A planar carrier for a coded card is substantially aesthetically irreversibly convertible from a substantially two-dimensional blank into a three-dimensional card enclosing gift package.

This invention relates to packaging and carriers for coded cards, such as phone cards, bank cards, credit cards, debit cards and other merchant-specific cards.
Coded cards are well-known and widely used for a variety of purposes, examples being credit cards, debit cards, rental cards, bank cards and the like. In more a recent application of coded cards, such cards are used to secure or extend credit for prepaid products or services. Examples of this are phone cards. The phone card carries a pre-paid amount of credit which the card user, typically the bearer, exhausts as the card user makes telephone calls using the phone card.
Pre-paid gift cards have exploded in popularity and carry with them an amount of pre-paid credit for which the donor has typically paid. Such gift cards represent a cash equivalent when the pre-paid gift card is presented by the donor to a donee.
Whatever the type of pre-paid coded card, to reduce the risk of theft, such cards sold in a retail environment are stored or displayed with the cards being inactive. These so-called "pre-paid" cards require activation before the card may be used. Desirably, card activation is performed at the time the card is purchased. Activation is typically performed by machine-reading a unique identification number encoded on the card, with the machine-reading being performed at the point-of-sale of the coded card. Typically a unique identification number for the card is stored on a magnetic strip or as part of a bar code which is printed on or otherwise permanently attached to the rear of the card.
The card identification number is read by the card reader machine as the portion of the card where the magnetic strip or bar code is located is brought into proximity with the card reader. This is typically done by passing the card portion on which the magnetic strip or bar code is located along a reading head of a card reader machine which magnetically or optically senses the unique identification number encoded in the magnetic strip or bar code associated with that card. During the card activation process the card usually, but not always, remains attached to a cardboard carrier via which the card is displayed in the retail environment. The card reader machine transmits the unique identification number which has been read for the particular card to a central computer, which typically is remotely located relative to the point-of-sale locale of the card. The computer "activates" the card by accessing account information corresponding to the card number, which account information is stored within the central computer, and "opening" the account for that particular card. Once the card has been "activated" in this manner, the bearer of the card can purchase goods or services, using the card as cash, in an amount equal to the value which has been assigned to the account associated with the card. Whenever the card is used, the central computer debits the account corresponding to the card until the value of the account for the card is zero. At that point the account is closed or otherwise inactivated and the card can no longer be used.

Carrier which is aesthetically irreversibly convertible from planar blank to closed package for coded card and methods for manufacture and use of the same


Concatenatable lighting fixtures, each comprising a unitary cover member having a circuit board mounting platform integrally formed with suitable heat sinking and which mounts onto a cooperating base chassis. In one embodiment, the circuit board mounting platform extends farther from one end of the cover member than the other so as to facilitate placement of LEDs in a fashion which enhances lighting uniformity and minimizes dark spots. In one embodiment, first and second guide members may be positioned in respective opposite ends of adjacent fixtures, each guide member having a plurality of extending fingers with a flexible electrical conductor-carrying conduit disposed between the respective opposite ends and retained in position by the fingers.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the field of lighting technology and more specifically, to the use of LEDs in commercial and residential lighting fixtures.
2. Description of Related Art
Incandescent lighting has a low efficiency since much of the electrical power supplied to such lighting is converted to heat instead of light. The cost of electricity is expected to increase in the future as the cost of producing electricity rises. LEDs (light emitting diodes) provide a much more efficient conversion of electrical energy from incandescent lighting and efforts are underway to employ more efficient and longer lasting LED lamps in various applications.


In an embodiment, a processor includes a binary translation engine to receive a code segment, to generate a binary translation of the code segment, and to store the binary translation in a translation cache, where the binary translation includes at least one policy check routine to be executed during execution of the binary translation on behalf of a security agent. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Current anti-virus/anti-malware technologies are used to monitor critical application and kernel code for introspection to track illegal usage by malware or virus. The technique for monitoring critical code (such as application programming interfaces (APIs)) involves hooking the critical code and enforcing a detour to the anti-virus agent for introspection before allowing the critical code execution to continue.
One method used for hooking/detour to the anti-virus agent is instruction patching the original code for detour to the anti-virus agent. However the disadvantage of this method that it is intrusive and non-transparent. As a result hooks can be easily detected by the virus. Also, patching the original code becomes complex due to instruction boundary issues. For example, it is not safe to patch when the size of the original instruction replaced by the patch is smaller than the size of the patch instruction. It is also not safe to patch instructions that have return instruction pointer (RIP)-relative addressing since the anti-malware agent code executes at a different virtual address in the monitored address space.
Another such method is by page permission revocation such as marking a page having critical code as non-executable and steering control to the anti-virus agent via exceptions. A disadvantage of this method is that it has high overhead. In addition, there is the performance impact of taking exceptions. Moreover there can be a high number of false positives due to coarse-grained (e.g., 4 kilobyte (kB) page-level) hooking, which causes unnecessary context switches to the anti-virus agent for analysis.

Performing security operations using binary translation


Various embodiments describe systems and methods for utilizing a reduced amount of processing capacity for incoming data over time, and, in response to detecting a scene-change-event, notify one or more data processors that a scene-change-event has occurred, and cause incoming data to be processed as new data. In some embodiments, an incoming frame can be compared with a reference frame to determine a difference between the reference frame and the incoming frame. The reference frame may be correlated to a latest scene-change-event. In response to a determination that the difference does not meet one or more difference criteria, a user interface or at least one processor of the computing device can be notified to reduce processing of incoming data over time. In response to a determination that the difference meets the one or more difference criteria, the user interface or the at least one processor can be notified that a scene-change-event has occurred. Incoming data to the computing device is then treated as new and processed as those under an active condition. The current incoming frame can be selected as a new reference frame for detecting next scene-change-event.

Portable computing devices are becoming increasingly powerful and affordable. Many applications for these computing devices can be used to identify certain types of text and/or visual objects in videos and images as the videos and images are being captured by, or streamed onto, the computing devices. However, data processing of video and/or audio data may take substantial processing capacity and power on the computing devices. Also, the increasingly thinner and smaller designs of portable computing devices may limit the sizes and capacities of the batteries and processors that can be used in these devices. With more applications and features running on mobile devices, processing speed and battery lifetime can be increasingly important for an acceptable user experience. Therefore, there is a need to preserve processing power and battery on a computing device for tasks such as video and/or audio recognition processes.

Visual and audio recognition for scene change events


Undersize particles are recovered from a conventional manufacturing process commonly employed to prepare fused magnesia crystals. The recovery hydrolizes a bulk mass of the collected undersize particles causing fracture to eventually occur in the bulk mass and thereafter fuses the agglomerated material in an electric arc furnace.

This invention relates generally to a method for recovery of undersize crystalline particulates requiring hydrolysis of the particular crystalline material being employed and more particularly for the treatment of undersized fused magnesia particles in this manner in order to develop a larger particle size upon subsequent processing.
Fused magnesia particulates are conventionally produced in an electric arc furnace forming a solid ingot from the molten starting material which is thereafter mechanically crushed and ground by various means to a final desired particle size. The further conventional crushing and grinding processes being employed produces a particle size averaging around 30 mesh United States screen size accompanied by considerable magnesia dust having a particle size no greater than approximately 250 mesh United States screen size. The dust by-product cannot thereafter be reclaimed by refusion in the arc-type furnace being employed due to its light fluffy condition which effectively resists any further physical agglomeration as well as being too easily blown out of the fusion vessel by the hot gases accompanying furnace operation. The fine dust material also allows molten magnesia to migrate away from the hot zone in the fusion vessel which can result in damage of the vessel walls and with such damage to the fusion vessel further occasioning a violent expulsion of molten magnesia to the surroundings.
A wide assortment of fused magnesia products can be manufactured in the foregoing manner to include various types and grades for dissimilar end use applications. To further illustrate such diversity, this material is now commonly employed in electrical heating elements, refractory structures, and friction brake constructions. The electrical grade material for heating elements typically ranges in magnesia purity from at least 50 weight percent up to at least 98 weight percent, with a grain size ranging from approximately 20 to 40 weight percent in the size range -40 mesh United States screen size, while further exhibiting required electrical resistance and thermal conductivity characteristics. A still further requirement for said electrical heating element applications is mechanical flow of the fused magnesia particulates when filling the metal casings employed for said elements which can be enhanced by coating the magnesia particles with a solid or liquid lubricant, such as a silicone and the like. As distinct therefrom, a typical fused magnesia product for refractory structures such as bricks and blocks maintains a relatively high purity magnesia content in the 95-98 weight percent range together with a particle size range from 80-2,000 microns. The physical properties commonly specified for fused magnesia products to replace asbestos in friction brake constructions includes high temperature stability and Mohs hardness of at least 5. To satisfy these requirements, a typical product ranges in magnesia content from approximately 90-99 weight percent with a particle size in the -40+60 mesh United States screen size from approximately 25-35 weight percent.
A fused magnesia product suitable for electrical heating elements can be produced in the above manner utilizing a conventional submerged arc electric furnace of the general type long employed for steel-melting. Electric heating is supplied with single or multiple electrodes to establish a reaction zone within the fusion vessel where the mineral charge becomes melted. In doing so, fusion can commence upon a batch charge already present in the furnace vessel with additional mineral batches being charged during the fusion process. When the charged material has been converted to a molten state, the applied electrical power is terminated allowing the furnace contents to cool providing a solid ingot with varying degrees of crystalline formation. The furnace ingot is subsequently crushed by conventional mechanical means such as with a jaw crusher followed by a hammer mill which can still further include magnetic separation means to remove any entrained metal contaminants. A conventional vibrating screen apparatus is next employed to provide the desired particle size from the crushed material while further yielding at least 5 weight percent undersize particles passing through 325 mesh United States screen size. The desired particle size material is then heated in an oxidizing atmosphere to approximately 1000.degree. C. for additional impurity removal and optionally blended with a suitable lubricant to provide a free-flowing powder having the above defined electrical and physical characteristics suitable for heating element utilization. Accordingly, it remains desirable to recover the undersized fused magnesia particles resulting from the aforementioned crushing and grinding processes so as to reduce environmental problems caused by dust escape in the manufacturing plant as well as significantly increase the yield of usable product being manufactured.
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide effective means whereby undersize fused magnesia particulates can be converted to larger size particles.
It another object of the present invention to provide novel treatment means enabling fused magnesia particles no greater than approximately 250 mesh United States screen size to be effectively reprocessed into a larger particle size polycrystalline product.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for recovery of undersized fused magnesia particulates so as to increase product yield from the starting material.
These and still further objects of the present invention will become apparent upon considering the following detailed description of the present invention.


A method and apparatus for using security agents to perform security-related functions in an agent community is described. More particularly, security agents are used to monitor and police an agent community for abnormal actions of agents within an agent community and to detect and police non-approved agents within the community. The security agents include a configuration, a distribution, a secure copy, and a patrol agent.

Software agents are known in the art. Software agents are independent, executable, software generally designed for a single function. An agent community is a collection of agents for performing a single task or multiple tasks. The agent community may be resident and executing on a single computer or the agent community may be distributed and executing on a network of multiple computers.
Agents are software entities displaying the traits of cooperation, learning and autonomy to various degrees. Agents use standard languages and protocols to reach common goals through collaborative cooperation, learn from experience and observation, adapt to their environment, and act on their own to pursue their own agendas. Some typical attributes of agents include adaptability, ability to communicate knowledge, persistence, inferential capability, personality (predictable behavior characteristics), and mobility. Some agents are able to travel from system to system to complete a specified task. Mobile agents are able to carry their data and execution context along with them as they travel between communities. Agents may display some or all of these attributes, as well as other possible attributes not included in this list.
When an agent community is built using known software tools, there is a possibility of invasion or inclusion of "rogue agents" or "mole agents." Rogue agents are agents whose purpose is to spy on or disrupt the agent community. Mole agents are agents whose purpose is to spy on the agent community and collect and provide information from within the community to a person, agent, or organization outside the agent community.
During the community building process, an infiltration, either physical or electronic, may be used by unscrupulous individuals to insert or add rogue or mole agents to a community. These agents may then disrupt the operation of the community or they may simply spy on and report information about the community to outside the community.
After the community is built, the possibility of outside infiltration of rogue agents remains. If there are no security controls or agents in place, a rogue agent may be added to the community from outside the community once the community is built and executed. Because of agent mobility or the ability to migrate between communities, it is possible for a rogue agent to migrate from one agent community to another agent community by posing as an authorized agent in the community.
Communities are typically "trusting" software, assuming that new agents connecting or migrating are trustworthy by knowing the protocol. The intent is to make expansion of the communities easy by making it easy to add or replace agents.
Previous approaches have included active human monitoring and intervention in the execution of the agent community. A human operator would be required to monitor the agent community and detect abnormal operations being performed by agents in the community. Additionally, the human operator must monitor agent migrations between communities. Upon detection of a rogue or mole agent, the human operator would then actively initiate security measures, such as isolation, continued monitoring, misdirection, and unauthorized agent termination. By requiring a human presence to perform security functions, the agent community efficiency and speed is decreased and expense is increased. Therefore, there is a need in the art to perform security-related functions in an agent community using security agents without requiring human intervention. More specifically, there is a need in the art for a special set of agents to monitor and police an agent community for abnormal actions or unauthorized agents within the community.

Intelligent agents used to provide agent community security


Electronic devices may have housings in which components are mounted. Some of the components may be sensitive to moisture. Other components may be insensitive to moisture and may form openings in a device housing that allow moisture to escape from within the housing. Components may be mounted on substrates such as printed circuit board substrates. Moisture repelling layers and moisture attracting layers may be patterned to form channels and other structures that guide moisture away from sensitive components towards insensitive components. Moisture repelling and attracting layers may also be used to limit the lateral spread of a conformal coating layer when coating components.

This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to materials within electronic devices that control moisture.
Electronic devices are often exposed to moist environments. As an example, a user may operate a cellular telephone or media player outdoors when there is precipitation. Devices may also be exposed to moisture in the form of perspiration.
Waterproof devices are able to withstand exposure to moisture. Waterproof housings are, however, often impractical for normal use. Conventional electronic devices are therefore vulnerable to moisture-induced damage, particularly when sensitive device components such as buttons are subjected to prolonged contact with moisture.
Conformal coatings are sometimes used to encapsulate device components and make them less vulnerable to moisture exposure. It can be difficult, however, to accurately control the application of conformal coatings, because conformal coatings often have a tendency to spread out over the substrates on which they are applied. Conformal coatings are also not always effective at blocking moisture.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide electronic devices with improved configurations for protecting vulnerable device components from exposure to moisture.

Electronic devices with moisture guiding structures


Provided is a field emission display in which a gate hole having an inclined inner wall and a gate electrode around the gate hole are formed between an anode plate having a phosphor and a cathode plate having a field emitter and a control device for controlling a field emission current, whereby the voltage applied to the gate electrode of the gate plate serves to prohibit an electron emission of the field emitter by the anode voltage, and prevent a local arching by forming a totally uniform potential, so that the life time of the field emission display can be improved, and the gate hole having the inclined inner wall enables a fabrication of a filed emission display panel having a high brightness without an additional focusing grid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field emission display (FED) in which a field emission device is applied to a flat display, and more particularly, to a field emission display comprising a gate hole having an inclined inner wall between an anode plate having a phosphor and a cathode plate having a field emitter and a control device for controlling field emission current, and a gate electrode around the top of the gate holes, wherein the field emitter of the cathode plate is constructed to be opposite to the phosphor of the anode plate through the gate hole.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A field emission display is a device representing an image through cathodeluminescence of a phosphor, by colliding an electron emitted from a field emitter of a cathode plate against the phosphor of an anode plate, wherein the cathode plate having the field emitter and the anode plate having the phosphor are formed to be opposite to each other and be separated by a given distance (for example, 2 mm), by means of vacuum packaging. Recently, many researches and developments have been made on the field emission display as a flat display capable of replacing a conventional cathode ray tube (CRT). Electron emission efficiency in the field emitter being a kernel constitutional element of the field emission display cathode plate is variable depending on a device structure, an emitter material and a shape of the emitter.
The structure of the field emission device can be mainly classified into a diode type having the cathode (or emitter) and the anode, and a triode type having the cathode, the gate and the anode. Metal, silicon, diamond, diamond like carbon, carbon nanotube, and the like have been used commonly as the emitter material. Generally, the metal and silicon have been fabricated to the triode structure, and the diamond, carbon nanotube, and etc. manufactured to the diode structure.
The diode field emitter is usually formed by making diamond or carbon nanotube a film-shaped. The diode field emitter has advantages in simplicity of the manufacturing process and high reliability of the electron emission, even though it has disadvantages in controllability of the electron emission and low-voltage driving, as compared with the triode field emitter.
Hereinafter, a conventional field emission display having a field emitter will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view for schematically illustrating a construction of a conventional field emission display having a diode field emitter.
A cathode plate has cathode electrodes 11 arranged in a belt shape on a lower glass substrate 10B, and film-shaped field emitter materials 12 on a portion thereof. An anode plate has transparent anode electrodes 13 arranged in a belt shape on an upper glass substrate 10T, and phosphors 14 of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) on a portion thereof. The elements of the cathode plate and the anode plate, as mentioned above, are vacuum packaged in parallel, while facing each other, by using spacers 15 as a supporter. The cathode electrodes 11 of the cathode plate and the transparent anode electrodes 13 of the anode plate are arranged to intersect each other. In the above, an intersecting region is defined as a one pixel.
In the field emission display shown in FIG. 1, an electric field required for an electron emission corresponds to a voltage difference between the cathode electrodes 11 and the anode electrodes 13, divided by the cathode-anode distance. It has been commonly noted that the electron emission occurs in the field emitter when the electric field is applied to the field emitter material in the value of 0.1 V/μm or more.
FIG. 2 shows the field emission display proposed for improving the disadvantages of the field emission display shown in FIG. 1, which schematically illustrates a construction of a conventional field emission display using a control device for controlling the field emitter in each pixel of the cathode plate.
The cathode plate includes belt-shaped scan signal lines 21S and data signal lines 21D, which are formed of a metal on a glass substrate 20B and capable of an electrical row/column addressing, a film (thin or thick film) shaped field emitter 22, in which each pixel defined by the scan signal line 21S and the data signal line 21D is formed of diamond, diamond like carbon, carbon nanotube, etc., and control devices 23 connected to the scan signal line 21S, the data signal line 21D and the field emitter 22 to control a field emission current depending on scan and data signals of the display. The anode plate includes transparent anode electrodes 24 arranged in a belt shape on a glass substrate 20T, and phosphors 25 of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) on a portion thereof. The cathode plate and the anode plate are vacuum packaged in parallel, while facing each other, by using spacers 26 as a supporter.
In the field emission display shown in FIG. 2, a high voltage is applied to the anode electrodes 24 to induce an electron emission from the film-shaped field emitter 22 in the cathode plate, and to accelerate the emitted electrons with high energy at the same time. Then, if a signal of the display is inputted to the control devices 23 through the scan signal line 21S and the data signal line 21D, the control device 23 controls the amount of electrons emitted from the film-shaped field emitter to represent row/column images.
The diode field emitter used for the field emission displays shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, as described above, has advantages that the structure is simple and the manufacturing process is easy, since it does not need a gate and a gate insulating film unlike a conic triode field emitter.
Further, the diode field emitter has very low probability in the breakdown of the field emitter by the sputtering effect of positively ionized particles generated by a collision of electrons to remnant gases, so that it has a high reliability and there is no breakdown phenomenon of the gate and the gate insulator, which is very problematic in the triode field emitter.
In the field emission display having the diode field emitter shown in FIG. 1, however, a high electric field (generally, several V/μm) necessary for field emission is applied through the electrodes (cathode electrodes 11 and transparent anode electrodes 13 in FIG. 1) of the upper and lower plates being separated by a significant distance (usually, 200 μm to 2 mm), so that a display signal having a high voltage is required. As a result, there is a disadvantage that an expensive high voltage driving circuit is required.
Particularly, in the field emission display having the diode field emitter of FIG. 1, a low voltage driving is nearly impossible since the anode electrode 13 is used as an acceleration electrode of the electron as well as a signal line of the display, even though the voltage necessary for electron emission is lowered by reducing the distance between the upper plate and the lower plate. In the field emission display, an electron having high energy of 200 eV or more is required to emit the light from the phosphor. The higher electron energy is, the better luminous efficiency is. Thus, a high-brightness field emission display can be obtained only if the high voltage is applied to the anode electrode.
In the conventional active-matrix field emission display having the diode field emitter shown in FIG. 2, the high voltage driving problem, non-uniformity of electron emission, cross talk, etc. can be solved by employing the control device 23 of the field emitter in each pixel and inputting the display signal through it. The high voltage applied to the anode electrode 24 for the field emission and electron acceleration, however, comes to induce a significant voltage to the control devices 23 of each pixel. Further, if the voltage is induced more than the breakdown voltage of the control devices 23, the control device could be broken.
Therefore, the conventional active-matrix field emission display has disadvantages that the voltage applied to the anode electrodes 24 may be confined depending on the breakdown characteristics of the control devices 23, whereby it is difficult to fabricate the field emission display having the high brightness.

Field emission display in which a field emission device is applied to a flat display

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A transition part (1) between two optical waveguides (2,3) with different index contrast is characterised in that the transition part (1) includes a non-adiabatically up-tapered longitudinal section (8), and in that the transition (7) between the two waveguides (2,3) is arranged after the up-tapered longitudinal section (8) as seen along the main direction (L) of propagation of the light. A method of manufacturing the transition part is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transition part between two optical waveguides. More precisely, the invention relates to a transition part between two such waveguides with different index contrast.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, optical waveguides are used within the field of optical communications. The ability of a waveguide to limit the size of the light field perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the waveguide depends on its index contrast. Herein, the expression index contrast refers to a measure of the difference in effective index in a lateral direction, diametrically to the main direction of propagation of the light, for the effective index profile of the waveguide when reduced to one dimension. High index contrast leads to a strong limitation of the extension of the light mode in the waveguide and vice versa.
For example, low index contrast waveguides are used in so called ridge lasers, in which these waveguides among other things lead to high reliability and simplified manufacturing. High index contrast waveguides are, for example, used in so called modulators, in which it is possible to affect the refractive index of the waveguides by applying a small voltage, and in which one may reach high efficiency regarding the change as a consequence of the high index contrast.
It is often desirable to mix high index contrast waveguides with low index contrast waveguides in the same technical application, whereby the problem arises of achieving transition parts between such waveguides, which transitions parts would lead to small losses and not to other problems such as for instance unwanted reflections. In particular, this is true for monolithic, integrated optical circuits, in which different waveguides are arranged on the same chip.
Moreover, in certain applications it may be desirable to control the losses in such transition parts with great exactness to certain predetermined values. For example, this may be the case when exact control is desired over the difference in loss between several different transitions, for instance in a modulator.
The American U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,119 discloses a transition part connecting two ridge structure waveguides, in other words waveguides involving a so called ridge structure, with low and high index contrast, respectively (see FIG. 11 in the referred to patent). The transition takes place by the use of a gradually narrowing, contracting or down-tapering of a lower layer in the waveguide, whereby the vertical mode confinement gradually changes across the transition.

Transition device for optical waveguides


A manufacturing system utilizes a common database structure and product definition to achieve true integration of multiple systems. The production definition includes an item and specification to define material or resources used in or related to a manufacturing process. The item identifies the material or resources, and the specification describes its performance specifications. Multiple manufacturing systems each utilize the same common database structure and product definition for processing data. These systems may include an Environmental, Health, Safety & Training system to manage environmental and health aspects of the manufacturing process. A New Product Development system may also be integrated with the common database to facilitate and automate the process of developing new products. The true integration of manufacturing systems allows full communication among the systems and automates many functions, such as generating reports and monitoring of hazardous materials and agents.

Process manufacturers have traditionally used a variety of systems for managing a manufacturing process. These systems may include an enterprise system, which may contain customer service, resource planning systems, and other centralized functions. The typical prior art enterprise systems are at a high level and are relatively removed from the actual manufacturing process. Typical resource planning systems may be accomplished by a material requirements planning system that tracks inventory and facilitates in planning for the inventory required in a particular production run.
Typical prior art environmental systems are often used to generate reports required by the government. By government regulations, manufacturers using hazardous materials must submit reports to the government that include, for example, amounts and types of hazardous material manufactured, processed, or otherwise used in the manufacturing process. Also, under right-to-know laws, employees have a right to know the types of hazardous material, if any, to which they are exposed. Environmental systems assist in managing this type of data and in generating reports.
Prior art health, safety, and training systems are typically used to track exposure of employees to hazardous materials and to determine preventative measures. The system may contain the various exposures and keep track of any employee exams or training. An employee who is exposed to hazardous materials may undergo periodic exams to determine if the exposure has caused any health problems. Employees may also have training regarding how to handle or work with hazardous materials, and the training is designed to minimize the potential for injury or exposure to the material.
Prior art low-level systems used in the manufacturing process may include area/unit control systems that interface and control the actual machinery on a shop floor in a manufacturing process. Workers on the shop floor may use data obtained with the enterprise system to determine inputs to the area/unit control system. For example, the enterprise system may indicate the quantity of a particular resource required in a manufacturing process. On the shop floor, a worker may obtain that quantity information and use it in the area/unit control system to adjust the manufacturing process to accommodate the desired quantity.
Between the prior art enterprise, area/unit control, and other manufacturing systems, there exists an information gap. These prior art systems operate independent of one another and typically use different product definitions in different and incompatible databases. For example, in traditional process manufacturing systems, the environmental and health, safety and training systems are stand-alone systems that operate independent of both one another and any other system used to control the manufacturing process. Accordingly, the systems are unable to efficiently communicate with one another or other manufacturing systems system. In order for these systems to communicate, either data must be manually reentered into one system from another or complex interface programs must be written to transfer data between the incompatible databases.
Another type of stand-alone system that may be used in a manufacturing process is a system for developing new products. When developing new products, particularly in the process industry, time to market can be critical in obtaining a competitive advantage. A company that is late in getting a product to the market may end up obtaining a much smaller portion of the market share, even though the company's product may be in no way inferior to the first product on the market. As a result, maintaining maximum efficiency in the development process is essential.
Traditionally, companies develop new products by shuffling papers or files from one person to another throughout the development process. Each person typically evaluates the product in his or her role within the company and then pass the "new product file" on to the next person. This process can be slow and inefficient due to the large interchange of paper documentation.
Alternatively, there is some availability of commercial product development systems, which provide electronic documentation of the development process and attempt to automate the process. These systems, however, are not integrated with a plant-level manufacturing system, which means that, once the new product is finalized and ready to be commercially produced, the information from the product development system must be entered into a manufacturing control system in order to set up the entire production run. These system, therefore, assist in new product development, but do not necessarily assist in determining parameters to be used in the plant-level system for manufacturing the new product.
Even though the manufacturing systems described above may be crudely interfaced together, they are not truly integrated. As a result, the systems have inefficiency that could only be resolved by true integration.
A need exists, therefore, for a truly integrated manufacturing system that utilizes a common database structure. In particular, a need exists for integrating environmental and health, safety and training systems within plant-level manufacturing system. There is an additional need, particularly in the process industry, for a new product development system that is completely integrated within the plant-level manufacturing system.


A device and a method are disclosed for measuring sectional forces on a single-piece structural element in respect of a sectional plane by strain gauges, wherein a first and a second strain gauge of the plurality of strain gauges are arranged on a first outer wall, and a third and a fourth strain gauge are arranged on a second outer wall, with the result that, when the structural element is loaded with a first force, the change in length of the first and third strain gauges is opposite to the change in length of the second and fourth strain gauges, wherein the first outer wall and the second outer wall have, in the region of a cavity, at least three openings, which are separated from each other by webs, and wherein the first, second, third and fourth strain gauges are arranged on the webs.

The present invention relates to a device and a method for measuring sectional forces on a single-piece structural element with respect to a sectional plane by means of a plurality of strain gauges, wherein the structural element has a first and a second outer wall, which run perpendicular to the sectional plane, extend in a mirror-symmetrical manner in relation to each other about a first mirror plane of symmetry and are connected by further outer walls, wherein the first mirror plane of symmetry extends perpendicularly to the sectional plane, wherein each strain gauge has a measurement direction, and the electrical resistance of the strain gauge is a function of the length of the strain gauge in the measurement direction, wherein a first and a second strain gauge of the plurality of strain gauges are arranged on the first outer wall, and a third and a fourth strain gauge of the plurality of strain gauges are arranged on the second outer wall, wherein the strain gauges are arranged such that, when the structural element is loaded with a first force acting parallel to the sectional plane and parallel to the first mirror plane of symmetry, the first and third strain gauges undergo an identically oriented change in length in the measurement direction, the second and fourth strain gauges undergo an identically oriented change in length in the measurement direction, and the change in length of the first and third strain gauges is converse or opposite to the change in length of the second and fourth strain gauges.
By a sectional force or sectional magnitude or sectional reaction is meant the action of forces and torques within a structural element or component. These are the forces that must be applied or brought up by a structural element in order not to fail under the action of external forces or torques. Sectional forces or, also, sectional reactions, cannot be viewed from outside a structural element. In order for the forces and torques acting in the structural element to be made visible, a structural element must be notionally cut along a sectional plane, hence the name. Sectional forces become externally visible as a result of deformations of the structural element subjected to the action of a force or torque. The deformation of a structural element is manifested on its surface, in that the surface—depending on an acting force or acting torque and as a function of the location under consideration—undergoes stretching or compression.
The surface changes in the form of elongations or compressions can be measured by means of so-called strain gauges. A strain gauge is an electrical resistor, the resistance value or, simply, resistance, of which depends on the length of the strain gauge in the measurement direction. If the strain gauge is elongated, i.e. its length becomes greater in the measurement direction, then the electrical resistance of the strain gauge increases. Conversely, the electrical resistance of the strain gauge decreases when the strain gauge becomes compressed or shorter. Strain gauges are designed such that they have an unambiguous measurement direction, or measurement axis, which is characterized in that the change in resistance upon a change in length in the measurement direction, or along the measurement axis, is much greater than upon a change in length in other directions. In particular, strain gauges are preferably constructed such that a change in length perpendicular to the measurement direction results only in a minimal change in resistance.
In order to measure the elongation or compression of a surface of a structural element, the strain gauge is fixed to the surface in a suitable manner. If a force then acts on the structural element, and the surface of the structural element deforms in the region in which the strain gauge is arranged, the electrical resistance of the strain gauge changes. The change in the resistance is obviously greatest in the case when the surface of the structural element deforms parallel to the measurement direction of the strain gauge. It must be taken into consideration, however, that a structural element that is elongated perpendicular to the measurement direction of a strain gauge is normally compressed in the direction of the strain gauge. An elongation of the surface of a structural element in one direction therefore normally results in a measurable compression of a strain gauge the measurement direction of which runs perpendicular to the direction of elongation.
The length of the strain gauge therefore does not only change when the surface of the structural element is elongated parallel or perpendicular to the measurement direction of the strain gauge. In order to be able to determine the direction of an elongation or compression of the surface, several strain gauges, the measurement directions of which are oriented in differing directions, are attached one above the other or close to one another on the same surface. With a suitable arrangement of the strain gauges, the direction of the elongation of the surface of the structural element can be determined from the change in resistance of the various strain gauges.
This, however, is not sufficient for determining whether the deformation is produced by a force or a torque. For this purpose, distributed arrangements of preferably four strain gauges are used, of which two are compressed and two are elongated in each case when a particular force or a particular torque acts on the structural element. Preferably, the strain gauges are arranged such that different strain gauges are elongated or compressed, depending on whether the torque or the force is acting on the structural element.
Likewise, the state of the art has for a long time included the determination of the resistance of the strain gauges. Measurement of the electrical resistance is preferably not effected directly, but by means of a so-called Wheatstone bridge, or Wheatstone measuring bridge. An example of a Wheatstone bridge 1 is represented in FIG. 1. The Wheatstone bridge comprises four resistors 3, 5, 7, 9. A first resistor 3 and a second resistor 5 are connected in series. A supply voltage 11 drops across the first and the second resistor 3, 5. A third resistor 7 and a fourth resistor 9 are likewise connected in series and in parallel to the first and the second resistor 3, 5, such that the supply voltage 11 also drops across the third and the fourth resistor 7, 9. Furthermore, the Wheatstone bridge 1 comprises a voltmeter 13, which measures the voltage drop between a node in the connection of the first and the second resistor 3, 5 and a node in the connection of the third and the fourth resistor 7, 9. The voltmeter 13 does not measure any voltage drop precisely when the ratio of the first resistance 3 to the second resistance 5 corresponds to the ratio of the fourth resistance 9 to the third resistance 7. Measurable voltage drops, from which the magnitude of the change in resistance can be determined, occur on the voltmeter 13 already if there are even small changes in one of the resistances 3, 5, 7, 9. The precise mode of operation of the Wheatstone bridge 1 and the calculation of the changes in resistance are sufficiently known in the state of the art, and are therefore not discussed further here.
As is already evident from the above representation, the Wheatstone bridge is eminently suitable for determining the changes in resistances. Preferably, therefore, in a structure for measuring sectional forces, four strain gauges are used, which are coupled such that even a slight change in the length of the four strain gauges, and therefore in their resistances, relative to one another, results in as large as possible a voltage drop on the voltmeter. If, for example, a force results in the surface of a structural element undergoing elongation in one direction and compression in the direction perpendicular to the latter, then, for the purpose of observing the effect of this force, two strain gauges are preferably arranged such that their measurement direction extends parallel to the direction of elongation, and two strain gauges are arranged such that their measurement direction lies parallel to the direction of compression. In the case of the exemplary embodiment of a Wheatstone bridge represented in FIG. 1, the strain gauges that correspond to the first and third resistors 3, 7 would be arranged, for example, such that they undergo stretching, and the strain gauges that correspond to the second and fourth resistors 5, 9 would be arranged such that they undergo compression. Then, owing to the action of force, even small changes in the surface of the structural element result in measurable drops in voltage across the voltmeter 13.
However, such an arrangement is not necessarily advantageous, since, for example, a force and a torque acting perpendicular to the force can cause a change of length of the four strain gauges in the same direction. In other words, it is not possible to determine whether the change in resistance has been caused by the torque or by the force. It can therefore be advantageous to arrange the strain gauges at an angle in relation to a preferred direction of elongation, with the result that, upon action of the force that is to be observed, for example the first and third strain gauges undergo elongation and the second and fourth strain gauges undergo compression and, upon action of the torque on the structural element, the first and fourth strain gauges undergo elongation and the second and third strain gauges undergo compression. If the relative changes in magnitude of the electrical resistances of the strain gauges are equal in both cases, then, in the case of the described interconnection of the strain gauges, there is a voltage drop across the voltmeter only when the force is acting on the structural element. Under the action of the torque, by contrast, the ratio of the resistances does not alter, with the result that there is no voltage drop across the voltmeter. Such circuits are sufficiently known from the state of the art.
In any case, however, it is to be noted that the resolution of the Wheatstone bridge is limited with regard to the magnitude of the changes in resistance. In the case of particularly stiff structural elements made of stretch-resistant materials, the change in the length of the strain gauges is often so slight that they cannot be measured even with a Wheatstone bridge. However, precisely in the case of components subjected to large loads, and above all also to varying loads, over long periods of time, it is important to be able to determine with precision the forces and torques acting on the structural element or component. This is not possible with sufficient certainty by means of the arrangements known from the state of the art.

Device and method for measuring sectional forces


A lens barrel (12) of a camera module (1) is provided with an electrode terminal which is connected to a focus adjusting device (11) and to an electrode terminal (32) of a holder (13). The electrode terminal (32) of the holder (13) faces the electrode terminal of the lens barrel (12) which electrode terminal changes in position in accordance with movement of the lens barrel (12) which movement is caused with the use of a lens barrel moving mechanism.

In recent years, cameras are embedded in wide variety of products. In general, the cameras are mounted, as camera modules, in electronic devices such as a mobile phone and a laptop computer. In a case where the camera modules are mounted in such small-sized electronic devices, it is strongly required to downsize the cameras themselves or to reduce electric power consumed by the cameras themselves.
Such camera modules include, in some cases, a focus adjusting mechanism which changes a focal distance or a focal position of an optical system. Conventional focus adjusting mechanisms often employ a method of adjusting a focus by moving a lens. As a method of moving a lens, there are known (i) a voice coil motor method in which a lens is moved up and down by use of a magnetic force or (ii) a method in which a lens is moved by driving a piezoelectric element.
Those methods require a lens driving mechanism which moves a lens. Therefore, the camera modules have disadvantages such that they are complicated in structure and that they need relatively large amount of electric power. Furthermore, the camera modules have a disadvantage such that they are generally low in impact resistance.
In view of this, various focus adjusting mechanisms which do not require a lens driving mechanism that moves a lens have been suggested for the purpose of downsizing the camera modules and reducing electric power consumed by the camera modules. Such focus adjusting mechanisms are disclosed in, for example, Patent Literature 1 through 3.
A focus adjusting mechanism disclosed in Patent Literature 1 employs a method of adjusting a focus by changing a refractive index of a liquid crystal lens. According to the method, a liquid crystal lens is provided. By changing refractive index distribution of the liquid crystal lens by changing a voltage (drive voltage) applied to the liquid crystal lens, the liquid crystal lens is caused to function as a varifocal lens.
A focus adjusting mechanism disclosed in Patent Literature 2 is configured such that a drive shaft is connected to a piezoelectric element and is provided with a lens. According to the focus adjusting mechanism, the piezoelectric element is expanded and contracted by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element. This causes the drive shaft to be moved and, accordingly, causes the lens to be moved.
A focus adjusting mechanism disclosed in Patent Literature 3 employs a liquid lens.
A focus adjusting mechanism disclosed in Patent Literature 4 includes a polymer-type lens. A cover is provided on a soft polymer layer, and a piezoelectric element is provided on the cover. According to the focus adjusting mechanism, the piezoelectric element is expanded and contracted by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element. This causes the cover and the soft polymer layer to be deformed and, accordingly, causes a focal distance to be adjusted.
Such a focus adjusting mechanism that does not require a lens moving mechanism is generally mounted on an upper surface of a lens barrel of a fixed focus camera module. The focus adjusting mechanism causes the fixed focus camera module to function as a varifocal camera module. Specifically, in a case where a voltage is applied to the focus adjusting mechanism, this causes a change in a refractive index and, accordingly, causes a focal position to be adjusted.
A step of assembling the fixed focus camera module includes a step of adjusting a height of the lens barrel including the lens. This step is generally carried out so as to adjust a focus of the camera module to infinity (for example, 2 m to 4 m).
As a method of carrying out the step of adjusting a height of a lens barrel, there is kwon a method in which a height of a lens barrel is adjusted by (i) forming threads on an outer surface of the lens barrel and an inner surface of a holder of a camera module which threads engage with each other and (ii) rotating the lens barrel in the holder.


In a flash EEPROM system that is divided into separately erasable blocks of memory cells with multiple pages of user data being stored in each block, a count of the number of erase cycles that each block has endured is stored in one location within the block, such as in spare cells of only one page or distributed among header regions of multiple pages. The page or pages containing the block cycle count are initially read from each block that is being erased, the cycle count temporarily stored, the block erased and an updated cycle count is then written back into the block location. User data is then programmed into individual pages of the block as necessary. The user data is preferably stored in more than two states per memory cell storage element, in which case the cycle count can be stored in binary in a manner to speed up the erase process and reduce disturbing effects on the erased state that writing the updated cycle count can cause. An error correction code calculated from the cycle count may be stored with it, thereby allowing validation of the stored cycle count.

There are many commercially successful non-volatile memory products being used today, particularly in the form of small form factor cards, which use an array of flash EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) cells.
NOR Array
In a typical NOR array, memory cells are connected between adjacent bit line source and drain diffusions that extend in a column direction with control gates connected to word lines extending along rows of cells. One typical memory cell has a "split-channel" between source and drain diffusions. A charge storage element of the cell is positioned over one portion of the channel and the word line (also referred to as a control gate) is positioned over the other channel portion as well as over the charge storage element. This effectively forms a cell with two transistors in series, one (the memory transistor) with a combination of the amount of charge on the charge storage element and the voltage on the word line controlling the amount of current that can flow through its portion of the channel, and the other (the select transistor) having the word line alone serving as its gate. The word line extends over a row of charge storage elements. Examples of such cells, their uses in memory systems and methods of manufacturing them are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,070,032, 5,095,344, 5,315,541, 5,343,063, and 5,661,053, and in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/239,073, filed Jan. 27, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,075.
A modification of this split-channel flash EEPROM cell adds a steering gate positioned between the charge storage element and the word line. Each steering gate of an array extends over one column of charge storage elements, perpendicular to the word line. The effect is to relieve the word line from having to perform two functions at the same time when reading or programming a selected cell. Those two functions are (1) to serve as a gate of a select transistor, thus requiring a proper voltage to turn the select transistor on and off, and (2) to drive the voltage of the charge storage element to a desired level through an electric field (capacitive) coupling between the word line and the charge storage element. It is often difficult to perform both of these functions in an optimum manner with a single voltage. With the addition of the steering gate, the word line need only perform function (1), while the added steering gate performs function (2). The use of steering gates in a flash EEPROM array is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,313,421 and 6,222,762.
There are various programming techniques for injecting electrons from the substrate onto a floating gate storage element through the gate dielectric. The most common programming mechanisms are described in a book edited by Brown and Brewer, Nonvolatile Semiconductor Memory Technology, IEEE Press, section 1.2, pages 9-25 (1998). One technique, termed channel "hot-electron injection" (section 1.2.3), injects electrons from the cell's channel into a region of the floating gate adjacent the cell's drain. Another technique, termed "source side injection" (section 1.2.4), controls the substrate surface electrical potential along the length of the memory cell channel in a manner to create conditions for electron injection in a region of the channel away from the drain. Source side injection is also described in an article by Kamiya et al., "EPROM Cell with High Gate Injection Efficiency," IEDM Technical Digest, 1982, pages 741-744, and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,622,656 and 5,313,421.
Two techniques for removing charge from charge storage elements to erase memory cells are used in both of the two types of NOR memory cell arrays described above. One is to erase to the substrate by applying appropriate voltages to the source, drain and other gate(s) that cause electrons to tunnel through a portion of a dielectric layer between the storage element and the substrate. The other erase technique is to transfer electrons from the storage element to another gate through a tunnel dielectric layer positioned between them. In the first type of cell described above, a third erase gate is provided for that purpose. In the second type of cell described above, which already has three gates because of the use of a steering gate, the charge storage element is erased to the word line, without the necessity to add a fourth gate. Although this later technique adds back a second function to be performed by the word line, these functions are performed at different times, thus avoiding the necessity of making a compromise because of the two functions. When either erase technique is utilized, a large number of memory cells are grouped together for simultaneously erasure, in a "flash." In one approach, the group includes enough memory cells to store the amount of user data stored in a disk sector, namely 512 bytes, plus some overhead data. In another approach, each group contains enough cells to hold several thousand bytes of user data, equal to many disk sectors' worth of data. Multi-block erasure, defect management and other flash EEPROM system features are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,148.
As in most all integrated circuit applications, the pressure to shrink the silicon substrate area required to implement some integrated circuit function also exists with flash EEPROM systems. It is continually desired to increase the amount of digital data that can be stored in a given area of a silicon substrate, in order to increase the storage capacity of a given size memory card and other types of packages, or to both increase capacity and decrease size. One way to increase the storage density of data is to store more than one bit of data per memory cell. This is accomplished by dividing a window of a storage element charge level voltage range into more than two states. The use of four such states allows each cell to store two bits of data, eight states stores three bits of data per cell, and so on. A multiple state flash EEPROM structure and operation is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,043,940 and 5,172,338.
Another type of memory cell includes two storage elements that may also be operated in multiple states on each storage element. In this type of cell, two storage elements are included over its channel between source and drain diffusions with a select transistor in between them. A steering gate is included along each column of storage elements and a word line is provided thereover along each row of storage elements. When accessing a given storage element for reading or programming, the steering gate over the other storage element of the cell containing the storage element of interest is raised sufficiently high to turn on the channel under the other storage element no matter what charge level exists on it. This effectively eliminates the other storage element as a factor in reading or programming the storage element of interest in the same memory cell. For example, the amount of current flowing through the cell, which can be used to read its state, is then a function of the amount of charge on the storage element of interest but not of the other storage element in the same cell. Examples of this cell array architecture and operating techniques are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,712,180, 6,103,573 and 6,151,248.
NAND Array
Another flash EEPROM architecture utilizes a NAND array, wherein series strings of more than two memory cells, such as 16 or 32, are connected along with one or more select transistors between individual bit lines and a reference potential to form columns of cells. Word lines extend across cells within a large number of these columns. An individual cell within a column is read and verified during programming by causing the remaining cells in the string to be turned on hard so that the current flowing through a string is dependent upon the level of charge stored in the addressed cell. An example of a NAND architecture array and its operation as part of a memory system is found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,315, 5,774,397 and 6,046,935.
Charge Storage Elements
The charge storage elements of current flash EEPROM arrays and discussed in the foregoing referenced patents and articles are most commonly electrically conductive floating gates, typically formed from doped polysilicon material. Another type of memory cell useful in flash EEPROM systems utilizes a non-conductive dielectric material in place of a conductive floating gate to store charge in a non-volatile manner. Such a cell is described in an article by Chan et al., "A True Single-Transistor Oxide-Nitride-Oxide EEPROM Device," IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. EDL-8, No. 3, March 1987, pp. 93-95. A triple layer dielectric formed of silicon oxide, silicon nitride and silicon oxide ("ONO") is sandwiched between a conductive control gate and a surface of a semi-conductive substrate above the memory cell channel. The cell is programmed by injecting electrons from the cell channel into the nitride, where they are trapped and stored in a limited region. This stored charge then changes the threshold voltage of a portion of the channel of the cell in a manner that is detectable. The cell is erased by injecting hot holes into the nitride. See also Nozaki et al., "A 1-Mb EEPROM with MONOS Memory Cell for Semiconductor Disk Application," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 26, No. 4, April 1991, pp. 497-501, which describes a similar cell in a split-gate configuration where a doped polysilicon gate extends over a portion of the memory cell channel to form a separate select transistor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,881 describes the use of two storage elements positioned adjacent each other over the channel of the memory cell, one being such a dielectric element and the other a conductive floating gate. Two bits of data are stored, one in the dielectric element and the other in the floating gate. The memory cell is programmed into one of four different threshold level combinations, representing one of four storage states, by programming each of the two gates into one of two different charge level ranges.
Another approach to storing two bits in each cell utilizing a dielectric storage element has been described by Eitan et al., "NROM: A Novel Localized Trapping, 2-Bit Nonvolatile Memory Cell," IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 21, no. 11, November 2000, pp. 543-545. An ONO dielectric layer extends across the channel between source and drain diffusions. The charge for one data bit is localized in the dielectric layer adjacent to the drain, and the charge for the other data bit is localized in the dielectric layer adjacent to the source. Multi-state data storage is obtained by separately reading binary states of the spatially separated charge storage regions within the dielectric.
Large Erase Blocks
Memory cells of a typical non-volatile flash array are divided into discrete blocks of cells that are erased together. That is, the block is the erase unit. Each block typically stores one or more pages of data, the page being the unit of programming and reading, although more than one page may be programmed or read in a single operation. Each page typically stores one or more sectors of data, the size of the sector being defined by the host system. An example is a sector of 512 bytes of user data, following a standard established with magnetic disk drives, plus some number of bytes of overhead information about the user data and/or the block in which it is stored.
Block Experience Counts
The number of erase and re-programming cycles experienced by the individual blocks of memory cells are often maintained as part of optimizing control of the operation of the memory system. One reason to do so is because of a limited number of erase/writing cycles that flash EEPROM cells can endure. Performance and reliability are usually degraded as the number of such cycles increases, and the amount of such degradation that can be tolerated depends upon various operating parameters of the system. Some memory cell blocks are typically cycled more often than others in normal operation. When the cycle count of a block reaches a pre-set limit of expected endurance, that block can be mapped out of the system in favor of a redundant block. An example of this is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,870, wherein the experience count of each block is stored as part of the overhead data within the block. U.S. Pat. No. 6,426,893 describes a system that stores the block experience counts, as well as other overhead data, in blocks separate from the blocks to which they pertain. Further, the experience count can be used to even the usage (wear) of the memory cell blocks of a system. The relative block experience counts are monitored by the system controller and, in response to a predetermined unevenness of use being detected, changing the logical-to-physical address conversion of blocks in order to direct future high volume re-writes to blocks with lower experience cycle counts. Examples of such wear leveling techniques are given in U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,447. As an alternative to maintaining the experience counts in the blocks to which they pertain, they may be stored in other blocks provided for block overhead information. An example of this is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/505,555, filed Feb. 17, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,426,893. In addition to using the experience count for purposes of block substitution, the count can also be used by the controller to set voltages used during programming, reading and/or erase operations, since the optimum voltages will often increase as usage increases.
The patents, patent applications, articles and book portions identified above are all hereby expressly incorporated in their entirety into this Background by these references.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Non-volatile semiconductor memory with large erase blocks storing cycle counts


A broadcast signal receiving device includes a receiving unit, a registering unit and a channel selection unit. The receiving unit receives digital broadcast signals including a plurality of sub-channels on each of a plurality of physical channels. The registering unit registers an indicator indicating whether or not each of the sub-channels is an audio channel in an indicator registration region of a channel map, which stores channel map information relating to a correspondence between the physical channels and the sub-channels. The channel selection unit selects the sub-channels based on the channel map information and the indicator stored in the indicator registration region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a broadcast signal receiving device and a method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a broadcast signal receiving device and a method for receiving digital broadcast signals.
2. Background Information
In recent years, digital broadcast signals that conform to ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) standards have been broadcast from broadcasting stations in North America. Broadcast signal receiving devices (or set-top boxes, hereinafter "STB") are becoming more popular. The STB receives the digital broadcast signals and converts the digital broadcast signals into signals that can be received by television receivers that handle existing NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) analog broadcasts.
In the digital broadcasts that conform to ATSC standards, the digital broadcast signals are transmitted on physical channels that differ from the physical channels of analog broadcast signals. A single physical channel contains one or more sub-channels used to transmit one or more types of content. Virtual channel numbers are assigned to the sub-channels. The virtual channel numbers include a sub-channel number and a number that is the same as the physical channel number of the analog broadcast that is transmitted from the same broadcasting station or from a broadcasting station in the same broadcast network. Accordingly, virtual channels are constructed in a hierarchical manner from the physical channels and the sub-channels.
The digital broadcast signals include video signals, audio signals and control signals. In the digital broadcasts conforming to ATSC standards, a PSIP (program and system information protocol) is obligatorily attached to the control signals. The PSIP contains information relating to the virtual channel number and the name of the broadcasting station. A control unit of the STB specifies the virtual channel number that is received by referring to a VCT (virtual channel table) that is obtained by acquiring and analyzing the PSIP. Since the virtual channels are constructed in the hierarchical manner from the physical channels and the sub-channels and the construction is complex, it is difficult for users to understand the construction of a channel that is selected by the users.
In the STB, a channel map (or channel table) is provided in which physical channel numbers, virtual channel numbers and sub-channel numbers are registered. The channel map is opened in a RAM of the STB and used when channels are shifted up or down.
Specifically, with a conventional STB, categories of the digital broadcasts indicating television broadcasting, radio broadcastings or data broadcasting are selected by keys. When an up or down key is pressed in a state in which one of the categories has been selected, only channels belonging to the one of the categories are successively selected (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-77748, for example).
With another conventional STB, a channel map is created. The channel map indicates whether or not each of channels is being broadcast. When a channel up or down key is operated by a user, only channels being broadcast are selected by using the channel map (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-364216).
In the digital broadcasts in the United States, especially cable digital broadcasts, radio channels (hereinafter "audio channels") mainly broadcasting audio are mixed with ordinary channels such as television channels or the like (hereinafter "video channels"). Some broadcasting stations broadcast many of the audio channels. If the audio channels are registered in the channel map mixed with the video channels, it becomes difficult to select a desired video channel using a channel up or down key. As a result, the STB becomes difficult to use.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved broadcast signal receiving device. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Broadcast signal receiving device and method


A method of determining glycated hemoglobin is provided, by which a ratio of the glycated hemoglobin in a sample can be determined accurately and easily. The ratio of glycated hemoglobin can be determined by degrading a glycated hemoglobin in a whole blood sample selectively with a protease to give a glycated hemoglobin degradation product; causing a redox reaction between a glycation site of the glycated hemoglobin degradation product and a fructosyl amino acid oxidoreductase; and determining this redox reaction. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in a whole blood sample, there is a correlation between the ratio of the glycated hemoglobin determined by this method and an HbA1c concentration. Thus, without determining the glycated α-amino group as a characteristic structure of HbA1c, an amount of HbA1c can be determined accurately and easily from the determined ratio of the glycated hemoglobin.

Glycated hemoglobin in blood has served as an important index for the diagnosis, treatment, etc. of diabetes because it reflects previous blood glucose levels in vivo.
The determination of such glycated hemoglobin has been carried out, for example, by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a minicolumn method, immunoassays, and the like. According to these methods, the amount or ratio of hemoglobin that has been glycated can be determined. Recently, an enzymic method that enables the determination of glycated proteins by means of a fructosyl amino acid oxidoreductase (FAOD) has been developed, and attempts have been made to determine an amount of hemoglobin that has been glycated (i.e., glycated hemoglobin) by this enzymic method.

Method of selectively determining glycated hemoglobin


A system for automatically managing the delivery of media assets allocates the media assets to delivery slots of a media delivery servers so that consumers will receive the media assets when they consume digital media programming at times that correspond to the delivery slots. An example is the automated allocation of sponsored videos to television programs airing on a particular afternoon. The system includes data stores and a campaign manager system. The campaign manager system will automatically allocate digital media assets to delivery slots in a campaign to generate scheduling files that media servers will use to present the allocated media assets to consumers during the assigned delivery slots via media consumption devices.

This document relates to methods and systems for the allocating, scheduling and delivering campaigns of media assets on media delivery systems, such as broadcast or cable television (TV), radio, and over-the-top (OTT) delivery systems. In one embodiment, this document describes methods and systems for allocating digital video media assets to video programming in TV and/or OTT systems.
Currently in TV broadcast systems and other media delivery services, the decision making processes of advertisement sales systems and traffic systems are separate from each other. Thus, it is often impossible to schedule campaigns that have been sold. If advertisements are sold but not fully allocated, the service provider needs to provide the buyer with makegoods, that is, allocation of future inventory to the buyer for free in order to compensate for the delivery that failed. The process of providing makegoods is a time-consuming, non-revenue-generating activity, and involves a large force of thousands of account executives. Similarly inefficient processes are present in other media areas like radio and digital and in cross-media advertising.
Currently, media service providers do not have optimization to decide which campaign requests should be rejected versus accepted, and what inventory to use to fulfill them. Rather, account executives manually construct campaigns, often making poor decisions when earmarking inventory in the process. Current advertising traffic systems have only heuristic scheduling. This causes makegoods and lost revenue.

Automated allocation of media campaign assets to time and program in digital media delivery systems


A device is configured so as to constrain the movements of a dog. The device has a tubular material which can be extended so that the device can function as a leash or which can be compressed so that the device can be secured around the neck of the dog. A cord may be located within the tubular material when it is extended, and removed from the tubular material and secured when the tubular material is compressed.

Leashes are commonly used for preventing dogs from running too far away from a person. Typically, the leash connects to a harness or a collar around the neck of the dog, and has some sort of handle or other sort of adaptation so that a person can hold the leash to keep the dog within a certain distance. The collar is permanently on the dog, and the leash is utilized when it is desired to limit the distance of the dog, such as when walking in a park or other outside area.
Leashes can be short or long. Longer leashes can be bulky or otherwise unwieldy to carry and can become tangled on the person's legs or other objects as the dog moves. Some leashes are configured to have a variable length. Variable length leashes typically have a mechanism for varying the length, such as a spring-loaded coil mechanism for winding up the leash in a spool. This mechanism can make the leash relatively more expensive to manufacture, bulky or prone to mechanical failure. The material of the leash may also be compromised to facilitate spooling or other action taken to vary the length. This may compromise the strength of the leash or cause it to be made out of a hard or expensive material.


An oral care implement or toothbrush includes a head and a tooth cleaning element for enhanced cleaning and whitening of the teeth. The tooth cleaning element has a base corrected to the head. The base has structure in the form of a concave surface facing a distal region of the head such that dentifrice applied to the head is adapted to be directed towards the distal region of the head. A protrusion extends from the concave surface towards the distal region of the head. The head may include a plurality of concave surfaces that are substantially aligned along a longitudinal axis of the head, and protrusion extends from the curved surface.

A toothbrush is used to clean teeth by removing plaque and debris from surfaces of the teeth as well to clean gum tissue surrounding teeth. Conventional toothbrushes typically have a head having tufts of bristles and may also have other types of cleaning structures. While toothbrushes according to the prior art provide a number of advantageous features, they nevertheless have certain limitations. For example, certain toothbrushes have a limited ability to retain dentifrice on the head for cleaning the teeth. During the brushing process, the dentifrice typically slips through the tufts of bristles and away from the contact between the bristles and the teeth. As a result, the dentifrice often is spread around the mouth, rather than being concentrated on the contact of the bristles with the teeth. Therefore, the efficiency of the cleaning process is reduced. The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features not heretofore available.

Oral care implement having tooth whitening elements


Identifying participants for collaboration in a threat exchange community can include receiving security data from a plurality of participants at a threat exchange server within the threat exchange community; and in response to receiving from a first participant from the plurality of participants security data associated with a security occurrence, identifying at the threat exchange server the first participant and a second participant from the plurality of participants for collaboration based on characteristics of the first participant and the second participant.

Entities maintain internal networks with one or more connections to the Internet. Internal networks include a plurality of resources connected by communication links, and can be used to connect people, provide services—both internally and externally via the Internet—and/or organize information, among other activities associated with an entity. Resources on the network can be susceptible to security attacks that originate either within the internal network or on the Internet. A security attack can include an attempt to use, destroy, alert, disable, steal, and/or gain unauthorized access to an asset (e.g., a resource, data, and information). Multiple organizations and companies can be both susceptible to, and subject to, common security threats and attacks.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A polishing apparatus is used for polishing a substrate such as a semiconductor. The polishing apparatus includes a polishing table configured to hold a polishing tool having a polishing surface, a polishing head having a top ring configured to press a substrate against the polishing surface, and a polishing head cover configured to cover the polishing head. The polishing apparatus further includes a first cleaning liquid supply mechanism configured to supply a cleaning liquid to an outer surface of the polishing head cover, and a second cleaning liquid supply mechanism configured to supply a cleaning liquid to an inner surface of the polishing head cover.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a polishing apparatus, and more particularly to a polishing apparatus for polishing a surface of an object to be polished (a substrate) such as a wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art:
A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is a technology for polishing a surface of a wafer by a chemical action of a polishing liquid and a mechanical action of abrasive particles contained in the polishing liquid. Generally, a polishing apparatus for carrying out the "CMP" includes a polishing table for holding a polishing pad, a polishing head for pressing the wafer against the polishing pad, and a polishing liquid supply mechanism for supplying the polishing liquid (e.g., slurry) to the polishing pad. The polishing head includes a top ring for holding the wafer and pressing the wafer against a polishing surface of the polishing pad, and a top-ring operating mechanism for operating this top ring.
The wafer is pressed against the polishing surface of the polishing pad by the top ring, and the polishing table and the top ring are rotated in this state. The wafer is brought in sliding contact with the polishing surface of the polishing pad in the presence of the polishing liquid, so that the surface of the wafer is polished. After polishing of the wafer is terminated, an atomized fluid is supplied toward the polishing surface of the polishing pad from an atomizer to clean the polishing surface, as disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2008-296293.
When the surface of the substrate such as a wafer is polished while supplying the polishing liquid, the polishing liquid adheres to the polishing head including the top ring. The polishing liquid remaining on the polishing surface adheres to the polishing head also at the time of cleaning the polishing surface by the atomizer. The polishing liquid which has adhered to the polishing head is gradually dried, and may fall onto the polishing surface eventually. Such dried polishing liquid causes scratches on the surface, being polished, of the substrate.

Polishing apparatus with polishing head cover


A power factor is improved using a simplified structure without particularly providing a power factor improving circuit, and high efficiency is obtained. For this purpose, one terminal of a direct-current power source 12, from which a pulsating current is obtained, is connected through a choke coil 13 to one end of an auxiliary coil 14c constituting a converter transformer 14; the other end of the auxiliary coil 14c is connected to the other terminal of the direct-current power source 12 through a series circuit of a diode 15 and a capacitor 16; a connection midpoint between the diode 15 and the capacitor 16 is connected to one end of a primary coil 14a of the converter transformer 14; the other end of the primary coil 14a is connected to the other terminal of the direct-current power source 12 through a switching element 17; a secondary coil 14b of the converter transformer 14 is connected to direct-current voltage output terminals 19a and 19b through a rectifying circuit 18; the direct-current voltage output terminal 19a is connected to an input side of a pulse width modulation control circuit 20; and an output terminal of the pulse width modulation control circuit 20 is connected to a control electrode of the switching element 17.

Conventionally, as a power supply circuit of a switching type capable of supplying comparatively large electric power of, for example, 70 W, one shown in FIG. 7 has been proposed. The power supply circuit shown in FIG. 7 is the one to which a power factor improving circuit is added to comply with a harmonics regulation.
In FIG. 7, a reference numeral 1 denotes, for example, a commercial power supply of 100v, 50 Hz, and one terminal and the other terminal of the commercial power supply 1 are respectively connected to one terminal and the other terminal on the input side of a rectifying circuit 3 having a bridge structure of diodes through a high frequency blocking filter 2.
A pulsating current in the positive direction corresponding to a frequency of the commercial power supply 1 is obtained at a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal on the output side of the rectifying circuit 3. The positive electrode terminal of the output side of the rectifying circuit 3 is connected to one end of a primary coil 5a of a converter transformer 5 through a series circuit of a choke coil 4a and a diode 4b constituting a power factor improving circuit 4; the other end of the primary coil 5a is connected to a drain of a field effect transistor 6 constituting a switching element; and a source of the field effect transistor 6 is connected to the negative electrode terminal on the output side of the rectifying circuit 3.
A connection midpoint between the choke coil 4a and the diode 4b is connected to a drain of a field effect transistor 4c constituting the power factor improving circuit 4; a source of the field effect transistor 4c is connected to the negative electrode terminal of the rectifying circuit 3; and a switching signal from a control circuit 4d is supplied to a gate of the field effect transistor 4c. In addition, a connection midpoint between the diode 4b and the one end of the primary coil 5a is connected to the negative electrode terminal of the rectifying circuit 3 through a capacitor 4e constituting the power factor improving circuit 4.
In the power factor improving circuit 4, the pulsating current obtained at the output side of the rectifying circuit 3 is made into the form of a sine wave to be supplied to the primary coil 5a of the converter transformer 5.
Further, one end of a secondary coil 5b having a winding of a reverse phase to the primary coil 5a of the converter transformer 5 is connected to a direct-current voltage output terminal 8a of one end through a diode 7a constituting a rectifying circuit 7; a connection midpoint between the diode 7a and the direct-current voltage output terminal 8a of one end is connected to the other end of the secondary coil 5b through a smoothing capacitor 7b constituting the rectifying circuit 7; and the other end of the secondary coil 5b is connected to the direct-current voltage output terminal 8b of the other end.
The direct-current voltage output terminal 8a of one end is connected to the input side of a pulse width modulation control circuit 9 consisting of a semiconductor integrated circuit; a switching signal of a pulse width modulation signal obtained on the output side of the pulse width modulation control circuit 9 is supplied to a gate of the field effect transistor 6; and switching of the field effect transistor 6 is performed using the switching signal of the pulse width modulation signal, so that a constant direct-current voltage V0 can be obtained on both the one side and the other side of the direct-current voltage output terminals 8a and 8b.
In such power supply circuit as shown in FIG. 7, an input pulsating current from the rectifying circuit 3 is controlled by the power factor improving circuit 4 to be the form of a sine wave, thereby improving a power factor.
As to the power factor in the above case, when an input electric power is |W|; an input electric current is |A|; and an input electric voltage is |V|, then the power factor cos″ is expressed:cos″=|W|/(|A|×|V|)
When the power factor improving circuit 4 is provided as shown in FIG. 7, the power factor cos″ can be improved up to 0.8 to 0.99 and an input current waveform is approximated to an input voltage waveform.

Power supply circuit and electronic equipment


A laminate useful as a flooring material having noise dampening properties, the laminate comprising a generally wood substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface a top paper layer bonded to the top surface and a backing layer bonded to the bottom surface. The wood substrate has a plurality of bores therein distributed across a surface thereof, the bores being shaped and sized to effect noise dampening.

Laminates, including high pressure laminates and composite panel laminates, are often used as flooring materials. However, laminated floors can be noisy when users walk across or transport materials across the flooring surface. Noise levels in laminates are often unsatisfactory as compared to wood or vinyl floors, carpets, or other flooring materials. Accordingly, there exists a need for laminate useful as a flooring material having effective sound dampening qualities.

Flooring laminate having noise reduction properties


In a method of characterizing a polymer binder for cell electrodes in contact with an electrolyte and including a current collector and a paste containing an electrochemically active material and said binder, a spreading coefficient of the binder on the active material is calculated from the measured angle of contact between standard liquids and the active material and the binder, respectively. An interaction energy of the binder with the electrolyte is calculated from the measured angle of contact between the electrolyte and the binder. The binder is selected such that the spreading coefficient is less than zero and the interaction energy is at least 60 mJ/m.sup.2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method of characterizing an electrode binder. It further encompasses the binder selected by this method and the electrodes containing it.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A plasticized (non-sintered) electrode comprises a support serving as a current collector coated with a paste containing the powdered active material and a binder, to which a conductive material may be added.
The function of the binder is to assure the cohesion of the grains of active material to each other and to the support of the electrode prior to assembly of the storage battery and during its operation. The binder must have sufficient chemical stability vis a vis the components of the cell; the adhesive properties of some binders deteriorate upon cycling. The binder must also be capable of accommodating dimensional variations of the electrode during cycling throughout its service life.
Another function of the binder is to maintain the electrical contact between the grains of active material and to favor ion exchange with the electrolyte. The electrochemically active surface area of an electrode depends on the surface area wetted by the electrolyte. If the electrode is insufficiently wetted the active surface area is reduced, which leads to an increase in the local current density and a lower charged capacity. To promote wetting of the electrode by the aqueous electrolyte the binder must have a hydrophilic character. The surface area accessible to the electrolyte depends on how the grains of active material are coated and bound by the polymer. The polymer film must have discontinuities enabling electron exchange.
At present, choosing an appropriate binder is based on an electrochemical evaluation under real conditions of use. The low concentration of binder used in the fabrication of an electrode necessitates long-term tests to show up the differences in performance between electrodes including the various binders to be evaluated. Under these conditions, optimizing the composition of the electrodes is a slow and random process, which considerably limits the possibilities of improving the batteries.
An aim of the present invention is to propose a method of selecting a binder to be used in the composition of an electrode and conferring high performance on it throughout its period of use.
Another aim of the invention is to propose a fast and easy method of choosing an electrode binder.

Method of characterizing an electrode binder