The present invention relates to the intrathecal (IT) administration of recombinant enzyme to treat lysosomal storage disorders. In an exemplary embodiment, intrathecal administration of human α-L-iduronidase (rhIDU) injections in MPS I affected animals resulted in significant enzyme uptake, significant rh-iduronidase activity in brain and meninges and a decrease of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) storage in cells of MPS I subjects to that of normal subjects. Intrathecal administration proved more effective than intravenous treatment at alleviating MPS I symptoms, indicating it is a useful method of treating lysosomal storage disorders.

The brain is shielded against potentially harmful substances by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The microvascular barrier between blood and brain is made up of a capillary endothelial layer surrounded by a basement membrane and tightly associated accessory cells (pericytes, astrocytes). The brain capillary endothelium is much less permeable to low-molecular weight solutes than other capillary endothelia due to an apical band of tight association between the membranes of adjoining cells, referred to as tight junctions. In addition to diminished passive diffusion, brain capillary endothelia also exhibit less fluid-phase pinocytosis than other endothelial cells. Brain capillaries possess few fenestrae and few endocytic vesicles, compared to the capillaries of other organs (see Pardridge, J. Neurovirol. 5: 556-569 (1999)). There is little transit across the BBB of large, hydrophilic molecules aside from some specific proteins such as transferrin, lactoferrin and low-density lipoproteins, which are taken up by receptor-mediated endocytosis (see Pardridge, J. Neurovirol. 5: 556-569 (1999)); Tsuji and Tamai, Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 36: 277-290 (1999); Kusuhara and Sugiyama, Drug Discov. Today 6:150-156 (2001); Dehouck, et al. J. Cell Biol. 138: 877-889 (1997); Fillebeen, et al. J. Biol. Chem. 274: 7011-7017 (1999)).
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) also impedes access of beneficial active agents (e.g., therapeutic drugs and diagnostic agents) to central nervous system (CNS) tissues, necessitating the use of carriers for their transit. Blood-brain barrier permeability is frequently a rate-limiting factor for the penetration of drugs or peptides into the CNS (see Pardridge, J. Neurovirol. 5: 556-569 (1999); Bickel, et al., Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 46: 247-279 (2001)). For example, management of the neurological manifestations of lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) is significantly impeded by the inability of therapeutic enzymes to gain access to brain cell lysosomes. LSDs are characterized by the absence or reduced activity of specific enzymes within cellular lysosomes, resulting in the accumulation of undegraded "storage material" within the intracellular lysosome, swelling and malfunction of the lysosomes, and ultimately cellular and tissue damage. Intravenous enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is beneficial for LSDs (e.g. MPS I, MPS II). However, the BBB blocks the free transfer of many agents from blood to brain, and LSDs that present with significant neurological sequelae (e.g. MPSI, MPS III, MLD, GM1) are not expected to be as responsive to intravenous ERT. For such diseases, a method of delivering the replacement enzyme across the BBB and into the lysosomes of the affected cells would be highly desirable.
There are several ways of circumventing the BBB to enhance brain delivery of an administered active agent include direct intra-cranial injection, transient permeabilization of the BBB, and modification of the active agent to alter tissue distribution. Direct injection of an active agent into brain tissue bypasses the vasculature completely, but suffers primarily from the risk of complications (infection, tissue damage) incurred by intra-cranial injections and poor diffusion of the active agent from the site of administration. Permeabilization of the BBB entails non-specifically compromising the BBB concomitant with injection of intravenous active agent and is accomplished through loosening tight junctions by hyperosmotic shock (e.g. intravenous mannitol). High plasma osmolarity leads to dehydration of the capillary endothelium with partial collapse of tight junctions, little selectivity in the types of blood-borne substances that gain access to the brain under these conditions, and damage over the course of a life-long regimen of treatment.
The distribution of an active agent into the brain may also be increased by transcytosis, the active transport of certain proteins from the luminal space (blood-side) to the abluminal space (brain-side) of the BBB. Transcytosis pathways are distinct from other vesicular traffic within the capillary endothelial cell and transit can occur without alteration of the transported materials. Transcytosis is a cell-type specific process mediated by receptors on the BBB endothelial surface. Attachment of an active agent to a transcytosed protein (vector or carrier) is expected to increase distribution of the active substance to the brain. In transcytosis, the vector is presumed to have a dominant effect on the distribution of the joined pair. Vector proteins include antibodies directed at receptors on the brain capillary endothelium (Pardridge, J. Neurovirol. 5: 556-569 (1999)) and ligands to such receptors (Fukuta, et al., 1994, Pharm. Res. 1994; 11(12):1681-8; Broadwell, et al., Exp Neurol. 1996; 142(1):47-65)). Antibody vectors are transported through the capillary endothelium by a process of adsorptive endocytosis (non-specific, membrane-phase endocytosis) and are far less efficiently transported than actual receptor ligands, which cross the BBB by a saturable, energy-dependent mechanism (Broadwell, et al., Exp Neurol. 1996; 142(1):47-65).
Direct administration of proteins into the brain substance has not achieved significant therapeutic effect due to diffusion barriers and the limited volume of therapeutic that can be administered. Convection-assisted diffusion has been studied via catheters placed in the brain parenchyma using slow, long-term infusions (Bobo, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 91, 2076-2080 (1994); Nguyen, et al. J. Neurosurg. 98, 584-590 (2003)), but no approved therapies currently use this approach for long-term therapy. In addition, the placement of intracerebral catheters is very invasive and less desirable as a clinical alternative.
Intrathecal (IT) injection, or the administration of proteins to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), has also been attempted but has yielded only moderate success in a few examples of delivery via the CSF [Dittrich et al., Exp. Neurol. 141:225-239 (1996); Ochs et al., Amyotroph. Lateral. Scler. Other Motor Neuron Disord. 1:201-206 (2000); Bowes et al., Brain Res. 883:178-183 (2000)]. For nerve growth factor (NGF), the administration of the factor into the ventricle of the brain, did have some beneficial effects on the brain (Koliatsos et al., Exp. Neurol. 112, 161-173 (1991), but did not show significant diffusion into the brain substance. A major challenge in this treatment has been the tendency of the factor to bind the ependymal lining of the ventricle very tightly which prevented subsequent diffusion. Currently, there are no approved products for the treatment of brain genetic disease by therapeutic administration directly to the CSF.
The challenges in treating the brain with these and other therapeutics studied in the past have suggested that the barrier to diffusion at the brain's surface, as well as the lack of diffusion and efficacy of brain treatment, were too great an obstacle to achieve adequate therapeutic effect in the brain for any disease. Prior evidence suggests that intraventricular or intrathecal enzyme therapy would not work sufficiently to be effective, and in fact, no human studies of this approach have been published in the recent past and there are no successful examples of treatment via that route. Intrathecal injection confers an advantage over other standard treatment regimens, however, in that the CSF provides superior access to the brain and meninges. The CSF covers the brain and provides large surface area contact with cortical neurons up to 6 mm below the surface, allowing for more efficient penetration of the therapeutic into the brain tissue.
Lysosomal storage disorders affecting the nervous system demonstrate unique challenges in treating these diseases with traditional therapies. There is often a large build-up of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in neurons and meninges of affected individuals, leading to either mild or severe forms of the disease. For example, brain disease in severe MPS I patients is characterized by developmental delay, hydrocephalus, severe mental retardation, and eventual decline and death due to disease symptoms. Mild MPS I brain is characterized by perivascular GAG storage, hydrocephalus, learning disabilities and spinal cord compression due to swelling and scarring from storage disease. In MPS I patients in which meningeal storage is affected, the meninges are obstructed, reducing CSF resorption and leading to high pressure hydrocephalus. This aberrant lysosomal storage also leads to thickening and scarring of the meninges from storage disease.
In the lysosomal storage disorder, Gaucher disease, patients with the severe fat of the disease (type 2 and type 3) have brain disease and intravenous enzyme therapy is insufficient to effectively and adequately treat the brain. Intrathecal and intraparenchymal enzyme therapy with glucocerebrosidase, the enzyme deficient in Gaucher disease, has succeeded in getting into the brain but did not successfully treat the brain storage (Zirzow et al., Neurochem. Res. 24:301-305. 1999). At this time, no brain disease resulting from a lysosomal disorder has successfully been treated by any means available.
Thus, there remains a need in the art to develop methods which effectively treat lysosomal storage disorders through effective administration of enzyme replacement therapy. More particularly, a need exists for more effective methods of administration of compounds and compositions that can more efficiently deliver active agents to the brain and central nervous system for the treatment of lysosomal storage disorders.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Delivery of therapeutic compounds to the brain and other tissues


In order to control a technical system, e.g. of a wind turbine, a temporal sequence of operating parameter values of the technical system that is continuously recorded and continuously converted into a sequence of filtered signal values by a trainable digital filter. The sequence of the filtered signal values is supplied to a mechanical learning routine which derives prediction values therefrom for a target operating parameter. The digital filter and the mechanical learning routine are trained to reduce a distance between derived prediction values and temporally corresponding, actually recorded values of the target operation parameter. The prediction values for controlling the technical system are then emitted.

When controlling complex technical systems, such as for example wind turbines, gas turbines, production installations, motor vehicles or power grids, it is generally desirable to forecast, that is to say predict, a behavior, an effect and/or a yield of the technical system, at least in the short term, in order to optimize the control of the technical system with regard to specified criteria.
Thus, for example, a turbine may be monitored by operating parameters that are measured on the turbine being compared with values that are forecast for an operational turbine under the same working conditions. If there is a deviation, suitable countermeasures can then be taken in good time. Furthermore, effects of different control measures can be predicted, to then actually apply the control measure that optimizes a system behavior.
For the prediction of operating parameters, modern controls often use control models that are based on machine learning technologies. For a sufficiently accurate prediction of a system behavior, however, it is often exemplary for longer time series of a multiplicity of operating parameters to be evaluated in real time. In the case of complex technical systems, it is thus quite easily possible that several thousand individual operating parameter values have to be taken into consideration for a prediction.
For the efficient evaluation of such time series data, they are often subjected to a pre-processing, in order to extract specifically data patterns that are relevant for the prediction and in this way reduce the amount of data. Such a pre-processing however generally has to be specifically designed by an expert and involves a correspondingly great amount of effort in terms of time.
Time series that are not pre-processed are often evaluated by means of recurrent neural networks. With recurrent neural networks, however, any success of training is generally reduced when there are longer time series.

Method and control device for controlling a technical system


A desired FIFO buffer fill level is continuously derived during mapping or demapping of plesiosynchronous data signals into synchronized data signals, or vice-versa. One of j predefined integer values Ii is repetitively consecutively produced during each consecutive one of j FIFO buffer write clock cycles, where i=1, . . . , j and where j and the integer values Ii are selected such that

Data signals are synchronized between asynchronous time domains by "mapping" them from one data rate to another. For example, plesiosynchronous signals such as DS3 signals characterized by a 44.736 Mb/s clock rate are commonly mapped from a plesiosynchronous link to a synchronous optical network/synchronous data hierarchy (SONET/SDH) link having a different characteristic clock rate such as the 1.728 Mb/s rate of the SONET virtual tributary 1.5 (VT1.5) signal. An electronic device known as a "mapper" performs the mapping operation. After transmission over the SONET/SDH link, the signal is desynchronized (demapped) by a "demapper" which reconverts the SONET/SDH signal to a plesiosynchronous signal for transmission over another plesiosynchronous link.
A FIFO buffer compensates for "gapped" data flow which occurs if data is written into the FIFO buffer at a uniform rate, but read from the FIFO buffer at a non-uniform rate; or, if data is written into the FIFO buffer at a non-uniform rate, but read from the FIFO buffer at a uniform rate. Specifically, FIFO buffers compensate for non-uniform data rates in DS3/E3-to-SONET mappers and in SONET-to-DS3/E3 demappers. For example, DS3/E3 data is written to or read from the FIFO buffer at a constant rate but, on the SONET clock domain, frame locations that contain no DS3 or E3 payload data (such as transport overhead, path overhead, and fixed stuff bit locations) result in gapped data flow to or from the FIFO buffer.
Ideally, the FIFO buffer's read address and write address pointers are adjusted to enable the FIFO buffer to absorb the maximum number of excess read or excess write operations which must be performed during gapped data flow situations to maintain synchronization of the data signals between the two asynchronous clock domains. However, gapped data flow causes periodic fluctuations in the FIFO buffer fill level, necessitating continual adjustment of the FIFO buffer's read address and write address pointers. In a DS3/E3 mapper or demapper, the periodic FIFO buffer fill level pattern repeats once per SONET row. The actual pattern depends on the payload mapping scheme and on the alignment of the synchronous payload envelope (SPE) within the SONET frame. For example, in applications where DS3 is carried by AU-3 SONET, the FIFO buffer fill level may drop as low as 4 bytes below the FIFO buffer's center (when the SPE pointer is set to 4, as shown in FIG. 1), or rise as high as 4 bytes above the FIFO buffer center (when the SPE pointer is set to 52, as shown in FIG. 2).
One prior art method of adjusting the FIFO buffer's read address and write address pointers to compensate for FIFO buffer fill level fluctuations is to set high and low guard bands (FIG. 3) straddling the FIFO buffer's center. If the FIFO buffer fill level increases above the "high" guard band or decreases below the "low" guard band, action can be initiated to adjust the FIFO buffer fill level to prevent buffer under-runs or overflows. However, in SONET applications, the amplitude of the FIFO buffer fill level depends on the position of the SPE within the SONET frame. This requires an undesirably large FIFO buffer, in order to accommodate the entire range of FIFO buffer fill level amplitudes, and hence to prevent the FIFO buffer fill level from entering the guard band regions.
Another prior art technique employs hardware flags to indicate when a FIFO buffer is almost full, almost empty or half full. The flags can be monitored to determine the FIFO buffer's fill level, and utilized in a manner analogous to the above-described guard bands.
Another prior art approach uses the FIFO buffer fill level as a phase detector input for high order control loops. This method can be effective if high order control loops capable of closely tracking the incoming and outgoing data rates are used. However, high order control loops require larger settling times to track each new rate, which can cause the FIFO buffer fill level to shift up or down. High order control loops thus require larger FIFO buffers to prevent buffer under-runs or overflows. Although even higher order control loops can mitigate this effect, they may require significant stability analysis and are more complex.

FIFO buffer depth estimation for asynchronous gapped payloads

Abstract: ∑              i        =        1            j                                    I      i        jclosely approximates the number of bits read from the FIFO buffer per FIFO buffer write clock cycle. During each kth consecutive FIFO buffer write clock cycle, a Bits_Read value Ik+Ik-1 is produced where k=1, . . . , p; a Bits_Written value is produced; a Gap_Pattern value is derived by subtracting the Bits_Read value from the Bits_Written value; and, the Gap_Pattern is added to a predefined value representative a FIFO buffer center fill level to produce the desired FIFO buffer fill level.


A method of generating a capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristic for a discrete device formed within a semiconductor structure may include exposing first and second contact regions associated with the discrete device, coupling a high-frequency impedance probe having a frequency range of about 5 Mhz to about 110 Mhz to an impedance analyzer, and coupling the high-frequency impedance probe to a first and a second atomic force probe tip. Using an atomic force microscope, the first atomic force probe tip is coupled to the exposed first contact region and the second atomic force probe tip is coupled to the exposed second contact region. The C-V characteristic for the discrete device is then measured on the impedance analyzer, whereby the impedance analyzer applies an operating frequency corresponding to the frequency range of about 5 Mhz to about 110 Mhz to the first and second contact regions of the discrete device using the high-frequency impedance probe.

a. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor device testing, and more particularly, to the enhancing capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristic measurements of such semiconductor devices.
b. Background of Invention
Semiconductor device performance may be measured using a myriad of techniques and instruments. For example, in order to perform Atomic Force Probing (AFP) of a semiconductor device or structure, various layers may need to be removed for exposing the device or structure's contacts (e.g., tungsten studs) or surface prior to probing. Such layer removal or delayering may be carried out using either more coarse methods such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or relatively high-precision techniques employing, for example, focused or collimated high-energy (>500 eV) ion beam etching. Such delayering techniques may, however, damage the device or structure's surface, or alternatively, introduce unwanted irregularities (e.g., unwanted ion implantation) into the device or structure. For example, the process used to prepare the device or structure prior to test or evaluation may undesirably introduce defects (e.g., gallium ion implantations due to high energy ion beam etching) or produce shifts in performance characteristics (e.g., MOSFET threshold voltage (Vt) shifts). This may subsequently be misconstrued as a device characteristic resulting from fabrication processes as opposed to a measurement induced defect.
In addition, once the delayering of the structure exposes, for example, a contact, the AC characteristics of the structure under test (e.g., FET device) may be determined. One important AC characteristic that may be used to, among other things, determine doping issues (i.e., concentration, distribution, etc.) is capacitive-voltage (C-V) measurements. However, as device geometries continue to reduce, AC characteristic measurements such as C-V measurements may become more challenging.

High frequency capacitance-voltage nanoprobing characterization


A method and an arrangement for controlling an internal combustion engine of a vehicle wherein a desired torque value is pregiven, this desired torque value being separated into at least two desired values. The desired values serve to adjust the charge of the internal combustion engine and at least one further power parameter, which effects a rapid torque change. The at least two desired values assume different values at least in one operating state.

Such a method or an arrangement of this kind is known from DE-A 42 39 711. There, a desired value for a torque of the internal combustion engine is pregiven by the driver or, in special operating states, from other open-loop or closed-loop control systems. This desired value is, on the one hand, converted into a desired charging value and then into a desired value for controlling the air supply to the engine, for example, via a throttle flap and, on the other hand, into an ignition angle adjustment and/or a number of cylinders to which the metering of fuel is interrupted. The actual torque of the internal combustion engine approaches the pregiven desired torque value with this control of the power parameter of the engine.
In addition to the ignition angle adjustment and/or the suppression of injection to cylinders, it is known from WO-A 95/24550 to influence the mixture composition of the engine.
If a torque reduction for an engine is desired (for a corresponding input of the desired value), then the engine is, as a rule, adjusted with the desired dynamic because the engine torque can be immediately reduced by interventions, which act quickly on the torque. These interventions are interventions into the ignition angle, into the metering of fuel to the cylinders and/or into the mixture composition. The slower charge intervention is superposed for the torque reduction on this rapid torque change. However, if a torque increase is requested, then this can be carried out only via an increase in charge if: all cylinders are fired, the mixture composition is stoichiometric and the ignition angle is not shifted toward retard. The dynamic of this charge increase is however limited by the dynamic of the throttle flap actuator and/or the intake manifold dynamic.

Method and device for controlling and internal combustion engine


Provided is a vertical type light emitting device and a method of manufacturing the same. A transparent electrode having high transmittance with respect to light in the entire range and constructed by using a resistance change material of which resistance state is to be changed from a high resistance state to a low resistance state if a voltage exceeding a threshold voltage inherent in a material is applied so that conducting filaments are formed is formed between an electrode pad and a semiconductor layer of a light emitting device. The transparent electrode has high transmittance with respect to the light in a UV wavelength range as well as in a visible wavelength range generated in the light emitting device. Since the conductivity of the transparent electrode is heightened due to the formation of the conducting filaments, the transparent electrode has good ohmic contact characteristic with respect to a semiconductor layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device and a method of manufacturing the light emitting device, and more particularly to, a light emitting device including a transparent electrode and a method of manufacturing the light emitting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in order to improve performance of a white-light LED used for various applications such as a backlight source of an LCD display, solid-state lighting (SSL), and flashlight, high efficiency/high power GaN based LEDs have been actively researched.
However, in a lateral-conducting GaN-based LED having a simple structure which is widely used in the related art, since anode and cathode are designed to be formed in the same direction, a current concentration effect (current-crowding effect; CCE) occurs in the n-type electrode, and particularly, a thermal problem occurs due to insulating properties of sapphire used for a substrate. Therefore, the lateral-conducting GaN-based has a limitation in improving output power of the LED by injecting high current.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the lateral-conducting GaN-based LED, a vertical-conducting structure LED (VLED) where electrodes are designed to be formed above and below the LED has been researched. In addition, a vertical-conducting structure metal-substrate GaN LED (VM-LED) where a sapphire substrate is lifted off by using laser (laser lift-off; LLO) and a metal is used as a substrate for efficiently releasing heat has been researched.
In comparison to the lateral-conducting structure GaN-based LED, the performance of the VM-LED is greatly improved. Namely, the output power P0 of the VM-LED is increased, and the operating voltage (forward voltage; VF) thereof is decreased. However, in the manufacturing of the high-power LED, there are still the problems of current concentration (current crowding) in the portion below the n-type metal contact pad into current is injected, non-uniform current dispersion, and non-uniform light emission.
In order to solve the problems, in many research groups, an N-face n-GaN layer where a convex-concave pattern is formed and metal are formed to be in good ohmic contact to implement uniform current injection and uniform current dispersion in the n-type electrode of the VLED. In addition, in many research groups, the n-type electrode is efficiently designed to implement uniform current dispersion and uniform current injection.
In order to implement uniform current dispersion and injection, the contact area of the n-electrode is allowed to be increased (n-electrode pattern design), or a current blocking layer (CBL) is used. In addition, a transparent conduction layer (TCL) and a transparent conduction electrode (TCE) may also be inserted between the n-electrode and the GaN layer. However, the above-mentioned techniques in the related art have the problems, as follows.
First, if the contact area of the n-type electrode is increased, uniform current dispersion and injection can be advantageously implemented. However, since light emitted from an activation layer (multi quantum well; MQW) is blocked or absorbed, light extraction efficiency is deteriorated.
In the case where a current blocking layer is inserted, since the current blocking layer is formed by inserting an insulating material having almost the same size as the n-type electrode into a symmetric position of the p-GaN layer, current concentrated below the n-type electrode can be advantageously dispersed. However, since current does not flow through the current blocking layer, the current can be injected into the portion excluding the current blocking layer. Namely, since the current is not injected through the entire area of the p-GaN layer, there is a problem in terms of efficiency. In addition, since the current blocking layer needs to be formed at an accurate position with an accurate size, there is difficulty in the manufacturing process.
Finally, in the technique of inserting a transparent conduction layer, there is an advantage in that current can be effectively dispersed and injected by using an n-type electrode having a small area. However, when the light is emitted out, since the light is absorbed by the transparent conduction layer, for example, ITO (indium tin oxide), IZO (indium zinc oxide), there is a problem in that the light extraction efficiency is decreased.
In the case of the UV-LED for which demands have been greatly increased recently, the problem of decrease in light extraction efficiency becomes more serious.
FIG. 1 is a graph illustrating transmittance in the case where an ITO transparent electrode is formed on a p-GaN semiconductor layer in the related art. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the transmittance of the ITO transparent electrode is 80% or more in a wavelength range of 350 nm or more, but the transmittance is greatly decreased in a short wavelength range, that is, a UV wavelength range. Particularly, in a short wavelength range of 280 nm or less, the transmittance is decreased down to 20% or less. In order to solve the problem, in another technique in the related art, the transparent electrode is not formed on the semiconductor layer such as a p-AlGaN layer, but a metal electrode pad is directly formed thereon. However, since a different in work function between the metal and the semiconductor layer is too large, ohmic contact is not formed therebetween, and current is concentrated on the metal electrode pad so as not to spread over the entire activation layer. In other words, the above-described problems still occur.
Although various researches have been made in order to solve the above-described problems, a transparent electrode capable of solving the problem of current concentration and implementing high transmittance and high conductivity with respect to light in a UV wavelength range has not been developed. This is because conductivity and transmittance of a material has a trade-off relationship. Since a material having as high transmittance as it can be used in a UV wavelength range has a large band gap (larger than the band gap (3.4 eV) of ITO), the material has too low conductivity to be used as an electrode and is not in ohmic contact with a semiconductor material. Therefore, it is impossible to use the material as an electrode.

Vertical type light emitting device having transparent electrode and method of manufacturing the same

KOREA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND BUSINESS FOUNDATION


A pixel cell having a reduced potential barrier near a region where a gate and a photodiode are in close proximity to one another, and a method for forming the same are disclosed. Embodiments of the invention provide a pixel cell comprising a substrate. A gate of a transistor is formed at least partially below the surface of the substrate and a photodiode is adjacent to the gate. The photodiode comprises a doped surface layer of a first conductivity type, and a doped region of a second conductivity type underlying the doped surface layer. The doped surface layer is at least partially above a level of the bottom of the gate.

CMOS imagers are increasingly being used as low cost imaging devices. A CMOS image sensor circuit includes a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells includes a photogate, photoconductor, or photodiode having an associated a charge accumulation region within a substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge. Each pixel cell may include a transistor for transferring charge from the charge accumulation region to a sensing node, and a transistor, for resetting a sensing node to a predetermined charge level prior to charge transference. The pixel cell may also include a source follower transistor for receiving and amplifying charge from the sensing node and an access transistor for controlling the readout of the cell contents from the source follower transistor.
In a CMOS image sensor, the active elements of a pixel cell perform the necessary functions of: (1) photon to charge conversion; (2) accumulation of image charge; (3) transfer of charge to the sensing node accompanied by charge amplification; (4) resetting the sensing node to a known state before the transfer of charge to it; (5) selection of a pixel for readout; and (6) output and amplification of a signal representing pixel charge from the sensing node.
CMOS image sensors of the type discussed above are generally known as discussed, for example, in Nixon et al., "256×256 CMOS Active Pixel Sensor Camera-on-a-Chip," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 31(12), pp. 2046–2050 (1996); and Mendis et al., "CMOS Active Pixel Image Sensors," IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 41(3), pp. 452–453 (1994). See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,177,333 and 6,204,524, which describe operation of conventional CMOS image sensors, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A schematic top view of a portion of a semiconductor wafer fragment containing one exemplary CMOS pixel cell is shown in FIG. 1. The CMOS pixel cell 10 is a four transistor (4T) cell. The CMOS pixel cell 10 generally comprises a charge collection region 21 for collecting charges generated by light incident on the pixel, and a transfer gate 50 for transferring photoelectric charges from the collection region 21 to a sensing node, typically a floating diffusion region 25. The floating diffusion region 25 is electrically connected to the gate 60 of an output source follower transistor. The pixel cell 10 also includes a reset transistor having a gate 40 for resetting the floating diffusion region 25 to a predetermined voltage before sensing a signal; and a row select transistor 80 for outputting a signal from the source follower transistor 60 to an output terminal in response to an address signal.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side sectional view of the pixel cell 10 of FIG. 1 taken along line A–A′. As shown in FIG. 2, the exemplary CMOS pixel cell 10 has a pinned photodiode as the charge collection region 21. Pinned photodiode 21 is termed such since the potential in the photodiode is pinned to a constant value when the photodiode is fully depleted. The pinned photodiode 21 is adjacent to the gate 50 of a transfer transistor. There is a transfer gate/pinned photodiode overlap region 30, where the pinned photodiode 21 and the transfer gate 50 are in close proximity to one another. Additionally, the pinned photodiode 21 has a p-n-p construction comprising a p-type surface layer 24 and an n-type photodiode region 26 within a p-type active layer 20.
In the CMOS pixel cell 10 depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, electrons are generated by light incident externally and stored in the n-type photodiode region 26. These charges are transferred to the floating diffusion region 25 by the gate 50 of the transfer transistor. The source follower transistor produces an output signal from the transferred charges. A maximum output signal is proportional to the number of electrons extracted from the n-type photodiode region 26.
In conventional CMOS pixel cells having pinned photodiode's, such as pinned photodiode 21, potential barriers may exist near a transfer gate/pinned photodiode overlap region 30, where the transfer gate 50 and the pinned photodiode 21 are in close proximity. FIG. 3 shows a graph representing a potential profile along a cutline L–L′ from the pinned photodiode 21 to the transfer gate 50 in CMOS pixel cell 10. The potential profile shown in FIG. 3 is the potential profile that an electron may encounter as it is transported from the pinned photodiode 21 to the floating diffusion region 25.
An example of a potential barrier 31 which may exist near the transfer gate/pinned photodiode overlap region 30 is shown in FIG. 3. This potential barrier is influenced by several factors, the most important of which are: 1) pinned photodiode 21 donor implant levels, 2) pinned photodiode 21 surface acceptor implant levels, 3) transfer gate 50 threshold voltage adjust implant levels, 4) background p-well concentration, and 5) transfer gate 50 oxide thickness.
The existence of a potential barrier near the overlap region 30 is a problem in CMOS image sensors, particularly for low voltage sensors. The potential barrier results in incomplete charge transfer from the photodiode 21 causing image lag and reduced charge transfer efficiency. Previous methods to reduce this potential barrier have resulted in degraded sub-threshold leakage current for the transfer transistor. It is difficult to optimize both the potential barrier and sub-threshold leakage current for the transfer transistor in CMOS image sensors.
Accordingly, what is desired is a CMOS pixel cell having a reduced potential barrier in an area where a photodiode and a transfer gate structure are in close proximity to one another without increased transfer gate leakage or increased dark current.

Reduced barrier photodiode/gate device structure for high efficiency charge transfer and reduced lag and method of formation


A treadmill includes a treadbelt disposed in a deck, a motor coupled to drive the treadbelt, an incline controller to selectively adjust the deck to different inclinations, a driver coupled to a microprocessor unit and the motor and the incline controller, to control the motor and the incline controller to adjust the treadbelt to different driving speeds and to adjust the deck to different inclinations. A sensor is coupled to the microprocessor unit, to detect rotational speed of the treadbelt. The driver actuates the motor to increase or to decrease the driving speed of the treadbelt when detected driving speed of the treadbelt is greater or lower than the predetermined average speed of the treadbelt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a treadmill, and more particularly to a treadmill having a treadbelt adjustable to different driving speed according to different loading of the treadbelt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various kinds of typical treadmills have been developed and comprise a deck including a treadbelt rotatably attached thereto or engaged therein, and a motor coupled to drive and to rotate the treadbelt relative to the deck. The rotational speed of the treadbelt of some of the typical treadmills may be adjusted to different rate of speed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,074 to Taitel et al. discloses one of the typical treadmills comprising a governor mounted upon one end of a treadmill roller to adjustably limit the rate of speed of the treadbelt. However, a complicated configuration and a number of elements or parts are required to be provided to adjust the treadmill roller and/or the treadbelt to different rotational speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,396 to Dalebout et al. discloses another typical treadmill comprising a length adjustable gas spring or pneumatic cylinder to adjust the linked support legs and the deck to different elevation and inclination. However, the treadbelt of the treadmill may not be adjusted to different rotational speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,791 to Kuo discloses a further typical treadmill comprising a tiltable and foldable treadmill device including a motor-driven adjusting device to adjust the linked support legs and the deck to different elevation and inclination. However, similarly, the treadbelt of the treadmill also may not be adjusted to different rotational speed.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional treadmills.


An adaptable dual direction, differential pressure assembly is disclosed. Solenoid valves release controlled bursts of air into a top of a container. A rate of the controlled bursts of air is partially responsive to a pressure differential between atmospheric pressure and that of compressed air in the reservoir. A pleated filter is fitted inside of the container. The pleated filter has an inner wall and an outer wall and has pleatings separated using hot melt glue beads there between. The controlled bursts of air are programmed to be substantially automatically responsive to one or more pressure differentials between an inner wall and an outer wall. In one embodiment, air is drawn from the blower through the pleated filter from the inner wall to the outer wall until a desired pressure differential is achieved. In yet another embodiment, air is drawn through the pleated filter from the outer wall into the inner wall and to draw upwardly out of the top of the container through the blower until a first pressure differential is achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pleated cartridge air filter in which the pleats are separated from each other by means of beads and which includes a reverse pulse cleaner for automatically cleaning the cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Air filter units have been developed in the prior art, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,086 issued Apr. 30, 1996 to Glucksman, which employ pleated filter elements. The use of pleats has a distinct advantage in that it affords considerably greater filtering area. It has been found, however, that the pleats tend to bend together towards each other and thus lose their effectiveness. To obviate this problem, separator elements have been employed to keep the pleated elements separated from each other. As mentioned in Glucksman, this can take the form of a glue or other such material placed between the pleats which when it hardens forms separating beads. Such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,555 issued on Dec. 10, 1991 to Enbom. It is to be noted that in Enbom, the filter is linear and not in the form of a container such as a cylinder. It is to be noted that in Glucksman, the cartridge is the form of a half sphere and is not in the form of a container having continuous side walls.
A problem which prior art devices have is the necessity to rather frequently replace the filter cartridges particularly where the surrounding air has considerable dirt to be filtered out. This not only involves the costs involved in installing new filters but also the possibility of not replacing the filter in time which results in dirty air being fed to the area where clean air is required. The device of the present invention solves this problem by providing automatic cleaning of the filter in response to a measurement indicating that the filter is overfilled with dirt.

Adaptable dual-directional, differential pressure assembly


A method and system for enhanced security and manageability using secure storage. The system may include a crypto-processor and a memory coupled to receive memory transactions through the crypto-processor. The memory transactions are passed to the memory by the crypto-processor. The system may include a first processor, a second processor coupled to the first processor, and a storage device operably coupled to the first processor through the second processor. The second processor is configured to control access to the storage device. The method includes transmitting a request for a memory transaction for a storage location in the storage device and receiving the request for the memory transaction at the crypto-processor. The method also includes determining if the memory transaction is authorized for the storage location, and passing the request for the memory transaction to the storage device if the memory transaction is authorized for the storage location.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computing systems, and, more particularly, to a method and system for enhanced security and manageability for PC BIOS ROM and other secure storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary computer system 100. The computer system 100 includes a processor 102, a north bridge 104, memory 106, Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) memory 108, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus 110, a south bridge 112, a battery, an AT Attachment (ATA) interface 114 (more commonly known as an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface), a universal serial bus (USB) interface 116, a Low Pin Count (LPC) bus 118, an input/output controller chip (SuperI/O™) 120, and BIOS memory 122. It is noted that the north bridge 104 and the south bridge 112 may include only a single chip or a plurality of chips, leading to the collective term "chipset." It is also noted that other buses, devices, and/or subsystems may be included in the computer system 100 as desired, e.g. caches, modems, parallel or serial interfaces, SCSI interfaces, network interface cards, etc. ["SuperI/O" is a trademark of National Semiconductor Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.]
The processor 102 is coupled to the north bridge 104. The north bridge 104 provides an interface between the processor 102, the memory 106, the AGP memory 108, and the PCI bus 110. The south bridge 112 provides an interface between the PCI bus 110 and the peripherals, devices, and subsystems coupled to the IDE interface 114, the USB interface 116, and the LPC bus 118. The battery 113 is shown coupled to the south bridge 112. The Super I/O™ chip 120 is coupled to the LPC bus 118.
The north bridge 104 provides communications access between and/or among the processor 102, memory 106, the AGP memory 108, devices coupled to the PCI bus 110, and devices and subsystems coupled to the south bridge 112. Typically, removable peripheral devices are inserted into PCI "slots" (not shown) that connect to the PCI bus 110 to couple to the computer system 100. Alternatively, devices located on a motherboard may be directly connected to the PCI bus 110.
The south bridge 112 provides an interface between the PCI bus 110 and various devices and subsystems, such as a modem, a printer, keyboard, mouse, etc., which are generally coupled to the computer system 100 through the LPC bus 118 (or its predecessors, such as an X-bus or an ISA bus). The south bridge 112 includes the logic used to interface the devices to the rest of computer system 100 through the IDE interface 114, the USB interface 116, and the LPC bus 118.
FIG. 1B illustrates certain aspects of the prior art south bridge 112, including those provided reserve power by the battery 113, so-called "being inside the RTC battery well" 125. The south bridge 112 includes south bridge (SB) RAM 126 and a clock circuit 128, both inside the RTC battery well 125. The SB RAM 126 includes CMOS RAM 126A and RTC RAM 126B. The RTC RAM 126B includes clock data 129 and checksum data 127. The south bridge 112 also includes, outside the RTC battery well 125, a CPU interface 132, power and system management units 133, PCI bus interface logic 134A, USB interface logic 134C, IDE interface logic 134B, and LPC bus interface logic 134D.
Time and date data from the clock circuit 128 are stored as the clock data 129 in the RTC RAM 126B. The checksum data 127 in the RTC RAM 126B may be calculated based on the CMOS RAM 126A data and stored by BIOS during the boot process, such as is described below, e.g. block 148, with respect to FIG. 2A. The CPU interface 132 may include interrupt signal controllers and processor signal controllers. The power and system management units 133 may include an ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) controller.
From a hardware point of view, an x86 operating environment provides little for protecting user privacy, providing security for corporate secrets and assets, or protecting the ownership rights of content providers. All of these goals, privacy, security, and ownership (collectively, PSO) are becoming critical in an age of Internet-connected computers. The original personal computers were not designed in anticipation of PSO needs.
From a software point of view, the x86 operating environment is equally poor for PSO. The ease of direct access to the hardware through software or simply by opening the cover of the personal computer allows an intruder or thief to compromise most security software and devices. The personal computer's exemplary ease of use only adds to the problems for PSO.

Enhanced security and manageability using secure storage in a personal computer system


A multi-purpose dental bib, to be worn by a patient during a dental procedure, may incorporate gauze pads into windows and/or pockets integral to the bib. The multi-purpose dental bib may be employed to protect the patient's clothing from liquid and/or solid debris generated during a dental procedure, and to wipe the patient's face and mouth during or at the completion of a dental procedure. The multi-purpose dental bib may additionally be employed to clean dental tools, such as a dental mirror, during a dental procedure by means of the gauze pads incorporated into the windows and/or pockets strategically located on the multi-purpose dental bib.

Unless specifically indicated otherwise, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application, and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The material in this patent document is subject to copyright protection under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries. The copyright owner grants a limited license to any member of the public to reproduce the patent document as it appears in official governmental records. All other copyright rights are reserved.
A dental bib may have multiple uses in dental practice. Primarily, a dental bib is employed to protect a patient's garments from liquid and/or solid debris generated during a dental procedure. Further, a dental bib may be used to wipe a patient's face and mouth during or at the completion of surgery. Finally, a dental bib may be used by a dentist to clean the liquid and/or solid debris from dental instruments.
Dental bibs may be designed employing a variety of materials, constructions, and features. A prevalent dental bib design comprises an apron in combination with a means of securing the apron in position over the patient's chest.
Typically, dental bibs are disposable, and constructed of one or more absorbent paper plies in combination with a waterproof plastic ply backing. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,836, Morris discloses a dental bib suggesting a bib material comprising a layer of paper toweling for absorbency with a plastic film backing for moisture protection. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,836,518, Bloom et al. disclose a dental bib wherein the main body portion comprises an absorbent side and a waterproof side.
Dental bibs may be held in place, generally covering the chest of a patient, by any of a number of means. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,773, Stemmer discloses a dental bib comprising a multi-layer paper section backed by a plastic sheet to form a rectangular panel. A pressure-sensitive adhesive, which provides an attachment to the patient's clothing, is disposed on three corners of the plastic back and permits the towel to be disposed over the chest to form a shield. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,365, Surprise et al. disclose a disposable bib with an integral, elasticized neckband. U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,849 to Lansing et al. discloses a dental bib holder comprising spring clips mounted at either end of a flexible strap, the flexible strap being positioned about the back of a patient's neck, and the clips being attached to a dental bib. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,540,036, Paulsen discloses a disposable bib that is secured around the neck of the patient via magnets.
One disadvantage inherent to conventional dental bib designs is their limited usefulness for cleaning dental instruments. The paper layer(s) of a conventional dental bib lacks the bulk and softness of texture necessary to clean and/or polish a dental instrument. Due to this disadvantage, a dentist may typically be required to interrupt the dental procedure in order to grasp a piece of gauze, clean and/or polish the dental tool with the piece of gauze, dispose of the piece of gauze, and then resume the dental procedure.
Another disadvantage inherent to conventional dental bib designs is their limited usefulness for capturing solid debris generated during a dental procedure. The paper layer(s) of a conventional dental bid lacks the bulk and/or physical features necessary to capture solid debris. Here, again, a dentist may typically be required to interrupt the dental procedure in order to grasp a piece of gauze, capture the solid debris with the piece of gauze, dispose of the piece of gauze, and then resume the dental procedure.
What is needed is a new dental bib design that combines the capacity of gauze to capture solid debris and to clean and polish dental instruments with the capability of conventional dental bib to protect a patient's garments from liquid debris during a dental procedure.


A cable modem method, system, and computer program product are provided for payload header suppression in which a limited number of suppression indices is used to map suppression rules to data streams. Network resources are conserved by implementing precise classification algorithms to correctly identify incoming packets at the cable modem as belonging to a particular data stream, which ensures that a minimum number of suppression indices are utilized. Additionally, network resources are conserved by utilizing sophisticated algorithms for reusing suppression indices when new data streams are detected by the cable modem. One such reuse algorithm involves recycling the suppression index that has been least recently used in transmitting a packet with a suppressed payload header.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to communication systems. More particularly, the present invention is related to cable modem systems and methods for transferring data.
2. Background
In conventional cable modem systems, a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network provides a point-to-multipoint topology for supporting data communication between a cable modem termination system (CMTS) at the cable headend and multiple cable modems (CM) at the customer premises. In such systems, information is broadcast downstream from the CMTS to the cable modems as a continuous transmitted signal in accordance with a time division multiplexing (TDM) technique. In contrast, information is transmitted upstream from each of the cable modems to the CMTS as short burst signals in accordance with a time division multiple access (TDMA) technique. The upstream transmission of data from the cable modems is managed by the CMTS, which allots to each cable modem specific slots of time within which to transfer data.
Conventional cable modem systems are asymmetrical in that there is considerably less bandwidth available for upstream transmissions than there is for downstream transmissions. This lack of upstream bandwidth is further exacerbated by the fact that the upstream channels must be shared by multiple cable modems. As a result, the conservation of upstream bandwidth is imperative in order to maintain overall system performance. This is particularly true where cable modem users are engaging in activities that require both substantial upstream and downstream bandwidth, such as IP telephony, video teleconferencing, and Internet gaming.
Several industry standards or protocols have evolved to address these concerns. Conventional cable modem systems utilize equipment and protocols that are compliant with the Data Over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) to carry out the transfer of data packets between multiple cable modems and a CMTS. The term DOCSIS generally refers to a group of specifications published by CableLabs that define industry standards for cable headend and cable modem equipment. In part, DOCSIS sets forth requirements and objectives for various aspects of cable modem systems, including operations support systems, management, data interfaces, as well as network layer, data link layer, and physical layer transport for data over cable systems. The most current version of DOCSIS is DOCSIS 1.1.
One technique specified by DOCSIS to conserve upstream bandwidth involves Payload Header Suppression (PHS). PHS, as defined by DOCSIS 1.1, allows the suppression of unnecessary Ethernet/IP header information in the payload of a DOCSIS packet by the cable modem and subsequent reconstruction of the header by the CMTS. The goal of PHS is to reduce the number of bits transferred per packet, thereby improving network bandwidth utilization. However, DOCSIS PHS (DPHS) only permits header suppression based on the presence of redundant header bytes in sequentially transmitted packets.
What is needed is a flexible and efficient payload header suppression technique that addresses the above-identified concerns.

Method, system, and computer program product for suppression index reuse and packet classification for payload header suppression


There is described an apparatus for characterizing a flow through a conduit. The apparatus comprises a body portion, and first and second sensors. The body portion has a longitudinal axis extending between first and second body portion ends. The cross-sectional area of the body portion varies along the longitudinal axis. In use, the body portion is arranged to be disposed substantially longitudinally within the conduit with the first body portion end disposed upstream of the second body portion end. The first sensor is disposed at or near the first body portion end. The second sensor is longitudinally spaced from the first sensor. The body portion has a larger cross-sectional area at the second sensor than at the first sensor such that, in use, the second sensor experiences an accelerated flow as compared to the first sensor. The first and second sensors are operable to sense a common variable, thereby enabling the effects of accelerated flow on the common variable to be characterized.

The technical and commercial threats posed by solids (sand) and the corrosivity of fluids produced from the reservoir formation are well known to oil and gas operating companies and asset managers. Proactive strategies are required to manage the impact of these solids and corrosive fluids on production and to maximise productivity. Solids production is typically episodic and can cause extreme damage almost instantaneously. Corrosive fluids can also be episodic due to water breakthrough. The consequences can include reservoir damage, erosion of choke valves, erosion and accelerated corrosion of pipework, reduction of corrosion inhibitor performance and the filling of Separators: all resulting in reduced productivity. Reliable instantaneous management of solids in offshore and subsea systems is of vital importance.
At present a number of independent discrete sensors are used to monitor corrosion, erosion and sand individually in oil and gas pipelines. The various sensors are often provided by different manufacturers, and the measurements taken by different sensors are not easily correlated. Relevant prior art is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,946,855 (Hemblade), U.S. Pat. No. 7,878,047 (Hemblade) and US Patent Publication No. 2010/0326654 (Hemblade).
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,946,855, an apparatus is disclosed for monitoring the effect on a material of exposure to a fluid, and thereby monitoring the effect on a section of pipe for carrying the fluid. The apparatus includes a sensor element exposed to the fluid and formed as a ring of the material coaxially mounted within, but electrically insulated from, the section of pipe. Changes in the electrical resistance of the sensor element are monitored. Preferably, the apparatus also includes a reference element electrically insulated from the pipe, electrically connected in series to the sensor element and protected from exposure to the fluid. The elements may both be made from the same material as the pipe and, as they are contained within it, experience the same temperature and pressure variations as the pipe. In this manner a change in the resistance of the sensor element caused by corrosion/erosion by the fluid accurately indicates the degree of corrosion/erosion of the pipe carrying the fluid.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,878,047, there is described an apparatus for monitoring particles in a fluid stream, comprising a body portion and a detector element that is acoustically decoupled from the body portion. The detector element comprises a target surface, a sample acoustic sensor and a corrosion sensor. The sample acoustic sensor is acoustically coupled to the target surface and is arranged to provide a first signal, which varies in dependence upon acoustic noise generated by impacts of particles and fluid on the target surface. The corrosion sensor is arranged to provide a second signal, which varies in dependence upon corrosion and/or erosion of the target surface. A corresponding method of monitoring particles in a fluid stream is also described. The method and apparatus are suitable for monitoring sand in oil and gas production flow streams.
In US Patent Publication No. 2010/0326654, an apparatus monitors a production flow from a gravel pack into a tubular sand screen disposed concentrically around downhole production tubing in an oil or gas well. A tubular sample layer is disposed concentrically around the sand screen to be exposed to the radial production flow in use. The sample layer is electrically insulated from the production tubing in use. An erosion sensor provides a signal which varies in dependence upon an electrical resistance of the sample layer, which is related to the erosion of the sample layer. An apparatus also monitors a substantially longitudinal production flow through downhole production tubing in an oil or gas well. A method and apparatus are used to monitor the condition of a gravel pack within an oil or gas well. Other methods monitor temperature or pressure conditions within an oil or gas well.
There is a need for tools for the corrosion management of produced fluids, sand management prediction and quantification, integrated modelling and chemical optimisation.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved apparatus for characterising a flow through a conduit which provides various advantages over those of the prior art, including reduced capital expenditure opportunities and improved correlation and performance for the operator. In addition, the present invention aims to improve characterisation of the hydrocarbon production stream in terms of asset integrity and flow assurance in order to enable operators to accelerate production, extend asset life, reduce intervention costs.

Apparatus for characterising a flow through a conduit


For region of interest (ROI) placement in quantitative ultrasound imaging with an ultrasound scanner, the ROI is automatically placed using anatomy detection specific to the quantification, signal processing for clutter, attenuation, or noise, and/or identification of regions of fluid. For quantification, multiple ROIs may be positioned automatically. The automatic placement may improve consistency of measures over time and between sonographers and may provide for better image quality with less influence from undesired signals. As a result, diagnosis and/or treatment may be improved.

The present invention relates to quantitative ultrasound imaging. In quantitative ultrasound imaging, the detected information is further processed to quantify a characteristic of the tissue being imaged. Rather than merely providing a B-mode image of the tissue, a characteristic of that tissue is imaged. For example, shear wave speed in the tissue is calculated using ultrasound imaging. Other examples include strain, attenuation, or backscatter measures.
For quantitative ultrasound imaging, a user typically positions a region of interest (ROI) in a B-mode image. The ROI defines the region for which the quantification is performed. To avoid delays or processing complications for quantification over the entire field of view (FOV) of the B-mode image, the user-positioned ROI defines the region of tissue for quantification. This manual ROI positioning hinders workflow and increases scan times. Moreover, operator dependency and suboptimal ROI positioning may lead to low image quality and to irreproducible results. Many users do not position the ROI in the correct location, especially where the location may be specific to the type of quantification and application. Errors in sizing the ROI may also result in low image quality and/or irreproducible results.

Region of interest placement for quantitative ultrasound imaging


A text processing method includes: word segmentation is performed on a first text to be processed to determine multiple words of the first text; one word is removed from the first text to obtain one second text; each word is removed from the first text one by one to obtain a second text set; the first text and each second text in the second text set are analyzed respectively to obtain a first tree structure of the first text and a second tree structure of each second text; and a summary text of the first text is determined according to the first tree structure and each second tree structure.

Typically, graph ranking, deep learning and the like are usually adopted to extract, from a text, a summary text capable of expressing the theme of the text and has a length shorter than a length of the text. According to the graph ranking method, commonly used stop words, prefixes and suffixes or part-of-speech information, etc. may be adopted to filter a redundant text out.

Beijing Xiaomi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.


A fuel supply system includes a fuel pump for providing fuel from a fuel source to an electrically operated fuel injector for injection into a combustion chamber of an engine. The fuel pump has a follower driven pumping element. The follower is actuated by a cam element, with movement of the cam element powering the follower, effecting pumping by the pump. The cam element is rotated by a crankshaft of the engine.

Internal combustion engines operating on a two-cycle principal have traditionally been arranged so that fuel is delivered into an incoming air supply. The fuel and air mixture passes into a crankcase chamber for crankcase compression, and is then delivered through a scavenge passage to a combustion chamber of the engine for combustion therein.
As is well known, in the operating cycle of a two-cycle engine, an exhaust port leading from the combustion chamber is open during at least part of the time the scavenge passage is open. Thus, exhaust along with a portion of the air and fuel charge delivered through the scavenge passage flows through the exhaust port into the exhaust system.
In this arrangement, and especially at low engine speeds, a large amount of fuel must be added to the air to compensate for the flow of fuel through the cylinder and directly out the exhaust port. Supplying excessive fuel, however, is costly and can result in stalling of the engine. In addition, the quantities of fuel flowing into the exhaust may foul a catalyst positioned in the exhaust system.
As one attempt to solve the above-stated problems, some two-cycle engines are arranged to have fuel directly injected into the combustion chamber. A fresh air charge is supplied to each combustion chamber through the crankcase and a scavenge port Once air is supplied to the combustion chamber and the exhaust port is closed, a fuel injector injects fuel directly into the combustion chamber for mixing with the air.
This arrangement has the benefit that little of the fuel flows unburned into the exhaust system, and the amount of fuel supplied to each combustion chamber may be closely controlled. On the other hand, in order for this system to work, fuel must be supplied to the fuel injector under high pressure. Thus, these systems have a fuel supply which includes a fuel tank and a high pressure pump for pumping fuel from the tank and supplying it under high pressure to the fuel injector.
In some instances, mechanically driven pumps have been used for this purpose. In these situations, fuel is delivered to an injector which injects fuel into the combustion chamber when the pressure in a pressure circuit exceeds a predetermined pressure. This arrangement is very complex and does not permit complete control over the timing of the injector.
More commonly, the high pressure pump is electrically operated. These pumps, however, require complex circuitry for their control. When the engine is used, for example, to power an outboard motor, the circuitry consumes precious space within the motor cowling.
A fuel supply system for delivering fuel from a fuel source to a combustion chamber of an engine through a fuel injector at high pressure and without the above-stated problems is desired.


A divider may include a first node, a second node, a third node, at least a first divider section, and a first bridging assembly. The first divider section may include associated first and second transmission lines that respectively include first and second conductors that couple the first node to the second and third nodes. The first bridging assembly may include first and second resistors, and third, fourth, fifth, and sixth conductors. First ends of the third and fourth conductors may be respectively connected to the first and second conductors. Second ends of the third and fourth conductors may be grounded. The fifth and sixth conductors may be connected together and their opposite ends may be respectively terminated to ground by the first and second resistors. The third and fifth conductors may be closely inductively mutually coupled, and the fourth and sixth conductors may be closely inductively mutually coupled.

The present disclosure relates to dividers/combiners, and in particular, to such dividers/combiners having an inductively uncoupled section with a bridging assembly across the outputs.
Dividers are circuits that divide a signal into a plurality of signals. An N-way divider divides a signal into N signals. Conversely, a combiner combines a plurality of signals into a single signal. The same circuit can be a divider or combiner, depending on the direction of current flow, i.e., whether the single port is an input port or an output port. As used herein, then, the use of the term "divider" also means "combiner".
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,091,743, Wilkinson disclosed a power divider in which one end of each of a plurality of branch lines are connected to a common node or port, and the other end of each line is connected to a second node via an interconnecting resistor. In the simple case of two branch lines, the two interconnecting resistors form an isolating interconnecting resistor that connects the two branch ends of the lines. In his article, A Class of Broadband Three-Port TEM-Mode Hybrids, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. MTT-16, No. 2, February 1968, Cohn extended the single section of Wilkinson to multiple cascaded sections formed of pairs of line lengths and interconnecting resistors. The increased number of sections resulted in improved VSWR, isolation, and bandwidth.
Two spaced-apart conductive lines are inductively coupled when they are spaced closely enough together for energy flowing in one to be induced in the other electromagnetically and/or electrostatically. The amount of energy flowing between the lines is related to the dielectric and magnetic media the conductors are in and the spacing between the lines. Even though electromagnetic fields surrounding the lines are theoretically infinite, lines are often referred to as being closely or tightly coupled, loosely coupled, or uncoupled, based on the relative amount of coupling. The amount of coupling may be defined by a coupling coefficient. However, as a practical measure, two lines may be considered to be inductively coupled when a detectable signal is coupled from one line onto the other. A threshold of coupling may be appropriate to distinguish between coupled and uncoupled lines. In most applications, two lines that have less than 20 dB inductive coupling between them are considered to be uncoupled lines. In some applications, lines that have less than 100 dB are considered to be uncoupled lines. In terms of a coupling coefficient, two lines may be considered to be closely coupled if the coupling coefficient is greater than 0.1. Thus, two lines may be considered as loosely coupled or substantially uncoupled if they have a coupling coefficient of less than 0.1.

Divider/combiner with bridging coupled section


A method of treating viral infections, particularly Hepatitis B (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), by administering a low dose of Elvucitabine to a patient suffering viral infection is provided herein. The Elvucitabine dosages provided herein for effective anti-viral therapy are approximately 10-fold less than the effective dosages of currently marketed reverse transcriptase inhibitors. The Elvucitabine dosage may be given BID, daily, once every 48 hours, or once weekly. Also provided herein are packaged pharmaceutical formulations comprising Elvucitabine and instructions for treating a viral infection by administering a low BID, daily, once/48 hour, or weekly dosage of Elvucitabine. The low dose Elvucitabine formulations provided herein have the additional benefit of improving patient compliance with anti-viral therapy.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major health problem throughout the world. HBV is a causative agent of both an acute and chronic form of hepatitis. It is estimated that more than 200 million people worldwide are chronic carriers of HBV.
HBV belongs to the family Hepadnaviridae, which includes a number of related viruses that primarily infect small rodents. All members of the hepadnavirus family have a number of characteristics in common such as morphological appearance, antigenic makeup and DNA size and structure. Pathological findings following infection with the members of this family are quite similar. Studies show that the replication and spread of the viruses of this family are dependent upon the reverse transcriptase of an RNA intermediate.
HBV is a double-stranded DNA virus. Its DNA polymerase catalyzes both DNA-dependent and RNA-dependent RNA synthesis. The life cycle of HBV involves the enzyme reverse transcriptase in its DNA replication.
Although acute HBV infections are generally self-limiting, in many instances the disease can progress to the chronic state. HBV infection also creates a risk to fulminant hepatitis. In addition, Hepatitis B viral infections are closely associated with hepatocellular carcinoma.
AIDS is a generally fatal disease caused by a human pathogenic retrovirus known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which includes HIV-1 and HIV-2. Reverse transcriptase plays an essential role in the elaboration and life cycle of HIV and consequently, the progress of the disease. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors are currently used with other classes of anti-viral agents to slow and in some cases halt the progress of HIV infection.
Reverse transcriptase inhibitors are preferred therapeutics for treating certain viral infections, particularly HBV and HIV infections. Typically about 300 mg of a reverse transciptase inhibitor must be administered daily for effective treatment of a viral infections, sometimes on a once per day dosing schedule, but more typically on a twice or three times per day dosing schedule. Because patients suffering from HBV or HIV often take a number of medications, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor efficacious at lower dosages is urgently needed. A reverse transcriptase inhibitor that can be administered once daily or less frequently is particularly desireable.
Elvucitabine is a nucleoside analog of the formula

The anti-viral properties of Elvucitabine have been described previously in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,621,120, 5,627,160, and 5,839,881, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/411,929, filed Apr. 11, 2004, which are hereby incorporated by reference for their teachings regarding the use of Elvucitabine for treating viral infections, including HBV and HIV infections, and for teachings regarding the chemical synthesis of Elvucitabine.

Low dose therapy for treating viral infections


An optical glass comprising SiO2, B2O3 and La2O3 and one or more oxides selected from the group consisting of ZrO2, Nb2O5 and Ta2O5, having a refractive index of 1.83 or over and an Abbe number of 35 or over and being free of F.

It is a recent tendency to produce a lighter and smaller optical element such as a lens by utilizing an aspherical lens to reduce the number of lenses. If, however, it is attempted to produce an aspherical lens by conventional grinding and polishing, it requires an expensive and complex processing. A process, therefore, has been developed to produce a lens by directly processing a preform obtained from a gob or a glass block with a precision processed press. The lens obtained in this manner does not need grinding or polishing and, as a result, lenses can be produced at a low cost and within a short production period.
This method is called glass molding and study and development for this method have been actively made in recent years. In view of heat resisting property of a mold used for glass molding, a glass which can be softened at a lower temperature, specifically a glass having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 630° C. or below, preferably 600° C. or below, has been sought.
On the other hand, owing to recent development of glass molding technique such as simulating a preform to a final aspherical shape of a glass after press molding or pressing a glass at a higher pressure, there has arisen possibility that a glass having a glass transition temperature (Tg) within a range from 630° C. to 670° C. can be used for glass molding. Development has also been made in material for the mold for glass molding and also a protection film for the mold and, as a result, a glass having a glass transition temperature exceeding 670° C. can be formed by glass molding. These developments have obscured the border line between the optical glass for glass molding and general optical glasses.
Many types of optical glasses having optical constants in the vicinity of those of an optical glass which is an object of the present invention have been disclosed in the past.
Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 53-42328, No. Sho 53-47368 and No. Sho-54-6242 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2002-284542 disclose high refractive index and low dispersion optical glasses comprising SiO2, B2O3 and La2O3 as principal components. The refractive index of these optical glasses, however, is still not sufficient for the optical constants which are required for an optical glass which is an object of the present invention. These optical glasses are also not sufficient in respect of chemical durability.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 52-129716 discloses an optical glass having a refractive index of 1.85 or over but this optical glass is not sufficient in Abbe number.
Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 54-6241 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. Sho 54-90218 disclose optical glasses comprising B2O3, La2O3, Gd2O3 and WO3 as principal components and having a refractive index exceeding 1.85. These optical glasses, however, are not sufficient in stability to devitrification particularly in a region where Abbe number is 40 or over.
Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 54-2646 discloses optical glasses having a refractive index exceeding 1.85 but these optical glasses are all insufficient in Abbe number and insufficient also in stability to devitrification.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2001-348244 discloses an optical glass having a refractive index of 1.875 or over and Abbe number of 39.5 or over. This optical glass, however, has a high liquidus temperature due mainly to insufficient amounts of Nb2O5 and Ta2O5 or a total amount of these components and hence has not sufficient capability of a large scale production. Besides, the optical glass disclosed in this publication has a high specific gravity with the result that weight of a lens made of this optical glass becomes excessively large and that flow control of the glass in a pipe is difficult in producing a glass preform by dripping the glass from the pipe made of Pt alloy.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2003-267748 discloses a high refractive index optical glass having a glass transition temperature of 630° C. or below This optical glass, however, has a high liquidus temperature due mainly to insufficient amounts of Nb2O5 and Ta2O5 or a total amount of these components and hence has not sufficient capability of a large scale production.
The above described publications also disclose examples which comprise F component. These optical glasses containing F component, however, have the disadvantage that they have high volatility of F in the melting of glass materials and this causes significant variation in the quality of the optical glass such as refractive index. These optical glasses containing F component moreover have a tendency toward deterioration in chemical durability and hence is not suitable for a large scale production.
Refractive index within a range from 1.85 to 1.90 and Abbe number within a range from 40 to 42 are often used in conventional optical glasses.
If an optical glass for press molding having optical constants within these ranges is used as an aspherical lens, correction of spherical aberration will be facilitated and an optical system of a more compact and a higher efficiency will be realized. Therefore, there is a high demand for an optical glass which has optical constants within the above described ranges and still enables a stable production as an optical glass for press molding and also for general uses.
The prior art optical glasses having optical constants within the above described ranges, however, have poor chemical durability and a high liquidus temperature and hence are not suitable for a stable commercial production.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an optical glass which has optical constants of the above described ranges and still has a low liquidus temperature and high chemical durability.
It is another object of the invention to provide an optical glass for press molding having a low glass transition temperature.


A read head is provided with a combined second read gap and pinning layer which pins a pinned layer structure of a top spin valve sensor. The second read gap layer is at least partially composed of alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) which pins the pinned layer by coercivity. The second read gap layer defines the track width of the read head and its alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) composition provides specular reflection of conduction electrons in the spin valve sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a read head with a combined second read gap and pinning layer for a spin valve sensor and, more particularly, to a second read gap layer that pins a magnetic moment of a pinned layer structure in the spin valve sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The heart of a computer is an assembly that is referred to as a magnetic disk drive. The magnetic disk drive includes a rotating magnetic disk, a slider that has read and write heads, a suspension arm above the rotating disk and an actuator that swings the suspension arm to place the read and write heads over selected circular tracks on the rotating disk. The suspension arm biases the slider into contact with the surface of the disk when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk adjacent an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the slider to ride on an air bearing a slight distance from the surface of the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing the write and read heads are employed for writing magnetic impressions to and reading magnetic signal fields from the rotating disk. The read and write heads are connected to processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
An exemplary high performance read head employs a spin valve sensor for sensing the magnetic signal fields from the rotating magnetic disk. The sensor includes a nonmagnetic electrically conductive spacer layer sandwiched between a ferromagnetic pinning layer and a ferromagnetic free layer. An antiferromagnetic pinning layer interfaces the pinned layer for pinning the magnetic moment of the pinned layer 90xc2x0 to an air bearing surface (ABS) wherein the ABS is an exposed surface of the sensor that faces the rotating disk. First and second leads are connected to the spin valve sensor for conducting a sense current therethrough. A magnetic moment of the free layer is free to rotate upwardly and downwardly with respect to the ABS from a quiescent or zero bias point position in response to positive and negative magnetic signal fields from the rotating magnetic disk. The quiescent position of the magnetic moment of the free layer, which is preferably parallel to the ABS, is when the sense current is conducted through the sensor without magnetic field signals from the rotating magnetic disk. If the quiescent position of the magnetic moment is not parallel to the ABS the positive and negative responses of the free layer will not be equal which results in read signal asymmetry which is discussed in more detail hereinbelow.
The thickness of the spacer layer is chosen so that shunting of the sense current and a magnetic coupling between the free and pinned layers are minimized. This thickness is typically less than the mean free path of electrons conducted through the sensor. With this arrangement, a portion of the conduction electrons is scattered by the interfaces of the spacer layer with the pinned and free layers. When the magnetic moments of the pinned and free layers are parallel with respect to one another scattering is minimal and when their magnetic moments are antiparallel scattering is maximized. An increase in scattering of conduction electrons increases the resistance of the spin valve sensor and a decrease in scattering of the conduction electrons decreases the resistance of the spin valve sensor. Changes in resistance of the spin valve sensor is a function of cos xcex8, where xcex8 is the angle between the magnetic moments of the pinned and free layers. When a sense current is conducted through the spin valve sensor, resistance changes cause potential changes that are detected and processed as playback signals from the rotating magnetic disk. The sensitivity of the spin valve sensor is quantified as magnetoresistance or magnetoresistive coefficient dr/R where dr is the change in resistance of the spin valve sensor from minimum resistance (magnetic moments of free and pinned layers parallel) to maximum resistance (magnetic moments of the free and pinned layers antiparallel) and R is the resistance of the spin valve sensor at minimum resistance. The transfer curve for a spin valve sensor is defined by the aforementioned cos xcex8 where xcex8 is the angle between the directions of the magnetic moments of the free and pinned layers. Because of the high magnetoresistance of a spin valve sensor it is sometimes referred to as a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor.
An improved spin valve sensor, which is referred to hereinafter as antiparallel pinned (AP) spin valve sensor, is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,185 to Heim and Parkin which is incorporated by reference herein. The AP pinned spin valve differs from a single pinned layer spin valve sensor in that the pinned layer comprises multiple layers, hereinafter referred to as an AP pinned layer structure. The AP pinned layer structure has a nonmagnetic spacer layer which is sandwiched between ferromagnetic first and second AP pinned layers. The first AP pinned layer, which may comprise several thin films, is immediately adjacent to the antiferromagnetic pinning layer and is exchange-coupled thereto, with its magnetic moment directed in a first direction. The second AP pinned layer is immediately adjacent to the spacer layer and is exchange-coupled to the first AP pinned layer by the minimal thickness (in the order of 6 xc3x85) of the spacer layer between the first and second AP pinned layers. The magnetic moment of the second AP pinned layer is oriented in a second direction that is antiparallel to the direction of the magnetic moment of the first AP pinned layer. The magnetic moments of the first and second AP pinned layers subtractively combine to provide a net moment of the AP pinned layer structure. The direction of the net moment is determined by the thicker of the first and second AP pinned layers. The thicknesses of the first and second AP pinned layers are chosen so that the net moment is small. A small net moment equates to a small demagnetizing (demag) field exerted on the free layer by the AP pinned layer structure. Since the antiferromagnetic exchange coupling is inversely proportional to the net moment, this results in a large exchange coupling between the pinning and AP pinned layers.
A spin valve sensor can be classified as either a top spin valve sensor or a bottom spin valve sensor. In a top spin valve sensor the pinned layer structure is located closer to the second read gap layer than to the first read gap layer, and in a bottom spin valve sensor the pinned layer structure is located closer to the first read gap layer than to the second read gap layer. A spin valve sensor can be further classified as a single spin valve sensor or a dual spin valve sensor. In a dual spin valve sensor the free layer structure is located between first and second copper (Cu) spacer layers, the first and second spacer layers are located between first and second pinned layer structures and the first and second pinned layer structures are pinned by first and second pinning layers. As indicated hereinabove, a spin valve sensor can be further classified as a single pinned layer spin valve sensor or an AP pinned spin valve sensor.
The storage capacity of a computer depends upon the areal density of each of the read and write heads. The areal density of the read head is a product of its linear read density and its track width density. The track width density is quantified as the number of tracks per inch along the radius of a rotating magnetic disk. The linear density of the read head is quantified as the number of bits that can be read by the read head per inch of a track width along a circular track on the magnetic disk. The linear density of the read head depends upon the total read gap which is measured between the first and second shield layers of the read head. Accordingly, in order to increase the linear density of the read head the thicknesses of the layers of the spin valve sensor and the first and second read gap layers should be minimized. A major contributor to low linear density is the thicknesses of the first and second read gap layers. The first and second read gap layers, which are typically aluminum oxide (Al2O3), must be thick enough to prevent electrical shorting between the spin valve sensor to the first shield layer and between the first and second leads to the second shield layer. When either of these read layers become too thin there is a risk of pin holes which will permit current to short between the sensor and/or the leads to the shield layers. There is less risk of shorting between the sensor and the first shield layer since these layers are planarized. However, the first and second lead layers have steps which must be covered by the second read gap layer. The highest risk of shorting is where the second read gap layer covers the steps of the first and second lead layers since there is typically a thinning of the second read gap layer at the step locations. Accordingly, the second read gap layer is typically thicker than the first read gap layer in order to provide for adequate coverage of the steps of the first and second lead layers.
In order to increase the storage capacity of a computer there is a strong-felt need to decrease the thicknesses of the first and second read gap layers. As discussed hereinabove, however, this is restricted by the risk of shorts between the sensor and the lead layers to the shield layers.
The present invention provides a read head with a combined second read gap and pinning layer for pinning a pinned layer structure of a top spin valve sensor so as to significantly increase the linear read density of the read head. This is accomplished by providing a second read gap layer that is at least partially composed of alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3). The alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) is an insulative material which serves as a second read gap between the spin valve sensor and the second shield layer. Further, the alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) pins the pinned layer structure by providing the pinned layer structure with high coercivity. Accordingly, the net magnetic moment of the pinned layer structure can be pinned perpendicular to the ABS in a direction either into the sensor or out of the sensor as desired. An applied magnetic field is employed for setting the magnetic moment in the desired direction.
In one embodiment of the invention the second read gap layer may be made entirely of alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) and in a second embodiment of the invention the second read gap layer may be made of first and second films wherein the first film is composed of alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) and interfaces the pinned layer structure. In the second embodiment the second film can be also composed of alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) or of aluminum oxide (Al2O3). With the present invention the second read gap layer can be made thick enough to cover the aforementioned steps caused by the first and second lead layers without unduly reducing the linear read density of the read head. With the present invention a separate antiferromagnetic (AFM) pinning layer is not required since the second read gap layer performs that function. By eliminating the separate pinning layer, which can be several hundred angstroms thick, the total read gap between the first and second shield layers is reduced by that amount.
In a preferred embodiment longitudinal biasing of the free layer structure in order to stabilize its magnetic domains is accomplished by first and second antiferromagnetic layers located in first and second passive regions of the read head, respectively, in lieu of first and second hard bias layers which typically abut first and second side edges of the sensor. With this arrangement the magnetic spins of the first and second antiferromagnetic biasing layers may be set by a longitudinal applied field in the presence of a high temperature such as 375xc2x0 C. for platinum manganese (PtMn). Subsequently, the coercivity of the pinned layer structure can be uniaxially set perpendicular to the ABS by applying a high magnetic field without the presence of heat. Since heat is not required in the setting of the pinned layer structure the magnetic spins of the first and second antiferromagnetic biasing layers will not be altered.
An unexpected advantage of the present invention is that the alpha ferric oxide (xcex1Fe2O3) of the second read gap layer serves as a specular reflector for reflecting conduction electrons back into the mean free path of conduction electrons between the free layer structure and the pinned layer structure. Accordingly, as conduction electrons attempt to escape the mean free path they are reflected back to the mean free path for improving the magnetoresistive coefficient dr/R of the read head.
An object of the present invention is to provide a read head with a second read gap layer which pins a pinned layer structure of a top spin valve sensor.
A further object is to provide a read head with a combined second read gap and pinning layer for a top spin valve sensor which permits a significant increase in the linear read density of the read head.
A still further object is to provide a read head with a combined second read gap and pinning layer which increases the linear read density of the read head and reflects conduction electrons in a spin valve sensor for improving the magnetoresistive coefficient dr/R.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings.

Read head with a combined second read gap and pinning layer for a top spin valve sensor

International Business Machines Corporation


A power unit for a powered cinching mechanism with a favorable level of operational noise is provided. A door latch apparatus includes latch unit and power unit. Latch unit has latch that engages striker, ratchet that engages latch and first cinching lever that displaces latch from a half-latched position to a full-latched position. Latch unit is attached to an end portion of a vehicle door. Power unit includes motor, cable drum, deceleration mechanism and closed-type housing that houses them. Operational noise at 300 mm right above the housing of power unit is 42.2 to 40.9 dB at a supply voltage to the motor of 9V, 47.5 to 43.9 dB at a supply voltage of 12V, and 49.7 to 46.5 dB at a supply voltage of 16 V. Deceleration mechanism includes a worm gear and a helical gear.

Conventionally, there is known a vehicle door latch apparatus that includes a power release mechanism that releases the restraint of a latch by means of motor power in order to make a door openable (Patent Literature 1). There is also known a vehicle door latch apparatus that includes a powered cinching mechanism (also referred to as a powered closing mechanism) that shifts a latch from a half-latched position to a full-latched position (Patent Literature 2).
Patent Literature 1: JP2002-295095A
Patent Literature 2: JP2016-98628A