Consumer friendly compact disc which employ MPEG 1 video data for DVD players, computers, and CD-DA tracks for Compact Disc players with traditional playback identified by these independent machines. DVD playable MPEG 1 video time will not alter CD audio playability in CD players due to a 4-second track 1 Table of Contents time. Playback of disc in DVD players allows Play Back Control (PBC) of MPEG 1 data without interaction of CD-DA tracks. The method employed ensure a compact disc free from digital E32 type sector errors associated with PRE GAP and untrue lead out point now true with current white book 2.0 spec when including CD-DA tracks. This specially authored formatted disc derived from a previous unperfected white book spec allow the bridging of three of the most popular consumer products of our time, the DVD player, CD player and the home computer.

White Book version 2.0 was drawn up to create a first-class medium for producers of interactive multimedia titles for entertainment, CBT, or POI station purposes. It provides the possibility of including up to 2000 play items, consisting of MPEG video, MPEG stills with or without audio, and CD-Digital Audio, and allows the interactively controlled playback of these items by the consumer. Video CD conforms to the Bridge Disc concept. The first track is a data track containing an ISO 9660 file structure and special information for CD-I, VCD, and DVD players. The next tracks are MPEG-Audio-Video-Tracks each containing sequences with MPEG video and audio data. Behind the MPEG-Audio-Video-Tracks Red-Book-Tracks can follow. The maximum track number of a video CD is 99 including the Video CD data track (track 1). If the last tracks of the discs are Red-Book-Tracks, the Lead-out area may as well be encoded as an audio track. The area of an compact disc where the MPEG video data content contained on track 1 of an disc TOC end, and the track(s) for red book audio began, cause a E32 type digital zero error and cause consumer compact disc players to produce a loud pop when played through. When fast forward or rewind function is active over this area of the disc, louder digital distortion occurs. Another problem with the current white book 2.0 standard is when the addition of red book cd-da tracks are added to the disc makeup, a true red book lead out point which silence the end of digital binary signal flow is replaced by a audible lead out point. This allows user to hear yet another loud E32 type pop at the end of disc. While not audible in most dedicated MPEG reading hardware devices, the lack of proper red book lead out point hinder the use of disc in CD player carousels and auto repeating CD players. The current format of the white book 2.0 standard from Sony/Philips lack the standard for video CD+CD-DA tracks for the consumer market without error when playback in an traditional CD player permit This extended format of the white book 2.0 spec may not be efficient enough for proper disc replication. For an undisturbed CD listening experience, a user currently need to listen through or skip past at least 2 of the first tracks on a CD TOC before CD-DA tracks began. With this invention, inventor has found the way to correct both error problems on disc, and formatting of the white book 2.0 spec for undisturbed traditional CD-DA track listening of video CD CD-DA content in a traditional CD player.

Consumer friendly error correcting formating method for white book 2.0 video compact disc with CD-DA red book audio tracks


In this production method of a thin film device, a thin film is formed by discharging a liquid material from a nozzle in a deposition chamber to coat the liquid material onto a substrate. The substrate is then subjected to heat treatment by a first heat treatment unit and a second heat treatment unit, thereby improving the crystallinity and fitness of the film as well as its adhesion with other films.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a production method of a thin film device and transistor that can be preferably used for a liquid crystal display apparatus, electroluminescent display apparatus, electrophoresis display apparatus or other electro-optical apparatus or LSI and so forth. Moreover, the present invention relates to an electro-optical apparatus and electronic equipment equipped with a thin film device and transistor obtained according to the production method of the present invention.
2. Background Art
Normally, thin film devices are composed with a thin film such as a semiconductor film, insulating film or electrically conductive film and so forth, and transparent electrically conductive films are additionally used in thin film devices employed in liquid crystal display apparatuses and so forth in particular. In the case of classifying thin films according to their function, insulating films consist of gate insulating films and interlayer insulating films, and electrically conductive films consist of gate electrodes, source/drain electrodes, pixel electrodes, wiring and so forth. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and sputtering have mainly been employed for forming insulating films and electrically conductive films.
Silicon films consist of amorphous silicon films or polysilicon films are mainly used for semiconductor films. Thermal CVD, plasma CVD and optical CVD and so forth using monosilane gas or disilane gas are used to form silicon films, with thermal CVD typically being used to form polysilicon films, and plasma CVD typically being used to form amorphous silicon films.
However, due to such characteristics as the use of a vacuum device, the need for substrate heating, the need for a power supply such as plasma and the deposition of a film on unnecessary portions other than the substrate such as the inner wall of the apparatus resulting in the occurrence of foreign object defects following peeling of that film, conventional CVD and sputtering methods have had problems such as low productivity, numerous defects, poor yield, non-uniform film thickness due to surface irregularities, and disconnections in the wiring pattern at the locations of ledges. These problems ultimately lead to increased costs of thin film devices produced by CVD and sputtering.
Therefore, methods for producing thin film devices by techniques differing from the conventional deposition methods described above of the prior art have been proposed in recent years. For example, there is a method for forming a desired thin film by coating a liquid material onto a substrate to form a coated film followed by heat treatment of the coated film. According to this method, a thin film can be formed at low cost by a compact and inexpensive apparatus with high productivity, few defects, high yield and without the occurrence of disconnections at the locations of ledges, thereby enabling the production of low-cost thin film devices.
However, in the above prior art, a method for forming a coated film on a substrate surface lacks concreteness, resulting in the problem of it being difficult to apply the method to actual coating. Namely, although a nominal description is made of the coating method in related documents of the prior art, a detailed coating process is not disclosed.
In consideration of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a production method of a thin film device, a production method of a transistor, an electro-optical apparatus and electronic equipment in which a thin film that composes a thin film device is formed by a material discharge method using a liquid material.

Production method of a thin film device, production method of a transistor, electro-optical apparatus and electronic equipment


A technique is provided for training a prediction apparatus. The apparatus has an input interface for receiving a sequence of training events indicative of program instructions, and identifier value generation circuitry for performing an identifier value generation function to generate, for a given training event received at the input interface, an identifier value for that given training event. The identifier value generation function is arranged such that the generated identifier value is dependent on at least one register referenced by a program instruction indicated by that given training event. Prediction storage is provided with a plurality of training entries, where each training entry is allocated an identifier value as generated by the identifier value generation function, and is used to maintain training data derived from training events having that allocated identifier value. Matching circuitry is then responsive to the given training event to detect whether the prediction storage has a matching training entry (i.e. an entry whose allocated identifier value matches the identifier value for the given training event). If so, it causes the training data in the matching training entry to be updated in dependence on the given training event.

A technique for training a prediction apparatus is described herein.
Within a data processing system, a number of different types of prediction apparatus may be used. As one example of a prediction apparatus, a prefetch unit can be provided to seek to predict the memory addresses of accesses that may be made to memory, so as to allow the data at those memory addresses to be prefetched into one or more caches in anticipation of that data in due course being accessed. If the predictions made by the prefetch unit are accurate, this can significantly increase performance by improving the hit rate within the cache. As another example of a prediction apparatus, various types of branch prediction units may be provided, for example to make predictions as to whether a branch instruction will be taken or not taken, and/or to predict a target address for a branch instruction in the event that the branch is taken.
Typically, a prediction apparatus will include prediction storage that has a number of entries that can be used to maintain information referred to when making predictions. The information maintained in those entries is derived through training of the prediction apparatus, and hence the prediction apparatus may be provided with a sequence of training events that can be used to populate and adjust the information maintained within the entries of the prediction storage. For any given training event received by the apparatus, the aim is to match that training event with one of the entries in the prediction storage, so that the information (also referred to as training data) maintained in that entry can then be updated based on the given training event. This matching process can be achieved by determining some identifier value based on a received training event, and then seeking to match it with a corresponding identifier value maintained for each of the entries in the prediction storage. However, the way in which those identifier values are determined can significantly impact how well the prediction apparatus is trained, and hence ultimately how accurate the predictions made by the prediction apparatus are.

Technique for training a prediction apparatus


The invention relates to a method for suppressing an interference signal during detection of a chirp signal from an input signal (X), comprising the following steps: a. recording the input signal (X); b. calculating an output signal (R1) as a correlation from the recorded input signal (X) and a chirp reference signal (CR) by means of a correlator (30); c. calculating a magnitude (XB) of the input signal (X) from the input signal (X); d. calculating a magnitude (R1B) of the output signal (R1) from the output signal (R1); e. calculating a phase difference (P) between the input signal (X) and the output signal (R1); f. calculating a synthesized interference signal (R2) from the magnitude (XB) of the input signal (X), the magnitude (R1B) of the output signal (R1) and the phase difference (P) by means of a rotator (60); g. calculating a residual signal (DR) as the difference between the output signal (R1) and the synthesized interference signal (R2). The invention relates to a system (10) for suppressing an interference signal during detection of a chirp signal by means of the method according to the invention.

The invention relates to a method for rejecting an interference signal when detecting a chirp signal from an input signal. The invention also relates to a system for rejecting an interference signal when detecting a chirp signal from an input signal.
When data are transmitted via bus systems, it is customary to transmit complete data packets. Such a data packet comprises for example a chirp signal at the start of a data packet followed by useful data. In this case, a transmitter produces the data packet, which comprises a defined chirp signal and the useful data. A receiver detects the defined chirp signal and processes the useful data that follow. This allows synchronization of data packets between transmitters and receivers when data are transmitted via the bus system.
Such transmission of data is employed for a multiplicity of bus systems, for example in powerline systems, in which power transmission and data transmission take place via the same lines. The document "Specification for PowerLine Intelligent Metering Evolution", R1.4, inter alia, from PRIME Alliance TWG discloses the practice of using chirp signals for synchronization.
The document EP 1 011 234 A1 discloses an OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) system that comprises a radio-frequency receiver. For the purpose of synchronization, there is provision for a correlator that performs a correlation between a received signal and a defined chirp signal.
When data are transmitted via bus systems, interference, in particular in the form of interference signals, can arise. Interference signals are coupled in via data lines, for example, which act as antennas. Coupled-in interference signals are overlaid on the data signals, as result of which the transmitted data can be altered. The detection of chirp signals is also hampered by interference signals.
A chirp signal is normally sinusoidal. Detection of the chirp signal is particularly hampered if coupled-in interference signals have an identical or similar frequency to the chirp signal that is to be detected. Reliable detection of the chirp signal is essential for the synchronization when transmitting data, however.
US 2014/0112398 discloses an OFDM synchronizer for a data transmission by means of Powerline. In this case, the synchronizer comprises a correlator that performs multiplication of an input signal by a locally stored chirp reference signal.
A method for receiving chirp signals on a receiver device is also known from DE 10 2012 007 874 A1. In this case, a received chirp signal is multiplied by a generated chirp signal. The mix signal thus obtained is subsequently correlated with a chirp reference signal.
CN 105553511 discloses a method for rejecting interference signals for a wideband transmission system that is based on nonlinear chirp pulses. In this case, the wide band used for data transmission is divided into multiple narrow bands, and separate chirp pulses are used in the narrow bands for synchronization.

Method and system for suppressing an interference signal during detection of a chirp signal


The present invention relates to new pharmaceutical compositions for inhalation containing one or more, preferably one, tiotropium salt combined with one or more pharmacologically acceptable acid addition salts of a compound of formula 2′,

The compound tiotropium bromide, a salt of tiotropium, is known from European Patent Application EP 418 716 A1 and has the following chemical structure:

This compound may also be referred to by the chemical name (1α,2β,4β,5α,7β)-7-[(hydroxydi-2-thienylacetyl)oxy]-9,9-dimethyl-3-oxa-9-azoniatricyclo[3.3.1.02,4] nonane-bromide and has valuable pharmacological properties. The name tiotropium is to be interpreted within the scope of the present invention as a reference to the free cation 1′.
Tiotropium bromide, and other salts of tiotropium, are highly active anticholinergics and may therefore provide a therapeutic benefit in the treatment of asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
Tiotropium salts are preferably administered by inhalation. Suitable inhalable powders packed into appropriate capsules (inhalettes) and administered by suitable powder inhalers may be used. Alternatively, it may be administered by the use of suitable inhalable aerosols. These also include powdered inhalable aerosols which contain, for example, HFA134a, HFA227 or mixtures thereof as propellant gas. They may also be administered by inhalation using suitable solutions of the tiotropium salt.

Tiotropium-containing pharmaceutical combination for inhalation

Abstract: wherein the groups R1, R2, R3 and R4 may have the meanings given in the claims and in the specification, processes for preparing them and their use in the treatment of respiratory complaints.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co KG


An antenna frame that can suppress shock given to an antenna and position the antenna with controlling increase in size to a minimum, an antenna structure, and a wave clock having the antenna structure are provided. An antenna frame of an antenna structure of a wave clock comprises a frame made of a nonconductive material for receiving and fixing an antenna having an elongated and rod-like, magnetic core and a winding wire wound on the center in a longitudinal direction of the magnetic core. The frame has a recess including a recess portion for receiving a winding portion of the antenna and recess portions for receiving two ends of the magnetic core at both sides of the portion, and end mountings to be mounted on a base at the two ends. When the antenna is received in the recess, ends of the magnetic core are positioned with respect to the portions. The end mountings are mounted on the base in a manner of being contacted to a mounting surface at base side surfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an antenna frame for receiving and fixing an antenna, an antenna structure having the antenna frame, and a watch type wave clock having the antenna structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a wave clock, ferrite is preferable for a material of a magnetic core of a reception antenna for receiving a standard wave in a long-wave mode, which contains time information, in consideration of loss such as eddy current loss and cost. However, ferrite is extremely brittle and easily breakable.
Therefore, in order to prevent external shock to the ferrite, it has been proposed and known that a magnetic core comprising ferrite is attached to an elastic member such as rubber at two ends, and then the elastic member is attached to a frame (JP-A-2003-110341).
However, the technology disclosed in the JP-A-2003-110341 is limitedly applied to a table clock and the like because it is limitedly used for those that can utilize an elastic member having sufficient size to absorb the shock, in addition, limitedly used for those that usually get comparatively small shock.
On the other hand, it is also proposed that a bobbin having a central, small-diameter tube part and a large-diameter tube part extending from outer circumferences of flanges at two ends of the small-diameter tube part to two end sides is fitted in a rod-like ferrite, and then a wire is wound on the small-diameter tube part to form a coil, and spring projections are provided between the large-diameter tube part and ends of the ferrite core to prevent shock to the ferrite core (JP-A-2004-125606).
In the proposed support structure, although shock to the ferrite core can be prevented by the bobbin and the spring projection, loss tends to be caused by the interposition of the bobbin, in addition, size becomes large due to the interposition of the bobbin and the spring projection.
The invention, which was made in the light of the points, aims to provide an antenna frame that can restrain the shock to the antenna and position the antenna while controlling increase in size to a minimum, and an antenna structure having the frame, and a wave clock having the antenna structure.

Antenna frame, antenna structure, and watch type wave clock having the antenna structure


This lighter (1) of the type comprising a reservoir for containing liquefied petroleum gas, a valve (3) mounted on the reservoir and permitting the gas to leave the same, a valve opening mechanism (4,5), as well as an ignition system comprising a flint (6) co-operating with a spark wheel (7) rotationally operated by at least one circular operating wheel (10) mounted co-axially with the spark wheel. This lighter is characterised in that each operating wheel is independent of the spark wheel and can pivot about its own axis independently of the spark wheel, and in that the axle is fixed to the spark wheel and comprises on its periphery zones which are concave and/or convex in transverse cross section, whereas the operating wheel comprises, in the region of its holes which enables its engagement on the axle, convex and/or concave zones, which are formed to slide with respect to the concave and/or convex zones of the axle when the force exercised on the operating wheel to ignite the lighter is below a threshold force, but engage with them when the force exercised is above the threshold force, and the largest cross sectional dimension of the axle is less than the smallest cross sectional dimension of die hole of the operating wheel, to permit the significant radial displacement of the operating wheel with respect to the axle and, below the said threshold force to permit the aid pivoting movement of the operating wheel with respect to the axle.

The present invention relates to a gas lighter comprising a safety ignition system, also referred to as a "child resistant" lighter, that is to say can not be ignited by a child of less than five years old.
A gas lighter generally comprises a reservoir for containing liquefied petroleum gases, a valve mounted on the reservoir permitting gas to leave the reservoir, an opening and closing system for the release of gas operated by a lever, a system of regulation of the release of gas as well as the ignition system. In a known way, the ignition system comprises a pyrophoric flint co-operating with a spark wheel and the lighter also comprises a protective cap. The spark wheel is mounted on an axis between two operating wheels which are attached to it. The spark wheel has a cylindrical shape and each of the operating wheels comprises a disk having a diameter slightly greater than that of the spark wheel. The rims of the operating wheels comprise unevennesses which make then rough. Thus, a user can easily operate the spark wheel with a finger, because the finger does not slide on the operating wheels.
When the spark wheel, being in contact with the flint, is rotated by operation of the operating wheels by a digit of the user, a spray of sparks is created and is followed by the action of the same digit against the gas opening lever which releases a quantity of gas. The spray of sparks ignites the gas, producing a flame which forms above the cap.
Such a system requires a positive action on the part of the user to produce aid maintain a flame and requires two independent movements one after the other--rotation of the spark wheel and action on the gas opening lever--to produce a flame.
However, it is desirable to increase the difficulty of operating such lighters so that children younger than five years old are not able to produce a flame with such lighters.
Lighters already exist providing a supplementary difficulty which must be overcome to produce a flame and several patents or patent applications describe such lighters. For example, patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,829, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,482 or international patent applications WO 93/17282, WO 95/04247.
Most of the lighters described in these documents comprise, compared to conventional lighters, a supplementary device making access to the operating wheels of the spark wheel more difficult, or by blocking movement of the gas opening lever.
In this way, these lighters comprise a complex structure involving an increased cost of manufacture. Furthermore, the use of some of these lighters is complicated and requires a particular method of use. Even adults can find several difficulties in the operation of such lighters and/or need preliminary instructions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,414 concerns a lighter which does not contain operating wheels fixed to the spark wheel, but two flat discs having a diameter greater than that of the spark wheel, and freely mounted to rotate about an axis corresponding to that of the spark wheel. In this case operation of the spark wheel is achieved directly by the flesh of the digit of the user, after deformation between the two free discs.
In a similar system, the axis of the spark wheel comprises a polygonal section, and the operating wheels comprise corresponding holes of polygonal cross section, which co-operate with the axis. These polygonal sections permit the rotational connection of the operating wheels and the spark wheel when a sufficient radial pressure is exercised on the operating wheels. A disadvantage of this system is that it results in the rapid wear on the flats of the axle and the holes such that the operation of the operating wheels becomes more and more difficult with time. Moreover, the force exercised on the operating wheels is difficult to control. Furthermore, this force has to be applied in a perfectly radial manner in order for the operation of the spark wheel to take place, which necessitates the application of increased pressure by the user.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a lighter which is easily operated by an adult, but very difficult to use by a child especially a child of less than five years old, and which remedies the disadvantages of the prior art lighters.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a reliable security system which is inviolable and constant in operation throughout the life of the lighter.
Another objective of the invention is to have the functioning of the lighter as close as possible to the functioning of a traditional lighter, in which the "unblocking" action is realized in the same place as the ignition action, in such a way that the user has no need either for preliminary instructions or practice in order to operate the lighter.

Gas lighter comprising a safety ignition system


A multi-chip package suppresses a change, which is caused by packaging, of a circuit characteristic of an analog circuit of which characteristic is adjusted by a nonvolatile register. A digital circuit and an analog circuit are formed on a semiconductor chip. A nonvolatile register is also formed on the semiconductor chip to store information to adjust a circuit characteristic of the analog circuit. The circuit characteristic of the analog circuit is adjusted according to the information stored in this nonvolatile register. Then, another dummy semiconductor chip is attached with an adhesive being superimposed on a circuit area of the analog circuit to build a multi-chip package.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stabilization of a characteristic of an analog circuit formed on a semiconductor chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, a semiconductor chip is composed of an analog circuit and a digital circuit in most cases. An analog circuit is a generic name of a circuit that uses a signal of an analog value as data and, for instance, includes a standard voltage generation circuit, a phase locked loop (PLL), an analog-digital converter circuit, a digital-analog converter circuit, a phase comparison circuit, etc. A digital circuit is a generic name of a circuit that uses a signal of a digital value as data and includes an arithmetic circuit, which is composed of various logical circuits, and memories.
Generally, a digital circuit is immune to noise as the circuit handles digital signals, and processes at high speed and is low power consumption as the circuit can be operated by faint signals. On the other hand, an analog circuit is a circuit of which an operational characteristic is volatile due to power-supply voltage, temperature and manufacturing variations as the analog circuit handles analog signals. Therefore, a characteristic of an analog circuit may be adjusted by a nonvolatile register composed of a fuse circuit and EEPROM.
FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a conventional semiconductor chip package, and FIG. 2 shows a cross sectional view of a semiconductor chip package taken along the line C-C of FIG. 1. A digital circuit 102 and an analog circuit 103 are formed on a semiconductor chip 101. A nonvolatile register 104 is also formed on the semiconductor chip 101 to store information to adjust a circuit characteristic of the analog circuit 103. The circuit characteristic of the analog circuit 103 is adjusted according to the information stored in this nonvolatile register 104. The digital circuit 102, the analog circuit 103 and the nonvolatile register 104 are coated with insulation film.
The semiconductor chip 101 also has a pad 107 to transfer signals between these digital circuit 102 and analog circuit 103, and the outside of the semiconductor chip on the periphery. The pad 107 is an electrode that bonds a wire 109 to a lead frame 108 (not shown in FIG. 1).
FIG. 3 is an exemplification of the analog circuit 103 and the nonvolatile register 104 of the semiconductor chip 101. In the analog circuit 103, a voltage Vin generated by a bandgap reference circuit (BGR) 111 is input to a plus input terminal of an operational amplifier 112, and an output voltage Vout is output from the operational amplifier 112. Resistances R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 are connected in series between the output voltage Vout and a ground voltage GND. A terminal voltage between the resistance R1 and the resistance R2 is input to a minus input terminal of the operational amplifier 112 through a switch S1. In a similar way, a terminal voltage between the resistance R2 and the resistance R3, a terminal voltage between the resistance R3 and the resistance R4 and a terminal voltage between the resistance R4 and the resistance R5 are input to the minus input terminal of the operational amplifier 112 through switches S2, S3 and S4 respectively. Only one of the switches S1, S2, S3 and S4 is turned on and three other switches are turned off according to the information stored in the nonvolatile register 104.
Here, the formula, Rtotal=R1+R2+R3+R4+R5, is used. For instance, when the switch S1 is turned on, an output voltage will be Vout=Vin×Rtotal/(R2+R3+R4+R5). In a similar way, when the switch S2 is turned on, an output voltage will be Vout=Vin×Rtotal/(R3+R4+R5). When the switch S3 is turned on, an output voltage will be Vout=Vin×Rtotal/(R4+R5). When the switch S4 is turned on, an output voltage will be Vout=Vin×Rtotal/(R5). Thus, the output voltage Vout, which is the circuit characteristic of the analog circuit 103, is adjusted by selecting which one of the switches S1, S2, S3 and S4 to be turned on.
The nonvolatile register 104 is composed of a fuse circuit that stores information depending on the presence or absence of cuttings of fuse element by laser irradiation and a part that stores information in a nonvolatile memory such as EEPROM. The nonvolatile register 104 outputs a signal that turns on only one of the switches S1, S2, S3 and S4 according to the information stored.
In a production process of the semiconductor chip 101 exemplified in FIG. 1, it is appropriate to screen defects in the circuit characteristic of the analog circuit 103 at the early stage. Then, it is judged whether the circuit characteristic of the analog circuit 103 is in an allowable range depending on the information stored in the nonvolatile register 104 at the stage of a so-called wafer sort with the semiconductor chip 101 formed on a wafer.
However, it is found that the circuit characteristic adjusted at the stage of wafer sort changes when the semiconductor chip 101 of which the circuit characteristic of the analog circuit 103 is adjusted at the stage of the wafer sort as stated above is packaged and sealed with mold resin.
This invention is achieved in view of the above situation and intends to appropriately suppress a change, which is caused by packaging, of a circuit characteristic of an analog circuit of which characteristic is adjusted by a nonvolatile register.
In addition, this invention also intends to appropriately suppress a change, which is caused by packaging, of a circuit characteristic of an analog circuit even in the case that a circuit characteristic of an analog circuit is not adjusted according to information stored in a nonvolatile register.


Isomers of a cytotoxic compound isolated and purified from a marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula are disclosed. The isomers termed Curacin A and Curacin B exhibits substantial biological activity against proliferating cells. The Curacin A and Curacin B isomers appear to be antimitotics. Methods for using the isomers are also disclosed.

Certain natural environments continue to be fruitful sources of chemical compounds having unusual and unexpected properties, including possible medicinal properties.
In most areas of the world characterized by large species diversity, many plants and animals engage in fierce competition for living space and resource allotment. Certain organisms tend to exhibit unusually high competitive success in such environments. The reasons for such success are several and diverse. Highly successful plants, for example, may produce one or more distinctive chemical compounds that are toxic to nibblers and browsers or that ward off encroaching competitors for living space. Alternatively, there may be other reasons for adaptive success such as a growth rate that is higher than that of competitors, more prolific or efficient reproduction, better drought tolerance, or other characteristic that provides a competitive advantage. In any event, organisms exhibiting competitive success can offer interesting prospects for finding novel chemical compounds having potentially valuable utility in human industry and in medicine.
Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) have received considerable attention as a source of novel biologically active chemicals. Carter et al., J. Org. Chem. 49:236-244 (1984); Moore et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 106:6456-6457 (1984); Barchi et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 106:8193-8197 (1984); and Cragg et al., Am. Soc. Pharmacog. Proceedings, abst. no. 185 (1985). In the first of the foregoing cited references, Carter et al. reported an abundance of unique secondary metabolites from the principal mat-forming marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula (also named Microcoleus lyngbyaceus).

Compound exhibiting antiproliferative activity against cells

State of Oregon Acting by and Through the State Board of Higher Education on Behalf of Oregon State University


A mobile terminal including a body having an exterior surface, an input device, at least a portion of the input device extending above the exterior surface, and a buffer protecting the input device from external impact. The buffer may be connected to a circuitry supporting substrate in the mobile terminal, a cover of the mobile terminal, or be formed as the cover of the mobile terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to mobile terminals, and more particularly to mobile terminal having a buffer to protect an input device from an external impact.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a mobile terminal means a cellular phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and the like, which a user can carry with himself/herself to send/receive various kinds of information, such as images, voices, and text massages via wireless communication or to receive various services via connection to a predetermined server.
That form of the mobile terminal, especially a cellular phone, has evolved from an initial bar type into a flip type, folder type, and a slide member type according to consumer demand and technical development.
Because a mobile terminal performs a wireless communication function in addition to various other functions in correspondence with a user's demand, such as play music, videos, and take pictures, the mobile terminal often includes an input device that is configured to control one or more functions of the mobile terminal. In particular, the input device may be a wheeled structure or lever mechanism that allows the user to scroll and select options.
Because the user must manipulate the input device, it generally extends above an exterior surface of the mobile terminal. As such, the input device is exposed to shock or impact force and can be damaged if a shock or impact occurs. In addition, the shock or impact force may also be transmitted through the input device to underlying components, thereby causing further damage to the mobile terminal.


A videophone. The videophone can include an imaging mechanism for taking a video picture of a scene. The videophone can include a mechanism for producing a first video stream of the scene and a second video stream of the scene from the video picture and sending the first video stream and the second video stream onto a network at the same time, the producing mechanism in communication with the imaging mechanism. The videophone can include a mechanism for receiving a plurality of video streams of different scenes from a network. The videophone can include a mechanism for displaying the different scenes of the plurality of video streams alongside each other. A method for a video call.

Geographically dispersed teams are reality in essentially every large company (Marconi, Ford, Boeing, IBM), any company who acquires another, and many start-ups. Travel is expensive, inefficient, and undesirable (the romance is gone). Resources (people) are expensive, limited, and are difficult to relocate.
There is a need for substantially improved communication between members of a geographically dispersed team by upgrading the communications systems available to team members to more closely mimic the range of communications they would have if they were collocated. The telephone as it is known today in regard to audio communication has become a natural extension of everyday life and meets many of the needs of team members or users to communicate with each other. An upgraded communications system must be as reliable and second nature to users as the telephone, and essentially be a telephone but add at least a dimension of video so it too is second nature to a user. The quality of audio and video, including delay of such communications systems, must be sufficient to encourage users to communicate naturally. The screen, speakers, microphone, and possible thousands of miles between the users should disappear.
The communication environment needs to provide each user with the ability to "just know" who is in a conference, what the other users are doing, and when and how to talk to them. Users should be able to have "water cooler" impromptu discussions, even remote lunches, without the overhead of thinking about the mechanism.
All actions and features should be obvious, without the need for training. Target users include computer experts and novices, as well as telephone power users and minimalists. There should be a very low to nonexistent "geek factor." Information such as names, phone numbers, schedules, location, remote time, presence status, call history, etc., must be easily available. The instant availability of telephone numbers and the link to getting them dialed should make this communications system the preferred real-time source for such information. It should interface to existing contact information sources such as Exchange, PDA, etc., and appropriately be used to minimize user actions without compromising user control.
Low latency is a key factor in enabling natural communication, as anyone who has used a satellite link on a telephone call will know only too well. To date, there have been significant technical problems with latency in video communications where the total delay of the video encode, typical network delay and video decode produce unacceptable results. The RTP mechanisms have not produced an acceptably low jitter rate with low delay. The consequence is that current video conferencing technology does not achieve the transparency necessary for really effective communication. There has been no acceptable presentation for multi-user conferences created on a screen surface intended for the desktop. The weakness in existing teleconferencing systems is the communication effectiveness as the number of participants increases. The control, management, interface, and performance of the system tend to degrade, and the transparency of the media is lost, when more than two people are involved in the conference.
The present invention is intended to be a volume product that can replace the most common forms of desktop phones and provide a list of enhanced features to provide solutions to the problems identified above. The present invention adds real-time vision and other aides to the current communications environment and at last achieves a genuine sense of telepresence. In other words, the ability to interact remotely with one or more people in a much closer approximation to a physical meeting than can be achieved current day tools. The present invention provides for the following.                It has the potential to dramatically improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of communications within a geographically dispersed organization.        Efficiency will improve by including the visual dimension to communication, recognizing that we obtain up to 70% of communication content visually, and this is absent from audio only communication.        Efficiency will improve through the ability to immediately facilitate event driven (ad hoc) rather than planned communication as this former category represents some 70% of all local communication which we can now extend to remote communications.        Efficiency will improve from users having this tool continuously available on their desks for immediate use, like their current telephone, in comparison to most current video conferencing that are in dedicated rooms and have to be booked in advance.        Efficiency will improve through the distribution of 'presence' information, ensuring more communication attempts complete successfully.        Efficiency will improve by having separate communications and computing platforms simultaneously available to the user.        Efficiency will improve by reducing the time to create a relevant discussion group to resolve an issue, significantly speeding up the decision cycle and by reducing significantly the need to travel.        The reduction in travel not only frees up more productive time, but could save a great deal of cost in airline and hotel fares.        Effectiveness will improve by ensuring that the most relevant people are involved in a decision, and not just those "at hand."        Effectiveness will also improve because of the improved personal relationships that can develop when high quality vision is added to simple phone contact.        It will allow expertise available at a specific location to be "on-tap" anywhere within the organization at a moment's notice, making much more productive use of such expertise.        It could be the vehicle for much improved management to staff communication—from the senior company managers to the whole company, and help engender team spirit and commitment.        And as with any really new tool, clever folk will invent ways of exploiting it to the benefit of the organization we could not at this stage even guess at.
The present invention is an extension of the phone system that users are so familiar with, i.e., it is a communications platform and not a PC application. Instant access, reliability and simple intuitive functionality are some of the key attributes that come with it.
Some of the video collaboration products that currently exist are the following.    Microsoft NetMeeting. Anyone who tried to use it knows its limitations: it is excruciatingly slow. Its video is close to unusable. The audio is poor. The user interface is hard to understand for all but basic calls.    Polycom, ViaVideo™. Viavideo™ is an H.323 appliance that contains a camera and some audio processing in a monitor-top housing with a USB connection to a PC. The product generates H.261 quality video at up to 384 K with the output on the PC screen in a window, and a screen emulation of an IR remote control for user interface. The video is acceptable, with the camera relatively poor. Audio quality is acceptable-echo cancellation is available, but the overall impression does not achieve the necessary transparency needed for effective communication. What the video does is to offer a level of video quality at a new price point, around $600. There is no presence, no telephone integration, no CTI. The size of the window of the PC screen limits what else one can do.    Webex, is a web-based conferencing product offered primarily as a service. The primary problem with it is bandwidth, because the current product is Internet (capital I) based. The present implementation is server based, which further limits what it can do. Webex has much more primitive shared surface options than NetMeeting, and offers low quality audio, no video, no CTI, no presence, etc.    Teraglobal is based on an Apple platform, which is presented not as a videophone but an entire application platform of which communication is but one capability. The technology is intimately tied to this platform and the underlying "DigitalDNA" Motorola PowerPC processor it runs on. The entire product is proprietary, having no commonality with any other elements. They have had to resort to building their own e-mail, calendaring and scheduling programs in order to obtain the integration that the need. It has Mbits/sec). Its survey tools conference control facilities, and similar capabilities push it into a large conference domain. Group collaboration does not require such capability and having to support that many participants degrades the user experience in comparison to smaller numbers of participants significantly. For example, the usual conference presentation is a single large view of the speaker, which is semi-automatically "handed-off," with thumbnails of other participants updated every few seconds.
The present invention consists of several end terminals (appliances), a set of servers which provide features not built into the appliances, and a set of gateways that connect the products to existing facilities and outside PSTN services. The basic functionality provided by the present invention is:                Telephony Services, with video available on all "on-net" calls, very high quality audio and video        Multiparty Conference Services, audio and video, ad hoc or prescheduled, completely self-serve, fully integrated into the telephony services        Presence Services—with a variety of tools to determine availability for collaboration        Shared Surface Services—electronic whiteboard, application sharing, document sharing, presentation broadcast via linked applications on an associated PC        Other value added services such as broadcast video TV distribution.
The present invention is your telephone with dramatic new functionality, not your computer trying to do what your telephone does. This allows full concurrent use of your computer for the things that it is good at, while providing a flexible but application specific appliance for communication. The user interface and physical design can be tuned for this application, providing an instant on, highly reliable communications device like our current phones, something that the PC will never be. This approach also provides control over the operating environment of the device, eliminating the support problems related to PC hardware and software configuration issues.


This invention relates to a synergistic pharmaceutical combination of glucose lowering drugs and autophagy inhibitors, kits containing such combinations, and methods of using such combinations to treat subjects suffering from cancers carrying a specific KRAS mutation. This invention also relates to a theranostic method for cancer treatment.

Cancer cells appear to undergo autophagy in response to oral hypoglycemic agents. Autophagy, or type II programmed cell death, is a catabolic process whereby cells self-digest intracellular organelles. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved, genetically controlled process that results in the targeting of cellular proteins and organelles to lysosomes for degradation. Autophagy is a dynamic process and the role of autophagy in cancer is complex and may differ depending on tumor type or context. Autophagy may serve to regulate normal turnover of organelles and to remove those with compromised function to maintain homeostasis. However, autophagy can also be considered a temporary survival mechanism during periods of starvation where self-digestion provides an alternative energy source and also may facilitate the disposal of unfolded proteins under stress conditions. Many agents used to prevent and to treat malaria are inhibitors of autophagy.
One characteristic of cancer cells is they often do not undergo apoptosis. Chemotherapy is used to eliminate these non-apoptotic cells. However, recurrence of cancer subsequent to chemotherapy is observed in some patients. GTPase KRas, also known as V-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog and KRAS, is a protein encoded by the KRAS gene in humans. Like other members of the Ras family, the KRAS protein is a GTPase and is an early player in many signal transduction pathways. KRAS is usually tethered to cell membranes because of its C-terminus isoprenyl group. The protein product of the normal KRAS gene performs an essential function in normal tissue signaling, and the mutation of a KRAS gene is an essential step in the development of many cancers. In particular, cancer cells harboring specific KRAS mutations, for example a glycine to valine substitution at codon 12 (G12V) in K-Ras gene, have been associated with reduced overall survival in many cancers. The transforming protein that results is implicated in various malignancies; nonlimiting examples include lung adenocarcinoma, mucinous adenoma, ductal carcinoma of the pancreas and colorectal carcinoma.
Using colorectal cancer as an example, mutations in KRAS are involved in 22-46% of colorectal carcinogenesis. Mutations in the K-Ras gene, especially a glycine to valine substitution at codon 12 (G12V), have been proposed to be an independent risk factor for reduced overall survival in colorectal cancer patients. The presence of mutations in the K-Ras gene has been associated with the lack of response to anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody treatment. Thus, there is increasing clinical relevance in the detection of mutations in the K-Ras gene with sensitive molecular methods to improve risk stratification and therapeutic strategies.
Patients with Type II diabetes taking oral drugs used to lower blood sugar have a significantly lower incidence of cancer. However, these drugs, i.e., oral hypoglycemic drugs such as buformin, metformin, phenformin and pioglitazone, when used in the treatment of patients with later stage cancers have not shown significant anticancer activity. Therefore, there remains a need to improve and develop new cancer treatments, and to reduce the incidence of recurrence. There remains a need to identify new cancer treatment methods, and new compositions and compounds useful to treat cancer.

Therapeutic combination for cancer treatment

The Translational Genomics Research Institute


Various concepts which further improve multi-view/layer coding concepts, are described.

The present application is concerned with coding concepts allowing efficient multi-view/layer coding such as multi-view picture/video coding.
Scalable coding concepts are known in the art. In video coding, for example, H.264 allows a base layer coded video data stream to be accompanied by additional enhancement layer data so as to increase the reconstruction quality of the base layer quality video in different terms, such as spatial resolution, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or the like, and/or, last but not least, number of views. The recently finalized HEVC standard will also be extended by SVC/MVC profiles (SVC=Scalable Video Coding, MVC=Multi-View Coding). HEVC differs from its predecessor H.264 in many aspects, such as, for example, suitability for parallel decoding/encoding and low delay transmission. As far as the parallel encoding/decoding is concerned, HEVC supports WPP (Wavefront Parallel Processing) encoding/decoding as well a tile parallel processing concept. According to the WPP concept, the individual pictures are segmented in a row-wise manner into substreams. The coding order within each substream is directed from left to right. The substreams have a decoding order defined thereamong which leads from the top substream to the bottom substream. The entropy coding of the substreams is performed using probability adaptation. The probability initialization is done for each substream individually or on the basis of a preliminarily adapted state of the probabilities used in entropy coding the immediately preceding substream up to a certain position from the left-hand edge of the preceding substream, respectively, on such as the end of the second CTB (Coded Tree Block). Spatial prediction does not need to be restricted. That is, spatial prediction may cross borders between immediately succeeding substreams. In this manner, such substreams may be encoded/decoded in parallel with the locations of current encoding/decoding forming a wavefront which runs, in a tilted manner leading from bottom left to top right, from left to right. According to the tile concept, the pictures are segmented into tiles and in order to render the encoding/decoding of these tiles a possible subject of parallel processing, spatial prediction across tile boundaries is prohibited. Merely in-loop filtering across tile boundaries may be allowed. In order to support low delay processing, the slice concept has been extended: slices are allowed to be switchable to either initialize the entropy probabilities anew, to adopt the entropy probabilities saved during processing a previous substream, i.e. a substream preceding the substream to which the current slice begin belongs, and to adopt the entropy probabilities having been continuously updated until the end of the immediately preceding slice. By this measure, WPP and tile concepts are rendered more suitable for low delay processing.
Nevertheless, it would be more favorable to have concepts at hand which further improve multi-view/layer coding concepts.

Coding concept allowing efficient multi-view/layer coding


A heat sink assembly includes a fixing base and a heat sink mounted on the fixing base. The fixing base has a bottom face attached to an electronic component mounted on a printed circuit board. The fixing base includes a pair of hooks extending from a rear side thereof and engaging with a support beam fixed to the printed circuit board. A pair of sleeves extend from a front side of the fixing base and two fasteners are received in the sleeves and threadedly engage with the printed circuit board. The rear and front sides of the fixing base are firmly secured to the printed circuit board, whereby the heat sink mounted on the fixing base can dissipate heat from the electronic component via the fixing base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat sink assembly, and particularly to a heat sink assembly having a fixing base for securing a heat sink to a heat-generating device, such as a chipset mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
It is widely acknowledged that a heat-generating device such as a chipset in a PC may generate much heat when operating; it is necessary to dissipate the heat to avoid the degradation of performance and the eventual burn-out of the chipset. Hence, a heat sink attached on the chipset to dissipate all the heat generated by the chipset is needed.
A heat sink device is commonly used for high speed chipsets. Usually, a clip assembly is used in the heat sink device for engaging with the heat sink to mount the heat sink on the chipset. An example of a clip assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,295,203. The clip assembly includes a clip and a fastener, for securing a heat sink to an electronic component attached to a printed circuit board. The clip has an elongate spring portion engaging a surface of the heat sink and two legs extending from the spring portion for engaging with catches of the printed circuit board, thereby securing the heat sink to the electronic component. The fastener includes a pair of latches and a connecting section formed between the two latches. The heat sink has a plurality of fins defining a slot therebetween for receiving the clip and the fastener. The latches are configured to engage in grooves defined in the fins on opposite sides of the slot of the heat sink, thereby securely attaching the clip to the heat sink and effectively eliminating relative movement between the clip and the heat sink.
However, the above structure using the latches of the fastener engaging in the grooves in the heat sink is complicated and inconvenient for assembly of the clip assembly. Furthermore, the latches of the fastener may be easily detached from the fins of the heat sink when the heat sink is subjected to vibration. Finally, to form the grooves in the fins of the heat sink needs additional machining, which means additional cost.
Thus, an improved heat sink assembly which overcomes above-mentioned problems is required.

Heat sink assembly having a fixing base thereof

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method 1) determines a current configuration of instruments which are connected in a user's test system; 2) retrieves an icon associated with each instrument (the icons being sized proportionally to the instruments they represent); 3) displays the icons within a GUI; and 4) graphically connects the icons within the GUI, in accord with the current configuration of instruments. In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method 1) determines a current configuration of instruments which are connected in a user's test system; 2) retrieves an icon associated with each instrument (the icons being pictures of the instruments); 3) displays the icons within a GUI; and 4) graphically connects the icons within the GUI, in accord with the current configuration of instruments. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

In today's world of test and measurement, test system instruments are often coupled to a computer that may control and/or acquire data from the instruments. At times, a user may want to determine which instruments are connected in their test system (e.g., because the user wants to verify that the instruments are, in fact, connected to the computer; or because the computer is located remotely from the instruments, and a user wants to determine which instruments they have access to). Typically, the instruments connected in a user's test system will be displayed textually (e.g., in a Microsoft® Windows "treeview").

Method and apparatus for displaying a current configuration of test instruments to a user


An new concept golf club bag which accommodates the clubs with the club heads down, providing a central hollow core element positioned within the length of the bag, for defining a central elongated central core, and an outer club area between the core element wall and the outer wall of the bag. The outer club area is divided into a plurality of club spaces formed by a plurality of spaced-apart wall partitions, so that an iron club can be placed in a protected position within each partitioned area. The outer club area is provided with a raised floor portion off the bag floor, so that the shorter irons are at a depth to allow the upper ends of the clubs to be readily accessible with the open end of the bag. Further, the lower end of the core element is provided with a cone positioned on the floor of the bag, with a plurality of upright dividers defining a space for accommodating the club head of the woods within the space, so that when in position, each wood face is slid along the cone surface into a protected position in a separate space defined by the dividers and below the raised floor supporting the irons. On the upper core inner wall, there is provided a plurality of plastic elements to allow the shaft of each wood to be secured along the wall of the core to prevent movement.

1. Field Of The Invention
The apparatus of the present invention relates to golf bags. More particularly, the present invention relates to a new concept for a golf bag which allows the clubs to be positioned with the clubheads in the down position, and the irons and the woods within separate compartments and at different levels within the bag.
2. General Background
In the sport of golf, it is imperative that the golfer maintain the broad array of clubs within a suitable bag which can accompany the golfer on the course, and which allows easy selection of the proper club depending on the shot. In addition, it is valuable that the expensive clubs be maintained within the bag in a position where they are protected from damage and easily identified and retrieved.
In the present state of the art, the most typical type of golf bag construction provides in general an open top bag, circular in cross section, and having a single floor where the clubs rest. The clubs are positioned within the bag, with the club heads up, in a disorderly manner. However, because of the nature of golf clubs, in general, the woods are substantially longer than the irons and the putter. Therefore, when the clubs are in the bag, the woods tend to extend a distance out of the open end of the bag, with the irons generally confined within the bag. This leads to the iron club heads banging against the shafts of the wood clubs. Therefore, when one wishes to protect the clubs from damage, club head covers must be used with each play. This delays the game and is a nuisance. Another problem is that unless the bag is specifically adapted with individual club tubes for positioning the clubs in each tube, the clubs rattle around the bag as the bag is moved during play. This leads to damaging of clubs and a generally annoying situation. Another problem is that the clubs are stored in a random manner requiring time to identify the desired club.
There have been patents issued in the art which address golf bag construction, and these are cited in the list of art which is being submitted herewith, or shortly after filing of the application for letters patent.
Other objects of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the following description of the invention.


The present disclosure discloses an optical imaging system including, sequentially from an object side to an image side along an optical axis, a first lens having a negative refractive power with a concave object-side surface and a concave image-side surface; a stop; a second lens having a refractive power; a third lens having a negative refractive power; a fourth lens having a refractive power with a convex object-side surface, and a convex image-side surface; and a fifth lens having a refractive power. Half of a maximal field-of-view Semi-FOV of the optical imaging system satisfies 45.0°≤Semi-FOV<65.0°, and an effective focal length f2 of the second lens and a center thickness CT2 of the second lens along the optical axis satisfy 2.5≤f2/CT2≤3.0.

In recent years, with the development of science and technology, the market demand for imaging systems suitable for portable electronic products has gradually increased. For example, the lens mounted on a mobile phone has developed from a single-camera lens to a multi-camera lens which often includes a wide-angle imaging system. Moreover, the rapid development of mobile phone imaging systems, especially the popularity of large-sized, high-pixel CMOS chips, has caused mobile phone manufacturers to place more stringent requirements on the image quality of the imaging systems. In addition, as the performance of CCD and CMOS elements increases and the size thereof reduces, higher requirements for high image quality and miniaturization are placed on the matched imaging systems.
In order to meet the requirements of miniaturization and imaging requirements, an optical imaging system that can simultaneously satisfy the characteristics of miniaturization, ultra-wide angle and high resolution is required.

Optical imaging system including five lenses of −+−+− or −+−++ refractive powers


A novel compound that has antimicrobial activity against penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae, and an anti-penicillin resistant pneumococci agent that includes the compound as an active ingredient are provided. Thus, an anti-penicillin resistant pneumococci agent is provided that includes as an active ingredient a compound represented by the following formula (I) or a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof, or hydrates thereof:

Streptococcus pneumoniae are pathogens that cause various diseases including respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis, sinusitis, otitis media, and meningitis. Among the diseases caused by the infection with the Streptococcus pneumoniae, pneumonia is a disease with a high death rate in elderly people aged 65 or older, following cancer, heart disease and cerebral stroke, and is a big issue. In addition, since Streptococcus pneumoniae that have become resistant to antibiotics such as penicillin are increasing, the number of cases where the treatment of the disorder due to the infection with the Streptococcus pneumoniae is difficult has been increased. Especially, penicillin-resistant strains have increased from late 1980s around the world, and it is said that if low susceptible strains are included, currently the penicillin-resistant strains occupy approximately half of clinical isolates.
Currently, in order to treat pneumococcal infection, surgical treatments and antimicrobial agents are used in combination in the case of patients with otitis media or sinusitis. For the treatment of patients with severe infection such as pneumonia, meningitis, and postoperative wound infection, it is essential to administer antimicrobial agents which are expected to be effective against certain pathogens. Typically, carbapenem antibiotics or penicillin antibiotics that serve as the antimicrobial agent are administered in high doses, but in severe cases, carbapenem antibiotics and glycopeptide antibiotics are used in combination.
Thus, although there is a concern that the use of carbapenem antibiotics or glycopeptide antibiotics may increase resistant bacteria, carbapenem antibiotics and glycopeptide antibiotics are still used because they are useful as a therapeutic agent for penicillin-resistant pneumococcal infection.
The number of bacteria resistant to antibiotics has increased on the front lines of health care. Under such circumstances, there is a need for novel antibiotics that have antimicrobial activity against penicillin-resistant bacteria and that can be clearly distinguished structurally. For example, it is known that 3,4′-dideoxymycaminosyltylonolide has an excellent antimicrobial effect against general Gram-positive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria (See Non-Patent Literatures 1 and 2, Patent Literature 1). However, antimicrobial activity against penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (hereinafter, may be briefly referred to as "PRSP") is not described in the above-mentioned Literatures. Since generally, macrolide antibiotics can be used reliably in medical care, it is desirable to search for novel anti-PRSP agents from macrolide antibiotics and thus to obtain novel anti-PRSP agents.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 02-275894    Non-Patent Literature 1: The Journal of Antibiotics, Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 144-146, 1992    Non-Patent Literature 2: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Vol. 36, No. 8, pp. 1699-1702, 1992

Anti-penicillin resistant pneumococci agent and novel 16-membered macrolide derivative

Abstract: wherein, in the formula (I), R represents any one of a halogen atom, an azido group, Ra-Wa-, Rb-Wb-, Rc-Wc-, and RdRd′N—.


An applicator (1) for a friable product (P) has a resiliently deformable element (2) of which at least one side constitutes a surface (6) for applying the product. The resiliently deformable element has at least one hole (9) opening out on the application surface (6) and delimiting at least one recess (4) wherein the product is fixedly disposed. The product has at least one free surface (5). The resiliently deformable element is capable of selectively passing from a rest position, wherein the free surface (5) is situated at the level of, or below, the application surface (6), to an application position wherein the resiliently deformable element (2) is at least partially compressed along the axis (A) and in which the said free surface (5) is substantially at the level of the application position (6).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an applicator of the type for applying a make-up product. Such an applicator may be used in particular for applying blusher, eye-shadow, cheek rouge, lipstick, foundation cream, care cream, suntan lotion or a hair product. More generally, it may be used for the application of any friable product. The invention also concerns a casing-type application unit comprising at least one applicator in accordance with the invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, various types of applicators have been known for applying make-up products. There are known, inter alia, "matchstick" or "Q-tip" type applicators taking the form of a stem having one end charged with cosmetic products by immersion or by spraying. This first category of known applicators has the drawback of depositing too much of the product during application. Moreover this type of applicator does not allow the applied product to be softened. Finally, the configuration of these applicators generally makes them fragile.
Applicators are also known which have a cosmetic-type product pressed or compacted on the surface of the applicator. A major drawback of these applicators is their low capacity. Generally these applicators are used as samplers.
Finally, "puff" type applicators are used in combination with a compact having at least one pan in which the cosmetic products are cast or compacted. These powder compacts are relatively expensive.
FR-A-2642675 describes a dispenser for a solid or pasty product contained in a reservoir having a dispensing opening, the product being pushed towards the dispensing opening by means of a motor mechanism. According to this document, the edges of the dispensing opening are covered with a coating such as a flocked coating or a foam of small thickness so as to allow the product to be applied. The device described in this patent operates in a complicated manner and is relatively expensive to make.
There also exist other types of applicators of the type often used for applying shoe polish, in which the product to be applied is contained in a tube having mounted thereon a foam block which is pierced by a hole delimiting a duct communicating with the tube. In these applicators, the product is brought to the application surface by exerting pressure on (squeezing) the walls of the tube so as to cause the product to pass into the duct of the applicator and bring it to the application surface. Apart from their size, these devices are not suitable for products of the makeup type, mainly because of the difficulty of correctly dosing the product applied.
FR-A-1272557, U.S. Pat. No. 1,899,386 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,919 describe applicators for a product, generally in powder form, in which the powder is contained in a recess arranged in a foam block and the free end of the recess is covered by a screen in the form of a perforated sheet, a fabric or other porous material. In these devices the product is free in the recess thus formed, which renders the application of the dosed product difficult. Moreover, the orifices, pores or other holes which are arranged in the sheet obturating the hollow recess are liable to become quickly clogged up, which renders the device unusable. Finally, such devices are not suitable for products of a greater consistency, such as lipsticks.
The device described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,524,008, just like those described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,899,386 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,919, has a bottom forming an integral part of the foam block in which the recess is arranged. Soap contained in this recess is not joined to the recess, which confers an increasing axial mobility in the course of use. This mobility, in particular axial mobility, renders the application of the product very difficult to dose in a precise manner, this difficulty being accentuated since the bottom is not rigid or even semi-rigid. However, these problems of accuracy and metering of the application are not critical when the product is a soap, as in U.S. Pat. No. 1,524,008.

Applicator for friable product and application unit comprising such an applicator


A method and a device for operating an internal combustion engine having a catalytic converter are described making it possible to heat the catalytic converter more quickly. An additional load of the internal combustion engine is applied to heat the catalytic converter.

Much of the exhaust gas emissions in today's gasoline engines is produced during a cold start before the catalytic converter is ready for operation. To reduce exhaust gas emissions, the catalytic converter must be heated as quickly as possible. One way to do this is to operate the engine at an elevated idle speed to increase the exhaust mass flow rate and thus intensify the transfer of heat to the exhaust system. The engine is thus operated with a lean fuel/air mixture (lambda>1) to reduce the emission of uncombusted hydrocarbons. Retarding the ignition point after the top dead center deliberately lowers engine efficiency, which further increases the exhaust mass flow rate.
At a preset maximum acceptable idle speed for heating the catalytic converter, the maximum possible exhaust mass flow rate is limited by the maximum possible decrease in efficiency. This maximum possible decrease in efficiency is currently determined directly by the latest possible ignition angle. This means that increasing the exhaust mass flow rate at a preset idle speed is possible only by further retarding the ignition points, it being possible to continue delaying the ignition points only as long as the combustion of the fuel/air mixture in the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine is still ensured.

Method and device for operating an internal combustion engine having a catalytic converter


A DLL circuit includes a delay line having a configuration with delay stages receiving alternate complementary clock signals ECK and /ECK having an adjusted phase difference therebetween. A capacitor can be used to adjust the phase difference between signals ECK and /ECK to allow the delay line to provide an amount of delay varying minutely. Preferably, for a fast clock, delay adjustment starts with a shift register having an initial value providing an intermediate amount of delay, and for a slow clock, delay adjustment starts with the shift register having an initial value providing a minimal amount of delay. There can be provided a semiconductor device provided with a DLL circuit accommodating a fast clock with reduced jitter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, and particularly to a synchronous semiconductor device taking in a signal in synchronization with an externally applied clock signal. More specifically, the present invention relates to an internal clock generation circuit in a synchronous dynamic random access memory (hereinafter referred to as an SDRAM) employing a delay-locked loop (hereinafter referred to as DLL) for an internal clock circuit.
2. Description of the Background Art
Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) used as main memory has been increased in speed. However, its operating speed still cannot catch up to that of microprocessors (MPUs). Thus it is often said that the DRAM""s access time and cycle time become a bottleneck and the entire system is degraded in performance. In recent years, an SDRAM operating in synchronization with a clock signal is increasingly used as the main memory for a rapid MPU.
The SDRAM, synchronized with an external clock signal to takes in an external signal and data in a synchronous operation, is advantageous in that its data input/output time requires a smaller margin than conventional memory, which requires a margin for its data input/output time to consider a skewed (offset in timing) address signal.
As such, if as in an SDRAM an address signal and a data signal are synchronized by a clock signal and successive data can also be written and read, and shorter successive access times can be achieved.
As an MPU operates more and more rapidly, as has been described above, providing a more rapid internal clock signal for use internal to an SDRAM is an unavoidable issue in terms of the performance of the entire system as well as other aspects, since if an internal clock signal is slow an access time from a clock governs an operating frequency. As such, an SDRAM can have a delay-locked loop (DLL) receiving an external clock signal CLK and generating an internal clock signal ICLK synchronized with clock signal CLK.
FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional DLL.
As shown in FIG. 24, an external clock signal CLK is fed to a clock buffer 502 which in turn outputs a signal ECLK. Signal CLK is fed to a DLL510. DLL510 changes a phase of signal ECLK and outputs internal clock signal ICLK which is sent to an input/output buffer (not shown) receiving an address signal, a data signal and the like and serves as a clock for use in taking in an externally applied signal. Since internal clock signal ICLK can have its phase changed to be different than external clock signal CLK, for example a data signal can be timed differently in outputting data from the input/output buffer. If internal clock signal ICLK phase is set ahead of external clock signal CLK phase, a shorter access time can be achieved.
DLL510 is of digital type. A DLL of digital type is considered suitable since in an SDRAM, which would suffer large power-supply noise, a DLL of analog type would result in large jitter or fluctuation attributed to the noise.
DLL510 includes a delay line 522 delaying signal ECLK received from the clock buffer and outputting internal clock signal ICLK, a delay circuit 526 delaying internal clock signal ICLK for a period of time corresponding to a delay time to an internal circuit where internal clock signal ICLK is used, a phase comparator 528 comparing a phase of a signal RCLK output from delay circuit 526 and that of signal CLK with each other and outputting control signals UP and DOWN, and a shift register 524 responsive to an output from phase comparator 528 for controlling a delay time of delay line 522. This DLL is a type of automatic control circuit.
When phase comparator 528 receives signals CLK and RCLK, phase comparator 528 compares the phases of the signals and outputs control signals UP and DOWN. When signals CLK and RCLK substantially match in phase, synchronization is established. The establishment of synchronization is generally referred to a DLL in locked state. Shift register 524 changes the delay time of the delay line in response to control signals UP and DOWN.
FIG. 25 is a circuit diagram showing one example of a configuration of delay line 522 shown in FIG. 24.
As shown in FIG. 25, a shift register 524 feeds control signals C(1) to C(n) to delay line 522.
Delay line 522 includes an NAND circuit 544#1 receiving signal ECLK and control signal C(1), an NAND circuit 546#1 having one input fixed to have a power supply potential VDD and the other input receiving an output of NAND circuit 544#1, an inverter 547#1 receiving and inverting an output of NAND circuit 541#1, an NAND circuit 544#2 receiving signals CLK and control signal C(2), an NAND circuit 546#2 receiving an output of NAND circuit 544#2 and an output of inverter 547#1, and an inverter 547#2 receiving and inverting an output of NAND circuit 546#2.
Delay line 522 also includes an NAND circuit 544#nxe2x88x921 receiving signal ECLK and control signal C (nxe2x88x921), an NAND circuit 546#nxe2x88x921 receiving an output of inverter 547#nxe2x88x922 (not shown) and an output of NAND circuit 544#nxe2x88x921, an inverter 547#nxe2x88x921 receiving and inverting an output of NAND circuit 546#nxe2x88x921, an NAND circuit 544#n receiving signal ECLK and control signal C(n), an NAND circuit 546#n receiving an output of NAND circuit 544#n and an output of inverter 547#nxe2x88x921, and an inverter 547#n receiving and inverting an output of NAND circuit 546#n and outputting internal clock signal ICLK.
Shift register 524 outputs control signals C(1) to C(n), of which only one signal is set high and the remaining signals are set low. For example, if control signal C(nxe2x88x921) is driven high then signal ECLK is transmitted via NAND circuit 544#nxe2x88x921 and internal clock signal ICLK is responsively output. If a delay time is too long then the high level is output via a control signal shifted rightward in position and if a delay time is too short then the high level is output via a control signal shifted leftward in position. Thus a delay time is adjusted. In general, in powering on an SDRAM a minimal delay time is initially applied. As such, in FIG. 25, control signal C(n) is set high and via NAND circuit 544#n signal ECLK is taken into the delay line.
If such a delay line is used, however, a delay time varies in a step corresponding to the sum-of a delay time of an NAND circuit and that of an inverter. For a high operating frequency, a conventional delay line, having a delay time varying in too large a step, can disadvantageously provide the delay time varying stepwise, resulting in no operating margin.
Furthermore, for a high operating frequency, locking a DLL requires a delay time shorter than the minimal delay. As such, the internal clock signal is limited in having high rate.
The present invention contemplates a semiconductor device incorporating an internal clock signal generation circuit allowing a delay time to vary in a small step to accommodate a clock signal of a high operating frequency.
The present invention provides a semiconductor device including a clock generation circuit and an internal circuit.
The internal clock signal generation circuit generates an operating clock signal in response to an external clock signal.
The internal clock generation circuit includes a phase comparator comparing a phase of the external clock signal and a phase of the operating clock signal with each other and a clock delay portion responsive to an output of the phase comparator for delaying a first internal clock signal to output an operating clock.
The clock delay portion has a clock conversion portion generating from the first internal clock signal a second internal signal and a third internal signal complementary to the second internal signal, and a clock output portion responsive to an output of the phase comparator for changing by one stage a number of gate stage(s) to be passed through.
For an odd number of gate stage(s) to be passed through, the clock output portion outputs the operating clock in response to the second internal clock signal. For an even number of gate stages to be passed through, the clock output portion outputs the operating clock signal in response to the third internal clock signal.
The internal circuit operates in response to the operating clock signal.
The present invention in another aspect provides a semiconductor device including an internal clock generation circuit and an internal circuit.
The internal clock generation circuit generates an operating clock signal in response to an external clock signal. The internal clock generation circuit includes a phase comparator comparing a phase of the external clock signal and a phase of the operating clock signal with each other and a clock delay portion responding to a reset signal to set an initial value of a delay time and responding to an output of the phase comparator to alter a delay time to delay a first internal clock signal for a delay time to output the operating clock.
The clock delay portion has a setting switch portion switching the initial value between a first value and a second value allowing a longer delay time than the first value, and a clock output portion receiving the initial value from the setting switch portion and responding to an output of the phase comparator to alter a delay time to output the operating clock signal corresponding to the first internal clock signal delayed.
The internal circuit operates in response to the operating clock signal.
The present invention in still another aspect provides a semiconductor device including an internal clock generation circuit and an internal circuit.
The internal clock generation circuit generates an operating clock signal in response to an external clock signal. The internal clock generation circuit includes a phase comparator, first and second clock delay portions and a control portion.
The phase comparator compares a phase of the external clock signal and a phase of the operating clock signal with each other. The first clock delay portion delays a first internal clock signal for a first delay time determined in response to an output of the phase comparator. The second clock delay portion delays an output of the first clock delay portion for a second delay time determined in response to an output of the phase comparator in a coarser step than the first delay time to output the operating clock. Once the operating clock is stabilized, the control portion instructs the second clock-delay portion to fix the second delay time regardless of any output of the phase comparator.
The internal circuit operates in response to the operating clock.
Thus a main advantage of the present invention is that a delay line can provide a delay time adjusted in a step more minutely than conventional and jitter can thus be significantly reduced if a fast clock signal is input.
Another advantage of the present invention is that if a high clock frequency is applied an appropriate internal clock can be generated to provide a wide range of clock frequency allowing operation.
Still another advantage of the present invention is that jitter of an internal clock in steady state can be reduced.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Semiconductor device capable of generating highly precise internal clock


A garbage can comprises a bottom provided on the upper side thereof with a bottom seat made up of a receiving slot dimensioned to house an entire roll of garbage bags, two side plates having respectively an arcuate upper edge, a cover fastened pivotally to the two side plates, and a front plate. When the receiving slot is covered in full with the cover, there is a gap formed between the upper edge of the front plate and the cover. The dimension of the gap is such that the garbage bags can be easily pulled out of the receiving slot via the gap. The new garbage bags kept in the receiving slot are shielded by the cover, the front plate and the two side plates so that the new garbage bags can not be soiled by the garbage liquid seeping out through a cut or leak in the garbage bag containing the garbage.

A garbage can is a household item that is used very frequently. In order to facilitate the disposal of the household wastes, the inside wall of the garbage can is generally lined with a garbage bag in which the wastes are kept. However, the garbage can has to be lined again with a new garbage bag each time when the full garbage bag is disposed of. Such a household chore of lining the garbage can with the garbage bag is not something that people enjoy doing. As a result, a new kind of garbage can was introduced. Such garbage can is provided at the bottom thereof with means in which a stack of new garbage bags are kept in such a manner that a new garbage bag can be pulled out through an opening. Nevertheless people are often annoyed at the fact that the new garbage bag can not be easily pulled out via the opening and that the new garbage bags kept at the bottom of the garbage can are often soiled by the garbage liquid seeping out of the garbage bag through a leak in the garbage bag.


Provided are an adiabatic compressed air energy storage for an automotive vehicle and an energy storage method using the same, whereby a new vehicle function is provided by using available energy from the discharged and expelled energy generated from a driven automotive vehicle or available energy source outside an automotive vehicle, and transforming the generated energy to convenient electric power and efficiently storing the energy, so that electric power can be supplied regardless of space or time constraint during the automotive vehicle in operation or parked or vehicle engine stop in view of the increase demands of electric power in automotive vehicles.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an adiabatic compressed air energy storage for an automotive vehicle to effectively transform and store available but wasted energy from the automotive vehicle being driven or external energy source into electric power for easy use in the automotive vehicle, and an energy storage method using the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The efficiency of energy use in an automotive vehicle being in operation is roughly 30%, and remaining 65˜70% is expelled from the vehicle while a little amount of exhaust heat may be used as heat energy.
An electric power car being recently spread is driven by receiving electric power from external source (Plug-in), and a hybrid car generates power by using effective power drawn from shafts depending on operation condition and stores the power into battery.
Recently, we are seeing rapid changes in our life styles developed based on smart technologies. Particularly, electric power demands for various smart mobile devices inside an automotive vehicles running or parked will be dramatically increased. In the conventional or existing automotive vehicle, when its engine is not in operation (off) while being parked or stopped, electric power supply from the automotive vehicle could not be expected because of discharge of battery power. Therefore, it is highly requested for the functions of new automotive vehicles enable to meet the increased demand of electric power supply in automotive vehicles.

Adiabatic compressed air energy storage for automotive vehicle and energy storage method using the same


A lighting system includes a light-emitting diode (LED) that emits light having a hue that varies in response to variations in a voltage applied to the LED and an intensity that varies in response to variations in a duty cycle of the applied voltage. The lighting system includes a controller configured to receive a command signal having a periodic peak voltage and a periodic valley voltage. The controller includes a peak detector and a valley detector that detects the peak voltage and the valley voltage, respectively. The controller includes a pulse generator that generates a pulse stream having a pulse-voltage magnitude substantially equal to the detected peak voltage and a pulse-voltage duty cycle substantially equal to the ratio of the detected valley voltage to the detected peak voltage. The generated pulse stream is applied to the LED resulting in light emission of the controlled hue and of the controlled intensity.

Aircraft lighting systems are used to provide lighting for various purposes. Some systems provide illumination of instrumentation. Some systems illuminate cabin spaces. Some systems are for external lighting. Some systems provide overhead illumination of passenger seating areas to facilitate reading. Light Emitting Diode (LED) arrays are used to provide illumination for some of these lighting systems. LED arrays can require large power controllers to control the hue and brightness. Such power controllers can be located near each individual lighting source, resulting in a large number of such controllers. Having controllers distributed throughout an aircraft can contribute weight to the aircraft and add expense to the cost of the aircraft.
The intensity of light emission from LED lighting arrays changes in response to an applied power to the LED lighting array. As the applied power is increased, the intensity of light emission usually increases. Some LED lighting arrays emit a light whose color is also a function of the power consumed by the LED lighting array. For example, the color of the emitted light can change in response to a change in the applied voltage to the LED lighting array. People expect that some lighting systems will have a specific color. For example, when reading, people expect overhead illumination to be within a predetermined range of colors called "white light."
Because both intensity and hue are functions of the voltage and current applied to an LED lighting array, control of both intensity and hue are performed using pulsed methods. The voltage and current levels are determined by a color specification. Then a duty cycle is determined by an intensity specification. The frequency rate at which these pulses are applied to an LED lighting array is bounded by two different concerns or hazards. If the pulse rate is too low, a human will perceive the LED lighting array to be undesirably flickering. If the pulse rate is too high, conducted and/or radiated emissions may cause undesirable coupling to sensitive airplane instrumentation.

Hue and dimming control circuits for lamps or LED arrays


Aerodynamically efficient air flow management in axial flow-turbines is provided by utilizing a variable stagger and camber airfoil. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, this is accomplished by providing a two-piece airfoil including a strut and a flap, each of which is mounted to articulate about a common, radially oriented axis. The strut and flap are respectively positioned by a strut gear and a flap gear, located at the radial end of the airfoil and, in an exemplary embodiment, are driven by a stepped synchronizing ring.

The present invention relates to a mechanical method to create a variable stagger and camber airfoil.
For power generation applications, limits on start time, grid demand response time, and maintenance factors create an environment where it is often advantageous to reduce the output of the gas turbine rather than shutting it down as demand is reduced. Axial flow industrial gas turbines modulate output levels by controlling the amount of air flow entering the compressor with inlet guide vanes.
The conventional "Inlet Guide Vane" (IGV) is a single stage of articulated airfoils (about a radial axis) located in the front of the axial flow compressor. The maximum amount of air flow occurs when the IGV chord is aligned, or parallel, with the incoming air flow. This flow is reduced as the IGV stagger angle is rotated to a more aerodynamically closed position. For purposes of the disclosure, the stagger angle (ΘStagger) is defined as the angle between the air flow velocity vector and a straight line which connects the leading and trailing edge of the interconnected airfoils in the chordwise direction. The IGV operation is simple, but aerodynamically inefficient. In this regard, industrial gas turbines are designed to operate most efficiently at full power. As the output level is reduced, by limiting the incoming air flow the efficiency is also reduced. This efficiency loss is attributable to the aerodynamic inefficiencies associated with a conventional IGV configuration.
Conventional variable geometry compressor airfoils are limited to either stagger-only or camber-only changes. See in this regard U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,301 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,786. Thus, conventional variable geometry compressor airfoils do not have both variable camber and stagger control.

Variable camber and stagger airfoil and method