Methods and systems for performing laser-assisted surgery on an eye form one or more small anchoring capsulotomies in the lens capsule of the eye. The one or more anchoring capsulotomies are configured to accommodate corresponding anchoring features of an intraocular lens and/or to accommodate one or more drug-eluting members. A method for performing laser-assisted eye surgery on an eye having a lens capsule includes forming an anchoring capsulotomy in the lens capsule and coupling an anchoring feature of the intraocular lens with the anchoring capsulotomy. The anchoring capsulotomy is formed by using a laser to incise the lens capsule. The anchoring feature can protrude transverse to a surface of the intraocular lens that interfaces with the lens capsule adjacent to the anchoring capsulotomy.

Cataract extraction is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the world. A cataract is formed by opacification of the crystalline lens or its envelope—the lens capsule—of the eye. The cataract obstructs passage of light through the lens. A cataract can vary in degree from slight to complete opacity. Early in the development of an age-related cataract the power of the lens may be increased, causing near-sightedness (myopia). Gradual yellowing and opacification of the lens may reduce the perception of blue colors as those wavelengths are absorbed and scattered within the crystalline lens. Cataract formation typically progresses slowly resulting in progressive vision loss. Cataracts are potentially blinding if untreated.
A common cataract treatment involves replacing the opaque crystalline lens with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL). Presently, an estimated 15 million cataract surgeries per year are performed worldwide. The cataract treatment market is composed of various segments including intraocular lenses for implantation, viscoelastic polymers to facilitate surgical maneuvers, and disposable instrumentation including ultrasonic phacoemulsification tips, tubing, various knives, and forceps.
Presently, cataract surgery is typically performed using a technique termed phacoemulsification in which an ultrasonic tip with associated irrigation and aspiration ports is used to sculpt the relatively hard nucleus of the lens to facilitate removal through an opening made in the anterior lens capsule. The nucleus of the lens is contained within an outer membrane of the lens that is referred to as the lens capsule. Access to the lens nucleus can be provided by performing an anterior capsulotomy in which a small round hole is formed in the anterior side of the lens capsule. Access to the lens nucleus can also be provided by performing a manual continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis (CCC) procedure. After removal of the lens nucleus, a synthetic foldable intraocular lens (IOL) can be inserted into the remaining lens capsule of the eye through a small incision. Typically, the IOL is held in place by the edges of the anterior capsule and the capsular bag. The IOL may also be held by the posterior capsule, either alone or in unison with the anterior capsule. This latter configuration is known in the field as a "Bag-in-Lens" implant.
One of the most technically challenging and critical steps in the cataract extraction procedure is providing access to the lens nucleus. The manual continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis (CCC) procedure evolved from an earlier technique termed can-opener capsulotomy in which a sharp needle was used to perforate the anterior lens capsule in a circular fashion followed by the removal of a circular fragment of lens capsule typically in the range of 5-8 mm in diameter. The smaller the capsulotomy, the more difficult it is to produce manually. The capsulotomy facilitates the next step of nuclear sculpting by phacoemulsification. Due to a variety of complications associated with the initial can-opener technique, attempts were made by leading experts in the field to develop a better technique for removal of the anterior lens capsule preceding the emulsification step.
The desired outcome of the manual continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis is to provide a smooth continuous circular opening through which not only the phacoemulsification of the nucleus can be performed safely and easily, but also to provide for easy insertion of the intraocular lens. The resulting opening in the anterior capsule provides both a clear central access for tool insertion during removal of the nucleus and for IOL insertion, a permanent aperture for transmission of the image to the retina of the patient, and also support of the IOL inside the remaining capsule that limits the potential for dislocation. The resulting reliance on the shape, symmetry, uniformity, and strength of the remaining capsule to contain, constrain, position, and maintain the IOL in the patient's eye limits the placement accuracy of the IOL, both initially and over time. Subsequently, a patient's refractive outcome and resultant visual acuity are less deterministic and intrinsically sub-optimal due to the IOL placement uncertainty. This is especially true for astigmatism correcting ("toric") and accommodating ("presbyopic") IOLs.
Problems may also develop related to inability of the surgeon to adequately visualize the capsule due to lack of red reflex, to grasp the capsule with sufficient security, and to tear a smooth circular opening in the capsule of the appropriate size and in the correct location without creating radial rips and extensions. Also present are technical difficulties related to maintenance of the depth of the anterior chamber depth after opening the capsule, small size of the pupil, or the absence of a red reflex due to the lens opacity. Some of the problems with visualization can be minimized through the use of dyes such as methylene blue or indocyanine green. Additional complications may also arise in patients with weak zonules (typically older patients) and very young children that have very soft and elastic capsules, which are very difficult to controllably and reliably rupture and tear.
The implantation of a "Bag-in-Lens" IOL typically uses anterior and posterior openings in the lens capsule of the same size. Manually creating matching anterior and posterior capsulotomies for the "Bag-in-Lens" configuration, however, is particularly difficult.
Many cataract patients have astigmatic visual errors. Astigmatism can occur when the corneal curvature is unequal in all directions. IOLs can be used to correct for astigmatism but require precise rotational and central placement. Additionally, IOLs are not typically used for correction beyond 5D of astigmatism. Many patients, however, have astigmatic visual errors exceeding 5D. Higher correction beyond 5D typically requires reshaping the cornea to make it more spherical. There are numerous existing approaches for reshaping the cornea, including Corneaplasty, Astigmatic Keratotomy, Corneal Relaxing Incision (CRI), and Limbal Relaxing Incision (LRI). In Astigmatic Keratotomy, Corneal Relaxing Incision (CRI), and Limbal Relaxing Incision (LRI), corneal incisions are made in a well-defined manner and depth to allow the cornea to change shape to become more spherical. Presently, these corneal incisions are typically accomplished manually often with limited precision.
There are also many ongoing ophthalmic needs that are less than ideally addressed by the prior methods for time-release of a drug.
Thus, improved methods and systems for treating eyes are needed.


According to one embodiment, a method, computer system, and computer program product for operating a camera to perform video capture of a subject is provided. The present invention may include pausing or recording video capture of the subject based on the camera's location within one or more designated recording zones, wherein the recording zones are two-dimensional or three-dimensional regions comprising or within view of the subject, and wherein the recording zones are designated within an augmented reality environment.

The present invention relates, generally, to the field of computing, and more particularly to digital video capture.
Digital video capture is the process of utilizing a camera to record information describing a chronologically ordered series of images visible to the camera in digital memory. The widespread availability of portable cameras, namely integrated into smart phones, laptops, and other computing devices, have made video capturing simple and convenient, and the advent of social media has resulted in a ready-made audience for captured videos. As a result, video capture has become a ubiquitous and immensely popular activity. A technology that stands to improve the video capture process may exist in the form of augmented reality (AR); AR is a modern computing technology that uses software to generate images, sounds, haptic feedback, and other sensations to augment a real-world environment. While the creation of this augmented environment can be achieved with general-purpose computing devices, such as cell phones, more specialized equipment is also used, typically in the form of glasses or headsets where computer generated elements are overlaid onto a view of the real world by being projected or mapped onto a lens in front of a user's eyes. With the help of computer augmentation, information about the surrounding world of the user, as well as other digital elements overlaid onto the world, become interactive and digitally manipulable. This technology has the potential to transform countless aspects of human life, from construction to military training to space exploration, and may be applied to improve the field of digital video capture.

Augmented-reality-based video record and pause zone creation

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate which is a composite substrate obtained by (1) forming, on one side of a first single-crystal silicon substrate of first conductivity and low impurity content, a polycrystalline silicon layer of first conductivity and higher impurity content than the impurity content of the first single-crystal silicon substrate, which layer later becomes a life-time killer of a second-conductivity carrier, (2) bonding, on the polycrystalline silicon layer, a second single-crystal silicon substrate of second conductivity and high impurity content, and (3) subjecting the resulting bonded wafer to a heat treatment, as well as to a process for production of the semiconductor substrate. The present invention relates particularly to a semiconductor substrate useful for formation of a vertical power semiconductor device and a process for production of the semiconductor substrate. The present invention relates also to a semiconductor device obtained using the above semiconductor substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate, a process for production thereof, and a semiconductor device; particularly to a semiconductor substrate suitably used in formation of a vertical power semiconductor device, and a process for production of the semiconductor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power semiconductor devices such as IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor), thyristor and the like have a pnpn four-layer structure and are superior in on-resistance characteristic; therefore, they are in use in the fields requiring a relatively high breakdown voltage or a large electric current. An example of power semiconductor devices is a vertical IGBT which comprises a p.sup.+ type single-crystal silicon substrate (this becomes a collector), an n.sup.- type base layer formed thereon, a p.sup.- type base layer formed thereon, an emitter (a n.sup.+ type diffusion layer) formed thereon, and a gate electrode formed thereon via an insulating film. The n.sup.- type base layer of this vertical IGBT is formed in a fairly large thickness so as to have a high breakdown voltage and has a high resistance.
Processes for producing a substrate for vertical IGBT includes a process which comprises forming an n.sup.- type single-crystal silicon epitaxial layer on a p.sup.+ type single-crystal silicon substrate. This process, however, has a limitation in achieving a high resistance and a large thickness.
For production of a substrate capable of achieving a high breakdown voltage, a process of directly bonding two substrates is disclosed in Toshiba Review, Vol. 41, No. 12, pp. 1000-1003 (1986). FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d) are sectional views showing the steps employed in producing a substrate according to the above process of direct bonding. First, phosphorus ion is implanted into a n.sup.- type single-crystal silicon substrate (1) to form an n.sup.+ type buffer layer (21) FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b)!. Into the n.sup.+ type buffer layer is implanted boron ion to form a thin p.sup.+ diffusion layer (22) FIG. 5(c)!. Then, on the p.sup.+ type diffusion layer side of the n.sup.- type silicon substrate is bonded to a p.sup.+ type single-crystal silicon substrate (3), and the bonded wafer is heat-treated. Thus, a n.sup.- /n.sup.+ /p.sup.+ three-layer substrate is completed FIG. 5(d)!. In this way, a high-resistance layer is formed on a low-resistance substrate.
In the above process, the n.sup.+ type buffer layer (21) is formed in order to suppress the minority carrier (holes in this case) which is implanted from the p.sup.+ type single-crystal silicon substrate (3) into the n.sup.- type single-crystal silicon substrate (1) (n.sup.- type base layer) when the device obtained using the three-layer substrate is in an on-state. As the total amount of impurity in the n.sup.+ type buffer layer is larger, the recombination probability of carrier is higher, serving to shorten the turn-off time of device.
In the n.sup.- /n.sup.+ /p.sup.+ three-layer substrate produced by, for example, the above process of direct bonding of two single-crystal silicon substrates, since the amount of the holes implanted into the n.sup.- type base layer is determined only by the total amount of impurity in the n.sup.+ type buffer layer, the shortening of turn-off time of device has had a limitation. Also, in bonding of two single-crystal silicon substrates, there have been problems of small bonding strength and easy generation of voids at the interface of the two substrates.

Semiconductor substrate, process for production thereof, and semiconductor device


The invention is an optical reader having a plurality of image sensors. Each image sensor of a plural image sensor optical reader can be disposed on an imaging module that can include a light source. In one embodiment, a frame of image data captured via actuation of an image sensor of a first imaging module and actuation of illumination of a second imaging module is subjected to decoding. The various modules of a multiple imaging module reader can be adapted to have different best focus positions so that a field depth of the reader is improved.

Decodable indicia such as bar codes and OCR decodable characters are finding increased use in an ever expanding variety of applications. Bar codes are being applied not only to paper substrate surfaces but other surfaces as well such as plastic bags, glass, and directly on finished articles. The affixing of a decodable indicia directly to an article is referred to as "direct part marking." Where decodable symbols or characters have been applied to particularly reflective "shiny" surfaces (glass, plastic, metallic surfaces), "specular reflection" decode failures have been observed.
"Specular reflection" occurs where a light ray incident on a highly reflective (mirror) surface is reflected substantially at an angle measured from the surface that is substantially normal with respect to the incident ray. In optical readers, light sources are positioned to emit light along a path closely adjacent a centrally located imaging axis. An optical reader light is directed at a reflective target and, therefore, the illumination light tends to be reflected specularily in the direction of the reader's photodetector elements. Specular reflection can result in the captured image data failing to exhibit adequate contrast between dark and light markings of a decodable indicia. With the increased miniaturization of optical readers, light sources for illuminating a target are being positioned in closer proximity with a photodetector element of the reader, thereby rendering the modern reader more susceptible to specular reflection read failures.
The proliferation of the use of decodable markings has brought to light additional problems with presently available optical readers. It has become more common to encode more information into single decodable indicia, e.g. with use of "high density" bar codes, to affix more than one decodable indicia onto an article or package in need of decoding, and to make bar codes wider so that they can encode more information. "High density" bar codes are best decoded with the use of a high resolution optical reader which is configured to have a short "best focus" position. Extra wide code bar codes and scenes having more than one bar code are best decoded with use of readers having a longer best focus position. Commercially available optical readers cannot easily read high density extra wide decodable symbols or multiple symbols from a scene which are encoded in high density.
There is a need for an optical reader which is impervious to decode failures resulting from specular reflection, and which is adapted to read large or multiple high density decodable symbols formed on a target.

Optical reader having a plurality of imaging modules


A request associated with a particular cache record is generated to be sent to a system component associated with a cache bank over an interconnect. A wake-warn signal is sent over a dedicated wake-warn channel to indicate to the system component that the request is to arrive. Wake-warn signals cause a disabled clock to be ungated to an enabled state. The request is then sent to the system component.

Processor chips have evolved significantly in recent decades. The advent of multi-core chips has enabled parallel computing and other functionality within computing devices including personal computers and servers. Processors were originally developed with only one core. Each core can be an independent central processing unit (CPU) capable of reading executing program instructions. Dual-, quad-, and even hexa-core processors have been developed for personal computing devices, while high performance server chips have been developed with upwards of ten, twenty, and more cores. Cores can be interconnected along with other on-chip components utilizing an on-chip interconnect of wire conductors or other transmission media. Scaling the number of cores on a chip can challenge chip designers seeking to facilitate high-speed interconnection of the cores. A variety of interconnect architectures have been developed including ring bus interconnect architectures, among other examples.
Clock designs for high-speed computing systems continue to advance. Modern clock have be realized with speed exceeding 8 GHz. Integrated circuits (ICs) can use a clock signal in order to synchronize different components of the circuit or chip. More complex systems including multiple components can utilize multiple synchronized clock signals to drive and synchronize the components' interactions. A clock signal might also be gated/ungated, by selectively disabling and/or enabling the clock signal for a certain part of a circuit. Clock gating can be used, for instance, to save power by effectively shutting down portions of a digital circuit driven by the clocks when the corresponding components are not in use.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Early wake-warn for clock gating control


The disclosure describes a process for the preparation of regenerated cellulose filaments from an anisotropic solution including cellulose formate, phosphoric acid, and formic acid in which the formed cellulose formate filaments are dried to a moisture content of not more than 15% prior to regeneration and after regeneration the filaments are washed and dried under low tension. In this manner cellulose multifilament yarns of high breaking load and high elongation at break can be obtained, which in addition have a very regular linear density.

The invention pertains to a process for the preparation of regenerated cellulose filaments from an anisotropic solution containing cellulose formate, phosphoric acid, and formic acid, which process comprises the following steps:
extruding the solution through capillaries, PA1 passing the formed cellulose formate filaments through a layer of air, PA1 passing the cellulose formate filaments through a coagulation bath, PA1 washing the cellulose formate filaments with water, PA1 regenerating the cellulose formate filaments, PA1 washing the formed regenerated cellulose filaments with water, PA1 drying the regenerated cellulose filaments, and PA1 winding the regenerated cellulose filaments. PA1 0<DS<1%, PA1 CV<2. PA1 breaking load: 700-1200 mN/tex, PA1 elongation at break >5%. PA1 0<DS<1%, PA1 CV<2. PA1 breaking load: 700-1200 mN/tex, and PA1 elongation at break >5%. PA1 The filaments do not exhibit a banded structure. The absence of a banded structure is an indication of the filaments' great structural regularity. This is reflected in a greater yarn regularity. PA1 The filaments have a compression strength of greater than 0.25 GPa. a high compression strength is of advantage if the filaments, optionally in a multifilament yarn, are exposed to a compression load. PA1 The yarn has an initial modulus of higher than 15 N/tex. The initial modulus is a measure of the yarn's stiffness. Such stiffness can be an important factor for various applications. PA1 V.sub.2 =the quantity (in ml) of 0.1 M NaOH solution used for equivalency point 2. PA1 t.sub.1 =the strength of the NaOH solution, and PA1 P=the weighed quantity of dried yarn, with the yarn after being rinsed having been dried for some time at 120.degree. C. PA1 P=the weighed quantity of dried yarn, with the yarn, after rinsing and titration, having been dried for some time at 20.degree. C., PA1 V.sub.4 =the quantity (in ml) of 1.0 M HCl solution used for measuring the yarn specimen, PA1 V.sub.3 =the quantity (in ml) of 1.0 M HCl solution used for the blank determination, and PA1 t.sub.2 =the strength of the HCl solution.

Process for the preparation of regenerated cellulose filaments


Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Inhibitory Protein is isolated and substantially purified. It has the ability to inhibit: (a) the binding of TNF to its receptors, and (b) the cytotoxic effect of TNF. TNF Inhibitory Protein and salts, functional derivatives and active fractions thereof can be used to antagonize the deleterious effects of TNF.

Tumor Necrosis Factor-.alpha. (TNF-.alpha.) and Lymphotoxin or TNF-.beta. (hereinafter, TNF refers to both TNF-.alpha. and TNF-.beta.) are cytokines which have many effects on cells (Wallach, D. (1986) in: Interferon 7 (Ion Gresser, Ed.), pp. 83-122, Academic Press, London, and Beutler, B. and Cerami, A. (1987) New England J. Med. 316: 379-385). Both TNF-.alpha. and TNF-.beta. initiate their effects by binding to specific cell surface receptors. Some of the effects are likely to be beneficial to the organism: they may destroy, for example, tumor cells or virus infected cells and augment antibacterial activities of granulocytes. But, quite clearly, both TNF-.alpha. and TNF-.beta. have also effects which can be extensively deleterious. There is evidence that over production of TNF-.alpha. can play a major pathogenic role in several diseases. Thus effects of TNF-.alpha., primarily on the vasculature, are now known to be a major cause for symptoms of septic shock (Tracey, K. J. et al. (1986) Science 234: 470-474). In some diseases, TNF may cause excessive loss of weight (cachexia) by suppressing activities of adipocytes and by causing anorexia and TNF-.alpha. was thus called cachectin. It was also described as a mediator of the damage to tissues in rheumatic disease (Beutler, op.cit.) and as a major mediator of the damage observed in graft-versus-host reactions.
There is therefore a necessity in finding out ways to eliminate or antagonize endogenously formed or exogenously administered TNF. Our first attempt in this direction was the development of monoclonal antibodies which neutralize the TNF-.alpha. cytotoxic activity and were shown to protect mice against the lethal effect of TNF-.alpha. under conditions mimicking elicitation of septic shock (as described in our U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/808,262 of Dec. 12, 1985). However, therapy with murine monoclonal antibodies, especially if administered repetitively, may not always be advisable in humans. Therefore the need was felt for development of biological agents which could similarly antagonize the deleterious effects of TNF.
Prior to the filing date of the priority application of the present application, there was no information as to the existence of biological agents which could antagonize the cytotoxic activity of THF. There were publications describing uromodulin, a 85-kDa immunosuppressive glycoprotein isolated from the urine of pregnant women (Muchmore, Andrew V. and Decker, Jean M. (1985) Science 229:479-481), that was shown to be a high affinity ligand for and a potent inhibitor of interleukin 1 (IL-1) (Muchmore, Andrew V. and Decker, Jean M. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261:13404-13407; Brown, K. M. et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83:9119-9123). Uromodulin was later shown to be identical to the Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein, the most abundant protein of renal origin in normal urine (Pennica, Diane et al. (1987) Science 236:83-88). Another inhibitor of IL-1 found in the urine of febrile patients was disclosed in some publications (Liao, Zenghua et al. (1984) J. Exp. Med. 159:126-136; Seckinger, Phillippe et al. (1987) J. Immunol. 139:1546-1549). It was shown that this urine inhibitor of IL-1 affects numerous biological activities of both forms of recombinant IL-1, IL-1.alpha. and IL-1.beta. to the same extent. Although human TNF-.alpha. shares some of the biological activities of IL-1, this IL-1 inhibitor did not inhibit the biological activities of TNF-.alpha. (Seckinger, Phillippe et al. (1987) J. Immunol. 139:1541-1545).
Subsequent to the filing date of the priority application of the present application, it was disclosed that uromodulin and the Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein bind recombinant IL-1.alpha., IL-1.beta. and TNF-.alpha. in a lectin-like interaction and it was suggested that it may play an important role in the regulation of circulating levels of these lymphokines (Hession, Catherine et al. (1987) Science 237:1479-1484). Although uromodulin does not inhibit the cytotoxic activity of TNF-.alpha. as monitored by lysis of tumor cell targets, it interacts with recombinant TNF-.alpha. via carbohydrate chains and this interaction may be critical in promoting clearance and/or reducing in vivo toxicity of TNF and other lympyhokines (Sherblom, Anne P. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263:5418-5424). In a recent publication by Seckinger et al. (J. Exp. Med. (1988) 167:1511-1516) a human inhibitor of TNF-.alpha. obtained from the urine of febrile patients was described as a 40-60 Kda protein inhibiting the cytotoxic activity of TNF-.alpha.. It was shown to differ from uromodulin and from the above-mentioned IL-1 inhibitor.

Tumor necrosis factor inhibitory protein and its purification

Yeda Research and Development Company Limited


A function may be a portion of software code. A first function having a known optimization and a second function may be executed. The first function may provide a first trace, and the second function may provide a second trace. The first trace and the second trace may be analyzed to determine an optimization of the second function. The optimization of the second function may indicate how efficiently the second function may be executed.

This invention relates generally to software code optimization and performance analysis.
Software program developers face the challenge of maintaining stability of programs by analyzing performance data and refining the program code to resolve problems revealed by the data. Performance data is typically used to describe performance properties, which are characterizations of performance behaviors, such as cache misses or load imbalances, in the program.
Performance tools are often used to measure and analyze performance data to provide statistics relating to the historical behavior of a program. Although a performance problem may be determined subjectively, most program developers use at least one performance tool to assist in such a determination. For example, the performance tool may indicate a performance problem when the severity of an issue exceeds some defined threshold. The severity of a problem indicates the importance of the problem. A review of problem severities, therefore, may allow the program developer to focus efforts on the more critical problems of the program. The issue having the highest severity is generally referred to as the bottleneck of the program. The bottleneck is frequently addressed before other issues, provided its severity is high enough to render it a performance problem.
Performance statistics of a program may be compared to those of a previous version of the program to determine whether changes in the program have resulted in improved performance. Using the statistics, the program developer may predict future performance problems, as well as resolving existing performance problems.
Although performance tools have proven very helpful in allowing program developers to improve the performance of programs, the tools are often limited in their applicability. For example, performance tools are often platform-dependent and/or language-dependent. Even if a tool is capable of supporting performance analyses of a variety of program paradigms and architectures, such a tool is generally incapable of correlating performance data gathered at lower levels with higher-level programming paradigms.
Thus, there is a need for an improved way of optimizing the performance of software or a computer system.

Optimizing performance of a program or a computer system


In an exhaust aftertreatment system, which includes a nonthermal plasma discharge device followed by a NOx storage device followed by a precious metal catalyst, a method is disclosed for operating the engine at a lean air-fuel ratio when the NOx storage device is not full and for operating the engine rich when the NOx storage device is substantially full. Electrical energy supplied to the nonthermal plasma discharge device during lean operation is discontinued during rich operation of the engine.

It is well known by those skilled in the art that internal combustion engines burning a lean mixture of fuel and air consume significantly less fuel than when operating at a stoichiometric mixture of air and fuel. Presently, there are very few lean burn gasoline engines in production due to difficulties in meeting emission requirements. The difficulty is that conventional precious metal catalyst oxidizes CO and hydrocarbons and reduces NOx at high efficiency when the air-fuel mixture is very close to stoichiometric; but, NOx conversion efficiency drops off substantially when the exhaust gases are lean.
It is known in the art to use a lean NOx trap (LNT) aftertreatment system for processing the products of lean combustion. During lean combustion, NOx is trapped in the LNT. When the LNT is full, the engine is operated rich for a short period of time. The rich exhaust gases cause the absorbed NOx to desorb from catalyst surfaces. Furthermore, the rich exhaust gases contain CO and unburned hydrocarbons that reduce NOx to N2. Although commonly called a lean NOx trap, the LNT actually stores only NO2 to a high degree. Because NOx coming from the engine is predominantly comprised of NO and very little NO2, an oxidation catalyst is provided upstream to cause NO to oxidize to NO2.
The inventors of the present invention have recognized a difficulty in relying on an oxidation catalyst to perform the oxidation of NO to NO2. Specifically, the oxidation catalyst is only partially active below a temperature of about 200° C. Thus, during warm up or at very low power conditions, the reaction from NO to NO2 is marginal. Consequently, NO proceeds through the LNT and out the vehicle tailpipe unprocessed.
A known problem with lean NOx traps is their susceptibility to SOx contamination. Most hydrocarbon fuels contain some sulfur. The sulfur oxidizes mostly to SO2 during the combustion process in the combustion chamber. If an oxidation catalyst is placed upstream of the LNT, the SO2 is further oxidized to SO3. SO2 can pass through the exhaust system with no harmful effect. However, SO3, in the presence of water vapor in the exhaust, forms particulates containing sulfuric acid. These become absorbed in the LNT and reduce its conversion efficiency. To overcome sulfur degradation of LNT performance, it is known to periodically regenerate the trap, commonly called deSOx. The SOx can be desorbed and made to exit the LNT when its temperature is raised to a high temperature, in the range of 700–800° C., for a period of time, typically greater than a minute. The inventors of the present invention have recognized several problems with sulfur contamination: first, the LNT operates at less than its optimal efficiency for much of the time due to the sulfur contamination and secondly, the deSOx operation is cumbersome, penalizes fuel economy, and the deSOx temperature is near the temperature at which permanent damage to the LNT occurs making control of deSOx regeneration a challenge. Furthermore, deSOx regeneration is not completely reversible. The propensity of an oxidation catalyst to oxidize SO2 to SO3 is harmful to the LNT. Some LNTs contain precious metals, such as platinum, in their formulation. In such LNTs, the oxidation of SO2 to SO3 happens regardless of whether there is an oxidation catalyst upstream or not.
The inventors of the present invention have further recognized that it is desirable to provide any aftertreatment system with an onboard diagnostic procedure to detect system deficiencies.

Method for operating a lean burn engine with an aftertreatment system including nonthermal plasma discharge device


An interference canceller between a transmit chain and a receive chain of a transceiver is proposed to complement the action of a diplexer, or duplex filter, that is part of the transceiver. The interference canceller comprises a transmit chain tap, a receive chain coupler for coupling an interference compensation signal into the receive chain, and an interference signal processing path between the transmit chain tap and the receive chain coupler. The interference signal processing path comprises a filter having filtering characteristics similar or corresponding to the filtering characteristic of a receive portion of said diplexer. A corresponding method for interference cancellation is also proposed. Computer-program products for the manufacture of the interference canceller and the execution of the method are also proposed.

Transceivers for radio communication that use the same antenna for transmission and for reception of radio signals often require a diplexer, or duplex filter. This is particularly true when the transceiver uses a frequency-division duplex scheme, i.e. the transmit and receive bands are at different frequencies.
Duplex filters are often large and expensive because of their high performance requirements. For antenna arrays having several individual antenna elements and a corresponding number of transceivers, the cost and space requirements for the duplex filters are significant. A typical antenna array may require 16 duplex filters, the performance requirements of which are similar to that required of the filter in a full-power remote radio head (for example) with the main exception of its power handling. The realization of a duplex filter, for an acceptable size and cost, has the potential of making the flexibility of active antenna arrays available at competitive prices.
Especially in the case of handsets, a different approach has become popular over the last years: vector cancellation has been proposed for eliminating the diplexer, for example in chapter 4 of "RF and Baseband Techniques for Software Defined Radio" by Peter Kenington, Artech House, 2005, ISBN: 1-58053-793-6. Vector cancellation has also been proposed for interference cancellation (again, largely within handsets)—for example, removal of GPS local oscillator interference from a cellular handset receive chain (in a handset with GPS capability). Vector cancellation has also been proposed for Tx/Rx isolation enhancement in repeater system.
The international patent application WO 2007/013900 A2, entitled "Method and system for automatic control in an interference cancellation device" proposes a signal processing circuit that can generate an interference cancellation signal that, when applied to the victim communications channel, cancels the detrimental interference. The signal processing circuit can dynamically adjust or update two or more aspects of the interference cancellation signal, such as an amplitude or gain parameter and a phase or delay parameter. A filter in the signal processing circuit models the channel coupling. However, the behaviour of the filter is not similar or identical to that of the receive portion of the duplex filter.

Method and apparatus for interference cancellation


A door locking system is provided including a pair of doors of a vehicle adapted to pivot outward for allowing access to a cab. Each door has a slot for receiving a sliding window therein. A pair of hollow rigid tubes of a common length include a first tube and a second tube. In use, a first end of the first tube is slidably situated within a first end of the second tube. A locking mechanism is connected between the tubes for selectively fixing a combined length thereof. As such, the tubes are extended such that second ends of the tubes are connected to the doors and further the locking mechanism is used to secure the same therebetween to preclude the doors from being opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to door locks and more particularly pertains to a new vehicle door locking system for precluding a pair of doors of a vehicle from being opened.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of door locks is known in the prior art. More specifically, door locks heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art door locks include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,209,533; 4,330,147; 5,378,095; 4,979,769; 5,419,165; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 351,551.
In these respects, the vehicle door locking system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of precluding a pair of doors of a vehicle from being opened.


Disclosed herein is a method and a network structure for moving a call leg, and implementing a call leg move with the network structure. The method includes creating a call leg moving interface and its method interface reference parameters, which are used to move a call leg from an original call to a destination call. The interface reference parameters are an identifier of a call leg to be moved and a destination call identifier. The method further includes, if an application wants to move the call leg, determining the interface reference parameters according to the call leg and the destination call, and invoking the call leg moving interface to move the call leg from the original call to the destination call with the interface reference parameters. In this manner, the disclosed method provides a simple, convenient, easy to implement and spread interface to the application to move the call leg from one call to another.

1. Field of the Technology
The present invention relates generally to call moving technology in a telecommunication system and, more particularly, to a method and network structure for moving a call leg.
2. Background of the Invention
In a telecommunication system, based on actual requirements, there is a multiparty call mode. In this mode, a call has three or more call parties, and each party is referred to as a call leg. A call leg communicates with other call legs that belong to the same call. During communication, based on requirements, a call leg may need to move from one call to another, and then communicate with call legs of another call.
In current technologies, an application server encapsulates and makes abstracts of the underlying telecommunication network capabilities to provide a simple and open service capacity interface to applications, and the application services are created through the open service capacity interface. For the multiparty call situation mentioned above, current technology, such as Parlay/OSA API, provides only creating leg and releasing leg methods that cannot move a leg from one call to another directly. With this technology, when a leg of one call wants to move to another call, the only way to proceed is, first, release from the original call to terminate the connection with the original call, and then create the leg in the destination call to connect with the destination call. While, in this way, a call leg can be moved from one call to another, for the user using this leg to communicate, the call leg must create a new connection with the destination call after the release from the original call. Not only is this approach complex, but also during the call move, the user communication is interrupted so as to interfere the continuity of communication, and data and states in the original call are changed so as to lose some important information. This is undesirable for services that need communication continuity, such as a charging service.
As described above, current technology cannot implement a call leg move from one call to another without terminating the communication of this leg.

Method and network structure for moving a call leg


A pulse width modulated signal generator is comprised of an N-bit ripple counter (12) that generates a down counted output value which is input to a combinatorial logic circuit for generating a pulse width that is defined as a predetermined number of clock cycles from a clock that is utilized to clock the ripple counter (12). The ripple counter (12) is cycled from a maximum value to a minimum value with the value "0000" inhibited. This count value is combined with a plurality of AND gates which also receive as an input an enable value from a input (18). When the ripple counter (12) is initiated at its maximum value, the output is pulled high and then a predetermined number of the clock pulses counted, as defined by the value of the enable word. Thereafter, the output is pulled low to define the length of the pulse.

Pulse width modulators are typically utilized to generate a pulse of a predetermined width. To accurately define width of a pulse, a clocked system is typically utilized wherein the clock frequency is divided by some type of counter such that a predetermined number of clock pulses can be counted with the rising and falling edge of the pulse defined in some manner by the edge of the clock. Another method for defining this pulse width is to utilize some type of RC circuit wherein a timing capacitor will define a pulse width due to the length of time it takes for the charge from a capacitor to decay from a predetermined level to a lower second predetermined level through a resistor.
When a counter is utilized, this counter typically must be a synchronous counter. One problem that exists with utilizing a counter is that the designer must ensure that the output of the counter is decoded in such a manner that there are no "false" edges. This could result from two transitions occurring simultaneously on the input to the decode circuitry, such that the pulse is prematurely brought low, and the duration thereof is inaccurate. This is due to the fact that the synchronous system synchronizes all transitions to the main clock.

N-bit pulse width modulated signal generator


A sealing container assembly which is configured to hermetically contain a device therein includes a case, a lid member, a connecting member and a melting member. The case has an opening and is configured to contain the device therein. The lid member is configured to be connected to the case by welding to close the opening of the case. The connecting member is configured to connect the device contained inside the case to an outside of the case and configured to be sandwiched between the case and the lid member. The melting member has a melting point lower than those of the case and the lid member and is configured to be melted to seal gaps between the connecting member and the case and between the connecting member and the lid member when the lid member is connected to the case by welding.

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 to Japanese Patent Application No. H11-180187, filed Jun. 25, 1999, entitled xe2x80x9cSealing Container of A Waterproof Apparatusxe2x80x9d. The contents of that application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing container assembly which is configured to hermetically contain a device therein. Further, the present invention relates to a sealing container and a method for sealing a device in the sealing container.
2. Description of the Background
The waterproof apparatus such as a non-contact type battery charger has a sealing container formed by welding, for example, by heating and pressing. Conventionally, this sealing container has a case and a sealing member made of the same material as the case. After the sealing member covers the case, the case and the sealing member are welded for forming the sealing container. If a connecting member such as a bushing which is made of a different material from the case and the sealing member is attached to the waterproof apparatus, the portion to which the connecting member is attached is not welded. Instead, glue or oil is used for filling the gap between the waterproof apparatus and the connecting member at the sealing interface.
Another conventional sealing container is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication (kokai) No. H9-289001. The contents of this publication are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. According to this conventional technique, in a sealed type lead-acid battery, a protruding portion of an electrode and a barrel member of a lid made of different materials from each other are heated and welded. Then the welded portion is filled with a sealing material, which is hardened to form a sealing container.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a sealing container assembly which is configured to hermetically contain a device therein includes a case, a lid member, a connecting member and a melting member. The case has an opening and is configured to contain the device therein. The lid member is configured to be connected to the case by welding to close the opening of the case. The connecting member is configured to connect the device contained inside the case to an outside of the case and configured to be sandwiched between the case and the lid member. The melting member has a melting point lower than those of the case and the lid member and is configured to be melted to seal gaps between the connecting member and the case and between the connecting member and the lid member when the lid member is connected to the case by welding.
According to another aspect of the invention, a sealing container which hermetically contains a device therein includes a case, a lid member, a connecting member and a melting member. The case has an opening and contains the device therein. The lid member is connected to the case by welding to hermetically close the opening of the case. The connecting member connects the device contained inside the case to an outside of the case. The connecting member is sandwiched between the case and the lid member. The melting member seals gaps between the connecting member and the case and between the connecting member and the lid member by being melted when the lid member is connected to the case by welding. The melting member has a melting point lower than those of the case and the lid member.
Further, according to the other aspect of the invention, a method for sealing a device in a sealing container includes providing the device in a case. The device is connected to an outside of the case via a connecting member. The connecting member is provided to be sandwiched between the case and a lid member. The lid member is connected to the case by welding to close an opening of the case. A melting member is melted to seal gaps between the connecting member and the case and between the connecting member and the lid member when the lid member is connected to the case by welding. The melting member has a melting point lower than those of the case and the lid member.

Sealing container and method for sealing device in the same


A key protected data stream and an encryption key are received at a gateway device. The gateway devices unprotects the data stream based upon the encryption key. The unprotected received data is modified by the gateway to generate a modified data. The modified data is protected based upon the encryption key to generate a key protected modified data. The gateway then transmits the key protected modified data to one or more clients along with the encryption key.

Data protection methods such as encryption and scrambling methods are commonly implemented in devices and systems to protect data from illicit access and/or tampering. For example, many providers of motion pictures experts group (MPEG) encoded multimedia content, also referred to as video content or data herein, use encryption and scrambling to prevent unauthorized accessing of the MPEG content before it is decoded. One type of data protection known in the communication industry includes the use of encryption keys to protect data, such as video data, from unauthorized access. For example, in the video industry, systems that need to transmit video content over publicly accessible medium are generally required by the video content owners to protect the video content through the use of one or more protection methods. One such method uses scrambling to protect video content by using control words that in turn are used to generate encryption keys that are used by a client device to regenerate the control words, thereby allowing subsequent descrambling of the video content. Such a protection requires considerable computing bandwidth and/or the management system required to generate the encryption keys, and/or the control words used to generate the encryption keys, as well as to perform the scrambling of the video.
Therefore, a method and or system that reduces the computing bandwidth to perform some or all of these functions would be beneficial.

Method and system for protecting video data


The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for reducing off-track writes in a data storage device. In one embodiment, a command is received to perform a write operation using a write head at a first location on a disk surface. A determination is made as to whether to perform or inhibit the write operation using an equation having a tunable acceleration coefficient. The equation is used to predict a position error signal (PES) value for a write head at a servo sector that immediately circumferentially follows the first location (i.e., there are no intervening servo sectors between the servo sector and the first location). If the predicted PES value is outside of (e.g., greater than or less than) a predetermined threshold, an off-track write is likely to occur and the write operation is inhibited.

Computer disk drives store information on magnetic disks. Typically, the information is stored on each disk in concentric tracks that are divided into sectors. Information is written to and read from a disk by a transducer that is mounted on an actuator arm capable of moving the transducer radially over the disk. Accordingly, the movement of the actuator arm allows the transducer to access different tracks. The disk is rotated by a spindle motor at high speed which allows the transducer to access different sectors on the disk.
A conventional disk drive, generally designated 10, is illustrated in FIG. 1. The disk drive comprises a disk 12 that is rotated by a spin motor 14. The spin motor 14 is mounted to a base plate 16.
The disk drive 10 also includes an actuator arm assembly 18, which includes a transducer 20 (wherein the transducer has both a write head and a read head) mounted to a flexure arm 22. The actuator arm assembly 18 is attached to an actuator arm 24 that can rotate about a bearing assembly 26. A voice coil motor 28 cooperates with the actuator arm 24 and, hence, the actuator arm assembly 18, to move the transducer 20 relative to the disk 12. The spin motor 14, voice coil motor 28 and transducer 20 are coupled to a number of electronic circuits 30 mounted to a printed circuit board 32. The electronic circuits 30 typically include a read channel chip, a microprocessor-based controller and a random access memory (RAM) device.
The disk drive 10 typically includes a plurality of disks 12 and, therefore, a plurality of corresponding actuator arm assemblies 18. However, it is also possible for the disk drive 10 to include a single disk 12 as shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram which illustrates a conventional disk drive 10 that is coupled to a host computer 33 via an input/output port 34. The disk drive 10 is used by the host computer 33 as a data storage device. The host 33 delivers data access requests to the disk drive 10 via port 34. The port 34 is also used to transfer customer data between the disk drive 10 and the host 33 during read and write operations.
In addition to the components of the disk drive 10 shown and labeled in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 illustrates (in block diagram form) the disk drive's controller 36, read/write channel 38 and interface 40. Conventionally, data is stored on the disk 12 in substantially concentric data storage tracks on its surface. In a disk drive 10, for example, data is stored in the form of magnetic polarity transitions within each track. Data is "read" from the disk 12 by positioning the transducer 20 (i.e., the transducer's read head) above a desired track of the disk 12 and sensing the magnetic polarity transitions stored within the track, as the track moves below the transducer 20. Similarly, data is "written" to the disk 12 by positioning the transducer 20 (i.e., the transducer's write head) above a desired track and delivering a write current representative of the desired data to the transducer 20 at an appropriate time.
The actuator arm assembly 18 is a semi-rigid member that acts as a support structure for the transducer 20, holding it above the surface of the disk 12. The actuator arm assembly 18 is coupled at one end to the transducer 20 and at another end to the VCM 28. The VCM 28 is operative for imparting controlled motion to the actuator arm 18 to appropriately position the transducer 20 with respect to the disk 12. The VCM 28 operates in response to a control signal icontrol generated by the controller 36. The controller 36 generates the control signal icontrol in response to, among other things, an access command received from the host computer 33 via the interface 40.
The read/write channel 38 is operative for appropriately processing the data being read from/written to the disk 12. For example, during a read operation, the read/write channel 38 converts an analog read signal generated by the transducer 20 into a digital data signal that can be recognized by the controller 36. The channel 38 is also generally capable of recovering timing information from the analog read signal. During a write operation, the read/write channel 38 converts customer data received from the host 32 into a write current signal that is delivered to the transducer 20 to "write" the customer data to an appropriate portion of the disk 12. The read/write channel 38 is also operative for continually processing data read from servo information stored on the disk 12 and delivering the processed data to the controller 36 for use in, for example, transducer positioning.
FIG. 3 is a top view of a magnetic storage disk 12 illustrating a typical organization of data on the surface of the disk 12. As shown, the disk 12 includes a plurality of concentric data storage tracks 42, which are used for storing data on the disk 12. The data storage tracks 42 are illustrated as center lines on the surface of the disk 12; however, it should be understood that the actual tracks will each occupy a finite width about a corresponding centerline. The data storage disk 12 also includes servo information in the form of a plurality of radially-aligned servo spokes 44 that each cross all of the tracks 42 on the disk 12. The servo information in the servo spokes 44 (also known as servo sectors) is read by the transducer 20 during disk drive operation for use in positioning the transducer 20 above a desired track 42 of the disk 12. Among other things, the servo information includes a plurality of servo bursts (e.g., A, B, C and D bursts or the like) that are used to generate a Position Error Signal (PES) to position the write head relative to a track's centerline during a track following operation. The portions of the track between servo spokes 44 have traditionally been used to store customer data received from, for example, the host computer 33 and are thus referred to herein as customer data regions 46.
It should be understood that, for ease of illustration, only a small number of tracks 42 and servo spokes 44 have been shown on the surface of the disk 12 of FIG. 3. That is, conventional disk drives include one or more disk surfaces having a considerably larger number of tracks and servo spokes.
During operation, disk drives may be subjected to disturbances such as shocks and vibrations. Shocks may generally be due to external forces, while vibrations may generally be due to both external and internal forces. For example, a shock can occur when someone or something bumps the disk drive (or the housing containing the disk drive). External vibrations may be due to, for example, an attached cooling fan or nearby disk drives performing seek operations. Internal vibrations may be due to seek operations and/or movement of other components within the disk drive.
Because the transducer's position is only corrected when a servo sector is encountered, there is a risk that shocks and vibrations can cause off-track writes. That is, shocks and vibrations can cause data to be written: (1) at improper locations such that data in nearby tracks (usually adjacent tracks) is overwritten; or, (2) so far away from the data's intended location that it cannot be properly read (i.e., it is irrecoverable).
One prior method of reducing off-track writes uses a shock sensor comprising an accelerometer that is mounted on the printed circuit board 32. However, using an accelerometer has a number of disadvantages (only some of which are mentioned herein).
Specifically, an accelerometer, since it is an off-the-shelf component, adds cost to the disk drive 10. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to develop a method and apparatus for reducing off-track writes which does not require any additional components, such as an accelerometer.
It should be understood that disk drives are expected to withstand a certain level of shock or vibration without writing off-track. "Safe shocks" are shocks which would not result in an off-track write, while "unsafe" shocks are shocks which would result in an off-track write. Similarly, "safe vibrations" are vibrations which would not result in an off-track write, and "unsafe vibrations" are vibrations which would result in an off-track write.
When a shock or vibration occurs, an accelerometer outputs an analog signal which (after filtering) is compared to a predetermined threshold. If the threshold is exceeded (or, in another case, not met), an off-track event is likely to occur and any write operations are prohibited, generally, for one revolution. Next, the output of the accelerometer is again compared to the predetermined threshold. If the output of the accelerometer is less than (or, in another case, greater than) the predetermined threshold, the write operation is allowed to be performed.
Determination or "tuning" of the predetermined threshold is performed using an iterative technique. Because it is extremely time-consuming to determine individual predetermined thresholds for each drive, a predetermined threshold is determined for a group of drives (generally, on a product-line by product-line basis).
A "false trigger" can occur when the disk drive believes that a "safe shock" or "safe vibration" is an "unsafe shock" or "unsafe vibration." For example, in the case of an accelerometer, a false trigger can occur when the output of the accelerometer is greater than the predetermined threshold, but an off-track write would not actually occur due to the shock or vibration that is being measured by the accelerometer. Because false triggers can reduce a disk drive's performance (due to, for example, write operations being prohibited for one revolution), it is important that false triggers are kept to a low level.
Accelerometers can cause an undesirable number of false triggers due to output variations between individual accelerometers. That is, a first accelerometer mounted to a printed circuit board that is subjected to a shock may output a signal that is different from the signal output by a second accelerometer (of the same brand, type and model as the first accelerometer) mounted identically to the printed circuit board when subjected to the same shock. This makes tuning of the predetermined threshold extremely difficult and, therefore, can cause a large number of false triggers, thereby negatively impacting drive performance. Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop a method and apparatus for reducing off-track writes which does not cause a large number of false triggers.
In order to ensure that disk drives are capable of properly handling shocks and vibrations, disk drives are subjected to a battery of qualification tests. If a drive fails to meet the shock and vibration qualification tests, the drive may be scrapped or a line of disk drives may be required to be redesigned, thereby increasing manufacturing costs and/or reducing manufacturing throughput. Accordingly, it would be desirable to design a method and apparatus for reducing off-track writes, which meets shock and vibration qualification tests more effectively than prior techniques.

Method and apparatus for reducing off-track writes in data storage devices


An air discharge unit (100) for underfloor air conditioning employs a centripetal fan (2) to realize low pressure loss, low noise and energy saving while reducing the heightwise thickness of the whole unit. The centripetal fan (2) is installed in an underfloor chamber (104) formed between a floor panel (103) and a floor slab to face an outlet (1) provided in the floor panel 103, and is driven by a motor (4). The centripetal fan (2) has a hub (200) and a plurality of blades (20) formed on an outer surface of the hub (200), and sucks therein an air in the underfloor chamber (104) from radially outward direction to make the air spirally flow toward the outlet (1) generally in an axial direction.

The underfloor air-conditioning system is a system for performing indoor air conditioning, with an underfloor chamber formed between a floor slab and a floor panel, by feeding conditioned air from an air conditioner to the underfloor chamber and by discharging the conditioned air through an outlet or outlets provided in the floor panel.
FIG. 16 shows an example of conventional air discharge units to be used in such an underfloor air-conditioning system. This air discharge unit is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication SHO 63-196043. In this unit, a cylindrical duct D is provided below an outlet O which opens in a floor panel A, with a lower-end opening of the cylindrical duct confronting a floor slab S. A discharge grille G enabled to adjust the angle of the discharged air stream is provided at an upper end of the duct D, while an axial fan FP constituted of a propeller fan driven by a motor M is provided inside the duct D. This fan FP makes up for the force with which the conditioned air is fed under pressure from an air conditioner (not shown) side to an underfloor chamber J provided below the floor panel A, so that the conditioned air can be smoothly fed to the indoor side.
However, the air discharge unit using the axial fan FP, in which the air is allowed to flow in an axial direction of the fan, tends to increase the heightwise thickness of the whole unit. Also, because the axial fan FP sucks air through the opening provided at the lower end of the duct D, there is a need for providing a space of a certain height below the duct D to introduce the air. This results in a problem since the air discharge unit using the axial fan FP needs a large installation space in the axial direction therefore, it is difficult to install in a limited narrow underfloor space. Another problem is that the unit involves noise having components of high frequencies, thus being harsh.
FIG. 17 shows an air discharge unit as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication HEI 7-91730, which is particularly intended to thin the heightwise thickness of the unit. In FIG. 17, components similar to those shown in FIG. 16 are designated by the same reference symbols. In the air discharge unit shown in FIG. 17, a pair of crossflow fans FC, FC are placed in a confronting manner on opposite sides of a discharge grille G, so that air taken in sideways is bent upward by a partitioning plate P so as to reach the discharge grille G.
However, this air discharge unit using a pair of crossflow fans FC, FC, in which the air flow taken in sideways is forcedly bent upward by the partitioning plate P, is large in pressure loss. Moreover, although the unit can be thinned heightwise, the unit would be enlarged horizontally laterally. Therefore, there still exists a problem of poor installability.
As another example of the fan, centrifugal fans such as turbo fans or sirocco fans may be used. However, because this type of fan blows off air radially, it is necessary to form a flow path through which the radially blown air is lead toward the axial direction. This would cause the air discharge unit to be increased in size. This would also cause the pressure loss within the system to be increased, so that noise produced would be as big as, for example, 40-45 dB(A). To reduce this noise, it would be necessary to provide an array of air chambers of specified capacity, in which case the unit could not be downsized.
FIG. 18 shows still another example of the prior art, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication HEI 5-106595. In this prior art, in order to attain a uniform room temperature distribution, air to be discharged from the outlet is formed into a rotational flow such that an air flow characteristic of good mixability with ambient room air is imparted to the discharged air. For this purpose, a discharge grille GS is provided with a multiplicity of slanted blades K intended to produce a rotational flow by forcedly bending the discharged air circumferentially as well as concentric slits L. The discharge grille GS is fitted to the outlet.
The discharge grille GS shown in FIG. 18 provides an advantage in that the room temperature distribution can be improved by the rotational flow, which in turn allows the cold draft to be reduced. However, due to the forced change of the direction of the discharged air, there are problems of a large pressure loss and increased noise.
There are known other means to positively reduce the cold draft, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication HEI 7-145985, in which a heater is disposed below the discharge grille so that the temperature of the discharged air is raised. This, however, is not an energy-saving method.

Air discharge unit for underfloor air conditioning and underfloor air conditioning system using same


Systems and methods that enable migration for state of an application, from a primary machine to a backup machine in platform virtualization systems. The migration employs a hybrid approach, wherein both a hypervisor, and an application itself determine states that are to migrate from the primary machine to the backup machine. Based on a direct communication between the application and the hypervisor—without assistance of local operating system—the hypervisor arranges for migration of the required states over to the backup virtual machine.

With the advent of highly sophisticated computer software/hardware, various computational servicing areas have been created to meet a myriad of consumer demands. Typically, computational services are undertaken upon a client or within a proprietary intranet. Client-side systems are generally employed to manage relationships between users, software applications, services, and hardware within a client machine, as well as data resident upon a respective intranet. In addition to client-side systems that provide services, off-site systems (e.g., third party) can also provide services in order to improve data capability, integrity, reliability, versioning, security, and mitigate costs associated therewith.
In general, such services can be employed to manage relationship between users, provide software applications, enhance hardware capabilities, manage data, optimize security, and the like. For example, a third party service can enable a client to store data solely by the third party capabilities (e.g., hardware, software, etc.) With such increase in growth related to servicing businesses, associated data may also be at risk of loss as a result of planned events (e.g., strike, closing, shut downs, etc.), or unforeseen circumstances such as, catastrophic failures, destruction, and the like.
Moreover, when required to support a large-scale user base or to provide a high-level of availability, such services are often provided in a data center using one of many service-oriented architectures (SOA). Typically, implementation of an SOA requires tools as well as run-time infrastructure software, which can collectively be referred to as SOA implementation framework. Such frameworks have unique requirements at both the tools and infrastructure levels. For example, these can include a distributed event-enabled architecture, flexibility via service-enabled processes, enterprise standards support (fault tolerance, reliability, and scalability), security in distributed environment, visual process composition/monitoring, and support for rapid process changes or process development, to enable providing new and improved user services.
Furthermore, server virtualization has become central to data center disaster recovery planning. Such server virtualization can reduce costs related to idle physical servers/data center footprint, and can further improve uptime/recovery time for matters pertaining to disaster recovery. Moreover, data integrity can further be ensured for retrieval of high-availability system management and failover. Such high-availability systems include systems or components that are continuously operational for a desirably long length of time (e.g., availability can be measured relative to "100% operational" or "never failing"), for example.
Likewise and in case of server consolidation, many small physical servers can be replaced by a larger physical server, to facilitate utilization of costly hardware resources such as CPU. Typically, even though hardware can be consolidated, operating systems (OSs) are not. Rather, each OS running on a physical server can convert to a distinct OS running inside a virtual machine. Hence, the large server can "host" many such "guest" virtual machines (e.g., a Physical-to-Virtual—P2V-transformation.)
Accordingly and as compared to a real physical machine, a virtual machine (VM) can be readily controlled and inspected from outside, and its configuration can be more flexibly maintained—wherein multiple virtual servers can run on a single physical server, to more fully utilize hardware resources thereof. Moreover, depending on type of virtualization software employed, a virtual machine can further be duplicated and installed on multiple hosts.
Nonetheless, tracking a state of a virtual machine as a whole, and checkpoint migration for a state of the VM (including its OS) can cause excessive overhead in terms of both network bandwidth and required computing cycles. Furthermore, delays associated with such procedures can become unacceptable for various applications, such as real-time media. Similarly, application-based checkpointing processes typically do not account for associated overheads (e.g., related to additional virtualization layers), and can encounter substantially high delays and additional computing cycles.

Application triggered state migration via hypervisor


A radio frequency transmitter is power controlled using a controlling system including an integrating controller, together with an inner and an outer control loop. A tracking signal supplied by the inner loop to the integrating controller of the outer loop is used to avoid windup problems when the transmitted power is saturated.

Power control is important in mobile telephone networks, for example, because it is important to obtain desirably high capacity and efficiency, particularly in CDMA systems. The variable that is controlled is called quality. Quality of the communication is controlled with reference to a quality measure such as: BER (Bit Error Rate), FER (Frame Erasure Rate, BLER (Block Error Rate), number of iterations of a turbo decoder, or the average reliability of decision statistics. Below, for the sake of brevity, the quality measurement will be referred to as BLER. It will, however, be readily appreciated that BER or FER, or other quality measurement could be used.
Usually an integrating controller is provided to achieve a steady state performance with zero control error. The control scheme used is cascade control, see for example FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings. The idea with cascade control is to make an inner control loop (2) much faster than an outer control loop (4). For transmission power control (TPC) the inner loop controls another quality measure such as for example the signal to interference ratio (SIR). The outer loop sets the SIR reference value SIRr for the inner loop. The goal of the outer loop is to control the SIR reference value to achieve a BLER that is equal to the BLER reference BLERr. To get a control system that in steady state achieves a BLER that is equal to the BLER reference, an integrating controller (9), which can be, for example, a PI controller, a PID controller, or a pure integrating controller, can be used. The cascade controller illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises an inner control loop (2) and an outer control loop (4). Both control loops have an input of a received signal (y(k)). In the outer control loop 4, the BLER is estimated in a BLER estimation unit (5) and compared with a BLER reference signal. A subtractor (7) calculates the difference between the reference signal and the BLER estimate to supply an input signal to an integrating controller (9). The integrating controller (9) produces a SIR reference signal.
The SIR reference signal is compared with an SIR estimate from an SIR estimation unit (3) in the inner control loop (2). The difference between the SIR reference and the SIR estimate is supplied to a function, for example a step function (11) for determining a command u(k) that sets transmission power. More generally, the SIR estimate and the SIR reference value could both be supplied to a function that determines a command u(k) for setting the transmission power.
A known problem with an integrating controller (such as a PI, PID, or pure integrating controller) is that it becomes unstable if the control signal saturates. This problem is often referred to as the windup problem. Transmission power control (TPC) saturation of the control signal corresponds to situations when the maximum (or minimum) transmitter power is used.
The windup problem in the power control algorithms for third generation mobile telephony systems is well known. The specific problem of windup protection in WCDMA makes several additions to anti-windup schemes used in other areas necessary.
As is well known, integrating controllers have the nice property of being able to achieve zero control error in steady state. As an example of an integrating controller, a continuous time PI-controller is shown in FIG. 2. Discrete time controllers have similar behaviour; see, for example, Karl Johan {dot over (A)}ström and Tore Hägglund, "PID Controllers: Theory, Design and Tuning", Instrument Society of America, Research Triangle Park, N.C., second edition, 1995.
A known problem with integrating controllers is that the integrator part turns unstable when the control signal saturates. This instability occurs because feedback from the process is needed to stabilize the controller, which is not open loop stable. In the case of transmission power control, saturation can occur when maximum (or minimum) transmission power is used. In this situation the transmission power can only be decreased (or increased in the case of a minimum), which can be seen as open loop operation of the integrator.
As the controller is not open loop stable the controller state (the integrator, I-part) can start to build up a large state. This usually results in that it takes a long time for the control loop to start functioning again after the saturation state is left. This problem is usually referred to as the windup problem.

Power control in telecommunications networks


An acoustic search device comprises an ultrasonic transducer with a plurality of elements for transmitting acoustic signals toward a viewed search area and for receiving echo signals therefrom, a display, an electronic unit and an optical viewing device. The electronic unit controls the transducer and the display which shows a display image of the viewed search area based on the echo signals reflected from the viewed search area. The display image is seen by means of the optical viewing device. The optical viewing device, the display, and the ultrasonic transducer are arranged to form a part of the protective cap of a diver and are situated in a protective cap, substantially in succession in the direction of sight of the diver.

Search devices of this kind have been, for example, presented in the following patent publications: U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,273, U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,805 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,324. The first publication discloses an acoustic search device which is to be worn by a swimmer diver. The device comprises a separate viewing mask assembly and a control unit which contains the ultrasonic transducer assembly. A fiber optic image cable is used for transferring the display image from the ultrasonic transducer to the optical viewing device. The most efficient mode of operation is to use the control unit like a hand held electric light. The patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,805 discloses an acoustic search device which similarly comprises a face mask with an optical viewing device and a separate ultrasonic transducer unit which contains electroacoutical transducer elements suitable for both transmitting and receiving acoustic signals. The display image from the ultrasonic transducer is transferred to the optical viewing device inside the face mask via a fiber optic cable. The patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,324 discloses an acoustic system for viewing underwater objects and a way for obtaining a depth perception by means of a rotating transparent disk in the optical viewing device. The display image is viewed through the disk which is positioned in front of one eye. The rotary motion of the disk is synchronized with the operation of the ultrasonic transmitter.
The drawback of the above acoustic search devices is the fact that their use is almost impossible in circumstances where, on one hand, the image seen must correspond to reality and, on the other hand, the device must be of such simple and compact construction that it does not make the movements and operations of the user difficult.


We disclose a gripper and associated apparatus and methods for delivering nano-manipulator probe tips inside a vacuum chamber. The gripper includes a tube; a compression cylinder inside of and coaxial with the tube; and at least one elastic ring adjacent to the compression cylinder. There is a vacuum seal coaxial with the compression cylinder for receiving and sealing against a probe tip. An actuator is connected to the compression cylinder for compressing the elastic ring and causing it to grip the probe tip. Thus the probe tip can be gripped, transferred to a different location in the vacuum chamber, and released there.

The use of focused ion-beam (FIB) microscopes has become common for the preparation of specimens for later analysis in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The structural artifacts, and even some structural layers, in the device region and interconnect stack of current integrated-circuit devices can be too small to be reliably detected with the secondary electron imaging in a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), or FIB, which offers a bulk surface imaging resolution of approximately 3 nm. In comparison, TEM inspection offers much finer image resolution (<0.1 nm), but requires electron-transparent (<100 nm thick) sections of the sample mounted on 3 mm diameter grid disks.
The in-situ lift-out technique is a series of FIB milling and sample-translation steps used to produce a site-specific specimen for later observation in a TEM or other analytical instrument. Details on methods of in-situ lift-out may be found in the specifications of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,420,722 and 6,570,170. These patent specifications are incorporated into this application by reference, but are not admitted to be prior art with respect to the present application by their mention in the background.
The process of in-situ lift-out can be simplified into three successive steps. The first is the excision of the lift-out sample using focused ion-beam milling and extraction of the lift-out sample from its trench. The second is the holder-attach step, during which the lift-out sample is translated on the probe tip point to the TEM sample holder. Then it is attached to the TEM holder (typically with ion beam-induced metal deposition) and later detached from the probe tip point. The third and final step is the thinning of the lift-out sample into an electron-transparent thin section using focused ion beam milling.
However, for in-situ lift-out to be practical for large-wafer FIB chambers or for high-volume TEM sample preparation, the nano-manipulator probe tips must be replaceable without the need to vent the vacuum chamber. Venting of the FIB vacuum chamber is time consuming. It disables the FIB during the venting and re-pumping cycle, and can eventually degrade the performance of the FIB if repeated often. Removing and replacing the entire nano-manipulator probe shaft or nano-manipulator mechanism by way of a vacuum airlock on the FIB chamber is not preferred, because the use of the airlock mechanism adds the extra risk of accidental chamber venting, and because this would require direct access by the user to the periphery of the FIB vacuum chamber. This practice is strongly discouraged by manufacturers of large-wafer in-line FIB's.
There is a need for a method and apparatus for handling one or more sample-tip assemblies without the need for venting the vacuum chamber to exchange probe tips. The proposed methods and apparatus disclosed here offer the benefits of dramatically reduced cycle time for in-situ lift-out and improved usage of in-line (within the process control flow) and off-line (external to the process control flow) analytical tools.

Method and apparatus for in-situ probe tip replacement inside a charged particle beam microscope

Abstract: Samples attached to the probe tips will be transferred to a TEM sample holder, shown in several embodiments, that includes a bar having opposed ends; an arm attached to each opposed end of the bar; one or more slots for receiving a probe tip; and, each slot having an inner part and an outer part, where the inner part is smaller than the outer part. The TEM sample holders just described are inserted into a carrier cassette. A cassette for transferring one or more TEM sample holders comprises a platform; at least one bar extending upwardly from the platform; the bar having a groove for receiving and holding a TEM sample holder. A rotatable magazine holds one or more probe tips and selectively releases the tips. The magazine includes a cartridge having a plurality of longitudinal openings for receiving probe tips and dispensing probe tips.


An improvement to the phase interface process of preparing aromatic polycarbonate is disclosed. The process is characterized in that the phosgenation is carried out at 0 to 40° C., and in that the temperature of the reaction mixture at the time of addition of the catalyst at 10 to 40° C., and in that the molar ratio of aromatic dihydroxy compounds to phosgene at 1:1.05 to 1:1.20. The polycarbonate thus produced is characterized in its low content of carbamates, making it particularly suitable for the preparation of optical storage media.

The phase interface process is generally known from the literature and is described, for example, in EP-A 517 044.
The polycarbonates prepared in this way have a more or less high content of carbamate compounds, which leads to a defective structure and therefore to a loss in the quality of the carrier material for optical storage media, such as CD, DVD or the like.
Calibration is carried out by an external standard method (multiple point calibration).
The object was therefore to develop a process, preferably a continuous process, for the preparation of polycarbonates which leads to polycarbonates having a low content of carbamate compounds and therefore to a significantly increased yield of high-quality optical storage disks.
Polycarbonates which contain a relatively high content of carbamate compounds after hydrolysis of the carbonate groups are a disadvantage for the production of optical storage media, in particular writable optical storage media, since the yield falls as a consequence of non-uniform application of the information-carrying layer, usually dyestuffs. It was furthermore found that audio-CDs and DVDs disks stick together in the course of production usually even before the coating.

Process for the preparation of polycarbonates


A non-lethal projectile consisting of a solid capsule filled with a flowable payload. The solid capsule comprises a weakened area that ruptures upon impact with a target. The solid capsule also comprises an internal hydrodynamic structure. At the moment of impact, the internal hydrodynamic structure forces the radial movement of the flowable payload, from the center to the periphery, against the weakened area of the solid capsule, facilitating the rupture and reducing the pressure of projectile's point over target's surface.

The present invention relates to non-lethal projectiles that are filled with a flowable payload and designed to rupture upon impact with a target.
Non-lethal projectiles containing a flowable payload are basically used in three fields: the field of non-lethal kinetic energy projectiles, the field of non-lethal chemical projectiles and the field of marker projectiles.
Some projectile geometries were already proposed, trying to overcome simultaneously the following major problems:
a) keep the projectile's integrity during the feeding and firing procedures;
b) be stable in flight, hitting nose first;
c) rupture upon impact, causing controlled damage to the target.
In the field of non-lethal chemical projectiles, the U.S. Pat. No. 7,194,960 B2 describes a frangible projectile that ruptures upon impact, omnidirectionally dispersing an inhibiting powder payload. The impact creates a cloud of inhibiting powder substance over the target.
In the field of marker projectiles, U.S. Pat. No. 7,278,358 B2 describes a marking projectile comprising an outer casing that unseals upon impact, allowing the marking payload to flow forward via inertial effect.
Applicable in the three fields, it is known the U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,183, which describes a projectile with flowable payload that is built in two parts: a soft cap and a stronger base witch plugs the reward end of the cap. Longitudinal grooves and a thinned nose extremity facilitate the rupture upon impact.
Another patent applicable in the three fields is U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,164, of a non-penetrating projectile with flowable payload. The projectile contains a plurality of stress concentrator points which fracture, collapsing the whole projectile's structure when it hits a target.
It's also known the U.S. Pat. No. 7,143,699 B2 of a liquid filled projectile that have a two parts rupturing mechanism: a nose cap with a plurality of slits that open upon impact, and an obturating disc that keeps a flowable payload encapsulated and ruptures allowing the payload to flow through the opened slits of the nose cap.
In the three fields, what is expected from these projectiles is to have, at the same time, an external ballistics closer as possible to common lead core projectiles and an impact that do not cause lethal damages to the target. It means that these projectiles must combine a high maximum effective range with acceptable impact energy and almost zero penetration in living targets.

Non-lethal projectile with flowable payload


An apparatus and method for generating and consuming a three-dimensional (3D) data format to generate a realistic panoramic image are provided. The apparatus may include an image preprocessing unit to search for a matching point between images captured by a plurality of cameras, and to extract, as image information, at least one of a depth value, a texture value and object division information from each of the captured images, an image information structuring unit to structure 3D data to use the extracted image information to generate a realistic image, a 3D data format storage unit to store format information of the structured 3D data in a database (DB), realistic image generating unit to generate a realistic panoramic image using the stored format information of the 3D data, and a realistic image rendering unit to perform rendering on the generated realistic panoramic image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of structuring acquired multi-view images and three-dimensional (3D) information extracted using the acquired multi-view images in a single data format, to generate a realistic panoramic image that provides a realistic effect, such as a stereoscopic panoramic image or a free-view panoramic image, in addition to a simple panoramic image, by using images captured using a plurality of cameras, and relates to a method for freely generating various realistic panoramic images using the single data format.
2. Description of the Related Art
Panoramic images may be generated by capturing images using a plurality of cameras or a special optical lens and mirror and by synthesizing the images. Panoramic images have an advantage of providing a much wider viewing angle, compared to general image media.
However, due to a restriction on a capturing scheme, that is, a difficult capturing scheme, such as zooming in/out, focusing on a specific object and the like, generated panoramic images may easily become monotonous.
Currently, various realistic high-quality media, such as three-dimensional (3D) media, ultra high definition (UHD) media and the like, have appeared. In this situation, due to the above disadvantage of panoramic images, it may be difficult to provide users with great satisfaction by merely providing a wide viewing angle. Accordingly, in a panoramic image field, various panorama realistic technologies have been developed for years, for example a stereoscopic panorama technology, or a free-view panorama technology that provides a realistic effect by generating an image based on a change in a user's view through image modeling.
However, in a stereoscopic panorama image, a parallax error between images may occur due to a scheme of stitching each of a left image and a right image, similarly to a typical panoramic image. Accordingly, it is difficult to generate a perfect stereoscopic panoramic image.
Additionally, it is still difficult to apply, to actual services, a free-view panorama technology that is based on an image or that uses image modeling, due to complexity of the free-view panorama technology.
Actually, the above-described stereoscopic panorama technology and free-view panorama technology seem to be different from each other. However, in both the stereoscopic panorama technology and free-view panorama technology, depth values, texture information, image segmentation information of images and the like are required to be used for perfect realistic representation. However, since the above image information is currently extracted and modified suitable for a specific application, the image information may be restrictively used, and may be incompatible with each other.
For example, when pieces of image information acquired through multi-view images are structured, managed and combined, both a free-view panorama and a stereoscopic panorama may be freely implemented using a single data format. Additionally, a stereoscopic free-view panorama may also be enabled through combination of the free-view panorama and the stereoscopic panorama.

Apparatus and method for generating and consuming three-dimensional (3D) data format to generate realistic panoramic image

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


Commercial AC voltage applied to an input terminal (90) from a commercial power supply external to the vehicle is boosted by a transformer (86) to a voltage level higher than the voltage (VB) of an electricity storage device (B) to be applied to neutral points (N1, N2). In a charging mode of the electricity storage device (B) from a commercial power supply, all npn transistors of an inverter (20, 30) are turned off. The AC voltage applied to the neutral points (N1, N2) is rectified by an anti-parallel diode of the inverter (20, 30) to be supplied onto a power supply line (PL2). A boost converter (10) controls the charging current from the power supply line (PL2) towards the electricity storage device (B).

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 4-295202 discloses an electric motor drive and power processing apparatus employed in an electrically driven vehicle. This electric motor drive and power processing apparatus includes a secondary battery, inverters IA and IB, induction motors MA and MB, and a control unit. Induction motors MA and MB include Y-connected windings CA and CB, respectively. Input/output ports are connected to neutral points NA and NB of windings CA and CB via an EMI filter.
Inverters IA and IB are provided corresponding to induction motors MA and MB, respectively, and connected to windings CA and CB, respectively. Inverters IA and IB are connected in parallel with the secondary battery.
In this electric motor drive and power processing apparatus, AC power is supplied across neutral points NA and NB of windings CA and CB via an EMI filter from a single phase power supply connected to the input/output port, when operating in a recharging mode, and inverters IA and IB convert the AC power supplied across neutral points NA and NB into DC power for charging the DC power supply.
The electric motor drive and power processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 4-295202 is advantageous in that an additional AC/DC converter to charge the DC power supply is not required, but disadvantageous in that switching loss of inverters IA and IB occurs when the AC voltage supplied from the single phase power supply connected to the input/output port is converted into DC voltage according to the voltage level of the DC power supply.
Further, switching control of inverters IA and IB may become complicated since the AC voltage applied across neutral points NA and NB of windings CA and CB is converted into DC voltage according to the voltage level of the DC power supply by inverters IA and IB.

Charge control device and electrically driven vehicle