positioned a truncated hollow cone, at a distance from the capsule, which has a base emerging at the skin of the primary ejection duct. Each cone comprises at least one orifice, making it possible to connect the interior of the cone with the space between the cone and the capsule, positioned and dimensioned according to the acoustic characteristics sought. In addition, the skin of the primary ejection duct is porous in line with each cone.
An acoustic absorption formed thus, based on the same principle as a Helmholtz resonator and a quarter-wave resonator, makes it possible to effectively attenuate the low-frequency sounds emitted by the turbine engine.
Since the skin of the primary ejection duct is porous in line with the cones and since the latter are perforated, water or any other liquid can accumulate and stagnate, in operation, inside each cone and in the space delimited by each cone and its capsule. This accumulation of water or of liquid affects the efficiency of the acoustic absorption structure. Furthermore, in case of freezing, the water transformed into ice can damage the acoustic absorption structure.
The present invention aims to remedy all or part of the drawbacks of the prior art.

Acoustic absorption structure comprising a liquid drainage system and propulsive assembly comprising such an acoustic absorption structure


A system is configured by a movement record acquiring unit that acquires a cargo movement record through data communication with a communication apparatus included in a transportation means to store the cargo movement record into a cargo movement record database, a load amount identifying unit that identifies cargos having the overlapping periods between the loading time and unloading time and transported by the same transportation means among the cargos to store a load record into a load record database, an average load amount calculating unit that calculates an average value of the past load amount in the loading period as an average load amount, an energy consumption calculating unit that calculates the energy consumption of each cargo, and an output processing unit that outputs the energy consumption of each cargo to an output interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a management technology for information of cargo transportation, and more particularly, to a transport information managing system, a transport information managing method, and a transport information managing program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system estimating environmental burden such as transportation energy has conventionally been proposed. For example, with regard to a problem of providing an environmental burden evaluating method, device, and program for evaluating the environmental burden of each of a plurality of different routes by which a transaction object reaches a user, using at least one among a transportation means, a transfer means for persons, and a communication means as means constituting the route by which the transaction object reaches the user, in an proposed environmental burden evaluating method has been proposed for evaluating the environmental burden of each of a plurality of different routes by which a transaction object reaches a user, using at least one among a transportation means, a transfer means for persons, and a communication means, a storage means stores a first environmental burden unit requirement precalculated for each different type of the transportation means, a second environmental burden unit requirement precalculated for each different type of the transfer means, and a third environmental burden unit requirement precalculated for each different type of the communication means; for each of the plurality of routes, the means used in the route and the environmental burden unit requirement corresponding to the type are read from the storage means; and the environmental burden is evaluated for each of the plurality of routes by calculating the environmental burden corresponding to the means used in the route, the type, and the usage amount among a first environmental burden corresponding to the usage amount of the transportation means based on the first environmental burden unit requirement corresponding to the type of the transportation means, a second environmental burden corresponding to the usage amount of the transfer means based on the second environmental burden unit requirement corresponding to the type of the transfer means, and a third environmental burden corresponding to the usage amount of the communication means based on the third environmental burden unit requirement corresponding to the type of the communication means (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-13826).
By the way, a law will be enforced for amending a portion of the law related to the rationalization of energy usage ("Revised Law concerning the Rational Use of Energy"). In the enforcement of Revised Law concerning the Rational Use of Energy, a shipper is required to develop an energy saving plan and to report an energy usage amount. Therefore, a carrier consigned by shippers is required to calculate an energy usage amount expended in cargo transportation for each shipper and to report the obtained information to the shippers. That is, a technology is desired for calculating the transport distance and total transport energy amount of cargos of the same shipper for a certain period to create a report file.

System, method, and program for managing transport information


A method for manufacturing an NO2 gas sensor for detection at room temperature comprises: manufacturing a metal electrode on a surface of a flexible substrate; manufacturing an SWCNTs/SnO2 sensitive film; and bonding the SWCNTs/SnO2 sensitive film with a portion of the surface of the flexible substrate with the metal electrode, so as to form the NO2 gas sensor for detection at room temperature. The present disclosure solves the problems of the poor adhesion between the sensitive material and the flexible substrate, and a non-uniform distribution, and achieves the purposes of secure bonding between the sensitive material and the flexible substrate, and uniform distribution.

With the development of science and technology, sensors are applied widely, and it is imperative to manufacture sensors which are portable and inexpensive and can be manufactured at a large scale. Flexible substrate-based gas sensors essentially improve a lot of problems due to many advantages such as flexibility thereof or the like. Thereby, the flexible substrate-based gas sensors have a broader application prospect.
NO2 belongs to typical atmospheric pollutants, and primarily comes from burning of fossil fuel and automobile exhaust pollution. NO2 is one of industrial pollutants which cause problems such as acid rain, photochemical smog or the like, and causes respiratory disease as it easily reacts with hydrocarbon in the sunshine, which seriously threatens the health and survival of human beings. With the rapid development of industries, people pay more and more attention to monitoring of NO2. Researches on NO2 gas sensors are a hotspot at home and abroad all the time. In order to improve the sensitivity characteristics of the sensors, people have put much effort on selection and modification of material. With the rapid development of Internet of Things, sensors with a portable design and low power consumption are widely concerned. Therefore, it is a very important task to manufacture a flexible NO2 gas sensor for detection at room temperature.
A conventional method for manufacturing a flexible NO2 gas sensor for room temperature is to directly deposit a sensitive film on a surface of a flexible substrate. In the process of manufacturing a sensor, hygroscopic treatment is firstly performed on the substrate, and then sensitive material is deposited on a surface of the substrate using dip-coating, dispensing or self-growing method. The sensitive film manufactured in this way has a non-uniform thickness, and poor adhesion with the substrate.

Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences


A multi-level data processing method converts a binary data into a multi-level data having n bits per symbol, where n is an integer satisfying n≧2. A {(n−1)×m}-bit binary data is arranged in upper (n−1) bits of multi-level data of m symbols, where m is an integer satisfying m≧2, and a (m−k)-bit binary data is converted into m bits according to a predetermined conversion rule and arranged in a lower 1 bit of the multi-level data of m symbols, where k is an integer satisfying m>k≧1, so as to convert a (n×m−k)-bit binary data into 1 set of multi-level data made up of m symbols.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to, and more particularly to multi-level (or multi-valued) data processing methods and apparatuses, and more particularly to a multi-level data processing method and a multi-level data processing method which are used when recording and/or reproducing the multi-level data on and/or from an information recording medium such as an optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there was a multi-level data processing method which records on an information recording medium a test data made up of all combinations of a plurality of (3) consecutive multi-level data, creates a table that stores reproduced signal values of the test data at the time of reproducing the multi-level data, and outputs as the reproduced multi-level data the multi-level data which are reproduced and have a smallest error with respect to the reproduced signal values stored in the table.
In addition, when using the table to judge the reproduced multi-level data, there was a multi-level data processing method which judges the first and third multi-level data of the 3 consecutive multi-level data by comparison with a fixed threshold value, and thereafter outputs as the reproduced multi-level data the multi-level data which are reproduced and minimize the error between the second multi-level data and the reproduced signal value stored in the table. In this case, the accuracy of judging the reproduced multi-level data is improved, and the table can be made compact.
Moreover, there was a multi-level data processing method which treats the plurality of multi-level data as one set of multi-level data. The binary data is arranged as it is in the upper bits of each multi-level data, and a data according to a predetermined conversion rule is arranged in a lower one bit so as to convert the binary (bi-level) data into the multi-level data. Since an error is easily generated in the lower one bit when reproducing the multi-level data, the multi-level data is judged by utilizing the fact that the data is in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule. When recording (or transmitting) the multi-level data amounting to n (n≧2) bits/symbol, this multi-level data processing method regards m (m≧2) symbols as 1 set, and arranges an arbitrary binary data in upper {(n−1 bits)×(m symbols)}={(n−1)×m} bits of each symbol, and arranges a binary data which is obtained by converting (m−1) bits into m bits according to the predetermined conversion rule in lower {(1 bit)×(m symbols)}=m bits of each symbol. Although a 1-bit redundant data is generated by the predetermined conversion rule, it is possible to improve the accuracy of judging the multi-level data.
Furthermore, according to this multi-level data processing method, the data obtained by the conversion according to the predetermined conversion rule is arranged in the lower 1 bit. Hence, the method is effective only when a data error at the time of reproducing the multi-level data, if any, occurs in the lower 1 bit, and an erroneous judgement of the multi-level data occurs if the data error exceeds the lower 1 bit. For this reason, a multi-level data processing method has been proposed which extends the redundant data to lower k bits.
When recording (or transmitting) the multi-level data amounting to n (n≧2) bits/symbol, this proposed multi-level data processing method regards m (m≧2) symbols as 1 set, and arranges an arbitrary binary data in upper {(n−k bits)×(m symbols)}={(n−k)×m} bits of each symbol (k≧1 and n>k), and arranges a binary data which is obtained by converting (m×k−1) bits into (m×k) bits according to the predetermined conversion rule in lower {(k bits)×(m symbols)}=(m×k) bits of each symbol, so as to extend the redundant data to lower k bits. Consequently, it is possible to improve the accuracy of judging the multi-level data, even when a data transmission path has properties which generates a large number of errors. In this case, the data transmission path refers to an information recording medium such as an optical disk, a communication path and the like.
Accordingly, the conventional and proposed multi-level data processing methods employ a kind of pattern recognition technique by regarding an intersymbol interference which is generated at the time of successively recording the multi-level data as a correlation between the data. As a result, when the number of multi-levels of the multi-level data is large or the noise in the reproduced signal is large, for example, there was a problem in that the distinction of the patterns in the table becomes fuzzy to thereby cause an erroneous judgement of the multi-level data.
On the other hand, at the time of reproducing the multi-level data, a waveform equalization is carried out with respect to the reproduced signal and the intersymbol interference is eliminated, before outputting candidates of the multi-level data by judging the multi-level data using the fixed threshold value. Thereafter, the candidate having the data in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule in the lower bits of the multi-level data is selected, and the candidate having a smallest error with respect to the reproduced signal value stored in the table is output as the reproduced multi-level data. Therefore, the intersymbol interference actually remains slightly even after the waveform equalization, and there were problems in that an error may occur when outputting the candidate of the multi-level data using the fixed threshold value to judge the multi-level data, and that the final reproduced multi-level data which is output may be in error.
Accordingly, a multi-level data processing method which carries out a first multi-level data judging process and a second multi-level data judging process in parallel, and outputs a judgement result of one of the first and second multi-level data judging processes that is more appropriate, has been proposed in a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-011160. FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining this proposed multi-level data processing method which carries out the first and second multi-level data judging processes in parallel.
In FIG. 1, a step S101 carries out the first multi-level data judging process with respect to an output signal value of a waveform equalizer circuit (not shown) which equalizes a signal reproduced from an information recording medium (not shown). More particularly, when recording the multi-level data on the information recording medium, a test data which is made up of all combinations of a plurality of (3) consecutive multi-level data is recorded on the information recording medium in addition to the multi-level data which forms the user data. When judging the multi-level data, a table which stores reproduced signal values of the test data is created. Then, the multi-level data which minimizes an error between the reproduced signal value of the multi-level data forming the user data and the reproduced signal value stored in the table is output as a judgement result of the first multi-level data judging process.
The first multi-level data judging process employs the kind of pattern recognition technique which regards the intersymbol interference generated at the time of consecutively recording the multi-level data as the correlation of the data, to judge the multi-level data. But when the number of multi-levels of the multi-level data is large or the noise in the reproduced signal is large, for example, the distinction of the patterns in the table becomes fuzzy to thereby cause an erroneous judgement of the multi-level data.
A step S103 carries out the second multi-level data judging process with respect to the output signal value of the waveform equalizer circuit. More particularly, the multi-level data forming the user data are converted from binary data into multi-level data at the time of recording onto the information recording medium. A plurality of multi-level data are treated as 1 set, and the binary data is arranged as it is in the upper bit side of each multi-level data, while the binary data is converted according to the predetermined conversion rule and arranged in the lower bit side of each multi-level data. Since the error more easily occurs in the lower bit when judging the multi-level data, the multi-level data is judged by using the fact that the data arranged in the lower bit side has been converted according to the predetermined conversion rule.
A step S105 generates judging candidates of the multi-level data of each symbol within 1 set according to the predetermined conversion rule, and outputs as a judgement result the candidate which minimizes an error between a reference value of the judging candidates and the reproduced signal value. Although a 1-bit redundant data is generated by the conversion according to the predetermined conversion rule, the accuracy of judging the multi-level data is improved.
Next, when reproducing the multi-level data, a waveform equalization is carried out with respect to the reproduced signal and the intersymbol interference is eliminated, before generating the judging candidates of the multi-level data by judging the multi-level data using the fixed threshold value. Thereafter, the judging candidate having the data in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule in the lower bits of the multi-level data is selected, and the judging candidate having a smallest error is output as the reproduced multi-level data. Therefore, the intersymbol interference actually remains slightly even after the waveform equalization, and an error may occur when generating the judging candidates of the multi-level data using the fixed threshold value to judge the multi-level data. Consequently, the final judgement result, that is, the final reproduced multi-level data which is output, may be in error. When carrying out the conversion according to the predetermined conversion rule, the data within the previous set also affects the result of the conversion, and the error may propagate for a plurality of sets.
The multi-level data forming the user data is in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule. Hence, a step S107 outputs the judgement result of the first multi-level data judging process as the reproduced multi-level data if this judgement result is in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule, because this judgement result of the first multi-level data judging process is more appropriate in this first case. On the other hand, the step S107 outputs the judgement result of the second multi-level data judging process as the reproduced multi-level data if the judgement result of the first multi-level data judging process is not in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule, because the judgement result of the second multi-level data judging process is more appropriate in this latter case.
Accordingly, it is possible to prevent an error that would be generated if the judgement result of the first multi-level data judging process is not in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule. In addition, if the judgement result of the first multi-level data judging process is in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule, it is possible to prevent an error that occurs when generating the judging candidates of the multi-level data according to the second multi-level data judging process using the fixed threshold value, and to prevent propagation of such an error.
However, the multi-level data processing method proposed in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-11160 may still output an erroneous multi-level data if the judgement result of the first multi-level data judging process is not in accordance with the predetermined conversion rule and the judgement result of the second multi-level data judging process is output as the reproduced multi-level data. In other words, if an error occurs when generating the judging candidates of the multi-level data by the second multi-level data judging process using the fixed threshold value, an error occurs in the final multi-level data that is obtained by the second multi-level data judging process as the reproduced multi-level data.

Multi-level data processing method and apparatus


The management of computers connected with I/O switch devices is simplified. A computer system S includes one or several computers (server devices), one or several I/O devices, one or several I/O switch devices, and a management server 101. Management server 101 is provided with a storage part storing I/O configuration information and I/O switch management information; and a processing part comparing pieces of I/O configuration information and pieces of I/O switch management information, judging whether there might be a mismatch in the connection configuration between a computer and an I/O device and, in case it is judged that there is a mismatch, terminating the activation for a computer having the mismatched connection configuration, allocating a substitutable I/O device, and updating said I/O switch management information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to technology simplifying the management of computers connected with I/O (Input/Output) switch devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, it often occurs that a server device is connected with a plurality of external devices of different types. As examples of external devices, there are network devices and storage devices. These external devices have differing required functions, performance, reliability, cost, and the like. As a result, the protocols for connecting the server device and an external device differ for each external device. Consequently, in order to e.g. connect a server device and a plurality of external devices, there are respectively provided I/O devices processing different protocols between the server device and each external device.
Regarding common server devices in recent years, the associations between server devices and the I/O devices have been fixed, modifications not being possible. As a result, in an environment where a number of server devices are operating such as in corporate computer systems and data centers, there is a need to select the required I/O device for each server device. However, if the associations between server devices and I/O devices are fixed, in case a change in the use, or the like, of a server device arises, there is a need to carry out mounting and demounting of I/O devices, so there is the problem that operational management is made complicated.
As one technology solving this problem, there is the I/O switch (device). An I/O switch is a device located between the server device and the aforementioned I/O devices and by controlling the configuration of the I/O switch, it becomes possible to flexibly modify the I/O devices allocated to the server device. In addition, since an I/O switch can also connect a plurality of server devices, it can make the allocation of I/O devices with respect to a plurality of server devices flexible and can relax the complexity of operational management (refer e.g. to JP-A-2005-301488).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Computer system, management server, and mismatched connection configuration detection method


A computer system for extrapolating from relatively small amounts of information provided by a consumer to generate a wide range of travel options that are still associated with the information provided by the consumer. For example, the system includes processes for generating or finding travel packages with exactly matching travel dates and destinations supplied by the consumer. In addition, the system includes processes for varying the dates of travel by several days, or proximate weekends, and the destination of travel with nearby or regional destinations, so as to generate or find additional travel options. Further, the system can be configured to extract a theme of the consumer requested information and to use this theme to construct or find travel packages with similar or matching themes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data automation techniques for automatically assembling packages of items, and more particularly, to affinity algorithms for grouping products or services. Still more particularly, the invention relates to web-based techniques for dynamically assembling items including, but not limited to, last-minute travel and entertainment packages for purchase by consumers.
2. Description of Related Art
1. Consumer Demand Exists for Last-Minute Travel Services . . .
In today's ever-changing, hectic world, consumers are increasingly forced to make plans at the last minute or alternatively to not make any plans at all. With the increased penetration of technology into today's society, people are on-call and reachable 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The high penetration of technology has also increased the geographic reach of today's corporations. As the business world reaches beyond national borders, workdays have been extended to accommodate different time zones and cultural styles. Globalization also suggests more and longer business trips as companies grow and interact on a global basis.
Increased competition among the world's various corporations has led to the need for longer workdays. As a result of these trends, the average also an increased need to maximize the reduced leisure time available.
Furthermore, there is a trend toward more dual income households, increasing to 61% in 1993 from only 39% in 1970. With this shift, there are fewer spouses at home with the luxury to spend serious amounts of time planning a family's leisure life.
For consumers, increasingly hectic lifestyles and longer work hours lead to less time for planning leisure activities and create a greater desire to enjoy the limited time available. This often translates into spur-of-themoment vacation travel planning. There is a demonstrated need to help the consumer plan immediate and last-minute travel.
2. . . . But Current Offerings are Insufficient.
Modem telecommunications services have transformed the travel industry by providing consumers instant access to airline, hotel, and rental car reservation services. It is now possible to purchase last-minute airline tickets. and to make rental car and hotel reservations by visiting airline, rental car, hotel, and general travel websites on the World Wide Web. However it continues to be a daunting proposition to arrange travel at the last minute using these sites. First, the consumer typically needs to do substantial up-front planning—deciding where to go and what to do—before using these services. Next, the consumer usually needs to visit several unrelated sites in order to arrange a basic travel experience, including air, hotel, and car rental reservations. Finally, even after securing these basic reservations, the consumer is left with no specific plans—where to eat, what shows to see, what to buy—once he or she arrives at the destination city. Making these destination-specific plans requires additional up-front planning; securing the reservations usually requires a series of phone calls.
3. Suppliers have Demonstrated Need to Sell Last-Minute Inventory . . .
Suppliers of travel related services (e.g., hotels, airline tickets, restaurants, etc.) also have a great need to offer last-minute travel arrangements to consumers. The total travel industry has been growing at an annual rate of in excess of 5% over the past decade. Partly underlying this increase is growth in weekend, leisure getaways. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, weekend trips by Americans increased 70% from 1986 to 1996 (from 350 million trips in 1986 to over 600 million in 1996) versus a population growth of only 10% over the same period. Non-weekend trips increased 15% in the same timeframe. Two-day getaways now account for more than half of US travel. Overall vacations also continue to grow in popularity—increasing from 945 million people trips in the US in 1997 to 1.3 billion people trips in 1998.
Despite this growth, approximately $84 billion of travel service provider capacity expires unused each year in the high-fixed cost airline, hotel and entertainment industries due to unsold tickets/rooms in the U.S. alone. Airlines continue to lose out on major amounts of revenue by letting airline seats go unsold. With load factors averaging near 71% in 1999 for major carriers, airlines leave approximately 220 million airline seats on the table every year. At an average one-way ticket price of $141, this implies lost revenues of near $31 billion in 1998. Similarly, with occupancy rates hovering in the low-60s in 1998/99, hotels have an unsold capacity of near 560 million room-nights per year. At an average room night of $81 for unsold rooms, hotels lost out on near $46 billion of revenue in 1998/1999. Entertainment venues also often do not sell out. Approximately 195 million tickets go unsold per year, assuming a load factor of 73%. At an average ticket price of $33, the entertainment industry experience an annual S7 billion in lost revenue.
Combining the airline, hotel and entertainment categories leads to a total lost opportunity to suppliers of nearly $84 billion each year in the U.S. alone. Furthermore, as these categories have insignificant variable costs, most of these lost revenues would have trickled down to the bottom line. Tapping into this otherwise perishing inventory offers a huge opportunity to increase efficiency, reduce waste and increase profits.
4. . . . But Current Channels are Inadequate
In choosing where to try to market their excess inventory, suppliers generally seek two major capabilities from a third party: 1) The third party's ability to sell difficult inventory that the supplier has not been able to move through their traditional channels, and 2) the third party's ability to move this inventory without making discounts transparent to consumers, and therefore to protect the supplier's base business against cannibalization.
Third parties can satisfy both supplier demands by bundling separate components from different suppliers into packages. Individual pieces of undesirable inventory can become attractive, and more "saleable," when intelligently assembled together as a package. By packaging inventory 15 third parties can also offer a single package price which hides the price of each component, preventing the erosion or cannibalization of a supplier's base business.
Of course, the concept of offering combinations of various travel related services as a package is nothing new. For many years, travel agents have been putting together customized vacation packages for their clients, and travel discounters have been marketing prepaid vacations including transportation, hotel accommodations, and restaurant arrangements collected from different suppliers. Today travel agents offer vacation packages over the World Wide Web, with booking and purchasing accomplished online. Making travel arrangements in this fashion is convenient, quick, and efficient.
However, these packages-whether sold over the phone or on the web-generally fall to incorporate much last-minute, truly distressed inventory: today's third-party travel service providers simply do not have the capabilities to unleash demand for last-minute travel. Putting packages together quickly is extremely difficult and time-consuming due to the enormous number of permutations that exist when one combines available flights with available hotels and available events. Providing highly customized, mood-based packages to consumers adds yet another level of complexity to package creation. And suppliers make it even harder for packagers because they are often unwilling to make inventory available as "distressed" until they are sure they will not be able to sell it through existing channels.
Packaging non-distressed, non last-minute inventory provides only partial value to consumers: they receive the convenience of a pre-packaged getaway without any level of individual or mood-based customization and without taking advantage of the low prices offered on truly last-minute inventory. For suppliers, packaging provides an acceptable conceptual solution to marketing their truly last-minute, distressed inventory, but not an effective or a practical one. And unpackaged channels remain undesirable to suppliers because they fall to protect their base businesses from price erosion or cannibalization.
It would be highly desirable to find a solution both to consumers' appetite for fully-packaged last-minute travel and to suppliers' desire to move their unsold, perishing inventory without impairing the viability of their base businesses. Due to the widespread advances in communication capabilities, to effectively market close-to-expiring travel inventory in real time directly to consumers. Because the packaging of perishable, last-minute inventory is so time-sensitive, there is substantial need to put packages together quickly and efficiently. The required solution must provide an automatic system and improved method capable of receiving and categorizing inventory and putting together packages on a real-time, dynamic basis.
5. Present Invention Solves Last-Minute Travel Problems of Both Consumers and Suppliers
When offering items for sale through a computer system, for example on a Web site, it is useful at times to group the items together into a package. Such a capability is particularly advantageous in connection with last-minute travel offerings, but could have other applications as well. Examples might include but are not limited to: products such as components of a stereo system or a selection of diverse yet related gifts; products and services together, as with appliances, carpentry, painting, flooring replacement, and cabinetmaking for a kitchen renovation; or bundles of services, such as legal services, real estate brokerage, and mortgage brokerage for a house sale.
If the business or businesses offering the items for sale offer many items that may potentially be grouped into packages, with substitutable elements, the problem of finding appropriate elements to group into packages and thus appropriate packages to offer for sale can be difficult to solve. Some elements may be good matches for each other—for example, in a stereo component system a powerful amplifier might be better paired with large speakers than small speakers—and others less so.

System, methods and computer program products for offering products based on extrapolation of inputs


A hand-carried taping machine for taping an elongated object is disclosed. The machine includes a powered gear set operably coupled to a body and powered by a drive system. An applicator head includes a substantially C-shaped gear in meshing engagement with the powered gear set such that the substantially C-shaped gear rotates about an application axis under control of the drive system, and a tape reel mount for rotatably mounting a reel of tape on the substantially C-shaped gear for rotation about the application axis and application of the tape to the elongated object. A non-powered guide system operably couples to the body for guiding the applicator head along the elongated object with transient engagement with the elongated object such that the elongated object is maintained in a vicinity of the reel of tape.

The disclosure relates generally to taping machines, and more particularly, to a hand-carried taping machine including a non-powered guide system.
Applying tape to an object is performed for a number of reasons. Various automated tape applying machines, some of which are hand-carried, exist for taping various objects. One illustrative industrial taping operation that is typically performed by hand, however, includes taping the rotor end windings of a generator with insulating (e.g., fiberglass) tape. The end windings, while having a uniform cross-section, typically have an extensive length that curves at different degrees of severity along its length. The end windings are typically too large or clumsy to move. In this setting, the inability to control overlap/placement of the tape with current hand held taping machines while also allowing degrees of motion/freedom to wrap non-linear paths prevents the use of the machines. Consequently, while taping machines are advantageous, where the object to be taped is large or of non-uniform shape, the taping operation is oftentimes performed by hand. In terms of generator end windings, the hand taping operation is a labor intensive process that is often on the critical path of the work to be completed. Adding to the complexity is that certain types of generator end windings are less common than others, creating a steeper learning curve to become proficient at this manual method of insulating. Additionally, the fiberglass insulation tape can occasionally be a mild skin irritant, thus requiring the wearing of gloves which can make handling the tape more difficult.

Hand-carried taping machine with non-powered guide system


A magnetic storage device with a significant reduction in power consumption. The magnetic storage device includes: a yoke which is arranged to cover part of a line extending in an arbitrary direction; and a magneto-resistive element which is arranged in contact with the yoke, thereby forming a closed magnetic circuit. The magneto-resistive element is capable of writing information with a field emanating from the yoke. The magnetic storage device satisfies Iw≦a·R, where R is the magnetoresistance of the yoke, Iw is the write current necessary for the line, and a (mA·H)=6E−11.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic storage device which stores information in its magneto-resistive elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory) has received attention recently as a storage device for use in information processors such as computers and communication apparatuses. MRAM stores data by means of magnetism. Since the direction of magnetization can be maintained without the use of any electrical means, it is possible to avoid any loss of information upon power-down as happens with DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and SRAM (Static RAM), or other volatile memories. When compared with conventional nonvolatile storing means such as flash EEPROM and hard disk units, MRAM is superior in terms of access speed, reliability, power consumption, and the like. It can thus be said that MRAM is capable of replacing all the functions of volatile memories such as DRAM and SRAM and the functions of nonvolatile storing means such as flash EEPROM and hard disk units (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 3466470).
Consider, for example, the case of developing information equipment that is intended for so-called ubiquitous computing in which information processing is available regardless of location. A requirement of such ubiquitous computing includes a storage device that is capable of high speed processing with reduced power consumption and that can also avoid loss of information, even upon power-down. MRAM has the potential to meet both of these requirements, and is thus expected to be adopted by many information apparatuses in the future.
In particular, for tablets, portable information terminals, and the like that are intended to be carried about daily, it is often difficult to secure sufficient power supply. Thus, in order to perform a large amount of information processing in high use environments, even MRAM of low power consumption requires a further reduction in power consumption during information processing.
Among examples of technologies intended to advance the power savings of MRAM are magnetic storage devices described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2000-90658 and 2004-128430. These magnetic storage devices includes, in each of their storage areas (memory cells), a bit line, a word line arranged orthogonal to the bit line, a tunneling magneto-resistive (TMR) element arranged at the intersection between the bit line and the word line, and the like. These magnetic storage devices further include yokes (field control layer) which are arranged near the respective TMR elements so as to surround the bit lines or word lines. The yoke is made of a ferromagnetic substance having high permeability, and functions to reduce the occurrence of flux leakage from the bit line or word line, thereby concentrating the flux into the TMR element. This makes it possible to produce a field necessary for inverting the magnetization of the TMR element, even at low power consumption.
It should be appreciated that a TMR element includes: a first magnetic layer (magnetic sensing layer), which changes its direction of magnetization depending on an external field; a second magnetic layer which has a fixed direction of magnetization; and a nonmagnetic insulating layer which is interposed between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. This TMR element stores binary data by controlling the direction of magnetization of the first magnetic layer so that the direction of magnetization is parallel or antiparallel to the direction of magnetization of the second magnetic layer.
If the TMR elements used in those magnetic storage devices are reduced in size, then the effects of the diamagnetic fields occurring inside will increase accordingly, requiring stronger write fields. This results in a contradiction because the write currents must be increased if greater integration of the magnetic storage devices is intended. It is therefore generally noted that magnetic storage devices are difficult to miniaturize and difficult to enhance the recording density thereof.


The present invention relates to a plasma display apparatus, and more particularly, to a plasma display apparatus and driving method thereof, in which an afterimage erroneous discharge generated when the apparatus is driven can be prevented and damage to driving circuits can be prevented. The plasma display apparatus of the present invention comprises a plasma display panel in which a plurality of sustain electrode pairs comprising scan electrodes and sustain electrodes is formed, a driver for driving the sustain electrode pairs, and a driving pulse controller that controls the driver to sequentially apply first and second falling waveforms to the scan electrodes during a reset period, and controls the driver to apply a positive waveform whose voltage level is less than the voltage level of a sustain waveform to the sustain electrodes while the first falling waveform is applied. According to the present invention, an afterimage erroneous discharge can be prevented. Spots in an implemented monochromatic pattern can be improved. A distortion phenomenon of a display screen can be prevented. Hardware load cam be reduced by reducing EMI generating when a plasma display apparatus is driven. In addition, a complementary afterimage of implemented images can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display apparatus, and more particularly, to a plasma display apparatus and driving method thereof, in which an afterimage erroneous discharges generated when the apparatus is driven are prevented and damage to driving circuits is prevented.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, a plasma display apparatus comprises a plasma display panel having a front substrate and a rear substrate. A barrier rib formed between the front substrate and the rear substrate forms one unit cell. Each cell is filled with a primary discharge gas, such as neon (Ne), helium (He) or a mixed gas of Ne+He, and an inert gas containing a small amount of xenon (Xe). If the inert gas is discharged with a high frequency voltage, vacuum ultraviolet rays are generated. Phosphors formed between the barrier ribs are excited to implement images. This plasma display panel can be manufactured to be thin, and has been considered one of the next-generation display devices.
FIG. 1 shows the construction of a common plasma display panel.
The plasma display panel comprises a front panel 100 and a rear panel 110. In the front panel 100, a plurality of sustain electrode pairs in which a plurality of scan electrodes 102 and sustain electrodes 103 are formed in pairs are arranged on a front glass 101, i.e., a display surface on which images are displayed. In the rear panel 110, a plurality of address electrodes 113 intersecting the plurality of sustain electrode pairs are arranged on a rear glass 111, i.e., a rear surface. The front panel 100 and the rear panel 110 are parallel to each other with a predetermined distance therebetween.
The front panel 100 comprises the pairs of scan electrodes 102 and sustain electrodes 103, which mutually discharge one another and maintain the emission of a cell within one discharge cell. In other words, the scan electrode 102 and the sustain electrode 103 has a transparent electrode "a" formed of a transparent ITO material and a bus electrode "b" formed of a metal material. The scan electrodes 102 and the sustain electrodes 103 are covered with one or more dielectric layers 104 for limiting the discharge current and providing insulation among the electrode pairs. A protection layer 105 having magnesium oxide (MgO) deposited thereon is formed on the dielectric layers 104 to facilitate a discharge condition.
In the rear panel 110, barrier ribs 112 of stripe form (or well form), for forming a plurality of discharge spaces, i.e., discharge cells are arranged parallel to one another. One or more address electrodes 113, which cause an inert gas within a discharge cell to generate vacuum ultraviolet rays through an address discharge, are disposed parallel to the barrier ribs 112. R, G and B phosphor layers 114 that radiate a visible ray for image display during a sustain discharge are coated on a top surface of the rear panel 110. A dielectric layer 115 for protecting the address electrodes 113 is formed between the address electrodes 113 and the phosphor layers 114.
In the plasma display panel constructed above, the discharge cell is formed in plural in matrix form. A driver (not shown) comprising a driving circuit for supplying a predetermined pulse to the discharge cell is attached to the plasma display panel.
FIG. 2 illustrates a method of implementing images of a conventional plasma display apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the plasma display apparatus, one frame period is divided into a plurality of sub-fields, each sub-field having a different number of discharges. The plasma display panel is excited in a sub-field period corresponding to a gray level value of an input image signal, thereby implementing images.
Each sub-field is divided into a reset period for uniformly generating a discharge, an address period for selecting a discharge cell and a sustain period for implementing gray levels depending on the number of discharges. For example, to display images with 256 gray levels, a frame period (16.67 ms) corresponding to 1/60 seconds is divided into eight sub-fields, as shown in FIG. 2.
Each of the eight sub-fields SF1 to SF8 is again divided into a reset period, an address period and a sustain period. In this case, the sustain period increases in the ratio of 2n (where, n=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) in each sub-field. As described above, since the sustain period is varied in each sub-field, gray levels of images can be represented.
The driving principle of the plasma display apparatus constructed above will be described with reference to FIGS. 3a and 3b.
FIG. 3a shows a driving waveform of the conventional plasma display apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 3, the plasma display apparatus is driven with it being divided into a reset period for initializing the entire cells, an address period for selecting cells to be discharged, a sustain period for sustaining the discharge of selected cells and an erase period for erasing wall charges within discharged cells.
In a set-up period of the reset period, a set-up waveform forming a rising ramp (Ramp-up) is applied to all of the scan electrodes at the same time. The set-up waveform generates a weak dark discharge within the discharge cells of the entire screen. The set-up discharge causes positive wall charges to be accumulated on the address electrodes and the sustain electrodes, and negative wall charges to be accumulated on the scan electrodes.
In a set-down period of the reset period, after the set-up waveform is applied, a set-down waveform forming a falling ramp (Ramp-down), which falls from a voltage level lower than the highest voltage level of the set-up discharge to a predetermined negative voltage level, is applied to the scan electrodes. Since a weak erase discharge is generated within cells, wall charges excessively formed on the scan electrodes are sufficiently erased. The set-down discharge causes wall charges of the degree in which an address discharge can be stably generated to uniformly remain within the cells.
In the address period, while a scan waveform forming a negative waveform is sequentially applied to the scan electrodes, an address waveform forming a positive waveform is applied to the address electrodes in synchronization with the scan waveform. As the voltage difference between the scan waveform and the address waveform and a wall voltage generated in the reset period are added, an address discharge is generated within the discharge cells to which the address waveform is applied.
Wall charges of the degree in which a sustain discharge can be generated when a sustain waveform is applied are formed within cells selected by the address discharge. The sustain electrode is supplied with a waveform having a positive bias voltage (Vzb) such that an erroneous discharge is not generated between the sustain electrode and the scan electrodes by reducing a voltage difference between the sustain electrode and the scan electrodes during the address period.
In the sustain period, a sustain waveform (sus) forming a positive waveform is alternately applied to the scan electrodes and the sustain electrode. As a wall voltage within the cells and a voltage of the sustain waveform are added together, a sustain discharge, i.e., a display discharge is generated between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode in cells selected by the address discharge whenever the sustain waveform is applied.
After the sustain discharge is completed, in the erase period, an erase waveform (Ramp-ers) having a narrow pulse width and a low voltage level are applied to the sustain electrodes, thereby erasing wall charges remaining within the cells of the entire screen.
Wall charges that are distributed within a discharge cell by this driving waveform will be described with reference to FIG. 3b.
FIG. 3b illustrates wall charges distributed within a discharge cell according to the conventional driving waveform.
Referring to FIG. 3b, in the set-up period of the reset period, the set-up waveform is applied to the scan electrode Y and a waveform of a voltage level lower than that of the set-up waveform is applied to the sustain electrode Z and the address electrode X. Therefore, as shown in (a) of FIG. 3b, negative charges are located on the scan electrode Y and positive charges are located on the sustain electrode Z and the address electrode X.
In the set-down period, the set-down waveform is supplied to the scan electrode Y, and a predetermined bias voltage, preferably, a voltage of a ground (GND) level is supplied to the sustain electrode Z and the address electrode X and then maintained. Therefore, wall charges that are excessively accumulated within the discharge cell in the set-up period are partially erased, as shown in (b) of FIG. 3b. Through this erase process, distribution of wall charges within each discharge cell becomes irregular.
In the address period, an address discharge is generated as shown in (c) of FIG. 3b by means of the scan waveform supplied to the scan electrode Y and the address waveform supplied to the address electrode X.
Thereafter, in the sustain period, the sustain waveforms are alternately applied to the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode Z, so that the sustain discharge is generated as shown in (d) of FIG. 3b.
In the prior art, wall charges formed in the set-up period are erased mainly between the scan electrode Y and the address electrode X during the set-down period. Most of the wall charges formed between the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode Z remain.
In the prior art, R (Red), G (Green) and B (Blue) cells form one unit pixel. When at least one cell of the unit pixel remains off when the apparatus is driven, charged particles diffuse from adjacent cells to cells that remain off. In this case, when the R (Red), G (Green) and B (Blue) cells form one unit pixel and at least one cell of the unit pixel remains off upon driving, the unit pixel forms a monochromatic pattern in a screen that is being implemented.
When the unit pixel forms the monochromatic pattern, a cell that remains off must not be turned on. Nevertheless, an erroneous discharge is generated between the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode Z during the address period by charged particles diffused from cells adjacent to adhered wall charges during the set-down period. This is called an "afterimage erroneous discharge". In the conventional plasma display apparatus, an afterimage erroneous discharge during the address period is connected to the sustain period and a sustain discharge is sustained. Therefore, a problem arises because spots are generated.
In the case where a waveform for erasing adhered wall charges is applied, there is a high probability that a discharge may be generated due to excessive wall charges formed in the set-up period. Therefore, a problem in that a distortion phenomenon of the display screen can occur must be taken into consideration.

Plasma display apparatus and driving method thereof


In general, the invention features methods by which more than one client program connected to a network stores the same data item on a storage device of a data repository connected to the network. In one aspect, the method comprises encrypting the data item using a key derived from the content of the data item, determining a digital fingerprint of the data item, and storing the data item on the storage device at a location or locations associated with the digital fingerprint. In a second aspect, the method comprises determining a digital fingerprint of the data item, testing for whether the data item is already stored in the repository by comparing the digital fingerprint of the data item to the digital fingerprints of data items already in storage in the repository, and challenging a client that is attempting to deposit a data item already stored in the repository, to ascertain that the client has the full data item.

For almost as long as there have been computer networks, there have been schemes which allow computers to access each other's file systems over the network in much the same manner as they access their own local file system. The first widely used remote file access protocol was Sun Microsystems' network file system (NFS), which became very popular with the rise of Unix in the mid 1980's (see B. Nowicki, "NFS: Network File System Protocol Specification," Network Working Group RFC1094, March 1989). At about the same time, the SMB network file sharing protocol was developed by IBM for use with their PC's. Subsequent versions of SMB have become widely used on networked PC's running Microsoft Windows, and on their fileservers.
Keeping data in networked file systems allows users to access the same data environment from different workstations on the network, and greatly simplifies system administration and the sharing of public data. For these and other reasons, it is expected that network data repositories will become widely popular among PC users as soon as typical PC network connections become fast enough to make substantial remote storage of data practical. Indeed, some Web-based services which make specific types of user data accessible from any Web browser are already popular—for example, email services and appointment calendars. Servers for individuals' Web pages also follow the network-data model.
Many companies are offering additional Web-based services which store their data remotely, seeking new applications that will become popular. Some of these companies also offer substantial amounts of free network-based file storage. The greatest obstacle to the acceptance of these new network-based services has been slow network connections. Most computer users currently connect to the network through a telephone modem, which provides them with a connection that is about 1000 times slower than the I/O bandwidth to their local hard disk. This makes it relatively inconvenient to use remote network-based storage for most of the applications that these users now run on their local file system.
Some companies currently sell network-based backup services to PC users. For a fee, these companies provide a combination of PC software and networked storage space that allows users to keep a copy of their most important data remotely. For privacy, the PC software encrypts user data before sending it to be stored, using the user's individual public key. Some of these companies also offer Web-based access to backed-up data. Thus far, these companies have not achieved an appreciable penetration into the PC user market. Slow network connections, the cost and effort involved in obtaining and using such services, and a low perceived benefit attached to maintaining backups of file data, have been major obstacles. For the moment, most of the Gigabytes of programs and data that users accumulate remain exclusively on their local hard disks.
Use of network storage is also encouraged by techniques which speed up network file transfers. One such technique involves the concept of a "digital fingerprint" of a file, also called a "hash function", a "content signature" or a "message digest" (see R. L. Rivest, "MD4 Message Digest Algorithm," Network Working Group RFC1186, October 1990). A fingerprint is a fixed-length value obtained by mixing all of the bits of the file together in some prescribed deterministic manner—the same data always produces the same fingerprint. The fingerprint is used as a compact representative of the whole file: if two file fingerprints don't match, then the files are different. For a well designed fingerprint, the chance that any two actual files will ever have the same fingerprint can be made arbitrarily small. Such a fingerprint serves as a unique name for the file data.
Fingerprints have been used for many years to avoid unnecessary file transfers. One application of this sort has been in Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs), which have used fingerprints since the early 1990's to avoid the communication cost of uploading file data that is already present in the BBS, but associated with a different file name. Fingerprints have also been used in BBSs to conserve storage space by not storing duplicate data (for an example of both uses, see Frederick W. Kantor's Content Signature software, FWKCS, which has been in use by bulletin boards such as Channel 1 since at least 1993). These BBSs maintain a table of fingerprints for all files already present. When a new file is uploaded for storage on the BBS, its fingerprint is taken. If the BBS already contains a file with the same fingerprint (regardless of the file's name) then the duplicate data is not stored. Similarly, a client computer wishing to store data into the BBS can compute the fingerprint of the file that it wishes to send, and send that first. If a file containing this data is already present in the BBS, then the client is informed and need not send anything.
D. A. Farber and R. D. Lachman, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,791 (Data processing system using substantially unique identifiers to identify data items, whereby identical data items have the same identifiers, filed October 1997) carry the idea of file fingerprints a step further, using them as the primary identifier for all data-items stored in a file system. In their scheme, not only are fingerprints used to avoid unnecessary transmission and duplicate-storage of file data (as in the BBS scheme mentioned above), but they also use fingerprints directly to gain read access to data. In this scheme, access to "licensed" data is controlled by associating explicit lists of licensees with specific data-items. Such a control mechanism doesn't scale well when applied to intellectual property protection in general. Any data-item added to the system which is copyrighted, for example, would have to have attached to it an explicit list of all users who are legally allowed to read it. Otherwise someone can give out access to the data-item to everyone that uses the file system by anonymously publishing the fingerprint of the data-item. Constructing an explicit legal-access list for each data-item is in general cumbersome, difficult and intrusive.
Furthermore, existing schemes which use fingerprints to identify redundant data and avoid unnecessary transmission and storage, depend upon the storage system being able to examine previously stored data. If users independently encrypt their data for privacy, they can't take advantage of each others data to save on transmission or on storage. If data is unencrypted, then the storage system maintainers have complete access to all user data They may be tempted or coerced into looking at this data, and in some situations may be legally obliged to provide parts of it to third parties.

Data repository and method for promoting network storage of data


An inkjet print head chip usable in an inkjet print head includes a semiconductor substrate having plural switching devices formed therein, plural heaters provided on upper sides of the switching devices and activated by the plural switching devices to heat ink, and metal wiring layers formed between the plural heaters and the switching devices which externally radiate some of the heat generated from the plural heaters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bubble jet-type inkjet print head chip, and more particularly, to an inkjet print head chip in which heaters are mounted to heat ink, and an ink-jet print head using same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inkjet printer is any printer that fires extremely small droplets of ink onto media to create an image. Different types of inkjet printers form droplets of ink in different ways.
One of the most common techniques used to form droplets is the bubble jet. In a bubble jet printer, tiny heaters create heat, and this heat vaporizes ink to create a bubble in a substantially bounded volume of ink. The bubble expands and increases the pressure of the volume of ink. The pressure increase, in turn, causes droplets to form and to be ejected or fired through nozzles in the print head.
The heaters of a bubble jet printer are generally formed by a conventional semiconductor manufacturing process. On a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon wafer etc., insulation layers are formed, heaters are deposited, and patterns are formed. Then, connection electrodes are formed, and insulation layers for insulating the upper sides of the heaters and ink are deposited to complete the formation of the heaters.
The insulation layers formed under and above the heaters serve multiple functions. The lower insulation layers underneath the heaters block the loss of heat generated by the heaters through the silicon substrate, and electrically insulate the semiconductor silicon and the heaters. The upper insulation layers above the heaters electrically insulate the heaters and ink, prevent the heaters from corrosion resulting from chemical reactions with corrosive ink, and protect the heaters from damage caused by cavitation shocks occurring when ink bubbles collapse. Various substances may be used to form the upper and lower insulation layers so long as they have physical properties satisfying the above requirements. Further, the substances for the upper and lower insulation layers can be manufactured into the layers through a semiconductor manufacturing process, and have excellent junction properties between layers.
FIG. 1 illustrates a structure of a conventional inkjet print head chip constructed in consideration of the above requirements and conditions.
In FIG. 1, NPN transistors, which drive heaters, are formed on a substrate through a conventional semiconductor manufacturing process. In one NPN transistor, the collector regions 2, 4, 7, and 11 completely surround the emitter region 10 and the base regions 5 and 8. Further, an insulation layer 13 of SiO2 film is formed over the NPN transistor through a thermal oxidation process, over which a thermal accumulation layer 14 of silicon oxide film is deposited. Thereafter, a heater 15 and an electrode layer 16 are formed in order before a protection layer 17 is formed. A nozzle plate 19 having ink nozzle holes is provided to cover the top of the print head chip. The thermal accumulation layer 14 functions as a lower or underneath insulation layer insulating the electrodes 12 of the transistor and the electrodes 16 of the heater 15. The protection layer 17 functions as an upper or over insulation layer insulating the electrodes of the heater from one another.
The lower insulation layer underneath the heater cuts off heat radiated when the ink is heated by the heater to maximize the supply of the heater heat to ink, and, thereafter, externally radiates the heat remaining in the heater after firing or ejecting ink before returning to its initial state. Therefore, the lower insulation layer carries out the contradictory functions of insulating the lower side or underside when the heater is heating ink and externally radiating any remaining heat from the heater after heating.
While the lower insulation layer of SiO2 used as a heat accumulation layer has excellent radiation properties, it has limited heat insulating characteristics. Therefore, to achieve acceptable insulation performance, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the insulation layer. However, increasing the thickness also decreases the cooling time. A shortened cooling time makes it difficult to enhance the operation frequency of the heater, that is, the firing or ejecting frequency of the inkjet print head.
Further, in case of the bubble jet-type inkjet print heads, ink viscosity increases as the ambient temperature of ink is lowered, which occasionally causes ink not to be fired or ejected. In winter, for example, as the temperature of an office reaches about 15° C., the ink viscosity increases to a level that printing is not performed on the first one or two sheets of paper at the start of a print job.
In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to pre-heat ink to a certain temperature when the ambient temperature of ink is lowered. To accomplish this pre-heating of the ink, a conventional inkjet print head is provided with an extra heater. When activated, the extra heater heats the entire head chip to which the heater is mounted to over 30° C. However, such a method heats the entire inkjet print head chip to pre-heat ink over a certain temperature, which causes the consumption of much energy for the heating and the transistors in the inkjet print head chip may have malfunctions due to the heat.

Inkjet print head chip and inkjet print head using same