A latch assembly includes a latch bolt, a housing, an actuating plate connected with the latch bolt, a positioning casing, a lower connecting plate and an upper connecting plate engaged with each other and disposed in the positioning casing, and a driving plate disposed between the actuating plate and the lower connecting plate. The actuating plate is formed with a long slot and two symmetrical protrusions projected from the bottom. The driving plate includes a square hole, whose front end can be engaged with the protrusions and driving the actuating plate to move. The upper connecting plate includes two pairs of symmetrical recesses and the positioning casing includes two protrusions corresponding to the recesses of the upper connecting plate. By connecting the protrusions of the positioning casing with two pairs of the recesses, the latch assembly can be adjusted from a backset to the other backset dimension.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a latch assembly, and in particular to a latch with an adjustable backset.
2. The Prior Arts
"Backset" refers to the distance from the edge of the door to the center of the pre-drilled hole for the lock. Most tubular locks come in a single size: 60 mm or 70 mm backset. The user needs to know the backset dimension to purchase the lock. If the lock purchased by the user has a backset different from the hole drilled on the door, the lock is unusable. Thus, the lock has only a single backset dimension is restricted to be used on the door having the pre-drilled hole with the same backset dimension. Accordingly, a latch assembly with an adjustable backset has been developed. The latch assembly can change the assembly method of transmission members of the lock and the backset distance can be set to one of two predetermined distances. The latch assembly according to the present invention is more applicable than the conventional latch assembly.
China Patent No. 99248490.1 discloses a "Latch bolt mechanism of a tubular lock with adjustable backset by an extension casing", which can be adjusted to provide two predetermined backset positions. The latch bolt mechanism includes a latch bolt housing, a plate assembly including a first plate and a second plate, an actuating plate, a follower plate located between the first plate and the second plate, and an extension casing mounted around an inner end of the plate assembly and movable longitudinally to the plate assembly. One end of the actuating plate includes a hook-shaped connecting member for retracting the latch bolt and the other end of the actuating plate includes an upper tooth and a lower tooth. The follower plate includes an upper tooth and a lower tooth, each of which includes a block formed thereon. When the spindle of the lockset is turned, one of the upper tooth and the lower tooth of the follower plate is pressed by a lateral side of the spindle. The follower plate presses the blocks of the actuating plate, and therefore the follower plate retracts the latch bolt. Moreover, the extension casing includes upper and lower slots in top and bottom sides thereof, respectively. The slots receive the blocks of the follower plate, respectively. Because the slots have a length longer than that of the blocks of the follower plate, the extension casing can drive the follower plate to move relative to the actuating plate and the extension casing can move relative to the follower plate, i.e. the extension casing and the follower plate can have different moving distance relative to the actuating plate. Thus, a latch of a tubular lock is adjusted to form two different backset dimensions by moving the extension casing. However, a disadvantage of this configuration is that this positioning mechanism of the latch bolt can not be adjusted accurately, because when the extension casing moves together with the follower plate between two backset dimensions, the relative moving space between the extension casing and the follower plate is realized by the slots of the extension casing that have a length longer than that of the blocks of the follower plate, and there is no position fixing member for the two different backset dimensions.

Eversafety Precision Industry (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.


Disclosed is a semiconductor integrated circuit device of a gate array system making it possible to mount a digital circuit and a high-precision analog circuit on a common substrate. This semiconductor integrated circuit device includes a basic cell array formed by a plurality of NMOS transistors and a plurality of PMOS transistors formed in rows on a semiconductor substrate. The basic cell array includes a plurality of N well regions formed in rows on the semiconductor substrate, P well regions and well terminal regions. The P well regions or N well regions are divided into small regions of the other conductivity type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to gate array system semiconductor integrated circuit devices and particularly to gate array system semiconductor integrated circuit devices enabling mounting of a digital circuit and an analog circuit on a common chip.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 5 is a plan view of a chip of a gate array system including a conventional complementary metal oxide semiconductor. Referring to FIG. 5, the chip of the gate array system including the complementary metal semiconductor (hereinafter referred to as CMOS) includes input/output buffer regions 11, and a basic cell array region 12. The input/output buffer regions 11 interface, with circuits external to the chip, a circuit formed by wiring on the basic cell array region 12. The basic cell array region 12 includes an NMOS transistor array 3 where a plurality of N channel MOS field effect transistors (hereinafter referred to as NMOS transistors) are arranged in rows; and a PMOS transistor array 4 where a plurality of PMOS transistors are arranged in rows. A basic cell is formed by an NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor adjacent to each other in the basic cell array 12.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the region B surrounded by broken lines in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 6, the region B includes NMOS transistor regions 3, PMOS transistor regions 4, oxide film regions 51 isolating corresponding NMOS transistor region 3 and PMOS transistor region 4, oxide film regions 52 for isolation between the NMOS transistor regions 4, and between the PMOS transistor regions 3, and well terminal regions 101, 102 formed between the oxide film regions 52. The reference numeral 1 indicates an N well region, and the reference numeral 2 indicates a P well region. The structures of the N well region 1 and P well region 2 will be described afterwards.
FIGS. 7 and 8 are sectional views taken along the line b--b' and the line c--c' in the region B of FIG. 6. Referring to FIG. 7, the NMOS transistor region 3 includes: a P well region 2 formed by injecting P type impurity (such as boron) into an N type substrate 6; a plurality of N.sup.+ diffusion layers 7 having a high N type impurity concentration formed in wells of the P well region 2; gate oxide films 8 formed on the respective N.sup.+ diffusion layers 7; and gate electrodes 9 formed on the respective gate oxide films 8. Thus, one of the N.sup.+ diffusion layers 7 opposite to each other with respect to the gate electrode 9 is a drain and the other is a source, whereby the NMOS transistor region 3 is formed.
Referring to FIG. 8, the PMOS transistor region 4 includes: an N well region 1 formed by injecting N type impurity (such as phosphorus) into the N type substrate 6; a plurality of P.sup.+ diffusion layers 7' having a high P type impurity concentration formed on the N well region 1; and gate oxide films 8 and gate electrodes 9 formed on the respective P.sup.+ diffusion layers 7'. Thus, the PMOS transistor region 4 is formed.
FIGS. 9 and 10 are sectional views taken along the lines x--x' and y--y' in FIG. 6. Referring to FIG. 9, a well terminal region 101 is formed between N channel transistor regions and it contains P type impurity. A well terminal region 102 is formed between adjacent P channel transistor regions and it contains N type impurity. The well terminal regions 101, 102 are used to connect a power supply line and a ground line formed on the P well region 2 and the N well region 1. An oxide film region 51 is formed between the NMOS transistor region 3 and PMOS transistor region 4. This oxide film region 51 isolates the NMOS transistor region 3 and the PMOS transistor region 4 from each other. An oxide film region 52 is formed between the diffusion layer 7 and the well terminal 101, and between the diffusion layer 7' and the well terminal region 102.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a semiconductor integrated circuit where an analog circuit and a digital circuit are mounted by wirings on prescribed portions of the gate array system chip described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10. Referring to FIG. 11, wirings formed on this chip include a ground wiring 15, a power supply wiring 16, signal lines 181 to 188 connected to gates, drains and sources of prescribed MOS transistors, and a wiring 191 formed on the signal line 182 and connecting the drains of the NMOS transistors and the power supply wiring 16. The signal line 188 and the wiring 191 are connected by a through hole 22. The ground wiring 15 and the well terminal 101, and the power supply wiring 16 and the well terminal 102 are connected by contact holes. The MOS transistors having the gates connected to the ground wiring 15 and the power supply wiring 16 through contact holes are reversely biased, whereby the MOS transistors on both sides of the reversely biased MOS transistors are isolated.
FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram of a semiconductor integrated circuit to which the wirings in FIG. 11 are applied. Referring to FIG. 12, the analog circuit is a circuit which compares levels of input signals VI1 and VI2, and provides an output of comparison, and it is shown on the left side from the chain line in FIG. 12. The digital circuit is an inverter circuit on the right side from the chain line.
In order to operate the analog circuit shown in FIG. 12 with high precision, it is necessary to connect well terminals of NMOS transistors Tr1, Tr2, Tr3 to the sources of the respective transistors as shown in FIG. 13. However, as described above, generally in the semiconductor integrated circuit device of the CMOS gate array system, the well terminal regions 102 of the PMOS transistors are connected to the power supply wiring 16 through the contact holes, and the well terminal regions 101 of the NMOS transistors are connected to the ground wiring 15. Thus, the well terminals of the NMOS transistors are uniformly set to the ground potential and, in consequence, when the sources and the well terminals are connected, the potential of the sources are caused to be at the ground potential.
For this reason, in the semiconductor integrated circuit device of the gate array system provided with the analog circuit and the digital circuit, the analog circuit is a circuit having a low precision as shown in FIG. 12.

Gate array system semiconductor integrated circuit device


A vehicle disclosed herein may include: a vehicle body including a front compartment; a drive disposed in the front compartment and configured to drive a wheel; a plurality of brackets attaching the drive to the vehicle body; a stabilizer extending in a right-left direction of the vehicle in the front compartment and connecting a left front suspension and a right front suspension to each other; and a plurality of bushes attaching the stabilizer to the vehicle body, wherein the plurality of bushes may include a first bush located frontward of the drive, the plurality of brackets may include a first bracket located rearward of the first bush, and at least a part of the first bracket may be located above the first bush.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-114786 describes a vehicle. The vehicle includes a drive disposed in a front compartment of a vehicle body and configured to drive a wheel, a plurality of brackets attaching the drive to the vehicle body, a stabilizer extending in a right-left direction of the vehicle in the front compartment and connecting a left front suspension and a right front suspension to each other, and a plurality of bushes attaching the stabilizer to the vehicle body.


A method and system provide a magnetic read apparatus. The magnetic read apparatus includes a substrate and an isolation circuit. The isolation circuit includes a bias resistor and a capacitor residing on the substrate. The bias resistor and the capacitor are connected in parallel through the substrate.

FIG. 1 depicts a conventional disk drive 10 used in magnetic recording technology applications. The conventional disk drive 10 includes a read apparatus 20 and a slider or substrate 30 on which the read apparatus 20 is formed. The conventional read apparatus 20 includes a read sensor 22 and additional electronics 24. The read sensor 22 may be a magnetoresistive sensor, such as a magnetic tunneling junction or spin valve. Thus, the read sensor 22 is represented as a resistor. The slider 30 has a bias contact 32. The bias contact 32 may be connected to a voltage source that provides a slider body bias voltage, which is typically a DC voltage. The slider body bias voltage may be used to control the voltage difference between the read apparatus 20 and the media (not shown in FIG. 1). The additional electronics 24 may be connected between the sensor 22 and a ground pad 26. The additional electronics may be used to account for variations in the read sensor 22 and to assist in the event of electrostatic discharge.
Although the conventional read apparatus 10 functions, improvements may be desired. For example, applying a DC slider body bias voltage is desirable for some reasons, this bias voltage may adversely affect performance of the read sensor 22. Similarly, the sensor 22 may be desired to be isolated from high frequency signals, such as cell phone signals. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the performance of a magnetic recording read apparatus.

Magnetic read apparatus having an improved read sensor isolation circuit


Two-stage, at least doubled ATM reversing switching network having (2n.times.2n) switching matrices. For expanding a two-stage, doubled ATM self-routing reversing switching network, the switching matrices of the B switching stage can be respectively doubled in one redundancy level after another without interrupting operation given a simultaneously, respective halving of the plurality and filling of duplex link groups formed from the very outset and proceeding between A-switching stage and B-switching stage, of which duplex link groups only duplex links of one and the same group of links are occupied for every connection lasting during an expansion of the switching network.

In recent developments of telecommunications technology and, in particular, in the development of broadband integrated services networks (B-ISDN), the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) based on asynchronous time-division multiplex technique plays a significant part. The signal transmission is consequently undertaken in a bit stream that is subdivided into cells, each respectively composed of header and useful information part, of a constant length of, for example, 53 octets that are occupied as needed with packeted messages. Special empty cells are transmitted when no useful information is to be currently communicated. Virtual connections, i.e. connections that only in fact use a path section when a message packet (block) is in fact to be communicated via the path section are set up in ATM switching centers, whereby every packet contains, among other things, an address covering, for example, two octets in its header for the unambiguous allocation of the packet to a specific virtual connection. Based on the measure of the respective selection information, every packet at the input to the switching network can thereby contain the complete information for its route through the switching network. Using this information, the switching elements themselves then switch the packet on the defined route (self-routing network) (see, for example, Telcom Report 11 (1988) 6, 210 . . . 213). A two-stage reversing switching network having (32.times.32) switching matrices can thereby be provided as the switching network, these switching matrices being in turn each respectively capable of being formed of four switching pyramids formed with (16.times.8) switching elements (see, for example, ISS'90 Proceedings Vol. 1, Paper A2.3, FIG. 10). Since switching equipment must guarantee a practically interruption-free switching operation, at least two redundant switching levels will be provided, i.e. the switching network will be doubled (see, for example, EP-A1-0 384 936).
When establishing switching centers, the case is often is such that, given what is initially a limited number of subscribers, a fully expanded switching network is not initially required. On the contrary, only a partially expanded switching network is adequate, which is capable of being later expanded to form a fully expanded switching network. In order to be able to undertake such an expansion without interrupting operations, a maximally configured, second (reversing) switching stage is usually provided from the very outset in a two-stage reversing switching network even when this only has a partial configuration level. The switching matrices of the second (reversing) switching stage that are already provided in a partial configuration of the switching network, but that are not yet required, then represent an unutilized dedicate resource.


A thermal printer is disclosed which includes a housing, a chassis assembly with a printer mechanism securely mounted in the housing and a head frame assembly having a thermal head and rotatably mounted on the chassis assembly by a shaft. The shaft is disposed in a paper feeding direction at a side of the chassis assembly. The thermal printer further includes a paper sensor having a sensor frame rotatably mounted on the chassis assembly by a shaft which also is disposed in the paper feeding direction at the side of the chassis assembly.

The present invention relates to a thermal printer, and more particularly to a structure of the thermal printer and a structure of a paper detecting sensor.
The thermal printer in which characters are formed by heating selected elements of a dot matrix that is in contact with heat-sensitive paper is widely used in printers such as the facsimile receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,130 discloses a label printer and U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,660 discloses a label printer using a transfer ribbon.
In a printer for printing bar codes on label paper, a sensor is provided for detecting the position of the label paper as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,096 and 4,757,329. The paper detecting sensor is mounted on a paper passage. There are two types of the paper detecting sensor. One is the transmitting type sensor and the other is the reflection type sensor. The paper detecting sensor detects the position of the label paper by detecting-a black line or notch formed in a mount or label paper.
There is also used a slide type sensor comprising a pair of members which are opposite set at a position corresponding to the notch of the recording paper.
In the conventional printer using the transfer ribbon, the paper and ribbon must be passed through a narrow gap, and then set at predetermined positions. Consequently, it is difficult to set the paper and ribbon.
On the other hand, a cutter is mounted on the printer, the paper is fed to the cutter and cut by the cutter. Thereafter, the paper is fed back to the printing position. At that time, the ribbon fed back together with the paper is liable to be loosened to cause the ribbon to be wrinkled.
The recording paper is inserted between opposite members of the paper detecting sensor. However, since the members are closely disposed at a small space of 2 or 3 mm, it is troublesome to insert the paper.
Furthermore, if the label peels off and adheres to the paper detecting sensor, the label must be removed. However, it is difficult to remove the label, because the space between opposite members of the sensor is very narrow.
An object of the present invention is to provide a paper detecting sensor which can be opened.
According to the present invention, there is provided a thermal printer comprising a housing, a chassis assembly provided with a printer mechanism and securely mounted in the housing, a head frame assembly provided with a thermal head and rotatably mounted on the chassis assembly by a shaft which is disposed in a paper feeding direction at a side of the chassis assembly, a paper sensor having a sensor frame rotatably mounted on the chassis assembly by a shaft which is disposed in the paper feeding direction at the side of the chassis assembly.
The thermal printer further comprises closing means for closing the paper sensor together with the head frame assembly, and a pair of ribbon holders rotatably mounted on the head frame assembly, the ribbon holders rotated by power transmitting means from the print mechanism for winding an inked ribbon.
The thermal printer further comprises a ribbon rewinding device for rewinding the inked ribbon about one turn when paper is fed back and heavy load applying means is provided for applying a heavy load to one of the ribbon holders which is to be rotated in a reverse direction when the head frame assembly is opened.
A one-way clutch is provided in the power transmitting means for transmitting driving force to the ribbon holders only when the ribbon holders are rotated in a normal direction.
The closing means comprises a sensor closing plate fixed to head frame assembly so as to contact with the sensor frame when closed.
The ribbon rewinding device comprises a coil spring wound by the power transmitting means when the power transmitting means is rotated in a normal direction.
The heavy load applying means comprises a coil spring provided in the power transmitting means.
The present invention further provides a paper detecting sensor for a printer comprising upper and lower sensor frames pivotally connected to each other by a knobbed shaft, spiral shafts disposed in a paper width direction and rotatably mounted on the upper and lower sensor frames, respectively, a sensor holder having a sensor and slidably engaged with each of the spiral shafts, a first screw gear securely mounted on the knobbed shaft, second and third screw gears each of which is secured to each of the spiral shafts and engaged with the first screw gear, whereby when the knobbed shaft is rotated each of the sensor holders is moved in the paper width direction.


A vehicular headlamp unit using a light-emitting element as a light source includes a projection lens on an optical axis that extends in a vehicle longitudinal direction, and first and second light source units arranged rearward of the projection lens. The first light source unit includes a first light-emitting clement, a first reflector arranged to cover the first light-emitting clement from above and structured to reflect light from the first light-emitting element forward toward the optical axis, and a first mirror component having an upward-facing reflective surface. The second light source unit includes a second mirror component including a downward-facing reflective surface, a second light-emitting element arranged on the second mirror component facing forward and diagonally downward, a second reflector structured to reflect light from the second light-emitting element upward, and a third reflector arranged downward of the second light-emitting clement which reflects light from the second light-emitting clement forward.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projector type vehicular headlamp unit that uses a light-emitting element such as a light-emitting diode as a light source.
2. Related Art
A number of projector type vehicular headlamp units that use a light-emitting element such as a light-emitting diode as a light source have been proposed in recent years.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe configurations in which such a vehicular headlamp unit is provided with a projection lens arranged on an optical axis that extends in a vehicle longitudinal direction, and first and second light source units arranged rearward of the projection lens.
In the vehicular headlamp unit described in these Patent Documents, the first light source unit includes a first light-emitting element, a first reflector, and a first mirror component. The first light-emitting element is arranged in a vicinity of the optical axis further rearward than a rear-side focal point of the projection lens. The first reflector is arranged so as to cover the first light-emitting element from above and is structured so as to reflect light from the first light-emitting element forward toward the optical axis. The first mirror component has an upward-facing reflective surface that extends rearward generally along the optical axis from a vicinity of the rear-side focal point of the projection lens so as to reflect a portion of the reflected light from the first reflector upward. Lighting the first light source unit forms a first light distribution pattern whose upper end portion has a cut-off line that is an inverted projection image of a front end edge of the upward-facing reflective surface, whereby a low beam distribution pattern or a portion thereof is formed.
According to the vehicular headlamp unit described in Patent Document 1, a second light source unit includes a second mirror component, a second light-emitting element, and a second reflector. The second mirror component has a downward-facing reflective surface that extends diagonally downward toward a lamp rear side from the front end edge of the upward-facing reflective surface of the first mirror component. The second light-emitting element is arranged below the optical axis and faces forward and diagonally downward. The second reflector is structured so as to reflect light from the second light-emitting element upward, with such light generally converging in a region near the rear-side focal point of the projection lens on the downward-facing reflective surface of the second mirror component. The additional lighting of the second light source unit additionally forms a second light distribution pattern above the cut-off line of the low beam distribution pattern, whereby a high beam distribution pattern or a portion thereof is formed.
According to the vehicular headlamp unit described in Patent Document 2, the second light source unit includes the second light-emitting element, a third reflector, and an additional projection lens. The second light-emitting element is arranged facing downward in a vicinity of the optical axis. The third reflector converges and reflects light from the second light-emitting element forward. The additional projection lens is arranged in front of the third reflector. The additional lighting of the second light source unit additionally forms the second light distribution pattern so as to straddle the cut-off line of the low beam distribution pattern from above and below, whereby the high beam distribution pattern or a portion thereof is formed.    [Patent Document 1] U.S. Pat. No. 7,387,416    [Patent Document 2] U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,430


An apparatus, computer readable medium, and method are disclosed for performing an intersection query between a query beam and a target bounding volume. The target bounding volume may comprise an axis-aligned bounding box (AABB) associated with a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH) tree. An intersection query comprising beam information associated with the query beam and slab boundary information for a first dimension of a target bounding volume is received. Intersection parameter values are calculated for the first dimension based on the beam information and the slab boundary information and a slab intersection case is determined for the first dimension based on the beam information. A parametric variable range for the first dimension is assigned based on the slab intersection case and the intersection parameter values and it is determined whether the query beam intersects the target bounding volume based on at least the parametric variable range for the first dimension.

Computer graphics uses a variety of methods to generate two-dimensional representations of a three-dimensional scene. For example, a three-dimensional scene represented as a plurality of geometric primitives (e.g., points, lines, triangles, quads, meshes, etc.) may be rasterized to project the geometric primitives to a projection plane and then shaded to calculate a color for one or more pixels of the projection plane based on the rasterization. Alternatively, another technique for generating two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional scenes is to perform ray-tracing. As is known in the art, ray-tracing is a technique that includes the operation of sending out rays from a particular viewpoint and intersecting the rays with the geometry of the scene. When an intersection is detected, lighting and shading operations may be performed to generate a color value for a pixel of the projection plane intersected by the ray. Additionally, other rays may be generated based on the intersected primitives that contribute to the color of the intersected pixel or other pixels.
Because the number of geometric primitives in a scene may be quite large (e.g., on the order of millions of triangles, etc.) and the number of rays generated to test for intersection against the primitives is also quite large (e.g., on the order of millions to billions of rays), intersection test efficiency typically defines overall rendering efficiency. Each test is typically performed as a query between a test object, such as a ray or a beam, and a target object, such as a triangle.
In massively parallel architectures, query efficiency can substantially determine overall system performance and inefficient query techniques may lead directly to degraded performance. Thus, there is a need for addressing these issues and/or other issues associated with the prior art.


There is provided a power supply for an electrical device operable in active mode and in standby mode. The power supply comprises a transformer having a primary winding on the primary side and a secondary winding on the secondary side. The primary winding is connectable to an AC voltage supply and is arranged to comprise N turns when the electrical device is in active mode and more than N turns when the electrical device is in standby mode. Circuitry on the secondary side is arranged to provide an output voltage for the electrical device during active mode.

Many electrical devices have two modes of operation: an active mode in which a load is connected to the output, and a standby mode in which no load (actually a very small load) is connected at the output. In active mode, the power supplied should be sufficient for the device to perform its usual functions and, in standby mode, minimal power should be expended: in most cases, just enough for the device to be switched back into active mode when necessary.
It is becoming increasingly important to conserve energy and reduce power losses and power supplies which have minimal power consumption during standby mode are becoming more and more desired. Such power supplies find applications in many situations, for example as standby power supplies in electrical devices (e.g. in televisions, washing machines) or within external power supplies for supplying power to detect whether an electrical device is connected or not and to switch on the main power supply (e.g. within a portable telephone charger where the telephone is placed in a cradle for charging).
Note that, throughout this specification, the terms "no-load mode" and "standby mode" are used interchangeably. Although, strictly speaking, the output load during standby is not zero, the load is extremely small and can be approximated to zero for all practical purposes.
FIG. 1 shows one conventional arrangement of a transformer used in a power supply for a device which has a standby mode, for stepping down the voltage from the AC supply. The transformer 101 comprises a primary winding 101a and secondary windings 101b, 101c and 101d. The primary winding 101a is connected to an AC supply 103 via a switch 105. When switch 105 is closed, power is supplied to the transformer 101. Secondary winding 101b provides the supply voltage to standby circuit 107 and secondary windings 101c and 101d provide the supply voltage to the main device 109 (i.e. the output load) via switches 111 and 113 respectively. The main device 109 may be put into standby mode by opening switches 111 and 113 so that the supply voltage is no longer supplied to the main device 109. Those switches 111 and 113 may be operated by standby circuit 107 directly, by remote control or under some other form of control (e.g. automatic standby after a given period of time).
The design of a transformer such as transformer 101 in FIG. 1 is based on the power requirement of the device when in active mode. This may vary if the device is arranged to perform a number of different tasks each requiring a different power input. Once the maximum power requirement of the device during active mode has been determined, the transformer is then designed to deliver that maximum power (for at least some of the time) most economically (e.g. using the smallest possible amount of material) and with the smallest rise in temperature.
Referring once again to FIG. 1, when the device is put into standby mode by a user, standby circuit 107 cuts off the power supply to the main device 109 by opening switches 111 and 113. During standby mode, standby circuit only requires a small amount of power: in most cases, just enough to be able to switch the device back into active mode. Hence, during standby mode, the transformer 101 is actually much larger than required which means that its operation is rather inefficient. In that case, most of the power loss is due to the no-load losses from the primary winding of the transformer itself. These no-load losses consist mainly of core losses, which include hysteresis losses and eddy-current losses in the magnetic core, and copper losses due to the current flowing through the copper wire of the winding, which has a finite resistance. These three types of losses will be discussed further below.
FIG. 2 shows an inductor coil having N turns, on a magnetic coil with an applied voltage. This is a close approximation to the primary winding of a transformer (such as transformer 101 in FIG. 1) when in no-load mode.
According to Faraday's law, the voltage is proportional to the rate of change of the magnetic flux:
                    v        =                  N                                              ⅆ              ϕ                                      ⅆ              t                                                          (        1        )            where v is the applied voltage, N is the number of turns in the primary winding and φ is the total magnetic flux through the winding.
If we assume a sinusoidal input voltage having frequency ω i.e. one of the form ν=√{square root over (2)}V cos ωt, substituting this into equation (1) gives us:
                                          N                                                      ⅆ                ϕ                                            ⅆ                t                                              =                                    2                                    V                                                                          cos                                                                          ω                                                                          t                                                                              ϕ          =                                                    1                N                                                          ∫                                                      2                                                      V                                                                                cos                                                                                ω                                                                                t                                                      =                                                                                2                                                      V                                                  N                                                                                ω                                                          sin                                                                                ω                                                                                t                                                          (        2        )
If we assume a uniform flux distribution, the magnetic flux density B is given by:
                    B        =                  ϕ          A                                    (        3        )            where A is the cross sectional area of the core.
Substituting equation (3) into equation (2) gives us:
  AB  =                              2                        V                    N                                                  ω                  sin                          ω                          t
The maximum flux density Bmax is given when sin ωt=1. This gives:
                              B          max                =                                            2                                    V                                AN                                                                          ω                                              (        4        )
The three types of losses, discussed above (hysteresis losses, eddy-current losses and copper losses) are given by equations (5), (6) and (7) below.
The hysteresis loss Ph is given by:Ph=Khf(Bmax)α  (5)where f is the excitation frequency, α is the Steinmetz exponent which will depend on the particular properties of the material used for the core (usually taken to be between 1.6 and 2.0) and Kh is another constant also dependent on the particular properties of the core material.
The eddy current loss Pe is given by:Pe=Kef2(Bmax)2  (6)where f is the excitation frequency and Ke is a constant dependent on the particular properties of the core material.
The copper loss PCu is given by:PCu=IRMS2R  (7)where IRMS is the root-mean-squared current through the winding and R is the effective impedance of the winding.
From equation (5), we see that, for the hysteresis loss:
            P      h        ∝                  (                  B          max                )            α        and            P      h        ∝          1              N        α
From equation (6), we see that for the eddy-current loss:
            P      e        ∝                  (                  B          max                )            2        and            P      e        ∝          1              N        2
That is, the core losses Ph and Pe increase as Bmax is increased but decrease as the number of turns N is increased.
The reader may assume from the above that the transformer should necessarily be designed with as many turns as possible in the windings in order to decrease Bmax as far as possible and hence reduce the core losses. However, this is not the case because the design of a transformer is based on the power requirement of the device when in active mode and the aim of the transformer is to deliver the required power most economically.

Power supply with reduced power losses during standby mode


According to one disclosed embodiment, an on-chip resistor calibration circuit includes an RC oscillator having a test resistor and a precision capacitor as elements, a counter, and a reference clock. In one embodiment, an RC oscillator generates a waveform having a period dependent upon the resistance of the test resistor and the capacitance of the precision capacitor. In such an embodiment, a counter and a reference clock may be configured to measure the period of the waveform. Using a pre-determined capacitance of the precision capacitor, a resistance of the test resistor may be determined. In another embodiment, an RC oscillator generates first and second waveforms through use of an additional capacitor that can be switched in and out of the RC oscillator circuit. Using a pre-determined capacitance of the precision capacitor, an RC product of the test resistor and the additional capacitor may be determined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of semiconductors. More particularly, the present invention is in the field of circuit element calibration.
2. Background Art
The proliferation of wireless communication devices has led to significant technological advances in the analog circuitry used in transceivers, converters, phase-locked loops and variable gain amplifiers, for example. Many of the advances have involved reducing the size, complexity and cost of each device, as well as reducing their power consumption. However, as the field has become more populated, precision in the manufacturing and operation of these devices has become increasingly important. For example, a cell phone transceiver must be capable of transmitting and receiving on precise channels within an available frequency band. In order to select specific channels, the cell phone must be able to precisely tune its transceiver so as to minimize cross talk with other transmissions.
In order to meet the requirements of low cost, low complexity and small size, many semiconductor manufactures choose to leverage conventional and relatively inexpensive fabrication technology, such as that used to form polysilicon resistors (polyresistors) in semiconductor devices, for example. But, as is known in the art, the actual resistance of a conventionally formed resistor can vary significantly from its desired resistance, from wafer to wafer and from process-run to process-run, increasingly as the size of a resistor is scaled down. Moreover, the actual resistance of a conventionally formed resistor can vary significantly with temperature. Fortunately, conventional resistors that are formed together on a single wafer often exhibit the same type of variance from their desired resistance. So, by measuring the resistance of one exemplary resistor on a single chip or die, one can calibrate all similarly fabricated resistors across a single-die semiconductor device, thereby providing the precision required by modern semiconductor devices.
Conventional calibration methods, which often require connections to off-chip devices, are typically expensive, complex, and time-consuming to implement. For example, one conventional method uses a relatively slow iterative process to match the resistance of an on-chip variable resistor block to that of an off-chip reference resistor. The external reference resistor can be relatively expensive to fabricate, and there is additional expense both in providing a precision via or pin on the semiconductor device for a precision analog electrical connection, as well as in providing sufficient mounting space and electrical noise shielding for the reference resistor.
Thus, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a simplified, inexpensive, and more time-efficient system for calibrating resistors in semiconductor devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

On-chip resistor calibration in semiconductor devices


A UPS system comprising a resonant control circuit 100, a gate drive circuit 200, a resonant converter 300, a bootstrap power supply circuit 400 for supplying an isolated DC supply voltage to the resonant control circuit, a bootstrap battery charger 500, and a variable speed fan drive circuit 600.

One preferred environment in which the present invention may be utilized is a UPS system. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of such a system. The UPS system depicted in FIG. 1 comprises a rectifier 10 connectable to an AC utility power source, designated AC in FIG. 1. The rectifier 10 provides a DC voltage to an input filter 12 which, in turn, provides unregulated DC voltage to the input of a high frequency resonant converter 14. The resonant converter serves as a current source for an isolation power transformer 16. The power transformer 16 couples the converter 14, and the current from converter 14, to a rectifier 18; the rectifier 18 supplies DC voltage through an output filter 20 to a PWM inverter 22. The current to the transformer is controlled such that the DC voltage output by filter 20 is regulated to the desired voltage. The PWM inverter 22 furnishes an AC voltage to a load (not shown) connected to the UPS system through a low pass filter 24. The UPS system also includes: appropriate control blocks 26, 28 for control of the PWM inverter 22 and the resonant converter 14; sensing devices 30, 32 for sensing the operating current I.sub.R of the converter 14 and the voltage at the output of the output filter 20; a battery 34 connectable to the input of the converter 14 through a switch 36, and a battery charger 38. Typically, power is provided to a constant speed fan (not shown) by a power supply associated with the UPS system. The power supply supplies a fixed voltage that drives the fan at a constant speed regardless of the load on the UPS system.
Known UPS systems have a number of shortcomings. The UPS system depicted in FIG. 1, as well as other known UPS systems, has an inefficient modular topology; i.e., the system includes many separate (non-integrated) functional blocks that do not share parts. The consequences of this modular topology include a high number of parts, high cost, high level of complexity, and low reliability (i.e., low MTFB). In addition, power to run internal cooling fans is difficult to provide, especially where the available AC power varies over wide frequency and voltage ranges and/or where variable fan speed is desired.


A magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) having a novel circuit configuration (40) is provided. The MRAM device includes a plurality of magnetic memory cells in a memory array (41). The magnetic memory cell includes magnetoresistive layers separated by an insulating layer which forms a tunneling junction between the magnetoresistive layers. A sense line selector (42, 43) selects two memory cells (48) in which a sense current (66) is applied from a current source (45). Voltages generated over the memory cells are sensed and compared to predetermined threshold voltages to provide outputs (OUT1, OUT2) which correspond to states stored in the pair of the memory cells (48). This new MRAM device attains non-volatile random access memory with high-speed and high-density.

A magnetoresistive random access memory device (MRAM), which is one of non-volatile memory devices, includes a plurality of magnetic memory cells employing the giant magnetoresistive (GMR) effect. It is known that the GMR effect appears in multi-layer films which are alternately stacked by magnetic layers and non-magnetic layers. Magnetic resistance over a magnetic memory cell indicates minimum and maximum values when magnetic vectors in magnetic layers point in a same direction and in an opposite direction, respectively. The same and opposite directions of magnetic vectors are called "Parallel" and "Antiparallel," respectively. When GMR material is employed for a memory device, parallel and antiparallel directions, for example, are logically defined as a "0" state and a "1" state, respectively.
The MRAM device normally arranges magnetic memory cells on intersections of word and sense lines. The MRAM circuit, for example, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,293 entitled "A METHOD OF OPERATING A RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY DEVICE HAVING A PLURALITY OF PAIRS OF MEMORY CELLS AND THE MEMORY DEVICE", issued Dec. 16, 1997 assigned to the same assignee.
Activation of a word line and a sense line enables read and write states in the memory cell. The sense line is directly coupled to the memory cells in series and a sense current flows in the magnetic layers so that a sense current is affected by magnetic vectors in the magnetic layers and the current value is alternated according to the direction of magnetic vectors. Sensing the changes in the sense current value allows one to detect states stored in the memory cells. On the other hand, a writing process is carried out by applying a sufficient magnetic field to switch magnetic vectors in the magnetic layers. The word and sense currents both create a total magnetic field and apply it to the memory cell which stores states in the memory cell in accordance with directions of the word current.
The prior magnetic memory device reads and writes a single bit in a memory cell after activating a word line and a sense line. As a processor improves its speed, a memory device is also needed for high speed operation. To increase the operating speed, the applicant proposed the method of sequentially selecting a word line in U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,519 entitled "A METHOD OF SELECTING A MEMORY CELL IN A MAGNETIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY DEVICE", issued May 5, 1998 assigned to the same assignee and incorporated by reference herein. This invention teaches to sequentially select a word line after activating a sense line so that it saves time for the sense line selection and improves the cycle time. However it still handles a single bit information for reading and writing operations.
Accordingly, it is a purpose of the present invention to provide an improved non-volatile MRAM device having a high-speed operation.
It is another purpose of the present invention to provide an improved non-volatile MRAM device having a high density memory cell arrangement.

Magnetoresistive random access memory device providing simultaneous reading of two cells and operating method


Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for improved registration of image and navigation references used in image-guided operations. Certain embodiments of the system include an image acquisition device for obtaining at least one image of an object, a first calibration fixture positioned in relation to the image acquisition device, and a second calibration fixture positioned in relation to the object. The position data from first calibration fixture is used to form a characterization of the image acquisition device, which is corrected by position data from the second calibration fixture. In an embodiment, a first calibration fixture is affixed to a C-arm camera and a smaller second calibration fixture is affixed to a patient. Data from the first and second calibration fixtures is used with tracking data to calibrate the image acquisition data and register reference points in image and navigation reference frames.

The present invention generally relates to image navigation. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for correcting error in registration of image and navigation references used in image-guided operations.
Medical practitioners, such as doctors, surgeons, and other medical professionals, often rely upon technology when performing a medical procedure, such as image-guided surgery or examination. A tracking system may provide positioning information for the medical instrument with respect to the patient or a reference coordinate system, for example. A medical practitioner may refer to the tracking system to ascertain the position of the medical instrument when the instrument is not within the practitioner's line of sight. A tracking system may also aid in pre-surgical planning.
The tracking or navigation system allows the medical practitioner to visualize the patient's anatomy and track the position and orientation of the instrument. The medical practitioner may use the tracking system to determine when the instrument is positioned in a desired location. The medical practitioner may locate and operate on a desired or injured area while avoiding other structures. Increased precision in locating medical instruments within a patient may provide for a less invasive medical procedure by facilitating improved control over smaller instruments having less impact on the patient. Improved control and precision with smaller, more refined instruments may also reduce risks associated with more invasive procedures such as open surgery.
Tracking systems may also be used to track the position of items other than medical instruments in a variety of applications. That is, a tracking system may be used in other settings where the position of an instrument in an object or an environment is difficult to accurately determine by visual inspection. For example, tracking technology may be used in forensic or security applications. Retail stores may use tracking technology to prevent theft of merchandise. In such cases, a passive transponder may be located on the merchandise. A transmitter may be strategically located within the retail facility. The transmitter emits an excitation signal at a frequency that is designed to produce a response from a transponder. When merchandise carrying a transponder is located within the transmission range of the transmitter, the transponder produces a response signal that is detected by a receiver. The receiver then determines the location of the transponder based upon characteristics of the response signal.
Tracking systems are also often used in virtual reality systems or simulators. Tracking systems may be used to monitor the position of a person in a simulated environment. A transponder or transponders may be located on a person or object. A transmitter emits an excitation signal and a transponder produces a response signal. The response signal is detected by a receiver. The signal emitted by the transponder may then be used to monitor the position of a person or object in a simulated environment.
Tracking systems may be ultrasound, inertial position, or electromagnetic tracking systems, for example. Electromagnetic tracking systems may employ coils as receivers and transmitters. Typically, an electromagnetic tracking system is configured in an industry-standard coil architecture (ISCA). ISCA uses three colocated orthogonal quasi-dipole transmitter coils and three colocated quasi-dipole receiver coils. Other systems may use three large, non-dipole, non-colocated transmitter coils with three colocated quasi-dipole receiver coils. Another tracking system architecture uses an array of six or more transmitter coils spread out in space and one or more quasi-dipole receiver coils. Alternatively, a single quasi-dipole transmitter coil may be used with an array of six or more receivers spread out in space.
The ISCA tracker architecture uses a three-axis dipole coil transmitter and a three-axis dipole coil receiver. Each three-axis transmitter or receiver is built so that the three coils exhibit the same effective area, are oriented orthogonally to one another, and are centered at the same point. If the coils are small enough compared to a distance between the transmitter and receiver, then the coil may exhibit dipole behavior. Magnetic fields generated by the trio of transmitter coils may be detected by the trio of receiver coils. Using three approximately concentrically positioned transmitter coils and three approximately concentrically positioned receiver coils, for example, nine parameter measurements may be obtained. From the nine parameter measurements and one known position or orientation parameter, a position and orientation calculation may determine position and orientation information for each of the transmitter coils with respect to the receiver coil trio with three degrees of freedom.
In medical and surgical imaging, such as intraoperative or perioperative imaging, images are formed of a region of a patient's body. The images are used to aid in an ongoing procedure with a surgical tool or instrument applied to the patient and tracked in relation to a reference coordinate system formed from the images. Image-guided surgery is of a special utility in surgical procedures such as brain surgery and arthroscopic procedures on the knee, wrist, shoulder or spine, as well as certain types of angiography, cardiac procedures, interventional radiology and biopsies in which x-ray images may be taken to display, correct the position of, or otherwise navigate a tool or instrument involved in the procedure.
Several areas of surgery involve very precise planning and control for placement of an elongated probe or other article in tissue or bone that is internal or difficult to view directly. In particular, for brain surgery, stereotactic frames that define an entry point, probe angle and probe depth are used to access a site in the brain, generally in conjunction with previously compiled three-dimensional diagnostic images, such as MRI, PET or CT scan images, which provide accurate tissue images. For placement of pedicle screws in the spine, where visual and fluoroscopic imaging directions may not capture an axial view to center a profile of an insertion path in bone, such systems have also been useful.
When used with existing CT, PET or MRI image sets, previously recorded diagnostic image sets define a three dimensional rectilinear coordinate system, either by virtue of their precision scan formation or by the spatial mathematics of their reconstruction algorithms. However, it may be desirable to correlate the available fluoroscopic views and anatomical features visible from the surface or in fluoroscopic images with features in the 3-D diagnostic images and with external coordinates of tools being employed. Correlation is often done by providing implanted fiducials and adding externally visible or trackable markers that may be imaged. Using a keyboard or mouse, fiducials may be identified in the various images. Thus, common sets of coordinate registration points may be identified in the different images. The common sets of coordinate registration points may also be trackable in an automated way by an external coordinate measurement device, such as a suitably programmed off-the-shelf optical tracking assembly. Instead of imageable fiducials, which may for example be imaged in both fluoroscopic and MRI or CT images, such systems may also operate to a large extent with simple optical tracking of the surgical tool and may employ an initialization protocol wherein a surgeon touches or points at a number of bony prominences or other recognizable anatomic features in order to define external coordinates in relation to a patient anatomy and to initiate software tracking of the anatomic features.
Generally, image-guided surgery systems operate with an image display which is positioned in a surgeon's field of view and which displays a few panels such as a selected MRI image and several x-ray or fluoroscopic views taken from different angles. Three-dimensional diagnostic images typically have a spatial resolution that is both rectilinear and accurate to within a very small tolerance, such as to within one millimeter or less. By contrast, fluoroscopic views may be distorted. The fluoroscopic views are shadowgraphic in that they represent the density of all tissue through which the conical x-ray beam has passed. In tool navigation systems, the display visible to the surgeon may show an image of a surgical tool, biopsy instrument, pedicle screw, probe or other device projected onto a fluoroscopic image, so that the surgeon may visualize the orientation of the surgical instrument in relation to the imaged patient anatomy. An appropriate reconstructed CT or MRI image, which may correspond to the tracked coordinates of the probe tip, may also be displayed.
Among the systems which have been proposed for effecting such displays, many rely on closely tracking the position and orientation of the surgical instrument in external coordinates. The various sets of coordinates may be defined by robotic mechanical links and encoders, or more usually, are defined by a fixed patient support, two or more receivers such as video cameras which may be fixed to the support, and a plurality of signaling elements attached to a guide or frame on the surgical instrument that enable the position and orientation of the tool with respect to the patient support and camera frame to be automatically determined by triangulation, so that various transformations between respective coordinates may be computed. Three-dimensional tracking systems employing two video cameras and a plurality of emitters or other position signaling elements have long been commercially available and are readily adapted to such operating room systems. Similar systems may also determine external position coordinates using commercially available acoustic ranging systems in which three or more acoustic emitters are actuated and their sounds detected at plural receivers to determine their relative distances from the detecting assemblies, and thus define by simple triangulation the position and orientation of the frames or supports on which the emitters are mounted. When tracked fiducials appear in the diagnostic images, it is possible to define a transformation between operating room coordinates and the coordinates of the image.
In general, the feasibility or utility of a system of this type depends on a number of factors such as cost, accuracy, dependability, ease of use, speed of operation and the like. Intraoperative x-ray images taken by C-arm fluoroscopes alone have both a high degree of distortion and a low degree of repeatability, due largely to deformations of the basic source and camera assembly, and to intrinsic variability of positioning and image distortion properties of the camera. In an intraoperative sterile field, such devices are typically draped, which may impair optical or acoustic signal paths of the signal elements they employ to track the patient, tool or camera.
More recently, a number of systems have been proposed in which the accuracy of the 3-D diagnostic data image sets is exploited to enhance accuracy of operating room images, by matching these 3-D images to patterns appearing in intraoperative fluoroscope images. These systems may use tracking and matching edge profiles of bones, morphologically deforming one image onto another to determine a coordinate transform, or other correlation process. The procedure of correlating the lesser quality and non-planar fluoroscopic images with planes in the 3-D image data sets may be time-consuming. In techniques that use fiducials or added markers, a surgeon may follow a lengthy initialization protocol or a slow and computationally intensive procedure to identify and correlate markers between various sets of images. All of these factors have affected the speed and utility of intraoperative image guidance or navigation systems.
Correlation of patient anatomy or intraoperative fluoroscopic images with precompiled 3-D diagnostic image data sets may also be complicated by intervening movement of the imaged structures, particularly soft tissue structures, between the times of original imaging and the intraoperative procedure. Thus, transformations between three or more coordinate systems for two sets of images and the physical coordinates in the operating room may involve a large number of registration points to provide an effective correlation. For spinal tracking to position pedicle screws, the tracking assembly may be initialized on ten or more points on a single vertebra to achieve suitable accuracy. In cases where a growing tumor or evolving condition actually changes the tissue dimension or position between imaging sessions, further confounding factors may appear.
When the purpose of image guided tracking is to define an operation on a rigid or bony structure near the surface, as is the case in placing pedicle screws in the spine, the registration may alternatively be effected without ongoing reference to tracking images, by using a computer modeling procedure in which a tool tip is touched to and initialized on each of several bony prominences to establish their coordinates and disposition, after which movement of the spine as a whole is modeled by optically initially registering and then tracking the tool in relation to the position of those prominences, while mechanically modeling a virtual representation of the spine with a tracking element or frame attached to the spine. Such a procedure dispenses with the time-consuming and computationally intensive correlation of different image sets from different sources, and, by substituting optical tracking of points, may eliminate or reduce the number of x-ray exposures used to effectively determine the tool position in relation to the patient anatomy with the reasonable degree of precision.
However, each of the foregoing approaches, correlating high quality image data sets with more distorted shadowgraphic projection images and using tracking data to show tool position, or fixing a finite set of points on a dynamic anatomical model on which extrinsically detected tool coordinates are superimposed, results in a process whereby machine calculations produce either a synthetic image or select an existing data base diagnostic plane to guide the surgeon in relation to current tool position. While various jigs and proprietary subassemblies have been devised to make each individual coordinate sensing or image handling system easier to use or reasonably reliable, the field remains unnecessarily complex. Not only do systems often use correlation of diverse sets of images and extensive point-by-point initialization of the operating, tracking and image space coordinates or features, but systems are subject to constraints due to the proprietary restrictions of diverse hardware manufacturers, the physical limitations imposed by tracking systems and the complex programming task of interfacing with many different image sources in addition to determining their scale, orientation, and relationship to other images and coordinates of the system.
Several proposals have been made that fluoroscope images be corrected to enhance their accuracy. This is a complex undertaking, since the nature of the fluoroscope's 3D to 2D projective imaging results in loss of a great deal of information in each shot, so the reverse transformation is highly underdetermined. Changes in imaging parameters due to camera and source position and orientation that occur with each shot further complicate the problem. This area has been addressed to some extent by one manufacturer which has provided a more rigid and isocentric C-arm structure. The added positional precision of that imaging system offers the prospect that, by taking a large set of fluoroscopic shots of an immobilized patient composed under determined conditions, one may be able to undertake some form of planar image reconstruction. However, this appears to be computationally very expensive, and the current state of the art suggests that while it may be possible to produce corrected fluoroscopic image data sets with somewhat less costly equipment than that used for conventional CT imaging, intra-operative fluoroscopic image guidance will continue to involve access to MRI, PET or CT data sets, and to rely on extensive surgical input and set-up for tracking systems that allow position or image correlations to be performed.
Thus, it remains highly desirable to utilize simple, low-dose and low cost fluoroscope images for surgical guidance, yet also to achieve enhanced accuracy for critical tool positioning.
Magnetic and gravitational fields affect x-rays and other image energy sources. Focal length and piercing point of x-rays may change depending upon the position of a C-arm or other mobile component of an imaging system. A difference between an imaging angle and an angle of the Earth's magnetic field may cause distortion that affects a resulting image. Additionally, an operator or patient may bump the C-arm or other component of an imaging system during operation or positioning, which may affect a resulting image. Thus, there is a need for improved calibration to reduce an effect of distortion on an image.
Registration is a process of correlating two coordinate systems, such as a patient image coordinate system and an electromagnetic tracking coordinate system. Several methods may be employed to register coordinates in imaging applications. "Known" or predefined objects are located in an image. A known object includes a sensor used by a tracking system. Once the sensor is located in the image, the sensor enables registration of the two coordinate systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,444 by Ferre et al., issued on Nov. 3, 1998, refers to a method of tracking and registration using a headset, for example. A patient wears a headset including radiopaque markers when scan images are recorded. Based on a predefined reference unit structure, the reference unit may then automatically locate portions of the reference unit on the scanned images, thereby identifying an orientation of the reference unit with respect to the scanned images. A field generator may be associated with the reference unit to generate a position characteristic field in an area. When a relative position of a field generator with respect to the reference unit is determined, the registration unit may then generate an appropriate mapping function. Tracked surfaces may then be located with respect to the stored images.
However, registration using a reference unit located on the patient and away from the fluoroscope camera introduces inaccuracies into coordinate registration due to distance between the reference unit and the fluoroscope. Additionally, the reference unit located on the patient is typically small or else the unit may interfere with image scanning. A smaller reference unit may produce less accurate positional measurements, and thus impact registration.
Typically, a reference frame used by a navigation system is registered to an anatomy prior to surgical navigation. Registration of the reference frame impacts accuracy of a navigated tool in relation to a displayed fluoroscopic image. Therefore, a system and method that improve registration of the reference frame would be highly desirable. Improved registration may help to decrease error between reference frames and improve navigated tracking accuracy.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method for improved registration of image and navigation references used in image-guided operations.

Method and system for improved correction of registration error in a fluoroscopic image


A method of analysis of secondary-air circuits in gas-turbine plants includes defining an equivalent fluid-dynamic network of a secondary-air circuit of a gas-turbine plant. The equivalent fluid-dynamic network includes a plurality of elements, organized in branches and connected to nodes. For at least one element of the secondary-air circuit a principal component of flow and at least one auxiliary component of flow are calculated.

As is known, in a gas-turbine plant the secondary-air circuit is a fluid network that takes a part of the flow of air from the compression line and uses it for cooling the mechanical components of the turbine exposed to the action of hot gases, in particular the fixed and mobile blades.
The efficiency of the secondary-air circuit has a marked effect both on the overall efficiency of the gas turbine and also on the pollutant emissions. There is thus evident the importance of methods that enable study and analysis of the behaviour of the secondary-air network and its interactions with the other sections of the plant (compressor and turbine).
The methods of analysis currently available are not, however, satisfactory, principally because they do not enable an adequate modelling of the secondary-air circuit. In particular, it is not possible to take adequately into account characteristic loss elements and work and heat exchanges that occur with the hot parts of the turbine.

Method of analysis of secondary-air circuits in gas-turbine plants


A Portable Roller Support Device is disclosed. The device provides rolling support for material in the process of being cut or otherwise manipulated. The support has a stable base and a series of height-adjustable legs with feet at their bottoms. The adjustable legs are also reversible such that the legs can perform an additional function of a threaded stud for attaching the support to a bench or table. Locking knobs are provided to enable the legs to be locked in a desired position once adjusted to that point.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to tools and fixtures and, more specifically, to a portable roller support device.
2. Description of Related Art
Roller supports having adjustable height are widely available for use in workshop applications. These devices are used to allow the ends of long pieces of material to be supported while the user is working on the other end of the material (e.g. cutting the material with a chop saw). Roller supports include rollers to enable the user to slide the material longitudinally towards or away from him or herself, while still providing solid support for the material (i.e. in a horizontal direction).
The conventional roller supports typically further include at least some measure of height adjustability. The height adjustability is provided so that the roller support can be configured to work with varying table and/or tool heights. Many of these roller supports are further fitted with collapsible legs to allow the supports to be folded up and put away when not in use.
While the conventional roller supports are very useful for shop applications, they really are not very helpful for field applications. In the field, the user is many times working off of the ground and/or some other surface (e.g. a truck bed) that is not in the height range of the typical workbench or shop tool. In these situations, the user historically has been required to create a support structure, typically out of scrap material. These cobbled-together supports are rarely suitable, in part because they do not have the valuable rolling aspect to their support. Even though the conventional roller support stands to permit some height adjustment, they do not allow adjustment until the roller is a height corresponding to a chop saw resting on the ground.
What is needed, then, is a roller support that is portable and can be adjusted to the very low heights mandated for field applications.


A portable electronic device port cover. In a first implementation multiple bands can be connected with adhesive in areas where there are no ports in a portable electronic device. In a second implementation the elastic band has a slit that aligns with the ports on the portable electronic device.

Portable devices may be susceptible to damage from being moved to other locations or being used in environments that provide less than optimal conditions. For example computers may get dust, dirt or other contaminates in the ports. The computers may also be involved in vibration or shock that can damage the computer such as dropping the computer.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An integrated container depot (10) comprises a first transit sector (11) with a cellular structure (13) having cells superimposed and adjacent to one another to form columns and rows of cells designed to receive containers; a second storage sector (12) consisting of a storage yard structure with areas for stacking containers; first devices (14, 18) for transferring containers to and from a container arrival and departure area (19) and cells of the cellular structure (13); second devices (15, 16, 17) for transferring containers to and from cells of the cellular structure (13) and areas of the storage yard structure, (12). Upon arrival of containers they are rapidly inserted into the cellular structure, from where they are extracted in a desired order for efficient stacking in the storage yard structure.

This invention refers to an innovative structure for the orderly disposition and storage of containers.
In the known technique, the problem of receiving, arranging, storing and shipping large quantities of containers is well known. For example, in ports, loading and unloading containerships is a long and tedious operation and very often creates serious logistic problems. In fact, it is preferable for the loading and unloading of the ship to be carried out within the shortest time possible. The order in which the containers are unloaded hardly ever coincides with the order in which the various containers must be withdrawn from the receiving structure and vice versa, both as regards withdrawal times and as regards the means of transport (by road, rail, etc.) Attempting to at least partially rearrange the containers while unloading them however results in a considerable slowing down of the unloading operations.
One of the container storage structures suitable for large and very large quantities is the classical storage yard, where the containers are stacked up while waiting to be shipped to their final destination. The use of a storage yard as a depot is useful in order to reduce the structuring required for the warehouse and in order to optimize the space occupied and the cost of handling and equipment.
However, stacking up containers leads to the disadvantage of making it extremely difficult to withdraw and discharge a particular container if it is not at the top of its respective stack. In storage yard depots it is consequently imperative to rearrange the containers.
This, however, considerably slows down the operations of unloading into the depot and tends to reduce the number of containers per stack, resulting in an increase in the size of the storage yard.
In the known technique depots for containers have also been proposed which enable them to be inserted and removed from the depot in a non sequential order. This is achieved by means of complex honey-combed structures, composed of a plurality of cells among which transelevators move to withdraw and insert containers into the cells. In this way it is possible to achieve independence between the order of insertion and the order of withdrawal of the containers into and from the depot.
In modern terminals, the number of containers to be stored is frequently very high (even as many as several thousand containers) and structures of this kind are consequently very difficult to produce, both because of the equipped areas that they have to occupy and because of the lack of efficiency of the handling equipment which would have to travel over very long distances, both vertical and horizontal, within very short spaces or time.
As the number of containers increases, these cellular depots rapidly become uneconomical and somewhat inefficient, especially as far as the travelling lift is concerned.
The general scope of this invention is to obviate the above-mentioned problems by providing a storage structure or integrated depot, which enables the containers to he very rapidly received and efficiently rearranged, and which at the same time enables an extremely large number of containers to be stored at relatively low cost and with limited requirements in terms of handling equipment.

High-capacity integrated depots for containers


An adaptive equalization system and operating method thereof are disclosed herein. According to an embodiment, an apparatus comprises a plurality of equalizers and control logic to selectively enable one or more equalizers of the plurality of equalizers and disable one or more other equalizers of the plurality of equalizers based, at least in part, on a quality of the channel over which the signal is received. In another embodiment, the apparatus includes first control logic to select an equalizer for a header of a packet and second control logic to select an equalizer for a data payload of the packet.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The availability of unlicensed millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radio frequency (RF) bands is spurring the development of main stream applications that use mm-wave wireless technologies. For example, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ad standard, also known as WiGig, promises up to approximately 7 Gigabits per second data rate over the 60 GHz frequency band for consumer applications such as wireless transmission of high-definition video.
In digital wireless communications systems, including those that operate in or near the 60 GHz frequency band, multipath propagation results in a form of signal distortion referred to as inter-symbol interference (ISI), where one transmitted symbol interferes with subsequently transmitted symbols. If unaddressed, ISI may lead to a high bit error rate in the receiver process and prevent the signal from being correctly decoded. To mitigate the negative effects of ISI, the receiving device typically employs an equalizer that reverses the distortion, thereby flattening the channel frequency response.
Frequency domain equalizers (FDEs) are a class of equalizers that operate in the frequency domain when correcting distortion. These equalizers are generally more effective at correcting distortion than equalizers that operate in the time domain. However, when operating on WiGig or other high frequency signals, FDEs typically consume more power than other classes of equalizers. In some cases, an FDE may not yield significant improvements over equalizers that operate in the time domain, especially where signal distortion is relatively low.
An alternative to an FDE is a decision feedback equalizer (DFE). A DFE uses feedback from previous symbol decisions to eliminate ISI on an incoming signal. A DFE generally requires less power than an FDE, but also has inferior performance in terms of distortion correction. The DFE's inferior performance may result in relatively high bit error rates and incorrect decoding when the received signal is highly distorted. Therefore, a DFE may not be suitable in some applications.


A first-wall component for a fusion reactor contains at least one heat shield having a first region inclined toward the plasma and a second region lying opposite the first region and formed of a graphitic material. The heat shield has one or more slots that end in the first or second regions and are oriented generally in the direction of an axis of the cooling tube. The components suitably cope with the mechanical stresses resulting both from production and from thermal cycling.

1. Field of the Invention:
The invention relates to a first-wall component of a fusion reactor. The first-wall component contains at least one heat shield with a closed or open lead-through formed of a graphitic material and a cooling tube through which a coolant flows and which is at least partially material-bonded to the heat shield and is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity>200 W/m·K.
A typical example of the use of first-wall components of this type is diverters and limiters that are exposed to the high thermal loads of more than 10 mW/m2. First-wall components normally contain a heat shield and a heat-dissipating region. The material of the heat shield must be compatible with plasma, have high resistance with respect to physical and chemical sputtering, possess a high melting point/sublimation point and be as resistant as possible to thermal shock. In addition, they must also have high thermal conductivity, low neutron activatability and sufficient strength/fracture toughness, along with good availability and acceptable costs. In addition to refractory metals, such as, for example, tungsten, and graphitic materials (for example, fiber-reinforced graphite) best fulfill this diverse and sometimes contradictory requirement profile. Since the energy flows from the plasma act on these components over a lengthy period of time, first-wall components of this type are typically cooled actively. The heat discharge is assisted by heat sinks that contain, for example, copper or copper alloys and which are usually mechanically connected with the heat shield.
First-wall components may be implemented in a varying configuration. A customary design is in this context is what is known as a monobloc design. In the monobloc design, the first-wall component contains a heat shield with a concentric bore. The heat shield is connected to the cooling tube via this concentric bore.
First-wall components have to tolerate not only thermally induced, but also additionally occurring mechanical stresses. Such additional mechanical loads may be generated via electromagnetically induced currents that flow in the components and interact with the magnetic field of the surroundings. In this case, high-frequency acceleration forces may arise, which have to be transmitted by the heat shield, that is to say, for example, by the graphitic material. However, graphitic materials have low mechanical strength and fracture toughness. In addition, during use, neutron embrittlement occurs, thus resulting in a further increase in the sensitivity of these materials with respect to crack introduction. Fiber-reinforced graphite (CFC) is usually employed as the graphitic material. The fiber reinforcement is in this case disposed three-dimensionally and linearly. The architecture of the fibers gives the material different properties, depending on the orientation. CFC is usually reinforced in one orientation by Ex-pitch fibers that have both the highest strength and also thermal conductivity. The other two orientations are reinforced by Ex-PAN fibers, one direction typically only being needled.
Thus, whereas CFC has a linear material architecture, the heat shield/cooling tube connection geometry is circular. On account of the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the materials used, during the production process a stress build-up occurs which may lead to cracks in the CFC. These cracks can be detected, if at all, only by highly complicated methods because of the geometric conditions and the material combination used. This presents corresponding problems against the background of a nuclear environment for such components, above all also because cracks/peelings are seen as a possible trigger for a major incident. Despite complicated year-long development activity in the field of first-wall components, the components available hitherto do not optimally fulfill the requirement profile.

First-wall component for a fusion reactor

The European Atomic Energy Community, represented by the European Commission


An information recording and/or reproducing apparatus using a removable disk-shaped optical recording medium (51) is provided which includes a storage unit (31) to store an axial-runout amount in a predetermined radial position on the disk-shaped optical recording medium (51) being rotated, a near-field light projector (7) provided to condense a light beam emitted from a light source (3) and which projects the condensed light beam as near-field light when located in a field near the information recording surface of the disk-shaped optical recording medium (51), a first controller (30) which multiplies an axial-runout amount read from the storage unit (31) by a predetermined gain to generate a control signal and controls the near-field light projector (7) to follow the axial-runout amount of the disk-shaped optical recording medium (51), and a second controller (40) to control the near-field light projector (7) on the basis of the linear characteristic of the return-light amount of the near-field light to keep a predetermined distance in the near field from the information recording surface.

Of the conventional recording media, a removable optical disk for use with a disk recording and/or playback apparatus is rotatable on and with a turntable included in a disk rotation driving mechanism when it is set in the apparatus and clamped to the turntable. Being rotated, the optical disk clamped at the center thereof to the turntable will easily incur a so-called axial runout. Namely, the optical disk will be oscillated vertically about its clamped center while being rotated.
The axial runout, if any, of the optical disk set in the disk recording and/or playback apparatus and being rotated by the disk rotation driving mechanism is likely to cause primarily a focusing error when recording or reproducing information.
Therefore, the clamping to the turntable in the recording and/or playback apparatus should desirably be done with the removable optical disk being mounted horizontally on the turntable without being tilted. However, it is difficult to mount and clamp the optical disk precisely horizontally on the turntable.
On this account, in the recording and/or playback apparatus using a removable optical disk as a recording medium, a focusing servo mechanism is provided in the recording and/or playback apparatus to address an axial runout which will possibly arise to some extent while the optical disk is being rotated by the disk rotation driving mechanism. For example, a DVD (digital versatile disk) recording and/or playback apparatus includes a focusing servo mechanism designed to prevent any focusing error from occurring even when an axial runout of about ±300 μm takes place in relation to the plane of rotation.
Recently, it has been proposed to use evanescent light in an apparatus that records or reads predetermined information by projecting a light beam to an optical recording medium such as an optical disk, in order to enable a high-density recording or reproduction beyond the diffraction-limited.
For writing or reading information to or from an optical recording medium with evanescent light, there has been proposed to use an SIL (solid immersion lens) for producing the evanescent light.
For writing or reading information to or from an optical recording medium with the use of evanescent light, the optical system to collect or condense light beam for projection onto the optical recording medium should use a two-group lens composed of an SIL and aspheric lens and having a numerical aperture (NA) of more than one (1) and have a light-emitting surface provided a distance which is smaller than a half of the wavelength of the light beam incident upon the SIL apart from the information recording surface of the optical recording medium. For example, when the wavelength λ of the light beam is 400 nm, the distance is less than 200 nm.
For quality recording or reproduction of information, the distance between the light-emitting surface of the light-condensing optical system and the information recording surface of the optical recording medium should be kept constant. On this account, there has been proposed a technique of controlling the position of the light-condensing optical system in relation to the light recording medium by controlling the actuator of the optical head according to a variation of return-light amount from the optical recording medium as an error signal, as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2001-76358.
As mentioned above, to enable quality recording and reproduction with the evanescent light, it is necessary to have the optical head follow the information recording surface of the optical recording medium while controlling the position of the light-emitting surface of the light-condensing optical system and that of the information recording surface of the recording medium at extremely short intervals of the order of nano-meters.
It is difficult to rotate a removable optical recording medium being mounted precisely horizontally on the disk rotation driving mechanism of a disk recording and/or playback apparatus and prevent an axial runout of the recording medium being rotated. Specifically, it is extremely difficult to limit the axial runout relative to the plane of rotation of the recording medium to less than ±300 μm. Thus, in a recording and/or playback apparatus using evanescent light of 400 nm in wavelength, it is extremely difficult to limit the gap between the light-emitting surface of the light-condensing optical system and the information recording surface of the optical recording medium to less than 200 nm for writing or reading information to or from the optical recording medium.
On the assumption that in a recording and/or playback apparatus using evanescent light of 400 nm in wavelength, the gap between the light-emitting surface of the light-condensing optical system and the information recording surface of the optical recording medium is 100 nm and a gap error of ±1% is allowable, it is necessary to control gap error to less than ±1 nm. In such an apparatus, if an axial runout of about 300 μm which is allowable in DVDs etc. takes place, focusing servo control needs a DC gain of more than 100 dB. Designing a stable control system while maintaining a DC gain of more than 100 dB is extremely difficult.
In a recording and/or playback apparatus in which an optical recording medium is removably set in a rotation drive, it is very difficult to limit the axial runout of the optical recording medium being rotated to less than ±10 μm for example in advance.
Making the allowable gap error higher than the current requirement is also possible but it will degrade read RF signal or the like and will thus lead to impossibility of quality recording or reproduction of information.
Also, the recording and/or playback apparatus to write or read information to or from an optical recording medium using the aforementioned evanescent light will not be able to use any recording medium having widely been prevailing as a large information source, such as CD (compact disk), DVD (digital versatile disk) or the like.
The recording and/or playback apparatus to write or read information by evanescent light and recording and/or playback apparatus to write or read information by condensing laser light from a laser source and projecting it onto the information recording surface of a disk such as CD, DVD or the like are different from each other in configuration of the optical system and optical head thereof. Therefore, to implement interchangeability between the optical recording medium for recording and/reading information by evanescent light and the CD and DVD, it is necessary to design a recording and/or playback apparatus including optical systems for the evanescent light-type recording medium and the CD and DVD, respectively, can selectively be used for each of such media. However, there remain problems such as addressing the incorrect selection of the optical system for an optical recording medium to be used, larger size of the apparatus, increased costs due to the larger size, etc.

Information recording or reproducing device and recording or reproducing method