The method estimates movement of a solid mobile in a medium capable of generating disturbances defined by a three-variable vector, wherein the movement is defined by a six-variable vector and the solid is equipped with at least one sensor sensitive to acceleration having at least three sensitive axes and at least one sensor sensitive to the magnetic field having at least three sensitive axes. The method for estimating the movement of a solid includes a step of calculating a nine-variable vector consisting of the six-variable movement vector and of the three-variable disturbance vector and a step of weighting the nine-variable vector capable of transforming the nine-variable vector into a vector with not more than five variables to be estimated.

An attitude center is made up of accelerometers and magnetometers and is adapted to perform processing to determine the orientation in space of a solid carrying the attitude center.
One such device is known in particular from the French document FR 02 04260.
The device described in that document produces an estimate of angles of rotation of the solid up to 360° and is completely autonomous of the medium in which the solid is moving.
Moreover, such attitude centers do not necessitate the use of rate gyros, which reduces the cost of the device and its overall size.
The attitude center described in the document FR 02 04260 treats the orientation of the solid as an unknown in the measurement model and the processing of the signals coming from the attitude center.
If the acceleration of the movement of the solid is high compared to the gravitational acceleration, the estimated angles are subject to error since the acceleration caused by the movement of the solid is associated with the acceleration caused by gravity.
Moreover, the very medium in which the solid moves can generate magnetic disturbances that are not taken into account by the prior art attitude center.

Method for estimating movement of a solid

Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble


The wireless communication comprises: transmitting downlink control information (DCI) from a transmission point to an UE for the enabled TB and the disabled TB, wherein the DCI comprises a 8-value indicator to indicate CoMP states for the enabled TB in conjunction with the new data indicator (NDI) of the disabled TB; if the NDI of the enabled TB is untoggled or the value of the 8-value indicator for the enabled TB is equal to 0, 1, 2, or 3, the UE using the NDI of the disabled TB to select a CoMP state from a first CoMP state and a second CoMP state; and if the NDI of the enabled TB is toggled and the value of the 8-value indicator is 4, 5, 6, or 7, the UE obtaining the information of whether the enabled TB is initial transmission or retransmission based on the NDI of the disabled TB.

In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) RAN1 #70 in August 2012, it was agreed to introduce a new transmission mode (TM10) to Rel 11 of Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A). The purpose of introducing TM10 is to support CoMP operation, which needs to know additional information than single cell operation for UE demodulation process.
Those additional information that should be dynamically signaled (hence has to be in Downlink Control Information (DCI)) includes at least the Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS) pattern that UE needs to rate match and the assumption of which Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) ports should be assumed to be quasi-colocated with Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) ports. There could be some other dynamic information such as Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe configuration of each transmission point (TP), and zero power CSI-RS of each transmission point. However, this disclosure focuses on CRS pattern and antenna quasi-colocation because those two are the most agreeable dynamic signaling at this stage.
To reduce overhead, CRS pattern and antenna quasi-colocation should not be purely in DCI. Instead, several candidates of CRS pattern and antenna quasi-colocation are configured in Radio Resource Control (RRC). In DCI, UE may select among those candidates. Such method could maintain dynamic behavior while keeping lowest DCI overhead.
There are a couple of methods for higher layer (e.g. RRC or Medium Access Control (MAC)) signaling. One method is to have candidates jointly for CRS pattern and antenna quasi-colocation. For example, candidate A corresponds to {2 CRS ports and frequency shift 1, first CSI-RS is quasi-colocated with DMRS}, while candidate B corresponds to {4 CRS ports and frequency shift 0, second CSI-RS is quasi-colocated with DMRS}, etc. Those may be called as CoMP state (hereinafter also simply referred to as state) A and B, respectively.
Another higher layer signaling is to configure separate candidates for CRS pattern and antenna quasi-colocation. For example, three candidates for CRS patterns are {2 ports and shift 1, 4 ports and shift 0, 2 ports and shift 2}. The candidates for antenna quasi-colocation are {1st CSI-RS colocated, 2nd CSI-RS colocated, 3rd CSI-RS colocated}. UE may use separate DCI bits to select the candidates. However, the overhead may be concerned (at least 3 bits). A possible approach for this higher layer signaling is to define certain combination of CRS pattern and antenna quasi-colocation in specification, and use DCI to select among those combinations.
Both higher layer signaling design mentioned above are feasible. In this disclosure, we use the first signaling design as an example. But it should be understood that the spirit of the present disclosure can be simply extended to the second higher layer signaling design.
Although there are totally up to 12 possible states (4 CRS patterns, and 3 antenna quasi-colocations), 12 candidates in higher layer is not necessary because CRS pattern and antenna quasi-colocation are correlated, i.e., possibly a first CRS pattern would like to imply a first CSI-RS quasi-colocation. Therefore, in general 4 states are sufficient for most CoMP operations. The next question is which codepoints in DCI can be used to indicate those states.
In general it is preferred to keep DCI size small to avoid Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) capacity overload. This is especially true for CoMP operation because CoMP operation is more likely to be in cell edge (low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) region), where the DCI may take larger resources than cell center (or high SNR region).
In Rel-10 TM9, DCI 2C was introduced for single cell operation. In Rel-11 TM10, DCI 2D should be at least no larger than DCI 2C because TM10 is to support CoMP operation. Therefore, it is not preferred to add new bits in DCI which increase DCI size. It is also not preferred to use optional field in DCI 2C because it will increase DCI size as well.
Therefore, it is preferred to reuse/revise the existing codepoints in DCI 2C to signal CoMP states. In Rel-10 DCI 2C, the DMRS antenna ports, scrambling identity, and transmission rank (number of layers) are signaled in an 8-value indicator as in the following table:
TABLE 1Rel-10 DCI 2C designOne Codeword:Two Codewords:Codeword 0 enabled,Codeword 0 enabled,Codeword 1 disabledCodeword 1 enabledValueMessageValueMessage01 layer, port 7, nSCID = 002 layers, ports 7-8, nSCID = 011 layer, port 7, nSCID = 112 layers, ports 7-8, nSCID = 121 layer, port 8, nSCID = 023 layers, ports 7-931 layer, port 8, nSCID = 134 layers, ports 7-1042 layers, ports 7-845 layers, ports 7-1153 layers, ports 7-956 layers, ports 7-1264 layers, ports 7-1067 layers, ports 7-137Reserved78 layers, ports 7-14
The two columns in table 1 are determined based on if two transport blocks (TB) are enabled or one TB is enabled, i.e. if two codewords are enabled or one codeword is enabled. If only one TB is enabled, left column is determined. If two TBs are enabled, right side column is determined.
The method to determine if a TB is disabled or enabled is based on the relevant Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) and Redundant Version (RV) of the TB. If IMCS=0 and rvidx=1, then the corresponding TB is disabled. Otherwise the TB is enabled. If only one TB is enabled, the TB is mapped to CW1. If two TBs are enabled, TB1 and TB2 are mapped to CW1 and CW2 respectively.
Moreover, for value 4, 5, 6 of the 8-value indicator in the first column, they are used for retransmission of a TB if the TB is transmitted by 2, 3, 4 layers in the initial transmission, respectively.

Wireless communication method of signaling CoMP states, and transmission point and user equipment therefor

Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America


A phased array antenna system operative to broadcast multiple beams that each include coded data for specific users located within the coverage area of the corresponding beam. An appropriate receiver then receives and decodes a particular beam to extract the specific data for a corresponding user. Multiple users may be assigned to each beam using frequency division or orthogonal code multiplexing, and the user data may be encoded into the beams using frequency shift key or phase shift key encoding. For each coding technique, the encoded antenna control signals are combined into a total gain and total phase shift control signal, which drives a single phase and gain control device for each antenna element. In addition, a single data modulator generates the coding parameters for the entire communication system.

Phased array antenna broadcast systems, such as those used for mobile telephone and other data communication systems, take advantage of the phase differential that occurs according to the direction of coherent propagating energy. For example, in a simple array of two closely spaced antenna elements lying in a plane and both facing forward, an incoming signal coming straight from the forward direction would be received at the same time at both elements, resulting in signals at each element having the same phase, which are referred to as "in-phase." But if the energy approaches the elements at an angle, the two elements receive the energy at different times, resulting in a phase differential or "shift" between the two signals. This is similar to ocean waves arriving at a beach. If the wave comes straight in to shore, the wave washes upon the beach at the same time along the beach. If the wave is coming in at an angle relative to the beach, however, it arrives first in one spot and then progressively arrives down the beach at later times.
A similar phenomenon is at work in phased array antenna systems. Since the propagating electromagnetic energy reaches the nearest antenna element first, the direction of the incoming energy can be determined by detecting the phase differential. Similarly, energy emitted from the antenna may be pointed in a particular direction by controlling the phase angles of the signals emitted from the antenna elements. For example, a directional "beam" may be formed by emitting signals from the antenna elements with coordinated phase delays, which causes the emitted energy to add up constructively in a desired beam direction while partially or completely canceling out in all other directions. It is common to steer a coherent beam created in this manner by controlling programmable phase and gain control devices at each antenna element in a coordinated manner. For example, a single beam formed by a phased array may be controlled to periodically sweep across the antenna's angular coverage, to track an intended receiver, to sweep or track while avoiding a known signal, or to achieve other objectives. This conventional beam steering system uses a single controllable phase and gain control device for each antenna element and a beam steering computer to create and control the beam.
It is also conventional to use a phased array antenna system to simultaneously broadcast multiple beams having different pointing directions. For example, rather than steering one beam to sweep across the antenna's angular coverage, as described above, the phased array may be controlled to divide the antenna's angular coverage into multiple beams to broadcast data throughout the entire operational volume simultaneously. In addition, systems have been developed that can use a phased array antenna to broadcast different data in each beam. This is accomplished conventionally by dividing the signal emitted by each antenna element into separate beams for each user using separate phase and gain control devices at each antenna element for each user. That is, a separate beam is typically defined for each user containing that particular user's data. This typically requires a separate phase and gain control device at each antenna element for each user, and a separate data modulator for each user. In other words, the data signals for the individual users are conventionally formed by providing a separate data modulator and separate sets of antenna hardware at each antenna element for each user, which generally multiplies the required number of antenna hardware elements by the number of simultaneous users. This may be considered a "brute force" design technique due to the heavy dependence on antenna hardware to generate the desired beams.
However, applying this technology to a typical mobile telephone system would be prohibitively expensive and unwieldy. For example, the phased array antenna for a typical transmit base station might include 30 antenna elements that generate 10 simultaneous beams to serve 10,000 users. In this case, each of the 30 antenna elements would require 10,000 phase and gain control devices, resulting in 300,000 phase and gain control devices. The system would also require 10,000 data modulators to create the data signals for the 10,000 individual users. This approach would require 300,000 phase and gain devices and 10,000 data modulators, which would result in a system that is exorbitantly expensive, complex to construct, large in size, and heavy. Any one or more of these penalties may be critical for a particular application.
Alternatively, systems have been developed in which the data signals for the various users assigned to a particular beam are combined before they are supplied to the antenna elements. As a result, in this type of system each antenna element requires a separate phase and gain control device for each beam, rather than a separate phase and gain control device for each user. Although this design choice drastically reduces the number of phase and gain control devices, the system also requires a combiner for each beam. Referring to the previous example, this type of system would require 300 phase and gain control devices (i.e., one for each of the 10 beams at each of the 30 antenna elements), 10 beam combiners (i.e., one for each of the 10 beams) and 10,000 data modulators to create the data signals for the 10,000 individual users. Although the number of phase and gain control devices is greatly reduced, this type of system would still require a very large number of data communication hardware components, including 10,000 data modulators.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved methods and systems for broadcasting data using multiple beams with a phased array antenna system. In particular, a need exists for phased array antenna systems that can broadcast data to multiple users using multiple beams without dedicating a separate phase and gain control device to each user or each beam at each antenna element, and without requiring a separate data modulator for each user.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Beamformer for multi-beam broadcast antenna


An optical data storage system including an amplifier which (i) provides a differential current input having a low impedance over the full range of frequencies for which amplification is required in an optical detector that includes a photodiode that senses the intensity of an optical signal generated by data on the optical storage medium; (ii) reverse biases the photodiode; (iii) amplifies the signal current from both sides of the photodiode to improve signal-to-noise ratio; and (iv) is isolated from and unaffected by power supply noise.

Optical detectors are critical components in optical and magneto-optical data storage systems. Historically, amplifiers for photosensitive diodes used in optical detectors have been of the transimpedance type and have had a single-ended rather than a differential input. A transimpedance amplifier has been used because the signal generated by the photosensitive diode has been in the form of a current when the diode is reverse-biased with a substantial voltage (typically several volts or greater), and the desired output has been in the form of a voltage. It has also been convenient to tie the cathode of the diode to the positive supply voltage so that a typical operational amplifier could be used with resistor feedback to effect a transimpedance gain. This configuration results in half of the available signal current from the diode being effectively dumped into the positive supply, causing a signal reduction at the input to the preamplifier. Moreover, this kind of configuration has no common-mode rejection for injected common-mode currents (caused by, e.g., parasitic capacitances to the environment). Any common mode current passes through as though it were a signal current; and the common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) is 0 dB.
The only prior art of interest of which applicants are aware in Japanese application 63-249382 published Oct. 17, 1988. That application does not provide details of the amplifier construction. However, it shows a photodiode biased indirectly by impedances (resistors) between a power supply and the photodiode, which is alleged to eliminate the common-mode signal. The photodiode is decoupled from the power supply using capacitors. This would imply a high input impedance. Capacitive coupling between the photodiode and amplifier would imply a voltage amplifier, although it is not clear whether the amplifier is a differential voltage or differential current type. The circuit cannot offset power supply noise because the photodiode is biased through resistors of limited size. Any attempt to increase gain by increasing the values of the patentee's resistors (3 and 4) would increase the signal voltage level (at B and C), but degrade the frequency response and hence bandwidth and provide parasitic capacitance between B, C and ground.
There is a need for an optical data storage system comprising an amplifier which:
(i) provides a differential current input having a low impedance over the full range of frequencies for which amplification is required in an optical detector that includes a photodiode that senses the intensity of an optical signal generated by data on an optical storage medium; PA1 (ii) reverse biases the photodiode; PA1 (iii) amplifies the signal current from both sides of the photodiode to improve signal-to-noise ratio; and PA1 (iv) is isolated from and unaffected by power supply noise.

Differential amplifier for optical detectors in an optical data storage system

International Business Machines Corporation


A discharge lamp lighting circuit includes a DC/AC converter, a starting circuit, a control unit, a plurality of switching elements driven by the control unit and a series LC resonance circuit. At the time of lighting the discharge lamp, the driving frequency of the switching elements is set to a value higher than a resonance frequency at a time of lighting the discharge lamp thereby to drive and control the switching elements. When the driving frequency reduces and the extinction of the discharge lamp is detected, the driving frequency is shifted to a frequency region which is higher than a resonance frequency at a time of extinguishing the discharge lamp thereby to restart the lamp. Further, when the driving frequency reduces to a value lower than the resonance frequency at a time of lighting the discharge lamp during the lighting of the discharge lamp, the driving frequency is restored to a frequency region higher than the resonance frequency at a time of lighting the discharge lamp.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a discharge lamp lighting circuit to maintain the lighting state thereof and to restart at the time of the extinction or turning-off thereof.
2. Related Art
As a lighting circuit for a discharge lamp such as a metal halide lamp used for an illumination light source for a vehicle, there is the configuration which includes a DC power source circuit having a DC-DC converter, a DC/AC converter and a starting circuit. For example, this configuration is arranged in a manner that a DC input voltage from a battery is converted into a desired voltage by the DC power source, then the desired voltage is converted into an AC output by the DC/AC converter of the succeeding stage, and a start signal is superimposed on the AC output and supplied to the discharge lamp (see Japanese Patent document JP-A-7-142182, for example).
The lighting control of the discharge lamp is performed in a manner that an output voltage at the time of no-load or an open circuit voltage (hereinafter referred to OCV) in a state (extinction state) before lighting the discharge lamp is controlled to apply the start signal to the discharge lamp thereby to light or turn on the discharge lamp, and thereafter the discharge lamp is shifted to a steady lighting state while reducing a transient input power.
A switching regulator using a transformer, for example, is employed as the DC power source circuit. A full-bridge configuration using plural pairs of switching elements, for example, is employed as the DC/AC converter.
According to the configuration of performing the two-stage conversion of the DC voltage conversion and the DC/AC conversion, since the size of the circuit becomes large, this configuration is not suitable for miniaturization. As a measure to obviate such a problem, there is the configuration which employs the one-stage voltage conversion of the DC/AC converter thereby to supply a boosted voltage to the discharge lamp.
For example, there is the configuration which includes a series resonance circuit and is arranged to boost a resonance voltage by a transformer and electric power is supplied to the discharge lamp based on the boosted voltage. The series resonance circuit constituted by a capacitor and an inductance element has frequency characteristics almost symmetrical with respect to the resonance frequency and an output voltage, and an electric power can be controlled by changing the driving frequency of a semiconductor switching element constituting the DC/AC converter. The series resonance circuit has a tendency that the output voltage reduces in accordance with the increase of the frequency in the frequency range (an inductive area or a phase delay area) higher than the resonance frequency, whilst the output voltage reduces in accordance with the reduce of the frequency in the frequency range (a capacitive area or a phase advance area) lower than the resonance frequency.
In the OCV control in the extinction state before the lighting after turning-on of the power source, when the driving frequency of the semiconductor switching element is reduced in the frequency range higher than a series resonance frequency "Foff", the OCV value is increased. When the OCV value reaches a target value, a starting high voltage pulse is generated and applied to the discharge lamp. When the discharge lamp lights or turns on, the driving frequency is shifted to a frequency range higher than a series resonance frequency "Fon" (higher than Foff) thereby to start the electric power control of the discharge lamp.
In the control relating to the driving frequency of the semiconductor switching element on the condition that the output is controlled on the higher frequency side than the resonance frequencies (Foff and Fon) at the time of the extinction and lighting of the discharge lamp, respectively, there arises an abuse caused by a fact that the driving frequency of the semiconductor switching element is one-sidedly controlled so as to be reduced by the reduction of the power source voltage or the grounding at the output stage etc.
That is, in the frequency region (the inductive area) higher than the resonance frequency, the driving frequency is controlled so as to be reduced in order to increase the output voltage and the power, whilst the driving frequency is controlled so as to be increased in order to reduce the output voltage and the power. Thus, the aforesaid control acts on the output voltage and the power undesirably when a control operation point enters into the frequency region (the capacitive area) lower than the resonance frequency due to a some reason (for example, when the input voltage from a battery etc. reduces or when it is determined that the discharge lamp is extinguished by the grounding). That is, when the driving frequency is reduced in order to increase the output, the output reduces accordingly, so that the driving frequency is controlled so as to be further reduced. This is because the output voltage tends to reduce with respect to the reduction of the frequency in the frequency region lower than the resonance frequency, whereby the driving frequency of the semiconductor switching element reduces endlessly and it becomes impossible to escape from such a state. As a result, there may arise such a problem that the discharge lamp can not be lighted again or the controlling of a target power becomes difficult. Thus, it is required to provide a measure for eliminating such a problem.


A method for etching a metal surface includes a step of contacting a metal surface with a protic compound for a first time period to produce a first modified surface. The first modified surface is contacted with a protic ligand-forming compound that reacts with the first modified surface to form a volatile metal-containing compound including a metal atom and the protic ligand-forming compound. The volatile metal-containing compound is removed from the vicinity of the metal surface.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a film growth method that leads to precise film thickness control and perfect conformal coverage of nanoscale features due to its layer-by-layer, self-limited growth mechanism. Because of these attributes, ALD is currently being implemented as a key film growth method in the world-wide microelectronics industry. While film growth by ALD is allowing huge advances in microelectronics manufacturing, film etching with precise thickness removal is equally important but very poorly developed.
The opposite of ALD is atomic layer etching (ALE), where films are etched with a layer-by-layer, self-limited mechanism. ALE has just emerged from industrial secrecy, largely because its focused development is needed by the microelectronics industry to keep pace with device miniaturization. To date, ALE has been mostly focused on plasma-based processes. However, plasma ALE requires expensive equipment and the energetic plasma ions can damage substrates, films, and equipment. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to develop thermal ALE processes, which use carefully designed, exothermic chemical reactions to achieve etching. The first thermal ALE processes were only reported in 2015 for Al2O3, AlF3, and HfO2 films. These processes employ hydrogen fluoride as a precursor, which is highly toxic and highly corrosive toward metal reactor parts.
A significant advance in recent years is the encapsulation of copper features by cobalt metal liners. These cobalt lines stop the electro-migration of copper metal in devices and allow the continuous decrease in copper feature sizes. ALD is an enabling technology in the deposition of cobalt liners and caps. The thermal ALE of cobalt metal would be incredibly valuable for the manipulation of cobalt liners and caps, however, there no literature reports of the thermal ALE of cobalt or other metals to date. Numerous recent advances in the thermal ALD growth of electropositive metal films, including cobalt metal, have been reported.
Accordingly, there is a need for the development of thermal ALE process and in particular, thermal ALE for etching cobalt.


Active multi-modal RFID tags, illuminator/tag/reader systems, circuit architecture and opera-tional algorithms for battery power conservation that extends tag battery life from a typical 6 months to >5 years. The inventive system is particularly useful in asset and person tracking/inventory systems where power conservation is critical. The tag is configured with a micro-processor operational instruction set algorithm, modifiable on the fly via RF or IR, to synchro-nize a periodic tag awaken/sense envelope that overlaps the illuminator trigger pulse cycle and put the tag into deep, power conservation sleep for N periods of illuminator cycles. When the tag sees an illuminator signal with a different ID, or no illuminator signal at all, it transmits that anomaly via RF to a reader. This means the object or person with which the tag is associated has been moved out of the original illuminator field of view, permitting near real time investigation and tracking.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications are proliferating as the economies of automated tracking and identification are being realized by the global community. RFID systems of tags and readers provide the ability to detect, read, and/or write data to tags that are affixed to "things" and/or persons to track and further to transfer this data to another computer-related or controlled device for either data storage or action. Cost and utility of the RFID tag are the predominant parameters dictating applicability of this technology.
Hospitals are particularly interested in investing in this technology. Location tracking utilizes a system comprised of tags that respond to a location stimulator, a trigger device (trigger) that cause a tag to respond and readers which record the tag's output signal that indicates presence and location.
There are two types of RFID tags in the marketplace: passive and active tags. Passive tags convert energy transmitted to them from a reader into a reflected signal that radiates back to the initiating reader device to effect communications. If a metallic or water-laden object is in front of the signal, then the tags will be blocked and not work. Passive readers are large and cumbersome and best suited to fixed installations as field tag read and write capabilities require large readers and direct line of sight. Active tags perform very well but are higher in cost than passive tags and therefore are restricted to specific applications that can carry a higher unit cost.
Battery powered (active RFID) tags provide more functionality, features and reliability than can be realized from passive tags. However, the cost of replacing drained batteries far exceeds the cost of the product and can be the criteria for selection of one device over another. For instance, a battery powered tag can be purchased for $10.00, but the cost of replacing the battery, primarily due to the labor costs of locating, disassembly and battery replacement can be $30-$120.00.
As a new class of RFIDs, active (battery powered) bimodal RFID tags suggest promise for a wide range of usages, particularly for indoor applications such as equipment inventory and location. Such tags include both RF and IR communication transmitters, receivers or transceivers, depending on their configuration. However, since they are active tags, they have not had significant impact on the field as they are limited in life by their battery capacity. Current batteries offered Lithium Thionyl Chloride for extended life; Lithium Magnesium coin-type cells for inexpensive, shorter lived applications; Lithium Iron Phosphate and Lithium Ion types (more expensive); and Alkaline.
For currently available active bimodal RFID tags having both RF and IR transceivers, the battery life is on the order of only ˜6-12 months for indoor use. This short battery life is due to the microprocessor instruction set algorithm awakening the tag from a partial power-down state to fully powered every 5 seconds for full processing of any signal detected. Typically, this process includes a scan of a few milliseconds (on the order of 1.5-2.5 msec) to detect an IR or RF signal. e.g., from an illuminator (also called a trigger device), and then an additional time period to fully process the signal for any identification information and signal message content to be acted-on. This frequent repeated cycling to full power to process all incoming signal information rapidly drains the battery, such that the battery must be replaced within ˜6-12 months to insure continued operation. In typical enterprises, such as hospitals, offices, manufacturing facilities, retail or warehouse operation, research facilities and the like, thousands of such tags are required to implement the equipment inventory and location systems. In addition to the cost of replacement batteries, the necessary staff, record keeping and logistic requirements to keep track of battery check and change-out has created a serious financial barrier to the adoption of such tags for such inventory/location systems.
Although there are improvements in battery technology, there is currently nothing on the horizon that promises more than an incremental 10-20% increase in battery life, not enough to change the financial adoption equation for systems employing active bimodal RFID tags.
In addition, in current systems, the illuminator is always on. However, that not only burns out the power supply of the illuminator, but also causes totally unacceptable "black-out" interference with all other equipment that uses IR or RF to communicate, such as televisions, CD players, computer mice and keyboards, radios, networks, and other IR controllers for equipment, including medical and industrial equipment.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a paradigm shift in tag system architecture and functional wake-up and scan algorithms by which such tags operate so that currently available batteries can be used in a manner that they have operational life spans of 5-10 times the currently expected battery life.

RFID tag power conservation system and method


Geometrically shaped bodies comprising a flat base having arcuate or geometrically shaped cross section from one face of which extend projections having a reverse arc or shape to that of the base below each of which is a cutout or slot.

The present invention relates to packaging materials and in particular to material used to stuff and fill shipping cartons and crates to protect small, valuable or fragile articles.
It will of course be recalled that it was common to use newspaper and/or excelsior material to wrap and embed small, valuable and fragile articles in shipping cartons or crates. Such material was in fact unclean, being themselves basically waste products. In addition they required manual handling to insure proper stuffing. Recently, such material were replaced with shaped foam plastic boats into which the articles being shipped were securely held. Even more recently, foamed plastic pieces or "Peanuts" (so named because their shape resembled the edible variety) have become common.
Foamed plastic "Peanuts" had the advantage of being light in weight, and of relatively incompressible and undeformable during use. On the other hand foamed plastic "Peanuts" have considerable disadvantage in that they are more expensive than paper and are non-biodegradable. They thus create an environmental waste problem and health problem. Foamed plastic Peanuts are extremely difficult to handle because of their small size and light weight so their collection and disposal is rendered difficult. They also present a significant storage problem in that large masses must be kept on hand, pending their use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide packaging and stuffing material, useful as a substitute for the plastic peanut that avoids each of the foregoing disadvantages while retaining each of the advantages.
In particular, it is the intention of the present invention to provide packaging stuffers which are highly biodegradable, to therefore remove any threat to the environment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide "peanut" substitute which are more economical and easier to handle.
These objects as well as others will be apparent from the foregoing disclosure.


A semiconductor memory device which can reduce the size of a memory cell and increase the packing density is disclosed. Each memory cell comprises a p-type active region, an n-type active region, two word lines, a common gate line and a common gate line. Two memory cells are deviated by, for example, an amount of a half bit in the direction which perpendicularly crosses the word line direction. The memory cells are arranged with one of their parts overlapped with one another in the word line direction. Thus, the size of the memory cell can be reduced in the word line direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device in which a memory cell such as a 6-transistor SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) cell has a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) structure. More particularly, the invention relates to a semiconductor memory device suitable for a split word line type SRAM in which word lines are arranged so as to be isolated from every word transistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
An SRAM cell generally comprises a flip-flop and two transistors (word transistors) which are made conductive or nonconductive in accordance with a voltage applied to a word line to determine whether each of two storage nodes of the flip-flop is connected to a bit line or not. The SRAM cells can be broadly divided into two types depending on a load element of the flip-flop; an MOS transistor load type and a high-resistance load type. The MOS transistor load type has the structure comprising six transistors. According to the type of the load transistor, there are a known p-channel type MOS transistor (hereinbelow, referred to as pMOS) load type and a known TFT (Thin Film Transistor) load type.
[Related Art 1]
FIG. 27 is a plan view showing an example of an arrangement pattern of a pMOS load type SRAM cell 300 of a related art. The diagram illustrates a state after gates of transistors are formed. An upper wiring layer of connecting lines, bit lines, and the like in the cell is omitted here. Instead, in FIG. 27, connecting lines of parts connected by the upper wiring layer are shown on the pattern.
The pMOS load type SRAM cell 300 has two p-type active regions 302a and 302b in which n-channel type MOS transistors (hereinbelow, referred to as nMOS transistors) are formed and two n-type active regions 304a and 304b in which pMOS transistors are formed. Each of the active regions 302a, 302b, 304a, and 304b is surrounded by a device isolation insulating region of, for example, a LOCOS (Local Oxidation of Silicon) or trench structure.
In the SRAM cell 300 of the related art, each of the two p-type active regions 302a and 302b has a shape in a plan view which is bent outward almost at a right angle. A driving transistor Qn1 (or Qn2) and a word transistor Qn3 (or Qn4) are formed on both sides of the bent part. A word line WL serving as a polysilicon gate electrode of each of the word transistors Qn3 and Qn4 almost perpendicularly crosses the two p-type active regions 302a and 302b and penetrates the cell in the lateral direction in FIG. 27. On the other hand, common gate lines 306a and 306b serving as polysilicon gate electrodes of the driving transistors Qn1 and Qn2 are individually provided in every cell. That is, the common gate line 306a perpendicularly crosses the p-type active region 302a in the vertical direction of FIG. 27. In a similar direction, the common gate line 306b perpendicularly crosses the p-type active region 302b.
The common gate lines 306a and 306b also perpendicularly cross the n-type active regions 304a and 304b, respectively. The pMOS transistors (load transistors Qp1 and Qp2) are formed in the n-type active regions 304a and 304b, respectively. A first inverter is formed by the load transistor Qp1 and the driving transistor Qn1. Similarly, a second inverter is formed by the load transistor Qp2 and the driving transistor Qn2. Each of the common gate lines 306a and 306b is branched at some midpoint. As shown by connecting lines in FIG. 27, the input terminal of one of the inverters is connected to the output terminal of the other inverter in the second polysilicon wiring layer. A supply line of a power source voltage Vcc, supply line, a common potential Vss supply line, and bit lines BL1 and BL2 are connected as shown in the diagram.
[Related Art 2]
In recent years, a split word line type SRAM cell in which word lines are arranged so as to be isolated from every word transistor has been proposed in, for example, "A low Cost Microprocessor Compatible, 18.4 μm2, 6-T Bulk Cell Technology for High Speed SRAMs", VLSI Symposium Report, pp 65-66, 1993.
FIG. 28 is a plan view, in a manner similar to FIG. 27, showing an arrangement pattern of a split word line type cell described in the literature.
In a split word line type SRAM cell 310, a p-type active region 312 in which nMOS transistors are formed is provided so as to be commonly used by inverters and word transistors and is also commonly used by cells neighboring in the word line direction. Similarly, an n-type active region 314 in which pMOS transistors are formed is commonly formed in between each inverter and in between each cell neighboring in the word line direction. The connecting lines shown in FIG. 28 are basically similar to those in FIG. 27. A p-MOS transistor and an n-MOS transistor of each inverter are connected in series in the second polysilicon layer. A connecting part of the series connection point of the p-MOS and n-MOS transistors and the input terminal of another inverter, the power source voltage Vcc supply line and the like are formed in the third polycide layer. The common potential Vss supply line and the bit lines are formed in the fourth metal wiring layer.
Generally, in order to increase the packing density and the capacity of a semiconductor memory device, it is indispensable to make a finer pattern. The formation of a finer pattern can be achieved by making a pattern itself finer and introduction of a self aligning formation technique which does not require a reduction in a deviation amount in alignment of photo masks in different patterns and improvement on an alignment deviation between patterns.
The former technique of making a pattern itself finer is achieved by improving the material of a resist, increasing a process accuracy of wiring and the like which are formed by using the resist as a pattern transfer mask and shortening the wavelength of light from the light source of an aligner from the g and i lines, a KrF excimer laser, an Ar excimer laser, and further to an X-ray.
On the other hand, with respect to the alignment deviation among patterns in the latter technique, by applying the self aligning formation technique, the alignment deviation can be largely reduced while assuring good characteristics and high reliability. In an actual device manufacture, however, processes to which the self aligning formation technique can be applied are limited. In the other processes, the deviation among patterns depends on the machine accuracy of the aligner. Since the machine accuracy has not been improved largely, under the present circumstances, the reduction in the amount of deviation has not progressed as much as the reduction in size of the pattern.
A pattern design such that even when a deviation occurs in the alignment of patterns during a process to which the self aligning technique cannot be applied, the deviation does not become a problem from the viewpoint of characteristics, reliability, and the like is demanded.
In the SRAM cells of the related arts 1 and 2 shown in FIGS. 27 and 28, however, the deviation among patterns is not sufficiently considered in the pattern design.
For example, in the SRAM cell 300 of the related art 1 shown in FIG. 27, each of the p-type active regions 302a and 302b in which the nMOS transistors are formed bends outward. Although the pattern on the mask is a combination of rectangles, as illustrated in the diagram, an actual finished pattern is deformed with the corners largely rounded. This is caused by excessive light intensity in the case of pattern formation by leaving a resist or by insufficient light intensity in the case of pattern formation by removing a resist when exposure is performed by using a mask pattern (pattern transfer) onto the resist. In the specifically shown example, the gate width (i.e., the size of an overlapped part in the direction which perpendicularly crosses the channel current direction) of each of the driving transistors Qn1 and Qn2 tends to increase and the gate width of each of the word transistors Qn3 and Qn4 tends to decrease.
In addition to the pattern deformation, the patterns themselves of the p-type active regions 302a and 302b are bent and the transistor size (i.e., the size of the channel forming region) varies due to the deviation of the photo mask when gate electrodes (in this case, the word line WL and the common gate lines 306a and 306b) are formed on the patterns. For instance, in FIG. 27, when the gate pattern such as common gate lines 306a and 306b is deviated to the right side with respect to the pattern of the p-type active regions 302a and 302b (LOCOS pattern in practice), the gate width of the driving transistor Qn2 decreases and the gate width of the driving transistor Qn1 increases. On the contrary, when the gate pattern is deviated to the left side, the gate width of the driving transistor Qn1 decreases and the gate width of the driving transistor Qn2 increases. In any case, the characteristics of the two inverters constructing the flip-flop become accordingly unequal. Thus, the stability of the flip-flop and further the data holding characteristics of the SRAM memory cell deteriorate.
When the gate pattern is deviated downward, the gate width of each of the word transistors Qn3 and Qn4 is reduced. At the time of reading or writing data from/to the SRAM memory cell, especially on the low node side maintained at a low potential level, the resistance in a current path of the cell current flowing from the bit line, word transistor, storage node, driving transistor, and to the common potential supplying line becomes high and the reading or writing operation becomes slow. On the contrary, when the gate pattern is deviated upward, although there does not occur any problem in the cell shown in FIG. 27, a similar problem which occurs when the gate pattern is deviated downward occurs in an upper cell which is adjacent to the cell of FIG. 27. The cells are arranged to be symmetrical in the vertical direction with respect to the bit contacts as a center. As a result, the resistance in the cell current path increases and the reading or writing operation becomes slow.
As described above, when the size on the nMOS transistor side changes, that is, when the sizes of the driving transistor and the word transistor change relatively, the cell characteristics (i.e., data holding characteristic, high speed, and the like) deteriorate. The deviation among patterns slightly varies according to a position in a wafer (for example, every chip), the characteristics also change according to the position in the wafer. This appears as a characteristic variation of semiconductor products, occurring in memory cell arrays or chips.
The problem of the deterioration and variation in the characteristics due to the variation in transistor size also occurs in the split word line type SRAM cell illustrated in FIG. 28. In the split word line type SRAM cell 310, the active regions 312 and 314 are commonly connected to neighboring cells and the common connection part is bent with respect to the other part. Consequently, the size change becomes a problem in both of the driving transistors Qn1 and Qn2 and the load transistors Qp1 and Qp2 which are adjacent to the bent part. Especially, the SRAM cell of this type is sensitive to the deviation in the bit line wiring direction and a variation tends to occur among inverters. The data holding characteristic of the memory cell deteriorates in this case as well, and the reading or writing speed becomes lower.
As another related art, "A Novel 6.4 μm2 Full-CMOS SRAM Cell with Aspect Ratio of 0.63 in a High-Performance 0.25 μm-Generation CMOS Technology", 1998 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers discloses a pattern for a high speed SRAM. Since the SRAM has a region in which an active region is bent, it has also a problem similar to that of the related arts.
The problem of the deterioration and variation in the characteristics can be avoided by sufficiently separating the gate electrode from the bent part in the active region. It is not, however, preferable since the cell area increases.
The applicant of the present invention has consequently proposed a cell pattern and a semiconductor memory device having a cell structure which can effectively prevent the deterioration in the characteristics due to a deviation in patterns at the time of forming the gate while effectively suppressing enlargement of the memory cell area or, moreover, reducing the memory cell area (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 10-171186). The outline of the semiconductor memory device will now be described hereinbelow.
FIGS. 29 to 32 show pattern structures and cross sections in processes of fabricating the SRAM cell 200 as an example of the semiconductor memory device which has been proposed before.
In a state shown in FIG. 29, a device isolation region 202 such as LOCOS or trench is formed on the surface side of a semiconductor substrate 201 such as a silicon wafer in which a p-type well region and an n-type well region (not shown) are formed. The surface region of the p-type well region in which the device isolation region 202 is not formed is a p-type active region 203 in which an n-type MOS channel is formed. The surface region of the n-type well region in which the device isolation region 202 is not formed is an n-type active region 204 in which a pMOS channel is formed. The two active regions 203 and 204 each having a rectangular pattern are formed in parallel. FIG. 30 is a cross section taken along the line M-M′ of FIG. 29.
In the process shown in FIG. 32, after performing ion implantation for threshold voltage control or channel stopper as required, a gate oxide film 205, a first polysilicon or polycide layer (hereinbelow, referred to as "1PS"), and an offset insulating film 208 are sequentially formed. The 1PS is comprised of, for example, a polysilicon film 206 and a WSix film 207. The gate oxide film 205 and the offset insulating film 208 are made of oxide silicon. The thickness of each of the polysilicon film 206 and the WSix film 207 is about 70 nm. The thickness of the offset insulating film 208 is about 200 nm. By introducing impurities at the time of or after the film formation, the polysilicon film 206 is made conductive.
Subsequently, the offset insulating film 208, the WSix film 207, the polysilicon film 206, and the gate oxide film 205 are successively processed, thereby simultaneously forming two word lines WL1 and WL2 also serving as gate electrodes of two word transistors, a common gate line GL1 also serving as gate electrodes of the driving and load transistors, and a common gate line GL2 also serving as gate electrodes of the driving and load transistors.
The two word lines WL1 and WL2 perpendicularly cross near both ends of the p-type active region 203, penetrate the cells, and are arranged in parallel to each other. The common gate lines GL1 and GL2 perpendicularly cross both of the p-type active region 203 and the n-type active region 204 within the interval of the word lines WL1 and WL2 and are arranged in parallel to each other so that the common gate lines GL1 and GL2 and the word lines WL1 and WL2 are spaced at regular intervals. Each of the common gate lines GL1 and GL2 has a rectangular pattern provided for every cell and is isolated from common gate lines (not illustrated) of cells neighboring in the word line direction. FIG. 32 is a cross section taken along the line N-N′ of FIG. 31.
In the SRAM cell having such a structure, each of the two active regions 203 and 204 in the cell is formed in a simple rectangular pattern or a pattern of an almost rectangular shape with a step so that the channel current directions are in parallel. Gate electrode patterns (word lines WL1 and WL2 and the common gate lines GL1 and GL2) formed on the active regions 203 and 204 are arranged in parallel to each other. Due to a deviation in alignment at the time of formation of the gate electrode patterns, therefore, the size of the transistor (i.e., the size of the area in which the gate electrode pattern and the active area is overlapped) uniformly changes in transistors. As for the alignment, there is the possibility that not only a pattern deviation in the xy directions but also a rotation deviation (deviation 0) occurs. Due to any of the xy direction deviation and the deviation 0, the sizes of all transistors uniformly change. Especially, since the pattern does not have the bent active region unlike the conventional pattern, it is not easily influenced by a distortion in the pattern shape caused by excessive or insufficient exposure intensity. That is, as long as there is not a large alignment deviation to the ends of the active areas 203 and 204 as rectangular patterns, the situation such that the size of only a specific transistor changes as in the related arts can be effectively avoided.
Since the transistor characteristics in the cells do not vary due to the alignment deviation in the patterns, the inverter characteristics of the memory cell are therefore stabilized. Various effects such that the charge holding characteristics of the SRAM cell do not deteriorate during a manufacturing process and excellent cell characteristics are obtained can be produced.
Although the excellent effects as described above can be obtained, since memory cells are arranged bit by bit in the vertical direction (that is, the word and bit line directions) in a matrix state, the SRAM cell has a problem such that it is difficult to further increase the packing density.


We demonstrate a new method for joining patterned thermoplastic parts into layered structures. The method takes advantage of case-II permeant diffusion to generate dimensionally controlled, activated bonding layers at the surfaces being joined. It is capable of producing bonds characterized by cohesive failure while preserving the fidelity of patterned features in the bonding surfaces. This approach is uniquely suited to production of microfluidic multilayer structures, as it allows the bond-forming interface between plastic parts to be precisely manipulated at micrometer length scales. The bond enhancing procedure is easily integrated in standard process flows and requires no specialized equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the preparation of microfluidic chips and particularly those chips fabricated from thermoplastic materials.
Thermoplastic polymers generally comprise the set of linear polymers that are not cross-linked and are therefore free to flow as a liquid above a certain temperature. This class of polymers includes polyethylenes, polypropylenes, vinylidene chloride copolymers, polystyrenes, polycarbonates, polymethylmethacrylates ("PMMA"), polyvinylchloride, polyoxymethylenes, polysulfones, polyetheretherketones, polyamides, polyphenylenes, cyclic olefin copolymers, and many others. Of these, Cyclic Olefin Copolymers (hereinafter "COCs") comprise a subset of thermoplastic polymer materials characterized by a usefully high glass-transition temperature (hereinafter "Tg"), high transparency, low birefringence, high rigidity, strength and hardness, low water absorbency, and good resistance to acids and alkalis making these materials particularly well suited for use in fabricating diagnostic equipment and devices that rely on visible and ultraviolet (hereinafter "UV") light for interrogation techniques.
Several types of cyclic olefin copolymers are available commercially based on different types of cyclic monomers and polymerization methods. A review of their structure and physical properties is presented in a technical report by Shin, et al., published in IUPAC journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry, v. 77 (5), pp. 801-814, 2005 and is herein incorporated by reference. In particular, COCs such as ZEONOR®, (a product of the Nippon Zeon Co., Ltd. Corporation Japan, Tokyo, Japan, available from its American subsidiary Zeon Chemicals L.P., Louisville, Ky.) show utility as substrates for microfluidic devices. The thermal properties of this class of plastics may be tailored to fit desired application specifications and are compatible with standard molding and stamping techniques. Furthermore, the optical properties of these materials (i.e., negligible bulk fluorescence and amorphous structure with low intrinsic light scattering) allow the detection of very weak sample fluorescence signals in microfluidic devices fabricated from these plastics. Finally, the material bulk properties of these materials result in robust, resilient microfluidic devices capable of surviving extended field-use, and although their surface properties are not ideal, they nevertheless accommodate a variety of water-based analytical methods.
This application addresses the challenges that arise in assembling COC parts into multilayer structures where it is necessary to produce microfluidic devices comprised of two or more COC pieces (hereinafter 'multilayer structures'). In order to do so, pieces must be joined, preferably in a manner that forms a bond line whose mechanical strength is comparable to that of the bulk material. Moreover, during the joining process, any distortions of features formed in the surfaces of the device to be joined must be minimized in order to avoid compromising the device function.
COC multilayer structures are currently produced using thermal bonding procedures, wherein the parts to be joined are aligned and superimposed, and then heated under pressure until a bond forms. Unfortunately, under conditions necessary for forming an acceptably strong bond, COC polymers undergo significant plastic deformation resulting in distortion or full collapse of micro-features previously formed in one or both bonded surfaces.
Bond formation and plastic deformation are both macroscopic manifestations of the same underlying molecular chain motion; a process which promotes the former will inevitably cause the latter to some degree. In particular, the characteristic time constants for ZEONOR® 1060 plastic deformation at bond-promoting temperatures (i.e., between about 88° C. and 100° C.) are significantly shorter than minimal bonding times dictated by thermal conductivity and process constraints, suggesting that significant feature distortion is inevitable during thermal bonding. Similar situations are likely to hold for analogous COC materials.
2. Related Art
Published U.S. Patent Application Serial Number 2004/0084402 discloses a polymer-based microfluidic device and a method for producing same. This device is suitable for chromatographic and electrophoretic separations in which the detection of the components in the fluid is by means of ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy. The device further comprises a planar substrate (body) and cover that are bonded together wherein at least first and second intersecting channels disposed at the interface of the bonded surfaces. The application teaches a method, wherein a first injection-molded plaque of COC (with or without microfluidic structures) is placed on top of a second plaque having microfluidic structures. The two pieces are subjected to an axial load of 500 psi to 1000 psi at 75° C. for several minutes. The two pieces are then allowed to cool to about at least 60° C. before the pressure is released. This results in a fluid-tight bond between the two plaques. The application also teaches to pre-treat at least one of the plaque surfaces with polyvinyl alcohol layer before pressure is applied.
Published U.S. Patent Application Serial Number 2005/0130292 is directed to an apparatus and method for placing two microfluidic components in fluid communication at an arbitrary position and time, both of which are externally defined. The device comprises a sandwich of at least three layers: a top side, a bottom side, and an intermediate material layer separating the top and bottom sides and permanently joined to each therebetween. As described by the application, joining is achieved by lamination, hot bonding, UV bonding, and plasma treatment of the surfaces, solvent bonding, pressure adhesive, and heat adhesives. The bonding procedure may exploit polymer foils treated with thermoset films on both sides. The inventive apparatus uses electromagnetic radiation to perforate a material layer having selected adsorptive properties. The perforation of the material layer allows the fluid communication between microfluidic components.
Published U.S. Patent Application Serial Number 2005/0151371 is directed to an Injection molding process used to form microfluidic devices with integrated functional components. One or more functional components are placed in a mold cavity which is then closed. Molten thermoplastic resin is injected into the mold and then cooled, thereby forming a solid substrate including the functional component(s). The solid substrate including the functional component(s) is then bonded to a second substrate which may include microchannels or other features As described by the application, joining is achieved by hot die bonding, thermal diffusion bonding, solvent bonding, infrared welding, ultraviolet irradiation, ultrasonic welding, or other joining technologies known in the art, or combinations thereof.
Other examples exist but none exhibit the essential characteristics of the instant invention.


A battery housing structure is provided for a camera having a battery chamber for housing a battery. The battery housing structure comprises a lid for opening and closing an opening of the battery chamber and an operating member that is movably supported by the lid. Various embodiments are disclosed that provide a battery housing structure in which the operating member can be provided in a narrow space, and in which the battery chamber can be easily opened and closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery housing structure provided in a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cameras are typically provided with a battery chamber for housing a battery. In a conventional battery chamber, a lid for opening and closing an opening of the battery chamber is provided with an operating member including a claw engagable with an inner wall of the camera body. The operating member is rotated, for example, by a coin, so that the claw engages with the camera body at a position such that the lid is fixed in the closed position.
The claw of the operating member is extended radially of the operating member, and the camera body is provided with an engagable portion with which the claw is engaged. The operating member must have a certain thickness, to allow the provision thereon of the claw. Therefore, in a conventional device, the camera body must be provided with a space which can accommodate the operating member and the claw. This need to provide such a space is sometimes difficult, from the viewpoint of a desired miniaturization of the camera.


A method, system and computer program product for determining the suitability of an entity to provide products or services. Category and measurement data is received concerning the entity where each category is assigned a value based on the acquisition context. If the value assigned to a category exceeds a threshold, then the measurement data for that category is used in evaluating the entity. This measurement data is weighted according to the acquisition context. A binary value is generated for each weighted measurement value that exceeds a threshold. These binary values are summed and weighted according to the confidence that the source of the data is correct. Further, the past performance and reputation of the entity is used in applying a weight to the summed binary values to generate a suitability value. If the suitability value exceeds a threshold, then it is deemed suitable to conduct business with the entity.

Governments (local or federal) as well as companies often attempt to evaluate potential vendors or suppliers in order to determine whether business should be conducted with these vendors or suppliers. Currently, vendors or suppliers are provided with a standard list of multiple-choice questions (e.g., answer "A" if you strongly agree; "B" if you agree; "C" if you disagree" and "D" if you strongly disagree") relating to their business practices, ability to provide the goods or services and so forth. Each answer may be assigned a value. The values associated with all the answers may be added and compared to a threshold value. If the summed values exceed the threshold value, then it may be deemed suitable to conduct business with the vendor. Otherwise, it may be deemed unsuitable to conduct business with the vendor.
However, evaluating vendors based on a limited set of questions that are subject to human interpretation and evaluation is limiting and leads to inaccurate assessments. There are many factors that may be used in evaluating a vendor, such as the product or service costs, scheduling, quality, environmental impact, ability to sustain common business practices and so forth that may not be incorporated in the current evaluation method. Further, by using these standard forms for all vendors in various contexts (e.g., one vendor may be providing trash pickup; whereas, another vendor may be supplying semiconductor chips), these forms do not effectively evaluate the vendor based on the acquisition context (i.e., the context surrounding the products or services provided by the entity).
Further, the current evaluation method relies upon human decision-makers which are inherently subjective and cannot fully incorporate multiple factors in accessing the "suitability" of a vendor. Additionally, when one attempts to evaluate tens of thousands of vendors using the current evaluation method, the task becomes unmanageable.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for evaluating the suitability of an entity to provide products or services without the reliance of human decision makers. Further, the suitability of an entity needs to be evaluated based on the acquisition context that includes all the relevant factors.

Determining suitability of entity to provide products or services based on factors of acquisition context

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


Disclosed herein is a calibration apparatus for vacuum gauge having a combined use for an 1 Torr level, a 10 Torr level, and a 100 Torr level vacuum gauge. According to the present invention, there is provided a calibration apparatus for vacuum gauge, in which a standard pressure gauge 140, 142 is installed within a pressure vessel 120 for calibrating a monitoring pressure gauge 560, the apparatus comprising: a balance mounting shaft 134 installed vertically within the pressure vessel 120 and provided with a plurality of balance mounting bases 138 spaced apart from one another at predetermined intervals along an axial direction, and the standard pressure gauge 140, 142 being connected to lower portion of the balance mounting shaft; a plural sets of balances mounted between the respective balance mounting bases 138, each of which is composed of a plurality of balances; means for elevating each balance of the plural sets of the balances from the balance mounting base 138 separately or mounting the balance on the balance mounting base 138; and means for controlling the operation of the elevating means according to commands received from the outside.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a calibration apparatus for vacuum gauge, and more in particular, to a calibration apparatus for vacuum gauge, which can be used not only for an 1 Torr level vacuum gauge, a 10 Torr level vacuum gauge, but also for a 100 Torr level vacuum gauge also.
2. Background of the Related Art
Recently, researches and developments about measurement of small pressure have been performed vigorously due to developments in environmental industries and process industries. In general, the measurement of small pressure refers to the measurement of pressures falling in a range below several thousands of Pa, that is, it refers to the measurement of pressures falling in the range from one-several hundredths to one-several thousandths of the atmospheric pressure, in view of the fact that the atmospheric pressure is about 100 kPa (100,000 Pa).
A measuring gauge for small pressure using mercury or oil has been developed or is under international development. The vacuum gauge for measuring small pressures can be divided into 1 Torr type vacuum gauge, 10 Torr type vacuum gauge, and 100 Torr type vacuum gauge depending on the commercial applications, and such vacuum gauge occupies 95% of all vacuum gauges.
Meanwhile, a laser interference type or an ultrasonic interference type mercury pressure gauge has been employed in calibration of such vacuum gauge for measuring small pressures. However, in general such reference pressure gauge has not been employed in general calibration body and test body due to its complexity of device and aversion for mercury. Accordingly, up to date, after any one vacuum gauge has been calibrated, a next vacuum gauge is calibrated with help of the previous calibrated vacuum gauge. However, such method increases uncertainty of the gauge, and decrease calibration efficiency because continuous periodical calibration (for instance, every six month) for reference gauge is necessarily in demand.
In addition, according to the recent technologies developed until now, the vacuum gauge for 10 Torr level vacuum has been calibrated by the calibration apparatus of 10 Torr type vacuum gauge, and the vacuum gauge for 100 Torr level vacuum has been calibrated by the calibration apparatus of 100 Torr type vacuum gauge respectively. Difficulties arising from the measurement and calibration have been increased, as the pressure to be measured becomes lower (for instance, 1 Torr).
FIG. 1 is a view for showing whole systematic construction of a calibration apparatus applicable to the present invention and to the conventional art. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional calibration system for vacuum gauge may comprise a calibration apparatus for vacuum gauge 100, a gas supply device, a monitoring pressure gauge 560, and a gas discharge device.
The gas supply device comprises a gas supply valve 542, a volume variable valve 544, and a first vacuum pump 550, and the like for supplying predetermined pressure via a gas supply pipe 540 to a piston which will be described below. Especially, the first vacuum pump 550 includes a trap 552 for blocking back-streaming of oil vapor in addition to a pump valve 554 as rotary type pump is employed for it. Also, a portion of the gas supply pipe 540 is branched to be connected to the monitoring pressure gauge 560.
The gas discharge device operates to form a vacuum inside the calibration apparatus 100 of the vacuum gauge, and includes a second vacuum pump 580, a trap 582 and a blocking valve 584 having identical construction. Also, a needle valve 574 and a vent valve 572 are connected to one end of a gas discharge pipe 570.
Hereinafter, conventional art of the calibration apparatus for vacuum gauge shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a view for showing schematic construction of the conventional calibration apparatus 10 for vacuum gauge. As shown in FIG. 2, a pressure vessel 20 is sealed from the outside, and is provided with a piston 40 and a cylinder 42 constituting a force balance type pressure gauge within it. Also, the weight sets 30 are arranged above the piston 40, and a lower portion of the piston 40 is connected to the gas supply pipe 540.
In such calibration apparatus 10 for vacuum gauge, equilibrium state can be achieved by supplying gas via the gas supply pipe 540 after loading all the weight sets 30 on the piston 40. The piston 40 is maintained at a raised state after it has been come up by means of the equilibrium of upper and lower forces.
In this state, the monitoring pressure gauge 560 can be calibrated by determining whether the indicated value of the monitoring pressure gauge 560 conforms to the measured pressure value Pi based on following formula (1):Pi=F/A+Pr  (1)
Here, Pi represents measured pressure value, F represents total downward force obtained by adding the mass of the piston 40 and that of the tare weight, A represents cross-sectional area of the piston 40, and Pr represents reference pressure inside the pressure vessel 20.
The reference pressure Pr is the pressure formed around the piston, and becomes to be vacuum at the time of measuring the absolute pressure and becomes to be atmospheric pressure at the time of measuring the gauge pressure. The reference pressure Pr is maintained at vacuum or atmospheric pressure and is regarded as a predetermined value during the measurement. However, as F represents gravitational load obtained by adding the mass of the piston and that of the weight sets in formula (1), it always has a minimum value exceeding the mass of the piston. Accordingly, with regard to the measured pressure Pi, minimum pressure (normally, several kPa) exists, which corresponds to the minimum value described above, and therefore, it is impossible to measure pressures below the above pressure.
A method for variable residual pressure, which is denoted by following formula (2), is suggested as a substitute for the above described measuring method, in which it is possible to cope with the change of the load due to change of the weight sets by maintaining the pressure Pm below the piston to be uniform and varying the reference pressure Pr′ around the piston:Pm=F/A+Pr′  (2)
Here, Pm represents the pressure monitored below the piston, F represents the gravitational load obtained by adding the mass of the piston and that of the weight sets, A represents cross-sectional area of the piston, and Pr′ represents variable reference pressure around the piston.
However, such method has not also been employed in practical, because it is difficult to change the weights located within a vacuum chamber effectively without breaking such low pressure as it is under the vacuum or reference pressure.
Furthermore, calibration of the vacuum gauge is difficult and is not economical, because respective vacuum gauges such as 1 Torr type, 10 Torr type and 100 Torr type vacuum gauge should be calibrated by means of respective calibration apparatus for the vacuum gauge.

Calibration apparatus for vacuum gauge having combined use of 1 Torr level, 10 Torr level, and 100 Torr level

Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science


A current sensor has a power MOSFET Q1, connected between an electric load and a power supply, for controlling current that flows through said electric load, a mirror MOSFET Q2, connected in parallel to said power MOSFET Q1, in which a portion of the current flowing through said power MOSFET flows, and a current detection resistor RC connected between a source electrode of said power MOSFET and a source electrode of said mirror MOSFET. An inverting amplifier circuit CP of the current sensor 3 inverts and amplifies the voltage signal, which has been converted to voltage by the current detection resistor RC, and outputs the signal, thereby converting positive and negative voltages generated across the current detection resistor RC to a positive voltage.

The present invention relates to a current sensor and a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) inverter that uses the current sensor, and particularly relates to a current sensor which is suitable for detecting currents flowing in both the positive and negative directions and a PWM inverter which incorporates said current sensor.
Conventionally in automobiles, a power MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor), which is a switching element for controlling electrical components of the automobile, is used to control current flowing through electrical components. If a current flows for a long time or an overcurrent occurs, the power MOSFET itself generates heat causing a thermal breakdown to occur. Furthermore, in a PWM inverter that uses a power MOSFET for controlling three-phase alternating current, current flows through the power MOSFET in two directions: from a drain electrode of the power MOSFET to a source electrode, and the reverse direction.
Therefore, for example, as disclosed in the Japanese Application Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei 06-351280, a technique is known that utilizes an insulated current sensor that uses a Hall element to detect current or utilizes a shunt resistor and a sample-and-hold circuit to detect current.
However, a current detection means that uses an insulated current sensor or uses both a shunt resistor and a sample-and-hold circuit requires a separate device or circuit, resulting in increasing both the current sensor cost and the size of the PWM inverter, which is a problem.
On the other hand, for example, another known technique has been disclosed in the Japanese Application Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2000-193692. Therein, a series circuit of a mirror MOSFET and a current detection resistor is connected in parallel to the power MOSF ET, and a voltage across the current detection resistor is compared with the reference voltage by a comparator, and if a voltage that exceeds the reference voltage has been applied to the current detection resistor, it is considered that an overcurrent has flown through the power MOSFET, and the current is shut down to prevent the power MOSFET from being damaged.
However, there is a problem that the current detection method described in the Japanese Applicatio n Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2000-193692 cannot be applied to the current detection of the PWM inverter because it is impossible for the method to detect both a current in the positive direction and a current in the negative direction. That is, a current sensor that uses a comparator in addition to a mirror MOSFET and a current detection resistor that are connected in parallel to a power MOSFET is a means for detecting an overcurrent when a current flows through the power MOSFET from the drain electrode to the source electrode. Therefore, it is difficult to detect a reverse current, that is, a forward current flowing through a parasitic diode of the power MOSFET. For example, when a current flows in the same direction as the forward current flowing through the parasitic diode of the power MOSFET, the voltage signal of the current detection resistor becomes negative, and when a current flows from the drain electrode of the power MOSFET to the source electrode, the signal becomes positive. It is difficult for the comparator to detect both of those voltage signals, and therefore, there is a problem that the method cannot be applied to the current detection of the PWM inverter.
Furthermore, when a current flows through each parasitic diode of the power MOSFET and the mirror MOSFET, the relationship between the current value and the voltage drop value of each parasitic diode is non-linear, and the current detection resistor is linear. Therefore, when a current flows through each parasitic diode, the ratio of the current flowing through the power MOSFET to the current flowing through the mirror MOSFET varies according to the value of the flowing current, which may cause an area in which the voltage drop value of the current detection resistor becomes almost equal to that of the power MOSFET. In this area, regardless of an increase or decrease of the current that flows through the power MOSFET, the current flowing through the mirror MOSFET does not change. As a result, in this area, it is not possible to accurately detect current that flows through the power MOSFET.

Current sensor using mirror MOSFET and PWM inverter incorporating the same


Disclosed is a liver tumor-targeting ultrasound contrast agent. The ultrasound contrast agent includes a gas-generating core and a hyaluronic acid shell. The ultrasound contrast agent can be specifically delivered to liver cells. This specific delivery enables easy differentiation between normal liver cells and liver tumor cells by ultrasound imaging. In addition, the ultrasound contrast agent is highly stable in aqueous condition and causes no cytotoxicity. Also disclosed is a method for preparing the ultrasound contrast agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasound contrast agent that uses particles specifically targeting a liver site, and a method for preparing the ultrasound contrast agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ultrasound (US) imaging is the most frequently used imaging modality during diagnosis in clinical fields. It has no time-delay to obtain images, and is relatively cheap, non-invasive, safe, and easy for handling. To obtain more advanced information by ultrasound imaging, various ultrasound contrast agents have been developed, and applied to diagnosis. In general, most of them are microbubbles which are composed of gas cores such as N2 or perfluorocarbons and outer shells such as lipids or polymers. Ultrasound contrast agents can oscillate in response to acoustic pulse and provide bright signals in ultrasound images. Consequently, the localization and movement of these bright signals have been used for precise ultrasound imaging such as blood flow analysis.
In this century, the target-specific delivery of ultrasound contrast agents has garnered large amount of attention from many researchers. It is based on biological interactions and can provide molecular-level information as well as anatomical one. These targeted ultrasound contrast agents have been developed by conjugating antibodies, aptamers, or peptides on their shell. They can bind to special receptors on the surface of target cells and increase the accumulation of ultrasound contrast agent in target site.
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is one of the human body glycosaminoglycans and is non-toxic and biodegradable in body condition by enzymes like hyaluronidase. The chemical structure of hyaluronic acid is repeating disaccharides of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and D-glucuronic acid bearing many carboxylic acids which can be used for further chemical modification. Especially, hyaluronic acid can bind to CD44 receptors which are overexpressed in liver. Consequently, hyaluronic acid can be used as attractive component of imaging agents to increase the target-specific delivery of ultrasound contrast agents for optical or MR imaging of liver.

Liver tumor-targeting ultrasound contrast agent and method for preparing the same

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A multi-channel downhole telemetry system for enabling communication in a wellbore. The system includes a downhole transmitter operable to optically transmit a first data stream on a first optical channel and a second data stream on a second optical channel. A downhole receiver is operable to receive the first data stream and the second data stream. An optically transmissive fluid disposed in the wellbore provides a medium for the optical transmission of the first data stream and the second data stream between the downhole transmitter and the downhole receiver. The optically transmissive fluid contains suspended solids having refraction surfaces that scatter the optically transmitted data streams in the wellbore.

Without limiting the scope of the present invention, its background is described with reference to sand control completions, as an example.
It is well known in the subterranean well drilling and completion art that relatively fine particulate materials may be produced during the production of hydrocarbons from a well that traverses an unconsolidated or loosely consolidated formation. Numerous problems may occur as a result of the production of such particulate. For example, the particulate causes abrasive wear to components within the well, such as tubing, flow control devices, safety devices and the like. In addition, the particulate may partially or fully clog the well creating the need for an expensive workover. Also, if the particulate matter is produced to the surface, it must be removed from the hydrocarbon fluids using surface processing equipment.
One method for preventing the production of such particulate material is to gravel pack the well adjacent to the unconsolidated or loosely consolidated production interval. In a typical gravel pack completion, a sand control screen is lowered into the wellbore on a work string to a position proximate the desired production interval. A fluid slurry including a liquid carrier and a relatively coarse particulate material, such as sand, gravel or proppants, which are typically sized and graded and which are typically referred to herein as gravel, is then pumped down the work string and into the well annulus formed between the sand control screen and the perforated well casing or open hole production zone.
The liquid carrier either flows into the formation or returns to the surface by flowing through a wash pipe or both. In either case, the gravel is deposited around the sand control screen to form the gravel pack, which is highly permeable to the flow of hydrocarbon fluids but blocks the flow of the fine particulate materials carried in the hydrocarbon fluids. As such, gravel packs can successfully prevent the problems associated with the production of these particulate materials from the formation.
In other cases, it may be desirable to stimulate the formation by, for example, performing a formation fracturing and propping operation prior to or simultaneously with the gravel packing operation. This type of treatment process is commonly referred to as a frac pack. During this treatment process, hydraulic fractures are created in the hydrocarbon bearing formation, which increase the permeability of the formation adjacent the wellbore. According to conventional practice, a fracture fluid such as water, oil, oil/water emulsion, gelled water or gelled oil is pumped down the work string with sufficient volume and pressure to open multiple fractures in the production interval.
The fracture fluid may carry a suitable propping agent, such as sand, gravel or proppants, which are typically referred to herein as proppants, into the fractures for the purpose of holding the fractures open following the fracturing operation. In addition, these proppants are deposited around the sand control screen to form the gravel pack as described above. As such, frac packs can successfully enhance fluid production from the formation while also preventing the production of particulate materials from the formation.
Typically, downhole parameters such as pressure and temperature are obtained and recorded during such treatment processes with one or more downhole sensors. The information obtained by the sensors is later downloaded into surface or remote computers once the treatment operation is complete and the sensors have been tripped out of the wellbore. It has been found, however, that the quality of the treatment operation is evaluated only after such downhole sensors are brought to the surface. As such, the information obtained by the sensors is not supplied in a manner timely enough to allow modifications to the treatment operation.
Accordingly, a need has arisen for a communication system for transmitting data between downhole equipment and surface equipment that is operable to provide real-time information relating to parameters and conditions downhole such that modifications to a treatment operation may occur, if desired.

Downhole telemetry system using an optically transmissive fluid media and method for use of same


In 3D display, when double the frequency of the input clock exceeds the maximum rate of transmission to cinema display circuit 104, the multiply ratio of the clock is lowered from 2× multiplication and the output horizontal total clock number is reduced accordingly.

There have been known movie projectors for displaying a 3D image (which will be referred to hereinbelow as "3D image processing apparatus).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a 3D projector.
In FIG. 1, the 3D projector includes input terminal 101 for receiving the left-eye image signal, input terminal 102 for receiving the right-eye image signal, image input circuit 103 and cinema display circuit 104.
Image input circuit 103 receives the left-eye image signal from input terminal 101 and receives the right-eye image signal from input terminal 102. Here, the frame period of the left-eye image signal and the frame period of the right-eye image signal are the same.
FIG. 2 is a diagram for illustrating the operation of image input circuit 103.
Image input circuit 103 combines one frame of left-eye image signal 201 and one frame of right-eye image signal 201, line by line, alternately to produce one frame of output image signal 203 that is to be output to cinema display circuit 104. In this process, image input circuit 103 makes the frame period of output image signal 203 equal to the frame period of left-eye image signal 201 and the frame period of right-eye image signal 202.
Image input circuit 103 typically has a configuration shown in FIG. 3, including image input circuit 103a for receiving the left-eye image signal, image input circuit 103b for receiving the right-eye image signal, clock generating circuit 103c such as PLL or the like that multiplies frequency by 2, line memories 103d and 103e, circuit 103f for generating output timing, and multiplexer 103g for switching the left-eye image and the right-eye image, line by line.
The image signals for left eye and right eye are once written in line memories 103d and 103e, respectively, and read out therefrom at double the speed of writing, by circuit 103c for doubling the input clock frequency.
The timing signals for input image signals (the left-eye image and the left-eye image), including horizontal and vertical synchronization signals and signals indicating valid image data, are input to output timing generating circuit 103f.
Output timing generating circuit 103f generates timing signals that, based on the input timing signals, form one frame with as many lines as twice the number of the input vertical lines while keeping the total number of clocks for horizontal fixed at that of the input, and switches one line of the left-eye image and one line of the right-eye image alternately to be output.
In this way, the output frame frequency is set to be the same as the frame frequency of the input and the output line frequency set at double the input line frequency, thereby enabling output of a 3D image.
This scheme, however, requires the frequency of the input signal to cinema display circuit 104 to be set so that the doubled frequency falls within the permissible rate of transmission of cinema display circuit 104. That is, the resolution of the image displayable in 3D and the frequency of the vertical synchronization are limited.
To deal with, this frame memories 103h are generally used so that the left-eye image and the left-eye image are read out from frame memories 103h by way of memory interface circuit 103j at an arbitrary clock frequency generated by output clock generating circuit 103i without depending on the clock frequency of the input image signal, or at the permissible maximum input frequency of cinema display circuit 104, and output timing generating circuit 103f outputs signals so as to adjust the number of horizontal clocks and the number of vertical lines to be equal to the input vertical frequency.


A compound of the formula ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is hydrogen, lower alkyl, phenyl-lower alkyl, lower alkanoyl or benzoyl, and each phenyl in the phenyl-lower alkyl and the benzoyl is unsubstituted or substituted by halogen, lower alkyl or alkoxy; R.sup.2 represents a carboxyl or a carboxyl which is converted into an ester, an amide or a hydroxamic acid; R.sup.3 represent a lower alkyl; R.sup.4 represents a lower alkyl; A.sup.1 represents a lower alkylene which is unsubstituted or substituted by a phenyl and the phenyl is unsubstituted or substituted by halogen, lower alkyl or a lower alkoxy; A.sup.2 represents a lower alkylene; A.sup.3 represents a lower alkylene; and Z represents a sulfur or an oxygen. The compounds have inhibitory effects on LTA.sub.4 hydrolase and are useful for treating rheumatic diseases, psoriasis, inflammatory intestinal diseases, gout and cystic fibrosis.

Leukotriene A.sub.4 (hereinafter, abbreviated as LTA.sub.4) hydrolase, which is one of the epoxide hydrolase, is a metal-containing enzyme which requires zinc in an active center.
LTA.sub.4 hydrolase plays a catalyst-like role on biochemical conversion from LTA.sub.4 into leukotriene B.sub.4 (hereinafter, abbreviated as LTB.sub.4), which is a strong pro-inflammatory substance.
LTB.sub.4 is arachidonic acid metabolitc which is produced in 5-lipoxygenase pathway, biosynthesized in various cells including mast cell, neutrophil, monocyte, macrophage and the like, and plays a role as an important mediator in inflammation. LTB.sub.4 induces chemotaxis, coagulation and degranulation of leukocyte and accumulation of polymorphonuclear leukocyte, and accelerates blood vessel permeability and edema formation. For this reason, it was reported that particularly high level of LTB.sub.4 was detected in lesion parts in inflammatory diseases such as rheumatic diseases (J. Clin. Invest., 66, 116-117 (1980)), psoriasis (Br. J. Pharmacol., 83, 313-317 (1984)), inflammatory bowel diseases (Gastroenterology, 86, 453-460 (1984)) and gout (Lancet, 2, 1122-1124 (1982)) and in sputum in cystic fibrosis (Lancet, 342, 465-469 (1993)).
Therefore, compounds which inhibit LTA.sub.4 hydrolase arc expected to prevent production of LTB.sub.4 and manifest therapeutic effects on inflammatory diseases.
3-Oxiranyl benzoic acid and a derivative thereof were reported to have LTA.sub.4 hydrolase inhibitory activity and be useful as an agent for treating inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis, inflammatory intestinal diseases, arthritis and gout (JP-A 2-134375).
In addition, (+)-1-(3S, 4R)-3-(4-phenylbenzyl)-4-hydroxychroman-7-yl!cyclopentanecarboxylic acid was reported to have LTA.sub.4 hydrolase inhibitory activity and inhibit sideration of arthritis in a collagen-induced arthritis model (J. Med. Chem., 37, 3197-3199 (1994)).
On the other hand, the structural features of the present invention is in amino acid having a sulfur or oxygen atom in which the sulfur or oxygen atom is bonded with (N,N-dialkylaminophenyl)alkyl, and an amino group is bonded to a sulfur-containing acyl group. From a viewpoint of the chemical structure, the prior art will be described below.
Compounds in which a phenyl group is introduced on a side chain of a sulfur-containing amino acid derivative was reported to be useful as a therapeutic agent for rheumatoid diseases and a hypotensive agent (JP-A 61-165362), because the compounds have rheumatoid factor's inactivating activity and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory activity, and also have endopeptidase 24.11 inhibitory activity (J. Med. Chem., 37, 2461-2476 (1994). However, a phenyl ring in amino acid side chain in the compounds described in these reports is not substituted and, thus, there is no description on compounds in which a substituent is introduced in a phenyl ring.
As described above, although various studies were done on sulfur-containing amino acid derivatives having a non-substituted phenyl ring on a side chain, no study has been done yet on sulfur-containing and oxygen-containing amino acid derivatives in which an N,N-dialkylamino group is introduced on its phenyl ring. Thus, a study regarding synthesis of the above compounds and a study regarding their pharmacological activities, particularly, activities on LTA.sub.4 hydrolase were very interesting themes.

Amino acid derivative having N,N-dialkylaminophenyl group