The various methods and devices described herein relate to devices which, in at least certain embodiments, may include a method of decoding data or a data stream in a file, which may include checking for a first data portion of a plurality of data portions in the file, the first data portion having a first data value, reading in data from another data portion of the plurality of data portions, decoding or decompressing the data, performing a checksum operation on the decoded data if the first data portion having the first data value is not detected, and skipping a checksum operation on the decoded data if the first data portion having the first data value is detected. In the embodiment, a checksum operation on encoded data may also be skipped. In an embodiment, the first data value may include information or instructions about how a decoder may decode the data and may also include a tag or identifier.

Portable devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones, are becoming increasingly common. These portable devices have grown more complex over time, incorporating many features including, for example, MP3 player capabilities, web browsing capabilities, and the like. The storage capacity and performance of the hard drives of these portable devices, however, can be limited. As a result, certain tasks that are typically executed instantaneously on a desktop computer, such as displaying images for a graphical user interface, may take significantly longer on a portable device.
One image file format used to store and display such images includes the Portable Networks Graphics (PNG) format. Like the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), the PNG format can be a good choice for text, logos, or graphics including sharp transitions or lines. Unlike GIF, however, the PNG format has the benefit of having an open, extensible file format. The PNG format also offers many useful features that may not be offered by older formats, such as for example, interlacing, full alpha-transparency and lossless compression.
The PNG format also offers several security checks during decoding or decompression. For example, the data in each PNG file is divided into sections or chunks and each chunk typically includes at least one redundancy check or checksum, allowing a decoder to detect corrupted data. Such checks are necessary, especially when a PNG file is downloaded from the Internet or an unknown source. If the file is coming from a source known to be secure, however, then such measures can sometimes unnecessarily delay the display of the image, especially on a portable device that has limited hard drive capability.

Method and apparatus for simplifying the decoding of data


Techniques for updating data in a reflective memory region of a first memory device are described herein. In one example, a method for updating data in a reflective memory region of a first memory device includes receiving an indication that data is to be flushed from a cache device to the first memory device. The method also includes detecting a memory address corresponding to the data is within the reflective memory region of the first memory device and sending data from the cache device to the first memory device with a flush operation. Additionally, the method includes determining that the data received by the first memory device is modified data. Furthermore, the method includes sending the modified data to a second memory device in a second computing system.

Modern computing devices execute increasingly complex software applications. In order to decrease the execution time of the complex software applications, some computing devices can execute operations in parallel. For example, a computing device may execute two operations at the same time. In some embodiments, two computing devices may execute operations in parallel by sending and receiving data between the two computing devices.

Implementing coherency with reflective memory

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A universal offset pulling head assembly for exerting an axial pulling force on a fastener allows the same pulling head assembly to be utilized for a variety of different fastener sizes and types by exchanging a front plate assembly, where the front plate assembly may comprise variable nose pieces according to the type of fastener to be installed. Because the front plate assembly is subject to the most severe wear, other components of the pulling head assembly may continue to be utilized and the front plate assembly discarded. The disclosed pulling head assembly utilizes a stationary guiding member which prevents damage which might otherwise occur because of severe bending moments.

This invention generally relates to the installation of fasteners, including blind fasteners, and anchoring devices such as rivetless nut plates, which are used in manufacturing, maintenance and repair of aircraft, as well as in countless commercial applications. Such fasteners are installed by placing the fastener into an opening extending through the piece or pieces to be fastened and then applying a load to a male member, known as the break stem, which is initially attached to the fastener. The break stem shears from the fastener body at the end of the installation process upon the application of a predetermined tensile load by an installation tool.
The invention more specifically relates to fasteners used in confined areas which are usually installed using offset installation equipment. While the idea of offset installation is not new, decreases in the available space for installation results in a concomitant increase in the need for reduced sizing of the installation tool. This increased need has resulted in an increased demand for more compact offset and right-angle pulling heads for operation at concurrently increasing loads.
Examples of areas which present difficulties in installing fasteners include those which are close to other structures or to an edge, structure obstructed access, and blind access areas, as in the case of an fastener installed in a C-channel. Standard straight pulling head tools are usually unable to install fasteners in such applications.
Under known practices, pulling heads, including their nose assemblies, are typically custom designed to install fasteners of specific types and sizes. As construction of an aircraft requires the use of hundreds of types and sizes of fasteners, the procurement and use of the corresponding pulling heads can become expensive, unnecessarily complicating the logistics of production and procurement.
By way of background for pulling heads, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,796,455 and 6,739,170 B1, both by Rosier, disclose offset nose assemblies, which because of the compact nature and configuration of the nose assembly, increase the applications where use of pulling heads is feasible. However, the devices disclosed by Rosier are dedicated to a single type and size of fastener and are not capable of being reconfigured. As a result, nose assemblies for uncommon types or sizes of fasteners are either unavailable or only available at an increased expense and a longer order lead time than for the more common fasteners. Additionally, because pulling heads tend to jam during operation and prolonged use only exacerbates this tendency, the currently known pulling heads have a relatively short life cycle, as when the active areas of a tool wear out, such that the tool has to be disposed.

Compact universal offset pulling head for fasteners


An ingot mounting block consists of an attachment block, a horizontal rocking block and a vertical rocking block. The horizontal rocking block is provided in such a manner to rock horizontally with regard to the attachment block. The vertical rocking block is provided in such a manner to rock vertically with regard to the attachment block. A semiconductor ingot is positioned at the top of the vertical rocking block and is secured thereto. During an alignment of a crystal orientation, the horizontal rocking block and the vertical rocking block are previously inclined at a predetermined angle with regard to the attachment block, and then they are attached to a work feed table of a wire saw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire saw and a method of slicing an ingot by the wire saw, and more particularly to a wire saw and a method of slicing the ingot by the wire saw, for slicing the single crystal material such as silicon into a large number of wafers.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a wire saw slices an ingot such as silicon, the ingot needs to be inclined at a predetermined angle with regard to a wire row so that a sliced surface can be a predetermined crystal surface.
In the conventional wire saw, a tilting apparatus, which is integrated with a work feed table, aligns a crystal orientation for the ingot. The tilting apparatus supports the single crystal material so that the ingot can rock in vertical and horizontal directions with regard to the wire row. The user aligns the crystal orientation manually based on the previously-obtained data relating to the crystal orientation.
However, the tilting in the main body of the wire saw apparatus is restricted in space, so the operation is extremely difficult. Moreover, the operation requires much time, and the slicing cannot be performed efficiently.
Furthermore, if the ingot inclines vertically with regard to the wire row in order to be sliced, one end of the ingot is sliced first as shown in FIG. 14. So, there is a disadvantage in that the heat is concentrated at one side of grooved rollers which form the wire row; therefore, the slicing accuracy is lowered.

Wire saw and method of slicing ingot by wire saw


An esophageal probe comprising an elongated tubular body member with a distal portion that is insertible into an esophagus and a pair of oximeter sensors mounted in a spaced apart relation on the body for generating electrical signals functionally related to the fraction of hemoglobin in blood in the form of oxyhemoglobin.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the oxygen concentration in blood. More particularly, the invention relates an esophageal probe having an oximeter sensor for measuring the fraction of hemoglobin (HGB) that is present in the form of oxyhemoglobin (HGBO) and a method of positioning the oximeter sensor in the esophagus.
Oximetry is the measurement of the fraction of hemoglobin (HGB) that is present in the form of oxyhemoglobin (HGBO). When oxygen is taken into the lungs, it is transferred across the alveolar membrane to the blood cells and chemically attaches to hemoglobin molecules (HGB) to form oxyhemoglobin (HGBO). Therefore, the amount of oxygen being transferred from the lungs into the blood stream can be deduced by measuring the fraction of HGB that is present in the form of HGBO. It is important to know the oxygen levels in order to determine the efficacy of cardiac function and perfusion (i.e., delivery of oxygen to tissue).
One method of making this measurement involves a technique called surface oximetry. A finger or earlobe is placed between, on the one side, a pair of light emitting diodes and, on the other side, a pair of photo-transistors. Light having two separate wavelengths is directed through the tissue and is detected by the photo-transistors on the opposite side. By comparing the ratios of the light absorbed by the tissue at each wavelength, the fraction of HGB in the form of HGBO can be determined.
However, surface oximetry is quite often unreliable or ineffective in hypothermic or peripherally vaso-constricted patients. Vaso-constriction is a common symptom of shock. Consequently, oximetry has been provided as a feature of some models of pulmonary artery catheters. Systemic arterial oximetry has been reported or is available as well. Systemic or pulmonary arterial oximetry readings are often more reliable than those obtained by surface oximetry since measurements are directly from the blood itself. Unfortunately, arterial oximetry by its very nature, requires a much greater degree of medical invasiveness and a corresponding degree of risk to the patient.
Since the esophagus is a core body organ and presumably well-perfused except under the most extreme circumstances, it has been determined that the esophagus could be an ideal locus for pulse oximetry measurements. This is especially so for anesthesiologists and critical care physicians who intubate the esophagus more or less routinely to monitor heart and breath sounds as well as core body temperature. Additionally, they frequently manage patients with hypothermia or in shock. Thus, it is desirable to provide an esophageal probe having a pulse oximeter therein for monitoring oxygen delivery to the esophageal mucosal tissue.
It has further been determined that for an oximetric sensor to make accurate measurements in the esophagus, it must be located somewhere in the middle third, the upper third, or even the upper three-fourths of the esophagus as measured from the gastro-esophageal junction to the hypo-pharynx. This is because the circulation to and from the esophagus at the area comprising the lower third or lower quarter of the esophagus is, in part, portal venous flow and hepatic venous flow or systemic venous flow and portal venous flow. In either case, because the flow is a mixture of portal and venous blood, it has a higher oxygen tension and therefore oximetric readings from the lower third or lower quarter of the esophagus would not provide a representative picture of cardiac function or perfusion to other body tissues.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an esophageal probe to monitor heart sounds, breath sounds, and body temperature which could include a pulse oximeter for measuring the fraction of HGB in the form of HGBO.
It is further desirable to provide an esophageal probe that can operate to locate the pulse oximeter in the upper two thirds or three fourths of the esophagus and still provide the various other functions for which it is intended.


In a code division multiple access communication system (100), a method and an accompanying apparatus provide for an efficient control of a gain level of a communication channel at various mobility levels. A rate of change of a carrier to interference ratio (C/I) of a communication channel received at a receiver (400) is determined. The gain level of the communication channel may be based on the rate of change of the C/I of the communication channel. A mobility level of the communication channel may be compared to a low mobility threshold corresponding to a low mobility level. If the mobility level meets the low mobility threshold, the gain level of the communication channel may be based on the rate of change of the C/I of the communication channel.

In code division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems, excessive transmission by a user may cause interference for other users in addition to reducing the system capacity. Therefore, the power level and/or data rate of the communication channels transmitted by different users of the system is controlled to control the interference level and to maintain an adequate system capacity while allowing an adequate quality of reception at a receiving end. The power level and/or data rate of a communication channel may establish the gain level of the communication channel. The communication services may include wireless radio transmission of digitized speech, still or moving images, text messages and other types of data. Such communication services may be needed at various levels of quality and at various levels of mobility.
To this end as well as others, there is a need for an efficient control of the power level and/or data rate of a communication channel at various levels of mobility in a communication system.

Method and apparatus for controlling gain level of a communication channel in a CDMA communication system


A spin-stabilized projectile containing a payload is presented. The projectile includes a projectile body with a payload chamber that may be laterally defined by a projectile casing, on top by an axial fixing device for a payload disposed in the payload chamber, and on the bottom, by a dividing wall. The projectile casing may include axial grooves on the inside, which on the contribute to the fixing of the payload and include intended break zones for freeing the payload. Below the dividing wall, an opening charge may be disposed, which includes complete radial contact and is axially spaced apart from the dividing wall by a damping device. The detonation of opening charge causes the projectile casing to immediately split open at the intended break zones to release, by centrifugal force, the payload from the payload chamber. The damping device prevents the payload from being damaged in the region of the dividing wall and prevents the release of the payload from being interrupted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a spin-stabilized projectile which contains a releasable payload. Within the scope of the invention, the term "payload" may be understood as a quantity of transport material contained in a payload chamber.
Projectiles of this type may transport various payloads for various purposes, e.g., military purposes or civil purposes. Meteorology is one example of a civil purposes. These projectiles may also be implemented for various uses, i.e. surface to surface, surface to air, air to surface, and air to air.
Given equal overall volume and weight, a projectile becomes more efficient as payload increases. Therefore, it is desirable to take as much advantage of the available space in the payload chamber, i.e. housing the payload as densely as possible in the payload chamber. The optimum utilization of available space may be achieved when the payload completely fills the payload chamber, i.e., the cross section of the payload is equal to the cross-section of the payload chamber. The payload may be divided into columns, in which case the best use of space may be achieved when the columns are configured to spatially fill as large an area as possible with the payload.
This could be achieved with columns including cross sections of, for example, rectangular, square, triangular, or regularly hexagonal shape. However, in addition to the cross-section of the column, other demands may need to be met, for example, cost, ease of manufacture and assembly, control of flight by spin-stabilization, etc. In general, columns with round cross-sections may be used, and may include projections for an arrow stabilization. Round cross-sections are superior to the other above-mentioned designs, except with respect to maximizing use of space or packing density.
2. Discussion of the Background of the Invention
Conventionally, the payload is released as the outer shell is exploded by the ignition of an explosive charge and/or the sub-projectiles were ejected from the outer shell by the ignition of an ejection charge. A considerable quantity of explosive was required for both the explosive charge and the ejection charge. Accordingly, a relatively large quantity of explosive had to be built into the projectile, which undesirably restricts the payload.
In order to get by with as small as possible a quantity of explosive and as a result, to be able to provide as large as possible a payload, explosive charges for exploding the projectile casing, or ejection charge for ejecting the payload, were replaced with an opening charge. These charges may be considerably smaller than the explosive charge or ejection charge. In principle, the opening charge is used only for producing lateral openings in the projectile casing along a plurality of casing lines, whereupon the parts of the projectile casing released are removed in a tangential direction relative to the rest of the projectile. The payload which is no longer contained by the outer shell is released as a result. The discharge of the payload happens as follows: before its destruction, the projectile casing exerts a centripetal force on the payload, which as a result of the spin of the projectile, rotates around the longitudinal axis of the projectile. This centripetal force ceases with the destruction of the projectile casing because of the production of the openings in it by the opening charge so that with the action of centrifugal force, the payload leaves its original location and departs in the tangential direction from the projectile or from the rest of the projectile. The tangential component of the payload velocity thus produced is added to the axial component of the payload velocity, which is the same in magnitude and direction as the flight velocity of the projectile. If the payload is divided into coaxial columns, then each column continues to fly at a certain angle of departure relative to the flight path of the projectile, wherein the flight paths of the columns constitute the generatrix of a cone, whose axis is the flight path of the projectile and whose apex is the location of the payload release.
The above described kind of payload release takes place successfully only if the projectile spin is completely transmitted to the columns of the payload before the opening of the projectile casing. Then the payload may be driven in rotation around the longitudinal projectile axis at a resulting tangential velocity component when the columns are released.
At the same time as the rotation around the projectile axis, the payload rotates around itself, i.e., an individual rotation, which may be described as spin. Thus, both before and after release, the payload rotates around its own axis. The advantageous function of this individual rotation or spin is described in more detail below.
So that the spin of the projectile is transmitted to the payload, the above-mentioned tangential component of velocity, which causes the payload to leave the payload chamber, is produced. The payload must be fixed in the payload chamber so that it does not rotate relative to the projectile casing. To that end, U.S. Pat. No. 603,525 discloses that the payload is divided into coaxial columns and that the payload chamber is recessed on the inside so that it has grooves which extend axially. The grooves are approximately the shape of a half-cylinder, whose diameter is the same as that of the columns and in which the columns are disposed.
In order to open the projectile casing as intended in zones along casing lines and in order to keep the quantity of the required explosive as low as possible, known projectiles include a projectile casing that is recessed so that a plurality of intended break zones, running at least approximately axially and evenly distributed over the circumference, open for deploying the columns as a result of the action of the ignited explosive.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 603,525, the intended break zones, although not expressly described as such, are produced by the grooves with the approximately half-cylindrical shape used to tangentially fix the layer of columns resting against the projectile casing, i.e. the outermost layer, relative to the projectile. These grooves extend axially along the inner wall of the sub-projectile chamber and result in the fact that the projectile casing has changing wall thicknesses in the circumferential direction. The intended break zones naturally coincide with the regions of the lowest wall thickness. The intended break zones are more efficient the more abruptly the wall thickness changes.
For the further use of the payload, it is of the utmost significance that the payload not be damaged in the detonation of the opening charge in the explosive chamber. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 603,525 produces a pressure wave in the explosion of the opening charge which naturally acts upon the comparatively weak base plate. Accordingly, it is not certain that detonation of the opening charge is used exclusively for breaking open the projectile casing. Consequently, there is the danger of damaging the payload prior to release.

Spin stabilized projectile with a payload


A solid-state image sensor including an effective pixel area in which a plurality of pixels are two-dimensionally arranged, each of the plurality of pixels comprising a photoelectric conversion portion configured to generate charges by photoelectric conversion, a charge holding portion configured to hold the charges generated by the photoelectric conversion portion, a floating diffusion portion configured to convert the charges from the charge holding portion into a voltage, a first transfer portion configured to transfer the charges of the photoelectric conversion portion to the charge holding portion, and a second transfer portion configured to transfer the charges of the charge holding portion to the floating diffusion portion, wherein the charge holding portion of each of the plurality of pixels is arranged on the inner side of the photoelectric conversion portion with respect to the center of the effective pixel area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state image sensor and an image pickup apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A CMOS solid-state image sensor has been widely used for an image pickup apparatus such as a digital still camera or digital video camera. In recent years, there has been proposed a configuration for implementing a global shutter function of making the accumulation times of respective pixels of a CMOS solid-state image sensor equal to each other (performing exposure for the same time).
In a configuration described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-111590, for example, a charge holding portion for holding signal charges generated by the photoelectric conversion portion of each pixel is provided for each pixel. In this configuration, the photoelectric conversion portions of all the pixels simultaneously start exposure and accumulation. Upon completion of accumulation, the signal charges of the photoelectric conversion portions of all the pixels are simultaneously transferred to the corresponding charge holding portions, respectively. It is possible to obtain an image pickup signal, for which the accumulation periods of all the pixels are equal to each other, by sequentially reading out pixel signals based on the signal charges held in the charge holding portions from a common output line.
Furthermore, in a configuration described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-246450, it is possible to transfer some of charges generated by a photoelectric conversion portion to a charge holding portion during part of an exposure period.
In general, a charge hold portion is covered by a light-shielding member, thereby preventing extraneous light from entering. Since, however, it is difficult to completely prevent extraneous light from entering, some light leaking from the light-shielding member may enter the charge holding portion. In this case, charges are generated within the charge holding portion due to the leakage light. These charges are noise charges different from signal charges generated by a photoelectric conversion portion during an accumulation period. These noise charges vary depending on the time during which the leakage light is incident on the charge holding portion and the intensity of the light, and appear as shading or an afterimage in an output image, thereby causing deterioration in image quality.
The configurations described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-111590 and 2006-246450, however, do not consider reducing the leakage light into the charge holding portion.

Solid-state image sensor with an effective pixel area, and image pickup apparatus


A new and distinct cultivar of Abelia plant named ‘Abelops’, characterized by light purple-colored flowers, dark and light yellow-green variegated foliage edged with red-orange, deep purple-colored stems, and spreading to broadly upright, moderately vigorous growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Abelia plant botanically known as Abelia×grandiflora and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Abelops'. 'Abelops' is an ornamental flowering shrub grown for landscape and container use.
The new Abelia cultivar is a naturally-occurring sport of Abelia×grandiflora 'Little Richard', not patented, characterized by its non-variegated foliage and spreading to broadly upright, moderately vigorous growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered as a branch mutation and selected during May 2007 in a controlled outdoor nursery environment in Zundart, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by softwood stem cuttings since June 2007 in Zundart, The Netherlands has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


A locking accessory bracket for use with an accessory standard. A locking accessory bracket that may be used with an accessory standard that essentially comprises a flat, straight elongated body portion having a multiplicity of identical, spatially positioned, upwardly projecting, L-shaped hook members located on either side thereof. The locking accessory bracket comprises a flat mounting plate and a hook plate made integral therewith. The hook plate has a plurality of identical, spatially positioned, downwardly projecting, L-shaped hook members, for detachable engagement with desired ones of the multiplicity of upwardly projecting hook members of the accessory standard. The improvement comprises a locking member that is rotatably mounted at a topmost portion of the hook plate. When downwardly projecting hook members of the hook plate are detachably engaged with corresponding ones of the multiplicity of upwardly projecting hook members of the accessory standard, the locking member abuts a bottom portion of an upwardly projecting hook member immediately adjacent to a topmost downwardly projecting hook member of the hook plate. Thus, the position of the locking member substantially inhibits removal of the mounting plate from the accessory standard.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates generally to bracket structures used for attaching accessories to upright accessory standards and, more particularly, to an improved locking accessory bracket for use with an accessory standard.
2. Description of Related Art
One of the problems associated with securing brackets to accessory standard structures, such as those employed with modular wall panels used in the partitioning of office building interiors, is ensuring that the bracket does not separate from the standard. Various locking brackets for use with accessory standards have been developed with this problem in mind.
Prior art modular wall panels have conventionally comprised slotted upright accessory standards that support repositionable brackets attached to shelving and other accessory structures. The slotted standards are usually affixed to a wall panel by an appropriate means and have a plurality of vertically spaced slots disposed therethrough. The brackets typically employ a plurality of L-shape hooks that project through one or more of the slots in the standard.
One of the many disadvantages of the conventional structure is the inability to ensure that the L-shaped hooks of the bracket are securely seated in the slots of the standard, to prevent the bracket from falling off the standard. Another disadvantage is that if an upward external force is applied to the bottom of the bracket, the bracket may become dislodged from the standard, causing harm to persons or property in the vicinity.
Attempts to eliminate these disadvantages typically comprise some form of locking mechanism between the bracket and the standard structures. Of the many different locking mechanism embodiments, some of the more common comprise various configurations of spring-type locking elements. Such a spring-type or resilient locking mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,452, by H. R. Wilson, et al.
Other locking mechanism embodiments comprise mechanical locking mechanisms. One such mechanical locking mechanism comprises a lever member that is rotatably mounted to a bracket and, when in a desired position, allegedly exerts a force on the slotted accessory standard that is supposedly equal and opposite to an external upward force that may be applied thereto. Examples of mechanical locking mechanisms can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,768, by W. W. Good, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,865, by C. F. Vanderveld.
A common disadvantage of conventional mechanical locking mechanisms is that the lever members employed therein often extend a number of slots above the location where the bracket is retained in the slotted standard, thus limiting the usable length of the slotted standard. Another disadvantage of many mechanical locking mechanisms is that many of the lever members may be substantially wider than the bracket member they are mounted on. If an external upward force is applied thereto, the lever member may become dislodged from the slotted standard, leaving the bracket vulnerable for detachment therefrom.
Finally, none of the conventional mechanical locking mechanisms are compatible with alternate standards that are not slotted. One such standard configuration comprises a flat straight elongated body portion having a multiplicity of identical, spatially positioned upwardly projecting L-shaped hook members located on either side thereof.
As can be appreciated, there exists a need for an improved locking accessory bracket that does not substantially extend above the position of the bracket, which positively secures the bracket to the upright, and that is compatible with alternate accessory standards that are not slotted.


Angiogenesis, tumor growth, and metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) interaction with integrin-αvβ3 are inhibited by an inhibitor compound of formula (I): wherein G1 and G2 are each independently NH—C(O)—O—R1, —NH—C(O)—O—(CH2)v—(C6H4)—X3, —NH—C(O)—NH—(CH2)v—(C6H4)—X3, —O—C(O)—NH—(CH2)v—(C6H4)—X3, —O—C(O)—O—(CH2)v—(C6H4)—X3, or NH—C(O)—CH2—(C6H4)—X3; Y1 and Y2 are each independently OH, C1–C4 alkyl, C1–C4 hydroxyalkyl, C1–C4 alkoxy, phenyl, benzyl, or NH2; R1 is C1–C4 alkyl; X1 and X2 are each independently halo or C1–C4 alkoxy; X3 is halo, nitro, C1–C4 alkyl, C1–C4 alkoxy, or C1–C4 perfluoroalkyl; Z is —C≡C—, —C6H4—, cis-CH═CH—, trans CH═CH—, cis-CH2—CH═CH—CH2—, trans —CH2—CH═CH—CH2—, 1,4-naphthyl, cis-1,3-cyclohexyl, trans-1, 3-cyclohexyl, cis-1,4-cyclohexyl, or trans-1,4-cyclohexyl; A is H or a covalent bond; m and n are each independently an integer having a value of 0 or 1; t is an integer having a value of 0 or 1; and p, r, and v are each independently an integer having a value of 1 or 2; with provisos that when A is H, t is O; when A is a covalent bond, t is 1; when m is 0, Y1 is C1–C4 hydroxyalkyl; and when n is 0, Y2 is C1 C4 hydroxyalkyl.

Invasion of vascular cells into tissues requires the coordinated interplay of numerous factors including proteinases, which remodel the extracellular matrix architecture, as well as cell adhesion molecules that recognize this provisional matrix. Recent reports have implicated that the 72 kDa matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) is a key player in vascular development and angiogenesis. For example, Kitoh et al. (J. Cell Sci., 109, 953–8 (1996)) report that MMP2 and its activator membrane type 1-matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) are coordinately expressed by mesenchymal cells almost exclusively during embryonic development, indicating specific matrix remodeling constraints in these tissues. In addition, angiogenesis and corresponding tumor growth are reduced in MMP2 knockout mice (see Itoh et al., Cancer Res., 58 1048–51 (1998)). Interestingly, Saftor et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 89, 1557–61 (1992)) have shown that ligation of the integrin αvβ3, itself a known mediator of angiogenesis, induces MMP2 production, suggesting a coordinated interplay of these two molecules during the vascular remodeling associated with blood vessel formation (see also Bafetti et al., J. Biol. Chem., 273, 143–9 (1998)). In fact, direct interaction between MMP2 and integrin αvβ3 has been demonstrated by Brooks et al. (Cell, 85, 683–93 (1996)). The negative regulation of MMP2 during vascular invasion and maturation was later shown by Brooks et al. to be dependent upon expression of αvβ3 (Cell, 92, 391–400 (1998)).
Although inhibition of angiogenesis and concomitant suppression of tumor growth by natural as well as synthetic inhibitors of MMP's, including MMP2, has been documented, the translation of such strategies into clinical modalities has met with limited success, primarily due to the deleterious side effects of such broad spectrum inhibitors. Since MMP function, in general, may be required for many processes in the adult organism, active site inhibition of enzymatic function is likely to have far reaching effects on various biological processes involving tissue remodeling, such as wound healing. In fact, it has been documented that therapies with broad spectrum MMP inhibitors in clinical studies of various cancer types cause severe side effects, including inflammatory tendinitis, polyarthritis, and muscoskeletal pain syndromes, which are dose limiting and often persist after discontinuation of therapy. Given the limited distribution of integrin αvβ3 in adult organisms, however, one would predict that targeting the interaction between MMP2 and αvβ3 to the areas of neovascularization or cellular invasion should correspondingly limit the effects of such treatment-related toxicities. Indeed, the recombinant non-catalytic carboxy-terminal hemopexin domain of MMP2 (PEX), which mediates MMP2 binding to integrin αvβ3 has shown antiangiogenic and antitumor activity in vivo. The potential utility of such a large protein fragment, but with attendant shortcomings (e.g. large scale production problems, FDA quality and safety control issues and antigenicity), suggested the need for a more practical solution to this problem.
There is a need therefore, for methods of inhibiting angiogenesis and tumor growth utilizing chemical compounds that selectively inhibit MMP activity at tumor growth sites with minimal inhibition of MMP in other regions of the body. There is also a need for methods of specifically binding to the MMP2 binding site of integrin αvβ3.

Methods for inhibiting angiogenesis and tumor growth


Cost is reduced and reliability is improved with a CSP type semiconductor device. A glass substrate which works as a supporting plate is bonded through an adhesive to a first surface of a semiconductor wafer on which first wirings are formed. Thickness of the semiconductor wafer is reduced by back-grinding the semiconductor wafer on a second surface of the semiconductor wafer which is opposite to the first surface of the semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is wet-etched to remove bumps and dips on the second surface of the semiconductor wafer caused during the back-grinding. Then the second surface of the semiconductor wafer is etched to form a tapered groove. The semiconductor wafer is wet-etched to reduce bumps and dips caused by the etching and round a corner of the groove. The wet-etching improves coverage of insulation film, wiring and protection film and enhances yield and reliability of the semiconductor device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a manufacturing method of a CSP (Chip Size Package) type semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The CSP receives attention in recent years as a three-dimensional mounting technology as well as a new packaging technology. The CSP means a small package having about the same outside dimensions as those of a semiconductor die packaged in it.
A BGA type semiconductor device has been known as a type of CSP. A plurality of ball-shaped conductive terminals made of metal such as solder is arrayed in a grid pattern on one principal surface of a package of the BGA type semiconductor device and is electrically connected with the semiconductor die mounted on the other side of the package.
When the BGA type semiconductor device is mounted on electronic equipment, the semiconductor die is electrically connected with an external circuit on a printed circuit board by compression bonding of each of the conductive terminals to each of wiring patterns on the printed circuit board.
Such a BGA type semiconductor device has advantages in providing a large number of conductive terminals and in size reduction over other CSP type semiconductor devices such as an SOP (Small Outline Package) and a QFP (Quad Flat Package), which have lead pins protruding from their sides. The BGA type semiconductor device is used as an image sensor chip for a digital camera incorporated into a mobile telephone, for example.
FIGS. 9A and 9B show an outline structure of a conventional BGA type semiconductor device. FIG. 9A is an oblique perspective figure showing a top side of the BGA type semiconductor device. And FIG. 9B is an oblique perspective figure showing a back side of the BGA type semiconductor device.
A semiconductor die 101 is sealed between a first glass substrate 104a and a second glass substrate 104b through epoxy resins 105a and 105b in the BGA type semiconductor device 100. A plurality of ball-shaped conductive terminals (hereafter referred to as conductive terminals) 111 is arrayed in a grid pattern on a principal surface of the second glass substrate 104b, that is, on a back surface of the BGA type semiconductor device 100. The conductive terminals 111 are connected to the semiconductor die 101 through a plurality of second wirings 109. The plurality of second wirings 109 is connected with first wirings pulled out from inside of the semiconductor die 101, making each of the conductive terminals 111 electrically connected with the semiconductor die 101.
More detailed explanation on a cross-sectional structure of the BGA type semiconductor device 100 is given hereafter referring to FIG. 10. FIG. 10 shows a cross-sectional view of the BGA type semiconductor devices 100 divided along dicing lines into individual dice.
The first wiring 103 is provided on an insulation film 102 on a top surface of the semiconductor die 101. The semiconductor die 101 is bonded to the first glass substrate 104a with the resin 105a. A back surface of the semiconductor die 101 is bonded to the second glass substrate 104b with the resin 105b. One end of the first wiring 103 is connected to the second wiring 109. The second wiring 109 extends from the end of the first wiring 103 to a surface of the second glass substrate 104b. The ball-shaped conductive terminal 111 is formed on the second wiring 109 extended onto the second glass substrate 104b.

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device with chamfering


A high speed and highly functional MOSFET having a thin channel formed in a single crystalline layer is controlled by voltages applied to both an upper gate electrode and a buried gate layer that sandwich the channel therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more specifically, a high speed metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) having a novel structure and a process for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor integrated circuits are used in various devices as high speed logic devices and high capacity memories, but research is still underway to increase the speed and lower the power consumption of semiconductor devices.
In one conventional high-speed n-channel MOSFET, formed in a thin film semiconductor layer of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structure, the speed of the MOSFET can be increased by precise control of the channel region by the gate voltage, compared with that of a MOSFET formed in a bulk semiconductor (substrate).
However, in the conventional structure, the control of the channel is not complete because the channel is controlled only by a gate electrode on an upper side.
In another conventional MOSFET, one having an XMOS structure, the channel is controlled from both sides by the upper and lower gate electrodes and so the control of channel is complete in comparison with the case of the first structure. Nevertheless, the process for forming this is difficult.
The present invention was made in view of the above problems and has as objects thereof to provide a high speed and highly functional MOSFET having a novel structure and a process for manufacturing the same.

Double gate FET and process for manufacturing same


In order to adjust a position of a cut sheet when the cut sheet begins to be sent to a printing positions a leading edge of the cut sheet is fed towards a pair of sending rollers for sending the cut sheet to a printing position, wherein the sending rollers are held at rest or rotated in reverse. If a predetermined condition is satisfied, a feeding speed of the cut sheet decreases when the leading edge of the cut sheet reaches a position that is a predetermined distance upstream of the sending rollers. If the predetermined condition is not satisfied, the feeding speed of the cut sheet does not decrease before the leading edge of the cut sheet contacts the sending roller. A decline in printing quality and an unnecessary delay in printing time can be prevented. With the sending rollers, an effect to prevent the leading edge of the cut sheet from being fed in a slanted position is also maintained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer that separates a single cut sheet from a stack of cut sheets, feeds the separated sheet and prints on the cut sheet. A printer of the present invention provides a printing head to print on the cut sheet at a printing position and a pair of sending rollers to send the cut sheet to the printing position. The printer of the present invention can control the position of the cut sheet when the cut sheet begins to be sent to the printing position, and can control a relationship between the timing of when to begin sending the cut sheet to the printing position and the timing of when to have the printing head begin a printing operation. According to the printer of the present invention, a relationship between a print start position on the cut sheet and a leading edge of the cut sheet can be adjusted to a desired relationship, and printing can be performed on a desired location of the cut sheet. Printing can also be performed without leaving a margin along the leading edge of the cut sheet.
The present invention also relates to a method of controlling a printer for adjusting a position of a cut sheet to a desired position when the cut sheet begins to be sent towards a printing position.
The printer of the present invention is not limited to a printing machine exclusively for printing, such as an inkjet printer or a laser printer. The printer of the present invention may be built into a copy machine, a fax machine, or a multifunctional machine, and includes a mechanism within these machines to print pictures and/or characters on the cut sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printer that pulls out a single cut sheet from a stack of cut sheets, feeds the pulled out cut sheet, sends the fed cut sheet to a printing position and prints on the cut sheet at the printing position is known. This type of printer provides a feeder to pull out the single cut sheet from the stack of cut sheets and feed the cut sheet, a pair of sending rollers to send the cut sheet fed from the feeder towards the printing position, and a printing bead to print on the cut sheet sent to the printing position by the sending rollers.
An art for controlling the position of the cut sheet when the cut sheet begins to be sent to the printing position is known, wherein the art stops or reverses a rotating direction of the pair of sending rollers, which sends the cut sheet to the printing position, and feeds the cut sheet to that pair of sending rollers. When the cut sheet is fed towards the stationary or reverse-rotating sending rollers, a leading edge of the cut sheet becomes positioned in a predetermined position where the sending rollers contact. The leading edge of the cut sheet is aligned along a contacting line between the sending rollers. When the pair of sending rollers begins to rotate in the standard direction, the cut sheet with the leading edge positioned in the predetermined position begins to be sent to the printing position at a desired timing. According to this art, a position of the cut sheet when the cut sheet begins to be sent to the printing position can be controlled to a fixed position, and a position of the cut sheet when a printing operation begins with the printing head can be controlled to a desired position. According to this type of printer, a relationship between a print start position on the cut sheet and the leading edge of the cut sheet can be adjusted to a desired relationship, and printing can be performed on a desired location of the cut sheet. Printing can also be performed without leaving a margin along the leading edge of the cut sheet when a margin-less printing mode is desired.
This type of printer is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 1998-254202. This printer provides an image creation mechanism to create a transferable printing image and a transfer printing mechanism (corresponds to the printing head of the present invention) to transfer the transferable printing image produced by the image creation mechanism to the cut sheet. This printer further provides a feeder to pull out a single cut sheet from a stack of cut sheets and feed the pulled out cut sheet, a pair of sending rollers to send the cut sheet fed from the feeder to a printing position (in this case a transfer printing position), and a sensor positioned on an upstream side of that sending rollers. The sensor detects a timing that the leading edge of the cut sheet, fed towards the sending roller from the feeder, reaches a position to face the sensor.
This printer begins reducing the feeding speed of the feeder at a timing when the leading edge of the cut sheet is detected by the sensor, and decelerates to a feeding speed of zero after a predetermined period. The decelerating pattern is designed so that the following phenomenon occurs. That is, after the leading edge of the cut sheet has been positioned upon contacting the sending rollers, the feeder feeds the cut sheet further and the feeding operation is stopped before the cut sheet is substantially curved. If the cut sheet is substantially curved, it generates noise because the curved cut sheet hits a guide board that guides the cut sheet. The printer described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 1998-254202 prevents the noise from generating by beginning the deceleration of the feeding speed of the cut sheet before the leading edge of the cut sheet contacts the sending rollers.
The printer described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 1998-254202 switches the time it takes, depending on the size of the cut sheet, for the feeding speed to become zero once it begins to decelerate. The tendency to curve varies depending on the size of the cut sheet, and when the deceleration pattern is switched according to the site of the cut sheet, the noise generated by the cut sheet hitting the guide board can be contained within a predetermined level, even if the size of the cut sheet varies.

Method and apparatus for controlling the sheet feeding speed in a printer


In one aspect, an apparatus for character entry on an electronic device, comprising: a keyboard with one row of keys; and an electronic device in communication with the keyboard; wherein one or more keys on the keyboard has a correspondence with a plurality of characters, wherein the plurality of characters on at least one of said keys includes at least one letter character and one non-letter character, and wherein the correspondence enables touch typing.

It is fascinating to reflect on the great impact of the PC on society. The PC is clearly capable of doing a whole lot more than what we use it for. Essentially, for many the PC became a replacement for the typewriter, and it is still largely a word processor. The other initial application that drove PC adoption was the spreadsheet. Then it also became a presentation creation tool. Over time, email was introduced and, even more recently, Web browsing. Web browsing, in turn, is giving rise to online shopping and replacing encyclopedias as our primary information resource. But, overall, there are still very few uses for these powerful machines by the average user.
We are now going through a phase where the capabilities of different types of devices are converging. Devices rely on common protocols and are often connected via the Internet, and the services offered are becoming more portable and accessible wherever we are and whenever we need them. We now have PCs, cellphones, TVs, iPods, PDAs, and camera phones relying on the Internet, complemented by communication networks such as the cellular networks, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. Services range from unified messaging and VOIP to entertainment.
With these trends toward greater connectedness and mobility, perhaps the most central roblem is how to make text entry possible on small, portable devices. The success of email, MS, and instant messaging on portable devices and user patterns already established on the PC make an efficient text-entry system a must for broad adoption of smaller, mobile devices.
In this direction, the RIM pagers (the Blackberry devices) are prime examples of a well-designed portable device. It is simply an excellent email machine, and for many this immediate access to email becomes highly addictive. A great deal of the success of this type of device relies on its small keyboard, which allows for two-thumb typing. This typing is quick and easy to learn since it relies on the same basic organization as the regular typewriter/PC keyboard.
For cellphones there is the T9 method by Tegic (U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,437 and other pending patents; T9 text input software Copyright 1999-2002; Tegic Communications, Inc.); cf. [22], [23].
For PDAs, the preferred method for text entry seems to be using a touch screen combined with "graffiti" entered using a stylus or tapping a keyboard with the stylus. Recognition of handwriting is also widely used.
A solution to the text entry problem for small portable devices should ideally address the following capabilities:                support touch-typing and rapid text entry;        easy-to-learn and consistent with standard keyboards;        easily extensible to include new words and new contexts;        small enough for portability and easy integration with mobile devices;        easy corrections of typos and minor mistakes; and        support auto-completion.
These goals are addressed by the invention described herein.


A switchable optical element having a first discrete state and a different, second discrete state. The element comprises a fluid system including a first fluid (44) and a different, second fluid (46), a wavefront modifier (26) having a face (28); and a fluid system switch for acting on the fluid system to switch between the first and second discrete states of the element. When the element is in the first discrete state, the face (28) of the wavefront modifier (26) is substantially covered by the first fluid (44). When the element is in the second discrete state, the face of the wavefront modifier is substantially covered by the second fluid (46). The fluid system switch comprises a configuration of electrodes arranged to act on the fluid system by the application of electrowetting forces and a voltage control system arranged to control voltages applied to the configuration of electrodes to switch between the first and second discrete states of the element.

Data can be stored in the form of information layers of optical record carriers such as compact discs (CDs), conventional digital versatile discs (DVDs) and so-called Blu-Ray™ discs.
Blu-Ray™ discs have recently been proposed following the advent of blue laser diodes that emit light at a significantly shorter wavelength than the red laser diodes used to read or write data from conventional DVDs. As the wavelength of the blue laser diode is shorter than that of more commonly used red laser diodes, the blue laser diode can form a smaller spot on the disc, and hence the information layer tracks of Blu-Ray™ discs can be more closely spaced than those of conventional DVDs, which in turn means that Blu-Ray™ discs can have a greater storage capacity than conventional DVDs—typically at least a twofold increase in storage capacity can be obtained.
To avoid customers having to purchase a variety of different devices for reading or writing data from or to specific types of optical record carrier, it is desirable for a single optical scanning device to be capable of reproducing data from a number of optical record carriers of different formats.
However, this aim is not easy to accomplish as the different record carrier formats and the associated scanning devices have differing characteristics. For example, CDs are available, inter alia, as CD-A (CD-audio), CD-ROM (CD-read only memory) and CD-R (CD-recordable), and are designed to be scanned with a laser wavelength of about 785 nm and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.45. DVDs, on the other hand, are designed to be scanned at a laser wavelength in the region of 650 nm, and Blu-Ray™ discs are designed to be scanned at a laser wavelength in the region of 405 nm. For reading DVDs and NA of 0.6 is generally used, whereas for writing DVDs and NA of 0.65 is generally required.
A complicating factor is that discs designed to be read out at a certain wavelength are not always readable at another wavelength. An example is the CD-R in which special dyes are applied in the recording stack in order to obtain a high signal modulation at 785 nm wavelength. At 650 nm wavelength the modulation of the signal from the disc becomes so small due to the wavelength sensitivity of the dye that readout at this wavelength is not feasible.
When introducing a new record carrier system with higher data capacities it is important that the new devices for reading and writing are backward compatible with the existing record carriers in order to obtain a high acceptance level in the market. Therefore, the DVD system must contain a 785 nm laser and a 650 nm laser to be able to read all existing CD types. Similarly, a system capable of reading all of CD, DVD and Blu-Ray™ discs should contain a 785 nm laser, a 650 nm laser and a 405 nm laser.
Different types of record carrier also differ in the thickness of their transparent substrates, which typically act as a protective layer for the data carrying layer of the disc, and as a result the depth of the data layer from the entrance face of the record carrier varies from record carrier type to record carrier type. For example, the data layer depth for DVDs is about 0.6 mm, whereas the data layer depth for CDs is about 1.2 mm. The spherical aberration incurred by the radiation beam traversing the protective layer is generally compensated in an objective lens of the optical scanning device.
As a result of these different characteristics for different types of record carrier, problems can result if it is attempted to read data, for example, from a record carrier with an optical scanning device that has been optimized for another, different type of record carrier. For example, large amounts of spherical aberration and a non-negligible amount of spherochromatism can be caused if one type of carrier medium is read with an objective lens that has been optimized for another. The device could be provided with three objective lenses, one for each wavelength. However, this solution would be relatively expensive.
It is therefore highly preferable to provide a device which has a single optical objective lens for scanning a variety of different optical carrier mediums using different wavelengths of laser radiation.
International patent application WO 02/082437 describes such an objective lens for use within an optical scanning device for reading data from three different types of record carrier. The lens has a phase structure which is arranged in the path of the radiation beam. This phase structure comprises a plurality of phase elements of different heights which when viewed in profile are arranged as a series of steps. The different heights of the phase elements are related and arranged so as to produce a desired wavefront modification of the radiation beam of a specific wavelength for reading a specific type of record carrier.
Systems of the type described by WO 02/082437 provide a solution to the problem of scanning three different types of optical record carrier with the associated different wavelengths of radiation beam using one objective lens within the optical scanning device. However, the phase structures involved are often of a complex nature, the phase elements having a large range of different heights. Such phase structures can be difficult to design and manufacture to a level at which a high optical efficiency for each wavelength is achieved. Additionally they can be relatively expensive to manufacture.
Various systems have been proposed in which a fluid system is used to provide an optical element with variable characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,852 describes a fluid filled variable power optical lens. The lens includes a housing having an optically transparent elastic membrane disposed over one end of a chamber which contains a fluid. A pump assembly is used for inserting or withdrawing fluid from the chamber, whereby the membrane is correspondingly selectively bulged outwardly or inwardly in the shape of a convex or concave lens. International patent application WO 00/58763 describes an electrowetting based system whereby the curvature of a fluid meniscus between two different fluid bodies can be changed. It is proposed that the system may be used as a variable lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,288,846 describes systems in which a fluid system can be switched between two different discrete states in order to provide different wavefront modifications. A refractive index difference of approximately zero is established between a fluid and a wavefront modifier, when the system is in one of these states, in order to leave the radiation beam unchanged. In the other state of the system this refractive index difference is of a sufficient value such that the path of the radiation beam is modified. A fluid-handling system is used to switch the fluid system. Examples of the fluid handling system include manually or motorized hypodermic syringes, peristaltic pumps, compressible bulbs, and piezoelectric, hydraulic or pneumatic actuators.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,112 describes an optical switch which includes a fluid system housed in channels and cavities within the component. Piezoelectric actuators, which are arranged in the cavities, cause the liquid to be displaced in the channels. In one embodiment, the liquid passes over the face of a wavefront modifier including a relief structure in the form of a Fresnel lens. In one embodiment, one of the two fluid components of the fluid system is a gas which is compressed when the liquid is moved into place over the relief structure. However, such a component requires an upright orientation to be maintained in order to prevent the gas from being located at the part of the system containing the piezoelectric pump. It is also described that two suitable liquids may be used. However, one drawback is the reliability of the switching process, particularly when a relief structure is used, where fluid flow is not entirely smooth. Requiring smooth fluid flow during switching also limits the speed of switching.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A reception circuit includes: an equalizer; a comparator to compare an output signal of the equalizer with first, second, and third thresholds at a first-timing to output first, second, and third comparison-results, respectively; a selector to select any one of the first and second comparison-results based on a determination-result at a timing before the first-timing, and update the determination-result; a detector to detect a phase information based on the first or second comparison-result not selected; a shifter to adjust a sampling clock phase based on the phase information detected; and a controller to set a third threshold based on the first and second thresholds by either adjusting the first and second thresholds based on the output signal amplitude or adding/subtracting a first value to/from the output signal, detect an equalization-result based on the third comparison-result by the set third threshold, and adjust an equalization coefficient based on the detected equalization-result.

With a performance improvement of an information processing apparatus, a high-speed data rate of a data signal transmitted and received inside and outside of an apparatus has been achieved in recent years. A data signal reception circuit determines an amplitude level of a data signal at timing synchronized with a sampling clock and performs data reproduction based on the determination result. When a high speed data rate is implemented, a slight phase deviation occurring between the data signal and the sampling clock has an influence on an accuracy of data detection. Accordingly, a technology called a tracking CDR (Clock and Data Recovery) which detects the phase deviation and synchronizes a phase of the sampling clock with a phase of the data signal is utilized. The tracking CDR technology includes a technology called a 2× tracking CDR which performs sampling on a 1-bit data twice and a technology called a baud rate tracking CDR which performs sampling on a 1-bit data once.
The baud rate tracking CDR compares the data signal at an adjacent sampling timing with a total of three threshold values, which includes a threshold value for data determination and two threshold values for phase detection, to detect the phase deviation of the sampling clock with respect to the data signal. Therefore, three comparators that compare the data signal with the threshold values are utilized.
Further, an equalization circuit which compensates the received data signal so as to suppress deterioration of a reception sensitivity is used in a reception circuit. As one of equalization circuits, there is a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) which determines whether the output data is 0 (zero) or 1 (one) and feedbacks and uses the determination result so as to suppress amplification of a noise input. Further, there is a speculative DFE adopted as a scheme of achieving a high operational speed of the DFE. The speculative DFE performs an equalization process in advance for all data patterns in a case where the data to be fed back is 0 (zero) or 1 (one). Also, when the data has been fed back, an equalization result corresponding to the data is selected and output. Accordingly, feedback loop processings are reduced and thus the high operational speed of the DFE is implemented. The speculative DFE utilizes a comparator to determine whether data is 0 or 1. When the number of taps is "N", the number of comparators becomes 2N.
When the baud rate tracking CDR and the speculative DFE described above are utilized in the reception circuit, the number of comparators increases and thus a circuit scale becomes large.
Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2008/032492, International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2010/150624, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-301337.


A smart packaging system and a smart display system and methods relating thereto are disclosed herein. In various embodiments, the packaging system may include an inner package, an outer package, and an identification tag disposed between said inner package and said outer package. Said identification tag may be a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, a near-field communication (NFC) identification tag, or any variation thereof. In various embodiments, the display system may include a display shelf for positively positioning a plurality of product packages, at least one near-field communication antenna, and a control system. Each of said plurality of product packages may include said identification tag. Said control system may transmit and receive product information data to and from said identification tag for each of said plurality of product packages.

The present system is related generally to a display and tracking system for products and associated information related to those products. More specifically, the system described herein relates to a smart retail display that provides for tracking and control of retail products by the individual package, and a system for providing individual product packaging that is capable of being tracked to provide real-time sales and inventory feedback to a product wholesaler, distributor and/or retailer. The disclosure also relates to systems and apparatus for providing product information to a consumer and is further related to theft detection of retail products.
Retail outlets like department stores, specialty shops, and supermarkets sell an enormous variety of products, from electronics to food. The largest retail outlets utilize many different strategies to attract and inform consumers to purchase products. Providing consumers with information relating to promotional offers and marketing information for a product is highly desirable from a sales and marketing perspective. Furthermore, tracking product sales in real-time by various sales metrics is also crucial to a business' ability to control costs and maximize profits.
Many products and items are prepared for sale and marketing in individual packaging units, and then shipped in bulk, for example by the carton, box, or crate. Some of these products are particularly susceptible to theft or use by unauthorized users simply due to their nature and size. For example, cigarettes and other highly regulated tobacco products are expensive to produce and sell, and are subject to various tax and distribution laws that makes the distribution chain of the product critical to control. Additionally, the small size of an individual package of cigarettes makes them particularly susceptible to theft.
Currently, many such products have stamps or other identifiers situated on a portion of the packaging. Tobacco products and other heavily regulated items fall into this category. Additionally, many consumer items, such as electronics and digitally distributed movies and games, are sold having a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag or label affixed to a portion of the outer packaging through the use of a strong adhesive, or the equivalent. By using these various prior art tracking devices and systems, retailers can provide a modicum of product tracking and inventory which is usually necessary when selling heavily regulated products, or products that are subject to frequent theft or piracy.
RFID technology utilizes electromagnetic fields to transfer data and the associated RFID tag can be either active or passive. An active RFID tag has a power source which allows transmission from the RFID tag to a RFID tag reader, whereas a passive RFID tag does not require a power source and the RFID tag is read by a RFID tag reader. RFID systems are classified by the type of tag or label and the reader they utilize, i.e., whether the RFID tag and/or the RFID tag reader is either active or passive. The tag is embedded within a particular product and consists of at least two parts: an integrated circuit for processing and storing information and for modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal; and at least one antenna and transceiver or EMF generator may be provided for transmitting and receiving the RF signal. The RFID tag reader communicates with the RFID tag by transmitting and receiving encoded RF signals that contain a corresponding RFID tag's unique identifier and additional product-related information specified by a user. The RFID tag's unique identifier may be at least one of: a serial number or the product-related information, data about the product type, brand, quantity, or any one of many aspects of the product being retailed. Due to the RFID tag's unique identifiers assigned to an individual product or package, an RFID system is able differentiate between different products and the product-related data when the RFID tag is within the range of the RFID tag reader.
RFID systems are sometimes classified by the type of tag and the type of tag reader the system utilizes which include: a passive reader-active tag (PRAT) system; an active reader-passive tag (ARPT); and an active reader-active tag (ARAT). Passive reader-passive tag (PRPT) systems are necessarily unsuitable for use with the system disclosed because either the RFID tag or the RFID tag reader must be active for communication between them to occur. Passive RFID tags are small in size and relatively inexpensive to manufacture in quantity, and embedding them within a product or package for tracking is well-known in the art. RFID systems are employed in a diverse number of fields which include: shipped package tracking, electronic retail package tracking, and even tracking of automotive traffic for uses such as tolling roads and bridges. RFID frequency bands begin at 120 kilohertz (kHz) and extend to 10 gigahertz (GHz). Near-field communication (NFC) is a sub-set of RFID technology, which operates at 13.56 megahertz (MHz), and thus the same classifications based on the type of tag and the type of tag reader can be applied to NFC systems.
NFC is a form of high frequency RFID communication that allows at least two devices to communicate with one another when they are within a particular proximity of one another. Like RFID systems, NFC systems utilize electromagnetic fields to transfer data both to and from one device to another device and can be either active or passive. NFC is typically considered a short-range wireless technology which allows for peer-to-peer communication; however, large NFC networks can be created by the strategic placement of NFC tags and NFC tag readers. Smartphones, smart watches, tablets, or any device that utilizes NFC, WLAN, or any other communication link equipped with a NFC tag and an antenna may utilize NFC as a method of communication with a device located in suitable proximity.
Current systems of product tracking and theft detection in these retail settings typically utilize an antenna or a similar wireless communications protocol to detect an activated tag or label affixed to a product that is exiting the store. These RFID and NFC systems usually provide a deactivator used by a clerk to deactivate the tag at the point of sale, so that the deactivated tag does not trip an alarm proximate the store exits.
Some prior art systems utilize retail shelves or displays having some product tracking capability using NFC to interact with a tag affixed to the product. One such exemplary system is disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/947,747 entitled "Smart System For Smart Retail Display" the entirety of which is incorporated by reference. These prior art systems are capable of some product tracking by incorporating an RFID tag reader to monitor the presence of an individual tagged product and then noting its absence during or after its removal from the display. However, many prior art systems suffer from the inability to track multiple product packages, and are also incapable of tracking and reporting data related to product sales and distribution in real-time.


A safety device for an X-ray unit comprises an X-ray tube protected by a casing and cooled by a fluid circulating between the tube and the casing. This device is aimed at preventing any excess pressure of the cooling fluid in the casing. It comprises a rigid, hermetically sealed and vacuum-tight cavity connected to the circuit of the fluid by a hydraulic connector with a high flow rate, designed to open mechanically and automatically under the effect of the fluid, by a pressure that exceeds a predetermined threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a safety device in a radiology machine and, more particularly, to a device for regulating the pressure of the cooling fluid of the X-ray tube in an X-ray unit.
An X-ray tube is constituted by a cathode and an anode enclosed in a vacuum-sealed jacket that enables electrical insulation to be set up between these two electrodes. The cathode is supplied with high voltage to produce an electron beam impinging onto the anode on a small surface which constitutes the focal spot of emission of the X-rays.
During its operation, the X-ray tube produces a large amount of heat, for only a small proportion of the energy used to produce the electron beam between the cathode and the anode is converted into X-rays, the rest being converted into heat. In an X-ray unit, to dissipate this heat, the X-ray tube is enclosed in a protection chamber or casing. Between the tube and the internal wall of the casing, there flows a cooling fluid which gets heated upon contact with the tube, before passing again into a circuit where it is itself cooled in a heat-exchanger, of the air or water type for example.
This fluid contained in the chamber is subjected to high rises in temperature, leading to an expansion of its volume, hence to a possibility of excess pressure inside the chamber when the tube works outside its normal range of operation. However, the pressure of the fluid cannot go beyond a limit threshold of about 4 bars, or else there will be deterioration of the X-ray unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are two types of solutions envisaged, at present, to solve the problems of the accidental occurrence of excess pressure. These are, firstly, to permit a greater volume of expansion of the cooling fluid and, secondly, to monitor the pressure and the temperature of this fluid.
According to the first type of solution, the chamber that protects the X-ray tube is provided with an elastic membrane, permitting variations in the volume of expansion of the cooling fluid during the normal operation of the tube. However, during great increases in temperature, which give rise to increases in the volume of expansion of the fluid exceeding the limit permitted by the membrane, there arise either risks of the tearing of this membrane resulting in the release of the entire volume (namely about ten liters) of the hot fluid in the vicinity of the patient and the radiologist, or risks of the bursting of the tube, which would damage the X-ray unit, which may thus become dangerous.
Furthermore, the present trend is to reduce the dimensions of the X-ray unit to the maximum, preventing an increase in the volume of expansion. As for the choice of a rigid and closed chamber to place maximum limits on the splashing of liquid, this proves to be more dangerous in the event of a high degree of excess pressure of the fluid in the chamber.
In order to prevent such risks, the second type of solution provides for safety devices comprising pressure sensors or temperature sensors for the cooling fluid. However, owing to the continual development of X-ray tubes towards ever greater power values and, above all, towards ever greater thermal capacities for the anode, associated with a limitation of the space occupied by the X-ray unit, the risk of excess pressure of the fluid in the casing has considerably increased. Thus, in the case of a relatively lengthy X-ray examination during which the temperature of the cooling fluid is close to its upper limit value and the heat stored in the anode is at its maximum, any stopping of the cooling process, due to a current failure for example, will prompt a major increase in the temperature of the fluid which could be detrimental, even if the above-mentioned safety devices have worked perfectly. Indeed, since the anode is at its maximum temperature, it will release the heat stored by radiation towards the fluid which is no longer cooled. If, in addition, the X-ray tube breaks at this precise instant, the heat of the anode is instantly yielded to the fluid. It is observed then that all that the safety systems have done is to cut off the power supply of the X-ray tube: they have not prevented the risks of excess pressure of the fluid in the protective chamber.


Document citation apparatus and methods. In one embodiment, a citation system and methods of citation based on the non-arbitrary and/or constant attributes of a document (e.g., article or legal decision) itself are utilized. Such an improved citation system eliminates the problem of having to rely upon a temporary citation system until the volume and page numbers of the reporter are determined.

1. Technological Field
This disclosure relates generally to systems and methods of citation, and in one exemplary aspect to citation for documents such as legal decisions and other types of written materials, whether in hardcopy or electronic (e.g., electronically-captured) format.
2. Description of Related Technology
Generally, document citation systems include information to identify the document, such as case name, title, court, author, date, publication in which the document is published, and combinations of these. As used herein, the term "document" refers without limitation to hardcopy (e.g., paper) documents, electronic documents such as pdf formatted documents, HTML or XML renderings, images, virtual or on-line documents, and other human-perceivable renderings. These document citation systems also generally include information to locate specific text within the document, such as a page number. For example, a commonly used citation system for legal decisions from the state and federal courts of the United States utilizes a reporter-based system in which the legal decisions issued by the various courts are gathered and published in various reporters, such as Westlaw™ or BNA™ reporters.
The citation for legal decisions generally includes the case name, the name of the court issuing the decision, a date or year of the decision, the volume number for the reporter, the page number in the reporter where the decision starts, and to locate specific text within the decision a second page number often referred to as a "pinpoint" cite. For example, the decisions of the federal appellate courts of the United States, including the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit located in Washington, D.C., are gathered in a Westlaw reporter known as the "federal" reporter. Currently this reporter is in its third series, and is indicated by the symbol "F.3d." For example, the case citation to the Federal Circuit's landmark 1995 decision on claim construction is commonly written as Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967 (Fed. Cir. 1995). The number preceding the "F.3d" is the volume number of the reporter in which the case is published, and the number following the "F.3d" is the page number where the decision starts within the volume of the reporter. In order to cite to specific text using a pinpoint cite, a third page number is typically added. For example, if one wanted to cite to the specific location in the decision at which the Federal Circuit held that the interpretation and construction of patent claims "is a matter of law," that appears on page 970 in the reporter and the citation would commonly be written as Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 970 (Fed. Cir. 1995). Other reporter systems use similar citation systems.
The problem with these prior art citation systems is that they depend upon the placement of the article or legal decision in a particular volume of a reporter, and starting at a particular page number within the particular volume of the reporter, both of which are somewhat arbitrary. Moreover, depending upon the formatting, line spacing, and font size used in the reporter, the article or legal decision could occupy different numbers of pages. Thus, the location of a pinpoint cite within the article or legal decision using these prior art citation systems is also somewhat arbitrary depending upon how many pages the article or legal decision occupies within the reporter. Because of these problems, it is not possible to use these prior art reporter systems to cite an article or legal decision until the publisher determines which volume of the reporter will contain the article or legal decision, and the page numbers within the particular chosen volume at which the article or legal decision will be located. This process of locating the article or decision within a reporter by the publisher can often take weeks or months after the date the article or legal decision is completed and made public, thus requiring the use of an alternate or temporary citation system if one wishes to cite to a recently issued article or legal decision.
Moreover, in order to use these prior art citation systems, one must first determine the correct volume and page numbers for the particular reporter in which the article or decision appears (or the temporary arbitrary decision number assigned to the newly-issued decision). This process consumes additional time and generally requires access to proprietary search databases maintained by the publishers of the reporters, who charge relatively high fees for such access. Many users of these legal citation systems are troubled by the fact that they must pay private enterprises for access to the proprietary search databases of legal decisions merely to obtain the arbitrary volume and page numbers of the reporter (or the arbitrary temporary decision number) needed to cite to the legal decision, when the legal decisions themselves are publicly available documents generated by the various taxpayer-supported state and federal courts of the United States. For example, the legal decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are generally available on that court's public website the day they are issued. However, in order to use these prior art citation systems, one must access a proprietary database in order to determine the volume and page numbers of the federal reporter in which the decision appears, which often are not available until weeks after the decision is issued. In such instances, as discussed above, a temporary and also arbitrary alternate citation number is the only one available. Thus, the user must often repeat the search process at a later date, often paying additional fees, in order to obtain the permanent citation information for the same legal decision.

Document attribute-based citation system


A process of speech synthesis from diphones stored in a dictionary as waveforms, for text-to-speech conversion, comprises supplying a sequence of phoneme codes and respective prosodic information, and, for each phoneme, analyzing and synthesizing each phoneme, and then concatenating the synthesized phonemes. For each phoneme, two diphones are selected among the stored diphones and the presence of voicing is determined. For voiced phonemes, the respective waveforms of the two diphones constituting the phoneme are filtered by a window which is centered on a point of the selected waveform representative of the beginning of a pulse response of vocal cords to excitation thereof. The window has a width substantially equal to twice the greater of the original fundamental period and the fundamental synthesis period and has an amplitude progressively decreasing from the center of the window. The signals resulting from the filtering and obtained for each diphone are time shifted so as to be spaced apart by a time equal to the fundamental synthesis period. Synthesis is achieved by adding the displaced overlapping signals.

The invention relates to methods and devices of speech synthesis; it relates more particularly to synthesis from a dictionary of sound elements (also known as component sounds) by fractionating the text to be synthesized into microframes each identified by an order number of a corresponding sound element and by prosodic parameters (information concerning sound height at the beginning and at the end of the sound element and duration of the sound element), then by adaptation and concatenation of the sound elements by an adding overlapping procedure.
The sound elements stored in the dictionary will frequently be diphones, i.e. transitions between phonemes, which makes it possible, for the French language, to make to with a dictionary of about 1300 sound elements; different sound elements may however be used, for example, syllables or even words. The prosodic parameters are determined as a function of criteriae relating to the context; the sound height which corresponds to the intonation depends on the position of the sound element in a word and in the sentence and the duration given to the sound element depends on the rythm of the sentence.
It should be recalled that speech synthesis methods are divided into two groups. Those which use a mathematic model of the vocal tract (linear prediction synthesis, formant synthesis and fast Fourier transform synthesis) rely on a deconvolution of the source and of the transfer function of the vocal tract and generally require about 50 arithmetic operations per digital sample of the speech before digital-analog conversion and restoration.
This source-vocal duct deconvolution makes it possible to modify the value of the fundamental frequency of the voiced sounds, namely sounds which have a harmonic structure and are caused by vibration of the vocal cords, and compression of the data representing the speech signal.
Those which belong to the second group of processus use time-domain synthesis by concatenation of wave forms. This solution has the advantage of flexibility in use and the possibility of considerably reducing the number of arithmetic operations per sample. On the other hand, it is not possible to reduce the flow rate required for transmission as much as in the methods based on a mathematic model. But this drawback does not exist when good restoration quality is essential and there is no requirement to transmit data over a narrow channel.
Speech synthesis according to the present invention belong to the second group. It finds a particularly important application in the field of transformation of an orthographic chain (formed for example by the text delivered by a printer) into a speech signal, for example restored directly delivered or transmitted over a normal telephone line.
A speech synthesis process from sound elements using a short term signal add-overlap technique is already known (Diphone synthesis using an overlap-add technique for speech waveforms concatenation, Charpentier et al, ICASSP 1986, IEEE-IECEJ-ASJ International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing, pp. 2015-2018). But it relates to short term synthesis signals with standardization of the overlap of the synthesis windows, obtained by a very complex procedure:
analysis of the original signal by synchronous windowing of the voicing; PA1 Fourier transform of the short-term signal; PA1 envelope detection; PA1 homothetic transformation of the frequential axis on the spectrum of the source; PA1 weighing of the modified source spectrum by the envelope of the original signal; PA1 reverse Fourier transform.

Processing device for speech synthesis by addition overlapping of wave forms

Ministry of Posts, Tele-French State Communications & Space


A method for read measurement of a plurality N of resistive memory cells having a plurality K of programmable levels. The method includes a step of applying a first read voltage to each of the plurality N of resistive memory cells and, at each of the plurality N of resistive memory cells, measuring a first read current due to the applied first read voltage, determining a respective second read voltage based on the first read current measured at the plurality N of resistive memory cells and a target read current determined for the plurality N of resistive memory cells for each of the plurality N of resistive memory cells, and applying the respective determined second read voltage to the plurality N of resistive memory cells for obtaining a second read current for each of the plurality N of resistive memory cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of integrated circuit memories, more specifically, the present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for read measurement of a plurality of resistive memory cells having a plurality of programmable levels.
2. Description of Related Art
A prominent example for resistive memory cells having a plurality of programmable levels is Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM), particular Phase Change Memory (PCM). PCM is a non-volatile solid-state memory technology that exploits the reversible, thermally-assisted switching of specific chalcogenides between certain states of different electrical conductivity.
PCM is a promising and advanced emerging non-volatile memory technology mainly due to its excellent features including low latency, high endurance, long retention and high scalability. PCM can be considered a prime candidate for Flash replacement, embedded/hybrid memory and storage-class memory. Key requirements for competitiveness of PCM technology can be multi-level cell functionality, in particular for low cost per bit, and high-speed read/write operations, in particular for high bandwidth. Multilevel functionality, i.e. multiple bits per PCM cell, can be a way to increase storage capacity and thereby to reduce cost.
Multi-level PCM is based on storing multiple resistance levels between a lowest (SET) and a highest (RESET) resistance value. Multiple resistance levels or levels correspond to partial-amorphous and partial-crystalline phase distributions of the PCM cell. Phase transformation, i.e. memory programming, can be enabled by Joule heating. In this regard, Joule heating can be controlled by a programming current or voltage pulse. Storing multiple resistance levels in a PCM cell is a challenging task.
In Wong, H.-S Philip et al., "Recent Progress of Phase Change Memory and Resisitve Switching Random Access Memory", ICSICT, 2010, Proc. IEEE, it is described that multi-level cell (MLC) programming is the most efficient way to increase the storage capacity of PCM. In order to achieve MLC programming, an iterative algorithm can be used, which adapts the programming current to the characteristics of each cell in every cycle so that the cell is programmed to the desired cell-state with minimum write latency (PAPANDREOU, N. et al., "Enabling Technologies for Multilevel Phase-Change Memory", European Phase Change and Ovonics Symposium, 2011).
When reading MLC data from a memory array including a plurality of memory cells, the read-back signals form Gaussian-like distributions corresponding to the different levels. This is mainly due to noise during the read process, a distribution of programmed cell-states for each level within each target bin during the write process and a non-uniform drift of the difference resistance levels (POZIDIS, H. et al., "A Framework for Reliability Assessment in Multilevel Phase-Change Memory", Memory Workshop (IMW), pages 1-4, May 2012, 2012 4th IEEE International). Further, the actual level statistics are data-dependent and typically change over time. As a result, an estimation of the first and second-order statistics is essential for reliable level detection (European Patent Application No. 11183336.4). The accuracy of the estimation depends heavily on the number of available data. In main memory applications and hybrid memory applications, the number of data that is collected during memory access can be limited.
Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to improve the read measurement of a plurality of resistive memory cells.

Method and apparatus for read measurement of a plurality of resistive memory cells

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION