A thermoplastic elastomer composition comprises (A) about 25 to about 55 parts by weight of a block terpolymer including an aromatic vinyl compound and an alkene compound; (B) about 20 to about 50 parts by weight of a paraffin oil; (C) about 5 to about 15 parts by weight of a polyolefin resin; (D) about 5 to about 20 parts by weight of an inorganic additive; and (E) about 3 to about 15 parts by weight of a polyphenylene ether. The thermoplastic elastomer composition can have excellent physical properties, such as flexibility (or resilience), surface hardness, and restoring force at high temperatures.

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) have rubber elasticity like vulcanizable rubber at room temperature yet also have properties intermediate rubber and plastic, i.e., exhibit properties of both vulcanizable rubber and plastic materials. Thermoplastic elastomers also can be injection-molded like a plastic material at high temperatures.
Due to these properties, thermoplastic elastomers can be used in various products that require resilience, such as sports equipment, food packaging, medical equipment, the exterior of portable IT devices, and home appliances, among others. In addition, because products formed of thermoplastic elastomers can be injection molded (in contrast to vulcanizable rubber), manufacturing times can be shortened. Further, products formed of thermoplastic elastomers can be recycled, also in contrast to vulcanizable rubber, and thus can be environmentally advantageous.
However, thermoplastic elastomers can have poor physical properties (such as elongation permanent set) at high temperatures and can have poor surface hardness (of 50A shore A) as compared to vulcanizable rubber products. This can limit the products in which thermoplastic elastomers can be used.
In order to overcome these limitations, thermoplastic elastomers have been alloyed with other resins. However, the thermoplastic elastomer still does not satisfy desired thermal properties at high temperatures and further can lose surface flexibility, which is an inherent advantage of TPEs.
US Patent Publication No. 2005/0288393 discloses a thermoplastic elastomer composition including thermoplastic resin, block copolymer, core-shell copolymer, and oil. However, the composition is not suitable for use for electric and electronic parts, in particular, a diaphragm for a washing machine, because the surface hardness (shore A) exceeds 70.
US Patent Publication 2004/0151933 discloses a thermoplastic elastomer composition including thermoplastic resin, rubber elastomer, saturated elastomer, and oil. The thermoplastic elastomer, however, cannot maintain a surface hardness of 50A (shore A) and its uses are also limited.


A touch screen panel is disclosed. The touch screen panel includes a pixel unit, a touch sensing unit, and a data driver configured to provide data voltages to the pixel unit and to provide driving signals to the touch sensing unit.

1. Field
The disclosed technology relates to a touch screen panel, and more particularly, to a touch screen panel having a touch sensing system that does not need an additional boosting circuit.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A touch screen panel is an input device that displays an image and that recognizes touch of the hand of a user or an object to receive the command of the user. Since the touch screen panel may replace another input device coupled to an image display device to operate such as a keyboard and a mouse, the use range of the touch screen panel is gradually increasing. Methods of realizing a touch screen panel include a resistance layer method, a photo-sensing method, and an electrostatic capacity method.
A touch screen panel using the electrostatic capacity method includes sensing electrodes dispersed into a touch active region to detect the point where electrostatic capacity changes when a hand or an object contacts the touch screen panel and to sense a contact position.
However, in a conventional touch screen panel, a touch controller for controlling touch driving and a timing controller for controlling image display are independently driven without being synchronized with each other so that a touch sensing characteristic suffers.

Touch screen panel with integrated touch and data drivers


An ink-jet head includes two shield plates extending on the surface of the passage unit in a longitudinal direction of the passage unit. Two shield plates confront each other. The surface of the passage unit is provided with two grooves extending up to the middle of the passage unit in a thickness direction of the passage unit. The shield plate is provided at its circumference with a contact line linearly extending and coming into contact with a plane formed on the surface of the passage unit. The shield plate is provided with a projection adjacent to the contact line and protruding from the contact line. The projection is fitted into the groove. The reservoir unit, the actuator unit, and the wiring member are included in a range maintained between the two shield plates with respect to the lateral direction of the passage unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet head for ejecting ink from an ink ejection port.
2. Description of Related Art
An ink-jet head for ejecting ink from an ink ejection port includes a passage unit, a reservoir unit and an actuator unit. The passage unit has an ink ejection port and a pressure chamber communicating with the ink ejection port. The reservoir unit supplies ink to the passage unit. The actuator unit supplies a pressure to ink in the pressure chamber.
In such ink-jet head as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-59438, the reservoir unit is disposed on the passage unit. On the lower surface of the reservoir unit, the ink discharging ports protrude downward, and the reservoir unit and the passage unit are in contact with each other only at regions surrounding openings of the lower surface of the ink discharging ports. Between the passage unit and the reservoir unit, a gap is formed except areas where the passage unit and reservoir unit are in contact each other. The actuator units are disposed in the gap. Both ends in lateral direction of the reservoir unit are respectively provided with two draw-out grooves recessed inward in lateral direction. A flexible printed circuit (FPC) connected to the upper surface of the actuator unit is draw-out upward through the draw-out groove. In addition, the side face of the reservoir unit is covered with a lower cover. The lower cover is a plate substantially rectangular in shape, under which a convex part is formed that corresponds to the draw-out groove. The lower cover is disposed such that its convex part covers the FPC in the draw-out groove from outside. In the meantime, the lower end of the lower cover other than the convex part and the upper surface of the reservoir unit are brought into close contact with each other. It is therefore prevented ink from being introduced into the ink-jet head. The convex part is formed so as to define a gap between the upper surface of the passage unit, so that the lower end of the convex part does not contact the upper surface. Thus, even though the length of the convex part is slightly raised due to a manufacturing tolerance, the convex part does not contact the upper surface of the passage unit. As a result, it is not prevented the lower end of the lower cover other than the convex part and the upper surface of the reservoir unit from being brought into contact with each other. In addition, configuring the ink-jet head as above, the lower cover is within a width of a head main body in a sub scanning direction (lateral direction) so that the ink-jet head is made smaller.


Poly(vinyl chloride) is compounded with a chalk-like, essentially pure calcium carbonate to provide improved weathering resistance of rigid poly(vinyl chloride) articles subjected to external exposures of heat and sunlight. Blends and alloys are also disclosed. Optionally, one can add either zinc alkyl ester scavenger, organotin stabilizer, or both to further improve the effectiveness of the essentially pure calcium carbonate.

Rigid PVCs contain little or no plasticizer and are commonly used in a wide variety of internal uses sheltered from direct outside environmental exposure. Rigid PVCs are known to degrade upon exposure to sunlight, heat and UV, which degrades the polymeric structure of PVCs and generates trapped HCl acid.
Stabilizers are known to reduce the adverse weathering effects of exposure to heat and sun and frequently are added to PVCs used externally.
Calcium carbonates are commonly used as filler materials in PVCs, but are not known to provide weather resistance or resistance to polymeric degradation upon exposure to heat and sunlight.
Caribbean calcium carbonates described as micritic chalk-like, marine based and sedimentary in origin are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,465 for use as filler material in polyester molding compounds.

Use of calcium carbonate in rigid poly(vinyl chloride) compositions


A method and apparatus for encoding bit code utilizing context dependency simplification to reduce dependent scans. The method includes retrieving at least one 2 dimensional array of transform coefficient, transforming the at least one 2 dimensional array of transform coefficient to a 1 dimensional coefficient scanning using a diagonal scan in a fixed direction, utilizing the at least one 1 dimensional array of transform coefficients for context selection based on fewer than 11 neighbors, potentially selected based on scan direction, slice type, coding unit type and binarization, and performing arithmetic coding to generate coded bit utilizing context selection and binarization.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a method and apparatus for diagonal scan in a fixed direction and simplified context selection for parallel entropy coding of significance map of transform coefficients.
Description of the Related Art
In video coding standards, context modeling is a popular approach used in entropy coding to improve coding efficiency. Context modeling involves selecting a context which determines the probability used to encode binary symbols. The context selection is difficult to parallelize. It is particularly difficult at the decoder when there are too many factors that impact the selection, such as, values of other binary symbols affecting the context selection. However, such dependencies tend to provide better coding efficiency. Parallel processing is important for high performance, for example, for processing throughput, and for reducing power consumption, such as, reducing the frequency requirement or operational voltage.
Therefore, there is a need to improve parallel processing capabilities during entropy coding of transform information, while simultaneously maintaining high coding efficiency.

Diagonal scan for parallel coding and decoding of significance map and transform coefficents


Provided are a method and apparatus for driving printing elements of a printer head in an image forming apparatus. The method includes calculating a number of driving groups among multiple driving groups in which at least a first predetermined number of printing elements are driven for each print line. The method calculates a number of print lines wherein the calculated number of driving groups are not less than a second predetermined number. The number of driving groups are increased if the calculated print lines is not less than a third predetermined number. Thus, it is possible to print with less power without a reduction in print quality or speed by controlling the driving of the printer head. In addition, the overall size of the image forming apparatus can be reduced by using low-power power supply.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming method and apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for driving printing elements of a printer head by analyzing the power necessary to print a page before printing, and driving the printing elements according to the analysis results.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, image forming equipment convert a document written by a user via an application program, or an image photographed with, for instance, a digital camera, into encoded data. The image forming equipment outputs the encoded data onto media, thereby making the document or image visible to the user.
Recently, image forming equipment having an array-head structure has been developed. In such image forming equipment, a printer head having the same length as the width of a medium onto which an image is to be printed is used to achieve high speed and high quality printing. To fascilitate high speed and high quality printing, the print head utilizes many printing elements to convey the image.
In the case of an inkjet printer, a printer head includes a plurality of nozzles. The nozzles convey ink onto a medium to print the image. For each nozzle to convey ink onto the medium, the nozzles must be supplied with power of a predetermined value.
Therefore, in the case of image forming equipment having an array-head structure, such as inkjet printers, power consumed to print an image greatly increases as the number of printing heads increase. An increase in print heads, in turn, requires a high-power power supply to accommodate the increased power consumption. Consequently, the size of the image forming equipment cannot be reduced due to the physical size of high-power power supplies.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for driving printer head and image formation


A pedal device including a base and a pedal plate supported by the base in an inclinable manner and depressed by an operator. An urging mechanism urges the pedal plate in a direction opposite to the depression direction of the pedal plate. A force release mechanism releases the pedal plate from an urging force applied by the urging mechanism. A holding mechanism switches the pedal plate between a state in which the pedal plate is held in an operable manner by applying a resistance force resisting operation of the pedal plate and a state in which the resistance force to operation of the pedal plate is released and the urging force of the urging mechanism is effective.

The present invention relates to a pedal device capable of maintaining a pedal plate at any position.
In musical instruments that electrically amplify sound by means of an amplifier, such as electric guitars, foot-operated pedal devices are used so as to adjust the sound volume and sound quality even while the performer plays the instrument. Such pedal devices incline a pedal plate so as to adjust the sound volume and sound quality in accordance with the angle of the plate.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-202363 describes a device that changes the sound volume of an instrument in accordance with the angle of a pedal plate. In this device, in order to change the sound volume of the instrument continually during a performance, a spring urges the pedal plate to move opposite the direction in which the pedal plate is depressed. Since the pedal plate automatically returns to its initial position if the foot is removed from the pedal plate, the performer does not have to do anything to return the pedal plate to the initial position.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-025897 describes a device that uses friction force to hold a pedal plate at an angle to which the sound volume has been adjusted. With such a pedal device, once the sound volume has been adjusted, the performer may remove his or her foot from the pedal plate to play the musical instrument.
Conventionally, performers have used these two types of pedal devices for different purposes. However, when both types of pedal devices are necessary, the preparation of a multiple number of pedal devices becomes burdensome.


A system for distributing a material over a surface includes a sensor configured to transmit a sonic signal from a position on the system to a surface of a quantity of the material. The system also includes a device to project an image onto the surface of the quantity of the material. The device is adjustable in relation to the sensor to cause the image to have a specified shape when the sonic signal impacts the surface of the quantity of the material at a specified angle, and a different shape when the sonic signal impacts the surface of the quantity of the material at different angle.

Paving machines, such as asphalt pavers or asphalt finishers, include a class of construction equipment that are used to deposit a specified distribution of a paving material, such as asphalt, over a base surface, such as a road or bridge. In operation, a paving machine can receive paving material as it is discharged from truck and conduct the paving material to a receiving side of an auger using a conveyor belt. The auger can be controllably rotated to deposit a regulated amount of the paving material in front of a screed. The screed can be dragged behind the paving machine to form a substantially smooth surface by compacting the deposited paving material.
The smoothness and consistency of paving material compacted by a screed can be controlled by adjusting, amongst other things, the amount of paving material deposited by the auger in front of the screed. A control system for regulating the amount of paving material deposited in front of the screed can include a feedback component, such as sonic sensor, for measuring the height of the paving material deposited in front of the screed, and a control or actuating component, such as for adjusting the rotational speed of the auger based on the measure height, such as to control the rate at which the paving material is deposited. As an example, the rotational speed of an auger can be increased when an insufficient amount of material is delivered in front of a screed, while the rotational speed of the auger can be decreased when the amount of material delivered in front of the screed is excessive.
Sonic sensors used to measure the height of paving material deposited in front of a screed need to have a specific orientation with respect to the surface of the paving material being measured to provide accurate distance, or height, measurements. When these sensors are positioned incorrectly, ultrasonic signals emitted by the sensors, such as to measure distance, cannot return to the sensor for detection at the right angle, causing errors in the resulting measurements derived from such signals. Ensuring that the sonic sensors are oriented correctly can be difficult due to irregularities in the surface of the paving material, and because the ultrasonic signals emitted by such sensors are generally not visible to a paving machine operator.

Determine sonic sensor angle using laser shape


A mounting apparatus for mounting two or more types of data storage devices that each defines a locking hole in a sidewall thereof includes a bracket for holding the data storage devices, a fixing member, and a locking member. The bracket includes a first side wall. The first side wall defines a locating hole therein. The locating hole has at least two locating positions. The fixing member is pivotably mounted to the first side wall of the bracket. The locking member is selectively mounted to at least two positions of the fixing member. The locking member includes a locking portion extending therefrom, for selectively being inserted through the at least two locating positions of the locating hole of the bracket to engage in the locking hole of a corresponding type of data storage device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting apparatuses, and particularly to a mounting apparatus which readily allows securely installing or removing a data storage device to or from a computer enclosure.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally speaking, when a computer is assembled, a drive bracket is mounted in a computer enclosure, and then data storage devices are fixed to the drive bracket. The data storage devices comprise various combinations of hard disk drives (HDDs), floppy disk drives (FDDs), and compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM) drives.
Conventionally, a data storage device is attached to a drive bracket of a computer by bolts. The data storage device may, for example, be a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, or a CD-ROM drive. However, attachment by bolts is complicated and time-consuming, and attachment by such means requires extra work space be available inside the computer enclosure. This requirement runs counter to the trend toward miniaturization in the computer industry. Moreover, the drive bracket can only mount one type of data storage device. If it is desired to change to another type of data storage device, the drive bracket must be replaced, which is time-consuming and leads to a high cost.
What is desired, therefore, is a mounting apparatus which readily allows securely installing or removing two or more types of data storage devices to or from a computer enclosure.

Mounting apparatus for data storage devices

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A compound of the general formula:

Protein kinases are a family of enzymes that catalyse the phosphorylation of specific residues in proteins. In general protein kinases fall into several groups; those which preferentially phosphorylate serine and/or threonine residues, those which preferentially phosphorylate tyrosine residues and those which phosphorylate both tyrosine and Ser/Thr residues. Protein kinases are therefore key elements in signal transduction pathways responsible for transducing extracellular signals, including the action of cytokines on their receptors, to the nuclei, triggering various biological events. The many roles of protein kinases in normal cell physiology include cell cycle control and cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, cell mobility and mitogenesis.
Protein kinases include members of the Protein Tyrosine Kinase family (PTKs), which in turn can be divided into the cytoplasmic PTKs (CTKs) and the receptor PTKs (RTKs). The cytoplasmic PTKs include the SRC family, (including: BLK; FGR; FYN; HCK; LCK; LYN; SRC;YES and YRK); the BRK Family (including: BRK; FRK, SAD; and SRM); the CSK family (including: CSK and CTK); the BTK family, (including BTK; ITK; TEC; MKK2 and TXK), the Janus kinase family, (including: JAKI, JAK2, JAK3 and Tyk2), the FAK family (including, FAK and PYK2); the Fes family (including FES and FER), the ZAP70 family (including ZAP70 and SYK); the ACK family (including ACK1 and ACK2); and the Ab1 family (including ABL and ARG). The RTK family includes the EGF-Receptor family (including, EGFR, HER2, HER3 and HER4); the Insulin Receptor family (including INS-R and IGF1-R); the PDGF-Receptor family (including PDGFRα, PDGFRβ, CSF1R, KIT, FLK2); the VEGF-Receptor family (including; FLT1, FLK1 and FLT4); the FGF-Receptor family (including FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3 and FGFR4); the CCK4 family (including CCK4); the MET family (including MET and RON); the TRK family (including TRKA, TRKB, and TRKC); the AXL family (including AXL, MER, and SKY); the TIE/TEK family (including TIE and TIE2/TEK); the EPH family (including EPHA1, EPHA2, EPHA3, EPHA4, EPHA5, EPHA6, EPHA7, EPHA8, EPHB1, EPHB2, EPHB3, EPHB4, EPHB5, EPHB6); the RYK family (including RYK); the MCK family (including MCK and TYRO10); the ROS family (including ROS); the RET family (including RET); the LTK family (including LTK and ALK); the ROR family (including ROR1 and ROR2); The Musk family (including Musk); the LMR family including LMR1, LMR2 and LMR3); and the SuRTK106 family (including SuRTK106).
Similarly, the serine/threonine specific kinases comprise a number of distinct sub-families, including; the extracellular signal regulated kinases, (p42/ERK2 and p44/ERKI); c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK); cAMP-responsive element-binding protein kinases (CREBK); the cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs); cAMP-dependent kinase (CAPK); mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase (MAPK and its relatives); stress-activated protein kinase p38/SAPK2; mitogen-and stress-activated kinase (MSK); protein kinases, PKA, PKB and PKC inter alia.
Additionally, the genomes of a number of pathogenic organisms possess genes encoding protein kinases. For example, the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum and viruses such as HPV and Hepatitis viruses appear to bear kinase related genes.
Inappropriately high protein kinase activity has been implicated in many diseases resulting from abnormal cellular function. This might arise either directly or indirectly, for example by failure of the proper control mechanisms for the kinase, related for example to mutation, over-expression or inappropriate activation of the enzyme; or by over- or under-production of cytokines or growth factors also participating in the transduction of signals upstream or downstream of the kinase. In all of these instances, selective inhibition of the action of the kinase might be expected to have a beneficial effect. Diseases where aberrant kinase activity has been implicated include: diabetes; restenosis; atherosclerosis; fibrosis of the liver and kidney; ocular diseases; myelo- and lymphoproliferative disorders; cancer such as prostate cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, leukemia and lymphoma; and, auto-immune diseases such as Atopic Dermatitis, Asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, Crouzon syndrome, achondroplasia, and thanatophoric dysplasia.

Abstract: A compound of the general formula:

Abstract: or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, hydrates, solvates, crystal forms of diastereomers thereof is described. A method of treating protein kinase-associated disease states using the compound of Formula I is also described.


Apparatuses and methods directed to an integrated circuit package having an optical component are disclosed. The package may include an integrated circuit die having at least one light sensitive region disposed on a first surface thereof. By way of example, the die may be a laser diode that emits light through the light sensitive region, or a photodetector that receives and detects light through the light sensitive region. An optical concentrator may be positioned adjacent the first surface of the first die. The optical concentrator includes a lens portion positioned adjacent the light sensitive region and adapted to focus light.

Many integrated circuit ("IC") devices include optical components. Some of these devices require exposure to a source of light at a point during their operational cycle. Other devices may themselves be a source of light. In many such IC devices, and indeed in most all IC devices, the device must generally be enclosed in a sealed environment to protect it and its associated electrical connections from damage due to exposure to the outside environment. Accordingly, numerous conventional packages for IC devices involve the formation of an optically transparent window or other transparent component that enables light to reach one or more components on the IC device or, conversely, to be emitted by the components and exit the device.
While many of the devices and techniques to provide an optically transparent window in an IC device via a packaging feature have generally worked well in the past, there is a desire to provide more reliable and cost effective ways for packaging IC devices with optical components and, furthermore, means to couple high BW signals into optical transmission media such as optic fiber.

Molded optical package with fiber coupling feature

The Regents of the University of California


Embodiments of the present invention provide a conductive member, in which electric characteristics can be improved by matching impedance all the way from a conductive wire to a pad. In one embodiment, a conductive member comprises: a back side metal layer; an insulating layer formed on the back side metal layer; a conductive wire formed on the insulating layer; and a pad formed on the insulating layer and electrically connected to the conductive wire; at least one opening and at least one supporting structure being formed at a position corresponding to the pad on the back side metal layer.

The present invention relates to a conductive member to be used inside of a disk drive such as a hard disk.
In recent years, a hard disk has been progressively reduced in size, and accordingly, various kinds of members to be used inside of the hard disk also have been progressively reduced in size and thickness.
For example, a magnetic head assembly for reading and writing data from and on a magnetic medium in a hard disk includes a magnetic head and a preamp pre-amplifying circuit, which is electrically connected to the magnetic head and amplifies a signal read by the magnetic head. The magnetic head and the preamp pre-amplifying circuit are made of a conductive member called an inter-connect (i.e., an integrated lead suspension abbreviated as "an ILS").
The conductive member includes a metal layer serving as a back side (i.e., a back side metal layer), a polyimide layer formed at either surface of the metal layer (i.e., an insulating layer), and a conductive wire formed on the polyimide layer. A substantially rectangular pad is formed on a side, of the conductive wire, for connection to the preamp pre-amplifying circuit. The pad is introduced to a position perpendicular to the plane of a flexible substrate having the preamp pre-amplifying circuit mounted thereon, and further, is electrically connected to a terminal on the side of the flexible substrate by using a conductive material such as a solder.
Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-9203) discloses the technique of forming an insulating layer on a wiring board for use in the above-described hard disk or the like.
Moreover, Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-152404) discloses the technique of forming a back side metal layer so as to reduce a transmission loss in a transmission line.
Patent Literature 2 discloses that a line loss is reduced by forming a hole at the back side metal layer right under a conductive wire. The hole is formed across two conductors so as to enhance differential transmission characteristics of the transmission line.

Conductive member, disk drive using same, and conductive member fabricating method

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


Techniques for program verification are described. An exemplary method includes receiving a request to evaluate code based on a customized rule, the customized rule comprising one or more conditions for which the customized rule is applicable and one or more postconditions to indicate at least one check to perform for a given node in a graph for the code, wherein an application of the customized rule performs one or more of: an interleave between a backward analysis and forward analysis based on user-specified conditions, an analysis between sub-graphs by a query from a first sub-graph to a second sub-graph, and an operation on a sub-graph, storage of a result of the operation on the sub-graph, and usage of the stored result in a subsequent operation; generating a graph for the code; and evaluating the code by applying the customized rule to the generated graph.

Static data flow tracking is a form of program analysis that uncovers semantic code behaviors of interest, such as flow of untrusted data into a security-sensitive operation. Backward analysis tracks data to its origin(s), and forward analysis tracks data to its destination(s). Interleaving these two forms of analysis yields powerful reasoning capabilities, for example in tracking untrusted data into an operation, then tracking back from the operation to its receiver to check whether it is sensitive. There are multiple existing techniques and algorithms that perform such interleaving of forward and backward analysis.

Data flow tracking in program verification


Techniques, systems, and computer program products for transmitting data between a computer system and an external printing device. A technique may include generating a data packet in accordance with a communications protocol such that generating the data packet includes encoding the data packet according to a second layer of the protocol in a frame format according to a third layer of the protocol, transmitting the data packet from the computer system to the external printing device according to the first layer of the protocol; and decoding the data packet in accordance with the second layer of the protocol. The protocol can be defined to include three layers. In that protocol, a first layer may define transmission line, transmitters, and receivers for transmission, the second layer may define encoding and decoding, and the third layer may define a frame format of the data packet.

This disclosure relates to protocols for transmitting data, for example, between a computer system and a printing device.
In an industrial printing solution, a printing system typically includes a printing device and a computer system for controlling the printing device. Typically, the printing device and the computer system that controls the printing device are physically separated. Thus, to transfer data to the printing device, the printing system must be designed such that the computer system can reliably communicate with the printing device, and vice versa such that the printing device can communicate with the computer system. To reliably communicate and to provide interoperability between different types of computer systems and different types of printing devices, standards for communication, involving standards for hardware, framing of data packets, and the like may be created. For example, one such standard known as Universal Serial Bus (USB; specification available from USB Implementers Forum, Inc., Portland, Oreg.) has been developed for communicating between a personal computing system and peripheral devices.


A visor, according to one embodiment, comprises a closed-cell, semi-rigid urethane foam material thermoformed from sheets into a visor core construction with a reinforced backbone mounted along an edge thereof for mounting the visor to a vehicle. The visor is upholstered utilizing an adhesive and scrim laminate and is formed by heating, pressing and cutting to assure the outer upholstery material adheres smoothly to the visor core and provides a trim edge in appearance. According to another embodiment of the invention, a blend of kenaf fibers are employed as the core material, which is laminated with upholstery material as in the first embodiment to complete the visor construction. In yet another embodiment of the invention, a butterfly-type core construction is made of high density kenaf blend and upholstered in a manner employed for other butterfly visor core constructions.

The present invention relates to a vehicle visor and particularly to the visor body and mounting construction and its manufacturing method.
Visor bodies have been made utilizing a variety of materials including butterfly-shaped polypropylene cores which are upholstered and folded to complete a visor body, fiberboard cores of similar butterfly shape and foam core construction covered by upholstery. The solid foam core construction is difficult to upholster to obtain a visor configuration with an upholstered appearance that is sufficiently attractive to provide a commercial product. This results since, with a foam core, there are, unlike the butterfly core construction, no edges around which to tuck the upholstery fabric to provide a trim appearance. Further, the dated utilization of an upholstery bead and stitching is both excessively expensive and unattractive in today's modern vehicle interior designs.
In addition, visor cores made of a foam material are difficult to mount to a vehicle inasmuch as the foam material itself is not sufficiently structurally rigid to receive conventional pivot rod torque control and mounting structures. Typically, internal reinforcing members are required for foam core visors. Thus, although foam cores provide a relatively inexpensive and lightweight visor body, there is difficulty both in upholstering the visor in an attractive manner and in mounting such a visor core to the vehicle.
It is also desirable to manufacture visor cores of a recyclable material which is relatively inexpensive and is environmentally friendly. To this end, the present invention contemplates a visor construction which improves upon conventional foam core constructions and in some embodiments utilizes core material other than a polymeric foam.


A cabin pressure control system and method extends the cabin pressure control logic beyond the original maximum certified altitude of the aircraft, without having to update the control logic. Thus, the control system provides an independent means of limiting cabin-to-atmosphere differential pressure above the original maximum certified altitude if the aircraft exceeds, or is re-certified to exceed, its original maximum certified altitude.

For a given airspeed, an aircraft may consume less fuel at a higher altitude than it does at a lower altitude. In other words, an aircraft may be more efficient in flight at higher altitudes as compared to lower altitudes. Moreover, bad weather and turbulence can sometimes be avoided by flying above such weather or turbulence. Thus, because of these and other potential advantages, many aircraft are designed to fly at relatively high altitudes. The altitude to which an aircraft may fly is, in many instances, limited to a maximum certified altitude.
As the altitude of an aircraft increases, from its take-off altitude to its "top of climb" or "cruise" altitude, the ambient atmospheric pressure outside of the aircraft decreases. Thus, unless otherwise controlled, air could leak out of the aircraft cabin causing it to decompress to an undesirably low pressure at high altitudes. If the pressure in the aircraft cabin is too low, the aircraft passengers may suffer hypoxia, which is a deficiency of oxygen concentration in human tissue. The response to hypoxia may vary from person to person, but its effects generally include drowsiness, mental fatigue, headache, nausea, euphoria, and diminished mental capacity.
Aircraft cabin pressure is often referred to in terms of "cabin pressure altitude," which refers to the normal atmospheric pressure existing at a certain altitude. Studies have shown that the symptoms of hypoxia may become noticeable when the cabin pressure altitude is above the equivalent of the atmospheric pressure one would experience outside at 8,000 feet. Thus, many aircraft are equipped with a cabin pressure control system functions to, among other things, maintain the cabin pressure altitude to within a relatively comfortable range (e.g., at or below approximately 8,000 feet), allow gradual changes in the cabin pressure altitude to minimize passenger discomfort, and maintain cabin-to-atmosphere differential pressure below nominal and maximum limits. Thus, many cabin pressure control systems control cabin altitude as a function of aircraft altitude, and do so in a manner and rate that will keep the cabin-to-atmosphere different pressure less than the nominal limit.
In addition to an automatic cabin pressure control system, many aircraft additionally include one or more pneumatically-operated positive differential pressure relief valves. These relief valves are provided to limit the cabin-to-atmosphere differential pressure independent of the cabin pressure control system in the unlikely, but postulated, event the cabin pressure control system is inoperable or malfunctions. The pressure relief valves are also useful in the event the aircraft exceeds its maximum certified altitude. This is because present cabin pressure control systems are limited to controlling cabin altitude to, for example, a maximum of 8,000 feet. For example, many cabin pressure control systems implement control logic that controls cabin altitude to a preset maximum altitude (e.g., 8,000 feet) when the aircraft is at its maximum certified altitude. Hence, if the aircraft were to exceed its certified altitude due, for example, to turbulence, the cabin pressure control system would continue controlling, or attempting to control, cabin pressure to the preset maximum altitude, while the positive pressure relief valves prevent the differential pressure limit from being exceeded.
Some aircraft certification authority regulations indicate that certain aircraft should have two independent means to limit cabin-to-atmosphere differential pressure. In some aircraft configurations, this regulation is implemented by providing two independent pneumatic positive pressure relief valves. In other aircraft configuration, this regulation is implemented by including one pneumatic positive pressure relief valve, and relying on the cabin pressure control system as the second means of limiting cabin-to-atmosphere differential pressure. In this latter aircraft configuration, if the aircraft exceeds its maximum certified altitude, then only one independent means of providing positive differential pressure relief is available, since the cabin pressure control system, as was noted above, will be controlling cabin pressure to the preset maximum altitude. Thus, the certification authority regulations are not met.
In addition to short excursions above the maximum certified altitude due to turbulence, there are various other reasons why an aircraft may exceed its initially certified maximum altitude. For example, an updated version of an aircraft that was originally designed as a high frequency regional/commuter type of aircraft may be marketed and sold as an executive aircraft, which is operated at a lower frequency. The high frequency commuter aircraft would likely have a lower maximum certified altitude and lower cabin-to-atmosphere differential pressure limit, than would the low frequency executive aircraft. Other examples in which an aircraft may exceed its original maximum certified altitude include certain military aircraft, aircraft used by NASA, aircraft used for weather services, or aircraft used for other special purpose missions. In each of these cases, once the aircraft is re-certified to the higher maximum altitude, either the cabin pressure control system logic would need to be reconfigured to the new differential pressure limit, or a second positive pressure relief valve would need to be installed to meet the above-mentioned certification authority regulations.
Present cabin pressure control systems that are used in conjunction with a single, independent positive pressure relief valve to limit cabin-to-ambient differential pressure are robustly designed and manufactured, and are operationally safe. Nonetheless, as noted above, these systems suffer certain drawbacks. For example, these systems are not configured to provide an independent means of positive pressure relief if the aircraft exceeds, or is recertified to exceed, its original certified maximum altitude. Thus, the control logic should be updated, which can increase costs, or a second positive pressure relief valve should be added, which can increase costs, weight, and result in another opening in the aircraft fuselage.
Hence, there is a need for a cabin pressure control system and method that extends the cabin pressure control logic beyond the original maximum certified altitude of the aircraft, without having to update the control logic. In doing so, the control system will provides an independent means of limiting cabin-to-atmosphere differential pressure above the original maximum certified altitude, thereby alleviating the need to add an additional positive pressure relief valve, which can reduce aircraft cost, and/or weight, and/or number of fuselage openings. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.

Control system and method for controlling aircraft cabin altitude during aircraft operations above maximum certified aircraft altitude


In an embodiment, a scheduler coordinates timings at which cores execute processes, for any two sequential processes to consecutively be executable. The processes are executed in order scheduled by the scheduler by concentrating on a specific core processes obstructing the consecutive execution such as an external interrupt and an internal interrupt. The scheduler does not always cause processes of another application to be executed during all standby time periods while the scheduler determines whether a length of a standby time period is shorter than a predetermined value, and does not cause any process of the other application to be executed when the length is shorter than that.

Many techniques of effectively using a cache have conventionally been provided to improve the processing efficiency of a core. When a core executes a program, the core is allocated with processes constituting the program such as tasks or threads, each of a predetermined unit. The core sequentially executes the processes allocated thereto. A cache included in the core stores data that is used when the core executes the processes. Therefore, when processes that use related data are consecutively allocated to the core, the core can continuously use the data that are stored once in the cache.
On the contrary, when processes that data different from each other are consecutively allocated to the core, the core can not continuously use the data that is stored in the cache. Therefore, a cache-miss may occur. When a cache-miss occurs, the core reads the data necessary for the execution of the processes, from an external memory and stores the new data into the cache when necessary. Therefore, a longer processing time period is necessary compared to a case where the cache is continuously usable.
A technique is disclosed according to which cache-misses are reduced and the processing performance of the core is improved by coordinating in advance the order of executing processes, for the processes that use data stored in a cache to be consecutively executed (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-99156).
A technique is also disclosed according to which a process block formed by aggregating a group of processes that are executed using data common thereto is identified, by analyzing a program, dividing the program into plural blocks, and analyzing the relation between inputs and outputs of data among the blocks. For example, the data used when the identified process block is executed are highly related to each other and therefore, reduction of cache-misses can be expected by executing the scheduling for the data stored in the cache to be consecutively executed (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. H10-134030 and 2004-252728).
However, a limitation is present in suppressing occurrence of a cache-miss using the conventional techniques. For example, when the inputs-outputs relation of each of the process blocks is not one to one and data for plural process blocks are necessary for one process block, the same plural process blocks have to be executed and therefore, processes belonging to one same process block alone can not be executed consecutively. Similarly, when a program having complicated dependence relations is executed or when a highly prioritized process or an interrupt by an external process occurs, data different from that for the consecutively executed processes is highly likely to be used and therefore, occurrence of a cache-miss is inevitable.
FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of the conventional consecutive execution of processes. FIG. 23 depicts an example of operation of a CPU when the processes are consecutively executed using the conventional techniques. Processes 4, 8, 15, 19, 25, and 29 belonging to a single block are set to be consecutively executed using the conventional techniques.
However, in practice, an external interrupt occurs immediately after the process 4 (step S2301) and an internal interrupt process also occurs (step S2302) as depicted in FIG. 23. Therefore, data stored in a cache for execution of the process 4 is degraded by the processes at steps S2301 and S2302 (a state where other data is stored thereto). Therefore, a cache-miss occurs when the data of the cache is read to execute the process 8.
Similarly, though no interrupt process occurs between the processes 8 and 15, a standby time period occurs to wait for synchronization and a low priority process is executed during the standby time period (step S2303). Another high priority process interrupts and is executed between the processes 15 and 19 (step S2304). As a result, even when the program is analyzed and a setting is made for processes to be executed consecutively, the processes are often not consecutively executed in practice and a cache-miss may occur similarly to the conventional cases.
When a multi-core processor is used that has recently become widely prevalent, an interrupt can be prevented by causing a specific core to execute processes not set such as those at steps S2301 to S2304 of FIG. 23. However, when the multi-core processor is used, one program is efficiently executed and therefore, the process blocks executable in parallel are allocated to different cores for execution.
Therefore, a case may be present where a core #0 executes the process 1 included in an application and another core (for example, a core #1) executes one of the other processes that precede the process 1. In this case, when no other executable process block is present for the core #0, the core #0 has to stand by until the preceding processes executed by the core #1 come to an end.
In an ordinary operating system, during execution of an application, plural applications are often simultaneously executed that have no relation with the application under execution. Therefore, in the operating system, when a standby time period occurs like in the case of the core #0, the processes of the other applications are executed to effectively use the function of the core #0.
In this case, it seems that the processes using the shared data are consecutively executed for each application. However, in practice, the processes of the other applications are executed during the standby time period and therefore, a problem arises in that cache-misses increase.
Setting can be made not to execute any other application during the standby time period. However, as a result of such a setting, the operation of the core is unconditionally stopped during the standby time period. Therefore, a problem arises in that the performance of the entire system is degraded.

Scheduler, multi-core processor system, and scheduling method


A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a converter converting an analog signal into a digital signal based on a clock signal; a comparator determining values of data based on the digital signal; a recovery circuit recovering the clock signal based on the digital signal and the data; and a control circuit. The recovery circuit includes a phase detector calculating a sum of a first value and offset, the first value being a value based on the digital signal and the data and relating to a phase of the clock signal; and a loop filter calculating a correction amount of the phase of the clock signal based on the sum. The control circuit is configured to gradually change the offset from a second value to zero after the second value is added as the offset.

A transmitter device and a receiver device are coupled to each other via a transmission path. The receiver device receives a reception signal that has passed through the transmission path. The receiver device includes a semiconductor integrated circuit configured to process a received signal. The receiver device recovers a clock signal based on the received signal. The receiver device recovers data from the received signal based on the recovered clock signal. The receiver device includes a clock data recovery circuit configured to recover a clock signal and data based on the received signal.

Semiconductor integrated circuit and receiver device


An apparatus includes integrated review, material removal and material deposition functions. The apparatus performs the review, material removal and material deposition operations along the same optical axis. The apparatus includes, in part, a camera, a pair of lenses, and one or more lasers. A first lens is used to focus the camera along the optical axis on a structure formed on the target substrate undergoing review. The first lens is also used to focus the laser beam on the structure to remove a material present thereon if the reviewed structure is identified as requiring material removal. The second lens is used to focus the laser beam on a ribbon to transfer a rheological compound from a recessed well formed in the ribbon to the structure if the reviewed structure is identified as requiring material deposition.

The present invention relates generally to the non-contact repair of microelectronic circuits and in particular, to the repair of flat panel displays, such as active matrix liquid crystal display panels.
During the manufacturing of liquid crystal (LC) displays, large clear plates of thin glass are used as a substrate for the deposition of thin film transistor (TFT) arrays. Usually, several independent TFT arrays are contained within one glass substrate plate and are often referred to as TFT panels. Alternatively, an active matrix LCD, or AMLCD, covers the class of displays utilizing a transistor or diode at every subpixel, and therefore encompasses TFT devices. Such glass substrate plates may also be referred to as AMLCD panels. Flat panel displays (FPD) may also be fabricated using any of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technologies and though typically fabricated on glass, may also be fabricated on plastic substrate plates.
TFT pattern deposition is performed in a multitude of stages where in each stage, a particular material (such as a metal, indium tin oxide (ITO), crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, etc.) is deposited on top of a previous layer (or glass) in conformity with a predetermined pattern. Each stage typically includes a number of steps such as deposition, masking, etching, stripping, etc.
During each of these stages and at various steps within each stage, many production defects may occur that may affect the electrical and/or optical performance of the final LCD product. Such defects include but are not limited to metal protrusion 110 into ITO 112, ITO protrusion 114 into metal 116, a so-called mouse bite 118, an open circuit 120, a short 122 in a transistor 124, and a foreign particle 126, as shown in FIG. 1. Other defects include mask problems, over or under etching, etc.
Even though the TFT deposition processes are tightly controlled, defect occurrence is unavoidable. This limits the product yield and adversely affects production costs. Typically, the TFT arrays are inspected using one or multiple automated optical inspection (AOI) system(s) following critical deposition stages and by an opto-electrical inspection machine, also referred to as array tester or array checker (AC) to test the finished TFT arrays. Usually AOI and AC systems provide defect coordinates; they do not provide high resolution images required to classify defects as killer defects, reparable defects, or imperfections that do not affect TFT array performance (also known as process defects). The defect coordinate information from AOI or test systems is passed to a TFT array review/repair tool, also referred to as array saver (AS), in which defects are reviewed, classified, and then repaired.
The average number of defects per plate may vary (a) depending on the maturity of the fabrication process, (b) from one TFT array manufacturer to another and (c) from one manufacturing plant to another. Typically, the defect review and repair capacity within the TFT array fabrication line is sized to process 300-400 defects per Generation 7 plate (2100 mm by 2400 mm in size. Typically 5 to 10% of defects per plate require repair.
Since the TFT array features are typically very small (sub-pixel size may be, for example, 80 by 240 micrometers and up to 216×648 micrometers for large 40 inch LCD televisions made from Generation 7 plates), the array review/repair tool includes a microscope to perform a defect review to decide whether the defect is repairable. The microscope field of view is small (ranging from 100×100 μm to 2×2 mm) relative to the plate size (typically 2.1×2.4 m). The microscope is installed on a precision XY stage so that it can be dispatched from one defect to another over the plate surface. The defect coordinates are known from inspections carried out earlier by AOI and AC inspection systems. The glass plate remains stationary under the XY stage by means of a vacuum chuck during the defect review and subsequent repair. The reviewed defects are classified, or binned, into various categories, including those requiring repair. The repairable defects are further binned by specific repair types, typically laser machining or cutting (also known as "zapping"), laser welding, or bridging an open line.
The above series of general events is typical of all array review/repair tools. The number, type, locations, size/degree of defects often vary from plate to plate and a means to pass judgment is required at almost all of the tool steps following capture of the defect images—for example, whether an image is truly a defect rather than nuisance, what kind of defect has been found, whether or not a specific defect needs repair, what kind of repair is required, what repair parameters are needed, what is the next defect to be repaired, and so forth. Some review/repair tools combine tool operation with human operator judgment and intervention to identify, classify, and then repair such defects. Other review/repair tools, such as the ASx60 family of review/repair tools manufactured by Photon Dynamics, Inc., include an automatic defect repair (ADR) capability that automatically, i.e. without human intervention, analyzes review and AOI/test data, identifies and classifies defects, and then sets up the repair parameters, and executes the repairs.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show two defect repair examples in cross sections. Metal protrusion defect 110 is shown in FIG. 2A (see FIG. 1 for top view). In this example, after identifying and classifying the defect 110, a repair recipe is created, and then executed to remove the protrusion, as shown in FIG. 2B. Material removal is a relatively straightforward process, using laser cutting techniques to control position and power/size parameters of the laser beam.
FIGS. 3A-3E represent the repair steps performed to correct an open path between metal lines 32 and 34. In this example, a laser 36 is used to break through ("zap") the passivation layer 38 to expose or cut into the metal lines. Then, a means to deposit material, a chemical vapor gas and moving laser energy source in this example, is introduced to create contact electrodes 42 and 44 on the metal lines 32 and 34. Thereafter a metal line 46 is formed to connect the two metal lines 32 and 34.
Compared to repairs requiring cutting such as shown in FIG. 2, repairs requiring correction of open paths such as shown in FIG. 3 are far more challenging, because new material must be introduced to correct such defects. Challenges include material integrity and compatibility, such as, adhesion, resistivity, continuity, line width, line thickness, etc., of the new material with the panel, accuracy of placement (plate circuit features and defects within them are typically less than 1 to 10 micrometer), and speed of application as the deposition process to repair a single open defect should take well less than tens of seconds, and so forth. Typical repair line-widths are less than 10 micrometers and lengths on the order of 100 micrometers, and the desired material deposition time per repair is on the order of seconds. In a production line, it is desirable to review and then repair defects within the same tool. A suitably selected direct write or printing approach can meet these challenges. "Direct write" is any technique for creating a pattern directly on a substrate, either by adding or removing material from the substrate, without the use of a mask or pre-existing form. Typically, direct write techniques may employ lasers or particle beams (for example, electron beams) that have beam diameters on the order of the desired repair line widths, and that are controlled with CAD/CAM programs. Direct write deposition methods include, for example, ink jet printing, laser chemical vapor deposition (LCVD), and other methods, some of which are described below.
Laser Direct Write Deposition Methods:
Laser chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) is a well known technique for open line repair of flat panel displays. It uses a laser beam focused on the surface of a substrate to induce localized chemical reactions. Often the substrate is coated with a precursor, which is either pyrolyzed or photolyzed locally where the laser beam scans. Pyrolytic laser CVD is roughly the same as thermal CVD. In photolytic CVD, a chemical reaction is induced by the interaction between the laser light and the precursors. FIGS. 3C and 3D represent the photolytic LCVD process. LCVD requires controlled atmospheres, specifically, a balance of precursor gas flows with vacuum, and hence, LCVD equipment includes gas flow controllers, valving, vacuum pumps, and other plumbing.
LCVD shortcomings include: (i) slow deposition rates (on the order of, for example, many tens of seconds for 3500 Angstrom thick, 5 micrometer wide by 100 micrometer long lines), (ii) requirement for controlled environment surrounding the area to be repaired; specifically, any gases near the repair must be purged and then inert gases or vacuum must be introduced to avoid contamination, (iii) requirement for preparation of surfaces prior to deposition for best adhesion, (iv) requirement for elevated surface temperature for best adhesion, (v) high complexity of manufacturing equipment, and (vi) potential to introduce contamination because of gas flows near the substrate.
Currently, the LCVD process is slow and its associated tools are expensive, and FP production lines typically include a number of lower cost review/cutting repair tools, such as the ASx60 products manufactured by Photon Dynamics, Inc., and a separate LCVD tool dedicated for line open repairs. FIG. 19B illustrates the current typical flow of FP plates through the sequence of review/repair tools in a production line.
Laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) methods for deposition of relatively small features were introduced in the 1980s. In the LIFT method, a pulsed laser beam is directed through a laser-transparent target to strike and vaporize a film of material to be transferred that coats the target substrate on the side opposite the laser beam. LIFT is a homogenous pyrolytic technique because the laser vaporizes the film material. Laser energy densities for LIFT metal transfer cited by Mayer (U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,455) are in the range of 1 to 10 J/cm2. Vaporized material tends to be more reactive and more easily degraded, oxidized or contaminated. The LIFT method is not suitable for organic materials because it is a high temperature method. Further, since high temperatures are achieved at the target material, ablation or sputtering of the target substrate itself may also occur, resulting in transfer of the target substrate material which reduces the integrity of the purity of the desired film material. There have been reports that lines created by the LIFT process have poor uniformity, morphology, adhesion and resolution.
Micro-structuring by explosive laser deposition (MELD) is a variant of LIFT and is described by Mayer in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,752,455 and 6,159,832. Mayer uses very short pulses (less than or equal to 20 psec) at very high repetition rates (10 MHz) at energies per pulse of 10 mJ. The laser beam passes through a transparent substrate whose opposite surface is metallized. The beam vaporizes the metal film material and propels it toward the target substrate. The typical energy density is approximately 1 to 3 J/cm2. The '832 patent describes the use of ultrafast lasers. The laser metal transfer (LMT) process under development by Omron Corporation (Japan) is closest to the MELD work of Mayer. Since both LIFT and MELD require the vaporization and condensation of a metal film on the surface of a substrate, the functionality (i.e. electrical conductivity) of the resulting patterns is marginal since the material exhibits numerous discontinuities between adjacent voxels (or transferred 3-dimensional pixels).
Ink deposition via painting, brushing, jetting has been a path of interest for direct write of electronic circuits since the mid-1990s using lasers with narrow beams and nano-inks (with metal particles on the order of five to many tens of nanometers in size). The United States Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Mesoscopic Integrated Conformal Electronics (MICE) program from about 1999 to 2002 funded several direct write technology approaches, with target line widths in the mesoscopic range (1 to 100 micrometers).
Aerosol jet is a method of application of ink material to a substrate developed by Optomec, Inc., Albuquerque, N. Mex., under the DARPA MICE program. In this method, the delivery system includes (1) an atomizer that breaks the ink into a distribution of droplets of 1 to 10 micrometer diameter, with a mean of approximately 5 micrometer, and (2) a delivery head that includes a sheath gas jet concentrically placed around the ink stream. The concentrically placed gas focuses the ink stream. The deposited ink line must then be cured. Current techniques employ a wide distribution of droplet sizes. The technology seems to be most successful in direct write deposition of metal lines greater than 20 micrometers, and has found application in fabrication of three dimensional structures well above the 100 micrometer size. However, shortcomings of this approach to achieve lines less than 10 micrometer in width include: (i) highly complex process dependencies (for example, ink temperature, ink viscosity, atomizer pressure and temperature, gas sheath flow), (ii) frequent clogging of delivery needle, (iii) mean of droplet distribution limited to approximately 5 micrometer, which limits line width minimum to approximately 7 micrometer, (iv) limited to materials having viscosities less than about 1000 cP; and (v) factors determining linewidth include mean of droplet distribution, ink viscosity, ink/substrate surface tension, temperature.
The application of printer inkjet technologies for direct write deposition of microcircuits continues to be explored. Inkjet printhead droplet-on-demand dispensing technologies using piezoelectric, thermal, electrostatic, acoustic, or other drives have been well documented. Production-level applications typically dispense droplets in the tens of picoliter volume or more. Ten picoliters is equivalent to approximately a 26 micrometer diameter sphere. For repair of microcircuits found in flat panel displays, however, line widths of less than 10 micrometers are required. If some allowance for spreading of the deposited ink is included, droplets of diameter 4 micrometers may satisfy FP repair requirements, and such droplet sizes are equivalent to tens of femtoliters of volume. Though developments continue, inkjet technologies for very fine line widths have not yet been proven for production. Many of the same limitations listed above for aerosol jet technology apply to the print-on-demand inkjet technologies.
The matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation direct-write (MAPLE-DW) was developed under DARPA's MICE program by Chrisey and Pique of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. The MAPLE-DW approach is described by U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,151 (the '151 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,764 (the '764 patent). Several subsequent variations of MAPLE-DW are described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,805,918 (the '918 patent) and 7,014,885 (transfer of rheological materials) (the '885 patent), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,815,015 (jetting behavior) (the '015 patent). U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,014,885 and 6,815,015 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The MAPLE-DW process is a variant of LIFT, and the key distinction between the two is that in LIFT, the material to be transferred is ablated or vaporized, and therefore substantially changed during the transfer due to the high energy applied, while in MAPLE-DW the transferred material is substantially unchanged.
The key differences amongst the three variants (MAPLE-DW, rheological, and jetting) lie primarily in (a) the nature of the material to be transferred, (b) the laser energy density, and (c) the transfer mechanics which depends on both the nature of material and available energy. The MAPLE-DW process describes combining a transfer material with a matrix material, which specifically has the property of being more volatile than the transfer material when exposed to pulsed laser energy. The transfer materials may include but not be limited to metals or non-metals including insulators as well as biological materials. The coated material (matrix plus transfer materials) is assumed to be in solid state during the deposition process. Transfer energy densities for metals using the MAPLE-DW process are cited in '151 and '764 as typically 300 to 500 mJ/cm2. The MAPLE-DW transfer mechanism consists of volatizing or vaporizing the matrix material, which then causes desorption of the transfer material from the supporting ribbon to the receiving substrate. The MAPLE-DW process assumes that after transfer, the deposited material needs no additional processing.
The rheological material and process is described in the '918 and '885 patents, which define rheological materials as the class of material with properties that lie in a range between solid and liquid, and are characterized by at least one fundamental rheological property such as elasticity or viscosity. Further, the rheological materials include but are not limited to gels, pastes, inks, concentrated solutions, suspensions, Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, viscoelastic solids and elastiviscous fluids. The rheological materials may include but not be limited to metal or non-metal including insulators as well as biological materials. The rheological materials are homogeneous mixtures comprised of (for example) functional materials, solvent or vehicle, chemical and rheology precursors, binders, surfactants, dispersant agents, powders, and/or biomaterials. The functional material is the material that contains the functional properties (such as electrical, magnetic, and so forth) of the desired deposit. Transfer energy densities for metals using the rheological material transfer process were cited in the '918 patent examples as 400 to 500 mJ/cm2. The rheological material transfer mechanism as described by the '918 and '885 patents consists of the following steps: (a) the laser energy locally heats a very small volume of the rheological fluid near the supporting ribbon surface, and then (b) the vaporized material generates a high pressure burst that propels the non-vaporized fluid forward to the receiving substrate. The material that is transferred is substantially unchanged rheological fluid. Most deposition materials require post-processing such as thermal, photothermal, or photolytic processes to decompose any chemical precursors, or drive off solvent vehicles, or consolidate or density or sinter the functional materials and permanent binders.
The jetting effect described in the '015 patent occurs under narrow process window conditions using rheological fluids. Specifically, the transfer energy density is tailored to control the transfer process so that the material transferred remains roughly the same size or smaller than the incident laser beam profile. Transfer energy density for the jetting process reported in the '015 patent is less than 100 mJ/cm2. Operation in the jetting window is advantageous in that feature sizes comparable to the incident laser beam size may be created. More specifically, such feature sizes may be in the range less than 10 micrometers, which is the requirement for repair of FP open line defects. However, the conditions for jetting behavior as described in the '015 patent requires relatively thick coatings (1 to 20 micrometers thick, and more specifically 5 to 10 micrometers in the cited example) on the transparent ribbon, which result in equally thick transferred features, far larger than the sub-micron thickness required in FP repair.
Of highest interest for the FP industry are the processes that support ink or rheological materials because deposition repairs may require non-metals, for example, photoresist materials or organic-based materials used in color filters, as well as conductive materials, for example, metals. However, as noted already, typical minimum feature sizes required for FP repair are 5 micrometer wide by typically 0.2 to 0.4 micrometer thick lines with relatively small edge roughness, on the order of a few tenths micrometer. Most of the direct write techniques described above can easily achieve 30 micrometer line widths, and with some additional but modest effort, 10 micrometer line widths. Except for LCVD, other ink-based DW techniques, for example, jetting, cannot routinely achieve uniform and continuous sub-micron line thicknesses.
Limitations to achieving 5 micrometer wide by 0.3 micrometer thick lines with good edge roughness using ink/rheological materials include, for example, (i) material flow at the receiving substrate surface, which can be a function of delivery or substrate temperature, viscosity, substrate material or surface conditions, (ii) delivered droplet size (aerosol jet or ink jet) or delivered material size and thickness (material transfer methods), (iii) relative position of the delivery mechanism to the receiving substrate. In the case of an ink jet system, for example, too large a distance may result in too wide a line (spread of jet) while too close a distance may also result in too wide a line (splatter of the jet). Additional limitations to achieving 5 micrometer wide lines with good edge roughness using ink/rheological materials include: (iv) material particle size in the ink or rheological material, for metals, typical metal particles sizes should be in tens of nanometers or less, (v) aperture size in delivery mechanisms, and (vi) beam size of the laser or energy source.
The materials to be transferred in the LIFT and MAPLE-DW processes are usually solids, whereas the rheological materials are homogeneous mixtures including functional material, solvent or carrier materials, binders, dispersants and so forth, any of which contribute to the rheological properties such as viscosity. Some selected rheological materials may include solvents or fluids with low, but non-zero, vapor pressures, which implies potential change in the rheological material over time due to evaporation of such solvents or fluids. Thus, for consistent results, particularly at line widths less than or equal to 5 micrometers, a requirement is that the rheological material to be transferred have consistent properties over time. Ensuring this requirement may be achieved in several ways: (a) place the rheological material to be transferred within an environment that inhibits change (for example, control temperature and pressure conditions), or (b) control the sequencing of process and handling steps such that the rheological material's exposure time at transfer is always the same.
Duignan et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,792,326, 6,583,318, 6,82,490, 6,85,426, and 6,649,861 reference describe an apparatus for MAPLE-DW. Duignan's apparatus cannot be applied to laser direct write methods using rheological materials for a number of reasons such as (a) Duignan does not accommodate the requirement for maintaining consistent rheological material properties over time, (b) Duingan does not provide for the requirement for post-processing for the purposes of driving away the carrier components within the rheological fluid, etc.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus and methods that enable repeatable deposition repairs using the rheological materials and associated process steps.
The NRL team and Duignan et al. describe apparatus and methods combining laser direct write deposition with laser machining (zapping), and both groups describe machining for preparation of the receiving substrate prior to deposition and machining or trimming of the resulting deposition. In the '918, '885, and '015 patents, the NRL team introduces the requirement for post processing (curing). Addiego in U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,565 combines a laser machining (cutting) repair function with a deposition repair function, but does not include the critical review function required for FP production.
As described already and noted in FIG. 19B, the current production flow of flat panels through a production line uses two kinds of tools to cover all types of FP repairs: (i) a review/cutting repair combined tool and (ii) a stand-alone deposition repair tool. Thus, there is a need for a low cost, fast defect review/repair tool that combines the review and all repair functions, and more specifically, automatically reviews and classifies defects, and then produces and executes instructions for cutting repairs and deposition repairs (such as those using rheological materials) while the panel of interest remains loaded within the tool.

Method of performing an operation with rheological compound

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


Stiffened double walled gift boxes are formed from paperboard blanks having main panels and wall panels with inner halves connected by gussets. A stiffener with a central panel and hinged sides half as wide as the side panels is placed in the main panel. Adhesive is applied on inner surfaces of the outer panels. As the wall panels are folded along peripheral edges of the main panel the loose stiffener is aligned by the wall panels. Sides of the stiffener bend with side panels of the box. Gussets are folded and placed inside end walls and are secured by outer end panels secured to inner end panels. Outer side panels are folded inward and adhered on sides of the stiffener, locking the stiffener in place.

Double walled gift boxes are well known. Covers and base boxes are usually formed from relatively flexible paperboard blanks having decorative outer surfaces and flat clean inner surfaces. Side and end walls are folded inward upon themselves to form double walls adhered together by adhesives. Inner portions of the walls are connected by creased gussets, which are folded and tucked into junctions of the end and side walls. Glue strips connect inner and outer portions of the walls. Folded gussets are held in place by the glue strips. Cutting, folding and gluing equipment is widely available for forming the single blank double wall boxes.
Reinforcement of the double walled boxes with heavier sheets is sometimes useful. When large heavier sheets are added to boxes gluing and alignment of the sheets to which adhesive has been applied becomes a problem.
Needs exist for improved boxes and methods of construction, which reduce defects while simplifying equipment and processes.


A new and distinct, self rooted, variety of grapevine plant, ‘Cabernet Doré’, from a cross of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Norton’, which can be distinguished by its outstanding wine combined with high productivity, disease resistance, and cold hardiness superior to one of its two acclaimed parents ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’.

Most grape varieties used for production of high quality wines around the world are of the species Vitis Vinifera. These V. vinifera varieties, when cultivated in northern regions of the United States with a continental climate are often subject to serious injury or death from low temperatures during winter. V. vinifera must also be grafted onto an American rootstock in order to be grown successfully. Although several wild Vitis species occur in colder regions of North America and eastern Asia, the wine made from these species generally has serious defects. Thus, a great need existed for grape plants that would combine the superior wine quality of V. vinifera with the cold weather resistance and disease resistance of wild species yet be free of their unpleasant wild flavors. A grape breeding program conducted by Lucian W. Dressel at Davis, Calif. and at Winters, Calif. from 2000 to 2002 developed such varieties by combining various V. vinifera with the native grape plant known as 'Norton' (aka 'Cynthiana', aka 'Virginia Seedling').


A thrombus treatment device includes a support wire, a body frame portion that is disposed about an axis defined by the support wire, one or more tethers that each have a first end and a second end. Each of the one or more tethers is attached at its first end to the body frame portion, and at its second end to a collar that couples the second end of each of the multiple tethers to the support wire. When the collar is advanced to a position substantially within a region interior of the body frame portion, a rotational actuation of the support wire causes a swiveling motion of the one or more tethers. The swiveling motion of the tethers operates to macerate a thrombus.

Blood clot formation, or "thrombosis," is a basis of a number of serious diseases, such as ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack), and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Blood clots, or "thrombi," form inside blood vessels and obstruct the flow of blood through the circulatory system, thereby depriving tissue and organs of oxygen. In the case of a stroke, for instance, when blood flow to the brain is obstructed for longer than a few seconds, brain cells can die and permanent neurological damage can result.
Thrombi can be treated (reduced or eliminated) by inducing thrombolysis. Thrombolysis is the dissolving, or "lysis," of a thrombus. Thrombolysis can sometimes be induced pharmacologically, such as by administering a tissue plasminogen activator drug (tPA), the most common thrombolytic agent. Thrombolytic agents (commonly called "clot-busting drugs") can be administered via an intravenous line or using a catheter to deliver them proximally to the thrombus. However, thrombolysis by administration of clot-busting drugs has its limitations. For example, to be successful, the clot-busting drugs should be administered within three (3) hours of an acute ischemic stroke, and preferably within two (2) hours. Further, patients who use blood-thinning medications, and certain other medications, are usually not candidates for pharmacological thrombolysis. And of those patients receiving the treatment, it is unsuccessful in dissolving thrombi in approximately 25% of patients.
In view of the limitations of pharmacologically induced thrombolysis, various medical devices for surgically removing thrombi have been developed. The procedure for surgically removing thrombi is generally known as a "thrombectomy." In thrombectomy treatments, a catheter system is typically used to deliver a device to the thrombus. The device can be, for example, an aspiration catheter. Aspiration catheters can perform a thrombectomy by suctioning the thrombus out of the blood vessel. Other thrombectomy procedures use a mechanical device to physically entangle with a thrombus, and to remove the thrombus as the device is removed from the blood vessel. Various types of mechanical devices, such as wires, corkscrew-like coils, bristles, and baskets have been employed to entangle with thrombi.
Some traditional thrombectomy devices can cause damage to blood vessel walls. In addition, some traditional thrombectomy devices can be prone to generating thrombotic fragments that become emboli when they travel within the bloodstream. Emboli can become lodged in arteries, veins, arterioles, and capillaries, and can block the blood supply to vital organs such as the brain or heart. Emboli in the bloodstream can be life-threatening. In the case of DVT treatment, dislodged thromboemboli can travel to the lungs, resulting in a pulmonary embolism, which can be fatal.

Devices and systems for thrombus treatment


An active clamp device electrically couples first and second nodes in respective first and second supply domains referenced to ground potentials that can be different. The active clamp device comprises first and second active devices controlled by signals respectively referenced to the first and second supply domains that create a short-circuit or low impedance connection between the first and second nodes in normal operation and drive impedance between the first and second nodes high in response to a transient event.

Many electronic systems for usage in various applications such as network communications, telecommunications, data transmission, and many others are susceptible to damage resulting from transient energy. Lightning and other surge energy events can create rapid electrical energy transients. Such transient events can damage electronic circuits or equipment.
Some circuit arrangements include two or more circuits that are connected but operate with reference to ground potentials that may be different. In response to various conditions, electrical current may flow between different ground domains so that the ground potentials can bounce relative to one another, which may be a source of common-mode noise. In a communication application, the generated noise can interfere with communication between ground domains.
A conventional clamping circuit can be used to prevent another circuit from exceeding a predetermined voltage level and functions by sensing the output voltage of the monitored circuit and, if the output voltage approaches or exceeds the limit, applying a load. The applied load draws current in a regulated manner to prevent the output voltage from exceeding the limit. The clamp circuit generally operates with lower output impedance than the monitored circuit so that the circuit is overpowered.


when receiving reception error information from at least one of a plurality of other transfer destinations which indicates that data reception has not been performed properly as a result of the data transfer being performed by a multicast communication manner for a plurality of other transfer destinations, data re-transfer to the at least one of other plurality of transfer destinations is performed with one selected from the multicast and unicast communication manners according to the number of the at least one of other plurality of transfer destinations which has transmitted the reception error information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data communication apparatus which performs communications with other apparatuses with two methods including a method of transferring data from a single transfer source to another single transfer destination and a method of transferring data from a single transfer source to a plurality of other transfer destinations concurrently. Especially the present invention relates to a data communication apparatus which has a communication part which employs an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 1394 interface, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface, or so. Moreover, the present invention relates to a data communication system including the data communication apparatus and other apparatuses which act as data transfer destinations, a data communication method used in the data communication apparatus for performing the data communications, a data communication program which causes a computer which acts as a data communication apparatus to execute the data communication method, and a computer-readable information recording medium in which the data communication program is recorded.
2. The Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in order to transfer data which needs to be transferred in a real-time manner such as an animation or a sound, a telecommunication standard which has a mode (which guarantees transmission of data via a predetermined frequency band within a predetermined interval) called an isochronous transmission mode, has been enacted. This is for example, an IEEE Std 1394 standard or a USB standard, and communication interfaces based on the standards have been used widely.
Generally, such isochronous transmission achieves a high throughput compared with a so-called asynchronous transmission which performs reception check of data, and thus is suitable for a use of transferring within a predetermined time a lot of data. Therefore, it is possible to apply this mode also for transmission of image data for a printing apparatus, a scanner, or so other than transmission of so-called multimedia data, such as an animation, a sound, or so.
However, in the above-mentioned isochronous transmission mode, reception check of data is not performed instead of band width being guaranteed. Therefore, even if lack of data occurs due to a certain cause, re-transfer or so is not performed. Such a matter hardly becomes a problem in a use of transmission of an animation or a sound. However, for such a type of data as still image data used for a printing use, software program data or so for which even exiguity error cannot be allowed, it may cause a fatal problem. By this reason, a certain countermeasure is required.
Japanese laid-open patent application No. 10-111773 discloses a scheme for solving this problem. This enables bidirectional communications between a printer and a printer controller by carrying time sharing on a single isochronous channel. According to this configuration, data can be broadcast again even when an error occurs.
Japanese laid-open patent application No. 10-307691 discloses a scheme that printing data is transferred to a printing apparatus from a host by isochronous transmission, and, when an error occurs, it is notified to the host and the data is made to be re-transferred by asynchronous transmission.
Japanese laid-open patent application No. 10-164174 discloses a scheme that isochronous transmission is applied to perform data transmission, and, when an error occurs, asynchronous transmission is applied to make a resending request. Then, according to this, data is transferred by isochronous transmission.
According to such technologies, isochronous transmission can achieve high-speed data transmission. Furthermore, even when an error occurs, a recovery is performed, and, thus, reliable data transmission can be performed.
By the way, in the isochronous transmission, a so-called multicast method of transferring data to a plurality of transfer destinations concurrently from a single transfer source is applicable. That is, data transmission in a broadcast manner is attained. According to this method, printing data may be transferred simultaneously to a plurality of printers from a PC (personal computer), and, thus, simultaneously, each printer may be made to print the data, for example.
Japanese laid-open patent application No. 2000-49834 discloses a scheme of controlling data transmission in such a case, for example. This scheme chooses from a plurality of communication protocols a communication protocol used between a source node and a destination node. These plurality of protocols from which a relevant one is selected includes one of multicast method (for example, of isochronous transmission), and a unicast method (for example, of asynchronous transmission) of performing communications in a one-to-one manner.

Data communication apparatus, data communication system, data communication method, data communication program and information recording medium


An implanter for implanting an implant (3) in an animate being (14) includes a housing (15) on which the inner end of a hollow injection needle (2) is mounted, a plunger (6) mounted in the housing and adapted to extend into the hollow needle through the inner end of the needle, and a locking element (8, 32) for engaging with and retaining the plunger (6) against the force of compression spring (7) in a position where the plunger extends into the hollow needle for a predetermined distance. The locking element is part of a release device (9, 10; 30, 31, 33) which abuts the body (14) of the animate being when the injection needle has been introduced into the body to a predetermined depth to automatically unlock the locking element. The plunger is then forced by the spring (7) against an implant (3) disposed in operation in the injection needle for retaining the implant in the body when the injection needle is retracted from the body.

The invention relates to an implanter for implanting an implant in an animate being, the implanter a housing mounting one end of a hollow injection needle is mounted and a plunger in the housing adapted to extend into the hollow needle from the one end of the hollow injection needle that is mounted in the housing.
Such an implanter is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,493 and can be used for implanting via the hollow injection needle a usually cylindrical implant, containing for instance a medicinal preparation or an electronic circuit for remote detection, in animate beings, such as cattle.
A drawback of the known implanter is that two different operations are required for introducing the injection needle and subsequently introducing the implant into the body of an animate being via the injection needle. First the injection needle is stuck into the body and then the implant is introduced into the body via the injection needle by means of a plunger. On the one hand, this takes relatively much time, which may pose a problem, an animal during treatment being somewhat excited as it is and hence being capable of jerky movements. Moreover there is a real chance that the person who carries out the implantation, for the very reason of carrying out the operation as swiftly as possible, retracts the needle too soon, i.e. before the needle has been introduced deep enough, or that the animal recoils somewhat precisely during the operation. The depth at which the implant is lodged in the body may then be undesirably small, there being a chance the animal will lose the implant. This is particularly important when the implant contains an identification chip which is to remain in the body for a long time.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,267 discloses an implanter which comprises a plunger fixedly mounted in the housing and a hollow injection needle movable relatively to the plunger. After having been introduced into the body of for instance an animal, the injection needle is manually retracted into the housing with the fixed plunger retaining an implant disposed in the injection needle, so that it remains behind in the body. This known device, too, involves the risk of the needle being retracted too soon, as a result of which the implant is not properly introduced.
It is observed that U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,626 discloses a device for injecting fluids into cattle by means of an injection needle, the device comprising bar-shaped driving means which in operation force the fluid to be injected into the injection needle but which are normally arrested in an inoperative position. The device further comprises a feeler mounted with a spring and extending beyond the tip of the injection needle, which upon introduction of the injection needle into the body of an animal moves in a rearward direction relatively to the injection needle and thus unlocks the driving means. Under the influence of the force exerted by a coil spring the driving means then force the fluid to be injected into the injection needle.
In this known device the driving means are unlocked when the injection needle has only barely, if at all, penetrated the animal's skin. Moreover, the driving means are designed to actually force the fluid to be injected through the injection needle introduced into the body, which takes some time. Accordingly, in this known device, too, there is a real chance that the injection needle is retracted too soon and the injection operation will not have the desired result.

N.V. Nederlandsche Apparatenfabriek Nedap