The present disclosure provides a semiconductor structure and a method for preparing the semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes a substrate; a drain disposed in the substrate; a drain contact disposed in the drain; a source disposed in the substrate; a source contact disposed in the source; a gate structure with a bottom disposed in the substrate between the drain and the source; a channel disposed at the bottom of the gate structure connecting the drain and the source; a drain stressor disposed in the drain between the gate structure and the drain contact; a drain strained silicon layer disposed in the substrate surrounding the drain stressor connected to the channel; a source stressor disposed in the source between the source contact and the gate structure; and a source strained silicon layer disposed in the substrate surrounding the source stressor connected to the channel.

Semiconductor devices are widely used in the electronics industry because of their small sizes, multi-functional characteristics, and/or low fabrication costs, among other advantages. Reducing the size of semiconductor devices results in improved performance, increased capacity, and/or reduced cost. However, semiconductor devices have become highly integrated during the advancement of the electronics industry. Widths and spaces of patterns included in semiconductor devices have been reduced to increase the integration density of semiconductor devices. Size reduction, however, requires more sophisticated techniques for IC manufacturing, Since new and/or expensive exposure techniques are needed to form fine patterns, there exist increasing difficulties in continuing to highly integrate semiconductor devices. In order to continue reducing the scale of semiconductor devices, many techniques have been proposed in recent years for future generation development.
Moreover, to enhance the performance of the semiconductor devices, strained silicon has been used. Strained silicon is a layer of silicon in which the silicon atoms are stretched beyond their normal interatomic distance. Moving these silicon atoms farther apart reduces the atomic forces that interfere with the movement of electrons through the transistors and thus improves carrier mobility, resulting in better chip performance and lower energy consumption. This can be accomplished by putting the layer of silicon over a substrate of, for example, silicon germanium (SiGe), in which the atoms are arranged farther apart than those of a silicon substrate.
This Discussion of the Background section is provided for background information only. The statements in this Discussion of the Background are not an admission that the subject matter disclosed in this section constitutes prior art to the present disclosure, and no part of this Discussion of the Background section may be used as an admission that any part of this application, including this Discussion of the Background section, constitutes prior art to the present disclosure.

Semiconductor structure having buried gate, buried source and drain contacts, and strained silicon and method of manufacturing the same


A penetrator includes a fore body comprising a pin and having a center of aerodynamic pressure forward of a center of gravity and a stabilizing portion comprising a material of lower density than that of the fore body and a plurality of outwardly extending fins for improving an aerodynamic stability of the projectile and defining a bore in which the pin is received for removably attaching the fore body thereto such that, when attached to the fore body, a center of gravity for the penetrator is forward of a center of aerodynamic pressure for the penetrator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a penetrator and a method of using the penetrator, and, more particularly, to a penetrator for penetrating and damaging a variety of different types of targets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flechettes generally are small, dart-like, projectiles that are typically dispensed at high velocities and in large numbers to damage various types of targets. As they are unpowered and have no explosive elements, they rely on kinetic energy as the damage mechanism. They are generally designed to have minimum aerodynamic drag so that they can travel over long distances at high velocities with good accuracy. Flechettes may be individually dispensed from a gun, dispensed in numbers from a gun in a shotgun-like manner, or dispensed in numbers from a warhead of a rocket or missile.
Flechettes are typically designed with the intended target in mind. For example, some flechettes are designed to behave as hardened penetrators to breach harder targets, such as thin armor. Such flechettes are less effective against softer targets because they tend to pass through the target quickly with minimal damage. Other flechettes are designed to damage softer targets by fracturing or bending as they strike the target; however, they are often ineffective against harder targets because of the tendency to fracture or bend upon striking such targets.
In combat situations wherein both harder and softer targets are anticipated, flechettes for each type of target have conventionally been needed. Supplying, storing, and deploying multiple types of flechettes based upon the perceived or anticipated target may lead to logistical difficulties. Other conventional approaches to damaging both harder and softer targets have included the use of other types of penetrators, often having explosive components, which are more expensive to deploy than flechette-based weapons.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing, the effects of one or more of the problems set forth above.


The three-dimensional shape of the surface of a board (12) is measured, and the parallel degree between the board (12) and a semiconductor chip (10) is adjusted on the basis of the measurement result. A board mounting means (13) and a semiconductor chip holding means (11) are moved close to each other, and the semiconductor chip (10) is mounted on the board (12).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for mounting a large semiconductor chip, e.g., an Si-LSI, a GaAs-LSI, and a liquid crystal display (LCD).
2. Related Background Art
A flip chip is mounted by connecting all bumps provided to a semiconductor chip to pads on a board. For this purpose, a technique for maintaining the parallel degree between the semiconductor chip and the board is very important. A conventional technique for maintaining the parallel degree between the semiconductor chip and the board in this manner uses, e.g., an optical probe. According to this method, probe light beams are radiated on a semiconductor chip and a board, and light beams reflected by the semiconductor chip and the board are measured, thereby adjusting the parallel degree between them.
Recently, however, as the size of the semiconductor chip and board is increased, it has become difficult to maintain the parallel degree between a semiconductor chip and a board by the conventional adjusting method. This is supposed to be caused by the following two factors.
First, according to the conventional method, although a deviation of parallel degree is detected from a deviation in angle, an error in this detecting method has become large. More specifically, even if a deviation in angle at a certain measurement point is very small, as the size of a semiconductor chip and board is increased, it appears as a very large deviation in angle at a location remote from the measurement point. Second, when the board is made of ceramic, a warp or undulation is present in the board due to the characteristics of a ceramic. As the size of the board is increased, these warp and undulation become unneglectable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide semiconductor chip mounting method and apparatus capable of sufficiently maintaining the parallel degree between a semiconductor chip and a board even when the size of the semiconductor chip and board is increased, thereby maintaining a high mounting yield.

Semiconductor chip mounting method and apparatus


An engine starter adapted to substitute for the traction rope type engine starter of the engine of a remote-control toy car is constructed to include a casing covered with a cover plate to hold a cushion, a driven bevel gear, a driving bevel gear, a locating block and a locating cap on the inside for enabling the starter rod of an electric auxiliary starter to be coupled to the polygonal coupling hole at the driven bevel gear and operated to start the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates an engine starter for remote-control toy car and, more particularly, to such an engine starter that can be used to substitute for the traction rope type engine starter of a conventional remote-control toy car.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional remote-control toy car uses a traction rope type engine starter to start the engine (see FIG. 12). It is difficult to start the engine with the traction rope. When operating the traction rope type engine starter, the traction rope may break easily, or the user's hand tends to be injured by the traction rope. Further, before starting the engine, the user must open the engine hood so that the user can start the concealed engine. When started, the user must close the engine hood again to keep the engine from sight.
In order to eliminate the aforesaid drawbacks, electric engine starters are developed. A conventional electric engine starter is known comprising a platform carrying a motor, a switch, a transmission gear, and a power cord. During operation, the user must couple the crank of the engine to the transmission gear and connect the power cord to an external battery pack (for example, the battery power supply of a motor vehicle), and then switch on the switch to start the motor, causing the motor to turn the transmission gear and then the engine of the remote-control toy car. This design of electric engine starter is still not satisfactory in function because of the disadvantages of heavy weight and limited to the availability of external battery power supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,334B2 discloses an electric auxiliary engine starter, which was invented by the present inventor. This design of electric auxiliary engine starter is functional. According to this design, the electric auxiliary engine starter uses a starter rod for coupling to a back center hole of the engine of a remote-control toy car to start the engine. However, this design of electric auxiliary engine starter is not suitable for all designs of remote-control toy cars. The oil tank or other parts of the engine of other designs of remote-control toy car may hinder the insertion of the starter rod into the back center hole of the engine.

Engine starter for remote-control toy car


A flat rolled metal product (1) is first hot-rolled in at least one rolling stand (2), then fed to a cooling zone (5) arranged downstream of the rolling stand (2) and finally cooled in the cooling zone (5). During the rolling in the rolling stand (2), the flat rolled product (1) is oriented horizontally. Before running into the cooling zone (5) and/or when running into the cooling zone (5), the flat rolled product (1) is turned by a first acute angle (a) about an axis running in the transporting direction (x), so that after completion of the turning about the axis the flat rolled product (1) is oriented obliquely. The flat rolled product (1) is cooled in the cooling zone (5) while it is oriented obliquely. The product (1) is then returned to horizontal orientation.

The above-cited subject matters are generally known. Reference may be made purely by way of example to DE 101 29 565 A1 and the corresponding US 2004/0 06 998 A1.
Following the hot-rolling process, the flat rolled product is cooled in the cooling zone of a rolling mill. In particular, precise temperature control is standard practice in the cooling zone in order to set the desired material properties of the flat rolled product and maintain said properties constant with the lowest possible statistical dispersion. Examples of cooling zones of said type are the cooling zone of a hot-strip mill line with or without intensive cooling or the so-called chill-hardening quench of a heavy-plate mill line.
During cooling of the flat rolled product, large volumes of liquid coolant (generally water) are applied to the still hot flat rolled product both from above and from below. The coolant applied to the undersurface can then drop downward due to gravity so that the coolant that is applied to the flat rolled product from below at a specific point in the cooling zone does not interfere with the subsequent further cooling of the undersurface of the flat rolled product. Coolant applied to the top surface, on the other hand, may remain lying on the flat rolled product. Firstly, this results in an undefined cooling process. Secondly, the coolant that remains standing affects the cooling action that is intended to be produced by a subsequent further cooling of the top surface of the flat rolled product. In particular, an inhomogeneous cooling process can cause the flat rolled product to curve upward, resulting in an accumulation of coolant in the center. Further problems present themselves at greater transport speeds.
It is known in the prior art to use side jet spray arrays which cause the coolant present on the top surface of the flat rolled product to drain off to the side.
A system is furthermore known in which the flat rolled product is embodied as a strip and is turned to a vertical position during the cooling phase in the cooling zone. Uniform cooling on both sides is achieved with this system. However, this method can be applied only in the case of relatively narrow and thin strips. Furthermore, there exists the risk that the strips will be damaged on the side edge on which they are guided.

Cooling of an obliquely positioned flat rolled product


A process for preparing a fermented malt beverage wherein brewing materials are mashed with water and the resulting mash is heated and wort separated therefrom. The wort is boiled, cooled and fermented and the beer is subjected to a finishing stage, which includes aging, to produce the final beverage. The improvement comprises subjecting the beer to a cold stage comprising rapidly cooling the beer to a temperature of about its freezing point in such a manner that ice crystals are formed therein in only minimal amounts. The resulting cooled beer is then mixed for a short period of time with a beer slurry containing ice crystals, without any appreciable collateral increase in the amount of ice crystals in the resulting mixture. Finally, the so-treated beer is extracted from the mixture.

The process of preparing fermented malt beverages, such as beer, ale, porter, malt liquor and other similar fermented alcoholic brewery beverages, hereinafter referred to simply as "beer" for convenience, is historically well-established. As practised in modern breweries, the process, in brief, comprises preparing a "mash" of malt, usually with cereal adjuncts, and heating the mash to solubilize the proteins and convert the starch into sugar and dextrins. The insoluble grains are filtered off and washed with hot water which is combined with the soluble material and the resulting wort boiled in a brew kettle to inactivate enzymes, sterilize the wort, extract desired hop components from added hops, and coagulate certain protein-like substances. The wort is then strained to remove spent hops and coagulate, then cooled and pitched with yeast and fermented. The fermented brew known as "green" or "ruh" beer is then aged ("lagered") and clarified, filtered, and carbonated to produce the desired beer. In the widely practiced high gravity brewing procedure, beer is brewed at a slightly elevated alcohol content of say 7% to 8% vol/vol alcohol content and this is then diluted to the desired value of say 5% vol/vol.
As is well known, such beers generally develop a haze upon elapse of time and/or through changes in temperature of the beer. This haze is considered to be made up of two types:
(a) "chill haze" which is temperature sensitive and may disappear as the temperature of the beer is raised to, say, room temperature; and PA1 (b) "permanent haze" which, as the name implies, once created remains.
If the beer is consumed warm, as in some European countries, then chill haze may be less of a problem but where beer is consumed cold, as is customary in North America, chill haze can be a serious problem.
In any event, in modern times for various reasons such as the closing of many local breweries, etc., the time from when the beer is stored, whether it is in tanks, kegs, bottles, cans, etc., to when it is consumed by the public has increased and this results in the amount of haze which will be formed increasing and, although as indicated above, some of the haze will be of the temperature sensitive-type, the precipitated amount of the components responsible for the permanent haze increases and, eventually, the total haze becomes visible at room temperature.
The exact nature and mode of formation of haze in beer is not known but it is generally accepted that haze comprises significant amounts of proteins, yeast cells, metals, cell components, polyphenols and various other materials.
The problem of haze formation has been addressed in many ways. The traditional way is, of course, to subject the beverage to a lagering step in which the beverage is stored at near zero temperatures for periods of time ranging from weeks to, in extreme cases, up to several months during which time the yeast cells and proteins settle out and, additionally, the taste of the beer may improve. However, that step alone is not adequate for modern needs especially in view of the time required which is responsible for a significant fraction of the overall costs, and hence, significant effort continues to be expanded to eliminate or at least reduce this problem. For example, use of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to stabilize beer by combining with the polyphenols well documented, refer to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,688,550; 2,939,791 and others. U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,693 teaches adding various silicates particularly calcium magnesium or zinc silicates to the beer (or wort) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,498 teaches the use of certain acid treated synthetic magnesium silicates. For example U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,498 teaches adding an acid-treated synthetic magnesium silicate to the beer. However, although these methods do alleviate the problem, they by no means eliminate it and are becoming less favored as the addition of any additives or processing aids to all foods is becoming less desirable.
It has also been proposed, in Australian Patent Specification 224576 to convert beer to a slush ice condition which is maintained for up to seventy-two hours and subsequently melting the beer and immediately separating out the precipitated material. If the beer contains material which can re-dissolve before it can be removed by filtration or centrifugation, then a general absorbent material such as bentonite (or asbestos) is added prior to freezing the beer to ensure that the precipitated material is definitely converted into and maintained in an insoluble form before it can re-dissolve upon melting. Beer has been subjected to freezing in other processes, specifically processes involving the production of beer concentrates. For example, Canadian Patent No. 673,672 involves freezing beer to produce a slurry of concentrated beer, ice and other solids including yeast cells, removing the ice and other solids from the desired concentrated beer, which has concentrated up to five-fold relative to the starting beer. The ice is discarded or passed into a system to recover beer or desirable components thereof that are entrained on the ice. All freeze concentration processes suffer from the fact that the ice removed can carry away excessive amounts of the desired material and recovery of that material which is occluded or retained on the ice, by washing extraction or other means, brings its own problems--refer for example to Canadian Patent No. 710,662. Also, the practical process is usually multistage with successive stages being effected at temperatures reduced relative to earlier stages, this being quite common in the freeze concentration art--refer for example to Canadian Patents No. 601,487 and No. 786,308. This latter patent has the same inventor and proprietor as Canadian Patent No. 673,672 and covers products produced by the latter patent. Despite the quite amazing claims made for the products produced under this patent, it does not seem to have ever been commercially exploited. U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,184 teaches a process for preparing flavored malt liquors wherein an aged fermented wort is freeze concentrated generally to the 20% to 30% alcohol by volume level, and various flavourings then added. In the freeze concentration process described in Canadian Patent No. 872,210 it is the wort which is freeze concentrated, this apparently providing efficiencies in obtaining a higher yield or extract from the brew materials than is obtained in a regular brew.
As indicated above, the development of haze in beer is, obviously, still a significant practical problem despite the extensive efforts made in the past, and still being made, to solve it.
An object of the present invention is to provide a process for continuously processing beer at low temperatures.

Improvements in production of fermented malt beverages


An image digitizer including a pixel engine connected to both a video memory and a processor. The pixel engine is configured to enable pixels to be transferred out of memory or read into memory while bypassing the processor thereby allowing more efficient transfer of data into and out of the image digitizer.

This invention relates to hardware designs coupled with software-based algorithms for capture, compression, decompression, and playback of digital image sequences, particularly in an editing environment.
The idea of taking motion video, digitizing it, compressing the digital datastream, and storing it on some kind of media for later playback is not new. RCA's Sarnoff labs began working on this in the early days of the video disk, seeking to create a digital rather than an analog approach. This technology has since become known as Digital Video Interactive (DVI).
Another group, led by Phillips in Europe, has also worked on a digital motion video approach for a product they call CDI (Compact Disk Interactive). Both DVI and CDI seek to store motion video and sound on CD-ROM disks for playback in low cost players. In the case of DVI, the compression is done in batch mode, and takes a long time, but the playback hardware is low cost. CDI is less specific about the compression approach, and mainly provides a format for the data to be stored on the disk.
A few years ago, a standards-making body known as CCITT, based in France, working in conjunction with ISO, the International Standards Organization, created a working group to focus on image compression. This group, called the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) met for many years to determine the most effective way to compress digital images. They evaluated a wide range of compression schemes, including vector quantization (the technique used by DVI) and DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform). After exhaustive qualitative tests and careful study, the JPEG group picked the DCT approach, and also defined in detail the various ways this approach could be used for image compression. The group published a proposed ISO standard that is generally referred to as the JPEG standard. This standard is now in its final form, and is awaiting ratification by ISO, which is expected.
The JPEG standard has wide implications for image capture and storage, image transmission, and image playback. A color photograph can be compressed by 10 to 1 with virtually no visible loss of quality. Compression of 30 to 1 can be achieved with loss that is so minimal that most people cannot see the difference. Compression factors of 100 to 1 and more can be achieved while maintaining image quality acceptable for a wide range of purposes.
The creation of the JPEG standard has spurred a variety of important hardware developments. The DCT algorithm used by the JPEG standard is extremely complex. It requires converting an image from the spatial domain to the frequency domain, the quantization of the various frequency components, followed by Huffman coding of the resulting components. The conversion from spatial to frequency domain, the quantization, and the Huffman coding are all computationally intensive. Hardware vendors have responded by building specialized integrated circuits to implement the JPEG algorithm.
One vendor, C-Cube of San Jose, Calif., has created a JPEG chip (the CL550B) that not only implements the JPEG standard in hardware, but can process an image with a resolution of, for example, 720.times.488 pixels (CCIRR 601 video standard) in just 1/30th of a second. This means that the JPEG algorithm can be applied to a digitized video sequence, and the resulting compressed data can be stored for later playback. The same chip can be used to compress or decompress images or image sequences. The availability of this JPEG chip has spurred computer vendors and system integrators to design new products that incorporate the JPEG chip for motion video. However, the implementation of the chip in a hardware and software environment capable of processing images with a resolution of 640.times.480 pixels or greater at a rate of 30 frames per second in an editing environment introduces multiple problems.
Standard image digitizers which include analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, a processor, and a video memory are not in themselves capable of operating at the speeds required for full resolution 30 frames per second transmission for all frame formats and modes of operation that an application may require. Thus, the image digitizer can be a bottleneck of a video capture and playback system. One problem is caused by trying to handle variable picture format, including variable frame size, pixel depth, and frame rate (for example, NTSC vs. PAL). Another problem comes about in trying to achieve sufficient throughput in high bandwidth situations. In image digitizers of standard architecture, a bottleneck is created when images of high frame size, pixel depth, and frame rate are processed. An attempt to handle alpha channel information further increases the problem. Other format changes, such as subsampling, also slow down the system by taxing the relatively slow processor. The present invention is a method of tapping the video memory of the image digitizer so that the processor can be bypassed during pixel input and output.


A touch screen-based document editing device and method, the device includes an editing symbol storage for storing editing symbols used for editing a document; a display for presenting the document, the display being implemented as a touch screen; a user interface for allowing a user to input an editing request for editing the document presented on the display; a video processor for managing presentation information of the document, displaying the document in an editing mode screen in response to the editing request, and presenting the editing symbol on the document; a video analyzer for receiving the presentation information from the video processor, and extracting the editing symbols and positions of the editing symbols in the document; an editing symbol recognizer for retrieving the editing symbols from the editing symbol storage; and a document editor for executing an editing command on the basis of the editing symbols.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document editing device and method and, in particular, to a touch screen-based document editing device and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, information-processing devices such as personal computers (PC), personal digital assistants (PDA), and mobile telephones, are equipped with a keypad as an input means. By manipulating the keypad, a user may input commands which may include alphabetical and/or numerical characters.
Currently, touch screens are typically used for retail settings, point of sale (POS) systems, automatic teller machines (ATM), and devices in which a stylus is often used to manipulate a graphic user interface (GUI) and for entering data.
Since most functions may be implemented by utilizing keys displayed on a screen, so called 'soft buttons', a touch screen substantially reduces the number of necessary mechanical keys of the keypad and enhances user manipulation.
Further, since the touch screen can provide different key sets for different applications and small keys to be selected are simultaneously displayed on the screen, it is possible to reduce the size of the device using a touch screen-based input mechanism. For these reasons, the touch screens are utilized in smart phones, PDAs, portable game consoles, and other various small electrical appliances.
Frequently, the touch screen is implemented with an input mechanism such as a graffito input, a virtual keyboard (for example, soft buttons), and a menu command for inputting letters. In case of graffito-based input mechanism, the alphabetical and/or numerical characters are represented in characterized forms such that a letter or number is input by selecting a corresponding graffito. FIG. 1 is a view illustrating examples of graffiti according to a conventional graffito input mechanism. As shown in FIG. 1, alphabetical and/or numerical characters are presented in graffiti form. With the graffito input mechanism, it is possible to simplify input of alphabetical and numerical characters.
As data communication technologies have advanced and electronic documents are widely utilized, electronic documents are frequently exchanged through a communication network for sharing opinions between individuals. In order to communicate opinions on a subject of an electronic document, it is required to edit the document in communication devices.
However, in the case of a small communication device such as a PDA equipped with a touch screen, which operates with a conventional input mechanism such as the graffito input or menu command mechanism, it is very complicated and uncomfortable for a user to edit a document on such device.

Touch screen-based document editing device and method


A method of investigating a solid sample, in particular a geological sample, such as a borehole core sample, includes the steps of positioning the sample on a sample support device, positioning a hyperspectral camera device, so that a line-shaped surface region of the sample is covered by a field of view of the hyperspectral camera device, illuminating the sample on the sample support device, moving the hyperspectral camera device and the sample support device relative to each other, wherein the field of view of the hyperspectral camera device is moved along a scanning direction over the surface of the sample, and collecting a hyperspectral image of the sample during the moving step, wherein the hyperspectral image is composed of multiple hyperspectral line images.

It is generally known that extracting cores from oil exploration boreholes is a routine way of sampling and assessing hydrocarbon reservoirs. Borehole cores provide a unique inside into lithology and mineralogy of the subsurface. However, as a general disadvantage of the conventional techniques for investigating borehole cores, the acquisition of data is extremely costly and time consuming. Conventionally, collected cores routinely undergo multiple analyses aimed at describing the mineral composition and petrophysical (rock physics) properties of the rocks. To this end, a series of sub-samples are taken from the core and analyzed with chemical or physical procedures. As a main disadvantage, these sub-sampling procedures and analysis commonly damage or destroy the core material. Furthermore, they provide properties of the core at single positions only, but they do not allow a continuous mapping of the core material or a precise prediction of material properties, like e.g. the material composition or distribution of sample components. Thus, the amount of data that potentially could be retrieved is substantially constrained with the conventional techniques.
Various approaches for spectroscopic investigations of geological samples are known from practice. As an example, the geological sample can be analyzed using a hand-held spectrometer, which provides e.g. reflectivity spectra of a sample's surface at selected measurement positions. Again, this measurement provides information with regard to a few points only, but not a complete image of the sample composition. The amount of spectroscopic data can be increased if the hand-held spectrometer is replaced by an interferometric set-up as described e.g. in WO 2011/078869 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,424 or US 2012/0250017 A1. However, the use of a scanning interferometer represents a disadvantage in terms of the complexity of the interferometer and the operation thereof as well as with regard to the complex processing of the interferometric spectral data.
Another conventional approach for analyzing geological samples is based on hyperspectral imaging, as described e.g. by T. H. Kurz, S. J. Buckley et al. ("Close-range hyperspectral imaging for geological field studies: workflow and methods" in "International Journal of Remote Sensing" volume 34(5), issue 134, 2013, pp. 1798-1822). The hyperspectral imaging technique is based on the use of absorption characteristics of light to classify the mineralogy of a reflective surface, typically in the near infra-red part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The chemical composition and crystal structure of an object controls how light is reflected and absorbed, giving rise to unique diagnostic features that can be used to identify individual minerals.
With the conventional terrestrial application of hyperspectral imaging, a geological formation, like a cliff section or a surface mining is investigated. A hyperspectral camera having a line-shaped field of view is panned (or: rotated) for collecting a panorama image of the geological formation. Simultaneously, a topological representation is collected with a laser scanner. The hyperspectral image and the topological representation are registered for assigning spectroscopic features to certain surface ranges of geological formation.
Up to now, the hyperspectral imaging is restricted to remote sensing at terrestrial geological formations only. The conventional approach has disadvantages due to a restricted spatial resolution and a limited capability of determining the presence of different materials. Different rock types within a geological formation can be sensed, but an analysis of the rock composition was excluded with the conventional techniques. Furthermore, the practical application of the hyperspectral imaging technique may result in substantial imaging artifacts and problems with regard to image interpretation.


A 3D scanning apparatus and method using lighting based on a smart phone. The 3D scanning apparatus includes: an image capturing unit for capturing the image of a 3D object using a camera and a lighting apparatus installed in a terminal; an image processing unit for generating a color-enhanced image corresponding to the light emitted by the lighting apparatus; and a scanning unit for scanning the 3D object in 3D by extracting a scan area from the color-enhanced image based on the light and by extracting position information corresponding to the scan area.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to 3D scanning technology using lighting based on a smart phone and, more particularly, to 3D scanning technology capable of scanning a 3D object in 3D using a camera and a lighting apparatus that are installed in a smart phone.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently released 3D scanners are expensive devices, and are used only by experts. Existing 3D scanners require complicated software and special hardware such as contact-type, laser optical, or structured light hardware. However, with the development of 3D printing technology, technical requirements for simple scanning and printing are in demand, in addition to requirements in the reverse engineering field.
A mobile 3D scanner may use Time Of Flight (TOF) scanning, photometric scanning, or laser optical scanning. In TOF scanning, 3D data are acquired by measuring changes in an infrared pattern that is projected onto an object using a separate infrared camera and a small infrared pattern projector. However, this method has disadvantages in that the hardware is expensive and the precision of data is limited by the resolution of the camera. In photometric scanning, a pair of similar images is extracted from among two or more images obtained by capturing an object, and 3D data are acquired using a method based on triangulation. This method has an advantage in that the hardware is inexpensive, but the precision and scanning quality are inferior because complete information about the points that form the shape of the object is not acquired.
In contrast, in laser optical scanning, relatively cheap hardware is used and 3D data are obtained by analyzing the curve of a laser projected onto an object, thus being advantageous in that a high degree of precision may be realized. However, this method has a disadvantage in that the object must be repeatedly scanned, in comparison with TOF scanning or photometric scanning. Laser optical scanning may be categorized into a method in which a camera is fixed and an object is scanned while being rotated and a camera tracking method, which uses a camera that is capable of scanning while moving. In the case of the method in which a camera is fixed, there are disadvantages in that a repetitive setting process is required in order to rotate an object and inaccurate scanning may result from inconsistently orienting the camera and the laser. Conversely, the camera tracking method may overcome the weak point of the method in which a camera is fixed, but requires a camera tracking algorithm in order to realize a high degree of precision.

3D scanning apparatus and method using lighting based on smart phone

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section and a toner cartridge which is loadable into the image forming section. The toner cartridge includes a seal member which is bonded to a peripheral edge of a toner discharging port by an electro-releasing adhesive, of which adhesive force decreases when a current is applied thereto. The image forming section includes a first electrode and a second electrode that contact the peripheral edge of the toner discharging port and the seal member, respectively, when the toner cartridge is loaded into the image forming section. When a current is applied to the electro-releasing adhesive via the first and second electrodes, the adhesive force of the electro-releasing adhesive decreases, whereby the seal member is released from the toner discharging port.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a toner cartridge used for the same, and particularly to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image by a toner supplied from a detachable toner cartridge and also to a toner cartridge used for the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
An image forming apparatus for forming an image with the use of electrophotography is frequently and widely used, such as in a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, since a high-quality image can be formed with simple operations and the apparatus is easy to maintain and manage.
A general electrophotographic image forming apparatus mainly includes a photoconductor drum for forming an electrostatic latent image, a developing device for developing the electrostatic latent image, a transfer device for transferring a toner image to a recording medium such as a sheet, and a fixing device for fixing the toner image onto the recording medium.
A toner and sheets to be consumed can be added by a user when depleted, but toner, which is composed of extremely light and fine particles, may be scattered in the air and may dirty the user's hand, at the time of adding to the image forming apparatus.
Therefore, in recent years, a method of replacing a toner cartridge per se that stores toner so that the toner particles are not scattered in the air, i.e., a method of unloading an empty toner cartridge from an image forming apparatus and then loading a new toner cartridge into the image forming apparatus, is mostly used.
Generally, in a toner cartridge, a toner discharging port is formed in a portion of the toner cartridge so as to be an outlet for the toner stored in the toner cartridge, and the toner discharging port is tightly sealed by a film seal member until the toner cartridge is loaded into an image forming apparatus.
This prevents the fine toner particles from leaking from the toner cartridge due to vibration during transport.
When the toner cartridge becomes empty and incapable of forming an image, the user unloads the empty toner cartridge from the image forming apparatus and replaces the empty toner cartridge with a new toner cartridge.
At this time, the user is required to load the new toner cartridge into the image forming apparatus after unsealing the new toner cartridge by removing the seal member from the new toner cartridge. As a result, an inexperienced user is confused about removing the seal member, and therefore downtime (inoperable time) of the image forming apparatus increases.

Image forming apparatus and toner cartridge used for the same


A medical access device provides needleless access to patient fluid lines such as intravascular catheters. A preformed crimp ring is attached around a septum and the top end of the housing of the medical access device. The crimp ring is configured to hold the septum in place. The septum provides access for a tubular portion of a medical device such as a male luer taper of a syringe. The crimp ring is then attached by mechanical attachment and/or chemical adhesion to the housing to minimize axial and rotational movement between the septum and the housing.

The present invention relates to a connector for accessing patient fluid lines. In particular, the present invention is an access connector that may be opened by a tubular portion of a medical device, such as a male luer taper of a syringe.
In the course of treating patients, clinicians are continually transferring patient fluids between various containers and intravascular (IV) lines or through IV catheters. Transfer of these fluids is preferably through a closed system to prevent microbes from entering the system and causing infections in the patients.
Many of these closed systems have relied on the use of a needle to penetrate a rubber or silicone septum to gain access to the fluid lines. The clinician may then inject fluid into or withdraw fluid from the patient via a needle and syringe. The septum then reseals after the needle is withdrawn, which prevents backflow of the fluids and closes the system once again.
Because of the concern over accidental puncture with needles contaminated with a patient's blood or other fluids, needleless mechanisms have been developed to access patient fluid lines. One such mechanism utilizes a silicone septum that has a slit in it wide enough to allow a standard male luer taper to access the fluids. In this type of mechanism, the silicone septum is encompassed by a thermoplastic housing. With current connectors, the septum is bonded to the housing with adhesive.
Bonding between the septum and housing prevents the septum from rotating within the housing while a male luer-lock taper is locked and unlocked from the connector. In addition, as a male luer taper is drawn out of the septum, the taper tends to stick to the septum and stretches the septum out of the housing. If the septum is not bonded to the housing, the septum will pull out, or, as the taper slips off the septum, the septum snaps back into the housing causing fluids to spatter.


According to the present invention the use of a delayed acknowledgment procedure of TCP in a communication network system arranged to transport TCP/IP packets is controlled. A burstiness of received TCP packets transmitted in the communication network system from an entity to a device is monitored and it is decided whether the monitored burstiness meets a predefined condition. On the basis of the decision result the delayed acknowledgment procedure is enabled or disabled.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is a network protocol used on LANs, WANs and the Internet. With the increasing amount of packet services on wireless systems, the use of TCP on a wireless system increases and in the near future it is believed that a considerable amount of the traffic on a wireless system is based on TCP/IP. Currently a major part of all Internet traffic is based on TCP/IP. Features of TCP/IP are described by Richard Stevens in TCP/IP Illustrated, vol. 1, Addison-Wesley, 1994, for example.
In TCP, data is split into what the protocol considers the optimum size chunks to transmit. The chunks are denominated segments and their size must not exceed a maximum constant value (Maximum Segment Size or MSS).
Whenever a segment is transmitted by a server it has to reach a client which acknowledges the transmitted segment. The elapsed time when the server transmits the segment until it receives the corresponding acknowledgment is commonly known as Round Trip Time (RTT). This is shown in FIG. 6 for a segment or packet S1 transmitted from the server to the client and an acknowledgment ACK S1 transmitted from the client to the server. The TCP server holds a variable used to calculate an estimation of a maximum allowed RTT. This variable is called RTO. Moreover, the server has a timer that counts the elapsed time since the segment was transmitted. If the corresponding acknowledgment does not arrive at the server before the timer reaches the value of the RTO estimator, the server considers that congestion occurred in the network and starts congestion avoidance actions.
TCP tries to adapt the transmission rate to the load and capacity of the links of the network. This is done by several mechanisms, like slow start, retransmission timeout, fast retransmission, etc. Fast retransmission and retransmission timeout cause retransmission of TCP/IP packets, when they are lost or delayed more than a dynamic timer RTO.
The flow control in TCP is accomplished by means of two windows: the congestion window (cwnd) and the advertised window (awnd). For the problem treated here, it will be assumed that the congestion window is the minimum of both windows, and therefore cwnd will characterize the maximum amount of outstanding data that the server may transmit. The congestion window is controlled by slow start and congestion avoidance algorithms that try to optimize the amount of data injected to the load situation of the Internet.
The slow start algorithm is executed in the beginning of a connection (just after connection set-up) or after the occurrence of a timer expiration (time out).
In FIG. 1 congestion window evolution in slow start and congestion avoidance is shown. During slow start, the congestion window is initialized to MSS bytes at the connection establishment (some implementations initialize it to two or four MSSs). After connection set-up the transmitting end passes to execute this algorithm. Each time a TCP acknowledgment is received at the server, the slow start increases the congestion window by MSS. So, when the first acknowledgment is received, the congestion window is increased from MSS to 2*MSS and two segments can be sent, and so on. FIG. 1 shows the exponential increase of the congestion window during slow start. When the cwnd exceeds the slow start threshold (e.g. initially set to 65535 bytes), the TCP transmitting entity (server) passes to execute the congestion avoidance algorithm. As it is illustrated in FIG. 1, when the congestion window reaches the slow start threshold it does not increase exponentially anymore but linearly.
Another different feature of TCP is denominated delayed acknowledgments. A host receiving a stream of TCP data segments can increase efficiency in both the Internet and the hosts by sending fewer than one ACK (acknowledgment) segment per data segment received. According to the Network Working Group, RFC 1122, this is known as a "delayed ACK". As expressed in this document, TCP should implement a delayed acknowledgment, but an acknowledgment should not be excessively delayed; in particular, the delay must be less than 0.5 seconds, and in a stream of full-sized segments there should be an acknowledgment for at least every second segment.
The delayed acknowledgment procedure has the obvious benefit that the uplink traffic in the RAN and in the fixed network decreases. But, on the other hand, it produces a slower increase of the congestion window since it decreases the arrival pace of acknowledgments at the server. This is not desired during slow start because it enlarges the required time for the congestion window to reach its optimum value. This larger time required by the congestion window to reach its optimum value is perceived by the final user as a delay, resulting in a worse end throughput. The effect of this delay is more pronounced in the download of small files (such as small web pages) than in the download of very large files (such as ftp).
Disabling the delayed acknowledgment procedure at the client during slow start would result in faster increase of the congestion window during slow start, and thus would increase the end throughput. However, if acknowledgments increase the traffic too fast, this might cause congestion in some part of the RAN (Radio Access Network), CN (Core Network) or the Internet.
There are TCP implementations that do not use the delayed acknowledgments in the beginning of the downloading. For example, an implementation might acknowledge 4 first packets immediately and use delayed acknowledgment thereafter.
However, those limits are fixed and they do not take into account, for example, that the allocated bit rate for the user might not be constant in a radio access network e.g. during downloading.

Adaptive delayed ACK switching for TCP applications


A multi-function device for testing masks such as NBC masks used in civilian and military applications. In its preferred form, the device is self-contained and can be readily transported to field sites by one or two individuals. The device includes a protective storage and transport case. The case includes an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion of the case houses the power unit assembly and includes sufficient storage space to store such things as an aerosol generator reservoir, various headform accessories, a containment shroud, manuals (e.g. installation, operation and maintenance manuals) and nominal tools. The lower portion of the case houses the head assembly and controller unit which are preferably mounted on a cover or top panel. Underneath the top or cover panel of the lower portion of the case are stored the light scattering chamber, flow sensor, pressure transducer, circuit boards and valves. The device can perform multiple tests including: (1) an overall mask leakage test; (2) an outlet valve leakage test; (3) a drink seat test; (4) a drink tube flow test; (5) a drink train leakage test; and, a mask fit test. Further, the device can be programmed for any given test period to perform one or all of the aforementioned tests. The device further can readily create a data log to record results of any given test or series of tests. The device further includes numerous safety features including requiring any operator of the device to reject or retest a defective mask.

Protective masks have been used for sometime in both civilian and military applications. These protective masks are designed to protect the wearer from nuclear, biological, chemical agents, fumes, aerosols, gases and other airborne particulate contaminants. Hence, it is extremely important that the mask be properly tested to ensure that it will protect the wearer from these life threatening agents. In military applications, NBC (i.e. nuclear, biological and chemical) protective masks have to undergo a series of tests which include: (1) an overall mask leakage test; (2) an outlet valve leakage test; (3) a drink tube valve seat test; (4) a drink tube flow test; (5) a drink train leakage test; and, (6) a mask fit test. Previously, five separate pieces of equipment were commonly used to perform these tests. These devices are known as the M14, M4A1, Q204, Q179 and M41. These devices have a combined cost of over 50,000.00 and cannot be deployed in field locations without the use of a tractor trailer. Further, these devices had little or no ability to log data regarding the results of the tests performed on the masks. Further, these devices did not have the capability of downloading the data logged in on the test results of the protective masks on a personal computer.
Hence, a significant need existed for a multi-function, self-contained, portable mask testing device which could be readily deployed in field applications by one or two military personnel and perform adequately all the required tests on NBC protective masks. The present invention is designed to satisfy this existing need.

Portable multi-function system for testing protective devices


A memory card connector assembly has an upper and a lower stacked connectors (10) each including a generally H-shaped housing (12) comprising a main body (14) through which a plurality of contacts (120, 126, 134) extend in the front-to-back direction. Two parallel side guide arms (16, 18) are positioned at two ends of the main body (14) to form a first recess (30) for receiving an alignment comb (140) in the upper connector and an auxiliary socket (150) in the lower connector, and a second recess (38) for receiving a memory card therein. The contacts (134) of the upper connector (10) extend through the alignment comb (140) for horizontal alignment and through the auxiliary socket (150) for vertical alignment. Each connector 10 further comprises a sliding plate (72) operated by a lever (62) for extraction of the inserted memory card. Attached to the housing (12) is a reinforcement plate (100) with tangs (110) for removing electrostatic charge from the inserted card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to memory card connector assemblies, and particularly to a dual IC package connector assembly which has a pair of similar connectors stacked together for reception of two IC memory cards, respectively.
2. Description of the Prior Art
IC packs or memory cards are used in a variety of electronic equipment, especially in laptop, palmtop, even notebook computers. The reason is that memory cards have recently been developed to improve memory capabilities in computer system and their modularity, increased memory capacity and smaller physical dimensions make them particularly desirable, especially in small-sized computer. Some prior art devices can be referred to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,176,523, 5,161,989, 5,152,697, 5,051,101, 5,149,276, 5,145,389, 5,139,435, 5,011,420, 4,952,161 and 4,810,200.
As disclosed in aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,276 to Dixon, it is desired to have a array of cards for saving space, so that a plurality of the devices may be stacked one upon the other with sufficient spacing allowed for operation. Also, in aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,523 to Lai, which has the same assignee as the present invention, teaches mechanism able to reduce the whole height when a plurality of memory card connectors are aligned and stacked together.
Even though the stacked type connector assemblies are more space efficient, another problem may occur about the alignment of the upper connector contacts with the corresponding conductive circuit traces positioned on the main board on which the connector assembly is seated because there is a significant vertical distance between the horizontal position of the upper connector contact and the main board. It can be seen that the vertical tail portions of such upper connector contacts may easily obliquely extend downwardly due to shortness of support means in the vertical direction. This situation becomes serious when the tails of the upper connector contacts are required to extend a distance in the horizontal direction for corresponding to the printed circuit layout of the main board on which the connector assembly is seated. This disadvantage may also get worse when this connector assembly is used in surface mount soldering instead of through-hole soldering because through-hole mounting of the contact with the board allows a relative larger range of manufacturing tolerance than surface mount type based on self-adjustment of the former. In other words, unlike the through-hole contact, a misaligned surface mount type contact can not be correctly and exactly mounted to the corresponding circuit trace, thus affecting the soldering between the contact and the trace, and perhaps resulting in missing signals during transmission.
To solve this problem, an attempt has been made by using a flat cable connectively incorporating two Insulative Displacement Contact (IDC) connectors respectively positioned on the main board and the rear of the upper connector for connection of the upper connector contacts, which are of a short tail type, and the main board, instead of the prolong tails of the upper connector contacts extending between the main board and the upper connector. Although this type solution can prevent misalignment problem between the upper connector contacts and the board traces, those three additional components need more manual operative assembling and the flat cable intends to take more space and swing up and down. This configuration obstructs miniaturization and automation in product development, and makes the manufacturing process more complex.
Accordingly, it is desired to have a device which includes relatively compact and secure components but still achieves the same function, i.e., the alignment of the upper connector contacts with the main board on which the connector assembly is seated.
An object of the present invention is to provide means which are easily and matably connected to either the upper connector or the lower connector, and are adapted to efficiently align the tails of the upper connector contacts with the traces printed on the board on which the connector assembly is seated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a low profile IC memory card connector regardless of single or stacked dual type. The reason why the whole thickness can be reduced is partially due to the structure that the ejection mechanism is disposed above and proximate the housing body instead of below the inserted card as shown in most prior art memory card connectors.
Yet an object of the present invention is to provide a connector assembly which allows three different type existing cards selectively to be used therewith. Moreover, each single connector can be individually utilized to be mounted on the main board with another upper connector on its top. All connectors can be made by one mold and have the same structure for mass production and lowering the cost.
Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector assembly, regardless of single connector or two stacked connectors, with a grounding path for ESD protection.


A system for decoding an electrical input signal includes a filter that impresses a variable gain on a portion of the input signal to deemphasize a spectral region of the input signal. The variable gain is set as a function of a variable gain control signal. A frequency detector generates the variable gain control signal in accordance with a frequency value wherein approximately one-half of the energy of the input signal is below the frequency value.

This invention relates to signal conditioning systems, and in particular to a signal decoder with adaptive signal weighting.
Various techniques for encoding and decoding a data signal (e.g., video or audio) are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,101,849 and 4,136,314 disclose an encoding technique that compresses the data signal with high frequency preemphasis. The signal is then stored or transmitted onto or across a medium, and the received data signal is expanded and deemphasized in a complementary manner. Preemphasis involves altering the magnitude of select frequency components of the signal with respect to the magnitude of frequency components, to reduce noise and thus improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Similarly, deemphasis involves altering select frequency components of a received encoded signal (e.g., a signal that was transmitted across a communication channel or read from a storage medium), in either a negative or positive sense in a complementary manner to the preemphasis applied to the signal.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,101,849 and 4,136,314 disclose controlling the amount of preemphasis as a function of the ratio of the energy in high and low frequency portions of the data signal. Of course the amount of deemphasis is also controlled by the ratio of the energy in the high and low frequency portions of the signal. However, a problem with this ratio technique is that it does not the bandwidth of the transmission channel or the storage medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,526 discloses an adaptive signal weighting system for encoding and decoding a data signal. The technique disclosed therein preemphasizes only the high frequency signal components during encoding as a function of the spectral energy contained in the high frequency portion of the signal. On the decoder side the received signal is deemphasized in a complementary manner by providing a gain to the high frequency signal components based upon the spectral energy within the high frequency portion of the spectrum of the received signal. One problem with this technique is that it controls the amount of preemphasis/deemphasis based upon the spectrum of only the high frequency components.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved technique for encoding and/or decoding a data signal that is transmitted across a data channel or stored and retrieved from a storage medium.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Systems and techniques for wireless communication. A user device belonging to a group of user devices that may operate as wireless nodes configures a locale parameter based on its sensing of a radio channel. The locale parameter is included in a message readable by members of the group. A group member receiving a message determines a locale parameter based on its own sensing of a radio channel and responds to a received message only if the locale parameter in the message matches the locale parameter based on the sensing of the radio channel by the receiving member within specified bounds.

One simple and convenient way to achieve private communications is for groups of wireless devices to be organized into flexible networks that can accommodate changing members. Nodes of an ad hoc network may be mobile telephones, especially devices such as smartphones capable of both voice and data communication. Members of a group may wish to maintain their communications private, and may seek both to protect the content of their messages and the origin of their messages. Group members may wish to conceal both the fact that a message is coming from a particular node, and may also wish to conceal the fact that nodes belong to the group. Members of a group may encrypt their traffic using a shared key K, and may also anonymize a group identifier by using mechanisms such as a community pseudonym, not associated with any particular node.
It is known, however, that various mechanisms exist by which attackers attempt to identify the presence of group members. One such mechanism is a replay attack, identifying the presence in a local network of members of the private group. If a wireless device responds to a message from the group with an encrypted message of its own, it is highly likely that the responding device belongs to the group. An attacker who does not know the group key and cannot read encrypted messages may nevertheless attempt to identify group members by recording and rebroadcasting a valid query. Various mechanisms have been developed that are generally effective in defending against a query that is replayed in the same network in which it originated. One approach is limiting the number of times a node can respond to a query, such as one time. Another approach, which may be used together with the first, is to limit the validity time of a query. Nodes that have received a query, as will be the case if an attack is attempted in the same network, will fail to respond to the same query more than the specified number of times or outside the validity time of the query.

Methods and apparatus for privacy protection in ad hoc networks


The software and hardware resources of an electronic system are organized in an architecture which creates a single data table in program memory for the assignment of user controls to system functions. User controls can be reassigned through appropriate modifications to this table. Thus, minor changes to the user controls can be implemented without modifying the software or hardware of the system, thereby avoiding significant development cost. Furthermore, standard products can be developed which can be customized to the needs of particular applications of the products or variations for local markets.

This application is related to commonly assigned, co-pending application Ser. No. (08/984,510), entitled "Method of Producing Customizable Automotive Electronic Systems", which was filed concurrently herewith.
The present invention relates in general to user controls for electronic devices and systems, and more specifically to the reprogrammable assignment of user controls for automotive electronic systems and subsystems (e.g., the push buttons and knobs on a car radio) to the specific features and functions which are to be performed in response to the user controls.
Electronic devices and systems can be produced having lower per unit cost when the device is mass produced at high volumes. In many instances, the per unit cost of manufacture continues to fall as the total number of devices increases. Nevertheless, variety must be maintained even in products of a single type (e.g., radios) for purposes of 1) product differentiation in terms of styling and/or feature content or 2) differences in product requirements in various local marketing regions or countries. Maintaining product variety reduces economies of scale and creates complexity at manufacturing plants. For example, a manufacturer of car radio subsystems may need to manufacture several different radio models because of styling differences between radios installed in various models of vehicles and because different geographic markets may require different radio features to be controllable. Each radio model may have different hardware and software which is unique to that model and which requires separate engineering development and separate manufacturing support.
An electronics manufacturer may often find it necessary to change the detailed configuration of the user control elements of existing audio, driver information, or other electronic subsystems in order to integrate the subsystem in other environments such as other car models or in response to varying market requirements. Prior art design practices use fixed assignments of user control elements to particular subsystems functions. The software and hardware design of a subsystem must be significantly modified in order to change the assignment of a user control element to a different subsystem function or to modify the number and/or layout of user control elements. Each alteration, however small, results in a new and unique part which has its own part number and associated logistical requirements. Each change requires unique development resources, testing, and manufacturing support. The cost of the modification process is significant and the resulting electrical components are not interchangeable.

User control interface architecture for automotive electronic systems


Disclosed is a recording medium with a lenticular lens for ink jet recording. The recording medium includes: a lenticular lens layer having a convex part surface, on which a plurality of semicylindrical or arcuate and elongated convexes are arranged in parallel, and a backside surface; and an ink absorptive layer provided on the backside surface of the lenticular lens layer. In the recording medium, an ink permeable layer for avoiding the stay of ink droplets on a recorded face after printing, or an adhesive layer for rendering the recording medium easily fixable to a wall, a mount and the like, or a temporarily applicable part is further provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium that can realize the formation of a three-dimensional image or a motion picture using lenticular lenses by an ink jet recording method.
2. Background Art
There is a method for the so-called 3D printing for rendering printed images observable three-dimensionally or as if the images are in motion, using a lenticular lens. The lenticular lens is an array of lenses comprising a plurality of arranged semicylindrical or arcuate and elongated convexes. When an image is observed through the lenticular lens, the left and right eyes of a viewer perceive respective different images so that the images are perceived three-dimensionally or as if the images are in motion.
A proposal has already been made on the formation of images using the above lenticular lens by an ink jet recording method (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 137034/1996).

Ink jet recording medium with lenticular lenses


A centrifugal fan is mounted to an inner plate of a centrifugal clutch as a heat-generating rotating device, and an intake port of a casing is formed near a front side in the axial direction of the centrifugal fan. The centrifugal fan includes a base plate connected to the inner plate of the centrifugal clutch, plural fins formed on the base plate, blow-off holes each formed between arbitrary adjacent fins and extending axially through the base plate, and guide walls for guiding a radially outward air flow over the base plate into the blow-off holes. Air just after admitted from the intake port passes through the blow-off holes and is blown against the centrifugal clutch.

There is known a motorcycle of the type wherein a drive source such as an engine and a power transmission mechanism such as a clutch and continuously variable transmission are accommodated within a single casing and are mounted as a power unit to a vehicle body frame. Since various devices which generate heat with operation of clutch and transmission are accommodated within the casing of the power unit, it is necessary to cool the interior of the casing efficiently. Therefore, many of power units of this type are provided with a cooling device wherein air is introduced from the exterior of the casing and is allowed to flow through the interior of the casing to effect heat exchange.
A conventional cooling device is known wherein a centrifugal fan is mounted to a driving pulley in a belt type continuously variable transmission, air introduced from an intake port of a casing is fed into the casing by a radially outward blow-off action of the centrifugal fan, and heat-generating rotating devices such as continuously variable transmission and clutch are cooled by a flow of the air (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid Open No. Sho 58-109762).
However, according to the structure of the above conventional cooling device, the introduced air is allowed to flow through the interior of the casing by the radial blow-off action of the centrifugal fan, so when a heat-generating rotating device such as clutch is spaced very far from a rotary shaft of the centrifugal fan, it is difficult to cool the device efficiently. That is, when a heat-generating rotating device to be cooled is spaced very far from a rotary shaft of the centrifugal fan, the introduced air is warmed by another heat-generating device while flowing through the interior of the casing and its heat-exchanging capacity is deteriorated upon arrival at the desired heat-generating device. Further, the centrifugal fan, due to characteristics thereof, cannot perform direct sending of air even when disposed coaxially with a heat-generating rotating device. In using the above conventional cooling device, therefore, it is required in many cases that the centrifugal fan and the heat-generating rotating device to be cooled be spaced away from each other.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a power unit cooling device capable of efficiently cooling a heat-generating rotating device to be cooled which is disposed within a casing.


The part load method controls delivery of diluent fluid, fuel fluid, and oxidant fluid in thermodynamic cycles using diluent, to increase the Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT) and thermal efficiency in part load operation above that obtained by relevant art part load operation of Brayton cycles, fogged Brayton cycles, or cycles operating with some steam delivery, or with maximum steam delivery. The part load method may control the TIT at the design level by controlling one or both of liquid and/or gaseous fluid water over a range from full load to less than 45% load. This extends operation to lower operating loads while providing higher efficiencies and lower operating costs using water, steam and/or CO2 as diluents, than in simple cycle operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to methods of performing thermodynamic cycles for generating mechanical and/or electrical power, for heating, and/or cooling.
2. Description of Related Art
Due to customer demand variations, there is a need for gas turbine (GT) power cycles that can operate efficiently at less than full power load (i.e., at or on "part load"). A power producer is often required to reduce their GT output power and reduce fuel use because of insufficient demand for power at various times during the day, week, and year ("off-peak"). However, many existing gas turbine cycles, especially "Brayton" cycles, (including "simple", Dry-Lo NOX (DLN), and Dry Low Emissions (DLE) cycles), are limited in their ability to operate at reduced power or reduced fuel consumption. E.g., because of compressor stall limits, less efficient combustion with reduced turbine inlet temperature (TIT), and changes in combustion stoichiometry that occur during part load operation. System shutdowns have even been caused by variations in relative humidity and/or pipeline fuel composition. Declining fuel to air ratios when lowering power results in lower turbine inlet temperature and consequently substantially lower efficiency. Conventional water cooling of combustion requires substantial makeup water. A new power cycle with improved control methods is required to address these problems without the drawbacks of the prior art cycles.
In other documents, (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,719, U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,080, U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,666, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/149,959) efficient operation of gas turbines with VAST power cycles has been described with high water and/or steam to fuel ratios (typically 5:1-10:1 water:fuel by mass or higher) with high efficiency, high power output and lowered pollutant emission levels as compared to dry cycles. VAST cycles enable recovering exhaust heat into high levels of steam and heated water and recycling this heat into the combustion chamber. Heating water enables recovering and using heat at lower temperatures than with steam alone. Controlling distribution of high water+steam injection levels, enable improved axial and transverse combustion and temperature control, resulting in lower emissions, and higher specific power generation with VAST cycles. High water diluent levels provide greater cooling and control, allowing higher fuel injection rates without component thermal failure. VAST cycles enable net water recovery clean water sales. High water and steam injection levels enables greater overall flexibility for part load applications as will be described in detail below.


Nanoscale thermocouples are made of a single material and are shape-engineered to contain one or more variations in their width along their length. The mono-metallic nanowire junctions resulting from the width variation(s) exploit a difference in the Seebeck coefficient that is present at these size scales. Such devices have a wide variety of uses and can be coupled with an antenna in order to serve as an infrared detector.

Thermocouples (TCs) have proven invaluable in thermoelectric energy conversion. Their ability to generate electrical power, low cost, and high sensitivity make them ubiquitous in applications ranging from industrial control to home thermostats, including on-chip differential thermometry, energy harvesting, and detection of millimeter waves and infrared radiation. The operating principle of TCs is based on the Seebeck effect, which is the property of an electrical conductor to develop an electric field in response to a temperature difference across it. Different materials will exhibit this property to varying degrees, meaning for a given temperature gradient across two different materials a different voltage potential may be generated.
Thermocouples have been constructed from two dissimilar conductors (A and B) having different absolute Seebeck coefficients (SA and SB). An open-circuit voltage, VOC, develops across the hot and the cold junctions in response to a temperature difference, ΔT. The open-circuit voltage is proportional to both this temperature difference and the difference in absolute Seebeck coefficients according to equation (1).VOC=(SA−SB)ΔT  Eqn (1)
Fabrication of bi-metallic thermocouples is necessarily complicated by the fact that two different metals must be fabricated to form a physical junction there between. This fabrication process is made even more difficult at submicron scale which requires finer control due to the smaller dimensions. Current fabrication methods for bimetallic junctions include lithographic and growth methods. The requisite control methods and fabrication method for bi-metallic thermocouple fabrication can be expensive and cumbersome. Therefore, there exists a need for a thermocouple design which would eliminate these difficulties.


A thin film laminate comprises a metal layer consisting of a metal, and a thin film laminated on the surface of the metal layer, wherein a first direction is defined as one direction parallel to the surface of the metal layer, and a second direction is defined as one direction parallel to the surface of the metal layer and crossing the first direction; and the metal layer contains a plurality of first metal grains consisting of the metal and extending in the first direction on the surface of the metal layer, and a plurality of second metal grains consisting of the metal and extending in the second direction on the surface of the metal layer.

In recent years, practical use of dielectric thin film devices using thin films of dielectric materials in place of bulky dielectric materials has progressed. (See Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 2008-305916, 2001-88294, 2015-25166, 2001-313429.) As one example of the dielectric thin film devices, piezoelectric thin film devices using thin films of piezoelectric materials (piezoelectric thin films) are known. In piezoelectric thin film devices utilizing the direct piezoelectric effect, when a stress is applied to the piezoelectric thin films to strain the piezoelectric thin films, a voltage proportional to the strain amount of the piezoelectric thin films is generated. The piezoelectric thin film devices utilizing the direct piezoelectric effect are, for example, gyro sensors, pressure sensors, pulse wave sensors, shock sensors and microphones. On the other hand, in piezoelectric thin film devices utilizing the inverse piezoelectric effect, when a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric thin films, a mechanical strain proportional to the voltage magnitude is generated in the piezoelectric thin films. The piezoelectric thin film devices utilizing the inverse piezoelectric effect are, for example, actuators, head sliders of hard disc drives, printer heads of inkjet printers, speakers, buzzers and resonators.
Thinner piezoelectric thin films make more possible the size reduction of piezoelectric thin film devices and the fields where the piezoelectric thin film devices can be applied expand. By collectively forming a large number of piezoelectric thin film devices on a substrate, the mass productivity of the piezoelectric thin film devices is improved. Thinner piezoelectric thin films make more possible the improvement of the performance of the piezoelectric thin film devices. For example, in the case of sensors having a piezoelectric thin film, the thinner piezoelectric thin film brings about more improved sensitivity of the sensors.

Thin film laminate, thin film device and multilayer substrate


A system provides packet flooding in a network (200) that includes multiple nodes (210). The system may receive a flood packet, select one or more of the nodes (210) as a like number of one or more relays (210), and attach a header to the flood packet. The header may instruct the one or more relays (210) to which of the nodes (210) to send the flood packet. The system may send the flood packet with the attached header to the one or more relays (210). The one or more relays (210) may retransmit the packet such that each of the nodes (210) in the network (200) receives a single copy of the flood packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to network communication and, more particularly, to systems and methods for efficiently flooding data in a network.
2. Description of Related Art
Communications in the future will increasingly rely on networked data acquisition and communication. In addition to requirements for versatility and survivability, mobile communication devices will need to be lightweight, inexpensive, and easy to maintain. A major obstacle in meeting these requirements is the devices' power sources. Because revolutionary improvements in battery technology are not expected in the near future, energy-efficient operation becomes paramount. This becomes increasingly important for unattended systems, such as sensors and robots, that must remain operational without recharging for prolonged time periods.
Many routing protocols have been designed to minimize the energy consumed for multi-hop packet delivery. Most of these protocols, however, do not adequately address the mechanisms for dissemination or discovery of network state information, often relying on flooding to perform these tasks. Its simplicity and effectiveness make flooding an attractive solution. These advantages, however, come at the price of frequently redundant transmissions, particularly in dynamic environments, such as a military battlefield. This redundancy adversely affects both the energy efficiency and the scalability of mobile networks.
In the simplest form of flooding, a node receiving a flood packet retransmits it to all of its neighbors. The neighbors, in turn, retransmit the flood packet to all of their neighbors and so on until all network members receive a copy of the original packet. The inefficiency of this approach is depicted in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a graph that illustrates the relationship between the longest network path (network diameter), the probability of two nodes having a common neighbor (a factor correlated to the network connectivity), and the number of duplicate transmissions for a flood packet. Clearly, large, well-connected networks can be easily crippled by the amount of redundant traffic generated by such a simplistic dissemination method.
Most applications that rely on flooding incorporate some type of mechanism designed to constrain the traffic explosion caused by uncontrolled flooding. Such mechanisms include: (1) generation control that involves restricting the nodes that are authorized to generate flood packets (e.g., clustering or hierarchical network organization, etc.) and/or censoring the generated flood information to filter out the redundant portion (e.g., STAR routing); (2) batching that involves nodes storing received flood packets, batching them into a single packet, and transmitting such packets at regular intervals, rather than immediately after reception of the original packet; and (3) propagation control that involves restricting the circulation of flood packets by including sequence tags/time stamps, based on which duplicate packets are detected and eliminated, and time-to-live counters that limit the area of flood packet distribution (e.g., Hazy-Sighted Link State and Fish-Eye State Routing).
The main shortfall of these approaches is that they aim to reduce the traffic load caused by flooding without adequately addressing the propensity for redundant transmissions that is inherent in the uninformed retransmission of messages performed by flooding. Duplicate transmissions can be easily avoided if the connections between nodes are known. Moreover, that knowledge is often readily available, since the data that is typically flooded is, in fact, the link information needed to optimize the flooding process.
An existing method that directly addresses transmission duplication is offered by Multi-Point Relaying (MPR), as part of the Optimized Link-State Routing Protocol. In MPR, flood packets are retransmitted only by nodes that are designated as relays. The relays are selected so as to minimize the overlap between the sets of nodes that each relay covers, thus, minimizing the duplicate transmissions received by these nodes. The ideal solution to this minimization problem is given by a connected dominating set of the network graph (i.e., a connected subset of a set of nodes of a network whereby all nodes in the network are either within the dominating set or a neighbor of a node in the dominating set). Identifying this set, however, requires global knowledge of the network and is computationally an NP-complete problem. An NP-complete problem is a class of problems where there are no efficient known ways to calculate an optimal solution. For these classes of problems, if one is interested in the optimal solution, often the only way is to do an exhaustive search through all possible solutions (which, of course, does not scale well with the problem size).
To circumvent these feasibility barriers, MPR operates only with the network state of the flood source's 2-hop neighborhood and employs a heuristic algorithm based on a greedy strategy of preferentially selecting the most connected 1-hop neighbors as relays. This strategy is based on the assumption that flood packets are transmitted: (1) via omni-directional broadcast and (2) at a single power level. This makes it incompatible with unicast transmissions and directional-antenna transmissions and unable to effectively exploit the energy-conserving potential of variable-power transmission.
As a result, there exists a need for energy-efficient flooding techniques.

Systems and methods for efficient packet distribution in an ad hoc network


The present invention advantageously provides a manner by which to further suppress noise superimposed upon an information signal without increasing distortion to the signal, e.g., speech. By distributing the noise suppression, the quality of the information signal provided to a listener is improved. In one embodiment, a first noise suppressor is employed at the transmitter to suppress noise superimposed upon an information signal prior to its transmission by the transmitter, and a second noise suppressor is employed at the receiver to suppress the noise component of a communication signal received at the receiver.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to improvements in noise suppression in telephony systems, particularly, to a system and method for distributed noise suppression.
2. Description of the Related Art
A communication system is comprised, at a minimum, of a transmitter and a receiver interconnected by a communication channel. Communication signals formed at, or applied to, the transmitter are converted at the transmitter into a form to permit their transmission upon the communication channel. The receiver is tuned to the communication channel to receive the communication signals transmitted thereupon. Once received, the receiver converts, or otherwise recreates, the communication signal transmitted by the transmitter.
A radio communication system is a type of communication system in which the communication channel comprises a radio frequency channel formed of a portion of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum. A radio communication system is advantageous in that the transmitter and receiver need not be interconnected by way of wireline connections. As, instead, the communication channel is formed of a radio frequency channel, communication signals can be transmitted between the transmitter and the receiver even when wireline connections therebetween would be inconvenient or impractical.
The quality of communications in a communication system is dependent, in part, upon levels of noise superimposed upon the information signal transmitted by the transmitter to the receiver. Noise can be introduced upon the informational signal at the transmitting side of the communication channel, e.g., acoustical background noise at the transmitting side. Noise can also be introduced upon the informational signal while being transmitted upon the communication channel, e.g., distortion introduced by speech coding and possibly also errors in the transmission channel.
When the noise level of the signal provided to a listener positioned at the receiver is high relative to the informational signal, the audio quality of the signal provided to the listener is low. If the noise levels are too significant, the listener is unable to adequately understand the informational signal provided at the receiver. Noise can be either periodic or aperiodic in nature. Random noise and white noise are exemplary of aperiodic noise. While a human listener is generally able to fairly successfully "block out" aperiodic noise from an informational signal, periodic noise is sometimes more distracting to the listener.
Various manners by which to remove noise components superimposed upon an informational signal, or at least to improve the ratio of the level of the informational signal to the level of the noise, are sometimes utilized. For instance, filter circuits are sometimes used which filter or otherwise remove the noise components from a communication signal, both prior to transmission by a transmitter and also subsequent to reception at a receiver.
Conventional filter circuits include circuitry for filtering noise components superimposed upon an informational signal. A spectral subtraction process is performed during operation of some of such conventional filter circuits. The spectral subtraction process is performed, e.g., by execution of an appropriate algorithm by processor circuitry. While a spectral subtraction process is sometimes effective to reduce noise levels, a spectral subtraction process also introduces distortion upon the informational signal. In some instances, the distortion introduced upon the informational signal is so significant that the utility of such a process is significantly limited. A spectral subtraction process is inherently a frequency-domain process and therefore necessitates a potentially significant signal delay when converting a time domain signal received by circuitry utilizing such a process into the frequency domain. Also, because such a process typically utilizes fast Fourier transform techniques, the resolution permitted of practical circuitry which performs such a process is typically relatively low.
When the ratio of the level of the information signal is high relative to the level of the noise, such noise suppression process, in spite of these problems, is typically fairly successful. However, when the ratio is high, there is also less of a need to perform noise suppression. Such a spectral subtraction process is therefore sometimes of a limited utility to significantly improve the quality of communications.
A radiotelephonic communication system is exemplary of a wireless communication system in which noise superimposed upon an informational signal affects the quality of communications transmitted during operation of the communication system. Noise can be superimposed upon the informational signal at any stage during the transmission and reception process including noise superimposed upon an informational signal prior to tis application to the transmitter. Such noise can deleteriously affect the quality of communications.
In particular, perceived speech quality of a signal containing background noise depends mainly on two factors: the level of the noise and any artifacts in the speech or noise.
A signal with less noise is generally considered more desired than a signal with a higher noise level and a noise suppression algorithm exploits this. When designing a noise suppression algorithm the overall perceived speech quality is, of course, optimized.
Separating the contributions of the noise level and speech impairments to the overall perceived speech quality, it has been shown that the noise level (in dB) has a fairly linear correspondence to the perceived quality, as generally depicted in FIG. 1 of the Drawings. Similarly, it can be shown that a noise suppression algorithm usually has a non-linear relation between the amount of noise suppression and the perceived speech quality due to impairments in the speech, as generally illustrated in FIG. 2. Hence, there is an optimum point for which the perceived speech quality may be maximized, as depicted in FIG. 3, which describes the sum of the two contributions to the speech quality described in FIGS. 2 and 3.
A fundamental problem in finding this optimum point is that although the general behavior depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 holds for many noise types and users of the telephone system, the relative importance of the two contributions can vary substantially between different noise types and different users.
Particularly, designing for a very high noise power level reduction, the noise suppression algorithm will also affect the speech signal to a large extent, and this may cause an objectionable reduction of the perceived speech quality. Hence, if no, or only very minor, impact on the speech signal is desired, the noise suppression algorithm has to be tuned for a low amount of noise suppression.
There is, therefore, a need for improvement in noise suppression technology, particularly in view of the growing interconnectivity and ubiquity of telephonic devices in the world, where improvements in noise suppression algorithms and methodologies will facilitate further market penetration and increase customer quality perceptions.
It is in light of this background information on noise suppression algorithms and circuitry that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.

System and method for distributed noise suppression