A method in a wireless communication network (100) wherein information is communicated in a frame structure wherein each frame includes multiple sub-frames, including grouping at least two wireless communication terminals in a group, assigning the group to less than all sub-frames constituting a communication frame, and assigning a radio resource assignment control channel of one or more assigned sub-frames to the group. The control channel is used to assign radio resources to one or more terminals of the group.

In wireless communication systems, it is desirable to reduce overhead associated with signaling for voice and data services, system information, control, etc. In traditional GSM and UMTS systems, bearer establishment is enabled through dedicated signaling. The bearer defines radio parameters, for example, time slot, frequency, code, etc., associated with a channel during a call. In voice communications for example a dedicated channel is assigned to each user. In High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) systems, transport format and modulation/coding parameters (TFRI) are provided using dedicated control signaling on a shared control channel, wherein the shared control channel also signals the code channel assigned to the user.
In some data only (DO) systems, voice is served over IP (VoIP). It is known to improve such systems for VoIP traffic using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) error correction schemes and smaller packet sizes. While VoIP users have the same benefits of advanced link adaptation and statistical multiplexing as data users, the greatly increased number of users that may be served because of the smaller voice packet sizes places a burden on control and feedback mechanisms of the system. It can be easily envisioned, for example, that 30 times as many voice packets could be served in a given frame than data packets. There are typically about 1500 bytes for data and about 40-50 bytes for voice. Present resource allocation and channel quality feedback and acknowledgment mechanisms however are not designed to handle such a large number of allocations.
In 802.16e systems, it is known to use a telescoping control channel that expands to include as many assignments as necessary for resource allocation. However, such an expansion mechanism does not address feedback or the fact that the entire downlink may be consumed for control information. Another mitigating mechanism is to group several voice packets together for transmission to a particular user. Unfortunately, this sort of packaging mechanism can adversely affect speech quality when a transmission is not received, since longer periods of speech are lost or corrupted. Thus there is a need for increasing the number of VoIP users supported while reducing control and feedback overhead. In packet based systems the term "data" is meant to signify payload information for any service, voice or data.
The various aspects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Detailed Description thereof with the accompanying drawings described below. The drawings may have been simplified for clarity and are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Scheduling in wireless communication systems


A steering arm for a walkie/rider truck which has a truck body, a driving motor and load bearing means, a platform for the operator and a steering rod. Button portions extend adjacent both lateral surfaces of the horn of a steering above the grip portions and extend approximately parallel to the lateral surfaces and are supported for pivoting movement approximately about horizontal axes. The button portions are arranged such that they can be actuated by the thumb or the index finger of the hand engaging the associated grip portion.

Trucks controlled by a steering arm normally are designed for a walking operation or a rider operation, respectively. For the latter case the trucks have a platform for the operator. Standing on the platform, he seizes a steering head connected to a steering rod. Trucks designed for a riding operation in most cases have a relatively short steering arm, in any case shorter than those for mere walking operation. However, it is also known to use rider trucks for the walking operation. In this case, the platform is arranged at the rear side of the truck. The operator may stand on the platform and grasps the steering head with one hand for actuation purposes while the other hand grasps a retaining bail which extends above the housing of the truck. Such a truck is known from the U.S. patents U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,025, U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,144, U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,313 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,382,359. The steering arm includes a steering rod which can be pivoted about a horizontal axis, and concurrently is supported for rotation about a vertical axis in order to effect a steering motion on the wheel to be steered. A steering head is attached to the upper end of the steering rod which typically is symmetrical to the longitudinal axis of the steering rod. The steering head includes a transverse portion or support portion which extends transverse to the steering rod. A horn extends centrally from the transverse portion to the rear. Rod-shaped grip portions are located on both sides of the horn which are spaced to a transverse portion and extend proximately parallel to the transverse portion. The grip portions are supported for rotation about their longitudinal axis. The rotational bearing of the grip portion takes place at their inner end at the horn and at the outer end at leg portions which approximately extend parallel to the horn and are connected to the transverse portion. Such a structure of a steering head is not only known from the above mentioned publications, rather is known from steering arms of similar trucks. The rotation of the grip portions have the function to actuate the driving motor or the control circuit thereof, respectively. The driving speed corresponds to the rotational angle of the grip portions. The grip portions either are mechanically or electrically coupled, so that it makes no difference which of the grip portions is actuated.
The described trucks also need a driving means for the raising and lowering of a load bearing means which normally is a load carrying fork. The control of the load bearing means also takes place at the steering head. In the above mentioned publications the upper side of a steering head has a key-element arrangement for the actuation of the drive means for lowering or raising of the load bearing means. From EP 1 153 815 A1 a steering head has become known wherein grip portions are rigid, and a rotary driving switch is located between the horn and the adjacent ends of the grip portions. From U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,259 it has become known to provide the grip portions to actuate a driving switch and to provide extensions (paddle) at the ends thereof, whereby the rotational actuation during walking operation is to be facilitated. From DE 4 413 631 A1 it is known to provide keys or push-buttons between the horn and the grip portions to effect the raising and lowering of the load bearing means.
It is an object of the invention to provide a steering arm for the walkie/rider trucks wherein independent of the angular position of the steering arm and independent of whether the operator rides or walks an ergonomic favourable actuation of the driving motor and the drive for the raising and lowering operation can be achieved.


The present invention relates to a container for sheet products that makes it easy to take out each individual piece of the sheet products stacked in the container. The container having a tray-like container body (2), an opening/closing lid (3) that is slidably mounted on the container body (2), a pressing member (5) elastically pressing the sheet products (4) stored in the container (1) toward the inner surface of the opening/closing lid (3), a friction drag member (7) that is installed on the inner surface of the opening/closing lid (3) to feed out the sheet products (4) according to the closing operation of the opening/closing lid (3), and a stopper (6) formed in the container body (2) to stop the backward movement of the sheet products (4) by the friction drag member (7) when the opening/closing lid (3) is opened.

Heretofore, a container having an opening/closing lid on the right or left side of the top of a thin rectangular case (see, for example, patent document 1), and a container having a case body and a slidable lid, wherein the lid is opened or closed by sliding the slidable lid (see, for example, patent document 2) have been known as a container for sheet products.    [Patent document 1] Design registered No. 1001472    [Patent document 2] Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 1995-38204


The invention relates to a respiratory preparation providing cough relief in a human comprising: a film forming agent; a thickening agent; and the respiratory preparation provides on demand relief. Additionally, the invention relates to a method of providing cough relief in a human comprising: the steps of administering to a human a respiratory preparation comprising: a film forming agent; a thickening agent; and wherein said respiratory preparation provides on demand cough relief as needed.

Post nasal drip is caused by the over secretion of mucous in the nasal cavity. The constant trickle of mucus in the throat results in triggering the cough reflex. During colds (viral infections), inflammation may occur in the mucosa such that cytokines and inflammatory mediators are released into nasal secretions. These then bathe the throat and cause a sequence of pain/soreness that is much more easily aggravated by innocuous stimuli such as changes in air temperature (cold air) which stimulate the cough reflex. Additionally, the cough reflex can also be stimulated by a dry mouth and/or throat. Desensitization of the cough receptors in the throat is believed to provide antitussive effect via the mechanical action of shielding the receptors from further irritation. Cough receptors have been identified functionally and are present on the sensory nerve endings within the epithelium lining in the larynx and pharynx.
Attempts have been made to alleviate this cough response by compositions such as cough drops, sore throat sprays, and cough syrups. The response of current cough drops is not instant and drops are usually solid doses that must be melted in the mouth and provide no coating of the throat. Sore throat sprays can contain actives that numb the mouth and throat. Sprays normally contain instruction to not swallow so there is no throat coating and no cough relief. Additionally, because they normally contain actives the product cannot be used often as needed. Cough syrups contain actives that must be absorbed by the blood which usually takes about 30 minutes for any type of cough relief, therefore there is no instant relief that is targeted for the throat.
Additionally, it is believed that cough suppression can be enhanced by focused delivery of the active to the site of irritation, the target mucosa. The benefit of targeted delivery such as that which is realized when a spray is used, is that the actives are not lost to irreversible binding to the mucin (via mucoadhesion) before they can reach the target sites.
Therefore, the various embodiments described herein provide for a respiratory preparation that provides instant and on demand cough relief in a portable form that can be used as often as needed. The preparation can be used to target the mouth and/or throat and provide a protective barrier that shields the epithelial cells that line the throat and thus prevents the stimulation of a cough response and/or triggers the flow of saliva and to help to hydrate the mouth and/or throat. The barrier can additionally aid in reducing inflammation of the mouth and/or throat and relive minor pain sometimes associated with a cough and/or sore throat.

Preparations, methods and kits useful for the treatment of cough


Aspects of the present invention provide apparatuses and methods for conducting pupil height measurements. A multifocal measurement device of the present invention can comprise a base member and first and second adjustable measurement members. The multifocal measurement device can be connected to eyeglasses worn by a patient. A first knob can be used to adjust a vertical positioning of the first adjustable measurement member and a second knob can be used to adjust a vertical positioning of the second adjustable measurement member. The adjustable measurement members can each comprise pupillary alignment reference areas—such as transparent lines, opaque lines, or prisms—that can be positioned substantially in front of the pupils of the patient by adjusting the knobs. Pupil height measurements can subsequently be made by measuring the distances between the first and second pupillary alignment reference areas and the bottom of the eyeglasses worn by the patient.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to pupil height measurements.
More specifically, the present invention provides apparatuses and methods for conducting pupil height measurements in a more efficient and accurate manner.
2. Background Art
Pupil height measurements are often conducted when an individual is being fitted for multifocal eyeglasses (e.g., frames with progressive lenses or frames with bifocal or trifocal lenses). The pupil height measurements can be used to ensure that the multifocal region (e.g., the add region) of the lenses to be worn by the wearer are positioned correctly within the patient's eyeglass frames. Without an accurate pupil height or fitting height measurement, the multifocal region can be positioned incorrectly.
For example, if the multifocal region is fit too low within the patient's eyeglass frames, then the patient may be required to tilt her head up in an undesirable manner in order to use the multifocal region (e.g., the near vision area) of the lens. If the multifocal region is fit too high within the patient's frames, then the patient may be required to tilt her head down in an undesirable manner in order to use the distance region.
Conventional pupil height measurement devices are bulky, clumsy to use, and are prone to error. Further, conventional methods for conducting pupil height measurements are often inaccurate. Accordingly, what is needed is a pupil height, fitting height or multifocal measurement device and method of use that can improve the speed and accuracy of pupil height measurements while being small, low cost and easy to use.


A fluorescent display tube including: (a) a substrate having a display surface; (b) anodes formed on the display surface of the substrate, and spaced apart each other; (c) cathodes capable of generating electrons; (d) fluorescent layers each of which is fixed to a corresponding one of the anodes; (e) a rib formed on the display surface of the substrate so as to surround a periphery of each of the fluorescent layers; and (f) a control electrode fixed to an upper end face of the rib, and consisting of a plurality of sections which are spaced apart each other; wherein the fluorescent layers are selectively activated by the control electrode, so as to be struck by the electrons generated by the cathodes, for emitting light, wherein the rib includes continuous wall portions continuously extending along respective boundaries each of which is located between a corresponding pair of the anodes which are adjacent to each other, such that each pair of the anodes are electrically insulated from each other, and wherein the continuous wall portions include portions each of which extends between a corresponding pair of the sections of the control electrode which are adjacent to each other and which are spaced apart from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to improvements in a fluorescent display device and in a method of manufacturing the fluorescent display device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There is known a fluorescent display tube which includes: (a) a substrate having a display surface; (b) anodes formed on the display surface of the substrate and spaced apart each other; (c) fluorescent layers each of which is fixed to a corresponding one of the anodes; (d) filament cathodes located above the fluorescent layers to generate thermo electrons; and (e) a control electrode (grid electrode) located between the fluorescent layers and the cathodes, and consisting of a plurality of sections spaced apart each other. The control electrode serves to control activations of the fluorescent layers, such that the fluorescent layers are selectively activated, namely, emit glow or light when they are struck by the thermo electrons in a vacuum space. This type of fluorescent display tube is capable of providing a clear image with a relatively low voltage to accelerate the electrons, owing to the arrangement in which the fluorescent layers are positioned in the vicinity of the cathodes which generate the electrons toward the fluorescent layers. Further, the use of different fluorescent materials for the fluorescent layers which emit lights of different colors permits a color display of images. Therefore, the fluorescent display tube is widely used as display devices on acoustic devices and on instrument panels of motor vehicles or airplanes. Particularly, in such a fluorescent display tube having, in place of a so-called "mesh-grid structure" in which the grid electrodes are provided by meshes covering the fluorescent layers, a so-called "rib-grid structure" in which the grid electrodes are provided by conductive films fixed to upper end face of a partition or rib that surrounds the fluorescent layers and that has a larger height than the fluorescent layers, the grid electrodes are unlikely to suffer from thermal deformations even where the size of each grid electrode is increased in the interest of increasing the overall size or area of the display screen, thereby making it possible to prevent a problem such as instable luminance of the fluorescent layers and short-circuiting which would be caused by the thermal deformations of the grid electrodes. Further, while the luminance of the fluorescent layers is problematically reduced depending upon an opening ratio of the meshes in the fluorescent display tube having the mesh-grid structure, such a problem no longer exists in the fluorescent display tube having the rib-grid structure in place of the mesh-grid structure.
The fluorescent display tube having the above-described rib-grid structure is generally produced in the following manner:
That is, the rib is formed in such a manner that permits the rib to surround the anodes which have been fixed to the display surface of the substrate. After the formation of the rib, the fluorescent layers are fixedly formed on the anodes in accordance with a suitable method such as a thick-film screen printing method in which a fluorescent paste is dropped into recesses or cells defined by the rib. After the formation of the fluorescence layers, the grid electrode is fixedly formed on the upper end face of the rib in accordance with a suitable method such as a thick-film screen printing method in which a conductor paste is applied to the upper end surface of the rib. In this instance, it is desirable to minimize the width of each wall of the rib, for minimizing the surface area of a non-display portion of the display screen, to such an extent that still permits the grid electrode to be formed on the rib. In view of this, the rib and the grid electrode are formed by using the same screen printing pattern, for equalizing the width of the rib and the width of the grid electrode to each other.
Where such a fluorescent display tube is designed for graphical representations, the plurality of fluorescent layers are arranged in the longitudinal and width directions of the substrate with high density, for forming a desired image in a matrix of dots. It is desirable that the spacing interval between each adjacent pair of the fluorescent layers is minimized for thereby improving the quality of the formed image. Therefore, between each adjacent pair of the fluorescent layers, there is provided only a single grid electrode for serving commonly for both of the adjacent pair of the fluorescent layers. However, in such a arrangement, each fluorescent layer can not be surrounded at its entire periphery by the grid electrode, namely, a certain amount of gap has to be provided in the grid electrode so that the grid electrode is constituted by a plurality of sections which are spaced apart each other with the certain amount of gap between each adjacent pair of the plurality of sections. As long as the rib and the grid electrode are formed by using the same screen printing pattern, the provision of the gap in the grid electrode leads to the provision of a gap 82 in the rib 80, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. As a result, the fluorescent paste 84 dropped into each square cell defined by the rib 80 tends to flow out of the square cell, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1A, through the gap 82, and then brought into contact with the anode 86 or fluorescent layer 12 located in the adjacent cell, causing problematic short-circuiting between the anodes 86 adjacent to each other, or between the anode 86 and the fluorescent layer 88 adjacent to each other. Namely, the conventional fluorescent display tube suffers from a risk of short-circuiting between segments located in the respective cells which are adjacent to each other. It is noted that the term "segment" may be interpreted to mean either of the anode and fluorescent layer in the following description.

Fluorescent display tube having provision for preventing short-circuit therein, and method of manufacturing the same


Systems and methods for ensuring proper phase alignment of audio signals which are processed by separate hardware channels in an audio amplification system. In one embodiment, the phase alignment is controlled by determining the number of audio data samples which are stored in the input buffers of multiple audio amplification units and controlling reads from the input buffers to minimize the difference between an actual read-write pointer differential and a target differential. In a master unit, the target differential is a predetermined target value corresponding to a desired delay in the buffer. The actual pointer differential of the master unit is passed to one or more slave units. The actual pointer differential of the master unit is used as the target differential of the slave units. The pointer differentials of the slave units are thereby driven to track the pointer differential of the master unit, keeping the units synchronized.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the synchronization of data and more particularly to the synchronization of sampled audio data between multiple channels of an audio amplification system.
2. Related Art
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) or Class D signal amplification technology has existed for a number of years. PWM technology has become more popular with the proliferation of Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS). Since this technology emerged, there has been an increased interest in applying PWM techniques in signal amplification applications as a result of the significant efficiency improvement that can be realized through the use of Class D power output topology instead of the legacy (linear Class AB) power output topology.
While PWM techniques have advanced and become more widely applicable to various types of systems, they still suffer from a variety of problems. For example, the performance and quality characteristics of Class D amplifiers typically vary with the particular applications in which they are used. The exact implementation of the total system solution and the end-user application is not deterministic, and hence cannot be accounted for apriori. With the existing technologies, designs require point solutions that are not flexible, scalable or transportable across applications.
Further, Class D amplifiers are extremely sensitive to unstable or variable clock domains. The quality and performance of these systems may therefore be much lower than desired when they are used in situations where the integrity, frequency and stability of the digital input signal is unknown. Even in situations where these factors are well-known and were controlled, the clock domain of the amplifier itself must be extremely stable.
As a result of these problems, Class D amplifiers are not easily adaptable to the requirements of many mainstream systems. Consider, for example, a multi-channel audio applications such as a home theater system. Typically, such a system has too many channels to be handled by a single integrated Class D unit, which might have two channels, each capable of handling a stereo pair of signals. It would therefore be necessary to use multiple units. Running multiple units side-by-side requires synchronization and output data phase alignment which is generally beyond the capabilities of most Class D systems. Resulting errors may cause phase mismatches which are audible and which may noticeably degrade the quality of the sound produced by the system.
One prior art system attempts to address the synchronization of multiple channels by sharing sample rate ratio information. In this system, multiple channels process audio data streams. Each of these channels converts data from a received sample rate to a desired output sample rate. The ratio of the output rate to the input rate is computed for one channel and then passed to the other channels. This solution, however, requires quite a bit of overhead in the computation of the ratio and the transmission of the resulting information to the other channels. Further, it does not account for the variations in sample rates from one channel to another.

Phase alignment of audio output data in a multi-channel configuration


A safety system for visual flight reference system for simulating the geography around an airplane during the landing and the take-off under zero visibility conditions. The inventive device includes a display screen, a keyboard, a hold-down bracket and a central processing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Flight Simulating Devices and more particularly pertains to a new safety system for visual flight references system for simulating the geography around the landing and the take-off of an airplane during zero visibility conditions thereby allowing the pilot to visualize the surrounding landscape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of Flight Simulating Devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, Flight Simulating Devices heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art Flight Simulating Devices include U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,652; U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,598; U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,517; U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,079; U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,823 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,459.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new safety system for Visual Flight Reference System. The inventive device includes a display screen, a keyboard, a hold-down bracket and a central processing unit.
In these respects, the safety system for visual flight reference system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of simulating the geography around the landing and the take-off of an airplane during zero visibility conditions thereby allowing the pilot to visualize the surrounding landscape.

Safety system for visual flight references system


Furnace control for a forced air furnace utilized in multi-zone heating. The forced air furnace is made up of return ducts, a heat exchanger, warm air ducts, a circulation blower, and a burner. The forced air furnace receives heating requests from external control means wherein the furnace provides heat to a zone or multiple zones to be heated. The control for the furnace comprises a temperature sensor for sensing the temperature of the heat exchanger, a regulator for regulating the burner to hold the temperature at the heat exchanger constant during the on cycle of the furnace, a pressure sensor for measuring the pressure in the heat exchanger and a controller for controlling the circulation blower in order to maintain a constant pressure within the heat exchanger.

Forced air furnaces for zone controlled systems generally utilize external controls to determine when the furnace will be on and off. In this case, the furnace is generally in either a standby condition, or in an on condition in which it is running at full capacity. No direct control of the heat output rate of the furnace is made at the furnace. This causes duct noise and erratic temperature changes within the zones. The object of Applicants' invention is to control the pressure in the heat exchanger for a more constant output over the normal range of the heating loads. This is accomplished by allowing the furnace to run well below the full firing rate and have the circulation blower running at a reduced speed. The result will be less duct noise, a more constant temperature in the living space, and at low loads the greater on time per cycle will improve air circulation. For example, an electrically-commutated motor (ECM) keeps high efficiency at low speeds, and since the power required varies as the square of the speed, the energy efficiency improves at reduced speeds. It is also expected that the life of the motor and heat exchanger will improve.

Adaptive forced warm air furnace using analog temperature and pressure sensors


A semiconductor unit includes a cooler having a fluid flow space, an insulating substrate bonded to the cooler through a metal, a semiconductor device soldered to the insulating substrate, an intermediate member interposed between the insulating substrate and the fluid flow space and having a first surface where the insulating substrate is mounted, and a mold resin having a lower coefficient of liner expansion than the intermediate member. The insulating substrate, the semiconductor device and the cooler are molded by the mold resin. The intermediate member has a second surface that extends upward or downward relative to the first surface. The first surface is covered by the mold resin. The second surface is covered by a resin cover.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor unit.
There is known a semiconductor unit in which a power semiconductor device mounted on one side of a die pad, an insulating plate mounted on the other side of the die pad and a hollow heat exchange member mounted on the side of the insulating plate opposite from the die pad are molded with a mold resin into a module, as disclosed for example in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-329163. Such molded power semiconductor device has high reliability.
There is also known a semiconductor unit in which the hollow heat exchange member is brazed or soldered to the insulating plate.
In the semiconductor unit of such structure, however, the mold resin may be detached from the hollow heat exchange member due to the difference in the coefficient of linear expansion between the mold resin and the hollow heat exchange member.
The present invention is directed to providing a semiconductor unit which prevents such detachment of the mold resin.


A disk drive system includes a base, a disk rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly movably attached to the base. The actuator assembly moves the transducer to selected areas of the disk where information representative of data is to be written or read. The transducer is attached to the suspension. The arm has at least one suspension attached thereto using a wire wound sleeve or wrap. The wire wound sleeve or wrap surrounds the end of the arm and captures one or two suspensions between the arm and the wire wound coil. A transducer is attached to the suspension. The electrical connections between the arm and the suspension can also be made along with the mechanical connection of these two elements.

One of the key components of any computer system is a place to store data. Computer systems have many different places where data can be stored. One common place for storing massive amounts of data in a computer system is on a disk drive. The most basic parts of a disk drive are a disk that is rotated, an actuator that moves a transducer to various locations over the disk, and electrical circuitry that is used to write and read data to and from the disk. The disk drive also includes circuitry for encoding data so that it can be successfully retrieved and written to the disk surface. A microprocessor controls most of the operations of the disk drive as well as passing the data back to the requesting computer and taking data from a requesting computer for storing to the disk.
The transducer is typically housed within a small ceramic block. The small ceramic block is passed over the disk in a transducing relationship with the disk. The transducer can be used to read information representing data from the disk or write information representing data to the disk. When the disk is operating, the disk is usually spinning at relatively high RPM. These days common rotational speeds are 5100 and 7200 RPM. Rotational speeds of 10,000 RPM and higher are contemplated for the future. At such speeds, the very small ceramic block flies on a very thin layer of gas or air. In operation, the distance between the small ceramic block and the disk is very small. Currently "fly" heights are about 0.0003 mm. In some disk drives, the ceramic block does not fly on a cushion of air but rather passes through a layer of lubricant on the disk.
Information representative of data is stored on the surface of the memory disk. Disk drive systems read and write information stored on tracks on memory disks. Transducers, in the form of read/write heads, located on both sides of the memory disk, read and write information on the memory disks when the transducers are accurately positioned over one of the designated tracks on the surface of the memory disk. The transducer is also said to be moved to a target track. As the memory disk spins and the read/write head is accurately positioned above a target track, the read/write head can store data onto a track by writing information representative of data onto the memory disk. Similarly, reading data on a memory disk is accomplished by positioning the read/write head above a target track and reading the stored material on the memory disk. To write on or read from different tracks, the read/write head is moved radially across the tracks to a selected target track. The data is divided or grouped together on the tracks. In some disk drives, the tracks are a multiplicity of concentric circular tracks. In other disk drives, a continuous spiral is one track on one side of a disk drive. Servo feedback information is used to accurately locate the transducer. The actuator assembly is moved to the required position and held very accurately during a read or write operation using the servo information.
The actuator assembly is composed of many parts that contribute to the performance required to accurately hold the read/write head in the proper position. An actuator includes a pivot assembly, an arm, a voice coil yoke assembly and a head gimbal suspension assembly. A suspension or load beam is part of the head gimbal suspension assembly.
One end of the suspension is attached to the actuator arm. The read/write head is found attached to the other end of the suspension. One end of the actuator arm is coupled to a pivot assembly. The pivot assembly is in turn connected to a servo motor system through the voice coil yoke. The other end of the actuator arm is attached to the head gimbal assembly. The head gimbal assembly allows the read/write head to gimbal for pitch and roll to follow the topography of the imperfect memory disk surface. The head gimbal also restricts motion with respect to the radial and circumferential directions of the memory disk. The suspension is coupled to the actuator arm as part of the mounting support holding the pivot support and coupled to the servo motor. Currently, the pivot assembly is mounted within an opening in a unitized, machined E-block. The E-block includes arms for mounting the suspension on one end and a voice coil yoke on the other end. U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,704 issued to Reidenbach illustrates another actuator system composed of individual components instead of the unitized E-block. This actuator system is "built up" from an actuator arm, spacer rings, a separate voice coil yoke frame assembly, and a separate bearing cartridge. A voice coil is located on the voice coil yoke. The voice coil and magnets attached to the housing of the disk drive form a voice coil motor. The disk drive includes a feedback control loop to enable accurate positioning of the transducer. The disk drive system sends control signals to the voice coil motor to move the actuator arm and the suspension supporting the read/write head across the memory disk in a radial direction to the target track. The control signals indicate to the motor the magnitude and direction of the displacement. The control signals can also be used to maintain the position of the read/write head or transducer over a particular track.
Actuator arms act as spring-mass-damper systems and have resonant frequencies that can degrade the performance of the servo system. Every closed loop servo motor system has a predetermined bandwidth in which resonances occurring within the bandwidth degrade the performance of the servo motor system. The actuator arm is one key source of unwanted resonances. Accordingly, the bandwidths of most servo motor systems are designed such that resonances of the actuator arm occur outside the bandwidth. Each actuator arm has a unique resonance characteristic. Current actuator arms are made of stainless steel, aluminum or magnesium. Suspensions are typically made of stainless steel. The resonance characteristics of the arm are such that the bending modes and torsion modes have frequencies that are within the same frequency range as the suspension and the magnetic storage disk (1 KHz to 8 KHz). Great care must be used when designing an actuator system to prevent alignment of resonance modes that would create very high gains and an unstable servo performance.
In other words, in the presence of a resonance, the transducer or read/write head will vibrate causing it to pass across the desired track. When the resonances of the disk and actuator align or are about the same frequency, the frequency response is amplified so that the amplitude of the vibration is higher and the read/write head travels farther away from the desired track during the track crossings.
The key parameter determining the resonance characteristics of the actuator arm is the stiffness-to-mass ratio of the material. The stiffness-to-mass ratio is about the same for aluminum and stainless steel. Of currently available materials, beryllium and ceramics have significantly higher stiffness-to-mass ratios over that of currently used stainless steel or aluminum. Beryllium is quite expensive and difficult to process while ceramics are prone to crack, particularly under the shock load conditions associated with ball swaging or operational shock loads. As a result, these materials have not become market acceptable for use as actuator arms.
Currently, the predominant method for attaching suspensions to metal arms is a process referred to as ball swaging. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,395 issued to Coon et al., the metal arm is provided with an opening. An insert called a swage plate includes a tubular boss. A suspension is typically welded to the swage plate. The boss and attached suspension are positioned on one side of the arm so that they extend into the opening of the arm. A second boss and attached suspension may be positioned on the other side of the arm so that the arm carries two suspensions. An oversized ball is forced through the opening in the one, or both of, the bosses. This forces the material of the bosses into the material of the arm to attach the suspension to the arm.
There are several problems associated with the swaging technique.
One of the problems is that the swage plates are heavy. Due to the weight of the swage plate or swage plates, the tendency in the industry is to go with short arms. The shorter the arm the lesser the rotational moment of inertia. The rotational moment of inertia depends on the weight of the object and the square of the distance away from the axis of rotation. The moment of inertia increases exponentially with the distance from the axis of rotation Increased moments of inertia translate into increased access times for the data. A constant goal of the industry is to lessen the seek times.
Another problem with swaging is that there is industry pressure to reduce the spacing between the disks in a disk stack to produce a shorter disk stack. Swage plates are relatively thick and limit the spacing between the disks of a disk stack having multiple disks. This keeps the height of the disk stack relatively high. In addition, swaged connections are difficult to rework. If an actuator assembly having a swaged connection is found to be faulty, the entire actuator assembly must be reworked (all the suspensions must be removed and replaced). Another shortcoming of swaging is that it is limited with respect to the type of material that the boss can be forced into. Currently, most arms are made of metal and undergo plastic deformation during the swaging process. Arms made of a more brittle or hard material will simply crack or fail upon being shock loaded by forcing the swage ball through the opening in the boss. As a result, swaging limits the type of arm materials to materials capable of plastic deformation, such as metals. The conventional swaging attachment requires a ductile material having a relatively low elastic modulus such as aluminum or magnesium. This enables the boss of the suspension base plate to expand and yield into an interference fit into the mounting hole in the end of the actuator arm. Arms made from ceramic and composite arm materials, which have a relatively high elastic modulus and low ductility, do not lend themselves to swaging process. The ceramic and composite materials exhibit very high compressive strength and lend themselves to attachment methods which clamp the suspension base between the arm and a thin outer conforming sleeve which is held in a state of high internal tension. The appeal for using a ceramic or a composite as an arm material is that some of these materials, although hard and brittle, are lighter and less susceptible to resonant vibration in the frequency of operation of the disk drive. These materials have a lower moment of inertia and also resonate at frequencies beyond the frequencies which normally occur during the operation of the disk drive.
Another problem associated with swaging as well as most other methods for connecting the arm and the suspension is that the electrical connections between the electronics on or near the arm, such as a preamplifier, and the transducer attached to the suspension must be made in a separate step. This takes additional assembly time which also results in increased cost for the suspension as attached to the arm.
Another less common form of attaching a suspension to an arm is by welding. The ceramic and composite arm materials are not compatible with the stainless steel suspension for welding.
The demand for greater track density is increasing steadily, so increasing the performance of the actuator assembly by lowering the mass and increasing the resonance frequencies is becoming a requirement for future systems. There is a need for a disk drive system having an actuator arm which has a higher stiffness-to-mass ratio than actuator arms made of stainless steel, aluminum or magnesium. This would produce a disk drive having lower access times and higher track density. Furthermore, there is a need for a method of attaching a suspension to an actuator that enables different arm materials having a higher stiffness-to-mass ratio than actuator arms made of stainless steel, aluminum or magnesium, to be used. There is also a need for an attachment method that will accommodate materials having different thermal coefficients of expansion.

Suspension attachment technique and apparatus for attaching suspension to an actuator arm in a disk drive


A denatured human O.sup.6 -guanine alkyltransferase is disclosed. The enzyme is prepared by a process which involves denaturing the enzyme, contacting the denatured enzyme with a monoclonal antibody specific for the denatured enzyme on a substrate to which the monoclonal antibody is bound to, so that the denatured enzyme and the monoclonal antibody form an immunocomplex and then, eluting the denatured enzyme from the substrate-bound monoclonal antibody so that the denatured human O.sup.6 -guanine alkyltransferase is obtained. The enzyme can be used to develop probes for the Mer.sup.- phenotype and these probes in turn are contemplated for use in identifying drug resistant tumors in patients.

Human O.sup.6 -guanine alkyltransferase ("GATase") is a suicide enzyme that irreversibly transfers an alkyl adduct from the O.sup.6 -position of guanine onto a cysteine residue in its active site. O.sup.6 -alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase is responsible for the repair of mutagenic lesions induced by simple methylating agents, as well as for the repair of precursors of cytotoxic interstrand cross-links which are induced by chloroethylating anticancer drugs. The enzyme is of growing interest in cancer chemotherapy research because of its ability to suppress formation in vitro of chlorethylnitrosourea (CENU)-induced DNA interstrand cross-links, which are considered to be the cytotoxic lesions generated by these agents. Consistent with these observations, the susceptibility of human cancer cell lines and human tumor xenografts to CENU therapy correlates with their levels of GATase activity.
About 20% of cultured human tumor cell lines, termed Mer.sup.31, appear deficient in GATase activity and are hypersensitive to the lethal effects of CENUs and agents that induce O.sup.6 -methylguanine in DNA. By contrast, cells derived from normal tissues do not display such hypersensitivity, suggesting the opportunity for selective therapy for patients with the Mer.sup.- (methyl repair minus) subset of tumors.
The presence of Mer.sup.- tumors in patients remains to be established. Wiestler et al. (Carcinogenesis 15:121-124(1984)) found in a series of 23 human tumor biopsy specimens, that all contained measurable O.sup.6 -guanine alkyltransferase activity. This failure to identify Mer.sup.- tumors could, however, merely reflect contamination of the specimens by normal host stroma cells, or it may indicate that the Mer.sup.- phenotype is not a property of human tumors in situ, but arises during adaptation to tissue culture or the establishment of xenografts.
Resolution of these questions requires both sequence and structural analysis of the O.sup.6 -guanine alkyltransferase, studies which have been greatly impaired, if not entirely prohibited, by the inability to purify the GATase protein to homogeniety. Additionally, conventional methods have, to date, proved unsuccessful in raising monoclonal antibodies ("MAbs") to the subject protein, thus further restricting the use of and research relating to the human GATase enzyme.

Homogeneous denatured human 06-guanine alkyltransferase prepared by immunoaffinity chromatography using monoclonal antibody specific for enzyme


Polyethylene having from 1 to 60 methyl branches and from 1 to 60 hexyl or higher branches per 1,000 carbon atoms, a g-value of from 0.5 to 0.9, a limiting viscosity [.eta.] of from 0.005 to 20.0 dl/g as measured at 140.degree. C. in o-dichlorobenzene, a molecular weight distribution not larger than 3 as determined by gel-permeation chromatography (GPC), and not more than 0.2 of terminal double bond in 1,000 carbon atoms, and process for producing the same, comprising polymerizing ethylene in the presence of a catalyst composed of a coordination nickel compound of bivalent nickel, an organoaluminum compound, and an amino-bis(imino)-phosphorane represented by the general formula (I) below: ##STR1## where R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, and R.sub.4 may be the same or different mutually and are respectively n-alkyl, isoalkyl, aryl, or trialdylsilyl.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel polyethylene which has a branching structure. The present invention also relates to a process of production of the novel polyethylene.
2. Related Background Art
Generally, polymerization of ethylene with a free radical initiator at exceedingly high temperature and pressure gives polyethylene which has long chain branches having length comparable to the main polymer chain thereof. On the contrary, polymerization of ethylene with a Ziegler-Natta catalyst gives polyethylene which has almost no branches.
In order to produce branched polyethylene by use of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, ethylene is generally copolymerized with .alpha.-olefin. The copolymerization, however, does not give long chain branches as those formed by radical polymerization.
In an attempt to obtain low-pressure polyethylene having such long chain branching, ethylene is oligomerized by use of a nickel catalyst such as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-12607, and the resulting oligomer is copolymerized with ethylene in the presence of a chromium catalyst. This method does not give such a long chain branching as produced by free radical polymerization.

Polyethylene and process of production thereof


Provided is a kit for asthma diagnosis comprising a strip including a base part, a first reaction part formed on the base part, and a developing membrane formed between the first reaction part and the base part, in which the first reaction part includes a monoclonal antibody expressed from a hybridoma cell line of Accession Number KCLRF-BP-00389 (Accession Date: Jan. 9, 2017, Accession Institute: Korea Cell Line Research Foundation (KCLRF)) and the second reaction part includes a monoclonal antibody expressed from a hybridoma cell line of Accession Number KCLRF-BP-00389 (Accession Date: Jan. 9, 2017, Accession Institute: Korea Cell Line Research Foundation (KCLRF)).

Asthma and allergy diseases are increasing worldwide in prevalence and severity. In the United States, 7% of children have suffered from asthma, and 15% of children also suffered from chronic rhinosinusitis, an airway disease similar to bronchial asthma. Diagnosis of these diseases is not easy, and thus until recently, there is no simple diagnostic method to help diagnosis of doctors or prevent the disease from deteriorating. Although it is generally known that chronic airway inflammation reaction is occurring in the airways of patients with asthma or allergy disease, there is no simple clinical diagnosis except for several experimental immunoassays for the purpose of researches for measuring airway inflammation reaction.
In particular, it is difficult to distinguish whether airway inflammation is caused by an infection of a microorganism such as a bacterial infection or by an allergic immune response in an allergy disease such as asthma. For this reason, patients with asthma or allergy disease often receive the wrong treatment, such as receiving antibiotics for a long period of time.
Currently, a pulmonary function test and a methacholine bronchial challenge test, which are used for the diagnosis of bronchial asthma, have difficulties in various applications. In order to obtain accurate results, well-managed equipment, skilled testers, and positive responses of patients are required. For this reason, it is a fact that it is difficult to perform the tests in infants under 6 years old or children, elderly people, physically handicapped people, patients currently suffering from severe asthma, etc., who have difficult responses of the patients.
In addition, since it is necessary to consume a large amount of physical strength, it is often difficult for the patient to repeatedly perform the test because the patient is likely to have a sense of resistance to the test. Therefore, there has been an attempt to develop a noninvasive or hematological test that has been helpful in the diagnosis of asthma in the past, which corresponds to a method for an eosinophil count in the blood, serum eosinophil cationic proteins (ECP), etc. which have been adjunctively used in asthmatic patients currently. These methods are known to have a large individual difference in normal people, other allergy diseases, asthma, and the like, not to be used for diagnosis.
Therefore, if a simple diagnostic tool can be developed to measure the eosinophilic inflammatory response, which is the most important immune response in asthma and allergy diseases, it is possible to innovatively contribute to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as asthma.

Kit for rapid diagnosis of asthma or allergy disease

INJE UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION


Frames of broadcast video received at a device are cropped to produce rendered frames on a display of the device, the cropping being based on both (a) a predetermined value indicating a location within each of at least some of the frames with respect to which the cropping is to be done and (b) a characteristic of the display.

This description relates to broadcasting video content to devices having different content presentation capabilities.
In the case of digital video content, the devices span a wide range from projection TVs to flip-phones and others. Their display capabilities vary in terms of screen size, density of pixels, and color depth, for example. The best way to present a given video item may differ for different target devices. For example, a ticker of stock prices or sports scores at the bottom of a news video may be legible on a conventional TV set but blurred on the screen of a cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Broadcasting video content to devices having different video presentation capabilities


A connection manager 112 manages, for each client, a set of object data (contexts #0, #1, #2, . . . ) subjected to arbitrary processing executed by clients C1, C2, C3, . . . . An entity manager 111 manages, for each context, the relationship between object data constituting the context and entities corresponding to the object data, and the parentage (context tree) between contexts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data processing apparatus, data processing systems, and data processing methods used for trial-and-error calculation, simulation calculation during data write, and the like, and recording media storing processing steps for executing such calculation so as to allow a computer to read out them.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, trial-and-error calculation, simulation calculation during data write, and the like are often adopted for risk evaluation processing of the financial business and market in the business fields and for simulations and planning of the circulation, physical distribution, and process control in the industrial fields.
However, when many clients (users) execute such calculation and simulation using data in a database (DB) whose data are frequently written (in this case, process control or the like is simulated for descriptive convenience), one client uses data while the remaining clients cannot use them, in order to ensure data consistency in the DB.
To solve this problem, a data processing system 500 shown in FIG. 1 has been proposed.
In this data processing system 500, as shown in FIG. 1, copies (DB copies) 510′ (C1), 510′ (C2), 510′ (C3), . . . of data in a DB 510′ are respectively set for clients C1, C2, C3, . . . who perform simulations. Also, processing programs (simulation programs) 520 (C1), 520 (C2), 520 (C3), . . . for performing simulations are respectively set in accordance with the DB copies 510′ (C1), 510′ (C2), 510′ (C3). . . .
This construction enables the clients C1, C2, C3, . . . freely to perform simulations using their own DB copies regardless of whether the remaining clients are performing simulations. This construction also enables performing various simulations in parallel with each other.
However, in the data processing system 500 of FIG. 1, not only the DB copies 510′ (C1), 510′ (C2), 510′ (C3), . . . of the DB 510 but also the processing programs 520 (C1), 520 (C2), 520 (C3), . . . are respectively set for the clients C1, C2, and C3 who perform simulations. This construction requires many memories, which complicates the system configuration and makes its management and maintenance difficult.
Since the clients C1, C2, C3, . . . perform simulations using their own DB copies, simulations may be done with different data contents.
Assume that the client C1 completes simulations, and writes the contents of the original DB 510 using the simulation results in order to inform the remaining clients of the results. At this time, the clients C2, C3, . . . execute simulations using their own DB copies 510′ (C2), 510′ (C3), . . . , i.e., the contents of the DB 510 before write.
To solve this problem in the data processing system 500 of FIG. 1, a data processing system 600 shown in FIG. 2 has been proposed.
As shown in FIG. 2, the data processing system 600 comprises one copy (DB copy) 610′ of data in a DB 610, and one processing program (simulation program) 620 for performing simulations. Clients C1, C2, C3, . . . share the DB copy 610′ to execute simulations.
This construction enables the clients C1, C2, C3, . . . to perform simulations with the same data contents without requiring many memories.
However, some of clients who perform simulations may want to execute simulations with data contents before write.
In this case, the data processing system 500 in FIG. 1 is convenient for a client who wants to perform simulations with data contents before write because even if the contents of the original DB 510 are written by the simulation results of the client C1, the contents of the DB copies 510′ (C2), 510′ (C3), . . . of the clients C2, C3, . . . are not written.
To the contrary, the data processing system 600 in FIG. 2 is inconvenient for a client who wants to perform simulations with data contents before write because if the contents of the copy DB 610′ are written by the simulation results of the client C1, the clients C2, C3, . . . can perform simulations using only the written copy DB 610′.
In other words, clients who perform simulations include various clients: a client who wants to perform simulations with data contents before write (data contents which do not reflect the simulation results of another client), a client who wants to perform simulations with written data contents (data contents which reflect the simulation results of another client), and a client who wants to switch these simulations in accordance with the situation. However, no conventional system can realize a simulation that satisfies the requirements of all clients with a simple construction.

Data processing apparatus, data processing system, data processing method, and recording medium


In a fiber-optic current sensor, a 22.5° Faraday rotator, which is part of the sensing fiber coil, determines the working point of the sensor. The coil is operated with substantially linearly polarized light or incoherent substantially left and right circularly polarized light waves. In one arrangement, a polarization beam splitter generates two optical signals that vary in anti-phase with changing current. A signal processor determines the current from the two anti-phase signals. Appropriately detuned and oriented fiber-optic half-wave or quarter-wave retarders before the fiber coil are used to reduce or cancel the adverse effects of temperature and bend-induced birefringence on the measurement signal. Moreover, the temperature may be derived from the difference in the bias of the anti-phase signals and may be used to cancel temperature effects in the signal processor.

Fiber-optic current sensors commonly rely on the Faraday effect in an optical glass fiber. The fiber forms at least one loop around a conductor that carries the current to be measured. The Faraday effect is observed either as a rotation of the polarization of linearly polarized light or equivalently as differential phase shift between left and right circularly polarized light waves. Sometimes the two sensor versions are referred to as polarimetric and interferometric sensors, respectively. Advantageously, the fiber is operated in a reflective mode, i.e. the light performs a roundtrip through the fiber coil.
The magneto-optic polarization rotation or phase shift is converted to a change in light intensity by means of a polarizer. In order to get a linear variation of the light intensity as a function of current, it is necessary to introduce a 45° bias to the polarization angle, if the polarization rotation is detected, or a 90° phase bias, if the phase shift is measured. Frosio et al. [1] have applied the method of non-reciprocal phase modulation known from fiber gyroscopes [2] to dynamically generate a 90° phase bias by means of a phase modulator in interferometric sensors. Alternatively, the phase bias can be generated in a passive manner by means of a quarter wave retarder [1]. [3] describes a detection scheme with several detection channels that are anti-phase and/or at quadrature to each other also using passive retarders. The scheme allows compensation of certain imperfections such as temperature dependent signal bias and variation in the interference fringe visibility.
F. Brifford et al. [4] and K. Kurosawa et al. [5] describe a method where the 45° bias angle for linearly polarized light in polarimetric sensors is generated by a 22.5° in-line Faraday rotator. The light passes the rotator twice during its roundtrip through the sensor which results in the 45° bias rotation. In a similar arrangement, H. Lin et al. [6] use a 22.5° in-line Faraday rotator to introduce a 90° phase offset between left and right circular polarized light waves.
US patent application US2007/0273358A1 [7] teaches a method to compensate the temperature dependence of the Verdet constant in a sensor according to Ref. [5] by making use of the temperature dependence of the rotation angle of the Faraday rotator. US patent application US 2010/0253320 A1 [8] discloses a method to account up to first order for the temperature dependence of a sensor according to Ref. [5] by means of signal processing, or up to higher orders by means of signal processing and an additional temperature sensor. [9] describes a method to compensate the temperature dependence of the Faraday effect in interferometric sensors with non-reciprocal phase modulation. Here, the fiber-optic quarter-wave retarder that generates the circular light waves is prepared in a way that the temperature effect from the retarder balances the temperature effect from the Verdet constant.
K. Bohnert et al. in J. of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 267-276 describes a device with non-reciprocal phase modulation, wherein temperature compensation in the non-reciprocal phase modulation scheme has been done by detuning the quarter wave retarder.
State-of-art interferometric fiber-optic current sensors with non-reciprocal phase modulation are high-end sensors with excellent accuracy for both alternating and direct currents. On the other hand they require sophisticated and expensive means to measure the magneto-optic phase shift, such as an integrated-optic phase modulator with closed-loop electronics. Moreover, the fiber connecting the opto-electronics module (comprising the light source, photo-detectors, signal processing electronics, etc) and the sensing fiber coil is a polarization-maintaining specialty fiber. Cables and connectors for such fibers are demanding and expensive.
The performance of simpler sensors with passive detection schemes is often not sufficient for applications in electric power transmission and distribution, particularly due to disturbing effects of temperature.

Temperature compensated fiber-optic current sensor


A network system includes a network that detects the presence of a remote terminal connected to a network and determines the functional protocol of the remote terminal. If the remote terminal is an infrared adapter, the network hub provides electrical power to the infrared adapter and continually monitors for the presence of the infrared adapter. Upon removal of the infrared adapter, the network removes electrical power that is applied to a user interface connector that connects to the infrared adapter. If another protocol is detected for the remote terminal, the network hub communicates with the remote terminal in that protocol and converts the data to the protocol of the network.

When personal computers became sufficiently small to allow user portability, it became necessary to provide connections between a portable computer and a computer network system. Traditionally, the portable computer uses a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) card for either an Ethernet or Token Ring network hard wire connection.
Recently, both portable computers and computer networks include infrared transceivers that allow wireless communication between the portable computer and the computer network for increased mobility. The computer network includes a protocol conversion bridge that converts communicated data between an infrared protocol and a protocol of the computer network. The protocol conversion bridge is coupled to a connector typically near the user's work station. The connector is then coupled to a network hub that is centrally located. A dedicated electrical power supply located near the bridge and the infrared transceiver provides electrical power to the protocol conversion bridge. The dedicated electrical power supply increases the system cost and requires an AC electrical power outlet.
Several systems provide both electrical power and signals over a common wire. For example, conventional telephone systems that use 48V on a telephone wire transmit both electrical power and communication signals over a single pair of lines. U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,184 describes a system that transmits both electrical power and low baud rate signals over the same twisted-pair wires. An attachment unit interface (AUI) in LAN applications uses dedicated wires in a cable to provide electrical power from a data terminal equipment (DTE) to an external medium attachment unit (MAU) which could be 50 meters away from the DTE. All of these systems simply provide electrical power over the wires. None of these systems checks or confirms the type of system connected thereto before supplying the electrical power.
Standard network protocols may be described in an Open System Interconnection (OSI) interface standard. One standard network protocol is the Ethernet which is described in IEEE standard 802.3 CSMA/CD, the subject matter of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Another standard network protocol is the Token Ring protocol which is described in ANSI/IEEE standard 802.5, the subject matter of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Both of these IEEE standards describe the media access control (MAC) layer and the physical layer of the OSI interface.
FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of the interface layers of the OSI standard. For simplicity, layer 3 through layer 7 of the OSI are combined as higher layers 139. Layer 2 of the OSI interface comprises the data link control (DLC) which includes a logical link control (LLC) layer 138 and a media access control (MAC) layer 134. Physical layer 1 of the OSI interface comprises several sublayers including an attachment unit interface (AUI). The AUI is specified for a 10 Mb/s Ethernet but not for a 100 Mb/s Ethernet. A media attachment unit (MAU) 142 includes all of the physical sublayers other than signaling and coding sublayer. In a twisted-pair cable, the medium dependent interface MDI 144 is an RJ45 connector.
Many conventional network systems detect either layer 1 or 2 that the data terminal equipment 130 supports. This detection allows the network systems to share circuitry, connectors, and the medium so that the network systems may handle multiple protocols. By sharing, the cost of the DTE is reduced and the inconvenience or damage is minimized when misconnection is made to the wrong connector. However, all of these conventional systems presume that the DTE conforms to the IEEE Standards. Accordingly, these detection systems test only systems that comply with the IEEE Standards. Depending on the range of the layers that these systems want to detect, the systems require a different degree of involvement and resources includes central processing units, software codes and flow, system bus, memory, protocol handler, and transceivers. The system also is protocol dependent and the DTE must run only the protocols that the system can understand. The systems are not intended, nor do they function to detect an electronic system which is not in conformance with IEEE Standards.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,460 discloses a detection mechanism that allows two different media access control layer protocols (Ethernet and Token Ring) to share the same connector and medium in the OSI model of FIG. 1. The detection scheme requires a sophisticated processing unit that issues a protocol dependent MAC frame and physical signals and compares a predefined status in memory to determine which one of the two presumed protocols runs on the twisted-pair cable. The detection scheme cannot communicate with any device which does not conform with Ethernet or Token Ring.
Under the same Ethernet MAC protocol, U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,535 describes a device that differentiates between mediums that the device is connected to so that the connected devices may share the same connector. The medium in this case could be a twisted-pair cable or AUI for other medium types. The control flow and logic manufactured in silicon are Ethernet physical layer dependent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,957 includes a separate physical layer logic to allow two Ethernet connections operating at different transfer rates to share the same connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,482 describes a device that detects the connected device independent of networking protocol. But its detection mechanism relies on the impedance of the data signal lines, its detection circuitry is also coupled directly to the data signal line, which may lead to interference or even corruption on the communication link when running the detection procedure.
It is desired to have a network system that recognizes remote devices connected to a connector of the network system in real time without intruding on the normal operation, provides appropriate electrical power as required without damaging the connected remote device, and automatically connects the device to a network hub running an appropriate protocol.

Method and apparatus for detecting the presence of a remote device and providing power thereto


Examples herein relate to assigning, by a system agent of a central processing unit (CPU), an operating frequency to a core group based priority level of the core group while avoiding throttling of the system agent. Avoiding throttling of the system agent can include maintaining a minimum performance level of the system agent. A minimum performance level of the system agent can be based on a minimum operating frequency. Assigning, by a system agent of a central processing unit, an operating frequency to a core group based priority level of the core group while avoiding throttling of the system agent can avoid a thermal limit of the CPU. Avoiding thermal limit of the CPU can include adjusting the operating frequency to the core group to avoid performance indicators of the CPU. A performance indicator can indicate CPU utilization corresponds to Thermal Design Point (TDP).

Network slicing allows for network operators to share their physical network infrastructure platform for deployment of network resources. From a mobile operator's point of view, a network slice is an independent end-to-end logical network that runs on a shared physical infrastructure, capable of providing an agreed-upon service quality. The network operator guarantees performance (e.g., latency, loss, bandwidth, or radio resources) to meet the required service quality.

Platform slicing of central processing unit (CPU) resources


Systems and methods of operating a memory controller may provide for receiving a write request from a motion compensation module, wherein the write request includes video data. A compression of the video data may be conducted to obtain compressed data, wherein the compression of the video data is transparent to the motion compensation module. In addition, the compressed data can be stored to one or more memory chips. Moreover, a read request may be received, wherein stored data is retrieved from at least one of the one or more memory chips in response to the request. Additionally, a decompression of the stored data may be conducted to obtain decompressed data.

Certain mobile devices may be able to playback video from various sources. A typical mobile device video playback solution may involve the use of motion compensation techniques to decode video data prior to storing the data to a DRAM (dynamic random access memory) frame buffer, wherein a display controller might process the frame buffer data for output to a display device. Conventional attempts to reducing the memory footprint of data used for motion compensation operations may have a negative impact on display memory power efficiency. Conventional display memory power reduction techniques, on the other hand, may present challenges from a video decoding perspective.

Dram compression scheme to reduce power consumption in motion compensation and display refresh


A power cogeneration system employing a partially-open gaseous fluid cycle method and apparatus devices for oxy-fuel combustion conversion of a given hydrocarbon composition fuel's heat-value energy into mechanical or electrical power energy, and transferred useful heat energy, with accompanying large reductions of consumed fuel and undesirable exhaust emissions.

When Brayton Simple Cycle gas turbines operate as mechanical power drive sources to electric generators and other mechanically driven devices, atmospheric air is compressed and mixed with hydrocarbon gases or atomized hydrocarbon liquids for the resulting mixture's ignition and combustion at constant pressure. To produce power, the hot combustion and working motive fluid gases are expanded to near atmospheric pressure across one or more power extraction turbine wheels, positioned in series.
The majority of Brayton simple open-cycle aero-derivative-style low nitrogen oxide emission (that may hereafter be referred to as Low-NO.sub.x) current art gas turbines are predominantly presently limited in achieving shaft output horsepower rating with 26% to 39% thermal efficiencies, whereas most simple cycle industrial-style Low-NO.sub.x art gas turbines are predominantly presently limited in achieving shaft output horsepower rating with 27% to 34% thermal efficiencies. The aero-derivative turbine higher efficiencies are achieved when the gas turbines operate with compressor ratios ranging from 14 to 35 and predominant first stage turbine inlet temperatures ranging from 2000° to 2300° F.
Existing gas turbines employ combustion chamber air/fuel combustion chemical reactions, wherein the elements of time and high peak flame temperatures increase the presence of disassociation chemical reactions that produce the fugitive emissions of carbon monoxide (that may hereafter be referred to as CO) and other chemical reactions that produce nitrogen oxides (that may hereafter may be referred to as NO.sub.x).
The best available applied turbine low NO.sub.x combustion technology for limiting gas turbine NO.sub.x emissions, using stiochiometric air/fuel primary combustion reaction chemistry means, still results in the production of NO.sub.x and CO that are no longer acceptable for new power or energy conversion facilities in numerous states and metropolitan environmental compliance jurisdictions. With the current art gas turbine's use of compressed atmospheric air as a source of oxygen (that may hereafter be referred to as O.sub.2) which acts as a fuel combustion oxidizing reactant, the air's nitrogen (that may hereafter be referred to as N.sub.2) content is the approximate 78% predominant mass component within the cycle's working motive fluid. Due to its diatomic molecular structure, the nitrogen molecules are capable of absorbing combustion heat only through convective heat transfer means resulting from their collisions with higher temperature gas molecules or higher temperature interior walls of the combustion chamber.
Despite the very brief time it takes for a current art gas turbine to reach a average primary combustion zone gas resultant temperature of less than 2600° F. within its combustion chamber, there are sufficient portions of the combustion zone gases that experience temperatures in excess of 2600° F. to 2900° F. for an ample period of time for the highly predominate nitrogen gas to enter into chemical reactions that produce nitrogen oxides. The same combined elements of time and sufficiently excessive high temperature permit carbon dioxide to enter into dissociation chemical reactions that produce carbon monoxide gas.
To achieve a goal of greatly reducing a turbine power unit's NO.Sub.x and CO fugitive emissions, it is necessary to alter both the fuel combustion chemical reaction formula and the means by which acceptable combustion chamber temperatures can be closely controlled and maintained within a power turbine unit's fuel combustion chamber assembly. Maintenance of an acceptably low selected fuel combustion peak gas temperature at all times and throughout all portions within the combustion chamber assembly, requires a change in the means by which the heat of combustion can be better controlled and more rapidly distributed uniformly throughout the gases contained within the fuel combustion chamber assembly.
To achieve a goal of significantly reducing a turbine power cogeneration system's mass emission rate of the "greenhouse gas" (otherwise referred to as carbon dioxide or that may hereafter be referred to as CO.sub.2) by a desired percentage amount, it is necessary to proportionally increase the thermal efficiency of a power cogeneration system which therein proportionally reduces the amount of combusted hydrocarbon fuel required to provide the energy conversion into a given amount of required work and usefully applied residual heat energy.
It has been well known and practiced for decades that higher humidity air and injected water or steam commingled with conventional air combustion gases increases combustion flame speeds and fuel combustion thermal efficiencies within gas turbines and other fuel combustion heater-burner apparatus using air/fuel combustion. It has also been well known and practiced that partially re-circulating combustion exhaust or flue gases containing carbon dioxide and water vapor back into a combustion chamber results in a reduced level of nitrogen oxides within the fuel combustion exhaust gases. Due to the high temperatures and speed of completed fuel combustion, the scientific community has been unable to reach a consensus as to precisely what series of altered chemical reactions occur when water vapor and/or carbon dioxide is introduced into a turbine combustion chamber.
Oxy-fuel combustion heater-burners have been employed for many years in the steel and glass making industries to furnish desired 3000+ degree Fahrenheit combustion gas temperatures into furnaces to avoid the production of high NO.Sub.x emissions (but at the expense of high CO emissions). Both the present air separation art methods' high energy costs of producing acceptable combustion grade oxygen, and the lack of devised combustion system methods to control preset desired oxy-fuel combustion heater-burner or combustion chamber uniform maximum temperatures, have curtailed oxy-fuel combustion applications within present energy conversion facilities.
Current art gas turbines must be de-rated from their standard ISO horsepower or kW ratings at ambient temperatures exceeding 59° F., or at operating site altitudes above sea level. Thus, during summer's peak power demand periods, when the ambient temperature can increase to 95° F., 12% to 18% horsepower derations of a conventional gas turbine's ISO rating can occur. It is obviously desirable that a power turbine/generator unit within a cogeneration system not be susceptible to such on-site ambient temperature derations when peak power demands occur.
The current and future projected increasing costs of purchased utility electric power and natural gas (or liquid hydrocarbon fuel) and the accepted projected future trend in the future of "distributed power" facilities, coupled with present and future environmental constraints on fuel combustion exhaust emissions, will make it commercially mandatory that such "distributed power" facilities have the combined attributes (at the minimum) of combined ultra-low NO.sub.x and CO exhaust emissions and substantially higher thermal efficiencies than offered by current art turbine power cogeneration systems. It can be expected that the number of new turbine powered 'cogeneration system' facilities in the world will be significantly greater than the number of turbine powered 'combined-cycle' facilities that are devoted purely to the production of electric power. The referenced 'cogeneration system facilities' are not new in concept. Such facilities became highly popular in the 1970's (then referred to as 'Total Energy Plants') and were aggressively promoted by many natural gas utilities. Reciprocating gas engine-driven generator sets were the predominant producers of prime power and utilized waste heat. These 'Total Energy Plant' facilities efficiently provided electricity, hot water or steam for domestic hot water and building heating requirements, and chilled water for air conditioning. 'Total Energy Plants' were widely applied to serve hospitals, universities, large office buildings or building complexes, shopping centers, hotels, food processing plants, multi-shift manufacturing and industrial facilities, etc. The 50 plus years old predecessor to the 'Total Energy Plant' concept was the central electric power and steam plants that continue to currently serve some large eastern U.S. cities, and more predominantly European cities and metropolitan areas. Predominantly, 'Total Energy Plants' and current cogeneration facilities have had less than 100 psig utility supplies of natural gas available to their facilities.

Power cogeneration system and apparatus means for improved high thermal efficiencies and ultra-low emissions


An optical amplifier (200) splits an optical signal into two signals (210, 212). A first amplifier section (202) receives the first signal (210). The first amplifier section (202) includes a first optical fiber (220), having a first input, for generating a first output power (230), and a first pump source (222) is coupled to the first input, for supplying a first energy amount to the first optical fiber (220). The optical amplifier (200) also includes a second amplifier section (204) to receive the second signal (212), which is arranged in parallel to, and under common control with, the first amplifier section (202). The second amplifier section (204) includes a second optical fiber (240), having a second input, for generating a second output power (250), and a second pump source (232) is coupled to the second input, for supplying a second energy amount to the second optical fiber (240). A total power (280) of the first output power (230) and the second output power (250) is at least about 600 mill Watts.

1. Field
Aspects of this invention relate generally to optical fiber communication, and, more specifically, to an optical amplifier and to a method for amplifying an optical input signal.
2. Description of Relate Art
Optical amplifiers, such as rare earth doped fiber amplifiers, are frequently found in fiber-optic communication systems and networks. The cable television industry, for example, provides communication of information (for example, audio, video, multimedia, and data) between a headend and a plurality of consumer devices at least in part via a fiber-optic network—the headend typically transmits information in an optical format, using one or more fiber optic links, and consumer devices may also generate information that may be converted into an optical format for transmission to the headend.
Passive optical networks ("PONs") are increasingly being used to deliver cable communication services to consumers at affordable prices. A PON architecture is one in which active components are located either centrally (for example, at the headend), or locally (for example, at consumer locations), while passive components are disposed in between. Single optical amplifiers capable of delivering power in a range of about 600 mill Watts ("mW") to 3 Watts, which can each serve several-hundred customer locations, are desirable to overcome losses of passive components in a PON.
Optical amplifiers that generate suitable powers, however, are often difficult to reliably achieve using conventional rare earth doped fiber technologies. A conventional erbium-doped fiber amplifier architecture 10 is shown in FIG. 1. Amplifier architecture 10 features two stages of erbium-doped fibers 12, 14. To provide gain to erbium-doped fibers 12, 14, fibers 12, 14 are pumped optically by pumps 16. Pumps 16 are coupled to wave division multiplexers 18. Erbium-doped fibers 12, 14 and wave division multiplexers 18, however, are often unable to handle higher pump powers, restricting an efficient output power 20 of amplifier architecture 10 to about 500 mW. In addition, as output power 20 increases, the optical components of amplifier architecture 10 should be qualified for high power, increasing the cost and reliability of the amplifier. Further, failure of any particular pump in amplifier architecture 10 may lower output power 20, which in turn may lower the power in an entire downstream network, affecting multiple consumers. Still further, having a number of pumps and fibers in a serial configuration may cause the amplified wavelength range to shift to longer wavelengths, for example, 1560 nanometers, which may be undesirable in many applications.
The use of cladding pumped technology, in which an ytterbium fiber laser (915 or 975 nanometer pump) is used for pumping in an erbium-ytterbium amplifier, may be suitable for some applications. Cladding pumped technology alone, however, is not currently as developed or reliable as conventional erbium-doped fiber technology, and also requires the use of special pumps and components, increasing amplifier cost. Moreover, a single component having the serial architecture illustrated in FIG. 1 may still not reliably generate up to 3 Watts of output power.
There is therefore a need for a reliable, low-cost, easily configurable, single-component optical amplifier capable of producing at least about 600 mW—and in some variations up to 3 Watts—of output power.


Hosting user interface controls in a window via an interface for controlling the window is disclosed. One aspect of the invention is a computerized system having an operating system and at least one program. The operating system provides for hosting controls of a predetermined type within windows of a predetermined type via an interface for controlling the windows. The programs utilize the interface to host one or more controls within one or more windows. Thus, with respect to versions of the MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system, a program may utilize the WIN32 API (i.e., interface) to host ACTIVEX-type controls within windows hosted by the program, also via the WIN32 API.

Graphical user interfaces have become standard fare on most computers sold today. For example, versions of the MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system provide a graphical user interface in which a pointer is positionable over windows on a screen via an input device such as a mouse or a trackball. Clicking a button on the input device when the pointer is positioned over a given feature of the window, such as a control, registers with the program hosting the window, such that the program performs a given functionality associated with the control. For example, moving the pointer over a "save" button in a window hosted by a word processing program, and clicking a button on the application programs in the MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system. ACTIVEX controls are known within the art, and are described in Adam Denning, ActiveX Controls Inside Out (ISBN 1-57231-350-1) (1997), and David Chappell, Understanding ActiveX and OLE (ISBN 1-57231-216-5) (1996), both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. For example, in the Chappell book, on page 205, is states that qualifying as an ActiveX control (OLE Controls technology was renamed ActiveX Controls) requires only support for the IUnknown interface and the ability to self-register with the system registry. Using ACTIVEX controls that have already been created means that computer programmers do not have to "reinvent the wheel"—that is, they do not have to create controls that have been already created by others.
However, for many programmers normally accustomed to only the WIN32 API, using ACTIVEX controls in MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system-intended programs is not straightforward. A programmer may, for example, have to write original "container code," so that the ACTIVEX control may be hosted within a window via the container code. Again, many programmers may not be experienced in creation of such container code. Furthermore, hosting ACTIVEX controls within application program windows may require the programmer to have experience in Component Object Model (COM) objects, which the programmer may not have. COM is known within the art, and is described in Dale Rogerson, Inside COM (ISBN 1-57231-349-8) (1997), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Thus, even if having access to a large number of ACTIVEX controls, a programmer may still not be able to easily include them in a given computer program under development.
A limited solution to this problem is provided by the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC). ACTIVEX controls may be accessible through MFC for programmers who use the computer language C++ to develop computer programs. a significant disadvantage is presented to those programmers who do not utilize C++ to develop programs. That is, because MFC is typically not accessible except through C++, a computer programmer without such knowledge may find himself or herself still unable to utilize existing ACTIVEX user interface controls within computer programs the Again, however, programmer may be developing.
There is a need, therefore, for permitting computer programmers to include ACTIVEX controls in their programs in an easy-to-understand and straightforward fashion. That is, there is a need for permitting computer programmers to include ACTIVEX controls in their programs without having to resort to COM, or MFC (via C++). Ideally, a programmer should be able to include ACTIVEX controls in a computer program using precepts and constructs already familiar to him or her.

Hosting controls in a window via an interface for controlling the window


Mechanisms are provided to inventory groupings of components, e.g., the physical chassis of a networking device as well as the various cards, modules, and/or blades inserted within the chassis. The inventory may be performed remotely. Some implementations also provide mechanisms to determine remotely the physical location of the asset. Preferred implementations of the invention can provide such functionality regardless of whether a main power supply of the physical device is on or off. Some embodiments of the invention employ radio frequency identification (“RFID”) technology.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inventory devices and methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Identifying and locating devices within a company can be a time consuming, expensive task. For example, inventorying physical networking assets includes not only the identification of the manufacturer, model number, and serial number of chassis based devices, but also the identification of the internal modules, blades, and/or daughter boards within those devices.
Maintenance and service contracts rely on an accurate assessment of physical networking assets deployed. Mistakes in inventorying such physical assets can cause the wrong part to be shipped in the event of a component failure. This can lead to extended downtime of the network resource, missed service level agreements, as well as additional shipping and labor costs. Companies expend additional operating expenses in renewing maintenance contracts on networking equipment that has been retired, lost, or replaced, because its current status is unknown.
Due to similar issues, companies spend capital resources for networking equipment they already possess, but cannot locate or do not know exists. These additional capital expenditures increase depreciation costs and decrease free capital for other projects. Newer inventory may be received and then deployed before the older inventory is deployed. The older inventory may become obsolete before being deployed and utilized productively within a company. It would be desirable to address at least some of these shortcomings of the prior art.


To fully evaluate a real signal line and a real memory cell adjacent to a dummy signal line and utilize dummy signal line as real signal line, a semiconductor memory includes at least one real signal line connected to real memory cells driven by a real driver and at least one dummy signal line outside the real signal line connected to dummy memory cells, driven by a dummy driver. Real driver and dummy driver drive the real signal line and the dummy signal line synchronous with a common timing signal generated by an operation control circuit. Consequently, a stress evaluation is also performable, e.g., on a real signal line outside of a memory cell array under the same condition of a real signal line on the inner side. Dummy signal line is driven using common timing signal and evaluated, thus being usable as a redundancy signal line to relieve failure.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory including a dummy circuit of dummy memory cells and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a memory cell array of a semiconductor memory, elements and wirings are formed with higher density, compared to peripheral circuits. Therefore, in a manufacturing process of the semiconductor memory, the shapes of the elements and wirings in an inner portion of the memory cell array sometimes differ from those in an outer peripheral portion due to the influence of halation or the like. The difference in shape may cause a short failure and a disconnection failure, which becomes a factor behind a reduction in yield.
Conventionally, in order to make the shapes of the elements and wirings in the inner portion of the memory cell array equal to those in the outer peripheral portion and increase the yield, dummy memory cells and a dummy signal line (such as a dummy word line) are formed in the outer peripheral portion of the memory cell array (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-332446, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 5-144294, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-59481). Further, a dummy driver to drive the dummy signal line is formed.
The dummy driver drives the dummy signal line, for example, in synchronization with a timing signal supplied to an external terminal. Alternatively, the dummy driver drives the dummy signal line at a timing different from a timing signal supplied to a real driver to drive a real signal line.
The conventional dummy driver drives the dummy signal line at a timing different from that of the real driver, and hence the driving timing of the dummy signal line is different from that of the real signal line. This causes a problem that a test on a real signal line adjacent to the dummy signal line cannot be fully performed. More specifically, for example, in the real signal line adjacent to the dummy signal line, the influence of a coupling capacitance between the adjacent signal lines cannot be fully evaluated. Moreover, as described above, since the driving timing of the dummy signal line is different from that of the real signal line, so that the dummy signal line cannot be used as the real signal line.

Semiconductor memory and system with matching characteristics of signal supplied to a dummy signal line and a real signal line