A controllable delay clock buffer that provides spread spectrum modulation of the output signals with zero cycle slip includes a PLL having a PLL loop filter that comprises an RC network. A clock signal is input to the PLL, and a SS modulation frequency is injected into the capacitor of the PLL loop filter. The SS signal is provided by a secondary charge pump that produces a programmable waveform such as a square wave or a stair case square wave current signal. The programmable waveform is integrated by the loop filter capacitor to form a corresponding triangular or trigonal waveform which varies the input to the VCO of the PLL to define a frequency modulation profile that has a corresponding triangular or trigonal envelope. The bandpass profile of the SS modulation signal is at a higher frequency range than the lowpass profile of the PLL, so that the SS waveform profile is not distorted or cancelled by the PLL.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a controllable delay clock buffer and, more particularly, to a controllable delay clock buffer that provides spread spectrum modulation of the clock signal and zero cycle slip.
2. Description of Related Art
A controllable delay buffer is a device that accepts an input signal (typically a periodic clock signal) and provides an output that has its transition edges phase aligned (controlled) with respect to those of the input signal. The definition of a transition edge is a change in voltage or current from one stable state to another. Phase alignment implies that the measured phase (time) difference between the 2 edges of the input and output is less than a certain specified value.
Controllable delay clock buffers are typically connected to synchronize and buffer multiple identical output clock signals to an input reference clock. There is a minimum time delay between the output clock edges and the reference input clock edges, which relates to the phase alignment of the signals.
In the prior art, there are generally two types of controllable delay clock buffers. Conventional controllable delay buffers have both input and output clocks without spread spectrum modulation, but these devices provide no benefit in EMI reduction. On the other hand, spread spectrum-capable controllable delay buffers have an input reference clock that is spread spectrum modulated, passing the SS modulation undistorted to all output parallel clocks. There is a minimum delay between input and outputs, and the SS modulation is always maintained ON at all outputs.

Spread spectrum controllable delay clock buffer with zero cycle slip


A method of monitoring an application supported by a plurality of distributed resources, the method comprising: detecting a plurality of events transpiring in the resources generated by operation of the application, for each event collecting data for a selection of fields comprised in a fingerprint useable to identify the event, the selection comprising at least one conserved field that comprises conserved data present in an incoming call to the resource that triggers the event or an outgoing call from the resource that triggers an event in another resource; determining pairs of directly causally related events for which the respective fingerprints share the same conserved data; and using pairs of directly causally related events to monitor the application.

Cloud computing refers to processing data using computing resources from an ensemble of hardware and software computing resources that are considered to be located in a logical environment, referred to as a cloud, that is characterized by the feature that the resources in the environment, wherever the resources may happen to physically reside, are accessible for use via the internet. The hardware resources, which may be referred to as bare-metal resources comprise physical machines such as servers, processors, and communications network elements, on which the software computing resources run. The software computing resources comprise in addition to applications, and software programs that provide particular processing functionalities, software entities referred to as virtual computing resources. Virtual computing resources emulate, adopt the identities of, and are addressable as familiar bare-metal computing resources and comprise by way of example, virtual computers, referred to as virtual machines (VMs) or virtual servers, virtual storage, virtual load balancers, and virtual communications network elements that support communications between virtual and/or bare-metal computing resources.
Various commercial enterprises, such as by way of example, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Oracle, provide clouds that offer computing resources and services that may be rented. Private individuals may by way of example, rent from a cloud provider, software, virtual memory to store personal data, and/or virtual computers on which to run their own computer programs. Enterprises generally rent virtual computing resources from a cloud provider as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and/or SAAS (Software-as-a-Service).
When renting computing resources from a cloud provider to support a desired application a user, generally designated by an account number of an entity that the cloud provider invoices for supporting the application, is typically required to provide technical specifications for virtual computing resources that the user requires to support the application. For example, the user may have to specify random access memory (RAM), processor frequency, and minimum database space for servers that the application requires, and which servers have to communicate with each other to support the application. In a mode of cloud computing referred to as serverless computing a cloud provider relieves a user from having to provide technical specifications for virtual computing resources that the user needs to support a user application and assumes the tasks of specifying virtual machines, and how and when they operate and communicate with each other to support the user application. The user application operates by submitting requests to the cloud provider for performance of various functions as needed by the application, for which requests the cloud provider returns appropriate responses. How the cloud provider provides the responses and what virtual and/or bare metal computing resources the cloud provider uses to satisfy the responses are substantially opaque to the user.
It has become apparent that the serverless environment lends itself to supporting asynchronous operation of a user application and that asynchronous operation may be advantageous in increasing efficiency with which a user application operates and in reducing rental charges for using cloud resources. As a result, user applications operating in serverless environments are being configured to incorporate asynchronous operation. Asynchronous operation refers to operation in which an application does not have to halt activity to await a response to a request that it submits to any software resource or the cloud provider service.
Whereas in serverless computing a user is relieved of the often complex and time-consuming task of configuring a network of virtual resources to support a desired application, the opacity of the cloud provider operations, and possible asynchronous operation of the application may increase complexity and difficulty of monitoring performance of the application.
It is noted that the term serverless computing is somewhat of a misnomer and that real and virtual servers are required and used by a cloud provider to provide serverless computing. Serverless computing is referred to as serverless computing because a user "doesn't see" the servers and other cloud computing resources that operate in the background to support a user application.


A portable breathing apparatus has a respirator and a filter. The filter has a multifunctional strainer, a photocatalyst element, an exhauster, a high-pressure generator and an active carbon net in the interior thereof. Via the exhauster, external air can be filtered by the multifunctional strainer and mixed with ozone and negative ions generated from the photocatalyst element and the high-pressure generator thereby filtering and sterilizing the external air. Furthermore, the external air passes through a tube via the active carbon net to the respirator. Hence, it is easy for people wearing the portable breathing apparatus to breathe and experience the functions of air sterilization and filtration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable breathing apparatus, and more particularly to a portable breathing apparatus with which it is easy for people to breathe and experience the functions of air sterilization and filtration.
2. Description of Related Art
In times of epidemics, such as SARS, people wear all kinds of respirators, such as surgery respirators, N95 respirators and P100 respirators, to prevent being infected by viruses. However, when wearing a conventional respirator with multilayer materials to prevent infectious droplets or viruses, it is difficult for a user to breathe. Furthermore, the conventional respirator only has an effect to filter the viruses and does not sterilize the viruses so that the user still has an opportunity to inhale the virus thereby catching a disease.
Therefore, the invention provides a portable breathing apparatus to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


In order to achieve a speed up of threshold value correcting operation and read operation of level detecting transistors of a semiconductor memory device and a reduction of an area of a chip thereof, a sense amplifier SA10 includes a threshold value correction driving transistor Q16 responsive to a threshold value correction drive signal RSB1 to correct levels of bit lines of data lines DL11 and DL12 with respect to threshold values of level detecting transistors Q11 and Q21 during a precharge period T2 and a read driving transistor Q15 responsive to a read control signal RS1 to activate the transistors Q11 and Q21 such that the latter transistors detect the levels of the bit lines of the data lines DL11 and DL12 during a read period T3.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and, particularly, to a semiconductor memory device in which variations of threshold voltages of transistors constituting sense amplifiers thereof are compensated for.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a large capacity semiconductor memory device such as DRAM, etc., load capacitances of bit lines connected to sense amplifiers are increased with the recent further increase of memory capacity thereof. Such increase of the load capacitances cause an operating speed of the semiconductor memory device to be reduced. In order to solve such problem, it is usual to divide a memory cell array to a plurality of sub memory arrays to thereby reduce load capacitances of bit lines of the respective sub memory arrays, that is, sub bit lines.
On the other hand, each sense amplifier includes transistors for detecting potential levels of the sub bit lines. Necessarily, there are variations of threshold voltages of such level detecting transistors. A difference in threshold voltage between the level detecting transistors becomes a source of reduction of S/N and reduction of sensitivity since the threshold voltage difference becomes an offset voltage of the sense amplifier. Further, the variation of threshold voltage tends to increase with the increasing fineness of transistor.
On the other hand, a chip area of the semiconductor memory device has becomes about 1.5 times every generation. Although an area of memory cells can be reduced by utilizing the three dimensional structure such as trench structure and stack structure, the ratio of area occupied by the sense amplifiers to the chip area of the semiconductor memory device is increasing since the sense amplifier must use a flat structure.
Therefore, in order to realize a DRAM of giga-bit class, it is important to form high precision sense amplifiers having small area by compensating for variation of threshold voltages of the level detecting transistors constituting the sense amplifiers.
A conventional semiconductor memory device in which such variation of the threshold voltage is compensated for will be described with reference to FIG. 5 which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 5-47179. In the conventional semiconductor memory device 300 shown in FIG. 5, sense amplifiers connected to sub bit line pairs of respective sub memory cell arrays are of the direct sense system and are constructed with only NMOS transistors and bit line pairs of the respective memory cell arrays and a pair of common bit lines are formed in respective layers to form a hierarchical bit line construction.
The semiconductor memory device 300 shown in FIG. 5 comprises a memory cell array MA10 including a bit line pair (referred to as BL1, hereinafter) composed of complimentary bit lines BL11 and BL12 which are formed in parallel to each other with a small gap therebetween and a plurality of memory cells C11, C12 connected to the respective bit lines BL11 and BL12 and functioning to write data on the bit line corresponding to selected one of the memory cells C11, C12 and read the data stored in the selected memory cell onto the corresponding bit line, a memory cell array MA20 including a bit line pair BL2 composed of complimentary bit lines BL21 and BL22, memory cells C21, C22 and bit lines having the same construction and function as those of the memory cell array MA10 and arranged in registration with the respective bit lines BL11 and BL12 of the memory cell array MA10, a plurality of word lines WL11, WL12, WL21, WL22, for selecting predetermined memory cells of the memory cells included in the memory cell arrays MA10, MA20, precharge circuits PC10 and PC20 for precharging the bit line pairs BL1 and BL2 of the memory cell arrays MA10, MA20 to a precharge voltage VH which is a half of a power source voltage VD with a predetermined timing according to a precharge control signal PCS1, paired common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2 provided for the respective corresponding bit lines BL11, BL12, BL21 and BL22 of the memory cell arrays MA10, MA20, a sense amplifier SA10 for transmitting voltage levels of the bit lines BL11 and BL12 to the common bit lines GBL2 and GBL1, respectively, during a read operation and transmitting voltage levels of the common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2 to the bit lines BL11 and BL12, respectively, during a read operation and a sense amplifier SA20 constructed similarly to the sense amplifier SA10 for transmitting voltage levels of the bit lines BL21 and BL22 to the common bit lines GBL2 and GBL1, respectively, during the read operation and transmitting voltage levels of the common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2 to the bit lines BL21 and BL22, respectively, during the write operation.
The sense amplifier SA10 is composed of voltage level detecting NMOS transistors Q11 and Q21 having sources supplied with an output voltage OCV1 of a threshold voltage correcting driver circuit and gates connected to the respective bit lines BL11 and BL12, threshold voltage correcting NMOS transistors Q12 and Q22 having gates supplied with a threshold voltage correction control signal CVT1, sources connected to drains of the respective transistors Q1 and Q21 and drains connected to the respective bit lines BL11 and BL12, read NMOS transistors Q12 and Q23 having gates supplied with a read control signal RS1, ones of source drains connected to the drains of the respective transistors Q11 and Q21 and the others of the source drains connected to the respective common bit lines GBL2 and GBL1 and write transistors Q14 and Q24 having gates supplied with a write control signal WS1, ones of source drains connected to the respective common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2 and the others of the source drains connected to the respective bit lines BL11 and BL12.
Now, an operation of the semiconductor memory device 300 shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to a timing chart shown in FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, one cycle of the operation of the semiconductor memory device 300 can be roughly divided to a precharge period T1, a threshold value correcting period T2, a read period T3 and a re-write period T4.
In the precharge period T1, the precharge circuit PC10 responds to an active level of the precharge control signal PCS1 to precharge the bit lines BL11 and BL12 to the precharge voltage VH which is a half of the power source voltage VD.
Then, in the threshold voltage correcting period T2, the precharge control signal PCS is made inactive to make the precharge circuit PC10 inactive and, simultaneously, a threshold voltage correction control signal CVT1 is set to H level. In response to the change of the threshold voltage correction control signal CVT1 to the H level, the transistors Q12 and Q22 of the sense amplifier SA10 are turned on to diode-connect the transistors Q11 and Q21. Simultaneously therewith, a reference correction voltage OCV1 is set to a correction level to correct voltage levels of the bit lines BL11 and BL12 to voltages corresponding to the threshold voltages of the respective transistors Q11 and Q21.
In the read period T3 subsequent to this threshold voltage correction, one of the word lines, for example, the word line WL11, is set to a selection level and a data stored on a memory cell C11 is read out to the bit line BL11. Simultaneously, the threshold voltage correction control signal OCV1 is set to a reference level. The transistors Q11 and Q21 of the sense amplifier SA10 respond to the setting of the threshold voltage correction control signal OCV1 to the reference level to sense the levels of the respective bit lines BL11 and BL12.
Thereafter, a read control signal RS1 is set to an active level. In response to the setting of the read control signal RS1 to the active level, the transistors Q13 and Q23 of the sense amplifier SA10 are turned on and transmit the levels of the bit lines BL11 and BL12 detected by the detecting transistors Q11 and Q21 to the respective common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2. A common sense amplifier GSA amplifies a potential difference between the common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2 up to a full amplitude and outputs it externally.
Then, in the re-write period T4, a write control signal WS1 is made active. In response to the activation of the write control signal WS1, the transistors Q14 and Q24 of the sense amplifier SA10 are turned on, so that the fully amplified voltage levels on the common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2 are transmitted to the respective bit lines BL11 and BL12 and re-written in the memory cell C11 selected by the word line WL11.
In this semiconductor memory device 300, the voltage levels of the bit lines BL11 and BL12 are corrected according to the threshold voltages of the detecting transistors Q11 and Q12 before the data stored in the memory cell is read out. Therefore, it is possible to maximize the magnitude of voltage level variation of the bit lines with respect to the threshold voltages of the transistors Q11 and Q12 at the time when data stored in the memory cells C11 and C12, etc., are read out and thus the problem of reduction of S/N and sensitivity is solved.
Further, as mentioned previously, since the bit lines BL11, BL12, BL21 and BL22 are formed in the layer other than the layer in which the common bit lines GBL1 and GBL2 are formed and the sense amplifiers SA10 and SA20 are constructed with NOM type transistors only, it is possible to reduce an occupation area thereof.
FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of an example of the threshold voltage correction/read operation driver circuit OCD. In FIG. 7, the driver circuit OCD comprises an NMOS transistor Q9 having commonly connected gate and drain supplied with a boosting level VXD, an NMOS transistor Q10 having a drain connected to a source of the transistor Q9, a source connected to ground potential and a gate supplied with the control signal RS1, an NMOS transistor Q7 having a drain supplied with a threshold value correcting voltage OVV, a gate connected to the source of the transistor Q9 and a source from which the driver output voltage OCV1 and an NMOS transistor Q8 having a drain connected to the source of the transistor Q7, a source connected to ground potential and a gate supplied with the control signal RS1.
An operation of the driver circuit OCD will be described with reference to FIG. 7. For the threshold voltage correcting operation, the read operation control signal RS1 is set to an active level. In response to the read operation control signal RS1 in the active level, the transistor Q10 is turned off to thereby set a potential of the gate of the transistor Q7 to H level. In response to the level change of the gate potential to H level, the transistor Q7 is turned on to make the driver output voltage OCV1 to the threshold value correction voltage OVV.
For the read operation, the read operation control signal RS1 is set to active level to turn the transistor Q10 on. Thus, the gate of the transistor Q7 is supplied with a level determined by a ratio of size, that is, current drive ability, between the transistors Q9 and Q10. Since the current drive ability of the transistor Q10 is set higher than that of the transistor Q9, the transistors Q7 and Q8 are turned off and on, respectively, when the read control signal RS1 is in the active level, and so the driver output voltage OCV1 becomes ground potential.
Since, in this driver circuit, the output current is substantially restricted by the current drivabilities of the transistors Q7 and Q8 in the output stage, there is a problem that the threshold value correction and the read operation take considerable times, respectively, and the speed-up of the data access is difficult. Assuming the division number of the memory cells in the conventional semiconductor memory device 300 described above is, for example, 256, 256 sense amplifiers commonly use one threshold correction/read operation driver OCD. Since, as mentioned above, the output current of this driver circuit is substantially restricted by the current drivabilities of the output stage transistors, there is the problem that the threshold voltage correction and the read operation take considerable times, respectively, and the speed-up of the data access is difficult.
Further, since the current flows through the series connected transistors Q9 and Q10 of the output drive stage during the read operation period, reduction of current consumption of the chip is difficult.


An alarm device for a lock which provides a security system which displays unauthorized tampering with the lock. The device senses unauthorized movement of one or several elements in the lock and causes an alarm signal which may only be terminated by resetting the device by authorized operation of the lock.

For the time being, it is common to provide card operated locks with an emergency opening mechanism. This is a demand from some users and often from the fire department. The fire authorities will in some cases and in some fields of applications, e.g., hotels, often demand a mechanical opening possibility which is simple and well known, and which overrides card readers and electronics.
This emergency opening is often made as a lock cylinder of a known conventional type. In hotels, this lock cylinder is often a type which is relatively difficult to pick, but which can be opened with a main key, a so-called master key or floor key.
Such a system has weak points which are hard to avoid. Because no chain is stronger than the weakest joint, it follows that the possibility to pick the lock, which is very low for the card reader, is put back to "old fashion" level for the emergency opening mechanism. Several picking methods are experienced. In some cases the burglar has had success in picking the lock cylinder, or at least in attempting to pick it. However, in several cases the following method is used: a burglar rents a room in the hotel in a legal manner. During the night he removes the lock cylinder and replaces it with another with the same appearance. The staff will not notice this, because this emergency opening is never or very rarely used. The burglar can then bring the lock cylinder to his home and undisturbed analyse it and determine the shape of the master key. He may then visit the hotel, and by use of this key he is able to make to lot of damage by stealing from the rooms. The hotel will be forced to replace all compromised lock cylinders.

Alarm for card operated locks with local reset


Apparatus for storing and retrieving data such as in a computer network. A plurality of local data storage units each comprise a local control circuit and a housing which encloses a moveable data transducer adjacent a data storage medium. A shared resource module physically interconnects each of the local units, and includes shared circuitry that supplies a resource required by the local control circuits to transfer data to and from the data storage media. In some preferred embodiments, the resource comprises a programming instruction set that is utilized by a programmable processor in each of the local control circuits, such as servo code used to provide data transducer positional control. Alternatively, the resource comprises a shared buffer memory space utilized by read/write channels in each of the local control circuits. Preferably, data are stored across the data storage media using RAID techniques (redundant array of independent discs/devices).

Computer-based systems enable a wide variety of data processing tasks to be accomplished in a fast and efficient manner. From hand-held consumer products to geographically distributed wide area networks with multi-device data storage arrays, such systems continue to increasingly pervade all areas of society and commerce.
Larger capacity data storage networks sometimes employ multiple numbers of individual data storage devices, such as hard disc drives, which are operationally arrayed together to form a large memory space. RAID techniques (redundant arrays of independent devices/discs) are also sometimes used to enhance the reliability with which data can be stored across such array.
While various approaches have been proposed in the art to enhance the construction and operation of such arrays, there remains a continual need for improvements in the art, and it is to these and other improvements that the claimed invention is generally directed.

Data storage subgroup with local and shared resources


A remotely controlled apparatus for transporting liquid, such as oil, toxic chemicals, or the like, in a tank of a sunken ship to a floating body, without leakage and a method performed by the apparatus are disclosed. An underwater recovery device (100) of the apparatus includes a supporting frame (10), to which a plurality of devices including a linkage (111) are fixed, chucking devices (20) for fixing the underwater recovery device (100) to the sunken ship (500), a grabber (30) for attaching the base plate (80) to the supporting frame (10), DTB systems 40 for attaching the base plate (80) to the sunken ship (500), thrusters (50) for providing a propulsive force so as to attach the supporting frame (10) to the sunken ship (500), a hole cutter (60) for drilling a hole for the recovery of the liquid, and a liquid recovery device (70) for recovering the liquid through the hole drilled in the sunken ship (500).

Generally, liquid contaminant, remaining in sunken ships, rapidly leaks from the ship at the time that the ship sinks or slowly leaks from the ship as it rests on the ocean floor, such that the leaked contaminant causes additional ocean pollution and other accidents on sea roads or harbors. Particularly, since the sunken ship cannot be seen through water different from other ocean accidents, the sunken ship may be forgotten.
However, like all ships, sunken ships are also shipped with oil (fuel) for sailing and other liquid that can damage the ocean environment, and the ships sunken in shallow water may obstruct the safe sailing of passage of other ships on. Thus, in order to secure the safe sailing of ships and to preserve the cleanliness of the ocean environment, it is seriously required to construct an effective method of managing sunken ships, to prevent them from becoming a major source of ocean pollution, and to develop technology and apparatuses for processing the potential ocean pollution source.

Remotely controlled apparatus for recovering liquid in sunken ship and method performed by the same

Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute


The present disclosure provides a method and base station for transmitting scheduling information. The method comprises: determining that a downlink subframe corresponding to the uplink subframe according to a first scheduling timing corresponding to a first Time Division Duplex (TDD) uplink and downlink configuration scheme of a plurality of TDD uplink and downlink configuration schemes is unavailable for transmitting the scheduling information; obtaining a first equivalent TDD uplink and downlink configuration scheme by treating one or more downlink subframes, including the downlink subframe, in a radio frame as uplink subframes; selecting a downlink subframe corresponding to the uplink subframe according to a second scheduling timing corresponding to a second TDD uplink and downlink configuration scheme of the plurality of TDD uplink and downlink configuration schemes, wherein a set of downlink subframes specified in the second TDD uplink and downlink configuration scheme is a subset of a set of downlink subframes specified in the first equivalent TDD uplink and downlink configuration scheme; and transmitting the scheduling information in the selected downlink subframe.

In the 3rd Generation Partner Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a base station (also referred to as a NodeB or an evolved NodeB (eNB)) transmits scheduling information (for example, Uplink (UL) grant) on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)/enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (ePDCCH). A User Equipment (UE) reads the scheduling information on the PDCCH/ePDCCH, and transmits uplink data in uplink subframes indicated by the scheduling information. Here, the UE may be a user terminal, a user node, a mobile terminal, or a tablet computer.
The scheduling timing is specified in 3GPP LTE Release 10. Here, the scheduling timing specifies a correspondence between the downlink subframes for transmitting scheduling information and uplink subframes scheduled by the scheduling information.
A problem that may exist in LTE Release 12 is presented in the document "R1-125117, 3GPP TSG RAN VVG1 Meeting #71, Qualcomm Inc.". A New Carrier Type (NCT) will be supported in LTE Release 12. In the NCT, the system shall continue supporting Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), which will continue using the standardized configuration in LTE Release 12 and before. According to the standardized configuration in LTE Release 12 and before, radio resources for MBMS and radio resources for PDCCH are multiplexed in a time division manner in Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframes. However, in LTE Release 12, in frequency bands dedicated to the NCT carrier (also referred to as "separate NCT"), the system uses ePDCCH instead of PDCCH. In this case, the radio resources for MBMS and radio resources for ePDCCH in the MBSFN subframes cannot coexist in one NOT carrier at the same time in a time division multiplexed manner. Therefore, in order to enable the MBMS in the NCT in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode to continue using the standardized configuration in LTE Release 12 and before, the scheduling timing of the uplink resources needs to be modified.
Therefore, there is a need for a new scheduling timing, so that, even if some downlink subframes are unavailable for transmitting scheduling information (for example, when they have been used for MBMS), the corresponding uplink subframes can still be scheduled, and the influence on the current standard can be minimized.

Method and base station for transmitting scheduling information


A storage shelf 4 is provided which has, for example, two rotatable mounts 18, 19. A notch 41 is formed in the mount 18 so that a cassette 34 can be freely transferred between the lower mount 19 and an overhead travelling carriage 8. ID readers 6 are provided on poles 16, 17 of the mounts 18, 19, respectively. Thus, the ID 36 of the cassette is read and memorized in a storage shelf file 13. The IDs of stored articles can be managed, resulting in advanced operations.

The applicant has disclosed a method of temporarily storing an article from an overhead travelling carriage by hanging storage shelves from a running rail for the overhead travelling carriage (The Japanese Patent No. 3067,682). The inventor noted that to appropriately operate such storage shelves, it is necessary to clearly manage which article is stored, which storage shelf is used to store the article, and a position where the article is stored. Thus, the inventor attempted to provide an ID reader on the overhead travelling carriage to read the ID of the article. However, the ID reader interfered with the transfer of the article. Accordingly, it was difficult to provide the ID reader on the overhead travelling carriage.
It is a basic object of the present invention to enable the IDs of articles stored on the storage shelves to be reliably managed. It is an additional object of the present invention to allow one ID reader to read the IDs of articles even with a plurality of storage positions. It is a further additional object of the present invention to enable each storage position on the mount to be set with respect to one stop position of the overhead travelling carriage so that an article can be freely transferred to and from the storage position and to allow one ID reader to read the IDs of a plurality of articles on the mount.

Article storage facility and system for the same


A new variety of hybrid tea rose plant producing deep pink flowers of good form and suitable for growing under glass.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of rose plant of the hybrid tea rose class which was created by crossing undistributed, unnamed and unpatented seedlings as seed and pollen parents in De Kwakel, Holland. The varietal denomination of the new variety is `Ruilav`. The new variety was isolated and asexually reproduced by budding in The Netherlands.


A system is provided that extracts attribute values. The system receives data including unstructured text from a data store. The system further tokenizes the unstructured text into tokens, where a token is a character of the unstructured text. The system further annotates the tokens with attribute labels, where an attribute label for a token is determined, in least in part, based on a word that the token originates from within the unstructured text. The system further groups the tokens into text segments based on the attribute labels, where a set of tokens that are annotated with an identical attribute label are grouped into a text segment, and where the text segments define attribute values. The system further stores the attribute labels and the attribute values within the data store.

Attribute extraction is the problem of automatically populating fields in a database with attribute values inferred from natural language text or other data, such as a product description. More specifically, a system is typically given a collection of unstructured "noisy" text (i.e., text that may not be understood and interpreted correctly by the system) and a list of attributes of interest. The goal of the system is to automatically find the value of each attribute within the text and extract the value. Often, these attribute values are explicitly present in the text, but may contain "noise", such as abbreviations, spelling errors or non-standard punctuation. Inconsistent spacing is a form of noise and a rampant problem in many datasets. Sometimes, the attribute values are missing and must be inferred from other indirect evidence, such as the existing test or other attribute values.

Character-based attribute value extraction system


A composite composition includes a thermoset resin and about 3 wt. % to about 35 wt. % of at least one material selected from the group consisting of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), micro-sized cellulose fibers (MFC), and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) dispersed therein as measured with respect to the overall weight of the composite composition. The cellulose nanofibrils and/or nanocrystals have an average diameter of about 5 nm to about 500 nm and an average aspect ratio in the range of about 5:1 to about 500:1. The cellulose micro-sized fibers have an average diameter of about 5 μm to about 100 μm and an average aspect ratio in the range of about 5:1 to about 250:1.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Thermoplastic materials can be reprocessed and reshaped by reheating the solidified material to a softening or melting temperature to enable the reprocessing and/or reshaping by plastic formation, and then cooling the reprocessed and/or reshaped material to achieve a solid state. For example, thermoplastic materials can be reheated and extruded through a nozzle in a three-dimensional, free-form, mold-less deposition, such as that found in a 3-D printing process, to make sundry products, including automobiles.
Thermoset materials, by definition, once solidified, cannot be reheated to achieve softening or melting. Therefore, processing of thermoset materials must take place before such materials reach the solid state. It is difficult to 3-D print thermoset materials because such materials generally are in a liquid state before curing (setting) takes place; the material will not hold a free-form, dimensionally stable shape, but will flow. Once the material cures, shaping by plastic deformation is not possible. However, thermoset materials could offer multiple advantages over thermoplastic materials if used for the formation various 3-D printed products. More specifically, thermoset materials are more resistant to solvents and corrosives, as well as providing better fatigue strength, adhesion properties, and surface finish.

Thermoset composite having thermoplastic characteristics


A simultaneous replay information storage unit stores a replay condition when simultaneously replaying the plurality of pieces of moving image data constituting the set of moving images so as to correspond to each of the sets of moving images in which a combination of the plurality of pieces of moving image data is different, respectively. A simultaneous replay control unit simultaneously replays, in a case in which the set of moving images as a replay target is designated from among a plurality of sets of moving images stored in the simultaneous replay information storage unit, a plurality of pieces of moving image data constituting the set of moving images, with a replay condition that is stored to be associated with the designated set of moving images.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a replay control apparatus that simultaneously replays moving image data, a replay control method, and a storage medium.
Related Art
Conventionally, a technology exists for simultaneously replaying two sets of moving image data that are recorded separately. More specifically, a technology exists for simultaneously replaying moving image data in a remote location and moving image data at hand by matching the timing of time therebetween (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. H10-309335). Furthermore, a technology exists for synchronizing and replaying a plurality of sets of moving image data by setting a synchronization start point for synchronizing and replaying the plurality of sets of moving image data (for example refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2001-36867).

Replay control apparatus for simultaneously replaying moving image data


A data compression system includes a data array storage device, a coding device, a retrieving and recording device and a recording controller. The data array storage device stores both the input data to be compressed and the input data coded by the coding device. The recording controller determines the character strings recorded by the retrieving and recording device by discriminating between character strings on the basis of the length of the matched character strings beginning from an intermediate character of the matched character strings. The coding device then codes the matched character strings using the length and position of the recorded character strings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a data compression system and a data compression device which can restore a compressed data without distortion. More specifically, the invention relates to a data compression system and a data compression device which can improve coding speed by registering a character string in a retrieving means for retrieving a historical data array.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a data compression method for storing a large size data in a storage means in a reduced data size, a text replacing type distortionless data compression system, known as Ziv and Lempel system has been widely used since later 1980's. Amongst, a data compression algorithm called as LZ77 type is frequently employed as a file compression tool for a high compression rate.
The LZ77 type data compression method is characterized by a historical data array for storing input data for which coding is completed. The historical data array is frequently used in a circular ring like manner for facilitating updating. Namely, in the historical data array, a predetermined length of region, called as a lookahead region, is provided to store the data to be compressed. Then, according to progress of compression, the lookahead region is shifted in circular ring manner.
In the LZ77 type data compression method, at first, a data to be compressed (data in the lookahead region) and a character string beginning from a portion other than the lookahead region in the historical data array, namely the character string beginning from an entry storing the input data for which compression has already been completed are checked to retrieve a character string, on which a match is established. If sufficiently long matched character string can be found, the position of the leading end of the matched character string in the historical data array and a length thereof is fed as a codeword of the matched character string in the lookahead region.
Here, by making the value of the length of the matched character string to be checked or so forth variable as required for variable coding, compression efficiency can be further improved. By uniting the leading position of the matched character string to the most recent one and expressing the leading position of the matched character string at the relative distance to the leading end of the lookahead region, relatively small value can be used, and improvement of the compression rate by variable length coding can be promoted. The historical data array is updated so that most recent coded data can be stored.
Namely, the LZ77 type data compression system takes the most recently coded data as "dictionary" and the character strings to be registered in the dictionary are all of the character strings to be shorter than or equal to a predetermined length starting from the entry storing the data already compressed in the historical data array. This means that number of the character strings registered in the dictionary is greater than that in LZ78 compression method which is another form of Ziv and Lempel system. Accordingly, it makes it easier to find out longer matched character string to achieve higher compression rate.
As a measure in the case where sufficiently long matched character string cannot be found, there is an algorithm called as LZSS type method. The LZSS type data compression system employs two coding modes. One is a copy mode to be used when a sufficiently long matched character string (normally, more than or equal to 3 symbols in the case where one symbol is 1 byte), and the other is a literal mode to be used when the sufficiently long character string cannot be found.
In order to discriminate the copy mode and the literal mode, mutually distinct codeword are used for respective modes. In case of the copy mode, the codeword is consisted of a bit string indicative of the matching length and a bit string indicative of the matching position. In case of the literal mode, the leading one character of the character string to be compressed is used as the code word as is. For discrimination between the literal mode and the copy mode, a measure is taken to provide one bit of flag or to newly generate a greater alphabetic character by combining the matching length and the alphabetic character of the input data.
When LZ77 type data compression is performed, it is important to perform comparison of the input character string to be compressed and the character strings in the historical data array at high speed. As shown in FIG. 6, a retrieving portion 62 is provided for performing retrieval of character string by means of certain retrieving means with respect to the historical data array stored in a historical data array storage portion 61, and all of the character strings in the historical data array have to be registered in the retrieving portion 62. Currently, in view of the fact that, in addition to retrieval in the historical data array in parallel by means of a dedicated hardware, the historical data array is sequentially updated, a retrieving means utilizing tree structure, such as a binary tree, trie and so forth or a retrieving means having a linear list upon collision in a hash table may be employed. These retrieving means performs retrieval using a pointer indicative of the position of the leading end of the character string in the historical data array. Namely, these retrieving means read the character strings in the historical data array on the basis of the pointer indicative of the leading position of the character string and compare with the character string as the target.
One example of the data compression technology having the retrieving means employing the binary tree has been disclosed in "IEEE Transactions on Communications" (Vol. 34, No. 12, 1986, P. 1176-1182). On the other hand, another example of the data compression technology having the retrieving means employing the trie structure has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,991, for "Textual Substitution Data Compression with Finite Length Search Windows". On the other hand, one example of the data compression technology having the retrieving means employing the hash table and the linear list has been disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. Heisei 3-68219, for "Data Compression Apparatus and Method".
FIG. 7 is an illustration showing a condition of the historical data array stored in the historical data array storage portion 62. FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 show construction for respective retrieving means at the condition of the historical data array as illustrated in FIG. 7. FIG. 8 shows the retrieving means employed by the binary tree, FIG. 9 shows the retrieving means employing by the trie, and FIG. 10 shows the retrieving means having the linear list for collision in the hash table. The character strings overflown from the historical data array is required to be deleted from the retrieving means, the retrieving method has to be low in the cost for deletion.
In the LZ77 type data compression system, when the long matched character string can be found, higher compression rate can be achieved. Accordingly, if matching can be established on greater number of character strings, higher likelihood can be achieved to find longer matched character string to improve compression rate. For this purpose, the size N of the historical data array and the maximum length L of the matched character string are made greater. However, by making the size N of the historical data array and the maximum length L of the matched character greater, three problems arise.
First of all, increasing the size N of the historical data array and the maximum length of the matched character string inherently cause increase the number of bits required for expressing the position and length of the character string to possibly low compression rate. However, this problem may be solved in certain extent by variable length coding of the position and length of the character string. Assuming one symbol is 1 byte (8 bits), under the premise that the position and the length of the character string is coded by the fixed length coding, it is said to be optimal to have the historical data array length of approximately 8192 and the maximum length L of the matched character string of approximately 64. However, by employing the variable length coding, the best compression rate is attained at the historical data array length N of 32768,65536 and the maximum length L of the matched character string of 256 to 1024. Therefore, it can be adapted to much greater value.
Secondly, increasing of the size N of the historical data array and the maximum length L of the matched character string should results in greater amount of memory consumption upon coding. However, if the size N of the historical data array and the maximum length L of the matched character string are in the extent of N=65536 and L=2048, it merely requires only about 2 Mbytes of memory including the retrieving means. Therefore, it can be executed without causing any problems in the currently available workstation or the high performance personal computer.
Thirdly, increasing of the size N of the historical data array and the maximum length L of the matched character string significantly lower coding speed. One indicia for estimating the coding speed in the LZ77 type coding is number of times of comparison of the characters. Assuming the data length is M, the number of times of comparison of characters in the binary tree, trie, the hash table with the linear list may be approximated as follows:
No special retrieving means is provided . . . M'LN PA1 Retrieving means of binary tree is employed . . . ML log.sub.2 N PA1 Retrieving means of trie is employed . . . ML PA1 Retrieving means of hash table is employed . . . M'LN' PA1 historical data array storage means having a plurality of entries for storing input data and for storing coded input data; PA1 retrieving and recording means for performing retrieval of matched character strings through comparison of the input data to be compressed and the coded input data stored in said historical data array storage means and recording character strings in said historical data array storage means; PA1 recording control means for selecting said character strings in said historical data array storage means to be recorded in said retrieving and recording means; and PA1 coding means for performing coding of said matched character strings in the input data to be compressed by using the length of said matched character strings and the position of said matched character strings included in said recorded character strings in said retrieving and recording means. PA1 historical data array storage means having a plurality of entries for storing input data and for storing coded input data; PA1 retrieving and recording means for performing retrieval of matched character strings through comparison of the input data to be compressed and the coded input data stored in said historical data array storage means and recording character strings in historical data array storage means; PA1 recording control means for selectively recording character strings beginning from positions in a range between the leading end of said matched character strings stored in said historical data array storage means and a given digit represented by a threshold value from the leading end of said matched character strings in said retrieving and recording means; and PA1 coding means for performing coding of said matched character storings in the input data to be compressed by using the length of said matched character strings and the position of said matched character strings included in said recorded character strings in said retrieving and recording means.
In the LZ77 type data compression, the data is divided into a plurality of partial character strings. Then, the codeword corresponded to each partial character string. In the foregoing formulae, M' represents the number of the partial character strings. On the other hand, N' represents an average length of the linear list.
In case of retrieval employing the binary tree or the trie structure, retrieving is required to register the character string at an appropriate position of the retrieving means. Therefore, it becomes necessary to retrieve the character strings having lengths shorter than or equal to the predetermined length from all of the positions in the data by the retrieving means.
In contrast to this, in case of the retrieving means employing the hash table, retrieval of the character string is only required for the character strings beginning from the leading end of the character string to be coded. Registration of character string beginning from the intermediate portion of the matched character string can be performed by calculation of a hash function and re-writing of one record in the hash table. Therefore, retrieval of the character string is not required. Thus, in the method employing the hash table, the number of times of comparison of the character strings is expressed not by the data length M but as a multiple of the partial character string M'. The average linear list length N' may become equal to the length N of the historical data array in the maximum length. Unless sufficiently large number of hash table are provided, it cannot be made smaller. On the other hand, allowing slight lowering of the compression rate, the length N' of the average linear list can be cut off at appropriate number of times to permit making the constant smaller.
Thus, when a difference between the number M' of the partial character strings and the data length M becomes large, higher speed process can be expected for the retrieving means employing the hash table, in which the number of times of comparison of the character strings is proportional to the number M' of the partial character strings in comparison with the retrieving means employing the binary tree or trie. Particularly, in case of the data having large redundancy, since the difference between the data length M and the number M' of the partial character string becomes large, significant difference may be caused in the execution period between the retrieving means employing the hash table and the retrieving means employing the binary tree or the trie. Setting that the length N of historical data array at 65536 and the maximum length L of the matched character string at 1024, the substantial degradation in the coding speed is inherently caused in the retrieving means employing the binary tree or the trie. Therefore, in such case, data compression is not practically possible unless hash table is employed.
However, even by the retrieving means employing the hash table, when the longest matched character string is to be obtained, the average linear list length N' becomes large, Therefore, number of comparison of the character strings required for one retrieval cycle may become unacceptably large. In that case, data compression efficiency becomes comparable to the case where the no special retrieving means is provided and thus can lower execution speed.
One method for speeding up retrieving process for the character string in the case that the tree structure is employed in the retrieving means, has been disclosed in the above-identified U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,991. In the above-identified U.S. patent, there is disclosed a technology for registering only character strings beginning from the leading end of the character string to be coded in the retrieving means which employs the trie structure. However, if only the character strings beginning from the leading end of the character string to be coded, sufficient compression rate should not be achieved.

Data compression system and data compression device for improving data compression rate and coding speed


An axle hub puller as provided includes a puller body. The puller body includes at least two counter sink holes and a threaded puller screw hole located in the center. The puller body is operable to removably attach to hub with a plurality of wheel lugs by having the plurality of wheel lugs pass through the plurality of counter sink holes. A puller screw is inserted into the threaded puller screw hole. The puller screw is turned against a hub axle center allowing for the removal of the hub and a brake rotor.

The present invention relates to the removal of hubs and, more particularly, to an axle hub puller. Current devices available that pull a front axle hub off are weak, hard to use, and can damage the hub during removal. These devices are of poor quality and design. Situations occur where the puller may bind on the axle shaft. Frequently, the mounting portion of the hub will corrode and seize to part of the suspension, commonly called the steering knuckle or axle housing. When the user attempts to pull on the hub or bearing assembly out, it separates into two pieces, ruining it. As can be seen, there is a need for an axle hub puller that provides a smooth and equal pulling force on the hub that may keep it from binding on the axle shaft during the removal.


A touch sensor comprises a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, and an insulation layer. The first electrode layer includes first main electrode cells connected and arranged in a first direction and second auxiliary electrode cells separated from the first main electrode cells and arranged separately in a second direction on the same lower plane. The second electrode layer includes first auxiliary electrode cells arranged separately in the first direction and stacked and connected to the first main electrode cells while having the same pattern as the first main electrode cells and second main electrode cells separated from the first auxiliary electrode cells, connected and arranged in a second direction, and stacked and connected to the second auxiliary electrode cells while having the same pattern as the second auxiliary electrode cells, on the same upper plane. The insulation layer is formed between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer.

A touch sensor includes an electrode layer for sensing a user's touch operation. The electrode layer includes a plurality of electrode cells arranged to cross each other and be spaced apart. The electrode layer is divided into an electrode cell region in which the electrode cell exists and an inter-cell region in which the electrode cell does not exist.
The electrode cell region and the inter-cell region may have different optical properties such as transmittance and reflectance. As a result, the electrode cell region and the inter-cell region are distinguished, which causes a problem of being recognized by a user.
In order to solve this problem, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0051649 (Metal mesh type touch screen panel) proposes to form the electrode layer with a metal mesh. Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1952770 prevents or minimizes visibility of the electrode cell region and the inter-cell region by forming a fine pattern on the transparent oxide electrode cell.
In the prior art, however, a bridge is visually recognized when the electrode layer is formed of a metal mesh and the electrode cells are connected by a bridge. In addition, when the electrode (metal mesh) area is increased to lower the resistance, the aperture ratio and transmittance may decrease. As such, it is difficult to simultaneously achieve reduction in resistance and improvement in aperture ratio/transmittance in the prior art.


A memory subsystem enables managing error correction information. A memory device internally performs error detection for a range of memory locations, and increments an internal count for each error detected. The memory device includes ECC logic to generate an error result indicating a difference between the internal count and a baseline number of errors preset for the memory device. The memory device can provide the error result to an associated host of the system to expose only a number of errors accumulated without exposing internal errors from prior to incorporation into a system. The memory device can be made capable to generate internal addresses to execute commands received from the memory controller. The memory device can be made capable to reset the counter after a first pass through the memory area in which errors are counted.

Computing devices use memory devices to store data and code for a processor to execute its operations. As the memory devices decrease in size and increase in density, they experience more errors during processing, referred to as yield issues. Thus, memory devices experience increasing bit failures, even with modern processing techniques. To mitigate bit failures, modern memory devices provide internal error correction mechanisms, such as ECC (error correction codes). The memory devices generate the ECC data internally, and use the ECC data internally at the memory devices. The internal error correction within a memory device can be in addition to whatever system-wide error correction or error mitigation the system is configured to use in data exchanges between the memory devices and the memory controllers.
SBEs (single bit errors) corrected by the memory devices appear to the memory controller or the host system as though there is no error. Thus, if additional errors accumulate in the memory device after manufacturing, the memory device will continue to perform ECC and the increasing number of failures of the memory device may not be visible to the host system. The memory device would traditionally need to identify information about internal error correction to provide information about error accumulation. However, exposing error correction information can provide proprietary information about processes and manufacturing, such as internal error information or details about internal error correction. There are currently no mechanisms to reveal information about the accumulation of errors within a memory device without exposing information about internal error correction.
Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including a description of the figures, which may depict some or all of the embodiments described below, as well as discussing other potential embodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presented herein.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

On-die ECC with error counter and internal address generation


A measuring machine comprising at least one member mobile along an axis, a motor, a transmission system driven by the motor for displacing the mobile member along the axis, and a control system for controlling the motor, wherein a flexible coupling is set between said transmission system, and the mobile member is configured so as to filter the vibrations transmitted by the transmission system to the mobile member in the direction of the axis and to decouple the mobile member from the transmission system in a direction transverse to the axis.

Various types of co-ordinate measuring machines are known: bridge measuring machines, horizontal-arm measuring machines, pillar measuring machines, etc. Each of these machines typically comprises a reference surface, a first carriage mobile with respect to the reference surface along a first axis, a second carriage carried by the first carriage and mobile with respect thereto along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis, and a measuring spindle carried by the second carriage and mobile with respect thereto along a third axis perpendicular to the first and second axes. The spindle is designed to carry a measuring tool, which is displaced in the measuring volume as a result of the combination of the motions along the three axes.
For example, in portal measuring machines the first carriage is mobile along a horizontal axis and comprises two uprights and a horizontal cross member that defines the second axis, which is also horizontal, on which the second carriage is mobile. The spindle is constituted by a column with vertical axis, mobile with respect to the second carriage along its own axis.
The mobile members of a measuring machine are generally driven by respective electric motors via respective transmission systems.
A transmission system for a mobile member of a measuring machine must be designed so as to prevent as much as possible transmission of vibrations to the mobile member. In addition, there must be prevented transmission of forces in a direction orthogonal to the axis of motion. Generally, this is obtained thanks to the good quality of the components (motor, pinions, pulleys, belts, etc.) and by means of a very precise alignment of the transmission system with respect to the direction of motion. The connection between the motor and the mobile member, in the direction of motion, is generally made in the most rigid way possible.

Measuring machine provided with an improved transmission system


An acoustic wave filter includes a piezoelectric substrate, an IDT (interdigital transducer) formed on the piezoelectric substrate, and reflectors located at both sides of the IDT and composed of electrode fingers, at least one of the electrode fingers of at least one of the reflectors including at least one gap within a propagation path of an acoustic wave.

There has been an increasing demand for downsizing, weight lighting and operable frequency raising in portable mobile communication devices due to advance of information-oriented society. A compact and light acoustic wave filter is used to meet the increasing demand. Particularly, an increasing number of portable phones adopt a system in which the transmission frequency and the reception frequency are close to each other. It is thus required to realize greater attenuation at frequencies close to the pass band.
An exemplary acoustic wave filter is a surface acoustic wave filter in which an IDT composed of comb electrodes and reflectors are provided on a piezoelectric substrate. Power is applied to a SAW element and an acoustic wave is thus excited. The SAW filter is capable of processing a radio signal in the range of 45 MHz to 2.0 GHz. The SAW filter is used to form a transmission bandpass filter or a reception bandpass filter.
FIG. 1A is a plan view of a conventional double-mode SAW filter, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of a double-mode SAW filter described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-196399. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, three IDTs 2, 4 and 6 are formed on a piezoelectric substrate 22, which may be made of, for example, lithium niobate (LiNbO3) or lithium tantalate (LiTaO3). Reflectors 8 and 10 are interposed at both sides of an alignment of the IDTs 2, 4 and 6 in the direction of SAW propagation. The IDTs 2, 4 and 6 and the reflectors 8 and 10 are made of a metal such as aluminum (Al). An intentionally reduced number of electrodes fingers is illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B for the sake of simplicity.
When an electric signal is applied to the double-mode SAW filter, the acoustic waves are excited by the IDTs and are propagated in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the electrode fingers extend. The acoustic waves are converted into electric signals of frequencies of the acoustic waves. The reflectors 8 and 10 function to confine the acoustic waves propagated from the IDTs 2, 4 and 6 by utilizing reflection, so that the acoustic waves can be suppressed from being attenuated. Actually, the reflectors 8 and 10 reflect acoustic waves (spurious waves) outside of the pass band. The spurious waves are superimposed and degrade the out-of-band attenuation of the double-mode SAW filter.
As illustrated in FIG. 1B, the above-mentioned publication shows a double-mode SAW filter in which the electrode fingers of the reflectors 8 and 10 become shorter in a reflection attenuating region B as the electrode fingers are farther away from the IDTs. The reflection attenuating region B has reflectivity different from that of a reflection region A in which the electrode fingers of the reflectors 8 and 10 have an equal length. This difference causes random reflection, which cancels the spurious waves and increases the amount of attenuation at a low-frequency side of the pass band and close thereto.

Acoustic wave filter comprising a reflector having an oblique slit


A semiconductor memory device can a desired internal clock in consideration of a delay time of an actual clock/data path. The semiconductor memory device includes a multiclock signal generating unit configured to receive a reference clock signal and generate a plurality of clock signals having a constant phase difference from each other, a delay modeling unit configured to generate a plurality of delay clock signals by reflecting a delay time of an actual clock/data path to the plurality of clock signals, a selection signal generating unit configured to generate selection signals by comparing phases between the reference clock signal and the plurality of delay clock signals, and a phase multiplexing unit configured to output any one of the plurality of clock signals as a final clock signal in response to the selection signals.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a semiconductor memory device which receives an external clock to generate an internal clock.
In general, semiconductor memory devices including double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM) receive external clock signals to generate internal clock signals. These generated internal clock signals are inputted into various circuits in a semiconductor memory device and used to operate such circuits. In order to compensate for a clock skew of an external clock signal and an internal clock signal, a semiconductor memory device is provided therein with a clock synchronous circuit. Representative examples of clock synchronous circuits include phase locked loop (PLL) circuits and delay locked loop (DLL) circuits.
In recent years, as the operation frequency of semiconductor memory devices is increased up to a high frequency band more than GHz, a PLL circuit, which is easy to generate multi-clock signals and has a frequency multiplication function, is widely used as a clock synchronizing circuit.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional clock synchronizing circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, the clock synchronizing circuit includes a buffering unit 110, a PLL 130, and a phase mixing unit 150.
The buffering unit 110 buffers an external clock signal CLK_EXT to generate a reference clock signal CLK_REF.
The PLL 130 receives the reference clock signal CLK_REF to generate a plurality of clock signals CLK_PLL0, CLK_PLL90, CLK_PLL180 and CLK_PLL270. The plurality of clock signals CLK_PLL0, CLK_PLL90, CLK_PLL180 and CLK_PLL270 are signals having a constant phase difference from each other. In more detail, the plurality of clock signals CLK_PLL0, CLK_PLL90, CLK_PLL180 and CLK_PLL270 include a first clock signal CLK_PLL0, a second clock signal CLK_PLL90 having a phase difference of 90° from the first clock signal CLK_PLL0, a third clock signal CLK_PLL180 having a phase difference of 180° from the first clock signal CLK_PLL0, and a fourth clock signal CLK_PLL270 having a phase difference of 270° from the first clock signal CLK_PLL0.
The phase mixing unit 150 receives and mixes the first to fourth clock signals CLK_PLL0, CLK_PLL90, CLK_PLL180 and CLK_PLL270 to generate a desired internal clock CLK_INT. The generated internal clock CLK_INT passes through an actual clock/data path and is used to output data. As a result, data can be synchronized with the external clock CLK_EXT.
The concrete circuit constructions of the buffering unit 110, the PLL 130 and the phase mixing unit 150 are well known to those skilled in the art, and accordingly their detailed descriptions will be omitted.
As aforementioned, the phase mixing unit 150 mixes the plurality of clock signals CLK_PLL0, CLK_PLL90, CLK_PLL180 and CLK_PLL270 to generate the internal clock CLK_INT. The phase mixing unit 150 often uses a DLL. When the phase mixing unit 150 uses a DLL, the internal clock CLK_INT is generated by using any selected from the plurality of clock signals CLK_PLL0, CLK_PLL90, CLK_PLL180 and CLK_PLL270.
With products produced recently being gradually miniaturized, there is a need to improve a circuit occupying a relatively large area, such as the phase mixing unit 150. In the case that the phase mixing unit 150 uses the DLL, there is a need for improvement of a large area. In particular, since the DLL generates an additional delay time due to a locking operation, there is also needed an improvement for a faster operation of the circuit.


An apparatus and method for the biopsy of tissue specimens and, more particularly, a single insertion multiple sample percutaneous biopsy apparatus and method are provided. A tip at a distal end of a vacuum support tube is introduced into a tissue mass. The vacuum support tube is retracted exposing a basket tube bounded by a front washer and a rear washer mounted thereabout forming a tissue basket. The basket tube is supported internally by a thrust tube which provides structure to the apparatus to allow it to penetrate tissue. The thrust tube and the basket tube are in fluid connection and are provided with suction to draw tissue inward. The tissue is then severed by rotating and advancing a knife edge at the distal end of the vacuum support tube. The tissue basket is withdrawn and the tissue sample is removed by rotating the vacuum support tube. The tissue sample is sliced longitudinally, and a stripper scrapes the tissue sample from an opening in the vacuum support tube.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for the biopsy of tissue specimens and, more particularly, to a single insertion, multiple sample percutaneous biopsy apparatus and method.
2. Background of Related Art
It is often necessary to sample tissue in order to diagnose and treat patients suspected of having cancerous tumors, pre-malignant conditions and other diseases or disorders. Typically, in the case of suspected cancerous tissue, when the physician establishes by means of procedures such as palpation, x-ray or ultrasound imaging that suspicious conditions exist, a biopsy is performed to determine whether the cells are cancerous. Biopsy may be done by an open or percutaneous technique. Open biopsy removes the entire mass (excisional biopsy) or a part of the mass (incisional biopsy). Percutaneous biopsy on the other hand is usually done with a needle-like instrument and may be either a fine needle aspiration (FNA) or a core biopsy. In FNA biopsy, individual cells or clusters of cells are obtained for cytologic examination and may be prepared such as in a Papanicolaou smear. In core biopsy, as the term suggests, a core or fragment tissue is obtained for histologic examination which may be done via frozen section or paraffin section. In more recent developments percutaneous techniques have been used to remove the entire mass during the initial procedure.
The type of biopsy utilized depends in large part on the circumstances present with respect to the patient and no single procedure is ideal for all cases. Core biopsy, however, is extremely useful in a number of conditions and is being used more frequently.
Intact tissue from the organ or lesion is preferred by medical personnel in order to arrive at a definitive diagnosis regarding the patient""s condition. In most cases only part of the organ or lesion need be sampled. The portions of tissue extracted must be indicative of the organ or lesion as a whole. In the past, to obtain adequate tissue from organs or lesions within the body, surgery was performed so as to reliably locate, identify and remove the tissue. With present technology, medical imaging equipment such as stereotactic x-ray, fluoroscopy, computer tomography, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and magnetic resonance imaging, may be used. These technologies make it possible to identify small abnormalities even deep within the body. However, definitive tissue characterization still requires obtaining adequate tissue samples to characterize the histology of the organ or lesion.
Mammography can identify non-palpable (not perceptible by touch) breast abnormalities earlier than they can be diagnosed by physical examination. Most non-palpable breast abnormalities are benign but some are malignant. When breast cancer is diagnosed before it becomes palpable, breast cancer mortality can be reduced. It is still difficult to determine if pre-palpable breast abnormalities are malignant, as some benign lesions have mammographic features which mimic malignant lesions and some malignant lesions have mammographic features which mimic benign lesions. Thus, mammography has its limitations. To reach a definitive diagnosis, tissue from within the breast must be removed and examined under a microscope.
The introduction of stereotactic guided percutaneous breast biopsies offered alternatives to open surgical breast biopsy. With time, these guidance systems have become more accurate and easier to use. Biopsy guns were introduced for use in conjunction with these guidance systems. Accurate placement of the biopsy guns was important to obtain useful biopsy information because only one small core could be obtained per insertion at any one location. To sample the lesion thoroughly, many separate insertions of the instrument had to be made.
Biopsy procedures may benefit from larger tissue samples being taken, for example, tissue samples as large as 10 mm across. Many of the prior art devices required multiple punctures into the breast or organ in order to obtain the necessary samples. This practice is both tedious and time consuming.
One further solution to obtain a larger tissue sample is to utilize a device capable of taking multiple tissue samples with a single insertion of an instrument. An example of such a device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,533 to Chin et al. which describes a technique for extracting multiple samples with a single insertion of the biopsy device. Generally, such biopsy instruments extract a sample of tissue from a tissue mass by either drawing a tissue sample into a hollow needle via an external vacuum source or by severing and containing a tissue sample within a notch formed on a stylet. Typical of such devices utilizing an external vacuum source are U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,011 issued to Cailouette and U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,052 issued to Terwiliger. Such devices generally contemplate advancing a hollow needle into a tissue mass and applying a vacuum force to draw a sample into the needle and hold the same therein while the tissue is extracted.
When extracting multiple samples with a single insertion of the biopsy device using suction to either draw in tissue or remove the tissue from the body, it is important that the vacuum path remain unclogged. If the vacuum path clogs, the sample removal will become difficult or impossible. This may necessitate multiple insertions of the device or reduce the sample mass per extraction.
Therefore, a continuing need exists for percutaneous biopsy apparatus and methods which can reliably extract adequate biopsy sample(s) with a single insertion of the biopsy instrument.
The present disclosure describes an apparatus and method for the biopsy of tissue specimens and, more particularly, to a single insertion multiple sample percutaneous biopsy apparatus and method. A tip at a distal end of a vacuum support tube is introduced into a tissue mass. The vacuum support tube is retracted exposing a basket tube bounded by a front washer and a rear washer mounted thereabout forming a tissue basket. The basket tube is supported internally by a thrust tube which provides structure to the apparatus to allow it to penetrate tissue. The thrust tube and the basket tube are in fluid communication and are provided with suction to draw tissue inward. The tissue is then severed by rotating and advancing a knife edge at the distal end of the vacuum support tube. The tissue basket is withdrawn and the tissue sample is removed by rotating the vacuum support tube. The tissue sample is sliced longitudinally, and a stripper scrapes the tissue sample from an opening in the vacuum support tube.
The surgical biopsy apparatus disclosed includes a base portion having a proximal and a distal end. Desirably, the base portion further comprises a nose support, a center support and a back support.
The apparatus further includes a first elongated tubular member having a proximal and a distal end and is removably supported in the base portion and further defines a fluid passageway. The proximal end of the first elongated member is supported at the proximal end of the base portion. The first elongated tubular member includes a tip portion disposed at its distal end and adapted to penetrate tissue and a plurality of openings formed adjacent its distal end and in fluid communication with the fluid passageway. Preferably, the distal end of the first elongated tubular member is supported at the back support of the base portion. Most preferably, the tip has a tapered closed distal end and a stepped proximal end configured to cooperatively engage the distal end of the first elongated tubular member.
A suction junction is fixedly supported at the proximal end of the base portion and removably mounted to the proximal end of the first elongated tubular member and in fluid communication therewith.
The apparatus also includes a second elongated tubular member having a proximal and a distal end and is reciprocatingly disposed coaxially about the first elongated tubular member and is movable from a retracted position to an extended position. The distal end of the second elongated tubular member is disposed laterally adjacent to the plurality of openings of the first elongated member and supported at the proximal end of the base portion. The second elongated tubular member defines a tissue receiving portion disposed adjacent to its distal end and further defines a plurality of openings in fluid communication with the plurality of openings of the first elongated member. Preferably, the second elongated tubular member is supported at the back support of the base portion.
A third elongated tubular member is included having a proximal and an open distal end and is slidably mounted to the base portion and rotatably and reciprocatingly disposed coaxially about the first and second elongated tubular members. The third elongated tubular member includes a cutting edge formed at the open distal end and a lateral tissue discharge port. The third elongated tubular member is movable from an extended position wherein the cutting edge is disposed adjacent the tip portion of the first elongated tubular member and a retracted position wherein the lateral tissue discharge port is disposed laterally adjacent the tissue receiving portion of the second elongated tubular member. A vacuum port assembly is fixedly mounted to the proximal end of the second elongated tubular member and in fluid communication therewith. Preferably, a control member is mounted to its proximal end. Most preferably, the control member has a circular configuration and defines a knurled outer peripheral surface.
In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes a latch plate assembly attached to the base portion between the center and back supports. The latch plate assembly includes a first latch having a cantilevered portion and a camming surface resiliently biased against the control member. The cantilevered portion releasably locks the third elongated tubular member at its distalmost position.
In another preferred embodiment, the latch plate assembly further comprises a second latch having a cantilevered portion and a camming surface resiliently biased against the vacuum port assembly. The cantilevered portion releasably locks the vacuum port assembly at its distalmost position.
In yet another preferred embodiment, the second elongated tubular member defines a fluid passageway in fluid communication with the vacuum port assembly. Preferably, the second elongated tubular member further includes a front washer and a rear washer that define the tissue receiving portion therebetween. The rear washer further defines a plurality of transverse openings spaced radially thereabout in fluid communication with the fluid passageway of the second elongated tubular member.
In one particular embodiment, a cutting element is longitudinally attached to an exterior surface of the first elongated tubular member and positioned to sever a tissue sample. Preferably, the second elongated tubular member defines a slot for receiving the cutting element.
In another embodiment, the apparatus comprises a tissue stripping member mounted to the base portion and disposed between the nose support and the center support. The tissue stripping member includes a flexible extended portion configured and dimensioned to enter the tissue discharge port of the third elongated tubular member upon alignment of the tissue discharge port with the tissue receiving portion of the second elongated tubular member. Preferably, the tissue stripping member includes a friction reducing coating formed thereon to reduce friction with body tissue coming in contact with the tissue stripping member.
A method of performing a surgical biopsy is disclosed comprising the steps of: inserting a biopsy apparatus into the tissue of a patient, the biopsy apparatus including: a first elongated tubular member defining a fluid passageway and having a tip portion at the distal end for penetrating tissue and further defining a plurality of openings formed adjacent the distal end and in fluid communication therewith, a second elongated tubular member defining a tissue receiving portion and a plurality of openings in fluid communication with the plurality of openings of the first elongated tubular member, and a third elongated tubular member having a cutting edge formed at an open distal end and defining a lateral tissue discharge port, extending the second elongated tubular member to align the plurality of openings of the first elongated tubular member and the plurality of openings of the second elongated tubular member, retracting the third elongated tubular member to expose the tissue receiving portion of the second elongated tubular member, applying suction to the fluid passageway of the first elongated tubular member in fluid communication with the plurality of openings of the first elongated tubular member and thereby in fluid communication with the plurality of openings of the second elongated tubular member to pull tissue into the tissue receiving portion, severing tissue disposed within the tissue receiving portion by extending the third elongated tubular member to adjacent the closed distal tapered end portion of the first elongated tubular member such that a cutting surface formed on the open distal end of the third elongated tubular member rotates as it passes over the tissue receiving portion, and removing the severed tissue sample from the tissue sampling site by applying suction to a fluid passageway defined in the second elongated tubular member in fluid communication with a plurality of openings defined within a rear washer of the second elongated tubular member, retracting the second elongated tubular member and thereby pulling the severed tissue sample until the tissue receiving portion is aligned with the lateral discharge port of the third elongated tubular member wherein a tissue stripping plate urges the tissue sample out of the tissue receiving portion.


Methods, systems and media for facilitating compression over a metered data connection are provided. In some embodiments, the methods comprise: detecting a new wireless network connection; determining that the new connection is metered; sending, via a proxy server, requests for content to a content server using the metered data connection; receiving, via the proxy server, content from the content server compressed by the proxy server using the metered data connection; detecting a second new wireless network connection; determining that the second new wireless network connection is not a metered data connection; causing the proxy server to inhibit compression of content sent to the user device in response to determining that the second new wireless network connection is not a metered data connection.

Wireless network connections (e.g., Wi-Fi, cellular data connections, connections to wireless hotspots that use cellular data connections, etc.) are increasingly being used to connect devices (e.g., laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, etc.) to networks, such as, the Internet. Unsecured wireless networks (e.g., a network that is not password protected and encrypted using, for example, wireless protected access) present security and privacy risks to users of devices connected to such networks. Connecting to an unsecured network, such as a public Wi-Fi hotspot, can allow malicious users to gain access to unencrypted communications through sniffers, sidejacking, honeypot attacks, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) spoofing, etc. Technologies exist for securing communications over an unsecured network, but the technologies rely on the user to determine the security of a network and connect to a service, such as a VPN, manually each time they connect through an unsecured network. Many users do not expend the effort to do this, or lack the technical know-how to secure their communications.
Additionally, many providers of wireless network connections, such as cellular data providers, charge based on the amount of data sent over the wireless network connection, provide an allotted amount of data that can be sent over the wireless network connection for a period of time, limit bandwidth when an amount of data sent over the wireless network connection exceeds a threshold amount of data (e.g., a data cap), and/or otherwise seek to limit the usage of the wireless network connection.
Therefore there is a need for approaches for automatically detecting the security of a network that a device is connected to and controlling that device's connection to the network based on the detected security, as well as automatically compressing data sent over a metered data connection. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods, systems, and media for secure connection management.

Methods, systems, and media for secure connection management and automatic compression over metered data connections


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device for forming with high accuracy a marker used for separating a semiconductor device 10, wherein a plurality of semiconductor devices 10 are fabricated in a semiconductor substrate 16 are separated, and wherein etched grooves 31 are formed outside the semiconductor regions in the semiconductor substrate 16.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, such as a semiconductor laser, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device for cutting out accurately each semiconductor device after a plurality of semiconductor devices are fabricated in a semiconductor wafer.
2. Prior Art
In the manufacture of a semiconductor device, such as a semiconductor laser, generally, after a plurality of semiconductor devices are fabricated in the substrate formed of a semiconductor wafer, markers are scribed in the surface of the semiconductor wafer with a scriber. The semiconductor wafer is cleaved along the scribed markers into semiconductor devices.
Among the conventional semiconductors, there is a semiconductor laser having a window structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No.06-338657, for example. According to this window structure, window layers for widening the band gap are formed near the end faces of the oscillator of a semiconductor laser, thereby making it possible to suppress the absorption of self-emitting radiation by the laser end faces. Thus, according to the semiconductor laser having the window structure, optical damage or destruction at the end portions of the oscillator can be prevented and the critical emission output can be improved.
The window layers can be formed by forming a multilayer structure for use as a semiconductor laser, then forming U-grooves for the window layers at specified positions, and refilling the U-grooves with a window material. After the window layers are formed, the multilayer structure for a semiconductor laser is subjected to stress and cleaved along planes determined by the crystal structure to thereby divide the window layers in the longitudinal direction of the U-grooves.
Before cleaving, the multilayer structure is scribed with a scriber to form markers in the surface thereof. The scribing accuracy of the scriber is on the order of several tens of .mu.m, whereas the minimum width of the U-groove for the divided window layer is about 10 .mu.m.
Therefore, with the conventional markers scribed with the scriber, it is not easy to obtain workpieces of accurate dimensions, so that variations tend to occur in the thickness dimension of the window layers.
As the scattering loss of the laser light increases with the increasing thickness of the window layers, for which reason the thickness of the window layers of each device to be sliced out should desirably be within a predetermined accuracy of thickness.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device in which the markers for cleaving the semiconductor devices can be formed with high accuracy.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


Provided are a carrier head and a carrier head unit for sucking and securely supporting a substrate during a chemical mechanical polishing process. The carrier head using sucking force to fix a substrate includes a head main body that includes a receiving space in a central portion thereof, the receiving space being opened downward to receive the substrate, a housing part in an edge thereof to surround a side portion of the receiving space, a main passage passing through the head main body to communicate with the receiving space, and a plurality of connecting holes vertically passing through the housing part to communicate with the main passage, a retaining ring coupled to a bottom surface of the housing part of the head main body to close lower portions of the connecting holes, and a cover coupled to a top surface of the head main body to close upper portions of the connecting holes.

The present disclosure relates to a carrier head and a carrier head unit, and more particularly, to a carrier head and a carrier head unit for sucking and securely supporting a substrate during a chemical mechanical polishing process.
As semiconductor integrated circuits are miniaturized and have a multi-layer structure, a surface of wafers is planarized in a certain semiconductor fabrication process, or a conductive layer is selectively removed from a surface of wafers. To this end, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process is widely used. Recently, as a metal interconnection process is performed using a combination of a chemical mechanical polishing method and a dual damascene method, the chemical mechanical polishing process is becoming increasingly important.
When a semiconductor device is fabricated, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system may perform a global planarization process on a wafer to decrease surface roughness caused by repeated masking, etching, and interconnection processes, thereby removing height differences between a cell region and a peripheral circuit region. In addition, a chemical mechanical polishing system may precisely polish a surface of a wafer to decrease surface roughness caused by a high integrated device fabrication process and a contact/interconnection layer isolation process for forming a circuit.
In a typical chemical mechanical polishing process, slurry is applied to a polishing pad, and a wafer is pressed. In this state, the polishing pad and the wafer are relatively rotated to planarize a surface of the wafer or selectively remove a conductive layer. That is, the polishing pad is used as a mechanical component, and the slurry is used as a chemical component, thereby mechanically and chemically polishing a surface of a wafer.
During a chemical mechanical polishing process, a carrier head applies polishing pressure to a wafer, and rotates the wafer. Further, a carrier head may transfer a wafer. A main body of such a carrier head is provided with a retaining ring that surrounds the side surface of a wafer to prevent a dislocation of the wafer due to a rotational motion.
The retainer ring is coupled to the main body of the carrier head by coupling members such as bolts. The coupling members may be loosen by a vibration due to rotations of the carrier head and the polishing pad during the chemical mechanical polishing process. Accordingly, the retainer ring may be spaced apart or removed from the main body. In this case, the wafer may be improperly supported, or be removed from the carrier head, and thus, the chemical mechanical polishing process should be stopped. Furthermore, the wafer and the carrier head may be damaged.