A semiconductor memory device of one aspect includes a memory cell block including n global word lines, and corresponding m sub word lines for each of the n global word lines, where n and m are natural numbers. The memory device further includes a plurality of word line driving circuits which respectively control a voltage of the sub word lines according to a logic level of each corresponding global word line and inputted address signals, and a plurality of control circuits which transmit the address signals to the word line driving circuits or interrupt transmission of the address signals according to the logic level of the global word line. Each of the word line driving circuits includes a first transistor which maintains the voltage of the respective sub word line at a first voltage and a second transistor which maintains the voltage of the sub word line at the first voltage or a second voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor memory devices, and more particularly, the present invention relates to the core layout of semiconductor memory devices.
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0024542, filed on Mar. 24, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A phase-change random access memory (PRAM), also known as an Ovonic Unified Memory (OUM), includes a phase-change material such as a chalcogenide alloy which is responsive to energy (e.g., thermal energy) so as to be stably transformed between crystalline and amorphous states. Such a PRAM is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,487,113 and 6,480,438.
The phase-change material of the PRAM exhibits a relatively low resistance in its crystalline state, and a relatively high resistance in its amorphous state. In conventional nomenclature, the low-resistance crystalline state is referred to as a 'set' state and is designated logic "0", while the high-resistance amorphous state is referred to as a 'reset' state and is designated logic "1".
The terms "crystalline" and "amorphous" are relative terms in the context of phase-change materials. That is, when a phase-change memory cell is said to be in its crystalline state, one skilled in the art will understand that the phase-change material of the cell has a more well-ordered crystalline structure when compared to its amorphous state. A phase-change memory cell in its crystalline state need not be fully crystalline, and a phase-change memory cell in its amorphous state need not be fully amorphous.
Generally, the phase-change material of a PRAM is reset to an amorphous state by joule heating of the material in excess of its melting point temperature for a relatively short period of time. On the other hand, the phase-change material is set to a crystalline state by heating the material below its melting point temperature for a longer period of time. In each case, the material is allowed to cool to its original temperature after the heat treatment. Generally, however, the cooling occurs much more rapidly when the phase-change material is reset to its amorphous state.
The speed and stability of the phase-change characteristics of the phase-change material are critical to the performance characteristics of the PRAM. As suggested above, chalcogenide alloys have been found to have suitable phase-change characteristics, and in particular, a compound including germanium (Ge), antimony (Sb) and tellurium (Te) (e.g., Ge2Sb2Te5 or GST) exhibits a stable and high speed transformation between amorphous and crystalline states.
FIG. 1 is an equivalent circuit diagram of an example of a phase change memory cell C of a diode type PRAM. In this example, the memory cell C includes a phase change resistance element GST and a diode D connected in series between a bit line BL and a word line WL. The phase change memory cell C is either selected or non-selected (e.g., for programming) depending on the voltage level of the word line WL. In particular, the memory cell C is selected by driving the word line WL to ground, whereas the memory cell C is non-selected by maintaining the word line WL at some constant voltage.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram for explaining the write circuitry associated with a conventional phase change memory device 200.
Referring to FIG. 2, the phase change memory device 200 includes a memory cell block CBLK, a word line driving unit 210, a column selection circuit 220, and a write driver 230. The memory cell block CBLK includes a plurality of phase change memory cells of the type illustrated in FIG. 1.
The column selection circuit 220 connects one of a plurality of bit lines BL0-BLk to the write driver 230 in accordance with a plurality of column selection signals Y0-Yk. The write driver 230 supplies a write current to the selected bit line
The word line driving unit 210 drives word lines WL0, WL1, and WL2 of the illustrated memory cell block CBLK. The word line driving unit 210 includes a plurality of word line driving circuits for decoding address signals ADD and activation signals EN. In the example of FIG. 2, each word line driving circuit WDC includes a NOR gate N1 and an inverter I1. As such, when both the applied address signal ADD and the applied activation signal EN are LOW, the corresponding word line WL is driven to ground VSS. If either or both the applied address signal ADD and the applied activation signal EN are HIGH, the corresponding word line WL is maintained at the voltage VDD.
The dashed line of FIG. 2 extending along the bit line BLk and the word line WL0 is representative of the current path in the case where the memory cell at the intersection of the bit line BLk and the word line WL0 is selected. As suggested previously, in this case, the word line WL0 is maintained at a ground voltage VSS by operation of the logic gates contained in the word line driving unit 210.
However, when the word line driving circuit connected to each of the word lines WL0, WL1, and WL2 includes logic gate circuits such as the NOR unit N1 and the inverter I1 shown in FIG. 2, the layout size of the word line driving circuit is increased, making it difficult to implement a highly integrated semiconductor memory device.

Semiconductor memory device and core layout thereof


A cryophotonic back-lit sign for use at night or during low-light conditions. The sign includes an AC ballast for providing a source of AC power. A cryophotonic lamp is disposed in a potting material, that is preferably made from mixing together a two-part epoxy. The lamp is connected to receive the AC power from the AC ballast. A retroreflective sheeting is provided on a transparent substrate, which is removably attached to a top surface of the potting material. The sheeting allows light to substantially pass from a rear surface thereof to a front surface thereof. Light is provided to illuminate the sign either from light from vehicle headlights that reflect off the sheeting and back towards the vehicle, or from the cryophotonic lamp when not enough light is available to illuminate the sheeting.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of a cryophotonic panel or lamp for providing back lighting for a sign. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of a cryophotonic panel or lamp together with a translucent retroreflective sheeting in order to provide sufficient back lighting for a sign to be seen at night or during dimly-lit times during the day.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traffic signs provide information that is useful for a driver of a vehicle. For example, traffic signs may provide an indication of an upcoming exit, a maximum safe vehicle speed, or the like. During the daytime, traffic signs are readily visible to a vehicle operator. However, traffic signs also need to be visible at night or during dark periods of the day (i.e., such as during a rainstorm), and something other than sunlight has to be used in order to make such signs visible to the vehicle operator.
Accordingly, several different types of signs have been manufactured so as to make traffic signs visible at night, as well as during the daylight hours. One such conventional traffic sign is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,910,792, issued to H. C. Pfaff, Jr. Pfaff discloses a highway sign that has an electrically energized luminescent material containing layer. The layer includes light reflecting members fixed or embedded onto a surface thereof. When the luminescent layer is excited with alternating or high frequency current, particles in the layer become luminescent. When headlights of a vehicle provide light rays that impinge on the light reflecting members, those members reflect the light rays back, so as to provide a lighting capability for the sign. The luminescent material layer is secured to a metal base plate by baking or firing, and no provision is provided for protecting that layer from problems associated with neighboring components, such as the light reflecting members.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,510,976, issued to R. F. Pauline et al., discloses a traffic sign that has a reflective face by virtue of beads disposed on a surface thereof. An electric bulb is disposed behind the reflective face, inside the sign itself. The electric bulb provides light that passes through the reflective face so as to provide lighting for the sign when there is not enough ambient light (such as from headlights of a car) that can be reflected off of the reflective face of the sign to provide the necessary lighting for the sign. However, with this system, whenever the light bulb burns out, a repairperson must replace the light bulb with another light bulb. This may cause a problem in that a road has to be blocked off for a particular amount of time during the bulb replacement, especially when the sign is located above the road.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,538, issued to C. Tung, discloses an internally illuminated retroreflective sign that has an array of tubular light bulbs that provide the internal light source when not enough reflective light is available to make the sign visible to a vehicle operator. The tubular lights bulbs may have to be replaced from time to time, which may involve a closure of a road, if the sign is located above the road and thus a repair truck must block the road during the time the repair is being made. Also, an undesirable shadowing effect may be created by the use of the tubular light bulbs disposed behind the retroreflective sheeting.
3M has also utilized something known as OLF, or optical lighting film, so as to provide a light source from a location separate from the sign itself, such as in a box located on the side of road for a sign hung above the road. As in the Tung et al. reference, however, the separately located light source uses incandescent bulbs or the like, and is prone to fairly frequent replacement.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,300,783, and 5,315,491, issued to A. Spencer et al., disclose the use of a retroreflective material having a prism-like surface, with an electroluminescent lamp disposed within a central region behind the retroreflective material. The electroluminescent lamp is composed of a flexible material, and is not protected from the internal atmosphere in the central region. This may cause the lamp to breakdown over time, requiring relatively frequent replacement.
Great Britain Published Patent Application GB 2 099 628A discloses a device having a mirror with an electroluminescent element mounted its rear face. The device is used as an interior rear view mirror for a vehicle, and the device does not provide any protective capability for the electroluminescent element.
For all of the signs/reflecting devices discussed above, there is a problem in that the life span of these devices is limited due to the exposure of important components to the atmosphere and/or neighboring components.


The present invention's network-based directions-provision methodology typically features the establishment of two ranking schemes that reversely parallel each other. The “personal” ranking scheme ranks all permitted persons in terms of the degree of access permission with respect to the variously ranked regions of a facility; the lower the personal rank, the fewer the regional ranks to which the person is permitted access. The “regional” ranking scheme ranks all accessible regions in terms of the degree of access permission with respect thereto by the variously ranked permitted persons; the higher the regional rank, the fewer the personal ranks that are permitted access to the region. According to typical inventive practice, a permitted person logs in to request directions, within the facility, from an original location to a destination location; the directions given (textual and/or graphical) are the optimal directions that are consistent with the personal rank of the requestor.

The present invention relates to travel routes, more particularly to methodologies for providing directions for traveling within a place or premises.
According to current U.S. Navy practice, when a new sailor reports aboard a ship, he or she is assigned a designee (sometimes referred to as a "sponsor") to facilitate acclimation of the new sailor to his or her new surroundings. The sponsor typically is of the same "rate" as the new sailor, and may also work in the same division or workspace as the new sailor. Notwithstanding the effectiveness of the current system of orienting and indoctrinating new sailors, in which a sponsor personally takes a new sailor under the sponsor's wing, the current system can also result in wasted manpower. During the period of orientation and indoctrination, which may run well over a month, the sponsor may spend large amounts of time guiding and mentoring the sailor. While some of this time is time well spent, a significant portion of this time is time wasted—time that would be better spent by the sponsor on his or her other responsibilities. Each man-hour spent in new sailor indoctrination-orientation constitutes a man-hour away from the primary duty station. Furthermore, decreases in time that sponsors spend on particular tasks tend to necessitate increases in time that other personnel spend on such tasks.
A naval ship is large, complex and populous facility containing numerous areas and spaces. At any time onboard the ship, many pedestrians are negotiating the areas and spaces in order to get from one location to another. Navigating the labyrinthic interior of the ship can be difficult for sailors who are unfamiliar with the ship, and is often no simple matter even for sailors who are familiar with the ship. Common time-inefficient endeavors for sponsors involve directing and/or accompanying new sailors between various locations onboard the ship. In addition to Navy sailors, various other categories of people (e.g., non-Navy military personnel, government civilian employee personnel, government contractor personnel), on temporary onboard assignment, may require navigational assistance. Similar considerations as discussed hereinabove with regard to ships may apply to land-based facilities such as buildings, installations, complexes and stadiums. The desirability is manifest for a methodology of facilitating travel of an unacclimated person from one location to another in the confines of a ship or other facility without unduly occupying an acclimated person's time.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


One example method includes receiving, as an input, an ML pipeline definition, identifying a group of layers required to be created for the ML pipeline definition, for one of more of the layers, receiving input concerning one or more characteristics of the layer, creating the layers for which input has been received, and packaging the created layers with the ML pipeline definition to create a production-ready ML model.

Machine learning (ML) models may be created for a variety of different applications and circumstances. However, even after data scientists finish designing and validating ML models, the models are not yet ready for production usage. There remains a need to develop microservices and functions that can accept and transform live data, make predictions, and train continuously. Furthermore, these microservices need to be robust and scalable, so that they can handle a high amount of traffic.
Developing such ML-based workloads is often a time-consuming task, and there are often multiple areas of expertise involved, including Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML), software development, Continuous Integration/continuous Delivery (CI/CD), database, infrastructural operation and scheduling. This process would often require cross-team collaboration, and often months would be spent prior to a ML model being production ready.

Automated ML microservice and function generation for cloud native platforms


Decision trees are efficiently represented in a relational database. A computer-implemented method of representing a decision tree model in relational form comprises providing a directed acyclic graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links, each link connecting a plurality of nodes, encoding a tree structure by including in each node a parent-child relationship of the node with other nodes, encoding in each node information relating to a split represented by the node, the split information including a splitting predictor and a split value, and encoding in each node a target histogram.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, method, computer program product, for representing, and a representation of, decision trees in a relational database system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data mining is a technique by which hidden patterns may be found in a group of data. True data mining doesn't just change the presentation of data, but actually discovers previously unknown relationships among the data. The patterns thus discovered are represented as models. Data mining is typically implemented as software in or in association with database systems. Data mining includes several major steps. First, data mining models are generated based on one or more data analysis algorithms. Initially, the models are "untrained", but are "trained" by processing training data and extracting information that defines the model. The extracted information represented as a model is then deployed for use in data mining, for example, by providing predictions of future behavior based on patterns of past behavior.
One important form of data mining model is the decision tree. Decision trees are an efficient form of representing decision processes for classifying entities into categories, or constructing piecewise constant functions in nonlinear regression. A tree functions in a hierarchical arrangement; data flowing "down" a tree encounters one decision at a time until a terminal node is reached. A particular variable enters the calculation only when it is required at a particular decision node.
Classification is a well-known and extensively researched problem in the realm of Data Mining. It has found diverse applications in areas of targeted marketing, customer segmentation, fraud detection, and medical diagnosis among others. Among the methods proposed, decision trees are popular for modeling data for classification purposes. The primary goal of classification methods is to learn the relationship between a target attribute and many predictor attributes in the data. Given instances (records) of data where the predictors and targets are known, the modeling process attempts to glean any relationships between the predictor and target attributes. Subsequently, the model is used to provide a prediction of the target attribute for data instances where the target value is unknown and some or all of the predictors are available.
Classification using decision trees is a well-known technique that has been around for a long time. However, expressing this functionality in standard Structured Query Language (SQL), the native language of the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), is difficult, and it naturally leads to extremely inefficient execution by making use of operations that are not designed to handle this particular type of workload. In addition, current systems require the user to extract the data from the RDBMS into a data mining specific engine and then invoke decision tree algorithms. A need arises for a technique by which classification functionality using decision trees may be expressed in SQL that provides improved ease of use and implementation, as well as improved efficiency of execution.

System and method for building decision trees in a database


A planar antenna radiating structure comprising an array of continuous transverse stubs having a stepped configuration arranged in a ground plane of a parallel-plate waveguide. Control of the complex reflection coefficient of the aperture of the radiating structure over a range of operating frequencies and scan angles is accomplished using parallel-plate waveguide modes through a choice of stub length(s), stub height(s), inter-stub spacings, parallel-plate separation and the properties of dielectric media used for the parallel-plate waveguide and stubs.

The present invention relates generally to planar antennas, and more particularly, to a planar antenna radiating structure having a quasi-scan, frequency-independent driving-point impedance.
Examples of planar radiating elements include printed patches and slot radiators. Recent innovations in patch arrays have resulted in significant increases in operating bandwidth. However, broadband patch designs are typically limited to only about twenty to thirty percent bandwidth. Further, the circuit losses of patch arrays seriously limit their efficiency, especially in electrically large arrays and/or arrays operating at millimeter-wave frequencies. Slotted waveguide arrays are planar and have low losses. However, the operating bandwidth is typically limited to less than fifteen percent.
Both types of radiators are essentially resonant structures, exhibiting typical "high-Q" characteristics which limit their ultimate frequency bandwidth due to significant reactive components. In addition, both structures exhibit strong scan-dependent driving-point impedance characteristics due to strong, ill-behaved mutual coupling and potential surface-wave phenomena.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide for an improved planar antenna radiating structure having a quasi-scan, frequency-independent driving-point impedance.

Planar antenna radiating structure having quasi-scan, frequency-independent driving-point impedance


Exemplary embodiments are directed to systems and methods of transforming electronic content. Exemplary embodiments can electronically capture or receive a first electronic content and a second electronic content with a first electronic device. Exemplary embodiments can execute an assignment function to designate the first electronic content as a hidden electronic content and to designate the second electronic content as a cover electronic content. Exemplary embodiments can execute an encryption function that receives as input the hidden electronic content and the cover electronic content, and that outputs an encrypted electronic content and a decryption key. The encrypted electronic content can overlay the cover electronic content over the hidden electronic content such that, prior to decryption, only the cover electronic content is viewable at a location of a graphical user interface.

Photographs and videos have been used historically to capture still images and dynamic content. With the advent of portable electronic devices, such as smart phones or tablets, sharing of captured image and video content (and text messages) has increased significantly. Sharing of content through portable electronic devices has also resulted in increased privacy concerns, including privacy regarding content stored on a user's own device and privacy regarding control of what happens with content shared to another user, such as a friend.
Thus, a need exists for systems and methods of transforming electronic content on a device that provides security for content saved on the device and/or shared with other users. A further need exits for systems and methods of transforming electronic content to permit confidential saving and/or sharing of the electronic content. These and other needs are addressed by the systems and methods of transforming electronic content of the present disclosure.

Systems and methods of transforming electronic content


A pedestal for a plasma processing system includes a substrate supporting surface. An annular edge ring is arranged around a periphery of the substrate supporting surface. A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond coating is arranged on a plasma-exposed surface of the annular edge ring. The CVD diamond coating includes sp3 bonds. A purity of the sp3 bonds in the diamond coating is greater than 90%.

The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Substrate processing systems may be used to perform deposition, etching and/or other treatment of substrates such as semiconductor wafers. A substrate may be arranged on a pedestal in a processing chamber of the substrate processing system. For example during etching or deposition, a gas mixture including one or more precursors is introduced into the processing chamber and plasma may be struck to etch the substrate or to deposit film on the substrate.
Edge rings have been used to adjust a profile of plasma near a radially outer edge of the substrate. For example in an etch process, the edge ring may be used to adjust an etch rate or etch profile. The edge ring is typically located on the pedestal around the radially outer edge of the substrate. Process conditions at the radially outer edge of the substrate can be modified by changing a position of the edge ring, a shape or profile of an inner edge of the edge ring, a height of the edge ring relative to an upper surface of the substrate, a material of the edge ring, etc.
Changing the edge ring usually requires the processing chamber to be opened, which is undesirable. In other words, an edge effect of the edge ring cannot be altered without opening the processing chamber. When the edge ring is eroded by plasma during etching, the edge effect changes.
Referring now to FIGS. 1-2, a substrate processing system may include a pedestal 20 and an edge ring 30. The edge ring 30 may include one or more portions. In the example in FIGS. 1-2, the edge ring 30 includes a first annular portion 32 arranged near a radially outer edge of a substrate 33. A second annular portion 34 is located radially inwardly from the first annular portion below the substrate 33. A third annular portion 36 is arranged below the first annular portion 32. During use, plasma 42 is directed at the substrate 33 to etch the exposed portions of the substrate 33. The edge ring 30 is arranged to help shape the plasma such that uniform etching of the substrate 33 occurs.
In FIG. 2, after the edge ring 30 has been used, an upper surface of a radially inner portion of the edge ring 30 may exhibit erosion as identified at 48. As a result, plasma 42 may tend to etch a radially outer edge of the substrate 33 at a faster rate than etching of radially inner portions thereof as can be seen at 44.
Coatings have been used to improve erosion resistance of the edge ring and other components in the processing chamber. For example, a diamond-like carbon coating has been tested. However, the coating was etched very quickly by oxygen plasma. The semiconductor fabrication equipment industry has pursued other approaches for reducing edge ring erosion due to the high etch rate of diamond-like carbon coatings.

Components such as edge rings including chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond coating with high purity SP3 bonds for plasma processing systems


An image content display system includes: a display device; a display controller that displays image content on the display device while switching a plurality of sets of image content; and an image forming apparatus that prints image information associated with image content displayed on the display device, wherein the display controller includes a first acquiring unit that acquires image content of a first content group, a second acquiring unit that acquires image content of a second content group, a determining unit that determines whether or not the image forming apparatus is in a printing enabled state, and a display control unit that displays the image content of the first content group, and switches image content to be displayed on the display device from the image content of the first content group to the image content of the second content group.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image content display system and a display controller, both configured to display image content, and to print information associated with image content.
Description of the Related Art
A digital signage system (so-called electronic signboard) has been widespread in recent years, as a system capable of displaying enterprise advertisement images and advertisement information on a display device such as a liquid crystal panel placed in towns, stores, public facilities, or other places where people often gather.
More recently, such a digital signage system has been proposed which offers information associated with an advertisement displayed on a display device (such as an advertising leaflet, a coupon ticket, and other information associated with advertisement) in a form printable by a printer, in response to a printing instruction input to a screen of the display device by touch operation or the like, so as to increase appeal effect to a user (for example, see JP 2013-125147 A, JP 2010-86091 A, and JP 2013-139131 A).
In displaying an advertisement, this digital signage system usually displays information (hereinafter referred to as "printing enabled state message") on the screen for notifying the user that printing of information associated with the advertisement is enabled.
In general, a printer has a function of spooling a received printing job. More specifically, a printer temporarily retains a printing job issued in response to an instruction from a user when the printer is in a printing disabled state under an out-of-paper or out-of-toner condition of the printer, for example. In this case, the use is compelled to wait for a long time until the printer is restored to a state capable of outputting printing matters containing associated information.
When this situation occurs, the user, who has issued the printing instruction in the belief that the printing enabled state message displayed on the screen of the display device is true, may feel uncomfortable. In this case, the advertisement may not only decrease customer appeal effect, but also give an unfavorable impression depending on circumstances.
These problems may arise from any types of image content display systems configured to display various types of image content (such as images of school curricula and public information issued from local governments), including the forgoing advertisement images and advertisement information, and to print information associated with the displayed image content.

Image content display system and display controller


Detecting a boundary between training sequences in a transmission is an important operation. In many communications systems, there are no special boundaries or markers to denote the end of one sequence and the beginning of another. Correlation has been a commonly used technique to detect sequences and a fall in the correlation can be used to indicate such boundaries, but classical correlation can be slow and a significant portion of the new sequence is received prior to the boundary being detected. A method and apparatus is presented that allows rapid detection of the boundary and only a small amount of the new sequence needs to be received prior to the detection of the boundary. Additionally, the method and apparatus can be used to detect the presence of a transmission on the communications medium.

In many modern wireless communications systems, information is organized into data units. When transmitted, the data units may be partitioned into transmission packets, with the number of packets depending on the size of the data units. The data units contain the information being transmitted along with control information. The control information includes destination information, network identifier, data rate, information length, and the like. For example, in an IEEE 802.11a wireless network, each data unit begins with a 16 micro-second field containing a short and a long sequence field, with each field being eight micro-seconds in length. The short and the long descriptors refer to the periodicity of the sequences. The 16 micro-second field contains ten periods of the short sequence and two and a half periods of the long sequence. Following the 16 micro-second field is another field containing information such as the bit-rate and the encoding of the data that is to follow.
The short sequence is used mainly to allow the wireless stations to detect the presence of a transmitted packet (which in turn, contains at least a portion of the data unit) on the shared communications medium and to adjust its receiver signal gain to bring the received signal to a level acceptable for processing purposes. The purpose of the long sequence is to allow the intended recipient of the data unit to make adjustments to its receiver hardware to maximize the probability of accurately receiving the data unit. The adjustments include configuring the receiver's adaptive channel equalizer and digital filters to current communications channel conditions.
In many communications systems, training sequences are typically transmitted concatenated together, without any indicator (or boundary) of when one sequence ends and when another begins. For sequences that are used to adjust receiver hardware and software, it is vital that the particular sequences be recognized as rapidly as possible.
A proposed solution involves correlating the received signal with a locally stored copy of the desired signal or, in the case of when the desired signal is periodic and the transmission contains several periods of the desired signal, correlated with previously received signals. Whenever the correlation results in a correlation value that exceeds a predetermined threshold, the desired signal is deemed to have been received and when the correlation value drops off, a boundary between different sequences is detected. Classically, correlating two signals involves multiplying one by the complex conjugate of the other. When limited precision is used, this is equivalent to comparing individual data values from each sequence and if the data values match, a correlation value is incremented. However, comparing pairs of data values from the received signal requires that a significant percentage of the different signal be received before the presence of the change can be detected.
A need has therefore arisen for a method to provide rapid determination of boundary between different sequences in a digital data stream and that can also be used to detect the presence of a transmitted packet in a formerly idle communications medium.

Boundary detection using multiple correlations


A method of forming an annularly expanding and retracting gripping and releasing mechanism providing a series of flexible tubes, comprising providing (1) a series of flexible tubes, (2) a corresponding series of wires, each of which includes a movable wire section and relatively short fixed wire section integrally connected with one end of the movable wire section by a kink configured so that the wire sections extend in longitudinally coextensive relation therefrom; (3) a series of tubular elements of thermoplastic material; and (4) a series of heat shrinkable sleeves assembling a distal end portion of each flexible tube with a fixed wire section, a tubular element and a heat shrinkable sleeve so that the fixed wire section extends along the exterior periphery of the flexible tube with the kink disposed outwardly of the distal end thereof. The tubular element is disposed in surrounding relation to the fixed wire section and the flexible tube and the heat shrinkable sleeve is disposed in surrounding relation to the tubular element. The method further comprises applying heat to the exterior of each heat shrinkable sleeve at a temperature sufficient to contract the sleeve and soften the thermoplastic material of the tubular element surrounded thereby so that the contraction of the sleeve molds the softened thermoplastic material into adhered contact with the exterior surfaces of the surrounded fixed wire section and flexible tube.

The extractor disclosed in the '622 patent comprises an elongated cannula assembly having an annularly expanding and retracting gripping and releasing mechanism at the distal end thereof and a moving assembly at the proximal end thereof. The gripping and releasing mechanism includes an annular series of longitudinally fixed flexure elements and a corresponding series of longitudinally movable flexure elements. The moving assembly is operable to effect a relative movement between the flexure elements to move them between a retracted condition and an expanded condition defined by an annular series of transversely outwardly flexed fixed elements interconnected by an annular series of arcuately flexed portions of said flexure elements.
While the disclosed configurations of the '622 patent when made with relatively large dimensions are satisfactory, difficulties occur in attempting to miniaturize the disclosed constructions into a three French size such as required by many popular scopes. These size restrictions create an especially troublesome problem in providing a cost effective construction and method for making the gripping and releasing mechanism embodied in a medical device suitable for both extracting stones directly from the kidneys as well as extracting stones from the ureter. This is because of the chamber configuration of the kidneys, which make the usual closed pointed end of a urethral basket, which operates in the elongated tubular configuration of the ureter, inappropriate. Moreover, it is necessary to negotiate a severe turn to get to the kidney chambers. The heart of the problem lies in the construction and method used to accomplish the connection between each movable flexure element and the distal end of a corresponding fixed flexure element. Several different arrangements are disclosed in the above cited patent, but none have appeared on the commercial market. There exists a need to provide a commercially acceptable cost effective construction and method for forming a gripping and releasing mechanism of the type described which solves the identified problem.


A method for setting up an access level for use of a software system including different levels of user accesses. The method includes the steps of: using a first user login to log in to the software system, the first user login having a first access level including a first set of permissions; using a second user login to log in to the software system, the second user login having a second access level including a second set of permissions; and combining the permissions of the first set of permissions and the second set of permissions in the software system, thereby setting up the access level for the use of the software system, the access level including the combined permissions of the first set of permissions and the second set of permissions. The invention also relates to computer program products and processor means.

In a typical multi-user software system different users have access to different types of information and are able to perform different types of actions. Permissions may for example be granted based on the work description of the particular user. As a few examples, an administrator could be permitted to access all information and perform any action in the system, a human resource representative should be permitted to perform personnel tasks and view salaries and similar matters, an employee at a finance department should be permitted to access financial records and make budget reports, a visitor or guest may be permitted to have only a read-only access to information and no access at all to sensitive information etc.
However, using the above approach entails some drawbacks. It sometimes happens that a particular work task requires information or actions of several of the above exemplified types of roles, and thus their respective permissions. In order to solve this work task, the different users, having their particular access rights, could do the parts of the work task that they have permissions for. That is, the different users do their own tasks related to the work task separately from each other, after which the result is somehow merged in the end. Obviously, such solution is inefficient and less than optimal.
Another way of solving the work task could be to create a new special user with a login having the combined permissions needed to perform the work task. However, to create such special user permissions each time a work task requires the permissions of different user categories is also very inefficient and most likely also needing an administrator creating the special user login.
In view of the above, there is a need for a more flexible solution in this regards.

Method for setting up an access level for use of a software system, and computer program products and processor devices thereof


A server apparatus recognizes start of a voice call including the first terminal based on an operation signal received from the first terminal. The server apparatus allows a packet storing voice data to go through to the first terminal when the packet is received from a second terminal connected via the network in a case where start of the voice call is recognized. The server apparatus estimates a bandwidth of the network based on a first response packet sent from the first terminal in response to a packet sent to the first terminal, calculates a bit rate of the voice call according to the estimated bandwidth, and notifies the first terminal of the calculated bit rate. The first terminal switches a bit rate of the voice call according to the notified bit rate.

In recent years, many corporations have started to use thin client terminals in order to ensure a high level of security. A thin client terminal operates a virtual client on a server apparatus as if to operate an actual terminal. The virtual client generates screen information by operating an application and forwards the generated screen information to a thin client terminal. The thin client terminal displays the forwarded screen information on a screen. At this time, no data remains with the thin client terminal. Therefore, there is an advantage that confidential information and corporate information will not be leaked out even if a thin client terminal is lost.
For instance, Patent Literature 1 describes a thin client system that uses a thin client terminal as a telephone terminal.

Remote communication system, server apparatus, remote communication method, and program


A network on a chip (NOC) peripheral interface (NPI) includes an NPI root, a plurality of switches coupled to the NPI root, and a plurality of NPI protocol blocks coupled to the plurality of switches. The NPI root, the plurality of switches, and the plurality of NPI protocol blocks are configured to route signals received from a master to a plurality of circuit blocks. A non-service command is routed to an intended circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks. A switch of the plurality of switches or an NPI protocol block of the plurality of NPI protocol blocks generate a response message for a service command query with the destination address associated with the intended circuit block that is received from the master instead of routing the service command query to the intended circuit block.

Electronic devices can contain a packet network structure known as a network on a chip (NOC). Some of these electronic devices may include programmable integrated circuits such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), programmable logic device (PLD), etc. A NOC may be programmed that routes packets between various components, e.g., configurable logic. Testing for NOC and its operation is difficult. Testing in such an environment may include transmitting a sideband signal to the root node (i.e. circuit block), resulting in routing congestion and complexity. Moreover, the switches and/or the protocol nodes do not appear in the programming space making the information within each inaccessible by a master.

NOC peripheral interconnect interrogation scheme


A warm hydro-forming device comprises: an upper mold and a lower mold respectively mounted to an upper mold die and a lower mold die; a lifting die installed to the lower mold die through a guide unit, an upper portion of the lifting die being connected to the upper mold die through a lifting unit to cooperatively operate in an upward and downward direction with the upper mold die; a pair of hydraulic pressure cylinders for providing an axial compression force to the tube component and supplying a forming hydraulic fluid into the tube component; an ascending and descending unit for ascending or descending the upper mold die; and a heating unit associated with the lifting die such that the heating unit can move toward or away from the tube component. The heating unit heats the tube component and a forming hydraulic fluid through a high frequency induction heating.

Generally, a hydro-forming method is performed at room temperature, e.g., in a temperature range of 10 to 30 degrees Celsius, and is one of the types of forming methods which perform expansion forming of a tube member using a hydraulic pressure. Through such a hydro-forming method, a weight of press-manufactured product that is formed as a combination of unit panels such as a front side member of a vehicle can be decreased and a manufacturing cost for the same can be reduced.
Recently, tube components that are formed through hydro-forming are generally made of high strength aluminum alloy instead of steel material to decrease weight. Such an aluminum alloy has poorer forming characteristics at room temperature than the steel material, but forming characteristics of such an aluminum alloy can be improved through a softening process. The softening process means a process to decrease a strength of the aluminum alloy as well as increase an elongation ratio of the aluminum alloy, and an annealing process is generally used as the softening process.
In order to obtain sufficient forming characteristics of the tube component that is made of a metal alloy such as an aluminum alloy, a sufficient elongation ratio must be obtained in consideration of a portion that has a maximum amount of deformation according to a shape of a formed component. The softening process is inevitable to obtain such an elongation ratio.
Referring to FIGS. 8 to 12, in a conventional hydro-forming method for an aluminum alloy, a softening process for an aluminum alloy tube component 100 to obtain a sufficient elongation ratio is performed at step S110.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 9, at step S120, the tube component 100 is loaded on a lower mold 101. Then, as shown in FIG. 10, at step S130, an upper mold 103 has been descended so that the upper and lower molds are joined together, and hydraulic pressure cylinders 105 and 107, which are disposed on both sides of the tube component 100, are operated to compress the tube component 100 in an axial direction thereby forming a sealing within the tube component 100.
Then, as shown in FIG. 11, at step S140, a forming hydraulic fluid is supplied into the tube component 100 from the hydraulic pressure cylinders 105 and 107. Consequently, the tube component 100 is expanded to forming surfaces 109 and 111 that are formed on the upper mold 103 and the lower mold 101.
After the tube component 100 is formed, the tube component is extracted from the lower and upper molds 101 and 103 at step S150. In addition, a hardening process for the tube component 100 is performed to increase a strength of the tube member that is weakened by the softening process. Such a hardening process may deteriorate a quality of the formed tube component and a productivity of the forming process.
Meanwhile, a warm hydro-forming method has been introduced, in which a tube component is heated in order to increase the forming characteristics of the tube component. A warm hydro-forming device for performing a warm hydro-forming method generally comprises heating means such as heating coils that are disposed within an upper mold and a lower mold.
However, conventional heating means were not effective for heating the tube member. In particular, if the tube component is heated by heat of the heating coils that are disposed within the upper and lower molds, the heating efficiency is not good. That is, only a portion of heat of the heating coil is transmitted to the tube component, and a majority portion of the heat is dissipated through the molds. In addition, because the heating coils are disposed within the upper and lower molds, it becomes difficult to manufacture such molds.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.


Solid and crystalline forms of tofacitinib hydrochloride and tofacitinib hydrobromide, processes for the preparation thereof and processes for the use thereof in preparing tofacitinib citrate are provided.

3-[(3R,4R)-4-Methyl-3-[methyl-(7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl)-amino]piperidin-1-yl]-3-oxopropionitrile (Formula 1), commonly known as tofacitinib, is disclosed in WO 01/42246 A1 and WO 02/096909 A1. XELJANZ™ a commercial form of the citrate salt of tofacitinib, is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response or intolerance to methotrexate.

WO 03/048162 A1 relates to a novel amorphous and crystalline forms of 3-{(3R,4R)-4-methyl-3-[methyl-(7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl)-amino]-piperidin-1-yl}-3-oxo-propionitrile mono-citrate salt, useful as inhibitors of protein kinases, and to their methods of preparation.
WO 2012/135338 A1 is directed to tofacitinib acid addition salts and solid state forms thereof, particularly amorphous tofacitinib acetate, as well as pharmaceutical compositions comprising one or more of them. The invention further provides a process for producing tofacitinib acid addition salt, in particular, tofacitinib mono-citrate salt.
WO 2012/137111 A1 discloses novel crystalline and non-crystalline forms of 3-((3R,4R)-4-methyl-3-[methyl-(7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl)-amino]-piperidin-1-yl)-3-oxopropionitrile, pharmaceutical composition containing the same, preparations thereof and the uses thereof.
WO 2013/090490 A1 is directed to several tofacitinib salts including tofacitinib mono-tartrate salt, tofacitinib mono-malate salt and tofacitinib mono-oxalate salt. These tofacitinib salts can be in amorphous form. The invention is also directed toward a pharmaceutical composition comprising one or more of the tofacitinib salts, and a process for preparing the composition. The tofacitinib salts can be used to prepare tofacitinib mono-citrate salt. Another aspect of the invention is a process for preparing tofacitinib mono-citrate. The tofacitinib salts of the invention are also useful as medicaments and in methods of treating patients suffering from cancer.
CN 103073552 A provides a preparation method for amorphous tofacitinib citrate. The preparation method is simple, can easily obtain high-purity amorphous tofacitinib citrate, and is suitable for industrial application. The preparation method includes the following steps: under the temperature range between 30° C. and 50° C., organic solvent is used for dissolving tofacitinib citrate, so that solution is produced, water which is 15° C. to 25° C. is added into the solution, so that precipitate is produced, the precipitate is put in the environment of 15° C. to 25° C. for 4 to 24 hours, and the amorphous tofacitinib citrate is then recovered.


Embodiments of the invention are directed to an optical USB (OUSB) to enhance the data rate of USB by adding super-high data rate (e.g. 10 Gbps) optical communication on top of its current specification so that backward compatibility is achievable. Mechanical tolerances may be achieved by using embedded lenses to expand a beam emerging from the connector prior to entering its mating connector and using an identical lens in the mating connector to collimate the beam back onto a fiber.

In many of today's processing systems, such as personal computer (PC) systems, there exist universal serial bus (USB) ports for connecting various USB devices. Some of these USB devices are frequently used by PC users. For example, these USB devices may be printers, compact disk read-only-memory (CD-ROM) drives, CD-ROM Writer (CDRW) drives, digital versatile disk (DVD) drives, cameras, pointing devices (e.g., computer mouse), keyboards, joy-sticks, hard-drives, speakers, etc. Some of these devices use more of the available USB bandwidth than others. For example, a USB CDRW is a high bandwidth device, while human interface devices (HID), such as computer mice, keyboards and joysticks, are low bandwidth devices.
Within a USB cable there are typically four shielded wires. Two of the wires may provide power (+5 volts (red) and ground (brown)) and a twisted pair (blue and yellow) for data.
At either end of a USB cable there is a standard sized connector. These connectors each has a different profile designated "A" connectors and "B" connectors. More recently, mini versions of these connectors are appearing to accommodate smaller devices. "A" connectors head "upstream" toward the computer. On the other end, "B" connectors head "downstream" and connect to individual devices. This way, it is almost fool proof to make a wrong connection.
The USB standard allows for low power devices (e.g., mice, memory sticks, keyboards, etc.) to draw their power from their USB connection. Larger devices requiring more power, such as scanners or printers, typically have their own dedicated power supply.
FIG. 1 shows a typical USB "A" male connector 10. The cable 12, comprises the above mentioned four wires and connects to a plastic housing 14. Each of the four wires electrically connects within the housing 14 to one of four contact terminals or pins 16 mounted on the top side of an insulative base 18. The insulative base 18 is wrapped in a metal shield 19. Openings 20 in the metal shield may be provided to lock the connector in place when plugged into a corresponding female connector.
FIG. 2 shows a more detailed view of the insulative base 18. As shown, conductive fasteners 21, 22, 23, and 24 are provided at one end to connect to each of the four wires in the cable 12. The outer two fasteners 21 and 22, are for power and the inner two connectors 23 and 24 are for data. On a top side of the insulative base 18 are four pins 31, 32, 33, and 34, corresponding to the contacts 21, 22, 23, and 24, respectively. The pins 31-34 within the male connector 10 electrically engage to mating pins within the female connector when plugged in.
Different standards of USB technology have different bandwidths. For instance, Universal Serial Bus Specification, revision 1.1, Sep. 23, 1998 (USB 1.1) devices are capable of operating at 12 Mbits/second (Mbps). Universal Serial Bus Specification, revision 2.0, Apr. 27, 2000 (USB 2.0; also known as high-speed USB) devices are capable of operating at 480 Mbps. However, as technology progresses engineers are constantly striving to increase operating speeds.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention provides methods for selecting the coarse frequency offset estimation in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system that may include: searching within a predefined subset for a set of frequency offset candidates; selectively searching outside the predefined subset for additional frequency offset candidates; and combining one or more ICDC method and CIR based method to select the coarse frequency offset.

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is a multi-carrier transmission technique that uses orthogonal subcarriers to transmit information within an available spectrum. Since the subcarriers may be orthogonal to one another, they may be spaced much more closely together within the available spectrum than, for example, the individual channels in a conventional frequency division multiplexing ("FDM") system.
In an OFDM system, the subcarriers may be modulated with a low-rate data stream before transmission. It is advantageous to transmit a number of low-rate data streams in parallel instead of a single high-rate stream since low symbol rate schemes suffer less from intersymbol interference ("ISI") caused by the multipath. For this reason, many modern digital communications systems are turning to the OFDM system as a modulation scheme for signals that need to survive in environments having multipath or strong interference. Many transmission standards have already adopted the OFDM system, including the IEEE 802.11a standard, the Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial ("DVB-T"), the Digital Audio Broadcast ("DAB"), and the Digital Television Broadcast ("T-DMB").
Although the OFDM system is advantageous in combating intersymbol interference, it is quite sensitive to frequency deviations. The frequency deviations may be caused by the difference in the oscillator frequency of the receiver and the transmitter, or by the Doppler shift of the signal due to movement of either the receiver or the transmitter. Large frequency deviations cause significant interference between signals at different subcarriers, hence result in dramatic performance degradation. Therefore, frequency offset estimation to correct the frequency deviations is critical for delivering good transmission quality.
The existent frequency offset estimation methods include the intercarrier differential correlation ("ICDC") method and the channel impulse response ("CIR") based method. The ICDC method becomes cumbersome when there are many possible frequency shifts to search from since the ICDC must be computed for each frequency shift. For example, in the DAB and T-DMB standards, the number of frequency shifts is 401 in Mode I to support the maximum frequency offset of 200 kHz. The ICDC method may also return false results, due to the periodicity in the phase reference symbol, when used alone to calculate frequency offsets. The CIR based method has better performance at the cost of even greater complexity since one inverse fast Fourier transform ("IFFT") must be performed for each frequency shift. Therefore, direct application of the existent methods to support large frequency offsets is problematic. It is therefore desirable to have novel methods for the estimation of coarse frequency offset for the demodulation of a received OFDM signal.

Methods for selecting a coarse frequency offset estimation for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulated signal


A white light emitting diode (LED) package with multilayered encapsulation structure and the packaging methods are disclosed. The white LED package structure includes metal electrodes, a heat dissipation base, a PPA plastic for fixing the electrodes and the heat dissipation base together, at least one LED die, a die attaching material, gold wires for electrically connecting the LED die to the electrodes, a first type of silicone encapsulant, a second type of silicone encapsulant, and a phosphor containing layer. The invention utilizes a low-refractive index silicone (the second type of silicone encapsulant) to separate the phosphor containing layer away from the first type of silicone, which covers the LED die, to prevent/reduce emitted light going backward and hitting the LED die.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to a light emitting diode (LED) device; more specifically it is related to a white LED package structure and its packaging methods.
2. Background Art
As a semiconductor lighting device, LED has superior advantages over traditional lighting devices, such as incandescent bulb and fluorescent tube, with a longer life time, a more compact size, a lower applied voltage source, no mercury pollution, and a more energy saving property. Therefore it is called the first option of the green lighting sources, and has already been widely used in signal light, display, and LCD backlighting. There is also a trend for the LED to replace the incandescent and fluorescent in general illumination area.
In a traditional method for making a white LED, the phosphor containing layer is directly dispensed onto and cover the surfaces of a blue or UV LED die so that the excited light from the phosphor with various wavelengths mixed together or mixed together with the excitation light if the excitation light is blue to create a white light emission. In this method, the LED suffers a great light absorption loss when the emitted light from the phosphor propagates backwardly into the LED die or to the substrate area around the LED die because of close proximity between phosphor and the LED die. An improving method is to separate the phosphor containing layer from the LED die by using a transparent spacer, such as a silicone, to reduce the chance of the excited emission from the phosphor to hit back into the LED die or the substrate area around the die. This has been described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,316 as the prior art shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, an LED die (60) is attached onto a substrate (62, and the phosphor containing layer (66) is separated from the LED die (60) by using a transparent spacer (64); outside the phosphor containing layer (66) is a protective transparent layer (68). The LED die is electrically connected to the substrate (62) by using gold wires. In this structure, the emitted light from the phosphor layer in a back forwarding direction can still hit the LED die or the substrate area around the die without any obstacle, causing light absorption.

White light emitting diode package having enhanced white lighting efficiency and method of making the same


A system for platform-independent visualization of audio content, in particular audio tracks utilizing a central computer system in communication with user devices via a computer network. The central system utilizes various algorithms to identify spoken content from audio tracks and selects visual assets associated with the identified content. Thereafter, a visualized audio track is available for users to listen and view. Audio tracks, for example Podcasts, may be segmented into topical audio segments based upon themes or topics, with segments from disparate podcasts combined into a single listening experience, based upon certain criteria, e.g., topics, themes, keywords, and the like.

The present disclosure relates to digital audio (topic-based segmentation, search, visibility to search engines, monetization, its ability to be monetized via advertising) and associating visuals (images, still and/or motion photos, cinemographs, videos, looping videos, gifs, animation, etc.). It finds particular application in conjunction with podcasting and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications, including and not limited to audiobooks, broadcast radio, streaming radio, music, virtual reality, and/or educational audio/visual tools and products.
Presently, digital audio is not readily searchable, indexable, or shareable via social media in any modern graphic sense. In this way, digital audio remains outside the realm of social media and the modern Internet. On the other hand, text and images are machine-readable, whereas digital audio is not. That is, audio bits cannot be recognized by software. For example, the Google® search engine does not have an audio tab, rather it is configured to readily search images and text. If a search engine such as Google® cannot "see" audio, then neither can advertisers. There is no way to pictorially represent the topics discussed in millions of hours of listening. Sponsors have billions of dollars in digital advertising they would like to pair with audio, but there are no highly targeted, digital vehicles to reach those audiences.
There is an outdated radio advertising-type model in place within the audio podcasting space. As used herein, a podcast refers to a digital audio file made available via the Internet for downloading to a personal computer or mobile device, which may be listened to by a user at the user's convenience. The major players in podcast advertising monetization still generate the great majority of their revenues from host-read audio advertisements that are inserted into an episode's structure in just the same way as traditional radio. Creating traditional radio-style audio advertisements means significant time and cost for the advertiser, who must work individually with each show host and/or their representation to craft and execute an advertisement that favorably positions its brand, while in the authentic style of the host. This means that advertisers will only work with the top podcasters, and this leaves behind a significant amount of the market. As all podcasts provide direct access to trusting and engaged listeners, and according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a majority of podcast listeners have taken action as a result of an ad in a podcast, this means a lot of potential revenue is left on the table. There is no easy or cost-effective system allowing advertisers to reach their target customers in that larger pool of episodes.
The industry currently ripest for a monetization revolution is podcasting. Considered the most rapidly growing media content platform, podcasting is on the verge of triggering an audio revolution. Nearly one in five Americans regularly listen to podcasts. This is a 17% increase of listeners over the prior year, with monthly listenership up 75% from 2013. As it is currently constituted, however, podcasting poses a significant challenge in the audio space for advertisers, due in part to limited and largely unreliable metrics and the inefficient search tools available. In fact, most podcasts generate no meaningful revenue. Only the top 10% of podcasters can take advantage of audio advertising. Monetization advancements are urgently needed in order to unlock the value inherent in the podcast media.
Important entities in the podcasting space include Spotify®, iTunes®, Stitcher®, and Pandora®. Music platform Spotify® has 217 million monthly active users, of which 100 million pay for premium subscription, putting it ahead of Apple Music globally. Recently acquiring podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor, Spotify® is looking to grow its share of the podcast market by converting its music listeners into podcast listeners. iTunes® currently dominates over 65% of total podcast listenership. However, it offers poor quality text search and no "wow" factor. Stitcher® focuses on curating share-worthy titles for podcasts, and provides a more visual search than iTunes®, but it doesn't divide its content into "topics" and has poor customer ratings. Pandora® has 78 million active monthly users and has recently experimented with introducing podcasts, but the hefty music licensing fees of Pandora® make that focus prohibitive. None of these entities offer audio platforms that "visualize" and "topic segment" audio.
Some efforts in the industry have been centered on turning digitally recorded talk-based audio (namely, podcasts) into translated text, such as commercially available software from PopUpArchive™. Although the text itself may be keyword searchable, it does not identify the true underlying nature of the topics being discussed or segment conversation effectively into standalone topics and, thus, cannot truly break down discussion into distinct topical audio segments. Furthermore, transcripts are a grey area in computer recognition. Too many keywords make them of lesser value for those seeking targeted advertising. Currently, there is no audio platform allowing users to search for content and find specific audio segments and related topics buried within audio in a modern, visual way.
In 2004, most blogs (regularly updated websites or web pages) were discovered via links on more popular blogs; today new blogs are usually discovered on social networks. Podcasts, which can be vaguely characterized as an "audio" blog, however, struggle with respect to search and discovery. While the iTunes® platform has a front page and a blackbox ranking system, the requirement to download a file and spend time listening makes it hard to spread a podcast virally. Many podcasts are instead built off of established brands, e.g., National Public Radio ("NPR") or the personal brands of the podcast hosts. Blogs can be read via Uniform Resource Locators ("URL") typed in any Internet browser currently in use, e.g. Safari®, FireFox®, Chrome®, Internet Explorer®, and the like. Podcasts are much more complicated: a user either has to search a third-party podcast player's directory (iTunes® or self-contained) to add a show, or copy-and-paste a feed address. Alternately, the user can simply listen to a podcast on a website, but that is a suboptimal experience. Often, a solution that works for sophisticated users is actually prohibitive for average users. Rich Site Summary ("RSS") readers are an illustrative example: RSS feeds were only ever viewed by a fraction of readers because they were too difficult to use.
Podcasting is the fastest-growing content platform in the digital media universe, yet there is a disconnect between the popularity of digital talk audio with listeners and its value for sponsors. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method which overcomes these problems and others, including the solutions to core issues surrounding the digital audio industry's monetization, measurement, and search and discovery problems.

Systems and methods for transforming digital audio content into visual topic-based segments


An optical pick up, including: a laser diode which outputs a light in response to an input current; a photo diode which receives the light and outputs a voltage; a digital potentiometer which adjusts the voltage output by the photo diode according to a voltage adjusting signal; and a controller which outputs the input current, sets a first reference voltage to be outputted by the photo diode according to the light, and outputs the voltage adjusting signal to the digital potentiometer according to a difference between the output voltage and the reference voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photo diode of an optical pick-up device, and more particularly, to an apparatus for and method of controlling sensitivity of a photo diode using a digital potentiometer.
2. Description of Related Art
An optical pick-up device is used for reading, writing and deleting data from an optical disk using light emitted from a laser diode (LD). A monitor photo diode (PD), called also a front photo diode (FPD), detects optical power emitted from the laser diode of the optical pick-up device and feeds back a detected result to an optical power controller. The optical power controller controls the optical power of the laser diode with optical power information fed back from the monitor photo diode.
With the development of high performance optical disk drives (ODD), it is more important to control the sensitivity of the photo diode. Easy and exact control of the sensitivity greatly contribute to improvement in performance of ODDs.
A conventional optical pick-up device has a 500-Ohm or 2.2K-Ohm variable resistor, i.e., manual rotary resistor, in order to control the sensitivity of the photo diode. However, because of errors and loss of control time caused by an operator's direct control, it is hard to control the sensitivity of the photodiode with such variable resistors.

Apparatus for and method of controlling photo diode using digital potentiometer


Various features and processes related to document collaboration are disclosed. In some implementations, animations are presented when updating a local document display to reflect changes made to the document at a remote device. In some implementations, a user can selectively highlight changes made by collaborators in a document. In some implementations, a user can select an identifier associated with another user to display a portion of a document that includes the other user's cursor location. In some implementations, text in document chat sessions can be automatically converted into hyperlinks which, when selected, cause a document editor to perform an operation.

Multi-user collaboration on documents is often necessary in industry, academics and other endeavors. For example, software developers may need to collaborate while writing a software architecture document. Students may need to collaborate on a presentation or academic paper. Collaboration on a document is often accomplished by editing the document sequentially (e.g., one collaborator can edit the document at a time). Alternatively, collaboration on a document can be accomplished by having each collaborator edit a different version of the document and then merging the documents together. These methods of collaborating on a document can often be cumbersome, time consuming and inefficient.


A method and apparatus for selecting data path elements for cloning within an integrated circuit (IC) design is described. The method comprises performing timing analysis of at least one data path within the IC design to determine at least one timing slack value for the at least one data path, calculating at least one annotated delay value for cloning a candidate element within the at least one data path, calculating at least one modified slack value for the at least one data path in accordance with the at least one calculated annotated delay value, and validating the cloning of the candidate element based at least partly on the at least one modified slack value.

In the field of integrated circuit (IC) design, cloning is an optimization technique that takes an original 'launch' stage, for example comprising a flip-flop, for a critical timing path and duplicates it for use with a timing critical portion of the circuit. The original launch stage remains the start point for non-critical timing paths, whilst the 'clone' launch stage becomes the start point for the critical timing path. In this manner, timing critical paths may be separated from the non-timing critical paths, resulting in reduced fan-out and output load for the timing critical path launch stage in the cloned arrangement as compared with the original arrangement. The logic for the critical timing path may then be 'optimised', whilst the original sampling latch and the non-critical timing path remain unaffected.
The cloning of stages in this manner can provide significant improvements to the achievable operating frequency of an IC design; cloning even 1% of all launch stages within an IC design can result in frequency improvements of up to 20%. However, large scale cloning can also result in a significant increase in area of the IC design. As such, it is desirable to only clone stages within those timing critical paths that would most benefit from being cloned, and to avoid unnecessary cloning of stages that would provide little (if any) timing improvements.
Due to the enormous numbers of timing paths within modern IC designs, identifying those stages that would most benefit from being cloned is a very complicated and time consuming process. As such, manually identifying stages to be cloned is not a practical solution to optimise the cloning of such stages. Another problem with implementing cloning manually is that it requires changes to be made at the register transfer level (RTL). However, this is not always possible where parts of the IC design involve 3rd party design blocks, and such changes in the RTL of such 3rd party design blocks may require architectural licences, etc., which are often extremely expensive to obtain. Thus, the necessary RTL changes that would be required to implement cloning manually within such 3rd party design blocks are often not possible.
A problem with typical current automated techniques for implementing the cloning of stages is that typically they involve cloning the launch stages for all critical paths, together with all of the combinational logic within the critical paths for those stages. As such, there is no assessment of how beneficial such cloning is for individual critical paths, typically resulting in a significant amount of unnecessary cloning, and thus unnecessary increase in area.
U.S. Pat. No. 536,435 discloses an automated method of identifying candidate gates for cloning within timing critical paths, and individually implementing such cloning for each candidate gate by way of updating a respective netlist to include the cloning of the candidate gate, re-tiling and re-buffering the modified netlist circuit, and then recalculating slack values to assess whether the cloning of the candidate has improved the timing values. If timing values are not improved, the netlist is reverted back to before that particular cloning was implemented. This process is performed for each candidate gate within each timing critical path. Advantageously, unnecessary cloning of gates which would provide little if any improvement may be avoided. However, the large number of potential timing critical paths, and thus the large number of potentially cloned stages, within an IC design (e.g. ˜500,000 potentially cloned stages) means that the amount of time such synthesis would require to assess all possible candidate gates within all timing critical paths is not practically feasible.

Method and apparatus for selecting data path elements for cloning


A hands-free system for a vehicle is provided, where the hands-free system sends and receives communication from a personal electronic device. The hands-free system includes a vehicle control module that is in communication with at least one vehicle system for determining if the vehicle is in a condition to receive input regarding operation, a display, and a hands-free control module. The hands-free control module is in communication with the display and the vehicle control module. The hands-free control module is in communication with the personal electronic device for sending and receiving an external communication from the personal electronic device. The hands-free control module has a memory and a message delivery filter algorithm.

Some drivers may use their portable electronic communication devices while operating a vehicle. For example, some drivers use their smartphones to make telephone calls and send text messages while driving. However, some jurisdictions have prohibited the use of portable communication devices while driving unless a hands-free adapter is used.
In an effort to reduce distractions while driving, a driver may choose to turn off or set the portable electronic communication device to silent mode, thereby ignoring all calls and text messages. However, when using this approach an important call or text message may be missed. For example, during severe weather a driver may miss a call or text message warning him or her of an emergency or dangerous situation. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an approach for ignoring some calls and text messages while driving, while still having the ability to receive selected calls and text messages that may be important to a driver.

Vehicle system for managing external communication


A method for making a cathode comprises introduction of polyethylene oxide into a suitable solvent prior to introduction of a compatible cathodic material and an electroconductive agent. The mixture of components forms a cathode paste which is used to form a cathode which can be employed in an electrolytic cell, e.g., a solid battery.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cathode having improved conductivity and hardness and a method for making the cathode.
This invention is further directed to electrolytic cells, e.g., solid batteries, containing the cathode.
2. State of the Art
Electrolytic cells containing an anode, a cathode, and a solid solvent-containing electrolyte are known in the art and are usually referred to as "solid batteries". These cells offer a number of advantages over electrolytic cells containing a liquid electrolyte (i.e., "liquid batteries") including improved safety features.
The cathode employed in such a cell is typically comprised of a compatible cathodic material (i.e., insertion compounds) which is any material which functions as a positive pole in a solid electrolytic cell. Such compatible cathodic materials are well known in the art and include, by way of example, manganese dioxide, molybdenum trioxide, oxides of vanadium such as V.sub.6 O.sub.13, V.sub.2 O.sub.5, LiV.sub.3 O.sub.8, and the like, sulfides of titanium and niobium, chromium oxide, copper oxide, and the like.
In preparing a cathode, the compatible cathodic material can for example, be mixed with an electroconductive material including, by way of example, graphite powdered carbon, powdered nickel, metal particles, conductive polymers (i.e., characterized by a conjugated network of double bonds like polypyrol and polyacetylene), and the like, and a binder such as poly(tetrafluoroethylene) to form under pressure a cathodic plate.
It has also been recognized that the cathode can be prepared from a cathode paste which comprises from about 35 to about 65 weight percent of a compatible cathodic material; from about 1 to 20 weight percent of an electroconductive material; up to about 20 weight percent of polyethylene oxide having a number average molecular weight of at least 100,000; from about 10 to 50 weight percent of a suitable solvent; and from at least about 5 weight percent to about 30 weight percent of a solid matrix forming monomer or partial polymer thereof. (All weight percents are based on the total weight of the cathode).
In the production of the paste, the components are typically simultaneously mixed together. Moreover, in such an arrangement, the polyethylene oxide is typically introduced into the other solids in the system, e.g., the compatible cathodic material and the electroconductive material.
The cathode paste is spread onto a suitable support such as current collector and cured by conventional methods to provide for a solid positive cathodic plate. The cathode (excluding the support) generally has a thickness of about 20 to about 150 microns.
Current collectors are well recognized in the art some of which are commercially available. A typical current collector for the cathode is a roughened nickel (electrolytically deposited nickel) on nickel current collector (available as CF18/NiT from Fukuda Metal Foil & Powder Company, Ltd., Kyoto, Japan). The current collectors are typically attached to the surface of the cathode not facing the electrode but can also be attached to the anode. When the current collector is attached to the cathode, the cathode is interposed between the electrolyte and the current collector.

Method of making a cathode for use in an electrolytic cell


A method for a communication apparatus to align a frame boundary with a cell. A first time at which a predetermined synchronization signal is supposed to be received is determined after knowing a timing of the cell. The predetermined synchronization signal is a primary synchronization signal or a secondary synchronization signal. A second time at which the predetermined synchronization signal is actually received is determined. A first offset between the first time and the second time is determined. A timing of a local time base utilized by the communication apparatus according to the first offset is adjusted such that a frame boundary of the local time base and a frame boundary of the cell are aligned.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for a communication apparatus to align a frame boundary with a cell.
Description of the Related Art
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising technology that is widely used in wireless communication systems, and converts a frequency selective channel to a collection of frequency-flat subchannels achieved by splitting the input high-rate data stream into a number of low-rate substreams. In order to enhance the efficiency of the frequency allocation, the technique of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) is proposed to allow multiple users to access a same channel, by dividing available subcarriers into mutually exclusive clusters assigned to distinct users for simultaneous transmission. The orthogonality of the subcarriers guarantees intrinsic protection against multiple access interference, while the adoption of a dynamic subcarrier assignment strategy provides the system with high flexibility in resource management. OFDMA has become a promising technique for use in next-generation broadband wireless networks.
With more fine frequency allocation, OFDMA signal demodulation is extremely sensitive to timing errors and carrier frequency offsets. Inaccurate compensation of the frequency offset destroys the orthogonality among subcarriers and produces inter-carrier interference (ICI). Timing errors result in inter-symbol interference (ISI) and produce severe error rate degradations.
Therefore, a method for a communication apparatus to align a frame boundary with a cell with enhanced alignment efficiency is highly required.

Methods for communication apparatus to align a frame boundary with a cell and communication apparatus utilizing the same


A multifunction engagement apparatus for use with a water recreation device may include a foot pad and a multifunction strap. The multifunction strap may be positioned to overlie the substantially flat foot pad, and may be moveable between an uncollapsed position and a collapsed position. In the uncollapsed position, the multifunction strap may present a generally arcuate foot opening between the strap and the top surface of the foot pad. In the collapsed position, the multifunction strap may present a substantially flat contact cushion atop the foot pad. The multifunction strap may have elastic properties that allow for selective positioning of the multifunction engagement member for use by a towed rider as the rider transitions between prone, kneeling, and/or standing positions atop a water recreation device.

Water sports, such as wake boarding, commonly require use of a foot binding system to engage a rider with a water recreation device as the device is pulled along the surface of the water behind a powerboat. Conventional foot binding systems typically include a foot securing means attached to the top surface of a water recreation device. Common foot securing means range from simple strap solutions to complex booting systems.
However, current foot binding systems can be difficult for a rider (particularly a novice rider) to effectively use. For example, a typical foot binding system requires the rider to engage the bindings prior to the start of a ride, and to maintain that contact with the foot bindings while the water recreation device is in motion. Such a design prevents the rider from starting a ride from a more stable position (for example, a prone position) atop the water recreation device, and subsequently transitioning to a position that involves engaging the foot binding system only after the device has achieved planing upon the surface of the water.
Consequently, many potential water recreation device riders who possess lesser physical ability are precluded from using conventional foot binding systems as designed. Furthermore, the obtrusive presence of typical foot binding systems upon the surface of a water recreation device precludes riders from using those systems in ways other than designed (for example, assuming a prone position by lying atop the foot bindings). Simply put, the foot bindings get in the way and, therefore, prevent alternate use of the water recreation device.
Several foot binding systems that feature a low profile exist for use by a rider of a water recreation device. For example, a foot strap that flexes and collapses to permit a rider to lie flat on a water recreation device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,734 to Metiver (hereinafter "Metiver"). However, the baseplates described in the Metiver reference protrude upward from the surface of the water recreation device, presenting uncomfortable contact points for elbows, knees, and other parts of a rider's body that may come into contact with the baseplates. Furthermore, the straps disclosed in the Metiver reference do nothing to cushion contact made by a rider with the outer surface of the straps. Instead, the focus of comfort features in the Metiver reference is limited to the inner surfaces of the straps, which are those surfaces that come into contact with the rider's feet.
Retractable foot binding systems attempt to help a rider maintain comfort while lying in a prone position atop a water recreation device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,394 to Kagan (hereinafter "Kagan") describes a surfboard foot binding device that is retractable into a recessed cavity in the deck of a surfboard. When in an upward position, a pivotal member of the device creates an inclined plane under which a surfer may position his foot. When in a downward position, the top of the retracted pivotal member of the device creates a relatively flat surface upon which the rider may lie prone comfortably. However, the hardware components left exposed when the Kagan device is in a retracted position, such as hinges, elastic straps, and looped strips, present obstacles atop the water recreation device that may compromise not only rider comfort but also rider safety. Furthermore, the retracted Kagan device does not provide a contact cushion designed for the rider's comfort when he comes into physical contact with the retracted binding device. Also, the Kagan device may present a pinching hazard when retracting.
Collapsible foot binding systems are also designed to provide comfort to a rider lying in a prone position atop a water recreation device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,553 to Wilson (hereinafter "Wilson") describes a surfboard foot strap system that is collapsible into a recess in a surrounding base. The Wilson system employs inner and outer pads layered on a flat, curved reinforcement member that is made of a resilient, semi-rigid material to give the pads an arched shape as a foot opening. The foot strap system may be substantially flattened by application of downward pressure. However, like the Kagan foot binding system, the Wilson solution does not provide a contact cushion for the rider's comfort when he comes into physical contact with the collapsed device. Also, like the Kagan system, the necessary rigidity of certain components of the Wilson foot binding system may present a pinching hazard when in the downward position.

Multifunctional engagement apparatus for a water recreation device and associated methods


A packaged semiconductor device, such as a lead frame device, includes a circuit supported within an enclosure. The circuit is coupled to a plurality of conductive leads within the enclosure. The leads extend from the enclosure for electrically coupling the circuit to external circuitry. At least one of the leads is shielded to reduce inductive coupling and crosstalk between the leads during high frequency switching. The shielded lead has a conductive base, a non-conductive layer disposed on the base, and a conductive layer disposed on the non-conductive layer. The non-conductive and conductive layers may be formed prior to electrically coupling the lead to the circuit, or following assembly of the lead frame package. The shielding may extend into the package enclosure, or may terminate external to the enclosure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of semiconductor devices housed in lead frame packages designed to be coupled to external circuitry. More particularly, the invention relates to a lead frame device in which leads are shielded from one another to reduce inductive coupling between the leads during operation of the circuitry housed within the lead frame package.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of applications exist for preconfigured electronic circuitry which can be integrated into larger electronic systems in a straightforward and rapid manner. Such preconfigured circuitry is commonly formed in multi-layer semiconductor devices. The devices may include memory circuits, signal processing circuits, analog-to-digital conversion circuits, and so forth. Power electronic circuitry may be manufactured in a similar manner, including such devices as power MOSFETs, insulated-gate, bi-polar transistors (IGBTs), and so forth. To facilitate handling and installation, the electronic circuitry is conveniently supported in an enclosure, often referred to as a "lead frame package." Conductive leads are electrically coupled to the circuitry within the package, and extend from the package for interfacing the circuitry with external components during installation.
Current lead frame-packaged devices often include from 3 to 50 or more leads extending from the circuit enclosure. Depending upon the circuit design, various signals are transmitted via the leads between the lead frame circuit and external circuitry with which the lead frame is interfaced. In an increasing number of applications, miniaturization of the electronic circuitry and the lead frame package has permitted a significant reduction in the size of the leads extending from the packages, and of the spacing between the leads. For example, lead spacings of less than one millimeter, and sometimes less than one half of one millimeter are not uncommon.
In addition to an increase in the number of leads utilized in lead frame packages, and the reduction in the lead size and spacing, switching rates for the circuitry housed within lead frame packages has increased substantially over recent years. For example, it is not uncommon to find switching frequencies of several hundred megahertz in currently available devices. At such high switching rates, signals transmitted through adjacent conductors extending from the lead frame device may cause interference with one another. In particular, because inductive coupling or crosstalk between the leads is typically a function of the rate of change of currents through the leads, such high switching rates may result in sufficient signal interference to cause bit errors in logic signals, or to otherwise degrade performance of the circuitry.
There is a need, therefore, for improved lead frame devices which reduce the risk of inductive interference between the leads extending from the devices. In particular, there is a need for a technique for limiting crosstalk between leads in a lead frame package, which permits spacing between the leads to be reduced, while at the same time allowing very high switching or cycle rates for signals transmitted via the leads.


A method for regulating an ignition time for combustion processes of an internal combustion engine includes determining an ignition angle for a combustion process as a function of an operating parameter of the internal combustion engine, based on a characteristic diagram and as a function of a knocking limit offset.

There are ways to monitor an ignition time with respect to knocking combustion during combustion processes of an internal combustion engine, and in the event of knocking combustion being detected to adjust the ignition angle of the affected cylinder in the retarded direction by an ignition angle offset as a measure during the next combustion process. Subsequently, the ignition angle offset is eliminated again by means of a slow adjustment of the ignition angle in the early direction. If knocking combustion occurs again before the reduction in the adjustment of the ignition angle in the retarded direction is completely eliminated to the ignition angle which is provided, immediate adjustment of the ignition angle in the retarded direction by the ignition angle offset is carried out once more. As a result of the rapid reduction in the ignition angle during the knocking event and the subsequent renewed slow approach to the knocking limit, the internal combustion engine can be operated right up against the knocking limit with an optimized ignition angle.

DR. ING. H.C. F. PORSCHE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT